Choose

deuteronomy can't talk amen deuteronomy chapter 7 reads for thou art in verse 6 reads for thou art and holy people i wish some of us would understand who we are we are a holy people unto the lord thy god the lord thy god hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that are upon the face of the earth verse 7 says the lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you because you are more in number than any people he didn't choose you because you were something special he didn't choose you because there was something great about you necessarily for you are the fewest of all people he said verse 8 but because the lord loved you brother horton that's why we have pain the lord loved you and because he would keep his oath which he had sworn unto your fathers hath the lord brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondment it's because he loved me that i am chosen and i'm no longer bound by the things of this world all throughout exodus leviticus numbers and deuteronomy the scripture points out something about god see god is a choosing god he chooses long before there's ever a situation where a choice has to be made see long before we ever needed needed ourselves to be some of god's chosen people guess what he had already chosen us long before we ever needed a place to come together and worship him the word says time and time again god has chosen a place read all throughout deuteronomy exodus leviticus numbers you will see that phrase time and time again that god has chosen a people and god has chosen a place he ordained moments painful moments that altered the course of an entire people he ordained a place in which in which location his people would worship him i understand that long before a cornerstone apostolic church arrived at this juncture in time god already had chosen the place where worship was going to happen he has already designated our destination where his people will gather together and magnify his glorious name you were chosen you were selected to be here in this hour to be here this day god does not operate on coincidence if you think god is a god of coincidence finding the word where it happens and show me and i will agree with you you were chosen you were selected to be here in this moment god is choosing about the who god is choosy about the where and god is choosy about the wind god already has these things ordained and orchestrated and put in place he understood he was choosing brother justin about the pains that we've experienced god knows his scripture says time and time again that he knows where we're at he's not going to break us he knows what we can handle but he knows there's a purpose in him in joshua chapter 24 the people of israel are reminded of the things god did for them as joshua is kind of fading off into the next phase of his journey he calls all the leaders together and he says thus saith the lord verse 4 he goes on to tell him i gave unto isaac jacob and esau i gave unto esau mount sayer to possess it but jacob and his children went down into egypt he made a choice i sent moses also and aaron i plagued egypt according to that which i did among them and afterward i brought you out and i brought your fathers out of egypt and you came unto the sea and the egyptians pursued after your father's with chariots and horsemen unto the red sea long before what what what's happening here is god is reminding the children of israel what has already happened in their life he's already reminded he's reminding them of all the pains and heartbreaks and issues they've come in contact with he's reminding them hey there was no way out for you you were here because the choices you made you were slaves you were you were bound and yet here comes the people of egypt after you you had no way to turn i want you to remember israel that when there was no way out i came with your miraculous deliverance when there was no hope i brought hope when you had no chance of success i saved you he goes on to say in verse 7 when they cried unto the lord he put darkness between you and the egyptians it brought the sea upon them and covered them your eyes have seen what i have done in egypt and you dwelt in the wilderness a long season can i tell you this afternoon god is reminding the people of israel that when you had no protection i was your protection when you doubted me i was still by your side when you went through heartaches and pains and you didn't know where to turn i was still there god through all of this was providing for them everything that they would ever possibly need he gave them food he gave them shelter he gave them deliverance from a famine in egypt all the while they're turning their back on him they're beginning to worship the gods of egypt around them and god is still saying hey i'm here i want you to remember i never left you i protected you verse 8 reads and i brought you into the land of the amorites which dwelt on the other side of jordan and they fought with you anybody ever been fought with by the forces of the enemy and i gave them unto your hand that ye might possess their land that i didn't deserve and i destroyed them from before you then balak the son of zipper king of moab arose and ward against israel and satan called balaam the son of bayor to curse you but i would not hearken unto balaam therefore he blessed you still so i delivered you out of his hand you went over jordan and came unto chericho and the men of jericho fought against you y'all remember the story of jericho the men of jericho fought against you and the amorites and the parasites and the canaanites and the hittites and the gergicites and the hivites and the jebusites the word says and i remind he's reminding them again i delivered them into your hand remember this is a people that had no army they had no warriors because they had spent centuries in bondage they didn't know how to fight they didn't know how to carry weapons and yet still in all of this he goes on to say i sent the hornet before you which drained them out from before you and even the two kings of the amorites but not with sword thank you not with sword not with beau in other words you couldn't do it god helped to win victories they had no business winning god helped them to win victories we could not have won on our own come on think about your life this afternoon have you ever won some battles that there should have been no way you won have there ever been diagnoses that the doctor said there's no hope for but yet you're sitting here able to lift your hands and magnify god come on as he has he ever helped you to win a battle you didn't deserve the win has he ever helped you win over something and overcome emotional struggles has he ever helped you cover come physical ailments come on this is the god that protects us this is a god that fights for us this is a god that delivers us when we don't deserve it what's even more awesome about this is god reminds them anybody ever felt so beat down you could even lift your voice to pray and yet somehow you came out on the other side somehow little lorenzo we were victorious i couldn't even lift my hands to fight and yet still my god for me oh i love these reminders of how great god is verse 13 says i've given you a land for which you did not labor this came to my mind last sunday at the end of service wrestled with this 24 48 hours because i felt like this was a prophetic word pastor hadn't even asked me to speak today but i felt god speaking this word not just to me but to this church pastor please correct me if i'm out of line but listen to this verse and i have given you a land for which he did not labor i've allowed you to possess a city which you did not build you dwell in it and the vineyards and the olive yards the sustenance that comes from it you didn't plan but i provided it for you listen here's what i felt in my spirit and i'm going to continue on pastor i'm sorry for the time here i felt that when the time comes we're going to walk into a city and begin to magnify god in that city which we did not build we're going to reap the benefits and the substance from it which we didn't plan god made this same statement to the children of israel reminding him that the promised land they stepped into was not something they worked in it was not something they built on their own they should not have overcome it they should have not possessed it and yet god made a way oh yeah 2020 was painful 2021 has been painful 2022 has been painful but oh i wish somebody would understand there's a promised land we're about to possess as individuals and as a body that we did not build but god has already begun working god has already begun moving foreign what promise has been waiting across the horizon for you to receive what is god spoken into your life which you don't deserve they didn't have to build anything they didn't have to plan anything but because god shows them they were blessed with facilities they did not deserve they were blessed with a land that they did not have to fight for they were blessed with sustenance that they did not plant because god chose them and if he did it before if god has done it before not just he can brother lorenzo god will do it again if he did it before he can and will do it again verse 14 i'm hurrying here now therefore fear the lord reminding them of everything god then says to them serve him with sincerity and in truth put away the gods your fathers have served on the other side of the flood and in egypt and serve ye the lord after being reminded of everything that they had experienced and been delivered from god said it's time for you to make a choice it's time for you to make a choice i can tell you time after time after time in my life when i made bad decisions i made poor choices i turned my back on the things i knew god wanted me to do and yet somehow samuel in all of that god always protected me he helped me win battles i should not have been winning because let's face it i made poor decisions but he says in verse 15. and if it seemed evil to you if it seemed evil to you because you don't have everything that you possibly want because you experience this pain because you experience this heartbreak because everything's not going just like you want it to if it seem evil unto you to serve the lord this day whom you will serve whether the gods of your fathers that were on the other side of the flood or the god of the amorites whose land and you dwell but as for me and my house it's for me and my house i remember where god saved me from i remember what we went through in the wilderness i remember the battles that we should not have won so you make your choice but i can tell you here today as for me and my house i'm going to choose god 100 of the time in the verses that follow they forge a commitment to the things of god they promise to put off all other gods and anything that is contrary to the way god is chosen and joshua then outlines for them what will happen if they turn around from the commitment can i tell you this afternoon and i'm i'm hurrying brother robin you're able to come here's the issue we don't deserve what god has done for us but you know what in spite of it all by proximity god blesses look in the old testament when the ark of the covenant came into the house of the philistine god and then went to house of a benadam they were blessings from proximity and a lot of us have been recipients of the blessings of being around god's chosen we come on sundays some wednesdays we we might get together with the connect group and as a result of that we experience the blessings of being part of god's chosen but many of us have never chosen god see he chose us we choose career we choose possession we choose tradition but we don't choose god and what happens is these these people of israel that promised joshua all these amazing things that are going to happen they're going to hold to it they're going to be strong in a commitment if you turn to the book of judges in judges chapter 1 joshua dies by judges chapter 2. the bible says not not me that those did not choose for their house when that first generation that knew joshua died off the people of israel being in a go a different direction read it judges chapter 2 and chapters two and three you read about everything that happened following that and here's the other thing that a lot of people forget or miss is that the people that possess the promised land that were supposed to be conquered children of israel were supposed to conquer them all after joshua's death and the death of this generation the bible says they remained who gave the israelites the most problems after their escape from egypt philistines they were number one but all throughout the book of judges it's about trying to fix things where the people did not choose with 100 to follow god i'm making a plea this afternoon when we choose god the pain makes sense when we choose god the battles we should never win become a lot more promising that we're going to be victorious when we choose god we commit to him and we follow through on the commitment god opens up the windows of heaven and pours out blessings upon us that we can't fathom but we have to choose this day with me this afternoon as parents our job is to protect our kids through their formative years when they make mistakes we do everything we can to look out for them i remember time and time again my dad having to go to bat for me because i didn't know when to keep my mouth closed keep a neighborhood kid from pummeling me that was his job but there came a time in my life where my dad looked across the table at me and said you're 18 now i will always be here for you but if you choose a different path that i can't follow you on i can't protect you i i can't go after you if you choose to abandon what we have taught you about the faith i love you but i can't pursue you much like the bible and god's multiple parallels to being our father there's been times he's protected us because of what we're around because we've been growing and we've been developing but i wish somebody would hear the urging of the spirit this afternoon hear the words of joshua speaking as a mouthpiece of god it's not evil to serve god but today is a day you must choose oh i i gave in the offering a few weeks ago for the building fund i i've done this and i've done that i want somebody to hear today it's time to choose and say you know what going behind just what i expect from being proximity god as for me and my house as for me and my house we're going to serve you with everything god if i can't if i can't do something extra i'm willing to pay for it god i'm willing to put the commitment in because god i want the promises that are still awaiting me on the other side oh i wish we'd bow our heads right now for just a moment come on could you slip a hand up to heaven right now this is a searching moment god search our hearts right now god help us remember all the things you've done for us on this side in just a moment god we're gonna have the opportunity to let our words and our actions demonstrate a choice we're making to put aside all of these other things to put aside all the hurt to put aside all the pain to put aside all all the doubt god this seems to well up inside of us help us lord jesus right now come on i wonder if all over this place if we can make our way around this altar come on make a real choice today choose today that no matter what comes my way no matter what battles i have to fight or what battles lay ahead of me i'm gonna choose you jesus because the pain has to have a purpose and that purpose lord only comes from choosing you hallelujah jesus come on lift your voices lift your hands if you feel it take a knee take a knee come on let's communicate right now with the father make our choice known this afternoon