These walls will fall 1/4

• Illustration/Story: Have you ever gone rock climbing? No I’m not talking about the skinny rock wall at the fair that you harnessed in and worked your way up…I’m talking about real rock climbing. Rock climbing is difficult. Free soloing is a completely different story.

• The truth is, we all face walls in our lives. Yes, some people can climb them, but it takes preparation. Rock climbers prepare for anything and everything to get ready to take on the rock wall.

The same is true for metaphorical walls in our life. I’m talking about obstacles and barriers that we inevitably face in our lives. It’s imperative that we have a plan for what to do when we face circumstances or walls that seem impossible to get past.

• Tension Question: What’s your plan for overcoming the walls you encounter in your life? Over the next few weeks, we’re going to be unpacking Scripture about a group of people who encountered an impossible wall, and I believe their experience will teach us how to surmount the walls in our own lives. The first key element we’re going to unpack is faith.

Hebrews 11:6 KJV 1900

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

it’s impossible to please God without faith! Faith is an essential element in our lives and walk with God.

Joshua 6:1–5 KJV 1900

Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in. And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour. And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. 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. 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.

the Israelites, God’s chosen people, got a promise from God that they would enter the Promised Land, and here they are ready to claim it. There’s one problem. The walls around the land, Jericho, are high. How are they supposed to take hold of everything God promised them if they can’t get past the walls?

• God gave the Israelites an unconventional plan to see the walls come down, and in faith, they believed what God said and they did what He said.

• Sometimes, God gives instructions about how to approach the walls in our lives that don’t make sense. The question isn’t whether or not it makes sense, the question is do we trust God enough to put our faith in His ways?

• Bottom Line: When you walk in faith, you will see the walls in your life fall.

How do we apply this in our lives? Proverbs 3:5-6

Proverbs 3:5–6 KJV 1900

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; And lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he shall direct thy paths.

Faith is leaning on God’s understanding, even when it doesn’t make sense to you. Scripture promises that our path will be straight when we put our faith in God.

• In the Israelites’ case, they put their faith in God, even when His plan didn’t make sense and the walls they encountered fell to the ground.

• Story: Share about a time you had to put your faith in God even when you felt like what He was saying didn’t make sense.

• What does your life look like? Are you leaning on God’s understanding or your own?

• Application: Lean on God’s understanding, rather than your own!

• Altar moment: Tonight, place your faith in God and His ways — even if His ways don’t make sense to you. When you walk in faith, God worries about the rest. He is the One who brings the impossible walls down in our lives, we just need to keep our faith high and placed in Him. He will never leave or forsake us!