Speaker: Pastor Shantel
Date: July 20, 2025

Please Note: This sermon transcript was generated automatically and may contain occasional errors or odd phrasing due to the transcription process.

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Introduction: The Game Show Metaphor

I want you to imagine that you are on a game show, right? You’re on a game show. You’re the final contestant. The big prize is right before you. And the game show host, let’s say his name is Moses, right? And Moses says, “All right, for the final round of this game show, there are three doors before you. Three doors and behind each door there is something and you want to choose the door that has the greatest prize.”

But Moses does something unique. Moses points to door number one. It’s a simple door. Door number one. He says, “Door number one. Behind this door is life, health, joy, purpose, meaningful relationship, connection with God, all of God’s blessings.” And the audience goes, “Ooh!”

Then door number two, he points to door number two. Door number two is fancier. It’s got some lights. It’s got some glitz and golden things on it. And Moses says, “Behind door number two is death. Not just physical death, but spiritual emptiness, broken relationships, separation from God, separation from everything that’s truly meaningful.” And the crowd goes, “Don’t choose that one!”

And then Moses says, “Behind door number three, behind this door is… well, you get to figure it out. No guarantees, no instructions. You just wing it and see what happens. Door number three, ladies and gentlemen.” And the crowd was like, “Hmm.”

Now, here’s the twist. Unlike other game shows where you have to make a guess, Moses tells you exactly what’s behind every door. And in fact, he leans into you and says, “By the way, if I were you, I’d choose number one. Trust me.”

But here’s what’s crazy. Even with this inside information, do you know that every day people still walk right past door number one and they choose either door number two because it’s flashy or door number three? Because you know what door number one means? You actually have to trust what the host says.

The truth is, is that we are all contestants on this game show called life. And we get to face these three doors every single day. And today I’m going to be like Moses and I’m going to say, “By the way, choose door number one. Choose life. Choose life.”

Biblical Foundation: Deuteronomy 30:19

Now, this particular scenario actually comes from the word of God in Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy 30:19, Moses is standing before the Israelites. They’ve sojourned in the wilderness for 40 years and they are on the brink of entering into the promised land. And right before they cross over, Moses says, “Okay, wait a second. I have to tell you something. What’s going to happen is conditional on the decision you make right now.”

Moses presents them with a choice between obeying God’s commandments, which would lead to life and blessing, or disobedience, which would result in death and curse. And so, in chapter 30:19, Moses says, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life that you and your offspring may live.”

Isn’t it wonderful that he gives you the answer? Like just in case you don’t know which one to choose, choose life. This decision was so serious that Moses emphasized calling heaven and earth as witnesses. That means that it has cosmic ramifications or consequences. It tells us how serious this decision is.

Being able to possess the promised land was conditional upon God’s people choosing life. Being faithful to the covenant that he had made with them, making the choice between life and death, not just spiritual, but also tied to their physical destiny. Deuteronomy leaves us with a response that’s open-ended. And it’s open-ended because that choice between life and death continues to be asked of us day in and day out, challenging each new generation. And so today, I want to remind all of us, myself included, that we should choose life. Choose life.

The Power of Daily Decisions

Do you know on average we make about 35,000 decisions a day? That’s why we feel tired at the end of the day. 35,000 decisions. If you have small children, you’re probably making 60,000. You’re making thousands, tens of thousands of decisions every day. What to wear, where to eat, where to go. Some of these decisions seem of no consequence. But the truth is that our decisions, one day at a time, are actually positioning us for either victory or defeat. The decisions I make lean us towards choosing life or direct me towards choosing death.

Historical Example: King Edward VIII

And I want to give you a powerful example from history. You all remember Queen Elizabeth who passed away not too long ago. Do you know that she actually wasn’t supposed to be the queen of England? That her father wasn’t in direct line of the throne. It was her uncle, King Edward VIII. But King Edward VIII, when he inherited the crown, he decided that he wasn’t going to accept the crown. In history, we call it the abdication of the crown.

And you know, this decision of this man who was groomed and prepared to wear this crown, to carry this duty, this was his birthright. This is from the long line of kings. It fell to him. This was God’s gift to him. And yet, he chose not to become king and it sent a shock to many living at that time. How can he abdicate from the throne?

But historians say, “If you comb the records and you look at the records of his private secretary, Tommy Lascelles or Tommy Lascelles, his private secretary said he wasn’t surprised by the abdication. Why? Because the young prince had made decisions that weren’t in line with becoming a future king. They were decisions that gratified his own desire. They were decisions that were selfish. They were decisions that were not disciplined.”

And so when King Edward VIII abdicated his throne, those that worked closely with him weren’t as surprised as everybody else. You see, it’s in the small things. It’s easy to say, “When the moment comes, we’ll make the right decision. When the moment comes, we’ll choose life. When the moment comes, we’ll obey God.” But actually, day in and day out, we either train ourselves to be obedient or disobedient. To lean towards life or to lean towards death.

Edward VIII gave up his crown, his kingdom, his birthright, his duty, his legacy to pursue what he thought was love for a woman, but it was actually a life of self-indulgence, the pursuit of pleasure and comfort, and as he would later admit, completely empty of true meaning and purpose. When he was tasked with the decision to choose life, to obey the calling and mandate that our heavenly father had given him, he chose otherwise. He chose himself. He chose his will. He chose his pleasure.

Our Sinful Nature and God’s Grace

But the truth is, is we’re all a bit like him. We’re all a bit like him because the Bible tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Because at the end of the day, unless we are walking in the redemption power of the Holy Spirit and being born again, our natural default is sin.

Psalm 51:5 says, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” Ephesians 2 says, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sin in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.”

Our default, if we’re not careful, is to lean towards death. Romans 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people because all sin.”

The good news is though that when we became born again, we’re no longer slaves to our sin nature. You’re no longer slaves. We have the ability through the power of the Holy Spirit to choose life in our daily decisions. It doesn’t matter what your upbringing was. It doesn’t matter what your past habits are. It doesn’t matter what people think about you. If you are born again and you have the power of the Holy Spirit, you have the help that you need to choose life again and again and again. Amen.

The Impact on Others: Irena Sendler’s Story

And do you know that when you choose life, it impacts others? It impacts others. I want to tell you an example of a woman who chose life. Her name is Irena Sendler. She was a devout Christian. She was a Polish social worker. In the midst of World War II, she was faced with life and death decisions, countless life and death decisions while working in Warsaw.

Every day brought her new choices. Is she going to risk her own life to save the Jewish children she felt called to or stay safe and do nothing? She chose life repeatedly, 2,500 times over. She smuggled children out of the ghetto in coffins, suitcases, through sewage pipes, hidden in ambulances. She kept detailed records of each child’s identity in jars under an apple tree in the hope that the families would reunite after war.

Even when she was captured by the Gestapo, tortured, sentenced to death, they demanded, “Give up those children. Give up their names. Give up who was working with you.” She chose to honor God and honor life and refused. The Lord intervened and she was able to escape.

But here’s the impact of her choosing life. Those 2,500 children, they lived, they married, they had families. And today, there are over 6,000 descendants of the children that she rescued. Her daily choices to choose life literally created thousands of lives that followed.

What makes this particular story so powerful for us is that she understood that every single decision mattered. That choosing life wasn’t just about one big decision, but thousands of small ones that compound and grow into something extraordinary. Her story reminds us as it echoes through generations, choose life because it doesn’t just impact you.

How to Choose Life: The L.I.F.E. Acronym

So you say, “Okay, how do I choose life? How do I do this?” Well, I’m going to give you an acronym. Life. L-I-F-E. We can all spell life. Life.

L – Love God Above All

L. First and foremost, you have to love God above all. He has to be kept first place in your life. If you say that you love the Lord, you will obey him. You will trust him. So to love God means you will obey him. You will trust him. You will know that what he’s doing is best for you. That he’s working on your behalf. Even when you don’t see it, even when the outcome is not what you were hoping for, even when things didn’t turn out the way that you had planned.

One of my favorite quotes is, “When you do not see the hand of God, you trust his heart.” Love God above all, above ourselves, above money, above power, above esteem. Love him first. Make decisions that honor your love for God.

I – Integrity

I – integrity. Choose integrity. This means that our private choices match what we publicly say. That how I live privately matches what I’m standing before you today saying. This means that when we make our decisions, we filter our decisions big and small through biblical principles. Not through Fortune 500 companies, not through Times magazine. Not through the Star, not through Wikipedia, through the Bible. We filter our decisions big and small through biblical principles.

There should be absolutely no disconnect between what we say we believe and how we live. When someone hears that we’re a Christian, they shouldn’t be surprised. “Oh, you’re a Christian. I had no idea.” No. When someone hears you’re a Christian, they should say, “That makes sense. That’s why you’re so different.” Choose integrity.

F – Faithfulness

F – choose faithfulness. When we become born again, we now align our devotion towards our heavenly father. That means we turn away from our sinful patterns and instead pursue holiness and righteousness. The reason why we have to pursue is because spiritual drift is a real thing.

Do you know that if you take a kayak or a canoe out on the water and you lift up the oars and you just sit in it, is it going to stay in the same position? It drifts. It drifts wherever the currents take it. Life is full of currents. And if we just sit and not actually pursue holiness, pursue righteousness, we’re going to drift. We’re going to drift. But we need to make sure that our decisions honor faithfulness to him.

E – Eternal Perspective

Lastly, E – remember the eternal perspective. The psalmist, the writer of Proverbs, they describe our life is nothing but a vapor. Like a flower in the field. One day we’re here and the next day we’re gone. We must remember that our life extends beyond our time on Earth. We’re not temporal beings. We’re eternal. And our decisions, the decisions we make here on this planet, the decisions that we make while we have breath in our lungs impact us eternally and impact generations. Choose what honors an eternal perspective.

Two Men, Two Legacies: A Five-Generation Study

I want to tell you the story of two men. Two men. One man that chose death and one man that chose life. Two men, two choices, and five generations that were impacted because of their decisions.

In the 1700s, and this is going back a few hundred years, two men made very vastly different life choices. Their decisions would echo through five generations, creating one of history’s most striking examples of how choosing life versus choosing destruction impacts not just individuals, but entire family trees. This was a genealogy study that was conducted by several universities in the United States and they took two men from the 1700s and traced their lineage.

Max Jukes: The Path of Destruction

So I want to introduce you to Mr. Max Jukes. Mr. Max Jukes decided that he was going to do life his way. He chose a life without moral boundaries. He rejected God. He embraced lawlessness. He raised his children without values or discipline. And you want to know what the impact was?

540 descendants. But you want to know how many of them came out as god-fearing? 76 became convicted criminals. 18 became human traffickers. 120 became prostitutes. Over 200 people were on government welfare. And there were too many cases of mental illness and feeble-mindedness that they could keep track of. All from one man who chose, “I’m going to do life my way. I’m going to make myself the god of my life. I’m going to choose destruction.”

That particular family has cost the state of New York tens of millions of dollars for incarceration fees, welfare, mental asylum fees, etc., etc.

Jonathan Edwards: The Path of Life

Meanwhile, while Max Jukes was choosing a life of death and destruction, another man by the name of Jonathan Edwards, you may have heard of him, a famous theologian and preacher, same time as Max Jukes. But instead of choosing a path of destruction, he chose life. He chose to build his life on biblical principles. He loved God. He served others. He raised his children to do the same with a strong moral foundation.

And his lineage, his legacy through the generations produced over 300 clergymen, missionaries, and theology professors; over 100 college professors; over 100 attorneys; 30 judges; 60 doctors; over 60 authors; 14 university presidents; three US congressmen; one vice president. The life of one man who chose life and see how it impacted the generations.

Edwards never cost the government a single penny. Instead, his family line has contributed immeasurably to society’s betterment. This study is what universities show to illustrate the five-generation role. It shows us how one person’s choice doesn’t just affect that one person, but it goes down through the children, the grandchildren, the great grandchildren, the great great grandchildren. Every decision to choose life or death, blessing or curse, creates a legacy that outlives the person who made that decision by decades.

The question this morning isn’t whether your choices will impact future generations. The question is, what kind of impact will your choices have? Because your choices will have an impact.

The Daily Challenge: Choosing Life in Practical Decisions

So today, like Moses stood before the people of Israel, I say to you, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I’ve set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life that you and your offspring may live.”

Choose to love God first place. Choose a life of integrity. Choose a life of faithfulness to your heavenly father. Choose to make decisions that underscore that you understand you’re not just living for yourself, but for the future generations. Choose life.

So when you’re faced with the decision to tear someone down or build them up, choose life. When you’re stuck in traffic and you want to curse the person out in front of you, choose life. When you’re tempted to sleep in on Sunday mornings, choose life. When you’re faced with the opportunity to gossip or declare the truth, choose life. When you have to decide between a fizzy sugar drink or a glass of water, choose life. When you have to choose to forgive or be resentful, choose life. When you need to decide to study now or waste time, choose life. When you’re torn between reading your Bible or scrolling on social media, choose life.

Choose life when faced with the temptation to live in anxiety or run to our heavenly father in prayer. Choose life when given the choice to help someone in need or to ignore them. Choose life when convicted by the Holy Spirit and you have to decide to obey or ignore. Choose life. When tempted to rely on ourselves instead of trusting in God, choose life. When faced with either telling a lie or telling the truth, choose life. When you have the choice between attending prayer meeting or watching TV, choose life. Choose life. Choose life. Choose life.

Divine Guidance and Grace

When you wake up in the morning, ask the Holy Spirit to give you the wisdom and the discernment to choose life throughout the day again and again and again because he will empower you. And John 16:13, we are promised, “But when the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own. He will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” He will give you wisdom for the day ahead, what is yet to come so that you can make the right decisions.

And what is the truth? Is the truth a construct, a concept, an idea? No. Truth is a person. Jesus Christ is the truth. He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

So don’t worry. There might be a moment when you have a choice and you falter. You choose death. Remember, go back. Choose life. Scriptures tell us though a righteous man falls down, he gets back up. So you might say, “Okay, this morning I didn’t choose life. In this instance, I didn’t choose life.” That’s okay. Say, “Holy Spirit, help me to choose life in the next decision. Keep me on the right path.”

Conclusion: The Daily Choice

So this morning when faced between the decisions, remember, you’ve been given the answer to the quiz. Choose life. Amen. Amen. When we choose life, we choose Jesus.

So, choose him every day because everything the word of God says, “Whatever you do, do it as unto the Lord.” You know, ministry is not just on the mission field. Your job is your ministry. Your relationships are ministry. Everything you do, you do it unto the Lord, he will direct your steps.

One of my daily prayers is “God, I commit this day to you and I choose to acknowledge you in all my ways. Direct my steps. Give me wisdom to every decision that’s important, that’s consequential.” So when you face a difficult choice, lean on the police. “Give me your mind. What should I do?” And oftentimes he will lead you by peace. The thing you shouldn’t do, you will lose peace. You’ll have less peace. But he will direct you by his peace according to the word.

Pastoral Reflection

So that was a powerful word. Because daily choices are like seed for tomorrow, right? Many times we are reaping the harvest of what we planted yesterday. But here’s the good news. You know, many people used by God, they didn’t come from a wonderful past. They came from a checkered past. I mean, Abraham’s forefathers were moon worshippers. Who knows about the apostle Paul’s forefathers? You can break the cycle. No matter where you came from, change begins with your generation.

From you onwards, make the change. And every day is a new day in Christ. Every day is a gift. So let’s stand together as we lean on the Lord to lead us, to guide us, you know. And that’s the path that we choose life. We choose a life full of his peace, full of his joy, full of his presence no matter what we go through because we no longer allow circumstances to dictate our soul prosperity.

Closing Prayer

Father, we just thank you for your word this morning. We thank you for your grace. We acknowledge you, Lord, in all our ways. We commit this day, just make each day to make wise choices. Choices that will not just be permissible but beneficial. It will not just be what is simple, to be comfortable that we make choices with eternity in mind. As your word says, “Teach us to number our days that we will gain a heart of wisdom.”

And even Lord, I’m just reminded of the plane crash in India and nobody knew as the plane took off, we would be entering eternity. And Lord, we just thank you for the gift of this day. We take nothing for granted, Lord. We thank you for your protection. We thank you for your grace. Help us live wisely. Help us be the salt and the light, to be your witnesses, Lord, and your ambassadors of your presence.

We thank you. We praise you, Lord. May you bless us and keep us. You make your face shine upon us and be gracious to us. May you lift up your countenance upon us and give us your peace. May the love of the Father, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us always now and always. Jesus name. Amen.

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