WEBVTT 00:00:00.140 --> 00:00:06.660 I want to invite you to Genesis chapter 12, and chapter 13 is where we're going to be together today, Genesis 12 and Genesis chapter 13. 00:00:06.660 --> 00:00:10.400 We're going to look at the last half of chapter 12 and dive into chapter 13 today. 00:00:10.700 --> 00:00:13.980 But as we go into the book of Genesis, I want you to know I love the book of Genesis. 00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:22.140 And because it helps me prioritize, really what matters in life and what we find that in order to really appreciate Genesis, 00:00:22.420 --> 00:00:25.410 you find a lot of failure on the front end and the failure is with people. 00:00:25.880 --> 00:00:30.200 It doesn't matter which generation rises up, it seems like every generation falls flat on their face. 00:00:30.360 --> 00:00:37.380 But what's great about Genesis is even though people continue again and again to fall flat on their face, it's a book that gives us hope, and the reason it gives us 00:00:37.380 --> 00:00:39.260 hope is because God doesn't quit on us. 00:00:39.620 --> 00:00:46.740 He is consistent in his nature that while we continue to fall away from the Lord and reject him, God is faithful in who he is and it brings us grace and hope 00:00:46.740 --> 00:00:47.970 in him. 00:00:48.240 --> 00:00:51.160 And we see that really in who the book of Genesis is written to. 00:00:51.180 --> 00:00:56.450 If you're a member, as we've talked about this together, the book of Genesis is written to a group of people that have been human trafficked. 00:00:56.640 --> 00:00:57.940 It's written to a group of slaves. 00:00:58.480 --> 00:01:01.110 They've been treated as slaves for generations in Egypt. 00:01:01.640 --> 00:01:02.740 And God is setting them free. 00:01:03.060 --> 00:01:09.020 And in setting them free, he's declaring to them who they are in light of who they find themselves in the Lord. 00:01:09.140 --> 00:01:12.630 The reason God has designed us, meaning we're not the sum of our parts. 00:01:12.880 --> 00:01:14.380 Our value is not based on what we do. 00:01:14.380 --> 00:01:15.640 Our value is based on who we are. 00:01:15.640 --> 00:01:17.820 It's intrinsically given to us by God. 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:22.980 That God is not a God who made accidents, that God created you purposefully, meaningfully. 00:01:23.020 --> 00:01:30.240 And God has a great plan for your life, and he's sharing that with these individuals that have been rescued, the Hebrews that have been rescued 00:01:30.240 --> 00:01:35.340 from slavery, finding their identity in the Lord and being able to walk with him. 00:01:35.880 --> 00:01:42.960 But here's what often happens that those that are that are oppressed when they find their identity in the Lord, they end up becoming 00:01:42.960 --> 00:01:43.800 the oppressors. 00:01:44.320 --> 00:01:51.640 Anytime someone gets power and becomes on top, the danger is that we use that strength for our own glory and it destroys people rather than blesses 00:01:51.640 --> 00:01:52.040 people. 00:01:52.080 --> 00:01:59.100 Because anytime we live for our glory rather than God's glory, we take what God has given us and we use it for ourselves, and we harm other 00:01:59.100 --> 00:02:00.020 people around us. 00:02:00.200 --> 00:02:02.900 But when we live for God's glory, it's a blessing to others. 00:02:03.320 --> 00:02:07.940 And so not only is it important for us in our brokenness to find our identity, but to faithfully live it out. 00:02:08.460 --> 00:02:14.900 And the Book of Genesis is a book that encourages down that path, that we are on a journey to know the Lord. 00:02:15.160 --> 00:02:22.160 And in knowing the Lord, it's also important to remind us the world offers temptation, and in that temptation we can stray from who 00:02:22.160 --> 00:02:29.260 God has called us to be in him and choose to worship idols, trying to discover the meaning and value of who we 00:02:29.260 --> 00:02:30.420 are apart from him. 00:02:31.040 --> 00:02:33.440 But the reality is, you weren't made for the things of this world. 00:02:33.440 --> 00:02:34.540 You were made for God. 00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:38.440 And in connecting to God, you can honor God and bless others through him. 00:02:38.640 --> 00:02:46.020 And so today we're going to look at the challenges that life brings to us, particularly in insecurities, the challenge our insecurity 00:02:46.020 --> 00:02:51.130 brings to us and how it becomes a temptation or an opportunity. 00:02:52.540 --> 00:02:54.660 We all have insecurities as people. 00:02:54.660 --> 00:02:57.260 We face them both internally and externally. 00:02:57.480 --> 00:03:00.110 We're going to look at the insecurity Abraham is facing today. 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:07.580 Externally, and we don't often do what we know God desires because we struggle with 00:03:07.580 --> 00:03:09.220 our insecurities. 00:03:09.440 --> 00:03:12.620 You might know who God has called you to be in this world. 00:03:12.620 --> 00:03:14.240 You might have discovered Christ and you. 00:03:14.500 --> 00:03:16.340 You begin to find your identity shaped in him. 00:03:16.340 --> 00:03:23.420 But then when you step out into the world to live out that purpose, sometimes you might hide from that identity simply because you're more concerned with what people think about 00:03:23.420 --> 00:03:25.540 you than what the Lord says about you. 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:29.260 And in so doing, you sort of walk in fear. 00:03:29.260 --> 00:03:35.450 No one might know it externally, but you know it internally because you're not being faithful to what God has called you to. 00:03:35.760 --> 00:03:39.860 And so we struggle in our insecurities because we want to know that we matter. 00:03:39.860 --> 00:03:41.390 We want to know that we're value to people. 00:03:41.440 --> 00:03:48.600 And so sometimes we'll give in to the temptation of discovering our identity in others, rather than living out our identity in what Christ 00:03:48.600 --> 00:03:50.640 has called us to. 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:55.100 We can face that internally, like I just described, but we can also face it externally. 00:03:55.600 --> 00:04:02.560 There might be certain pressures or certain adversity that you've gone through in your life, and you might all of a sudden believe that the promises of God were true. 00:04:02.580 --> 00:04:08.680 But in the circumstance you find yourself externally, well, you need to just take care of this and you can get back to the following God part. 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:15.340 And so in all of that, we're going to look at the challenge that our insecurity brings us. 00:04:15.340 --> 00:04:20.589 And what you do in insecurity matters because it brings you to a place of one of two choices. 00:04:21.180 --> 00:04:23.640 You can walk in compromise to your faith. 00:04:25.160 --> 00:04:29.220 Or you can walk in the identity in which God has given you. 00:04:30.280 --> 00:04:34.020 And we learn about our tendency in our insecurities today through Abraham. 00:04:34.060 --> 00:04:36.120 But we also learn about the patience of God. 00:04:37.200 --> 00:04:44.320 Abraham was not a perfect person, which should be a very encouraging thing for us because we as people, we have the tendency that 00:04:44.320 --> 00:04:49.020 when we fail, we look at other people and we know sometimes they mess up too, but not like we mess up. 00:04:49.020 --> 00:04:50.220 I'm the royal mess up, right? 00:04:50.220 --> 00:04:53.200 They just kind of mess up, but I can't seem to get out of my own way. 00:04:53.460 --> 00:04:57.260 I'm always tripping over things and you sort of label yourself in that identity. 00:04:57.260 --> 00:04:58.440 There's the other people that have it together. 00:04:58.440 --> 00:04:59.640 Then there's me, right? 00:04:59.700 --> 00:05:02.700 I'm kind of the exception, the black sheep to God's family. 00:05:02.940 --> 00:05:10.000 And you might wear that label and you sort of feel bad and you begin to get ostracized or you might look at other people and you think, well, 00:05:10.120 --> 00:05:11.620 their faith is spectacular. 00:05:12.140 --> 00:05:15.420 But my faith, I'm, I'm nothing compared to them. 00:05:15.660 --> 00:05:19.790 Sometimes we have the tendency to look at Bible characters and put them on this pedestal like they're great. 00:05:20.040 --> 00:05:24.020 And I'm just the B team or maybe the C team, or maybe you don't even get an alphabet. 00:05:24.120 --> 00:05:26.100 Maybe you're down to the numbers because you've gone through all the letters. 00:05:26.100 --> 00:05:32.840 I don't know, but you look at yourself different than other people because you see them as giants, and it's not ever attainable for you. 00:05:32.880 --> 00:05:36.750 And you wonder how in the world could I ever be what they are because I'm not as great as they are. 00:05:37.100 --> 00:05:42.460 But then you read stories like the life of Abraham and, Abraham and Sarah, they're certainly famous. 00:05:42.460 --> 00:05:46.380 But what you discover in this passage is they are by far they are far from perfect. 00:05:46.860 --> 00:05:48.860 They are far from perfect people. 00:05:48.860 --> 00:05:53.000 They may mess up and they fail to follow God at certain times. 00:05:53.060 --> 00:05:55.000 And then we get to see how this plays out. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:58.400 God is going to use Abraham as an example. 00:05:58.600 --> 00:06:00.890 Get this to help you this morning to feel normal. 00:06:02.920 --> 00:06:10.100 God knows we all have insecurities and God knows we struggle and God doesn't give up on us in 00:06:10.100 --> 00:06:10.880 those struggles. 00:06:11.560 --> 00:06:14.570 You aren't an accident, you aren't a mess up. 00:06:15.220 --> 00:06:18.080 You are a work in progress and God loves you. 00:06:18.740 --> 00:06:25.820 And because God's grace is for his children wanting to see them nurture and grow in him, God is always faithful to who he 00:06:25.820 --> 00:06:26.600 is, right? 00:06:26.620 --> 00:06:29.720 His reaction isn't contingent upon what you do. 00:06:30.460 --> 00:06:35.900 And so in terms of the challenge of our insecurities, number one in your notes, Abraham falls in his insecurities. 00:06:35.940 --> 00:06:39.140 Or you can say he compromises in his insecurities. 00:06:39.660 --> 00:06:43.740 And you start to see this as it's laid out, really in Genesis 12 verse one and two. 00:06:44.120 --> 00:06:45.840 I'm not going to throw those verses on the screen. 00:06:45.900 --> 00:06:53.080 We read them last week, but in Genesis 12 one and two, if you remember, God tells Abraham to go, go to a place that I have promised you, a land that I have promised 00:06:53.080 --> 00:06:56.120 you, and I'm going to multiply you upon the earth. 00:06:56.160 --> 00:06:56.240 Right? 00:06:56.280 --> 00:06:57.260 I'm going to you're going to have kids. 00:06:57.460 --> 00:06:57.840 You're going to multiply. 00:06:58.320 --> 00:06:58.530 It's going to be great. 00:06:58.860 --> 00:07:00.070 So listen to what I say and go. 00:07:00.320 --> 00:07:01.360 And then Abraham goes. 00:07:01.580 --> 00:07:05.860 And in verse seven, God repeats that right now that he's in the land, God repeats it. 00:07:06.020 --> 00:07:06.720 This is your land. 00:07:06.740 --> 00:07:07.720 I'm going to multiply it. 00:07:08.460 --> 00:07:13.100 But then in the midst of that, right after God says this, Abraham does something foolish. 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:16.640 In verse ten, it tells us, look at this now there was a famine in the land. 00:07:17.160 --> 00:07:21.790 So Abraham went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. 00:07:22.040 --> 00:07:29.520 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai or Sarah, his wife, I know that you are a woman, beautiful in appearance, and 00:07:29.520 --> 00:07:33.720 when the Egyptians see you, they will say, this is his wife. 00:07:33.720 --> 00:07:36.780 Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. 00:07:37.140 --> 00:07:43.160 Say, you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, so that my life may be spared for your sake. 00:07:43.540 --> 00:07:44.260 Verse 14. 00:07:44.260 --> 00:07:48.340 When Abraham entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw the woman was very beautiful. 00:07:48.560 --> 00:07:51.730 And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. 00:07:52.060 --> 00:07:58.100 And the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house, and for her sake he dealt well with Abraham. 00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:04.060 And he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels. 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:05.260 So. 00:08:05.400 --> 00:08:06.570 So here's how the story progresses. 00:08:07.260 --> 00:08:11.610 Abraham is given this promise of God, and he gets to the land, and he realizes the land has got a famine. 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:19.240 And rather than continue in the faith that God has called him to, rather than continue on the journey, the step of faith that Abraham is has taken. 00:08:19.320 --> 00:08:26.420 Now he gets to this position where he feels insecure, and in that insecurity now he decides to compromise. 00:08:27.340 --> 00:08:34.450 And you know, this is really a place for all of us to consider what it means to take a step of faith in the Lord. 00:08:34.799 --> 00:08:41.100 This happens, I think, to all of us, that you might hear the call of God in your life and you decide, oh, I see who Jesus is. 00:08:41.100 --> 00:08:42.240 I want to pursue this in my life. 00:08:42.460 --> 00:08:46.120 You find your identity in that, and then you take a step. 00:08:46.380 --> 00:08:49.300 You boldly take this step of following the Lord. 00:08:49.320 --> 00:08:52.840 And as soon as you take that step, you might decide, okay, I did it. 00:08:52.840 --> 00:08:56.760 I made that step of faith and hang your hat and step back just on that identity. 00:08:57.380 --> 00:09:04.400 But what you find is when you when you're called out like that, when you when you put your faith in Christ and you might declare it to the world, all 00:09:04.400 --> 00:09:07.480 of a sudden it becomes this target on your back. 00:09:07.920 --> 00:09:15.360 For example, if you ever if you've been baptized in Christ, that public profession, one of the encouragements like to give to people that have been baptized is 00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:21.420 be mindful of your walk in these first few days, because this is often the place where Satan will tempt you. 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:24.520 This is often the place where you're going to find big challenges in your life. 00:09:24.520 --> 00:09:26.520 Because you've taken a tremendous step. 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:28.920 And this is exactly what's happened to Abraham. 00:09:29.580 --> 00:09:36.640 He believed so much in the promise of God that he was willing to pack up everything in a land where his family and friends lived and 00:09:36.640 --> 00:09:39.510 move hundreds of miles, which people in his day did not do. 00:09:39.540 --> 00:09:43.760 You were you were born, lived, and died within a 50 mile radius during Abraham's day. 00:09:44.220 --> 00:09:46.500 And he journeys hundreds of miles in faith. 00:09:47.080 --> 00:09:53.200 But when he gets there, it's like all of a sudden he forgets the promises of God is now because of the adversity he's experiencing in this land. 00:09:53.200 --> 00:09:57.000 Now, God's promises don't apply and the same is true for us. 00:09:57.800 --> 00:09:59.700 God's given you an identity in him. 00:09:59.700 --> 00:10:03.770 If you trust in Christ and God promises is going to be with you no matter what you go through. 00:10:04.420 --> 00:10:06.320 And but all of a sudden we can get into this place where we believe. 00:10:06.420 --> 00:10:07.760 Well, I had faith once, right? 00:10:07.760 --> 00:10:11.570 But I need to take care of this before I can continue to trust in the Lord. 00:10:12.420 --> 00:10:14.380 And Abraham takes in this story. 00:10:14.380 --> 00:10:16.040 He takes matters into his own hands. 00:10:16.880 --> 00:10:19.330 God doesn't tell him to leave this land because of a famine. 00:10:19.480 --> 00:10:26.520 God told him to go to this land, but Abraham is the one that decides to leave the land and when Abraham leaves, leaves the land, we see the 00:10:26.520 --> 00:10:28.250 consequence of his actions. 00:10:28.520 --> 00:10:35.600 It doesn't just cause him to compromise in the Lord once he compromises in the Lord, and both ways that he's given a promise that Abraham not 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:37.770 only are going to have land, but you've got a wife. 00:10:37.980 --> 00:10:44.070 And through this wife I'm going to give you a child, and through this child it's going to bless the world, because through him will come the seed, which is Jesus. 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:47.190 And so Abraham gives up on everything. 00:10:48.280 --> 00:10:49.380 He leaves the land behind. 00:10:49.380 --> 00:10:56.400 And his wife, I mean, if I give Abraham a little credit in this passage, it does say he's going to Egypt to sojourn, which means 00:10:56.400 --> 00:11:01.900 he knows he's not going to make a permanent place here, but he immediately abandons the promise of God. 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:05.270 And in so doing, he leaves his wife. 00:11:05.800 --> 00:11:07.600 Abraham leaves his wife. 00:11:07.900 --> 00:11:15.220 And it's to say to us, look, when you abandon the promises of God in your own life, it isn't just a consequence that you 00:11:15.220 --> 00:11:15.740 face. 00:11:16.380 --> 00:11:19.780 It has a ripple effect in the relationships around you, starting in your own home. 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:24.410 And this is what happens in the life of Abraham that he just hands Sarah. 00:11:24.560 --> 00:11:28.080 I mean, Abraham is certainly not getting an award for husband of the year this year, right? 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:30.050 I mean, he just like camels and donkeys. 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:30.560 I'll take it. 00:11:30.560 --> 00:11:31.100 Just take her. 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:31.300 Right. 00:11:31.300 --> 00:11:35.260 Like he values his life before his own wife. 00:11:36.100 --> 00:11:37.180 And he just he just waves. 00:11:37.280 --> 00:11:37.520 Bye. 00:11:37.520 --> 00:11:37.800 See you. 00:11:37.940 --> 00:11:38.420 I'll see you later. 00:11:38.640 --> 00:11:40.320 And she's just going into the harem. 00:11:40.360 --> 00:11:43.660 And look, Abraham is not not completely on his own here. 00:11:44.220 --> 00:11:49.320 It doesn't tell you what Sarah does in this passage, but it kind of leads us to conclude that Sarah just went along with it. 00:11:49.380 --> 00:11:53.180 She was passive, and God made husband and wife to be a helpmate to one another. 00:11:53.660 --> 00:11:54.700 Because sometimes we have blinders. 00:11:54.700 --> 00:11:58.620 Sometimes we don't realize the full foolishness of which we might be walking in. 00:11:58.620 --> 00:12:02.730 And so even in God's family, God created a family to encourage one another along. 00:12:03.260 --> 00:12:06.160 And Sarah takes this passive role that provides consequence. 00:12:06.160 --> 00:12:08.080 Now, we don't know why Sarah did this. 00:12:08.180 --> 00:12:11.280 She could be totally ticked at Abraham for moving her hundreds of miles by camel. 00:12:11.300 --> 00:12:12.900 I mean, who wants to do that, right? 00:12:12.980 --> 00:12:16.620 Or maybe she looked at living in tents with Abraham and the castle she was about to go into. 00:12:16.620 --> 00:12:23.840 Who knows the reason she picks, but whatever it is, they're not obedient to what God has called 00:12:23.840 --> 00:12:24.160 them to. 00:12:25.260 --> 00:12:26.780 And so here comes the question, then, is why? 00:12:27.420 --> 00:12:28.900 Why would Abraham do this? 00:12:30.540 --> 00:12:37.080 Right after he gets a promise from God, he turns around and denies it, like his circumstance becomes this exception all of a sudden. 00:12:38.560 --> 00:12:40.660 Why would Abraham do this? 00:12:40.840 --> 00:12:43.400 And the answer is the same reason we all do this. 00:12:44.560 --> 00:12:46.270 We don't like feeling insecure. 00:12:48.400 --> 00:12:55.500 And in that insecurity, what you do in those moments matters because it becomes this place of compromise or this 00:12:55.500 --> 00:12:56.440 place of exercising faith. 00:12:57.820 --> 00:13:00.560 I mean, from the beginning of Genesis, you see this story. 00:13:01.100 --> 00:13:02.300 Remember when Adam and Eve sinned? 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:05.320 You know, they immediately did in that sin. 00:13:05.320 --> 00:13:07.000 They felt insecure. 00:13:07.160 --> 00:13:10.500 And so they start running through a garden, ripping off fig leaves to cover themselves. 00:13:10.800 --> 00:13:12.200 And you just think about that for a minute. 00:13:12.280 --> 00:13:14.380 Out of all the things that you can cover yourselves with. 00:13:14.580 --> 00:13:15.860 How stupid is that? 00:13:15.900 --> 00:13:16.300 Right? 00:13:16.360 --> 00:13:20.440 You think of all the plants you could be if you just Google what's a what's the size of a fig leaf, right? 00:13:20.520 --> 00:13:21.490 I mean, there's some there is. 00:13:21.560 --> 00:13:28.540 There is a few plants that could speculate that might have some big leaves, but the traditional leaf of a fig leaf that's not that's not covering much. 00:13:28.640 --> 00:13:29.080 Right. 00:13:29.140 --> 00:13:36.320 And I think that's the point of the story is to say to you in our insecurities, rather than trust in the consistency of who God is, which is the only thing 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:40.720 that endures, we look to anything else in this world, and it's all broken. 00:13:41.460 --> 00:13:43.280 And Adam and Eve become a picture of that. 00:13:43.280 --> 00:13:48.080 How we lean into our insecurities, hoping something makes me feel important, contrary to God. 00:13:49.800 --> 00:13:49.980 Now. 00:13:50.040 --> 00:13:50.840 Abraham does it here. 00:13:52.140 --> 00:13:53.320 The insecurity he feels. 00:13:53.320 --> 00:13:54.470 I think Adam and Eve was internal. 00:13:55.060 --> 00:13:55.760 They felt exposed. 00:13:57.080 --> 00:13:57.660 Abraham. 00:13:57.660 --> 00:13:58.500 It's external. 00:13:58.520 --> 00:14:00.200 And so he's not trusting in the Lord. 00:14:00.200 --> 00:14:02.680 He compromises on what God's called him to. 00:14:02.680 --> 00:14:05.370 But we do the same thing and we do it all the time. 00:14:06.660 --> 00:14:08.360 What makes you matter. 00:14:10.060 --> 00:14:11.750 What gives you worth? 00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:17.220 Can I tell you if that answer isn't rooted in your identity in Jesus? 00:14:17.720 --> 00:14:20.260 Whatever you pick is a facade. 00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:25.070 It is a facade that is only temporal to this world, and it may not even endure. 00:14:25.320 --> 00:14:25.880 Your lifetime. 00:14:25.880 --> 00:14:26.840 Most likely will not. 00:14:27.820 --> 00:14:33.150 And as people you think about the inadequacies that we have, the insecurities that we carry, that brings us to this place of compromise. 00:14:33.940 --> 00:14:36.840 I want to feel like I'm important, so I need more money. 00:14:37.320 --> 00:14:37.680 Right. 00:14:37.920 --> 00:14:39.160 But I don't know if we've noticed. 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:46.520 If you've watched the news the last few weeks, you're on the cusp of World War three, and all of that can be ripped away from you in a 00:14:46.520 --> 00:14:46.920 heartbeat. 00:14:47.100 --> 00:14:48.590 And then the question is, what are you going to trust in? 00:14:50.160 --> 00:14:51.040 Or what about. 00:14:51.260 --> 00:14:51.560 What about? 00:14:51.560 --> 00:14:53.100 I need to feel important, so I need a title. 00:14:54.700 --> 00:14:58.180 The titles fade or I need more power. 00:14:58.740 --> 00:14:59.380 Power fades. 00:14:59.380 --> 00:15:01.060 Or I just need someone to tell me I'm beautiful. 00:15:01.060 --> 00:15:01.990 That will make me matter. 00:15:03.580 --> 00:15:04.840 Beauty fades it all. 00:15:04.920 --> 00:15:05.540 It all fades. 00:15:06.980 --> 00:15:08.980 The only thing that endures. 00:15:10.560 --> 00:15:11.560 That's who you are in Christ. 00:15:13.580 --> 00:15:16.280 Now, it doesn't mean that those things don't matter in life. 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:23.420 Like certainly if the Lord gives you an opportunity to pursue greater financial gain for your family or 00:15:23.420 --> 00:15:26.830 titles, there's some wisdom that needs to be involved in that decision. 00:15:26.860 --> 00:15:34.200 We'll look at in a minute, but that becomes an opportunity to leverage the goodness of who God is, that rather than pursue those things for your glory, 00:15:34.560 --> 00:15:37.100 you can take those things as an opportunity for his glory. 00:15:39.900 --> 00:15:41.300 Because you find yourself secure in Christ. 00:15:42.800 --> 00:15:43.550 And so for Abraham. 00:15:44.860 --> 00:15:53.120 He responds in a way where he leans into the insecurity of his vulnerability by compromising 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:57.620 rather than walk in faith, even though God had just promised him. 00:15:59.560 --> 00:16:02.170 And the question is for you where do you find your identity? 00:16:03.300 --> 00:16:04.650 But you know the beauty of this. 00:16:05.900 --> 00:16:07.960 Is that God being consistent in who he is. 00:16:09.140 --> 00:16:09.940 He lets us. 00:16:10.260 --> 00:16:13.780 He will allow us to follow a path that is contrary to him. 00:16:14.940 --> 00:16:18.690 But the wonderful grace of God is that he intervenes. 00:16:19.560 --> 00:16:26.900 He intersects into the adversity we bring to our relationship with him by denying him, and provides 00:16:26.900 --> 00:16:29.920 places of grace to waken our soul to what we're doing. 00:16:29.980 --> 00:16:32.220 And in verse 17, he does this for Abraham. 00:16:33.320 --> 00:16:33.980 But look at this. 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:38.500 But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his household with great plagues because of Sarah, Abraham's wife. 00:16:38.580 --> 00:16:40.420 Some say this is where God invented Covid, right? 00:16:40.420 --> 00:16:45.960 Like, hey, whatever happens here, Pharaoh is inflicted for taking Abraham's wife. 00:16:45.960 --> 00:16:49.400 Even though Pharaoh didn't know to this point, Pharaoh is doing what his customs were like. 00:16:49.420 --> 00:16:51.290 He pays a dowry, he gets a new bride. 00:16:51.760 --> 00:16:53.540 He's only doing what his people do. 00:16:54.080 --> 00:16:57.130 And but God afflicts him anyway because he's intersecting his grace. 00:16:57.340 --> 00:16:57.980 In the life of Abraham. 00:16:58.160 --> 00:16:59.290 Abraham is walking contrary. 00:16:59.760 --> 00:17:03.280 So Pharaoh called Abraham and said, why is that you've done to me? 00:17:03.380 --> 00:17:06.270 Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 00:17:06.380 --> 00:17:08.339 Why did you say she is my sisters? 00:17:08.339 --> 00:17:09.839 That I took her for my wife? 00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:11.579 Now then, here is your wife. 00:17:11.579 --> 00:17:12.760 Take her and go. 00:17:12.760 --> 00:17:14.800 And Pharaoh gave me orders concerning him. 00:17:14.900 --> 00:17:15.200 And they. 00:17:15.380 --> 00:17:19.200 They sent him away with his wife and all that he had. 00:17:20.859 --> 00:17:25.200 You know, this passage and reading a narrative in the Bible. 00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:26.619 Not all narrative is prescriptive. 00:17:26.720 --> 00:17:28.830 This is telling a story to you, right? 00:17:28.920 --> 00:17:31.960 The majority 75% of the Bible is the Old Testament. 00:17:32.330 --> 00:17:34.750 75% of the Old Testament is written in narrative form. 00:17:34.940 --> 00:17:36.450 Narrative form is not always prescriptive. 00:17:36.520 --> 00:17:40.920 And what I mean by like, if you go read the book of Jonah, Jonah got swallowed by a whale. 00:17:41.080 --> 00:17:44.180 That is not a prescriptive story for everyone to jump on a boat, get swallowed by a whale. 00:17:44.200 --> 00:17:44.800 You get that right. 00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:52.200 Not all not all narratives are prescriptive, but there are characteristics of a narrative that reveal the character of God 00:17:52.200 --> 00:17:53.820 that always remains consistent. 00:17:55.120 --> 00:17:58.280 And in this context, we see the nature of who God is. 00:17:59.520 --> 00:18:02.020 And God intervenes in the life of Abraham. 00:18:03.020 --> 00:18:04.740 While we act foolish. 00:18:05.740 --> 00:18:05.920 God. 00:18:06.100 --> 00:18:06.830 God still cares. 00:18:07.600 --> 00:18:10.420 And he comes to this place in Abraham's life to minister to his soul. 00:18:10.460 --> 00:18:15.420 So he just he recognizes the brokenness of Abraham would just by faith, trust again. 00:18:15.420 --> 00:18:16.290 And the same is true for you. 00:18:17.360 --> 00:18:22.070 The same is true for you can go on this journey and you might just take a step of compromise. 00:18:22.380 --> 00:18:24.740 And before you know it, you've taken another step of compromise. 00:18:24.740 --> 00:18:26.380 And now everything is falling apart, right? 00:18:26.380 --> 00:18:28.140 You're not in the place God's called you to be. 00:18:28.260 --> 00:18:34.680 You've lost your family completely because the brokenness that's now been experienced through, through the poor decisions that you've made. 00:18:34.800 --> 00:18:41.720 And here comes God intervening in the midst of this moment, just pouring his grace back in Abraham's life, that Abraham would awaken to what's happening. 00:18:41.720 --> 00:18:44.540 He's forsaken the promises of God that he would return to the Lord. 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:46.600 Point number two then. 00:18:48.800 --> 00:18:53.760 Abraham returns because of the grace of God. 00:18:53.840 --> 00:18:55.700 I love the Abraham returns because the grace of God. 00:18:57.500 --> 00:18:59.950 Sometimes God has to save us from ourselves. 00:19:00.740 --> 00:19:04.210 In fact, I would say the most important enemy God has to save us from is ourselves. 00:19:05.080 --> 00:19:07.980 Because pride will destroy our walk with the Lord. 00:19:09.180 --> 00:19:11.100 Trusting in anything other than him. 00:19:12.140 --> 00:19:16.560 And so Abraham returns because of the grace of God and Abraham. 00:19:16.560 --> 00:19:20.580 In chapter 13, it goes on and says, maybe verse one. 00:19:20.580 --> 00:19:25.660 So Abraham went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and lot with him into the negeb. 00:19:25.800 --> 00:19:32.920 Now Abraham was very rich in livestock and silver and gold, and he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had 00:19:32.920 --> 00:19:38.800 been at the beginning, between Bethel and AI, to the place where he had made an altar at the first. 00:19:39.100 --> 00:19:41.600 And then Abraham called upon the name of the Lord. 00:19:42.540 --> 00:19:43.400 Where does Abraham go? 00:19:44.800 --> 00:19:47.620 Back to the beginning of where his identity was secure in the Lord. 00:19:49.580 --> 00:19:49.820 Has. 00:19:49.880 --> 00:19:57.140 The same is true for us, I think in your walk with Jesus, how important this is to have a place where, you have decided my 00:19:57.140 --> 00:19:58.940 life will be about this. 00:19:59.420 --> 00:20:06.520 I will make my life about pursuing Christ for his glory in this world, because the world's going to throw temptation at 00:20:06.520 --> 00:20:06.920 you. 00:20:07.220 --> 00:20:12.240 And when you consider the opportunity, you have to compromise rather than compromise to come back to this place. 00:20:12.280 --> 00:20:18.700 And even if you have compromise to come back to this place and say, no, this is who I am because of what God has done. 00:20:19.140 --> 00:20:20.860 My value is not found in these things though. 00:20:21.040 --> 00:20:28.180 Though you may have a title, though you may have power, though you may have wealth, or though you have may have beauty or whatever it is that you possess that doesn't make you who you 00:20:28.180 --> 00:20:29.700 are, it's God who does it. 00:20:29.700 --> 00:20:34.600 And in understanding who you are in light of his glory, then you can leverage those things for his glory in this world. 00:20:35.660 --> 00:20:37.690 And so Abraham comes back to that place. 00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:45.980 Think in your walk with Jesus how paramount that is that you have at some point where you've made the clear distinction that 00:20:45.980 --> 00:20:47.760 you would follow Jesus. 00:20:47.780 --> 00:20:50.880 And now it's not just a one time decision like in the life of Abraham. 00:20:51.960 --> 00:20:59.360 He made this decision to follow, but he now needs to learn the lesson that it's not just this one time decision that you make, but now every day you wake up and say, 00:20:59.580 --> 00:21:01.100 God, my life is yours. 00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:04.300 What is you desire for your glory? 00:21:05.220 --> 00:21:06.210 May I live out that purpose? 00:21:08.380 --> 00:21:11.200 Rather than walk in my insecurities that lead me to compromise. 00:21:12.800 --> 00:21:14.260 I find myself secure in you. 00:21:16.340 --> 00:21:19.300 Can I tell you one of the ways that it often happens in our lives? 00:21:21.060 --> 00:21:21.890 As we face adversity. 00:21:23.240 --> 00:21:25.580 And we get hurt by people around us. 00:21:27.100 --> 00:21:34.490 You know, being a pastor, I oftentimes find people that carry religious hurts or church hurts from whatever they might have been a part of before. 00:21:36.220 --> 00:21:37.040 And people were people. 00:21:37.080 --> 00:21:38.040 No matter where you go. 00:21:38.960 --> 00:21:40.020 We're not perfect. 00:21:41.080 --> 00:21:45.440 And at some point, we're going to do something that might hurt one another. 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:54.480 But rather than withdraw from who God has called you to be, it's important that we continue to lean to walk into that mess. 00:21:55.220 --> 00:21:57.480 And I'm not saying every church is a good church. 00:21:57.480 --> 00:21:59.920 I mean, there's certainly bad religious groups out there. 00:21:59.940 --> 00:22:00.200 Okay. 00:22:01.500 --> 00:22:08.500 But when you when you find a family that wants to follow after Jesus in a healthy way, you've got to understand there's going to be disruption in relationship because there 00:22:08.500 --> 00:22:09.420 always is. 00:22:10.460 --> 00:22:11.020 There always is. 00:22:11.020 --> 00:22:17.040 And to just move into that insecurity and compromise rather than keep walking in faith. 00:22:17.420 --> 00:22:24.180 It's not only harmful to your own walk with God, it's harmful to the body of Christ, which God has called you to be a blessing to them. 00:22:26.200 --> 00:22:31.340 And so Abraham, in this passage, he moves forward in the grace of God, and he returns. 00:22:31.340 --> 00:22:32.300 And remember this. 00:22:32.700 --> 00:22:34.740 It's not because Abraham was important. 00:22:35.480 --> 00:22:42.500 And we talked about this last week in Joshua 24 verse two, when God called Abraham, he's not looking over the world and saying, give me the best person 00:22:42.500 --> 00:22:43.700 life has to offer. 00:22:44.220 --> 00:22:50.950 Abraham was a pagan man in a pagan land with a pagan family, and even his name was a pagan name to honor a false god. 00:22:52.080 --> 00:22:56.180 And the only reason Abraham is where he is not because of who Abraham is, but because of who God is. 00:22:56.780 --> 00:22:58.990 It's because of the grace of God made known in his life. 00:22:59.660 --> 00:23:04.260 And so the only reason Abraham is allowed to return is not because of him, but because of who God is. 00:23:04.260 --> 00:23:06.290 God is consistent in his nature. 00:23:07.040 --> 00:23:14.140 And so Abraham, knowing that the only reason I got to this promised land was because of the grace of God is the same reason I'm going to be able to return to this promised 00:23:14.140 --> 00:23:16.840 Land because of the grace of God and Joshua. 00:23:17.060 --> 00:23:23.360 24 Joshua said to all the people, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, long ago your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates. 00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:27.640 Terah, the father of Abraham, and of Nahor, and they served other gods. 00:23:29.800 --> 00:23:33.260 Abraham is not someone you put on a pedestal and think he's just better than me. 00:23:33.320 --> 00:23:34.240 I'll never. 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:35.380 How could I, right? 00:23:35.740 --> 00:23:36.910 He's a man that just did this. 00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:39.450 He learned to walk consistently in his faith with the Lord. 00:23:39.480 --> 00:23:42.460 And even then, that journey in the beginning especially, was a struggle. 00:23:43.780 --> 00:23:45.920 And Abraham starting at 75 years old. 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:49.740 So he's still messing up, right at 75 years old going on this journey. 00:23:51.480 --> 00:23:56.830 But the reason he's able to do it is because of the grace of the Lord made known in his life. 00:23:57.960 --> 00:24:03.340 Paul from prison wrote the letter to Philippians, and Paul said it like this. 00:24:03.360 --> 00:24:07.500 He said, for I have learned in whatever situation I am in to be content. 00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:09.730 I know how to be brought low. 00:24:09.980 --> 00:24:12.920 I know how to abound in any and every circumstance. 00:24:12.920 --> 00:24:16.040 I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 00:24:16.040 --> 00:24:19.140 I can do all things through him who strengthens me. 00:24:21.360 --> 00:24:28.580 What Paul is saying is the secret of life is not to trust compromise by trusting in the circumstance or put on the facade of stuff. 00:24:30.060 --> 00:24:31.440 But to depend on the Lord to carry me through. 00:24:32.840 --> 00:24:36.760 Because God already goes before me and God knows exactly what I need. 00:24:37.360 --> 00:24:42.900 There's no circumstance you're going to face in life, or God's going to be like, oh no, I I'm completely blinded by this. 00:24:43.060 --> 00:24:44.220 I never saw this coming. 00:24:44.220 --> 00:24:45.000 You're on your own, right? 00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:46.300 Like this is what? 00:24:46.360 --> 00:24:46.560 Good luck. 00:24:46.620 --> 00:24:47.580 Good luck for you. 00:24:47.580 --> 00:24:47.820 Right? 00:24:47.820 --> 00:24:49.100 That's not who God. 00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:50.580 God knows the beginning from the end. 00:24:50.580 --> 00:24:51.360 God knows all things. 00:24:51.360 --> 00:24:53.020 And God promises he'll walk with you through it. 00:24:53.160 --> 00:25:00.540 And so Paul is saying, rather than just simply trust on the circumstances around me, the situation around me, I have learned that God always 00:25:00.540 --> 00:25:02.880 meets me there, and whether I have plenty or I have little. 00:25:03.060 --> 00:25:04.560 God sustains me through it. 00:25:04.740 --> 00:25:07.160 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. 00:25:07.280 --> 00:25:11.940 And he's writing this from prison as if to say, look, Christians don't compromise. 00:25:12.160 --> 00:25:13.880 Even when the situation looks bleak. 00:25:14.120 --> 00:25:16.540 God will sustain you through it because God has called you to it. 00:25:16.540 --> 00:25:19.140 And if God has called you to it, he's going to journey with you in it. 00:25:19.900 --> 00:25:20.380 God is there. 00:25:20.420 --> 00:25:21.450 That's what Paul is saying. 00:25:21.740 --> 00:25:26.120 Anecdotally, I have learned that God always faithfully meets me there. 00:25:29.140 --> 00:25:31.240 So the facade of the things, the world that you can trust in. 00:25:33.160 --> 00:25:35.790 Though for a moment they may look like they could satisfy. 00:25:36.020 --> 00:25:37.360 Though you may feel important. 00:25:38.080 --> 00:25:39.220 It'll all fade away. 00:25:40.660 --> 00:25:41.880 It will all fade away. 00:25:42.620 --> 00:25:44.140 Your power, your title, your. 00:25:44.300 --> 00:25:45.760 It will all fade away. 00:25:46.120 --> 00:25:47.320 And then the question is, who are you? 00:25:49.860 --> 00:25:56.050 If you really depend upon those things to make you feel important, in the end, you won't have any of it. 00:25:56.760 --> 00:25:58.720 And so therefore, what ever made you important? 00:26:00.240 --> 00:26:04.040 But what you have in Christ endures forever. 00:26:05.400 --> 00:26:06.680 And this is what Abraham's doing. 00:26:07.640 --> 00:26:09.420 He's returning to play the long game. 00:26:10.560 --> 00:26:12.360 Abraham knows there might be struggle in front of him. 00:26:12.360 --> 00:26:14.240 He's going into enemy territory in this promised land. 00:26:16.040 --> 00:26:18.880 But his decision is not just a blessing to him. 00:26:19.240 --> 00:26:21.960 It's a blessing to those around him and for generations to come. 00:26:23.260 --> 00:26:25.930 Abraham knows that in Christ what he has will last forever. 00:26:27.180 --> 00:26:29.500 And so Abraham returns by the by the grace of God. 00:26:29.660 --> 00:26:33.260 And then, number three, in your notes, Abraham blesses because he is blessed. 00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:36.000 Abraham blesses because he is blessed. 00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:40.920 And now it's going to give you this lesson in chapter 13, how Abraham learns in the story. 00:26:40.960 --> 00:26:43.820 And it's going to contrast how Abraham learns to the idea of lot. 00:26:44.240 --> 00:26:45.440 Remember when Abraham left? 00:26:45.500 --> 00:26:49.800 Lot journeyed with him, and it's going to use lot as an example now of what not to do. 00:26:49.800 --> 00:26:53.160 One who didn't learn from this lesson and Abraham who did. 00:26:53.200 --> 00:27:00.280 And it starts in verse five and it says, and lot went with Abraham also had flocks and herds and tents, so that the land could 00:27:00.280 --> 00:27:05.970 not support both of them dwelling together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. 00:27:06.380 --> 00:27:09.880 And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abraham's livestock and the herdsmen of lot's livestock. 00:27:10.660 --> 00:27:13.600 At the time, the Canaanites and the parasites were dwelling in the land. 00:27:15.120 --> 00:27:22.220 And then Abraham said to lot, verse eight, let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are 00:27:22.220 --> 00:27:25.020 we are kinsmen is not the whole land. 00:27:25.200 --> 00:27:28.700 Before you separate your separate yourselves from me. 00:27:28.700 --> 00:27:31.380 If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, Abraham said. 00:27:31.380 --> 00:27:34.010 Or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left. 00:27:34.540 --> 00:27:41.640 And lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere, like the garden of the Lord, like the 00:27:41.640 --> 00:27:43.620 land of Egypt in the direction of Zohar. 00:27:44.240 --> 00:27:47.740 This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. 00:27:49.980 --> 00:27:52.640 Lot in this passage, this idea of looking up. 00:27:52.640 --> 00:27:54.880 We're going to look we're going to look at again in just a minute. 00:27:54.880 --> 00:27:59.200 But a lot looks up and it shows us the way that lot perceives the world around him. 00:28:00.720 --> 00:28:04.860 Lot just simply looks at the idea of advancing his career and advancing his wealth. 00:28:05.940 --> 00:28:08.580 And he looks at the land before him, and he takes that step. 00:28:08.580 --> 00:28:13.200 He'll think I'll be greater because I'll have greater possession, possession, and I'll have more things. 00:28:14.280 --> 00:28:15.800 And so that's taking possession. 00:28:15.800 --> 00:28:16.580 Possession. 00:28:16.580 --> 00:28:18.860 Both of those things will make him more important. 00:28:19.060 --> 00:28:20.240 He takes that step. 00:28:20.240 --> 00:28:21.730 But here's what we learn about the life. 00:28:23.660 --> 00:28:26.520 And taking that step, he completely sacrifices his family. 00:28:28.600 --> 00:28:30.280 All he's thinking about is the temporal gain. 00:28:31.060 --> 00:28:32.070 I'll have more stuff. 00:28:32.160 --> 00:28:33.120 I'll have more power. 00:28:33.280 --> 00:28:35.160 I'll be a better person because of that. 00:28:35.920 --> 00:28:36.840 And he takes that step. 00:28:38.220 --> 00:28:42.380 And in so doing, he completely sacrifices his family because it tells us where does he go? 00:28:43.260 --> 00:28:44.650 Into the land of Sodom and Gomorrah. 00:28:45.260 --> 00:28:47.380 And we're going to read about what happens in Sodom, Gomorrah in a few chapters. 00:28:49.060 --> 00:28:50.480 But he goes into a difficult land. 00:28:50.740 --> 00:28:57.860 Now, let me just tell you, it is possible for God's people to go to difficult places and live for his glory. 00:28:59.140 --> 00:29:03.640 But it is only possible when your family moves for the purpose of mission. 00:29:04.820 --> 00:29:05.420 Can I tell you? 00:29:05.580 --> 00:29:06.000 Really? 00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:13.160 It doesn't matter where you go in this world if you don't live for the purpose of mission in Christ, you will give into the temptation 00:29:13.160 --> 00:29:14.420 of what the world has to offer. 00:29:15.480 --> 00:29:17.660 And this is exactly what lot's family did. 00:29:18.520 --> 00:29:24.340 While Abraham is pursuing the Lord, lot didn't prepare his own family to pursue the Lord, and it cost him. 00:29:25.180 --> 00:29:27.350 And can I tell you if you ask, well, how do I do that? 00:29:27.660 --> 00:29:28.500 Can I tell you? 00:29:28.620 --> 00:29:35.390 It's not about putting on the superhero cape and just stepping in like you're the savior in this one time fix for you. 00:29:35.720 --> 00:29:40.500 For me, it's about having a consistent walk with Jesus and modeling it before my family. 00:29:42.440 --> 00:29:44.940 And demonstrating what it looks like to live on mission. 00:29:45.200 --> 00:29:47.350 I will naturally journey my family along. 00:29:47.600 --> 00:29:52.360 I'll teach my family to love the things that I love and to care about the things that I care about. 00:29:53.340 --> 00:29:53.380 But. 00:29:53.460 --> 00:30:00.220 But for a lot you can see the focus of his eyes was simply on what he would gain from this world, and in so doing meets the demise. 00:30:01.540 --> 00:30:01.950 Of his family. 00:30:03.360 --> 00:30:10.000 I know you can't force your family to believe things, and I don't think anybody wants you to do that, nor should you do that. 00:30:10.080 --> 00:30:13.960 But there is there is something important about the position that you have. 00:30:14.020 --> 00:30:17.960 And demonstrating the goodness of Jesus to the people around you and the way that it influences them. 00:30:19.680 --> 00:30:26.680 And in these moments he forsakes what God has called the people to, and he pursues with 00:30:26.680 --> 00:30:30.660 his own eyes what it is he's desiring, and it's simply a facade. 00:30:31.820 --> 00:30:36.040 In a compromise, but then it goes on and it shows us the idea of Abraham. 00:30:36.280 --> 00:30:41.140 Verse 11, it says, so lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley and lot journeyed east. 00:30:41.160 --> 00:30:42.760 Thus they separated from each other. 00:30:42.760 --> 00:30:50.330 Abraham settled in the land of Canaan, while lot settled among the cities of the valley, and moved his tent as far as Sodom. 00:30:50.620 --> 00:30:53.580 Now the men of Sodom were wicked great sinners against the Lord. 00:30:54.640 --> 00:30:54.680 So. 00:30:54.800 --> 00:30:58.020 So here's the question Abraham takes a place and lot takes a place. 00:30:58.180 --> 00:31:01.340 But the question is why did Abraham allow lot to pick first? 00:31:02.020 --> 00:31:04.220 After all, the promise was given to Abraham, not lot. 00:31:04.260 --> 00:31:08.780 And if there's good land in that place, then Abraham should have been able to have the first choice over that land. 00:31:09.040 --> 00:31:12.200 Why in the world would Abraham allow lot to pick first? 00:31:12.220 --> 00:31:17.120 I mean, practical wisdom tells you that good fences make for great neighbors, right? 00:31:17.120 --> 00:31:21.110 That certainly they've gotten to the size where they can't all be in one spot together. 00:31:21.180 --> 00:31:23.630 And so there's wisdom in separating. 00:31:23.720 --> 00:31:27.560 But more than that, Abraham's being wise practically for another reason. 00:31:27.560 --> 00:31:28.870 But he's also being wise spiritually. 00:31:29.780 --> 00:31:32.990 The reason Abraham allows lot to pick the land rather than himself. 00:31:33.080 --> 00:31:35.480 I think there's at least a couple of reasons, if not more. 00:31:36.240 --> 00:31:43.280 And one, Abraham, certainly in getting the promise and being the older person between the two had the right to pick 00:31:43.280 --> 00:31:43.680 first. 00:31:43.740 --> 00:31:48.560 He could have said, Since I'm older and God gave me the promise, I'm taking this land and you go pick whatever's left. 00:31:49.220 --> 00:31:56.380 But Abraham knew there was already strife in the relationship, and Abraham knew in order to survive in this hostile area 00:31:56.380 --> 00:31:59.820 where the Canaanites and parasites were there, they would have to work together. 00:32:00.700 --> 00:32:07.860 If they if Abraham created this contention between his family and lot's family, and lot's family ended up getting so upset with Abraham if Abraham 00:32:07.860 --> 00:32:10.700 got attacked, lot's family may not come over and help him. 00:32:10.740 --> 00:32:17.920 But if Abraham allowed lot to pick land first, it would help in the tension of their relationship and give him better opportunity to thrive in the land. 00:32:17.960 --> 00:32:22.620 So very practical for Abraham to look at lot and say, okay, there's been some some tension. 00:32:22.620 --> 00:32:24.920 I'm just going to go ahead and let you pick first, right? 00:32:24.920 --> 00:32:28.410 Practically it was important, but also spiritually. 00:32:29.600 --> 00:32:33.720 And let me tell you why spiritually because no matter what land lot picked. 00:32:34.920 --> 00:32:37.480 Abraham was still in the promises of God. 00:32:38.180 --> 00:32:45.280 And Abraham knew that no matter what lot picked, he was still going to be in the place that God had called him and therefore was going 00:32:45.280 --> 00:32:46.360 to watch the provision of God. 00:32:47.280 --> 00:32:52.450 And how much more miraculous it would be if God provided for Abraham in a more difficult situation. 00:32:53.480 --> 00:32:59.790 So Abraham, by faith in this moment, rather than just simply saying, oh, this is mine, I got I'm the best and I need this, and this is for me. 00:33:00.060 --> 00:33:00.730 And getting selfish. 00:33:00.880 --> 00:33:06.070 He chooses, he chooses to bless because he knew his identity in the Lord was a place of blessing. 00:33:06.280 --> 00:33:07.120 Therefore he could give. 00:33:07.420 --> 00:33:10.020 And in trusting in the Lord, in that he saw how the Lord could provide. 00:33:10.980 --> 00:33:12.660 And it's the same same with us. 00:33:12.660 --> 00:33:18.080 When you find your identity secure in the Lord, you're not just playing this power grab over everything in this world. 00:33:18.080 --> 00:33:21.960 You simply want to walk faithful with Jesus and take the steps God gives before you. 00:33:23.100 --> 00:33:27.800 And using whatever God is giving you in order to bless others because your identity is not found in those things. 00:33:29.120 --> 00:33:32.600 Your worth is not, not, not based on those places. 00:33:32.620 --> 00:33:33.020 And so it goes on. 00:33:33.200 --> 00:33:40.240 In verse 14 it says, the Lord said to Abraham, after lot had separated from him, let lift up your eyes and look from the place where 00:33:40.240 --> 00:33:47.560 you are northward and southward, and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. 00:33:48.120 --> 00:33:55.620 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring will also can be counted. 00:33:55.740 --> 00:33:59.330 Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you. 00:33:59.460 --> 00:34:04.210 So Abraham moved his tent, and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron. 00:34:04.500 --> 00:34:06.700 And there he built an altar to worship the Lord. 00:34:08.699 --> 00:34:09.310 And you think about this. 00:34:10.560 --> 00:34:17.639 Hebrew saying, I know no matter what I what land I get and God's promise God's going to deliver and God does, and God reminds him 00:34:17.639 --> 00:34:18.400 that he's going to. 00:34:19.139 --> 00:34:26.260 And Abraham in that place, he's now no longer looking for this world to make me matter or make me feel important, but rather he comes to this place 00:34:26.260 --> 00:34:29.840 of peace and all he does he worships. 00:34:30.900 --> 00:34:31.560 Thank you God. 00:34:33.179 --> 00:34:35.699 Thank you God for what you are going to do. 00:34:36.620 --> 00:34:40.120 Now I just want to walk faithfully in that and the reason for that. 00:34:40.980 --> 00:34:45.500 The Bible told us in the book of Hebrews, Abraham was playing the long game. 00:34:46.300 --> 00:34:47.840 And that's what true wisdom is. 00:34:49.100 --> 00:34:56.159 If you walk wisely in this world, you'll forsake the temporal satisfaction of what life has to offer in order for the greater 00:34:56.159 --> 00:34:57.790 gain from an eternal perspective. 00:34:58.820 --> 00:35:03.480 Abraham knew he was making a decision not just for himself, but for generations to be blessed. 00:35:04.520 --> 00:35:05.920 And so it is for you this morning. 00:35:06.460 --> 00:35:09.280 Like following after Jesus may not be an easy decision. 00:35:09.300 --> 00:35:16.870 You may find yourself in a in a land that's like a desert, and you've got to figure out how God's going to provide, both spiritually and physically speaking, 00:35:17.020 --> 00:35:22.200 when you when you may find yourself isolated because of this identity that makes you different than everyone else around you. 00:35:24.520 --> 00:35:31.040 But rather than compromise, it also becomes a place of great opportunity to show in the midst of a dry land, how God can still provide. 00:35:32.420 --> 00:35:34.800 And for Abraham, Abraham, and Hebrews, chapter 11. 00:35:34.800 --> 00:35:41.800 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance, and he 00:35:41.800 --> 00:35:43.530 went out not knowing where he was going. 00:35:43.740 --> 00:35:50.700 And by faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob's heirs with him. 00:35:50.720 --> 00:35:51.820 For the same promise. 00:35:52.100 --> 00:35:58.020 And look at this, for he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 00:35:59.680 --> 00:36:05.600 What God wants to do is far, far more important than anything I'm going to do in and of themselves. 00:36:06.980 --> 00:36:07.640 But here it is. 00:36:08.960 --> 00:36:10.620 To answer our insecurities. 00:36:12.360 --> 00:36:13.900 To find ourselves filled up. 00:36:15.320 --> 00:36:15.680 Two answers. 00:36:15.860 --> 00:36:16.380 Two ways, right. 00:36:17.150 --> 00:36:18.280 Compromise with the things of the world. 00:36:19.740 --> 00:36:22.270 Or walk in faith in our identity in the Lord. 00:36:22.940 --> 00:36:26.380 It's not to say God's against titles and powers and wealth and beauty. 00:36:26.420 --> 00:36:28.660 God, certainly he made those things. 00:36:29.800 --> 00:36:30.450 But it's about understanding. 00:36:30.660 --> 00:36:33.640 The purpose of those things are to leverage for his glory, not our own. 00:36:34.340 --> 00:36:41.760 But the only way we'll ever leverage them for his glory is to be confident in who 00:36:41.760 --> 00:36:43.180 we are and in him, and the promises he's given to us. 00:36:44.380 --> 00:36:51.480 The deeper I root myself in my identity in Christ, the better the opportunity I have to live faithfully to him 00:36:51.480 --> 00:36:54.920 despite what might be happening happening around me. 00:36:55.000 --> 00:37:00.100 And in so doing, I become a blessing to those around me. 00:37:01.080 --> 00:37:06.280 Jonathan Edwards, when he was 18 years old, in the 18th century, 18 years old. 00:37:06.300 --> 00:37:08.300 He was a famous preacher in the 18th century. 00:37:09.240 --> 00:37:11.820 He at one point he was the president of Princeton University. 00:37:12.920 --> 00:37:14.700 But at 18 years old he wrote a sermon. 00:37:14.720 --> 00:37:18.220 It was called Christian Happiness or Christian Contentment. 00:37:18.940 --> 00:37:19.680 And he said this. 00:37:20.020 --> 00:37:25.740 He said, any Christian who knows Christ and knows he knows Christ, can be happy and content. 00:37:25.880 --> 00:37:27.160 And he gave three reasons why. 00:37:27.160 --> 00:37:27.940 He said. 00:37:27.940 --> 00:37:31.680 Number one, your bad things will turn out for good. 00:37:32.420 --> 00:37:33.160 God promises that. 00:37:33.840 --> 00:37:34.700 Romans 828. 00:37:35.420 --> 00:37:37.200 You're not the exception to that. 00:37:37.320 --> 00:37:40.780 God promises you that all things will work together for good. 00:37:41.040 --> 00:37:46.080 It may not happen at the moment you want it, but God knows every pain that you go through and all things will work together for good. 00:37:46.100 --> 00:37:50.360 Number two, your good things will never be taken away from you. 00:37:50.960 --> 00:37:53.480 Every good thing you have in God is promised and sealed in him. 00:37:53.480 --> 00:37:55.670 Ephesians chapter one, verse three. 00:37:56.480 --> 00:37:59.420 On to verse 14 gives you that the beauty of the declaration of what you have in Christ. 00:38:00.420 --> 00:38:03.980 And then, number three, the best things are always yet to come. 00:38:05.340 --> 00:38:06.860 You cling to the things of this world. 00:38:07.040 --> 00:38:08.040 It's just temporal. 00:38:08.760 --> 00:38:09.980 It's just a facade. 00:38:10.800 --> 00:38:11.960 It's going to pass. 00:38:12.460 --> 00:38:13.560 It will not last. 00:38:13.560 --> 00:38:18.300 And if you find your identity in it, your identity will be in shambles. 00:38:20.080 --> 00:38:21.020 But if you play the long game. 00:38:22.760 --> 00:38:24.500 Foundation and builder who is God. 00:38:25.800 --> 00:38:27.420 He looked for what Christ wants to do. 00:38:27.480 --> 00:38:29.900 What you have in Jesus lasts forever. 00:38:31.100 --> 00:38:37.800 And because of that, no matter what you go through in life, the best in Christ is always yet to come. 00:38:38.680 --> 00:38:44.890 Because that's one of the most encouraging things for me as a as a pastor here at ABC and not even as a pastor, just a person. 00:38:46.360 --> 00:38:49.160 When God's people follow faithfully after Jesus. 00:38:49.980 --> 00:38:52.220 Our best days are always in front of us. 00:38:53.660 --> 00:39:00.820 But it only happens that in our insecurities we do not compromise, but rather we take the step in faith 00:39:01.640 --> 00:39:03.540 and trust in the one who is always faithful.