Choices

Well, good morning, everyone. Good to see you all here today. Hope you're having a very good feast. I want to thank the choir. That was a lovely piece, and every time I hear the choir, I realize how much time and effort goes into each piece you hear, and I hope you appreciate the hours of practice and preparation that they do. Having a feast choir is always adds to the feast, and all the special music here this year has been very good, so we very much appreciate that.

You know, it's been mentioned a few times about Jekyll Island, and Jekyll Island is one of the feast sites, actually the feast site, I think, that I look at very fondly of. My family, when we came into the church back in 1964, Jekyll Island was the very first place that we kept the feast, so every time we have the opportunity to come back here, it's kind of like going back home again, because I remember that feast of tabernacles.

Excuse me, very young at that time, but it was just a very fine feast. It was really the first time in a young life that we just saw so many people and made so many friends and just felt an atmosphere that you just hadn't felt any place before. So I hope you are having a very good feast here, and you're feeling that here in Jekyll this year.

You know, you probably have had the occasion where there's been a tune go through your mind, and you don't even know sometimes where that tune or that song has come from, and you find yourself just rehearsing it over and over in your mind and thinking, where did I listen to? You know, sometimes that happens. I don't even listen to the radio much at all, and all of a sudden, the tune is in there, and after a while, it just bothers me, and I think, where did I hear that song and why is it there all the time? Sometimes it's pleasant, other times it's songs you don't even want to remember, and it's, you know, but it happens in our minds. Now, it's a good one. There's scriptures that do that, and over the last month or so, there's been a scripture that says, so there's been a scripture that has been reverberating in my mind, that has given me hope, that inspires me every time I think about it, and it just hasn't been able to leave my mind, and I want to begin this morning by turning to that scripture back in Matthew 17. It's really a Feast of Tabernacles-type scripture, and as we're here today in the middle of the Feast of Tabernacles, we can kind of appreciate what three apostles were experiencing back at the time when they were with Jesus Christ, and in vision, they found themselves in the Kingdom of God. In Matthew 17 and verse 3, as Peter, James, and John were in this vision with Jesus Christ and in the Kingdom, says, Behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him.

And Peter, who has moved, I'm sure, with emotion and the feeling of, this is just so good, voiced those very words. He said to Jesus, Lord, it's good for us to be here. If you wish, let us make here three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. Now, as we want to temporarily dwell here, we want to be here in tabernacle with those three men that we see in this vision of the Kingdom.

And he said, Lord, it's good for us to be here. And, you know, over the last month, as I said, I just keep rebinding myself, it's just good to be here. And as I'm here in Jekyll, I keep thinking, it's good to be here. I hope you're feeling it's good to be here. You know, as we picture the coming of Jesus Christ and the time that Satan put away, and on this earth, there will be a new age that's dawning. People will begin to learn God's way of life, as we've heard. And we saw pictures yesterday of what the Kingdom and the reign of Jesus Christ will be like. But it's good for us to be here, and for those of us who will have endured to the end, who stand there at the time when Jesus Christ returns and are resurrected with that immortal body that He promises us. And that we're reigning with Him, and we see these things happen, and we're in the reality of what these days picture.

I think we'll be saying, it's good to be here. And I hope as we're here today, thinking about that time when we're free from the struggle, when we're free from the trials that we have all through life, as we endure to the end, and as we keep our focus on what the Kingdom is, what God has called us to. As we keep that in front of us, that we are saying, it's good to be here. And I hope as you're here in Jekyll, you're feeling that, and you're feeling the atmosphere, and you're saying, it's good to be here.

And I hope that you take that with you, and that stays throughout the year, and you let it increase and increase with every year of your life and every month of your life.

You know, the fact that we're here, the fact that we're here, means that we did something. Because, you know, we all had a choice of whether to be here or not. We could have all come up with an excuse as to why we couldn't be here, but we're here.

And that says something about us. And as we're here today, and as we're feeling the atmosphere of the Feast of Tabernacles, as we're feeling God's Spirit among us, you know, there's something that I want to remind us of this morning, of something very basic that God expects all of us to do. In fact, that He commands us to do. Let's go back to Deuteronomy 30. Deuteronomy 30. And a verse you all know, you could repeat it to me without me reading it, but we'll read it here for the record anyway. Deuteronomy 30. God is speaking to His people.

Ancient Israel at that time, the people that He called out of the world, to us today, the people that He's called out of the world, and that He has us on a journey to His Kingdom. In verse 19, says, I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. And therefore, He says something that seems so obvious. Therefore, choose life, that both you and your descendants may live. Make that choice, He says. He said that to ancient Israel, and the same message would be us today.

Choose life. I've given you an option. I've given you and opened your mind to something that the rest of the world at this time doesn't have. Choose life. How much simpler can that be? And yet there are so many who have that opportunity to choose life to heaven. Because saying we choose life is very easy. Words are very easy to speak. But choosing life isn't just about saying words. It's important to voice what our intent is and what our choice is. But just saying the words isn't enough.

And choosing life is one of those big things in life that really take the rest of our lives to voice to God. It's not something that we just say once and put it out of our minds. It's something that we do every day the rest of our lives as long as we live.

As long as there's breath in us, we have to choose life. It's one of those things that at the end of our lives, God will look at us and say, yes, He or she chose life. Not just a one-time decision, but it's the accumulation of also many choices that we make in our life. Choices that we have every single day. You know, researchers who study these things say that as human beings, we have 30,000 choices that we make a day.

It's kind of mind-boggling, isn't it? But when you think about everything in life as a choice, when we wake up in the morning, it's a choice. You know, when the alarm goes off, will we choose to get up then, or are we going to hit the snooze button and wait another 10 or 15 minutes?

What we eat is a choice. Whether we pray is a choice. Whether we take the time that day to study is a choice. Whether we remember who we are and what God has called us for, and whether that's at the forefront of our minds, it's a choice. So choosing life is an accumulation of everything we do in life from the time that God makes that option open to us. And everyone in this room today, God has given us that option.

And to us, He would say, choose life. Choose it. But understand that it's a big choice that we make, and we tell Him over the course of our lives whether we are choosing life or not. In Luke 16, verse 10, the Scripture again that you're familiar with, it says, He who is faithful in little is also faithful in much. Well, the much is choosing life. But to be faithful in much requires that we're faithful in little.

That the little choices that we make each day add up to the point at the end of our lives of whether we have chosen life or not. At some point in our lives, there's a decision that you and I made. So let's go forward a book into Joshua. Joshua 24. Joshua, who was the leader of Israel after Moses died, and he made his choice in life. And at the end of his life, God judged him.

As he did, as all the people that we read about in Hebrews 11, they chose life. And they're good examples for us to follow, but their life wasn't just one thing in life. But there were notable times in their life, along with the everyday decisions that we make, that we come to understand as well. Joshua 24. And verse 15. Well, let's begin in verse 14.

Joshua, as he's talking to Israel, the people of God, again talking to us today, the same words that God wants us to look at. So it's now, therefore, he says, fear the eternal, serve him in sincerity and in truth. Put away the gods, which your father served on the other side of the river and in Egypt. Serve God. And he would say the same thing to us today.

Put away those other gods. Put away those other things that you pay attention to and might put in front of me. And serve the true God who has called you and opened your minds. And verse 15.

If it seems evil to you to serve the eternal, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. Whether the gods, which your father served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites and whose land you dwell. You have a choice.

If you don't want what God has offered, you have the choice to reject it. You can reject it outwardly by saying, I don't want it. Or you can reject it by the choices you make each day. Because God hears our words, He listens to our minds and our hearts, and He watches our actions to see, are we making the choice of life, or do we really not want it, and we're just going through the motions? So he says, if it seems evil to you, you've got the choice. It's up to you.

But as for me and my house, Joshua said, we will serve the eternal.

Now almost every one of us in this room knows exactly what Joshua was saying at that point. At some point in our lives, we chose God. We chose Him. And when we chose Him, it wasn't just a matter of saying, God, I'll choose you. I understand what the Bible says. I understand what your purpose for me is. When we chose God, it was something that absolutely altered our life totally. I can tell you exactly when it was, the day that I chose God, that I determined to follow Him. And it wasn't as young as you might think. It took a while. But there was a point in time that I knew I chose God. And from that point forward, the choices I made and the decisions I made as I look back over my life changed.

They were no longer the same as they were before that. And I spent most of my life growing up in the church and thought, and did live, as the world would say, a good life. And I thought that I was maybe doing things right, but I realized there was a lot that I had to change. So there was a point in all of our lives that you know. And you could point to time where you said, I choose you, God. I choose to follow you.

And if you don't have that time in your life, you might go back and look. And you might ask God, have I chosen you? Have I just said the words? Am I just going along because I know what's right? And my logic and my thinking tells me this is the truth? But have I chosen you? Because when we choose, everything changes. Everything changes. Our outlook becomes different.

There's other times in our life, after my wife and I got married. There were times that I look back and I know we said, we choose you. We choose you, and from that time forward, things were different. We made decisions differently, and things went on in a different way of life. Choosing God is a life-altering decision. It's not just words. It's not just words. It's what God does and what you do because God gives us the choice to choose Him or to reject Him. He's not going to make us do what He wants us to do. With our choices, every choice that we make, every day, we're building the character that God wants us to build.

Our destiny. Our destiny, what will happen to us and what the script is, is really in our hands. God's offered it to us. He's already said, I've called you, I've given you my Holy Spirit, if we've repented and been baptized, I've opened the door to you. Now it's up to you. You have to make choices. You have to make decisions. You have to show me that what I've offered, you want. And that happens every single day of our lives. Every single day of our lives. Let's go back. Let's look at a few notable choices in the Bible. These aren't choices that people made that were right, I'm going to talk about here in the two or three I give you. The things that were people made the wrong choice. The choices that we could fall prey to as well. If we're not watching what we're doing, if we're not paying attention to the things that we do every day in our lives. First example I have here is Eve. She's back in Genesis 3, and you know the story there, so we don't have to go back and rehearse all the verses on that. But you know in the Garden of Eden things were perfect. There was perfect harmony between God, creation, and man. Things were perfect and all Adam and Eve knew was God as he walked through that garden. And then Satan was introduced. And then choice came into the world. But really, choice was in the world even before that. God purposed that man was going to be a part of his life was going to be a life of choices. He had put in that garden two trees, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

And he wanted man to choose life. He wanted them to choose the tree of life. But Adam and Eve chose the wrong tree. Or Eve chose the wrong tree. She listened to Satan. She let things rattle around in her mind. And somehow Satan, who was so clever, so cunning, had such easy and sweet words that he was able to get her to do what would seem unthinkable. And as you and I sit here today and we think about the things that we would never do, that we would never see ourselves rejecting God, never turning against him, never choosing the way of the world, or never choosing any way other than his way. Eve knew God. Eve walked there with God. And she was deceived. She believed the lie.

Now for you and I, we can sit there and we can think about Eve and say, I would never have done that. I never would have believed the lie. I would have known who God is. But all of us here today, we know who God is. He's opened our minds. We know the truth. We have his Holy Spirit. We're walking in those ways. And yet Jesus Christ says at the end of the age, the first thing he says when the disciples ask him, tell us what's going to happen at the end of the time. Tell us what's going to be. The first thing he says is, don't be deceived. Don't be deceived! Don't be deceived! The elect can be deceived! Let's go back to 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2. We will pick it up in verse 9.

Of course, in the introductory verses of chapter 2 there, it talks about the man of sin who will be revealed.

And in verse 9, it says, Just like Satan appeared in the Garden of Eden, he was there with all the words that he had to say, all the things that could entice Eve to make the choice that she did.

Because they didn't receive the love of the truth that they might be saved.

There was something they didn't do. Even though they had the opportunity to receive the love of the truth, there were choices they made during the course of their lives that they didn't really receive the love of the truth. They might be able to repeat back scriptures and verses. They might be able to give you Bible facts. But somewhere, it never hit their heart. It never hit their minds. It never defined them. They never had a vision of the kingdom and that that's what they lived for and that's what they were looking toward and had absolute faith and belief in God that that's what they were here for. That that was their purpose in life, to let God change them, use them, mold them into who he wanted them to be. Give them the vision and do the things and make the choices to ask God for that vision because if we love him, he'll give us what we ask for. But they never did that in verse 11. It says, For this reason God will send them strong delusion. Strong delusion, just like Eve had strong delusion. That they should believe the lie, just like she did.

And there will be people, I hope none of us here, that will believe the lie. As times go on and things become more and more deceptive, the words become more and more clever. That is when we look on the Internet and we see maybe things and think, well, that makes sense. That makes sense. It appeals to something in our minds and pretty soon we find ourselves believing the lie.

And telling God, we reject you, we reject your truth, we choose the knowledge of good and evil and the things that appeal to us, just like Eve did. Verse 12, it says that they all may be condemned who didn't believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

We still had pleasure in the things of this world and the things that were unrighteous of this world. Eve made that choice. Sadly, there will be others who make that choice. You and I, we could be in danger of making that choice if we don't make the right choices day by day.

If we don't do the little things that God asks us to do and that we remind ourselves to do and as we remind ourselves who we are, what God is working, what He wants us to do. And as we go about our daily lives, to work in school and the other things that we do, from now until the time that we no longer are alive in this physical body, we could be victims of the same decision and choice that Eve made.

And then there's Adam. Then there's Adam.

You know, it says of Adam, such a poor legacy. As in Adam, all die. As in Adam, all die. How would you like that to be your legacy?

But it says that Adam wasn't deceived. If we go forward a book into 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy 2, and verse 13, it says, Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam wasn't deceived. Eve was deceived. She believed the lie. She took of that fruit.

But Adam wasn't deceived. But the woman being deceived fell into transgression.

What did Adam do? If he wasn't deceived, what choice did he make? When he came back and he saw what Eve had done, what choice did he make?

Did he stand up to her and say, Eve, you made the wrong choice. I'm not going to do the same thing.

That isn't what God told us to do. No. He took the fruit when she offered it. And he ate too.

He put his wife before God. He put his family before God. It's more important for me, he thought, to be at one with her than to obey God.

She did this, so I will follow suit. You know, we could all be in danger of the same thing.

We might look at Adam and say, Adam, how could you have done that? But you know so many. Make that same choice.

Sometimes on Sabbath, sometimes on Holy Days. But they will put family first.

God says, do this, but my family wants me to do this. God says, do this, or be there, but my family wants me here.

You know, Christ is pretty clear. When he gives us the choice to follow him, back in Matthew 10, he tells us it's not going to be an easy life.

At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, he says, there's two gates by which you people can enter. One is the narrow gate with difficult choices along the way, and few there be that enter into it.

And wide and broad is the other gate that leads to destruction. And unfortunately, there are many who enter in by that way.

In Matthew 10, verse 37, Christ says this. He says, he who loves father or mother more than me isn't worthy of me. Pretty plain words.

Adam loved Eve by the choice he made more than God.

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Now, none of us would say, oh, I love my mom and dad, or my wife, or my children more than God. I don't think any of us here, if we were asked, do you love your family, or do you love your friends, or do you love your job, or do you love anything more than God?

We would say, no, we love God most. Good words to say. But they better be supported by our actions and our choices.

Because God looks at our words, and they're good to have the words, but by our choices do we love family, job, our own comfort, our own convenience?

Do we love ourselves more than God? Do we show that by the choices that we make? Every day of our life? On Sabbaths? On Holy Days? Even at the Feast of Tabernacles? Do we love God most? Are we where He wants us to be?

Do we follow Him in the little things, or the things that we might consider little, that God doesn't consider little? Do we follow Him explicitly? Or do we think that's okay? God doesn't matter. God doesn't really care about that.

Many will look at life at the end and they'll say, man, I really didn't realize maybe, but I was choosing other things more than God. I really didn't put Him first.

God says, when you make the choice for life, put Him first in everything you do, even when it's not convenient, even when there might be family members or someone else who isn't happy with the choice you make. You stand for God first. First.

Adam didn't make that choice. His legacy is, as in Adam, all die. If we follow the same pattern, if we follow the same choice, what's the consequence for us?

Let's look at another example. This is another one back in the Old Testament. Back in Joshua again.

Joshua 6. We have the occasion where Israel is beginning to enter into the land that God had promised them. And, of course, the first city that they come to after they cross the Jericho River, after they have the Passover, after they take the sign of the circumcision is the Jordan River. They come into the city of Jericho.

And you remember the story of Jericho, how God is going to defeat it. It wasn't a matter of the weaponry of Israel or their manpower that was going to deliver that city. It was God, clearly, who did that.

But in Joshua 6 and verse 18, as God is, as they are giving the instructions about marching around the city, sounding the trumpets on the seventh day, marching around the city, seven times, in verse 18 God reminds Israel about something He wants them to do, or specifically not do. Verse 18 says, You don't take those accursed things, the rest of the stuff, it is not for you to plunder. Don't even touch those unclean things, God said.

Put them away from you, and don't allow yourself to covet them, look at them, or even want them. Go in and do things exactly the way that I say.

Well, we learned that there is a man, Achan, in chapter 7, who disregarded that command. He thought he could get away with something. He looked at all the things that were there in Jericho and thought, I could probably take a few of these things, hide them in my tent, bury them there, who will ever know? Well, he missed a big point.

The people of Israel might not have known, but God knows exactly what we are doing. And so the people of Israel are troubled. They, of course, march into Jericho, but then when they go out and are faced with encountering the little city of Ai, a seemingly easy city to conquer, they are turned back.

And God tells them, someone in your midst, disregarded my command. They've taken the accursed thing.

So let's look at verse 25. So Joshua knows what to do. They go through this process to see who it is. Achan never stepped up and said, you know, it's me. It's me. As he's going through the process, he still hopes, they're not going to find me out. I still have my sin is still covered. Are they going to really find me out? But we learn with God, there is nothing secret that's not going to be revealed, as he says in Mark, and he also says in Numbers 23, nothing secret that won't reveal because he's interested in us becoming pure people. He's interested in us becoming blameless. He's interested in wiping the uncleanness from us. So this uncleanness in Achan's life that has brought trouble on Israel, he's going to reveal. So in verse 25, Joshua says to Achan after he has been identified and his sin has been revealed, he says, Why have you troubled us, Achan? The eternal will trouble you this day. And so all Israel stoned him with stones, and they burned them with fire after they had stoned him with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones still there to this day. That was his legacy. A memorial. This is what happens when you disregard God.

This is what happens when you want the things of this world more than you want the things of God. This is what happens when you choose mammon over God. This is what happens when you covet the things and love the things of this world rather than the things of God.

Achan was prone to it. You and I live in a world, a very material world. We could become prey to that as well. You know, Christ is very clear. He says you can't serve God and mammon. You can't have two masters, just one. You will either serve the things of this world or else you will serve God. But you can't serve both. Not wrong to have things. Not wrong to have a good job. Not wrong to have material possessions. Don't choose them.

Remember who you are, the choices you make. Follow God first. And when He blesses you, enjoy those blessings, but don't let them become your gods. Don't let you serve them. Achan disregarded that. Achan's legacy is. What that little heap of stones that was there, it says there to that day, was a reminder. You can't serve God and mammon. You just can't do it.

And yet we could all do the same thing that Achan did. Every one of us here would probably say, oh no, I would never serve God more than money. I would never serve God more than the things that I can have. But the trick is, what do our actions say?

What does God see by the choices that we make each day?

Well, let's go forward. Let's look at another one. First this time in 1 Kings. 1 Kings 18.

1 Kings 18. This is the occasion where Elijah is the prophet in Israel. Jezebel and Ahab are on the throne.

And the people of God are making choices that they shouldn't make. Let's really just look at one verse here in Chapter 18, verse 21. Following these verses, we have the occasion of where the prophets of Baal are shown, not to be the prophets of God, but that God is the true God. But in chapter 18 of 1 Kings and verse 21, it says, Elijah came to all the people and said, How long will you falter between two opinions? If the eternal is God, follow him. But if Baal, follow him. And the people sat there and they didn't say a word. But he asked them, How long will you falter between two opinions?

You know God. You know the history. You know He brought you out of Egypt. You know you're in this land because God has given it to you. And yet you falter between two opinions. You keep looking to these other gods and other nations. You might be giving lip service to God, but you still have these other gods.

You're still looking at the world around you. You're still looking at the things that are out there. And he says, You're faltering between two opinions. You haven't made a choice. You haven't chosen God. If you chose God, your actions and the choices you make each day would reflect that. But you haven't chosen Him. You're sitting there on the fence. You're sitting there thinking one thing, but your actions are showing and your silence is showing. We really are kind of keeping our options open. And you know that's a very good word for the society, or a very good sentence for the society we live in today.

How long will you falter between two opinions? Because if there's one thing that marks our society today is that people don't make choices anymore. We live in a world where you just don't have a choice, where people don't say, This is good, and that's wrong. Everyone, everything is good, everything is right. We can make a reason for everything to be lawful, which is really called lawlessness in the world today.

People don't make choices about what is good and what is wrong. People don't make choices about life and death. People don't make choices about anything.

It's whatever you feel good about doing, and as long as you're not murdering someone, and as long as you think you're a good person, that's good enough. You know, that same attitude can rub off on us. Do we falter between two opinions? When we look at the world around us that has changed so much in the last five and ten years, do we falter between two opinions? Do we believe what God says? We know the words that the Bible says, and they stand in direct contrast to what the world is telling us in so many areas.

In morality, in other areas, morality has taken such a front seat on the media today and in the society that we live in. Do we falter between two opinions? Might we think, well, that makes sense. Well, you know, those things, you know, I see the logic in that. Well, maybe we can see the logic and what the world does, but it doesn't make it right. Do we falter between those two things? Do we ever find ourselves thinking that maybe, maybe we can compromise a little with the Bible and with our beliefs?

And maybe the world doesn't have it so wrong after all. Why, we find ourselves drifting from the truth a little bit. And what God has called us to understand. Might we relax our standards a little bit? As the world's standards of the world just seem to get farther and farther and farther away from even the societal norms that have stood for generations and generations. How long will you falter between two opinions? You know, that verse reminds me of Revelation 3. In Christ giving the messages to the seven churches, and to the church in Laodicea, one of the end-time attitudes that are out there, one of the end-time attitudes that will be among some people, His people, that He is given the option, the opportunity to have and choose life, that they may falter between two opinions.

In verse 15 of Revelation 3, God says to this church that has this attitude, I know your works, but you are neither cold nor hot. You're faltering between two opinions. You're not zealous for me. You haven't made a choice for me. You're just kind of sitting there on the fence, and you kind of tilt one way and tilt the other and whatever by the choices that you make.

I know your works that you're not cold or hot. I wish you were cold or hot. Make a choice, He says. Get hot for me. Get warm. And later He says, Counsel. I counsel you by of me, gold refined in the fire. Or make the choice that I simply don't want this way of life. I don't want it. I wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I'll vomit you out of my mouth. If you can't make the choice, then you've made the choice. Then you've made the choice, and I will vomit you out of my mouth.

Christ said, Choose life. Make the choice. Make the choice when you have the opportunity. Make the choice. Don't falter between two opinions. Get committed to what God has called you to. Put your heart in it. Make sure that you are walking with Him, and that you are committed to Him. And make that statement to yourself. Make that statement to God, and follow it up. Follow it up with the choices that you make each day. Be committed. Again, the world is not committed to a whole lot.

As long as I can remember, there's always this joke about bachelors who can't commit to marriage. And that can be said about people. People who waver between two opinions. Oh, I know the truth. I'm not going to commit to it, though. And I wonder, what is it? Get committed or get uncommitted?

God says, I want you to be committed. You aren't pleasing me if you're not committed, if you're wavering between two opinions, and kind of seeing what happens. And I'm just not sure. And I don't know that I really believe God. I don't know that I really believe this, and I sure don't want to commit my actions to this, because I kind of like life, and just kind of living part in the world, and living part in God, and thinking I'm having the best of both worlds. It doesn't work that way. Yes, we live in the world.

Yes, God will bless us. Yes, we have good jobs. Yes, we have things. All those things that we need to do as part of living the life that God has given us to do, but He says, you commit to Me. You commit to Me, and that's part of choosing life. That's part of choosing life. Committing to Him and not letting the other things stand in our way. And if we think, if we think for some reason, that if we don't choose God, if we kind of sit on the fence, as we kind of watch things go by, that we're not accountable for what we do, if we haven't made the choice that we're not accountable, we're fooling ourselves.

Because we are accountable, we are accountable for what it is that God has called us to. Let's look at James 4. James 4.

James 4 and verse 17.

There won't be anyone that is in that attitude that will be able to say, it's good for us to be here, because if we don't get rid of that attitude, if we don't commit to God, we won't be there. We won't be there. He's looking at what we do, looking at our choices, He wants us to choose life, but the decision is really, really ours. So don't falter between two opinions. Think about it. Pray about it. Let God and ask Him to examine yourself and make a choice and let Him lead you to the choice that He wants you to make. We can be very thankful to God and Jesus Christ that they don't waver between two opinions, but they didn't sit on the fence and say, well, let's see how man does. Let's see what His attitude is toward us and see whether we just kind of let them perish or whether we do the things that we had planned to do.

Now, before the foundation of the earth, God and the Logos committed to you and me. They committed. That from the foundation of the world, Jesus Christ would come, He would die, He would pay the penalty for our sins. And aren't we glad that there was no wavering on their parts, on His part? We're here in James. Let's turn back a couple chapters to James 1, verse 17. It says, every good gift and every perfect gift there is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. We know what His will is. We know how strong He is. We know He is our rock. We know we can count on Him. We know that He is behind us, and He will give us the tools, and He will give us what we need in order to make the choices we make, because He wants us to make that choice.

And those choices day by day. But He's not going to do it for us. We have that in our hands. We have to make those choices every single day. Whether we're in our 20s, or 30s, or 50s, or 60s, or 70s, or 80s, or 90s, or even in the 100s. As long as we live, there are choices to be made.

And the choices may be different between the decades and the times of our lives, but as long as we live, there are choices to be made. Jesus Christ said, He who endures to the end. That means there are choices that can be made, because some won't endure to the end. Some will get weak. Some may think, I've got it made, I don't have to do anything else, and find themselves thinking, or letting down.

And the things that we need to do to show God we are committed, we do know, we do want what you have to do, and we're committed to your calling and to doing what you want. But there's no variation or shadow of turning among God. He calls us, and He won't take that calling away from us.

We can give it back by the choices we make. We can show Him, not really that important to us. We keep doing the same things over and over again. We're really not listening. We really aren't paying attention to what you have to say. Well, Jesus Christ and God the Father, they were committed to us. They didn't allow for any change in what their plan was. And when God calls us, we shouldn't allow for any change in His plan for us either. We should just keep our eyes on the Kingdom, and we should just keep marching forward. And we can do it.

God's given us all the tools we need, but it's up to us to use them. It's up to us to use them, and to see, and to do, and make the choices He wants us to make.

Let's turn back to Colossians 1. Colossians 1.

Colossians 1, verse 21.

Now, our choice to follow Him. Going on to verse 22, He goes, He goes, That's what His will is.

Perfect, and you will never sin. As long as we're in this body, we will sin. We will fall, we will fall. But we get up, we repent, and we learn, and we work hard to overcome the things that God has given us. And brought to our minds, and helped us to see that we need to overcome, so that every passing year and decade, we become more and more close to blameless, more and more like Jesus Christ. That's what His goal for us is. And He'll move us that way. If we make the right choices and show Him, that's what we want too.

And He says, I'll present to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in His sight. Verse 23, If. If. That's what His will is, but it's up to us to want that as well. If, indeed, you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven. If. Every time, I won't say every time, when you read the word if in the Bible, in many occasions, it's going to tell us we've got a choice in the matter. Jesus Christ did it. He paid the price for our sins. He is coming back again. He will return to this earth. He will establish His kingdom.

The ball is in our court, whether we're there or not. He's already said, you're invited. I want you to be there. But the rest is up to us with what we do day by day, year by year, decade by decade.

But He says it's only if. If you make the right choice. If, indeed, you continue grounded in the faith that you were called into. If, indeed, you aren't moved from the hope of the gospel. If you don't let the deception of this world move you away from what God has called us to.

You know, there's a lot of those if phrases in the Bible. And I could read through, I could have you turn down all the scriptures. You could probably be thinking of some of them now, where it implies that we have the choice to do what God says or not. Jesus Christ says, if, if you love Me, you have the choice to love Me or not, but if you love Me, keep My commandments.

If you love Me, keep My commandments. If you seek Me, we don't have to seek Him. If you seek Me, you will find Me.

If you forgive your brother, don't have to. But if you forgive your brother, I'll forgive you.

If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself. Pick up his cross and follow Me.

It's what you must do. It's a choice I want you to make, but you don't have to do it.

If you want to enter into life, if you want to choose life, keep My commandments.

And in Matthew 19, he has something else to say to that young man as well. If you want to be perfect or blameless in God's sake. He says in Matthew 24, if that evil servant says, My master delays his coming, I think I've got time.

I think I can play the odds a little bit here. Is Jesus Christ coming back quickly or is it going to be a while?

When I look at events in the world, do I have some time to do what I want before I get serious about this? If that evil servant says, My master delays his coming, Christ will come in an hour, a day, an hour that He doesn't expect.

He says, if anyone has ears, if you're listening, let them hear. That's all we can all pay attention to, right? All these we can.

If anyone has ears, if you're listening, if you're paying attention, let them hear. What the Bible says, pay attention to what it is that God wants us to have, what He wants us to do, and how He helps us along the way, if we let Him, if we have ears to hear, if we're close to Him.

Well, there's a whole lot of things that we can make choices in. And we know the tools that God gives us. I don't have to re-turse them all to us. It's what we do and how we live our lives each day. Do we pray fervently? Or do we just pray because we know we should for 15, 30, 45 minutes?

Do we study diligently? Or do we just think, well, I've got to turn to the Bible and read for here a little bit. But my mind is really on what I'm going to do later on that day or work, or the things I have to do in the yard or things that are on the docket that day.

Same choices that we make here at the feast, right? Do we pray? Do we study? We're here at services every day. Do we hear? Do we listen? Are we committed to making the changes in our life that God wants us to make when we hear something that kind of hits us right up here and we realize, oh, that's me. Oh, that's me. I haven't been paying attention to that. Choices that we make.

This is just a couple of things that, you know, a couple of major things along the way that we should be paying attention to and choices that we make. One of them is something that Jesus Christ did for us. Let's turn back to Colossians 3, first of all.

Colossians 3, if we're going to follow what God has to say, if we're going to make the choices that God wants us to make and that need to become a pattern of our lives, we need to follow what it says in Colossians 3, here in verses 1 and 2.

It says, if you were raised with Christ, if you know Him, if God has opened your mind, if you've been baptized, if you've received the Holy Spirit, if you've committed to Him with those words and that act, if you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above.

Where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

You purpose in your heart that you're going to follow God, that you're going to set your mind on those things, that you're not going to worry about every little thing that comes up in this life, that you're going to commit it into God's hands, and that you know that His will is to watch over us, to protect us, to guide us, to provide what we need, and He promises to do that. If we seek first the Kingdom of God and all His righteousness, set your mind on that. Purpose in your mind that that's what I'm going to do. And don't just say the words, let it be a life-changing event for you. I set my mind on things above. And all the things that we've talked about, all those if phrases and more that you probably came to your mind when we were talking about those, that you're going to do those, that you're going to seek God, that you're going to commit, that you're going to follow Him, you're going to understand His commitments, His commandments, you're going to live by that way of life. And that is going to become you and define you. Not just things that you can repeat, but things that define you, so that they become you. So when people see you years down the road, they know what to expect because they know, we know what to expect from God. And He wants to know what we can expect, what He can expect from us. One of those things we can look at is love. And I'm talking specifically of agape love. You know, agape love is a choice. It's not the emotional love that we have between husband and wife, family members, or even friends. Those are all good forms of love, but agape love is a choice. Now John 3 16 says, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever should believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God so loved the world, He chose to love the world. We're unlovable people. If we were God and we were looking down on us, we'd think, I don't want to do that. But He chose to love us. He chose to give Himself for us. He loved us that much. And He tells us, you need to be developing agape love. I'll give you the Spirit, my Holy Spirit. That'll be one of the fruits, the first fruit that's listed there. But you've got to make choices along the way to develop that love. It has to be perfected in you. It just doesn't happen by the snap of a finger. It's something we work on throughout our lives as we look at each other's knees, as we follow each other, and as we practice the way of love. Let's go back to 1 John. 1 John 4.

1 John 4, verse 17.

John writes, here in around 80, 90 AD, 60-some years after Jesus Christ was resurrected in a sense of love, and Jesus Christ was resurrected and ascended into heaven. Near the end of His life, He says, love, agape, has been perfected among us. We've made the choices throughout the life. Agape has grown in us by the choices that we make. As we make the choice to, when we see others in need, as it says in verse John 3, that we will pay attention to their needs and do something about it, not just walk on by, like the Levite and priest and the story of the Good Samaritan, it's been perfected in us. That indicates there's things we have to do, choices we have to make, situations we have to identify and realize, ah, it's my responsibility to assist here. It's my responsibility to help here. It's my responsibility to do something, not leave it for someone else. Love has to be perfected in every single one of us, every single one of us. And he says, we need to do it. Love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There's no fear in that love that God expects us to be developing and practicing and choosing that will become part of us, because perfect love, or but perfect love casts out fear. Perfect love casts out fear. The choices we make to love God, to follow Him, to watch for our brothers in need. In fact, let's go back one chapter here, chapter 3. 1 John 3, verse 16, says, by this we know Agape, because he laid down his life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Easy words to say. Easy words to say. Yes, I would lay down my life for the brethren. You know, recently in the news we heard someone in the public spotlight say, I would take a bullet for this man.

But as soon as the hurt, heat was turned up on him, we realized those were just words. He wasn't going to take a bullet. How about us? Would we lay down our lives for our brethren? We would say yes. Right? Every single one of us would say yes. But that's not going to happen, unless we're perfecting that love now. Unless we're making those choices now. That if and when God has that be part of what our life and a choice we need to make down the road, that we would do that. Because if we're not perfecting love now, if we're not taking the opportunities we have now to do that, I don't know. We will see what God, you know, what we would do at that time. And then he says in verse 17, whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him, how does the agape of God love in him or abide in him, how does that? If you just shut up yourself, your heart, and say, I'm not going to share anything with them, let them fend for themselves. My little children, let us not agape in word or in tongue, but indeed and in truth. Make the choice. Take the opportunity when you have the choice to do those things. So that's one area we can look at among many other. One other that we need to make choices in, and you and I make them every single day, probably more than we even think of. And that we can find back in James 1. In James 1, and in a notable verse that Paul gives us back in 2 Corinthians, but in James 1, in verse 12, it talks about something that happens in our minds, I'm sure, every day. "'Thus it is the man,' says in James 1, verse 12, who endures temptation, "'for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who agape him.' But no one say, when he's tempted, I'm tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he self-tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he's drawn away by his own desires and enticed. When a thought comes into your mind, they have the choice, I'm going to entertain that thought, or to reject it. It's not easy to reject it. It takes conscious choice. It takes us arresting ourselves and not going down that road where the temptation or the thought leads to desire, which leads to sin. But asking God, give us the strength, get this out of our mind, resisting it so that Satan, who puts those thoughts in our minds, flees from us. Doesn't happen easily. Doesn't happen, really, I don't think, for all of our lives, while we're alive, that we won't. So whether we're in our very young age and teenage, or whether we're young adults, or whether we're middle-aged or we're older adults, we all have to make a conscious choice. I won't let that thought in my mind. Is this thought of God? Is this thought in the vein of what God's truth is, or what His will for me is? And then reject it. And then reject it. Back in 2 Corinthians 10. 2 Corinthians 10.

In verse 3, we find the struggles that we're in every day. You know, if we don't feel we're in a struggle every day, if we don't feel that we're having to make choices that go against our own will and our own desires every day, we may want to look at ourselves and think, am I wavering? Am I really doing what God wants me to do? Am I really looking at things the way we want? He says, though we walk in the flesh, 2 Corinthians 10, verse 3, we don't war according to the flesh.

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God, for bullying down strongholds. Those things in our mind that are just fixed there, that we all have, ideas, philosophies, logic, or whatever it is, that we would see there that we have to unravel over the course of time, that just don't mesh with what God has to say.

Casting down arguments, excuses, the things that we might say, oh, I don't need to do that, that's just not important to God. Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. And we all have those things. Oh, I don't think the Bible means that. Oh, that doesn't really apply in the 21st century. Oh, that was something that was done away long ago.

Oh, that's just not important to God. Casting down all those things and following Him, and making the choice to follow Him, even when it's difficult, even when it is, interrupts our convenience in what we really, really want to do.

Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Boy, is that a tall order. Bringing every thought into captivity. Looking at those thoughts and choosing. Is that something I should be thinking about? Is that something I should be acting on? Is that something I should be projecting? Is that something I need to be putting out of my mind and be able to decide or practice that when those things come into my mind, I want to allow that to happen?

You know, it doesn't happen easily. We have to make a conscious effort for those things to happen. But as we practice those things over the years, they don't become easy. There are still choices that have to be made, but we establish a pattern. You know, there was an English author back in the 19th century, and he said this. He says, So a thought and you reap and act.

So a thought. You plant the thought. Not let Satan plant the thought. You sow the thought and you reap and act. You sow and act. You act on it, the righteous thing to do, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap character.

Sow a character and you reap destiny. Our destiny is in our own hands. God's given us what we need. We just have to act on it. We need to make the choices. And if we're sitting here today and thinking, wow, it's good for us to be here.

I want this atmosphere. I want Jesus Christ to return. I want to live under Him and reign under Him and experience what God has for us. Then we need to be sowing those thoughts. We need to be sowing those acts. We need to be sowing that character that God wants us to have. It's said, a saying you've all heard, the road to hell. You might say the road to death.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. You've all heard that. Nothing wrong with good intentions. But if all they are is good intentions, we know what to say, we know the right words to say. If that's all there is, it's the road to death. The road to salvation. The road to salvation is paved with good choices. Little choices that show what the big choices in our life are.

Jesus Christ said, and I would admonish us all, as we are sitting here, in this time of the Feast of Tabernacles, it should be a time of joy and rejoicing for us that we're looking to the Kingdom. Choose life. Choose life. And let that be evident in our everyday lives.