It's good to be in the Lord's house today. Look forward to seeing what the Lord has for us. Dad, would you open us in a word of prayer, please? And join me in singing page 210, wonderful grace of Jesus. you ♪ Searching the places that we once were ♪ ♪ And for the measures we're supposed to take ♪ ♪ We've done so far ♪ ♪ But what we've done so far ♪ ♪ We've done so far ♪ ♪ We've done so far ♪ ♪ In the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord is born ♪ ♪ Christ the Lord is born, Christ the Lord is born ♪ ♪ Somebody call the police ♪ ♪ Somebody call the police ♪ and join me in singing 208, Grace Greater Than Ourselves. ♪ Our God is the grace of our loving God ♪ ♪ Oh say can you see, by the dawn's early light ♪ ♪ All the days that have gone in a day or two ago ♪ ♪ Days, days, all the days, all the days, all the days ♪ ♪ That is greater than all I've seen so far ♪ ♪ Where I can see His holy face ♪ ♪ And in my soul remain the devotion ♪ ♪ His grace, His grace, His grace, Your grace, Your grace ♪ ♪ Is clear above the sea ♪ ♪ There's life greater than all the sea ♪ ♪ T'was this thing that began the world ♪ ♪ And fled again to the shore ♪ ♪ With heaven and earth ♪ ♪ And heaven and earth ♪ ♪ And heaven and earth ♪ ♪ And heaven and earth ♪ Yeah. Amen. You may be seated. One day is victory. The next day I'm living with pain. One minute the sun is shining down, then it starts to rain. But I know a touch from God will quiet the thunder. I'll never get over the blood that I'm under. I'll never get over the blood wonder where I'll spend eternity. I realize what could have been that changed that cow, glory. I'll never get over the blood that I'm under. I'm safe and secure with Him in my heart, and no one can take that from me. I'm living life knowing that heaven is where I will be. When He takes my soul, no longer in sin did I wander. I'll never get over the blood that I'm under. I'll never get over the blood that I'm under. I'll never wonder where I'll spend eternity. I realize what could happen that changed that cow's glory. I'll never get over. I realize what could have been That changed at Calvary I'll never get over The blood that I'm under The blood that I'm under The blood that I'm under Amen. Well, we're gonna have Brother Gibson come and preach for us one more time. What a joy it's been to have him here today. Lord bless you, man. I said, good to see you. It's good to be seen, not viewed at this age. We're glad that you are here, good to see. But Jared, Mr. Stephanie Shipman here, he pastors in the other Kansas City. I don't know which is the good one or the bad, I don't know. He just pastors in the other Kansas City area. But this morning I called him and said, we're in the area. If he finds out we were here and didn't say anything, what's going on? And my wife said, now you know he's going to try to get you to come over there tonight. And I said, well, you promised me we're going home. I said, we're going home. Our schedule's just been, she says, if we go straight home and we can be home tonight in our own bed. And so he said, are you leaving out of this? Yeah. Yeah. Do you have to? Yeah. And I told my wife I would. But then he told her. that were going over there tonight. She didn't believe him. She knows him long enough, very seldom does he speak truth. So anyway, I'm teasing, I'm teasing. But I love the shipments, they're a blessing. I think we'll be there, is it October? Coming up, the anniversary of the church. He had last year said, now we got a 97th, 98th, 99th, 100th anniversary coming up, I want you to preach every one of those. I said, you realize how old I'll be? He said, yeah. I said, don't croak. So anyway, so I got to stay living till the end. So anyway, we're glad to be here. We've thoroughly enjoyed the day. I'm telling you, it's been a blessing. Man, y'all eat like that every Sunday? I'm thinking about changing my membership. That's just incredible. Y'all know how to fix a tater. You got everything on there. That's just awesome. And those soups, that was incredible. Joshua 24, I know it's afternoon. And usually, usually, you know, the word saint, S-A-I-N-T, stands for Sunday afternoon is nap time. That's what it stands for. And so most, most Christians are just used to afternoon naps. Maybe you do get an afternoon nap in here. I don't know. But anyway, we'll try to, We'll find out, that's right, that's right, that's right. We've had two people die in church services. Now, neither one was I preaching in church service. Had two different people, two different times that died in church services. I said, if that happened in my church, they'd pulled out three people before they got the right one. But anyway, so, don't know. Anyway, Joshua chapter 24, beginning in verse number 1. Joshua chapter 24, beginning in verse number 1. When you find it, if you're able to stand with us and up to a stretch here, get some blood flowing. in an afternoon. If you get tired, just jump up and shout amen. It'll wake you up, keep everybody around you awake as well. It'll be great. Joshua chapter 24, begin in verse number one. Thank you, preachers, so much for everything. And we've thoroughly, just thoroughly enjoyed the day. Thank y'all so much. And the young men that helped me out this morning, thank you. Y'all did great. All the music's been wonderful. Just been a blessing. Verse number one, and Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads and for their judges and for their officers. And they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said to all the people, thus saith the Lord God of Israel. Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nacor, and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac. And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau, and I gave unto Esau Mount Seir to possess it. But Jacob and his children went down into Egypt. I sent Moses also and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt according to that which I did among them. And afterward I brought you out. And I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea. And the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and horsemen out of the Red Sea. When they cried unto the Lord, He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them. And your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt, and you dwelt in the wilderness a long season. And I brought to the land of the Amorites, which dwelt on the other side of Jordan. And they fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, that you might possess their land. And I destroyed them from before you. Then Balak the son of Zipporah, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and said, And called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. But I would not hearken unto Balaam. Therefore he blessed you still, so I delivered you out of his hand. And you went over Jordan and came into Jericho, and the men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorites, the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I delivered them into your hand. And I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites, but not with thy sword nor with thy bow. And I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you built not, and you dwell in them. Of the vineyards and olive yards which you planted not do you eat. 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 in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your father served 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. Father again, thank you for the privilege we have to be gathered in your house. Thank you for the good meal we enjoyed today. And dear God, as we look at the food that was put out, and as simple as we may think, some potatoes and fillings and the pulled meat and the soups and wonderful, but it's a better meal than 70% of the world will ever get in their entire life. And we're so blessed, we're spoiled people, we're blessed people. Help us not to take all that for granted. Father, we pray you'd help us this afternoon to take the thought, and God, get it across in a manner that the youngest person could understand it, but that God might go with such convicted power that the hardest heart would be affected by it. And God, speak to us today. When this dawned on me, this was a life-changing thought for me. So God, I pray it might be the same for someone else. We're sorry to give you the praise for what you do, if we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you. You can be seated. Joshua is an old man at this point. Matter of fact, he's 110 years of age. And this is the last recorded event that takes place in the life of Joshua. He gets done with this. And right after this, you'll find that Joshua dies. And so it's the last recorded event in his life. He's 110 years of age. He's reminded the people of God as where they've come from. And like I say, I picture, you know, I talk about Deuteronomy, like Moses realized that he's not going to be able to lead them. I picture like a father, grandfather on his deathbed trying to encourage. That's what Joshua's doing. This is the end of his life. He's called the heads and the families together. If you get to remind them about all the good things God has done for them how Abraham had had dwelt with with terror his father on the other side of the flood back before they knew God the other side of the flood they served other gods and how he called him out and he begins to remind them of where they came from and how God had called them out and And then all the battles and how they got the land that they possessed He just reminds him of all the good things that God has done for them by the way That's a good thing to do you remember where we came from and all the good things that God has done for us? Along the way and be mindful of that and we could probably go around the room tonight this afternoon take a lot of a lot of time Just standing talking about all that God has done all the times. He's delivered all the times He's came through all the battles. He's won and times when you know where there was no way he made away and and We could all talk about all the good things that God has done for us. I said a little bit about this morning, just the fact he saved me was an amazing thing, but then that he would put my marriage back together again, that was just, that's unbelievable. And the fact that we're not enduring our marriage, we're enjoying our marriage. I'm actually rejoicing with the wife of my youth. I hear some of these people, they'll say things like, I don't understand this generation, all the divorces, we stuck it out. You know, like you want some kind of medal for winning the battle or something, you know. I don't want to spend my life feeling like we stuck it out. I want to enjoy my marriage, not endure it and things. And I am, I'm rejoicing with the wife of my youth and I'm so thankful what God has done. And we can look back to all the good things that God has done and he reminds him of all that God has done. And then he said in verse 14, now therefore, because of this, because God's been such a good God to you, He said, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth. He said, God's been good to you. And so since he has, don't you think you ought to fear him and you ought to serve him? And he says, serve him in sincerity and in truth. I think there's two key words here. One is that sincerity. That just simply means to be real about this. Very real. We ought to be real about our Christendom. This is not just something we do. This is who we are. We, a lot of times, are asked to speak at, you know, family things or whatever, you know, because they, you know, see our children that are serving the Lord. And, you know, and we get asked a lot, what's the key? Because everybody wants their children to serve the Lord. And my response is always, well, it's grace. Because, you know, even God as a perfect father had one that went astray, you know. in the garden and such. And so I always say, well, it's just grace. And my wife one time said, if there's anything that we could say that maybe we did, it's we were real. We weren't perfect. But what we were on Sunday, we were on Monday. The Bible was real to us. God was real to us. Church was real to us. Prayer was real to us. And we weren't perfect, but we were real. And so I think he's saying you ought to serve him in sincerity. You ought to be real about this thing of being a Christian. It ought to be evident to other people that Christ has saved you and that you love him because he did. And then he said, in sincerity and in truth. I don't want to be real about what I do. I want to be right about what I do. You can be sincere and be sincerely wrong. I heard a guy at one time say, he says, well, I'm just too old to change. I'm thinking, not me. If you can show me from the Bible, I want to change, because I want to make sure what I'm doing is right. I want to study to show myself approved unto him. A workman need not be ashamed. And if you study with that mindset, he'll help you to write and abide the word of truth. And so to be real and to be right in what you do. He said, put away the gods your father served, which are on the other side of the flood in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if that seemed evil indeed to serve the Lord, he goes and he makes his famous speech, you know, choose you this day whom you will serve, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Matter of fact, that verse is probably put on more scripture plaques than any other verse in the Bible. You know, John 3, 16 might come close, I don't know, but about any Any home that has verses on the wall or plaques somewhere, it's either gonna be choose you this day or ask for me and my house. I'm gonna have something like that within your home, just a portion of that scripture. It's usually on the wall right next to bring you all the tithes into the storehouse. Okay, maybe that's not on a plaque, but it is just as much Bible. But usually this is on plaques or different things. And one of the most familiar verses in the word of God. And yet I think it's the most misunderstood verse in the Word of God, most abused, if you would, verse in the Word of God. He instructs them, choose this day whom you will serve. The term this day is found over 300 times in the Bible. Give us this day our daily bread. They really did live day by day. And he's not just speaking about making a choice on this day. A lot of people one day made a choice to serve the Lord, but you'd never know it today. There's a lot of people made choices in life on a particular day that you'd never know by looking at them today that choice was made. Josh was 110. He's about to die. He's not just now making a choice to serve the Lord. Choose you this day from just after me and my house, we will serve the Lord. It's not about making a choice on this day, but it's talking about making a choice for this day. What are you gonna do with this day? Choose you this day who you'll serve. Throughout the time we get saved, the time he calls us home, we're given several 24-hour days that we have one shot at. And it's not just a matter that one day I made a choice to serve the Lord. Joshua, I believe, has been making this choice every day. As a young man, when Moses set up a tabernacle outside the camp, said anybody that longs to seek the Lord could go outside the tabernacle. And he went, and Joshua went. Moses didn't, but this is something he's been doing since he was a young man. It's getting up every morning saying, I choose this day to serve the Lord. Then the next day, I choose this day to serve the Lord. You know, the Christian life is really not that difficult. It's just day by day, I choose this day to serve him. And then in the morning, the same choice made again. You know, backsliding doesn't happen overnight. All it takes is one day not to choose to serve the Lord. and we find ourselves drifting backwards, it's because we fail to choose each day to serve the Lord. He makes a statement, because God's been good, you ought to fear Him and serve Him in sincerity and truth. And then he says, if it seems evil unto you to serve the Lord. That's a strange statement, isn't it? The word evil means, if this doesn't seem like a pleasant thing to you. If serving the Lord doesn't, that just doesn't seem enjoyable to me. It's not pleasant, it's not enjoyable. It's a word from where we get our word, inconvenient. If it's inconvenient for you to serve the Lord. I got plans. He does too. If it's inconvenient, if it's unreasonable to serve the Lord. Preacher might get up and talk about, man, y'all be faithful. Y'all be faithful to the house of God. Y'all be here every service. And you think, man, all things are asking. If you think it's unreasonable, if you think God is asking too much, that you serve him. Then he said, choose who you will serve. And really, there's three choices he lays out. Choose you that, y'all serve him. Choose this day, if it seem evil and you serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve. Whether the gods your father served on the other side of the flood, you know who he's referring to? Back before Abraham got saved. All right, you get up in the morning, if you think he's asking too much for you to serve him tomorrow, then what are you gonna do with your life? Are you gonna live like a lost man lives? You're gonna wake up, just never give a thought about God? Never open your Bible, never pray, never think about God. Just go through life, just like the lost men do. Is that what you're gonna do with the day tomorrow? It gives a second choice, or the God of the Amorites whose land you dwell. When they went in the land, they're told not to intermarry with those that are there because it would make them, because the other gods would make them half-hearted Christians. I mean, is that what you're going to do with your life? I mean, you may have your devotions, you may check off your list, but the rest of the time, really not giving God a thought and just going on with life. I mean, you're going to be a half-hearted Christian? And he said, I mean, what are you going to do tomorrow? You're going to live like the lost live? You're going to be a half-hearted Christian? And Joshua said, you can do that if you want to, but as for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. He makes that statement unto him, and they answer in verse number 16. The people answered, said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods. For the Lord our God, he it is that brought us up in 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 to whom we passed. And the Lord drove out from before us all the people, even the Amorites, which dwelt on the land. Therefore will we also serve the Lord, for he is our God. He makes a statement. All right, if you think he's asking too much if it doesn't seem fun to you doesn't seem pleasant What are you gonna do with your life tomorrow? You're gonna live like the lost live You're gonna be a half-hearted Christian do that at all to best me in my house will serve Lord They responded with the right answer. No Joshua. You're right. He's a good God. He's one that delivered us He's been faithful to us. So we're going to serve him It's the right response. And oftentimes, when the preaching goes forth in the church, we have the right response. You're right, that's what we're gonna do, but nothing really changes. Matter of fact, Joshua goes on to say, look at verse number 10, Joshua said to the people, you cannot serve the Lord, for he is an 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 to you hurt, consume you after he had done you good. Joshua said, no, you don't understand. God's not looking for lip service. Don't say, yes, Lord, I'm going to serve you if you're not going to serve him. He wants somebody that's sincere about this. Somebody that's going to be real about this, not just to give the right answers because we know the right answers. He said, no, no, no, you don't understand. God's looking for somebody who, when they say they're gonna serve the Lord, they mean it, and they're gonna be serious and sincere about them. Then verse 21, and the people said to Joshua, nay, but we will serve the Lord. They said, no, Joshua, we'll be serious about this. I wanna speak this afternoon on this subject, did you choose this day to serve the Lord? Because then Joshua goes from here And he gives them five things that are necessary on every day that you choose to serve the Lord. He said, it's not just making a choice on this day, making a choice for this day. When we get up in the morning, I've got this 24 hour period. First thing I ought to do is fall beside my bed and say, dear God, I choose this day to serve you. And to do that every day that comes by. And before you know it, a day turns into a week, and a week turns into months, and months turns into years. And you know, most people think, well, I just don't know if I can live this Christian life. Just do it today. Just do it today. He gives five things. Verse number 22. And Joshua said unto people, you are witnesses against yourself that ye have chosen ye the Lord to serve him. And they said, we are witnesses. Number one, it ought to be a day of purpose. In other words, to get up, I purpose this day to serve. You know, Daniel purposed in his heart. He would not defile himself. Then everything Daniel did after that was on purpose because of what he had purposed. So it ought to be a matter of, okay, I choose this day to serve the Lord. I've purposed that. This day I'm gonna serve the Lord. I've purposed that. And everything I do after that ought to be on purpose because I've made that decision within my life. So it ought to be a day of purpose. Number two, we're going quickly, don't you like that? Well, for a little while anyway. Number two, look at verse number 23. Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you. Number two, it ought to be a day of purity. There's some things I can't do today because I chose this day to serve him. No, I got to put that away today because I chose this day to serve him. There's some places I can't go on the internet today because I chose this day to serve him. There's some words I can't use today. Let me say something real quick about the internet. We have families within our church. We had two young men and young ladies that all grew up independent, fundamental, Bible-loving, Bible-preaching Baptist churches, Christian schools, good families, faithful in church, grew up within churches. Had a young lady was in the church that I passed a young man from another good good church and grew up They got married just seemed a sweet young couple Wasn't wasn't just a few months after they got married. His wife caught him looking at things. Y'all not be looking at Devastated or crushed her Had another couple that they'd come from Texas area, but come up where we were at, they're in the church there, same thing, grew up married. She found that he'd set up a Facebook account, showing himself as single. And again, looking at stuff I'll not be looking at, devastated. And both couples within like a three month period of time come in. Both the young man sat down, they're in their 20s. That both of them down begin to question, and I ask them the question, when did this begin? I mean, you're brought up in a Christian home. When did this start? Both of them gave the same answer. When we were 12. Now I'm telling some young people in this room that the enemy's after. Because if he can get you wrapped up in all that mess right now, I'm telling you, he'll ruin, he'll destroy your marriage and relationship later down the road. But there's some things I can't look at today, because I chose this day to serve him. There's some places I can't go today, because I chose this day to serve him. I can't drink liquor today. You say, you tempted to drink liquor? I pastored people. I was tempted to do a lot of things. But I can't today. I chose this day to serve. I can't have a cigarette today. That was one of the hardest battles I had in my Christian life when I got saved was smoking and man I got saved so I go in church seemed like every Sunday he preached on smoking every Sunday night He preached on smoking every Wednesday night. He preached on smoking and he'd look at me. He'd point at me everybody in the church That's where I felt. Anyway, everybody's looking at me. I never would bring him in I'd leave him in the glove box and we get out of church. I tell my giving them cigarettes I'd throw him out the window. Give me that lighter I'd heave it out the window and the next day I'm driving by us and the word I throw them things out that you know and and type that thing and man to see like every message and I finally got victory about two weeks ago And no, and I finally got victory and I'm going back to church I'm just waiting for the preacher to preach on smoking cuz I'm gonna jump up say amen hot dog you tell them and and he never mentioned it again I Wouldn't listen to his messages later find he really didn't mention it then, you know I've learned over the years anytime somebody says all the preacher preaches on is fill in the blank what you're really saying is my problem is I Because there's a bigger preacher that does the preaching when the preacher stands here and preach, but I can't have a cigarette today Because I chose this day To serve him just it's got to be a day of purity. I can't have improper thoughts Or another woman today Not today because I chose this day to serve him. I Can't get involved in gossip today. No, not today because I chose this day to serve him Can't be unkind to my wife today Because I chose this day to serve him It's got to be a day of purity And then he says this like verse number 23 now they're put away said he's a strange God's among you and incline your heart Under the Lord God of Israel. It ought to be a day of pursuing. I Incline your heart. They made it a wonderful invention many years ago. It's a big soft soft fluffy chair You sit in it. It's got a lever on the side. You pull it the feet go up the head go back It's got just enough room for a grandchild on each side never had room for children, but it's got plenty of room for great and I'm coming and it's called a Recliner. To recline is to lean backwards. To incline is to go forward. He inclines his ear to the prayers of his people. Do you understand that? When we pray, God actually leans forward to listen. And he said, incline your heart to the Lord. So it's got to be a day of pursuing him. It's got to be a day of drawing closer to Him because I chose this day to serve Him. I want every day my relationship with my wife to be better than it was the day before. I want every day my relationship with the Lord to be better than it was the day before. It ought to be a day of pursuing Him, inclining my heart to Him. That means I do have time for His Bible today and I do have time for prayer today. It amazes me how how often we go through life. We don't have time for so many things never know But I chose this day to serve him. So i've got to spend some time in my bible I've got to spend some time in prayer this this has to be a priority within my life And really time management is that it's a matter of setting priorities in our life How many get done everything in a day you want to get done? How many at the end of the day there's things you want to get done you did not get done Didn't raise hands either way. How many of you are sleeping and not just eyes are open? You're looking at me, but you have no clue what's going on. I guess you wouldn't raise your hand on that one either. I'm not sure why I asked for that. But I found I cannot get done everything I want to get done. But God knew I had 24 hours. So I can get done everything he expects me to get done. Because he knows I got 24 hours. So if I can't get done everything, it means I put some things on the list. And that's okay. But what I don't want is the end of the day that what I put on the list takes priority of what God put on the list. And the things that I don't get done are the things God wanted me to do, like Bible time and prayer time. So this is a day of pursuing. This is a day of drawing my heart close to Him. And so I've got to have Bible time. And somebody asked me one time, how much of the Bible do you think we ought to read every day? My response is, if you're reading something to get something from God, then just read until He speaks to you. You read three verses, he speaks to you. Stop, meditate on it, soak it in. Think on it all day long. If you have to read five chapters, read them. But the bottom line is, I want God to speak to me. I want to be drawn closer to him today. So it's a day of pursuing God. I want my heart to be tender. I want my heart to be teachable. I want to be drawn closer to you today because I chose this day to serve you. And so it's got to be a day of pursuing God and allowing him to work on me. I've gotta had to, you know, since I've quit pastoring, it has been a whirlwind in a lot of ways. I miss my office. and the routine that you can have. I miss the office and a lot of those things. I've had to restructure and reschedule some things. My prayer life got to where it seemed like it's just out of whack here and there, and I've had to kind of break it up. And I've done it in a fashion of just kind of broke up different things on different days. And there's one day, Tuesday, it's just a day of, the main theme is just a teachable spirit and a touch of God. That's just the whole thought process for the day, just a teachable spirit, a touch of God. God, help me to keep a teachable spirit. Help me that you can speak to my heart. Help me that I'm willing to change. God, I need your touch. I need you. I need your power. I need you to work in my life and through me. It ought to be a day of pursuing him and wanting to get closer to him. Verse 24, and the people said to Joshua, Lord, our God, will we serve his voice? Will we obey? It ought to be a day of performing. It ought to be a day of obeying anything that God asks you to do. It's a matter of obedience. No, because I chose this day to serve him. As he speaks to my heart, I want it to be a day of performing. I want it to be a day of obeying him. And then verse 25, Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, set them a statute and an ordinance and check them. A covenant is when you bind together, you purpose. Okay, this is what we're gonna do. A statute has to do with a set time of doing something. An ordinance has to do with instructions or customer how to go about so many times in the city You've got city ordinances. You've got to follow certain guidelines or instructions that are laid out to do things And so it ought to be a day of preparation If i'm going to keep this thing going that i've got a i've got to make a covenant i've got to bind together I'm going to have a set time That i'm going to follow these same instructions So so when I go to bed at night to say dear god, this was a good day Help me to do this again tomorrow. It's a day of preparation. Help me that I don't, help me to do this again tomorrow. That I start off first thing in the morning again. Dear God, I choose this day to serve you. And when it's a day of purpose, then okay, this has got to be a day of purity. This has got to be a day of pursuing Him. This has got to be a day of performance. Help me to do this again. In verse number 29, it came to pass after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the serving Lord, died being 110 years old. And they buried him in the board of his inheritance, the Timnath Seir, which is in the Mount Ephraim on the north side of the hill of Geash. Look at this. And Israel served the Lord all the days, each and every day, of Joshua, and all the days, each and every day, of the elders that outlived Joshua, which had known all the works of the Lord that he had done for Israel. God, help me do this again tomorrow. You know, the Christian life's really not difficult. It's just getting the morning, dear God, I choose this day to serve you. And if you blow it somewhere, don't throw the rest of the day away. Just stop and say, dear God, I'm sorry, that shouldn't have happened because I chose this day to serve you. Please forgive me and help me to spend the rest of the day serving you. And next thing you know, you've served him for a year and two years and 10 years. Wouldn't it be good just to keep doing that? Josh was now 110 years of age and he's still saying, make a choice today. You gonna live like the lost live? Just go through life like there's no God? You gonna be half-hearted? You can do that if you want to. He said, but that's for me and my house. We're gonna serve the Lord. I'm just one day away. I'm just 24 hours away from blowing everything. Everything I've worked for, my testimony, everything I've worked for my Christian walk, all it would take is just one day not to choose to serve him and start a downhill spiral in my life. You've got that plaque within your home, it'd be good maybe On her bathroom mirror, somewhere just to put, did I choose this day to serve the Lord? It's really not difficult, it's just serve Him today. I don't know if I can hold on, just serve Him today. And tomorrow, just make that choice again, and the next day, make that choice again. And just day by day, dear God, I choose this day to serve you. And purpose, and then everything you do after that ought to be on purpose because of what you purposed in your heart. Amen. Go ahead and stand. Great challenge. God's spoken to your heart. Encourage it. Whatever you need is today. Would you come? The king of the portals is waiting and watching, watching for you and for me. ♪ We who are weary, come home ♪ ♪ Blessed ever is Jesus' blood ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy is his blood ♪ ♪ Jesus is waiting ♪ ♪ Waiting for you and for me ♪ ♪ Why should we linger in need of his mercies ♪ ♪ Mercies for you and for me ♪ ♪ Come now, come now ♪ Amen. Well, it's been a great day to be in the Lord's house. I'm gonna ask the Gibsons, go ahead to the back there. You can shake their hands and they prepared to leave. And we'll have them back again next year. We have Patch Pirates starting on the 11th. It costs us $10 if you order the book. If you pay that today, it'd be great. Have any questions, see Brother Stephen Foster. We have Youth Rally coming up September 20th, seven o'clock here at the church. I encourage you to plan to come and help with that. And then the men's recharge, 27th and 28th. It's $80 a man due today and so guys Hopefully plan that way ladies dinner. They'll be going out to eat on 27th at 630 and Then outreach on the 5th at 9 o'clock and so plan to go with us on outreach we mentioned Miss Patty, pray for her, and as soon as we get information about Brother Tom's funeral, we'll put that forth. Pray for Mrs. Clem, should be getting home this week, and so if you would, I'll be praying for her. It was explained to me that they think Mrs. Walker will be going home today, and so she already went home? She did, okay. Okay, so if you would pray for her, and then pray for Glenda Bush, still under hospice care, and the others that are listed here, and also Mrs. Swearingen, our missionary in Mexico, please be praying for her. It's good to have Brother Jared here. Brother Jared, would you come up and close us in a word of prayer? Brother Jared pastors just down over by Legends, and you don't need to go over there, but I mean, that's where he pastors. He's been a good friend all these years, and his kids come over and take lessons. Miss Cindy, and we appreciate their ministry over there, and God's let them do it. Heavenly Father, we do thank you for the time we've had in your house today. We thank you for the message we just heard, and I pray that you would help us not to just be hearers, but doers of your word, and leave today with a challenge to choose this day to serve you, I pray that you'll help us in this day and hour as we are needed more in our country than ever before for Christians to live right and holy. Thank you for this church, pray that you continue to bless Brother Messinger in Jesus' name we pray, amen. 10 minutes, we'll be back in here. ♪ Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen.