The Call of the Cave

To have your Bible go and make your way to Genesis chapter 19.

Genesis 19 · chapter mention

Genesis chapter 19, we're going to be picking up in our series

Genesis 19 · chapter mention

answering God's call in verse 30.

Big thanks to Jason who filled in and preached for us on

graduation Sunday, couple Sundays back and special Sunday

with our graduates. And then big thanks to Steven

who preached for me last week and preached Genesis 20.

You know, he told you that I'd be backtracking a little bit for

chapter 19. I just felt like it had been

cruel and unusual punishment to ask him to preach this text that

I'm about to preach. So I'll let him have one a

little bit easier, I think. But yeah, praise God.

You know, one of the things that we're committed to is the word

of God. And, and, and sometimes quite

honestly, you turn to places in the word of God and you look at

God and you're like, do what you know God, You sure that was the

the best thing to include there? But what I love about the Bible

is it just doesn't pull any punches.

But the word of God just tells it to you straight.

The the word of God, all of it is practical and applicable.

Even when sometimes we read it, we're not really sure how to

apply that, what to think of that.

But the Bible says all the things that were written even in

former days were written for our, your and my instruction.

That all of scriptures inspired by God, profitable for teaching,

for correction and training and reproof and righteousness, that

we may be equipped and complete, ready for every good work.

So here we go. One of my favorite books growing

up was The Call of the Wild. Yeah, There's a story about a

dog by the name of Buck. And Buck has a great owner.

The problem is that he gets stolen.

He's sold to work as a sled dog and treated cruelly and has to

fight for his life, learning the law of the tooth and Fang and

the struggle and fight to survive.

And he's worked almost to death. And then eventually he comes

under the ownership of a man by the name of John Thornton.

But the problem is John. He develops a deep devotion to

John, but John is killed. And then eventually the story,

according to the title, is that, but here's the call of the wild,

if you will, in returns to be the leader of the Wolfpack.

And of course, in the book, the call of the wild is seen as a

positive thing, as the the wild is seen as a place of the dog's

natural identity and nature, if you will, and freedom and

happiness. But I want to flip that for the

purposes of our message this morning and say that the wild,

spiritually speaking, we're going to give a different

definition to like this. It's the place, the place of

lawlessness, the place of lostness, the place of death and

destruction. And in that sense, that call of

the wild, if you will, if you think about it that way, the

devil is constantly whispering in your ears and mine the call

of the wild, the call of the place of lawlessness and

lostness and rebellion and death and destruction.

Y'all Lot. His story is the story of a man

who heeded the call of the wild. And more importantly, really not

more importantly, but more specifically, I should say, a

man who heeded the call of what we thought of maybe in the wild,

but really ultimate was the call of The Cave.

So we're just going to read starting first with just verse

30. Listen to this now.

Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two

daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar, so we lived in a

cave with his two daughters. Now remember, God had given both

Abraham and Lot such physical prosperity that at the growth of

their flocks and herds and all their possessions, these two men

were no longer able to live directly among each other for

the fighting that happened among their their staff and their

family and their flocks and their herds.

And so Abram gives Lot first choice of where to relocate.

If you remember in this story. And the issue is, is that Lot

chooses the location of his life based on what looked good in the

eyes of the world. He looked around him and found

the place that he thought would be most economically prosperous.

He looked around and thought, this is where we could flourish.

This is where we could have the good life.

This is where we could get what we want.

This is where things look like that.

The world would say the things we ought to have.

The problem was what looked good on the outside from an earthly

standpoint was rotten to the core on the inside from a

heavenly stamp, and what looked good physically was actually

going to be bankrupt spiritually.

Come to find out, So Lot who sought to be a worldly man winds

up a caveman in verse 30 of chapter 19.

He thought to be a successful worldly man, a successful man in

the eyes of the world, but he ends up a caveman.

Now, of course, not every person that seeks to be successful in

the eyes of the world ends up living in a cave.

All right. But Lot's story is a case in

point of whether it's in this life or the next, of what

happens to a person who loves the world and seeks to gain the

world at the price or to the detriment of their soul.

Let me be more clear with the words of Jesus.

He says this Mark chapter 8, verse 34 through 37 and calling

Mark 8:34–37

the crowd to him with his disciples, He said to them, if

anyone would come after me, Let me just be clear, Jesus saying

if anyone would follow me, if anyone would identify himself or

herself with me, if anyone would call themselves a Christian, let

him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Translation. Let that person say no to them

as their boss, their authority and their way and let them like

I said, not my way, but thy will, thy will be done.

Let that person live like that every day of their life, dying

to their way, their wants, their dreams, their desires, saying

yes to mine, take up his cross and follow me for whoever would

save his life, try to get life themselves forever would save

his life. We'll lose it, but whoever loses

his life for my sake in the gospel, whoever lays down his

life and surrender in submission to me and my gospel, will save

it. For what does it profit a man to

gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

For what can a man give in return for his soul?

Lot ends up living a wasted life y'all, because he's chosen to

love the world. Now remember what the angels had

instructed Lot to do? Remember the angels had come

down and stopped by Abraham and paid him a visit before they got

to Sodom and Gomorrah in order to inspect the sin of the cities

and see if they truly got a failing grade before the

destruction and wrath of God fell.

They stopped by, they talked to Abraham, and before they got to

Lot, and when they got to Lot, they gave Lot the instructions

to flee before the disaster overtook him, but Lot refused.

In verse 19, he gives this reason lest disaster overtake me

and I die. He's afraid.

So Lot ends up asking the angels for a favor.

Hey, I don't want to run to the hills.

Maybe he didn't want to live in the country after being a city

boy for so long. I don't know.

But he says, let me stop in this little little town, small town

of Zoar, which by the way, was also still in the Jordan Valley,

which also is in the area destined for destruction.

But according to the favor, he asked the angels to spare him.

They spared that place and there he went.

But the Bible says he doesn't stay there long.

Why? It doesn't tell us.

We could probably read between the lines.

It could be that the residents of Zoar were unfriendly.

Maybe to Lot, maybe you like look what what happened there.

We don't want coming here. Don't come here.

Or maybe Lot got there and realized, Oh my goodness, the

lifestyle and living I see here is really close to what I saw

there. Surely it's not long before what

happened there happens here. I better get to the heels.

Like the Angel said, we don't know.

But either way, Lot ends up in The Cave, having fled from Zoar.

What we do know is this. In The Cave, Lot is very much

what you might call a shell of a man.

What do you mean Kyle? He's homeless, He's spouseless,

having lost his wife, friendless, scared to death,

living in OK, first thing I want you to write down if you're

taking notes, is this loving the world is a wreck waiting to

happen, loving the world. Now, I don't buy that.

I don't mean the people of the world.

I mean the first John chapter 2 verse 15 do not love the world,

1 John 2:15

the things in the world, because the things of the world are not

the things that the father kind of love the world like the lust

of the eyes, lust of the flesh and sinful desires of life, like

the things of the world that cause and create the curse of

sin that flows all through it. That's what I'm talking about,

not loving the world. Loving the world is a wreck

waiting to happen. And part of the deceptiveness of

loving the world, y'all, is that the looming disaster that comes

when we love the world does not always appear immediate or close

by. It doesn't seem like it's that

dangerous to us so often of loving the world.

It seems like maybe like lot like I got away with it or he

did it for so long. But one day disaster, disaster

did come. Loving the world for a follower

of Christ is not dissimilar from texting and driving, right?

Because if we were to really be honest this morning, most of us

in the room are guilty of it, right?

But here's the deal. Why do we continue to do it?

Because we've done it thus far with no what with no

consequences. So it hadn't hurt anybody,

doesn't appear dangerous. We've kind of gotten comfortable

with it. We think we've gotten good at

it, so we still do it and it doesn't appear deadly to us.

And yet the difference is 2 seconds too long on a text

message can be the difference between what life And when all

the sudden the lifestyle you got comfortable with it did not

appear dangerous and two seconds too long and all the

consequences thereof come crashing down upon you.

This is what it's like for a Christian to choose to love the

world. You might be fine, you might

seem to not hurt anybody, might seem not to be doing any damage

when all the sudden boom, what you didn't expect all of a

sudden comes crashing down. And it's too what it's too.

It's too late. Loving the world often works the

exact same way. Now I want you to listen to the

rest of the text. I assure you were gonna keep it

as PG as possible. Are you ready?

Here we go. And the first born said to the

younger, Our father is old, there's not a man on earth.

I want you to listen to that, not a man on earth to come into

us after the manner of all the earth.

Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we and we will

lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our

father. So they made their father drink

wine that night. And the first born went in and

lay with her father. He did not know when she lay

down or when she arose. The next day the first born said

to the younger, Behold, I lay last night with my father, let

us make him drink wine tonight also.

Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring

from our father. So they made their father drink

wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay

with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she

arose. Thus both the daughters of Lot

became pregnant by their father. The first born bore a son and

called his name Moab. He is the father to the Moabites

to this day. The younger also bore a son and

called his name Ben AMI and he is the father of the Ammonites

to this day. There's a reason why this text

is not in the kids Sunday school curriculum.

It's not going to be in the VBS lessons.

It's not on the Hallmark Channel like Steven said it might be,

and it's certainly not in your family devotional at home.

Just when you thought Lot had hit rock bottom, the bottom

falls out about 40 more floors. And I told you, the Bible

doesn't pull any punches. It tells you to you straight.

There's a commentator of old named Donald Barnhouse who said

this. I've modernized it a bit, but I

agree with him. He says such scenes in the Bible

may make us uncomfortable, but it is far better for us and our

children to learn the facts of life from the Word of God where

sin is condemned, than from The Dirty words written on the walls

of the bathroom stalls or from lewd stories in the halls or on

the playground. And I think he's right.

Love for the world has landed Lot in a cave.

And in this cave, two things are true of Lot right now.

Number one, he's afraid and #2 he's isolated #1 he's afraid and

#2 he's isolated. Ladies and gentlemen, fear and

isolation are a deadly combination.

Fear and isolation both lead to spiritual ruin.

The devil did not lead his temptation strategy in Lot's

life with either 1 He started with something much more subtle,

much more benign, if you will. He started with the

attractiveness of the world. That was his bait.

But buried beneath the bait was the hook of fear and isolation.

The call of the wild was really a call to The Cave, if you will

#2 fear and isolation, if you're taking notes, is the devil's

combination. Fear and isolation is the

devil's combination for him to attempt to do his work in our

lives. You might even call it his

workshop. If the devil can get you in a

place of fear and isolation. You know those movies where the

you know that the scene comes when maybe the person's been

captured and they pull out and unroll all their tools to get

out of them what they want to get out of them?

This is if, if, if the enemy can get you in a place of fear and

isolation. He's got all his tools he can

unravel to do his his worst work in our lives.

If he can get you in a place of fear and isolation, y'all.

This is why our discipleship strategy here at CFBC that we

even kind of refocused as we walk through that process from

gather, grow, give and go. Why?

Why do we have that? That sounds cute, that sounds

cliche, even sounds like it rolls off the tongue in a nice

thing with an acronym. But what in the world is that?

What that is, is a strategy to fight back against the devil's

workshop in our lives. If you've walked into the room,

you've taken the first step of gathering with the body to

worship, praise God. But the next step that we call

you into and we put out is not just to gather, but to grow.

Where? In a small group.

Why? Because there you dodge fear and

isolation. There you can be surrounded by

others to keep you courageous in the good fight of faith.

And there you can be be protected from being alone and

isolated because you know what there's sin in in your life and

mind that grows and can keep growing when there's not others

close enough around us to help keep us accountable and allow us

to see our blind spots. And so this is one of the

reasons why we don't just need to gather, but to grow.

Why? To combat the fear and isolation

that can creep into our lives even as Christ's followers and

obviously giving sacrificially of our lives and going on

mission to fulfill what Christ has commanded us to do.

Let me tell you though, let me let me be real honest, here are

the primary obstacles to you getting into that spot of

growing in a small group. If you're not there, if you're

not there consistently, I can tell you probably the three

reasons if not one or all three are going on in your life,

Number one, you might be lazy. Nobody said I'm into that.

That's OK. But here's the deal.

You either just won't get up on time or you won't stay long

enough. You just won't give two hours.

It's just lazy. The second reason might be

because you're careless or prideful.

In other words, either way, those two things don't sound the

same, but either way ends in the same result.

You just think you don't need it.

Being careless and being prideful, you don't think it,

You don't. You're beyond that.

You don't think you need it. The third one is probably the

most common, and it's actually working against you.

But it's fear. It's fear of walking into a new

room. It's fear of connecting with new

people. It's fear of being known.

You know, let's be honest. It's fear of what if they asked

me to turn to a book in the Bible?

I don't know where it is. It's fear of maybe being asked

to pray out loud when you don't not comfortable doing that.

It's fear maybe of being asked a question you feel like you may

not know the and you know what all that is?

That's a fear that you may be exposed, which is like, who

cares what those people think anyway, by the way?

But we, we know what that fear is like, right?

And guess what? The problem is that fear is not

helping you. That fear is actually

reinforcing what the devil wants in your life, keeping you afraid

and keeping you isolated. The worst thing that could

happen to you is not to walk into a Sunday school classroom

and not be able to find a book in the Bible they ask you to

turn to. The worst thing the devil wants

for you is to stay isolated and afraid.

That's the worst thing that can happen to you.

So your fear he uses to actually reinforce what he wants to

happen in your life. You don't have to live in a cave

physically to live in a cave spiritually.

You follow me, gather, grow, give and go is an anti fear and

isolation effort. Rhythms of life.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me say this, you do not land in a cave

overnight, OK? Another way I want to put it is

you can't wreck a train unless you first build it.

So I want to walk through the train cars that Lot built before

they wrecked you. Follow me.

All right, here we go. Train car wreck #1 Lot ignored

the call of God on his life. Lot ignored the call of God on

his life. Now, don't you remember when Lot

and Abraham set out leaving house, home, country and

kindred? Don't you know Lot knew exactly

what he was joining up for and signing up for.

Abraham had heard the call of God to leave, that God had a

plan for his life. And Lot said, sign me up.

Or Abraham said, hey, you want to join.

Either way, we think that might not have been a good decision.

But whatever it was, Lot knew what he was getting himself

into. And yet there came a time when

physical prosperity caused an issue they could have found a

way to work through. But Lot found an opportunity to

keep pursuing the things of the world, and he stepped away from

where he knew God was working, that he knew the call of God

was, and he went off and struck off on his own.

Lot did not move to Sodom because God called him there.

Lot went to Sodom because he called himself there.

Lot ignored the call of God. This is train car wreck #1 train

car wreck #2 Lot married a product of the culture instead

of Christ. I may be wrong when I get to

heaven, but either way this principle is true.

OK, but I think it's safe to say based on the Bible silence that

Lot probably got his spouse from Sodom and her actions, in light

of what they experienced kind of justify that assumption.

If that's the case, then when Lot was living by ignoring the

call of God, Lot ended up finding someone to do life with.

It was also ignoring the call of God.

And two people ignoring the call of God is worse than one person

ignoring the call of God. You follow me in New Testament

terms. I think it might be safe to say

that Lot married a lost person. I think it's probably safe to

say that Lot did what the New Testament said don't do.

Lot got unequally yoked. Lot joined.

Lot joined his life to someone who didn't know God and didn't

worship God. That's train wreck car #2

listen, there's adults in the room, would tell young people in

the room, boys and girls that are in the room that are not yet

married. No matter what age you are, I

plead with you to not marry somebody that's not running hard

after Jesus. You've got to hit your life to

someone who will run after the Kingdom of God with you, that

knows God and worships God and has made that commitment to

answer the call of God because you will not be able to fully

answer the call of God in your life.

Hitching your wagon to someone who's not going to help you do

that as well #3 train wreck, car #3 is Lot failed to love and

protect his daughters. Do you remember when the angels

had come to inspect the sin of the city and Lot brought them

into his home? Do you remember how the story

went? What happened next?

When nightfall came? The Bible says every man to the

last man gathered at the door, demanding that those two

visitors be put outside so they could fulfill their lust to the

last man. Lot's solution to that was less

than godly. Lot's solution because he wanted

to save face in the prospect of offering hospitality socially

and among his friends and environment and neighbors.

He wanted to save face. And he does something quite

unimaginable. He offers these men outside his

two daughters to have their way with them that day.

Lot taught his daughters the lie that they their purity, their

dignity, their value, and that their very lives were cheap.

They were taught that by their father that day in Sodom, that

they were expendable, that God's plan for their lives was not His

greatest priority, that they could be jeopardized for their

father to save face when confronting his friends.

In other words, Lot's daughters listen to me closely.

They did not believe the lie that they were cheap in The

Cave. They already learned that from

their father in their hometown. Train car wreck #3 is Lot failed

to love and protect his daughters.

Train wreck car #4 is Lot had a problem with alcohol.

Lots daughters. Y'all think about it with me

like this. Lots daughters don't come up

with a solution out of thin air that they just think might work,

that they've never seen their father participate in.

They they operate on what's obvious.

This is a lifestyle habit our father at least now has gotten

into. This will work.

We see him doing this every day. All we got to do is get him to

do it to an extreme and guess what our plan will work.

No one ends up in a cave overnight.

Lots problem with alcohol was the gate that allowed disaster

to walk in as an invited guest. This problem, no one wrecks a

car they don't first build. Why do Lot's daughters do what

they do? Well, you have to remember

during this day and time that for a woman, a married woman,

that childbearing was seen in this culture as the highest

value that woman could participate in bearing children

would have given her the greatest fulfilment and the

greatest purpose or really identity and status in the

culture. And So what they do is if it's

interesting, you look back in the text and the 2 girls say

there's not a man left on the you know what they say literally

the Bible says what the earth that wasn't true. 2 cities had

been wiped out, but there was still men on the earth.

All right, but that's exactly what we do before we act a fool,

you know what we do? We exaggerate the truth in order

to justify the lie we want to believe.

That's what we do. We exaggerate the truth so we

can justify whatever lies we're about to act on in our lives.

So this is what they do. They're under despair and

desperation, which can cause us to do crazy, dangerous things.

They hatch a plan to get pregnant by their father to

getting drunk. You know the rest.

I'd be remiss if I did not make at least a couple statements

right here, but not chase rabbit holes.

But listen to me. So many train wrecks in life are

closely connected to the abuse of alcohol.

So many #2 drunkenness and sexual immorality are very close

friends. Drunkenness and immorality know

each other very, very well. One goes where the other goes

and and watch this. This is most startling,

ironically. How ironic is it that Lot ends

up doing with his own daughters what he had suggested the men of

Sodom do with them in his own drunkenness?

That's what that's what those type decisions will lead you to

do. The girls get pregnant.

Their sons are the origin of two peoples, the Moabites and #2 the

Ammonites. I don't have time to tell you

the trouble. Those two groups of people calls

for the Israelites, but I can just tell you, thousands will

die among the Israelites because of the trouble the Moabites and

Ammonites cause the Israelites. And yet, let me be clear, the

problem with the Moabites and Ammonites wasn't their DNA.

It wasn't their origin, it wasn't their ethnicity.

It was their lack of faith in following God.

In fact, let me just tell you how merciful, how gracious, how

compassionate God is. And if you're wondering if your

life or you come from a mess, it doesn't get messier than this

mess. Amen.

Your situation is not worse than that.

Your origin is not worse than that.

All right, but here's the grace of God, right?

Guess who is going to marry a man by the name of Boaz?

And guess who's going to be the great grandmother of King David,

from whom the king of Kings, the Christ, is going to be born?

Guess who? What's her name?

And she's a what? Praise God, our origin does not

determine our value, but our faith in the Creator, the One

who made us and loves us. That determines not only our

value, but our eternal destiny. Listen, it doesn't matter where

you come from or how you came or where you were conceived.

That has no bearing on God's love for you, your value in the

eyes of your Creator. You've been fearfully and

wonderfully made, and nothing can change that.

No earthly circumstance can change your heavenly value to

your heavenly Father. So you just sometimes need to

not listen to the devil and what he wants to say, or the world's

way of defining what's valuable and what's not #3 if you're

taking notes, is this. Sin that is not abandoned

becomes a downward spiral. We see that in the train that

lot built. Sin that is not abandoned

becomes a downward spiral. You know most Christians do not

intend to end up looking or living anything like Sodom and

Gomorrah. And yet the issue is lots of

Christians try to follow God while living as close as they

possibly can to the world. You know what I'm talking about?

Trying to love God, but also trying to love the world.

They end up identifying with the world as much as they do the

people of God. The lesson from Lot among many,

but one of them is you got to make up your mind, right?

The most miserable people are the half committed to Christ.

It's been said that he who tries to walk down both sides of the

road splits his pants. There's a lot of Christians

walking around with a split in their pants.

No wonder they're miserable. You can't do it.

Another lesson from Lot is you and I do not drift into

godliness. You don't wake up one day and

find yourself more godly. You don't do life and just wind

up in a more sanctified spot. This doesn't happen.

The deal is, if you're not fighting the current of the

world, the call of the wild in your life, then you're drifting.

Last week kids and I and Lauren were at the beach, had a great

time and we're able to relax and I'm sitting in the sand with my

chair and got a fishing rod and I've got one eye on the tip of

that fishing rod and the other eye on my 3 kids.

About every 3 minutes either Lauren or I would have to do

something because of the tide and its effect on my kids

because they'd go out in the water right in front of me.

But guess where they'd end up about 3 minutes later?

Like 50 yards that way. I mean, I even had to throw my

fish in like 50 yards this way. So we would end up right.

And So what I would do is I'd get out of my chair and I would

call to them or Lauren would call their name, instructing

them to exit the tide, exit the pool and the current that they

were oblivious to. They're just having fun.

They're just living life. They're riding waves and

fighting and snorkeling and all the things, right?

They're not even thinking about the pull of the world.

This is the same thing that happens to us in life.

We're not even thinking about, we're just living life.

We're doing what we think we ought to do.

But we if we're not actively fighting the current, guess

what? You look up one day, you don't

even know where you are. You realize you're 100 yards

down the beach, you've lost sight of where you started and

don't even know how you got there because you just weren't

fighting the riptide. The follower of Christ, is an

intentional life of fighting against the call of the wild.

Following Jesus, by definition, is to go against the current.

Let me give you a definition of drifting because you might not

think it's defined this way. You're ready.

Drifting is this. It's not actively seeking to

know God and His Word. Drifting is not rejecting

Christ. Drifting is not actively seeking

wickedness. Drifting is not trying to do

things the opposite of God's way.

Drifting can just go like this. It's not.

It's just when you instead of take your free time or the time

you have and you give it to every other thing in your life

instead of do your spiritual growth, maybe how much do we

turn to Snapchat, TikTok or Instagram or Netflix or YouTube

or video games or practically anything else other than

prioritizing time to know God in his word?

What drifting sounds like is this.

It's when you just don't do a quiet time.

It's when you don't sign up for discipleship opportunities.

It's when you just don't participate in mission

opportunities. And one day you look up and

you're like, man, I've just been living life.

I haven't tried to make any wrong choices, but you're 500

yards down the beach and don't know your way back.

How did I get there? The world's pulling, the world's

calling, and you drift if you don't fight.

Why do we say gather, grow, give and go?

Because it's an anti drift plan. But by the way, if these things

aren't actively happening, if you're not saying, listen, I'm

going to pull myself out of the world, out of my home, out of

where I live, out of my job to be here on Sunday to worship,

guess what you're going to do? If you don't say I'm willing to

be in a small group, held accountable, my blind spot scene

prayers over me, my prayers for people walking in community,

guess what you're going to do? If you don't choose to give of

yourself sacrificially, guess what you're going to do if you

don't choose to go and live on mission, guess what you're going

to do? You don't have to reject the

Bible. You don't have to claim to not

follow Christ to drift. It's just going to happen unless

you're actively fighting. Let me land on some things for

parents. Y'all really try to.

I try to make some things practical for parents along the

way. And if this text is anything, it

is a failure to parent well. So let me just talk to parents.

I don't have time to go into a lot of these things.

Sometimes I think we think Christian parenting is like this

mysterious higher level. Got to have a PhD to do well.

It's just simple stuff. It's just very simple stuff.

But listen to this, fathers. By the way, if none of this

makes sense or you want to know more, reach out to me.

I'm glad to have a conversation. Fathers, we must teach our

daughters how men should treat them, because if you don't teach

them, they're going to learn from the world.

Fathers, you got to teach your sons how to treat women, because

if you don't teach them, they're going to learn from the world #2

Parents must never underestimate the impact of the world upon our

children. Lot could take his daughters out

of Sodom, but the deal was Lot did not do what it took to keep

Sodom out of his daughters. Now we can't control our kids.

We don't make decisions for our kids, but God has called us to

do by his instructions, by the Spirit, what is we are

responsible to do to serve our kids, to best position them to

fight the call of the wild and of the world in their lives,

right. And so here it is the story of

Lot and his family show us that all our decisions are

significant. Let me parents consider how

these decisions, all of them and more that I could name, impact

your kids. Where we live, who we hang out

with, whether we approve the things other people approve of

or not. How we respond to the wickedness

we witness in the world. What we do as a family and what

we don't do. What we watch and what we don't

watch and what we listen to. What we don't listen to.

What our personal priorities are, What we are are committed

to spiritually, what our non negotiables are and on and on.

Our kids are learning every moment of every day from

everything we do. And Lot did not do what he

needed to to protect them from Sodom getting inside of them.

Let me give you 6 basic Christian parenting things guys,

parents, if you'll do these things, listen, there's, there's

so much more to do honestly, but this right, these six things

alone, let me tell you would revolutionize your home if you

stuck to these number one is read God's word with your kids

in your home. Is the word of God heard in your

house? If it's only heard from me or

the pastor, your kids are going to think it's not important

enough to bring home. It's not important enough for me

to take to my new home. The word of God needs to be

heard #2 daily pray over your kids and let me just give you a

instruction on how to do that. When you do that, pray over them

out loud everyday. Find a way to pray out loud over

them, things God would desire for their life.

Pray things like this that the fruit of the Spirit would come

to full fruition in my kids life.

Lovejoy, peace, patience, and on down the line.

Pray that they'd have the courage to follow Christ even

when it's hard. Pray they'd have wisdom from

above. Pray for godly friends and

influences in their life. Pray they'd make godly

decisions. Pray they would have courage and

conviction. Pray that they would find and

hear God's call on their life. Pray the things out loud.

Let me tell you how. How impactful would it be if

they heard God's desires, prayed over them 360 five days a year

for 18 years, For 18 years. You talk about combating the

call of the wild. Come on, just pray over your

kids, the desires of God every day #3 talk to your kids about

the facts of life, and I mean the real facts of life.

I don't have to tell you, do I? You know what I'm talking about,

OK. And I'm telling you, if you

don't start with age, I'm not saying you got to get all the, I

don't know, you got to pull, you don't have to pull the biology

book out, all right. But with age appropriate

concepts, starting at least by the age of seven or eight, your

kids need to be exposed to the age appropriate concepts and

levels of the facts of life. Listen, studies show that if

your kids hear about the facts of life from somebody else

before they hear from you, they believe what they hear from the

other people before and more than they believe you.

Who are they going to hear from first?

Who's going to interpret for them these things and where they

come from and how they're to be used and how they can be

distorted #4 Discipline your kids in love and in truth.

Your kids need your discipline. It provides safeguards for them.

Godly authority in their life #5 Keep your kids connected to the

body of Christ. If you teach your children that

sports are more important than Jesus, they'll believe you.

They'll believe you. If you teach your kids that

making money is more important than Jesus, they're going to

believe you. What are you teaching your kids,

Number six? Know that nothing can overcome

the power of your personal example.

I didn't say you had to be perfect.

I'm just saying you have to live it genuinely and say you're

sorry when you fail. Your kids need to learn how to

say I'm sorry and know how to how to react when you fail when

they fail, because they will too.

Everything we do as parents is shaping kid parents.

Christian parenting is not rocket science.

It is basic daily commitments in the ordinary things of life that

would change, that will change the lives of your kids.

No one wakes up one day and says I want to live in a cave.

That's not how life rolls. And we don't end up in a cave

overnight. And Satan knows not to advertise

the bait with The Cave. No one would bite it.

So he advertises it with the call of the world that leads to

a cave. The question this morning in

your notes there is are you hearing and heeding the upward

call of Christ or the downward call of The Cave?

Our invitation. I want you to picture like this

in our time of response. What if we were all out swimming

and enjoying life and riding the waves and doing all the fun

things? Our heavenly fathers watching

from the beach, We're not paying attention, paying attention to

the tide, the drift, the RIP current, and, and, and if you

were to look up and, and look to the beach, to where your

heavenly Father is looking and identifying where you are and

calling to you and calling your name, what would he ask you to

do? Would you be right there in

front of him, right in his will, fighting against the tide,

living for the glory of Christ, right there in the center of

God's will? Or have you moved down the beach

any distance? Are there any?

Do you need to walk? Do you need to follow His call

to step out of the water and readjust and walk the beach in

repentance back to the place you know Christ would have you be?

Do you need to hear the call of God to be saved and trust Jesus

for the first time? What is it?

Where is it? How is it that God is calling

you to heed His call and calling you to fight the call of the

world? I don't know what that means for

you, but you can step out of your chair just like you'd want

to walk to the beach and say, God, I want to go the direction

that I need you to be back in the middle of your will.

Would you do that? Don't let anything stop you.

The call of the world leads to a cave.

The call of Christ leads to life and life abundantly.

Heavenly Father, I want to pray that we would respond to you

today full of faith, even from a place maybe where we've been

trapped in fear and isolation or disobedience, pulled by the

world. That we'd step out and say,

Lord, take me back to the place of the center of your will.

Make whatever adjustments in my life you need to make.

Have your way. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Would you stand with me? Would you come as I wait for you

and encouragers waiting, or close you come as we sing and

worship together this morning?