Good Decisions Always Agree with God’s Word

CURRENT TEACHING SERIES Essentials For Living

Good Decisions Always Agree with God’s Word By Rick Warren — Aug 19, 2015 “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” (Psalm 119:105 NIV) When you need to make a decision, the first and ideal test is this: “Is my decision in harmony with God’s Word?” You have to decide what’s going to be your ultimate authority in life. It really boils down to two choices: God’s Word or the world. Are you going to base your decisions on what God says or what other people say? If you base your life on popular opinion, you’re always going to be out of date, because it changes every day. What was “in” yesterday will not be “in” today and what’s “in” today will not be “in” tomorrow. If you base your life on popular culture, political correctness, or opinion polls, you do not have principles to live by. That’s called a shifting foundation! On the other hand, if you base your life on God’s Word, the truth never changes. Truth is always true. So if God says something was wrong 10,000 years ago, it was also wrong 500 years ago, it’s wrong today, and it will be wrong 1,000 years from today. I don’t care what opinion polls or political correctness or the media says. If God says it’s wrong, it’s wrong. It always has been, and it always will be. If God says it’s right, it will always be right. That is a solid foundation! God has set up the universe with certain laws— physical, moral, and spiritual. God built the universe around these laws not because he’s capricious but because they’re all for your benefit. When you cooperate with the principles in this universe, you succeed. If you reject, rebel, disobey, and ignore God’s principles, you’re the one who gets hurt. You don’t ever break God’s laws. They break you! If I go up on top of a building and jump off, I don’t break the law of gravity. It breaks me. The same is true with moral laws and spiritual laws. You cannot just thumb your nose at God and get away with it. There’s inevitably a reckoning. Any time you violate God’s principles, you’re asking for trouble.  With all this in mind, you can be confident in your decision. If God says it’s OK, then you do it. If God says “no,” then you don’t do it. “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path” (Psalm 119:105 NIV). PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >> Talk It Over How does society try to convince you that truth is subjective? What do you need to be doing in order to know the Bible well enough to base your decisions on it? How have you experienced freedom when you obeyed God’s laws and direction in your life?   Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.        --Joshua 1:7     Nehemiah was one of the great leaders of the Bible even though he wasn’t a prophet, a priest, or a preacher! Nehemiah described himself as a cupbearer to the king. He was just a guy who worked hard and had risen to some prominence in his day and time. Nehemiah was just a man… but he was a man whom God raised up! As we look at his life, there are some steps that Nehemiah took that insured his success… steps that made him a very effective leader. They’re the same steps you can take as a follower of Christ to ensure you’re an effective leader in your sphere of influence as well. Step number one is to pray fervently. We see this trait over and over again in the life of Nehemiah. He was a man of prayer. Real leaders understand that opportunity swings on the hinges of prayer. Step number two to being an effective leader is to plan wisely. Too often we have an idea… we have a dream… and we just go at it arms flailing, rather than taking time to plan. But there’s a beautiful balance here. There’s the divine side of praying and then there’s the human side of planning. There is agonizing and then there is organizing. Step number three is to proceed confidently and courageously. You accomplish this by living what Proverbs 3:5-6 says: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” This is why Nehemiah was such a great leader. He not only prayed, he not only proceeded with confidence and trust in the Lord, he planned effectively. These same steps… when applied to your life as a Christian… will help you become the effective leader God intends for you to be! Become an Effective Leader By Praying Fervently, Planning Wisely, and Proceeding Confidently.