is the final week of the reimagined series and it's been a series where we've shattered some myths with an appreciation for god's truth also realize some potential in our lives and we want to live differently we want to live with daily grace and have a faith that's not compartmentalized but instead everything all in for the lord so the last topic in this series is a topic of tricky decisions have you made any tricky decisions in the last year are you facing any right now and if you had to choose one of the top three decisions that are just tricky there's a lot of different pieces and options and maybe you feel stuck today is really going to be  a practical guide something that you know raises some considerations and some questions but that we can go back to and think through and look at these questions to help us as we want to have god's wisdom in those every day decisions so let's turn to first corinthians chapter ten and this is the letter that paul wrote to the church in corinth it's in the new testament after matthew mark luke john acts and romans you're going to get to first corinthians chapter ten if you brought a bible with your great if you have it on your phone or a different device meet us there if you need a bible we'll get you a bible but we're in first corinthians ten and drop down to verse twenty three and paul is talking about the freedom we have in christ but then also the wisdom that we need that comes from christ here's the first verse everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial everything is permissible but not everything is constructive so the very first question when you think about is is it permissible is it permissible there is a right and wrong and we live in a world today that more and more is saying there is no right and wrong but that's false a third of our country according to the barna studies say there is no absolute truth there is no absolute morals a third of our country in which is interesting is for those people who are born again say yes i am born again i follow jesus less than half think that there is absolute truth and morality but we know we know this is god's word and this is truth this is his truth there is right in wrong it is cut and dry there is dark in lightness as was covered last week as well so this is important and we need to ask the question does god permit it and so that's one truth now here's another truth doesn't go against the first truth but the second truth is there is a middle ground there's middle ground there's some things are so cut and dried but then there's a lot of life where there's a middle ground in i was talking to one you know follower of jesus that some serious is this is the part that trips me up all this middle ground in what's interesting is that some people who know there is right and wrong they want to make everything cut and dry in not everything is in so they end up being legal istic or they end up trying to control other people because they want everything to be right and wrong when in fact there's a lot of freedom on some different topics in the body of christ and through god's word so we're going to dive into those in the way paul does it with the corinthians in first corinthians chapter six eight and ten he takes on it's really head on this topic of meat sacrificed to idols now for all of us that's probably not our tricky decision we're making but for the people in corinth that was just so difficult to sort through so we need to understand the historical context meat sacrificed to idols what was happening to a lot of idols in that town in part of the worship of idols they would take meat they would sacrifice it devoted to the idols so then for a christian what would happen if you go to the market place and you want to buy some meat what do you do do you take that meat was it sacrificed to idols do you ask do you bring it home do you share it with others do you just pray over it and that's fine what if you're with someone who knows it sacrificed to idols and they say it was what if you're with someone who's a fellow christians i'm not going to eat it because i think it was you know what do you do you ever have they had just kind of paralysis by analysis and it's like there's so many factors here in so the answer was well sometimes you do eat it in sometimes you don't in that's confusing for people always want it one way or the other will sometimes it matters what was said sometimes it matters who's with you sometimes that matters if that thing is go master you even though you have freedom to start out doing it in so there's all these different factors in we need to be people who navigate through some of those gray areas so we can have clarity so we can walk in god's wisdom so we can make solid every day decisions as we abide with the lord and respond to what's happening in life so here's the second question we read from this verse is it beneficial is it beneficial another way of saying it is how is good do you ever just step back in your life in think about it not just in that moment but step back and rethink how much is good so in that realm here's a few today's me very practical things that think about sleeping how much is good i read how americans are getting less and less and less sleep so now forty percent of americans doctors they are getting far less sleep than they should so how much do we sleep i'm not saying it's a sin if you sleep leslie that's legalism to start saying you know that i must leave seven hours if you don't that's a when you can see how legal is love to take these middle areas and just run with them but let's say our sleep is not where we need it to be then we have to look at the question ok am i working too much in my doing too much we live in a culture that tries to jam more and more and more and more in there and what happens is instead of saying no to some of the things we should say no to we just say i'll do it all and then we don't sleep or how about this one is it tie in to worries fears sometimes it's good to just let god be god in fact i think all the time it's good to let god be god but deep down we hold on to things we're trying to control and worry an engram everything and if we just let god be god and casting's idea upon him we have a better night sleep now there's a lot of factors with sleep again so i'm saying sometimes there's you know physiological factors that you know we get some help with but overall it's an area that's good to just step back and say how am i doing here's a second one eating chapter eight verse eight in first corinthians says that food does not bring us closer to god i had some cheese bread sticks on friday night that were so good i think it just might have helped me anyways but good food doesn't help us really bring us closer to god but then we get in those questions with food you know some people get legal istic about eating healthy and they try to pretend like it's in the bible that you know you can only have this and that in this in they're just making stuff up here and you have to  proteins and hasn't carbohydrates and i know that's in the bible somewhere and another one is well how much do you eat i know someone that eats three times as much as everyone else he's just having a good meal he's got a really high metabolism many eats that way and so you know what's too much words gluttony food overall you know thinking through the amounts to healthy foods there's a lot of choices with eating nother one exercise first corinthians chapter six verse nineteen the body is the temple of the holy spirit in so we get into questions of how much a robot exercise is gardening exercise is baseball a sport  areas i played baseball in high school and my dad would tell me baseball is not a sport because if the professionals can chew tobacco and play at the same time it's not a sport i don't know that's one take on it but you know what is exercise what is  how much do we get are we taking care of our bodies in this area what about t v and movies in america we read that we spend over twenty hours a week on average far over twenty hours we're number one in the world with watching television and movies so how much is too much and how do you decide that these are things to think through see the paradigm shift is we like the phrase in our culture this is me time finally got some me time and if me time is a chance to refresh and restore and relax and connect with god within me time's alright but if me time is this view that ok there is my faith if now this over here my face is compartmentalize and this over here my free time i mean time i get to call the shots and i do what i want and i'm in charge so twenty hours of t v is just fine with me no one else in america you know if if that's the view of me time then me thinks we got off track so how do you define me time and is the lord still the lord during  time in it's something to think through what about time in the word or prayer jesus said man does not live woman does not live on bread alone not just physical food but on the word of god in so how's your soul doing  it's hard to have a soul that serai even if there isn't much of the word if there isn't that prayer and connecting with the lowered in so you know but again some people get legal istic in and i've heard it with you going to minister you have to have an hour every morning of prayer you know where is that in the b in so we take good intentions or something that works for us personally and then we try to force everyone else on it and say this is where the bar is this is the hoop you have to jump through and that's dangerous but it is good to step back and say how my doing with my time what about the word what about prayer in his we think through all these things romans fourteen seventeen kind of sums it up where you know the kingdom of god is not so much about eating and drinking but it's about righteousness peace and joy in the holy spirit and in these areas where there is some freedom is there righteousness peace and joy where you ask god to lead you not only in the in the citizens that are really clear but will you ask god to lead you where there are areas of freedom and surrender and submit and trust his good leadership so permissible beneficial think through pray through both now let's go back to the text and in chapter ten verse twenty four we've got another important consideration to make nobody should seek his own good but instead the good of others so here's another question have you considered what is best for the collective group the collective group it could be your family it could be your life group it could be at your workplace  collective group it could be the holter church i have a small but realistic real life example the last two weeks our staff has been moving in changing offices and if i add to ask the question who here really likes moving i'm not seeing any hands go right if you do though talk to me afterwards we'll get you a roll of stairs but who really likes me so moving is a challenge in then you know ok well some people really like the spot they're in in now they're getting a new spot would always work to move moving is usually more work than you think so you can see all these different dynamics happening the last two weeks in the staff but why would we do this because on our staff we have a lot of teams in departments and we're really spread out in some of those so we want to bring you know children's ministry that want the whole team to be together we want an area for adult ministries you know there's our media ministry so we want to bring teams together strengthen teams strengthen the bond strengthen the unity on staff but there is some sacrifice involved in so if we don't step back sometimes and say what's the greater good here we get frustrated because we're not getting what we want  that's true for all of us and so we wrestle with that tension what i want versus what's the greater good overall so here's a major example memorial day we can't imagine if everyone in our country had just thought in the military i'm only going to do what's good for me i'm not going to think about our country we have over a million people who have laid down their lives in battle so that we have the freedoms and the peace that we enjoy today that's not minor that's in our country world war two alone over four hundred thousand think about the heroes and if they didn't lay down their lives what would have happened in world war two so we live in a country where we know there is so much gratitude for the people have seen the big picture and thought of the collective group and not just what i want all the time and you think about our faith in romans chapter  fifteen versus two and three it says each of us should please his neighbor for his good to build him up for even christ did not please themself but as it is written the insults of those who insult you have fallen upon me christian maturity means we set aside our personal preferences for the greater good that's maturity that's growing up in the faith in so we see the and by the word that word please when it says i please other people it doesn't mean i'm flattering them i do it so i get something back i do exams so worried about my own reputation and if they like me that's not the word please the word please is it's for they are good it's to build them in so if sometimes i get less of what maybe i wanted so that i can build someone else up that's a good investment that's a good segue so it all comes down to jesus if we're following the one who laid down his life fully so that we could have life and we say that's who we follow that's we want to be like well then there should be examples every day of us saying you know i'm a step back on that one so someone else greater good in their life in their build up because we're following jesus and that's how he lives so it's something again to think through what's best for the collective group now let's go back to the text and look at verse five we're going to get to this word conscience and we're going to read it over and over again and it's an important word so let's take a look at verse twenty five eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience for the earth is the lord's and everything in it is some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience but if anyone says to you this has been offered in sacrifice will then do not eat it both for the sake of the man who told you and for conscience sake the other man's conscience i mean not yours for why should my freedom be judged by another's conscience if i take part of the meal with thankfulness why am i denounced because of something i think god for here's the question does your conscience agree five times in this section right here the word conscience god has given us all a conscience and a lot of times the holy spirit is working through our conscience and so we need to listen to the holy spirit and pay attention to our conscience what was the breakdown is a passage again that could be a low confusing to sort through paul gets real specific so if you go to the meat market if you go to the that's where they bought their meat at the grocery store i do as other ways you can use that phrase if you go to the grocery store and you go to the meat market you get some meat then go ahead some twenty four verse one that's a jewish prayer a jewish blessing before a meal everything is the lord's the earth is the lord's everything in it then they pray they think god then go ahead and eat at me don't worry about that just eat them eat pray for everything belongs to god now if you go to someone's house that doesn't follow god and they put a meal before you just go ahead and enjoy that meal and freedom and hospitality and connecting with that person but here's a change if that person says here is meat sacrificed to idols join me eat this meat and let's worship the idols then you say wait a second i can't eat that meat and if someone is there at the me eland there next to you and they follow jesus and they're saying wait a second there's no this is idle meat this is i don't meet well he says don't eat that meat so again it's not a situation we're in a lot but we need to think through all those ramifications in lots of different situations romans fourteen twenty three says it this way if it doesn't come from faith it's thanks for watching our program today and i want to let you know about our web site activate life died or you can send us your prayer requests we are honored to pray for you we also have daily devotions and other resources you can sign up for and if you want to support us financially you can do that through the website now we get back to the teaching as we get into god's word together the goal is unity stronger weaker the goal is build each other up the goal is become more like christ the goal is encourage me the goal is be careful with says even as i try to please everybody in every way for him i am not seeking just my own good but the good of many so that they may be saved here's the question does it lead people to jesus does it lead people to jesus there's a situation in in europe now there's so many refugees and you know how do you respond to refugees each individual person what do you do i mean how do you respond when you walk by someone on the street who begging who is homeless that they have a sign that says they are you know these are how do we respond in so we think through these but i was reading about abrar and a syrian refugee who their story was simple first they received a bottle of water and someone gave it in jesus name they didn't know about jesus and then someone else gave some loz instead they're a christian in someone else helped by providing a place they could charge their phone you know and again they they are saying in a meal hot meal they said it's in jesus name well then finally in macedonia they met someone arabic speaking christian and shared about jesus in all of a sudden all of these experiences in these people caring for our throat the refugee process started to line up and got real curious to start asking questions about jesus you see so all these different pieces but like how do we respond individually how do you respond as a country when there's a crisis or needs and what's the amount and what's the right amount and what's too much and who's deceptive in trying to figure all that out but when we do it well if we do it well we're thinking through caring for people and their souls i think about the sport of golf i'll just be honest i have some interest in golf but the thing is like i mentioned i have four kids so i can go out and play soccer and be home in a short time but if i go out and play golf at this stage of my life that's a lot of hours in so for me there's just a little bit of wrestling with you know how often do i say alright sweetie i'll see in about seven hours have fun with the kids how often do i say that but you know we've got a men's golf event coming up on saturday and you know my wife is so supportive see them this is awesome this is a golf outreach we have if you don't know it's going to my first time through but it's a golf outreach we're our golf this saturday you know it's not simply to play golf but our men's ministry of the an awesome job of setting this whole thing up where you can invite a friend in maybe it's a friend who isn't comfortable coming to church yet that's alright let's come play some golf let's have a good time let's hang out in then you know see what god does through that i mean what an opportunity this saturday with the g so that something and i think of like twitter you can use it a lot of different ways i've been using it to share bible verses i've just seen what god does you know i got my smart phone a while back it is a that will smartphone is so much potential to reach people now there's so much potential do other things  smartphone but so much potential so you kind of know what cause you to stumble you know t v cable what blockers are on there what shows build up your faith what shows take you the other direction and you think through but thinking through does it lead people to jesus and i was gone for a couple  days last week and you know the thing that stood out to me we talked at our church about reaching up connecting with god reaching in building stronger bonds in our church in reaching out and i was looking at some numbers and there's a number now that is on my board in my office it's in my mind it's on my heart it's the number one million eight hundred sixty thousand it's the number of people in king in piers counties that have no affiliation with jesus following him or christianity just look at the two counties around our church king in piers in the number of people that had now it would be easy to say when it comes to reaching out let's have a small vision let's have a safe vision let's not think too far beyond the walls of the church but everything as i pray is crying out inside of me we need to reach out beyond the walls of this church maybe more than ever in the days we're living in and i thought maybe get a few a man's but didn't happen but that's all right or wrong that's an area of freedom some a man more some a man less don't look down upon someone who  more anyways so so just thinking about people all souls eternity what do we do i'm talking about from serving to praying for people to caring for people the sharing your faith to media opportunities to what we do here at the church in the programs and who already comes into our building do you know the people from all over the counties come in and are in the building during the week frequently we connecting with them so just thinking through what god has set up and what he might want to set up i can preach all methods there but i only got one more minute so thinking through in all this as we wrap up there's a little specific things and there's the end goal paul says keep in mind are we leading people to jesus keep in mind solid every day decisions don't get stuck in paralysis by analysis don't be insensitive don't be selfish don't compromise your convictions or ignore your conscience enjoy life enjoy god in the blessings he give be gracious walk in the light but at the same time paul concludes with this in the original text they didn't have the breakdowns of chapters that came later so chapter eleven verse one in my mind just is a flow from what we've just read he writes this concludes as follow my example is i follow the example of christ that's bold that's bold follow my example as i follow the example of christ what he's saying the people in corinth they don't know the scriptures like the people in jerusalem they didn't have the bible they're not so interested in reading some of that bible but they will read paul's life the people in our country are becoming more and more biblically a no way air in some don't want to read the bible but they will read your life in paul is saying follow my example not in pride not that he has it all together but he says i want to provide a living example for you in corinth if you watched my life public and private in a different areas my faith isn't compartmentalize i'm just livin for jesus and my prayer is that would be so evident that when you also read the scripture it would just reinforce what you see in my life so he's trying to go to corinth in corinth say what kind of town was that it was a town where you know they knew about venus they didn't know but the god of the bible maybe they knew about venus and they had prostitutes in their temples and sometimes over a thousand and the word took corinthian eyes it could mean to be a prostitute to be promiscuous to lie to that was the current the i mean if you're paul and you step into a town that's just drenched in sin and people celebrate it i mean what are you going to do in that town in pause to make these choices that are gray areas in in we read about it in ads eighteen how the church started there and he's a tent maker and paul wrestled with that ok do i  decisions are happening in jesus comes in in says paul don't be silent don't be afraid stay in this town live for me and paul stays there a year and a half a year and a half living example and here's the take home the treasure in every good decision is god's presence and his glory our real treasure is more of god's presence more of his joy more of his peace more of his glory in our lives and he concludes with verse thirty one so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do do it all for the glory of god that's reimagine let the glory in the presence of god let it drive our lives that we wouldn't settle for less than more of his joy more of his presence just reimagine what our lives could be let's pray father we lift up ourselves to you in these tricky areas and we ask for your wisdom in discernment to live wise with what's beneficial that doesn't cause others to stumble father we lift up the one point eight six zero zero zero zero and we pray jesus that they would just discover how awesome you are in father we pray feelings here and doesn't know you today could be a day to say jesus i want to real relationship i need your guidance i need your salvation i know you've died on the cross and you're risen and i want to follow you i don't want to be on the throne of my own life i want to follow you and give you praise thank you lord for what you're doing you know hearts but then also collectively in our church family in jesus name amen thanks for watching today and i want to let you know about our web site activate life that org there are so many free resources to help you grow in your faith and if you've been blessed during the teaching please send us an e mail if you want to learn more about jesus we'd love to hear from you again our web site is activ