Well, good evening and welcome to our Sunday night service. It's good to see you in the house of the Lord this evening. Undoubtedly, we have many guests here this evening. We're thankful that you're here at Maranatha Baptist Church. I see our friends from Mount Pleasant Baptist. We're excited to have you here. And undoubtedly, many friends and family of our teenagers here at our church. Let me just tell you, we are extremely, extremely grateful to have you with us tonight. And we're excited to see what the Lord has to do with our teen-led service. Our teens are gonna be leading, preaching, and singing all throughout the service. It's a special night for us. The teens have put a lot of preparation into tonight. There's a lot of nerves, but I know But what they do tonight is going to be a great, great thing for everybody here. Not only them, but you included. So we're excited for that. At this time, our teens are actually going to make their way up to the choir loft. Our teens are going to make their way up to the choir loft. And as they do that, Mr. Owen Brown is going to open up our service and prayer. After he opens up our service and prayer, Mr. Nash Porter is going to come and lead us in one congregational song. For that, Owen Brown, why don't you open us up this evening in a word of prayer? All right, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day and this night that we can come into your house to learn and know you further. I just pray that you will please help us to be a light in the darkness of this world and that these messages will touch and convict anyone in the congregation and be unsaved. I thank you, we love you, and praise you for your mercy and your grace and all that you've done to us. And keep us safe, and in your will that we come back to you this Wednesday night. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Good evening. And as we stand, please turn from your hymn books to page 596, Victory in Jesus, page 596. O story! Thou Saviour made from glory, Thou gavest life on Calvary, To save the wretched like me. Thine own power is coming, God's precious love's alternate, Oh And caught me with His redeeming blood. Free from fear, I knew Him, And all my love is to Him. He puts me to victory, Beneath the cleansing flood. I know God is with me, God's plan is now revealing. I made the way to walk again, and also died to sing. And then I cried, dear Jesus, come heal my broken spirit. Oh He saw me and called me with His redeeming blood. And on the earth I live, and on high I'll live still. In the streets of victory, beneath the cleansing flood. And heard about our passion in the glory, in the glory. And heard about the streets that go beyond the crystal sea. About the angels singing, and the old redemption story. Oh, victory! Oh, victory! Oh, victory! Oh, victory! Oh, victory! Oh, victory! Well Welcome, this is a teen service. They've worked really hard on this and they're gonna do a great job I'm gonna start just a recap of the summer just what we've been doing this summer our summer program It was mostly on Monday nights. We moved the program from Wednesday night to Monday night during the summer to give us a longer block of time. We can do more activities. Here's a few examples of what we did this summer. We had a pizza scavenger hunt. They were going around to people's houses and getting pizza toppings, and they made a pizza. We went to Clay Bailey's farm and had a cookout, and we kind of introduced our theme for this year. So we themed the summer, Summer of Choices or Summer of Decision. And so we were really pounding it, hitting it hard that we need to make decisions and stick with that. And it was really beneficial to me that Ethan was here this summer. He's a really smart guy. He's got a lot of potential, but he was nothing but respectful to me. And I think that shows a lot about his character. So I appreciate that. And one big thing was the dodgeball tournament, the glow-in-the-dark dodgeball tournament. four or five churches, they came here, about 65 teenagers, split them up, and I know the hardest part of that was blacking out our gym, those big windows, that was tough. And then, of course, we had camp this summer, it was a little bit different, it was on the island, but I won't rehash all of that, we had the camp service, but that was really good, and a lot of the decisions that were made by our teenagers was during that time, and then I talked about it this morning, but Friday evening of this week, 2 p.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, we had a new retreat, giving a little, last little bit of motivation before school started. And Mount Pleasant was there with us for that, helped us out with the island and helped run the games and with the counselors and everything like that. At this time, Ethan has made a video that we will show. It's chronological to some of the things that we did this summer, but it's pretty good. Yeah. All right, at this time, one special thing we have to do, it is pastor's birthday on Friday. Brother Clay Bailey has the birthday card. We would sing happy birthday to Pastor Bartlett. ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ ♪ Happy birthday God bless you ♪ ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ That pastor thought he wasn't going to get recognized tonight, but we still got him. All right. At this time, Seth Arthur, if you'll make your way up. Seth is relatively new. He started coming to the church, I think this summer. And he just jumped in. He's really loved it. I know this morning, he gave us all cards and with a personalized letter and appreciates the church and everything. He's a very smart young man. And the other day at the new retreat, he said, Ryan, it really shows that you're on the shorter end of the spectrum that Weston comes up to your shoulder. And I said, thank you, Seth. He said, pastor says I'm very observant. I'm just making an observation. All right, go ahead. Well, Pastor Ryan, I thank you for that introduction you gave me. Thank you for relaying that joke. Well, good evening. I count it a great joy to be able to share with you all today the testimony of God's grace in my own life. And I know it is entirely by his mercies and his grace and his providence that I'm able to stand here before you all today and share it with you all. So let us rejoice in him and give him thanks. Give him the praise and glory for it is due him and him alone. About two and a half years ago now, I experienced multiple sorrows in my life, one of these being was losing my great-grandparents, first my great-grandfather, then a few months later, I mean, first my great-grandmother, then a few months later, my great-grandfather. And I should mention that they were godly. And it was at my great-grandfather's funeral that I experienced my first major conviction when an elderly lady came up to me and said, your grandpa had big shoes to fill, but you can fill them because you have God. But at the moment, I did not have God. I was alienated from holy God. I was a sinful wretch dead in his sin. And I said, I want to be a Christian, but it's for corrupt intentions. I wanted to be like someone else. I merely wanted the title of Christian. Oh, I didn't want to acknowledge my sin. I didn't want to acknowledge that the wrath of God abided upon me and thus my need of a savior. I didn't want to acknowledge my hopeless condition. I didn't cry out to God to be merciful to me, to save me. and to forgive me my sins. No, I was superficial. I professed a faith, but my works denied that faith. I just wanted to be a Christian, and I wanted to still live after the world and after the lust of the flesh. I still wanted to indulge myself in sin and live foolishly. And so I did, and I went on deceiving myself. I went on playing the hypocrite, and I brought reproach to the holy and blessed name of Jesus Christ, who is now my Savior. And this went on for some time until around fall of last year, when the grace of God appeared unto me. And I came to believe that Jesus was bruised for my iniquities. He was wounded for my transgressions. The chastisement of my peace with God was laid upon him, and with his stripes I am healed. I came to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that by believing in him I have life, and that life is more abundantly. I was dead, but now I'm alive. I was lost, but now I'm found. And I stand here today, I'm able to share my testimony with you by the infinite mercy and grace of God, not by any merit of my own, but by the merit of Jesus Christ, not by anything I've done, but entirely by the work he has done. So I am truly thankful to be here. I'm truly thankful that I got to share this with you. And just know I stand here today by God's infinite grace and mercy in his providence. And I would just say this. I would quote one of my favorite hymns by William Cooper, because I see it as such a wondrous mystery that God, a holy God, would have mercy and love me and send his son to die for me, an unworthy, undeserving, unholy sinner. God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm. Deep and unfathomable minds of never failing skill, he treasures up his bright designs and works his sovereign will. And what a wonderful thing he's done in my life to bring me here and to lead me to the cross. I thank you all for the opportunity to just share this with you all. Thank you. All right, thank you, Seth. Let's say amen to all of that. All right, this time the team choir will be singing In Christ Alone, so please pray for them as they sing. In Christ alone. He is my life, my strength, my soul This cornerstone, this solid ground Firm through the fiercest drought and storm What heights of love, what depths of peace When fears are still, when striving cease My comforter, my all in all is Righteousness, scorned by the ones He came to save. Till on that cross that Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied. For every sin on Him was laid, here in the field of Christ was laid. There in the ground His body lay, Light of the world by darkness slain, Let mercy forth in glorious day. But from the grave he rose again And as he stands in victory Since curse has lost its grip on me For I am his and he is mine But with the precious blood of Christ guilt in life no fear in death this is the power of Christ in me from life's first try to final breath Jesus commits my destiny no power of Here in the power of Christ, I'll stand. What a great truth. Our choir is going to make their way back down to their seats. And as they do that, our ushers are going to come ahead this evening for our offering. We're going to have six of our teenagers serve as our ushers for us. And these six men have been faithful for the entire summer, and we're extremely grateful for them and everything they've done. We have Mr. Owen Brown, Jason Liptrap, Byron Carter, Weston Brown, Seth Arthur, and Mr. Nash Porter serving as our ushers this evening, and we are thankful for them. At this time, I want to ask Mr. Matt Porter, Mr. Matt Porter, if he can stand for us and lead us in prayer over the offering. Thank you for the church we have here and we worship you. Thank you for these young people who have given their time. their talents to help lead this team through this whole summer. We're just helping some people make the decisions they had to make this summer. We're just a stick with them. You are always with them, never letting them forget you. We're just helping this community as we work to bring these young people to pain. We strengthen them, we pray for them, and we make sure that we are the example for what they need. We're just thankful for everything that you do for us and Jesus. We'll never be the same We'll never be the same We'll never be the same We'll never be the same We'll never be the same We'll never be the same We'll never be the same We'll never be the same All right, at this time, we will be having a special with Maren, Allie, Lily, and Zach. I wandered so aimless, life filled with sin I wouldn't let my dear Savior in Then Jesus came like a stranger in the night Praise the Lord, I saw the light I saw the light, I saw the light No more in darkness, no more in night Now I'm so happy, no sorrow in sight Praise the Lord, I saw the light Just like a blind man I wandered along Worries and fears I claimed for my own Then like a blind man that guy gave back sight Praise the Lord, I saw the light I saw the light Now I'm so happy, no sorrow inside. Praise the Lord, I saw the light. I was a fool to have wandered astray. First straight is the gate and narrow is the way. Now I have traded the wrong for the right. Praise the Lord, I saw the light. I saw the light. I saw the light, I saw the light No more in darkness, no more in night Now I'm so happy, no sorrow inside Praise the Lord, I saw the light I saw the light, I saw the light No more in darkness, no more in night. Now I'm so happy, no sorrow inside. Praise the Lord, I saw the light. Praise the Lord, I saw the light. All right, we'll have another testimony now from Allie Granata. And Allie and Maren are the two that I can say, I need this done, and they will get it done. And they will make everybody else do it, too. So I can only count on them. They're solid. So I just want to stand up here and talk about what Florida has done in my life through camp this summer. And so every year at camp, I always look forward to it. And I'm always just so much happier at camp. And it's not because of the food or the sports blocks, even though the food does help, except the fish sticks. That's just not it this year. What makes camp so awesome is just the presence of God. Being surrounded by fellow Christian friends and being in the Word of God every day, it just, it makes such a difference. And Ryan said something Friday night at the retreat that really just stuck out to me, and it's that we can experience this happiness and joy every day, not just at camp or at a retreat, but even on the hard days, on the random Tuesdays, we can still have that joy. And so a lot of times it's hard to give up the sins in our life, but they always just make us more miserable and hold us back because the only true joy that we can have is through Jesus. So now we're just going to sing a special entitled, I've Got So Much to Thank Him For. When I look around and see the good things He's done for me, I know I'm unworthy of them all His blessings He freely gives I owe my whole life to Him I've got so much to thank Him for And I've got so much to thank Him for So much to praise Him for, you see He's been so good to me he's done and where he's brought me from I've got so much to thank him for sometimes along the way I'll stop and just have to say thank you Lord for all you've given me My family, my church, my health, the riches of salvation But I've got so much to thank Him for And I've got so much to thank Him for So much to praise Him for, you see He's been so good to me And when I think of what He's done and where He's brought me from I've got so much to thank Him for And when I think of what he's done and where he's brought me from I've got so much to thank him for Amen. Hasn't it been a good place to be tonight? Haven't your hearts been encouraged? And let me tell you, it's only going to get better as we go throughout the rest of this night. And what we're having next, I'm excited for, we're going to have the preaching of God's word from three young men, three people who have felt the Lord's calling on their life to preach. And for two of these young men, it's the first time they've ever preached in front of an audience, certainly one that is not their peers and one of this size. And so I know they're nervous, but I also know one other thing that the message that they have, is going to be a great, great thing for our hearts. I know that without a doubt, because they're preaching the Lord's word. And whenever something comes from this book, let me tell you, it's going to be great. I'm excited to see what these young men have for us. Our three preachers for tonight are Caleb Parsons. He is going to be a freshman at Ripley High School, and he's been a faithful, faithful member of our youth group this summer, and he's grown in tremendous ways. Just myself being here for one summer, I've already seen so much growth out of him, and we're proud of him. And we're thankful that he has the courage and is taking the step of faith to preach in front of an audience this size for his first time ever preaching. Let me tell you, that is no easy task. And then for our second preacher is not a member of our youth group, but it's certainly no stranger to us. It is Colton Bartlett from Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, of course, pastor's grandson. And I know this is something special for pastor, especially seeing his own grandson preach behind his own pulpit. and we're excited to see what Colton has. He'll be, I believe, a junior, right, wherever Colton's at, a junior at Elk Valley Christian School. And then our third and final preacher is gonna be my own brother, and I'm excited and happy to introduce him. He'll be a freshman at Pensacola Christian College, and we're excited to see what he has as well. And so our first preacher, Caleb, why don't you go ahead and come up and share something from God's word for us. Turning your Bibles tonight to Luke 9. And while you're turning there, I'd like to take this time to thank Pastor Bartlett and Ethan and Ryan for this opportunity. I don't take it lightly at all. My age to be able to be up here preaching God's Word. In a brief introduction, I was called to missions. I was called to preach when I was about 12 years old at a fall revival. And I kind of kept that secret for a while. I didn't want to tell anybody. I was embarrassed to. But it was last year at camp that I decided to make that public. And I told my family. I told all my friends at camp. That was probably one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life. I don't regret it at all. I thank God that I made that decision, and hopefully by now you've turned to Luke 9 and whether or not we'll be reading in verse 57. And it came to pass that as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. Follow me, but he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee, but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home in my house. And Jesus said unto him, no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. Let's pray Lord. Thank you for this day. I thank you for this opportunity to be up here and preach your word Lord I pray that you would help me to say nothing contrary to your word and Lord to ease my nerves tonight or as I'm very nervous right now and Lord I pray that you would just help me to be an encouragement to these people tonight, and I pray these things in your name. Amen Just before the Delaware Hayes High School women's soccer team takes the field before a match, they have a routine that they follow. They gather together with their teammate in the middle, and that teammate shouts, who are we? And they all shout back, Pacers. Their teammate shouts again, do you believe? And they reply, we believe. What are we? Their teammate shouts again, and they all reply, all in. And they proceed to run out onto the field for their match. This is a symbolic representation of their commitment as a team to not only win the game, but to give it everything they've got for the victory. And the title for the message here tonight, if you're taking notes, is Are You All In for Christ? And I'll be looking to provide a three-step process, if you will, on how you can be all in for Him. Step one, you must believe. This is obviously a very self-explanatory point, but it's vital to follow God with your life. There's never been a successful Christian who has not believed in Christ, who has not believed that he will do a great work in Him. Hebrews 11 verse 6 says, But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Notice the word impossible. It doesn't say more difficult. It doesn't say it'll be hard. It says it'll be impossible. It cannot be done. You cannot follow God with your life and be 50-50. You cannot follow God and not believe that He will do a great work in you. It says in Philippians 1 verse 6, being confident of this very thing that he who hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He will perform it. It doesn't say he might. It doesn't say maybe. It says he will. And step number two, point number two tonight, no buts. And notice in verse 59 of our passage, But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. And in verse 61, it says, Lord, I follow thee, but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at my house. In these two verses, we see two men who likely could have done great things for Christ. They could have been two of his disciples, possibly. They could have done amazing things for Christ. But they told him but. We've never seen and we never will see someone do great things if they told God but. And sadly, we see so many examples of this. Young people who have committed their way unto Christ, they've committed their life to be a missionary, to be an evangelist, to be a preacher, but they told God deep down inside, but I want this in my life, but I want to hold this sin above you in my life, but I want this, even if you don't want it, God. And I've heard several times at camp, at youth rallies, at just church on Sunday of people giving examples of people they made commitments with at camp to preach or to go into the mission field with who are now in jail or on the streets doing drugs because they told God but. Picture it this way, if you have a driver's seat and you have your foot on the gas and you have your foot on the pedal, you can control those two. But if you don't have your hands on the steering wheel, you can't control that. Or if you just have your hands on the steering wheel and you don't have the gas, you don't have the brakes, you can't control that. This is how we ought to give God both, not just one, both. Because if he only has the gas and brake, if he only has the wheel, then he can't do anything. In Revelation 3, verse 16, it says, So then, because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. We see in evidence of this in verse 62 of our passage where Jesus says, no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. It took only a but let me do this first for those two men in that passage to not be able to follow God with their lives and to not do great things for him. And you can't help but wonder how many great evangelists and missionaries and preachers and great Christians there would be if they didn't make the decision to follow God but. And step number three, and my final point tonight, I realize that was very quick. But step number three, it takes consistency. And again, this is very self-explanatory, and you may say, well, Caleb, I feel like I'm very consistent in my walk with God. I do my devotions. I pray. I come to church on Sunday. But I'm here to tell you it takes more than that. In 1 Corinthians 15, 58, it says, therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain. Notice the phrase, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Always. That's what it takes. It takes always being consumed with Christ. Picture it this way, as an NBA player, they're always shooting basketball, they're always in the gym, strength training, speed training, conditioning, always trying to make themselves better at basketball. and their life is consumed with basketball just as our lives ought to be consumed with Christ. We ought to be all in for Christ. 1 Corinthians 10 31 says, whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. And I'll pray and turn it over to Pastor. Lord, I thank you for this opportunity. Lord, I thank you for this day. I thank you for this message you've led me to preach tonight. Lord, I preached it awful quick, but I pray that it was a help to someone tonight. And I pray that you would be with the next two. Lord, ease their nerves and help them to say nothing contrary to your word and to be a help, just as I hope I was. And I pray this in your name. Amen. What a great encouragement, Caleb. At this time, I'm gonna ask Colton Bartlett to come make his way up to the pulpit. As he does that, we're gonna sing one verse of number 470, I have decided to follow Jesus. The words are familiar, but if you need it, it's number 470. I have decided to follow Jesus, that first verse, as Colton makes his way forward. ♪ I have decided to follow Jesus ♪ I am decided to follow Jesus. I am decided to follow Jesus. I'm turning back. I'm turning back. I'd just like to thank Pastor Bartlett and Ethan for letting me preach here tonight. I am extremely nervous. So I just pray God will help me through this. And I was asked a couple of weeks ago if I would want to preach here tonight, because I need another preacher. And I gladly accepted. And I've been studying lately and just seeing what God had for me tonight. And turn with me to Ezra 1-1. Ezra 1 1 and we'll start reading and Now in the first year of cyrus king of persia that the word of the lord by the mouth of jeremiah might be fulfilled The lord stirred up the spirit of cyrus king of persia that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, the Lord God of heaven, hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he hath charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? His God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and be and build the house of the Lord God of Israel. He is the God which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts beside the free will, offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. The title of tonight's message is Building on Obedience. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for everything you've done for me the past couple weeks, Lord. And I just pray you'll use me as your mouthpiece, Lord, and tell me exactly what you want me to say, God. And I just pray you'll touch everyone's hearts here tonight and help me to calm my nerves, Lord. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. So in our passage, it begins with Cyrus the king being ordered by God to rebuild the temple after it was previously destroyed by the Babylonians. And what a great privilege this was for Cyrus. It is amazing that God can use any single one of us sinners to do his will and use us in his service. But that is what he chooses to do. But just like we so often do, this command from God was met with some difficulty, not on God's part, mind you, but man's. And we must understand that God always places an emphasis on obedience. Remember what God said in 1 Samuel to King Saul. Obedience is better than sacrifice. It is our responsibility as Christians to listen to God and obey God. So what can we learn from the rebuilding of the temple? Well, my first point is the command. We see that Cyrus was commanded by God to rebuild the temple after it had been destroyed. And without hesitation, Cyrus tells everyone in his kingdom to gather supplies and to start the rebuilding of the temple. Now this work continued for the first couple chapters in Ezra and the work was going well and the foundation was completed. But as usual, when humans are involved, problems begin to arise. As we see here in Ezra chapter three, verses not starting in verse number 10 and It says and when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets and the Levites the son of Asaph with symbols to praise the Lord after the ordinance of David king of Israel and they sang together by course and praising and giving thanks unto the Lord because he is good for his mercy and your forever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid, before their eyes, wept with a loud voice, and many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people. for the people shouted with a loud shout and the noise was heard afar off." These ancient men, or the elders, had a problem after they looked at the foundation. And I'm sure it looked amazing and it was built correctly, but they were so distraught that they started crying. Now, why were they crying? Well, these elderly men are representing a group of people who were hanging on to the past. And yes, it was sad that the temple was gone, but they were remembering the great things that God had done in the past. And our mindset should always be looking forward to what God is gonna do in the future while we are thankful for what God has done in the past. Our main focus should not be in the past and what he has done. And yes, there are times that is appropriate to honor and remember what the saints before us have done for Christ's cause, but It shouldn't be our main focus. Our God is always advancing in his plan and we should be moving forward with him. And can you imagine all these people rejoicing and shouting and singing for the Lord, but there is this group of people dragging them down because they're sad it isn't what it used to be. And there will always be negativity as a Christian. And there are people that are around you that are going to try and drag you down and say, man, it was better back when I was a kid. The Lord just isn't moving like he used to. But the bottom line is they were rebuilding the same temple to worship the same God who can do the same things that he did back then as he can do today. And we should strive to work together to accomplish what God has called us to do through obedience. Now jump with me to chapter 4, starting in verses number 1. Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity built the temple unto the Lord God of Israel, then they came to Zerubbabel and to the chief of the fathers and said unto them, let us build with you, for we seek your God as ye do, and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Ashar-hadan, king of Asur, which brought us up hither. But Zerubbabel and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto your God, but we ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, hath commanded us." We see the enemies of Judah here have volunteered to help build the temple. But we all know that that was not their plan. They wanted to stop the building process and keep them from rebuilding the temple. But God's people had enough discernment to know that this was a trick and denied them help. In verse number 4 it says, Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah and troubled them in building, and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. God's enemies came up with another tactic after the first one didn't work. They decide to hire people to go into the land and to stop them and hinder them from building. Like I just said before, there are always going to be people like that. They're going to be coming into your lives with the sole purpose of trying to stop your growth with God. Even when you are watching for Satan's attacks, he will still have negative people that will want to discourage you from accomplishing that which God has called you to do. But unfortunately for the Jews, this had an effect on them and it slowed the building process of the temple. But it was eventually completed as we see in chapter number six and verse number 13. It says, then, to Deni, governor of the side of the river, Shethar Banzai, and their companions, according to that which Darius the king had sent. So they did speedily. And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai, the prophet, and Zechariah, the son of Ido. And they built it and finished it according to the commandment of the God of Israel and according to the commandment of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes, king of Persia. And the house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king." We see by the end of chapter six, the work was finally complete, even though a time even though it had been halted completely at a time. And God's work eventually got done. But imagine how much faster this could have been if they would have just avoided the distractions and negativities that came their way. Now let's make this personal. We all have work to be done. God has called us all to do something for him we too must obey immediately and to do our best to be on the lookout for the enemy's attacks and distractions so that we can fully obey what God has called us to do. Amen. I'm gonna ask our third and final preacher, Zach, to come up as he makes his way to the pulpit. Let's go ahead and sing that second verse of, I have decided to follow Jesus, back there on page 470. That second verse, though no one joined me, still I will follow. Well good evening. I know we've been turning off a lot tonight, but if you turn one more time, we are going to be in Joshua chapter number 24 tonight. This will be the only place we're at tonight. Just a little background information. Joshua 24, as Ryan had mentioned earlier, is actually our theme passage of this year's summer. So when I was told that I was going to be giving a short little devotion tonight, I immediately, my head started spinning as it usually does of what I'm going to talk about. And quite literally, as I was walking out of Sunday school, the idea smacked my face. Because if you don't know, we have a bulletin board right outside of our door, and it has a huge poster of our summer theme. And I was like, you know what, God? Sometimes you try to hide things from us, but sometimes you're pretty obvious. So I took that, and I figured that everyone can learn from Summer of Choices, no matter how old you are or how young you are. But even though God sort of hit me in the face with the message tonight, he reached out to me and I discovered something that has never happened before when I'm preparing a sermon. And that is, if you've ever preached a message, you'll know, I found out that I might preach too long tonight. And that has never happened. I have always been like, man, I'm not going to be enough. Tonight, I was afraid I would be too long. So praise the Lord, we finally made it. We finally got to the point where you have to worry about going for too long. So if you would please Joshua chapter 24, if you're there, we are going to begin in verse number 15, I believe. Yes. 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 ye dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods. For the Lord our God, he 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 in our sight and preserved us in all the way wherein we went and among all the people through whom we passed. And the Lord drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites, which dwelt in the land. Therefore will we also serve the Lord, for he is our God. Let us pray. Dear Lord, we thank you for this wonderful evening. We thank you for allowing us to have a beautiful crowd tonight, God. We thank you for the two young men that I've already preached tonight. I ask that you please be with me, God, as I deliver your word tonight. Allow me not to say anything contradictory to you. And if there's anyone in this room who is unsafe tonight, God, let them get that settled tonight because that is the most important thing that could happen from this evening, God. We love you and we thank you, God, in your name, I pray, amen. So as we just read, we see Joshua is now in charge of the Israelites. We're about, this is after the exodus, this is post Moses. So Moses has already died. The Israelites have already fled Egypt. We all know that the Israelites were in bondage in Egypt for 400 years. And Joseph is realizing that Egyptians, They are in the culture during this day about 3,000 years ago. A lot of them believed in multiple gods. Egyptians were just the same. They had thousands upon thousands of gods. And Joshua is realizing this. And the new land they're in where the Amorites live, they also serve many gods. And Joshua is starting to pick up on This could be a risk. They've already fallen short into idolatry a little bit. And he's realizing he needs to say something to his people. And he's saying, listen guys, you need to decide this day if you're going to choose our God or if you're going to choose these false gods. And he says, as for me in my house, he takes courage. He says, we are going to serve the real God, our God. And that is exactly the Example he sets for the Israelites, and that is exactly what I want to talk to you about tonight. You see, every day we are faced with choices, decisions, the summer of choice. It may have been a theme for the teens this year because we have many greater decisions in life that we still have to make. Many of us are going to decide where we're going to go to college, have to figure out who we're going to marry, what we're going to do with the rest of our lives, and so on and so forth. Major life decisions. But every single person in this room, young or old, makes decisions and choices every single day. Matter of fact, Google estimates the average person makes about 35,000 decisions every single day. And now I could go on and on about how each of these individual decisions should be having the Lord in mind. We could preach sermon after sermon after sermon and verse after verse of why we were to choose each individual choice based on what God would want us to do. But that's not what I want to talk about tonight. I want to talk about the very core of why we were to choose God and not the idols in our life today. So number one, why, why choose God? We have 35,000 decisions. Why would I take one out of my 35,000 and give it to God? And number one, the reason we were to choose the Lord is what he has done for us. See, we see here in verses 16 through 18, the Israelites are responding to what Joshua says. They're trying to make excuses. Joshua called them out and they don't want to be caught out. They're saying, why, why would we not follow our God? Look at what all he's done. They mentioned how God carried them out of Egypt. They mentioned how the Red Sea, the plagues, the fiery cloud that carried them out. They're like, look at all these miracles. How could we possibly not choose our God when he's done all these things for us? And Joshua was like, you're not listening to these things and you're just doing this hollowy and you're not truly committing to God. are to follow the Lord as well. You see, the Israelites, they chose God for what they did. God got them out of Egypt. That's exactly what he did for them at that time. But we're not the Israelites 3,000 years ago. We are us in 2022 America. What has God done for us personally? And that is why I say, so God carried the Israelites out of Egypt. What did God get us out of? God got us out of sin. That's even greater than the bondage of Israelites. We got out of the bondage of the sin. led them through life, through the fiery cloud. God led us with something that's much greater than a fiery cloud. He led us with the fiery word of God and that we are to follow and listen to every single day. God carries us every day for what he has done. He sent his son to die for us, he loves us, he gave us his word, and he has done time after time again, more than he's done for the Israelites, just getting them out of bondage. He got us out of the greatest bondage that he knew we could never get out ourselves. He freed us and he's done so many more things for us in the past, we can't even begin to number them. But we are to choose God for what He has done and the core of Christianity is God saved us from our sins and He loves us dearly. Not only that, number two, I'm going fast. I just had two points tonight. We're to choose God, not for the past, because God knows. God knows us as humans. We don't like to dwell on the past when it comes to something we want. He said, people are like, oh, God doesn't have a past. What's he going to do for me in the future? We want to gain. We want to earn. We want to know what's in store for us in the future. We don't care about the past. We care about what's next in our lives. God knew that. God knows us. God created us. God knows we don't care about the past so long as we want something better in the future. So God looked out for us. God makes promise after promise after promise, not only to the Israelites in this passage, but to us as people today. We're starting with what God promises the Israelites. In Deuteronomy 33, 29, God says, God makes a promise to these Israelites later on in Deuteronomy, and he's saying, look, If you follow me, you're going to tread on your enemies. You won't be stopped. I will be with you, and I will carry you through to the very end, and your enemies will be dust underneath of your feet. And God even doubles down on that later in 1 Corinthians, and he says, God is faithful by whom you were called under the fellowship of the Son of Jesus Christ our Lord. God doubles down on his promises that he won't even carry the Israelites through their enemies, but he promises that his promises are true. He doubles down on his promises that he will carry us through to the future. So God promises the Israelites to stomp on their enemies' feet. Well, that's great, but I'm not an Israelite. I'm not 3,000 years old. What does God promise me? God promises them victory after victory after victory, but God promises me the greatest victory of all time, and that is found in the most popular verse of the entire Bible, John 3.16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. I would love to stomp on my enemy's feet time after time again, but guess what? None of that matters in terms of eternity. God gives me the greatest promise and the greatest future I could ever want. That's eternity in heaven with him. Not only just because there's no sin in heaven, there's no shame in heaven, there's a mansion. God went above and beyond what we even deserve, which is nothing. He gave us not only sinless heaven, he gave us golden gates, he gave us, oh wait, he gave us golden roads, pearly gates, got me off guard, pearly gates, and mansions on hilltops. God promises us so much more than we deserve. We're to choose God every day. Us teens, Ryan, Ethan, and Darren sometimes, they have been giving us sermon after sermon about why we are to choose God in our everyday life through music, through relationships, through friends. But us as Christians need to come down to the very core decision, and that is to choose God altogether. If you're a Christian, if you're not a Christian, you can still choose God. As a Christian, it's every day. As an unsaved person, it's for your entire life. We are to choose God, not just, number one, because of what He's done, because the past is in the past, but number two, and most importantly, what He promises He'll do for us in our future, and that's eternity with Him forever. I thank you all, and I'll just pray, and we'll close it out. Dear Lord, we thank you for this wonderful day, God. We thank you for allowing us to have the team take over service, God. I hope that anyone in this auditorium has earned something or learned something from this, God. Certainly I have been blessed. I'm very thankful for this opportunity, God. I thank you for the three young men that have spoken your word tonight, God. I ask that you be with whatever is in store tonight. And if there's anyone in here tonight that is unsaved, does not know you as a personal savior, and has not chosen you with all their life, God, you let them figure that out tonight because it's the best time, the best place to do it, because it's right now. We love you, God. We thank you, God. And we ask you to continue to bless us. and bless this church. God, in your name I pray, amen. All right, just a quick word of closing. We just thank you for coming out tonight and showing support. It's a great crowd, and I know the teenagers appreciate that. You did a really good job. This summer has been great. As you can see, the results here have just been fantastic. We've got a lot of momentum. I just say to the teenagers, you guys are up. Stay up. Stay up there. It makes us excited for the growth that we have seen, the momentum we have. Please continue to pray for the youth group here at Maranatha. And Brother Darren Brown, where are you at, brother? Do you want to come up and close us out? He can come this way, but we're not going to close just quite yet. Come on ahead, Brother Darren. There was no way we were going to close this service without me saying something. No chance. I've been attending church here literally for 52 years. And I can tell you that I have never been more blessed in a service in this building than I have been tonight. So praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. This is very exciting. I'm proud of each and every one of these young people and thankful for them and they will They will continue to do things academically. They'll continue to do things on their sports teams. They'll continue to do civic things and good things, but I hope that they are learning, and I believe that they are, that the most important things in life are to serve the Lord. Those are the things that count for eternity. And we can be proud of all of their accomplishments, but let's help them understand The approach to life that they have put on a picture tonight of service and ministry is what life is about, because life is for service to the Lord Jesus. Young people, thank you for all that you have done tonight. Thank you for your testimony. And we certainly want to pray for you, continue to pray for you, encourage you. And we want you to know that we're thankful for you. We're proud of you. And we only want God's best for you. That's easy to say adults, but we must live that now. That we live in front of them a life of consecration and dedication. Let it be known by your life that you believe that God's way is always the best way. Because every day Satan tells them that that's not true. And he tells them in very creative ways. deceitful ways, deceptive ways. But we know the truth. God's way is always the best way. Let's just, out of a sense of appreciation and thankfulness, give all the teenagers a big hand tonight, shall we? Folks from Mount Pleasant, thank you for being here. You've been a great encouragement to them and to us as well. Please extend to your pastor brothers for my appreciation that you all could be here to be part of this. I'm so glad for the relationship that our two churches and our two youth groups, especially right now, have. Let's stand, please. We'll be dismissed in prayer tonight. Brother Darren Brown, thank you. works alongside our youth pastor, and then this summer alongside Ethan with the young people. And we're thankful for it and thankful for all that God is doing. And the best days are ahead. The best days are ahead. God bless you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do thank you for this evening. God, what a good place to be. Lord, it's so encouraging to see these young people stand up for you, God, and I pray that you'll bless them for it. I pray that you'll be with each youth group, God, in a mighty way. I thank you so much for them both. I thank you for what you're doing in their lives. I pray, Lord, that you'll protect them, that you'll Watch over them, Lord, as they get ready to go back to school, whether it be college or high school, Lord, and you'll just build a hedge of protection about them. Keep them, continue to bless them, Lord, and steer them with the Holy Spirit so that they'll follow you throughout their lives, Lord, in every possible way. Pray you'll do something great with them, each one of them, Lord, and just use these young people here to to work in this generation, Lord, to shake it and to win their generation for you, not only here in our community, but in the country, Lord, and even internationally, Lord, with some of them, I'm sure. Lord, just be with them, bless this church, help us to encourage them again, and just pray for great things from them, God. We love you and we praise you for this, and thank you, in Jesus' name, amen. you