Alright, if you'll open your Bibles with me to Genesis chapter 13, Genesis chapter 13
is where we're going to be.
We're going to be looking at the life of Abram and Lot, and we'll be looking at family
rights, and that'll be our topic for tonight, and so we'll be getting on to it.
So what I need to know, first of all, the very first thing is I need some of the causes
of conflict.
Causes of family conflicts, so don't be surprised if I call on you.
Yes, how are you?
And your name is?
Michelle.
Michelle, nice to have you here, Michelle.
Michelle, give us the first answer tonight.
What is one of the causes of conflict?
Stress.
Stress, but what causes stress?
Mourn a dog.
No.
Alright.
And when that interfaces with the neurons.
Yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about.
There you go.
Yes.
Religion.
That's not one of my answers, but I'll take it.
Yes, ma'am.
Money.
Absolutely.
Yes, sir.
Pride.
Jealousy.
You hear that?
Okay, it's a good one.
Yes, ma'am.
Polite.
Oh.
Whoa.
I better go back.
Now for that one, politics.
Even the first one I can.
Whoa.
There are many emotions.
Motions that come from money, a lack of, or for some people too much of.
Okay.
Anger.
Misunderstandings.
Pardon me?
Favoritism.
Very good.
I like that.
Guilt.
Anger.
Historical stuff.
Things from the past that unsolved the unresolved conflict.
Jealousy.
And many other actions.
All these things, and on and on and on, can cause conflict within families.
And we're going to be looking at some of those tonight, and particularly conflicts that's
going to involve Abram and Lott.
So we'll be looking at that.
So, many eruptions of anger or dysfunction in the workplace.
And we're going to be looking at some of the most horrific sporting activities, like booing
the umpire.
Who's ever done that?
Some of you are really telling the truth.
Some of you are not.
Unconstructive conversations can stem from unresolved family conflict.
And so from the insight of the book of Genesis tonight, we're going to be looking at, we're
going to be looking at family conflicts rather than avoiding, denying, fleeing, blaming,
or repeating.
We'll be looking at all these conflicts and how they look.
Okay.
So navigating family conflicts.
Avoiding family conflict.
Some people just voted by many things.
We're going to be discussing that.
Denying, fleeing, blaming, repeating.
So avoiding family conflict.
Avoiding the subject or sitting further away from each other does not solve anything, does
it?
Have you ever been to a church or been to a setting or someplace where the husband is
sitting here and the wife is sitting here?
And they're just smiling like smiling and everything is just, but there's, there's, why, why wouldn't,
the president talking about you, Judy?
This is going to be a long night.
The wife is sitting over there and the husband is sitting over here.
Wow.
But it doesn't solve anything.
Okay.
Denying family conflict.
You can deny all you want or delay the inevitable, but it takes work to repair and restore broken
relationships, broken fellowship.
Okay.
So that's another one of the things that we're going to be looking at tonight.
Avoiding.
Did I go the wrong way?
Yeah, I did.
Fleeing family conflict.
You know people that run away from their problems or they try to avoid them?
And so you can run, but you cannot hide.
And then there's always the blame game.
Yeah.
Blaming someone else.
You know, we can be very accurate about other people's faults.
Amen.
I can spot Justin's fault a mile away.
Right?
Look at that.
That guy, he's this and he's that.
And everybody goes, yeah, that's right.
That's right.
So we can see that, but then, but the only thing that or the problem we have with it next is
that we excuse ourselves from that and we excuse ourselves from that responsibility of conflict.
Would you get that please?
Amy, you're causing conflict.
And then there's the whole idea of repeating family conflict.
His fault, her fault, their fault, but not me.
And so for ourselves and others, we need to desire that we stop making mistakes and repeating
the conflict only brings pain.
So we'll be looking at some of that tonight.
Okay.
So families make up a very large part of our culture.
And our culture is shifting because now a family can be a mother and kids.
It can be Steve and Steve and kids.
It can be many multiple other designs that have been brought about by our culture, social
order, different things like that.
But there's one fact that still remains.
There are no perfect families.
Wow.
Have you met a family that you thought, man, they're as close as they can get it.
But if we were, if we had the ability to sift through the inertia of all the fluff, we could see that
everybody's got something in their life that's messed up.
And so we're going to be able to find a way through these.
And tonight, hopefully we will be able to grab some insights that we can take with us.
So we're going to trust God when challenged over your rights or your possessions.
What are, give me some rights.
What are your rights?
Right to free speech.
What are your rights?
Freedom of religion.
Randy, what's your right?
John's going to take up for you.
Okay, a good meal.
I'm not going to say anything.
Did you guys come together, by the way?
You're right not.
There are two counseling sessions, the pastor.
Okay, we can only do what, that when we adapt these three values.
And we're going to look at those values tonight.
The first value is care.
Seek to be a peacemaker.
I am the oldest of the last three.
So I have three brothers and sisters up here and I got the next three.
And I'm number one.
I'm number two.
I have three brothers and sisters up here and I got the next three.
And I'm number one of three in the last of the three.
That's my claim to fame.
The oldest of the last three.
So tonight in our study, we're going to be looking at this man Abram.
So if you'll go with me to Genesis chapter 13, verses five through eight.
I'm going to start off in verse three and read five through eight because, excuse me, verse one,
I want more than I want to try to squeeze in.
And Abram went up out of Egypt.
He and his wife and all that he had and lot with him into the south.
Genesis chapter 13 verse one, verse two, and Abram was very rich and cattle and silver and in gold.
And he went on his journey from the south, even to Bethel and to the place where his tents had been at the beginning between Bethel and Hayi.
And to the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.
This was the first instance where Abraham actually took the opportunity to when God spoke with him.
But here we have him calling upon the name of the Lord.
It's an act of worship.
It's an act of coming to the God of glory, the God of heaven, the God of earth and making petitions with him.
Now verse five and lot also which went with Abram had flocks and herds and tents.
So you've got Abram who is very well off and his nephew lot, the brother Heron, who had died.
And we can infer that Abraham had maybe adopted lot because he's traveling with him and he left other family members and lot came with him.
And so verse six, and the land was not able to bear them that they might dwell together.
Further substance was great so that they could not dwell together.
That's a very key word there, not dwell together.
Now, and there was a strike between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle and the Canaanites and the Parasites.
Dwelled then in that land.
And Abram said unto Lot, Let not there be strife.
I pray thee between me and thee and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen for we are brother.
And so we see that there's something about this man Abraham.
Even though he is very well off, he's got plenty.
The Lord has blessed him.
Question.
So God blessed Abraham.
Was it because Abraham was so good?
Does God bless us because we're good?
Does God punish us because we're good?
Got you off the cart, didn't I?
Does God punish us a whole from us when we're not good?
Let's leave that right there for just a second.
I'm going to come back to it.
Abraham, Abram, I'm squealing.
Abram, even though he was very well off and God had blessed him, had something about him that many of us probably wish we had.
He had a humble spirit.
And he saw the contention and the strife between his herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen.
Pitter in your mind if you would.
Sheep all over this area here.
We've got the herdsmen from Abram.
We've got the herdsmen from Lot.
We've got this one watering hole.
And Lot's sheep get there first.
Abram's sheep come behind.
And his herdsmen drives away those sheep.
And those herdsmen of Lot gets upset.
So what do you have going on?
Conflict.
And the conflict is there because they both have a right.
Now this is what's really key.
They both have a right to the water.
But they don't have the right to push someone else away.
I have lots of rights.
I have a right to want a good meal at my house too.
But that might mean going out.
My wife has a right not to have to cook.
We all have rights.
But who's right in a situation like that?
Is it first come, first serve in this life?
It shouldn't be.
But is the first always given more grace
and things go better because they got their first?
I was their first.
I mean, when I was a small boy, I had it first.
I was here first.
You can't cut in line.
Get behind me.
Compromise.
Compromise to a four-year-old.
How does that work?
You're smiling.
How does that work?
Tell me.
That's the question.
It depends on the four-year-old.
Oh boy.
It depends on the adult.
But there was contention.
And there was, next thing you know, these guys are fighting over
who can get to the water first.
And they're just, things are not developing right.
And Abram saw that there was a problem.
He said, until a lot, let there be no strife, I pray,
between me and thee.
Notice he said, me and thee.
Because it could have soon escalated to where lots,
herdsmen come to, come to a lot.
Abraham, herdsmen, they come.
And next thing you know, they're saying what the other did.
And then you got a problem brewing.
And so Abram has something that we learn in scripture,
Matthew 5.9.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.
Peacemakers.
What is Dave a peacemaker?
Don't answer yet.
I'm going to ask somebody else.
What is a peacemaker?
Don't answer.
And what is a peacemaker?
You're number three.
Dave, peacemaker.
Someone who is a better, less stressful than what they might be.
Yes, sir.
A soft answer.
Yes, sir.
Trying to make peace between the two.
And those situations, soft answer.
Proper 15-1.
So that peacemaker is trying to bring.
So when you were growing up, you ever have conflict?
We all said yes, amen.
How did you resolve it?
Yes, how did you resolve your conflict?
You fight with them.
And you?
Oh gosh, did you beat them up?
I usually told them.
Told one of them.
So Abraham saw that if he didn't do something, there was going to be big problems.
Sometimes just getting it out, that soft answer, going to that other person and saying,
we may have a problem.
Getting it out to where people can at least digest it in small bites rather than big bites.
But often this requires sacrifice.
It takes a Christ-like, meagerness, faith, insurable trust in God that God can work things out.
A whole lot better than I can work them out.
He will and he can work them out.
When I was growing up, my dad was a Baptist preacher and I can remember having conflicts in our family.
Yes.
And I remember my dad so clearly said to me, Justin, he said, you know, if you don't back off, you'll be wrong and not her.
Wait a minute.
She treated me wrong.
She lied on me and that was wrong.
And he said, be careful because you'll be wrong.
How does that work?
Randy, how can John do something to you?
You have responsibility of yourself.
So John can treat me bad and I have to take it.
I don't have to take it.
What do I do then?
John, you bother me.
You're egotistical.
Let's work it out.
I'm a humble guy.
You bring me a chocolate chip cookie.
He just won my heart over.
Being a peacemaker is not easy.
It's not.
Sometimes you have to take a deep swallow.
I've got a brother in Christ that he and I have philosophical conversations occasionally.
And the last time we talked, he and the other, so there was three of us on this call, we were talking and we were having a great time, I thought.
And then they started siding against me.
I was like, whoa. And I wanted to so bad say, hey guys, you're kind of leaving me out of the conversation and you're putting me down.
But we hung up before I could get what was on my mind and on my chest.
I got to call him back and complain. And I was convicted two Sundays ago because of the sermon that our pastor preached because he was preaching only to me that morning.
And I thought, you know, they did some things to me that wasn't right. But that's okay.
And it was hard to get to that point. Trust me. I think some of you tonight would even say this hard.
What about that in North Carolina? Is that hard? You know it was wrong what they did.
And you say, it's okay. And the next time you're with them, you smile and you treat them nice.
This is just basic. Get along 101. Get along 101. Yeah. Very base stuff. Sage advice.
I'm just throwing this out there. Want to see what you think. If you don't defend yourself, who will? God will.
A question that's asked in many marriage counseling sessions. Do you want to be right? Or do you want to be married?
You want to be right? Do you want to be married? I've been married 48 years. I've been wrong a lot.
And sometimes I embrace my wrong. Sometimes being right, being favored, or winning the property line battle is just not worth it.
Case in point. Property owner bills fence through pool. This guy went and he bought two lots.
Tore down the homes on the two lots. Built one home, one massive nice house with a pool.
Things happened in his life that he needed to sell. And a really smart realtor came along and decided that they would sell a property,
sell two properties instead of one. So Chanel, they sold the two properties.
The one family gets ready to use their pool. The other people come along and says,
our property evaluation says we can't bill because part of our property is in your pool and in your garage.
Move it. And these fights happen in America time after time after time. Who's right? Who's right?
He only owns half of it.
You going to share your pool? You used to, but not anymore.
These are tough. I mean, so right now it still exists just like this. Neither wanting to budge.
Another instance was a man who family moved in and the property lines were so close that they could be at the back porch
and people could look right out of their kitchen right to where they were and they thought, let's just plant some nice shrubbery all along here.
They spent thousands and they planted all those shrubbery right there. Two weeks later, they came outside and all the shrubbery was cut down.
They called the nursery and said, hey, my neighbor cut down all this and they said, well, I'll tell you what, we'll try to support you and we'll replace half of them for you.
That's just not right. So he went and got another property evaluation.
Come to find out his property line is 11 feet into the guy's property who cut down his trees and stuff.
He wouldn't budge and they fought for months until finally law enforcement came out and had to actually draw the line and said, this is yours and this is yours.
Just stay apart from each other. They planted more shrubbery there, but this guy lost.
He started complaining and he said, nah, that's your own property. This is mine, mine, mine. And he lost, lost, lost.
And sometimes that's that can happen to us in relationships. That's mine. That's mine. That's mine. No, no, no.
And then all of a sudden it's like that person's out of your life and you can't get them back because you've blown too many bridges and you've caused so much anger and so much pain.
They don't want to deal with you.
Oh, man. I remember the first time when I was in the corporate world, I had to fire someone.
And firing someone was a long drawn out ordeal. You had to document. He had to have employee performance improvement plans.
And I went through all this stuff and a year later, it was time to fire this guy.
He got sick on the day of his termination and was in the hospital.
And I had to drive down to where he was and give him his separation papers.
His wife looked at me like you are scum of the earth. I felt like it too.
So I called back to headquarters and I said, do I have to do this now? So if you don't do it now, you'll have to deal with him for another year.
Dave, I was the HR guy that was with me and said, let's go do it. Let's get it over with.
And he said, I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it.
And everything, he should have been fired the very first time it happened, but it kept giving him grace.
It's tough. Family conflicts can be that way too.
They've done something that's unforgivable almost and you have to take a stand.
And when you take a stand against someone like that, you cause conflict and you cause disagreements and you cause hurt feelings and you cause separations.
Don't you?
Man, I don't ever want to live that again. That was one of the toughest days I've ever had.
So, oh, it's 7.30. I got 30 slides and I'm on number 14.
We'll just keep going. So there was strife between the herdsmen. There was fights. There were quarrels.
Scripture mentions 43 other instances of people having strife with one another.
Quarrels, clashes, competitions, disagreements, opposition, and downright knock down drag out fights.
They fought in the Bible days just like they do today. Amen.
But he came to him and he said, you know, look, let's not do this. We're better than this.
Let's not allow ourselves to be angry with each other.
Here's something I remembered that is kind of interesting.
I could fight with my brother Dennis.
Man, we didn't have knock down drag outs.
And I remember one time he and I were just into it. We were just yelling back and forth with each other.
And another kid jumps in to yell at Dennis.
And I went, whoa, that's my brother. You can't do that. We both turned on him.
I mean, we were kids. We were kids. But isn't that strange how I can fight with my family, but you can't.
I can do this, but you can't. Abram said, let's don't do this. Let's try to be bigger than this.
He said, let's don't let there be strife between the two of us.
And then the second value is worship. Be Christ-like in our actions. Be Christ-like in our actions.
Christ was me, Ken Lohle. He never sinned. He never got angry. He never punched anybody in the face.
He didn't do anything worthy of death.
And Christ was the example of what the first Adam should have been out for the rest of his life.
But Christ came along and he fulfilled the law. He didn't do anything that was wrong in his whole entire life.
Now, he says, is not the whole land before the separate that self, I pray thee from me, and if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right.
If you depart and go to the right, then I'll go to the left.
And Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan that it was well-watered everywhere.
Before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, there's a peace there that he puts in it.
I wish I had time to cover it tonight, but I'm going to have to keep going.
Even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zohar.
Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan and Lot journeyed east and they separated themselves from the other.
Abraham was gracious and he deferred to Lot.
There's a good example for us.
Are we gracious and ready to defer compliments?
Are we gracious and ready to defer bad things?
I'll take that. You don't have to take that.
Lot jumped at the opportunity and then Lot was impulsive.
What else is true about Lot?
We've all seen people like this.
It's like, you want this, you want this. I'll take that.
What does that say about a person?
They're pretty what?
Self-first.
Selfish. Selfish.
If you're going to give it to me, I'll take it.
I've met people like that.
Hey, would you like one of these pies?
Well, yeah. You got another one?
You want two? Yeah, I'll take two.
The more you offer, the more they take.
It's called GR greed.
No one in here suffers from greed.
Amen.
We can move on to the next topic.
Greed.
He was impulsive.
He pretty much said to himself, this is too good to be true.
He's going to give me all this and just go.
You would think Lot would have said, no, wait, wait.
Let's turn the lines this way.
That way you can have some lush and arid,
and I can have some lush and arid.
But instead of coming this way, he said, I'll take it all.
And Abraham said, go ahead.
See, sometimes we have to say, go ahead.
Yeah, it hurts. Yeah, it stings.
But who's really in charge of handing out the blessings?
Lot showed a noticeable lack of restraint.
He didn't consider the cost when he said, yes,
I'll go this way.
You would have thought that they would have taken their time
while they were negotiating, come up with something a little bit more diplomatic
than what they had.
Now, I need three people to answer this next question.
Three people?
Okay, you'll be the one.
When you finish your drink of water, you'll be number two.
And England, you'll be number three.
All right, I should have stayed up here.
I walked all the way. I'm wasting time.
Okay, I need an answer really quick on this.
What does that mean to you?
Yes, sir. You were the first one. Yeah.
Compromise. Okay, he said compromise.
He said it the best.
Was that compromise or what did that sound like to you?
Compromise. Yes, sir.
You would agree. Miss Jan, what would you say?
Agree to disagree.
Home run. I disagree, but that's okay.
Because Miss Jen said, how many times do you...
No, I don't want to do that. I want you to agree with me.
You got to agree with me.
Now, when my kids were little, they agreed with me,
whether they liked it or not.
I was the dad.
But now that they've grown up and I tell my son something
and he's in his 40s now, he goes, dad, come on.
And I go, dude, I'm your dad.
I know, but you're wrong, dad.
And I can't go to San Antonio and punch him one, but...
So right.
Two different options and they can both be right.
How is that possible?
Can me and Dave be right about something?
And then philosophically, there's a little difference in the background?
Yes.
You haven't had that at your house, have you?
You didn't say yes and you didn't say no.
Okay.
But she agreed to disagree.
She agreed to...
Mr. Van Hoos, your wife won't answer questions when she's asked.
Okay.
Let's move on.
Philippians 2, verses 3-7.
Let nothing be done through strife or vanglory.
But in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves.
Let there not be any strife amongst us.
If you choose to go to the left, I'll go to the right.
If you go to the right, I'll go to the left.
But I want to esteem you better than me.
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
This is mine, Michael.
I agree.
But if you want it, you can have it.
You stay out of this.
I was talking to him.
I pulled it away because she said, take it.
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Ms. Laurie, if you bake me a pie and bring it Sunday,
I'll give Justin a slice about that wide.
Paul goes on to say, let this mind and this psyche, this way of thinking,
this person who I am, that heart of me, let this mind be in you,
which was also in Christ Jesus.
His mind and the mind of God, his mind, and Jesus was a man.
So his mind and what he remember, his earthly father told him,
his mind with what his mother told him, his mind with what God says,
let this mind be in you, everything that's about me.
Let it, let it, let it, let it be in me, which was also in Christ Jesus.
The epitome of growing in faith and knowledge and in spiritualness
and in superiority of who we are in Christ says that my mind is made up about what I should be in Christ
and I'm going to strive to be exactly that.
And I'm going to push other things to the side and I'm going to make it a point
to look to the author and the finisher of the faith.
Because my mind is like what Jesus' mind was when he wanted to do the Father's will.
Your mind should be on what Jesus was doing to be able to do what the Father wanted him to do,
and so should we be ready to do what the Father tells us to do.
Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God,
kind of a play back to Lucifer and the other demons,
who being in the form, they were angelic,
but they wanted to rob God of who he was so that they could become a God themselves.
They made himself of no reputation.
I'm going to put who I am to the side.
And for some that means I'm going to agree to disagree.
Am I the best at who I should be? Not even close.
But everything I have, I should be willing to give for the sake of Christ.
Everything.
And when I can position myself to that point, then I can say,
go to the right, go to the left.
You have your way of doing it. I have my way of doing it.
But we can both get along real quickly.
I thought it was interesting last night.
I was up at 4 a.m.
I couldn't stay up to see all the elections.
I fell asleep, but I got up to see who won.
And I saw where one person was given a speech of saying,
hey, I'm the new president, but the other person didn't come along and say,
yeah, you're the president.
Whether I stand, whether I fall, whether I go right, whether I go left,
whatever I do is for the glory of God.
And I shouldn't be upset or angry with myself, with my circumstances,
because God has everything under control.
Man, don't you know that God blessed Abraham,
even though he was in the arid desert with his flocks?
Lot chose the lush, the easy money place, and it cost him dearly.
Number three, real quickly, worship.
And the Lord said to Abraham that after that lot was separated from him,
lift up thine eyes and look from the place where thou art.
Look northward, southward, east and west.
Everything you see, everything, I'm going to give it to you.
And to thy seed, I own some of that property too, because I'm of the seed of Abraham.
And so are you.
Okay?
And I will make thy seed as dust of the earth so that if a man can number the dust of the earth,
then shall thy seed also be numbered.
There's another portion of Scripture where God compares his prodigy as like the stars in the sky.
Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breath of it,
for I will give it to thee.
It's yours.
Then Abraham moved his tent and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre,
which is in Hebron and built.
Now this is the best part and you can't miss this.
And built there an altar to the Lord.
Man, an old Negro spiritual, that God has taken me a mighty long way.
He took Abram a mighty long way.
And when Abram, every place he stopped and pitched his tent, he made an altar.
What was he doing?
He was giving glory and honor and giving reverence to the God of the heavens,
the God of the earth, the creator, the sustainer.
And so that's what he did.
Now let's keep going.
God's promise to Abram is based on God's premise to Abram.
This is one of those theological, we're going to have to go deep.
Okay, now the Lord said to Abram in verse 12 and verse 1, he said,
Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house.
Those two things, from thy kindred and from thy father's house.
What did he tell Abram?
Separate yourself from everybody.
You can't love mother and daddy more than me.
You can't love sister and brother more than me.
Ooh, I got to be sold out for Jesus, Miss Laurie.
Sold out.
So he gave him a promise, but the promise was in the premise that he gave him also.
In verse 4, so Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him.
But here's a kicker.
Verse 4 of chapter 12, and Lot went with him.
God said, separate yourself.
But what did he do?
Come on, Lot.
What does that call?
Disobedience.
God specifically gave him instructions.
And he specifically did what God told him not to do.
There might be somebody tonight that has some conflict going on in their lives,
and they're wrestling with it.
And God says, let it go.
Trust me.
I got it all under control.
Will you believe me enough to try me?
The Lord requires full obedience and full compliance with his commands.
That, when I was studying and preparing for this,
Brother Dave was one of those, ooh, moments.
The Lord requires that Michael give full obedience,
and that Michael is in full compliance with God's commands.
So is Bill, so is Mark.
This is the greater Israel when you begin to look at what was really promised.
The Fratige River, the Nile River, the Red Sea.
That's a big portion of land there, and they're still fighting over it today.
But who's still there?
Israel. Who's going to be there?
Israel. Who's going to all come upon Israel?
Every nation in the world is going to come down on Israel.
But what is Israel going to do? They're going to be victorious.
Man, we are on the cusp of seeing some miraculous things.
I think it's close, and it's getting closer.
We've got to hurry.
Worship of the Lord characterized Abraham's life
as indicated by his building of altars as he moved from place to place.
Okay?
Actions to take when you encounter conflict with a family member.
Two more minutes.
Go directly to where?
God.
Not your uncle, not your mama, not your daddy, not grandpa.
But go to God.
The Lord requires full obedience and full compliance with his commands.
Go directly to God.
The next thing is, go directly to the source.
If Randy is not getting meals at home.
Okay, John, stand here with me.
You've got to go to Judy and say, feed me.
Go directly to the source.
Go diplomatically, but with humility.
Father God, we thank you for this night and for what we've been able to learn in this lesson.
Lord, we may have those times when we agree to disagree.
We're going to have those times when we feel wronged.
We're going to have those times when we're confused about how could another person think and act that way.
While it's really easy to point the finger at someone else, and sometimes when we do that, we forget that many times we should be considering our own selves in light of what your word says.
In light of what the situation is where we are in.
We are Nike.
We are overcomers.
We are the ones that help us, Lord, to live humbly as overcomers in the world that doesn't understand and can't comprehend what your grace and what your mercy is all about.
And Lord, now as we continue to pray for others in our congregation, we just pray that your will will be done.
And more than anything else, Lord, you promised us that you would give us the desires of our heart.
Let us force our desires to you tonight, right now.
We pray in Jesus' name. Let us all say, Amen.