Sermon Tone Analysis

*Making Good Choices*

*(Making Godly Choices)*

*December 18th, 2004** and **December 19th, 2004*

* *

*Introduction*

 

I heard about a young man asking an older and wiser man the secret to success in life.

The older man said “*GOOD CHOICES”.

*So the young man asked how to learn to make good choices to which the older man replied; “*BAD CHOICES”.*

* *

 

-I want to talk about making good choices.

God wants us to and we want to choose wisely.

We are faced with so many decisions and choices in our lives that we would like to know how to follow God and make some wise ones.

How many have ever made bad choices?

We all have.

Joel 3 NIV

*/14 /**/Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!

*[1]* /*

*/ /*

*/I grew up watching that show where you had to pick door #1, #2 or #3./*

*/Former president Ronald Reagan once had an aunt who took him to a cobbler for a pair of new shoes.

The cobbler asked young Reagan, "Do you want square toes or round toes?"

Unable to decide, Reagan didn't answer, so the cobbler gave him a few days.

Several days later the cobbler saw Reagan on the street and asked him again what kind of toes he wanted on his shoes.

Reagan still couldn't decide, so the shoemaker replied, "Well, come by in a couple of days.

Your shoes will be ready."

When the future president did so, he found one square-toed and one round-toed shoe! "This will teach you to never let people make decisions for you," the cobbler said to his indecisive customer.

"I learned right then and there," Reagan said later, "if you don't make your own decisions, someone else will."

/*

*/Today in the Word/**/, MBI, August, 1991, p. 16./*

*/ /*

*/During World War II, Winston Churchill was forced to make a painful choice.

The British secret service had broken the Nazi code and informed Churchill that the Germans were going to bomb /**/Coventry/**/.

He had two alternatives: (1) evacuate the citizens and save hundreds of lives at the expense of indicating to the Germans that the code was broken; or (2) take no action, which would kill hundreds but keep the information flowing and possibly save many more lives.

Churchill had to choose and followed the second course.

/*

Klyne Snodgrass, Between Two Truths - Living with Biblical Tensions, 1990, Zondervan Publishing House, p. 179.

*HOW do we make wise choices?*

* *

*1.           **If You Want to Make Good Choices You Have to Really Want God to Help You.*

* *

-Sometimes we can have the attitude of /“I want to go to heaven but God please leave me alone.”/

-The key to making good choices or being led by the Holy Spirit is that you have to want God’s help.

-You can do it on your own but you are stuck with your knowledge and intellect.

I don’t want to be left to myself.

Proverbs 1

*/22 /**/“How long will you simple ones b love your simple ways?

How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge?

23 If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you.

*[2]* /*

*/ /*

*/ /*

Isaiah 53

*/6 /**/We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; *[3]* /*

 

-God wants to be our counselor.

He knows the future.

He knows you intimately.

It would be very wise to let Him tell you the best choice.

Proverbs 3

*/5 /**/Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

a 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.

*[4]* /*

 

-The Hebrew for *acknowledge* is;

*/information about a person, with a focus on the relationship with that person*[5]* ~/ to make oneself known, reveal oneself./*

-In other words you pour out all you know about the situation to God and look to Him for direction.

-Billy Joe Daugherty said; “In order to be led by the Spirit of God, you have to believe that you are.”

 

 

*2.

**You Start with Your Decision Making in the Things God has already told us – The Bible.*

* *

Joshua 1

*/7     “Only be strong and very courageous; 1abe careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may 2have success wherever you go./*

*/8      /**/“aThis book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may 1be careful to do according to all that is written in it; bfor then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will 2have success.

(act wisely)/*[6]

 

 -Some things are covered already in the Book.

Why reinvent the wheel.

-Some things are commands; they are obvious.

Other things are principles.

Example

If I am attracted to a member of the opposite sex and they aren’t a Christian; should I date them?

That is covered in the Book.

*/“Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers.”/*

Example

I need to buy one more Christmas present and I am a little short of cash.

I pull into Fastlane and buy gas and it is so busy that the lady gives me an extra twenty.

Do I see that as God providing my need?

That is covered in the Book.

God doesn’t steal someone else’s money to bless you.

*“Thou shall not steal”.*

* *

-See, a whole lot of choices just got easier.

Example

Someone offers you a great investment and you look into your daily horoscope to see if it has anything to say about it.

That’s covered in the book.

*/“Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.

Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD.”/**/

(Deuteronomy 18:10-11)./*

*/ /*

 

-You get the point, some things are clear.

Probably much more than we think is already covered.

* *

*3.           **Follow Your Conscience*

* *

Proverbs 11 NIV

*/3 /**/The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.

*[7]* /*

*/God’s Word translation says;/*

*/ /*

*Proberbs 11:3 GWT*

*/“Integrity guides decent people, but hypocrisy leads treacherous people to ruin.” \\ \\ /*

*/ /*

-This is simply the difference between *right* and *wrong*.

-This is simply being guided by the value system in your heart.

-There are some tough choices out there.

-It is amazing how much of a conflict it becomes about *where married children are going for the Holidays*.

-A couple gets married and all of the places each child used to go for Christmas is expected by the parents.

The first year they do everything.

Then they decide to whittle it down.

Look out!

Your choice has consequences.

Be bold and do what is right.

-The best description of this is “peace in your heart”.

Colossians 3 Amplified

*/“15 And let he peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds….]….” /*