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Let's dig into this chapter. I want to look at verse number 15 again The Bible reads and it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early about the dawning of the day and compass The city after the same manner seven times only on that day They compass the city seven times and it came to pass at the seventh time when the priests blew with the trumpets Joshua said unto the people Shout for the Lord have given you the city and the city shall be accursed even it and all that are There in to the Lord only Rahab the harlot shall live she and all that are with her in the house Because she hid the messengers that we sent and you in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing Lest you make yourselves accursed When you take the of the accursed thing and make the camp of Israel a curse and trouble it But all the silver and golden vessels of brass and iron are consecrated unto the Lord They shall come into the treasury of the Lord So we have a really famous story here the story of Jericho and it's where the children of Israel They walk around the city seven days and on the seventh day They blow the trumpets after they go seven times specifically and all the walls come tumbling down But there's something about this story That's very interesting It's the fact that God tells them that all the goods all the money all the silver all the gold is accursed It's accursed and they're not allowed to take it personally that all the money all the goods all the silver everything That's in the city is supposed to be consecrated unto the Lord It's supposed to go into his sanctuary go into his treasury that they're not allowed to take of the spoils of war from Jericho Specifically now, what does it mean for something to be accursed? Well according to the dictionary it says to consign to destruction Misery or evil by a curse to consign to destruction meaning that it's just appointed under destruction or misery or Evil and some manner now the word accursed in your Bible is only found in a few different places Okay, this is one of the most iconic stories and it mentions it many times We just read it like several times right in a row But the first time it's mentioned go if you would have Deuteronomy 21 I want to kind of give you an idea here of what this means to be accursed and The thought of my sermon this morning is this hiding the accursed thing Hiding the accursed thing because we have a story here where God gives a strong warning about not taking of the accursed thing Not partaking in something that's accursed now look at Deuteronomy 21 verse 23 Here's another mention of accursed It says his body should not remain all night upon the tree But thou shalt in any wise bury him that day for he that is hanged is accursed of God That thy land be not defiled Which the Lord thy God giveth thee for inheritance so the Bible says someone that hung on a tree if that was the way they were executed or killed that they were literally accursed of God and this is prophetic of none other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself Go if you would to Romans chapter 9 I'll read for you in Galatians the Bible says Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law Being made a curse for us for it is written curse it is everyone that hangeth on a tree So if we think about the dictionary definition of someone consigned to destruction Isn't that pretty adequate and fit well with the fact that someone that's hung on a tree is consigned to destruction And isn't that what Jesus Christ did for us is he took the curse of law what is the curse of the law? Well the Bible says for the wages of sin is death So to take on the curse of sinning of breaking God's law is to take on death Literally and Jesus Christ literally had to die for us He took that curse upon himself by hanging on the tree And he was truly a curse of God the Bible says in Romans chapter 9 Here's another mention of the way it curses use the Apostle Paul says in verse 3 for I wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren my kinsmen according the flesh now Understanding a curse you see the extremity You see the elaboration of the Apostle Paul saying man I wish I was consigned to death from Christ just to get my brethren safe, but this is obvious hyperbole this is obvious that the Apostle Paul is Exaggerating and magnifying this statement so as to make it clear how he truly feels in his heart But what he's truly saying is that he wishes he was consigned to destruction Just if he could get the children of Israel Saved go to Galatians chapter 1 and you say well, maybe Paul didn't understand how bad that was well He talks about other people being accursed and and we know how bad it is now again Obviously the word curse is found in your Bible hundreds of times Okay But the specific phrase of a curse is kind of like a state of being cursed and the few times it's mentioned It's always just complete death or destruction or the worst type of punishment imaginable That's why the Apostle Paul said that he's trying to say hey I wish I had the worst possible punishment could be given unto me just so that my brethren could be saved That's obviously the point that he was trying to make so he's using the strongest terms to condemn himself in a hypothetical Situation now if we were going to try and pick the worst people on the planet Like who is the absolute scummiest of the scum on the planet? I mean people like Hillary Clinton come to mind right, you know people like Joe Biden come to mind people that are murderous People that you know force men or force women or you know sodomites But you know who's worse than all those people false prophets The absolute scum of scum the worst possible person on this planet. I mean the person doing the most Damage is a false prophet and so if I were to try and find the worst person on this planet I mean the absolute scummiest of the scum. What would I wish for them? I would ask for them to be accursed and this fits perfectly with what Galatians says Galatians chapter 1 verse 8 But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you then that which we have preached unto you Let him be accursed What does that consign to destruction? It's not like you're wishing a Merry Christmas here You're not saying hey, I hope you get saved someday. You're not saying well, I hope you watch the track from our church No, you're saying I hope that he dies. I hope that he's destroyed Look you're a hypocrite if you wish that fags would be put to death But you don't wish that false prophets would have the same condemnation. That's ridiculous. That's nonsense Says in verse number nine as we said before so say now again, you know I like those verse not only is he gonna repeat the same thing twice. He's saying I told you this before too Hey, let me remind you of how I feel and how you should feel so say I now again If any man preached any other gospel unto you then that you ever see let him be accursed That's what the Bible says. So now what we see that what it means to be a curse that's bad Right a curse does not have a positive mention. There's no lightning There's no lessening of the severity of being accursed So when God is saying in Joshua chapter number six don't take of the accursed thing Is this just kind of a light thing or is this a serious thing? This is a very serious thing now I'm going to show you a couple other places where people are accursed just so you have an idea of just cursing in general Go back. You go to second Kings chapter number two second Kings chapter number two Let's see if cursing has this similar definition that we've been seeing it from the dictionary and on Other places in the Bible. How about just things that are cursed what happens to them? Okay, look at second Kings chapter 2 verse 24 And He turned back the second about Elisha and looked on them and cursed them in the name of the Lord So there's there's these children. They're mocking Elijah go up that bald head go up that bald head What does it mean to be a curse? Consigned to destruction look at the next part and there came forth two she bears out of the wood and tear 40 and two children of them That sounds like they were appointed to destruction. It sounds like they were literally accursed Go to Matthew 25 go to Matthew 25. I know we're just kind of jumping around the Bible for a moment, but I want you to see that the Bible has a very consistent theme here of what it means to be a curse of What the end of being accursed is and how severe it truly is to be accursed or to have a curse on you From the Lord Matthew 25 look at verse 41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand Depart from me ye cursed and the everlasting fire Prepared for the devil and his angels. So notice what Jesus says to the cursed Go to hell He says hey, you're gonna go into hell. You're gonna split hell wide open Notice he didn't say oh you curse come into heaven. You're just misunderstood No, he says if you're cursed, I mean you're going in everlasting fire Go to mark chapter number 11 mark chapter look the things that God curses are damned You know, you could think about false prophets in the Bible. It says that they're cursed children Is that good no, it's horrible its damnation its destruction It's condemnation to be accursed or to be cursed from God now, obviously Evil people or enemies will try to curse us and you know, I preached the whole sermon, you know Kind of dealing with that subject, but obviously Balaam will try to curse you all day long But you know what if the Lord's gonna protect you You don't have to worry about that You have to worry about the evil curses that try to come upon you. You don't need to be worried about cursing you God The Lord cursing you that's when you're appointed unto destruction. That's when you have no hope Okay, mark chapter 11 look at verse 21 and Peter calling to remembrance saith unto master Behold the fig tree which thou cursest is withered away So when it comes to a tree appointed to destruction when it comes to people appointed under destruction When it comes to the souls of men going to hell, I mean, it's a very consistent theme but notice he said that the physical goods of Jericho were a curse Okay Now go forward to Exodus 23. Let me explain you what's happening in this story because I Just want to make it clear and then you're gonna you're gonna see with me with the Bible's teaching But why would God have a curse the goods that were in Jericho? Well, I want you to understand this It's not like the goods were physically cursed. It's that it wasn't theirs to take So if they took it, it would bring a curse upon them okay, some people have this weird idea that physical objects are somehow associated with people or something like that and And there's some reason to believe that you know, like the house of the sodomites are broken down and you know A leprosy house is gonna be destroyed and so it's possible for a physical building to even suffer some kind of a condemnation But just because a bad person has something Doesn't mean that the item that they're in possession of is somehow bad think about the Canaanites in the whole land of Israel Okay, the the Canaanites are the most wicked people on the planet yet. God's gonna let them take over the promised land It's not like he's saying. Oh the whole lands just ruined now. You can't have the land. No, it's fine It's fine for them to inherit that land and it's fine sometimes to take over possessions from the wicked You know the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just as what the Bible says, okay So it's not like these physical items can never be redeemed They're obviously gonna be redeemed into the Lord's Treasury. He literally says that you're gonna bring them into the Lord's Treasury What would be wrong is to take the money? Appointed to the Lord's Treasury take it for it's your own now You're accursed now. You're taking the accursed thing because that's not yours to take It's not something that's entitled into you. Now. You know what this whole story is really illustrating. It's the tithe It's the tithe that is illustrating and you know why it's the tithe well think about this What is the first city that they're gonna take over in the Promised Land? It's Jericho It's Jericho is the first city now, what's the tithe it's supposed to be the first 10% of your money and so obviously God's just saying hey I want you guys to trust me the first city you take over It's all going to the Lord now that takes faith because in in the human perspective according to the flesh You don't know if you're gonna win any more battles. And so the very first battle just all goes to the Lord You're just kind of like, okay Wouldn't that be monetarily too though if you give the first 10% of your money it's kind of like, okay Well now I have the rest to Leave over or I have to have the rest for myself But here's the reality the tithe is associated with being the first fruits and God gives so many Commandments Associated to this good exit 23 verse 19 The first of the first fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God Thou shalt not see the kid in his mother's milk So notice he's saying look the first of the first fruits you bring to God You know why because you're basically putting your faith in God that he's gonna provide for you You're giving him the respect and the honor that's due unto him and you're elevating him to preeminence in your life by saying He's gonna be the first if I'm gonna pay somebody first. It's gonna be God. It's gonna be the Lord Look at Leviticus 27. Now look at Leviticus 27. He gave a lot of specific Commandments clear Commandments that when they enter in the land They need to tithe on the first fruits of all their increase and the first is gonna come to them It makes perfect sense that Jericho the whole city oil would go to the Lord Why because it's a picture of the tithe it's a picture of the first fruits going to the Lord look at Leviticus 27 verse 30 and All the tithe of the land whether of the seed of the land or the fruit of the tree is The Lord's it is holy unto the Lord. What does holy mean? It means set apart It means you set something apart and say this is God's this is the Lord's so if you take what's God's now You're taking the accursed thing for yourself Obviously, it's not a curse to the Lord But it'd be a curse to you to take that which is sanctified and set apart and holy unto God go to Numbers chapter 18 go to Numbers chapter 18 We're gonna see this in Exodus Leviticus numbers Deuteronomy and I'm just showing you a small fraction of all the verses associated with the tithe of Commandments associated tithing or the first roots, but I want to give you a sampling So you have an idea of what the Bible is talking about look at numbers 18 verse 24 But the tithes of the children of Israel which they offer as a heave offering under the Lord I have given to the Levites to inherit therefore. I have said unto them among the children of Israel They shall have no inheritance now when they're entering in the Promised Land They technically have 13 tribes and the reason why is because Joseph kind of gets split into two they have Ephraim and Manasseh and because of this 13 number one tribe ends up getting no inheritance So it goes back to 12 goes back to the 12 tribes and that's the Levites the Levites end up getting no inheritance They're just priests of God and they're supposed to inherit amongst all the other 12 tribes But they don't actually have own any possessions. It's like they're just permanent renters or something They're just permanent lease holders where they just get to have certain provisions given to them among the other tribes But it's the other tribes that satisfy and provide them with all of their substance all of their goods all their money All their lands everything is just gifted unto them from the tribe in which that they're living and this is a picture of what? The purpose of the tithe is that it goes to the work of the Lord That it goes to the priests that it goes to the ministers of God so they can live so they can raise a family so they have houses and Specifically they can perform all the sacrifices of God and they don't have to go out and work on their own They don't have to go to the field and plant crops and raise cattle and do all this other work to make sure that they Have food on the table. They can just be dedicated to making sure that the incense doesn't go out They can make sure they're offering Sacrifices and petition for God's people that they can pray that they can do all the different ministries They can study the Bible they can know what the law says they can offer all the correct offerings because it's very important They can carry the tabernacle they can minister. I mean whatever it is that they have to do. They're going to do it and Obviously you can only do so much work right and they don't God doesn't want his house to be put on the backburner He doesn't want his ministers. So you just be moonlighting the whole time Just like well, you know, sometimes I minister for God But my real job is out in the field. My real job is going and doing all this secular work No, it's he wants his ministers dedicated to him and in full-time service to him and the only way that's possible Is with the type and we see the Bible I'm not forsaken time going to go there but we see plenty of times where people forsake tithing they forsake giving money and then the Levites they forsake serving the Lord Because it's reality. Look it's no different in the New Testament if nobody gave money to the church You know what the ministers would have to do they'd have to get a job Okay, I have to provide for my wife I have to provide my children otherwise I'm worse than an infidel So if the church can't give me money, you know what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna work. I'm gonna go get a job I'm gonna have to provide for my own right? It's the exact same example we have in the Old Testament in the New Testament Now go to Deuteronomy chapter 14 for a moment go to Deuteronomy chapter number 14 It makes perfect sense That God would lay out this model and it works perfectly when everybody is doing their part But when people are not doing their part, it's frustrating. What's frustrating? Well, it's frustrating if you're a minister and nobody's tithing because now you have to go and work for it Another thing is when everybody's tithing but then the ministers are not ministering that's frustrating, too so you kind of have to have both right you have to have the minister doing his part and serving and Doing the things of the Lord and being a good steward of God's money And then you also have that people have the faith to you know Tithing the Lord and bless the Lord and when both parties are in unison, you know what it's really successful When people get out of whack though, there's major problems Look at you don't know me 14 verse 22 thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed That the field bringeth forth year by year now God says it you need to tithe just so that I bless you If you want me to continually give you good crops and continually give you money you better tie You better make sure you're bringing in the tide and notice this of all the increase He didn't say some of the increase are the parts that you want to give he said all of it All the parts that you want blessed tie that portion now go if you would to Proverbs chapter number three You say well, that's the law Wow, that's a lot of law, you know And why would Jesus Christ die on the cross so that his work would cease in the New Testament? Because riddle me this if people aren't supposed to give or tithe in the New Testament Then how is the church supposed to pay for things? I'm all ears, you know How are people and look most people don't really most ministers don't have a problem with this doctrine because they understand how it works Okay, but there's plenty of people they'll be like, ah, that's the Old Testament Well, you know Proverbs doesn't go through all the Old Testament sacrifice system and all the altar stuff, you know Proverbs just timeless Proverbs just extends both in every direction It's just timeless truths that are always given and you know what God put in Proverbs look at Proverbs 3 verse 9 honor the Lord thy substance and with the firstfruits of all thine increase So shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine you know when that's not true never it's always true and In fact, even in the millennial reign when people do not go and worship the Lord They don't come and bring offerings in the Lord. He's not gonna reign in their country So, you know when this isn't true. Wait, it's always true Hey Abel Cain Abel, you know what Abel came and brought the firstling of the frog. You know what? He was blessed his offering was blessed and obviously it's a picture of salvation by faith, but it's also the firstling of the flock Also, we have Abraham before the law. He gives a tenth. He gives a tithe on the milk He's a deck then it's mentioned in Hebrews chapter number seven and it says even though you give tithe to men that die You know what the Lord receives them up in heaven and at the end of the day It's not about the person you're tithing to it's about honoring the Lord Notice it doesn't say honor the pastor with thy substance honor the church with thy substance It says honor the Lord with thy substance and you know Sometimes people give money to a church or a ministry thinking that they're doing it You know for the Lord and they feel good about it But it turns out that ministry is a is kind of a fraud or that pastors a bozo I don't believe that God is gonna just withhold blessings from you because you in ignorance. We're trying to honor the Lord I believe he will bless you and you know, I don't from an anecdotal perspective Look, I grew up in a church where tithing was the only sermon they preached. Okay It was like tithing mixed in with pre-trib. That was like the two sermons we got virtually every single week So I I tithe because it was like well, how do you go to this church and not tie? That's the only thing they preach on, you know I'm like, I'm gonna do what they say and look that ministry was a fraud that ministry was a bozo But you know what? I was trying to honor the Lord and I've never Gone without financially. I've never had problems financially And yeah, there's been times where I made a lot and I've made half of that and then you know went back It's just been kind of an it can ebb and flow, but you know what? I've always had all my needs provided for I've never had to hurt. Yeah I have debt just like every other person in the United States virtually But at the end of the day, you know what if you honor the Lord, he'll take care of you He will provide your needs he will you know help you and all the financial areas that you need and Honestly, I would rather be poor and tithe the Lord than be super rich and never tied Why would I why would I want the house of the Lord to be forsaken so that I can have more goods So that I could have more things it doesn't even make sense go to go to 2nd Chronicles chapter 31 go to 2nd Chronicles chapter 31 and I I'm giving you a lot of doctrine quickly before we kind of get into the story But I think it helps you understand the story because there's so many great aspects of Jericho and things that we could learn but one of these is the fact that this City all the goods in it was a tithe on the Lord. It was a firstfruits offering of Lord It was dedicated and consecrated to the Lord and they were not supposed to take of it now I want to tie this together with this this passage of Scripture because this passage of Scripture is going to help you Understand this tie look at 2nd Chronicles 31 verse 1 Now when all this was finished all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah and break the images in pieces and cut down the crows and Threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin and Ephraim also and Manasseh Until they had utterly destroyed them all then all the children of Israel return every man to his possession into their cities So this is a time in which the children of Israel the children of Judah are getting right with the Lord And they're destroying all the false gods and the false imagery that they had skip down to verse 4 Mover, he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites That they might be encouraged in the law of the Lord So when they're getting right with God and they're and they're going back to serving the Lord Notice what the king is trying to command them to do He says look you need to give the portion to the priests and the Levites notice this so they'd be encouraged in the law of the Lord You know, hey when you bless the house of God, you know what you do you encourage God's ministers to serve the Lord You know, it's a discouragement when you're not giving them their portion when you're not providing for them He says in verse number five and as soon as the commandment came abroad the children of Israel brought in abundance the first fruits of corn wine and oil and honey and of all the increase of the field and the Tithe of all things brought they in abundantly So notice it's time what we've already read about it being the first of what all thy increase They're bringing it all into the house of God. It's the tithe. It's the portion of the ministers now Let's keep reading verse 6 and concerning the children of Israel in Judah that dwelt in the cities of Judah They also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep and the tithe of holy things which were Consecrated unto the Lord their God and laid them by heaps now notice this it says that the tithe of holy things is what? consecrated Unto the Lord. So what does it say in Joshua chapter number six? It said all the gold silver and everything was what consecrated unto the Lord You know why because it was like the tithe it was a picture of the tithe It's representative of giving that unto the Lord the Bible's crystal clear and it makes this tie For us go back to Deuteronomy chapter number eight for a second and then I'm gonna go back to Joshua But the Lord will give the children of Israel the entire city of Jericho Okay, and from a physical perspective From a carnal perspective all the goods are in their possession Okay, they're gonna literally pick up the gold. They're gonna literally pick up the silver It's gonna be literally and their physical possession, but then you know what they need to do They need to take that and then bring it in the Lord's Treasury It's not like it just magically Transported into the Lord's Treasury. No, they literally had to physically pick it up. They had to physically take it They had themselves to put it into the Lord's Treasury and let me tell you this God is gonna give you a hundred percent of your money But then you have to physically take the tithe portion and then give it unto the Lord Why as a symbol of your faith as a symbol of testing and proving you and making sure and look it was all yours to Decide what you're gonna do with it But he's telling you this portion give to me this portion give you know And that's gonna be where the faith comes to fruition and there's gonna be a temptation for you to think this. Well, this is mine I Mean if you walk into the city of Jericho and you pick up the gold Isn't there a temptation to say like this is my gold This is my garment This is my goods and the same would be this you go to work today And they send you a paycheck and you say this is mine It's all mine But here's the problem. The tithe is the Lord's It's not yours Look at journaling chapter 8 verse 16 who fed thee and the wilderness with manna which thy fathers knew not that he might humble thee And then I proved thee to do thee good at thy ladder in and thou shalt say in thine heart my power and The might of mine hand have gotten me this wealth But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God for it is he that giveth the power to get wealth Then he may establish his covenant which he sware in thy father's as it is this day How soon could you forget that the whole reason you got Jericho was because the Lord made the walls come tumbling down You didn't get that city. You did nothing you just walked in and just took you got the goods I mean it was the easiest victory you've ever had in your entire life and the Bible is saying look all the stuff that you got All the power you have to get wealth God gave you that God just lets all the walls come tumbling down and just opens up in abundance to you and then people get this Selfish prideful attitude of oh look what I've accomplished Look, it's God that allowed you to even accomplish that in the first place So to say that the tithe is his look it's all his or in some way shape or form But he just only requires a 10% for you to give back to the Lord because the tithe is the Lord's now Go to Joshua chapter 6 go to Joshua chapter number 6 And I want to keep going with this this foundation for a moment But look at Joshua chapter 6 and look at verse 24 It says and they burnt the city with fire and all that was there in only the silver and the gold and the vessels of brass And of iron they put into the treasury of the house Lord so notice they win the city they killed whoever was remaining and then they took all of the goods and they Put them into the house of the Lord But look at Joshua chapter 7 verse 1 Says but the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing for Achan the son of Carmi the son of Zabdai the son of Zira of the tribe of Judah took of The accursed thing and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel So notice they for the most part did it for the most part took everything but there was a breach in following God's commandments There was someone who did not follow God's commandments There's someone who hid the accursed thing who took the accursed thing and it was Achan Achan Had sinned and not only did he sin he's causing God to be angry with the entire group No, it says it very clearly that he is the Lord's The anger of the Lord was kindled notices against the children of Israel. He doesn't say just Achan He says the children of Israel now look at verse number four now what happens is the children of Israel unaware That someone has hidden the accursed thing that someone has taken to the occurs They thought they follow God's commandments perfectly. So they're ready to go to the next battle They're like, all right now knows for God this one's for us. All right, we're gonna get AI Okay, they're gonna get artificial intelligence and they're gonna kick its butt. All right But Verse number four it says so there went up there there of the people about 3,000 men and they fled Before the men of AI and the men of AI smote of them about thirty and six men for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shabirim and smoked them in the going down where for the hearts of the people melted and became his water and Joshua rent his clothes and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the eventide He and the elders of Israel and put dust upon their heads And Joshua said alas Oh Lord God Wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us What did God we had been content and dwelt on the other side Jordan? Notice Josh is ready to quit like that You know, they just wiped out all of Jericho They lose in a tiny skirmish and he's just like I wish we had just never even come over here. Let's just quit Why God notice that even the strongest men of God have moments of doubt, right? but this is kind of a weak attitude and God has to kind of rebuke Joshua for having such a weak attitude when it comes To losing this battle, but notice other people were killed in battle died in battle for a can sin It wasn't their fault that a can took the accursed thing necessarily Obviously, maybe they should have gone in and and counted the ballots before they ran him through the machines But you know, it's not necessarily their fault Per se I mean, you know You can't necessarily be in control of all of the goods of every other person and what they did Obviously a can was deceitful and what he did didn't he and here's the here's the reality when someone sins It'll hurt innocent people lots of times The Sin of one person can destroy much good and it can harm a lot of innocent people down the pike There's a lot of fathers who commit sin and it affects the children who were innocent It affects their family who was innocent affects other people There's victims to sin and there was a victim to a can sin in the battle of a I Now the Lord does not like Joshua's attitude this week Cowardly, you know second-guessing Compromising attitude look at verse 10 and the Lord said unto Joshua get thee up Wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face Israel hath sinned and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them for they have even taken of the accursed thing and Have also stolen and dissembled also and they have put it even among their own stuff Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies but turn their backs before their enemies Because they were accursed neither will I be with you anymore? Except you destroy the accursed from among you Now this is some strong language God is saying someone took of the accursed thing someone sinned not only they take the accursed thing They stole not only they steal they lied about it. They dissembled about it. What is dissembling? Dissembling is being deceitful It's a half truth. It's gaslighting. Okay. It's where they just kind of tell you one thing They're kind of like yeah, I did it. Yeah, but then they're just really lying about it. They're misrepresenting the position They're being deceitful. They're using some kind of a fraud and it's not clear. It's you ask somebody. Did you do something wrong? No, I didn't that's dissembling, you know, just lying about it being deceitful about it or Trying to pick certain wording so as it seems like you're not lying, but you really are lying, you know, that's also dissembling It's like did you say this? Well, those Were my exact words But that's not what I meant Well, I might have said that I don't know I mean, it's just like these tricky weird weird things that people try to do like the siblings is in okay now I have three quick points that I went in this sermon on is this When you take the accursed thing point one you're cursed Point two you're a thief and point three you're deceitful notice this right here from the text They took the accursed thing You're gonna be a curse because notice if you take the accursed thing and you don't destroy it God says I'll never be with you again. I won't help you anymore You're just appointed to destruction, you know, you have to get rid of the accursed thing unless you want me to forsake you So they have to destroy the accursed from among you and notice I feel like this is just plain He says you have to destroy the accursed. What does the curse mean? Consigned to destruction and they say you have to destroy the accursed. You know what the accursed has happened It's been a consigned to destruction by the Lord Now this is what they're gonna do look at verse 13 up Sanctify the people and say sanctify yourselves against tomorrow for thus saith the Lord God of Israel There is an accursed thing in the midst of the o Israel thou canst not stand before thine enemies until you take away the accursed thing from Among you so he keeps reiterating you got to take the accursed thing take the occurs of thing get rid of the accursed thing And point one is this when you take the accursed thing you become accursed You're cursed. Look if you take something that's not yours of the Lord's into your own possession. Now, you're cursed now It's definitely gonna happen with Aiken and I want to go there But I want to go to another story and illustrate this too because this is not a one-off story But go for the second Kings chapter number five second Kings chapter number five When you take something that's not yours the accursed thing a curse will come upon you Second Kings chapter number five This is a story about Elisha and name in the Syrian comes into Elisha and he gets healed of his leprosy And when he gets healed of his leprosy name is so thankful he wants to give Elijah a bunch of money He wants to give him a bunch of goods, but you know, Elijah is not in it for the money Elisha is just a man of God. He's not there to get a buck. He's not there to get rich He doesn't want people's money. He just wants to follow God's Commandments. Okay, and so he refuses the money. Let's look at verse number 15 and He returned to the man of God he and all his company and came and stood before him started about name And then he said behold now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel now Therefore I pray thee take a blessing of thy servant, but he said as Lord liveth before whom I stand I will receive none and he urged him to take it, but he refused to notice Elijah He's not interested in taking a gift of the Syrian. He's not interested in taking money from these other people He just wants to be a blessing unto them, you know And this could be a picture of you know in the New Testament how we're supposed to be a blessing unto the other nations And other areas we go preach the gospel, you know, we're not gonna go and try to extract money from Africa You know, we're not gonna go on a missions trip and try to get their money I'm not interested in their money when I go soul winning I'm not like now how much was that soul in presentation worth to you, buddy? You know, I'm not and in fact when people offer me this is very rare But I'm just saying I've been out soul winning and people have been out So only where someone tries to offer the money or offer them some kind of you know Financial blessing not like a bottle of water, but I'm just saying like literal money or soul winning And I always refuse I always say I don't want your money Now if they say if they insist and say I just want to give money to your church Then I would put in the offering or whatever But the the first reaction is I always refuse because I don't want their money I'm not there to take their money and I don't want them to think that was even part of my agenda Because if I just oh, yeah, sure you got any more, you know, it's like well What was the point of me coming and preaching the guy they're gonna remember that more They're gonna remember preach me preaching them in the gospel. Okay, so I'm not interested in taking people's money Obviously they say you want a bottle of water. I'll say sure, you know, you want a cookie. I'm like, is it chocolate? You know, you know just whatever I'll take something like that But I'm saying I'm not interested in taking people's money and Elijah is not interested in taking people's money and look the same greed of Ministers who want to just take money and take these things. This is the same type of greed of people that hold back their tithe And look at verse 20 says this but the haze I the servant of Elisha the man of God said behold My master hath spared name in the Syrian and not receiving at his hands that which he brought But as the Lord liveth, I will run after him and take somewhat of him now You know one reason and this is just my personal opinion You know one reason why I think This is illustrated to where Elijah doesn't take any money and then get Hayes I makes this statement is the show the freeness of salvation Notice name and gets gets healed and saved for free doesn't he? He doesn't have to do any He just has that faith in the Lord and he's completely saved and look what you Hayes. I think oh he spared him He spared him from having to pay any money for this for this healing. It's like yeah. Hey, the gospel's free Hey preaching the gospel is not something you have to go out. Hey, I'm not sparing you from having to give money It's a free gift that God wants to give you that God wants to bless you with and it just shows the evil heart of The haze I and other people. Oh, you're gonna minister to people for free, you know, there's churches they make you pay for tracks to give out It's like what are you doing, you know, look the gospel should be free we should we don't sell the gospel we buy it Okay We're not supposed to sell the truth We're supposed to give it out freely and you know what you Hayes? I doesn't like giving out the truth freely because he's not interested in the truth. He's interested in a paycheck You know what you Hayes I represents a lot of preachers today. A lot of them are like a Hayes I He says in verse number 20 at the end he says as Lord liveth I will run after him and take somewhat of him He's like I'm gonna get this guy's money verse 21 So gaze I followed after Naaman and when Naaman saw him running after him He lied it down from the chariot to meet him and said is all well And he said all is well my master has sent me saying behold even now There be come to me from Mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets Give them my prey the Italian of silver and two changes of garments This makes me think of Judas when he's like you should have sold this ointment for 300 pence and given to the poor Not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief and he bear was taking the bag Just like a Hayes I makes up some lie about blessing God's menace doesn't care about God's ministers or other people He's a liar and a thief, isn't he? He's gonna take what's what's born in the bag and you know Naaman doesn't bless the Hayes I I'm sorry Hayes I doesn't bless name in any way. Yeah, he's I was only gonna take from him He's gonna take advantage of him lie to him and hurt him. He's not a minister I Notice what he's a minister of himself verse 23 and Naaman said be content take two talents and He urged him and bound two talents of silver in two bags with two changes of garments and laid them upon two of his servants And they bear them before him When he came to the tower He took them from their hand and bestowed them in the house and he let them in go and they departed But he went but he went in stood before his master and Elijah said on them What's comest thou to Hayes I and he said thy servant went no whither Now he's assembling isn't he I Didn't go anywhere. I went no whither, you know, and he'd tie him down. You're like, well, did you go somewhere? Yeah, but it was kind of like in the middle of nowhere. So I wouldn't know whether right. No, he's just lying Verse 26 and he said to them went not mine heart with thee When the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee Is it a time to receive money and receive garments and all of yards and vineyards and sheep and oxen and men servants and maid servants the leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee and that I see forever and he went out in the presence a leper as white as snow notice the curse of Naaman came upon Gehazi because he took of the accursed thing and Look for what profit How could you think about this what kind of nonsense is it for Gehazi to take this garment from Naaman Is he gonna wear it at night? I mean, he can't go around and wear it in front of Elijah that would be a little obvious right? Hey, where'd you get the new jacket? That looks like it came from Syria. Was it from Naaman the Syrian? It's like no So just that night he has to get in the mirror. He puts on the guy. He's like, oh, yeah, I look so good What's the point of having that garment It wasn't even gonna do him any good. It wasn't gonna bless him And in fact having the garment gives him something gives him an evil disease It gives him a leprosy and makes him a curse and not only him his whole family Gehazi is cursed his entire Family go to Malachi chapter number three Malachi chapter number three And you know what's sad about Achan is it does not only affect him it affects him and his whole family his entire Family is destroyed and wiped off the face of the map Because he took the accursed thing and the occurs came upon Achan it came upon Gehazi and you say why? Why do you believe that pastor Shelley? Why do you believe God would curse somebody for taking his money? Well, he plainly says it in Malachi chapter 3 Look at verse 7 even for the days your father's you're gone away from mine ordinances and have not kept them Returning to me and I will turn and you say at the Lord of hosts, but he said wherein shall we return? Well, man robbed God yet. You have robbed me But you say where do we robbed II and ties and offerings you're cursed with a curse For you have robbed me even this whole nation Notice the Bible just plainly states if you don't tie them to the Lord You are cursed with a curse. That's what he said. Isn't that what happened to Aiken? He took of the Lord's money He took of the consecrated things of the Lord's and he was cursed because I took money that didn't belong unto him and what happened he became accursed and Notice when you take things that don't belong to you. What does God call you? You are a robber You're a thief Point number one when you take God's money, you're cursed point number two. You're a thief It's not yours to have it's not yours to take Like what God says is the con the converse of this Verse 10 bring you all the ties in the storehouse There may be meat in mine house and prove me now here with say the Lord of hosts if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that There shall not be room enough to receive it and I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes and he shall not destroy the fruits Of your ground neither shall your vine cast or fruit before the time in the field say at the Lord of hosts and all Nations shall call you blessed for ye shall be a delights some land say at the Lord of hosts and notice if You don't tithe God can destroy the hundred percent that you have. Hey, I'd rather have my ninety percent blessed than my hundred percent cursed and I didn't make this doctrine up the Bible just plainly states it everywhere. Okay now go if you would back to Joshua He's a thief and you say well, I don't know if it's God's look the Bible says the tithes of the Lord's How many times does it need to say that? How about Jesus? Would you believe Jesus if he said something like that? How about when Jesus said? Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesars and unto God the things that are God So if it's God's you know You need to give it to God and if God says the tithe is his then Jesus is clearly telling you to render unto God the things that are God's and so Jesus confirmed this doctrine we have it all in the Old Testament. We have it in Proverbs We have it in Hebrews chapter number seven yet The reason why people do not believe this doctrine is because they're greedy or selfish and they lack faith in the Lord But worse than that, they become cursed worse than that. They're a thief. They're a literal thief Just like if I have any good of possession and I asked my servant if I asked Dylan to go get it and he's bring It to me. He can't think in the process of transporting it to me. This is mine now I could just take whatever I want out of it. No, it's all mine It's still my good and look just because God gives you money don't look at it like oh, it's all mine No the portion that God reserved for himself you say that's the Lord's I don't want to take of the Lord's now I'm stealing unto God now. I'm not rendering unto God which is God's Joshua chapter 7 look at verse 21 This is aching Owning up to ascend when I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonian ish garment and 200 shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of 50 shekels weight then I coveted them and Took them and behold they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent and the silver under it Like I said, what's the point? What's the point of taking a garment and burying it in the dirt You know when Elijah or not? Sorry light and when Ezekiel buries his girdle in the dirt, it becomes marred it becomes Martin's worth What's the point of having this stuff? You know, what's the point of just having a bunch of gold locked up in the earth? For the rainy day, you know, you might just die and what's that gold gonna do for you? What why would you want garments that you're never gonna wear? Sorry, this isn't relate for women because if you look at their closet, you know, I'm just kidding I Mean people have stuff that they don't even use. What's the point? You know makes me think of this huge storage complex that's been built next to my house I'm like, what's the point of a storage container? You know people have things in storage for years and it's like what was the point of having all those goods? You know by the amount of money you spend on that stupid storage container you probably could have bought all brand new when you finally needed it and And in fact lots of people they have stuff in storage for decades and then they miss their payment and The contract says like after 30 days or 60 days. It becomes the landlords and then they just take all your goods It's just taken from you. Look get a looser grip on the things of this world They're not even worth it now number one your curse if you hide the accursed thing number two You're a thief but what leads up to that confession? Let's understand what happened You're a dissembler too. You're deceitful You're deceitful when you take that look at verse 13 This is him a can kind of explaining himself and basically the whole scenario It says up sanctify the people and say sanctify yourselves against tomorrow for thus sayeth the word God of Israel There's an accursed thing in the midst of thee Oh Israel thou canst not stand before thine enemies until you take away the accursed thing among you in the morning therefore you shall be brought according to your tribes and it shall be that the tribe which the Lord taketh shall come according to the Families thereof and the family which the Lord shall take shall come by households and the household which the Lord shall take shall come out man by man And it shall be that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire He and all that he hath because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord and because he had brought folly in Israel So Joshua rose up early in the morning and brought Israel by their tribes and the tribe of Judah was taken He brought the family of Judah and took the family of the Tsar heights and he brought the family of the Tsar heights Man by man and Zabdai was taken And he brought his household man by man and Achan the son of Carmi the son of Zabdai the son of Zerah of the tribe Of Judah was taken and Joshua said and Achan my son give I pray thee glory To the Lord God of Israel and make confession on him and tell me now what thou has done Hide it not from me and Achan answered Joshua and said indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel and thus and thus have I done so notice even though He's hit it even though he's done this, you know what God still saw that he did it and notice he dissembled No one knew it was it took this miracle of God to just be like Judah This family this section that guy he's like, oh man that I bet he was kind of nervous He was like thinking all right. I got a one in 12 chance Judah crap All right. Now the family of Zabdai. Oh, man, you know It's like the next family and then it's like Aiken oh, it's like how did he know? Look you can't hide from the Lord You can dissemble and you can deceive every single person in this room, but you can't hide it from God Hey, you could lie to every person on the planet and they could all believe you but God won't God will still know that you're lying. God will still know that you're dissembling and you know what? It's deceitful because he's hurting the whole group go to numbers 32 go to numbers 32 I want to read another story here. That's kind of related to this subject. I Guarantee that Aiken doesn't wish that he took that stuff now and look at all burnt with him They took all this stuff. They took it out with him They took his whole family and they just destroyed it all Oh, good job Aiken way to get a few extra bucks that you never got to spend that you never got to have Well, that's the Old Testament pastor Shelley, oh, yeah, well, how about when Ananias and Sapphira in the New Testament Claim to give certain money unto God that's God's But they lied and they held back part of the price and then because they lied in the Holy Ghost God killed them. I bet it was real worth it to hold back part of that price, wasn't it? I bet it was real worth it to claim that you're gonna give something to God and then not give it to him You know what now God's gonna acquire a life for it. They were accursed for holding back part of the price That's the same story Do you just like the New Testament version better? Do you like the Old Testament? You like the Old Testament because then you can think well that's Old Testament. Look the Old Testament's written for our admonition How about that verse, you know and anybody brings up the Old Testament? It's like I wanted to bring out that verse and be like BAM Hey, it's for me You know the Old Testament written After they do these things and virtually every case It's it's a it's retelling of what they already did. You know, it's not for them The book of Joshua is not for Joshua Did you realize that it's telling you know, Joshua didn't have the book of Joshua to go on Otherwise, he wouldn't have made some of the mistakes. He did he wouldn't gotten tripped tricked up by you know The inhabitants of Gibeah, he'd have been like you guys are lying to me Because I read it in Joshua You know Hey, hey, you know Akins gonna steal stuff. Let's just go ahead and take him out now, you know or let's lock him up So he can't take the goods, you know, Joshua's written after his life You know the whole test was written like after the things happened to benefit who the people in the future Sodom and Gomorrah is the benefit us It's the benefit those afterward to learn about the in sample that happens the people that lie and your an anise and Sephira They needed the Old Testament story of a kin Maybe someone should have preached really hard on a kin to them before they went in lied about holding back part of the price And you know what? You don't only hurt yourself. Sometimes you hurt the whole congregation when you do this look at numbers 32 verse 11 Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt from 20 years old and upward shall see the land Which I swear in Abraham and Isaac and Jacob because they have not wholly followed me Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the kenazite and Joshua the son of none for they have wholly Followed the Lord and Lord's anger was kindled against Israel and he made them wander in the wilderness 40 years until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of Lord was consumed and Behold you're risen up in your father's dead and increase of sinful men To augment yet the fierce anger of the Lord toward Israel for if you turn away from after him he will yet Again leave them in the wilderness and ye shall destroy all his people and they came near on him and said we will build Sheepfolds here for our cattle and cities for our little ones But we ourselves will go ready arm before the children of Israel until we have brought them under their place and our little ones Shall dwell in the fenced cities because of the inhabitants of the land We will not return into our houses under the children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance We will not inherit with them on yonder side Jordan or forward because our inheritance has fallen to us on this side Jordan Eastward Moses said of them if You will do this thing if you will go armed before the Lord to war and will go all of you armed over Jordan before The Lord until he had driven out his enemies from before him and the land be subdued before the Lord then afterward Ye shall return and be guiltless before the Lord and before Israel and this land shall be a possession before the Lord So we have a couple tribes They don't want to contribute to the common good. They don't want to contribute to the rest of the children of Israel They say you know what? We kind of like this land already. We're just gonna stay here But then they were abused because they're discouraging the hearts of their brethren. They're discouraging the congregation They're not willing to chip in and help out the rest of the party and Moses saying that's evil You need to go with us and you need to fight And here's the reality, you know when it comes to tithing it's not fair for you to reap all the benefit of everybody that is tithing and Discourage the hearts of your brethren by not giving under the Lord equitably You know someone has to pay for all this stuff and it's not fair that there's gonna be freeloaders amongst the crowd And you know what? If you're a freeloader, you should feel bad You say this makes me feel bad. Well, they should that's the point He's saying hey you guys should feel bad for saying you don't want to go and help out your brethren and Inherit the land with them. You're discouraging the heart of the people and you know what? It doesn't matter how much you're giving. It just matters that you're doing your part It doesn't matter if you're the greatest soldier or the worst soldier or all you can do is just cheer people on or all you Can do is just blow the trumpet or all you're gonna do is stay by the stuff But you know what? You need to get into the battle You need a battle with your brethren and you know, what part of that is Financially part of that is also the tithe and when it comes to a church, you know what? it's deceitful to come to a church and reap all the benefits of the church and Make it appear like you're trying to serve God, but then you're holding back the tithe from the Lord. That's deceitful You know, it's one thing to just be completely backslidden and not serving God But it's another thing to show up at church and be plugged in a church and reaping all the benefits of church And yet you're holding back the portion that is the Lord's and look I'm not trying to excuse people that don't tithe because they don't go to church. They're doubly wicked Okay But I am saying it's deceitful to be in the Lord's house and to not be doing what God is Commanding you to do with your money You're dissembling and you know what I may not know that I'm I'm certain I don't know that I don't know how anybody does because I don't care and There's no way for me to prove it Anyways, because you'd have to show me like all your pay stubs and that you know The government doesn't even know how much money you are in usually Oh, I didn't know all your real honest, I'm just kidding lots of people, you know The government doesn't even know how much money people make it's like an ordeal To find out and then to figure out the 10 look the only person that really knows is you and God At the end of the day, but you know what notice how God could find Aiken out of the crowd Notice how God can find and look what it says in verse 23 But if you will not do so behold you have sinned against the Lord and be sure your sin will find you out I'm not preaching this because I'm gonna do anything to you. I'm preaching this because Because when you hide the accursed thing You're cursed when you hide the accursed thing. You're a thief when you hide the accursed thing. You're deceitful. You're a dissembler And you know what I wouldn't want to take part in all the spiritual blessings of the Lord and Not be willing to give him of my carnal things I mean, how little are the carnal things and look he even promised he says look when you give me your carnal things I'll give you more. I'll bless you. I'll take care It's not like God saying hey take a vow of poverty and serve me He's saying look if you bless me, I'll bless you even more than if you hadn't Go for you to Proverbs 20 go to the last for somebody to go to Some people love all the benefits of church, but they don't want to pitch in I would rather be the person that pitches in and don't receive any benefit And reaping all these benefits and never pitching in and let me say this about steadfast Baptist Church I know it's been 2020. But you know what God has blessed us financially more than last than the year before that And We're not even we're not even hurting. I mean we got a new building. Hey, we added staff Hey, we're doing all kinds of great things and you know what praise the Lord for that But you know what? I want to preach this sermon as a preventative measure Just like Joshua saying hey when we go into Jericho Don't take the accursed thing Don't pull an aching because you could hurt the whole body and you know What if certain people decide to start becoming an aching at any point it could hurt the ministry of the Lord It could hurt not just them it could hurt the whole church It could hurt everyone because even if it's just a small amount I just don't want God's curse on me or my church or anybody around me Now you say well, I just need that extra 10% it's just the X it's that sweet 10% You know, it's that good, you know, look what it says in Proverbs 20 verse 17 bread of deceit is sweet to a man. Oh Man, it's it's cool. I get to go to church and I get all the good stuff and I don't even have the time Free stuff free stuff. It's sweet. I just love that Himes barbecue, you know bring that on again pastor Shelley You know When it comes to churches like ours, I've never seen churches so generous generous I mean, I'm trying to fall in the shadow of Pastor Anderson. He is one of the most generous people I've ever met in my entire life His church has so much free stuff and so many free programs and free meals and for it's like free wedding It's free everything. It's just like everything is just given just open hand open-fisted Just giving and blessing to everybody you go find me churches like that Like I've been in in churches all my life and it's you know, you have to pay for everything You may get a water fountain for free I mean we got a water fountain too, but you know You have to pay for every other thing you have to pay for every meal every event every city. It's nothing's free Nothing's given out and you know what they're they're filled with debt I've been in the church that I grew up in. I end up becoming a banker for them later So I found out they had like 35 million dollars in debt Their monthly mortgage payment was a quarter million dollars and Then I was like, I know why they preach on tithing every single week Literally Look why would I want to do that? Look if we have to have a smaller building so we don't have financial pressure than then so be it You know, I don't care if we have to grow or contract and you know I don't want to get to the point where there's all this financial pressure that we have to like You know preach on tithing and get the little meter over here and just be like, you know what now let's give this much money and everybody get your nickels and your dimes and we'll put them in jars and You know, we'll also take your guitar and your bike and your TV and your VCR. Does anybody have one anymore? I don't know. Maybe it's like an antique worth a lot of money I mean, I remember they'd get up and they'd say we'll take your stocks. We'll take your bonds They said also we want you to have this in here This class where you can come and they'll create a will and in the will class. I actually took this they were like saying Now you should put you know, ten or twenty percent of your will to the church, you know But you know what's deceitful about that is You don't have to tithe on the money that you already have you tithe on your increase and let me tell you something when you Die, it's not like you're flooded with extra income You So it's nonsensical to even call it a tithe it's not even a time You know when I move money from my checking to my savings, I don't have to tithe on that I didn't increase in goods. Okay, or if I move money from my savings to my checking. It's not like whoa a windfall cash You know, look that's just me managing my own money Okay, and the Lord he's not just up in heaven thinking like I really need y'all's money. He wants your faith He wants your heart he says look give me your money and I'll give you more Bless me and I'll bless you He's not trying to say I want you to just have less buddy. I want you to suffer a little bit I want you to squirm. No, he just wants you to step out of faith You know and tithing it is a picture of faith. It's a picture of trusting in the Lord and Whenever you take of the Lord's don't think that you're gonna be blessed for it if you're saved you're gonna be chastised God will chastise his children and it might say that it's sweet for a moment Look at the bread of the seat is sweet to a man. But afterwards his mouse will be filled with gravel And you know what Aiken's mouth was literally filled gravel when they stoned him right in the face Oh, it's so sweet when he got home and he had that little garment. He put it on he was like, oh Babylonianist garment it probably looked like a faggoty queer effeminate thing It's probably like a Michael Jackson jacket or something And he was like doing thrills, you know at night Secretly in the closet. It's like oh, it's so sweet. Nope. Your mouth is gonna be filled with gravel Don't hide the accursed thing because you'll become a curse. You're a thief and it's deceitful. Let's go some prayer Thank you father so much for your word. Thank you for Giving us an opportunity to step out in faith thank you for giving us the power to get wealth and to have any goods or any possessions of our own and I pray that we would not get a hottie or prideful attitude about the things that you bless us with but rather we would give you your portion that we would render unto God the things that are God's and We understand that when we obey you and we follow your commandments that you will bless us Do you open the windows of heaven and I pray that you bless every single person in this church? I pray that you bless our church as people give Faithfully as they tithe according to your commandments that you would just bless them that you would Minister unto them and that we would just continue to work and serve you with our all of our might in Jesus name we pray Amen