AS FOR ME & MY HOUSE | Pastor Dan Prus

[music]

[applause]

>> How's everyone doing this Memorial Day

weekend?

Y'all came to church, so you're like the

holy people.

Good to see everybody. I want to take

you to uh Joshua.

Let's just get right down to it today.

Joshua 24.

And let me pray before we get into this.

Father, thank you

for the opportunity

to look at your word and to hear from

you. And God, I just pray that

everything that is not of you, every

distraction, every hindrance would be

stripped away right now.

That your word would find its mark

in the people's hearts, and that it

would change us from the inside out.

Give us ears to hear

what the Spirit is saying to the church

this morning.

Amen.

So, Joshua 24

Joshua 24:14

verse 14 and 15. Now, therefore, fear

the Lord.

Serve him in sincerity

and in truth, and put away the gods

which your fathers served on the other

side of the river and in Egypt. Serve

the Lord.

And if this seems evil or wrong to you

to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves

this day

whom you will serve.

Whether the gods which your fathers

served that were on the other side of

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.

>> [clears throat]

>> I wonder if anyone's made their mind up

that as for me

and my house,

we're going to serve the Lord.

The jury's not out anymore. There's no

more debate. There's no more research.

It's just a done deal. I just wonder if

there's anybody like that in here that

just says, "I'm going with Jesus all the

way."

You know, it's important to know not

only what was said, but who said it.

And so, I want to kind of take you into

the writer of this particular passage or

the story that it's about is Joshua.

A young man who is now an old man, but

he was a young man during the Exodus.

He was there

in the bondage of the Hebrews in Egypt.

He was there during the plagues. He was

there during the Red Sea crossing. He

was there for 40 years wandering

aimlessly with his generation which

simply lacked the faith to take the next

step and go into the promised land.

He had spent half of his life going in

circles,

hanging out with people that weren't

going anywhere.

I wonder if it's time for some of us to

get away from a generation that is not

willing to go after God.

That you've been through enough and seen

enough and realized that they're not

going anywhere and I don't have time for

these jokers. And so, as for me and my

house,

we're going to serve the Lord.

There is always

a pull towards the things of the world,

towards

modern opinions, towards science, and

and things that would like to challenge

the truth of God's word. And Joshua had

seen all of it. He was also Moses'

assistant. He was a young man who who

came up and and actually held Moses'

arms up during one of the first battles

after the Exodus.

And he went with Moses up into the

mountain. He had seen some things.

And he had heard this term before, no

doubt, because when God called Moses in

Exodus 3 out at the burning bush,

God told Moses, "This is my sign to you.

This is This is the one that that nobody

else probably knew about." But God told

Moses that those people are going to

come and serve me at this mountain, the

place where you're standing.

Serve the Lord. And so, no doubt, Moses

used those words frequently. We'll see

it in the story we're about to look at

in a little more detail. But I want to

point out in verse 14 and 15, the verses

we just read, seven times you see the

word serve.

Joshua isn't saying, "Hey, you should

come to church with me. Hey, we should

have a potluck. We should We should do

some churchy events."

He's saying,

"I'm going to serve the Lord, and and

you've got to choose for yourself. You

may not be down with that. That's fine.

You can serve the gods that everybody

else is serving. But as for me and my

house,

we're going to serve the Lord."

And so, I want to take you back to

pieces of the Exodus, a place where

Joshua had been. And again, now he's an

old man. He would His death would be

recorded in the later part of this

chapter in Joshua 24. But he was there

during all of the things we're about to

talk about. And so, I want to bring you

first to Exodus 3 verses 19 and 20

Exodus 3:19

and make this point.

That the invitation of God brings

opposition.

Whenever God says to somebody, "Follow

me." Whenever he tries to bring someone

into the family of God, there is

opposition.

And so, this scripture says, this is God

talking to Moses, but I am sure that the

king of Egypt will not let you go, no,

not even by a mighty hand.

So I will stretch out my hand and strike

Egypt with all my wonders which I will

do in its midst, and after that, he will

let you go.

How would you like for your assignment

to be, uh, go ahead and go do this and

tell Pharaoh to let my people go, but

he's not going to do it.

How would you like to be sent on an

assignment that you know is going to

fail?

I think of a man in the New Testament

named named Stephen. He was a deacon,

but he preached one sermon and they

stoned him to death.

One sermon, and you know you did a good

job, but as soon as you're done, they're

like, "Kill him!"

And so Moses is is going knowing there's

going to be opposition, but God said,

"Look, because of the opposition, I'm

going to I'm going to

get involved, and in the end, then he'll

let you go." So there's going to be some

opposition. You have to know this

if you're at all considering serving the

Lord, or if you're already serving the

Lord, that opposition just comes with

the territory. Sometimes, that's how you

know you're doing it right.

And so Moses comes down with this

message and he tells the Hebrews and

they're like, "Sweet, this is awesome."

And then he goes to Pharaoh and he's

like, "Let these people go that they can

sacrifice to me in the wilderness. We

want to have a church service out in the

woods."

And Pharaoh's like, "Yeah, you got too

much time on your hands, and so you need

to get back to work, and you're going to

have to find your own straw from now on.

We're not We're not giving you the

product anymore, but you still have to

make the bricks."

And so right away there was opposition.

The Pharaoh's like, "No, I'm not doing

it."

And then there were the plagues.

Let me Let me go ahead and throw this

in, too.

If you know the story, Moses had a sign

of a staff

that he could throw down and it would

turn to a serpent.

And so he did that in front of Pharaoh

and Pharaoh was like

My guys can do that and he calls his

magicians and they do the same thing.

And they were able to reproduce the

first couple of things that God did

because the enemy a lot of times wants

you to think that what God is doing

isn't real.

So you get excited and you're like, man,

this happened and this happened and

that's got to be God and someone else

comes along and is like, no, that's just

coincidence.

Anyone know what I'm talking about?

And the devil tries to just make you

think, no, that that's just that just

happened. That's just life. It's just

the way it happened. That's not God.

What happens is is God progressively

brings these plagues down and pretty

soon the magicians can't duplicate it.

And God makes it clear

that he is involved in this situation

and in this calling. And so the

opposition continues and you may have

heard of the 10 plagues of Egypt, but I

want to point out that the 10 plagues

were more than just God showing off.

They were God jabbing It was God jabbing

at the gods of Egypt.

For instance, there was a plague

of blood

in the Nile River.

And the Egyptians worshipped They had a

goddess of the Nile River that they

worshipped.

There was a plague of frogs.

And the Egyptians had a frog-headed

goddess

of fruitfulness.

Now, I don't know. I read that and I

just kind of get hung up on this

frog-headed woman.

I mean, can you imagine you're on the

dating app, right? And

and a frog-headed woman pops up

and you swipe left really fast.

By the way,

this is completely off topic, but

I think ugly people have an advantage

in life.

No, I've been thinking about this.

I think ugly people have it better.

Because you think about it, if you're

ugly, you're just ugly and no one

expects anything more and you just kind

of go through life and

right?

But when you're beautiful,

and if that's you, congratulations on

your face,

but understand change is going to come.

And the Bible even says that beauty is

passing.

So, beautiful people have to, you know,

they get all the attention and and

people fall over to try to help them and

things like that and then and then

they're not as beautiful anymore and all

that ends and so I just think ugly

people have it better.

And all the ugly people said, "No, I'm

not going to do that."

Leave that alone.

And then there was a [clears throat]

plague of plague of gnats and that was

God's jab at their god of the earth,

because the gnats came out of the dust

of the earth and the Egyptians

worshipped and I won't hit all of these,

but they had uh Khepri was their

beetle-headed god and so God sent the

plague of flies and and all of these

were jabs, if you dig if you dig into

this and read on, it's very interesting.

God was poking at every single one of

the Egyptian gods and saying, "Yeah,

your gods aren't gods at all."

There was a plague of boils and and the

Egyptians had Sekhmet, the goddess of

healing and so God was was letting them

know that you can't you can't stop God.

There was a goddess of the sky in Egypt

and so God sent hail.

There was a god of the wind and so God

sent locusts, a god of a god of uh the

sun, the Ra was his name and so God sent

a plague of darkness. Just just time

after time after time letting the

Egyptians know that you got nothing on

me. Your gods are false and they're

powerless.

And finally,

the the plague of the death of the

firstborn.

And this was going to hit Pharaoh's

house himself, and Pharaoh, too, was

considered to be a god.

Not only that, but I'm reminded by how

the Egyptians had at one point killed

all the Hebrew baby boys.

And now God comes for the Egyptian sons.

So, God is just establishing that while

there is opposition,

there is nothing that can stop God from

getting to a person and a person from

getting to God. That the devil cannot

stop you is what I'm trying to say.

There is opposition, but it's really

between God and the devil, and you have

little to do with it.

The battle is the Lord's.

And God can handle any devil. So, don't

confess and say things like the devil

just won't let me make it to church. The

devil just is stopping me from getting

serious. It's not the devil doing that.

He doesn't have the power unless you

give him the power to do that. He cannot

stop you. God is greater. Greater is he

that is in you than he that is in the

world.

The devil is no match for my God.

But there is opposition.

Perhaps it's not so much the opposition

of the devil that's stopping us,

but this point

that what you leave undone

will be your undoing.

What you neglect to deal with,

what you allow yourself to compromise

with. These are the things that will be

your undoing. Don't blame it on the

devil.

When you're the one

Come on, somebody.

You're the one inviting that thing into

your life and then you wonder why.

Because what you leave undone will be

your undoing. And so

Pharaoh, realizing that God is greater

begins to try to make deals with the

Hebrews.

And the devil will try to make deals

with you. Exodus 8:25, this is deal

Exodus 8:25

number one. Pharaoh called for Moses and

Aaron and said, "Go. Sacrifice to your

God." Watch this. "In the land."

Go ahead and sacrifice, but stay in

Egypt.

Go ahead and go to church.

Go ahead and go to the men's Bible

study, the the Tuesday morning cup of

Joe women's Bible study. Go to the

Wednesday prayer meetings with the

staff. Go Go do all that. As long as you

stay in Egypt, we're good.

The devil doesn't mind us coming to

church.

As long as he can get you to compromise.

Is anyone hearing what I'm saying? As

long as he can keep you in Egypt. Like

nothing changes. As long as nothing

changes, you can get your Bible, your

leather one with the ribbon hanging out

of it and gold-edged pages, and you can

put the Jesus bumper sticker on one side

and the Grace Summit bumper sticker on

the other. THE DEVIL DON'T MIND NONE of

it as long as nothing changes in your

life.

And that'll only happen if you take the

deal. Somebody say, "No deal."

Deal number two. So Pharaoh said, Exodus

Exodus 8:28

8:28, "I'll" Pharaoh didn't say Exodus

Exodus 8:28

8:28. That was just the address. I just

got out of sequence there.

Don't want to confuse you.

So, Pharaoh said, "I will let you go

that you may sacrifice to the Lord your

God in the wilderness. All right, we're

going to let you out of Egypt only

don't go very far."

Can't you hear the devil saying,

"Go,

but don't get too carried away.

As long as you keep coming back,

we're good. We have an understanding."

Don't Don't be one of these radical,

flamboyant Jesus freaks. Just do the

church thing, do the devotional thing,

read, pray, do all that we It's okay as

long as you keep coming back.

And there are people that just have gone

in a cycle.

A cycle. They love They go after God.

They're passionate about it, but the

devil just keeps sucking them right back

to their default.

And they're stuck. And as long as you're

stuck there through compromise, again,

through not letting God into those areas

that he wants to free you from,

what you leave undone, that will be your

undoing.

Somebody say, "No deal."

They said no deal again, so deal number

three. Exodus 10:11. And here the

Exodus 10:11

terminology changes. Go now, you who are

men,

and serve the Lord. Now, the the first

two deals he said go sacrifice to the

Lord. Now he's saying serve the Lord.

He's realizing these Hebrews are not

about to compromise and just just, you

know, go to uh a group sacrifice, which

is what that meant. Just everybody come

together, we're going to have a

sacrifice, and we'll go home.

They're like, "No, we're going to serve

the Lord." And so, Pharaoh's like, "Go

ahead, fine. Serve the Lord, okay?

Just

leave your flocks and your No,

uh just the men.

And leave the rest of your families

back.

So, just the men. As long as As long AS

IT'S JUST THE men that are serious in

serving God, and they're not affecting

anyone in their household.

Where is Dennis? I'm about to start

preaching.

I feel it.

As long as you're not affecting anyone

else, and it's just you.

That's a compromise.

Listen, you can't serve God and not

affect other people.

Well, I'm just not I'm not assertive

like that, and I don't want to be I

don't want to be taken as judgemental,

or but you can't serve Jesus and not

cause division sometimes. Jesus himself

said that he came to divide families,

and divide groups and friends. He The

gospel is going to divide sometimes. I'm

not saying be a jerk, and be mean and

judgemental and critical. I'm saying if

you are a Christian, you are your light

is going to shine, and you can't hide

that.

So, just the men is just like, "Well,

I'm going to go to to men's Bible study,

Pastor Jack, and we're going to we're

going to do the pursuit thing.

And we're going to uh

Actually, we graduated from donuts to

biscuits and gravy, and and I hear

there's a taco bar, or a breakfast

burrito bar, or something coming up. So,

I'm going to the men's thing. Just the

men. Just the men." But, guys, don't

take it home.

And as long as you accept that deal,

you've entered into compromise. That's

what's going to keep you stuck.

No deal.

No deal. No deal.

Then there's a fourth and final deal

that is offered.

And then Pharaoh called to Moses and

said, "Go. Serve the Lord." He's getting

frustrated. The devil gets frustrated

with you

when you refuse TO COMPROMISE.

OH, THAT MAKES HIM MAD.

Cuz cuz a lot of us just Oh, okay.

Everybody else is doing it.

People at the church do I guess it's

okay.

Huh?

And as long as we're like that, the

devil ain't bothered. But if you IF

YOU'RE LIKE, "NO, as for me and my

house, we're going to serve the Lord.

We're going to serve him with passion.

We're going to serve him where where it

messes our life up and it changes the

way we talk and it changes the way we

act and it changes the way we do our

taxes and handle our money and our work

ethic and and our marriage and every

part of our life is going to get messed

up." The devil gets mad at you when you

start having that kind of disposition.

So, he offers one final deal.

And he says, "Go serve the Lord. Go.

Only

let your flocks and your herds be kept

back.

You can take your kids, too.

Your little ones also can go.

Go ahead.

But leave your stuff.

After all, you worked hard for that

stuff.

Right?

Tithing. What was she talking about this

morning? Tithing.

Uh, it got quiet in here.

Tithe and offerings.

Can't afford it.

Maybe if you sold one of the four cars

you got, you could afford it.

>> [laughter]

>> Y'all are never going to invite me back.

Um

Well, it's all right.

Just leave your stuff.

You know, just

hang on to your possessions.

Don't serve But you can't serve God and

money.

You'll only be loyal to one or the

other.

Oh, the church just wants my money. No.

Church doesn't want your money. God

wants your obedience. God wants to see

your faith in action so that he knows if

he can trust you

with what he has in store for you. But

as long as you compromise on that issue,

what you've left undone, that's going to

be your undoing.

Don't blame it on the devil.

Is anybody listening this morning?

All right.

And then finally, the third thing I want

to say out of this story is that the way

out

is under

the blood.

And they shall take some of the blood

and put it on the two doorposts and on

the lintel or the top of the door of the

houses where they eat it.

Now, the blood shall be a sign for you

in the houses where you are. And when I

see the blood, I will pass over you.

And the plague shall not be on you to

destroy you when I strike the land of

Egypt. The way out

is under.

And so,

the final plague comes and right before

it hits where the death of the firstborn

in all of Egypt hits, God says, "I want

you to take a lamb.

I want you to slaughter it. I want you

to take the blood.

I want you to put it on the doorpost and

the top of the door.

And when I see that blood,

I'll pass over."

So, they put the blood on the doorposts

this way

and the top of the door this way,

kind of like a cross.

The Bible is full of types and shadows

and here is one of the cross of Christ

and God is that the lamb had been

slaughtered and its blood put in the

shape of a cross and God said if you'll

do that by faith

cuz that seems like a strange thing to

do.

But if you'll do that

when the last plague comes through, it

won't touch you.

Judgement won't touch you if you're

under the blood.

So they did this and when the death

angel come, I want you to notice he

didn't come to the houses and knock and

say, "Hey, I see you have the blood on

your house.

But I'd like to kind of just interview

you briefly if that's okay before we

move on to the next house.

What is your understanding of the

doctrine of justification by faith?

Have you lived a morally excellent life

recently?

Do you know the names of the 12

disciples?

No? Sorry, blood ain't going to count.

God didn't do that. There was no

interview. There was no questioning.

There was no looking inside the house.

The house that had the blood was

covered. Somebody say, "I'm covered."

I'm under the blood. That's why the old

song writer said, "What can wash away my

sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus."

WHAT CAN MAKE ME WHOLE AGAIN? NOTHING

but the blood of Jesus.

And another writer

said, "My sin, oh the bliss of this

blessed thought. My sin, not in part but

the whole is nailed to the cross and I

bear it no more.

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, oh my

soul. It's the blood and you need to get

under the blood to be safe. You need to

get under the blood to be forgiven, to

be protected, to avoid judgment. It's

the blood. It's not your merits. It's

not your good deeds. It's not how how

well you've performed. It's the blood.

And so there are people, and you need to

hear this, there are people that have

been trying to get over something.

Like, I'm really struggling, pastor. I'm

really just trying to get over this. And

and so I go to to other Christians and

they say, "Well, pray about it."

Which is a nice way of saying get over

it.

I've heard this said. We Our pastor used

to say this. Go to Menards and get a

ladder and get over it.

But maybe we need to not get over it.

Maybe we need to get under it.

Maybe we need to bring whatever that

thing is

and put it up under the blood.

Maybe it's the compromises of the past.

Maybe it's the decisions you've made and

and God is beginning to reveal to you

that that's the problem. That's what's

got you stuck, and you need to just

bring IT AND STOP FIGHTING IT in your

own strength and put IT UNDER THE BLOOD.

THE BLOOD IS POWERFUL ENOUGH.

WHEN GOD SEES THAT BLOOD, HE'S LIKE,

"They're good."

And you know WHAT HE SAID THE NEW

covenant is? Your sins and iniquities he

remembers no more.

So your prayer life looks like, "God,

please forgive me. I did it again." And

God's like, "I don't know what you're

talking about."

There's blood on your door.

Huh?

But God, I just feel I'm so guilty cuz I

just can't seem to break free. And I'm

doing And And God's like,

I don't know what you're talking about.

As far as the east is from the west, so

far has he removed our transgression

when you're under the blood.

Somebody say the blood.

Yeah, we're not taking the deals of the

devil. We're getting up under the blood.

And God told Moses one other thing way

back in Exodus 3 that I think translates

here and and Joshua no doubt saw it.

He said, "When they come out of there,

they won't be empty-handed."

It's not just that that you went through

all these things and it was hard and it

was terrible and then God delivered you

and you got the battle scars and you and

you made it.

It's not just like that, but God said,

"You're not coming out of there

empty-handed."

Now, I know that was, you know, the

jewelry and the gold and the stuff the

Egyptians were giving them on the way

out. They're like, "Here, take it."

But I think you come out with something

else, too. When God has delivered you,

when God has brought you through some

stuff, when you bumped your head against

the wall spiritually time and again and

you finally get it and you submit to God

and you say, "AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE,

WE'RE GOING TO SERVE THE LORD."

You got something, my friend. You got

something on the inside. You got a

passion that you can't get any other

kind of way. Come on, somebody. YOU GOT

YOU GOT JOY INSIDE OF YOU CUZ YOU KNOW

WHERE YOU CAME FROM AND YOU KNOW WHERE

YOU'RE HEADED and God brought you out of

all of it.

You're not empty-handed.

Don't go through life I was molested as

a kid and then I was abused and some of

this is my real story. You know, I was

abused and then I was I was adopted. My

own mother didn't want me. I was

abandoned. I got all these issues.

No. What it is is I'm not empty-handed.

I got a story to tell. Let me tell you,

not just what all I've been through, but

what God has done for me.

>> [applause]

[music]

>> And when you look at all of that, then

you realize

there's no plan B.

You're either in

or you're out.

Serve the Lord.

Serve him with your whole heart. Serve

him with gladness.

God is awesome.

Has he brought anyone in this room

through some stuff and you would testify

God is good.

Man, if he hadn't intervened, I'd be

dead. Again and again, I could tell you

stories. I know I would be, but God in

his mercy and in his love came looking

for me and he came looking for you and

he said, "All you got to do is get up

under that blood.

Don't worry about the devil. Just don't

compromise. Take it seriously. Don't

just go to church. Serve the Lord and

you're going to be all right."

And my wife and I are getting reminded

recently again and again just how frail

life is.

It's like a vapor.

We were at a funeral

last week [music]

for a 7-year-old.

It's a vapor.

You may live to be 80, 90. Art was 104

years old, served in World War II.

That was a bad dude.

You sit right here

faithfully.

But the Lord called him home and the

Lord's going to call all of us home. So,

in the meantime,

why not serve the Lord?

Why not choose

this day.

As for me and my house, now I got to

explain this. That doesn't mean that you

can save your house.

I can't save anybody else,

but it does mean where you have

influence.

If you come to my house, the blood's up

on the door.

We're up under the blood.

You have to choose for yourself, but

my influence for those around me and

those closest to me, if nothing else to

intercede for them.

To pray for your your kids, your loved

ones, your spouses, whoever it is.

As for me and my house,

we're going to serve the Lord cuz this

this life

goes so quick.

And little Cayden at 7 years old

drew a picture

of his heaven home.

Yeah, he got it.

He understood what a lot of us act like

is never going to happen. He understood.

I'm going to be with

his best friend, he said.

So, as the worship team comes and

there'll be a prayer team [music] up

here if you'd like prayer today, but I

just want to pray and then I'm going to

sit down.

I don't know if you've chosen.

You say, "Yeah, I just don't want to

choose that right now."

Not ready to

choose the Lord.

Remember this, indecision is a decision.

Indecision is as good as saying no.

And you can do that.

It breaks our heart.

It breaks God's heart, but you can

choose that.

I just don't understand how anyone would

not want to serve a God

like ours

who raises us up out of

the ash heap.

Makes our life worth living.

Can

do things in you that no doctor or no

medication ever could.

And Father,

>> [music]

>> I pray for everyone in this room,

everyone online,

that if they've never

responded to your invitation, [music]

that even now they would just open their

hearts to you.

And if that's you, would you just open

your heart right where you are and just

just

ask Jesus in your heart

to forgive you, to come into your life,

that

that the blood would be applied, the

blood of Jesus,

the son of God, the lamb which takes

away the sin of the world,

that that blood would be applied to your

life and that you could start a

relationship with him.

Would you just invite him? And would you

just say, "Jesus, [music] as for me and

my house, I choose to serve the Lord."

Father, may this word

linger in us.

May it produce what it was sent to do

and may many come to know you and to

deepen their relationship with you

>> [music]

>> because of it.

Watch over your word to perform it, God.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.