Keep Marching
by Kevin Allen
September 3, 2023 · Centerpointe Apostolic Church (Murfreesboro, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Joshua 6:1-5, Numbers 32, Numbers 32:1, Judges 6, John 20:27, Romans 8:28, 1 Corinthians 10:13, Exodus 23:29-30

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/kevin-allen--keep-marching
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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Israel was enslaved in Egypt. You can make your way back to your seats. We're not given the reason why they were enslaved. We're just told in the story that somewhere along the way they became enslaved. They cried out to God, and God sent a deliverer to them. He showed up himself. He used Moses as his man on the scene, spoke through him, through mighty miracles, done things that only God could do, to bring them out of what had held them captive. He told them all along the way that he was bringing them out of Egypt that had them, and was given them a land that flowed with milk and honey. He was bringing them out to give them something. He wanted not only to be their God, but he wanted to bring them into something. As a principle there in the scriptures of God bringing you out and God bringing you in. God bringing you out, God bringing you in.

So I was praying about this week and felt really strong move of God's spirit. I had no idea who was going to be here today. Pastor, you know, there are some weekends you're just going to have lower attendance. Now, part of our lower attendance today may be the fact that I somehow miscommunicated on Wednesday night that I was going to be gone for a month. What I should have said is, this month I'm going on a trip, South Africa, but it's in a few weeks. But partly because it's a holiday weekend, people travel and we want to have a good time, to be on vacation.

Having said that, had such a strong move, and I felt very convicted to preach the word I'm going to preach today, not knowing who was going to be here. So this is what I do know: even though I didn't know who was going to be here, God knew who was going to be here today. So I'm just going to prepare myself, and I think it'd be good if you prepared yourself, that this word is for you. Sometimes we come into church and we'll look around and we're like, "I'm glad so-and-so was here because they needed to hear this word." Now, let's be honest, we do that. "I'm glad they were here because, man, Pastor God all over them." Well, how about we do this? How about from the start we just say that this word is for me? This word today is for me.

I want to preach for just a little while: Keep Marching. Keep marching. Joshua chapter 6, verse number one. Now, I told you this a little bit, and some may be not completely familiar with the story, but remember, Israel was enslaved. They cried out to God. God heard their cry, and he brought them out, and now he's bringing them into a land that was promised to them. There's been a lot of ups and downs, and I'm not going to get into all that today. Just know that it was a roller coaster ride, a lot of disobedience on their part, and a lot of God bringing back and trying to correct wrongs on their behalf. So we get to Joshua six and one, and they're going to head in now to their promised land. And listen to the words as God is speaking to them about what's about to take place, is they're going to go into and face their first fight, their first city that God said he's going to help them with. It says this in verse number one: "Now Jericho was straightly shut up because of the children of Israel." And what had happened is, rumor had got to Jericho that God was with them, and they were afraid. Now Jericho was a fortified city, walled city, so we're reading about their response. They were shut up. "None went out and none came in. And the Lord said unto Joshua, See" — listen to these words — "I have given into thine hand Jericho." Well, I love it when God says, "I give you something," because if God says he gives it to you, it's yours. It may take you a while to possess it, but if he said it, it's yours. So he said, "I've given unto thy hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor. And ye shall compass the city, all you men of war, and go around about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seventh trumpets of ram's horns. In the seventh day you shall come past the city seven times, and the priest shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass that when thou make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you 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."

Now, Jericho has been searched out, and there have been archaeological digs done there, and they have seen firsthand the remnants of the walls that are there. From best estimations, the walls were two separate walls. There was an outer wall and an inner wall, and there was a room between, but it encompassed around the entire bit of the city. From the best they can tell, these two walls — the outer wall was six feet thick, and the inner wall was 12 feet thick, and they were 15 feet apart and 30 feet tall. These walls were so big and so massive they actually spanned houses on top of them and bridged them over, like a carport style, so the chariots could go underneath and on the around about the top of the inner wall. The chariots could round on the top of the wall. That's how big these walls were: 30 feet tall walls, 15 feet wide in between, 12 foot on the inner, six feet on the outer. So now, that's a feat. In our day, if we walk up and seen that in our day, we would be intimidated. Today we would be like, "We need an M1 Abram tank and we can get through this thing. We get a grenade launcher and some mortar rounds, we can do that." They didn't have any of
 that stuff. What they had was a God who said, "I'm giving you the city." What they had was a God who said, "I've already proven to you that I can be trusted, that I am faithful to you." And even though you may stare at this wall and think to yourself, "I can't believe this is the first place we got to fight going into the land that's promised to us," God's telling them, "Just listen to me and be obedient to my word. I want you just to go around for six days straight, one time. I want everybody to march around that city. I don't want you to make a sound. I don't want you to do anything except for march one lap around and return back to your camp. Day one, day two, day three, four, five, and six. And on day seven, I want you to march around seven times, and I want the priest to be in the front, and I want them to get some horns, and at the end of that seventh trip around the city, I want there to be a long blast on the horns, and I want everybody to shout like you've never shouted before. And when you do, the walls will fall down flat."

Yeah, did you catch that? There's three things there: you need to go around the city; on the seventh day you do it seven times; and the walls are gonna fall flat. I just wonder if there's somebody maybe in this room today that you're still marching around your wall. Anybody in the room today, you still feel like you're marching around the wall? You've got a word from God. God's already told you he was going to do it. It hasn't happened yet. You've been marching and you're still marching around the world. Anybody in the room today still marching around the wall? Yeah, there's a lot of us they're still marching around the wall. Could it be that somebody here today has become discouraged and grown a little bit tired? I believe there's somebody here today needs to remember that God's word is true. His promises are true. God is not a liar. He cannot do that. He will always keep his word.

Not every wall falls down the first time you march around it, just like not every baseball game is one in the third inning, or every football game one in the first half. It's the end of the game where victory is obtained. Shocking news: the groundhog does not always see his shadow on February the second. Flu is not conquered with one teaspoon of medicine. Sometimes the headache doesn't go away when you take a little bit of Advil. It takes more than good intentions to get spiritual victories. It takes more than just praying through once in a great while to stay close to God. It takes more than just showing up at church and paying your tithes, or just praying over your meals. That's not going to get it done. But it takes a relationship with him each and every day, each and every day, each and every day. You got to get up and start marching around your wall one more time. Yeah, you're going to get tired. Yeah, I get tired. Sometimes I get discouraged. But he told me to march around the wall, and eventually my victory was guaranteed. And I'm here to tell somebody today: keep marching. Keep marching. If he told you the city is going to belong to you, he's going to keep his word. Keep marching around your problem.

I want you to notice — I think you got a real good recipe there for us to live our life. Six days you needed to have an encounter. Six days you needed to face the problem at least once every day. But on the seventh day, seven times. See how I view it this way: Monday through Friday, you need to have a relationship with God released once during that day. You're talking to him — not "God pray over my tacos," "my God now lay me down to sleep" kind of prayers. At least once a day you have a conversation with him, and maybe you go back out and you march one time at least around that problem that's there, at least one time every day. March around whatever problem is in your life. But when we come into the house of God on Sunday — oh, on this day, because the reason why we sing, there's a reason why we dance, there's a reason why we jump, because God has promised me a victory. It hasn't happened yet, but I got his word. He gave me his word. He's going to put Jericho in my hand, and the walls were going to fall down flat, and he's the covenant-keeping, promise-keeping God. Somebody needs to keep marching.

We live in this world of Instacart and the air fryer and the drive-through. I've seen a commercial the other day, some kind of great crazy machine, and everybody on there, to spokespeople, like, "This is the greatest machine ever. You just take this little card, you wave it in front of the machine, you stick these little boxes in there, out pops a delicious meal." I'm like, what is going wrong with us? I'm gonna be honest with you, I like good food, and what I have discovered in my life: most of the real good food doesn't cook fast. It takes time. I'm going to tell you what I like: the crock pot. Anybody else like a crock pot meal? Hey, anything about a crock pot is, you can't pull the crock pot in there and in 30 minutes you'll be eating. Usually it takes you 30 minutes to get the stuff ready to put in the crock pot. Then you got to put the lid on it. Then you're gonna you only have, in our crock pot, we have the base model; it has low, high, and warm, one knob. But man, after about eight or nine hours or that roast and potatoes and carrots been in there for a while, it is so good what comes out when you are patiently waiting.

Now, I'm going to be honest with you, I'm not a fan of fast food. I know they'd flies against a whole lot of people in here. I'm just not. I do enjoy going to the Lord's chicken shack, but my wife will tell you I'm not a patient person and I don't like that line. She convinces me that it's not that long. Still feels long to me. Now, I will say that I did get a little piece of Mana the other day with that honey fire pimento cheese chicken. who, the Lord where to work right there. Now, the problem is you can't taste that today, but tomorrow I would encourage you to go get that. I'm not getting any kickbacks on it, but I promise you it's worth your while if you like pimento cheese and honey and chicken.

Now, why am I bringing this up? I'm typically not a fan of fast food. In fact, I appreciate the restaurants that have the sign that says, "We do not prepare your food until you order it, but we promise you it's worth the wait." That excites me. That excites me. I like to know it's freshly prepared. Now, there was a time in my life when I was young. There was a time in my life when I didn't fully comprehend. There was a time in my life on my frontal lobe was not fully developed, and in such time I used to like the buffet experience. But the older I get, the more I realize that buffet experience is lacking, just because it seems like there's an abundance there and it's all that you can eat. Oftentimes it has sit there for quite a long time, and it's just not what it could be if it was fresh. Yo, everybody who's hungry now — hey man, Pastor Kevin, you've been talking for seven minutes about eating.

We got to be careful that we don't get into that microwave mindset in our relationship with God. "If I pray once on Monday and I don't get an answer by Wednesday, then I'm just going to do whatever my flesh wants to do because God doesn't care about me." Hmm, got quiet, didn't you? When's the last time you stayed in prayer long enough to get a fresh word from God? When's the last time you stayed there and said, "God, I'm not moving until I get a word from you"? Yeah, I mean, yeah, we all got the prayer list. I got a prayer list too, but I'm talking about something beyond the prayer list. Beyond praying about your mom and your dad and your wife and your kids and your aunts and your uncles and all the stuff — we all got one of those that I pray through my list every day. I got people that I cover in prayer, I do that, and those are importance. But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about you're there, and you still got a wall in your life, and God's given you a word, and he's promised you some things are going to come to pass.

But you haven't seen them yet, and you're starting to get a little discouraged. You're starting to get a little tired. You got a blister or two on your feet from marching around a wall. Does it seem like it's ever going to move? It's not even budged yet. I'm talking about staying there in your prayer closet and saying, "God, I'm shutting myself up here and from all distractions that are around me, and I'm refusing to move until you and I can talk about what's going on in my life. You gave me a word and nothing's happening, and I'm here, God. Maybe I need a reminder of just how good you are. So, Lord, I'm refusing to move from this spot until you talk to me." Does anybody know what I'm talking about, having that kind of a prayer life? "God, I'm here. I'm going to pray until something happens in my life." Let me remind you: the word of God says that the race is not for the swift and Ecclesiastes, but it also says in the New Testament, he that endures to the end, the same shall be saved. There's something about this — this isn't a sprint, okay. This is a marathon.

Numbers 32. It's an interesting thing takes place in Numbers 32. Of the 12 tribes that are there — they're divided up, in Israel has gotten so big, they're divided into 12 tribes, basically of 12 sons. And now, oh, they're — and number 32, it's a great read. We see that there's starts out in the chapters talking about two tribes, but it ends up being two and a half tribe, the half tribe of manasse. And if you don't understand that, it's okay. Just, I feel it's relevant to tell you that there were two and a half tribes. They've been in the wilderness for 40 years, and God's talking to them about what they want to do. They're coming up on the edge of their promised land. Now, from Numbers 32 to Joshua 6 is basically the story continuing to unfold. Deuteronomy is Moses's final message, basically saying, "I've already told you all this, but you didn't hear me the first time, so sit down, I'm going to tell you again." That pretty much sums up the entire book of Deuteronomy. You didn't get it on round one, so sit down, I'll give it to you in round two.

But Numbers 32, they've been 40 years in the wilderness, and they're getting close. They're back up to the Jordan River. And we see here in this chapter, after doing everything that they were supposed to be doing for years, they get complacent and decide that they're going to go up and have a conversation with Moses and say, "Look, we've come this far, and we see that the land is good for livestock." That's exactly — effective, I think I put it right here — it was a place of livestock. In chapter 32, verse number one, the children of God, the children of Reuben, they go up to Moses and Eleazar, and they say, look, we see what they've been doing. They've been doing what they were supposed to be doing for a long time, but they have not yet got into the promise that was there.

This is — I'm speaking to somebody they listen to this, okay. Don't miss this point. God put this in me about a month ago on an elliptical machine over Gold's Gym. Just being transparent, that happens a lot. And the problem on the elliptical machine is just really hard to write notes doing this. Yeah, I help somebody with that picture right there.

There's a principle of God bringing you out and bringing you in. Now, he brought them out of Egypt. He brought them out of Egypt because he said he was going to bring them out of Egypt. But then, out of Egypt was not the point. Now they get out, and they cross over. They get on the other side, and Miriam gets out, and she starts singing and dancing, and they have a shout down. And there's nothing wrong with being thankful for what God has brought you out of. There's nothing wrong when God brings you out of addictions, because he's an addiction-breaking God. He's a guy that'll pull you up out of the muck in the mire and the stuff that you get your life in. And I know right now in this room I'm standing in a great cloud of witnesses who's willing to say that he's a God who will bring you out of the darkest day and the darkest hour. He'll bring you out of anxiety and depression. He'll bring you out of alcohol. He'll bring you out of drugs. He'll bring you out of sexual addictions. He's a God who does those things for you, and used to shout about . In fact, right now I think it'd be okay if we just had a 30-second praise break for a God who's faithful and true, and who will bring you — he doesn't leave you where he finds you, but he puts you on a solid foundation and a rock in your life. And I think we could worship him for just a second, because he's good and he's the faithful God. Hey, we can be like Miriam, and we can dance a little dance on the other side of the river, because God is faithful and he is true and he is good always. Somebody would dance and shout: he's a good God, he's a good God, he's a good God. Yeah, come on, come on. He's still bringing people out. He's still bringing people out. He's still a deliverer and a healer and a miracle maker.

But let me tell you something, because y'all don't got crazy — sit down, let me tell you something. There was never a question that he was going to get him out of Egypt, but Egypt wasn't the point. He brought them out to bring them in. Don't miss it. He brought them out of Egypt to bring them into a promised land, and they were just selling about a half of what they were going to get. Yeah, they were going to get out, but they were also supposed to get in. But they came complacent with just being out, but just being free of the addiction. Thank you that he frees you from the addiction, but there's more than being freed from the addiction. He has a promise that he wants to bring you into. Oh, I wish somebody would get what I'm trying to preach today. There's more than being free of alcohol. There's more than being free of drugs. There's a promised land that he has for you. Thank you.

And here's the problem. See you, Brother Moore — I love you guys. It's a problem, Brother Moore, as they were just happy being free, but because they didn't go into the promise, their freedom enslaves them. We see this, you know. Here's what I've learned about God: if you don't learn the lesson that he has for you to learn, he'll bring you back again, and then he'll bring you back again. Three times they had to show up at kadish barnia. Three times. Goodness. The first time was, send the spies into the land. "I want you to go look at the land I'm going to give you." Don't miss the words: the land I'm going to give you. It's your land. It belongs to you. I've already signed the deed over to you. Just go check it out and see that if I'm not a good God who's going to keep his word. For Jesus' help — whatever that is, Amber Alert, in Jesus' name, let them find them, and I rebuke the devil for that distraction.

He brings them up and says, "You go in and check out what I'm going to give you. It's yours. It belongs to you." He did not tell them to go see how big the giants were, Brother Johnson. He didn't tell him to go in there and see what you can do on your own. He didn't. The word was, go see what I'm giving you, what I'm going to get. Just like I read to you in Jericho, "I've put it in your hand." Speaking to somebody: God's given you some promises. He's told you some things he's going to put in your hand. But just because he's put it in your hand doesn't mean it's going to happen instantaneously. Sometimes God doesn't work right now work. There's been times in my life that God has done right now work. I remember being in the old sanctuary over there, and then what we call the chapel now, during a prayer chain one night. My hip was killing me. I don't know what was going on. I wasn't even old then. Just walking around — I'll say, I'm just like, man, I'm locked up. I don't know what's going on. And I put my hand on my — I said, "God, this is just frustrating me. In the name of Jesus, let it go." Next step, it was gone. There's times that God just works instantaneously, okay. But a lot of the times it's a process, because God's doing something in your life. Now, he already marched him up again condition, right, to
 the edge of the promised land, says, "Go in, check it out." Now, we know — most of us know how that story goes. They came back and they gave what the word of God says is an evil report. Caleb and Joshua are like, "You ought to see the grapes, they're this big." Caleb's like, "I already claimed a mountain, it's mine." Joshua's like, "Yeah, I seen this, good, it's good." The rest of those jokers are like, "We can't do it, we're grasshoppers in their side." Yeah, they — whatever. And then God says, "All right, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to march your generation, unbelievers, around the desert until you all die off, except for Jayla, Joshua and Caleb." Those guys, they got to go back in.

Now here we are, we're about to approach — and Numbers 32, we're about to approach them coming back up again. They're coming back up to the river again, and all of a sudden a couple of them say, "You know what? I think it's good right here. I think it's good right here. I know you gave me a promise, but you know what, this ain't bad. I mean, I think we got — I think I can make a — I can make a good living right here." That's what they said, Sister Freeman. It's good for livestock. That's what they're — the herders. Yeah, that's good, that's good, we'll take this. And Moses — and then the rest of 32 is Moses giving them a tongue lashing. Moses is saying, "I've already dealt with this before. You go read it. Your fathers had the same attitude last time we were here. Last time we were here, we're in the same mess, and here you are again. You're going to cause trouble for us because you're not willing to go into the promise." He didn't just want to get you out of Egypt. He's trying to get you into a promise. The promise is not on this side of the Jordan. It's on that side of the door. Why would you stop short?

Do not give up before you have complete victory, because too many warriors get cold feet in the battle and give up too soon. You're in a fight, ladies and gentlemen. It don't always go the way you have it planned. Anybody noticed that yet? Come on, I said, anybody noticed that yet? I know there's more than two of y'all that's noticed that and then go the way you want it to go always. Yeah.

I think about the story of Gideon in Judges six. Gideon shows up and he's going to fight, and when he first shows up, he's got 32,000 of his brothers there. I don't know about you, but that would make me feel pretty good. I would be pretty confident with 32,000 folks. And then God says, "Hey, you got too many." I don't know, Forrest, I'd struggle with that. I'd be like, "I don't know that we got too many. I mean, this is who showed up. Why don't we use who showed up?" He says, "No, you know, you need to tell everybody it's afraid to go home." So I can almost see Gideon — this is me preaching; you can preach it your way when you're preaching — but I see Gideon come up and he's like, "All right, fails, look. All right, I heard from God, and he said if anybody's afraid — I know we're not, so thirty two thousand — who's afraid? But if anybody's afraid, you guys can, you know, anybody's afraid, you can go home." And there was a mass exodus. He was a little nervous because 22,000 left. That's a bad day. But he's still like, "Hey, I got 10,000 of my brothers, we're going to make it." And God says, "You still got too many." And get he's like, "Come on, man, 22,000 left. I'm down to only ten thousand." No, no, no, no, no. You don't want to go into a battle not having a real warrior there with you. So take them down in the water and we're going to decide. When it's all said and done, he's got 300 left. Now, from 32,000 to 300 — I don't know about you, but that will probably mess with you a little bit. Yeah, you'd be a little — be like, I don't know, like you're gonna go and fight. But God had already guaranteed that he was going — see, we sometimes don't put enough weight into the fact that he's with you, and you and God are an unbeatable team. Did you hear that? You and God are an unbeatable team.

I'm just curious right now: do I have any mighty men and women dedicated to God in the place today? Anybody here — I want to — do I have somebody here that I can trust to have my back, so I can trust that you'll cover me with prayer, and I'm going to keep you covered in prayer? Somebody's going to be worshiping not just on Sundays, but on Mondays and Tuesdays and Wednesday. I'm asking, you know, I only need a few. I know I got a room full of people here today, but I wonder if anybody really here, anybody really committed. Because if we're really committed, we're going to change some stuff around us, if we're really buying in, because God's already set some stuff in motion. Those of you who have been here — we've been preaching some pretty hard stuff lately. I promise you, what God's been doing is even weeding out some stuff that needed to be around us, because we're fixing to go into a fight, and I need my real brothers and sisters around me, because we got an enemy that God said we're going to defeat. Is there anybody still marching today? Hey, we all get tired, we all get weary, but I still gonna march a little bit, because God said Jericho, he's going to put in my hand. God told me the walls are going to fall flat.

Oh, we all have Jerichos in our life. We all do, every one of us. Things that pressure us, it seemed to wall us in, seem to keep us out. If I fail to combine work and faith and tearing down those walls, it doesn't seem to ever budge. But when I face my problems with faith and hard work, God always stands beside me.

John 20 and 27: "Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hand; and reach his thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing." They're in the New Testament here, in what's interesting: Jesus has already died and rose again, and he appeared to his disciples earlier in John chapter 20. Earlier in that chapter he appeared, but Thomas was missing. Now, there's a whole sermon there that I should preach about missing church, because if you miss church, sometimes you miss Jesus. And Thomas — here's the story. And Thomas, big and bad, says, "Well, unless I can put my finger in his hands and I can thrust my hand into his side..." But I'm going to tell you something: God's always listening. God's always listening. Put that verse back up there. God is always listening, because the next time they had a meeting, the next time church was going on, Brandon, Thomas was at church, and Jesus walks in the door. And I love this, because Jesus walked right over to Thomas. He just basically says, "Hey, how y'all doing? Hey Thomas, come here. 's my hand, here's my side." Look at the words: "And be not" — listen to the words — "be not faithless, Thomas, but leaving." And then Thomas says, "My Lord and my God." In that moment, he realized there was a revelation coming.

"Thomas, don't quit. Thomas, I know things aren't going the way you thought they were going to go. Thomas, I thought you thought that everything was coming back and the Messiah was coming, he was going to set everything in order. Thomas, that's what I did. That's what I did, Thomas. You couldn't fully understand or comprehend all the things I was working in and working out, how I was writing all the wrongs and how I had to turn culture upside down so that they would understand that God had not forgot about them, that it was all not about legalistic ways and following all the rules, that I desired a relationship. I come to the sick. I come to those that are lost. And Thomas, don't you get lost in this process. Thomas, keep your faith. Trust. I'm always listening, and Thomas, I'm always here."

Thomas had been one of those saints that said, "What's the use of going to family prayer? Nothing special is going to happen. What's the use of being faithful to church? It's the same old songs, it's the same old sermons, it's the same old hype, but the same old people." But what they miss is that God's blessing and giving strength to the faithful. God gives the victory to those who don't give up. Center Point, part of what I've been trying to do the last six to eight weeks is telling you that if you do what you're supposed to do every
 day of the week, then God will carry you and your need into the next week. If God is there and you're worshiping him on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and Saturday, on Sunday we come in here and we get strength and we gain victory for the next week. Victory for the next week. Victory to keep marching. Victory to keep marching. Let me tell you, if you're still here and you're still drawing breath, you're victorious. If you're still here and you're still draw in breath, that means you can keep marching. You can keep marching. You can keep marching. Hey, if the devil had his way, he'd have took you out a long time ago. he had killed you off a long time ago. But you've got a God who's rich in mercy, who says, "I'll give you enough strength to get through another day. Just keep marching. Just keep marching. I'm working some stuff in you, and I'm working some stuff out of you. But just keep — don't stop. Jericho is yours. I'll put it in your hand. I'll put the king in your hand, and the walls will fall flat." You got to keep marching. You got to keep walking and singing and shouting. You got to keep on keeping on. You got to remember that the main thing has to be the main thing. Don't lose sight of the goal at the end. It's all about being true to him every day.

And I know that that daily grind gets tiresome, and so many, they settle for less than what could be, and they end up being like those in Exodus 32 — or number is 32 — who stay on the wrong side of the river. You know, if you go study that out, the two and a half tribes, that when the enemy started attacking, they were the first place they went. They went — you know why? Because they were the weakest. They were the weakest. They were outside the promise. They stopped short. I don't know who I'm reaching for today in this place. I don't know who it is it's tempted to stop short from fully going through all that God has for you. Listen, are you still marching around your wall? Have you made your mind up on living for God no matter what?

Hey, don't always go the way — look, there's things that don't go the way I want them to go. I'm telling you, that's some stuff going to happen this week in my family — it's gonna be the hardest things we've ever did. I don't understand. And believe you me, I have prayed to my knees has been sore about the situation, because I don't understand. Nothing about it makes sense. And in this situation, God has not given me one word other than "trust." That's all I got. So I stand up and I just keep marching. I just keep marching. I don't understand, God. I don't understand why I'm going to do it, but I don't know. All I know to do is keep marching. All I know to do is keep marching around the wall.

Look, some of you have been marching a long time. Some of you face circumstances it doesn't make sense. we prayed together about it. I've talked to you about it. I don't have any direct word about it. All I can tell you is just keep marching. The temptation to quit comes, to take a shortcut, to figure it out on your own. But I promise you, it never leads to where you need to be. It never does.

You know, we can use the candy stick verse, Romans 8:28: "All things work together for good let him love God, then the call according to his purposes." It's the truth. Even though I can't figure it out, doesn't mean it's not working together. I've lived long enough now — I've been around this long enough now — to see, I can look back in my life, and there's things that I've learned marching around that wall. There's no revelation that I've gotten in him by marching around that wall. Yeah, I was tempted to quit. Yeah, I was tempted to throw my hands. There's been tempted I've been I've been tempted just to get in the truck and just drive and drive and drive and drive and drive, just escape what's going on. Look, none of us are exempt from it. But all I get from him is "trust." Just trust and keep marching.

When temptations come, remember First Corinthians 10 and 13: "There hath no temptation taking you but such as common to man: faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you're able; but with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you're able to bear it." All I can tell you is, if you're still marching around that wall, he has confidence in you that you can still take it. Maybe you don't have confidence, but just keep marching. Just keep marching. There has not been any temptation that's come to you — look, he's bringing you out to bring you in. Don't stop short. Keep marching. God has given you a word, and giving you a promise, and giving you that there's a miracle to come, but it hasn't come yet. For some of you, you're in the midst of the toughest battle of your life, but God's working. He's working. We sing about it and we'll shout about around here. Even when I don't see you working, even when I don't feel you, you're working, because our God is always working. He never sleeps, he never slumbers, he never sets idly by. He's always in the process of working things out on your behalf. Your job is to keep marching. Keep marching.

I'll go back to a verse that I've preached here several times, but I feel it applies again here today. Exodus 23 and 29: "I will not drive them out from before thee in one year, unless the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply again." See, some things he's not going to get out of your life right off the bat, because if he did, something stronger we'll take you over. Something bigger will come your way, and it'll overwhelm and overrun you. See, a lot of times in our marching around the walls, God is strengthening us. It's that repetition of prayer. It's that repetition of trust. It's that repetition of exercising my faith over and over again. And in doing that process of marching around those walls, he's building something stronger inside of us. If he took it away right off the bat, we would not be ready for what is next. See, God delivers little by little. I remember TF. Tenney one time saying in a place where I was at — he said two things another be true about God: when he gives you a word, he does not tell you how long it will be, and he does not tell you what you're going to go through. See, verse 30 says, "By little and little I'll drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, inherit the land." God does it on his time table. He does it on his timetable. As you were growing, as you were strengthening, as your faith grows and your trust in him goes, little by little he pushes those things out until you inhabit the land.

The promise was always there. It was always theirs. "I'll bring you out into a land that flows in milk and honey." That had always been the deal from the very beginning. But somewhere along the way, some of them became content just living in the desert. someone became a kid — "Hey, this is good enough, just to be on the borderland. I can see the promise over there, but this is good, this is prosperous. I'll just be good enough, be content with attending." When God said, "I don't want you to be in a tender. I want you to be in my kingdom working. I didn't call you just to hear a good sermon, but I put stuff in you for a reason. I made you who you are for a reason. I want to do something with you. I have a promise there." Now is not the time to quit marching around your walls.

Don't misunderstand God. If he's not taking away your issue completely, then he's still working on you to make you the best version of you that you can be. Maybe you don't understand. Maybe even say, "It's not fair. It doesn't — write, God, why do I have to suffer? Why do I have to go through these things?" I don't know. I don't know. Here's — I know the end goal is not me being happy here. can't speak to somebody? The end goal is not me being happy here. I may be weary all the day long while I'm marching around, but I promise you, there's a day coming when I'm going to go over there. And when I get over there to Beulah Land, when I'm dancing on those streets of gold, when I'm worshiping my King, when I'm throwing down my crown, I'm not going to think about what I went through to get here. All I'm going to think about is
 I'm in my promise. I'm in my promise. Oh, I made it. I made it. I made it. I made it. Just keep marching.

Prayer and faith — how diligent are you today in these things? Do you fully understand the power of praying with purpose? Too many times, all we pray is escape prayers: "God, get me out of this. God, remove this from me. gotta, take care of this so I don't have to worry about it anymore." Just relief prayers. I'm not saying you can't pray a relief prayer, but is that the only prayer you got? Maybe you need to stop and say, "God, I've been marching around this a long time. Is there something I still haven't gotten yet? Is there something you still have to show me, but I haven't seen it yet?" What if he started praying, "God, opened my eyes so that I can see maybe what I'm missing, because you gave me a word that this wall was going to fall, and I've been marching around for a long time, and I'm still trusting and believing that you're going to keep your word. So, God, maybe it's me. Maybe it's me, Lord. If there's something I need to give up, there's something I need to walk away , there's something I need to let go of, there's something I need to forgive, there's something I need to do." Have you ever prayed with a purpose like that? Look, otherwise all we do is treat him like Santa Claus.

he won't march around the wall very long without prayer and without faith, because when you lose your faith, you quit marching, and you blame everybody else for your problems. It's everybody else's fault that your wall's still standing. Without faith — and faith gets replaced by fear — people say things they don't mean, they act in ways they never thought they would act. But on the other hand, if you believe, if you keep marching around, they will come tumbling down.

Had Paul and Silas stop singing and praising God in a jail cell, they would have never gotten out of there. Who sings in a jail cell? Who sings shackled together? Who sings that way? Paul and Scott said, "We ain't got nothing else to do." They just started singing praise. And this is what I know: God inhabits the praise of his people. And God said, "Hey, I kind of like that. I think I'll go down to where they are." And when God showed up, to jail started shaking, because those two fellas, even though they were shackled and it seemed like they had every reason to quit, said, "We're going to keep marching." We may be shackled — like the old boy said, "I may be sitting down on the outside, but I'm standing up on it on our stairs." You know what I mean? Sitting down on the house that I'm, standing up on the inside. Paul and style said, "I may be safe — I may not be marching on the outside, but I'm marching on the inside."

Where would they have been if they'd have stopped? What about the woman the issue of blood, if she just stopped one person too soon from touching the hem of his garment? Had Noah just stopped one plank from finishing the ark? If Naaman would have only dipped six times instead of seven? as Zacchaeus decided to stay on the ground instead of climbing in the tree? he had a hand and stop praying and fasting, she would never give her son to God. Had Queen Esther stopped short of going to the throne room, hall for people would have died. If Jesus would have given up in the Garden of Gethsemane and not went to Calvary, we wouldn't have any hope. There's something to be said about continuing to march, continuing to march, continuing to march — to have a promise and to hang on to it.

So, bring this to a close today: God's wanting to do a restoration in this place. I felt it — so we're on the very beginning — I felt in a prayer room over there. And thank you, everybody who went to the prayer room today. It was such a sweet presence in there when I walked into that room. God's wanting to do something here. What a shame it would be to give God everything but certain parts in our life: to give him everything but my relationship, to give him everything but my talent, to give him everything but my finances, to give him everything — what a shame to miss heaven because you stopped short. What a shame to miss eternity with your loved ones because you wouldn't give God everything.

There's a story I want to tell you about. There's a picture — I believe that — halfway, Alex, you got that picture? showed up there. You're a baseball fan in the room — you may know this story, you may not recognize the picture, but you may know the story. That guy's name is Fred Merkel. He played for the New York Giants. It was said that during his era he was one of the fastest players that ever played. He was 19 years old when he made it into the big time. He had stolen second base more than any other player during his time. During the 1908 season, he stole 30 bases in 11 games. 30 bases in 11 games, Wes. That dude was getting it. Leading up to the 1908 World Series, the New York Giants, who Fred played for, and the Chicago Cubs were playing. It was in the ninth inning, the game was tied one to one, there's two outs, and bases are loaded, right? This is every boy's story, in it? Now, Fred was not batting. Fred was on first base. Now, for all the baseball players in the room and the baseball fans, you know that when the bases are loaded, if there's a hit, it's called forced runs. You can't have two people standing on the same base at the same time. So if someone's on first and someone's on second, someone's on third, and then someone is batting — if the batter hits the ball, all the runners have to run. You have to run, because the guy coming that batted is going to go to first. So the first placement — for whoever's on first, can't stay on first — they have to go to second. Now, oh, Freddy boy, he's standing there on first base, two outs, bases loaded. The hit takes place — crack, the ball goes out. Yeah, it crushes it to the fence. Fred takes off, and he's overwhelmed, he's shouting, he's so excited. He goes up, and of course, what happened is, the forest run caused the guy on third to run home. Well, Freddie was so excited, Wes, he's so excited, he's running towards second base, and then he just doesn't touch second base, and he goes straight over to the dugout, and he starts celebrating. But the umpire in the middle of the field noticed that he didn't touch second base, and so did the shortstop. So even though pandemonium was breaking out — and you can go read about the story, it's an interesting story, and there's several versions of the story, but they all come to the same conclusion: that Fred didn't touch second base. And whether it was the shortstoppers — there's a little controversy on who actually picked up the ball, and there's even controversy of whether or not the ball was actually the ball or the symbol that got thrown from a dugout. But the point was, Fred never touched second base. And the umpire's standing there watching it, and somebody walked up with a ball and tagged the bass, and Fred was out, and took the run away. They interviewed him years later. He retired down in Florida. He said, "Yeah, they're probably going to put on my tombstone one day, 'Oh, bone headed Fred, who never touched second base and lost this chance.'" Again, because after that, the Cubs went on to the actual World Series, and it was a big deal because the Cubbies won one of their World Series in 1908.

So you got to finish, ladies and gentlemen. You have to finish. Don't celebrate before it's all done. Oh, that — closed today. I know life has a way of coming at us all. I'm not exempt for those things, just like you're not exempt. And I know there are days when I get tired. I'm marching around that wall. I'm tired of looking at the stones. I'm tired of the path. I'm tired of the way it just seems to always be there. And I have a word that God told me it was going to fall. It hasn't fallen yet. And in my flesh, I'm tempted to just stop. "What's it even matter? After all these years, if it was going to happen, it probably would have already happened." But therein is the trouble: when you and I always try to operate God off of our clock, off of our timetable, off of our understanding, our ability, when his ways are higher than mine. See, I'm thankful that I have a God that I can't fit in my head. He's beyond what I can think and comprehend, and that's saying something, because I feel like I got a pretty big imagination. But
 he's beyond that. I'm trying to encourage somebody here today: deep marching. I don't know what it is. I don't know what the promise is. I don't know what yours is, but if he's given you a word, he will keep you. just need to keep marching, and you will see it through, I promise you.

Will you buy your heads of me, if you're comfortable? God, I love you, and I'm so thankful for your sweet presence that's in this place today. gotta have delivered the burden I feel like you laid on me for your church, and now I turn this over to you, God. In this moment, this moment that we have right here, I pray, God, that you would draw men and women into a deeper walk with you. I pray for encouragement for some weary soul that needed to hear somebody to say to them, "Keep marching, the walls will fall." Oh God, do a miracle in this place today. Let there be a restoration inside this place today. God, you were calling ministries back to the forefront. You were causing relationships to come back to the forefront. You were in the process of healing bodies in this room today. In the mighty name of Jesus we pray, and amen.

This altar is open. Whatever you need, I would encourage you to come down to an altar. Let us pray with you. If you need encouragement today, come. Any healing in your body today, come. If you need salvation for your soul, come. Jesus is here, and I know that to be true. We're going to spend some time praying, praying with those that have come. It's prayer time, church. I think it'd be good if we all took a few minutes to pray.