"Serve the Lord"

Pastor Akin examines Joshua's final words to the Israelites as a call to serve the Lord exclusively. He identifies four ways to serve God, beginning with serving Him with fear - not out of terror, but out of reverence and respect because of who God is and what He has done. This means serving God because you want to, not because you have to. Second, believers must serve with sincerity, being real rather than fake, maintaining integrity in public and private. Third, Christians should serve with devotion, avoiding 'light switch Christianity' where God is compartmentalized and turned on or off depending on circumstances. The pastor emphasizes that serving God requires a daily choice and cannot be postponed for a more convenient time.

In this message:

Serving God with fear means serving Him because you want to, not because you have to.Serving with sincerity means being real and not fake, maintaining the same character in public and private.You cannot serve God at church and then live differently in other areas of your life.Joshua challenges people to choose this day whom they will serve - there is no middle ground.God will not tolerate neutrality - you cannot straddle the fence between serving God and serving other things.