Pass the Torch

October 26th 2025

Series: Courageous

Sermon Title: Pass the Torch 

Topic: Joshua leading the Israelites into the Promised.

Key Passages: Joshua 24: 1-29

Topic: Courage, Joshua,

Sermon Blurb: In today’s message, we will see the charge Joshua gives to his followers before God takes him home.

***1st week ODD months add communion & target message at 15 pages.

***1st week EVEN months add space for dedication, baptism, or ministry highlight & target message at 15 pages.

***Green in sermons means illustration, something we are looking for a response from, and/or a picture that goes on the screens.

***Yellow means what is yellow will be on the screens and in the handout.

Dedication, Baptism, or Ministry Highlight (1st Sunday, every even month):

Sermon:

Hello, Family Church!

        Welcome, whether you are here in person or online.

Family Moment –

Start with something personal from your family life recently to help people get to know you.

Celebrate salvation / rededications / baptisms last week.

Celebrate new disciples and disciple-makers.

PAUSE

If you are new to Family Church, you are SO happy you are here today!

Today, we are wrapping up our month-long focus on missions.

Every year, we set aside one month to share what God is doing all over the world through Family Church and all of our partners.

And this month has been a fun one!

We have been learning from the courageous things our teams have done while on mission trips.

The courageous things our missionaries are doing in the Congo.

The courageous things happening in the Amazon Jungle,

El Salvador,

Kenya,

and right here in West Michigan.

PAUSE

One word that describes our missionaries - Courageous!

It takes courage to leave what is comfortable and follow God’s call on your life.

In fact… Let me show you a video of our courageous missionaries…

Short term missions trip? HIGHLIGHT

        ADD how short term missions have impacted you or your kids.

PAUSE

Our focus for Missions Month this year is being courageous.

Along with our courageous missionaries and ministries in the area…

We’ve been examining the life of the Israelites during Joshua’s leadership. 

We began by examining Joshua 1:9 where the Lord spoke to Joshua and told him:

Joshua 1:9“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

In week one, we encouraged you to refocus on the reality that our lives are a training ground that God uses to prepare us for the work He has called us to do.

In week number two, we saw how God can work through ANYONE, no matter how messed up we might seem.

Last week, we learned that every GREAT move of God begins with what seems impossible, but when we push through the difficult, it will end with a breakthrough.

PAUSE

Over the last four weeks, we’ve been challenged to live a more courageous life. 

We've been challenged to commit to discipling someone or being discipled ourselves. 

We’ve heard about our missionaries who are stepping out in faith and doing the work of God that is impossible.

We have seen how the Lord gives the courage to do the work.

PAUSE

Today, we are looking at the end of Joshua’s life here on earth. 

Where we will pick up in our Bibles, Joshua is 110 years old!

And yes, he is SUPER old….

But…

He has one last message for the Israelites.  

Let’s pick up the Bible in Joshua chapter 24.

If you have your Bible with you, and I hope you do, open it up to

Joshua 24

New Person Bible Connection:

If you do not have a Bible, that is ok!

        After service, we will give you an AMAZING leather-bound study Bible!

Just go to ADD YOUR CAMPUS PLACE and get one for FREE!!!        

Or you can always download the Family Church app and follow along on your phone as well.

Simply download the app and click "Sermon Notes" on the main page.

PAUSE

Let’s hear Joshua’s final message to God’s people, he has been leading…

We will start at verse 14.

Joshua 24:14-24 14 “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness.

Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.

15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,

whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.

But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Let’s pause here and leave that verse on the screen… 

        I want us ALL to read what Joshua just said out loud.

But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Do you really think that way?

PAUSE

Think about what Joshua just said….

        He is saying….

        Guys…I am dying…

        I am about to go meet God…

        But here is what I want you to think about….

Verse 14... throw away the things… the gods… You used to be devoted to…

Verse 15… but if you don’t want to…you do you!

BUT….

End of Verse 15… regardless of what you all decided to do MY FAMILY…   My household…

        My kids…

        My grandkids…

        We will ALL be serving the Lord!

So you will see a question in your sermon notes…

Are you devoted to guiding your family along the Godly path?

        (Repeat)

Do you really think that way?

        Do you honestly do ANYTHING to keep your family on the Godly path?

        Do you make sure your little kids are in kids' church EVERY week?

        Do you make sure your teenagers go to youth group?

        Do you prioritize your ENTIRE family being in church MORE than being on the sports field?

        Do you make sure your entire family does devotions?

        Prays?

        Is growing in their relationship with God?

        Do you take your grandkids out to connect with them and make sure they are connecting with God?

Are you HONESTLY devoted to keeping your family on the Godly path?

PAUSE

And I would bet…most of you would answer just like they did…

        Verse 16…

16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods!

17 It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes.

He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled.

18 And the Lord drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land.

We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.”

Joshua asks the people a question…

Choose for yourselves this day who you will serve.

The Lord or other gods. 

Look at how the people answer Joshua. 

“They describe all that God has done for them… the God Markers of their lives… and conclude…

“We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.”

God Markers give us the courage to serve the Lord.

So let me pose another question….

What are the God markers in your life?

        (Repeat)

What things can you look at that God has done in your life to keep you on the Godly path….

Share examples of God Markers in the life of one of our missionaries (Maybe Maggie or Tirzah)

Share a personal example like this…

As most of you know.

        I have not always been in ministry.

        And I know a lot of you probably think like I did when I was working in the normal world, like most of you, that ministry must be an easy gig.

        That everyone is nice to their pastor, and life is just easy.

        That is FAR from true.

If you look it up, you will actually find out that ministry is one of the most stressful jobs you can have.

        A recent survey came back with the MAJORITY of pastors feeling burned out….

But some of the God markers in my wife’s and my past keep us focused.

Miracles like when we first went into ministry and God provided food on the doorstep multiple times when we could not buy food for our family.

God markers like God protecting our son from cancer.

God markers in our life help us to make sure that we keep ourselves and our family on the Godly path.

PAUSE

What are the God markers in your life?

And you might say…

        I don’t have any.

        Well…maybe that is because you have not taken a step of faith to go on a missions trip and see what God will do.

        To join us in a local serving project to see what God does.

        To get on a serving team here at Family Church.

If you want a God marker for your life you need to do Godly things!

And Joshus says much the same thing…

        Verse 19…

19 Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins.

20 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.”

21 But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the Lord.”

22 Then Joshua said, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord.”

“Yes, we are witnesses,” they replied.

23 “Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.”

24 And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God and obey him.”

Stop there….

Before we can commit to serving the Lord and obeying him, we must first examine our lives.

What idols are you hanging onto? 

Is there REALLY something that is in control of your life that is NOT God?

Just like the Israelites, you have a choice to make.

Are you going to serve the Lord or other gods? 

What do we need to do to mean, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua made it CLEAR!

Get rid of the idols in your life.  
    

And remember, an idol is ANYTHING that comes before God!

So let me give you some examples of things that can easily come before God in our lives.

Money… it is easy to say we LOVE God… yet when we learn that we are supposed to tithe and give God the first 10% of what we make… we hard pass on that because there is so much we want to do with our money.

Sports… We live in a culture that idolizes sports. And it is so easy to say…well, the travel team REQUIRES my kids to play on Sunday, so they have to miss church, and practice is during youth group, so they have to miss that…and we TRAIN our kids that sports come before God…

Relationships… It is easy to place a girlfriend, boyfriend, or spouse before God. When you are in LOVE you want to spend ALL your time with that person… and when you learn some boundaries the Bible gives to relationships to push those boundaries because well…your in LOVE…

Our Career can be an idol…We can live to work. We can devote all our time and talent to our work and come home SO burned out that we have nothing for our family or God.

And idol is ANYTHING that comes before God.

        We ALL have idols…we just might not want to admit it.

Share a personal idol or two you have had to overcome…

I will be honest with you, and I have shared this before.

For YEARS, my career and money were a MASSIVE idol in my life.

If I am honest, back when I was in construction…

        My growth in the company mattered more to me than my wife or kids.

        My growing wealth…that I would say was for my wife and kids…mattered more to me than they did….

                Which is why I skipped out on so many things with my wife and kids for work things!!!

My career…

        My money….

        Both were idols in my life that matter FAR more than God….

Pride has been an issue for me…

        Honestly, I did not think God was my provider before going into ministry.

        I thought I provided.

        That is why I was such a workaholic and cared so much about money and my career.

        And when we became so poor that we went on to food stamps and government insurance, I quickly realized I could not provide what my family needed.

        My pride was an idol that God needed to break off my by taking everything away from me…

We ALL have idols….

PAUSE

Let’s read the end of Joshua’s life….verse 25 says…

25 On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he reaffirmed for them decrees and laws.

26 And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God.

Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the Lord.

27 “See!” he said to all the people. “This stone will be a witness against us.

It has heard all the words the Lord has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God.”

28 Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to their own inheritance.

29 After these things, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten.

Joshua ended well.

        Joshua passed the Godly torch to the next generation.

Remember the God markers of your life

Be willing to step out and serve the Lord courageously

How will you courageously answer the call to serve the Lord God and obey Him?

Prayerfully consider going on a missions trip this year.

Extra potential script (maybe do this as a video that is just words on the screen with a voice over reading …)

Eric Liddell, a Scottish missionary to China, dropped out of his strongest event, the 100 meters, at the 1924 Paris Olympics because the qualifying heats were scheduled for a Sunday.

Instead, he trained for the 200 meter and 400 meter sprints.

Eric ran the 400m in 47.6 seconds, taking the gold and setting an Olympic and World Record.

He said, “The secret of my success over the 400m is that I run the first 200m as fast as I can.  Then, for the second 200m, with God’s help I run faster.

He said, “It has been a wonderful experience to compete in the Olympic Games and to bring home a gold medal.

But since I have been a young lad, I have had my eyes on a different prize. You see, each one of us is in a greater race than any I have run in Paris, and this race ends when God gives out the medals.”

“I have no formula for winning the race.  Everyone runs in her own way, or his own way.  And where does the power come from, to see the race to its end?  From within.  Jesus said, “Behold, the Kingdom of God is within you.  If with all your hearts, you truly seek me, you shall ever surely find me.”  If you commit yourself to the love of Christ, then that is how you run a straight race.”

Jesus wants you and me to commit ourselves to run the race he made us to run.

        Jesus has passed us the baton to build His kingdom here on earth.

        The only question is….

        Will you get into the game with Jesus or will you keep sitting on the sidelines?

That is why we do this month-long missions emphasis EVERY year!

        Because we want you to get in the game!

        We want you to give to missions.

        We want you to go on mission trip.

        We want you to serve on a local mission’s team.

ADD PROMO PIECES HERE?

PAUSE

Let me give you your life application today.

        If you are new, or newer, to Family Church, we LOVE to end our messages with something for you to talk about with someone else.

        Something to help you apply the message to your life.

So here is this week’s Life Application…And yes…it will sound a lot like the last weeks…

Life Application: Pray about how God wants you to get involved in missions in 2026. As a result of today’s message, I will _________________________.

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Prayer:

        Make sure to do a salvation call!

Offering: