Choosing

In Joshua 24, Joshua summarizes the history of what God had done for the people of Israel.

In verse 14 Joshua tells the people, “Now fear the Lord, and serve Him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.”

Notice Joshua doesn’t say to just stop worshiping the false gods, but he says to throw them away.

We have to get rid of false gods from our lives.

In Ezekiel 14:6 God outlines how to rid our lives of false gods.

We are to recognize that we have set up idols in our lives. Before you can deal with any problem, you have to recognize that there is a problem.

We have to acknowledge it is sin. It is important to agree with God that something He calls sin is what you also call sin. Sin is defined by God, not by humans.

In Psalm 51:4 David says, “Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight.” David is acknowledging that what he did was sin because God said it was sin.

In 1 John 1:10 it says, “If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”

We have to repent. Repenting means to have a change of mind that leads to a change of behavior.

There are two parts of repentance. The turning from sin and the turning to God.

It is vital that we do both the:

Turning From

And

Turning To

Just turning from is not enough because if we don’t turn to God we are left to overcome the sin by our own power. If we could overcome sin by our own power, we would not have sinned in the first place. We are not strong enough. When we turn to God, we have the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome in and through us.

Lastly, we denounce the idol, the false god. We get rid of the idol from our lives.

Recognize

Acknowledge

Repent

Denounce

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is getting rid of the false gods from our lives.

In Joshua 24:15 Joshua tells the people, “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

We have to choose.

When I hear people talk about being Christians, I hear things like:

I grew up in a Christian home (so did some serial killers).

I go to church (I go into my garage but that doesn’t make me a car).

I believe in God (so do the demons).

I live in America (many who live here don’t claim to be Christians).

“Christian” is not a default setting. We have to make an intentional choice to surrender our lives to Jesus.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is intentionally choosing to believe in and following Jesus as Lord.

Joshua says that he and his family will serve the Lord.

Joshua doesn’t say they may or could or plan to serve the Lord; he says they will serve Lord.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is, no matter what, serving Jesus as Lord.

I have served many false gods in my life. Gods like success in ministry, titles and positions, family, and comfort.

Anything that comes before God in any way is an idol, a false god. We can let even good things become an idol.

As for me and my family, We Will Serve the Lord!

Choosing to Serve Jesus by Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                     Joe