And today we're going to be touching on a momentous verse, a well-known, quite profound chapter. But before we get there and read the segment, I do want to have you guys think about one word. It's decision. Okay, decision. And decisions are hard to make. For me, I feel like all of life's decisions, because I'm a bit of an over-thinker, are kind of tough.

And even the easiest decisions seem really hard and stressful. For example, just picking where to go eat. You know, throughout the week I meet up with a lot of individuals, and a lot of times we'll get together and then we'll come and sit and we'll be like, "So where do you want to go eat?" And then the worst is, if the other person is indecisive, we'll just sit there.

"No, where do you want to go eat?" "I asked you first." And it just keeps going. It's like, "Where do you want to eat?" And then you start narrowing it down. Okay, I'll pick five, and of the five, you have to pick one. And they'll be like, "No, I'm going to be decisive, and I decide, you decide." And it's just like, "No, you can't do that!" You know?

And it just keeps going. Now, an interesting scenario happens a lot, which is sometimes we'll meet up and we'll start driving. Have you guys ever done that? You'll start driving, but you haven't decided where to go eat. And then my stress level goes through the roof. We're coming to a major intersection.

We have to decide where to go, you know? "Just decide!" And the other person's like, "You decide, you're the pastor." And you're like, "No, you just decide." And then now our meetup has become discouraging. But if you've ever felt that, the funny thing is sometimes you just kind of delay the decision, and then you just let time go, and you realize you're wasting some time.

Now, in that moment, picking a place to go eat, that's inconsequential. I mean, at max, you get a little frustrated, you have a good laugh, and then you waste five hours, you know, five minutes driving around, you double back to your restaurant. The thing about it is, I'm talking about a decision-making here where sometimes it's not inconsequential, but rather, the consequences are dire.

You know, an airplane pilot would never just start flying and be like, "Ladies and gentlemen, we're 5,000 feet in the air, and I don't know where I'm going." And it's like, "I haven't decided yet." No, you don't do that. A ship captain does not do that. Why? Because the consequences of delaying your decision becomes dire for you and everybody else on board.

Well, we're going to touch upon the book of Joshua, and Joshua's last charge to the nation of Israel. In the nation of Israel, they've come off a great season of victory and accomplishing what people have been waiting for, the promised land. The book of Joshua is all about conquest, all about victory and battles, and then they get the land and they piece it out to the tribes.

But at the tail end of it, the tone is really severe. The tone is intense, and Joshua is going to challenge the nation what to do when they're in. I feel like that's necessary for us because, you know, for us, there are daily spiritual decisions to be made. Do you believe and realize that?

There are daily spiritual decisions to be made, but more than that, there are life trajectory decisions to be made. There are decisions to be made about the course of your entire life that's going to dictate and guide all the small decisions in your life. And that's what we're talking about today.

As we read Joshua, he's going to challenge us that we need to make a decision, not simply about this year, not simply about the next decade, but the whole course of your life before God. So let's take a look in Joshua chapter 23. I'm going to read a lengthy section here, starting from verse 14 all the way down to verse 15 of chapter 24.

And this is what the word of God says. "Now behold, today I'm going the way of all the earth and you know in all your hearts that in all your souls that not one word of all the good words which the Lord your God spoke concerning you has failed.

All have been fulfilled for you. Not one of them has failed. It shall come about that just as all the good words which the Lord your God spoke to you have come upon you. So the Lord will bring upon you all the threats until he has destroyed you from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you.

When you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the Lord will burn against you and you will perish quickly off the good land which he has given you. Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and their judges and their officers and they presented themselves before God.

Joshua said to all the people, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, from ancient times your fathers lived beyond the river, namely Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the river and led him through all the land of Canaan and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac.

To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau and to Esau I gave Mount Seir to possess it. But Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt. Then I sent Moses and Aaron and I plagued Egypt by what I did in its midst and afterward I brought you out. I brought your fathers out of Egypt and you came to the sea.

And Egypt pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. But when they cried out to the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians and brought the sea upon them and covered them and your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness for a long time.

Then I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan and they fought with you and I gave them into your hand and you took possession of their land when I destroyed them before you. Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel and he sent and summoned Balaam the son of Beor to curse you.

But I was not willing to listen to Balaam so he had to bless you and I delivered you from his hand. You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho and the citizens of Jericho fought against you. And the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Gershite and the Hivite and Jebusite.

Thus I gave them into your hand. And I sent the hornet before you and it drove out the two kings of the Amorites from before you, but not by your sword or your bow. I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities which you had not built.

And you have lived in them. Your eating of vineyards and olive groves which you had not planted. Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth. And put away the gods which your father served beyond the river and in Egypt and serve the Lord. If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, then choose for yourselves today whom you will serve.

Whether the gods which your father serves which are beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Let's take a moment to pray. Father God we want to ask for that your scripture and your word would inspire and move us.

God as we open up and examine your truth, we pray God that your living and active word examine us. Father as this is a new year we pray that we would devote our time, our energy, our strength, our minds and our decisions to you Lord. God that we would honor and please you.

It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. So we again at this time in the book of Joshua, the nation is gathered up and you notice what Joshua is doing. He's gathered all the people together. Just imagine that this is a, it's not just a gathering of four or five hundred people.

We're talking about a million people. Okay. It's not about hundreds of thousands of people. And they're gathered together and they're in a place in which after having obtained the promised land, Joshua is talking to them and as he recounts how they got there, it's a momentous occasion. Look what all that God has done.

And then as he recounts what God has done, he says, but there is this decision before you and he gives this incredible challenge that the nation in a time in which they feel victorious now has a decision to make. And to give you a sense of how important and how intense this decision is, I want to build up the story for you and I want to show you how Joshua is making this perhaps the greatest moment of his own ministry.

I have a slide for you here and then I don't have a clicker, but I'm going to say click. Next one please. All right. Please turn your Bible over to Deuteronomy chapter 11 and the story actually starts before they enter the land under the leadership of Moses. Okay. So go over Deuteronomy.

In Deuteronomy chapter 11, verse one through three, this is what he says. He says, you shall therefore love the Lord your God and always keep his charge, his statues, his ordinance and his commandments. Know this day that I am not speaking with your sons who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand and his edge outstretched arm and his signs and his works, which he did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt and to all his land.

Okay. What I'm highlighting for you there is Moses essentially saying, this is the charge I give you to the generation that's about to go into the land. You need to obey God's commandments. You need to abide by his will. Right. And he mentions that this charge is not just simply for the kids.

It's multi-generational. He's thinking beyond just you guys. He's thinking over to the Jordan. And so if you go over to the next slide real quick, what I'm going to highlight for you is this, that laser pointer. Highlight for you is that this is ancient near east back in the time.

The area to which we're really focusing on through Deuteronomy is just right here. Moab. This is modern day Turkey. Here's, you know, Palestine, you know, Israel right here. That's Moab. And if you go on to the next slide, what essentially happens is before Joshua and the conquest, the victory of nation of Israel, they're in Moab here to the east of the dead sea.

All they have to do is cross over to the Jordan in order to get into the land of Canaan, the promised land. But remember, Moses doesn't get to go in. If you look at the next slide, this is a view, which I think is quite amazing. I remember at the end of the book of Deuteronomy, God gave Moses an opportunity to go up to Mount Nebo and to look, and this is what Moses saw.

He saw the land, he saw the survey, and he realized this land is vast, this land is fruitful. We need to get ready to go. But he can't go. He needs to prepare the generations so that they might go and be successful, that they might go and heed the will of God.

And so if you look, look down in chapter 11, and I'm going to start reading from verse 22. In verse 22, he says, "For if you are careful to keep all his commandments, which I am commanding you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways and hold fast to him, then the Lord will drive out all these nations from before you and you will dispose nations greater and mightier than you." So he's saying, it all depends.

Are you going to obey? We're going to go into that land, you guys see it? But the thing about it is you need to obey, and if you do, God is going to work and fight on your behalf, and he's going to displace all these nations, mightier and more numerous than you.

And let's go on, he says, "Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours. Your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon and from the river, the river you fade is as far as the Western Sea. No man will be able to stand before you.

The Lord your God will lay the dread of you and the fear of you on all the land on which you set foot. As he has spoken to you, see, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse. The blessing if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today, and the curse if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today by following other gods which you have not known." You see this idea of the decision here, right?

I have a blessing and I have a curse before you. What's it going to be? And take a look, verse 29, "It shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, that you will place blessings on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal." For the moment, you notice that before the nation enters the promised land, you see the decision already there.

And Moses is preparing them and saying, "You need to obey. And should you obey, here are the blessings. And should you disobey, here are the curses." But notice the names of two interesting mountains. That's weird. You're giving a sermon and let's say I'm challenging guys and all of a sudden I was like, "Mount Carmel this and Mount Everest this." You're thinking, "Okay, what about those mountains?" It's as random as that.

But I want you to take those names and keep that in your memory banks. There is Mount Gerizim, the blessings, Mount Ebal, the curses. Because in the book of Deuteronomy, although we're in chapter 11, history doesn't change in the book of Deuteronomy. They're sitting in one place in the plains of Moab and Moses is just teaching them and preaching to them and causing them to be stirred up so that they might obey and they might be successful in the new land, right?

And so this theme of blessing and curses continues all the way to chapter 27. Please turn your Bible to Deuteronomy chapter 27. Thank you. Nice. Deuteronomy chapter 27. I'm going to read another lengthy passage. Please follow along starting from verse one. In verse one it says, "Then Moses and the elders of Israel charged the people saying, 'Keep all the commandments which I command you today.'" Guys, this is the pivotal command.

You need to abide by the command of the Lord. "So it shall be on the day when you cross the Jordan to the land which the Lord your God gives you, that you shall set up for yourselves large stones and coat them with lime and write on them all the words of this law when you cross over, so that you may enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey.

As the Lord, the God of your fathers promised you, so it shall be when you cross the Jordan, you shall set up on Mount Ebal," there is Iron Mountain, "these stones as I am commanding you today, and you shall coat them with lime. Moreover, you shall build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones.

You shall not wield an iron tool to them. You shall build the altar of the Lord your God of uncut stones, and you shall offer it on birth offerings to the Lord your God. And you shall sacrifice peace offerings and eat there and rejoice before the Lord your God.

You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very distinctly." The Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all the Israelites saying, "Be silent and listen, O Israel. This day you have become a people for the Lord your God. You shall therefore obey the Lord your God and do his commandments and his statutes which I command you today." Moses also charged the people that day saying, "When you cross the Jordan, ye shall stand on the Mount Gerizim," there's our next mountain, "to bless the people, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.

For the curse, ye shall stand on Mount Ebal, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. The Levite shall answer and say to all the men of Israel with a loud voice, 'Cursed is the man who makes an idol or a molten image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of craftsmen, and sets it up in secret.' And all the people shall answer, 'Amen.'" And then he goes on with curse after curse after curse.

Scan your eyes to chapter 28, and he reiterates that on Mount Gerizim, these will be the blessings. Now that the curses are said, here will be the blessings. Now it shall be if you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

This is a dramatic play. This is a dramatic showcase. Moses is not just sitting there saying, "Okay, this is what's gonna happen." In the book of Joshua, chapter 28, just for, oh sorry, chapter 8, just for reference, Joshua after crossing the Jordan, then after having conquest over the nation of Ai, I don't know how to pronounce that perfectly, but it's like A-I, and then after that conquest, Joshua says, "Everybody gathers and we gotta do what Moses said." He said, "Let me illustrate the picture for you." It's not like this, like, "Okay, half of you guys over here, and half of you guys over here." We're talking about the entire nation of Israel, right?

Hundreds of thousands of people coming to this part of the mountain and coming to that part of the mountain. Please turn to the next slide. And this is a picture of modern day Shechem right here. This on the left is Mount Gerizim. This on the left, on the right is Mount Ebal.

And the people were standing in the middle, and as they were standing in the middle, Moses said, "You over here, you over there." Once the Levitical priest started to say, "And these are the curses when you disobey and obey, or follow an idol." And the entire nation would say, "Amen!" Imagine how powerful that is.

But here's the point. Do you realize what a challenge? What an illustration. I mean, coming to our passage in Joshua, Joshua, after having contact, gathered the people right here. And just as Moses, before he is passing, before he is leaving the scene, before he's going to die, and he says to the people, "You need to decide who you're going to obey." Joshua says the same thing, and he shows them like this.

"Here is the mountain. Here is the mountain. You can't be on both. Choose!" Wow! But the fact of the matter is, the sinful condition that perhaps a lot of people in this day have been in, is we want both worlds. We want both. I would like to have it my way.

I would like to have my preferences, and if I can't obey the will of God, then let it be so. That cannot be, because you cannot straddle two mountains that's a mile apart. And so, if you go to Deuteronomy chapter 30, I know we're flipping around a lot of different places.

Deuteronomy chapter 30, Moses is giving this emphatic challenge to the nation. There is a decision to be made, and this decision is grave. Decision is not to be taken flippantly, but it has to be made. I'm going to read here in Deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 15. He says, "See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, and His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land which you are entering to possess it.

But, if your hearts turn away, and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you will surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing, and the Jordan to enter to possess it.

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him.

For this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them. Do you see that? That there is a decision for the people? And do you see that? There is a decision for us.

In our time, there is a decision. There's a decision of what are we going to do with our day, what are we going to do with our year. But there is the overarching decision of the trajectory and the course of our lives that I started with. We cannot just coast in the car thinking, "I'll someday decide where I want to go eat." For the warning is, should you do that, you will surely die.

And so in other passages of Scripture, many other prophets have said the same exact thing. In a big old battle on Mount Carmel between the prophets of Baal and Elijah, the prophet of God, 1 Kings 18 verse 21, Elijah says this to the people after he had called upon the power of the Lord and the altar was burned.

Elijah came near to all the people and said, this is 1 Kings 18, 21, "How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal, follow him." And sadly it says, "But the people did not answer him a word." There is a decision to be made and have we made it to remember that this decision is mutually exclusive.

You cannot have both. It was Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter six who said that no one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. So there is a decision to be made and that is why Joshua makes the warning.

That's why Joshua gives us the emphatic command. Just listen to it as I read this. Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve him in the sincerity of heart and truth. Put away the gods which your father served beyond the river and in Egypt. Serve the Lord. If it is disagreeable in your sight, in other passages, in other translations it says, if it's evil in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve, whether the gods of your father serves which were beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living.

But as for me and our house, we will serve the Lord. I wanted to start off, you know, 2016, this first Sunday with remembering that there is this decision to be made regularly. But also there is this challenge upon us that there is a decision to be made of an overarching decision of our lives, a paradigm that we create when we set it before the Lord.

Where this is going to be the standard, the rubric by which we make the other decisions of our lives. And this is the kind of decisions he calls us to. He asks us basically, have we made this decision? Who will you obey? Can we answer that? Whose will will you satisfy?

Yours or God's? Who are you going to serve? In what context are you going to live? The flesh or the spirit? Are you going to be living a life of growing in the knowledge of God and the grace of God? Or will you be growing in the knowledge of the joy and knowledge of the world?

These are decisions that needs to be made. But the thing about it is, you guys can turn off the PowerPoint now. The thing about it is, what I'm challenging you guys to do is actually verbalize a decision to God. When was the last time you said such words and expressed, confessing with your mouth, that kind of expressed devotion to the Lord?

When was the last time? And I know that's a daunting thing because sometimes making huge resolutions like that is hard. It seems like the words are too lofty. But Joshua, before the Lord, is saying these words. Why do I believe it? When I read verse one of chapter 24, everybody was presenting themselves before God.

It wasn't just a powwow. They were presenting themselves before the Lord. And what they were hearing was the words of God. My challenge to us this morning is, give the intention of your heart to God. Perhaps you don't feel like it, perhaps you might fear saying things you might not satisfy, but give God the intention of your heart.

It's proper, it's right, and it's what God expects. Can you imagine, you go to a wedding, and nowadays everybody starts to write their own vows, and a lot of times when I'm officiating I have a piece of paper out there open up and I give them, and they read this beautiful vow to each other.

But imagine if I took out a piece of paper and I said, "And ladies and gentlemen, now the couple will exchange their wedding vows." And the lady, the girl, the bride, opened up hers, sorry, I kind of was fishing for the words there. And she starts reading and she reads off this beautiful thing about how she's going to commit, that she promises to love and cherish, to be faithful until death do us part.

And the guy, typically super short, he opens it up and he says, "You know how it is, girl." Can you imagine that? Can you imagine if you've ever been in a fight and you try to open your heart and say, "You know, I'm not angry, but I just want to express to you, this is how you hurt me, and this is what I think you should do to help this relationship reconcile." And the guy goes, "All right." "All right what?" You know what I mean?

What we want to hear is the expression and intention of the heart, "I understand, yes, I agree, that's exactly what I should do, that's exactly what I'm talking about." Verbally express, "Yes God, I might not in track record have obeyed everything so far, yes God in 2016, I might not be able to fulfill every single opportunity to glorify you, but I will resolve right now.

I will decide as far as me and my household, we will serve you." That is a confession and a resolve to be made. Don't be afraid of making that, and I challenge you to verbalize it, and I challenge you to verbalize it urgently. This passage that we're reading, it teaches us that this decision is not only important and so emphatic, but it is urgent.

Let me read to you the next section of chapter 24 of Joshua, so turn back there in your Bibles. Starting from verse 16, after Joshua makes his exemplary resolution, starting from verse 16 it says, "The people answered and said, 'Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, for the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did His great signs on our side and preserved us through all the way in which He went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed.

The Lord drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also, we will serve the Lord for He is our God.'" But then take a look at this, verse 19, so the people are like, "Yeah, us too, we'll serve our God." Then Joshua said to the people, "You will not be able to serve the Lord for He is a holy God.

He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgression or your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do harm and consume you after He has done good to you." The people said to Joshua, "No, but we will serve the Lord." And Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the Lord to serve Him." And they said, "Yes, we are witnesses.

Now therefore put away the foreign gods which are in your midst and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel." The people said to Joshua, "We will serve the Lord, our God, and we will obey His voice." Did you notice what Joshua did there? He made that emphatic call to a decision, "Choose." And then when the people said, "Yes, Joshua, we will serve the Lord." He said, "No, you can't!" It's like, "Wait a minute, what is that?" It's kind of like saying, "Oh, here, take this." And then somebody says, "Okay," and then he's like, "Ah!" That's how it feels like almost.

I mean, is that what Joshua is doing? No, I think what Joshua is doing is emphasizing the ramifications of the decision, how urgent that decision is. That decision is not a kind of decision to which you can say, "Yeah, I'll do it. I'll serve the Lord, and in due time, eventually, I'll start growing." That's not what he's envisioning, is he?

You see, the urgency of the decision does not come by because there's a timeline, but because next year at the end of 2016, something's going to happen and you won't have a decision anymore. Although that could be. Your timeline is in God's hands, and God's timeline is your timeline, so guess what?

There is a chronological urgency. But that isn't the main reason why there's an urgency. The main reason why there's an urgency is shown to us in verse 19, when he says, "You will not be able to serve the Lord for," this is why, "because God is holy and he is jealous." Do you see what he's saying there?

He's saying essentially that because God is a God who is holy and God is a God who is jealous, you have to be sure of this decision. God is a holy God, and he's not going to allow just time to pass. The last year, however it was, however their track record was, as they were doing the conquests in the land of Canaan, cannot be in the future because God is a holy God.

Your intermingling affection for the world and the idea of having both, that cannot be. Why? Because God is a jealous God. God has a timeline in which he has scheduled an appointment for us to give an account for our lives. And so that decision now carries with it a kind of urgency, a kind of weightiness because God is weighty and God is holy.

And that decision carries with it then the exclusivity because God is jealous. Basically, Joshua is highlighting, do you understand the decision you are making based on the character of God. He is a holy and jealous Lord. So this is the decision that we don't make flippantly. This is not a decision that we say, "Okay, sure, everybody else is doing this, I'm just going to sign off." Right?

Now if I can speak to us honestly, you know, I genuinely believe that most of us here, we know that this decision is grave. It's a serious one in a sense. And perhaps sometimes we hesitate and we don't want to make resolutions and big lofty statements like, "God, I'll glorify you in 2016 and I want to serve you," and stuff like that because we know that's a serious thing to say.

What am I saying? What I'm saying sometimes, the greatest hindrance for us to make those resolutions before God is our fear of failure. We know that we shouldn't just simply say it. We know the expectation is high. We know that the standard of God is high, that He is a holy God.

And so we know that we shouldn't just say it. And having perhaps done that in the past, we're now afraid. But brothers and sisters, that is a bad application. To stop yourself from committing to God and expressing and verbalizing your dedication, confessing your love, committing things to the Lord is not a bad thing.

Brothers and sisters, sometimes we're afraid of being hypocritical. Once we fail, we feel like hypocrites if we're going to say, "God, I'm going to honor you." But it is not hypocritical to want to serve the Lord. It is not hypocritical to humbly want to change. If I'm not doing it now, God, I want to be doing it more in the next year.

You know what is hypocritical? There is a sense of pride in the people. If you notice what they said, as soon as I read that, I was like, "Oh, far be it from us to forsake the Lord." It's like, "Oh, that's not us. That is you." These guys always put God on second burner.

They get always compromised and God has always been forgotten. But if you humbly recognize, "God, I have a tendency to get distracted with my life and I put you and your purposes behind, but I'm committing this day. I'll keep you as priority. I want to keep you as priority." That's a rendering of your intention.

That's not hypocritical. That's needed in our lives. You need to do it. If you haven't done it lately, you are missing out on the joy of expressing to your love, to your Father, what you intend for Him and your relationship. That's my challenge to you. You need to overcome that kind of hurdle, especially for us who have the Spirit of God and the grace of God.

You know in the New Testament, it teaches us in Titus 2 verse 11, it says, "For the grace of God, it brings salvation and has appeared to all men." The grace of God teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, godly lives in this present age.

It teaches us to make a decision. No, yes, self-control. That's what we have in the grace of the Lord. And so he says, "This is the glorious appearing of the great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His own, that are His very own, eager to do what is good." So are there things hindering you from making a resolution this year?

You know there are other hindrances that we have. Perhaps for you it's more of a just flat out wrestling with laziness and being intentional. For some of us, it's we actually don't want to bear that cost. We know there's going to be a cost. We know that there's going to be a huge investment.

If I say this, there's going to be high expectation. If I say this, it's going to be a lot of work. For some of us, flat out, it's just selfishness in our heart. We just hold off making a decision because just in case something better comes along. You know?

Why do we sometimes hesitate to make a decision about plans for the next weekend in case we can do something more and better, which is not always bad, but sometimes we do that. Why do sometimes guys have a hard time committing to a lady in a relationship? Sometimes. Selfishness, because sometimes they're potentially saying, "I could do better because I just want more.

What could be?" And there is this delaying, this hesitancy of a resolution of a decision and a commitment because of many different reasons. But I'm challenging us, overcome all those things. Joshua, he's giving us an example. Even if besides the cost, besides the crowd, he says, "You know what?

You guys choose what you have to choose as far as me and I, our household, we'll serve God." Besides the personal failures, their track record is so bad. And you know what? Let me just say, their track record is so bad. I mean, their lives are just riddled with sin.

Starting from Genesis up until Joshua, it's just riddled with sin. And maybe the resolution is needed more so because of the failures. We're sitting here thinking, "Oh, because of my failure, I can't resolve." As a matter of fact, Joshua is presenting this question to a people who needs this question.

Who are you going to serve? Let's overcome those hurdles in our lives, our own selfishness, our own fears, self-doubt, for the sake of committing and rendering to God a commitment and a heart that says, "God, you are my Lord and I'll serve you." Joshua's example is great for us to follow.

And again, in 2016, I pray that we would make preemptive decisions like that. Before entering the land, we make decisions. After entering the land, we make decisions. Before spilling up the land and dissecting it to the tribes, he makes decisions. We need to make preemptive decisions. And let me just say, I think 2016 isn't like, "Oh, what's going to happen?" We all know what's going to happen.

I mean, practically and humanistically speaking, you guys all know what you're going to do in 2016. For those of you guys in graduate school, you're just going to study all day. You know? You guys did undergrad in graduate school. You guys are like in a decade of school and it's just school.

And that's like the dominating factor in your life. You guys know what's coming. Don't be all surprised. Like, "Oh, you guys exactly know what's coming." You know? I got you all depressed. Sorry. For those of you guys who are working, the months and the days go by fast. You know what your schedule is going to be like.

You're going to work and you're going to be tired at the end of the day. And the year is going to go by just like this, just like 2015 went by like this. Those of you guys who have families, you guys know the dynamics of family and you guys know what's coming.

You guys know from talking to other families, looking at your own kids, if you have second or third or fourth, you guys know. Okay, they're going to go through the frustrations of the terrible twos and you're going to know the frustrations of going to school and you're going to know what's going to happen in 2016.

It's not a huge question mark. But the fact of the matter is you have a huge opportunity. Make preemptive decisions. How am I going to serve the Lord when I'm busy with school? How am I going to serve the Lord when I'm busy with work, when I'm tired? How am I going to serve the Lord with my family?

You need to make preemptive decisions just like the men of God are preparing the people before we embark on this momentous occasion, before we come into the land. Look at me. It's here or there. Let's decide. Let's decide now. Amen? I want to close with a thought as a conclusion.

You know, I talked about inconsequential decisions about going out to eat and stuff. I'm not challenging us to all of a sudden all have personalities where we're decisive. It's like, "Hey, you and I are going to have lunch. I've already predetermined that we're going to go to the Poke Bowl.

That's how it's going to be." You know, I'm not telling all of you to be decisive people. As a matter of fact, when it comes to things like food, defer to others. Let people have what they want. It doesn't matter. But when it comes to your spiritual life, when it comes to faith and the things of God, His purposes, let no remaining question mark exist.

Right? Don't dilly-dally and hesitate. Be sure, be decisive, be determined and committed. Amen? And the thing about Joshua as an encouragement example for us is this. He was so determined, so bold in his statement. He not only spoke for himself, but he spoke for his whole family. And I pray that every single one of you would be like that.

That your commitment to God and your desire to serve the Lord this year would be so strong. If I have anything to do with this, my family, my church, we will serve God. That's how it should be. Let's bow in a word of prayer. Father God, we want to thank you so much for your grace.

Lord, we thank you for your great love, which was exemplified through the leading and direction of the nation of Israel. We thank you for your great patience as you waited constantly for people to come around to make a decision. Lord, we waited for people to see what you were doing and to buy into your gracious redemptive plan.

Father God, forgive us if we have been negligent, if we've been coasting, if we left decisions unmade. But I pray, Father God, that we'd be challenged today. Lord, that we would be for you. That God, we would be dedicated to you. We would offer everything we have, energy, time, strength, and more to your service.

God, you are a great Lord who loves us. We thank you. We love you too, Lord. It's in Christ's name. Amen. Amen.