Making a Choice

Follow Along with the Message

Two Choices Based on Two of the Eight Beatitudes:

1.    The  Choice

God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

--Matthew 5:3 NLT

The Choice to:

• realize I am not .
• admit I am powerless to control my tendency to do the .
• Admit that my life is  without Him.

As long as we think things look “OK” on the outside – we ignore all the  in our hearts.’

• That’s called “.”

"It is for freedom that Christ set us free."

--Galatians 5:1 NIV

2.    The  Choice

“God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

--Matthew 5:4 NLT

The Choice to:

• earnestly believe that God .
• believe that I .
• believe that he has the power to .

Many of the hurts and unhealthy habits that mess us up are a result of us trying to comfort ourselves.

A  will not .

Jesus said:  “God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

• We don’t want to mourn.
• But we desperately want to feel comforted.
• We don’t want to face our pain or failures.
• We just want to escape.

 is the only path to comfort.

You can’t  a path forward until you deal with your yesterday.

Three ways to “see” that God has a path toward comfort and hope.

1.    We see who God .

“Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.”

--Romans 8:34 NLT

• God is really a God of .

“But you, O Lord, are a God of compassion and mercy, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.”

--Psalm 86:15 NLT

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort.”

--2 Corinthians 1:3 NLT

• God wants to be to you and have a  with you.

“Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.”

--Psalm 23:4 NLT

2.   I have to see who .

• I have to understand that I am .

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

--Romans 3:23 NLT

“The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all.”

--Luke 12:2 NLT

"You can't keep your true self hidden forever; before long you'll be exposed.  You can't hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face will be known." 

--Luke 12:2 (MSG)

We spend so much of our life and time and energy   from the truth of who we really are. 

• You don’t have to waste most of your life trying to pretend that you’re someone you’re not.
• Yes, I'm  … but I am . 
• And He loves you like  has ever loved you.

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”

--Jeremiah 31:3 NIV

“Now let your unfailing love comfort me, just as you promised me, your servant.

--Psalm 119:76 NLT

• We don’t have to  God’s love.
• And we will never it.
• God's love is a pure .

“Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.”

--Romans 3:24 NLT

3.   I have to see how God can  me.

Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary.
No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion.
But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

--Isaiah 40:28-31 NLT

”For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”

--Philippians 2:13 NLT

Bottom Line: You can’t clearly see a path  until you deal with your .

• If there was one thing I need to change in my life that would make me more free, what would that one thing be?