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Welcome to the live big broadcast with Derek Greer. We believe this teaching from God's Word will empower you to live a full, impactful life in Christ. Let's dig in.

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Genesis 13:1. So Abram went up from Egypt. Scholars suspect that Abraham stayed in Egypt for about four years or so, but his trip to Egypt ended up very much like a weekend in Las Vegas. Yeah, because it was in Egypt that Abraham traded his wife to Pharaoh for his own personal safety. It was also in Egypt that he picked up a slave girl named Hagar, who later became part of a very complicated love triangle. And then by the end of Abraham's trip, his witness was so damaged that he was lectured by a pagan king about all his misdeeds. But despite all that, while Abraham was in Vegas, somehow God graced him to hit the jackpot. Because Pharaoh made sure that Abraham did not leave his nation, his land, without first becoming a very, very wealthy man. And in Abraham's mess, God not only protected him, he prospered him. That might upset you, but I don't want you to be too surprised because most of us are not where we are today because we are so great, but because God's grace and mercy has been so great. So Abraham went up from Egypt. It's very easy to judge Abraham, but you have to remember everyone's journey has to start somewhere. And if you're familiar with the Bible, you know it was just in the last chapter that he met the Lord and the Lord spoke to him for himself. But what we discover in this narrative about Abraham is God is not seeking perfection. He's seeking only progress. Now, I may not be where I want to be, but thank God I'm not where I used to be. So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev with his wife and everything he had. And watch this last clause. And Lot went with him. It's easy to miss that if you weren't paying attention in the last chapter. Because in the last chapter, God gave Abraham very, very specific directions. Matter of fact, let's go back there to Genesis 12 and 1. So the Lord had said to Abram, who later became Abraham, go from your country, your people, but watch this last part and your fathers household. Now Lot was Abraham's nephew and part of his father's household. And when Abram's brother Haran died, it's likely that he adopted Lot, his nephew, to become his heir. But the promise was, or the problem was that God promised his own heir and that God would give him his own son. And if we Judge this decision by its fruit. We have to look back and say, well, maybe Abraham didn't get this right. Because in the end, we discover that Lot ended up sleeping with his two daughters. And from those two daughters, he gave birth to two tribes, Moab and Amnon. And both of these tribes became Israel's enemies. But what we also discover in these verses is God's grace is all embracing Ruth, who has her own book in the Bible. I mean, it's one thing to have a TV show. She got her own book in the Bible. She was a Moabitess or a Moabite. She was a descendant from the incest between Lot and his daughter. But she still became part of Christ's genealogy in the New Testament. And here's the big point. God is greater than your mistakes. God knows how to take your mistake and make something out of it. And the Lord said to Abram, go from your country, your people, and your father's house. Here, watch this. To the land I will. Future tense, meaning God had not shown him yet. It was something that was going to happen in the future that I will show you. We tend to want God to show us it all first. Then maybe, just maybe, if it sits just right with us, we'll go. But often God desires us and requires us to obey first, and he fills in the details later. And whenever God gives you clear directions, the greatest risk a person can take is to do nothing. Now that you have some background, you're ready for that verse. I started with Genesis 13:1. So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev. Vegas was behind him. His misdeeds were behind him. He left with his wife, which was amazing. God knows how to keep it together. If you know you really want to keep it together. Because she had every reason to leave Abraham and everything he had and Lot with him. And then it says, Abram became very, very wealthy while he was in Egypt. In livestock, in silver, in gold. And here's the important thing here. If God can take care of us when we're wrong, how much more will he take care of us when we start getting things right? And from the Negev, he went from place to place until he came to Beth El, to the place between Bethel and AI, where his tent watch this had been earlier. Despite his Vegas excursion, God was willing to bring him right back to the place he was right before his mess. And God will help you pick up right where you left off if you just be willing to let him get you back on track. So he's back At Bethel and a place between Bethel and AI. Watch this. Where he had first built an altar. He made mistakes, but Abraham remembered where he came from. Abraham remembered his first love. No matter how far you have strayed in life, your return trip starts with just the first step. And it was there, after Egypt that Abraham once again. And you can once again call on the name of the Lord. Romans 10:13 says, Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Peter cried, and it wasn't a long prayer. He was in crisis. He was about to cry. All he said was, lord, save me. And he didn't drown the two paralytics who had suffered with all types of bondage and challenges. All they cried out was, lord, save me. And they were what healed the thief on the cross. Getting what he deserved. He cried, lord remembered me. And he was instantly redeemed. Imagine what God might do for us today if we would just cry out to that name above every name that can be mentioned. Now, Lot, a guy that probably should not have been there in the first place. But what I want you to see is God gave both Abraham and Lot space to grow. Parents, particularly as your children get older, it's vital that you give them space to grow. Give them room to make their mistakes so they can remember how momma and dad taught them in their Christ. They cry out to that name above every name, and they find God for themselves. But sometimes you got to give them room to make some mistakes. God does not require perfection from his children, only improvement. Now, Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks, herds and tents. So the blessing on Abraham, God on Lot, and whatever is in the life of the people that you're moving with will eventually rub off on you. Show me the top five influencers in your life and I will show you your future. But a problem emerges. God's blessing them, his favor is on them. But the land, the Bible says, could not support them while they stayed together. Sometimes even good things require a breakup. That'll preach, won't it? A few years ago, Grace grew to over 5,000 members in a town that had a population of literally just a little bit over 5,000. And each weekend, thousands of multicolored people would travel. Some from West Virginia, Maryland, dc, of course, Virginia. All these diverse people would show up in this town. But for whatever reason, the powers that be were not happy about this. Their town was a little quaint town where they operated with a level of control. Didn't want all these outsiders that looked a little bit different than they looked. So over time, the leadership of the town started to not only resist our plans to expand, they began to fight us almost daily with new regulations. And after a while, I got tired of talking to the mayor. I got tired of going to the town council. Now they've changed town councils and, you know, it's a group there doing some great things. But at that time, I had to learn and our church had to learn. Sometimes you got to learn to cut the losses and move on. Now, unless you don't think that's in the Bible. Let's go to the book of Romans 12:18. It says this if it is possible, meaning some people are impossible, meaning it will not always be what Possible, if it's possible. But watch this. As much as it depends on you. So I need to make sure I'm not the problem. You gotta make sure you're not the problem as much as it depends on you. Live peaceably with all men. In other words, if I could put it in our today's vernacular, what he's saying is run from people who love drama, because before long you're going to end up in one of their episodes. So I was doing my best to live at peace and lawyers and all. I said, you know what? At this, you know, y' all not ready for peace. So we had to make a shift and a move. It went on. It says here in Genesis, it said, for their possessions were great. So great that they were not able to what, Stay together. It's okay to outgrow relationships you were once comfortable in. It's okay to sometimes outgrow places that you were once comfortable in. Growth is often uncomfortable, messy, and full of feelings that you weren't expecting. I'm sure when Abraham left Ur of the Chaldeans with Lot, he did not anticipate these types of problems. But he also did not anticipate these types of blessings. But then the next verse begins with these two words and quarreling. Everybody wants to make it big. But sometimes we don't really fully understand the underside of growth. Every coin has two sides, and the underside of growth is more people, more problems, more stuff, more problems. What did the Notorious B.I.G. write? He said, Mo money problems. The more God gives you, the more you must figure out how to manage. Proverbs 15:16 says this better is a little. Listen, I don't want an inch more than God has given me. If God's not in it, I don't want it. He said, better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasures with trouble. I only want What God gives me grace enough to handle. I'm about to say something. Some rudeness is coming up on the inside. I'm going to look this way, but some of y' all trying to work on a second woman and God, you don't even have adequate grace for the first woman. Why? Why you? I don't know where that came from. Why you? I don't want any more than I have grace to handle. You 60 year old man. Can you handle that? 35 year old. Do you have the grace? Don't know where that came from either. Someone livestreaming maybe. Sometimes a downsize is an upgrade, particularly if God hasn't given it to you in the first place. Back to Genesis 13:7. And quarreling arose. Stuff happens. Even Jesus, I mean he's the Jesus and his disciples were bickering and quarreling and arguing. Wherever you have people, you're going to have problems. And quarreling arose between Abram's herders and lots. You see, in seasons of growth, conflict is inevitable. Growth is never free. It always comes with a price and a cause. Proverbs 14:4 tells us more. It says this. Where there is no oxen, the trough clean. Now, oxen in the ancient world and the developing world today represented the doers of the hardest work on the farm. These were the tractors of yesteryear. And the point he was making is with the tractor comes some diesel. The point he's making is with progress comes some mess. And if you need everything to be picture perfect all the time, do not expect to accomplish much. You know, when I was single, it was much easier for me to keep the house dean clean, but have some children. Progress is messy, but as you progress, you gotta learn to sometimes ignore your critics and take the risk of facing problems that come in with doing the right things, perhaps imperfectly, rather than living with the regret that comes with doing nothing at all. I don't want to sit on my deathbed or lay on my deathbed being haunted by the ghost of regret. The ghost that woulda, shoulda, coulda. But I was too afraid of what people might think and I didn't want to look a certain way. So I didn't take the step that not only God told me, he revealed it in scripture and other people confirmed it, he said over and over and over again. But I was too concerned about feeling uncomfortable for a moment. I was feeling too concerned about people not understanding that I never took the step. But then he continues, but much increase comes by the strength of an ox. The problem with an ox is it leaves things behind. And sometimes in inappropriate places. The problem with farm animals is they smell. But you have a choice to make. You can deal with the inconvenience of the mess that comes with progress, the smell that comes with progress, or you could stay in your little neat box and never go anywhere. What the scriptures are teaching us is getting it done is worth it. It's worth the mess that comes with the oxygen. Your marriage is worth the argument necessary for y' all to go to the next level. Abraham did some things wrong, but at least he got in the game. In your marriage, in your singleness, in your raising children, you're gonna do things wrong, but at least you're in the game of life, trying to live and trying to learn. If you want perfect, you're not going to experience it this side of glory. Genesis 13:7. And quarreling arose between Abram's herders and Lot. Now it seems that Abraham and Lot were okay. The problem was really between their people. But Abraham had enough wisdom to understand that, you know, the problem between their people would eventually impact their relationship too. Because, you know, negativity is as contagious as the flu. I mean, it's easy to catch. It's not something you want, but you could catch it like that without thinking about it, never even intending to. It's so easy to catch. And it goes on. It says the Canaanites and the Perizzites were also living in the land at that time. So people were watching. But if you know people, they're also very interested often in taking sides. People love a fight. And he didn't want, you know, the neighboring peoples to come in and, you know, align with, you know, Lot against Abraham. It just make the mess worse. So Abraham said to Lot, let's not have any quarreling between you and me. This is important. Our relationships should be more important than our stuff. Your relationship should even be more important than money. This is something I learned in my life. I will not lend anyone more money than I'm willing to forgive. If I can't forgive it and get on with the relationship, I won't give it. Yeah, Our relationships matter more than stuff. But also if you're wise and you look for it, a new opportunity is hidden in every problem. Never waste a crisis just sitting in self pity. Because there is a silver lining in every cloud. There's always something that God is trying to bring out of your difficulty. The worst event that ever happened was when humankind decided that it would crucify God. The biggest problem Jesus ever Faced in his life started at Gethsemane, droplets of blood, conflicted. He was brutally tortured. It was the worst thing that people could do to someone innocent. But out of the worst thing came the greatest thing history has ever known. Our redemption was attached to Jesus going through a crisis and a problem and keeping his head up through it. He said, let's not have any quarreling between you and me or between your herders and mine. Watch this, for we are close relatives. We are family. Again, our relationship should matter more than who's right. There's no conversation about they got to the bottom of who was right, who was wrong. What they understood is the relationship mattered more. And sometimes you just gotta take it on a chin and say, you matter more to me than you agreeing with me about who's right, who's wrong. And you just gotta love each other and get on with it and hope maybe over time it will resolve itself. But I just want to say to you, being right is often overrated, and being right is seldom worth the entire relationship. So Abraham has a liberal heart, and he says, is not the whole land before you? So he's like, listen, we're stuck in this tight place, but there's a big old place out there, and if you're miserable in this tight spot, maybe you need to go somewhere else. And sometimes common sense is a word from the Lord. Stay with me while I'm preaching better than you're saying Amen right now. You see, when we're willing to leave unnecessary baggage behind, life becomes a whole lot lighter. And yes, we'll have moments where we don't want to do the right thing, but if it's always something's wrong. And then Abram said. He said, if you go to the left, I'll go to the right. Man, I'm not fighting with you over who gets what. You go there, I'm going to go over there. You know, you move to Connecticut, I'll move to Georgia. You know what I'm saying? There's room enough for all of us to be happy. They said, if you go right, I'll also go left. Again, they weren't interested in whose hurters were right or wrong. They just wanted to find a way to preserve the relationship and live in peace. I didn't understand this as well when I was younger, because I was like, I could do it by myself. I could do it alone. But relationships are a multiplier. Good relationships make good things in life better, but also bad relationships make bad things in life feel even worse. Meaning you Know, if I get a promotion on a job, you know, I'm excited, but I'm not as excited as when I could share it with someone I love. I tell my wife, and we're excited together, and it just makes the whole thing better. But if I'm having a hard day at the job and there's all this uncertainty, and I'm not sure if they're gonna send me an email tomorrow, and then I come home to a marriage that's miserable, it just makes things harder. I know. Yeah. What do you do with that? Relationships are a multiplier, and it's vital that we invest, not just, you know, kind of wish that our relationship was better. Invest in making our relationships better so we can live better and stronger lives. Stay with me. I only have two more verses, and I will let you off the operating table. So Lot looked around and saw that the whole plane of the Jordan towards Zorah was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like Eden, like the land of Egypt, which was the major power of the day. I mean, this, you know, this is like Dubai, you know, back in the day. But what we see here is Lot may have been with Abraham for years, but he never really caught Abraham's spirit. You see, an opportunist disguised as a friend or family member is worse than an enemy. And then there's a little parenthesis, y', all, like my little monkey. He said, this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. You see, everything Lot had was because Abraham. But if we don't look out for those who look out for us, we'll always end up headed in the wrong direction. A writer said ingratitude is more despicable than revenge, because revenge is evil for evil, while ingratitude returns evil for good. It's important. Outside of love. Outside of love, no two things are more important, more valuable than loyalty and trust. So Lot watch this. Chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. So he's looking out for him, looking out for number one. Everything he got is because of Abraham. Abraham raised him and all the rest. But he's like, well, you know what? I'm going to take the best, old man. You figure it out. And the two men parted company. But what I want you to see here is the conflict between these two men help get Abraham back on track with the purposes of God. Our conflict with the town is the only reason we're in this building today. Your pain and your problem has a purpose. God pushes you sometimes. Out of the nest so you could discover your wings. If certain things have not or had not happened, you would have never learned how to fly. Right now, you're looking at circumstances in your life, and you can't see any redeeming value. But let me tell you something. You will look back and fly five years and see how God worked it all together for good. And somehow, in the midst of your pain, his wisdom was at work, his hand was moving. And because of it, your. Your life's been reset and you're once again in the purposes of God. This is important. If the problem you're facing in your life can be resolved or solved with action, you don't really have a problem. Inaction is the problem. You need to just take the step. Verse 12, and I'm going to try to stop the bleeding. And Abraham lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain. And he pitched his tent near Sodom. Notice he started out just near, just on the outskirts. But he started looking at and admiring Sodom. For those of us that know the Bible, no, he didn't stay on the outside asylum. He eventually moved in. Disloyalty matters. Sin will take you further than you want to go and keep you longer than you want to stay and cost you more than you want to pay. But for loyal but flawed Abraham, Sometimes we think if we just get everything right, you know, God will make everything right. We're all in progress. God has patience with us. And we also sometimes need to have patience with ourselves. And sometimes God's not just looking for you being perfect. He's looking for higher character traits. And what we see is, you know, Abraham messed up, but he was a loyal man. Loyalty has its value with God. But for this loyal but flawed man, God used his problems to get him back on track. All of our victories, all victories come out of somehow finding an opportunity in the problem. Most inventions, they got tired of candles and the wicks and the smoke in the house, so they started trying to come up with another solution. And we come up with a light bulb, and then we have these light bulbs that only last for like 60 days, it seems. So they say, let's come up with a different type of bulb. In the problem is an opportunity that we gotta seek and find. And I don't know what you're facing today exactly, but I can tell you, according to scripture, somewhere hidden in the.