Mistakes Were Made

I feel very strong in my spirit that the word needs to go forth now. So, if you don't mind making your way back to your seats, I appreciate your praise. I feel as though our hearts have been prepared for what God has for us today. When you get there, if you don't mind, just remain standing. I'm going to read two verses of scripture, and then you can be seated. Stand for the word of God, if you don't mind.

Matthew 7, verse 13, 14, says: "Enter by the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction." Everybody say "destruction." "And there are many who go in by it." Everybody say "many." Some translations starts this next verse by saying "for" or "because," but it's a continuation. This, this sentence, this verse, goes into the next verse. It's all one statement being made. 14 says: "Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life." Everybody say "life." "And there are few who find it." Everybody say "few."

For just a little while today, I want to preach from this topic: "Mistakes Were Made." Mistakes were made. God, your word is anointed, but I ask, Lord, that you would anoint our minds and our hearts to receive that word today. I pray, God, that we could grab a hold of it, apply it in our life where it needs to be, that your will be done. In Jesus' name we pray, and let the church say amen. Amen. You may be seated.

I want to draw our attention to the two statements being made here in these verses. It says: "Wide and broad is the way that leads to destruction." That's the first statement. The second statement is: narrow and difficult is the way to life. We see here one path has many, and one path has few. We cannot simply ignore this truth, for these are red-lettered words. These are the words of Jesus. We see here that this is a part of the greatest sermon, in my opinion, that was ever preached: the sermon that Jesus preached that gets referred to as the Sermon on the Mount. And it's inside of that sermon that Jesus is coming against the cultural norms of the day. It's in that sermon where he is reestablishing boundaries, and he's, he's setting parameters around a life that is to be lived, not as culture says, not as the past has dictated, but it's — he's often quoted as saying: "You have heard it said, but I tell you." What is he doing? He's — he's going back in and saying: "I know where you have been going up to, but I'm here to reestablish a boundary. I'm going to settle some things that have drifted further than they were ever meant to drift." And as he's winding down this sermon — this sermon's — it's a, it's a, it's an apostolic sermon. It's three chapters long. He was preaching. They were there for a while. But as he's bringing it to a close, part of his closing statements are the two verses that I just read to you, about a broad way that many travel, but that way leads to destruction. And then he talks about a narrow way that's difficult, and there are few that travel it.

See, I believe that every one of us in this room — every one of us — desires to have a good life. If I were to ask you, if I were to have a conversation with you, if I were to meet you face to face here, one at a time, before we left this room, and I would ask you the question: do you want a good life? I believe that we would — we would see close to, if not nearly, 100%. And you say, why don't you say 100? Well, there's always an outlier out there. I don't know. There, there may be just one of you who wants to be difficult, for difficult sake. But I really do feel that it's, it's in us. It's in our humanity. It's in our nature to desire to have a good life. We want to have that life. We, we, we want to — we want to have respect. We want to have purpose. We want to have joy. We want to have fulfillment. We all desire that. But a — but a blessed life, a, a favored life, a, a full life, a free life, doesn't happen by accident. We may all have the desire for it. We may all want that to be our reality. But what is the truth about how well we are living in fulfilling our desires? Please listen to me. Truth shows us that, despite our desire to have fulfillment and favor and blessings and freedom, most of us experience, if not often, frustration and disgust and brokenness and being bound. Some may even — here today, every one of those words I just said is your reality of what you feel here in this room. You feel this same heaviness, and, and, and even though we have a desire to have a life fulfilled, a life of abundance, there's a road less traveled that can be difficult to find.

There was a family. I'm not going to name their names. They may or may not be a part of this church, who took a trip this past Thanksgiving. They decided to go to West Virginia for the Thanksgiving holiday. They were going to spend some time with some friends there, as a family. And they were going to share the holiday. Messages were exchanged and directions were given. Addresses were entered into the GPS, and the family goes on. Many hours into the journey, a feeling started to arise, an uneasiness about the direction they were headed. Something about the surroundings didn't seem quite right. The, the driver — and I, and I quote, a direct quote from the driver — said they asked Siri: "Hey Siri, where are we?" And the reality set in when Siri responded that they were in the wrong state. They had the best intentions of going and spending the holidays in West Virginia, but they ended up in Indiana. I also quote the driver when he said: "When we realized we went to the wrong place, we still had to drive another 4 hours and 45 minutes to get to the actual destination. It was terrible. Things went wrong. Mistakes were made."

Isn't that a lot like life? You can have the best of intentions, plans made, bags packed, everything just like it's supposed to be, but if you get on the wrong road, you're never going to get to where you intend to be. Mistakes happen in life. If — in our world, every day, people are living with good intentions. People are living with honorable desires. I'm, I'm talking about people that go to church, for, for right now. I'm not even talking about what's outside the walls. Let's talk about church people. Have the best intentions. They have clarity. They have vision. And they continually end up on the wrong road, because they go into autopilot. They don't pay attention to the road markers that are going. Their, their mistakes are being made, and they stay frustrated in life, because it's not turned out the way it's supposed to be. I'm here to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, you can't live life in cruise control mode. You can't. At some point, you have to learn to turn the radio down. Ever notice that? Why is that, when you're coming up some close intersection, you got to pay — you have to turn the radio down? Why does that make us better drivers? Anybody besides me do that? Comes up to a critical moment, like, "Hey, hey, hey, shh, this is a minute, like, I got to turn the radio down." Now, the radio's not helping me drive the car, but what — it's a distraction. I'm here to speak to you: there's a lot of stuff out there that's vying for your attention. And if, if you truly want to have the life God has for you, there's going to come a time when you're going to have to turn down the volume on a lot of stuff that's around you. I'm not saying it's bad, but even okay stuff can be a distraction. Even good things can cause you to go down the wrong path. Oh, y'all are quiet today.

Jesus was showing us in our opening verse that there is a road that leads to destruction, just like there's a road that leads to life. The path to life, according to Jesus, requires you paying close attention. That Greek word for life there, "zoa" — it's d, z, o, a, h. Life, the, the biblical translation and definition of this feminine noun is this: a real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed in the portion, even in this world, of those who had put their trust in Jesus Christ, but, after the resurrection, to be consummated by new ascensions that last forever. So, when he's saying there's a road that leads to life, he's saying there's a road that leads to heaven. There's a road that leads to where eternity's going to take you, and there's some options that are there. There's one that's real easy to find. There's a well-worn path that's really broad, and it doesn't take a lot of attention necessary for you to be on that road. But there's another way. Because that broad way leads to destruction, but there's a, another way. That's a — it's a narrow way, and it has difficulties along the way. You don't hear that being preached in a lot of churches, to tell you living for God's going to bring difficulties, but that's what Jesus declared: there's a narrow way. It's difficult, but it leads you to the life that God has for you. So, what are we doing? We got to pay attention to the details in our life, even the small things of life.

That's why some people can attend church for over 30 years, and their life's really no different than it was when they started. That's why you see a lot of people — and I hope you understand my heart when I say this — that they'll repeatedly come down to the altar over and over again, yet they, they leave, they're not really changed. They're not really different. I'll get to more of that in just a minute.

Jesus tells us that the road to life is a narrow gate, and it is difficult that leads there, and few there be. Few there be. Everyone say "few." Few there be to find it. You can have the best intentions, and you can blindly amble down the wrong road, and expect it to be a life that God promised you, but you never feel that fulfillment, because you're not paying attention to the details every day. I'm going to say another statement that's going to go over really flat. Uh, I'm going to say another statement that I doubt gets an amen. But it's still a true statement: not everyone listening to me today is going to make it to heaven. Man, Pastor Kevin. You just got up there and ripped the band-aid off. Well, I'm going to tell you, I'm simply telling you what Jesus said: few. Why did he tell us that? I don't know about you, but there, it seems like that's a little discouraging. You know? I — it seems like he'd be — he'd be saying: "Look, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's a path that many's going to find, and they're going to have a life, and an abundant life." And we like that. We like to, we like to be, be pumped up and be like: "All right, this is good." I'm going to tell you, we, we sing songs about God being for you. We sang it today. He, and he is, he is for you. But you have a part to play.

See, we, we, we live in a society today — and I'm going to speak about this North American culture — where we're so accustomed to things being done for us. We're so accustomed to this life that's, that, that is there. It's a life of comfort, and it's a life of ease. We don't like being inconvenienced. We were at camp meeting this week, and I'll be honest with you, it felt like we were in the foyer of hell most every service, because it was so hot. And if you're not careful, that could, that could really hinder your worship. All right? I know one thing, it will sure test your deodorant. But then we, in there — but I, in the middle of me about to complain about how hot it was, I was reminded about being on foreign soil, when I seen tens of thousands of people gather under a tin roof. And it was way hotter then. And they were there, and they were happy, and they were joyful, and they were excited, because at least they had shade. It's all a matter of perspective. We got to be very careful about all of our conveniences, because even in the conveniences of culture we can be distracted.

This two-verse passage in Matthew 7, a difficult one to process. It's, it's, it's there. We can't ignore it. Here in the world where we live in today, we find so many that are convinced that you can have both things, that you can, you can have the life that God desires for you, and at the same time you can have the life you desire for yourself. But I want you to know, that's an impossibility. You need to know that you cannot be in two places at the same time. You're either headed towards life, or you're headed towards destruction. The choice is yours. You cannot enjoy the pleasures of this world and end up with a God-blessed life. If I want to go to Memphis — I want to go down there and only eat some barbecue. Memphis has got good barbecue. Anybody else hungry besides me? Nobody get me a Snickers bar, please. Nobody get me a cheeseburger. If you're at camp meeting, that's funny. But if I want to go to Memphis, I can have the best intentions in the world to get in there, and I can get on there, and if I'm headed to Memphis, here's the deal: I cannot be in Memphis and Murfreesboro at the same time. And the closer I get to Memphis, the further away I get from Murfreesboro. So you can't have both things at the same time. You can't. You're going to have to choose. Which road are you going to be on? Which path are you going to take? Which way are you going to accept? You, you have to make a decision. I cannot find joy and peace and contentment and fulfillment in life, and stay connected to the things that don't produce that in me. I can't. That's like somebody who wants to, to have a healthier life, and wants to have a more fit body, and you, you're, you're camped out at the soda bar. Now, you can have the best of aspirations to have that physique, but if you're sitting there, I promise you it's not going to work out very well for you.

Life is found in a decision, a choice, and a direction that you travel. Today, I want to restate some simple truths that I feel like will make a difference in your life. Nothing here today is going to be mind-blowing, but I promise you, if you desire the blessed life that God has for you — and I say that with caution, because mainstream Christianity has perverted blessed life. It has perverted it into something it was never intended to be. God loves his kids, and he likes to put gifts in our life, but he also understands that there are some things that will ruin us. He also understands there's some blessings that are good for one, but will be detrimental to another. There are some people that can handle material things, and some people that can't. There are some people that can handle this, and can't handle that. And we get mad and frustrated when I'm trying to compare what my brother has got, and what I have in my life. But the word of God says to compare yourselves among yourselves is a fool's errand. Don't do that. If you're living the way God wants you to live, he has a path for you to walk. And I'm here to tell you there's going to be some highs, and there's going to be some lows. It's not going to be all eating cake and birthday time every day. I promise you there's going to be some stuff you're going to go through, but God knows what you need. He knows what he needs to take you through, in order to get some things out of your life. He knows what he needs to do to you, so that you'll draw closer to him. And when we learn to trust him instead of complain, when we learn to say, "God, let thy will be done in my life, even if I don't understand it. You have been good. You have been faithful. You have been true," I promise you, perspective makes a difference in what you go through.

So, let's talk about these. Truth number one: there is a way to life. There is a way. Some of you say it's too hard. Others say that you're so narrow-minded. But let me remind you of Jesus' words: "As narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there be few that find it." Now, you may get upset about that, but I don't know about you — when I look at that, it brings me some joy. I will — you know, Pastor Kevin, you're, you're in the ministry, so you probably find those things easy. No, I don't. Can I be transparent with you? There are some days I don't like anybody. Nobody. There are some days I'm tempted to say things I don't need to say. There are some days I'm, I'm tempted to behave in ways that I don't need to behave. I'm just like you. I put my shoes on just like you. All right, I don't jump into them. You know, there isn't an angel that greets me in the morning and then lays stuff out for me. There's not — that, that's — look, I, I, I'm just like you. I face the same things you face in my life. But, I find joy here. You know why I find joy in this verse? Do you know why I find hope in this verse? Do you know why I find comfort in this verse? Because there's a way. There's a way. There is a way. There could not be a way, but there's a way. There's hope. There's an opportunity. There's a chance. Oh, it says it's narrow, but there's a way. It says it's difficult, but there's a way. At least there's a way. I'm not by myself. I'm not without opportunity. I'm not without an option. There's a way. You can choose to be negative about it, but I choose to be positive. At least I got a choice, and I know ahead of time it's hard to find, and it's, it's to be difficult, but praise be to God, there's a way. Ooh, I wish I had somebody else be a little excited about that. Quit allowing the enemy to say it's negative and narrow-minded. My goodness, we got a way. There's an opportunity for life. No, it's not easy. There will be things you have to let go of, but it's not impossible. He didn't say impossible is the way. He didn't say that. He said it's going to be tough, but there's a way. There's a chance.

Now, now listen, you got to be careful here, because I know there'll be some folks that are going to go down this road. I'm not talking about salvation by works. Okay, I rebuke you in the name of Jesus if that's what you think. That is not what I'm talking about. You cannot earn your way into heaven. You can misbehave your way into hell, but you can't earn your way into heaven. This isn't about merit badges and, and good deeds and, and, and accolades. Okay, it's not about that. Let me tell you something: salvation is free, ladies and gentlemen. It is free. It is a free gift. Jesus Christ at Calvary paid the price that none of us could possibly pay. He paid a price, and he purchased flawed material. He purchased a lot of brokenness. He, he, he purchased a lot of defective stuff when he bought you and I, but he paid the price. Salvation is free. I don't care what kind of lifestyle you're living. I don't care what kind of things you've done. I don't care what you've been bound by, addicted by, or wrapped up in. I don't care what kind of abuse you've went through. I don't care what kind of labels been placed on you. I don't matter where you come out of. I want to tell you something: God loves you. God loves you. God loves you. His love doesn't cost you a thing. He loves you. You can't earn his love. You can't be more loved by him, or you can't be less loved by him. You're just loved. It's not based off of human equation or even our understanding. It goes above and beyond us. His, his ways are higher than our ways. His ways are above our ways. It's impossible for you to fully comprehend how much God loves you, and it's free. It doesn't cost you a thing. God just simply loves you.

But if you accept it, if you accept the salvation, there is a cost on the other side. It's not a cost that he himself did not willingly pay, to show the importance of paying the price. It is there. So again, I don't care. I mean, whatever lifestyle you live — I'll tell you this, whatever it is, whatever lifestyle you live, God loves you. That's all you need to know, is God loves you. Now, if you come in, and you come in and allow him to do a work inside you, I need you to know that there is more to it. Once you receive it, there's an obligation on the other side. What are you talking about, Pastor Kevin? Well, Luke 9:23 says this, red-letter words. He said in them — Jesus is talking: "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and what else? Take up his cross. How often?" Ooh. I don't know about you, but cross bearing doesn't sound fun. Hey, y'all want to go get an old cross later? Anybody excited? Anybody want to go out for that? Hey, I want to go this afternoon. Anybody want to go? No. No.

So what's he saying? "What I did for you, Jesus — what I did for you — didn't cost you a thing. But if you take it, if you receive it, then I have an expectation that you yourself will do what I did: that you'll deny yourself, and you'll take up your cross every day, and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life —" right? We're talking about salvation, right? "— whoever desires to save his life will do what?" All right, he didn't say: "Look, I'm going to save you so you can go do whatever you want." Boy, that gets preached a lot in the world we're in today. There's a whole lot of churches in this city that's going to do a version of that. God comes in, it's a gift, and God loves you, and he comes in, he forgives you. He does. He does all of those things. But it's not without instruction. It's not without some commands. It's not, it's not for you to go do whatever it is you want to do, and be like: "I'm here, man. I got — I gave God my heart." Please understand me. I, I, I really am preaching with love. "I gave God my heart, and I'm good to go." He didn't ask just for your heart. He asked for all of you, because he gave all of him. He didn't give you a part. He didn't just give his heart. He didn't just give a foot, or a hand, or a leg. He gave all. And he says: "I gave all, and now I want you to give all." I, I don't know about you, but that's a, that's a pretty good deal, because his all is a lot more than my all. I'm going to say that again, cuz it fell flat: his all is a lot more than my all. He was perfect. He was perfect. The only perfect one that ever lived. He didn't have to — he didn't have to deny himself. He didn't have to sacrifice. He didn't have to go to Calvary. He didn't have to die for me, but he willingly gave, so that I would have an opportunity, so that you would have an opportunity. And all he asked in return is that we would give back what he gave: ourselves. "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is health destroyed or lost?" It's not impossible. Okay? There's a way. It's not impossible. God will help you, but it's going to require your attention to detail in your life. And if you refuse, I promise you mistakes will be made.

But making a mistake isn't the end of all, okay? The enemy's going to pounce on you and say: "Look at you. You messed up. I knew you couldn't do it. I knew you couldn't be good enough." Guess what? You can't be good enough. I'm going to go ahead and just break that one for you. Here's another band-aid: you don't deserve it. There's another one. And you can't be good enough. That's why goodness and mercy follows after. See, David knew that. That's why he wrote about it in Psalms: "Surely goodness and mercy —" Why? Because you're going to need it. You're going to need mercy in your life every day. Thank goodness it's there. His mercies are new every morning, because I'm going to need them. And here's a little secret: you're going to need them, too. You're not that good. That'd be something good to tell your neighbor right now. Just look at your neighbor right now and say: "You know what? You're not that good." Now, look back at that neighbor. Is that same neighbor — look back at him right now. Look at him. Now, you're looking at me. Look at them. "And I'm not, either." No, you need it. You need mercy in your life. You need grace in your life every day. And how wonderful is our God, that he abundantly gives it out every day. That's not an excuse not to be on the path. That's a reason to stay. There's a way. It's narrow. It's difficult. It's hard, but I'm not by myself on that road. My God travels with me. And if I stumble, I can get back up. If I fall down, don't rejoice against me. I'm going to rise up again, because my God walks with me. If you're looking for perfection, you're in the wrong place. There's a bunch of brokenness in this room, but my God is perfect, and my God is good, and my God is faithful, and my God has made a way. Thanks be to God, there's a way. There's a way to peace, a way to joy, a way to happiness, a way to fulfillment. You can have a great marriage. You can have a great marriage. You can have great relationships. You can have a great life, and a great career, and great ministry, but it's going to require attention to detail. It's going to require a relationship with the King. It requires a daily dying out to self. There is a way.

Truth number two: just because everybody's doing it doesn't make it right. Oh wow, there's a bald spot there. Easy back there on the camera. Just because everybody's doing it doesn't make it right. Now sounds like your mama, right? What your mom said: "If your friends jump off the bridge, you going to jump, too?" Well, I don't know, Mom. If it looks fun, I might. I'll think about it. I'm talking about it in the church culture. Just because everybody's doing it doesn't make it right. Do not allow the crowd to push you. Don't allow someone to push you. What does God have to say on the matter? It may be popular. It may be popular in Christianity, but it doesn't make it right. Has God approved of it? What does God's word have to say about it? Ooh. Yeah, what does God's word have to say about it? Has, has he already spoke about it? Has God — here's the deal: God doesn't change his mind. Hey, God's never like: "Well, I didn't think about that." Right? You know, you and I may say that, that God never makes that statement, "I didn't think about that." Here's another statement God doesn't ever say: "I didn't see that coming." Yeah. He's never surprised. He's never shocked. You may be surprised. You may be shocked. Your family may be surprised. They may be shocked, but God's not. He's not surprised. He's not. What does God have to say on it? God's word is forever settled. Psalms 119:89: "Forever, oh Lord, your word is settled in heaven." It is there. There's three that bear witness in heaven: God, Holy Spirit, and the word. It's there. You and I are going to be judged based off of this word. Did our life line up with this word? Not did our life line up with popular culture. Not did our life line up with mainstream Christianity. Not did our life line up with grandma. Ooh, I went there. I did. I don't know who your grandma is. I, I guarantee you she was a sweet, precious lady. She probably cooked really good, too. She probably smelled like grandma. And I'm — again, I'm not — I don't know where — look, I'm not here to put grandma in heaven or hell. I'm not. But you're not going to be based off of grandma. You're going to be based off of this. What does this say? What does this say on the subject? What does this say on the matter? You're not going — you're not going to be there off anybody else. I don't care how popular the idea is. What does God's word have to say with it?

I find it heartbreaking in our world today, so many simply choosing to live out of — leave out God's commandments and desires that are clearly stated, and they choose instead to follow their feelings. All right, here's the deal: I don't care how you feel about it. You're not going to stand up to God and say: "Well, God, I just didn't feel like that's what you really wanted me to do." You know, sometimes my kids don't like picking up. "Dad, I just don't feel like doing that right now." It didn't really matter about what you feel. What I need you to do is pick up. Our feelings will mislead us. Our heart cannot be trusted. God's word establishes that. It says it's desperately wicked. Who can know it? There comes a moment in time when you have to go back to what doesn't change. Culture changes. Society changes. Friendships change. Governments change. Things change. God's word never changes. I don't have to defend it. It's been doing real good for a long time, all by itself. And you can disagree with me all you want, but I wouldn't disagree with the word. Yeah, don't take it because I said it. Don't ever do it just because I said it. You've heard me say it before: don't you ever answer a response, that you live the way you live because pastor told you to do that. Please don't frustrate me by saying that way. All I'm ever going to do to you is bring you what thus saith the word of God. That's what you build your life on. Don't build your life on me. Build your life on this. I'm a fallible man. I'll make mistakes. I'm not perfect. I promise you I'm not perfect. This. This. This is what you can build a life on. You can build a life on the word of God. It's not out of date. It's just right for where you are, and everything you face. There's, in the word of God, an answer and a response you need to have.

Craziness that goes on. Paul knew about this. He addressed some of the same things in his letters to the churches. Romans 3:3: "For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not. Indeed, let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written, that you may be justified in your words, and you may overcome when you are a judge." Paul is saying that you can justify all you want, the why behind why you did what you did, but God is true. God is true, and his word is true. It's forever settled. And in the end, you'll discover that you made mistakes. But don't let the mistakes derail you, because he's still there, and his word still says there's forgiveness for you.

In our narcissistic world, we are so consumed with fulfilling our selfish desires. But there's nothing new under the sun. This has been going on for a long time. Again, Paul addresses this in his letter to Timothy, in 2 Timothy chapter 3:1. Listen to this: "You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving. They will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, and be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that can make them godly. Stay away from people like that." Man, that's like we're reading it out of the headlines. That's the world we live in today. That's the world we're living in today. He's addressing these same issues. What's going to happen? Mistakes were made, and they reject the power that could be godly. Don't follow the crowd.

Truth number three: life requires thought. To make the life that God has stored in you, it's going to require you asking some questions every day. You need to learn to ask this question: where is this decision going to lead me? Is this going to lead me the way I need to go? Or is this going to lead me the way I don't need to go? Where is this decision going to lead me? Because I'm, I'm moving. You've heard me say that before. You never staying still. You're always moving. You're either moving closer to God, or you're even moving further away from God. And this happens in the subtle, everyday mundane of life. And in, in the, in the subtle, everyday mundane of life, our decisions have huge consequences over time. Makes a difference. Where, where am I going? How does this affect me, with this decision? What, what do I know? What are my intentions in my making this? Where does this decision take me? How does it affect my marriage? How does it affect my kids? How does it affect my ministry? How does this affect my testimony? Where does this road lead me? Am I going to be closer to God, or further away from God? And some of you have struggled most of your life, because you've never established boundaries in your life. Whoever you're around, that's where you go. I'm, I'm to tell you right now, there's some places and some people you don't need to be around, or you don't need to go to. You just don't. They're not going to lead you where you want to be. You need to ask yourself this question: where does this lead? You know, it may not be a massive moral failure. May be something simple. But where does it lead? Where is it pointing you? Even in the simple, everyday, you're heading in the direction. Where are you going? Where is it ultimately going to lead you? No one would choose the wrong path, if they stopped long enough to think about it. Nobody would. And that's the problem: people just are not thinking anymore. Far too many are living a life with their brain in neutral. No one starts out and says: "You know what I want to do? I want to wreck my marriage. I mean, I want to wreck it. I mean, I don't want just a little wreck. I mean, I want it to go up in flames." Right? Nobody. Nobody — no reasonable person is like: "You know what, Pastor Kevin, I want to bust hell wide open with gasoline britches on." Who is going to say that? No, nobody in their right mind. Nobody's going to get up and like: "You know, I just want to ruin. I want everything I touch, I want to destroy." Nobody does. Now, again, have people been hurt? Have people been abused? Have people been in circumstances that has caused them to be jaded? Yes. That's why I said, nobody — nobody who's thinking right is going to say that's what they want. But yet, we see in our world, everyday, people making decisions that take them down the road to destruction. They're destroying themselves one decision at a time. Where are they heading? Where are they going? You got to stop and think, before mistakes are made. Will your choice bring you closer to God? Will it make your family better? Will it make your marriage better?

Listen to this. Galatians — Paul writing here to the church of Galatia, in chapter 5, verse number 19: "When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear." All right, what are they following the desire of, what? Your sinful nature. Results are clear: "Sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outburst of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like this. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of God." I don't know about you, but that's pretty plain talk, isn't it? If you're doing these things. Now, I know — here's what happens, all right? Here's what, here's what happens. And I want you to — uh, Mr. Projector person back there, would you please go back to number 20, verse number 21? It's up there. Thank you. Will you leave that there for just a second? So, here's what happens. This is, this is what happens in, in, in, in 2023, when you're pastoring. These people will say: "Well, can you show me where the word of God says that I can't smoke crack cocaine? Can you show me where it says that in the Bible? Cuz if you'll show me the word of God says I can't smoke crack cocaine, then I'm going to — can you show me in the Bible where it says that I'm going to get even — I'm going to get even real — that I can't have marijuana." Well, no. I mean, there's not — I mean, I don't care what translation you get. You can even get the one that's, you know — what is it? Word on the street version? And it's not going to be like: "Yo, bro, the Lord says, thou shall not smoke the rock." It says not there. I can't do that. See, see, Paul had wisdom, and he knew: "Hey, I'm writing this, and there may be some new stuff come up eventually that isn't covered in my list." Because what we'll do is, we got the list, and we're like: "Okay, I'm not doing sexual immorality, and I'm not, I'm not drunk in this, and I'm not all this stuff, but I got this over there." But notice he put in there, that he said, uh: "And other sins like these." That you — there, there are some things that fall into the other category. All right? I — maybe I can't give you chapter and verse, but I'm asking you: where does it point to? Where does it point to? If you do it — I don't know, maybe I don't have a verse for you, all right? Maybe I can't pull it out. But is that just because I don't have a verse for it? Does that mean that you're free to do it, just because the word of God did not declare that one specific thing, that you have liberty and freedom to do that one thing? I think you need to stop and ask the question: where does that one thing lead me? Where does it lead me? Or does it fall under the other category? Because there's a lot of stuff in our world that I don't have chapter and verse for, but honey, it falls under the other category of sins that you shouldn't be involved in your life. So, don't allow — just because I can't give you chapter and verse, doesn't mean that the word of God hasn't said something about it. Some things fall under "other." That's why you got to ask: how is it going to affect me?

The wise man wrote about this in Proverbs 14:12: "There's a way that seems right to man, but the end is death. The end is death." The end of destruction.

Truth number four — in case you're wondering, there's seven. I know some of you are like, how many is it going to be? You — some of you were hoping it was a three-point sermon, didn't you? And for some of you, I just made you like: "Ugh." There's seven. I'm not going to spend as much time on all of them, okay? Number four: there is no easy road to greatness. Regardless of what the infomercial said, regardless of what they say that you can be, there are — look, there, there, there, there's no magic gummy for life, all right? I know that's the new thing, is you got these weight-loss gummies. Yeah. "I'm going to get me some of them weight-loss gummies." Yeah. And then it was — you know, it was — how many of y'all are old enough to remember fen-phen? Yeah. It's fen-phen. It's going to take a pill. It's what we want, right? We want something easy, like — because I, I, I, I, I, I have in my mind what I should look like, and then there's what I do look like. And there's a, there's a gap. And then if I have a pill or a gummy, or, you know, the ab sizes, you know — I remember being a kid, my grandparents, they had — they had — I don't know what you call the thing, I called it the sand belt, it like supposed to sand your fat off. You remember that? You got in the thing, and it's like, you just going to shake your fat away. That'd be awesome, wouldn't it? I mean, it — I mean, you would want one of those things if you could get it. You just be like a big milkshake. 20 minutes a day to a new you. Yeah. Now, I'm going to tell you, all right: it takes hard work. There, there is no — there is no one thing. It takes hard work. There is no easy road to greatness. You, you, you, you cannot plant cucumber seeds and reap cabbage. It's never going to happen. You just can't. I know there's some who are, who are sowing into the flesh like crazy, and wondering why they don't have a spiritual walk, and wonder why their family is crazy. Galatians 6: "Do not be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will reap flesh. But he who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart." It's a principle, ladies and gentlemen: there is no easy way to a good harvest. It takes intention. It takes work. It takes effort. It takes making good decisions every day. It takes fighting flesh, which is the hardest fight you and I will ever have — is fighting the man or the woman that's in the mirror. But if you determine daily to win, if you sow into the spirit, you will reach a — reap a spiritual harvest.

It frustrates me as a pastor when I have parents come up, and they're like: "Well, this — I feel like the church has really let down my kid. I wish the, the, the youth — the youth pastor would just do more of what's going on." And they're, and they're sowing all kind of junk in the house. Like, you're sowing flesh at home. You know, you're, you're, you're, you're — look, nobody ever talks about it anymore, and I'm just feeling — I'm just feeling my oats today. You know, you're in there watching all that junk online. You're, you're, you're bringing all that stuff in, and you're constantly have a diet of mess going on in your house. "Oh, it is — I just need something to zone out." You, you just keep bombarding flesh, and flesh, and flesh, and flesh, and flesh, and then why is it you expect your kids going to be spiritual? It's not the church's responsibility that your kid has a walk with God. It's your responsibility that your child has a walk with God. Don't come here complaining when you're feeding them a steady diet of flesh at home, and wonder why they're out fornicating, and why they're addicted to drugs, and why they're running around wild, and why they're disobedient, and why there's no respect, and why — and why can't the church do something about it? We only get them a couple of hours. I can't cram enough spirituality down their throat to make them have an opportunity. But you can. You can. You can. You can. You can. You can sow spirit. You can sow good things. Give them a chance. And everybody's — I'm seeing so much, and so frustrated with everything, living on the friends, and everybody's pushing the envelope, and everybody's doing all this stuff, and then you're frustrated, and wondering why your kids are the way they are. I'm sorry. I don't — I have an answer for you. You're not going to like it. It's your fault. Mistakes were made.

Truth number five: to get the best, you're going to have to walk the road less traveled. Discipline, and loyalty, and self-denial — those are bad words today, aren't they? Obedience — woo. It's got more than four letters, but it's like a four-letter word. These words our culture rejects. But if you desire the God life that God has for you, there must — you can smirk, and can scoff. You can tell me that I'm old-fashioned, and I'm out of touch. You can tell me that I've lost my mind. But I speak this as a known truth: if you desire to have the best in life, it requires you walking down the road less traveled. If you desire to have peace, you got to go down the path where peace is. Quite often, peace is not masked through happiness. We think, just because I have peace, I got to be happy. Happiness does not equal peace.

Truth number six: you cannot take the wrong road and get to the right destination. The destination you reach is not determined by your intentions. It's determined by your decisions. I'm going to say that again. The destination you reach is not determined by your intentions. It's determined by your decisions. What choices are you making? You can have the best intentions in the world. I mean, I have the intentions that, you know, I want to bench press 300 lb. It's just not there, cuz I haven't made the choice to do it. I got good intentions. Some of you spend the majority of your life traveling down the wrong road, with the best intentions. And then God — God's one — I feel in my spirit to bring this to a close. God's really moving. I'm on point number seven. I'm fixing to bring it up, but I want the musicians to come, cuz God's, God's got a special thing he wants to do in this place today.

Truth number seven: you will pay a price to walk the right road. You will pay a price to walk the right road. Chassy and I were in Canada about a month ago — Western Canadian Rockies — and it's the most beautiful place I've ever been in my life. I've been very blessed in my life to have traveled a lot of places around the world. But we went up there, and I know some of y'all been complimenting on the pictures that we — she posted, and they — I'm going to tell you right now, so throw the pictures away. They don't even represent it. It's, it's not good. You can't, you can't cram inside that photo what, what you see when you're there. It's just — but we realized this, all right? Just going — just going to tell you that you can go up there, and you can, you can see a lot of what we seen. But unless you're willing to be physically fit, there's a lot of that you will never see, because it requires some effort. One particular day, we decided to hike up. We were staying there at Lake Louise, and we decided that we were going to hike up, because there was a lake up there, and it has a little tea house that's on the top. It's pretty popular. So, we hike up to the tea house, and we get up there to tea house. And it was — I'm going to, I'm going to tell you right now, I'm, I'm, I'm decently in shape, okay? What I mean by decently in shape, I can, I can right now, I can run 5 miles at about a 9:20 pace and be okay, and, and my heart rate will be back down to normal rate of rhythm within 2 minutes. So, I don't know about you. If you don't know what that is, don't go do that, unless you know. Now, I'm not the most fit person. I got Fred back there, you know, Captain Gazelle. He can run one, and him and Michael Bardwell can do it in 6 minutes, and I — yeah. Whatever. But for a 200-lb, 5-ft 11, 47-year-old white guy, I don't think that's too bad. We get up there. There's this thing called the Beehive we've been hearing about. So, I got to looking about it. Man, there was this pictures, because when you got up to the Beehive, you were at the pinnacle, and you could overlook the lake, and you could overlook, and you could see the hotel. And, you know, just put in perspective: it's 1,800 vertical feet difference from where we started to where we're going. 1,800 — maybe that don't sound like a big number to you, but if you've ever hiked, 1,800 vertical feet is, is a lot. It's, it's a lure. And the path from the tea house was only halfway there. So, we still had to go from the tea house, all the way up, the way up there. And Chasten and I are sitting there talking about it, and then she's like: "I don't, I don't think I really want to go." I was like: "I think I want to go, too, but it's going to be tough." And we, we seen somebody coming down the trail. We asked him, said: "Hey, this, this, this trail, like, you know, how intense is it, you know? We're, we're okay in shape, but I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm honest, okay? I'll be, I'll be honest, you know, it's — I'm not saying I'm the best, all right? But I'm, I'm okay." And the guy says: "Look, it's tough. I'm going to tell you, it's a tough path." He goes: "I'll be honest, it's also a little scary up there, because there's no guardrails, and there's a couple of things, cuz you just basically got to zigzag up the mountain." He says: "There's a couple spots that's pretty scary." He says: "It's pretty narrow. It's a little, little, little rocky up there." He said: "But —" I said: "Well, is it worth it? Is it worth us going?" And the guy, that he was walking away, he turned, and he said: "Oh, yeah. It's completely worth it." I was like: "Okay. So, here we go." You know, I felt like I was on — felt like I was Frodo in Lord of the Rings, you know, like we're going through there. It's beautiful, picturesque. And I'm like, you know: "I just wish Gandalf was here." We're going up. We start traversing up that side of that Beehive. It's a couple moments, and I don't scare easy. I'm just not a scared person. Heights don't bother me. Now, my wife, she, she was as spiritual as she's ever been in her life. I mean, I think she spoke in tongues all the way up side that thing. Cuz she don't like — I mean, 3 ft off the ground is high for her. So, I was scared, but I was behind her. I was like: "Babe, just look at the mountain. Don't look down. Just look at the mountain." Because there's — when I say that there's some path, I mean, there's, it's like this. You had about that much to walk on. And it's, and it's slanted, and it's gravelly. I mean, it was — but when we got up there, when we made it to the top, it took Chasten a minute. She had to compose herself. I got up there, and I remember standing on the edge, and I was looking over all that beauty. I was like: "Wow." And I would never have been able to experience it, had I not been willing to go down the road.

Jesus says, there are two paths. There's one that's broad, and it is wide, and it is well-traveled. It's an easy one to find. But the deal is this: it ends with destruction. And there's a whole lot of people that go down that road. He said: "Narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way that leads to life." And there are a few, if they're willing to commit themselves, they'll find it.

So, uh, I end this sermon today. I'm going to have you stand. Just simply asking you a question. This way, it's going to be the easiest altar call I ever made in my life. Which road do you want to walk? Which path do you want to take? Every day you make a choice. Now, again, mistakes will happen, right? Mistakes will be made. But he doesn't give up on you. And you don't need to let the mistake be the excuse for why you don't stay on the right road. Cuz his mercies are new every day. His grace is there. So, I'm going to close this way, and I'm going to pray, and this altar is open. I invite anybody who wants to come. If you want a closer walk with God, you need salvation, you need a healing, you need a miracle, whatever. You need your relationship. You need your marriage back. I'm telling you, I would come down here, and I would choose the right path. But know before you come: it's not easy. But there is a way. All right? It's not easy, but there is a way. It's not easy, but it's not impossible. There is a way.

Will you bow your heads with me? Jesus, holy God, in this most special of moments, I pray that your drawing power would, would pull those individuals who need a deeper walk with you. I pray, God, that we would feel the weight of everyday decisions. To know that it's not my intentions, God, it's, it's my choices that make all the difference in where I'm going to spend eternity. And I pray, God, today we would make right choices in our life. God, give us a boldness about us, to be willing to step out in faith, and trust you. God, I encourage someone to trust you again today. I encourage someone, Lord, to exercise their faith today. Help us draw closer to you, and be all that we need to be, in Jesus' name. This altar's open. Will you come and pray? It's prayer time.