The importance of REAL faith in our family

Make the RIGHT choice

Joshua 24:14 – 28

 

Families today are faced with many choices.  Usually we just make them with little consideration of the greater reality and consequences of our choices.

 

We need guiding principles that are concrete in our life and in our families in order to navigate the dangerous terrain of the world.

 

·        The choices we are faced with are not new, they have existed since Adam and Eve.

·        The opportunities and methods our enemy uses to swing us his way have not changed.

·        The truth of God has not changed.

·        The only thing that has really changed is the speed at which we are confronted with the opportunity to choose either God or anything else.

 

Really there are only two choices.

 

Families today are either being ripped apart or bonded closer based on how they make this choice.

 

How will you choose?

 

  1. Choose today (a daily choice and purpose)
    1. Choose God

                                                              i.      Purposed decision

1.      But as for me and my family, WE WILL serve the Lord

    1. Choose anything/anyone else

                                                               i.      All other choices lead away from God

    1. There is no greater choice facing your family today than this one!
  1. There must be a real connection between our choice and our lifestyle
    1. If we chose the Lord then our life will be affected

                                                               i.      We will put away all of the self and sin of our life

1.      ungodly traditions – gods of your ancestors

2.      false gods – gods of the world

    1. Ezekiel had strong words to say about the condition of the people of Judah because they saw the truth and rejected it.  They choose to live their life their own way and ignored God.

                                                               i.      Ezekiel 12:2 “Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, which has eyes to see but does not see, and ears to hear but does not hear; for they are a rebellious house.”   NKJV

                                                             ii.      Their rebellion led them straight into captivity –  a prison of their own making

                                                            iii.      They became slaves to the sin they so readily accepted.

    1. So many people, so many Christians today, see and hear the truth about God but choose to ignore it so they can make the choice to follow their self

                                                               i.      Their desires

                                                             ii.      Their work

                                                            iii.      Their bank accounts

                                                           iv.      Their false gods and distorted flesh based religion.

    1. If you hear God’s Word and see His Work in your life and the life of your family and choose your own path instead, you are heading straight into bondage.

                                                               i.      Debt

                                                             ii.      Trouble

                                                            iii.      Pain without hope

                                                           iv.      Hell

  1. Each family must make a determined, purposeful and public choice
    1. You will choose to either:

                                                               i.      Destroy the false gods of your life

                                                             ii.      Destroy your relationship with the Lord

    1. No choice is a choice against God

                                                               i.      What keeps you away from God?

1.      Choosing your way of thinking over God

2.      Choosing religion or tradition over God

3.      Choosing false gods over

    1. Choose the accountability the Lord requires

                                                               i.      God is holy and jealous

                                                             ii.      You bring God’s anger against yourself if you choose to turn from God

                                                            iii.      Why would someone who has received such great blessings from the Lord ever turn away from Him?

1.      life

2.      breath

3.      love

4.      hope

                                                          iv.      Why would you bite the hand that provides and protects you?

 

Parents you are called today to survey the landscape of your life and the life of your family and determine which choice you have made.

 

The good news is that if you have been making the wrong choice today you have a second chance to choose the Lord.

 

Listen to the words God gave the prophet Jeremiah  “Perhaps the people of Judah will repent if they see in writing all the terrible things I have planned for them. Then I will be able to forgive their sins and wrongdoings." NLT    Jeremiah 36:3

 

If we repent God is able to forgive us.  Repentance is a choice for God

 

Will you choose to honor and serve the Lord or will you serve some other cheap, weak and failed false god?

 

Choose well.

 

Jesus Christ gave us a similar choice in John chapter 14 when He told us who He really is:   John 14:6-7  “Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”    NLT

 

You can make all the choices in the world – but only one choice leads you to the Father above.   Choose Jesus.

 

Joshua 24:14-24  "So honor the LORD and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD alone.  But if you are unwilling to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD." The people replied, "We would never forsake the LORD and worship other gods. For the LORD our God is the one who rescued us and our ancestors from slavery in the land of Egypt. He performed mighty miracles before our very eyes. As we traveled through the wilderness among our enemies, he preserved us. It was the LORD who drove out the Amorites and the other nations living here in the land. So we, too, will serve the LORD, for he alone is our God."  Then Joshua said to the people, "You are not able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy and jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and sins.  If you forsake the LORD and serve other gods, he will turn against you and destroy you, even though he has been so good to you."  But the people answered Joshua, saying, "No, we are determined to serve the LORD!"  "You are accountable for this decision," Joshua said. "You have chosen to serve the LORD."  "Yes," they replied, "we are accountable."   "All right then," Joshua said, "destroy the idols among you, and turn your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel."  The people said to Joshua, "We will serve the LORD our God. We will obey him alone."  NLT