Book of Genesis, chapter 13. I want to continue on the creators of your own destiny, facing the crossroads of life. Tonight we'll begin reading with verse 5, which was our subject today. We'll read through verse number 9. And Lot also which went with Abram had flocks and herds and tents, and the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together, for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. There was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle, and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled in the land. And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between thee and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen, for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me. If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. Now let's pray again. Our Father, I want to thank you tonight for the Word of God. Thank you for its instruction and its relativity. I thank you that it can be applied to the given situations of this life, and it is appropriate for every occasion. I thank you that those who lived in days past have given us an example, some for good and some for bad. But even those who made wrong choices and decisions, we can profit from their mistakes. I pray that you'll help us tonight as we face the crossroads of life and the deliverance of this life. I realize that it is our time to live. Let us so live that the generations to come, if Jesus doesn't come, can look back upon us and see us standing at the crossroads Children can look to their parents and know that at those crossroads, we made right choices. Lord, I just pray that You'll help us tonight. If You do not pour out what You've placed within me, I cannot get it. And Lord, I pray that the people will be able to receive it. Lord, I pray that You'll just open our hearts now and teach us the Word. And I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. I want to just take just a few minutes and kind of reset the stage that I did this morning. I told you who Lot was and he was the nephew of Abraham. Because of the death of his father Heron, he had gone to live with Abram. And Abram had been called of God out of Ur of the Chaldees. So he had taken his family as far as Heron under his father Terah. But it was in Heron where Terah died. And then the Lord appeared to him and told him that he must leave and go to a land that he would show him. So he left and Lot went with him as we saw this morning. Now I shared with you basic truths about Lot, that he grew up in a spiritual family, with a spiritual lifestyle. I told you that he lived on the spiritual promises, and he attended the worship services, the house of God as we would call it today, and Bethel symbolizes that. But he grew up knowing about the power of God, but he grew up in a family of which he was a part. He was accepted and approved and belonged. He did not feel like an outsider. He was not an outcast. He was not abused and neither was he misused. Children are not a part, or husband or wife is not a part. But with Lot, he grew up beside Abram. And we saw that in this word for with. That he went along with him as a companion and as an associate in harmony with him, in fellowship with him. And as far as what you see, he lived a very simple life. Now that phrase should not upset us because Romans 16, Verse 19 says to be simple concerning evil. And I told you he lived a sheltered life. That's the symbolism of the tent. The covering and in that tent was peace and harmony. Thank God for a family that within it is peace and harmony. and cooperation and companionship and togetherness. And we saw how Lot had been blessed by God with possessions because he went with Abram. We saw he had a very successful life. He has a protected shelter. He was kept. from the things of the world, like at Sodom. And I close with you today, especially to the children, the young folks, by asking whether or not we were going along and participating, and it was because of conviction, or hearty, or whether or not we were doing it because we were part of a family who did that. Tonight, I want us to pick up our story here in verse number 5. Three things we're going to see. We'll first deal with the substance. He had great substance, the Scripture says. In verse number 6, and then we'll deal with the strife that developed and then the separation, the parting of the ways. But let's deal first of all with the fact that Lot also had great substance. Look at verse 5, and Lot also which went with Abram had flocks and herds and tents. And verse 6, And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together, for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. Now the first thing I want us to consider under the fact that Lot also had great possessions was the little truth that also and there referred to possessors. It says that Lot also owned something, Lot also had something along with Abram. They had both reached a place where both possessed something. This young man growing up in Abram's family had been blessed by God and blessed by Abram and had received things as his own. Maybe gifts. I'm sure that Abraham must have given to Lot many things, many benefits and many blessings God had given to him and he was rich. According to verse number 2, we saw that he had cattle in silver and gold. But it matters not how he accumulated what he had. He had saved and gathered and gained much substance. He had things that belonged to him, like Abram had which belonged to him. Things that he could look at and say, this is mine. He did not look at all the things that Abram had and say, this is yours and yours alone and I have nothing. One of the greatest tragedies in a family is when a young person feels like he doesn't have anything. If my children understand correctly, everything I have is theirs. If anything should happen to Rachel and me, everything goes to them. But I want to thank the Lord for their feeling that many things that they have belong to us and to them, but some things they have as their own. Well, Lot had accumulated great substance, the Scripture says. A little word for substance is a word that means Something or things that go together to make up something. It speaks of what a thing consists of. And it says that he had great wealth and property or whatever the substance is, whatever it's made up of, the things that went together to make him what he had belonged to him. And he saw them as he is. So there came a time when he not only had some things of his own, he had great things. Look what the Scripture said that he had great substance. The word great is the word abundant. It means that he had reached a point, place, and time in his life when he had an abundance of whatever it was he had. Now the little word for great will give us some insight. Because it speaks of having a plenty. But did you know this word can also speak of having a plenty or an abundance not only in quantity or quality, size and age. If I understand, even myself, and I understand young folks growing up in our homes, there is what we call the growing up stages, the growing up development periods, and all of them are different. I like to watch the stages of young folks come along, and I want you to know there are some ages that I wish we could skip if we had it to do over again. I'm sure my parents looked at us and said, my, I wish that boy didn't have to go through 13 again. My, I wish he didn't have to go through 9 or 10 or whatever what age it was, but my stage of development was the slowest. Well here, he reaches a quantity, he reaches a point in place in his life when he is full of age. That he is filled with faith. It means that he has something. He has reached a maturity. But it speaks more than a maturity. It means a love and a sufficiency for whatever it is he's fixing to face. And it carries the idea of having what it takes. to go it on your own. And I will say this to you, a person is not ready to face the future until he has what it takes for him to make it on his own. The tragedy of our day is that we feel like we have more than what we're capable of handling. How many times have we felt we could handle problems, the devil, the world, and it was nothing more than a preconceived concept and a premature idea on our parts. Well here is love. He has reached a point now of having what necessitated his going on his own. And let me say this to you and especially our young folks and mine. There is in the natural development of your life a point that you will reach where it necessitates you moving out on your own. Like I said today, I have mixed emotions about my children. I want you to stay in our home. Then on the other hand, when it does reach the place that you think you're full of age, and you think you're full of all that it takes to handle the future, I want you to get out of my home and go it by yourselves. We can't contain and receive from each other anymore, or the house that they live in, the place that they live in, the land that they live in. They could not contain. They could not receive. And they could not advance anymore. They couldn't go any further than what they were. That's what this word able here means. It means they were unable to make any further progress. Something had happened down at the house. They couldn't add anything to. They couldn't add not one thing more. They couldn't handle any more than what they already had. The place could not bear up. It had become a burden down at the house. It's bad when burdens come. get rid of. It's tough when problems come that weigh you down. The place, the land is being weighed down now because of Abraham and Lot. And Lot's going to have to go out on his own to change this one. He's going to have to go out and face his life, face his responsibility. It's been good, but now the time has come But some problems down at the house developed between Lot and Abram in which Abram and Lot can't give to each other anymore. Something's happening between their herdsmen. Something's happening in their possessions and something's happening in the land where they lived. And it became a very uneasy place. The word here, not able, speaks of unable to ease yourself. There's nothing worse than coming in and can't rest in a household. Mine wouldn't be anything worse than children picking with parents and parents with children to where the man of the house or the woman of the house of the children couldn't come in and ease themselves. Thank God for an atmosphere and a land and a place where you can come in and rest. The things had gotten so bad in the condition down at Abram's house, to where there was uneasiness all the time, and they were unable to handle their situation. And being unable to handle it, it had become unbearable. The land could not receive them, the scripture says. So the place where they were was as far as they could go. Now you must understand that. They'd reached a place. We've had it. Not in anger. We've had it. This is as far as we can go. We can't go any farther. This is it. Something has got to be done. And so this is a place that could not yield any more. It could not receive any more and it could not yield any more. Lot could not receive any more from Abraham. He said this is it. I've got as much as I can handle and the place will not allow me to have any more. Let me say this to you, when it finally does come to place young folks, when down at the house, you're going to create so much disturbance and so many problems on the household and destroy that household and take away its peace and take away its rest because you want to go out on your own and if nothing else can be done about that, that's the time you need to go out on your own. Now I'll get to the amendment about going out on their own and facing crossroads. He hasn't got to it yet, he's just not coming to it. But it necessitates he's going out on his own. If you live long enough, you young folks are going to face the crossroads of life when it's going to be better for you to go on your own. In fact, you're going to have to. You're going to have to. but to question it, what are you going to do when you have to face it alone? What do you do when you face the crossroads and all the decisions you've ever made were made by Abraham and all the possessions you have, but now you have natural problems that have developed and you must make it on your own? This place had gotten to the place to where it couldn't receive anymore and they were unwilling to yield. When Lot was unable to yield to the authority of Abram or when he was unable to yield any longer and give and receive, it created a problem down at the house. So here he is. The truth of the matter is the place got too small for the both of them. Or maybe another way to say it is they got too big for the place. However which way it was, if the place got too small for them or they got too big for the place, it necessitated the departure of them. So here it is, a condition that rendered them unable to stay together. Now they just couldn't stay together any longer. Brings me to this note. Let's mark this down in us. Life has grown up so. and grown so much and received so much that he couldn't stay. That he just couldn't stay any longer. And the simple truth is he's grown more than what others could handle. He just got to the place of where he can't handle it anymore. Able can't handle it anymore. It's unmanageable. It can't be worked out. Now you're facing The future, and he says a lot, it's gonna be time for you to make a choice now. So you see the condition really with them unable to stay together. But number three, the relationship was too precious for them to stay together. Ain't that a strange thing to say? The relationship was too precious for them to stay together. What Abram says to Lot, is we are brethren in verse number 8. He said, let there be no strife between me and you. And He said, we're brethren. We have a relationship together. Verse number 9, He said, separate yourself. You separate to keep from separating us, Abram is saying. Before you tear us apart, before we're torn apart in each other, it has necessitated you're going your way and me going mine. But this is not in a bad sense, this is in a good sense. We'll talk about the bad sense in a little while. But this is in a good sense. This is a natural growth of things. I wish when I was a young man, somebody told me some things I'm telling you today. I wish I hadn't known them. I was not able to face the future. I was not capable of responsibility. I didn't know what it was going to be like. But by the grace of God, I'd have made the biggest mess you ever saw. I took on a wife and a church the same week. And she took on a husband and a pastor's wife, church, and everything. And we both faced the future without mom and daddy in the wound. You don't know the times I wanted to look up and say, One of the greatest days I ever had was when I left home on the good graces of daddy and mother. Well, I was gonna leave. Don't you ever forget it. He was gonna leave on the good graces of daddy and mother. He is. But oh, he had to leave. He said, why did he have to leave? For the benefit of the family. There came a time when he had to leave. The preciousness of the relationship was too great for him to stay no longer. And what this means is he did what he did for the benefit of the place. Abram did what he did, said what he said for the benefit of the place. Nothing else could be done. It had gone as far as it could go. They had received as much as they could receive, contained as much as they could contain, and now for the benefit of the place, and the ties of the place, and the unity of the place, and keeping everything together, they could not, the scripture said, dwell together. Look at that little phrase, they could not dwell together. Two emphases is made here. In verse number six, he said that they might dwell together, but he's speaking that they might not. The word goes back to the not. The Lamb was not able to bear them that they might dwell together. And then he turns right around and said so that they could not dwell together. When everything had been done that there was to be done and nothing else could be done for all concerned, they made a decision for him to leave because it was the only thing to do. So doing something for the benefit of all concerned was what he did. The scripture said they were unable to dwell together. The little word for dwell means to sit down. Here's the idea of living, but it means to ease yourself and continue in a place. As far as the place is concerned, it means to inhabit somewhere, to remain there, and to carry on your lifestyle there. And the word together is the word for unit. It's a word that means a group of people or things considered as one. Lot, as I told you, went along with Abraham. A part of a unit. When God puts together a family, He puts that daddy and mother and young folks together as one unit. I remember the day Rachel said to me, I better come in there for a meeting one time. She said, God showed me I'm as much a part of your evangelism as you are. I said, thank the Lord I knew that, but I sure am glad God showed it to you. We're a unit. When our children were born in our family, they became one with the rest of us. They're as much a part of that unit as we are, as five of us. And if I understand it correctly, there's gonna be a time when that unit is gonna be broken in. And it doesn't have to settle the ties. He discussed apron strings and there's a difference in the two. But it came a time when all of a sudden they weren't working like a unit anymore. All of a sudden Ma needed to go his way. There was no ease left in the unit. There was no cooperation left in the unit. They couldn't participate as a unit anymore and they couldn't sit down together. I'm beginning to understand the further I go, there just comes a time When children grow up, they want to go their own way. They want to do their own things. And the joy of being that unit doesn't carry the joy that it wants to give them. Well, so here it is. They have a problem that's created a break. And here's the idea of united group that's been leaving. To where the interest of one was the interest of all. To where the actions of one was the actions of all. To where the feelings of one and the convictions and opinions of one was convictions and opinions of all. So they got to the place they couldn't sit down together anymore. I believe this much as I am. Television is one of the greatest tools for the spread of the gospel. Because more people will preach on television than any other tool. but it may be the greatest damnable piece of equipment ever created. Did you know it's a lot better than sitting down together anymore? Well the greatest problem a doctor has is when we don't have time for each other. And it got so bad between Lott and Abram that they didn't live as a unit anymore. They got to where they didn't have the same feelings anymore. I appreciate the statement that was said to me by one of my cousins. I may have told you this but I want to tell you again. over at mother's funeral. We were standing over there at the funeral home. And he just made this statement. He said, I can remember back when I was a boy, we all farmed together. And he said, when we farmed together, we all did the same thing together. He said, we didn't work at different jobs. He said, one of us can get up and go one way, another can get up and go another direction. He said, we all did the same thing. And he said, we got along better by all of us doing the same thing than we do now. Boy, I clicked something inside me. You know what our problem today is? As you young folks start growing up in our homes, if you don't watch it, the unit can be torn apart before God's ready for it to be torn apart. Some problems can come back to house that are not natural. They can become abnormal and destroy the convictions and destroy the unit and destroy the feelings to where we don't get together as one anymore. Now, our schools, our jobs, Our activities. Young folks get involved in so many things they don't want their parents involved in. And the same with the parent things that the parents are involved in. They don't want the kids involved in. The kids don't want to get involved in what the parents are. Now everyone wants to go their own way. Now you can tear up that family unit and destroy that family unit before it's supposed to be torn apart. If God tears it apart, he's going to make it better after it's over than it was while it was there. Or it's good. Like I said, it can't make it any better. It doesn't have to be a unit. but they'll have a unit of their own. But here's some problems developed and were created. in which they can't join together anymore. Locke and Abram can't sit down together anymore and be at ease in each other's presence. They've got problems that have been created on both of them and they could not indulge anymore in each other's lives and they couldn't take it anymore and they couldn't ease themselves. It said they could not live together anymore. Now what does that teach us? That teaches us this little simple truth. to me and that is there's a natural growth, there's a time, there's a point when young people have to go out on their own. I want that to be true. I remember when Cindy was born, since she was our first born, I carried that little thing around, five pounds and one ounce is all she weighed when she was born. I used to carry around right in my hand and hold her little chin right over that hand and I was almost afraid to move with her and lay her up on the pillow and we'd sit down and look at her and hold her little hands and mine was a little toy doll and I was almost afraid to touch her but I'd take her and put her on my shoulder and take her to church and if I had a little bundle right up there I'd hold it up there. She'd get a little older and I'd look at her and say, I wish you'd stay like that. I wish you'd stay like that. and come right in behind her. No, if she did, there'd be something wrong with her. But you don't know how I wanted her to stay like she was. But under the natural development, there's going to come a time that she and David and Suzanne must go out on their own and face their own world. But I want to say something else. Beware young folks of premature and immature conditions that give rise to actions which place upon you what you call the responsibilities before you're ready. Which is just simply to say this, you're going to reach an age when you become a teenager to where you want to go it on your own. You're going to reach an age somewhere in those teens where you feel like daddy and mama don't know anything and you know everything. You're going to feel like you're bigger than your riches. Nobody can tell you what to do. I can handle this thing myself. I want you to know I'm as big as daddy is and I'm as big as my mama and I can do anything I want to. I can take on life. I can whip them all. I can get me a job. I'll make me some money. You better watch those premature and immature thoughts that you've got. You can't handle anything, sir. As if you think you can handle it, you can't handle it. This was Lot's problem. He thought he could handle it when the time came and proved he couldn't handle it. Only when you realize you can't handle it and God's got to handle it for you or you don't know what to do when the crossroads come. But do you see what I'm saying? Do you understand what I'm saying? Watch those premature development periods. Watch those natural growth periods when you want to stand in daddy or momma's shoes and feel as big as they do. You know, I don't know when all that starts. I really don't. I can remember when I was a child getting in daddy's shoes. And I used to stand in mama's shoes, old high heels. I won't forget that stupidest thing I ever done in my life. But I'd stand in those, and I remember raising my chest back like this. I really thought I was big as they were. I used to go in and say, mama, you didn't know this, did you? Let me tell you something. It was a strange age in which we lived. I can tell you what my sister said. My sister told me about this girl that was the age, teenager, to where her mother came in and said, now, honey, it's time I told you about the birds and the bees. She said, fine, Mom, what you want to know? I'll be glad to tell you anything about it you want to know. There's a lot of truth in that. Young folks today know more than I ever knew when we got married. And remember what I'm saying, beware. You need to learn the difference between natural processes of growth his eyes. Watch those fields that look green. Watch the opportunities of the future and watch those imaginations that run wild on you and watch those thoughts that you have that come with natural processes. There's nothing wrong, especially if you're one of them boys. There's nothing wrong with you feeling sometime in your life when you can take on the world. There's nothing wrong with you feeling like, I want to be the authority. I want to make the decision. There's nothing wrong with that. That's a natural process, but you can misuse it before it's time and create problems down at the house and step out into periods of time and leave home and create a hell on yourself. All because of premature and immature thoughts and dispositions. I pray the Lord that when the time does come for David to go out on his own, he'll want to go, but he'll handle what he's facing. And now look with me, I want you to see the strife that developed. I wish the substance was the only problem. Don't you wish that the natural process was the only problem? Don't you wish they reached a place and time where they couldn't receive anymore and didn't have any trouble? But trouble is fixing to happen down at the place. Look with me if you would, back at our scripture. In verse number 7 we said there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle and the Canaanite and the Parasite dwelled in the land. Now here strife is seen first between the herdsmen of Abram and the herdsmen of Lot. Now probably these herdsmen, part of them, were part of the family. We know they were servants, but probably the servants were made up of members of the family. When it says there was strife between them, three words define the word strike versus the word controversy. Controversies develop and by that it means arguments because of differences of opinion. Arguments that arise in which they debate and dispute. Controversies may be Here's the herdman of Abrams. The lamb can't receive them and they can't receive anymore. Lot's herdman say, where are we going to feed our herds? Abrams say, where are we going to feed our herds? And Lot says one thing, and Abram says another. So then there's contention between the two of them, and they begin to argue. A controversy sets in between the herdsmen. Maybe it's over authority, and they begin to say, well, who am I going to listen to? Who's the boss in this thing? Who tells me what to do? Who am I going to listen to? Who has the right to tell us Where to go with our herds? Who has the right to tell us what to do with our herds? Why am I subject to Abram when these possessions belong to Lot? I can hear Lot's herdmen begin to speak among themselves and discuss among themselves, is not this Lot's possession? Why must I be subject to Abram? The truth was, Abram was the head of the clan and the head of the family. And as long as Lot was there, all that Lot had was subject to Abram. That's the way it is around our house. As long as Cindy and David and Susanne are in our household, they have what they have is theirs, but it is subject to the head of the house. Now that may come a day. But I want to tell them tonight, and I think they know that, that's not up for debate. And they don't need to dispute that one. They have things that's theirs. And when they do come along and move out on their own, we're going to give them some more things. I mean we're going to give them some things, they're going to give them more. They give them more to get rid of, but we have them while we have them. And we don't want to get rid of them. Thank God I'm glad they're there. I want to keep them there. I want to say this to you. Hey, there's some problems. They begin to argue over differences of opinion. Let me say it again. Watch those premature periods of development when you want to argue with your parents. Don't any of you young folks ever, ever argue with your parents. Don't you ever speak back to your parents. I tell you, if one of my kids talked back to me, I'm taking him to the bedroom right then. And we're going to have us a confrontation. And it won't be a controversy either. There won't be any arguing because it takes two sides to argue. I want to say this to you young folks, every one of you, mine and yours too. Don't you ever lay your tongue on your parents. You have no right. to try to say what you have is yours, what you do is yours, and where you go is yours, as long as you're with them, they make that choice and decision, and it's not up for debate. Well, I'm saying to you, you can sure create problems in the place and take away the liberty and the freedom and the ease of the place, and create such problems of where they might be abiding on the way. Hey, Abram's not created. He's not created the problem. He recognizes one. But now problems are beginning among the herdsmen. Why can't I do this with my herd? Why can't I take my herd and take it where I want to? It's mine. And if it's mine, I've got the responsibility to exercise authority over it. Can you see the problem that's beginning to vicar in among the herdsmen? They've been getting along so good. Been going to the house of God. Knew the power of God. And I will say this. This is not ungodly folks. This is God's family. This can happen in the best of families. This is not those that are out in the world walking in the ways of the world. This is those who are trying to live according to the promises and the statutes of God and do what God wants done. And here a problem, a controversy arises. Among the descendants are the servants. Boy, all of a sudden, here they are among themselves. Disputing. Disputing. Riots. Who does this? Where does this herd belong to? Who does this herd belong to? And then they started contending, which is the second definition of the same word. They got to contending with each other. And that word contending means struggling, wrestling. They got almost to the place They're herding it where they want to battle each other. When they got to the place to where they want to combat each other, they got to contending among themselves. And the third word means chiding. Oh, they started chiding among themselves. And the word chide is the word it means to blame, to find fault with. One of the worst things in the world is when down at the house we begin to find fault with the other family members. And it comes over a clash of opinions. Disagreement of opinions. Well, here Lot's herdsmen and Abram's herdsmen start finding fault with each other and the word tshai means scolding. It means to become irritable and cross. That just simply means expressing. Your feelings, anger, being angry, and taking it out on the subject. Taking it out on the person. Well, here the herdsmen were. They began to fuss among themselves. Blame each other. Find fault with each other. And tear each other apart. And they began to argue and dispute. Can't you see this? Man, I can see this. Strife begins to develop. Everything sounded good. They've got substance. They've got plenty. But now, over what they have, and over sometimes what we think we have, we want to debate with the other family members. Or we want to debate with others. Well, here Lot and Abram are facing a problem. Now look with me again at what Abram said to Lot in verse number 8. Lot, let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee. The phrase, Abram said the lot. You know what that word means? That meant that the two of them had a personal conference. Oh God, bring back the name. A personal conference is with family members. When a son or daughter will go down and talk it over with the parents. The parents will talk it over with the young folks. If we shut each other out of each other's lives, a controversy could come to split us up. Do you hear what he said? Don't let there be strife between you and me. He said these herdsmen may argue, and they may debate, and they may fuss, but I want to have a personal relationship with you, and we're brethren, we're close. Let's sit down and talk about this." And he said, don't let it get in between you and me no matter what others are doing. He says, we're brethren and that's an appeal for personal relationships. So he has personal conference with the relatives and he said, I won't talk to you a lot. He realizes the problem but he said, don't let there be any strife between us. And this strife here is the word for quarreling. He's using a word that means to have an angry dispute or such a disagreement where it breaks off friendly relationships. He said, don't let there come that place in time between us. He said, let's stay together over this thing. And like I said, everything was good up to this time. This is not a disobedient young man. This is not a man who has substance that he's not supposed to have. This is a man who has the blessings of God. This is a man that God has blessed because of Abram. This is a man that's been in the house of God, knows about the power of God. This is a man just leaves the place and time in his life when he had to go out on his own. And Abram is pleading for him to keep the time. No, I do that, I don't do that with my children. When you do reach the age that you go out on your own, and you're with your own, don't let there be a break off between the two of us. Don't let there be a break off between the two of us, let's keep that thing there. And I know that has to work on both sides, not just on one. This word strife applies to a fight in words. an angry disagreement or dispute soon over with, it subsides as rapidly as it blew up. Or it could have gotten to where it's a fist fight or even a severing of relationships. And so what he says is, he says, now don't let that happen to us. He says, don't let that occur. Let's note something else here. There are many struggles of a young man as he reaches the breakaway age. And he will be reached. There are many struggles that he has. There are many problems that he has. And one of them is the clash over authority as his manhood develops. When his manhood is reached, there is a natural inclination in that young man to be the boss. to control something, to tell what to do. There's a natural inclination in him to take on responsibility. But don't confuse that. Don't confuse that. That is a natural development. That means it's time for you, when you've reached a point to where you can handle it, to go out and exercise it on your own. But don't tear down the man that you call your daddy and try to take his authority and use of his authority. The greatest thing people can do is a dad and a young man getting together and the daddy telling him, son, don't argue with me, you got authority, you're going to exercise it, you're going to have the same chances that I've had, and you want to be boss over a unit, if you want to call it boss, I'm not a boss, but you want to be head of a unit, I want you to know who you're going to be. Well, these days he's going to have to face the whole business on his own. He's going to have to go out on his own. And so these may be normal times or abnormal depending on the purpose behind the struggling. If the struggle was a blow up and they get out on their own, they got out on their own, not subject to the laws of God and the blessings of God and the things of the Lord. And that young man reaches a place where he wants to stretch his wings. I understand that. I remember that in my life. Where he searches on authority. He can be his own man, live his own life, make his own choices and decisions. I understand all those things. Because I was a boy one time myself. It's hard to remember that, but I was. My strife develops. That's because of it. Separation was inevitable to keep from severing the relationship. That's what I told you. To keep from breaking it off, separation was necessary. Verse number 9 said, Separate thyself from me, I pray thee. Alright, separation may come because it's time for you to go out on his own. That's what he is, what's here. And I mentioned this this morning. There may come a time when it's time for my children to marry. There may come a time when they reach adulthood. They just want to go out on their own. I'm going to try to recognize that day. And I'm also going to try to see if I can discern it up to put my blessings on that. You understand what I'm saying? I don't think my mama ever thought I was old enough to do anything. She kept telling me how to wear my glockenspiel, how to take my umbrella, and tell me how to drive a car, and tell me how to do everything. I don't know that she ever thought I grew up enough to face anything. I hope, I hope in some way or the other. Somewhere along the way. When it does come time for them to go out on their own, I hope it's a natural going out. But I know this, that sometimes it's natural, sometimes it's abnormal. Some go out with the blessings, some don't. Some keep the relationship and adjust to them, and some don't. But what do you do when they go out? When we do get to it somewhere, everyone did, to get to Abraham. You remember, Abraham had to face the same crossroads when Lot left, as Lot had to face himself. He left, and then they were left alone. What do you do when your children all leave home and there's nobody left there but your mama? I'm not going to tell you. I'll wait until that sermon comes around. I'll wait until that time. But I don't know. Here was a separation that was inevitable. It couldn't be stopped. It couldn't be helped. It couldn't be changed. Because it was normal. And the reason for the separation You see their substance, but now their strife begins to develop. And so the separation should be carefully evaluated before disembarking on a new life. And we're going to get down to the last truth tonight, and that's love breaks the crossroads. Let me say this to you again. Young folks, be sure and evaluate who you are, what you are, where you are in your own development. before you disembark on any journey of life. You need to see what's ahead of you. You need to know where you are. And it was time for Lot to leave. Remember this, and I'm going to share with you the last thing. He had the approval of Abraham, and he had self-approval. He considered the best thing for himself. Abram considered it the best thing for himself and their relationship and their fellowship was not broken. My children do receive, they go out on their own. I'm going to tell them, hey, the door is always open to you. but not to leave your mate. And don't you come home to me. Now I'm coming home to mama and daddy and they're going to take care of me now. Now get out there and take care of yourself. You got a wife, take care of her. You got a husband, let him take care of you. Amen. Just comes the time. The time's come for love. Here he is now. Here he is. Time's cut. Last thing I want to share with you tonight. Lot reached the crossroads of life. And what do you do when you reach them? Let's look at verse number nine. Is not the whole land before thee? Now here, Abram's talking to Lot. Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me. Thou wilt take the left hand, and I will go to the right. Or thou depart to the right hand, and I will go to the left. Three things. Number one, the whole land was before him. This little word for land is the same word that I mentioned a while ago. It means the whole world, whole earth, whole place, the whole region. And the word whole means all of it, both good and bad. And I say this to you young folks today with a blessing of God. A world lies before you that has the greatest potentials that you've ever seen. You've got the whole world lying before you. The only problem is you've got the good and the bad. You've got it both. When you face the future and you face your opportunities, you remember this, you've got them all. When you get out on your own, what you make out of yourself will be determined by the choices and decisions that you make. When you're out on your own and you face it like the lot faced it, you face the whole world. But I'm glad to say that God let us be born on this earth, in this world, in this nation, the United States of America. What a blessing you have tonight. But you've got it all. What you make out of yourself and what you become in this lifetime will be determined at the crossroads of life. You'll face them. You'll face some when you graduate from high school. You'll face some when you're old enough, young man or young lady, and go out and face the world on your own. You'll have a crossroads and a choice and decision you make there. will determine your destiny. You're creators of your own destiny. That's the reason for the title of this sermon. Two, he didn't have but two ways to go. First, the whole world, the whole land was before him. Number two, he didn't have but two ways to go. Abram said go with the left hand or go with the right. And there's not but two ways for you to go. You need to go God's way or your way. That's the two ways. You're either going to do what God wants you to do at the crossroads or do what you want to do. And whatever you decide at the crossroads of life will determine the course that you take. All right, number three, which is to me a very precious truth. He had the freedom to choose his own course. When you go your own way, that's the time mom and daddy can't make another decision for you. You go make it. God didn't make you a robot. He's not going to reach down with His winding stem and make you make the right choice. You're going to have to make the choice yourself. You've got a freedom. Thank God for the freedom to choose. Adam had a choice. He could either choose to obey God and not eat of the tree or eat of the tree. You've got a choice. You don't have to live for God. You don't have to live by God's Word or God's standard. If you don't want to, you don't have to. And when you get on your own, you may be just like Lot. You say, what'd Lot do? Well, Lot stood at the doorway of opportunity. Here he stands. And while he stands, he stands facing a door that is wide open to him. And you imagine his feelings when he looked out on the well-watered plains of the Jordan, when he looked out on the world, and for the first time in his life, he was free to do as he chose. I wonder how he felt that day emotionally. I wonder how he felt in his mind. I wonder how many daydreams he'd ever had of this day. I wonder how many times he'd secretly wished, boy, I'd like to be half of under Abram's authority. I sure wish he didn't have anybody tell me what to do. Probably he built castles, imaginary futures, and he imagined having great, great, great possessions, even greater than what he had, and accomplishing great feats. But how many times he felt, well, if I could just be free. Now he looks up, faces the well-watered plains, and Abram says, there it is, Lot, the whole thing, just choose it. Whichever way you want to go, whatever you're going to be, wherever you're going to go now, son, it's left up to you. There just comes a time, folks, when that's the way it is. There just comes a time when you face your own future, what you're going to become. What you're going to do, you're going to face a crossroads as a young person when you become mature enough to face life and take it on. So love is fixing to take it on. And I ask a question as I see Him standing at the doorway of opportunity. And the question is who or what will He guide Him? Will the Lord guide Him? What will guide him? Will he be able to evaluate properly? Has he learned enough to know how to face the future? Did he learn his lessons that Abram taught him? Did he learn from his counseling period? with this great man of God. Did he learn at the altar of God when Abram went there? Did he learn at the house of God? Did he learn when the power of God fell? Does he have enough in him? Has he received enough? I know a substance he has, possessions he has, but has he received enough? Has his thinking just been done for him to a degree? And has he himself ignored all the instructions and has he not learned how to think as well as what to think? What's going to be the situation? Who is he going to listen to when he comes to the crossroads? And he's here now and being at the crossroads. And now to separate himself. What about it, Lot? Now what did separation mean to Lot? Separation to Abraham meant an opportunity to serve God, but to Lot, it meant an altogether different thing. It meant an opportunity to be worldly, to give himself to the world. You'll see that. Therefore, we conclude, if you live with a secret desire to be free from authority, to be free from going to the house of God, If you live with a secret desire that someday you'll get out on your own and if you ever do, nobody's going to tell you what to do. Not even God. Young person, you're going to have that opportunity. Someday your dream will become a reality. I just pray God that it doesn't become a nightmare. Listen, every young person has the greatest opportunity that the world has ever known in this hour. But what we do with it, what we do with it, and how we evaluate it when the time comes, and which way we go, may be determined by our understanding of what we've learned under the power of God. What did you do? What did Abram do? I remember what I'm fixing to tell you. He didn't do. He didn't do. He said, well, it didn't make any difference. I'm going to say this later when we get to Lot's decision. He hasn't made a decision yet. He hasn't even made it. Don't you ever forget it when we get to it. He chooses to go his own way. And he chose it for what he thought was the best way, but it was worldly. Totally worldly. Everything he did was worldly. He looked at the world and decided to go the ways of the world. But he established his family among the sinners and the world. Lost his two daughters when the fire of God fell. Offered his two daughters to be raped by the city. Lost his wife when she turned to a pillar of salt. and lost his decency when he committed fornication or adultery with his two daughters and produced two of the wickedest and most vile nations, the Moabites and the Ammonites that's ever been, all because he didn't do right at the crossroads. Like I said, I'll deal with that detail later, but what I'm saying to you is don't minimize the choice and decision you make. the way of life, the principles of life. If there is inside of you a secret desire of self-assertiveness, if I can just get to the place where I can say what to do, if I can ever get to the place where I can say where to go, if I can ever reach the place I can say what to do with my possession, then I'll do what I want to do. But you may create your own destiny. That means the end. When I was a young person, I wouldn't care. I never thought about men. The older I get, the more I realize there comes a day in your life when you wish you'd chosen the right way. You're thankful to God when you've chosen something. And I have been at some crossroads in life and chosen the wrong way. And I have been at some crossroads where God had to shut the door on that whirly way. Whirly way of doing things. I look back, I never would have gotten saved if God hadn't shut some door for me. I'd have taken the wrong road. I'd have taken the education route, the world's education. I had many opportunities in the world of planning to go that direction. And God just had to shut that door down. He just had to shut that way down. So what do you do when you face the crossroads of life? There are many things that I can say in this here, but I can only say one tonight. I only give you one truth. We'll deal with the decision of Lot and the decision of Abraham later. We'll show you what they did, we'll show you how they evaluated, we'll show you what their desire was and what their decision was, and then how they carried that thing out. But as best I can understand, what should be done when you come to the crossroads of life, by studying these men and other verses of Scripture, the key to it is Proverbs 3.6. Proverbs 3.6 says, and He shall direct thy paths. That little word for acknowledge means to recognize the authority or the claims of someone over you. When Lot came to the crossroads, he does not look up, he does not ask God, he does not pray to God, he does everything he does selfishly. He finally reaches a place to where he's going to do it. and he forgot about God. Not Abram, because Abram's going to pray in the matter. He's going to seek God's face. But the question must be decided. Who's going to have a supremacy over me? Who am I going to submit to? Who's going to govern my way? I believe this with all of my heart. At the crossroads of your life, there are many who beckon for your acknowledgement. I believe when you get to the crossroads of your life, The devil stands over there and says, let me make your choice and decision for you, come my way. I believe that old Seth says, do what you want to do. You free now? Have your fling, all those things you've dreamed of, all those things you've decided, all those things you want. Do what's right in your own eyes. Don't let anybody tell you what to do. That's Lot's way. That's not God's way. The way is first to pray and say, Lord, you saved me and you hold me and I don't know which way to go. Show me, direct my pathway. That's it folks. That's the first thing that needs to be done is an acknowledgement of the way of God. Then there's a verse in Proverbs 23 verse 26 that says, My son, give me thine heart and let thine eyes observe my ways. Second thing needs to be done, which Lot did not do. He did not observe God's ways. He didn't watch and he didn't wait on God. He was in such a hurry to go and to get out, he lifted up his eyes and looked on the well water plains of the Jordan, and he set his own course and set his own direction, didn't wait on God, didn't watch for the leadership of God, did not acknowledge God, and anytime I live according to myself, I'll cut a pathway that I'll regret later. All of us have done that. I do not know to what extent locked, looked out, and forgot about God. But I do know at no time did he acknowledge God. At no time did he say, Lord, what did you want me to do? At no time did he kneel and pray and say, Lord, direct my pathway. At no time did he call God in on the same. He should have. He should have learned from that. How many times had he been to the house of God and seen the hand of God? How many times had he ever heard from God? He was a righteous man and a just man. But how in the world can you be all that and then have the problems he's fixing to have? One reason, he didn't acknowledge God. The worst thing you could do tonight is to start a pathway of life without acknowledging God. Now you can't imagine what you can get into. You said, well boy, right now, I'm really going to have myself a thing out here in this world. I'm not going to let God tell me what to do, and I'm not going to let His ways be my ways. I'm not going to let His promises be mine. I'm not going to live by what He says. He's going to cut you a pathway of pleasure, but when you cut it, you're going to end up losing everything that's precious and dear to you. He said, but I don't have to be. He got that exactly right. Abram waited on God until God told him which way to go. And now Abram is remembered as the father of the faith. And he's got descendants, the scripture said, like the stars of the heaven or the dust upon the ground or the grains of sand upon the seashore. And we're spiritual descendants of Abraham ourselves. Wouldn't you like to live your life in such a fashion, in such a way? To be remembered as a man of God in his day who followed the leadership of God. That's one thing for sure. Don't ever let it be said that we're not going to have crossroads. And don't let it be said that we're going to have just one. You're going to have many. You're going to have a lot of crossroads in this life. But at every crossroad, if you forget about God, you've got trouble. But what you need to do, he said, son, give me your heart. Give me your heart. Just take it and say, Lord, it's my will. He's my mind. He's my emotions. I give my heart to you. Father, I pray you direct my path. Father, I pray that thy will will be done. That was Abraham. Lot was. At last, I can go my own way. I can make my own choices and decisions. I see the well water plains of the Jordan. Boy, don't they look good. My, how they could satisfy me. Look what I could be if I go this way. I'll make something of myself. I'll make what I want to be. So they stood at the crossroads, and one went one way, and one went the other way. But every young person will sooner or later come to a crossroads when you're going to have to decide what you're going to be, who you're going to be, and who you're going to let control you. My prayer to God, what God's doing in my heart, is for every one of you, my children, your children, that when you do come to the time that you walk out into the world and an opportunity faces you, I pray you'll look up to God and say, God, I can't handle my future, please handle it for me. If I haven't done anything else in life, I may not have accomplished any other thing in bringing up our children. If when they go out on their own, I have taught them just one thing, I won't ask for anything else. If I have taught me that when you do come to your opportunity to face life, call on God. I just don't know if I've done that. Don't you tell me I haven't.