Making Wise Choices

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. We greet you this evening in the sweet and precious name of our Lord Jesus. If you want a blessing, I'm reminded of the old songwriter, Brethren, we have met to worship and adore the Lord our God, something like that. Won't you pray with all your power while we try to preach the word? [00:00:35] But the phrase that I want, he says, All is vain unless the spirit of the Holy One come down. Brethren, pray and holy manna will be showered all around I like what one old man said, one old man prayed at a prayer meeting He said, Lord, give us tonight what makes the difference And what makes the difference is not the intellect, the oratory abilities of the speaker [00:01:12] That may play a part, but what makes the difference is the blessing and the smile of God And the prayers of the people of God, brothers and sisters, pray Let's open our Bibles now to do something a little unusual We're going to have three texts tonight, all of them in the Old Testament And that's going to be the basis of our message Let's go way back in the Bible to the book of Deuteronomy Now, if I have it right, and if I've been told right, when Jesus was tempted there by Satan, those three awful temptations, he quoted from the scriptures, of course, but the Lord quoted from the book of Deuteronomy. [00:02:10] And that, I'm going to put it on the board, and that is the word way. Now, Jesus said, I am the way. I think if you've read much and know much about the book of Acts, you'll notice that the church in the book of Acts was referred to as the way. That movement was referred to of the people, those Christians were referred to of the people of the way, of that way. [00:02:49] Isn't that interesting? But that's, let's look now at Deuteronomy 30 and we're going to begin reading at verse 15. I'm going to read several verses there. Then we're going to go to the book of Nahum. And then we're going to go to the book of Haggai. Now, these verses, we're going, well, let's read. Verse 15. See, I have set before thee this day life and good and death and evil, [00:03:23] in that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply, that the Lord thy God may bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou will not hear, but shall be drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, [00:03:54] I denounce unto you this day that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, Whether thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it Now verse 19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you That I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing Therefore choose life that both thou and thy seed may live [00:04:26] Now we used to sing back In fact, I grew up a little Amish boy, and I remember singing a song that went something like this. There it's swine-vake in desert sight. You know what I'm talking about. And you see it here. There's a way of life, or there's a way of death. There's a way of blessing, and there's a way of cursing. [00:04:58] And Jesus said that, that there's a broad way and a narrow way. Now let's go to the book of Nahum. Now I'm going to be interesting to me to listen to the pages, Russell, as you try to find this little book. I'm going to give you a hint. It's right after the book of Micah, and it's right before the book of Zephaniah. So that'll give you a hint. If you're in Zephaniah, you've gone too far. So back up a few, a little bit, and you'll see it there. [00:05:34] We would like to look now at Nahum 1 and verse 3. Ah, the pages are still rustling. It's a hard one to find. It's not very, it's not a, somebody has called Prophet Nahum a minor prophet, but I think he's pretty major league in my book. Some of the prophecies, some of the words that he shared, wonderful. All right, chapter 1 and verse 3. The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked. [00:06:10] The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. especially that last phrase the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm and the clouds are the dust of his feet. Now I would take from that that God is moving in a certain way. God is moving in a certain way. [00:06:42] And we're wise, aren't we? If we find that way and walk with God in that way God hath his way in the whirlwind, and in the storm and the clouds are the dust of his feet. Well, here's another one. Haggai 1. I told you we were going to have three texts, and we've just read the second one. Now we're looking at the third one. Haggai 1. Just keep on moving forward toward the end of the New Testament, and you'll come upon it just real soon. [00:07:13] Haggai 1, verse 5 through verse 7 Now therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. You have so much, bring in little. Ye eat, but ye have not enough. Ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink. Ye clothe ye, but there is none warm. And he that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. [00:07:48] Thus saith the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. Now there's the three texts, we've read them. Now I would take from this scripture in Haggai that the way, the direction or the way that these people have chosen seem to be unfruitful. seem to be sterile, seem to be futile. And so the Lord is pleading with them, consider your way. [00:08:21] Consider the direction that you're going. Consider what it's bringing to you. Consider your ways. I'm going to be saying that phrase different times this evening because I feel that the Holy Spirit tonight would have us here in northern Indiana in the month of April, the year 2009, to consider our ways. [00:08:54] Consider our ways. Now, the word consider would mean to contemplate, to reflect, to evaluate, to meditate. And we live in such a world that is not conducive to considering our ways. There are many, many people who don't want to consider their ways. [00:09:27] Now, several years ago, I was in at a prison service. One young man told me this, and I thought it was quite astounding. He said that he has his days and nights completely turned around. He gets up at about six in the evening and eats supper for his breakfast. And then he stays up all night long, and when he sees the light of the morning, he goes to bed. [00:10:01] And I say, why on earth would anyone want to do that? And he said, well, he said, he don't know what it is, but night times, things have his past kind of has a way of setting up and staring him in the face. Now I think about it, he said. He did not want to do as Haggai, the Lord pleaded in the book of Haggai, to consider his ways. [00:10:33] Ah, he said, some of the things that have a way of setting up and standing up and staring in the face at night time, he said, we've got all the good shows on and all that. Consider his ways. Well, if that would be limited to just the jailhouse, we would be in pretty good shape. But many Christians, many church-going good people, do not like to consider their ways. [00:11:06] You ever notice there is a restlessness in our day? There is a restlessness among the people of God. There was a bishop called me from a... And he said, brother, we're having some... There's a restlessness. There's a restlessness in our churches. And he said, I don't know why. Why? Somebody put it this way. He said, usually restless water is shallow water. Lake Erie is a dangerous lake to be on because it becomes restless quick because it's shallow. [00:11:57] And I'm wondering if the age in which we're living, the fast pace, is not conducive to deep thinking, it's not conducive to consideration, it's not conducive to musing, like the psalmist said. As I mused, a fire burned. Well, we don't have time. We hardly have time to read our Bibles. We hardly have time to take time with the Lord in the morning. [00:12:35] We hardly have time to muse. But somehow we find time for, you put a prefix ah in front of it, we've got plenty of time for amusement. And as you see, it tells us something of the nature of our, tells us something of the depth of our Christianity. How excited we get, how excited we become at our volleyball games. [00:13:12] God bless you, I love volleyball, I enjoy playing it. How excited we become at our softball games, and we holler and whoop, and I don't have much of a problem with it. But let somebody say amen in church and amuse. While I was musing, the fire burned. Consider our ways. Now I want to notice in that text, the last one that I read, it says, [00:13:45] Consider your ways. And if this is a particular hard assignment for us, it's much easier to consider other people's ways, isn't it? It's much easier to reflect on other people's failures. Consider David. He's done that awful thing. A man who should have been considering his direction or his ways. And here comes the prophet. What was his name? Nathan. [00:14:23] And gave him a little parable and told him about a wealthy man who had many, many, many lambs. And he stole the lamb, took the lamb from a poor man And Nathan considered that rich man's ways and he became indignant And then the prophet Nathan wiggled his bony finger under his nose and said, Thou art the man [00:14:57] It's much easier for us to consider others' ways. Now, the word way would indicate a direction. Tonight, I want you to consider the direction you're going. Consider the direction you're going because it goes without saying that going a way brings us to a destination, right? That's logic. If you're heading a certain way, you're going to end up at a certain destination. So it would consider our direction. We're heading somewhere. [00:15:40] Now, why is our ways so important? And I would like to just have two points there, and I'm going to take the secondary one first. First of all, we need to consider our ways because our ways affect other people's ways. None of us are an island. Our ways are going to affect other people's ways. We are influenced by others and we in turn influence others. [00:16:10] Now somebody mentioned that the Lord keeps us from knowing the sphere of our influence because if we know how influential we are, all of us, we get big headed. So God keeps us from knowing that. But we influence people. Unconsciously we influence each other. It would not be good for us to know our influence. Unconsciously, there are some people who do things that I observe. [00:16:48] They're doing that, so that must be all right. They're wearing that. They bought that, so that must not be so bad. It must be all right. That's influence. Our ways infect other people's ways And if you've fathered children or if you have mothered children tonight Especially consider your ways These children are studying you [00:17:26] They're getting their lessons from you They are bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh And dear, you are their teacher. You know, Dad really told that truck driver off. He really gave him down the road. Or Mom and Dad had a little fuss, and Mom was giving Dad the cold shoulder for the all-day Saturday. [00:18:03] And both of them church members, so what they're doing must be typical Christian experience. And so they evaluate what Christianity is by mom and dad. Isn't that something? Consider your ways, you're teaching them. They're getting their idea of what the Christ life is by observing you. They look at your life and they say, this must be the acceptable way to live. Dad and Mom took communion yesterday, or yes, yesterday or last week, whenever it was. [00:18:40] Consider our ways. Our, every choice has a resulting effect. Every choice has a resulting effect. I remember in school there was a little thing there, and I don't know, I cannot think for the life of me what they called it. But there was a thing there that had a row of hanging wooden beads, and they were hanging from strings. [00:19:12] And you pulled three out over here and let them hit, three went out over here. You pulled out four and let them hit, four flew out. There was a resulting effect. Our ways have result. And in turn then, those choices that we make pave the way for the next choice. And it becomes easier the next time. And it's going to influence the next choice. [00:19:44] Now let me give you just a positive illustration on this. Now there's a young man, he gets a job. He's making, let's say, 400 bucks a week. And so, and now he has his check. And he comes across the scripture when he talks about giving as the Lord has blessed him. And so he puts, takes a $50 out of that $400 and designates that as the Lord's money. And it twinged a little bit. There was things he could have done with that $50, but he said this is the Lord's. [00:20:26] And so he put it in the offering, and he was blessed by the feeling that it gave him, the feeling of obedience, the feeling of generosity that aroused in him. And so the next week come around, he got his check for $400, and it became easier for him to take that $50 and put it in there again, because he enjoyed the blessing that it brought to his soul. And then the third week come around and he said, you know what, I enjoyed that 50 and so much, I'm going to put in some more. [00:21:02] You see, each choice made it paved the way, made it easier to choose the next, make the next choice. Now let me, now that was a positive. Now let me quickly give you a negative, a negative account. Now, here we have a young man now. He's going, that's, that, that, another young man. He goes into the corner store, 7-Eleven store, Minute Mart, whatever. [00:21:35] and there he's getting himself a donut and a coffee and he happens to glance over in the magazines and there was a lewd magazine and his eyes went there and away. But he began dwelling on that. Next week he made that same trip and he stopped his pickup and went and was going in and they remember that magazine and his eyes stole over there and they, instead of looking away, they lingered and they lingered [00:22:13] and the next week he saltered past it and he looked at it again and he stood there a while. A fourth week went by and he looked around, picked up the magazine and took it and laid it on the counter and bought it. You see, each choice that he made paved the way for another choice. So ways are important, and we need to consider our ways. [00:22:45] No single deed is without some consequence. Now I'd like to talk to you this evening a bit on this subject of the sovereignty of God. You don't have to read in the Bible very long before you can read something of the sovereignty of God. God is sovereign. And we read in the book of Nahum there that God is going in a certain direction. [00:23:20] There is nothing out of God's control. God never turned a corner and his eyebrows went up and said I never expected that to happen God is in control God is sovereign God is all-knowing There is nothing that God has not foreseen There is nothing that God has planned that has gone sour God is sovereign God is great There is not one chain nor rope upon God [00:23:51] There is no hindrance upon God God's will will be accomplished. Now, there's people who ask silly questions. You know, can God, would it be possible for God to create a rock so large that he couldn't lift it? That's foolish. That's foolish. But God is sovereign. God is God. John Calvin, good man, student of Augustine, he so emphasized the sovereignty of God [00:24:26] and he so believed that God had everything so planned that God had ordained that some would be created to be saved and some would be created to be lost. There's another man, I think his name was Jacob. And Arminius, Arminius, am I saying it right, Chester, who said, wait a minute here, wait a minute here, what about all these verses, and we read one tonight, that talk about choosing life, what about those verses? [00:25:06] So we tonight, we believe Jacob Arminius was right. We endorse his theology. But that does leave a question, doesn't it? If God is sovereign, and God is going a certain way, what about those people who says says who to God? And say no to God. What about them? Well, it's questioning. And I'm going to give you some theology tonight. [00:25:41] This is a little bit homespun, but you listen to it and you tell me if I'm right. I believe that God is sovereign. I believe that God does as He pleases. And one of the things that God is pleased to do is give me some freedom of choice. And then when I exercise that freedom of choice, I am fulfilling the plan of God. [00:26:16] He says, Jim, in my sovereign freedom, I bestow some freedom upon you. And I'm going to allow you, Jim, to do some choosing. You can follow me. I'd love for you. I want you to, but you choose. You choose this day whom you will serve. You choose life or you choose death. I'm not willing that you should perish. [00:26:48] I want you to come to repentance, but you choose. You follow me? You don't follow me. You choose. That is, I believe, that's how I account for this thing of the sovereignty of God. Now here's a parable, a homemade one. There's a passenger train leaving Middlebury. The whistles blow and this passenger train is heading to, let's take it to Montana. [00:27:25] The passengers are not chained to their seats. The passengers have their freedom. They can go into the dining car and eat Twinkies all the way from Middlebury to Montana if they want to. They can go in the smoking car, I don't know if they have them anymore, but they can go in there and smoke cigars if they want to. Or they can take their Bibles and they can look out the windows and praise the Lord for the beauty of nature. [00:27:58] They have a choice. They have freedom. But there is some freedom. But in all the freedom that they enjoy, there are some things that they cannot change. Number one, that train has a destination. It's going somewhere and they can't change that. It's not going to keep going on and on and on. It's going to come to a stop somewhere and there's going to be a destination. They can't change it. Something else they can't change, some other freedom they don't have, is they don't have the freedom of changing the consequences of their act. [00:28:36] If they sit in there and eat Twinkies from Middlebury to Montana, there's going to be consequences, right? They have the freedom to choose, but they cannot choose the consequences of their behavior. That's settled. That's fixed. So now here we are tonight. We've launched out into our life. God in his sovereign freedom says, [00:29:08] I in my freedom bestow some freedom of choice to you. And here we go. We've got freedom. We're launching out 60, 70, 80 years, whatever. Again, there are some things with all our freedom, There are some things we cannot change. There is a destination ahead. We can't change that. This train stops. There is a destination. Secondly, there is results. [00:29:42] There is going to be consequences for our choices. We can't change that either. We can choose. We can make choices. We can choose life. We can choose death. But we can't change the consequences. Now, the reason I chose that, and the verse there in Nahum, because I love the thought there that God has His way. [00:30:19] I think God is moving in a certain direction. God has His way. And we're wise if we adjust our steps to God. God's moving in a certain direction. Now we can choose to cooperate with God. We can choose to cooperate with God. And we can enjoy the blessing of God. I think it's very simple. I don't think it's complicated at all. You can tell any living person upon this earth, [00:30:53] You plant good seeds and you can expect a good harvest. You plant radishes and you can expect radishes. You plant good seeds and you can expect a good harvest. You sow to the Spirit, you will experience blessing. You sow to the flesh and you'll reap a whirlwind. It's very simple. Now I'd like to give you some biblical examples. God was moving in a certain direction. Israelites in Egypt. [00:31:24] God's going to take them to a promised land by this humble man named Moses. But there was a hard head standing in the way. And this hard head happened to have some clout. And it was Pharaoh. Let my people go! Now, all right? He steeled his heart. What was it? One, two, three, ten plagues later, let my people go. [00:31:58] Now, here comes the death angel. When it was all said and done, Israel was free and there was at least one dead body in every household in Egypt. You see how wise Pharaoh would have been if he would have cooperated with God. Here's another one. Roman Empire. It was God's will to provide salvation through his son, Lord Jesus. It was God's will to bring this son in the form of a baby, mind you. [00:32:37] Herod instead of being honored that God had chosen his district became jealous when he heard about it and he said let's kill all the babies what was it, two years younger? Awful thing there. The Roman Empire fell. caved in, and the Lord Jesus Christ lives on. [00:33:12] Herod should have cooperated with God. Herod should have adjusted his steps to God's prodigal son now in the New Testament. He went away from his father. He exercised his freedom. He made some demands. He found himself in the pig pen with a strange sensation in his tummy. He was hungry. The only answer was to go back to his father. He should have cooperated with God, cooperated with his father, and he did eventually. [00:33:50] Now, the question, did the prodigal son break God's laws? No. God's laws stand firm. See what happens? God's laws stand firm and mankind breaks himself against them. But God's laws stand firm. Now here's some more recent examples. Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev. They said some awful things. They said, we're going to pull that bearded God out of the sky. [00:34:24] Can you imagine that? There was a man, a French atheist named Voltaire. I think he's pronouncing it right. He vowed in his lifetime to eliminate Christianity. These three men passed off the scene. You know, God paid no more attention to them than we would of three dogs yapping in the distance, way off in the distance. God's affairs moved on. [00:34:58] These men passed off. The blessing and curse are not causeless. We do not have a fickle God tonight who changes as we do with every mood. The blessing and curse were results and effective choices. Jesus. Is it in Peter? I don't have that reference. It says that God is not willing that any should perish. Is that in Peter? God is not willing that any should perish. [00:35:39] And I think that God is going to do all that he can to keep us from perishing, to keep us from death, to keep us from hell. But he will not violate our free moral agency. He can give us warnings, providential warnings, nudging of the Holy Spirit, close calls. I could tell you a few things that happened to me that helped bring me to my senses. [00:36:19] I remember one evening, two friends and myself had got on a tractor. We were, none of the three of us were right with God. We were far from God. We were in a, we were far from our Heavenly Father. We got on this tractor with a tricycle-type tractor that are prone to tip easily anyway. The driver of that tractor had indulged in some alcohol. [00:36:55] I was on the one fender of that tractor and he got in the driver's seat and away we went. And we came to a corner and I knew we were going too fast. But in his alcoholic judgment he whipped that tractor around that corner and I could feel the wheel that I was sitting on, the fender that I was sitting on. It came up and up and up and I thought we're going over and at last we came down. And we laughed and went on to our destination. [00:37:30] But that night, Jim, Jim, you were staring at eternity there. You were looking at death there. Jim, you're not right. And that still small voice whispered in this ear, and then in this one. And then one evening had a dream. [00:38:04] I don't know what age it was, but I remember having a... I'm not a dreamer. I sleep. But I remember a dream. And I took this as a providential warning. And I took this as a mercy of God that I had a dream. Cloudy evening, and here the clouds parted, and there was a brightness, a very vivid dream, and here come the Lord Jesus, and I thought, ah, the second coming of the Lord, and I'm not ready, [00:38:42] And I cried out in my dream, but too late, too late, too late. These I feel, I think God will do everything in His power outside of violating our free moral agency to bring us to the Lord Jesus. I think every sermon preached is a speed bump on somebody's way to hell. [00:39:17] And I believe every song that's sung, every meeting we attend, God's going to do all that he can, but he will not violate our freedom of choice. God is not going to make us a child of His if we would rather be a child of the devil. You won't do it. You won't do it. Consider your ways. [00:39:52] Young people tonight, your ways, you're walking in a certain direction. Now in Deuteronomy, the encouragement there was, the scriptures there were pleading, choose life, remember that? Choose blessing, choose good, remember that in Deuteronomy? It's possible tonight that some of you are in here and you have been choosing death. [00:40:23] And what do I mean by that? Let me tell you what I mean. There was a young man in our community Went to church with us For at least two years Boy from the community His name was Noel Noel had a cocaine problem He knew it and he knew that we knew it We talked to him about it [00:40:53] Tried to get him some help Finally, in desperation, he came to us and he said he thinks he's ready for help. So we were able to, we contacted Abe Knapp from Fresh Start. We were able to get Noel into the program there at Fresh Start. One Sunday morning, my turn to preach. Noel had been in Fresh Start about two weeks. [00:41:25] And I stood behind the pulpit and I stood up and the first face that I seen was Noel. And I could hardly preach that Sunday because I wonder what on earth is Noel here for? I knew he wasn't supposed to be in the program. He was not allowed any contact, let alone go visiting for like three months. What is Noel doing here? So after the service, I said, boy, what are you doing here? And he said, Jim, I got sick and tired of people telling me what to do. [00:41:58] He said, I got tired of every move you made. Everything was read down to the details. You had to do this, and I got sick and tired of it. And I said, tired of people telling me what to do, so I hitchhiked home. I said, come home with me for dinner. A man took me home for Sunday dinner. Set out on the port swing. I said, Noel, let me take you back. Come on. Nope. I said, Noel, you're on your way. [00:42:31] You made a wrong choice. Let's go back. Nope. I said, Noel, I plead with you. I'll take you back to Davis County this afternoon. Let's go back. No. I said, I'm tired of it. Two weeks passed. I come home from work one day, my little boys, two little boys come running out, Dad, guess what, Noel got killed today, I said what on earth are you talking about, Noel got killed today, I thought they were just little fellas, I thought maybe, just maybe, just maybe they got it wrong [00:43:14] So, and I went and I met my wife at the door and she was weeping. She said, yeah, that's right. Earlier this morning, Noel was going from Caneyville to Russellville. And he was in a cocaine stupor, the way it appeared. And he, going around the long curve, straightened out the curve and there was an old couple in a van. And the old couple seen this blue pickup coming and they pulled off into the grass [00:43:44] And he kept coming so they pulled way off into the grass And he come plowed into him and killed the old man and killed Noel himself Noel chose death Now if you would ask Noel ten minutes before his crash you would say No, I'm not choosing death I want to live I want to live! But in reality, Noel chose death. He chose death. [00:44:16] He placed himself by the choices he made. He placed himself in the path of death. He made choices that resulted in death. He chose death. Now how do we choose life? We choose life by choosing the Lord Jesus. Jesus said, and I mentioned that verse, [00:44:48] I am the way, the truth, and the life. We choose life by repenting and turning from our sin and yielding our life, lock, stock, and barrel to the Lord Jesus Christ. He becomes our Lord and Master. Jesus Christ came into the earth to save sinners, but He doesn't leave them sinners. [00:45:21] He makes them a new creation. And I want to insert this. I believe a gospel that leaves a person just like he is, that asks and makes no demands upon his life, that asks nothing, that makes no moral demands upon his life is not the gospel that the Lord Jesus taught. Jesus doesn't beg us to come to him. He said if any man, if any man, he doesn't beg. [00:45:56] But he says if you want to, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. You see, we meet Jesus' terms. He sets the conditions, we don't. We don't say, alright Lord, I'll do this, but I won't confess to this. I'll let you have this, but I'm going to keep this. I'm not going to give this up. [00:46:29] I think it was Tozer who said, it is doubtful that the Lord can save those who he cannot rule. We choose life by choosing Jesus. Repenting and turning to the Lord Jesus without reservation. Do you ever notice in the scripture that wisdom has little to do with intellect? Do you ever notice that? Wisdom has little to do with intellect. [00:47:00] Wisdom in the scriptures instead refers to obedience and cooperating with God. There's a beautiful verse. I wonder if I can quote it. Let me try it. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in behalf of those whose hearts are perfect toward him. [00:47:31] Somebody has said a perfect heart is a heart that agrees with God. Brother Glenn, Brother Glenn, I think, Brother Glenn, that you need to do this. Yes, Lord. I agree. Brother Chester, Chester, God speaking, I think you need to do this. Yes, Lord. [00:48:04] Sister, God speaking, I think you need to amend, make some amends here, or a restitution here. Yes, Lord. I agree. A perfect heart is a heart that agrees with God. And the scriptures calls that person wise. It has little to do with intellect, but rather to do with choice and obedience. A wise person chooses life. [00:48:38] A wise person makes choices with eternity in mind. In the front of my Bible, I have this written. I refuse to allow that which is temporal stand in the way of that which is eternal. On the other hand, fools in the Bible are not those of limited mentality, mental capacity. [00:49:09] But fools in the Bible are those, I'm going to give you some examples, who live without thought of the eternal consequences. Here's some verses. Fools make a mock of sin. You see, it has nothing to do with intellect. It has to do, rather, living and choosing without thought of eternity. The fool has said in his heart there is no God. [00:49:44] There's lots of professors and people in colleges that have more degrees behind their name, as someone has said, more than a thermometer, that are professing that there's no God. And you know what they are? They are educated fools, according to the Scripture. And I hesitate to use that word because of what Jesus said. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. [00:50:15] And we see a rich man. He's hoarding, he's gathering. Ah, soul. And then he hears a voice from heaven, thou fool. You see, it had nothing to do with his mental capacity. It had everything to do with the choices that he was making, temporal choices, choices for here and now and ignoring eternity. [00:50:49] I'd like to share something with you here that I think is true, very, very true. There will be no fools in heaven. There are no wise men in hell. There may be some educated ones, but there's no wise men. Fools make choices for here and now. Wise people make choices with eternity in mind. Consider your ways. [00:51:21] Consider your ways. Consider your direction. Now, I've had the opportunity of having hands laid on my head twice Once as a minister and others as a bishop And I accept that, I accept that challenge And I want to, with all I can, to teach and promote Christ's likeness I want to do that and battle carnality and wickedness until I die Fathers and mothers here tonight [00:51:54] Now, you may have never had hands laid upon your head, but I want to give you a challenge. I want you to have a burden tonight. If you want a warm, spiritual church that stands for something for your grandchildren, I want to give you a charge tonight. You make wise choices. [00:52:26] You make long-range choices. You have a responsibility to teach and to train your children. I believe too many parents are trying to get by on the coattails of the church. Well, why are we doing like we do? Well, that's what the church teaches. That's what the church wants. That's hardly good enough. [00:53:00] You teach them. You gather your children around you. And you do it often. And you do it regularly. Gather them around you and open your Bible and read and teach and sing together and pray together. And serve God together and worship God together. You teach them love and respect for the things of God. Now, young people, you've never had hands laid upon your head as a minister or as a bishop, but you have a responsibility. [00:53:36] One of these days, Glenn's going to pass off the scene, and your other ministers are going to pass off the scene. And you're going to get married, God willing, most of you are. And there's going to be babies coming on. And these babies are going to be growing up. And then it's going to be your turn to answer some questions. And then you're going to be on the hot seat. [00:54:07] Dad, what's wrong with that? That's why the young people over at Woodlawn, they have it. Or wherever. I just picked that one out. Mom! That's going to be your turn to answer. Then you're going to be on the hot seat. And Glenn and I are going to be in heaven. [00:54:38] And we're going to be watching. We're going to be observing how you're going to, what's your turn to talk. And young people, if you want a loosey-goosey type of Christianity that anything goes and casual, let me tell you something. A casual Christianity produces casualties. [00:55:12] It produces casualties. It's not attractive. What I'm promoting to you tonight, that we take responsibility, that we assume responsibility. Instead of whining, instead of whining, you know, what's wrong with this? Why can't I do this? Maybe the better question would be, does this glorify God? [00:55:51] Instead of saying, what's wrong with this music? What's wrong with this music? Maybe a better question would be, does this typify the Lord Jesus? Jesus. Is this typical? Is this typical of the Lord Jesus? Or instead of standing in front of the mirror and wondering how much of those little eyebrows you could pluck out, maybe the better question would be, does this satisfy the Holy Spirit? [00:56:26] Or does this edify my brethren? Does this edify my younger brothers and sisters who are going to be looking on and following me? Will this purify my life? Five questions. Number one, I think we can call every action, every thought, every musical tape, everything. We can run it through these five. [00:56:56] Number one, would this glorify God? Number two, does this typify Jesus? Number three, does this satisfy the Holy Spirit? Number four, does this edify my fellow brethren? And number five, will this purify my life? And if it makes it through them five, I think it's safe. Those are the kind of questions that promote spirituality. Those are the kind of questions that will cause you to grow in the deep things of God. [00:57:33] Consider your ways. Now we're living tonight in the day of grace. The day of grace. You're breathing tonight. You're living in the day of grace. In other words, you still have opportunity to choose. Not every wedding rehearsal I've ever been to makes me smile. Because I see this prospective bride and groom, they're rehearsing walking in together. And I see her attempting to adjust her steps to her prospective husband. [00:58:10] And I'd like to ask them, will you be just this careful, dear young sister, in adjusting your steps to your husband in a few years from now? But even more than that, young man, young sister, will you be this careful in adjusting your steps to the Holy Spirit when He woos you and calls you and warns you? [00:58:46] Yes, Lord, I'll do it. Yes, Lord, I'll go. Yes, Lord, I'll make restitution. Yes, Lord, I'll make adjustments. So this week, folks, let's consider our ways. Let's consider our direction. [00:59:18] Let's consider the path that we're on. Because it's coming to an end, consider your ways.