The Three Most Important Decisions We Can Make

Morning. Just in case you’re wondering, I’m not the normal preacher. He’s here. The elders have decided that on the fifth Sunday that we’re going to have someone else give Kevin a break. And they asked me this month to do it this morning, so I’m here. It’s good to be here. It’s good to see a lot of faces I don’t recognize. And if I’m supposed to recognize you, I apologize. But it looked like there were a couple of visitors this morning. I’m glad to see that. And if I take my glasses off, preacher count says there’s about 500 people here. So maybe I need to put them back on because I won’t be able to read. But it is good to be here this morning. Last night we had one of our annual school events that, you know, rounds up the year.

So if you see some kids walk around like zombies, it’s because they were up until like 5 o’clock in the morning. And I was told last night, I’m just going to go ahead and share this with you before I told last night because I wore a tie, you know, and I was told, you know, I needed to dress up more like a church.

And I’m like, I don’t normally wear a tie at church, but I dressed up this morning. Look at this. Is this better? Is this better? OK. OK. So anyway, let me let me get into the lesson. And, you know, I really do appreciate being able to speak to y’all this morning. And I thought about this week. And as always, I went through about 700 ideas. And I kind of rounded it down to one. And I think what I’m going to speak about this morning is pretty simple. It’s pretty straightforward. It was easy for me to understand. So I think maybe you certainly, since most of you are smarter than me, probably will understand it much better than I can. But I want to start out with a story. I’m not sure it’s true, but if it was, it would make you cry.

It’s about this wealthy man and his son. It’s just them, you know. His wife had passed away, so he and his son were very close. And they had one thing that they really had in common. They both really liked artwork. So what they would do is they would purchase artwork and they would sit around. They would discuss it and appreciate it. And they had a pretty extensive collection. They had Picassos and Raphaels and Van Gogh and Rembrandts, all kinds of people that I don’t even know who they are really, but that were their names. And they would admire this. And one day, the son got called off to war.

And he went to war, and months went by, And finally, the father got a letter that said that the son was very courageous, but that he had died in battle. He had died saving another soldier’s life. And obviously, and understandably, the father was heartbroken by this. And then a couple of months went by, and finally one day, someone was knocking at the door, and he went to the door. And there was a young man standing there. And the young man had a package and he said he said sir you don’t know me but I was the man that your son was carrying when he died and he talked about you all the time and he talked about how much you loved art so I have something I want to give you it’s not very much so the father took the package and opened it up and it was a portrait of the son the young soldier had spent his time and he’d painted it and the father was awestruck because it caught the spirit and the personality of his son and of course the father wanted to pay the young soldier but soldiers didn’t know no you can’t pay me so the father took this portrait and he took down his favorite painting off the mantle and he put that portrait of the son he replaced this priceless this work of art with something that was more worthy of admiration to him so when people came over obviously they wanted to see the artwork but they first had to see the son right well as time went by this the father passed away and there was excitement because all over the country people knew we’re going to have this auction and we can go and we can win these I mean we can bid for these these paintings and works of art and we’re going to be able to add them to our collection so people came from all over the country to bid on this auction.

So they all showed up, and they were in this huge room. And as they were filing in, they noticed that on the easel was the picture of the sun. So the auctioneer began the auction, and he said, we’re going to start out with this piece. Who will bid $200? And someone in the back of the room kind of angrily said, no, could you just get that one out of the way and start with the real artwork? And this kind of went back and forth. And finally, the auctioneer said, no, we can’t start the auction until we sell this painting. So in the back of the room, in the corner, kind of away from everybody else, a voice came out and said, I’ll give $10.

And it was the gardener that had sat there and watched that boy grow up. He was a friend of the family. He had worked for them his whole life. He said, I’ll give you $10. Dollars. So finally, after going back and forth, the auctioneer said, OK, going to the gentleman in the back for ten dollars. And then the auctioneer took his gavel and he started packing up to leave. Of course, there was a little bit of a hysterical fit. Now, hold on a second. What about the rest of it? And the auctioneer said, well, I couldn’t tell you until now, but there was a stipulation. You see, whoever got the son got everything. You see, that gardener, by choosing the son, that changed his life.

You see, here’s a lesson this morning. Sometimes decisions can change our life forever. You know, and I’m going to start out with a statement. I think you’ll find this to be true. I believe that good decisions improve our lives. And I believe that bad decisions make our lives more difficult. I think we all agree with that. I think life has taught us all that. And I think my life, just like yours, has been a collection of decisions and choices and consequences.

And that’s what led us to right here. Some of them are very minor, like what are we going to eat at the church on Sunday morning? Some of them are very impacting. You know, we have kids down at the high school that are graduating this year and they’re starting a life away from school, away from maybe their mom and dad, and they’re going to start making decisions in the future that are going to impact them forever. Like, where do I go to college? What do I do for a living? Who do I marry? What do I do? We as adults, we make decisions like that. In fact, we’re living the results of a lot of those decisions now. We’re still making decisions like that, that impact us in such deep ways. And this morning, by looking at the scriptures, I think what I want to show you is that the Bible teaches us that there are decisions that don’t just change our lives now, but they’re eternal.

And I love the Bible because as we read through it, what we find out is that it’s a book about real people who make real decisions and had real consequences for those decisions. You know, we could talk about Moses who, you know, we learn in chapter 11 of Hebrews that, you know, he chose to no longer be or called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, but to live a life of affliction with the people of God.

He made a decision. And don’t tell me that decision didn’t change his life. We could talk about Adam and Eve, whose decision affected every one of us. We could talk about Peter, we could talk about Paul. But there are two specific examples I’m going to use this morning. One good, one bad, or one positive, one negative, how you want to look at it, that I think exemplify this very well. And the first one was a man named David. We all recognize his name, right? You know, David, he did a lot of good things in his life. Made a lot of good decisions. But he made one really bad. And we know, in 2 Samuel chapter 11, we hear about how David committed adultery in Bathsheba.

Horrible, horrible, horrible decision. The Lord said to him in 2 Samuel chapter 12, 10, 11, and 12, he says, Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah, the Hittite, to be your wife. Thus says the Lord, behold, I will rise up against you evil from your own household. And I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companions. And he will lie with your wives in the broad daylight. Indeed, you indeed did it secretly. But I will do these things before all of Israel under the sun. I will rise up evil against you from your own house. Now that is horrible, right? And if we stop there, we go, what exactly was God talking about? But if you keep reading chapter 12, chapter 13, chapter 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, if you keep reading, what you find out is very quickly the most immediate consequence of that sin, a son was born and he died.

Chapter 12 of 2 Samuel. That’s a pretty horrible consequence. Not one chapter later, we find out that one of David’s daughters, Tamar, is assaulted by her half-brother in his own household. Then, in chapter 13, at the end of it, we find out that another brother kills that brother because of what he did.

Consequences for actions. And then that son, Absalom, he rises up and he rebels against his father and eventually dies. Now, you see, that one bad decision, the consequences that God laid on him because of those decisions, they didn’t just affect David, did they? They affected his family. They affected the kingdom. They affected everyone. You see, they didn’t just affect him. Decisions don’t just affect us. Now on the other side of that we read about a young man who made a decision difficult as it might be that changed his life forever there’s a young man named joseph we know the story we teach it to our children bible class you know and through no real fault of his own he finds himself sold into slavery he finds himself a slave in egypt to a man named potiphar you know the story Right. And while he’s there, something happens.

He is called to make a decision. You see, Genesis chapter thirty nine, verse six tells us that Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. He was a good looking young man. I don’t know exactly what that means. You know, maybe he was tall, maybe he was muscular, maybe he’s just a really good looking guy. What we know is the Bible says that he is good looking in some way. And that fact was not lost on Potiphar’s wife. And we know the story. He’s walking into the house one day, I’m imagining. And she says, Joseph, come lie with me. Now, we all know what that means. Now, and here’s the moment. Here’s the moment. Because, you know, because Joseph, he could have said, well, no one’s going to find out. And, you know, she is my master’s wife.

You know, you know, I can’t say no, but he made a decision and it summed up in a statement. Genesis chapter 39, verse nine, he says, how then can I do this great evil and sin against God? And then the Bible tells us he ran. That decision was a powerful decision. He said, how can I do this and sin against God? He didn’t say and sin against myself or sin against this woman or sin against Potiphar. He said, how can I sin against God? And he ran and of course you know Joseph went to prison and while he was there we know the story we teach our children that he interpreted a couple of dreams one good one bad and then through another set of circumstances that he really had no control over he finds himself before Pharaoh and in front of Pharaoh he interprets another dream he says Pharaoh there’s going to be a famine we know that we teach our children and we learned in Bible class that because of that He was placed second over everyone, below Pharaoh, over everyone in Egypt.

So he could do something about this famine that he’s predicted from this dream. And through those actions that follow, he saves his family, he saves an entire country or more. You see, that one good decision had a tremendous effect on his life and his family and his country.

You see, it didn’t just affect him. And you know, as I think, as we look at ourselves, I mean, I could go through and talk about all kinds of good decisions we could make and bad decisions we could make. I think, ultimately, we can boil it down to this. There are three decisions that every one of us has to make.

The first one is, are we going to become a Christian or not? You see, that kind of decision, that determines who we are. Are we going to be a Christian or not? It’s kind of not really anything in between. It’s just one or the other. In Galatians chapter 3, verse 27, For all of you who have been baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. You’ve taken on the identity of Christ. You decided who you are. Philippians chapter 2 verse 5, kind of leading away from that or along with that, he tells us that we have to have this attitude in ourselves, which was also in Christ. You see, we have to start thinking like Christ. Ephesians chapter 4, 14 and 15, he says, As a result, we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by the craftiness of deceitful scheming.

But speaking the truth and love, we are to grow in all aspects into him who is the head, even Christ. You see, the decision to become a Christian determines who we are going to be. We have to make that decision. Everyone makes that decision or another. There are no in-betweens. Now, when we’ve done that, there’s also another very important decision we ought to make. We have to determine whether we’re going to live like a Christian. You know, that one decision affects, I’m going to say it doesn’t just affect our lives, it’s going to affect every other person we meet, right? You know, it determines where we’re going to spend eternity. It’s going to determine where we’re going. It’s a very important decision. Philippians chapter 3 verse 20, For our citizenship is in heaven, that’s where we’re going, from which we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

You see, the decision to live as a Christian, to be a citizen in heaven, that’s a big decision. Colossians 3, verse 1, Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above. Keep living like you’re going to be in heaven. You know, the Bible is full of examples of how we can live as Christians. You know, it’s going to have a bearing. That decision is going to have a bearing on every other decision we make. Every decision we make from that point on, we’re going to base that decision on where we’re going, who we are, how we’re going to live.

And as a Christian, we’re going to be concerned with doing God’s will. You know, in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 9, therefore, we have as our ambition, some versions say our ambition or our, I can’t remember the word I thought about, but ours, our ambition, whether at home or present, to be pleasing to him. Who to be pleasing to who? To God. You see, when we start living as a Christian, it’s our aim, our ambition to be pleasing to God. You know, as a Christian, we simply don’t just do our own thing. And if I was going to choose a scripture to define what we’re supposed to be doing, there is no better place to be or to go than the Great Commission, right? Sums it up. In Matthew chapter 28, 18, 19, 20, And Jesus came and he spoke to them saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. Lo, I am with you always at the end of the age. That’s what we’re supposed to be doing. You see, the decision to live as a Christian and to do that very thing, it changes our lives. And that leads us to another decision. And I’m going to tell you a little story real quick that kind of comes to my mind. And I’ve told you this before. It’s a real story. This is a true story, not just a preacher story. It’s a real story. I don’t know how that sounded, but several years ago, 2002, I had to look up the date, which was not, what was that, 16 years ago.

That doesn’t seem like, it seemed like yesterday. There was a towboat going down the Arkansas River in Oklahoma, and it hit a pillar that supported the bridge that spanned Interstate 40 from one side to the other, okay? The bridge failed, okay? And if you drove through there, what you find out is as you come around the corner to go on this, you don’t see the bridge until you’re 20 or 30 feet away from it, okay? So people were coming around the corner. We all drive the speed limit, right? And no, we don’t. So they’re coming around the corner. I want to say speeding around the corner, and then the city was out. And they started going over the edge. Fourteen people died that day. Fourteen people. A lot of cars went over the edge. And, you know, some things happened.

You know, that 62-foot fall into the water, there were people in the river fishing. And you’d think that they would run away, but you know what they did? They got their boats and got underneath the bridge and started pulling people out of cars. That’s pretty brave. But, you know, it didn’t stop the cars from going on the bridge. So one of the fishermen, his name was Alton Wilhort. It didn’t really matter what his name was. He got a flare gun, and he climbed up the bank of the river, and he stood in the middle of the highway and told people to stop.

He had this flare gun, and an 18-wheeler was coming towards him, and he shot the flare gun at the truck. I suspect that surprised the guy driving it right. He stopped, barely, and he put his truck in front of the bridge. I wonder how many people he saved that day. I don’t know. So where does that really leave us? You know, most people that you meet are like those drivers. They do not know the bridge is out. They don’t know. They’re just not watching. They’re not paying attention. But we know that it’s out, and we belong in the middle of the highway of life. We belong there. And, you know, we’ve got a flare gun and we know how to use it, right? We need to. You see, when we become a Christian, we have to be ready to use the word of God to teach other people that, you know what?

There’s a better place than this. You know, Acts chapter 8, verse 4, it tells us those who have been scattered went about preaching the word. You see, in Acts chapter 8, the church went just burst and went everywhere, scattered. But, you know, the people that scattered, you know what they did? They went and they preached the word where they went. You know, we’re not being scattered by persecution, but I tell you, we might be able to learn a little bit from that.

You know, even in the Old Testament, Solomon, he says the fruit of righteousness is the tree of life. And he who is wise wins souls. Tells people the word of God. That’s there in Psalms chapter 11, verse 30. Second, Timothy, Paul is talking to Timothy and he says in chapter two, verse two, the things which you have heard from me and the presence of many witnesses and trust these to faithful men who will be able to teach them to others also.

You see, that’s a decision. You have to decide to do that. And in the same book, the same chapter, Paul speaking to Timothy, chapter two of Second Timothy, verse 24, he says, The Lord’s bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to speak, to teach, patient with wrongness, with gentleness, correcting those who are in opposition.

If perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth, that they may come to their senses and escape from the snares of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. Paul tells Timothy, you need to teach these people. In romans you know speaking of paul in romans chapter one you know paul makes a statement about his aim he says in chapter 15 and 16 of romans chapter one for so for my part I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in rome for I’m not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of god for salvation to everyone who believes to the jew first and also the greek basically said to everybody because there are nobody but jews and greeks right or jews and you know that’s everybody he said preach it to everybody that was his aim you see when we decide to take everyone else with us because that’s the third decision you decide to take everyone with you take your family you take your friends you take that guy or girl that’s checking you out at walmart you know doing your groceries right you take your neighbor you take every one that you know when I was working in texarkana I’m going to steal something someone said to me this older gentleman told me, we were doing a campaign in Texarkana, and he said, you know what?

If you really truly have the love of God, you can’t imagine that another person doesn’t know the truth. You can’t walk by a person and imagine that they don’t know the way to heaven. And it’s a challenge to us. It’s that third decision we have to make. We’ve got to choose to be a Christian. We’ve got to choose to live as a Christian. But we also have to choose to take everyone else with us. You know, in Exodus chapter 32, I’m going to wrap this up. In Exodus chapter 32, Moses draws a line. Not Not a literal line, but he draws a line in the sand. He said, you see, he was up on Mount Sinai. He comes down with the law of God and everyone down there is having a party and worshiping a golden island.

We tell our kids that same story. OK, see, Moses knew that God demanded his people’s love, their obedience, their worship and only to him. So this is what he says in Exodus chapter 32, verse 26. Moses stood in the gates of the camp and said, whoever is for the Lord, come to me. He drew a line. He said, if you’re really for God, get back behind me. You know, and the scriptures tell us that many did. Many did. And many also died because of the decision they made. You see, the truth is, Jesus also drew a line. He called those multitudes to follow him. In fact, Jesus says, Luke chapter 11, verse 23, He who is with me, who is not with me, is against me. That’s a pretty common phrase, right? If you’re not with God, then you’re against him.

There’s no in-between. There are no shades of gray. Either for God or you’re not. You know, Matthew chapter 16, verse 24. Jesus said to his disciples, If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. That’s a pretty simple instruction right there. You choose. There’s a line drawn. You choose to cross the line or you don’t. That’s it. You know, the line exists today. It’s right here in front of us. It always is. I think every time a person stands before you and preaches the word, they’re drawing a line for you too. It’s not the line they drew. They’re just showing you the line that Jesus drew for you. But, you know, as we close this, I want you to think about that story I told you in the beginning about the son and painting and the father.

You know, you notice that the father started with the son. He offered the son first, right? And you know, the truth is, that’s what God did. 2,000 years ago, he offered his son to us. And I think, just like the auctioneer said, I think God in the word is saying, the son, the son, who will take the son? That’s the real question. Who is going to choose the son? Because you know what? Those that choose the son get everything else. They get everything. I’m gonna leave you with a verse here first john 5 11 and 12 and the testimony is this that god has given us eternal life and this life is in his son he who has a son has life but he does not have the son does not have life it’s pretty simple we have a decision to make every one of us whether we’re young, old, or somewhere in between, we have a decision we must make. If we’ve already become a Christian, are we going to live like a Christian? Are we going to tell others about Christ? Are we going to show them there’s a better way than this? Because folks, there has got to be something better than this. Everybody knows that. I mean, if you’re happy with your life, you’re not thinking right. And if you meet someone that’s perfect, they just love their life, and there’s no problems they need to hear the truth but if you haven’t let’s say you haven’t made that first decision maybe you haven’t decided to become a christian it’s the most important one you’ll ever make this morning we’re gonna I’m gonna offer an invitation it’s not mine it’s the invitation of christ it’s a line in the sand it’s a choice yes or no that’s what it is to decide if you haven’t put christ on baptism if you haven’t began the walk that walk with jesus that by becoming a part of the body of christ if you haven’t decided that there is got to be something better than this and this is a good time to do that there’s no better time than this and you know if you have began that walk and you just kind of got off track and you need the prayers of the church I’ll tell you there’s no better group of people to pray with you for you within your family, and that’s the people standing around you right now.

So if you have a need, we’re going to ask you to come forward as we stand and sing.

End of transcript. Thank you for reading along!