“Choose Wisely” by Pastor Daniel Floyd

Welcome to Gateway Churches Podcast.

Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message.

Hey, welcome to church, everybody.

Come on, let's put our hands together for Jesus one more time.

So glad that you are in church this week and want to say hello to everybody at all of our locations and of course at our prison campuses, our gateway gatherings online or on demand later in the week.

And if you're here for the very first time, you're an honored guest.

We want to say welcome home.

Come on, church family, across all the campuses.

Let's put our hands together for anybody with us for the very first time.

And as you just saw in the announcement, men's night is coming up this Friday night.

And uh so if you've procrastinated, it's time to step up and uh go ahead and get registered.

You're gonna want to be a part of it.

Bring somebody with you.

It's gonna be a powerful night together.

I'm really, really looking forward to this night.

Community, some fun.

We'll laugh, we'll worship together, get in God's word.

It's gonna be a great time together.

So get registered.

And if you're a wife or a significant other or family member or mom, just be like, hey, I got it covered.

You go.

We're good.

Um, and make sure they can be there.

Uh, we're in a series we kicked off last weekend.

My pastor, Pastor Chris Hodges, was with us last weekend, brought a great word to kick the series off, yeah.

And uh we're calling Between Sundays, and the idea is this how do we have a faith that doesn't fade?

And so, how do we not just get inspired on Sunday, but how do we live that out Monday through Saturday?

And uh we're gonna continue in that today.

And if you're new to church wondering what is a series, it's simply a collection of messages around one common theme, and that's our theme, and we have a theme verse.

We have a verse that kind of drives the big idea of the series.

Found in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 14.

Ephesians 4:14

But if you back up a little bit from Ephesians 14, Paul sets up that text by saying this that God has given gifts to the church, and they are the apostle, the prophet, the evangelist, the pastor, the teacher.

We call that five-fold ministry gifts.

So I don't know if you know this or not, but I'm a gift.

So just kidding, just joking.

Well, it's what the Bible says, so we'll go with it.

Um, and then he says he gives gifts to do something to equip the saints.

That's you.

I don't know if you know that, but you're a saint.

Some of you are like, I don't act so saintly some days.

Well, it doesn't negate the fact of what God calls you.

If you're in Christ, you're a saint.

And the ministers are to equip the saints for work of ministry, because every one of you is a minister, and he says, so that this happens.

This is the goal or the purpose, says, then you will no longer be immature like children.

So we want to mature, we want to grow.

And he says, you won't be when you're growing, you won't be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching.

We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like truth.

Instead, we will speak the truth in love.

Everybody say this with me on 3123.

Growing in every way, and what are we growing towards?

Being more and more like Christ, who is the head of the body, the church.

He makes the whole body fit together perfectly as each part does its own special work.

It helps the other parts, there it is again, grow so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

And so, what are we doing between Sundays?

We must be growing.

That's the big idea.

And today I want to talk to you around this title.

If you're the note-taking type, write it down.

If not, you're getting it.

It's only been 245 days, and we're finally getting it.

So uh go ahead and write it down, anyways.

Choose wisely.

I want to talk to you about choices you make.

If you're gonna have a faith that doesn't fade, you're gonna have to have choices that have wisdom during the week.

Let's pray together.

Father, our hearts and minds are open to you.

So, Holy Spirit, speak to us.

We believe that we'll never be the same because of our time in your word.

May we leave differently, looking more like you, more and more like Christ.

We want to grow.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Everyone said it.

Big amen.

Amen.

So I was doing a little research this week, and there was a Harvard study that revealed that you and I, during our waking hours, make over 35,000 choices every day.

Some of you are like, that's why I'm so tired.

I'm making all these decisions.

35,000 choices.

You make a little over 220 food choices every day.

So if you're like me, eat the same thing every day, you eliminate all those.

Get some of your energy back.

Children make less than 3,000 choices every day.

Because you're making 35,000.

So they don't have to make as many, right?

We make all these choices every day.

35,000 plus choices.

And obviously, not all choices or not all the decisions that we make are equal.

Some have greater weight and some have less weight.

And it's estimated it's somewhere between 50 and 200, which I'm like, wow, that's a big range.

But between 50 and 200, that are intentional choices.

And they're consequential choices that we make in our everyday.

Most of our choices are, they just happen.

We we don't even think about them anymore.

We just make them because there was such a habit of making them.

But there's about 50 to 200 that are consequential, intentional choices.

And you could even, you know, make the circle a little bit smaller on the ones that, man, they really defect affect the destiny of your life.

But how many of you know that your choices do?

Your choices affect the destiny of your life.

They affect the direction of your life, the choices that you make.

And it may not seem like, oh, this, you know, the big ones, who I marry, you know, where do I go to church?

Like what community do I get into, what job, what education?

All those are the big ones, but there's little ones that like a dial, you make them every day, and you just move it one dial at a time, just one click at a time, and all of a sudden, over time, they dramatically affect the direction of your life.

I like the way that C.S.

Lewis said it, the brilliant scholar and theologian said, every time you make a choice, you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different than it was before.

Not into something a lot different, a little different.

And taking your life as a whole, you are slowly turning this central thing into a heavenly creature, or as C.S.

Lewis says very directly, a hellish creature.

Slowly, over time, we are moving the dial of our life in the choices that we make.

And we're either moving them in a direction that makes us more like Christ, or we're moving them in a direction that makes us less like Christ.

But have no doubt your choices are defining you.

And so my encouragement is this choose wisely.

And this is what James is going to teach us, James chapter 3, is that you don't get to decide whether you'll make choices.

James 3 · chapter mention

Matter of fact, you're going to make thousands of choices today alone.

The question is this what kind of wisdom will you apply to the choices that you make?

And James proposes that there's two types of wisdom that we exercise, and I want to talk about those today, and obviously encourage you to choose heavenly wisdom.

If you're with me, say amen.

All right, James chapter 3, verse 13, the Bible says this, it'll be on the screen for you.

James 3:13

Who is wise and understanding among you?

So there's the question, and then James answers the question that he asked, and he says, This is how you'll know.

Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.

Now, time out for a second.

Another translation says, in the meekness.

So humility or meekness.

And I think sometimes we think about meekness as weakness.

But meekness is not weakness.

Trying to make sure I articulate that correctly.

Meekness is not weakness.

Matter of fact, the idea of meekness is this: it's a stallion that is under control.

In other words, I have strength.

And I could exert my strength if I wanted to.

I have authority, I could exert my authority.

Whatever you want to fill in that blank, but meekness is the ability to go, no, I can rein that in when I need to rein it in.

That is what meekness is.

And he says that meekness is found or it comes from wisdom.

Then he gives the contrast to this and says, But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.

For such quote-unquote wisdom does not come down from heaven, but is three things.

It's earthly, it's spiritual, it's very strong language, and it's demonic.

For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder in every evil practice.

But the wisdom that comes from heaven, he gives eight characteristics, is first of all pure.

Then it's peace-loving, it's considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit.

It's impartial and sincere, and peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of peace.

That's not what the text says, right?

That's what would make sense.

If you sow an apple, you get an apple.

If you sow an orange, you get an orange.

Are y'all with me?

But he says if you sow in peace, you reap a harvest of righteousness.

We're gonna talk about that in a little bit.

So what James is trying to help us understand is there's a difference between knowledge and wisdom.

Just because you're smart doesn't mean you're wise.

Just because you got a high GPA doesn't mean you're wise.

Thank God.

Where are all my C students at?

Fellow C students.

Come on.

Okay, a few of you out there willing to admit it, right?

Thank God for that.

You can be wise without being smart.

Okay.

Wiz knowledge can build a house, but wisdom can build a home.

There's a difference between having knowledge and wisdom.

And we are more inundated with knowledge than we ever have been at any time in human history, but it hasn't made us much better in the way that we treat people, in the way that we interact, and the way that we live life.

Matter of fact, I mean, you can find anything at your at your fingertips, can you not?

You can Google it.

I I'm I'm loving AI.

I can find it even faster.

Chat's my newest friend.

I even told Chad, I said, just call me Daniel.

So when I talk to it, it says, Daniel, that's great.

I'll be happy to help.

Yesterday I was like, Chat, tell me how to get from this destination to this destination.

What is the fastest way to get there?

And they were like, You got three options.

Buy an airplane, it'll take this much time, but you have to go through TSA and it'll take this much time.

But if you took a train, it would be this much time, and it's an a scenic route, and then you wouldn't have to worry about going through security, but if you Ubered, it would be this much.

I recommend.

I was like, thanks, chat, for letting me know.

Get information fast.

Matter of fact, someone sent this to me.

I thought this was funny.

They said, the most asked questions to chat.

This is actually a list, these are real questions that ask is this.

My spouse said, I'm fine.

What does that actually mean?

How about this one?

These are real questions that got asked of Chat GPT, ranked in the top five.

How do I eat healthy, save money, get in shape, sleep eight hours, and have peace without changing my lifestyle?

That just goes to show you we want some knowledge, but we don't want some wisdom.

But how many of you know we need wisdom if we're gonna have a faith that thrives outside of a Sunday morning?

We need some wisdom in the choices.

Why?

Because you're making 35,000 plus choices a day, you're making 50 to 200 that are consequential, and they're shaping the destiny of your life.

And so we need wisdom and we need heavenly wisdom.

Now, James chapter 3 compares and contrasts two different types of wisdom, and that's what we're gonna walk through today, and I hope you'll write these down.

James 3 · chapter mention

First, he talks about what we call earthly wisdom.

And he says there are two things that drive us towards earthly wisdom, and one he says is this it is bitter jealousy.

It's bitterness in our heart.

And the second one that he says is selfish ambition.

So if you remember what we read in the text, he said, wherever there is earthly wisdom, there is bitter jealousy and there is selfish ambition.

In other words, whenever we allow those things to get rooted in our heart, then we are already gravitating towards earthly wisdom.

It's one of the drivers, it's a motivator of it.

And we're already moving in that direction.

And some of us think, well, Pastor, no, that bitterness that I have is just between me and my sister, or just between me and that person in my dorm room, or me and that person that betrayed me.

But listen to me, you can't have bitterness in one area of your life and then not affect every area of your life.

You can't compartmentalize bitterness.

You can't lock it off in a room somewhere and just say, well, that's that's just in that room of the house of my heart, and it not get into every area of your life and begin to shade and begin to fade and begin to be the lens through which you look at everything in your life.

You are already moving.

Now it may be, it may be, it may be one dial at a time, may just be one little one little thing at a time that is moving you in that direction, but you're already moving towards earthly wisdom.

And here's the dangerous thing is sometimes we don't even realize we're beginning to see life through that lens, because we think we have a right to be better.

Well, the way they treated me, the thing they did, and I'm not minimizing the pain of the experience.

I'm just saying when bitterness gets rooted in your heart, it leads to you operating out of work earthly wisdom, which doesn't lead to God's best for you.

The second thing he says is selfish ambition.

When we begin to make choices in life through the lens of, it's all about me.

It's all about me, it's all about what I can get.

It's all I'm the center.

I'm gonna show up in the boardroom, it's all about me, I'm gonna show up in the dorm room, it's all about me.

I'm showing up at school, it's all about me.

I'm showing up in in my career, it's all about me.

I'm the center of it.

He says, You're already drifting.

These are the drivers of it.

And then he gives us three things that fuel these two things.

So this selfishness and this bitterness, there are things that act like accelerant on it, or they act like fuel to the fire, they act like throwing gasoline on a fire, and he says there's three things, I want to give them to you.

Number one is this, it's the world.

So he said there's three things.

The world is number one.

What does he mean by this?

It means just what are the inputs that I'm allowing into my life.

Because if I already have, okay, let me say it this way.

If I already have bitterness in my heart, don't you think the enemy of your soul has a way of just feeding you more bitter people?

More bitter headlines, more bitter on my on my feed.

Get my algorithm going where it just, where it complements my bitterness, where it just lets me know, well, they're bitter and I'm bitter and it's okay, and that's how the worlds are, and that's how people react, and that's how they do.

Or if I'm selfish, just put me around people that'll fuel that selfishness.

How much of the world, so I've got to ask this question, this is it.

How much of the world will I let into my life?

How much of it will I let into my life?

I'm not saying that that you can live a life.

I'm not asking you to be like a hermit, and I'm only gonna be around, you're like you'll never reach people in your life if all I'm gonna do is be around, I'm only gonna be around lost people, and I'm never gonna think I'm only gonna be church people, and I'm you know, I'm gonna like us four and no more, and the world's awful, and going to hell in a handbasket.

No, but just how much are you letting influence you?

Let me say it this way.

Do you know more about pop culture than you do James chapter 3?

James 3 · chapter mention

My name's Daniel, and I'm your friend.

Do you know more about why the bachelorette didn't get aired than you do about Matthew, Mark, Luke?

Are y'all tracking with me?

Just like, how much of that are we letting in?

Because the more you let in, the more it fuels bitterness, the more it fuels selfishness.

And the more that happens, the more you are drifting towards operating in earthly wisdom, meaning you'll parent out of earthly wisdom, you'll lead out of earthly wisdom, you'll do friendships out of earthly wisdom, you'll respond to people that respond wrongly to you out of earthly wisdom when you're letting more of the world in.

Number two, he says that the flesh.

The flesh, this is the idea in the text here is um the idea of sensual, in other words, it's the idea of feelings.

So I'm letting, when I begin to let my flesh lead my life, then it's only gonna fuel negative things in my life.

It's how do I feel about this?

You know, and and can I tell you something?

If if you wanna, if there's selfishness rising in your life or bitterness rising in your life, your flesh is gonna go, oh, this feels so good.

Oh, I'm gonna give them a piece of my mind.

I always think I need all my mind.

I can't give you any of it.

We got limited bandwidth up here.

But your flesh is gonna fuel that.

Your flesh is gonna love that more.

Yeah, be more selfish.

Yeah, be more bitter towards them.

Yeah, live, live for you, look out for you.

Don't look out for anybody else.

Climb the ladder, get over, step over people if you have to.

It's all about me, it's all about, and your flesh is gonna love that.

You can't live by your feelings, you can't live by how you feel, you've got to live by what God has said.

Here's the question that you've got to ask with this one: will I be led by my feelings or by truth?

And here's the deal: we have a culture that wants to bend God's word to fit our feelings.

We don't do that.

I bend my life to fit God's word.

Come on, can I get a better amen in God's house?

All right.

You didn't know it.

We're a Bible-believing church.

We believe the book from the cover to the maps.

Okay, some of you get that later.

You have a digital one, but the paper ones had maps in the back.

Okay.

Anyways.

But I don't bend God's word because it disagrees with how I feel.

No, I say, God, you're the standard.

I'm gonna bend my life.

There's some things I read sometimes, and I'm like, I don't even like that.

I don't like how it confronts some things in me, some attitudes I have.

Are y'all with me?

But I don't say, God, you're wrong.

I say, Daniel, you've got some work to do.

So that's like a fuel on it.

The flesh, how I feel.

Number three, the devil.

He says it's demonic.

And I'm not one that you know believe there's a devil under every rock.

I don't, I don't trip up the stay-ups and be like, you know, the devil made me do it.

I was like, nah, I may need new shoes.

You know what I mean?

Are y'all with me?

It drives me crazy, people that are like, I'm under financial attack.

I'm like, no, you purchased something you couldn't afford.

You need a budget.

You don't need a prayer partner, you need a budget.

You need an accountability partner.

Less going out, more coming in.

That's not the devil.

That's wisdom.

Come on, we ain't the federal government.

You gotta live on what you can afford.

But there is an enemy of your soul.

John 10 10 says the thief comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy.

And there's some things we do in our life, some things, some inputs we let in, some places we go, things we, and we think, well, if I just crack the door, it's not that big of a deal.

You you give the enemy an inch, he'll take, if not a mile, he'll take ten miles.

Because he eventually wants to take your life.

And it's like fuel on selfishness, on bitterness, and it leads to you living and operating out of earthly wisdom.

And what did James say?

The result or the fruit of living that life is?

He said, disorder and all kinds of evil practices.

So here's here's a little test, a little evaluation question.

Is there any area of my life that is out of order?

Is there any relationship that's out of order?

Is there any is my finances out of order?

Is my parenting out of order?

Is there any anywhere where there's disorder?

You may be like, I don't have vibes.

Evil practices, is there disorder?

Because if there is, James is saying, good chance, you're living by earthly wisdom.

And he says, But the wisdom that comes from heaven, it's different.

It's completely different.

Then he gives us eight characteristics.

I ain't gonna give you eight points.

Some of you are like, we're gonna be here all day.

Categorize them down all the way to six, everybody.

So, right fast.

Number one, he says this, says it honors God.

He says, wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure.

So the idea of pure here is this is that it is completely loyal to God.

In other words, whenever I'm I have a choice to make, I'm in a moment of decision, I'm at some kind of crossroads in my life where I've got to make a choice.

Heavenly wisdom first says, what does God think about this?

It's 100% loyal to God.

What would God, how would it, it it I mean, it can be a little cheesy, but it's like WWJD, what would Jesus do?

Are you with me?

It's it's like first and foremost, it is pure, it is motivated by a loyalty to God, not by a loyalty to self or even a loyalty to others, it's a loyalty to God.

This is what James addresses in James chapter 4.

James 4 · chapter mention

He says, Come close to God and God will come close to you.

And he says, Wash your hands, you sinners.

James just like gives it between the eyes, right?

Purify your hearts, and here it is, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.

And so he says, the kind of wisdom that comes from heaven is first, it's pure.

In other words, it doesn't have a divided loyalty.

It says, God, I'm gonna do what's right according to you, period.

No matter what the consequence is, no matter how people respond to me, no matter if it benefits me or not, if it's right, it's right.

And I'm gonna walk in heavenly wisdom.

Number two, he says, it promotes peace.

So is the choice I'm about to make, does it promote peace?

The idea here is shalom.

It's completeness, it's wholeness, it's nothing missing.

It's a steadiness, it's an ease, it's not chaotic, it's not tense, but it promotes peace.

You can't control everybody, but you can control your response in the middle of it.

This is what the proverb says.

It says a wise man controls his temper.

He knows that anger causes mistakes.

But peace leads you towards heavenly wisdom.

Number three, considers others.

I like the somebody said this once.

The word considerate means to consider it.

In other words, when I'm dealing with other people, I pause long enough to consider where they're coming from.

It's what Romans 15 says.

It says, we who are strong must be considered of those who are sensitive about things like this.

We must not just please ourselves, we should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord.

And it goes on to say this about Jesus, for even Christ didn't live to please himself.

In other words, here's what this thought Paul is giving us.

He's saying, listen, the kind of heavenly wisdom that that God wants you walking in is willing to stop for a moment and go, let me see it from your perspective.

It's not stubborn, it doesn't have its heels dug in.

It's not like my way or the highway.

No, no, no.

It has the maturity.

Remember, he's talking about how we operate as a body, but he's also talking about how we can live with wisdom and blessing in our everyday life.

But he's saying here's how we work together, here's how people from different perspectives, different backgrounds, all of that can come under the banner of Jesus Christ because we operate with heavenly wisdom that goes to heaven.

I didn't grow up where you grew up, and I didn't have the experience you grew up in, and I wasn't in your house.

I grew up in a completely different family system and culture and environment, but I'm willing to stop long enough to go, tell me how it was.

Wow, I didn't, I never knew that.

Tell me what it was like for you.

Tell me how you dealt with that.

Tell me the family you came out of.

Man, that's so different than mine.

But I'm considering it.

I have ears to hear.

I have humility, right?

I have a meekness that comes out of wisdom.

That's what James said.

To go, man, I'm a considerate.

Can I challenge parents a little bit?

Have you ever stopped to go to your child?

Hey, tell me how you see it.

I want to consider it.

What's it?

Whatever it is.

Okay?

Romans says, all right, Romans, he goes, even Christ did this.

He didn't live for his own self.

He lived considering the perspective, the view, the experience of somebody else.

When you could dig your heels in, I'm a grown adult, I can do what I want.

Well, one theologian said it like this with great power comes great responsibility.

Spider-Man.

Come on, put your hands together for that.

All right.

Just making sure we're awake.

Then he says next, next, which I think is critical in the order that he says them when he says, consider it, because whenever you consider something, then there will be times where you have to be willing to yield.

Where you're willing to yield, where you're willing to go.

I never considered that.

Maybe I should now have a different choice.

This is what wisdom does, everybody.

Wiz earthly wisdom, selfish, digging my heels in, stubborn, bitterness.

Godly wisdom, man, I've never considered it from that perspective.

And maybe I need to adjust.

Proverbs 12, 15 speaks to that.

Fools think their way is right, but the wise listen to others.

I'm not talking about things that are black and white in the Word of God.

I'm not talking about like, well, I'm just gonna let go of values and I'm gonna let go of truth.

I'm not talking about that.

I'm talking about in the daily decisions, most of your day isn't filled with decisions that are like, I've got to become a heretic to walk light.

No, no, they're not.

Most of it is, I have a preference, you have a preference.

How do we get on the same page?

Right?

Most of it is, it isn't right and wrong.

We've got to move to a point where we're graduating beyond right and wrong, to wise and unwise.

Right and wrong is pretty basic.

That's black and white.

That's yes, you either do it or don't.

It's right or wrong.

It's moral or it's immoral.

We're talking about graduating beyond that to these things.

It's like, man, I don't know.

I don't, I don't have a chapter and verse for that.

How many of you know?

I mean, many things that you fail.

I know in parenting, I'm like, I don't have a chapter and verse for this one.

God, I need wisdom.

And he says, okay, well, wisdom looks like this.

It's pure, it's considerate of others.

Are y'all following me?

He's giving me some framework on how to think about things.

Whenever I'm needing wisdom, and at some point I've got to be willing to yield.

Sometimes in your friendships, you've got to be like, hey, I think I saw that wrong and I got it wrong.

Sometimes in your career, you've got to, as the boss, be like, hey, I missed it on that.

I moved too fast.

I didn't see that the way you saw it.

Sometimes with your children.

Hey, I got that wrong.

I see where you're coming from now.

I miss it.

This is willing to yield.

Let's move quicker.

Number five, covers the faults of others.

1 Peter 4.8 says this above all, love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins.

Let me say this.

There's a difference between covering up and covering with love.

Covering up wants to hide the sin.

Covering up says, while you deal with consequences, I'm going to love you.

Covering a multitude of sins says, you know what?

I'm not going to carry this.

In the words of Elsa, I'm going to let it go.

Let it go.

That's what love does.

I could hold an offense.

I could get angry with you, but wisdom says, let it go.

Number six.

Last thought has no agenda.

James said it this way.

He said, the wisdom that's from heaven is impartial and sincere.

It doesn't come with an agenda.

It doesn't come with, you know, I'm I'm eventually going to manipulate this to get my way.

It comes with, I want what honors God.

I want what's best.

I want what is good, peaceful, loving, kind, gracious.

Are you with me?

Now here's what, yeah, okay.

Two of you.

Two of you got it.

That's great.

Now here's what some of you may be thinking.

You're like, Pastor, this is great.

But if I operated in the real world like this, I would be like a doormat getting walked over all the time.

Like if we, if I like this sounds good in church and it kind of feels good, but if I really like in the boardroom went in and was like, I'm gonna be considerate of others.

It's a doggy dog world.

I gotta take care of business.

I gotta take care of myself.

If I I'm trying to, it's a competitive world in college.

If I really, it's I'm trying to get into the careers, and I'm worried if AI is gonna take my career, and you gotta fight for what you want, and you've got to scrap.

I can't really, this doesn't work in the real world.

Now here's just what I want to show you.

It's a closing thought.

James ended the text in verse 18.

He says, Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

Now you would think I said earlier that if you sow peace, you reap peace.

And so I was curious about this word righteousness, and I read it and I thought, I know what righteousness means.

I've been studying the Bible a long, long time.

But just something said, no, you need to go to the original language on it.

So I went to the original language.

And the better translation for the word is peacemakers who sow in peace reach a harvest of justice.

One commentator called God the guardian of justice.

I thought, how beautiful is that.

And it may not be in the moment and it may not be a week later, but he goes, I got you.

In the Daniel translation, I'll take care of you, I will cover you, I will make sure favor comes upon you and blessing and promotion and all the things that if you did it in the world's way, you may get there, but God goes, I will get you there.

Because if you'll sow in peace, you will reap a harvest of justice.

God said, I'll make it right.

And can I tell you something?

You could put all your effort into getting you to the front of the room.

But when God does it, there's nobody that can pull you back.

There's nobody that can pull you back.

Let God you walk in wisdom and you let God prosper you.

The word prosper doesn't mean if you give God a dollar, he'll give you a, you know, Mercedes.

The word prospers, this idea in the Hebrew, that when you've done all you can do in your own strength, the picture is God puts his hand behind you and pushes you beyond yourself.

You walk in wisdom, the hand of God will push you further than you thought you could have gone.

And you will have done the journey the right way, the God-honoring way.

You may have heard the story of Corey Tinboon.

She was a Dutch Christian living in Holland during Nazi occupation and World War II.

Her family cared for Jewish people, would hide them actually.

And they were betrayed, and it got uncovered they were doing this, and so Corey and her sister Betsy ended up in a concentration camp.

And in the camp, they were treated obviously with inhumane cruelty and starvation and all the things that you've heard and read about.

But when the war was over, Betsy didn't make it.

She passed away in the concentration camp, but Corey did live, and Corey ended up with a wonderful ministry of sharing about the forgiveness of Jesus and the gospel.

She was speaking one night in Munich, Germany, of all places.

And at the end of the service, a man came up to her, and as he began to approach her, she says that she recognized him immediately as one of the worst guards in the concentration camp.

She said he began to make his way up to her at the end of the night.

And probably thinking in her mind she would never run into the people that did this to her again.

He walked up to her and said, Isn't it amazing if what you said is true, that his blood can wash away all my sins?

And he reached out his hand and he said, Will you please forgive me?

In that moment, Corey wrote that she felt like a cold anger rise up that she hadn't felt before.

And knowing the difference between earthly wisdom and heavenly wisdom.

Not because she felt it, but because God called her to it.

She reached out her hand and said, Yes, I forgive you.

She said in that moment she felt a weight lift off of her body and a peace fill her like she had never felt before.

Because when you sow in peace, you reap a harvest of righteousness.

Earthly wisdom?

Or godly wisdom?

Because even that choice is up to you.

I pray you'll choose wisely.

You receive the word of God today.

Will you pray with me?

Every head bowed, every eye closed, all across the room, if you can, right there where you are online.

Maybe you're here today and you've never made the greatest choice you could ever make.

And that is the choice to make Jesus the Lord of your life.

That simply means that you're surrendering control to Him.

That you're done living life your way, by your standards, your choices, but you're saying, God, I want to live according to your way.

I want to know that my sins are forgiven.

I want to know that heaven is my home.

The Bible says that if you do that, that you become a brand new creation, that all things pass away.

The old is gone and the new comes.

And some of you today, you need a fresh start, you need a new beginning.

Maybe you're here today.

And there was a time where you were walking with Jesus, but you've strayed away.

There was a time where your commitment was deeper and your passion was greater, but you know that's been a while.

Today needs to be a day of returning, a day of recommitment.

If that's you, you'd say, Pastor, I want that today.

In just a moment, we're going to pray.

I want to be included in that prayer.

If that's you, I just want to know who I'm praying with.

We're not going to come to you, embarrass you, or point you out.

But want to know who I'm praying with.

And I just believe when you shoot your hand up in a moment, that's kind of your first step of faith, just saying, God, that's me.

I need that.

So when I count the three, you shoot your hand up high enough, long enough for me to see, and then we're going to pray together.

If God is speaking to you, today's the day you need a brand new beginning.

Then you shoot your hand up on three.

One, two, three.

God bless you.

God bless you and you.

Wow, so many all over the room.

Just keep them up.

God bless you.

It's beautiful.

I see in the very, very back row on the floor and in the balcony.

God bless you.

God bless you.

All the way over to my right.

God bless you.

It's beautiful.

You can put them down.

Church, will you pray this out loud with me for the benefit of those who just slip their hand up?

Just say, Jesus, I need you.

I ask you to forgive me of all my sin.

I believe you died for me.

I believe God raised you from the dead.

Today I make you, my Lord and Savior.

Thank you for a brand new beginning.

In Jesus' name.

Everyone said a big amen.

Come on, can you clap your hands and celebrate those who made that decision?

It's incredible.

Thanks for joining us today.

If you'd like to connect with us, text Connect to 71010 or visit gatewaypeople.com.

We hope you have a great week.