Free files for youth pastors:

4 – Joshua 23-24 – Choice (mp3)

4 – Joshua 23-24 – Choice (fillout sheet)

4 – Joshua 23-24 – Choice (sermon notes)

4 – Joshua 23-24 – Choice (ppt)

4 – Joshua 23-24 – Choice (order of service)

(look for service intro video on youtube.  search for “cbsmmedia chill intro to worship”)

Worshipping Jesus is awesome! On this Wednesday night we took away most of our big band and just boiled it down to about four on stage leading us to worship Christ. Those that truly worshipped Christ loved every second of it…I guarantee! Those that didn’t worship Him were frustrated and empty…I promise! But worship doesn’t leave us with good feelings all the time. I remember our Wednesday night worship last week just felt flat and dead. I think sometimes God allows us to feel that way to make sure that we’re not worshipping emotion…like a drug, but that we’re worshipping Christ no matter what! There is honestly nothing better though than worshipping Jesus with your life. When I’m not truly worshipping Him, I’m miserable. When I am truly worshipping Him, I have such an inner peace and joy. I remember being on a mission trip with one other friend to Africa. It was the most amazing week of my life! I got to preach about 5 times in different places, and I got to disciple some teens. If God would have let me, I so would have stayed there to be their youth pastor at the orphanage I was at. And isn’t that everyone’s greatest fear? “I can’t follow God, He might send me to Africa!”

Whew, I’d better get to the passage. Joshua is dying and is giving his farewell address to Israel (Joshua 24). God has rescued them from Egypt, brought them through the desert, passed them over to the Promise Land, and divided up the land for their tribes. The big question is, “So what do we do now?” Joshua’s answer was for them to choose to serve God in the land (24:14-15). Joshua said that they had two choices: 1) serve The God, or 2) serve the gods. That is still true for us today. There is no in between. We are either living for the one, true, and living God, or we are living for what Satan and His demons want. We conclude the book of Joshua with God’s people announcing, “We will serve the Lord, for He is our God.” Every day we need to make this choice, every decision we need to choose to serve God, and every second we need to be thinking this. What are they to do now? They are to worship God, serve Him, and serve each other.

As we’ve looked at, over the past through lessons in Joshua, this book ultimately points us forward to Jesus who will lead us into the eternal Promise Land: the New Earth in the New Heavens. The big question for many is: What will we do there? Well, John’s response to the vision he saw of eternity was to worship (Rev 22:6-9). He tried to bow to the angel. The angel quickly told him to not worship him, but to worship God! Our response and our command will be to worship God for eternity. But that doesn’t mean a never-ending choir practice, but that means in whatever we’re doing…we’ll be mindful of Jesus! We will worship God by meeting together, singing to Him, listening to Jesus’ instructions, working the earth, using our gifts and talents, relating to each other, resting and enjoying the life, etc. Everything we will do will be worship since it’ll be for Christ!

Worshipping Jesus is anything but boring. Jesus wants our worship of Him to be biblical, and to be out of our heart’s desire. I had a church member come up to me this week and explain a need for a missionary to go to…Hawaii! Some people would love that! Others would love to serve Jesus in the mountains. Others, to serve Jesus at home.

God’s purpose for our eternal lives and our earthly lives is to choose to live for Christ. Students can worship Jesus at home by obeying their parents, showing grace to their siblings, and listening to praise music on their stereos. They can worship Jesus at school by reading their Bible during free time in class, offering to pray for their friends when they’re looking for answers, and showing respect to teachers. They can worship Jesus on their team by asking to lead in prayer before or after a game. And they can worship Jesus with their friends just by saying “no” when sin arises. The point: worship!