Forrest: Good morning.
Forrest: I'm Forrest Coleman, Lee Pastor here at Multiply.
Forrest: It's nice to see you and meet you.
Forrest: If I've never met you before, and my family along with a bunch of other people, came here to Frankfurt to begin the work of Multiply Church and to launch this church now, a year and four or five months ago.
Forrest: And uh thankful that you're here today.
Forrest: This isn't a first uh my first time of um having church in a space that isn't your normal venue.
Forrest: Obviously, we're meeting in a movie theater, but during my wife and I, we lived in South Carolina, we were part of a church there for five years, and one of our campuses, the church, we met at a couple of local schools, one being the high school.
Forrest: And during the time of that season of our life where we were there and we were doing the portable church setup and tear down in the high school every single uh Sunday morning, and there were different things that happened along the way that were just challenges, and there's just challenges that come along with doing portable church is just part of it.
Forrest: You got to problem solve all the time.
Forrest: And one of those mornings we showed up to the high school, and like you've seen many schools before, the parking lot had a barrier or a gate across it with a lock on it, and so we showed up that morning early with the trailer and the truck and all the things, and we could not get into the parking lot.
Forrest: It was locked.
Forrest: The person who's supposed to show up and unlock the lock and open the barrier just wasn't there, wasn't answering the calls.
Forrest: We had no parking lot for people to come, and so all of us were kind of looking at each other, we're like, what in the world are we gonna do?
Forrest: And somebody said, We got to cut the lock.
Forrest: And we were looking at each other, we were like, We know we're about to get in trouble if we do that.
Forrest: And also, how in the world are we gonna cut this lock?
Forrest: And you know what?
Forrest: There was somebody in the group that guess what?
Forrest: They had some bolt cutters, some lock cutters in their car and went and got them and cut the lock.
Forrest: Now, the school was not very happy with us uh about the lock.
Forrest: We bought them a new lock, but they were still upset that we did it.
Forrest: One Sunday morning we showed up in the same parking lot.
Forrest: There was a giant dump truck parked in the middle of the parking lot, Caddy Wampus across 10 different parking spots.
Forrest: And we're like, what in the world are we gonna do with this dump truck right in the middle where everybody's gonna park?
Forrest: And you know what?
Forrest: There was somebody in our church that knew how to drive a dump truck, and he got up in there and pulled down the visor and out popped the keys to the dump truck, and he moved that dump truck out of the way.
Forrest: Move that truck, move that truck.
Forrest: Uh I certainly wasn't about to get up there and move that dump truck.
Forrest: I know that.
Forrest: The Lord provided at these different times and obstacles where the enemy was trying to get in the way, and those kind of things, especially for us here at our time of being portable, there are times that we've got obstacles that we have to overcome.
Forrest: And it just further to me shows when God provides in those more those moments that you're here for a reason.
Forrest: He has a plan for you today.
Forrest: You're not here by accident, you're not here because of happenstance, you're not even here because you had somebody who invited you and you just want to just appease them and say, okay, if they keep asking me, they keep inviting me.
Forrest: If I'll come, they'll get off my back.
Forrest: That's not why you're here today.
Forrest: You're here today because God knows that you're here.
Forrest: And that God paved a way for you to be here and removed obstacles for you to walk in today.
Forrest: And in light of obstacles and walls that are in our life, that we we are tempted at times to stand in front of the obstacle and for us to become discouraged, have dismay, and feel like that we're smaller than what's in front of us, but we know with our God that walls fall.
Forrest: That's the message titled today is walls fall.
Forrest: Turn it to your neighbor and say, Walls fall.
Forrest: Walls fall.
Forrest: We're tempted, we're tempted for us to feel small in light of the obstacles that are in our life.
Forrest: We're tempted to feel meek and that we're we're we feel too weak to proceed forward.
Forrest: We're tempted at times, and you may be in this place that you feel weak in front of the wall or the barrier that's in your life, that you feel small before the wall, that you feel small in light of the charges that are against you.
Forrest: You feel small in light of the debts that need to be paid in your life.
Forrest: You feel small in the dysfunction in your family that you feel like can't ever be overcome, and that you can't move forward in what your life is supposed to look like.
Forrest: You feel small in light of the death that you've experienced in your life, that person that you love and you feel like you can't move forward.
Forrest: And there's a wall, there's barriers, and you may not be in one right now, there may not be one in front of you right now, but there will be.
Forrest: There's gonna be a barrier, there's gonna be an obstacle that's in front of you, and God has promised to us progress.
Forrest: You feel small.
Forrest: There's a wall in front of you.
Forrest: You're looking up at the wall.
Forrest: Thinking, what what can I do?
Forrest: How can I overcome?
Forrest: How can I get over this mountain that's in front of me?
Forrest: I'm just small, I'm just weak.
Forrest: God, what will you do?
Forrest: This is the same place that the people of God found themselves in our story today.
Forrest: Over the last few weeks, we've been in this sermon series on the move, a church on the move, and we've been following the story of the people of God out of captivity and God liberating them out of slavery in Egypt and then marching through the desert and God doing miraculous works and signs, splitting the Red Sea.
Forrest: Moses, you've got probably, this is one of the most famous stories in all the Bible.
Forrest: There's been movies about it.
Forrest: There's there's it's shared by other by our Jewish brothers and sisters.
Forrest: This is a story of the exodus of people of God leaving out of captivity in Egypt and walking through the wilderness so that they can enter into what's promised to them, this place, this land flowing with milk and honey called the Promised Land.
Forrest: And over the last few weeks, we've kind of looked at this 30,000-foot view of them leaving out of captivity and then making it to the promised land.
Forrest: And they've marched through the desert.
Forrest: And last week we we we kind of stopped in the place where with uh Pastor Nestor Gomez, who spoke to us about the spies that were sent into the land to take a look at this promised land, and they came back with the report and they were in fear.
Forrest: And because of that fear, in the face of what God had already promised to them, because of that fear, they they didn't get to enter the promised land for 40 years.
Forrest: You may have even heard of the fact that the people of God that they were they left Egypt.
Forrest: God is making a way for them.
Forrest: It should have just been a few weeks, a few days' journey, but instead it took them 40 years.
Forrest: They were wandering in the desert because they didn't have the faith to take the promised land that God had already promised to them.
Forrest: And we enter into this story now, 40 years later, after last week.
Forrest: 40 years later, after the spies had gone in, not had faith, the servant of Jesus, the Godhead, Moses, the prophet, the patriarch, he's now dead.
Forrest: And there's a new leader, Joshua.
Forrest: One of the 12 spies from last week, just one of the two that actually had faith and said, No, we can take this land.
Forrest: But there were 10 of the spies last week that said, no, there's it's it's too many, there's two, there's fortified cities, there's giants in the land, there's there's too many obstacles that we can't overcome.
Forrest: But Joshua's one of the two that said, no, we can take this land because God has given it to us.
Forrest: He's proclaimed it, he's promised us to have it.
Forrest: And so Joshua is now the leader.
Forrest: And he's leading in a generation of people, and they're right on the edge of the promised land.
Forrest: They've crossed over the Jordan River.
Forrest: God split the Jordan in half for them to walk through on dry ground just like he did the Red Sea for their forefathers.
Forrest: And now there's a generation of people.
Forrest: 40 years later, that all of the things that they had experienced of walking through the on dry ground of the Red Sea and God providing manna, these are now their children.
Forrest: It's 40 years later.
Forrest: Many of them are dead, have died.
Forrest: This is the next generation.
Forrest: Many of them now have just heard the story of the fact that God opened up the waters.
Forrest: Now they've just heard the story of God providing manna from heaven.
Forrest: And they're right on the edge of entering into the promised land.
Forrest: They're so close.
Forrest: And there's one thing that's standing in their way, and it's a town called Jericho.
Forrest: There's a town called Jericho.
Forrest: This is a fortified city.
Forrest: Has walls that are many, many, many feet high.
Forrest: Some 15, 30 feet across wide.
Forrest: These are massive walls.
Forrest: The whole city behind it, and this city is right right in the way of them entering into the promised land.
Forrest: And God shows them this.
Forrest: This is Joshua in chapter 6, starting in verse 1.
Forrest: Now the gates of Jericho were tightly shut because the people were afraid of the Israelites.
Forrest: No one was allowed to go out or in.
Forrest: But the Lord said to Joshua, I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its and all its strong warriors.
Forrest: You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days.
Forrest: Seven priests will walk ahead of the ark, each carrying a ram's horn.
Forrest: On the seventh day you will march around the town seven times with the priests blowing the horns.
Forrest: And when you hear the priests give one long blast of the ram's horns, all have all the people shout as loud as they can, and the walls of the town will collapse.
Forrest: And the people can charge straight into the town.
Forrest: Verse 10.
Forrest: Joshua instructs the people as they're walking.
Forrest: He says, Do not shout, do not even talk, Joshua commanded, not a single word from any of you until I tell you to shout, and then you'll shout.
Forrest: They did this the first day, the second day, the third day, the fourth day, and they repeated this pattern for six days straight.
Forrest: Now I don't know about you, but if God told uh, hey, uh, we're gonna you're gonna take over this town, it's a fortified city, they have their own army, there's no way for you to get in.
Forrest: But what I want you to do is just march around the wall and play some musical instruments.
Forrest: I'd be thinking, uh, Lord, are you sure this is the right battle plan?
Forrest: This doesn't quite seem like what normal warfare is like.
Forrest: These instructions seem quite odd, but nevertheless, they march, they play their instruments, and on the seventh day, verse 15.
Forrest: On the seventh day the Israelites got up at dawn, they marched around the town as they had done before.
Forrest: But this time they went around the town seven times.
Forrest: And the seventh time around, as the priests sounded the long blast of their horns, Joshua commanded the people, Shout, for the Lord has given you the town.
Forrest: Jericho and everything in it must be completely destroyed as an offering to the Lord.
Forrest: Only Rahab the prostitute and the others in her house will be spared, for she protected our spies.
Forrest: Do not take any of the things set apart for destruction, or you yourselves will be completely destroyed, and you will bring trouble on the camp of Israel.
Forrest: Everything made of silver, gold, bronze, or iron is sacred to the Lord and must be brought into his treasury.
Forrest: When the people heard the sound of the ran's horns, they shouted as loud as they could.
Forrest: And suddenly the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the town and they captured it.
Forrest: There's a lot going on here.
Forrest: Joshua gives them command and tells them this is the seventh day, this is the time.
Forrest: God has promised this to us.
Forrest: He's telling us that the walls are gonna fall, he's telling us that the walls are gonna collapse if we do what he says.
Forrest: And in this town, in this town, there are people, there are things that God has determined for destruction.
Forrest: Now, what we know about the Canaanite people, the people who were in Jericho is that these were people that were very, very, very, very evil, following false gods, practicing sexual immorality in their worship, even including human and child sacrifice.
Forrest: And God, the people of God, his chosen people that he had chosen for this land.
Forrest: He had promised them this land that these people who were far, who were evil, who were occupying it, and God had said, I've given you this land, you now have to go and you have to possess the land that I've given to you.
Forrest: You have to move forward.
Forrest: But there are things, this, this, this part of Jericho, this has been something that's been determined for destruction.
Forrest: Do not take any of this gold and any of the people or any of the supplies that's in the town.
Forrest: These things have not been determined for you to have, but instead for them to be an offering to me.
Forrest: You know, for us in our lives today, we need God's help for not to desire the things that have been determined for our destruction.
Forrest: They're simple habits and things and hang-ups, immorality, and things that we know from God's word that we know if we pick them up, that they're gonna lead to our destruction.
Forrest: And instead of taking hold of the sin or the destructive habits and the destructive patterns of your life, instead for you to cling hold and have a desire to hold on to God instead of those things that which will destroy you.
Forrest: The Bible promises us that that sin that it leads to death.
Forrest: It leads to our destruction.
Forrest: And I know for me, I'm preaching this message today just as much to myself as I am to anybody else, that that we need to take hold of God more than we need to take hold of the things that have already been determined that will destroy us.
Forrest: Now, what we know from this story in the next chapter that we're not going to get into today is that one person in the camp, Achan, he hoarded some of the gold for himself.
Forrest: He hid it.
Forrest: And because of that, it led to destruction in the next chapter.
Forrest: This promise came true.
Forrest: God asks for an offering.
Forrest: This first city.
Forrest: The first city that they would come to, that that everything that was in it that would be an offering to them, it would be a giving of the first fruits.
Forrest: That they could have all of the promised land, but for them not to hold on to, not take hold of what would destroy them.
Forrest: And so Joshua gives the people the instruction.
Forrest: Hold off, hold off, don't shout.
Forrest: When I tell you to shout, I want you to open up your mouth and I want you to use your voice.
Forrest: And the horns blow and they scream and they yell and they praise at the top of their lungs, and the walls fall down.
Forrest: The walls fall down right before them.
Forrest: At their feet, what God promised came to fruition.
Forrest: God promises each of us that we'll have progress.
Forrest: When we feel walled in, we feel like we're up against the obstacle.
Forrest: This last week, as we had serve week, I got to serve at a few different other events, and one of the things I had the honor of getting to serve was on Wednesday, the graduation with the ladies that currently are incarcerated at our county jail that have worked hard over the last few weeks to graduate from a parenting class with the Juana Joyce Robinson Foundation that we partnered with, who's leading this class.
Forrest: And I got to be present there that night as they received their certificate of then completing this course for parenting and wanting to move forward in their life.
Forrest: And there was a specific time during the graduation process and ceremony that the instructor, Miss Angie, who is just an angel from the Lord, who's been leading this uh leading this class over the last few weeks, she said, We have one final activity that I'd like for you all to do before we go in for the graduation, you receive your certificate.
Forrest: The last activity I would like for you to do is I would like for you all to encourage one another, you ladies to speak a word of encouragement to one another.
Forrest: And so they went down the line of the table and each lady spoke a word of encouragement over the other ladies.
Forrest: And let me tell you something.
Forrest: For these ladies who are right now they're walled in, they're in challenging circumstances.
Forrest: Tears were flowing as they were talking about people that in their life who passed away while they had been in jail.
Forrest: They talked about their children that they now have been separated from and the hope that they have that they're gonna get to be reunited with their kids.
Forrest: And there was one of the ladies, Destiny, who she spoke out her encouragement, and she spoke to the whole row, and she said, ladies, I want you to know that this storm will pass.
Forrest: We will get out of here, and we will be back with our children, and we're gonna be better for them.
Forrest: And she spoke and overflowed this word of encouragement, and she talked about the Lord, and so many of these ladies talked about the Lord.
Forrest: And you know, they gave me an opportunity to open in prayer and close in prayer and just being the preacher pastor that I am.
Forrest: I took a little bit more time than just to pray, to speak a little word over them.
Forrest: And what I spoke over them at the the the end of the graduation was how powerful it was to witness them moving forward and stepping forward in their life and doing something for their betterment or their family.
Forrest: And I spoke Jeremiah 29 11 over them, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.
Forrest: Plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.
Forrest: Even this time for these ladies that are incarcerated, God's working it for their good.
Forrest: He's giving them an opportunity.
Forrest: We got to hear a story of just a few weeks, the chaplain at the jail baptized four inmates just a few weeks ago.
Forrest: And I feel extremely blessed by the fact that we got to come alongside and we just got to provide and sponsor the graduation that night and got to see the work that God is doing here in our community.
Forrest: We got to come alongside and fuel the fire.
Forrest: And I got to speak to Miss Angie, and I said, This is amazing what you're doing.
Forrest: Keep going.
Forrest: And she's gonna start another class here in just a few weeks, and 12 more ladies are gonna have the opportunity to come in and be a part of this.
Forrest: And then there's gonna be another graduation, and there are people who are right now serving the Lord, who are walking and helping others take steps forward to progress in their life, and God's promised to us that He has a hope and a future for us.
Forrest: In light of the obstacle, in light of feeling like you're walled in, that you can't get in or out, the fact that you have a barrier that's in front of you, God's already said, I have a hope and a future for you.
Forrest: I'm working all things out for your good.
Forrest: According to my purpose, according to God's purpose.
Forrest: And we walk in God's footsteps.
Forrest: If we're walking and we're walking towards God, none of us are gonna be perfect, but we're promised progress.
Forrest: We're promised progress.
Forrest: God had already promised Joshua and the people of God.
Forrest: He had already promised them Jericho, He had already promised them that they were gonna take the land.
Forrest: He said, We're in chapter 6, all the way back in the beginning of Joshua in the first chapter.
Forrest: In the very first chapter.
Forrest: The promise was that made.
Forrest: In verse 2, Moses, my servant, is dead.
Forrest: Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River and into the land I'm giving them.
Forrest: I promise.
Forrest: You what I promise Moses.
Forrest: Wherever your you set foot, you will be on land I have given you.
Forrest: God spoke it to Joshua.
Forrest: He said, Wherever you put your foot, I've already given it to you.
Forrest: They're walking around the walls of Jericho.
Forrest: God had already given it to them.
Forrest: Joshua 1.5.
Forrest: God says to Joshua, No one will, no one will be able to stand against you for as long as you live.
Forrest: For I will be with you as I was with Moses.
Forrest: I will not what?
Forrest: Fail you or abandon you.
Forrest: God had already promised the progress to them.
Forrest: And even though he was asking of them something that seemed strange and seemed out of the box for them to march around the walls, for them to blow horns, God had already promised them that land was going to be theirs.
Forrest: And despite them walking along the walls and not even to be able to look over and looking up and thinking, how in the world is this going to happen?
Forrest: Joshua was leading in faith, saying, God's already given us this land.
Forrest: God's already promised it to us.
Forrest: There's already a progress that's been made.
Forrest: And you know what?
Forrest: God would use a patriarch, like he did Moses.
Forrest: He used a priest, like he did Aaron.
Forrest: He would use a man of God like Joshua, and he also used a prostitute named Rahab.
Forrest: Don't skip over the part in there that everything in that city was going to be destroyed except for Rahab the prostitute.
Forrest: Her whole family was going to be saved.
Forrest: Why?
Forrest: Because she was the one who hid the spies who went over the wall that were sent over, and this lady of ill repute of the night, God used her family to bring victory in the Lord.
Forrest: And not only that, later down the passage, not only do they protect Rahab's family, but then the scripture says that Rahab's family joined in with the people of God, with the Israelites, and are living with them to this day.
Forrest: God's redemptive power, nobody in this room has a barrier too big that God cannot break it down.
Forrest: Nobody right now is walking in a sin that's too bad, in a circumstance that's too challenging, in a family dynamic or a sin that you've done in the past that you can't forgive yourself of, and something that's held you down in shame and guilt for years and years and years.
Forrest: There's not one of you that God won't come get you.
Forrest: There's not one of you that God won't restore you and use you for his glory and his purposes.
Forrest: A patriarch, a priest, and a prostitute, God will use them all for his glory in light of the story of God and what he has done for us.
Forrest: Whether you're a patriarch like Moses, you're a priest in the tabernacle making sacrifices.
Forrest: Yeah, I talked about last Sunday or two Sundays ago.
Forrest: Talked about the tabernacle and the priests, and the tabernacle, this mobile church that they took along with them that housed the glory of God, and that in this tabernacle that they would move this tent of meeting with the Lord, that there was some dirty jobs that were involved.
Forrest: The people of God that they needed to meet with him, that there were sacrifices that were made daily, and the priests were having to do dirty jobs.
Forrest: And the same way we're in a movie theater like this, we're portable, we're on the move, we're portable church, there's dirty jobs that happen.
Forrest: I called out a few of you all and volunteers that have jumped into the dumpster and didn't floods outside and uh cleaned these sticky floors I was just stepping on a second ago.
Forrest: I didn't realize that what was going to happen last Sunday was when we uh at 5:30 in the morning I got a text from Jonathan telling me that there is uh water leaking from the ceiling in the men's bathroom.
Forrest: Now, uh I've been in rain before, but I've never uh been at a place where there'd been rain on a toilet.
Forrest: But last week it was raining on the toilet.
Forrest: And I got the text at 5 30 a.m.
Forrest: from Jonathan.
Forrest: And so my mom and dad were in town from Philly, and so my dad said, okay, well, you know, let's just throw the shot back in the in the back of the car and we'll head on up there.
Forrest: And so my dad, love his heart, love that guy.
Forrest: He stepped, that's all last week.
Forrest: He was supposed to be here just as a visitor, and I guess for me, but uh he was in the bathroom and he was vacuuming up water and we was squeezing it, squeeging it.
Forrest: We were we were shot backing off the ceiling tiles in the bathroom over there, doing a dirty job so that people could experience the presence of the Lord.
Forrest: This last week when we were at the jail, we ended up returning to the jail and painting the library where these where these uh parenting classes take place.
Forrest: They asked us, would we just spruce it up and and paint this library?
Forrest: It's a small room.
Forrest: There's no picture of it because you can't take your phone into the jail.
Forrest: But we were painting and we were all laughing about how none of us there wanted to, none of us were good at painting one or two really wanted to paint.
Forrest: Who wants to go and paint something, you know?
Forrest: There's like very few people who actually like enjoy painting.
Forrest: And Troy, who's back there right now, Troy just said, uh Forrest right now, I'm painting for Jesus.
Forrest: I said, Yes, we are painting for Jesus right now is what we're doing.
Forrest: We're painting for Jesus right now because this is what they asked for us to do.
Forrest: And so what we're gonna we're gonna paint these walls because they've asked us to do it, and so that we can be a blessing to them as they're doing this life-changing work.
Forrest: And they asked us to come alongside them, and we did, and we did something we didn't want to do.
Forrest: You know, part of the Christian walk and the life that we follow Jesus is that we are going to suffer with Christ.
Forrest: There are gonna be things that happen in our life, and Jesus has promised you.
Forrest: He's promised you that in this life you will have trouble.
Forrest: But take heart, for I've overcome the world.
Forrest: God's promised us progress.
Forrest: He's promised us that we get to have a hope in a future.
Forrest: He's promised us that we're gonna step into a blessing, but he's also promised us that along the way there's gonna be some challenges that we're gonna have to walk through, and it's gonna have some pain and some hardship.
Forrest: And guess what?
Forrest: He's right there with us as we're walking through it.
Forrest: He's right there with us.
Forrest: These Israelites.
Forrest: Now, this sounds like it was like really easy.
Forrest: All they did was march around and shouted.
Forrest: This was over that week, they had marched miles and miles and miles and miles all around the outside of the city, and then seven times around on the last day they had marched, carrying the Ark of the Covenant, going in circles, uncomfortable, hot.
Forrest: I've been to Jericho.
Forrest: I went to Israel when I was in my early 20s.
Forrest: It was so hot.
Forrest: We got off the bus at Jericho, and we were hot up on the hill.
Forrest: We didn't actually go into the town.
Forrest: We got off the bus, and the God said, Look over there, there's Jericho, you see it?
Forrest: And it was so hot outside, it was like I had stepped into an oven.
Forrest: I can see, you know, where the where where the heat is like coming off of the ground, and we just stood out there and he said, See Jericho over there, and we're all like, We're gonna must see it.
Forrest: He said, All right, back on the bus.
Forrest: I was like, Praise the Lord, get us back on his bus.
Forrest: They're marching and the heat, but then God tells them for them to use their voice.
Forrest: He tells them for them to make a shout, for them to speak out a praise to the Lord, and it's when they shouted, it's when they used their voice, it's when the walls fell.
Forrest: You know it was Jesus, it was Jesus at Matthew 17, when he said, Hey, you don't have enough faith, Jesus told him.
Forrest: I tell you the truth.
Forrest: If you'd had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, move here to there, and it would move.
Forrest: Nothing would be impossible.
Forrest: It was Jesus the one who said, You can look at that mountain and tell that mountain to move and it will move.
Forrest: There's nothing impossible with God.
Forrest: And they've already seen King Herod off the top of mountains, put his palaces on top of them, throw all that dirt into the city.
Forrest: They've seen the fact that you can move a mountain, and Jesus is looking at the middle and said, You think that this earthly king can move a mountain?
Forrest: I'm the king of the universe.
Forrest: Ask me to do something.
Forrest: And I'll move a mountain in your life.
Forrest: I'm move some dirt for you.
Forrest: I'll do what you when you ask that if you ask it in my name, I'm gonna do it.
Forrest: Because he who began a good work in you will complete it.
Forrest: We've already said it three times this morning, four times this morning.
Forrest: Philippians 1, 6, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Forrest: He who began a good work in you, he's gonna complete it.
Forrest: He's not gonna go halfway, he's not gonna drop the wall, he's not gonna drop the obstacle halfway down.
Forrest: But instead, he's gonna fully move when you open your mouth and you speak the victory.
Forrest: What we have to do is we have to vocalize the victory.
Forrest: We have to speak it out.
Forrest: The Bible says that it's faith that comes by hearing and hearing the word of God.
Forrest: It's the Bible that says that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Forrest: But you gotta confess it.
Forrest: You gotta speak it out.
Forrest: You gotta vocalize it, you gotta ask God to do it.
Forrest: And when you do, when you ask him, and you keep asking him, that's when God's gonna bring a victory.
Forrest: How is it?
Forrest: How in the world, Forrest, how in the world do I break through this wall?
Forrest: First you gotta call on Jesus.
Forrest: You gotta call on him.
Forrest: And then you gotta keep calling on him.
Forrest: And then maybe you need to fast.
Forrest: And maybe you need to ask somebody else to come alongside you and pray with you.
Forrest: Maybe you need to be like what the Israelites did.
Forrest: You need to start bringing an offering to the Lord.
Forrest: He asked for Jericho to be an offering, that you need to bring an offering to God, not just financially, but what the Bible says is that we are a living sacrifice.
Forrest: That God wants you to give yourself fully over to Him to vocalize the victory that's in your life.
Forrest: You understand that you don't just make Jesus your Lord and Savior.
Forrest: He's already Lord and Savior of the world.
Forrest: You have to acknowledge it.
Forrest: You have to speak it out and you have to confess it, and you're the one that has to believe it.
Forrest: You don't just all of a sudden, okay, God, well now I'm ready just to, you know, make you God of my life.
Forrest: No, he's already God.
Forrest: He's already fighting the battles, he's already going before you.
Forrest: He already has promises that are waiting on you, but you're the one who has to acknowledge it and has to actually receive it and possess it for the glory of God, for your salvation, for God to move in power.
Forrest: And when you do, victory comes.
Forrest: You remember this?
Forrest: I heard an old, old story how a savior came from glory, that he gave his life on Calvary to save a wretch like me.
Forrest: I heard about his groaning, of his precious blood atoning.
Forrest: Then I repented of my sins and won the victory.
Forrest: Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior forever.
Forrest: He sought me, he bought me with his redeeming love.
Forrest: He loved me ere I knew him, and all my love is due him.
Forrest: He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood.
Forrest: You gotta vocalize it.
Forrest: You gotta begin to speak it.
Forrest: There's many of you right now, you've walked into the room and you've already said something like this like, man, God would never love me.
Forrest: I can't do all this Christian stuff.
Forrest: I can't be part of church.
Forrest: You may even say stuff like, you know what?
Forrest: This debt, I don't know how I'm gonna I don't know how I'm gonna pay it.
Forrest: I don't know how I'm ever gonna get out from under this.
Forrest: This court stuff that I'm in right now, I don't I don't I'm never this is never gonna go away.
Forrest: The sin problem that I have in my life, you know, it I just can't kick it.
Forrest: You've already spoken a curse.
Forrest: You've already spoken a defeat over your life.
Forrest: And what God is asking you to do is for you to speak a victory.
Forrest: For you to take away the power and the grasp that Satan, his demons, and sin have on you.
Forrest: For you to receive and walk in the power of God by walking in faith.
Forrest: To leave the defeat behind and to step into victory, and it starts by you vocalizing it, and then it takes root and moves into action.
Forrest: The people of God they shouted, and then they took the city.
Forrest: It starts for you to say, you know what?
Forrest: I'm gonna walk in my purpose.
Forrest: I'm gonna walk in God's calling for me.
Forrest: I am gonna be a part of God's church and what he's doing in my life.
Forrest: I am gonna join a team and get a part of seeing the move of God happen in this city and these walls and outside of it.
Forrest: Yeah, I'm gonna step forward.
Forrest: I'm gonna I'm gonna do this.
Forrest: I'm gonna step forward and I I'm gonna be baptized.
Forrest: Because the enemy doesn't want me to.
Forrest: And right now I've been borrowing other people's faith.
Forrest: I just I've got to say this.
Forrest: What of you today?
Forrest: What of your faith are you dependent on?
Forrest: What of your faith is being facilitated by somebody else?
Forrest: If I didn't get up here and share the word with you today, would you have opened your Bible this week?
Forrest: Would you have received the word?
Forrest: If the team that came in and set all this up, if they had not done this, would you have been able to worship this week?
Forrest: Are you borrowing faith from somebody else?
Forrest: Is it your grandma?
Forrest: And whenever somebody asks you about your relationship with God or where you go to church, you always say, Oh yeah, my grandma, I go to my grandma's church.
Forrest: Man, I love my grandma's church.
Forrest: I go there all, you know, I go there on Easter and Christmas, and I go there for it with granny.
Forrest: But really, you're just borrowing her faith, you don't have your own.
Forrest: Was it your parents who chose to baptize you as a child and you haven't stepped forward to be baptized as a believer as Jesus did as an adult?
Forrest: And you're borrowing the faith of your parents, which is honor.
Forrest: It's an honor that it's an honor and a kindness, and it's it's great that they've dedicated you to the Lord.
Forrest: But are you you you borrowing their faith?
Forrest: Are you stepping forward on your own faith?
Forrest: And following what God's called you to do to walk into victory.
Forrest: You gotta drop the destruction.
Forrest: You gotta cut the lock.
Forrest: You gotta break the barrier.
Forrest: You're not doing it on your own.
Forrest: You're doing it with the power of Jesus.
Forrest: You're doing it with brothers and sisters who can empathize with you and who can come alongside you and can encourage you and pray for you.
Forrest: In a room of people right now, that there are people all across this room who genuinely love you.
Forrest: You just don't even know it yet because Jesus is overflowing them so much that they they love people they don't even know yet.
Forrest: And that's just gonna keep going because you know what?
Forrest: We are a church on the move.
Forrest: So you're in the room today.
Forrest: There's a barrier.
Forrest: There's a wall between you and God.
Forrest: And today, more than anything, God wants to break down that wall, break down that barrier, and he has already done it for you on the cross.
Forrest: Jesus went and died in your place to mend, to build a bridge, to break down the wall and the barrier so that you can now be in right relationship with God and that you can walk forward in victory.
Forrest: And that victory is you moving from death to life.
Forrest: You've come into the room today, you don't have Jesus or received his salvation, you haven't received his forgiveness on the cross, and you're dead in your sins.
Forrest: But tomorrow, if you were to step out of this place and for something to happen to you, you would walk into glory with Jesus in victory because you moved from death to life.
Forrest: And you're not gonna be insane in Satan's hell with demons because you're still bound and broken and and and and and and and behind this barrier and wall, but instead, you are open and free to walk into heaven, not on your own accord.
Forrest: You didn't do anything for it.
Forrest: Jesus did everything for you on the cross.
Forrest: Jesus died in your place, and then he walked out of the grave alive so that you can walk alive as well, that you can step out of your grave.
Forrest: And you may be walking around right now, and you may have a job and you got family and you got kids, but you're dead in your sin, and you need to be forgiven.
Forrest: That's the gospel.
Forrest: Today you may be in the room today, and today is your day for you to receive Jesus, for you to be saved, for you to move forward.
Forrest: Let me pray over all of us.
Forrest: Father, there are so many in this room right now, God.
Forrest: Every single one of us, me included, God, that I've got walls, I've got barriers.
Forrest: We all have walls and barriers.
Forrest: God, we all have things that, Lord, the enemy has put into our path, that, Lord, we brought destruction.
Forrest: Father, I pray right now, God, all across this room, God, that that destruction will be dropped.
Forrest: That chains will be broken.
Forrest: Sins that have plagued families for generations, that today, Lord, that God, a new path and promise will be fulfilled because of your progress.
Forrest: That there will be freedom that is received today, God, in you.
Forrest: And that somebody in this place will vocalize the victory, God, that you have already purchased for us on the cross.
Forrest: Father, I pray all across this room, for anybody in this room right now that has not received you, Jesus, and your salvation on the cross, they've never confessed with their mouth that you are Lord and believed in their heart that you have been raised from the dead.
Forrest: And God, today is their day of salvation.
Forrest: Father, I pray all across the room, if there's anybody who's in that place right now, that Father, that they would pray to you right now, Jesus, save me.
Forrest: I believe that you're the Son of God.
Forrest: I believe that you died on the cross for my sin.
Forrest: Forgive me.
Forrest: Wash me, cleanse me, break down the wall so that I can be in right relationship with you.
Forrest: Thank you for saving me.
Forrest: I'll be in heaven with you one day.
Forrest: I give you my life.
Forrest: You gave your life for mine.
Forrest: In Jesus' name.
Forrest: Nobody looking around, heads bowed, eyes closed.
Forrest: There's anybody in the room today, you prayed that God would save you today.
Forrest: I'm not going to embarrass you.
Forrest: I just want to pray for you.
Forrest: If that was you today, to pray to receive the salvation of Jesus.
Forrest: Would you just quickly raise your hand up so I can see you and pray for you and then put it back down?
Forrest: Anyone in the room?
Forrest: That prayed that prayer today for Jesus to save you.
Forrest: To forgive you of your sins.
Forrest: That I pray I pray Jesus across this room.
Forrest: For any of those who've made that decision today, Father, you would seal it.
Forrest: That God they would move forward and walk forward in you.
Forrest: Let today be the day of their salvation.
Forrest: We love you, God.
Forrest: We thank you and we praise you in Jesus' name.
Forrest: Amen.
Forrest: Church, will you celebrate the victory with me this morning as you stand together and sing as we close?