How we face the challenges of life will determine whether we are overcome or become overcome-ers.
• Book of Joshua is the sixth book of the Old Testament and it records the entry of the Jews into the Promised Land . . . the land they still occupy to some extent.
• We are going to look at this book because it is the story of how the Children of Israel faced the task of taking the land God had promised them.
The book of Joshua follows directly on the heels of the book of Deuteronomy.
• The books of Exodus through Deuteronomy record the time when Moses led the Israelites (the descendents of Jacob, later called “Israel”).
• Exodus records how God led the people out of slavery in Egypt and the giving of the Law.
• Leviticus explained God’s regulations for worship and God’s standard of holiness.
• Numbers tells us how God originally led Moses and the children of Israel to the land that He had promised to them.
• They sent twelve spies into the land to bring back a report. One of those spies was Joshua.
God made three promises to Abraham:
– Nation
– Land
– Seed
• While in Egyptian bondage, Abraham’s descendents grew into a nation; leaving, they became a free people.
Now the nation of Israel needs a home, and God is preparing to deliver on His second promise
• Joshua is the foremost character in the book that bears his name.
• God names Joshua to be Moses’ successor (1:5-9).
• God tells Joshua to be of good courage because He will not forsake him.
In three days, they will cross the River Jordan to claim their inheritance
Courage is not the absence of fear;
it is moving forward in spite of fear.
Courage is not not being afraid;
it is moving ahead even though you are afraid.
Gods Promise to Him:- "No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you." Joshua could accept the challenge because he recognized God's promise to him.
? ISRAEL HAD A PROBLEM- the wall of Jericho
? ISRAEL HAD A PROMISE- God Promises Israel victory before the attack
? ISRAEL HAD A PARTNER- Israel’s partner none other than God himself
I. v.1 ISRAEL HAD A PROBLEM- the wall of Jericho
A. . Jericho is known as the oldest city in the world, in Joshua's day, it was surrounded by a system of two massive stone walls. The outer wall was 6 ft. thick and about 20 ft. high. The inner wall was about 12 ft. thick and was 30 ft. high. Between the walls was a guarded walkway about 15 ft. wide. Israel's problem was that they had a city to conquer, but there were some extremely huge walls in the way.
B. As we go through life, we have obstacles that we face as well. Perhaps it is a lost loved one we would like to see the Lord touch and save, a lost community over which we are burdened, a ministry from the Lord that we feel inadequate about, family trouble that tears at our hearts and leaves us wondering what to do, financial trouble that stresses us to the limits of our patience and faith, a besetting sin that constantly crops us in our life, or any of other a million things!)
C. We must learn not to look upon our obstacles as dead-ends, but as opportunities for the Lord to work in our lives!
The great Apostle Paul had such an obstacle - 2 Cor. 12:7-10 - This attitude is foreign to us this morning. Yet, we must come to realize that the power of God is best revealed in and through us when we are unable to handle life. God is more clearly visible when we are totally out of the picture! In a sense, that is what He did with Israel here. As we will see, He completely removed them from the equation! The victory at Jericho was all God!)
II. v.2 ISRAEL HAD A PROMISE- God Promises Israel victory before the attack
A. As Joshua and all the men of war stood looking at those walls around that great city, God had a word of comfort for their hearts! Here, God promises Israel the victory before they ever attack Jericho! He lets them know about the conclusion before they ever enter into their battle!
B. As we face our obstacles, whatever they may be we can do so with confidence, because we have the Lord's promises as banners to march under:
1. We Have His Promise That Our Weapons Are Powerful Through God - 2 Cor. 10:4-5.
2. We Have His Promise That Our Battles Have All Been Arranged By The Lord - Rom. 8:28; 2 Cor. 4:17.
3. We Have His Promise That Our Ability Is Limited Only By Our Faith - Phil. 4:13; Eph. 3:20.
4. We Have His Promise Of Power In The Day Of Battle - Eph. 6:10.
5. We Have His Promise Of Ongoing Victory - 1 Cor. 15:57.
6. We Have His Promise That We Will Never Fight Alone - Heb. 13:5; Matt. 28:20.
7. We Have His Promise That When The Battles Are Ended, We will Celebrate The Victory In His Presence - John 14:1-3.
C. As we face the walled cities in our lives, we need to learn to believe the Lord, to take Him at His Word and trust Him for our victories! (Rom. 4:21; 2 Cor. 1:20)
(Ill. I Jesus did not save you for you to be defeated! He saved you for the victory and He will be there all the way to help you secure it for His glory! Will there be trials? But, there will also be victory - Luke 22:31-32.)
I. Israel Had A Problem
II. Israel Had A Promise
III. v.3-5 ISRAEL HAD A PARTNER- Israel’s partner none other than God himself
A. Israel's partner was none other than God Himself! He was in absolute control of the battle, He was leading them, and He was the guarantee of their victory!
(Ill. The visit of the Captain of the Lord's Host - Josh. 5:13-15. Remember that He came to tell Joshua that He did not come to take sides, He came to take over!)
B. As we face our walled cities and the obstacles of our lives, it is a blessing to know that we do not have to face them alone, Matt. 28:20; Heb. 13:5, or in our own strength, John 16:13; Phil. 4:13!
C. No obstacle is insurmountable as long as we face it in the Lord!
The Unusual Strategy Joshua Followed:
1. The army and the priests were to walk round the city walls once each day for six days carrying the ark of the covenant and rams horns.
2. They were to do this in absolute silence.
3. On the seventh day they were to march round the walls seven times this time the priests were to blow their horns as they marched.
4. Then when the circuit had been completed the seventh time the Priests were to give a long loud blast on the horn which would be the signal for all the people (who by this stage numbered well over 2 million) to shout at the top of their voice upon which it was promised that the walls of the city would crumble and fall down, thus making entrance into the city and the overthrow of the enemy.
I'm preaching today about the walls will fall.
The enemy builds walls that start with one brick and he adds another brick and another brick,
? the brick of doubt
? the brick of Fear,
? The Brick of negative thinking,
? generational curses
? the bricks of heart redness
? the bricks of unforgiveness,
? the bricks of oppression,
? the bricks of depressions
? the bricks of addictions
? the bricks of sexual immorality
? the bricks of impurity
? the bricks of debauchery
? the bricks of idolatry
? the bricks of witchcraft
? the bricks of discord
? the bricks of jealousy
? the bricks of selfish ambition
? the bricks of discessions
? the bricks of drunkenness etc..
An the enemy says, there's no way out. There's no way to be free enslaving sin is one of those bricks I want to give you some quick lessons from Joshua's story and the light story and what God is saying to us.
I. Number one, God gave Joshua a simple instruction.
He said get out there and March around the walls of Jericho one time for six days and on the seventh day March 7 times,
Its an unusual strategy
And Joshua could have said, this is crazy. This is stupid. I'll just go get a battering ram and I can knock the door down.
This advice makes no sense at all
I don't believe in that. I don't believe in miracles and that is your problem.
We try to fix our problems by our own ways.
? We think that what we think and what we do is all that matters.
? We take things in our own hands. But instead of following God's simple formula, God's simple prescription for a miracle.
He gives a plan. He gives an instruction in one of God's instructions..
If will do what the Bible says, God will back it up.
II. The second thing that God said in Joshua chapter 5, and he saw a man with a sword in his hand, and he fell at his feet, and he began to worship.
? And suddenly when he looked up he saw something else
? And instead of seeing those walls, he saw someone One who said I am the captain of the lord of the armies of angels that are in heaven.
I am the commander, I am the one who commands the armies of heaven, and instead of seeing that wall, listen carefully, in that moment, he got his Focus off of the walls and he got his Focus On that angel
Fix your Eyes on the commander of the armies of Heaven. I will look unto the hills, from which cometh my help. My help is the Lord, and the Lord is bigger than that wall. And suddenly the wall goes out of focus and he begins to focus on Jesus.
When you fast and pray, the focus comes off the problem. And it comes on the one who said:-
? I am the Lord and I will lead you.
? And I will guide you and
? I will honor you and I will raise you.
? And I will cause your heart to be healed.
? I will make a way for you.
? I will bless you.
Joshua 5 and 15, he said, take your shoes off. Joshua, you're on Holy Ground.
Now, listen to me carefully.
When he said, take your shoes off, what does that mean? That represents the past
Take the past off
Why do you say it represents the past? Let me prove. It Deuteronomy, 29 and verse 5. God said:-
for 40 years, I led you in the wilderness and your clothes did not wear out. Watch this or did your sandals wear out on your feet?
But they had traffic through the Wilderness. The dust of everywhere they had been for 40 years.
They were wearing the same shoes and God said, I'm not taking you into the same place.
You've been walking in, you're crossing over into the promised land and I need you to take your shoes off, let go of the past the Lord's about to take you into your promised land, and you can't bring the old, you've got to get rid of the old, take off your shoes, get rid of it, get rid of it,
I don't want you to run out into the battle.
I don't want you to handle this in your own way.
I want you to spend some time with me, the neck. All I need is the next seven you listen to my simple instruction, believe it and do it, and then get the focus off the wall and get it on me.
III. Meditate on my word
God said something powerful to Joshua earlier in that book in Joshua chapter 1, he said, three times be strong and courageous for. I am with you be strong and courageous and then he said, meditate on the word day and night.
? If you meditate in the word day and night, you will be prosperous.
? You will be successful.
? If you keep this word and you live it,
? God Will Raise You Up From the Ashes.
? God will supply all your needs. According to his riches in glory,
God invented meditation.
Wake up with the word.
Go to bed with the word,
play the word in your car.
Listen to it, in music,
listen to it, on tape,
listen to it on whatever you got iPods or Internet or what get the word to flow
Our duty is to read the written word of God
• It builds discipline in our life
• It kills procrastination
• It builds Godly character
• We began to understand gods will
? God’s word will change us from inside to outside
? Get the word and word will get you what you want
? Death is the greatest enemy of human being
? God’s word is Gods manual.
? Know his word and you will know his plans
And God says, if you do it you will be strong. If you do it, you will be courageous. If you do it, you will be prosperous. If you do it, you will be successful
Richard wombrand opened up the word behind bars. God, begin to open doors.
? When God opens an door No man can shut it
? When one door closes God can open another door
? When you are with God you are never out of options
? Whatever God lifts up no man can push down
? Don’t worry , just breathe, God will always make a way
Take a praise break this evening and Give almighty a clap offering, Hallelluah
You don't have to live in fear.
You don't have to live like a little worm.
You don't have to go around.
? Follow Gods, simple instruction.
? Fix your eyes on the commander of the armies of Heaven. Take off your shoes.,
? spend some time with his word.
Here's a big one.
He said, Joshua sent two spies to Jericho head of the March There's going to be a prostitute by the name of rehab.
Because she's going to help you. And hide your spies when the Kings finds out. They're there and try to kill them. I want you to save her and her whole house.
When they came to the city, her family was broken. Her family was known, as she was a prostitute, that was known. But when the story ends, the only house that standing is rahab's house on a portion of the wall and she had all her family in it.
Under a red scarlet cord, that was blowing in the wind, that red cord represented the bloodline of her family.
Now, listen to me carefully Rahab appears in the bloodline of Jesus Christ.
– Because she became the mother of a child named Boaz. She met her husband and became the mother of Boaz
– and Boaz married Ruth,
– and Ruth and Boaz had a baby named David and Obed.
– And Obed had a son named a Jesse
– and Jesse had a son named David
– and Jesus was the descendant of David's bloodline.
What I'm trying to say to you is, Joshua had no idea that his actions for the next seven days would affect entire generations, and the entire world and put her in Matthew chapter 1, in the bloodline of Jesus Christ.
God is not holding your past against you.
? He didn't hold the past against Rahab.
? He said, okay, if you're going to fly the red cord and be part of my bloodline,
? I'm going to cancel generational curses off of you and your children, and your children's children generation.
? And I'm going to put blessings on future Generations all the way down to Jesus coming out of her bloodline.
Oh, I don't know who I'm preaching to, but every dad, every mom, every wannabe be dead or Mom, ought to shout future Generations are being affected by this. They were redeemed blessed and honored. Here's another one. I'm almost done.
The next thing God told him he said now listen while they're Marching for the first 6 days.
IV. Be quite
Tell them to be quiet and not speak a word first 6 days.
Tell them to be quiet and not speak a word. Keep silent.
The next seven days. Keep silent,
quit complaining,
quit talking about the wall.
Talking about this and that be quite
Don’t speak about defeat
quit speaking that old thing.
I'm married but now at the verge of divorce, quit speaking that.
Just obey the simple instructions. Shut up zip.
Maybe you need to shut down social media.
Stop complaining, hold your tongue.
Psalms 141 in verse 3 set a guard over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips.
Your mouth can block your blessings
Proverbs 18:21
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.
• With the tongue Caesar sent armies to war,
• Adolf Hitler incited mass genocide and cults like Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons sprang up.
• With the tongue Wesley preached to thousands,
• With tongue Winston Churchill inspired a nation to stand firm
• With tongue Billy Graham brought millions to faith.
The power of tongue
• It is one of the smaller organs of the body.
• The weight for a male is about 70 grams, for a female, 60 grams. However, its potential for evil is so great God saw fit to imprison it
The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue muscle. It has got 8 muscles
• Your tongue has 2,000 - 4,000 TASTE BUDS.
• Each contains sensory cells that are replaced every week.
• Your tongue print is as unique as a fingerprint
• Your tongue can say a lot about your health.
• Your tongue can actually provide clues about your overall health.
Yawning is actually a reaction that sends more oxygen to your brain
Tongue is always behind a double jailer: the teeth and the lips. I am talking about the human tongue.
Recent research has revealed that there are few
places more infested with harmful bacteria than the human mouth.
More than one hundered million microscopic critters live there. Fungus grows in the oral cavity.
Master your tongue or it will master your life,
I came across a statistic that shocked me. I was not sure I believed it.
? I read that the average person speaks 11 million words a year.
? Do you know how many words that is in a lifetime? At the age of 65 it is seventy-one million, five hundred thousand words. Imagine the magnitude of that many words.
When you see the doctor the first, he is checking is the tongue.
He can diagnose the illness only by looking at the tongue. (Mt 12:34). How we speak reveals a lot about us
If you can master your tongue you can master your whole body.
However, James points out that the tongue is basically untamable, and that it is itself set on fire by hell
The Greek word for hell here is Gehenna, which is the valley of Hinnom, the garbage dump of Jerusalem, where the fires are never quenched, where they burned everything from garbage to criminal’s bodies
We tame animals, says James, but we cannot tame this tiny piece of our bodies!
God told Joshua, order your army to speak, not a word.
All I want the enemy to hear from you is the sound of marching.
Seven Days, Seven priests seven trumpets seven, seventh day after seven times in March, in on that day, seven rounds. Blow the trumpet.
1. Seven as a holy number
God describes the Sabbath as a holy day, the seventh day of the week (Deuteronomy 5:12-14).
2. Seven feasts or Jewish holidays
Starting from Passover to feat of tabernacle
3. Seven Churches in Revelation
3. Seven Churches in Revelation
4. Seven x 10 (70) years of captivity
7. Seven Seals, Trumpets, Bowls, and More in Revelation
7 claims
7miracles
7 saying from the cross
The blowing of the trumpet is the wind going through that instrument in your God's instrument and the wind of the holy spirit is ready to refill us on and God's plan will bring the Victory and the walls will fall.
Is your marriage in trouble, Mark 10, and verse 9. What God has joined together? Let no, man, put asunder
? Hebrews 13 and verse 4, let marriage be held in honor among all men.
? Ephesians 5:33 husbands, love your honor among all men.
? Ephesians 5:33 husbands, love your wives as you love yourself and wives, see that you respect your husband's.
? God says, I can restore that ring on your hand as you march.
This is your shot. This is your chance. And when the trumpet blows on the seventh day, God told God's people to shout for the Lord has given you the city.
He's giving you the family, he's giving you. What's on the other side of the pain and the walls Must Fall.
? Claiming your Canaan requires COURAGE
Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, ‘We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.’” Numbers 13:30
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Romans 8:37
? Claiming your Canaan requires CONSISTENCY
“Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2
? Claiming your Canaan requires COMMITMENT
"Now then, just as the LORD promised, He has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time He said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the desert. So here I am today, eighty-five years old!” Joshua 14:10
“Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” 1 Timothy 4:12
“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33
It takes faith to circle something in prayer
• To believe that God is bigger than any problem we might face.
• To believe that God will overcome any obstacle
Lets be a people who look for things to circle in faith
Is there anything you need to circle?
What kind of walled city are you facing right Now?
? does it appear to be unconquerable?
? Do the walls look too high and too thick?
Is there some wall that seems to stand as an imposing obstacle before you?
? A family situation that just keeps getting worse
? A nagging addiction
? An unforgiving spirit
? An illness that doesn’t seem to get any better
? A person who “pushes your buttons”
? A job that is a constant source of frustration
? A physical frame that is keeping you from doing what you want to do
? A circumstance that feels out of control.
? A financial need that is beyond your reach
COnclusion :-Cirlce your Problem with praise, the Wall will fall
