THE POWER OF CHOICE!

How is your life today? How is your marriage? How is your financial status? Life is full of choices. 

Life is a question, and your choices are your answers. Where you are today or whatever is happening in your life today is a result of the choices you made in the past. So if you want a different result, then you must make a different choice. If you don’t like how your life is right now, then it is time to start making right choices. So, today I want to speak on “THE POWER OF CHOICE!”

The choices you make define you, your character, and your worth to your family, friends, and to society.

What then is choice? Choice is a carefully selected item from amongst others. Choice is something that is preferred to others.

What does it mean to choose? To choose means to select from a number of possibilities.

God created man a free moral agent, and gave him the freedom of choice. God never forces Himself on anyone. You are the one that will freely choose to obey Him or not to, to believe God Word or not to believe.

But remember that your choice has consequences. Every choice you make has a consequence, and each consequence has a destination.

This is a true saying: you are free to make whatever choice you want, but you are not free from the consequences of your choice.

For every choice you make, you set a cycle of energy and consequence into motion. Therefore, before you make a choice in anything in life, make sure that you can live with the consequences.

Good choices (choices that do not contradict the Word of God) have positive long-term results. Every choice for good sets into motion other opportunities for good. Evil choices follow the same pattern, but in the opposite direction.

Each decision you make to obey God’s Word will bring a greater sense of order to your life, while each decision to disobey will bring confusion and destruction.

Obedience brings the greatest safety and security (Matt. 9:9-13). For instance, the Bible says that as Jesus was going down the road, He saw Matthew sitting at his tax-collection booth. “Come, be My disciple,” Jesus said to him. Immediately Matthew got up and followed Him (Matt. 9:9).

Remember that right choices are sometimes difficult to make. When Jesus called Matthew to be one of His disciples, Matthew got up and followed, leaving a lucrative career. When God calls you to follow or obey Him, do you do it with as much abandon as Matthew?

Sometimes the decision to follow Christ requires difficult or painful choices. Like Matthew, we must choose to leave behind those things that would keep us from following Christ.

If you eat the forbidden fruit like Adam, you will surely die. In Genesis 2:16-17 the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

That is to say that if you disobey God by doing what is contrary to His Word, you will surely die.

Whatever troubles there are in the world today is a result of the bad (wrong) choice Adam made. He chose to disobey God.

And the disobedience of Adam brought condemnation to all men. “…19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous” (Rom. 5:15-19).

Today, the LORD has placed the same choice before you. It is your sole responsibility to choose what you want:

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 says, “See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; 16 In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. 17 But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; 18 I announce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. 19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: 20 That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

Just as there are two sides to a coin, there are two choices in every situation in life:

1. Blessing and life: If you choose to obey God, blessing and life will follow you.

2. Cursing and death: If you choose to disobey God, cursing and death will follow you.

If you want blessing and life, you MUST choose to love the Lord your God, walk in His ways, and keep His instructions.

Do you know that the terrible situations you are going through today is because of the wrong choices you made in the past?

For instance:

·    In your choice of faith - you have rejected Christ.

·    In your marriage – did you marry a believer or an unbeliever?

·    In your faith – where do you attend service? You say that you were born in a particular white garment church and you will die there. Then you have chosen to perish eternally. You go to some of these Pentecostal churches where no one is telling you anything about the judgement of God to come. They only tell you how you can prosper here on earth.

·    In not working hard in life – You have chosen to be poor in life.

·    In not paying your tithes – You have chosen not to prosper.

·   In the type of friends you keep. If you keep unbelieving friends, you have chosen destruction.

·     If you don’t give – You have chosen a life of poverty.

Examples of people that made choices abound in the Scriptures:

1. The prodigal son is an example of a person that made a wrong choice in life after the pattern of Adam. He chose to do things his own way (according to the suggestions of his flesh - Gal. 5:19-21).

He chose to go away from where anyone could caution him. He went to a far country where no one knew him. He went to a far country where he was totally outside the father’s control (Lk. 15:11-32).

He wandered out of the way of understanding because he made a wrong choice. If you wander out of the way of understanding you will surely remain in the congregation of the dead (Prov. 21:16). If you stray away from the path of righteousness, you will surely dwell in the congregation of the dead.

If you reject Jesus Christ, you shall surely perish. If you mock and despise God’s instruction, you will surely perish.

Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Rev. 3:20).

Beloved, you are the one to choose to open the door of your heart to Jesus or not. If you choose to open the door to Jesus, you have chosen life. But if you choose not to open the door of your heart to Jesus, you have chosen death.

The prodigal son chose cursing and death. That was his choice. What is your own choice, brother? Remember that making a wrong choice will bring you to the wilderness of life and destroy you at the end.

You that have been pursuing women, committing immorality, embezzling public funds, you have certainly lost your sense of direction and understanding. You have wandered away from the path of righteousness. Won’t you come back to your senses and return to God like the prodigal son?

For instance, when the prodigal son came to his senses, he said, “I will arise and go back to my father…”

2. Sister Ruth is an example of a person that made a good choice – her choice lined up with the Word of God. She chose to follow Naomi and to serve her God – the God of Heaven.

When you choose to follow God, it will surely cost you something (Lk. 8:34). You will make RESTITUTION. That is the implication or consequence of a godly choice.

Count the cost, then you can follow Jesus. Can you say, “Yes, I am ready to remove all the attachments, artificial finger and toe nails, artificial eyelashes, bleaching creams, and jewelleries from my life?”

I am ready to return all the money I have stolen from public treasury. I am ready to end that toxic relationship between me and that married man/woman? I am ready to redeem my vows. I am ready to stop coming late for church activities.

Do you think you will enter Heaven at no cost to you? It involves a practical rejection of anything that contradicts the Word of God

At the end of the day, God honoured Ruth. She is part of the lineage of Jesus Christ today. 

Beloved, the Lord is calling us back to the right kind of Christianity – the Old Time Religion. Choose life!

3. Joshua was another person that made a wise choice. Joshua said this is my choice, “…as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Josh. 24:13-15).

What are some principles for making good choices?

a) Make the same kinds of choices Jesus made. Because of His unity with God the Father, Jesus lived as God wanted Him to live. Because of our identification with Jesus, we must honor Him and live as He wants us to live. The questions is “What would Jesus do?” And what would Jesus have me do may help us make the right choices.

God said, “My child, if sinners entice you, turn your back on them!” (Prov. 1:10)

b) Always make choices that bring life.

“Oh, that you would choose life, that you and your descendants might live! Choose to love the Lord your God and to obey Him and commit yourself to Him, for He is your life”(Deut. 30:19-20).

c) Listening continually to God’s voice in His Word will help you to see what is right and what is wrong.

“I have hidden your Word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Ps. 119:11).

d) Weigh carefully the advice of reliable (Spirit-filled) counselors. “With many counselors, there is safety” (Prov. 11:14).

e) When you let faith in God guide your actions, you are much more likely to make good choices.

“It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home. . . . It was by faith that Moses . . . chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. . . . It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt. . . . Moses kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible” (Heb. 11:8, 25-27; Gen 12:1-3).

How do I know if I am making right or wrong choices?

a) If our choices are being guided primarily by selfish ambition or a desire for physical fulfillment, it is very likely that we, like Lot and Esau, are making bad decisions.

“Lot took a long look at the fertile plains of the Jordan Valley in the direction of Zoar. The whole area was well watered everywhere. . . . Lot chose that land for himself” (Gen. 13:10-13).

“Esau swore an oath, thereby selling all his rights as the firstborn to his younger brother. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew. Esau ate and drank and went on about his business, indifferent to the fact that he had given up his birthright” (Gen. 25:29-34).

b) If we reject the advice of proven wise counselors, like Rehoboam did, we are probably making a very foolish decision. But if we listen to advice and weigh it carefully, we are more likely to make good choices.

“Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders and instead asked the opinion of the young men who had grown up with him and who were now his advisers” (1 Ki. 12:1-11).

“Fools think they need no advice, but the wise listen to others” (Prov. 12:15).

c) If our decisions are being guided by reverence for God, then we are on the way to making good choices.

“Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Only fools despise wisdom and discipline” (Prov. 1:7).

d) If our choices are guided by a desire to gain the world, then we are probably going to make some very bad decisions.

“How do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul?” (Matt. 16:27)

e) If we, like Jesus, keep continually in mind what God would have us do, then we are more likely to make good choices which honor Him.

Jesus replied, “I assure you, the Son can do nothing by Himself. He does only what He sees the Father doing” (Jn. 5:19-23)

f) Good choices are always in keeping with the undiluted Word of God, while bad choices often involve contrary to God’s Word (Rom. 12:2; Ps.73:24, Ps. 23:3; Jam. 1:5-6).

g) Good choices are always in keeping with the fruit of the Holy Spirit, while bad choices often involve rejecting His influence in our hearts.

“When the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Here there is no conflict with the law” (Gal. 5:22-23).

Godly choices will lead you to the right destination – the destination that God has ordained for you. I therefore, challenge you today to stop making choices that are not in line with the Word of God.

Watch out for the next edition of Good News from the Pulpit!

·         Your friend: I. I. MADUBUNYI (Senior Pastor).                              26.04.2017