The Choice

I'm going to invite you to grab your Bibles now. I will read from the book of Ephesians chapter number 4, beginning at verse number 20-24. As you're turning there, we give honor today to Pastor and Sister Harpole and their absence. They had been ministering in the Middle East over the past several days and I was in communication with one of the leaders of that region by text last evening and he was sharing with me what a marvelous week it had been and how grateful they were for the ministry of our pastor and pastor's wife and it is our joy to share them. We don't own them. They're not ours. They belong to the kingdom and it is our joy to share them and let them bless others as they have so often blessed us and I honor the elders today in our pre-service meeting. We were standing there

and Elder Brother Hutterger said, I'm just trying to figure out why I'm the only old guy in the room and I said, well we're just standing here thinking that we're grateful there is an old guy in the room and I'm grateful. I'm grateful for elders today. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 20, Paul, I will not read all of this chapter for the sake of time but he is painting a contrast for us. He speaks to us of the manner that the Gentiles, those who did not serve God live. Now in verse 20, he shifts his focus from the manner of the Gentiles to those as he says, but you have not so learned Christ. If so be that you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus. Now note this that you put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts

and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. That is to be renewed in the attitude of your mind. In verse 24 he said that you would put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. In verse 22 the admonition is that there is something you must put off. In verse 24 the admonition is there is something you must put on and I speak today on this subject the choice. Amen the choice. Father we thank you for the great people of God those who have sacrificed and prioritized of their time on this first day of the week to gather into the household of God with people of like precious faith. I pray your word would not return void. I pray it would reach to the heart of every here in this room and that before we leave today the power of the Holy Ghost will help us. We ask these things in Jesus name and let the church say

amen. Amen God bless you you can be seated. Genesis chapter 12 is the origin. God comes to that patriarch of the faith by the name of Abram. He calls him out of the land of Ur and he says as you go I will show you where you're going. It really is contrary to everything inside of us even the GPS that we are so dependent on cannot tell us where to go until we tell it where we want to go. But God says as you walk I will show you and herein lies a timeless principle of faith. God reveals to us in greater measure as we respond to the measure we already have. There is no revelation apart from obedience so as he walks God continues leading. Five chapters later God would make that promise irrevocable when he called the land of promise the everlasting possession of Abraham's descendants. The promise is repeated to his son Isaac in Genesis chapter

26. Time does not permit us to go through all of the story at length so as we jump through a few Old Testament patriarchs we would come to Moses and at this juncture of history the people of God have found themselves in captivity for centuries. And God arresting the attention of Moses by a fiery bush on the back side of a desert speaks to him in Exodus chapter 3 and says I am coming down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians. And I'm going to bring them up to a land that is a good land in a large land, a land that flows with milk and honey. And as the story progresses we would come to that pivotal moment in the history of Israel when the leader the prophet the meek prophet Moses would find a leader of every tribe of Israel 12 men and he would commission them

to walk into the land of Canaan to spy out the land to search at high and low and far and wide and this they did for 40 days and their eyes laid hold of the land it's inhabitants and in their hands as they return from that journey they carry the evidence of all that God had spoken grapes pomegranates and figs. There was an overwhelming sense of unity in their assessment and unwavering confirmation of what God had told the prophet and the prophet had told the people it is indeed a great land and yes it flows with milk and honey as one might think their faith should be invigorated that God is true in lie he does not the story takes a concerning twist the confirmation is clouded by the faithless words of uncertainty that follow the majority 10 of the 12 to be exact held a negative report in spite of God's

promise victory 10 men declare a certain defeat the people are strong they say the cities are great and they are fortified i read in numbers 13 they returned from searching of the land after 40 days they went and came to moses and to erin and to all the congregation of the children of israel unto the wilderness apparent to cadish and they brought back word unto them into all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land and they told them we have come to the land that you have sent us and yes surely it does flow with milk and honey it's everything you said it would be and this bearing in their hand this is the fruit of it exactly as God said so it is and if that was the conclusion of the remarks how wonderful the story might have been but verse 28

tells us they said never the less except the people are strong that dwell in the land the cities are walled and very great and moreover we saw the children of annik there and here in lies what we must consider now every spy saw the same land each saw the same enemy issues and obstacles they all laid hold of the very same scene they tasted of the same reward how is it then that each spy can see the same thing but they say something different the difference is not in what they see but it is in how they see it the difference is the filter by which they perceive their surroundings there were 10 who looked through the eyes of doubt they peer into that prophetic destiny through the perspective of their lack and their inability yes they are the majority but when the majority speaks in neglect of God's promise the majority will be no more

let us consider now that they should by this juncture of the story have a a pocket full of testimonies of which they could remind themselves of what God has done their history is full of a many miracles things like the 10 plagues and the Passover when against all human calculation and reasoning when they should not have been free God by his sovereign hand and his outstretched arm he made a way of escape for them they find themselves back into an impassable avenue a body of water that will not part an army that is ever so quickly encroaching upon them but you know the story today God made the waters of that red sea roll back and they didn't just walk through a parted sea but the Bible says they walked through on dry ground they come to those bitter waters of Mara not knowing the power and the symbolism of that act

and what it would mean in days to come but that prophet Moses cast that tree into the water and the bitter water becomes sweet water these are but a few of the many miracles of which they could remind themselves of what God has done manna from heaven fresh bread every day but the Sabbath shoes that didn't wear out quail for me water from a rock at referendum victory over a battle with Amalek countless theophanies of God the giving of the 10 commandments on Mount Sinai Moses comes down in his face literally radiates with the glory of God quail a second time Miriam is struck with leprosy and healed at the prayer of Moses all of these should have been testimonies that fuel their faith for the journey that is ahead serving to them as a testimony of how we got here and how we're going to get there instead they speak contrary to God

what was given to them as evidence of the promise now works against them God allowed them to see the very thing he told them was there and this should be a clear confirmation I told you I would give you great cities so you should expect great cities I told you that it was a land that flowed with milk and honey and you ought to expect the land that flows with milk and honey and so it is that the things their eyes behold were intended by God to serve as a confirmation of the very thing he had spoken but somehow it has a contrary effect they do not believe they do not voice their faith instead they speak their doubt and it is this I must ask of us today how is it that good things produce a negative effect how is it possible that the thing

of which God has allowed to serve has a confirmation of his word and the testimony of his character how is it that a good thing yields a bad effect and the answer is this attitude a mood that word that we often use interchangeably is in fact so different perhaps you woke up early this morning like I did it was wet cold dark injury and that kind of atmosphere I'll tell you what it does it makes you want to put on your comfy clothes get you a good cup of black coffee find your chair and open your bible the weather has a way of putting you in a mood a mood is that feeling that overtakes us as a result of some outward circumstance or the environment in which we may find ourselves it is often unconscious and not chosen an attitude though is so so very

different it differs in that unlike a mood an attitude is the result of an inward belief it is the result of a disposition that is shaped by a deep conviction and it becomes the filter by which we see all things and interpret our surroundings an attitude is a settled way of thinking and most importantly our attitude is our choice and Paul would write to the New Testament church in his letter to Corinth and drawing on this Hebrew history he would admonish them and by extension he would admonish us here today and he said do not murmur as they did and were destroyed of the destroyer to murmur is not only the manner of speech but it is the motive from which we speak that word literally means of those who discontentedly complain and what God in numbers 13 and 32 called an evil report is literally translated as whispering it was not the

volume of the speech that grieve the heart of God it was the spirit behind it the attitude from which they spoke was costly but the fact is they had been living with this for a long time when they found themselves at the Red Sea they began to murmur against Moses you brought us out here to die it would have been better if you left us back in Egypt when they found the bitter waters of Mara the place where there was a miracle on the near horizon before the miraculous they murmured at the wilderness of sin in exodus 16 they murmured against moses erin and against god they complained about the manner he provided every day in numbers 11 and now here we are in numbers 13 and 14 at the threshold of a future of which they have waited for for so long and they are doing what they've always done they are murmuring murmuring

and murmuring some more and perhaps they thought all will be well we've murmured like this in the past and God's mercy got us out but little did they know they were in a divine moment a unique season where they're murmuring and their maybe mindset would cost them greatly I know the majority was murmuring I know the majority set the tone of the conversation and as they murmur numbers 13 says Caleb rises up and he steals the people and he says let us go up at once and possess it for we are well able to overcome it but the men that went up within speaking of the 10 the 10 who saw the same thing tasted of the same fruit handled the same reward the 10 said we are not able for they are stronger than we how does this happen how do contrary opinions live in the same

house how do two mindsets exist in the same congregation I'll tell you how attitude they brought up an evil report evil you said well I was just speaking the truth I was just saying what I saw it's just my interpretation of events and God said it's evil because the spirit from which you speak is in contradiction of my word the attitude from which you speak his contrary to my good nature I am not a man that I should lie he is the same yesterday today and forever I come today to tell somebody God is a good God he's not a man that he should lie whatever he told you he was gonna do he's gonna do it whatever he told you he was gonna be like it's gonna be like so that's just what I see I know but what you see can be skewed by the

attitude you live with they said we're not able that land eats up the inhabitants there of heaven all the people we saw are of great stature they have a perception problem God had promised them great things and I feel confident in speaking to our great church today that I feel as though we believe God has promised us great things but we fool ourselves to think that great things come without great challenges obstacles the thing that we despise the thing that corrupts our attitude and depletes our faith are in fact simply opportunities if you change your attitude it is the attitude of doubt that sees a problem and becomes doubtful but it's the attitude of faith that lays hold of the potential and says I will go forward in spite of the uncertainty and here is the concerning thing of which I preach doubt is contagious this conversation started

among ten men but by the time you turn the page to Numbers chapter 14 the bible says that all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron and the whole congregation said unto them would God that we had died in the land of Egypt do you see it now what started has a secret conversation among ten people who didn't have enough faith for the future what started as a conversation among a few people whose hearts were hardened by unbelief what started in a little small group of ten people who did not have enough faith to march forward into the destiny that God said was theirs had spread even though it was not a loud conversation it was a subtle whisper spoken in silence but the concerning thing of which I preach today is that the power of an attitude does not need your voice to be transmitted it does not need

your volume attitude is the contagious reality of the apostolic church and what started with ten people one chapter ago has now contaminated the entire camp of the children of Israel now every section of the church is saying we can't do it every small group is saying it's not possible the conversation of the congregation has been tainted because there were ten people that did not get their attitude in check have come to tell you we are well able I know we are a blessed people of all churches we are most blessed I think we know that but I want you to hear me we can talk about the miracles in our past until the evening service but we are not so big that we cannot be spoiled by the toxicity of a bad attitude Reagan preached it well I was not here but I heard the report we are not so great

that we cannot fall I preached to you today of a nation whose story was filled with miracle after miracle after miracle and when ten men did not control their conversation when ten men allowed their attitude to become tainted by unbelief when ten men had the audacity to vocalize their doubt in neglect of God's character in denial of God's word it cost them greatly the words of ten become the conversation of the congregation and the result they wander for 40 years in a wilderness when they should have been dancing in the land that God promised I feel like I'm on an assignment today to preach to two kinds of people there's some that I'm going to pull for you at the end here in a little minute you come hurt and weary and struggling with life it's not been easy nor has it been fair but before I preach to you I've got to preach to some people of God in this house

you have got to get your attitude in check you have got to control your conversation you have got to let God purge out your impurities purge out your carnality you have got to let the fire of the holy ghost consume the offering of your life because I rise to this pulpit today with the strong assurance that everything God has promised us he will perform I'm talking to the church but I'm talking to some people too you are waiting for the fulfillment of his promise in your life you are looking around trying to make sense of the circumstance wondering God where are you are you done yet have you forgotten me and I say he's not done yet there are miracles coming to your life and your home and our church but you can forfeit the future when your attitude goes astray and your conversation has no restraint I wish today

that my acknowledgement of such a future was sufficient for your life I would love if the recognition of the reality God desires from the pulpit was enough but it's not it is necessary that your attitude reflect the potential God speaks over you and not the problem that you are weary with I preach today you must make the choice and is it any wonder when you just set your course of what you're going to preach God says okay let me test you before you preach and so we set off from Nashville yesterday morning 20 minutes down the road that little tire light comes on we make our way to raising canes because I think that sauce was included in the manner he sent from heaven if somehow Chick-fil-A could buy cane sauce we pull into that parking lot and I'm looking over that tire

and isn't there a nail in the middle of that tread and in my mind well do I need to patch it can I put air and get home do I do it now well I have an issue on the highway I know we're driving into weather we're going to meet rain I already replaced one time I've been driving for over 20 years I never had a nail in my tire and I've had two this year and I know I can feel the flesh rising within me the frustration overtaking my mind and I know God gave me a word a couple days ago you told me to preach about attitude but why this because you can't really preach which you've not proved ministries not an act I'm not up here as a puppet I'm trying to pour into you from the overflow of my life and I come today to tell you and to tell us there is a choice

in that same place that Paul called for the renewing of our attitude just a few verses later he would say give no place to the devil he knew it and I pray that God helps us know it here today the place that the adversary seeks to spoil is my attitude you can tell a lot about a person by their attitude you can tell tell about their walk with God the trajectory of their future you can you can tell a lot and Paul knew it so well if the adversary gets into your attitude you will spoil the future he has promised you you will forfeit the miracles that are available to you I preach to us on this Sunday morning if my attitude is wrong my access is limited this house this family of God this property this building the community of believers of which we are is not a place for murmuring in maybes I know that's harder to live

than it is to say but this is not a place in which we can jeopardize our future with a little murmuring here and there it is not a place with which we can jeopardize what God said he desires to do with a maybe mindset well maybe he will I don't know I hope he doesn't know I'm looking for the calyps I'm looking for the joshua's I'm looking for the people who will rise up with the mindset that says we are willy and I know I know the scripture had not yet been written but it seems the psalmist understood it in Psalms 100 he said enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise be thankful unto him and bless his name for the Lord is good you see it enter come to church but you better come with the right attitude and I could tell you today

how many stories of people who were in the right place but did not reap the benefit of the presence in that place they were in proximity to the place where miracles happen they were in proximity to the place where God changes lives but well one person hears and is transformed another person hears and is driven away how does this happen its attitude it's the choice of which we all must make one comes hurting and bitter one comes angry and spiteful and when they hear the preaching and when they see the worship and they see the power of God touching hearts and lives it drives them farther and farther away but to another who sees the very same thing it tenders their heart and it draws them closer what is it its attitude so the psalmist says enter but when you come get your attitude or alignment before you come into

the door come with thanksgiving enter his courts of praise be thankful unto him and I know you think Dan you had a flat tire you got a nail you're gonna have to fix that it's gonna cost you money that's trouble that's a burden think I got pain in my body I got this I got that I don't have much good but thank God he put verse five in there he said for the Lord is good when I look at my bank account and it does not meet my definition of good when I'm sitting in my house that I don't call good when I'm driving my car that in comparison to another car doesn't seem good somehow these things become the avenue that the enemy uses to corrupt our attitude and rob us of our destiny and so the psalmist said get your eyes off everything down here get your

eyes off what's happening around you this is not a mood this is an attitude and an attitude is formed by the conviction that God is good what are you saying I'm saying that regardless of what pain you have what problems you're facing what uncertainty looms over your life there is one thing that's settled there is one thing that's certain it's that God is good and when you're not focused on the environment but you're focused on the eternal God the only wise God the Lord of glory you can come to church with a flat tire in a leaky roof with pain in your body and bills that need pain and you can dance and you can shout and you can wave your hand because the Lord is good I'm trying to lift your perspective this morning I'm trying to elevate your view lift up your eyes lift up your eyes you are in the presence of a God who can do anything

he can heal your body he can fix your marriage he can save your family he can deliver you from addiction oh he can do anything but if you're going to reap the benefit of his presence it's not just about proximity I'm glad you're here I'm glad you came but please come with the right attitude come on there's a new convert who's running I wonder if there's a seasoned saint I wonder if there's somebody who's been around a while that'll run with a new one thank you pastor Andrew but it ought not be thank you brother Ryan it ought not be I'm preaching to you today that God is good he is so good he's better than you thought lift up your eyes lift up your eyes and behold the beauty of the during worship I'm standing over there just kind of looking at the sanctuary reflecting

have some stories I've heard and considering some needs I know of there's so much to compete for my mind but of this I'm certain he's good Victor Frankel was a renowned psychologist in the 20th century and the four years prior to that Nazi invasion during world war two he was treating over 3,000 patients a year in the steinhoff hospital in vienna austria as the war grew increasingly violent the climate made it difficult to work and he opened a private practice for a short season and then in 1940 joined the Rothschild hospital staff at that time it was the only hospital still treating jews it was here that he would meet a young nurse by the name of tilly whom he would marry in 1941 he had a prestigious career even as a young man published articles and scholarly writings at the age of 18 self-studied self-educated

a man beyond his time he spoke of things which in many ways are consistent with biblical values and were contrary to the popular self psychology of the day and here it was his prestigious career afforded him a rare opportunity a visa to work abroad it was a legal way of escape that would provide he and his pregnant wife an opportunity to flee the war and live the life they had dreamed of a chance for a better future but something inside of him was torn at the thought of leaving his parents in that war torn country he returned home to visit his parents one weekend when his father showed him some marvel carvings marvel carvings he had rescued from a destroyed synagogue frankle said i looked at the inscription and on it was one of the ten commandments honor by mother and father so he did the unthinkable

he let his visa expire it was just a short time later nazi soldiers showed up at their house his family was driven into a ghetto so he would live the next three years of his life in four different concentration camps and while he did survive the fate of his family was not so well his father died in that same ghetto his brother and his mother were murdered at oschwitz and his pregnant wife was sent to the bergen belson concentration camp where she too died following his release he would go on to write what was unquestionably his most famous work entitled man's search for meaning it's quite a remarkable read when you consider the circumstances and the fact he wrote it in only nine days its initial release was under a different title and there was no name of an author ascribed to it but the publisher insisted you must put your name to this writing and you

must speak more of the horrors of which you've lived through and he writes we who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others giving away their last piece of bread they may have been few in number he says but they offer to us sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing oh god the last of the human freedoms to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances to choose one's own way stand with me now i know i preach to a house of good people who all in some measure live the unfortunate reality of navigating circumstances in some measure or degree of difficulty in which we did not choose but we do have a choice david is hiding in the cave of adulum he has managed to escape that philistine city of gath by playing mad doing all he

can to flee the wrath of kingsaw and now he sits hiding in this dark cave i don't know but i suspect it's damp it's dreary this is not a maria property it hardly meets our definition of comfortable and there he is he manages to start a fire probably to warm himself but more important to me was to pen these words first he writes to those who have joined him in the cave amidst these unfavorable conditions they too are hiding from the wrath of soul but secondly little did he know that he was writing to a church in terraho indiana in october of 2025 he said in psalms 34 i will bless the lord at all times will not i feel i will it is a matter of choice it is an action dictated by an inward disposition i settled mine i made up mine a conviction

that he would not waver on he has resolved his mind is made up that i will not live at the mercy of my mood i am making a choice i will bless the lord all times in every situation in every circumstance before in and after idiot all trials this is what i'll do i'll praise all i can do it falls short of what he's worthy of he didn't have a 1300 seat sanctuary he didn't have a sound system talented musicians and singers and multimedia he didn't have theater style seats and air condition building he just had a cave but somewhere in that unfavorable condition when he lifted up his eyes to behold the beauty of the lord god show oh shall make her boast and the lord the humble shall hear their rub and be glad and now he reaches beyond his will and appeals to the will of the crowd

because he knows because israel taught him conversation is powerful hey i've already made up my mind i'm going to do this whether you want to do it or not i love you but i didn't come here for you i came here for him i said you're here i'm gonna reach for your will and lift up your eyes i'm asking you will you come with me and magnify the lord let us exalt his name together oh my god listen as you're coming listen life life may take many choices from you the uncertainty of an economy or trouble at the workplace may rob you of the choice to have the house you want or the car you would prefer there's people in this room today their life and trial in circumstance has robbed them of the opportunity they can't run like you can run they can't walk like you can walk have a choice do you know how many

times i've stood in this altar area and watched sister gordon with the uncertainty of diagnosis and the uncertainty of what the future might look like walk into this church walk up to this altar when nobody else was here and lift up her hands and lift up her voice and say i am making a choice sickness may rob me of some choices but not even that can rob me of the choice above all choices to choose my attitude and i say today in spite of it all i choose jesus as i was walking into the sanctuary this morning my wife grabbed my hand she said you know what she said it is not possible to complain and praise god at the same time you can in the same moment use these words to speak of unbelief and doubt concerning the circumstance of your life and simultaneously praise god oh when you started saying and that spirit of ministry

moved in this church just a little while ago come on when i think of all these so many miracles in my past so many testimonies in our story have resolved today make the choice bless the lord at all times and his praise shall continually be in my mouth god is good you may have sickness in your body but god is good you may have problems for which you don't have an answer but god is good well that's it lift up your hands lift up your voice as they begin to sing would you just magnify him