Choices

(Note: I enjoyed reading the introduction of Lee Huddleston's sermon here on Sermon Central; so I have borrowed his introduction, and used my own material for the body.)

Introduction

I’m not a big Country music fan…

but I did go through a country music phase in my teens...

whether you like country music or not...

one thing you gotta admit...

they have the best song titles of any musical genre…

Here are a few:

“You ain’t worth the salt in my tears”...

"May The Bird Of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose"

"You Can’t Roller Skate In A Buffalo Herd"

"Thank God And Greyhound She’s Gone "

"I’ve Got The Hungries For Your Love & I’m Waiting In Your Welfare Line"

"I Got Tears In My Ears While Lying On My Back Thinking About You"

"How Can I Miss You If You Won’t Go Away?"

"If Love Were Oil, I’d Be A Quart Low "

"If The Phone Don’t Ring, Baby, You’ll Know It’s Me "

"She Done Tore My Heart And Stomped That Sucker Flat"

"Drop Kick Me, Jesus, Through The Goal Posts Of Life"

"Her Teeth Was Stained, But Her Heart Was Pure"

"I Been Roped and Throwed by Jesus in the Holy Ghost Corral”

Wow...It makes you wonder what’s the story behind some of those songs...

-There’s another country song title with a story behind it...

that I want to use to illustrate our Scripture reading today...

It is by George Jones.

George Jones is widely considered to be the greatest living country music singer (at least according to wikipedia)...

A lot of his songs are the stereotypical "cheat’n & drink’n" songs that seem to be so prevalent in Country Music...

And it was no secret that George Jones had a drug/alcohol/woman problem ...

But on March 6, 1999 George Jones was critically injured when he crashed his Lexus into a bridge in Nashville....

The investigation showed that George had been drunk at the wheel. Thankfully he recovered, and two months later his new album called "Cold Hard Truth" came out...

and on it was a hit song titled "Choices"...

And the key phrase in the song that brings me to our Scripture reading...

George Jones sings, "I’m Living And Dying With The Choices I Made".

(Show video)

From my reading about George Jones...

he credits his 4th wife, whom he is currently married to...

to helping him get off the drugs and alcohol...

Think what you will about George Jones...

there certainly is a sober truth to that song...

not just for George Jones...but for all of us...

“I’m living and dying with the choices I made”

Read text: Deuteronomy 30:15-20

First of all, I want you to see that you do have a choice!!

This morning, I woke up and chose which tie I would wear...

I chose what I would eat for breakfast...

I chose whether to stop for gas at the Kangaroo...

or at Murphy’s...

And I chose whether to get a second mortgage on the house in order to pay for the gas...

When we go out to eat...

we choose McDonald’s or Burger King...

KFC or Arby’s...

Applebys or Panera Bread...

Stavro’s or Firehouse...

we choose whether we want water, sweet tea, or diet coke with our meal...

Some choices are what I would say are unimportant choices...

like where you will eat lunch...

but other choices are more important...

I have chosen to be faithful to my wife...

I have chosen to raise my kids in the church...

I have chosen to give 10% of my income to the Lord...

I have chosen to give my heart to Jesus and to be a Christian...

It’s been the same since the beginning...

people have always had a choice...

Adam and Eve, all the way back to Genesis 2:16...

they had a choice...

God told them that they were free to eat from any tree in the garden...

but that they shouldn’t eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil”...

And, we know the results of that choice...

they didn’t choose well!!

and sin entered our world...

and we’ve been battling with it ever since!

Here in our Scripture reading...

Moses has been leading the Israelites during the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness...

and he is preaching a final sermon before he dies...

He has been with them day and night for 40 years...

they have lived together...

camping out together...

he has seen them at their best ...and their worst...

he knows the things that they have struggled with...

And here...in some of his last words to his people...

before he dies...

and Joshua takes them into the Promise Land...

he is sharing some things that he considers to be very important...

he won’t be entering the Promise Land with them...