Grapevine Ministries
Messages from the bible to uplift and encourage those that need a word from the Lord, to strengthen their faith. Ps Phillip Barker is an itinerant pastor in Perth, Western Australia.
Grapevine Ministries
Choose the Right Path
What if the most important choice you make today is the path you decide to walk? We explore how a life shaped by God’s wisdom stands firm when culture shifts, why not all roads lead to the same end, and how daily habits quietly decide your future long before big moments arrive. With honesty and warmth, we share stories that reveal how formation works in real time—what spills out when life jolts you, how children mirror what parents model, and why Proverbs calls wisdom a way, not a slogan.
We break down the difference between biblical and worldly principles in plain language. On one side: love, mercy, faith, holiness, and a mindset set on things above. On the other: greed, vanity, entitlement, and a fixation on what is seen and temporary. This contrast isn’t abstract; it shows up in parenting goals, career choices, friendships, and even the words that come out when you hit your thumb with a hammer. We look at forks in the road, learn from Israel’s wilderness detours, and map out practices that help: remembering God’s past guidance, meditating on Scripture before big decisions, seeking the kingdom first, guarding the heart, and doing everyday tasks for God’s glory.
If you didn’t grow up with this foundation, there’s hope. You can become the first in your family to model a different way, building new reflexes through simple, steady disciplines. Expect a clear framework, practical steps, and a compassionate tone that respects how change really happens—slowly, daily, and decisively. If this resonates, follow along for more conversations on wisdom, faith, and purposeful living. Share this with someone at a fork in the road, subscribe for future episodes, and leave a review to help others find the show. What path are you choosing today?
Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world - Welcome to Grapevine Ministries.
Choosing the right path. Now, what is choosing the right path? Well, I put it this way it's a life centered on faith, wisdom, and God's will. It distinguishes it from the easy or the wide path of the world, and it involves seeking God's guidance, meditating on scripture and avoiding negative influences like the ungodly and the wicked to live a blessed life. The right path requires intentional choices, often against the grain of popular culture, leading to a life of spiritual purpose, while the wrong path defined by worldly desire for pleasure, wealth, or power, is ultimately unfulfilling. Now that's a mouthful, okay? But this morning I've actually chosen this, and I'm I'm going to I don't want to sort of like jump ahead of myself, otherwise I'm gonna find that my sermons are getting longer and longer, and and I used to always complain when this used to happen with um you know with with people, you know, that I was listening to in churches, but you know, I'm digressing. So choosing the right path. See, a few years ago, many were telling us that it doesn't matter which path you choose because all paths lead to the same destination. When we went through COVID, you know, it changed the way that we departmentalize and look at things from a worldly perspective, because things would never be the same again. But those that had their faith in God could see it as a sign of things to come, and knowing that we had God, you know, in our corner, so to speak, was a blessing, even though all around us chaos was happening, you know. But the thing is, if we look at scripture, in Proverbs 4 10 it says, Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of your life shall be many. I have taught you in the way of wisdom, and I have led you in the right path. See, the Bible says that there is a way of wisdom, and it's you know, if I look at this from a parental perspective, right? As a parent, it's your duty to do all you can to teach this to your children and help them walk in the right path. So if you look at Proverbs 22, uh Proverbs 22, 6 puts it this way: train up a child in the way he or she, um you know, pluralizing this, should go, and when you know they are old, they will not depart from it. Now, the reason I'm saying this is because you know, I've just been over the eastern states visiting my grandchildren, and one of the things that my daughter always says is she says that it's her job to keep her kids alive, you know, irrespective of the chaos and everything that goes on in raising children and everything. It's her job to keep them alive, so to speak. See, that but this here, Proverbs 22, 6, is probably about the best known verse in the Bible concerning Christian parenting. And and what this verse is telling us is how do we apply this to our lives? And normally, the thing that we need to recognize here is that the principle and not the promise, this is what God is saying. It's a principle, it's not a promise. God is not promising us that if we do certain things, we are guaranteed success in raising our children, and we all know that that doesn't always turn out the way it is. You know, sometimes parenting uh are doing all the right things, raising their sons and their daughters, and and doing all the right things, but when all gets said and done in the final aspect of that child becoming a teenager and an adult, they will choose their own path. It doesn't matter what you do. See, the right path is clearly stating here. Train the children the way that they should go, you know, in the way that they should go, the word way is a very popular concept throughout the book of Proverbs. It's used almost in every single chapter of the book of Proverbs. Choosing the right path does matter, and it's not just for children. We need to remain on the same path, and we need to make sure that we are led closer to God, not further away, because when all gets said and done, we are all God's children. So when we're talking about raising up your children the way you could go, this is the same thing that Jesus came to teach his disciples so that he could teach us and so forth and so on. And then, but the thing is, we don't always get that opportunity. How many parents are out there that haven't been exposed to the Christian faith because their parents were very, very worldly and they were raised the way that that is. And I'm not saying that this is the be-all and the end all, but most times children will end up being a reflection of their parents. And I mean, sometimes that's a good thing. You know, I sometimes look at my son, and when he pulls a face or says something, I go, Wow, I can see you know me in him, you know, straight away. It's got nothing to do with Christian principles or anything, it's just that you know they mimic us, and that's how they learn. But the thing is, in Proverbs 4:10, it says, Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of your life shall be many. I have taught you in the way of wisdom, I have led you in the right paths. See, the Bible says that the way of wisdom, you know, it's the parents' duty to do all that they can to teach the children, you know. And this is, you know, although it's a very well-known scripture throughout the Bible, and everybody pulls on this for a lot of reasons, they forget that sometimes um it's all about how we should raise our children, but what if we weren't children that were raised by our parents under that same umbrella? Now I know parenting would be a lot easier if uh we could make all the choices for our children, but unfortunately we can't, and they have to choose for themselves. So not everyone has Christian prayer parents, like I was saying before. See, let's let's look at it from a different perspective, okay? Biblical principles are based on divine values like love, mercy, faith, urging believers to focus on eternal matters and to align their minds with God's will. Now, worldly principles conversely are secular values based on human tradition and the focus on temporary earthly possessions and self-pleasing desires, which can lead to a rejection of faith, and the core distinction lies in the direction of focus upwards towards God versus downwards towards the world. Now, let's look at it this way, okay? Let's break it down for you so it makes a little bit more sense, okay? Now, we have the feature which is the primary focus on biblical principles, it's eternal treasures and God's will. Worldly principles are earthly possessions and self-gratification. Now I'm not making this up, this is research, okay? Let's look at uh the source of guidance, okay. Now the source of guidance for biblical principles is spiritual, scriptural, and transformation. If you look at it from the worldly present pre let's try that again, worldly principles, human tradition, and secular philosophy. Now, that's very important one to listen to, all right? Now, if we look at the values, okay, biblical principles, love, mercy, faith, holiness, and faithfulness. All right. Now, if you look at the worldly principles, look at this very, very big difference. Greed, pleasure, entitlement, and vanity. Wow, big difference. Okay, what about your mindset? You know, from a biblical perspective, you set your things above and not on earthly things. Now, worldly principles are conformed to the world's way of thinking, and relationship to God, okay, this is a very important one. From a biblical perspective, it's to please God and advance his kingdom. So we our focus is on him and putting him first and foremost in everything we say and everything we do. Now, from a worldly perspective, to please oneself or other people, so it's all about self-gratification and making sure other people like you. Now, if we look at the external outlook from a biblical perspective, we focus on what is unseen and eternal, and from a worldly perspective, we focus on what is seen and temporary, and we don't see it as temporary, but that's what we focus on. Now, a response to the world, okay, now from a biblical perspective, this is to be in the world but not of it. A light of others, and the worldly perspective is to be captivated by the world's empty promises. See, in summary, this is what we need to apply to our children, but like many things, we teach and show others what we know. This is why the Bible contrasts spiritual and eternal principles with worldly and temporary ones, urging a shift in focus from what is earthly to what is heavenly. This involves transforming one's mind to align with God's rather than conforming to a secular value. Now, this is very, very difficult to do if you have not had that foundation yourself. So are you the teacher or do you need to be the one taught? Choosing between the path of the Bible and the path of the world is a decision between following divine wisdom versus human desires. The Bible provides a framework for a life of blessing by emphasizing trust in God, meditating on his law and living according to the principles like the golden rule, while the world's path is associated with negative consequences such as pursuit, you know, pursuing materialistic and materialism, sin, self-reliance. Ultimately, the choice involves seeking to have God's word shape one's thinking and actions rather than the world's. Like me, I had to learn the hard way, and it took quite a while for this to take place. I was never able to apply the principle that it clearly states in the Bible in Proverbs 22:6, where it says, train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. I did not have that exposure, and unfortunately, a lot of people don't have that exposure. So, this is why it's important for you and me to understand the difference between biblical principles and worldly principles. And the first thing that I noticed when I was doing this research here is that it all revolves around, you know, from a godly perspective, right, for a Christian perspective, we are all about wanting to um, you know, please God, um, do things that bring glorification and gratification to the kingdom of God, whereas the world, it's all about me, myself, and I. Now, I'll give you some scriptures to to line this up so you don't think that I'm making stuff up, all right? Let's look at the path of the Bible, okay? Trust and reliance. See, the Bible encourages trusting in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding as he promises to guide your path. Now that's Proverbs 3, 5 to 6. Biblical value, it presents a good way of life, contrasting it with the path of the wicked by advising you to avoid ungodly and to delight in God's law. Now that's Psalm 1, 1 through to 2. I want you to know, I really encourage you, I don't want you to, but I really encourage you to write these scriptures down, look these things up for yourself so you get a better understanding, and you can create a foundation that perhaps you need in your life to be able to input into other people's lives. And I always found it this way. Uh, I mean, it was um it was a hard fought journey, but I found very quickly that I had to, because I wasn't brought up in a Christian family, uh, I had to learn these things the hard way, but I found that I had to change my circle of friends, you know, and it's a hard call, you know, hanging around too many people that are of these worldly principles and ways of living their life in comparison to um hanging around Christians and seeing how they live their life. Now, don't get me wrong, you know, we're not all perfect just because we're Christians, okay. You know, we live in this world, but we're not of it. But it's because we're constantly renewing our mind with the word of God, but we still live in this world and we've got to survive. And so sometimes we can do things and say things that aren't really in line with what God really wants us to do. But I'm digressing. We need to seek God first. Scriptures like Matthew 6.33 suggest seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness with the assurance that others need will be met. See, we're thinking about other people, not thinking about ourselves, and we need to make sure we have positive outcomes. Following this path is associated with blessings, a clear conscience, and ultimately having one's purpose fulfilled and God's plan comes to fruition. Now, let's have a look at this from a totally different pathway, right? And I always found it this way: see, throughout our life, we actually uh come to a place where we need to make a decision, and we'll come to a fork in the road, and we need to decide uh do we um take the left path or do we take the right path? And not always we are you know like um developed enough spiritually or mature enough spiritually to choose the right path. And so when we choose the wrong path, okay, it means that we're getting further away from God, but it doesn't mean that you're lost because you will get to a stage in your life where you'll come to a another fork in the road and you have the same choice again to take the right path or the left path, you know, and as we go through life and as you will see, I mean, just look at Moses and the um the Israelites in the wilderness. Now, if you look at the map, okay, even the old maps that you find in some Bibles at the back of the book, you can see the journey that Moses and the Israelites took. And in theory, if you were going from you know captivity with the Egyptians into the promised land, you should have got there in six months. Not 40 years, but I mean that's a an extreme version because they're constantly, you know, they're seeing what God is doing in their life, but they're constantly sort of like very worldly and wanting to go back to the way things were because that's what they're used to, and they don't understand that there's something better for them, and it takes a while for them to find that path, but the fact is they do eventually find that path, right? So now we've looked at the the path of the Bible, if we're taking that path, which the Israelite Israeli people did from time to time. And if you read through the Old Testament, you'll see on many occasions where they were with God and then they were without God, and you saw the consequences of their actions. All right. We're not going in a whole lesson on you know the Old Testament, though. Now, let's look at things from the from the path of the world, right? And once again, I'll line this up with scripture. Human wisdom. This path prioritizes personal desire and what seems right in one's eyes, which can lead to destructive outcomes or walking around the wilderness for forty years. Proverbs fourteen twelve. Now we're also affected by negative influence. It's an associated with following the counsel of the wicked, the ways of sin, and the attitudes of mockers. And worldly desires are pursuing worldly desires is linked to negative outcomes like the pursuit of greed, materialism, and the life of vanity, and ultimately leads to perishing. You know, it says in the word of God that we you know we perish through lack of knowledge. So understanding the word of God is very, very important. Serving two masters, the Bible teaches that it is not possible to serve both God and the world, and one must choose which to serve. That you can find in Matthew 6 24. See, making choices, it's it reflects. You need to reflect and consider, okay? Before making choices, pause and consider the path you have come from and how God has guided you so far. You look at Jeremiah 6, 16, right? Now you need to meditate on God's law instead of filling your head with worldly information, meditate on the law of the Lord to shape your thinking, values, and decisions. Any big decision that you need to make in your life or any time when you come to a um a fork in the road is another way of putting it, you know, it's good to spend time in the word and get guidance from the Lord. And if there's no clear direction, then he's letting you make the choice, and then you'll find out very quickly whether it's the right one or the wrong one. Do everything for the glory of God. Whatever you do, whether you're eating or drinking, do it to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10 31. And the reason I say that, whether you're eating or drinking, is that you know, we make a habit of doing it because it is now become a natural system to us, and that is that you um pray over your food every day because you're thanking the Lord for what he's provided for you, and you've got to guard your heart, protect your heart and your mind as everything you do flows from them. Proverbs 4 23. And I'll give you a quick analogy of this. Um many years ago, uh, when I was an associate pastor at uh a church in Perth, West Australia, Victory Life Centre, right? Um, we were going for a walk uh through a part of the church, and we were looking at some renovations that were being done in preparation of a conference that was coming up. And um Pastor Margaret, our senior pastor, Dr. Reverend Margaret Court, she slipped on on some wax that was on the floor, and she fell down pretty hard, you know. And this is a woman in her 70s, and she went, oh sugar, you know, and everybody's helping her up and panicking because they thought the pastor'd hurt himself and all this sort of stuff, and that's just the way that you do, you you honour and respect your pastor and you look after your pastor. But it's about choosing the right past in everything. So she could have fallen down, hurt herself, and the first thing that came out of her mouth was profanities, you know. Have you ever been working in the shed or doing something, and you you hit your finger with the hammer instead of hitting the nail, and all of a sudden, um, yeah, all this colourful language comes out of you, you know. Now, I'm not saying I am perfect in any way, shape, or form, but I can relate to that because you you pick things up in a certain way, and the more time you spend in the word of God, the better you get at allowing the right path that you've chosen to actually be the first thing that comes out of your mouth. You know, if you go back to Proverbs 4:10, it says, Hear my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of your life shall be many, and I have taught you in the way of wisdom to lead you in the right path. Now, that's not just in the direction you're heading, believing and and uh walking a good Christian life, and I I I get there, and many times I say, we've got to try to be more Christ-like each and every day. You know, it's like I I heard a a Christian um uh comedian one day, he's got there and he goes, and he goes, he goes, now a lot of people don't know this, but I mean if you read the scriptures you understand that that Jesus had a brother and his name was James. And can you just imagine being the younger brother of Jesus? You know, can you just imagine Mary and then she's going there? Oh James, why can't you be more like your brother? I mean, it's I mean, think about it. Why can't you be more like God manifested in the presence of a human being, namely Jesus Christ of Nazareth? Or if you're at a party and uh and Jesus has gone off to pray and uh they're running out of wine and they turn around and said, Uh, James, have you got a minute? I said, Yeah, yeah. He said, you know, normally when Jesus is here, he sort of like does a few little things and gives us the really good wine and everything. How about you? And I go, um, but I'm just James. Yeah, but you're Jesus' brother, you know. And it's it sounds funny in one way, but also from a from an actual perspective, none of us can be like Jesus. He was the one that was without sin, and he was the one that bore it all upon the cross for us, you know. But I mean, just a little insight into you know, knowing that you can try and be a really good Christian and more Christ like each and every day. While we're in um Melbourne, uh we had a hire vehicle, and we were going around doing our own things, and I'm in the wheelchair and I'm strapped in the back, and there's a um there is a ramp in front of me that we use for getting in and out of the house, and can't remember who. Was driving. I'm not gonna put any name or shame or anything on it, but at this particular point in time, um, someone had to slam on the brakes, uh, whether it was um because they needed to or not, I don't know. And um the ramp fell forward and smacked into my legs. Now, even though I'm in the wheelchair, I have feeling in my legs, and I couldn't see it at the time, but it really cut deep into my legs, and so got really sore shins for quite a while. But I could have very easily me, I'm ex-military, worked in the Department of Corrections for many, many years, so um profanities are something that uh it can come out of me quite easily, but after being a Christian for you know, over 20 years, um no, longer than that, maybe 30. I lose track. But um I got married in 84, so 87, I gave my heart to the Lord, yeah. So I'm not very good at math, so 13 shy of the year 2000, plus another 25, 30, 37 years, all right, something like that. But the point that I'm making is that I did exactly the same that I saw my senior pastor do. And to me, at that particular point in time, I did not notice what had transpired until later I realized that my growth in the word of God, even more so since I've been doing these podcasts and everything, clearly shows that I am on the right path at the moment. And the way to stay on the right path is to actually spend time in his word and understanding it more and more each and every day, and like I'm doing at the moment, I'm reading the Bible from cover to cover in a year, and this will be my third or fourth time that I've done this, you know, and I'm always learning something new each and every day, and that's what it talks about renewing your mind daily on the word of God because we live in this world and but we're not of it, but it is so easy for us to get distracted about what is going on around us that we can be dragged in to things of the world, and uh talk more on this at another time, all right? So that'll do for now, but just remember, okay, you will always find yourself coming to a fork in the road. Which path are you going to take? The path towards fulfillment and glorification of our heavenly father, or the path further into the world and the way the world thinks, and the way the world believes, and the way the world acts. Choose the right path, the path towards our Heavenly Father. God bless you, and we'll talk to you soon. Bye for now.
