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[0:00] Joshua chapter number 24, if you don't mind, if you are able to stand for the reading of God's word. Joshua chapter number 24, we're going to do a little bit of reading, alright? So get used to standing for a little bit, okay?

[0:11] We're going to read the first 15 verses, but if you don't catch anything I say for the rest of the sermon, make sure we're getting what God has for us in His word today. It says in Joshua 24, verse number 1, And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and for their judges and for their officers.

[0:32] And they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nacor, and they served other gods.

[0:48] And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac. And I gave unto Isaac, Jacob, and Esau, and I gave unto Esau, Mount Seir, to possess it.

[1:02] But Jacob and his children went down into Egypt. I sent Moses also, and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did among them, and afterward I brought you out. And I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and ye came unto the sea.

[1:15] And the Egyptians pursued after your fathers, with chariots and horsemen unto the Red Sea. And when they cried unto the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them.

[1:27] And your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt. And ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season. And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, which dwelt on the other side, Jordan.

[1:37] And they fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, that ye might possess their land. And I destroyed them from before you. Then Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and sent and called Balaam, the son of Baor, to curse you.

[1:53] But I would not hearken unto Balaam. Therefore he blessed you still, so I delivered you out of his hand. And ye went over Jordan, and came unto Jericho. And the men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hitzites, and the Girgashites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

[2:10] And I delivered them into your hand. And I sent the hornet before you, which draved them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites, but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.

[2:21] And I have given you a land for which ye did not labor, and cities which ye built not. And ye dwell in them of the vineyards and olive yards, which ye planted not do ye eat. 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.

[2:43] 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.

[2:56] But as for me, in my house, we will serve the Lord. I have a very important decision that we are going to talk about today. Who are you going to choose?

[3:08] Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, I just thank you for this day. Thank you for this opportunity that we have to come into this place here at Central Baptist Church and worship and honor you. Be with this service, Lord. Speak to heart, speak to my heart in a special way today.

[3:21] And if there be anybody in here that has not asked you to be their Lord and Savior, help them to get that right today. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Thank you for standing. You may be seated. Man, we make a lot of decisions in a day, don't we?

[3:36] Think of all the decisions that we make. I know Pastor Tyler's used this as an illustration before, the decision to go out to eat. It's the age-old decision that couples have to decide what they're going to do.

[3:47] But a lot of times, households end up divided. Okay? And I'm going to use an illustration for this. Right now, Miss Tiffany is going through a diet. A diet plan set forth by Brother Cliff.

[4:00] And a lot of things right now she cannot eat. She cannot eat anything with sugar, flour, starches. And there's probably more than that. And me being the good husband that I am, I was going to try and do the diet with her.

[4:12] And then I realized that Coca-Cola has sugar in it. And I quickly realized that I could not do that. All right? So a lot of times what we'll do at night for dinner, my wife will make something just slightly different for her so she can stick to her diet and me and the kids eat chicken nuggets.

[4:28] Okay? That's what we kind of do. But right now, our house is divided on what we are going to eat. Sometimes our houses are divided on certain things.

[4:38] And I know we don't, like I said earlier, I know we don't have a ton of sports fans out there. But I was taught at a very young age. Very young age. We are to hate evil. All right? And I think that's a pretty commonplace thing.

[4:50] We are to hate evil, aren't we? And so my parents raised me knowing right from wrong. So they raised me as an A&M fan. All right?

[5:00] They raised me liking the maroon and white. All right? And they taught me from a very young age that the color burnt orange was very evil. And we stay far, far away from it.

[5:13] All right? That's what I was taught. Okay? So don't be mad at me. Be mad at my parents. Okay? I was taught that you hated Texas. You loved Texas A&M. That's just how I grew up.

[5:24] And, of course, I met my lovely wife. And she was not kind of, she was not way out there as I was. She didn't hate A&M. But she liked Texas. So the very first time we met at Chili's, that was one of the things we had to talk out.

[5:38] All right? Because that was an obstacle. Okay? You cannot have obstacles in your marriage. It's just not a good thing. So we talked about it and she said, man, I guess one day maybe I can like Texas A&M.

[5:53] And I... Appreciate that. Yeah. And she did start watching A&M with me a little bit. But she does not hate Texas yet.

[6:05] All right? I've got her on the side of liking A&M more. But she says she still roots for Texas. All right? I told her you can't have good and evil. All right? You can only have one. But... So I have tried to eliminate the division in our house.

[6:19] But occasionally when A&M and Texas play each other in whatever sport, she has to make a decision. And sometimes she decides that she's going to root for both teams. And I hate that. All right? You can't ride the fence.

[6:30] That's what God taught us. Okay? But our house is divided. All right? I like A&M. And against my wishes, she still likes Texas a little bit. All right? Our houses are divided on certain things.

[6:42] On certain silly things. Right? We'll compromise with each other if it's not a huge, big decision. But today, we are going to discuss a decision that cannot be compromised.

[6:56] These little things like sports and the food that we eat, our likes and dislikes, our interests, they can divide our household and we can have a fun time with that. But the decision that we're making today, our entire household needs to decide today what way we're going to go.

[7:13] It can't be compromised. We can't compromise the way that we're going. And that's kind of where Joshua's coming from here. Just to give you a little back story of where we're at here in Joshua chapter number 24, this is Joshua's last charge to the children of Israel.

[7:29] This is his last time that he's going to stand before them. He's getting very close to death. He's getting very close to dying in his last breath. So he is now thinking of what is the best thing that I can leave with the children of Israel before I die.

[7:44] The children of Israel have had two great leaders in Moses and Joshua. And now the second of those great leaders is going to pass away. And he doesn't know how to make sure to get through the Israelites' heads that regardless who's leading you, you should be looking at God.

[8:00] And he's not really sure how to do that. So I imagine this is how my brain works. He's got a little feather pen that he's writing out his speech. Okay. He's writing on paper, what should I say?

[8:12] And then he realizes something. No speech that he could possibly give could really top everything else that has happened over the last several, several years that he has led the children of Israel.

[8:23] So he doesn't really know where to go. And then he realizes something. I'm not going to be able to say anything to get these guys to follow Christ. I'm not going to be able to say anything to get these guys to truly follow the Lord.

[8:34] If you followed the history of Israel at all, these guys, they do some wrong things. They follow idols. They're not always following God. So what Joshua decides to do is he decides to remind the children of Israel who got them there, who led them to where they are at right now.

[8:55] At this point in time, the children of Israel are experiencing many blessings. They've experienced many victories. And sometimes when we experience victories in our lives, we tend to look inward and say, man, I can't believe I did that.

[9:09] Man, that was a great, that was a great job that I just did. So what Joshua takes here is I'm going to remind him who got him here. By the way, it wasn't Joshua. It wasn't Moses.

[9:20] Great men of God, great leaders for God. But the only one that got the children of Israel where they're at today is God himself. And it says in verse number two, And Joshua said unto all the people, The very first words that Joshua says, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel.

[9:41] He puts a disclaimer over everything he's about to say. This is what God did. Not what you did. Not what anybody else here did. Not what our great fighters did.

[9:52] This was God. Joshua's nearing the end of his life, and he figures that the best thing he can do is point everybody back to God. Point number one here is remembering God's faithfulness.

[10:06] The only way to point our household, to point our lives back to God, is remembering what God did for us to begin with. Sometimes it's easily forgotten.

[10:17] I was saved now, I guess, 16 years ago. And you know, right when you get saved, that period of time when you get saved, you are on fire for God.

[10:28] For a couple weeks, maybe a couple months, even a couple of years. And before too long, if we're not careful, we forget what God did for us, and we say, I'm going to live my life my way.

[10:39] We're humans. Short-term memory loss. I've watched Finding Nemo. You ever watch Dory? He can't remember very much. Oftentimes we're like that. We forget what God has done for our lives.

[10:51] We forget where God has brought us out of. God has provided this great church, this great church building, where we can come in and worship God. Did you know around the world, a lot of people don't have that.

[11:01] A lot of people don't have the blessings that this place has been blessed with. But let me just tell you, it has nothing to do with any man. God gave it to all of us. We need tonight, or this morning, to remember God's faithfulness.

[11:16] Remember God's faithfulness. Underneath this letter A, God chose them. God chose them. I find this very interesting in verse number two, continuing on.

[11:27] Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in the old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nacor, and they served other gods.

[11:39] Do you notice that the household that Abraham came from was not a godly household? The household that Abraham came from, as a matter of fact, worshipped other gods.

[11:51] They worshipped other things. They did not worship the true God. That's where Abraham came from. Did you know, I imagine there are a lot of us in here that maybe when we were children, grew up in households that did not honor God, that did not worship the one true God.

[12:07] But eventually, you have to make the decision for yourself and your household that you are going to serve God. That's what happened with Abraham. Abraham was not brought up in this.

[12:19] He was not a part of a Christian family in the slightest. But, God called him. He saw Abraham. He said, Abraham, I want you to come to me.

[12:30] I want you to work for me. I want you to serve me. Abraham had a choice. God chose him, but Abraham still had the choice, and Abraham chose God. There was a young man back in 1862 is when he was born.

[12:47] This man was a great athlete. He was very, very fast. He was one of the faster men alive at the time. He'd run across all parts of the world racing and such. And by 1882, at 20 years old, this young man was drafted by the Chicago White Stockings baseball team.

[13:07] Now they're the Chicago White Sox. This young man got so hung up in the success, the fame, the fortune of the day, he got into things that he shouldn't have.

[13:19] He was heavy, heavy drinking alcohol. He got into things that he shouldn't have been in, and by 1886, four years after he was drafted, this man stumbled with some of his teammates into a street meeting held by the Pacific Garden Mission.

[13:36] As he listened to the gospel and heard believers singing hymns that reminded him of his godly mother, the Lord convicted his heart. This young man, five years later, after he was saved on this day, five years later, he gave up baseball.

[13:50] He gave up everything to follow God with his life. That man's name is Billy Sunday. If you have never heard of this man, this is one of the great preachers of his day that, by the way, was living in sin, that was worshiping other gods.

[14:06] God called him. He was in sin, and he still left his sin to follow God. Get this. Sin never stopped God from calling us, but sin can still push away the call.

[14:18] At the end of the day, it's our decision. Choose you this day. What are we going to choose? Billy Sunday's ministry reached many, many, many, many people for Christ.

[14:35] He was a great baseball player. He had his life in front of him. He had fame, fortune, all the works, but he chose God. Not because he grew up in God.

[14:47] Not because he grew up around it, but because he realized he had to make a decision for him. It wasn't based on what his parents had done. It wasn't based on any of his family. He had to make an individual decision to trust God.

[15:00] God chose Billy Sunday, but Billy Sunday still could have pushed him away. We have that same opportunity today. Did you know, as a Christian, God's calling you? You say, well, I'm not going to be a pastor.

[15:12] I'm not going to be a missionary. I'm not good at public speaking. I can't do it. God's not calling me. If you are a Christian, God is calling you. God wants you to follow him.

[15:22] God wants you to live your life for Christ. So God is calling you. Now, I'd be a fool to think there aren't one or two people, maybe more in here that are called into ministry. Answer that calling, but as a person that maybe isn't called into that, maybe God's calling you to reach your coworkers for Christ.

[15:42] Maybe God's calling you to tell your friends about Christ. Maybe God's just calling you to be an example that others around you can see. God's calling you. God's chosen you, but is your sin pushing him away?

[15:55] Is your sin pushing that call away? Today we need to answer that call. If you are in here and a Christian, God is calling you. Answer the call.

[16:07] Pick up the phone. Answer the call. Don't leave this building today without making the decision that you are going to follow Christ. The very first thing at the end of chapter number, or verse number 15, says, but as for me, but as for me.

[16:27] So Joshua first, before anything else, he has to make a decision in his own life that he's going to choose the Lord, that he's going to serve the Lord. First, he has to make a personal decision that he is going to follow God.

[16:43] Not only did God choose them, God delivered them. God delivered them. In verse number five, it says, I sent Moses also and Aaron and I plagued Egypt according to that which I did among them.

[16:56] And afterward, I brought you out and I brought your fathers out of Egypt and you came unto the sea and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and horsemen under the Red Sea. Joshua was going through everything that God has done for them.

[17:09] Remember that time God did this for you? Remember that time God did this for you? I don't like it when I'll tell, I'll explain Christ to somebody, he preached the gospel to somebody individually and they'll say, man, I'm living in sin.

[17:22] I've done too much wrong. There's nothing God can do for me. God can deliver you. God delivered the people of Israel even when they didn't deserve it.

[17:33] We've heard the stories about the Israelites. They wouldn't stop complaining. They worshiped golden idols. They did a bunch of wrong things and God delivered them every single time.

[17:44] Every single time, God still delivered them. Egypt's bondage, the Red Sea, Pharaoh being destroyed, bringing them Moses and Aaron when they had nobody to lead them.

[17:54] Over and over and over, time and time again, God delivered them. God can deliver you too. You might be living in sin today. You might be saved, but you might be living in sin.

[18:05] A lot of these Israelites probably saved and they kept on failing time and time and time again. We're human, that's going to happen. But you know what they had to do? They had to turn back to God and say, God, can you help us?

[18:18] God, what are we going to do now? Where do we go? Verse number seven, it says, and when they cried unto the Lord. It didn't just happen. They had to go to God and say, God, we need help.

[18:31] Deliver us. God wants to help his people. God wants to help those that are in trouble. God wants to help those that are mired in sin. But we have to go to him and ask. We have to ask God to deliver us.

[18:43] God chose us and he also wants to deliver us. Thirdly, God defended them. Verse number eight, we won't read all this because there are a lot of places that I'm not keen on saying again.

[18:56] And I brought you into the land of the Amorites which dwelt on the other side of Jordan and they fought with you and I gave them into your hand and that ye might possess their land and I destroyed them from before you.

[19:08] Don't miss this. The battles that you're fighting cannot be won by you. You must lean on God to win those battles. And that's what Joshua was saying here.

[19:19] Remember all those battles that you had? He lists out all the ites in a few verses later, all right? All the Hivites, the Girgashites, all these guys, probably pretty big armies, maybe bigger than Israel.

[19:32] And Joshua said, remember how God defended us then? Remember that? Remember how it felt to watch God take over like he did? Do you remember that?

[19:43] I do. God defended them. Victory over the Amorites. By the way, they weren't supposed to beat the Amorites. Protection from Balak. God turned Balaam's curse into blessing. Sometimes God protects us from dangers we'll never even know existed.

[19:57] But the only way that happens is if we are walking with the Lord. If we are walking day by day with God. God wants to deliver us. God wants to defend us.

[20:09] But we have to walk with him. And fourthly, not only did God choose them, God delivered them, God defended them, and finally God provided for them.

[20:23] Over and over and over again, we find for the children of Israel, God provided for them, even when they didn't deserve it. You know what's amazing? I'm a sinner, and I don't deserve salvation.

[20:33] God gave it to me anyways. I'm a sinner. I don't deserve to be a part of God's family. But God provided it for me anyways. The children of Israel show us that even God's people are so oftentimes stuck in sin and stuck in their own ways, and God still wants to help them out.

[20:53] He still does. And today, I think it's time that we just remember how good God's been to us. As a church family, if we just gather around and think of all the blessings, think of all the times that God has provided for us when we did nothing left, no help, nothing.

[21:08] Even since I've been at this church here at Central, I've seen how much it's grown, how the Spirit has grown in the Lord. That's a God thing. That's no man. That's no one person.

[21:20] That is God providing for Central Baptist Church. That is God defending Central Baptist Church. Let's remember today what God has done for us.

[21:30] Remember. Because when we remember it, it's a lot harder to go back into sin. Because we remember how much God has done for us and how much we should be doing for the Lord.

[21:43] So first, I see remembering God's faithfulness. Secondly, we need to reject every rival. I did not come up with this point in thoughts of rejecting the Texas Longhorns, but we are to reject every rival.

[21:59] We are to reject everything that can get in our way from serving God. It says in verse number 14, Now therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods.

[22:13] Put away the gods. And ordinarily, when we look at Scripture like this in the Old Testament, we think of, as in gods, we think of the golden calf that the Israelites worshipped.

[22:25] We think of the golden images that Aaron built up for the children of Israel. We think of these as gods and idols and we say, Well, I would never do that.

[22:36] Joshua names three kinds of false gods. Let's see if we fall into any of these categories. The very first point underneath this is the gods of the past.

[22:47] Continuing on in verse 14, And put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood. Those past sins, maybe they were before you got saved.

[22:57] Maybe they were before you got into church. We're a new creature now. We shouldn't have to deal with that. Friend, we're sinners and we have flesh. There are still things that come up that I remember before I got saved, I was living in sin and that sin, every now and then, it'll pop its ugly head up.

[23:15] Put away those gods. Put away the idols. Put away the things that are just in our lives that are keeping us from truly serving and honoring and worshiping God. That's what a God is.

[23:27] And a God or an idol is something that takes the place of the true God that we should be worshiping. So first of all, what's that sin? What's that thing in our lives that we tried to put away but every now and then it'll pop its head up?

[23:41] Put away those gods. That's what Joshua says. Secondly, this is where it gets real for us. Let her be the gods of the present. The gods of the present.

[23:54] It says in verse 15, and if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day and me will serve whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the flood or the gods of the Amorites.

[24:05] By the way, right now, they are living amongst where the Amorites lived. That means these gods are in the camp right now. Joshua isn't preaching against something that had been that your fathers did that was passed.

[24:20] Now he's getting into the things that are a little bit convicting. The right now. What god do you got right now, guys? Put them away now. This is a little bit harder to listen to.

[24:32] Man, things that are in my life that are taking time away from God, you say still, well, I don't have any gods or idols. I'm not worshiping anything else. You got a TV? You got video games?

[24:45] You got a career? You got all that stuff? There are other things, too. A god is something that is taking the time that should be gods and putting it into something else. So oftentimes, this is how our Bible reading goes.

[24:59] And man, this can be me, too, if I'm not careful. Our Bible reading and time with God can go something like this. We have a very busy day of doing certain things. When we get home, we want to unwind, watch a little bit of television, we get in bed that night and we say, man, I didn't get to spend time with God today.

[25:18] Hopefully tomorrow. God gets the end of it. God gets, if I have any time left over. The television, if that's taking time away from God, your priorities are out of whack.

[25:31] If certain things in your life are taking time and effort away from serving and honoring God, something is wrong. And that's what Joshua says here. He said, guys, you're putting your time into all these different things and you're giving God a little bit at the end of the day.

[25:46] You're giving God a little bit if you can find the time for it. That's not what God wants. Those are gods. Those are idols that we're using in place of who we should be honoring and worshiping and serving in God.

[26:02] So first, I saw the gods of the past. Then I see the gods of the present. And then thirdly, I see the God of convenience. The God of convenience.

[26:15] It says in verse number 15 a little bit earlier, it says, and if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord. This is actually a pretty big statement here.

[26:28] Because Joshua is not saying serving the Lord is evil, obviously. I imagine if I asked anybody in here today, who thinks it's evil to serve the Lord? Nobody's hands going up.

[26:40] Because, of course, we don't think it's evil to serve the Lord. But man, sometimes it's sure not convenient. When we got a busy day, when we got things going on, sometimes it's easier just to push it off a little bit.

[26:54] Sometimes it's easier to say, I'll do that later, God. God, I know you're important, but not as important as this right now. Not as important as doing all these other things that I've got on my plate.

[27:09] God, you'll get there one day, but right now, I've just got a lot going on. The God of convenience. Is it convenient for you to serve the Lord? If the answer is sometimes, something is wrong.

[27:21] We shouldn't be looking at God as a convenience. God should be a part of our everyday walk. It shouldn't be a convenience thing. We should go to God, number one. We should plan everything else in our day around our time with God, not the other way around.

[27:38] And so often times, it seems like we are doing it the other way around. I watched a clip of a movie last night in preparation for this illustration so I could remember it a little bit better.

[27:49] Anybody ever seen Facing the Giants? Facing the Giants. It's a very good movie. It's a Christian movie, actually. And I went to Christian school, so there weren't a whole lot of movies we could watch, so there for a little while.

[28:01] This was the only movie we watched, so that was awesome. So it did get old for a little while, but then I watched a clip last night and I want to go watch the movie now. But it's a football movie, but really, it's not really based around football.

[28:13] It is a very God-centric movie. And at one point in this movie, I'll give you the background, there's a high school coach and he coaches this high school team that's not very good.

[28:26] And if they don't win this season, he's probably going to lose his job. And then there's this other team that is state champions for like three years in a row, way better than everybody.

[28:38] They never lose. That's kind of the background of where we are here. And this head coach of this small little team that can't find themselves a win, he comes to one of his assistant coaches.

[28:49] His assistant coach had been called by that really big school to come over and leave his job there and come over and be assistant at this big school. Much more money, everything was going to work out better, but he wasn't going to tell the head coach until it was a done deal.

[29:06] He was scared to, he didn't want to hurt his feelings. The head coach goes to the assistant coach one evening after practice. And he asked him about it and he said, yeah, I just didn't want to tell you, I don't really know what I want to do.

[29:21] And the coach looked at him and said, Brady, right now you're on the fence. And right now you're not doing anybody good sitting on the fence.

[29:35] Right now you need to get off of it, pick which side you're on. Because I can't have you, if you're halfway over there, halfway over here, go over there. I don't need you. Don't ride the fence. Don't ride the fence.

[29:46] We'll be a lot better off with you out of here if you're halfway over there. Don't ride the fence. You got to pick God of the world. At the end of the day, that's what Joshua says here.

[29:56] Joshua gives them a whole bunch of gods that they can pick. Like he said, make your pick. But for me and my house, we're not riding the fence between them. We're not picking three different gods. We're going to pick the one true God.

[30:09] We are going to serve God. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Don't ride the fence. So many Christians do that because they want the benefits.

[30:22] They want the benefits of living in the world and they want the benefits that Christ can give them. You can't live for both. You got to pick one or the other. Do you want to serve God or do you want to serve the world?

[30:33] Joshua wasn't really mean about it as you can see in verse 15. He just said, guys, it's your choice. Like I'm going to tell you what I'm going to do but at the end of the day, you have to pick what you and your house is going to do.

[30:45] I can't pick it for you. I can remind you about all this. I can tell you about everything that's happened in your lives and how God has provided for you every step of the way but at the end of the day, it's your choice.

[30:57] Do you want to ride the fence? Do you want to just sit over there in the world or do you want to ride with me? Do you want to get in and work and walk with God? Finally, I see a resolve to serve the Lord.

[31:12] It says in verse number 15 at the very end, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

[31:23] This is one of the greatest scripture declarations in the Bible. Joshua was not hesitant about saying what his plan was. He didn't see what everybody else was choosing and then he chose. He said, I don't care what anybody else does.

[31:36] We're in a room of 150, 170 people. Our job isn't to look and see what everybody else is doing. Our job is to say, I don't care what they do. I don't care what my best friends do.

[31:47] I am going to serve the Lord. And let me tell you, this is, I don't ordinarily do this. This is for the men in the room. Men, we need to be the reason our household stands for the Lord.

[32:02] We should be the ones that are declaring it's never a question. My parents always told me growing up, I never want it to be a question to you whether we're going to go to church or not, whether we're going to read our Bible as a family.

[32:15] I never want that to be a question for you. I just want you to know that's our job as men to lead our household so that our kids, they grow up knowing we serve God.

[32:27] It's never a question to them. They know for a fact who we serve. Our wives follow us and are able to help and direct our children to serve the Lord, but it's our job as men to make sure our household is standing on the strong foundation of the Lord.

[32:44] First, under this point, as I'm getting close to closing, it was a personal decision. I said the men just a moment ago, but right now it is everybody's choice. It is a personal decision to follow God.

[32:59] Joshua, before he could get to his household, he had to make the decision that he was going to walk for God. He had to make the decision himself. Growing up in school, I loved group projects, because if we failed, we were going to fail together.

[33:13] I didn't like failing by myself, so I was decent in school, but if we were going to do bad, at least somebody else was going to go down with me. That's the kind of friend I was.

[33:24] I wanted my best friends with me, so if we did do bad, it was their fault too, not just mine. Let me just tell you, this isn't a group project this morning. You can't look over and say, hey, are you going to follow the Lord?

[33:36] Hey, are you going to stand firm for the Lord today? I'll do it if you do it. It's a personal decision. It has to be made by each and every one of us. And let me just tell you, if you say, well, I'm going to put this decision off a little bit, you've already made one.

[33:52] If you want to try to ride the fence and say, I'll stand firm for the Lord one day, but right now, it's not going to work for me. That's the God of convenience. Right now, I've got stuff going on, the gods of the presence, right now, we need to make a decision.

[34:10] I love, I enjoy when I'm able to close a sermon with a firm decision, like what you're going to do, like a firm calling. Today, the only decision that it is, is who you're going to choose.

[34:22] It's very, very simple. The most important decisions normally are pretty simple, aren't they? we make decisions every single day. We make decisions to brush our teeth. We make decisions to go to sleep at night.

[34:34] We make decisions all day long, but this is the one that's the most important. A lot of us are living our day-to-day lives, and I've never really sat down and thought about it and made that decision, but today, God's calling you to make one.

[34:49] Today, as we leave the doors today, there are going to be two kinds of people, ones that determined to follow God with them in their household today, and the ones who decided not to make a decision that decided to follow the world.

[35:04] There's no in-between today. That's it. There's no in-between. There's no wondering who we are, wondering what happened, wondering what we did, and by the way, finally, it was a permanent decision.

[35:21] If you're signing up and determining you and your household are going to follow God today, let me just tell you, it doesn't change in a week. It doesn't change in a month when things get hard. It doesn't change in a year.

[35:31] It doesn't change in ten years. This is a forever decision. So, like Joshua says, if you don't want to make it, don't. Joshua gave them the choice.

[35:43] God gave you the choice. God's not forcing anybody into it, but today, I want to make the decision and say, for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord, and I implore you today, whether it's at the altar, whether it's at your seat, make a decision for the Lord today.

[35:59]  An easy one. Decide if you're going to follow him and if you're going to lead your household into following him as well. Go ahead and bow your heads. away. may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may