”Trading the City for the Kingdom” // Genesis 19 // Lakeview Bible Church

Uh if I haven't had the chance to meet

you, my name is James. I serve here as

our student ministry pastor. I apologize

in advance. Uh last weekend we hosted

our first ever student spring retreat.

It's great. Yeah.

Um not so great is a lot of us caught

colds out of the retreat. So uh you hear

sniffling and coughing. That's uh that's

the backstory there.

Do you know the most optimistic lie that

we tell ourselves?

I'll tell you here in a minute. But

before I do, I want to set this up with

a little bit of a personal experience

that happened to me recently. So, this

was a couple months back. I had my list,

this is Saturday morning, my list of

to-dos, right? which means that you have

to start the day off with a trip to

Lowe's. So, I'm at Lowe's. It's 8 in the

morning. I've got my list. I'm laser

focused, right? I've got to get all of

this stuff done. I've got all my items.

I'm leaving the store.

And as I'm leaving, I see a site

that uh causes anybody

to pause.

Get your Girl Scout cookies here. Now, I

don't know who's in charge of the

marketing team for the Girl Scouts, but

whoever they are is really good at their

job because outside of Lowe's at 8:00

a.m. in the morning, there is a line of

people seeking to buy their favorite

wafers of Thin Mint Temptations or

whatever the Girl Scouts sell.

And I'll tell you, in the moment, I was

good. I wasn't there for the Girl Scout

cookies. I was there for other things.

And my goal was to get home.

And in that moment, I I left thinking to

myself, you know what? Each and every

one of these people is going to tell

themselves the most optimistic lie.

And the lie is this.

I'll just have one.

And then when we cave to that lie, well,

I'll just have one more.

Now, you might be saying, "James, how on

earth could you know that? That seems

really judgmental of you. Like, you're

assuming all of these things." Yes.

Why would I assume that? Well, because

prior to coming to Lowe's, I had stopped

by HB.

And one of the unplanned purchases

at HB was a pack of the Kebler fudge

striped cookies, which now sitting in

the passenger seat of my vehicle. And

the whole time that I'm in Lowe's, I'm

thinking, "All right, I've got to get my

things. I got to get to my car. And on

the drive home, I'll just have one."

I think I ate half the pack between

Lowe's and home because you just can't

have one. And if you are that person

that can just have one, what I would

invite you to do is please email us, the

staff here at Lake View Bible, because

we would love to know how you can

exercise that much self-control,

and we'll build an entire sermon series

from self-control based on that.

Now, why do I share this?

Because

today, we're going to look at Genesis

19. We've been walking through the book

of Genesis each week focusing on a

different chapter. And this morning in

Genesis 19, it's really a narrative that

that in part focuses on this mindset of

just one more decisions,

right? And even beyond the the just one

more decisions, it's it's a warning to

to us the reader that what happens when

we make allowances and we begin to think

along these lines of it's just one more

just one more

what happens and what takes place. And

this narrative in Genesis 19 is it

focuses on Lot and his family. And it it

confronts the lie

that we can manage sin without it

shaping and molding who we are. And in

that it's it invites us to receive God's

rescuing mercy before sin consumes us.

And so before we get into the text, I I

want to set it up a little bit. Maybe

you've been uh a part of this series and

and And you know, but this last uh last

week, we talked through Genesis chapter

Genesis 18 · chapter mention

18 and just prior to this account that

we're about to read. And in Genesis 18,

there are three visitors that appear to

both Abraham and Sarah. And we know that

one of these visitors is the Lord. And

in this exchange that happens between

these three visitors and Sarah and

Abraham,

the promise is given and reminded that

Sarah is going to give birth to a son.

Now, this is pretty significant because

we know that Sarah is advanced in years

and and by all means, it seems to be an

impossible um impossible thing. And and

so this is obviously met with laughter

and and and pessimism, but in that

there's a reminder that God is true to

his word and his promises

remain.

And so then at the end of chapter 18, we

see this exchange that happens that

basically God uh tells Abraham there's

destruction coming to Sodom and Gomorrah

because these cities are um are

corrupted. They're evil. They have zero

righteousness in them. And then there's

this petition that goes on between

Abraham and uh and God. Abraham is

saying, "Well, God, would you spare the

city for the sake of 30?" And he he he

works down in this negotiating down to

um for the sake of 10. And God agrees to

this. And and even in this, it seems

like an impossible scenario given how

immoral Sodom was.

And then here in 19, chapter 19, the

Bible shifts focus and and uh it shifts

it back on to Lot. And it's almost one

of those things like if you've watched a

TV show and you're introduced to a

character in season 1 and then that

character kind of goes away and then

season 3 rolls around and they he comes

back and you're like, I forgot all about

this character. It's kind of what

happens here in Genesis 19 with Lot. The

narrative picks up in in in 19 verse1

and and we're going to we're not going

to be able to read the entirety of the

chapter, but I want to focus on a few

key sections of this. And I would

encourage you to to read this uh the ent

the chapter in its entirety uh on your

own later. But in verse one, it says

this. The two angels came to Sodom in

the evening, and Lot was sitting in the

gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he

rose to meet them and bowed himself with

his face to the earth and said, "My

lords, please turn aside to your

servants's house and spend the night and

wash your feet." Then you may rise up

early and go on your way. They said,

"No, we will spend the night in the town

square." But he pressed them strongly,

so they turned aside to him and entered

his house. And he made them a feast and

baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

Pause there.

Now I I want to focus on something a

shift that has happened here. We read

previously the last time we read about

Lot was in uh chapters 13 and 14. And

what's recorded in chapters 13 and 14 of

Genesis is that Lot uh had settled near

the city of Sodom. He was given the

choice of of Abraham which land to take

and and Lot chose the land that was

fertile and he settled near Sodom. But

here in 19, we see this interesting

shift because no longer is he just near

the city of Sodom, but he is now

comfortably within the city.

And and this the setting here right at

the beginning of the chapter takes us

directly into Sodom and and specifically

of the gates of Sodom. Why?

Well, the gate of ancient cities was

perhaps one of the most important

locations of the city during times of

war. It was a means of protection. It

offered obviously a line of defense

against attackers. But during times of

peace, it was equally important because

it really served as a location in which

people coming and going could be

monitored and and tracked and and they

could see whether it was friend or foe

that was attempting to enter into the

city. and and and based upon uh

archaeological records of of surrounding

cities and similar cities, uh more than

likely what was happening here was was a

series of of chambers. It wasn't just

one single gate, but it was a series of

chambers in which people would come and

and there would be holding areas and

while people were processed. And so,

think of it in terms of today of like a

modern port of entry.

And due to all the traffic that's

passing through the gate, it it really

became kind of this natural place for uh

public life to happen. So there would be

disputes settled within the city gates.

There would be uh the place where elders

and city officials met. There would be

dis um there would be uh business

contracts and and property transfers

that would take place. It was uh more or

less kind of like a town's courthouse

and and council chambers and

marketplace. And so you see you get this

this image of this very uh busy hustling

and bustling location of of the city

gates.

Why is this important?

Well, because Lot's position at the city

gate indicates something very very

important.

It it it denotes a position of of of

leadership and a large degree of

integration within sodomite society.

You see, to sit at the gate, it's not uh

in the near ancient world, near ancient

east world, it's not just this this

posture of loafing about.

It really was a position that was

reserved as a spot of honor for the

highest officials and kind of the elite

members within society.

So we look at this and we simply can

conclude that Lot was fully embedded

into Sodom.

He had built a life there. He had leaned

into all that Sodom had offered. From an

outsider looking in, if you were just to

remove all the other factors into it,

from an outsider looking in, Lot really

he had a comfortable life. He had built

himself uh a comfortable life, a house

in the city, a family integrated into

sodomite uh social circles. His

daughters uh were engaged to sodomite

men.

Lot himself had a leadership position of

of honor and dignity within the city.

And so again, to the eye of an outsider,

Lot had it. He had it all. And it's

against this backdrop that the Bible

tells us that two angels arrive in Sodom

and and they passed through the gates.

And really, their mission, their

intention was simple. It was to bring

God's judgment and to bring Lot and his

family out of the city of Sodom and

rescue them from impending destruction.

And due to his position at at the gate,

Lot was able to recognize the strangers

and greet them with the custom uh

hospitality of the culture and of the

era. Now in this we see that Lot

couldn't claim ignorance to the

practices of Sodom because he warns

these men whose plan these two angels

whose plan was to spend the night in the

city square saying hey don't do that bad

things will happen.

See, we know that Sodom is synonymous

with all sorts of evil and lentiousness

and just depravity, unrighteousness.

And so, in these first three verses, we

see the subtlety. Genesis traces Lot's

drift, right? Again, from choosing the

the land that was well watered, the land

that was prosperous to setting up his

tents just outside the city to now

he's inside. He's integrated. He's

influential. He's comfortable. And to be

honest with you, he's got a lot to lose.

And so we pause there and and if you're

anything like me, I read this and think

to myself, how could Lot fall into this

trap, right? Knowing what he knew,

living in the city and even warn

strangers about the evil that will

become upon them, befall upon them if

they uh participate in the plans that

they're of spending the night in the

square. How could Lot fall into this

trap?

How could he uh how could he fall prey

to this? But then when you stop and you

consider it against the backdrop of our

society in in 2026

and really how close we are to Sodom in

many ways. A lot of the things that were

celebrated and practiced in Sodom, we

see celebrated and practiced in our

society today. When we look at that

backdrop, we realize how easy it is to

fall into a similar mindset.

Last year there was uh kind of dramatic

footage. I think it's dramatic because

if it were me, I would not be happy

about this, but uh in in the Outer Banks

of

North Carolina, there was these uh

dramatic videos or photos like this of

uh houses that were collapsing into the

ocean.

And you look at that and and I don't

really know much about North Carolina,

the Outer Banks, but my first thought is

like, why on earth would you build a

house right next to the water?

It's fair. I've never been to the Outer

Banks, but then you uh did a little

research and looking into it and and it

turns out that these houses were never

built where they appear to be at the

moment. They were never built next to

the edge of the water. Many of these

houses go back being built 30, 40 years

ago. And when they were built, they were

originally built hundreds, if not, you

know, thousand feet from the edge of the

water.

Now, the issue though is is where they

built in the Outer Banks. It's on a

barrier island. It's it's more or less

just a giant sandbar. And so with the

the tides and with time and with

changing landscapes, these houses that

once sat so far away from the water now

found themselves next to the ocean. And

the issue of collapsing then was

exasperated last year with some storms

that came through and lent itself to now

seeing these dramatic photos and these

dramatic images and videos of these big,

beautiful houses being swept into the

ocean.

And I look at that and I think, man,

this this creates a powerful

illustration of how this can be true in

our lives if we're not mindful,

right? And I'll give you an example of

how this could relate to uh to our lives

personally, right? Maybe it's that job,

right? And and it starts off, well, I I

need this job. This is good for my

career. This is good for my family.

There's all kinds of really legitimate

reasons of why this job is good. But

there's a couple things maybe with this

job. It's like I don't agree with the

values of the company or maybe there's

some practices that that don't align

with biblical values or or what the

righteousness that we're called to walk

in. But you know what? It's just easier

to stay silent. I I need this and and

and to ignore my convictions rather than

to jeopardize this opportunity.

You can live in that long enough and and

and and keep your head down long enough

and and kind of ignore the convictions

and then it comes time to Well, it's

time to rise up within the company.

There's a promotion on the line and so,

you know, maybe I'm going to have to now

take a more active role in looking the

other way. And and and I still, you

know, I still kind of believe this over

here, but this is what's good for my

career. This is what's good for the

opportunity.

Compromise after compromise. And then it

becomes, well, this is my network. This

is who I am. This this is my identity

and my platform.

Again, he didn't set out to compromise,

but like the changing landscape of of

the ocean,

he wanted to belong and compromise came

along with it. And I think what this

this uh this narrative should cause each

of us to do is to ask a couple of

diagnostic questions.

The first being is is looking at our

lives. Is is there an area where I have

moved

from near to the inside?

Is there an area in my life where I've

moved near from near to the inside? Now,

I'm not talking about geographically.

I'm talking about devotionally, right?

Are there things that I never really set

out to do or or I thought I would just

live kind of adjacent to it, but now I

find myself actually fully embedded in

this. I find myself fully embracing

this.

And the second question is is what

environments

are shaping my reflexes,

right? Is is it the is it scripture? Is

it is it devotion to God's word? Or is

it, if I'm being honest, is it the

city's metrics? Is it the status? Is it

the image? Is it the comfort? Is it the

winning?

What's shaping

my reflexes? Now, I understand that

these might be hard questions to to

wrestle with because more than likely

they come with a certain degree of uh

correction that we might need to make in

our lives.

And and I'll acknowledge something else.

I think there's a temptation when we we

read scripture and specifically here in

Genesis 19 is we can look at Lot and

say, you know what, as long as I don't

do what Lot did, um then I'll be good.

And and and you know, so if I look at

the life of Abraham and I did all the

good that Abraham did, then I'll be

good. And the problem with that thinking

is then we reduce our uh relationship

with the Lord just to a list of dos and

don'ts. And the posture in that rather

should be okay there's some things that

Lot uh stepped into. There's some

lifestyle choices that Lot made that we

should uh take some caution from but our

source of inspiration should not be in

Lot and Abraham in these figures

throughout scripture. Our source of

inspiration

should be in Christ.

I mean after all Christ was the

imperfect embodiment of this. He himself

was in the world like Lot was but what

yet was without sin. And so Christ is

the example and and Jesus balanced

really his purity amidst his proximity

to the world. And this really gives us a

helpful way to think about this tension.

So we have on these two axes right of

purity and proximity knowing Jesus

balanced this perfectly. But these two

axes of purity and proximity, they

create four possible postures that

Christians can take towards culture. And

I I think this visual really helps us

understand how we can be among culture

but not embedded within it. The first

posture, and I'll I'll say this, this

kind of feels like out of the gate,

okay, this feels like a natural posture,

but it's the posture of isolation. And

again, it seems appropriate at a glance.

How do we preserve holiness? where we

preserve holiness by simply separating

ourselves from the world and we maintain

our side and their sides over there. And

you know we could look to first

Corinthians and say well the Bible says

that bad company corrupts good character

and so if we just simply retreat and we

simply isolate then that is the healthy

posture that we should take. The problem

with that is that when we isolate

ourselves, we separate ourselves,

we not only separate ourselves from the

sinner, but we also or the sin, but we

separate ourselves from the sinner.

We lose the mission of the church, the

commission that Jesus has given you and

I to make disciples.

And so the posture of isolation can't be

one that we adopt, right? We can't just

redee uh retreat further and further

into you know uh subcultures of like or

just if we can just circle the wagons

we'll all be good

which brings us to the extreme in the

other direction right this posture of

accommodation

and if you're a people pleaser this

might be something that that you wrestle

with because the posture of

accommodation it it seems at a surface

level and I'm going to put this in heavy

quotations to keep the peace

right say well you know what Um, I I'm

might have to compromise or I might have

to accommodate a little bit about what I

believe in order to to live in in in

proximity with the people around me. And

and the problem when proximity is

untethered from purity is that the

church

is shaped by culture. We become shaped

by culture. And I'll contend that this

is the position that Lot sat in.

While it may preserve, and I'll put that

again in quotations, preserve

relationship, it erodess our identity in

Christ. And so both when both proximity

and purity are lost, you can find

yourself in this posture of compromise.

And in in compromise, faith becomes

privatized. It becomes culturally

absorbed. The biblical convictions no

longer shape uh visible life. And and

there's really little to no effort to

reach others.

And at the end of the day, there's no

conflict with culture because there's

really no difference between it. And

again, this is arguably one of the most

dangerous positions that we can find

ourselves in. Why? Because it feels

normal.

Now, despite these three, what we are

ultimately called into

is this posture being a faithful

witness. This is the pattern that Jesus

embodied so well through his life and

through his ministry. We are called to

be rooted in holiness while living

relationally and intentionally among

those who do not share our faith.

We're called to to live out with moral

conviction.

We're we're called to to cultivate

genuine friendships. Now, is this going

to create points where there are

uncomfortable moments? Yeah, probably.

Is it going to put us in a position

where we might have to speak up for

biblical values when we're the odd one

out? 100%.

So, there's some wrestling that we have

to do internally. And and I would I

would challenge each of us to really

think about what posture do I find

myself in

repeatedly.

And then beyond that as we think

outwardly,

who is the person or the group of people

that I am being faithful witness to?

Identify those people and be intentional

towards them.

You know, Lot had chosen a life of

accommodation within Sodom. But

interestingly enough, if you look in the

New Testament, he's actually counted as

being righteous.

And the angels came to bring destruction

upon the city. But they also showed

God's grace and redemption to Lot and

his family. It says in verse 15, "As

morning dawned, the angels

urged Lot, saying up, take your wife and

your two daughters who are here, lest

you be swept away in the punishment of

the city." But he lingered. So the men

seized him and his wife and his two

daughters by the hand. The Lord being

merciful to him, and they brought him

out and set him outside the city. And as

they brought them out, one said, "Escape

for your life. Do not look back. Do not

stop anywhere in the valley. Escape the

hills, lest you be swept away."

Now destruction was was coming to the

city, and the instruction was to flee.

Do not look back. Do not turn back.

And Lot in this moment in his

desperation, what he does, it's similar

to Abraham, is he uh petitions the

angels to allow him and his family to

escape to a nearby city by the name of

Zor. and and and the deal was made that

the destruction of of Sodom and Gomorrah

would not occur until Lot and his family

were safely settled within the city of

Zor. And and and this is where as we

read this, the Bible doesn't tell us

specifically, but I challenge you to

think about the emotion

behind their flight.

You know, I think often times uh if if

you're anything like me, we can read

scripture and and forget about the

emotions

that are there.

The emotions that that what the

wrestlings that that these figures in

these these narratives were going

through.

You know, I have I have no doubt that

each and every one of them and Lot's

family struggled

with what was happening. But Lot's wife

perhaps the hardest. You know, for her,

Sodom represented a lot of things. In

fact, it's it's it's speculated, the

Bible doesn't tell specifically, but

it's speculated that because chapter 19

is the first time we hear of Lot's wife,

that perhaps she herself was a Sodomite

born and raised in Sodom. And even if

that is not the case for Lot's wife,

Sodom represented a lot of things,

right? It represented security,

familiarity. It represented friendships.

It represented family. It represented

comfort. It represented status. All of

the things that she had built her life

around.

And so to Lot's wife leaving

felt like dying.

I I can imagine just the memory real

that was going through her mind

after mile as they're leaving Sodom. to

the reality that their life is about to

completely change.

And the text tells us in verse 26, it

says, "But Lot's wife behind them looked

back. She became a pillar of salt."

I over the years have thought, man, is

that all it took? Just a simple look

back.

even if that's was the case,

she was disobedient to what God had

commanded her to do.

But if you were to look at the the term

look back in the Hebrew, it actually is

it's a little bit more significant

because in the Hebrew it this this term,

it means to look intently, to gaze upon.

And so there there seems to be a

psychological gesture that is taking

place here in in chapter 19. Lot's wife

is she's not merely looking back just to

gauge her u like her escape. She is

looking back because she longs to be

back in Sodom.

Despite all the wickedness, despite all

the evil, despite all of the depravity,

Lot's wife couldn't escape the pole of

Sodom. And the consequence was death.

It's interesting. Um,

every year along the US coast,

experienced swimmers are caught in rip

tides or rip currents.

I don't swim in the ocean. Too many

things out there that'll get you.

So, I'm relying sheerely on research at

this point.

I would rather stand in line at the DMV

than swim in the ocean.

But these these rip currents, they're

very dangerous because there's these

powerful narrow channels of water and

they change speed and direction

constantly and and they can change

intensity and and so when caught in

these rip currents again reading

reports, the instinct is to fight

against the current, right? To swim back

to shore. I'm getting swept out and so

I'm going to swim towards shore. The

problem with that is you won't beat the

current and what you'll do is end up

depleting all your energy trying to

fight the current. And so what

lifeguards teach is actually something

that seems counterintuitive.

They say don't fight the current

rather you should swim away from the

current. So swim parallel to the shore.

And I think this paints an illustration

of of what certainly what was happening

with Lot's wife. This was her issue. The

pole was and she moved towards the pole.

And was it the desire to return to Sodom

that killed her? No. It was that return

back

to Sodom. That longing gaze, the

disobedience. She couldn't fight the

pole. And so, we must be aware of the

pole. Why? Because the pole was fatal.

So, what's the poll for us? What does

looking back translate to in our world?

Well, simply put, I think sometimes the

poll is just it's simply sin, right? God

said, "Don't do it. I want to do it."

You do it and it's sinful. That's the

pole. Goes against the heart of God.

Other times,

it comes less is crude temptations, but

more is what I would call disordered

attachments.

What do I mean by disordered

attachments? Well, things that aren't

necessarily evil themselves, but can

become spiritually dangerous and be can

become sinful when they competes with

our obedience to God.

I'll give you an example.

Missing church for a season, right?

Because of legitimate reasons. It could

be life happens, family issues happens,

sports happens, travel happens, all of

these things, work happens.

And is it that in itself sinful? No. But

it can become sinful when it causes you

to fall into this disordered attachment

of of forsaking the church in the long

term.

Clearly a a command in which we've been

given, right, to not forsake the

gathering.

So, knowing that the poll is is is

fatal, how do we resist the poll? How do

we resist? Well, again, I think we start

by asking ourselves some honest and some

diagnostic questions.

What constantly displaces worship

in scripture in my life?

What do I protect most aggressively?

Is it things related to my holiness or

is it things related to lifestyle?

And then you know what am I calling a

busy season that actually might if I'm

being honest become a settled pattern.

You see, I think doing internal audits

really help us see where the pull

towards sin is happening in our lives.

And it then allows us to make

adjustments accordingly.

And perhaps this week there's some

adjusting that that each of us needs to

do, right? And I would challenge you in

in three ways. Some adjustments that can

be made, right? Audit your your calendar

and your bank account. Why? Because we

know that the way that we spend our

time, the way that we spend our

resources is a very good indication of

of what has first claim on our

priorities and what has first claim on

our heart,

time and resources.

So do an audit. Where where is my time

going? Where's my money going? What am I

prioritizing? What has first claim on my

heart? Reestablish

the non-negotiable spiritual anchors in

your life. being in the word

consistently, being in prayer

consistently, praying with your spouse

daily,

being in in in in a men's group, in a

women's group, being in Sunday worship,

all of these things. Make it fixed, not

flexible.

And the last thing is is we have to

invite people to ask the hard questions

to ask where is the pull happening in

your life?

How are you spending your time and your

resources? What are your priorities?

Things to help keep us biblically

anchored. You see, the pull towards the

things of the world is strong. Even when

it's subtle, it's strong.

And the stakes are too high.

The stakes are too high. There's a theme

through 19, verse chapter 19 that we

cannot ignore,

and that's God's judgment.

The stakes are high.

God

cannot tolerate sin. There has to be

punishment for sin.

Lot's wife experienced that punishment.

She looked back and it cost her

everything. And while Lot and his

daughters escaped the judgment of Sodom,

the effects of life in Sodom had lasting

consequences.

Verse 30, it says this. Now Lot went out

of Zor and lived in the hills with his

two daughters, for he was afraid to live

in Zor. So he lived in a cave with his

two daughters. And the firstborn said to

the younger, "Our father is old, and

there is not a man on earth to come into

us after the manner of all the earth.

Come, let us make our father drink wine,

and we will lie with him that we may

preserve

offspring from our father.

Man, here we see the continued effect

that Sodom

had not on Lot's not only on Lot's wife,

but on his family, on his lineage, on

his daughters.

You know, it's crazy to me is that they

had just witnessed God's judgment,

literally fire and sulfur coming from

heaven and consuming these cities. They

had seen that firsthand.

And yet,

seeing that and knowing the depravity of

all that was going on in Sodom,

it continued to govern the decision that

Lot's family made.

And now, while their actions in the

moment are certainly detestable,

there would also be generational fallout

that that took place as well. The

children that were born from these uh

incestuous relationships would end up

becoming the forefathers to the the

Moabitete and the Ammonite nations. uh

both who were persistent enemies of

Israel and and the lineage of of

Abraham. And so these would be continued

problems that would occur from the

decisions that were made. But the point

with Lot's daughters is not really their

reason, as detestable as that is, but it

points the reality that what a culture

normalizes

becomes a family's reflex.

make it more specific. What a family's

culture normalizes

becomes a family's reflex.

One of the most entertaining things to

me,

I don't know, I'm maybe I'm just too

easily entertained, but

sitting at an airport,

maybe not right now if you've seen the

videos of the Austin airport currently,

but sitting at an airport

and people watching.

You guys have done this before.

It's particularly funny to me and

entertaining is watching

what happens

uh when the boarding process occurs

because we know that it's always said

family is the most important thing.

But somehow that seems to go out the

window when boarding takes place.

Why? Because what happens? you're

sitting there,

you've the boarding numbers get called

and what happens? People put away their

laptops. They're pulling out their their

boarding passes. They're putting out

their identification. All these things

and and what all the meanwhile the kids

are just like running around trying to

keep up and it's like this frantic

panic.

It's funny to me because in the moments

of pressure, we we truly value

um what we truly value gets protected

automatically.

And In the same manner, our our our

children and our families learn what

matters by watching which commitments

become non-negotiable.

See, biblical leadership in the home is

formation. It's it's not just merely

provision.

The sad truth is that you can give your

family a beautiful life and still give

them Sodom's world view.

You know, I've I've worked many years in

full-time student ministry in the past

15 years. And and for me, this isn't

just a talking point.

It really isn't because I've witnessed

both sides of this. witnessed what

happens when when when families don't

prioritize this.

When foundations aren't made, biblical

foundations aren't elevated

and the priorities simply just become

the whims of the schedule or the whims

of culture.

What happens nine times out of 10, and I

don't ever want to put God in into a box

and say what always happens this way

because God is is bigger than all

things. There's there's grace, there's

redemption, all these things. But what

happens nine times out of 10 in those

situations is

students as soon as they leave high

school,

they waver.

There's no foundation that's ever been

laid. And on the flip side of it, when

you see families that have prioritized

this and they do it well, they don't do

it perfect, but they do it well and they

do it to the best of their effort, what

happens nine times out of 10 is is those

students really go on to that's a value

to see that those foundations matter.

And they go on to get grounded and

rooted in in the church, but equally

importantly, more importantly, in the

word of God.

And so, I I look this stat up from time

to time because I I have this hope that

it changes.

In fact, it it hasn't ch it's changed.

It's gotten worse. But the current stat

is that anywhere from there's a little

bit of a range, but 70 to 88%

of students will walk away from the

church when they leave high school.

88%.

The stakes are high.

The stakes are so high.

We should all wse at that. Why? because

they're not just walking away from the

church, but they're walking away from

the foundation. They're walking away

from the anchor point and they're going

into a world where we know that there is

an enemy who's prowling like a lion

seeking to devour and to destroy. Not

just this passive posture saying, well,

you know what? If I get them, I get

them. No. Actively hunting, stalking,

seeking to destroy. That is the

environment in which 88% of of adults

enter into life at 18 years old are

walking away from

the stakes are high.

The foundation that that you are laying

today and I'm not just talking to

parents because I think this trickles

down to to grandparents. This trickles

out to aunts and to uncles to brothers

and to sisters nieces and nephews.

the foundations that you were laying

today have a direct impact on your kids

and on your family.

You might be thinking one of two things.

Like one, I'm I'm doing this. I'm laying

a solid foundation. I'm doing these

things to the best of my ability. And I

would say great, don't stray the course.

Keep after it. It might feel like you're

the odd man out, but don't stray the

course. The stakes are too high.

They're too high.

You might be on the other side of I

mean, I don't This is all sounds good.

This all sounds really important, but I

don't know where to begin. This is such

a big task. What if I do more damage

than I do good?

Can I encourage you? It it doesn't start

with this uh this put together process.

It starts with your relationship

with the Lord. Your own foundation, your

own faith walk is the foundation of

where you start.

And the more that you lean into to that,

the more that ripple effect

occurs to your family and to the

generations beyond.

Your own faith walk is the foundation

where you start. And the other reality

is is that individuals

can't stand up to culture alone.

We can't stand up to culture alone.

We need

the church. This is one of the reasons

like at Lakeview we emphasize

all of these things. Why we emphasize

men's groups, why we emphasize women's

groups and student and uh kids ministry

and we do retreats and we do conferences

and all these things. Why is it because

that you need more to do? Absolutely

not. We know that you have more to do

than you have time to do. But it's that

important. The stakes are too high.

I want to end this morning by

acknowledging

that there might be some here

that have never confessed their sin and

called on Jesus as their Lord and

Savior. And you might be sitting here

this morning thinking, man, I don't know

if any of this relates to me. I'm not

even on the same playing field. Am I in

the right spot? Can I tell you, you're

exactly

where you need to be.

And I love this this chapter because

there's some very difficult things in

there. There's some really difficult

themes and some really difficult uh

pieces that that takes explaining,

but it exposes some things. It exposes

that that that sin cannot be managed.

Sin consumes and it consumes fully. And

it also exposes the fact that God's

judgment is real and is necessary. I

know that's not necessarily a popular

message, but his judgment is necessary.

And and if we look at that and we know

that and we look at Lot's life and again

our our posture shouldn't be to say,

"Well, let's just do what he did good

and not do what he did bad." But because

Lot in this story is not the hero. He's

not heroic. He hesitates. He leads his

family poorly.

Yet God rescues anyways.

What truth does this communicate to each

and every one of us? It communicates

that redemption is not based on merits.

There is nothing that you can do.

There's nothing that I can do. There's

no amount of righteousness

that can earn redemption. It's not

merit. It is mercy.

And it's easy to read Genesis 19 and end

this and say, "Wow, God brought judgment

on these cities. God brought judgment on

Sodom and Gomorrah.

What the New Testament tells us is that

there is a judgment coming to all

cities, to all people.

And in in in Genesis 19, we see here

where God pulls someone, Lot and his

family out of the fire. But in the

gospel, we see that Jesus steps into the

fire and he bears the judgement. He

bears the punishment at the cross so

sinners you and I can be forgiven.

And so the invitation today

is to stop trusting the success, to stop

trusting the comfort, to stop trusting

that self-control can save you. And it's

to trust Jesus.

To trust Jesus. He's savior. He's Lord.

And he doesn't just spare you. He

remakes you.

Because here's the deal. When we've been

redeemed,

we don't look back.

We move forward as a new creation in

him. Let's pray. God, thank you for your

word.

Thank you for its relevance

to our lives. God, I pray that each

person in here, we would fight

the pole.

We love you. Thank you for your word.

Pray these things in your name. Amen.