Why Her?
by Kevin Allen
November 13, 2022 · Centerpointe Apostolic Church (Murfreesboro, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: John 11:35, Luke 17:32, Luke 17:20-32, Genesis 12, 2 Peter 2:7, 1 Corinthians 15:33, Proverbs 3:32, Genesis 18, Matthew 7:13, John 14:15, Genesis 19:17, Genesis 19:26, Romans 8:5-8

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/kevin-allen--why-her
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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Church, if I were to ask the question, "What's the shortest verse in the Bible?" the response would be — look at you guys, smart. Yeah, John 11:35 is the verse: "Jesus wept." Because, uh, most of us that grew up in and around church, when it come time for Sunday school or something, people want to know how many verses you had memorized. Man, we had that one right there. "I got one: Jesus wept." Put that out there.

But what if I ask you, "What's the second shortest verse in the Bible?" Does anybody remember the second shortest verse in the Bible? It's not what — it's not as well known as it, because it has one more word, and having to memorize three words versus two words, well, we'll go with two. Yeah, the second shortest verse in all the scriptures is Luke 17:32, and it says, "Remember Lot's life." So today I feel led to preach from this verse on the subject: Why her? Why her?

So begin to think about this and begin to wonder to myself, like, what made Jesus recall this and make this statement that we should remember her? What was it about her? What, what was it that we could possibly know from our limited research into the scriptures? Why would Jesus ask us to remember her? Why did he not ask us to remember somebody else, where there's more written in the scriptures about that individual? Why, why not recall Abel and his, his offering and sacrifice that he made? Or why didn't Jesus ask us to remember Enoch? I mean, I figured if we're going to know about somebody, this guy was so good and, and walked in such a way that the Lord — the word of God says just took him, and he was not. He was just there. And I don't know how you visualize it, but I just see him on a, on a walk with God, just talking and praying and just meditating, and then next thing you know, he's just there with God. Now, I've heard preachers say that the Lord said to him, "You know what? I'm close from my house and yours," says, "Come on, stay with me." I don't know how it happened. All I know is that, that of all the people that are there, this guy didn't ever — he never tasted death. He just, he just went from walking with God to being with God. So why wasn't it him?

You know, I think through it with, with my logic, and I try to reason through things. If, if I was going to pin down somebody to remember in scriptures, I think I maybe could have come up with a better name. What about Noah? I mean, this dude got one set of instructions to build a big boat in his backyard, and it was going to rain. That was the word. Now here's the deal: it had never rained before. That's hard for you and I'd imagine. We know what rain is; they didn't know what rain was. God said, "Liquid drops are going to fall from the sky. I want you to build a boat." And Noah's like, "Okay, I can do that." What were we ask to remember Noah, or Isaac, or Jacob, or maybe Sarah, or Esther, or Ruth? What about Moses, and Rahab, and Gideon, and Samson, David, Samuel, so many more? I feel like Jesus had so many great examples in the scripture that he could have said that, "Hey, won't you remember them?" and we could have actually thumbed through and been like, "Oh, I'm going to read the story; it's there, I see that." But he asked us to remember somebody, and we don't even know her name. She appears in like two verses. And yet Jesus, when he's there and the Pharisees are questioning and asking him about the kingdom that's to come, Jesus says, in the middle of him talking and describing what it's going to be like, he just pauses simply and he says to the crowd, "Remember Lot's wife." Why her?

Anybody besides me ever get these questions in your mind when you're reading through scriptures? Surely I can't be the only one that questions a lot of stuff. It's often times, and I'm going through this in my, my mind, I'm just like, "I wonder why you did that, and why did he say that? Why is this in there?" And this verse has bothered me for years. Why her, when I have so little to go off to remember her by? I feel like it's important to set the story straight. So I'm going to take you to Luke 17, and I'm going to read 12 verses of scripture so that you know the story that Jesus is there in the middle of when he makes the statement. Luke 17, verse 20: "Now when he was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he — this is Jesus — answered them and said, 'The kingdom of God does not come with observation, nor will they say, "See he," or, "See therefore." Indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.' Then he said to the disciples, 'The days will come when you would desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, "Look here," or, "Look there." Do not go after them or follow them, for as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of
 man will be in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. And as it was in the days of Noah, so will be in the days of the Son of Man. They ate, they drink, they were married wives, they were given in marriage, unto the day of no entered the Ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, as it was also in the day of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built. But on the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so, it will be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day, he who is on the housetop and his goods are in the house, let him not come down or take them away. And likewise, the one who's in the field, let him not turn back.' Verse 32: 'Remember Lots wife.'"

And all of this describing about what's going to take place when God's going to come back, when he's going to come and return back, when the kingdom is going to be established — everything's being talked about there, in the middle of it — it's like he just stops for a minute and says, he just, "Remember Lots wife." What's so special about her? When we're thinking about the end of time, in the end of days, that Jesus wanted us to recall back to our mind? And to make better sense of this, I think it's important that I continue in the overview and, and be sure that our memory is good when we think about Lot in his wife. To do so, I got to take you back to Genesis chapter 12 in the Bible. We, we are introduced to someone named Abram, whom God is speaking to there in Genesis. And he begins to, to talk with Abram, saying things like this: "Abram, I desire for you to leave the place of your nativity, your beginning, and I want to take you somewhere, and I want to make of you, Abram, a great nation, a nation that, that you will be blessed, and because of you, others are going to be blessed." And he's talking, this whole thing of an Abram is, is being obedient to what God's trying to do. And he, he leaves Earth, the counties, his homeland, and he's following after God. Now, in this story is the first time we get introduced to Lot, who is Abram's nephew. He is the son of Abram's youngest brother, Haron. And the word of God goes on to tell us in Genesis chapter 12 that Lot's father passed away. We're not given the why; we're just given that he died. Now, being the oldest brother, uh, it seems apparent that Abram gets involved in his brother's affairs, because when it's time for him to leave — and the word of God says when Abram takes his family and leaves, and Lot also, so his nephew is going with him — which leaves at least some indication that Abram's saying, "Hey, your dad's not here. Won't you come be with me? I'm going to take care of you; you can go with me." We see this relationship start here, and time passes, and there's a lot of, of stories that go on with Abram, who ends up becoming Abraham and, and, and, and the father of many nations. And I'm not going to go down that path, but it's a wonderful story for you to see all the ups and downs of Abraham's life. But our story, at this point, goes on with Lot.

Now, at this point we still have not been introduced to his wife. All we have is Lot's story, and he's with his uncle Abram. And we do know that together their, uh, possessions begins to increase. And, and what I mean by that is their livestock continue to grow, because God's hands with them, and they begin to blessed. And it wasn't just a blessing on Abram, but Lot, being with him, he gets blessings too, and his livestock grows. And maybe to put that in today's terms, uh, their 401ks are doing really good. And, and the difference between 401ks and what they had to deal with is they had to go — they had to take care of the livestock. And it's getting to the point that what they have is so big that their workers are beginning to fight with each other, because there's not enough land for all of the animals to eat. And, and Abram a lot begin to have a conversation. Everyone says, "Look, let's — it's probably best that we just split. Why don't you pick whichever direction you want to go, and I will go the opposite direction?" Because Abram's just a good guy; he's a good uncle. So it gives a lot the choice. And here's the first time — and if you've been around church for, for a little while, you've probably heard at some point — the Lot didn't make the best of choices, because he was, he was, he was worried about the right now, not always worried about the future. There's a whole message right there: don't get so caught up in the right now that you miss what God has for you in the long run. And the word of God says that Lot looked at the well-watered plains of Jordan, and as he's seen them, he thought, "You know, this is pretty good. This is going to be easy. I'm going to go the easy
 route. Easy is not always best. "I'm gonna go the easy route." And it says he, he begins to move towards Sodom. And this is still his story. Eventually that move towards Sodom ended up being a steady decline in Lot's life. Eventually he ended up living in Sodom. And why is this such a big deal? Sodom, in that day and time, was a very carnal and, and a city that lacked a lot of morals. It was, it was — best way I know to maybe put this in perspective, for, for a lot of us to possibly get our minds around it, would basically be like living in Las Vegas. Well, there's just a, a lot of indulgence, and there's just a lot of encouragement to just go and do whatever you want, for you to, to satisfy whatever appetite you have, to just be a part of that environment. That's maybe the best way I could possibly put this into perspective of what Sodom was like. But it isn't just that. Even in our world today, it, there's so much moral erosion that's happened in our society that honestly I think Sodom is just about all the way around us all the time. This is the, this is what's going on.

And it's not until a lot reach Asylum that we actually hear of his wife. This is the first time she comes into the picture. Remember, this is the one that Jesus said remember her. She comes onto the scene, this, in this moment. And, and here is Lot's wife, showing up in Sodom in the story, and one of the most wicked and abominable societies, the one that was so bad that God decides, "I'm going to destroy Sodom because of what they are doing, how they are living. It is, is so distasteful to me" — that God's going to destroy; God did destroy. But this is where we are when we're introduced to Lot's wife.

So here's a couple of things that, through my study over the last several weeks about this, that I feel like are important for us to learn from her in our remembrance. As frustrated as we are with Lot at times, Lot is still referred to in Second Peter chapter 2, verse number seven: "This and delivered just like" — now, that word "just" that's there in the King James is translated in other translations of the Bible as "righteous." That's what the word means. Now, if you've studied Lot's story a little bit — I know you might be thinking, "Man, we're getting a lot of history today." But if I can't tell the story right, I think we'll miss the point. As frustrated as we can be with Lot at times, by saying, "Why did you go towards Sodom? How did you take your family, decide them? How did you end up sitting at the gate? How did you end up doing all these things?" — a lot, he still referred to as righteous Lot when it's all said and done. What we know is that Abram invested in this young man. There was some good that was there, especially the time that he was around his uncle.

But Lot's wife, on the other hand, we don't know a whole lot about her background. We don't know anything about her family. We don't know anything about her education or heritage. There's really nothing's there. And it's strange as the situation is: we see her in the middle of not ideal circumstances, living in this environment. But here's what I do know: she would have shared in Lots privileges, just like she shared in Lot's errors. She's married to the man who's referred to as righteous, but that doesn't guarantee her anything, because we do not receive salvation by having relationships with good people. We have to do the, the hard work of developing a relationship with God ourselves. It's important. And the word of God has a lot to say about who we hang out with, like First Corinthians 15 and 33: "Do not be deceived: evil company corrupts good habits." Proverbs 3:32: "For the perverse person is an abomination to the Lord, but his secret counsel is with the upright."

I'm going to tell you that, that this is a truth: you have to be born again, ladies and gentlemen. You have to be born of the water and of the spirit. And it's important that you get these things right, regardless of the other relationships around you. You must, you must, you must have a relationship with God. I don't care how good your grandma's been, or your mom's been, or how good your dad was, or your grandfather, or your brother, or your aunt, your uncle, that — I'm sure they're all great people. But their relationship with God is not your relationship with God. You have to have her. There's no spillover effect that because they were good enough, you get to go to heaven. No, you yourself must be born again. You yourself have to have a relationship with God. It's good to have people around you that have a relationship, and I believe that's part of being successful in living for God. But at some point, in some way, you yourself have to — you must have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Lot's wife needed a relationship with God that stood on its own, because you cannot rely on others for your walk with God. You must be able to walk with him. And ladies and gentlemen, there are times you will walk with him alone. That's why you need to know him. Ever been
 around, and you had a friend of a friend, but your friend left, and you're just there with a friend of the friend, and it's awkward. Yeah. Don't, don't, don't have the kind of a relationship than when it's just you and God, it's awkward. Does it make sense? You need to have a relationship that's not dependent on anybody else. You need that, because I promise you, there will come a time in your life when it's just going to be you and him. You shouldn't have to have somebody near you praying in order for you to pray. You, you need to have a relationship with God.

And I look at this, and I feel like at some point, some way, she missed out on the relationship with God. She was just dependent on Lot. Now, this is what I do know, okay? Again, I can only pull out what I know about her, which is very small. But I do know that she did make some moves towards God, because in the day that God's going to destroy Sodom — and the Story Goes where there was a visitation by an Angelic host that comes down in the middle of that, and they show up there to visit Lot. And then, and it's because Abram was, was asking some questions in, in the chapter before, in chapter 18 of Genesis, because God thought so much of the relationship with Abram. He says, "Can I go destroy Sodom and not least go by, tell Abram what I'm doing?" So he goes by there, and there's a great conversation in Genesis 18. He should go back and read it. But for where we are right now with Lot and his wife, they show up, and the Story Goes where they're getting — it's time. They've waited as long as they can wait. They've given opportunity for a lot to try to get his family's attention and tell him, "Look, the city is fixing to be destroyed. We need to get out of here." But finally they have reached the deadline to where they grab a hold of them, and they're taking them out of the city.

So I know this. This is what I do know about her, is that she's on that journey too. She's on her way out of the city. She leaves, and she prepares. She's going down the street. She passes by the City Gate. She reaches out to the open Plains, along with Lot and, and two of her daughters. She was willing to run for a while with him, to follow his examples. She did not do it forever, though, because at some point along the way, she began to consider and think over what she was leaving, and her pace slowed. It should begin to linger behind. She actually made it out of Sodom, but then she hesitated. This is what I know. This is what I know about the one that Jesus says remember Lot's wife. I know that she was in the process — listen to me — of being saved when she stopped. She was in the process of being delivered from destruction; she stopped. Which lets me know this: not everybody's going to make it. Now, I, I feel like it's important, and I want to point this out: not everybody's going to make it to heaven. And I know that sounds crazy, because we're in a society that, that All Dogs Go To Heaven, and that everybody's a winner and everybody gets a trophy, and we have to accommodate and adapt so that it is fair for everybody. But I'm here to tell you in this message today, there are no — there's going to be more that it's not going to make it then it's going to make it. Now, I know it's not popular, and if we may be the only church in Murfreesboro preaching this right now, all right. But here's what I know: this is — these are the words of Jesus. These are the red letter words. Matthew 7:13: "You can enter God's kingdom only through the narrow gate." What kind of gate was it? "The highway to hell is broad." What's the highway like? It's broad, and its gate is wide, for many who choose that way. "But the gateway to life is very narrow, and the road is difficult, and only few." I'm here to tell you, not All Dogs Go To Heaven. Matter of fact, I don't know there's gonna be a dog in heaven. I know there ain't no cats. No, sir. Just, just so you know, cat's not even mentioned in the Bible. That's how much God doesn't like cats.

Let me be serious for just a minute. Listen to the next statement I'm going to make, as I'm afraid far too many only get enough Jesus to make them feel better, but they never really discover God's will for their life. Therefore they do not become fully obedient to God's desire for them. Now, do not misunderstand me: you cannot earn salvation. It is a gift you received, okay? You can't earn it. You can't be good enough, because you're not good enough, and neither am I. No, no, we cannot do that. You cannot earn it. But — and you're not going to behave your way into heaven, but you can misbehave your way into hell. That's the truth. God is looking for acceptance of his gift in your life, and he's looking for obedience to his commands and desires that he has for you, that he has for you. 92 times in the Scriptures it says directly, "Keep my
 commandments." Jesus said this in John chapter 14, verse 15: "If you love me, keep my commandments." Take notice: Jesus didn't say, "I want you to think about my suggestions." That's not what he said. He didn't say, "If it's convenient for you and you agree with what I'm saying, then would you mind keeping them, if it's okay?" No, he's given very specific commands and instructions for your life, and it's non-negotiable. It's not optional. It's not okay. And I'm here to tell you something: God doesn't grade on the curve.

When I look at this, and we're calling Lot's wife to our remembrance, Jesus is saying that even the process of being saved, you can still be lost. This jumped out at me when I studied what little bit I have to look over her. I begin to think to myself: she's having an angel hold her hand to bring her out of destruction, and somewhere along the way she doesn't listen to what he's saying, and she stops and hesitates for a moment. What is she thinking? What's going through her mind? I'm having a hard time processing this, because I feel like if an angel was dragging me out of a situation, I would willingly go wherever they wanted me to go. But how many times have I myself knew exactly what God wanted me to do, and I found myself also being disobedient?

See, the command was given — this, and I want to show it to you so that you don't think I'm making this up — Genesis 19, verse 17: "And it came to pass that when they brought them forth abroad, that he said, 'Escape for thy life.'" He's looking at — he's looking at Lot, he's looking at Lot's wife, he's looking at those two daughters that they have with him. He says, "Look not behind thee." See the instruction right there? Don't stop, don't look. You go, get out of this place. "Neither stay there on the plane. Escape to the mountains, lest thou be consumed." "Look not behind" was a command that was there: run and keep running away from Sodom until you make it to safety. But what did Lot's wife do? Verse 26: "But his wife looked." The same word that's translated when it says run and don't look in, in the previous verse, in number 17 — it's the same word translated in 26, and it's a longing four. The instructions was given: run and go, and don't you dare look back and long for what you're leaving. Why did they say that? Because they knew somewhere deep down inside of them, there was going to be a desire to look back at what you were leaving. But what you were leaving, you don't need. What you're leaving is destroying you. Once you are leaving, will never to get you to where I want you to be. I'm taking you from where you are to an expected end I have just for you, and you can't get there if you're constantly looking back at what you think you had to give up. I'm here to tell you, whatever you give up, it's worth the price you pay in order to get to where God wants you to be.

She looked back. She disobeyed, and she was lost. The word of God says she turned into a pillar of salt. You, you may not like this, and sometimes I don't like it, but she broke the command. Something happened in her that planted a seed, and a thought, and a desire — a desire that she struggled to turn away from and forget. Something was birthed in her that caused her to desire Sodom so much. She lived there. She defended there. She was happy there. She had made her life there. And the enemy had convinced her that that's where she needed to be. And in doing so, she sold her future away.

So what are we allowing in? What are you allowing in your life? What are you allowing to be around you that, even in the most subtle of ways, it's influencing how you think? What are you allowing into your heart? What are you allowing into your mind? Because here's the truth, ladies and gentlemen: we must live in this world, but we do not have to allow the world to live in US. We must live in this world, but we do not have to allow the world to live in this church. We don't need to allow it into our hearts or our minds. Our enemy has so influenced the world around us, and our culture, and our society, that there is little to no shame anymore. There's very little things that are truly respected and reverenced anymore. Things are changing so rapidly. And if we're not careful, because we have to live in the world, we will allow the world to live in US unknowingly. Oftentimes we become so desensitized to what's around our environment, and we allow things to be there, close by, that, without knowing it, are steadily influencing our thoughts and our reactions and our emotions, on a daily basis. We can become so used to seeing, and so used to hearing, and being around things that God detest, and outright hates, that we can be in the very culture of Sodom, yet it doesn't bother us that it flies in the very face of our God. This is where Lot chose to live and raise his family. He simply pointed in a direction. It wasn't bad. Was there anything wrong with the well-watered plains of Jordan? No, nothing that I can
 discover, when I studied out and see that they was going just to the well-watered plains of Jordan. There was nothing there. It was an easy — it was convenient. It was going to help him out in his livestock. However, that just happened to be the direction where Sodom was. And he went from just going to the well-watered plains to — we find him inside the city gates. See, I don't think he would have ever looked at Abram and said, "You know what? We need to split up. We need to go. This isn't working out. I'm going to go to Sodom and live. I'm gonna go live inside the gates there, because I think it'd be a good place to raise my family." There's no way in my mind that, that, that conversation ever takes place. Yet we see him, as time goes by, he ends up moving into the city gates, because a slowly, steady decline allows you to tolerate things in your life that, on the surface, if someone said, "This is where you're going to go," you would say, "There's no way I'm ever going to be a drug addict. There's no way I'm ever going to be an alcoholic. There's no way I'm ever going to have an affair in my life. There's no way I'm ever going to cheat the system and work. There's no way I'm ever going to do that." But over time it takes place, and slowly we get more and more comfortable, and slowly we allow more and more influences in our life.

I'm here to tell you, the world out there will never create morality in your life, ever. It's only going to erode it. At some point you have to have a relationship with God in his word, and you've got to establish some things, and there has to be boundaries in your life. And if you don't establish boundaries, I promise you, you'll find yourself living in Sodom. That's what happened. And there's more at stake than you can ever imagine, because they became so accustomed, even used to it, to the point then that we're being dragged out, right before fire and brimstone rains down, she stops and looks back. Again, that word translates: she longed for what she was leaving. She'd gotten so used to it, so accustomed to it, that it became something that she desired. No longer does she view it as wrong; she justified it, we know it was perverted. All right? So many times people think about Sodom only had to do with alternative lifestyle. That was so much more. Matter of fact, when it talks about the sin of Sodom and the book of the Bible, it talks about their fullness of bread and their lack of compassion. Who — think about the world we're living in today, right now, where we are in our world. I'm not talking about the world is all; I'm talking about our world, where you and I live. We have an abundance of bread all around us. It's all around us. I'm not saying they're not in somebody in this, in this room today that you may genuinely be hungry. Maybe you didn't have the ability to buy something last couple days. There very well could be the story. But for the vast majority of us in this room, we eat way too much on a regular basis. We have an abundance of bread in our life, and we have a real lack of compassion, because we'll walk right past people hurting all the time. Things go on, we see it, we are — we're more interested in videoing somebody to get beat down than helping them out. What is wrong, when someone is being beat, their life's about to be taken, and somebody is videoing it because they won't help out? They won't get him. I don't want to begin. I don't know what's going on, I don't know what the circumstances — where's your compassion? We're no different than Sodom, because that's what their sin was. It wasn't homosexuality that oftentimes gets — and God has already spoke about how he feels on that subject matter. But when he gets referred to and gets brought up in the Scriptures, it was their fullness of bread and their lack of compassion that God points out.

Yeah, and here we are in our world. Are we embracing the very same things? I'm gonna get down where it really hurts. Church, where are we at? Are we so captivated in our world that we allow the abominable to be a part of our life every day? And years gone by — this is not meant to be disrespectful, okay? It's not meant to be disrespectful to any of my elders who went before me. But years ago, those that preceded me in ministry, let's talk about — you got that devil box in your house, you're watching that one-eyed monster. Said, "No evil thing before you." They go with us. And I might begin — I'm saying this respectfully, I'm really am being respectful, guys. Did they — couldn't see the world that it wasn't one of these little dudes, okay, "it's going to send you to hell, okay." I think some people bought in: "Well, I can't have that in my house; it's going to send me to hell." They couldn't imagine today that this was going to come along the way. They shouldn't have been preaching about the device; they should have been preaching about what you're consuming, because the device will change. And I'm not going to tell you that, that you got to get rid of your
 phone, because your phone's going to send you hell. I'll just tell you this: your phone probably going to send you to hell if you're not able to control what you watch on your phone. Now, the reason I say this is because I said the word: are you allowing the abominable in your life? Some of you steadily stream and pump into — you may not be doing it yourself, but you willingly watch others. Um, and Pastor Kevin, now you're just getting into Medlin. I am. Because the more I got to think about the why Jesus would say remember Lot's wife, the more convicted I got about the world she lived in, because it's the world I'm living in; it's the world we're living in. And I'm wondering, are we getting so comfortable with our culture and society that, even under my Christian titles, I may find myself in the process of being saved and at the same time end up lost?

A few months ago I read a post by our general superintendent, Brother Bernard. Very thankful for him. When I say superintendent, for the organization that this church is a part of, the United Pentecostal Church International, our general superintendent's name is David K. Bernard. He's a very studied man. He is a man of God, probably one of the most brilliant men I've ever had an opportunity to shake hands and have a very brief conversation with. He, he's a machine. He makes my head hurt. What he manages to do in a week, it takes me a year to do. But he, from time to time — he, and I say that because I don't, I don't know if the guy ever sleeps — he's always putting out his books, he's reading in his dissertation papers he's working on, and he swims seven laps and ran 16 miles, and managed to crochet a sweater and a dolly. Never let stuff. And he reads all these books. It's just — you laugh, for you no one's know what I'm talking about. The guy, he's just — he's on another level.

But he posted out a list of some books. Now, I feel like I'm a decent reader. I try my best to usually knock out between 20 and 30 books a year, plus I read the Bible through every year. And that's not a bragging thing; it's just what I do. It's my world, it's my life, it's how I go about. I try to learn. This dude, he does that in a month. So he listed the book, and it just happened to catch my attention. The title of the book was called "The Mind of a Bee." Very technical book. Bees are fascinating to me. So I got the book, and began reading the book. And then the book, it brought off the topic of digger wasp — d-i-g-g-e-r, digger wasp — their ability to find hosts to help protect and defend their eggs. A female digger wasp is desperate to find a host, and when she finds a suitable one, she pounces on a caterpillar, and she'll begin to drill into its flesh with what's known as the egg placer, and she pumps up to 80 eggs into its body cavity of a caterpillar. And when the eggs hatch into larvae, they begin feeding on the caterpillars bodily juices, taking care to avoid attacking the vital organs inside the caterpillar. The larvae will go through several stages and molts, and shed their exoskeletons, and expand. And during all of this, the caterpillar, which grows more and more bloated as this larvae mature, isn't yet showing any signs of being manipulated. Incredibly, you can't even tell it's behaving any differently. Inevitably, though, the larvae must make their exit, all at once. And over the course of an hour, they release chemicals that paralyze the caterpillar. Then each individual begins gnawing its way out. It's a horrific happening. And if you can see on the video that's there, here in just a minute, you keep in mind that the caterpillar survives this incredible trauma. How, you may ask, is it possible? Well, it's thought that the larvae time their final moat to coincide with the exit, so as they squeeze through the caterpillar's skin, the exoskeleton they leave behind blocks off the exit hole. As the larvae congregate in mass and begin spinning their cocoons, the caterpillar snaps out of it and helps them, using its own silk to construct a protective covering. Once everyone is done spinning, the caterpillar switches into defense mode. The Bodyguard doesn't wander, and it doesn't eat. It dutifully stands Century over them until it starves to death and dies.

I want you to know, this is exactly how our enemy works, in placing his ideas and thoughts into us. He's always looking for a host to plant his seed, thoughts of doubt, disobedience, and defiance, into. And at first, you hardly even notice anything is really changed inside of you. But left alone, they will begin to alter your way of thinking and your way of behavior. And over time, these ideas will break out and make themselves known. And it's the offspring that is birthed from you. Like most babies, they're vulnerable and need protection. And what's crazy to me is that when I see this take place in people's lives, and begin to ask them, "What in the world has caused you to change your mind, all of a sudden embrace that in your life?" they will defend it with everything that's inside of them, thinking that what's going on is exactly what they need to do to make their future possible.
 And much like the caterpillar, they use what was meant for their future to defend the very thing that's killing them. You see, the caterpillar was created to take its silk and spin a cocoon, in order to be able to transform into a butterfly one day, take flight. But what happens is, once it's been penetrated by the enemy, it ends up taking the very thing that his creator placed inside of it, for the transformation process, to take flight. It uses it to cocoon and protect what the enemy has placed inside of it. Thus it sells its future down the road, and takes away any hope of ever flying.

As I bring this to an end today, very quickly — because I feel like God wants to do something — when I begin to think about why Jesus would say remember Lot's wife, when I looked at what limited information I had about, or — I felt God's spirit speaking to me to say, she was caught up in an environment, not realizing all around her was poisoning the way she thought. And because she refused to have a relationship of her own with God, even in the middle of escape, even in the middle of salvation, she stopped and looked back, and longed for the very thing she was being delivered from. Lot's wife had not even realized that she was changed: from the way she thought, how she talked, even how she raised her children. Sodom took not only her life, ladies and gentlemen, but Sodom took her. Because when she ended up looking back, and she lost all she had, her husband and daughters managed to escape. And if you go on to read the rest of chapter 19, you read some really disturbing things that take place. We find her daughters having thoughts that they would never have a chance for a husband or a future, because they were raised in an environment that was very sexually perverse in all of its ways. And Mom's not there to say, "Girls, you can't think this way," because they come up with a plan that, since they don't think there'll ever be a man in their life, they decide to get their father intoxicated and to lie with him so that they could preserve their future. As bothersome as that is, I'm here to tell you, Lot's wife should have been there. You should have been there. But she stole herself short, longing for what she had been taken out of. She wasn't there to say, "Honey, this isn't a good idea. There will be a man. Give God a chance to work out a future for you." But she didn't. Because of this, they became impregnated by their father, and thus was born Moab and Amnon — or, as they later turn into the Moabites and the Ammonites, two of the worst enemies of God's people. Because that's what happens when you sell your future out to the enemy.

Lot's wife lost her future because she was carnally minded. And I leave you this last passage of scripture, Romans 8. Paul, talking specifically to the church at Rome, says in verse number five: "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit, the things of the spirit. For to be Carly minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God."

See, I feel like her story could have been so much different if she would have just kept going. Know what she was doing, and how they were living inside him — it wasn't right; it wasn't where they needed to be. But God was merciful, and he shows up in the middle of that and says, "I'm going to deliver you. I'm going to pull you out of those things. Just don't look back. Don't long to be back here again." I bring to a close this message today with the words of Jesus, when he simply said, "Remember Lots wife." Because he's coming back, Church. He's coming back for people who are ready. And in the middle of trying to tell the Pharisees, and even his own disciples, what that day was going to be like, he references Noah's day and Lots day, and then he stops and says, "Remember." Because in the process of being delivered, she turned back. And when she did, she forfeited what future was there. For the Bible says that God has a plan for you and I, a plan of good, to bring us to an expected end that he has. And that same God is in this room today. So I don't know where you are. I don't know how your relationship is with God. I don't know, because it's such a personal thing. But I'll tell you this: Jesus thought enough of what she did that it's pinned down in history, in the word of God, forever settled for you and I to remember her. And as I begin to pray, and as I begin to study, the only thing I could take as a takeaway was this fact: she was lost in the middle of being saved. She was lost in the middle of being saved. And Jesus paused the whole conversation and said, "Remember her." I feel like I'm speaking to somebody in this room today: don't be lost in the middle
 of being saved. I don't know what's captivated you in our world today. I don't know what it is that you're compromising that you shouldn't be compromising. But I'm here to speak the words of Jesus: "Remember Lots." Don't allow those things to be birthed, and you don't allow those things to come to fruition. Don't find yourself defending and spending your future on the enemies. For his has already been sealed, and in his is a goal to take everybody he can with him. So as I bring this to an end right now, I wonder if it's — if you're comfortable with this, will you just close your eyes? I'm going to say a prayer, because I think this is self-evaluation time right now. That's what this meant: remember Lot's wife. We need to think about this.

Holy God, you gave me this thought, Lord. I feel that I have done my best to deliver it the way you gave it to me. I pray, God, that you would now move upon us, that we begin to evaluate where we are right now with you, that we would bring to remembrance Lot's wife. Got in the very process of being saved, she was lost. I don't know everybody's story today, but God, I know this: that you have a plan for everyone in this room, for good, not for evil, to bring us to an expected end. So I pray, Lord, if we're not where we need to be, that you would reveal the areas where we need to pay attention, that you would help us have the courage to step out, and to ask for help from you, the only one who can truly help us. Let us not fall victim to the same ending that Lot's wife did. But I pray, God, that we could leave these things behind and move closer to you, to find ourselves not carnally minded, but spiritually minded, so that we can please you, our King. Turns its prayer, Thomas, altars open. I would encourage you to come, to evaluate where you are, to ask God to reveal to you if there's anything there that may be causing you to spend too much time thinking about this world. Will you come and let God do a work in you today?