Choices have Consequences

We're going to begin our worship now by singing to God's praise in Psalm 93.

It's the Sing Psalms version. You'll find it on page 123 of the Psalm book, Psalm 93.

We're going to sing from verse 1 to 5, the whole Psalm.

The Lord is King, His throne endures, majestic in His height.

The Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength and might.

The world is founded, firm and sure, removed it cannot be.

Your throne is strong and you are God from all eternity.

We'll stand to sing to God's praise the whole of this Psalm.

The Lord is King, His throne endures, majestic in His height.

The Lord is full in majesty and armed with strength and might.

The world is founded, firm and sure, removed it cannot be.

Your throne is strong and you are God from all eternity.

The seas, O Lord, have lifted up, He lifted up their voice.

The seeds have lifted up their weight, and made a mighty noise.

The Lord, in throne of highest strong, more powerful is He.

And thunder all the oceans' waves are breakers of the sea.

Your royal statues, hearts and firm, unchanging is Your Word.

And holiness adores Your hearts for endless days, O Lord.

Well, we've come to God in prayer now.

We'll just bow our heads in a word of prayer.

Lord, our God, our Father in heaven, as we unite our hearts together in prayer at this time,

we thank You that You are a God who has not turned His back away from His people,

but indeed who we have the assurance through Your Word that You look down upon us

and that You seek to meet with us this day as we come,

to offer up our prayers and our praise to You.

As we join together to hear Your Word and to come to seek understanding from it,

we thank You that we have every promise in Your Word to lean upon,

as well as every warning that Your Word gives us as well,

that we are to be a people who listen.

And so we thank You that we can come and meet with You anew today

and seek Your blessing on all that we do.

We thank You for this, Your day, a day that has been set aside for this very purpose.

There is a day that in the week that is different to all the others,

a day that we are to honour and to obey Your commands in,

to rest from our work, but also to come and to praise and worship You

according to Your Word and to Your truth.

So we ask Your help, Lord, as we come to do that,

that from the youngest to the oldest here,

our hearts will be enlarged by You and touched by You,

and that we will know that You have met with us through Your Holy Spirit

that promise that He is always near to us.

That we do thank You for each other and for all who are here today.

We thank You for the young children, Lord, and we pray for them.

Giving thanks again for the holiday club and for all that was done in that week.

Giving thanks for the creche and the tweenies

and Sunday schools will resume in the next few weeks as well.

We do pray for children and leaders alike to know Your blessing

and Your peace upon them.

We remember them, our young people, especially in this coming week

as they go back to school.

We pray for teachers and staff as they return.

We pray that they will feel refreshed after their holidays

and be ready for a new term.

And that children will come back, Lord,

helped by You and encouraged by You.

Whether it's starting P1 for the first time,

whether it's moving up a class or going into a new school,

whatever the situation may be, Lord,

we ask that You will be with each and every one of them

to lead them, to guide them, and to encourage them

every step of the way.

We thank You for every home and family.

And we know, Lord, that there are many different needs around us.

There are many who are ill at this time.

Many are in hospital and homes.

Many who are mourning and grieving in our midst.

And we do pray for Your comfort to be upon each and every one

as they have need.

May You draw near to us in that way.

May Your Word be blessed to us here throughout this day.

And whatever is preached and proclaimed today,

may You be in the midst of it all to bless Your people near and far

throughout our land, throughout our nation,

throughout nations of the world.

We pray that You will send Your Word out with power to convict,

to convert, and to bring people close to You

and to know especially the love of Jesus

and to put their trust in Him.

May You guide us all in His name.

Lead us, O Lord, into Your Word.

And in all that we do today and in all the days ahead,

may we seek to walk closely with You.

And all we ask, we ask for the forgiveness of our sins.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

I'm going to say a few words to the young ones.

Some of you will be going out in a wee minute.

Others will be staying in the service.

It's good to see you here today.

Sometimes we might have conversations with each other,

other young people, or maybe with your parents,

or people you meet in school.

And sometimes we can have little silly conversations sometimes

and maybe try and think about things that might be very different,

things outside the norm for us.

And one of the things I was thinking about this week

and I read this week was somebody asking a question.

And the question was this.

If you were to be an animal,

what animal would you want to be?

You can think about that for a wee minute.

If you were to be an animal,

what kind of animal would you want to be?

And there's maybe all kinds of answers that will come to your mind.

Maybe if you've got a dog at home,

you'd want to be a dog.

So you can just chase a ball all day

or just run around and then go for a wee sleep

and eat your food

and go for walks and do things like that.

Or maybe you've got a cat at home

and you see the cat.

The cat just wants to be the boss in the house

and to have everybody do other things for it.

Maybe you'd want to be a cat

or maybe you want to be something more exotic.

Maybe you want to be a giraffe.

To be really tall and to be able to reach up high.

Or to be a lion or a tiger.

Somebody that's an animal that's feared by people

and other animals as well.

So we can always think about maybe

different kinds of animals we would want to be.

But I wonder if any of you would want to be a sheep.

Anybody put your hands up if you'd want to be a sheep.

I doubt if there's many hands going up.

Well, there's one.

One hand's going up wanting to be a sheep.

Because I don't know if you want to be a sheep.

Anybody wants to be a sheep.

Because sometimes you look at sheep and you think,

my goodness, they seem to be just quite stupid sometimes,

don't they?

They always get themselves stuck in a fence

or stuck in a bog

or going off in the wrong direction.

And yet the interesting thing is,

when you think about a sheep,

the Bible often describes us as sheep.

And it's one of the best used illustrations by Jesus

and by others in the Bible to describe people

to be like sheep.

But how are we like sheep?

Well, there's a few different ways.

Sheep aren't very smart.

Sometimes, like I was saying,

they maybe go into a tight space.

And instead of trying to just turn around and go back out,

they try and keep going and force themselves through.

They're stubborn.

And so are we.

We can be stubborn sometimes as well.

And sheep, they'll often follow other sheep.

It doesn't matter where they're going

or what they're doing.

Even when they're going into a dangerous place,

they'll follow other sheep.

And so we can be like that as well too.

We can just follow other people.

It doesn't matter where they're going

or what they're doing.

We just keep following them.

But fortunately, sheep have a shepherd to look after them.

And if a shepherd is good and he loves his sheep,

he'll always make sure that his sheep are taken care of.

And that's the way we are as well.

We have a shepherd,

a good shepherd who looks after us.

So even when we go off in the wrong direction

or we get stuck or do something wrong,

we have a shepherd that looks after us.

And that shepherd is the Lord Jesus Christ.

He's the one we find described in the word

as the good shepherd.

In a psalm we know so well, Psalm 23,

that psalm reminds us that the Lord is our shepherd.

And that's the shepherd we want to know.

So when you think about being like other animals,

what kind of animal you would like to be,

maybe think about the sheep and how we are like sheep.

We can do the wrong things.

We can go the wrong way.

But we have a good shepherd,

the Lord Jesus Christ,

who came to bring us back on the right path

and to go the right way,

to help us and to save us.

May God bless these thoughts to us.

Well, we're going to say the Lord's Prayer together now.

You'll have it on your sheets.

We'll repeat the Lord's Prayer together.

Let's say the Lord's Prayer.

Our Father, which art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread

and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

Amen.

We're going to sing together again to God's praise

now in Psalm 121

in the Scottish Psalter version.

You find it on page 416 of the Psalm books.

Psalm 121.

Again, we're going to sing the whole of this Psalm.

I to the hills will lift mine eyes.

From whence doth come my need?

My safety cometh from the Lord,

who heaven and earth hath made.

We'll stand to sing the whole of this Psalm

to God's praise.

I to the hills will lift mine eyes.

I to the hills will lift mine eyes.

From whence doth come my need?

My safety cometh from the Lord,

who heaven and earth hath made.

Thy foot, thy foot, thy foot, thy will.

His slumber that he keeps.

Behold, he that keeps Israel.

His slumber that he keeps.

He slumber's not, nor sleeps.

The Lord he keeps.

The Lord thy shade.

On thy right hand thou stay.

The moon by night,

He shall not smite,

Nor yet the sun by day.

The Lord shall keep thy soul.

He shall preserve thee from all else.

in thy Emmanuel things.

We're going to turn now to read God's Word in the Bible.

We're going to read in the Gospel of Mark, reading in chapter 6.

And this is on page 1014, if you have the church Bibles.

Mark chapter 6.

Mark 6 · chapter mention

We're going to take up our reading at verse 7.

Mark chapter 6, reading at verse 7 down to verse 29.

Mark 6 · chapter mention

Let's hear God's Word.

And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two,

and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.

He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff,

no bread, no bag, no money in their belts,

but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.

And he said to them,

Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there.

And if any place will not receive you,

and they will not listen to you,

when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet

as a testimony against them.

So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent.

And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.

King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known.

Some said, John the Baptist has been raised from the dead.

That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.

But others said, He is Elijah.

And others said, He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.

But when Herod heard of it, he said,

John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.

For it was Herod who had sent and seized John,

and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias,

his brother Philip's wife,

because he had married her.

For John had been saying to Herod,

it is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.

And Herodias had a grudge against him,

and wanted to put him to death,

but she could not.

For Herod feared John,

knowing that he was a righteous and holy man,

and he kept him safe.

When he heard him,

he was greatly perplexed,

and yet he heard him gladly.

But an opportunity came when Herod,

on his birthday,

gave a banquet for his nobles,

and military commanders,

and the leading men of Galilee.

But when Herodias' daughter came in and danced,

and she pleased Herod and his guests.

And the king said to the girl,

Ask me for whatever you wish,

and I will give it to you.

And he vowed to her,

whatever you ask me,

I will give you up to half my kingdom.

And she went out and said to her mother,

For what should I ask?

And she said,

The head of John the Baptist.

And she came in immediately with haste to the king,

and asked, saying,

I want you to give me at once

the head of John the Baptist on a platter.

And the king was exceedingly sorry,

but because of his oaths and his guests,

he did not want to break his word to her.

And immediately the king sent an executioner

with orders to bring John's head.

He went and beheaded him in the prison,

and brought his head on a platter,

and gave it to the girl,

and the girl gave it to her mother.

When his disciples heard of it,

they came and took his body,

and laid it in a tomb.

And so on, and may God bless

that reading from his word.

And before we come back to look at

some of that passage,

we're going to again sing to God's praise

in Psalm 32.

In the Scottish Psalter version,

it's on page 244 of the Psalm book.

Psalm 32.

And at verse 7.

There art my hiding place,

thou shalt from trouble keep me free.

Thou with songs of deliverance

about shalt compass me.

I will instruct thee,

and they teach the way

that thou shalt go.

And with mine eye upon thee set,

I will direction show.

We're going to sing from verse 7

to the end of the Psalm,

verse 11,

to God's praise.

And again we stand to sing.

The Lord my hiding place,

thou shalt from trouble keep me free.

Thou with songs of deliverance,

a bird shall compass me.

I will instruct thee and be teach,

the way that thou shalt go.

And with mine eye upon thee set,

I will direction show.

Then be not like the horse or mule,

which could not understand,

whose mouth lest they come near to thee,

a bridal must command.

And to the man that wicked is,

his sorrows shall abound.

But him that trusted in the Lord,

mercy shall compass round.

Ye righteous in the Lord be glad,

in him that upright,

in him he rejoice.

O he that upright,

in heart,

for joy lift up your voice.

O he that holy is.

But before we turn back to look at the Gospel of Mark,

we'll bow our heads again in a word of prayer.

Let us pray.

Lord our God as we continue in our worship as we seek your help as we turn to your word we

we thank you that it is a living word a word that ministers to our hearts and to our souls

and may you bring it alive in our own hearts today to bring that joy of salvation into our

hearts whether it's to know it once again or to know it for the first time that we would find

in your word the beauty of Christ and the love of Jesus shown to us the one who came who into this

world who you sent into this world for the salvation of our souls the one who gave his life as a ransom

for many so we thank you that your word instructs and teaches us and we pray that it will do that for

us anew today we continue to remember Lord all that goes on around us we know the many needs that

surround us and even in this past week the many things that have maybe shocked us in a sense we

know that in life there are many troubles and yet Jesus says to be of good courage for he has overcome

the world and so we pray that we will remember that and that others will be able to to take hold of that

message and even to share that message of hope found in Christ as Lord we prayed for congregations near

and far but in this past week our minds have been filled with events close to home for us in the

island of sky with a tragedy that unfolded there and we do remember all the families grieving at this

time and concerned for loved ones the many who are troubled in their hearts and in their spirits

we pray Lord for your comfort for your peace to be upon a people there and for those who minister

into that situation we pray for you to give words of wisdom of help to know what to say and how to say it

we can feel like helpless comforters at times but we thank you that as we lean upon you and trust in you

you assure us of giving words that we need as and when required so Lord may you minister into that

situation as well as the many needful situations around us too we thank you that you are a God whose

eyes are always upon the whole of your creation that even as the psalm that we sang together at the

beginning psalm 121 it reminds us that in our troubles in our days of wondering where we are to look to for

help that we can lift our eyes to the Lord so may you help us even now to lift our eyes to you and to

see that you are a God who is near and near to help guide us then into your word now as we come to it

help us that we will hear from it and recognize our own need in it too to choose wisely and to follow the

paths of life as found in Christ so Lord hear our prayers and continue with us now we ask we ask in

Jesus precious name amen we can turn back to our reading in the gospel of Mark chapter 6 and we're

Mark 6 · chapter mention

going to look in particular at this event surrounding the life of King Herod and all that took place in

verse 14 down to verse 29 King Herod had met with John the Baptist many times he'd heard John the Baptist

speaking to him about the gospel the good news of Jesus and as we read there in verse 20

Herod feared God John knowing that he was a righteous and holy man and he kept him safe when he heard him

he was greatly perplexed and yet he heard him gladly so John the Baptist was someone who had ministered to

King Herod a great privilege to be able to minister to him but King Herod was in conflict in his own life

which way he would go which way he would choose and that's the theme of our service this morning

the choices we make and the consequences that they have we're going to look in particular at the choices

that King Herod made and how we can learn lessons for ourselves because our lives are full of choices

every single day we make choices some with great significance others less so but all of them

combining into our life and the way we are living and the direction that we are going in

we chose today whether we would come to church or not we might choose later what we will eat or what

we won't eat our life is always full of choice but the most important choices we make and should or

should make are based on what we find before us today in the Word of God and in the instruction

that the Word of God gives us the Gospel of Mark as you read through it you find the ministry of Jesus

going through different towns and villages meeting with different people all the time and all the time

people being presented with a choice are they going to listen or are they going to shun this teaching are

they going to follow Jesus or are they going to keep going in their own paths their own direction

the beginning of this chapter as Jesus comes in to Nazareth his own hometown he's ministering there

and the people are presented with the Gospel and yet so many of them just turn their back on it

and here we are gathered together under God's Word once again I'm sure most of us maybe majority of

us have been here on many occasions hearing the Word of God and the question is still do we accept it

do we believe it or do we ignore it what are we going to do today with the Gospel that we hear what have

you done with the Gospel you've heard in the past what choice have you made with it well in these verses

before us today we hear how John the Baptist the one who was the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ the

one who who went to prepare the way for him who was telling others that greater than him was coming after him

we read of him here and we see how his life came to an abrupt end how King Herod had it had him

beheaded and this was the result his death was result of the choices made by this man King Herod

he chose whether to have John killed or whether to spare his life and as you read there in verse 20

for a long time he had spared his life he had kept him safe but he found himself now in a very

difficult position where he was under pressure and what choice would he make in the midst of this

pressure the scripture is full the whole of the Bible is full of seeing people making choices

from the very beginning when you go back to the book of Genesis you find Adam and Eve presented with

choice in the midst of the garden would they obey the voice of God who had told them what they could

and what they couldn't do or would they listen to the tempter who had come into their midst and told

them not to listen to God but to make their own choices to do their own thing you see there they

chose wrongly and sin came into the world and all the consequences that that brought now we recognize

as we're talking about choices that we're always seeing God as sovereign and overruling in all our choices

but we also see our own responsibilities God's sovereignty and man's responsibility is always

before us but as you read through the scripture you see we're always presented with the choices

that we are to make but here in this passage King Herod after the events of the beheading of John the

Baptist has now heard something that's leaving him troubled he's hearing all about the work of Jesus

and he's hearing some who are saying John the Baptist has been raised from the dead and this leaves him

troubled John the Baptist has come back it's causing him a great fear and this passage before us as well as

speaking into the present situation of herod brings us into the past and the choices that he made and I

want us to think of these choices together those in the past seeing the choices he made seeing the

consequences of it and the pressure he was under and then bringing it into the present where King Herod is

now reflecting on his life and the choices that he has made and thinking of the consequences of it

so first of all we think of the choices that King Herod made and the choices that we make ourselves

somebody once said our outlook on life is not best expressed in words it is expressed in the choices

we make in the long run we shape our lives and we shape ourselves the process never ends until we die

and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility

our lives are shaped by the choices that we make as well as the Lord's sovereign will in our life

and as we read in this passage we see that Herod he didn't just make one choice that impacted his life

he made a series of choices at different points in his life that affected his whole life

and when you look at the many wrong choices that he made here you look at verse 17 and there we're giving

an insight into the choices that he's made in the past and the wrong choices that he's made in the past

we read in verse 17 that Herod had had John seized and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias

his brother Philip's wife

he was under pressure from his wife his wife didn't like John the Baptist and what he was saying about their

marriage and it being wrong and he was under pressure so he had him arrested and sort of

try to just push him away to the side but at the same time trying to keep him safe he didn't have to do

this he didn't have to put him in prison but it was the wrong thing to do it was the wrong choice

and the basis of this is on another wrong choice he made in his life he had married Herodias his brother's

wife he had made an unwise choice there it wasn't the right thing to do but he had a choice in it

and it was this choice that was really at the heart of everything that was going wrong in his life

he was enjoying hearing John the Baptist at one point perplexed and yet heard him gladly as it

says in verse 20 but now with Herodias in the midst of it she was trouble for him

and that's the reality of life for Herod here he's in the midst of the mixture of all the different

choices he's made in life and being pulled in different directions and so often it's the case

for ourselves too the choices that we've made maybe in the past are continually affecting our lives

some are good choices some are wise choices and have helped us go on the right way others we maybe

look back and think they were the wrong choices I've made they've had a maybe a lasting impact on my life

in a bad way but what we see as we look at Herodias and as we look at our own lives no matter the wrong

choices we've made there is always opportunity to come back and find the right path you think of people

who are in prison they're there because very often they've made a wrong choice taking a wrong decision

and there are consequences to these choices they find themselves now entrapped in prison

but the reality is prison isn't always walls and bars and locked gates we often find ourselves in prison

in this world because of the choices we have made we're not put locked away but we feel imprisoned in

our lives we feel like we're compressed in our lives under pressure in our lives because of the choices

that we've made but the scripture is there to help us and to guide us out of the sense of being in prison

to the freedom that is found in Christ and for Herod this was something that he'd been hearing about

again and again again as verse 20 just shows to us there is this enjoyment he had of meeting with John the Baptist

of hearing about the works of Christ he heard him gladly but pulled away in a different direction because of the wrong

choices that he made he feared when he was hearing about Christ but at the end of the day

he chose to ignore him and not to accept him the greatest choice in life he got wrong

and what about for ourselves today how are we choosing with this gospel how are we choosing with this Christ

who we hear about so often are we choosing to follow to trust to believe with all our heart

or are we turning away Joshua in the old testament that says these great words as he's surrounded by

people who are choosing many other different gods in life he says to them choose this day whom you will

serve but he says as for me and my house we will serve the Lord Joshua chose wisely but for so many

things it's an unwise choice we come to we reject or we turn away from the Lord

Dwight L Moody the great evangelist of many years ago he tells a story of a young Christian man who went

to university in England and he was studying there studying diligently but he was surrounded by people

who didn't believe in God and would often debate with him about how God is not real or we don't need the

Lord Jesus in our lives and this one day he was discussing debating with another student

discussing faith in the Bible and they were batting back and forth this Christian student he felt he

wasn't as well educated as eloquent in his language as this other student who was seemed to be more

advanced in his knowledge than him and he wasn't getting anywhere no matter what he said in this debate

he wasn't getting anywhere he was always getting an answer back that seemed to just push him further and

further away and in the end he said look I'm not as eloquent as you I'm not as good as debating as you

but he said what if I could prove to you beyond a shadow of a doubt that Christ is who he claims to be

would you be willing to acknowledge him as Lord and as your Lord to prove without a shadow of a doubt that Christ is real

and who he claims to be would you believe immediately the student he was debating with said no certainly not

it didn't matter what he would say what he would show of the reality of Christ this man was unwilling to believe

and you see that's often the problem with the knowledge of God it's not that the the facts aren't there

it's not that God cannot be known it's that the natural desire of our heart is to reject and to push God

away our natural choice in life is to shun God to push him further and further away

Herod is an example to us of that of choosing wrongly in his past he has made all these wrong choices

and all they have done is pushed God further and further away

but we're thankful that the scripture is full of others who remind us and show us that we can come

to Christ no matter the choices that we've made in the past and find with him one who is willing to

forgive to heal and to help just think of the gospel of Mark itself it's full of accounts of Jesus meeting

people who have made so many wrong decisions and yet they come empty-handed with nothing left they come to

Christ and they come to Christ and they find in him one who gives him everything that they need

the opposite is true of King Herod he came with maybe everything he needed but he left with nothing

because he rejected Christ Herod chose unwisely and so many times in his life

how will you choose today how have you been choosing to live your life how will you choose

to live your life as you go on our choices are always before us the second thing we see of Herod though

is he's surrounded by people who are putting pressure on him and this is something we can often feel

in our own lives to today the sense of peer pressure you can maybe say well it wasn't all Herod's fault

everything that happened here and the consequences it brought it wasn't all Herod's fault you could

blame it maybe on his wife or his wife's daughter you can say well it was their fault just in the same way

as you go back to Adam and Eve where the blame is seemed to be passed Adam blames his wife Eve blames

the serpent the buck is passed we can always try and pass the blame off to somebody else

so was Herod here was he just in a situation where it was somebody else's fault peer pressure was to blame

for the choices that we made that he made no he made the choice he chose everything that we see before us

here he made that final choice and he had to live with the consequences of it we all make our own choices

we can always try and blame others for the choices that we have made but at the end of the day the

choices are in our own hands Herod's wife Herodias had put pressure on him she had been almost constantly

putting pressure on him so so Herod had put John the Baptist in prison to try and get her off his case

but it wouldn't go away and she was still wanting more she wanted John the Baptist put to death

he was saying the relationship was wrong he wanted to keep his wife happy and he was in the midst

of this pressure what do I do who do I try and please and in our own lives we can come under pressure

from other people as well we will often have that sense of who are we going to please

it could be a husband or a wife it could be children or parents it could be our bosses at work

it can be our friends so often in our life there is this pressure coming upon us from all different

directions we have an abundance of peer pressure and it can keep us from doing what is right with God

and this is something we have to be so careful about the most important thing for us to do is not as our

friends want us to do the pressures to do the wrong things in life or to go to the wrong places

but the the pressure we should feel most is to do what is right with God to do what is right

in following the Lord Jesus and his commands something that Herod had heard so much about

and was gladly hearing and yet perplexed with and now just pushing away in verse 26 we are given a

great insight into the choice that Herod made in the pressure he was under when you read in verse 26 it

says the king was exceedingly sorry he'd found himself in this situation where he had to choose

under pressure what am I going to do am I going to please my wife or lose face with the important

people around me here these people had come to his birthday party who he'd tried to impress and he'd said

to Herodias his daughter I will give you anything you ask for up to half my kingdom she asked for John

the Baptist's head on a platter now what's he going to do he's torn in different directions he's feeling

this pressure he's greatly distressed he's torn in different directions he knew what he did was wrong

the choice he made was wrong but because of the important people around him he decided losing face with

them it was more important not losing face with them was more important than having John the Baptist beheaded

do you feel that kind of pressure today when it comes to the things of God when it comes to following

the Lord Jesus peer pressure starts from a very young age and in many ways it can sometimes seem

just harmless things going along with what others are doing having the same things that other people have

it'll follow us into our teenage years into our working life into our old age there's always a sense of

pressure the danger is that we let that pressure control every decision we make and especially when it comes

to the things of God to feel a sense of pressure that you're going to be different if you become a

Christian that your life is going to lack all joy if you become a Christian that you're going to have

nothing if you become a Christian that is going to affect the choices you have in the workplace or even the work

you're able to take to live for Christ brings with its other pressures but it brings the promise that he is with us

and he will honor us to be a Christian today is being in the minority in so many places

but does that make it wrong no because God is always calling us to himself

Herod didn't follow the advice of John he didn't listen to the gospel that John proclaimed to him because if he

had he would have been in the minority would have cost him in the short term he would have lost face with so many

but the greatest loss was in the long term and he lost or the danger was of losing his soul

and that is the pressure that we are under today ourselves we're torn maybe between doing what is right

with God giving our life to the Lord Jesus and keeping others who are close to us happy not losing face

with others

that's the decisions that we're always faced with

in the midst of it we are to choose wisely

maybe today you're finding yourself

you doubt if God is real

you doubt if it's going to make a difference

in your life

maybe today you're angry with God

because of something that's come into your life

into your experience

you're finding yourself in a rage against God

well sometimes these are not the right moments

to choose to reject God

but instead to come and ask questions about God

to ask

can he be real

is he real

can he help me

to put yourself in the right place with the right people

who are able to guide you

on the right path

sometimes when we're at our lowest

or our darkest point

God can come in the midst

but at other points like you see with Herod here

and the pressure he is under

he pushes God away

a man told a story about his father

his father who was struggling

to keep the house warm during winter

and they had run out of firewood

and they were struggling

and he was wondering what will I do

but he knew there was this tree out in the garden

and in his eyes the tree was dead

it had died in the winter

no leaves, nothing

and the coal just made the branches so brittle

that if you could just snap them

with your hand

in his eyes

the tree was dead

and so he decided to cut it down

and he used it as firewood

but come the spring

to his dismay

he realized that the stump that was there

was now sprouting new shoots

there had still been life

and the tree, a tree that had provided

so much fruit for them

in the summer months

was now gone

because of a rash decision that he'd made

thinking there's no life

in this tree

and it would take years

for that tree

to come back to bearing

as much fruit as it had once done

and he said to his son

don't forget this lesson

never cut down a tree

in the winter time

never make a rash decision

in the low times in your life

never make these kinds of decisions

in your worst mood

wait

be patient

the storm will pass

he said

and the spring

will come

in our own low points in life

or when we're angry with God

that's not the time

to just push him away

it's a time

to draw near to him

even more

to realize

the life

that is in him

to surround yourself

with people

who are able to guide you

and to help you

to show you the way to Christ

the life that is found in him

that he is

the one who is able to save

we are surrounded

by those who will tell us otherwise

there's peer pressure

all around us

and Herod

had all these people

around him

he didn't want to lose face with

but they became more important

than his own life

and his own soul

so for ourselves today

make sure we see

the precious nature

of our soul

and above all

the beauty of Christ

who is able to save our soul

and to choose wisely

and the final thing

just briefly we see

with Herod here

is the consequences

of all these choices

we come back to

looking at Herod now

in his present situation

he's reflecting on the decisions

he's made in the past

but here he is

in his present situation

and before

we see that in verse 14

to verse 16

and what he's hearing about Jesus

there in verse 14

is that he has been doing

amazing works

King Herod heard of it

for Jesus' name

had become known

some said

John the Baptist

has been raised from the dead

and this is what strikes fear

into him

and the reaction

to this news

of Jesus being

John the Baptist

raised from the dead

strikes fear

into him

his conscience

is still affected

even though there's

some time past

since John the Baptist

was put to death

it hasn't left his mind

and this just brings

that fear

back to him

he thinks he's going

to come face to face

with the one

he had put to death

the one

he now thinks

is raised from the dead

and this is a time

for reflection

for him

but it's a reminder

to us too

that we hear

of one who is

raised from the dead

one who we will come

face to face with

one who we must

appear

before

not John the Baptist

raised from the dead

but the Lord Jesus Christ

the one who was put to death

because of our sin

but the one

who we are reminded

in scripture

on the third day

rose again

who has ascended

to the father

who is coming back

to take his people

to be with him

the one

who we must

all appear

before

in a sense

of judgment

Herod

King Herod

was afraid

of meeting

John the Baptist

raised from the dead

what's your thought

of meeting

with the Lord Jesus Christ

raised from the dead

does that put you

fear

into your heart

or does it fill you

with a sense

of joy

if you don't believe

if you don't trust him

it will be fear

but if you believe

with all your heart

that he is Lord

and God of all

it will fill your heart

with joy

to know

that you will see him

C.S. Lewis

in his book

Mere Christianity

says this

when the author

walks onto the stage

the play

is over

God is going

to invade

all right

but what is the good

of saying

you are on his side

then

when you see

the whole

natural universe

melting away

like a dream

and something else

comes crashing in

this time

it will be God

without disguise

something so overwhelming

that will strike

either irresistible love

or irresistible horror

into every creature

it will be too late

then

to choose your side

that will not be

the time

for choosing

it will be the time

when you discover

which side

we have

we really have chosen

whether we realized

it before or not

now

he says

today

this moment

is our chance

to choose

the right

side

we are presented

with choices

all the time

and we are to

choose

wisely

what does it mean

to choose

wisely

well it was a message

that struck fear

into Herod

that this Jesus

had come

and if you look at

verse 12

it says

his disciples

went out

and proclaimed

that people

should repent

this is what it means

to choose wisely

this is the opportunity

that Herod himself

had

and passed by

and it's your choice

today

no matter

the choices

you've made

in the past

and maybe

we've all made

many wrong choices

and they've led us

into many wrong places

today

we have the opportunity

to choose wisely

to choose Christ

and to serve him

and to follow him

and to know

that that choice

is the greatest choice

of all

to know

him

who is our shepherd

who is

our Lord

to say with Joshua

but as for me

and my house

we

will serve

the Lord

choose

this day

whom you will serve

that is a choice

before us

the choice

before Herod

the choice

we all face

may we all

choose

wisely

and follow

Christ

as Lord

let us pray

our Father

in heaven

your word

reminds us

of the need

of the choices

that we make

in life

our greatest need

of all

is to know

Christ

as Lord

and we pray

that your word

and your spirit

will guide us

in making that

wise choice

this day

for we know

that the time

is short

and that now

even today

is the time

to choose

the right side

and so Lord

we help

we pray

for your help

your guidance

your instruction

to take away

the often

pressures we feel

and to know

the love of Christ

that's greater than all

so may you bless us

and help us

to that end

as we ask it all

in his precious name

Amen

we're going to conclude

by singing

to God's praise

in Psalm 85

sorry

Psalm 65

in the Sing

Psalms version

page 82

of the Psalm books

Psalm 65

we're going to sing

verses 1

to verse 5

in Zion praise

awaits you Lord

to you our vows

will pay

to you all people

will come near

you hear us

when we pray

we'll sing from

verse 1 to 5

to God's praise

and we stand

to sing

in Zion praise

awaits you Lord

to you our vows

will pay

to you all people

will come near

you hear us

when we pray

when we were

overwhelmed

by sins

and guilt

upon us

lay

you pardoned

all our trespasses

and washed

our guilt

away

how blessed

are those

you choose

and bring

within

your

courts

of grace

we're

filled

with

blessings

in your

house

in your

most holy

place

with

awesome

deeds

of righteousness

you

answered

us

O God

our

Savior

full

of

far

the

sea

and

all

the

earth

abroad

after the

benediction

I'll go to the

door to my

left here

we'll close with

the benediction

now may grace

mercy and peace

from God

Father

Son

and Holy

Spirit

rest upon

and abide

with us all

now and

forevermore

Amen

thank you

thank you