• Choices fix your character and destiny
  • Early and repeated choices shape and harden your character.
  • Rejecting the gospel becomes harder the longer you continue in that rejection.
  • A chain of choices links past decisions to future behavior.
• “As you were” and eternal permanence (Revelation 22:11)
  • The phrase “as you were” (from military usage) is used to picture that:
    • Who you are at death is who you will be forever.
  • Revelation 22:11 teaches confirmation, not mere permission:
    • Unjust → unjust still
    • Filthy → filthy still
    • Righteous → righteous still
    • Holy → holy still
• No second chance after death
  • Purgatory is rejected as a false doctrine that offers a “second chance” after death.
  • Your state at death (saved or unsaved) is fixed for eternity.
  • There is no biblical basis for being saved after death or for prayers for the dead.
• The nature and progression of sin
  • Sin is habit-forming: doing wrong once makes it easier to continue.
  • People can become so used to sin that they no longer see it as offensive (illustrated by the hog farm story).
  • Sin never stays neutral; it grows “worse and worse” and drags a person downward.
• Two kinds of people: unsaved sinners and saved sinners
  • Unsaved: described as unjust (practice) and filthy (position).
  • Saved: described as righteous and holy in position because of Christ.
  • Practice reveals position: what you continually do shows what you really are.
• Judgment and reward
  • Saved: Judged at the Bema Seat of Christ for works after salvation (rewards, not salvation itself).
  • Unsaved: Judged at the Great White Throne and cast into the lake of fire.
  • Present character continues into eternity—either eternal life with Christ or eternal punishment.

• Your future direction (e.g., where you are by the end of 2026) is shaped by your present inclinations—what your heart is leaning toward and what you repeatedly choose today.
• By nature, our inclination is to drift downward (toward sin, wandering from God), like gravity pulling things down or people wanting to turn back on the Manitou Incline.
• God calls us to consciously change that inclination: to incline our hearts toward Him today, not “next year” or “later.”
• Biblically, “choosing life” means:
  • Loving the Lord your God
  • Obeying His voice
  • Cleaving (holding fast) to Him
• You cannot be neutral: not choosing to incline your heart toward God is effectively choosing the opposite direction (death, cursing, spiritual drift).

In short: Your inclinations today are your indications for next year—so you must intentionally incline your heart toward God now, through love, obedience, and clinging to Him, rather than drifting with your natural tendencies.