Ron Dunn Podcast - Cycle of Commitment

Episode Date: August 12, 2026

In this message, Ron challenges us to examine what may be standing in the way of fully serving God. True commitment requires us to put aside the things that distract, hinder, or compete with our devotion to Him.

But I want you to open your Bibles to the book of Joshua, chapter 24, the last chapter in Joshua. Joshua chapter 24. And those of you that have been here each morning will hopefully remember and realize that we've been, our general theme has been on the victory in the Christian life using the book of Joshua as a backdrop or as a basis. And as I said on the first day, Joshua is a kind of picture. It is God putting into picture form, an object lesson of what it means for us to move out of the land of the wilderness of Christian defeat and just average living into the fullness of salvation that God has for us.

The interesting thing is, though, that even in the land of the land of God, Canaan. You are not entirely safe and secure. It may be that we get the idea that once the Israelites entered into Canaan, that from then on out there were no more battles to be fought, no more rivers to be crossed, or mountains to be climbed, but such is not the case. even after entering in to the promised land and coming into the fullness of blessings that God has for us, there are still areas in which we grow, there are still barriers to overcome in battles to be fought. And one of the greatest dangers and temptations that face us is of taking for granted the land of Canaan. And the same thing is true, of course, in the life of a believer, in the life of a church.

If we're not careful, if God so blesses us in an unusual and mighty way, and we have some great experience, the Lord shows us some tremendous truth that we begin to just take for granted the blessings of God, and do not realize that all of our Christian life is a life of continuing growth and continuing commitment. Now, when a person comes to the Lord Jesus, I believe that in the act of salvation or in the act of dedication or commitment, we give to the Lord all that we know of ourselves, to all that we know of Him. And we may think, well, that settles it because I have accepted Christ for all that he is, and I have committed to him everything that I am.

The only problem is that as time goes on, we discover some things about ourselves that we did not know previously. We discover some things about the Lord that we did not know previously, and we come to find that there is far more involved in this matter of living, for Jesus than we first realized. I do not believe that God gives us the whole truth at once.

I don't think we would be able to take it. I don't think we would be able to comprehend it. There is in the Bible what is called progressive revelation, and that simply means that God unveiled a man a religious truth as man was able to bear it. That's why you have the Old Testament, and that's why you have phrases such as when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son. God was educating the human race so that they would get to the point where they would be able to receive and comprehend what God was doing and sending forth the Messiah.

Now, the same principle is true in the Christian life. You remember what our Lord said to his disciples, I have yet many things to say unto you, but you are not yet able to bear them. And when the Holy Spirit has come, he shall bring to your remembrance whatsoever things that I have told you. And you'll find occasionally in the Gospels and other places, little references like the disciples remembered that the Lord when he was with them had spoken of this. Well, at the time that he spoke of it, of course, they didn't understand it.

When they came down from the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus had with him three of his disciples, James and John and Peter, and you remember his caution. He said to them, see that you tell no man. Don't say anything about what's happened until after the resurrection. Well, why not? why didn't he want them to say anything about it? Well, because they really didn't know what had happened.

They had had an experience, but they did not fully understand it, and they were not qualified to speak on it. So he said, you just hide it in your heart, keep it to yourselves, and then after I am raised and the Spirit of God comes, he will give you insight and illumination, and then you'll be able to accurately explain, what happens. I think we see this happen in our own lives at times we have an experience with the Lord and we jump right up and begin talking about that experience. And then later on we discover

that perhaps we did not interpret that experience quite accurately. You see, man has a fatal tendency and that tendency is that we can always accurately evaluate everything God. does in our lives. And the truth of the matter is, we cannot. There have been many things that God has done in my life, and at the time I evaluated it or interpreted it in one way, and only to find out later that that was not what God was doing, and I had to go back and re-evaluate and re-terputed it. And so this is why, of course, Paul says that we're to lay hands on no man's suddenly, in other words, give the fellow time to grow. I think one of the greatest disservice

we do sometimes to new Christians, especially if they are in the celebrity class, is that before they've ever had a chance to grow or develop, we thrust them out, and they find themselves in positions of leadership, and yet they themselves have not had time to grow. It's one of the worst things that can happen to them. I remember one man coming to them,

to me after several years in a church, and he said, you know, one of the worst things that ever happened to me was when I was made a deacon. And I asked him what he meant by that, and he said, well, I had just been converted, just fresh, saved. I didn't know beans about the Bible of the Christian life, but I was a new Christian, and they right off made me a deacon. And he said, it ruined me, because people were suddenly expected. far more of me than I was able to give. I was expected to know things, and I was expected to give counsel and advice and to lend guidance to the work of the church, and he said, I was just a babe in Christ, and he said it just about ruined me. And so even after we have been in the land,

there needs to be what I will call an updating of our commitment, a constant updating of our commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in Joshua chapter 24, Joshua has gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and has called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and for their judges and for their officers and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said unto all the people, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time. Even Therah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nacor, and they served other gods. And then in the next verses all the way to verse 13, Joshua is simply reminding the people of where God has brought them, all that God has done for them. Now we want to begin

with the 14th verse because here is the turning point in this speech, and it is the point of application after he rehearses with the people all that God has done for them, he says in verse 14, now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amarites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Now, this is not an initial call to service. It's not an initial call for these Israelites to dedicate their lives to the Lord, but rather it is a, well, how's the best way to put it? He's asking them to reenlist, really. It is a call for them to update their commitment. Now, there is one interesting note that I think we need to. to observe before we get into this. He says, he uses the expression in that 14th verse, put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood.

Now, he's referring to the gods of Egypt. He's referring to those gods that their ancestors served in Egypt and even in the wilderness. Now, it is important to remember that these people to whom Joshua was addressing these words have never been to Egypt, never set foot in Egypt, with exception of Joshua himself and Caleb, they're the only two. All that generation that came out of Egypt have long since died. These people have never been in Egypt, and yet Joshua says you need to put it. put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the river, the gods of Egypt.

How in the world could it be that these folks never having been in Egypt are still bothered by the gods of Egypt? Joshua knows that even though there is a 40-year separation between these people and the gods of Egypt, yet some of the roots of those gods are still in their hearts. It's like weeds. You can weed out a garden and to such an extent that you stand back and look at it and there's not a single evidence that there was ever a weed there. But you give it time, they'll sprout up again. The roots are always there and you have to keep coming back time and time again and read weeding the garden and taking out the roots. The same thing is true in the Christian life.

It may have been 40 years or more since you came to Jesus Christ and since you put away the gods of Egypt and the gods of the old world, but I've got news for you, the roots are still there. And no matter how long you walk with Christ, there is going to have to be a constant re-weeding of your life because they'll sprout up again and again. again and again. And so Joshua knows the human heart, and he knows these people that he's leading, and even though 40 years stand between them and the actual gods of Egypt, yet there's still shadows there, the roots are still there, and every once in a while one sprouts up, and so he says you need to put away the gods of Egypt. And so this is a call for recommitment. I like to call

it the cycle of commitment. And I believe in the Christian life we move in cycles, just as in nature moves in cycles. I think the Christian life moves in cycles, and there are those occasions when you and I need to update our commitment to Jesus Christ. Now, Joshua gives them three basic commands. He says in that 14th verse, now therefore, fear the Lord and serve him. in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord. And notice those three commands. First of all, he says, fear of the Lord, second, serve him, and then number three, put away

the gods which your father served on the other side of the flood. So we'll just look at those, and they are couched in Old Testament terminology, but it's still New Testament truth. How do I update my commitment? How do I make certain the cycle of commitment is unbroken? Well, the first thing he says is fear the Lord. Fear the Lord. Now, we'll not take the time to do it this morning, but it would be a very interesting study. for you to get a bible concordance and just go through and jot down every reference to our

fearing the Lord. I guess I could safely say that the paramount attitude of the Old Testament as far as my relationship to God is concerned would be summed up in the word fear. Fear in the Old Testament is what faith is. in the New Testament. In the New Testament era, the Christian era, in this dispensation, if I had to sum up in one word, everything that God demands from me and everything that God expects of me,

I would choose the word faith. That is man's response. Everything that God expects of me in response can some be summed up in that word faith. But if you go to the Old Testament, you'll not find the word faith very often. Rarely will you find the word faith. The word in the Old Testament is the word fear. Fear, fear the Lord.

The proper attitude that I am to have towards God in Old Testament terminology is that of fear. In the New Testament, the word, and actually boils down to the same thing, but the word there is faith. Now, what does the Bible mean by fear when it says that we are to fear the Lord? I was talking about something like this along this line some time ago when the gentleman came up afterwards and took really a really strong issue with this idea of fearing the Lord. And I said that just seems to be contradictory to a God of love.

and we're taught that we ought to love God and that God is love, how can you then turn around and say that we ought to fear him? Well, I think the explanation is to be found in the various kinds of fears. There's more than one kind of fear. There is a superstitious fear. This is the kind of fear that's afraid to walk under a ladder or throw a hat on the bed or kind of gets scared when a black cat walks across you.

and I'm amazed at how many Christians are overwhelmed by superstitious fear. I was up in Wichita, Kansas a few years back and starting a conference, and pastor met me at the airport, and he said, did you bring any tape albums with you? And I said, well, yes, sir, I did. He said, well, don't you have a series of tapes on the devil and demons and the cult and supernatural and such as that. And I said, well, yes, sir, I do. I've got a few.

I don't have all of them with me, but I've got a few of them. He said, well, how much are they? I said, well, they're $13. He said, well, I'd like to have them. And so I dug out in the Trump and brought out those tapes. And so he pulled out his checkbook and he said, is it all right if I make that check for $12 and owe you a dollar? And I said, well, I guess so.

I said, but why? He said, I just don't write checks for $13. I said, what? Now, this is a Baptist preacher I'm talking to. Should have given him the tapes. He needed them. And I said, what? He said, I just don't believe in writing a check for $13.

I don't want to write a check for $13. He said, let me write you. a check for 12 and I'll owe you a dollar. I said, I got a better idea. You write it for 14 and I'll owe you a dollar. And you know what? He did. He wrote me a check for $14 and then I gave him a dollar back. Now that is a Baptist preacher and he was buying a set of tapes that had to do with demons and the occult and superstition and all of that. But that man was just as sincere as he could be. we took one of these trips over to Switzerland a few years ago and we were flying out of Geneva back to New York

we were sitting there in the airport and suddenly somebody came rushing up and said you know what the number of our flight is and I said no I don't know he said it's 666 that's the number of our flight I said, so? He said, we can't get on that plane. And we almost had a mutiny on our hands. I mean, that fella, he wasn't about to board that plane flight 666. I said, well, if you want to sit here in this airport until tomorrow, that's fine, but I'm getting on that plane 666 or 777 or no matter what. I know one pastor, they had an evangelist, went to a church for a revival meeting, and the meeting was a meeting was a dud, not much happened, and God is my witness, he told me, he said, I'll tell you the reason

why God didn't bless that meeting. I said, why? He said, the pastor was driving a Plymouth Demon. Remember when Plymouth automobile used to make these little cars called Demon? I've got a good friend, his wife, as a preacher, his wife was invited to a covered dish luncheon, and so she walked in that day with her dish, and this woman, said, oh, and what did you bring? She said, I brought deviled eggs. And that woman flung out her hands, and she said, I bind that in the name of Jesus Christ. And this woman said, well, you can bind it all you want to, but they're still deviled eggs. Now, folks, that borders a little on the ridiculous. You understand I do believe in the devil and I believe in all, you know, that there is a real

force of evil in the world. But we can deliver ourselves again into bondage. And I say something about this in that faith book on the matter of confession. I'm afraid some folks are binding themselves in bondage and delivering themselves in bondage because of superstitious fear, superstitious fear. This negative confession and positive confession, I'd rather be around a positive thinker than a negative thinker, but sometimes it gets so ridiculous. I got in the car one night with some friends after preaching. I was just worn out.

And I flumped in the back seat, and I said, man, I am just bushed. And that woman wheeled around, she said, that's a negative confession. Well, to me it was a very honest confession. I was. I am confident that some of these dear souls, had they been at the crucifixion, when Jesus cried out, I thirst, they would have rebuked him for making a negative confession. You know, you can just go for it. I had one person tell me, God strike me dead if I'm not telling the truth,

said that if you and I just casually, if I were to just casually say, you know, I'm just afraid one of these days I might get cancer. They say at that moment you give the devil the power to give you cancer, and he didn't otherwise have it. But you said it, and whatever you say, you'll get, and if you just offhandedly, not even meaning it, say, you know, oh, I better watch out, or I might trip and break my leg. The devil then has been given the authority to break your leg, which he did not otherwise have.

Now, folks, that's neither healthy nor scriptural, you know. And there is a superstitious fear, and there's a lot of that going around, and that's not what the Bible means. When it says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom, I do not call that wisdom. There is superstitious fear, and that's not what the Bible is talking about. Then there is what we might call servile fear or slavish fear. It's the kind of fear that a slave has concerning a cruel master.

It's the kind of fear that cowers in front of somebody because you're afraid of how badly they will treat you. That has nothing to do with this kind of fear. Then there is scriptural fear. there is that fear which is reverence, the godly fear. When the Bible says we are to fear of the Lord, it is that kind of fear that loves God and respects God and reverences God so much,

I'd rather die than disappointing. I'd rather die than break his heart. I'd rather die than disobeying. I have a wife, and I have a wife, and I fear her. I don't mean I'm afraid of her. But I'd rather do just about anything than disappoint her, than break her heart.

I have two children, and I'd like for them to think that I'm the greatest person in all the world, not a thing in the world along with that. And I'd rather drop dead tonight than this morning than ever do anything that would cause my children to lose confidence in me and think that I'm not the kind of person that I ought to be. That's the kind of fear.

It is a kind of fear that has God, holds God in such reverence and respect and awe that you want to please them. That's what it is. I think you could translate the word fear reverential awe. Someone asked Gypsy Smith, the old evangelist in his later years. Gypsy Smith seemed to always be excited, even as he came to the end of his life. He never lost his excitement about the work of the Lord. And reporter asked him one day, how do you explain that?

And Gypsy Smith said, I never lost the wonder. I never lost the wonder of what God has done for him and what God is. And sad to say, great many of us lose the wonder, and we lose the awesomeness. and there needs to be that reverential fear, that respect, that holds God in respect. I've never appreciated it. I always cringe when somebody talks about God that's being the man upstairs and good old God, and he's my pal and he's my buddy. I don't think you talk to the Lord that way.

I think there's a certain amount of respect, a certain amount of reverence we give to him, And it is this kind of reverence and respect and love that we had rather do anything other than disobeying and displeasing. So he says, fear the Lord. Now, this is an attitude of life. It's not so much an activity, but rather it is the attitude that is to pervade our life. Now, the other two commands that Joshua gives are practical expressions of this fear. If you fear the Lord, then you will do such and so.

The first one is serving. He says, fear the Lord and serve him. Now notice he says, serve him in sincerity and in truth. We are to serve the Lord. This is the positive issue of fear. In other words, all the days of the days of God, of our life, there are going to be other claimants for our service. To find this today, as you go through the day, there are going to be others who are claiming

your time and claiming your service, claiming your loyalty, and you're going to have to make a decision, who am I going to serve, who am I going to be loyal to today, who am I going to give my time to today in serving. If I fear of the Lord, if I hold Him in the high, highest regard and highest respect, then I'll make certain that my loyalty goes to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the positive issue of fear. Now he says we're to fear him in two ways. I serve him in two ways. First of all, we're to serve him in sincerity and in truth. First of all, we're to serve him in sincerity. Best way I know to define that word sincerity is what you see is what you get. It simply means that the external agrees with the internal.

It simply means that there is a perfect harmony between what I am doing and what I really am on the inside. There's a little verse over in 1 John that says, and I'm sure you've covered it when you went through 1st John, I believe it's in chapter 4, where he says, my little children love not only in deed, but also in truth. We are to love in deed, and we are to love in truth or in sincerity.

Now, what does he mean by that? Well, he's just got through saying that if the love of God dwells in us, how is it that we can shut up the bowels of compassion against a brother? If we see a brother in need and we lock up the gates of our compassion and we don't give to meet that need, then how dwelleth the love of God in us? we are to love, not unword only, but also indeed. It's one thing to say, well, God bless you, brother, go thy way, be warmed and filled. But if you don't give them what they need, that's just hypocrisy.

He said, do not love in word only. It's easy to love in word. What's that little couplet that says, loving the world to me is no chore. My biggest trouble is the neighbor next door. it's easy to come to church and love the people that are separated from us by an ocean, love the poor heathen, but it's another matter of loving the neighbor across the street. He says love, not in word only, but love indeed. In other words, do something about it, do something about it.

I love to read biographies, and it's always interesting to read the biographies of these old Puritans. And John Bright, I don't know if you ever heard the name or not, He's not one of the more famous Puritans, but there was a man by the name of John Bright, lived in a little village, and one day he came down the village, and there was the local spit and whittle club, I guess you'd call it,

these men sitting out on the front porch, and they were all bemoaning the fact that some tragedy had struck some brother. His house had burned down, and he had lost all of his possessions. They were so sorry, and they were just, oh, isn't that too bad? that's just so sorry. And John Bright stood there for a while, listening to them,

and then he took off that broad-brimmed hat that they wore, and he started passing it around. He said, how sorry are you? Just how sorry are you? In other words, he was saying it's easy to sit here in love and word, but you're to love in word and indeed. And then John adds love not only in word only, but also indeed and in truth.

In other words, you may say, okay, I'm going to love indeed, and I'm going to give an offering, I'm going to help this spell out, but I sure don't want to. I sure don't want to. Pressure's been put upon me, and everybody will think I'm a stingy fellow if I don't give. And so really, my actions are not in harmony with what I feel in my heart. You see, you love indeed and in truth. truth. There ought to be a perfect harmony between what I am doing with my hands and what I feel in my heart, that the action of my hand is the expression of my heart. Now, I do not appreciate

letters that I receive from various organizations wanting me to make donations who appeal to guilt. Now, there are organizations that I contribute to, and there are some missionaries that we try to help, and as God leads, we try to do these things, but every once in a while, not every once in a while, practically every day I get letters from certain organizations, certain people, and they're about to go under, you know, about to go off the air and all of this sort of stuff, and they always appeal to guilt. They appeal to your guilt. And they'll say, if you don't give, why then 30,000 people are going to hell. I got one letter from a fellow, told me how many people he had led to Christ that previous year. And I think it was to

3,000 people he had led to Christ. And what it boiled down to is if I didn't send him $25 a month, next year those people wouldn't be brought to Christ. You know, what he was doing was appealing to guilt. And as I threw his little note in the waste basket, I thought, well, there go 30,000 people to hell. I'm, you know, but I knew what he was doing. He was appealing to the baser motive of a person. He was laying a guilt trip on you. That is an unworthy motive, my dear friend.

And I couldn't love in word and indeed. There ought to be a perfect harmony between what I'm doing with my hands and what is the real feeling of my heart. This is what Joshua says. He says, when you serve the Lord, you serve him in sincerity. In other words, what you see is what you get. You're not serving him because you're afraid if you don't serve him, he's going to hit you over the head with something or punish you're chasing.

But there is the desire. You really mean it. This is a sincere act of service. You really do mean it. serving him in sincerity, and then he says, serve him in truth. Interesting thing, that word truth. Did you realize that's the same word found in Joshua, chapter 2 and verse 12? Let's go back to Joshua chapter 2 and verse 12.

Rehab is speaking. She says, now therefore I pray you, she's talking to these two spies. swear unto me by the Lord, since I have showed you kindness, that you will also show kindness unto my father's house and give me a true token. And the word translated a true token is the same word that is used 22 chapters later by Joshua when he says, serve the Lord in truthfulness.

It means when she said, give me a true token, what she was saying was give me something I can rely on. Give me a token that I can count on, that I can rely on, that I can have confidence in. I think a good way to translate that word truth would simply be faithfulness, faithfulness. In other words, my service to the Lord is to be something the Lord. can rely on. Steadfastness, faithfulness of service. It's a matter of the Lord relying on me,

depending upon me, has the idea of faithfulness, being held to the task, not by slavish fear or superstitious fear, but this reverential fear that makes me faithful. so we are to serve him exclusively and exclusively. You see, he says in verse 15, and if it seem evil to you to serve the Lord,

the word evil there simply means to be good for nothing. And I'm afraid that there are many people that think that serving the Lord's a waste of time and it's good for nothing, but he said, if it seem evil for you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve. but as for me in my house, we will serve the Lord. Now the third one.

The attitude with which you and I are live is fear of the Lord. The positive expression of that fear is service, loyalty to him, in sincerity and in truth. Now there is a negative aspect of it, and it is this. Put away the gods which your father served. on the other side of the flood and in Egypt and serve the Lord. Now, there's a very interesting thing that happens. Verse 16, and the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods.

For the Lord our God, he it is, that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage and which did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way wherein we went and among all the people passed through whom we, and all the people through whom we passed. And the Lord drove out from before us all the people, even the Amarites, which dwelt in the land.

Therefore, will we also serve the Lord for He is our God? Now, isn't that a tremendous response? Joshua was just given the invitation. He preached a little sermon, gave an invitation, He says, all right, now, who will serve the Lord? For me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord, and anybody else wants to while you do it. And immediately, all the people, I mean the whole bunch,

whole congregation, they jumped up and ran down to the altar and said, we're going to serve God, we're going to serve God. Now, notice what Joshua said in verse 19. Joshua said, into the people, you cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions. nor your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt

and consume you. After that, he hath done you good. Now, that's a strange preacher, isn't it? Gives an invitation, said everybody come forward and serve the Lord, and the whole bunch turns out, comes down front, serves the Lord, and they get down there, and he said, you can't do it. You can't serve the Lord. Do you know what he was saying? He was saying, not so quick. Hold on there. Joshua knew these folks by now, and he saw that their response was a lighthearted, flippant, careless response that had not been thought through. In other words, people weren't taking it seriously enough. And I'm afraid that we may not be taking all this business seriously enough. He says, you cannot serve God.

Why? Because he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. And he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. Now, what's he talking about? He's talking about the transgressions and the sins that they commit in making a premature commitment, a lighthearted commitment. Oh, yeah, we'll serve God. Yeah, we're ready. Where do we sign up? We'll serve God. wait just a minute. You may not be taking this seriously, but God is. And God expects you to pay your vows and to keep up your commitments, and he won't lightly forgive your transgression and lying to him or for your sins. But the people were insistent in verse 21, and the people said unto Joshua,

nay, but we will serve the Lord. And Joshua said into the people, you are witnesses against yourselves that you've chosen the Lord to serve him. And they said, we are witnesses. You don't find many invitations like that today. But in verse 23, he calls for proof. He said, all right, if you really mean it, therefore put away the strange gods which are among you. You see, Joshua knew that when they said,

yes we'll serve god and great many of them had no intention of putting away the strange gods and he says all right if you really prove want to prove that you're going to serve him and that you fear him he said you put away your strange gods and incline your heart unto the lord that's a picturesque word in the Hebrew it means stretch it out. Stretch out your heart, bend your heart to the Lord. It's the picture of a flower that reaches for the sun, for life. He said, you incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel. And the people said unto Joshua, well, our God, will we serve? And his voice will we obey. We will serve the Lord. He said, you can't. You can't. You think about it. You think about it. I have often seen it happen in meetings.

On the first night, somebody comes down, makes a decision. I mean, they're the first ones pop out of the pew, come down, come down, make a decision. and then later on the week as God begins to really get close and begins to deal, this person comes down again and said when I came down the other night, I really didn't know what I was doing and really didn't understand it. And I'm coming tonight and I mean business. And that's when it makes a difference. That's when it makes a difference. He says, you prove it.

Prove that you're going to serve him. And you prove it by putting away your false dogs. Putting away your false dogs. And so here is what Joshua was saying. They're already in the land. Already in the land. Already in victory. They're already living.

The spirit-filled life. But he says, you never get beyond the basis. basics. And every once in a while you're going to have to update your walk with Jesus. You have to update it. And I can tell you that I have to update mine. You're going to have to update yours. I don't care how strong your decision was 10 years ago, 15 years ago, friend. There had a lot happened since then. You've learned some things about yourself and gone through some things. things. And so you're going to have to update it all over again and involves these three things fear of the Lord. And I'm going to be honest with this morning. I have more fear of God this morning

than I had 10 years ago. The Lord's done some things that have increased that fear. I have a lot more respect and reverence for God now than I had 10, 12, 15 years ago. And I expect that 10, 15 years more, I'll still have a little bit more fear and respect for him. And I find I still have to keep putting away those false gods. I thought I'd put them away once and for all. Those cotton-picking weed just keep on sprouting up, and I have to keep putting them away. And I have to keep serving the Lord,

and I want to tell you something, I have to keep working on this sincerity bit. I have to make certain that what I'm doing on the outside is a true reflection of what I feel on the inside. And so you have to keep updating. That is the cycle of commitment, the cycle of commitment, fear of the Lord, serve him in sincerity and in truth, and to prove it, you put away the false gods that are in your life.

All right, let's pray together.