A Lifelong Journey With Christ

I will not remain with you any longer unless you destroy the things among you that were set apart for destruction. In other words, sin was in the camp. Sin committed by one man. A conscious decision by one man to not follow the law of God. To not follow God’s direction, to not follow God’s will. And all of Israel suffers.

When sin is in the camp…OR when sin is in the church. Even when committed by one man or one woman. The whole church suffers. Will it cause some of us to be killed? Most likely not. Will it cause us to suffer defeat at the hands of the enemy? Absolutely, and the enemy is Satan.

He lurks around the church trying to find one of us who is not fully committed. One of us who is weak in our faith. One of us who is struggling in our service. And he seeks to destroy one in order to destroy us all.

1Pet. 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.

These are the words we must heed. You must understand how important your commitment is to the whole body of Christ. How important your decisions are to this family, to this church. Our commitment to Him is so important because when one of us falters in that commitment, it can destroy the efforts of so many.

Maybe it is something as simple as the way you act in a restaurant, or at work, or on the road. Maybe it is in the jokes you tell or the language you use. Maybe it is in your temper that you show. Whatever it is, when someone sees you act in a way that is not Christian, this church suffers. They say, Oh, that’s a Thomas Roader. Sure wouldn’t want to be one of them. Our church suffers, but far more important than that, it hurts the entire cause of Christ.

It is a sad but true reality that someone’s deepest, darkest, most-secretly sealed sins, can affect you and me. You may ask, “How can that be?” “How can my private sin affect the person sitting next to me in church today? Or the one across the aisle? Or the one in the choir??” I’ll give you just one simple example from the book of James.

In James 5:16 (NLT), the Bible says: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results.

This verse says to “Pray for each other.”

In the same verse, the Bible says that through your prayers, others may be spiritually revived or “healed.”

Then the verse tells us what kind of prayers the Lord used to bring about this healing - “the prayers of a righteous man are very powerful.”

Therefore, it goes without saying, that if the prayers of a RIGHTEOUS man are “very powerful.” Then, the prayers of an UNRIGHTEOUS man…are very WEAK!!”

Meaning, you can actually offer up to God “Weak prayers” if there is sin in your life.

So, are your prayers for me as your pastor “Powerful” or “Weak?” Are the prayers for your family “Powerful” or “Weak?” Are the prayers for your church family “Powerful” or “Weak?”

God does His work through the prayers of righteous men and women. And if your heart is saturated with sin, you will forfeit the opportunity to see God’s mighty hand work in your life and the lives of the ones you love.