Genesis 13 verse 8. Genesis 13 verse 8. And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife I pray thee
between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen, for we be brethren. The title for
the sermon tonight is We Be Brethren. All right. Let's start off with verse number 1. Genesis 13
verse 1. And Abram went out of Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him,
into the south. Just picking up the story there in Genesis chapter 12. Remember they were in the
land of Canaan and there was a time of famine. And instead of Abraham, you know, depending on
the Lord to provide his needs, he went into Egypt. And here we start off with Genesis 13. They're
coming out of the land of Egypt. And we also get told that Lot is with him. We didn't get told in
Genesis 12 that Lot had gone into Egypt with Abraham, but you see he definitely did because
he's coming out of Egypt with Abraham. And then it says in verse number 2. And Abram was very
rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. Abraham was a very wealthy, very rich man. In fact,
he was very wealthy if you remember the time when he left Hebron, sorry not Hebron, when he left
Haran. When he left Haran, he was very wealthy already. He already had a number of servants.
And even though he went into Egypt, remember he was able to possess much of the cattle and some
other servants from the Pharaoh because the Pharaoh wanted to appease Abraham,
thinking that he was the brother of Sarah. And so Abraham becomes a very rich man.
Now here's one thing I want you to understand. Being rich is not a sin, okay? There's nothing
wrong, there's nothing sinful about being a very wealthy person. In fact, many of the men in the
Bible were very wealthy, okay? But here's the truth. You're going, man, yes, I get to be wealthy,
right? Now here's the thing. The reason why a lot of God's people are not wealthy is because
he's really, honestly, God is just protecting us from destroying ourselves. You know, most people
aren't able to be exceedingly wealthy. Now let me just say, as Australians, we are wealthy.
When it comes to the rest of the world, we are wealthy people, okay? But when we're talking
about someone that's exceedingly wealthy, it's very hard for a lot of people to manage.
Even difficult for wealthy people to even be saved. If you remember the words of Jesus Christ
in Luke 18, how hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God. And you see,
one reason why you're not rich, why you're not, you know, abounding wealth may be because the
Lord wanted you to know the gospel and be saved, all right? And maybe having too much wealth in
your life early on would have hardened your heart. You would have seen yourself as a self-made person
not needing the Lord God. And unfortunately, here on the Sunshine Coast, we have a lot of people
that have wealth, you know, people retired, they're not needing to work, and for them,
their life is set. They don't need the Lord, okay? That's what we see here on the Sunshine Coast.
But being wealthy is okay because with Abraham, he was able to always acknowledge the Lord God
for his wealth. Please take your Bibles and turn to Genesis 18. Genesis 18, verse 17. Let's see
what the Lord has to say about Abraham here in Genesis 18, verse 17. You see, Abraham did not
let his riches go to his head, okay? And in Genesis 18, verse 17, the Lord speaks to two angels,
the Lord God, and it says, and the Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do,
seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the
earth shall be blessed in him. And we looked at that before, that blessing being coming through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 19. For I know him, God says about Abraham, for I know him,
I know Abraham, that he will command his children and his household after him. So not just his
children, but all his household, his servants, everything he possessed, he would command it,
and says, in what way? And they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment that
the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him. You see how the Lord speaks
highly of Abraham. Even though Abraham was a wealthy, powerful man, he always set his sights
on the Lord God. He instructed his entire household, okay, and he didn't have children
at this point in time, but even his servants to love the Lord, to acknowledge the Lord for his
possessions and for the blessings that he received. Let me prove this to you further.
Go to Genesis 24. Genesis 24. You see, even though Abraham made mistakes, as we do all,
he was still a great man of godly character. And that's why he was able to manage his wealth. He
didn't allow it to get to his head, because he always acknowledged the Lord God first. But in
Genesis 24, verse 34, this is several years later, it says, this is one of Abraham's servants that
speaks, okay. Now, did the Lord judge correctly in Genesis 18, that Abraham would command his
household, the ways of the Lord? Yeah. In Genesis 24, verse 34, one of Abraham's servants says this,
and he said, I am Abraham's servant, and the Lord have blessed my master greatly. And he's become
great. And he has given him flocks and herds and silver and gold and men servants and maid servants
and camels and asses. So you see, even the servants, you know, those that were under
the authority of Abraham, acknowledge the Lord God for the wealth of the possessions,
for the riches that Abraham had received, and acknowledges that he came from the hand of the
Lord. Okay. But the reality is, guys, if a lot of us, if we become rich, exceedingly rich,
like Abraham, we'll probably forget the Lord God. I mean, just look at some of the kings of Israel
to see how that happens. Okay, Solomon being a great example of that truth. Okay,
back to Genesis 13, please, Genesis 13, verse three. Genesis 13, verse three.
And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had
been at the beginning, between Bethel and Haai. So Abraham goes back to where he was originally,
you know, before he went into Egypt, he goes back there where he had built the altar,
you see this in verse number four, up unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at
first, and there Abraham called on the name of the Lord. So Abraham's getting things right with
the Lord, right? He gets out of Egypt, he shouldn't have been there in the first place, he goes back
to Bethel, he finds the altar, or maybe he has to build it up once again. And once again, from there,
he calls upon the name of the Lord. Okay, this is me, you know, he's praying to the Lord,
and I don't know what he's praying about, but I assume, you know, he's thanking the Lord for
being delivered out of Pharaoh's hand. Now thanking the Lord that Sarah was brought back
to him after being taken by Pharaoh, thanking the Lord that he had these great possessions,
you know, thanking the Lord, the Lord had brought him back to the place that he needed to be.
I'm not exactly sure what he's, you know, praying to the Lord about, thanking the Lord about,
but I'm sure his heart here is at the right place, and he sees, look, this is where I need to be,
here in Bethel, here at the altar, and I need to be giving thanksgiving to God and lifting
up his name and praying to him. Now this is important, because you see, at this point in time,
in Abraham's life, the place that he was at was not actually called Bethel, it was called Luz, okay?
But the Holy Spirit sees fit for us for it to be taken down as Bethel, okay? And the reason why
it's called Bethel is because Bethel means the house of the Lord, the house of the Lord. He said,
Kevin, did you go back to the Hebrew for that? I know, I'll show you where you see that. Let's
go to Genesis 28, please. Genesis 28, verse 18. Genesis 28, verse 18. This is obviously now,
this is about Jacob, okay? So Abraham had his son Isaac, and Isaac had his son Jacob. So this
is two generations later, it says in Genesis 28, verse 18, and Jacob rose up early in the morning
and took the stone that he had put for his pillows and set it up for a pillar and poured
oil upon the top of it. So he's anointing this pillar. And he called the name of that place
Bethel, but the name of that city was called Luz at the first. So this is when, now this place is
called Bethel. Prior to this, it was called Luz, okay? In the time of Abraham, it was called,
you know, when he was there calling upon the name of the Lord, it was Luz. Again, just telling you,
the Holy Spirit still saw fit to call it Bethel, because that's what it's going to be called. And
look at verse number 20. And Jacob vowed and vowed, saying, if God will be with me and will
keep me in this way, that I go and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on, so that I come
again to my Father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God. And this stone which I have
set for a pillar shall be God's house. And of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give
the tenth unto thee. Okay? So here, Jacob acknowledges this is the house of the Lord,
all right? This is God's house. And he's going to give a tenth. He makes a vow, I promise to the
Lord that he's going to give a tenth for the tithe to the Lord, okay? Now, why is that important?
Because Bethel is the house of the Lord, okay? He's the house of the Lord here in this time.
At this point in time, there was no tabernacle, there was no temple, there was no New Testament
church. All of these things are called the house of the Lord. But this is the place. And this is
important because you see, God had called Abraham to the land of Canaan, and he had found himself
in the house of the Lord in Bethel. And what did he do there? He prayed, right? He called upon
the name of the Lord, he built an altar. He was growing spiritually, he was walking with the Lord.
But then what happened? Famine came, hardships came, all right? And what did he do? He left the
house of the Lord. He went into Egypt, and many times in the Bible, Egypt just represents
worldliness. It represents a sinful life. Going back into the world, Abraham saw fit,
look, I'm going to leave the house of the Lord, and I'm going to go into the world because of
famine, because of hardship. Hey, but when he got to Egypt, things got worse. He almost lost his
wife. He had to deceive Pharaoh in order to try to save his life, okay? And he realized, look,
back in the world here in Egypt, it's worse, all right? I mean, he's now going on a downhill spiral
in his faith. And he goes, look, I need to go back to the house of God. I need to go back to Bethel
where the altar was, and I need to call upon the name of the Lord once again. Hey, you know what
that picture's for us? We have the New Testament church. The New Testament church is the house of
God, and God wants you to be right here, okay? Every service we have, the Lord wants you to be
in the house of the Lord. The Lord wants us here, so we would offer our sacrifices of thanksgiving
to him, to pray to him, to call upon his name, to grow spiritually. But here's the thing,
is church always going to be perfect? You know, is it always going to be, you know, smooth sailing?
No, just like Abraham, there's going to be time of famines. There's going to be some hardships,
okay? Just because you attend church doesn't mean your life's all settled now. It's all fixed. It's
all going to be perfect from now on. No, the Lord may very allow, you know, may allow, you know,
difficulties and famines and difficult, you know, hardships for you in the house of the Lord. And
you may be tempted, as was Abraham, to say, you know what, I just, I need to get out of here. I
need to get out of church, and I'm going to go look for peace. I'm going to look for satisfaction
in the world, okay? And so many people have made that mistake. They've sought the world. They've
sought, you know, the comforts of the world because of problems in the church, problems in the house
of the Lord. They look, if there's challenges in the house of the Lord, the Lord's going to see us
through it, okay? He's going to see us through it, just like he was going to see Abraham through
his challenges there in the land of Canaan, all right? And if you go into the world, if you leave
the church, you know, you're going to go on a downward spiral. You're going to have, you're
going to start being a deceiver. You're going to start finding troubles that you wouldn't have had
if you just stayed in God's house. Hey, there's a blessing to be had to be in church. And you're
going to come to a point when you realize, man, I was better off when I was in church. You know,
I had the Lord's blessing when I was in church. I was doing better spiritually when I was in God's
house. And it's going to be time for you to come back to church. You know, I hope you guys never
leave the church, not for my sake, for your own sake, okay, for your own spiritual growth,
that you would never leave the house of the Lord. And look, when there's famine, when there's
trials and difficulties, even at the time of, you know, in the house or, you know, while you're
attending church, maybe you're going to go through some trials, never think the solution is to get
out of church, okay? That's the picture that we see here in Genesis 13. Verse number
Let's go to verse number five, please. Verse number five.
And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents. So Lot, you know, tagging
along with Uncle Abraham, became wealthy as well. I mean, we don't really know where he got his
wealth from. But it's possible that Pharaoh also looked kindly upon Lot being the nephew of Sarah
and gave him many, many, many, you know, herds and flocks and things like that. And then verse
number six, 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. All right, so Abraham had so much,
so many, so much possessions, so much cattle, so many servants, and obviously cattle and, you know,
animals, they need to find fields to graze in, to get around in, you know, and Lot had a lot of
wealth. Lot had all his cattle and stuff like that. And they just couldn't live together. They
didn't have enough room there. And why is that? It says here in verse number seven,
and there was strife between the herd men of Abram's cattle and the herd men of Lot's cattle
and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then in the land. Okay, so it wasn't just Abraham and
Lot that lived in this part of the, of the land. There were also Canaanites and Perizzites. Okay,
so the land was being taken up by others as well, you know, and Lot's herdsmen, Abraham's lotsmen
were causing strife. They couldn't find a place for the cattle to graze. And it caused strife
between these herdsmen. All right, verse number eight, and Abram said unto Lot, I love Abraham
here. I love him so much, you know. I realize just why he's a great man of faith. Okay, because he
sees the strife with his herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen. Okay, you think Lot's going to figure
it out? You think Lot's going to make peace? Man, Lot's like one of the worst examples you're
going to find in the Bible of a Christian man. Hey, he was saved. He was a man of faith. But he's
definitely, man, you wouldn't learn how to be a bad Christian. You know, study the life of Lot and
just mimic him. All right, Lot's not going to figure this out. It's Abraham. Okay, Abraham's
the one that figures it out. And it's Abraham, Abraham's the one who God had blessed. Abraham
was the one in authority. Hey, this was the land that had been promised to Abraham and Abraham's
seed, not Lot and Lot's seed. All right, but who's the one that wants to make peace? It's Abraham,
the man of faith. And it says here, and Abram said unto Lot, let there be no strife, I pray thee,
between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen, for we be brethren. Okay, now yes,
they were brethren in the flesh, but they were also brethren in the faith. Okay, Lot was saved,
Lot was a man of faith as well. And what I'm reminded here, guys, is that when we're in the
house of the Lord, sometimes we can get in each other's face a little bit. Sometimes we may have
conflict in the church. Okay, but what's important about it? Look, we be brethren. We're brothers and
sisters in the Lord, and there shouldn't be strife between us. Okay, and when there is strife,
who's going to fix it? It's the Godly one. It's the one who's of faith. You know, that's the one
that's going to stand and say, you know what, there's conflict here, and I'm going to resolve
it. All right, it was done by the Godly one. And Matthew 5, 9 says, blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God. Now, you're all children of God if you're saved.
Okay, but how are children of God supposed to act? How are they supposed to behave? The Bible says
they ought to be peacemakers. Okay, when God sees you as a peacemaker, he looks upon you says,
that's my child. Okay, that's my son. That's my daughter, you know, because they're a peacemaker.
And here we see Abraham being that peacemaker. Please turn to Romans chapter four, please.
Romans chapter four. Romans chapter four, verse 16.
Let's just look at Abraham for a moment and see what the word of God has to say about him.
The Bible says in Romans 4 16, therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace
to the end of the promise might be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law,
but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. Okay,
so we see that Abraham here is being commended by God and is called the father of us all. Hey,
he's the father of faith. You know, Adam, the first man, he's our father in the flesh. Okay,
he's our father in the flesh. But Abraham, and you know, there were other saved men before Abraham,
obviously. Okay, but Abraham's faith was so great that God calls him our father in the faith. Okay,
our father in the faith. And you see how our father in the faith steps up when there's conflict,
okay, with his herdsman, and with someone else's herdsman, he goes and fixes it. Okay,
because there's a man of faith, you know, he loves the Lord, he calls upon the name of the Lord,
you know, and he's been made right with the Lord, and he sees the need to have peace with the
brethren. A lot though, you know, definitely not the kind of guy that's going to resolve a conflict.
All right. And look, let me just say this, you know, two things here, two things here,
you know, as children of God, we ought to resolve conflict. If there's conflict amongst the
brethren, as children of God, we ought to sort it out. Okay. But secondly, did the herdsman go and
sort it out? Did Lot's herdsman go to Abraham's herdsman and sort it out? Did Abraham go to Lot's
herdsman to sort it out? No. Okay, conflicts needs to be sorted out by those in authority.
Okay, Abraham did not go to Lot's herdsman and say, what are you doing? Why are you bothering
my herdsman? No. Okay, he took it to Lot. He said, Lot, you're in charge of these herdsmen.
I'm in charge of my herdsman. Let's sort this out. Let's sort this out. And that's what we need to
do. If you hold a position of authority, yes, you sort out your problems, but you also need to sort
out the problems of those under your authority. Okay, those under your authority. And sometimes,
guys, children, sometimes there's conflict with the children. That's normal. I've always seen that.
Okay, but you know who has to step in and fix it? Moms and dads. Moms and dads need to go to
moms and dads and say, hey, there's a problem with our children. Let's sort this out. Okay,
let's sort this out. And let's be peacemakers. Okay, you take it to those in authority. Okay,
that's what Abraham did. He didn't go and also notice that Abraham did not go and blame Lot's
herdsman. He didn't go to Lot and say, Lot, your herdsman is stupid. What are they doing here? This
is my land. What are you doing? No. Okay, he's a peacemaker. He sorts it out. He's willing to take
his share of the blame, you know. And let me promise you something. Okay, my kids are pretty
well behaved. I'm pretty satisfied with their behavior. Not always, but I'm pretty satisfied.
Okay, but every now and again, my kids are going to get in conflicts. Okay, and I promise you this,
my first thought is not that must be the other kid's fault. My first thought is my kid is not
innocent. My first thought is my kids had a part to play in this conflict. Okay, that's just how I
start. You know, and then I asked the kids, what's going on? I said, well, this happened, this
happened. I said, well, why did you allow it to get to that far? Why did you allow it to get that far?
And I might even understand where they're coming from. Okay, but I'm trying to teach my kids how
to be peacemakers. I'm trying to teach my kids to see how conflicts can develop and they can stop it
prior to it getting too far. Okay, let's make sure that if we're in authority, we deal with
conflict with those that are in authority and not with those that are under the authority of someone
else. Let's go to verse number nine, verse number nine. Genesis chapter 13 verse nine.
Is not the whole land before thee? He says this a lot. Separate thyself, I pray thee from me.
Now look, sometimes the only answer to a conflict is separation. Okay, and he says here,
separate thyself, I pray thee from me. If thou wilt take the left hand, I will go to the right,
and if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. That's Abraham. All right,
he says, you know what, I'm going to let you decide what's best for you. Wherever you decide
to go lot, I'm going to go the other way. Okay, you see, he's not blaming lots. He's not blaming
lots herdsmen. Here's the one that steps and says, you know what, the Lord's with me, you know,
let the Lord's, let's sort this out. Let's make sure this peace does not strife between us.
Okay, he sorts it out. But look, still, the situation requires separation. Okay, because
literally, they couldn't be together. Physically, they couldn't be together. There was too many
herds. Okay, and they needed more land. Okay, and the only right solution in this scenario was for
them to separate. But did they separate because they hated each other? You know, I'm never going
to talk to that person again. I hate him, you know, and grow in bitterness. No, they separated
in peace. They separated in love. Abraham had so much love for a lot that in the next chapter,
he goes to war to deliver a lot from captivity. Okay, it's not that they were separated because
of hatred, or because of anger. No, they loved each other. Okay, Abraham loved his nephew lot,
but the separation was the only way that the herdsmen would be able to continue working.
So, you know, yes, separation sometimes is necessary. You might have non-believing family,
non-believing friends. And you know, the things that you believe, you know, stand on the Word of
God might cause conflicts. If that's the case, sometimes separation is what you need to do.
Okay, but make sure it's done out of peace. It's done out of love. Okay, instead of it just being
this growth of bitterness and anger that comes. All right, verse number 10. And Lot lifted up
his eyes and behold, all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere before the
Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. It's funny because the Lord doesn't destroy Sodom and Gomorrah
for several chapters. But he gives us a little tease. I know a lot of you guys are looking
forward to Sodom and Gomorrah to get to that chapter. But you know, just a little teaser,
you know, Lot lifted up his eyes and saw the well watered plains. And look, he looked, he saw,
hey, this land looks the best. Now look, Lot should have been, look, that, that land looks
the best. I'm going to give it to uncle. You know, I'm going to go to the way it's not that
great. Okay. But Lot's a selfish man. That's what I'm saying. Like just study the life of Lot,
and don't be like Lot. Okay. But Lot lifted up his eyes and behold, all the plain of Jordan,
as it was well watered everywhere before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah,
even as the garden of the Lord, that's the garden of Eden, like the land of Egypt,
as thou comest unto Zohar. All right, so the land that he's looking at is beautiful. It's
like the garden of Eden. Okay, it's compared, that's the garden of Eden. It's compared there
like Egypt. And verse 11, then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east,
and they separate themselves the one from the other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan,
and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent towards Sodom.
But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. Man,
Lot, what are you doing? Okay, so he gets out there, he goes to the well watered plains of
Jordan. All right, and then it says there in verse number 12, it said Abraham dwelt in the
land of Canaan, and Lot, sorry, yeah, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain. So it sounds
like he didn't just settle in one city yet to begin with, but rather maybe he was in the
outskirts of several cities, because he mentions cities as a plural there. But then what he did
was he pitched his tent towards Sodom. So obviously, they weren't building houses back
then. They were sojourners, you know, Abraham and Lot, they didn't have their own pieces of
land that they owned. Okay, so they lived in tents, and they traveled. They lived in tents,
kind of like what the gypsies are. You know, they go through Egypt, they set up in one place,
and they travel, and they go somewhere else. It's kind of like that. But you see,
Lot gets his tent and pitches it towards Sodom. And the Bible tells us the people of Sodom were
wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. Okay, so this is a situation every time that Lot
would wake up in the morning and leave the tent. What's the first thing that he sees? Sodom. He
sees the wickedness of the people in Sodom. What a bad mistake. What a bad mistake. First thing in
the morning, wakes up, there's Sodom. There in the eye. And look, this is going to be now a downward
spiral for Lot, you know, who's already at a bad place. It's just going to get worse and worse as
we go through the chapters in Genesis, all right. But the first thing he did wrong was set his sights
on Sodom, pitched his tent towards Sodom. And let me ask you, brethren, when you wake up in the
morning, you know, which way is your tent pitched? You know, what's the first thing that you do in
the morning? As soon as you wake up, you know, is it the TV? You know, is it YouTube? Is it Facebook?
What is it that you look at as soon as you wake up? What's on your mind? Or is your tent pitched
toward the Word of God? Okay. And what we see, we're going to look at later on, that when Abraham
journeys, when he journeys, he builds another altar, okay. He makes sure that he's walking
with the Lord. He makes sure that he's right with God. He makes sure he continues to give
his sacrifice to the Lord. And that's how we ought to be. When you wake up in the morning,
the first thing we need to do is think of the Lord. Lord, this is a new day. Thank you for
this new day that you've given me. It's going to be challenging for whatever reasons. Lord,
help me get through the day. Help me read the Word. You know, just empower me. Fill me with
your Holy Ghost. And Lord, help me not to become worldly. Help those fleshly desires not to be
attached to me. Help me overcome those things. You know, lead me not into temptation, but deliver me
from evil. Those kinds of things you ought to be saying first thing in the morning. Do you think
God's going to help you if that's the first prayer that you have first thing in the morning?
Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay. And you know, every day is challenging. Every day, you know,
different jobs that you do, maybe homeschooling, all those things are challenging. Why don't you
start the day asking the Lord to help you? You know, pitch your tent toward the Lord and to
his Word. Verse number 14. Verse number 14. And the Lord said unto Abram,
after that lot was separated from him, lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou
look from the place where thou art northward and southward and eastward and westward,
and all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed forever. And we've
already covered the seed here represents the Lord Jesus Christ. We won't go into all that today.
But verse number 16. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number
the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Okay. Now, there are some references
in the Old Testament that speaks of, you know, the Old Testament, Old Testament Israel being like,
you know, a number that, you know, a number that no man can number. There are references of that
of Old Testament Israel. Okay. But you know how I told you the Book of Genesis and the Book of
Revelation really go hand in hand? A lot of the things the Book of Genesis sets up is closed off
by the Book of Revelation. And it just goes really well together. And what I want you to do now is go
to Revelation chapter seven, verse nine. Revelation chapter seven, verse nine. A lot of you guys are
familiar with this passage already. But Revelation chapter seven, verse nine. This is after the
rapture. Okay. After the Lord comes and raptures, you know, the believers from every nation.
It says in Revelation chapter seven, verse nine. After this, I beheld and lo a great multitude,
which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before
the throne and before the lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hands, and cried with a
loud voice saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne and unto the lamb. And so
what we see here is God promising Abram that his descendants or his seed, those that would be in
Christ would be an innumerable number. And we see in the Book of Revelation that innumerable number
of every tongue, of every tribe, of every nation. Okay. Because it doesn t matter what your
nationality is. It doesn t matter which part of the world you were born. If you re in Christ,
then you re Abraham s seed. Okay. You re Abraham s seed and Abraham is our Father in the faith.
All right. So I love how the Book of Revelation just closes that what Genesis had opened up. Okay.
Go back to Genesis 13, verse 17. Genesis 13, verse 17. Arise. God says this to Abraham. Arise.
Walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it and I will give it unto thee.
And Abram removed his tent and came and dwelt in the land of Mamre, which is Hebron, and built
there an altar unto the Lord. Okay. So just a comparison with Lot. Lot, when he journeyed,
he pitched his tent towards Sodom. When Abraham journeys, he s learned his lesson. All right. I
better always be in the house of the Lord. I always, you know, better be given my sacrifice,
my offerings to the Lord and wherever he goes, he comes and he builds, you know, an altar unto
the Lord. He always makes sure that the Lord is everywhere, you know, with him everywhere that
he goes. Okay. So let s take the lessons there between Abraham and Lot, the differences that
we see there in their behavior and let s be a little bit more like Abraham. All right. Let s
be a little bit more like Abraham. If we ever find ourselves out of the house of God, you know,
just remind yourself the Lord wants me in his house. I need to get back there where the blessings
are. Let s pray.