07/09/2023 - Part 4 - Life Choices – Life’s Choices

Grace Place Atlanta COGBF 4700 Mitchell Street Forest Park, GA 30297 Website: atlantacogbf.org Email: info@atlantacogbf.org Phone: (404) 241-6781 Wayne D. Mack, Pastor / Pastor Wayne D. Mack Sermon Notes July 9, 2023 Life Choices – Life’s Choices Part 4 1 Kings 3 New King James Version Solomon Requests Wisdom 3:1 Now Solomon made a treaty with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and married Pharaoh’s daughter; then he brought her to the City of David until he had finished building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall all around Jerusalem. 2 Meanwhile the people sacrificed at the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days. 3 And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places. 4 Now the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place: Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask! What shall I give you?” 1 GM GP Everything we’ve talked about over the past several weeks regarding CHOICES comes to a resting place today. Despite today’s message being the final installment in this mini-series, it is not the end of the road regarding how each of us will continue to manage our choices – whether past, present, or future – or whether good or bad, proud, or embarrassing, honoring or dishonoring. I’m fully aware that this message series has touched some very sensitive nerves. I’m cognizant of the fact that this topic has surfaced some past dealings and experiences [long since buried] that we all had put out of sight out of mind. I’m also conscious of the fact that some of us are: • Presently processing through some choices we made in life whether recent or not so recent. • Others of us are re-processing past decisions worthy of reevaluating; perhaps some unfinished business or confirmed finished business. • Still, this topic on CHOICES has been cause of celebration for others because some of your choices have been good ones; We all have something to celebrate there. • I like the fact that the trouble of many choices doesn’t last always. With God’s help, we come to grips over some bad choices that once drained our lives; or regrets that beat you up every time you 2 thought about it – but today you are the better for those choices because God’s love, grace and mercy have allowed you to put things in order. No more chains holding you. So, I must tell you, in the natural, no CHOICE is the end of the road for anyone. No choice is final unless you make it so by refusing to make a change. Old Duke – the dog sitting on a nail. [For the record, I must remind you that from a divinely spiritual perspective, from the supernatural side of life, there is a choice that is permanent and final. Nothing can change it, not even God will change it. No, not the unpardonable sin – which is not final, unless you by your stubbornness make it final – but it is the decision to Choose Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. When you decide to make Jesus your choice – God fixes it where there is no turning back. Oh, there may be set backs, but never any irreversible back track. That brings us to the crux of today’s message . . . revealing the heart of God toward our choices. Today, I want to leave everyone here with much hope by giving you a clear sense of God’s heartbeat toward the choices we make. 3 [For the record, I want you who are God’s children to understand “that God is for you and not against you!”. 1 Peter 5:6-8 NKJV 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. As this series began with a battery of questions . . . about the importance of understanding CHOICES – the goal was to avoid premature conclusions like: • Wondering or second guessing whether or not God cares [about you]. • Questioning why God is allowing so many trials and tribulations [difficulty] in my life. • Concluding “Am I being punished or chastened [by God for something I did or didn’t do]? • Rationalizing “Is God holding something against me?” In every case, the answer is “None of the above”! Sadly, and erroneously, God [and often times the devil] is blamed for so many of the things that have a negative effect on our lives. 4 SECOND START I want to end our current mini-series with a lesson from King Solomon followed by a battery of life principles that will help us face choices past, present, and future. Before we begin, I want to acknowledge that I am aware that the substance of this topical series on choices has been peppered with mixed emotions and mixed reactions – some good, some bad, some ugly, some unresolved. Given that, I want to use the story of King Solomon [and principles . . . ] to illustrate God’s heartbeat and attitude toward His children when it comes to making choices. I feel I must minister this final message because too often I believe many of God’s children think God uses [and is using] their poor choices against them. That He is holding their choices against them and that He has given them a life sentence of unforgiveness. That couldn’t be further from the truth. When we become God’s children, that is, lovers of God and followers of Christ, God is for us and not against us. Even despite our poor (or great) decision making, God deals with each one of us individually as a loving Father who is only interested in developing us into growing, maturing children. He wants nothing more 5 than for us to go on to perfection and maturity in Him. And like a loving Parent, He knows that will involve some ups and downs, some misssteps, some bumps and bruises. Nothing surprises God. His love remains constant for His children even though He knows that our next move might contradict Way. Did you not know that it is our troubled way, and our failures and shortcomings that God uses to shape us and grow us. Many of us are the surrendered followers of Christ today because of the hard places we fell into years ago. It was God who allowed it to be so and it was God who delivered us from such places. And it is He who is sustaining us right now. Listen to Psalms 119: 67-68, 71, 72, 66 67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word. 68 You are good, and do good; Teach me Your statutes. 71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes. 72 The law of Your mouth is better to me Than thousands of coins of gold and silver. 66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge, For I believe Your commandments. [In other words, teach me to make 6 good choices according to Your standards]. So, as we approach our lesson text, here’s what I want you to see: • Our God not using our choices to punish us, but to teach us, train us, and discipline us. • Our God leaving the consequences of our choices to us, but His love and grace to help us realize and recognize His faithfulness to us. He will never leave us nor forsake us. (Samson, David, Solomon, Prodigal Son). • Our God - meaning what He says, and saying what He means. Although He loves us, He would be less than a loving, caring Father/Parent to chastise and discipline us for bad choices. Plus, God’s involvement in our lives at this personal level shows us that His Spirit is real. That is, that it is the Holy Spirit who is, and should be at the forefront of our lives is the Governor. Acts 5; Ananias and Sapphira lie to the Holy Spirit. Now, let’s go to our illustration of God’s love for Solomon despite some of the choices he made in his life. First Kings 3:5-15 5 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask! What shall I give you?” 7 The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream during normal sleeping time. But the dream was more than normal. It was a direct revelation from God – not something imagined or symbolic. It was God talking directly to Solomon. And God said: Not Warren Buffet or Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, or Bill Gates – But God SAID. God the richest of all the most wealthy put together. God said to Solomon: “Ask! What shall I give you?” If God “Asks! What shall I give you?” You must know there is no limit or limitation – in heaven or on earth. There is no “ASK” too big for God. What is important for us to note in this statement regarding our current series on CHOICES is that it offers Solomon an opportunity to make the CHOICE of a lifetime. Life is all about choices. Choose well and remember – there are only two types of choices: A choice made in the interest of God or a choice made in the interest of you and your natural self. Keep in mind, at the point of every choice is FREEWILL. Freewill is the freedom to choose as you please without restraint or constraint. You may choose right or you may choose wrong; You may choose inside of God’s will or outside of His will. But in the final analysis -- God will not make the choice for you and me. You and I must choose. Nevertheless, God will always provide His children the right answer, the right choice along with many other choices – but He will not make the choice for us. He will tell you and me what’s right and empower us by the Holy Spirit to know what the right choice is – but He will not choose for us. 8 As children of God, we usually know what’s right and what’s wrong. However, we often override the Holy Spirit. Why? Because of impatience, anxiousness, deception, the flesh, selfishness, disobedience and on and on. But God is Good – He still helps us but not without showing His love through chastisement and discipline. What if you were offered the same opportunity as Solomon, that is, to be Asked by God . . . What shall I give you? Would you ask for -- something earthy or eternal? Something of everlasting value or something of temporal or temporary value? Galatians 6:8 says . . . 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. Now, In verse 6, Solomon answers God: here’s what he said . . . And Solomon said: “You [God] have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; You have continued this great kindness for him [I’m proof of that], and You have given him a son [me] to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 6 [Solomon sets up his final answer to God’s offer by speaking a word of wisdom about his father]. He recognized what made his father successful and that he himself was living proof of God’s great kindness to his father, David. 9 [David was blessed despite some of his choices; Solomon was David and Bathsheba’s son]. In verse 6, Solomon surmised that He was one of his daddy’s greatest blessings from God – and God had given David many, many blessing. Solomon recognized that he himself was an extension of God’s favor upon David. V. 6 In recognizing this, he set out to answer God by framing his response from what he saw had made his dad successful with God -- “walking before God in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart – Like father, like son.] He truly wanted to be an extension of who his daddy was. His prayer was, if I can continue to serve God as my father did that would be blessing enough for me. On to verse 7 . . . 7 Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child [about 20 years old]; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. [Solomon feels inadequate in view of the great task that confronts him]. Although he used great wisdom before in dealing with affairs of state like military leadership – now, he was faced with 10 something far greater – that of understanding how to wisely lead God’s people. {What a great heart: how to lead God’s people}. Now here comes Solomon’s Big Ask to God’s question: “What shall I give you?” 9 Therefore [give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” Here, Solomon is asking the Lord to help him. He’s saying, “Help me lead your people. Help me to please you. [All I can say is “Boy, what a decision that leads to the right choice.] 10 The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. The Lord was delighted that Solomon had not asked for personal benefits, rather “This Thing” meaning “wisdom to lead God’s people – and to possess a listening heart to govern God’s people with such wisdom. Then God said to him: “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, 12 behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. 11 13 And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. 14 So if you walk in My ways, to 11 keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.” [That is, exercise your FREEWILL within the context of My Will, then you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you and more.] 15 Then Solomon awoke; and indeed it had been a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants. In top portion of the message, I wanted you to see the heart of God toward our good choices. In the bottom half, I wanted you to see that even if our choices aren’t perfect, God doesn’t abandon us, punish us unduly, or kick us to the curb. But He loves us right on. And like a loving parent, He does whatever necessary to make full proof of His promise to let nothing separate us from His love. Romans 8:38 8 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now, let’s flip 1 Kings 3, lets listen to the top half in contrast to the glamourous bottom half: Only one thing I want to show you. 12 1 Kings 3:1-4 NKJV 1 Now Solomon made a treaty with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and married Pharaoh’s daughter; then he brought her to the City of David until he had finished building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall all around Jerusalem. 2 Meanwhile the people sacrificed at the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days. 3 And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places. 4 Now the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place: Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask! What shall I give you?” God’s children don’t have to beat themselves up over making poor choices (or overly celebrate good choices) . . . but to God be the glory. Because of God’s love – accompanied by His mercy, grace, and kindness, God won’t crush us, or act mercilessly toward us. We often display such behavior toward each other, but it is not God’s desire. It’s not OK with Him. 13 But . . . • Our God not using our choices to punish us, but to teach us, train us, and discipline us. • Our God leaving the consequences of our choices to us, but His love and grace to help us realize and recognize His faithfulness to us. He will never leave us nor forsake us. (Samson, David, Solomon, Prodigal Son). But we will reap what we sow. • Our God - meaning what He says, and saying what He means. Although He loves us, He would be less than a loving, caring Father/Parent to chastise and discipline us for bad choices. Plus, God’s involvement in our lives at this personal level shows us that His Spirit is real. That is, that it is the Holy Spirit who is, and should be at the forefront of our lives is the Governor. Acts 5; Ananias and Sapphira lie to the Holy Spirit. [You remember the debtor who was forgiven a large sum of money (perhaps millions), but turned around and assaulted his fellowman who owed him only a measly few dollars. Symbolically, that bothered the Lord deeply). Though often poor choices weigh us down personally, God has a different heart toward us and the situation. God’s children don’t have to beat themselves up over making poor choices (but neither should we dismiss the detriments of doing so). We must be sober and vigilant. 14 Whatever choice we make and its outcome, two things must remain constant with us: • Our names are permanently written in heaven – so our salvation is eternally secure. Luke 10:20 Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” • All things work together for good to those who love the Lord, those who are the called according to His purpose. Rom. 8:28 Ultimately, life isn’t about us. It’s about God. So, God will take everything we’re not, and everything we think we are and orchestrate it to fulfill His interests and purposes. He won’t waste and experience but in order for us to rise above regret, disappointment, shame, and embarrassment - we have to give it to Him. When we do, He’ll change it to GOLD. What is Gold? 1. G is for Grace is Sufficient 2. O is for Opportunity to begin again; opportunity to enlarge our territory for God; opportunity to for 2nd, 3rd, 4th, chances. Up to 70 X 7. for more capacity to grow and become more for God. 15 3. L is for Love – living out God’s love lavished upon us; living out loud for people to see what a BIG difference a little Jesus can make in anyone’s life. Jesus’ love covers a multitude of faults. 4. D is for Divine Order -- that’s when God takes an impossible situation and does with it what only He can do. That’s when God opens doors that are closed in the natural, and closes doors (past woes) that refuse to be shut in the natural. I call these DOORS “Death Row”. They are the 6 D’s = Debt, Disease, Disappointment, Deception, Discord, and Death. God’s Divine power can lift any of His children’s situations above these. Doors are like stop signs in the natural, but to God, they are mere access points to an elevated, higher plane for the child of God. Remember Peter’s three denials? If it had not been for the Lord’s love, that devastating moment would have been something Peter would have had to live with all of his life. What guilt, what depression! But the love of Jesus superseded his denials and caused them to work an even weightier degree of surrender from Peter to Jesus. It was through the denials that Peter came to know himself and his Lord and Savior more profoundly. So much so until Peter later wrote: Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. 16 The best, ultimate, unforgettable, regrettable choice is to choose Jesus Christ as your Savior. Life Choices – Life’s Choices Notes on 1 Kings 3:3 Jeremiah 3:12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say: ‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the LORD; ‘I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I am merciful,’ says the LORD; ‘I will not remain angry forever. The Two Mothers and Their Babies: Right /Good Choices: honoring principle set by God; 17 Wrong/Poor Choices . . . driven by lying, scheming, reasoning irrationally, serving self (self-serving), selfishness – If I can’t no one can, living a lie – a searing of conscience (if it weren’t for Solomon, the lying mother would have raised another woman’s child), Gray Choices: Neither right nor wrong. Romans 14 New King James Version The Law of Liberty 1 Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. 2 For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. 3 Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. 4 Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. 5 One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. 7 For none of us lives to 18 himself, and no one dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. 10 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 11 For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.” 12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. 13 Therefore let us not judge one another [d]anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way. Innocent Poor Choices and Decision Making (Illustrated) Genesis 20:1 And Abraham journeyed from there to the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and stayed in Gerar. 2 Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. 3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.” 19 But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a righteous nation also? 5 Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.” 4 And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. 7 Now therefore, restore the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.” 6 Not Angry Forever: Jeremiah 3:12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say: ‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the Lord; ‘I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I am merciful,’ says the Lord; ‘I will not remain angry forever. Micah 7:18 Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy. 20 The Don’ts and Dos of Our Choices: Ecclesiastes 5:6 Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your hands? Psalms 85: 4 & 8. The Lord is not angry forever, but don’t repeat recklessness. 4 Restore us, O God of our salvation, And cause Your anger toward us to cease. 8 I will hear what God the Lord will speak, For He will speak peace To His people and to His saints; But let them not turn back to folly. 21