# Sin in the tent

Category: Integrity & Godly Character
Key Passage: Joshua 7
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: March 18, 2024

Sin makes small battles overwhelming. They had faced Jericho, that mighty city, that mighty wall around it. It was bigger than them. It was mightier than them, and yet God gave them a plan. I want you to march around it, and that seven days, seven times. It’s interesting, if you read that, they were to be quiet. Can you imagine all those thousands and thousands now whispering a word? Till that seventh day, that seventh time, and they blew the trumpets and they shouted. Probably startled them. And the walls fell down flat. They were so big. They said if they didn’t fall down flat, they could not have gotten in. They fell down flat, and they marched in. It had a great victory. It was a marvelous victory. Yet there was sin there.

It’s amazing how often sin happens in the midst of victory. Sad thing. And just one man, one man Achan, had taken of the accursed thing. The rest had taken the gold and silver and so on, and they had put it in the treasury, the house of the Lord. But Achan, he went and he hid it in his tent.

Can you imagine that? He went inside. I’m sure the tent’s much bigger than this tent right here. But he went inside his tent, and I’m not sure if they had to make a section, if they had a floor or probably just dirt, but they made a section and they dug a hole and they buried it there. Just stop and just think about the foolishness of it. Can you imagine later on when he wanted to get it out? Somebody said, “Where did you get that garment from?”

They couldn’t wear it a whole lot. Maybe, maybe later on it took another seat and they could take the spool sometimes. Maybe he could have gotten the gold and silver out, but good chance somebody had noticed, “Where’d you get all that from?” But he hid it. Satan’s so crafty in making us bury sin in our tents. It’s always the accursed thing.

And then they go to the next city, just a little bitty city. It was a victim. They should have had no problem, just humanly thinking. They said, “Don’t send them all out there. We don’t all have to go out there in labor.” By the way, God wants all of His people involved in the work of the Lord. Some in different ways, in different stations, and some maybe just being faithful. Maybe your age, you can’t do what you used to do, but just being faithful. But God wants everybody involved in His work, everybody.

Yet humanly they said, “Well, just send two or three thousand.” They said, “Well, we’ll go over and factor on the high side of this.” Sent 3,000 out there to fight that battle, two or three thousand. They sent 3,000. Yet those 3,000, they just turned and began to run. It turned their back to the people of Ai. I’m not sure, but I wonder how many of those 36 men that died, how many of those 36 got shot in the back?

Poor way to die. You didn’t even turn and fight. You should have fought a little bit. You’re going to die, you might as well take one of them out. But they turned and ran, and 36 of them died, and that battle is a sad thing.

Would you notice verse number five? Look at verse number five there, chapter number seven. We’ve already read it. I want you to notice one thing here about sin, what it does when there’s sin in the camp.

Verse number five: “And the men of Ai 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: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.”

These brave children of Israel that were conquering mightier cities, the city of Jericho and great walled cities. These brave men and bold men and winning victories for God. And now the children of Israel, their hearts melted. They became very fearful. They were not bold. They did not, if you will, put in an early on time. They weren’t bold to mention the name of Jesus and stand at work when there’s cursing and things going on. They were not bold to stand up, whether it be on Facebook or school or whatever. They just were—their hearts melted. They turned and ran. It became as water.

Sin always does that to you. I mentioned Wednesday night, the righteous are as bold as a lion, the Bible says. But the wicked flee when no man pursueth. More often than not, when I’m just a little afraid to do anything for God, if I look around, there’s sin in my tent. And that’s what was going on here; that just became fearful. It’s a sad thing. The church of Jesus Christ in many ways is just full of fearful people in America in our day and time. Sad situation. Fearful of everything: sickness, watching the news—they are fearful of that. It’s fearful people. Sin makes us fearful people. God doesn’t want His people living in fear, but sin will make it so we just live in fear. When children of Israel became fearful, what a sad thing. God’s people. They have God on their side. We’re on the winning side, we’re saying it tonight, and yet they’re living in fear. That’s what sin does to us. Of course, it’s a living fear. What a sad thing.

Now, can I just make a note about this thing here? If Achan, if he had just owned up to it before, I believe God had mercy on him. Pat, would you notice verse number 13, would you please, there just for a moment? Just a couple of things. We’re going to kind of go through this chapter a little bit tonight. I’m trying not to be long. I know it’s going to be a busy week for many of you.

Would you look at verse number 13: “Sanctify the people,” speaking to Joshua here. Verse number 13, chapter 7: “Sanctify yourselves against to morrow.” Say, notice this. Tell them. Tell them, say, “I want you to tell them what’s about to happen here.” Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you."

And God told them, He told Joshua, tell them a day ahead of time, this is what’s going to happen. If you will, He was giving Achan a forewarning, a time, a chance. Own up to it. Achan, when he heard the message, “Hey, tomorrow we’re going to get things right. There’s an accursed thing in the camp,” he heard that. He said, “Hey, I want you to tell them what’s about to happen.” Achan had an opportunity to get right. God gives us opportunities to get right. He warns us; He shoots warning shots across the bow. Achan had 24 hours, or at least hours at night, to get things right. “Hey, tell them what’s about to happen tomorrow.”

Yet Achan, he knew he had the accursed thing in his tent. He knew that. He knew it was going to happen tomorrow. I’m not sure what was going through his mind. I don’t know if he said, “Well, maybe I can slide it by,” maybe try to justify his sin. I’m not sure what was in his mind. But God gave him an opportunity. He knew ahead of time it was about to happen. He knew it was coming. He knew that he had better get right now because if God’s going to, He always finds your sin. And God, through Joshua, was giving Achan an advance notice. If he had confessed it before and repented, God had mercy on it.

We mentioned this Wednesday. I just—I didn’t want to preach; we just preached like this on Wednesday. I felt like God just had us go here. But you look over from Proverbs 28, if you would please. It’s a wonderful principle. If we have sin, we all have sin from time to time. It’s so important what we do with our sin. Look what God’s promise here is in Proverbs 28, verse number 13, if you would please. Proverbs 28:13. Two different promises both ways: positive, negative, both. Watch what He says. Proverbs 28:13: “He that covereth his sins,” plural, “don’t make this a way of life for you covering your sins. Don’t make it a way of you getting by with everything. You’re just always covering your sins. Glory. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper.”

That’s very definite for him. God says that it’s going to happen and guarantee, but when He says “shall,” that’s even more confident: “shall not prosper.” You won’t prosper. It doesn’t matter how talented you are, doesn’t matter what you do to try to make up for it, doesn’t matter how much extra energy you put into Him; you’re not going to prosper. “He that covers his sins shall not prosper.” Wonderful promise at the last part.

“But who so confesseth and forsaketh them shall…” Just as strong as “shall not prosper,” just “shall have mercy.” Achan could have had mercy, even with the 36 men that had died, and even with the accursed thing, if he had confessed and forsook, “shall have mercy.”

Can I beg of you tonight? And I mean that: beg of you tonight. If you have sin, don’t hide it. Don’t cover it. It’s so much better for you before God has to reveal it, before God has to bring it to light, before God has to deal with it. God, He’ll send those warning shots. He’s done that for you. He does it for me and for all of us. When He does it, friend, would you get it right at that moment? Would you confess it? Would you forsake it? Would you take it to the Lord in honesty and sincerity and say, “Lord, I’ve been wrong about this thing”? It’s so much better that way. “Shall.” Achan could have had mercy.

God even forewarned him, “Hey, tomorrow we’re about to get things right. It’s going to be on tomorrow. Achan, you better get it right tonight.” What a sad thing. God had told Josh, “I want you to say this. Let the people know what’s about. Sanctify yourselves because tomorrow God’s coming. He’s going to point out the sin.” Would you get right?

Wouldn’t it be right for us to have an old-fashioned revival of getting thoroughly right with God? Would you just dream a little bit about that? Would you just think of what if our families, our homes? This was in the tent here. What if our families, our homes, inside our home, our tent, if we got thoroughly right with God? Can you imagine how God could bless our homes? If we got thoroughly right, can you imagine how God said, “Man, I can lift the curse. I don’t have to do that. I can put My hand…” Can you imagine the joy? Can you imagine the peace? Can you imagine how God can bless your marriage or offspring?

Can you imagine if myself, if we get thoroughly right in our home? For your family’s sake, hey, confess. Don’t hold on to sin. For your family’s sake. Can I say this: for your church’s sake? We’re a church family. You know, next week’s Vacation Bible School. I’m going to be right tonight. We just got thoroughly right with God and got sure before the Lord. God could put His hand on our church. It was just one man, one family, I believe, that sinned here. Yet God said, “Israel hath sinned.”

The fall is just right around the corner. I’m praying. Would you pray with me that God would give us a great fall? It would be awesome if God would begin to work in mightier ways and more lives changed. It’s been a long time since we had to bring chairs. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we saw all the time we had to bring chairs out and sat around the back? God could do that.

And God has blessed so many families and homes and marriages and changed lives. It’s been a little while since we’ve seen an alcoholic give up the bottle. We’ve seen it many times over the years. If we got thoroughly right, the fall is right in the corner. I mean, God’s going to sell those two acres, and before long we’re going to be over there. It would be wonderful if we as a church family—this is the core group—if the core got thoroughly right with God and God could put His hand on the church here, and people say, “What’s going on over at that church?” We can say, “God’s moving. God’s doing something in the church.”

It’s not pastors; it’s not Brother So-and-so; it’s not Sister So-and-so. God’s doing something over there. That only happens when we get thoroughly right with God. Wouldn’t it be about all us and the church family and all that? I’m for all those things. It’s one of—got a great church family, but more than that, it’s not a church that man can explain by man. God’s doing something over there. That’s what we’ll talk about. That’s what we want: God, we get thoroughly right.

Can I say for your family’s sake, don’t hold on to sin. Confess it before God reveals it. For your church family, can I say for our country? Our country needs Christians that are thoroughly right with God more than ever. Friend, God can still do a work in our country. You say, “Well, what about we’re living in the end times?” A friend, can I remind you that America is less than 5% of the population of the world? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if America returned to be a great light to the rest of the world? You say, “We’re so messed up,” and we are so messed up. I think America is well beyond what man can fix. We’re way past that, friend. It doesn’t matter who we have in it. I’m praying for a better Congress and a better president and all that, but friend, it’s way beyond; it’s going to take God. But God can work in our country. God can turn things around.

It’s amazing as you read the curse of the blessing. I believe it’s in Deuteronomy 31. Hey, we became not the head; we’re the tail now in the worldwide in so many ways. It’s kind of hidden when we’re becoming that. Yet if we obeyed God and got right with God, God could turn right where the head again, where we’re not borrowing from others, we’re loaning out to others. I think I’d get thoroughly right with God for our country’s sake. It’s not worth it to hang on to our sin, and Achan was forewarned, and yet Achan held on to his sin. What a sad thing. End of his life, his family…

You’ve known this, but let’s look at it again. Would you look back in verse number one? Verse number one here, chapter number seven. Look at verse number one: “But the children of Israel committed a trespass.” Isn’t that amazing? Verse number one: “But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel.”

It’s amazing. I wouldn’t want to be the one that stands in the way of your family being blessed or stands in the way of our church, our country. Look at verse number 11. “Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant, which I commanded them: for they have taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.” Israel. It’s amazing. God says, “Hey, I’m going to view you as one,” if you will. Just this one man, Achan, and I believe his family was involved in it.

36 men lost their lives. That means that a wife was weeping because her husband didn’t come home. That means little babies and little children, little boys and little girls were weeping in grief. Their daddy did not come home because he was killed in battle at that little bit of town or sitting, a little bit of place called Ai, because of one man. Yet God said the nation should have—Israel sinned. What a sad thing for him. Sin never pays. God says the whole nation is going to suffer because of Achan.

Wouldn’t it be a sad thing for me to bring down my whole family? Wouldn’t it be a sad thing if just one person was to bring down our church? And it’s amazing how many people that often bachelor not even in the church, but they criticize the church. And yet they’re part of the church family. They’re a child of God. You hear that often in America. Maybe that overall why we’re so weak. It’s a biblical thing.

I wonder what America would be like if the Christians in America got thoroughly right. Could you imagine what would happen if just the Christians, God’s people called by His name, just God’s people—God’s people got thoroughly right? Can you imagine what God could do in America through the Christians? Just dream for it. Anybody like to dream out there? Let’s just dream for a second. Let’s just dream that God worked in my and our hearts. We just got thoroughly right, and God began to move.

I’ve heard of church services where people just rode by, and they just said, “I felt a tug to go to that church,” and people just started pulling in. Can you imagine if we just got thoroughly right and we became a light at our workplace, in our neighborhood, and in a great way? I’m not down on you; you’re doing good, but I’m just talking about just a dream for a minute. Can you imagine? Man, we need a new parking lot. I’ve got to get ushers out there to park people in the grass because there’s not room, and maybe people parked up the side of the roads because people just want to come. “God’s doing something over there at County Baptist Church.” Man, people are—the chairs are full, bringing in chairs, and maybe lining them on each side and down front. People just all over; can’t fit the people in there.

Can you imagine if we had revival in America? There’s so many churches building programs going on. What’s going on? Churches have to add on all over the place. This is a wonderful fault for a pastor. Man, the offering plates—we can’t fit it all in there. Got to get bigger offering plates. People getting right. Can you imagine? We need some more gospel tracts. We’re running out of tracks. We’re going through tracks; they’re gone. We need more tracks. I don’t know where they all go. People are just taking them everywhere, getting the gospel out. Can you imagine that? God can do that. He’s a mighty God. His hand’s not short that it cannot save Him to reach down from heaven to earth still. His ear’s not heavy that it cannot hear. He can still hear the prayers and our cries before Him.

But one man, Achan. Now think about this. I’m not sure—I tend to think Achan had hid this in his tent. Now that’s where his family lived. I tend to think his family knew about it. His family was killed in it. It’d be pretty hard in his own home for him to dig a hole and hide it in there and not everyone know about it. It’s very interesting. I don’t know about his wife. Now, they didn’t mention her. Look, if you will, look at verse number 24. Verse number 24 there, Joshua 7, verse number 24: “And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughter…” So sad. “…and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: they brought them into the valley of Achor.” Bob never mentions his wife. Not sure. Maybe he was a widower. Maybe she said, “I’m not going to have a part in that.” She took off. I don’t know. Well, I wouldn’t mention her. But his family, I believe they didn’t know about it. Ezekiel tells us that the son’s not going to die for the sin of the father and vice versa (Ezekiel 18). I believe they’d do about it. He hid it in his home, in his tent.

Can I just say this? You know, Achan, he’s walking around looking real good. I’m sure he had his spiritual pious face on. Probably had his tie on, carried his Bible, smiling, looking real good to everybody. But at home, things were different. He probably—sometimes they look like the most spiritual ones, you know. Jesus pointed out as Judas. He gave him the sack, but nobody—nobody dreamed Judas to be the one. They just believed Judas was the most spiritual, if you would. He got the money. The Lord trusted him with the money. And I’m sure Achan looked so good to everybody else, but at home things were different.

Friend, if revival doesn’t go all the way to the home, it’s not true revival. Sad thing among Christendom that people look so good on the outside, act like they got everything right, but at home it’s like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; everything changes. What a sad thing. If you want to be a good Christian anywhere, make sure it’s at home.

I’ve told the story many times down through the years, but it’s such a wonderful illustration. A couple was going before their pastor and saying, “Hey, we think God’s called us to take this church, and do you think we’re ready for it?” and so on. And the pastor thought, “Well, the wife will know better than me. She lives with the guy.” And so he turned to the wife and said, “Ma’am, do you think your husband’s ready to pastor?” And the wife said this: “He said, ‘Preacher, that’s the best I know right there.’” Can your kids say that about you? Can your spouse say that about you? Friend, if you want to be a good Christian anywhere, the best place to be a good Christian is at your home. I’m sure Achan could look like Mr. Wonderful on the outside, but when it got inside the tent, everybody knew: sin in the tent.

Friend, if you want to hurt, you want to mess up and wound your kids anyway, the best way for you to do that is to be a hypocrite. Live one way in front of everybody in that home, be a different way. Probably the quickest, easiest way to mess up your kids right there.

Friend, what kind of Christian? Can I ask you husbands, how do you treat your wife? Are you always correcting her, browbeating her, looking for her flaws and mistakes? Are you doing it in your mind? Are you loving her like Christ loved the church? And in the while we’re yet sinners, He died. Do you just love her like she is? You’re always trying to make her something what you want her to be. Do you just love her like she is? What kind of Christian are you at home? Wives, are you always interrupting your husband, correcting your husband, and trying to keep your finger, if you will, in your heart? What kind of life are you? Those are key things. I’m not saying everyone that’s why I don’t need to have a heart-to-heart, but friend, what kind of husband? What kind of life are you at home?

Can I say young people, what kind of young person are you at home? Do you bring light? I was talking to someone this morning about a little girl. She’s a compassionate little girl, and she’s caught my attention. And a couple weeks ago, she noticed—and she’s maybe, I don’t know, seven years old, a little bit of girl—a couple weeks ago, she noticed my lack of fingers. I can’t remember how she noticed it, but man, she just got a little compassionate heart. And that son, and she came back maybe after service, and she had candy. She had saved up. She got some candy somewhere. She said, “Here’s you some candy.” And it was all about my fingers. She’s just burdened. Today she brought me some little Tic-Tac or something, you know. She’s just sweet little girl. She’s just concerned, you know. Her term, “boo-boo,” I think, was today. She was like, “Man, he’s got a big boo-boo.” She’s just compassionate. And the daughter, she said, “That girl just lights up my world.” She just—she just comes home. She just… Are you like that? Can those that you live with—can they say, “Man, they just bring a great attitude in my home”? Can your parents say that about you? At home, what kind of a Christian are you at home?

Jonathan, did you look up this way? So important, what kind of a Christian are we? Sin in the tent. I’m sure Achan and his family looked wonderful to everybody else, but in their home, there was sin in the home and the tent. God sees it all. It’s so key.

Just dream about it. I wonder—I don’t know—but I believe the Bible would read differently if maybe it was when God said, “Joshua, get up off your face. Stop praying.” There’s a time to pray. There’s a time when God says, “Get up and do something about it.” And God said, “Josh, get up, time to do something about it. There’s an accursed thing in the camp. And I want you to do something. And I want you to tell the people tomorrow what’s about to happen and better sanctify themselves, get themselves set apart, get themselves right, because tomorrow I’m going to go through the camp and point out…”

Wouldn’t it have been awesome if Achan heard that warning? I’m not sure. There’s a million—there’s a lot of people say a million and a half; someone will say up to three and a half million. I venture to say around three million. But that’s millions of Jews, and I’m not sure how Joshua got the word out. Maybe he had people just go through the camp and proclaim, “Hey, tomorrow we’re going to get clean and get right. God, we’re going to go tribe by tribe and family by family and man by man, and God’s going to point out. God’s told Joshua that we lost in the battle; 36 men have died because there’s sin in the camp, and somebody’s got the accursed thing, and hey, you better get right because tomorrow God’s going to point it out.”

What a vacuum when it said, “Oh my goodness, I’ve got to get right.” What if Achan would have told his family, “We can’t keep living like this. We’ve got to make some change”? What if Achan would have said, “Hey, we’ve got to dig up the stuff we’ve hid. Let’s dig it up. God’s going to point it out if we don’t get it right”? What if Achan would have said, “Hey, we’ve got to get this—hey, sons, I don’t want to wreck your life, and daughters, I don’t want to wreck your life. Let’s get all this gold and this silver and the Babylonian garment. Let’s get it all out.” And what if they took it that night and walked over to the Capitol, if you will, or where Joshua was?

Maybe there were soldiers guarding General Joshua’s tent. Maybe they went to the soldiers and said, “Hey, would you go tell Joshua? Now we want to get right before tomorrow happens. We’ve heard the warning. Would you go tell Joshua we’ve got gold and silver and Babylonian stuff that we stole?” Would you imagine that night that brought it, confessed, and pursued? General Joshua would have come out. I’m not sure everything that had happened. Would you dream maybe a little bit? God says you shall have mercy. I’m not sure what had happened. I tend to think they lived on. Maybe they had, in some way or some way, maybe they would have been demoted. I’m not sure. It would for sure been embarrassing. I know that. It would for sure been humbling. Yet you humble yourself on the side of God, He shall lift you up. Maybe even with them confessing it, getting it right ahead of time, maybe they sparked a little revival. Often when one person gets right, others do.

I’m not sure what Joshua 7 and 8 would have read like, or they just held on to their sin, and the next day God had to point it out. It’s humbling sometimes to get right, but it’s so worth it.

I was a teenager about to go off to Bible college, and I was trying to spend a little season of prayer just asking God if I’m going to go to Bible college, spend my life living for it, would You bless? God reminded me of some sin in my life years before. I think that was in seventh grade in our little neighborhood, Dundee, Florida, at the time. We lived in a camper park. We lived in a camper at that time. Some of the kids in the neighborhood were getting into shoplifting, and I followed. A little convenience store down the road there, and I went over there and shoplifted. I didn’t steal a whole lot. Cigarettes? No, I’m joking, just candy. I don’t know how much it was years later, but God said, “Hey, you want Me to bless you? Once you get thoroughly right…”

I remember I took—I probably didn’t, and this is years ago back in 1970 when I was a young person, you know. Now, I’m not sure. I probably had stole five, six, seven dollars’ worth of candy there in that time frame. The Bible talks about restoring sevenfold, and I think—I’m not even sure—I think it was a $20 bill. We lived over in Lakeland Park at the time, Eaton Park is maybe 45 minutes away. I drove over there to that little convenience store. I was waiting. I sat in my car waiting until everybody’s gone. I didn’t want anybody around. They probably thought I was trying to rob it. I was trying to give them money back. I waited about—it was gone. I went in there. And I went up to the clerk and I said, “Ma’am, I know this is a crazy thing. I said years ago when I was a young person, I used to come to this convenience store and steal. I don’t think I stole a whole lot. I want to get right. I’m about to go to Bible college. I’d like to be right with God. I think it was a $20 bill.” I can’t remember. I pulled that $2 bill out and said, “Man, I’d like to give this to the store.” She said, “What if I put it in my pocket?” I said, “That’s between you and God. I just want to get right.” She said, “You don’t have to do that. They never knew you. You got by with it.” God knows.

Now, I was embarrassed, and I had to convince that lady, “Would you just take it so I feel like I’m right with God?” She said, “All right, I’ll take it.” I don’t know. She may have gone on bolts up with him; that’s fine. We’ve heard of the Lord. But I walked out of that store with a weight lifted. I felt like I got some things right. God had reminded me of that sin. That’s 30 years ago, I don’t know. I’m so glad they got some things right. God spoke to my heart about it.

I don’t know what it might be, friend, but it would be wonderful for our church right at the end of summer. Some of us still have vacations coming, but fall will be here. God wants to do so much through our church. God doesn’t have all these plans—that’s God that’s did all that. It might be wonderful if we just got thoroughly right with God. I’m talking about thoroughly. Well, God can say, “Hey, the camp, the family”—I’m talking about your family, not just your family, your family—“I can bless.” One or not, let’s just get thoroughly right with God.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? Would you please stand? I’m not going to have you raise your hand. I want you before the Lord. David said over there in Psalms, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me.” Let’s just do our best to get thoroughly right. Let’s let Him go through our lives like a fine-tooth comb tonight. Let’s just get thoroughly right with God tonight. Let’s pray.

Can I say this? Don’t get in sinful patterns. When this happens, I say, “Well, I just can’t win when this happens,” and we just give in to sin. Don’t get in sinful patterns. Satan will always give us a way to justify. Always does. Don’t get into sinful patterns. God said, “Always make a way that you can escape.” Always. God’s promise. And let’s just get thoroughly right around.

I’m excited about the fall. Would you start praying with me ahead of time for the fall? I love to see God work. He’s already been so good. I was thinking in Sunday school someone who had given the birds—had given candy kings out for winning, and I didn’t do anything to win, but my team won, and they were kind of joking, and I put it in my pocket. That’ll be in there for where—and it still is in there if I get it out, you know. And it reminded me—I’m trying to get it up, the crazy thing out of there. There it is right there.

I’d like to say I’m not lying to you, but it reminded me, and I told the story in Sunday school years ago. A guy wanted to—and God worked in his heart in his service. And at the end, he gave me a pack of cigarettes. He said, “I want to give them up.” And I put them in my pocket, and I forgot about it. And that night, at the house, you know, you go to your bedroom and empty everything out, and I yelled at Tammy, “You won’t believe what’s in our bedroom in here!” Pull out a pack of cigarettes, you know. My wife smoked them all. And I was just talking about loving your wives, you know. But it’s been a while since I’ve seen the man give me cigarettes and say, “I won’t give them up.” I’ve seen it a couple times. I can think about, oh, I don’t know, five or six men around the top of my head that’s given up the bottle over the years. Been a while ago.

God does those things. I think of a young man that was on hard drugs. The ones they say they can’t overcome it through God’s grace—as far as I know, he’s not doing it anymore. Those things only happen if we get thoroughly right with God. I’d like to see more of that. Over there, I don’t know how many couples have said, “You know, our marriage is so much sweeter now that we’re in church living for God.” I’d like to hear that again.

Let’s get a thorough life. Let’s just get a taste of that, the vision, the dream of that. Let’s do our best to be thoroughly right. We pray. I want you to pray about the fall. God give us a great fall. Let’s do that. God will work in our hearts and lives. I need it. You pray for me. I need revival. Let’s ask God to do a great work this fall. Would you do that? And let’s get a vision of that. God is doing something behind him, and He can. He’s able. He’s got that building, that land. He’s got it lined up for us. God, we didn’t do all that. God’s brought us to this point. God didn’t do all that for no reason. And let’s just be ready for the fall of God to work in a great way.

Glad you’re here tonight in Vacation Bible School. Let’s be praying. God bless. It’ll be a great vacation, and God change a little boy, little girl for Him and for all that turns. You be praying about that. Big, great, great week. Glad you’re here tonight. Appreciate you being faithful. And no blankets of love. I know Brother Jacob was just coming to sew blankets and quilts on tomorrow. Brother Jacob can’t come, you know. And no organized soul winning on Thursday night because of vacation, but still have midweek service, so be here for that, 7 o’clock. Looking forward to that. And be praying. God bless all weekend, week long. Would you do that? And bad, you’re here tonight. What a blessing. What a blessing. Good to have the DeLeonardos back, and we miss them when they’re gone. And Brother Frank, would you dismiss us with prayer, please, Brother? Thank you for another message from Your Word, Lord. Thank you for the information.

Original File: Sin in the tent - Joshua 7 - Pastor Paul Chisgar Sunday PM 71121