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There perhaps is no greater declaration of faith and adoration of God Almighty than the words of Joshua in our text. Many a Christian has made these verses their favorite passage and it hangs upon a plaque in my own home. Despite its popularity as a passage of scripture, few believers realize how much of a depth of truth is contained in these words, because within these words of Joshua are found the substance of the most powerful force in the entire universe and what it takes to make it in living for God.

As we read our text, the conquest of the Canaan was finished for the time and Joshua was now up in years and about to go the "way of all flesh" to the grave. This is no young man with bravado words of what he is promising to do in the future, but this is a battle-hardened man of God in the twilight years of his life. This is a man who has been faithful when all of Israel had not been faithful. This is a man who as a young spy stood only with Caleb in believing that God could do the miraculous. This is a man that when the rest of the camp was dying in disbelief, stood strong for the things of God. And now he has faithfully led the children of Israel into the Promised Land of God and they have settled into homes that they did not build and are feasting on the fruit that they did not plant. And they worship Jehovah God, but Joshua knows many of them are living two lives, one at the temple and another in the secret place. On the Sabbath day, they are assembling at the Tabernacle of Moses and offering sacrifices unto Jehovah God of Israel, but in the meantime, some of them are worshipping idols of the past and Egyptian gods and Canaanite idols from the land surrounding them.

And this old, gray-haired man of God is not about to let such idolatry unstated or not confronted. He assembles all of Israel and in the deep, resounding voice still strong despite the years, he calls for Israel to make their decision: either choose the God of Israel who had delivered them time and time again and who has proved Himself to them, or worship the false gods of their forefathers, their pasts, or from the heathens of their present world. It was decision time: a time to choose between two masters. Time to either choose the false gods of the world and live completely for them, or live for the one, true living God of scripture. A line has been drawn in the sand by the old man of God. His words have brought people to the verge of commitment to one side or the other. Choose you this day whom ye will serve!

Like the people of Joshua's time I am preaching to people who have been delivered from the Egypt of your past. You have been delivered and separated from the gods and lifestyles that your family ancestors lived in and walked in. You have been brought through the Red Sea of the waters of baptism and led through the wilderness by the Spirit of God coming to dwell in the Tabernacle of your body. And now you reside in a blessed place that you do not deserve but that you have brought to by the mercy and power of God.

But we must be careful lest like the people of Joshua's time, there be some of us that come on the Lord's Day to worship and praise and lift up the one, true living God, but in the days in between bow before and worship other gods. Egypt represented the past from which the children of Israel had been brought. Like Joshua's time, we must guard against acting delivered on Sunday but yet on Monday having fallen back into the habits of what we were once delivered. God forbid that things that we claimed God to have dealt with us on when we left Egypt have resurfaced in our life, and far from the church, we indulge and have gone backwards to some things that we once had given up.

Joshua also said that some had gone back to serve gods of their forefathers and a generational curse. And we can find ourselves in such a place today: once delivered from generational sin and its effects, but now we find our self once again using the old lie "the reason that I can't overcome this is because this is just who I am and my daddy or my grandfather . . . " And so a generational sin from before the Flood of baptism has arisen in your life and you go to church on Sunday but from Monday through Saturday this other false god is in control.

Or maybe like the Canaanite gods of Joshua's day, it is a new god of this present world, from the spiritual land that you now dwell that has risen up in secret to grab a hold of your affections. Perhaps it is a new battle and a new temptation that you had never faced before that you fell into and have given yourself over to. Or maybe like the people of Joshua's day, we could find a category from each in our life at the moment.

If you had made a commitment to God when you came out of the world and have gone backwards to put such things that were once removed from your life back into it, then you are in idolatry! If you have gone back to using generational curses to justify your lack of obedience to the Word of God, then you are again in idolatry! If you have ignored the teaching of scripture in a new area and have given yourself to the false gods of this present world, then you are in idolatry. Even if you come on the Lord's Day and worship Him, if you are still in bondage to those other things, then don't kid yourself, you are an idolater. This passage proves to us that it is possible to come to church and worship the one, true God and yet still be enslaved to other false gods.

And so with the spirit of a Joshua today, I draw a line in the sand. If any of these scenarios apply to you, it is time to make up your mind whose side you are on. You cannot serve both this world and God. You cannot live in two kingdoms at once. Not only is your personal salvation at stake, but so is the future of this church: choose you this day whom ye will serve! If it be the Lord, then serve Him with everything you have every day of your life, faithful to His commandments and teachings in every way. If it be the Lord, then lose your excuses as to why you cannot fully obey His Word in every area. If you choose the Lord today, then comply with His commandments even if it mean sacrifice and doing opposite of what common sense of this world would tell you to do. But if it be the false gods of this world, then go and serve them with all of your heart and do not dabble with them on the side in secret. If you will play around with sin, go give yourself to it fully and do not hinder revival here any longer by your half-hearted life! Choose you this day whom ye will serve! It's decision time!

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If you choose God's side, then you've got to begin your decision like Joshua did with a "but as for me:"

Do what you will, BUT, I join with Joshua today in saying "you can choose as you like, 'but as for me'." This world has nothing for me. Its ways only lead to pain and death and God has proven Himself greater than all of them. His Word is true and I hold to it and will not depart from it. Choose as you want, but as for me, the decision was settled a long time ago: me and my house will serve the Lord! You should make your decision knowing this: that no matter how you choose, it will not affect my choice because my choice is already made!

A wishy-washy Christian is not a Christian at all, because Christ was never wishy-washy! James wrote in our other text:

There is nothing worse than a double-minded Christian. One who is on fire for God one week and then on fire for the lusts of their flesh the next. One who is convinced of truth one service and then questioning it the next. One who is a worshipper of God one Sunday and absent the next. One who prays hours for one day and then spends no time in such endeavors for the next two days! A person who believes the Word of God in its entirety when they have been recently fed the pure Word of God, but then goes out Monday night and fills themselves with the junk of this world's entertainment that goes against the Word of God until they are thinking as they did before they ever knew a Savior. A double-minded believer is one who if they are on a high, then they are excited about the things of God, but if they are on a low, their commitment and devotion and faithfulness are almost non-existent! A double-minded believe is one whose choice is dependent upon who they are around. Such a person is unstable in all his ways. Such a person is unstable in their salvation, in their eternal destination, in their daily walk, in their family relationships, in their dreams and in their career.

It's time to choose one way or the other! Your double-mindedness is only hurting the kingdom of God. Either serve Jehovah God faithfully or serve the things of this world! Either keep yourself for Him, or give yourself to them! But one way or another choose you this day whom ye will serve!

At camp, this year, they talked about the Greek word for hypocrite is hupokrites which referred to the Greek actors in a play that played two different parts and would trade masks frequently. Such believers were the ones whom Jesus Christ called out and demanded change. Such hypocrites were the ones who lived one thing around the church and another away from it, trading the mask of salvation for the lifestyle of this world. But God is calling us to throw away the masks that only fool ourselves! God sees beyond the masks! Thank God that you came through the Red Sea of water baptism and thank God that the Spirit of God resides within you and has brought you into a blessed place. Yet I join with Joshua in preaching to you: even despite all of that, it's time to choose on or the other! But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!

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Let's take that statement by Joshua and break it down as to the depth of what it truly means. You have to begin with a "but" to other people's decision! But then, like Joshua you've also got to be able to state, "we will. . . " This teaches us that:

When God created you, He placed within you -- at least in this life -- the power of choice. You can freely choose your own path. You can choose how you live in this world. You can do or not do anything that you desire. You are a free will moral agent. And that fact means that a made up mind is the most powerful thing that exists in Grace. A made up mind is more powerful than God's power, God's Spirit, Calvary, God's Word, God's promises, God's angels, and God's desires!

It's more powerful than God's power, because if you have a made up mind not to let God have His way in your life, then God will not force Himself upon you in this life.

It's more powerful than God's Spirit because if you make up in your mind that you don't need God's Spirit, then God will not allow His Spirit to manifest itself to you.

It's more powerful than Calvary because if you make up your mind to reject the blood of Jesus and the plan of salvation offered to you through God's grace, then it will have no effect.

I'm talking about the made up mind! It's the most powerful force in the universe: God's Word will do you no good unless you are absolutely persuaded to its truth! Prayer will do you no good unless you have a made up mind that God will hear you!

We sometimes have a mindset that doctrine saves us, but really doctrine doesn't save us, but rather believing the doctrine saves us. Preaching doesn't save us, but being persuaded of the Word of God is what saves us and preaching is trying to get us to that place! Just living holiness doesn't save you, but being persuaded and convinced of the need for holiness and of God's holiness therefore we live differently from the world is what saves us. The Pharisees prove that just going through a semblance of worship and church attendance and saying you believe does not save you, but rather the made up mind leading to worship and church attendance does! The key is the made up mind -- it is the most powerful force in the universe because man cannot change it and God chooses not to!

And so when Joshua called Israel to a place of decision and then uttered those famous words of his, it was invoking the greatest power of the universe! Because Joshua was not giving some empty promise of the future, but was speaking from a lifestyle of faithfulness through good times and bad times! And he said "ain't nothing going to change about my lifestyle and serving God! My house and I will serve the Lord!

I submit to you today that if the power of a made up mind is such that it is greater than God's power, work, love, Word, and Spirit, then the devil is no match for it either! The devil is nowhere near as potent as our God is and so if the made up mind can stop the things of God, then it can certainly stop the things of the devil!

So hear this preacher: the key to staying victorious over the devil and sin is to have a made up mind that "I'm going to serve the Lord." If you struggle with willful sin of your past life and are a roller coaster Christian then you should know the issue is you don't have a made up mind. If you struggle with doubt and have trouble obeying the Word of God in its entirety then you don't need a spiritual doctor to diagnose your problem: you don't have a made up mind.

I've seen it in reverse in people's lives. I have had people get baptized in Jesus' name simply because they could not argue with the scriptures, but they had a made up mind that they were not going to receive the truth of it and believe it. I've had people admit the Apostolic doctrine that we teach was the first and original doctrine of the early church founded by Jesus through His disciples, and yet they had such a made up mind that they were not going to accept anything against their traditions that they would not receive the truth. I've watched people so convinced of their little lies and opinions that they could sit in a red-hot service where the preacher of God had the ear of heaven and the Spirit of God was moving mightily in places and signs and wonders in front of them and yet they doggedly hold to their traditions of men and their sin and live life as they wanted to. Such is the power of the made up mind that it can resist even the most dynamic moves of God!

If you don't believe me, then think of the Pharisees and religious leaders of Jesus' day. They had God in flesh preaching to them and everyday that He taught they saw blinded eyes opened and the lame to walk. There can be no finer preacher than Jesus Christ! There can be no more dynamic teacher than Jesus Christ. Surely you realize that Jesus Christ was the truth embodied in flesh! And yet despite the clear teaching and despite the miracles and despite the demonstration and voiced from heaven and all of that, there was a large group of "religious people" who refused to change their traditions of men and their preconceived beliefs. And there was an even larger group of people who just stayed in their sins unchanged and just live life as they always had. Their stubborn, made up mind, to believe and live as they wanted, resisted even God in flesh revealed to them!

I'm reminded of Jesus' story of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man in hell begged for Lazarus to be able to return from the grave to warn his brothers and sisters and the answer was sobering:

"Moses and the Prophets" was a reference to the written scripture available in that day. God was saying, "if they cannot hear the written Word that I have given them, then it doesn't matter how many miracles and resurrections that they see, they will not believe."

I want to ask some of us today "what will it take for you to believe the clear teaching of all of the Word of God in every area?" "What will it take for you to obey God completely?" If you cannot hear the Word of God and become absolutely convinced of the Word of God to the point that you must obey it, then there is no hope for you. Because miracles will not do it for you. Signs and wonders will not convince you if you will not heed the Word of God!

And so I ask again, "what will it take for some of us to realize the truth taught in scriptures of Jesus' name baptism and infilling of the Holy Spirit!?" What will it take for some of us to realize who Jesus Christ really is? What will it take for us to realize that we must separate ourselves from the sinful lifestyles and habits of this world? What will it take for us to realize these things?

You'd better guard against hardening yourself against the Word of God and you'd better guard against justifying our disobedience by twisting scripture or ignoring it altogether! Because if you ever reach a place where the Word of God does not speak to you because you have hardened your mind to do what you want to do, then you will have reached a place where His mercy and grace and love cannot reach you! Such is the power of the made up mind!

But God is looking for someone who has a made up mind for Him! God is looking for someone who will make up in their mind as Joshua had many years before he uttered that famous statement: as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord! God's church will be made up of people whose made up mind leaves no place for the devil to slide into. God's church will be made up of people who will take the most powerful force in the world, their complete persuasion and use those things to be absolutely persuaded of the things of God! Because if the made up mind is more powerful than the things of God then it certainly is greater than the things of Satan!

Don't tell me you cannot live for God -- you can if you have a made up mind!

Don't tell me you cannot be an over comer and be everything that God has for you -- you can if you have the made up mind of Joshua that come what may, we will serve the Lord!

If you want to be consistent and you want to keep praising God and you want to walk uprightly and you want to make it to heaven, then it will not come from wishy--washiness but from a made up mind that I'm going to do things God's way! All excuses fail in the light of such a determination! All walls fall in the presence of such a powerful force! Just as hard-headed for sin as this world is ought to be matched with a Godly hard headedness for the things of God within the church! If you want to make it to heaven, you must have a made up mind to live for God! If a double minded man is unstable in all his ways, then a single-minded man is stable in everything!

We often quote the Apostle Paul and miss the point:

I've heard people use this scripture to prove a false "once saved always saved doctrine" but they are missing the true nature of this passage. Those things cannot separate you from the love of God if you can say like Paul "I am persuaded!" The power comes not in some false doctrine of eternal security but in the power of a made up mind! Because he was persuaded of these things, Paul never wavered in his faith despite hardships and shipwrecks and stoning! Because he was persuaded of the things of God, Paul never even gave a moment's thought to turning back or doing as he desired rather than the will of God. When you are persuaded of the things of God and you've got a made up mind to live for God, then hesitation is gone and so are the excuses.

Do this sometime: comb the scriptures and find where Paul gave an excuse to the Lord as to why he could not go or preach or live right. Paul had many excuses available but he never used them! In fact, the list of excuses that he gave in the above scripture when they were combined with a made up mind became a victory list! When you have a made up mind, excuses become testimonies to what God has done through you! When you have a made up mind, there is no dragging your feet to obeying the things of God or His will. When you have a made up mind, there is no problem keeping yourself from a sinful lifestyle. The problem is that we need to become like Joshua and Paul: absolutely persuaded! If we would have a made up mind to live for God, then it wouldn't matter if all hell came against us and if every person on earth joined in a Satanic attack on our life! Because the made up mind is the most powerful force on the earth!

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The power of the made up mind! It's the most powerful force in the universe: man and Satan can't change it and God chooses not to! God is looking for a people that will say of serving Him, "we will!" But notice that Joshua began his great statement with "as for me and my house, we will serve . . . " And so we come to a third, important part of this declaration:

Joshua could speak for his family because he could speak for himself! In other words, his devotion to God was at all times such a ablaze that it could not have helped but catch fire in his children. The fires of holiness was so present in Joshua that his wife and his children never even gave any other thought to living any other ways.

It's about to get quiet in here, but it is scriptural to say that a spiritual failure of a home can always be traced back to a "man" failure. Too many men and husbands and fathers today are wishy washy believers. You believe one thing today and another thing tomorrow. You are committed to the truth of Apostolic doctrine one day and next week you aren't so sure. You are a man of prayer this week, and a man of fleshly desires the next. You are faithful to church one Sunday and "busy" the next. You are wishy-washy and two-faced and your wife and your children don't respect you because of your unstability.

Joshua said "as for me and my house, we will." But too many men say "as for my house, they will." You want your family to serve God at a level that you do not do yourself! And despite your lack of committment and your level in God being far below that of your wife and children, you expect them to obey you and respect you!

What we need are men who will say "follow me as I follow Christ!" I've never met a Godly woman and children that would not submit to such an attitude in a father and a husband. When they see consistency in the home, the children and wife will follow gladly. But they must see consistency. A double minded man will not have anybody following him for long!

I asked a great man of God in my life a few years back when I was troubled at seeing pastors pastor for sixty years and yet none of their children live for God and I asked a mentor -- a man who has all of his three children in church -- what is the difference? And I'll never forget the answer. He said, "the biggest key to children living for God is what they see at home, not what they hear preached across the pulpit." "My kids are living for God because they saw lived at home the same thing preached on Sunday night!" Can I preach to me a little while? If Ajadiana is to grow up and love the things of God, it will be because she saw consistency at home in her mother and I after church hours are long gone! But if I will be consistent in my walk, then I can say "as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!" Because the power of a made up mind is such that it will effect my children and my lineage! But if I am doubleminded, then my house will be in spiritual disarray and confusion! We need men in the church who can say with Joshua "as for me and my house, we will serve!" Don't expect them to go to church when you are not at church. Don't expect them to be sensitive and faithful when you not! But if you would get a made up mind for the things of God, men, our children and wives would be right there with us! "As for me and my house, we will serve!" I must be the forerunner and torch bearer of this thing!

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And finally, Joshua said "but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Listen carefully to the final thought of the evening learned from Joshua's declaration:

We've got many people who have a made up mind to come to church. We've got many people who have a made up mind to praise God during the singing. We've got many people who have a made up mind to "be a Christian" and those things are great! But unfortunately we have some that do those things and yet do not "serve" the Lord. Their emphasis is on being blessed by the Lord. And receiving from the Lord. And learning about the Lord. But God is also seeking for those who will "serve" the Lord.

To serve means just as it sounds; the connotation is a servant or a slave doing the bidding of their master. A similar word, bondservant, was used by Jude and James -- half brothers of Jesus Christ -- yet both began their epistles by saying that they were "bondservants" or "slaves" of Jesus Christ. Bro. Hancock pointed out to me the other day that the only prayer request that Jesus Christ ever had was for more laborers in the vineyard. We all should be the answer to that request, but the truth is that in Christianity, we have a whole lot of believers sitting and talking and doing nothing! Like those laborers hired at the 11th hour, they have sat idle most of their spiritual day doing nothing!

Think of this, Jesus taught a principle in the kingdom of God, that the "last would be first and the first would be last" and so the way to advance in the kingdom of heaven is to not exalt yourself but to humble yourself!

When you are born again in the kingdom of God you are a child of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! Your position is that of the greatest in the world! You come in line to a great inheritance and mighty name and influence and power! But if you want to be blessed in the kingdom of God, then the way to do it is although you are the heir or heiress to heaven, yet to become as a servant and a slave to Him! When you do so -- as a child of God yet willingly become as a servant, then you obey and duplicate the actions of Jesus Christ, who although He was the Son of God, and God manifest in the flesh, yet took a towel and began to wash feet! Remember Pontius Pilate's conversation with Jesus at His trial? Pilate was into titles and Jesus was into towels and you know which one is exalted today! He who will be great in the kingdom of God wil be the ones who have a made up mind to "serve the Lord!" Not just believe in Him. Not just pat yourself on the back because of received grace, but those who will serve Him!

You do know that such an attitude is how all of my ministry got started. I told the Lord a long time ago, that I just wanted to do something for the kingdom of God. I never planned to preach. I never planned to teach Bible Studies. I never planned to pastor a church. I just wanted to do whatever I could. I set out to serve, and if I have been exalted or given anything in God it came from such an attitude. I want my little girl one day to be raised with the same attitude and spirit. No matter how blessed we are I have a made up mind! Live as you want to live and make your own choice: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!