Today I will continue my series of sermons on the Life of Abraham. This will be part 4. Last time, in part 3, we began looking at his life after he departed Haran, at age 75 and we looked at the promise then made to Abraham at the beginning of his formative years. We then looked at how those promises carried on down to our time today, especially at they apply to Great Britain and The United States of America - to Abraham's modern-day descendants. Today, in part 4 we will look at the amazing events that are recorded in Genesis, chapters 13 and 14. As Abraham began to prosper, we will ask the question: "Which is more dangerous, prosperity or adversity?" - which is more threatening to an individual's spiritual growth? The answer is not what most of us would expect. As we will also see, both Abraham and his nephew Lot became very wealthy. Abraham then chose to go down to Egypt, while Lot chose to go to the land/Canaan. Who made the best choice and what did those lead to? We will discover the amazing answers to those questions and more today.

Steven Shafer

Elder, United Church of God

Steve Shafer was born and raised in Seattle. He graduated from Queen Anne High School in 1959 and later graduated from Ambassador College, Big Sandy, Texas in 1967, receiving a degree in Theology. He has been an ordained Elder of the Church of God for 34 years and has pastored congregations in Michigan and Washington State. He and his wife Evelyn have been married for over 48 years and have three children and ten grandchildren.