We Make a Choice – We Always Choose, That’s the Truth! – Episode #582

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We Make a Choice – We Always Choose, That’s the Truth!
Episode #582
1-28-2018

With Martha Kilpatrick and hosted by John Enslow

This is the continuation of a series of Podcasts started in Episode #581.
From the first choice in Genesis to the consequences of how we choose presented in Revelation, the Bible reveals the truth about free will in every way.

(Martha) The last couple of years I’ve been, just very mindful of John 3. It’s the place where God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, and He didn’t come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. But then this is the judgment under such a light as that: “The Light has come into the world and people love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who practices wicked things hates the light and avoids it that his deeds may not be exposed. But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light do that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.” So that the basic choice is light or darkness, and based on what you love is how you choose.
(John) Wow.
(Martha) Every choice is a matter of going for what you love. Which means you loved something (which was Jesus) more than you loved your nice settled Christian life with all the Christian world that it was, with your comfortable business and your family and friends—all that. You loved something more than your life there. And it was Him. It was Him you loved. So the, this I’m gonna talk about later too, the extreme necessity of keeping that love foremost and burning, because when the light of that love for Him goes out, you will choose for yourself. Or if you have never loved Him more than yourself, which is what I’m seeing in the world, if you’ve never loved Him more than yourself, you will never choose against yourself.
(John) Yeah, I’ve seen every time that I’ve gone off, off the rails, that was literally what was on the table—is whether I was gonna love Him or love myself. And when I loved myself, I abandoned everything. I abandoned everything to save self, to yeah. That’s precisely it. I can think of two examples right now of when I went literally against a lot of my choices because I chose to save self in those circumstances.
(Martha) And it is this very succinct, it’s called a judgment. This is the judgment. We will be judged by what we did with light.
(John) Yeah, and it was devastating when I did it. Devastating! It was devastating to you and it was devastating… It was just, it was devastating.
(Martha) So the first issue of the garden is a choice, and the choice is so clearly defined that it is really wrenching. And throughout the scriptures, choice… I’m going through tons of scriptures, and I want to write a series of articles on it.
(John) Oh, how wonderful.
(Martha) I want to write, I want to write it in depth where it is in the Bible. It covers every kind of situation, so Genesis is the beginning of the choice. Revelation is the final dealing and the last dealing with what your choice was, good or bad. And the consequences of your choice are in Revelation. So the whole Bible is about that one basic thing. All God— God doesn’t ask us to carry a burden; He doesn’t ask us to perform; He doesn’t ask us to be. He is our essence and our identity, but He does ask us to choose. And I was thinking about Sardis, which was the issue of Sardis was passivity. And as we were talking earlier you said this is not passive. Choosing is not passive, because you have to go forward with what you chose. That’s the point I’m making with your life. You didn’t just say, “Yes, yes, I choose what You choose, God.” You moved immediately to do it. Abraham did the same when God called him to sacrifice his Isaac. He got up the next morning and went toward it, to obey it. So that’s a commitment to what you’ve chosen. But we’re familiar with a lot of the more famous choices. Deuteronomy 30 is Moses. He said, “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curses. Now choose life so that you and your children may live.” That’s kind of staggering, isn’t it? Because your choice affects your children. And God will go with your children if you choose to go with God. And Joshua had said it, too. “If serving God seems undesirable to you then choose for yourself this day whom you will serve, whether the gods of your forefathers, gods of the Amorites in whose land you’re living now. But as for me and my household we will serve the Lord.” His choice was made. It’s interesting, and I’ll go into this when I write about it. Joshua led Israel into the Promised Land where Moses couldn’t.
(John) Right.
(Martha) And he was so influential by his commitment to God’s will that the nation won every battle except Ai, and that was uncovered and rectified. But he conquered all the invaders of their land and everybody was given their inheritance. And as long as Joshua lived, they obeyed the Lord. As long as the prophets who followed him lived, they believed and chose the Lord. And then it began to disintegrate. So see one person willing to obey, choose— No, not obey, CHOOSE. Obey implies action. I want to use the word choose. “Choose you this day…” That’s all there, that’s all Joshua and Moses asked. That’s all God asks. These are the two trees. Choose the one you want. And one is life and one is death and that is literal, isn’t it?
(John) Literal. Absolutely.
(Martha) Absolutely literal. If you choose the darkness, you will die in your own life to your own destiny and you will die in eternity. It’s ah, the repercussions of it we need to look at. So it’s so simple. I’ve been around some situations where everything is made complex, and that is the sign of the devil because unbelievably simple is the real Christianity. It’s nobody, there’s nobody who can’t live as God wants them to if they choose. Because all we have to do is choose and God takes you up. If you choose life, obedience, love, light, then God has permission to take your life over and do for you what you can’t do and can’t perform. All He wants is a choice. That’s it! There’s nothing else we can do. Even the truth has to be revealed to us. Nee said the only thing God expects of a man is to tell the truth. That’s true, in a way, but for me there’s a new light on the fact that we must— God has to reveal the truth and when He reveals the truth, then we have a choice. And Thessalonians, I think it’s 1 Thessalonians, says, “Because you refuse not…”
(John) The love of the truth?
(Martha) You did not receive the love of the truth, God will give you a strong delusion to believe a lie.
(John) Which says, because you didn’t choose the truth.
(Martha) Yes, then you chose the lie. And whatever you choose will be multiplied. Both sides, life and death. And then there was Elijah in the whole issue of Jezebel. He went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him but if Baal is God, follow him. But the people said nothing.” So there’s just so much, and I’m interested in the word ‘will’ because when I was trying to understand that our body is led… Every life is following their own will. The will is what you have chosen. Subconsciously, without much thought…
(John) You can’t really have will without choice. You’re, it’s literally… Will is active.
(Martha) Exactly! Very good. And when God says something, He says “I will.” And when He says “I will” you can be sure He will. But I’ve noticed that David deals with God by “I will.” All through his Psalms he’s saying, “I will praise, I will follow, I will trust.”
(John) That reminds me of that blog that I’m about to do about the I AM. This is cool. This is neat. This is fun.
(Martha) Can you quote anything from it?
(John) There’s just one statement that is in that. Our relationship and connection to God is in the actionable. Meaning like I will, I should, I can—those aren’t really actionable statements, but I choose…
(Martha) So many people say to me, “Well, I want to follow God.” And I will say that will not get there. I choose to follow God and He has to support that choice. And He will.

We Make a Choice – We Always Choose, That’s the Truth! – Episode #582 – Shulamite Podcast

From the first choice in Genesis to the consequences of how we choose presented in Revelation, the Bible reveals the hard truth about free will in every way. We always have a choice, from first breath to last. We are called to choose and we absolutely do!