Choices Choices

So today we're going to talk about choices. Choices is the subject of today's sermon. Life is about choices. How you live life is about choices. Our lives are filled with them. For example, you have experienced a hot day and you want to give yourself and your family a treat. So you choose to go for ice cream at Ben & Jerry's or Hagen-Dazs store. Now, Ben & Jerry's is the number one preferred brand in the United States. Hagen-Dazs is the second most preferred brand of ice cream. So the top 10 American flavors, what Americans like. In order of rank, vanilla. Vanilla is number one. Chocolate, number two. Cookies and cream, number three. Mint and chocolate, mint chocolate chip, four. Chocolate chip cookie dough, five. Butter pecan, my wife's favorite. Six. Birthday cake, which is a combination of pieces of cake and some sprinkles in it. It's kind of sugary, but anyway. Birthday cake is number seven. Number eight is strawberry. Number nine is mousetrax. Mousetrax is vanilla, peanut butter, and fudge mixed. And number 10 is Neapolitan. Now, I don't know why you have strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla separate, but Neapolitan, you get all three of them in little sections. So that's those are the flavors that are Americans' top 10. Flavors that Ben & Jerry, you go in there and you go to a store. They have cherry Garcia, chocolate fudge browning, caramel ice cream, chocolate ice cream, vanilla ice cream, coconut ice cream, cookie dough ice cream, brownie batter ice cream, mint ice cream, peanut butter ice cream, pistachio ice cream, buttered pecan, Boston cream pie. So it's like Boston cream pie of vanilla with chocolate all over at the top. Butterscotch, strawberry, and strawberry cheesecake to name only some. So you walk into a store and you're dazzled with all these different flavors and you have to make a choice. Sometimes my son-in-law Mike comes down here and Mr. Mike Cook, he picks vanilla all the time. He's not very creative. Okay.

I think there was one of them in the flavors of some of these different groups, extra flavors. They were one of those kind of licorice in it and I never haven't found that in looking at it this time. They have some exotic flavors in some of these places, the extra ones. I just read some of them. Okay, so those are flavor, those are choices you have to make when you go to an ice cream store.

However, not all choices are that complicated or so fun to make. Let me read a quote from Pastor Storyphile. This is June of 1987, page one. We who once lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken away from a man. But one thing, the last of human freedoms, that is to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances and to choose one's own way. No one can take that from you. You have to choose how you will react, how you will respond to those circumstances. I want to make sure I can see all of you. So again, choice, and that's by Victor Frankl, a man's search for meaning. Man's search for meaning. They can take everything away from you, but they can't take away choice, how you will react to any situation and circumstance. Well, what do you do when you have to make choices? You've likely made several choices today already, such as, what will I wear to church? What will I bring for the potluck? Will I use my Bible or laptop for scriptures? Will I take copious notes or just listen? How long will I stay at a fellowship? What will I have for nourishment before services and after services? What will I have? What will I choose? Life is about full of choices. I want to read you a couple of scriptures, and I have my scriptures written out, so it makes it easier for me to turn to them and to see them, since I copy them in 14 fonts, so it's easier for me to read. Let's take a look at some preliminary scriptures about choice. Ephesians 5 and verse 17 we read, therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. So there's a choice when you have to make choices. What is God's will in this situation? How do I know what God is? How do you even know what God's will is?

But do I know it when I have to make a difficult decision? Second Timothy 3 verses 16 and 17. Preliminary scriptures for choices choices. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. So God has breathed upon and inspired the scriptures in your Bible and is profitable for doctrine teaching, for reproof for correction, or for telling you what's right and telling you what's wrong, for correction helping you change what's wrong, and for instruction in righteousness. So if you want to know what is the righteous thing to do or not do, you want to search the scriptures that the man of God may be complete thoroughly equipped for every good work. That's 2nd Timothy 3 verses 16 and 17. Philippians 4 and 6. Be anxious for nothing. Be anxious for nothing. Don't worry. But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. So we have three preliminary scriptures that help us make choices. One, we want to see what God's will is. Searching the scriptures, finding out what God wanted us. Does God want me to wear red if he did? This burgundy colored sweater I haven't worn for years.

But I felt like I wanted something a little warm in here, so when I'm driving I thought it'd be cooler today. It doesn't seem like it was going to be that way. I haven't worn that for years, but I made a choice. Okay, I'll wear this. Does God care whether I wore burgundy or whether it was brown? He really doesn't care. God doesn't care about your personal choices unless your personal choices involve righteousness or sin.

So if I go to a restaurant and they want to serve me refried beans, the normal style, I know there's lard in those refried beans unless they have made them especially different. So I know not to order it. Simple. If I did order it, need it, not knowing, would God hate me? No. I made a mistake. We also need to understand that every personal choice we make is not a matter of righteousness or unrighteousness. What if I wore the burgundy? It would have been better off to wear brown. If I wore it, it would have looked better. I made a mistake. Is that a sin? It's not a sin. God allows a lot of personal choices. Okay, so don't beat yourself up over. You didn't do this, or you didn't do that, or if I had done this, what if I've taken this other exit? I may have made it here set. They gave me a different exit this time. I know it was a different exit, so it got me here the same time and all that, but a different exit from coming into this area. And that's okay.

It's not a mistake. Didn't cost me any time. I think maybe a minute or so, but didn't cost me any time. Not much angst. So even if I had gone the wrong exit, is that a sin? Not a sin. I made a mistake. So a lot of choices we make are not a matter of sin or righteousness. God helped me to pick the right color card. God says it's your choice.

And I find that interesting. Can you tell me what Jesus Christ's favorite color was? Maybe white, but white isn't really a color. It's washed out, right? But white. Why? Because it's the righteousness of the saints, right? White. But we don't know that he was a carpenter or a stone mason carrying mud or carrying blocks of stones that had dirt on them. Do you think a carpenter is going to wear white all the time? But probably something pastel, because it's hot over there and the sun would beat on you. It was real dark. It would absorb it. You don't know it. Do you know what Christ's favorite sport was? Well, I could assume maybe fishing, because he talked about fishing. Maybe wrestling, because he did in the Old Testament wrestle with Jacob. But again, do you know? You don't. It is interesting that God does not tell you too much. What was his favorite food? Did he like falafels? Well, what did he like? I don't know what he liked. Do you know what he liked? I know whatever he had was clean. But do you know what he liked? What would you make him for? Your favorite food? You don't know. I don't know either. The Bible is pretty silent about that for a good reason. God wants you to make choices. So it's not a sin to make choices that aren't against anything in the Bible. That's why I say, search the Scriptures, see what they say so you could know. Be conversant with them. If it's a matter of righteousness or sin, if it's not, make your choice. I remember one time one minister who did not like pink cars. I don't know if I mentioned this to you before. I mentioned to an audience. He liked not pink, but salmon colored. Salmon colored car was famous back at that time. But the minister in the area that he was being visited from by the man who was over all the ministry in the United States came to this man's place. This man had been telling his church, you know, if you show up in a pink car, you're a pink, and you're all this and you're that, and don't ever repeat. He really did. And guess what his regional, his overall pat, over the whole thing, overall the ministry came driving it in, in a salmon colored car. Boy, did he have to backpedal. Why? It's personal. Personal. People at college, they would say, Mr. Meredith doesn't like you to wear a pink shirt. Did God make pink carnations? As far as I know, they aren't dyed.

Did God make all colors of flowers? Why did he make them? He likes variety. So you be careful when you go out on personal things. Now, you're allowed to have whatever you choose, as long as it's decent and not sinful. Okay? So those are three basic principles. But make choices we must make in life. There are choices that are very important, not personal choices about what color clothes you're going to wear today or what color you're going to wear today or what type style you wear, as long as it's decent and not indecent. In Deuteronomy 30 and verse 19, we read this.

I call heaven and earth as witness today against you. He told the Israelites that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. I've given you—I can tell you there are two ways of life. He gives it, boils it down to life and blessing and death and cursing. Life and death, God blessing and cursing. Therefore, it gives us a hint. Choose life that both you and your descendants may live.

Our young people, when they go to school, if they're not homeschooled, then they go to public school. They have lots of choices to make because there are a lot of people there. When I grew up, it wasn't quite so bad. Of course, when I grew up, they barely had color. And most people, those things were in black and white. I've seen some of these champs. Most movies, black and white, Tarzan, the Bowery Boys, all these movies that I see on the movie channel. I like that one because I can see some of these old-time movies without interruption. But it takes me back. They didn't have color.

So again, you have to make choices. But it's not so easy when it talks about choices about life. And our young people, if they go to school—and today's schools are not—are hotbeds of problems, I think. I'm not against them. If your kids have a good public school, great. But you be careful. They have to make choices, and I admire them for the choices they make. Teach them to make good choices. I know some people raise their children by making all the choices for them. They make every choice. Then when they turn 18, they turn them loose.

Okay, to go out now, I've made all your choices for you. Now you've got to go out on your own and make choices. You haven't taught them to make choices because you haven't let them. Another one year we said, okay, you get so much second time to spend at the feast. Okay, we're gonna go shopping.

What would you like to have as a toy? And so they said, I think I'd like to get these stickers. Oh, no, those stickers are no good. You'll get them. Stick them all over the floor. How about this car? Does that car make any noise? Oh, yeah, make some noise. I better get that. So I mean, all the things, everything they've tried to pick, I over-trumped them. I wasn't giving them any choice. It was my choice. Okay, Dad, what do you want me to get? Teach your children to make good choices, but give them the opportunity to make those.

Not on life and death issues. Start slowly. Give them a chance to learn. It's very important, all right, because they have to make choices about life when they get older. How come something at the end for them? 1 Kings 18. 1 Kings 18 and verse 21. We read this. Elijah came to all the people and said, How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal is God, follow him. But the people did not answer a word. He comes down to the choices. You want to go the wrong way?

You want to go the right way? Comes down to choices. So there are lesser choices in life. Ice cream flavors, menu choices for meals, music to listen to, as long as it's not indecent. Sleep time at night. What time they go to bed? As children get older. Their sleep time changes. How long will you sleep? What movies and entertainment will you watch? What clothes will you wear? As long as they're modest. No problem.

Where to live? What kind of... Those are choices you could make. Now, obviously, where do you live? You would not want to live in a criminal zone, right? You are one that's strong in crime. You would not want to live there. You would not want to live in Chicago. I mean, I'm teasing Chicago's or LA now. These places are hotbeds of crime. Anyway, important issues. These are choices you have to make. Money. Will I tithe? How will I budget my money? Civil laws. Will I obey the law? Roman 7 says do. Friends. What type of friends will I have? What kind of wife will I choose? Of course, in Genesis 6, dude says they took anybody. They picked anybody they wanted. Instead of being careful, this is my lifelong partner. When I say I do, I mean I do. We had, for our 60th anniversary shirts, it said, after 60 years, I do.

After 60 years, I do. When you make a commitment, it's important. It's important. And again, a wife is from God, a good wife. Family. God wants to be involved with your family. Blessings from God. How many you have is up to you. As many as you can love, as many as you can provide for, as many as you can take care of. That's the limitation. You know, God says, blessed is a man who has his quivers full, but it never tells you how big of a quiver he has.

Right? You get a giant quiver, you can have lots and lots of children. What if you just have a small one? Maybe it has four or five arrows in it. What if it has only two or three specialized arrows, like Rambo had, you know, explosives on the end and so on. You don't, you have to know how many you could take care of. Those are choices you make. They're important issues. Your occupation, what type of work will I do? Oh, you want to get into something? It requires you. We had one fellow, he's a minister of ours now, out in Colorado. He thought it would be great to be a helicopter pilot and going out. He didn't realize that he has to work at any and all times when he's on that emergency helicopter service. He didn't realize that. Basically, it required Sabbath work almost all the time. So you have to be careful. What kind of a job will I get? Will I get a job in a dive? Will I get a job in a place that's non-reputable?

You have to make choices again. What about your manner? Are you humble?

Humility is not favorable in a world today. People are always touting themselves, putting themselves forward, promoting themselves. Not humble. Humility is something that is of Christian origin. Most people don't want to be humble. Why? Because when you're humble, it makes you susceptible to people rising above you. The humble doesn't always mean weak, by the way. Meekness does not always translate as weakness. It's, I realize what I have, my faults. I'm aware of my faults and defects. I'm not aware of yours, but I'm aware of mine. And that keeps me in line.

Humility. What about words? Choice of words. What will I say today? How will I say it? It's not only just words. Well, I didn't say that, but what did you say it? How did you say it? Same words said in a different way can come across as gunpowder words, right? Starting arguments. Oh, sure, I'll do it. That sounds like I'm happy to do it. No, it doesn't sound like I'm happy at all.

So again, it's not only what you say, it's how you, but I didn't, I said, oh sure, how did you say it? The inflection sends attitude along with it. How about your associates? Who you spend time with? And again, bad company ruins good morals. Want to be careful. And judging.

Judging. I got a letter sent from somebody in another country. I won't say who, but I don't want to identify them, and I wouldn't know them, and you wouldn't know them either. But they wrote and said, I saw a sermon you gave, and I gave it here, by the way, in Lexington on God Blessed America and will bless it. I said, the person who did that was wearing a tie, a tie that had red, white, and blue on it, and he gave this, and he hardly gave any scriptures. Hardly gave any scriptures. So they wrote and said, apparently, what I gave in Cincinnati was 2017, they pulled that one up and saw it. And he's talking about America all the time. Well, when did I give it? Around July 7th, July 4th, 5th, 6th, right around that time, America's Holies. And who did I, for whom did I speak? Was I speaking to the world? No, I was speaking to Americans. And he talked about it. I did talk about America and Britain and all the rest. They really, I just wonder why it was a terrible, I had a terrible feeling. I may not want to go to church anymore. They're coming to the church. I came from Jehovah's Witnesses, and I've, yeah, Jehovah's Witnesses are really good at judging people. But anyway, I'm going to write her a letter back. I'll be nice. But I look, find my original notes in my sermons that I keep in my drawer. You know how many scriptures I had in there? 16 that I read, and I had about 10 or 12 more that I referred to.

So if I want, if she wants me to, I can copy that or take a picture of it and send it to her. I won't do that. But again, I don't know what she was listening to, but my sermons are usually loaded with scripture. And I have four pages of them here, so I'm not going to read them all.

But for reference. Okay, so anyway, she was critical of what I did. Judging. You be careful how you judge, because how you judge, what does he say, the way you judge others, is the way God is going to judge you. If it's incomplete, he's going to judge you the same way. But there are life and death issues that we need to be aware of, and those were some of the scriptures I was giving to you. Life and death issues. They're the takers, and they're the givers. That's a quote from Pastor Story File 987. The world quote, the world is composed of takers and givers. The takers may eat better, but the givers sleep better. Jesus Christ said, what? It's more blessed to do what? Give than to receive. So we have choices to make in life. We have choices about the way to go. We have choices about whom we will serve and choose to serve. Joshua chapter 24 verse 15. We read this, and if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. Whether the gods which our fathers served that were on the other side of the river. And I remember visiting this temple of gold in West Virginia. They used to add all kinds of signs up on on route 70 coming out of Virginia. West Virginia, come see the temple of gold. It was one of these Eastern religions. I was teaching religion, so my dad, my mom, and my daughters, Barb, we all went. I want to see this. It's one of these Eastern religions. So went over there. My wife and my mother and one of my daughters stayed in the car. It was a car lot. My dad and I are bold and brave, and my daughter came with, I don't know, Jan or Susie. She came, I think it was Susie, our younger. So we came. We walked around the place. We could see why we walked in and looked into this one temple. Here you had this this god that was painted. That food in front of it. It'll never eat it. Mice, other things. Oh look, he had something to eat today. No, it was the mice that did it. And every so often you have to color it. Every so often you have to dust it. Is that the type of god you want to serve? And yet there are millions of people who worship idols and what those idols represent. They worship the idols and what the idols represent. How can you do that? How can you think this is something that's viable if you're even thinking? That you have to carry it. Every so often you fix the plaster on it.

God fixes us. We don't fix him. But again, he said, choose you whom you will serve. Whether the gods which were your fathers served that were on the other side of the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. I went one time to a Catholic church with a girl that I was liking. But I was already going to Ambassador College, so I came back to my hometown of Pittsburgh and I asked my other church because I wanted to see what the Catholic church was like. So I sat with her. I had gone to the Greek Orthodox Church, which was quite similar. So I went to the Catholic Church, sat there, sitting there, and all of a sudden her bell rang. She fell down on her knees on whatever the kneeling. But well, I didn't expect that. I didn't expect a lot of the things that I saw. But again, it was close to what Greek Orthodox does not have statues. They don't have pictures. See, we're better than the Catholics. We don't have three-dimensional figures, but we have pictures of those three-dimensional figures.

And we kiss the picture instead of kissing the statue. How can you do this? How can you think that is something that's pleasing to God when God says, don't make any likeness of things, don't bow down to them? And yet, that's what's done. And of course, one of the things you go past a picture or a statue of the Virgin Mary, you're supposed to cross yourself so many times, say something.

But that's the world. But you have choices to make. God says, make your choice! Make your choice! But he said, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. We will not make that choice. And in life, we have lots of choices to make. And that's one of the most important ones, because that is a life and death issue. That is a life and death issue. The law of that same line, when you were called by God, John 644, you were called by God. You had a choice, by the way. You could say, oh, it's getting a little bit too personal here. I better back off. Some people do.

You hear the call. God says, I want you. I'm calling you to be a part of my family. I'm calling you. He says, what did he say? I'm not sure. Oh, let's keep on going. The Bible says, many are called, but how many are chosen? Few. And how are you chosen? By you choosing God, and God chooses you. It's a choice that we have to make. That's baptism. And then we must choose whether we're going to answer God and follow his lead.

Romans 2.4 says he will lead us to repentance. God won't repent for you. I read this, I listen sometimes to some of these evangelical preachers. What does some of these evangelists say? Now, if you really want to be saved, just say this prayer. Lord, I'm a sinner. Lord, forgive me. Lord, that is about as sincere as nothing.

Lord, I'm a sinner. Forgive me. What is sin? Does the person who's saying that even know what it means to sin? And do they do anything about the sin?

See, we're not playing games. We're not playing games. It's a life and death matter for us. Life and death matter. And our young people that are here listening, God, because your parents come to God's church, you're given a special opportunity when God calls you to understand. And he says, you're set apart, and you're special to him, to all the young people, because their parents follow God's way. And if they do, God says, I will bless you and bless them to the thousandth generation of those who fear me and keep my commandments. Deuteronomy 7.9. So you have to follow his lead to repentance. You have to make a choice. Luke 14, we count the cost. Luke 14 says, for which of you intending to build a tower does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it? So likewise, whoever of you who does not forsake all that he has, he cannot be my disciple. If you're not willing to give up who you were, what you were, the way you were, you can't be the disciple. You have to choose that. Those are life and death choices. You have to count the cost of being a Christian. I love Psalms 84 and verse 10. Young's literal translation puts it this way. You know where David said, I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than a dwelling of tents of wickedness? Young's literal translation puts it this way. I have chosen rather to be at the threshold in the house of my God. I would rather be at the door, the threshold in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

Than to have all these pleasures that'll turn wicked. I thought that's a pretty good translation. Young's literal translation, Psalms 84 and 10.

Acts 2.38 tells us repent and be baptized. So it's a choice. We never drag anybody into water and dunk them. We don't drag them in. Although I can tell you, a couple of my associates went over to St. John's, New Brunswick to baptize an older man. And can you imagine this man had been counseled and he was ready, just needed for us to baptize him. So they had this Holiday Inn motel swimming pool and they were hoping nobody had been there. It must have been some people just sitting out the sides. So they did all the talking in the room. They asked him, have you ready? Have you accepted Jesus Christ? Have you repented of your sins and went through the hole? And they said, now we will baptize. They went out to the pool and here you picture two men getting in the pool. And this older man comes over to these two young men and they grab him and put him under the water. Could you imagine what that would look like if you were sitting there sunbathing? Did you see these two? And then the man comes up out of it and hugs them.

That literally happened. It literally happened. So again, you have to make a choice. We don't drag you. We don't make you be baptized. You have to choose that. You have to choose in consultation with the minister who's talked to you about the importance about making sure you have repented and believed in order to be baptized. You have to willingly want to come into that baptismal tank. Peter said, repent and be baptized. That means put under. He said, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. You shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And then Romans 6 verses 4 to 6, we read, we are buried with him through baptism. One lady was afraid of water. I don't know. It was only a little tank. She sat in it. And after a couple of other people had been baptized, and she was sitting there ready for us to just take her back. She had already been counseled. That's how we got ready to do it. And back in those days, we used to hold their noses, but now we don't. We have you hold your nose, cross your arm like this. Keeps the arms down, and they do this themselves. Then all I do is push them under. So I have a she would say, okay, I said, she's deep. I said, bam, it's only going to be a few seconds you'll be under. Okay, all right, you ready? I said, just a minute, just a minute, just a minute. She must have done that for about five or six minutes. It seemed like an eternity several times. And I said, well, ma'am, I'm sorry. We have never lost anybody through drowning in any of our baptisms. We've never lost anybody. But if you don't have the faith to believe that we won't drown you, maybe you ought to step aside until you can feel it and let these other people, because there were several people behind her waiting to be baptized. So she said, okay. And then I signaled to the deacon who was there with me, make sure you keep her feet down so that they don't fly up when she goes back because we if we get her under, we want to make sure she's all under and nothing flies out. So sure enough, we said, okay, we're running back up again. All of you has to be baptized. When you bury somebody, you'll leave an arm sticking out of them. Right?

You baptize them. But again, it's a choice. See, they have to make that choice that they wanted to. And she was eventually, but I'm just a nice lady, but she was afraid of water. And I said, ma'am, nothing's going to happen to you. You know, and I don't know if that was the time I still held their noses or have them do it themselves. I'm glad they held it themselves. If they swallow water, it's not my fault. Because they're the ones that open their mouth and open their nose.

Romans 6 verses 4 to 6, Therefore we are buried with him through baptism into death, joining like Jesus Christ died, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in do this of life. And after baptism, you made a choice at baptism. I'm giving up that old person. Goodbye, Gary! I said to myself when I was baptized in 1959, goodbye, old Gary. Now, does old Gary still follow me at times? Yes, he does. He tries to get back. But I'm thankful that the new Gary, which is Jesus Christ in me, gained strength regularly to be able to resist that old Gary.

And if that old Gary ever comes back and pushes the new Gary out, there will not be a new Gary anymore. That, to me, is the unpardonable sin. When you become your old self again.

So it's a choice we all have to make. But again, I'd like to leave us with two examples. Two examples. One for the young people and one for all of us. Proverbs 1 verses 10 to 30, and I'll read this quickly. Proverbs 1 verses 10 to 30. Young people have to make choices, too. As they get older, as they go to school, as they interface with other young people, yes, even other young people in the church.

Nobody guarantees how parents train their children. Sometimes some people are more lax than others are. Sometimes they allow things that you would not allow your children to do. So Proverbs 1 verses 10 to 30, my son, if sinners entice you, don't consent. It's a choice. They say, hey, come, let's go drink underage. Come on, let's go try this new drug. It'll expand your mind. Why do you need your mind expanded? Don't you have a mind already? Why do you need it expanded? In God's Holy Spirit, as we heard from the sermon, God's Holy Spirit gives you expanded mind.

More able to see, better eyes sight to see. If they say, come with us, let us lie and wait to shed blood. Let's go do something. Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause. Let's go take advantage of those poor kids. The ones that are more feeble, the ones that aren't very strong. I'll tell you, you're not much of a person if you take advantage of people that are too weak to fight back. You're not much of a person. Let's swallow them alive like Sheol, like the grave, and whole like those who go down to the pit. We shall all find all kinds of precious possessions. Hey, let's go steal! I think I mentioned at my sermon not long ago about the ABCs of school. I don't think I gave it down here. I gave it up in Cincinnati. There was a young man who had been the son of a person in the church. His parents were split. You know what he did? He threw in with some buddies at school. You know what they did? They invaded a man's home, an older man's home, to steal. They thought the older man was not going to be there. And when he was, he tried to resist them. So they stabbed him to death. That little boy, that young boy, he was a teenager by that time. I knew him when he was just a little kid. That teenager ended up being sent to juvenile detention and maybe eventually tried as an adult. He ended up killing himself, but it's suicide. But it's suicide.

Don't throw in with them. Those are choices that young people have to make. Do I want to do this or not? I had parents who had great stood for decency and right. They weren't perfect and they weren't converted.

But I would always think if I started to deviate from a decent path when I was a teenager, I don't want to hurt my parents. I don't want to disappoint my parents. Now how much more, I don't want to disappoint my God.

But at that time, I recognized what was good versus what was evil. Enough to keep me out of trouble.

Oh, I heard a lot of dirt. I heard people talk about girls and guys and others at dirty, filthy talk. I'm sitting in the car. What am I supposed to do? It wasn't my car. It wasn't my meeting. But they were dirty mouths. I don't talk that way. I don't deal with that. The choices we have to make, young people have to make. He says, they say, cast in your lot among us. Let us all have one purse. We could rob this man. We could take this, have it all, split it up. My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your foot from their path. For their feet, this is verse 16 of Proverbs 1, for their feet run to evil and they make haste to shed blood.

Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. Yeah, it's surely in vain. It spreads. Not going to catch it with a net down there. But they lie and wait for their own blood. They lurk secretly for their own lives. So are the ways of everyone who is greedy of gain. It takes away the life of its owners. Verse 20 says, wisdom calls aloud, raises her voice like God is personified by wisdom. Her wisdom is personified as God. She cries out in the chief concourses of the openings of the gates of the city.

She speaks her words, how long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorneders delight in their scorning. And fools hate knowledge. They don't want to be told otherwise. Turn at my rebuke. Listen to me. Make a choice. Surely I will pour out my spirit on you. I'll give you strength. I will make my words known to you because I have called and you refused.

I've stretched out my hand and no one, no one regarded because you have disdained all my counsel would have none of my rebuke. And will I will also laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your terror comes. And when your terror comes like a storm, and I'll tell you the parents of that boy went through all kinds of difficulties in life because of that.

When your terror comes like a storm and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call on me and I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me because they hated knowledge. They wouldn't listen to what they could have to make some choices and did not choose the fear or respect of the Lord. They would have none of my counsel and despised my every review.

Teach your children to stand tall. Teach your children to stand up for themselves. Teach them to be strong. Teach them to lift some weights, do their exercises, become good at something. Maybe it's good at sports. Maybe it's good academically that they will be respected wherever they are. Teach them. I think one of the greatest tributes to God's people following God's way was a lady who had several kids at a restaurant, just her and her kids.

And those kids did not make a mockery of the place, did not make a riot, did not raise it. And the people, the waitresses and the waiters all came over and thanked them for how good they were. I could read you quotes from Mont Pocono and what they say about the children of God's people and how they reacted and how they behaved.

Teach them. But don't teach them because you're there with a stick over them to make them behave. Teach them to choose to behave. Right? So that's for the young people. Here's one other example of choices that David had when he was tempted in 2 Samuel 11 verses 2 to 15. I'll start with. And again, this is to show you that choices have to be made in life. Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house.

And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. Nothing wrong so far. He's standing out on his house was higher than the others. He saw this woman out there to bathe. She was beautiful. But David, what could he have done? He saw a beautiful woman bathing. He had a choice. Do I continue watching or do I look away? He continued watching. Verse 3. So David sent and inquired about the woman. So verse 3. David could have either dropped the matter or pursued it. So he pursued it. Who was this beautiful woman?

Verse 4. So then someone told him, he asked about the woman, someone thought, is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Elam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. Uriah the Hittite was one of David's key men, one of his strong men that David even listed, of his superior fighting men.

Then David sent messenger. So again, here, verse 3, he could have dropped the matter or pursued it. Verse 4. Then David sent messenger. So he could have taken further action or not. He could have stopped it there. Then David sent, could have said, oh, that's the wife of one of my, oh, somebody else's wife. Oh, I don't want to mess with that. Then David sent messengers and took her. Now, they probably sent an invitation. How about joining the king for tea? I don't know what he said. And she came to him, and he lay with her.

For she was cleansed from her impurity, and she returned to her house. So he slept with her.

Verse 5. He committed adultery, and she conceived. Now what?

Now what do you do? Well, you certainly don't admit it. We see that in a lot of politicians. They're not going to admit they're wrong. They wouldn't want to say, I was wrong. Why? Because they ruined their credibility. Actually, build your credibility when you admit your mistakes. Build your credibility. Doesn't ruin it, but they somehow twisted and think it will ruin it. So she conceived, and she sent to David and told him, I am with child. What do you do now? Well, in many states, you get an abortion, right? David sent to Joab, this is verse 6, and said, saying, send me Uriah the Hittite. Job and Joab sent Uriah to David. He said, I'd like to find out what's going on at the war there. So verse 6, he sends for Uriah her husband. Why did he do that? To cover his tracks, hopefully. And he said, then he came, verse 8. So verse 7, David begins to his plot to deceive. Verse 8, and David said to Uriah, go down to your house and wash your feet. He wanted to ask how the war was doing, how the war was prospering. Go down to your house, wash your feet. So Uriah departed from the king's house, and the king sent a gift of food from the king. But he didn't go to his house.

Uriah didn't go see his wife. He'd been out in the battle, I don't know how long, months maybe, hadn't seen his wife.

And so, verse 8, David sends him home in likely hopes that Uriah would sleep with his wife and think the child was his. This is odd, Carol. Well, we can't hear him. Uriah spent the night in the hall. Near the door of David's house, he was loyal to his fellow troops. Notice, so Uriah slept, verse 9, at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. Verse 10. So when they told David, saying, by the way, Uriah did not go down to his house, he didn't take the food, David said to Uriah, did you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house? Verse 10, you foiled my plan. You foiled my plan. Oh, we've got video now. So verses 10 to 13, what does he do? He gives Uriah lots of wine and encourages him to go home, hoping that many people get drunk, by the way, and they still find their way home. They kind of go on automatic. However, if anything unusual happens in front of them while they're driving, their sense of judgment is so distorted, they will probably have an accident. But they're on automatic going home. Verses 14 and 15. Verse 14. The morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab. Nothing works. So that evening he went out to line his bed with the servants again. He did not go home. The morning David wrote a letter to Joab and said it by the hand of Uriah, by the... he brings his own death certificate. And he wrote the letter saying, set Joab in the forefront of the hottest battle and retreat from him that he may be struck down and die. And David said to Joab, don't worry about this because, you know, people do get killed in war. Verse 24. Your archer shot from the wall at your servants and some of the king's servants are dead. And your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. So they put him in the front line where he'd be shot. Verse 25. This is verses 24 to 27 of 2 Samuel 11. David said to the messenger, lest shall you say to Joab, do not let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Now how calloused was he? He calculated this would happen. To cover his tracks. He made a choice. He made several wrong choices. He could have stopped at any time after he saw this beautiful woman. He found out who she was. He could have stopped it. He didn't. Verse 26. When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. She didn't say, well, I've got playboy David over here. She mourned for her husband. And when her mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house and she became his wife and more a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.

So choices, choices, we all have choices to make. How may we make good choices? Just in summary. One, consider the consequences of your choices. If I make this choice, what will happen? Will it affect anybody? Is it good for me? How will it affect others if I make this choice? Okay, the answer is in there. What? And second thing, the consequences. What are they? Secondly, what would a Christian choose to do in these circumstances? What would a real Christian or you could say, what would Christ do in these circumstances? And thirdly, make your choice.

Make your choice. You know, if you just stand there and don't make any choice, then nothing gets done. You're paralyzed. Carefully and prayerfully. Maybe you need more information. Get it. Make your decision. Is it biblical? Is it godly or ungodly? Is it something a matter of righteousness or unrighteousness? Search the scriptures. Pray to God. Ask Him for help. Ask Him to give you wisdom to see, to know. So, may we all make good choices when it comes to lesser or important matters. But we must make good choices when it comes to life and death issues. God said before us life and death, blessing and cursing. It's up to us every day of our lives to make a choice for life and death. Have a wonderful rest of the Sabbath. Thank you for being a wonderful church dude, by the way. You're a good audience. I appreciate you very much.