A Cost Of A Decision | KidzQuest Pastor Nolan Carpenter

we'll turn quickly into the word of the Lord this evening in Joshua 24 and 15 it is an honor to stand before the greatest group of people in all the world and I do not say this slightly if I am the Bible says that no flesh will glorify in his presence and uh if I'm not anointed tonight or God doesn't do anything it is is simply because of pride okay I'll just confess that to you tonight because I get to preach tonight the greatest group of people in all the world this Pulpit is so sought after evangelists call my dad I mean not to knock evangelist God help me where am I doing they say Pastor I just thinking about you yeah not all evangelists but it is such an honor to stand behind this Pulpit tonight I want to give honor to you great people it's such an honor to stand here this evening I give honor to pastor and his wife my mother and father such tremendous people and I thank you so much this church for allowing us to to do ministry here at the church I thank you from the bottom of my heart I don't when pastors kids call me and and they'll they'll ask how how do you how do you serve in your church with your father and mother being the leaders of the church and like what are you even talking about how what do you mean how and uh and I realize just how special I am for a group of people at church to take the the pastor's kids and not rough them up but but to let them to grow and let them grow in Ministry and I want to thank you for the bottom of my heart for allowing me to do that and tonight I I really feel a burden from the Lord tonight and uh just want to just preach Something Real Simple to you and and I'd ask before we go I feel a burden tonight and it's like in prayer tonight that God showed me God showed me kind of a Crossroads God showed me kind of a a picture you had one way was one it was a path of somebody that they could have went to the right they could go to the left it's like God I can't get that I can't get this out of my mind I don't even know what to do with the scripture tonight because it's like God painted this this picture so clear in my mind that somebody's at a Crossroads tonight and the decision that you make here is going to determine if if eternity would reveal the decision you make right now for your family I just want somebody tonight to make the right decision I don't know who it is I don't know what age group it is I don't even know what decision it is but someone tonight is at a Crossroads and I just want to be the voice of the Lord tonight that if you'll make the right decision I know it's going to be tough I know it's going to be difficult for you to make the right decision but tonight if you'll just hold on to the word of God tonight if you'll hold on to his promises and be faithful to him you're at a Crossroads tonight and if you'll make the right decision God will honor you and God will bless you but it just you're at the crossroads tonight would you lift your hands right now and would you help me just I'm going to attempt to pull for someone tonight I feel a burden from the Lord right now Jesus I ask that you would help me God anoint these lips of clay God anoint us oh God tonight Lord if there's someone tonight that's brand new Lord God to this faith God brand new to this church Lord and they're at the midst of a Crossroads got a left path Lord with would mean their demise but God if they would make the right decision tonight God you're going to show them some some things God you're going to show them blessings and honor oh God tonight God at a Crossroads at a Crossroads in Jesus name Joshua 24 and 15 says and if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord choose you this day whom you will serve whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the flood or the god a gods of the amorites and whose land ye dwell but as for me in my house we will serve the Lord the reason I use this passage of scripture to open up with tonight is simply there is a decision that is to be made in this scripture there is a decision you can serve the god of the land you can serve the gods of the land that you dwell in or you can choose to serve God it's as simple as that I want to preach tonight on the difference between a left turn and a right turn it'll take me a while to get there but if I could put maybe a a subtitle on this message it would be a cost of a decision costs of the decision before you be seated tonight would you put your Bibles down in would you help me pull for someone the church if I could ask you to bind together I I don't know who it is I don't know what but I don't know why God has given me such a burden for tonight but I I would ask you to pray for that one individual tonight or maybe it's a group of people tonight I don't know it who it is but you're at a Crossroads and I want to tell you if you'll make the right decision tonight God will change your life if you'll make a decision tonight it's just a simple decision that you're going to live for him it's a simple decision that you're going to serve him all the days of your life all the days of your life you're going to make the right decision tonight we do everything in your name in Jesus name we pray could we clap our hands all across this place Lord we thank you tonight for your word we thank you for your presence and we do everything in your name in Jesus name we pray you may you may be seated all across the house of the Lord Our Lives are made up of choices that we make some are small choices and some are rather big choices John Maxwell in a book said that life is a matter of choices every choice that you make makes you every decision that we make forms you it's not just a little decision that we can just brush off for anything in life but every decision that we make makes us and when we get to the end of our lives here on Earth the choices that we will have made in our lives will paint our story at the end of my life I hope to God I make the right decisions I hope I make the right decisions to live for him through the thick and thin I hope to God when it comes to the end of my days my family could look back over my life and realize I made the right decision to serve God when it was hard I want to make the right decision to live for him when money was coming I want to make the right decision to live for him but oh in the valley and oh and things aren't going my way I want to make up my mind that I want to serve the Lord I want to make the decision to live for him on the days of my life choose you this day who you will serve some choices can change your life forever and some people are simply at a Crossroads tonight and what decision they make here this evening will determine the path for the rest of their lives we see this happen over and over in scripture Mark 10 talks about a young man that comes so eager before Jesus he has it all together he's got the right upbringing the scripture has labeled him as the Rich Young Ruler he was bright he had his whole future in his whole his whole future was ahead of him but he come to a Crossroads that day Matthew 10 tells us a story Matthew 10 17 and when he was gone forth into the way there came one running and kneeled to him and asked him good Master what shall I do that I might inherit eternal life and Jesus said unto him why call us thou me good there is none good but one that is God Jesus goes on to to give a list of Commandments honor your father and mother do not commit adultery all the real basic stuff Jesus said you need to do these things and and he answered and said to him master all these things I have observed from my youth tells me that he had some good teaching growing up this tells me that somebody was was teaching in the Old Law and teaching them the way they should go he had some good upbringing the the Rich Young Ruler to this point was doing good Jesus the scripture says I love how the next scripture puts it Jesus beholding him loved him and said one thing thou lackest go that way sell whatsoever thou Hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come and take up the cross and follow me here is a Crossroads to this point the Rich Young Ruler is doing good everything would seem to be going well in his life he's obeying the Old Law he's doing good but Jesus gives him a decision to make are you going to go back to the way it was or are you going to let this encounter with me change your life forever it's a decision it's a difficult decision and Jesus didn't just offer this opportunity to anybody he didn't just say to to the the man that he healed the blindness hey would you would you come and pick up your cross and follow me or or to Lazarus out of a tomb did he say hey Lazarus I've healed you would you come pick up your cross and follow me it wasn't like that all the time but there was something about this young man that Jesus loved there was something this this young man would be given an opportunity by Jesus to become one of the disciples would Jesus be looking in the future and knowing that he would need a replacement for Judas we don't know but we do know that this young man was at a Crossroads one decision meant that you were able to follow Jesus for the rest of your life one simple decision to go further with him would mean that you would see the rest of of Jesus's Miracles and one decision meant that you would see the crucifixion the greatest act of Love towards Humanity in the history of time one simple decision meant that you could be in the upper room with the apostles and you could receive the gift of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues for the first time that's one decision or the other decision is the sad one that he made and he was sad at that saying and went away grieved for he had great possessions it's the simple decisions that change our life oh what could have been of this person what could have been of this young man if he would have only made the right decisions what decision if he would have just stopped and thought about his future yeah it's okay to have lots of treasures here on this Earth but this is the decision to store up Treasures in Heaven it's a decision it's a decision that would have changed his life and I believe it's so easy to call be caught up in the now that we forget about the future because when you think about the future of this Rich Young Ruler it would have been made it would have made sense to to make the decision to sell all your things but when you're in the midst of comfort and when you're in the midst of just having it all together it's difficult to make that decision to give all you got to and sell out and and live for Jesus Christ you'll never hear this young man again because you simply made the wrong decision you you think about this young man he could have done good if he would have never had that Encounter With Jesus because he was obeying the law but Jesus saw there was something about him those Treasures had a hold of him it wasn't simply him hanging on to those Treasures but those Treasures had begun to hang on to that young man any time we go closer to Jesus Christ it's going to cost us something anytime we can we could merely be known by our potential this church could be merely known by its potential of what could have been or what the experience could have been like if they would have gave more or what God could have done in that person's life if they would have sold out more I don't want to be known by my potential I want to be known by making the right decisions because if we make the right decisions we'll draw closer to Jesus Christ if we make the right decisions we'll become closer we'll know his heart will know his voice but it starts with a decision a rich young ruler was only known for his mere potential because he made the wrong decision you can go down the list tonight of people in in scripture who who would just make the right decision and God would begin to do something for them Moses one day he he's the one that he's a a person of of bad decisions and he's a person of the right decisions but Moses one day when he was come of age he would step out of the Palace of pharaoh and he would see a a Hebrew just getting the the mess be out of him and I like how this scripture I like how this scripture puts in Exodus 2 and 11 and it came to pass in those days when Moses groaned that he went out unto his Brethren and looked on their burdens and he's fired an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew one of his Brethren and he looked this way he looked that way and when he saw there was no man he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand you know it was Moses's will for that day for for his people God's people to be delivered and you know it was also God's will for his people to be delivered but it would not come at the hand of Moses Moses had decide that it would come through the hand of God because Moses tried to take it into his own hand Moses couldn't even bury one soldier let alone defeat an a whole Army he was deciding to trust God that God would bring it to pass he if he would just trust God instead of just trying to hide one dead Egyptian in the sand if he'd give it some time while trusting in God he'll see the whole Egyptian Army buried in the Red Sea and it's all from a decision Moses then flees for his life after this experience then he comes to a burning bush and while I am thankful for a burning bush there is still a decision to be made after the burning bush I am so thankful that we are a church of praise and worship I'm so thankful for we get in the altars and we begin to dance before the Lord but if it doesn't make us make the right decision that worship is in vain I would rather us make the right decisions when the Temptation comes then us dance all in the altar if your dance doesn't produce the right decisions we've got to make the right decisions give me a church that's in the community making the right decisions and I'll show you a church that is pleasing to God we may not stand anymore in this message and clap but oh God I hope tomorrow when the tempter comes I hope tomorrow when that opportunity comes for you in your job for you to be dishonest I pray to God that we make the right decision because the tempter is looking at every person in this house we are at a Crossroads and I want to make the right decision when Temptation comes my way I'm thankful for a burning bush but there's still a decision that comes after the burning bush God was calling him back let God bring the Deliverance Moses and and when God was calling Moses at this Burning Bush Moses gave him every excuse he can think of and it sounds a lot like us when God calls us say Moses says who am I God says Moses doesn't matter who you are Moses it matters who I am and then he says well God I can I can see him with he's he's shoeless he's walking around thinking why he's not good enough to just simply trust in God you to thank you to thought that Moses would just be honored that God would thought of him to do the work and deliver his people but he's walking back and forth and he's thinking what shall I say and God just says talk about me it's just like a simple conversation going back and forth it literally lasts almost two chapters and well God what if what if they don't believe me well Moses what's in your hand oh Rod we'll throw it down it becomes it becomes something and Moses picks it back up and God's trying to prove to him if he would just make the decision to trust in me something will happen I know you've tried it on your own to deliver my people but it's not going to come through your hand it's going to come by deciding to trust in me well what if they uh what if they don't believe me Throw Your Rod down ah God I I can't speak that well I I'm a man I I don't I stutter I I can't speak that well well God says Moses I'm not going to make you overthink it I'm going to tell you what to say right before you're supposed to say it that way it doesn't go through your filter of of your mind to make sense and and I'll give you a man named Moses and all these things after the burning bush there still had to be a decision made for Moses all these excuses Moses would give God there had to be a decision to trust in God Exodus 4 19 I think God is just he's he's telling Moses he's Moses has given him every excuse he's given him Supernatural he's given him Supernatural events to prove he's even revealed Moses has got this Revelation that no one else has I am that I am Moses is that not enough for you to trust in him is that not enough for you to trust in God Exodus 4 19 and the Lord said unto Moses in Midian go returning to Egypt for all men are dead which sought your life Moses you haven't even made the decision yet to go back to Egypt you haven't even got on the donkey with your family and headed back to Egypt and while you were in the decision-making process you were contemplating the right decision or the wrong decision I'm already working on your behalf because the reason you fled was all those men that wanted your life but while we're having this conversation all the men would sought your life they're gone just make the right decision make the right decision and God will be with you I've come to tell someone it's it's this message is as deep as a summer puddle if we will make the right decision God will always be with you if you'll make the right decision to live right and be holy God will always be with you if you'll make the right decision to give God tithing and offering God will always bless you you'll never need for anything you're never like for anything but it all starts with making the right decision if you honor God's house God will honor your house it's the right decision that's how deep it gets you make the right decision verse 20 and Moses took his son his wife and his sons and set them upon an ass he returned to the land of Egypt and Moses took the rod of God in his hand and there's the story The Story Goes On that Moses would March right into Egypt and God would deliver his people God brings his people out and as just as they were walking across on dry land that's not all the story as the Egyptian Army was chasing after the Israelites and Moses Moses the one that tried to take care of Pharaoh's Army all by himself the one who you can't even hide one body in the sand let alone this whole Army that tries to take take you back to Egypt when they would cross he would lift up that Rod again in verse 28 and the waters returned and covered the Chariots and the horsemen and all the hosts of pharaoh that came into the sea after them they remained not so much as one of them verse 30 thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore I I just got my mind just works like this every time those waves would come upon the bank more dead Egyptians would would roll upon the bank Moses could think about the time he tried to do it all by himself and he couldn't even hide one Egyptian Army let alone the whole Egyptian Army I've come to tell someone tonight if you will make the decision to trust in God God will bring victory in your life the problem is you're trying to do it for yourself it wasn't meant for you to fight in the battle is not yours but the battle is the Lord the Bible says it vengeance is mine just saith the Lord some of you are beating yourself up trying to do things on your own if you'll let God fight your battles if you'll let God speak for you God will have the whole Egyptian Army the thing that plagued you the thing that had you Bound for so long there's going to be a dead army buried in the Red Sea after this Moses gets a little bit excited and Pastor Erickson bra at this point I've never noticed this before but Moses turns out to be one of the first praise and worship leaders in scripture you know why Moses realized I made a decision to do what I'm all on my own and it brought me it made me flee the country it made me flee to a place I I was wondering because I tried to do it all by myself but when I made the decision to trust in God when I made the decision to listen to his voice and follow after what he told me all my past was washed away everything that plagued me everything that kept me down everything that would beat me over my back was washed away because I made the right decision because I made the right decision we could go on tonight it really Jonah is a good example of the results of a decision a good decision a bad decision Jonah's life is a perfect example of a decision God calls on Jonah he says go take the the message of repentance to the lost city of Nineveh and then he makes the decision to do the complete opposite thing as God told him to do it's simple it was Nineveh this way and you have tarshish this way Nineveh the ways of God following after God I know it's difficult I I know they'll they might kill you but God's going to be with you if you make the right decision but no Joker Goes this way and you could you could look at it tarshus is literally twice as far away from Jonah as Nineveh is it's literally twice as far to go outside the will of God to simply just obey God it is twice as hard for us to go against the word of God it's twice you think it's hard living for God you should try doing it out there God's not with you out there God's with you in here if you just make the decision tonight to live for God I promise you things will change in your life I promise you Joy is coming if you make the decision to not you're going to be miserable out there you're going to be miserable out in the world because it's twice as hard to live out there than it is here and so he goes down to Joppa pays money to get on a ship oh yeah I'm I'm escaping I'm escaping God oh so you think you think for a season of time you yeah boy yeah you got it you you the man you'll go ahead Jonah go ahead Jonah you're the one who went against God's word you're the man you're the man it's it's it makes sense for a season it makes sense Lord thank God I'm not going down to that place of Nineveh those places are sinners they don't deserve the mercy and the grace of God Jonah wrong decisions always come around to bring consequences in your life it's not if it's not if consequences come with wrong decisions but it's when but I'm so thankful on the road of wrong decisions if there is a moment in time where we begin to make the right decisions things just automatically start going our way because we we see the life of Jonah we see the life of Jonah a bad decision takes them and ends them up in a a belly of a well twice as hard to go that way that's the way he chooses to go that's the way he chooses to go but then we see we see in uh Jonah two and nine he kind of has a change of heart kind of has a change of heart he's realizing I better try something else uh because I would much rather uh just go preach the word of God preach mercy and grace to the people at Nineveh and live inside this Valley uh this this this well of course you wouldn't make that decision then but this is how simple it is in God's eyes he's made a bunch of wrong decision and he's literally in the consequences of his actions in the belly of the well but this is how easy for things to turn around in his life this is how easy it is he prays about nine nine verses and I'll save you the first eight verses a lot of stuff he's got seaweed wrapped around his head it's pretty cool Jonah two and nine but I will sacrifice unto thee the voice of Thanksgiving I will pay that I have vowed salvation is of the Lord that was his closing prayer and you know what happened when he made the right decision will start swimming up the shore plop them up on dry land it's humorous but it's just the it's we make the right decisions God will do something in our life if we may it doesn't matter how many wrong decisions you made it doesn't matter how how hard you've made it on you and your family it doesn't matter how hard you've made it by making the wrong decisions if tonight you can put your foot down and get a little bit of faith and a little bit of courage to start making the right decisions I don't care how many Wednesday night services you've missed make up your mind that you're coming to the house of the Lord come hell or high water I'm going to the house of the Lord I don't care how many wrong decisions you've made I don't care how many wrong decisions you repented of all your sins but you fell back into that bit of sin begin to make the right decisions in everything everything it doesn't matter if you're in the consequence of the wrong decision make the right one tonight and watch God turn everything around in your life begin in to honor God begin to live for God I don't care how many times you have tried it try again make the right decision again and God will bless you for it as soon as Jonah did it I'll do it again right out he went just the right decision it's amazing and I'm so thankful God's this way I'm so thankful that God does not let us do what we want to do I'm so thankful that I I don't want to see the results of my life of me making my own decisions but I'm so thankful there's things like this this thing with God is not hard we just make the decision to live right we make the choice to live holy we make the choice to make this house a priority it's all a choice it's a choice things just might change tonight for someone at a Crossroads if you make up your mind tonight that you're going to live for him I love how Jonah didn't even have to prove anything to God just had to say Jesus I'm paraphrasing God I'm ready I'm ready to make the right decision God I know look that the scripture also says that if if I've made my my bed in hell there you are there you are with me if I arise to the mountaintops you're there if I go to the valley there's nowhere you can go and escape from God just make the right decision you're going to make it so hard on yourselves you're making it so hard on your family all these things coming just because of bad decisions just make the right one tonight live for God and everything will go everything will go your way um and another another story in in scripture about the right decisions it's he's a life of he's got a life of wrong decisions and a life of of good decisions First Kings 13 is about a prophet that God calls on from Judah God calls them down to to go to Bethel and give a warning to a wicked King named jeroboam jeroboam had built a temple to Bell in the previous chapter bad decisions after bad decisions and God has simply had enough with jeroboam that Prophet would be told by God to go down to go down to Bethel and begin to to speak to the altar because when you begin to speak to the altar King jeroboam is going to be by your side and the prophet would begin to speak to the altar he would say something like this o altar o altar King jeroboam's Reign is coming to an end and there would be one a sign of the House of David that was basically going to overthrow and begin to rule and Lead this nation back to God and God will give a sign that the altar will be torn into and that that the ashes of men would would spill out in the altar and as king jeroboam is hearing this unfamiliar Prophet prophesying to the altar King jeroboam reaches his hands out to grab a hold of the prophet and the Bible says that that hand dried up jeroboam Lord God I'm in a valley right now I've got one man who is one man who is prophesying the end of my kingdom I've got a sign from God with a withered hand would you pray old Prophet that my hand would be restored unto me as a good decision there jeroboam you recognize there's a little bit God honors good decisions jeroboam if you recognize that you've made a whole lot of bad ones but that's a good one to ask in the man of God to pray and God proved it to you a good decision and that's what happened the old Prophet would pray and God would restore the hand of King jeroboam he said Prophet I I want you to come home with me and I I'll give you up to whatever you uh whatever you want I want to feed you I want to reward you I want to keep you close to me because it seems that good things happen when I'm close to you I want to keep you close enough to me that you don't go maybe prophesying anymore about my kingdom coming to me we don't really know King jeroboam's motives but we we see this this old Prophet make makes a good decision he says no not so I must leave a different way than I came I must go out a different road than I came in on this is the word of the Lord and I can't eat any I can't eat bread or drink water in this place and says okay all right so the old Prophet is doing good he did what God said to do and he went out another way back to Judah good decisions good decisions but it was around this time that some boys out evidently were working the maybe work in the altar or some things in the uh uh the house of God there they were doing some things and they they got home from work that day and they they went to their dad and their dad was a was an old Prophet as well but he was a false prophet he began to tell him dad you will not believe what happened today had the most had a man from Jew to come up and and I I really couldn't see that well I I was trying to get a good scene acting like everybody ever try to listen to the conversations while doing something else it's very obvious you know you're trying to eavesdrop it's basically what happened he's like you know I was doing the things I was doing there in the house of God well watching him dad something happened uh that man began to prophesy and he said that jeroboam's Reign was coming to an end and and said that God would even prove himself that the altars would split into two and the ashes would be poured out about that time King jeroboam acted so out of character he reaches for the the man of God and his hand dries up Dad it was crazy crazy he said hey where did this guy go he said well you went out that road up that way back to back to Judah he said all right boys go saddle the donkey for me he said I'm gonna go find this young man so I'm gonna find this young man so about that time he jumps on the donkey and begins to ride hard to find this this this Prophet this man of God and then he sees he sees the man of God resting underneath a tree he'd been fasting all day he's tired and he begins to rest would you notice with me the Bible does not say that the man of God shouldn't stop and rest just says don't eat any food don't drink any drink and go out a different way than you come into to to Bethel some personal standards are good choices they're good choices it's not that's not a ugly word some personal standards because if if this this this Prophet if if he would have went a little bit further of what was required of him by God it would have saved his life right here it's personal standards are good choices they could say you know exactly what you struggle with nobody else may struggle with the things that you struggle with it would be a good decision to add some personal standards it would have saved his life and God knows it will save my life too because a tempter a tempter is coming some guardrails would have kept this man out of trouble but I digress so the false prophet says are you the man of God who stirs all this Ruckus over there in the house of the Lord and are you the man of God from Judah and he says Ah I am the false prophet said hey come home with me I I'll feed your boy out you look famished you look weak you look tired come to my house and rest and and drink and eat and then you could go out you could go out and the man of God says no I'm not supposed to eat I'm not supposed to drink I I'm going out a different way than I came and then the false prophet said to him son I'm a prophet like you I'm a prophet just like you are and God has spoke to me to tell you to come home with me bad decision because anytime we can stop and think in Temptation I believe we'll make the right decision if this young man this old Prophet this old prophet of God used by God would have stopped and thought about the right decision he would have thought if he's a real Prophet why didn't God call him instead of me the worst thing we can do when the tempter comes is make a decision quickly if you begin to think about the future how is this going to affect me not right now but 10 years from now I promise you you will make the right decision don't think about the Now Rich Young Ruler think about years from now is that decision leading you closer to God if so go for it now this this is where we get into it we really have to watch out when people try to say they are just like us I'm a prophet too I'm a Christian too we are Pentecostals too we don't do the tongues part we are Apostolic too we just don't do the lifting of hands and the lifting of our voices during church you get where I'm going We Are Holy too we just don't do the standards we believe in one God actually we believe these three are one we are saying the same thing we're not saying the same thing we have to watch who tries to come and say they are just like us we are not saying the same thing bad decision you're not a prophet like us bad decision we've got to watch watch the people you allow close to you because they can be the end that's a decision that's a decision I'm a prophet too God spoke to me to tell you to come back with me I'll feed you then you can go home the man of God listened for some odd reason bad decision goes to the house of the House of false prophet they're eating dinner everything's good you could see something on the false prophet's face somehow some way God chooses to use this false prophet to speak to the man of God first Kings 13 21 does saith the Lord this is the false prophet speaking for as much as thou has disobeyed the mouth of the Lord and has not yet kept the Commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee but thou cameest back and house eaten bread and drunk water in the place in which the Lord did say to thee eat no bread drink no water thy carcass shall not come unto the Sepulcher of thy father consequence of bad decision that man of God realized he said oh Lord I have messed up he grabs his stuff his stuff as fast as he can and he goes outside gets on his donkey and rides his hard back home as he can thank you oh God I hope I hope I hope my bad decisions don't catch up in me because I I realize the error of my way but the Bible says that God had prepared a lion in the middle of the road and that lion will was waiting on him that's the consequences of a bad decision but this is the story that struck me the most the Bible says that that lion was waiting on him in the middle of the road that lion tears him off the Donkey tears him off and ends the prophet's life ends but it kills the prophet why does God allow an evil King named jeroboam and a false prophet to live and then a a prophet who is obedient for a time to live this is his bad decision caught up with him there's going to be a moment that King jeroboam dealt with there's going to be a moment that the false prophet is dealt with but the man of God made a wrong decision and he's meeting the consequence of his action lying at the in the middle of the road tears him off the Donkey but this is the interesting part of this story the lion does enough damage to kill the young man but not enough damage to make the young man unrecognizable meaning those boys that went back from the house of God to their father's house and told them those same boys would pass by and they recognized the the prophet that was at their house that's the guy who who disobeyed God I've got to go back and tell Dad which tells us that that man of God was still recognizable and here's what's interesting to me it's it was against the Lion's nature to not completely Maul and completely just tear from Lind to limb the the the prophet there but then on the other side you had a donkey blows my mind you can grieve yourself it's in there promise the donkeys on one side the recognizable dead prophet in the middle and then the lion is sitting on one side the Bible says that on one side of the Dead Prophet a donkey sat and on the other side of the Dead Prophet Alliance said it's against the donkey's nature to stay there with a lion sitting there it's against the Lion's nature not to not only tear the dead Prophet apart and make him there's nothing left of him but also tear the donkey apart but no no God's painting a picture you have a lion there something that took that man of God down and then you have a donkey on the other side can I introduce this to you the donkey represents his future it's where he was heading he was heading back home it was the the thing that he was going it was his future it was his potential but on the other side it's the Donk or the lion the thing that took him down the thing that ended his life but in the middle you have a recognizable dead Prophet I've preached basically all that to tell you this how many more people do we have to lose and people have to walk away from God for us to realize that that's not the decisions that we want to make they're just recognizable for us to see what brought them down but my God if you would have known what God could have done with that family if you had only known what God could have done with their kids but all of a sudden the bad decision was made and their lies a dead family it's the mercies of God for us that we can look at those examples and say that's not the decisions that I want to make they made the decision to quit coming to midweek that's not the decision I want to make I want to make the right decisions because God will be with me they're just recognizable enough to to see oh God lord you you had so many things for this family Lord the donkey is sitting on one side of him there was so much potential there was so much that God could have done through this family God had a calling on their children God wanted to do things to their kids and God wanted to heal that person's body then you got the lion on the other side the lion the lion the thing that tore them down but then God has given us an example God has made them just recognizable enough for us to look at them and say that's not that's not the way I want to go that's not the way I go I I know God could have done so much but here they lie how many more people have to make wrong decisions for us not to wake up and realize that's not the way we want to go the the decision to not be a worshiper in the house of God how many more people have to backslide because they simply do not worship God for us not to realize that we ought to be worshipers it's that simple it's the mercies of God for everyone here tonight to look to them and say that's not the way I want to go I want to raise my family in the church I want to lays my family making the right decisions to teach them how to worship I want to make the right decisions it was a reminder for everybody and every person in that country this is what happens when you make the wrong decisions just recognizable enough the right decisions I'm coming to a close here shortly I do mean shortly but I want to finally introduce to you my title the difference between a left turn and a right turn I told pastor this before I've walked up here said pastor I said dad you're not going to like my ending because it's all about him it's all about him if you know Pastor you know that he is one of the most humble men that you would ever meet in your life and I'm so proud that he's humble that makes sense it's one of the most humble men if I could take you probably the year was 1976. if I could take you to a stop sign on Black Oak Drive on a Wednesday night if I could take you to that car that would hold Jerry and Kenny Carpenter I would take you to a spot that a decision was made that would alter the rest of their life I could take you to that stop sign where the question was asked it was literally a Crossroads it was literally if I could take you to the point I wish I had a picture of it tonight that one way was the way of the world one way was a way of entertainment Jerry would ask our pastor 16 years of age probably at that point anywhere you want to go tonight it's Wednesday night Jerry we're going to the house of God what do you mean we're going we're making the right decisions Sherry no I I've got some friends it's Christian night down at the uh it's it's Christian not down to skate and drink and I'm going I'm gonna go there tonight and not we have fun a decision was made 16 year old boy would get out of the car literally make a left turn and walk to the house of God a car would take a right-hand turn it would go if you could picture your mind like Jonah going from from Nineveh tarshus a decision was made that night Jerry would be introduced to a woman who would make the statement we're Christians too we're Christians too that night Jerry would be introduced to a world of drugs could be introduced to some soft drugs that would over time produce it would produce some harder drugs decision was made that night Jerry could not look into the future and see the lion that was down the road because our adversary is as of a roaring light seeking whom he made of power and in that decision a decision made around 6 30 on a Wednesday night would simply change the course of Jerry's life I feel the Lord in this place right now Jerry he could have been what could have been in his life oh God he was called of you he he had a Ministry ahead of him he was even used in the gifts of the Spirit there the donkey on one side there was so much potential for Jerry Carpenter but then there was a lion of convenience there was a lion that the man of God is old a fogy the man of God that church is just weird there was a lion standing on that side but then that night would change his life he'd be introduced to a girl that would introduce him to drugs and from that decision decision after decision after decision he would commit first degree murder and spend some 34 30 whatever the exact number is 34 to 35 years of his life simply because of a decision a decision if you you'd skip all the you skip that picture that's a bad decision but think speak to God when as many bad decisions as you've made in your life there's a crime scene bad decision just on a Wednesday night that would produce something like this months from that point would produce something like this I'm thankful that a right decision can be made if you just give me the picture of him lifting his hands as many wrong decisions as anyone could ever make it just takes one right decision for your life to turn around it can be one right decision tonight for everything to change in your life just I don't care how many bad decisions you've made I don't care how many times you walked out on your family make the right decision tonight that you're going to do the right thing the right decision it's all it is the right decision but if I could show you this next picture and you remain standing with me they did a good job of thinned this on the screen I didn't send it the right way but can I show you tonight the difference between a left turn and a right turn George could I show you tonight that the results of a bad decision and the results of a good decision can I show you tonight he would be merely known as his potential because of a bad decision the results of these two men like these two men's life would be just a simple decision that was made on a Wednesday night my life was changed because someone made a right decision you all hear the word of God just about every service from the man who made a right Jerry if I could take you back to the moment would you do it all over again if I could take you back to that stop sign where everything changed would you do the same thing again but we have an example tonight I feel conviction in this place tonight we have an example we have potential and we have the thing that brought them down we have what they could have been and what God could have done and we have a dead prophet in the middle how many more examples of that do we need for us to realize I want to make the right decisions how many more families do we have to have fall apart never coming back to church never worshiping again for someone to make up in their mind tonight that I'm going to make the right decision it's not difficult it's not hard make the right decision tonight if you bow your heads with me and you'd close your eyes I'm gonna ask for the church to pray just like at the beginning I'm trying to pull on someone tonight come on you feel something in your stomach sir you feel something in your stomach man you feel that is conviction that you feel God's conviction needs to lead you down to the altar tonight and make the right decision choose you this day who you're going to serve make the right decision because there is a lion waiting for you if the devil would have his way in your life he will make you he'll May he'll rip your limb from limb he'll make your may your picture so ugly it'll make your life so miserable just make the right decisions but not come on I'm gonna open these altars for someone just simply it's all a decision Jonah it's all a prayer Jonah if you would make up your mind tonight I'm gonna make that right choice young person the mercies of God have been on you for years you haven't done what you deserve for years but if you could come to the altar tonight it's a Crossroads it's a Crossroads tonight make the right decision foreign come on make the right decision to Pray Again come on make the right decision to seek the face of God again come on Jonah I know you're in the consequences of your actions just make the right decision Pray Again say God again all it is is one decision to come to the altar that will change your life I don't care how many times you've tried I don't care how many times you you've asked God to forgive you for sins that you've committed over and over again that doesn't matter make the right decisions make the right decisions come on I know you've not been the perfect dad all your life come on I know you've not been the perfect mother all your life and that doesn't matter but if you can make the right decision tonight to show your boys that you worship make the right decision tonight man to show your daughters that you're going to live holy make the right decisions make the right decision thank you Hallelujah before we go in the city I feel that the Lord right now somebody's at a Crossroads you're at a big decision you're at a Crossroads and I just make the right decision I know I know it seems easy you're telling me that coming to the house of the Lord's gonna fix everything yes that's the right decision just make the right decision tonight I know you've drawn code from God I know you have have stepped away from Ministries I'm telling you tonight make the right decision try again believe again pray again try again I seek your face