Power of Choice
Power of Choice
St. Paul’s Chapel Service
Intro
Ammie
Robert
When I was in jr. high I was insane…literally. I don’t think my brain worked right. Since being in youth ministry for close to a decade I have come to learn that this is a common condition and wasn’t just unique to me. In the midst of a bunch of stupid decisions that I made, there were a couple of times where certain things stuck out. A comment made by the pastor, a prayer from my mom…or whatever. These things became anchors for me through some crazy times. I am praying that today is one of those times for you. You will make some bad choices in the future, you will rebel against what you know is right from time to time. But hopefully you will feel the tug of an anchor not letting you stray too far from the One who loves you and gave Himself for you.
Choices
How many of you like being told what to do?
You’re told when to get up; when to go to school, what to say and not to say; when to go to class when to change classes, when to eat, etc.
Not here to lead a rebellion against authority
One day you will get to make some choices
Learn to be a good follower before you can be a good leader.
One of the coolest and yet one of the hardest things that God did in creating was give us a little something called free will. The power to choose our destiny…
Right now you are living at a time in your life where everyone tells you what to do, where to go, what to eat…and I know it gets old sometimes. (all the time!?!) but a time is coming when you will start making the choices.
You will either make or break your life with the choices you make. Today, quite honestly, most people are breaking their lives with the choices they make. But God is raising up a generation, calling out to them to follow Him.
Everything about who you are and who you will be starts right now. Every little choice you do get to make matters. You are shaping who you will be for the rest of your life right now. Thank God He has grace on us and allows us to learn from our mistakes, but if you keep making poor choices you will wind up in bad shape.
For example take the class clown. He likes to make people laugh, he’s good at it. Everyone knows him, and smiles when he comes around wondering what is about to happen. But what happens when he lets himself be shaped by that identity? He gets bad grades because he is busy playing the part of the fool. He never has any close friends because he can’t ever share what’s in his heart with people, cuz they are all looking for the next joke.
What about the girl who is discovering that boys are attracted to her? She likes the attention, so much so that she gets addicted to it. If boys aren’t paying enough attention to her she gets depressed, and thinks that something must be wrong with her now, so she stops eating, starts wearing smaller, tighter clothes, etc. You know the drill…many of you are living it or at the very least know someone who is.
What kind of choices are you making? Who are you becoming?
The best choice you could ever make is to give up the right to make those choices. You see God has an awesome plan for your life. He knows who you are, who you were created to be.
The reason so many lives are broken, so many marriages destroyed, so many families torn apart is because people are trying to make all the choices on their own, according to how they feel. God gives us the right to do that, but most of the time it turns out bad.
You see I talked about choices today, but really it actually boils down to just 2 choices.
Will you choose to follow Jesus or reject Him?
This school that you attend is named after a dude who made a lot of what the world would think was great choices early in his life. He went to the best school, he knew the right people, he was determined to succeed, but he did this all without following what God wanted from his life, and he wound up a hypocrite and murderer. It was only after God slapped him off of his high horse that he realized what a fool he had been without Jesus in his life.