What was I Thinking?
People do stupid things. We watch a video like that and laugh and say to ourselves or out loud, “How incredibly stupid these people are.”
I was thinking, wouldn’t this be intriguing to do if we started maybe in the back and went around to each table, person by person and we all shared the dumbest thing we’ve ever done.
I’d imagine there’d be a few stories there. Some money we wish we wouldn’t have spent, relationships we wish we wouldn’t have gotten into, deals we wish we would have never done, investments maybe? we wish we would never taken a part of, partnerships you never entered into - oh, how about dates you wish you never gone out on, how about invitations you wish you never would have received?
I think all of us can look back, in some cases for some of us it was a night, for some it was a weekend, for some it was several months - others, entire yrs. we wish we could go back and re-write chapters of our lives - choices and decisions we’d like to have a “do-over” on, right?
So here’s the premise of this series we’re kicking off
Here’s The Key Idea of This Series:
Life is ALL about DECISIONS/CHOICES
Stop and think about all the relationships, money, deals, the choices - It’s now obvious to us how stupid we were. We look at that now and say to ourselves, “How could I have been so dumb” It’s obvious to us now that some of those decisions fall into “What was I thinking” dumb dec. and now...
we run into people going down that dumb road, be it a child, friend, whoever and you’re saying, “you don’t want to go there brother”
When we are presented in life a series of choices and we chose to look at them wisely, make wise dec. we get the most out of life - those who don’t take that approach, the chances are in this world we live in, we stand to suffer some pretty sever consequences
As we start this series today and what we’re going to look at over the next few weeks we’re going to talk about how to become great dec. makers
B/c you and I both know life is all about choices and dec.
So right off the bat let’s lay down some foundation
Key Foundational Points:
• We are all the SUM TOTAL of the choices we make!
• Our decisions determine our DESTINY.
I think we can all look back at a series of choices and dumb dec.
we’ve made and say, What was I Thinking?
I know i can - (buying thunderbird in Cal.)
My idea behind this series is that I’d like all of us to make a
commitment to making great dec.
We have this privilege given to us by God to make dec. it’s God given, to reason, ponder, wager, rationalize
animals can’t do that like humans can and the reason we’re diff. b/c we as people were made in the image of God and God is a great dec. maker and He wants us all to be great dec. makers.
and... dec. making is not an event, we need to all realize that,
dec. making is a process that is followed by an event - so when we view it as an event that’s what gets us into trouble so many times and we spend days, weeks, months dog paddling in the pools of regret - so how do we make wise dec?
There is a diff. between the big dec. in life and the little ones but they also inter-connect
We all face these big, huge dec. right?
I think 2 of the biggest dec. we’ll ever make in life are: who’s your master? Who’s your mate? those are big dec
but there are also the little dec. we make daily, everyday
You see the little dec. we make daily, where you work, who you hang out with, where you spend your time, what you spend your time doing... who you spend... what u watch... listen to...those little dec when they collect lead to big issues
When I was younger I was a sports freak - i loved and played everything and in HS I was a pretty good basketball player - good enough to get invites to schools but not good enough to get any scholarships to these schools therfore it ended there.
Sometimes I’d see these BB camps for adults to go and learn the game from these superstars like Magic, MJ and so forth and you learn the intricacies of the game and work-out hard and only eat grapefruit or something... but I’d think, “Oh I’d love that - to learn from the best”
There’s something about us that wants to learn from the best
If you have a child who could sing or play and instrument wouldn’t it be cool if you could pick up the phone and have like Sting or Harry Connick Jr. or someone like that teach your child? Or if you love golf, if you get sit and learn from Tiger Woods? Hang out for a couple of days and just twik your game?
That would be really cool
So here’s what we’re going to do today, we’re going to learn from the greatest dec. maker of all time - we’re gonna learn from someone who never made a bad call, someone who never over-reacted, some1 who never said anything they regretted, some1 who never got carried away by their feelings - you know who I’m talkin about - ? - Jesus, our perfect role model.
I don’t know if you know this but as Jesus grew up He was a Carpenter, but the last 36 mo. of His life He was a traveling preacher - the bible tells us that a guy named John baptized Him into what we would call ministry, and after He was baptized the bible tells us He went off into the wilderness. He didn’t ride in an H2 or 4x4, He walked - now I’ve never been there to that area but I read about it and it’s a desert w/ this huge towering mounds it’s a tough area to live for 40 days and nites that would be tough in & of itself, but the bible tells us that jesus fasted the entire time- he went w/out food
How many of you have ever fasted for 1 day? 3 days? 1 week?
ever go 40 days?
He was emotionally, physically, spiritually drained and the Devil comes along and gives Jesus a series of choices and dec - the Devil comes up w/ these dec to throw Jesus off track, off His purpose... listen to settle... He wanted to Jesus to make a dumb, what was I thinking dec.
So let’s try to picture this scenario... Jesus hadn’t eaten in 40 days, 40 nites and the Devil says, look at those rocks, don’t you think those rocks look like big beautiful loaves of bread - there’s nothing like bread, carbs... when you’re hungry - so he says Jesus why don’t you snap your fingers and turn those rocks into a loaf of Wonder bread - look at what Jesus said,
“But Jesus told him (Satan), ‘No! The Scriptures say, ‘People
need more than bread for their life; they must feed on every
word of God.’” Matthew 4:4 - ok then look what Satan says next
Hey throw yourself down from this high place, you’re not gonna die, people will see this miracle and they’ll follow you, it’d be better than David Blain - so what would Jesus do w/ that kind of dec?
“Jesus responded, ‘The Scriptures also say, ‘Do not test the
Lord your God.’” Matthew 4:7
So the Devil turned up the heat a bit, tried to sweeten the pot, which by the way is what happens to us alot when we’re put in situations of compromising dec. making
The Devil says, Jesus bow down and worship me and I’ll give you everything (which is kinda silly when you think about it, what can you give Jesus, the creator of all things? but remember the drained state Jesus is in and.... once again... He is our perfect model knowing we will face these kind of tough decisions in life)
So what did Jesus say,
“’Get out of here, Satan,’ Jesus told him. ‘For the Scriptures
say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God; serve only him.’”
Matthew 4:10
Now there was a common phrase used in each circumstance, did you catch that? what was it
‘For the Scriptures say,
so what is the 1st question we should ask facing any dec?
The First Question to Ask with Any and All Decisions and/or Choices in Life
What DOES THE BIBLE have to say?
Jesus went 3 for 3 - it’s the 1st ever recorded threepeat
‘For the Scriptures say,(3)
What was goin on? How did Jesus make the dec. He asked Himself a very simple ? what does the bible say?
If it’s in this book, then I got a green light and i’ll go for it, if it’s not then it’s a red light I’m not gonna go there.
In all the dec. we make, the big and the little where’s the 1st place to start? what does the bible have to say about this.
You know I have talked to a # people over the yrs. and heard their tough stories - so many of them start w/ “If only...”
If only... I had said No to that relationship ...hadn’t said that to my spouse or son or daughter ... I hadn’t put my money in that ... hadn’t been so greedy, so stubborn ... so selfish - If only (3)
Now here’s an amazing thing about God - He can work thru your “If only’s” and He can use your past as leverage to help you in the future - to make wise great dec. that’ll give you a wonderful future - Jer. 29:11
So the 1st place to start is asking and answering what does the bible have to say? This is what jesus modeled.
God wrote a book. It’s a love letter to all of us and... He put His counsel down on these pages for a # of reasons - let me share just a couple w/ you -
God’s heart in giving us His Word:
• So we can have the BEST LIFE POSSIBLE
So we can discover God has an awesome plan for our lives.
We would be amazed at how great our dec. can be, both big & little - by just spending time in this book.
• Because God wants to help us HELP OURSELVES & OTHERS
He wants us to make great dec. not only for our own benefit but to also help and influence others... influence others
b/c for us to think ‘my dec really don’t affect other people, they really don’t, you just have to do what’s right by you’ - you are sadly mistaken with that thought process - b/c our dec. do affect others - we are connected. Especially those close to you, family, children, sister, brother, nephew, niece, friends, co-workers are looking at your life and dec.
• Because God wants us to make the MOST OF OUR TIME
Think about this, time is a gift from God that we can’t go back and get some more of & the older I get the more I wonder where did all the time go? As I watch my girls grow up - all the more reason to make wise dec. Let me ask... hands
How many of you have wasted a certain amount of time in your life, whole periods, weeks, months, possibly yrs. of your life b/c of dumb dec. & choices?
So if I will look to God’s Word to make dec. I’ll see He has my best interest at heart, for the best life possible, to not only kelp me, but others - to make good use of my time for what’s really important.
But you know not everybody takes that approach, not only in dec. making but life in gen. - they don’t have a certain set of standards, just kinda fall into relativism - “if it works for me it works, it may not work for you, but hey, that’s OK - no need for any absolutes b/c my standards may be diff. than yours”
(Prof. at Univ. hands test w/ series of ?’s and answers - just circle the answer you feel is right, there’s no right or wrongs just what you want - you’d be thinking what’s he smokin? - what kind of test is this? a standardless, baseless test it’s useless)
So when we don’t use God’s Word or Him as our absolute then everything becomes relative, everything sorta slides on scale and if I make dec. that way I get messed up pretty quickly
and the reason why so many make dumb, what was I thinking dec. is b/c we look to ourselves instead of God - like
what are some of the things we have said when we go w/ ourselves, things we’ve said a time or 2
The Basis of “What was I thinking?” Dumb Decisions
• “Go with YOUR HEART”
Yeah you’ll bat a thousand doing that wont ya - right 100%?
• “Let your CONSCIENCE be your GUIDE”
but what peeks your consc. may not peek mine so it’s the sliding scale - your consc is important in dec. making when it’s saturated in the Truth - it’s gotta be tied into that
• “If it FEELS RIGHT”
Hey, I didn’t feel like getting out of bed this morning
or some1 may say I don’t feel like loving you anymore - our feelings are fickle (Cathleen story) we cannot trust our feelings
they’re to up and down - sometimes I don’t feel like going to work... school.... reading this book... or praying
• “What you do in the PRIVACY of your OWN HOME is your own business.”
Sure I can agree w/ that to a certain extent but we need to know this - private dec. always go public - so often what’s made in private has personal ramifications - b/c people carry out their lives and live in public - so whatever dec. made in private, remember, affect and influence those around us, sometimes
directly, sometimes indirectly. - base them on the truth.
So the 1st question everybody needs to ask themselves before making a dec. is.... What does the Bible say?
How much better would life be? We wouldn’t be wallowing in self-pity or the pools of regret if we just asked... what
1 problem with this is not everything is so black and white is it?
So what do you do w/ the other 15-20% - what I’ve found and have done myself is ask the ? - how close can I get to this and still not sin? b/c if I haven’t crossed over the line then it’s what?
OK? Is it? How far can i go w/out breaking the law? How close to immorality can i get w/out being immoral? How much can i stretch, how much can i bend w/out actually breaking any?
Is it legal... moral... permissible - and when we go down that line, oh.. that line is often oh so fuzzy - how close can i get w/out disaster - we need a standard, if it’s not illegal, then it must be...
OK - how far is too far? So in these gray areas are there other ?’s we need to ask? I think there are, but you’ll have to come back next week.
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