MESSAGE TITLE: Choose Life

DATE: November 7, 2021

SERIES:
Together: Remembering Experiences That Inform Our Future

Trouble in our world:
Our choice

Fork in the road

A pause in our journey: We get to choose

God's grace

Isaiah 20:21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

New to PCC? OR maybe you just want to connect? Text “CONNECT” to:
650-332-4438 to access more information

The "grace of space"

"Forgetfulness leads to sin." --Professor Jim Bruckner

God never gets a seed wrong

"Curse" looks like existing by is lifeless
"Blessing" looks dynamic and fruitful

Consequence: a result or effect of an action or condition (outcome)

"Terminator" seeds which lead to death: discord, disobedience, and discontentment

Healthy seeds which lead to life: Christ-likeness, compassion, and character

PCC BENEDICTION
Hear, O PCC: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

BEYOND SUNDAY
Like the Israelites in the desert heading toward the Promised Land, we are a faith community heading into a promised future. In this series, Together: Remembering - Experiences that Inform Our Future we will learn from the Israelites’ story, found in the Book of Deuteronomy, about what they were called to remember in order to follow God well. This week, we focus on remembering that you have a choice when it comes to following the Lord.

1. Review: In our journey with the Israelites in Deuteronomy, what are you remembering from the book that is impacting your life?

2. Ponder a time in your life when you were offered something that would benefit you and/or harm you. Which did you choose and why? What was the outcome? What joy or regret did you experience?

3. Read and reflect on Deuteronomy 30:11-20. Where do you see the Shema? What is Moses yearning to see happen for the Israelites? What are the options/consequences? What verse or word is the Spirit wanting you to hold onto?

4. In his Sunday message, Scott Kirksey declared: There are two ways you can live. Free will gives us the potential for distance from God and it also gives us the potential for residence (or intimacy) with God. If you choose to live or not to live in union with God, then you’re also choosing to live in blessing or curse, depending on your choice. What are your thoughts on free will? How have you seen this play out in your life and in the lives of others? Or in the child/parent relationship?

5. Other passages speak to this same concept of choices resulting in death. Review Deuteronomy 29:19, Isaiah 30:1, Matthew 7:13-14. Why do you think this is an endless reminder in the Bible? Note how returning and repenting result in life Deuteronomy 30:2-3, Isaiah 1:18-20, 1 John 1:9.

6. What is God saying to you about your choices? What needs to change? How would you like to thank God for His grace?

NEXT STEPS
-Recite Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (The Shema) day/night. Replace Israel with your name/ family’s name.
-Follow the Weekly Listening/Reading Plan for Deuteronomy (Chapter 31-14 by 11/14)
-Engage in Prayer Wed. PCC Noon Time for 30 min (Info/Zoom Link) or 11/19 at the Worship Center patio (downstairs)
-Place a memory of God on the Wall of Remembrance in the back of the Worship Center

For PCC's budgeted giving:
Fiscal year (June 1 - to date)

Giving Update
Budgeted Giving: $3,838,588
Giving to Date: $1,143,488
Still Need: $2,695,100