Sermon by Bob Bradley

Transcription

1 Sermon by Bob Bradley COPYRIGHT 2016 CAMPBELL CHAPEL FREE WILL BAPTIST CHURCH 1709 Campbell Drive * Ironton, OH 45638

2 Remember Lot s wife Discernment Wednesday, November 2, 2016 Bob Bradley Luke 17:32 Remember Lot's wife. That is the Words of Jesus Christ. He has been talking and preaching and teaching about some things that were going to happen in the end time and we are not going to go into all of those things because that is not our thought tonight. The thought is and I want you to keep this in mind remember Lot s wife. Why in the world would Jesus Christ, in the last few days of His life, why would He uses this time to say these three words; Remember Lot s wife. There are many reasons that I think that He did. However, there is a warning here that I think, not only that He was warning the people here in the land of Israel but also, I think there is a warning for us tonight that we need to pay very close attention to. I think we better get it. It is dangerous the direction that we go in life, the direction that we choose in life can be very dangerous. The direction that I choose in life can be very dangerous for my children. It can be very dangerous for my grandchildren. Well, we are going to show you tonight that it is very dangerous. There has been a word on my mind for several weeks and we have been thinking about it that goes along with this. When you read the book of 1 Corinthians 12; you can read this word there. It is a word that is pronounced discernment. The word discern, or discernment means to be able to know, to be able to choose the right path instead of the wrong path, to be able to choose the right direction in life instead of the wrong direction in life, to be able to choose and have the ability to choose the right place and the right decision, and the right things we do. When you read 1 Corinthians 12 that is a gift. That is a gift that God has placed within the church. That is a gift that you and I should be able to exercise. As Christian people, if we are living in the will of God, if we are spending some time in prayer, if we are spending time reading our bibles, meditating and living right and living in the life of obedience then we can discern the right path that we need to go. I want you to keep that in mind tonight. I hope you will think about discernment. I hope you will think about what discernment is and when we make decisions in life. Everyday decisions sometimes we think it doesn t matter but it does matter. Things we do every day, we call routine. However, in reality it is not routine.

3 The reason I am saying all of this is this. Today is almost past. We think when we wake up in the morning that tomorrow is going to be a day just like today. However, we don t know that. We think that. We wake up in the morning and we automatically think it is going to be 63 degrees. The weather man said we are going some showers. I m going to do this or that. It is just going to be another routine day. However, we don t know that at all. We absolutely do not know, if we open our eyes in the morning, we do not know what tomorrow holds. The reason that discernment is so important is because tomorrow is a brand new day, tomorrow is a day that we have never seen before. Tomorrow and the decisions we will need to make tomorrow we have never done before because we have never been there. We have never walked in tomorrow yet. We are walking in today. The decisions we make tomorrow, if there is a tomorrow for us, can have and will have everlasting consequences whether they are good decisions or bad decisions. They both have consequences. The thing is that I hope we are making more good decisions than we are bad decisions. Jesus warns about Remember a man s wife. He even mentions this guy. Abraham, God spoke to him in chapter 12 of Genesis. He told him he needed to leave his country. He needed to get out of where he was at. He lived in Err of the Chaldeans. He lived in a place of heathens. He lived in a place where they worshiped frogs and snakes. He lived in a place of idolatry. Abraham did not know anything about God. Nobody had taught him anything about the God of heaven. Yet the God of heaven spoke to him one day and said you need to leave this place. You need to leave your father s house. You need to leave it all behind. You need to go to a place where I am going to show you. I am going to lead you there. I am going to show you where this place is at. It was up to Abraham on that particular day to discern whether he wanted to do that or whether that was right or wrong. Does everybody agree with that? He got to choose whether he was going to be obedient or not be obedient. He got to choose whether he was going to listen to the voice of God or not listen to the voice of God. He chose that. Anyway, he left. I don t have time to go through that whole but he took somebody with him. He took some of his family with him. We know that his name was lot. We know that this was Abraham s brother s son. We know that Abraham took him. We know that Lot s father died and Abraham took him under his wing. He is going to try to teach him. He is going to try to bring him along. Get this. Sometimes, people don t want to be brought along. Sometimes people, in my family or your family, whosever it is; don t want to be taught. They don t want to go the right direction. They are not going to listen to instruction. It doesn t matter who says it. It doesn t matter where the instruction comes from. They are not going to listen to it.

4 Lot was a fellow a lot like that as he is dealing with Abraham. We know they get to the land of Canaan. They go on towards the south. As you read the story, they come to Bethel. We know that Abraham had a tent. We also know that Abraham had altars. Where Abraham went, not only did he pitch a tent, but he also built an altar. Do you know why he built an altar? He wanted to seek the face of God. First of all, he wanted to worship God, but he wanted to make sure that what he was doing in life was right. He wanted to have communion with God. He wanted for God to participate in his life. We know that even though Abraham had tents and altars; we can read about Lot s tent but do you know what you won t read about? You won t read about him having any altars. The Bible says they go on towards the south. We know they are here for a while and then there is a famine in the land. We know that Abraham decides that he is going to go to Egypt. God did not tell him to go to Egypt. God did not instruct him to go to Egypt. However, Abraham for whatever reason, decides to go. It was a big mistake. We know he gets down towards Egypt. We know that he and Sarah concocts a story and they are going to lie to the people down there and they did. You might say it was a half-truth. Listen. If you don t tell the whole truth then you have lied. We talk about little white lies. We change a this and an and, or of to make it mean something else. You just lied. You can t make it any other way. Abraham just lied. Again, we know that he is the father of faith. We know that God blessed him. We know that through Abraham and his seed we were going to get the Jewish nation, Jesus Christ and the Word of God. We know all of that. However, yet he made a wrong decision. You know the story. Sarah, tell these people that you are my sister. If we tell them you are my wife they are going to kill me and take you. That is what they did. They Bible says that God plagued pharaoh s house. That is in the story. That is the Bible. God plagued pharaoh and his house because of Sarah. He had another man s wife here. Serious thing. Don t you think? Anyway, we know they left. We know that pharaoh comes and says, Hey, why did you lie to me? Why did you say that? Get what you have. Get Sarah and get out of here. We know that they did. We know that they left. The Bible tells us I don t know how long they were in Egypt. That is what I have tried to figure out but I don t know that. I don t how long they spent in Egypt. However, I think they spent a long time down there. I am going to show you in a minute why I think that. They were down there, I think, for a good while, but they left. When they left, the Bible testifies and tells us that Abraham was rich. He had cattle. He had all kinds of men servants and maid servants. Not only that but also, it talks about Lot and his wealth. Do you remember reading that? A few weeks ago we studied about Melchisedec and this is what got me thinking about all of this. However, there came a time when we get to Genesis 13 that there was strife

5 here. There was strife between Abraham s servants and Lot s servants. Lot had a bunch of stuff. Lot had all kinds of livestock and Abraham did too. Abraham said, Hey, I want to tell you something here. We need to sit down and talk lest we have a big falling out or everybody gets in a mess here; we need to divide. You need to go one way and I need to go the other. The Bible tells us here what Lot did. The Bible says here that in verse 10, of chapter 13, of Genesis; the Bible says that Lot lifted up his eyes. Instead of listening to Abraham, instead of letting Abraham say, Lot, you need to go this direction and I will go here. We can divide this land here. You can have this part and I will have this part and everything will be fine. Lot lifted up his eyes. The choice that Lot was going to make was going to be a choice that was going to change his life and the lives of his children and his wife. Not only that but also his descendants forever. That issue is still going on today because Lot made a wrong a choice a long time ago. If we did not have the New Testament of the whole story, when you read the whole story here of Lot in Genesis; we would think that Lot is not going to be in heaven, but he actually is when you read the story in the New Testament. Anyway, we know he made a horrible choice. He lifts up his eyes. He is proud. The Bible tells us in the book of Proverbs, chapter 16, verse 18 that pride goes before destruction. If we get lifted up in pride whether it is me or you it doesn t matter who it is if I get lifted up in pride then the next thing that is going to happen is destruction will come. You see, this is where Lot was at. He was full of pride, I think, when he lifts up his eyes here. The Bible says he looks and he holds the plains of Jordan. He looks over here what he is doing he is looking towards Sodom. He is looking towards a place, when you read the story, is well watered. There are all kinds of grass here. From looking at things get this from a fleshly, carnal, point of view; it would have been a good decision to make. Listen. Not everything that looks good in life is good for you. Just because there was plenty of water here and plenty of grass here it wasn t a place for Lot. It wasn t a place where Lot should have been. It wasn t a place that Lot should have gone. It wasn t a place that Lot should have chosen to go. The reason he goes is because he has no discernment. He doesn t have the ability to choose. Do I need to go here? Or don t I need to go here. You see, he had tents. He had herdsmen. He had wealth. However, there is one thing that his uncle had that he did not have; his uncle had a personal, one on one relationship with the God of heaven. Abraham could speak to God and God would answer him. That is the kind of relationship that we can have today. I know that upsets people when you say that and people say that you have bumped your head. People say that you are crazy. Listen. The God of heaven is real today and He is alive today. He does speak today. When we live as we should live; He will give us the ability to make right decisions in our life. He will give us the ability to choose between what is right and what is wrong. Do you know what happens a lot of times in life? We get in a hurry. We don t want to wait. I know people who wants it right now

6 and it doesn t matter what it is. Whatever it is in life, whatever it is they want they want it right now. They have no patience whatsoever and usually it gets them in trouble. The Bible says here that Lot looks towards Sodom. It was a place, it was a well-watered place. The Bible tells us here get this in verse 10, it says when he sees it, he sees just like the garden of God. When he looks over here at Sodom and he sees the grass and the water; he is thinking, Man this place is absolutely wonderful. How many times in life have we made decisions in life? It looks good. We never consult God, and never listening to God. We make decisions what we are going to do whether it is with jobs, with homes, or whatever it is; we make a decision we are going to do it. It looks good to us. Since it looks good it is going to have to work out. This is what I hear a lot. When people wants to talk about the mistakes and things we have had; I just wanted to do it. I just wanted to do it so I went ahead and did it. Well, there are consequences for that. Lot looked at Sodom like it was the garden of God. It was just like he had in his mind that it was a picture of the Garden of Eden. He looked at the plains. He looked at all the water. He looked at all the grass. This place is just like the garden of God. Get this. This is why I think he was in Egypt for a while. The Bible says Genesis 13:10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Do you know what he is saying? Egypt is a type of world. When you look in the Bible and read the Bible, it portrays, it teaches, it shows us, and it paints a picture of what the world really is to Christian people. The children of Israel were in Egypt and they were in slavery. We know that God brought them out. You and I were in Egypt or we were in slavery one time unto sin and God has brought us out. When he looks at this place, he did not let Abraham choose. He did not let wisdom choose. He did not let wisdom give him some insight. He did not do that. He did not seek the face of God. You will not see here where he asked God what to do. You will not see where he prays. You will not see any of that. He simply looked. He was filled with pride. He was living in the flesh. He looks with his eyes. It looks good. It looks just like the garden of God. It looks just wonderful. It looks just like Egypt. It looks just like where I came from. Do you know what that tells me? He loved Egypt. He wanted to go back there. It was a place he enjoyed being. It is a shame today, when people who say they are saved, loves living in Egypt. They love living in sin. There is something bad wrong. I don t care who it is. When we enjoy living in sin, there is something bad wrong in our relationship with God. We want to say all kinds of things and do all kinds of things. We want to say this or that. God is going to overlook it. Listen. God is not going to overlook sin in your life. He did not overlook

7 sin in Abraham s life. He did not overlook sin in Lot s life. He is not going to overlook sin in my life or in your life. It is not going to get by. You can justify that or try to justify that any way you want but it is not going to work at all. He loved Egypt. He loved the world. He loved being there. His life was full of unbelief. He is living in pride. He likes what he sees. He wasn t living by faith. He was living by sight. He has no discernment. He absolutely has no discernment at all. You might say, Why would you say that? Because of the choice he made. You can tell in people s lives whether they have discernment or not because of the decision they make. If you are spiritual, when you look at people s lives do you know what you can do in your own life? This is a test for you. If you make decisions and they don t work, you can figure out that you have made the wrong decision. If you are very old well it doesn t matter if you are old or not. Everybody sitting here tonight and everybody listening to me tonight have made wrong decisions. We have got our self in a mess. Every one of us has. The reason I know that Lot did not have any discernment at all is that had he checked with the God of heaven he would have found out quickly that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plains are on my list of cities that is going to be destroyed in a very short time. Lot would have known that. Lot would have told him that. God would have revealed that to Lot if he would have asked. There is a lot of destruction, problems and disaster comes in our life that could have been avoided if we would just seek the face of God and if we would have some discernment in our life. If we would live in a way that we could communicate with God and God would communicate with us. When we are making decisions and doing things, it doesn t matter what it is; we can have the ability to choose what is right and what is wrong. I promise you something; if we don t have that you have a 50% shot at getting it right. However there are going to be times in life that we are going to do things that are absolutely going to destroy our families, and going to destroy us. You say, Preacher, you shouldn t talk about that. Listen. There is a warning here. There is a tremendous warning here that we should remember Lot s wife. Had not Lot chose to go to Sodom, his wife would have never turned into a pillar of salt. Amen! All the disaster that happened would not have happened had Lot chose not to go to Sodom. I don t care who you are. Living in the flesh, living a carnal life, living a life where you don t ever seek the face of God, you don t ever pray, you are never obedient in your life; then you are asking for disaster. Disaster will come and will continue to come until we get where we need to be with God. He was worldly. He saw the land just like the land of Egypt. He loved it. He loved Egypt. The children of Israel made the same statement many years later. Would to God we would have stayed in the land of Egypt, Moses. Why didn t you just leave us down there? We love it down there. We had big pots we could eat out of. We had

8 cucumbers, leaks, garlics, and there were all kinds. Why didn t you just leave us down there? You see, sometimes in life when we start making wrong decisions and we continue to make wrong decisions. Life gets more miserable. The separation of families gets wider and wider. Do you know what we say in our minds? I d rather be back there. I wasn t this miserable when I was living in the world. You say, people don t say that. Oh yes they do. When we make wrong decisions that is where we get to in life. We become very miserable. He sees them. He is very worldly. He sees Egypt. It is just a place he liked. It is a place he wanted to be. He might have saw it as a great place; Lot may have. However, God saw it as a very wicked place. We may choose to make decisions and do things in life that we may think is okay. We may think it is just fine and nobody knows. Nobody sees. Nobody was there when I was participating. Nobody was there when I made that decision. There may not have been nobody, man, woman or person there; however, the God of heaven was there. He is the one who has the dial on your life. He is the One who can turn up the heat or turn down the heat in your life. I m going to tell you something. If you are saved and you are rebelling against Him, you are living in sin, and you are not living a life of faith or a life where you are trusting Him; the heat is going to be turned up. It is going to hotter. The correction is going to get more severe. The chastisements, rebukes, and the scourging s are going to get more and more until the time you die or repent and get to where you need to be with God. That is the way it works folks. We wonder why we are miserable. We wonder why all these things happen. We wonder why all this stuff goes on. Things happen in life. Accidents happen. We understand all of that. However, there are many things in life that we bring on ourselves because of how we live and that we have no discernment. We have none whatsoever. When you look at verse 11, in chapter 13; the Bible says Genesis 13:11 Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. Genesis 13:12 Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. The word pitched do you know what it is? It is a word that means he put down roots. It means that it is something that is fixed. It is firm. It is firmly in place. That is what the word pitched means. Lot probably had no idea when he pitched his tent here, when he set up his tent close to Sodom, he probably had no idea that he was going to move into Sodom. That is where he got. That is what one bad decision does. If it is not corrected it leads to another bad decision. It goes on and on. We get our minds in such a place. The

9 enemy starts running laps in our mind. He takes over our thoughts. We get ourselves in a place that we can t have a good thought. We get ourselves in a place in life that we don t even know what to do or which way to go. We don t know what to do. Lot pitched his tent towards Sodom but he did not stop there. As I said, we know that he was very selfish. We know that he was an individual here that was living a life of pride. He wasn t considering anything else. However, as you read fast-forward and I have to hurry along as you fast-forward to chapter 19, something happens. I don t know how long it was from chapter 13 here when Lot pitches his tent towards Sodom until we get to chapter 19 here when something is going to take place. Something is going to change. It is probably was a few years because of what I think is going to happen. The Bible says here Genesis 19:1 And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; Do you remember reading that? If you turn back over here in chapter 18; do you know what you will find out? You will find out that the Lord, the God of heaven and two angels come. They are talking to Abraham here. They told Abraham that they were going to have a son. Sarah was going to have a son and everything was going to be fine. These are old people and we know that Sarah laughed and Abraham didn t figure out how it could be. Anyway, God told Abraham, This is what I am doing down here. We are going over here to Sodom to see what is going on. Their wickedness has come up before me and we are going to go over and deal with that. We are going to destroy the place. Abraham said, Surely not. Do you know what Abraham knew? I ve got family over there. Lot is over there. That is my family over there. Lord, surely you are not going to destroy the place. Surely not. Surely, Lord, you won t destroy the righteous with the wicked. He starts out here and we know that they go through the 50, 30, and 20 and all these different numbers. After a while, the angels leave. They get here to Sodom. Get this. I want you to remember this. Genesis 19:1 And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; That is where business was conducted. That is where the important stayed. That is where the influential people sat at. That is where business was conducted. It is like our Wall Street today. It happened at the gate here and that is where Lot was at. You go on down a few verses, you will find out that Lot had a house in Sodom. He has moved from his tent that was on the outside of Sodom, that was out in the plains that he had just pitched. He firmly set it up there. However, now he is living inside the city. Another horribly bad decision. Would you agree with that? The place was horrible. The place was wicked. The place was filled with immorality.

10 Genesis 19:2 And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. Genesis 19:3 And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. The angels come when you read the story here the come to the house. We know the story. We know that the angels are telling Lot what is going to happen. We know that Lot says come on inside and we will fix something to eat. We can wash your feet and do some other things. They say, We are going to stay in the streets. We know that finally Lot convinced them to come inside. We know that the wickedness and the wicked people of that city came and wanted the angels to come out so that they could have sexual relationships with these men that have come. That is how wicked this place was. We know the angels struck them with blindness and they staggered around. Genesis 19:4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: Genesis 19:5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. Genesis 19:6 And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, Genesis 19:7 And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Genesis 19:8 Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. Genesis 19:9 And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. Genesis 19:10 But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. Genesis 19:11 And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door. The angels said, Lot, let me tell you something, if you have got anybody else in here, your sons and daughters-in-law and some more; you need to get them. You need to talk to them. You need to get out of here because we are going to destroy this place. Do you know what Lot does? He goes. Lot goes out and talks to his sons and daughters-in-law. Do you know what he tells them? You need to get out here. The angels are going to destroy this place because of the wickedness. Do you know what the Bible says when they heard Lot talk? They did not have any confidence in Lot. They treated him as one that was just mocking. They made fun of him actually. They loved it there.

11 Genesis 19:12 And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: Genesis 19:13 For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it. Genesis 19:14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law. They never would have been there probably had not Lot come that way. Had not Lot chose to move into Sodom. Had not Lot chose to live by sight and not by faith. Had Lot chose not to live a life of carnality, a life filled with pride, a life with no discernment; he would not have lost all that he lost. Remember, he was very wealthy. He was very rich. He had family. He had children. He had all this stuff. He had cattle and all this stuff yet he had no discernment. Since he had made the decisions that he made, he was going to lose it all. You might say, Preacher, that won t happen to me. Don t count on it. You may have it in a vault somewhere. You may have it in a bank somewhere but listen. All they have to do, is wake up in the morning and it could happen in the morning. You go down to your bank and it could be locked up. There could be a sign on the door closed until further notice. That is going to happen one of these days very soon, I think. We put a lot of stock in what we think we own. However, it could all be gone just like that. It was for Lot. Genesis 19:15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. Genesis 19:16 And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. Genesis 19:17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. We know he gets up the next morning and he has talked to his family. They are mocking him. They are making fun of him; when you read the story. The angel gets him by the hand and says, Hey, it is time to go. You have to get out of here. Lot leaves with his wife and two daughters and everything else he has he leaves behind. He gets out. They lead him outside the city. The angel says, You guys get out of here. Don t look back. Don t look back. Get out of here and don t look back. We know they left. The angel led them out and we know that they left. Genesis 19:23 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Genesis 19:24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; Genesis 19:25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. Genesis 19:26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

12 Genesis 19:27 And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD: Genesis 19:28 And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. On this morning, the smoke arose from the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and the plains. No doubt, the smoke was bellowing. Probably the noise of thunder and all that was happening do you know what it did? It got Lot s wife s ear. She was probably thinking about her kids and grandkids and all the family that was left behind. She was probably thinking about all the friends maybe she had there. She turns and looks backwards. Do you know what the Bible says happens to her? She became a pillar of salt. Do you remember reading that? I didn t make that up. It is in there. Isn t it sad? It is a sad story. It transpired in a few years. I don t know how many years it took from the time they left. They got to Canaan. They went to Egypt. I don t know how many years. A few years. However, here was a time that he should have been able to rest and relax. Now that is all gone. His wife is gone. He has two daughters left. His wealth is gone. Everything he has is all gone. His wife is a pillar of salt. He goes a little further. Get this. He goes a little further and he gets in a cave. A man that probably had wealth untold. He ends up in a cave. He ends up being drunk. He ends up having sexual relationships with his two daughters. The children that were born out of that relationship became fierce enemies of the children of Israel. You might say. Surely, that s not right. Well, it is right. That is the scripture. That is the Bible. I thank God He put things like that in there for you and me to read because it is a definite warning for you and me. it is a warning in there that the decisions that I make, if there is a tomorrow; the decisions I make tomorrow can either be like Abraham and God will bless him and continue to bless him or we can be like Lot and lose it all. Discernment folks, is everything in life. Making choices means everything in life. Your happiness depends on the choice you make. Your joy depends on the choices you make. Get this. Your success in life as a Christian depends on discernment on the choices that you make. Why that is so important is this. If it had just affected me or you, if it had just affected Lot; it wouldn t be any big deal. However, it didn t just affect him. It affected his sons and his daughters and the grandchildren that probably was there. His wife is gone. Everything he had is gone. Not only that but also, the battle did not stop there. The sin did not stop there. The Ammonites and Moabites were born and they continue to fight to this day, the children of Israel. Your decisions have consequences. We have been praying 7 AM, Noon, and 9 PM. I know it is hard. I understand all of that. I know we get busy. I know that this happens and that happens. I get all of that. I understand that. However, why praying is so important for you and for me is if I have a prayer life, a constant prayer life I m not talking about Now I lay me down to sleep. I m not talking about praying like that. I m

13 talking about getting alone with God and pouring your heart out to God and asking God to show us who we are, where we are going, and what is going on and so forth. Search us, correct us and prune us and get the garbage out of our lives so that we can be good to you, Lord. If we live a life like that and we take this Word and let the Spirit of God take the Word of God and teach us some things we have the guarantee that we talked about the other night, inside of us. That is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God. He will instruct us. He will speak to us. He will give us discernment on decisions we need to make in life. The reason that we make wrong decisions are a lot of reasons. For Christian people is that it may be pride. It may be selfishness. It may be lusts. It may be anger. It may be a lot of different things as the reason we make wrong decisions. What I want us to do tonight is remember this warning. This could be your family or my family. The thing that happened here to Lot can happen to you if we make wrong decisions in life. If we don t choose to live right. If we don t choose to be right. If we don t choose to have an altar somewhere in our life that we go to every day, multiple times every day and seek the face of God then these things can happen to you and me if we choose not to listen to the voice of Almighty God. The question I am going to ask us tonight. Where are we at right now? What is going on in our lives right now? Are we listening to the voice of God? Are we asking God for help, instruction, and for discernment? Are we asking God to direct our lives? Are we just going our own way? I m afraid sometimes, I ll look around at this world do you know what I know? I know this world is going its own way. It is time to repent. It is time to turn around. It is time for this world to seek the face of God. We just have a short time. Come and pray