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Life is a Choice · Sermon Podcast at Cartersville1st

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If you have your copy of God's Word, go and make your way to
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Genesis chapter 13, Genesis chapter 13.
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And as we prepare to dive into this chapter, I want to share
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with you several quotes that are from a variety of sources, but
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as you're going to be able to tell, are essentially saying the
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same thing. All right, so who knows who
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originally said or what the original saying was, but check
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these out. Here's the first one on the
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screen. Life is a matter of choices, and
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every choice you make makes you. Our lives are fashioned by our
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choices. First we make our choices, then
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our choices make us. There's a choice you have to
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make in everything you do, so keep in mind that in the end,
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the choice you make makes you. Life is about choices.
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Some we regret, some we're proud of, some will haunt us forever.
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The message We are what we choose to be.
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Finally, we are our choices. To say in a sentence what I
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think Genesis 13 is trying to say is that life is a choice and
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our choices make our life. Life is a choice and our choices
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make our life. Listen to verse 1.
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So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he
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had, and Lot went with him into the Negeb.
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Now you remember, Abraham's been called by God to leave house, to
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leave home, to leave country, and to leave kindred.
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And Abraham's been promised land, nation, name, offspring,
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blessing, protection, and on and on it goes in the covenant that
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God has made and will make with Abraham.
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There was a famine in the land, and so for a short period of
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time, Abram takes the hiatus from that land in the land of
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Egypt. And while they're on the way in,
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a fear overcomes Abram that due to the beauty of his wife Sarai,
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that the people of the land are going to want to take her for
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their wife and kill him. And so they make a plan to
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pretend that she's only his sister.
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Sure enough, Pharaoh of Egypt takes Sarah into his house.
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And based on this decision, driven by fear instead of faith,
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Abram's now put into jeopardy all that God has promised him.
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By not believing that God would be good to his promises, by
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believing that the beauty of his wife was going to overcome God's
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goodness, Abram's now threatened all the promises, land and
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nation and name and offspring and blessing.
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Now his wife's in the House of another man.
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He's between a rock and a hard place.
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Unless God intervenes, this is all going to end well.
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Guess what God does even in the midst of our unfaithfulness?
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Praise God. He intervenes, does he not?
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Praise God, He is still faithful despite our unfaithfulness.
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Even when we mess up, God still in His grace shows up.
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Hallelujah. So he does so, for Abram sends
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him out of Egypt with extra blessings than what he came
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with. We pick up in verse 2 through 4.
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Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver and in
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gold, and he journeyed on from there, from the Negeb as far as
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Bethel, in the place where his tent had been at the beginning
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between Bethel and AI, to the place where he had made an altar
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at the 1st. And there Abram called upon the
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name of the Lord. Abram makes it back to where his
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journey had begun, and here is where God had appeared to him,
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and here is where Abram had made an altar from which to worship
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God. Remember, an altar was a place,
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a physical thing. They built a platform, if you
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will, on which they would offer sacrifices and offer prayer and
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where they would worship. All right, praise God, we no
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longer need to show up with our dead animals to put on an altar.
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Amen. You know what you want to know?
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Why? Because Jesus is the final and
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full physical complete sacrifice for the sins of the world, The
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Lamb of God who takes away the sin of what?
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Every sacrifice before Jesus just pointed forward to Jesus
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that one day Jesus would eliminate all those sacrifices
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because he would be the one final one.
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Jesus is the final and full sacrifice.
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Therefore, we no longer need to alter on the altar offer like
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what Abraham did. Abram had a place though where
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he called on the name of the Lord.
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He was making a deliberate choice to worship is what I want
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you to see because again, life is a choice and our choices make
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our make our life. So Abram is making choices that
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are making his life here. It's the same for us today.
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Every day you have an opportunity to make a deliberate
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choice whether you are going to worship God or not.
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In fact, I want you to write this down in your notes.
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The first thing I think we learned here is life's greatest
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choice is who you will worship. Life's greatest choice is who
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you will worship. Listen, in one sense, every
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single human being is worshipping every single day.
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Whether you realize it or not. You were actually made to
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worship. You were designed by God to
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worship. You are worshiping whether you
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realize it or not. Now, typically what happens is
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if we're not worshipping God deliberately, I can kind of go
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ahead and kind of break the news to you.
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Most likely human beings worship who themselves every day.
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What I mean by you worship is you're giving your life and your
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loyalty and your love and your allegiance to something or
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someone. You're going to do that.
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That's worship. The only question is, who are
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you really giving that first love, that first loyalty, that
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first allegiance, that first of your life, too?
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All right. And ever since the fall of sin,
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ever since sin entered the world and infected our lives, we as
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human beings default to worshipping ourselves all right,
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because our hearts have been infected by a virus called
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idolatry that turns us to worship anything and everything
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but the one true God. Which is the reason why the
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Bible says we must be born again, made new, saved, given
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new life, made a new creation, forgiven of our sin, joined with
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Jesus and set free so that we can say no to that virus of sin
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that's infected us and be filled with the Holy Spirit made alive
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in Christ and live by worshipping him.
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If you've never experienced that new birth, that forgiveness,
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that salvation, what you need to realize is that your sin
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separates you from God, your sin personally.
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We've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
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This is why Jesus came. This is why He lived a sinless
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life. Can you imagine living a sinless
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life? Just wrap your mind around that.
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That's what Jesus did. Never thought, spoke, or did
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anything that would dishonor God.
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Why did He do it? Why did He come to earth to do
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it? To do it in your place and in my
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place so that he could go to the cross, the perfect, qualified,
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spotless Lamb of God for the sins of the world, to pay for
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your sin and to pay for mine, so that he could go to the grave,
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be laid in that grave, and rise on the third day.
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Defeating death, defeating sin, defeating hell, defeating Satan
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the enemy, and offering us forgiveness and life.
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And the Bible says when you call on the name of the Lord to be
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saved, When you hear that your sin separates you from God.
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And when you hear what Jesus has done for you to bring you back
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to God. And you call on Jesus to ask Him
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to say you and forgive you and be your Lord.
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The Bible says you're born again, you're made alive, you're
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forgiven, you're rescued, all the things, a new creation in
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Christ so that you now live to worship Him.
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Abram's making a deliberate choice to worship every day.
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God calls us those who've chosen to follow Christ, to make a
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deliberate choice to worship Him.
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Let me just give you some of those scripture references to
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specify what I'm talking about. Luke 923 If anyone would come
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after me, let him what? Deny himself, and take up his
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cross, and follow me. Romans 12/1 I appeal to you,
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therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you offer
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yourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable
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to God, which is your spiritual act of worship.
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John 15. Five.
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I am the vine, Jesus says, and you are the branches, and
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whoever abides in me and I in him, here it is.
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That bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
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Every single day. You must make the most life
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determining choice you can make it.
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I want to break that choice down into three things you're going
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to see in your notes there. If you're going to deliberately
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choose to give God your life, your loyalty, your love, and
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your allegiance, it's going to look like this number one,
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You're going to intentionally have to choose to die to
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yourself. Jesus, this day is not mine.
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Jesus, my body is not mine. Jesus, my money is not mine.
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My job is not mine. My family is not mine.
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Jesus, all I got you've given me, and all the life I have is
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you've given me. And I'm dying to my way and
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living it the way I want so that I can say yes to what you want.
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Step #1 #2 this is a daily thing #2 is to offer yourself as a
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living sacrifice. Again, God's not asking you to
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bring a dead animal. He's asking you to bring a
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living surrendered, submitted you.
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Why? So that through your life and
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your living, Jesus can live through you.
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So you got to say no to yourself and then you got to say yes to
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Jesus, right? And then thirdly, you are going
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to live by abiding in Jesus. What does that mean?
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Abiding in Jesus, right? It means that when you go to
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work or when you go to school and how you do marriage and how
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you do parenting and how you do your hobbies is in this way, not
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the way you want to do them, but constantly you're walking,
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you're living aware of God's presence.
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You're praying without ceasing, you're asking God for wisdom and
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direction, saying God, as I go here, as I do this, as I say
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this, as I respond to this, God help me do this in a way that's
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dependent on your way, your wisdom, and your power and not
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mine. This is a moment by moment
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reality of a mentality for a Christian that we're not just
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out there on our own doing this by ourselves and our strength.
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So you got to say no to yourself.
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You got to say yes to the living sacrifice and you got to say God
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help me every moment along the way.
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That's what it looks like. That's the Christian life in a
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nutshell. Is daily death to you, daily yes
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to Jesus and God, daily help me moment by moment.
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That's it. That's how we walk by the
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Spirit. That's how we die.
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That's how we live. That's how we abide.
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Right now, let's pick up verse 5 through 7.
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And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and
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tents so that the land could not support both of them dwelling
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together, for their possessions were so great that they could
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not dwell together. And there was strife between the
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herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's
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livestock, and that at that time, the Canaanites and the
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Perizzites were dwelling in the land.
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You know, Abram is choosing to worship God.
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But if you remember, and here's what I love about the Bible, the
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Bible doesn't sugarcoat anything.
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The Bible just tells you how it went down and how it happens.
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And one of the things the Bible has told us is that Abram has
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made a decision. Even as someone who's seeking to
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walk with God and worship God and honor God, Abraham's made a
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decision that it seems pretty clear may not have been exactly
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what God had in mind. Because if you go back to God's
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instructions to Abraham, he said leave house, home, country and
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kindred. But guess what Abram does?
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He takes a little kindred along with him.
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All right, Guy named Lot, that's going to cause him lots of
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problems, right? So will that decision come back
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to haunt him? If life is a choice and our
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choices make our life, is that decision going to have impact on
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his life? You better believe it, right?
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So here, how does this go? All right, well, the problem is
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they both accumulated so much stuff.
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Now their people can't get along, right?
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I mean, now they got a first world problem on their hands,
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they've gotten rich and nobody can get along.
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Does that not sound right? Anyway, that's a different
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sermon. Yeah.
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In North Georgia, from what I understand, a couple acres can
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sustain a cow. If you're going to have cattle,
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you're going to have a couple acres per cow.
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All right, because North Georgia grows pretty good grass.
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Go to the Middle East. Couple acres won't support half
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a cow. All right?
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You have a dead cow on 2 acres after about a day, All right,
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you need more. All right, So this is what the
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herdsmen are fighting about. They need more room to feed
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their animals. The animals are stressed because
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they can't get enough food, not finding enough.
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The herdsmen are stressed. There's physical, there's
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relational problems, but there's another problem in the land that
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you know what, if you're not paying attention, it'll just
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slide right past you because God says something here in the midst
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of this physical, relational conflict, there's a bigger
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conflict going on, but you might not notice it.
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Did you see what it said at this time?
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The Canaanites and parasites were dwelling in the land.
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There is a spiritual danger that's going to lead that's
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bigger than physical conflict. That's going to lead to a
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spiritual conflict. God goes out of His way to say
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that the reality surrounding this problem that Abram and Lot
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are having is a bigger problem caused by the inhabitants of the
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land being wicked people. Now I know it doesn't say
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they're wicked there yet it's going to in verse 13.
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And then it's going to come even more obvious if you know your
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Bible just how wicked these people in the land were.
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All right, so how wicked are we talking?
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Well, Leviticus 18, verse 24 and 25 says this.
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God speaks this to his people to help give them understanding of
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what's going to happen in this land.
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He says, Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things,
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for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have
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become unclean. And the land became unclean so
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that I punished its iniquity and the land vomited out its its
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inhabitants. A lot of times you'll hear
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people in kind of attacking the Bible, they'll talk about maybe
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quote how God, you know, in the conquest of Israel in this land,
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God kicked out, God wiped out peoples that were living in this
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land as if God did that for no reason, which is not true.
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What's true is that the people inhabiting this land, their
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wickedness and rebellion against God is coming up before God in
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such proportions that God does what he does as a holy God.
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God is not mean, but God is holy, holy.
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He is so holy He knows He does not associate with sin outside
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of the right way of judging sin and then giving mercy in the
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place where we can choose to trust God and have our sin
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forgiven when we choose to have faith in God and His provision
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out of His Holiness for our sin. So God is telling, He's giving a
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heads up that this sin is a problem.
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In fact, the problems are specified in Luke 18.
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I mean, not Luke, Leviticus 1819 through 23.
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I'll let you read that on your own time, but God specified what
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are some of these things that God is going to remove the
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inhabitants of the land for? Let me just mention some of
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them. This isn't culturally popular.
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This isn't politically correct, but this is what the Bible says,
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and that's what my commitment is to tell you.
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These things included in that passage are adultery, child
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sacrifice, homosexuality, and bestiality.
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And God says because of the rampantness of these things that
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don't honor him, that go against God's design, God says I'm going
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to judge sin because of the rebellion of mankind against me.
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And so wicked people are living in the land.
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There's strife between the families of Abram and Lot.
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Where will they go? What will happen?
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Let's keep going. Listen to verse 8 through 13.
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Then Abram said to Lot, Let there be no strife between you
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and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we
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are kinsmen. Is not the whole land before you
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separate yourself from me? If you take the left hand, then
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I'll go to the right. If you take the right hand, then
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I'll go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes and
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saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere, like
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the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt in the direction
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of Zoar. This was before the Lord
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destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, so Lot chose for himself all the
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Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed E Thus they separated from each
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other, and Abrams settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot
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settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far
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as Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were wicked
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great sinners against the Lord. Abram, if you notice, takes the
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lead in seeking to solve this conflict.
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He says lot. We're family man.
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We ought not be fighting. You choose take first choice, go
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the direction you want to go and I'll choose second.
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I'll go last, right. And but from their location
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geographically on the hills and arid kind of mountain area of
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Judea, they could look down, if you will, on a clear day and see
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the entire Jordan Valley that is following the river that flows
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down to the Dead Sea. They could see how well all
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watered, how lush, and how fertile that land was.
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All right? It mentions it like it was
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compared to the Garden of the Lord, that's the Garden of Eden.
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It talks about it as if it was like the Nile Delta, well
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watered by the river, right? So Lot looks around and makes a
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massive life decision. Remember, life is a choice, and
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our choices make our life. And though the Bible doesn't
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come out and say this directly, I want you to notice you can't
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miss the two factors that are driving Lot's decision to go
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this direction #1 one is material prosperity.
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Lot looks around and says, where could I go to maintain my
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standard of living? What's going to make me richer?
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What's going to sustain my riches?
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Where can I go and experience greater material prosperity?
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But then Lot makes the decision about where he's going to live
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based on a second factor that we'll call moral neutrality.
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Lot makes a decision about his address, regardless of the
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spiritual consequences it's going to have on his life.
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So Lot looks around. Life is a choice.
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Our choices make our life, and material prosperity and moral
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neutrality are driving Lot's decision here.
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He looks around and he doesn't call on the name of the Lord.
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It says he doesn't pray and ask God for direction.
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He doesn't ask Abram, who he knows really has been trying to
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worship and walk with God. He doesn't ask Abram for advice.
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Lot sees what appears to be the greatest material advantage,
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regardless of the spiritual risk, and he takes it.
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And listen, I'm not up here trying to say Lot was a bad guy.
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The Bible doesn't say that. But the Bible presents Lot as a
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guy who would not yet learned to make wise life decisions.
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Do you see the difference? You don't have to be a bad
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person to end up in a bad place, right?
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All it takes is making a decision or two, not according
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to God's wisdom, and next thing you know you make it based on
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material prosperity or. Moral neutrality.
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And it's like, whoa, I didn't, I didn't mean to end up in such a
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bad position, but I didn't follow God's wisdom.
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And guess what? A not bad guy is going to end up
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in a terrible situation. Life #2 can mark this down in
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your notes. Life choices are determined by
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the wisdom you choose, by the wisdom you choose lots.
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I don't want you to miss this. Lot's decision of where to live
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was based on wisdom. It was just the wrong wisdom.
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Did you realize you are living by a wisdom right now?
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You're choosing to operate by wisdom.
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The question is not if, but what?
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What wisdom are you? Are you choosing to operate by
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your own wisdom as if and all the universe you know best?
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That's a pretty arrogant place to be.
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Are you operating by your friend's wisdom?
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That's a pretty foolish place to be typically.
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Are you operating by the world's wisdom?
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By the culture? Listen, I've had a sentence
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resonating in my heart and mind based on different situations
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I've been encountering pastorally, personally, and it's
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this. It's that.
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It's not that the Word of God is not clear.
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It's that the world we live in is so loud.
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We struggle sometimes with what to do, what to say, where to go.
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As if the word of God is not clear, right?
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As if God's will and God's best is not obvious.
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The problem is, it's not that God's word is not clear.
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It's that the world we live in is so loud, it's all we hear.
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And so often that's the only wisdom we choose to walk in and
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never question it. Because guess what?
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This is the water we live in. It's the air we breathe.
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We're blind, by the way. John Newton was too in 1779.
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He said I once was blind, but now I see I once was lost.
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But now I'm. I've changed the wisdom I'm
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living by. My eyes have been opened.
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There's another wisdom, and it's God's his choices.
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Lots are spiritually careless. Have you ever made a bad choice
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based on bad wisdom and paid a terrible price?
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Yeah, young people in the room. I want you to, I want you to
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hear me. I'm going to tell you about four
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choices just very quick that you've got to have God's wisdom,
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all right? I don't mean these are the only
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choices you need God's wisdom for, but I mean you better have
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them for these four. Are you ready?
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Number one is your choice of the church that you attend.
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By the way, I sure hope you choose to attend even beyond
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your days under your parents roof.
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All right, but the choice you choose, the choice of your
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church matters because whether or not you choose a place that
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stands and believes the word of God or not is going to impact
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you and your thinking and the wisdom you choose to live by.
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The church you choose better stand on the Word of God.
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Regardless of what the world says, what the culture says,
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what politics say, you better choose one that stands on the
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word of God. All right, number 2 is your
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choice of friends. If your friends don't love
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Jesus, you are headed for trouble.
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You are just headed for trouble. It's coming.
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All right, you've got, I know this is hard, but it would be
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better off to walk alone for a little while if you have to than
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friends that don't. With friends who don't love
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Jesus. OK, God has promised you never
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to leave you nor forsake. You'd be better off alone for a
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little while if you have to. Number 3 is your spouse.
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You better choose to marry someone who loves Jesus, not
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that you think loves Jesus, not who says well, I'm a Christian,
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not who starts going to church with you because you ask them
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no, because you found them following Jesus.
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I'm not saying there's some situations that don't work out.
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Praise God that weren't that Hallelujah for God's grace, but
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that's not the normal, it's not the normal.
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Choose a spouse by God's wisdom. And then finally, fourthly,
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choose your career by God's wisdom.
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Now, I don't mean that there are better or worse careers.
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There's so many options out there.
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I'm just saying that you don't want to choose that randomly.
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God built you and made you for a purpose, like He gave you gifts
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and talents and a calling. And so God knows where He wants
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to put you and how He wants to use you.
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Ask God to guide you by His wisdom to be doing with your
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life something that He made you to do.
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Let me tell you what a blessing that will be.
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Those four things you need God's wisdom for every decision, but
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those four, you better mark it down.
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You got to make a decision that I'm not going to make those
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without God's wisdom. Verse 11, let me go back to it.
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It says thus they separated. That's Lot and Abram separated
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from each other. Verse 12, Abram settled in the
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land of Canaan while Lot settled among the cities of the valley
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and moved his tent as far as Sodom.
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You ought to hear some like danger music in the background
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right there. All right, now the men of Sodom.
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Here's where the Bible just comes out and tells you the men
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of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.
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Part of part of God's call y'all on Abram's life involved a
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separation. Do you remember?
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God calls Abram to leave, to be separate from house and home and
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country and kindred. Why?
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Because God's calling, God's calling our lives, doesn't
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always call us out of all of those things, but God's calling
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our lives always calls us out of something so he can call us into
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what he's calling us into. All right, so Abram's call had a
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separation involved. Lot, on the other hand, also had
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a separation, but a wrong kind. He separated himself from Abram
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and joined himself with who the Bible calls great sinners.
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This again, young people. He chose friends, He chose
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neighbors that we're not going to lead in the right direction.
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He separates himself from the promised blessings of God, and
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he puts himself and his family in the path of the judgment of
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God. In fact, the famous reformer
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John Calvin writes this. He says let us learn from Lot's
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foolishness that our eyes are not to be trusted.
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We must rather be on our guard lest we be ensnared by what we
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see. Lot fancied he was dwelling in
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paradise, but it was a place that nearly plunged him into the
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depths of hell. Listen, one of the greatest
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lessons you can learn is you got to learn to decide what you're
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going to trust, because you're either going to trust in what
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you think and what you feel and what you want.
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And you're going to Plumb line your life by that and you're
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going to walk in your own wisdom.
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Are you going to say, you know what?
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If there is a God and you believe in Him and if he has
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spoken and if what he speaks is true and if what he says is
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true, then I got a different Plumb line by which I got to do
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life. And you may not like the Plumb
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line, you may not like it, but guess what?
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God didn't ask you and He didn't ask me.
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He just said this is how I made you.
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This is how I've designed you to operate.
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You can go off and do it yourself, your way, if you want
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to. God gives us choices and life is
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a choice and our, our choices make our.
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And God in his love invites you, invites you to his wisdom and
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way to be called out separate to Him.
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So #3 life choices are determined by the separation you
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choose. Life choices are determined not
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just by the wisdom you choose, but by the separation you
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choose. Listen to what the word of God
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says. John 1519.
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If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own,
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but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of
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the world. 2nd Corinthians 616 and 17 Paul writes for where the
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temple of the living God. And God said, I'll make my
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dwelling among them and walk among them, and drop down to
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verse 17. He says therefore go out of
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their midst and be separate from them.
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First, Peter 29 but you're a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
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a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may
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proclaim the excellencies of him.
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What's this? Who called you out of darkness
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into his marvelous light? God calls us out.
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This is the separation. I mean, that is the right
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separation of out of the world, out of the ways of the world,
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the wisdom of the world, and to walking in the ways and wisdom
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in the will of God. It's going to make you look
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different. It's going to make you sound
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different. It's going to make the world
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hate you, as Jesus said, and reject you because you know
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what? You don't look like, you don't
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sound like. You don't talk like what the
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world looks like, sounds like, and talks like.
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I've heard it said that those who are citizens of heaven ought
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to have the accent of heaven, not the accent of earth.
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But the problem is when you live somewhere long enough and guess
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what you tend to do? Adapt the accent.
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When I was in South Georgia, where I was born and raised, I
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said a few words different than I now say them.
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I've been through Mississippi, I've been through Texas, I've
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been through Alabama, Back to Georgia, right?
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One of the words I used to say was for H2, Oi would say water.
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Why are you laughing at me? That's what I said, water.
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Hey, were you going to go water skiing?
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That's how I would say it. I got to Mississippi my 9th
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grade. The comrades looked at me and
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was like, what, what, what, what, what, what is that?
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Do you mean water? I was like, yes, that's what I
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mean water. Well, it took me about two weeks
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and guess how I said water? The way, the way I just said
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water. I, I lost a little bit of my
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South Georgia accent getting to a new place.
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How often the temptation is in our lives to lose the accent of
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heaven on earth, because you're going to be called out for the
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accent of heaven. You're not going to sound like,
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talk like, look like. It's going to be different.
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And this is the separation that God calls us to.
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I've heard it said like this. A ship is all right in the sea,
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but the sea is all wrong in the ship.
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The church is all right in the world, but the world is all
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wrong in the church, right? Are you living separate?
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I don't mean in a commune in a neighborhood that says
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Christians only at the gate. Jesus says be in it, but not
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what, but not of it, right? So let's pick up and keep
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reading. In Genesis 13, beginning in
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verse 14, the Lord said to Abram after Lot had separated from
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him, Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are
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northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all
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the land that you see. I will give you in your
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offspring forever. I'll make you make your
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offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count
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the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted.
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Arise and walk through the length and the breadth of the
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land, for I will give it to you. So Abram moved his temp and came
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and settled by the oaks of Monterey, which are at Hebron,
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and there he built an altar to the Lord.
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I want you to notice how Abram responded to conflict.
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This is so practical because we walk into conflict all the time.
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I want you to notice how how Abram handled it here.
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The source of conflict in our lives is typically when
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something we like, love, want, or care for is endangered and we
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go into protection mode, we go into fight mode, we go into
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that's mind mode. We going to, you're not going to
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touch that mode, right? And in this case, it's the
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physical space and provision for their livestock and their
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possessions. And the strife that begin with
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the herdsman could have worked its way up the chain and even
32:34
spoiled Abram and Lot's relationship, right?
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But that's not what happened. Why?
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Because of the way Abram responded.
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How did Abram respond? I think you could say Abram
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responded generously, graciously, selflessly.
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Why? Because Abram's life was
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anchored in believing the promises of God.
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And when your life is anchored in believing that you're going
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to receive and be blessed by the promises of God, you realize you
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can't give yourself out of the blessings of God, right?
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Abram's like, listen, I'm free to let Lot choose first.
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God has promised me more than I could have ever imagined.
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How could you not live generously when God has promised
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you all things He didn't? He didn't choose first because
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he believed the promises of God. He didn't stress in the midst of
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conflict because he believed the promises of God.
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He didn't fight for his own, protect his turf, or alienate
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lot because he believed the promises of God.
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Can I just ask you, are you believing the promises of God?
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Can I ask you based on specific promises, right?
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Just kind of run these through your heart and mind.
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Are you ready? Let me name some Hebrews 13
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five. Keep your lives free from the
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love of money and be content with what you have because God
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has said, never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.
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How many times do we quote the second part of that verse but
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never the 1st? It's so true that we love some
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parts of the Word of God and we don't like others, right?
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But again, whose wisdom? Whose Plumb line are we living
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by? Are you believing that promise?
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Luke 1224 Consider the Ravens. They do not sow A reap.
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They have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds them.
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How much more value valuable are you then birds?
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Philippians 419 And my God will meet all your needs according to
34:26
the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
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How many needs has God promised to meet in your life?
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How many wants, just just in case you're listening?
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Matthew 633 But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness,
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and then what? Then all these other things that
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you need will be rightly and appropriately added.
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Romans 832 This is so good. He who did not spare his own
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Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him
35:00
graciously give us all things? You can't give yourself out of
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the generosity of the promises of God.
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You're free when you believe the promises of God to be a
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blessing. You're free to be selfless.
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You're free to be gracious. You're free to be generous.
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Yet you know what dries up? Generosity and graciousness, not
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believing the promises of God's generosity to you.
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Then you start fighting for your own and protecting your turf and
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choosing not to share and choosing not to give because
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guess what? You got to fight for what you
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got as if it depends on you clawing and hanging on.
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You don't live like that when you realize God has given you
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everything. Abram is believing the promises
35:45
of God. Life is a choice, and our
35:49
choices make our lives. Write down #4 in your notes
35:52
here. Life choices are determined by
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the promises you believe. Life.
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Life choices are determined by the wisdom you choose, the
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separation you choose, and the promises you believe.
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You see, Lot went after what he saw.
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Abram waited for what God promised.
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A lot walk by sight. Abram walked by faith.
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Such faith honored God. And guess what God did in
36:18
response to Abram's faith and generosity?
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God shows up here at the end of the chapters like, hey Abram, I
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just want you to look up, man. I want you to survey the
36:26
horizon. Look at all I'm going to give
36:29
you in your offspring. Abram, go take a walk, tread the
36:33
land. Go scout out all that.
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I'm going to bless you and provide you.
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Just go check it out. Abram honored God, he put his
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faith in God and God just happens to show up and hit
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refresh on all the promises says, hey, let's just review
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Abram, just to encourage you. I love that life is a choice and
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our choices make our life. I'm going to ask you to bow your
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head and close your eyes. John and praise team are going
36:58
to come out. Before I ask you to stand and
37:03
sing and respond this morning, I want to ask some questions that
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you might want to use to respond to and maybe the way God has
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spoken to you this morning. The first one is this.
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Who are you worshipping? Who are you worshipping for?
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Whom are the altars in your life built?
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Who's getting your life, love, loyalty, allegiance?
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Is it God? Is it something else?
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Let me ask you, secondly, what wisdom are you living by?
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Are you living from the wisdom of heaven, from the wisdom of
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God? Are you living from the wisdom
37:44
of this world? What separation have you chosen?
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Separation from the world for God, or separation from God for
37:52
the world? And finally, whose promises are
37:56
you believing? Are you believing the promises
37:59
of the world of the enemy or the promises of God says Abram built
38:06
an altar and there he worshipped.
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These steps might be this morning, a physical place where
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you need to make decisions in regard to the things that I just
38:15
mentioned. As I stand here, I stand here to
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receive you, to pray for you, to talk to you about following
38:22
Jesus, to receive him as your Lord and Savior if you need to
38:26
make that decision. Or maybe you seem to come here
38:28
and kneel or stand and talk to God about whom you're worshiping
38:31
or what wisdom separation are promises you're choosing and
38:35
believing. Maybe you need to leave
38:37
something here and say, God, I got something I need to trade
38:40
out for what you've promised, for what you've offered, and I'm
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choosing that today. I'm going to pray and I'm going
38:48
to ask you to stand and we're going to sing and worship and
38:50
you come. Heavenly Father, I want to pray
38:53
right now, the Lord Jesus. Then these next moments that
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your way would be had in our lives, that nothing would hold
39:00
us back from saying yes to you. God, help us choose your wisdom,
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even as unpopular as it is in the world.
39:07
God, we just want to be people who say we believe.
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We believe you. We're aligning our lives with
39:14
your will and your way. So have your way in US.
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God help. Would that be the cry of every
39:18
heart? In Jesus name I pray and all
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God's people said Amen. Would you stand with me as John
39:24
and praise team lead us? I'm going to wait for you.
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These steps are open. Our encouragers are close.
39:29
You come.