Wyldlife - Decisions

Intro:

Who I am

What I like - Liverpool FC, soccer, rugby, pizza, New Zealand, and Jesus

What I dislike - salmon cakes, baseball, hot weather, and chewing with your mouth open

What I do -

I’m a youth pastor at Cornerstone Baptist Church - Strive student ministries

If you have a church and youth group, fantastic, get involved, stay there

If you aren’t plugged in anywhere, come check us out on Sundays and Wednesdays

You can find us on social media

I’m a husband to Savannah and a dad of 3 kids

Decisions

And because of 3 kids, I make decisions daily

We all make them, daily

What time we’re going to get up each morning, which for me happens after several snoozes

What we’ll eat

Which, as already noted, it won’t be salmon cakes

Whether we’re going to study for a test

I see you guilty ones out there

How many of you would say you primarily make good decisions?

How many of you would say you primarily make bad decisions?

Chicken - let me tell you about a time in my life when I had to make a decision

Real Life Example

Decisions

At that moment on the bike, I had a decision to make - and yes, I made the wrong one

And you guys, life is exactly like this for you, and for me, for all of us

We all have decisions to make that will impact the course of our lives....

Big decisions..not silly, trivial ones like I just referenced

Decisions like:

Should I watch what I’m watching

Should I talk about the things I’m talking about

Should I go to the places I’m going to

And you guys are getting ready to head into summer break, can I get an amen?

And summer break is awesome

As a youth pastor, I really look forward to summer break because we do a lot of awesome and fun things

But here’s the truth....summer break is a time where you have more freedom, more time to do whatever you want, and your decision making becomes even more pivotal

A time where your decision making will impact who you become

If you choose to make the wrong decisions, to get involved in things you shouldn’t....this summer could prove to be not great.

If you choose to live right, make the right choices, then maybe this summer will catapult you further

So what do we do? How do we make the right decisions?

James is my favorite book of the Bible, and in chapter 1, verse 5, it says this,

“5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Well the first thing I see here is this, you’ve got to have faith

You guys are here this afternoon so I assume you have some interest in Jesus, but maybe you don’t know Jesus

Apart from Jesus Christ, you’ll never make the right decisions

But if you put your faith in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, well, that’s the best decision you can ever make…and it will influence your decision making if it’s real

Gospel

Jesus knew the bad decisions you would make..and he died for them

Secondly though, James tells us that we need to ask God for wisdom in our decision making

Because James tells us we will lack wisdom, we will lack the knowledge to make the right decision all of the time

Like me on the bike

Now, it’s not like we write down a question and text it into God and tell Him to check yes or no, although that’d be cool right?

Text

“Should I go to this party” - No

“Should I watch this show” - Yes

Magic eight ball

“Should I watch this show” - Yes

So how do we ask God?

three ways:

opening God’s Word

start with the book of James - make it your goal this summer to read the book of James…you won’t be disappointed

a life of prayer

And then as your day unfolds and you have this potentially life-altering decision before you, you remember Him, you remember your prayer, and you allow Him to influence your decision.

involved in church

a place we can lean on others to guide us

- 14  Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

for some of you, wyldlife might be ending, and Tysen might be your only source of guidance

plug in to a church/youth group

If you’ll purpose in your mind now to pursue these three things, I can promise you your summer won’t be one of eventual regret

Sure, you can live this summer how you want to, and you might not regret it immediately, but I am 100% confident that choosing our own path always leads to regret

Lean on Jesus, lean on His Word, lean on a youth group…and allow your decisions to be right