Especially I love to read the Bible in church, and so Father thank you for that great reading
and I just pray that you would please just bless the message to our hearts tonight, dear
God, and I pray that this would help many people, in Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Now tonight's sermon is on the subject, how to make a decision in your life.
I mean, if you think about it, what is your life but just a series of decisions that you
make?
And so many people, they don't even take the time to think about how they're going to make
a decision.
They just seem to kind of do whatever comes naturally for them, and for example, I was
talking to a friend of mine, a real good friend of mine, and he was kind of just giving me
his life story.
I mean, he was just telling me just the chain of events in his life that led him to where
he is now.
And it was amazing as I listened to his story, how he mentioned just one event, which didn't
really seem like that big of a decision, or it's just kind of a decision that he made,
a choice here or there, and how it just sent his life in just such a different direction.
Just one small decision, he came to a certain crossroads, and it wasn't even a moral issue
necessarily, but he just picked one or the other, and it just had dramatic repercussions
on his life.
I think about the decisions that I've made in my life, just that I almost made it a whim
sometimes, and yet they just totally altered the course of my life.
And so it's so important, the decisions that we make, it's vital.
And so I want to teach you tonight from the Bible how to go about making a decision.
Now, in the chapter that we just read, in Joshua 24, the people here, the children of
Israel, are with Joshua, and they're faced with a decision.
They're in the land, they're surrounded by ungodly people, who they did not destroy like
they were supposed to, and so they lost the opportunity to ever destroy them.
God said, well now they're always going to be with you, because you didn't clean out
this place like I told you to.
And so they're surrounded by ungodly people, they've come out of the land of Egypt, they've
conquered the land, but alas, they left a lot of the sin and wickedness there.
And so Joshua says, look, I'm getting old.
I'm not going to be around to hold your hand forever, and to keep you on track.
He says, I want you to decide yourself whether you want to serve God, or whether you want
to serve the God that Abraham used to have before he got saved.
Remember how it started out talking about how Abraham and his father, Terah, and his
brother Nahor, they were in Ur of the Chaldees serving false gods.
And God brought him out of that, and brought him into Canaan land, and he said that we're
starting over with you, we're pushing the reset button, Abraham, and you're not going
to live with your father anymore.
He says, I want you to leave your father, I want you to just take your wife, and separate
yourself from this ungodly country that you live in, Ur of the Chaldees, and we're going
to start of you a great nation, we're going to start over with you.
And so that's what happened.
He says, do you want to serve the God that Abraham left 400 years ago?
Because he moved on, he was desiring a better country, the Bible says.
Lord do you want to go with the God of the people that you just destroyed?
The people who you just trampled on and conquered?
He says, are you going to serve the God that brought you out of the land of Egypt?
And so they're faced with a choice, and he says, you've got three choices.
You can serve the wicked heathen gods of Abraham, you can choose to serve the wicked gods of
the Canaanites, but he says, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
And so we're going to get to that part later in the message, but so many decisions through
out the Bible, so many decisions throughout our lives, it's important to know how to make
a decision.
Number one, point number one on how to make a decision, you must determine the will of
God.
Now, the will of God is something that phrase is thrown around a lot, but sometimes we don't
understand the most commonly used phrases that we hear, because we take for granted
what they mean.
You hear something over and over, and so you just assume everybody knows what that means.
But you don't really stop and think, what does it mean, the will of God?
Well, the will of God means what God wants, that's what it means.
If you were willing to do something, that's what you want to do.
And so that word will means to want something.
And so the will of God is what God wants.
So when you're trying to determine the will of God for your life, when you're trying to
determine the will of God about a decision that you're trying to make, you're determining
what does God want me to do.
Now, it's very easy to figure out what the will of God is.
I'll give you three concrete ways, and this is all under point number one, you want to
find out what God's will is.
But I can give you three concrete ways to find out what God's will is.
You say, you can know God's will?
Yes.
Because it's not some kind of a spooky thing where, I just got to find the will of God,
I just don't know what to do, and I'm just begging God to tell me.
Look, God wants you to know the will of God.
Does God want you to know what he wants you to do?
Of course.
Why would God withhold it from you and keep you in darkness?
Obviously he wants to show you what he wants you to do with your life.
And so, number one way to find God's will?
Read the Bible.
Ninety-nine percent of the will of God is found in this book right here.
You don't have to go pray somewhere all night in the woods somewhere to figure out what
God's will is.
Hey, open this book and read what God's will is.
I studied, I looked in the concordance, I typed in that phrase in my computer, will
of God.
I was just reading every time the Bible says will of God, and I noticed that God is constantly
telling you what the will of God is.
He's not saying you need to go necessarily figure it out.
He's saying, I'll tell you what the will of God is right now.
For example, here's this verse.
First Thessalonians 4-3, for this is the will of God, even your sanctification that you
should abstain from fornication.
He says, you want to know what my will is?
You want to know what I want?
Yes, God.
I want to know who I'm going to marry.
I want to know how long I'm going to live.
I want to know where I'm going to live.
I want to know what I'm going to do for a living.
He says, no, that's not what's important.
What's important is my will is that you be sanctified and abstained from fornication.
My will is that you live a clean and godly life.
In the next chapter, First Thessalonians 5-18, the Bible says, in everything give thanks,
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
So as I went through this, I just wrote down a few examples for the sake of time, but as
I went through studying this, it seemed to me that the will of God had to do with you
obeying the commands of God.
So when we talk about the will of God, the main thing that we're talking about as I went
through this was where God told you to do something, that's what he wants you to do,
do it.
That's the will of God.
It's not necessarily something where he would reveal to us this future or something about
our life, but he says, if you will follow my commands and you'll walk in this path that
I have set for you where I've restricted you from certain things, I've commanded you
to do certain things, you'll be in the will of God when you're obeying the commands of
God.
I was thinking about Hebrews chapter 10, turn there if you would to verse number 6.
Hebrews chapter 10 verse number 6 toward the end of your Bible there, a few books before
the end.
Hebrews chapter 10, those of you who are here for the series on Hebrews will remember this,
but Hebrews chapter 10 verse number 6, the Bible reads, in burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou hast had no pleasure, then said I, this is talking about Jesus Christ, then
said I, lo I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God,
above when he said sacrifice and offerings and burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin,
thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein, which are offered by the law.
Then said he, lo I come to do thy will, O God, see Jesus Christ came to this earth,
he knew when he was on this earth that sacrifices and offerings made in the temple was not the
end all be all of salvation.
He said the will of God for my life is to give my body to be broken for you.
He says the end of my life, the will of God is that I will come and die for the sins of
mankind.
Now how did he know that?
Well the Bible says he read it in the Bible, it says in the volume of the book, he said
I come to do thy will, in the volume of the book it is written of me, so I read it in
the Bible.
See when Jesus Christ initially came to this earth, he was not immediately omniscient.
Now you say wait a minute, you're preaching heresy, you mean Jesus didn't know everything
while he was on this earth?
No he didn't.
And I can prove that to you from the Bible.
First of all the Bible says in Luke chapter 1 that Jesus increased, I'm sorry Luke chapter
2, the last verse of the chapter, he says that he increased in wisdom and in favor with
God a man.
And so he learned things throughout life.
So in the book of Mark chapter 13, he said I don't even know when I'm coming back.
He says no man knoweth the day nor the hour that the Son of Man comes back.
He says only the Father knows.
He said not even the Son knows.
So while Jesus Christ was on this earth, he clothed himself with humanity.
And toward the end of his life, obviously more and more he knew everything again.
But when he was born as a newborn baby, he didn't just come out of the womb just talking
and reading and speaking to his parents, okay, because he was a human being.
And he was God, 100% God in the flesh, God clothed in human flesh, but he put on himself
the weaknesses that come with being a human being like he was hungry, he was thirsty,
he was tired, he was weary, he had emotions, he was tempted in all points like as we are
yet without sin.
And so here he went through life and he understood the will of God for his life right away from
the Bible, just like we are to understand the will of God for our lives from the Bible.
So number one, you read the will of God in the Bible.
But number two, look at Romans chapter 12 and the next two points are both in Romans
chapter 12.
So the first way we determine the will of God for our lives is by reading the Bible.
Now here's the problem.
The Bible is a long book.
Have you noticed how long the Bible is?
If you've read the whole thing, you know how long it is.
Now the Bible is a very long book and you're just maybe too lazy to read the whole Bible
to figure out what God's will is.
Do you see any situation, any situation, I mean any situation, you say well the Bible
doesn't cover this.
Wait, have you read the whole Bible a hundred times to tell me what's in the Bible and what's
not?
You tell me you know everything that's in the Bible?
I've heard people say well the Bible doesn't talk about this.
If you know the whole Bible, memorize, how do you know whether the Bible talks about
it?
Have you read Ezekiel and maybe you read it one time or ten times, how do you know whether
you just maybe missed it?
Don't tell me that the Bible doesn't cover anything.
The Bible covers everything, but it's going to take a lifetime of just reading and reading
and reading and searching and searching and searching to find the answers for what you
need.
Any decision where you say what's right and wrong in this area, the Bible will tell you
what's right and wrong, no matter what it is, and you say well no because it doesn't
talk about such and such.
Well you must be the most, just the biggest expert of the Bible then because you can actually
conclusively say that in this book of 1189 chapters, it's never mentioned.
Wow, you must just know this thing like the back of your hand and I don't think that's
the case.
I don't, I would never make a statement like that.
The Bible doesn't talk about that.
I would never make a statement like that because the Bible talks about everything.
The Bible has the answers for everything.
And so reading the word of God is going to take work, but that's how you're going to
find the answer.
I remember I was wondering about a doctrinal question.
I was taught one way about a certain doctrine about the local church and a lot of people
believe in the universal church, you know, and I was confused about it because I've been
taught this universal church thing and the way I saw it, there was no such thing.
Only every time the Bible said church, it's talking about a local assembly of people.
And this is before I kind of had understood and memorized the book of Hebrews and understood
the connection between the word congregation and church and how God quotes that that way,
and I didn't really know that.
And so I was young at this time and I said, you know what, I'm going to read through the
New Testament cover to cover just looking for that one question, you know.
And so I devoted a whole time of reading through the New Testament of just, that's all I was
looking for, just to find out what was right and wrong about that one issue.
And I read it and I said, you know, local church only, it's clear because I wanted to
know the answer.
And so, you know, it took, it takes some work.
I mean, other times when I was reading through the Bible, whole Bible cover to cover, I decided,
you know, I'm watching for three things while I do it this time.
While I read through it, I'm watching for these three things.
I want to see if the Bible mentions it anywhere.
And so, yeah, grabbing some concordance is not always going to give you all the answers,
friend.
Sometimes you just have to read the Bible cover to cover again and again and again and
again and again.
You say, I want to know the will of God.
You've got the will of God in your hand in the King James Bible.
What a treasure.
The answer to every question that anybody's ever answered.
I mean, this is all the sum of knowledge in the universe.
This is everything God knows.
This is not just what everything that mankind knows.
This is the mind of God.
The Bible says we have the mind of Christ.
We can open it up and read it.
And so never underestimate the quantity of information that's in the Bible.
But number two, look at Romans chapter 12, verse one.
The Bible says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your
bodies a living sacrifice.
Holy, holy, you see that word, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And then look at the next verse.
And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind
that ye may prove, prove means to test something out, that you may prove what is that good
and acceptable and perfect will of God.
So how are you going to test out an idea or test out some kind of a decision and see whether
it's the will of God for your life, whether it's good will of God, whether it's an acceptable
will of God, what's the perfect will of God for your life?
How are you going to figure it out?
Well, number one, in verse number one, we saw that you have to offer your body as a
living sacrifice to God, holy.
See, the reasonable service that he's talking about is just giving yourself a hundred percent
to God.
And if you give yourself a hundred percent to God and say, I have no agenda, I don't
care, God, what do you want me to do?
That's where he's going to reveal his will to you.
See, when you say, well, I know what I want to do, but I just want to see if God will
put a rubber stamp on it and call it his will, what I'm planning on doing anyway, or what
I want to do anyway.
But God's not going to give you his will.
But when you say, no, I'm going to offer myself to God, whatever he wants to do, wherever
he wants to send me, whatever he tells me to do, I'm going to open my Bible and start
reading it, and before I even read it, I know I'm going to obey it, no matter what
it says.
I mean, I'm looking for the answer, and whatever it says, I'm just going to go with it.
Well, you don't even know what it is yet.
Well, it doesn't matter, because when I see it, I'm going to do it, because I'm going
to just sacrifice my own life, sacrifice my own will on the altar of what God wants.
And so people who say, I have no agenda, I have no will, not my will but thine be done,
God will reveal his will to them.
I mean, if somebody's begging God, God, I want to do what you want me to do, not what
I want to do, you think he'd just be thrilled to just say, okay, let me tell you exactly
what it is.
I mean, if somebody's willing to do it, that's who he's going to tell.
But somebody who's like, well, let me see what it is first, and I want to see if I like
it.
He might not be so inclined to come down with a lightning bolt and show them what the truth
is and what they want to know.
He's going to show the people who he knows are going to obey it before they even hear
it, because why would he want to keep them in darkness if they're so eager to do God's
will?
If you're in thirst after righteousness, they'll be filled, God says.
People who desire things of God, people who desire to do right, he'll show them what to
do.
He'll lead you right along.
And so number two, number one was the Bible is where you're going to find God's will.
Number two, you find God's will by getting rid of your own will and your own agenda and
just saying whatever you want, God.
But number three, here's another way to find God's will.
Look at verse two, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing
of your mind.
When you're conformed to this world, when you dress like the world, when you talk like
the world, when you act like the world, when you live like the world, he says, I have a
hard time revealing my will to you.
He says you're not going to prove God's will while you're conformed to the world, while
you're patterned out.
Think about conformity.
Conformity means like, think about the word form, form means shape.
And so it's like if you took a pattern, and I think my wife was doing this last night,
she was doing some sewing projects and she was cutting out these patterns.
And so if you pattern yourself after the world, if you're conformed to the world, God
will not reveal his will to you.
But when you say I'm not going to conform myself to the world, I'm going to be transformed.
I'm going to be totally different than the world by renewing my mind, by changing the
way I think about things so I don't think about things the way the world thinks about
them.
I think about things the way the mind of Christ thinks about them.
Well, when you do that, God has a very easy time revealing his will to you because the
same person who is not conformed to the world is the same person who has their mind renewed.
See how it says that?
It says be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
You're either one or the other.
You're either conformed to the world or your mind has been renewed.
How is your mind renewed?
When you get the mind of Christ in your mind by getting the word of God into your mind.
So really, one and three go together.
They both have to do with getting the word of God in your mind and not the world's philosophies
and what they think.
Don't ask people at work what you should do in your life.
Their life's messed up, okay?
Don't go to the person in the cubicle next to you.
I'll have this major decision.
What do you think I should do?
Mormon coworker?
What do you think I should do with my life?
Hey, you're on your fifth marriage.
Can you tell me how to get a good marriage?
And that's what people do though.
They get advice from the world.
They turn on Oprah Winfrey and Jerry Springer to see how they should deal with relationships
in their life.
Dr. Phil or Dr. Laura or whatever, and that's where they get their advice from.
Look, go ahead, but you won't know the will of God until you get the world and say, I'm
going to renew my mind.
I'm going to transform myself so that I don't think like you anymore.
The world's not going to tell you to stay in a bad marriage.
Let's face it.
Are they?
Oh, honey, you need to get rid of that zero and get you a hero.
You know, I'm Jerry Springer and everybody's like, you go girl, you're so much better than
him.
Yeah, that's what they're going to tell you.
Hey, but that's not what the word of God's going to tell you.
The word of God's going to tell you to lay down your life for your spouse, just like
Jesus Christ laid down his life for the church.
That's what he's going to tell you to have that kind of love for your spouse.
And so you're going to get a totally different diametrically opposed viewpoint from God.
And so that's the three ways that you can just know exactly what God's will is.
Decide to do what he wants you to do no matter what.
Read the Bible, separate yourself from the world, and you will walk in God's will.
So number one, when you're making a decision, find out what God's will is.
Say, before I make this decision, God, let me ask you what you want.
But number two, make the decision based on having godly priorities in your life.
You see, we can't please everybody with our decisions and we can't please every area of
our life.
But let's face it, something's going to have to give somewhere.
I mean, between work or school or church or the things of God, between our family and
just, well, you name it.
I mean, there's so many things pulling us in so many different directions, it seems
like.
You have to decide what's important.
You have to decide what am I going to sacrifice out of my life because I have to make sure
that my priorities stay important.
Well, I was thinking about Matthew 6.33, of course, but seek ye first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness.
And all these things shall be added unto you.
So we know that our number one priority is the kingdom of God, the things of God.
Let me give you my personal list of priorities that I've made for myself.
These are the priorities that I live by, and I believe that it's based on the word of God.
I mean, this is from me studying the word of God, I didn't just come up with these,
but just reading through the Bible, I've determined that these should be my priorities.
Number one is my personal walk with God is my number one priority, which includes my
obedience to the commands of God.
So before I do anything, I don't care what other priorities say, I must be obeying God.
I mean, if I'm not obeying what God told me, it's a bad decision, period.
So number one, my personal walk with God, how does it affect my personal walk with God?
My closeness with God, my friendship with God, how is it going to be affected?
That's my number one priority in life, is pleasing God with my life.
Number two, church is my second priority, the house of God.
I'm talking about being here in attendance, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday, I
am being assembled together with the believers, and I'm talking about also, you know, some
kind of involvement and soul winning, I'm including that, and I call that church.
And I say, number one is just my walk with God, and number two, right behind that is
church.
Is work going to come before church?
No.
Is family going to come before church?
No.
Is my wife going to come before church?
No, never.
Are my kids going to come before church?
No.
Nothing comes before church.
God and then church, that's the priority.
Number three priority is my wife and children, my family, okay?
So I've got number one, God, number two, church, number three is my family.
Number four is my service for God.
Now I'm not talking about my walk with God, I'm not talking about my, you know, just doing
the minimum of what God has commanded me to do, of just being in church and being some
kind of a soul winner sometime during the week and just doing the basics of reading
the Bible prayer, that's all included in my walk with God, it's important.
But see, number four is my service for God.
That's where I'm trying to go out and really do something for God.
You know, starting a church, winning people to the Lord in larger amounts, you know, going
out and doing something big for God, helping other people, see that comes next.
So you see, I'm never going to sacrifice my family, because see how I have this order
going?
Nothing lower on the list is going to supersede something higher on the list.
Never am I going to go out and try to get everybody saved at the expense of my family.
I'm not going to do it, because it's more important that I keep my own vineyard right
here that God has entrusted me with, than that I go out trying to save everybody else
and help everybody else and let my own children go by the wayside, let my own family go by
the wayside.
So I'm never going to sacrifice my family to somehow do a great work for God, it's a
bad exchange.
And so, but I will sacrifice time with my family if it means, you know, missing church
or something, that I will be in church.
If it means I have to do a sin in order to keep my family together, I won't do it.
And so, that's the priority.
You see what I mean about making these decisions where you, and you know, you say I don't agree
with your priorities.
Well, figure out what your priorities are, and figure them out from the Bible, and decide
what you're going to base decisions on, and then give a hard look at these when you're
making a decision, and say how does this affect God?
How does this affect church?
How does this affect, you know, my family?
How does it affect my service for God?
And then number five would be my job.
Would come out right after my service for God is my job.
My job is very important to me, because that's how I support my family.
That's part of the work that God gave me to do.
Let me tell you something.
There's no such thing as a secular job.
You know, I get so tired of people talking about people who are in the ministry full
time.
Like that's some kind of a great calling, or I surrendered my life to be in the ministry
full time.
It's like, look, every Christian should be in the ministry full time.
Hey, I work a full time job.
I worked 69 hours last week.
Am I not in the ministry full time?
Because I worked 69 hours for a secular employer, and I'm pastoring at church, but I guess I'm
not in the ministry full time.
It doesn't make any sense.
But some guy who, you know, cuts the lawn for a church somewhere, he's in the ministry
full time.
You see, it doesn't make any sense, because I don't care if you're cutting lawn in front
of a church building, or cutting lawns for a living just mowing lawns around Phoenix.
You're supposed to be serving God.
You're supposed to do your work as unto Christ, and all work is ordained by God, and when
God sees you working for your boss and doing a good job, that is service toward God.
And that is just as holy and sanctified as if you worked for church.
You know, if you're some secretary for church, or if you're the secretary at the dentist,
you're still serving God if you're working, because God told you to work.
I mean, that's what the Bible teaches.
And so, don't ever separate this idea of having a clergy and a laity or something like that,
these Catholic ideas where somehow a person who has a position or they're being paid by
church is somehow on a higher level than somebody who's not.
Look, hey, we're all brothers and sisters in Christ.
We all work to pay the bills.
We all serve God with our lives.
We all are serving God 100% of the time with our lives.
Now, maybe I have a secular job.
Maybe some other pastor does not have a secular job.
Hey, maybe you have a secular job.
Hey, we're working for God a whole day.
That's what our whole life is wrapped up in.
And so, don't ever minimize the importance of your job.
Don't ever slack on the job and think you're right with God, because you're not.
If you're not working hard at your job, if you're not giving 100% to your job, then you're
not right with God, because God expects you to treat your boss like you would treat Jesus Christ.
But you walk in and you see the boss, you're working for Jesus.
Treat him like Jesus.
If that was Jesus, is that how you treat him?
Do you treat your boss like you would treat Jesus Christ if he ran your company?
Because that's the standard.
And so, don't ever minimize the importance of your job.
So that's why that's right up on this list.
Right behind my service for God is my job.
And then below that, by the time I've given thought to those five priorities, I've already
made the decision.
Right?
I mean, after you've gone through these five checks, you're done.
I mean, maybe I have other priorities below that, but those are going to be the major
priorities in your life.
So for example, I'm never going to pick where I live based on a job.
Right now, I live in Phoenix, Arizona.
90% of my work is in California.
You say, oh, are you going to move to California, Pastor Anderson?
No.
Because this is where church is.
You see, California is where the money is, but this is where church is, so I'm going
to be where church is.
I'm never going to decide where to live based on money.
I'm going to decide where to live based on church, because it's priority number two.
And so it's a very important priority.
That's where I'm going to make my decision.
Based on what to do for a living, where to live, it's going to be based 100% on church.
If I were right now, let's say I were in a town that had no good church.
I'm living in some city, and yes, believe it or not, there are a lot of cities out there
that do not have a good church in them.
You've been around.
You know that.
That's true.
I mean, there are cities where people call me and email me all the time, almost every
week, can you find me a good church in such and such area?
And sometimes I can find them a good church, and sometimes I just have to say, I couldn't
even find a church that's King James only.
I couldn't even find a church that does any kind of soul winning at all.
I couldn't even find anything even in the ballpark, and I'm not looking for the perfect
church, but in some place I couldn't even find something in the ballpark.
It's sad.
It's a tragedy.
I wish that more men would rise up and go to these places and pioneer these areas and
start a good church in that area.
But if I were in an area like that, you know what I'd do?
I'd move and go somewhere where church is, and you know what I'd do?
I would find the best church in this whole country.
I wouldn't sit there and say, what do I like?
I could be cold.
I could be hot.
I went by the ocean, you know, big city.
I would say, where's the best church that's just on fire?
That's where I'm going to go.
I want to go to just the great where the preaching is, where people are being saved, where the
excitement is.
I would research it, and I would just find the best church, and then just say, okay,
that's where I'm moving.
Now let me see if I can figure out a job.
Now let me see if I can figure out a place to live, because that's what would be important
to me.
I'd rather work a stupid job that I hate and go to a great church than to be in a stupid
church that I hate and work a great job.
No.
I'm not going to be, I'm not going to bore my brains out three times a week in some boring
church.
And so church has to be the number one priority.
It would be, it would be my number one concern of what I, where I was going to live or what
I was going to do.
If I was in some church that just went liberal, hey, I'd get out of there, I'd go to a church
that's a good church, and I'd pick the best one in America.
And I'd do the best I could to research it, you know, and just pray that God would lead
me.
So number one, find the will of God in the Bible when you're making a decision.
Number two, make a decision based on priorities.
Have priorities.
What's, I mean, what's important to you?
That's what priorities are.
What's, is church important to you, or is money important to you, or is the weather
important to you?
Oh, it's so hot here.
Big deal, you know.
You go to Chicago, it's hot there, you know, it's 85 degrees, 100% humidity, it feels this
is hot.
Now, everywhere you go has some negative, you know, you go to California where the weather's
perfect, you're surrounded by a bunch of queers, you know, there's going to be an 8, you know,
the earthquakes are going to get you.
You go to Indiana, a tornado's going to get you, you know.
You can't be, you're not safe anywhere.
You go where God wants you to go, and you just go there.
It seems, I was thinking about this, I was talking to my wife, I was saying, isn't it
amazing how anywhere in America there's some natural disaster that could get you?
I mean, it could be a dust storm somewhere, it could be a tornado somewhere, it could
be a hurricane somewhere, earthquakes, a volcano could erupt, or something.
Everywhere you go, there's some kind of a natural disaster, it's a stupid thing to base
it on.
Oh, I don't want to live there, I'm afraid of earthquakes, I mean, it's silly, you just
go where the church is, go where the power of God is, that's what you make a decision
based on.
And by the way, don't bounce around in life, you know, go somewhere and put your root down.
I'm not here, by the way, I'm not here on a trial basis.
I'm here in Phoenix, you know, see what happens.
I'm here for life.
I'm about to go down to the cemetery plot and buy a grave here, so I can be buried here,
and so I can die here, okay?
And so, base your decisions on priorities, but number three, consult with yourself.
You say, wait, wait, wait, should I go consult with some godly counselor somewhere?
No, consult with yourself.
Look at Nehemiah chapter five.
The best person to give you advice is yourself.
I mean, after you've got God's advice, you know the second best person to give you advice
is you.
Well, what about you, Pastor Anderson?
You're going to give me all the advice, right?
No.
Consult with yourself.
Look at Nehemiah chapter five, I'll show you what I'm talking about.
Nehemiah chapter five, this is right before like the book of Job, you know, Job and Psalms
and Proverbs there, right before the book of Job.
Nehemiah chapter five, you've got Nehemiah, Esther, Job.
Nehemiah five, verse six, this is Nehemiah speaking, it says, and I was very angry when
I heard their cry and these words, then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles
and the rulers and said unto them, the exact usury, every one of his brother, and I set
a great assembly against them, and he goes on to solve the problem.
But the first thing he did when he heard about something that was going wrong, he said, I
got angry.
And he said, I sat down and I consulted with myself.
Now what does it mean to consult with yourself?
Well, this is what you do.
Get out a couple of chairs like this, and you get a couple of chairs and you sit down
with yourself, okay, and you sit down with yourself, and you say, listen Pastor Anderson,
I want to ask you a question, this is my situation, what do I do?
And then you sit down and you think to yourself, what would you tell someone who asked you
the same thing?
Because so often when you're making a decision, you know, you're emotional about it, you have
an agenda, you know what you want and everything, and sometimes just putting yourself outside
the situation and saying, what would I tell somebody who came and asked me this same question?
And I guarantee you, you'll probably come up with the right answer.
I mean, if you think about, you go to some pastor somewhere, or you come to me or you
go to somebody else and you say, what should I do in this, you know, I'm making a major
decision in my life, and I'm not saying it's wrong to ask somebody else, but first ask
God and then consult with yourself, because you'll find that a lot of times, if you just
sit down with yourself and say, if someone else, totally unrelated to me, were to be
in the exact same situation that I'm in, and asked me what the right thing to do was, what
would I tell them?
And you'll find that you'll come up with the right answer, because a lot of times you don't
want to do what's right.
But when you sit down and say, well, if it's somebody else, you know, hey, if it's somebody
else, I'm going to just tell them exactly what the Bible says, straight down the line,
no mercy.
Right?
But, I mean, when it's us, we're like, oh, you understand what it's like, you understand
the situation.
But when it's somebody else, you're like, you ungodly liberal, you know what the Bible
says.
Come on, go where, move where church is, don't move somewhere based on your job, you see
what I mean?
And it just comes clear, when it's somebody else, you can just lay it out for them.
You know, when it's yourself, you're like, oh, you know, I don't know, it's kind of a
gray area.
Maybe I should go ask somebody else.
You say, why are you against asking somebody else first before you consult with yourself?
I'll tell you why.
Because usually when people ask somebody else, including counseling with a pastor, and, you
know, most of the time I'm against it.
Now, if you want to ask a question, you know, what did the Bible say, like Virginia did
this morning, you know, what does the Bible say in this area?
Hey, you know, that's a good question to ask a pastor, because he knows the Bible, right?
But to sit there and say, like, I got this decision in my life, what do you think I should
do?
You know what you're usually doing?
Usually you know what the Bible says you're supposed to do, and you don't like it.
And you're like, man, I hope the pastor is going to tell me what I want to do.
Because then I can just say, well, I did what the pastor said.
And that's what people will do.
They know what's right.
They know that what they're going to do is wrong.
But they're like, I'm going to go ask the pastor and see what he says, because he might
say it's okay.
And then I can always just say, well, good night, if I can't trust the pastor to tell
him what's right.
Come on, God, I did what the pastor said.
He's supposed to be the leader.
And people are trying to get a wrong decision out of somebody so they can blame it on them.
And they're trying, and that's why they'll fish around.
They'll ask this pastor, then they'll ask this pastor, then they'll ask this friend
until they get the answer they're looking for.
And then they can say, well, I got advice on this.
Got some good advice.
Look, get the advice from yourself.
Sit down with yourself before you waste the time of talking to somebody and finding somebody
else.
You know, study the Bible, find out what God says in that situation, and then sit down
and think about somebody that's not you.
Think about somebody you know.
And pretend that they're coming to ask you for the advice.
What advice would you give to them?
That's going to be the right answer.
And so, number one, find it in the Bible.
Number two, make it based on priorities.
I can't even follow my own sermon without the notes.
I have the notes, okay?
Number three, I got this off the internet, all right, it was $39.95, 10 sermons for $39.95.
I got it from Paul Chapel, okay?
And then, so number three, consult with yourself.
That's the best person to give you advice.
Good night, you're smarter than any of the people that you hang around with, right?
So hey, get the advice, you're smarter than I am.
So get the advice from God, and then get it from yourself.
Consult with yourself.
So number four, after you've consulted with yourself, pray, see this is the first time
that prayer comes in.
Pray that God will lead you, and then just make the decision yourself.
Because I'm going to tell you something, God is not going to appear to you and give you
the answer.
God will not speak to you and give you the answer.
If he doesn't give it to you, he's either going to do it in one or two ways.
He's going to give it to you from the Bible, or you see it in the Bible, because this is
how God communicates to you, through the Word of God.
This is how the Holy Ghost leads you, through the Bible.
So either he's going to show you in the Bible, or he can actually lead you and influence
your mind to make the decision, if you ask him to.
If you say, God, lead me to make the right decision, he can actually influence your mind.
Let me show you this in the Bible.
Well, I'll read these for you, I don't want to take too much time.
Psalm, or I'm sorry, let's see, I thought I had it down here, yeah, Proverbs 21.1.
The Bible says, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water.
He turneth it whithersoever he will.
He says, people that are in authority, kings, he says, I rule in the affairs of the children
of men, and I choreograph things in the world the way that I want them sometimes, and he
says, I can take the heart of a king, I can take the heart of a ruler, and I can change
his mind like this.
Think about how he hardened Pharaoh's heart to not let the people go.
He can just take that heart in his hand, and he can change the mind there.
Now, he's not going to do that all the time.
He does that very little, but if you ask God to lead you to make the right decision,
he can influence your mind and lead you to make the right decision.
So either, number one, he's going to show you in the Bible, or he's just going to lead
you and influence you through your mind without you even maybe knowing it.
Look at Luke chapter 6, Luke chapter 6, third book in the New Testament, Luke chapter 6,
and look at verse number 12, I'll show you this.
You see, don't pray about it unless you've gone through steps one, two, and three first.
Then pray about it.
Because first, see what the Bible says before you pray about it, because when you see what
the Bible says, you may not even need to pray about it, because if the Bible just tells
you point blank, this is right and this is wrong, what are you going to pray about?
I don't think God's going to change the Bible.
It's been around for all eternity past.
I don't think it's going to change, and so don't waste your time praying about it.
Number eight, read it in the Bible.
But let's say you've read the Bible, and you know what, the Bible's not telling you one
way or the other, maybe it's not a moral issue.
Maybe you just haven't found it, you searched and you couldn't find it.
Number two, you've thought about your priorities, you've put it in line and it doesn't really
seem like either way is going to affect the priorities.
You've gone through and consulted with yourself and said, what would I tell somebody?
And you still don't know.
Well then, you come to a point where you've exhausted the first three options, which are
the best options, and then you say, now I'm just going to have to just pray and ask God
to just give me the answer, just to show me one way or the other.
And so here's what you do, Luke 6, verse 12, the Bible reads here, this is Jesus, by the
way, making an important decision.
He is about to choose, by the way, I looked up the word decide in the Bible, it's only
used one time, the word decision is only used one time.
The Bible uses a word called choose, that's kind of a word that God uses instead, choosing,
choices, and so I looked up this word and I saw Jesus, you know, choosing the disciples.
Now pretty important choice, I mean, he's deciding which 12 men he's going to send forth
as apostles and have these be his key players, if you will.
Look at Luke 6, and it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray
and continued all night in prayer to God.
So he's praying and agonizing over this decision.
And verse number 13 says, and when it was day, he called unto him his disciples and
of them he chose 12 whom also he named apostles.
Now let's see a different side of the story, look at Mark chapter 3, same story, Mark chapter 3.
So in the book of Luke chapter 6, we see Jesus, you know, praying all night, agonizing, and
then coming down and choosing them.
But look now at Mark chapter 3 verse 13, you'll see the same story from a different light.
The Bible says here, and he goeth up into a mountain and calleth unto him whom he would,
and they came unto him, this is all his people, and it says, and he ordained 12 that they
should be with him and that he might send them forth to preach.
Now look in verse 13, the key word there.
He calleth unto him whom he would, you see that?
Who did he choose?
He chose the people that he wanted to choose, that's what it means he would.
Or this morning, if I do the things that I would not, it's talking about that I don't want to do.
Again it's that word will, unfortunately today in 2006 the word will is just a future tense,
I will do this, I will do that, but back when the Bible was written here in the 1600s when
they put it into English language, will meant, if I said I will do this and that, it means
that's what I want to do.
Doesn't necessarily mean that's always what I'm going to do, and it's complicated because
you know in the first person shall expresses the future tense, and will expresses wanting
to do something, but in the second and third tense of you or they, then it's the opposite.
And so you know there's a lot that goes into English grammar, you can study it another time.
But the point is, he's saying that, yeah I prayed all night, I begged God to give me
the wisdom to choose the right 12 disciples, and then I woke up in the morning and I just
called unto me whom I would.
I just picked 12 people.
Now he just made the decision, he prayed and asked God to lead him, and then he just made
the decision himself.
Because it never says in there that God told him, you know God the Father I'm talking about,
did not reveal to Jesus Christ, okay here's the list of the names, Jesus, go pick these
12 men.
I think it's just he prayed that God would lead him and then he chose, and of course
God was right with him, God the Father was right with him in that decision.
And so that's the way I make decisions in my life, let me show it to you another way.
Look at Proverbs chapter 3, and I'll show you this, this is a concept throughout the
Bible.
Look at Proverbs chapter 3, and this has to do with God taking your heart in his hand
and influencing your mind to make the decision that would be the correct decision.
Because you've asked him to do so, because you've relinquished your will to his, because
you've searched the scriptures, because you're not conformed to the world.
Look at Proverbs chapter 3 verse number 5, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and
lean not unto thine own understanding, in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall
direct thy paths.
You see, when you acknowledge God and say God I'm not going to make this decision without
you, I'm going to study the Bible, then I'm going to pray and beg you to lead me, I'm
going to acknowledge that you're the one who has the right answer and that I need the answer
from you, he says I'm not going to lean on my own understanding, or what I heard on the
radio or on TV or my friends at work told me, I'm going to trust completely your judgment
and so I'm just going to acknowledge you God, it's all you, and then God will direct your
paths.
You see, if you go and do it with that attitude, if you do steps 1, 2, and 3, you're trying
to do what's right, and then you pray and say God, I don't know what to do.
Just lead me God, hey he's going to do it, he's going to direct your paths.
And sometimes I've made decisions throughout my life that I almost felt like were made
practically at random.
And then I looked back and saw how God had led me to make that decision, and it was exactly
the right decision.
Look, if you're in Proverbs, flip back one book of the Bible to Psalm 37, and look at
verse number 23 of Psalm 37.
Psalm 37 verse number 23, the Bible reads here, the steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord.
You see that in Psalm 37, 23?
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighted in his way.
You see, if you focus on being the good man or woman that you're supposed to be, God will
order your steps.
Instead of agonizing about a decision that you, you know, you've tried to go through
the correct process, hey look, are you who you're supposed to be?
Because being a good man or a good woman, that's who you are.
And so if that's who you are, and you say, I live in a way that is in accordance with
God, and so God's just going to order my steps, and you'll find that if you're living in God's
will, and when I say that I'm talking about obeying the commands of God, when I say walking
in God's will, you'll find God just guiding you through life.
And you'll find yourself making right decisions when you're obeying the Bible, just inadvertently.
And I'm talking about decisions that are not morally right or wrong, just a decision to
go left or to go right.
You'll find that God will lead you when you are who you're supposed to be.
That's why he says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.
Say the steps of everyone are ordered by the Lord?
No.
You say the steps of the worldly Christian are ordered by the Lord?
No.
They're just, go here, go there, whatever.
But when you're good, when you're good in the sight of God, it says he giveth to a man
that is good in his sight wisdom.
That's what the Bible says in another place, I forget the reference.
And so God will give you wisdom and he'll just order your steps right along.
If you are who you're supposed to be.
I was thinking about, my wife doesn't like this illustration, but I was thinking about
when I decided to move to Phoenix to start a church.
I prayed, I went through all my process, I consulted with myself, I did all those things.
And then I just said, God, I have no will, I don't care, Phoenix, Timbuktu, I don't care.
And I didn't even have Phoenix in my mind.
And I just went and just, I said, you know what God, I'm going to ask this guy who seems
to know a lot about that area, of the whole Southwest and California, I said I was going
to ask him, and wherever he says to go, I'm just going to go there, because I don't care.
And so if you have a preference, God, just tell him, otherwise I can't hurt going anywhere
and knocking a bunch of doors and getting people saved, I'm sure it'll be great.
And so I just went to him, and I said, yeah, I kind of have this certain place in mind,
totally different place, and just, I don't know, what do you think?
Where do you think I should go?
Huh?
And he just said, you know, Phoenix, Arizona, this would be a great place to go.
I don't know, there's not good churches there or whatever, you know, and he's just, that's
where he recommended it.
I just said, fine, Phoenix.
I flew out to Phoenix, just to kind of check things out and to pick an area.
I went here, I got to the rental car place, I asked the lady at the rental car place,
I said, hey, I'm here to start a church, where should I start at Wapato town?
She said, Tempe.
I said, okay.
And you say that, you're an idiot, you say, you're stupid.
No.
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.
I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.
Because God led me all the way.
Just like we sang the song a minute ago, Jesus led me all the way.
Because that's the way God will lead you, if you don't have a will in the matter.
If you just say, hey, I'm going to do whatever, hey, isn't it amazing that the second week
I was here, Amanda showed up, lived right in my neighborhood here.
And she doesn't live here anymore, of course, you know, she lives a half hour away, now
she's out of the will of God, and she moved, no, I'm just kidding.
Hey, when I say move near church, I mean in the general city, I'm not saying that you
can't live a half hour away in Mesa.
Those dollar heads close their eyes, if anybody says I need to move, you know, I'm just kidding.
But anyway, hey, did God lead me to the right area?
I think so, you know, I've got great church members, the second week of me being here.
And so God led me to the people that he wanted me to be with, the rest of the people that
are here, hey, this is where God led me, this is who God brought my way, there's going to
be much more people that God brings me across the path of, and I'm exactly where I'm supposed
to be.
Because I was trying to do what God wanted me to do, because I was studying the Bible
what God wanted me to do, and so God led me to make the right decision, now let me move
on quickly.
But number five, and this is the most important part of the decision making process, you've
gone through, maybe step one was all you needed, maybe you needed step one and two, maybe you
had to get into step number three and consult with yourself, maybe that didn't work, you
had to move on to step four and just kind of say, God, I have no clue, would you lead
me, and then maybe you just had to kind of make a decision on a whim, and just pick something.
Because you can't just go through life and just be indecisive, I mean, you've got to
pick something, you've got to make decisions.
And so if you can't figure it out in steps one, two, and three, you pray, God, lead me,
and then you just make the decision, you just make it the best you know how.
Well, you've done all that, now step five, and this is vital, this is important, once
you make the decision, don't question it, don't reopen the issue.
So many times you make a decision, and then you wake up the next morning and say, I think
I changed my mind.
Don't be a person that changes your mind, be decisive, make a decision and then stick
with it.
I mean, like I said, hey, I picked Phoenix, when I picked Phoenix, it's like I will go
to Phoenix, I don't care what happens, I don't care if things work out horrible, it's
like I'm just dead set.
I must go to Phoenix.
See, before I made the decision, I was just flippant about it, just Phoenix, whatever,
you know, anywhere, who cares?
But once I came here, it's like Phoenix or I'll die unless I start a church in Phoenix.
Because that's the way you have to be when you make a decision.
That's where you're going to be steadfast and unmovable.
Think about it, go with the drive-thru, you know.
My wife gets irritated with me because of the drive-thru and I don't like her to change
her order.
You know what I mean?
Like when I order, like sometimes I'll order the wrong thing, like I'll pick number five
and I thought number five was something totally different, but I'm like, I'm just like, I'm
not going to change.
I picked five, I'm just going to eat it.
And you know, she'll order something and she'll want to change her order, you know, and say
like, well, you know, I think I'd rather have this.
And I'm just like, don't change it, you know, I'm not going to change it.
And she knows now, she's learned, now she just kind of leans over me and just says it
straight in the microphone.
Actually, you know, I want another thing.
Because she knows that I won't change the order because I hate that.
I just like to make a decision and just go with it.
And so, and that's just obviously a humorous illustration, I was just kidding, but...
You listening, honey?
Look at James chapter one and I'll show you this in the Bible.
Once you make a decision, just stick with it.
You know, you decide who you're married to, hey, stick with that decision.
You decide where you want to move, you know, what church you want to go to, hey, if you've
made it the proper way, then stick with it.
Because I'm going to tell you something, life has ups and downs, okay?
And when you make a decision and say, I am just steadfast, I know this is what I'm going
to do, some days it's going to seem like you made a bad decision.
You don't think that there were days when I felt like, man, good night, if I would have
allowed myself to and said, why did I come to Phoenix, you know, what am I doing here?
Why did I pick Phoenix, Arizona?
Why did I start a church?
This is crazy.
But it doesn't matter, I can't allow myself to go there because I just must stay on target.
Hey, I went through the process, I have confidence in my decision-making process, I have confidence
that God led me, and so I just must set my face like a flint and say, I will do what
I've decided to do, no matter what happens.
And having that kind of just steadfastness and unmovable-ness will keep you in the will
of God.
Because you went through this big, long process to determine whether it was even the will
of God, and then you just said, I'm going to say, oh, things aren't going right, I'm
just going to throw in the towel.
Hey, look, did you make the decision the right way or not?
Then go with it.
It's the right decision, stick with it.
It doesn't matter how bad things go, you go with it.
Look at James 1, verse 5, you're in James 1, look at verse 5.
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally.
See, God wants to give you the wisdom to make the right decisions if you ask him.
And upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.
Now here's the prerequisite.
Here's the catch.
When he says, hey, you want to know what God wants for your life?
You want to know what the right decision is?
You want the wisdom to make the right decision?
Just ask God.
He gives it to everybody.
But look at the next verse.
But let him ask in faith nothing wavering.
See, wavering is when you go back and forth between two things.
Nothing wavering, for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind
and tossed, just being blown around by every circumstance.
So let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.
You see?
No.
If you're just double-minded, look at the next verse, a double-minded man is unstable
in all his ways.
When you can't make up your mind on one thing, when you're double-minded, when you're just
blown around, oh, you know, I thought I was supposed to move to Phoenix, but I don't know
if this is the right thing.
I don't know what I'm doing.
It's like, God's like, dude, shut up.
Quit wavering.
Don't be in some wave that's tossed around.
Hey, ask in faith.
That means ask God.
Remember the last point was about asking God to direct you?
When you've gone through studying the Bible in mass amounts, when you've gone through
consulting with yourself, when you put things in priority with God first and church second
and you've gone through all this and then you ask God to lead you, you can't pray all
night like Jesus did and ask God to lead you and then wonder whether he really led you.
You see what I'm saying?
I mean, if you begged God to lead you after you went through the process and then you
made the decision, if you're questioning the decision that you made, you're questioning
God because God's the one that led you to make the decision.
And so he says, if you're going to ask me what to do, then you better believe that I'm
answering you correctly and you better stick with whatever I gave you and don't waver and
don't be like a wave of the sea.
Don't be double-minded, wondering all the time, I don't know if what I'm doing is right.
Hey, if you don't know if what you're doing is right, find out whether it's right so that
you won't be double-minded.
And so you say, I know I'm doing what's right, nobody can dissuade me, nothing can change
what I believe because I know it's right and if you don't know it's right, then figure
out what's right.
But don't be double-minded.
Well, I think what I'm doing is right, I hope so, you can't go through life like that.
God will not lead you if you live like that, God will not give you wisdom if you live like
that unless you just say, this is what I'm going to do, period.
And there are certain decisions in your life that you should only make one time.
You don't have to, look, this morning, Sunday morning, I woke up this morning and I said,
honey, are we going to go to church today?
You think I did that?
You think I made that decision?
Let me decide if I should go to church.
Well, let me study the Bible, see if God wants me in church today.
Let me consult with myself.
No, because see, I made that decision one time.
I decided when I was 18 years old, I said, you know what, I'm going to be in church Sunday
morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night.
And I never had to decide it again because it's like I already made the decision.
And so certain decisions, and am I going to change that decision?
No.
And so certain decisions, you want to just make them one time and just say, I'm going
to make this decision one time and I'm never going to have to worry about it again.
I'm not going to reopen the issue all the time.
Hey, look, I've decided what I believe about a lot of things in the Bible.
I've decided that the King James Bible is the word of God.
It has no mistakes in it.
I went through a process that was the right process to figure that out.
I searched the scriptures to figure that out.
I prayed to God to figure that out.
It wasn't that hard to figure that out.
But I'll tell you something, I don't want to talk to you about it after the service
and we can discuss whether it's true or not.
Because I already know it's true.
I already made the decision and I'm sticking with it because I made it the right way.
You see?
And when you make decisions about your life, to move here, to go here, to do this, hey,
make the decision right and then go with that decision and stick with it.
Now look if you would, and this is where we started the sermon, this is where we're going
to end the sermon.
Joshua 24.
We come full circle.
Joshua 24.
Back to this story about Joshua with the children of Israel.
Now this is the most important decision of all.
We've talked about how to make any kind of decision, geographical, financial, social.
We've made the decisions of life.
But here's the most important decision.
Outside of deciding to accept Christ as your savior, to be born again, to believe on Jesus
Christ for salvation, obviously that's the most important decision you can make.
But after that, this is the next most important decision, is where you decide whether you're
going to live for God.
Whether you're going to serve God with your life.
Well look if you would at verse number 14.
The Bible reads in Joshua 24, 14, now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and
in truth and put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the flood
and in Egypt and serve ye the Lord.
And if it seemed evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve.
Whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the flood or
the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.
But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
You see you're always going to be serving some god.
Do you see that?
He didn't say, or just don't serve any god.
Or just, you know, live your life just atheist.
No.
He says you'll always be serving a god.
You're either going to serve the god of gods as the Bible calls him.
You're either going to serve the Lord of lords or you're going to serve the god of this world.
Money.
You see if you're not serving God, you're serving the devil because you're doing exactly
what the devil wants you to do.
He doesn't care what you do.
He doesn't care whether you go into education or whether you go into money or whether you
go into this hedonism.
Hey, as long as you're not serving God, he's happy.
You think that the devil cares whether you serve the gods on the other side of the flood
or whether you serve the gods of the land of the Canaanites among whom you dwell?
He doesn't care.
He doesn't care whether you're serving Canaan's lands gods or Egypt's gods as long as you're
not serving God.
And so you're always going to be serving a god.
And when you're not serving the Lord Jesus Christ, you're serving the gods of this world.
You're serving devils.
And so you're serving money.
You're serving everything else that the devil has out there.
And so, number one, you've got to choose, you've got to decide, I'm going to serve the
Lord God.
And here's where the interesting part comes in.
Look at the next verse.
And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other
gods.
But the Lord our God?
He it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt from the house of
bondage and which did those great signs on our side and preserved us in all the way wherein
we went and among all the people through whom we passed.
The Lord drove out from before us all the people, even the Amorites, which dwelled in
the land.
Therefore will we also serve the Lord, for he is our God.
And look at what Joshua says.
This is interesting.
And Joshua said to the people, you cannot serve the Lord.
You cannot serve the Lord.
Well, why is he saying?
He knows these people.
And look what he says.
You cannot serve the Lord, for he's a holy God.
He is a jealous God.
He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.
If you forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt and
consume you.
After that, he had done you good.
And the people said unto Joshua, nay, but we will serve the Lord.
You see, Joshua's warning these people about serving God.
He says, if you decide that you're going to serve God, you've got to get in all the way.
You see what he's saying there?
He says, you've got to put away these other gods completely because God is not going to
forgive your sins when you go after these other gods.
He's not going to let that go.
He's going to cloud up and rain on you.
He's going to come hurt you.
Now, we're not talking about losing your salvation, of course.
You shouldn't even need to say that, of course.
The Bible says that we have eternal life.
But God will hurt you if you try to get in serving God.
You have to know what you're getting into.
Do you understand what I'm saying by that?
Because you can be a lame liberal Christian for the rest of your life.
You can be just not doing anything for God for the rest of your life, and hey, you can
probably just get through life pretty smoothly.
But when you decide to sign on for getting in with God and saying, I'm going to serve
God with my life, you better know what you're getting into.
The Bible says that a man, he said the kingdom of God, he said it's like a man who goes to
build a tower.
I'm just paraphrasing this, but he talks about how before you build the tower, he says you
better make sure that you have enough money to build the whole tower, and you better make
sure you have the materials that you need.
Maybe you remember the story where Jesus talks about this, he says you better count
the cost.
He says if you're going to go to war against an enemy, you better count how many soldiers
he has and how many soldiers you have.
You've got to decide, and he says, look, if you're going to come after me, you've got
to take up your cross and follow me.
He says you've got to turn your back on some things.
It's going to cost you to serve me, and you've got to decide whether you're willing to pay
that price.
Because if you're not willing to pay that price, hey, what are you even doing?
Why even mess with it?
Because you're going to end up getting hurt if you just get half in and half out.
If you say I'm going to go to the most fired up church I can go to, but then you want to
just live like the world and live sinful and ungodly, hey, you're going to get hurt.
You see what I'm saying?
And so, yeah, go ahead and pick one, is what he's saying.
And he says pick whatever you want.
You want to live like the world?
Hey, go for it.
It's available for you.
You want to serve God?
Fine.
What I know is that me and my house are going to serve God, and we're going to get all the
way in, and once we get in, we're not turning back, we're not changing our mind, we're going
to get in, we're going to throw out all the world's garbage, we're going to throw out
the gods of this world, we're going to throw out the gods that our fathers and maybe my
dad or my grandpa or my great-grandpa or my great-great-great-grandpa, the hang-ups that
they had in their life, the sins that were in their life, he says I'm not going to hide
behind that.
I'm going to throw it aside.
I'm going to start right now, and I'm going to push that reset button and say in my life
and in my family, we are going to serve God 100%.
And Joshua says are you sure you know what you're getting into?
Are you sure you know what it's going to cost you to serve God?
And they say we are willing to pay the price to serve God.
We're going to go 100% for God.
And hey, if you live 100% for God, you'll be all right.
God's going to take care of you.
God's going to bless you if you live for God 100%.
If you live like the devil, then the devil will bless you.
But if you live halfway, half in, half out, if you're double-minded, you're not sure whether
you're living for God or whether you're living for the world, you're going to be unstable
in all your ways and God's going to end up doing you hurt because he's going to start
working on you and he's going to start working with you and trying to get you where he wants
you to be.
And then you won't go his way and you resist him.
There's going to be some kind of a confrontation that's going to come between you and God.
And so you've got to just decide right now which side are you going to be on.
Hey, use the process.
And it won't take you very long because you'll get to point one where you check the Bible
and God will tell you to love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your might.
And you're done.
And then once you make that decision, skip to point five, make the decision and go 100%
in that direction and set your face like a flint, don't let anything dissuade you.
Look, the Christian life has ups and downs.
There are going to be times when you pray to God and it's like, hello.
And there's going to be times when you open the Bible and you read it and you don't get
anything out of it.
And there's going to be times when you go to church and you're just sitting there thinking,
what is the point of this?
You know, there's going to be times when your heart is not stirred, but let me tell you
something.
If you've decided nothing can move me, then you'll be all right.
And you'll just go through that tough time and boy, then it'll start to be good again.
You know, you'll go through a time where nobody's getting saved out of soul winning.
Stick with it, stick with it and you're going to get to a time where God pulls out the increase.
There's going to be ups and downs, but you've got to learn how to make a decision right
and then you've got to learn what you've made a decision right to say, I've made the right
decision.
God led me.
Nothing will change what I've made this decision.
I cannot be moved, as David said in the book of Psalms.
And so that is how you can have the stability in your Christian life or you can be unstable
in all your ways by going back and forth.
No, the stability comes when you say, I've made it God's way and I will not change my
decision.
I will not alter the thing that's gone out of my lips, is what Jesus Christ said in Psalm
89.
And I opened my mouth unto the Lord and I cannot go back, as Jephthah said in Judges
11.
Great men of God throughout the Bible, they decided what they were going to do and they
did it.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
God, I thank you so much for the Bible, our compass in life to show us exactly what's
right and wrong.
I would hate to flip a coin for the decisions of life, dear God, but I have the word of
God directing me and guiding me and then I have the promise of God that if I do end up
having to flip that coin, that you're going to make sure it flips on the right side because
you're leading me all the way through life, dear God.
Father, please just bless everyone that's here, dear God.
They came on Sunday night because they love you and they wanted to know the will of God.