CPE Church
Proverbs | How to make wise decisions | Iggy
Thank you brother. There's nothing more important in life than making good decisions, is there? Think about it. Think about the impact of your decisions that you make and how that changes everything. It could be a decision about who you should marry. It could be what unicalls should I study, what jobs should I take, where should I live, when should I start a family, what should I do with my life? The decisions. It's not hard to see how the answer to those questions actually changes everything about your life. For example, in 2008, I made a decision to propose to a beautiful Singaporean girl who loves Jesus and she made the decision to say yes, which I'm still surprised to stay. And you can understand how that changes everything, that decision changed everything for us. Around the same time, I made a decision to actually leave my full-time secular work as a pharmacist and to start pursuing full-time gospel ministry. And I'm sure you understand that that decision changed everything about my life. In fact, I want to be standing before you today if that decision wasn't made. But it's not just only life-altering, massive decisions that matter. Every single decision in your life matters. Did you realize this? It could be things like this. Will I go to the gym today? Will I eat that extra piece of chocolate cake? Will I read my Bible today? Will I skip church this week? Will I spend more time with my kids or more time at work? Will I spend more time with my aging parents or more time at work? Will I scroll through social media or study for my exam? All of these decisions really matter, don't they? Every decision you make is a vote towards the type of life that you want to have. And I bet if I asked everyone here today, you'd all tell me you want to make good decisions, right? I don't think anyone's out there planning to make bad decisions. I love making bad decisions. Everyone wants to make good decisions. But the question is how? How do we do that? Well, we're going to look into the book of Proverbs. We're going to see the wisdom that God gives us to help us in making decisions that are excellent decisions, good decisions, decisions that honor Him. And the first step is actually this, to be wise and start with Jesus Christ. Here's the first thing that we get wrong. Here's the first thing we get wrong. We often make decisions based on what we want, all right? Based on what we want, what we desire, what we actually think is best. Decisions that are me centric, they're not going to go well. Let me put it this way. Good decisions cannot be me centric. That's not how the world works. Because the world is not centred on you, the world is centred on God. Which is why we need to start with this foundational verse for all of Proverbs and especially important here for decision making. Proverbs 1, 7, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, fools despise wisdom and instruction. It all starts here." This is where we need to start. It comes with acknowledging that God is God and we are not, right? That God is God and we are not. Acknowledging that He is the all powerful, supreme, preeminent ruler with all authority on heaven and on earth and that means He is to be feared. He is to be feared. This fear is not just a simple school boy dread of being sent to the principal's office. No, it's so much more than that. It's the fear that comes, the reverent, awesome fear that comes from being in the presence of the one who has the power to speak your life into existence with just a word or just as easily take that away. That's the fear, that reverent, awesome fear. And we see this divine power and authority, the divine power and authority of God, most fully expressed in the Son, Jesus Christ. Let me read to you from Philippians. Amazing verses about who Christ is. Philippians 2 verse 9, "God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess, confess what that Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." This is a picture of overwhelming authority, isn't it? Overwhelming rule. This is a picture of the final destination of all of that creation, of all of humanity, of everything around us, a picture of the king victorious standing in the aftermath of the battle victorious over his enemies. And imagine the scene, as far as I can see stretching off into the horizons there is a multitude of people and they have all fallen on their knee before him. And there are some there who fall on their knee, enjoy rejoicing with their king, sharing in this victory, but there are others there that have fallen on their knee and they do so in dread, in terror, at the wrath to come. But there is one thing common to all these people, one thing common to every person that bows their knee towards Jesus, which is everyone, and that is this, it's what they confess. They all confess this, "Jesus Christ is Lord, that Jesus Christ is Lord." Confessing Jesus Christ is Lord is where it all begins. I wonder if you see Jesus like this. Let me tell you something. Without a doubt, as we talk about decision making, without a doubt the most significant, most important decision in your life is whether you will confess Jesus Christ as Lord, either as a friend or as an enemy. That's your decision that you need to make. That one decision will impact your life for all of eternity. There is nothing more important than this. If you are against your King Jesus, your destination is suffering, it's judgment, it's hell. But if you are with King Jesus, it is joy, hope, eternal life, it is victory. Friends, my heart aches for more and more people to bow their knee to Jesus Christ as friends. To know the joy and hope and life that the gospel brings, just like He's shown me the love and the compassion and the mercy that He's shown me to know that there is something better than what this world offers. So if you're here today and you don't yet stand with Jesus Christ as King, I plea with you, let us help you, let us help you. Please talk to me, please fill out a connect card after I plead with you. Don't leave this till this is too late. There will be a day where we will all bow our knee and it will either be as a friend or as an enemy. This is the first step. This is the most important decision. This is the most important decision where all other decisions flow out of. Actually remembering that Jesus Christ is Lord. When you confess Jesus Christ is Lord, everything changes. Think about it. When we treat Jesus Christ as Lord, our entire life turns upside down. We no longer think about what we think, we think about what He thinks. It's no longer about what's best for us. It's about what's best for Him. It's no longer about what we want, but what He wants. Now for those who are older amongst us, I wonder if you remember what these are. Who knows what these are? WWJD bands, put up your hand on it. I see you. Hands note, don't be ashamed, all right? This is something you should be proud of. WWJD bands, it stands for what would Jesus do? This was the key decision-making tool for Christians in the 90s and the 2000s. What would Jesus do? For example, you'd be driving along in traffic and then someone would come and cut you off. Just as you're raising your hand to do, you'll see the band. You say, "Oh, what would Jesus do?" You calm down. You stop that. It's so important. I reckon this is actually a great question to ask yourself. Imagine if you stopped and asked what would Jesus do before every decision you made, but I actually think there's something better than WWJD, and that's WWJD. What would Jesus want? I think this matters even more. What would Jesus want? Because if He is our Lord, if He is the King, if He is the supreme, pre-eminent or powerful ruler of all creation, then this matters, doesn't it? What He wants actually is the most important thing. It reshapes everything about our reality. I want to talk to some people who were on the path to making some bad decisions, some Christians who were thinking about making some decisions, which were, "We're going to have some incredibly negative, harmful impacts to themselves and to others, actually." I asked them this question, "How does Jesus fit into this? Have you thought about how Jesus fits into this?" They replied to me, "Oh, we haven't thought about that part yet." I was shocked. I was shocked. I was like, because I was thinking, "As Christians, this needs to be the first thing we think about. How could we not think about what Jesus thinks about this?" But I wonder, how many of us would be guilty of the same thing? How many times have you made significant decisions in your life without ever stopping and asking, "What would Jesus want here?" If you take away one thing from the sermon, it should be this, that what will radically transform your life the most. What would change your life the most is if you pre-decide, make a pre-decision to start with remembering Jesus Christ as your Lord and to actually ask, "What would Jesus want?" Remember Jesus Christ as your Lord and ask, "What would Jesus want?" And this is a decision that you make before any decisions come along. You pre-decide that this is your framework. You pre-decide that Jesus is your king. You pre-decide that all things will be made in line with his will and not your will, because when you get to that decision, it's already too late. You need to decide in advance that this is how you're going to make decisions. In case you're wondering, he hasn't left us alone to discern what he wants. You might be wondering, "How do I know what Jesus wants?" He's not here, he's in heaven, but he's left us incredible gifts to help us know what he wants. The first is this. It's a prayer. And that's the next step to pray. Prayer is so powerful. Prayer is how through the power of the Spirit we are connected to our great God that we have relationship with them, we speak our request to him, he answers us. But the question is what should we pray for? There's lots of things we could pray for. Here's two that I'm going to point out today. The first is from James 1 verse 5. Have a look at this. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault. And it will be given to you. Now, I don't know if you know this, but this is one of the few verses in the New Testament, which is focused, which actually is a promise. It's a promise. Obviously, there's a whole bunch of verses which are promises about the future, about our sure salvation, our sure hope in eternal life, what wonderful verses they are, that assurance, the promise of the gospel. But this is one of the few verses that promises something for us right now also, that if you ask God for wisdom, look at what it says, he will give it to you. If you realize that. He's literally saying he will grant you that request. So why on earth wouldn't we be asking for that? Every single moment we could, every moment of the day, as much as we could before every single decision to stop and ask God, please give me wisdom to make a decision that is in line with your will that honors you. Please help me in that. That is why, you know, if you asked me nine times out of 10, you know, if you asked me, how can I best be praying for you? I will say something like, please pray for wisdom for me because goodness knows I need it. I need it. Here's another prayer. So pray for wisdom, please. That's a no-brainer. Please pray for wisdom. Here's another prayer to pray. This is a model prayer from King David from the Psalms. Search me God and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there's any offensive way in me and lead me in the way of a lasting. Now this is a scary prayer to pray because you know what you're asking God. You're asking Him to show you your sin and sometimes that's a bit ugly. That's a bit hard to deal with. You're asking God to reveal your heart. Show, see if there's any offensive way in me and then you're asking God to correct your path and lead me in the way of a lasting. As Gary Miller, our speaker and church camp said to us earlier this year, we need to mistrust ourselves and trust God. Mistrust yourself, trust God because our hearts are sinful. Our hearts are so deceitful. So we need God to help us show us this whenever we come to decisions. Lead us to make corrections in our course as we come to make decisions. I once heard from Rangaliah who's a pastor. He's in Dubai at the moment. Used to be down in Sydney. He said one of his favorite prayers to pray is this is to go. It's to say to God, I know that I will bring sinful motivations to this decision. I just know I will. So please show me what they are and just please help me as I do that. Do this thing to bring your honour even as I make this decision with mixed motivations. I think it's such a great prayer to acknowledge the fact that we do bring sin to it. But to humble prayer because you're asking for God to show you that and to still seek his glory regardless. Pray that God will show you your sinful motivations before you make those big decisions. These are very powerful prayers. Pray for wisdom, pray for God to show you sin. I believe they're so much more powerful than just asking God for a sign. And I actually can't remember seeing that put forward in scriptures as a model of how we're to pray. In fact, oftentimes there's a negative thing when people are asking for signs. God sometimes gives them to us. But God has entrusted us to make decisions as his people. Not just to wait around for commands to drop down from heaven so we don't have to think and we can just do that. He's given us prayer to help us make good decisions in line with his will. But not just prayer. He's also given us his precious word, his holy spirit and power word. And that's the next step to go to God's word. Now if you want to know the desires of someone's hearts, if you want to know what Jesus wants, then you have to spend time with them. If you want to know the desires of someone's heart, what they want and what they like and what they dislike, you get to know that when you spend time with them. If you live with someone you know what they like and don't like. For example I've been married to Li Ting now for 15 years and I know what she likes and doesn't like. What her desires of her heart are. One of them is this, I know she doesn't like when things aren't put back where they're supposed to be. She really dislikes that and some of you also share that I know as well. It's very annoying. But I know what she desires to. For example, she desires that I kill every cockroach in the house. That's a big desire for her. Very big. In fact, I'm going away next week for a week and wanted to think I didn't plan this. I'd already written this beforehand but last night she said to me, I'm really fearful of the creepy crawlies when you go. I know these things because I've spent 15 years with her. I've gotten to know what her heart is on and obviously they're small things. I know much deeply, much more deeply too, her core values, what she likes, dislikes, what is important to her. Likewise, if we want to make decisions in line with Jesus Christ, if we want to know his heart, if we want to know his will, we need to spend time with him. We just have to spend time with him. How are we supposed to do that if we don't? And we get to know Jesus Christ through his precious word, his living and active word that he gives us, where he speaks to us, his will, his desires. And the heart of our Lord Jesus is this as we read the scriptures we see. His heart is this that this broken world be redeemed, the redemption of our creation, that we, his people, would be rescued from slavery to sin and made into a holy, precious, new people, his church, that we, his people, would be conformed day by day more into the image of Christ, that we, his people, would overflow with faith, hope and love and be a community that loves like Jesus does, that we together with every believer, from every nation on earth, would be gathered around his throne on that final day singing praises and glory to his name. That is his heart. That's what he wants. That's what he desires. I know this because this is what he came to die for. And if this is what's most important for Jesus Christ, shouldn't it be what's most important for us? His heart should reshape our hearts. Friends, God's word shows us his will. Sometimes, you know, sometimes it's crystal clear. Sometimes we get commands telling us exactly what to do and not do. Don't be greedy, steal murder, etc. Instead, love, be generous, be compassionate, do these things. Sometimes it's very clear for us. But in situations where even it's not so clear, those truths still apply, right? The scriptures guide us sometimes in less clear, specific ways, but the truths and principles are just as clear. The truths of principles show us what Jesus cares about. We need to look at them and apply them into all the situations of our life. For example, there's no verse telling you whether you should buy a $1.5 million house, right? But what are the principles that shape this? You need to think, how will this mortgage impact your need to work longer or harder for you or for your spouse? And how will that impact my service to Jesus Christ? How will that flow on and impact your responsibilities to your family, your work and church? Is that what Jesus wants? Will that glorify him? You have to think, are you buying this home for your comfort or to serve others in the name of Christ? What would Jesus think about this? So the scriptures might tell us directly about those truths and those principles. They're timeless. They help us to see what his heart is. These are the things that matter to Jesus Christ. The key thing to do is to stop and ask what would Jesus want? What would Jesus want here? Friends, God's word is the priority when it comes to making decisions. Let me say that again. God's word is the priority when it comes to making decisions because it shows us the heart of our great God. Everything needs to be determined, assessed through that lens, right? Even the circumstances in your life. Sometimes you make decisions based purely on circumstances of this happens. So God obviously must want me to do that. But that's not entirely true. Obviously he does work through that, but God's word needs to be the priority. For example, just because a person says yes when he asks them out doesn't mean that it's necessarily what Jesus wants that you marry that person, right? What does word have to say about that? What would Jesus want? Just because you got into that uni course doesn't necessarily mean that that is the job that you should be doing for the rest of your life, right? What's God's word have to say about that? What would Jesus want? Just because you got approved for that mortgage doesn't necessarily mean that that's a good decision. What's God's word have to say about that? Because it shows us what Jesus wants. You see the Bible, it shows us the desire of our Lord Jesus Christ. The more time you spend with him through his word, the more clear it will be to you. What is actually the good and right decision that will honor Jesus. Especially when you're a newer Christian, maybe you've got no idea and you're just going back to the word over and over and every decision you make, you've got to find, you know, you've got to be researching really a lot about that. That's fine. That's good thing to do. We should never let go of God's word as a priority. But as you become a Christian, and you walk with Jesus more and more, you do get to know what honors him, right? Yeah? You've got to, the Holy Spirit works in you, gives you convictions about, yes, this would honor him, and this would not. Don't ignore those things. As you get to know Jesus, spend time with him, you'll be able to make decisions in line with his will, but always go back to his word. So here's the question. How are you going out spending time with your Lord Jesus Christ? So you can know his heart better. So you can make decisions in line with his will. There's nothing more important than this. Friends, it does seem quite basic so far, doesn't it? You know, remember Jesus Christ's Lord, pray, go to his word, but I've lost count of the amount of times that when I've talked to people who are making big decisions, I asked them, have you prayed about it? Have you reflected on scriptures about this, that the answer is no. I haven't done that yet. Friends, this is where we need to start. We need to start with Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ our Lord. This is the foundation we need, the fear of the Lord, the fear of the Lord. This one thing, let me tell you, if you take away one thing, if you just start doing this, if you start just stopping and thinking and remembering that Jesus Christ is Lord and you ask yourself that question, what would Jesus want, your life will be completely transformed. I guarantee you, if you actually make decisions according to that. But Proverbs also gives us a lot more practical advice also, so let me go on to the next point. Be wise and slow down. Who here has ever made a decision that they regret later on, a bad decision that they regret later on? Yeah, yes, if you're honest, people here, I know you all have come on, yeah. I've done that many times. And let me tell you something, more often than not, I reckon those decisions come because we moved too quickly. We've made them too quickly. Proverbs agrees with this. This is what it says. Proverbs 19, too. "Desire without knowledge is not good. How much more war? Hasty feet missed away." 21 verse 5, "The plans of the diligent lead to profit are surely as haste leads to poverty." 29 verse 20, "Do you see someone who speaks in haste? There is more hope for a fool than for them." Proverbs tells us, "To be wise, we need to slow down. We need to slow down." And I think we already have seen that because decision-making which makes us stop and think about Jesus Christ's Lord and makes us stop and pray, makes us stop and consult scriptures and meditate and reflect on scriptures will necessarily require us to slow down, slow down. More often than not, the problem for our hasty decisions is because of emotions, because of our emotions. For example, you decide to say those hurtful words to your spouse because you're just angry. You're angry. Or this, your parents told you to do something and you know that they are right, but you decide to do the opposite thing just to spite them. Yeah, emotions. Or the other end of the scale. You see that beautiful thing, right? That beautiful phone, piece of clothing, car, whatever, and you feel so excited about that and you impossibly decide to buy it. Emotions, driving decisions. Or you just know that this just feels right. It feels right. So you decide to do it. You decide to do it. Now friends, I'm not saying that emotions don't matter, but here's what we need to realize we can't trust our emotions. We can't trust our emotions. Remember, we need to mistrust ourselves and trust God. Emotions, because emotions, they float out of a sinful heart. Emotions are deceitful. They're so easily, they can be used to justify what we want. And emotions are volatile too. They're so up and down. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I mean, you guys know this. Like, no one here would say if they're in their workplace, I love working for a really emotional boss. They're fantastic. I love like, I just don't know what I'm going to get any day. It's so great. I think we all know that it's not a great foundation for decision-making. But I think the province tells us to slow down. To consider our emotions, but consider them alongside the word and prayer and to be thoughtful and plan. Proverbs 19, verse 2, up on the screen, says this desire without knowledge is not good. How much more hasty feet miss the way. Desire without knowledge, strong desire that emotion is not good. Right? Acting hastily driven by emotion, it won't end well. That's not good. But desire combined with knowledge through the word and prayer will lead to a wise decision. And what this will take is great self-control, great self-control. My daughter, Maya, is almost three years old, and I don't think it will surprise youth for me to say that she doesn't have the best self-control, right? For example, if I, you know, it's dinner time and she wants to chocolate and I say sorry, you can't have a chocolate. She might break down and lie on the ground and start crying uncontrollably, right? Because of that little thing. Or she might not. I don't know. I'm not sure what, how she's going to respond at any given time. She's completely unpredictable. But you know what, as I tell you this story, you're like, oh yeah, that's natural, right? She's three years old. We don't expect kids to have great self-control because by nature, by virtue of who they are, they're immature, right? They're not mature. But we should expect a little bit more from ourselves. Our call is to be mature. When you're feeling upset, someone's done something or said something to you that's made you angry. That's hurt you. And the first thing you want to do is reply with that hurtful text message. Some words that will hurt them back maybe in person, some vengeful email. Just stop. Just stop. And you need self-control here. The proverb to notice is proverb 29 verse 20 on the screen, the last one. Do you see someone who speaks in haste? There is more hope for a fool than for them. That's a condemning proverb, isn't it? My rule is never send a message when you're emotional. Never send a message when you're emotional. If something's happened to you and you have that desire, I will devise you to write that down somewhere. Type it out on your phone somewhere in your notes, write it down on a piece of paper, go to bed, and revisit it the next morning. And I guarantee you there'll be plenty in there that you are so thankful that you didn't say at that moment. Alex Formozi, who's an entrepreneur, has this quote. It's amazing how many terrible decisions can be avoided in a moment, sorry, in a moment of emotion by simply waiting 20 minutes. I like that quote. It captures this wisdom. On the other end of the spectrum, you might feel really happy and excited about something, right? You find your dream home and you're very excited. You meet your dream person. That person that makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside and you've got such amazing chemistry. But before you decide on anything, before you lock yourself into anything, slow down, you've also got to think of the consequences of your action. From verse 21, verse 5, the mad middle proverb there, the plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads the poverty. What this verse is saying is that you need to stop and count the cost. Every yes is a no. There are consequences for your actions. It might seem that something might bring you great benefits, great blessings, but in fact it may lead to your poverty. That's what these verses are saying. And it's not just because of what it costs you. And it's not just talking about finances yet. It's talking about physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually. What will this decision cost you? Because what uses it if a man gains the entire world but loses his soul? We need to slow down and thoughtfully plan. Mistakes love a rush decision. Mistakes love a rush decision. Just a little aside here, perhaps as I talk about these things and Matt touched on these things last week, they're significant. You think you're confronted with the fact that you are really struggling here with your emotions, with your self-control, controlling your temper. Or maybe you realize that things are affecting you disproportionately. People say certain things that make you blow up or get really anxious or sad or in a disproportionate way. Or maybe you're constantly anxious, maybe you're too impulsive and you can't stop yourself from doing things, you know you shouldn't. I want to say to you that you aren't a terrible person, okay? But you just need to ask for some help here. And I advise you to really seek it. This is a good thing to acknowledge that we need help. A great book to read and that I'm reading is this, growing yourself up. It's a great book to get about how to be emotionally mature, not just for yourself but in relationship with others. It's a really helpful book. But I also recommend you that seek some help from others. Talk to your leaders, one of the pastors, a counselor, a psychologist. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Don't be afraid to ask for help. We need each other in this. In fact, just two days ago, I saw my psychologist because I needed help processing some emotions through a particularly stressful time for me right now. We need to realize we aren't meant to do this alone, friends. Be wise and slow down. Our friends, throughout the whole decision-making process, this is important. To be wise and slow down. Slow down, mistrust self. You know, remember that you have sinful motivations inside. So those emotions, those things, you need to mistrust them. You need to slow down. And as you slow down and think, what we're called to do is remember Christ Jesus is your Lord. Start with that. We're to pray. We're to go to God's Word. But we're also to ask for advice. And this is our third point. Be wise and seek advice. Let me ask you something. How many bad decisions have you made in your life that could have been avoided if you just had a conversation with someone and actually listened to them as well. That's an important second bit. If you're anything like me, the answer is way too many and Proverbs shows that's just foolish when we do that. Let me run through these Proverbs. Proverbs 11, 14. "For lack of guidance and nation falls by victories won through many advisors." 15, 22. "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisors they succeed." Proverbs 12, 15. "The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice." So this is a game changer. To actually listen to advice. This is the difference between success and failure between a nation falling in victory. That's what Proverbs says. Because when you listen to others, wise counselors, they give you perspective. They expand your mind. They help you to see things that you hadn't considered before. They bring their wisdom and their experience to the table and then you can make a decision together. The bottom line is this. We're better together. We're better together. God knows this. That's why he created human beings not to live in isolation. But to live in community. We need each other. He's put you into community. God's gift to you is one another. I don't know if you realize that. As God's people, it's your brothers, sisters in Christ. It's the church. Because think about this. Here is a community of people who care about what you care about, who share your core values. That's really important when you're asking people for advice. You need people that share your core values. Here's people that have the same spirit, who follow the same Lord, who want to live with Jesus Christ's Lord, just like you. Here's a community that cares for you and loves you. Yes, it's not a perfect community. Yes, I know some of our relationships are messy. But I want you to realize what a gift it is to be part of God's church. It's an incredible gift. What a gift it is that we have each other. So friends, that's why it's actually surprising how often we make big decisions like changing work, dating, getting married, buying a new house, moving into state, moving overseas, having another child, whatever it might be. And we don't talk to anyone about it. Why don't we? What a great gift we have in each other. Well, let me talk to two reasons why we might not talk to others about it. Number one is we don't seek advice because we are proud. And let me tell you, I'm the first to admit I'm guilty of this so often. Thinking I know best that I've got it all sorted out already. I mean, on a pastor, come on, like what advice? Surely I know what to do. We don't think we need it. We think that we have enough wisdom and knowledge by ourselves already. But you know what that is, that's just pride. It's pride. And it's foolishness. Proverbs 12, 15 says this. The way a fool sings right to them but the wise listen to advice. It takes great humility to admit that we don't have all the answers. To say, I need help. But isn't this the very essence of the gospel-shaped life? Isn't the very essence of gospel-shaped life to admit that we are needy sinners in need of help? Not just at the start of the journey, but every single step of the way. We come to Jesus, the great teacher, and he guides us and advises us and helps us through his word. But he also guides and advises and helps us through his body, his people, his church. When you are humble and open to receive the advice of others, I guarantee you your life will change, your life will change. Now, the second reason we don't ask for advice is this. We don't seek advice because we don't want to hear it. I think sometimes we don't want to hear the answer to the question that we ask. We know deep down that probably as we make this decision, that it's probably not the best decision that it's been motivated by not the right things, maybe it's greed or comfort or pleasure. But we're trying to justify it to ourselves in our hearts. So the last thing we need is some self-righteous Christian brother or sister telling us that we're doing the wrong thing. That's the last thing we want, right? I remember feeling like this when back a long time ago in the university days, I made a decision to start dating someone who didn't love Jesus Christ. I wrestled with this decision very personally for a long time. I really struggled with it because deep down I knew that this didn't really honor Jesus Christ. So then I just avoided talking to anyone about it. I avoided asking anyone for advice about this, I avoided talking to anyone about it. In fact, she was like hidden away, like I didn't tell anyone about it. Actually, that's not completely true. I talked to all my non-Christian friends about it and they loved it. They were like, "Yeah, great, good work. It was very affirming for me. I like that." But it was only when some wife leaders pulled me aside that I had to confront the reality and I had to make a decision to live for Jesus or her or myself. What would I choose? Friends don't avoid asking because you might hear something you don't like. Sometimes wise counsel hurts, but it's exactly what we need. I love this brother. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, profuse are the kisses of an enemy. Sometimes what your friends will say to you might be uncomfortable, but it's exactly what you need because that's what because they love you. If you want to make good decisions, please ask for advice. Ask people who you trust, who share your core values, who have experienced who have experienced in this. Way up that advice against God's will, that's always important, right? That's primary, sensey if it lines up. And if it does, humbly receive it, take it on board and make a decision. But here's a warning. You can overdo this. You can overdo this. For some of us, our problem isn't making a poor decision. It's making a decision. It's just making a decision. We can overthink things. We can be anxiously trying to gather as much information as we can and we procrastinate on actually making a decision. And let me tell you that that weighs very heavily on you. Another quote that I heard this on the screen is, the biggest, the heaviest thing in life isn't gold or silver. It's unmade decisions, right? It weighs on you, doesn't it, when you don't make those decisions. Perhaps you're scared. Perhaps you haven't found advice that you want to hear, whatever it is. But you need to make a decision. So let others help you decide. Take a bold step forward and trust God with that result. He's in control. So how do we make good decisions? We start with Christ as Lord. Remember Christ's Lord who has all authority whose will is good and whose sovereign and ask what would Jesus want? Next is to pray. Pray for wisdom. Pray for God to reveal your sin. Pray for the Holy Spirit's help in your life. Third is to go to God's Word. Get to know what the heart of Jesus Christ is. Make decisions in line with what He wants, not what He wants. Fourth is to seek the advice of trusted counselors, people that you trust who share your values who want your good. And the whole time through, make sure you're slowing down and mistrusting yourself because you have seen in your heart so you need to slow down. And then you can make a decision. Make a decision trusting that God has your life in his hands and he's in control. When we come to the end of that process, I'm not telling you, I'm not saying to you that you're going to have this perfectly clear printed out like thing that's sent to your phones. Here's what you need to do sort of thing. I'm not often not. That's not how God works. But as we make decisions through this process, we start aligning our life in line with His heart, His will to do what He wants. And we can take a bold step forward knowing that God has your life in your, in His hands, that He is sovereign and that He loves you. It takes a lot of trust. Let me end by saying this by the last thing. When we make decisions like this with Jesus Christ's Lord, it won't be easy. Life won't be easy. But don't be surprised at this. Because what does Jesus Christ tell us as His disciples? He tells us to follow Him this too. Take up our cross. Take up our cross. That's not an easy thing. Take up our cross and follow Him. It's a follow in the footsteps of our servant King who sacrifices life on that cross to save us because He loves us. It won't be easy, but it is worth it. I think we all know that oftentimes the best decisions are not the easiest. I think we all know that. Otherwise, everyone will be doing this. For example, exercising, that's not easy. Eating well isn't easy, but we know ultimately it's good for us. This is never more true than when we're talking about the Christian life. The world may hate you for making decisions for Jesus Christ. In fact, let me tell you something that's going to give you. The world will think you're absolutely full for making decisions for Jesus Christ. But you know what? That's okay. Because what matters is what Jesus Christ thinks. And when you make decisions for Him, for His honor, He's greatly pleased and greatly honored. And He can't wait to welcome you home on that final day to share the hope and joy and victory that He has won for you. Friends, society to do what Jesus Christ wants, that will be the best decision you'll ever make. Let me pray. Father God, we pray for your help. We pray that we all make decisions in line with our Lord Jesus Christ. And as we start to pray and think of the other these things, we just want to stop and say thank you that Jesus Christ made a decision to step down from His throne in heaven. He made a decision to humble Himself, to lower Himself, to become a man. He made a decision to go to the cross and die the death that He didn't deserve to die, that He made a decision to bear our sins and win us forgiveness in eternal life. We thank you for those decisions, which we know were not easy decisions, but He did that because He loved us. And we pray we can respond to His decisions for us by deciding to live a life that glorifies Him and not ourselves. May He help us by the Spirit to wisely make decisions in line with this. We pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Friends, we're going to take a minute to reflect on the Scriptures we've heard. Perhaps you want to take a minute to...