Hopewell Baptist Church Napa, CA Sermon Podcast

Let’s take our Bibles right now. And let’s open them to the Book of Numbers Chapter 20. And we’re also going to be looking at Numbers 22 as well. Numbers 20 and Numbers 22. So, we’re going look at two chapters side by side tonight. Numbers 20 numbers 22. And this is the story in 20 of Moses striking the rock right and being disqualified from the Promised Land. And then in 22 we’re going be talking about Balaam and his donkey. You might be like, “Man, how do these two stories relate to one another?” You’ll see in just a moment here.

So, remember in school where you had an assignment to compare and contrast two stories? Who remembers doing that a little bit? And so that’s what we’re going do today. We’re going to pay special attention to the first story. And then, as you hear the second story, you’re going to be asking yourself some questions. How are the events of this story different than the first one? And how are they the same? How? How are the characters in the first story behaving? What are they doing? And how are the characters in the second story behaving? What are they doing? And then ask yourself, “What’s this common theme?” You’re going to pick up on it really quick that there is a common theme.

And just like with Jesus doing His parables, you remember where He gave back-to-back stories where He told of the lost sheep, and then the next parable it was the lost coin, and then the next parable it was the lost Son? By doing those stories back-to-back-to-back, He was giving a common theme. Each one was a little bit different, but they drove home a point that Jesus was come to seek and to save that which was lost. He came to find us, right? That was the common theme.

And so when we compare numbers 20 with 22, it’s going to become clear that the Lord is driving home a point, and it’s a point we need tonight, and I believe it would be helpful. And hopefully you can pick up what that point is as we get into both stories here.

If you’re able to let stand for the reading of God’s word. Numbers 20 and we’ll jump right in here. We’re going to be reading in verses 7-12.

“[7] And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, [8] Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes…” (Notice, He said, “Speak unto the rock”) “…and it shall give forth his water. And thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock. So thou shalt give the congregation and their beast drink.”

And so, what did he do? Verse 9: “And Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as he commanded him. [10] And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? [11] And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. [12] And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.”

They were on the edge of the promised land. Moses is 120 years old. For the past 40 years, he has been marching to the Promised Land. They are on the edge of it…and he strikes out.

With God’s help tonight, I want to bring a message I’m calling “A Donkey for a Moses.” That title will make sense in a little bit, and you’ll need to hang with me through the first story. You gotta pay attention during the first one so you’ll pick up on the theme in the second one.

Let’s pray. Father, thank you for gathering us together here tonight. We pray that you would help us, and as the song that we just heard, I pray that you would hide me behind the cross. This is the theme of this message. We need your help as we go through wilderness times of our life. We want to know how to react well and what you expect of us. Please help us in Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

So, no one wants to live in a wilderness. Some of you who go camping out there: Has anyone camped for multiple days straight? More than two days? Has anyone camped for more than a week? Whoa! Okay. For more than a month? Whoa! All right. So, camping is an interesting thing. Going in the wilderness for those of you that like it, the more power to you. But there is not a camping in enthusiast in the room who wants to camp permanently in the wilderness where there is no water, there’s no food, there’s no anything beside a tent. You don’t want to live for 40 years in the wilderness, especially when you’re used to growing up in the city. Yes, all right. I don’t care how much you like camping. No one likes that. No one likes it that much.

The book of Numbers… When you read your Bible, the book titles are not inspired of God. They are traditional titles. Where we got the title Numbers from is actually from the Greek versions of the Old Testament. But the Hebrew title for the book of Numbers is bemidbar, and it means “in the wilderness.” And that really is the theme. Yes, there’s a lot of numbers in Numbers. There’s genealogies and stuff like that. A lot of counting in the first four chapters, but most of it is Israel’s wandering in the wilderness.

And we don’t like the book of Numbers that much because it’s a very frustrating book. It’s not difficult to read; it’s that Israel is not getting anywhere. It’s like they’re walking on a treadmill and they’re expending a lot of energy, and they’re not anywhere closer to anything. They’re just stuck for 40 years. And there comes a time in every Christian’s life where you find yourself in the wilderness where you feel stuck.

And not only was Moses stuck and did he felt stuck, but he’s in this place called Kadesh. In Numbers 20:1—look up there in Numbers 20:1. Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in…” What’s the word? “Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there.” So, if that name rings any bells, we remember that word Kadesh, 40 years before, when the Children of Israel were first going out of Egypt. They’re all excited. We’re going to go to the Promised Land. It’s only gonna take us a couple of weeks. That’s it. They get to the edge of the promised land. They sent 12 spies. Remember the story? The Lord did not tell them to send 12 spies. They just did it on their own. And they came back with a bad report. Everyone but Caleb and Joshua. And they decided that we’re not actually going to obey God after all. And what happens? They start wandering around the wilderness for 40 years.

Now Moses is no longer 80 years old when he first started leading them. He’s a very old man. He’s 120. Okay. And they’re on the edge of the Promised Land again. They’re about to go in, but for real this time. And he has put up with these people for 40 years—their nagging and their complaining and bringing all these issues to him. I can’t believe he didn’t, like, crack under the pressure before this.

But then something happens. In verse one. We just read it. And Miriam died (in verse one). And this was Moses’ older sister. She’s the one that saved Moses in the arc of bulrushes hid him. Remember, this was that Miriam people mourned for her for weeks and weeks and weeks. This was a big deal. And he’s grieving. And in the middle of his grieving, then the children of Israel come together…and look what happens. As you know, they’re in Kadesh there on the edge of the Promised Land. And like Yogi Berra said, “It’s deja vu all over again,” right?

This is the situation. They come to him, and it says that they are “against” him. The king James says they “chode” with him, which means they contended with him. That word is sometimes used in legal contexts, like bringing a case before someone as if they’re gonna sue Moses. Or it’s sometimes it’s like a verbal fight. All of the people that he’s led for 40 years are now ganging up on him in his time of grief. When he’s 120 years old. When they’re on the edge of the Promised Land. And he’s not happy. I mean, can you blame him for hitting the rock twice? Okay, but we’re gonna see why God didn’t give him a whole lot of wiggle room here. He said, you hit the rock twice, you’re not going into the Promised Land now. After all that time, after all Moses did. But there is a reason that He didn’t let him go into that Promised Land.

We’re going to look at three characters tonight in these stories. Moses, the donkey, and then Joshua.

So beforehand, let’s take a step back. How did we get here—where Moses is at right now, no longer being able to go to the promised land? There are three stages to Moses’ life: early Moses when he’s in Egypt with Pharaoh in the palaces. He lived 40 years there. You can split up the life of Moses into three 40-year periods: the first 40 years he’s in Egypt, the second 40 years, after leaving Egypt, he spends 40 years on the backside of the desert in Midian leading sheep. And then, when he’s 80 years old, he comes back to Egypt and leads the children of Israel toward the Promised Land for another 40 years.

Let’s turn to Exodus 2 real quick. We want to pick up on what happened to early Moses—Moses, who was in Egypt. Exodus 2 in verse 11: “And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. [12] And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.”

And then you don’t have to turn there, but we get we get some more filler to this story in a sermon in the Book of Acts. When Stephen recounts the story for us in Acts chapter 7, he says in verse 22. “And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.” We didn’t get that in Exodus and Exodus. Stephen explains that through the inspiration of Spirit, uh, he was learned in all the wisdom he was trained up. He was a smart guy, Verse 23: “And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. 24. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:” Verse 25. Here’s the key here: For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.”

When Moses is 40 years old, he has the passion burning in his heart. “I’m going to lead these people out from slavery and I’m ready to go.” He was very wise. He was trained up, and in his mind, “I’m ready. I’m going to do this.” And it says that he thought by the power of his hand, he was going to lead them out. He figured out really quickly he was not able to do so. He sees this Egyptian. He’s fighting with this with this Israelite. Moses goes over there, and with his bare hands he kills this guy. Now it’s not like he should have done that, okay. But that is actually pretty impressive for someone to take someone down with their bare hands.

But Moses was not ready in his own strength and power to lead the entire population of Israel to Canaan land and go in the face of Pharaoh. So, what does he do? He gets out of there real quick, and he goes to the back side of the desert and hides. So, the thing we know here about young Moses is that you only get so far on your own power with your own wisdom in your own might.

God had a plan for him, right? And Moses knew one day with this is a burning desire in my heart, “I want to lead these people out of here.” We know God’s plan was to use Moses to lead his people out of slavery, and he had a vision for what could be in his life. But he had no instruction on how to get that done. You follow me so far? Moses acted by reflex at the time. Yeah, and it didn’t do him well. He acted in his own power with his own wisdom in his own might. He kills an Egyptian with his bare hands. But that’s all that happens. Not much. It didn’t make a dent in freeing his people.

Then you have “middle Moses,” so to speak. He is in Midian. He’s in the back side of the desert, hiding from Pharaoh for the next 40 years. And 40-year-old Moses, thought he could do it all in his own strength. And he learned very quickly he couldn’t. Now 80-year-old Moses thinks that he can’t do anything in his own strength.

Alright, go to Exodus chapter 3. Let’s see what happens 40 years later. Here’s this cocky person, right? Thinks he can lead the whole nation by himself. 40 years passes, and he has a very different idea. Different mindset. Exodus 3:1: Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. 2. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire,” Notice that he saw the angel of the Lord. He saw it, it appeared to him, and he saw the angel of the Lord Remember this fact? “…The bush burned with fire. The bush was not consumed. First three, Moses said, I will now turn aside.” Remember that phrase, too: “I will now turn aside.” “…and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. 5. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 6. Moreover he said, I amthe God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. 7. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;”

Now skip down into verse number 10: “Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. 11. And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh,” Remember? That’s what he wanted to do before he wanted to free the people. Now, now look at his mindset: “…and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? 12. And he said, Certainly I will be with thee…” Meaning that’s all you need is me. Verse 13: “And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 14. And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”

What does that mean? Here we see Moses knows the children of Israel will not follow some guy named Moses that they’ve never met. All right, he knows he can’t do this in his own power. All right. He’s learned his lesson. 40 years in the back side of the desert has taught him something. The Lord tells him to go in the name of “I Am.” What does that mean? In other words, “Moses, you go knowing that I am what you need. You don’t have it in you to do this great thing I’ve given you. But I am what you need.”

Exodus 3, looking down in verse 19. “And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand.” No, not by a mighty hand. Whose hand is he referring to? A human hand. He’s saying it doesn’t matter how mighty your hand is. Pharaoh is not going to let you go. No matter, no matter how mighty it might be, no matter how strong you are, it doesn’t matter if you can kill an Egyptian with your bare hands. It’s not gonna do you any good against Pharaoh. Verse 20: “And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.”

So, God makes clear that it’s is not the mighty hand of Moses that’s gonna convince Pharaoh. It’s God’s hand. He uses that word “God’s hand.” When Moses stretches out his hand, it’s a physical representation of the spiritual hand of God. Okay? It is not Moses. His hand is not Moses’. His staff is not Moses’ power. He is pointing to the one that’s doing all this. But it couldn’t be clearer here. Moses was to represent God, not be God. Yes. Okay. Moses understands, “I can’t do this on my own.” Moses could kill an Egyptian with his two hands, but God could kill the whole Egyptian army with one hand and one hand behind his back. Moses couldn’t do that.

Exodus 4. Let’s look down here. And then we’re gonna conclude this middle part of Moses is life. Exodus 4:10: “And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. [11] And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? [12] Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.”

Moses said, “I can’t talk, I can’t talk.” And the Lord says, “Look, I’m trying to teach you that it’s not you that’s doing it, and I’m gonna give you even the words to say. It doesn’t matter that you can’t talk.”

So here’s the summary here. He paid attention to what the angel of the Lord said. He turned aside after hearing the angel. And here was Moses: He was a powerless, nameless, speechless person who had been humbled and who was totally dependent on the Lord. And God said, “That’s what I want. I can use this guy because he doesn’t think he can do it.” And God brings people into the promised land, so to speak, when we depend on him.

Acts 7:38. Now Moses is in the wilderness. He’s led them out of the out of Egypt. They’ve crossed the Red Sea. Acts 7:38. This is again in the speech of Stephen the deacon: “This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:” So, here on Mount Sinai, when God gave the 10 Commandments, here Moses is in the wilderness with the angel again, the Angel of the Lord. And that’s key in just a second here.

Now we’re at the edge of the Promised Land again. All right, that’s the background of Moses. That’s how we got here. Miriam has died. The people are complaining. They’re “choding” with him. They were against Moses. They ganged up on him. “If only,” they said, “If only we had died with our brothers and sisters in the wilderness.” They’re talking about the rebellion of Korah when the ground opened up and swallowed them. They’re like, “Man, we just wish the ground opened up and swallowed us.” I mean, it doesn’t make any sense, right? This is not the time to be coming to Moses with their complaints, either. The people blamed Moses for bringing them into the wilderness as if it was his idea. Okay, so the Children of Israel had blurred the lines between Moses and God. They said you brought us in the wilderness. You did this to us. You did this to us. And Moses doesn’t correct them. What he should have done was say, “No, no, no. That was God. I’m just the representative, okay? It’s not my hand. It’s not my rod. It’s not my words. It was God that did this.” He doesn’t correct them in that regard.

What does he actually do here? Okay. He did something really wrong. I mean, he lost his ticket to the Promised Land. What did he do in Numbers 27:7-12. We read this that he was to speak unto the rock. He doesn’t speak unto the rock. He hits the rock. It says he doesn’t speak to the rock. He speaks to the people. Okay? And he says, “Must we fetch you water out of the rock?”

Hey, wait. Wait a second. Isn’t it God that is giving them water out of the rock? The people had blurred the lines between who’s doing this miracle—God or Moses. And now Moses says, “You want me to bring water out of this rock?” With that little word “we” there he didn’t say, “You want to tempt God and make Him bring water on this rock?” No, no, he says “we.” Meaning, he himself blurred the lines on who got them where they were. And, I mean, you put yourself on the throne of God with the crown on your head and the Lord is not going to be very happy with you. That is not a person who is going to be in the Promised Land type living. Only people who are dependent on God get to go to the Promised Land.

With Moses right now, it is no longer the rod of God. No longer is it the hand of God. No longer is it the words of God. It’s not the actions of God. It’s Moses’ rod, Moses’ hand, Moses’ words. And so, before the people it looks an awful lot like a miracle of Moses, not a miracle of God. God is the supplier of water. God meets their needs, not Moses. So with those substitute words that Moses said, Moses is making himself a prophet of himself rather than a prophet of God.

You see how this is a problem? Okay, but you say “Okay, brother Jonathan, I’m with you so far, but somewhere before didn’t God actually tell Moses to smite the rock. What’s the problem with him hitting the rock here?” And you’re right that in Exodus 17:6, 40 years before, God has him smite the rock or hit the rock and water comes out. But there is a difference there.

In Exodus 17:6, the Lord says, “Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.” In that situation, God says I myself, I’m going to stand before the rock. And you remember in the temple—Pastor talked about the temple in a sermon series—that the presence of God was seen like a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day. And so, you can imagine during this first episode with the rock that this glory cloud is right before the rock. And you cannot mistake the fact that God is there, and he is giving you water out of the rock. You can’t mistake it. But now, 40 years later, it doesn’t say that the glory cloud is before the rock. Now, when Moses hits it without the visible representation of God, it’s very easy to conclude that “Oh, Moses is the guy that gave us the water. He can do it on his own with his own power.” Just like the magicians of Egypt, he is taking credit very subtly for the miracle of God. That’s why he lost his ticket to the Promised land, by striking the rock with his own authority in his own power, absent of the presence of God. Moses is denying the Lord’s power before are the people.

So, the Lord basically says Moses, you appointed yourself the status of God. What is the first of the 10 Commandments? “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”, and it is absolutely impossible to obey God and be God at the same time, right? So are we so shocked that the Lord didn’t let Moses in the Promised Land? No. The Promised Land is inhabited by people who depend on God for strength in their wilderness wanderings.

What? What did Moses do? I think we should cut them a little bit of slack. I think that stress, anger, frustration, heartache, pain and grief often cause us to revert back to the person who we used to be before we saw the burning bush. Moses goes all the way back to the guy he was back in Egypt who did things by reflex instead of absolute dependence on God.

And when we feel the pressure, sometimes instead of dependence on God, we revert back to reflex and do whatever comes naturally. Whatever’s on our mind, and that often gets us into serious trouble. It sometimes is a defining moment in our life when we are on the edge of the Promised Land, so to speak. And it’s a very difficult time with a lot of stress, a lot of anger, a lot of frustration, and you’re at a tipping point. You get to decide then, will I depend on God to see me through, or will I react by reflex? All of us will be in a wilderness of some sort.

You remember a little bit ago—this was maybe a year ago, maybe less. They had problems with the Southwest 737s. And there was in the news that something went wrong on the Boeing planes. Well, I talked to a pilot and I said, “Well, what exactly happened there?” He said, “Look, all that happened on those planes—nothing wrong with them—there was something wrong with the autopilot. The autopilot mechanism broke, and the pilots were so used to flying on autopilot that when they had to take over the manual controls again and actually like, grip the steering wheel and look at the little manual controls and everything, they froze. They forgot what they learned. It had been years of them relying on the autopilot mechanism and then finally, there’s this moment of pressure all of a sudden right away, and they had some serious problems. If you’re a pilot, you spend our hundreds of hours in the cockpit learning what the little knobs and controls are and everything to learn how to be a pilot. And after you learn all those lessons and it’s fresh on your mind, you’re depending on the instruments, not on autopilot. Then you become a commercial pilot, and a lot of what you learned you’re actually not using a whole lot of it. It’s autopilot until the moment that you get tested. And then it’s like, “Do I remember what I learned these lessons way back in Midian when I was on the back side of the desert walking with the sheep?”

You follow me here? Every single Christian will go through a wilderness with a point when the autopilot breaks. When what you do in these times defines you.

You think of John Bunyan. He wrote Pilgrim’s Progress. He was in Bedford prison I believe it was. And he’s in there in a very difficult time. His wife and his children would visit him in prison and in his in his diary or one of his books that he wrote, he said, I’m having such a hard time seeing my little baby girl who was just born before I went into prison, who is blind. And I’m seeing her through the prison gates, prison bars, and I know I can’t help her. I can’t provide for her. I can’t be there. It’s hard enough, my wife raising these kids with no support for me at all, let alone this little girl who’s blind. What am I gonna do? And he wrote that in those times, in the times where there was immense frustration and hardship for him that those were the times that he dug into the word of God and saw immense treasures. It became alive to him and instead of just disqualifying himself, so to speak, he relied on God, and Pilgrim’s Progress is, I believe, the second-best selling book of all time underneath the Bible. It has helped many people.

I think of the times that I’ve gone through some sort of wilderness experience. I keep a log of devotion notes, and it spans almost 10 years. And I look back at some of those dates, and I remember exactly what was happening during some of those dates. And those were the most precious times where I felt like God is speaking directly to me. I am getting insight from his word because you’re absolutely dependent on Him. In the wilderness times, you either decide to be absolutely dependent on Him or you go back into autopilot mode.

Okay, we gotta go real quick. Let’s go to Numbers 22. Here’s the story of the donkey. At this point, if you are the Israelites in the wilderness, you might very well be thinking, “Okay, with Moses gone, who’s going to lead us now? What are we going to do without Moses? He led us to Egypt. We need him.”

Then two chapters later, there’s this weird story of the donkey. Balaam and his donkey. Numbers 22:21: “And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab. [22] And God’s anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of the Lord stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him. [23] And the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way.”

Here’s the donkey. She sees an angel and turns out of the way. Are some alarm bells ringing? You remember something about this? I seem to remember something about this. Balaam is a prophet. He’s also called a “seer.” Okay, here’s the irony. Because Balaam’s sights are set on doing his own thing, he’s totally blind to the presence of God in front of him. It couldn’t be any more backwards. The seer is blind, but the donkey can see. You see?

Numbers 22:27. “And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell down under Balaam: and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff. 28. And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times? 29. And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee. 30. And the ass said unto Balaam…”

It’s like they’re having a conversation, right?

… Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee? And he said, Nay. 31. Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face.”

Get this: God puts words into the donkey’s mouth and the hard heart of the prophet, just like the hard heart of Pharaoh, is changed. With this conversation through the actions of the donkey, God makes His will known and accomplishes them.

Now we’ve journeyed all the way to this point. Here’s the big connector here. This donkey turns aside for the angel. [The donkey] is a powerless, nameless, speechless animal who was humble before God for the direction along the way.

You understand that God did not need Moses and God did not need a donkey. He was showing the Israelites that I can use—it’s not about the vessel that I choose. All that needs to happen is for you to humble yourself. Turn out of the way, get down on your knees and depend on Me. And I can do incredible things through you. I can do it through a donkey. The Lord was clearing up any doubt in the Israel’s minds of how God’s power works. The Lord does not need Moses. He can use a donkey for a Moses.

Living a spiritually blessed, fulfilled victorious life with an inner peace that passes all understanding cannot be achieved through working harder. It is achieved by allowing God to work through you. If we would get out of the way. You say, “Okay, brother Jonathan, I mean, let’s say I’m in the wilderness, I’m struggling, not where I ought to be. I can see the Promised Land out a little yonder, and it’s frustrating because I can’t get there. What do I do?” Here’s some practical things. Give me five minutes. All right? Whether you do or not, I’m going to take five minutes. My dad’s away, okay?

The answer is to switch off the autopilot. It’s time to depend on the instruments that you got familiarized with 40 years ago in Midian when you found the Lord. Remember? When you got saved? You humbled yourself and said, I can’t save myself. I’m depending on the Lord. But now, “40 years later,” we start depending on ourselves for everything butsalvation. That is not the victorious Promised Land type living.

All right, how do I get to the Promised Land? How do I turn the autopilot off? Number 1 is humility. You don’t want God to humble you for you. The Bible command of the New Testament is too humble yourselves before God. So, God gave Paul a thorn in the flesh. Not because he was proud, but to keep him from being proud. “Lest I be lifted up,” Paul didn’t make the mistake that Moses did because he was already humble. He couldn’t help but be because he had a thorn in the flesh that God gave him.

Sometimes fasting humbles you for you before God has to. What does fasting do? It makes you very aware that that you have needs that you’re not understanding. You do…that you’re a very weak person without one meal or a day’s worth of food, and you get very humble very quickly. And if you spend that time in prayer and Bible, God will show you things you didn’t see before because you are demonstrating physically that I’m depending on You. This is an outward sign. I want to hear from you. Fasting is one.

Number 2 is the mind of Christ. The illustration from the New Testament of getting the mind of Christ. How do you do that? By reading the Gospels. Just pour into them. You understand? What would Jesus do in this situation? How would He think? What would He say? How would He behave? That will transform our lives if it’s just second nature—this is what Jesus would do. This is what Jesus would say. If we know Him that well. We have four Gospels that give us what we need to know. To have the mind of Christ.

And then last, letting the Word of God control your actions. If Moses would have done that, he would have entered the Promised Land.

So, we said that there are three characters to be highlighted. Tonight, we talked about Moses. We talked about the donkey. And I said, the third character is Joshua. Numbers 27:18. “And the LORD said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him…” He ordains Joshua. He takes over from Moses. Joshua. The Hebrew name is Yeshua. Joshua accomplished what Moses could not do. Moses got him to the edge, but could not get them into the Promised Land. Joshua got them through. Thousands of years later, an angel comes to Mary and says, “You’re going to name your child Jesus.” The Hebrew name is Yeshua. Joshua and Jesus did what Moses could not do. Jesus trailblazed the path to the Promised Land for us—not with our might but with His. And if we join ourselves to Him in faith, we can live the Promised Land life through the Spirit, not by working harder but by getting His mind in us and having a peace that passes all understanding.

I don’t know if you’re in a wilderness tonight, but we need to take some advice from Moses. If he were standing right here, he would say, “Look, church, if you’re going through a wilderness right now, humble yourself in the sight of God, depend upon His word for guidance, and have the mind of Christ. I hope we take this lesson with us tonight. I know it’s helping me. Please ponder this throughout the week. Let’s pray, Father. Thank you for your holy word…

Take your Bibles and open them up to Joshua 6. Start right there. Looking down into verse number one. The Bible says [1] Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in. [2] And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour. [3] And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. [4] And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. [5] And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.

Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, I just want to thank You, Lord, for your word and for what it does in our hearts and minds. And Lord, I pray that tonight You would speak to hearts and that You would just lead us to the place that’s just a little higher than the rock that we’re standing on. Lord, I need You and I love You. And I am surrendered to You. I ask this in Your precious name, Amen.

I want to speak on this subject here: Prison or Protection. Prison or Protection.  it’s an amazing thing what our minds can do. He can grab onto an experience, a perception or misconception, and build it into a conviction that becomes so strong it affects the rest of your life.

I remember when I was a little boy in Oakland. I was probably in second grade, and my mom went over to her friend’s house. And it was over in San Leandro. San Leandro is known for all its cherry orchards. And this lady—she had cherry trees all in her backyard. And so, while they were talking Spanish and I wasn’t speaking Spanish, I was in the backyard with all these trees. It was a hot summer day, and all the cherries were in bloom and I was climbing those trees, and I was foraging and just eating all the cherries off the trees, having a good time. But it was hot, so I came in. I said, “You have anything to drink?” And they said, “Sure, here there’s a big, tall glass of milk after eating half of tree of cherries, and I downed that cold glass of milk. I was fine for a while, but when I got home, man, I was sick, like, seriously traumatizing sick in my stomach. And,  ever since then, I have a problem with cherries and milk. It did something. Now, there’s nothing wrong with cherries and milk. You can eat them and drink. People have cherry pie and sit down with a glass of milk. But I never fail to say, “You’re going to get sick.” It always does something to me.

My mom when she was a little girl on the Mediterranean got rolled by a wave one time. She loved the water, but she got rolled by a big wave one day, and her whole life since, she hasn’t been able to put her head under the water. And for her to come here and to get baptized, and submit—that’s the first time I’ve ever seen my mom underwater. She had to overcome a stronghold, something that she perceived when she was a kid, and had never been able to get over.

My brother put many of strongholds in me growing up! But one of them was on the was on the bus route. We were out visiting on Phoenix St., and these little kids had these Mexican candies called Limón. And they were there selling those the little packets. I didn’t know what they were, but he buys a couple packets, and he opens it up. Then he just disappears. Kind of walks away from it. I didn’t know. I’m trying to say, “Where do you live and where do you live?” And I’m trying to figure out where they are and get them signed up on the bus. Then he comes back and goes, “ you really got to try that. It’s kind of different, but you’ll like it.” All it was was salt and lemon. So, he goes and he buys me one, and I dumped the whole thing on my tongue. And I’m telling you, I started almost crying and I got all these kids going. “It’s good, huh? It’s good, huh?” I didn’t want to, like, spit it out. So, I held that thing in my mouth. But to this day, when I see salt—Somebody will go, “Hey, man, here, have some fries.” They rip the bag open, and they start doing this, and my mouth still waters. I could not get anywhere near salt for a long, long time because of what that did to me. It built a stronghold in my mind.

Misconceptions in our mind can be a stronghold. Even when you’re confronted with the truth, you can hold firm to the lie that’s in your head. Like I said, people eat cherry pie and have a glass of milk all the time. But I still think they’re going to be sick. You know what it is? It’s called struggling with a stronghold. It’s something in your mind that we believe to be true. And in many cases, what we believe is not necessarily true. Okay? And if we don’t examine our thinking, well, then it can begin to control us, and it can even destroy us.

So, what is a stronghold in history? A stronghold was referred to as a fortress or a fortified city. And we just read about a stronghold in the Bible days. A classic Bible example was the city of Jericho. When the children Israel crossed the Jordan River, the first city they faced was Jericho. It was surrounded by walls that were so thick they could run two chariots side by side, all the way down it. The people had enough room in the wall to actually build apartments and live inside the wall. From a human standpoint staring at the walls of this city, it was impossible to conquer. It wouldn’t even be a thought. There was no military weapon that was available in that day that could penetrate those walls. They couldn’t even remotely breach them. And not only that—because the walls hadn’t been breached, it had a reputation of being undefeated. But Jericho had never faced the power of God before. And even though they didn’t have any weapons that would be able to defeat an enemy like that or penetrate those walls on their own, they did have the Lord on their side. And after seven days of marching around the city, they got to see the walls crumble.

The walls of Jericho represent a physical or a physical stronghold or fortress. But Satan is working very hard to build spiritual and emotional strongholds in our thoughts. His goal is to deceive us into getting a perception or a misconception of something. He wants to deceive us so that he can build that into a stronghold and begin to control us. And once he has control of us, he will then push it all the way over to destroying us. And his goal is to deceive, control and destroy the whole world. You tell me. How is he doing? How’s he doing? But just like the walls of Jericho, the strongholds seemed unconquerable.

Some strongholds, they seem unconquerable to us because without God’s help, they are unconquerable. You know what the slippery, sneaky thing about a stronghold is? It’s that I won’t see one in my life, but he could see one. You could see one, but because it’s based on faulty thinking and misconceptions that I believe I’m the last to see it. Everybody can see it but me…because if it was based on truth, well, then I could pick up on it. I could figure it out. I can’t. And just like the walls of Jericho, we are unable to conquer. We’re unable to recognize that faulty thinking without God’s help. We’re unable to conquer those thoughts in our own strength. We can conquer them through the weapons that God has given us and provided for us.

In the verse just before He introduced strongholds to us, God gives us a promise, a weapon. In 2 Corinthians 10:3 it says, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: [4] (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.”

So God tells us—he gives us a promise—He’s giving us the promise of being able to pull down strongholds in our life. And he also tells us that because He gives us that weapon, it gives us the obligation that we need to use that weapon. Okay, it’s one thing to be given a weapon, but it’s another thing to use a weapon. It’s one thing to have a sword; it’s another thing to wield a sword. It’s one thing to have the Bible, and it’s another thing to wield the Bible.

You can have a weapon, and it can do you no good, but because He’s given us these weapons and because He’s provided them for us, we’re obligated to take the weapon He gave us and use them in our life. In order to feed any stronghold or reprogram any bad thinking or false thinking in our lives, we have to cast down imaginations—bring thoughts into captivity. The way it works is: you get thoughts, but if you get recurring thoughts, they get sewn together and become an imagination. One thing is certain is that we are going to face strongholds throughout our life. And if you’re sitting here and you’re saying today, “Well, you know what? I don’t have any strongholds. I hope I hope [others are] listening to all this.” Well, then you got one, because odds are you wouldn’t see it because of a faulty thinking, deceived thinking.

We’re going to face them. For some, it may be the stronghold of unbelief. That’s a persistent, recurring thought that God is not able, and He’s not trustworthy. I meet people at the door all the time that have this stronghold.

For some, it may be the stronghold of no hope. Thoughts that defeat you before you even try. It’s like God gives you a thought, but your stronghold defeats you before you even put it in motion to make it happen. And you live your whole life defeated with no hope.

For some, it may be the stronghold of unforgiveness, an inability to see past a wrong that somebody’s committed against you, and it causes you to refuse the grace of God that He offering to you to get over it. You just can’t get past what somebody did.

For some it may be the stronghold of an addiction. Someone convinced you that you need something that you can totally live without, and people do all the time. There was a day when I thought, Man, there is no way I could get up and do what I gotta do without drugs. I was so wrong. Yeah, I had a stronghold, but, boy, I was the last to see it, and that’s how it always is.

For some, it may be the stronghold of being unteachable. That’s an attitude of silent or verbal superiority. That keeps you from learning along the way because you’re always the smartest person in the room, and you might be in the smartest person in the world. What have I got to learn? You’ll be the last to see it. People are looking at you thinking you’re dumb as dirt, but not to you. It’s because of the stronghold of faulty thinking that has been built up.

Whatever the stronghold in your life, here’s the definition you want to keep in your mind. A bad stronghold is a faulty thinking pattern based on lies, misconceptions, and deceptions. Strongholds are concentrated thinking patterns. They’re not random thoughts. Nobody can prevent sinful, random thoughts from appearing in their mind. We may have a fleeting cloud of adultery or thievery or envy or suicide or addiction or negativity. You fill in the blank we may have. We’ll have those thoughts pop through our mind. We cannot help that. We’re not guilty for what pops in through our minds. But we are held guilty for the thoughts that we’re allowing to dwell on. They’re the ones that we’re allowing to get sewn together. Negative, Negative, Negative. Now I got a picture of negativity, and the thing it becomes starts out with a little three second commercial. But you let that carry on and you’ve got a two hour movie of negativity that’s been going through your head all day.

I guess it’s my Catholic upbringing. There were two monks, and they were traveling along in the old days and they came to a river. They had both taken vows of celibacy. They come to the river, and there’s this lady there. She is in a one of those frilly wide hip dresses, and she’s fretting over how she’s going to get over the creek. The old monk steps into the water, goes up to the rock and says, “Get on” and carries her across the river and sets her down on the other side. Se says, “Oh, thank you” and she keeps going. Two miles down the road, the young monk is going, “I gotta ask you something. Didn’t that bother you?” And the old monks says, “What?” “That lady… didn’t that bother you?” And he says, “No. I was just being kind, doing what Jesus would have done, but I put her back. I put her down two miles ago. What about you? You’re still carrying her?” See, that’s how strongholds are built. Reoccurring long-play thoughts, faulty thinking that you’re allowing in your head for a long time, day after day, day after day, little by little.

Just like the walls of Jericho weren’t built immediately, strongholds don’t appear overnight. Satan works hard to plant them in your mind. And from these fortresses of lies, he’ll work overtime to destroy you with him and destroy everyone around you with him.

It starts with a toe hold when you’re young. Toeholds. It’s just little wrong thoughts. It’s just-a-little-thing patterns. It’s just a little bit. Toeholds are no big deal. But when you start hitting your teenage decision-making years, those toeholds turn into footholds.

How many of you have ever had some youngster try to tackle you? They grab your foot, and you can just go, “Yeah, you’re not slowing me down.” You can drag that thing along, it becomes a foothold. But you know what? After a while, it turns into a stronghold. Now I want to go there, but it won’t let me. I want to do this, but it won’t let me. I want to go here and it won’t let me. And then if it if it’s not torn down, it turns into a stranglehold. And that’s when he gets you right around the throat and chokes you out.

There are so many ways Satan tries to twist our thinking. I mean, look at what he’s doing with media, Facebook, Twitter. Although you don’t think all those media giants have not come and discovered exactly how to control the masses, that’s the whole problem. But I’ll say this: Satan tries to twist our thinking so many different ways. don’t think he’s ever talked directly to a person. He always talks behind something. I mean, the serpent was here, and he talked through the serpent. The phone was here, and he talked through the phone. The announcer was here, and he talked through that. He always talks through something. You never see him. So, you don’t think it’s him, but it’s always those lies and deception.

There are two kinds of strongholds. We have weapons, and we have a place of safety in attacks. Two types of strongholds: prison strongholds or protection strongholds. The kind we’ve been talking about—our prison strongholds—they keep us from freedom. They keep us from the truth. Prison strongholds keep us from being delivered.

But there’s another kind of stronghold that we should flee to. It’s the stronghold of protection. Psalm 18, Verse two says this, “Psalm 18:2–6 “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. 3. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: So shall I be saved from mine enemies. 4. The sorrows of death compassed me, And the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. 5. The sorrows of hell compassed me about: The snares of death prevented me. 6. In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried unto my God: He heard my voice out of his temple, And my cry came before him, even into his ears.”

See, a stronghold is any place to which you run to when you’re attacked. When the trumpets blew and the enemy was approaching, they ran to the city. They ran to the stronghold. They ran to the fortress. And you have a strong hold to run to. I think I heard this a little bit in the song that we sang leading up to this message tonight.

The question is, which stronghold will you run to? Do you run to the prison stronghold based on lies and deceptions? Or, do you run to the protection stronghold of the unchanging truth? Where do you go when you get down? When you begin to feel sorry for yourself,  to whom do you flee when you lose your temper? Who is that person you’re talking to in the other room? Anyone? Oh, he’s just feeding you lies. And it’s funny how you regurgitate all this stuff—premeditated truths that are not true but misconceptions. And you start rehearsing your stronghold to yourself, reinforcing it. You start putting bricks with every thought, and it gets stronger and stronger and higher and higher. Do you fall back on false thinking patterns, or do you hold on to the truth, or do you do you cry to the Lord? Do you look for the truth?

We can’t afford to be slack in an attack. When the devil attacks you and all of a sudden there’s you feel that there’s a bad spirit, a bad attitude, a bad thought, and you feel your flesh raring, you’re either gonna head for prison and start reaffirming misconceptions and whatever in you, or you’re going to run for protection. You’re going to do one or the other.

So often, we go by how we feel in the circumstance. You don’t get it. I was really down. I’m just giving myself a pep talk when we should be resting in the Bible. And we should have places we go. We should have an arsenal of songs that are in our cars, our vehicles, when my spirit is here and I need to be here, but I ain’t there. There ought to be songs that you have that you can put in that will get you back to the protection that you need. Something to change that thinking. Because if you just continue on in your rant and your rave, you’re gonna go into prison. Maybe not that day, but you’re going to be putting another brick on another brick on another brick on another brick. And if you do that your whole life, you’re going to be in quite a prison.

In this world, whether you realize it or not, there is a huge battle that’s being waged for your mind. It’s at war right now. It’s full blown. And in a world that’s been deceived, those who tell the truth are considered radical rebels. Revolutionaries. We used to just be normal. A biblical pattern of thinking is vital because we literally become what we think about. “As a man, thinketh in his heart, so is he.” You want to be a lawyer? Start having lawyer thoughts. You want to be a doctor? Start having doctor thoughts. We become what we think about. You want to be depressed? Start having depression thoughts. Let them sew them all together and you will become what you think about.

The walls of Jericho weren’t built immediately. Strongholds don’t appear overnight. It first starts with a wrong thought. And then the Holy Spirit convicts you. Then you have two choices: Run to the stronghold of the truth of the word of God and take captive the thought. Or, you run to the stronghold of wrong thinking and you let it linger. And you dwell on that thought. I’m unhappy. I’m miserable. I’m angry. Whatever it is that’s wrong thinking is wrong thinking. And we’re not supposed to let it linger.  The stronghold you choose will either protect you from danger or isolate you from the truth. And it is completely your choice.

Let’s look at a stronghold that seems to be engulfing our world right now. It’s the stronghold of being unhappy. Behind the mask, there’s not a smile. And I believe if we weren’t wearing masks right now, we would see all the frowns that are out there. The heavy hearts, the oppression. There’s a stronghold of being unhappy.  I’ve heard people say, “God never promised that you’d be happy, but he did promise you, joy.”  And yeah,  that’s true. I I’ve heard people describe joy that way, and there’s some truth in that, but actually, not really. There’s not a lot of truth in that. I’ve heard Joy described like it’s a buoy in the bay. It’s affected by the winds, and the current It blows this way. It blows that way, it bounces up and down, back and forth. That’s called happiness. It comes and it goes. But under the surface serves the anchor that reaches to the bottom, and it never changes position. That’s joy and its enduring.

Yeah, that sounds that sounds good. But the truth is, the Bible says we can be happy and then why aren’t we?  we have periods of not being happy from time to time. But why is this world is so unhappy?

You know the word blessed in the Bible. He tells us how we can have happy, and how we could be happy, and how to get it.  every time you see the word “blessed,” He’s saying happy.  “Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are they which which hunger and thirst after righteousness.” If you want to be happy, do these things, Psalm one says: Blessed is the man and a happy man that avoids three things: Walking in the council of the ungodly, standing in the way of sinners, and sitting in the seat of the scornful. And because in doing that you’re gonna sow faulty thinking into a long imagination till you finally go from a walk to a stand to a sit, and you now have that stronghold opinion, he says.

You want to be happy? You have to get away from those three things. “But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law does he meditate day and night.” One is a formula for a prison stronghold in the other. One is a formula for protection stronghold, and it’s either prison or protection. Where do you run?

Despite all the teaching on how to be happy, there’s so many Christians that are unhappy, going through tough times. And I understand going through tough times. We’re all going through tough times.  Maybe you include yourself in that category, but you’re looking for joy and you can’t seem to find it. Perhaps you convince yourself through your negative self-talk that you’re not supposed to have it, and that’s wrong. God wants every Christian to be happy and it don’t matter who’s in the white house? That doesn’t have anything to do with whether or not you’re happy.  God wants you—every Christian to be happy,

So how do you defeat that stronghold of unhappiness? You go to the heart of the matter. At the heart of unhappiness is often depression. Way before a doctor ever prescribed a pill, the Bible addresses depression in Psalm 77:4. It says, “Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.” Depression. Depression is a meditation problem. Depression affects us emotionally. Depression affects us physically. It’s a downward pattern of thinking, and it leads to a stronghold of no hope.

But in the book of Psalms, we see David, a great man of God, going into depression and coming out of depression. And that should give us hope. So, at the heart of unhappiness, there’s depression, a wrong pattern of thinking. At the heart of unhappiness, there’s a disillusionment.

Maybe somebody in authority let you down. So now you wonder. Is anyone real? Is any of it real? Was the election real?  If I commit a crime, I go to jail, but when they commit crimes, they’re promoted and get a book deal. Are their lawyers really that good?  Did they create and release COVID on purpose? Can we trust anyone anymore? Anything anymore? When you’ve been hurt, you get suspicious of others. And as a result of that lack of trust, it breeds unhappiness, especially if you’ve been hurt by a leader.

But to answer the question. Is anybody real? Yeah. There’s a lot of real people out there, and nobody is perfect. We’re all sinners. But there’s a lot of sincere people out there, and I hope God surrounds you with them.

But don’t forget that we need to look to Jesus, not our disillusionment. One sends us to prison. One gives us protection. At the heart of unhappiness, there’s discouragement. Remember Jonah after he went through Whale University? Nineveh repented, and Jonah through a huge pity party. Unchecked discouragement leads to unhappiness.  A prison stronghold? Yeah. All bad thinking.

Remember, David and Ziklag after the battle. You know their town. They were away at the battle, and their town was raided and their wives and children and possessions were stolen. David handled things. Though he was feeling the grief and the people talked to stoning him, he encouraged himself in the Lord. He didn’t let his circumstances and grief defeat him. He encouraged himself in the Lord, and so can we. He went to a stronghold. He went to a stronghold of protection.

At the heart of unhappiness, there’s the seeds of depression, disillusionment and discouragement. And that is what our country is feeling right now. Man, it’s going to be like really, really big depression for four years. Really? Disillusionment, discouragement. And the media is there to sew it all together, to give us plenty of thoughts. Let me tell you this. Let me tell you that pattern of thinking, that recurring pattern of thinking starts getting into us. Good Christians, it’s working on us and brick by brick Satan is going, “I’m gonna have me a batch of unhappy people, unhappy light bearers, unhappy Christians.” And just thought by thought, you linger on that thought by thought. You meditate on that, and it’s getting sewn together, and it’s coming at us all different ways, and it’s just building and building and building. And we’re ending up—I don’t know why it’s just so hard to be happy in the Christian life. Hey, it’s not a laughing matter. It’s a prison. It’s a prison. All humans are gonna be unhappy from time to time at some point. The problem is when we let unhappiness become our day-to-day battle. I was unhappy yesterday, and I’m unhappy today, and I think I’m just gonna if anybody says anything to me, I’ll be unhappy again. And I’m just gonna let it roll on into tomorrow and the next day and the next day. That’s a problem. We’re handing Satan a building permit, and he’s taking that every day, building a stronghold, a prison for you. And he’s so subtle about it.

The stronghold of unhappiness is, um, abiding and dissatisfaction with circumstances of your life. Hey, it’s one thing to be dissatisfied with the circumstance in your life. It’s another thing to abide in that day after day after day after day. Strongholds develop when we think about the abundant life being limited. So, when things are good, God is good. Well, praise God. But when life gets tough, we think somehow God doesn’t care. God always gives us what’s best, and we just don’t understand His purposes and His things, and His purpose for things.

But no matter what we can be sure one thing is that He will never hurt you. He will never hurt you. He loves you. He died for you. He spilled his blood for you. And something may be happening. Something right now that that’s breaking your heart. But it’s not to hurt you. We don’t really understand what He’s doing, but He knows what’s going on. It’s all part of His plan.

I’m not a scholar of history, but before the King James Bible came out, in England, there was a Catholic king in oppression and then a Protestant king, and then a Catholic king and Protestant king. And they kept switching back and forth, back and forth. And you know what that was doing? That was waking people up. There’ll be a king that would let the Bible free, put one in the church and appoint a reader so the people can hear it, and they were getting truth. And then there’ll be a king step in and take it all away. Restrict and oppress. You know what that did? Produced converts. Having something being taken away, appreciating it, having something being taken away, appreciating it. Our church building, all those years having it taken away, people appreciating. God knows what he’s doing. We don’t know what he’s doing.

An old story. There was an old farmer. He had a horse that ran away. His neighbors came. “Hey, man, I’m sorry to hear about your horse running away, and he says, I don’t know. I don’t know. It might not be such a bad thing.” A week later, the horse came back and brought her two horses with her. The neighbors come back. “Hey, I heard you got your horse back. That’s awesome.” And he goes, “Yeah, I don’t know, that might not be such a good thing.” And then his son started to break those horses, and he got thrown and he broke his arm. Neighbors come by. “Hey, I’m sorry to hear about your son.” He goes, “Yeah,  that might not be such a bad thing.” The war broke out, and all the able bodied men were drafted. This son didn’t have to go. See? My point is this: we don’t know what’s going on. Things may not be so bad. Things may not be so good. Truth is, we don’t know.

We’re looking at the bottom of a tapestry. It’s just a bunch of string and knots, and I don’t know why half this stuff is going on. I don’t see how God you know could allow it. Okay, but if we’ll follow Him, He’s gonna flip it over on us one day, and we’re gonna see that all of it was woven into something mind-blowing and beautiful. And He knew exactly what he was doing. He didn’t waste a tear. He didn’t pull anybody out of the game or put anybody into the game that He did not plan. And he would never hold anything good from us. And he never will. We have Romans 8 28. “All things work together for good to them that love God to them that are called according to his purpose.” But if we start attaching our happiness to our circumstances eventually we’re gonna have a hard time enjoying anything. Even the good things.

Remember wicked Haman? The king honored him above everybody else. He had riches. He had power. He had an Apple watch. He had prestige.  He was living the dream by most people’s standards. But he was unhappy. Why? That Mordecai. Every time on the way to work, he focused on one circumstance that wouldn’t bow in his life. We may not take it to that same extreme as Haman, but  it’s very easy to become trapped in prison. Negative thinking. It’s a nice sunny day today. Yeah, but there’s 20% chance of rain. And if we spend our day worrying about the rain that might fall, we’re sure to miss the sunshine that did fall.

A stronghold of unhappiness carries with it a feeling that God and others are not treating you the way you deserve. That’s one of the devil’s oldest attacks on mankind. It goes all the way back to the Garden. Eve ate the fruit because she was convinced that God was not treating them holding back, not treating them the way that they should. Maybe you feel like God’s holding back on you something—more money, possessions, attention. I don’t know. But God never cheats his kids, ever. He knows what’s best for us.

A stronghold of unhappiness comes when we start doubting God’s goodness in our life. God is good all the time. So where do you run when the hard times come? Prison or protection?

Sometimes we think the Bible heroes never had struggles, that they never struggled with the types of temptations that we have to face, but that’s just not the truth. Elijah suffered depression. David was anointed king, but hunted like a dog daily. And he faced all kinds of circumstances. Look at his thoughts. Psalm 13: “How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? 2. How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? 3. Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death; 4. Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; And those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.”

That’s all the makings of a prison stronghold right there. Suicidal thoughts. Okay, but it didn’t end there. 5. “But I have trusted in thy mercy; My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. 6. I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.”

You know they say there’s all these stages to grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, blah, blah, blah. But we’re not supposed to stifle the way that we feel or fake it. David didn’t. He expressed how he felt. And it’s not wrong to tell God how you feel. The key to is to not allow a stronghold to form. And the way you do that is don’t let your thinking stick in any particular stage. It’s okay to let it out. Don’t fake it. But don’t stay stuck there or it’s gonna build. You’re gonna find yourself very unhappy one day, because day after day, if you’re wrestling with that unhappiness, you’re just building a prison. God can always get you out.

The most effective weapon, the most effective weapon you know against any stronghold is the Bible. Psalm 139:17–18 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! [18] If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: When I awake, I am still with thee.

I don’t know about you. I don’t pretend to understand what you’re walking through right now. I don’t know. I don’t know how God is going to make it work together for your good. I don’t know how COVID is affecting you. I don’t know how your life has changed. But I do know He has promised to work things for your good if you’ll let him. God is always there, and He’s always in control. And He’ll always take care of you. Can I encourage you to look to Him when you start having recurring thoughts and you sense they’re not right? You need to express them. But you need to get out of that channel.

Don’t let the devil start sewing them together, because it starts as a toehold. It’s easy. I’d like to stop thinking about this anytime I want. Yeah. Then it becomes more reoccurring when he gets enough of them sewn together, becomes a foothold. Then it becomes a stronghold. Then it becomes a stranglehold.  The battle is raging all around us. There’s POWs everywhere. Unhappy imprisoned Christians are not going to reach this world. We’re not gonna do what we ought to do if we’re in a prison.

So, what’s it gonna be for you? Stronghold or strong tower? It’s gonna be prison or protection. Just like the walls of Jericho came crumbling down, so the devil’s strongholds, when we use the weapons God has given us, will come crumbling down as well.

Let’s pray. Maybe you’re here tonight or you’re listening online, and you can say, “I’ve run to that stronghold of protection. The protection of the red shed, Blood of Jesus. My eternity is safe and secure in the hands of God right now. And I know that I am protected.” Maybe you’re here tonight and you’re listening online, and you feel like you’re in a prison of fear and insecurity about eternity. When the subject comes up, you don’t know if you died today that you would go to Heaven. You hope for the best but just can’t seem to overcome your fear for the worst. Only Jesus can let you out of that prison.

Nehemiah chapter 3. A little of the background: Here we have started a series on what we call Building and Rebuilding. Building and rebuilding. And that’s what God does in people's lives.

I've often said God builds the youth and he rebuilds the adults. And so, while people are young and Moldable of times, he builds their life. But somehow, if we get off track and it's kind of all messed up, he says, I can rebuild life. It's interesting. The job that Jesus chose while he was on earth was not a shepherd. It was not a potter. It was a carpenter. And carpenters, of course, are builders.

Listen to this verse. Before we read the passage, the Bible says, “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.” So, what is He saying there? He’s saying that you can have all the plans, read all the books on building a great marriage and great kids and great ministries, but except the Lord gets into that thing, it’s all in vain. You can have all the plans you want, but God has to be the One that gets into it and helps build.

Here’s another one in Proverbs 14:1. It says, “A wise woman builds her house.” So, it’s talking about a wise woman is building her husband—builds him up, builds the children up. And it says, “But a foolish woman plucketh it down with her hands.” Plucking it, of course, is a little bit at a time. If you’re an old-timer, a cruel old-timer who eats animals and kill chickens and…anyways. When someone used to pluck chickens when they were gonna fry them up on the farm, it was a little bit at a time. So, He’s saying, Sometimes we don’t even see it when we’re plucking someone down and putting them down. Words do that. Our words build or they pluck our attitude. Sometimes, they build or they pluck. The attitude of the church will help build a church or pluck it down, and an attitude of a mate and so forth. This is what it’s about.

So, here’s Nehemiah. He is he is living in in this place called Shushan, or Persia. He’s 600 miles from where God's temple used to be in Jerusalem. Here’s the story in Chapter 1: the walls had fallen down now.

What does that mean for us? The walls had fallen down. No one ever moved into a city when the walls had fallen down. It meant there was no protection. If the walls were not there, no one would move into the city. There was no safety. It would be like moving into Oakland, California, when they’ve shut down the police force. No, sheriff, there’s no law and order. Very few would say, “What a great town to move into!” Uh…we want safety. We want to know that we’re safe at night. You don't want to have to hire armed guards like some people do, and some of the third world countries do.

So, God put it on Nehemiah’s heart to move back to Jerusalem and get the wall built. The temple had been built. They were ready to have worship. Ezra had come back. He had brought the Word of God to help teach the people. But no wall. It’s been knocked down through wars and battles. It’s just sitting there, grass growing up. It’s been there for decades, and there’s no wall. Somehow, Nehemiah feels led to go back and build this wall.

So, with that in mind, let’s look at some highlights in Chapter 3 that will draw some practical conclusions. And I think it would be a big help to us tonight.

You say, Pastor, I still don’t get it. Why are these walls important? These walls also represent a spiritual warfare, and the Bible says that we need a hedge around us in the book of job. It talks about Satan trying to attack Job the great Christian. And [Satan] said, I can’t get to Job because God, You put a hedge or a wall around him. You know what praying for people does. It helps put a hedge of protection around them. And you know what? Preaching and teaching the Word of God—it helps put some walls around people.

You say, “Well, how is this important?” You’ll see right here. Well, let’s just look here. Nehemiah gets to town. And if you have a Bible, you can look at it. If not, I’ll read some of it. Look at verse 1: “Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it…” Verse 2: “And next unto him builded the men of Jericho…”

Interesting. They didn't even live there. But they came from out of town to help build the wall. Isn’t that interesting. Keep going here. “Next unto him builded…” You keep seeing this word. They builded, they builded.

Verse 3: “But the fish gate did the sons of Hassenaah build…” Who in the world is that? Build verse 4, “Next to him….” Now it shifts the word to “repaired.” It says, repaired Meremoth the son of Urijah, the son of Koz. And next unto them repaired Meshullam…” Last phrase: “And next unto them repaired Zadok…” And now you just keep hearing the same thing all throughout. The whole chapter says, “Next to him repaired, next to him repaired…” And so, what's going on here?

God is saying He’s very interested in building and repairing lives, not destroying lives. Sin destroys. Sometimes, the wrong friends destroy, but as Christians we are to be building lives, building people up, encouraging them, saying things like, “God can use you,” and, “God can use you again,” and “It’s not over,” and, “God still has a plan for your life.” It may just be pieces, and that’s all you see. But God says, “No, that still fits in the wall somewhere, and I can still use that somewhere here.”

Satan tells us it's all over, life’s not worth living. God looks down and says, “Man, you got the best years of your life ahead. Man, I can still use you. You’re not done with life.” And so you have these differences here. And so, we keep seeing this word “builded next to.” “builded next to.”

Look down here in verse 5: “And next unto them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord.” We’ll get back to that in a moment. Then skip down to verse 14. “But the dung gate repaired…”

Just try to imagine for a moment. So here we are in a city the size of Napa, and we’ve got all these walls that have fallen down. There’s big boulders, and they’re square pieces of quarried stone just all over. And we’re thinking, where do we want to build? They're building walls. Then, they're building gates. There’s certain gates to enter into. One gate was the fish gate, where they bring all the produce that was caught in the sea to sell. There was another gate. It was called the dung gate, and somehow the sewer system was right there. But someone had to build it. Someone had to build that gate. It wasn’t very appealing. “Where are you working?” “The fish gate.” “Where are you working?” “The sheep gate.” “Where do you work?” “In the sewer ditch gate.” But someone had to do that.

You know, sometimes there’s gonna be some jobs in a marriage and in a home that’s not real appealing. “What do you want to do the rest of your life?” “I want to change 10,000 diapers. That’s what I want to do.” I guess someone can Google it: How many diapers are changed per kid? No one looks forward to that, but it’s just kind of a part of it. Some things are messy.

Some things are not easy in a relationship, and a marriage, and child rearing, and ministry. But someone'’ got to have a vision to build that. And then we see a little further down here. Notice over here looking into verse 28: “From above the horse gate repaired the priests…” Notice this: “every one over against his house.”

So, they’re building the wall. They’re putting up gates. They’re putting up bars. They’re building pieces, the Bible says. And then it says some of them are actually rounding the corner. It just looks like a long, long task. But finally they get around the corner—and let me just encourage you right now: some of you have been building something a long time. You’ve been building a marriage a long time. You’ve been building your children a long time. You’ve been trying to rebuild your life for a long time, and it looks like I’ll never get done with this thing—Hey, you’re about to around the corner! You’re just about around the corner. You’re about done with that wall. Just kind of hang on a little while. And that’s the common word we even use today.

Well, let me just give you some practical thoughts here. Just three thoughts. Number 1, we see the workmen in Chapter 3:1: “…Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded…” So, who was this high priest fellow? Nehemiah was the one that would oversee the building, but the high priest was the highest Jewish office that anyone could have. We talked about it in the tent—we talked about on the Day of Atonement. He would offer the blood and go into the Holy of Holies place. No one was higher than him. And guess who the first person they mentioned starts building the wall? The high priest, the high priest.

Now what's that mean to us workmen? It always starts with leadership. There’s got to be a leader. I’ve counseled people before I've done marriage counseling where he said this and she said this. And there’s just this big argument. One time a lady was so loud you could hear her across the street. The neighbors heard her in my office across the street, and I just kinda ended up saying something like, “Okay, stop time out!” It’s bad when you call time out. I said, “Who’s the leader of this family? Just tell me and we’ll work from there.” You know, a man never likes to hear the question, “Who’s the leader, and we'll just kind of work from there.” Is it the husband? Is that the wife who leads us home? Is it the children? Is it the teenagers who run the home? They get what they want. You know, there’s got to be leadership. And leadership never deals with IQ or gender. There’s just got to be a leader in the home.

And so right here it says this guy Eliashib—he said, “Okay, I’m the high priest. I’m getting involved in this right away.” And guess what? They built the sheep gate. I wonder why they built the sheep gate first. Because those sheep will be offered for the sacrifices, the atoning sheep that would shed their blood. We’re gonna come through that wall first. And that’s where God deals with us. Salvation starts as we receive Christ as Savior. Then we’ve got a life worth building.

I was talking to Brother Bob tonight, our new man brother Bob Stevenson. He is cutting up. He said, “Pastor. So, I got saved this week. I got baptized this morning. Now I never have to come back to church, right?” I said, “That’s how some people think.”

So here I was, I met a pastor in town years ago. I don’t even remember his name. But he came to me. I’d been here just a few weeks, and he walked over to the church and he said, “So do you all do that thing? Soul winning? I mean, do you all, like, go out and pass out gospel tracts and tell people how to get saved?” I said, “Actually, we do.” He said, “How is that working?” I said, “We work at it all the time. We announce it. I go out a lot. We work at it.” Here’s what he said: He said, “We tried that once.” He said, “I announced to the church, ‘Whoever wants to tell people about Jesus, meet Tuesday night and we'll go.’” He said, “No one showed up,” and then he said this remarkable leadership trait: “If they're not going to do it, I'm not going to do it.” And in my heart, I felt like saying, “What a leader!” Hey, that’s why you're there to lead. They need a leader. It’s got to be someone lead—lead the home, lead the company, lead the wife, lead the children, lead a ministry. And so that’s where it starts. Rebuilding always starts when someone says, “All right, I'm supposed to take the lead. I’m not good at it, but I work at it and I’m gonna get busy about it.”

I still remember when my dad reentered the picture in our home. He had been missing so many years and just hardly ever home. It was tense when he was in the house. He’d walk in the room, and I want to walk out. I didn’t feel comfortable around him. I remember after he accepted Christ as his Savior, we were doing what all good Baptists do—we were watching, I think, Gilligan’s Island that afternoon on television. My dad walked in the room. He said, “Shut the TV off. We'’e gonna read the Bible.” And I remember we sat down. My dad played football and didn’t get a great education during the harvest season. Dad would miss school to pick watermelons, picked cotton, all that kind of stuff. So, he didn’t get a great education. And I remember he mispronounced a lot of the words in the Bible. I remember, we read that verse, “You can’t serve God and Mammon.” He said, “I wonder what that is?” I said, “Dad, that’s one of those dinosaurs with that long thing that looks like an elephant with those big tusks. And it talks about making friends with mammoths.” We’d see that and we never could figure that out. But you know what he did? He tried. He tried. And let me encourage you: You may have a leader in the home, and he may not be a refined leader, but just keep trying and let God encourage you as you encourage the leader. Don’t correct when they don’t say the right words. “Well, we missed family devotions again.” “Hey, we had it one time this week. Praise God!” Encourage the leader.

There was a chapel service. I was in Bible college years ago, and someone was going to have a ministry of preaching on the street corners in Chicago and in the ghetto neighborhoods where a lot of people just hung out—drug dealers, gang members, whoever they were. And late at night, there would be a whole bunch of people hanging out. And so, one of the students said, We’re going to set up a service and every Saturday night have people every 15 minutes stand on the corner and preach about Jesus. Well, #1: Most of those people are not really interested right there. #2: A lot of them are just passing through. #3 If they’re in a car, they don’t hear you. But do what you want to. I have preached on the street corner before. So anyway, he said, we need to sign people up. “We got 8:00 PM open, 8:15 open, 8:30 open. Who wants it?” And he’s pitching it from the pulpit. No, one's taking it. No one wants to preach on the street corner in Chicago, and the whole chapel service was kind of quiet. About that time, the president of the college sitting over here, Dr. Evans said, “I 8:00 PM open?” “Yes, sir.” “Then 8:00 PM,” he says, “Sign me up for 8:00 PM.” When the president said that, all over the chapel, “I’ll take 8:15, I’ll take 8:30, put me down for 8:45.” What happened? Because the leader said, “Plug me in. Let me build part of that wall.” It just takes a leader. You don’t have to know everything. But someone’s got to take the lead. Someone’s got to take the lead.

Leadership is not a title. It is not a position. It’s just something God puts in your heart. You’re gonna do something for God. And as you do it, pretty soon as you’re building, you look around and some other people are right there next to you helping you.

So, we see Leadership. And then #2, we see the Workmen. Now we see the Work. Notice all these texts: “Beside them, they repaired…” What does all this mean? Just some practical things here. Here it is. They repaired; they didn't destroy.

Let me encourage you. We live in a day where you can post, where you can text, where you can blog, and destroy anonymously. “Well, here’s what I think of so-and-so, here’s what I think of them. Here’s my thought. Here is this.” You know someone ought to get in the ministry of building and not just destroying. Let me encourage you on that.

Next, the work unifies and makes you close to people. It makes you close to people. Brother Chris, can you help me? Just for a second? So, he’s kind of doing his own thing. I’m kind of doing my own thing. Now, look, all of a sudden we get involved building the same wall. You know what that does? That kind of makes us close. You say, “Pastor, how do you get close to people?” Here It is. Work with them. It’s amazing: I am closer to people in our church than I am to my own brother. You know why? Because I’ve never liked him! No, no, no, no. Because we never do anything together. He lives in Louisiana; I live here. I’ve worked on projects with you. I’ve dug sewer ditches with Brother Schulte. I’ve built garages with Brother Fowler. I work here and there with so many of you. And pretty soon now we kind of feel close. How come work makes you close to people? It just does. Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you. Learn of me.” When you get yoked together with a yoke, it brings you close to another worker. It just does.

What is He saying about this wall that’s been built quickly? It silences the murmuring. When people are busy working, they’re not complaining. Idle people complain. And that’s why in our nation, a lot of people who are idle and have nothing to do have mischief to get into. Get people busy. Get your kids busy. Give your teenagers jobs to do. Let them do chores. (Tomorrow is a holiday. I understand!) Everyone needs a break, but it ought not be 14 hours of television. And it ought not be 12 hours of video games. Give them something according to their interest. It said that they built the wall. It said “everyone over against his house” (verse 28). What's that mean? Okay, now you think for a second if your house is right here and the wall is falling down, where are you most interested that the wall be built? Here’s your little family living right here in this house. The walls knocked down, enemies can come and capture and kill your family. Where do you think you want the wall built first? I’ll tell you right in front of your house. So, in ministry and in the family, God is saying this: start where your interests are. Start building.

You say, Pastor, I’m a new Christian. Here’s Bob and Lisa just getting involved here. So, where do we get involved? Get involved where your interest is and where your heart is. What do you mean by that? Wally BB—he was a drunkard, ended up living on the streets, an alcoholic, if you will—He ended up accepting Christ as his Savior. Guess what ministry he started and made it worldwide? The bus ministry. Because that was his heart. Jim Vineyard had a little child pass away who had a tonsillectomy and died on the operating table. Guess what he had a heart for? Children. It was Lee Robertson—his daughter, Joy, passed away. He had a heart for young Children. He started a free church camp named “Camp Joy” in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It’s where his heart was.

Okay, let’s bring it down a little bit here. So here is Brother Berto, who got saved out of a life of drugs. Many of you dealt drugs to him. That's how he got on it. And I don't know if you did or not, but he came out of that lifestyle. Guess why he’s interested in reaching the addicted? Because that’s the wall right in front of him. That’s his interest. And that’s what he's been involved in. You speak a foreign language like Spanish? Build that wall. Help reach those that speak Spanish. You speak to Tagalog or Cebuano or one of the Filipino dialects? Reach those people because I can’t speak that language.

So, we see the Workmen, we see the Work according to their interest. And then quickly here, God used just Ordinary People. You know, you can read all the names you want to in Chapter 3: I don't recognize one of these names! I don't recognize any. None of them are famous. None of them wrote books of the Bible. None of them are prophets. They’re just ordinary people. Guess who God uses to build walls? Just ordinary people. God said in the book of 1 Corinthians, “Not many mighty, not many noble are called”… so that God would receive all the glory. You know, there’s some good-looking Christians. I mean, there’s some very handsome men that are Christians. There’s not many of us! And then there’s some beautiful, beautiful movie star-looking women that are Christians. But how come somehow, God’s put most people kind of in-between? They’re not ugly as dirt. They’re not beauty queens. There's just kinda in-between. God uses ordinary people. How come? So that someone looks and says, “How in the world are they doing this great work? And then they pause and say, ‘It must be God. It must be God.’”

You say, “Well, Pastor, how do you know what you’re good at?” You just get busy building. And pretty soon you’ll find out what you're good at. D. L. Moody started a college. They ended up calling it the Moody Institute. D. L. Moody had an eighth-grade education, but he was a go-getter, a soul winner. He had 1,000 children in Sunday School when he was just a young man, age 28, just a dynamic worker. He said, “You enroll in my Christian college, and in six months you’ll know what you’re good at—whether it’s outside services, or visiting the sick, or hospital visiting, or visiting the dying, or door-to-door.” He said, “Give it six months and you'll know what you’re good at.” So how do you know? You just get busy serving the Lord and pretty soon you’re gonna say, “Boy, I really like doing this. I really like doing this.” I’ve had people say, Pastor, I’ll pay you not to have me teach a class. I mean, I will do anything but not teach a class.” Okay. If you’re not good at that, do something else. There’s something you can do on the wall. Set up the timber. Put up the post. Put up the wall. Repair. Build. Do some of the pieces. Rebuild. There’s something along the line that you can do.

What else? We cannot be a noble. The Bible says in verse 5:35 “…but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord.” Pastor, what is a noble? A noble is someone that is too good to do the work. That’s the noble.

We had a couple came here years ago. They wanted to make an appointment. And they said, “Pastor, you know we’ve been in a lot of churches” (and they’re trying to tell me where they fit) And they said, “We’re real good at making decisions.” I said, “What?” “We’re real good at making the decisions.” In other words, we’re not gonna do any of the work, but we’re real good at telling the people what to do.” I said, “You know, we have plenty of those right now. We have plenty of those.” What’s that called? A noble?. That’s the one too good to tie the little child’s shoe that’s about to trip them. That’s the one too good to let an elderly person lean on you and help them into their car. That’s the one too good when there’s trash thrown on the ground to lean over and pick it up. Too good to do the little things that are not in the spotlight.

I think it was Jesus that touched the lepers, and He's the one that anointed those who were blind and healed them. He’s the one that took a little lad’s lunch and made him famous. It’s the little things that make people notice the big things.

And then I’m done with this: So, first we’ve seen the Workmen. Second, we have seen the Work. And then last I want to talk just a little bit about the Wise. The wise. So, what are you talking about here? There's gonna come a time when the energy is a little bit less, and you might say, “Pastor, I don't know if I can build the wall anymore. I've been building the wall for so many years now. I can’t even find the bricks anymore!” And some of you are starting to get there a little bit. Some of your best years were spent. Man, you poured your heart into a bus route. You poured your heart into a class and you taught 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years. And now you do good to make it from the car to the pew to the restroom and back to the car and home. And then you’re worn out. You know there’s gonna come times like that. So what’s that mean? You’re unneeded? No, that means you do different building. You do different building. How do you do that? You take your knowledge and your wisdom God has given you through your lifetime, and you share it with others. And you use your words to encourage and build them up. By just the words, “Come here. Come here. Come here. I've been noticing you.” “You have? I'm sorry. What have I been doing?” “You’re doing great. I’ve seen you with your kids. You’re doing a great job. I’m so proud of you. Just keep it.” You know, sometimes just a few words to a weary person and thatss all they need. And so you can still build people.

I got a letter years ago from the famous preacher, Leonard Ravenhill. He wrote a famous book called Why Revival Tarries. Ancient. Real old. I wrote him a letter when he was living down in Lynnewood, Texas. I just wrote and said, “Thank you so much for the book.” I wrote, “I don’t even know if you’ll get this letter.” He wrote me back by hand, and on the envelope it said, “Are the things you’re living for worth Jesus dying for?” I've never forgotten that. Just about two lines. I’ve still got that letter somewhere. What did he do in his older years? He said I can’t build the church. I can’t hold a tent revival. Can’t hold a crusade. But there’s some young ministers out there I can encourage and I can help, and I can assist just with words. Maybe that’s why the Bible says, “And you older women teach the younger women.” When we finally have some sense, share it. It is strange—when we’re young, we don’t have any sense. When we get older, we finally figured it out. That’s when you need kids. People ought to start having kids when they’re 60 and 70…but then you don’t have energy to raise them. I wish we could get the best of both worlds.

Anybody know the name, (and I'm coming down to the conclusion here) Author Stace Not out of space author States How about Australia? Sydney. He was a guy that could not read or write. He was not really bright, did not have any schooling. He received Jesus Christ as his Savior when he was an older man. He said, “I can’t preach and I can’t explain things real good. But I know one day we will each face God in eternity.” He took a yellow waterproof crayon and every day he would go out and on the sidewalks of Sydney, Australia and he’d write the word “eternity.” Eternity. They believe he wrote it 500,000 times in 37 years. He never preached. He never taught a Sunday school lesson. He just wrote “eternity.” Someone said, “Why are you doing that?” Mr. Stacey says. “It’s the least I could do. Someone’s going to read it and think, ‘Where am I spending eternity?’” He did what he could. He didn’t fill a whole wall by himself. But he did fill a piece. He did something.

You say, “Well, Pastor, what about Jesus and walls? Where does all that fit in?” Well, He said, “In my father’s house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you.” For 2,000 years, Jesus has been building the city of Heaven. Guess what is around the city of Heaven? Walls. Walls. And so, He’s building the walls as well. Maybe you’re here tonight, and maybe you’ve kind of set down the trowel and kind of stopped building. Start building right in front of you. Start building what interests you—your family, your relationships, your walk with the Lord. Let’s get that built. And once ours is built, run down the wall and help someone build there’s and encourage them as they build it. You’ll be glad that you did

Father. Would you bless now this time that we have. Thank you for the Bible and for this little story.