Gtcotr/ss030710
Life is always a choice!
Without regard as to your age, your stage, station, or situation of life, and
without respect to how long you will live, you have but “One Life” and believe
me when I tell you that “Life is a choice”.
Today each one of us:
· Think what we think
· Feel what we feel – and –
· Want what we want – because –
· We believe what we believe
However, we:
· Do what we do – and –
· Get what we get – because –
· We Choose what we choose
This process is all well and good as long as we believe the truth and choose to
live according to that truth. What happens though if we are deceived and
believe a lie? Do you know if you are deceived?
Well, what is truth? How can we determine what is actually true?
Just as we have only “One Life”, there is only “One Truth”.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life …”
John 17:17 “Sanctify them by Thy Truth, Thy Word is Truth.”
Jesus, who is the Word,
is the One Truth, the One Way, and the One Life. And yet, God allows mankind,
and each one of us in particular, to choose:
· what we believe
· how we live – and –
· where we go
Live, even our One Life, is always a choice … in this, God is pro-choice. (ie. God defends your individual
right to believe what you choose, live like you choose, and ultimately go to
heaven or hell as a result of your own choice)
Does the fact that God has given mankind, each one of you and every one of your
children this kind of power and authority, concern anyone else but me? I am so
bothered with the reality of this that I have dedicated the last 30 years of my
life in attempts to educate people about this truth and motivate them to make
the right choices in life. Still today, I spend almost all of my waking hours
somehow engaged in spreading that truth around our community and communities
like ours all over the world.
So, for this morning allow me to go back over this one more time for those who
are here, those who are listening and those whom you will tell.
Deuteronomy 30 NKJV
19 "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have
set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life,
that both you and your descendants may live;
20 "that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and
that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and
that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them."
God’s Word is established forever in heaven and on the earth. God has set life
and death, blessing and cursing before you and given you the choice. Notice
that He encourages you to choose life because along with life comes all the
benefits a person could desire.
Why would anyone therefore not choose life and blessings? Here are some common
reasons why people don’t choose a blessed life:
1. They don’t believe that the Bible is God’s Word.
(they simply don’t believe the Bible is true)
2. They don’t believe God meant it.
(they don’t trust God or His motives)
3. They don’t believe God will do it.
(they believe God is a liar who does not keep His
promises)
Sometimes it is just a matter of the fact that some people have not yet heard
they have a choice.
4. They just don’t know about it.
(ignorant of the Word, Way and Will of God --- lost)
but mostly it is because:
5. They don’t know how to make the choice.
(these believers need to be empowered to choose)
Remember: We think what we think, feel what we feel, want
what we want because, we believe what we believe. However, we do what we do,
and get what we get because we choose what we choose.
If I can teach you to trust that the Bible is the Word of God, it says what it
means and means what it says --- it is the Truth --- then you will believe it.
Once you believe it, I can then empower you to begin acting on the Word,
increasing its claim on your life, releasing its right and power to change your
life to line up with God’s will, God’s way, God’s word.
When you believe the Word of God and act upon it, it will change what you
think, what you feel, what you want, what you do, and what you get. And, you
will get the “One Life” God has for you when you believe the “One Truth” and
make the “One Choice” God wants for you.
How can you begin to empower yourself to choose life? “One Confession”
Proverbs 18 NKJV
21 Death and
life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.
20 A man’s
stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth, From the produce of his
lips he shall be filled.
We begin to empower ourselves when we make the Word of God our “One
Confession”.
The power of God’s Word is released through the faith-filled words of a
Believer. The more we speak the truth, the more we declare the Word, the more
we choose to trust what God says, the greater the release of blessings in our
life.
The blessed life comes from within, not from without a person. Love, joy,
peace, patience, along with all the fruits of the Spirit are produced in a life
lived in harmony with God’s will.
When God set life and death before you, when He placed blessings and cursing in
your pathway – He told you to choose! Well, how do you choose? By the faith
filled confessions of your soul.
Your words hold the power of death and life, blessing and cursing. Choose your
words well.
Mark 11 NKJV
22 So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God.
23 "For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be
removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but
believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
24 "Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe
that you receive them, and you will have them.
Not only is God pro-choice … so are you!
What are you for, life or death, blessing or cursing? – make your choice and
declare your stand! You shall have whatever you choose!