Twists & Turns: Which Way Do I Go?(2023)

‘TWISTS & TURNS: WHICH WAY DO I GO?’—Psalm 25:4-5

—VBS-2023—

Attention:

The board game, Monopoly. Did you know that there are international Monopoly championships?

There are numerous properties to ‘buy.’ There are 2 Utilities & 4 Railroads. There are 22 properties named after avenues, areas, or housing developments, that are all color coded.

To add insecurity to the game, the number of spaces each player moves, when it’s their turn, is determined by their rolling a pair of dice. And to add further ‘unforeseen circumstances’ to the game play, there are also two sets of cards that can add ‘fortune’ or ‘ruin’ to the player who draws one. Added to that, are various ‘landing spots’ that hinder your play by forcing you to ‘Go To Jail’, or pay ‘Luxury Tax’ &/or ‘Income Tax.’

To win the game, the trick is not to buy properties ‘willy-nilly’, but to eventually own all properties within a color group. Only then can you ‘improve’ your properties with new houses & hotels. When those houses &/or hotels are added, your land is worth much more, & the ‘rent’ charged to the one who lands indiscriminately on that ‘improved’ property increases, & eventually your fellow real estate moguls are put out of business. Monopoly is a ‘cut-throat’ game!

*We live in a ‘cut-throat’ world! The ‘mission’ of the majority of people—the-world-at-large—, is to support themselves by ANY means available. The world’s choice of ‘support’ for themselves is determined by moral values that are completely ‘SUBJECTIVE’—That is, their moral values are based upon each individual’s tastes & feelings at any given time!

*Sadly, the world-at-large is not concerned about doing what is ‘right’ in GOD’s EYES!....But only doing what they THINK is ‘right’ in THEIR OWN EYES!

It’s no wonder then, that our lives are presented with so many ‘Twists & Turns’! ‘TWISTS & TURNS: WHICH WAY DO I GO?’—Psalm 25:4-5

Need:

Life can be confusing. Individuality is a blessing of God, but it can also bring the curse of spiritual Subjectivity. There are so many ‘twists & turns’ in life. There are a multitude of choices that we must make at any given moment.

The way we live & the choices we make, are all tied directly to what we allow & what we seek out, in order to bring about our deliverance/salvation from poor spiritual decisions.

•And all poor spiritual decisions, will bring about poor life decisions!

A very serious question we need to ask ourselves is: With all of life’s ‘Twists & Turns’, ‘Which Way Do I Go?’ OR--?How do I know the way?...

•Jn. 14:3-6—“And if I go & prepare a place for you, I will come again & receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, & the way you know.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, & how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, & the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

David is the writer of this Psalm. And he is the ‘warts & all’ model of, ‘a man after God’s own heart’!

God’s chosen King of Israel had a deep desire to experience the power that is ‘in’ God’s salvation...

And so did the apostle Paul...

•Php. 3:8-12—the apostle Paul writes,—Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, & count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ & be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him & the power of His resurrection, & the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.”

We are created to experience the life-changing power that is in God’s salvation....So every person’s priority must be to experience that power in their own lives.

BUT How can we experience the power in God’s salvation?

OR...

Who experiences the power in God’s salvation?

4 ‘hungers’ that lead us to experience the life-changing power in God’s salvation.

1—The power in God’s salvation is YOURS, thru A hunger for...

The PERFECT EXAMPLE(:4-5)

Explanation:(:4)Direction

:4—“Show me Your ways, O LORD; Teach me Your paths.”

:5—“Lead me in Your truth & teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.”