Tag Archives: serve the lord

Decision

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As we celebrated our anniversary yesterday it was brought home to me again that love is a choice.  You do not fall in love and you do not fall out of love.  Love is a choice.  We make choices every day.  Some of them are good choices and some of them are not.

Look at the well worn exhortation in Joshua 24:15, “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers 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.”

We must be like Joshua and make up our mind ahead of time how we are going to choose.  Our decisions need to be based upon the Word of God.  We must decide ahead of time to serve God.  If we do not then we will not.

I. It is a pointed decision.  Notice he says, “choose you”.  As much as I would like to make choices for other people, I cannot.  It is possible that I might make the wrong choice for them just like I have made multitudes of wrong choices for me.  To live for God or to serve God is a personal decision.

II. It is a pressing decision.  Notice again he says, “this day”.  It is not a decision that can be postponed.  We must make the decision now, or sooner.  We need to make our mind ahead of time that we will serve God no matter what.  Then we need to stick to this decision.

III. It is a parting decision.  Notice he says, “whom ye will serve;”.  We have a choice of who we will serve.  If we choose not to serve God we will find ourselves living a life without purpose.  We will be unfulfilled.  Oh, we can fill our lives with “stuff” and whatever; but, we will not be truly happy until we are wholeheartedly serving God.  This means that we have to part with things that are against Christ.  We need to the the best and not settle for good.  We have choices of good, better or best.  We must choose best everytime.

IV. It is a perpetual decision.  Notice he says “or”.  They were told that they would be tempted to serve the false gods that snared their fathers and they would be tempted to serve the gods of the land that they lived in.  They would have to daily and even moment by moment choose to serve God.  It is no different for you and I today.  We must choose each moment to serve God.  It is a daily, moment by moment  choice.  We need to do as the songwriter penned, “I Have Decided To Follow Jesus’.

V. It is a personal decision.  Notice he says, “but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”  This man had made up his mind ahead of time and I believe that his family was just as committed as he was.  Not only was this personal decision Joshua’s; but, it was his whole family’s decision.  This is what we need today are whole families that will commit to serve God not matter what.  It is going to take men, women, boys and girls that will stand up like Joshua and his family and make the necessary decision to serve God no matter what.

So, how are you doing?

 

Now What?

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As  I have been thinking about my Aunt who went to Heaven earlier this week a thought came to me.  “Now what?”

In the case of my aunt there will be a lot for people to divide up amongst themselves.  You never really know how much a person does until they stop doing things.  I know that my aunt was a faithful Church member.  She was a prayer warrior.  She did many things in the Church that may or may not have been noticed.

This came to me as I was reading Joshua 1:1-2, “Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying, Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.”

Well, I have reached the conclusion that all you can do is the next thing.  No matter what the next thing is we need to attack it to the best of our ability with God’s help and do it for the glory of God.

So, how are you doing?

Hold Fast 6

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It is sad; but, we have become a people of entitlement.  We expect someone else to provide for us.  To give us what we want.  This is far too often way more than we need.  There is a deep and wide chasm between want and need.  As I progress in years I am very, very slowly learning this truth.

It has been said that within the Church that 20% of the people do 80% of the work.  I can see this.  It should not be this way though.  It should be 100% of the people doing 100% of the work.  I know, I know, dream on Preacher.  Just because it is not the reality does not negate the fact that it should be the reality.

We need to “Hold Fast to our Service”.  Look at Hebrews 12:28, “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:”  I like the phrase “serve God acceptably”.  It is not just being busy in the ministry.  It is; as Jesus said we are to be “about my Father’s business”.  He was not referring to carpentry; unless, you want to say it is carpentry to build the Kingdom of God.

We need to get back to an old fashioned Christianity where God’s people served Him with all their heart and soul.

So, how are you doing?

Serve

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For twenty years I served in public service.  I don’t regret it much.  The only regret I have is that I did not leave public service sooner to go full-time in the ministry.

The other day I saw a video on a social networking site that was a four year old boy who called 911.  This caught my attention because of my background as a former child and a former dispatcher, etc…  Watch the video here.  

This dispatcher could have had a bad day or several “tough calls” in a row; but, he still showed professionalism in handling this young heart.  My hat is off to him for this.  We make choices in how we respond to everything.  When the enemy of our soul tempts us we make a decision whether we are going to give in or resist.  Resistance here is the best option.  It is not a sin to be tempted.  Sin come in when we yield to the solicitation to do wrong.

God’s very people struggled with who they yielded to quite often.  Remember what Joshua told them?  Here it is in Joshua 24:14-15, “Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.  And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers 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.”  Today you will choose who you will serve.  Who will it be?

So, how are you doing?

Christmas 31

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Today is the last day of the year 2013.  I must say that I am glad to see the year gone.  The year 2013 started out with trials in high gear for my family and I.  Needless to say, we are glad to see it gone.  Yet, as we look back we can see God’s hand working and carrying us through it all.  Praise His Holy Name!

As we reflect over the year 2013 how would we describe the year.  Was it a year that we were growing in the grace of God and doing what He has called us to do?  I sure hope so.  Maybe it was a year of great accomplishments.  On the other hand maybe it was a year of great tragedy and loss.  Yet, we know even if that was the kind of year that you or I experienced that God knew about it before it ever came to you and I.

I ask these thought provoking questions because we are entering a new year tomorrow.  We need to be on track with our Father.  He has a plan for our lives and we need to get busy executing that plan.  Notice Matthew 1:24, “Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:”  Joseph received commands from God in a dream and he took it to heart.  He followed what God had told him to do.

How about you and I?  Do you know what the Father wants you to do?  Have you been faithful to do it?  If you have let the Father down by disobedience now is the time to ask Him to forgive you and get started doing what He has asked you to do.

So, how are you doing?

The Christian’s Job Description 1

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Philippians 3:13, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

Today we will begin a series on “The Christian’s Job Description”.  I hope you get something from it.

First of all as Christians we must Evangelize the Casualties.  I find that many people who call themselves Christians struggle in this area of their lives.  Jesus commanded the Church to go into all the world and make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20).  If we want to see the Church as we know it continue we must get busy and win others to Christ.  Why would we not want others to go to Heaven?

The reason I chose the word “casualties” is because of the grave nature of life in eternity without God.  If you do not trust Christ as your Saviour you will definitely spend eternity in Hell.  This is not to scare anyone into making a profession of faith in Christ.  It is to present the reality of life without Christ.

Church, we have been given the remedy for the most dreadful disease of all time and eternity.  We need to connect with the Great Physician and go to the “casualties” and give them God’s remedy for the disease of sin.

So, how are you doing?

Simple

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The Israelites were miraculously delivered from Egypt and began a journey to the land God promised to them.  The bad thing is that when they met adversity they immediately wanted to return to slavery in Egypt.  They would doubt God and bring false accusations against Him.  It is no wonder that He offered to kill them.  Thankfully for them, Moses stood up for them and God allowed them to live.

There were two men that had a vision of what God could do.  They were Caleb and Joshua.  Look at Numbers 13:30-31, “And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.  But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.”  Caleb and Joshua served a big God and they had faith that He would deliver the inhabitants into their hands.  Because of their unbelief they had to wander for forty years in the desert when they could have just crossed over and took it.

How many of us have the same problem?  We believe the naysayer and we doubt the God of Heaven who created everything.  I speak this to my shame as well as yours.  Someone once said, “If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.”  Dwell on that for a while.  Solomon said it this way in Proverbs 14:15, “The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.”  It is time for us to quit listening to the naysayer and start listening to God.  If we will do this we will go farther and do more.

So, how are you doing?