Hallelujah. What a great day it is to be in God's house, in God's sanctuary.

You know, I was preparing this sermon and I read an article this week and it was really cool. Do you guys know the graveyard that's over on Pennsylvania Avenue? You guys ever see that in Barnegat? You know, I started to read a whole research paper, this whole website that was set up to this. And it was really interesting because they went through the graveyard and they pulled out names that they could read. Some of them, you couldn't read the headstones, right? It's kind of their stories are lost to time, but some of them you could. And they've researched these people and were able to tell their stories.

Now, that was the only graveyard in Barnegat for a long time that a person of color could be buried in. So some of the stories that they dug up of some of these people's lives were really amazing. And I got to hear about some of the struggles and some of the circumstances that some of these people went through. And some of them went through real adversity and had some really amazing stories to hear about. You know, I came to the end of that paper and I looked at, there's like a bunch of pictures of some of the headstones that are there. And God began to talk to me and kind of reveal to me some things about today's sermon.

You know, He began to say, look, all of these men, all of these women, all of these people have lived through such trying times, had lived through crazy circumstances. Some of them we will never know, their stories are lost and you'll never hear them. But what really matters in the end? What really matters is not what circumstance you live through, but how you lived through that circumstance. What you did and how you responded and how you grabbed onto God and called out to His name. You see in the end every man, whether they died a long time ago or they're going to in the future, every man will have to present themselves before God and give an account for how they lived. You see in the end it's not the stories that matter.

"What really matters is not what circumstance you live through, but how you lived through that circumstance."

For me, my story is probably eventually going to be lost to time. Some people are in the history books. Others are going to be lost to time. But you know what will never be lost to time? When a man says “yes” to God. You see, when a man falls down before God, that lasts through eternity. The only thing that remains through eternity is when you are presented before God. And He looks at you as he did in the parable of the talents and says, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master.” That cannot be lost to time. That can never disappear. That lasts into eternity because that is how a man enters into God's rest.

Today, in the midst of our circumstance, I want to remind you that we serve a king over everything. He is the king over our circumstance. He is the king over the conditions of this world. He is the king over sickness, and He is even the king over death.

We sometimes get so wrapped up in our circumstance, so wrapped up in everything going on in our lives that it ties us down and it wraps us up and it tries to get you to forget about Christ. In the face of so many circumstances that seem so insurmountable, we begin to doubt, we begin to fret, we begin to want to stop praying, stop believing, begin to take things into our own hands and begin to fix them. Our circumstances whisper in our ear to get you to get angry, get bitter, or get revenge. They tell us that you're going to be lost. You're going to lose. You're going to be broke unless you take things into your own hands and fix them. We, people of God, that might work for everyone else in the world, but we, inside these walls, God has called out a mandate for the church. And it's not to act like the rest of the world. It's not to do things the way the rest of the world does things. God is calling for something different in his house. We people of God answer to a higher authority than our circumstance. And His name is the Lord Jesus Christ. Today, God is calling us to stop reacting to our circumstance in ungodliness and to instead choose Christ over your circumstance. That's my sermon today. The title of my sermon is: “Choose Christ Over Your Circumstance.”

"[As] people of God, [we] answer to a higher authority than our circumstance. And His name is the Lord Jesus Christ."

There's three things we have to know about that. Number one - is that there is a choice. There is a choice to choose Christ. One of my favorite non-religious outside of the Bible quotes is from Robin Williams. He said, “don't forget, every person that you encounter is going through a struggle that you know nothing about.” I try to keep that in mind sometimes, whether I'm at work and I deal with somebody in the street and they're having a hard time. Or even if I run into somebody in the grocery store and I feel like God's maybe prompting me to talk to somebody. I try to remember that. Because that's why the gospel is so important. That's why it's so important, because every person has a set of circumstances, a set of struggles that we know nothing about. But the answer is always the same. The answer is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Today maybe you guys have a set of circumstances that you are going through in yourselves. That are weighing upon your souls. Maybe someone's sick, maybe there's turmoil inside your homes. Maybe things at work aren't going so well, maybe there's rumors about you and your reputation is being damaged, or maybe your children are struggling. We each have a set of circumstances that surround us. And I tell you, so often those circumstances are looking to try to change you. They're looking to try to change you and try to make you dictate who you are, and what you sound like, and how you act, and what you believe. So often life chaos is a tactic of the enemy to get you to buckle underneath the pressure and lose your faith.

But today I have good news for the church. There are two voices. For the world, that might not be that way. But we in God's house, there are two voices. And to be in God's house means that you are choosing God. One voice is the circumstance that looks to weigh you down, but the other voice is the voice of God that is looking to make you stand on His Word. There is a choice. It's called free will. Satan likes to come in and try to pervert our free will to use it against God. He uses tactics like temptation and addictions and desires to pervert your free will against God. But God gives you a word that you might stand on His truth. You see, God doesn't work in addiction. God doesn't work in temptation. No, God works through His holy Word. He doesn't work like Satan works.

He says, “Here is My Word that will sustain you through all things. Come and stand on it today.” Amen. He is the voice of the one crying out in the wilderness, “prepare ye the way of the Lord and make straight in the desert a highway for God.” You see the voice calling out in the desert. I don't know if you've noticed it, but we are in the desert. But yet God can call, God can make way in your life and give you a word to stand on to say make way for God because God is coming through your life. Today He gives you a choice which voice you will bow a knee to.

You know it reminds me of the two trees in the Garden of Eden. I thought back to that story this week. And there was a ton in the garden when you read the story. There was a ton of abundance of trees, right? There were fruits, there were all sorts of nice things in the garden, but He only specifically mentions two trees. The tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And only one of those two trees, He said, “don't eat from it.” And the serpent comes, much like he does today in sin's deceitfulness. But ultimately, in the end, when you get to the end of the story, what did it come down to? It came down to a choice. Do I follow God's Word or do I listen to that other voice - my own desires? I began to think, I began to question God - God, it doesn't make sense to me. Why even give him a choice? You got those fancy flaming swords that it talks about. Why not just put it in front of the tree? Problem solved. Why even put the tree in there in the first place? Why? There's a ton of land. Why did you put that serpent in that garden? It doesn't make sense. Why did you set it all like that? The answer - because people of God, there has always been and will always be a choice to serve God. It's called obedience.

"There has always been and will always be a choice to serve God. It's called obedience."

You see, the church of God is filled with those who choose God because that is what obedience is. Let me tell you, you’ll never run into a situation where you just won't have a choice and you have to choose God. For your whole life, until you reach heaven, you will have a choice every single day when you wake up, whom you shall serve. God is calling us to choose Him this day.

Let's read the verse in Genesis 3. “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took its fruit and ate it. She also gave it to her husband, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were open, and they knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves a covering.” This is the problem, right? We want to be wise outside of God's Word. We want to take in worldly wisdom, we want to take in other types of wisdom instead of just standing on God's Word. Instead of just saying God said this and God said that. No, we want to get our wisdom from somewhere else.

And what happens the moment they eat the fruit? What are their eyes opened up to? Their circumstance. Their eyes are all of a sudden opened up to their circumstance. And they had a realization that they were naked. And what did they have to do? They had to fix it, right? They had to take it into their own hands and fix it. They had their eyes open to their circumstance and they said, “No, this is not okay. I got to get in there and I got to fix this.” So they start sewing leaves together and doing all this nonsense. But really, what was the real problem? What was really their circumstance? They didn't run to God and say, “God, I sinned before you.” They didn't run and say, “Lord, I ruined the relationship. What did I do? Please forgive me.” They didn't deal with their real circumstance. They dealt with their worldly circumstance. And they began to take things into their own hands in an attempt to fix it. They sew these leaves together in a futile attempt to fix their circumstance, which they believed was their nakedness. And what do they sew? They sew a covering - a barrier between them and God.

The world pours out chaos in our lives all the time. Why? It's in an attempt to create a separation, a barrier between you and God. It's to get you to take things into your own hands, forget God, forget His Word, stand up, fix the situation, and in doing so, separate yourself from God. Ignore the real circumstance, nobody wants to deal with the real circumstance of their heart by saying, “God, I am far from you. God, I have sinned against you.” No, they're worried about their worldly circumstance and how they can fix it. And by taking it into their own hands, they sew themselves a covering - a separation between them and God.

Just as in the garden today, we have a choice whom we shall follow. You can buckle to your circumstance - forget asking about the Word of God, take it into your own hands, fix it however you can, and fall to the voice that is telling you you're finished. The voice that tells you that you have no other options, you're going to starve, you're going to lose, you're going to be without. Or for the church, we can fall at the feet of the cross.

You see, that is the option available to you today. You can go do things like the rest of the world - you can go solve things the rest of the way the world solves things, or you can fall at the feet of the cross. You can go to the one who died and beat death on the cross. You can go to the one who is king above all things and say, “God, I am in need today. God, I am in need of a savior. Come down and rescue me. God, I know my circumstance. I know what's on the outside. But even in my heart today, I look at it and I see the real circumstance about how I am far from you. God, I know all the things in the world.” Read Psalms - It's all about it. David says, “my enemies are surrounding me, everything's happening. They want to kill me, but God, don't let me forsake your Word.” Amen.

That's not to say we're not aware of our situation. We are not blind to the realities of the world, but what it means is you are not blind to Jesus Christ. We know His power, His love, and His Word that He has given us, and we serve a higher truth. I hear so often from people I've talked to and they say “you don't understand. Let me tell you what's really happening. I know you're saying all this stuff and God and I get it. But let me tell you what's really happening. Let me tell you the circumstance. Let me tell you what I'm going through.” You see, in their minds, that circumstance is a higher truth than God. By saying that, you're saying, “No, that circumstance…I know what you're saying. I know. I believe. Yeah, yeah. But let me tell you the reality of what I'm going through.” I've done it myself, so I know that by saying that, you're saying, “Let me tell you the higher truth that I live by.” No, let me tell you about the higher truth that the church serves. The church serves the Holy God.

You know, this sermon didn't come out of thin air. This sermon came out of what I've seen in my own life. Things I've failed at, sometimes I pass it, but, you know, the things that God has proven to me. My family has seen some of the hardest times. And they're not by happenstance, right? I know that a lot of what we go through is because of what we stand on inside this church. Things are thrown at us in wave after wave in an attempt to get us to forget God, take things into our own hands, and fix our own circumstances. And I've got to tell you, there's been times where I've wanted to do it. There's been times if it wasn't for Pastor, I promise you I would have been out there fixing things on my own, doing things my own way. And she's had to stop me. There's been rumors about us, people slandering us. There's been threats to close our doors, do us harm, bankrupt us. There's been people who I watch eat at our pastor's table one day and then turn on them the next. Our children have been sick. Our circumstances are dire at times with members of our family's health in jeopardy. You see, these circumstances are overwhelming at times. They are hard at times. And I've gone to Pastor and said, “That's it. I'm done. I'm going to go fix it. I'm going to go tell him. I'm going to go tell him what's up. I'm going to go say my words and tell whoever it is or do whatever it is. I'm going to put my faith inside this doctor.” And I tell you time and time again, she has said “No, we're going to stand on the Word, we're going to wait on God.”

Look, I can't tell you that things aren't hard, but what I can tell you through my own life is that every time I have waited on God, He has delivered me. That's all I can say. Christ died to reinstate the choice that was provided to us in the garden. Not only did He die, but He empowered us. No longer are we held down by the power of sin that makes us want to buckle, but He has given us the keys to the kingdom. By His death we can be free to have a choice - to say “no” to ungodliness and to say “yes” to God.

These circumstances are overwhelming sometimes. They look to try to lie to us and tell us it's over and there's nothing you can do. And to be honest with you, for the world there is nothing they can do. They have no higher authority, but for God's house, we serve a higher authority. He is the king over this world. He is the king over the circumstance. Don't you forget that we serve a God that created the heavens and the earth - that is the God we serve. There's choices to go our own way or attempting,
but God is telling you to believe and trust in Him over every circumstance that the world is throwing at us. So we know that there's a choice, that’s number one.

Number two, there's an effect. There's an immediate effect in your life when you choose God. Once we make a choice to no longer listen to our circumstance, there is an immediate effect. I know a lot of you guys are teachers and some other stuff in the hospitals or the schools. And you've had to go with what New Jersey has deemed like mindfulness training, right? And, you know, they kind of told me every cop in New Jersey has to go through this training. And they were told, “Hey, it's resiliency. They're going to make you very resilient. They're going to make you more resilient.” I'm like, “Yeah, it sounds great. I want to be more resilient.”

So we go to this training and I go there and what do I find is that a lot of it plays in, not all of it, but a lot of it plays into that whole mindfulness thing. And what is this mindfulness thing that's going around? It's a Buddhist principle that kind of says, “Hey, anything you can't control, just let it go. Just let it go in the air. What's going to happen is going to happen and you kind of just have to let it go and not let it bother you and not think about it.” And I was in there, and I was like, “What? Teacher, I don't—not for me.” And you know, I think a few Christians must have stood up and said something because they actually added a block about Christianity, believe it or not, or about faith that says, “Okay, if you don't believe this, you can believe this.” So there was so much of that in there.

Let me be clear. When I say that when you choose Christ, you are not just forgetting about your circumstance. You're not just letting it go into the air and kind of like hoping the universe spits it back out in your favor. That's not what I'm talking about. When you serve Christ, it means that you are taking these circumstances and submitting them unto the king over all things. It means that you have another option. It means you don't have to just let it go and not think and just let go, let God type of stuff.

That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about taking these circumstances, presenting them before God as we saw David did in Psalms and sitting down and saying, “Lord, this is what's going on in my life. This is the reality. But, Father, I know that you are greater than every circumstance.” Amen?

Mindfulness says that you can't control things so that we have to let them go. Christianity says we can't control things, but we serve a God who controls all things. This was shown when I was reading about Paul in some of the letters to some of the churches. This was shown so clearly in his life. Let me remind you that Paul went through some stuff. Let's look at some of the stuff Paul went through.

"Christianity says we can't control things, but we serve a God who controls all things."

“Three times I was beaten with rods, once pelted with stones. Three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a day and a night in open sea. I have been constantly on the move. I've been in danger from rivers. I've been in danger from bandits. I've been in danger from fellow Jews. In danger from Gentiles. In danger in the city. In danger in the country. In danger at sea. In danger of even the false believers. I have labored, toiled, and often gone without sleep. I have known hunger and thirst. And I've often gone without food. I've been cold. I've been naked. And on top of everything else, I'm constantly worried about the churches that are underneath me.”

Does that sound like somebody who's just mindful about their situation and just throwing it out into the universe? No, he knew what he was going through. He wasn't just ignoring his circumstance. He knew the challenges that were coming his way. You see, when you are faced with circumstance, you're very aware of them. But this is why it is a choice. You have to choose Christ in spite of all those circumstances and choose to remain in Him and stand on His Word.

You see, when everybody else in the world has no choice, when every else in the world has no recourse, there is an immediate effect because you can go to the King of all kings and submit yourself underneath Him and say, “God, I can't control things, but You can.” Even in the face of all those hardships, Paul then says this to the church of Philippi, “I'm not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content regardless of the circumstance. I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or living in want.”

What is this secret that he learned? Well, this goes back to last week's sermon, right? The secret he learned is the one that gives you long life. It's a heart transplant. It's the one that says, “My heart only longs for You, Christ.” In the midst of everything you are going through, you stand and you continue to stand. Because guess what? My treasures aren't in this world. My treasure is in heaven. And as long as God has me and I have God, well then what can this world do to make me buckle?

“I've learned to be content in every situation,” Paul says because he knew that he had Christ and Christ had him. You see, there is an immediate effect upon a man when he chooses Christ. Because your heart should not yearn for revenge or release. It should be only yearning for Christ. In the midst of whether you have a lot or a little, your circumstance is not meant to dictate the status of your heart. I say it again. In the midst of your circumstance, whatever is going on in your life, it should not be dictating the condition of our heart. Because our hearts are only supposed to yearn for Him. And as long as Christ is with you, you know that He is in control of all things. And His Word begins to satisfy your heart. All of a sudden these words come up.

The Word of God becomes alive. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? For I am persuaded that neither life nor death nor angels nor principalities nor powers…” Here's the big one. “Nor things present nor things to come.” A.K.A. circumstance. “Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ, Lord, art my Jesus. Amen. Amen.

I can tell you that, you know, this word took me a long time to get in my life. It really did. And I'm still working on it. I feel like my life was kind of like Peter walking on the water out to Jesus. You make that first eye contact with Jesus and you see Him and anything's possible. And you run out into the water and you're like, “Yeah, God.” And your eyes are fixed upon Him and you're running out. And what did Peter do? Something like I did. You begin to look to the left and to the right and begin to see the waves and begin to realize your circumstance.

You know, for me, there's times that things have been really rough. You know, I look at things with my son and some of the things we have gone through. I understand the weight of circumstance. From the moment he was born, I remember he was born and actually right before and the nurse was like, “Hey, the cords wrapped around his neck twice.” And I'm like, “Look, I'm not Dr. Dave, but I know that's not good.” Right. And you get that moment where you're like panicked and then it continued on. And thank God he's doing better today, but still some of the challenges we face of him not being able to breathe and food and some of the things we go through. Look, I know circumstances can be so much. But these situations come up always in an attempt to get you to take your eyes off Jesus, look at the waves around you, and begin to sink.

The waves of circumstance are meant so that you see them, take notice, and begin to sink. And that's why last week's sermon really touched my heart. I felt like it was like a deliverance for me because I felt like Jesus was taking my hand and pulling me out. Refixing my eyes upon Him as I'm meant to be. And saying, “Look, I understand the circumstance.” But yet we are meant to ride on top of the waves. “Ye of little faith, why did you take your eyes off me?” And I'm saying, “God, You're so right.” You know what? And it almost like was a deliverance moment for me of saying, “No, God, my joy, my contentness, who I am is only meant to come from You.” And in doing that, He took me out of those waters, realigned my mind with the fact that circumstances will come. But the only thing that matters is Christ. We are not meant to be sinking in our circumstance. We are meant to be fixing our eyes upon Jesus. It's not that you don't know the waves are there, but it's the fact that you are not drowning in them. He is holding your hand, keeping you on top, for He is the king over the waves.

So when I say that there's an immediate effect, what does it look like? Well, we're no longer dwelling. You know, I went to that training, and I sat with some people. And this wasn't even my sermon. But the one guy I sat with, he was kind of tearing up. And he's like a hard-nosed cop. And he looks at me, he's like, “You know, my dad, when I was a kid, cheated on my mom. He went with a prostitute, ended up getting AIDS, died like six months later.” And you could tell this guy was like broken. He's like, “I try not to think about it.”

And then I went to the next person, and the next person was like, “Yeah, you know, I've really been through some stuff. I lost a child and it was really rough on me, and I try not to think about it.”

And it's the craziest thing. Person after person that I went and spoke to, it was always the same. “I try not to think about it.” You see, the world is lost and they are just, they have no recourse. They have no option besides trying not to think about it. God is not looking for us to be ignorant of our circumstance, but He is looking to be our rescuer, our deliverer, the One that is with us, the One that mends our broken heart, the One that can change all things.

I understand why people get kind of like mentally ill because their circumstances— they dwell upon their minds day in and day out until it wears upon them and they can't handle it. You see, God is not saying that you're not going to be aware, but He's saying that “You're not going to dwell, you're not going to drown, because you have another option.” We, inside the church of God, have another option. And His name is the Lord Jesus Christ, and He's looking to deliver you today.

No longer do you not dwell, but it makes you acknowledge the power of God. I tell you, it almost has to be audible. It almost has to be audible, that you've got to sit there and say, “Lord, you are the king over everything. God, you are the creator. You were there in the beginning and you will be there in the end. By all things are Your Word. Your Word holds all things together. You created all things and by fire all things will end, but it is all by Your Word.”

You see, when you begin to speak out who God is, God begins to realign your thinking. It tells you who's truly in control. It establishes the fear of God in your life, which is what? The beginning of knowledge. That is what God is meant to do. That's why I even say do it out loud. There's times I gotta be like “God, these things are bad but I know who You are.” You see when you don't do that you begin to lose focus and all of a sudden this worldly thing tries to establish itself as a higher truth, but God is the most high.

What else does it make you do? It makes you develop a prayer life. You know throughout history this has played out over and over again. People get wrapped up in their lives, they forget about God, hardship comes, they cry out to God and they devote themselves back to Him. How many times have you read that in the Old Testament? God is looking, when you go through hardship, it makes you run to the foot of the cross and develop that prayer life. When you have hardship, but you are not consumed by it, it is because of prayer. It develops who you are. It teaches you to trust. It teaches patience and perseverance. It is the motivation that makes you earnestly seek after God and develop a real relationship with him.

Jessica and I can look back on our lives and say so much of the relationship that we have developed with God has been in those moments where we've had to chase after Him, where we've had to go deep and say, “God, I'm struggling right now, but I need a word from You.” And I tell you, when that word comes in, nothing can take it away. This is the glory to glory God is meant to do. He's meant to bring you from… it's not like glory to glory means you fail and whatever. No, glory to glory means you are struggling, but you go to God and He gives you a word to stand on. And it's a new glory for that day until the next thing comes. In the hard times, it forces us to our knees to tell God who He is and go deep with Him.

There is an immediate effect upon the man or woman who chooses Christ. It develops character and perseverance and steadfastness. What Satan meant for bad, what he was looking to get you with. That barrier, that situation that he was looking to set up so that you would take things into your own hands and set up a barrier and a covering between you and God. You are meant to flip the tables on Satan and say, “No, this is the thing that is developing godly character and steadfastness and perseverance inside of me.” And it becomes the very thing that you stand on.

"You were never meant to drown in your circumstance. You were meant to use it as a weapon to fight against the enemy and come out the other side standing tall."

You were never meant to drown in your circumstance. You were meant to use it as a weapon to fight against the enemy and come out the other side standing tall. Amen?

So we learned that number one, there's a choice. Number two, there is an immediate effect. And number three, finally, there is a result. There is a result when you choose God.

You know, interestingly enough, when you read in Revelations, you know, in Genesis, there were two trees. But when you read in Revelations, only one tree is mentioned. “On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.” You know, I think about heaven, and I think, okay, like there's the tree. The tree of life's there. Hopefully we're there, and we're there standing there and looking.

Where's the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Where did it go? You see, that tree in Genesis represented a choice. And it is why God put it there in the beginning. It's a choice of obedience. On one side you have your own way, your own feelings, your own desires above God's desires. And a man who chooses to be selfish or arrogant or exalt themselves above God. But on the other side is the man who steps on top of their carnality, who says, “God, I'm going to grab onto Your hand and rise above the waves and look at You.” The man who says, “Lord, this world might do one thing, but Your church does another and stands on the words of God who looks Jesus in the eye and chooses Him.”

Why is that tree missing in the end times? Well, because the choice has already been made. Heaven is going to be filled with men and women who have made the choice. You can't float through Christianity. You can't just do whatever you want and try to do your best. You must make a choice. I'm not saying you're not going to fail, but you make a choice and say, “God, I will not serve any other. In the times that I do, I'm not going to try to fix it on my own like they did in the garden. I'm going to run up to You and say, ‘Lord, I have sinned against You and You alone’ and make things right.”

You see, the real circumstance that plagues the church is their fact that they are far from God and they have created barriers and separation between them and God. It's not what's going on in the world. It's not the way the world's going. It's not what's happening in the schools. It's not anything else. It's not poverty. No, it is the fact that God and the church has taken up a thing where they say, “I'm going to be separate from You. I'm going to be wrapped up in my circumstance and pray about my circumstance instead of pray about the fact that I am far from You.”

Heaven is filled with people who have chosen Christ. The tree of knowledge of good and evil is absent because the choice has already been made. Heaven is the result. Heaven is the result of a man who has chosen to stop living by circumstance and start living by faith.

You stop living based off of what happened to you as a child. You stop living based off of the abuse you went through or the neglect or the fact that you're abandoned. As horrible as those things are, as much as they affected us, we stop living by the old and come into the new. We start living by the Word of God. We start being transformed on the inside. The heart begins to change. You no longer live based off of your lineage or what your fathers did. You no longer live in the bitterness of your situation. It's not that it didn't happen, but we are not drowning in it.

You choose to follow Christ every single day, and you wake up every single morning and say, “God, today, whatever might come, whether hell or high water, I will stand on Your Word this day.” This is how we run the race marked out with us with perseverance. This is what delivers us into heaven. It's by waking up every day and saying, “No, God, I'm not going to choose to quit.” I hate running, right? But you know when you get to the end and your mind knows it's the end and your body starts shutting down. Those are those moments where you make a choice and say, “No, I'm not going to stop. I'm not going to stop. I'm not going to stop.” And you get through to that finish line. That is what God has called. That is the walk of the Christian.

There's no choice left when we're in heaven. Everybody thinks we're going to go to heaven and make a choice to worship God. Or I didn't worship my whole life, but I'll do it when I get to heaven. No, that's not how it works. We make the choice here today. Heaven is the result of that choice.

Revelations 2:7, “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life which is in the paradise of God.” To the one who is victorious.

Adam and Eve, they discounted themselves from that tree of life. They chose to eat of the forbidden tree. The truth is the tree of life was available to them the whole time. God said “Here's these two great trees, just don't eat of that one.” Where did they immediately go? That one. They never ate of the tree of life. I'm sure the fruit was great on that one too, but they chose the one that God said no to.

Because of that sin, God had to bar them from the tree of life. It goes on in Genesis and says, “And the Lord God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us.” Us, talking to Jesus, “knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever.” You see, they missed out on the tree of life because they chose sin. And generations of people suffered because of that choice until one day a baby was born.

Jesus changed everything. For the one that chooses Christ today, He is the tree of life. Don't be mistaken. That tree of life has been made available to you today. Inside these walls, when we worship God, inside when we come to His house, that tree of life has been made available to you today. You eat of that tree today. When you get to heaven, it's not like you're going to eat of it. No, you're already eating of it today. You're already choosing that tree over the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

What was once closed off by a flaming sword, the curtain has been torn and you can eat of God today. He is the tree of eternal life, but let me tell you something. Here's the caveat. To eat of His fruit means that you cannot eat of any other sweet fruit of this world. That's a hard message. And a message missing a lot in the church.

To eat of God today means you cannot eat of the other tree. It means you can't say “no.” You can't say “I'm going to do my own thing today. I'm going to find my own way today.” No, serving God means serving God. You know, obedience means obedience. And obedience doesn't happen one day. Obedience is a lifestyle. I know you want to make your circumstance better. I know you want to do things your own way. I know our carnal hearts have their own desires. But you can only eat of one tree and only one tree will grant you eternal life this day.

We have a phrase that we use in policing a lot, and it's actually a legal term that has been adopted into policing, and it's called “fruit of the poisonous tree.” And pretty much what that means is if I do something wrong, like if I go search Patty's car and I do it wrong, it doesn't matter what I find. I could find drugs, a gun. It doesn't matter what good things come after that. It's all tainted and it's all going to get thrown out. So everything that you might call good after we do something bad is all tainted and must be thrown away.

I love that and I think about that in the church a lot. People like to do things bad and then use the good to justify it. They like to start bad and move away from God and do their own thing, but then say, “Well, things are better now and I'm doing a little better and that's all good.” But it's fruit of the poisonous tree, I tell you today. Everything has created a barrier, a separation. It is a covering. You might as well sew some fig leaves together because I don't care if your situation is better. We have walked away from God. We have done our own thing. It is fruit of the poisonous tree.

God is looking for you today to come to Him and trust Him and to stop tasting of every other fruit and saying, “God, I will stand on You and You alone. Nothing in this world will make me walk away from You. Nothing will make me turn my head. I understand there's temptations. I understand there's desires. I understand there's pressure. But God, but God, I will not leave You this day. But God, I will not turn away from You because You have proven Yourself to be good.”

For many of us, we can say that today. He has proven Himself to be good. I can tell you a lot about circumstance. I can tell you a lot about temptation and desire and wanting to do things my own way. But I tell you, every time we have stood on the Word of God, He has delivered us. He has proven Himself to be faithful. He has proven Himself to be true. Time and time again, He has come through for us and said, “No, all good things come from Me. All good things come from Me.”

Today, we have a choice. Tomorrow you're going to have a choice. Wednesday, hump day, you're going to have a choice. You're going to have a choice to follow Him, to bow down. You're going to have a choice to do your own thing and want to do it your own way, but God has given us, by His power and by His blood by Him dying on the cross and breaking the power of sin, He has given us another way. The world doesn't have that way. All they can do is just not think about it. All they can do is just be mindful of it, but God has given another way by dying on the cross.