Tearing Down the Walls Part 4: The Wrecking Ball

let's um kind of recap a little bit here

this is the last sermon in the series

tearing down the Walls uh the main idea

of this series was quite simple I just

know that God wants to partner with his

children to help them Tear Down the

Walls that keep them from being what he

destined them to be I feel like in a

church this size that there is so much

potential that is being wasted because

people are running headlong into walls

and they don't know how to overcome them

so I thought hey let's take a month and

focus on the tools that God gives us to

knock down these emotional physical

mental whatever walls that keep us from

being the people that God created us to

be so we talked about the the

sledgehammer in the very first uh sermon

in the series and the sledgehammer is

basically just daily faithful obedience

it's not the most glamorous thing in the

world but it is the most effective so

basically you wake up every morning and

you say hey God what can I do today to

be faithful and obedient to you and when

you do that God takes the the

sledgehammer to that wall and knocks it

down we talked second about the

shepherd's Crook and how important it is

for us to to come down off of our

pedestal and to take on the form of a

sheep under a great Shepherd that will

lead and guide and protect and redirect

when we need them to then last week we

talked about our lunchbox which is just

having time for Jesus in our culture

today there are people running this way

and that not taking much time at all

they're they're kind of like rushing out

the door every morning with a Pop-Tart

in their hand probably didn't even have

time to put it in the toaster and here

we have Jesus setting on the shore of

our lives with this beautiful meal this

word that he has cooked for us to enjoy

that will help us through the day and we

just hurry out of the house without even

taking a moment to to to read and learn

and eat what he's prepared for us Jesus

wants to forgive you and not only does

he want to forgive you he wants to

restore you which means to make it

better than it was so he doesn't just

want to bring you back to what you were

he wants to bring you to a place that

you've never been before and so if we

don't take that time with Jesus we'll

never never be able to experience that

wall coming down so today I just want to

take all three of those together and to

make this like wrecking ball that is

just going to destroy the walls that

that have been keeping you from doing

the thing that you know that God has

called you to do so let's pray and then

we'll get

started father it's my prayer today that

we would be able to see you clearly from

the words of scripture God ask that your

Holy Spirit would Inspire this message

that it would not be

anything from me but everything from you

Lord because we know that in you and you

alone is life and success and joy and

forgiveness and all the things that we

need in our human life God you've

provided for us from your word from your

spirit and from your son and so Lord I I

pray that you would continue to help us

to just kind of press into what the word

of God says and God I pray that we

wouldn't be here for any other reason

than to sing praise to you and to learn

from your word to encourage one another

to build each other up and become the

church that you want us to be father I

pray that today for those especially as

mentioned earlier that are going through

difficult seasons of life that they

would see that even in these difficult

Seasons as they're sewing with tears

Lord that they will reap a great harvest

when the time is right we pray these

things in Jesus name

amen so when you run into a wall often

times our our response is to think that

there might be something wrong with us

like maybe we're doing life wrong and

then other times we we think well maybe

there's something wrong with God and

other times we're just like hey life is

hard I I didn't think that life should

be this hard and it's getting worse and

worse because of the fact that social

media is like the the highlight real of

everybody's life you know it's where

they post the the best parts of what the

the experience is they're they're

they're smiling in the pictures they're

they they love one another you know they

have this perfect marriage and these

perfect kids and they go on these

perfect vacations like every month and

you're just scrolling through this

highlight reel and you start to compare

your life to theirs and you're like my

life be

like I'm not going to sing that one

that's '90s hip hop I think Chad O'Neal

is the only one that would get that

reference anyway so um but you're like

you know my life be like a a dumpster

fire behind Taco Bell on airing house

you know like I can't which I would take

a picture of and post by the way if I

saw that um but Jesus it's it's not

supposed to be this way and what does

Jesus say John 16:33 he says I have told

John 16:33

you these things so this isn't the first

time they've heard it I have told you

these things and he's talking about the

fact that the son of man the the Son of

God would actually have to die on a

cross so he's like I've told you these

things this bad news I've told you that

one of the disciples one of the Apostles

is going to betray me I I've told you

that one of the Apostles is going to

deny me I've told told you these things

so that you may have

huh peace so so he tells me a bunch of

bad news so that I'll have peace has

anybody ever thought about the irony of

this verse that's why we read the Bible

in context right because when you come

to stuff like this you're like wait a

minute you just told me all these bad

things and it's so that I can have peace

then he goes on and says in this world

you might have

trouble in this world the people that do

bad things are going to have trouble

trouble no in this world you will have

trouble but take heart Larry take

heart because I have overcome the world

Jesus doesn't want you to assume that

God is gone every time you hit a wall

Jesus doesn't want you to assume that

there is something wrong with you every

time you hit a wall because the the

greatest enemy of peace is when we

assume that if something is wrong with

God or something is wrong with

us Jesus says you are not broken and God

is Not absent Jesus says I want you to

have peace so I'm going to tell you the

truth about life and as parents if

you've ever had to have these

conversations with your kids you know

it's some of the most difficult things

that you will ever talk about is to look

your child in the eye and say you know

what the B are always going to be there

and and sometimes grandma is not going

to get better and sometimes that the

things you're not going to make the team

or you're not going to be in the play or

you know these heartbreaking seasons of

life it's so hard as a parent to have to

discuss these things with your child but

if you want them to have peace you have

to have these conversations you have to

let them know that Jesus has overcome

the world that Jesus Is Not absent that

they are not broken you have to let know

that this is the expected Norm of the

world in which you live it's an

uncomfortable truth but it's

true look sometimes we hit walls because

we have made poor choices I I think a

lot of us could say that we've

constructed the walls in our own lives

but then there's other times where you

are the victim of someone else's poor

choice and because of their poor choices

walls have been built in your life that

you keep running into into that Define

who you are more than the word of God

does so good news God's not gone you're

not broken the the struggle that you are

going through is the expected Norm in

which the world in the world that you

live in and Jesus paved a way for

breakthrough that's where the peace

comes from breaking through the wall so

here's your key point for today your

response to the wall is more powerful

than the

wall your response when you hit the wall

is more powerful than any wall that

could ever be constructed see some

people believe that the wall controls

their outcome outcome they're like if

you would have gone through what I've

been through then you'd know why I am

the way I am if you're spouse was like

my spouse don't look at your

spouse if your spouse was like my spouse

then you would understand why I think

the way I think if you were raised the

way I was raised then you would

understand why I am who I am if your

teacher was like my teacher if your job

was like my job if your health was like

my health if the county you lived in was

like the county that I live in then you

would clearly understand why I cannot be

the person that God created me to be

friends this is all over your social

media feed it's in veiled references but

it's all over it's post Freudian therapy

and it it puts way too much emphas

empasis on nature and nurture look those

things do play an important role in

deciding who you are but they don't get

the last word but far too many people

believe that they actually

do how do I know that to be a fact well

I know people a lot of people that came

from horrible situations and are now

extremely

successful how does that happen if

nature and nurture build a wall that

determines who you are then how did

these people who are raised in horrific

situations come to be the people that

God created them to be how did they go

from victim to Victor it was all in

their response to the wall and the

Breakthrough is found at the very end of

that verse in John 16:33 he says but

John 16:33

take heart Jesus says but take heart

because I have overcome the world you

can't overcome your nature and you can't

overcome your nurture but Jesus can

he's already overcome all of those

things and looked into you to see

exactly who you can be so what do we

need to do we need to invite him into

the situation so I want to go back to a

verse we touched on earlier in this

series Galatians chapter 6 verse 9 it's

Galatians 6:9

been kind of gnawing away at the back of

my mind for a couple weeks and I just

didn't feel like I did it a service um

so let's go back there Galatians chapter

Galatians 6 · chapter mention

6

ver9 says let us not become weary and

doing good for at the proper time we

will reap a harvest if we do not give up

one of the most frustrating parts of

life is when you are doing good and bad

things happen so for instance for me

earlier this month I was I'm just going

to tell them myself uh you can fire me

if you want um but so I was called to

pray at the County Commissioners meeting

W which is such a blessing to be able to

to be able to do that in a county like

that's I don't take that for granted

that is a tremendous opportunity to open

the Commissioners meeting with a word of

prayer so that was on a Monday we also

had a funeral on that Monday and I also

had a deacons meeting on that Monday and

the older I get the more forgetful I get

so I get a text at 7 o'clock on the dot

when I was supposed to be there praying

and I'm in a deacons meeting here and it

says are you coming to pray and I'm like

obviously not you know so they covered

for me that's fine I really appreciate

that and uh no one would have known

except for the fact I just told like 300

people um anyway so that happens right

so I'm trying to do a good thing and I

mess up so fast forward and I get the

opportunity to pray at the uh the EMS

ceremony for Camden County you know

you're getting ready to launch they do

their first call at 700 am in the

morning um by the way I said yes before

I knew what time of day they wanted me

to come pray um I would have told them

in the contract I don't pray before 8 am

but that's okay they they called me

anyway so so we're supposed to go over

to the fire department uh according to

the email and I was supposed to be there

at 6:45 and we would pray right after

the first call went out at 7:00 so I get

to the fire department it is 6:45 in the

morning I am on time miraculously and uh

I'm the only car in the parking lot and

I'm like something is a miss so I'm

walking around your fire department I'm

pulling on every door thinking I'm going

to get arrested for trying to break into

a fire department and uh it's 6:57 now

and I can't get into the building and

I'm convinced they're in there somewhere

so I'm like banging on the doors and you

know alarms are probably going off all

over the place so I just sat down I'm

like I I have to switch churches cuz if

in the same month if I missed a prayer

at two different times in a public

setting like you can't come back from

that that's the end of your ministry

okay you got to go to California and

start

over so I sat down and I I I I sent a

message uh to the the girl that was like

in charge of everything and um I know I

know she's already doing what she's

doing so I know it was a hopeless

message so I sent it out praise God she

is one of those people that actually

looks at their phone even if they're up

in front of a group of people right so

she sees the this message and she texts

me back she said oh we had to move it to

the library the exact same place that I

failed earlier in the month by the way

she's like oh no we moved it here and

she's like oh my goodness your email got

bounced back to me so apparently an

email went out the day before that I

didn't get so it's 6:57 and I know the

all call is going to take about 30

seconds so I have 3 minutes and 30

seconds to get back to my car and get to

the library so I left about a quarter

inch of tread in the on the street out

there get them to the library so I walk

right in at 7:00 right after they

finished the all call and I walked into

that building like nothing had happened

like I'd been there all morning you know

walked right up and said the prayer but

I was thinking about that look I'm

trying to do good things for Jesus and

things just aren't going my way see it

is so easy not to give up when you're

winning isn't it that man when you are

winning you just want to do more and

more but when are trying to do good and

you're getting kicked in the face that's

when it's hard for you to continue to do

good so Jesus says let us not become

weary and doing good for we will reap at

the proper time if we don't give up so

what happens is sometimes we're like

well I've tried the Jesus way and it's

not working in my marriage it's not

working with my kids it's not working in

my career it's not working at school

Jesus way is not working it seems to be

difficult so I'm going to do it the

Kevin way and that's where we make the

mistake we don't persevere in our faith

and Jesus is saying there is power in

your perseverance it is your

perseverance that will knock down that

wall keep knocking and it will be given

to you Victory is coming breakthrough is

coming do not quit and now you're like

wait a minute that seems like a lot of

responsibility this command is not a

burden sometimes it's read that way but

it is not a burden Jesus is

communicating that no matter what

nothing controls your future except for

God you are not powerless you are not

without hope because Jesus has overcome

the world and since Jesus has overcome

the world we have the confidence to

persevere and doing what's good and to

practice

Faith because Faith invites God into

your situation look at Hebrews

116 says without faith it is impossible

to please

God without faith it is impossible to

please God because anyone who comes to

him must believe that he exists and that

he rewards those who earnestly seek him

see friends this is not behaviorism this

is Bible and the Bible says that God

reward wordss the people who earnestly

seek Him who practice faith faith is

responding in obedience to the word of

God even when the context of the culture

around you is pushing you in the other

direction th this act invites God's

power into my situation this is Jesus

saying hey persevere in doing good keep

the faith and I will overcome the world

it's not all on your shoulders because

Jesus has taking care of your obstacles

and your outcomes all you have to do is

practice perseverance practice faith and

then practice thirdly love it's

perseverance it's faith and it's love

Romans

Romans 8:28

8:28 and we know that all things work

for the good of those who love God who

has called according to his

purpose you you trust the ones you love

and since he talks about good things

guess what that means there must also be

bad things because you have to have the

bad in order to have the good so Jesus

says in this world you will have trouble

but God is going to make it good somehow

if you just respond in the right way to

the wall you respond in love what does

that mean it means daily faithful

obedience it means becoming a a sheep

and allowing your Shepherd to not only

protect you but also redirect you it

means spending time with Jesus it means

protecting the Lord's Day this Sunday

worship service it means protecting

opportunities to go to Bible study and

youth group and CA and raising your kids

with the word of God spending time with

Jesus not just on you know not not just

on a podcast but with the people of God

gathered together if you're physically

able and he says if you do those things

if you love God if you seek first his

kingdom if you persevere and have faith

it says the evil that will surely happen

will somehow some way be turned into

good so we respond with perseverance and

faith and love love and we obtain the

power for breakthrough so I want to show

you a Biblical example of someone who

went through this exact same thing

there's a teenager named David in the

Old

Testament he's got seven brothers and he

had every opportunity to be a victim you

see his uh this Prophet named Samuel

comes to David's house and he talks to

David's dad a man by the name of Jesse

and the prophet Samuel tells Jesse that

God has chosen one of his sons to be the

next king of Israel which is awesome

news right so Jesse's like all right

cool let me get my sons out here and you

pick which one so he brings out seven

sons and Samuel looks at each one of

these sons and says hey God didn't

choose any of these seven do you have

another one and Jesse's like well I do

he's out in the field you know he's just

a lowly Shepherd you probably don't want

him I mean look at these guys seven

great options here God can you imagine

how that felt being David in that moment

when you're like the last pick by your

dad

so he calls for David Samuel looks at

David and saids no this is the one this

is the person that God has chosen to be

the next king over Israel see David

could have said in that moment if you

had a father like mine then you would

understand why I could never be the

thing that God created me to be later on

teenager David is at home watching the

fields and there's a war going on

between the Philistines and the

Israelites and Jesse goes to his son

David and says hey hey why don't you

take some cheese and bread to your

Warrior brothers who are out there

fighting the Philistines basically why

don't you be the door Dash driver for

the for the real men of the house that

are out there fighting the war and so

David takes the food to his brothers and

he sees all that's going on in that

moment David could have been like hey if

you had a dad like I had someone that

didn't even believe in you someone that

didn't tell you good job someone that

thought the best you could ever be was a

a door Dash driver uh someone that would

deliver food to to the these these

brothers who are just so much Superior

like that

condescending kind of tone that I'm sure

he felt in his heart even if that wasn't

the words that Jesse was

saying his father still didn't see any

royalty in David and David could have

used that as excuse but he comes to the

Battlefront in 1st Samuel 17:

26 and he says he ask these men that are

standing near him what will be done for

the man who kills the Philistine and

removes this disgrace from Israel who is

this uncircumcised Philistine that he

would defy the armies of God so you can

see that a little bit of Rebel Heart in

him already and then in verse 28 he says

this is brother when elab David's oldest

brother heard him speaking with the men

he burned with anger at him and he asked

why have you come down here and with

whom did you leave those few sheep in

the

wilderness few sheep in the wilderness

as if David's job was meaningless that

anybody could do it he's belittling his

brother right in front of all these

soldiers and then he says I know how

conceited you are and how Wicked your

heart is you came down only to watch the

battle it's insulting isn't

it his dad doesn't believe in him his

siblings don't believe in him and there

is a wall in David's life that is

keeping him from being the person that

God created him to be he could have used

the excuse and said hey no one in my

family Believes In Me So I just can't do

the thing that I know God wants me to do

David could have let their words get

this determine his Destiny but that is

not what David did David responded to

that wall in a way that gave him a

breakthrough he says their words don't

determine my destiny the only words that

matter to me are the words words of God

that were spoken through the prophet

Samuel that said that I will be the king

of Israel so he rebukes not only his

brother but also King Saul who he's also

been rejected by in verse 34 he says to

Saul your servant has been keeping his

father's sheep and when a lion or a bear

came and carried off a sheep from the

flock I went after it and I shot it with

my

rifle now they didn't have those did

they I went out after it and I struck it

I struck it with a sling with a with a

rock and a sling is that it's incredible

I went after it so it came after the

sheep and he went after it you know if a

lion or whatever comes up to me in the

wilderness I'm not going after it I'm

going the other way even if I have a

rifle I'm still running but that's not

what happened here he struck it and he

rescued the sheep from its mouth and

when it turned on me I seized it by its

hair Struck it and killed

it hand toand combat with a

lion yeah verse 36 your servant has

killed both The Lion and the bear

imagine putting that on your your

profile right have killed lion and bear

with bare hands this uncircumcised

Philistine this giant named Goliath will

be like one of them because he has

defied the armies of the Living God the

Lord who rescued me from the Paw of The

Lion and the Paw of the bear will rescue

me from the hand of this

Philistine David is not conceited as his

brother accused him of he's humble he

says the Lord will provide for me the

Lord the same one that rescued me from

The Lion and the bear is going to be the

one who Rescues Me from this giant he

gives all credit to God and God's word

see that the enemy is the father of lies

and he will use people even people that

are in your inner circle to Define you

down to continually tell you that what

you were doing is wrong and that you

will never be the person that you know

God called you to be now remember your

battle is not against flesh and blood so

we don't get angry with them we realize

that they are being used to manipulate

you to keep you from being the person

that God wants you to be so we fight on

a spiritual level with prayer for them

and for

yourself but when his father David's

father and his siblings and even the

king tried to Def Who David is when they

set up these walls in his life David let

God knock down those walls for him he

persevered he had Faith he showed love

and his response was proven powerful

enough to destroy the wall because

remember your response to the wall is

more powerful than the wall

itself so that's where the sermon was

going to end

until uh earlier well I guess later last

year when I was thinking through this um

I kept coming back to Psalm 126 which

didn't at first seem to make a lot of

sense to me because it didn't seem to

fit but as I put this together it did I

see what God is doing

now Jesus says in this world you will

have trouble so so not every moment is

going to be great and I I feel that if I

would have left it right there with that

story of David then the next time that

that you go into a situation that causes

you to to weep you might think that well

something's wrong with me because the

Pastor said that the wall would be

knocked down if I just love and

persevere and have faith but that's not

always the case sometimes the tears flow

and that's perfectly fine not every

moment is going to be great and that's

what this Psalm says Psalm

1265 those who sew with tears will reap

with songs of Joy those who go out

weeping carrying seed to sew will return

turn with songs of Joy carrying sheaves

with them don't stop

reaping don't stop sewing sorry don't

stop sewing during the difficult

seasons and I think that's what some of

us do when the tears flow we pack it in

and we say well God I guess you're just

not not in this one so I'll just go

start over somewhere else that's not

what God wants for you God wants you to

continue to to sew those seeds to

continue to practice perseverance to

continue to practice Faith to continue

to to love the Lord your God even as

you're crying as you're sowing those

seeds of obedience God says continue to

pray I had the the great privilege of

officiating the funeral of Miss Pearl

perisher and after her funeral Lori

burgess's father edar Lee he came to me

in my office and he he started talking

about this this thing that he had found

it was online a testimony from a man in

World War II and he was talking about

the the squad that that he was involved

with and the uh the soldiers were were

told to expect about an 80% fatality

rate for this specific Squad like they

knew going out that they probably

weren't going to be coming back and the

staff sergeant knowing this he he led

all the soldiers every single day in a

prayer that would focus on psalm 91 and

this one particular Soldier that's on

this YouTube video he he was sharing how

he was an agnostic and how he very much

disagreed with this practice and if he

had been the staff sergeant he would

have never allowed something like this

to to actually happen so they go out

onto the battlefield and they go on a

mission that involved them crossing a

bridge and on this bridge as the

vehicles went over the bridge every

single one of the vehicles on that

bridge was just riddled with bullets and

as they were going over the bridge he

was the driver of the jeep that that his

group was in and he said it was as if

the bullets were flying over the vehicle

like things were being struck all around

him but as his Jeep went up the the

bullets weren't touching the the

vehicle and then he shared that 100% of

the soldiers in his Squad survived the

mission when from 80% were expected to

die to 100% lived needless to say he's

no longer

agnostic nor an atheist he is a a born

again believer in Jesus Christ and so um

edar he shares this story with me and

then he hands me this piece of paper and

it's got Psalm 91 on the front and then

it's got a little testimony on the back

about the the soldier and his his

testimony on there and he gives it to me

and he's like hey I just I'm supposed to

give this to you and I'm like well

that's cool thank you so much so later

on a day later uh my my son was supposed

to go back to college and it was that

weekend where we had the big snow and if

you know my son's at Western Carolina he

chose the school that was absolutely

farthest away from his parents to still

get instate tuition um so seven and a

half hour drive into the mountains well

my I'm raised in West Virginia my son

was not okay he's a flatlander like a

lot of you and uh number one he's not

seen a lot of snow in his life and

number two he's never driven in snow

well there was a snowstorm and if you

know my son he's very uh stubborn I

guess is a good word for it exactly like

his mama um and he uh he determined that

he was going to uh he he was going to

drive to he was not going to miss

Monday's class so on that Sunday he was

going to drive all the way out to the

mountains with his friend he was going

to take his friend to appstate then he

was going to come back down so it's

going to be about eight and a half nine

hour ride especially with the snow it

could be 10 hours and his mom and I are

terrified absolutely terrified because

he's never seen or driven in snow you

know but but I couldn't talk him about

it but I knew he was going to go anyway

so before he left I I remembered that

that thing that Edgar had given me and

so I took it and I put it in his glove

box and every day we as he was like

after church we were praying Psalm 91 as

he was we turned on his little uh what's

that called where you can see where your

kids are on your

phone yeah yeah yeah Life 360 we have

that so we made him turn it on so we

could see where he was at and as as he

traveled we just kept think about Psalm

91 and we kept praying for him and even

through tears you know we're we're

scared as he starts to hit the mountains

but then we kind of lost track of him I

don't know if it's sell LW service or

something lose track and then finally I

get a phone call from him and he says

Hey Dad hypothetically speaking which is

never what you want to hear from your

18-year-old son on a long road trip he

says hypothetically speaking um if if my

tire were to pop and I put the spare on

do you think I could make it to Boon and

I'm like no it's a Honda Civic with a

tire like that big in the snow you're

not going to make it right so he's like

well what do I do I'm on the side of the

road I I don't know what what else to do

and I'm I'm like well what happened well

here's what happened so there was a work

truck in front of a group of vehicles

that were traveling up the mountain and

a ballp hammer had come off the back of

the work truck and it hit seven Vehicles

before it reached my son's vehicle where

it ripped the tire right off the rim of

his car now here's the miracle not one

person in any of those cars was injured

and I you know it didn't hit me at first

till a couple days later I'm like whoa I

put that prayer in his glove box and

that jeep that went over that mountain

with all the bullets flying it wasn't

hitting them it's like the ballpen

hammer replaced the bull bullets and

like God was there with him in that

moment I have no doubt that that thing

would have ended horribly differently if

it wasn't for the fact that we did not

get weary and doing good we continued to

practice our our faith we we continue to

seek God In Prayer we're like yeah he's

our kid but he's your kid first and so

if this is what you want for his life

then we're going to take our hands off

of it and we're going to send him out

and we're going to just trust that you

will take care of him the same way you

did to those soldiers in Psalm 91 and in

World War

II the crazy part of that story is uh

crazier part is that it's 4:30 on a

Sunday and he's on the side of the road

and the police officer is offering help

but he can't like transport everybody to

different places and so we called a a

tire repair shop and the guy was like

look we close in 10 minutes and my wife

is like will you just please help my son

and he's like you know what absolutely

and they stayed open for an extra hour

to allow Eli to get there they changed

his tire out they made sure he was good

to go and then he got to where he was

going unscathed friends that's the

goodness of God now I tell you that

knowing that not every story ends that

way in this world you will have trouble

so I know that story could have been

completely different in fact I've had

situation with my son a few years a

couple years ago that was completely

different but it doesn't change the fact

that God is still in control that God is

still full of grace and mercy and love

and even when things get difficult even

through the tears if you will keep

pressing into him if you will keep

sewing those seeds of obedience then it

doesn't matter what wall is in front of

you because God is going to get his

wrecking ball out he's going to take

care of that wall and he's going to

allow you to be the people that he

called you to

be God says I will turn tears of joy and

whatever they lack I'll turn their tears

into joy and whatever they lack into a

great harvest father we're so grateful

that those words are written in

scripture not by man but by you the

creator of all

things the protector the provider the

sustainer Lord someone who loves us

who's closer than a

brother who's a perfect

father who provides for our

needs God you are so good you are so

good you even sent your son your only

son Jesus to the Cross to die a sinner's

death the one who has never sinned in

his life went to the cross and died a

sinner's death for no other reason than

the joy that was set before him which is

us enemies of God sinful Fallen broken

Humanity yet your love was so great for

us that you allowed this to happen and

Jesus love for us was so great that he

willfully and

obediently died on that

cross Lord the the end of that story is

so awesome three days later Jesus rose

up from that grave conquering sin and

death and he took the keys to Hades with

him on his way out so nothing controls

my future except for you and so father

for those that are in this room and

they're like well I just can't be that

person because of who my parents were I

can't be that person because of my lack

of Education I can't be that person

because of the sin that was in my life

the things that I have done wrong I have

found my identity in my worst moments

and so God you can't possibly use

me for all of those Lord that have

constructed those walls today I pray

father that they would see that you are

a God who loves to partner with his

children to Tear Down the Walls that

keep them from their

Destiny so Lord today I pray that they

would release themselves from the

bondage of allowing other people and and

circumstances nature and nurture to

Define who they are and that they would

Define their identity strictly from the

words that you have spoken over them God

we know that not every calling is going

to be a great calling it's going to be

easy Lord we we know that not every

story is going to end with a heroic

moment we know that there will be times

where we have to sew those seeds through

tears in our eyes but Lord thank you so

much for that great promise that you

will turn tears to Joy and that you will

help us to reap at the appropriate time

if we just don't grow weary so it's our

prayer today Lord that for everybody

that's involved in this service here and

watching online that you would meet us

right where we're at that you would

identify those walls for us and help us

to see that our response to that wall is

so much more powerful than the wall

itself help us to have

faith help us to be

obedient help us to

persevere help us to love you and trust

you and Lord we know we know that those

walls are coming down it's in Jesus name

I pray amen