Participants:
Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000676S
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00:01 (Breath of Life Theme Music)
00:06 Sermon #B676 - Walls Coming Down 00:20 Dr. Byrd: Today, we continue on our journey. Our message is entitled Walls Coming Down. 00:28 Walls Coming Down and we come from The Book of Joshua. 00:32 Joshua, Chapter Six and we go to verse number one. Joshua, Chapter Six, verse number one. 00:40 I am going to read from the King James Version of the Bible. 00:44 Joshua, Chapter Six, verse number one, 00:46 the word of God says, “Now, Jericho was straightly shut up 00:49 because of the children of Israel. None went out and none came in.” 00:54 Verse number two, “And the Lord said unto Joshua, 00:56 “See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, 01:00 and the king thereof in the mighty men of valor. 01:02 And ye shall compass or surround the city, all you men of war 01:07 and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou six days.” 01:12 Verse number four, “And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' 01:18 horns: and the seventh day shall compass the city seven times, 01:23 and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.” 01:27 Verse number five, the word of God says, “And it shall come to pass, 01:32 that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, 01:39 and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, 01:42 and all the people shall shout outs with a great shout; 01:46 and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, 01:50 and the people shall ascend up every man straight before Him. 01:57 Today, we want to challenge you on the subject as we shared earlier, Walls Coming Down. 02:04 Lord, God, bless us now. We have sung, we have prayed, but now we need a word from you. 02:12 Speak to your people today, Walls Coming Down. Somebody has got a wall, God. 02:17 It needs to come down today. 02:19 So I pray the power of the Holy Spirit that through your word, 02:21 through your word that goes to the television screens, 02:24 through your word that goes to the computer screens, 02:27 through your word that goes to that smartphone that God would may penetrate someone's mind 02:31 and someone's heart today, and may they a fully know that, yes, 02:34 in the name of Jesus, walls can come down. So hide me behind your cross, 02:38 forgive us of our sins in the name of Jesus we pray, 02:41 let everyone say, “Amen,” and amen. Walls Coming Down. 02:50 Let me begin this way. Let us remember what a wall is. 02:54 We all know what it all is, but just in case you do not remember, let me remind you. 02:59 A wall is a structure that divides or separates an area. You cannot cross a wall. 03:08 You cannot walk through a wall. You cannot penetrate a wall 03:14 because a wall is designed to keep you out. A wall is designed to keep you from going in. 03:22 A wall is designed to separate you from something or someone else. 03:28 But let me remind you today that a wall is not just physical. 03:34 A wall is not just literal. But a wall can also be a figurative wall, 03:42 because a wall can be symbolic of an obstacle, an impediment, a barrier, a hindrance, 03:50 an obstruction, or a separation to something else. 03:55 We live in a world full of walls. Academic walls separate the educated from the uneducated. 04:06 Political walls separate the liberal from the conservative. 04:11 Economic walls separate the rich from the poor. 04:16 Social walls separate the privileged from the prejudiced. 04:22 And racist walls separate the black from the whites. 04:29 The world is full of walls and all of us, whether we want to acknowledge it or not, 04:36 we have a wall. 04:37 And friends of mine, if you do not have a wall or do not think you have a wall, 04:43 let me tell you to keep on living. As we are in this season of people having enough 04:48 and getting tired of racism, and tired of social injustice, 04:51 and notice I said having enough and getting tired of, 04:55 and I did not say this season of heightened racism 04:58 because somebody thinks racism is just happening now or just raising its ugly head again. 05:04 But let me remind you that its head never went anywhere. 05:09 In fact, its head is always been here. So in the words of Will Smith, 05:12 racism is not getting worse, it is just getting recorded. 05:15 Do I have a witness in His place? 05:18 But during these times, I hear people say, “Well, racism has never happened to me. 05:22 It would not happen to me.” Well, keep on living. The day will come. 05:26 When it will happen to you, if it has not happened already because for some of us, 05:30 you just do not know it has happened 05:32 because you are so used to people talking to you the way they do 05:35 or doing to you what they do. And because they have done it so long, 05:38 they think it is all right. You have accepted it, but it is not all right. 05:42 Enough is enough. 05:45 But if it has not happened, you keep on living 05:47 because one day you will be faced with a wall. It may not be a racist wall. 05:52 It could be a political wall. It could be a social wall. It could be a financial wall. 05:57 It could be a job wall. It could be a family wall. It could even be a spiritual wall, 06:03 but we will all have a well. Well, God's spoken promise of all of our lives, 06:08 all of us find ourselves facing walls. 06:10 We all find ourselves facing some gaps that need to be bridged. 06:14 Some habit that needs to be broken. Some grip that needs to be set free. 06:19 Some problem that needs to be solved that is keeping us from receiving God, 06:24 the God ordained place of victory that he asked for us. 06:27 There are some of us and sometimes that for all the promise God has spoken in our lives, 06:34 we still find ourselves facing situations, facing hurdles, facing barriers, 06:41 facing circumstances that seemed to be impossible. 06:46 But I want somebody to know today that in the name of Jesus Christ, 06:50 there comes a point in time in your life when walls must come down. 06:55 And I have come to remind somebody today that no matter what the walls are in your life, 06:59 walls do come down. And God is the one who can tear those walls down. 07:05 In the text, a familiar text, we all know this text, Joshua, Chapter Six. 07:11 We find the Israelites in the same position that some of us are in today. 07:16 The Israelites are standing on the edge of the Promised Land. 07:21 After years of bondage in Egypt, after years, after facing the Red Sea, 07:27 after wandering in the wilderness for forty years, after their period of tests, 07:31 trouble and tribulation, 07:33 the children of Israel are now standing on the brink of the Promised Land 07:37 and the Promised Land is in their View. But there is a bit of a snag in the process. 07:44 There is a stumbling block in their way. 07:47 You see, even though they have caught a glimpse of the Promised Land, 07:50 even though their victory is just around the corner, 07:54 even though they see victory in sight, they still cannot touch it 07:59 because there is a wall in their way. 08:02 A wall That is hindering them from moving where they are right now to the place where God 08:07 has called them to be. A wall thats trapping them 08:10 between what they had been delivered from and what they are trying to go into. 08:16 They cannot go through the wall. They cannot go over the wall. 08:20 They cannot penetrate the wall. They are facing a wall. 08:25 Now, you will remember, God brought them out of Egypt. 08:28 God delivered them from the fiery hand of pharaoh. God gave them water out of a rock. 08:32 God set up a dry cleaners in the desert where they had no washing machine, no dryer, 08:36 no bathtubs, no showers, but God kept them smelling good 08:40 and looking good at the same time, 08:42 because there is no way you could be around the same folks for forty years with limited 08:47 water and the same clothes on unless God was providing for your progress. 08:51 Are you hearing what I am saying? 08:52 When they were hungry, God fedth them. When they were hungry, God gave them manna. 08:57 They had barbecued manna. They had stir-fried manna. There are french-fried manna. 09:02 They had baked manna. There had stewed manna. They had jerk manna. 09:07 They had curried manna. But now, God has brought them to a wall. 09:12 Now, Israel's leader. Joshua does not ask the people what they think ought to happen in 09:21 dealing with Jericho. In other words, Joshua does not call a board meeting. 09:28 Joshua does not call a business meeting. Joshua does not set up a committee. 09:35 Joshua talks to God. Sometimes, I have learned in my experience, 09:40 you cannot talk to everybody. Sometimes you would rather to just talk to God 09:44 because having a little talk with Jesus makes it right. 09:47 I wish I had a witness in His place. 09:49 When I got ready to take a stand against racism and racial inequality 09:54 and started marching and protesting, I could not talk to everybody. 09:59 I could not call a board meeting. I could not call a business meeting. 10:03 I could not call an elders meeting. I just had to talk with God 10:07 and do what God told me ‘to do. In fact, I am going to throw this in. 10:12 Be careful during those rough times in your life who you talk to 10:16 because you can do one of two things. You can either listen to or you can listen to God. 10:21 Joshua listens to God. 10:23 In verse number two, God tells Joshua, “Joshua, I have given unto you. 10:28 I have given unto your hand Jericho.” 10:33 Now, the walls of Jericho are in front of the children of Israel, 10:37 but God says, “I have given you, Joshua, the city.” 10:42 In other words, God is saying, “It is already yours.” It is already done. 10:49 The fight is already fixed. You do not have to wait until the battle is over. 10:54 You can shout now. This is the Lord's battle. 10:58 This is not a battle between Israel and Jericho. 11:02 This is a battle between the Almighty God and the lower case G gods of Jericho. 11:08 And because God is Commander-in-Chief, because God is the one in charge, 11:14 He is CEO of the universe. You did not vote Him in and you cannot vote Him out. 11:19 You cannot impeach Him. He is not going to resign 11:21 because He is God and He is Commander-in-Chief. 11:24 God tells His people the first plan against Jericho in verse number three. 11:29 He says, “Listen, you are going to March around Jericho. 11:34 And March around Jericho's walls one time for each of the next six days.” 11:41 Now, do not get it twisted. God's plan was not an exercise plan. 11:46 Walk eight acres around Jericho every day and you will lose eight pounds. 11:50 No, God was not into an exercise plan. God was not introducing a diet plan. 11:57 God is not talking about exercise. God is not talking about diets. 12:01 God here is talking about faith. “I know you cannot see me, but trust me. 12:07 I know you cannot trace me, but touch me. I know you cannot touch me, but trust me. 12:14 You do not have to run. You do not have to jog, but I want you to walk. 12:19 That is how you are going to fight, you are going to walk. 12:22 That is how Jericho's walls are going to come down, you are going to walk.” 12:26 I wish somebody was hearing me today. 12:28 Now, on the surface, you need to understand that the thought of overtaking Jericho 12:31 in of itself, seemed strange and ridiculous. Jericho was the mighty city. 12:36 But more than that, then to overtake Jericho without weapons 12:41 and just walking was even more absurd. 12:46 But I have learned that it does not make a difference what it looks like. 12:51 Whenever God gives you a word, you better do it 12:56 because while you are trying to figure out what God is doing, 13:00 and it may not make sense to you, you ought to go on 13:04 and do what God is telling you to do because God knows what He is doing. 13:09 God has been God longer than you have been you. 13:13 God told the children of Israel that on the first six days, 13:17 you are going to the walk around Jericho's walls one time each day. 13:23 But then He continues the plan in verse number four and says, “That on the seventh day, 13:28 they were to walk around Jericho seven times.” 13:31 There is something special about the number seven, I wish I had time. 13:35 But then God says, “There is some more to the plan.” 13:38 In verse number five, He says, “Not only you are going to walk around Jericho seven 13:42 times on the seventh day.” But He says, “On the seventh day, 13:45 seven priests are going to blow seven trumpets.” 13:49 And then after walking around the city on the seventh time, 13:52 He said, “You are supposed to shout after you have marched seventh times, 13:58 after you have blown the seven trumpets, after you have done this when you shout, 14:04 the walls of Jericho go come tumbling down.” 14:08 Now, if you read Joshua Six, very carefully you, will notice in verses seven 14:13 and nine that God also told Israel to put armed men before the trumpet blowers. 14:19 Read your Bible. Now, remember God is saying, “You are going to shout 14:23 and the wall is going to come down.” 14:24 But why does he put armed soldiers in front of the trumpet blowers? 14:28 These are men, you need to understand, were not going to shoot. 14:32 These are men were not going to fight. But God says, “I need some soldiers. 14:38 I need some soldiers who are not ashamed. I need some soldiers who are not scared. 14:43 I need some soldiers who are not afraid to go before ye,” 14:47 because God does not need any cowards. God does not need any scared soldiers. 14:52 But God needs some soldiers who are not afraid to go into the enemy's camp 14:56 and look the enemy dead in the eye and say to the enemy, 15:00 “I am here and I am not going anywhere until I get what I came for.” 15:05 Some people running around here talking about, “Pastor Byrd, why are you marching? 15:08 Why are you protesting?” 15:10 Because we are going to the enemy's camp to tear Satan's kingdom down, that is why. 15:14 We are going to tear modern Jericho down. We are going to tear Jericho thinking down. 15:20 We are going to tear Jericho's systems down. We are going to tear Jericho statutes down. 15:25 We are going to tear Jericho's racism down. 15:28 And I am not scared.” I said, “I am not scared.” If God be for us who can be against us. 15:36 No weapon formed against us is going to prosper. I am not scared. 15:41 The Lord is my light and He is my salvation whom shall I fear. 15:47 The battle we are fighting is a spiritual battle. 15:51 You see, it is a spiritual battle when one race can think they are superior than another 15:58 race. It is a spiritual battle when you think just 16:01 because you were born with a certain skin color, 16:03 you have rights and privileges others cannot have. 16:07 It is a spiritual battle when on one side of town, schools are underfunded 16:12 and schools on another side of town are super funded. 16:16 It is a spiritual battle when a known liar and known witness tamperer, 16:22 a known obstructer of justice can have his prison sentence commuted 16:27 by his friend and never serve a day in prison. 16:30 But yet, the Central Park Five, who were wrongly accused 16:34 and wrongly convicted in an alleged sexual assault case can serve six years 16:39 and eight months in the prison system for a crime they did not commit 16:43 and law enforcement knew that none of their DNA matched the DNA when 16:47 it was collected from the crime scene in the first place. 16:51 It is a spiritual battle when people think that monuments epitomize a racist history 16:56 that they can still stand just 16:58 because they are a part of history even if it is a bad history. 17:03 It is a spiritual battle when a white woman who is breaking park rules by not putting her 17:09 dog on a leash. It is called out for her wrongdoing by a black man, 17:13 and when he does it, she calls the police and says this black man is assaulting her 17:18 and all he is doing is bird-watching. 17:20 But because she knows that because of her privileged, 17:23 the black man can be wrongfully accused, potentially harmed, 17:27 unjustly convicted, she does it. She calls the police. 17:32 It is a spiritual battle. And friends of mine, it is time for Jericho walls to come down. 17:38 Somebody said, “Pastor, why do you keep preaching this?” 17:42 The Montgomery bus boycott lasted three hundred and eighty-one days. 17:45 We will not stop. We will not stop preaching. We will not stop marching. 17:51 We will not so stop showing demonstrations. Enough is enough. 17:56 You cannot call yourself a Christian. You cannot call yourself a child of God. 18:01 You cannot think you are going to make it to God's 18:02 kingdom until some of these walls come down. 18:06 Somebody said church folks should not protest, 18:10 but what they do not realize is the Christian Church, 18:13 The Seventh-Day Adventist Christian Church started because of protests. 18:18 It was in fifteen-seventeen where Martin Luther nailed theses to the door of the church 18:25 in Wittenberg, Germany protesting against the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church. 18:31 He was protesting, and because he was protesting, from protesting we get Protestant. 18:36 We have the Protestant Church. So when you say the church should not protest, 18:40 the church was born out of protest. We are part of the Protestant Church. 18:46 Why did the church protest? Because walls had to come down. 18:50 But there is one more thing I need to say, and I am going to sit down. 18:53 Let us go back to the children of Israel. 18:54 Let us go back to the children of Israel walking around Jericho's walls, 18:57 blowing trumpets around Jericho walls. Remember, blowing trumpets was an act of worship. 19:05 You all do not hear what I am saying. 19:07 Which is a reminder to all of us that God moves when we worship. 19:12 I wish I had a church in this place right now. 19:14 On the seventh day, the children of Israel had to walk around Jericho seven times, 19:21 seven priests had to blow seven trumpets, 19:24 and then everybody after the seventh time everybody was supposed to shout. 19:31 You all do not hear what I am saying. They were blowing trumpets 19:35 and they were shouting in praise. 19:38 Now, remember I told you that this battle is spiritual. 19:44 We wrestled not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. 19:48 Against the rulers of the darkness of this world. 19:50 Against spiritual wickedness in high places. 19:53 And I am here to let somebody know today that some walls have to come down 19:58 and they are going to come down to praise and worship. There is victory in your praise. 20:04 There is healing in your praise. That is deliverance in your praise. 20:09 The text says that people blew trumpets and walls came down. 20:15 Israel was nothing more than a preacher and choir. You all do not hear what I am saying. 20:20 They marched around Jericho for six consecutive days one time. 20:26 But on the seventh day, they marched around seven times and they blew seven trumpets 20:32 and the seventh time they shouted and the walls came tumbling down. 20:38 And Joshua does his little shout on the seventh time. 20:42 This was true praise that there is something within me. It is not something made up. 20:50 It is not something conjured up. It is not something put on. 20:56 It is not something put on my hand or my head, and if I fall out, 21:02 I am automatically healed. But it is something within me. 21:07 Something within me that I cannot explain, that God has got a hold of me. 21:13 That God has done something so good for me that I cannot articulate what He has done. 21:21 So all I can do is shout. 21:24 There was a time in all of our lives, and we all go through this, 21:27 where you basically praise God like your family. You watch children, 21:32 they praised God just like their family. 21:35 If your family does not say, “Amen,” then nine out of ten, you do not say, “Amen.” 21:39 If your family member does not clap, nine out of ten, you do not clap. 21:43 If your family member does not lift Holy Hands, 21:46 then you probably do not lift Holy Hands because you were not raised that way. 21:50 And let me be clear, that is okay. 21:53 That is all right. But if the Lord has done something for you 22:01 and you have been through some things for yourself, 22:04 and you knew what it was like to be sick by yourself, broke by yourself, 22:09 feelings hurt by yourself, when you are almost about to lose your mind yourself, 22:15 you are on the borderline of suicide by yourself, 22:18 and you knew what it was like to be on the brink of death by yourself, 22:22 but then you saw how God brought you out when you begin to praise Him, 22:28 it is not about momma's praise. It is not about daddy's praise. 22:32 It is not about Pastor Byrd's praise. It is not about praise team praise. 22:37 But it is all about you and Jesus 22:40 and everything you have begun to do opens up your mouth and you begins to praise God. 22:45 All I am saying to you today, I am about done, 22:48 but I am saying if you have got a wall that needs to come down in your life, 22:52 if you have got an economic wall that needs to come down in your life, 22:57 if you have got a social wall that needs to come down in your life, 23:01 if you have got a family wall that needs to come down in your life, 23:05 if you have got a job wall that needs to come down in your life, 23:09 if you have got an employer wall that needs to come down in your life, 23:13 if you have got a racist wall that needs to come down and your life, 23:17 just follow God's plan. 23:20 Open up your mouth and give God a shout, because when the praises go up the blessings come down. 23:28 I dare you somebody to go into the enemy's camp and just shout. I dare you. 23:35 You better tell somebody if you knew what I knew would knew, 23:38 you would understand why I praise Him like I do. If you knew what I would knew, 23:42 you understand why I shout like I do. I am trying to take my seat, 23:46 but my soul is getting happy. You got two choices today, 23:50 either you are going to pout or shout. 23:53 And I do not know about you, but I refuse to pout. I refuse to have a pity party. 23:58 I refuse to walk around with my head down. I refuse to walk around with my lip poked out. 24:04 God has been good to me. God has torn down too many walls for me. 24:09 And I just see in the horizon that walls are going to be coming down. 24:13 I will bless the Lord at all times and his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 24:18 I am trying to take my seat, but my soul is getting happy. 24:22 You see, a wall is similar to a mountain. Jesus told his disciples in Mark, 24:27 Chapter Eleven, verse twenty-three, 24:29 “Have faith in God for verily I say unto you that whatsoever shall say unto this mountain, 24:35 be thou removed. He shall have whatsoever, he sayeth.” 24:40 And when you have faith in God, when you speak to your mountain, 24:46 when you tell your mountain to be removed, when you tell your wall to fall, 24:53 Satan has got to go. 24:55 Somebody better tell Satan, “Satan, you and your satanic ways have got to go. 25:01 You cannot call me anymore, you have got to go. You cannot ride with me anymore, 25:07 you have got to go. You cannot text me anymore, you have got to go. 25:13 You cannot email me anymore, you have got to go. You cannot tweet me anymore, 25:18 you have got to go. You cannot Instagram me anymore, you have got to go.” 25:24 Read your Bible. Jesus never told us to climb the mountain. 25:29 People running around here singing the song, 25:31 “I am coming up the rough side of the mountain,” 25:34 God never told you to come up the rough side of the mountain. 25:37 Nowhere in the Bible does not say that. Read your Bible. 25:41 The Bible did not say climb the mountain, the Bible said speak to the mountain. 25:45 So stop climbing the mountain, speak to the mountain. 25:49 Stop wrestling with the mountain, speak to the mountain. 25:52 Stop boxing the mountain, speak to the mountain. That is how you fight it, speak to it. 25:58 Who is the authority you have? Say something, speak to it. 26:02 The power of life and death is in your tongue. You better see it. 26:07 You better say it. You better seize it. I will say it. See it. Say it. Seize it. 26:14 See it. Say it. Seize it. See it. Say it. Seize it. 26:20 And God said, “Be thou removed and cast into the midst of the sea, 26:25 for you shall have whatsoever you sayeth.” If you want healing, you better say it. 26:30 If you want deliverance, you better say it. If you want financial breakthrough, 26:34 you better say it. If you want a job, you better say it. If you want a sound mind, 26:38 you better say it. If you want salvation, you want to say it. 26:41 If you want healing over coronavirus, you better say it. 26:44 I dare you to open up your mouth and just start talking. 26:47 Stop climbing the mountain. Stop climbing the wall. 26:54 But just shout, speak to the mountain. Shout and speak to the wall, 27:02 and that mountain will be removed. That wall will come down. 27:10 I am looking racism dead in the face and I am not climbing and I am speaking to it. 27:15 In the name of Jesus, be thou removed. Somebody is looking at that job or employer wall, 27:23 you better look it in the eye of that wall and do not try to climb it, but speak to it. 27:29 Somebody is looking into the coronavirus wall, do not try to climb the wall, 27:34 but you better speak to that wall. Somebody right now is looking at a financial wall, 27:39 do not try to climb that wall, but you better speak to that wall. 27:42 Somebody right now is got a habit and they have got a spiritual wall, 27:46 stopped trying to climb the wall but learn how to speak to that wall. 27:50 You better see it. You better say it. And you better seize it. 27:55 Jesus said speak to that mountain. Speak to that wall and tell it to be thou removed. 28:05 Thank you very much for tuning in to this week's Breath of Life broadcast. 28:10 We hope and pray that you've been blessed by Dr. Byrd's inspirational message. 28:14 If you would like to hear this sermon in its entirety, 28:16 please feel free to visit us at www.breathoflife.tv. 28:22 Or, call us at (256) 929-6460. 28:36 When I was eight years old, I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. 28:41 When I was fifthteen, I had my first surgery. When I think about the time that I lost 28:52 during my adolescent years, I just can't seem to put it togther. Even now I'm doing 29:03 treatment for my disease. Everyone experiences loss. It's not of matter of if but when. 29:17 www.breathoflife.tv 29:23 [END] |
Revised 2020-07-16