Participants: Pr John Lomacang
Series Code: TWH
Program Code: TWH000018A
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00:30 Before we pray, I'd like you to open your Bibles
00:32 this morning to Joshua 24:15. 00:36 God has been really tapping on my forehead lately 00:45 and when I say "lately," I mean that toward the ending of 00:51 last year and the beginning of this year, 00:55 my wife and I have really, by God's leading, 00:58 revolutionized our study life, not just a quick devotion 01:03 in the morning, if we only had time to do that, 01:06 we would at LEAST do THAT, but we would pray 01:10 in the morning, pray in the evening, pray in the afternoon, 01:14 read our Bibles chapter after chapter; 01:16 now we're in the book of Judges... 01:22 And if you want to strengthen your relationship as a family, 01:25 as a couple, as parents with children, as husband with wife, 01:29 you really need to take the time to put in your mind 01:32 those things that could make the difference. 01:34 The word of God - the entrance of God's word gives light; 01:40 the entrance of God's word gives nourishment; 01:44 the entrance of God's word gives wisdom. 01:48 You may have read the Bible or read through the Bible, 01:51 or read portions of the Bible for years, 01:54 but I believe that the closer we get to the coming of 01:57 our Lord, the more we need to be fortified with the 02:03 truth of God's word. 02:05 And this passage in Joshua 24 is synonymous with making 02:13 a conscious, deliberate decision about where your life is headed. 02:21 Joshua 24:15, and the Bible reads... 02:31 ... That even sounds strange to say.. 02:50 Let's read the last part together... 02:52 Are you ready with some strength... 03:02 Let us bow... 03:04 Loving Father in Heaven, Speak to our hearts 03:07 that we may make eternal decisions that we will determine 03:13 and make decided measured effort that we will take hold 03:20 of Your power and ask You to come in and help us to make 03:26 decisions that will impact our lives for eternity. 03:33 In Jesus name I pray... Amen 03:39 The single most powerful gift God has given to every one of us 03:47 is the power of choice. 03:50 If you trace your life, you will see in the fingerprint 03:58 of your journey - bad choices and good choices; 04:05 uninformed choices and well-informed choices. 04:12 As you look at the unfolding of the history that is behind you, 04:18 you will see that every moment of every day, 04:22 you have made a choice and who you are and what you are 04:29 becoming, and what you have been, and what you are now, 04:34 going to be, and where you're headed and where you're 04:37 not headed - all is hinged and predicated on the 04:43 power of choice. 04:45 I mean, becoming very real about it, we can think of 04:51 the fact that we are wiser now... 04:53 As we get older, we ought to get wiser... 04:55 come on somebody, say Amen... 04:58 Sometimes you get a hiccup and you make dumb decisions 05:01 when you get older and I had eliminated from my vocabulary 05:05 the word "mistake" because somewhere along the way 05:09 you've got to come to the conclusion that you are not 05:12 where you are by mistake, but you are where you are 05:16 by choice. 05:19 To choose to study or not to study your Bible will determine 05:22 who you become. 05:23 To choose to worship or not to worship will determine 05:26 how strong you are. 05:27 To choose to follow God or not to follow God 05:30 is a decision you will make. 05:34 Nothing about your life happens coincidentally 05:37 or by proxy - meaning... 05:39 No one decides to put you where you don't willingly want to be. 05:45 God has not created us as slaves. 05:48 Every one of us will be either in the Kingdom of God 05:53 or not in the Kingdom of God because we have exercised 05:58 the power of choice. 06:01 Now it may seem very elementary, but I need to make 06:03 it very clear what choice is... 06:05 CHOICE is an act of selecting or making a decision when 06:09 faced with two or more possibilities. 06:13 To have at least two choices, you gotta choose one... 06:18 To go to the left or go to the right. 06:20 To say "yes" or say "no." 06:23 To plan or not to plan. 06:24 Someone once said, "To fail to plan is to plan to fail." 06:29 To not say "yes" to God is to choose to say "no." 06:34 To even say "wait" to God is the choice to say "no" 06:38 to God for now. 06:42 Synonymously, to choose means to make a decision, to decide, 06:46 to select, to consent, to pick one, to follow through on an act 06:53 that you desire, to yield to a craving, 06:55 to give in to an inclination. 06:58 CHOICE is the most powerful thing that God has ever 07:04 gifted to humanity, POWERFUL! 07:13 When I sat down this week and began to go through notes 07:18 of the last few months, we don't only study, 07:21 but we begin to chronicle the things we study. 07:24 We begin to look at our notes, we begin to read, 07:26 and I thank God for the servant of the Lord, Ellen White, 07:28 what do you say? Amen! 07:30 A plethora of wisdom and when you look at the Bible, 07:37 and you look at from Genesis to Revelation, you'll see in every 07:40 story, even in the book where God's name is 07:43 not even mentioned, choices are being made 07:47 for or against the plan and the will of God. 07:50 Choice to me, as I've looked at that - choice is more 07:55 powerful than the thundering waters gushing 07:58 from the heights of the walls of the Niagara, Upstate New York. 08:02 Thundering walls, thundering water gushing, 08:06 crushing to the earth, CHOICE is more 08:08 powerful than that. 08:13 God has not given us choice to waste, 08:17 but to use to make decisions about our future, 08:22 about our tomorrow. 08:25 You see, because of choice, develops an action... 08:33 Follow me carefully... 08:35 An action develops a habit, a habit develops a character, 08:44 and a character determines your destiny. 08:47 So something as simple as a little choice to choose 08:52 or not to choose, in the end you will discover 08:54 that your destiny can go back to the simplicity of the choice 08:59 you chose NOT TO or to make. 09:03 When Joshua was standing there with the children of Israel, 09:06 he began to recount how God had led them. 09:09 You see, when you look at the divisions of the Scripture, 09:11 you have Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, 09:14 Leviticus - you have all these five books of the Bible, 09:16 then you have Joshua and Judges and these books are 09:21 chronological because when God led the children of Israel 09:24 out of Egypt, there were adults among those that were delivered 09:31 out of the bondage of Egypt, but they were children, 09:35 so when Moses took the people of God to Mt. Sinai, 09:41 and delivered to them the law of God and they said, 09:46 "All that the Lord had said, we will do," 09:48 they made a choice to do God's will, but what they did... 09:51 they made a MENTAL choice, but they never connected 09:55 their hearts to the choice that they had verbally committed. 09:59 You see, to commit with your mind and not put your life 10:02 into it and not put your heart into it, even the desire 10:06 to do good - if that's all you have is a desire 10:11 to do good and don't do anything but have a desire, 10:14 then you're going to do wrong. 10:17 So they had a desire to do good. 10:22 So Joshua now - the children that came out of the 10:26 land of Egypt, even the children born during the wilderness 10:31 sojourn, are now adults and Joshua is standing on the 10:37 border of the Promised Land and he is saying to 10:39 Israel, "Look at the history of your fathers, look at the 10:45 genealogy of your family line, look at the things that have 10:49 happened to them," this is not a Scripture, 10:52 this Scripture is not actually in my script, 10:53 but God just tapped me on the forehead and said, "Go there." 10:56 Come with me to 1 Corinthians 10, 10:58 go there with me, 1 Corinthians 10, notice 11:01 what the Apostle Paul says to us... 11:06 Thank you Lord for additional wisdom. 11:09 The Apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 10:11... 11:18 We are told, the Bible says now... 11:20 "Now all these things happen to them as what? 11:23 As examples." 11:25 "And they were written for our what?" 11:28 "Admonition." 11:29 Get this... "On whom the ends of the ages have come." 11:35 So in other words, God is saying, "If you pause for 11:38 a moment"... and I'm learning, you know sometimes 11:41 we learn the hard way... Come on somebody, say Amen. 11:43 Sometimes we learn the hard way... 11:44 I used to have this saying that God has told me to go back to... 11:47 I used to say, "I learn from other people's mistakes," 11:50 but you know that when you live from day-to-day, 11:52 sometimes you feel that there are days that you feel really 11:55 godly and nothing could touch you - you ever had those days? 12:03 But then there are those days you wake up in the morning 12:05 and you said, "What is wrong with me." 12:11 Am I right? Am I telling the truth? 12:13 There are those days where you say, "Lord, tell me I didn't 12:17 just do that?" 12:23 You see, according to the law of averages, 12:26 you're supposed to make all the dumb choices 12:28 when you're young. Amen... lights. 12:32 But sometimes, those dumb choices tend to seep 12:37 into your life even as you get old! 12:40 No Amen is required, just listen... 12:44 When you look at the life of Abraham... 12:48 Oh, I never forgot when the servant of the Lord said, 12:51 that Abraham's greatest choice, Abraham's greatest test 12:55 came when Abraham was an old man. 13:02 So don't ever get to the place where you think you've been an 13:04 Adventist Christian so long that you can't be tested... 13:08 At every stage in your walk with God, He's going to 13:13 bring the test NOT to reveal you to Him, 13:16 but to reveal YOU to YOU! 13:20 Because sometimes, I'll be honest, sometimes we don't know 13:23 who we are. Can I get a witness? 13:27 Sometimes you say, "Lord, I know You didn't see that." 13:31 And He said, "Yes I did." 13:34 And you say, "Lord, please forgive me." 13:37 And so as Joshua chronicled the journey of the children of 13:43 Israel, he is saying to us today, "That a single choice 13:47 has more impact on your destiny - hear me carefully, 13:52 than ALL the forces that hell can unleash against us." 13:57 You remember the quotation, "The weakest saint is more 14:00 powerful... the weakest saint is more than a match 14:05 for - and I'm paraphrasing, for Satan," more than a match. 14:10 When we get on our knees and pray - the weakest saint is 14:14 more than a match and Paul the Apostle says it this way... 14:18 "for we are more than conquerors through Him 14:21 who loved us." 14:23 So I'm getting to the place in life where I'm saying, 14:25 "Okay Lord, I'm getting gray and sometimes I see a little bit 14:30 of scalp peeking through... Come on help me out somebody. 14:38 And I say, at this stage in life, I should have a list 14:42 of do's and don'ts - if you don't have a list, get a list 14:52 because at some point in our walk with God, 14:54 we've got to exercise the intelligently informed 15:01 divinely supplied decision- making to just decide 15:08 by God's grace, "I'm going to do what's right." 15:15 The power of choice! 15:17 I was so moved... you see the right focus informs the will 15:21 which results in the right choice. 15:23 When I found this quotation, I stood up and praised 15:26 God by myself at home. 15:28 In the book, "Education," the servant of the Lord says, 15:31 "Everyone may place his will on the side of the 15:35 will of God," everybody. 15:37 You got a will - the focus though - get me, 15:41 what you focus on will determine how you think, 15:45 and how you THINK will determine how you ACT, 15:50 and how you ACT will determine the outcome of your character, 15:54 and the outcome of your character will determine 15:56 your destiny. 15:57 So the question is... I begin today by saying... 16:00 "What are you focusing on?" 16:03 Because by beholding, we become changed, 16:07 and this world is designed in such a way that it wants 16:11 you to focus on the wrong thing. 16:14 I love what David said... 16:17 He made a covenant with his eyes that he will put no evil 16:22 thing before him. 16:23 Job made a covenant with his eyes. 16:28 And David said, "Lord, open my eyes that I may behold 16:32 wonderful things." 16:35 And how amazing it is that the last message to be given 16:39 is the message to Laodicea which means - we need our eyes 16:44 to be anointed - spiritual anointing because we don't 16:50 see the things that we ought to see and sometimes, 16:52 we choose NOT to see the things we ought to see. 16:54 Come on now... Yes, you get old, 16:56 but you know there are certain movies you should 16:57 not be watching. 17:02 Certain places you should not be going on the internet. 17:07 Certain things you should not be writing on Facebook! 17:15 Some people think that Facebook is the place 17:19 to put all their business, not knowing that 17:22 what you put out there is going to come back to you 17:25 pressed down, shaken together and running over. 17:32 But why do we make these kinds of choices? 17:35 Why do we choose to put stuff on Facebook that will be a 17:39 witness against us in the Judgment? 17:43 I've made a covenant, I put a picture of my wife 17:46 and I on Facebook, but I have almost all my 17:50 content is spiritual stuff. 17:51 I like to start spiritual battles on Facebook, 17:54 and what I mean by that is agitate people's minds to 17:58 think about truth and point them back to Christ, 18:02 to let them know that we can make decisions to choose 18:06 or not to choose. 18:08 We can make choices that will impact our lives today 18:12 and our lives for eternity. 18:15 God, when He created man, He created man with 18:20 the inalienable right to make a decision between 18:24 what they're going to do and what they're not going to do. 18:26 Some people think that when God made Adam and Eve, 18:28 He made them perfect. 18:30 He made them... He made them SIN-LESS, 18:35 but He did not take from them the ABILITY to sin... 18:40 Because if God had taken from them the ability TO sin, 18:46 then they would have been robots. 18:49 But God created man with free moral agency - 18:54 the ability to make decisions. 18:59 In other words, intellectual choices 19:05 are not always intelligent choices. 19:09 Did you hear what I just said? 19:11 Intellectual choices are not always intelligent choices. 19:14 We are where we are because we make intellectual choices. 19:18 We are what we are because we make intellectual choices, 19:21 but intellectual choices are not always intelligent choices. 19:27 A wise man who messed up his life 19:34 wrote these following words... 19:36 Solomon said, "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, 19:40 but he who heeds counsel is wise." Proverbs 12:15 19:54 When Paul the Apostle chronicles the reason why the 19:57 antediluvian world fell, he said, "They knew God, 20:00 but they chose not to glorify Him as God." 20:03 They didn't like to keep God in their knowledge. 20:06 They did not like to retain God and professing themselves 20:09 to be wise, they became fools. 20:15 It always amazes me that when people get degrees, 20:18 somewhere along the way... I don't know how many 20:20 degrees it takes for you to kick into foolish mode, 20:23 but somewhere along the way, some people think that 20:25 they so educated that they don't need God anymore. 20:31 And somehow the devil also makes us think 20:34 at moments of our lives... follow me carefully, 20:38 that the pleasures of this world... 20:40 this is how the devil works... he makes us think 20:43 that the pleasures of this world are greater 20:47 than the pleasures that we find in serving God. 20:51 I mean, what other reason can you give for people 20:54 going down a path that they know is going to lead them 20:57 to destruction, but they go down that path anyway. 21:03 Isaiah says it carefully, Isaiah 5:21... 21:12 The single act between who we are and who we can be 21:16 is choice. 21:18 And I want to say this carefully because right now 21:20 we're living in a very fragile world. 21:22 The only thing more powerful than an atomic bomb 21:25 is the choice not to use one. Amen? 21:31 More powerful than an atomic bomb is the choice 21:34 NOT to use it because whether they know it or not, 21:37 there is no such thing as limited nuclear exchange. 21:43 Have you heard that before? 21:45 Limited nuclear exchange. 21:47 I'll just shoot one nuclear weapon you way, 21:49 and you just shoot one my way and we'll call it a day. 21:53 Somebody ought to pray that wisdom prevails 21:57 in the leaders of the world. Come on, say Amen to that. Amen! 22:01 Choice is so powerful, it is the checkbox 22:04 between life and death, the thin line between failure 22:07 and success. 22:08 If you condemn it, if you condemn the choice 22:11 that God has given to you, if you use it wastefully, 22:16 you'll discover that who you have become 22:18 is not who you wanted to be. 22:21 God is calling His people back to making wise choices. 22:27 You remember the story of Nebuchadnezzar... 22:30 Nebuchadnezzar chose to continue to exalt himself. 22:34 He choose to continue to contribute all of his successes 22:38 to the work that he had done, and God had warned him 22:40 incessantly not to exalt Himself, but He exalted 22:43 himself and when God ripped Nebuchadnezzar from his golden 22:47 dishes and gave him a 7- year diet of grass. 22:50 After that 7 years, his reason returned to him and I'm sure 22:54 somewhere along the way, Nebuchadnezzar must have said, 22:57 "What was I thinking?" 23:03 Brothers and sisters, we are on the borders of eternity. 23:06 We've got to make decisions for eternity - what do you say? 23:09 Gotta make decisions about eternity. 23:12 We cannot leave our eternal destiny 23:14 in the hands of somebody else. 23:16 We cannot say, "Well YOU choose for me." 23:19 Each one of us must examine ourselves. 23:22 Each one of us must mold our choices, 23:25 must choose our focus, must influence our 23:28 own thoughts, must get the proper 23:30 information because nothing shapes our thoughts like 23:33 the information that we embrace... 23:36 the things that we read; 23:38 the Bible that we expose ourselves to. 23:42 The Bible says, "As a man thinks in his heart... 23:44 what does it say? ... so is he. 23:50 When you look at where you end up, 23:52 it comes down to something as simple as... 23:54 CHOICE is born in the mind before it is carried 23:58 out in the life. 24:01 We sit down and we think about things... 24:03 I found myself throughout life... 24:05 Sometimes did you ever sit down and just think? 24:06 Somebody said, "What are you thinking about?" 24:08 And you know what you say? "Nothing." 24:10 You know, there is not a moment of the day that 24:13 you're not thinking about something. 24:15 You just don't want other people to know 24:17 what you're thinking about... am I telling the truth? 24:19 You sit there like you stare in his face... 24:22 "Honey, what are you thinking about?" "Nothing." 24:25 There's no nothing moments in our minds. 24:33 We're always thinking about something. 24:35 And unfortunately... I want to add another component 24:39 to this - unfortunately sometimes we're thinking of 24:44 how people need to change... when God is saying to us 24:47 how WE need to change. 24:49 Sometimes we're saying, I wouldn't be in the 24:53 mess I'm in if it weren't for so and so. 24:55 NO! You wouldn't be in the mess you're in if it wasn't 24:58 for YOU! 25:02 Go back to our first parents... 25:03 At the infancy of our world, the power of choice was 25:07 the gift that God had given to Adam. 25:08 Look at Genesis 2:16... God gave Adam the right 25:12 to choose - I didn't say Eve because God gave Adam 25:15 stewardship. 25:17 He gave him stewardship over all creation, 25:19 and the destiny of humanity was based not on the choice 25:22 that EVE made, but on the choice that ADAM made. 25:25 Well you couldn't blame Eve, Adam had a choice. 25:29 God gave him the right to make the choice. 25:32 Genesis 2:16... 25:44 Saying of every tree of the garden you may what? 25:51 ... freely eat. 25:52 In other words, the choice to eat or not to eat 25:56 was Adam's, but not only did God give him a choice, 25:59 he said - and this is something that the devil does... 26:02 The devil says, "Is there anything you can do?" 26:05 And GOD says, "You can do ANYTHING BUT... 26:13 How amazing - the devil makes the abundance of the good 26:19 choices of God - the devil makes them look bad, 26:23 and the one BAD choice, the devil makes it look good! 26:27 Isn't that amazing? 26:30 How does that happen? 26:33 If you follow the trek of Eve, the tree was pleasant 26:37 to the eyes, a tree desirable to make one wise. 26:43 It was good for food, pleasant to the eyes, 26:45 a tree desirable to make one wise. 26:47 She focused more on what God told her NOT to partake of, 26:52 than what God told her she COULD partake of. 26:56 It began with a focus and when we focus on what God 27:00 tells us NOT to do... One psychologist said, 27:04 (I don't know how true this is, I'm not a psychologist, 27:07 but I take the psychologists at their word because, you know, 27:10 they're supposed to be the learned ones) 27:12 They said, "When you pray, "Lord help me to stop smoking," 27:15 ... you know what they said, "You're gonna smoke." 27:18 One said when you say, "Lord, help me NOT to eat this donut," 27:24 "You're going to eat that donut." 27:28 Have you seen it in your children, you say... 27:30 "Don't do that," what do they do? 27:31 They do exactly what you tell them not to do 27:35 because the human nature we have LEANS 27:38 in the direction of disobedience 27:40 because that's what we got from Adam. 27:41 God told Adam not to eat, God informed Adam of the 27:45 consequences of the wrong choice. 27:49 Look at verse 17, Genesis 2. 28:06 I spent a lot of time on that text. 28:08 I'm not going to spend a lot of time on that this morning, 28:11 I want to say it this way, "Sin is not incidental." 28:15 Hear me carefully, "Sin is not incidental." 28:17 Sin is the result of the choice we make based on 28:21 our intentional rejection of the information 28:25 that God has already given us. 28:28 Let me say that again, it was a long sentence. 28:30 Are you ready? 28:33 Sin is not incidental. 28:34 Sin is the result of the choice we make based on the 28:39 intentional rejection of the information 28:43 God has already given us. 28:47 You gonna die! I reject that Lord. 28:50 I ain't gonna die. 28:52 You gonna die! I'm not gonna die. 28:55 Intentional rejection of what God already 28:58 told us is going to happen. 29:00 To confirm that, go to James 4:17, look at this... 29:03 Confirmation of the statement... 29:05 The thesis is confirmed in James 4:17. 29:08 Notice what the Bible says... 29:09 When you reject information that God has... 29:12 When you intentionally choose to ignore what God 29:16 told you is going to happen, it's gonna happen anyway. 29:24 James says... "To him who knows to do good... 29:26 (How does he know? God told him.) 29:28 To him who knows to do good and does not do it, 29:31 Together what? 29:32 To him it is sin." 29:37 So after Adam sinned, God asked him a question 29:44 that exposes the reality of information. 29:46 You see, God's word... you might have God's word 29:51 on your shelf... Let me say this, let tell you... 29:53 God's word on your shelf can't keep you from sin. 29:55 God's word in your heart can keep you from sin. 29:58 David says, "Thy word have I hid in my... heart, 30:01 not in my glove compartment, not in my trunk, 30:04 come on... not in my backpack. 30:07 It's amazing to me that... okay I'm not going to go there. 30:12 Let me stick with the topic. 30:19 When you look at Genesis 3:11, God asked Adam a question 30:23 that exposes the reality that Adam had information 30:27 that he rejected and he chose to focus in a different direction. 30:31 Look at verse 11 of chapter 3... 30:33 "And he said - that is God said, God came and found 30:38 Adam hiding behind a bush... big old 17 foot man, 30:44 21 feet tall - trying to hide behind a bush - can you see it? 30:50 And God said... He knows where he is... 30:53 Adam, Adam - where ARE you? 30:58 You ever hear that song on 3ABN radio... 31:00 Adam, Adam - where ARE you? God knew where Adam was. 31:05 God wasn't asking for a location, 31:08 God was asking for a confession. Amen! 31:11 The same way He said to Elijah, "Elijah, what doest thou here?" 31:16 Same thing He said to Jonah, "What meanest thou, oh sleeper?" 31:19 When God asks you where you are, God ain't asking for 31:22 GPS coordinates. Laughter Amen? 31:26 God is asking for heart condition... Where are you? 31:29 Where are you on what I've said? 31:31 So He comes to Adam... Let me go to Genesis. 31:36 I'm telling you to go there and I ain't even there. 31:39 Genesis 3- "Where are you Adam?" 31:44 Big burly guy... can you see this big muscle bound... 31:47 He was a prototype of what every man wants to be. 31:55 Not tall, dark and handsome, mega tall. 32:00 No clogged arteries, perfect vision, 32:04 a fully operating mind - had more in his mind than 32:09 we have in the most advanced mainframes today! 32:13 Adam was instantly intelligent. 32:16 When God pointed to the animals, God said to Adam, 32:20 "What is that?" Adam said, "That's an elephant." 32:23 Adam didn't go to school, God built into him 32:25 all the knowledge he needed. 32:27 Adam was more informed than us. 32:30 So God comes to Adam... "Where are you?" End of verse 9 32:38 "Where are you?" 32:49 One of the symptoms that we make bad choices is we hide. 32:54 We hide! Where can you hide from God? 32:56 When I don't see people come to church, 33:06 and they run out of excuse vouchers, 33:08 they're hiding because they have made a choice 33:13 that doesn't honor God and now they're naked, 33:16 and they don't want to be seen. 33:19 But what's so beautiful about this story is 33:21 God didn't wait for Adam to come looking for HIM, 33:25 God, in His love, went looking for Adam. Amen! 33:29 You see, when we mess up in our lives, when we make bad choices, 33:32 God doesn't say, "John, come to me." 33:35 He says, "John, where are YOU?" 33:38 He comes looking for us. 33:42 His love does not leave us, even in the moments of bad 33:47 choices - His love does not leave us 33:50 destitute, fallen and naked. 33:54 He came - "Where are you?" 33:55 And Adam comes out and I like what he said in verse 11... 33:59 This is the key that exposes the reality 34:02 that we intentionally reject the information 34:05 God has given to us and then we tune our ears 34:07 to a different voice - He says, in verse 11, He said to Adam... 34:11 "Who told you? Get this... Who told you? 34:14 Who have you been listening to? 34:15 What have you been listening to? 34:17 Who told you? 34:18 Where are you getting your information. 34:20 Who told you that you were naked? 34:22 Have you eaten from the tree which I commanded you 34:25 that you should not eat?" 34:27 God knew all the answers to the questions. 34:29 But God wasn't asking questions for information, 34:32 God was asking questions for repentance. 34:35 And Adam was at the place that he could have repented, 34:38 but what did he say instead? 34:40 "The woman You gave me." 34:47 Men have been blaming women for years... Amen scream. 34:54 Laughter! 34:59 Women, I want to apologize on behalf of irresponsible men. 35:07 Now let me tell you why I said that. 35:09 You think I'm making a joke, I'm not making a joke. 35:13 God has called men to be the priest of their homes. 35:16 When you ain't a priest of your home, that's an insult to God. 35:20 God has called you to lead your family in worship. 35:23 When you don't take those responsibilities, 35:25 that's an insult to God. 35:27 God appointed Adam as the priest and the steward of earth. 35:30 He chose not to take the lead, 35:32 so the woman took the lead. 35:34 Led him down the wrong path, but he still had the choice. 35:39 And instead of saying, "Lord, I blew it, forgive me," 35:43 he blames God because He wouldn't have a woman 35:47 unless God created her. 35:50 So he was saying, "God, if you didn't create her, 35:52 I'd be all right." Laughter... 36:01 I think that where the songwriter got the idea, 36:03 "It's me, it's me, it's me, oh Lord, 36:05 standing in the need of prayer." 36:07 Don't ever blame your bad choices on somebody else, 36:12 and eliminate the word "mistake." 36:14 You know what a mistake is... when you type C instead of D, 36:16 that's a mistake. 36:18 They don't make "white-out" for the junk 36:21 you do in your life. 36:23 It's called "repentance and confession, 36:28 and determination, and determination by God's 36:30 grace not to do it again." Amen somebody! Amen! 36:33 Some people got the idea... and I'm going to be very, 36:35 I want to be very intentional today... 36:37 Some people have the idea that we're going to be 36:39 sinning up until the hour that Jesus comes. 36:42 That's the wrong concept of righteousness by faith. 36:47 You gonna blow out a cigarette and ascend to heaven? 36:50 No, not in God's economy. 36:54 If you are the seed... if the seed of God's 36:57 righteousness is in you... He says, "My seed remains 37:00 in you and you cannot sin." 37:02 Do you know what that means? 37:04 He said, "He that has this hope purifies himself, 37:07 even as He is pure." 37:08 When Peter asked for the Lord to wash him totally, 37:12 the Lord said, "You are already clean, I just need to 37:15 work on the areas that are Not yet where I need them to be." 37:19 And rather than you thinking of me talking about perfection 37:21 of humanity, I'm talking about the righteousness of Christ 37:25 that SEES us... Thank you Jesus! 37:27 That sees us on a moment-by- moment day-by-day basis 37:31 when we CHOOSE to serve God. 37:34 He sees us in the righteousness of His Son. 37:38 And you can't walk around saying, "Well, I'm gonna sin 37:40 today and not sin tomorrow because, you know, 37:42 I need to do that and I don't need to do this." 37:44 NO, you don't need to do anything. 37:45 Listen to what "Education," the book says... 37:47 The book "Education, p.23, paragraph 1," here it is... 37:51 "Though created innocent and holy, our first parents 37:57 were not placed beyond the possibility of wrong-doing." 38:01 God might have created them without the power 38:04 to transgress His requirements, but in that case, 38:09 there could have been no development of character. 38:12 Let me pause right here... 38:13 You know, the reason why you got good and bad choices, 38:16 right and wrong choices, light and dark choices... 38:19 is because God said, "You need to develop who you want to be." 38:27 That's why folks that don't decide to live right are not 38:31 going to be in the kingdom. 38:33 This idea that God is going to save everybody is 38:36 a lie from the devil. 38:38 He's not putting people that don't want to serve Him 38:41 in heaven because heaven will be hell for them. 38:44 You gotta choose, you gotta make a decision... 38:46 "I'm not gonna do that." 38:47 "God give me the strength to do that." 38:49 And what you discover is, when you lean your will 38:53 into God's will... the servant of the Lord says, 38:55 "He immediately possesses us." 38:58 You want to talk about spiritual possession... 39:00 when you allow yourself to lean into God's will and like Jesus 39:04 left a wonderful example, He said, "Not My will, 39:07 but what? Thine be done." 39:09 Every day you gotta choose God's WILL! 39:12 But let me give you even some better good news... 39:14 When you choose God's will, God doesn't say, 39:18 "Now go ahead and do that and do this." 39:19 Oh no, brethren, that's not how it works! 39:22 God doesn't say, "Do this and not do that." 39:26 God says, "All you gotta do is choose to serve me." Amen! 39:32 And then God will come in and both will and do. Amen somebody! 39:42 He'll WILL and DO. 39:44 I got proof for that. 39:46 The demoniac was under the control of an evil spirit, 39:51 and the demoniac did what the evil spirit 39:55 determined he would do. 39:57 When we are under the control of the spirit of God, 40:00 there will be love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, 40:05 meekness, patience. 40:07 We don't choose a fruit and say, "I'm working on 40:09 the other ones." 40:11 Because in the single fruit of the Spirit of God, 40:14 you got love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, 40:19 meekness, patience. 40:22 God gave them the power to choose so that they 40:27 could develop CHARACTER! Amen 40:30 Can I ask you... "Doesn't it feel good 40:33 when you do right?" Yes! 40:35 Not supposed to go on feeling, but it feels so good when 40:38 you could go through the day and say, 40:39 "Lord, I did pretty good today!" 40:42 I don't even do that... I say, "Lord, thank You 40:45 for working through me!" 40:49 Listen to this... "Their service would not have 40:53 been voluntary but forced if God did not 40:56 give them the power to choose. 40:58 Therefore, He gave them the power of choice, 41:01 the power to yield or withhold obedience... 41:04 And before they could receive, in fullness, the blessing 41:10 He desired to impart, their love and loyalty must be tested." 41:18 You don't put somebody in a leadership position 41:21 who hasn't been tested. 41:24 You don't drag somebody off the street and make them the CEO. 41:31 So the question is... "What is the purpose of this life?" 41:34 The purpose of the Christian walk is character development, 41:38 and that's something you gotta choose to do. 41:40 But if self is in the way, then you'll be like 41:48 you'll be like a body that's at odds with itself. 41:56 Some people have diseases that fight against their own 42:01 immune system. 42:02 When we are out of harmony with God, 42:05 SIN will fight against the battle that is taking place 42:10 within us to put self to death. 42:13 We've got to put self to death; only when self is put to death, 42:17 can we understand what it means to live a single day 42:23 giving God the glory. 42:25 I've been talking to my wife lately... we sit down and 42:26 we have some serious conversations. 42:35 I looked into my wife's eyes and said... yesterday, you know 42:39 we talk, we read our Bibles and then we get 42:41 into these discussions! 42:43 I said, "Honey, you know what? Here's the kind of life 42:45 I want to live... I don't want to be a good 42:47 singer, I don't want to be a good preacher, 42:50 I don't want to be a good Bible study guy, 42:51 I want to be a good Christian." 42:54 And I said to her, "Honey, it's been 34 years, 42:57 but here's the kind of life that I have covenanted with God... 43:01 If I go to bed tonight and don't wake up, 43:04 I'm gonna see you in the first resurrection." 43:07 And we both sat and stood there and cried together. 43:12 That's the kind of life... that's the kind of assurance 43:15 you want to have - that if you close your eyes tonight, 43:18 and tomorrow morning didn't come for you, 43:21 you made a choice TODAY. 43:23 You made a choice when? Today. 43:25 Let me show you how simple it is... 43:26 When you make a choice to serve God and you repent, 43:30 He cleanses you from ALL unrighteousness. 43:34 He imputes to you and imparts to you His righteousness... 43:37 that's why the thief on the cross who never gave a 43:40 Bible study has the guarantee that when Jesus comes 43:44 He will be with him in paradise. 43:46 You don' t have to live 45 months in good-standing. 43:51 You gotta be in standing with God TODAY! 43:53 Joshua says, "Choose you today whom you will serve." 43:59 And I want to make it even clearer, we don't choose 44:01 the circumstances of life, but we choose how we respond 44:04 to the circumstances of life. 44:07 In "Ministry of Healing," p.176, listen what Ellen White says... 44:11 God's servant... "God has given us the power of choice. 44:15 It is ours to exercise, but I love what she says here... 44:19 "We cannot change our hearts, don't stay home 44:23 trying to get clean and present yourself before God 44:26 because you can't clean you up." 44:29 We cannot change our hearts. 44:30 We cannot control our thoughts, now you know why... 44:33 your thoughts are all over the place. 44:36 We cannot control our impulses. 44:38 We cannot control our affections. 44:40 We cannot make ourselves pure, fit for God's service, 44:44 but here's what she says, "But we can choose to serve God. 44:50 We can give Him our will and then He will work in us to will 44:56 and to do according to His good pleasure. 45:01 Thus, our whole nature will be brought under 45:05 the control of Christ." 45:08 Isn't that good news? 45:10 You trying to fix your thoughts. 45:12 You're trying to control your impulses. 45:13 You're trying to change your affections. 45:14 You're trying to clean your heart... you CANNOT do that! 45:18 Some folks say, "Give me time so I clean some things up." 45:21 That's like saying, "I have a bad heart, 45:23 let me work on my heart before I have heart surgery." 45:26 That ain't gonna work! 45:30 You see, the power of life is in God's hands, 45:32 but the power of choice is completely in ours. 45:35 Look at Deuteronomy 30:19... Go there quickly with me. 45:39 Deuteronomy 30:19, the Lord says... 45:55 Therefore... look at God's goodness... what does He say? 46:03 Gotta choose life! 46:05 My brother - he's dead now, I have a real brother 46:08 that is by birth and by blood, but I had a brother 46:11 that was by association. 46:13 I was raised by an Adventist lady who adopted a son 46:16 in Trinidad and brought him over to America. 46:18 He was the only brother I knew, but he'd fall with alcoholism. 46:21 When he got alcohol in him, you had to plug your ears 46:26 with cotton, there was not a profane word he couldn't find, 46:31 and, he became violent. 46:32 He lived in Queens, Pastor C.A. he lived in Queens. 46:36 We lived in Brooklyn. 46:38 Whenever he got drunk, he'd get on the A-train 46:40 and he was supposed to switch at West 4th Street 46:43 for the F-train... no, sorry, Jay Street and Borough Hall 46:46 Pastor C.A. knows what I'm talking about 46:47 for the other train. 46:49 One night, he woke up and he said to the conductor, 46:55 "When is this train going to leave the station?" 47:00 The conductor said, "You've been on this train for 47:02 3-1/2 hours - we've been at this same stop 3 times already." 47:13 There's a lesson in this story. 47:16 The stops of the train were determined 47:19 before he got on board. 47:22 So if you don't want to stop at a certain place in your life, 47:25 don't make the choice to get on board! 47:28 Did you hear what I said? 47:31 In other words, don't make a bad choice 47:34 expecting good results. 47:38 Don't decide against God expecting God to bless you. 47:42 Don't say I'm gonna live in darkness, 47:44 and you wonder why God ain't pouring out 47:46 blessings in your life. 47:49 Don't say, "Lord, I am NOT gonna follow Your word," 47:52 and expect God to bless you through His word. 47:54 We gotta make choices! 47:56 I don't know of any parent that's gonna say to the child 48:00 that comes in the house with a gun sticking out the back 48:02 pocket - "Give me the car keys," and the parent says, 48:04 "Here they are." 48:07 Gun sticking out the back pocket. 48:09 "I need your car, I'm gonna rob 48:10 a bank tonight, give me the keys." 48:12 "Here they are on the table!" 48:13 "When you're done, I'll just bring it back 48:15 without any holes in it." 48:17 We don't reward children for disobedience, 48:20 and God does not reward us either... 48:22 But what you need to know, on the other hand 48:25 when we choose to serve God, no matter what situation 48:28 you're in - thank you Jesus, God can deliver you! Amen 48:32 Daniel ended up in the lion's den because of obedience, 48:35 but Daniel's testimony from the king, 48:38 he said, "He will deliver us from your hand." 48:41 The Hebrew said, "The God we serve is able to deliver us, 48:45 even if He chooses not to, we are gonna choose to serve him." 48:50 Why do bad things happen to good people? 48:53 God doesn't always reverse your health situation, 48:56 but you got a guarantee of the first resurrection... 48:58 that's good enough for me! Amen! 49:00 Ellen White says in "Steps to Christ," 49:04 "Desire for goodness and holiness are right 49:06 as far as they go, but if you stop here, 49:09 you will avail nothing. 49:10 Many will be lost while hoping and desiring to be Christians, 49:14 they do not come to the point of yielding the will to God. 49:19 They do not NOW choose to be Christians." 49:24 You gotta choose to be a Christian. 49:26 You can't hope one day 49:28 that you're going to get in the kingdom. 49:29 What I like is the next quotation from the book 49:32 "Child Guidance," I hope you don't mind me 49:35 reading some inspired quotations to you... 49:38 "Child Guidance," p.209, listen to this... 49:40 I thank God for this... "Everyone may place his 49:44 will on the side of the will of God and may choose 49:48 to obey Him and by thus linking himself with 49:52 divine agencies... Oh Lord, HE may stand where 49:56 nothing can force him to do evil." Amen! 50:00 Nothing! How much? Nothing! 50:09 When you put on the whole armor of God in the morning, 50:12 when you get up and you start the day on your knees, 50:16 and in God's word and you're fortified... 50:19 Ellen White says, "Only those who are fortified by the 50:22 word of God will stand in the last great conflict." 50:24 You cannot ignore light and wonder 50:27 why you're walking in darkness. 50:29 You can ignore God's voice and wonder why you 50:33 fall every time - you gotta make choices. 50:35 You MAKE choices - why not make the RIGHT choice? 50:43 He says if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, 50:46 look at your ancestors; look at our 40-year journey; 50:50 look at what God has done in your life; 50:52 look at where you are today; look at how God has 50:54 delivered you; look at how He has provided for you; 50:56 look at that in spite of the bad choices you made 50:59 you're still alive to make a good one! 51:08 If it seems evil to you, choose for yourselves 51:12 this day whom you will serve, whether the God 51:16 which your father served or the gods of the Amorites 51:19 in whose land you dwell, but today I want to make 51:21 a declaration... "But as for me and my house, 51:23 together... we will serve the Lord." 51:27 We will serve the Lord. 51:29 Just recently, my wife and I were getting on a plane 51:32 to come back home... I always laugh when they 51:35 do this... and I said, "Honey, I'm gonna use that 51:38 in my sermon," they said, "Everybody is checked 51:43 in and we're about the close the doors - if St Louis is not 51:51 your final destination, this is a good time to get off." 51:55 Come on somebody... remember that? 51:57 If St. Louis is not your final destination, 52:00 this is a GOOD TIME to get off! 52:05 Oh I'm gonna appeal... if where your head is 52:07 is not what you want your final destination to be, 52:13 today is a good time to get off. 52:16 Is there somebody here today, as Jill plays softly, 52:21 that wants prayer this morning. 52:23 They want to come down and say, "Father, I need a better 52:26 final destination and I want to be nearer 52:30 to you than I've been before. 52:32 And TODAY I'm exercising my power to choose. 52:39 I don't want to postpone, nor do I want to forfeit 52:46 the life that You have for me. 52:49 I don't want to choose death, I want to choose life, 52:53 and I'm gonna make that choice today... 52:55 And if my eyes close tonight, and I don't get up tomorrow, 53:03 I want to be in the first resurrection. 53:06 Is there somebody here today that's smart enough 53:10 to choose that destiny? 53:13 That road I'm choosing today, I'm choosing today. 53:22 God is saying to you today, there's the door 53:26 I want you to walk through, but the other choice is death. 53:29 I'm calling you today to choose life. 53:32 And sometimes we choose death because we don't know 53:36 what it means to choose life and there's a door there 53:38 waiting for us to walk through. 53:40 I heard a story that just so revolutionized my life 53:43 about a general of a Persian army, 53:48 and he would always give his prisoners a choice of 53:51 their method of death. 53:52 He said, "firing squad or the black door?" 54:01 Most of them chose the firing squad because they didn't know 54:05 what was behind the black door and they said, 54:06 "Man, if they ain't showing it to me, 54:08 it's got to be worse than the firing squad." 54:10 Well what could be worse than being shot dead? 54:14 But the prisoners were never told what was behind the 54:16 black door, so they chose the firing squad. 54:20 Somebody came to the general and said, 54:22 "What's behind the black door?" 54:23 He said, "Freedom." 54:30 He said, "In all my years of being a general, 54:32 I only know a few men that were brave enough 54:35 to choose the unknown. 54:39 Today I'm asking you, God is asking you 54:42 to commit the unknown to the known God. 54:46 God is not asking you to figure out how you gonna live, 54:48 God is saying today, "Choose life," 54:51 it's behind this door... 54:54 "Behold, He's standing at the door today and knocking." 55:00 Somebody has gotta make eternal decisions. 55:02 Somebody has gotta say, "The devil wants to hold 55:05 some of you in your seat." 55:06 He wants to say to some of you, "You can't do it, 55:09 you can't do it, you can't do it." 55:11 "You messed up, you can't do it - look at your life, 55:14 you can't do it" - that's the devil talking to you. 55:16 Say, "Lord, I rebuke that." 55:19 "I know I could do it by Your strength, 55:20 I'm not too dirty to stand up, I'm not too unworthy 55:24 to give my life to the Lord." 55:25 If you think you're unworthy, that's why God wants you to 55:28 stand - so He can make you, by His righteousness, 55:30 worthy today. 55:32 So if you ain't standing up, I'm encouraging you now 55:34 to stand up... Stand up for Jesus, 55:37 break the shackles that bind you. 55:39 Break the shackles that have been holding you for years. 55:43 You don't have to worry about what's behind the door, 55:47 just say, "Lord, I know what the firing squad is going to be, 55:50 it's certain death... I'm going to put my life 55:54 in your hand and walk through the door that I don't 55:57 know about." 56:01 The door of uncertainty leads to a certain God... 56:03 Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed... 56:07 Father in Heaven, We've been choosing all our 56:12 lives - all of our lives we've been making choices, 56:19 and frankly, some of us are sick of ourselves, 56:22 but when we look at the choices we've made when we 56:25 look back at the ridiculous decisions, the crazy choices, 56:28 the things that, if we had a chance to do all over again, 56:32 we would NEVER MAKE THAT CHOICE. 56:36 We've argued with ourselves, we've beat ourselves up, 56:39 we have been angry with ourselves, 56:43 but today, Lord, this is not a beat-me-up session, 56:46 this is a standup-for-Jesus session. 56:49 God is not condemning you anymore than He condemned 56:52 the woman, anymore than He condemned the paralytic, 56:55 anymore than He condemned those who come to Him. 56:58 "Whoever comes to Me," He says, "I will in no wise cast out." 57:04 So Father, today, today Lord Jesus, we're standing 57:09 because this is the best choice we can make... 57:12 to put our lives in the hand of a God who wants us to be 57:14 in His kingdom by His side walking in a perfect 57:17 sinless environment and being blessed in every step 57:22 we take in this life - to live with the assurance of salvation, 57:26 to live with the assurance that "I am saved by Your grace." 57:31 Possess us today, Lord, may Your Holy Spirit 57:35 come in and turn us inside-out, filter us. 57:40 File us down - there's only one desire... 57:45 Joshua said it, "But as for me and my house, 57:48 we will serve the Lord." 57:51 I'm so glad, Lord, I don't know how to figure out 57:53 how to do that - You're going to come in, 57:55 You're going to possess me, You're going to work Your will 57:57 in me and then You're going to work it through me. 58:01 I'm no good Father, but You are nothing but good. 58:06 I'm unrighteous, but You are nothing but righteousness. 58:12 So today I throw myself on Your mercy, on Your grace, 58:16 on Your goodness. 58:18 As Your people stand here today, Lord, we've made a decision... 58:21 Heaven has recorded it and hell has taken notice of it. 58:27 But when we leave this place of worship today, 58:29 help us not to leave trying to figure out that 58:31 we have to do the next thing, but we leave here today 58:35 determined that now we're giving You the power 58:38 to do what we could NEVER HAVE DONE! 58:41 And we have the assurance that He who has begun a 58:44 good work in us is going to complete it. 58:47 Father, continue working that we may see You in peace. 58:52 So as we are dismissed, Father, bless us, keep us, guide us, 58:56 strengthen us and may Your kingdom be furnished with 59:00 souls saved by grace because we have chosen today 59:06 to serve You. 59:09 This we pray, this we thank You for, 59:13 this we give You the glory for. 59:16 In Jesus Holy and precious name we pray... Amen |
Revised 2018-01-17