- Well, again I wanna say
hi to everybody this week, and at all the different campuses. I'm so glad you're here. We're beginning a new series. So if you'll take out your message notes, inside your program. If you're watching online
you can download these notes. And we're starting a
new series I'm calling, Choosing Your Future. A lot of people have a big
misunderstanding about God. And what they misunderstand is this, they go okay, the Bible says, that God planned me before
he planned the earth. That's true. That God had a purpose for my life, before he even created the universe. That's true. And so a lot of people think, well since God has a plan
and a purpose for my life, and he planned it long before I was born, billions of years before I was born, then it must be all preset. It must be all predestined. It's all preplanned. So, there's no choice in it for me. And the Bible teaches the exact opposite. Yes, God has a plan and
a purpose for your life. But you can miss it. It is not automatic friends. Most people are missing
the purpose of their life. God is not gonna force himself on you. God is not gonna force you to enjoy the plan he created you for. Most people, frankly, waste their lives. They waste their lives. They don't understand that
this plan and purpose, has to be chosen. Has to be accepted, Has to be followed. Now repeatedly the Bible tells us, that God will not force
you to do his will. He gives you the choice to
accept or reject his will. He gives you the choice to
obey or disobey his directions. He gives you the choice to follow, or ignore the purpose
that you were created for. And most people honestly miss
the purpose of their life, because of their poor choices. When Moses lead the Jews out of Egypt, after 400 years of slavery, and he lead them out into the desert, and he said we're going to a land, that God has promised us. And it's gonna be an incredible land. It's gonna be a land of milk and honey. A land of great bountiful blessing, and it's gonna be a whole lot different, then the years you lived in slavery. And this is of course
a picture of Salvation. Coming out of slavery to myself,
to sin, to guilt, to fear, to judgment, to freedom in Christ. And the Bible says this
is gonna be called, The Promised Land. But he said it's not automatic
that you're gonna get this. I planned it for you. I've planned the Promise Land for you. And God has promised to have
good things in your life. For I know the plans I have
for you, says The Lord. Plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans to give you a future. A hope and a future. Now he goes I've got
good plans for your life, but you have to choose, to follow Me. That's why I'm gonna do
this series we're calling, Choosing Your Future, for
the next several weeks. And before they went
into the Promised Land, God, through Moses,
said this to the people, and He says the same thing to you. Notice there in your outline, the top verse Deuteronomy
chapter three says this, this is God talking, Today I am giving you a choice. You can choose life and success, or you can choose death and disaster. I am commanding you, God is. And He says I am commanding
you to do three things. To love the Lord your God. To live the way He has told you. And to obey His laws and teachings. Those are choices you can
choose to accept or reject. He says now you are about
to cross the Jordan River, and take the land that He is giving you. If you obey Him, you will
live and you will become successful and powerful. That is a promise. It's not only a promise that God has given to other people, He gives it to you too. But He says you've gotta love Me, you've gotta obey my Word, you've got to listen to Me. You've gotta follow Me. Live the way I've told you. So He says if you do this you'll
be successful and powerful. As your Pastor who loves you, this is what I want for you. I want you to succeed in life. I don't want you to fail. I want you to succeed. As a woman. As a man. If you get married, as
a husband or a wife. If you have children, as a parent. I want you to succeed. As a professional. But He says it's up to you. I give you this choice. Life and success. Death or disaster. Are you gonna love Me? Are you gonna obey Me? Are you gonna live the
way I tell you to do. He says and if you do these things, you'll be successful and powerful. But verse 17 He says this, If you disobey and you
refuse to listen to me, you just don't listen, and you're lead away to
listen to other Gods, in other words you idolize things, you'll be destroyed. And you will not live long, in that land across the Jordan, that you're about to occupy. In other words you'll lose the very thing that I planned for your life. And He says I'm now giving you the choice, between life and death. Between Gods blessing, His blessing or His curse. And God says and I call Heaven and Earth to witness the choice that you make. He said everybody in Eternity, all the Angels are watching
the choice you're making with your life. I call Heaven and Earth to
witness the choice you make. And He finally at the
end says this, two words, choose life, choose life. One of the greatest gifts
that God has given you, is the ability to choose. You are not a puppet. God could have made us
all like marionettes, where He pulls all the strings, and we pray five times a day, we always do the right thing, and if He'd made us without
a choice guess what? There'd be no evil in the world. There'd be no school shootings. There'd be no racism. There'd be no bigotry. There'd be no people fighting each other. No wars. There'd be no sexual abuse. And harassment. And there wouldn't be
any evil in the world, if God just took away
our freedom to choose it. But he gave us the freedom to choose. That is your greatest blessing, and it is your greatest responsibility. And if you choose wrongly
it's your greatest curse. And that's why I said we're
gonna look for five weeks, at choosing your future. So much of what we think
influences our lives, is what happens to us. Let me just be real clear. What happens to you in life, I'm sorry for all the bad
things that happen to you. Because we're in a broken planet, you don't always choose right, other people don't choose right, we all get hurt. But what happens to you in life
is not nearly as important, as the way you choose to respond to it. Because for some people they
go through a bad situation and it builds them up and the
other people it breaks them. For some people it's a stepping stone, for other people it's a stumbling block. I can take two people and put
them in the exact same pain, and one of them will succeed
and one of them will fail. Why? It's the choice. It is the choices that you make. Your choices are far more
important in shaping your life, than your circumstances. You cannot control all of
the circumstances that happen in your life. Sorry, I'm sorry for the pain. I've had circumstances in my
life I wish had not happened. You cannot control the
circumstances in you life, but you can control your choices. And you can control how you respond to it. And you can control
whether you let something make you bitter or better. Now what I'm saying is
as we start this series, is that we make our choices. And then they make us. You are far more shaped by your choices, than you are by your circumstances. And that's why for five weeks, we're gonna look at five
different kinds of choices. And today we're gonna look at, choosing the right values. I just finished a three
day planning retreat with the Elders of our Church. All day Thursday. All day Friday. All day Saturday. And we were talking about culture. And we were talking about change. People always ask how
do I change something? Well the way you change anything, is to change the value of it. If you wanna change your home, change what you value at home. If you wanna change your health, change what you value in your body. If you wanna change you business, change what you value at work. If you wanna change your community, change your job change the
values in that situation, and it will change the circumstances. And only the right values will
give you the right future. Where you gonna be in 10 years? Where you gonna be in 20 years? Without even knowing you, I can tell you where you're gonna be. Tell me what you're choosing right now. Because the choices you make today, will determine where you'll be tomorrow. Not the choices you make tomorrow. The choices you make today, will determine where you'll be tomorrow. And smart people, wise people, are always asking the question, what do I need to do today, to get me where I need to be tomorrow? That's called wisdom. It has to do with your choices. Now, God gave the children of Israel, God's people, the choice. He said you can choose life or death. You can choose success or failure. You can choose happiness or sadness. I'm giving you a choice. Blessing or curse. Success or failure. I'm letting you choose. I'm not gonna force my plan on your life. But long before God gave
His people the choice, He gave the leader a choice. And who was the leader? The leader in this case
happened to be Moses. And Moses had to make choices
long before God said this to Gods people. Choose today life or death. And I wanna just say this, I'm not gonna spend a lot of time on it. But if you wanna be a leader, to be a leader means you
make the difficult choices before everybody else does. That is the mark of leadership. You make the difficult choices, before anybody else does. And so I want us to look at
the choices Moses had to make. In order to get to the place
where they were going to go into the Promised Land. Because if Moses hadn't
made the right choices, these other people wouldn't
have even had this choice, Of am I going to go into
the Promised Land or not? Now, Moses was of course
the greatest leader, in The Old Testament. He unified the nation of Israel, after 400 years of slavery. He liberated them. God gave him the Ten Commandments. The first five books of
the Bible, Moses wrote. He's by far, nobody's more important, in The Old Testament part of the Bible, than this guy named Moses. But it wouldn't have
happened if some choices hadn't been made. I want you to look on your outline. And here is the story of Moses summarized in Hebrews chapter 11. It says this and it talks
about four life choices that Moses made. And these are by the way the
same choices you're gonna have to make if you want
the future that you want. By faith Moses' parents hid
him for three months after he was born because they saw
that he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid
of the king's edict. Now let me stop and explain that. When the Jews went to Egypt originally, they were just a very small
group of family members. But over the next 140 years, they grew into millions. And they became a nation within a nation. And Egypt was full of people
who were not Egyptian. There were Egyptians but
there were also millions of Jews in the same country. Pharaoh gets worried about this, like I'm gonna loose my country, to people who aren't even Egyptian. So he makes a rule says from now on, the first born son of every
family's got to be killed. Moses is the first born
son of this family. And it says that the
parents ignored the king, they disobeyed the law. They said they weren't afraid. And it says this by faith
Moses parents hid him for three months after he was
born instead of killing him. Because they saw he was no ordinary child. He's a special child. And they were not afraid
of the kings edict. Then it says by faith Moses, when he had grown up refused
to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Now you know the story here
is that instead of killing their son they said we're
gonna trust God with out son, and they put him in a little basket, lined it with pitch and
set him in the Nile river. Not even knowing where he was gonna go. I'd rather put my son in the
Hand of God then loose him. And it just so happens
that the kings daughter is out there, you know,
bathing in the Nile, and she sees this basket
come by and she says I love this little baby and
she adopts a Hebrew boy, not even knowing he's Hebrew, Jewish. And so he's born a Hebrew but
he's raised as an Egyptian. He's raised as the grandson of Pharaoh. Now it says, by faith
Moses when he'd grown up, refused to be known as the
son of Pharaohs daughter. He chose to be mistreated
along with the people of God. These are all the slaves. Rather than enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace
for the sake of Christ, as of greater value than
the treasures of Egypt. Because he was looking
ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt not
fearing the kings anger. He persevered because he
saw Him Who is Invisible. Now I could literally spend
weeks just on these four or five verses, but let me
point out something general, and then we're gonna look
at four choices here. There's an order in this story. First God chose Moses of all People, God chose Moses. It says he was a special child. From the very beginning,
even his parents did. This kid is different. God chose Moses. Moses had nothing to do with that choice. Did you know that God chose you? That's why you're born. If God hadn't wanted you born, if God hadn't chosen you,
you wouldn't have been born. God chose to have you be born. So it starts with Gods choice of you. Then next in the sequence, Moses parents have to make choices, for Moses when he's a child. And it says they hid him. Moses couldn't hide himself. They disobeyed the law. They make a basket. They put him out in the Nile. They protect him. All of those choices
when Moses was a baby, the parents had to make. Now I have actually heard
parents sometimes say, well I'm not gonna force
my child to go to Church. I'm gonna let them make their own choices, and I'm just gonna let them
grow up the way they wanna. There's a word for that, stupid. (audience laughs) You don't let you kids
choose when they go to bed. You don't just let kids choose, well mom I wanna eat twinkies all day. (audience laughs) You don't let your kids choose, I don't wanna go to school. Well fine, whatever you wanna choose. Why would you take the most
important area of their lives, Spiritual growth and say well that one, I'm just gonna leave up to them. No, when they're little you
make choices for your children. Parents who don't make choices, good choices for their children, are not good parents. They're not being responsible. Well they say well I'll just let my kids, see any movie they want, and I'll let my kids have any
app they want on their phone, and I'll let my kids have
unlimited game time and all that. Then that's not a good parent. It's not being a good parent. You have to make some
choices for your kids, before they're old enough
to make those choices. But then notice it says, finally Moses had to make choices. When he had grown up. Circle that phrase. When he had grown up. The mark of maturity is you start making, the choices yourself. It's responsibility. When as a baby it's okay for Moses, to live off his parents faith. That's immaturity. But when he has grown up
he has to start making his own Spiritual choices. That's called maturity. And in this passage
Moses makes four choices. And we're gonna go through
them pretty quickly. But I want you to circle these four words. Refuse, chose, regarded, and persevered. These are the four choices
Moses made in life. They're on your outline. Moses refused to be known as
the son of Pharaohs daughter. He chose, circle that, to be mistreated, with the people of God,
that's to be a slave. He regarded the, you know, the
sake of Christ, greater value than the treasures of Egypt. And he persevered, that's the
fourth choice that he did. Now I wanna look at these for
just a few minutes in detail. Because these are the
exact same four choices, you have to make if you want
your future to be different, than it is right now. You've gotta make the choices today, that will determine what
you wanna be tomorrow. And if you don't make today's choices, you're not gonna be where
you wanna be tomorrow. So what did he do. First choice. The first life shaping choice. In order to get the future that you want, here it is, refuse to be defined by others. Refuse to be defined by others. You as an adult have
to make that decision. And you have to teach your children, how to make that decision. That they refuse to be
defined by other people. They're not gonna let
other people determine their identity. This is the first choice Moses had to make and he could make it when he was immature. But when he grew up, it says when he grew up it says this, he refused by faith when
he'd grown up he refused to be known as the son
of Pharaohs daughter. Now what in the world does that mean? Well Moses is having an identity crisis. And every teenager has an identity crisis. And every young adult
has an identity crisis. And a lot of people through
life have an identity crisis. And Moses is born a Hebrew slave, but he's raised as Egyptian royalty. The son of Pharaohs daughter. He's raised as the grandson, of the most powerful person in the world. He's actually a slave. But he's raised as Egyptian royalty. And so at some point Moses
has to decide who am I? Who am I? And that decision is gonna
effect the rest of his life. Now he's got two choices. He can pretend to be Pharaohs grandson, and if he does that, live a lie, then he's going to have fame, he's gonna have fortune, he's gonna have a luxurious life style, he's gonna have beautiful
women peeling grapes for him. (audience laughs) He's gonna have every wish
and whim he could want, he'd get in the palace of Egypt. Fame, fortune, all the
stuff we want in life, he already had. Or he could admit he's Jewish. He would be humiliated. He would be treated as a slave. He'd have to do slave labor. Which one would you choose? I think I'll just fake it. I think this is kinda convenient. I know who I really am, but
I'm not gonna pretend that. Okay, and Moses refuses to live a lie. This is called integrity. The word there refused, (speaks in a foreign language) actually means to reflect on and disown, it means I think about it, and go uh, uh, not for me. (speaks in a foreign language) means to refuse. He insisted on being
what God made him to be. Now let me ask a very important question. Who are you letting
determine your identity? Who are you letting
determine your identity? Who you really are. Your friends? Your coworkers? A parent who's unpleasable? Your spouse? Your boyfriend? Your girlfriend? The kids at school? Who are you letting
determine your identity? It's called peer pressure. Do adults have peer pressure? Oh baby, oh baby. (audience laughs) See what you're wearing? I gotta wear it. I see the fashion you got. I gotta get it. You got a cool car? I need a cool car. You cut your grass? I'm gonna have prettier grass. (audience laughs) Are you letting the competition
determine your identity? Are you letting television
determine your identity? Are you letting social media
determine you identity? And I gotta put out my
so called perfect life. Moses refuse to live a lie. Now here's what the Bible says. Romans 12:2. Don't let the world around you squeeze you into it's mold. But let God remold your mind from within, so that you may prove in practice, that the plan of God for you is good. Look up here on the screen. Moses said this, Exodus 23:2, Don't follow the crowd in doing wrong. You ever let the crowd
teach you or trick you into doing something and being something that you really didn't wanna be? Let's go to this movie
or let's go get drunk. Let's do this or that. You know, I don't wanna do that. But everybody's doing it. You just gave up your identity. The moment you said but
everybody's doing it. You just gave up your identity. First Thessalonians chapter two say this, Our purpose is to please God not people. He's the One Who examines
the motive of our hearts. And Jesus said this about His disciples. Look up here on the screen John 17:16. They are no more defined by
the world than I am defined by the world. You know, here's the big issue. When you settle this first choice, and that is who's gonna
determine my identity? It makes you resistant to
the fear of disapproval. And that is one of your biggest fears. What will other people think? And you're scared to death. What will other people think? That's why you don't talk
to people about Jesus. What will other people think? When you know who you
are your fear goes down. When you're living a
lie your fear goes up. Because they might
discover what I really am, or who I am. Now this is your first
life shaping choice, we're gonna do five weeks on this friends. But the starting point, is you refuse to be defined by others. Moses refused to be called
the son of Pharaohs daughter, because it's a lie. It's not true. It's just not true. He says instead you just trust God. And I wanna challenge you
as we start this series, my first resolution is I
am resolving to trust God. And not let my life be
defined by other people. Here's what the Bible says. Jeremiah 29:11, Rick Muchow wrote a song on this. For I know the plans I have for you. We should sing this song. Says The Lord, They're plans to give you, plans for your good, plans to prosper you not to harm you. They are plans to give
you hope and a future. Now this is real success. Being who God made you to be. And if you're gonna be where
you wanna be in 10 years or 20, you gotta stop letting
other people define you. All right? Second big choice. This is the second one Moses made. And you need to make it too. And it is a choice, a life shaping choice, to get the future you want, choose, this is hard but it's true, choose short term pain for long term gain. If you wanna be where you wanna be, in five years or 10 years or 20 years, You're gonna have to
choose short term pain, for long term gain. This is the second choice that Moses made. Most of your problems in life, come from an inability
to delay gratification. I want it and I want it and
I want it and I want it. Now and I can't afford
it so I'll charge it. (audience laughs) And the fact that the average American is about 18,000 dollars in debt, says I don't know how
to delay gratification. I've gotta have it now. I don't have the money for it, but I'm gonna buy things
that I don't need, with money I don't have. And you know the rest of that. To impress people you don't even like. (audience laughs) And that is the second big problem. We give up long term gain, because we're afraid of short term pain. How many of you would agree with me, that sometime the right thing to do, is the hard thing to do? Is that true? Yeah, it is true. Sometime, if the right thing were easy, everybody would do it. (audience laughs) Why do we rarely do the right thing? Because it's usually the
harder thing in that moment. You attack me, I just
wanna attack you back. That's easy. You criticize me, I
wanna criticize you back. Do I wanna forgive? No that's the hard thing. The right thing is almost
always the harder thing to do. In the short term. But the benefits are in the long term. Now here's the next verse. Verse 25. It says Moses chose,
circle that word, chose, to be mistreated, that's short term pain, along with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the
pleasures of sin for a short time. Now, you know one of the
things I love about the Bible, is it always tells the truth, and the Bible says right there, the pleasures of sin for a short time. The Bible says there is pleasure in sin. Okay, here's what the Bible says. Sin is fun. If sin was a bummer, nobody would do it. (audience laughs) It's fun to disobey God. It's fun to be selfish. It's fun to be self-centered. The Bible says it, there's
pleasure in sin for a season. That means it's short term. You can have your kicks but
you're gonna get the kick back. The Bible doesn't even
try to mask over it. No, sin is fun. There is pleasure in sin for a season. What is it easier to do? For me to sit on the couch and watch a bunch of dumb movies and
eating a big bucket of ice cream, or go in my room and read the Bible? (audience laughs) Well, evidently it's easier
for you to read the Bible. I always knew you guys
were better than me. (audience laughs) I don't know, maybe you're that way, but for me it's easier to sit
and eat a bucket of ice cream. (audience laughs) Okay? So I always knew you were better than me. I am not worthy of this Church. (audience laughs) Okay? You're just too Holy. You've got a sinner for a Pastor, okay? And you're all just great Saints. I'm so glad of that, thank you. (audience laughs) Pray for me, okay, all right. Now, I want you to notice. In this story of Moses,
verse 23, God chooses Moses, but in verse 25 Moses had to choose God. Have you done that? In verse 24 we see Moses refusing, that's the identity, and in verse 25 we see Moses choosing. The negative was always
followed by a positive. Okay? Let me ask you a very important question. Where do you need to
accept responsibility? Okay, let me frame it in another way. Who are you blaming for your life? Who are you blaming for your unhappiness? Who are you blaming for
your lack of success? Who are you blaming for
your Spiritual condition? Let me just go through some, uncomfortable Spiritual
facts right off the bat. Number one. You're as close to God
as you choose to be. You're as close to God
as you choose to be. You can't blame your husband,
your wife, or anybody else. You're as close to God
as you choose to be. If you feel far from God, guess who moved? God didn't move. He's always there. You have moved away from Him. Don't blame Him. You're as close to God
as you choose to be. I'm gonna give you another one. You can't live off of someone
else's Spiritual commitment. Now when Moses was a
baby it's okay for him, to live off of his parents faith. But when he had grown up, now he's gotta make his own decisions. There's some husbands in here, who are trying to live off
their wife's Spirituality. Man up. Start being a Godly man yourself. Start being a model of a
Godly father, a Godly husband. I can't tell you how many
times I've sat on a plane, flying somewhere around the world, and they'll say how what do you do? And I don't ever wanna
tell them I'm a Pastor. (audience laughs) Because that's gonna kill
the conversation right there. (audience laughs) So I usually tell them I'm an author. Then they're very interested, okay. But eventually sometimes I'll give them a, oh you're a Pastor. And they always will say, my uncle was a Missionary. Like you're gonna get into
Heaven on a credit card of somebody else? (audience laughs) Your mother may have been a Saint, or your uncle or your
sister or your brother. It's you Lord, standing
in the need of prayer. So you can't live off of someone else's Spiritual commitment. You can blame somebody
else for the direction of your life. I mean let's be real clear here. People can hurt you. People can harm you. People can scar you. But no one can ruin your life. Not even Satan. Only you can ruin you. I'm gonna say it again. People can harm you. People can hurt you. People can scar you. But nobody can ruin you. Except you. Your choices are far more
important than your circumstances. You are a product of your past, but you are not a prisoner of your past. Your past influences you. But your past does not define you. You are not your past. Your past is past. So let it go. And let me give you another truth, maybe you haven't
thought about for awhile. You're free to choose, and you can choose good
or bad, right or wrong. Success or failure. You're free to choose any, but you are not free from the
circumstances of your choices. The consequences. I am free to make any
choice I want to in my life. What I eat, what I drink, who
I hang out with, what I do, how I use my time. But I am not free from the consequences. And the moment I make those choices, certain consequences go into action. And if I make bad choices
in any area of my life, then I'm gonna reap those bad choices. I'm free to make the choice. I am not free from the consequences. What choices are you gonna make today, to be where you wanna be tomorrow? Let me give you one other and this is a really big one. And most of America does not get this. You're gonna have pain in life. Either now or later. You're gonna have pain. There's no such thing as a pain free life. No such thing as a pain free, you're gonna have pain in life. And you're gonna either
have it now or later. Now if you take it easy now, life's gonna be hard later. On the other hand if you
put in all the hard work and effort now life's
gonna be easier later. Just when do you want the easy part? That's why the Bible says, you know, if I put in the hard work, saving my money now,
it'll be easier later. Or I can spend it all now and
it's gonna be harder later. And I'll be in debt. And I'll be in want. Now God makes a couple
promises about pain. Look here in your outline. Why don't you write these promises in. First, first promise is
that God will use it, pain, to help me grow. That's a promise of God. God has not promised you a pain free life. But He has promised two things. God will use it to help me grow. Romans 5:3 and 4. We can have joy in our troubles, because we know that the
trouble produces patience. And patience produces character. And character produces hope. God will use the pain in
my life to help me grow. Here's the other promise of God. God will reward me in Heaven. This is not the end of the story. How you handle the difficulties of life, you will be rewarded for in Heaven. 2 Corinthians 4:17. These present troubles are quite small, and they won't last very long. Yet they will produce for us and immeasurably great glory
that will last, how long? - [Audience] Forever. - Forever, circle that, forever, forever. Let me give you another
one to back that up. Look up here on the screen. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. Because what is seen is temporary. But what is unseen is Eternal. So let me say it again. You're gonna have pain in life. Take it easy now it'll
be harder later in life. Because you didn't develop the habits. Or put in the hard work now, to grow in character, it's
gonna be easier later. It actually gets easier. All right, so, a couple of choices. First choice is to refuse
to be defined by other. The second choice Moses made
is to choose short term pain, for long term gain. So here's the third choice Moses made, and you gotta make this
too if you wanna be where you wanna be in
10 years or wherever. Choose what God values
not what culture values. Choose what God values
not what culture values. This is the third life shaping choice. To get the future that you want. So the Bible says, this is
in the next verse, verse 26. Hebrews 10:26. Moses regarded. Regarded means I'm making an evaluation, I'm making a judgment call. I'm making a choice. I'm clarifying. I'm evaluating. I'm considering. I'm appraising. Moses regarded disgrace
for the sake of Christ. In other words I'm gonna be
put down for being a slave. As a greater value than
the treasures of Egypt. All of the possessions and
the wealth of the world, were centered in Egypt at this time. And he's gonna inherit it all. And he says you know what? It's more important for
me to be with God's people in their pain, than it is for me, to be with the devils
people in their pleasure. And it says Moses regarded
disgrace for the sake of Christ, as greater treasures of Egypt, because he was looking
ahead to his reward. He wasn't looking at the
things that were temporary. He was looking at things
that were Eternal. So he evaluates, he
considers, he appraises, he makes a valued judgment, he
clarifies what matters most. Let me as you this. If I were to ask you right now, I'm not gonna ask you to do it, but if I were to ask you to
write down on your outline right now, your top three values in life, I wonder what they would be? Could you even name them? Could you name your top 10 values in life? Could you name your
top two values in life? If you can't name them, how in the world can you live by them? If you don't know what's important to you, let me tell you something, other people will decide it for you. If you don't know what's
valuable and what's not valuable, what is worth giving your life for, and what is not worth
giving your time for, you're wasting your life. Just, sorry, you just wasted your life. Moses considered what God values, and he said I want what God values, not what culture values, Culture values, everything
was in that Egyptian house. Fame, fortune, sex, salary, and status. It was all there. The very three things we spend our lives trying to get, it's
called the American dream, Moses walked away from that stuff. The stuff we spend our
entire lives trying to get. Fame and fortune. Possession, power, privilege,
you know, pleasures, things like that. If you haven't identified your values, you certainly can't live by them. And as I said, if you
don't decide the world will decide for you. By the way, what does the world value? My Bibles very clear. And for thousands and thousands of years, the world has valued
the same three things. The Bible calls it the lusts of the flesh. The lust of the eyes
and the pride of life. Or as I've written down
there on your outline, they value popularity, prestige and power, that's what was in the kingdom of Pharaoh. They value pleasure in verse 25. And they value possessions. The treasure of Egypt. They've got the measure and
the pleasure and the treasure, of Egypt. And Moses walks away from
the measure and the pleasure and the treasure of Egypt . It's ironic by Moses' standards. by the worlds standards Moses had it made. He's got all the wealth he wants. He's got all the pleasure he wants. He's got all the fame he wants. And he walks away from it and why? Because he knows they don't last. The Bible says, there on
your outline, 1 John 2:17. The world and everything in it, that people desire is passing away, but those who do the
Will of God live forever. So the wise way to live
is to do what God values. So if that's what the world values, popularity, power and possessions, you know, the things to
have, the things to be, the things to do, to feel. What does God value. Why don't you write these down. God values three things. Number one verse 24, God's purpose is more
important than popularity. That's a smart move when
you value Gods purpose for your life more than being popular. As Pharaohs grandson, Moses
is heir to the throne. He's a celebrity, friends. But fame never lasts. You know what, if Moses had
stayed as Pharaohs grandson, nobody would even know who he is today. He'd be a nobody. Nobody would even remember his name. Because he said, no, no,
Gods purpose of my life,' is more important than being popular. We're talking about him 6000 years later. All right? So Gods purpose is more
important than popularity. Number two. People are more important than pleasure. Within Gods value system, people
are always more important, than pleasure. And that's verse 25. Moses trades this royal life style, in order to go help a
bunch of needy slaves. Many of you have gone on a peace trip. To go reach some group of people, on the backside of the world. You gave away pleasure. The money you spend on a peace trip, you could've gone and
bought a plasma TV with it. But you didn't. And Gods going, that's my boy. They value my purpose
more than popularity, and they value my people
more than pleasure. And number three, they
value peace of mind, more than possessions. And that's verse 26. He was looking ahead to his reward. He considered doing the right thing, greater value than the treasures of Egypt. The possessions. So he rejects popularity and
pleasure and possessions, in order to have purpose,
Gods people and peace of mind. You realize what I'm saying here? That Moses gave up everything, we spend our lives trying to get? The worlds pleasure, the worlds
treasure, the worlds measure of success. Why? He's looking ahead to his reward. Now there's one more. Here's the fourth choice. Choose short term pain
over long term gain, I choose what God values
over what culture values, and number four, I
choose to live by Faith, not by fear. And that's a choice. And that is a choice. To choose to live by Faith not by fear. Verse 27 says this. By Faith Moses, left Egypt, the most
powerful nation in the world. With a bunch of slaves. Not fearing the kings anger. You're not afraid. Why? He has Faith. He persevered. Why? Because he saw him who is invisible. Moses had every reason
to be scared to death. He had every reason to be afraid. He's going up against the most
powerful man in the world. Pharaoh. At the height of the Egyptian empire. The most powerful man on the planet. In Egypt, Pharaohs considered a god. You're going up against a god. And the truth is Pharaoh,
in Egypt, he could command you to do anything
and you had to do it. I command you to cut off your right hand. You had to cut it off. Moses looked at Pharaoh and goes, I report to a Higher Authority. You're not God. You're not even a mini me god. God is God and you're not Pharaoh. And so he does this in Faith. Now here's the key, the key to Faith is not
just Faith in anything. You can put faith in
all kinds of bad stuff and not be where you
need to be in 10 years. You've gotta put your
Faith in the right thing. Now you can go put your faith in bitcoin. (audience laughs) And you can go put your
Faith in some politician. And you can go put your
Faith in some celebrity. You can go put your Faith in yourself. I highly recommend not doing that one. (audience laughs) How's that one working out for ya? Are you where you wanna be right now? No. You've gotta put your Faith in God. Look at this verse Galatians 2:16. No one can please God by
simply obeying the Law. So we put our Faith in Jesus
Christ and God accepted us because of our Faith. By the way, when it said Jesus Christ, does Jesus have two names? Like Jesus is the first name, Christ is His last name? (audience laughs) No, no, Jesus is His Name, Christ is His Title. I mean it's who He is. Jesus The Christ. Jesus The Messiah. Christ and Messiah are the same thing. But he says we're gonna put
our Faith in Jesus Christ, that's what gets me to where I want to be. You live in light of Eternity. It's the only antidote, for all the pressure you're under. You've gotta stop caring
what other people think. You've gotta stop caring
about the worlds values. Passion, possession and position. Sex, salary, status. I gotta have it. I gotta be everything. And I've gotta have all the pleasure. And I gotta get more and more. All the worlds value. You've gotta get off
that rat race treadmill. Because even if you win the rat race, You're still a rat. (audience laughs) He who dies with the most toys wins. No he who dies with the
most toys still dies. (audience laughs) And just wasted his life
because life is not about the acquisition of things. You're not taking any of it with you. In the next few weeks we're gonna look at other major choices. Here we're talking about
choosing the right values. Next week I'm gonna talk about choosing the right guide. I'm gonna teach you how to be lead, by The Holy Spirit. How do you let the Holy Spirit, make you make the right decisions? And then we're gonna talk about choosing the right companions the week after that. And then we're gonna talk about choosing, the right doors to walk through in life. Your life will be determined by which doors you walk through, and which doors you walk past. And we're gonna do a whole
series on that after Easter. And then we're gonna look at
choosing to let God use you, and bless you in ways. But it starts with theses choices. Let's bow our heads. Now I want to challenge each of you, to make these four life shaping choices. That will set you up for where
you wanna be in the future. With your heads bowed
let me read to you again, what God says. You can choose life and
success or you can choose death and disaster. If you obey Me you will live
and you will become successful and powerful, but if you disobey me, and you refuse to listen, then I will not give you these things. And God says I'm calling
all of Earth and Heaven, as a witness to the choices you make. Choose Life. How do you choose life? By choosing Jesus. By choosing Gods plan and
purpose for your life. So in your mind just right now, maybe you've been in Church all your life, you've never been in Church ever. Or maybe you're just listening online. I invite you to pray
this prayer as I pray it. Just say, me too God, what
Rick's saying, I'm saying. That's my prayer today. Dear God, I don't want to drift through the rest of my life. I don't wanna drift. I wanna move with direction and purpose. And so today life Moses, I wanna commit to these
four life shaping choices. First with Your help. I wanna choose to not let
other people define me. I wanna be what You made me to be. Second, God, like Moses I
wanna choose short term pain, over long term gain. To have long term gain. Third, God, I wanna choose, that for the rest of my
life to live by Your Values. Not my cultures values. Which aren't going to last. And finally I, Lord, I
wanna choose to live, by putting my Faith in You. I realize that it's only
by Your Grace and Power, that I can make these choices, and then keep these commitments. So Jesus Christ, help. I need your help. I humbly come to You for help. I totally put my Faith in You, starting today. I ask You to Save me and
empower me and guide me, and I'm gonna stop making excuses. And I'm gonna stop blaming other people. And I'm gonna get in a good
Church like Sattleback, where I can receive support. And I ask You to accept me
into Your Family, Jesus Christ. And I humbly pray this in Faith. Amen. - Thanks for checking out
this message on Youtube. My name is Jay and I'm Sattlebacks online campus Pastor. And I would love to invite you
to join our online community. Here are three ways you
can take the next step. First learn more about
belonging to our Church Family, by completing Class One online. Second, don't do life alone anymore. By getting into an
online only small group, that meets on platforms like Skype, or learn more about hosting a group with your friends in your home. Third, join our global Facebook community to connect with others
with the online community, and be more engaged in the day to day. To take any of those next steps, visit saddleback.com/online, or email online@saddleback.com. Hope to hear from you soon.
