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Amen the part of the chapter we're gonna focus on is found in Second Samuel chapter 14 and verse number 14 where the Bible says for we must needs die and are as water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered up again neither does God respect any persons yet that he devised means that is banished be not expelled from him and the title of my sermon this evening is as water spilt on the ground as water spilt on the ground before I go over the the story here obviously this is surrounding this story surrounding three specific characters Joab David and Absalom excuse me for if you include the the woman from Tekoa the wise woman there but if you look at the life of David obviously David was a great man okay and we would we would esteem David as being obviously a man after God's own heart he's the one who wrote the majority of the Psalms he's someone who we would want to pattern our life after someone who loved the Lord okay and he had a great heart for God he did a lot of great exploits for him as well you look throughout his life and you study his life he was the man who slew the lion and the bear and he's a man who did great exploits for him he's also the guy who took down Goliath and so many biblical principles that we can we can get from David's life that he did physically that we could apply spiritually they can help us in our personal lives he wrote the Psalms the Bible calls him the the sweet psalmist of Israel he did some great things for God but the fact is just like any other person in the Bible he's a guy who made a lot of mistakes he made a lot of mistakes he made a lot of bad decisions and unfortunately he suffered a lot of the consequences because of it and I'm kind of thankful that he made those mistakes you say why is that because it goes to show that even though you make mistakes in life you can still live a successful Christian life because you look at David David was very still esteemed even in the New Testament as being a great man of God he still found in the lineage of Christ he's one of the greatest characters in the Old Testament even though he committed some bad sins I mean of course he committed adultery he was involved in the plotting of the murder of Uriah I mean these are some bad things that he did but yet you see throughout the scriptures especially in the Old Testament when God would deal with a certain King he would often bless them you say for my servant David's sake I mean this is the guy who committed adultery he committed murder all these things and yet God is telling these future kings I will bless you in the kingdom for my servant David's sake okay and obviously he's in the lineage of Christ and he was doing it for that sake but he was using his name in that in that area now go with me for what the second Samuel chapter number 12 second Samuel chapter number 12 you know the the one of the horrible sins that he committed was obviously adultery right and this man took another man's wife and he committed a horrible act with her and just kind of after that David's life just kind of went downhill for a while look at second Samuel chapter 9 verse excuse me second Samuel chapter 12 verse 9 says wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword and has taken his wife to be thy wife and has slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house because thou has despised me and has taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife so this is Samuel the prophet confronting David for his sin and thank God for the prophets amen who are willing to just confront the man of God excuse me confront the king and say hey you did wrong right and let's read on here verse 11 says thus saith the Lord behold I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house and I will take away I will take thy wives before thine eyes and give them unto thy neighbor and you shall lie with thy wives in the sight of the Sun for thou distanced secretly but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the Sun and David said unto Nathan I have sin against the Lord and Nathan said unto David the Lord also hath put away thy sin thou shalt not die howbeit because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die so we see here that obviously David came to his senses he said a sin against the Lord right but that does not mean that he didn't live without consequences now one this isn't the message but one thing that should keep us from doing messing up our lives and making bad decisions is the fact that the Bible says there thou has given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme you know when we mess up when we do something that is wrong in the eyes of the Lord you know that causes the name of Christ to be blemished okay it causes us to be a bad representative of the Lord and look especially guys in our movement right people I mean the world is just looking for us to mess up so they can just blame it on us and say see those guys are a bunch of phonies or a bunch of hypocrites no that's why we got to make sure we're living clean lives okay so we don't blaspheme in the name of the Lord but that's we see that that's what took place here but of course David repented we see that in Psalms 51 so on and so forth so then you know David's child dies then of course his daughter gets raped and then just a whole slew of bad events takes place soon thereafter Absalom kills his son or kills his half brother then he leaves he takes off Job is trying to renew him back again and but he uses this wise woman this woman to deceive to basically feign herself to be a mourner to basically trick David into bringing Absalom back and he she says there for we must needs die in ours water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered up again so before I get back into that story I just want to give an introduction to what we're talking about here obviously as I mentioned before David made a lot of bad decisions and life is filled with decisions we have to make and their decisions that we make that we just can't take lightly you know we need to put thought into it you know there's thoughts that we just have to make there excuse me there's decisions we have to make on a whim where it's just like we have no choice we have to make the decision here now but there's certain other decisions that people make big decisions that they need to put thought and prayer into and if they don't they can suffer bad consequences of doing so but as believers we have a lot of decisions to make obviously there's a decision to trust Christ as our Savior that's the best decision you could ever make right the best decision that any Christian has ever made is to trust Christ as our personal Savior to be saved and to have eternal life then of course there's the decision to follow the Lord right because obviously we have a choice after we fall after we trust Christ as our personal Savior we have a choice if we're gonna live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord to obey his commandments to serve him that's a good choice to make and you know there's a lot of Christians out there people have gotten saved whether through soul-winning or whatever it may be and they stay in the world they stay doing the same thing they don't do anything for God and that's the choice that they make but guess what they will suffer the consequences of making that choice you say what do you mean they will suffer the consequences they will suffer loss at the judgment seat of Christ okay they won't get anything from God they won't get any rewards they'll get eternal life but that's it and by the way that's a good thing for them to get but you know what if God is offering much more than that we ought to be able to take advantage of it and say I want to work for God because I want to earn something when I get to heaven all right there's the decision to serve the Lord and all of us need to make that decision okay and we thank God for those who trust Christ and they get saved but we want everyone to be servants of the Lord what's it got that all all of God's people were prophets amen they would prophesy and preach and be soul winners and be involved in the work of God that's what God wants not everyone's gonna make that decision though right now as I mentioned there are decisions do have consequence go to Galatians chapter number 6 Galatians chapter number 6 decisions have consequences the Bible says for the wages of sin is death Galatians 6 verse 7 says be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap for he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting and let us not be weary in well-doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not and of course prior to these verses the Bible's commanded us to communicate to those who are preaching the Word of God and what is the Bible teaching us that when we invest in the work of God we invest in the pastors and the churches you will reap a benefit because of that but this is a principle that we can apply in all areas of our life because a lot of the times people just live life they sin they get involved in sinful habits and what happens they suffer the consequences of their actions they smoke their pot they drink their alcohol they fornicate they commit adultery they live a double life they do all these wicked things thinking that no consequence is gonna take place no there will be a day of reaping the things do you do okay there will be consequences be not deceived God is not mocked whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap and that out of motivated us to stay right with the Lord to do that which is right inside of his eyes because we know I'm gonna reap what I sow in these sinful habits I'm gonna reap what I sow in my actions or what I'm teaching my children or the things that I'm doing I'm going to reap what I sow why because decisions have consequences and you know we live in a society with teenagers and young people live their life as if there's no consequences to their actions you know they race their cars and thinking that they're gonna live forever and what happens they end up dying give it to some horrible accident okay you know they go out and they party they drink and they get alcohol poisoning trying to get their stomach pumped and then them dying at the age of 18 because they think that life you think it just live life they're invincible nothing's gonna happen to know decisions have consequences you know how many stories have we heard of people teenagers they go out to parties and they take ecstasy thinking nothing's gonna happen to them and what happens they die they take some pill some woman take some pill and she gets raped there's consequences to action there's there's always consequences the decisions we make and what's over man so that shall we also reap you know and that that's a great verse to just get embedded into our minds to help us make the right decisions the Bible says in Proverbs 26 27 who so who so dig at the pitch a father in and he that rolleth a stone it will return upon him and look it's good that life has consequences okay that's why God commands us to spank our children so they understand that they can't live life may doing whatever they want and there will be no consequences to it they need to grow up recognizing hey life has consequences and we can look at our culture and see who got spanked and who did it amen those who didn't just do whatever they want to get involved in the worst heinous of sins why because they don't know that there's consequences to their actions people who think a little more thoroughly the actions that they take are those who obviously were chastised when they were children and they grow up believing that now go to 1st John chapter 5 David was experiencing the consequences of his actions I mean to lose a child is painful you know that that must be a very painful painful experience to have but those were the consequences of his actions you know he lost a lot I mean the sword did not depart from his house he had to go through turmoil in his family simply because he made a bad choice you know when but at a time when kings go forth to battle he stayed back in Israel in Jerusalem he stayed back in his kingdom and his palace just hanging out being lazy and what happened he made a bad decision okay but not only that decisions have consequences but there are consequences thankfully that God allows us to fix that's a good thing the Bible says you're in first John chapter 5 I'm gonna read to you from verse 13 of 2nd Samuel says and David said excuse me yeah second time and David sent him to Nathan I have sinned against the Lord and Nathan said unto David the Lord also hath put away thy sin thou shalt not die he says look you confessed it you got right you repented you're not gonna die and God allowed him to fix that you know he didn't die because of his sin look at 1st John chapter 5 verse 17 all unrighteousness is sin and there is a sin not unto death you know there's times when God will allow you to just not get away with it but you know what if you repent then you get right God is merciful God is gracious I mean I think all of us can think back to a time where we shouldn't have done it we should have gotten it from God and we didn't right so before you get prideful and before you get so arrogant and before you want to just slam the new believer and all these things why don't you think back to the time when it could have been you who went to jail it could have been you who would have died it could have been you with the DUI it could have been you with all these the the consequences of actions but God allowed you to get away with it because the mercies of God are new every day you know we ought to be thankful and say man that could have been me you know sometimes God allows us to fix problems and thank God for that take advantage of that look if God has allowed you to fix your life and he's given you the resources he's been merciful to you he's been gracious don't get proud allow that to humble you you say man I got a second chance to do right inside of the Lord you know God has allowed me to fix this thing there will be times when God allows you to fix it go to Joel chapter number one Joel chapter number one you know as high as the heavens are from the earth so great as his mercy towards them that fear him you know and and thank God for the mercies his mercies you know we're not for his mercies we'd be consumed amen I mean our lives would be destroyed we're not for the mercies of God and that humble us that us out of cause within us to be thankful to be grateful for the grace of God look at Joel chapter 1 verse 1 says the word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of petul hear this ye old men and give ear all ye inhabitants of the land had this been in your days or even in the days of your fathers tell ye your children of it and let your children tell their children and their children on the another generation that which the palm of worm hath left hath the locust eaten and now which the locust hath hath left hath the canker worm eaten and now which the canker worm hath left hath the caterpillar eating you see here it's like God left him with nothing I mean even the last morsel of whatever was left the caterpillar ate it up and you could almost apply that to a spiritual application to say man I mean we lost everything right the sin just wrecked your life or it just you suffer the consequences of your actions you just felt like you're left with nothing now go to Joel chapter 2 verse 23 it says be glad then ye children of Zion and rejoice in the Lord your God for he had given you the former rain moderately and he will cause to come down for you the rain and the former rain and the latter rain in the first month and the floor shall burst excuse me the floors shall be full of weep and the and the excuse me I needed to turn to myself this is cutting my my notes are being cut off my printer sorry verse 24 and the floor shall be full of wheat and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil and I will restore to you the years look what it says I will restore to you the years that the locusts have eaten the canker worm and the caterpillar and the palm of worm my great army which I sent among you you know God is able to restore that which the palm of worm that can't all those things they ate it up God says I could restore that again you know and you think man I messed up my life and when I was a teenager you know God can restore those things okay God can fix that up you can still get married you can still have a great family you can still be a great father a great wife have children be a faithful laborer in your church God can still use you he can restore those things why because there's times in our life when God allows us to fix things okay and we need to take advantage of those times now go back to 1st John chapter number five so we see the decisions all of us have decisions to make decisions have consequences some kind some decisions some consequences that we have God allows us to fix those things and we ought to be thankful for them but let me say this there are consequences that are just irreparable to make okay they can't be fixed you know that's just life in fact the Bible says in this woman put it or excuse me the Bible says for we must needs die and ours water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered up again you know what that means look up here it means this mark can you pick that up for me why not because it's water spilt on the ground that can't be gathered again you see God has given a good illustration here that there's certain decisions that when you make can't pick that up again you messed up you screwed up and it won't be fixed and I've seen Christians over the years make stupid decisions over and over again and eventually what happens it's like water spilt on the ground can't pick that up again the decision is final it's made you can't fix it you can't try to dry it up you can't try to pick it up it can't be gathered up again and the reason God puts that within his word is to cause us to fear to recognize the next decision that I make could be like water spilt on the ground they can no longer be gathered up again so that causes us to think in our minds I better pray or I better do the right decision so I don't suffer the consequences of making a bad decision because my next decision really it could be like water spilt on the ground that can't be gathered up again how many people have you met that is just messed up their lives you know you have extreme cases where people took LSD or something and they just fried their brain for the rest of their life they're retarded for the rest of their life you know that's an extreme example but you know what they did it's like water spilt on the ground can't be gathered up again their brain is fried they can't do anything about it what about people that have children out of wedlock or or whatever it may be the bad decisions do you make and it can't be gathered up again now let me say this if that's you today the grace of God can help you and we ought to focus on the next generation to help our children live right amen that's what you need to do not just have a pity party of all the things that we don't know God's been good to us let's go ahead look we may not be able to pick up that water that we spilt on the ground but there's water that we can prevent from going out of the cup in the future you may have made some bad decisions and the water spilled it can't be gathered man I messed up but you know what you can fix something in the future for your kids and we ought not to have this hezekiah mentality or it's like well it was good in my days you know and not worried about the next generation no we need to make sure that we say look I may have messed up in the future but guess what my kids are not gonna spill the water like I did water spilt on the ground that can't be gathered up again you know this church is like that too they made some stupid decisions and the stupid decisions that they make is like water spilt on the ground that can't be gathered up again they've made irreparable damage to their church to their messages to their methods through their tolerance of sin and what is it it's like water spilt on the ground that can't be gathered up again it won't be fixed and there's sincere people within these churches guess what you're not gonna turn the tide it's done you say why is that how do you know it's done brother Bruce pick up that water if you don't think it's done you can't be gathered up again you messed it up the congregants did it but the bleeders did so you said well what should I do you need to get into a church that's right oh you're just being you're just pride full and you're just arrogant no I just know this the Bible commands us to live a certain way to run church a certain way and guess what we want to make sure here a faithful word that we're preventing the water from being spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered up again we want to make sure that we're not spilling the water for the next generation that they come and they can't fix it you see the leaders of today in these churches what is it they it may not affect them the decisions they're making but guess what their kids are gonna want to pick up the water that they spill and they won't be able to do it their kids are we're gonna they're gonna be like what's all these homos in the church and guess what they're gonna be permeated with so much filth and disgusting sins within the church a little leaven leaven at the whole lump and guess what they won't be able to fix it because it's like water spilt on the ground can't be gathered up again decisions have consequences that goes for a family that goes for an individual that goes for a church we need to make sure that we're not careless in our Christian life to just make whatever decision we make on a whim and not think that there's not consequences to those actions why because it's just water spilt on the ground can't be gathered up again and look you may not care that the water is being spilt on the ground but you will care if a few years from now when you see the fruits that are produced by the actions that you took and you gain some wisdom in life you're like man I wish I wouldn't have done that stupid decision you know I wish I wouldn't have led my church in that direction well it's kind of late now you know the water is already spilt you can't gather it up again it's done where'd I have you turn first John chapter 5 all my notes are wet now I can't gather it up again first John chapter 5 verse 16 says if a man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death he shall ask excuse me and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death there is a sin unto death I do not say that he shall pray for it you know there's certain decision you make is like you don't have to pray for that that's like an Israel type thing right God told Jeremiah don't even pray for this people you we say hey pray for them pray for them to be safe no God's like don't pray for them I ain't listening well there's times that people make bad decisions where it's like you're not gonna be able to pray your way out of this one you're just gonna suffer the consequences of those actions okay it says it I do not say that he shall pray for I mean you're not you can't even pray your way out of that you're just gonna have to suffer that you made you you you made you you slept in your bed now you got it what is it you made your right now you got to sleep in it right you got to suffer the cup face the music suffer the consequences of your actions and look any church that is you know going in that type of direction where they're allowing the sodomites in they're allowing all the queers in all the drunkards and all the fornicators they think oh we're being so loving nothing's bad is gonna happen out of this come back in five years and let's see where that church is that the den of iniquity that that place will become because of the bad decisions that they make and at that time they're gonna pray and guess what it's already done you already made that mistake it's already set in stone you already spilled the water on the ground it can't be gathered up again you know we can apply that to just anywhere in our lives and it's kind of a sobering thought to think that there's decisions that we can make they could just jack us up but you know what it causes us to make want to make the right decisions in the future it causes us to want to make sure that we're walking circumspectly not as fools but as wise so look you need to think it through whatever decision you're gonna make I'm not talking about like what tie you're gonna wait for church okay like where we're gonna go to eat after church hey we need to pray about this could be like water spilt on the ground you know Little Caesars or pronto's I don't know water spilt on the ground that cannot be gathered up again you know that's money that could be wasted and we can't get it back that's not what I'm talking I'm talking about decisions of you know the associations that you have you know I'm talking about decisions as far as a sin do you might want to commit you know you may not live with a lot of accountability you know we're not the Baptist police here we're not like checking up on you and seeing make sure that you live and write and then you keeping sin out of your life and all these that's weird if we were to do that you know that's between you and the Lord but guess what if you are committing some sort of sin and you think you're not gonna be found out you could be committing the sin that can just be like water spilt on the ground that can't be gathered up again we may not find it out but guess what be sure your sin will find you out and that that decision does come with consequences before I make the decision to associate with certain before you you make it before you make the decision to just leave church right because sometimes we get discouraged or whatever maybe or you get bored with church or the the things of this world call for your attention and you just want to take a break a little bit you don't want to go soul-winning you don't want to read your Bible you don't want to come here listen to hard preaching before you make that decision you might want to think it through especially if you have a family right now as a single you suffer the consequences of those actions but as a family you will deaf you not only will you suffer the consequences of your actions your family will suffer the consequences I mean I know the family who left church long ago they left not this church in other church they left church long ago faithful members and the child doesn't even know who Jesus is I mean my wife was talking to the child and talking about Jesus and the kid was like I don't know Jesus who's that you know that's sad you see when I mean irreparable damage that means the next generation that comes after you will probably even die and go to hell because I don't know anything about the Lord and if you're out there because here's the thing the the mindset that people have when they leave church is like I don't want to talk about church to my kids because I'm not in church I don't want to sound like a hypocrite and what happens they don't mention church and they'll talk about the Bible they don't talk about the Lord and their kids grow up not being conditioned to know that the this is what the Bible says and they reject the Lord that's irreparable damage that's water spilled on the ground that can't be gathered up again and then later on in life when they when they grow up and they mess up their lives you regret the decision you made and say man I wish I would have just stayed in church been faithful to the Lord I wish I would have just done right but guess what it's too late it's like water spilled on the ground it can't be gathered up again so why don't we just rewind to today and you make the decision to just stay in church to do right in the side of the Lord to lead your children to the Lord to talk to them about Christ to do those things that are put pleasing in the side of the Lord make those decisions today because tomorrow if you choose not to that could be like water spilled in the ground you can't you can't pick that up again by the way Alex I need you to kind of dry this all up afterwards I'm just kidding I made a mess up here oh it's like water spilled on the ground you know and this doesn't necessarily apply to anybody here at least I don't think so but before you decide to pair up with people who hate us as a church and as a movement who who despise us and talk trash about us and say all this you know false accusations you might want to think that through you know you want to have it both ways you know it doesn't really work that way now look I don't disassociate with myself from anybody unless they're just believing some false doctrine but I do know this you hang around someone who hates someone you know long enough you're gonna hate that person too that's just the way it works you know if if I'm criticizing Mark and all I do is criticize Mark but Alex gets along with Mark but I and Alex hangs around me long enough guess what Alex is gonna hate Mark too he's gonna criticize him too and you hang around with the the the pastors and you talk to the pastors and the preachers and all these other people from maybe the old IFB and they hate our guts and all they do is talk trash they put us down they guess what you're gonna be convinced of what they think too now I don't think that's anybody here but lest anyone should believe so or may have the temptation to do that you better think twice you say why is that because that could be like water spilled on the ground that can't be gathered up again what's the message this evening it's simply this just think through the decisions that you make in life you know people look fornication is is a wicked sin it's obviously not a sin that's worthy of death it's a sin that's worthy of you being booted out of the church and that should be enough to say man you know if you're tempted to fornicate or do some wicked sin like that you know if you're tempted to flirt with the opposite gender to the point where you're placing yourself in a position where you might be tempted to fornicate it'd be a good decision for you to get out of that relationship and stay away from that you say yeah but I think I'm strong enough look take heed lest ye fall he that stand and take heed lest ye fall because once you commit that wicked sin it's over with now adultery is another wicked sin that one is worthy of death now in the United States you know they don't put people to death for committing adultery but it's still wicked sin and we should we should never place ourself in a position would that we could potentially be tempted by that why because that's a sin that when once you commit I mean you have a whole load of problems you can never fix ever again okay and thankfully that God can fix problems and he can restore certain things but everyone knows that there will always be things lingering in the back of the decisions you made waters there's just evident that was spilled but it can't be gathered up again you know and I'm talking to the people who haven't been married yet I'm talking to people who haven't messed up their lives it look think it through okay think it through don't make those bad decisions look before you decide to like shut me off if I'm ever preaching a sermon that offends you and you're like tired of listening to me before you decide to shut me off you might want to think it through because these messages can help you it'll save you it's not like I'm just getting up here I want to rip your face and I want to get in your face no it's because I care about you and at least you know that I have the guts to tell you the truth and I can speak the truth and love to show you hey don't mess up your life you have people here to care about you don't get involved in that sin don't believe that stupid doctrine or else guess what it could be like water I need another water bottle I'm out of water it could be like water spilt in the ground that can't be gathered up again and before you decide to determine I'm not gonna listen to that look that message can save your life you know how many times have there been people how many times have there been people that you know just disregard a message and they mess up their lives in the future because they didn't take heed to that I mean I can think of thousands of messages that I've heard that have helped me in the future maybe immediately I didn't understand but I knew because the Bible set out to obey and guess what it saved me a lifetime of hurt but you know what if I would have said this preacher don't know what he's talking about he's just on his hobby horse right now you know that I could have made a stupid decision and it could have been like water spilt on the ground and I would have just messed up my life but I'm thankful that I had a preacher who ripped my face off behind the pulpit and away from the pulpit people who just tell it to me straight they would rip my face they would tell me when I was wrong they would rebuke me and guess what it saved me a lifetime of hurt because they told me the truth okay and look we're buka wise men and here we go lovely and I'm not saying look you gotta love me over here okay what I'm saying is this if you're wise you'll take heed to the rebuke all right not to make bad decisions let me give you some thoughts on decision-making here go to Proverbs chapter number one Proverbs chapter number one first and foremost let me say this is that every decision should always be based upon God's Word okay and look I'm not God's Word I'm preaching God's Word all right so the things that I'm speaking obviously stem from a biblical principle okay that's why it needs to be heated all right I'm not preaching my opinion I'm not giving you what my standard is in life I'm just telling you what the Word of God says therefore it needs to be heated but Proverbs chapter 1 verse 29 look what the Bible says here for those are strong words and God says look if you hate my knowledge you hate my counsel fine you're gonna be filled with your own ways you're gonna suffer the consequences of your own actions you're gonna be grieving with the water spilt on the ground and you're gonna be asking how can I gather this up again and you're not gonna be able to fix it you know the best thing for Christians to do is just say what does God say what is the Bible saying go with that but how many times have we run into Christians that you show them the Bible you show them counsel from the Word of God and they completely disregard it that's a dangerous place to be yeah I know the Bible says that but no that's a dangerous place to be it should be that's what the Bible says all right I'll believe it I mean how many I've run into soul winners some or excuse me people out soul winning and I appreciate them they don't believe they need they deserve going to hell and then I'll reiterate this matter of hell and I'll give them the verses revelations 21 a revelations chapter 20 verse 14 and 15 I'll give them all these verses and I said do you believe now that you deserve hell and they'll say well if the Bible says it then yeah I guess what that's what the Bible says so yeah I do deserve it and it's their base in their belief off of the Word of God but we can't even get Christians who've been saved for a long time to be told the Word of God and they're just like well that guess what the Bible says yet yeah I'm gonna accept it no they have to just say why that's what about well you're just interpreting it differently no prophecy of the scripture was given of any private interpretation yeah but you're misconstruing that verse well let's compare with another verse we should always base our decisions off of God's Word not in a prideful way but we ought to say look the Word of God is our that's that's my counselor those are my counselors his testimonies are my counselors I had to see what the Bible says about that now what some book says about it not what this preacher says about it we need to go well what God says about it okay now go to Proverbs chapter 19 so get in the habit of making decisions based off of the Word of God you know as fathers before we make a decision we ought to ask ourselves what does the Bible have to say about this you know and obviously there's some sometimes the Bible doesn't say anything necessarily that's black and white sometimes it's a gray area but it gives us principles to live by to make the right decisions okay but not only that every decision obviously begins in the heart all right look at the Bible says in Proverbs 19 21 it says there are many devices in a man's heart nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that shall stand that's why it's important to read the Word of God on a daily basis you say why is that because there's a lot of devices in a man's heart there's a lot of imaginations and ideas that we conjure up on our own but if we don't have the Word of God in our hearts we're gonna be driven by those imaginations we're gonna be driven by those those counsels that our own soul gives us okay and sometimes guess what those are stupid ideas you need to go with what God says not what your heart don't follow your heart that's that that's the culture's foolish ideology to say well just follow your heart what do you feel like doing you know what do you think this verse means no let's just go over what God says in the counsels of the Lord that will stand okay go to first Samuel chapter 26 I'm gonna give you an example of this and you say well what does it have to do with you know making bad decisions and water spilled on the ground because often people make decisions based off of their own logic and reason not off of God's Word and they suffer the consequences because of it that's why God always doesn't lean on and said I know an understanding because we have the the propensity to just think that we know life better than God and we lean on our own understanding and guess what we suffer the consequences because of it look at first Samuel chapter 26 and verse 17 the Bible reads here and Saul knew David's voice and said is this the voice my son thy voice my son and David said it is my voice my Lord O King and he said wherefore does my Lord thus pursue after his servant for what have I done or what evil is in mine hand so obviously we know the story of David and Saul Saul was like trying to kill David I mean he's been trying to go out of go go after him for a very long time and David's on the run he's running away from Saul he has so many times and opportunities to be able to slay Saul but he doesn't he doesn't want to touch the Lord's anointed and Saul's on this paranoid trip to just kill David right verse 19 says now therefore I pray thee let my Lord the king hear the words of his servant if the Lord have stirred thee up against me let him accept an offering but if they be the children of men cursed be they before the Lord for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord saying go serve other gods now therefore let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains then said Saul I have sinned return my son David for I would no more do thee harm because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day behold I have played the fool and have erred exceedingly well I mean it's a great conversation right here David is just like man I'm like a fleet and obviously David's not a fleet this dude can take down a lion and a bear I mean when you can kill a lion with your bare hands you demand okay I don't know anybody who could do that but yeah he's coming before songs I was like man I'm like a fleet why would you want to pursue after me and the humility of David evokes mercy in the heart of Saul and he kind of comes to the senses and says man you know you're right you know I'm sorry I've erred great exceedingly verse 22 and David answered and said behold the King spear and let one of the young men come over and fetch it the Lord rendered to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness for the Lord delivered thee into mine hand today but I would not stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed and behold as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes so let my life be set by in the eyes of the Lord and let him deliver me out of all tribulation then Saul said to David blessed be thou my son David thou shalt both do great things and also shall still prevail so David went on his way and Saul returned to his place so how did the whole situation end I'm not gonna kill you go back you'll be blessed you do great things you can go on your way I'll go on my way I mean it was basically settled right David heard it from Saul's mouth he's like you're good to go man I'm not gonna pursue you anymore and that should have been enough for David just to go home right now look at chapter 27 in verse number 1 and David said in his heart I shall not perish one day by the hand of Saul there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines and Saul shall despair of me to seek me anymore in the coast of Israel so shall I escape out of his hand so he went to the land of the Philistines even though Saul told them hey I'm not gonna go after you he's like I'm now someone tell me how did David die then we remember old age he died of old age you know with his family there I mean he died the death that I think all of us would want to die he didn't die by the hand of Saul but what is verse 1 said and David said in his heart I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul never happened but you know what that foolish thought that he had caused him to flee to the land of the Philistines for like a year all because he made a stupid decision based upon his own reasoning and logic was that true no did it ever happen no but he ruined his life I mean he went to Atlanta he could have just gone home but instead he went to the Phil the land of the Philistines for like a year all because he heeded his own advice his own counsels and didn't just take saw out his word but you don't make this Christians like that all the time you know the preacher says don't mess up your life don't fornicate don't do this don't get into drunkenness you'll be kicked out you'll be this and that and they're just like yeah but if I don't fornicate I'm not gonna have a good time in life this opportunity is presenting itself right now or if I don't do this I'm I'm not gonna be able to do this and they use their own raw reasoning and logic they go to the land of the Philistines and guess what water spilt on the ground for the bad decision that you make and it can't be gathered up again every decision that we make is important okay and decisions have consequences but we need to just sometimes look sometimes when we make a decision or we have a big decision to make and sometimes you're emotional he said what I do go to sleep do the thing called sleep I'm sorry let me back that up eat then go to sleep sometimes that's what it is people are just emotional sometimes and my father-in-law used to tell me don't ever make a decision when your decision maker is broken what does that mean when you're just emotional you make the dumbest decisions ever I don't know what we're gonna do let's just buy a car you know and then you you spend all this money or you just make a bad decision and then a week from now you're just like that was dumb why did I do that for her I mean all of us have made a dumb decision based upon our emotions right we just make an emotional decision then we get a good night's rest and what happens is like now stupid you know sometimes when we have a big decision to make and it's not it doesn't require immediate attention you just need to go eat you know in and out or something and go to sleep then you wake up and you're like I guess I'm not gonna really do that I was really dumb you know and you can save yourself a lot of heartache if you just go to sleep because your emotions are just they're just like this and you feel like you're gonna make the decision right now and needs to be done right and it's like no it doesn't you can wait like a week a month maybe even a year you can just wait it out just go sleep go watch a sermon from Pastor Anderson go watch marching to Zion you know go just have a pop go just relax for a little bit put your mind at ease and sleep on it and look sleep is a wonderful thing I mean what did what did God tell Elijah to do right well Jezebel's gonna kill me it's like you need to eat and sleep like go go go you know I'll have Ravens take care of you I know there's a famine right now I'll just send you a meal by the Ravens and you just need to sleep he woke up what do you do he ate and he went back to sleep you know cuz Elijah just got finished having this crazy victory doing what every pastor dreams of doing killing a bunch of false prophets you know just smashing on them and then some Jezebel comes and then he's like fleeing for his life from this woman I mean someone was just a little emotional at that time right well God said you need to eat and sleep you know and that's often what people just need to do when you have a big decision coming you just need something for being emotional just have a meal and go to sleep for a while go take I tell my son needs a nap sometimes it's like my son's like he's crazy and then he's like what do you want you know you hungry or something and you get and he's not happy with anything it's like okay this kid needs to go take a nap that's what he needs he's a he needs he needs a spanking and then he needs a nap soon thereafter you know what he goes to sleep for a couple hours and he wakes up and he's the happiest sweetest little boy ever I mean and that works for children but guess what it works for adults too well the only difference is is that you don't have anyone giving you a spank other than their Heavenly Father obviously right but sometimes you just need to go to sleep now go to judges chapter yeah let's see here we were almost out of there go to Ecclesiastes chapter number five don't make a decision that could be like water spilt on the ground okay and that's and you will never forget this message I highly doubt you will cuz I just made a mess up here but at least they're helping to remember hey man this my decisions I need to make sure that I stay on point because I can ruin my life but only that every decision comes with an unexpected outcome the Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter 5 verse 2 be not rash with thy mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God for God is in heaven and now upon earth therefore let thy words be few for a dream coming through the multitude of business and a fool's voice is known by the multitude of words when thou vowest the valent of God deferred not to pay it for he had no pleasure in fools excuse me pay that which thou has vowed better is it that thou shouldest not vow that thou shouldest vow and not pay suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin neither say thou before the angel that it was in error wherefore should God be angry at thy voice and destroy the work of thine hands for in the multitude of dreams in many words there are also diverse vanities but fear thou God and here's the thing is sometimes if you make a decision you know the reason why you got to take into account the decision you're making is sometimes you can just get a completely different outcome than what you thought you were gonna get you know and it can just turn out way worse it could come out good but at the same time come out it could be the worst decision you could ever make see no one goes into fornication thinking oh I'm just gonna have a good time and or that's that you know the nothing else is gonna happen other than pleasure but how many cases have there been when someone commits fornication thinking they're just gonna have a good time and they get AIDS they get an STD you know they get raped they get robbed or whatever it may be you know they come with unexpected outcomes if you make a bad decision so you need to count the cost when it comes to the decisions you make because it's not the immediate result that you're looking at you have to look beyond that what are the cons what can come down the pipeline for this decision that I'm gonna make here and I'm pretty much done go to Romans chapter number six and I think this point right here I think this will help us to make the right decisions probably more than anything every bad decision we make is always accompanied with shame always Romans 6 21 says what fruit had he then in those things where of year now ashamed for the end of those things is death you know it go it helps us to recognize this sin this decision can cause me a lot of shame you know and it causes us to be careful and say you know what I'd rather just not do this I'd rather stay far from this because I don't want the shame we could be prideful people amen and that I think it say look I don't want to be shamed I don't want to be embarrassed and amen to that thinking things through will help you so that you're not as water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered up again you know and this sermon is for the young person but it's also for the up for the for the middle age it's for the older person is for everyone because we are gonna face decisions that we got to make but we got to recognize that decisions have consequences you man let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer father we thank you so much for your word thank you for the wisdom that it gives us Lord and I'm thankful that you you've provided us wisdom there's so many decisions that we have to make in life and whether it's a decision to do right it's a decision to not do wrong and I pray that you help us to make the wise decisions in life so we don't mess up our lives so we're not as water spilt on the ground that cannot be gathered up again bad decisions cause a lot of heartache it ruins families it ruins children and wives and husbands relationships churches I pray you help us all Lord to make the wisest decision for our families for our church and for the events in the future Lord we love you so much we thank you praise things in Jesus name Amen