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Pastor James May
MY MIND’S MADE UP!
In a world filled with instability it is great to know that there is a foundation of truth and a way of life that is eternally fixed and unmovable. It is wonderful to know that my Savior lives and that my God is a living God. It’s great to know that He will never let me fall or that I will like a tree planted by the water that grows roots deeply and cannot be easily moved.
We are living in a world where there is no sure foundation outside of Christ. Surely the Word of God tells us that every thing that can be shaken will be shaken in these last days. The “every thing” that will be shaken includes our faith, if it is weak.
I discovered a long time ago that a sure foundation in Christ is obtained only when we have a made up mind. Anyone who is committed, sold out, and centered upon the work of the Lord is sure to have a stronger foundation than those who can’t decide what they really want to do about Jesus.
James 1:8, "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways."
Wow, what a true statement. Of course it’s true, it’s the Word of God and the Word never fails! Now there is a true foundation for a life to founded upon, the Word of God.
Have you seen a lot of unstable people lately? Have you seen those who keep running like a hamster in a cage but they never really seem to go anywhere or finish anything? Are you one of those yourself?
Illustration:
Two men who lived in a small village got into a terrible dispute that they could not resolve. So they decided to talk to the town judge. The first man went to the judge’s home and told his version of what happened. When he finished, the judge said, "You’re absolutely right." The next night, the second man called on the judge and told his side of the story. The judge responded, "You’re absolutely right." Afterward, the judge’s wife scolded her husband. "Those men told you two different stories and you told them they were absolutely right. That’s impossible -- they can’t both be absolutely right."
The judge turned to his wife and said, "You’re absolutely right!
Now there is a man of great wisdom and counsel!
Perhaps we have so many circumstances arise that draw us off the right track because we are carrying an unstable mind. Shall I go or stay, turn or go straight, listen or talk, stop or go? So many decisions and so little power to decide! No wonder we are a nation of schizophrenics! We have to have split personalities, one side of us to go in one direction while the other half goes the other direction. There is too much to do, too many places to go, so many plans to make – like John Travolta says in the old sitcom titled “Welcome Back Kotter”, “I’M SO CONFUSED”!
In the history of man and of the church, there has never been a time of more confusion and indecision.
Illustration:
A husband and wife, prior to marriage, decided that he’d make all of the major decisions and she the minor ones. After 20 years of marriage, he was asked how this arrangement had worked. "Great! In all these years I’ve never had to make a major decision."
Life contains too many choices, each one with a whole list of positives and negatives attached to them and each one carries long term, perhaps even eternal consequences. So, to keep from making the wrong decision, we don’t make any, which in turn, is the wrong decision anyway! Are you confused yet? Have you already decided that this sermon is too weird or too confused for you? Just hang on, child, there is a method in this madness.
I’m attempting to make a point to you that we all live such lives of indecision and confusion.
But there is one single decision that is so all encompassing and so great in its scope that it can settle every other confused place in your life! That decision is to accept Christ as your Savior and surrender your life to Him!
There is where the unstable man in all his ways can find real stability and nowhere else.
Christians even go about their daily lives in a state of indecision concerning their work for the Lord. There is very little real commitment and any little thing can turn them aside for they have never made a real quality decision to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to perform the duties that God has called them to do.
They will volunteer for a job that needs to be done and start out great but it won’t take long until the fun is gone and the newness wears off and then they want out. That’s because they are unstable in all of their ways just as James says. You can never really count on them to stick to anything for long. If the way grows hard and it requires more than they are willing to do, they will fold up like a flower at night and fade into the darkness.
I want you to know that you will never be able to do great exploits for the Lord until you get rid of that double minded attitude and make up your mind, once and for all, that Jesus is your Lord and that your purpose in this life is to serve Him in any way you can.
When your mind is made up, there will never be a question whether we will be in church or not. There will never be a time when we will let our ministry, or our calling suffer from inattention. There will never be a time when someone else will have to fill in for us because we aren’t on our post.
This is the Lord’s Army! When the roll is called up yonder in this army, you can’t afford to be AWOL! The penalty is eternal separation and a dishonorable discharge.
Double-minded people are the type of people that you can never really count on for anything. They talk big but do very little that is lasting.
Old Testament Israel was in this condition during the reign of King Ahab. The people had lived in confusion and delusion brought on by their courtship and marriage to idolatry. After a number of years the showdown was to finally come at a place called Mount Carmel.
1 Kings 18:20-21, "So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel. And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, how long halt ye between two opinions? If the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word."
Elijah wasn’t on Mount Carmel to play games. His mind, too, was made up. He knew the God of Heaven whom he served. There was no doubt that Elijah was trusting in God and would do whatever it took to win. His confidence was in the eternal God with whom there is no variables or shadow of turning. He knew God was there for he had decided to obey God in all that he did.
450 Prophets of Baal showed up that day to challenge Elijah to a showdown. It would be a “fight to the death”. Before the day was done either Elijah or those 450 prophets would be dead and Elijah wasn’t planning his funeral.
King Ahab, the wicked King of Israel who was married to Jezebel, the most wicked queen in Israel’s history, had called all of the Children of Israel to witness the contest between Elijah’s God and Baal.
As Elijah looked out over Israel he saw a people who had wandered far from God. They had become so entangled with idolatry that they could no longer decide who the real god was so they worshipped them all. Satan loves indecision and the confusion it brings. If he can keep us guessing he can fool us into following the wrong path.
The amazing thing to me is that when Elijah asked, “Who is on the Lord’s side”, no one spoke up for God. Maybe they were afraid. Maybe Baal’s prophets intimidated them. or maybe they just couldn’t make up their minds quick enough.
I like the old one-liner that goes like this, “Either lead, follow or get out of the way!” You can be on the right track but if you don’t move, you get run over by the train. It’s time to make up your mind or you will get left behind because this train is bound for glory and nothing will ride it but the righteous and the holy. Get on board while you can!
Before the day was done, the Lord God of Heaven, Jehovah is His name, the great I AM had answered by fire while the prophets of Baal got the silent treatment from their god of stone and metals. The Living God sent a fire out of Heaven that burned the sacrifice, the wet wood, the stones, the hundreds of gallons of water in and around the trenches and even burned the dry sand around the altar.
Our God is a Consuming Fire and He knows how to answer in a way that will turn people back to Him. Israel was so more in confusion. They turned back to God and destroyed the idols and the prophets of Baal.
Now that is what real repentance is all about. Get rid of the old nature of sin and turn back to worshipping God. Sell out to Him completely and prove Him!
What does God have to do to get us to make up our minds once and for all? He has sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to purchase our salvation. He has performed miracles, signs and wonders before our very eyes! He has given us His written Word! He has washed our sin away and bestowed upon us His righteousness! He has promised an eternal reward in Heaven! God has done everything He can do help us make up our mind to follow Him.
And what do we do about it? We skip church, we forget to pray, we forget to read the Bible, we refuse to clean up our language, we fail to witness to the lost, we refuse to step up and volunteer to work in His kingdom, and then we wonder why we aren’t being used by God like someone else.
We need to develop the same attitude and commitment that Joshua had in Joshua 24:15, "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
Would that every Christian would have the same made up mind that Joshua had concerning the Lord. There was no question in his mind what his job and calling was.
That man or woman who is double-minded will face the decisions to:
Study or watch TV
Go shopping or go to church
Pray or sleep
Read the Bible or read a magazine
Go to special services or lay at home
I think its time to make up our mind just what we want to do about Jesus. Will we be completely sold out to Him or are we going to continue to be wishy-washy like good old Charlie Brown in the Peanuts Comics.
Only when you have a made up mind can you become stable and accountable in all your ways. Only after you have proven faithful and dependable in your calling will God allow your ministry to increase.
I don’t know about you, but my mind is made up. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. After all, He is the only, living and true God. No other god will answer. No other god will hear. No other god is alive.
Jesus Christ is alive and that’s why my mind is made up to follow Him!
