Genesis 19: When We Need to Be Rescued, God Sends Angels

(upbeat music) - Welcome to chapter by chapter. It's a four year journey through the greatest book given to the human race, the Word of God, the Bible. And we get to go through a chapter by chapter. Seven minutes a day and seven days a week. Join us each day and share it with others so they can join this journey that will be life changing. We'll stop at unexpected places on the journey and be challenged. Some verses will create awe and wonder and we'll even have chapters that will be instructive and in others we're gonna find joy and comfort. We will occasionally be convicted and wanna change but all in all, the journey will be worth it. Once in a while we may take a detour on the journey and hear from some of God's servants on their favorite passages from a chapter of scripture and let them give you their insight. Every journey needs a small detour occasionally. The best way to get the most from this podcast is read the chapter we were discussing before or after. It's his word that transforms. You will find more and see more than I can ever articulate. Welcome to chapter by chapter and today's chapter is Genesis 19. The Reverend John G. Patton was a pioneer missionary in the New Hebrary Islands. He told a thrilling story involving the protective care of angels over his family. He said that hostile natives surrounded his mission headquarters one night. Not long after arriving, they were intent on burning the Pattons out and killing them. John Patton and his wife prayed all during that terrifil night that God would deliver them. When daylight came they were amazed to see that the attackers had left. They came with torches and weapons but never came near the house. They thanked God for delivering them but then something happened a year later. The chief of the tribe was converted to Jesus Christ and Mr. Patton, remembering what had happened, asked the chief what kept him and his men from burning down the house and killing he and his wife. The chief replied in surprise, "Who were all those men you had with you there?" Patton answered, "There were no men there, just my wife and I." The chief argued that they had seen many men standing guard. In fact, hundreds of big men in shining garments with drawn swords in their hands. They seemed to circle the mission station so that the natives were afraid to attack. Only then did Mr. Patton realize that God has sent his angels to protect them. The chief agreed that there was no other explanation. Could it be that God sent a legion of angels to protect his servants whose lives are being in danger that night? We know the answer to that, resounding yes. Genesis 19 is another one of those stories. The city is Sodom and Gomorrah. Judgment is about to come from heaven against the city, but God is going to rescue one family from judgment. God is going to get lot and his family out. The weather forecast on this day is fire and brimstone, so it's going to be hot. The family of a godly man is living in this wicked city and they will perish unless they get supernatural help. Two angels were sent to both judge Sodom and to rescue lots family. Listen to what happened on the day fire was coming. Genesis 19, 15. When morning dawn, the angels urged Lot saying, "Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here "or you'll be swept away in the punishment of the city." But he hesitated so the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters for the compassion of the Lord was upon him and they brought him out and put him outside the city. When they had brought them outside, one said, "Escape for your life. "Do not look behind you and do not stay anywhere in the valley. "Escape to the mountains or you will be swept away." What was incredible was that Lot hesitated, but these angels weren't going to have that. Those angels seized him and his family by their hands. No one was going to stop this rescue mission. Even their dull, pausing hearts. Keep in mind, it was the angels' hands that seized them, but the compassion of the Lord was also upon them we're told. In the middle of this God forsaken place, somehow supernatural help and compassion went into the epicenter to get them. How did that happen? We know for sure that Lot's rescue came from the prayer life of his uncle. Abraham prayed and God sent angels. This is what we're told in 1927. Now Abraham arose early in the morning, went to the place where he had stood before the Lord. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the valley and he saw and behold the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace. Thus it came about God destroyed the cities of the valley and that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow. When he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived, God remembered Abraham and got Lot out by Angelic help. Prayer dispatched heaven in the midst of hell. I have to believe that night in the Hebrides with John G. Patton and his wife, their prayer was an Abraham prayer. God remembered John and sentient his wife out of the midst of the overthrow. The same happened in the book of Acts when Peter was going to be executed in Acts 12 and an angel came in the middle of the night and rescued him. Here's my question, how did the angel show up? Here it is, Acts 12.5. So Peter was kept in prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God. And on that very night, while the prayer meeting is happening, when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains and guards in front of the door or watching over the prison and behold, an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shown in the cell. There was a prayer I used to pray with our children every night when we lived in the inner city of Detroit. And honestly, I still prayed here in New York City. I would say to them, God, station angels on the four corners of our property so that no wicked thing could touch our home. I am not sure I got that prayer from, but I can tell you it worked. We saw divine protection over our home in Detroit. It was never broken into. And tornado ripped through that neighborhood and there was only one leaf on our grass. My neighbor asked me one night if I heard shooting in our back alley. I told him I never heard it. He showed me the headrest in his car and a bullet lodged in it. That bullet hole was on an angle hitting towards our home but never made it. God stopped it. The house burned across the street from us and nothing ever happened to ours. All around us was danger and I have to believe that the Delina family, like the Patent family, had some pretty big angels on the four corners of our property and we kept them pretty busy there. The only thing I haven't heard yet was this. We saw four giant men with swords guarding your house. Who knows? One day I may still hear about that. Thanks for joining chapter by chapter. Every chapter from the greatest book, the Bible, the Word of God, seven minutes a day, seven days a week. We'll see you tomorrow.