The Power Of Choice Part 1

Who will we be TOMORROW? Fundamentally, the DECISIONS that we’re making TODAY will determine who we become and what we’re able to do TOMORROW. “Our CHOICES matter!” And our CHOICES are determined by our PRIORITIES. The problem is if we don’t know the purpose of a thing, all we can do is misuse the thing. If we don’t know the purpose of our lives, we end up experimenting with it and we never do what we were created to do.

So many of us don’t know the purpose of our lives. If you don’t know the purpose of an invention, don’t ask the invention, ask the INVENTOR. What we do so often is we go to other people and ask their opinion of us.

Here’s the big problem: Living for the approval of people keeps you from the purposes of God. Anytime we’re consumed with what people think about us, we tend to forget what God thinks about us. The fastest way to forget about what God thinks about us is to be obsessed with what people think about us. 

Hebrews 11:24-26, “24 It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He CHOSE to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward.” (NLT)

THE POWER OF PURPOSE:

PURPOSE DECREASES DISTRACTIONS

One of the biggest distractions that we have is COMPARING. This is the curse of comparing. Purpose diminishes all of those different distractions. Some of you, you need to internalize and say to yourself: “I’m doing a great work, so I can’t come down!” This is what God called me to do. It may not seem big now, but I’m being faithful in this thing. Over time, God is going to reward me. Even if God’s purpose for you doesn’t feel very big and awesome for now, just do it faithfully like Nehemiah and you’ll slowly see how one brick can become a wall.

PURPOSE SHOVES PAIN

The PATHWAY to your PURPOSE is always paved with PAIN. Every single time. Don’t think you’re exempted. Jacob, David, Esther, Mary, and Jesus experienced pain while doing God’s purpose. Pain is inevitable when you’re doing God’s purpose because spiritual enemy will surely resist you. I know there will be resistance when I’m doing the will of God. Why? People will not understand. They can’t understand because I’m doing something that is higher than people’s ability to understand. Purpose pushes pain away. 

Every now and then, some people will pull you down when you’re serving God. Every now and then, it will cost you something. Jesus paid for my salvation with pain. What it cost Jesus was more than what I will experience in my entire life. Every now and then, don’t mind a little resistance. Don’t mind a little pain. Purpose pushes it through. When you recognize, “WHAT YOU WERE BORN FOR,” critics can’t stop you. Opposition doesn’t discourage you. Pain doesn’t slow you. At the back of your mind you’re saying, “I was BORN FOR THIS.” This is something God has called me to do.

PURPOSE EMPOWERS PEOPLE

This is what Moses encountered when he was serving God. There were all sorts of opposition. He faced it from Pharaoh. He faced it from his enemies. He faced it from his own people who complained. The purpose empowered Moses to keep going. Why? He is pleasing God. He said to himself, “This is what God called me to do. You cannot talk me out of doing what I was born to do.” It’s a little bit like what Peter and John experienced while preaching about Jesus in Acts 4.  Some of the religious leaders came up and commanded them never again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:18). 

But Peter and John said in Acts 4:19-20, “19 But Peter and John replied, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him? 20 We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard (NLT).””

People don’t want Christian to talk about Jesus. It is unfortunate that 2,000 years ago, you can’t teach about Jesus. 2,000 years later, what’s the name that annoy people? You can talk about God, higher power, supreme being, spirituality. You can do that all day long on daytime television shows. But…when you bring up the name of Jesus, people will ask, “Why?” However, they can’t stop us from sharing about Jesus…because that name is above every other name. There is no other name by which people would be saved. One day, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess Jesus is Lord.

Purpose empowers people. In other words, when you’ve been so transformed as we’ve been transformed, when you’ve been forgiven as we’ve been forgiven, when you’ve seen what we’ve seen, you can’t stop from talking for JESUS. People can beat us and we’ll come back. People can put us in prison. People can try to kill us. But we’ll continue to speak the name of JESUS. Why? We must obey God rather than human beings.

Living to please people keeps you from the purposes of God. Whenever we’re obedient to the little purpose and we’re faithful in the small things, we please God