Decisions..

I welcome you on this first Sunday of the new month of August!

Did you know? The month of August is 'The month of Prayer' where the people of God fast and pray. They pray early in the morning, they pray late in the night. Just like Daniel, they pray in the morning, afternoon and evening. So what are you waiting for? Start now you Son/Daughter of God. 

     The following is the summary of the message they gave in my church today.

                                                     The bad outcome due to wrong decisions 

&

The blessings due to right decisions!

-Rev. Dr. J.J.Y. Arul

                                                                                                

Wrong decisions and its result:

Cain:

·     The offering of Cain was not accepted by God, so he took a wrong decision that was evil in the eyes of Holy God.

I John 3:12 says, “ Do not be like Cain who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.”

And verse 15 says, “ Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.”

What happened?

Cain became a wanderer. Genesis 4:10-12 says,

The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. ¹¹ Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹² When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

·          Lot:

Lot looked up and chose the fertile land. He did not ask the will of God but decided himself. LOT DID NOT CONSULT GOD!

Genesis 13:10,11

Lot was a good man before God but because he did not consult God regarding the land where he was to stay, He suffered a lot as he had to live among evil, wicked, sinful people (more than you could imagine).

What happened?

In the Holy Bible, Genesis chapter 19 talks about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (The twin city where Lot chose to live with his family).

·        Samson:

      Samson, an Israelite anointed by God with extraordinary power (strength) fell in for a Philistine woman (gentile). Gentile refers to an unsaved (from sin) person.

When you read Judges 14:1 onwards, Samson says, in verse 3, that the woman was lovable to his eyes. If you read on, you’ll know that his physical eyes were a hindrance to him. You know what happened at the end? His eyes were gouged out by his own enemies.

·        Jonah:

Jonah, a prophet of God, chose to sail to Tarshish when the Lord commanded him to go to Nineveh. God wanted to warn the city of the destruction that would come because of its wickedness.

What happened?

Read the book of Jonah. In chapter 1 and verse 17, the Bible says he was swallowed by a great fish. 

Jonah 1:17 -"But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights."

When Jonah repented to God, the fish vomited him on the shore of Tarshish at the command of the Lord.

·        Judas Iscariot:

Matthew 10:2-4 gives the names of the twelve disciples of Jesus. Judas Iscariot (who betrayed Jesus) was one among them. Do you think Jesus was wrong when He chose Judas as one of His disciples? No. In fact, Jesus appointed him over treasury (finance).

            In John 6:71

             "He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him."

        What happened?

 

In Matthew 27:3, the Bible tells us

"When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders."

Read from verses 3 to 10.

Right decisions and its blessings:

·        Noah:

Genesis 6 tells us that Noah was the only one found righteous in the eyes of God when the whole world was under terrible terrible detestable sin.

When God commanded Noah to build a big ark, he did not ask God ‘WHY’. He decided to obey God unconditionally. 

What happened?

He and his family (8 people totally) were saved out of the whole world when the waters flooded the earth for a ‘hundred and fifty days’ (Genesis 7:24).

·        Abraham:

Abraham had so much faith in God. When you read Genesis chapter 12 onwards, you’ll know the level of faith that Abraham had on God.

Abraham chose to believe God.

What happened?

The Lord blessed him with a son ‘Isaac’ in his old age (when he was 100 years). The Lord made his generation into a nation called ‘Israel’ (it is still ‘Israel’ to this present age).

·        Ruth:

      Read the book of Ruth. She was a gentile too, a Moabite (from the country of Moab). She married an Israelite. When her husband died soon after marriage, she chose to serve the God of Israel. She was loyal and faithful to her mother-in-law who in turn was like her own mother.

      Ruth 1:16-18

       "But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. ¹⁷ Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” ¹⁸ When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her."

 

      What happened?

      The Lord made her find mercy in the eyes of Boaz, a close relative of Naomi (Ruth’s mother-in-law). Boaz and Ruth got married. She gave birth to Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of the great King David in whose family line Jesus Christ was born. (Ruth 4:17-22)

      Also there are many more characters in the Bible that can be set as an example here.

Choose the right decision by setting your plans and your confusions in the Holy feet of the Lord. God bless you!