Pay Attention to the Tension                                               Better Questions

Andy Stanley. Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets,, 2020

Proverbs 27:12, “The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.”

1. Am I being honest with myself _______________________?

2. What ______________________________ do I want to tell?

3. Is there ___________________ that deserves my attention?

4. In other words, when something “DINGS!” your conscience,    ____________________________________.

See 1 Samuel 24:1-22 for David’s Story.

1 Samuel 24:4, “The men said, ‘This is the day the Lord spoke of when He said to you, “I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.”’ Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.”

5. David realized, who am I to _________________ what or who      God has put _____________________________?

6. One reason we ignore this tension is — we believe we can predict the _______________________.

1 Samuel 24:5-7,12, “Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. ⁶He said to his men, ‘The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.’  ⁷With these words David sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way… ¹² [David said] ‘May the Lord judge between you and me. And may the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you.’”                                                                            

Your Tribute                                                                          “Better Question” 

Stanley, Andy. Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets. Zondervan, ‘20

Genesis 39:8-9, “But he refused. ‘With me in charge,’ he told her, ‘my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?’”                        Genesis 41:15-16; 37-40, “Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.’ ¹⁶‘I cannot do it,’ Joseph replied to Pharaoh, ‘but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.’ ³⁸So Pharaoh asked them, ‘Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?’ ³⁹Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. ⁴⁰You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.’”

Really?                        “Better Questions”

1. There is a direct relationship between good ________________ and good __________________.

2. You are the mastermind behind most of your regrettable    ____________________.

Proverbs 27:12, “The prudent see danger and take refuge,
but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.”

3. Prudent people take into consideration the long-term results of ________________________ they’re considering.

4. Question No. #1 — The __________________ question.

5. Rigorous ________________ is the first rule of recovery.

6. Question No.#1 is: Am I being ___________________ with myself?

7. Ask Question #1 again and add this word — _________.

8. As soon as you start selling yourself on ANYTHING, you should hit _________________________.

9. First King — Jehoiakim, (2 Chronicles 36:5-8). Next King: Jehoiachin (2 Chronicles 36:9-10); Final King: Zedekiah                   

2 Chronicles 36-12, “ He did evil in the eyes of the Lord his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke the word of the Lord.”

Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”

Born Again?                                                                      John 3

My Thirties and a Season of Second Thoughts                          

   “There is a Season”

Theologian Marin Marty writes about moving into your 30’s: “Doors close, options narrow. By now you have been fated to follow one vocation instead of another. You have vowed to spend life with this mate and not that one… You begin to hear commentators describe athletes of your age as being ‘over the hill.’”

1 Peter 5:8, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

Matthew 5:31-32 “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.  But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.’”                                               

 Philippians 3:12-15, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”