Genesis - Part 27 | Pastor Paul McGee

In addition to those things, there are other things, Amen,

concerning announcements tonight.

So let me just go over a few of those before we get started to

hear this evening. Minister appreciation for Alex

and Grace and Piper, all right, is going on right now.

This week it goes until Saturday.

If you have any questions concerning that, you can see Jen

Cruise or Re Singer if you have any questions.

Also on the 15th of this month, we did this last year in the

month of April, on the 15th this month, there is a FAC membership

class. You're already a member.

You're already a member if you just come here.

But if you want to be a documented member of something

that's recognized by the government here with the First

Apostolic Church, then there's some criteria and such.

And if you like more information about that, there's a sign up

sheet on the bulletin board if you want to be a part of that.

Again, that's happening on Tuesday the 15th will be like an

hour and a half from 7:00 to 8:30.

And so if that interests you, there were several that went

through it last year and became documented members, so to speak,

of the First Apostolic Church. Also, everybody say Resurrection

Sunday, Yes, April the 20th. Amen.

We'll be here. We'll have one service that

morning and we'll have a good time.

And the Lord, Hallelujah also that this is going to be the

last time that you're sitting in these pews, OK?

They're going to be cut here tomorrow to snatch these things

away. And Brother Alex and I are going

to make a quick trip all right Friday into Texas and come back

home. So with the seats, so all things

probably unloading on Saturday because even if we got in Friday

night, it'd be horribly late. So sometimes Saturday will be

unloading those and setting them where they need to set.

With that, I am going to step into the pastor that I grew up

under most of my years, which was Joe David Sizemore, and talk

a little bit about having cloth instead of wood that you're

sitting on. With that in mind, over the

years there's been a little bit under the everything under the

sun coming to this church. As far As for drinks, I've seen

pop, I've seen coffee, I've seen a little bit of it all.

And so we are going strictly to water.

I don't want anything in this sanctuary but water.

When I was growing up, you didn't get water in the

sanctuary, and so Pastor Seismar always told us no food or drink

in the sanctuary and so on food. I understand you got your real

young kids that we need to keep away from the sloppy stainy

stuff. All right?

Anything that's going to stain, anything that's good, let's

refrain from that. All right?

If we can do so, I appreciate that wholeheartedly and I'll

probably say that over and over. I'll probably sound like a

broken record. My pastor size, my pastor size.

Every time he got up, he talked about no food injury and he

talked about no one going to the bathroom during the preaching.

He said if you need to use the restroom, use the restroom.

Right now. We're about ready to transition

service. He said let's go and go right

now. I'm just telling you what I grew

up on. And so we we have a whole lot

more latitude. I've given a whole lot more

latitude from what I was brought up under, that's for sure, Amen.

But we do need to be mindful of those things.

We're investing money in them, all right?

And they look good. And it several years from now,

them still looking good, all right, Amen.

So let's be mindful of that. And I hope that didn't kill your

spirit, Amen. Let's turn to the Book of

Genesis, Book of Genesis, we're in chapter #13, chapter #13, and

we're starting with verse #5. I'll read a few verses and

you'll be able to be seated. The Bible says with verse 5,

Genesis 13 and Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks and

herds and tents. The land was not able to bear

them, that they might do well together, for their substance

was great, so that they could not do well together.

There was a strife between the herdman of Abrams cattle and the

herdman of Lot's cattle, the Canaanite and the Perazite, the

well there in the land. And Abram said the lot, Let

there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, in between

my herdman and thy herdman, for we be brethren.

Is not the whole land before thee.

Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me.

If that will take the left hand, then I will go to the right.

That will depart to the right hand.

Then I will go to the left for a little while tonight.

I want to teach along this lines.

We only got 2 songs in last week, barely.

We got 2 songs in last week, so my son was teasing me before

church said dad, what if something comes again while

you're trying to do this? I said, I guess we'll just have

to skip it. No, I just took it.

Amen. Want to talk tonight about the

divide between sight and faith? The divide between sight and

faith? What's the New Testament

scripture? I believe in Galatians.

We walk not by. Amen let's pray tonight Father I

love you. I thank you Lord for your

goodness. I thank you Lord Jesus for

meeting us here tonight God we're thankful Lord for the

songs of Zion. God your spirit that we have

filled Lord Jesus here during that we pray that that would

Lord spill on the over Lord into this aspect.

Lord of the service are the reading of the teaching.

Lord Jesus of your word will not fail Lord to thank you God for

what you accomplished through it.

The love, the name of Jesus Christ that we pray, Amen, or if

I say Amen, God bless you may be seated in Jesus name.

So Genesis chapter #13 strongly, strongly emphasizes an idea of

separation. And at first, as we read it, it

seems to be on the surface as a very natural 'cause, right, that

the land cannot support both the herds and the herdsmen of Lot

and that of Abram as well. But I think by the time we

finish chapter #13 we understand that the division between here

was more than just a natural division or because of herds and

such, but there was also a division between those really

that walked by faith and those that walked by sight.

There's more here than just a natural causation of too many

animals on one piece of ground. As a matter of fact, I think

it's a separation of a man, as we looked at in previous weeks,

as a man, Abram, who is on a growth pattern, a growth pattern

in his relationship with God. He has different desires and

different aspirations for his life than his nephew Lot does.

And so for that matter, particularly here with Abraham

or with anybody with your experience and growth and walk

with God. The fact of the matter is this,

maybe not everybody that starts the trip with you will see each

choice and every bend in the road the same as you do, even

your family, right? Because it requires more than

just going to the same places and experiencing some of the

same things for this to happen. We got to be convinced and

convicted personally ourself in our relationship with God.

So there was no riding the coattail of Abram for Lot.

He was going to have to have his own relationship with the Lord.

And so of the things mentioned that Lot also had, the Scripture

tells us in verse #5 that he also had flocks and herds and

tents. But notice among the things that

it stated that Lot had, there was not an altar found among

them. He has similar things as

Abraham, but the altar is not found among them.

Abram built the altar, if you remember, in Genesis 12 and six

at Sycam. And he built an altar between

Bethel and High in verse #8 of Genesis 12.

And then he led the caravan. Memory went down into Egypt

because of the famine. He comes out of that.

He leads the caravan from Egypt back to that in between spot

between Bethel and high. All right.

And so here we are now they're looking at everything they have

their herds, their flocks, their tents and so and so forth.

But what I want to get at is this.

Abram built an altar at these various places.

We don't see any indication, Amen, that Lot did or that among

his stuff per SE, that there was an altar.

And so the fact of the matter is this, we must not just measure

people by their possessions, measure them by their altars.

First Samuel Chapter 9 and verse #2 the Scripture says, and he

1 Samuel 9 · chapter mention

had a son Speaking of Tish, whose name was Saul, a choice

young man and a goodly. And there was not among the

children of Israel a good leader person.

Then he from his shoulders and upward, he was higher than any

of the people. So Saul is quite a straddling,

you know, young man or individual seem like a choice

person, none goodlier than him. He had all of these external

standards, if you will, shoulders, heads above, upward,

higher than anybody else. He was a choice, young good man,

none goodlier, the Scripture says.

Yet despite possessing the throne when he would as king,

and he did, having all the trappings of kingship, and he

did. The Bible describes to us that

Saul lost God's favor because he disobeyed the Lord in a matter

and acted without true worship toward the Lord.

As a matter of fact, we read in Scripture that the only altar

that Saul ever attempted to build, he never finished.

The Bible says I've preached a whole message on this before

about unfinished altars. The first Samuel 1435 says this

in the King James, it says in Saul built an altar into the

Lord. The same was the first altar

that he built into the Lord. Many other translations and you

can read on it as well. Is states it as though he then

first began to build an altar or saw himself began building the

altar, meaning that he began to build 1 but he never completed

the building of one. If I could fit in these words,

laying some of the few first stones.

But Saul, we read in the Scripture, was so hasty to go on

to his victory that he didn't stay really to finish what he

started. And so the first altar that Saul

began to build seemed to be the last altar that he ever

attempted to make. And yet on the other hand, you

take that, you contrast in him against the life of David, who

we know came to be king after Saul, who was a shepherd boy

become king. He is a man that seemed to

prioritize once again this building of an altar.

He even insisted unto those that he bought some land off of where

he was going to build an altar. They want to just give him right

this auction and give him the land.

He said no, I don't want to OfferUp to God something that

doesn't cost me something, right?

And so he wanted it to be costly.

He understood the importance of an altar and so he is willing to

sacrifice whatever he could. So again, we don't necessarily

measure by possessions, measure by altars.

Do they exist in someones life? Have they started and never been

finished in someones life? Or are they costly alters in

someones life? Right.

And so when we recognize these different groups involved in

this part of the land that we're reading about in Genesis chapter

#13 we understand how the land could have easily been over

grace. The Bible says that there's a

lot. He has herds, Abram and herds.

And then the Bible also includes to tell us that the Canaanite

and the parasite were also in the land.

And so if you have all of these people, and if they do have

herds and they're all in the same locality, that Land's going

to become over grazed or there's just not enough grass or there's

not enough vegetation there for all of them to eat.

They can be spread out, maybe get further spread out, but all

of them just localized to the same area.

It's going to be difficult for it not to be over grazed.

Just sheer numbers alone would not allow them to be able to do

that. But then the Bible goes on and

says, it's not just this, but now there's strife that is

starting to occur. Strife is happening between

Abrams herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen.

That's that's coming to the service.

The land could not sustain them collectively, at least they

could not do well together in the same place as they're trying

to jockey or get what my herd should be fed over your herd.

Strife arises in them. And Abram poses the question.

The Lot in verse #9 is not the whole land.

Is not the whole land before thee.

And he basically says separate thyself.

Whole land is out here. I mean, it's not just this acres

right here. We have all of cane in here.

Separate, separate thyself. And so they couldn't benefit

from the same area. This is causing strife among

brethrens. And Abram even pleads, he says,

let let there not be strife among us, for we be brethren.

And the answer, he said least part of the answer to this

overgrazing and even to the strife that's between them, the

answer was separation. And Abram, he's going the extra

mile. And rather than choosing first,

he's saying you choose. If you take the right, I'll go

left. You take the left, I'll go

right, you, you choose. Matter of fact, Abram is not

telling Lot to leave Canaan. He's just saying we can't.

We can't occupy this same space just right here.

He's not saying get out of Canaan.

He never even insinuates that. But we'll soon find out.

And before we're overnight, we'll soon find out that law,

whenever he chose his land, he really resorted to the area that

was at the edge or the border of Canaan.

Abraham didn't push him to that extent.

He chose that extent. And so throughout Scripture we

read often times, whenever strife happens between parties

or or men or whatever it may be, that oftimes separation.

Separation happens as a result of conflict even in the

Scripture between godly men and godly women.

Separation is the answer. It's a step sometimes, Amen.

Sometimes separation that happened in Scripture later

leads to reconciliation. You have the separation of Esau

and Jacob in the younger lives, right?

Jacob goes away for a long period of time, comes back

fearful that his brother might take his life.

But we understand there's a mode of reconciliation happens.

But separation allowed some things to heal, right?

That was between the brothers. Separation was the answer.

But then you have separation that also serves as warnings,

like for Cora and Dathan, the Byram that rebelled against

Moses and Aaron and and the Bible says, he said, separate

yourselves from their tents because the earth's going to

open up and going to swallow those.

And so separation was a means of warning and even judgment.

But there is also separation sometimes that comes alongside

us that's commanded just for spiritual health, right?

We read in Corinthians, the Bible talks to us about be not

unequally yoked with unbelievers, right?

Separation times is a mode of maintaining the holiness of God.

And so it comes in that mode. But we also see, like in the

book of Acts, chapter 15, there's a, there's a disciple by

Acts 15 · chapter mention

the name of John Mark. And here is the apostle Paul and

Barnabas and John Mark, it kind of just jumped the scene one

time on one of their missionary journeys and Barnabas is saying,

why don't we take him again? And Silas, why don't we take him

again? But there was a great

disagreement over taking John Mark.

And the Bible says that Paul separated from John Mark and

Barnabas. And so you have Barnabas and

John Mark going one way, Paul and Silas going another way.

And so it seemed to be a very painful separation.

But as a result of the conflict, that's what happened.

And you know what happened? There was a multiplication then

as a result of that because now you had two missionary parties

that had efforts that were going abroad.

So it's just sometimes the things that happen.

So both Abram and Lot, they could have meaningful lives

right in Canaan, but the fact of the matter is, again, Abram's

not telling Lot where to go. Lot's choosing where he wants to

go. They understand separation is

necessary, but the extent of that separation is really coming

down to the choice of the individual.

When it comes down to Bishop, really we're going to see one

that's going to do a faith walk and one that's doing a site

walk. Continue now in verse #10 of

Genesis 13, the Bible says here it is Lot doing his choice.

And Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan,

that it was well watered everywhere before the Lord

destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. So that's just giving us a

little forecasting of what will happen.

Even as the garden of the Lord. He looked at this.

Even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou

comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the plain

of Jordan. Lot journeyed east, and they

separate themselves, the one from the other.

Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the

cities of the plain and pitched his tent toward Sodom.

But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord

exceedingly. Again, give us a little, if you

will, pulse about the people of Sodom.

So here's Lot, he says, OK, I'll take first choice.

He looks, he looks out and he sees the plain of Jordan.

He says that's well watered. But notice what he likens it to

that's that's like the garden of the Lord and the land of Egypt.

In other words, the plains of Jordan looked like both to him.

And those 2 little phrases indicate really the nature of

Lot's choice. Again, remember from last week

or two weeks ago, it's probable that Lot would not even been

familiar with Egypt had they not went down into Egypt to escape

the famine. You remember that you wouldn't

even have that as a standard of comparison had he not visited

there. So he's just come back from

Egypt with Abram and the others. That land of Egypt, that's a

land of commercial commercialism.

It's materialism. It's it's easy wealth.

And he's saying what I'm seeing right now before me as I'm going

to take a choice. This looks a lot like that

place, but it also looks like the garden of the Lord.

And when you talk about the garden of the Lord, it's talking

about exactly what you're thinking about.

And then all the. Back in the book of Genesis, the

Garden of Eden, yet when you read in Scripture about the

Garden of the Lord or the Garden of Eden, it was always mentioned

in the mode that it is a place of divine fellowship.

That's where Adam walked with God.

You know it and the cool of the day in the garden.

It's a place where there's there's peace, where there's

fellowship with God. Lord says, I see the plains of

Jordan ahead of me. That looks like the garden of

the Lord. That looks like the land of

Egypt. He thought that he was going to

place where he could have both, that he could have his garden of

the Lord desires and his land of Egypt desires wound up into this

plain of Jordan. It looked like both to him

rather than one or the other. He was really competing for not

a either or, but a both. And folks, that starts to show

us a little bit of the heart of the man.

He's one in a place that has a good mix of both, right?

I want to be able to make easy living for myself, advance

myself. I want all the cultural advances

of the city, but I still want fellowship with God.

I want everything to Egypt has to offer, but when I need the

garden. I want it to be available folks,

let me back up and tell you again.

Remember among his possessions the altar wasn't listed huh.

So he's seeking after a place now that has a compromise of the

two. We have an altar less man

searching for a place for a compromise of two worlds hoping

that he can live that line of both Abram the Bible says the

Welton Canaan. He's predominantly and yes, he's

maintaining his nomadic life predominantly during his years

there again, he didn't even New Testament accident.

He didn't have a where he could lay his foot on the, the the

land that he owned ended up being Mac Pilet, the burial site

then of his family. And so he was nomadic and he

journeys, he he journeys throughout the land of Canaan.

The Bible says specifically in verse 11 that lot journeyed E we

looked in previous weeks, this constant East movement after

Eden. They were set outside of the

east of Eden. Cain went to the east of Eden,

Eden so and so forth, but he dwelled lot dwelled specifically

in the cities or in the plains of Jordan.

The Bible says in verse 12, he pitched his tent toward Sodom.

And remember, one of the reasons, remember who this is

back weeks ago. Remember the person who built

the first city that we have here in Scripture was Cain.

He built the first city after he'd already murdered his

brother Abel. Remember after he murdered his

brother Abel, the Spirit of the Lord spoke to him and said the

ground is going to be cursed for your sake in particular in the

tilling of the land. It's not going to yield its

strength to you because of taking you shall be a Vagabond.

You're going to be a nomad in the land.

And so he starts out. He fled from the presence of the

Lord, and he starts out as that, because the ground's not going

to yield its strength to him. Now, like his father who used to

till the land, Adam, it's not going to yield the same strength

to Cain as it did Adam. And so his prophecy was true.

You're going to be a fugitive and a Vagabond in the earth.

But we see them in Genesis chapter #4 What's Cain doing?

He's building the first city, this large or small settlement,

and he named it after his first son.

He named it after Enoch. He had been a wanderer.

There was no place for him to settle.

But now he's built himself a city.

It's almost as though Cain is like God.

You say I'm going to be a wonder in a Vagabond.

I'll show you, I'll make me a settled place, I'll create me a

city here and I'll settle down right here and and I won't

wonder like has been prophesied. I'm going to settle down and I'm

going to build a city. So there's something that's

somehow attached to this idea of the first city.

Then it's in opposition than what God even had in plan for

Cain being a traveler and a nomad.

And so it's in opposition to that.

So Cain would have been a wonder.

And so he establishes the, rather than tilling the ground

because there's a curse upon his life, because he's not right

with God. And so Cain's answer to his

faithlessness, his own faithlessness is I'm, I'm, I'm

going to, I'm going to compromise my dedication here.

I'm going to go more for this worldly aspect, this civilized,

structured aspect. It's not coincidental then that

we see then in Lot now gravitating toward the same

thing. I'm going to go toward a city,

namely Sodom. Kane built the first city.

Abram, what did he leave? He left UR, which was a very

established city. What did Nimrod have to do with

Babel? He was the organizer, the

designer, if you will, of Babel, the city of Babel.

So everybody that's like Abram, the nomadic, Amen.

So and so forth, they all seem to have somewhat of a dim view

toward the civilized life. They were more of the nomads,

remember? He was looking for a city.

Yes, but who, whose builder and maker was God, the Scripture

says. And so Lot is headed toward just

like Cain and Nimrod, they're they're all headed in a bad

direction as we see thus far here in Genesis.

And so there's a couple of phrases that are shared with us

in the book of Genesis that that Lot may have not known at the

time, but he will. And that is that this plain of

Jordan that he has picked that's well watered before the Lord.

That's the way it would be before the Lord destroyed Sodom

and Gomorph, and that the men of Sodom were sinners and wicked

before the Lord exceedingly. That's what the Scripture

conveys to us. I don't know if Lot knew that

for a fact, but he will know them.

And so as a matter of fact, it's those two things that that the

people were wicked and and sinners and that God would

destroy. That gives us idea maybe why

there was destruction that came upon Sodom.

And so we might want to let lot off the hook.

Don't worry about it. You're OK, buddy.

You didn't know that. You didn't know that that they

were wicked and that they were sinners and you didn't know that

you're headed towards a place that's going to be destroyed.

You didn't know all that. But folks sitting in there

somewhere along the way, knowledge had to come to this

man. The more that he got closer to

it, the more that he got engulfed in it, the more that he

exposed himself to it because he starts out pitching his tent

towards Sodom later in chapter 14.

He's going to do well in Sodom. In chapter 19, he's become the

magistrate. He's sitting at the gate of

Sodom even later when the angels come to get him and his family

out of Sodom because indeed, it's going to be destroyed.

The Bible says that while he yet lingered.

So, Jen, I'm just saying if he didn't know, he knew then.

But it seems like his urgency to separate from that isn't a quick

movement or even a movement that he wants to do.

So he's all along resorting to a city.

Just like King Lot has journeyed, though here in

Scripture, and I told you this just a moment ago, he has

journeyed really to the edge of the border of the land of Canaan

as we knew it at this time in Genesis chapter #10 we're going

backwards, the verse #19 and the Bible says, and the border of

the Canaanites was from Sidon as thou comest to Gerard, unto

Gaza, as thou goest unto Sodom and Gomorrah and Adma and

Zeboem, even unto Lasha. So Sodom or the plains of

Jordan, according to the enlistment of Genesis 10, was a

part of the border of the land of Canaan.

I know eventually the Lord wants all the Canaanites driven out of

the land, but I'm asking today, if you had first chance to leave

just to get some more space for grazing, why would you go to the

furthest extent of the land that God had promised you?

What years ago whenever they did all the settlements right, they

had these sections of land going West.

You have all that land and they of course, with purpose, they

pick the edge because others would pick the edge and they

could have community yes, but for cane of them, he's just

saying hey, we just need to get away far enough away from each

other so our herds can the yet lot goes to the very edge of

what God has promised them. Just doesn't make sense.

Verse 11 indicates that Lot chose based again upon what he

saw in verse #10 he separated based on his choice, which is a

pattern that's throughout scripture that starts with Adam

and Eve. Eve separated based upon what

she saw, or she chose based upon what she saw.

She saw the tree that it was good for food, and she made a

choice, and that choice then brought separation.

Separation always follows our choices, whether for good or

whether for worse. Separation follows your choices.

Your choice will cause some type of separation.

It did for Adam and Eve. It did for a lot.

He saw, He chose, He separated. Amen.

Cain in the New Testament scripture, the Bible talks about

his offering that he offered into the Lord.

It was less than satisfactory and he separated.

He made a choice, and then he separated from God's presence.

He saw. He made a choice.

He saw the the the porch, he saw the lentils or the beans that

his brother was making. He says, I want that instead of

my birthright. He despised his birthright.

He made a choice and there was a separation from the blessing and

separation from his brother. The Israelites on the good mode,

or rather the good. The Israelites chose to obey God

and follow Moses. Amen.

And so as a result, they separated from Egypt and they

were separated from their past life.

The 10 spies, 10, the 12 that went into the land of promise,

they saw the land, Amen. And they chose their fear over

faith and as a result, their separation.

Those ten died in the entire generation of those that were 20

years and older died in the wilderness.

Because what you see, you'll make a choice upon, and your

choice will cause a separation. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Oh, no, no, no, bro.

Oh, yes, it does. Amen.

Every day. Every day, especially in the

life of you with the church. The choices you make is causing

separation in your life, for better or for worse.

It's separating you unto the Lord, or it's separating you

from the Lord based upon the choices that you make.

It's the pattern that follows. Orpa chose Moab.

Ruth chose Naomi with Bethlehem, Judah, there's separation and

the separation so vast, one of them later is incorporated in

the genealogy of Jesus Christ. It came down to a choice, came

down to a choice. So we're going to we're going to

for that man, folks, every single one.

Someday, the finality of time when things are all over, we're

going to have separation. Goat sheep.

What the I'm not being, I'm not trying to be mean.

That's that's a New Testament language.

We'll set the goats on this side and the sheep on this side

Tears, wheat, heaven, hell. And you know what these

separations will be based upon even the rich men and Lazarus,

right? He said.

There's a great chasm between us.

What their separation? One chose comfort in his life,

the other was discomfort and couldn't get any comfort.

He said they're separate. What does this all come down to?

Choices. Choices verse #14 we can go on

just a little bit here. The Lord said unto Abram.

After that Lot was separated from him.

Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art

northward and southward, and eastward and westward, for all

the land which thou seest to thee.

Will I give it unto thy seed forever, and I will make thy

seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the

dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.

Arise, walk through the land and the length of it, and the

breadth of it, for I will give it thee unto thee.

Then Abram removed his tent and came and dwell in the plain of

Mary, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the

Lord. Now God gets a little bit more

detailed with Abram here. He's already talked to him about

a great nation. He's already talked to him about

him becoming a blessing. Amen to the people, all right?

He's already said these things, but now the land and people

aspects are a little fuller definition here in Genesis 13,

God had Abraham after law made his choice.

God had Abraham said, now Abraham, right from where you

are, I want you to look basically in every direction of

the compass from where you stood and everything that you can see

from this vantage point. He said, I'm going to give it to

you and your seed forever. Look at verse 14 again.

Please look at that. He said, look from the place

where thou art. Look from the place where thou

art. Do you remember where Abram is?

Go back to the beginning of the chapter.

Remember where he is. He came back from Egypt.

He went back to that in between place between Bethel and AI

where he first built his altar and now God saying, look from

where you're at. Look from the place of your

altar and look all around you. That altar was on Mount Ephraim

between Bethel and Hey I. It was a higher elevation.

Abram could possibly see everything that God had promised

to him in every direction from where he stood.

If I can say like this, God says I can show you everything I

promised to you from your altar. Look right there from where

you're at. I'll show you everything right

from the altar. Because I've learned in my

experience in life that the altar gives us a vantage point

into our promises. Hey, man, there's times.

Oh, Brother Mcgee's lost faith in his promise.

But a good prayer meeting brings back to memory, brings vision,

brings power, brings the possibility, and then rustling

back to my spirit. I can see it clear from the

vantage point of an altar. Not just that, but he said, this

is what I'll give it to you and to your children forever.

Sometimes it takes a good time at an altar that I can even

start envisioning some of the paths of the lives of my

children or at least talk to God about it.

I don't know how many times I've talked about my kids future from

an altar, future promises for them from an altar.

Amen. Now notice, look at verse 16.

Abram hears this along with the fact that I will make thy seed

as the dust of the earth. Remember Sarah's condition or

Sarah, she's barren. She's barren, but he's telling

him this. He's not just saying a great

nation. Now he's getting more and more

detailed. I'll make your seed as the dust

of the earth. Abraham has something to hold on

to right now for sure, more specifically than ever that

she's barren today. But she's not always going to be

barren, huh? My wife's bearing today, but

she's not always going to be barren.

Now look verse 14. Look how it starts.

And the Lord said unto Abram, everybody say the next word

after that Lot was separated from him.

You remember when God spoke to him?

And then God appeared to him, you know, later and now God

speaking to him again. But God didn't speak to the

Lord, didn't speak to him until after everybody say after, after

Lot was separated from him. There are some words that will

not come to you until certain things and people are separated

from you, that may have the wrong influence on you.

Amen. Jacob separated from Esau.

You know what happens. He has a dream at Bethel, a

ladder that reaches into the heavens, angels ascending and

descending. Moses separates from the House

of Pharaoh. He lives 40 years on the

backside of a desert in the wilderness.

And it's there that it receives the call from God to be a

deliverer for the children of Israel.

Gideon the Bible says in Judges he destroyed his father's altar

to bail and then a few verses later this Bible says, and the

spirit of the Lord came upon him.

What are you saying? Some things don't happen till

after the separation. Some things don't happen till

after the separation. So there are some promises here,

Amen. Even more detailed for Abraham,

revelations from God. He said, I'll talk to you.

I'm going to God speaks after law had separated from him.

Because folks, there's some things, let's get real, there's

some things in your life that may be holding your back.

You may not even venture for some of the promises God has for

you with the extra luggage and baggage you don't need right

now. And so he's got to say that's

got to be separated before you accept someone say Amen.

My phone battery's about ready to dead.

That means my time will be, oh, it's up there.

I tried. So Abram has a walk that's by

faith. God says look in every

direction, it's yours. Lot says knew you see it in

Scripture, but he's like, I'll take the plains of Jordan.

God's like with Abraham, I'll give you all this that you can

see more southeast and West. God instructed in Abraham.

What did he instruct do? He says walk, go, walk the

length of it. The breadth, the width of the

land, go walk the distance of this that I'm going to give unto

you. That was a faith walk, folks.

I know it was a literal walk, but it was a faith walk.

It was a walk in reality for the culture of their day.

It was a walk of ownership to Robert Alter.

He said walking around the perimeter of a piece of property

was a common legal ritual in the ancient Near East for taking

final possession. As a matter of fact, what I'm

saying they could have this agreement and everything, but it

wasn't final until the new quote UN quote owner walked the

distance in the perimeter of the land that he was about ready to

received God saying Moses go walk it because this is the this

is the final step for ownership. Walk N walk S walk E walk W

because this is going to be yours.

And so Abram and Lot they both journeyed from their current

location between Bethel remember and high between the House of

God. What means the House of God and

ruined or ruins. The Bible says that lot

journeyed E. Again, I don't want to put a

whole lot much emphasis here, but just enough.

Where they were standing high was on the east.

Bethel was on the West. Lot journeyed E away from

Bethel. Lot journeyed E toward high or

the runious heap or the ruined. Matter of fact, he walked beyond

what was ruined, and he pitched his tent towards Sodom.

The consumed, the scorched, the burnt.

That's what it means. He pitched his tent towards

Sodom. They both departed from the

location of the altar that Abram built.

Abram dwells in Hebrew. Lot pitches his tent over

towards Sodom. Note that whenever Abram left

that place of the altar and he goes to Hebrew and he goes to

the plain of Mamre, do you see what he does?

The Bible says that he builds, he pitches his tent and he

builds yet another altar. He builds another altar.

So this chapter really, if you start at the beginning, it

started with an altar and it ended with an altar, but they

were both altars that Abram built.

Lot pitches his tent towards Sodom, but nothing said now that

he separated from Abraham that he built his own altar.

It just says that he separated and he pitched his tent.

But I guess that's what we grow to expect when we've grown

dependent on others building the altar.

If you don't have their company, you'll remain alterless when no

one else is around. If you've grown dependent on

somebody else, someone say, man. And I remember over the years

and, and it's true, I remember over the years my grandparents

passed away. I remember my dad saying he

noticed a difference whenever his mom died because of those

3:00 early morning prayers that she prayed.

God. Listen folks, don't grow

dependent on other people's altars.

You need to learn to pitch your tent and build an altar where

you live because pre adventure, they go off the scene someday

and then you're left altarless because you never took no

interest on how, how do you how do you do this?

Amen. How do you do this?

So it's more in my opinion, than just a natural separation here

in Genesis 13. It's a separation of two people

that's on two different growth patterns or two different

patterns overall. It's it's the difference between

faith walkers and just site seekers.

Amen. Between Lot and between Abram.

You'll stand with me tonight. I don't want to hold you much

longer. Genesis 13 herdsmen dispute,

yes, but a lot of times in many ways, it's a lesson in choices.

It's a lesson in priorities. It's a lesson in spiritual

vision losses. That that looks like a that land

looks like a good compromise of the two.

That's what I want. I'll choose to walk over there,

but Abraham says I'm going to I'm going to walk by, I'm going

to walk by faith. I'm going to trust God's

provision rather than just what my eyes can see, what what God's

going to do. And we see his life just marked

and demarked by altar after altar after altar.

And Lot will see his life just marked by compromise, by not

choosing to go when he needed to go.

And so both of their paths in essence are then created by

their choices. One will lead to a divine

inheritance. The other will lead.

Of course, we know his he'll lose his wife and his 2 girls

again are going to sleep with him and create the Moabites and

the Ammonites was going to be some big troublemakers for

Israel vast different destinies. And it all comes down to

choosing. But Mason taught it all his

years as a because I heard it from their young people all the

time. Your choices frame your life.

Your choices frame your life. So the question is, are you

building altars and trusting God's promise, or are you

pitching your tents toward the border of what God has for you?

Just trying to get on the edge. Years ago, I read a statement.

I read a book. It was a yes, my statement, Alex

gnawed. I think the solo climber that

that climbs the mountains and stuff without any any ropes or

any anything, just hands right and chalk.

And he said something to to the degree says sometimes you just

got to you just got to push the edge, He said, because it's fun.

Well, I'm just telling you, you're thousands of feet up in

the air and you just want to push the edge because it's fun.

Yeah, I had it here in my notes. I thought I could find it.

He said if you're pushing the edge, this is good too.

He said if you're pushing the edge.

He said eventually you'll find the edge.

What he said was there are some things you got to push that far

because they're that cool. But you know, most of the people

that have been solo climbers that like to push the edge, they

found it. They're no longer alive today.

They're no longer a matter of fact, statistically.

It's just a matter of time for people who practice that before

they do. If you're always looking, have

the choice to try to find the edge of what's godly, but just

on the skirts of being worldly, you'll find the edge and it

won't be near as cool as you thought it was.

We're framed by our choices. It's a faith walk or a sidewalk.

Hallelujah. Let's close our eyes tonight as

we end in prayer. Father, I pray God that you're

able to come in here. I pray, O Lord tonight that

you're able to help us God to be altar builders God in our lives.

Let our life be demarked God by the altars.

The Lord that we build. Help us O God today not to have

an appetite that is Lord a blending, if you will of what we

could Lord get by with that would still yet be Lord

consecrated and godly and to the Lord know help us to walk the

width and the the length and the breadth Lord of the promise God

that you have given to us. Help us to look up and let our

eyes survey the area. Help us the Lord to have a ear

attuned. God that there are some things

that may be brought to our life and spoken into our life.

God after modes of things being separated from us and us

separating from things. God, that gives Lord a fuller

dimension of what you want to do and what you desire to do.

Lord Jesus, in our lives, pray, O God, give us a vantage point,

Lord, of the future, Lord, from the place of where we are, from

places of consecrated altars, Lord, from places where we first

built Lord altars, the Lord and had dedication, Lord Jesus to

you, help us not separate from that.

Remove ourselves from that. Or Lord, have a life that is

undisciplined or no longer practicing that.

I pray, Jesus, we want to be smack dab in the middle of the

promise, God, that you have for us, Lord, and have an irritant

to your voice. God, what you will say, God lead

us, Lord, we will follow. We want to walk by faith and not

by sight or our own desire. In the lovely name of Jesus

Christ, that I pray and the church say Amen, Amen.

Now, since these pews are leaving tomorrow, if you got

stuff in this sanctuary and you set up housekeeping in a mailbox

with things, take it with you, OK, Take it with you.

You might check the little pockets in the back there.

You got candy wrappers in there and trash from whatever.

Take that out of there. Clean that out.

Please don't let that stay in there.

He may get that stuff out of there.

So just clean up your area around there.

Amen. Because these things are, these

things are going to their next.