Life Choice Series

Life’s choices

Matthew 5:1-5:12

This sermon was gleamed out of materials of Rick Warren and the starting of a Celebrate Recovery group at our church.

Introduction-

I want to begin this morning by saying that we serve a great big God.

Those of you who know Christ as Savior also serve a great big God.

It is not determined by what any of the political parties are doing or not doing or the outcome of this year’s election.

It is not based upon today if I am happy or sad, or if I have money.

It is based upon the goodness of God, the mercy of God, and the love of God toward the people He has created and invested in.

We messed up the plan, not Him.

He came with a plan to redeem us and to have us live lives that are meaningful and complete.

That is my prayer for us this morning, that we would live a life that God intended for us and that it is meaningful and complete.

Prayer-

Please turn to Matthew 5 which is Jesus Sermon on the Mount.

This morning message comes straight out of God’s Word, thoughts John Baker of Celebrate Recovery, and what I believe is important for Rosedale to continue growing individually and being a disciple to those that we come in contact with.

There are too many hurting people to ignore what God is trying to do, what groups and helps are available if you would be willing to admit that you need help, and the fact that Christians especially in the USA are putting their head in the sand and pretending that everything is okay or blaming their problems on someone else and not taking ownership of them.

Read Matthew 5:1-2

Jesus saw the crowd, He went up to a secluded place and He waited for His disciples to come to Him.

Jesus isn’t impressed with the crowds, He is impressed with those that will step away and allow God to teach them and disciple them. The people that will admit that they need His help and want to live lives that are meaningful and complete.

This is what He said to the listening disciples in Matthew 5:3-12 Read from the Bible

9 blessed are you verses to His disciples. (Blessed means happy)

The crowd was in the distance, some will listen and some will not.

Some will serve for awhile and some will decided they do not want what He offers anymore.

In his book experiencing God, Henry Blackaby said “You never find God asking persons to dream up what they want to do for him, without a doubt, the most important factor in each situation was not what the individual wanted to do for God. The most important factor was what God was about to do.”

He is the one that desires and has the capability for us to live meaningful and complete lives. Without God’s help, there will always be voids that we ourselves cannot fill.

Take note of this;

There are some burdens that are meant to be shared, meaning that we need each other to help us along life’s journey. God puts people in our paths to help us. He designed the church to be a place where people can get that help.

There are some burdens that are meant to be shouldered, meaning that because there are consequences to our actions, some only you can carry but God can help you with them and the people of God can be a strength and encouragement.

There are some burdens that need to be shed, meaning that with Christ help they can be overcome and the burden of carrying it eliminated. There are a lot of people carrying burdens that Christ wants to cast into the sea of forgiveness and never be brought up again.

We all have burdens and we all have baggage! Say amen because it is true. We all have baggage, Wither it is spiritual, emotional, financial, physical, or medical. Wither that baggage comes because of something you did to yourself or because of the actions of someone else. We all have baggage.

Let me tell why I do what I do. It is for no other reason than God got a hold of my heart and changed me forever. The path that I was on was destructive and dangerous and I know in my heart that if God would not have intervened, I would not be here. I am grateful for that and I want to see God do it for others. I am not anything special and God does not love me more than anyone else. We have a responsibility as believers of Christ to give back to the kingdom of God for the goodness and mercy that God has shown us. Salvation cannot be earned, but there should be fruit in our lives to show what He is doing.