Transcription
The choice is yours. The choice is yours.
Times of transition often serve as mileposts in our personal histories, in our personal stories. And we tend often to to look back on those mileposts and measure our lives by their significance. We remember when we graduated from high school. That was a mile post. We remember when we graduated college. You remember when you got married. You remember your first house. You remember your first job. You remember when a loved one who was closest to you died. You remember the birth of a child. They are mileposts, significant incidences, situations, circumstances that come in your life that you mark your life by those events.
My first memory as a child was the death of President John Kennedy. I did not understand what was going on. That the reason I remember it is because it was a Saturday morning. He died on a Friday. He was assassinated on a Friday. My grandmother was watching as the world turns, I understand. And the bulletin came that the president had been killed. I did not hear that, but I remember it because it was Saturday morning and I saw on television, the black and white television, the planes uh flying into Washington DC. And what sticks out in my mind was Mighty Mouse would come on every Saturday morning. You got to be over 60 to remember Mighty Mouse. and Mighty Mouse was not on and I kept crying because he wouldn't come on and my mother whipped me because I wouldn't be quiet and I associated John Kennedy's death with a whipping I got because I couldn't watch Mighty Mouse.
If you were alive, you remember when Martin Luther King was assassinated. Those events are mileposts, significant miles in our lives. Anything that has happened that has been striking, anything that has been momentous, it's a mile post in your life. Like that phone ringing while I'm trying to preach right now. That's a mile post that's that's distracting me. But I'm going to get back to what I'm trying to talk about.
In chapter 24, Joshua delivers a state of the union address in which he calls them to a significant moment of renewed dedication in the life of their shared history and as a direction for their future. But before I delve into a homalytical unfolding and an exogetical presentation of this passage, there is an Old Testament paradigm that is paralleled in the New Testament which needs to be noted in the text. Don't look at it now, but in verse number one, Joshua calls the people of God to the valley of Sheckchum, judges, the leaders, the scribes, the elders. He calls the entire congregation of Israel to the valley of Sheckchum to hear him say his farewell address. But they presented themselves not before Joshua but before God. By implication, we come to Lily Grove or whatever church you attend or YouTube or Facebook or on our tablets or on our televisions or here in person on Sunday morning. Not merely to hear a man speak, but to present ourselves before God. And if you came here this morning just to hear a man speak, you miss what worship is all about. Because worship is not about a choir in the choir loft. It's not about ushers at the door. It's not about deacons in their places. It's not about a preacher in the pullpit. It's about a holy God who allows a sinful man to come into his presence. And since God let us come into his presence, we ought to open our mouths with thanksgiving. We ought to clap our hands in song. We ought to give God the glory because we are not here to hear a man. [Applause] What did you come to this service for? We are a corporate entity who comes not before a man but before God himself. And so when you come into worship, you ought to humble yourself. I wish I had a witness here. You ought to check your ego at the door. Leave your education in the car because all of us here this morning are on the same level. We need mercy. We need grace to help us in the time of need. [Applause] Amen.
Just as Moses delivered his validictory address on the plains of Moab, Joshua's farewell is in a place called Sheckchum. Yes, sir. The very name Sheckchum. pulsates with Old Testament significance because the residue from Israel's past is smeared on every crag and every crevice. Joshua took Israel back to their roots physically as well as historically in a powerful object lesson to reinforce their ties to generations past and to remind them of all that God had done. Sheckchum is the place where Abraham built an altar. Yes, sir. After receiving God's promise. Yes, sir. Sheckchum is a place where Jacob built an altar. After his long sought reconciliation and reunion with his brother Esau. It was in Sheckchum that they carried Joseph's bones from Egypt and buried him outside Shechum. That's where Sarah is buried. Rebecca and Rachel in Sheckchum within the boundaries of the land God promised Abraham in Genesis at chapter 12. The great nation of God had the the great nation that God had promised Abraham now gathers to meet him at the very place in the land that he first made the promise. It took a long time for them to get there, but God always keeps his promises. They went to Egypt as honored and privileged guests of Egypt's Pharaoh, but they wound up 400 years in Egyptian slavery. It has taken them 40 years to get out of Egypt into the promised land. And it's almost 500 years now since God made the promise. But every promise in God is yes and the amen. It may take a while, but God will keep his word. And I think the reason it takes a while is because God wants to build some faith in you. God wants to build some endurance in you. Because if you got everything you wanted right when you prayed for it, your faith would be weak. But God keeps you praying. God keeps you coming back week in and week out, day in and day out, year in and year out to get you to know that he may not come when you want him. [Music] I wish I had a witness here. I wish I had somebody here who waited on the Lord and the Lord answered your prayers. You waited for God to open a door and just when you least expected it, God made a way out of nowhere. That supervisor thought that they were going to get rid of you, but God got rid of them. God will make your enemies your foottool. If you wait on God, he'll fight your battles. They that wait, I wish I had a Bible reader. Upon the Lord shall renew their strength. That's it. That's it. Mount up with wings like eagles. Yes, sir. Run and not get weary. Yeah. Walk and not faint. Oh, hear me, brothers and sisters.
Just as the Lord issued a call through Joshua for his people to make up their minds whom they would serve. God issues the same call to his people at Lily Grove this morning. The service of God must be born of something more than a Sunday morning itch, a Sunday morning impulse. Serving God has got to be more than what you've grown accustomed to on Sunday morning because you do you do know that Lily Grove is the place where the church gathers but it's not the church. [Applause] It's the building where the church assembles. But church is when you get on your job tomorrow and live out what you heard me preach this morning. Ah brothers and sisters, it's not born out of impulse. It must be the result of a deliberate choice. It must be a determined choice. A purposeful choice. Choice enters into the very nature of true and sincere religion. So that none of us serve the Lord cheerfully whose heart is not in itself given to God willingly. In other words, if you're not going to put your heart in it, don't put your hands on it. [Applause] If you're here because somebody else is here, you're here for the wrong reason. And I might add, brothers and sisters, that the act of choice, choice is divine in its object. Choice is rational in its character. Choice is decisive in its nature and practical in its operation. The difficulty of choosing will increase. Listen, the difficulty of choosing will increase in proportion to your neglecting to make a choice. The longer you put it off, the longer you will put it off. If you do not embrace the existing opportunity, another opportunity may never be offered. If you don't accept the Lord today, tomorrow could be everlasting too late. Choose you this day. Listen, means you cannot serve God by proxy. Amen. Everybody has got to come to God for himself. And to choose means you cannot get to heaven on your mother's God. You got to know God for yourself. Choose means you have to make a rational, deliberate, volitional choice. I have decided to follow Jesus. Yes, sir. The world behind me. The cross before me. Though no one joined me, still I will follow because I made up my mind that I'm going with Jesus to see what the end is going to be.
Many people laugh at us because we come to church. Many people think something's wrong with us because we come to the same spot every week to hear the same man say the same thing for the last 32 years. He died. He died. Didn't he die? You've been hearing me say that forever. But that blood will never lose its power. The goodness and the love and the grace of God is still extended to whosoever will. Let him come and drink from the fountain of life freely.
Now brothers and sisters, there's a hurry. You have one of three choices. You can be either complicit. You can be complacent or you can be courageous. to be complicit. This this matter of them serving the gods on the other side of the flood. That's that's complicit acquiescence. uh allowing your freedom to be enscconced in somebody else's idea because com to be complicit means to go along to get along. I I don't agree with it, but I'm going to let you buy. I I don't think that's right, but I won't say anything. That's complicit. That That's like people who say, "I don't argue politics and I don't argue religion. I don't argue about the Bible." Probably because you don't know the Bible. But but but but people who know the Bible don't mind stating what it is that they know that the Bible says. I wish I had somebody to help me here. Oh, you know, people will say, you know, the Bible says God helps those who help themselves. Sweet thought, but it's not in the Bible. And if you know the Bible, you know that that's not in the Bible. People will say the Bible says God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. St. Francis of Aisi said that great saying but it's not in the Bible. Listen brothers and sisters to to to be complicit means to know what's wrong and go along with it. See how quiet you got right there? Because we don't want to lose anybody's friendship. But friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God. And if God is right, then everybody else must be wrong.
Joshua said, "You can serve the gods that your fathers worshiped on the other side of the river. You can make those gods, listen, your idols." Now, you might be saying to yourself this morning, "Pastor, I am not an idoltor. I do not believe in idolatry." But listen, idolatry is not having a little statue of God on your dashboard or statue of God in your yard. That's iconography. But idolatry is not so much uh worshiping a false god as it is worshiping the true God falsely. Let me run that by you one more time. Idolatry is not primarily worshiping a false god. It's worshiping the true God falsely. You can be in here this morning and you've made your marriage your idol. You've made your wife or your husband or your children or your grandchildren your idol and God can't get in because you've put them before God. Somebody ought to help me preach it. Or you've made your job an idol. You're so caught up in where you work that you think that what you do makes you who you are. And so you are so interested in status and power and promotion and achievement that all your hours are spent on that job. And if you're not on the job, you're thinking of how you can do a better job to impress those white people on the job. And your job tomorrow morning depends on how a white person feels about you. [Applause] But if you work on that job as unto the Lord, it doesn't matter what they think about you. God will keep you on your job. And then they're trying to give you hell on your job. But God will keep you in perfect peace if you keep your mind stayed on him. Or have you really trusted God with your money? Because your house, your money could become your idol, sir. And you say, "Reverend, I don't worship money. Money is not my idol." If you don't tithe, if you're not a giver, if you don't trust God with 10%, Money has become your idol. No. No. Raise your head up and look at me. And and let me see if I can help you this morning. Here's how good God is. When you trust God with the tenth, that's what the word tithe means. When you trust God with the tenth, God owns it all. He lets you manage it. He He lets you steward over all of his possessions. But God says, "Bring me the tenth." Watch this. And you live off the 90%. And if you bring me the 10th, I will let you enjoy the 90% 10% more. And when you enjoy the 90% 10% more, you haven't given anything because it all belongs to him in the first place. If you give, it shall be given, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure you send it out, it'll be measured unto you again. And the only folk who can't shout right now is folk who don't tithe. But there are some of us in here today who know you can't beat God giving no matter how you try. The more you give, the more he gives to you. And listen, don't let anybody make you be ashamed cuz God is blessing you. Talk back to me if you can. You don't want to drive your good car to work cuz you don't want your coworkers to be talking. Hell on your coworker. [Applause] God's been good to you. I wish I had somebody who could help me preach right here. You dressing down because you don't want to make nobody. Dress up cuz there was a time when you could not dress up. But God has opened doors for you. God has provided a way for you. And don't let the devil or his emissaries make you feel bad cuz God is blessing you. [Music] Put your career in God's hands. put your future in God's hand.
Because when you leave con being complicit on the other side of the flood, you come to the land of the gods in whose land you dwell and leave being complicit to being complacent. And complacent means that's good enough. Complacent means I'mma do this and no more. Complacency means God has blessed me, but I'mma stay right here. And so you never move forward in your faith. You never move forward in your prayer life. You never move forward in your devotion to the things of God because in your mind that's good enough. But whatever you do for God will never be good enough. That's why you ought to keep on striving. You ought to keep on pushing. Paul says, "I press tall." I wish I had a Bible reader. That word press means I strain. I I put every ounce of energy that I have. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus. Not that I've already attained, but I forget what's behind me and reach forth under those things that are before me. When you when you when you when you're complacent, you you you don't ever get out of your mama's house. A man will never become a man until he emotionally detaches from his mother. Honey, listen to me. Don't marry no mama's boy because he's gonna compare everything you do to his mama. And your first response should be to him, go back to your mama's house. Complacency will have you with with all the skills, with all the mind, with all that God has blessed you with. You won't move forward because you are satisfied with that'll do. No. No. I want I I want all that God has for me. I want all the blessings that God wants me to have. I want all the good that God wants to send my way. If you don't want it, give me your stuff that God has given you. I want God to open doors for me. I want God to enlarge my territory. I want God to make everything I put my hands on successful. I want God to bless every endeavor I get myself involved in because I'm doing it for the glory of God. That's it. Don't park here. Don't Don't settle right here. No, no, no, no. You ought to want more. You ought to want more. You ought to want more than that little car with three hub caps missing. You You ought to want more. You you ought to want more than than that little rickety house that you're living in. You can do better than that, but you've just settled for less than God's best. Because you've gotten complacent. You've sat down right there. You did just like Israel in Psalm 137. They said, "By the rivers of Babylon, I need two or three more Bible readings. There we sat down. Yay, we wept when we remembered Zion. Here's the mistake they made. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For they that carried us away captive required of us a song, and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, sing us one of the songs of Zion. But because they had already hung their harps, they said to themselves, "How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" And you might feel like I feel sometimes that I'm in a strange land, but I still sing praises to God. I still give God glory in the midst of the mess that's going on in Houston. All the stuff that's going on outside my house does not come inside my dwelling because the Lord is keeping me. There was a a rumbling outside our house a number of weeks ago and uh I act like I I didn't wake up. I I was up, but I was trying to act like I was sleeping cuz I heard that noise. And uh Amelia said, "Did you hear that noise?" I said, "What noise?" She said, "I know you heard that out there." I said, "Go see Here's what I'm getting at. If it ain't in my house, [Applause] it ain't none of my business. Cuz I know somebody who's got angels all around me while I sleep at night protecting me and sheltering me because he is able to do exceeding abundantly. I wish I had somebody to help me. Above all that we can ask or think. I've got my hands in God's hand and the devil in hell can't snatch them out. I'm through.
But Joshua moves them from being complicit with the gods on the other side of the flood and complacent with the gods in whose land they're dwell they're dwelling in. And Joshua said, "Now you need to make up your mind today. You need to make a choice. The choice is yours. You need to choose today who you going to serve. If you're going to serve the gods on the other side of the floods that your gr that your grandmother and grandfather served, that's your choice. If you going to serve the gods in whose land you dwell, the gods of the Amorites and the Canaanites, that's your choice. But here is my determination. I've made my choice. As for me, and whoever lives in this house, I think ought to take a minute right there. Because parents, you giving your children too many options. [Applause] There's some father here today and your children are at home. There's some mother here today whose children are at home because you say they tired from football practice. They had a hard week at cheerleader camp. You're giving them too many options. They ought to be able to choose between McDonald's and Burger King, but that's about the only option they ought to have. They they ought to choose between a Coke and a Sprite. That's about the only option they ought to have. They ought to choose if they going to get their stuff from Walmart or Target. That's about the only option they ought to have. They ought to choose if they are going to watch the Flintstones. Well, that's that's that's not what children watch no more, but if they going to watch cartoons or if they going to watch the iPad, that's the only choice. And then you decide when they turn it off. You're giving them too many options. When I was a boy growing up, and many of you can help me testify, we ain't had no options. If it was Sunday morning, we were on our way to church. I wish I had some noise right here. You didn't come in the house and throw your books on the table. and look in the pot to see what your mama cooked. If she cooked it, we ate it. And we thank God for it. I wish I had some help to close here. We didn't have any options. We had some school clothes and when you came from school, take my school clothes off. Some play clothes and our church clothes. Somebody ought to help me preach here. We didn't wear them good church shoes to school. We had to wait till Sunday morning to put that on because those were our church shoes. We giving these children too many options. And that's why they stand in your face and tell you what they not going to do and and and where they not going to go. And before long, they're going to cuss you out. But my mama and daddy made the rules in our house. I wish I had somebody who was raised like I was raised. They got us up on Sunday morning and brought us up to God's house. I didn't like it every week because we had to be there for Sunday school. We had to be there for 11:00 church. And then we had to be there for BYPU. Y'all call it BTU here in Texas. But down where I'm from, it was BYPU. And then we had to get there for 6:00 service. Stay in church all day on Sunday. I didn't like it back then. But I thank God this morning that somebody made me get up on Sunday morning and make my way to the house of God. I am a Christian this morning cuz somebody prayed for me. I am a preacher this morning because somebody made me hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Joshua said, "Y'all can do what y'all want at y'all house." But everybody in this house, we will serve the Lord. And I wish I had somebody this morning who can still run your house, who can still tell everybody what to do at your house. If the Lord gets you up, we're going to church on Sunday morning. I wish I had one or two more witnesses here. I'm through now, brothers and sisters.
But Joshua threw down the gauntlet and said, "Here is how this thing is going to run." There's some more Joshua's in the scripture who threw down the gauntlet. David threw down the gauntlet in the valley of Eli when there was a giant who was 9 ft 9 in tall 450 lbs by the name of Goliath who was cussing out the God of Israel. David came out there one day and said, "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine who dares to curse the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?" Goliath said, "Am I a dog that you send this little boy out here to fight me?" He said, "David, I'm going to take your little body, break it in half, throw it in the air, and let the birds feed on you." I wish I had a Bible reader. David said, "You cursing the God of our fathers. But what I'm going to do to you, Mr. Goliath is cut your head off your body, hold it up in the air and everybody will know that there's a God in Israel. David took five stones and with one stone he killed a giant Goliath. He threw down the gauntlet and everybody knew that God was God. Three Hebrew boys threw down the gauntlet. They said, "Oh king, we're not careful to answer you in this matter because the God we serve is able and he will deliver us out of your hands. But if not, we are not going to bow." The king heated the fire seven times hotter than normal through Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace, sit back down on his throne, thought that they had been incinerated. And then the king got up and looked in the fire and said, "Didn't we throw three men bound in the fire?" He said, "Yes, oh king." He said, "I see four now." And they're loose walking around in the fire. Cuz when you throw down the gauntlet, God will show up. Daniel threw down the gauntlet and prayed three times a day. And the king had him thrown in a lion's den. But here's how strange God is. He threw Daniel in the lion's den. The king stayed up all night long. And Daniel slept all night long. And when the king got dwell down there the next morning, he said, "Oh, Daniel, has your God been able to deliver you?" Daniel said, "Oh king, last night while I slept, God kept me." Somebody here this morning ought to help me testify. All night, all day. All night. All day. God will take care of you. But I don't want to talk about Daniel. I don't want to talk about David. I don't want to talk about Shadrach, Macho. I don't want to talk about Joshua, Moses, aunt David. That's somebody else who flew down the gauntlet one Friday on a hill called Calvary. He decided he would die not for his sins, but for my sins. He died. Didn't he die? Satan thought it was all over. The scribes thought it was all over. The Pharisees thought it was all over. His disciples thought it was all over. But early Sunday morning, early just before day, he got up. God will get in your life if you make up your mind to follow Jesus.
I need somebody who's not complicit this morning. I need somebody who's not complacent this morning. I need somebody who got some courage this morning who will tell your neighbor, "Go where you want to go. Do what you want to do. Say what you want to say. Laugh at me just as much as you please. Talk about me just as much as you please. But the more you talk, I'mma stay on my knees and watch God make a way. Watch God pick you up. Watch God pay your bills. Watch God destroy your enemies. Watch God put food on your table. Watch God dry your tears. Watch God be a father for you. Watch God be a protector for you. Won't he do it? Won't he do it? Say yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. No, he's all right. [Music] Yes, he will. Yes, he will. Yes, he will. Yes, he will. Somebody in here might have walked in here with your head bowed down. Lift up your heads. Oh, he gates be lifted up. The everlasting door and the king of glory, the king of glory shall come in. Who is this king of glory? The Lord strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in the battle. Won't he fix it? Won't he turn it around? Tell him, "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I know he's all right. [Music] Heat. [Applause] Heat. I know you. I try for myself. I've seen the lightning flashing. I've heard the thunder roll. I've felt sin breaking dashing. They were trying to conquer my soul, but I heard I said I heard the voice of Jesus beating me still fight on. He promised. He promised never to leave me. Why don't you look at somebody? Why don't you tell somebody he promised? He promised. Why don't you tell the other person? He will turn it around. He will make it all right. He will I know he's all right. [Applause] Heat. [Applause] [Music] Heat.