The Power of Christian Choices: A Sermon Overview

A few of us bus drivers have a group chat that we make fun of each other on, we share funny stories, we share problems and we just help each other get through the week. On that chat, Karen Wheeler on Friday said, “Tonight is Halloween, tomorrow is November first and that means it’s “Last Christmas” season. For those of you that don’t know, “Last Christmas” is a Christmas Song. Karen starts listening to Christmas music on November 1st. And since Karen officially made it Christmas Season, I thought we could stay in that spirit by talking about one of the gifts that God has given us.

Now being the Christmas Season, you would probably think that we are going to talk about the birth of our Savior, Jesus, but we are not quite there yet. I want to talk about another gift from God.

I am sure that we all have stories about that one gift that we got that was absolutely the worst gift ever. I remember Darrel trying to prank me with a Chief’s shirt and I thanked him for the toilet paper. I read a story about bad gifts and one person said that their aunt gave them a $10 gift card to Walmart, back when $10 could actually buy a decent gift. But when they got to Walmart to check out, the card only had like 53 cents on it.

You know God gave us a gift that can be beautiful or ugly depending on how we use it. Let’s read our main text… Deuteronomy 30 19-20.

One of my favorite types of movies is superhero movies. I like the Marvel movies. Iron Man, Captain America, Avengers, Spiderman, Antman, Hulk, and the list goes on. I got to thinking, if I could have one super power, what would it be. Would I want to run like Flash? NO! The bible says, “The wicked run when no one is chasing them.” So, I will stick to walking.

Maybe it would be the ability to fly. Then I would not have to be stuck in traffic behind some slow driver that really just needs to stay home. If I had the power to be invisible, then I could keep an eye on my Grandkids to keep them safe without them ever knowing that I am there, but as we get older somethings that would be better superpowers might be….

Eat whatever you want without consequences, maybe the ability to stand up and start walking without creaking and popping. How about the superpower of being able to sleep through the night without having to get up to go to the bathroom? Funny how priorities change as you get older. Right? You know, God has given us a superpower called Choice.

Somethings we will never have a choice on, but others we do, so the gift of choice can be good or bad depending on the choice you make. Almost every time you can change your life by changing your choices, but here’s the deal with that, even though you may change the choices you make it does not mean you will not have consequences of choices already made and point one tells us

1. You need to respect the costliness of your choices.

Deuteronomy 30:15

No matter what you do or don’t do, comes with a price. If you buy a car, the cost of fuel, insurance, taxes and keeping it on the road is all part of the price of owning a vehicle. If you do not purchase a vehicle, then your price is being at the mercy of others to get you where you want to go.

If you choose to get a job, where are you going to work? How much are you going to be away from home? What kind of work are you going to do? These are all the cost of having a job. If you choose not to work, how are you going to pay your bills? How are you going to have food? How will you support yourself? The cost of having a job or not?

Every decision you make has a consequence. If you refuse to make a decision, then you have made a decision to not make a decision, which will have some type of consequence.

How many of you have ever said, “I don’t know how I got myself into this mess?” How many of you have met that person that will say, “I just don’t know how I got myself into this mess? How many of you brought that person with you this morning.

God said, “I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.” God gives us a choice and most of us would never blatantly choose death and destruction, but many of our small choices lead us there. People don’t choose cancer or cirrhosis of the liver, but they choose to smoke or drink. Many do not blatantly choose to go to be in debt up to their eyeballs, but they buy things that do not need and really can not afford.

If you don’t know how you got into the mess you are in, it is probably one poor choice after another. And choice can be costly. Let me give you another on.

2. The bigger the decision…

1. The more time you need to think.

Proverbs 13:16

I remember one time; my dad had told me that he wanted a truck and wanted to know if I would go with him. I told him that I would go, but he needed to follow my lead. It may seem a little harsh, when we are in the middle of it all, but it will all work out and he agreed.

We went to one dealership and didn’t find anything he liked, then we went to another dealership that had a truck that was owned and driven by the owner of the dealership. They had added a few bells and whistles to the truck. Dad drove it and liked it. The salesmen played the game of how great the new truck was and the value of that add ons. He said that the cost of the truck was this and I counter offered.

I told the salesman many things and that the truck was not new it was used. And Dad would only give this dollar amount and nothing more. He said, “We just can’t do that.” I said, “ok”, we are not going to buy it and since we have already spent too much time here, we will go home and think about where we will shop next week. I told Dad that they will call and eventually give you the price that we asked, just be patient.

Almost a week later the dealership called dad and said that they would accept the offer. Dad called me and told me about it. I asked him if this was still what he wanted to do and he said yes.

God gives us instructions for us to make better choices and one is to slow down and think about it. Another is

2. The more time you need to pray.

James 1:5

Probably the best one of the 3 that I will give you is this one. If you have a big decision, pray for wisdom, pray for guidance, pray that God can be glorified in your decision.

Let me tell you, if you say that you need to pray about it, you better be praying about it. I can’t tell you how many times that I have gone to someone and asked them to serve in a certain capacity in the church and they say, “let me pray about it.” Let me tell you, I know that most of the time that it is a big fat lie. You don’t plan on praying about it. You have already made up your mind what you want and that is a way to say “No” without saying “No”.

Take time to Pray. Take time to listen to God. Get yourself, your own desires, your own thoughts out of it. Allow God to lead you in those big decisions.

3. The more time you need to consult with advisors.

Okay, okay, you know that I love you and I want you to look at me because I want you to hear my heart. If you have a big decision to make and you are seeking advice, this is so important. DO NOT chose people that are even more stupid than you are. Many times when we have a decision to make and we already have it in our mind what we want to do, we will surround ourselves with people that will tells us to do what we want to do rather than what we ought to do.

We need people that love us enough to tell us the truth.

Proverbs 20:18

Let me give you another one.

3. Never minimize the consequences of bad choices.

Think back with me to the Garden of Eden, when the serpent deceived Eve and got her to take a bite of the forbidden fruit. She passed that on to Adam and he ate the fruit, which had so many consequences. They got kicked out of the garden. Weeds, thistle and thorns grew. Death of their son. Sin and punishment throughout all the whole world. Your sin has consequences and sometimes will affect other people, whether you like it or not.

Galatians 6:7

There is hope. Listen to this last one….

4. A whole new life can begin with one good choice.

The Sunday night small group that I led was based on the show the Chosen. A walk through the life of Jesus as He started and completed His ministry. We just completed Season 4 and it is amazing to think about the lives of the disciples.

I commented several times about how every person that had an encounter with Jesus brought them to a crossroad. Every one of them had a decision to make and some chose to follow and some chose to ignore and some chose to have Him killed, but all made a choice. Whether it was a religious leader or a roman leader. Whether it was a fisherman or a tax collector.

I love this parable of the lost son. He took all of his inheritance and made poor decisions after poor decisions until finally he was at his lowest, feeding the pigs and wishing he could eat with them. He came to a crossroad and he made one good choice.

Luke 15:17-18

You can make that choice also. A whole new life can begin with one good choice; will you choose that life today?

God's Ugly, Yet Beautiful, Gift