Decisions
Decisions • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 1 viewHow our decisions effect our lives and the lives of the people around us.
Notes
Transcript
Good morning, CHURCH!
(Opening joke)
These two guys were shooting some hoops in the park when a gun shot went off.
They took off running for cover.
As they were sitting behind a trash dumpster for protection, they began to talk.
One of them said, “Man I’ve been trying to get out the hood for a long time.
The other said, “Yeah I would like to get out this neighborhood also.”
The other guy said, “I don’t live in this neighborhood.”
“Oh, what hood have you been trying to get out of.”
“I’ve been trying to get out of adulthood.”
“Paying bills and being responsible is for the birds.”
Are you ready to be equipped today?
Let me see your Bibles.
Let’s go to the book of Proverbs 16:25 ESV for this week’s wisdom Vaccination.
This Week’s Wisdom Vaccination
Proverbs 16:25 ESV
This Week’s Wisdom Vaccination
Proverbs 16:25 ESV
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
A way - conduct, behaviour or manner of life.
A man wakes up in the morning and looks at what lies ahead for his day.
The way he chooses probably looked right to him at the time he chose it.
At the end of the day or end of the week or end of the month, he may come to find out that he has chosen paths that have led him into trouble.
A child makes decisions and as a parent you look at them and shake your head and say, “I don’t know what he/she was thinking.”
God could probably look at us the same way except for the fact that we know he already knows what we were thinking.
You’re probably going to hear me start to say this more and more;
Just as a parent knows what’s best for their child, God knows what’s best for those he has created.
Just as a parent knows what’s best for their child, God knows what’s best for those he has created.
We are in a series titled:
Decisions
Decisions
In this series we will talk about how our decisions to disobey God cause our broken relationships and cause brokenness in us and others close to us.
You have to agree with me that if the world lived by the ways of God we would have no crime, no children out of wedlock, no murders, no child slavery, no wars, and I could go on.
Now, if this is the case, shouldn’t it start with us.
And then shouldn’t we do everything we can to get others to do the same.
I think this last part is where we miss it quite often.
Today’s message title is:
The decision to disobey
The decision to disobey
Let’s think back for a moment to how things were before mankind disobeyed God.
We know that God placed mankind in a wonderful garden and gave them the simple task to multiply.
Basically, you had all the healthy food you could eat.
You could have all the sex you wanted.
You had daily conversation with God in the cool of the day.
You had access to a walk-through zoo.
The garden had its own sprinkler system.
You had perfect bodies and never wore clothes.
I mean, life was good.
All you had to do was obey God.
We all know how the Bible starts and how Satan came to deceive the woman and how the man willingly disobeyed.
1 Timothy 2:13-14 ESV
1 Timothy 2:13-14 ESV
For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.
For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.
And a note of interest for you Bible scholars, this passage suggest that eve wasn’t just duped and got back on track but that she was utterly duped and continued in her deception.
And Adam was though to have been persuaded by Eve.
Let’s look at the account in scripture that led to the decision to disobey God.
Genesis 3:1 ESV (The Serpent talking to the woman)
Genesis 3:1 ESV (The Serpent talking to the woman)
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?
Off the top, never let anyone or your own thoughts travel down the road of questioning what you know that God said.
This is the beginning of a recipe for disobedience.
Did God actually say?
Dose the Bible really say?
The Serpent continued to question God.
Genesis 3:4 ESV
Genesis 3:4 ESV
But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
(Basically, he said God is a lie.)
(He might as well had told her that your husband is a lie and God is a lie for telling him that and for telling him to pass that lie on to you.)
I won’t harp on the woman to much here because maybe at this point in history she didn’t know that the serpent was a liar and the father of lies.
But what’s our excuse today!
And again, remember, it’s not enough for me to just live for God. Am I doing all I can to see to it that others live for God as well.
Now let’s look at the fallout of this act of disobedience.
Now let’s look at the fallout of this act of disobedience.
Point #1
Point #1
Naked no more
Naked no more
Genesis 3:6b ESV
Genesis 3:6b ESV
And she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
And she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
1. The man instead of leading his wife to follow the ways of God, he followed his wife down the road of disobedience.
As men we are not to disregard what our wives have to say.
We should listen to them and value their opinions.
But as soon as their opinion is in opposition to what God said, that is the line of demarcation.
We are to no longer value that opinion once they cross that line.
At that point we are to remind them what God said on the matter.
And to remind them what God said we have to know what God said.
This means that:
To be a man and to be a leader:
To be a man and to be a leader:
1. We must know what God has said.
1. We must know what God has said.
2. We must obey what God has said over and above anything anybody else has to say.
2. We must obey what God has said over and above anything anybody else has to say.
More on the fallout of disobedience.
Genesis 3:7 ESV
Genesis 3:7 ESV
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
2. They loss their innocence.
3. That blessed blindness was no more.
4. This discovery of their nakedness brought about shame, which they tried to conceal with an outward covering.
And to this very day, anything that humans are ashamed of, they attempt to hide it, cover it up, mask it or make you focus on something else, so you don’t pay attention to it.
A lot of the behavior in humans that we call negative is actually cover up behavior. (Bullies; class clowns; introverts; extroverts; know it alls; etc.)
Point #2
Point #2
Shame on you
Shame on you
Genesis 3:8 ESV
Genesis 3:8 ESV
And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
1. Shame makes you do crazy things to try to cover up.
How in the world would they think they could actually, hide from God among the trees.
(Adam tells Eve, “Since we have these leaves around us maybe if we hold still like a tree God won’t notice us.)
(It was like the first camouflage.)
Adam and Eve’s shame was more so before God than each other.
(If you tell your kid to stay out of the cookie jar and then you go to the restroom only to come back and find them hiding or with their face turned in the opposite direction from you, they are hiding the shame that they disobeyed.)
Genesis 3:9,10 ESV
Genesis 3:9,10 ESV
But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
1. Fear is another fallout from disobedience to God.
Because Adam was more concerned about his nakedness and shame, he lost sight of the fact that he sinned, and this caused him to fear the very presence of God.
When we have sinned, the flesh wants to go into hiding.
God wants us to confess our sin and allow Him to forgive us.
Let’s look at one more example of fallout that came as a result man’s disobedience to God.
Point #3
Point #3
It wasn’t me
It wasn’t me
Genesis 3:11-12 ESV
Genesis 3:11-12 ESV
He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
1. Blame. (The shifting of responsibility to someone else.)
It looks as if Adam was the first one in history to shift blame for something he did over to be the fault of someone else.
This blame is our attempt to avoid responsibility for our own actions.
It appears here that Adam blamed his wife, since she was the one who gave it to him.
But if we look a little deeper, we could say that Adam was actually blaming God, since God was the one who gave him a wife.
(“You said it wasn’t good for me to be alone.”)
(“I was okay being a zookeeper.”)
And still to this day, man-kinds go to is to shift responsibility.
Even if we are responsible, we will try to get others to share in that responsibility with us.
(“I’m not going down for this alone.”)
(Closing illustration)
If you’re watching online or here in the room, I have a very important question to ask you.
What is Holy Spirit saying to you right now?
What is Holy Spirit saying to you right now?