HAVE YOU CHECKED OUT or does GOD STILL GIVE YOU JOY?
Isaiah 9: 1-4 & Samuel 6: 12-15
MATTHEW 4: 12-23
FEBRUARY 1st 2026 * Was going to be January 25, 2026
Joshua made a call for history … Joshua reflected on the choices humanity has to make … friends, Joshua did more than “fight the battle of Jericho.” Joshua in our Old Testament gathered all of the faithful together … all the tribes of Israel and he clarified something that in today’s world we each … as individuals … have to decide … a decision that for each of us is more important today than it was yesterday because we are still alive today … we are still breathing … thankfully we have the mental capacity to make choices … to make decisions and to allow our focus and priorities to change if we want them to.
This morning … I have two essential questions to raise … for each of us as individuals because frankly we cannot force another person’s beliefs and thoughts to become ours. Even if we shower others with praise or dollars or even threats of harm … we cannot change what is inside one’s heart, soul and mind even if they smile and act like us.
So, question one … DOES GOD STILL GIVE YOU JOY? Perhaps that question should be tweaked to be … HAS GOD EVER GIVEN YOU JOY? And we will get back to that shortly.
The second question … the eternal LIFE and DEATH question. You see your eternal life situation does matter to me because I like/love all of you. Many of you know the historical reality of my life … I LOST MY FAITH and I was DISMISSIVE of Jesus … I had made a decision that would have cost me my eternal life, which frankly is a few more years in length than the 31 years I have walked on this planet. As someone who is enjoying the cold temperatures outside … I detest the heat and humidity of summer so having a future in what Jesus refers to as an “eternal fire prepared for the devil and the devil’s angels. A place of eternal punishment” does not sit well with me but perhaps some of you don’t worry about spending the rest of your existence in such a place. Eternal fire … eternal punishment because you don’t like Jesus and His directives.
I don’t think we’d be in church today or watching online if we did not believe that there is a life beyond this life … an eternal life. So, how focused are you on understanding that you and only you has to decide whether you want to end up in that eternal fire or INSTEAD in a place we refer to as God’s heaven? So, my second and most important question is… HAVE YOU CHECKED OUT and dismissed God and God’s expectations? Which takes me back to Joshua.
The people of Israel had survived their journey out of Egypt to the Holy Land. God had rescued them from life’s challenges but now that things were looking pretty good Joshua stands before them to ask the essential challenge that each human must end up truthfully answering … ““Now then,” Joshua continued, “honor the Lord and serve him sincerely and faithfully. Get rid of the other gods you and your ancestors have worshiped and serve only the Lord. If you are not willing to serve the Lord, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your ancestors worshiped in Mesopotamia or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are now living. As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.””
DECIDE TODAY … because each of us is still living and still able to think and make decisions … DECIDE TODAY if you are willing to serve the LORD sincerely and faithfully, which means obeying what Jesus teaches in the Gospels. You know the first two Commandments … LOVE GOD and LOVE ALL of YOUR NEIGHBORS as yourself but there are more, which is why I encourage you to read the Gospels IF … IF … you want to have that heavenly destination and if God matters to the level that you not only LOVE GOD but are willing to honor and serve God faithfully. Could you answer the question, “As for my family and me, we will serve the Lord” with a resounding yes or would you have to put a but in your answer because some of Jesus’ teachings go against what your friends think or voices on TV are telling you are the right things to do even if they conflict with Jesus. HAVE YOU CHECKED OUT on GOD or are you checked in? I once was CHECKED OUT … but now, I answer with Joshua, I will serve the Lord with my heart, mind, and soul even as the imperfect human that I am.
I recently took a look at Megan’s Bible … it was a Woman’s Study Bible, the NIV translation, which Megan had the inability to actually read but I was pleasantly surprised to see she had taken a PINK highlighter … what other would Megan use after all … and highlighted sections of her Bible. Almost every single verse she highlighted contained the word LOVE … she knew the word LOVE … AS FOR ME AND MY FAMILY WE WILL SERVE THE LORD!! Megan knew how to … better than most. She chose the love that Jesus taught us to choose … LOVE of ALL not just those like us.
We offered all of you a reminder of Jesus in this morning’s reading from Isaiah. It is a reminder of God’s eternal love opportunity for all people. All humans were created in God’s image Scripture teaches … not just those like us so our interactions with others who are not like us does matter to God but then again some of you like the heat and humidity of an eternal fire. “A child is born to ALL OF US. A Son is given to ALL of us, and authority will be on His shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, PRINCE OF PEACE.” Ah, PEACE!
Pastor Josh Shuster from St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church in Cherry Hill posted a video message this week reminding those of us who saw it of our BAPTISMAL VOWS. These are also the vows of Confirmation so somewhere in your life’s journey the vows were made … and I assume the answer was in the affirmative. Perhaps today I should ask the questions … they’re questions of faith … questions asked of the faithful before baptism throughout the ages: Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist EVIL, INJUSTICE, and OPPRESSION in whatever forms they present themselves. I won’t ask for a raising of the hands … because I have witnessed too many folks I know these days who are not bothered by such actions in the forms in which they are now being presented. The second question, DO YOU CONFESS Jesus Christ as your Savior, put your whole trust in His grace, and promise to serve Him as your Lord, in union with the church which Christ has opened to ALL people of ALL ages, nations and races? Eww … there’s a promise in that vow. Anyhow those are faith statements of people who understand God’s love and return God’s love back as the faithful joining Joshua in stating AS FOR ME and MY FAMILY WE WILL SERVE THE LORD!
I actually think my other question for today is directly related to whether or not one has committed themselves to serving God … being aligned with God because it is probably really difficult for God to give you joy IF … IF … you have dismissed God, rejected God’s teaching, or checked out on God.
Something really really strange happened to me a week or so ago, which is what led to today’s message. I had a dream … no, I don’t think I am going to quote Dr. King, but I had a dream and, in that dream, there was a voice repeating just a couple of words. I have such strange dreams.
SECOND SAMUEL SIX TWELVE. Four words actually SECOND SAMUEL SIX TWELVE … as my eyes opened those four words were as fresh as if someone had written them on a screen in front of me. I immediately told a friend that my dream had me turning to my Bible … Second Samuel 6:12 and I read, ““King David was told, “The LORD has blessed Obededom’s family and everything he has because of God’s chest being there.” So David went and brought God’s chest up from Obededom’s house to David’s City with celebration.” You heard that Scripture earlier this morning plus the record of David jumping and dancing before the Lord with all of his strength. How the entire house of Israel celebrated with intense joy with shouts and trumpet blasts. FYI, we will hear a trumpet next week in church.
They were celebrating God’s presence … with all their strength! With songs, zithers, harps, tambourines, rattles, cymbals, and dancing and shouts of joy!! It’s no wonder that the last Psalm declares for history, “Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary! Praise God in his fortress, the sky! Praise God in his mighty acts! Praise God as suits his incredible greatness! Praise God with the blast of the ram’s horn! Praise God with lute and lyre! Praise God with drum and dance! Praise God with strings and pipe! Praise God with loud cymbals! Praise God with clashing cymbals! Let every living thing praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!” With all that praising you have to feel INCREDIBLE JOY … to the world!
A dream directed me to Second Samuel 6:12, which is where I found DAVID and the faithful showcasing the joy they had because they had not chosen to check out on God but instead were embracing God … accepting God … living for God … together as a people! United in faith … focused in that moment on serving the Lord and in that moment all of them could join with Joshua in declaring AS FOR ME and MY FAMILY WE WILL SERVE THE LORD … not the world not any worldly leader’s directives nor visions … THE LORD GOD who would bring from David’s family tree a Savior, Christ Jesus. A child is born to ALL OF US. A Son is given to ALL of us, and authority will be on His shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, PRINCE OF PEACE.”
So, two converging questions for this cold wintery day … both directly related to each of us as individuals with the hope that together we can serve the Lord God with praise shining Christ’s light shaking the world. Have you checked out on God during the past days of your life … are you ready to come back to God? And, are you excited in knowing that when you take God on that God can still give you joy. That with Paul and with me you can “REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS; AGAIN I SAY REJOICE!”
Find a pink highlighter this week and highlight the word LOVE every time it is mentioned in your Bibles and think of Megan whose hugs touched all kinds of people while developing a stronger love for ALL of your neighbors and for God … develop a desire to renew your baptismal vows and today let the Holy Sacrament of Communion bring you closer to God.
Jesus said, “CHANGE YOUR HEARTS and LIVES … here comes the Kingdom of heaven!! Come and follow me!” That’s a much better choice than a fire pit with eternal punishment don’t you think? AMEN