The Power of Life's Choices

Thank you, Mr. Lacoste. Appreciate that. I don't know where he ran off to. There he is! I'd like to try to make eye contact, if I can. Thank you for that. I really appreciate you sharing your gifts and your talents with us, and for visiting here with us today. I really appreciate that. Has anyone ever looked into how many choices the average person makes each day? Has anybody ever been curious? Am I the only one? The answer may surprise you. According to multiple sources on the Internet, the average amount of decisions an adult makes each day equals about 35,000. Now, to me, that sounds like a huge number, and I want to know who was the one that went through and counted every single decision, and much more to get an average of people, like to figure out that it was not 40,000 or whatever. That bodes my mind, if that truly is scientific and something that has been counted. In contrast, though, young children only make about 3,000 decisions each day. You can see that they're big slackers, only making 3,000 decisions a day. But still, it's an amazing number. Researchers at Cornell found that people make an average of 226 decisions about food alone each day. 226? That's from mindless eating, the 200 daily food decisions we overlook. I don't know how the researchers want to calculate the number of decisions, but I know that I wake up and decide if I'm going to have a banana for breakfast. That's my big decision for the morning. But then, I guess I kind of look at it because I like the ones a little bit on the greener side. Yellow's fine, but if I have to go one way or another, go a little bit on the greener side, not on the black side. So, I guess in doing that, you end up making multiple choices or multiple decisions just so the few of the thousand that I guess I make every single day. It's very difficult to calculate the number of choices because what makes a choice for you and me? Some choices are made without us even consciously knowing that we are making a choice. Some are based on unique situations that you may find yourself in.

Some days, you don't have to decide much of anything very meaningful. Other days, you make it seem like decision after decision that are quite weighty and that really do matter. And then, there are things called micro-decisions. These are decisions your brain makes without you even knowing that you've made a decision. So, those are the ones I want to figure out how they count those up when you don't even know you've made a decision. How many decisions do you make when you drive a car? I mean, just think about just coming to services today. How many decisions that either subconsciously or just knowingly you made to come to church today? Of course, big decisions like where you're going to go and when you turn and whether you're not going to hit the brakes and you see the red light coming. All those things are the larger ones. You may remember where you turned. But sometimes, we even make decisions not even realizing it. Like your foot slides over to the brake side just because you see traffic changing. But you don't even realize you've done it. It almost becomes like a habit. But you've made that choice to do those types of things. But then there's, like I said, plenty of other choices that you don't even think about that we go through every day. Such as what to eat, what to wear, what to purchase, even what we believe as a Christian. What jobs and career choices we will pursue. Those are the big, weighty ones. Who we'll spend our time with, who we'll date and marry, what we'll say and how we'll say it, whether or not we would like to have children, what we'll name our children, what our children will spend their time with, or who our children and what our children will eat, etc. It seems like you add children into the mix, and just for any mothers in the room, it just compounds everything and the decisions we have to make. Many of these decisions I outlined here are pale, though, in comparison with the largest decision that God presents before you and I each and every day. Every day we have a choice with only two options, and it's found in Deuteronomy chapter 30.

So let's open our Bibles this afternoon, starting in Deuteronomy chapter 30 and verse 15.

Deuteronomy 30 and verse 15. Here we have recorded, See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. And then dropping into verse 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.

Choose life, the decision that you and I have to make every single day of our life. Will we choose life? It doesn't get any greater than this for our lives. One choice with two options, life or death.

And the majority of the smaller decisions that we make in life will all ultimately come back to either leading us closer or further away from the choice of life that God desires that we make. So, in the time I have with you this afternoon, let's consider and examine the aspect of choices in our life and the power behind those choices.

When we put God in His righteousness first in our life, He promises to lead our lives and to take care of us. That promises in Matthew 6 and verse 33.

Matthew 6 and verse 33.

As you're turning, we're going to be jumping right into the midst of Jesus' sermon on the Mount prior to the verse that we'll read. He's encouraging people to not worry about life. Don't worry about food. Don't worry about clothing. Don't worry about the stresses.

Don't worry about the things that seem important to us but that God can take care and manage for our lives. And then at the end of this passage of encouraging not to worry, He has this as one of those promises that He will always be there and always care for us in Matthew 6 verse 33.

Jesus says, What does it mean to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness? It means choosing to follow God above following anything else in this life. It means filling your thoughts with God's desires for your life.

It means living a life that is patterned after God's character. And it means serving and obeying God in everything that we do. You like how I simplified that down just the four little easy things, right? It's not easy. It's a challenge that you and I will deal with and work towards for the rest of our lives. It encompasses everything that we do, everything that we believe, everything that should be our focus, to seek first the kingdom of God and equally important His righteousness.

It's an amazing thing to try to wrap your mind around that. I could even make it simple like that because it's not simple. It's complex, but it is the way that God wants us to go. It's a good path. It's the best path. It's a path that He will bless as we strive to go down it. Many times in life, we easily get wrapped up by the choices and decisions that life brings.

Sometimes these decisions distract us and draw us away from the direction that God wants us to go. This has been the same for thousands of years of mankind's existence. This isn't anything new. We read through God's Word and it's astounding because I struggle to come up with a few biblical examples that we'll dive into today because the whole Bible is about choices. We have great examples from all the way from the beginning. Adam and Eve. It's a choice. Which tree to eat from. We get through Abraham having to leave his homeland. He made a choice to leave his homeland. Moses made choices on how he was going to handle himself.

Then you get into the kings. Bad kings made bad choices. Good kings made good choices. Then you continue through the entirety of God's Word and it's about choice. It's about the choices that men and women of the Bible made. Continuing on where we're at in Matthew 6, let's look back at verse 25. Because this is exactly what Christ was trying to teach them about.

Matthew 6 verse 25, he says, Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Then verse 32, for after all these things the Gentiles seek. They seek answers. They want discomfort. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. Then he gets back to verse 33, But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Any of the decisions of life that come in and crowd our focus, as we heard in the sermonette, they can come in, and if we're not careful, they can crowd out the more important things of life.

We must choose to give God first place in every area of our life, if we are to fulfill this command from God and to be able to enjoy the benefits and the blessings that he promises. When considering the importance of making choices and living with those choices, a parable of Christ came to mind this past week.

Let's go ahead and turn to the parable. It's in Luke 15 and verse 11. Luke 15 and verse 11. As soon as you see it, you'll know exactly what it is. It's a common parable, one that we've read through hundreds of times, if not more than that. Luke 15 and verse 11. I'd like you to, as we read through this, I'm going to read it through in its entirety so that we understand that we're all on the same page. We'll come back in and dive in and examine it more thoroughly. But I want you to consider the aspect of choices, of decisions, as we read through this.

Try to identify, try to wrap your mind around all the different opportunities that there were through this passage to make a choice, to make a decision. It's broken into three sections. We get the younger son at the beginning, we get the father's response, and then we get an older brother's response towards the end. Just consider the decisions and the choices made as we read through this parable.

This is, again, Luke 15, verse 11. Then he, and this is Christ speaking, said, A certain man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered altogether, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all there, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.

Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his field to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough to spare, and I perish with hunger? I will arise and go to my father and say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

Make me like one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his father, but when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran, and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.

But the father said to his servants, Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet, and bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry. For this my son was dead, and is alive again. He was lost and is found, and they began to be merry.

Now his older son was in the field, and as he came to draw near to the house, he heard music and dancing, and so he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf. But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and said to his father, Lo, these many years I have been serving you.

I never transgressed your commandment at any time, and yet you never gave me a young goat that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as the son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him. And he said to him, Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.

Choice is all throughout this parable. Choice of how the younger son would handle himself, choice of how the father would respond to his son coming back, and choices in how the elder brother would even react. Again, like I said, let's dive into this a little bit more deeply and pull out some of the things that may be hidden a little bit below the surface, because it's truly a parable of choice that we have throughout this passage. Back to verse 11, he said, A certain man had two sons, and the younger of them said to the father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. New Living Translation says, I want my share of your estate now.

And so he divided them, his livelihood. What's strange in this passage right from the get-go is it's the younger son that is asking for the estate to be divided. The younger son, not the older, who might be ready to start a family, ready to get his own farm, ready to need some of that money, and it's also odd that the father was still alive when this request was made. Normally, it would be after the father would have died. This showed arrogant disregard for his father's authority as head of the family, a choice that he made here.

It goes on in verse 13, and not many days after, the younger son gathered together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions, which was money with prodigal living. The new living says, wild living. You can let your imagination run with where that takes you, can't you? Wild living. Often, when somebody has money and they're looking to live a wild life, friends come out of the woodwork, don't they? They like somebody with money. They like somebody who's ready for a good time, in a worldly sense.

And so, he probably had friends that came around, and they probably devoured all of his money, and they did crazy things. Choice was made after choice, after choice. More choices that could even probably be counted. But 14, verse 14, says, but when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. New Living says, he began to starve. And at that time, he was probably alone.

Probably didn't have too many of those friends, because once the well dries up, friends are usually going someplace else to find other friends, or to maybe even try to just survive on their own. Verse 15, then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country. New Living says he persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and he sent him into his field to feed the swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

As we know, the pigs are unclean animals, and to protect themselves from becoming defiled, Jews would avoid even touching a pig, much less working with them. And to get to the mindset that they would even be willing to eat the pods, something that a pig had either touched or was food for a pig, was beyond belief. This was obviously, in this passage that we have here, because we've read through it, the low point of this young man's life. But you and I probably have examples of friends or other people that we know that might have hit rock bottom at some point in their life, and instead of trying to go the other way, might have pulled out the jackhammer and started hammering even deeper. We can tell stories of people who may have gotten into drugs, ran out of their money, were addicted now, and instead of turning the path and going back in a better way, making a better decision, decided that they're going to rob someone, rob a bank, to get the money so they can buy more drugs. Sometimes people don't make the right decision to change a path. Sometimes they don't go a new way with life. And so we have to remember that just because somebody appears to hit rock bottom doesn't mean necessarily they're going to find a better path or choose differently. But in this case of the story that we have here, the choice that he made went a new direction. Verse 17, but it says, when he came to himself, when he came, New Living says, came to his senses. He said, How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough to spare, and I perish with hunger? He said, I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before you, I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants. Again, at the low point of this young man's life, he made a decision to go another route. Often we focus, as rightly so, we read on through, and we focus that he made the decision to come back to his father and to reconcile, and his father received him with open arms. But something that we could miss if we didn't read over it carefully is something else happened in this passage right here. He said, I will arise and go to my father, and this is the key, I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven. There are times in our life that we make choices that go against God's word, that we make choices that go contrary to the instructions we've been given. And in the midst of those moments, we have to remember that we have a responsibility as Christians, as followers of Jesus Christ, to go and repent when these things come to our mind, when our mind is made aware of the sin that exists in our life. Because we have a merciful Father, we have a loving Father that cares deeply for us. His mercy can't be measured. It's without boundaries. And so we can come to God and ask for his repentance, and ask to be forgiven of our sins, to repent, and ask to be forgiven of our sins.

But then at verse 20, we get the Father's response here. Verse 20 starts off, And he arose and came to his father, but when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. Something that we can miss again here in this passage, this account right here in this verse, is if we're not careful, we can miss the fact that the Father had in his heart the hope that his son would someday return. And he had already made the decision in his heart that if he did, he would welcome him back with open arms, that he'd welcome him back with a receiving heart. Now, I don't know if... I doubt he was just leaning against the barn, staring at the road day after day after day. Most people wouldn't. We'd be moving on with our life and doing things. But he saw him down while he was still far away off. And his reaction, it didn't take him time to process it. It didn't take him time to say, you know what? I'm mad right now. But give him five minutes of getting closer and I'll go on out. It doesn't say that. What it says is while he's still a great way off, he had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. The decision that the Father made is so apparent here. From the Life Application Study Bible, in the same way, God's love is constant, patient, and welcoming. He will search for us and give us opportunities to respond. But he will not force us to come to him. Like the Father in this story, God waits patiently for us to come to our senses. How many times has God been patient with me? Waited for me to come to my senses. Waited for me to get past the struggles that I'm in myself. And then to receive me back as this Father did in this parable that Christ shared.

Going on in verse 21, And the Son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and no longer worthy to be called your Son. But the Father said to His servants, Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet, and bring the fatted calf here, and kill it, and let us eat and be merry. For this my Son was dead, and is alive again, He was lost in his fount, and they began to be merry. Decisions after decisions after decisions of this Father being merciful, this Father showing love and compassion on His Son, who went and did very bad things. But yet He still welcomed Him back. And then we get to the older brother's response here in verse 25. Look at the decisions now He makes. Now His older son was in the field, and as He came and drew near to the house, He heard music and dancing. And so He called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And He said to Him, Your brother has come, and because He has received Him safe and sound, Your father has killed the fatted calf. And this is where decisions start coming in for this older son. It says he was angry, and he would not go in. He made the decision he would not go in. Therefore, His father came out and pleaded with him. I imagine maybe the older brother is leaning against the barn, someplace within eyesight, within hearing, getting frustrated, getting mad. Maybe he was even that older brother that said, What are you doing? Why are you demanding our father divide up his estate? You know you're going to make poor choices. This is not what you want to do. Maybe this older brother had this discussion, and now here comes the younger brother back, with nothing to show for himself, with poor decision after poor decision. And you know what? It's time for me to let him have it. Maybe that's what was going through this older son's mind. Because he says, and so he answered and said to his father, Lo, these many years I have been serving you, and I never transgressed your commandment at any time, and yet you never gave me a young goat that I may make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours come, as soon as he doesn't say my brother, he doesn't say the one that I love or my family, he says, as soon, let me get back there, as soon as this son of yours came, another choice that this older brother man, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, the new living says, squandering your money on prostitutes. That's ugly. That's very, very ugly. He says, you killed the fatted calf for him. And he said to him, Son, here's the father again, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was a decision the father said to state this again, not to agree with the older son, not to be overly harsh with the older son, another decision that he made. You are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.

We see a contrast between this older brother, though, and our older brother in Jesus Christ. We have an older brother in Christ who is not jealous or bothered by the fact that God wants to make us his children. We have an older brother that's not bothered that when you and I transgress God's false, and we're not deserving of mercy, he's thankful that his father gives us mercy.

Christ does not bother that God wants to give us eternal life. He rejoices with the Father when we return back to him, and when we recognize the errors in our way, when we recognize the choices and the decisions that we made have not brought us closer to God, but have separated us further from him. We don't see the response from our older brother, Jesus Christ, saying, just give it to him, give him what they deserve. We don't see that. We see with our older brother, Christ, a loving older brother who wants to see us return. But you and I, sometimes we get bothered with the choices that our brothers and our sisters in Christ make when it comes to their life. Sometimes we question their sincerity or how they are following God. We may compare their lives to how we're living our lives. We may question, like I said, the decisions that some make. But God says to each one of us individually, choose life. He says, individually, choose life. He says to monitor the decisions we make and verify that they are in tune with God and in tune with the direction that God wants us to go with life. He says that to me, and he says that to each one of us sitting here. Individually, to choose life. You don't compare yourself to one another. Compare yourself to the standard that God has set. And that is to choose life. In Ecclesiastes 12 and verse 13, King Solomon, at the very end of the writing here, shares what I guess you could say is a capstone of the book of Ecclesiastes. This is Ecclesiastes 12 and verse 13 and 14.

As you know, King Solomon was the wisest man ever to walk on this earth, I believe after Jesus Christ, but that's my own personal view of it.

He was wise beyond any other man. He had riches, he had possessions, he had more wise than he could count. He had everything that he could want. Yet the book of Ecclesiastes is kind of this taken a step back and him evaluating what's the meaning of life. Why am I searching and trying to get everything I can and yet still have this empty spot inside? As you read through Ecclesiastes, you just see this grasping of vanities and of things to acquire. And right at the very end of the book, we see Ecclesiastes 12 and verse 13, he says this, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is man's all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. Every decision that you and I make, every choice that we continue to encounter and to evaluate and to make, God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. This is the power and consequence of choice. As we continue to examine the power of choice, there's a passage from Acts 16 I'd like to examine next. Like I said, I struggled with which choices, which passages to share, because the whole Bible is full of nothing but choice after choice by many, many different people. But this is an account from the early church. This is an account of several people making choices. And we'll see as we continue on choices that even God made for them that changed their initial response, but then they followed through and were able to see the reasons why. Many times in life we feel that we are moved to do something today, but God has other plans for our life. And as we read through this passage in Acts 16, again, consider the choices that are made by the Apostle Paul, by Silas, and by Timothy, a brand new young man in the church, Timothy. This is Acts 16, and we'll start in verse 1. Then he came to Derby and to Istra, and behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek. He was well spoken of by the brethren who were in Istra, an Iconium. Here what we have recorded is probably the first example of a second generation Christian in the New Testament. Because Timothy's mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois, from 2 Timothy 1, verse 5, they made the choice on most likely an earlier journey, a missionary journey by Paul, to become followers of Christ. And in doing so, it appears that they taught their son and grandson Timothy God's word, which then he chose to allow to sit on his heart and to go a new direction with his life. He allowed it to change his life, which was the biggest and the greatest decision that he ever made. But then, as this now happens, as Paul is on his second journey, he encounters Timothy and the words and the things that people have said positive about him, led Paul, and of course, inspired by God, to invite Timothy on probably what would become one of his greatest earthly missions, like journeys, ever, along with other events. Because of this choice that Timothy made, it led on to other choices of how God would use Timothy. As we continue to go through this, listen to all the other choices that were made in the background, that we can't even see, that they don't even account for us, but imagine. Verse 3, it says, Paul wanted to have him go on with him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek. I'm not going to go into too much detail, but that's a big decision for young Timothy to make.

As they went through the cities, and as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and the elders at Jerusalem. Again, choices to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ with anyone who would be willing to listen. Now, Timothy is along for the ride, and Timothy is involved, and he's continuing to make more and more choices. And in verse 5, we see the results of not all the choices, not all the decisions that were made along the way, but we see the final results. It says, verse 5, So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily. God was working powerfully in transforming people through the power of his Holy Spirit. And God had an amazing plan for Paul and Timothy, but it took them making decisions to follow those plans and to follow God's. And to do all that he had in store for them. For God's amazing plan. It took them to have faith. It took them to have dedication. It took them to choose to follow this path. We don't always know or understand exactly what God is doing in our lives or even within our congregation sometimes. But we have to be faithful that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it. That is from Philippians 1, verse 6. That he who has begun a good work in you will complete it. We have to know that God is working with each one of us. And we have to be sensitive to heed God's direction in our lives. God has an amazing plan for each of us together as a congregation. And God the Father has called each one of us to his truth and to his way. I've stated this many times already. God has called each one of us individually to this collective body that we are here together to worship him, to encourage one another, to be strengthened by his word, and to learn how to better and more completely express love to one another. As we continue to do this, God will work with us each individually. He will work with us in the decisions we make, each on our own.

But collectively, we are the body of Christ. And collectively, we are stronger than just ourselves alone. I find it interesting, as we continue to read through Acts 16, that while God was working and leading Paul, Silas, and Timothy, and they were being moved to share in the spreading of the Gospel, the plans that they made at times that we have recorded here and other times had to be adjusted because God ultimately was the one that was continuing to lead them. Continuing reading on in verse 6, Acts 16 verse 6, Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia.

After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithnia, but the Spirit did not permit them. Now, we don't know exactly how the Holy Spirit told them not to travel to Asia, but we do know that it was from God, and they recognized it was from God. Many times when we pause in a situation and we're evaluating what are my next moves, and God makes something obviously clear to us, we can sense and see His hand involved.

I've shared this with you as well before I like to call Him His fingerprints. We can see, like if I had a glass up here and I touched it, you may not be able to see that my fingerprints were on it, but with technology we can see that my fingerprints are there.

As we continue to expand and grow in faith, grow in knowledge of God and His word, we more accurately can see those fingerprints on our life.

And we can more accurately notice them as we continue to get used to seeing how He interacts and how He leads our lives. Those are what I call the fingerprints of God. Other people can't see it. I can't go out into the world and say, Hey, this is how God has done these amazing things in my life, and suddenly they'll say, Yes, I believe it doesn't work that way.

These are my fingerprints that God knows and I know that I can see. And so sometimes as we go through life, as what I believe was here, that they knew it was from God.

They recognized that God was directing them to go another path. When we are following God in our tune with His Holy Spirit, God will lead us in the right direction, and He will lead us away from the wrong places along the path of life. As we seek God's will, we need to know what God wants us to do and where He wants us to go. But just as importantly, we need to also know what God does not want us to do and where He does not want us to go.

Sometimes we may make a decision or start to put pieces in place, saying, This is the steps I'm going to take to accomplish X, Y, and Z. But sometimes it's more important that we take a pause and we consider, What is God wanting us to do?

Is God wanting us to close a door that we may be thinking should be opened right now, which is the no-side of doing something. This is exactly what Paul was able to discern through the vision that God gave him as we read in the next verse, verse 8. So passing by Emesiah, they came down to Troas, And a vision appeared to Paul in the night, a man of Macedonia, Stood and pleaded with him, saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us.

Now, after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them. Again, we just see choice after choice after choice, that Paul and Silas and Timothy continued to make as they continued to spread the gospel message of Jesus Christ. Some of those choices, I'm sure to them, seem like small choices at the time, but in hindsight, I'm sure they saw the significance of the choices that were made.

In a book titled Acts, an Exegetical Commentary, the author Craig Keener said this about the passage that we just read. He says, Going where God wanted and when He wanted was key to being assured of God's blessing, an assurance that would prove essential when they faced the sufferings that awaited them while breaking ground in Macedonia.

I'm going to read that again because the first few times I read this, I had to reread it just to fully wrap my mind around it. Going where God wanted and when He wanted, so, heeding the decision that God was saying, No, No, No, this is where I want you to go. Going where God wanted and when He wanted was key to being assured of God's blessing.

It was an assurance that would prove essential when they faced the sufferings that awaited them while breaking ground in Macedonia. So many times in life, we have a major decision before us that we have to make, and we need that assurance from God so that if we battle challenge, if we battle through other things that maybe we weren't expecting, we know without a doubt in our mind this is where God wanted us to be. So that when those things come, we're able to face them, and that's exactly... The Apostle Paul had no idea going to Macedonia was going to bring in persecution. They were chased from town to town. They were beaten. I don't think anybody ever wakes up one day and says, I'm ready to be beaten. But the assurance that they knew that this is where God wanted them to be, gave Him strength to be able to continue to do what they were doing, and to endure and to work through it.

When we have choices before us, it's vitally important that we involve God in our decision-making process. God knows the ins and the outs of our lives much better than we do. He knows the purpose of our lives and what He desires our end result to be. One of the study Bibles that I enjoy using contained a short list of things to think about when seeking God's will and the choices we make in life. As we begin to wrap up here, I'd like to go through the four things to think about as we make choices.

It just puts it in together in a nice way, and then I'll expound on each one just briefly. The first choice, or the first item to examine as we're making choices and decisions in our life, make sure your plan is in harmony with God's Word. Make sure that your plan is in harmony with God's Word. We do this by diving into God's Word and by spending time with God in prayer. Prayer is the power behind study because we can ask God to open our minds to the words that we're reading, to let it touch our hearts, to make sure that we are interpreting it the right way, that we're letting it work in our lives that way.

And He answers that prayer through the power of His Holy Spirit time and time again. This is a prayer that God wants so much to answer for us, and our great Father knows this, and He knows all the things that He desires to give us.

You can put in your notes Hebrews 11 and verse 6. It says, He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Diving into God's Word, making sure that we are in harmony with God's Word is that item that He will reward when we diligently seek Him. When we're diligently diving into God's Word, He will reward that behavior. He will reward us by making sure our plans and the choices are in harmony with what He wants us to do according to His Word. The second item that they listed is to ask mature Christians for their advice.

Ask mature Christians for their advice. The book of Proverbs has several passages that directly speak to this. The first we'll look at in kind of rapid-fire manner is Proverbs 11 verse 14. Proverbs 11 verse 14. I appreciate that these types of thoughts are not only listed one time with only one proverb, but we're going to look at several. This aspect of looking for others for their advice. Christians who have lived life, made decisions, sometimes poor ones, and yet have learned from them. Proverbs 11, 14 says, Where there is no counsel, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

This protection, this need that we have with multitude of counselors. Flip ahead a few chapters to Proverbs 15 verse 22. It says, Without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established. Our plans can become like concrete. They can become established because of the multitude of counselors and in the wisdom that that presents. And the third passage we'll look at starts off in Proverbs 24 verse 3. It says, Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established. By knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

A wise man is strong, yes, a man of knowledge increases strength. And here again is the key for by wise counsel you will wage your own war, and in a multitude of counselors there is safety. So we see that there is that safety, that protection when we seek counsel from those who have lived life, those who have gone before us, those who have seen the sunrise many days, and they've seen the sunset many times.

And so as we the first point again, making sure your plan is in harmony with God's Word and then to ask mature Christians for their advice. Point number three is check your own motives to see if you are seeking to do what you want or what you think God wants.

Again, from that study Bible, this is their point three. Check your own motives to see if you are seeking to do what you want or what you think God wants. In Proverbs 14 verse 12, you can put that in your notes, Proverbs 14 verse 12, it reads, Continually, daily, we must evaluate our motivation and many of the big decisions of life in order to discern if we're misleading ourselves. It is so easy for us to justify the decisions we want to make. I've done it more times than I can count. Just being honest. I want something. I think I need to do something. And so I wrap my mind around it in a way that I know it's the right thing to do, or I'm going to do it now. But I fool myself when I do that because even if I use Scripture as my guide, am I using it effectively? Or am I just using it so I can convince myself that this is an okay thing for me to do? That's why a pause to evaluate if this is what God wants can make such a tremendous difference. If we pause, take it to God, and then give God time to show us the answers. More times than not, we'll be able to truly see what it is that God wants us to do. God wants us to bring these types of decisions to Him so He can help us walk down the path that will lead to blessing and closeness with Him.

I think each of us sitting here have seen this time and time and time again. When we pause and we take it to God and we ask for His help and to truly show us our motivations. Are they what God wants us to do at this time or not? God will show us the direction to go.

The fourth point from that list is to pray for God to open and close the doors as He desires.

Pray for God to open and close the doors as He desires. This is where I believe the rubber meets the road. Because you make a decision and I make a decision to consciously put all my eggs in one basket, and that's God's basket.

To let God decide if He's going to open doors or close them, therefore we live with the decision that God makes.

Let's turn to Proverbs 16 and verse 9.

Proverbs 16 and verse 9.

Proverbs 16 and verse 9.

Proverbs 16 and verse 9. A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.

And then flipping forward to chapter 19 and verse 20. A couple books ahead.

19 and verse 20.

Again, it says, so again, 16 and verse 9. A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.

Reading into 19 and verse 20. It says, listen to counsel and receive instruction that you may be wise in your latter days.

There are many plans in a man's heart. Nevertheless, the Lord's counsel, that will stand.

Verse 21 from the New Living Translation says, you can make many plans, but the Lord's purpose will prevail.

Again, to me, this is where the rubber meets the road, because so many times in life, I want to hold on to the steering wheel.

I know what I want or what I think God wants me to do, and I want to drive myself there.

I want to be the one in the driver's seat. This is what I want.

And at times, I've acknowledged that I've been wrong, and I slide over to the passenger seat and say, God, I'm along for the ride. I let you drive. And also, as I've shared before, there are so many times that then I find myself reaching across and trying to grab the steering wheel.

A little bit to correct where God is leading my life. Don't we need to be a little bit to the left?

Because I'm not sure we're on the right path. But then I realize that's me seeking to be in control.

That's me thinking that I know more than God about the direction that He wants my life to go. It doesn't mean that we just sit back and do nothing, just waiting for God to make the decision for us.

Many times in life, we do have to go forward. We have to take those steps. We have to see if the door is going to open for us and to evaluate maybe what's behind that door.

Many times it requires us to continue to live life and going forward.

But it takes strength and it takes faith to put a decision in God's hands to make.

So many times, as I said, we like to keep that control in our hands because truthfully, it often makes us feel better.

Like we can control the outcome of a situation.

But if we truly trust God, we would be willing to pray this prayer and ask God to either open the doors or close the doors for our future and then trust that He will show us the way to go.

Throughout God's Word, we have example after example of great men and women making life or death choices.

Many choose to give up their physical life to stand for God's ways.

We have Stephen, who was stoned for living and speaking the truth.

Many of the apostles died a horrendous death sharing the Gospel message of Jesus Christ and not wavering for a minute in what they did.

Others took stands that could have easily led to their death had it not been for God's mighty hand in His deliverance.

We know of the story of Esther. We know of the stories of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Death was certain in their path. Yet God said, I am not going to allow it.

And God intervened and He stopped it. But they were willing to lay their life on the line.

Our lives have been and always will be full of choices to make.

They may be as simple as what we have for breakfast, that somewhat green banana that I prefer.

They may be as challenging as a medical treatment to pursue.

And they might be as critical as the decision to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

The choices that we have recorded in God's word for many set them on paths towards God's righteousness.

For others, it led them to utter and complete destruction.

But God has equipped us with the ability and knowledge to make right decisions.

And to further equip us, God has given us the gift of His Holy Spirit to lead and to guide us, a blessing and a power unlike anything else we could be given.

So may we each allow God's Spirit to continually lead and guide our lives in the choices that we make. And as we continue walking our individual path to eternal life.