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The Call of the Cave · Sermon Podcast at Cartersville1st

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To have your Bible go and make your way to Genesis chapter 19.
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Genesis chapter 19, we're going to be picking up in our series
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answering God's call in verse 30.
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Big thanks to Jason who filled in and preached for us on
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graduation Sunday, couple Sundays back and special Sunday
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with our graduates. And then big thanks to Steven
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who preached for me last week and preached Genesis 20.
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You know, he told you that I'd be backtracking a little bit for
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chapter 19. I just felt like it had been
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cruel and unusual punishment to ask him to preach this text that
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I'm about to preach. So I'll let him have one a
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little bit easier, I think. But yeah, praise God.
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You know, one of the things that we're committed to is the word
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of God. And, and, and sometimes quite
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honestly, you turn to places in the word of God and you look at
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God and you're like, do what you know God, You sure that was the
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the best thing to include there? But what I love about the Bible
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is it just doesn't pull any punches.
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But the word of God just tells it to you straight.
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The the word of God, all of it is practical and applicable.
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Even when sometimes we read it, we're not really sure how to
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apply that, what to think of that.
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But the Bible says all the things that were written even in
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former days were written for our, your and my instruction.
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That all of scriptures inspired by God, profitable for teaching,
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for correction and training and reproof and righteousness, that
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we may be equipped and complete, ready for every good work.
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So here we go. One of my favorite books growing
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up was The Call of the Wild. Yeah, There's a story about a
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dog by the name of Buck. And Buck has a great owner.
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The problem is that he gets stolen.
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He's sold to work as a sled dog and treated cruelly and has to
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fight for his life, learning the law of the tooth and Fang and
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the struggle and fight to survive.
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And he's worked almost to death. And then eventually he comes
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under the ownership of a man by the name of John Thornton.
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But the problem is John. He develops a deep devotion to
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John, but John is killed. And then eventually the story,
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according to the title, is that, but here's the call of the wild,
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if you will, in returns to be the leader of the Wolfpack.
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And of course, in the book, the call of the wild is seen as a
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positive thing, as the the wild is seen as a place of the dog's
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natural identity and nature, if you will, and freedom and
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happiness. But I want to flip that for the
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purposes of our message this morning and say that the wild,
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spiritually speaking, we're going to give a different
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definition to like this. It's the place, the place of
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lawlessness, the place of lostness, the place of death and
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destruction. And in that sense, that call of
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the wild, if you will, if you think about it that way, the
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devil is constantly whispering in your ears and mine the call
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of the wild, the call of the place of lawlessness and
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lostness and rebellion and death and destruction.
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Y'all Lot. His story is the story of a man
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who heeded the call of the wild. And more importantly, really not
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more importantly, but more specifically, I should say, a
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man who heeded the call of what we thought of maybe in the wild,
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but really ultimate was the call of The Cave.
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So we're just going to read starting first with just verse
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30. Listen to this now.
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Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two
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daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar, so we lived in a
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cave with his two daughters. Now remember, God had given both
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Abraham and Lot such physical prosperity that at the growth of
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their flocks and herds and all their possessions, these two men
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were no longer able to live directly among each other for
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the fighting that happened among their their staff and their
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family and their flocks and their herds.
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And so Abram gives Lot first choice of where to relocate.
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If you remember in this story. And the issue is, is that Lot
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chooses the location of his life based on what looked good in the
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eyes of the world. He looked around him and found
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the place that he thought would be most economically prosperous.
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He looked around and thought, this is where we could flourish.
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This is where we could have the good life.
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This is where we could get what we want.
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This is where things look like that.
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The world would say the things we ought to have.
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The problem was what looked good on the outside from an earthly
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standpoint was rotten to the core on the inside from a
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heavenly stamp, and what looked good physically was actually
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going to be bankrupt spiritually.
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Come to find out, So Lot who sought to be a worldly man winds
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up a caveman in verse 30 of chapter 19.
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He thought to be a successful worldly man, a successful man in
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the eyes of the world, but he ends up a caveman.
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Now, of course, not every person that seeks to be successful in
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the eyes of the world ends up living in a cave.
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All right. But Lot's story is a case in
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point of whether it's in this life or the next, of what
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happens to a person who loves the world and seeks to gain the
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world at the price or to the detriment of their soul.
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Let me be more clear with the words of Jesus.
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He says this Mark chapter 8, verse 34 through 37 and calling
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the crowd to him with his disciples, He said to them, if
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anyone would come after me, Let me just be clear, Jesus saying
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if anyone would follow me, if anyone would identify himself or
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herself with me, if anyone would call themselves a Christian, let
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him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
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Translation. Let that person say no to them
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as their boss, their authority and their way and let them like
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I said, not my way, but thy will, thy will be done.
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Let that person live like that every day of their life, dying
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to their way, their wants, their dreams, their desires, saying
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yes to mine, take up his cross and follow me for whoever would
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save his life, try to get life themselves forever would save
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his life. We'll lose it, but whoever loses
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his life for my sake in the gospel, whoever lays down his
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life and surrender in submission to me and my gospel, will save
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it. For what does it profit a man to
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gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
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For what can a man give in return for his soul?
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Lot ends up living a wasted life y'all, because he's chosen to
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love the world. Now remember what the angels had
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instructed Lot to do? Remember the angels had come
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down and stopped by Abraham and paid him a visit before they got
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to Sodom and Gomorrah in order to inspect the sin of the cities
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and see if they truly got a failing grade before the
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destruction and wrath of God fell.
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They stopped by, they talked to Abraham, and before they got to
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Lot, and when they got to Lot, they gave Lot the instructions
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to flee before the disaster overtook him, but Lot refused.
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In verse 19, he gives this reason lest disaster overtake me
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and I die. He's afraid.
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So Lot ends up asking the angels for a favor.
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Hey, I don't want to run to the hills.
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Maybe he didn't want to live in the country after being a city
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boy for so long. I don't know.
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But he says, let me stop in this little little town, small town
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of Zoar, which by the way, was also still in the Jordan Valley,
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which also is in the area destined for destruction.
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But according to the favor, he asked the angels to spare him.
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They spared that place and there he went.
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But the Bible says he doesn't stay there long.
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Why? It doesn't tell us.
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We could probably read between the lines.
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It could be that the residents of Zoar were unfriendly.
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Maybe to Lot, maybe you like look what what happened there.
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We don't want coming here. Don't come here.
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Or maybe Lot got there and realized, Oh my goodness, the
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lifestyle and living I see here is really close to what I saw
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there. Surely it's not long before what
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happened there happens here. I better get to the heels.
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Like the Angel said, we don't know.
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But either way, Lot ends up in The Cave, having fled from Zoar.
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What we do know is this. In The Cave, Lot is very much
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what you might call a shell of a man.
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What do you mean Kyle? He's homeless, He's spouseless,
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having lost his wife, friendless, scared to death,
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living in OK, first thing I want you to write down if you're
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taking notes, is this loving the world is a wreck waiting to
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happen, loving the world. Now, I don't buy that.
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I don't mean the people of the world.
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I mean the first John chapter 2 verse 15 do not love the world,
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the things in the world, because the things of the world are not
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the things that the father kind of love the world like the lust
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of the eyes, lust of the flesh and sinful desires of life, like
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the things of the world that cause and create the curse of
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sin that flows all through it. That's what I'm talking about,
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not loving the world. Loving the world is a wreck
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waiting to happen. And part of the deceptiveness of
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loving the world, y'all, is that the looming disaster that comes
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when we love the world does not always appear immediate or close
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by. It doesn't seem like it's that
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dangerous to us so often of loving the world.
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It seems like maybe like lot like I got away with it or he
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did it for so long. But one day disaster, disaster
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did come. Loving the world for a follower
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of Christ is not dissimilar from texting and driving, right?
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Because if we were to really be honest this morning, most of us
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in the room are guilty of it, right?
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But here's the deal. Why do we continue to do it?
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Because we've done it thus far with no what with no
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consequences. So it hadn't hurt anybody,
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doesn't appear dangerous. We've kind of gotten comfortable
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with it. We think we've gotten good at
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it, so we still do it and it doesn't appear deadly to us.
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And yet the difference is 2 seconds too long on a text
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message can be the difference between what life And when all
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the sudden the lifestyle you got comfortable with it did not
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appear dangerous and two seconds too long and all the
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consequences thereof come crashing down upon you.
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This is what it's like for a Christian to choose to love the
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world. You might be fine, you might
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seem to not hurt anybody, might seem not to be doing any damage
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when all the sudden boom, what you didn't expect all of a
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sudden comes crashing down. And it's too what it's too.
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It's too late. Loving the world often works the
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exact same way. Now I want you to listen to the
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rest of the text. I assure you were gonna keep it
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as PG as possible. Are you ready?
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Here we go. And the first born said to the
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younger, Our father is old, there's not a man on earth.
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I want you to listen to that, not a man on earth to come into
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us after the manner of all the earth.
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Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we and we will
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lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our
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father. So they made their father drink
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wine that night. And the first born went in and
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lay with her father. He did not know when she lay
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down or when she arose. The next day the first born said
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to the younger, Behold, I lay last night with my father, let
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us make him drink wine tonight also.
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Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring
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from our father. So they made their father drink
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wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay
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with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she
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arose. Thus both the daughters of Lot
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became pregnant by their father. The first born bore a son and
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called his name Moab. He is the father to the Moabites
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to this day. The younger also bore a son and
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called his name Ben AMI and he is the father of the Ammonites
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to this day. There's a reason why this text
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is not in the kids Sunday school curriculum.
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It's not going to be in the VBS lessons.
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It's not on the Hallmark Channel like Steven said it might be,
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and it's certainly not in your family devotional at home.
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Just when you thought Lot had hit rock bottom, the bottom
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falls out about 40 more floors. And I told you, the Bible
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doesn't pull any punches. It tells you to you straight.
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There's a commentator of old named Donald Barnhouse who said
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this. I've modernized it a bit, but I
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agree with him. He says such scenes in the Bible
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may make us uncomfortable, but it is far better for us and our
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children to learn the facts of life from the Word of God where
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sin is condemned, than from The Dirty words written on the walls
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of the bathroom stalls or from lewd stories in the halls or on
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the playground. And I think he's right.
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Love for the world has landed Lot in a cave.
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And in this cave, two things are true of Lot right now.
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Number one, he's afraid and #2 he's isolated #1 he's afraid and
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#2 he's isolated. Ladies and gentlemen, fear and
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isolation are a deadly combination.
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Fear and isolation both lead to spiritual ruin.
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The devil did not lead his temptation strategy in Lot's
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life with either 1 He started with something much more subtle,
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much more benign, if you will. He started with the
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attractiveness of the world. That was his bait.
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But buried beneath the bait was the hook of fear and isolation.
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The call of the wild was really a call to The Cave, if you will
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#2 fear and isolation, if you're taking notes, is the devil's
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combination. Fear and isolation is the
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devil's combination for him to attempt to do his work in our
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lives. You might even call it his
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workshop. If the devil can get you in a
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place of fear and isolation. You know those movies where the
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you know that the scene comes when maybe the person's been
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captured and they pull out and unroll all their tools to get
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out of them what they want to get out of them?
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This is if, if, if the enemy can get you in a place of fear and
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isolation. He's got all his tools he can
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unravel to do his his worst work in our lives.
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If he can get you in a place of fear and isolation, y'all.
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This is why our discipleship strategy here at CFBC that we
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even kind of refocused as we walk through that process from
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gather, grow, give and go. Why?
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Why do we have that? That sounds cute, that sounds
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cliche, even sounds like it rolls off the tongue in a nice
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thing with an acronym. But what in the world is that?
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What that is, is a strategy to fight back against the devil's
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workshop in our lives. If you've walked into the room,
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you've taken the first step of gathering with the body to
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worship, praise God. But the next step that we call
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you into and we put out is not just to gather, but to grow.
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Where? In a small group.
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Why? Because there you dodge fear and
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isolation. There you can be surrounded by
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others to keep you courageous in the good fight of faith.
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And there you can be be protected from being alone and
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isolated because you know what there's sin in in your life and
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mind that grows and can keep growing when there's not others
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close enough around us to help keep us accountable and allow us
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to see our blind spots. And so this is one of the
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reasons why we don't just need to gather, but to grow.
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Why? To combat the fear and isolation
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that can creep into our lives even as Christ's followers and
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obviously giving sacrificially of our lives and going on
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mission to fulfill what Christ has commanded us to do.
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Let me tell you though, let me let me be real honest, here are
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the primary obstacles to you getting into that spot of
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growing in a small group. If you're not there, if you're
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not there consistently, I can tell you probably the three
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reasons if not one or all three are going on in your life,
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Number one, you might be lazy. Nobody said I'm into that.
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That's OK. But here's the deal.
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You either just won't get up on time or you won't stay long
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enough. You just won't give two hours.
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It's just lazy. The second reason might be
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because you're careless or prideful.
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In other words, either way, those two things don't sound the
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same, but either way ends in the same result.
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You just think you don't need it.
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Being careless and being prideful, you don't think it,
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You don't. You're beyond that.
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You don't think you need it. The third one is probably the
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most common, and it's actually working against you.
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But it's fear. It's fear of walking into a new
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room. It's fear of connecting with new
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people. It's fear of being known.
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You know, let's be honest. It's fear of what if they asked
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me to turn to a book in the Bible?
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I don't know where it is. It's fear of maybe being asked
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to pray out loud when you don't not comfortable doing that.
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It's fear maybe of being asked a question you feel like you may
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not know the and you know what all that is?
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That's a fear that you may be exposed, which is like, who
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cares what those people think anyway, by the way?
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But we, we know what that fear is like, right?
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And guess what? The problem is that fear is not
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helping you. That fear is actually
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reinforcing what the devil wants in your life, keeping you afraid
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and keeping you isolated. The worst thing that could
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happen to you is not to walk into a Sunday school classroom
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and not be able to find a book in the Bible they ask you to
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turn to. The worst thing the devil wants
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for you is to stay isolated and afraid.
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That's the worst thing that can happen to you.
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So your fear he uses to actually reinforce what he wants to
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happen in your life. You don't have to live in a cave
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physically to live in a cave spiritually.
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You follow me, gather, grow, give and go is an anti fear and
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isolation effort. Rhythms of life.
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Ladies and gentlemen, let me say this, you do not land in a cave
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overnight, OK? Another way I want to put it is
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you can't wreck a train unless you first build it.
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So I want to walk through the train cars that Lot built before
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they wrecked you. Follow me.
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All right, here we go. Train car wreck #1 Lot ignored
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the call of God on his life. Lot ignored the call of God on
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his life. Now, don't you remember when Lot
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and Abraham set out leaving house, home, country and
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kindred? Don't you know Lot knew exactly
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what he was joining up for and signing up for.
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Abraham had heard the call of God to leave, that God had a
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plan for his life. And Lot said, sign me up.
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Or Abraham said, hey, you want to join.
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Either way, we think that might not have been a good decision.
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But whatever it was, Lot knew what he was getting himself
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into. And yet there came a time when
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physical prosperity caused an issue they could have found a
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way to work through. But Lot found an opportunity to
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keep pursuing the things of the world, and he stepped away from
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where he knew God was working, that he knew the call of God
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was, and he went off and struck off on his own.
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Lot did not move to Sodom because God called him there.
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Lot went to Sodom because he called himself there.
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Lot ignored the call of God. This is train car wreck #1 train
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car wreck #2 Lot married a product of the culture instead
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of Christ. I may be wrong when I get to
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heaven, but either way this principle is true.
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OK, but I think it's safe to say based on the Bible silence that
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Lot probably got his spouse from Sodom and her actions, in light
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of what they experienced kind of justify that assumption.
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If that's the case, then when Lot was living by ignoring the
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call of God, Lot ended up finding someone to do life with.
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It was also ignoring the call of God.
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And two people ignoring the call of God is worse than one person
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ignoring the call of God. You follow me in New Testament
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terms. I think it might be safe to say
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that Lot married a lost person. I think it's probably safe to
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say that Lot did what the New Testament said don't do.
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Lot got unequally yoked. Lot joined.
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Lot joined his life to someone who didn't know God and didn't
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worship God. That's train wreck car #2
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listen, there's adults in the room, would tell young people in
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the room, boys and girls that are in the room that are not yet
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married. No matter what age you are, I
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plead with you to not marry somebody that's not running hard
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after Jesus. You've got to hit your life to
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someone who will run after the Kingdom of God with you, that
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knows God and worships God and has made that commitment to
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answer the call of God because you will not be able to fully
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answer the call of God in your life.
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Hitching your wagon to someone who's not going to help you do
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that as well #3 train wreck, car #3 is Lot failed to love and
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protect his daughters. Do you remember when the angels
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had come to inspect the sin of the city and Lot brought them
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into his home? Do you remember how the story
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went? What happened next?
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When nightfall came? The Bible says every man to the
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last man gathered at the door, demanding that those two
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visitors be put outside so they could fulfill their lust to the
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last man. Lot's solution to that was less
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than godly. Lot's solution because he wanted
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to save face in the prospect of offering hospitality socially
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and among his friends and environment and neighbors.
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He wanted to save face. And he does something quite
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unimaginable. He offers these men outside his
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two daughters to have their way with them that day.
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Lot taught his daughters the lie that they their purity, their
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dignity, their value, and that their very lives were cheap.
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They were taught that by their father that day in Sodom, that
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they were expendable, that God's plan for their lives was not His
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greatest priority, that they could be jeopardized for their
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father to save face when confronting his friends.
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In other words, Lot's daughters listen to me closely.
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They did not believe the lie that they were cheap in The
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Cave. They already learned that from
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their father in their hometown. Train car wreck #3 is Lot failed
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to love and protect his daughters.
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Train wreck car #4 is Lot had a problem with alcohol.
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Lots daughters. Y'all think about it with me
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like this. Lots daughters don't come up
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with a solution out of thin air that they just think might work,
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that they've never seen their father participate in.
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They they operate on what's obvious.
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This is a lifestyle habit our father at least now has gotten
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into. This will work.
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We see him doing this every day. All we got to do is get him to
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do it to an extreme and guess what our plan will work.
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No one ends up in a cave overnight.
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Lots problem with alcohol was the gate that allowed disaster
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to walk in as an invited guest. This problem, no one wrecks a
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car they don't first build. Why do Lot's daughters do what
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they do? Well, you have to remember
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during this day and time that for a woman, a married woman,
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that childbearing was seen in this culture as the highest
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value that woman could participate in bearing children
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would have given her the greatest fulfilment and the
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greatest purpose or really identity and status in the
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culture. And So what they do is if it's
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interesting, you look back in the text and the 2 girls say
23:56
there's not a man left on the you know what they say literally
24:00
the Bible says what the earth that wasn't true. 2 cities had
24:06
been wiped out, but there was still men on the earth.
24:08
All right, but that's exactly what we do before we act a fool,
24:11
you know what we do? We exaggerate the truth in order
24:15
to justify the lie we want to believe.
24:19
That's what we do. We exaggerate the truth so we
24:21
can justify whatever lies we're about to act on in our lives.
24:26
So this is what they do. They're under despair and
24:28
desperation, which can cause us to do crazy, dangerous things.
24:32
They hatch a plan to get pregnant by their father to
24:35
getting drunk. You know the rest.
24:37
I'd be remiss if I did not make at least a couple statements
24:40
right here, but not chase rabbit holes.
24:41
But listen to me. So many train wrecks in life are
24:44
closely connected to the abuse of alcohol.
24:47
So many #2 drunkenness and sexual immorality are very close
24:53
friends. Drunkenness and immorality know
24:56
each other very, very well. One goes where the other goes
25:01
and and watch this. This is most startling,
25:04
ironically. How ironic is it that Lot ends
25:09
up doing with his own daughters what he had suggested the men of
25:13
Sodom do with them in his own drunkenness?
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That's what that's what those type decisions will lead you to
25:21
do. The girls get pregnant.
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Their sons are the origin of two peoples, the Moabites and #2 the
25:30
Ammonites. I don't have time to tell you
25:31
the trouble. Those two groups of people calls
25:33
for the Israelites, but I can just tell you, thousands will
25:37
die among the Israelites because of the trouble the Moabites and
25:41
Ammonites cause the Israelites. And yet, let me be clear, the
25:44
problem with the Moabites and Ammonites wasn't their DNA.
25:47
It wasn't their origin, it wasn't their ethnicity.
25:49
It was their lack of faith in following God.
25:52
In fact, let me just tell you how merciful, how gracious, how
25:55
compassionate God is. And if you're wondering if your
25:57
life or you come from a mess, it doesn't get messier than this
26:00
mess. Amen.
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Your situation is not worse than that.
26:04
Your origin is not worse than that.
26:06
All right, but here's the grace of God, right?
26:08
Guess who is going to marry a man by the name of Boaz?
26:11
And guess who's going to be the great grandmother of King David,
26:15
from whom the king of Kings, the Christ, is going to be born?
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Guess who? What's her name?
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And she's a what? Praise God, our origin does not
26:26
determine our value, but our faith in the Creator, the One
26:30
who made us and loves us. That determines not only our
26:32
value, but our eternal destiny. Listen, it doesn't matter where
26:36
you come from or how you came or where you were conceived.
26:39
That has no bearing on God's love for you, your value in the
26:43
eyes of your Creator. You've been fearfully and
26:45
wonderfully made, and nothing can change that.
26:47
No earthly circumstance can change your heavenly value to
26:50
your heavenly Father. So you just sometimes need to
26:55
not listen to the devil and what he wants to say, or the world's
26:58
way of defining what's valuable and what's not #3 if you're
27:02
taking notes, is this. Sin that is not abandoned
27:06
becomes a downward spiral. We see that in the train that
27:10
lot built. Sin that is not abandoned
27:13
becomes a downward spiral. You know most Christians do not
27:17
intend to end up looking or living anything like Sodom and
27:21
Gomorrah. And yet the issue is lots of
27:25
Christians try to follow God while living as close as they
27:29
possibly can to the world. You know what I'm talking about?
27:33
Trying to love God, but also trying to love the world.
27:37
They end up identifying with the world as much as they do the
27:39
people of God. The lesson from Lot among many,
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but one of them is you got to make up your mind, right?
27:44
The most miserable people are the half committed to Christ.
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It's been said that he who tries to walk down both sides of the
27:51
road splits his pants. There's a lot of Christians
27:55
walking around with a split in their pants.
27:59
No wonder they're miserable. You can't do it.
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Another lesson from Lot is you and I do not drift into
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godliness. You don't wake up one day and
28:12
find yourself more godly. You don't do life and just wind
28:16
up in a more sanctified spot. This doesn't happen.
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The deal is, if you're not fighting the current of the
28:23
world, the call of the wild in your life, then you're drifting.
28:28
Last week kids and I and Lauren were at the beach, had a great
28:31
time and we're able to relax and I'm sitting in the sand with my
28:35
chair and got a fishing rod and I've got one eye on the tip of
28:37
that fishing rod and the other eye on my 3 kids.
28:42
About every 3 minutes either Lauren or I would have to do
28:45
something because of the tide and its effect on my kids
28:50
because they'd go out in the water right in front of me.
28:53
But guess where they'd end up about 3 minutes later?
28:57
Like 50 yards that way. I mean, I even had to throw my
29:01
fish in like 50 yards this way. So we would end up right.
29:06
And So what I would do is I'd get out of my chair and I would
29:08
call to them or Lauren would call their name, instructing
29:12
them to exit the tide, exit the pool and the current that they
29:17
were oblivious to. They're just having fun.
29:18
They're just living life. They're riding waves and
29:21
fighting and snorkeling and all the things, right?
29:23
They're not even thinking about the pull of the world.
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This is the same thing that happens to us in life.
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We're not even thinking about, we're just living life.
29:29
We're doing what we think we ought to do.
29:31
But we if we're not actively fighting the current, guess
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what? You look up one day, you don't
29:35
even know where you are. You realize you're 100 yards
29:37
down the beach, you've lost sight of where you started and
29:39
don't even know how you got there because you just weren't
29:41
fighting the riptide. The follower of Christ, is an
29:45
intentional life of fighting against the call of the wild.
29:50
Following Jesus, by definition, is to go against the current.
29:54
Let me give you a definition of drifting because you might not
29:57
think it's defined this way. You're ready.
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Drifting is this. It's not actively seeking to
30:03
know God and His Word. Drifting is not rejecting
30:07
Christ. Drifting is not actively seeking
30:11
wickedness. Drifting is not trying to do
30:14
things the opposite of God's way.
30:16
Drifting can just go like this. It's not.
30:18
It's just when you instead of take your free time or the time
30:23
you have and you give it to every other thing in your life
30:26
instead of do your spiritual growth, maybe how much do we
30:28
turn to Snapchat, TikTok or Instagram or Netflix or YouTube
30:33
or video games or practically anything else other than
30:35
prioritizing time to know God in his word?
30:38
What drifting sounds like is this.
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It's when you just don't do a quiet time.
30:42
It's when you don't sign up for discipleship opportunities.
30:45
It's when you just don't participate in mission
30:48
opportunities. And one day you look up and
30:50
you're like, man, I've just been living life.
30:51
I haven't tried to make any wrong choices, but you're 500
30:54
yards down the beach and don't know your way back.
30:57
How did I get there? The world's pulling, the world's
30:59
calling, and you drift if you don't fight.
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Why do we say gather, grow, give and go?
31:06
Because it's an anti drift plan. But by the way, if these things
31:10
aren't actively happening, if you're not saying, listen, I'm
31:12
going to pull myself out of the world, out of my home, out of
31:14
where I live, out of my job to be here on Sunday to worship,
31:18
guess what you're going to do? If you don't say I'm willing to
31:21
be in a small group, held accountable, my blind spot scene
31:24
prayers over me, my prayers for people walking in community,
31:27
guess what you're going to do? If you don't choose to give of
31:29
yourself sacrificially, guess what you're going to do if you
31:32
don't choose to go and live on mission, guess what you're going
31:34
to do? You don't have to reject the
31:37
Bible. You don't have to claim to not
31:38
follow Christ to drift. It's just going to happen unless
31:42
you're actively fighting. Let me land on some things for
31:46
parents. Y'all really try to.
31:48
I try to make some things practical for parents along the
31:51
way. And if this text is anything, it
31:54
is a failure to parent well. So let me just talk to parents.
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I don't have time to go into a lot of these things.
32:00
Sometimes I think we think Christian parenting is like this
32:03
mysterious higher level. Got to have a PhD to do well.
32:05
It's just simple stuff. It's just very simple stuff.
32:09
But listen to this, fathers. By the way, if none of this
32:13
makes sense or you want to know more, reach out to me.
32:15
I'm glad to have a conversation. Fathers, we must teach our
32:18
daughters how men should treat them, because if you don't teach
32:23
them, they're going to learn from the world.
32:27
Fathers, you got to teach your sons how to treat women, because
32:30
if you don't teach them, they're going to learn from the world #2
32:35
Parents must never underestimate the impact of the world upon our
32:39
children. Lot could take his daughters out
32:45
of Sodom, but the deal was Lot did not do what it took to keep
32:50
Sodom out of his daughters. Now we can't control our kids.
32:55
We don't make decisions for our kids, but God has called us to
32:58
do by his instructions, by the Spirit, what is we are
33:01
responsible to do to serve our kids, to best position them to
33:05
fight the call of the wild and of the world in their lives,
33:09
right. And so here it is the story of
33:11
Lot and his family show us that all our decisions are
33:14
significant. Let me parents consider how
33:16
these decisions, all of them and more that I could name, impact
33:20
your kids. Where we live, who we hang out
33:23
with, whether we approve the things other people approve of
33:27
or not. How we respond to the wickedness
33:29
we witness in the world. What we do as a family and what
33:32
we don't do. What we watch and what we don't
33:34
watch and what we listen to. What we don't listen to.
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What our personal priorities are, What we are are committed
33:39
to spiritually, what our non negotiables are and on and on.
33:43
Our kids are learning every moment of every day from
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everything we do. And Lot did not do what he
33:51
needed to to protect them from Sodom getting inside of them.
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Let me give you 6 basic Christian parenting things guys,
34:02
parents, if you'll do these things, listen, there's, there's
34:05
so much more to do honestly, but this right, these six things
34:10
alone, let me tell you would revolutionize your home if you
34:14
stuck to these number one is read God's word with your kids
34:18
in your home. Is the word of God heard in your
34:23
house? If it's only heard from me or
34:25
the pastor, your kids are going to think it's not important
34:28
enough to bring home. It's not important enough for me
34:30
to take to my new home. The word of God needs to be
34:33
heard #2 daily pray over your kids and let me just give you a
34:39
instruction on how to do that. When you do that, pray over them
34:43
out loud everyday. Find a way to pray out loud over
34:46
them, things God would desire for their life.
34:50
Pray things like this that the fruit of the Spirit would come
34:55
to full fruition in my kids life.
34:57
Lovejoy, peace, patience, and on down the line.
34:59
Pray that they'd have the courage to follow Christ even
35:02
when it's hard. Pray they'd have wisdom from
35:04
above. Pray for godly friends and
35:06
influences in their life. Pray they'd make godly
35:08
decisions. Pray they would have courage and
35:09
conviction. Pray that they would find and
35:11
hear God's call on their life. Pray the things out loud.
35:14
Let me tell you how. How impactful would it be if
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they heard God's desires, prayed over them 360 five days a year
35:20
for 18 years, For 18 years. You talk about combating the
35:26
call of the wild. Come on, just pray over your
35:29
kids, the desires of God every day #3 talk to your kids about
35:34
the facts of life, and I mean the real facts of life.
35:36
I don't have to tell you, do I? You know what I'm talking about,
35:40
OK. And I'm telling you, if you
35:42
don't start with age, I'm not saying you got to get all the, I
35:46
don't know, you got to pull, you don't have to pull the biology
35:48
book out, all right. But with age appropriate
35:52
concepts, starting at least by the age of seven or eight, your
35:57
kids need to be exposed to the age appropriate concepts and
36:00
levels of the facts of life. Listen, studies show that if
36:04
your kids hear about the facts of life from somebody else
36:08
before they hear from you, they believe what they hear from the
36:10
other people before and more than they believe you.
36:18
Who are they going to hear from first?
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Who's going to interpret for them these things and where they
36:24
come from and how they're to be used and how they can be
36:28
distorted #4 Discipline your kids in love and in truth.
36:34
Your kids need your discipline. It provides safeguards for them.
36:39
Godly authority in their life #5 Keep your kids connected to the
36:43
body of Christ. If you teach your children that
36:46
sports are more important than Jesus, they'll believe you.
36:52
They'll believe you. If you teach your kids that
36:55
making money is more important than Jesus, they're going to
36:57
believe you. What are you teaching your kids,
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Number six? Know that nothing can overcome
37:04
the power of your personal example.
37:07
I didn't say you had to be perfect.
37:09
I'm just saying you have to live it genuinely and say you're
37:12
sorry when you fail. Your kids need to learn how to
37:15
say I'm sorry and know how to how to react when you fail when
37:18
they fail, because they will too.
37:20
Everything we do as parents is shaping kid parents.
37:24
Christian parenting is not rocket science.
37:26
It is basic daily commitments in the ordinary things of life that
37:29
would change, that will change the lives of your kids.
37:35
No one wakes up one day and says I want to live in a cave.
37:40
That's not how life rolls. And we don't end up in a cave
37:44
overnight. And Satan knows not to advertise
37:48
the bait with The Cave. No one would bite it.
37:52
So he advertises it with the call of the world that leads to
37:58
a cave. The question this morning in
38:02
your notes there is are you hearing and heeding the upward
38:04
call of Christ or the downward call of The Cave?
38:10
Our invitation. I want you to picture like this
38:12
in our time of response. What if we were all out swimming
38:16
and enjoying life and riding the waves and doing all the fun
38:19
things? Our heavenly fathers watching
38:21
from the beach, We're not paying attention, paying attention to
38:25
the tide, the drift, the RIP current, and, and, and if you
38:28
were to look up and, and look to the beach, to where your
38:30
heavenly Father is looking and identifying where you are and
38:33
calling to you and calling your name, what would he ask you to
38:36
do? Would you be right there in
38:38
front of him, right in his will, fighting against the tide,
38:41
living for the glory of Christ, right there in the center of
38:44
God's will? Or have you moved down the beach
38:47
any distance? Are there any?
38:50
Do you need to walk? Do you need to follow His call
38:52
to step out of the water and readjust and walk the beach in
38:56
repentance back to the place you know Christ would have you be?
39:02
Do you need to hear the call of God to be saved and trust Jesus
39:05
for the first time? What is it?
39:07
Where is it? How is it that God is calling
39:11
you to heed His call and calling you to fight the call of the
39:16
world? I don't know what that means for
39:18
you, but you can step out of your chair just like you'd want
39:20
to walk to the beach and say, God, I want to go the direction
39:26
that I need you to be back in the middle of your will.
39:28
Would you do that? Don't let anything stop you.
39:33
The call of the world leads to a cave.
39:35
The call of Christ leads to life and life abundantly.
39:39
Heavenly Father, I want to pray that we would respond to you
39:42
today full of faith, even from a place maybe where we've been
39:47
trapped in fear and isolation or disobedience, pulled by the
39:51
world. That we'd step out and say,
39:52
Lord, take me back to the place of the center of your will.
39:57
Make whatever adjustments in my life you need to make.
39:59
Have your way. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
40:02
Would you stand with me? Would you come as I wait for you
40:05
and encouragers waiting, or close you come as we sing and
40:08
worship together this morning?