Speaker 1: Previously on the Chosen people.
Speaker 2: So close to Sodom, Are you sure? I think, eh?
Speaker 1: I think the proximity of the city would prove useful
Speaker 1: to me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, useful. Be careful near those cities. I fear the
Speaker 2: influence of their culture is more dangerous than their spears.
Speaker 1: Through the haze, Abraham saw them, three figures, distant but distinct,
Speaker 1: moving along the outskirts of his encampment. Abraham leaped to
Speaker 1: his feet, electrified by a sense of impending significance. These
Speaker 1: were no ordinary travelers.
Speaker 2: My lords, Please, if it pleases you, I would invite
Speaker 2: you to rest here before you continue on your journey.
Speaker 1: As they ate and drank, a connection began to form
Speaker 1: in Abraham's mind. He could always send when the presence
Speaker 1: of his God was near, and sometimes it would prompt
Speaker 1: thoughts or ideas that were not his own.
Speaker 3: Let me ask you, this is anything impossible for God Almighty?
Speaker 3: Is anything too hard or too marvelous for him to achieve?
Speaker 4: In the shadows of twilight, a solitary man bargained with God,
Speaker 4: wrestling with justice and mercy, shalloh, my friends from here
Speaker 4: in the holy land of Israel i'm ya l extein
Speaker 4: with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Welcome to
Speaker 4: the Chosen People. Each day we'll hear a dramatic story
Speaker 4: inspired by the Bible, stories filled with timeless lessons of
Speaker 4: faith and love and the meaning of life. Through Israel's story,
Speaker 4: we find this truth we are all chosen for something great.
Speaker 4: If this podcast has added value to your faith, we'd
Speaker 4: love it if you could share it with a friend
Speaker 4: or a family member. And if you're interested in the
Speaker 4: work that we do for the vulnerable and needy around
Speaker 4: the world, you can visit us at IFCJ dot org.
Speaker 4: Now let's begin in the twilight of an ancient world,
Speaker 4: where the stars shined bright and shadows grew deep. A
Speaker 4: man walked in communion with God, a patriarch named Abraham,
Speaker 4: standing at the precipice of mercy and judgment. In our
Speaker 4: last episode, Abraham welcomed three mysterious men, perhaps not men
Speaker 4: at all. And now, in an unexpected twist of faith
Speaker 4: and faith, Abraham speaks with God himself. A threat of
Speaker 4: judgment comes, and Abraham's compassion ignites. What will we learn
Speaker 4: about prayer and communing with God from this interaction? Listen
Speaker 4: to this dramatic story which is inspired by Genesis eighteen
Speaker 4: twenty two to thirty three.
Speaker 1: After hours of talking and eating together, Abraham's three mysterious
Speaker 1: guests decided to take their leave. Abraham extended an offer
Speaker 1: for them to stay the rest of the evening, as
Speaker 1: well as a place to sleep, but they were determined
Speaker 1: to continue their journey.
Speaker 2: If you are sure you must continue, at least, let
Speaker 2: me walk with your ways and send you off.
Speaker 3: You may do that, Abraham.
Speaker 1: The men walked together to the edge of Abraham's encampment.
Speaker 1: As they cleared the tents, the vast expanse of land
Speaker 1: unfurled before them, a tapestry of earth and sky. The
Speaker 1: day was clear, and from their advantage point, they could
Speaker 1: see the salt sea glistening in the east. The city
Speaker 1: of Sodom lay in the distance, a shadow on the
Speaker 1: horizon where Abraham's nephew Lot resided. Abraham noticed the men's
Speaker 1: gaze fixed on Sodom, their eyes narrowing with a weighty contemplation. Suddenly,
Speaker 1: their leader turned to the other two and spoke, his
Speaker 1: voice carrying the gravity of a celestial decree.
Speaker 3: Tell me what you think should I hide what I
Speaker 3: am about to do from.
Speaker 1: Abraham Abraham blinked, startled by the directness of the query.
Speaker 1: What could this possibly mean? The other two men exchanged glances,
Speaker 1: their brows furrowing as they considered the leader's words. Yet
Speaker 1: they waited for him to continue.
Speaker 3: Abraham is to become a great and powerful nation, and
Speaker 3: all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.
Speaker 3: He has been chosen so that he will command his
Speaker 3: children and his house after him to keep the way
Speaker 3: of God Almighty. Their legacy will be one of honoring
Speaker 3: their God by doing what is right and just, and
Speaker 3: that legacy will fulfill to Abraham what he has been promised.
Speaker 1: Abraham was struck in you by the depth of this
Speaker 1: stranger's knowledge, knowledge of his destiny, his covenant, his God.
Speaker 1: Her sense of divine familiarity washed over him. A whisper
Speaker 1: of recognition in the recesses of his mind. It was
Speaker 1: as if his God was here, speaking.
Speaker 3: My Lord, tell Abraham what you want him to know. Yes,
Speaker 3: my Lord, you must do as you see fit. Abraham,
Speaker 3: listen to me, Yes, Ah, I am here. The outcry
Speaker 3: against Sodom and Gomorrah is immense. The victims of this
Speaker 3: terrible wickedness plead for justice the sin of both Sodom
Speaker 3: and Gomorrah is extremely serious. I am to go down
Speaker 3: to see for myself if what they have done justifies
Speaker 3: the cry that has come up to me. If not,
Speaker 3: I will find out.
Speaker 1: Abraham did not know what to make of these words.
Speaker 1: He stood dumfounded. The guest he had welcomed into his
Speaker 1: home appeared to be his God, The God Almighty had
Speaker 1: broken bread with him, drank his wine, and listened to
Speaker 1: all of his stories for hours. Abraham was amazed. But
Speaker 1: then there was the matter of what he had spoken
Speaker 1: about the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The other two
Speaker 1: men nodded gravely at God Almighty's words.
Speaker 3: Yes, my Lord, your judgment will be carried out according
Speaker 3: to your will. My Lord, would you have us continue
Speaker 3: on our way? Yes, go ahead of me and scout
Speaker 3: out the city. See what you make of it in
Speaker 3: its inhabitants. I sensed that my chosen one, Abraham, has
Speaker 3: more to say.
Speaker 1: The two others bowed their heads in reverence to their God.
Speaker 1: They then turned to Abraham and acknowledged him as well,
Speaker 1: before departing in the direction of Sodom.
Speaker 3: Abraham, tell me what's on your mind.
Speaker 1: Abraham swallowed and considered all that was racing through his mind.
Speaker 1: He wasn't sure where to even begin. He had seen
Speaker 1: his God's power in Egypt, how he had brought plagues
Speaker 1: upon the household of the pharaoh, but nowhere else he
Speaker 1: had seen how his God had guided his hand in
Speaker 1: battle and brought them victory against King Cadelaeama and his allies,
Speaker 1: even when it defied all odds. Countless men had fallen
Speaker 1: at his hands, and their deaths were warranted. They had
Speaker 1: been locked in battle, and Abraham committed to rescuing his
Speaker 1: nephew Lot. But the destruction of a city, a city
Speaker 1: filled with thousands of people, including innocence and civilians, was
Speaker 1: another matter.
Speaker 2: In time, My God, will you really sweep away the
Speaker 2: righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous
Speaker 2: people in the city, will you really sweep it all
Speaker 2: away instead of sparing the place for the sake of
Speaker 2: fifty righteous people who are in it. I could not
Speaker 2: possibly imagine you doing such a thing, killing the righteous
Speaker 2: along with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike.
Speaker 2: You couldn't possibly do that, right, I just don't understand.
Speaker 2: I know that it is your place to bring justice,
Speaker 2: and you are the judge of the whole earth. But
Speaker 2: how could this be just?
Speaker 1: Abraham was a descendant of shem Ancient tales told by
Speaker 1: the fire emerged from the caverns of his mind. Would
Speaker 1: God judge the innocent? Was anybody truly innocent? Abraham paused,
Speaker 1: realizing again how little he knew of this God before him.
Speaker 3: It made him uneasy. Abraham, I hear your concern. Your
Speaker 3: compassion makes you a worthy leader to your people. I
Speaker 3: will make you this promise. If I find fifty righteous
Speaker 3: people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the
Speaker 3: whole place for their sake.
Speaker 1: Relief coursed through Abraham's body as he sighed his God
Speaker 1: would spare the righteous. That was fair. He could live
Speaker 1: with that. But Abraham then began to consider his nephew
Speaker 1: Lot and his household. Surely they would be among the righteous,
Speaker 1: He hoped. He had certainly done his best to impart
Speaker 1: all he knew and encourage Lot to walk the righteous path. Yes,
Speaker 1: he felt confident that would be enough to save Lot
Speaker 1: and his household, But what of their friends and neighbors.
Speaker 1: He knew his nephew had built a life in Sodom,
Speaker 1: gaining back the wealth and stability he had before the
Speaker 1: raid of King Cadelaoma. He wondered if Lot had shared
Speaker 1: the ways of their God with them. Abraham hoped the
Speaker 1: number of the righteous in Sodom, influenced by Lot himself,
Speaker 1: would be larger than fifty, but he feared that it
Speaker 1: might not.
Speaker 2: Be, since I have ventured to speak and even suggest
Speaker 2: anything at aught you, my God. And even though I
Speaker 2: am dust and ashes, suppose the fifty righteous lack five,
Speaker 2: will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?
Speaker 3: I will not destroy it if I find forty five.
Speaker 2: Suppose forty are found there.
Speaker 3: I will not do it on account of forty.
Speaker 1: But then the stories of Sodom's depravity surfaced in Abraham's mind,
Speaker 1: stories of depraved sexual abuse and immoral acts, unsavory deeds
Speaker 1: like thievery and extortion, lying, cheating, and killing without conscience.
Speaker 3: Men and women alike.
Speaker 1: Hobbled out of Sodom, forever scarred by the cruelty of
Speaker 1: its residence. None were safe or sacred within the women, children,
Speaker 1: the elderly. Every one was vulnerable to the cruel and
Speaker 1: debased culture of Sodom. Just thinking about The stories made
Speaker 1: Abraham's palms sweat with unease. Surely the judgment of his
Speaker 1: God was needed against those partaking in such savagery and brutality.
Speaker 1: But yet he had gone to battle and fought to
Speaker 1: win back his nephew Lot and the others who were
Speaker 1: held captive along with him. Surely they deserved to be spared.
Speaker 1: Many of them were women and young children, and still
Speaker 1: many more were slaves. They did not have the same
Speaker 1: autonomy as a man of a great household or high
Speaker 1: standing might have. If they had been led astray by
Speaker 1: the society around them, how could they be held responsible.
Speaker 1: He couldn't imagine abandoning these innocence to whatever terrible fate
Speaker 1: awaited the wicked in Sodom. Perhaps some of them would
Speaker 1: have found a way to a righteous path. He would
Speaker 1: have to hope that it was so, Even if the
Speaker 1: number of righteous few than he hoped, would they be
Speaker 1: spared on account of the few?
Speaker 2: My God, please, please do not be angry. But I
Speaker 2: will speak further. Suppose only thirty are found there.
Speaker 3: I will not do it if I find thirty there.
Speaker 1: Abraham then considered the people he had lived among and
Speaker 1: even fought alongside to win back, the stolen from Sodom,
Speaker 1: the Amirits, his friend's memory, Anna, and Eshko. They had
Speaker 1: grown distant. It was true. The longer Abraham walked with
Speaker 1: his God, the less he could tolerate some of their differences.
Speaker 1: They were men who neither understood nor embraced the God
Speaker 1: Most High. They had dined with a mysterious high priest
Speaker 1: and seen the God most High delivered them from certain
Speaker 1: death time and time again in battle, Yet they still had.
Speaker 3: Not come to believe.
Speaker 1: Abraham knew in his heart of hearts that they probably
Speaker 1: never would. But they had once been his allies. They
Speaker 1: had honored allegiances and been guests in one another's homes.
Speaker 1: Could Abraham stand by and watch them meet a fate
Speaker 1: like the one that awaited the people of Sodom? Abraham
Speaker 1: was not so sure. Compassion again surged in his heart
Speaker 1: when he thought of his lost friends. He also considered
Speaker 1: how many more were lost in a city like Sodom.
Speaker 1: With a heavy heart, he wondered how many sinned without
Speaker 1: truly understanding the damage it would do or what it
Speaker 1: would cost.
Speaker 2: I do not have already spoken my concerns would please
Speaker 2: my God? Suppose only twenty are found there.
Speaker 3: I will not destroy it on account of twenty.
Speaker 1: Abraham had traveled the length and breadth of Canaan for
Speaker 1: several years before finally settling in Hebron. In his wanderings,
Speaker 1: he met hostiles, of course, but mostly they were men
Speaker 1: and women who simply did not know his God. They
Speaker 1: did not know what was right and blindly deceived themselves
Speaker 1: into wickedness. Even before Canaan, the peoples of Haron and
Speaker 1: Or were similarly ensnared in their own sin and following
Speaker 1: false gods. Tears sprang to Abraham's eyes as he imagined
Speaker 1: a lonely future for himself and his family. Were they
Speaker 1: to be alone in pursuing righteousness while the world writhed
Speaker 1: in its deception and devious deeds in a place like Sodom,
Speaker 1: should even association with sinners be enough to condemn? Maybe
Speaker 1: even more were lost there than he knew. But for
Speaker 1: those who would stand strong, would such a minority of
Speaker 1: righteous people be enough to spare themselves from the judgment
Speaker 1: of the masses?
Speaker 2: My God, please do not be angry, but I will
Speaker 2: speak one final time. Suppose only ten are found there,
Speaker 2: I will not.
Speaker 3: Destroy it on account of ten.
Speaker 1: After Abraham's God departed to see about Sodom. Abraham walked
Speaker 1: for a long time on his own, processing what was
Speaker 1: to come. He knew his God was right in his
Speaker 1: authority and right in his judgment. But when he thought
Speaker 1: of those who were oppressed and abused by the wickedness
Speaker 1: of Sodom, for this was the need for justice, Abram
Speaker 1: had to acknowledge that his heart was still broken. It
Speaker 1: was complicated these feelings. Loving justice and having compassion was
Speaker 1: no easy task. He longed for a world in which
Speaker 1: everyone knew and understood what it was to walk the
Speaker 1: path of the righteous.
Speaker 3: He longed for a world in which.
Speaker 1: Everyone knew and understood his God. Abraham did not regret
Speaker 1: or question his decision to answer the call of his God.
Speaker 1: It was not always straightforward, but it was far better
Speaker 1: than anything else he had known. Abraham walked and walked
Speaker 1: until the early morning hours and wondered when judgment for
Speaker 1: soldom would come.
Speaker 4: Wow, what an incredible story. Here we have an ancient saga,
Speaker 4: a great man, the patriarch of the Jewish people, standing
Speaker 4: before God himself, the almighty creator of the universe, and
Speaker 4: the two haggle over human lives like they're in the
Speaker 4: shook in the marketplace in the Holy Land, battering over
Speaker 4: a produce or chotchkeiz. Abraham starts with fifty righteous people fifty,
Speaker 4: then he goes down to forty five, forty, thirty, twenty
Speaker 4: and finally hen But what gets me is how God responds.
Speaker 4: Because God that doesn't disregard what Abraham is saying. He's
Speaker 4: listening patiently and willingly. There's no smiting, no thunder from
Speaker 4: the heavens, there's no reprimand like an indigenan king or
Speaker 4: an impatient parent, No, Abraham doesn't find a distant, unapproachable deity,
Speaker 4: but a loving God, willing and needing and enjoying to engage.
Speaker 4: A God who hears the please of his people, A
Speaker 4: God who is open to conversation, even bargaining. A God
Speaker 4: who listens. And it makes me wonder how often do
Speaker 4: we think of God as someone who we can talk
Speaker 4: to like that? How often do we relate to God
Speaker 4: as someone who actually listens. This story shows us a
Speaker 4: God who values justice but is moved by compassion. The
Speaker 4: story also sets up the story of Jacob, which we'll
Speaker 4: soon hear, and its concept of wrestling with God. And
Speaker 4: this story also gives us the first prayer in the Bible.
Speaker 4: Of course, back in the story of Cain and Abel,
Speaker 4: we learned of the first prayer mentioned in the Bible.
Speaker 4: But here, as Abraham speaks to God, we read the
Speaker 4: first text of a prayer found in scripture. Let's take
Speaker 4: a look at Abraham's prayer. As this story begins, the
Speaker 4: cities of Sidom and Gamara are under judgment for their grievousins.
Speaker 4: But Abraham, our patriarch, the father of many nations, does
Speaker 4: something that we haven't explicitly seen someone do yet. Abraham
Speaker 4: prays to God. He steps forward, and he asks, will
Speaker 4: you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked. Abraham
Speaker 4: is not passive in this dialogue with God. He begins
Speaker 4: a negotiation, seeking mercy for the cities. If righteous people
Speaker 4: can be found within them, why should righteous people be
Speaker 4: penalized for the evil? He asks, Well, this is what
Speaker 4: he says in the scriptures. Suppose there are fifty righteous
Speaker 4: within the city. Will you then sweep away the place
Speaker 4: and not forgive it for the fifty righteous who are
Speaker 4: in it? Then the number drops forty five, forty, thirty, twenty,
Speaker 4: and finally ten. The first interesting insight that Jewish tradition
Speaker 4: gives us here is that it's okay to argue with God.
Speaker 4: In fact, doesn't that describe many of our prayers? We
Speaker 4: say to God, Hashim, I understand that this is your decree,
Speaker 4: but I'm asking you to change it. That's what prayer is,
Speaker 4: arguing with God. And the first time we see this
Speaker 4: is through Abraham right here. And even as we argue
Speaker 4: and plead in our prayers, God, with his infinite patience,
Speaker 4: listens just as he does here as Abraham in this story,
Speaker 4: Each time Abraham negotiates, God agrees, revealing a heart that
Speaker 4: tends towards mercy. Abram's prayers also teach us something else
Speaker 4: very important, the preciousness of human life. Abraham doesn't want
Speaker 4: to see human life destroyed, even those who did evil things,
Speaker 4: and he works actively to preserve life, to save lives.
Speaker 4: That's very similar to our call today. And after all
Speaker 4: of that, the negotiating, the back and forth, the divine communication,
Speaker 4: Abraham's prayer appears to go unanswered as a dome and
Speaker 4: Gemara are destroyed. Wouldn't it have been more I don't know,
Speaker 4: inspirational If this first prayer ever documented in the scriptures
Speaker 4: brought about a miracle. But you see, that's the lesson here.
Speaker 4: The lesson is that there's no such thing as an
Speaker 4: un answered prayer. God hears each and every one of
Speaker 4: our prayers, and he answers them at exactly the right time,
Speaker 4: in exactly the right way. Jewish tradition explains that Abraham's
Speaker 4: prayer was answered hundreds of years later when the Israelites
Speaker 4: were enslaved in Egypt. The people of Israel had descended
Speaker 4: to such a low spiritual level that they were barely
Speaker 4: worthy of God's salvation. And right then, hundreds of years later,
Speaker 4: and right then, hundreds of years later, it was Abraham's
Speaker 4: prayer that God saved. When he was praying for the
Speaker 4: wicked majority for the sake of the righteous minority. It
Speaker 4: was in this instant that God saw that prayer, saw
Speaker 4: what was happening to the Israelites in Egypt, and tapped
Speaker 4: into that prayer, answered it at last, exactly when it
Speaker 4: was needed. Even today, as I see the amazing miracles
Speaker 4: that hasm continues to do for Israel and the Jewish
Speaker 4: people every single day, I think about all of the
Speaker 4: prayers of the Jewish people over millennia, those prayers which
Speaker 4: very well might have seemed to go unanswered for so long,
Speaker 4: through enslavement and exiles, through progromes and persecution, are being
Speaker 4: answered today in just the right way, in just the
Speaker 4: right time. No matter how many times I hear Israel's
Speaker 4: national anthem called hatikva i moved. I've lived here for
Speaker 4: twenty years, and every time I hear children, soldiers, families
Speaker 4: at any event, the singing of hatikva i cry, these
Speaker 4: are the final words of the national anthem. We have
Speaker 4: not lost our two thousand year old hope to be
Speaker 4: a free nation in our homeland. In Hebrew odlo avdatik vaateno.
Speaker 4: This reminds me that my life here in the Holy Land,
Speaker 4: my children's lives here in the Holy Land, is the
Speaker 4: answer to millions of prayers over thousands of years of exile.
Speaker 4: My children were blessed to be born in the sovereign
Speaker 4: state of Israel. That's the answer to my ancestors prayers.
Speaker 4: And how powerful is that prayer is powerful? Prayer is heard,
Speaker 4: not a single word of prayer is wasted, and every
Speaker 4: single prayer to God brings blessings and miracles and hopes
Speaker 4: into the world. Maybe not in the way we would
Speaker 4: expect to see it, but according to God's perfect plan. Now,
Speaker 4: for a Christian perspective finding shadows of the Gospel in
Speaker 4: Abraham's story is Bishop Paul Linier.
Speaker 5: And now we come to one of the most fascinating
Speaker 5: passages of scripture you could ever find in your Bible,
Speaker 5: in the Hebrew scriptures, all the Christian scriptures. This person
Speaker 5: or angel or theophony says that the stench of Solom's
Speaker 5: sin has reached heaven and he has come personally to
Speaker 5: deal with it and to address it. Abraham steps into
Speaker 5: one of the most astounding conversations to be found in
Speaker 5: all the Bible, and he moves from this navigating discerning
Speaker 5: to actually negotiating with God about the salvation of a city.
Speaker 5: But why why is Abraham so concerned about what happens
Speaker 5: to that city? Well, you know the answers because his
Speaker 5: nephew Lot and his family live in that city. And
Speaker 5: this person, this angel or theophany of God asks Abraham,
Speaker 5: do you want me to hide from you, Abraham, what
Speaker 5: I'm about to do? Would you like for me to
Speaker 5: judge them without you fully knowing what's going on? This
Speaker 5: is absolutely astounding. Why would God consult Abraham about the
Speaker 5: life of death or the future of a city. It's
Speaker 5: because in the heart of God he's already given that
Speaker 5: space to Abraham. He's already devid it to him. So
Speaker 5: what you're witnessing here is God is consulted the owner.
Speaker 5: Wow Neighbraham asks the Lord, Almighty God.
Speaker 6: If there's fifty if there's fifty righteous souls living in
Speaker 6: that city, are you really going to judge them? Can
Speaker 6: you really destroy everything if there's fifty righteous souls yet
Speaker 6: living in that space? And God says no, if there's
Speaker 6: fifty righteous people living in that city, I will withhold judgment.
Speaker 5: But the conversation's not over, and Abraham knows it there's
Speaker 5: not fifty righteous so he whittles away. What about forty five?
Speaker 5: What about forty five?
Speaker 3: God?
Speaker 5: What if there's forty five righteous souls living in that city?
Speaker 5: Are you really going to destroy it? God says no,
Speaker 5: there's forty five.
Speaker 3: What about thirty souls?
Speaker 5: Gott what about twenty souls? And he keeps whittling because
Speaker 5: it becomes obvious there's not forty five or forty or
Speaker 5: thirty or twenty righteous souls till we get to this
Speaker 5: number of ten righteous people. You know, that's a big point.
Speaker 5: I'm talking right now, probably to thousands of souls. And
Speaker 5: you're concerned about your city. God says something profound here,
Speaker 5: and that is he will spare a city, a wretched place,
Speaker 5: a hopeless place. Seemingly he will withhold judgment for the
Speaker 5: sake of ten righteous people. Wow, that speaks to you
Speaker 5: and speaks to me. But why ten? Why is that
Speaker 5: that number? For God? Have you ever been in an
Speaker 5: airport and perhaps you saw an Orthodox Jewish man standing there,
Speaker 5: and he gets up, and perhaps see he makes eye
Speaker 5: contact with someone else who is obviously Orthodox, and may
Speaker 5: tap another on the shoulder, And before long they start
Speaker 5: getting in a little group. And before long you see
Speaker 5: others who are not dressed in an Orthodox way, but
Speaker 5: they must be Jewish because they're joining this conversation. And
Speaker 5: before long they have at least ten adults coming together.
Speaker 5: And it's a minion, it is a congregation, it is
Speaker 5: a quorum. That's what's required for a certain prayer to
Speaker 5: be offered unto the Lord. And you see that that
Speaker 5: same thing in the Book of Numbers, chapter fourteen, where
Speaker 5: Moses sent twelve spies into the land of Canaan. But
Speaker 5: ten of them come back with a faithless report. But
Speaker 5: that ten, that word there is the same. It is.
Speaker 5: It is a numerical equation here and it is a quorum,
Speaker 5: a congregation. And here was his last hope. What if
Speaker 5: there's ten people, Oh God, what if this ten righteous
Speaker 5: in that city? Will you spare it? Abraham realized there
Speaker 5: weren't even enough people there to form the smallest unit
Speaker 5: or congregation of faith, and he humbly stepped back and
Speaker 5: bowed to the judgment of God. Oh this hurts, this
Speaker 5: is painful. But I'm believing God is going to use
Speaker 5: you strategically to be part of a ten, a righteous
Speaker 5: ten that can cause the heavens to be withheld in
Speaker 5: its judgment, and that the grace of God, the power
Speaker 5: of God, the mercies of God will be extended, and
Speaker 5: that hearts and lives will change and turn to know
Speaker 5: the one God of the one Israel, and it's one
Speaker 5: capital city of Jerusalem.
Speaker 4: Abraham's prayer teaches us to be open and honest to God,
Speaker 4: to speak to him respectfully but like a friend, to
Speaker 4: share our hearts with him. We can come to him
Speaker 4: with our deepest concerns and our boldest requests. We don't
Speaker 4: need to hold back. Abraham didn't. He stood before God
Speaker 4: and pleaded for mercy, showing a bold faith, showing God
Speaker 4: that he is a man who cherishes righteousness.
Speaker 1: God likes that.
Speaker 4: He wants our prayers to be bold, and our prayers
Speaker 4: can be bold. That boldness shows our trust in God.
Speaker 4: The God who listened to Abraham is the same God
Speaker 4: who listens to us. Let me conclude with the blessing
Speaker 4: to you. May the Lord bless you and keep you.
Speaker 4: May the Lord make his face shine upon you. May
Speaker 4: he be gracious to you. May the Lord turn his
Speaker 4: face towards you and give you peace.
Speaker 2: Amen.
Speaker 1: You can listen to the Chosen People with the Isle
Speaker 1: Eckstein add free by downloading and subscribing to the Prey
Speaker 1: dot Com app today. This Prey dot Com production is
Speaker 1: only made possible by our dedicated team of creative talents.
Speaker 1: Steve Katina, Max Bard, Zach Shellabarger and Ben Gammon are
Speaker 1: the executive producers of the Chosen People with Yile Eckstein.
Speaker 1: Edited by Alberto Avilla, narrated by Paul Caltefianu. Characters are
Speaker 1: voiced by Jonathan Cotton, Aaron Salvato, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan,
Speaker 1: Stephen Ringwold, Sylvia Zaradoc and the opening prayer is voiced
Speaker 1: by John Moore. Music by Andrew Morgan Smith, written by
Speaker 1: Bree Rosalie and Aaron Salvato. Special thanks to Bishop Paulinier,
Speaker 1: Robin van Ettin, Kayleb Burrows, Jocelyn Fuller, and the team
Speaker 1: at International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. You can hear
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