IT'S
YOUR CHOICE TO MAKE LIFE COUNT!
Choices - Making
Your Life Count
Hebrews
11:23-27
You and I can discover how to make our lives count through the choices that we make. Life is a choice. Someone may object by saying that they had no choice in their birth, and to that I will agree. However how a person lives his or her life after they are born and grown is their choice.
Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record
this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing
and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
God is telling each of us that the life that we live is a choice. God say’s, “ I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing,” then He goes on to encourage us to choose life. How I live my life as a Christian and an individual is my choice. The way that you live your life as a person is your choice. It is my prayer that you will choose to live your life for God and in such away that it will impact those around you.
Look at Moses, a man that had to make a choice concerning the direction and quality of his life. Because of his choice, he received the Ten Commandments from God. He led the children of Israel out of 400 years of slavery in Egypt. He wrote the first five books of the Bible. He was a man that God used in an amazing way to accomplish an amazing task.
Because Moses chose God and made a number of very important choices about his life, He became one of the prominent people in the Bible. By the choices he made, Moses settled four key issues about his life and who he was. You and I must settle these issues as well if our lives are going to count for anything. The four issues that Moses settled that we must settle are:
1. The issue of identity. Who am I?
2. The issue of responsibility. What am I going to do with my life?
3. The issue of priority. What is really the most important thing in life?
4. The issue of difficulty. How much am I willing to commit to what I'm going to give my life for?
These are issues that every one of us will have to deal with. Moses made the right choice in each instance.
Here's four foundations for personal success.
1. Discover what God made me to be.
2. Accept responsibility for my own life.
3. Establish a value system for my life.
4. Never take my eyes off the goal. People who succeed in life are focused.
1.
DISCOVER WHAT GOD MADE YOU TO BE.
Moses was born a Hebrew slave but he was raised as Pharaoh's grandson in Pharaoh's palace. Moses had an identity crisis. He had to decide: Am I Jewish or am I Egyptian? Am I a slave or am I royalty? The major consequences of that decision would affect the rest of his life.
If he chooses to say, "I'm Pharaoh's grandson he has fame, fortune, a life of luxury, a promising career, heir to the throne."
If
he chooses to say, "I'm Jewish of Jewish slaves," he'll be rejected.
He'll be despised. He'll be
thrown out, humiliated and he'll live the life of a slave the rest of his life.
Moses made the right choice because he refused to live a lie.
He was a man of integrity, of character.
He made his decision in v. 24, "By
faith, Moses, when he had grown up refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's
daughter."
Circle the word "refused". It
means to disown, reject, to leave no door open.
It's settled and done. Moses
insisted on being what God made him to be and no amount of peer pressure could
convince him otherwise.
Acts 7:22-25 Moses
was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he became mighty in both speech
and action.23 “One day when he
was forty years old, he decided to visit his relatives, the people of Israel. 24
During this visit, he saw an Egyptian mistreating a man of Israel. So
Moses came to his defense and avenged him, killing the Egyptian. 25
Moses assumed his brothers would realize that God had sent him to rescue
them, but they didn’t.
Moses was a great man on his way to being the next Pharaoh of Egypt. But
there came a time that he had to decide who he was going to be. Was he going to
be an Egyptian or and Israelite. As a Pharaoh he would rule Egypt, as an
Israelite he would lead his own people out of bondage. He chose to be identified
with his own people and gave up the fame and power of Egypt. Moses knew that God
had a plan and purpose for his life and he chose the life that God had for him.
God made you for a purpose. He has a purpose for your life. He wants you to be you. If you want be you, who will you be?
The first secret of success is to be who you really are. Quit trying to be somebody else. Quit trying to be somebody you're not. That should relieve a lot of ulcers and bring a lot of peace. Quit trying to conform to others: Quit trying to look like everybody else, drink like everybody else, talk like everybody else, buy the same thing everybody else has. Be yourself. Discover what God made you to be. God made Moses to be a leader to a suffering people.
2.
ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR MY OWN LIFE.
You and I need to stop making excuses and stop blaming
others for our lives. You need to
take the initiative.
v. 25 "He chose to be mistreated
along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a
short time."
Circle "chose". If you
want to make an impact with your life, it's your choice.
You're as close to God as you want to be.
You read your Bible as much as you want to read it.
It is your choice. God has
given you the freedom of choice and the choices you make determine your future.
V. 24 we have Moses refusing and in v.25 we have Moses choosing. He follows a negative action with a positive action. v. 23 God chose Moses as a baby but in v.25, Moses chose God. v. 24 "By faith, Moses, when he had grown up." Circle that phrase "when he had grown up." Maturity is when people start accepting responsibility for their own lives. It's a mark of maturity when people stop blaming other people and accepts responsibility for their own life. As a baby it was OK for Moses to live off of his parents' faith. But when he had grown up he had to make that decision on his own. He had to go God's way because he wanted to go God's way.
1. I cannot live off of other people's spiritual commitment. You've heard people say, "My parents were Christians" or "My dad was a missionary" or "My husband/wife is a believer". So what? You need a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Some of you are teenagers; it's time to grow up! You need to quit living off the spiritual apron strings of your parents and get your own faith. When Moses grew up, he chose.
2. I can't blame others for the direction of my life. Society says the exact opposite. It say’s "It's not your fault. You're the product of your environment. Blame other people for your messed up life." The way you spell BLAME is B-LAME. When you're blaming you're being lame. You cannot blame other people for the direction of your life. It's your life. You can't control all the circumstances but you can choose how you'll respond.
3. No one can ruin my life except me. And I'm free to choose my response.
3.
ESTABLISH A PROPER SYSTEM OF VALUES FOR LIFE.
If you're going to make your life count you need to settle
the issue of what is really important. Clarify
it in your life. Moses clarified his values and priorities.
v. 26 "He
regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures
of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward."
Circle "regarded". The
word means to evaluate, to consider, to weigh in the balances, to judge.
It's not something you do quickly. You
need to set down and seriously consider; what in the world am I living for?
What are you living for?
Moses evaluated what Egypt had to offer and then he
evaluated what God had to offer. He evaluated the temporal pleasure of Egypt
against the Eternal blessing and pleasure of God and then chose to go with God.
What Egypt had to offer was nothing compared to the glory of what God had to
offer.
Most people have never done that and that's why they're failures at life.
They don't know why they are, they don't know what they want to
accomplish in life, and they don't know what's really important.
You need to establish values in life, things that you will build your
life on, the things that will be important to you.
Write them out!
Why? The fact is if you don't decide what is important in your life, others will do it for you. If you don't decide what's valuable for your life, what you're going to build your life on, other people will. The world is more than happy to pressure you into its mold and to promote its value system on you. We have a lot of Christians today who know the Lord, but they've bought into the world's value system. They're living that system without even thinking about it rationally. They've automatically adopted it.
What is the world's value system?
1. Power and prestige. I want to be famous.
2. Pleasure. I want to feel good. I want to be happy. I want to have fun.
3. Possessions. I want to make a fortune. I want to be wealthy.
All temptation falls into one of these three categories.
What is ironic is that Moses, by the world's standard, had
it made. He had all three:
Power. He was heir to the throne of
the most powerful country of the world at that time.
Pleasure. Every whim would be satisfied in the palace of Egypt. He was on easy street.
Possessions. The wealth of the world was concentrated in Egypt.
Moses had it all! Power. Pleasure. Possessions. He had it all but he walked away from it. Moses walked away from the very three things we spend our lives trying to accomplish.
Why? Because he knew they wouldn't last. The world's values won’t last. They won't last fifty years from now much less for eternity.
Moses said "Yes" to God. You must realize that when you say "Yes" to God it means you say "No" to certain other things. It's easier to say Yes to God than it is to say No to the other things. We want Christ, plus all the things the world offers. I'll just tack Him on and have a little time for God on Sunday morning. But I'm buying into the system. Jesus said, “ You can't serve two masters. ” The problem with a lot of Christians today is they're afraid to say No to the world's value system. What you lose when you don't say no, is your happiness because compromise only makes you miserable when you try to live for the Lord and live for the world at the same time. It can't be done. It makes you miserable.
You need to learn to say No. And you need to learn to say with conviction, "I'm not going to be sucked up into this world's value system, the rat race, the empty lifestyle that says life consists of pleasure, passions, possessions and prestige. It doesn't last. I'm not going to buy into that. While everybody around me is going to buy into it I'm not going to buy into that!" That's the kind of person Moses was and that's why he made an impact with his life. He went against the flow.
1. He discovered that God's purpose is more valuable than popularity. God has a plan for my life. I'm going to lead these people to freedom. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He said, I'm going to give up the prestige, the power, and the popularity because it does not last.
2. People are more valuable than pleasures. v. 25 "He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God [they were in slavery at the time] rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time." I like this verse. The Bible always tells the truth. The Bible never lies or sugar coats the truth. It says there is pleasure in sin. The Bible says sin is fun. Of course it's fun; if it were a bummer nobody would do it! But it's for a season, a short time. It doesn't last. He could have temporary pleasure being the next Pharaoh of Egypt or he could go do what God had called him to do and help the people who were in pain, who needed to be set free. He could have stayed there in pleasure and today no one would even have known Moses' name. He'd be some mummy in some tomb in Egypt. Nobody would even know who he is. But he chose the right thing. Any whim would have been satisfied there but in order to do the right thing he chose discomfort over pleasure.
3. God's peace is more valuable than possessions. v. 26 "He regarded the disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt." In v. 24, he rejects the world's measure of success. In v. 25, he rejects the world's pleasure. In v. 26, he rejects the world's treasure. He does what is right because God's peace is more important than possessions. He could have stayed in the palace of Egypt and had every possession he ever wanted -- wine, women, and song. He knew that no possession could give you inner peace. He would have been miserable not doing what God wanted him to do. Peace comes not from the things you own; peace comes from being in the center of God's will, being what God made you to be, doing what God made you to do. That's where peace comes.
What do you value? What matters most? The issue is that God's peace is more important than possessions. That's what counts. It's amazing to me that Moses gave up the very three things we spend our lives trying to get: pleasure, possessions and prestige. What motivated this guy? What made him do that and live that way?
v. 26 "Because he was looking ahead to his rewards." He had a right perspective. What motivates you to reject the world's value system and accept God's value system for your life? It's your perspective. It's all in what you're looking at. Are you looking at the here and now with disregard toward your heavenly reward? Moses looked beyond this life into the next life. The life we live here is to prepare us for the life we will live there.
Your values are determined by your vision. Whatever you're looking at is what becomes most important in your life. What kind of pictures do you have on your refrigerator? What is most important in your life? Do you have any Bible verses on your refrigerator? What are you focusing on? What are you looking at? What is the most important thing to you
Moses was a man of vision. He had eyes of faith.
4.
NEVER LOOSE FOCUS OF GOD OR YOUR GOAL.
v. 27 "By
faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger he persevered because he saw
him who is invisible."
You must stay focused on God and His purpose for your life.
People whose lives count are people who are focused. They know how to focus on
one thing. You constantly keep it
before you. Why is vision so
important? The secret of success is
persistence. The secret of
persistence is vision. Vision draws you on so that when you want to give up, you
don't. You have your eyes on the ultimate reward.
You don't give in and you don't give up.
Circle “ persevered ”. The key to foundational success, Moses had tremendous endurance. He refused to give up no matter what happened -- impossible situations, critics, whatever. Moses spent most of his life waiting. From the time that God gave Moses the vision, the dream of setting free an entire nation after 400 years of slavery to the time it was fulfilled and they were ready to go into the Promised Land was 80 years. Could you wait that long and not give up? If God tells you something and it doesn't happen until 80 years later, will you stay focused? He spent 40 years in Midian just waiting for God to say “ Start! ” Do you ever get tired of waiting on God? Do delays ever tempt you to give up? Have you learned the difference between No and Not yet? Have you learned that God's delays are not God's denials? One of the tests of faith is How long can you wait? You must keep your eye on the vision, the goal, on what counts in life so you don't get discouraged.
Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore,
since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses let us throw off
everything that hinders and the sin which so easily entangles and let us run
with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus.
Underline “ let us run with perseverance ” and "let us fix our eyes on
Jesus" -- those two go together. When
you fix your eyes on Jesus you're going to run with perseverance.
What have you got your eyes on?
How many of these issues have you settled in your life?
Have you settled the issue of identity? Who
you are? So, you don't have to keep
trying to dress and act and be like everybody else in order to be acceptable.
Have you figured out the issue of responsibility? Have you said, I'm not going to blame anybody else for where I am or who I am? You are just as spiritual as you want to be. You can't blame anybody else. You're as committed as you want to be.
Have you settled the issue of priority -- what really matters in life? What counts?
Have you settled the issue of staying focused? Are you going to keep your eyes on the reward and the one who gives the reward?
Do you want to make your life count? It's your choice.
The most important issue is your relationship to God. If you haven't ever established that relationship to God, do it today. Why wait? I don't understand why people would put off the most important thing in their life. Say Yes to Jesus Christ. Say Yes to God. Say, “ God you made me for a purpose and I want to start living in that purpose today to the best of my knowledge. I want to go Your way and accept Your values, not the world's values.” The CHOICE is YOURS!! Make the right one.
Pray Right Now!