‘The Importance of Daily Choices’

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​The First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood
21 E. Church Street
Blackwood, NJ 08012
Sermon Notes (Sunday, July 2, 2023)
Rev. Dwayne M. Doyle, Guest Preacher
 
 ‘The Importance of Daily Choices’
Joshua 24:14-15; Ecclesiastes 4:9-12; Rom. 6:12-23
If we are working against doing the wrong things in our lives then we are doing well.  It is when we stop striving to do the right things and feel no sense of remorse over doing the wrong things then we need to be concerned.
Most of my life I have spent trying to do the right things. I was given fantastic parents that guided me the best way they knew how.  I had an older brother who was literally my hero. I had teachers who taught me how to read and write and graduate from school.  I had Sunday school teachers and pastors who guided me to a knowledge of God and spiritual things.  When I was in high school my girlfriend encouraged me to read Mathew, Mark, Luke and John.   Little did she know that this would be an important turning point in my life, because after reading these four gospels I concluded that if Jesus wasn’t the answer to all of the world’s problems, I didn’t know who else could be.  That was in the summer of 1980, the year I graduated from high School. Other important decisions I made were to go to college, asking Jesus to be my Lord and Savior, meeting and marrying my wife, and the decision to be a missionary.
Daily choices we make each day may have eternal consequences.
Our choice to follow Jesus is one of those critical decisions in our lives.  For when we ask Jesus to be our Lord and Savior, all the angels of heaven rejoice. God and his angels are rejoicing and Satan and his demons are crying.
How are we to combat such a force as Satan and his demons?  Satan also knows our weak points.  Remember when he came to temp our Lord Jesus I the wilderness; He came after Jesus had fasted for forty days and forty nights, when he was at his weakest.  He will come to us when we are tired and weak.  He also will try to keep us separated form other believers.  The second biggest decision is to commit to following Jesus every day.
Joshua, the leader of God’s army after Moses died encouraged the Hebrews to make a decision. Chose who you will serve this day, but as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord!
Joshua 24:14-15
On July 4th, 1776, the Second Continental Congress unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence, announcing the colonies’ separation from Great Britian.  The following are excerpts from the Declaration of Independence.
“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.  . . .
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
The 56 signatures appear on the Declaration of Independence.
Declaration of Independence 1776 https://billofrightsinstitute.org/primary-sources/declaration-of-independence 6/30/2023
By signing their names to this document these men also were signing their death warrant if the colonies were to lose their war with Great Britain.  In a sense, we have signed our own death sentence says the apostle Paul with our allegiance to our old Nature.  We have pledged our lives to follow Jesus unto death so that we may also reign in newness of life with him at the resurrection.
Jesus challenged us to follow his teachings and that if we did we would be building our lives on a firm foundation, one that could withstand the storms of life. Jesus is our rock.
And God never meant for us to go about our journey alone.  One strand is good and well, but two are stronger, but three stands woven together are even stronger.  (my paraphrase).  Ecclesiastes 4:9-12. 
In our scripture text today in Romans 6:12-23 we read about the theology of the apostle Paul.  He is trying to help us understand the battle we are all up against in life. Some of you here today are going through difficult struggles.   God knows all about it. Some of you may be dealing with life-or-death decisions.  The body of Christ or church was established by Jesus himself to be here for you.  Jesus said, that he would will build his church and the gates of hell would not be able to stand against it.
We must daily make our decision to again follow Jesus, no matter what the world may say.  In all that we do, think or say, Jesus must take top priority.  Let’s recommit ourselves today to reaffirming our faith in him.
 
I'd Rather Have Jesus
Song by Jim Reeves
I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold
I'd rather be His than have riches untold
I'd rather have Jesus than houses or land
I'd rather be led by His nail-pierced hand
Than to be the king of a vast domain
And be held in sin's dread sway
I'd rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today
I'd rather have Jesus than worldly applause
I'd rather be faithful to His dear cause
I'd rather have Jesus than worldwide fame
Yes, I'd rather be true to His holy name
Than to be the king of a vast domain
And be held in sin's dread sway
I'd rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Rhea Miller / George Beverly Shea
I'd Rather Have Jesus lyrics © Word Music, Llc