Last sermon preached at Montclair's old building- Bringing down the walls.

We have been remembering today ways in which God has met with us through the years here in this place. In these walls. God has moved here….in lives, in families. It is right for us to pause and reflect on those times.
Many other memories have also been made in this place. If the walls could talk??? What would they say?? What stories would they tell?
As sacred as this place has become….it really isn’t about the building. It is about a body of believers living out their faith though life…..side by side. The Church is not bricks and mortar but the Body of Christ preparing the world for His coming again.
Joshua said to the commander of the army of the Lord: Are you one of us, or one of our adversary’s? ² The Commander of the Army of the Lord replied Neither!² The battle of Jericho was not their battle but it belonged to the Lord.
The mission of the Corps is not ours to live out as we please or on our own strength and thinking. The mission of this Corps must be the Lord’s mission! No matter what the walls look like around us!
In our Scripture today we will see a battle that belonged to the Lord…He promised to bring the walls down, to take them into the Promised Land. He called the next generation of believers to step out in faith.
In this battle they would face more than just the thick walls of Jericho. They would have to first have to face some invisible walls in their own lives before the victory would be theirs.

Sometimes our invisible walls seem thicker than those of Jericho.

I. The first wall is the wall of fear
· Peladophobia: fear of baldness and bald people.
· Chaetophobia: fear of hairy people.
· Levophobia: fear of objects on the left side of the body.
· Dextrophobia: fear of objects on the right side of the body.
· Calyprophobia: fear of obscure meanings.
· Odontophobia: fear of teeth.
· Phobophobia: fear of being afraid.

I think the fear we find in this passage has more to do with………”Fearing of what others will think of us”
Imagine Joshua’s fear 6:13-15, 7:1-5---some game plan! Imagine having to tell the priest…or the people.
What about the people’s fear---7:8-11- stepping out and marching around with no immediate results. Just a lot of trumpet noise!
---- vs. 11 that night?? What were they thinking as they went to bed that night.
Why are we doing what we do anyway?
For who?

II. The second wall is the wall of cynicism…….” Nothing is going to change, nothing will happen, nothing will be different.”
· A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin. H. L. MenckenUS editor (1880 - 1956)
· Cynicism is not realistic and tough. It's unrealistic and kind of cowardly because it means you don't have to try. Peggy Noonan, in Good Housekeeping US speechwriter for George Bush (1950 - )
· A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past, he is one who is prematurely disappointed in the future. Sidney J. Harris

7:12-14 ---2nd to 6th day…same thing, nothing different…no signs, no changes….monotony.- I wonder if the trumpets were blown with less enthusiasm on the 4 or 6th day then they were on the first.
There is often a creeping cynicism which attacks the vulnerabilities of the people, getting them to succumb to temptation, providing the illusion that God’s word is no longer relevant despite past victories. This perhaps this is the highest wall--- the wall of cynicism, of unbelief, of a weakening faith in the gospel, it’s power, it’s healing and redemptive possibilities.
We see no immediate results, we feel like we are going through the motions. We start to doubt the validity of it all.
7:15-21------it works! God keeps his word. They didn’t bring the walls down….God did.

III. The third wall is the wall of exclusiveness…..” God calls us to reach out to others and accept them fully into our community; our circles……invite them to be part of God’s family. Not just marginally.
7:22-25—Instructions about Rahab and her family.
God calls them to accept those who are most unlike them. To invite them into the family.
The Israelites found a place out side the camp-vs.23
No longer acceptable to be exclusive…Every ministry, every program, every social outreach that we have in our corps should be a path to acceptance into our corps family and ultimately acceptance into the family of God. Finding places for people outside the camp…is not God’s plan.
We do what we do so people will come to know Jesus. The mission of the corps is- ( not should be- BUT IS!) an all-embracing one.
This is how the kingdom of God is to look like and it will only occur when we beak down every last wall of exclusiveness.
Sometimes we act like “they” should be content, happy and thankful they are saved…God calls us to not only to bring them out of the rubble but to bring them into to the fellowship.
God outlines this perfectly in his own family tree.
Matt. 1:5…Mentions Rahab….no longer outside the camp but….God brought her into the family into his blood line.

Conclusion:
This year will be a year of many changes. We will not be surrounded by the familiar. God is calling us to be ready for battle…He is going to do a new thing….walls will come down, visions for the future of the Army in Montclair will become a reality. May we go forward….with no fear of what other’s may think or say. May we go forward….leaving the doubt, the cynicism behind us, May we go forward with the sole purpose of honoring God and bringing others into His Kingdom. Gives us a vision Lord for the future of this corps.

The strongest and highest walls cannot hold out against omnipotence! ²- Mathew Henry