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I will Only Serve the Lord

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[Joshua 24:15]

But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

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Joshua became the leader of Israel after Moses.
God helped Joshua to lead the Israelites well and to win the Canaanites.
God always stayed with Joshua and made him do amazing things.

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There was a time when Joshua sent two spies to Jericho from Shittim.
They were about to be found out but God protected them through a woman named Rahab. So they safely came back to Israel.

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In order to enter Canaan, the Israelites had to pass through the Jordan River. However, since it was the rainy season, the water over flooded but through a miracle, God made them cross the river.

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Even in the war with the big and strong Jericho, God helped Joshua. The Israelites followed the words of God and walked around Jericho one time a day for 6 days. Then, on the seventh day, they walked around for seven times and shouted. At that moment, God made Jericho's walls fall down and made the Israelites win the battle.

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However, the Israelites once greatly lost in the battle with Ai, which is much smaller than Jericho. That was because a man named Achan disobeyed the words of God and stole things in Jericho. Because of this sin, God did not help them and they lost the battle.

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From that, Joshua and the Israelites learned how much God hates sins.
That is why, they punished Achan for his sin.
Then, God stayed with Joshua again and helped them destroy Ai.

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There was also a time when Joshua had a battle with an allied army that came to destroy Gibeon, a allied country of Israel. However, when they almost won the battle, the sun was about to go down. So Joshua ordered the sky.

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"Sun, stop on Gibeon. Moon, stop over the Valley of Aijalon." God listened to this prayer of Joshua. So, an amazing miracle of stopping the sun and moon happened and the Israelites won the battle.

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Joshua conquered the whole land of Canaan and that Joshua only served God for his whole life. All his families also served God only. Joshua was a great model of how a leader should be to the Israelites.

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Joshua did great things but he also became old as time passed by.
Joshua knew that he had only a little time left so he gathered all the tribes of Israel to a place named Shechem.

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Joshua started a speech in front of all of the Israelites. In that place, he told the Israelites how great God is. He told them how God had helped them from the time of Abraham until now. He told them everything that God had done for them.

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After his speech, Joshua told the people.
"Don't ever leave the God I told you today. Respect HIM, glorify HIM and serve only God. Do not serve idols that ancestors served when they were in Egypt."

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"Make up your mind in this place. Choose whether you will serve God or idols. Among you, there might be some who want to serve the idols. However, whatever you choose, my offspring and I will only serve God."

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Upon hearing the words of Joshua, the people said, "We would never throw away God. We will never serve other gods." That day, the Israelites promised in front of God that they would serve only God.

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Joshua wrote that day's events in the book of God. Then, he took a big stone and stood it under the oak tree, which was near the holy place. "Look at this stone. This stone is the prove of what we did today."

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Joshua died at 110 years old and went to heaven.
He was a true man of God who worshiped only God for his entire life.

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The Joshua who shouted, "Never leave God," to the Israelites is still telling the same thing to us. "Are you going to serve and follow only God?" Just like Joshua, let us all be men of faith who can confess in any situation “Me and my house will only serve God."

(You can change the conclusion of this sermon best suiting to your listeners of this sermon. We want to make it clear that the provided conclusion is only a sample conclusion provided by CTM.)