Decisions, Decisions, Decisions Series

[2] Decisions, decisions, decisions. What an important part of our life. You know we make literally hundreds of decisions every day. Some over the mundane things in life and some over the important things in life. But making good and wise decisions is so important.

Especially if we’re going to being the church in this world. If we’re going to be the church every day, every where and to everyone we see, we need to be able to make good decisions. The decisions we make chart the course of our life and the lives of others, so making wise decisions determines the direction life takes. Ever made a poor decision?

[Leaving cell phone and running out of gas story.]

You know, some of the decisions in life are quite easy to make. Take your cell phone wherever you go. Pay your taxes. Do your best at school or work. Mow your grass when it gets long. Don’t shave on Saturdays. Some decisions are easy to make.

But some decisions aren’t so easy and take lots of effort to make. Who should I marry and spend the rest of my life with? What career should I train for? Where do I send my kids to school? Does God want me to go into the ministry? Those are the kinds of decisions that keep us up at night weighing all the options.

[3] Do you ever feel like this guy when trying to make a difficult decision? You pull over to the side of the road and try and figure out just which way to go. [4] You look down the long road of decision trying to find some hope that you’re heading the right way.

Some of you right now are facing difficult decisions but are finding yourself stuck in indecision. The rest of you will find yourself having to make difficult decisions in the future. It’s just a part of life. The good news is that there’s help for this integral part of life. God is here and He wants to give you the tools to be able to make wise decisions. Decisions that will guide your life to be the best that God has for you.

As we continue our studies in the book of Acts we’re going to see the early church facing it’s first major decision, and the way they handled it gives us great decision making principles to live by.

The first thing we’re going to see is that [5] wise decisions are born in our devotion to God. This is where wise decisions are birthed – in hearts devoted to the Lord.

Let’s remember where we are in the book of Acts. Jesus has just spent forty days with His disciples after He rose from the dead. He gave them some final instructions on reaching out to the world and then He ascended into heaven. That’s where we pick up the story.

[Read Acts 1:12-15.]

Everybody’s there – and they’re all united in devotion and prayer to God.

There’s 120 people there which included the disciples and probably their families, Jesus’ mother and brothers, all the other Mary’s, and other close followers of Jesus. And the amazing thing is that they are of one mind.

Now don’t think that this is some kind of shallow cliché used to describe these people. Under the inspiration of the Spirit, Luke described this gathering of 120 people as being totally united in their minds evidenced by their continual prayer together.

Now how does that happen? How do you get 120 people to have one mind? Well, all of them must be devoted to the same thing. Then can they be one in mind. You can’t get 120 people to sit around and discuss everything out and hope they all come to the same conclusion. It just doesn’t work that way. But if the 120 people are all personally devoted to the same thing, unity comes natural.

And that’s the point I want to make, the unity shown here is a beautiful thing. But it all starts with everyone being devoted to the Lord. And when a person is completely focused and devoted to the Lord, that’s when wise decisions are birthed.

[Prayer room idea from DCLA story.]

From within the complete devotion those girls had towards the Lord, an idea was born that has become a reality and a blessing to many. This is where wise decisions begin.

[Read Psalms 37:3-6.]

God will give us the desires of our heart. He implants godly desires within us when we’re fully devoted to Him. And with those desires, He enables us to make decisions concerning the desires He’s birthed within us. But it all starts when we focus on Him.

So what was the big decision the early church faced that was born in the upper room? A replacement was needed for the betrayer Judas Iscariot. Where there once was twelve apostles, now there was only eleven. So the Lord prompted Peter to announce to the group that they needed another man to take Judas’ place.