BREAKING DOWN THE BARRIERS PART 5
Text - Joshua 6:1-21
Introduction
The Book of Joshua is a book that I have been preaching from this year that goes along with our church theme which is, “A Church With A Mission.”
After Moses died, Joshua was given a mission from God. He was to lead the Nation of Israel into the Promised Land.
Now, as they get ready to enter that land, there is an obstacle that stands in their way. There was one remaining thing they needed to conquer before they could fulfill what God had told them to do.
They needed to conquer the city of Jericho.
As we study this text we find a city under siege.
This last week we experienced an unprecedented event here in Southern California. We have seen the city of Los Angeles under siege. We had 47 people killed in the past five days, over 3,700 people injured, thousands of fires set, almost $500 million worth of property damage, over 1000 police and firemen responded, over 4000 National Guard had to be deployed in order to bring the city of Los Angeles under control. President Bush issued a Presidential order to have over 1500 Marines be put on stand-by alert and over 1000 special forces ready to go into this city.
We have been watching a city under siege! We have watched as buildings collapsed and walls crumbled.
Jericho was a city under siege, but very different from the city of Los Angeles. There were no fires set, no battering rams used or military forces deployed. In fact, Israel didn’t even raise a single finger against the inhabitants of Jericho.
Instead they did three things that brought about their victory and broke down the barriers they faced on their mission.
As Christians we too face many barriers. As we set out to fulfill the mission God has given to us, our enemy will try to stand in our way. What can you do in order to win the battle? This morning as we consider this classic story about the walls of Jericho tumbling down I would like us to consider three ways you can break the barriers that you are going to face in your mission for God.