EVERY DECISION HAVE THEIR CONSEQUENCES
TODA DECISION TIENE CONSEQUENCIAS
Mt. 25:1-13
1"At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.
5The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6"At midnight the cry rang out: ’Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
7"Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps.
8The foolish ones said to the wise, ’Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
9" ’No,’ they replied, ’there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
10"But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
11"Later the others also came. ’Sir! Sir!’ they said. ’Open the door for us!’
12"But he replied, ’I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’
13"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
INTROD.
1. Life is about making decisions. Each day we all have to make decisions. Some of the decisions we make are of little or no consequence. What am I going to eat for breakfast, what car will I drive to work. Others can be life changing or life ending. Am I going to go to that party, drink and drive home? Am I going to take that person up on their offer that would cause me to commit adultery? Am I going to smoke that first cigarette, something that will have an adverse affect on my life span? How many people do you know who have ruined their lives or ended them because they made a bad decision? How many people do you know who when they reach a crossroad in their life, they take the wrong turn and end up regretting it.
2. Every decision that we make has its consequences, and even more; every particular decision affects in one way or another, for good or bad; no only in our favor or against us; but also they affect against the people we love. In other words, the decisions you are taking will help or destroy and they will affect not only you, but all those around you as well. The consequences of your choices and your decisions affect others.
3. You are responsible for the decision you take and its consequences. Every choice you make has consequences, and the only one responsible for such choices is you and nobody else. Consequently, we need to learn to live responsibly. You see, we can’t live our life making others responsible for our bad decisions.
5. The other problem we face today is that we take decision too fast, too quickly. We live in a world that doesn’t stop to think, to meditate, and to consider consequences. We live in a fast society, and every body is moving fast: we run like crazy on the freeways, we don’t have time for our families, not to make friends, we don’t stop to smell the flowers, no time to enjoy the most important moments of our lives. Consequently, we don’t stop to measure the consequences of our choices and decisions. We are getting used to acting fast. Of course, if we act fast, we can take advantage of greatest opportunities; but the truth is that if we act fast, we might not see the consequences, the end result of a bad decision can be tragic.
6. The other issue is that our society is irreplaceable. Mistakes are not easy to be forgiven. Further more, society is unforgiving when we make a mistake. It doesn’t matter your good intentions, if you were wrong, you will pay for it. And there is not going to be mercy at all. Transi: •Today we are going to look at some of the principles we can see in the life of Jesus that should help us to make better decisions in our lives. • Today we will look at three principles we can learn from from the life of Jesus.
I. DECISIONS SHOULD BE GOAL ORIENTED
DECISIONES DEBEN HACERSE CON LA META EN MENTE (1)
1"At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
A. WHAT GUIDES YOUR DECISIONS? ?QUE GUIAN SUS DECISIONS?
1. This passage took place few days before Jesus’ arrest. It was the last week of his earthly life and the most important lessons had to be before he died. He had been teaching about the signs of the end of the age. It is during this time that he talked about choices, decision and consequences. So, the context of this lessons is a call to be aware, to be wise and ready to takes the right decisions. The first lesson given is that, if every decision has its consequences, you better make your decision with an objective in mind.
2. The question for us is: What is guiding our decisions? Most of our decisions are made with the rush of the hour; we want to take advantage of the opportunity presented there and now. We don’t like to wait, to ponder, to sleep upon, to consult some body, to hear others opinions or perspectives. We don’t like to anticipate the possible end results.
3.We, sometimes, act out of our own interest and do not consider the biggest picture in front of us, or the interest of the people we love. We make choices by what we want there and now, we make choices.
B. THINK KINGDOM/ PIENSE EN EL REINO
1. What is the objective that Jesus is thinking of? Jesus tells us that our decisions should be taken with clear objectives in mind. Jesus exhorted us to think kingdom as the most important objective to have in mind at the time of making a choice. What does it mean to think kingdom? The idea here is to have the end result in mind all the time. What is the ultimate goal of your life? The ultimate objective of our lives should be to have eternal life, and every decision should be taken seeking to advance our possibilities of getting to the kingdom. That is what should prompt us to make any choice.
2. What are you willing to do to obtain the Kingdom of God? What kind of decision are you willing to make? There is nothing we are not willing to do to expend eternity with our Lord. The point here is that every decision or choice must be made thinking in the kingdom of God rather in our present circumstances or conditions. God makes it clear to us in His word that good decisions are made with eternity in mind. "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matt 6:19-20 1For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 Cor 5:1 (www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=73291&Sermon%20Making%20Good/Godly%20Decisions%20by%20Dan%20Cale)
II. DECISIONS SHOULD BE PART OF THE STRATEGY
DECISIONES DEBEN SER PARTE DE SU ESTRATEGIA (2-4)
A. WITH SAME POSSIBILITY/ CON LAS MISMAS POSIBILIDADES
1. The second lesson we learn from Jesus is that every decision should be part of the strategy to achieve the ultimate objective. You see, if we are going to buy a house, that is your ultimate objective, you need some strategies to do that. You need a budget, to see how much you can afford, you need have a stable job, you need to be willing to sacrifice many things for such objective. If the kingdom and eternal life is your ultimate objective and destiny; you need to make decisions as part of the strategies. A strategy is an important or essential concrete movement or action to achieve an objective. In this sense, every decision should be part of the strategy, part of the next step to get closer to achieve eternal life.
2. In this passage, everyone has the same possibilities. Everyone is invited to take the wise choices. This passage talks about ten virgins, they were the bridesmaids, they were responsible for preparing the bride to meet the groom. All of them were in the same condition, and all of them had the same possibilities; they were in the same place at the same time. All of them had the same expectation. All of them had the same vision: prepare the bride for the groom.
Apl. You see, in this passage we all have the same possibilities, we all have the same potential, and we all have been invited, it will be you decision what will make the difference between get inside or staying outside of the gates of heaven.
B. BE READY ALWAYS/ ESTE SIEMPRE PREPARADA
1. What was the move that made the difference? All of them had received the same instructions: The groom will come, and only those whose lamps have been trimmed will be allowed to get in the wedding banquet. The lamps were like torches that consisted of a long pole with oil-drenched rags at the top. The purpose of these lamps was to light the procession in the middle of the night. Those torches required large amounts of oil in order to keep burning, and those lamps needed refilling every 15 minutes. The idea of trimmed is that every torch should have charred ends where the rags would be cut off and with good oil.
2. What made the difference? The decision to have more oil available, and the decision to be attentive, to be prepared, to be ready was their true strategy. All of them probably had the same age, the same kind of work, so all of them were tired, they were is the same place, but what made the difference is that there were 5 of the ten that went the extra mille, they got ready, they were prepared to wait, and to have their torches lighted. They could go the other way, but their decision is based on the ultimate goal.
Apl. Are your decision or choices based on the ultimate goal? Are they part of your strategy to achieve the bigger price? Are you ready, if that day IS today? Watch out!
III. DECISIONS SHOULD BE APPROVE/ DECISIONES DEBEN SER APROBADAS
A. DECISIONS ARE JUDGED/ LAS DECISIONES SON JUZGADAS (5-13)
1. Every decision has its consequences, that is why we should take any decision with a kingdom orientation, and every decision should part of our strategic to achieve the biggest price of all: eternal life, but we need to learn to make decisions, decisions that are approved by God, by his church and by ourselves. It is like in every company: your work has to be part of the end results, what you do must be part of the strategy to do those products, and everything you are doing in that company must be reviewed, has to pass by quality control. That is the idea of this last lesson, your decisions should be approved if you want to get to heaven.
2. In this passage the bridegroom was to come, it was the promise, and every bridesmaid had to be ready. The problem is that not all of them were ready, and only 5 of the 10 were ready. You see, here come the judging of decisions: What kind of decision were approve and what decisions were rejected? The bridegroom come, and only half of the bridesmaids were ready. Yes it was the midnight, everyone were tire, yes, you was late. But it was the same circumstances for everyone; why they didn’t choose what was right?
Apl. Here is a lesson to learn: We all make choices at every instant, and all those decisions are judged by someone.
B. DECISIONS ARE PERSONAL/ LAS DECISIONES SON PERSONALES
1. In April, 1988 the evening news reported on a photographer who was also a skydiver. He had jumped from a plane along with several other skydivers and filmed the group as they individually dove out of the plane and opened their parachutes. As the video was being shown of each member of the crew jumping out and then pulling their rip chord so that their parachute opened to the wind, the final skydiver opened his chute and then the picture went berserk. The announcer reported that the cameraman had fallen to his death, having jumped out of the plane without a parachute. It wasn’t until he reached for the ripcord that he realized he was free falling without a parachute. Up until then, he was enjoying himself and was absorbed in what he was doing. But tragically, he was unprepared for the jump. It did not matter how many times he had done it before or what skill he had. By forgetting the parachute he made a foolish and deadly mistake. Nothing could save him, because his faith was in a parachute, which he had never taken the trouble to buckle on. No one can wear a parachute for you and you expect to be all right. There is another thing that no one can do for us, no one can make the preparations that we need for the return of the bridegroom, Jesus Christ. (/www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=104192&page=3
CONCLUSION:
Every decision has its consequences in this life as well in the one to come.
1. Life is full of decisions, full of choices.
2. Every decision in our lives has its consequences.
3. You are responsible for your own decisions and its consequences.
4. The consequences of your choices affect not only you but all those around you.
5. Are your decisions heavenly oriented? Are your decision lead by the hope of eternity?
6. Every decision should be part of our daily strategic to accomplish our ultimate goal. Are your decision strategically taken to end up at the side of God?
7. Our decision are very well know by God, do you think that He is approving them? You see, there are decision that only you can take…
