Live Free with Josh Howerton - Stop At The Crossroads | Ep. 2 | Tuesday February 7, 2023

Episode Date: February 7, 2023

You know you want to try something new, but can you break your routine? In this episode, Pastor Mike prompts you to consider your decisions because those are what determine your ultimate destination. Stop at the crossroads and think about your next steps!   For more digital content to feed your faith, visit Lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to The Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a perfect way to point your day. Our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional and that you'll be equipped, empowered, and encouraged as a follower of Jesus to deepen your relationship with God. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. Church slash daily drive. And now let's dive into today's devotional with one of our teaching pastors, Mike Bro. Hey, what's up, everybody? I hope your new year is off to a great start. My name is Mike Bro, and it's an honor to hang with you just for a few minutes today. We're spending just a few minutes every day.

Well, you might be commuting to work. You might be going to school. I might be working out, sipping on some coffee like me, maybe taking a jog, wherever you are. Thanks for joining us. We started yesterday talking about walking a new way this year. And we threw out this principle, your direction determines your destination. your direction determines your destination. If you want to walk a new direction this year,

you have to map your route. You have to decide, I'm walking this way. And here's the verse that we're just hanging in with this week from Jeremiah 616. This is what the Lord says. Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old godly way and walk in it. Travel its path, and you'll find rest for your soul. Now we only made it to one word yesterday, and the word was stop.

And hopefully you heard God say to you, before you just take off in the same old direction, before you put the pedal down and fly down the same old road, stop. Think it through. Where is this direction taking you? Because your direction determines your destination. And let me add this. And your decisions determine your direction.

Anybody else use ways when you're driving? I use it all the time. You might even be using it right now. You can choose your route. You can pick the fastest way. You can pick the most scenic way. You can take all freeways or interstates. pick the route that avoids tolls.

You can choose the all-county backroads route. I mean, there's more than one way to get there. You have choices, right? Now, how many of you drive the same way to work every day? I mean, you know the traffic patterns, you know, the timing of the stoplights, when to merge ahead of time, you know where the construction delays might be, which drive-thew is the quickest for coffee. I mean, you go the same way back and forth to work every day.

But then one day, somebody else at your workplace who lives pretty close to you in the same neighborhood tells you they go a totally different way. And they tell you about how much better it is. They say, hey, listen, man, there's no traffic. Much prettier view. Now it takes about five minutes longer, but it is totally stress-free and totally worth it. And you think about going that new way, but you just can't see yourself breaking your familiar route. It's just the way you go, right? And the same thing is true in the way we approach life. We have our way. That's how I roll. And pridefully, we aren't open to other options, even better. options that's just the way it is that's just the way I am so we keep traveling down

the same road making the same bad choice of struggling with the same destructive habits and reacting in the exact same harmful ways the people that we say we love and we know it's not the best route we know it's destructive to ourselves and to our relationships and even though we're absolutely miserable traveling it is just what we know we don't stop long enough to realize there might just be a better way You see, it's true. Your direction determines your destination, and your decisions determine your direction. In other words, we make our decisions, and our decisions make us.

So God says to us, stop at the crossroads, recognize that there are much better options, different routes that will get you into a good place, a healthy place, a better place where love and freedom can reign in your soul, a place where all of your relationships can flourish. Stop at the crossroads and look around, he says. before you make the wrong choice again, recognize there's another way, a better way, that you and I do have a choice. In fact, when you think about it,

apart from the power of God, the most powerful thing at work in our lives is the power to choose. Our destination is heavily influenced by the choices that we make. Direction determines destination, and our decisions determine our direction. Now, grant it.

Sometimes things just kind of blow into our life, we had no choice whatsoever in the matter. It just happened. But even in that, how we choose to react to those things will determine how we handle it and where we end up. So why not take advantage of this new year, this moment, and hear God say, stop at the crossroads and look around. Take a look at your current reality. Before you even ask, where do I want to go? You need to ask, how did I get here?

What choices led me to where I currently am? Do I really want to keep going this direction? I mean, what needs to change? What is the one thing that can make a huge difference? Just stop at the crossroads and look around. So I don't know, maybe your prayer today could be, God, why do I need to unplug in my life? What are some better choices I need to make?

Because you're determined, your direction determines your destination, and your decisions determine your direction. Hey, sorry, I went too long today. So I hope you'll tune in daily as we all try to walk his way. Hope you have a great day. I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship,

join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. For more information, visit lakepoint.com.