And the Walls Came Tumbling Downs Joshua fit the battle of Jericho Jericho Jericho; Joshua fit the battle of Jericho And the walls came tumbling down. Do a Google search on “the walls came tumbling down” and you get everything from Martin Luther King and the fall of racial barriers, the Berlin Wall and the fall of communism, Madonna dumping the Record Industry for a 120 Million dollar deal with Live Nation, to the song by Def Leppard. Evidently God doesn’t know how to make His miracles pop up first in the Google search engine. Make No Mistake About it, GOD IS IN THE DEMOLITION BUSINESS. WHEN YOU NEEDS WALLS AND STRONGHOLDS TORN DOWN, CALL 1-800-WALLFALL Jericho was a massive walled city for 1400 BC. Considered impenetrable, unsiegeable. They had a spring inside the walls for water. They had just completed the barley harvest so food was plentiful. Joshua 6:1 says the city was shut up inside and outside. They were anticipating a long siege. The Lord says something astounding to Joshua in verse 2: “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor.” The Walls had already come tumblinbg down in the mind of God! Joshua couldn’t see it! That is Faith-seeing the invisible, seeing the impossible GOD CHALLENGES US TO BELIEVE THE IMPOSSIBLE! In order to Claim our Inheritance and Rest in God, we have to tear down Walled Strongholds ¿ Have you ever looked at something in your life and wondered how you were going to get through it? ¿ Have you ever encountered a wall in a relationship, in your family, at work, in church, in life? Walls are Strongholds. WALLS CAN STOP US. Job 19:8 (ESV) He has walled up my way, so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness upon my paths. Numbers 22:24-26 (ESV) Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam’s foot against the wall. So he struck her again. Then the angel of the Lord went ahead and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. WALLS CAN HURT US 1 Samuel 18:10-11 (ESV) The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand. And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David evaded him twice. WALLS CAN SHAME US 1 Samuel 31:8-10 (ESV) The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. So they cut off his head and stripped off his armor and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines, to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people. They put his armor in the temple of Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. WALLS CAN LEAD US TO SIN 2 Kings 3:27 (ESV) Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel. And they withdrew from him and returned to their own land. WALLS CAN HIDE SIN & ABOMINATIONS Ezekiel 8:7-13 (ESV) And he brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, there was a hole in the wall. Then he said to me, “Son of man, dig in the wall.” So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance. And he said to me, “Go in, and see the vile abominations that they are committing here.” So I went in and saw. And there, engraved on the wall all around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. And before them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and the smoke of the cloud of incense went up. Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’ ” He said also to me, “You will see still greater abominations that they commit.” WALLS CAN LEAD TO IMPRISONMENT Lamentations 3:7 (ESV) He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy; WALLS CAN DESTROY FRIENDSHIPS & FAMILIES Proverbs 18:19 (NLT) An offended friend is harder to win back than a fortified city. Arguments separate friends like a gate locked with bars. We BUILD OUR OWN WALLS BY PRIDE Amos 6:8 (ESV) The Lord God has sworn by himself, declares the Lord, the God of hosts: “I abhor the pride of Jacob and hate his strongholds, and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.” REACTIONS TO WALLS & STRONGHOLDS: IGNORE OR WHITEWASH IT Ezekiel 13:10-16 (ESV) Precisely because they have misled my people, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a wall, these prophets smear it with whitewas