Flattening the Walls of Opposition

A missionary in 1815 traveled to Cape Town, South Africa, but the government was hostile to missionaries.  This man was in the will of God, wasn't he?  Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creatures.  That’s what Christians are called to do, right?  But he was resisted and had to leave that place and find another place to preach.

So he got some oxen and a cart took his wife and left to find another place.  Think about how he felt, for a moment.  He was sure he was in the will of God.  He had gone to a lot of expense and effort to get to Cape Town and now he’s turned away.

But 27 days after they left Cape Town he met a group of Khoikhoi tribes-people who had camped near them.  He began to speak with them and discovered that the tribe was on the way to Cape Town to find a missionary who would preach the Gospel to them.

This is an amazing story.  This missionary faced obstacle after obstacle that seemed insurmountable and God broke through all of those obstacles to see His will done:  For the missionary to preach the Gospel and for the tribe to hear the Word of God and be converted.

God can overcome obstacles

There will always be opposition to the will of God for our lives and today I want to post on flattening the walls of that opposition.

Joshua 6:1-5 (NKJV)
^6:1 Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in. ² And the Lord said to Joshua: "See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor. ³ You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days. ⁴ And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. ⁵ It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him."

Obstacles to the Will of God

We sometimes forget the fact that the devil’s not afraid of us.  But I want you to know, right now, the devil’s not afraid of you.  I've seen the t-shirts that say things like, “When I wake up in the morning the devil says, “Oh no…he’s awake!”  But that’s really kind of presumptuous, because the devil isn’t afraid of you.  I saw a twitter post recently, though, that put it all in perspective that post said, “Satan’s not afraid of me, he’s afraid of who’s in me.”  That’s the truth, right there.  The devil doesn't fear you he fears Jesus.  That’s why we need God’s power:  To overcome the devil’s obstacles.

Look at the position in which Joshua and his men find themselves.  They’re looking at the city of Jericho.  Jericho is the first step to God’s promise.  It’s the first obstacle that has to be overcome to see the promise of God for Israel come to pass.  The problem is that the walls of Jericho were huge obstacles:

Excavations at Jericho indicate that the city covered perhaps eight acres and was protected by two high parallel walls, which stood about fifteen feet apart and surrounded the city. It was the sight of cities like Jericho that convinced ten of the Jewish spies that Israel could never conquer the land—Bible Exposition Commentary - Old Testament

Five meters separated these massive walls, so after one was breached the second one was still there and had to be overcome as well.  The walls were obstacles to God’s will.  In order for Israel to see the promise of God fulfilled, they would have to overcome these obstacles. 

Do you face any obstacles in finding the will of God for your life?  We’re all trying to press through to God’s will, aren't we?  That’s what Christians should be doing…the will of God.  If you've ever tried to do that, then you know it’s not always easy.  There are always obstacles to God’s will.  

A friend of mine is trying to get his visa to stay in Taiwan.  He came here as a missionary.  He came in answer to a call to preach in Taiwan.  He tried to get a work visa but he was turned down.  So now he’s trying to get a visa as a volunteer worker, just to stay in the country, but there are difficulties, and obstacles; roadblocks.  The devil doesn't want this to happen.  He wants to frustrate the will of God. 

The problem for us is the same as the problem facing Israel.  We don’t always have the capacity to overcome in our own strength.  Look at Samson for a moment, he was so strong, so powerful…when he was in the Spirit.   

Do you remember the story?  Samson was a Nazarite.  There was a prophecy about him prior to his birth saying that he would begin the deliverance from the Philistines.  When he faced an obstacle the Spirit of God would come upon him and he became incredibly strong. 

He tore a lion apart with his bare hands.

He killed a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey.

At the end of his life he tore down the temple and killed many, many Philistines.

So when God was there to help him he was incredibly strong.  He was able to overcome anything through his sheer strength.  But what happened when the Spirit of God departed from him. 

Judges 16:20-21 (NKJV)
^16:20 And she said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" So he awoke from his sleep, and said, "I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!" But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. ²¹ Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison.

When God’s spirit departed from him and he had to depend on his own strength, he was unable to free himself and was blinded and made a slave. 

In the Book of Numbers when the twelve spies went into the Promised Land they saw cities like Jericho and were so dismayed that they came back and gave a bad report. 

Numbers 13:28-29 (NKJV)
^13:28 Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. ²⁹ The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan."

One of those fortified cities was Jericho and they felt like they couldn't overcome the obstacles of those huge walls.  They lost faith in God’s power to deliver them. 

Numbers 13:33 (NKJV)
^13:33 There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."

They thought themselves small, they thought themselves weak:  They had forgotten that God had the power to overcome.  They had forgotten that God had promised them this land and that he would overcome all of the obstacles to give it to them.  He kept that promise.  God used His supernatural power to destroy Jericho’s walls.  He has the power to destroy the obstacles to His will and He will do that for us, just like He did for in Jericho for Israel.

Joshua Prepared for God’s Power

God used His power to destroy the walls of Jericho.  God brought about the victory, but Joshua didn’t just sit on his hands.  He played a role in this deliverance.  He had a responsibility to this deliverance.  In fact, he did three things that made it possible for God’s power to deliver them. 

First, he listened:  God gave him a plan, He sent an angel to deliver the plan to Joshua.  That’s what our text is; it’s God’s plan for the destruction of Jericho’s walls.  What is amazing is that Joshua heard that plan and didn't balk.  Listen to the plan.  Walk around the city one time a day for six days.  On the seventh day walk around the city seven times, blow some trumpets and yell really loud.  Then I’ll knock down the walls and you can take the city.

What would you do if I came to you one Sunday with that plan?

“Okay, I prayed and here’s the plan.  We’re going to walk around the city once a day for six days.  Next Sunday, we’ll walk around the city seven times and blow some horns and yell really loud and then we’ll be able to have revival.  Okay…Who’s with me?” 

A couple of people might follow me, but most people would say, “He’s lost it!  Don’t make any sudden moves around him, who knows what he’ll do.”  Do you know how I know that?  I know that because only a few think outreaches are effective.  Everyone else is like the ten spies; they have lost faith that God can bring about a victory.  Here’s Joshua, he hears this plan and responds by getting people ready to do exactly what the angel told him to do.

Second he obeyed:  He took the word seriously and went out and immediately began to put the plan into place. 

Joshua 6:6-7 (NKJV)
^6:6 Then Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, "Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord." ⁷ And he said to the people, "Proceed, and march around the city, and let him who is armed advance before the ark of the Lord."

He heard from God and just obeyed.  This is important – God’s promise requires our obedience.  Often God’s promises are conditional.  IF you will; THEN I will…

IF you will pray THEN I will heal your land.

IF you believe THEN you will have everlasting life.

IF you will give, THEN I will give, pressed down shaken together and running over.

Each promise has a condition and more often than not that condition is obedience.  If Joshua had never obeyed and never marched; never blew trumpets and never yelled then the walls would never have fallen and the promise would have been lost.

Third, he had faith:  Joshua was a man of faith.  Remember, in Numbers 14, he and Caleb were the only spies who believed that they could take the Promised Land.

Numbers 14:6-8 (NKJV)
^14:6 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; ⁷ and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: "The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. ⁸ If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, 'a land which flows with milk and honey.'

This is the same Joshua.  He took God at His word when they spied out the land in Numbers 14 and he’s taking God at His word here.  Because of his faith that God would do what God had promised, he was willing to follow God’s instructions to defeat the city.  In other words, he took the action of his faith. 

The Bible tells us that faith without works is dead.  We can have all the faith in the world, but if we sit on our hands and don’t take the action of our faith…nothing happens.    When we got saved we took the actions of faith and repented.  The faith part was that we believed the works part was repentance. 

When Joshua listened and believed; then acted on that belief he opened a door for God to act out on His promise.  GOD KNOCKED DOWN THE WALLS!

God will Knock Down the Walls in Your Life

Finally, I want to encourage you.  I know that some of you are facing obstacles to God’s promises and I want to clarify a couple of things that I believe will help you to see God’s deliverance.

Is it God’s will or your will?  Is it God’s promise or what you want God to do?  Sometimes, God’s will and your will are not the same things.  God promised the land to Israel; so defeating Jericho was God’s will.  God flattened the walls to see His will done.

How can you tell the difference between God’s will and your will?  If it’s God’s will it will have something to do with what God’s doing in the world; God’s purposes for the earth.  It probably won’t be something that would benefit just you and not further the Gospel in some way.  If you want to receive the desires of your heart then make the desires of your heart the desires of God’s heart. 

I've had people come to me and tell me that they can’t get a breakthrough in something they want to do.  “I want to do this thing or that thing and I’m praying but I can’t overcome some obstacle.”  The real problem is that it’s counter to what God is doing.   You’re struggling against God.  God has a plan for your life.  Are you trying to make God’s plan happen or are you trying to make God follow your plan?   

READ THE BIBLE – You can know God’s desires and character by praying and reading your Bible.  Many people only read their Bibles during Sunday’s service…and then it’s only the scriptures used in the sermon.  Read it every day.  Make Time.  It’s important to know God and understand His will for your life. 

PRAY – We all really need to pray.  It worries me sometimes when I ask for prayer requests at church and nobody has any.  If you’re praying for something let us pray with you.  If you’re not praying there won’t be any prayer requests.  How can you hear from God if you don’t pray?  We need God to move in our lives.  We need to hear from God.  We need to be able to lay our petitions before God so He can move in them.

We read in our text that God spoke to Joshua.  Do you think Joshua was kicking back and playing video games, when God spoke to him?  God spoke to him while he prayed.  God spoke to him through the scriptures.  

The Pathway to World Evangelism

Our fellowship holds a conference twice a year in Prescott, Arizona.  At those conferences, young men and their wives are launched into a city or nation to pioneer a church.  At the conference in January, seven international and twenty-one domestic works were announced.  Those announced churches bring the number of churches in the fellowship to 1, 950 churches in one hundred fifteen nations. There is a commitment to evangelism and foreign missions in our fellowship. 

The fellowship began with one pastor, Pastor Wayman Mitchell, in Prescott, Arizona in 1970.  He took over a church with a handful of people and forty-three years later we have 1,950 churches.  What is the reason for this type of revival?

We often think of revival as something that’s explosive.  Suddenly, things begin to happen; people get saved, lives begin to change, more and more people come into the church, but not all revival is explosive.  Sometimes revival is a sustained move of God over a period of time. 

What is the catalyst for this move of God in our fellowship?    What is the thing that gave impetus to this type of revival?  I believe that there are two key elements to revival:  evangelism and discipleship.   Today I want to look at one of those things, discipleship. 

Matthew 28:17-20 (NKJV)
^28:17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

Make Disciples of All Nations

The first International Conference on World Evangelism took place in 1974 in Lausanne, Philippines.  One of the things that were accomplished in that conference was the development of a working definition of missionary work.  Missionary work was defined in this conference as:  To form a viable indigenous church-planting movement.

That word indigenous is a scientific term that means those naturally occurring in a place or a region.  For our purposes a good synonym would be native.  If you were born a particular country, then you’re native or indigenous to that place.  So then, the definition of missionary work would be to raise up local men, plant churches, and carry on the missionary’s work in their native land.  Missionary work is to disciple men and to build the church. 

This is what Paul did.  He made disciples.  He built local churches through men he discipled and trained. 

1 Corinthians 4:14-16 (NKJV)
^4:14 I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. ¹⁵ For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. ¹⁶ Therefore I urge you, imitate me.

This is a picture of discipleship; being fathers in Christ.  He’s speaking of a father who teaches his son. 

You know, it’s interesting how much I've become like my dad.  The older I get the more I’m like him.  This is natural, though, that we would be like our parents because children learn to be adults through imitating their parents. 

When I was a kid, I’d play house with the other neighborhood kids.  I’d be the dad, one of the neighbor girls would be the mom, and some others were the children.  We would imitate our parents.  My “job” was always to drive a Wonder Bread delivery truck, just like my father did.  

That’s how we learn to be adults.  We imitate our parents.  I also have a spiritual father and I try to imitate him as well.  I try to be like my pastor, in how I operate and live as a Christian.  This is the mark of discipleship, we try to be like our spiritual father.  Paul says, “Imitate me.”

This is the difference between a disciple and a student.  A student will work to gain information and a disciple will work to be like the teacher.  I know a number of English teachers, and they work hard to give information about the use of the English language, but in discipleship there is a transaction that takes place.  It’s a spiritual transaction that’s called impartation.  The teacher imparts something of himself into his disciples.  Much of this impartation takes place during preaching.

1 Corinthians 1:21 (NKJV)
^1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

God chose the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.  There is something that takes place in us when we hear the spoken Word of God.

Romans 10:17 (NKJV)
^10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Preaching causes us to believe and have faith, but there is much more than that.

Romans 1:17 (NKJV)
^1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."

Who God is, is transferred between us:  From my faith to yours.  That transfer takes place through preaching.  There is even more than that, though.  If we are endeavoring to do the will of God then we must be involved in discipleship.  This is the primary thrust of the church of Jesus Christ.  Many times we think, “Well, I got them saved,” but salvation isn't the ending place, it’s the beginning.  It ends with the making of disciples.

That’s what causes the church of Jesus Christ to continue on.  The reason the church has lasted for more than 2,000 years is because of the emphasis on discipleship:  Men that follow the fathers of their faith, and raise other men to follow them, and so on down the line.  A church without discipleship is doomed, because it either won’t propagate itself, or it will morph into something other than what was intended and sway with every wind of doctrine.

Ephesians 4:11-14 (NKJV)
^4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹² for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, ¹³ till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; ¹⁴ that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,

This speaks of discipleship, coming to the unity of the faith; believing the same things, being of one accord, and to be like Christ.  It is in this spirit that Paul cries out. “Imitate me.” 

1 Corinthians 11:1-2 (NKJV)
^11:1 Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ. ² Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you.

This is the work of the missionary.  To instill this doctrine, and this gospel into non-Christians and cause it to be passed down to the next generation of Christians, and the next, and the next…   Imitation is the method of discipleship. 

Discipleship is a Partnership

Paul calls on these men to follow him, but I want you to know something, we can call until we’re blue in the face, for discipleship to work, for the church to continue on, for the gospel to be spread, it is vital for that discipleship be a partnership.  We can call but for discipleship to work there must be men who are willing to answer that call to imitation.  It can’t work if it’s only one way.  If men were unwilling to follow Paul’s example and leadership, then it would have all fallen apart.

Look at it like this:  How do we react when trouble comes?  Usually, we react in the way that we've been taught.  If your father was prone to panic, then more than likely you will be too.  If your father was stable and full of faith then the chances are that you will react that way as well.  What is it that kept the early church through persecution?  It was likely the examples of the leaders that the others were willing to follow.

Jesus was strong and went to his death bravely and silently.  Peter when Jesus was crucified failed to be like him.  We all know about his failure and denial of Christ, but do you know when Peter was faced with his own crucifixion, he went to his cross with the same courage and dignity that Jesus did.

Is there a willingness to be like your own “Father in Christ?”  Because there will be those who will arise that will try to turn you from your faith, or confuse you with exotic doctrine.  We see all these fads in the church, laughing revivals, planting flags, prosperity doctrines, all of these things.  There are those who believe and support them, and they tell you. “This is the newest thing God’s doing in the earth.”  God isn’t doing anything new, God is still doing what he has always done.  Look at Paul’s warning to Timothy:

1 Timothy 6:20-21 (NKJV)
^6:20 O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge-- ²¹ by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen.

Paul is talking about the things that he’s taught Timothy.  Avoid profane and idle babblings and contradictions.  Stand with what you’ve been taught.  Imitate your teacher.  This is what will keep you in the faith.  This is what will take the church forward.  This is Paul’s admonishment to Timothy, but it was up to Timothy to take it and run with it.  He had to be willing.  He had to accept that he would be a disciple, and this is the crux of the problem in our day and hour.  Men are less and less willing to be disciples.  They’re less involved in living out their faith.  They’re more difficult to motivate to live for Jesus.  That’s why we see churches more often drifting away from Christ’s design for His church. 

There’s something interesting that I want to look at for a moment:

Matthew 24:24 (NKJV)
^24:24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

The only way we can be deceived is if we don’t understand the doctrines of the church of Jesus Christ.  If we listen to everyone who professes to know something or can speak persuasively then we can be led to false teachings.  If we embrace the teachings of our spiritual fathers and live and move under their guidance and principles we will be much more difficult to move from the truth. 

We have to decide at some point if we will allow ourselves to be discipled.  Will you allow someone to speak into your life?  Will you give someone authority over your life?  Will you pattern your Christian walk after the one who teaches you?  Will you be a disciple?

If you left the church in Taoyuan City and were somehow teleported to my pastor’s church in Colton, you would see that they are essentially the same. If you closed your eyes it would be a simple thing to imagine that you are hearing me preach, because I’m a disciple.  I have worked to imitate my pastor; my father in the faith.  I have allowed him to be the authority in my life.  I’ve made myself accountable to him.  One of the greatest compliments you can pay me is to say, “You’re like your pastor.”  I want to be like him…I’m a disciple.  I’m called to imitation

The Permanence of Discipleship

All of these churches have been planted across the globe and they have been planted with an eye to permanence.  That is that churches will be built in those nations, men will be discipled and planted, and cause the work to grow.  There will be more and more churches in those nations until the missionary can turn the work over to indigenous men, with the same vision:  Men that have the same desire to spread the gospel, disciple others and plant more churches into other cities.    Our fellowship has planted churches into Australia, the Philippines, West Africa and other places, that started with one man, one missionary, and they have now become indigenous works, as the missionaries pulled back, leaving the work to local men. 

This is Jesus’ plan for the church, to disciple men so that they are equipped to take on the work in those places, and continue to press the Gospel forward.  This is what Paul did.  He turned over the church and went on to the next place, only returning to see that they remained in the doctrines and the teachings he left them.

1 Timothy 1:3 (NKJV)
^1:3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia--remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine,

Titus 1:5 (NKJV)
^1:5 For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you--

This is the pattern for us.  If we want to continue the work of the Gospel then we must continue within the pattern. 

2 Timothy 1:13-14 (NKJV)
^1:13 Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴ That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

This is the way in which we’ll see the Gospel spread to the far corners of the earth.  This is the pathway to World Evangelism.