We're going to turn to the book of Joshua today. I find this to be an important topic when we speak about missions. The title of the message is, How Personal Choices, choices you and I make, how personal choices affect the whole group. Are you aware how the choice you make privately, secretly, affects the whole group, affects the whole family, can affect the whole church? can have an impact on the country. Very important principle. We're in Joshua 7, verse 19. We'll read this one verse. Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him, and tell me now what thou hast done. Hide it not from me. Our Lord, we know God is everywhere and sees all things. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. We want to be accountable to our God. We understand that the Lord Jesus Christ has died for every sin that we've ever committed or will commit. We want to have fellowship with the living God, which comes from being sanctified, holy. This is the work of God, so we present ourselves into thy care and ask that you would take this scripture and speak to every heart here. May all who hear these words obey the teaching of the scriptures for the glory of God. Bless us as we continue, we ask in Christ's name. Amen. Again, the topic is how personal choices affect the whole group. Let's start with looking at the declaration from God about the conquest of Jericho. God's chosen people have just crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land, the first battle with the city of Jericho. And God says this as they prepare to fight, and the city shall be accursed, Joshua 6.17, even it and all that are therein to the Lord. Now that's a wording that we may not use today, accursed to the Lord. Here's what the Hebrew word is and here's what it means. It means to be utterly devoted to the Lord. and thus committed to destruction on earth as a burnt offering, and the indestructible, like gold and silver, is to be dedicated to sacred use." Burnt offering. You know, the Lord established a number of offerings in the tabernacle and then later in the temple, one of them being a burnt offering. Now, some offerings that the priests would offer, they got to eat of the food that was prepared over the fire, whether it was a bullock or a sheep or whatever. Some offerings, not only the priests, but also their families, and even the offerers could all join in in this banquet. But a burnt offering was very different. Burnt offering was 100% burned to ash, all offered to God. It's unique in that fashion. All that steak, all that roast, all that filet, gone to waste, you might say, as far as human beings get to eat. The whole thing gets burned, expired, rising in smoke, up to the Lord. It's called a sweet savor offering. If you were a bollock, the head would be set over here, the head representing giving your mind totally unto the Lord. The legs would be set over here, they represent your whole walk being given unto the Lord. The inner organs were set over here, and they represented all the affections given unto the Lord. And then the very fat itself set separately and burned, representing the vigor you have for God. So mind and doing and affections And all energy, all devoted 100% unto God. And so Jesus was a burnt offering unto the Father. Everything He did was for the Lord. None was for Himself. He did the will of the Father. His heart and soul was thrown into doing the work of the Father. None of it investing in the things of this world. And so this first victory in the Promised Land was to be a burnt offering. Nobody was to take anything for himself. All was to be devoted to the Lord. Now the message here was the victory was the Lord's. So the first fruits of this campaign, the promised land, should all go to Him. It isn't made for man to consume it upon his own lust. These are the things of God. The people of God are to be protected thus from idolatry and self-indulgence. Hey, there's some gold, there's some garment, there's this, there's that. Gimme, gimme unto me. That's not the point here at all. So this edict of the Lord in this first campaign was to protect the people from idolatry and self-indulgence. And of course also the foes of God are to be forewarned of his wrath as they see what happened in Jericho. Now, there are similar illustrations. If you would turn with me, please, to Deuteronomy chapter 13. Similar illustrations, I say, of where the Lord said, this one's all for me. This is all to be burned, and this bulk is to rise up as a sweet savor unto the Lord, not to be consumed by man. Deuteronomy chapter 13, verses 12 through 18. For the sake of time, we won't read the entire passage. But the idea here is, if it's a Jewish city, And they go to seed and start following after false gods. You see in verse 13, saying, let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known. Then that city is to be destroyed, wiped out, completely wiped out. And so you see in verse 16, Thou shalt gather all the spoil of it, that city, in the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof, every whit. But no, Lord, that's nice furniture here. Look at that painting there. Look at this clothing. Burn it all. Burn it all, a hundred percent of it, and all the spoil thereof, every whit, for the Lord thy God. And it shall be a heap forever, and it shall not be built again. That's another illustration when the Lord wants 100% of something done. Next illustration, 1 Samuel 15, King Saul was to do the same thing with the Amalekites. He was to totally wipe out everything, this enemy of the Lord. You may not know why. You didn't have to know why he was to do it. But he didn't do it, did he? But rather, he kept sheep and he kept cattle separately and did not slay them. And he was rebuked severely by the Lord through the prophet Samuel as a result. Another illustration is in 1 Chronicles 14, King David did do what he was supposed to do with the Philistines. He totally took everything, all the spoils of war, and offered it all unto God, none of it unto man. So this occurs many times. It's not a new thing. And it is something that Achan trespassed concerning. So let's look at this trespass of God's design. We're back in the story in Joshua. We read there that the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed things. For Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel." Now observe, this was one man's secret sin. Yet from God's view, the nation sinned and the nation would suffer for it. Look at Joshua chapter 7 and verse 11. Israel has sinned, he said. Now, one man did it, but he doesn't say, Akinson. He says, Israel has sinned. And they have also transgressed my covenant, which I commanded them. For they have even taken of their cursed thing, and have also stolen and dissembled also. And they have put it even among their own stuff. Notice all those plural pronouns, but it's one man who did it. Now, let's talk for a moment about this idea of secret sin. One of the scriptures say, is there such a thing as a secret sin? Psalm 94.9, he that formed the eye, shall he not see? Hebrews 4.13. All things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. In Proverbs 28.13, he that covereth his sins shall not prosper. We looked at that just the other week. So we may call something, we may presume something to be a secret sin just in my mind. It's just in the privacy of my home. No one else sees. But David understands it. Think of that psalm where he says, I will walk with integrity in my heart in my own home. Because God sees everything. There is no secret sin that God does not know about. Now, there are many illustrations in the scriptures of attempted secret sin. Gehazi, of course, the prophet's servant, we read in 2 Kings 5 about how the general of Syria, Naaman, had offered money. Gehazi misrepresented his boss and said, we'll take it. And then he bestowed that booty into his own house. He tried to slip this one past the prophet, but the prophet knew it. He said, did not my eyes follow you? Did I not see you? And of course, God saw him. And then if you would go with me to this illustration, Ezekiel chapter 8. The leaders of those taken captive and now they're in Babylon are saying, why isn't God blessing us? What's plugging the works up here? What's going wrong? Is God with us or not? And God tells Ezekiel in chapter 8 verse 12, Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house, the elders of Israel, do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery, in the imagination of his own mind? in the darkness. For they say, what do they say? The Lord seeth us not. The Lord hath forsaken the earth. Now they may not use those exact words, but it's a presumption. When we commit secret sin, maybe just in thought, maybe in the darkness, the Lord does not see. Now these are the leaders, the ones who are demanding of the Lord something else to happen. Why isn't it happening? God says, I see what they do in their secret sin. We go to Ezekiel chapter 14 and verse 3. Again, certain of the elders come and sit before the prophet and they want to know, where's the Lord in all this? Why are we in this concentration camp in Babylon? And God answers, Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of at all by them? You can pray all day, you can pray all life. You say, my prayer doesn't work, it doesn't seem that God's answering me. And God says, you have an idol in your heart. If you have an eye on your heart, I will not hear. Illustrations of attempted secret sins. Judas was secretly sinning. John chapter 12, we're told, he throws up some question about where the money could have gone in some humanitarian way. But he also was the thief, the one who handled the money, and the one who was secretly misappropriating it, as if he could get away with it. And of course, one more, Acts chapter 5, we have the illustration of Ananias and Sapphira, who misrepresented what they sold their property for. So, they attempted to get away with secret sin. There are many examples in the Scripture of secret sin. Let's go on to the third issue, which is the effects of one person's secret sin. We read in Joshua 7 and verse 14. The household which the Lord shall take shall come man by man. So the Lord's going to investigate every individual. Somebody has committed a sin which affected the whole nation. Man by man, the Lord scrutinizes each one of us. Now, what are the consequences of Achan's secret sin? The first was death of the people. We read in Joshua 7.5, "...the men of Eai smote of them about thirty and six men, for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down." Thirty-six men died as a rebuke for Achan disobeying the edict of the Lord. Death of the people, discouragement of the people. We read in verse 5, "...wherefore the hearts of the people melted and became as water." A third impact, disorientation of the people. Joshua, even Joshua in verse 7 of chapter 7 says, Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would to God we had been content and dwelt on the other side, Jordan. One man's sin leads to this disorientation. What are we doing? What's our purpose? What's our vision? What should we do? And, ultimately, the defeat of the people. We read in verse 12, Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed. Now, what impact did one man's sin have on the relationship with God? First is, God departed. Joshua 7, verse 12. God says, neither will I be with you anymore, except you destroy the accursed from among you. If I regard sin in my heart, the Lord will not hear me, the Bible says. Secondly, a dishonoring of God. Verse 9, what wilt thou do unto thy great name? See, the Lord was dishonored, the people were defeated. What does this say about the people's God? And disfavor, the disfavor of God finally. Verse 1 of chapter 7, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel. Let's review what we've just said. Here are the effects of one man's secret sin. And I know some might think, well, this was Israel, different dispensation. But we're going to see way before Israel existed, way on into many times in the new church, the same principle holds. No man is an island. None of us lives to himself. None of us dies to himself. So the effect of one man's secret sin, first of all, on his people. Death, discouragement, disorientation, and defeat. Effects on his God. His God departed, his God was dishonored, and he merited God's disfavor. Let's go on to the fourth consideration. What is the remedy of the effects of one person's secret sin. We read in Joshua 7.10, and the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up, wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face. There's work to be done. We need to root out what has caused this problem, and we need to fix it. And that requires sanctification of the people, setting apart unto holiness. review of any sin, clarifying one's commitment to God, up, sanctify the people, we read in verse 13, and say, sanctify yourselves against tomorrow. And then it leads to the destruction of the accursed. Verse 12, neither will I be with you anymore except you destroy the accursed from among you. Now, how was this message memorialized? stones. We read in Joshua 7.25, All Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. This pile of stones is a memorial to covetousness. Let me tell you something about the way this ancient people memorialize things. There's a stoning of the representation of the sin, and then as people walk by that mound of stones the next week, the next year, ten years, a hundred years later, showing their contempt, not for the individual, but for that sin, they throw more stones on it. They pick up a big stone and they throw it onto that pile, and in time the pile gets larger and larger as the nation reminds themselves of the wickedness of their sin, in this case, the sin of covetousness. Now, there are many piles of stones in the Old Testament. What pile of stones is a memorial to besetting sins? I believe the answer is found in Joshua 10. I do not think that God's chosen people crossing over the Jordan River going into the promised land represents in a figure people going home to glory in heaven. The promised land represents victorious living. But there were encampments, there were strongholds of the enemy which God's chosen people had a hard time rooting out. For example, the first one listed here is Jerusalem. Mount Jebus stayed in enemy's hands for 400 years after the beginning of God's people moving into that land. Maybe you have a besetting sin. Maybe you've been a Christian for five years, maybe 30 years, maybe more, maybe less, but you've never been able to conquer a certain sin. That's a besetting sin. But we have a message here. These five kings of ancient Israel, what we call Israel now, the promised land, Hebron, Jarmath, Lachish, Eglon, they all represent besetting sins which are finally uprooted And so I think what you have there is a memorial to besetting sins. And I'd like to give you one more. What pile of stones is a memorial to bitterness? One for covetousness, one for besetting sins. What's the memorial to bitterness? I believe it's this. If you turn to 2 Samuel 18, let's do that please. And look at verse 17. And we see how the death and life of rebellion of David's son Absalom was memorialized. Chapter 18 and verse 17. And they took Absalom and cast him into a great pit in the wood and laid a very great heap of stones upon him. And all Israel fled everyone to his tent. Nobody was to move that heap of stones. It should be there today. Who knows when it was dealt with, if it has changed. But more and more would heap on their stones as the years and decades would go by memorializing. Don't be bitter towards others because see what can come out as a result. Now, here's a question we're going to be making an application to ourselves in just a minute here. What secret sin could a pile of stones over us memorialize? Could it be covetousness? Could it be envy? Could it be bitterness? Could it be lust? And what group has been hurt by our private sin? One man may say, I have a private life of lust. It's humiliating. It's enslaving. It's historic. But nobody else is hurt by it. Don't count on it. That's not what the scriptures teach. So also with gossip or slander or a host of other sins. And so it's a question to ask, can my private sin actually be harming some other group? Could it be maybe harming our family? Could it be harming our church? Could it be harming our country? Now it's time to make the application. As I said, Romans 14.7 tells us, none of us lives to himself. No man dies to himself. It goes on to say, whether we live or we die, we are the Lord's. But we are one body. Do not the Scriptures say, the thumb, the eye, the inwards, everything, is it not a package and is not what happens here affecting what happens there? Are we not a body? Do we not function together and are we not all accountable as one to the Lord? See, the heart of the crime of Achan was that he wrongly handled things that were consecrated to the Lord. He fell to the lust of the eyes. We read his words in Joshua 7.21, when I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonian garment, 200 shekels of silver, a wedge of gold, 50 shekels weight, then I coveted them and took them. So we have a responsibility to guard our eyes, don't we? You see, then you can covet. He fell to the lust of the eyes. His second failure was that he presumed then that he could hide his sin. Behold, he says in verse 21, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent and the silver under it. They are hid. He ignored the fact that in time his sin would be exposed to all. They took them out of the midst of the tent and brought them unto Joshua. and unto all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord." He ignored the fact that personal choices affect the whole group. Verse 24, And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedges of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had. and they brought them onto the Valley of Acre. Now it is true that sons and daughters are not punished legally for a crime that some relative had committed. They can be harmed, I believe, spiritually by it. And in this instance, this could mean one of two things. It could be that the sons and daughters were brought along, they're innocent of the crime, but they had to witness the punishment on their father for what he did. That's one possibility. Another is that they were complicit with the crime. They did see the father bury that stuff in the tent, and they didn't confess it. Or maybe they helped bury it. There are different possible considerations. But the fact is, look at the whole group that is affected by one man's sin. sons, daughters, oxen, asses, sheep, tent, all that he had. There's a message there for us, friends. Everything was corrupted. Everything was involved. Everything was impacted by one person's sin. Now, the only solution was a radical judgment on the sinner and on all polluted by his choice. Joshua said, why hast thou troubled us? The Lord shall trouble thee this day, and all Israel stoned him with stones. Now we too must see the horrible consequences of our sins on ourselves, our family, our church, and our nation. Individual choices affect the group. Individual choices affect the group. Individual choices affect the group. That's the message of this presentation today. We must not delude ourselves into thinking anything other than that our secret sins are seen by God. And I might add, they're often seen much more than people realize by others around them. I think of how many times people have come in and are troubled, and others observe it, though it's just by reading the continents or the body posture or test the spirits. And you may be somewhat presumptuous. You don't know for sure. But often, if a person is living a righteous life, it's betrayed by the beautiful spirit and the bright countenance and the lovely speech and the good testimony. And if a person is still in sin, that often is likewise betrayed. But our sins are always seen by God. They will be exposed. There's nothing hid, but it shall be shown. Not even our imaginations, not even our thoughts, let alone our words and our deeds. And they are harmful. Our secret sins are harmful. We must repent thoroughly and honestly, and we must do it now. You must ask yourself, is the success of my family, is the spiritual power of our church more important or less important? than me dealing with my sin. We must lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, our repentance must show itself in real verifiable change. Going back to Deuteronomy 13 and verse 17. There shall cleave not of the cursed thing to thine hand. This week I installed an exterior door in our house and I sprayed in some of that expanding foam insulation and some of it got on my hand. And here I am six days later and I'm still trying to peel off some of that stuff. It really sticks well. And that's kind of the idea here. None of that sin cleaves unto you. Scrub it off. Do all you need to do to get away from it and not commit the sin again, and there are things that can be done to achieve that end. There shall cleave not of the accursed thing to thine hand, that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee as he hath sworn unto thy fathers. I'd like to conclude with some illustrations of this truth. First example, Adam. We read Romans 5.12, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death what? Fast upon all men, for that all have sinned. One man, one sin, many hurt very badly. As we read Ecclesiastes 9.8, One sinner destroyeth much good. Abraham, here's a positive example in Genesis 12. God says, I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee. And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. One man obeys God, all earth is blessed. Third example, we read in the book of Proverbs. This is not dispensational. This is the truth of all ages. Beware fellowship with an angry man. Make no friendship with an angry man. With a furious man thou shalt not go, lest thou learn his ways and get a snare to thy soul. Spreads. Anger is catchy. The lesson is rights I do not surrender may lead to shameful slavery for someone else. See, anger is mostly a matter of offense that our rights have been violated. I have right to good weather. I have a right to good health. I have a right to have a happy wife. I have a right to a certain income. I have a right not to have the car be in an accident. I have a right, I have a right. And if that right is transgressed, I have a right to be angry. That's presumption, friends. And when we do not surrender our rights, It can lead to shameful slavery for somebody else. The word in that verse we just looked at, a snare for the soul, in the Hebrew literally is a hook in the nose. 2 Kings 19.28, same word, and that's where it's translated more literally. Because thy rage against me and thy tumult has come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose. Fourth example, wise men. We read in Proverbs 13.20, he that walketh with wise men shall be wise. See, it's catchy, it blesses others. If I am wise, others can be blessed just by being around me. I love that verse, Malachi 3.16, they that feared the Lord spake often one to another. Fellowship, encouragement, spreading of good. Foolish men, verse five, here's the opposite side. A companion of fools shall be You thought you could be a fool all by yourself, but it doesn't work that way. A fool says in his heart, there is no God. I can destroy people by acting as if there is no God. The Bible says, forsake the foolish and live, Proverbs 9.6. We have the illustration of Rahab. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, Joshua 6.17, she and all that are with her in the house. Lesson, taking a risk to do right can lead to the deliverance of my whole family. God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love. Seventh example, and a great example, the Rechabites. The Rechabites had peculiar, distinctive lifestyle decisions assigned them by God, where they would not only not drink wine, they wouldn't even eat grapes or raisins that could be transformed into wine. Or many other such ways, they separated themselves from the allurement of the world. Now they may have looked peculiar, they may have been strange to others, they may have found it to be a lonely or a boring life at some times, but they had a legacy of godliness, and that's the message. saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man, that means lack a man, to stand before me forever. Peculiar and particular obedience can reap blessings for generations to come. We read in Titus 2.14, God gave, Christ gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Peculiar is the word in Latin and it means showing distinctively the traits of the owner. Number eight, the righteous in Sodom is an example. Genesis 18.26, the Lord said, if I find in Sodom 50 righteous within the city, I'll spare all the place for their sake. Few righteous, many blessed. And it went down from 50 to quite a bit fewer than that. So we get the disposition of God toward our nation that we deserve. They're not righteous people, don't expect necessarily God's going to bless us as a nation. We have this verse speaking to the Jewish people, 2 Chronicles 7.14, if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and what? Will heal their land. A couple more examples. Jeremiah 5.1, see what a man could do. Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof. If you can find a man, if there be any, that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth, and I will pardon it. Not I'll pardon the man, I'll pardon the city of Jerusalem. Sometimes it takes one man. We read in Proverbs 20, verse six, here's the problem. Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness, but a faithful man Who can find? Same idea we find in Ezekiel 22 verse 30. Amen. And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it. But I found none. One man. One man. One man. We read in Isaiah 63.5, and I looked, and there was none to help. And I wondered that there was none to uphold. Church in Pergamos, number 11. We read in Revelation 2.14 that the Lord had a few things against the church in Pergamos, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, the doctrine of integration. Get in and be with the world to win the world. And because there are a few, there are some who held to this doctrine and they were in the church, it corrupts the church. It says you need to deal with this or else I'll remove the candlestick from that church. Spirit move to the church. Church will be vacuous and ineffective. The lesson is God is against the people who allow wrong teaching or behavior in their midst. 1 Corinthians 5.13, them that are without God judges, but worth to judge what is within. Therefore put away from them from among yourselves that wicked person. Now, example of the church, 1 Corinthians 12.26, and whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it. or one member be honored, and all the members rejoice with it." Church is absolutely a package deal. Who is weak? Paul says, and I am not weak. Who is offended? And I burn not. 2 Corinthians 11.29. Good illustration, hymenaeus and phyletus. 2 Timothy 2, verse 16, "... but shun profane and vain babblings." Profane, profanus. Fanus is the Latin word for temple. Pro means outside. Profane means what you say outside of the building. That's where the cursing or the ugly language or the gossip or slander occurs. Or just vain, nothing babblings. For they will increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will eat as doth a canker." Like gangrene, like cancer. You speak wrongly, it will spread to others. You speak rightly, and it can spread to others. Anyway, the illustration is given here of Hymenaeus and Philetus. So speech unbecoming for a Christian will advance in a church like gangrene. 2 Peter 2.18, For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 14. The Righteous. When we think about the Tree of Life, first it's seen in the Garden of Eden. Then it's seen up in Paradise when Paul goes up to that level. Then it's seen in Revelations in Heaven, the Tree of Life. The closest thing to a Tree of Life here is righteous people. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. See what impact your godliness can have. The observable behavior of righteous people is a taste of paradise for others. We are told, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. And finally, Tabitha or Dorcas. She did good works. Look how she blessed those around her. All the widows stood by him weeping, showing the coats and garments which Dorcas made while she was with him. So good deeds win hearts. Every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts. A final illustration, Jesus Christ, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. We have access into glory due to the labors of the Son of Man. Through one man came access to God. By the righteousness of one, the free gift came unto all men unto justification of life. Here's our final verse. The reason that I'm giving this message today is that we're having missionary presentations. And when we examine a missionary to see whether God would have us to give financial support, we want to know about the labor, what the philosophy, the approach is, how the scriptures are advanced, the method of evangelism, and the rest. One thing we watch for, I know I watch for so much, is where is this person, where is this family spiritually? Are they devoted to the Word of God? Does it emanate from them? Can you tell they are faithful in their devotions? They are a people who know God. The Lord is near the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. And so we observe that the way to reach souls is all those things we've listed, the technique and the scriptures and evangelism and zeal and the will of God, of course. But we need as individuals to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts. Sanctify means to set apart, set apart Jesus Christ as Lord in your heart and be ready because you're going to impact others. This is a two-way street. I said it concerning the missionaries, I say it concerning us. We have funds to send and that's very useful. We have prayers to send, that's very useful, but also, Let us not minimize the significance of spiritual, godly, honest, true, humble, crushed-before-God lives and how the Lord can work through that and extend off to the rest of the world. That's what I wanted to say. Let us pray. Oh God, that Thy Holy Spirit would convince every one of us of our individual accountability to a holy God. Be ye holy, saith the scriptures, for I am holy in all manner of conversation. Oh, that we would take this seriously and see it as a prerequisite in effective evangelism, in effective church building, in effective family building, in effective lives. And that each one of us would see if we have besetting sins, if we have bitterness, if we have these other crimes that we're committed that we've discussed here today. And on the positive side, if we are devoting ourselves to those things which build up and bless and cause us to grow in love of God and man. If there are souls here who have not come to Christ, may this be the day that they be reconciled to the God of all, that they would find access to Him through Jesus Christ. All of us have sinned. The wages of sin is death. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. This we pray in Christ's holy name. Amen.