"Pitching Tents" with Pastor John Gonzalez - July 11, 2026

**Our apologies, the audio cut out, and we missed the first 15 seconds of the sermon. It's a fantastic message, so we decided to share it anyway.

You may have heard it said that, as Christians, we're called to live in a way that is "in the world" but not "of the world." Pitching our tents in places in or near "the world" is part of the call, but can also be dangerous and challenging. And yet, the Bible is full of stories of people who faithfully lived amidst people groups who were unfaithful, along with stories about people who tried to do so but were lured away. What makes the difference? How can we keep our eyes and hearts fixed on the Way of Righteousness, instead of the path of darkness? Listen in as Pastor John Gonzalez returns to the Spencerville pulpit with a message titled "Pitching Tents."

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

We all meet at one of the church members' house and we drive over together to what felt like the middle of nowhere. I mean, to the point that as we are driving and we're reaching this campsite, I'm thinking to myself, listen, if anything happens to us, no one would know because nobody has signaled. There's no way that people will know if something happens to us. But we keep going and we get to the site and we're walking towards the campsite. It was on a hill, kind of this plain, flat surface on the hillside. And he's handing out tents to everyone, and he says, Pastor, I have a tent for you. Here you go. And he tells me, Go ahead and pitch your tent over there. I'm like, wait, you want me to pitch this thing over there? He doesn't know. I don't know how to pitch a tent. And so I'm going over very slowly because I'm looking, I'm observing to see how everyone is doing this. And everyone's the clockwork. It just, you know, within a couple minutes, boom, there's there's a tent. And here I am. I open up this bag with this tent. I'm looking at it. I'm like, what am I going to do? I think I need more time. So I go to Alex. I'm like, hey, Alex, I need to use the bathroom. Where's the bathroom? And this is how I knew that camping was not for me, at least at that time, because he hands me a shovel and he's like, here you go. I'm like, what is this for? He's like, that's your bathroom for the weekend. I was like, oh no. So I take the shovel with me, but I go back to this tent. And you guys, I'm struggling. I'm trying to put it together. And before long, there's this heavy hand on my shoulder, and I turn, and it's Alex. And he looks at me and he says, You've never put together a tent before, have you? And I was like, No. You could tell? He's like, absolutely, I could tell. And we start laughing together, and he puts this tent together so fast. And he's a true master guy. You know why? Because he puts together this tent, completely tears it down, and says, All right, now you do it. I'm like, you couldn't just, you couldn't just leave it the way it is. No, he made me, you know, put together that tent. But as we're talking, he says, Pastor, here's something I need you to understand. And he gets serious. He's he says, here's the number one rule when it comes to pitching your tent. Here's the number one rule as it pertains to finding the right campsite. The number one rule is this always be mindful of the dangers that surround you. Always be mindful of the dangers that surround you. He said, listen, I was here last week, actually camped the weekend. I did a two-mile walk around this entire campsite. I know it's safe. I know the animals that are here. There's coyotes, there's snakes, and there's even a potential for bears. And as he's saying that, I'm like, why are we here again? But he says, you always have to be mindful of the dangers that surround you. There's another story in scripture about pitching tents that I want you to see. We're going to open up your Bibles to the book of Genesis. And we're going to be in Genesis chapter 13. The story of Abram, before he was called Abraham. Abram and Lot. And there's a very interesting scenario that happens here. And we'll start in verse 3. Again, Genesis chapter 13, verse 3. The Bible says, And he, Abram, journeyed from place to place from the Negev as far as Bethel. He returned to the place where he had pitched his tent at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai. Now this was the place where he had first built the altar, and there Abram worshiped the Lord. Now notice this verse 5. Now Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, but the land could not support them while they were living side by side. And the reason is because their possessions were so great, they were not able to live alongside one another. So there were disputes between Abram's herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen. Skip down to verse 8. Abram said to Lot, There, let there be no disputes between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are close relatives. Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself. If you go to the left, then I'll go to the right. But if you go to the right, then I'll go to the left. Verse 10. Lot looked up and saw the whole region of the Jordan. He noticed that all of it was well watered. This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. It was like the garden of the Lord. And verse 11, Lot chose for himself the whole region of the Jordan and traveled toward the east. And we'll finish here in verse 12. Abram settled in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled among the cities of the Jordan plain. And what did the Bible say here? What did he do? And he pitched his tents where? Next to Sodom. Here we have a very interesting scenario that's happening. We have Abram and his nephew Lot. Both of them were very wealthy, and there were disputes among their herdsmen, amongst their servants, and they're arguing and they're bickering amongst each other. And Abram's like, listen, why is this happening? Listen, I know it's hard, but let's go ahead and separate ourselves. Go ahead, choose wherever you want. If you go to the left, I'll go to the right. If you go north, I'll go south. Go ahead and choose, and I'll go the opposite direction. Now, what we should have seen in the text is Lot should have said, No, Abram, you're the older individual. You should get the first choice. You should get first dibs. But what does Lot do? Lot takes advantage of the situation and he looks up in Hebrew. The word is he lifts up his eyes and he saw. That word for Saul in Hebrew means to perceive. So he lifts up his eyes. He perceives the land to be good. He perceives, he's he sees the river, he sees the fertile land. And yes, although it's near Sodom, he says, Man, this would be great. This is exactly what we need for my family, for my possessions. And he makes a decision in the moment that would affect his life forever. He said, You know what? I'm gonna go over there. I'm gonna pitch my tent next to Sodom. So it's interesting, you have Abram who looks on a situation, and he looks with eyes of faith, but then you have Lot that looks with eyes of flesh. And it's fascinating, actually, if you look at the Hebrew, that the the language for lifting up your eyes and perceiving something to be good actually correlates with Eve, who perceived the fruit to be good for her. And so you have this correlation there. Lot chooses to pitch his tent next to Sodom. And I wonder, I just wonder, I wish we would have had the inner dialogue of why he did this. But I wonder if he said to himself, Yeah, I know Sodom is there, but I'm gonna be near Sodom. Ain't no way I'm gonna be in Sodom. I'll just be next to it, but I won't be in Sodom. But look what happens to Lot. Going to look at chapter 14, the very next chapter. By the way, the context of this is that there's a war that happens amongst the kings of the plain. And then four kings come together and they conquer the king of Sodom and Gomorrah. I want you to skip down just one verse, all the way down to verse 12. We're just gonna look at verse 12 and chapter 14. Now notice we just left Lot. Where's Lot? Living next to Sodom or near Sodom. Where is he now? In chapter 14, verse 12. They, the kings who conquered Sodom, also took Abram's nephew Lot and his possessions when they left. What does the Bible say? Where was Lot? For Lot was living in Sodom. Lot, not even a chapter later, is living in Sodom. And you think to yourself, man, how did this happen? Lot, how did you go from being next to Sodom to living in Sodom? Again, that one decision that he made impacted his life forever. Maybe this is why Paul tells us to pray without ceasing, because we don't know how that one decision that we make in a moment can impact our future. But I want to back up for a second because a lot of times we can judge an individual by their decisions without acknowledging and recognizing the circumstances behind that decision. Not excusing Lot for his decision, but I want us to see the circumstances of his decision. Back up to Genesis chapter 12, and I want you to see the circumstance that Lot was in when he made this decision to pitch his tent near Sodom. Verse 10 of Genesis 12 tells us this. Now there was a, what's that word, everybody? A famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to stay for a while because the famine was so severe. See, there's a severe famine that is going on. And Abram, and we don't we don't know if he had a conversation with the Lord about this, although we can assume so, because God has been leading him every step of the way so far. But he said, you know what? I know that Egypt is the bread maker of the ancient Near East. Let me go down to Egypt and we'll be fine there. We're wealthy, we can trade for food, we can sustain ourselves there. So the plan was for Abram and Lot and all his family to dwell in Egypt for a while. Perhaps they were waiting for the famine to pass. But what happens in the story? We see Abram makes a momentary decision that would impact all those around him. What does Abram do? As they're approaching Egypt, he starts to get filled with fear. And he turns to his wife and he says, Listen, you're so beautiful that when we enter Egypt, they're gonna kill me to get to you. It's like, listen, don't say you're my wife, say you're my sister. And Abram, out of fear, makes this decision. Now, what happens? Genesis 12, verse 20 tells us the what happens because of this decision. Here's what the Bible says Pharaoh gave his men orders about Abram. This is once he found out about this lie. And so they, what's that word there? Expelled him along with his wife and all his possessions. They're expelled from Egypt. Now they have to figure out a way to survive through the famine. Perhaps this is what some scholars note that perhaps the disputes between Abraham's herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen was because of this. Hey, listen, we were fine in Egypt. We should have had everything that we needed, but because of your master, because of what he's done, because of his decision, his recklessness, now look at us. Now look where we are. And there's the disputes that arise, there's tension. So Abraham recognizing it, he says, All right, we have to go our separate ways. And so Lot is under a lot of pressure. He's under a lot of stress. And there's just something that happens when our emotions are high, our logic can be low. And Lot is in this situation that he looks out under all this pressure. And again, he makes a decision that would alter his future. And again, when we look at Lot, we're like, Lot, why would you do this? How could you do this? So we see he pitched his tent near Sodom. And then, chapter later, he's living in Sodom. And you know, and miraculously the Lord delivers him through Abram. That's a story you can read on your own. But I want you to note this because at this point you would think, now that he's freed from Sodom, now that Abram was able to go with you know with the small army and get him back, that he would say, you know what, I want nothing to do with Sodom. I am done. I am, I am, you know, I'm gonna wipe my hands clean of this place. But notice this, going to turn turn to Genesis chapter 19. Genesis chapter 19. Notice what happens here. It's very interesting. Genesis chapter 19, verse 1. Now I want you to notice what it says about Lot. You ready? It says the two angels came to Sodom in the evening while Lot was sitting in the city's gateway. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face toward the ground. So now we have a progression of things. He goes from pitching his tent near Sodom, then he's living in Sodom, and now we find Lot in the city gate. One translation translates this as Lot was the gatekeeper of Sodom. And I like to put it this way how many of you, by a show of hands, have a Costco membership? Let me see your hands. Okay, a good amount of you. You know, when you enter Costco, what do you have to do? You gotta show who you are. You gotta show your ID. Before we had the ID cards, we still have them, but now you have the digital ones that are pretty nice. But try to get into Costco without an ID. Don't say, hey, nope, turn around. You're not supposed to be here. Essentially, Lot was in a place of status within Sodom. Lot was a gatekeeper for Sodom. Lot became a respected official slash leader of Sodom. And you think, how did this happen? The Bible doesn't tell us. I just like to imagine, using my pastoral imagination, perhaps he pitched his tent near Sodom. There were some Sodomites, Joe and Jill, who looked and was like, whoa, who is this guy? This wealthy individual. Let's go introduce ourselves. And they go out to Lot and they bring some gifts. Oh, welcome, Lot. I'm Joe, and this is Jill, and we just want to welcome you to the plains of Sodom. Here are some gifts for you and your family. And they went on their way, and Lot was like, Man, those sodomites there, they're not too bad. And then they come back next week and it's like, hey, I, you know, I know the famine is pretty severe, but I see you're wealthy. You want to want to trade a little bit? And why don't you come into the city? There's a you know a bunch of trading posts there that you can get some food. And he's like, Oh, this is great. They go into the city, and little by little, they draw him in, little by little, they woo him in to the point where he goes from pitching his tent near Sodom, but now he's living in Sodom. But I want you to take note what does Abram do? As Lot pitches his tent next to Sodom, what does Abram do? Look at this in verse 18 of Genesis 13. What does Abram do? So Abram pitched his tents and he built an altar to the Lord in Hebron. You see, here we have Abram, who what he what he does is he goes and he builds an altar to the Lord, signifying the presence of the Lord. He builds an altar to God and he dwells there. You see, we have Abram who pitched his tent near an altar, but we have Lot who pitched his tent near an attraction. Here we have one man that positioned his life around the presence of God, and we have another man who positioned his life around what seemed good to him. You see, when we look at the story of Lot, the tragedy of Lot's story is this that what began as an attraction eventually became an attachment. He couldn't let go of Sodom. You see, he first looked towards Sodom, then he lived near Sodom, then he lived in Sodom, and eventually and ultimately, Sodom lived in him. Be very careful of the dangers that surround you. Because very quickly, the very things that seem like darkness to you can seem like light. The very things that are wrong can seem right. And here's the reality, guys. We don't have the luxury that Lot has. We don't have the luxury to choose not to dwell in the land of Sodom or the land of Egypt or the land of Babylon. The Bible tells us that we are in Babylon. That is why part of the three angels' message is to tell people, hey, come out of Babylon. Although we live in the land of darkness, you can live in the goodness of God's light. Come out of Babylon. We are living in Babylon, and although we cannot control our circumstances, we can control how we respond to it. So I wonder, are there any examples of individuals in the Bible who were surrounded by darkness, but chose to walk in God's light? There's three people I want to mention really quickly, and then I'll take my seat. The first person is found in Genesis, and this is Enoch. Enoch, who the Bible tells us not much about him, but what's mentioned is absolutely powerful that Enoch walked with God. In fact, the Bible tells us that he walked with God for 365 years, and then boom, he was no more. And I love this because I think it's portraying this aspect of Enoch, that this was a daily thing, daily walking with the Lord. And when you look at the context of Enoch's surrounding, the world is getting darker. The world is getting more evil. And instead of him just going along with what everyone around him is doing, he says, you know what? I'm not gonna walk like they walk. I'm gonna walk hand in hand with the Lord. I'm gonna walk with him. And as you walk with someone, what happens? You start talking, start sharing your burdens, you start sharing your heart's desires, what's on your heart, and you start building that relationship. And day by day, although he's surrounded by darkness, he walked in the light of the love of God. Until one day, how cool is that! One day God shows up and he says, Hey, hey Enoch, I know we've been walking for a while. How would you like to walk with me all the way up to heaven? What a powerful, powerful story. That although we may be surrounded by darkness, we can choose to walk in the light of God's goodness. That's Enoch. I think of Joseph. Joseph, who was sold as a slave to Egypt. Joseph, who at this point, I mean, he had every right to say, God, where were you? God, why didn't you protect me? God, why don't you redeem me from the hands of my brothers? God, where are you? You know what, God, I'm done with this. I'm done in this new land that I'm in. I'm gonna live my way. I'm gonna do what I want to do. But if you go and read the story, what you'll find is that Joseph remains very committed to the Lord. In fact, when he's faced with one of the greatest temptations, he looks straight into Potiphar's wife's eyes and he says, No, I will not do this and I will not sin against my God. He held on to his faith. Patriarchs and Prophets by Ellen White tells us that as he's approaching Egypt, he decides in his heart that he wouldn't turn away from God. He decides in his heart that no matter what comes his way, he would stay faithful to the Lord. You see, with this the story of Joseph, the principle that we see is this idea of deciding before you have to decide. Joseph, when that temptation came, his mind was already decided. He already decided, he already chose long ago, I will be faithful to my God no matter what comes my way. And I may trip up and I may fall, but one thing's for certain, I'm gonna do my best. I'm gonna live according to that principle I made for myself, that I'm choosing to be faithful to the Lord. So with Enoch, we see the idea of walking with the Lord. With Joseph, we see this idea of deciding before you have to decide to choose this day whom you will serve and live out each day based off that decision. And the last person I want us to look at is Daniel. Actually, I want you to turn there with me. Daniel chapter one. Daniel chapter one, verse eight. We're just looking at one verse. But at this point, Daniel is in Babylon, and he's faced with a very great temptation, and that is to eat from the king's table that has unclean meats, that has meats sacrificed to idols, things that he should not touch or eat. And he's faced with this great test. He could have been like, you know what? I mean, we're in this new land. I mean, it is what it is. These are the circumstances. But what does Daniel do? Daniel chapter 1, verse 8. It says, Daniel made up his mind that he would not, what's that word there? Defile himself with the royal delicacies or the royal wine. You see, Daniel made up his mind. He said, Come what may, no matter what happens, I will anchor myself in the Lord. I've made up my mind. I'm not gonna do it. I'm not gonna succumb to the peer pressure around me. And by the way, if you read Daniel chapter one, you'll notice that it was a group of them taken from Jerusalem. It wasn't just four of them, it was a group of them. So we have Daniel's peers that are just going along with everything else. But Daniel makes a decision. Listen, even if those around me are doing it, I won't do it. I've made up my mind that I will be faithful to the Lord. So you and I, we're living in Babylon. We're living in Egypt. We're living in Sodom. But even though we're living in the land of darkness, we can pitch the tents of our hearts in the light of the Lord. That we can choose, we can make a decision to say, you know what? Yes, all although everyone's walking that way, I'm gonna walk with the Lord. Although people are choosing darkness, I'm gonna choose, I'm gonna decide to be faithful to the Lord, come what may. And we see the principle in Daniel to fix your mind, to make up your mind, to anchor yourself in that decision. Because the reality is that we're not doing this on our own. The Bible tells us that Jesus, he who knew no sin, became sin. He who is light came and took up our flesh and dwelled in the land of darkness, so that you and I who who are dwelling in the land of darkness can behold that great light. And my prayer is that we would make a decision, that we would choose this day and all the days after that, to anchor ourselves, to pitch our tents in the light of God's goodness. That we would taste and see that the Lord is good. And here's what I want to tell you. Here's my my appeal to you today. I want you to reflect on your life. I want you to reflect are you living your life rooted in fear or rooted your life rooted in faith? Because on one end, we see Abram when he makes a decision rooted in fear, things go really sour for him. Lot makes a decision rooted in fear, things go really sour for him. But the example of living out your life in faith, to say, Lord, yes, I may dwell in this land of darkness, but I'm choosing in faith to walk with you. I am choosing this day to pitch my tent near the altar of the Lord in the presence of God. Lord Jesus, I thank you that although we live in the land of darkness, we don't have to look at the darkness and be filled with fear because there's a greater light that has overcome the darkness. So, God, I'm praying that you would help us to come out of Babylon, that you would help us to spiritually align with you, to mentally and emotionally align with you. Because the temptation is great. It's vast, Lord. Sodom is so appealing. It's it draws us, it it calls on our flesh. Lord, help us to root ourselves in you. That I'm praying for my friends here, Lord, as we're surrounded by so many temptations, Lord, help us, like Enoch and like Daniel, like Joseph, to make up our minds that, Lord, we are going to follow your way. There is no turning back because we are walking with you. Thank you, Lord, that we don't have to do it on our own. That you promise to give us wisdom for the daily decisions we make. That you promise to give us your spirit that will fill us with joy and with compassion and with direction and vision. God, thank you that we're not on our own. Lord, help us to walk with you and help us to dwell in your presence all the days of our lives. This is our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen.