The Two Paths of Life – Dr. Charles Stanley

you have chosen a path up to this point if you keep walking the path that you're walking where will it lead you will it lead you where you really want to go where you thought you were going to be by this time in your life so it's so very important you listen carefully because Jesus just cut it down there on the - today on InTouch the two paths of life the choices you and I make today determine our tomorrow's that's why we have to be careful what kind of choices we make in life for some people they make very very important choices carelessly they somehow don't look beyond today and they don't look beyond tomorrow they don't look beyond the future realizing there are always consequences to decisions we make would you not agree that probably all of us have made decisions we wish we could remake that the decisions made that we probably regret if we knew with the consequences where we would never have made that decision if we knew where we was going to lead us we would never make that decision so how do you how do you make those choices in a way do you make those choices on the basis of your the influence of others for example you make those choices in the basis of money or your health or what is it so maybe the opportunity where does the will of God fit into how you make choices in life and I'll say again it's so very important because we live with them in fact we've made choices of what road are we going to travel in life and the truth is the path you living today is the path upon which you have chosen to walk out your life you started back yonder a long time ago and you've been on this path too so long did you make a decision well that's how I want my life to work out that's the path I want to live in that's what Jesus said did you just sort of find yourself drifting into it well Jesus is crystal-clear about the kind of path we should walk on and he is very clear when it comes to making contrasts that make it so clear so we know exactly what we can expect so I want you to turn to the Sermon on the Mount at five six and seven chapters of the book of Matthew and once in a while you'll find some of your friend who'll say now I don't believe all the Bible but I believe the Sermon on the Mount well what that tells you is that they haven't read it Jesus in the Sermon on the mouth in the seventh chapter just a couple of verses I want us to read here and I want us to explain them before we get into further message but look at if you will that 13th verse of the seventh chapter he says and the word he uses into here is a command he commends us enter through the narrow gate now watch this through the narrow gate that skip down to the fourteenth Rus where it says the gate but the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and there are few who find it go back now enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction so we talked about two different gates here and you have to skip down to see if what you want is talking about so another narrow gate that this gate the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and there are few who find it and then back again now enter through the narrow gate then we change the gates for the gate is wide and the way is broad and it leads to destruction and there are many people who enter through it so what Jesus is simply saying is this there are many ways to live that is we walk the path of righteousness walk the path that's godly or we walk the path that's full of destruction and run in a person's life and if you'll think about it all of us have chosen the path and the path that you and I are living on today is the path that we've chosen that you may not have sat down and said this is the path I'm want to choose but you chose one you may have found yourself may be influenced in that way or somebody convention persuaded you or whatever the situation you're walking on the path that you have chosen now the question is that's where is he going to lead you if you keep walking the path that you follow me where are you going to end up you so I don't know but don't you think it'd be wise before you chose the pathway in life to ask yourself the question where will this lead me what will this get me how will I end up what's that what's the final stage of my life where am I going to spend eternity you should ask them very sobering questions and if you're on a path today that you wish you were not on I'll show you how to get off of it if you're on a path and don't know why you started that maybe you'll find out today the important thing is this you're walking on a path you've chosen that path it has consequences good or bad depends on which path it is and I want you to listen carefully to this message it's interesting in this passage for example if you keep going you'll notice he talks about the good trees bad trees he talks about the fruit and so forth and talks about good foundations and bad foundations so when you look at all this listen to what he says he talks about two gates narrow and wide two ways narrow and broad two destinations life and destruction two groups view and many two kinds of trees good and bad two kinds of people who profess faith in Christ is sincere and the faults two kinds of builders wise and foolish two kinds of foundations rock and sin and two kinds of houses secure and insecure and you'll see that Jesus makes it very very clear with two choices that's it I have two choices in life so you have chosen a path up to this point if you keep walking the path that you're walking where will it lead you will it lead you where you really want to go where you thought you were to be by this time in your life so it's so very important you listen carefully because Jesus just cut it down there only to there's a path of righteousness godliness there's a path that leads to destruction and the path that leads to eternal life you say well I decide I'm just going to go along on this path and change my mind out there somewhere maybe you can maybe you can't maybe you will maybe you want very important you listen carefully so let's look at this first path and he calls it the broad way so when you look at that he talks about the wide gate now what is he talking about he's talking about that lifestyle in that pathway if you choose that wide then you can have all kind of diversities of beliefs you can believe most anything in the world you want to believe all kind of philosophies and opinions and people have all kind of religions and and everything seems to be fine and you have your religion I have mine but on the path we walk we don't criticize each other we choose what we believe in life we don't talk about Jesus necessarily or the Bible we just enjoy our life and move on on the broad path and it's a place of freedom and we don't worry about consequences that's the broad wide path this is a path he says that's crowded and that is he said many are in this path and if you look around you for example today as a follower of Jesus in some circles you find yourself in you have to look for the believer you have to find the Christian there was a time when most people in this country believed in the Lord Jesus Christ believed the Word of God that's no longer true there many people in this country who do not even know who Jesus is you'd be surprised the people when you talk about Jesus they'd say and I was talking to someone the other day and I said do you have a Bible if I'd have been a bettin man out of that sure he had one or two or three Bibles and at this point in his life he said no listen this is no longer the Christian nation it used to be Jesus and the Word of God and the Christian does not have the place we used to have and what means what that means is people have stopped listening to the Word of God they have decided to walk a certain way and that crowds getting larger and larger all the time they want to be able to do what they want to do when they want to do it as they want to do it and they think in their crowd they're the strongest and on and on they go that's the broad way the broad way is ungodly it's undisciplined it allows all kinds of things you can drink all you want to drink gamble all you want to gamble you have all kind of sexual immorality you have it your way that is their words this that they call this the freeway it is not the freeway Jesus called it the way of destruction but people today want freedom they say I want freedom to do what I want to do go where I want to go I don't want anybody telling me what I can do and what I can't do find that that's that's the path that's the crowded path that's that's the broad way that's the way of the ungodly and so if that's what you want you can have it and Jesus is not going to say to you no you can't do that if you want to live a life that will end in destruction you want to live a path walk a path well you've got freedom to do what you please you tell your parents to forget it you know what you're at this point in your life and they've raised you and now you're free to do what you want to do you can have all kinds of sexual affairs you want to have drink all you on a drink live like you want to live party like you want to party and all the rest and say well that that's the path I choose I just want to warn you that path will lead you ultimately to being eternally separated from God and the Bible calls the place a chi ll hell I know you don't like to hear you don't want to hear it that's not what you want to hear I'm not here to tell you what you want to hear I'm here to tell you what Jesus said and it depends on where you want to end up in life and it depends on what rules you want to live by maybe you don't live by the rules you don't want anybody telling you how to live your life you have enough money enough property enough this and the friends and all the rest you can't get anything in the world you want but the one thing I know you don't have is don't have any peace in there real joy you have absolutely no security whatsoever you could lose everything you have in a split second you have no assurance you have you have nothing that you can be confident about so you're living on a path that is a path of destruction you're living on the path that Satan walks and he encourages others to walk the same path the path of freedom the path of liberty now you can do what you want to do when you want to do it is nobody else's business but yours yes there is you cannot live apart from the knowledge of Almighty God he knows where you hit it while you're headed there and he will do his best to keep you off that path change paths but if you insist on living that kind of life you will end up with the consequences that that pathway provides then I think it's the way of darkness you see if you'll think about it for a moment you go back to proverbs chapter 4 for a moment and let's look if you will in the nineteenth verse because you see if you'll think about this isn't it interesting that bars and places like that and I guess nightclubs haven't been that any but the way the world operates isn't it incident that they cut the lights down real low that it's real dark you know what that's scriptural listen to this the way of the wicked is like darkness they're walking in darkness because they have shut Christ out of their life and when you shut Christ out of your life you've got a major problem so look if you will on to John but that st. John 3:16 this is the same chapter of John 3:16 people say well I believe in John 3:16 for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life we're coming back to belief for a moment but listen to what in the same chapter people so I believe Jesus said that well let me tell you something else Jesus said this is the judgment that the light has come into the world speaking of himself and Men loved the darkness other than the light because their deeds are evil for everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come into the light for fear that the deeds will be exposed and this is just the clear teaching of the word of God Jesus is on the light of the world now watch this and he says that when he leaves you and I are the light of the world so that our life is to be a light in the darkened world a darkened community wherever you live a darkened household you can be a child of God in the household everybody else in that's lost he says when he left we're the light and he says the unbelieving world hates the light and I was listening to this atheist on the television the other day and he was being interviewed and I thought of myself I felt sorry for him because he couldn't answer any question what do you believe well you know what if you're an atheist what do you believe well I believe I ought to have my rights well you have all the rights you want but what's gonna happen when you die you don't believe in God will you get there and wait till you start breathing your last breaths you're gonna want somebody to tell you the truth and tell it to you fast all the stuff that you and I hear we don't believe in Jesus we don't believe in the Bible and now for example I hear their faith it's churches so I'm gonna say what are y'all saying what do you talk about who's the leader what hope do you have what assurance do you have what's your purpose in other words just getting the yepper to do what and so jesus said it's very clear they only two paths and no matter how you how you classify one path or how you decorate it you can't decorate it to the point that God accepts the pathway of the wicked he does not and is it's also a way of disappointment you can't tell me that anybody is living in sin absolute disobedience to God and who's happy and contented because it is absolutely a contradiction of emotions you cannot live in ungodliness you cannot live in deliberate willful sin knowing that your sinning and you can say well I don't believe it's a sin yes you do yes you do you know the Bible says it's a sin yes you do know it's a sin you're trying to convince yourself it's not listen you're trying to change God's mind about what he absolutely totally completely condemns you're not gonna change the mind of God about that he hates sin that doesn't hate the sinner but he hates sin because of what it does to his children he hates sin because of what it's doing to you on the path that you have chosen that path the Bible says he says it's the path that leads to listen not only disappointment it's the pathway that leads to destruction and he asked a question and marked the eighth chapter look at that for just a moment Dave chapter of Mark beginning in verse 34 and he summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them look at this if anyone wishes to come after me has to follow him he must deny himself take up his cross and follow me listen to become a believer is more than just saying I believe in Jesus you can believe in a lot of things we have to be clear about what he means that belief then he says and whoever wishes to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life of my sake and the gospel's will save it and then he asked this question I want to challenge you to answer what does it profit a man or a woman to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul what does it profit a man for what will a man give in exchange for his soul what's the answer to that listen to me carefully and I say this not because I'm being critical but because I'm being honest and biblical you are foolish to live out the path that you're walking on in absolute disobedience to God which he says as a path of destruction denying the presence of Christ denying the Word of God criticizing and persecuting believers in order to fulfill whatever those desires are in your life thinking that somehow one of these days it's going to get better it's not going to get better it's going to get worse because you're going to be more and more captivated and you're going to be more and more imprisoned by your habits and your sin and your disobedience to God Jesus never spoke anything but the truth and what he's doing in this passage is warning us there were two paths not three but two paths and he says in this passage that it is a way of destruction disappointment darkness it's the broad way it's the wide way it's the way of the ungodly then he says there is another path and and listen to what he says in this passage now he says enter through the narrow gate and had as I said about that but this gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and there are few who find it that is comparatively there'll be few Christians compared to the world's population few Christians it is our job to get the truth of the knowledge of Christ David but on the face of this globe that's what we're attempting to do and succeeding at it by the grace of God the power of God the work of the Holy Spirit and many many missionaries and many many people who are preaching the gospel and every language possible all over the world but we'll always be outnumbered and what he's simply saying here is this this narrow way is just that it is the narrow way and that is in the narrow way you don't have a mixture well a little bit of this religion a little bit of that religion a little bit of this is okay a little bit of that's okay you don't have a mixture of lifestyles you don't have a mixture of attitudes about God and I believe in this God or that God of the other this is the way that Jesus calls all of us to follow and when you see that he says it's narrow it requires discipline if you live a godly life there's some things you want to learn your life and I'll see parents for example who allowing everything imaginable in their life and in their house so and then they get all upset because their kids get on drugs and they get on drinking and sex and everything else and you want to ask the parents will what what kind of pattern did you set in your home what kind of language did you talk about was every third or fourth word in you and your family a curse word because you just want to be smart and I hear people use words that I would not repeat you misuse in the name of Jesus but he is not a word of profanity he's the son of God the holiest name that there is so then they're away he says it's the way of the few Jesus said to one time to his disciples will you to walk away his crowd got so small he had just a handful of people following him because they didn't like the idea of discipling and your life get crucified life on the cross and being obedient to God and so you think about this if you want to get a crowd you appeal to the crowd what appeals to the crowd freedom liberty have your way do it as you please everybody enjoy life enjoy life for the moment but that's it it's so deceptive and yet the narrow ways is it's the way of the few there be that find it it's the way of wisdom for example go back to Proverbs again the fourth chapter and look what he says the narrow way is the way of wisdom how do you want to how do you want to live your life how do you want to walk it out you're gonna walk wisely the whole book of Proverbs is all about had to live out our life wisely listen to this fourth chapter proverbs in the tenth verse he says here my son and accept my sayings and then watch this and the years of your life will be many I have directed you in the way of wisdom look at that this is what God is saying he says I've directed you in the way of wisdom whether you heard it or not whether you chose it enough is the path you choose I have directed you in the way of wisdom I have led you in upright paths when you when you walk your steps will not be impeded or handed and if you run you will list he says you will not stumble take hold of instructions do not let go god listen guard her for she is your life do not enter the path of the wicked and do not proceed in the way of evil men it can't be any clearer there's a path of wisdom righteousness holiness godliness it's a path it's a I didn't sending about being easy there's nothing easy about living a godly life but I'll tell you one thing when it comes to what our heart desires our soul cries out for peace and joy and happiness and confidence and assurance and eternal life and true genuine friendships and all the rest that's the path do you there be that find it on the other path crowds you don't see all the lights and all the glamour on the narrow path but it's the right path a path of wisdom and it's the path of following Jesus listen to what Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the Father but by me oh they say that that's being narrow-minded it is it's very narrow-minded listen Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the Father but by me somebody says well I don't believe he's healing the way well let me ask you a couple of questions number one if he's not the only way how you have who's going to deal with your sin you say well my sins not so bad that's your opinion a holy God says your sins evil and wicked and vile in his eyes what are you going to do with your sin well I'm just going to confess it did you know that confessing sinned is not what removes the penalty of sin from your life you said I go to church and confess my sin every week I'll bet you confess the same thing every week also confessing your sin does not remove it watch this carefully when Jesus came to this earth is a virgin born son of God he came sent by the father he came sent by the father for the primary purpose of laying down his life on the cross shedding his blood as the ultimate final sacrifice God prophesied all the way back to the beginning of time he laid down this life on the cross in order for God to be able to forgive you of your sin he paid your price the Bible says that God said the soul that sinneth it shall die if there's no crucifixion no of blood there's no payment for your sin this is why the cross is so precious to all of us who believe as we understand what it is it is the symbol of God's awesome love and payment for the sin of mankind in order for God to be just in order for God to be truthful he had to pay our sin debt himself Jesus Christ the Son of God laid down his life on the cross that satisfy the requirements of God for the penalty of sin therefore when you trust him as your personal Savior it's more than just confessing yeah I believe in Jesus when you trust him as your personal Savior you're surrendering your life to him and you are accepting his forgiveness not on the basis that you've confessed that you have accepted his forgiveness on the basis Jesus died and paid the penalty this is why confess confess confess confess confess till the day you die and it's not younger you better get it until you're confessing that Jesus Christ is the son of God the savior of the world your only hope and he came as a sacrifice in order for you to be forgiven by Almighty God and on the basis of that Jesus Christ being the son of God Jesus Christ being God in the flesh for those he 33 years he was on the on the earth when you trust him as your Savior that means you're giving up your own way you're surrendering your life to him that's the narrow path that's the narrow gate that's where that you are because most people want to have religion and liberty they want freedom to do anything they want to do and then go to their God and say Lord and Jesus name I forgive me or whoever they're praying to so I ask you a question when you confess your sins to God do you simply say Lord I'm asking you to forgive me in Jesus name or however you say it amen well why should he forgive you in other words if you if you just have a guilty feeling and you know you're gonna do it again tomorrow that's not confession that's not repentance in that what did Jesus say he says he says except a man be born again what does that imply what does that say there's got to be a change a new birth is a new life and Paul says if any man be in Christ trusted Christ as Savior you're a new creation old things have passed away behold things have become new because now you have Christ living on the inside that you're enabling you showing you what is right and giving you the power to live a godly life there are only two paths and the path that you're living today will determine what happens tomorrow and I don't say any of these things to be critical I'm saying because you need to understand Jesus Christ the Son of God will be the one every single one of us stands before kneels before stretch that before whatever when we stand in the judgment all the stuff that you hear people tell you what it's going to be like this he says it is appointed unto men once to die and after this the judgment there is no escape when you now stand before him if we have been washed in the blood of Jesus having trusted him as our Savior surrendered our life to him we're gonna be able to stand before him freely only the love of God will be there if you reject the Son of God listen to think about this you reject the only hope you have you reject the son of the Almighty God who created this world and it's atmospheres and everything around us you reject him whatever your reason for rejecting him you will stand before God and give an account and having heard the truth of the gospel what will you say well you know I would say people here's here's I'm gonna sell tables you're gonna say nothing you're not gonna say anything listen we don't any of us know how it's gonna be but when I think about before Jesus I want to stretch up my face on the floor and bury my nose in the carpet just thinking about this lying before righteousness holiness such a glory that Jesus Christ if you listen if he hadn't laid aside his glory before he came nobody would have seen him because the radiance of the glory of perfect purity and righteousness is so bright nobody could have seen him nobody could have touched him nobody could have felt him nobody could have had the eyes would not conceive of it sin is sin sin is darkness and this is what do you say sin is darkness and there are people who say you know I just believe somehow that I'm gonna get there and every once in a while I'll hear people say well I know I'm not perfect and but I believe somehow ultimately we are all going to get to heaven let me just say this to you there is not one single bit of a reason let alone Scripture there is no reason you mean to tell me you think that you're gonna get to heaven with your sin and disobedience and rebellion toward God that you're living a sinful life that you're violating the one principle after the other one commandment after the other and that somehow one of these days we're just gonna all get there because God is the God of love let me tell you why you're not gonna get that yeah you know why you're not gonna get there because he is a God of love if God allowed you to get to heaven violating his law violating his principles if he let you get by with that that wouldn't be love that would be a falsehood on the part of God everybody's not going to heaven there's only one way according to the Word of God and the reason we do our best to get the gospel to the whole world we want everybody to hear it we want everybody to know the truth somebody says well what about those folks who've never heard I'm always listening to that let me say one word first of all that's not your problem your problem is you've heard it you hear it you know it that's the issue don't shift it off to somebody else and so all this reasoning that goes on Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the Father but by me and I want you to listen to what Jesus said in John 8:12 jesus said to them I am the light of the world he who follows me look at this are you listening say man he who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of Life if you have following Jesus you're not gonna walk you're not gonna be walking the broad way you're gonna walk the narrow way as he says in the scriptures here whether and he says to you there be defined it now in light of these two ways the broad in an era how do we explain the carnally minded Christian now what's the currently Amani Christian are currently a minded Christian is what Paul says the fleshly carnally minded means that for example all of us have some bit of naturalness in us that's why you still have the capacity to sin a person who's walking in the flesh a person who's walking in in the naturalness as a person who's doing what their desires call for them to do and so every single one of us have sinned and ask God to forgive us and cleanses and he has and all of us will sin at some point in their life go to Galatians chapter 5 and I got a couple of passages that what you look at and all of us have the capacity to sin against them but listen to what Paul says in verse 16 of the fifth chapter but I say walk by the spirit follow the spirit be obedient to the spirit who's within you and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh there's never going to be a time when there's no desire within you whatsoever or when the desires are there for example you and I can we can say no to those desires it's Satan throws against us and told us we have the power say no he says I said you walk by the spirit and you'll not carry out the desires of the flesh for the flesh that is that naturalness within us sets its desire against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh for these are in opposition to one another so that you may not do the things that you please that is the flesh so we have the Spirit of God within us to enable us to overcome temptation and being a disobedient to God now watch this carefully I believe it's not you nah mate we may send here send there something but an ya person who has given themselves over to sin on an ongoing continuing basis yes say well were they saved well you had to ask that question okay let's go back to that passage we read in the beginning the seventh chapter of Matthew again and look if you will in this twentieth verse back to Matthew 7 verse 20 now I'll tell you something interesting when you and I'll fight for you who are listening the wisest thing you could do is to take your Bible with you when you sit down to watch in touch or when you listen to radio and a pastor whoever he may be gives you a passage of Scripture watch this carefully it's one thing for you to hear it it's something entirely different for you to see it listen to what he says so then he says here's how you can know the difference between the saved and the unsaved so then you will know them by their fruits not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven will enter heaven many will say to me on that day Lord Lord did we not prophesy in your name and your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles very religious listen these are all religious things going on so we cast out demons we did this we did the other exists all this in your name and perform many miracles and then I will declare to them I never knew you depart from me you you who do what practice lawlessness practice means to do something on an ongoing and continuing basis so am I asking a question is there any sin in your life that you have accepted as a way of life that you practice it's continually a part of your life you don't excuse it you don't confess it in the MOL it's just a part of your life and you've rationalized it and you've accepted it as a part of your life I'm telling you you need to ask yourself the question have I ever really and truly been saved with the grace of God then let's look at this idea of belief in just a moment somebody says well I believe in Jesus what does that mean that used to bother me when I first got in the ministry so I took my greek bible i started in matthew i went all the way through the new testament every time i found the word belief or believed in the greek i translated it to see what it says every single time no exception to believe is a word of action if i believe in jesus christ that doesn't mean i had just given mentalists into it i believe in act and what is that act i put my life in his hands i trust him i've repent of my sins i confess my sins i repent of my sins I've surrendered my life to Jesus Christ you can believe a lot of things you can believe about this and believe about that and believe somebody says well I believe in him what does that mean that you put your trust in him oh well it can mean a lot of things but when you say you believe in Jesus Christ the new testament word belief is a word of action this is why he says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved and I would ask you do you really and truly have you ever really and truly surrendered your life to Jesus Christ the Son of God whom he sent into this world as the only means of satisfying God's requirement for a for paying a penalty for sin you recall all those sacrifices in the Old Testament they were they were foreshadowing the coming of Christ when he came is the final sacrifice remember that the veil in the temple was rent from top to bottom and opened it all up the holy of Holy's why because you and I now have access to God through His Son Jesus Christ we don't have to go through anybody you don't have to go through anybody Jesus opened the door for you and me to be able to have a personal intimate relationship with God but listen to me carefully when you say you believe in Jesus you believe what about Jesus do you believe that he's the son of God if you believe that you will surrender your life to Him do you believe he was just another man then that is a belief that brings you nothing but ultimate destruction Jesus Christ is the son of God the sacrificial substitutionary all sufficient sacrifice for your sins and my sins therefore if you want to get on the right path you have to step on the right path by placing your trust in Christ as the crucified Savior asking God to forgive you of your sins and surrendering your life to him to follow him all the days of your life and let me tell you something else you can't straddle the fence on these two pathways well I'm gonna walk over here and then I want to walk over here no you can't they're two paths you've chosen one already of what you ever pet that is you say well how do I get off this path I'll tell ya if you willing to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the son of God and you willing to acknowledge the fact that God sent him into this world for the purpose of dying on the cross in order to shed his blood to make the payment for your sin in the sin of the world you willing to believe that Jesus Christ crucified was a sacrificial substitutionary death and which it was for us you willing to believe that he's the son of God in the Savior you willing to ask him to forgive you of your sins and to repent of those sins to turn away from them by the strength and the help and the guidance of the Holy Spirit you willing to turn away from that you willing to surrender your life to him totally and believe in that surrendered that confession that Jesus Christ is forgiving you of your sins you're accepting that forgiveness and accepting that he has a brand new life for you and you choosing to walk in that he's takes you right off that old path puts you on the new path because now you become a new person in Christ my friend believe me if there were any other way I would tell you I I would tell you if there's any other way I would tell you but you have to decide whether you believe the Word of God or you do not so let me just ask you this you say well you know something about this Bible that bothers me and so let me ask you this if for some reason the Bible bothers you if you don't live by this what are you gonna live by I'll tell you about a question that if you don't die by this what are you gonna die by and where are you gonna spend eternity in Jesus name I trust that you'll be wise enough right now wherever you are to ask God to forgive you of your sins forgive you for your unbelief forgive you for walking the path you've been walking but give you for the sin in your life forgive you for all the excuses you've made and all the attempts you've made the quad in your own stinging conscience and tell him that you're surrendering your life to Him and today you want to become a child of God right now you can this is the only way and the God who wrote this Bible will be the God who judges you and me one of these days that's why you better stick with the book father how grateful we are for your love for us I think about how many people order traveling a path that's a path of destruction they have lots of encouragement to keep following that path but I pray that the gospel of Jesus also penetrate their hearts they can no longer even live with themselves following in that path and they'll make the decision to step across the path that you have fought it's narrow won't be as many people there but it's the way of eternal life and we praise you for it in Jesus name Amen following the path of Jesus Christ requires discipline through the strength of the Holy Spirit believers have the power to say no to sin at intouch.org learn more about God's love for you and the encouragement His Holy Word promises there you can see today's message the two paths of life and find a library of free and inspiring messages from dr. Stanley sermon notes and resources to help you achieve victory in times of temptation download the intouch app to take the teaching of dr. Stanley on the go or follow us on YouTube Facebook and Twitter the spirit feel life is a life lived through us by the Holy Spirit and the goal is to demonstrate and to express the character of Jesus Christ an intimate look into the Ministry of dr. Stanley the spirit filled life a new edition of one of his classic books this biblical perspective on the work of the Holy Spirit can deepen your intimacy with God come on guys let's go we're gonna be late come on is me coming from the back I picked somebody took the dog out that's okay lucky bye have a good one we tried the drill I'm with you buddy life principles to live by dr. Charles Stanley 'z exploration of the 30 foundational truths that continue to guide his life and ministry order a box set on CD or dvd at in touch o RG well God is not only holy but he is an awesomely creative God then reveals himself in different ways and most Sunday's I'll show you a photograph not every Sunday and the one I want to show you today it was so cold and we were dressed very very warm it was so cold we got back in the vehicle it's about two or three times and it rained on us and we got back in got back out and we sort of wanted to leave but I thought no we can't leave every time I've ever left I was sorry so I just said lord help us to be able to stay here and all of a sudden this is what we saw the heavens declare what the glory of God and you know oftentimes people will leave just before the glory shines that's why you have to be patient maybe a patient with God facing with ourselves patient with others and supplementation with nature and so I thought you might like that this morning and I'll tell you just encourage me Oh naturally that does because when I'm photographing I mean you can mark this down I got you in mind because I like to show them not to say look at me but to see what God's up to leading people worldwide into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and strengthening the local church in touch with dr. Charles Stanley is a presentation of in touch ministries this program is made possible by the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts

Channel: In Touch Ministries

Views: 748,452

Rating: 4.8104281 out of 5

Keywords: Charles F. Stanley Dr. Charles Stanley Dr. Stanley In Touch InTouch God Jesus Holy Spirit Christian, Charles Stanley

Id: -RXPIV21gH8

Length: 47min 18sec (2838 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 24 2018