Were going to follow a story of 2 individuals mostly
King Saul and son Jonathan - 1 Samuel 13 & 14
I wonder how many of us are just existing or living?
Burning daylight or chasing daylight?
I wonder if it would take an earthquake to shake you out of your slumber to finally wake up you up so you too might live.
How do you find the epi-center of God’s movement?
How do you find that life groove that allows you to begin to live the life God created for you to live?
Do we need earthquakes every-other day in our lives to shake us up, to get us to move, to re-direct our lives?
If our birth is like the sunrise, and our death like the sunset,
then in-between were all just chasing daylight.
“As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.” John 9:4
When we think of spirituality we generally think of activities like: worship, prayer, meditation, lighting incense, or rosaries, for some it’s reading scrip. or going to places like this,
but the reality is all of those activities - while they may be spiritual, they are not at the core what makes us different from other things created, like a giraffe or orangoutang
that God created you with the capacity to choose.
It is one of the most spiritual activities we can engage in, however we usually do not approach it that way.
From the very beginning of human time God has placed us in the context that we must chose well.
Gen. 2:4 - 25
We cannot live our lives with a biblical framework of understanding without seeing at the very beginning what God did was place humanity into the very context that they had to choose.
Remember these 3 words from God, “you are free”
I love that - so many view God as the Warden - to live a life for God, connected to God is to loose your freedom. God’s got all these rules, these commandments, these boundaries,
God’s got all these, ‘DON’TS’ so when you come to God you’re limited. So you’ve gotta run from God to be free, get away from God.
But God, He knows us, He knows our design b/c he created us - He created us to be free. How many times have we run from God and made choices that become the very prisons we live in.
‘You are Free’ He says
important: 2 trees - tree of life; tree of knowledge of good/evil
life represents, symbolizes my relationship to you
my gift to you, free to live, enjoy life... other tree...
K.G/E - you are born w/ the capacity to choose.
you can choose to live a life apart from, to separate from me
Why did God give us that other tree?
He put the tree in the middle of the garden(which ticks me off a bit) why not on top of mountain?
or put on an island in the middle of the ocean miles away full of man-eating sharks, only one man so dont do it
maybe then I could make it, but nooo it’s right in the middle
(why are they hangin’ out by it?)
I have a theory on the tree K.G/E I think it was aromatic,
I have come to the conclusion it was a chocolate tree.
Why did they hang around the wrong tree?
What is it about us that just loves to stay really close to the one choice that could destroy our
lives or really wreak havoc upon us?
Think about this guys, Adam was the best looking guy in the world
It’s the one and only time he could look at eve and say,
“I am God’s gift to women”
Eve was the best looking woman in the world, she was
THE Super Model.
and they couldn’t think of anything better to do than hang around this tree, talk about a lack of imagination
it’s that choice
M&M’s - pass out - I know for some of you this will be your one healthy meal today...
open, pick one out right now, just one, dont eat - how many picked yellow, brown, green, orange, blue, red - why did you pick that? “it was first one” - I hope you don’t date like that - or found spouse that way?
Wait a minute, we’re in a spiritual place here c’mon, how many of you stopped, prayed, asked God to guide you in which M&M to pick?
None of you - (b/c when it comes to food we’re a bunch of godless pagans)
No - b/c you can choose what you want, this is the way God made you.
Even when we make the wrong choices it’s evidence that we are uniquely created by God, and by the way,
Your choices are the most powerful tool you have in shaping your future -
there are those moments and times when are future is uncertain, a bit mysterious, but I can tell you the choices you make today are the material from which your future will be created - and the crazy thing about it is that something so small and routine can have HUGE life-changing implications - b/c we all intersect thru choices.
Your life, my life - have you ever meet anyone who’s said,
“I;m not hurting anyone but myself”
Man, sober up!
I think those who say that are hurting the most people.
Our lives intersect by the choices we make
When we choose to love it affects other people, when we chose to hate...when we choose to hold onto bitterness...
when you chose to forgive you set other people free
Listen, your life right now, if you hate it, not real happy about it, well it is the sum total of the choices that have affected your life.
Sometimes our pain is the result of someone else’s choice that was made that devastated us.
All of us need to understand today that whatever life we have right now, we need to begin to take responsibility & control.
The choices we make today affect the life we live tomorrow
Sometimes,
We need to look to the end of our choice b4 we make it
It all begins w/ a choice.
(story of ignoring someone who needs help)
turn away, turn left instead of right
“The heart of the wise inclines to the right,
but the heart of the fool to the left.
Even as he walks along the road,
the fool lacks sense
and shows everyone how stupid he is” Ecc. 10:2,3
Life is always is series of decisions,
choices that are always right in front of us and sometimes we have life-changing decisions that affect us dramatically.
But sometimes it’s those small, incidental choices that have HUGE life altering affect
oh by the way, this freedom thing,
When we make God honoring choices that reflect His character it expands your choices -
alot of people think that if you become a follower of J.C. now you have a limited amount of choices, your choices are now narrow and fewer, but that’s the exact opposite. When you enter a relationship w/ Jesus your choices will expand - however, if you make choices apart from God’s will, His character you become
limited.
example - get angry at person, bit out of control, lose control, shoot this other person, life in prison - limited choices now
what about a 16yr. old who finds out she’s pregnant.
her life, whatever decision she makes, to abort, to keep the baby, or give the baby away, whatever, it is a life altering choice. Her life has been dramatically changed due to that choice.
Life is a series of decisions, choices that we make.
When we build our life on what is true and good, honoring God it begins to expand our choices. God gives us so many good choices.
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8
It’s not that complicated, God created you w/ the capacity to think.
To decide, to choose, and in fact we are held responsible for those choices.
We need to choose a path that honors the heart of God, choose a path that makes you the best human being you can be.
It’s not just ever now and then, but it’s everyday, it’s in the normal part of our routine - our choices can be one of the most spiritual things we ever do.
It’s our power to choose, what r u choosing?
we can make choices that devastate our future and others, but we can also make choices that unleash love, beauty, joy, forgiveness, and adventure - we can choose to live.
So we’re born and then we die, and in-between we’re all just chasing daylight - so over the next few weeks we’re gonna take this journey together to begin to unwrap how is it that we can seize the power of every moment to begin to live the life we were created to live - so we can stop sleeping thru our dreams and live a life beyond our wildest imaginations and it all begins w/ this small little thing called a choice.
What’s Our measuring rod?
And He said to him, " `YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' "This is the great and foremost commandment. "The second is like it, `YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'
Matthew 22:37-39
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