Welcome to PowerPoint with Jack Graham. Jesus said, "If they hated me, don't you know they're going to hate you? And if you decide to go public with your faith in front of your family, in front of your friends, in front of the world, then be ready." On today's PowerPoint, Dr. Graham brings a message about choosing to live in the fear of God.
Now, here's Dr. Graham with his message. Decide today. Take your Bibles and turn with me to Joshua the twenty fourth chapter.
Now, if you follow Jesus Christ, you want Him to be the King of your heart, and therefore, because Jesus is King, we want Christ to be crowned in our hearts, to live God honoring lives today, tomorrow, and. The rest of our days. The title of this message is "Decide Today," because today, from the last passage in Joshua, I'm going to ask you to make a decision that Joshua himself made so long ago, and calls us to make today. This is all a part, chapters twenty three and twenty four, of a farewell message that Joshua gives to first the leaders of Israel in chapter twenty three, and then all of the people of Israel, the nation of Israel, in chapter twenty four. We're told that Joshua, when he died, was one hundred and ten years of age.
So by now. He's an old general. He was born in slavery in Egypt. He came out with the Israelites at the Passover, the Exodus out of Egypt, when God set His people free, and then through the Red Sea, he saw the hand of God with miracles as Moses led them, and then through the wilderness, it was. Forty long, treacherous years in the wilderness, and the entire generation died in the wilderness.
But Joshua persevered. Joshua kept believing God and trusting God, and ultimately, he became the successor to Moses. And the leader of Israel that would actually take the children of Israel into the land of promise, the land flowing with milk and honey.
So Joshua is a great man. Our Lord Jesus Himself bears this man's name, Yeshua, Joshua, which means God saves.
So Joshua led the children of Israel through the Jericho. Battle and onto many other battles that they fought, and now they're possessing the land just as God had promised them. In fact, before we read our scripture today, just just get a taste of the first message that Joshua delivered in Joshua 23. There's a couple of verses I I want you to note and maybe underscore in your Bible. It says, "For the Lord." This is verse nine of chapter twenty-three.
For the Lord has driven out before you great and strong nations, and as for you, no man has been able to stand before you to this day. And why is that? One man of you puts to flight a thousand. Since it is the Lord your God who fights for you, just as He promised you, know that in the Christian life it is the Lord God who fights for us. And we've said many times in many ways, we don't fight for victory; we fight from victory.
We know the story. Our victory is in Jesus, and therefore, he says in verse eleven, "Be therefore careful to love the Lord, your God." So he delivers this message to the leaders of Israel, and he goes on to say. That I am about to go the way of all the earth. Look at verse fourteen. I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one.
Word has failed of all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you. Not one of them has failed. How many of you can say all of the promises of God have come to pass in my life, or will come to pass? Because we know that God always keeps His promises, and that's what Joshua reminds us of today.
He says, "Look, I'm dying." Interesting way to describe his death. I'm going the way of all the earth. Everyone dies. In spite of great medicine and scientific advances and the extension of life, we all die. And now, at 110 years of age.
Joshua knows that his time has come, and because of that, it's time to say goodbye. And with his goodbye, he is challenging Israel and us to what go forward. And after preaching of the greatness of God and the goodness of God in their lives, he closes his message with an invitation in chapter twenty-four. And here is our text.
Now, therefore. Fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in the land in which you dwell. And watch this.
This is a text that some of you, many of you, perhaps have in your household, on your wall somewhere, marked in your Bible. Is one of the great verses in God's Word. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord throughout Joshua's life. The one thing you can say about him, among many, is that. He made good decisions, always to honor God and serve Him and to believe Him, and so he closes his story with this great call to commitment: to fear the Lord and to serve Him, to honor Him, to turn from the idols of this world and the false gods that are all around us.
And to choose God and serve Him.
So, what kind of decision are we going to make today? First of all, decide I will fear the Lord. That's what verse fourteen says. He calls us to fear the Lord.
Now, to fear God is counterpart to faith in God. What faith is in the New Testament? The fear of the Lord expresses our faith in the Lord, primarily referred to in the Old Testament. But it's a word to fear the Lord, which means to honor Him, to love Him, to be devoted to Him, to reverence God, to fear God is to live in awe and wonder of who God is. And we are commanded again and again and again and again in God's word to fear the Lord.
Let me give you examples. Psalm twenty five fourteen: The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear Him. Do you want to have a personal relationship with Christ? You want to know that God is your friend? Then fear Him.
Psalm thirty one nineteen. Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you. Do you want the goodness of God, the blessing of God upon your life? Then fear the Lord. Psalm thirty-three, eighteen.
Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love. You want the blessing of God. You want the eye of God watching over you. The eye of the Lord is upon those who fear Him. Psalm one fifteen verse thirteen.
He will bless those. You want the blessing of God, who fear the Lord, both small and great. And then here's one last example. Psalm one forty seven verse eleven. But the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him.
Do you want to please God with your life? Then fear the Lord. The ones who fear the Lord honor Him and serve Him.
Now God is love; He loves you, and God is good; He does good; He is good. And the devil wants us to think negatively about God, even when it comes to this whole idea of the fear of the Lord. But God is great, and God is good, and because of this, we honor Him with our lives. Even His name, Jesus taught us, is to be hallowed. Hallowed be your name, because we love and honor and respect Him.
We do this not as slaves, but as sons and daughters of God. We fear the Lord, and I believe what's missing in the world today is a sincere fear of God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Love him with reverential fear. That's what he says.
So you have a decision to make. Will I live in the fear of God?
Someone described the fear of the Lord as love on its knees. That we bow before the Lord in honor and adoration. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message. Decide today. Did you know that you can join Dr.
Graham for his daily devotion? It's a study of God's word that will help you grow in your faith, encourage you in your walk with Christ, and show you how to navigate through the challenges of life. To sign up, text DEVO D E V O to five nine seven eight nine and begin receiving Doctor Graham's devotional every day. Again, text DEVO D E V O to five nine seven eight nine. Every day, people around the world are hearing the truth of Jesus Christ through PowerPoints, broadcast, podcast, television ministry, and digital outreach.
Often during some of the most difficult moments of their lives, and friends like you help make that ministry possible. That's why this month we want to say thank you for your gift of ten dollars or more by sending you Dr. Jack Graham's book, Destiny. In this encouraging resource, Dr. Graham walks through the life of Joseph to show how God is always working, even through painful and confusing circumstances, to accomplish His greater purpose.
To give your gift and request your copy, text OCT O C T to five nine seven eight nine. That's OCT O C T, as in October, to five nine seven eight nine.
Now let's get back to today's message. Decide today. Then, secondly, I will live. Here's a decision to make. I will live a devoted life.
I will faithfully serve and follow Jesus. He said, "Fear the Lord and serve Him." Now, the word "serve" here is. It's a word that doesn't just simply mean going around doing good deeds, but to serve the Lord means to worship Him. You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only. Will you serve?
To serve Him means that we give our lives to Him and not the other gods of this world. He cautions them. He says, "Don't live for the gods of this world." The idols that were back there in Egypt, and the idols of the Amorites, and you know we have idols in our world today—idols of pleasure and idols of possession, and idols of pleasure in this world—and so many people are going after the idols and living to worship and serve. And again, whatever you worship, whoever you worship, you will serve.
So if you worship sin, you will serve sin. If you worship the idol of pleasure, you will serve the idol of pleasure, and so on. But when you serve God, when you worship God, then you will bow before Him and surrender your life to Him. I have three ideas that I believe express what we are to do when. We are worshiping and serving the Lord like this.
I will live a devoted, consecrated life. Is that a decision you are willing to make? I will live a consecrated, separated, dedicated life before the Lord. I will fear God and serve Him. What does that mean?
That I am to give myself completely and continually to Christ. The apostle Paul said in Romans twelve one and ten, I beseech you, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, that is completely and acceptable to Him. Who is your reasonable worship? And that word worship there in the New Testament can be. Translated service, your reasonable service.
So there you see it again. Our worship is is singing songs and worshiping Him with our our lips and sacrifices of praise. But it is beyond that. It is the giving of our lives to Christ. It means first of all to surrender to the lordship of Christ.
You cannot be saved. You cannot know God apart from giving your life to follow Jesus Christ. The Bible says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved." And to be saved, therefore, is to give your life unconditionally, unreservedly, completely to Christ. Surrender your life to the lordship of Jesus. Secondly, it means seek the lifestyle of Jesus.
When I am Serving the Lord in this way, I am seeking the lifestyle of Jesus. I want Jesus' life to be reproduced and reflected in me. That I will always be praying. Lord, make me more like You. And what is Jesus like?
Well, Galatians five speaks of the fruit of the Spirit, which is a composite of the character of Christ in us. The fruit of the spirit, the result of the work of Christ in us, and He said, "It is love and joy." And peace, and patience, and kindness, and goodness, and gentleness, and faithfulness, and self-control. This is Christ in you, and therefore, when I am serving the Lord and living a devoted life, what does that look like? It's a surrender to the lordship of Christ, and it is a seeking of the lifestyle of Christ. I want to live like Jesus.
That's who we are as Christians. And then it means sharing the love of Christ, and that includes with one another the family of God. If you're a Christian, if you are a follower of Jesus, you have a family, a family of faith. And because we have a family, we love God's church, God's people. We want to be together and grow together.
And we serve one another, and we share the love of Christ. The Apostle John would say in his little letter of First John, he said, "If you don't love the brothers and sisters of Christ, then the love of God isn't in you." And so, if you are a dedicated disciple and follower of Jesus, if you are serving the Lord as Joshua spoke about. Then you will surrender to the lordship of Christ, and you will seek the lifestyle of Christ, and you will share the love of Christ, and not just with one another, but of course with the world, because God loves the world just like He loves you and me. And God has given us a calling, each one of us, to share the love of Jesus Christ and to show it. By loving one another, by this shall all people know that you are my disciples, that you have love one for another.
But there is a third thing in this call to commitment that Joshua gave and gives to us today, and that is, I choose today, I decide today to follow Christ.
Now I am motivated by Joshua's courageous commitment. His boldness, as he stands before an entire nation and declares his faith, and makes this decision, and calls us all to make the same choice.
So, what is this decision? I want to say several things about the decision that we all must make. And remember, your decision determines your direction, and your direction determines your destiny. Remember that. You first make your decisions, and then your decisions make you.
So, with that in mind, number one, it was a public decision. He makes it public, and he was not persuaded by what others did. He said, "Look, if you're not going to serve God, then choose not to serve Him and serve all these other gods." No matter what you do, we, me, all of us in our family will serve the Lord. I have made up my mind. There's a lot of pressure and public opinion in the world today, and if you decide to follow Jesus Christ, there will be persecution, resistance.
Hatred, Jesus said, if they hated me, don't you know they're going to hate you? And if you decide to go public with your faith in front of your family, in front of your friends, in front of the world, then be ready for the resistance. But it doesn't matter. He said, look. Choose you this day whom you will serve.
Will you serve the world and all of its gods, or will you serve Christ? Will you give your life completely to Him? It's a public decision, and then it was a. This decision is a personal decision. No one can make this decision for you.
Not your parents. Not your spouse. No one can make this decision to follow God by trusting in Christ but you.
So let me ask you today: What will you do with Jesus? He is the inescapable Christ. You cannot ignore Jesus. You have to decide who is He, and does He deserve my faith and my all? It was also.
A paternal, what I'm going to call a paternal decision, a public decision, a personal decision, but a paternal. And why do I call this a paternal decision? Because he said, "As for me and my house, I love this. Would to God that every dad and mom would say this today. As for me and my house, my family." We will serve the Lord.
Joshua was the patriarch of his family, so Joshua is speaking here for himself, but he's speaking for his wife and his kids and his grandchildren and his great grandchildren. He stood boldly and said, "I'm speaking for every one of us in the Joshua clan." We will serve the Lord, and every parent should lead like this. And then I want to say, finally, this is a positive decision because think about it: he is believing God in behalf of his family; he is trusting God with the future of his family. That the legacy of the Lord in his life would live in his family. He's believing God for his children and his children's children, and he's he's proclaiming that my household will serve the Lord.
Now that is a positive statement. His commitment is clear. How can a man? Be so sure about his family. I can't guarantee that my children and my grandchildren and their children will live for the Lord.
But what I can do is to make decisions today that will impact. The future generations of our family, and I can set up for our family an opportunity. Sadly, we all know people whose children's and families reject Christ. It happens. We know that happens.
But when we live for the Lord as husbands and wives, as mom and dad, as family, godly parents can provide an atmosphere in our homes where faith can flourish. And give our children an opportunity to know Christ—a home built upon Christ, where children will joyfully choose themselves to follow Jesus. But here it is: look, you can't be neutral about Jesus. We have to choose where we stand with God, where we stand with Jesus Christ. And let me challenge you with these words today: make your choice so clear.
Make your choice so clear that no one, no one will doubt where you stand with God. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message. Decide today. We want to tell you about an encouraging resource available this month from PowerPoint Ministries. It's Dr.
Jack Graham's book Destiny. Have you ever wondered if God really has a purpose for your life? Or question what he might be doing through the seasons of disappointment, waiting, or uncertainty. In Destiny, Doctor Graham explores the life of Joseph to reveal how God's sovereign hand is always at work, even when we can't see it. This powerful resource will help you trust God's plan, find peace in a difficult season, and move forward with confidence and hope.
And when you give a gift of ten dollars or more to help share the biblical truth around the world through PowerPoint, we'll send you Destiny as our thanks. To give your gift and request your copy, text OCT O C T to five nine seven eight nine. That's OCT O C T as in October to five nine seven eight nine. Let me remind you that you can join Dr. Graham for his daily devotion.
It's a study of God's word that will help you grow in your faith, encourage you in your walk with Christ, and show you how to navigate through the challenges of life. To sign up, text DEVO D E V O to five nine seven eight nine, and begin receiving Dr. Graham's devotional every day. Again, text DEVO D E V O to five nine seven eight nine. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today?
Well, I remember so well my grandfather, who, as a godly Sunday school teacher and deacon in our church, would take me, place me on his knee every night, and there read and teach me the Word of God. He would share the great stories of the Bible, and I would just revel in his love, and more importantly, in the love of Christ that he passed along to me. Ultimately, as a young boy, I met Jesus Christ. I understood who He was and why He came. That He died.
The cross from me and rose again, and that is in great part due to the faith of my own family, my grandfather and other grandparents who began the good work of faith in me. You know that torch of faith that was lit in my heart as a little boy back in Arkansas, that faith that was passed on to me by my grandparents and my parents. By God's grace, we're passing on to our children today. There's no greater joy than in sharing God's truth with your children, and then watching them grow up in the faith, just as Jesus grew up in wisdom, in stature, in favor with God and man. It is so very important, parents, that you introduce your children to faith in Christ, and then to help them to move forward in that faith.
And just imagine. How great it will be one day when your family is gathered around the throne of grace in God's house, and you can say, "Lord, we're here, and we're all here, and we're all here together." And look, here are the generations, generations after generations of our family, saying, "Lord, we are here because of your grace, and we will follow you forever." That's what it's about. That's what life is about. That's what family is about. And my prayer for you is that you will live and leave a legacy of faith.
It's a commitment to the future generations until Jesus comes again. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember, when you give a gift of ten dollars or more, we will send you Dr. Graham's book Destiny as our thanks.
Just text OCT to five nine seven eight nine. And join us again next time when Dr. Graham brings a message about how being a new creation in Christ transforms your mind. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.
