Daddy, Please Don't Rebuild Jericho

DADDY, PLEASE DON’T REBUILD JERICHO

TEXT: Joshua 6:26

l. INTRODUCTION

-Every child has a builder. That builder may be his mother or father or brother or grandmother or randdaddy or even collectively they can work as a whole in building children.

-Despite what we may even be willing to admit a child is inevitably going to be what his enviroment relegates him to be. That is why the force of the Church has to be committed to the quest of saving our children.

We pray for children,

Who put chocolate fingers everywhere,

Who stomp in puddles and ruin new pants,

Who sneak popsicles before supper,

Who erase holes in math workbooks,

Who can never find their shoes.

And we pray for those who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire

Who can’t bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers,

Who never "counted potatoes,"

Who are live in an X-rated world.

We pray for children who bring us sticky kisses and fist fulls of dandelions,

Who sleep with the dog and bury goldfish,

Who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money,

Who cover themselves with Band-Aids and sing off key,

Who squeeze toothpaste all over the sink,

Who slurp soup and cereal.

We pray for children who never get dessert,

Who have no safe blanket to drag behind them,

Who watch their parents watch them die,

Who can’t find any bread to steal,

Who don’t have any rooms to clean up,

Whose pictures aren’t on anybody’s dresser,

Whose monsters are real.

We pray for children who spend their allowances before Tuesday,

Who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food,

Who like ghost stories,

Who shove dirty clothes under the bed and never rinse the tub,

Who get visits from the tooth fairy,

Who don’t like to be kissed in front of the carpool,

Who squirm in church and scream in the phone,

Whose tears we sometimes laugh at,

Whose smiles make us cry.

And we pray for those whose nightmares come in the daytime,

Who will eat anything,

Who have never seen a dentist,

Who aren’t spoiled by anybody,

Who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep,

Who live and move, but have no being.

We pray for children who want to be carried and for those who must,

For those who we never give up on,

And for those who never get a second chance,

For those who will grab the hand of anybody kind enough to offer it.

-Children just like that sat in your church last Sunday morning. They came to your Sunday School class last Sunday morning hoping that someone would build something in their lives. Only you, Sunday School Teacher, can answer whether or not that you built something worthwhile or added salt to the hurting wounds.

II. THINGS WORTH BUILDING VS. THINGS WORTH DESTROYING

A. Things Worth Building

-The Bible is an amazing Book and none can equal it’s impact on the lives of men. All through the book we can find records of things that men built. Some men built things that stood the test of it’s generation and shaped character.

Noah built the Ark and saved his family. -- Genesis 8

Abraham built his altars all over the land of Palestine.

Isaac dug his wells.

Moses gave the command in Numbers to build cities for your little ones and to build

sheepfolds for the sheep.

Gideon built an altar and tore down the groves that had come from the effect of idolatry.

David built an altar at Ornan’s threshingfloor.

Solomon built the Temple with the materials that David left for him (What will our children build with the things that we leave for them?)

Ezra rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem.

Nehemiah rebuilt the Jerusalem and her walls.

B. Things Built That Should Not Have Been Built

-Just as there were beneficial things that were built, the Bible also records that sad account of those men who built things that led to the spiritual degradation of man. Their inventions created chaos and distress of the soul.

Nimrod tried to build the Tower that was to reach heaven Aaron built his golden calf.

The Philistines built Dagon, who fell over in front of the Ark of the Covenant (Are you

serving a God that you have to prop up?).

Balaam told Balak to build him seven altars for an improper purpose (I can never afford to build an altar that is motivated by jealousy, envy, bitterness, or anger.)

Solomon allowed himself to be wooed by the gods of his wives and he built altars and

groves to honor Molech and Chemosh.

Ahab formed his images of Baal and constructed the groves for pagan worship

Nebuchadnezzar built his image in the plains of Shinar.