David [00:00:01]:
I’m excited about sharing what we’re going to talk about today. And that is the power of choice. One of the things we see throughout scripture is our father, God is a God of choice. In fact, it starts with God choosing. In Genesis one, one through 25, we see God’s creative choices.
David [00:01:03]:
And so it starts out saying, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And then the next 24 verses there talks about everything he created to create the heavens and the earth. And the thing we need to understand about that is this. That was a choice. God chose to create the heavens and the earth. This was an intentional choice. It wasn’t just a fly by night idea that came to him in the moment, shooting from the hip and goes, hey, let’s try this. No, this was an intentional choice.
David [00:01:44]:
God makes choice with intention. The third thing we see here, this was with purpose. God chose with purpose. There was a reason he was creating the heavens and the earth. The word choose here in the Hebrew means elect, means he elected to do it. It also means to elect something or someone, like we do with our voting process. We elect a president, we elect senators, we elect people legislators. And so it can be elect, or it means to be chosen, or selected, got selected to do this.
David [00:02:34]:
And it means to decide. And we’re going to look at what the word decide really means here in a moment. Related to choice, the other hebrew word used here is choice, which means God made a choice. It can also mean the choice person or the choice corn or the choice field, which means the best. When God chooses, he looks for the best, the choicest. And he calls us his best, his choicest. And we’re going to look at that also today. So God is a God of choice.
David [00:03:17]:
He chooses. And deuteronomy twelve five seven, we see one of the things God chooses is the place that he desires for us to come and seek him in this, spend time with him. Deuteronomy twelve five seven says this, but you shall seek the place where the Lord, your God, chooses out of all your tribes to put his name for his dwelling place. And there you will go. There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households in which the Lord your God has blessed you. God chose a place for us to come and seek him and spend time with him and be with him. God is a God of choice, and he wants us to walk with him in his choices.
David [00:04:32]:
Now let’s look at this for a moment. I said there’s a little difference between choice and decision. A choice and a decision are similar in that both involve selecting an option from a set of alternatives. They both require evaluating the available options and considering various factors before settling on one. Essentially, both terms describe the process of determining a course of action or preference. How are we going to do this? How are we going to move forward? What do we prefer in this situation? So is there a difference between a choice and a decision? And the answer is yes. There is a nuanced difference between a choice and decision. Choice refers to the act of selecting among alternatives.
David [00:05:31]:
It emphasizes the availability of different options. For example, choosing between tea or coffee is one thing. A decision, however, not only is making a choice, but also the commitment to act on it. It often includes the cognitive process of weighing the pros and cons, considering consequences, and finalizing a course of action. For example, deciding to adopt a healthier lifestyle after evaluating various diets and exercise options. Now, what we see in scripture is God choosing and making choices. But scripture does not speak of God deciding or making a decision. Never uses that word.
David [00:06:26]:
Why? When God chooses to do something or makes a choice, he is fully committed to following through on his choice. He will do what he says. God is faithful. You can count on him. As I said before, he chooses with intention and purpose, and he doesn’t go back on his word. Now, with all that in mind, God is a choice. Let’s talk about, in my opinion, and one of the greatest choices that scripture talks about, that God has made, and it’s this, God chose us. The greatest gift we have been given is God choosing us.
David [00:07:21]:
I believe the greek word for chose means to pick out or to choose to pick or choose out for one’s own self. Choosing out of many. God has chosen you for himself. And it goes on to say, choosing one out of many. For example, Jesus chose twelve disciples out of all the people there that could have been his disciple. Jesus chose 1212 specific people of all those who were around him. Listening to him following him. The second aspect of choice here in the Greek is choosing one for an office.
David [00:08:14]:
God chose David to be king. We choose someone to be our president. We choose someone for an office. We select them. The third aspect of choice here in the Greek is of God choosing whom he judged fit to receive his favors and separated from the rest of mankind to be specially his own and to be attended continually to by his gracious oversight. For example, the Israelites, through the abrahamic covenant, God said, these will be my people forever. The fourth aspect of choosing here in the Greek is of God the Father, choosing christians, those who believe in Jesus Christ and have given their lives to him as those whom he set apart from those who didn’t choose Christ, the irreligious multitude. He has chosen christians as dear unto himself and whom he has rendered through faith in Christ.
David [00:09:30]:
Citizens in the messianic kingdom, the kingdom of God, we see this in John 316 17, where Jesus said this, for God so loved the world. That could be, you could say, for God so chose the world. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. That was a choice that God made. That was the choice that Jesus made. That was a choice the Holy Spirit made with the father and son and supported. This choice was made with intention, and this choice was made with a purpose.
David [00:10:32]:
God made a way for us to be in relationship with him throughout eternity. He redeemed us to himself and destroyed what Satan did to separate us. He chose us. Deuteronomy seven six says this, and it shows God’s heart from the beginning of time. This is true. Deuteronomy seven six says this for you. He’s speaking to Israel here, for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.
David [00:11:21]:
Look what it says here. Three key things. You are a holy people. God sees his people as holy. You are a people for himself. You are God’s own. You are his chosen ones. You are a special treasure.
David [00:11:41]:
The Lord our God treasures his people. He treasures his people. They are a special treasure to him. Then again, just a few chapters later, in deuteronomy 14 two, the writer states it again. He lets the people of Israel know again, for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. And the Lord has chosen you to be a people for himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. Earth. So here you see how close this is to God’s heart because he makes known his intention and purpose again, he lets them know, here’s my choice.
David [00:12:29]:
I’ve chosen you. Not only do we see this throughout the Old Testament, we see it in the New Testament also. Paul echoes this statement in Ephesians. In Ephesians one four, Paul said, just as he chose us in him or in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Hallelujah. If you’ve accepted Jesus Christ as your lord and savior, you were in him. You’ve been in him since before the foundation of the world. Satan came and tried to separate you and just to take you out of your proper place and position.
David [00:13:25]:
But because of Christ, we’ve been placed back into our proper place and position, and we are in him, and he is in us. God chose you before the foundation of the world, before he ever created the world. He knew you. He knew you would be here today, and he chose you as his own. God sees you today holy. I know for some of you that may be hard to internalize, hard to accept, but God sees you as holy without blame. God doesn’t see you. He doesn’t judge you.
David [00:14:05]:
He doesn’t see you with any blame. If you’ve accepted Jesus Christ as your lord and savior, you are free from blame and judgment. You are made holy. You are cleansed, sanctified, made clean and pure. And not only does he see you holy and without blame, you stand before him in love. He loves you unconditionally. And even the word love, there in the greek God’s love, which we know as agape love. One of the definitions of the word love there is.
David [00:14:42]:
It’s a choice. God chose to love you. He chooses to love you every moment of every day. He’s choosing to love you no matter what. You are loved unconditionally. Wow. Think about that. Think about that.
David [00:15:03]:
Think about that. Then Peter also goes on to announce this again. He echoes what we heard in deuteronomy. There you are, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness and to his marvelous light. That’s one Peter, two nine, and the King James version. There, a chosen generation. He’s chose you for himself. A chosen generation.
David [00:15:44]:
You are a royal priesthood. You’re a part of the royal family. You reign here in the earth as kings and priests. A royal priesthood, a holy nation. You are holy in Christ. You can get up every day and say, thank you, Lord, for making me holy. Thank you, Lord, for your righteousness that you’ve given me. I stand before you clean and pure and holy.
David [00:16:14]:
You are his own special people. One version that says a peculiar people, set apart, set above, elect his own special people. We see in all of this that God is a God of choice. And he’s continuing to choose every day of our lives. He chooses us. He chooses to be there with us and for us. He chooses to be in us, work through us. He exercises his power to choose, to bring about his intention and purpose for us every day.
David [00:17:01]:
But wait, there’s more. The third thing I want to talk to us about today. But before I say that, let’s go back. Number one, God is the God of choice. Number two, God has chosen you. He’s chosen us. And number three, we have been given the power to choose. In Genesis 126 27, the word says this.
David [00:17:31]:
The Lord said. Then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. God has given us as his children the gift of choice. We have the power to choose.
David [00:18:14]:
We are made in his image and likeness, and we have the power to make choices each and every day. In fact, we’re making those choices every moment of every day. And choosing is so innate in us, we don’t even think about what we are choosing. A lot of times we’re just making choices. What’s next? Here we go. As we mentioned before, when God makes a choice, he is fully committed to following through on his choice. However, what we’ve seen is mankind does not reflect this level of commitment. And so, in essence, while every decision we make involves a choice, not every choice we make necessarily becomes a fully committed decision.
David [00:19:06]:
And I know you’ve been there. We’ve all been there. I’ve been there. I get up thinking, okay, I’m going to eat right today. I’m going to exercise. I’m going to do everything I need to do. I know there’s pie in the fridge, but that is not for me. I’m not having that today day.
David [00:19:23]:
And then about five or 06:00 I’m hungry. I’m tired. My willpower is weakened. And I’m thinking, I know I made this choice this morning, but, wow, I’ve worked hard all day, and I think I deserve that piece of pie. Ever been there? There’s a myriad of things we do sometimes that we make choices like that, but we haven’t fully committed to the choice we’ve made, and so we change our choice. Deuteronomy 30, verse 19, the Lord, knowing this about this, said this to Israel, and it’s for all of us. Today I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.
David [00:20:21]:
Now, let’s look at this. What is God telling us here? Number one, he’s saying, you do have a choice. It is up to you. It’s your choice what you’re going to choose here, life or death, blessing or cursing. However, I want to encourage you and let you know I know the best way. I know the consequences of all these choices. The Lord says, so choose life, that both you and your descendants may live and be blessed. Here’s a thought.
David [00:20:59]:
Your quality of life isn’t determined as much by the good things that come your way or the breaks that you get as it’s determined by the choices you make. Our choices and the consequences that come with them impact us more every day than sometimes we even realize. Another fact is our descendants, our kids, our grandkids, great kids, and generations to come even, are impacted by our choices in some way. It may not be significant, but they’re impacted by our choices. The reality is, life happens one simple choice at a time. Simple choices have a huge impact. My friend Tom Zeigler wrote a book called choose to win. One of the things he points out in this book is that God has given us this great gift of choice.
David [00:22:14]:
What are you doing with it? What are you choosing? Today, Joshua 20 415 says this, Joshua was talking to Israel. And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua had made a committed choice. Every day we choose who we will be. What will we be? How will we be? Your choices matter for you and your generations to come. Throughout scripture, we are given wisdom, guidance, direction, and the best choices to make. And as Joshua said in the verse above, the choice is yours.
David [00:23:31]:
But as for me, in my house, we will serve the Lord. A few weeks ago, one of our messages we shared about the focus on keeping the word in our heart and speaking and declaring the word every day. And we read out of Joshua one eight there. But today I want to share with you from Joshua one seven. This is a verse that precedes Joshua one eight, of course, but it says, this only be thou strong and courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which moses, my servant, commanded you. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. Wow. The word translated law, there could also be translated instruction or direction.
David [00:24:32]:
What we see here, God isn’t telling Joshua something legalistic. He’s not trying to make him legalistic or ritualistic, overly religious in this. It’s not that kind of statement. This is a statement about making choices that will determine your quality of life. God is saying, this is the best way. I want blessing and life for you. I want you to prosper wherever you go. Guys, what we see here is this.
David [00:25:11]:
The law of God, or what we call the word of God, is instruction and how to make choices that ensure you live a blessed life. Now, I know you’ve heard this next verse a lot people talking about a lot of proverbs 23 seven says, as a man thinketh, so is he. It could read, as the man chooses, so is he. What are you choosing? You see, our choices flow out of what we call our soul. The soul is where our mind, our will, our emotions live, thinking, our feeling, and our chose our choosing. So we think a thought. With every thought we think we have an emotion tied to it. That thought crosses the emotional cortex of the brain first, before it crosses any other part of the brain.
David [00:26:12]:
And so we have a feeling, an emotion attached to every thought we think. Whether we realize it or not, it’s there. And then with that thinking and feeling, through that, we filter our choices. We make our choices based on our thinking and feeling. So what are you choosing? Romans twelve two. This is why I believe Paul brought this out. Do not be conformed to this world, this age, fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial custom, but be transformed or changed by the entire renewal of your mind, by its new ideals and its new attitude, so that you may prove for yourself what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect in his sight for you. Let’s look at this don’t be fashioned after and adapted to the world’s external, superficial it says customs.
David [00:27:23]:
But it could say choices customs come out of choices. Don’t be fashioned after the world’s choices. As I said before, our choices flow from our mind. We think, we feel, we choose. Renewing the mind to God’s way of thinking brings God’s good, acceptable and perfect will for you. So when we renew our mind through the word and we keep the word in our heart and in our mind, and we speak it and we declare it and we share it, we’re thinking as God wants us to think and we’re making choices in line with his will and purpose and his blessings flow to us. Even the choice which is good, acceptable and perfect in this sight for you. Well, what is the choice which is good, acceptable and perfect in this sight for you? Jesus said this in John 1010 I came that you might have life, that you may have it in abundance.
David [00:28:28]:
The amplified it says life to it overflows to the fullest. God wants us to experience his life to the fullest. An overflowing life, an overflowing blessing of more and more and more and more. You are created in the image and likeness of our heavenly Father. He is a God of choice. He has chosen you and as his child he has given you the power to choose him. Choose the way of God’s life at blessing with intention and purpose each day. And you will see God’s life in blessing come to you in great ways over and over and over again.
David [00:29:30]:
Let’s bow our head in prayer today. Father, we thank you for this great gift of choice that you’ve given each of us. We thank you for choosing us, Lord Jesus and God. We set our hearts right now to choose you, to choose your way of thinking, to learn to walk in, to understand your ways and your thinking. So our choices are in alignment with you and your word. And we walk in the blessing that you have prepared for us and brought us and given us through Christ Jesus, our Lord and savior. Thank you, Lord. And I pray that as we walk in this place of choosing your way, Lord, choosing life and blessing, that we influence others to do the same thing and we see their lives transformed and them come into relationship with you.
David [00:30:33]:
And we thank you for that privilege and honor. We have to share the message of hope and reconciliation with all those we come into contact with. Father, thank you for showing us a way and loving us, choosing to love us unconditionally each and every day. We praise you for all of it. In Jesus name amen. Pastor Connie is coming with a closing word and prayer. God bless you. Have a great weekend.
