Worship Service Message for Akron Alliance Fellowship Church, Akron OH, Sunday, January 25, 2026.
How many of you remember the movie “The Great Race”? It was released way back in 1965, and you may remember the main characters of the movie—Leslie Gallant III, “The Great Leslie” played by Tony Curtis, who was the good guy always dressed in white, and Professor Fate or Fate the Magnificent, played by Jack Lemmon.1 They played the quintessential good guy versus bad guy characters. The Great Leslie was the hero who never got his clothes dirty in the great automobile race from New York to Paris, while Professor Fate was the bungling daredevil who wound up conniving and using sabotage in his efforts to beat Leslie in the race. He got dirty a lot. While he had driving skills and took chances, his decisions often led to cheating to get an advantage. Of course, none of his tricks worked. Leslie, who was well ahead at the end of the race, proved his love for his girlfriend Maggie by deliberately stopping his car before crossing the finish line. Professor Fate crossed the finish line and was declared the winner but was frustrated that Leslie had let him win, and he challenged Leslie to another race back to New York.
What I want you to see here is that Professor Fate resorted to using trickery, arson, cheating and sabotage to gain an advantage.2 While he was ultimately unsuccessful in putting Leslie out of the race, he still kept making poor choices.
I trust that you are familiar with the phrase “Cheats (or Cheaters) Shall Never Prosper.” It has the flavor of 17th and 18th Century English because of its message, but it has timeless application. It implies that people who practice dishonesty or unethical behavior will ultimately lead to failure or receiving negative consequences.3
The Great Race was a slapstick comedy where everyone looking at the movie could laugh at all of the jokes and funny scenes, but real life becomes less humorous when we see people make fateful, life altering decisions.
From the website Nurse.org: A contract nurse working at an Atlanta Fulton County Jail was found to be sending notes to a prisoner in the jail. Upon further investigation, she was having an inappropriate relationship with the same inmate and has smuggled contraband into the jail for cash. This was going on for several months before she was caught and arrested with multiple felonies.4 Needless to say, the career that she had worked very hard to achieve was effectively over. Boundaries that were clear from the moment she took the job were violated repeatedly, and from that there was no recovery.
It’s decisions like these that can destroy a career—and destroy one’s life. Our sovereign God has a history and track record of being very patient and full of forgiveness, but it is unwise to test Him and see how far you can push the envelope.
Matthew 4:7 ESV
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
There are dozens of Bible verses that already give insight as to how the Lord feels about people who are dishonest. Yet those who are unwise will still take the path of dishonesty and deride their victims with retorts of “Where is your God now?”
Psalm 42:3 NIV
“My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?'”.
Or even worse:
Psalm 36:1-4 NIV
1 I have a message from God in my heart
concerning the sinfulness of the wicked:
There is no fear of God
before their eyes.
2 In their own eyes they flatter themselves
too much to detect or hate their sin.
3 The words of their mouths are wicked and deceitful;
they fail to act wisely or do good.
4 Even on their beds they plot evil;
they commit themselves to a sinful course
and do not reject what is wrong.
You would think that, at some point, a person would consider that it is important to live in such a manner that “doing the right thing” is the best way to live. That, however, becomes more and more difficult for the person who chooses to live only for himself.
Titus 1:16 NLT
Such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live. They are detestable and disobedient, worthless for doing anything good.
These verses speak of the person who makes decision after decision to live outside of God (in spite of claiming Him publicly), and their deeds are meaningless to Him. They lead to destruction.
Proverbs 16:18 NLT
Pride goes before destruction,
and haughtiness before a fall.
So now that we have determined the negative aspect of decision-making, let’s consider the traits that helps a person make good decisions. You’ll find that a number of verses about good decision-making come from the book of Proverbs.
Proverbs 18:15 ESV
An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
Proverbs 19:20 ESV
Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.
Now, let’s also add something that needs to be included in every good decision-maker’s way of thinking…bringing God into the decision-making process:
Proverbs 2:6 NLT
For the Lord grants wisdom!
From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.
Romans 12:2 NIV
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Colossians 3:23-24 NIV
23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
James 1:5-6 ESV
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
And when things get even more difficult and there are difficult decisions ahead, prayer will always be in order:
Philippians 4:6-7 NLT
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Before we get too deep into this message, we have made the case that we are capable of making good choices, and it is where we are allowing God into our decision-making that promotes the best results. This process does not guarantee that everything that you do will be successful, but it does provide dozens of lifetime learning opportunities as we seek the Lord’s wisdom and understanding.
Is there something else that needs to be considered here? In your self-examination, can each of us honestly say that every decision that we have made was given to the Lord in prayer and included His consultation? A person has to make a commitment to live for the Lord in everything and even own up to those moments when we fail to seek Him.
Owning up means acknowledging that our actions that fail to honor God and that only serve ourselves equals sin.
How are we to define sin?5 We need to identify it and recognize it for what it is.
1. Sin is lawlessness.
1 John 3:4 NIV
Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.
Jesus used the term “lawbreakers” for those persons who believed they were doing service for the Lord, but they had it wrong because they really didn’t know or understand the Lord at all.
Matthew 7:21-23 CSB
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’ 23 Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’
The NIV uses the word ‘evildoers.’ None of these are flattering terms. That is what sin does to us. We are deceived and hardened the more that we make bad decisions. Lying, cheating, stealing and living in ways that dishonor your Creator. We are rendered to living as lawbreakers and evil people because of our fleshly nature.
Romans 3:23 NLT
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
Romans 5:12 CSB
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.
Sin entered the world through Adam, and his sin was passed on to all men and women, and this sin is rebellion against God.
2. Sin is rebellion against God.
Deuteronomy 9:7 NIV
Remember this and never forget how you aroused the anger of the Lord your God in the wilderness. From the day you left Egypt until you arrived here, you have been rebellious against the Lord.
Isaiah 65:2-3a NIV
2 All day long I have held out my hands
to an obstinate people,
who walk in ways not good,
pursuing their own imaginations—
3 a people who continually provoke me
to my very face.
The Lord is not subtle in His reminders about our fleshly nature. Our rebellious minds desire to please ourselves over God.
3. Sin is costly and leads to death.
James 1:14-15 ESV
14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
Proverbs 14:12 ESV
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
Thankfully, death is not the end. That is, it doesn’t have to be the end. There is a much better outcome as determined by the sacrifice that Jesus made for each one of us.
It starts with being honest about who we are before God:
1 John 1:8-9 ESV
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
It’s always best to tell the truth even when it is uncomfortable to do so. Sometimes we lie to impress others or to cover up for something we shouldn’t have done. Here’s something that we always need to remember:
Luke 8:17 NIV
For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.
You are to tell the truth—come clean—about who you are before the Lord Jesus Christ.
I think that all of us need to be reminded that the Lord has neverstopped loving us. He loved us before we came into the world. He loves us now, and He will always love us. The more that we understand the love that He has for us, the easier it is to truly give everything to Him in our relationship with Him. He loves us in spite of our sinful nature.
Romans 5:8 NIV
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
The love of Christ means everything to us because it enables us to have a relationship with Him. If he did not make the sacrifice for us, we would be incapable of having this relationship.
1 John 4:9-10 NIV
9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
John 3:16-17 NIV
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
God loves us so much that He paved the way for those who believe in Jesus Christ to no longer be concerned about death and separation from Him, but to experience eternal life with Him. Of all of the decisions that you will ever make in life, there is none more important than this one. To believe in Jesus, the One who paid for our sin on the cross and conquered death for all of us. The most important decision is to believe in Him and receive salvation.
Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
John 5:24 ESV
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
John 17:3 ESV
And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
The most important decision is more than just ‘doing the right thing’ under your own power. The most important decision in your life is to come under the saving grace of Jesus Christ by faith. A faithful decision in Christ is a fateful decision as to where you will spend eternity.
1 John 2:23-25 NLT
24 So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father. 25 And in this fellowship we enjoy the eternal life he promised us.
Copyright © 2026 Melvin Gaines.
1 Wikimedia Foundation. (2026, January 17). The Great Race. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Race
2 Wiki, C. to V. (n.d.). Professor fate. Villains Wiki. https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Professor_Fate
3 Definition & meaning of “Cheats never prosper” in English: Picture dictionary. Definition & Meaning of “Cheats never prosper” in English | Picture Dictionary. (n.d.). https://dictionary.langeek.co/en/word/215016?entry=cheats+never+prosper
4 Walker, A. (2026, January 20). Jail nurse arrested after allegedly smuggling drugs, having relationship with inmate. Nurse.org. https://nurse.org/news/jail-nurse-smuggling-inmate-relationship-arrest/
5 Houdmann, S. M. (2006, May 27). What is the definition of sin?. GotQuestions.org. https://www.gotquestions.org/definition-sin.html
6 Idiom origins – honesty is the best policy – history of honesty is the best policy. Origins of Idioms Archive. (n.d.). https://idiomorigins.org/origin/honesty-is-the-best-policy
Melvin Gaines 