Special Ops
Genesis 14 (NLT)
Intro: On June 27, 1976, A terrorist group known as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine boarded an Air France jetliner in Athens with 250 people onboard. They took control of the plane and made the pilot fly them to Uganda. They landed at the Entebbe Airport there in Uganda. Many of you may remember this. Idi Amin was the president of Uganda at the time and he went to the airport and praised the highjackers. They were there in control of the plane for seven days. I’m sure they were confident that they were in control. They released many of the passengers because they were not Israeli. Ninety one of the passengers were from Israel and they kept them as hostages. Singled out for their religion and ethnicity. They had the president of the country and his army giving them aid and everything was going according to plan. Little did they know what was coming.
. 2500 miles away in Tel Aviv, three Israeli C-130 Hercules transports were secretly being boarded by Israeli commandos. They flew into Kenya and under the cover of darkness they attacked the Entebbe airport. In less than 60 minutes they They took control of the airport, killing many of the Ugandan guards and the highjackers. They rescued 110 of the 113 hostages that were on the plane.
. The raid was heralded as a great success and a major blow to the terrorist group.
. The Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said this after the successful rescue.
“This operation will certainly be inscribed in the annals of military history, in legend and in national tradition”
. A brilliant military move by the Israeli government.
. Maybe not as brilliant as we think. Maybe they had done this before and all they had to do is look at their history and repeat what their ancestors had done.
. Our scripture this morning may possibly be the first recorded special ops mission.
. Genesis 14 tells us of a rescue much like the raid on Entebbe.
. Its the story of Abrams rescue of Lot.
. Chapter 14 of Genesis covers this story and the aftermath of the victory. We are not going to read the entire chapter so I will share much of the operation with you.
. The region along the Dead sea from Dan in the north to Sodom, Gomorrah, down into the Siddim Valley in the south.
. We would call it the West Bank and Jerusalem today, sound familiar.
. Well the Kings form the north banded together and started moving south. They conquered everything in their path on the west side of the Dead Sea. Then they turned their sights east to the other side of the Dead Sea. Seems like things never change do they. They had defeated everyone in their path yet they wanted more.
. Scripture tells us here in chapter 14 that the eastern cities knew they were coming and they prepared themselves. Sodom and Gomorrah were two of the four cities that were ready to defend themselves when the northern kings came. They had joined forces with two other cities and were ready for battle.
. They were routed. Their fighting forces were no match for the northern armies.
. If you will remember back several weeks ago when we looked at chapter 13, Lot had separated from Abram. He had taken the best land and as scripture says, he pitched his tent near Sodom.
. Sometime between moving near Sodom and this battle, Lot had moved into the city of Sodom. Sodom was defeated and plundered and they made a mistake, they took Abram’s nephew Lot as a hostage.
. Lets look at verses 13-16 of Genesis 14.
. 13But one of Lot’s men escaped and reported everything to Abram the Hebrew, who was living near the oak grove belonging to Mamre the Amorite. Mamre and his relatives, Eshcol and Aner, were Abram’s allies.
14When Abram heard that his nephew Lot had been captured, he mobilized the 318 trained men who had been born into his household. Then he pursued Kedorlaomer’s army until he caught up with them at Dan.
15There he divided his men and attacked during the night. Kedorlaomer’s army fled, but Abram chased them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.
16Abram recovered all the goods that had been taken, and he brought back his nephew Lot with his possessions and all the women and other captives.
. Abram got the report and gathered his troops. Not just any troops. He got seal team six or the Army Rangers or the Green Beret.
. Look at verse 14 again:
. 14When Abram heard that his nephew Lot had been captured, he mobilized the 318 trained men who had been born into his household.
. You see and read about people who arm everyone who can carry a weapon. Not Abram.
. He had 318 trained men. Now I don’t know exactly how they were trained but they were obviously trained for battle given the context here.
. Just like Seals and Rangers go through specialized training so had Abrams men. They were trained and prepared for the battle.
. He took them and his allies the Amorites, Mamre, Eshcol and Aner and did much like the Israeli’s did at Entebee.
. He found out where the hostages were being held, He did some reconnaissance. He divided his men and surrounded them at night when they didn’t expect it.
. Just like Entebbe, the mission was a success and the hostages were freed. Not only did he rescue his nephew Lot, Abram also recovered all the plunder that the invaders had taken.
. Just like the Israeli’s that saved the hostages at Entebbe, Abram came home to a heroes welcome.
. Even the Kings came out to welcome him. The King of Sodom even came out to congratulate him.
. We also have a very mysterious individual introduced in the Bible here at the victory celebration.
. Look at verses 18-20.
18And Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of God Most High, brought Abram some bread and wine.
19Melchizedek blessed Abram with this blessing: “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.
20And blessed be God Most High, who has defeated your enemies for you.”Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the goods he had recovered.
. This guy comes out of nowhere. We didn’t know that there were others worshippers of Yaweh. We thought that Abram was the father of God’s people. You mean there were others?
. Of course there were. God Chose Abram to father the Hebrew nation so He could bless the whole world through his offspring and ultimately through Jesus Christ.
. From the time of creation, there have always been believers and worshippers of the one true God.
. This Melchizedek came out to join in the celebration.
. Scripture says that he was the King of Salem which will later become Jerusalem. He was a precursor to David, as the King of Jerusalem. This guy must have been pretty important and Abram recognized this and gave him a tenth of everything he had recovered.
. Many sermons have been preached on and about Melchizedek. Many a tithing sermon starts right here with the tenth that Abram gave him. You see ,a tenth in Hebrew means :tithe”.
. I have heard him preached about from Hebrews as him being a type or precursor to Jesus.
. What I glean from these 3 verses is that Melchizedek recognizes where this victory comes from.
. Look at verse 20 again.
. 20And blessed be God Most High, who has defeated your enemies for you.”
. What you did was great Melchizedek but the ultimate victory belonged and belongs to God.
. You had 318 men and some allies and you routed the armies of four kings. Let’s give glory to God for this.
. Now that’s a great story and would probably make a great movie but what can we glean from this.
. What is God trying to teach us? How does it apply to our lives.
. Folks this message is so relevant that it screams of our times.
. Folks our faith is under siege, our faith is in danger of being taken hostage and possibly driven away.
. Every day we see and hear about Christians being killed for their faith.
. There was a school over in Africa that Islamic terrorists went through and singled out the Christians and killed them, just for their faith.
. Folks we are under siege.
.Not just from terrorists but from people who want to pervert Christianity and turn our faith into believe whatever you want to.
. The Government is slowly but surely chipping away at our faith and our religion.
. Folks we are slowly being taken hostage by the politically correct society we live in and we as Christians are letting it happen.
. Lot was taken during one siege; we are being taken through a relentless siege on our faith and our freedom.
. We are sitting back and allowing this to happen.
. What we need, what we must have is Special Op’s Christians.
. Abram gave us the model; we just need to use it.
. Scripture says that Abram used trained men to fight the battle.
. You can’t fight if you are not trained.
. We get trained by studying God’s word. Individually and corporately.
. Today we start our new programs for bible study. We are trying to meet at different times and at different places so that you can further your Christian training.
. We get trained by attending things like our storytelling training on Sunday night. I applaud that group that has come and learned how to share their testimony effectively.
. We get trained by taking advantage of opportunities that come available for training.
. Abram did something else in creating this special op’s team.
. He made alliances. He created an alliance with the Mamre the Amorite. He needed their help if they were going to be successful.
. We must make alliances with other Christians, other denominations. We must concentrate on what we all have in common instead of dwelling on our differences.
. There are things that are going on in our community that we need to look at being a part of.
. When it is all said and done, If we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son Of God, God incarnate, That He became man to take the punishment for our sin and that He did that through his death on the cross. If we believe that He came out of that tomb that He was buried in and ascended back to God. If we believe that all of that guarantees and secures our salvation if we believe in him. Then we are saved.
. That bonds all of us together. We need to work together, not against each other.
. Jesus gave us two commands and one mission.
. Love God and love each other.
. As you are going through your life make disciples.
. WE, the universal church need to rally under this one banner together and be the church that God intends us to be.
. We must work together, not against each other in order to be special op’s Christians.
. Finally, Abram and Melchizedek realized just where there power and strength came from.
Vs 20 again
:
. 20And blessed be God Most High, who has defeated your enemies for you.”
. Abram had done his part, He had trained his people, he had made strategic alliances and had depended on God to do his part.
. When it was all over, the glory was given to the one deserved the Glory.
. Blessed be the God most high who will defeat your enemies. We must do our part for this to happen.
. Are you prepared to be a special op Christian.
. The first step is to become a Christian.
. Invitation
*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
Sources: The Holy Bible, NLT
