Crossroads

WEEK EIGHTEEN, 2021

Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it” (Jeremiah 6:16).

All of us some time or another are confronted with “crossroad” experiences in our lives. I am not talking about which movie to see. I am talking about those significant decisions that have profound impact on the direction of our lives. Which college to attend, what career path to pursue and the big daddy of the all, who to marry.

We find ourselves at a crossroads and if we take the right road, we end up where we ought and want to be. If we take the wrong road, the further we go, the further we get from where we ought to be.

I remember some of those crossroad decisions in my life. They weren’t easy and often I was torn between what I desired and what I knew was right. There I stood… at the crossroads…. choices, decisions, action, inaction. Many of those times came before I was a Christian and knew that the Bible could give me great guidance in making those decisions. Here are some Biblically based suggestions to pray when you are faced with those crossroad decisions.

▪ Choices allow us to love or not… help us choose love.

▪ Choice allow us to choose right or wrong… help us choose right.

▪ Choices allow us to choose the light or the dark…. help us choose light.

▪ Choices allow us to choose between good and bad… help us choose good.

▪ Choices allow to choose between good and best… help us choose best.

▪ Choices allow us to choose you… help us draw near to you.

▪ O Lord, we give you thanks and praise for allowing us to make our own choices.

▪ O Lord, help us choose wisely.

▪ O Lord, help us choose your paths and your ways.

▪ O Lord, as we stand at the crossroads, help us choose the ancient path, the good way and help us walk in it.

O Lord, help us choose You.

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SOMETIMES TRUE STORIES

FIVE BEST SENTENCES

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity, by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.

2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work, because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work, because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation!

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Entering the first church ever built:

The church built over the site of Jesus’ birth makes this point in a profound way.

When I lead study tours to Israel, we always visit the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. This was the first church building constructed under the reign of Constantine (ca. AD 330). The original structure was burned and destroyed in the sixth century, then rebuilt by Byzantine Emperor Justinian (482–565).

Door of Humility

The Door of Humility provides entrance to the massive church. It was created to keep looters from driving carts into the church and to force even the most important visitors to dismount from their horses to enter the holy place.

Every time I bend down to enter the church that commemorates Jesus’ birth, I remember again that the best way to come to a King is in humility.

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QUOTES YOU CAN USE

Waste no more time arguing about what a good person should be. Be one. —MARCUS AURELIUS

When God touches your heart, it fills with love and peace. Though the storms may rage, you have a glorious confidence in God’s ability to control life’s circumstances. Dan Shock

Through Jesus, your past is explained, your present has a purpose, and your future is secure. What more could you really want in life? —Jase Robertson

There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it. —Edith Wharton

How foolish it is to think that we can hide the truth from God. He knows the truth. God sees right through all of the disguises, because He sees our hearts. —Dan Shock

Whenever a nation’s laws no longer reflect the standards of God, that nation is in rebellion against Him and will inevitably bear the consequences. —Rep. Greg Steube

The uncommitted stand by and watch as the forces of darkness take over. —Dan Shock

Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it.” —Lou Holtz. Former Notre Dame FB Head Coach

Some people stop living before they die. —Ken Whitten

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