As For Me And My House - Redemption Service - June 21, 2026

Joshua 24 brings Israel to Shechem at a huge turning point. Joshua gathers the leaders, elders, heads, judges, officers, and all the tribes, and he knows his chapter is ending. God speaks through Joshua by taking the people back through their own story, and the big word running through the history is “I.” God took Abraham from beyond the river, gave him Isaac, sent Moses and Aaron, plagued Egypt, brought the people through the sea, provided in the wilderness, and handed enemies over to them. The land itself stands as proof of grace, because Israel lives in cities they did not build and eats from vineyards and olive orchards they did not plant.

Joshua knows Israel’s greatest danger is no longer Jericho, the wilderness, or the people of Canaan. Joshua knows the danger is forgetting who God is and what God has done, especially now that life is settled and comfortable. Joshua roots the call to faithfulness in God’s faithfulness first. God’s past grace is meant to steady the heart when life looks grim and to stir worship before requests start spilling out. Romans 12 fits the same pattern: in view of God’s mercy, the body becomes a living sacrifice, not because grace has to be earned, but because mercy calls for surrender.

Joshua then presses the people to choose whom they will serve. Neutrality is just an illusion, because every heart is always choosing something. The gods beyond the river, the gods of Egypt, and the gods of the Amorites show how easily idols get collected along the way. The command to put them away is not casual cleaning; it is turning off the wrong road and heading back in the right direction. The wrong road may take effort to recover from, but going farther toward Wisconsin or California does not make sense when the destination is somewhere else.

The cockroach under the bed gives the same point. Joshua does not call Israel to reason with idols or let them keep a little corner in the house. The sunflower gives the better picture. The heart is meant to incline toward the Lord, to turn toward him like a flower following the sun, because Christ alone gives the energy, peace, and grace the soul needs.

Joshua’s words, “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord,” call leadership back to personal faithfulness. Biblical manhood is the glad acceptance of God-given responsibility for the good of others and the glory of God. Joshua refuses shallow enthusiasm and makes Israel count the cost. The witness stone and the stubborn weed both say the same thing: idols are easy to notice and hard to pull, but God alone is worthy of the whole heart.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Remember grace before making requests God’s faithfulness comes before the call to obedience, and Joshua makes Israel look backward before asking them to move forward. The believer who only brings requests can slowly lose sight of the mercy already received. Remembering grace does not deny hardship; it keeps hardship from becoming the lens through which God is judged. [35:03]
• 2. Neutrality is only an illusion Joshua will not let Israel pretend that divided loyalty is harmless. The heart always serves something, whether the mouth admits it or not. A person does not drift into devotion by accident, because hidden gods quietly shape desire, time, fear, and imagination. [45:25]
• 3. Pull idols up by the root Joshua’s command to put away idols is not a call to manage them better. The cockroach under the bed and the weed in the patio both show how foolish coexistence can be when something is stealing peace and growing unchecked. Real repentance names the rival, turns from the wrong road, and asks for help before the roots go deeper. [49:32]
• 4. Incline the heart like sunflowers The sunflower turning toward the sun gives a simple but searching picture of spiritual strength. The heart becomes healthy as it bends toward the Lord again and again, not just when life feels dramatic or desperate. Biblical strength is not self-sufficiency; it is a steady turning toward the One who gives grace, peace, and life. [52:32]
• 5. Lead where faith has actually gone Joshua’s household commitment starts with his own walk with the Lord. Spiritual leadership cannot be outsourced to a spouse, a church, or a school, because influence always points somewhere. The greatest legacy is not control over outcomes, but a life that makes Christ look worthy in ordinary rooms, ordinary failures, and ordinary faithfulness.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [23:07] - Sports Camp Celebration
• [25:44] - Father’s Day and Joshua 24
• [27:18] - What God Calls Men To Be
• [30:06] - Israel at a Turning Point
• [32:31] - The Danger of Forgetting
• [35:03] - Remember God’s Faithfulness
• [40:56] - Grace Driven Effort
• [43:21] - Choose Whom You Will Serve
• [46:04] - Put Away Rival Gods
• [52:32] - Incline Your Heart
• [55:03] - As for Me and My House
• [63:10] - Count the Cost
• [66:35] - Questions for the Heart
• [67:28] - Respond to Christ

Bible Reading

Joshua 24:1-28
Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel. And they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many. I gave him Isaac. And to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. And I gave Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt with what I did in the midst of it, and afterward I brought you out. Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea. And the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. And when they cried to the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians and made the sea come upon them and cover them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness a long time. Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan. They fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you. Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. And he sent and invited Balaam the son of Beor to curse you, but I would not listen to Balaam. Indeed, he blessed you. So I delivered you out of his hand. And you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho, and the leaders of Jericho fought against you, and also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And I gave them into your hand. And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites; it was not by your sword or by your bow. I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.’ Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond 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.” Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed. And the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.” But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord.” Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.” And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.” So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and put in place statutes and rules for them at Shechem. And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone and set it up there under the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.” So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance. [26:43] [33:03] [35:03] [43:15] [43:21] [55:03]

Romans 12:1-2
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. [42:20]

Matthew 6:24
No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. [45:25]

Colossians 3:1-2
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. [54:24]

Observation questions

1. In Joshua 24:1-13, what repeated word does God use as he retells Israel’s history, and what does that show about who carried Israel through each stage of the story? [35:03]
2. In Joshua 24:14-15, what specific options does Joshua place before the people, and what command is repeated around those options? [43:21]
3. What kinds of gods had Israel collected from different places along the way, and what does that reveal about the pull of surrounding cultures? [46:11]
4. In Joshua 24:23 and Colossians 3:1-2, what actions are connected to turning back to the Lord—both in what must be put away and in what the mind and heart must pursue? [54:24]

Interpretation questions

1. Joshua reminds the people of God’s mercy before calling them to obedience. Why is that order so important for the Christian life, and what tends to go wrong when obedience is separated from remembered grace? [42:20]
2. Joshua says, “choose this day whom you will serve,” and Jesus says no one can serve two masters. How do those passages challenge the idea that a person can stay spiritually neutral for very long? [45:25]
3. Joshua’s command to “put away” idols is stronger than simply managing them. What does real repentance seem to involve in this chapter, and why is partial surrender not enough? [49:32]
4. Joshua says, “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord,” but he also makes the people count the cost. What does that combination teach about spiritual leadership, sincerity, and the need for God’s help? [01:03:10]

Application questions

1. God’s faithfulness is easier to forget when life gets comfortable or distracting. What are some specific ways this group could remember grace before rushing into requests this week? [38:27]
2. Neutrality is only an illusion, and every heart is serving something. What rival to Christ is most likely to compete for attention, fear, time, or affection right now? [45:45]
3. Idols do not need to be managed; they need to be pulled up by the root. Is there something that needs more than a small adjustment and instead calls for a clear break, a confession, or a practical boundary? [51:36]
4. The heart is meant to incline toward the Lord like a sunflower toward the sun. What habits, settings, or moments in the day most help the heart turn toward Christ again? [52:43]
5. “As for me and my house” starts with personal faithfulness. For those with family, roommates, close friends, or younger believers in their orbit, what direction is daily life actually pointing others toward? [55:03]
6. Idols are often easy to identify and hard to remove. Where might honest accountability from another believer help bring real change instead of delay? [01:06:16]
7. Following the Lord cannot be approached casually. What would it look like to count the cost in one concrete area of life right now and ask for divine help instead of relying on willpower alone? [01:04:06]