Celebrate One more (2)

Celebrate One More:

Joshua 24:14-29

Some of the ideas for this sermon came from listening to another preacher. I have been listening to Joby Martin a lot and He did A sermon on One more. Who is your one more.

What he meant by these words is who is The person you would most like see come to Christ. It maybe your best friend, you spouse, your child, you aunt uncle, in-laws (ok maybe not your in-laws – Just joking I love mine.)

When I talked about your one more every one of you had somebody come to your mind. That is who we are going to talk about today.

In baseball we are always stealing other coaches’ ideas. In this sermon I am going to steal a good idea, because I think it really makes us think about what it means to celebrate in the kingdom of Christ. I believe the phrase one more really lets us think about what our mind set should be as a Christian. I used his scripture references, but I am going to preach it the way I lay out a sermon, but I want to make sure I give Joby credit.

Having a desire to see one more come to Christ is a great mindset if we are going to be celebratory church.

The reality is that everything in this world is one generation from going instinct.

Children are born without any understanding, If not for the generation before them, they would literally know nothing. They would resort back to an earlier time in human development, which I am not sure is all bad these days, but that is a different story.

We need to understand that Understanding and knowledge have built off itself. The people that came before us were not less intelligent, In fact there was some brilliant mind. They just did not have the head start that we have had.

I think this is why our youth in this community are so important. We are going to have a baptism today. I am not sure why some of the churches are somber. I see multiple areas in the Bible where they Celebrate.

If you would like to turn in you bibles to If you have not noticed the great commandments are the basis for these two weeks of sermons. Like pastor bill said last week the Pharisees, the ever tricksters are trying to get Jesus to stumble and catch him a trap. They wanted to test him.

I love how brilliant Jesus is. He simplifies everything.

That is a great reason to celebrate.

37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Jesus take all these laws from the theocracy known as the nation of Israel and simplifies them to two laws. These are what we should be celebrating. These simple commandments are what we should be teaching our kids.

If these kids can grasp that they are supposed to love God and love those around them it would go a long way to revitalizing this world.

If we become complacent the Bible tells what will happen.

Turn with me to . Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua. We have been teaching the younger youth how to navigate their Bible in youth group.

While we are turning there, let me set the scene. We are going to see a common verse. My guess is many of you have this written somewhere in their house, but do we understand the consequences if we do not hold strongly to what Joshua is trying to say.

Follow along as I read

14 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 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 whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

This is the section of scripture that every Christ follower must ask themselves. We tend to only have the last part in our houses, but we forget what that means.

We stall on “for me and my house, we sill serve the Lord.” But what is the context of what we are trying to say,

What does serving the Lord look like?

Verse 14 says that we are to serve God with sincerity and faithfulness.

Sincerity literally mean to be free from hypocrisy, it means to be honest, genuine, trustworthy, open, We are to leave no doubt in the those around us who we serve.

What about faithfulness: Faithfulness is instilled over time. It means to be constant, Loyal, stable, dependable, and devoted. We are to resemble these qualities as we serve the lord.

This is what we are to put on, but what are we to put away.

Joshua tells us to put aside these other god’s in our lives. Israel had been serving the god’s of Egypt and even though God had redeemed them from the land of Egypt they still had a tendency to fall back into their old habits.

Sounds a little familiar to me.

Joshua is telling us. That we are to serve and obey God faithfully and sincerely

Jesus is telling us through the writing of the Matthew. That we are to celebrate God, because he has earned our celebration.

We are not to serve the gods beyond the river. The gods that we had before we turned our life to Christ.

We are not to serve the God of the Amorites who are around us. Everyone of us still has gods in our lives that have hindered our full submission to God. Even though we are Christ followers we still struggle in different areas.

Joshua is saying in this famous section of scripture, Israel or in our case.

Church it is time to make a choice. Other gods are not just a nuisance,

Joshua says these other god’s in our life are evil. He does not mess around.

Church it is time this day to decide who we are going to follow.

Joshua takes the lead. Whether we like it or not this church has an obligation in this town to take the lead. God has called us to lead this city.

We do not get to sit back and let others lead. We are responsible to serve the lord.

It is not easy, and we always must be aware of what is going on around us.

We cannot become complacent.

Let me paraphrase verses 16 -18. The people of Israel respond. They know what God did. They understand his power. They are fired up. They have seen God work. They are ready to go. They are energized to serve the lord, but Joshua understand who they are.

How familiar does this sound. I can remember being fired up multiple times in my life.

God I will serve you, God if you get me out of this situation I will serve you. God this pain is unbearable please relieve me from it. God I will follow you if you keep me out of Jail, if you let me get this girl. Things are going to be different. I am going to walk with you and a month later, I am doing the same things I was doing.

I have forgot my energy. I am celebrating myself.

I am worshiping the God of the Amorites.

I have seen it in people life over and over in my short time as a pastor.

It is the opposite of celebrate in my life. It brings me sorrow. The people speak what we want to hear, but they forget the sincerity and the faithfulness. Walking with God is done over time. It is done with consistency and loyalness over time.

It is an extended celebration. A continual party. This is the church pastor Bill and I envision for FBC. We want it to be a church with continual fire and drive. A consistently devoted to Jesus Church.

If we read on:

The people of Israel respond, but Joshua is not buying it.

Joshua understand how important it is to respond to the lord. He understands his people.

Joshua repeats his call for them to celebrate to the lord. He warns them against worshipingtwo different god’s and they repeat they will serve the Lord!

22 Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” 23 He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.” 24 And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.”

Can we ask ourselves? Can we set aside the gods of this world and follow the All mighty God.

We are going to serve him and obey him. This is where the second part of the great commandment comes into play.

We serve him by caring about the one more, no matter how many one more there are. We will do anything, we will sacrifice in multiple ways to see that one person come to Christ. It may not be tomorrow, but some day. I know of people that Mrs. Faun prayed to come to Christ for years, and her testimony at her funeral had to have brought somebody to their knees it was wonderful. I am not sure how many came to Christ, but she was dedicated to one more person coming to Christ.

We as a church must be careful that our excitement is more than just words. We do not want to be like the Israelites.

Look at verse 25-28 with me.

25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and put in place statutes and rules for them at Shechem. 26 And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone and set it up there under the terebinth (a terebinth is just a shade tree or shrub common in that area) that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. 27 And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore, it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.” 28 So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance.

Can you image the celebration that day? They have taken the land that was promised to them after around 691 years since God first called Abraham. They are finally in the land that God had promised them. They are celebrating, but what do they forget to do.

Joshua takes a large stone and sets up a reminder to the people, but stones can only do so much. Lets look on.

Lets look at Joshua 29:

29 After these things Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being 110 years old.

So, Joshua is dead. The people are in the land. An entire generation has celebrated and declared their relationship with God. An then an entire generation forgets to do what.

Lets turn to the first part of Judges.

6 When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. 7 And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel. 8 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. 9 And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. 10 And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers.

(And here is our answer at the end of verse 10)

And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.

The Israelites failed did not share the good news, they did not care about the one more generation coming up behind them.

There are real ramifications when we as the church become complacent.

Ladies and gentlemen we are one generation from Christianity dying. We are one generation from our children not knowing who Christ is. Now their will always be a remnant, or a group of people devoted to the one true God. It has been promised to us in scripture, but I want to warn us not to get complacent, but to continually celebrate.

We are not to celebrate once, but to celebrate with each generation. That is why are children and our youth are so important.

85 percent of believer come to Christ from the ages 4-14.

10 percent come from the ages 15-30 and

only 4 percent come after the age of 30.

People are not coming to a stone. They are not going to come to a building. We must go to them.

We must re-evaluate church. It is a key element, but it is not the element.

If we are going to reach the one more we must build relationships. The church is not this building you are the church. And you can bring the church to the people.

The church is in the High school, the Church is Irwin Towers, the Church is in the work place, the Church is in your home. The Church is you and you represent it where every you go.

I have been wrestling without how to reach my best friend about Christ. And Just last week the light went on when I was in Mexico.

I saw a missionary. Who was using the desires of his heart to reach people for Christ. I find it so interesting.

How Steve, who was the missionary that we stayed with in Mexico loved to scuba dive as a young man growing up. It was his passion. It was his god, but the lord got ahold of his life and he had to give up his dream of being a scuba instructor, because the lord called him to the mission field.

What I find interesting is that over 25 years later, God has brought everything full circle and now he is using scuba to reach people for Christ.

I know I said it last week, but in the last year after he started Reconcillamar, Which is a Spanish play on words.

Which mean to reconcile the sea with love. He has reach at least 30 people who are now coming to two different small group or home churches, that would not have been reached through traditional means.

God has allowed him to use his passion, something that was his god is now being used by God.

The difference is who is in power. Is our hobbies in power, is our passions in power, or is God in power?

I now believe this the way to reach my best friend. I am to reach him through God’s desire to reconcile creation, to restore creation and take care of it. I can reach him through the Spanish language and his love for the outdoors.

Now ultimately the Holy Spirit is in Control, but as Christians we do not have to be boring. We do not have to be a drag. Quite frankly people outside the faith are bored by our Bible Studies, they do not like our music, and they do not want to listen to a crazy preacher talk gibberish from the pulpit for 45 minutes.

If we want to reach our one more we must be radical, we must celebrate, we must be fun and not a drag.

How do we reach people for Christ?

Turn to and while you do let me set the stage.

We do not have to go very far to see how it is done. We must invest in others. What ever that may look like. Let’s look at three parables form the old testament. Parables are just stories that have deeper meaning. They are stories that help us get a point across, kind of like the story I just told about my missionary friend. Only Jesus was a little better at telling them then I am.

So if I paraphrase the story there was this rich guy. By world standard almost everyone of us in here would be considered rich, and if you know Jesus then I would consider your wealth priceless, I do not think this is a stretch to see ourselves in this story.

So this man goes on a journey and he give his servant some talents.

a talent represented a rather large sum of money. According to New Nave's Topical Bible, one who possessed five talents of gold or silver was a multimillionaire by today's standards. Some calculate the talent in the parables to be equivalent to 20 years of wages for the common worker. Other scholars estimate more conservatively, valuing the New Testament talent somewhere between $1,000 to $30,000 dollars today. Regardless you get the point. It was a large sum.

The man gives one servant 5 talents, another 2 talents, and the last one 1 talents. Lets pick up the story at verse 16.

16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.

I think we need to ask ourselves are we hiding the talents god has given us. Not just money, but literal talents, like hitting homerun or singing talents or whatever talent you may have.

Am I using my skills, my God given skills to reach people for Christ. Just last week Scott Ware, was thinking he could teach a class on Fly fishing. That is what we need.

That is what God wants us to do.

19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

What does it mean to be a good an faithful servant. What does it mean to be a good steward of what God has given you? It is to invest it. When we fail to invest in the kingdom of God people die without knowing who Christ is.

I would give everything I own for my Children to accept Jesus as their savior. I would give everything in my bank account if it meant my best friend came to Christ.

Everyone of us wants to here the words well done, and good and faithful servant.

The first two trusted in the father, but the last one did not. God calls us to trust him and to invest in others.

24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

The last servant lacked faith. He did not use the skills he was given for the kingdom. He will live eternity separated from the Master. I know this is hard scripture. This is not easy to take in, but scripture challenges us. I do not have to.

I believe God wants us to serve him with Sincerity and Faithfulness. He does not want us to hide anything but invest it in the only thing that really matter. And that is the people we encounter. Why should we care about the environment, because God calls us to take care of it, and because it can help us reach others with the gospel? I believe that should be the answer for everything. Why should I care about my family, because God calls us to and It helps me reach my children with the Gospel? God and others. You feel in the gaps.

What does stewardship look like?

Who are we investing in. The only thing we can invest in, is lives.

That is stewardship.

What should we do when God decides to use us to save lost souls. I am going to use the first two parables in , Pastor bill stole the other one last week. Turn to and once again we see the pharisees.

These so Called Religious, Holy, Righteous people too concerned with their own salvation to see that all their training as failed them.

They were trained to see the Messiah and they could not get over their self-righteousness and see what was right in front of their face.

15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

We in this church I hope we are the 99 and I believe we have some one more to get doing. What are we to do. Pastor Bill said it last week. We are to Rejoice, we are to rejoice. That one more was lost and now they are found. It is not a somber thing it is a party thing. Having our children and our youth come to Christ is a big deal. It is ok to get excited. Being excited is not going to make us start talking in tongues unless talking in tongues is shouting whoo eee. Jesus believed in this concept so much that he told multiple stories about it. If there is joy in heaven over the lost then their must be joy down here.

Lets read on.

The Parable of the Lost Coin

8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

I am not sure why some churches do not like dancing. Why else would you get your friends and neighbors together. They are ready to party. I hope we at this church are the 9 coins and one has just been found, because the angels got a shindig going on in heaven and we should down here.

I want you to pull out your card that is in the bulletin. I want you to write a name on their, put it somewhere, where you will remember to pray for that person. Put it somewhere where you can think of way to build a relationship. And not hit them over the head for Jesus, but love them to Jesus, actually spend time with them to Jesus. I do not care if you are embarrassed. If it is you husband or your wife. Write scooby due or batman. You know who it is.

If you are a spouse here and you see scooby due or batman on your spouses’ card maybe you better start to think, because he or she is coming at you with some serious prayer. I am telling you if this is you then you might as well come to Christ now, because He is hunting you down. God does not want to take away the things you do he wants to use the Good ones for his kingdom and your desire for God will fade the bad ones.

Today we get to baptize some people. They once were lost and now they are found. There is a party going on in heaven right now, because these people have declared their surrender to Christ.

As we close let us read a doxology to the Lord

10 Therefore David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: “Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. 11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. 12 Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. 13 And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name

I want you to think how much you would give for that one more person that you wrote down on your card to come to Christ. For that one person to understand God on this level.

For that one person to exclaim these words penned by david to God and to give him the glory and the praise.

How much is that person worth. How much time is that person worth. How much effort, How much love.

Let’s pray.

Lord I know you are tugging on heart right now. Lord if there is somebody is this room let them surrender to you. It is simpler than a prayer. It is a simple Jesus I am yours. I once was one more and now I am part of the 99. I once was one more and now I am part of the 9. I believe I am a sinner In need of a savior. Lord take over my life and let me be transformed in your image.

Lord let us celebrate. Let us that follow you be filled with more Joy then anybody in this world and let us let our love shine bright for others.

Amen,

If you have surrendered your life to Christ, maybe it was not today, or maybe it was, but you feel like God is calling you to be baptized.

I am telling you the water is filled and it is warm.

You do not have to wait.

Baptism is the outward proclamation of an inward surrender to Christ.