Fresh Start....with Myself - A Message On Making Wise Decisions Series

TEXT: Matthew 4:1-11 Proverbs 14:12

TITLE: A Fresh Start…With Yourself - A Message on making wise choices

SERIES: Fresh Start

TOPIC: Decision Making

OCCASION: Burnside Christian Church, January 18, 2009

PROP.: Important decisions are like seeds. We don’t know exactly what they’ll produce until we see the fruit! But it’s important that we do all we can to ensure that those seeds produce GOOD fruit!

INTRODUCTION: We are in a series called: Fresh Start. Last week, I gave

you some keys to getting a fresh start with God. And what I hope you got

from last week was that a fresh start with God is available whenever you

want it. It comes from repentance.

Today, I want to give you a fresh start with yourself. This is a sermon

on making wise decisions about the future.

I want you to know that I’ve been praying about 2009 for Burnside

Christian Church. I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to a

day coming when you and I will no longer be trapped under the dark cloud

of choices we will make. When we are not wondering about what my life

should have been…what my life could have been…but we’re going to make

better choices about a better future that God has in store for us! We are

not going to be trapped in the dysfunction of other people but we are

going to take responsibility for our own lives and we’re going to make

good choices ourselves!

What is the priority of God’s word for you? Let’s pray together first and

then we’ll get right into this.

Darwin awards. I love Darwin awards. They are awards given to the world’s stupidest criminals. Here are some of my favorite:

*In Seattle Washington, when a man attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor home parked he got much more than he bargained for. Police arrived at the scene to find an ill man curled up next to the parked motor home. The man admitted to trying to steal gasoline and plugged his hose into the motor home’s seawge tank by mistake. The owner of the vehicle declined to press charges saying that it was the best laugh he’d ever had!

Or how about this one?

*Police in Wichita Kansas arrested a 22 year old man at an airport hotel after he

tried to pass two counterfeit $16 bills.

And my personal favorite:

*When two gas station attendants in Ionia Michigan refused to hand over the cash to an intoxicated robber, the man threatened to call the police. They still wouldn’t give him the money, so the robber called the police…and was arrested.

I think we’d all agree wise choices are important. Hopefully, you are not to the point in your life where you are making poor decisions such as these. But I think you’d agree, if you had a time machine (like say, a Delorean with the flux-capacitor that requires 21.1 jigg-a-watts) you’d go back in time to make some better decisions!

If you’ve never regretted a decision you’ve made; give it time. You will! From the time of creation, mankind has been given the option to choose. And in reading Adam & Eve’s story, you can see that choosing poorly can have some dire affects.

Our text is very familiar! It comes from Matthew’s Gospel. Chapter 4. Please be turning there.

As we read this scripture this morning, place it in the context of making good decisions.

Matthew 4:1-11

1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the

devil. 2After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. (let’s stop right there and chase a rabbit trail, ok? How many are you thinking: Yeahhhh rrrright. 40 days no food? If Jesus were fully human, there is no way that he could survive 40 days without food. It is well documented that back in 1981, 10 political prisoners in Ireland lasted 46 - 78 days without food! Surviving without food all varies on how healthy you are at the start and Jesus was no wimp. He was a carpenter don’t forget!) 3The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these

stones to become bread."4Jesus answered, "It is written: ’Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’[a]" 5Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6"If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written:

" ’He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’[b]"

7Jesus answered him, "It is also written: ’Do not put the Lord your God to