Christian Life Church
June 14, 2026
- You Are Good
- You Keep Hope Alive
- Mighty Name Of Jesus
- Mighty One
Psalm 51:12NKJV
Luke 15:7NKJV
Psalm 19:8NKJV
John 15:10NKJV
Nehemiah 8NKJV
Malachi 3:10–11CSB
- Eric Hartmann Sharing About MinistryLords PrayerBefore we begin today’s sermon would you join me in praying the words our Lord taught us to pray?Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: AmenDismiss Vanguard and NavigatorsIntroductionPlease stand for the reading of God’s Word.
Genesis 34:1–12 NKJV Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her, and violated her. His soul was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke kindly to the young woman. So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this young woman as a wife.” And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter. Now his sons were with his livestock in the field; so Jacob held his peace until they came. Then Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved and very angry, because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, a thing which ought not to be done. But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife. And make marriages with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters to yourselves. So you shall dwell with us, and the land shall be before you. Dwell and trade in it, and acquire possessions for yourselves in it.” Then Shechem said to her father and her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. Ask me ever so much dowry and gift, and I will give according to what you say to me; but give me the young woman as a wife.”This is the Word of the Lord, Amen? You may be seatedPray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray PrayThis Chapter is… a little rough… to say the least...We only read the first half of this chapter, but let me recap and fill in the details that we haven’t read yet… but first let’s start with a little context.Dinah is Leah’s only recorded daughter.If you remember Leah is the older sister who struggled to find love from her husband Jacob… Yet, God gave her more children.Leah’s sons are Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun… and they LOVE their little sister, she is the youngest out of all of them...Now speaking of age, this is important for the context of the story… speaking of Age, Dinah is pretty young here...We are not told her exact age, but we can get a really close estimate by looking at the ages of her brothers and father at different events surrounding this one… and we can come to a firm conclusion that Dinah is between 12 and 16 years old when these horrible things happened… most commentators say 14 or 15.Okay that’s the background, this girl Dinah, the youngest child in a large family… 14 or 15 years old.Blank Title Slide to show pictureSo the story picks up with Dinah going out to “See the daughters of the land”… now the language here suggests and most commentators agree, that Dinah was going with a great deal of jovialness… she was going to hang out with other people her age, to make friends, to party… to dance the night away… thus this image in the title slide… Dinah having a good old time dancing with some new Canaanite buddies.But things go bad really fast for Dinah. She catches the attention of a Prince of the land, and he finds her very attractive, and it even seems that he falls in love with her… but he does something very wicked… that night the text says “he took her and lay with her” and the language used is very violent… This young prince, Shechem, raped Jacob and Leah’s young daughter Dinah…But Shechem still loves Dinah and want’s to marry her… it’s twisted for sure, but he tries to make it right… so his father reaches out to Jacob and says “What do we need to do to be able to take Dinah as a wife, name the price and we will pay it!”Now that is where we stopped reading this morning… but the rest of the story doesn’t get much better… spoiler alert, everyone but Dinah in this picture ends up either dead or captured...Jacob’s sons trick this entire city of people and they end up killing all of the men and capturing all of the women and children, they call it justice but really it is murder! A whole lot of murder and kidnapping on a lot of innocent people, because of one mans sin…So that’s the story… a teenage Dinah goes out to party and make friends… ends up getting raped… the rapist tries to marry her… her brothers avenger her rape by slaughtering an entire city of people… Like I said… it’s a dark chapter… and as I prayed about what to preach on from this chapter the Lord inspired me with this…How NOT to Get What You Want.You see everyone in this chapter wants something… and most of what they want is honorable.Dinah wants friends and fellowship.Shechem wants a wife.Hamor wants to make his son happy.And Jacob’s sons want Justice for their sister.They all want SOMETHING… and the things they want are all, in proper contexts, good things… But the way each of them goes about getting what they want is horrendous… it is horrible… it is disguising… it is inexcusable… it is filthy… it is sin…Thus this chapter becomes a master class for how NOT to get what you want… in other words… this is the WRONG way to get what you want.We are only going to spend two Sundays on this chapter so we are going to kind of move fast, I hope y’all are with me… let’s start by talking about what Dinah wanted and the wrong way she went about it.Point One – Don’t Look to the WorldGenesis 34:1 NKJV Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.What Dinah wanted was noble. It is good to find solid friends...Ecclesiastes 4 talks about how two are better than one… how much more two friends can do together than a person alone… how much more they can endure… how much more they can acomplish… how they lift each other up...We use these verses in weddings a lot, but it is actually about friendship.Proverbs 17:17 says a friend loves at all times.Proverbs 27:17 says that friends sharpen each other and encourage each other.One of Jesus’ most powerful and prophetic lines is themed on friendship… John 15:13John 15:13 NKJV Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.Clearly friendship is something the Bible approves of and encourages…So you want friendship Dinah… okay, that’s a good thing to want… but there is a right way and a wrong way to get friendship…James 4:4 NKJV ...Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.She wanted friends but she was looking in the wrong places… and can I just ask a question… What did she think was going to happen?Actually, that’s not fair… because she is 14… she is not as well versed with the wickedness of the world as people older and wiser than her...WHAT DID HER FAMILY THINK WAS GOING TO HAPPEN?They are just going to send their beautiful young daughter off to people who don’t have the same morals.People who don’t have the same sense of right and wrong, of justice, and virtue...People who serve a God who demands child sacrifices...People who scoff at ideas of sexual purity and the innocence of youth…They are just going to send their daughter off, send their sister off galivanting… frolicking in the camp of the enemy… and what, she is going to come home cultured and educated?OFF COURSE SHE IS GOING TO BE RAPED BY THE WORLD. BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT THE WORLD DOES. It rapes and it destroys and it tears down and it brain washes and it makes excuses and it covers up sin and it seeks pleasure above all else...WHAT DID THEY THINK WAS GOING TO HAPPEN.Yes she was seeking a good thing when she was seeking friends but she was seeking it from the wrong place…DEAR CHRISTIANS… The world is not your friend… the world has nothing for you… you are a called out people… you are set apart… you are different. Everything that makes you holy is everything that the world hates… and they WILL take it from you if you let them.now obviously the clear take away is “Don’t be friends with people who aren’t saved”, I have preached about this before… I have many acquaintances with people who are not saved… but my friends are people who are born again, who serve the Lord, who attend church every Sunday, who read their bibles and pray, who are constantly growing from glory to glory.My friends are the born again, the redeemed of Christ… people who have given everything to the one true King of the Universe… who have laid down their lives to follow Him… Those are my friends… those are the people I confide in, the people I spend time with, the people I look to for encouragement, advice, and strengthening.People I know who will pull me up even when I don’t like it… who will rebuke me when I am wrong, encourage me when I am down, and fight alongside me when I am under attack. I find my friends in God’s family… anybody else is bound to corrupt me and tear me down.“BUT PASTOOOOORRRRR… I am friends with them so I can lead them to Christ!” No! You are friends with them because you want to be friends with them… because you enjoy their company… No doubt you also want to lead them to Christ, of course you do because you love them and you know how good Christ is… but you can lead them to Christ without being their close friend… you can lead them to Christ by being their acquaintance… by being kind to them… by inviting them to church and preaching Jesus to them…But a friend is someone you confide in… a friend is someone you mourn with and celebrate with… a friend is someone you get advice from when times are hard… a friend is someone spend a good deal of time with, someone you really enjoy the company of so you spend a good deal of time in their company because you like the way you feel when they are around… And that their lies the problem…1 Corinthians 15:33 ESV Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”But let me get back to bashing on Dinah’s family for a bit… WHERE WERE THEY? Why did they allow this to happen?Parents… Genesis chapter 34 should be a HUGE warning sign to you. A huge wake up call… when you send your kids to the wolves, don’t be surprised when they get devoured.When you send your kids to the world… don’t be surprised when the world takes advantage of them.Barna Research says between 64 and 70 of kids who grew up in the church, grew up in the faith… that 64-70% of CHRISTIAN kids leave the faith when they are in college and most never come back...And of course they do… we take our 18 year old kids and we ship them off to live in an institution run by people who hate God.To be surrounded by the world.To be taught by and raised by the world.Professors and Administrators and RA’s and thousands of peers who don’t have the same morals as us.Who don’t serve the same God as us.Who celebrate child sacrifice calling it “a medical procedure” and “A women’s right”.People who call boys girls, and girls boys…People who call good evil and evil good… people who are constantly inventing new ways to do evil…People who love sexual sin so much they take a whole month to celebrate it with PRIDE.And we say to those people “Would you raise my children? In the most pivotal years of their life? Would you guide them and train them and protect them… THEN WE CRY OUT WHEN OUR CHILDREN END UP RAPED BY THE WORLD. What do you think is going to happen?And listen I understand that our culture celebrates college as the climax of a good childhood… we think of college as the ultimate success of any student… to graduate with a degree… BUT OUR CULTURE NEEDS TO CHANGE.And I also understand that you desire a good thing for your student… you want them to have a good education from a trusted and accredited university… that they can enter the workforce with a respectable degree… but there is a right way and a wrong way to get what you want for your kids… here is how NOT to get what you want for your student…The wrong way is to celebrate that they got accepted into a wordly institution that statistically has a 70% chance of leading them away from Christ… to celebrate that and then to send them off blindly and hope for the best.But if your child MUST… and I don’t really think that is anyone… but if they MUST go to one of these institutions famous for De-converting Christian kids… then you as a parent must fight for them all the more… you must war for them in prayer… you must continue to check up on them, and their faith… make sure they are in a good church and have a strong Christian friend group… you must war for them all the more in the statistically most DANGOUREOUS time of their lives…But better than that is to put them in a real christian University… not just one in name but one you would trust their eternal lives with… Listen, I grilled the headmaster of Isaac Newton, Dr. Dean Ridder, for HOURS before I decided to send my kids there...I asked him about views of sin, and salvation… views on the Bible, views on the God Head, views on abortion, and homosexuality… views on abortion, and the age of the earth… He walked me around and showed me the classes and the curriculum and the requirements of faith for all the staff and faculty… and I kept asking questions until I was satisfied that this was a safe place for the souls of my children to be in for 8 hours a day 5 days a week.Because I will be DARNED if I am going to raise up my child in the ways in which they should go and then send them off for 8 hours a day to someone who is going to try to undo that...Now I am not saying that if your kid goes to secular schools that they are definitely going to H-E-Double0Hocky-Sticks… but what I am saying is that your kids soul is YOUR responsibility and you need to consider this when sending your kids off...And by the way, parents… New research shows it is happening even earlier… as early as 14 is now when many kids are walking away from the faith… because if you leave your kids with a phone and an app… you are doing the same thing… hours and hours of youtube, and ticktock, and instagram, and God forbid if your kid is on Reddit… GET THEM OFF OF THERE… These people hate God and we are giving them full access to our kids attention… we shouldn’t be shocked then when it changes them...If it is Dinah’s parent’s job to protect her from being raped then it is your job to protect your children too.But listen, maybe you don’t have kids… or they are all grown… I have still seen Christians look to the world to get what they want.Christians who desire a good job… you desire a good thing… but don’t take a worldly job… PLEASE… and there is a difference between a secular job and a worldly job… secular is just a big word that means “not Christian”… there is a difference between a secular, or unreligious job… and a worldly job, or sinful job.There is a big difference between working at Sam's Club and working at a Strip Club… one is secular, the other is worldly.Yet I have known MANY a Christian to own and operate bars, and strip clubs, and MLM schemes that take advantage of people...No, we are Christians we don’t do that…I knew one pastor who would take the money of the church to the Casino… he would say “God always makes me win!”… Welp… he is not a pastor anymore… turns out he was wrong, God didn’t always make him win… he ruined his church and his reputation.Desiring financial prosperity for the church is good, Pastor… but putting the churches tithe on Red… that’s how NOT to get what you want.Now that brings me to point two of how not to get what you want… Just take it and deal with the consequences latter.Point Two – Don’t Just Take What You WantGenesis 34:2–4 NKJV And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her, and violated her. His soul was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke kindly to the young woman. So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this young woman as a wife.”Now obviously we all know that rape is wrong… I hope I don’t need to convince you of that… but there is a bigger spiritual principle here that needs to be talked about in the church more often...We are Christians… we are filled with the Holy Spirit… WE DON’T JUST TAKE WHAT WE WANT… we have self control… we have wisdom and prudence… we seek the Lord’s voice and direction in all things… When we just start taking what we want we get into trouble.Shechem saw what he wanted and he took it… no thought of consequences… no thought of the future… he wanted Dinah now and he sure did take her now… He saw what he wanted and he took it… and it ended up poorly for him...Oh saints… how many times as a pastor have I seen Christians… people from THIS church… fall into the same trap as Shechem… oh no they didn’t rape anyone, no we are good Christian people we would never do that… but the principle is the same… the severity is WILDLY different, okay, I am now trying to downplay rape here… but the principle that got Shechem into trouble is the same thing so many Christians fall into… “I want it so I took it!”I know Christian men who have completely rocked their families lives by taking a job God didn’t tell them to take.I mean the pay was better, and the benefits were great… and the title… and the position… I WANT THIS JOB...Well hold on, have you considered what the Lord wants for your life? Have you counted the cost… have you talked about it with your family?I have known Christians who have brought financial ruin on their families by buying a new car they can’t afford… or going on a vacation that will ill planned...I was talking to a pastor who goes on ministry trips without ever talking to his wife about it and he is surprised that their marriage is on the Rocks… Well yeah! You should probably have enough self control to say “Let me talk to my wife and pray about it first” before saying yes to every international trip that comes your way.Proverbs 3:5–6 NKJV Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.This is how Christians should live… God directs my path… His word is a lamp unto my feet… every step is guided by Him…Psalm 37:23 NKJV The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way.The Christian man has every step ordered by God… God guides us and leads us down the straight and narrow...But here is what happens… we are going down the straight and narrow, one foot after another, God guiding our steps and delighting in our way...Then, what’s that? A new car *steep aside*Or we are walking and Oh, a shinny new job...Or we are going down our way and “Look a girl is taking interest in me!”Proverbs says it like this… Proverbs 25:28Proverbs 25:28 NKJV Whoever has no rule over his own spirit Is like a city broken down, without walls.When we let our base desires control us we are like a city with no walls… the attacks of the enemy just come right on in unimpeded.And we think “well there is no sin in buying a new car” or “there is no sin in taking a better job” or how about this one single folks “there is no sin in using a dating app to look for a spouse”.And you are right… it is a good thing to find a spouse… it is a good thing to find a good job… I even think it is a good thing to have a good and reliable vehicle to get you to and from your job…But when you go on that dating site that God did not tell you to go on, and you go on that date that God did not tell you to go on… and that person gives you all the right kind of attention and everything you are looking for… but God is not in that relationship… next thing you know God is knocking at the door...James 1:14–15 NKJV But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.Now I have known people to seek the Lord and the Lord to lead them to great jobs and promotions, and I have known people, I am one of them, to pray and seek the Lord for a new vehicle… it took me months of prayer and searching to find the Buick that I drive… but I found it for 10 thousand dollars cheaper then it was sold in dealerships here… God lead me to the right vehicle at the right price…Guys I have even known people who have used dating sites to find their spouse and it was a beautiful God ordained holy marriage that remains strong to this day… But it was done with prayer and patience and the guided steps of Christ… not through ambition, and desire, and the “I take what I want when I want” kind of attitude… That attitude leads to death… Literally in Shechem’s case!Now that brings me to my conclusion this morning, if someone wants to come up and play...ConclusionTurn On Children’s Class LampsGenesis 34 is an incredibly dark chapter full of people trying to get what they want in all the wrong ways...it is a warning to all of us as Christians, as God’s people here in 2026… the details look different, but many times the heart of the situation is the same...The world has what we want, so we look to the world to get it.What we want is right in front of us… so we don’t consider the consequences and we just take it...But most telling about this chapter, church, is that through all 31 verses… there is not one mention of God...There is no mention of the LORD or the Angel of the LORD or the guiding of God and His Spirit.There is no prayer, there is no discernment, there is no waiting on the Lord or consideration of His precepts...There is just a bunch of people with a bunch of desires trying to get what they want in all the wrong ways.But we are different, we are Christians, we are guided by the one who created the universe… and He wants us to seek Him and His ways, and for us to allow Him to guide our paths...As such, I know it is graduation season and there is a lot of change happening in a lot of peoples families… I want to pray for you… that you would have the courage and the patience and the wisdom to put God first… even if it is uncomfortable… even if it is complelty different then what our current culture suggests… God, We want to put YOU first.PRAY! Look to God… GOD GUIDE US AS WE PURSUE GOOD THINGS LET US PURSUE THEM AS YOU WOULD HAVE US PURSUE THEM… PRAYER AND PATIENCE AND PRUDUNCE LORD!Gospel CallAaronic Blessingיאר יהוה פניו אליך ויחנך ישא יהוה פניו אליך וישם לך שׁלום"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.You are dismissed from this place but not from His Presenceye·va·re'·khe·kha' · Adonai · ve·yeesh'·me·re'·khaya·eir · Adonai · pa·nav · e·ley'·kha · vee·khoon·ne'·kahees·sa · Adonai · pa·nav · e·ley'·kha · ve·ya·seim · le·kha · sha·lom"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.You are dismissed from this place but not from His Presence Genesis 34:1–12ESV
Genesis 34:1ESV
John 15:13ESV
James 4:4ESV
1 Corinthians 15:33CSB
Genesis 34:2–4ESV
Proverbs 3:5–6ESV
Psalm 37:23ESV
Proverbs 25:28ESV
James 1:14–15ESV
Psalms 146:1-4NKJV
Psalms 146:5-7NKJV
Psalms 146:8-10NKJV
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