Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Thank you. Okay, so Des is staying on the stage just for a minute because I've asked him to.
Because I'm going to ask him a few questions. I'm going to do a. Sean, if you don't know who Sean is, Sean's our youth pastor, and he gets somebody on the stage and he asks them a few questions to get to know them a little bit better. So, of course, Des, you now know the answer to the questions. But if you could react more or less as you did in the first service, that would be really good.
[00:00:30] Speaker B: Okay, I'm still recovering. They're a bit naughty. They're a bit naughty.
[00:00:34] Speaker A: Okay, so tea or coffee?
[00:00:36] Speaker B: Tea.
[00:00:37] Speaker A: Pigs in blankets or stuffing?
[00:00:40] Speaker B: Stuffing with no onion in it.
Horrible.
[00:00:46] Speaker A: Summer or winter?
[00:00:48] Speaker B: Summer.
Hurrah.
[00:00:51] Speaker A: Pizza or KFC?
[00:00:55] Speaker B: Pizza.
[00:00:58] Speaker A: Holiday in the Lake District or a holiday in the Bahamas.
[00:01:05] Speaker B: I'm under pressure. Bahamas.
[00:01:10] Speaker A: Drums or guitar.
[00:01:14] Speaker B: Are definitely the drums. Drums, I think.
[00:01:20] Speaker A: And the last one, Newcastle or Exeter.
[00:01:29] Speaker B: Now you're naughty because Newcastle United over Exeter City. Right. I'm black and white through and through, but Jenny, Exeter.
[00:01:45] Speaker A: Thank you. Bless you. Thank you.
It's really nice to hear and get to know people just by asking a few questions and seeing what they choose.
And we all have to make choices every day. And some of our choices are a little bit more serious. You could see the struggle for Des, particularly in those last two, because drums and guitar and Newcastle and Exeter, they're all so important to him. What choices does he have to make there?
And for us, we also have to make choices every day. So some easy choices. Mills and Boone or the Bible.
Hopefully in this room, it's the Bible. Okay, that's an easy choice. They get a little bit harder now.
Extra hour in bed or get up and pray.
Obedience or comfort.
My way or God's way.
We know what the right answer should be. But do we always make the right choices? Because there are days when I struggle to make the right choices. Anyone here also struggle to make the right choices? Yes. Good. Okay, so I'm talking to good people like me. Okay? So I have a choice. I can give in to what God is asking of me, or I can give in to what we call the flesh, my feelings, what I want to do. Okay? And that is the title of our talk today, our daily choice. Do I choose to listen to my flesh or do I choose to listen to God? If you've never struggled with this, I apologize. You're just going to have to sit still for the next quarter of an hour and listen to me. But if you've struggled, then hopefully this will mean something to you.
And I know that we're not the only ones that struggled with this, because in romans seven, this is a paraphrase of what apostle Paul writes. I hope I truly delight in God's commands. I do.
But it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight.
Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.
In other words, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
And then we're tempted to say, wow, but that's just me. You just have to accept me as I am. This is the way I am. I'm always going to be like this.
Except we can't really use that as an excuse because actually it's our decision. We are the ones making the choices that we make on a daily basis. There's this beautiful saying, says, actions are a product of the decisions that we make. Emphasis on the we. We make the decisions and then we act on them. In other words, what I do is a result of what I've already determined in my heart to do. So the question is, do you know what your weaknesses are?
I'm going to give a few ideas, but this is not the entire list, because we all have different weaknesses. Do you have a short temper?
Do you enjoy procrastination?
How about overspending?
How about overeating?
How about gossip?
Des has already mentioned pornography. Is that your weakness? What is it that trips you up?
What is it that you choose to give into that you know isn't God's best for your life?
For me, it's food. I like food. Anyone else here like food? Food is good. We all need food to live. There's nothing wrong with food.
My problem is you put food on the table in front of me, and I'll eat it.
And I'll go on eating it because it's in front of me and I've had enough. But I'll go on eating because there's food on the table. And who doesn't like food?
The only trouble with that is that after I've eaten it all, I start feeling ill because I've overindulged. My poor choice is having a consequence on my body. Am I the only one that struggles with food issues? No. Okay, well, that's good. You know what? And I question, why do we struggle with food issues? Well, actually, food was involved in the very first sin in the Bible. Adam and Eve saw the fruit and ate of it. So I think we all struggle with food or some of us struggle with food because of that as well. But God told them not to eat that fruit. Why did he say that?
Because he knew there would be consequences, not just for them, but for the whole of mankind. And the choices I make don't just affect me, they affect other people as well.
What I say has consequences. It says this in proverbs 18, verse 20. A man's moral self shall be filled with the fruit of his mouth and with the consequence of his words. He must be satisfied, whether good or evil.
What I say has consequences, but also what I do has consequences. It says this in Galatians. Whatever a man sows is what he will reap.
So if I'm saying things, they have consequences. If I'm doing things, they have consequences. And I need to acknowledge that I am the one making the choices in the first place. I have to accept that there are going to be consequences, good or bad, and I need to take responsibility for the choices and therefore the consequences of those things. For example, outside our house, we have a tree. You can ask Graham later what its actual name is. I call it the chocolate tree. Twice a year, the chocolate tree smells of chocolate cake, newly baked chocolate cake. So when I go into my house, I'm smelling newly baked chocolate cake. When I leave the house, I'm smelling newly baked chocolate cake. It's like that right now, you can come to our house and smell the chocolate tree.
So, of course, that puts in my mind that I like chocolate.
So I just happen to mention to my husband, I feel like a bar of chocolate. He takes the hint, he's very good. He has learned over the years, he's very good, takes the hint, takes the money, goes down to the shop at the bottom of our road and he'll buy me a bar of chocolate. But he'll also see that they've got crisps in the shop and he'll think, oh, she'll like crisps. And then there's some biscuits in the shop and he'll buy some biscuits and he'll bring them all back and he'll give them to me and I'll go, wonderful. Thank you very much. I only wanted a bar of chocolate, but since you've bought the crisps and the biscuits as well, I'll eat those as well. And then, of course, I don't feel so good. And what do I do?
I blame him.
It is entirely his fault. He went to the shop. All I said was, I fancy a bar of chocolate. Not my responsibility, except it was because I was the one that chose to say it in the first place. And the thing is, when things don't go well, we don't like to accept the responsibility. But when things go really well, we like that. So, for instance, as a teacher, I love it when my parents come to me and they say, so and so is doing so much better in their subject now. And it's all because you've been teaching them. Oh, yes, thank you.
I'm responsible for that. That's great.
But the thing is, I can't choose to accept responsibility when things go well unless I'm also willing to accept responsibility when things don't go so well. I have to be willing to accept the responsibility for all the choices and all the consequences of my actions, my thoughts and so on. God is very clear in his word. We either choose life or death. We either choose blessing or we choose cursing.
Yeah, but I read Romans earlier on and Paul struggles with this stuff. St. Paul, apostle Paul. What hope is there for us if he is struggling with that stuff?
Praise God for God. What does Romans eight say?
Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the spirit.
Letting the spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. That is the daily choice I need to make.
Let the Holy Spirit control my mind and then I will know life and peace. Daily. Daily. We have to choose to submit to his will to allow him to empower us and overcome those wrong things in our life. Will we always get it right? No, not always. We will slip up sometimes. Who loves Peter? The apostle Peter. Who loves Peter in this?
I mean, you know, he got things wrong. He got things wrong when Jesus was mean. He thought he knew better than Jesus and tried to tell Jesus off. Ended up getting told off himself. He thought he could rescue Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane and cut off the ear of a servant. He did loads of things wrong. And even when Jesus had ascended to heaven, he still got things wrong. The apostle Paul had to rebuke Peter on one occasion because he was doing something with one group of people when that lot of people weren't there. And as soon as that lot of people appeared, he stopped doing the same thing. So Paul had to say, you're being a hypocrite, Peter. But this is what Peter himself wrote in two. Peter, chapter one. God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.
So the choice is mine.
Am I going to accept what God has given me and live God's way or am I going to reject it and live my own way? Will I listen for the spirit's leading? Or will I go headlong into making decisions? Am I going to be feelings based and impulsive? Or am I going to still my heart and just wait before making any decisions?
And how will I know if I'm making good choices or not?
The Bible talks about the fruit that we bear. Am I angry? Confused, despairing? Keep on blaming others unkind?
Or am I at peace?
Am I accepting my responsibilities? Am I compassionate towards others? Am I caring? Is my focus me centered? Or is it God centered?
What would it be like if today, every single person in this room and watching online made the decision to choose to live their lives, to do only as God would lead them to represent God's heart in our lives? What difference would that make to the way I choose to live today?
Perhaps there are some people here who haven't yet made that choice to follow God. Perhaps you're watching online, haven't yet made that choice.
I'd like to give you the opportunity to make that choice here and now. But for every single one of us, we also have to make that choice today.
Are we choosing to go God's way or our way?
Perhaps we could bow our heads and we're going to pray.
Father God, you know the times I've made wrong decisions in my life. Please forgive me.
Today I choose to follow Jesus and I ask that you lead me, Holy Spirit. Come teach me. Lead me, guide me in all that I do and think and say.
Thank you, Lord, for helping me to choose life today.
Amen.
For most of us in the room, this will be a rededication of our commitment to the Lord. But there might be somebody here or online who has never prayed that prayer before. If that's the first time that you've prayed that prayer, if you'd put up your hand, we would love to welcome you into the kingdom of God and just say, hey, we're all on this journey together and we want to celebrate with you. Is there anyone who wants to put up their hand today?
Nope? Okay. Thank you very much for listening and I'll hand over to Pastor Mark.
