PORTERVILLE POST | The "RIGHT" Word © ~ with Brother Scott

| “The Good, Better, or Best”

The Right Word^© - Jan 04, 2026
with Brother Scott : scott@portervillepost.com

You have choices to make and what you will do will happen either as the result of a conscious decision, which may be right or wrong, or are actions that are by default by taking no decisive action.
Listen :
In other words, you will have, without considering and deciding on an issue, gone in a direction without thinking about it and having made a decision that may or may not be the right one.

Choice: The act of selecting or deciding between two or more possibilities. It can also mean the range of options available from which one can choose. Choice involves the right or power to decide for oneself. [I add, “It is at the heart of “free-will” and makes one responsible for his or her choices before the eternal God.”]
Free will: Generally understood as the capacity or ability of people to choose between different possible courses of action, exercise control over their actions in a way that is necessary for moral responsibility, or be the ultimate source or originator of their actions. To make choices and decisions independently, without being constrained [being influenced or refusing influence] by external forces or predetermined outcomes. Doing something on one’s own accord; voluntarily done. It is often associated with moral responsibility, as actions taken freely are considered deserving of praise—or blame.

Several weeks back I mentioned something that I see from time-to-time now when making purchases; more specifically, I have observed this at Wal-Mart and at my favorite auto parts store. It is a subtle marketing strategy attempting to up-sell you to the more expensive and usually more profitable product for the store.
What I speak of is store’s shelves that feature three versions of an item for sale with display tags that have 3 labels: Good, Better, Best.
The “good” version is the least expensive, the “better” one is more money and supposedly a slightly better quality and performance, and the “best” one is the most expensive and implies superior quality and longest service.
I have seen this with paint brushes and rollers at Wal-Mart and Harbor Freight, and for windshield wipers and other auto parts at O’Reilly’s; you should know that the differences in price between each category can be substantial.

Does it really matter?

It can matter in some instances while in others it may not. However, in matters of our spiritual life and the choices we intentionally make or the ones we make by failing to carefully consider the outcome, [in spiritual matters] our choices of good, better or the best choice do matter both in this life and will reach into our existence after our physical death!
You don’t think that by barely living properly as a Christian that you will receive the same eternal inheritance, rewards, treasure in Heaven, and authority in God’s kingdom as those that had been devoted in love for God and the practice of His ways, do you?
As true followers of Jesus we face hundreds of thousands of choices as we live-out the remaining time we have here upon this present earth.
As students of the written Word of God (you are, aren’t you?), we are continually confronted by how we are to live once we are born again, which we will either “choose” to obey or we will read or hear such things taught by God’s servants but pay no attention.

Let me give you just one set of examples:

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† 1 Thessalonians 3:12 … the Lord make you to increase and abound in love [a choice] one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: 13 To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.
† 1 Thessalonians 4:1 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God [choice], so ye would abound more and more. 2 For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification [choice], that ye should abstain from fornication [choice]: 4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; 5 Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: 6 That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter [choice]: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. 7 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness [choice]. 8 He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.

Now today I am talking to those of you that will obey what you read or hear from those raised up to teach you “thus saith God’s Word”. Specifically, we are addressing the issue of at what level you will choose to obey God by being doers of the Word and how that will affect your tomorrows, both in the here-and-now and when Jesus soon rules here on the earth and then into eternity.
Whether you have ever realized it or not, you make decisions about if you will do a fair job in obeying (believers’ think of it as “Well, I’m doing a ‘good’ job of what the Bible teaches us!”), or you choose to make a better effort at obeying, or you will obey God and His Word to the absolute best of your ability—a dedication to Who God is and what He says.
Of the higher ranking instructions in the Word of God (in my opinion), we have these edicts: We are commanded to love God with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength, and our neighbor as we do our own selves. We are taught to stop sinning—and to repent of sin when we do. We are instructed to forgive others, even many times over, as God does for you and me.
We are told to be baptized in the Holy Ghost and stay filled with the Spirit of God. Believers are expected to pray always or continually. And men, we are commanded to love our wives as Christ loves the church and be involved in the raising of our children. The Lord Jesus Christ expects us to take note of things like these and so many others in the Word when He pointedly stated, “If you love me, keep my commands.”

So the question before us today is this:

On these critical commands of the Holy Scriptures, how are you doing; pretty good, better than just good (or “Okay”), or are you giving respect unto God and His Word by your full obedience. Are you striving to live the Word at the highest level of effort in the “best” way possible?

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† James 1:21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word [a choice], which is able to save your souls. 22 But be ye doers of the word [choice], and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work [choice], this man shall be blessed in his deed.

You’ve heard me teach over the years that there are three kinds of Christians:
“Believers” (those that are new to the faith or those that never progress beyond just believing on Jesus—infant Christians), “disciples” (believers that develop the spiritual disciplines needed to learn of both the ways of God and also what God says to us but not so good at practicing what they learn), and at the highest level of attainment as a true disciple and follower of Jesus are the “overcomers” (those that are believers and disciples and practice living the Word and ways of God, which give them victory over the world, the devil, and their own sin).

We are expected to proceed along the pathway of an overcomer

We are expected to proceed along the pathway of an overcomer: think of it perhaps as an upwardly “sliding scale” of sorts as our walk with Christ that goes from days to weeks to the ensuing years of our lives as Christians—a continual increasing of our knowledge and experience by our practice of what we are to become.
It is like being a teapot full of tap water on the stove going from cold to lukewarm to a consistent hot, or in the case of a true follower of Jesus, to becoming “on fire” in a life devoted to our God and Savior.
It is like a scale from a 1-10 where we know nothing at 1, to being fairly informed at a 5 level, to being victorious against sin, having and using whatever spiritual gifts we are given by God, and having the fruit of the Spirit manifesting in our lives by staying full of the Spirit at the 9-10 level.
But reaching beyond being just a “believer” into and through the “disciple” life level, and growing up to being an “overcomer” will never happen if we settle for being a “good” Christian (in whatever way we define it), or by even doing more in a “better” life practice.
The demand on us is that we live the “best” life possible to us as the Word of God reveals it to be as believer and follower of Jesus Christ.

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† Luke 6:40 The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect (Gr. complete thoroughly) shall be as his master [In this case, it is becoming as Jesus was while upon the earth: God-honoring, holy, loving, forgiving, and caring and merciful, to name the big ones.].

What did Jesus say ...
that reflects choosing the “best”?

What He had to say is not a suggestion or an option that we can choose or neglect or come up with our own lax interpretation of—it is the “gold standard” for those that are fully in love with Jesus and our Father.

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† Matthew 10:36 ...a man's foes shall be they of his own household. 37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. 39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
† Matthew 13:44 …the kingdom of heaven [which includes our lifetime here] is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. 45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: 46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
† Matthew 19:20 ...The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? 21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
† Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

We are to love and honor our parents no matter our age or theirs. We are to love our spouse and children but not more than we love God. We can have good success at work and we can have wealth and possessions but they are never ever to possess us or we become their servants and not God’s servants.

To choose to have the best
Relationship with God, and

To choose to have the best relationship with God, and have consistently right motives in life, and to become an overcomer in this life, all of our earthly things must go on the altar of sacrifice, that means they are laid at the foot of the cross where they find their rightful priority in our life by being subject to our Savior, Lord, and King.
Walking before God in a good walk is to remain an undeveloped believer who is barely qualified to go to Heaven one day, if in that weak and vulnerable state some would even make it.
The man and woman that insist of themselves to be a learner or pupil (a “disciple”) of Jesus Christ have chosen the better way, and that means having daily practices that provide spiritual knowledge and a growing relationship with Jesus and His Father also.
But growing in knowledge and into spiritual power with experience is the pathway of the overcomer, one that walks in victory over sin, the world, and the devil—and that is the best choice.

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† Joshua 24:14 Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. 15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

In our lives as each past year rolls away by a simple date change from one number to the next, which is happening again for us, many people feel like it is wiping the slate clean of what has happened this past 12 months.
Mistakes seem to fade, new hope or opportunities seem to take form, personal resolutions to do more or do better rise in one’s mind, and a desire to change some weak or bad things into good things lead to self-promises.
So I ask, for this next 12 months will you settle for just a casual relationship with the Savior of your soul and the eternal God or will you establish or even strengthen yourself in a better than good standing before the Lord as His devoted follower?
Or—will you decide to and then dedicate yourself to seeking an everyday best spiritual life possible that promises victory in Christ no matter how each day finds you on the issues of health, relationships with others, success or wealth, or other life issues important to you and especially your spiritual life?

Will you choose the best

Will you choose the best where you and God are concerned and determine what that will mean? Please take the time this next week to consider these thoughts presented to you today—maybe even read or listen to this message again.

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† Philippians 3:7 …what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

I will be praying for you to always choose the best for yourself in this coming year!