The Briefcase He Kicked Back: 8 Principles for Life's Choice Points

Sermon outline

Every day brings choice points that move you towards your values or away from them; God sets life and blessing before you, but the choice is yours, so live by principles and choose well.

1. Don't move the goalposts: live by principles

   Once you move the goalposts in your life, you will keep moving them. Principles are what reign over your life, so people who hold to them cannot be shifted. He also warns against believing everything you hear, especially rumours on YouTube about pastors: base what you believe on facts, not hearsay, don't take scripture out of context, pray for leaders and reserve your judgment.

   Illustration: As a young detective investigating a murder, he was visited at home by people connected to one of the accused, who opened a briefcase holding R200,000 and offered it to him to get her off the case. He closed it and kicked it back across the carpet, saying someone had lost a life and he had sworn to uphold the law; the accused were later convicted. He also tells of a highly experienced pilot who was so sure he had heard the control tower correctly that he dismissed his first officer and caused a crash.

   “When you move the goalposts once in your life, my question to you is that how many more times are you going to move it?”

   • Matthew 27:5

2. What is a choice point?

   We have around 50,000 thoughts a day, so we must guard our hearts and minds. A choice point is a moment when you can choose behaviour that moves you towards your values or away from them. God set before Israel life and blessing or death and curses and said 'choose life', but the choice was theirs, and it is ours.

   “You make a choice, and after you make that choice, you're going to live with that choice.”

   • Proverbs 4:23
   • Proverbs 16:3
   • Proverbs 14:23
   • Psalm 41:11
   • Deuteronomy 30:19

3. 1. Success is a few disciplines practised every day

   You don't fail overnight; you fail through a few errors of judgment repeated every day. Don't blame God for the consequences of your own choices, including the choice of who you marry: young people should not rush in, because what matters is the person on the inside. Children should obey their parents, and everyone should honour their father and mother.

   Illustration: He tells young people that the first 25 years of life are shaped by education, the next 25 by the person you marry, and the last 25 by those first two choices.

   “Your choices have ramifications and consequences.”

   • Colossians 3:20
   • Exodus 20:12

4. 2. Formal education makes a living; self-education makes a fortune

   Everyone has the same opportunity to choose, so keep educating yourself after school and university. Some people outside the church prosper because they practise Bible principles without knowing Jesus, while some believers know Jesus but don't practise the principles. We need both: to know the person of Jesus Christ and to practise His principles.

   “We must know the person of Jesus Christ, be intimate with him, but we must also practice the principles.”

5. 3. Either you run your day or the day runs you

   Motivation gets you started, but habit keeps you going. God has placed you in a private world, a 'miracle garden' to tend and keep as Adam was told to. When Adam and Eve sinned, they blamed someone else; instead we must look honestly at ourselves and correct course, because two degrees off course lands a plane in another country. Walk into work declaring that you are blessed.

   “Sometimes the company that you're working for is prospering just because you are there.”

   • Genesis 2:15-17
   • Genesis 3:9-13
   • Romans 10:15

6. 4. You can't change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction

   There are no shortcuts; everyone goes through a process, and perseverance makes the difference. Have a long-term vision. When you give your tithes and offerings, don't just make a transfer: write the desires and plans of your heart on a tithe envelope.

   Illustration: He says Japanese companies plan in terms of a hundred years, so the next generation simply carries on the vision. When he gives, he writes down his vision of a packed church and partners receiving miracles and promotions.

   “We sometimes don't even have a vision for a month.”

7. 5. The pain of discipline or the pain of regret

   Everyone suffers one of the two; by not choosing the first, you choose the second. You get what you choose, so be careful who you marry and who your friends are, because they influence you.

   Illustration: He thanks Pastor Zubeda publicly and jokes that she 'ran after' him when they were young athletes at King's Park, picking up the spikes he threw down.

   “Be careful who's speaking into your life.”

8. 6. You are the average of the five people you spend most time with

   This includes what you read, so expand some associations and create some disassociations. Time is the most expensive thing in modern culture, so value your time and yourself, and don't let people use you as a dumping ground.

   Illustration: Asked why he needs a private jet, the actor Jackie Chan said it is all about time.

   “You are not a garbage can.”

   • John 6:63

9. 7. Work harder on yourself than you do on your job

   Be brutally honest about your weak points and attitude instead of blaming management or the CEO. If you don't understand something now, shelve it and God will reveal it in time.

   Illustration: As a young man he did not always agree with his superiors but kept quiet and 'shelved' what they said; years later, in the same rank, he realised they had been right.

   “Your choices will bring you success, or it will bring you failure.”

10. 8. You don't get paid for the hour; you get paid for the value you bring to the hour

    Stop asking what you should be paid for an hour and start asking how to raise the value you give others in that hour. Bring value to the table and someone will notice.

    “Don't fight for a promotion. You will get promoted.”