​First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood                          
21 E. Church Street
Blackwood, NJ 08012                                                                              
Sermon Notes (Sunday ~ August 10 2026)
Sermon Title – There Is More To The Story
Text – Habakkuk
Rev Brian McKey

​First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood                          
21 E. Church Street
Blackwood, NJ 08012                                                                              
Sermon Notes Sunday Service August 2 2026
Sermon Title–We Will Serve The Lord
Text – Joshua 24:14-24
Rev. Key Min Lee

​In today’s passage, Joshua emphasizes twice that the Israelites must serve the Lord alone (vv. 14, 19).           In response, the people declare, “We will serve the Lord” (v. 21).
I believe this is a confession that all of us—including myself—have made at some point in our lives:  “Lord, I will serve You alone.”  But let me ask you a question.  Are you still living out that commitment today?
I ask this question because, if we are honest, many of us—including myself—struggle to keep the promises we make to God when our circumstances change.  We say, “I will worship faithfully.”  “I will never neglect prayer.”  “I will love others.”  Yet when life becomes difficult or our situation changes, do those commitments remain the same?
One important truth we must understand is this:  when we begin to focus more on our circumstances than on God, we start placing our trust in things other than Him.  We also begin to love other things more than we should.  When we depend on or love something more than God, it means that God is no longer the center of our lives. Little by little, something else begins to take His place.
We can see this in two mistakes Joshua made.
The first was when he made a covenant with the Gibeonites without first seeking the Lord’s guidance.  The second was when he attacked the city of Ai based solely on the advice of others instead of seeking God, and Israel suffered a humiliating (suffered a) defeat.
God’s command to Joshua had been very clear:  after entering the land of Canaan, Israel was to destroy the nations living there.  Yet when we fail to depend on God moment by moment, it is easy to rely on our own wisdom, experience, and human solutions instead of obeying Him.
That is why 1 Peter 5:8 warns us:  “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
Think about that for a moment.  Every night we go to sleep, but Satan never sleeps.  We take breaks because our bodies grow tired, but Satan never takes a break.  He never becomes exhausted.  As a spiritual being, he is constantly seeking someone to destroy.
We, however, live in physical bodies.  We become tired.  We need rest.  That means the only reason we are able to gather here today, worship God, and continue following Him is because of His grace and His unfailing love.  Even at this very moment, Satan is searching for someone to devour, yet the Lord is faithfully protecting His children.  What an incredible reason to be thankful!
Sadly, many of us—including myself—respond differently when our circumstances change.  Instead of thanking God, we begin by complaining.  We grumble.  We become frustrated when things do not go our way. We lose our temper over small things.
When that happens, it may be a sign that we are no longer holding onto God but are holding onto the things of this world instead.
That is why we must not allow our circumstances to control our hearts.  When we do, our hearts become divided.  Jesus said in Matthew 6:24:  “No one can serve two masters.”
If Jesus is not the only One who fills our hearts, then our words and our actions will reflect the values of this world rather than the ways of God.  Instead of finding solutions to the problems we face, we only create more pain and hardship for ourselves.  And those problems do not affect only us—they also affect our families, our friends, and everyone around us.
Dear brothers and sisters, everything we have experienced in life should lead us to one conclusion:  we must choose the living God.  The One we love most should be Jesus.  The One we treasure most should be Jesus.  In every situation, we must choose Christ above everything else.  Only then can we avoid repeating the same mistakes Israel made.
At the beginning of this passage, Joshua urgently pleaded with the people twice to serve the Lord alone.  But what happened afterward?
After verse 24, the hearts of the Israelites gradually changed.  They endured years of pain and hardship.  Eventually, the kingdom was divided into the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah.  In the end, both kingdoms fell, and the nation was destroyed.
At first, Israel chose God.  But over time, they began choosing their circumstances instead.  Rather than trusting God, they trusted what they could see.  The result was destruction.
Scripture speaks very clearly about this.  Anything we love, trust, or serve more than God is an idol.  Clinging to our circumstances instead of clinging to God is a form of idolatry.
Colossians 3:5 says, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.”
In other words, when we become consumed with our circumstances instead of trusting God, we stop filling our hearts with His holiness and begin filling them with the things of this world.
Do you remember the very first of the Ten Commandments?  “You shall have no other gods before Me.”
My prayer is that each of us would fill our hearts with Jesus Christ alone.
The more we cling to our circumstances and place our trust in things other than God, the farther we drift from holiness, and the more pain and hardship we bring into our lives.
So this week, no matter what situation you find yourself in, I encourage you to pray this simple prayer:  “Lord, thank You.  What do You want to teach me through this?”  (What do you want me to learn from this?)
And as you go through your week, be willing to truly listen to others.  Listen carefully to what they are trying to say.  Seek to understand what is in their hearts.
When we do that, we will no longer be controlled by our circumstances.  Instead, we will overcome them through Christ, and we will experience His restoring grace.
May the Lord bless each of us with that grace.  Amen.