Here's a story from the book of Genesis.
Let's look at it.
Genesis 13 verse 1.
So Abram went up from Egypt to the
Negev with his wife and everything he had,
and Lot went with him.
Abraham had become very wealthy in livestock and
in silver and gold.
From the Negev, which is the southern part
of Israel, very desert-y, he went from
place to place until he came to Bethel,
to the place between Bethel and Ai, where
his tent had been earlier, and where he
had first built an altar.
There Abram called on the name of the
Lord.
Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram,
also had flocks and herds and tents.
But the land could not support them while
they stayed together, for their possessions were so
great that they were not able to stay
together.
And quarreling arose between Abram's herders and Lot's.
The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in
the land at that time.
So Abram said to Lot, let's not have
any quarreling between you and me or between
your herders and mine, for we are close
relatives.
Is not the whole land before you?
Let's part company.
If you go to the left, I'll go
to the right.
If you go to the right, I'll go
to the left.
Lot looked around and he saw that the
whole plain of the Jordan towards Zoar was
well watered, like the garden of the Lord,
like the land of Egypt.
This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and
Gomorrah.
So Lot chose for himself, so Lot chose
for himself, so Lot chose for himself the
whole plain of the Jordan.
And he set out toward the east and
the two men parted company.
Abram lived in the land of Canaan while
Lot lived among the cities of the plain
and pitched his tents near Sodom.
Now the people of Sodom were wicked and
were sinning greatly against the Lord.
This is a picture of the difference between
living by faith and living by sight.
Abraham is the man, I'll call him Abraham,
the name he got later.
Abraham is the model to us in the
Old Testament of living by faith.
Lot here in this story is a prime
example of what it is to live by
sight, not to follow God and the invisible
plan he has for your life, but to
go by what your senses tell you.
He saw that the land looked good.
Little did he know what was waiting for
him over there.
Now it's interesting that Abraham left where he
was in Genesis 12 and further east from
Israel, Ur of the Chaldees.
He was called from there and he went
out and left everything.
He had nothing really with him.
He just went by faith.
He went because God had directed him.
He couldn't prove God was directing him.
He couldn't prove there was a God, but
he knew in his heart God had spoken
to him and he was going to obey
this God who had revealed himself to him.
He took along his nephew Lot and Lot
was going along with him.
And that took some courage to step out
and go with your uncle who's a lot
older than you and follow him, not knowing
where he was going.
How could Lot know where he was going?
Abraham didn't know where he was going.
He was following God.
Many times when you follow God, you don't
know where you're going.
You just know God is going with you.
And when God is going with you, it
doesn't matter if you don't know where you're
going because God is going with you.
And if you know where you're going and
God is not with you, you're going to
the wrong place.
How many say amen?
So Abraham takes off and Lot goes with
him.
And then we find out this interesting thing
that because Abraham was moving by faith, God
blessed him.
When people obey God and move by faith
and trust God, even though it doesn't look
good, God has a way of blessing you.
In the Old Testament it's especially with silver
and gold and possessions.
In the New Testament, it's a kind of
blessing often.
So Abraham is being blessed by God because
he's operating by faith.
Now Lot, because he's just with Abraham, is
blessed just because he's with the man of
faith.
While Abraham is multiplying goats and sheep and
all kinds of cattle and belongings, silver and
gold, Lot, just because he's with him, is
getting the runoff of the blessing.
Isn't that something?
Boy, it makes you want to hang around
people that God is blessing.
Amen?
I wonder how many children and nephews and
nieces have blessings that have just come to
them because of an aunt or an uncle
or a parent or a mother or a
father or a grandmother or a grandfather who
believed God and the blessing came on them.
And because you're in the family, it has
run down to you.
It should be a lesson for all of
us.
I want to follow God.
I want to be like that mother, that
father, that grandmother, grandfather, auntie, uncle, who was
trusting God.
So now Lot is being blessed, a runover
blessing because of Abraham's faith and obedience.
And then the Bible tells us that the
blessing became too much.
Many times, blessing causes problems.
The blessing of God sometimes brings problems.
What was the problem?
Well, it was a good kind of problem.
They had so much, they couldn't live together
because the land couldn't bear all of the
cattle of both of them, all of the
sheep and their herders and servants were starting
to fuss with each other.
They had to dig wells to get water.
That became a problem.
So now because of the blessing of God,
there was an abundance that brought problems.
It's like in a church, you have so
many people coming sometimes that then you don't
know.
How about overflow?
Where are the people going to sit?
Why is that lady saving a seat and
nobody's in that seat?
We won't go there, all right?
We'll just move on.
Let's go back to Abraham quickly.
So, and then it goes on and on
and the people, and you have problems.
So you have to figure out what the
problems are.
So when my wife started the choir, there
were nine voices.
Two of the people out of the nine
were tone deaf.
That's the truth.
And then one never left the choir.
She was in the choir for 30 years.
She still couldn't sing after 30 years, but
my wife didn't have the heart to just
say, I'm sorry.
But now it's different.
So now there's other problems.
There were not problems with nine and now
you're making recordings and you're doing a lot
of other things.
It's the blessing of God.
How many choirs can make recordings and sing
as they did in front of a billion
people at their last inauguration?
But then there's problems with that.
How do you get there?
And how long do you have to freeze,
sit in the freezing cold?
Ask them about that.
Some of them are still trying to get
warm from that visit to Washington DC.
So there's problems with the blessing of God.
The blessing of God just doesn't come with
no problems.
And you can't get discouraged by it.
You got to be thankful you have those
problems.
So there, here was the problem.
They were too much for the land and
the herders began to fight.
And I just want you to notice as
I close with this is we need to
pray and maybe someone really needs to hear
this.
Maybe I'm going to save somebody from the
wrong marriage, the wrong decision, the wrong job,
the wrong house, the wrong apartment.
Please listen, please listen.
So notice that the man of faith doesn't
want to quarrel.
People who want to quarrel and fuss and
fight don't have faith.
They're going to fight you over every little
nickel, every little dime, every little square inch.
They're always looking, you're trying to get over
on me and all of that.
Not Abraham.
Abraham says, God is with me.
No, God is with me.
We can't quarrel.
When you're a man of faith, you should
be a man of peace.
There's nothing worse than quarreling.
He didn't want quarreling within the family.
Notice it says there that the parasites and
Jebusites were in the land at that time.
Why would it say that?
Because that would be a shame for the
heathen to see God's chosen people fussing with
each other, much less a nephew and his
uncle.
Imagine fighting among each other in front of
unbelievers.
And that's a good lesson for us.
The worst thing you can do as a
Christian is fuss and fight with another Christian.
Oh, that didn't get as many amens as
it should have, but we won't go there
either, okay?
I know because a lot of people are
strong for the Lord, but they're also strong
in their personality to fight with everybody.
Fussing and fighting.
That's why ministers have the highest rate of
heart attacks of any profession in America.
It's not because of getting sermons.
What are you kidding me?
You do this for a while, you can
get a passage, get a loan, analyze it,
come up with three points and a conclusion.
That's not what gives you a heart condition.
It's people fussing and fighting with each other.
All kinds of crazy things that people do
and then saying that, you know, they belong
to the Lord.
Someone, oh, I don't even want to think
about it.
All the things.
I'm going to write a book.
Karen and Faola, who work with me, have
always encouraged me to write that book.
Of all my experiences, the book would be
called either Don't Ask or Stop It.
Just stop it.
All the things that you see we do
to each other, it just makes you want
to cry.
Let's not quarrel.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be
called the children of God.
How many want to be peacemakers and not
quarrelers, fussing, fighting?
So now we come to the close.
So notice the man of faith again.
He not only doesn't want to quarrel, he
is so laid back, it's frightening.
Because as they have to decide who goes
where, he goes, hey, you pick.
You pick.
No, he's the oldest.
He's the uncle.
He's the one who God spoke to.
He's the father of all those who believe.
But he says to his nephew, we can't
live together because we're going to fuss and
fight, especially the herders.
I don't want to fight with you.
So let's divide.
Well, where should we go?
Pick wherever you want.
Because wherever you pick, God's still going to
be with me.
God's going to take care of me.
I don't have to get anxiety attacks.
I don't have to worry because God is
with me.
Don't you want to have more of that
faith in your life instead of anxiety biting
your nails?
When does she have to, when is he?
It's like God.
I know of a person who the parents
favored one child.
So when they left the inheritance, the father
died first.
And when he left the inheritance, they discovered
that he favored his daughter and gave the
daughter a half of whatever the inheritance would
be.
And the other two children only got a
quarter each.
They didn't even get a third.
Now, why should that happen?
But if you have faith in God, let
her have the half.
I have God with me.
He's seeing what's going on.
Don't you think God's going to take care
of you?
Come on.
How many know God's going to take care
of you?
You don't have to fuss and fight over
every nickel and dime.
Oh, I don't like to be around people
always looking like someone's taking advantage of them.
God's with us.
So now here comes the crux of the
whole thing.
So Lot looks and he goes, that is
looking so good over there.
Did he pray?
Did he ask God what God wanted?
No, it's looking good over there.
It's well watered.
It's greener than the other side.
Oh, it always looks greener on the other
side.
And the Bible says he went and pitched
his tent in Sodom and Gomorrah.
He ended up picking where God was going
to destroy.
And he just barely got out and his
wife didn't make it.
And in the next chapter or two, Abraham
has to go ride, get a little posse
together and rescue him because he gets trapped
in a war between three Kings and two
Kings.
And then later on, Abraham learns from the
angel of the Lord that the cry of
Sodom and Gomorrah had gotten so horrible.
What cry?
The cry of homosexual rape, of regular rape,
of children being abused, of children seeing things
they shouldn't see.
Some kind of cry went up to God.
And now the angel of the Lord, God
in some angelic form said, I'm not going
to hide this from Abraham because he's my
friend.
And then Abraham realized, oh my goodness, where
Lot, my nephew picked is going to go
up and smoke.
And then he has to intercede and pray.
You know, he has that fight with God.
If there's a hundred righteous, wouldn't you save
it for how about 50 for 50?
Look, I shouldn't be saying this, but how
about 40 and then 30 and then down
all of that.
Faith says, God, you show me what to
do and I'll follow you.
Living by sight says, whatever looks good, that's
what I want.
Oh, she looking fine.
She might be looking fine, but God has
something finer possibly for you.
And he's looking so good or that looks
so good.
It's amazing to me.
It really is.
I'm so happy early on, I guess, because
we had nothing.
And I was afraid of making any decision
without trying to get God's guidance.
Although I have failed many times, but I
want to just testify to you here as
I close.
You can't beat God's way.
You cannot beat God's way.
Can we say amen to that?
You cannot beat trusting God.
When you trust God, trust in the Lord
at all times.
Trust in the Lord.
Don't go by what your eyes tell you.
You don't know what's around the curve.
It looks good now, but when you make
that curve, you don't know what's waiting on
the other side.
Bad things can happen to good people because
they stop trusting God.
And what a lesson for us.
How could you have an uncle like Abraham
and not learn to trust God?
Didn't Abraham disciple you?
Don't you see what God is doing with
him as he trusts God?
No, you're going to just see the senses,
just the sensory world, the eyesight, the ear,
what looks good.
I want this.
I want that.
No, I'm going to choose that.
That looks better.
You don't know that that job might look
better, but that job might not be better.
It's not in the math only.
You could make more money and lose in
the end.
And you could make less and win in
the end.
How many believe what I'm talking about?
Can we say amen?
You got to have the faith.
You got to have the faith that says,
God show me what to do.
I got to believe.
I don't usually talk about these things on
a Tuesday night and the Lord kept me
up with this last night and again today.
So this gotta be someone that he wants
me to try to help.
Close your eyes with me.
If you're here at a crossroads and you
got to make a decision, social decision, romantic
financial job, you know, we make decisions.
And here's the point of this story.
Decisions have repercussions.
You just don't make a decision.
And then everything always works out.
Lot made a bad decision and all what
repercussions his children grew up in hell.
They grew up in hell all the time
because he thought it'll be nicer there for
the family.
It's better to live in a mountain alone
with God than live in some mansion.
Oh, listen, I've seen that over and over
with relatives on Carol's side and my side.
What looks good is not always good.
If you're here and you need to just
ask God to increase your faith and you
need direction from him about a decision.
I got to believe that's why he put
this on my heart.
I say that humbly in front of God.
I have to believe that's why this is
so compelling, that maybe someone's visiting, someone's here
for some reason and you're just facing today
like a decision.
There's a fork in the road and maybe
you're tending toward what looks good and what
seems right in your logic.
That's what you're going to do without checking
with God.
Oh, please check with God.
Please bring it to God.
Anyone here who I can just pray with
and who wants to wait before the Lord
for five or 10 minutes?
Just get out of your seat and come
forward and say, I need a word from
God about that daughter, about that son.
I don't know what to do with them.
I'm at my wits end.
I don't know what to do with the
mortgage that I can't pay anymore.
The rent, I can't meet it.
My budget, what do I do now?
Someone says I should call this guy and
he'll get me out of it.
But is that what God wants me to
do?
God, I need a word from you.
I want to live by faith.
I want to trust you.
Father, you said that just shall live by
faith, not just get saved by faith.
That most of us understand that it's not
by the works of the law that we
are justified, but by faith in Christ.
But you didn't say we would just get
saved by faith.
You said that just shall live by faith.
Every day would be a faith day.
Forgive us for trusting our senses rather than
trusting you.
Forgive us, have mercy on us for making
decisions based on the eye rather than the
spirit of God.
And a lot of us here, Lord, have
bruises and cuts and scrapes that have come
from the repercussions of wrong decisions.
But today we bring our situations to you.
Show us the way we should go.
Give answers, give wisdom.
Didn't you say in your word we will
hear a voice behind us saying, this is
the way, walk in it.
Be true to your word.
Be true to your word, Almighty God.
Be true to your word.
If we don't know what to do, will
you not, Heavenly Father, show your children what
to do?
Because we trust you today.
We'd rather have Jesus than silver and gold.
We'd rather have Jesus than houses and land.
Make us like Father Abraham, who was so
confident that you would take care of him,
that he could just relax.
Don't let us quarrel and don't let us
fret.
The people who are standing in front of
me, God, give them tonight the sleep, the
blessed sleep of the person who trusts in
God.
Not anxious, not afraid, not biting their nails,
but resting in their God.
Sure that God is going to take care
of them.
So we give you our situations.
And now we ask you as we wait
before you to direct us in the way
we should go.
If we start to move in a way,
God, that's not of you, take away the
peace that we have.
Give us a warning.
Give us a signal.
This is not of God.
There's something wrong here.
Even though we can't explain it, show it
to us, Lord.
And the way that we should go, give
us extra peace and confirmation, even a word
from another Christian, even a verse or a
line of a song that will just confirm,
this is the way God wants me to
go.
But we are not going to worry.
We will not fret.
We will not be anxious because our God
is in control.
Our God is in control.
Can we put our hands together and say
out loud, our God is in control.
Our God is in control.
Direct this church and its leadership in the
way we should go.
Don't let us go any way that's not
of you.
As Pastor Burgos prayed earlier today in my
office, Lord, show us if we're moving any
way out of your will in any decision
we make.
And we just thank you that we can
bring every situation to you.
Everyone who stepped forward now, Lord, is going
to be a man or a woman of
faith in a new way.
Starting today, we are walking in the footsteps
of Father Abraham.
And Abraham believed God.
We thank you, Lord, that he trusted you
and you proved faithful.
Everybody sitting, stand.
Everyone stand in the building.
Join hands with the person next to you.
Come on, let's all join hands together.
And now, God, I ask that tonight the
love of the Father will abide upon us.
The grace of our Lord Jesus will be
filling our lives and the fellowship of the
Holy Spirit will be our sweet portion.
The Spirit of God leading and talking to
his people.
Thank you, God, for this service.
Bless all the workers, Lord, who are helping
with the Summer Fun Week.
Give them strength for tomorrow, Lord.
Bless those children.
Let the Spirit of God come upon those
children as they learn about Jesus.
We pray for the prayer centers in the
street.
We pray for every worker.
Get all of us home, Lord, safe and
sound.
We ask this in Jesus' name.
And everyone said, turn around and hug somebody.
Come on, hug a bunch of people.
The Lord be with you.