I did some studying on that and they said that was about the average wage of a Roman soldier of that day. So that wasn't just an average wage, that was a good wage. That was a good day's pay. That was better than the average laborer in the vineyard should have gotten. You know what they thought? They thought we negotiated a good deal. See, they did it on their merit. But those people at the 11th hour, they told the Lord, you know what, whatever you think is right, you just take care of it. You know what Grace did? Grace paid them for one hour. what merit thought they could negotiate for the full day. Isn't that a blessing? I don't know if you get that. That blessed me. I was going to preach on that. I won't preach on that, but I wanted to. And some of you, you try to merit and bargain and negotiate. You just let the grace of God deal in your heart and He'll give you more than you ever asked for. Amen. And maybe I should have preached on that after that hymn. But anyways, Book of Joel, chapter number 3. I want to preach on something that's very important in all of our lives. Preach on this thought of making decisions or making choices. Joel chapter number 3 verse number 14 the Bible says this multitudes multitudes in the valley of decision For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. Let's pray Lord. I love you I thank for saving me. Thank you Lord to be in your house Lord. I thank you for the good service already Lord. I pray you have been worshipped already No, I've been blessed and Lord as we open your word Lord I need you pray for your touch and for your anointing Lord if you don't touch me it's all in vain I pray of decision. You know what life is full of? Life is full of decisions. I'm sure all of us in here we've heard several messages on decisions and choices and I've said this a lot of times but I'll say it again at least one time today but my simple definition of life is the decisions that you make and then the results are the consequences of those decisions. That's basically what life is. We are all where we are today as a result of a series of decisions we've made in our life to bring us to where we are. I like to preach that in the prison a lot because those guys are there not because they got a raw deal, not because their parents didn't love them right, not because they had an uncle who didn't treat them right, They're there because they made decisions that got them there. And until those men in the prison realize that it's their bad decisions that's giving them bad consequences, they're never going to get things straightened out. Even today, all of us, we've made decisions. We've made decision what time to get up, how long to lay in bed. Amen. If the alarm went off, we won't get into that. We made decision whether to eat breakfast, whether or not to eat breakfast, what to eat. We made decision what clothes to wear. For some of the women, probably it took a whole lot longer and a whole lot more trying on, taking off, putting on, taking off, than did us guys. Amen. I don't know, but we made decisions. We have decisions in life. Some are very important decisions. Some are not so important. Like, really, if you had cereal or a piece of toast this morning, in the long run, that was a pretty minor decision. You know what I'm saying? Not a whole lot to it. But every decision that we make has a consequence or a result or a product of that decision. And I'm telling you, really, for young people, but even us older folk, the sooner we realize that our decisions matter. Every single decision will bring a consequence. It will help us. Good decisions usually will bring good consequences. Bad decisions obviously will bring bad ones. You know, I looked this up. This was interesting. The word choose is in the Bible. In 58 different verses, the word choose is used. And in 29, so it's in 58 verses. Half of 58 is 29, I believe, right? At least when I was going to school. I don't know if it's changed since then. But in 29 of those verses, it's the Lord choosing something for somebody. And in the other 29, it's man choosing his own way. And you know, I don't know, I was trying to think of a really deep meaning for that, and I wasn't able to get one. But anyways, maybe if I asked my wife, I might have got one, but I was too embarrassed to. But anyways, but you know what I do get out of that is that you making your own choice, it could go either way. You could let God make it. Or you could let man. It's almost like maybe not... I might be stretching, that would be okay. But anyways, there's 29 times that the Lord made the decision. 29 times that a man or a nation made the decision. It's almost like God said, okay, here's half me, half you. Now what are you going to do? You're going to let me... Are you going to let man?" The first 13 times in the Word of God, the word choose is used. It's the Lord choosing something. He chose Abraham. He chose the Jews. He chose where the tabernacle went. He chose the Levites out of the 12 tribes to be the special tribe that would minister about tabernacles. So, it's the Lord choosing the first time. And this is what we're going to look at in Deuteronomy chapter 30. The first time. That the Lord lets the Jews have a choice in something. We're going to see what it is. Well, the first time that it's not the Lord is in Deuteronomy 23. But what it is, is that He says, if a stranger sojourns among you, you let him choose where he stays. Don't chase him away. You let the stranger choose his own place. But the first time that the Lord lets His children, His people, Jehovah's Witnesses choose, is in Deuteronomy chapter number 30. And I want to preach this morning on making the right decisions, or making the right choices. I'm telling you, even you young people in here, young, you could be in your 20s and single, or in your teens, or even before your teens, amen? And right now, a lot of your decisions are made for you. Your parents, or your leaders, or your teacher, your authorities make your decisions. And I know that that bothers some of you, but I'm just telling you that's not so bad. Amen? Because when somebody else makes a decision for you, then they are responsible for the outcome of that decision. It's a lot easier that somebody else bear that responsibility. There's coming a day, some of you are wishing for it way too soon. Well, you get to make all your own choices. But it's not all it's cracked up to be. It's a whole lot more responsibility, a whole lot more consequence coming down the way when you make your own decisions. And I'm telling you, you can't live off your parents' decisions forever though. It's hard to be, it would be hard for you to be 40 years old and still have mom and dad tell you what to do when you're married, have your own family, your own job and everything like that. You're eventually going to have to grow up and make your own decisions. Knowing some of you, that's a scary thought. That's scary. But you're going to have to learn to make good decisions. Because they're going to follow you all the days of your life. A right decision must be made by faith. And that's probably the most important. And I'm not really preaching on a faith this morning, but to make a right decision, you're going to have to make it by faith. You've got to make it not looking at the here and now, but with eyes of faith. but looking at it through the Word of God, through spiritual eyes, for the future. If you make every decision based on the here and now, you might end up like some of those guys I preached about in prison. You know how they got there? They made, not faith, they didn't make decisions based on faith, they made them based on the here and now, on the flesh, on what felt good, seemed right, appeared to be good at the time. They must be by faith. The Bible says, whatsoever is not of faith, is sin. You cannot make good decisions based on feelings and circumstances and others' opinions, or even convenience in your life. There's a lot of people, they make the easiest decision in life, the one of most convenience, the one that will cause the least amount of ripples, the one that will make them be odd the least, or stand out the least, or the one that make everybody agree with them. You're going to start making some bad decisions if convenience is your main way that you make that decision. And when you make a decision by faith, it should be a final decision. You should never have to go back and change it or reconsider it. Listen, I made a decision to get saved. That was a final decision. It never needs to be changed. I made a decision to give my life to God and live my life for God. I don't need to be going back and changing that decision. I made a decision to marry my wife. That's final. That doesn't need to be revisited and reconsidered at a later time. If I want to look in Deuteronomy chapter number 3, 30. And this is the first time that the Lord is actually going to let the Jews have a choice. He didn't give them a choice in Moses leading them. He didn't give them a choice in the Ten Commandments. You know, the Jews didn't have a choice to be God's chosen people. He said, you're going to be my chosen people. That's just how it was. He chose the 12 tribes. He chose Levi as the special tribe. He chose Judah as the tribe that Christ would come out of. He chose the tabernacle, how to build it, where to do it. He chose all that, but he's eventually going to give them a choice here in Deuteronomy chapter number 30. And we start reading in verse number 19. And the Lord says this, 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." The first choice they had was between life and death. I would like to look at that as eternal life or spiritual death. That was the choice. He was giving them the choice of life and death. He said, listen, you can do right and live or you cannot do right and die. Well, if we make a spiritual application, we have a choice. Well, lost people have a choice. They can choose eternal life or they can choose spiritual death. And what I'm preaching on is salvation. Amen? And the first thing I want to preach is a decision that you must make concerning your Maker. Concerning your Maker. Who's your Maker? It's God, obviously. I shouldn't have to preach creation here. Amen? That God made you. But when I preach in the prison, or you preach to a lost person, you've got to get that settled that they understand that God made them. Because that's not being taught today. People believe they evolved, they believe all kinds of weird things, but God made us. The Bible says, We were made in the image of God. He says, I formed thee in the womb. He says, we're fearfully and wonderfully made. But, listen, God didn't just make you, but He'd like to be your Savior. But that's your choice. See, you had no choice in God making you. He made you before you even knew what was going on. And you're here because of God. You had no choice in the matter. Just like the Jews. God chose them. They had no choice. They were God's people. They said, now you can choose whether you want to live or die. And you, you were made by God. You were given a physical body, a spirit and a soul, even though your spirit is dead because of sin. But now He gives you a choice to choose eternal life or spiritual death. So I'm just telling you this morning, and I know you're sitting in church, but I sat in church. I was 13 years old sitting in church and I was lost and on my way to hell. If I had died in that church pew on any Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, I would have went to hell. And I'm just telling you the most important choice, decision you will ever make, is concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what it takes? It takes true conversion for you to be saved. I know you've heard all this, but conversion is a change. It's just a change. You convert. You convert from one thing to another. I like to say in math, they teach you how to convert a fraction to a decimal, or convert a decimal to a fraction. And you know what you do? You change it from one form to another. It's no longer what it once was. It's now something new. That's what conversion is. It changes you from a sinner to a saint. It takes you from being a child of the devil to a child of God. Let me just say this to you. There's people that say that we're all the children of God. There's some religions that believe that. And they argue that we're all children of God. But we're not all children of God. There's a couple of ways I can prove it real quick. In John chapter 8, the Lord's preaching to the Pharisees, the religious people of the day. They were the so-called spiritual ones of the day. He said, year of your father, the devil. So they had a spiritual father and he was the devil. John chapter 1 says this, verse 12, But as many as received him, received Christ, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. Now, if I'm already a son of God, how can I become a son of God when I'm already a son of God? It'd be like this. You know, I am Michael Kenan's son. But if somebody came up to me and said, if you do this, then tomorrow you can become Michael Kenan's son. That's ridiculous. I'm already a son. I don't need to become. I am. But, if I would have to become the Son of God, that must mean I'm not the Son of God prior to receiving Christ. So if I'm not the Son of God spiritually, that only leaves me one alternative. A child of the devil. Some of you are sitting in here this morning. I don't know your age or your situation, but you are right now currently the son or the child of the devil. And then the Lord goes on to tell the Pharisees, He says, you do the deeds of your father. You lie, you cheat, you murder, you steal. You know why you do it? Because that's what your father does. Listen, if you're not sure that somebody's saved, just watch the deeds. Whose deeds? Are they doing the deeds of the devil? Or are they doing the deeds of Christ? Usually you do the deeds that your father does. You know growing up, you always wanted to be like your dad, right? So you were trying to do what your dad did. And that's how people in the world... We can get mad at the people in the world, but they're really just doing what their father does. That's why they act the way they do. So I'm just saying, you need to be converted. You need to go from being a child of the devil to a child of God. And when you convert something, it's hard to hide it. It takes conversion, it takes repentance. But in order to repent, you must realize that you're a sinner. But listen, it's hard for some church kids to realize that they're a sinner. Because, you know, they're pretty good kids on the outside, and they compare themselves to really bad people, if you know what I mean. Outwardly immoral people. And they don't have outward immorality, most of them. So they have trouble seeing themselves as a wicked, hell-deserving sinner. And I'm telling you, it's not until you see that that you can even be saved. You can't get saved as a good person. No good person in the Bible has ever got saved. No good person can get saved. Who can get saved? The lost. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. He didn't come to call the righteous. That would include the self-righteous. God cannot save the self-righteous. You know who He came to save and who He can save? He came to seek us sinners and save the lost. That's who He was looking for. I preached Wednesday night on the lost sheep. That sheep could not be found until it became what? Lost. And until you get lost, you cannot be saved. So, I'm just saying. You say, why do you preach this? Because in churches, churches are full of professions. God's not looking for profession. He's looking for a confession. Big difference there. Takes repentance where you see yourself as a sinner and you see yourself deserving to go to hell. That's how I saw myself when I was 13 years old. I saw myself as a sinner. I had become, I became, what's the word I'm looking for? My eyes were open to my sinful condition and how lost I really was in that I was going to hell because I was such a wicked sinner. And then repentance will also bring a change. It will bring a change that cannot be argued against. Let me show you what I mean. I didn't write this verse down. But go to the book of 1 Corinthians. Let's see if I can find it here quick. Actually, it's 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 7. Just want to give you a little something here on repentance. And then we'll move on. 2 Corinthians 7, verse 9, Paul is writing the Corinthians. He says this. Now, if you remember, he had 1 Corinthians, Paul had blasted those Corinthians and they needed it. There was all kinds of problems. There was fornication, there was division, there was heresy, there was carnality. And 1 Corinthians, you read 1 Corinthians, that's a pretty strong letter. So now, a time later, he's writing 2 Corinthians and part of it, he's writing about their reaction to what they did when they got 1 Corinthians, the first letter. He says this, verse 9, Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance. That right there tells you there's a difference between being sorry and being repentful, or repenting. Being sorry, most of the time, pretty much sorry, in my opinion, sorry means that it's a guilt over being caught, or sorry that you were caught, or being found out about something. You know how when you catch somebody doing something, they say, oh, I'm sorry. Well, if they were really sorry, they would have stopped doing that before they got caught. They only became guilty or sorry when they had been found out. So right here, he says, I didn't just want you to be sorry. I wanted you to sorrow under repentance. Repentance is a change of heart. But that ye sought repentance, for ye were made sorry after a godly manner." There's the difference. Repentance, it's a godly, it's God-working repentance. The Spirit of God working repentance. It's not a fleshly embarrassment over being caught in your sin or caught doing wrong or caught in a lie. You know what I'm saying? It's something that God works down in your heart. That ye might receive damage by it's enough in verse 10. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to what? Salvation. That's how you get saved. Where God begins to work that sorrow in your heart, that you're a sinner, that He knows you're a sinner, you've already been caught, you deserve hell for your sin, and that godly sorrow begins to work repentance. And that's what leads you to salvation. It's not, oh, I'm going to get saved and pray, I'm going to pray this little prayer and then I'm just going to be a good church kid again. No, it's when God begins to work that Godly sorrow in your heart, which leads you to repentance, to salvation. And that says not to be repented of. You'll never be sorry you got saved. And then you need never go back and say, oh, I made a mistake there. But the sorrow of the world does what? Work at death. What's the sorrow of the world? Maybe I'm totally wrong here, but I sum it up like this. The sorrow of the world is when you get caught, then you're ashamed for what you did. Like all these sorry politicians and athletes and people who get caught with another man's wife. They're not sorry. They're just sorry that it became known or became public. That's the worldly sorrow. And what's it lead to? Works of death. Because you know what it never does? It never changes their heart. Their heart never changes. What they do, they get sorry for a little while, and then the next time they think they can get away with it, they do the exact same thing. And that's one of the ways you can tell if young people are saved or not saved. Godly sorrow that works repentance, they're not going to keep trying to get away with the same thing over and over and over. Eventually, there will be a change of heart in their life. Verse number 11. Listen, I'm not saying church kids get saved and become perfect. I didn't become perfect. But there was a change in my life. And I can take you to very specific instances where I did wrong and God just worked me over like I had never... Listen, I remember many things I did after I got saved that I had done before I got saved. And it was no big deal to me, no problem. I could go to sleep at night. It didn't bother me. But I did it after I got saved. I couldn't sleep. It bothered my conscience. My mind wouldn't let me rest. What was the difference? Salvation. It's a change of your heart. Verse 11, For behold this selfsame thing, that ye saw her after a godly sort. Now, the rest of this verse is giving you the proof of repentance here. What carefulness it wrought in you. You know, you ever get saved, you begin to be careful about how you live. It didn't bother you before you were saved, but after you get saved, repentance is going to bring carefulness in your life. You say, why don't you do that? You know, you have lost people, or even some of them so-called, say, people not living right, and maybe relatives, and they almost scorn you. Well, why don't you do that? Or why don't you wear that? Or why don't you go there? Why don't you watch that? You know why? Because repentance has wrought a carefulness in me about how we now live. It wasn't there before repentance. But one of the fruits of repentance is carefulness. It wrought, yea, what clearing of yourselves? Yea, what indignation? Yea, what fear? Fear of what? Well, maybe it's fear of God. Maybe the fear of quitting on God, the fear of being a castaway, where before it didn't bother you. There was no fear of God before our eyes, before we were saved. Yea, what vehement desire. That's strong desire for God. Somebody says they repented and there's no desire for God. Where's that vehement desire that godly sorrow brings? Yea, what zeal. I wonder what that zeal is for. For God, the things of God. See, we didn't have this, but godly sorrow worked in our heart. We repented to salvation. And then what happened? We became zealous for God, the things of God. Yea, what revenge in all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter. That's just an interesting little thing there on repentance. So to get saved takes conversion, takes repentance. It takes a new birth. As I already said, you must be born again. You were a child of God. You need to be birthed into the family of God. And that's the only way that you can be saved. So I'm just saying you need to make a decision on whether or not you make Christ your savior. Not only that, but go to Joshua chapter number 24. So we see the first choice that God gave to Jehovah. He says you can choose life or death. I'll tell you this morning, you can choose eternal life in heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ. What a glorious thought. Isn't that a glorious thought? Forever in heaven. Mansions, streets of gold, the throne of God, the saints of God, of all ages and eternity. Or you could choose spiritual death. And whosoever has not formerly written the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. The second death is eternal death. Spiritual death is eternity in the lake of fire. That's your choice. God will not make that choice for you. Your parents can't. Your friends can't. You must make that choice. I had to make that choice. Both my parents were saved. Listen, I knew some of the greatest preachers. They stay in our house, heard them preach, but that wasn't good enough. I had to make that choice. And then the second choice that God, the next choice that God gives to Jehovah's Witnesses is here in Joshua chapter number 24. Joshua chapter number 24, verse number 15. You know the verse, but this is only the second choice God's ever given the Jews so far in the Bible. And if it is seen evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve. Whether the gods which your father served are on the other side of the flood or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell, but as for me and my house, We will serve the Lord. That's where you read verse 14. I wanted to and I didn't. Now, therefore, fear the Lord. That's a command. Some people teach you shouldn't fear God. Well, they're not lined up with the Bible. That's humanistic thinking, even though they call themselves Christians. Now, therefore, fear the Lord. Serve Him in what? Sincerity. Sincerity means you're sincere about it. You're not doing it to be seen a man, to flaunt yourself, to pretend to be something. You're not putting on a show or putting on the dog. It's sincerity. and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers sent on the other side of the flood in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord. But then he said in verse 15, If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose, choose you. Listen. I know people. I grew up with people. I knew people my age in church. You know what? When they came to age, whatever that age was, it seemed evil to them to serve the Lord. It seemed wrong. It didn't seem good. It seemed like the wrong way to go. It seemed like a bad deal to them. You know what God says? If it seems evil, then you need to make a choice. You either serve false gods and serve idols, or you can serve Me. The second choice I want to look at this morning is concerning your Master. See, God gave Him a choice, life and death. Will you choose him as your savior? The second choice he gave him was who are you going to serve? Who's going to be your master? By the way, some people say, I don't have a master. Oh, we all have a master. We all serve somebody. Go to Matthew chapter number six. Matthew chapter number six. Talking about choices and decisions, and these are very important ones in your life. Who's going to be your master? Matthew chapter number six, verse number 24, the Bible says this. Matthew 6, 24. No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. So the Bible says you can't serve two masters. We all serve a master and it's one. And we all need to come to a point in time in our life where we choose who our master is going to be. The Bible tells us in the book of Matthew, chapter 12, to serve that ye should serve the Lord your God. You know who our master should be? Obviously, it should be God. But we ought to come not as a... Not as a bond-servant or a bond-slave. You know what they were? They were in bondage because they had been purchased and bought and they had no other choice. We ought to be that servant that at the end of seven years when He was allowed to go free and His Master would bless Him and let Him go free, He willingly put His door up there and ran that all through His ear and literally mangled His earlobe so that He was marked as a willing servant of His Master. You know, I look at that, listen, I think a lot of ways I look at things, I look at it through Christian church young people, because I was a church young person. And when you're in church, and you're in your parents' house, and up until you graduate high school, or whatever, and you're 18s, or you're teens, or you're early 20s, You're sort of a bondservant. You don't really have any choice in the matter. I'm not saying your heart's in it, but you do everything that's right on the outside. You dress right, and you don't listen to the wrong music unless you can sneak it, and you're involved in the ministries, and you carry your Bible to church, and you might even have your devotions, or at least have the pretense of having them, pretend to have them, whatever. But you're just a bondservant. You're not really doing much special, because you don't have a choice in the matter. But when you get your own choice, and when you could go and do anything you want, And then you willingly put your ear up there and let the Master run the oil through so that you're marked as a willing servant. I believe that's when true service for the Lord starts. And listen, I'm not for a minute trying to diminish young people doing right. I'm not trying to. But I'm just saying, when you're under your parents' roof... I mean, it lacks some of the meaning as if when you do it on your own. And maybe I also think that because I've seen a lot who did it in the parents' house. that today aren't. And I'm not talking five or six. I'm talking dozens of names I could give you right now. My wife has dozens of names she could give you. People our age used to do it. But they were just bond servants. They did it because they had to. But as soon as they could go free in their mind, they went free. That's what they thought. Why? Because they thought it was evil to serve the Lord. I can't figure that out. Why would you think it was evil to serve the Lord? But he says right there, if you think it's evil to serve the Lord, then go and choose who you're going to serve. Why would you think it's evil to serve the Lord? But when you say that, you're really saying it's good to serve the devil. I think that would be evil to go out there and serve the devil. But some do. You need to choose. You know what a master is? A master always comes first in your life. Really, what I'm doing now is I'm giving you like a checklist. You know how people do this. Check this, or check this, check this. And you go down and then they say, if you checked all these, you're this. If you did all this, you're that. Right? You ever done those things? You know? And you really lied on half of them, so you're not really what you're saying you are. But anyways. But I'm giving you a checklist. You say, oh, God's my master. Well, let's just give a... We'll do a little checklist. And at the end, I'll tell you who your master is. See, Matthew 6, 33, seek ye first the kingdom of God. He doesn't want to be second place. He doesn't want the leftovers. Listen, I'm not trying to mean he doesn't want Sunday to be your seventh day of the week. He wants to be first. He wants to be number one in your life. So a master, if you just study a master-servant relationship, the master always comes first. All plans are changed. if the master's plans don't line up with the prior plans. Luke chapter 4 verse 8 says this, thou shalt love the Lord thy God, it says, and then the end of that verse says, and him only shalt thou serve. So not only does he want to be first, he wants to be the only one you serve. He doesn't want to share your service and love with anything else. He wants to be the only one. And I just want to stop and ask you this. Is he not worthy and enough to be the only one? I would say he is. Not only that, but a master is worthy of your honor. You want to know who somebody serves? Listen when they're talking off the record, so to speak, and see what they start talking honorably about. I'm not in a church setting. I'm just saying in a casual setting, doesn't matter who they're with, who lights their eyes up? Who gets them excited? A master is worthy of honor, 1 Timothy 6, verse number one says. The Lord in Malachi, he goes a step farther. He says, if I'm your father, where's my honor? What excites you? What gets you? Where's your honor? What gets you excited? What lights your eyes up? It's your master. How do you honor someone? You obey him, you praise him, you pay him, you submit to him. Amen. You know what a master does? He always, a true master, always takes care of his servants. A true master. Now, I can't say that about the devil, but I can say that about the Lord. He always takes care. The Bible says, Proverbs, Book of Proverbs, or yeah, Psalms, that he daily loads us down with benefits. He cares for us. Come unto me. He said, what do I do? I'll give you rest. He gives us rest. I'm telling you, the devil does not treat you that well. But you need to make a decision who your master is. Who is going to call the shots in your life? Who are you going to submit to? Who are you going to be under servitude to in your life? I'm just telling you from my small experience, the Lord's the best one. The Lord's the best one. And then let me give you number three. Go to Isaiah, chapter number seven. You have to make a choice or decision concerning your maker. God made you. You had no choice in that, but you have a choice whether or not he'll be your savior. You need to make a choice on who your master is. Who's going to have your allegiance? And number three, Isaiah chapter seven, verse number 15, the Bible says this, butter and honey shall he eat that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse evil and choose the good to land that thou of whores shall be forsaken of both her kings. Third thing I like to look at, you need to make a decision concerning your morals. I know morals aren't in there, but evil and good, I thought they were close enough. Amen. Choose between evil and good, right from wrong, your morals. Listen, we're living in a day and age of immorality and immorality. Even, you know, I'm not even sure we're in more anymore. It's just void of all morals. Amen. Look in the book of Romans chapter 12. I'm going to give you a little something out of here and then we'll move on. But you need to make a choice concerning your morals. And again, probably a little more for young people, because if you're in church as an adult, you've already sort of made that choice, although it's good to just make sure it's still strong in your life. But young people, again, just as your parents, your parents' salvation was not good enough for you to get saved. Your parents' Christianity is not enough for you. It's not going to do much for you. I mean, it's good as an example. It's good if you let it influence you, but in and of itself, your parents' Christianity can't do much for you. Their relationship with God is not really that good for you. I mean, it's good that they can pray for you. Don't get me wrong. I'm saying in the end, it's not enough. Your parents haven't chose God as their master. It's not enough for you. You have to choose that. Your parents choosing to have their morals right, try to have good morals according to the Word of God, it's not good enough for you. Again, you're going to have to... I think I might have told the teens this or was talking to somebody the other night or something, but listen, young people that are brought up in church, I don't care how many messages you heard, I don't care how good your pastor is, your parents are, every single young person is going to have to find their own way in life. And we can try to help you. And people try to help and tell me, you know what I had to do? I had to find my own way in life. Life is not how you imagine it. You can sit in church and hear, I was 25 when I got married. I seem to have heard the best people preach on marriage and courting and wives and husbands. And you would think I would have known everything there was to know. And guess what? I didn't. And you won't either. Training children, you'd think, I mean, my dad preached family meetings all over the world. Truly, I knew it all. No, I didn't. Or maybe I'd heard, but until you can take what you've heard and put into practice your own life, you've got to find your own way. That's what I'm saying. And parents, as much as you'd like, you can't make them do anything when they come to age. Either they're going to do right or they're not going to do right. You young people, I'm not saying it's an excuse not to do right. I understand you're going to have some struggles. You're going to have some doubts. You might even have some bad leanings. But you better find your own way and do it according to the Word of God. I'm just saying, you've got to find your own way, and morals is one of them. Romans 12, these are two familiar verses. I'm not going to really stay here a while, but it says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by mercy of God, you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the new in your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Listen, morals are right. And I'm just using that word, obviously. It's a good word, but it's M, and I'm doing an outline in M's if you haven't figured it out yet. I'm talking about separation, about holiness, about convictions, about trying to live right. Live a righteous life. Do you understand what I mean by that? Listen, I don't know if you know this, but I've done some reading. I know some people who are into this a little bit, but there's this, they call it, sort of a new movement called New Fundamentalism. And basically it's people, and it's a lot of people my age group that were brought up in church just like I was. And basically they've rebelled against the separation part of it. And they teach, and they're a little different, but they teach something like this. There's things that you separate over. And it's the doctrines. It's the virgin birth. And it's, you know, the blood atonement and the resurrection of Christ and those things. And they basically say everything else, basically all the outward, the dress standards and music, none of that matters. As long as the doctrine, the main doctrines necessary for salvation, the virgin birth, the blood atonement, the resurrection, as long as those are right, then you're just pharisaical to judge anything else. Guys, that's not right. Why would Paul say, I beg you guys, Beseeches, it means to literally beg. It's almost like to get down on your knees and beg somebody. Like when my wife got down and begged me to marry her. She was beseeching me. I'm just kidding there. What did he tell them? What was he begging the Romans to do? Present your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God. And then he goes on and says, and don't be conformed, don't be like this world. Why would he say that if it didn't matter? Because it matters, guys. I'm telling you, don't get caught up in that trap. You know what that is? That is ecumenical contemporary garbage. That's what that is. Now listen, I also, this is what happens. They knew a few people that went a ditch on the right side. We'll use the right side, you know, like the Amish, the Mennonite, the, you know, the people, if you don't, you know, grind your own wheat berries and if you don't, you know, whatever, you're not spiritual. There is a ditch over there, but they went in the ditch on the left side, the liberal side. There's a ditch on the left side. By the way, the ditch on the left side is packed with people. There's very few on the ditch on the right side. But anyways, I'm just saying that morals are still right. You know what would be good, and I've been threatening the guys at prison to do this, but I'm going to work on a message on the Ten Commandments, because the Ten Commandments in America are foreign anymore. You know, and I like to preach this in there just because some of those guys come in and they've heard so much religious garbage, they need something to shake them up. You know the Bible does say, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. And obviously I hope nobody in here does. But let me just say, you begin to work and hang out with people that do, it's going to begin to come to your mind, it is still wrong. You say, what's so big a deal about that? We never quote the second part of that verse. It says, For God will not hold them guiltless. It does. Which means, and I tell those guys, obviously all them guys in there have done it. I said, every time you have, God's keeping track. And He's not letting you get away with it. It's still right to talk right, guys. I know that says the name Lord thy God, but we could also go to the verses, let your yea be yea and your nay nay. They're just language you have no business using. And if it doesn't bother you, it's because you've decided you don't care about your morals. Listen, fornication is still wrong, guys. It is sin against God. And we don't have to go into details, but the Bible says it is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid what? Fornication. So the Lord defines fornication in two verses. Touching that which is not yours. Guys, it's fornication. So I don't believe that. Well, if you never touch, it'll never go any farther. It can't. But there's... This is what I'm saying, young people. Your parents can have this, but if you don't make it yours, then you're no... It's not going to protect you. It's no good for you unless you make it your own. Nakedness is still a sin, lying, cheating. And I could go on and on and on. Romans chapter 12. I preached this years ago. I'm not going to preach it. There's a little outline. It says, be not conformed to this world. We're not supposed to be like the world in several things. I'll give you a quick... I'll go to my last point. Move on. How's that? We're not supposed to be conformed in our actions. If you act and live like the world, then you're not living in Romans 12, 2. We're not supposed to conform the world in our appearances. You should not look like the world. Amen. Conform. It means to be like, to appear as. It's our appearances, in our attitude, in our allegiances, in our alms, in our alliances and in our attendance. How much of the world went to church this morning? Not many. We shouldn't be like them, okay? Anyways, I won't preach that. So I'm just saying, you should be, choose, make a decision about your morals, about your morality, about the life you want to live. Not what your mom, or your dad, or your pastor wants you to live. I mean, that's all good, but really, if you love God, that doesn't matter. It matters what God wants. And you shouldn't do it out of duty, or because you're embarrassed, you should do it because you love God, and you want God to be pleased with your life. Listen, if I preach that you shouldn't do something and that's why you stop it, then somebody else come along and convince you it's okay to do it. And I'm not trying to preach, I'm just saying that you are going to make a decision. And if you make the wrong one, those consequences will follow you all the days of your life. See... Most, some people sit in church and they're preached about being saved, they're not saved. And people will say, well, you're going to make a decision today and in their mind say, well, I'm not going to decide today, I'm going to wait. But that's not so. If you're sitting here not saved today and you get up and leave lost, you've made a decision whether you realize it or not to say no to God. So as these things are preached, you may say, well, I'm going to wait on deciding on who my master is and I'm not going to decide on my morals just yet. You've already made a decision. A failure to make a decision when a decision is needed is a decision in itself. And there's a decision needed in your life. Because tomorrow, or next week, or next month, next year, you're going to be confronted with something. And you're going to have to know what you're going to do. And if you've not made the right decision yet, then you've made a decision already. And the decision is the wrong one. So, three was your morals. You need to make a decision about it. And I could go into the morals of your music. Amen? I just want to say something. I don't believe that morality makes you spiritual. I don't believe that. And I know that with being moral and trying to live holy and godly and righteous, there is a possibility of getting pharisaical and proud about it. I know that. Guys, I understand that. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't do it because of that. But I'll say this. There is safety in living righteous. And you can watch people A lot of folks, their lack of morals will tell you a lot about them. People are always wanting to get, just see how far they can push the envelope, how close they can get to the line without actually going over the line. It makes me wonder about them. I'm telling you, music, technology, pastors mentioned it several times lately, but technology today, you better have some type of standard for righteousness in your technology or you're going to be in trouble with it. You say, well, I haven't made any decision. Well, then you've made a decision not to have any morality in it. Number four, you need to make a decision concerning your mate. Obviously, us married people, this doesn't apply. Amen? But not all of you are married here today. Go to 2 Samuel chapter number 16. You've heard it preached. And I'll tell you again today, you may not, maybe you believe it, maybe you don't. But after getting saved, and you all know what I'm going to say, right? The most important decision in your life you will ever make is who you marry. And I believe that. I believed it before I got married, after I got married. Boy, it's in stone now. It's important, guys. You all laugh like I was a bad thing. I'm just saying, it's important. 2 Samuel 16, verse 18. Now, I understand I'm going to stretch this first. This is not talking about marriage, but it has truths and it has something that can apply to marriage. So, we're going to read it. 2 Samuel 16, verse 18. And Hushai said in the Absalom, Nay, but whom the Lord and His people and all the men of Israel choose, His will I be, and with Him will I abide. That sounds like a woman choosing a man. I'll be His and I'll abide with Him. That's not talking about marriage there, but he said there, whom the Lord and His people and all the men of Israel choose. Isn't that amazing? By the way, this was when Absalom had rebelled against David. David slain Hushai, who remained right with David. Absalom tried to get Hushai to come on his side. And Hushai said, hey, whoever the Lord chooses, this people and the men of Israel. He said, His will I be and with Him will I abide. Now, about your mate. I believe the Lord should choose your mate. But there's three. He mentions the Lord, this people. And I believe this people is referring to David, the leadership there of Israel. So I believe you'll let the Lord choose your mate. I believe the authorities in your life will be in agreement. And then he said, all true of Israel, if if the Lord chooses your mate and the and the authorities in your life agree with it, then the people will know it's right. It'll be it'll be the people's choice because it'll be obviously obvious. It's the right choice. Now, you may not agree with that, but that's OK. We can differ. But go to second Corinthians, chapter six. You didn't make a choice concerning your mate. And really, I say that little tongue-in-cheek because I don't want you making the choice. And listen, I know you all have heard this. I know the twins have heard this for years. Caleb, you, and Peter, and Tim, you've heard this. And I know sometimes you've heard it so much, it's just nothing new. And listen, I don't have anything new to give you except that just to warn you, you better make the right choice. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14. We actually read this at tea night, but I'll read it again. You know, they were teens, so sometimes it takes teens three, four, five times for it to even realize what we did. And we have a new teen, she still hasn't got Fruits Bowl, which way to hit that ball yet. We're still working with her though. But anyways, that's a side note. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14, the Bible says, Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. That's pretty clear, guys. for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness." We were preaching on Friday night a little bit on relationships. You know, relationships are important in life. And in the Bible, the word relationship isn't used, but a word that's similar, it's not the same, but similar is fellowship. And you need to find somebody not only... We would say don't be unequally yoked. And unbelievers is a good start, but I wouldn't stop at unbelievers. I would look for somebody with light that you can have Fellowship with see fellowship it feeds the soul fellowship is based in Philippians 1 5 based on the gospel All fellowship is based on the fact that we're saved by the gospel without the gospel There is no fellowship now. You can have friendship. You know I have lost relatives I have relatives not say they're saved not living right. I have other people. I know that are lost You know what we have we have a casual friendship We meet, we talk about the weather, might talk about sports, might talk about work. That's a friendship. After that, that's it. It's very shallow. You know what I'm saying? There's no fellowship there. But I get with God's people, with the kindred spirit, in the unity of the Spirit of God, we can have fellowship. My soul can be fed. My soul can be encouraged. And your soul can be encouraged. And if you don't know what the difference is, then you need to figure it out. And those people that are just basically their acquaintances, we have a shallow friendship. That's not who I spend my time with. I'm there when it's necessary. But the fellowship, it's important. Fellowship is important. And who you marry, you better marry somebody who's right. I didn't say perfect. I said right. Not just a non-believer. I mean, they better not just be a believer. They better believe like you in the Bible and doctrines and morality and who your master is and in serving God and in the church. They better agree. Listen, because if they don't, you're not changing them. And you can think you are, but I'm sorry, you're not. They ought to be saved. They ought to be submitted. They ought to be sold out to God and have a servant's heart. That'd be a really good, good choice. You know, a good test to do yourself. Of course, if I tell you now and you do it, you know the end result, so you do it right. But if you, if you are the honesty of your own heart and mind, you people in here that are single, you know, and I'm not talking about you five year olds, but if you're single and you sat down and wrote a list of what you're looking for in a mate, it's OK to do that. I mean, you probably should know some things you want in a mate. If you look at that list and the majority, or half of them, or a good part are physical traits, you're in trouble. You're not going to find God's will looking through the physical. Because man looks on the outside, but God looks on the heart. I know you're all going to go home, you're going to write a hundred point list and all hundred's going to be spiritual things. I'm not saying everything has to be, I'm just saying the majority better be spiritual. I mean, skin color would matter to me, that's a physical trait. What mattered to me? Is that wrong? Is that bad? Mattered to me? Anyways, okay. Just saying, you need to make the right choice concerning your mate. What's the number one, probably most important thing is to wait and don't get in a hurry. You know, and I know a lot of single people, they say, oh, I'm not in a hurry. But sometimes when you're in your quiet, quietness, or you get around some... Relatives seem to be the worst about this. Boy, they can really provoke you. Oh, you're single? Oh, you don't have a boyfriend? You don't have a girlfriend? I mean, you're 21, you don't have a girlfriend? They look at you like you've got three heads on you or something. And then you begin to get a little embarrassed, and then in the quietness of your mind and heart, you begin to think, man, what? I mean, come on, Lord, you know? And I'm not saying I have the easy answer. I'm just saying, wait. Wait on the Lord. Prepare yourself. If you could get this, it might help. If you could understand that you're not ready, and that you need the time to prepare yourself. You know, I know people joke, and I think it's very offensive, that women mature quicker than men. So, women just have to wait on their man to mature. That's all good for joking, even though I find it very offensible. No, I'm just kidding. But the truth is, if you could understand you're not ready and that you need to get ready to get married, it would keep you busy trying to prepare yourself to be the future mate, or your future mate, if you know what I'm trying to say. Trust God. You just somehow are going to have to trust God, trust your parents, trust the authority in your life. Try to develop a walk with God. He'll help you. And listen, don't do this with relationships. Don't start a relationship. and then try to get the approval just stamped on it at the end to make sure it all looks good. If you ain't got proper approval in the beginning, I'd be nervous. I'm worried about people who start relationships, and then midstream, they're trying to get all this approval so it looks good in the eyes of their spouse. Listen, that's not right, guys. Why are you so worried about getting the approval in the beginning? If there's no approval in the beginning, you better just wait on God. Listen, before I ever even officially met my She wasn't my wife at the time, but my wife, you understand what I'm saying? I had approval. I had parents' approval, pastors' approval, her pastors' approval before we even started. And I'm not saying it's how it has to be. I'm just saying it was right in the beginning. There was plenty of approval from all the right authorities before it proceeded. But you need to make a decision concerning your mate. Listen, if you're just looking for a beautiful woman or a handsome man, you're pretty shallow. Because you know all the things, that doesn't happen, right? The belly falls out, the hair falls out, the teeth fall out, you know, the chest sags, and all that kind of good stuff. Amen. And I'll tell you this, that if they're a spiritual person, there's a beauty about a spiritual person that's not physical. You know, the one thing I appreciate about my wife, and I don't mean to brag on her or anything, I would hate to do that. But my wife wasn't brought up in the traditional Christian home like I was. A lot of what she did, she did because she wanted to. Because if she didn't want to, she wouldn't have had to do it. You guys know her father wasn't in the situation. And she wasn't a pastor's kid. She could have done anything she wanted. And she chose sometimes against... I mean, with confrontation, she chose to do right. See, to me, there's a beauty in that. more than just being a knockout gorgeous person, if you know what I'm trying to say. Somebody just does right because that's what they've had to do, but somebody who's had a little bit of opposition and still done right and determined to do right, there's something to be said about that. And then last of all, I think I'm waxing long here, wow. The last point, and I won't park here long, is about your money. Another M, it meant how to get money in here. Let me just read you two verses and I'll be done. Ephesians chapter or Proverbs chapter 23. I'll go to Proverbs chapter 23. You make a decision concerning your money. Now, if you're like me, you don't have much, it's a pretty easy decision. Amen. But I'm not so much talking about your money as your mindset behind what you have. And it's really what you have is more than just money. We just use money because that's what we understand. But we have more than just money. But Proverbs 23, this is a principle that if you could learn this, it would help you as a Christian. Proverbs 23, verse 4, labor not to be rich. That goes against American philosophy. America says, get the best education you can, so you can get the best job you can, so you can do what? Make the most money you can. God says, the reason you work is not to be rich. Why, Lord? Well, just look at all the rich people in the world. They got much peace? Much joy? No. They're miserable. It doesn't fulfill. So he says, labor not to be rich. Cease from thine own wisdom, verse 5. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings, they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. He said, are you going to set your eyes? Remember, our eyes are supposed to be set on Christ, the author of the finisher of faith. But he said, you're going to set your eyes. He's talking about your desires, your heart, your goals. Is your focus going to be on riches? He said, that which is not. He said, those riches are going to fly away like an eagle does. They're very temporary. They're fleeting. He says, don't labor to be rich. Don't set your eyes and your desire and all your energy on that. And then go to Ephesians chapter 4. I lied, I have three verses. That's one, two more and we'll be done. Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. Now listen, money is not evil. In fact, money is referred to as a toll in the Bible. It's like a necessary evil. The love of money is the root of all evil, but money in and of itself is not evil. It's not wrong to have money. In fact, a lot of God's people in the Bible had a lot of money. Abraham was rich. He was a rich man, a wealthy man, I should say. Ephesians 4, verse 28. So Proverbs says, Do not labor to be rich. Why should I work then? Verse 28. Let him that stole steal no more. Amen. That would be probably 95% of welfare recipients. Amen. Most politicians, but anyways, but rather let him labor. That'd be good. That would fix America's financial problems right there. If you're stealing, quit stealing and go to work. That'd be most politicians. They don't work. They don't labor. They're in there about stealing more money. But anyways, we won't get there. OK, but rather let him labor, work with his hands, the thing which is good. OK, here it is. God's going to tell you why you should work. Don't work to be rich. Why should work? That he may have to give to him that needeth. That's why we're to work. So we have something to give. And again, it's not only money you can give. You can give time. Some people yesterday gave time to help a family move. You gave something. You had something to give and you gave it. That's why we're to labor to get is so that we can give. But see, America, you get to give. No, I get to get more. Amen. Stockpile. But that's not how God says. Now go to a first John chapter three. I'll close with this. You know what? You know, a lot of people said, oh, I wish I could be rich. I wish I'd had a lot of money, you know. But you know what? With riches comes a greater responsibility. The more money you have, the more responsibility you have. Look at this verse here and tell me what you think about. 1 John 3, verse 17. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? That's a pretty strong verse. The Bible says, if you see a brother in need, and there's a lot of them in need, especially in the Philippines right now, but even around us, there's brethren in need. And you have the world's goods. Now remember, we want more goods. But with this responsibility, if you have goods, a brother have need, you don't give him your goods. The Bible says, how can you say the love of God dwells in your heart? Now listen, I'm not trying to be wrong here, but I'm just saying, it would almost be better not to have the ability to help the brother in need. Than to have the ability, and yet not help him, then God says, you don't even love God. The love of God is not even in your life. I'm just telling you, that's a strong verse there. If we see somebody in need, we have the ability to meet the need, and we don't, God says, how can you say the love of God dwells in you? So what I'm saying is, it's almost better not to be rich. And again, guys, I'm not against money. I hope every one of you, if you can do right, God gives you a good paying job that you tithe, you give to offerings like you all do, you give to missions. It takes money to operate the work. I'm not saying it doesn't. I'm just saying the more you have, there's a greater responsibility with it. And if you can be faithful in a couple bucks, then God might give you a little more. And if you can't be, then God just may never give you more. And God may not give some people more, and it has nothing to do if they can't be faithful with it. See, that's what you think. Well, they don't have money because they can't be faithful. You don't know that. That's just how God shows it. I'm just saying, make a decision about your money. Your money is God's. It's not yours. It's a tool to help do the work of God. Dr. Green did this illustration. I forgot I was a kid. He had someone come up and hold ten hymn books in their hands. Maybe dad's done this. He said, that represents your income. And they took one. He said, God asked for one. You know, and here's this guy. You try to hold nine hymn books. That's a lot of hymn books. And he said, God only asked for one out of ten. He gives you nine. He could have asked for five of them. He could have asked for nine and left you with one. He only asked for one and he's giving you nine back. That's a pretty good deal. And then, listen, I know you folks, you give to missions, you give to offerings, and that's a blessing, but I'm just saying, you don't want to get tight with God. You don't want to seek to be rich, to power, consume upon your own lust. Keep a sacrificial spirit. Keep that, have those vows of compassion that want to help. And it's not just money, it could be time, it could be talents you have, it could be something material you have that you can let somebody else have or use or something. But it's just decisions. I've seen church kids grow up in a... I'm not going to say poor, because I've been in the Philippines and New Guinea, that's poor. But by American standards, they didn't have a lot of money. And because of that, they determined they were going to live with money. But they made a bad decision. That money even began to determine what they did. Listen, just trying to preach on some decisions. Decisions we make, they follow us. There's consequences for every decision. Really, probably preach more to young people. And it's because I hate you guys and don't like you. But anyways, I just wanted to get that out there since some of you were thinking that. No, but I'm just saying you're in such a very important time of your life. Your next 10 years, you're going to make decisions that will set in concrete the rest of your life. Now, there's always forgiveness. You can always do right. But you don't want to mess up your life because you made some bad decisions. Let's pray.