The Choices of a World Changer - I

The following message from Pastor Greg Laurie is made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. If you would like to know how you can become a Harvest Partner, just go to Harvest.org.

That's Harvest.org. When I'm around a Christian, I expect more. When I'm around someone who professes to be a follower of Christ, I am hoping that they're going to reflect that in the way that they live. Does anyone call you on the phone whose call you try to avoid?

Besides telemarketers. We know some conversations will be tense, or maybe discouraging. Here's a question. Is there anyone who tries to avoid your call?

Ouch. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us consider the way others respond to us. In every encounter we have with people, we can either bring them closer to God, or just the opposite.

Good insight coming your way. This is the day. The day when life begins. Number two. Marrying my wife, Kathy. That's number two right up there. No doubt. Number three. Not wearing the toupee that was custom-made for me.

This is true. Someone made me a toupee. Why, you ask?

Well, I didn't request it. But my friend, Dennis Eggigenian, who's watching right now. Hey, Dennis. How's it going?

Talk to him this morning. He had a toupee made. And he goes, Greg, you need to get one of these toupees.

They're really amazing. And I'm doing Dennis' voice. And he says, Buddy, the guy who makes them is a Christian. I'm like, I can't wear a toupee. No, Buddy, I'll get one made for you.

You'll do it for free. Sure enough, this guy makes me a toupee. You know, as far as toupees go, it wasn't the worst I've ever seen.

It wasn't bad at all. And I felt very self-conscious wearing it because on the inside of the toupee it said, made for Pastor Greg Laurie. And Dennis said, praise the Lord, exclamation mark.

I'm like, really? So one time we were out and I said, I'm going to wear this thing. So I wore it.

We went to Costco. And the wind was blowing really hard that night. And it was lifting off the back of my head. You know that? That's just a buzzkill when your hair is flipping up in the back. Wow. And I just envisioned that thing flying off and landing in someone's lap. Made for Pastor Greg Laurie. Praise the Lord.

So that was a good decision to not wear that for sure. There's a lot of bad business decisions that have been made. I read about an opportunity that came to the Mars Candy Company. I remember the film E.T. E.T.

falling home. Remember that movie? The Little Alien. Well E.T. liked to eat candy.

Remember? So Steven Spielberg who directed E.T. went to the Mars Candy Company and said, would you like to have your candy M&M's featured in E.T. They said, no.

We don't want it. They didn't think the film would do well. So Spielberg went over to Reese's Pieces and sales of their candy went up 65 percent the same month the film was released.

Bad decision. I read about an executive at Decca Records. I was given an opportunity to audition a new band. He listened to them.

He wasn't that impressed. He said, guitar groups are on their way out. Well Capitol Records scooped them up. In the first year they sold 38 million dollars worth of records and since then they have sold 65 million records. You probably heard of them. They are called the Beatles. That was a bad decision.

Guitar groups are on their way out. I bet that guy was on his way out after he made that decision. Another bad decision was when the Trojans accepted a gift from the Greeks. The Greek army were trying to get into the impenetrable city of Troy to no avail.

So they came up with a plan. They would build a large wooden horse known as the Trojan horse and they put some soldiers in there and they came up to the folks of Troy and said, we have a gift for you. And they accepted the gift strangely enough and brought it into the city and then the Greek army acted as though they were retreating. So the people of Troy are thinking, man those Greeks are awesome. They are gone and they left us this great gift. Thank you people of Greece.

Goodbye. And then of course there were soldiers inside of the Trojan horse who came out, opened the doors, let the Greek army in and the city fell. But one of the worst decisions ever happened to a group known as the Donner Party. You ever heard of them? These were pioneers back in April of 1846. Ninety pioneers in twenty covered wagons made the journey from Chicago to California.

Not an easy journey but something that was doable. Many were on their way to our state back in those days. This is before the California gold rush broke out.

And brothers Jacob and George Donner were leading the party. So they began their journey on the California trail. That was the way most people came to California. But they met some random person who told them there was a shortcut, which they took, which resulted in them ending up, many of them freezing to death.

Forty out of eighty-seven died and many of the survivors actually turned to cannibalism. So beware of wooden horses, shortcuts, and toupees. Ok. We are all going to face the three C's of life. Challenges, choices, and consequences. Again challenges, choices, and consequences.

Those challenges may come as an opportunity or a temptation. The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which bridge to burn because choices are important as we will see in the story before us. Here we have side by side two believers. Abraham and Lot. One Abraham most of the time made the right choices in life. And the other Lot made a series of wrong choices that he lived to regret, which just goes to show that your choices do matter.

And God will show you the choice to make but it is still up to you to act on that choice. Back when I was in school I hated pop quizzes because I was never prepared. I never did my homework. I was not a good student. I have a granddaughter, Allie, who loves school. It is her first year in school. Her sister was off for the day. She goes to a different school. And so we were babysitting them. And I said, Allie, you can take the day off from school today and be with your sister. And she said, No. I want to go to school. And I looked at her and I thought, Are you related to me?

How did this happen? I was so impressed. But she loves to go to school. And I never liked those pop quizzes. I like those open book tests where you can actually find the answers. Well God effectively gives an open book test to all of us. And He says over in Deuteronomy 30, 19, I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life that you and your children may live.

I love that. God says, Ok. Here is your choice. Life or death. Blessings or curses. By the way the right answer is choose life.

I am giving you the answer. But we still cast the deciding vote by what we do. And it is so true. God says choose life that you and your children may live. Because your choices affect not only you but your children.

And potentially your grandchildren and your great grandchildren. Ungodly decisions can impact a family for generations. Godly decisions can impact a family for generations as well.

So now let's look at the world changer who made the right choices. Let's go to Hebrews 11 verse 8. We come back to Abraham. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he would receive as an inheritance.

And he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country. Dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob. The heirs with him of the same promise.

We will stop there. Abraham is uniquely introduced to us in Scripture as the friend of God. And one day God said to His friend Abraham that He wanted him to follow him and leave his life of paganism and worship of false gods and leave his family and pack his bags and go. God said I want you and your wife Sarah to go to this land. You don't even know where the land is.

I will reveal that to you later. I want you to go. And Abraham obeyed sort of. He did leave. That was a big step. He did leave his family.

That was a bigger step. But he took one family member along with him and that was Lot. Lot was his nephew. And Lot had a detrimental effect on his uncle.

Just how did Lot bring his uncle down? Pastor Greg will answer that in just a moment. Stay with us. Many listeners write or call us to share how Pastor Greg's lessons are helping them minister to people in their own lives. Dear Greg, thank you for all your wonderful teachings. I listen to you on the radio in northern New York and have passed on your messages to all my friends and family. God has put me in an arena of influence because he knows that I'm not ashamed of the gospel or of the name of Jesus Christ. Your messages have given me great insight on how to speak the truth in such an interesting way that people begin to ask me questions. How fun and how wonderful is our savior? I've ordered 20 of your books to place in my healthcare professional's libraries and also as an encouragement for folks who are scared in this season.

God bless you. It really is a privilege to bring these studies your way. Do you have a story that you'd like to share with Pastor Greg? If so, would you take a moment to write us? Email him at Greg at Harvest dot org.

That's Greg at Harvest dot org. Well, we're being introduced to Abraham and his nephew Lot today. Pastor Greg is presenting a message called The Choices of a World Changer.

Let's continue. We all know certain people that build us up when we're around them spiritually. And we all know people that sort of drag us down when we're around them spiritually. You know, if you go out for dinner with certain people, you come away feeling closer to the Lord. Built up in your faith, other people, they kind of pull you down. I think of all the people I've had the opportunity to meet and get to know.

And I've been able to meet a lot of wonderful, godly men and women that have impressed me deeply. But then I know other people who are Christians, by the way, who are always ticked off about something. You know, they're always mad at someone. They remind me of Don Quixote tilting at windmills. You know, they always have to have an adversary or a nemesis. And I get really weary of that, okay, when it's always this person's doing that or that.

They're always upset about something. Some people pull you down and after you've been with them, you're not looking forward to being with them again. And other people, man, they build you up and you feel closer to the Lord.

Lot was one of those guys that was dragging Abraham down. 2 Timothy 2.22 says, run from anything that stimulates youthful lust. Follow anything that makes you want to do what's right. Listen, pursue faith and love and peace and enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.

Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts. So here's my question for you. What kind of influence are you having on people? Are you a godly influence or an ungodly influence? Are you building others up or are you one of those people that drags them down?

Now let's reverse it. What kind of influence are people having on you? Are you more like Abraham, the friend of God, or Lot, the compromiser?

Are you a world changer, as I've asked before, or is the world changing you? Now having said that, this does not mean we should not have relationships with nonbelievers. Because Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 5.9, when I wrote to you before I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. Listen, but I wasn't talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin or those who are greedy or are swindlers or are idol worshippers. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. What I meant to say was you should not associate, listen, with anyone who claims to be a Christian yet indulges in sexual sin or is greedy or worships idols or is abusive or is a drunkard or a swindler. Don't even eat with such people. Listen, I expect nonbelievers to behave like nonbelievers. So I'm not shocked when I'm working out at the gym and some guy talks to me and uses some profanity.

Oh I can't believe you said that. Why aren't you more Christ-like? Because he is not a Christian yet. So I want to establish dialogue. I want to engage him.

I want to ultimately reach him. I don't expect him to exhibit the behavior of a follower of Jesus. But when I'm around a Christian I expect more. When I'm around someone who professes to be a follower of Christ I am hoping that they are going to reflect that in the way that they live.

So here is the dynamic in the story we are about to consider. Lot was not a nonbeliever. Lot was a believer albeit a compromising one. And that is why Abraham told him to separate from him. In Genesis 12 one God said to Abraham, Get out of your country and from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you.

But again as I told you he brought Lot along. Now in the absence of his father because Lot left his father he probably looked to Abraham as a father figure. And to Abraham's credit there was something in this great patriarch that Lot so admired and he wanted to be around this godly man. Well this godly man Abraham took a detour he shouldn't have taken remember.

Instead of continuing on in his journey to the land God was leading him to he took a detour down to Egypt. That is because a famine came in the land and he said to his beautiful wife Sarah, Hey when you see the Egyptians tell them you are my sister because if they find it you are my wife they will kill me and take you into Pharaoh's Hara. Sure enough the Egyptians come along and spot the gorgeous Sarah and Abraham goes with his lie.

Sarah strangely goes along with it. And then a series of plagues come on the house of Pharaoh and he rebukes Abraham and says get out of here. Take your family and leave my country. And this is where the conflict between Abraham and Lot now began to develop. And now we are going to go back to Genesis 13.

I had your turn there as well. So flip over to Genesis 13. And we are going to read verses 1 to 13. And by the way I am reading from the New Living Translation. So Abraham left Egypt.

It says Abram. But I will say Abraham because his name was later changed. Abraham left Egypt and traveled north into the Negev along with his wife and Lot and all they owned. Abraham was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold from the Negev. They continued traveling by stages toward Bethel and they pitched their tents between Bethel and Ai where they had camped before.

That is the same place where Abraham had built the altar and worshiped the Lord again. Lot who was traveling with Abraham had become very wealthy with flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, and many tents. But the land could not support both Abraham and Lot with all the flocks and herds living so close together. So disputes broke out between the herdsmen of Abraham and Lot. At that time Canaanites and Perizzites were living in the land. Finally Abraham said to Lot, Let's not allow this conflict to come among us or our herdsmen.

After all we are close relatives. The whole countryside is open to you. Take your choice of any section of the land you want and we will separate. If you want to go to the left I will take the land on the right. If you prefer the land on the right then I will go to the left.

Look at this. Lot took a long look at the fertile plains of the Jordan River and the direction of Zoar. The whole area was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord or the beautiful land of Egypt. So Lot took the land that reminded him of Egypt. That is before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot chose for himself the whole Jordan Valley to the east of them and he went there with his flocks and his servants and parted company with his uncle Abraham. So Abraham settled in the land of Canaan and Lot moved his tents to a place near Sodom and settled among the cities of the plain but the people of the area were extremely wicked and continually sinned against the Lord. We will stop there. So here is the operative statement for the moment.

You make your choices and then your choices make you. So here is Abraham and Lot. They have acquired great wealth. They have become very prosperous. There is nothing wrong with prospering because if you work hard and you invest your money and you save and you tithe and you honor the Lord and you live a life of integrity it is very likely that you are going to do well in life financially.

Some may be better than others. But God is going to bless you as you honor biblical principles. So it should not come as a shock that God would bless someone. Lot prospered and Abraham prospered. But the reaction to it was different. You see Abraham had possessions but possessions had Lot.

It just comes down to the person. Some people may have a lot and not be all that attached to it. They understand it came from the Lord. They understand it could be taken back from the Lord.

So their touch is light. But others man they hang on to everything. They pinch every penny. They hoard. They are like Gollum in the Lord of the Rings. Right? My precious. Got that ring. Don't you dare try to pry it from their fingers.

They are all about that stuff. And that was Lot. See the reality between Abraham and Lot was not caused by the land or the famine or their wealth or even their encouragement.

The heart of every problem is the problem of the heart. And Lot's heart was in this world as evidence by where he ended up living. Abraham was content with his Lot. But Lot wanted a lot more. Lot wanted stuff. Abraham wanted God.

What do you want? See if you seek God first. If you seek Him and His kingdom first. What does Jesus promise? All these things shall be added unto you. But if you are all about getting that stuff and getting ahead and being successful and on you go.

Then you are going to lose twice. You won't get the Lord. And very likely you won't get the stuff you want. And even if you get the stuff you want you probably won't be satisfied with it because you will still want more stuff.

And this was the problem with Lot. He wanted to have all this world offers but he still wanted friendship with God. And the Bible warns in James 4 for you adulterers don't you realize friendship with the world makes you an enemy with God. I say it again if that is your aim to enjoy this world you can't be a friend of God.

So make a decision. Do you want to be God's friend or do you want to be the world's friend? Good insight for our lives today based on what we are seeing in the lives of Abraham and Lot. Pastor Greg Laurie with his message called The Choices of a World Changer. It's part of his World Changer series here on A New Beginning. And if you missed any part of today's insight you can hear this presentation again online at harvest.org.

Just look for that title The Choices of a World Changer. Or for a copy on CD call 1-800-821-3300. We can take your call anytime 24 hours a day at 1-800-821-3300. And then we're happy to have some special guests joining us in the studio today. Pastor Greg and I are joined by Pastor Greg's wife Kathy. Kathy glad you're joining us. It's good to be here. And Pastor Greg why don't you introduce our other two guests.

I'm speaking with our special guests Shanti and Jeff Feldhahn. And they've written a very important book that I want to put in your hands. The title of it is Thriving in Love and Money. There's a statement very early on in the book. And I find this very interesting because you would look at this and think oh this is a book about money. And it is and in another way it isn't because this statement is made here's the truth about everything we'll be covering. When we have conflict around money it's not about the money.

So Shanti why don't you explain that statement. Yeah actually in this research because this was based on this three year research project to try to dig out like how do you have a great relationship around money right. And for me and Jeff this had been a big deal in our marriage and that's really the one sentence summary of the reason why that this is such a big issue in so many marriages is that when you're having tension about money it's not about the money. It turns out it's about how money makes you feel and how it makes your spouse feel.

There's a host of like expectations and beliefs about how money should work or insecurities or worries or all these other feelings that are running under the surface and we don't even know they're there. But that's really what's coming out whenever there's those tensions or fighting or like me and Jeff we didn't fight about it. We just kind of. Didn't talk about it.

We just avoided it. I mean we could have titled it if it was the book about our life. We could have said coping with money as opposed to thriving.

Because we did anything but thrive. So folks you're listening to Shanti and Jeff Feldhahn and they've written a book called Thriving and Loving Money. It's about money. It's about those things that you deal with but it's all about relationships. It's about trust. It's about communication. It's about life and this is something that you need to have in your hands and we want to send it to you.

Listen for no charge. I will send you this book for whatever you send. Now I would encourage you to be generous in ordering your copy because we'll use those resources to invest in the kingdom of God. But we will rush you your own copy of Thriving and Love and Money subtitled Five Game Changing Insights about your relationship, your money and yourself.

Yeah that's right and it's such welcome news for any family where money is a point of tension. Take advantage of the five practical principles spelled out in Thriving and Love and Money and we'll send it to thank you for your donation of any size. We just want you to have this resource and we'll put your donation to work helping more people through a new beginning each day.

You can write us at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514 or call us anytime 24-7 at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org. Hey everybody Greg Laurie here inviting you to join me every weekend for what we call Harvest at Home. It's a church service, it's a worship service, it's a Bible study and it's wherever you want it to be. In your home, in your car, sitting on a beach, walking down the street, watching it on your phone, wherever you are you can take it with you and be ministered to every weekend. Join us for Harvest at Home at harvest.org. Well next time more on the choices of a world changer as Pastor Greg continues this message contrasting Abraham's pathway with Lot's. That's next time on A New Beginning. This is the day, the day when life begins. The preceding message from Greg Laurie was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for Pastor Greg's free daily email devotions at harvest.org.