Hallelujah. The blood of Jesus, it is my

victory. I've got victory today because of the blo od

of Jesus. No matter what you're going through, no

matter what you've been through, no matter what you 're

facing, the blood of Jesus is your victory.

Hallelujah.

I want to talk to you for a little while this

morning on, "You Have a Choice." You have a choice .

Look at your neighbor and say, "You need to make go od

choices." You need to make good choices. You have a

choice. In the book of Deuteronomy, 30:19 is where

we'll begin, a very familiar passage of scripture.

When you get there, say Amen.

In the book of Deuteronomy, 30:19, it reads

like this: I called heaven and earth to record thi s

day against you that I have set before you life and

death, blessing and curses. Therefore, choose life

that both you or thou and thy seed may live. Choos e

life that you and your seed may live. That you may

love the Lord your God, and that you may obey his

voice, and that you may cleave unto him, for he is

your life. He is thy life and the length of thy da ys

that thou may dwell in the land that the Lord swear

unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob to

give them. For he is your life and the length of y our

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days, and that you may dwell in the land which the

Lord swore to your fathers.

Would you let us pray. Father, thank you for

your blood. Thank you God that you have given us a

choice. And I praise you and I glorify you. God, I

pray that as I break open this word and as we begin to

preach this morning, I pray that you grant me that

which makes preaching easy and effective, and that is

the anointing of the Holy Ghost. God, without you, we

can't do it; but with you, we can do all things

through Jesus Christ. And the church said Amen.

I read a headline that kind of caught me.

And I wasn't sure about it at first, but then I beg an

to ponder on it for a couple of days, and it really

began to grab ahold of me, and this was it: Leader s

make choices, victims don't. Leaders make choices,

victims don't. And as I pondered on this statement , I

was reading a leadership magazine, or a leadership

article, I should say. And this was the statement on

there that I read: Leaders make choices, victims

don't.

But it began to get down into my spirit, and

then I began to think about realistically not just

leaders make decisions, but believers ought to make

decisions. That in order to be a believer, then yo u

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had to make a decision somewhere along the line.

If you're going to be a believer, then there

was a choice that you had to make. And can I tell you

that almost daily, there's another choice that you

have to make, whether you're going to believe God's

word, or you're going to believe your circumstances .

Whether you're going to believe God's word, or whet her

you're going to believe what you see.

Well, wait a minute, Preacher. What I see is

real. No. What the word of God says, the unseen i s

more real than the seen. That the word of God tell s

us that what you see can pass away, but what you do n't

see will remain forever. What you do see will be

corrupted, but what you don't see can be

incorruptible. Can you say Amen?

So as I read that statement, the Lord began

to deal with me, and I began to not just think abou t

the leaders, but believers. And so let me talk to you

for a moment. Point number one is this: A believe r

can't continuously be a victim. A believer can't

continuously be a victim. "Well, I don't agree wit h

that." Well, not everybody can be right either.

And I'm not trying to be brash, but a

believer can't continuously be a victim because

somewhere along the line, you've got to get over a

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victim mentality. Somewhere along the line, you've

got to make right choices, and every choice has a

price tag. Doesn't matter what it is, every choice

has a price tag. You know, and since I'm trying to

keep my weight down, I'm trying to keep healthy; an d

every time I put something into my mouth, I think

about how long I got to run to get that out of ther e.

Uh-huh. And I realize that some of it I won't ever

get out. But, anyway, chocolate runs through my

veins.

But, anyway, every time you make a choice,

you make a choice who you're to hang out with. You

make a choice with who you're to marry. You make a

choice of who you're going to love. You make a

choice. "Well, no, I didn't make a choice. It jus t

happened." No. You made a choice. You make a cho ice

whether you're going to stay together. You make a

choice.

A believer can't continuously be a victim.

Somewhere along the line, you've got to quit having

that victim mentality. Yet, many great wannabe and

would-be greats, giants for God, have lived their

lives, certainly have lived a long time, but they h ave

not come into what God wants them to have, what God

wants them to do, because they continue to nurture

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this victim mentality.

And it's not just in the pew or the seat,

it's in the pulpit. And preachers and pastors that I

deal with sometimes are always talking about what l ife

didn't give them, what life didn't give them, and

what -- well, in my arena with pastors, sometimes t hey

talk about what the Church of God didn't do for the m.

Well, let me tell you something. Whether you're a

preacher or not, the Church of God is not your God,

all right?

And so somewhere along the line, you've got

to quit talking about what side of the tracks you w ere

born on and what deal or what hand you've been deal t

and all of this and declare that bless God, God is no

respecter of person. What he did for one, he'll do

for me. And I don't have to be a second class

citizen. I don't have to sit on the back row, and I

don't have to sit and squander what God has given m e;

so, therefore, as for me and my house, not only sha ll

we serve the Lord, but we shall achieve what God ha s

called us to do. Can you say Amen?

They have allowed themselves to be victimized

by their circumstances. Now, here's the realty. S ome

of us have been victims of circumstances. But if y ou

continue to allow yourself to stay there, then you' re

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not -- then you no longer become a victim of

circumstance. You get a victim mentality. What do

you mean, Pastor?

I didn't ask the Lord to be born into the

family that I was born into. And how many has ever

said that before? "Lord, why did you put me in thi s

family? Why did you put me in this dysfunctional

family?" I didn't ask that. I'm not saying I didn 't

have a good upbringing. Mom and dad loved me, love d

each other, but, man, fought like cats and dogs.

Here's the deal. I didn't ask to be born to a moth er

who was going to mother 11 children. When you're

number 10, you kind of get lost in the shuffle.

I didn't ask for my -- to be born to a mother

who was born into the Mississippi Delta, who her

father would come home and beat his wife and beat t he

children. Her stepmother would hide the children i n

order to keep the children safe. I didn't ask for

that. You know, you come out of that, you got some

issues.

I didn't ask for my dad to be born -- for my

dad to be -- thank God he became a preacher. But I

didn't ask to be born into that family where my dad

quit school in the 7th or 8th grade because his dad

was a drunk and he had to provide for the rest of h is

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children -- or for the rest of his siblings. I did n't

ask for that. But yet my dad made a choice. My

mother made a choice. And even though I was born i nto

a Christian family, I still had to make a choice. And

you've got to make a choice on whether or not who

you're going to be and what you're going to do and who

you're going to serve. And I'm not going to let th e

devil or society or culture dictate to me who I am,

because God has already declared who I am. I am a

child of the living God, anointed with his anointin g

to do great works for him. Can you say Amen?

Believers can't continuously be a victim.

Why? Because let me tell you. Now, some of you no t

going to agree with me on this. Some of you haven' t

agreed with me already. But, anyway. Why? Becaus e

it can be nice to be a victim. It can be nice. Wh y?

Because here's why. It absolves you from any

responsibility for the outcome of your life.

I believe I'm going to say that again. It

absolves you from any responsibility for the outcom e

of your life. "Well, you know, I didn't have the

opportunities that others did." Why not? "Well, I

just didn't." No, no. I like what one guy said. One

guy said you can't change what hand you've been dea lt

in life. But what you can change, what really matt ers

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is how you play the hand that you've been dealt.

Now, I know some of you-all know about cards,

and some of you-all still acting like you're holy, you

don't play cards or something. But you've got to k now

that you've got to play the hand that you've been

dealt, right? And you can declare and decide that I'm

going to sit here and let life live me, or I'm goin g

to live life, and I refuse to let the devil,

circumstances, culture, society, whatever, dictate who

I am and what I'm going to become, because my bible --

and here it comes. If you're truly a believer, the n

you can't have that victim mentality, because a

believer says that I can do all things through Chri st

which strengths me. Glory to God.

It isn't the path of a great person of God,

and you can be a great person of God, but you've go t

to declare and decide that I refuse to be a victim.

Point number two is this. Circumstances alone does

not control our lives. You're not a ball in a pinb all

machine. You ever notice how you hit some of them

walls, and it bounces you here, and it bounces you

there. And you're just going through life, plunk,

plunk, plunk. "Well, I wish somebody would help me ."

No, no, no. Somebody wants to help you. Wants to

help you so bad that he died for you. Wanted to he lp

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you so bad that he died for you and sent the Holy

Ghost to come and help you make right choices to ge t

your life back on track.

As a believer, as a leader, as a -- sometimes

I'm a counselor -- I don't want to hear about the

circumstances if you refuse to talk about your

choices. Everybody wants to tell you their

circumstances, but not everybody wants to talk abou t

their choices. And their choices is what's dictate d

their circumstances.

A believer doesn't give life permission to

determine his or her future. A believer says that I

don't care what life has dealt me. If I truly beli eve

in this Word, then I can have what it says I can ha ve.

I can be what it says I can be. And I can do what it

says I can do. That's good preaching, Pastor.

In life you're going to find that believers

live in the realm of choices while everybody else

lives in the realm of circumstances. Church, why?

Because believers should live by choice, not by

accident. You've got to live by choice, not by

accident. We're too -- we've got to become mission al

and intentional about what we do and who we are and

what we're going to do with the things that God has

given us.

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You ever see people who do well and, you

know, and some people want to act like that's an

accident. I've got two good children, and I bind t he

devil in the name of Jesus. And let me help you,

they're not angels. I know that. Don't tell their

mama, but I know that. They're not angels, but I'v e

got two good kids that I trust. And let me tell yo u

this. That didn't come by happenstance.

This one girl who -- she's got two children

now, and I've known her since she was a child. And

her two children are little hellions. You know wha t

I'm talking about. You know who you are. You can' t

take your kids nowhere because no one wants them to

come because they going to tear up the house, or th ey

won't sit down and shut up. I'm going to say that.

Got to go baby proof the whole house before they co me,

got to move this, move that. No, no, no, no. This

girl said this to me, "Oh, but you were lucky. You

were lucky." Luck didn't have anything to do with it,

baby. Now, I'm blessed, but I chose. You chose.

You know, you look at people who own their

own business. "Oh, you're lucky." No, no. They

chose. They chose. You see people who are

successful. "Oh, you're lucky." No. They chose.

They made a choice. They made life choices, and th ey

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make a choice every day of their life to choose.

It's amazing to me the harder I work and the

better choices that the Holy Spirit helps me make,

that the luckier I am. Kind of reminds me of that

farmer who said -- the preacher came out and said,

"Man, look what the Lord has done with this great,

beautiful farm." And the farmer say, "Yeah, but yo u

oughta seen it when God had it by himself." Choice s.

Choices. You may say that there are -- you may say

that there are times when you have absolutely no

choice. But even then, you still have a choice. W hat

do you mean, Pastor? Even when you have no control on

the things going on around you, you can control wha t's

going on on the inside of you. You've got to contr ol

what's going on on the inside, because you can't

always control what goes on on the outside. But

you've got to control what goes on on the inside.

That's right.

You see, I'm talking about your attitude.

And your attitude is hard to control sometimes. Wh y?

Because your attitude wants to be carnal. Your

attitude wants to be fleshy. It's a little

overwhelming to consider that every attitude that

you've ever had has been your choice. I don't like

the sound of that. Why? Because it puts the monke y

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on my back, and I like the monkey being on somebody

else's back. But every attitude I've ever had, it is

my choice. You can't choose your circumstances, bu t

you can always choose your attitude toward the

circumstances.

When you're angry, it's because you chose to

be angry. When you're happy, it's because you chos e

to be happy. Don't ever let life's circumstances

dictate to you your attitude. Knowing that so many

times the attitude -- hear me -- the attitude that you

choose will begin to dictate toward the circumstanc es

that you're in. What do you mean? Hear me again.

The attitude that you choose will begin to

dictate your life circumstances, because if you're not

careful, you will make -- your attitude makes the

circumstances worse. Anybody agree with that? Let me

tell you this. You go into work and have a bad

attitude, it's going to, what? Affect your work. You

go in -- you go into -- you ever had -- anybody eve r

had their mama mad at somebody else but yet try to

brush your hair? Uh-huh. It affected more than ju st

them. They wasn't mad at you. But, man, "Mama,

you're killing me."

"Well, I'm sorry, baby. I'm not mad at you."

"Well, quit brushing my hair until you quit

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being mad at somebody." Right?

Point number 3 is this: Cherish your right

to be happy, peaceful and joyful. Cherish your rig ht.

Wait a minute, Pastor. You mean I have a right to be

happy? Jesus said, "I come that you may have life and

that you may have it more abundantly."

Absolutely. If you're a believer, then you

have a right to have life. If you look at that Gre ek

word there, in life, it means zoe life. It means t hat

he came to put life in your life. He came to give you

a good time. But Romans 14:17 -- write it down. I 'll

be gone by the time you get there. Romans 14:17",

For the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but

righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.

Stuck in a tough situation? Begin to make

the choice to maintain a positive attitude. Anybod y

had a bad attitude when you're in a dispute, and yo ur

attitude chose -- you know, you choose some things and

some words and some inflexions of your voice that m ade

it worse than better.

In every corner, in every crack, in every

crevice lurks an excuse for you to pick up. If you 're

not careful, that's what will happen to you is you' ll

pick up excuses for why you are the way you are.

"Well, I was born this way." Well, if you're

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a believer, you were born again. Here's the deal.

Here's the deal. If you're a believer, you were bo rn

again; but even though you were born again, your

personality didn't get born again. So what's got t o

happen, Pastor? That's what Paul said in Romans 12 :

Be not conformed of this world, but be transformed by

the renewing of your mind.

That's how your mind -- that's how your

attitude's got to change is by the renewing of your

mind. How many ever once -- how many have ever wen t

from an attitude where you didn't think you could d o

anything, but all of a sudden you got something. Y ou

got a principle. You grabbed ahold of it. And nex t

thing you know, you believed that you could do that

thing because you began to understand it. That is a

transformation of the mind.

You've got information that stirred up some

inspiration, that got some revelation going, that

caused a transformation in your life. And that's

what's got to happen in the word of God. You don't

just need information. And it's not going to happe n

by wearing the bible on your head. And it's not go ing

to happen by osmosis. I don't care, Jim, even thou gh

you don't have hair, it ain't going to work just by

putting it on there, right? You've got to put it

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inside of your heart, put it inside of your spirit.

And when it begins to take hold, that's when the

transformation comes. And when the transformation

comes, that's when your life will be changed becaus e

you made a choice.

Why do you think the devil wants you to not

read this word? We can read novels, and we can rea d

books; but when it comes to this word, we don't wan t

to read. Why? Because the devil doesn't want you to

read it. Your flesh doesn't want you to read it,

because let me tell you something. Everybody's got an

opinion. And you know whose opinion I like best? My

own.

And your flesh has an opinion. Your flesh

wants you to stay the way you are. You know why?

Because it doesn't take any effort to stay the way you

are. If it doesn't take any effort to stay the way

you are, then, you know, we in general are lazy

people.

I wish I could sit up and eat ice cream. The

other day I had some Snicker -- some Snicker ice

cream, Snicker ice cream bars. Not Snicker bars th at

were frozen, Snicker ice cream bars. And I ate --

they're little 90 calorie ones. And I had to eat f ive

just to get enough of them. There's 12 in a box. I

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could have ate the whole box without any trouble. I'm

just telling you right now, I could have ate the wh ole

box. I have no idea where I was going with that st ory

now. I've got my mind on them Snickers. Have no i dea

where I was going.

Choice. I made the choice not to eat all of

them. Laziness. Thank you. There it was. What I

wanted to do is I would love to be able to eat that

whole box and lay up in my chair and just enjoy the

fullness of that chocolate.

The other day my wife and I, we're walking.

We're trying to be a little healthier. And we were

walking, and I said, "I do not feel like doing this ."

She looked at me, and she said, "We ain't doing it

because we like it."

You know, let me tell you -- and I know

sometimes you get tired of hearing me say things li ke

this. But they tell you that you're supposed to ru n

or jog at a pace where you can carry on a

conversation. I'm glad to say that after five week s,

I found that pace. It's called walking.

I can walk and carry on a conversation.

That's what I can do. Because if I'm jogging, it

ain't no carrying on no conversation except for to

God. "God, help me. Jesus, help me. Help me, God ."

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So the problem is, though, we get stuck in a

mentality, and we don't want to make choices. We j ust

want to let life live us instead of living life.

If you want to truly be a successful

believer, then you're going to have to stay out of the

corner where excuses live, because excuses you can

find every day. You're going to have to be willing to

take a long, hard look at why you are where you are

and why you are the way you are. And you have to b e

careful once you open the door for excuses to come

into your life, that all of its family is going to

move in with them.

The next thing you know, your life will be

out of control, and it's all because of excuses. I t

will all be because of the fact that you made some

choices. You're able to accomplish far more than y ou

ever thought possible. But you'll never realize yo ur

potential in the presence of excuses.

Hear me closely. You'll never realize your

potential in the presence of excuses. Why aren't y ou

doing something for the Lord? "Well, I'm busy."

Really? We do what we want to do. We do what we w ant

to do. It's amazing how unbusy we get when we need

Jesus. It's amazing when we want Jesus to do

something for us.

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I got a phone call just the other day.

Somebody I hadn't heard from in six months. And it

come on my cell phone. And I thought, What in the

world? It's been longer than that. This person ai n't

ever called my cell phone. Ain't been to church in

three, four years. "I just need prayer."

What I wanted to say is, "I'm busy." I

didn't. I prayed. But that's what I wanted to do,

because that's what people do. We want prayer when

it's on our terms. But God said, "I want service a nd

allegiance on my terms." Good preaching, Pastor.

Let me tell you this, Church, you can do it.

You can do it. You can make right choices. Believ ers

make choices. Victims don't. Stand to your feet.

There's an old song we used to sing that I

have made my decision. I have staked my claim. Go od

thing I'm old, and I can remember. Let's see if I can

remember. I have -- no, that's not it. I have mad e

my decision. I have staked my claim. I've drawn a

line in the sand, and I'll not be ashamed. With th e

world behind me, and the cross before, I will serve

the Lord. Help me.

I have made my decision. I have staked my

claim. I've drawn a line in the sand, and I'll not be

ashamed. With the world behind me, and the cross

18

before, by the grace of God, I will serve the Lord.

Help me now.

I have made my decision. I have staked my

claim. I've drawn a line in the sand that I'll not be

ashamed. With the world behind me, and the cross

before, by the grace of God, I will serve the Lord.

By the grace of God, I will serve the Lord. By the

grace of God, I will serve the Lord.

I've made my decision. I've staked my claim.

That's what a choice is. A choice is a decision.

Jesus -- the apostle -- not the apostle, I'm sorry --

the prophet Elijah said, "How long will you be halt ed

between two decisions?"

Today, let's make a decision. Let's make a

choice. God, I'm going to serve you. Not just hal f

heartedly, but whole heartedly, and I'm going to be

all that you said I can be. Not just for my sake.

For the sake of my family, for the sake of my frien ds.

Because you know what? When the tide comes in, it

raises the level of all the boats, not just yours.

You be the tide. You be the tide.

Father, in the name of Jesus, thank you God

that you have given us a choice. And I pray in the

name of your son that we would make right decisions

and right choices. Lives hang in the balance. God

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help us not to be a victim, but to be a victor in t he

name of Jesus. And the Church said Amen.

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