Joshua 6: 3-5.  [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.

Three things  we need to notice in these verses

 

Vs.3    “..ye shall compass the city..” 

            “go around about the city once”

            “thus shalt thou do six days”

vs.4    “the 7th day we shall compass the city 7 times”

vs.5    “and the wall of the city shall fall down flat”

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Question:  Have you stopped marching around your wall?

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Not every wall falls down the first day you march around it.

Not every baseball game is won in the 3rd inning

Not every basketball game is won in the 1st half

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Its at the end of the game, that the victory is obtained.

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Shocking news: The ground hog doesn’t always see his shadow on Feb 2nd.

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The flu is not conquered with one teaspoon of medicine.

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Not every prayer is answered after one prayer

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A lot of folks just quit too soon.

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It takes more than sporadic religion to get spiritual victories.

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Church attendance alone won’t get it done.

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Just paying your tithes won’t get it done.

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Just praying over your meals won’t get it done.

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After faithfully doing what they were suppose to do, once-everyday of the week, then on the 7th day, God moved and gave them the victory.

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Our world is built around the “drive thru” mind set of McDonalds.

 

They’ve got to have it now or its not worth waiting for.

 

Many fast food restaurants have clocks that start when you first speak into the drive thru speaker and start timing how long it takes for them to prepare your food and serve it to you.         

 

In that “mind-set” we can mistakenly start expecting God to do that in religion.

 

If we pray once on Monday and don’t get the answer by Wednesday, then we just do whatever our flesh wants to do.

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“that this race is not to the swift, but this race is to he that endureth to the end”

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Story of Gideon

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He had 32,000 men in his army and he asked who was afraid?

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22,000 left and went to their tents (10,000 left)

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God told Gideon, you got rid of the fearful but you still got some carnal ones

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Take them down to the water to drink.

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Those that get down and lap like a dog, we’re going to get rid of them.

 

Those that look around and drink water, take with you.  (He had 300 left)

 

      *From 32,000 faint hearts to 300 commandos

 

      *From 32,000  “give up too easy saints” to 300 “victorious” saints of God

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They got the Victory because they had the persistence and the will power to move on.

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Never give up, never settle for 2nd best, never quit too soon.

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We all have Jericho’s in our life.

 

Things that pressure us, that seem to “wall us in.”

 

If I fail to combine work and faith in tearing down that wall, it doesn’t budge.

 

If I go to that wall in faith alone, it doesn’t work.

 

But if I face my problems with Faith and Hard work, God always stands beside me.

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-you’ve got to keep walking and singing and shouting!!!

-you’ve got to keep on keeping on.

-you’ve got to remember to keep the main thing, the main thing!!!

 

Don’t loose sight of the goal at the end of the road just because the daily road gets a little tiresome.

 

Question: Are you still marching around your wall?

 

Is your mind made up to make it all the way, no matter what happens?

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I love what Rom. 8:28 says “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose”

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If we trust God, we may never have all the answers, but what I do know that God will bring some good out of all afflictions, trials, persecutions and suffering.

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God will give comfort during sleepless nights.

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God will see us thru whatever situation comes up against us.

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He’ll either knock that wall down flat or let us find strength to go thru it together.

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I Cor.10:13. "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

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Now is not to time to quit marching around your walls.

Now is not to time to live in unbelief.

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You won’t march around the wall for very long w/o faith.

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When you loose your faith, you’ll quit marching and you blame everyone for your problems. Its everyone else’s fault that your wall is still standing w/o faith!!

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As a pastor: I get blamed for things all the time that I had nothing to do with.

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When faith gets replaced by fear, people say and do things they don’t mean.

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But on the other hand, if you believe, you’ll keep marching until the walls come tumbling down.

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Had Paul and Silas stopped singing and praising God in a jail cell, they would have never gotten out of there.

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Had the woman with the issue of blood, stopped just one person too soon from touching the hem of Jesus garment, she’d never been healed.

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Had Noah would have stopped just one wooden plank from finishing the ark, it would have never floated.

Had Naaman had only dipped 6 times instead of 7 in muddy Jordan river, never been delivered.

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Had Zaccaues decided to stay on the ground instead of climbing up into the tree, Jesus would have never seen him and come to his house.

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Had Queen Esther stopped short of going into the throne room to plead for her people, they would have all died.

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Had Jesus given up in the Garden of Gethsemane and not went to Calvary, we would all be going to Hell today.

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What a shame to miss eternity with your loved ones just because you gave God everything but your mouth and your attitude.

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What walls are you marching around tonight?

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What problems are you dealing with that you need more strength to keep marching around?

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Don’t stop short of the victory that God intends for you to have!

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You may or may not get what you need in one trip to the altar, one prayer, one service but if you keep marching, keep serving God, keep advancing, eventually those walls will collapse.

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Are you still marching around your wall today?