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...19. I'm going to continue the second part
of a message that began last Sunday morning.
Genesis chapter 19.
Message tonight is entitled, Escape to the Mountain.
Escape to the Mountain.
Father, I thank you.
God, I praise you for the anointing of
the Holy Spirit.
Thank you, Lord, that you don't ever call
any one of us to stand in our
own strength, reasoning power, Lord, or wisdom.
For apart from you, apart from what you've
given to me, I have nothing.
God, I thank you that you have promised
that in believing on you that out of
my inward parts would flow a river of
living water.
Living water to give drink to your chosen.
Lord, to those that you love, to those
that are thirsty in this house tonight.
Oh, Holy Spirit, I ask that you make
the word of God, the word of the
living God alive.
Make it a living reality in every heart
and every life.
Quicken us now, Holy Spirit.
Not only be to speak, but quicken all
in this house to hear.
To hear what it is that you're speaking
to your church in this last hour of
time.
God, you're speaking so clearly.
Lord, give us the grace to be able
to hear and to respond.
To have open hearts.
And to come running to you, Lord, not
fearing, not doubting, not living in unbelief.
But knowing that you have nothing but good
thoughts towards your children.
Nothing but healing and wholeness and protection for
your sons and daughters.
Oh, God.
I ask for the grace to deliver this
word tonight.
In Jesus name.
Amen.
Genesis chapter 19.
Beginning at verse 17.
It came to pass when they had brought
them forth abroad that he said, escape for
thy life.
Look not behind thee.
Neither stay thou in all the plain.
Escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.
And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so,
my lord.
Behold, now thy servant hath found grace in
thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy.
Which thou showed unto me in saving my
life.
And I cannot escape to the mountain, lest
some evil take me, and I die.
Behold, now this city is near to flee
unto, and it is a little one.
Oh, let me escape thither.
Is it not a little one?
And my soul shall live.
And he said unto him, See, I have
accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I
will not overthrow this city.
For the which thou hast spoken.
Haste thee, escape thither.
For I cannot do anything until thou come
hither.
Therefore, the name of the city was called
Zoar.
The sun was risen upon the earth when
Lot entered into Zoar.
And then the Lord rained upon Sodom and
upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord
out of heaven.
And he overthrew those cities and all the
plain and all the inhabitants of the cities.
And that which grew upon the ground.
But his wife looked back from behind.
And she became a pillar of salt.
When we began the discussion of this man
called Lot, we found him in Genesis chapter
19, verse 1, sitting in the gate of
Sodom.
We discussed last week that the gate was
a place of commerce, a place of buying
and selling.
Lot was a man who was given a
personal advantage.
And I believe that he had placed much
of his trust in his ability to buy
and sell and get gain.
And also in the gate was a place
of government and civic influence.
Most of the things that happened that are
of any significance commercially or governmentally happened in
the gate.
It was the tradition in those days, virtually
in every city.
Those who sat in the gate got first
bids really at new goods that came in
and things like that.
And here's Lot sitting in the gate.
He is the nephew of Abraham.
Abraham's the man who God gave the promise
to that through him all the generations of
the earth were going to be blessed.
Abraham rose up to travel into that land
that God had promised to him and Lot
being his nephew got up and went with
him.
And so obviously, along the way, Abraham would
have revealed to Lot the promises that God
had made to him.
And it came time when they came to
the area that they were supposed to dwell
in and they lived together for a little
while.
Then, of course, the increase came and they
couldn't live because of the multitude of all
of the goods that they had, especially the
flocks and the herds.
So Abraham said to Lot, he said, well,
you take a look and you choose whatever
you want.
You can have it and whatever's left, I'll
take.
And in this, he really did show the
heart of God where it talks about in
the scriptures in the New Testament, look not
every man on his own things, but also
on the things of others.
And Abraham manifested that heart, which I believe
is essential to anyone who will follow the
Lord in faith.
We cannot be people who look continuously to
ourselves and to our own gain and our
own advantage.
And Abraham looked away from himself and said,
you choose whatever you want.
So the scriptures Lot lifted up his eyes.
But you see, this was the continuous weakness
in Lot.
He could only lift up his eyes so
far.
He had a horizontal vision and he looked
out with his natural eyes and he saw
a place that looked very good.
It looked very secure to dwell in that
place.
And so he chose that place and moved
his family, moved his flocks there and settled
in Sodom and Gomorrah.
After Lot was removed from him, the Lord
said to Abraham, now lift up your eyes.
And Abraham was a man who was not
given to lifting up his eyes only halfway,
but he lifted up his eyes all the
way to heaven.
And that's when God began to speak to
Abraham one more time and said, Abraham, I
am thy exceeding great reward.
Abraham, everything that you've ever longed for, Lot's
chosen what he thinks is going to bring
him satisfaction.
But everything that you've ever longed for, you're
going to find it in me.
And brethren, my brothers and sisters tonight, that
is the same cry of God, the same
heart cry for us as it was in
that generation.
Those who have chosen to to live by
just what their natural eye can see.
There's coming a day of great remorse, a
day of great trial and tribulation upon them
because they've not looked high enough.
They've not looked to the place where God
alone dwells and his promises are the only
thing that can sustain them.
At this place of buying and selling, two
angels came down to messengers from heaven.
They told Lot, they said, get out of
this place for God's heard the cry of
it.
It has become very wicked and he's going
to judge it by fire.
They said, if you have anything here, sons,
daughters, family, go and get them out of
this place.
So Lot went to his family that were
in Sodom and Gomorrah, his daughters, his sons
in law.
And as I shared last week, perhaps his
grandchildren that were part of those relationships.
Although the scripture doesn't say that, I think
it's safe to assume that he possibly had
grandchildren.
And he said to them, up, get out
of this place.
The Lord will destroy this city.
But he seemed as one that mocked unto
his sons in law.
They looked at him and because his life
had been there been such mixture in this
man's life all the way along.
They didn't take him seriously.
And they laughed at him.
The New International version of this says they
they thought he was joking.
Whereas the the Bible clearly calls us.
God calls us to be living epistles, living
testimonies of the goodness, the grace and even
the severity of God, the fullness of God.
Lot came in because there was such mixture
in his life.
His family looked at him and they just
laughed.
In the morning, the angels hastened him and
said, Lot, arise, take your wife, your daughters
and here and everything that's with you.
Lest you be consumed in the iniquity of
the city.
And while he lingered, they laid hold on
his hand, the hand of his wife, the
hand of his two daughters, the Lord being
merciful to him.
And they brought him forth and sent him
without the city.
And I talked last week about lingering lot.
As he's leaving the gate, everything that he's
ever trusted and he's got to now leave
it behind him.
My brothers, my sisters, there is a there
is a day coming.
There's there's a judgment called the judgment seat
of Christ.
Now, there is a judgment called the White
Throne judgment.
And that is the the judgment of the
unrighteous dead.
There's a day coming when every person who
ever lived in the face of the earth
is going to stand before a holy God.
And the White Throne judgment is not a
judgment to determine whether you're saved or lost.
It is a judgment of the unrighteous dead.
It's just God giving a complete full revelation
now to everyone who stands before him as
to why he is just in sending them
to hell for all of eternity.
And why they're going to suffer his wrath.
But there's another judgment.
And oftentimes, many people in the body of
Christ don't give a whole lot of thought
to this judgment.
It's called the judgment seat of Christ.
And that's where every believer, you're going to
be there one day and I'm going to
be there one day.
And everything we have done from the day
that we came to Christ and said he
was our Lord and Savior is going to
be tested with the purity of God.
The fire of God is going to touch
everything.
The scripture says there are in the New
Testament.
There are some whose entire life work is
going to be burned.
Yet they themselves will be saved.
Yet that's by fire.
I believe that lot is a type of
one of these men in the New Testament.
The apostle Peter talks about the deliverance of
righteous lot who is vexed with the conversation,
filthy conversation of the wicked.
If the righteousness that lot had absolutely had
to be imputed to him because I don't
see anything righteous about this man other than
the fact that he was Abraham's nephew.
The righteousness he had had to be imputed
to him by God.
There was no other way.
And I believe just as lot stood at
the gate and lingered and and for that
moment realized how vain his life had been.
There are people are going to stand at
the judgment seat of Christ just before entering
into that time when all tears and all
sorrow and everything is going to be wiped
away.
And at that judgment seat of Christ, every
man's work is going to be tested.
Every man's work is going to be tried.
And there are some are going to be
standing there.
And at that time, there will be an
awareness.
I believe this with all my heart.
There will be some that say, my sons
are not here.
My daughters are not here.
My family is not here.
And there will be perhaps for the first
time in their lives, the realization that what
they have lived for has been all in
vain.
They themselves are saved, yet so is by
fire.
But there will be an awareness for that
moment.
I know when we enter into heaven, there'll
be no more tears, no more sorrow.
It is conceivable, I suppose, after this judgment
that God will wipe out of their memory
the fact that they even had a son
or had a daughter.
It is possible because there'll be no sorrow.
There'll be no sighing in heaven.
But for that moment, standing there and beginning
to realize, oh, God, just as Lot did
when he was lingering at the gate of
the city.
Oh, God, for one more day, God, for
one more hour, God, for one more week,
one more month to go down.
If I would have known, if I would
have understood how I would have lived my
life differently, how I would have taken seriously
the things of God.
And now Lot is brought out of the
city.
The Lord says in verse 16, was merciful
to him.
They brought him out and they set him
without the city.
It came to pass when they had brought
them forth abroad in verse 17 that he
said, now this is the angel speaking to
him, escape for your life.
Look not behind you.
Neither stay on all the plain.
Escape to the mountain.
Lest thou be consumed.
Now, this was God's instruction to Lot.
Escape to the mountain.
You would think that this man, after living
so long unto himself, after finally coming to
the realization that all of his life's work
was for nothing.
You would begin to think that this man
would hunger and want to lay hold of
every word of God that would come to
him.
Escape to the mountain.
This was God's instruction.
The angel was saying that your safety rests
in the pursuing of that which truly represents
the heart and plan of God.
Lot, you have lived to yourself and this
is what it's come to.
You've been by mercy brought out of this
city.
You have got to leave your family behind
and everything you've labored for is going to
perish.
Now, escape to the mountain.
Go to that place.
Follow the word of God.
Walk in obedience to God.
And you will find safety there.
Escape to the mountain.
Lest thou be consumed.
The prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter 2,
verses 2 and 3, It shall come to
pass in the last days that the mountain
of the Lord's house shall be established in
the top of the mountains and shall be
exalted above the hills and all nations shall
flow into it.
And many people shall go and say, Come
ye and let us go to the mountain
of the Lord, to the house of the
God of Jacob.
And he will teach us his ways and
we will walk in his paths for out
of Zion shall go forth the law and
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
This is what Isaiah is saying.
There's a day coming.
It's going to come to pass in the
last days that that God's house will be
established.
People will go there and they will be
taught the ways of the Lord and they
will walk in the paths of God.
Hallelujah.
Now, the word mountain is often figuratively represented
in the scriptures, that which embodies God's revelation
of his heart and purpose to those who
honestly seek him.
You'll find words in the Bible that have
a figurative representation.
And the word mountain is often, often used
to represent that place where God reveals his
heart.
God reveals his purpose.
God reveals his path to all those who
want to walk with him in truth and
in honesty.
In Genesis chapter 22, it was to a
mountain called Moriah that God sent Abraham to
sacrifice Isaac.
He sent Abraham to a mountain.
It was a test of his obedience.
And God was showing us through this story
that in this place, I'm calling you to
learn to obey me because that's where safety
is.
When we make that decision to walk in
obedience to God.
In First Chronicles chapter 21, it was on
that same mountain that David was sent to
offer a sacrifice.
David had foolishly numbered the nation of Israel.
He began his eyes were turning away from
the power of the presence of almighty God.
And he was beginning to look to his
own might and to his own strength.
And God considered this a very, very serious
sin on David's part.
And even though David was warned not to
do this yet, he chose to follow that
path, which brought about a destroying angel that
was going forth and destroying by thousands the
children of Israel.
And God called David to that same mountain.
And on that mountain, there was a man
called Ornan, the Jebusite, who had established a
threshing floor.
And he was working there with his children,
threshing wheat.
It was the place of his living.
Ornan saw the destroying angel there with a
sword in his hand.
And Ornan said to David, he said, if
you need this place to offer sacrifice, that
the plague may be stayed from the people.
He said, I give you the threshing floor.
I give you the wooden instruments to burn.
He said, I even give you the oxen
to offer for the sacrifice.
Ornan said, I give it all to you.
You see, that mountain that God's speaking about
is firstly a mountain of obedience, but then
it's a mountain of sacrifice.
And Pastor David spoke about that this morning,
that we finally come to the place of
learning that it is reasonable to offer our
lives as a living sacrifice unto God.
Holy, holy unto God, which is a reasonable
service.
It was on this same mountain called Moriah
that Solomon was instructed through the Holy Ghost
by the instructions given by his father, David,
to construct a temple.
You find it in 2 Chronicles chapter 7.
It was on this mountain that Solomon dedicated
such a beautiful prayer when the temple was
finally constructed to the Lord.
It was on this mountain that the glory
of the Lord God was revealed.
And he showed us his desire to respond
to sincere worship from those who have an
honest relationship with him.
He desires to respond with protection, provision and
an assurance of a continuing godly heritage.
God came down and he said, if you're
put to the worst, if there's a struggle,
I'm just paraphrasing it now, if there's trouble,
trial.
If my people who are called by my
name will humble themselves and pray, seek my
face and turn from their wicked ways.
He said, I will hear from heaven and
I will heal their land.
And he promised Solomon, if you walk in
my ways, there'll never fail somebody from your
lineage, somebody of your descendants to sit upon
my throne.
Matthew chapter 5, 6 and 7, some of
the most profound teaching of Jesus Christ in
all of the New Testament begins by saying
he went up into a mountain and began
to teach the people.
In Mark chapter 3, verses 13 and 14,
Jesus called some of his followers up to
a mountain and it was in that place
that he ordained 12 of them to be
with him, that he might send them forth
to preach.
He taught in the mountain, he called in
the mountain, he ordained in the mountain.
Mark chapter 6, verse 46 tells us that
Jesus departed.
It was his habit to do so up
into a mountain to pray.
Mark chapter 9, verses 2 and 3 talks
about Jesus taking Peter, James and John up
into a high mountain, a part where he
was transfigured before them.
A place of sacrifice, a place of obedience,
a place of teaching, a place of commission,
a place of revelation of the heart of
God, a place of prayer, a place of
seeking God.
A place where the glory, the glory of
the living Christ was revealed to three men
who had made the decision to follow him
up into the mountain.
And perhaps the psalmists say it best.
The writer of Psalm 121, verses 1 and
2 says it this way.
I will lift up mine eyes unto the
hills from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the Lord, which made
heaven and earth.
David says it even better in Psalm 61,
verses 2 and 4.
When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to
the rock that is higher than I.
In verse 4 he says, I will abide
in thy tabernacle forever.
I will trust in the covert of thy
wings.
David says, lead me to that rock, lead
me to that place that is higher than
I.
I will abide there.
I've made a choice to live there and
I will trust in your revelation of your
heart and your way and your path to
me.
I will trust in it.
For therein lies my safety.
This is why the angel said to Lot,
flee to the mountain.
Go to the mountain.
Obey God.
Because if you choose any other path, you're
going to be consumed in the iniquity of
this city.
Find the heart of God.
Find the path of God.
Learn to trust in him.
Learn to walk with him and obey him.
Learn to give your life as a living
sacrifice for the purposes of God.
If you're afraid of this, ask him for
a revelation of his heart.
Ask him to give you a joy that's
unspeakable and full of glory in understanding his
purposes for fallen men.
And how those purposes are affected through your
life and through mine.
You would think that Lot would be so
excited, finally he's got a sure word from
God.
And many, many people have, even maybe some
tonight, you've come out of that first place.
God's called you.
And you've begun to realize that, hey, this
city is going to pass away.
The realization has hit.
There's some sitting here tonight and you're in
sorrow because of some of the things in
the past.
And we trust that the Lord will heal
you.
But there's a memory of lost relationships, lost
opportunities, lost blessings.
Because of wrong values and wrong priorities.
But now you come to a place where,
just like Lot, the messengers of God have
got you right by the hand.
And the messengers are saying, flee to the
mountain.
Flee to the mountain, lest you be consumed
in the iniquity of this city.
There's a flood coming in on the world
of the ungodly.
Flee to the mountain.
Don't be satisfied with anything less.
And you would think that Lot, finally, with
what he has left.
He has his two daughters.
He's lost some of his other daughters.
He's lost his grandchildren.
He's lost his sons-in-law.
He has his wife and he has his
two daughters.
And you'd think there'd be such a gratitude
in that man's heart.
To say, from now on, honey, from now
on, my daughters, we're going to walk with
God.
We're going to follow God.
Whatever God says to do, we're going to
do it.
You would think that it would be reasonable
in this man's heart to begin to do
these things.
But in Genesis, the very next verse after
17, Genesis chapter 19, verse 18, he says,
And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so,
my Lord.
Behold, now thy servant hath found grace in
thy sight, and thus magnified thy mercy.
So he's aware of grace now.
He's aware of mercy, which you have showed
me in saving my life.
I cannot escape to the mountain lest some
evil take me and I die.
So here's Lot saying, I cannot, I can't
go that far.
And in verse 20, he says, behold, now
this city is near to flee to.
It's a little one.
Oh, let me escape there.
Is it not a little one?
And my soul shall live.
So here's Lot, still motivated by the same
love of self.
He gives way to the fear of the
unknown.
He's unable to entrust himself completely to the
plan of God for his future.
Trust is really the issue.
Lot is saying, Lord, I know what you
want me to do, and I hear what
you're calling, but it's so far.
It's such a climb.
It seems so distant.
And who knows what awaits me if I
really entrust myself to you, if I really
walk with you, if I really let you
take my hand and walk in obedience.
Oh, God, I don't know what's going to
happen to me.
And the very same thing that has always
gripped this man now begins to take over.
He has a revelation of mercy as a
revelation of grace.
And now he looks to where he can
see.
He said, no, here's a little city not
too far away.
And is it not just a little one?
Oh, please let me go there.
Unable to entrust himself to the word of
God, the plan of God for his future,
he begs to have leave to take a
shorter journey.
Oh, folks.
It's a tragedy of of our generation, I
think, and it's a tragedy of church generations
and times gone by, that people having heard
the call of God, what does Jesus say?
Come unto me.
Learn of me.
I'm meek and lonely in heart.
You shall find rest for your soul.
Come up to the mountain.
Come into the very heart of God.
Come, let me reveal myself to you.
And so many say, well, it's such a
long way and it's so fearful.
And can I really trust you?
And he begs to take leave to take
a shorter journey.
And there are so many today that say,
oh, I'd like to.
Is there a shorter way?
Is there?
And I want you to notice something.
The angel gives him leave to follow his
own heart's desire.
The angel said, see, I've accepted the concerning
this thing, and I will not overthrow the
city for which thou hast spoken.
Jesus will never force anyone to follow him.
He's an absolute gentleman.
He's a loving God.
You see, in the book of Revelation, when
he speaks to the church of Laodicea, a
church that's lukewarm and adulterous heart, and he
says to them, behold, I stand at the
door and knock.
He had every right to kick the door
and demand obedience, but he doesn't do that.
He reveals his heart.
He will never force anyone to follow him.
And so the angel speaking on God's behalf
says, OK, you want a shorter journey.
Here it is.
It's all yours.
You'd ask me today.
How does this happen in the lives of
those who profess to know Christ?
How do they find this shorter journey and
who offers it to them?
Go put a marker in Genesis 19.
Go to Luke chapter 16.
Beginning at verse one.
He said to his disciples.
There was a certain rich man which had
a steward, and the same was accused unto
him that he had wasted his goods.
And he called him and said unto him,
How is it that I hear this of
thee?
Give it account of thy stewardship, for thou
mayest no longer be no longer steward.
The steward said within himself, What shall I
do?
For my Lord takes away from me the
stewardship.
I cannot dig, and to beg I am
ashamed.
I am resolved what to do, that when
I am put out of the stewardship, that
they may receive me into their houses.
So he called every one of his Lord's
debtors unto him, and said unto the first,
How much owest thou unto my Lord?
And he said, A hundred measures of oil.
And he said unto him, Take thy bill,
and sit down quickly, and write fifty.
Then said he to another, And how much
owest thou?
And he said, A hundred measures of wheat.
And he said unto him, Take thy bill,
and write four score.
And the Lord commended the unjust steward, because
he had done wisely.
For the children of this world are in
their generation wiser than the children of light.
This story, this parable, is about a man
who was the servant of a very, very
rich man.
The very, very rich man gave him his
goods to use wisely, to distribute wisely.
He forfeited his right to represent that rich
king or that rich man, because he wasted
his calling.
And to me it speaks of many who
sit in, who stand in pulpits perhaps all
throughout the world today.
Once perhaps called of God.
Once perhaps handled wisely the treasure of the
revealed word of God.
But they got lazy.
Get out of the prayer closet, get out
of the Bible.
Today we have men who are standing and
leading supposed revivals throughout parts of the world,
and they actually boast.
They get up in the pulpit and they
boast that they spend little or no time
in prayer.
They boast that they don't spend time in
God's word.
They boast of coming from the back room,
playing video games and standing out.
And they say, Every time I stand, the
anointing is still there.
They boast of coming straight from the golf
course to the church on Sunday morning.
But the Lord, you see, they don't realize
the Lord is taking away from them the
right to represent him before the people.
And the evidence of that is they lose
the passion for God.
They lose the passion for prayer.
They lose the passion for holiness.
They lose the passion to study his word.
They're not able to bring the treasure of
Christ out of this book anymore.
Those things that were once entrusted to them
now have fallen through their fingers and they're
left standing empty.
And they say, What can I do?
There are men standing in the ministry all
over the United States and North America today
that have given the chance would get out
of the pulpit.
But they don't know what to do.
They say, I cannot dig.
In other words, I've done this for so
long.
I don't have any skills.
I never went to college.
I don't have a trade.
What am I going to do?
And I'm too ashamed to beg.
So he says, I know what I'll do
that when I'm put out of the stewardship
that they may receive me into their houses.
Here's the issue.
I am called and Pastor David is called
anybody else who ever stands in this public.
We are called to provoke you to go
to the mountain of the Lord.
That is God's house.
That's God's dwelling.
That's where his heart is, his plan, his
purpose.
It may provoke some.
It may anger others.
Some others may not know how to deal
with it.
But I'm not called to have you receive
me into your house.
I'm not called to be loved by everybody.
If you love the truth, I know you'll
love the preachers of truth if you love
truth.
But if you don't, you're going to become
angry with me.
You're going to become angry with Pastor David
eventually if you don't love the truth.
But the unjust steward says, I'm resolved what
to do that when I'm put out, that
they may receive me into their houses.
And here's a sign.
Beware of preachers who preach so that you
will love them.
He called his Lord's debtors unto him and
said unto the first, how much do you
owe my Lord?
How much do you owe?
And he said, a hundred measures of oil.
He said, take your bill, sit down quickly
and write 50.
The Holy Ghost is speaking to some hearts
in the house of the Lord, even in
this hour.
And people are reading this thing.
I read here where it says, if anyone
will be my disciple, let him deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me.
And then the unjust stewards stands and says,
well, that's not really what it means.
Half of that should be sufficient.
Half of that is all that God requires.
Here's a little city.
Many, many preachers today are just travel agents
to Zohar.
That's all they are.
Travel agents to places that are far short
of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus.
And in Genesis again, chapter 19, verse 23,
the sun was risen upon the earth.
When Lot came into Zohar, entered into Zohar.
Zohar in the original Hebrew, do you know
what Zohar means?
It means little.
Little.
Now hear me clearly.
Lot is called to the mountain of God.
He's called to receive an absolute revelation of
the heart of God, that his life may
come to represent another kingdom, another master.
But he opts for little.
Instead, how many Christians today call to the
very heart of Christ who really could make
a difference in this dying generation that we're
living in?
Instead of pursuing, instead of walking through, instead
of trusting God, opt for little.
Little effort.
Little distance.
Little obedience.
Little change.
Little sacrifice.
Little trust.
Little seeking of the ways of God.
Little of the word.
Little prayer.
The apostle James tells us that the fruit
of dwelling in such a place is instability.
James chapter 1, verse 8 says, a double
-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Now listen.
The word ways in the Greek is hodos,
which means sometimes denoting the revealed will of
God as being shown by God and leading
to him.
The revealed will of God shown by God
and leading to him.
A double-minded man is unstable in every
path, in every attempt that he makes to
find the will of God, to find that
path that leads to the very heart of
God.
His double-mindedness would produce in him an
instability that causes him never to be able
to find the path.
Never.
In this place of little, he continues to
suffer loss.
In verse 26, his wife looks back and
turns into a pillar of salt.
In this place of little.
There are many, many people today who are
dwelling in little.
Called to the very heart of God, made
a choice.
They're dwelling in little.
Zohar is the city that they've encamped in
and they're suffering continuous.
The losses are continuing to mount.
The situation in his life is not turning
around.
His wife now looks back.
Why does she look back?
She turns into a pillar of salt.
Salt, by its very nature, is a preservative.
She was called and should have been led
by her husband to become a preserver, to
preserve a godly heritage.
She had two daughters and those daughters should
have been trained down the ways of God,
having seen the futility of living in Sodom
and Gomorrah.
Salt is a healer.
Christ himself said, I came to heal the
brokenhearted.
Salt gives flavor.
Didn't Paul say we are the saver of
Christ?
Wherever we travel, wherever we go, some of
life to life and others of death unto
death.
But we represent Christ as a flavor of
Christ.
And those who are truly set apart for
God and the purposes of God.
Salt also creates thirst.
For eternal values.
But in order to preserve, in order to
be a healer, in order to have the
flavor of Christ, in order to be one
who creates thirst.
All of this requires a giving of oneself.
Firstly, to the leading of God.
Folks, let's not deceive ourselves.
We will never become any of these things
if we first don't submit to the leading
of God.
And begin to walk in obedience when he
speaks.
And secondly, it's a giving of oneself to
the revealed purposes of God for your life.
Do you realize tonight that we have a
tremendous privilege?
We are not our own anymore.
I'm not my own.
I don't belong to myself.
I have been bought with a price.
God came to earth and shed his blood
for me.
And bought me.
He paid an incredible price.
And yet I was set free.
That's why I can sing.
I'm free.
And he gives me now the privilege of
representing his heart to this generation.
But I cannot know it until I come
to the place where I'm willing to entrust
myself to him.
I say, Lord, you have to lead me
now to the mountain.
Lead me, lead me to that place where
you were crucified.
Lead me to an understanding of what caused
you to come to this earth.
Work it into my heart.
Work it into my life.
Show me why I was so precious in
your sight.
That you came down and were spit upon
and bruised and misunderstood and kicked and hated.
That I could be saved.
Show me and then work it into my
heart.
That I might consider it a privilege to
follow in your footsteps.
Show me that hill.
Show me that mountain called Calvary.
Lead me to that place.
Oh God, preserve me.
Protect me from living a life for myself.
Protect me from selfishness.
Protect me from Christian mediocrity.
Protect me, God, from settling for little when
you want to open the treasure of heaven,
the eternal Christ, into my soul.
God, protect me.
Don't let me settle in Zohar in any
area of my life.
Lead me to the rock.
Now precious Christ, show me your heart.
Show me why you love me so much.
Show me your heart for fallen man.
Show me the privilege of being able to
pray and with a sincerity in my heart,
not my will but thine be done.
And let it be because of a passion
that's in my heart for the ways of
God.
Not some kind of a religious slavery.
A passion that's birthed in my heart because
the living God dwells in there.
Hallelujah.
Jesus said in Matthew 5.13, on the
mountain, he said, you are the salt of
the earth.
But if the salt loses its savor, in
other words, if the salt loses its saltiness,
wherewith shall it be salted?
It's thenceforth good for nothing but to be
cast out and to be trodden under foot
of man.
The person settling for little instead of overcoming
evil, casting down imaginations and bringing about the
deliverance of Christ, is himself or herself overpowered
and overcome by the evil influences of the
society round about them.
That's what Christ is talking about.
She turned into a pillar of salt over
time.
That salt was eroded by all the forces
of nature all around it, is on the
ground.
And if we knew where it was today,
men are still trotting over lost wife.
They're still walking over top.
Folks, we are called of Christ to be
overcomers.
We're called of Christ to stand above the
beggarly lusts and desires of this world and
this society.
We're called to be citizens of another kingdom.
We're called to possess an entirely different heart
than the hearts of the people of this
world.
A different set of values.
We are called to stand in the strength
of Christ and by the power of God
within us to overcome.
To overcome everything that hell and this world
would bring against us and to stand victorious
in the power of Christ.
The triumph of Calvary is our heritage.
Hallelujah!
But those who won't go to the mountain
end up trodden upon every lust, every wind
of doctrine, every foolish desire, every crooked path
that presents itself, they walk on it.
And eventually, instead of triumphing in the power
of God, they are walked over by the
evils of the society and generation all around
them.
Finally, in Genesis 19, verse 30, the scripture
tells us that Lot flees from Zoar and
went and dwelt in the mountain.
But he didn't flee because of any passion
for God.
Only because there was a continuing undealt with
fear in his life.
For he feared to dwell in Zoar, in
verse 30, and he dwelt in a cave,
he and his two daughters.
He flees only to become drunk in a
cave.
The end result of Lot.
And his two daughters, the firstborn said to
the younger, Our father is old, there's not
a man in the earth to come in
unto us after the manner of all the
earth.
Come, let us make our father drink wine,
and we will lie with him, that we
may preserve seed of our father.
They made their father drunk with wine that
night, and the firstborn went in and lay
with their father, and he perceived not when
she lay down nor when she arose.
It came to the pass on the morrow
that the firstborn said to the younger, Behold,
I lay yesterday night with my father, let
us make him drink wine again this night
also, and go thou in and lie with
him, that we may preserve seed unto our
father.
Now, here are his daughters.
He's never taught them to seek God.
He's lived in little.
First he lived in Sodom, then he lived
in little.
He's never taught them to seek God.
He's never taught them the ways of God.
And so now they turn to natural reasoning.
But what does the scripture say?
A double-minded man is unstable in all
his ways.
Every path he takes to find the ways
of God will be crooked.
And that not only includes him, it includes
those that he has influence over.
And so his two daughters say, We need
to preserve seed.
And boy, did they ever preserve seed of
their father.
They fathered two sons.
One's name was Moab.
He became the father of the Moabites.
And the other's was Ammon.
And he became the father of the children
of Ammon.
And the scripture says in verse 38, Unto
this day, Moab had a god.
The people of Moab and Ammon became enemies
of Israel.
And Moab became known as the people of
Chemosh.
And Chemosh was a god to whom the
people sacrificed their sons and daughters to the
fire.
Ammon, the god of the children of Ammon,
was Molech, also known as Milcom.
He was a Semitic deity, also honored by
the sacrifice of children in which they were
caused to pass through or into the fire.
The Ammonites revered Molech as a protecting father.
Isn't that kind of ironic?
They preserved seed unto their father.
What did their father do?
Because he would not take a clear stand
for truth.
Because of his self-indulgence, he passed his
children into the fire.
That's what he did.
The fires of that society overwhelmed them.
They didn't have a standard by which to
judge what was right and what was wrong.
Everything was a mixture.
So when he came to them, they laughed
and they burnt with Sodom and Gomorrah.
And the two remaining children said, Let us
preserve seed.
And they preserved seed all right.
They fathered two generations that kept putting their
children into the fire and burning them unto
false gods.
A protecting father.
Those who dwell in little will most always
end up in foolishness.
Fathering doctrines which are the enemies to the
truth of God's word.
Hear me clearly.
Paul says in Philippians chapter 3, verse 18
and 19, he said, For many walk, of
whom I have told you often, and I
tell you even weeping, that they are the
enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end
is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose
glory is their shame, who mind earthly things.
Enemies of the cross of Christ.
Where have all these doctrines come from in
the last 20, 30 years in the church
of Jesus Christ?
Where these doctrines come from that God wants
everybody to be rich.
How about the doctrine that says that there's
not to be any suffering?
Suffering is of the devil.
There's no suffering in the Christian walk.
How about the doctrines that say.
You can be saved and live any way
you want.
Do anything you want.
You're still going to heaven.
Where do you think these doctrines came from?
They were fathered by people who settled for
little.
That's where they came from.
They are enemies of the cross.
Of Jesus Christ.
It's interesting that Paul doesn't say they're enemies
of Christ.
They're enemies of the cross of Christ.
The cross is the very heart of God.
It's the revelation of the purpose, the intent
of God, the plan of God, the purpose
of God.
That was revealed and continues to be revealed
through his son, Jesus Christ.
They are enemies of the cross.
We have today seeker friendly churches.
They are enemies of the cross of Jesus
Christ.
We have today people running around.
They have cast off now the restraints of
God's word.
They're now living in what they consider continuous
revelation.
They're not considering the word of God old
fashioned.
God's now moving in a new way.
And is revealing himself now outside of the
revealed word of God.
Ammon, Milcom.
And you watch in the end, their sons
and daughters will be swallowed by the fire
of a devouring society all around them.
They won't have a clue what is right,
what is wrong, what is truth.
Because the moorings are taken out from underneath
them.
Because they are brought into the church by
people, by parents who have settled for little.
When God was calling them into a very,
the understanding of his heart.
It's a battle that each one of us
has to face.
We all have to come to that place
of making a decision where we're going to
settle.
How we're going to live for God.
I'll tell you just a few things from
my own experience.
I came to Christ shortly after my wife
shared at three o'clock.
She had that first experience in a church.
And I came to Christ not too long
after that.
A revelation of grace.
I had a revelation of the mercy of
God.
It was a church that really majored on
the grace and the mercy of God.
And I thank God for that because I
was firmly established in that understanding.
That I had not come to Christ in
my own merit.
I would not continue with Christ in my
own merit.
It was all grace.
My salvation was grace.
Receiving the Holy Spirit was grace.
And my walk with God was going to
be grace.
And I thank God for that understanding.
It was like Lot, he had the revelation.
Oh, you've saved my life.
And yet around me, not desiring to be,
I had a passion for God.
Something began to stir in my soul.
And for the first two years of my
walk with God, I can honestly say I
lived in little.
Opted for Zoar.
All zealous for God, Sunday.
Sing the hymns with a great gusto and
a great passion.
But the rest of the week just settled
for little.
And I began to be invited to fellowships.
And the longer I went on, the more
I see the saving factors.
I started to get into this book all
by myself.
And I started to read this book.
And I would park my police car, folks,
and I would cry.
I would weep.
I'd read Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians.
And God just began to wash me and
wash me and wash me.
Began to change my thinking and began to
call me.
Carter, there's a higher place to dwell in
me.
I remember being asked to sing at a
banquet of this one particular church that had
a reputation for life.
And at that time, I played guitar and
I wrote a few songs.
And I remember them asking me to sing
some secular songs as well as spiritual.
And I said, why?
What do you want me to say?
I don't like singing that stuff anymore.
Why do you want me to sing something
like that in what's supposed to be a
church environment?
And they said, well, there's going to be
unsaved people here.
And we don't want them to think that
we're any different than they are.
And I remember sitting at the table.
And I can honestly say I think this
was the turning point.
Because it's something the Holy Spirit just keeps
bringing back and bringing back.
I was a young Christian.
I was just absolutely coming alive in God.
And I remember sitting at the table at
this one banquet.
And there were a lot of older Christians
at this table.
And I wanted to talk about Jesus.
God was speaking to me through his word.
And I was seeing things.
And I had a lot of questions.
And I wanted to talk about Christ.
But every time I would try to bring
something up about Christ, the people at the
table would change the conversation.
And all they seemingly could talk about is
who's going to Florida and for how long.
Whose kid is in what college.
And every time I tried it, I felt
like I was skipping.
I tried to jump back in with something
about Christ.
And they would push me back out.
And something happened in me.
And I remember I went to work.
And I was driving down an avenue in
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
And this is about, I guess, about 1980
or so.
I'm not very good with dates.
But it was around there.
And I remember driving down this street.
And I got so mad that I actually
punched the steering wheel of the car or
the dash.
I mean, I really hit it.
I got so mad.
I'm in full uniform.
I'm driving a police car.
I guess everybody that saw me probably got
out of the way.
And I said, God, God, I'm sick of
this mediocrity in my life.
I'm tired of this.
It's been two years.
What I'm seeing, I want it.
What I'm reading, I want it.
And I began to sense the Holy Ghost
saying, then follow me.
Just follow me.
I have a path for your life.
Just follow.
Begin to obey me.
And I've shared this before.
The next day, I said, God, I'll follow
you if it kills me.
And I went home.
And I was always a man of passion.
And I remember coming in the old farmhouse.
My wife would sometimes get very leery of
me because it'd be one pronouncement after another.
And I remember coming home that night.
I said, I have made a decision today.
I'm going to follow Jesus if it kills
me.
The next day, a friend of mine came
to me, another Christian policeman.
He said, we're going to prison tomorrow night
to witness to the prisoners.
He said, would you like to come along
with us?
And I said, there was a riot there
just a few weeks ago.
I said, Bob, if that happens again, we'll
never get out of there alive.
And he said, I know.
He said, do you want to come or
not?
And I remember just sort of taking a
moment.
You know, you offer one of those silent
prayers.
I said, God, I didn't think you'd take
me up on it so soon.
But I went.
And on the way, we stopped at a
halfway house because he wanted to wish a
spiritual happy birthday to an ex-biker that
was in this halfway house.
Now, this was a heavy duty halfway house.
These are guys that some of them had
been a lot of years in jail.
And this was a Christian halfway house.
To make a long story short, in that
place, in that place, the place of seeking
the mountain of God, of making a decision
to not live for mediocrity any longer.
A determination in my heart in that place.
Ex-bank robbers, and I forget who all
were there, laid hands on me and I
was filled with the Holy Ghost.
Folks, it has never, it has never been
the same since that day.
I said, God, I remember I told you
before I ran home, I reversed into the
kitchen.
I said, Atresa, listen to this.
And I started speaking in tongues.
We were at a church course that taught
that that was for 2000 years ago.
That didn't exist for today.
That was like a kickstart to get the
church going.
And we sort of took it from there
30 years later.
And I walked in and I remember running
out of the house through the field.
And shouting and singing amazing grace.
I said, God, God, God, you heard my
cry.
But you see, folks, it takes the first
step out of little.
We have to have the willingness to leave
little.
You can settle in little if you want.
And some may go to heaven.
Suffering great loss, I suppose, along the way.
Standing one day and realizing it was all
for nothing.
But others make a choice and say, I've
lived here long enough in this place of
mediocrity.
Not bearing true fruit for the kingdom of
God.
As we heard today at three o'clock,
I'm getting up, I'm getting out.
And I'm going to live for God.
I'm going to give him everything.
Everything he does in me, I'm going to
give it back to him.
Everywhere he calls me to go, I'm going
to go.
By grace, by grace.
This is not just a headstrong determination.
Because there have been great battles along the
way to let go of something.
But everything he asked me to give up
by grace.
I believe he'll give me the power to
give it up.
And everything he asked me to do, I
believe by grace he'll give me the power
to do it.
Everything he calls me to be, I believe
by grace he'll give me the power to
be it.
It's all by grace.
It began by grace.
It'll finish by grace.
I want to just read to you a
very quick scripture.
From Micah, chapter four.
But in the last days it shall come
to pass that the mountain of the house
of the Lord shall be established in the
top of the mountains.
And it shall be exalted above the hills
and the people shall flow into it.
And many nations shall come and say, come,
let us go up to the mountain of
the Lord.
And to the house of the God of
Jacob.
Many people, it says, will come.
And he will teach us of his ways.
We will walk in his paths.
For the law shall go forth of Zion
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
And he shall judge among many people and
rebuke strong nations afar off.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, their
spears into pruning hooks.
Nations shall not lift up a sword against
nation and neither shall they learn war anymore.
But they shall sit every man under his
vine and under his fig tree.
In other words, those who make the choice,
those who choose in this day to come
to the very heart of God will bear
fruit.
They will sit under his vine, every man,
and under his fig tree.
And none shall make them afraid.
Hallelujah.
The mouth of the Lord of the hosts
has spoken it.
For all the people, that's the people of
society, will walk everyone in the name of
his God.
And we will walk in the name of
the Lord, our God, forever and ever.
In that day, saith the Lord, will I
assemble her that halteth.
I will gather her that is driven out
and her that I have afflicted.
And I will make her that halted a
remnant and her that was cast far off
a strong nation.
And the Lord shall reign over them in
Mount Zion from henceforth even forever.
God says in that day, I will gather
her that was weak.
I will gather those that were lame.
I will gather those that had no power
in themselves, but they were tired of living
where they were living.
I will assemble them.
I will gather those that were driven out.
And her that I've been afflicted.
I will make her that halted a remnant.
In other words, I will call them, they'll
hear, they'll get up.
They'll begin to walk towards the very heart
of God.
And her that was cast off a strong
nation.
God says, I'll give strength to those who
didn't have strength before.
And the Lord shall reign over them in
Mount Zion from henceforth.
That means from this time that they get
up and come even forever.
Hallelujah.
God will have a people for himself.
God will have a people that live for
him.
God will have a people that know his
heart.
God will have a people that know his
power.
God will have a people that know that
everything they have comes from him and not
of themselves.
God will have a people that rise up
in the last hour of time.
In the midst of all the chaotic confusion
in this present world.
And lift up their hands and their voices,
their hearts and their lives as a holy
sacrifice to the living God.
God will have a people.
Pastor David's going up to the Mount of
the Lord.
I hear it in his preaching.
I see it in his life.
It's been a process that's never ceased in
his life.
I've made a firm resolve in my heart
to not settle anywhere for anything less than
everything that God has for me in Christ
Jesus.
And everything that he wants me to be
in him.
And everything that he wants to do in
me and through me.
Why should I settle for less?
Why should I live in Zohar?
Should I take a diversion from the path?
He's called me to the very center of
his heart.
And that's where I want to go.
I hope with all of my heart.
You're going to come too.
Paul, the apostle, said, follow me as I
follow Christ.
Well, I'll follow Paul as he followed Christ.
There are many others that have gone before
they have found the center of his heart.
And God has used their lives powerfully in
their situations.
Beginning in your home.
That's where it all starts.
Lot settled for little.
And what did he get in his home?
He got really less than little.
He sowed.
He reaped what he sowed.
He sowed something in his daughters.
And he fathered nations that offered their children
to fire.
Devils of fire.
Begin in the home.
It moves to the community.
Beyond that to the borough.
Perhaps from there to the city.
Perhaps from the city to the state.
The state to the nation.
The nation to the world.
There is no limit to what God could
do through a surrendered vessel.
There is no limit.
He's God.
But the key is the word surrendered.
Hungry.
Trusting.
Obedient.
Seeking.
This is the man, this is the woman
that God will use in this last hour
of time.
It's always been that way.
It will always be that way.
This is the third time today this message
has been spoken from this pulpit.
In the mouths of two or three witnesses,
let every word be established.
God is speaking to his church.
I want to give a simple altar call
tonight.
I'm going to sing a song called The
Old Rugged Cross.
I want to give a simple altar call
for everyone who is in this house tonight
that says, Pastor, I'm not going to settle
for little.
By God's grace, I want my life to
count for his honor, for his glory.
Would you stand?
What a privilege.
What a privilege, Lord.
God, to know your heart.
What a privilege, Father.
To know your power, to know your grace
and your glory.
What an incredible privilege to speak your word.
Oh, God.
Father, now I ask for your help.
For everyone who's come to this altar.
We can't get up.
We can't move forward without your grace.
It has to be you, Lord.
I have known that grace.
God, I know you're going to reveal that
grace to everyone who's in their heart tonight.
I'm not going to settle for little.
I want the fullness of God for my
life.
Pray with me, those that have come.
This is the conclusion of the tape.