Like most of you, Sue and stayed up late most nights the past few weeks in order to watch the delayed broadcast of the Winter Olympic games that were being held in Turin, Italy. We pretty much watched it all. We loved the ice-skating and the snow board racing and down hill skiing. We were curious about the “curling” which looks to me more like “Olympic sweeping.” We doubted the wisdom of hurling down an ice shoot at high speed head first in the “skeleton” races. But overall we really enjoyed watching these winter games. In hindsight I can say it was definitely worth missing a few hours sleep.
I must say though, we were both very disappointed to hear about the poor behavior of some of our American athletes. And I found an article in last Sunday’s Washington Post says that says we aren’t alone in feeling letdown by their immaturity. The article was titled, Deportment Issues Mar U. S. Effort and it told of skier Bode Miller who bragged to the media that he often competed drunk, and of free-style skier Jeret Peterson who was sent home after punching a friend in the mouth so hard he lost a tooth. It chronicled the on-air feud between speed skaters Chad Hedrick and Shani Davis.
Now, don’t get me wrong. The article was fair and balanced. I mean, it did say that overall the United States team was very well behaved, and that in fact, some American athletes even exceeded the standard of noble behavior that we have come to expect of Olympians. For example, speed skater Joey Cheek donated the bonuses he got from his medals ($40,000) to a charitable organization committed to aiding needy children in Sudan called Right to Play. The article also said that in these games American athletes won 25 medals-the most a U.S. team has ever won outside Salt Lake City. Only the Germans received more than we did.
But all this good was eclipsed by the poor behavior of a few immature athletes. USOC Chief Executive Jim Scherr summed it all up by saying, “We would hope a few incidents would not overshadow the fact that this entire delegation has represented us very well.” But as I said, in spite of his hope, that’s exactly what happened. The poor behavior of a few made the entire team look bad. As the title of the article put it, a few deportment issues definitely marred the entire U.S. effort.
Now, the “moral” of this true story is this: a little thing can have huge consequences. The actions of a few can have negative consequences for hundreds. Our text for this morning provides a tragic illustration of this principle.
If you’re our guest, let me get you up to speed by telling you we are studying the book of Joshua. When we last left our hero by the same name, God had miraculously conquered the fortified city of Jericho. Remember? There was silent marching for six days, and on the seventh day after seven silent laps the rams horns blew and the people shouted and the thick, high, double-walls of Jericho tumbled down like so many dominos. However, before the walls fell, God gave them very clear instructions as to what they were to do with any treasure they found as they explored the conquered city.
Take your Bibles now and let’s read God’s commands concerning this issue. They are found in chapter 6-verses 17-19.
Joshua 6:17a – The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the LORD.
18 – But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it.
19 – All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the LORD and must go into His treasury.”
Now flip over to chapter 7. I want us to read the first 12 verses because they tell us how the Israelites did when it came to obeying these instructions, and what happened as a result.
7:1 – But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the LORD’S anger burned against Israel.
2 – Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, “Go up and spy out the region.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.
3 – When they returned to Joshua, they said,”Not all the people will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary all the people, for only a few men are there.” 4 – So about three thousand men went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai,
5 – who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted and became like water.
6 – Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell face-down to the ground before the ark of the LORD, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads.
7 – And Joshua said, “Ah, Sovereign LORD, why did You ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan!
8 – O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has been routed by its enemies?
9 – The Canaanites and the other people of the country will hear about this and they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. What then will You do for Your own great name?”
10 – The LORD said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face?
11 – Israel has sinned; they have violated My covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions.
12 – That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Let’s back up so we can understand exactly what happened. As we read in chapter 6, before the fall of Jericho God had given the Hebrew people very clear commands. Other than Rahab and her family, everything living in Jericho was to be put to death. Every valuable thing was to be put in the treasury of the Lord. Then the city was to be burned. Simple instructions that were easy to understand. They were not to keep anything for themselves. God’s clear-cut rule was that in this battle the bounty belonged to Him.
Now, normally, the spoils of war were considered a soldier’s pay, their reward for victory. But not this time, because as I told you last week, the soldiers didn’t win this battle. God did! And as a way of making sure they understood this fact, God had them give all the valuables to Him. He also told them that if this law was broken, the entire nation would suffer. The vast majority of the Hebrews understood and obeyed this clear instruction from the Lord. Everyone listened to God’s command and obeyed. Everyone that is but one man, a man named Achan from the tribe of Judah. He did not obey. Look at verse 21 of chapter 7 where, after he is caught with the goods he confessed his crime. Achan said, “When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them.” Please understand, until Achan confessed, no one but God knew that he had done this. Somehow amid the celebration after the fall of Jericho Achan was able to get his hoarded wealth to his tent unseen by human eyes.
While the smoke was still rising from Jericho, Joshua (who, like everyone else, was ignorant of Achan’s sin) began to make plans for the next cite of conquest. And following his usual custom he sent spies to scope it out, a little city called Ai, which was an outpost east of Bethel, located up in the hill country about 15 miles from Jericho. The spies came back and assured Joshua that only a few thousand warriors were needed to take care of this puny little opponent. Their report is in verse three. Look at what they advise, “Not all the people will have to go UP against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary all the people, for only a few men are there.”
Now it was quite a hike up to Ai-a 3,800-foot climb along a trail that traversed deep ravines and steep inclines, so basically the spies were saying, “It’s a hard climb Joshua. The people deserve a break after all this marching around Jericho, besides there’s only a few men up there. A couple thousand of us can take them easily.” I would probably have said the same thing. I mean, even the name “Ai” means “ruin,” so it must have not been a very impressive place. It was nothing compared to Jericho. Joshua didn’t want to throw everything he had into every battle, so to keep most of his troops fresh and to protect the camp he took the confident spies’ advice. But, their self-confidence was misplaced. By the way fellow Christian, self-confidence is always misplaced. Our confidence in any endeavor must be in God and God alone.
The 3000 Hebrews were absolutely defeated. They marched confidently up there to attack but were soundly defeated and ran in terror back down leaving 36 dead soldiers behind them. And please understand, this is the only defeat of the invading Hebrew forces recorded in Joshua and the only report of Jews actually being slain in combat.
Well, what happened? I mean, the huge fortified city of Jericho was easily defeated. How were the Jews beaten by a much smaller city?
(A) As I said, one reason was they were too self-confident.
The people, Joshua included, had almost immediately forgotten that it was not the Jewish troops, but God Who had delivered Jericho to them. Pride seems to have consumed them the moment the walls fell, as if Jericho’s astounding defeat was their accomplishment. And this had disastrous results because as Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” We would do well to remember this principle. Any good thing we do is thanks to God. As James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift-comes not from us-not because of our efforts-but rather is from above, coming down from the Father.” Colossians 1:27 puts it this way, “It is not us but Christ IN us that is the hope of glory.” And as Philippians 4:13 says, “We can do all things but only through Him who strengthens us.” We must always remember, it is not self-confidence that will turn the world upside down but rather GOD-confidence. In fact, to take credit for our achievements for the kingdom is sin. When we do this we are pridefully turning our backs on God, our Sustainer and Redeemer.
(B) A second reason for their defeat was a lack of prayer, particularly on the part of Joshua.
I mean, he should have consulted the Lord when it came to planning the battle at Ai. Instead he acted solely on the recommendations of his scouts. And don’t misunderstand, his mistake wasn’t in sending out spies, but rather in pridefully assuming that the Lord was pleased with His people and would give them victory over Ai. He and his officers were making the foolish mistake of walking by sight, not by faith. Had Joshua been wise enough, humble enough, to call a prayer meeting, God would have informed him of Achans’ sin and he could have dealt with it. It would have been the wise thing to do, especially in light of God’s clear instructions about what to do with the treasures of Jericho. Because he didn’t do this 36 soldiers lost their lives and Israel suffered a humiliating defeat.
I believe one reason God recorded this incident in His word was to help us learn that we need to regularly ask God to show us our sin. We need daily “sin check-ups.” You see, we can’t walk by sight either, because our sight is impaired. Our immoral society distorts our perspective on things. We so easily become conformed to our corrupt culture. We look at life through sin-tainted eyes so regularly, that every day and especially before every “battle” of life, prior to every major decision, we need to pray with the Psalmist: “Search me, O God, and know my heart…see if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24) And, not to belabor the point but let me take this a bit further. Any time in life that we face a mysterious defeat, as individuals or as a church, anytime we hit a brick wall in our attempts to further the kingdom and we don’t understand why, we need to stop everything, go to our knees, and ask God to reveal the reason.
So, self-confidence, pride, was a factor in their defeat. And a lack of prayer was as well. But neither of these were the reason God cited. When the beaten and panicked soldiers come back down the mountain and reported to Joshua, he tore his robes and fell on his face before the Ark of God and finally got around to praying. He basically asked God, “Why? Why has this happened?” God told Joshua to get up off the ground and then He said the reason for their defeat was the fact that His ban had been broken. Someone had disobeyed His clear command. In verse 12 He says, “That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies.” In other words, God says, “The men of Ai defeated you because there is sin in the camp.”
At this point we can see a vivid example of the fact that sin disrupts our fellowship with God. We can’t sin against God and still enjoy communion with Him. As 1st John 1:5ff says, “God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another…” Achan’s sinful stash interrupted this fellowship. J. Sidlow Baxter puts it this way, “The electric wire of fellowship between God and Israel had been cut and the current of power therefore ceased to flow.”
Let me ask you. Have you separated yourself from God due to some sinful stash of your own? Has some hidden sin taken the joy out of your salvation and made you weak and powerless? Remember. A holy God cannot and will not tolerate sin. God designed the human heart to beat in unison with His. When it does we experience a deep and satisfying peace and He empowers us to make a real difference in this world. We live truly victorious lives-abundant lives! But when our hearts don’t beat in unison with God’s-when we ignore His loving laws, we cut ourselves off from fellowship with Him. We would be wise to remember that uneasiness is the companion of hidden sin. It’s an indication that we need to examine our lives and repent.
God told Joshua to have the people come forth the next morning, first, tribe by tribe, and then clan by clan, and then family by family, and then individual by individual until the guilty person was discovered. They used lots to ferret out the person who had broken God’s ban. It was probably done like this. Each of the names of the 12 tribes was written on a piece of pottery. All the pieces were put in a jar and one was drawn out-thus indicating the guilty tribe. Then this was done with clans, and then families, and finally individuals until Achan was discovered. This series of lottery drawings must have taken hours! Imagine Achan’s racing heart and pulsing blood pressure as, tribe by tribe, family by family, household by household, Joshua’s dragnet closed in on him. He knew he had broken the ban. He knew what God had said, but he still remained silent until the very end, putting everyone in the nation of Israel through this ordeal.
Now, God could have just told Joshua who the guilty party was, but He didn’t. And I think the reason He didn’t was to give Achan time to repent. God was giving him a chance to admit his wrong and show that he realized what he had done to his people. In fact, I think if he had come forth earlier, perhaps the night before when Joshua said they would draw lots or the next morning or even at the beginning of the lottery process. I think if he came forward then that God would have forgiven Him but he didn’t. Achan was rebellious until the very end. Maybe he thought they’d run out of pottery shards!
His stubborn behavior reminds me of something I learned as a child-it is always better to admit your sin to your parents rather than have them discover it. You still get punished, but not as severely, because you haven’t added to your sin by trying to hide it. As someone has put it, “The pain of exposure is better than the pain of concealment.” Now, Achan’s name literally means “trouble” and Joshua played on this in verses 23-25 as he confronted Achan and said, “Why have you troubled us? Why have you lived up to your name Achan?”
Then they took Achan and his family and his livestock to a place called Achor-which comes from the same root and means, “a place of trouble” and Israel executed God’s justice. After stoning Achan and his family-who had certainly helped him conceal his sin-they and their possessions were burned in accordance with God’s command. Then their graves were marked by memorial stones so that no one would forget.
Does Achan’s sentence shock you? Does it seem extreme? Well, remember, there were 36 widows in camp because of this one man’s disobedience. And then remember this as well: part of the reason this judgment and others like it seem so extreme to us is because we are accustomed to living in a politically correct culture, a culture that minimizes sin and its consequences. Charles Swindoll writes,
“If Achan lived today, attorneys would defend him by declaring him temporarily insane, or by finding a technical loophole. Someone would say, ‘Joshua failed to read the man his rights!’ Or they might have him plead guilty to petty theft and plea bargain a lighter sentence, rather than involve the whole camp in a lengthy, expensive trial. The fact is we live in an age of grace and many twist that concept into a license to sin. Many redefine sin to exclude any act that doesn’t hurt someone else. In other words sin isn’t something that defies God. Sin is something that harms others. Yet, no where in Scripture can I find anything to suggest that an action has to hurt someone else in order for God to consider it a sin.”
And Swindoll is right. God defines sin, not us. He sets the standard, not our culture. All sin is against Him, and with this incident He was teaching His chosen people this vital principle. But that is not all we can learn about sin from this chapter of Jewish history. There are at least three other principles that it can teach us.
(1) First, it shows us that sin is a process.
Achan didn’t just walk into that Jericho home and steal those things. No. If you examine what happened closely you can see that there was a discernable process in his rebellion, a downward spiral to sin.
A. His selfish act of disobedience began with his being dissatisfied.
Like all of the Hebrews, I’m sure Achan knew that God had promised to lead them into a new land of great wealth and opportunity, a country in which each family was to possess its own land and own its own house, a place where as 1 Kings 4:25 puts it every man would, “live in safety under his own vine and fig tree.” But Achan’s mind was not on the blessings that lay ahead. No, he was thinking of his current situation. And as he explored his assigned part of Jericho he probably entertained thoughts like this: “God has not treated us very well in these years of wandering. Sure-He gave us manna and quail to eat and He has kept our clothes from wearing out all these decades but I don’t like wearing the same outfit every single day. I’m tired of the same food day after day, week after week, month after month. I’m sick of having no money for the future. The first chance I get I’m going to improve my situation.”
Now, think of it. Achan didn’t need any of the things he stole. What was he going to do with them anyway? He couldn’t wear the Babylonian outfit in public. If he did he’d stand out like a sore thumb. People would KNOW he had disobeyed God’s ban. And he didn’t need the gold or silver either. God had provided and would continue to do so. In fact, if he had waited one more battle Achan would have had all the gold he could carry, because in that battle God told them they could have all the spoils.
I’m reminded of Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:33 where He said, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, [put God’s will first] and all these things will be given to you as well.” But Achan didn’t think this way. He wanted the other things first. The will of God could wait. He wasn’t satisfied with God’s provision and this mindset led him to justify his sin. Well, sin is never justifiable. Wrong is never right. As Isaiah 5:20 says, “Woe to them that call evil good…”
So, dissatisfaction gave birth to sin and that’s the way it always is. Think of it. Satan rebelled against God because of his dissatisfaction with his position in God’s world. He was the creature. God was the Creator and he wanted more. He wanted to be like God. It was the same with Adam and Eve. They ate the forbidden fruit because they were not happy with what God had given them. Their desire for more led them to disobedience and sin. We would do well to remember this and learn as Paul did “…the secret of being content in every situation…” (Philippians 4:12) by learning to trust God to provide for our needs.
B. The next step downward for Achan was to covet what was not his.
He forgot that even though he was a soldier he had no right to take any of the bounty because as I said, God, not Achan, had conquered Jericho. As God told Joshua, Achan had, “…taken some of the devoted things…” He had, “…stolen, lied, and put them with his own possessions.” He probably justified his actions by thinking, “My family and I have been deprived of many good things during our years of wilderness living. Here is this beautiful, new, stylish garment-just my size, a little bit of silver, and a handful of gold. Think of what it could buy! After this long journey I deserve a little finery. This is no big deal. God will never miss this in light of all the treasury that we’ll haul back from Jericho. After all, I marched for seven days! I’m entitled to a few nice things in life.” So, dissatisfaction led to coveting…
C. And, finally, Achan acted.
He stole and then tried to hide his sin. This is the way sin always works. Sinful thoughts lead to sinful rationalizations, which lead to sinful actions. The fact is sinful speculations will inevitably break out into the open. As James 1:13-15 says, “Each one is tempted when by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” So Achan’s deed was not a single act. No, it was a downward spiral to sin, a series of stumbles. He saw, coveted, took, and hid. Charles Swindoll summarizes it well when he says,
“That’s how the human mind works. Carnality can be incredibly inventive when it comes to rationalizing sin. In the heat of the moment, the excitement of hidden sin, the adventure, the forbidden pleasure drives away all reason. We see, we covet, we take, and we hide.”
Think how much happier we would be in life if we could learn to nip sin in the bud by controlling our thoughts and desires. This is what Paul was talking about when he said, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5) The more we make Jesus Lord of our thought life, the less we will fall captive to sin because sin is a process.
(2) A second lesson we can learn here is that sin is not secret.
Achan’s experience shows that there really is no such thing as hidden sin, secret sin. As Numbers 32:23 says, “You can be sure that your sin will find you out.”
Have you ever seen one of those movies with the plot where some kids make prank calls to random numbers and when someone answers they say, “I saw what you did.” Well, with God this is not a work of fiction. He always sees what we do. As Matthew 6:18 says our Holy God, “…sees what is done in secret.” Psalm 139 goes so far as to say that God knows literally everything about us. He knows, “…when we sit and when we rise….He perceives even our thoughts…He is familiar with all our ways.” There is no where that we can go that He does not see what we do for, “…even the darkness is not dark to Him…” Psalm 90:8 says, “[Oh God] You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence." As Psalm 10:13 says, “Why does the wicked man say, ‘God won’t call me into account?'” He will. Romans 2:16 says that a day will come when God will, “…judge men’s secrets.” The clear teaching of Scripture is that there is no such thing as a secret sin. Sooner or later our sins will indeed find us out.
One night a drunk husband snuck up the stairs quietly. He looked in the bathroom mirror and carefully bandaged the cuts and scrapes he had received in a fight earlier that night. In his befuddled mind he reasoned that the next morning he would tell his wife the bandages were the result of his cutting himself shaving or something like that. Then he proceeded to climb into bed, smiling at the thought that he had pulled one over on his wife. When morning came, he opened his eyes and there she stood looking down at him. She said, “You were drunk last night weren’t you.” “No, honey.” he replied. She said, “Well, if you weren’t then who put all the band-aids on the bathroom mirror?”
Well, like this deceptive drunk a time will come when our sins will be revealed. As I read a moment ago, the Bible tells us that one day the secret sins of life are going to be brought to light at the final judgment. But you know, it does not always take that long for sin to be exposed. In Achan’s case it took only a few days. And I want to remind you again that Achan had plenty of opportunity to repent but he stubbornly, selfishly refused to do so. He continued to hide his sin and in my mind this is why his punishment was capital. Peter Wagner is right on the money when he writes, “The Bible says, ‘Humble yourself.’ Go ahead and humble yourself because if God has to humble you, it’s too late.”
So we can learn that sin is a process and that no sin is secret. But, as I inferred at the beginning of this message, the main lesson this text can teach us is that…
(3) Sin is not private. Individual sin can harm many innocent people.
Ecclesiastes 9:18 says, “One sinner destroys much good.” And that is so true. Sin is never isolated. Private perhaps, but never isolated. Sin, to some degree, always affects others. As a pastor, I have seen more than one example of one person’s “private” sin breaking the hearts of his or her family and friends and even hindering the work of an entire church. As a nation we have seen more than one president’s “private” sin corrupt an administration. And, how many churches and even entire ministries have we seen become powerless and ineffective because of the sins of their leaders? How many kids grow up to be bitter, selfish, greedy, unforgiving, or dishonest because that’s the example their parents set for them? How many third world nations go hungry because of the greed and opulence of the dictator that rules them with an iron fist? I know this may not be PC, but how many hundreds of thousands are suffering from AIDS because of the sin of others? How many children are born with this illness because of the sexual indiscretion of their parents? How many people don’t have retirement because of the greedy actions of a few executives at ENRON?
We are living in an age of hyper-individualism in which we think, “What I do is my business. What you do is your business. Let’s just mind our own business.” But that is impossible to do because our lives are intricately intertwined. We can either bring strength to one another or we can bring weakness. This is why God repeatedly said, “Israel has sinned. Israel has done this.” instead of singling out Achan. He did it to remind us that we all pay a price when one of us sins. Since we are each part of the body of Christ-then as 1st Corinthians 12:12 says, “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.” You are not an island You don’t lie live to yourself. Your life can give other people strength and confidence and courage and the ability to be much more successful in life. Or, your life can weaken them and cause them to fail. You make an impact everywhere you are. You’re connected with other people. We are not just individuals. If we make bad decisions individually then we create weakness in those around us.
So when brother sins we could accurately ask him, “How much is your sin going to cost me?” In fact we all need to ask ourselves, “What are the sins, what are the seeds of disobedience in my heart that may grow into actions that embarrass or hurt my kids, my spouse, my church? What thoughts am I entertaining that could sprout into sinful acts that would be dishonorable to the Kingdom of God?” This is why Achan’s punishment was so severe. This is why Achan ended up in Achor, this valley of trouble-to help Israel learn this lesson so that generations to come would not suffer.
But you know, even though this is a story of judgment, it is also a proclamation of hope. I say this because in a very real sense the Valley of Achor is a foreshadowing of the cross. In taking the punishment for our sin, Jesus was troubled for all mankind. In Jesus He went down into that dark valley of judgment and died in our place. The good news of the Gospel is that God does not abandon us in our own sin-caused valley of trouble. In fact, He has provided a means by which this dark, hopeless place can become a path toward peace and restoration. God turned the cross of Calvary, a place of unbelievable “trouble,” into a place of hope. Way back in Hosea 2:14 God promised, “I will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.” In Isaiah 65:10 He said, “The Valley of Achor will become a resting place for My people who seek Me.” And in sending Jesus that is what He has done. When you confess your sin God forgives us and because He does no defeat is permanent and no mistake is beyond remedy. Even the valley of trouble can become the door to hope.
Father God,
Right now-I ask that You would search our hearts-our thoughts-our intents. See if there is any wicked way in us…and shine the spotlight of Your omniscience on it. Surprise us with what You know about those things that we think are secret and hidden. Convict us of our sin. Now Father, show us all the consequences that will come from yielding to our desires. Show us how the process of these sins will work out. Scare us Father by helping us to see all the hurt that will come from our disobedience…convict us of how SELFISH our sinful attitudes and actions really are. And then as we repent, forgive us and renew our minds. Take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. I ask this in Jesus’ name. AMEN
If you are not a Christian I invite you to become one right now. Pray and confess to God that you are a sinner-that Jesus Christ shed His blood for you and that you intend to give Him your life to use as He sees fit. If you make that decision come-walk forward and share it with me.
If God is leading you to join this church body-to pool your spiritual gifts with ours in the doing of God’s will-come!
If you need someone to pray with you come. But come now as God leads.