All right, look with me. Brother Joe kind of hit around this, and this is a sermon. I preached it, I think, three times in 30-something years. And I want to preach it this morning, but it's about choices. Life's made up of choices. I don't think, I think it might have been Brud Jimbo, one of the preachers this week. You don't have to, no, it wasn't him, it was somebody, but anyway, you don't, that wasn't a good choice, bad choice, and you've messed up. And by the grace and mercy and forgiveness of God, sometimes you can straighten it out, but sometimes it can't ever be straightened out. So I want to show you something here, and I was looking over this this morning, the Lord showed me something, but it'll be, we'll preach about a lot, and the choice that Lot made and how it took him on the path it took him. But in looking over my notes this morning, you know the first bad choice was Abraham. Abraham made the worst choice. I think he might have made a worse choice than what Lot did because Lot was a fruit of Abraham's choice. So read with me here a little bit. Let's go to verse 12, and you're pretty familiar with this, so we won't bore you with a lot of scripture reading, but it'll probably be more than most of you get in today. Bible reading, y'all got in all week, amen. Now the Lord, look in verse one, now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, into a land that I will show thee. And I'll make thee a great nation, and will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thy shall be a blessing. Now, we know later on, on Abraham's life, it said that it was counted to him the righteousness, his obedience to God. But God don't say a whole lot, well, He don't say nothing good about Abraham up until He tested him. And that seventh test, if I studied my Bible right, was when He offered Isaac. And Abraham failed about every one of those tests. Amen. And what God done, he took a man and made a man of God out of him. But he had to go through the fire. And every time he put him in a test, he failed the test. But in Abraham doing what he'd done, he says in verse, when he got out into a land, and you stay in verse 12, go down to, I don't know, about nine, and Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south, bad direction spiritually speaking. When you see going down or going south, that's usually a bad term, amen? You wanna go north. And there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was grievous in the land. And it came to pass, and you know the story there, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai, his wife, behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon. And which I, let me just preach here a little bit. About anywhere I take there, I can preach about an hour or two on it. And I got to watch my time, because I got a bad habit of preaching too long. Well, I do, and I don't like that. I don't want to be known as a long preacher. Amen. Amen. Because you say, why? Well, it takes this man about 15 minutes, so you're not lost to him after about 15, 20 minutes. Amen? And they'll pay theirself to death if you preach long, especially these boys. I'm an old man with diabetes for 20 years, and I can sit three hours without going, but they can't sit 10 minutes. Amen? But I want to show you some things here about Abraham and this choice that Abraham made. So Abraham made a bad choice. Abraham taught Lot. Lot was Abraham's brother's son, and evidently his brother died when that boy was pretty young, so Sarah and Abraham couldn't have children. And so they took this boy and raised him. So I don't know how old he was when Abraham pulled out, ended up down in Egypt. But in Abraham's decision and the choice he made there, first thing he done, he taught Lot how not to trust God. He taught him, he said, I don't believe God can take care of us. Now he didn't say that verbally, and somebody preached on action, Brother Terence did the other morning. And your action speaks way louder than words. He also taught Lot how not to obey God. That what God said don't mean nothing. Amen. He also taught Lot how to lie. He did. He taught him how to be a coward. I don't know how long Abraham's wife Sarah spent over there in Egypt. in the house of the Pharaoh. I don't know how long she stayed there, but I cannot imagine the home of Abraham and Lot while the wife was over there in the king's palace. That takes a coward. That's a coward. Amen. To do that. So this is where Lot's learning a lot of things. He might have been a teenager. He might have been on up in his years. He might have been a young man. I don't know right in there. But he was in the most influential age of his life. Amen. And Abraham was his father, figure in his life. He taught him how to deceive people. Amen? It amazed me, and I picked this up this morning. I'll build on that and probably do something with our men's meet next year. But fathers and mothers too, let me tell you something, your actions does matter. Now Abraham went to Egypt and he came out and he recovered, but Lot never did. Lot never did recover. Amen? And some of you might pull out and go into Egypt for a few years, but when you get back, your children won't recover 90% of the time. And if they do, they got baggage. Got a lot of that. And you don't accept that. You think you can do as you please and go as you please and be as you please. I'm telling you there's a price to be paid and Lot paid the price. Abraham, when he come out of Egypt there in chapter 13, he had built an altar at Bethel and when he came out he went back to that altar. Amen, and made things right with God. But it says in chapter 13, verse five, and Lot also, which went with Abraham, had flocks, herds, and tents. That's a reference to chapter two in 13, where Abraham was very rich in cattle, silver, and gold. But Lot never went back to Bethel. They don't say he went to Bethel. It says Abraham done that. Amen. And the Lot also is a reference to chapter 2. It doesn't appear that Lot had any kind of God conscious about him. And that God conscious evidently was killed in Egypt. Amen. And so I want to preach that on choices and I want to preach a little bit on the choices that The effect of the choice is that lot made so father. Let's pray. Well, we thank you God. We love you We sure thank you for loving us Thank you God for being good to us Lord and God I pray you stare in this church today, and they sure was a stiffness last night Lord I don't know what it was, but it was here Having a whole lot of order movement. I think the ministry's turned into entertainment. They think they had a theater this morning and And God, we just ask that you touch hearts, and Lord, help the preaching have the power in it that you put in it. Anoint me, God, use me this morning in Jesus' precious name. Now, I don't know how old Walt was, as I said, when he went down to Egypt, but I know he went in and he came out different. Amen? I don't know how old he was when he came out. There's not a whole lot said about that here. But I wanna show you some things about Lott and the choices that Lott made. And as you go through your life, young people listen to me, when you go through your, old people too, but usually when you get on up in a year, you're pretty well set in your ways, you ain't gonna do nothing, amen? I mean, you ain't gonna do nothing, you ain't gonna change nothing. Old folks, you know, it's hard to preach to old people, because they know everything, and they ain't gonna change nothing. Hardly ever see him repent ever see him change anything if you've been saved in length of time you ought to have that straight But young people you got a chance to do something and you don't have to make many choices and you'll end up in trouble So I want to show you something here this morning. First of all, you'll find in verse 10 that lot looked at the wrong thing. Now he's here with Abraham. And evidently they gathered up quite a few cattle and great riches. They was all on the same piece of property. Their herdsmen got to fighting among each other about grazing land and water and that kind of stuff. But it also says in verse eight, and Abram said it a lot, let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee and between my herdsmen and my herdsmen. My herdman and my herdman, God, and thy herdman, help me here, for we be brethren. Too many herdmen there, amen. One too many, amen. But evidently, they've got to fussing with each other and evidently Lot had lost his respect for Abraham as a leader. You know, he don't say a whole lot about Lot and God in this thing at all. But he looked at the wrong thing. And that's what the devil does to us. He gets us looking at the wrong thing. Amen? The Bible says, and Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plains of Jordan, and it was well watered everywhere. before the Lord destroyed Solomon and Gomorrah, even as a garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest in the door. Then Lot chose him. He made a choice. You realize God gave you a free agent this morning. I think Brother Charlie preached on that. You realize this morning you had a choice to be here this morning. You had a choice to come this morning. We got the lowest church attendance, Gloria Lamb Baptist church attendance in the daytime that we've had since we've been having this meeting. And I know personally there are a lot of people here that ain't here this morning that do not work. All they had to do was get up and go. But they made a choice. And as you get into ministry, you preachers, they got choices to make. You need to make a choice on who you're hanging out with. I don't want to hang out with somebody I don't believe like I do. They ain't going to be my buddy. I'm not going to hang out with a Calvinist. I'm not hanging out with a bride. Amen. They're not going to be my friends. They ain't going to come in and preach for me. Amen. I just don't do that. I'm not hanging out with a drunk. I'd rather hang out with a drunk than I had a Calvinist. Amen, ain't looking in there. He's a preacher and he's a drunk, amen? But I just ain't hanging out with that crowd. But Abraham a lot evidently got to looking and he liked what he seen. That's the number one tool the devil uses on us today is our eyes. And we preached about it and preached about the television and preached about us. I'm telling you those eyes, if you got wandering eyes, you're gonna have problems in your life. And I don't know what preacher it was, but Miss Myers told me, we talked about somebody or some preacher, she said, well, his eyes need to get saved. Amen. You ladies need to dress right too. We're going to work on that in just a minute. Amen. I pray we'll hit everything they already hit when I pray. So, amen. But he looked at the wrong thing. And that's what we do. When you go through Walmart, you go through the checkout, you're looking at the wrong thing. When you turn the television on, you're looking at the wrong thing. When you turn that little box on, you're looking at the wrong thing. Amen? When I was a country boy, we had an old mule and a mare, and the mule was named Pete, and anybody that ever plowed, you had blinders on. And you had to blind them. You had to give them tunnel vision. If anything moved or jerked over here, buddy, he was on his way with a plow, whatever you had hooked to him. He was going to tear it up. God needs to build some blinders for some Christian big men. They got their eyes on the world. They got their eyes on all the facets of the world. They're more impressed with what's out there than what's in here, amen. They fill their heart with the things of the world and yet try to live for God and it will not work. Amen. You look at the wrong thing. You got to be careful what you look at. You got to be careful where you go. You got to be careful what influences you. You got to be careful, amen, what you like and what you don't like. And not be tied up in the world when you look. But through the Bible, you'll find where the looking was a problem. Eve looked at the fruit before she partook of it. Amen? I realize she was where God told her not to do, but she looked at it and the devil said, you know, God don't want you to have that. David looked at the flesh. Amen? That's what got him in trouble. He was looking. The prodigal son looked at the far country. You know, if you don't know it's out there, you'll never desire it. If you don't know it's out there, you'll never want it. That's why I was preacher trying to warn your young people. Don't go out there and fiddle around thinking you'll make it back. A lot of them don't make it back. Amen. Don't try to see if you like it or don't get involved in something because my brother Charlie made it and he done all right. You don't know how good I am. You don't know if I done all right or not. Amen. You might get back in and you might get back. I was raised in church. I don't think I saved until I was 33. Now that's going to confuse you. He don't know if he saved or not. Amen. I made a little profession at 12, but it sure didn't bring no fruit. Well, it did too. It brought the wrong kind. Amen. But if you go out there and fiddle around, you'll be like Lot, you'll be looking at the wrong thing. I mean, David said in Psalms that he made a covenant with his eyes. That'd be good to do. That'd be good tonight, this morning, to come down to these altars and bow your head and make a covenant with your eyes. You know why you want that? Because you're looking at it. You know why you want certain things? Because they look good and somebody else look good in it. You know why you buy certain clothing? Because you've seen some whore in Hollywood and she look good in it. Amen? If you had a million dollars coming in a month, you could look like them. Most of them women are real ugly and then, amen, facelifts and all that stuff. And if your nose is on the side of your head, they can move it back in the middle. And one ear bigger than the other ear, they can trim that one down a little bit and get you looking pretty good, amen. They can suck it in, push it up. Botox it and do everything in the world. Big deal now is these old women looking young. Well, they got him 60, 65 years old, look like he's 20 years old. Amen, that's money. Then they got lips now, look like new lips, you know, they pump them lips up, blow them out, and do all kinds of things. Let God just be who God made you. And look like God made you. God got somebody like that. He wants somebody that looks just like you, amen. So be careful what you look at. When a person walks by sight and not by faith, he'll never be pleasing to God. He'll never have the touch of God on him. He'll never have the power of God on him. He'll never be filled with the Spirit of God when he's walking by sight. When everything you see influences you in this world, you're in a mess. When's the last time you've patted yourself after a preacher or a preacher's wife? Amen? but he looked at the wrong thing. Look on down if you would. That's where we get in trouble, looking. Amen. That's where your trouble comes. Ever seen in the Bible that I know of, started with look, started with eyes. First looked upon. But not only did he look at the wrong place, he made a choice, but he leaned the wrong way. Move down if you would in verse 12. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Saul. Now, you notice up there that a lot shows him all the plains of Jordan and lot journeyed east and there separated himself one from another. The separation became before the leaning came. You know what these young folks do? They can't wait to get out of the house. They're dying to get out of the house. They're dying to get that job at $7.80 an hour and move out and get them a rental payment of about $600 a month. That ain't rocket science. That will not work. But that's their ultimate goal is to get out of that house. You know what that is? That's the devil tricking you. What are you going to do out of the house that you can't do in the house? What are you going to do in your own place? Amen? that you can't do at mama's place. I tell you what you can do, you can drop back by and eat mama's food, get mama to wash your clothes, amen, and get mama or daddy to loan you a little money every once in a while, but boy, you're your own man now. I tell you what it does, it brings downfall, it brings sin in your life, and before he could pitch his tent towards Solomon, he had to separate from Abraham. See, when you're living with mama, it's hard to pitch your tent towards Solomon. Now I don't know how he pitched it unless he just kept moving that way. I have preached this and he had the door facing toward him. I don't know how he pitched it. But that's what it says there. So he began to lean the long way. And this is a progression that goes on in God's people's lives. It's a position. They look. Then they kind of lean. They're quite a few of our people in our churches leaning towards Solomon. Amen? You see them out of the church house, you would never know they was a Christian while they're leaning that way. They lean that way in their dress. They lean that way in their activities. They lean that way in their entertainment. They lean towards Solomon in their music. Amen? They ain't in there yet, but they're just leaning that way. Amen. He leaned his way. This is the next stop in getting away from God. People today don't see anything wrong with what's going on in the world today. And Brother Charlie done a good job of justifying it. Well, I got a Bible on this, on your little phone. There's something about this book to me. I like my book. I do use my phone. I use a concordance on it and a dictionary on it, but I don't read the Bible on it. or just something don't look right. I don't know, it just, amen. It's floating through the powers and principalities of the air to get to my phone, and I ain't sure the devil ain't taking all the juice out of it, because it ain't the same when he hits his phone. Somehow he's dreaming it, amen? It ain't the same reading it all the time. I don't know what he's doing, but he's mucking with it as it comes by his place up there. I mean, give me a Bible. I like an old beat-up Bible, amen? I want people, when they see this old book, they say, Brother Charlie's been in that Bible a day, amen? Boy, when you've been preaching in it at the time, and I hate breaking in new Bibles, and I know you have to, but this is only my second Bible in 40 years. And it has fell apart, I've glued it, I've taped it, amen? I went and bought me a bottle of glue the other day and glued it again. Hey, I'm hoping it'll last as long as I do. But everything I buy, I'm hoping that, and I end up having to go buy it every minute. Everything I buy is dying, and I'm staying alive. You get our age, I mean, you can buy a car with it, sort of last me to the end. Well, I wear that and that and have to go buy another, and it sort of lasts me to the end. But you'll notice there, Locke made a choice by looking. And by that looking, the next thing he began to do is lean. That's what's wrong with our church here, we leaning too far toward the world. And our church morally is probably in good shape, but worldly and carnal, they are carnal as they can be. Son, everything comes down the pipeline and presses them, everything, every new little thing going on. And then when they get away from the church and they dress just like the world dresses, you know, you'd never know that there was a saved person if you met them out on the street. That ain't right, folks. That is not right. You ain't never seen me dress inappropriate. So if I had that body, I wouldn't either. These women in here, they weigh about 250, and they lose about 100 pounds, and all their wardrobe changes. All of a sudden, they got on the side of them skinny jeans. Why don't you buy yourself when you weigh about 280? Wal-Mart, Summerton, and Joe Phil's, in my eyes. And I often think, do they not have anybody that loves them? Would anybody not love you enough to sing? You got no idea what you look like. I'm trying to learn to sing a little bit, and I don't know if I'm in here. I went in that room and practiced with them the other day, and I said, please, love me enough to tell me you sound like an idiot. Amen. Anna, and Robin, and April. Jordan now, he sang a little bit. Got me out there, but amen. If I can sing, I want to sing. I want to do everything I can do for my God. If I could clog, I'd break loose a clog up here in the mountains. They call it clappin' up in the mountains, ain't that what it's called? Yeah, cloggin' city version of it. But not only did he look, and he leaned, But look what you find him next over in verse 12, chapter 14, verse 12. You'll find there that he lived in the wrong place. See, his possession is, I'm saying possession, but that ain't what I mean. No. I got four English scholars in here and they all hollering something different, amen. Anyway, he moved to the wrong place. There you go. We're going to excuse you for being late. Amen. We'll let you have dinner today. But look at verse 12 if you would. The Bible says, And they took Lot, Abram's brother, who dwelled in Solomon, and his goods and departed. What he's talking about, he moved, he's actually has moved into Solomon Gamorra. Now he'd done that with such ease and took his family in there evidently, with such ease because he'd lived in Egypt. Amen? It ought to bother you to be able to move into such a wicked place because of where you've been. I am amazed at people that have stayed in this church 10, 15 years, and leave this church, and within two or three weeks, you would never think they ever darkened the church before. That amazes me. I mean, sit on good preaching, good teaching, good fellowship, and leave the church, and within a month, they're on Facebook, telling about their wicked life, and God's people are reading it, thinking they're having the time of their life out there, while you're stuck in this boring church. yes sir instead of breaking fellowship with that bunch of haters they don't have to do nothing they ain't miss nothing they ain't got away from nobody and they still your best buddy and every time they say that every time that something happens to them you right there just to help them and encourage them if you ain't a friend of god you ain't my friend If you ain't a friend of this church, you ain't my friend. If you ain't a friend of this pastor, you ain't my friend. If you ain't a friend of the people in this church, you ain't my friend. But every one of y'all got them Facebooks. You're still hooked up with them people. You're still corresponded with them. You know everything they do, everywhere they go. You even know what they eat for supper. I'm in churches 2,000, 3,000 miles from here, and they ask me how one of these church members are doing. And I'm thinking, how do you know that? And I'm kind of blown away because of the name they mentioned. And I said, well, how do you know them? They got them a little, they got hooked up somehow. I think it's like those dope dealers. You know, used to, years ago, when you're buying dope, you just shake hands. I think now when they meet somebody, they just slide them websites or have that, you know, that handshake. She's got yours and you got his. Amen. There's a code. You can go downtown right now on Southside. They're searching hand motions and you can score a drug down there within 10 minutes. Amen. The old dopers know that. I don't know if I got any old dopers in here. They certain little eye contact and hand signals. You dealin', you takin', you usin'. Amen? Lot was more interested in raising cattle than he was children. See how his mind got messed up? Amen? His mind got all perverted down in Egypt, and Abraham took him in there. He was more interested in profit. than he was in the power of God. He was more interested in his position than he was in purity. He was more interested in the pleasures of sodom and gomorrah. Amen? What happened? He made the wrong choice. I want to tell you something. I got it right here. Somebody preached on this this week. A little note I've had jotted down for several years. When I moved out of this office into the office at my house, I found all kinds of stuff. I was unpacking boxes, I'd take a lid off and there'd be four or five of them big green dampened notebooks in there. So I got a fresh start. See, he moved in there and he lived in there. He probably got into car dealership business, probably opened him a chain of restaurants and had some supermarkets. And his kids got involved in the social life. And his wife was involved in the bridge club. And I mean, they just settled in. They just become comfortable down there. No convictions. And nothing bothered them ever, did it? Because of the wickedness of that city. And I mean, they was in there. Lot was backslidden. And I know he wasn't saved like we're saved here today. But Lot had lost his convictions. He had lost his character, he had lost his courage, he had lost his commitment, and he had lost his companion. And then he fakes happiness. You ever met a Christian that's out of church? Oh, they're just as happy as they can be. Well, you're a liar, or you ain't saved. Amen! But the Spirit of God dwells within you that gets there through salvation and you're not going to church on a regular basis. You're a liar or you're backslidden and you don't love God and you got two left feet and your breath stinks. Here's what God does with a backslider. In 1 John 1, verse 9, first thing he'll do, he'll cleanse you if you ask. Amen. Hebrews 12, 7, he'll chastise you if you don't repent. Amen. 1 Corinthians 5, 5, he'll cast you away if you don't respond to the first case. 1 Corinthians 11, 30, he'll carry you home before your time. Amen. Right. Take you out of here. And so if you can live that life of ease in Solomon Gomorrah, Lot did that. And thinking that perhaps God is not noticing, God did notice. God knew where Lot was. Amen? God knew exactly where he was. He knew where he was at. He knew why he was there. He knew that he got messed up when Abraham took him down to Egypt. and he never got his heart right, he just got in deeper. Some of you mamas and daddies, you can pull out and go into Egypt for a little while. And you might get out and probably get recovered. Very seldom I see that anymore. But I tell you what you got, you got your mess on your hands when it comes to them young ones. Amen? You got problems when it comes to them kids. You can get that attitude and not particularly go down to Egypt, but you can take that attitude back into your house and destroy your children. You pick this church apart, pick this preacher apart, and it will affect your children. Amen? I know who was up here tearing it up, because when I pulled out of the driveway, the boys was in the foyer out here throwing something. And I can tell you who they were. But you parents get back younger and you're more interested in that fish dinner than you are taking care of your children and taking care of the church up here. You had him, you take care of him. You don't want to raise him, quit having him. Not my boy, yeah, your boy. He is the meanest snake in the world. Which one? All of them. Boys are mean. They're boys. Amen. They tell lies. Boys tell lies. You do that? No. Well, I've seen you do it. Well, I didn't do it. I saw you do it. I didn't do it. Yeah, you did. Amen. Most all kids are liars. Amen. I'd say all of them. The biggest heartbreak a mother has is when they find out that the child lied. That is a crusher right there. They all lie. Not my, yeah, you're. Yeah, yeah. I always believe because somebody said one of mine done something, I believe it. Yes, sir. Amen. You never seen me getting upset over somebody saying something to my children. Amen. Amen. Old Clinton wrote that book, it takes a community or something to raise a child and all that. Well, that's the way I was raised down in Mississippi. All my aunts lived right there on the same piece of property, 80 acres. If I messed up at the person's house, I got a whipping at every house I came by. Until I got down to grandma, and then she whooped me down there. She didn't whip me, she whooped me down there. But he lived in the wrong place. Why? Because of that choice he made. We got a lot of God's people right now living in the wrong place. over to 19, chapter 1. Olad had moved in here. He'd built him a nice ranch-style home and had him about three or four acres there and had him a few cattle on it and a little horse or two so he could say he had a ranch. A ranch ain't two acres, folks. I see it all the time. They have three acres of land, they can't call it a ranch. Yeah, you see that. You got there around Amarillo, a patch of corn is one mile square. If he says I got a patch of corn, that's what you got, one mile square. A ranch is more than an acre. The average horse cannot turn around on an acre. And you ain't a cowboy because you got a pair of boots and a saddle. Man. I'm meddling now, ain't I? But look here, Lot, he got in, he got settled in, and there came, look what it says, and there came two angels to Solomon even, and Lot sat in the gate of Solomon. Now that's where the important folks were sitting. That's where the leaders sat. That's where the people that took care of business sat. That's where the senate sat, the senators, and the congressmen. Amen? So it tells me by this verse here that he done got in, got settled in, he done started to prosper, Amen? And now he's in the uppity-up crowd. He's making decisions pertaining to this wicked city. Of the sin that was going on in this city, he was in the government of this city. He was raised by Abraham. He was raised by a man that God thought that he'd take and use him in a mighty way to birth Israel. And yet here he sits. Say what? He letticed you in the wrong place. That is a big word for a tongue-tied country boy. Somebody say that for him. Letticed. Letticed. I got it right. Let me get Terrence. Did I get that right, brother Terrence? Letticed. Thank you, brother. God bless you. He's my Miss Myra when she ain't around. Well, I'm preaching. Well, y'all didn't let me finish. Brother Mark didn't finish his deal the other morning, the other day when he preached about the pooper scooper, so. You can't get up here and just say something and not explain the background. Amen. But when I'm preaching and he's there or somewhere and I don't think I said that word right, I look at Brother Terrence and he's going, I appreciate it. He told you that if you make an outline, use that word, he said. Amen. But Lott had become a part of the government. He had become real comfortable. Why? Because of the choice he made. You know, we got a lot of folks today right out of this church, and the church is represented here. I know Brother Taft had, I know Brother Coley had. We got a lot of God's people that's out there, and they're extremely comfortable in that wicked society. They don't see a need for church. They don't see a need for God. Amen? They're not doing anything for God, and yet they're out there in that society. I'm telling you, the judgment of God's gonna fall on you. If it don't, you ain't saved. Amen? Amen? It's very simple. But he moved in. He'd become a big shot. in the world, but a disappointment in heaven. You know, I'd rather be a big shot in heaven than a disappointment to the world. I'd rather be somebody up there than somebody down here. Amen? Hey, I'd rather heaven know me than the world know me. I'd rather have my treasure stored up there than stored down here. I don't give a who what the world thinks. I'm just a brother of Charlie. I dress pretty well the same, haven't been for years. Talk about things going in style and out of style, I just, I don't know about style. I buy a suit and I, us big folks, we don't hunt styles. We hunt something that'll fit. We don't go in and go all over the store hunting a style. We find what a fit and hoping they got something in there we like. You little skinny people make me sick. You can wrap a fat towel around you and you think you bought a dress over here that cost $500. Yeah. Hey, I'm in, brother Mark. Help me out here. Yeah, little skinny fell like him. He can go anywhere and buy his clothes. Yeah, us fat folks, we can't go anywhere. There ain't about three or four stores in Birmingham where I can shop. Man, brother Graham about the same way. He can't go nowhere without his clothes. He built like the Tasmanian devil. He wears them boots to keep him dragging skin off his knuckles when he walks. But you'll notice he moved in, he settled in. I don't know how long he was there, but God knew where he was at. He caused Abraham a lot of problems, and Abraham had to take his people and go get him back and get all his possessions back, which he did. Amen, that's the right thing to do. But Lot never, even in that situation, no mention of him ever, recognizing there was a God, was left turning to God. It always amazes me how cold and how callous a Christian's heart can get. Amen? You say, well, preacher, you might not know. I made up my mind, I ain't doing that. Well, if it hadn't been for the grace of God, would the grace of God play all them people? I guess they're sick and tired of preachers getting themselves in a mess. Well, if it hadn't been for the grace of God, I'd be right there. Really? The grace of God let them down? I didn't let him do it. You wicked sucker, you're doing that because you want to do it. You like sin. Well, I was tempted. Temptation ain't a time for you to do wrong, a time for you to do right. Bring glory and honor to the Lord Jesus Christ. Get that thing all messed up. Over with him if you would in 1914. I made a note here that he lost his testimony, and then I got to thinking he didn't have one. He didn't have a testimony. So I had to change my note. He lost his influence. Amen? You never go down alone. You know, a lot of Christians are saved, but they ain't got no testimony. They've never developed a testimony. If anybody got around them, they couldn't say they love God, because they don't act like it. They couldn't say that they really know their Bible, why? They don't study it. They couldn't say, boy, they're real faithful in church, because they ain't. They couldn't say that they're a good friend, because they're Christian, because they're not. They couldn't say they help the poor, why? That's a testimony. Well, I had no testimony. Amen? He never built a testimony to lose it. You can't lose what you don't have. Look what it says in verse 14. And Lot went out and spake unto his sons-in-law, that means there were four of them at least, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocketh unto his sons-in-law. I don't know, and there's no way of showing it or proving it, but I almost believe that there was probably ten members in Lot's family. We know they were eight. He could have saved that city if he'd had a testimony. Remember, Abraham quit asking before God quit giving. Yeah. God said, okay, I'll do it for 40. Okay, I'll do it for 30. Okay, I'll do it for 50. I believe if Abraham would have kept on, God would have done it for just Abraham and, I mean, his wife. These sons-in-laws might have had children. We don't know this, and don't go out there and say I'm teaching this, but it's a possibility. But he said there, get you up out of this place, and the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemeth as one that mocketh unto his sons-in-law. Why? They never heard him talk about God. They never heard him mention the Lord. They probably didn't even know nothing about Abraham. Probably. He lost his influence. Seen some families like that have no influence over your family whatsoever. You played this game so long, they don't pay a bit of attention to you when it comes to the things you got. You have no influence. People you work with, you have no influence. Why? You don't look like a Christian, you don't work like a Christian, you don't act like a Christian, you don't dress like a Christian, you don't talk like a Christian, and you have no influence. You go to your family gatherings, they don't pay no attention to you, they mock you. You have no influence. You've done nothing in your life to let them know that you're a Christian. You have no influence whatsoever. What a sad state for a child of God to be in. Man, when you go out of this world, I want to leave a mark in this world for my Lord. I want to leave something behind. I want to leave it with my family. I want to leave it with my children. I want to leave it with my grandkids. I want to leave it with this church, with my preacher friends. And when I'm gone, they say, boy, I miss Brother Charles. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. But to them old ones that have gone on, and very seldom, us preachers get around it. We don't mention something about it. Right. Right. I sure do miss him. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Brother Danny's went home to be with the Lord. I miss him. Brother Earl, miss him. Brother Jack, miss him. Brother Homer, miss him. He had no influence whatsoever. He'd lost his family because of that choice. He'd lost what little faith he had because of that choice. He'd lost his fortune. He'd evidently had great wealth even before he separated from Abraham. And he moved all that cattle and all that stuff he had and went over there and lived in the city there and became a very successful person, what the Bible appears here. But he lost that. He lost his fortune. He lost his future. Didn't have no future. You know, when God shows up, he kind of messes everything up. Amen? He lost his friends. Bad friend, but he sure didn't have no friends over in a cave. Something else you'll see there in verse 16. He lingered at the wrong time. Now this is weird here. It ain't weird because it's the Bible. It's just strange to me. Here's a man who two angels appeared to his house, whom he offered them his daughters. They didn't go, but he offered them to him. I just saw that the other day. Those daughters didn't go. But he was so wicked that he offered them. Amen. But those daughters' minds had been corrupted also, extremely, because of the side he was living in. You know, it's funny how you live like hell and expect your children to be angels. You put very little emphasis on God, the things of God, on obedience, on authority. Amen? You come to church when you feel like it. Crucify the preacher when he preaches. Get mad at him when he gets on the kids or says something about the kids. And then you think your children are gonna grow up to just love God and sell out for the Lord? Chances are they're not. There's exceptions. But chances are they're not. But it says there, while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hands and upon his hand of his wife. Got him in one hand, wife in another hand. And upon the hands of his two daughters. You got two angels leading him and his wife, one angel, another angel leading the daughters. Now ain't that strange that they gotta bring them, actually drag them out of there. And the Lord being merciful unto him, and they brought him forth and set him without the city. Now, O'Laughlin has done got so arrogant and so big shot and big britches and so successful and so wicked that he began to argue. He began to justify. Oh, they have people to do that. And 17, it says, it came to pass when they had brought them forth abroad, and he said, escape for thy life. Look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plains. Escape to the mountains, lest thou be consumed. Don't stay in the plains. Go to a high spot. And Lot said unto them, oh, not so, my lord. He's arguing with these angels. He's arguing with God. Get out of here, don't stay in the plains, get up into a mountain somewhere. And Lot said, oh not so my lord. Behold now thy servant, Lot's speaking now, he's God's servant now. Why's that religious backslidden crowd? He's a servant of the Lord now, he's in trouble. Brother Tabb I think said something about that the other night. Boy have I seen that. I got a message, I ain't preached it in 30 years, on seven repentants and no convictions. They repented because they got caught. That's the way most crooks are. They don't repent because they done wrong, they repent because they got caught. Most men and women, it's unfaithful to their mates. They ain't sad, they ain't. They sad they got caught. Amen? True repentance, you stop it. And I've preached this so many years around here. You come to this altar and repent all you want to, but if you ain't changed, you ain't done no repentance. If you don't change your ways, you ain't done no repentance. You went through a prayer and you said a bunch of words, but you ain't no change of heart. Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy. Now a lot's talking here. He become a servant of God, in verse 19. He found grace in the sight of the Lord, in verse 19. And thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shown unto me, in saving my life, and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die. He's explaining why he can't go to the mountains. Now, here's a verse that's confusing. Brother Tab probably helped me on this one. Behold now, this city is near to flee into, and it is a little one. What difference did that make? Did he think he was just destroying big cities? You realize it's just as wicked down in the country as it is in Birmingham? When I was a boy, it was different. Country folks was different than city folks. But it ain't no more, it ain't like that no more. But he said there, behold now, this city is near to fleeing to, and it is a little one, oh, let me escape thither. It is not a little one. Is it not a little one, and my soul shall live? I have not a clue what he meant by that. Why did it matter? See, I don't think he understood what God was doing there. I don't think he understood that God was after him, he ain't after the world. I believe the two daughters thought the whole world had been destroyed. Not just Solomon Gamora. Because they said there ain't a man left on earth. I think Lot and his two daughters had ended up in that cave. I believe those daughters thought there ain't a man, everybody on earth had been killed. See how that mind gets all messed up? Your thinking gets messed up? You get to lashing out. Get telling God. You ever deal with somebody backslid and they tell you how close they are to the Lord? And how God's blessing them and oh, how good God's been to them. Evidently, my Bible's wrong or you ain't a Bible believer. Because I believe the King James Bible, really? You don't believe the teachings of it, you ain't a Bible believer. I don't care what Bible you got in your lap. I don't believe in tithing, but then you ain't a Bible believer. I don't believe in holiness, but then you ain't a Bible believer. I got a King James 1611, you ain't a Bible believer. Amen. Behold now, this city is near to flee to, and it's a little one for some reason. And he said in verse 21, and he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city for the which thou hast spoken. He's talking about the little city. Haste thee, escape hither, for I cannot do anything till thou become thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoroth. And the sun was risen upon the earth when light entered into the earth. So he took off to the little city for some reason. And when the Lord rained upon Solomon and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven and he overthrew those cities and all the planets. There was two cities by the way. That's not one city. Kind of like Fort Worth and Dallas. They joined together but they're two cities. Son, you in a city, you start across there, east to west, you in a city, a long time. Amen. And Abraham got up early in the morning in the place where he stood before the Lord, and he looked toward Solomon Gilmore, in verse 28, and toward all the land of the plains, and by hell and lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. And then you'll find the last thing, down in verse 31. That choice that he made, the choice actually that Abraham made, brought the choice that Lot made, they brought the choice of his children. One after another. And the firstborn, in verse 31, said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth. See, that's why I believe that they thought the whole world had been destroyed. They're coming to us. Boy, I tell you what, if God got actually used so bad that you thought there was nobody left, You ever had that kind of conviction? God, why ain't you picking on me? We don't see conviction no more. I ain't seen a tear in the eye in quite a few years at an altar. Used to preach and people come to the altar and wail. Amen, brother? Last time we seen old brother Ed was a couple years ago. That old boy come out of there about 50 years old. When he come out of that squalor, remember that red joke? Come down that aisle, son, he was tore up. You don't see him no more. He ain't seen around here in a long time. Amen? But them girls thought there was only one left, and I won't get into the details of what took place there. But he left behind the wrong kind of proof. Those two children that was out of that action that they took there was the worst enemies of God's people throughout the entire Old Testament. Their descendants was the worst enemies of God's people. You say why? They made a bad choice. It all started with a choice. God gave us a choice. We have a choice this morning. You're going to go with God? You're going to go with the world? You're going to justify where you're at with God? You're going to justify what you're doing with God? Amen. You have a choice this morning.