Pray for the Our Generation Summit

I want to ask all of you to be in special prayer over the next three days for the Our Generation Summit, which is a mission-centered winter retreat in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  The Our Generation Summit is an annual gathering in Gatlinburg, TN, of Christians with a heart for world missions. Pastors and missionaries, teachers and students, businessmen and families join for three days to address the needs of a world waiting for the Gospel.

The theme for this year is “Stand in the Gap”.  My pastor Austin Gardner, Bro. Tony Howeth, Bro. Mark Coffey, and Bro. Trent Cornwell will be preaching and leading the meeting with other missionaries from around the world preaching and teaching (Tyler Masters, Chris Gardner, Kevin White, Philip Bassham, Bro. Mark to China).  Pray for all the other people working and helping at the summit this year, and pray for God to do a great work.  Pray for many to surrender to world missions and for everyone to commit to do all they can to glorify God through preaching the gospel to the uttermost.

Joshua 7 Part 3: The Exposure of Secret Sins

I am doing a series of posts about Achan in Joshua 7 and how his sin, though secret, was exposed and had serious consequences.  I hope this series of lessons on “Secret Sin” will challenge us examine our hearts for secret sins and confess them to God.  We have already looked at the lure of secret sins and the consequences of secret sins.  Today we are looking at the exposure of secret sin.

The Exposure of Secret Sin

As we see in Joshua 7:10-12, God sees our sin and knows all about it.  Even though a whole nation knew nothing about Achan’s sin, God saw it and God was displeased with the whole nation because of the sin.  Proverbs 15:3 says, ”The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.”   Psalm 90:7-8 says, ”For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.  Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.

In Joshua 7:13, God tells Israel to sanctify or cleans themselves of this sin.  He says, “…O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.”  In other words, they would live in constanst defeat as long as they had harboured sin.

Just as every man stood before God in Joshua 7:14, we will all stand before God, and God knows exactly what is in the deepest darkest recesses of our hearts and lives.  Romans 14:12 says, “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.”

God will expose our unconfessed sin (7:16-19).   God showed that it was the family of Judah, the family of the Zarhites, the household of Zabdi, and Achan was the man.  Numbers 32:23 gives a very sobering promise, “But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.”

Tomorrow, I will conclude this series with the judgment of secret sin that will talk about two ways to judge sin: either God’s judgment or self-judgment.