Songs Behind Walls | Pastor Paul McGee

That this holy name today in the House of the Lord Amen.

Many times the the Apostolic faith grabs the psalmist words.

If I was glad when they said and to me, let us go into the House

of the Lord Amen. And that is a great saying in

the great verse of Scripture. It's even more important known

that David was a part of the family that for 10 generations,

they were not able to go to the House of the Lord, Amen.

But he was generation #10 the first one in 10 that was able to

go. So from the lips of someone that

had a lineage of wantons that couldn't, you can understand

those words a little bit better when he could, a man enter into

the House of the Lord. And so we're glad to be here

today, glad to see your smiling faces, Amen, In the House of the

Lord this morning. And we're going to be turning to

the the Psalms here today. I'm dealing with my collar here.

I felt like maybe I had a little Elvis going on or something,

like a collar that was slipped or something.

If it does, we'll just roll with it.

But I will not do no Elvis gyration.

OK, let's look at that clear, Amen.

We're going to turn to Psalms 118.

Amen. I bear the burden really.

Friday night we was there at that service and we had a pre

service prayer in the green room and I can't remember his last

name young man that introduced me and we came out of the room.

He said, brother McGee, I'm supposed to introduce you

tonight. I said, OK.

He said, but I told brother Mason, Alex Mason that he needs

to send me and tell me some stuff about you.

He says I just don't really have anything.

He's I said, well you can just say there he is.

I said that's good enough. And he says, well, the only

thing that comes to my mind is that you remind me a little bit

of Jim Carrey. And I said that isn't my first

rodeo with that. It's really not.

So if you need to go there, we'll go there.

OK. So praise the Lord.

If I've never forgotten, they'll just say, brother Jim, come on

up here. And so he'll be OK.

Psalms 118 verse #14 here. Just we're going to read 2

verses of Scripture. The Bible says the Lord is my

strength in song and has become my salvation.

The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles

of the righteous. Other versions say the tents of

the righteous, the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly.

Amen. For a little while this morning.

And we're just having one service here today.

So this, this is it. It's one gut, 11 bullet in the

barrel. All right, this is it.

I want to talk to us today about songs behind the walls, Songs

behind the walls, Amen. And might I say we're glad to

have Daniel write with us today. He's he's in for the big reunion

time here. It's that time of year, Amen,

for his family. We're glad to have.

I told him, I said when he walked in, I said, what's that

time of year said I have your face in that square on my

calendar at this this weekend, knowing that you're going to be

in. I said I couldn't fit all of

your family's faces because I don't have that big of a

calendar. All right, so, but we're glad

that he's here with us today. Father, we thank you Jesus, for

another opportunity. We're thankful for your spirit

that we have experienced in this place.

I pray, O Lord, that you would continue to help us in the next

little while through your word and will not fail to thank you,

God, for what you accomplished in this day.

In the name of Jesus Christ that I pray, Amen.

You may be seated in Jesus name today.

Most and maybe not all people here today understand that the

Bible is not just some very laid out chronological record from

Genesis to Revelation. If you've been a part of church

a certain set of time, you understand that there are

certain books of the Bible that you really need to take and you

need to tuck back into other stories of Scripture.

And Psalms is one of those books.

Psalms, all of Psalms is not written by David.

There's some written by a girl or the sons of Korra.

There's some that's unknown, really, who wrote them.

And so many of the Psalms that are pinned go back and are

tucked back into like Kings or Samuel or some of those other

areas. And so the question that you

often must ask yourself whenever you're reading the Psalm is what

is the background or the setting?

What was it that that provoked this song or this Psalm to be

written? And so most scholars agree that

Psalm 118th background is most likely the dedication of

Jerusalem's restored walls, the restored walls and gates during

what may have been the Feast of Tabernacles that occurred during

the days of Nehemiah. A little bit of the history of

what took place to get us to this moment.

Of course, during the time that Israel was taken away to

captivity and they spent their 70 years there as exiles in a

foreign land. Whenever Cyrus made the plea

that the people of God could return to Jerusalem, there were

three different groups of Israelites that returned home to

Jerusalem at three different times after having been captive

for 70 years. And we understand that Jerusalem

was in ruins. Jerusalem had been decimated,

the temple was in ruins. The the gates and the walls have

been burned with fire and broken down.

All these things had taken place.

So as they are returning, they're not returning to the

place that they had known that had been a part of their life in

the past. It just lays in ruins, ruins.

And so there's a situation here that's going on whenever

Nehemiah comes, because when Nehemiah comes, there has been a

little progress that has been made.

The temple has been re established, the altar has been

established, but there are still the walls and the gates around

about the city that are dilapidated.

They they have a House of worship and an altar, but they

don't have no perimeter, no enclosure for the, the city of

Jerusalem. The Bible bears it out in Second

Chronicles 36, Speaking of what happened to Jerusalem and the

vulnerability that it was left in.

It says in verse 18. And all the vessels of the House

of God great and small, and the treasures of the House of the

Lord and the treasures of the king and the Princess, and all

these he, the, he is the Nebuchadnezzar that took all

these things away, brought to Babylon.

And they burnt the House of God and breakdown on the wall of

Jerusalem and burn all the palaces thereof with fire and

destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.

And so whenever they came to rebuild this, this, this great

city that they've known and loved it, it, their efforts

were, were were taxed with difficulties and situations that

arose. And the Bible even says at

different times they lost heart in what their hands were doing.

I remember Nehemiah at one spot it says that whenever they got

to like that halfway mark of having rebuilt the wall, that

discouragement came into the hearts of the people.

And so if if rebuilding wasn't enough to discourage them, then

they had all of the acted taunting and interruption of

adversaries and enemies that were neighboring around about

them that constantly tried to frustrate their energies even

more. But when the Israelites came

from captivity, the adversary didn't want Jerusalem rebuilt.

The enemies didn't want that place in House of worship in

that fortified wall to be re established and their

neighborhood to be restored. And so they oppose the

rebuilding of the temple and its walls.

And so there's something today that we must understand before I

go any further today, and that is this is that the ancient

walls of the Old Testament served many functions in old

cities of renown. The walls were used as a means

of the line of defense. They were used for safety

measures. They were used for protection

for the inhabitants that were inside.

They were walls of defense. They were in many regards a

visible evidence as to where a city's boundaries were, to where

a city's perimeter and borders were at.

As a matter of fact, we see in the Old Testament as well that

vineyards were off times walled or fenced, primarily because

whenever they were fenced in or walled in, it allowed the

landowner to cultivate the ground and cultivate the

vineyard without any outside interference from whether it be

beast or animal or persons, any type of intrusion.

The Bible bears this out in Isaiah chapter #5 and verse

five. He says, and now go to and I

will tell you what I will do to my vineyard.

He said, I'll take away the hedge or the wall, the perimeter

thereof, and it shall be eaten up and I'll break down the wall

there of and it shall be trodden down because he's telling us

he's he's making association that as long as there is the

hedge and the wall, it'll be safeguarded from being eaten up.

It'll be safeguarded from being trodden down.

He says in verse 6, and I will lay it waste and it shall not be

pruned nor dig, but there shall come up briars and thorns.

It's it's just going to turn into the wilderness without any

perimeter, without any walls. And he says I'll command no rain

to come up on it. So when your defense are gone,

when your walls of your city are broken down, you have you have

lost a defense, you have lost a sense of protection.

Amen. For the inhabitants inside, for

that matter, when you look at the Old Testament Tabernacle,

the Old Testament Tabernacle that that outer wall that went

around the outer court, it was every bit of about 7 1/2 feet

high according to Scripture. And a typical Jew of that day is

a very short stature. They were where between 5 two

and five, four inches because they're with the, the, the

protection and the perimeter of the wall that enabled the Jew

who's much shorter than the wall to keep his focus on what's

inside the wall, keep us focused of what's inside that, that

outer court, the brazen Laver and the brazen altar.

Their minds would be focused on sacrifice and the cleansing and

the purdian. And so we had to have the wall.

And so gates as well. We consider gates, dates are

ways not just into a place, but they are the entrances that go

out of a place. And so gates and doors, they

control what comes in and they control what goes out.

Friends, I hope you can permit your friends through your gates.

Your gates may also keep some foes all right out of the

perimeter of your life. And so if your gates are not

working properly, what happens? Sometimes you keep getting the

wrong people in your life, right?

And then not only that, your enemy has access to your life

when your walls and your gates are broken down.

And so, as in Nehemiah's day, the adversaries, as they stand

around lurking, as they are rebuilding these walls and

resetting these gates, they are there.

And we often hear them mocking the children of Israel and

mocking Nehemiah. They say, hey, if a fox would

walk up on this wall, it would tear down their mocking because

the adversary will always mock your place of worship and your

protection boundaries. It's part for the course.

Under Ezra, worship is restored, the temples rebuild.

All of that is fine and well, and that's the initial step to

the restoration of the city of Jerusalem.

But while that's the initial step, that's not the last step

because every temple and every community that surrounding a

temple, they still need some walls to safeguard what's on the

inside. Nehemiah arrives in Jerusalem

with the temple, but he's still telling the men that are about

him. And this is what he says in the

Bible. The Bible says that he walked

down in the night session. He's got a temple.

He's got an altar. He has all of that.

But you know what he's doing? He's inspecting the walls.

He's looking at the perimeter. And he goes back to the people

that had come with him under his command.

And you know what? He basically tells them we are

in trouble. You can look at it in verse #17

to Nehemiah two, he says, do you see the distress that we are in?

Do you see, hey, we we got a temple, we got an altar.

Things are well. He says no.

He says, I still consider Jerusalem a waste if it has a

temple but no walls. If it has an altar but no walls,

someone say man, He says it's a waste.

He said the gates are still burned and the walls are still

falling down around. Nehemiah was considering

Jerusalem still in a dilapidated case because although they had a

temple on the altar, they needed some gates and walls.

And you know what? Nehemiah says let's do something

about this. Let let's arrive.

He says, look at that verse 17. He says let's remove the

reproach, if you will, of this city.

Let's remove the disgrace of the city, he says.

Because it's disgraceful to have a place of worship and not have

no walls of protection. It's disgraceful to have an

altar and have no gates where you can allow or dismiss someone

came in. I worry sometimes as a pastor

when people have broken walls and gates and have a move of God

in their life and worship flows in their life, but no

precautions have been taken in erecting any gates or walls to

safeguard that altar and safeguard that worship and

safeguard that experience. You can have an experience with

God, but if you leave yourself vulnerable for the foe and the

adversary to just trample on the ground that God has declared

his, you may find yourself in a compromising issue.

Without a gate or a wall, you're having unguarded worship because

still yet in the recess of the woods is an adversary.

He don't like the temple. He don't like your altar, but if

you haven't build a wall, you've opened yourself up to a frontal

attack. We understand the Lords hand, we

understand the Lords guidance and helping and aiding to

protect them from their enemies, enabling them to do the work

that Nehemiah said let's strengthen our hands and rise

and build this difficult wall in oppressive times.

The Bible tells us in Nehemiah it's almost just short of a

miracle really or is a miracle that the walls of the city were

rebuilt in 52 days. The Bible says and at the at the

end of that 52 days, Nehemiah's call them people together

because they this is a celebratory time.

The wall is going to be dedicated and the Bible says at

the dedication of the walls, at the dedication of the walls, it

says that there could be shouts of joy from Jerusalem heard from

afar off. No, Nehemiah 12, verse 43 also

Nehemiah 12:43

that day they offer great sacrifices, speaking the day of

dedication to the walls, and rejoice, for God had made them

rejoice with great joy. The wives also and the children

rejoice so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar

off. They were so crazy about getting

some walls and gates and rejoice so much that people at great

distance from Jerusalem could hear their voices.

I want to pause here and point you back to verse 43 one more

time, because what is illustrated there in that verse

is this. This just wasn't the men

standing together, lifting up their voice over having a wall

and a gay. The Bible says the wives also

and the children joined in this celebration.

Because sometimes we have divided families that there's

one person in the family that celebrating the poundry, but we

haven't included our children. The whole family was involved in

their celebration over the perimeter that had now been

created for Jerusalem. Look at it now, our text, I know

you thought I'd never get there. Verse 14 says the Lord is my

strength and song, and this become my salvation.

Again, the background for this is the dedication of the wall.

But this isn't the only time we see this phraseology.

This is not the only time we see this phrasing.

It's recorded about three times, including this time three times

in Scripture, once here during the dedication of the walls.

The same terminology is used after Israel crossed the Red

Sea, Amen, out of Egypt and crossed over the Red Sea.

And this is also spoken prophetically by the prophet

Isaiah, Amen, for a future time. But back at the Red Sea, this is

what was spoken. Here's the army of Israel.

They're crossing through the Red Sea on dry ground.

Pharaoh and his army is behind them and their Chariots pursuing

them. They're trying to get out of

what they have been bound to for years.

They're trying to get out of what they the light that they

had known for years. And when they get on the

opposite side of the Red Sea, Moses starts a song.

Moses starts a celebration and he says in verse 2, the Lord is

my strength and song and he has become my salvation.

He is my God and I will prepare him a habitation, my father's

God, I will exalt him. What had just happened?

Pharaoh's army had drowned in the Red Sea.

Israel's enemies were wiped out by the Red Sea.

But when the waters returned upon Pharaoh and his army, those

waters also then created a bound.

It wasn't just what destroyed their enemy.

It's what created a boundary so that Israel, if she ever decided

to go back to Egypt from right there, they couldn't just turn

around and go back over because it took them a miracle to get to

where they are, that water boundary.

But it also prohibited any other adversaries from crossing over

right at that point because it created a boundary.

He says, Moses says God is our salvation.

That Red Sea became their boundary wall, so to speak, in

this instance. Look at it now, verse 17 of

Exodus 13 and it came to pass when they're when they're going

to leave Egypt. It came to pass when Pharaoh had

let the people go that God let them not through the way of the

land of the Philistines, which was north to went N along the

Mediterranean Sea to Israel, although it was near for God

said let's pre adventure the people repent or they return.

They make an about face when they see war and they return to

Egypt. I'm afraid they were going to be

met with some warfare and turn back around and go to Egypt.

So they didn't take the northern route because the northern route

didn't have a boundary like the Red Sea to crossover.

God didn't want Israel to go north out of Egypt because they

encountered the Philistines. They might return to Egypt.

Fact of the matter is though this the Israelites were going

to face warfare and enemies and opposers and nonetheless whether

they went N, whether they went S when they went S they met and

they faced the amuletites that were coming against those that

were straggling in the weak that were in the back, if you

remember it. But Todd purposed it not just

for the sake necessarily of warfare, but he did it more so

because he knew he had a boundary line.

Hey man with the Red Sea that would protect them from

returning to go back to Egypt. And so in Moses song, whenever

he says the Lord, what is my strength and my song and it's

become my salvation. God help deliver them out of

Egypt and from the Egyptians. But even also God safeguarded

them with the Red Sea with a boundary so they would not turn

back. I can't stop there because it

wasn't just what God did, it was the Israelites participation

with the boundary because it still took them picking up their

feet after that eastern wind had blown all night to separate the

water hit her and thither. It still took the desire.

It still took the will of the people after the water was dried

on that land for them to pick up their feet and walk through that

boundary. On the other side, there were

fathers with mothers with their children, hand in hand and said,

what are we doing, Dad? We're walking across this water.

Because when we get on the other side, it will become a boundary

to our new destiny. When they crossed the Red Sea,

they crossed a definitive line that separated them from Egypt.

Separated them from Egypt. Definitive.

It was visible, you could see it.

You could stand on the eastern Bank of the Red Sea and know on

the western bank was Egypt. Someone say, man, going north,

they're going to cross a region that they would no longer be in

Egypt, but the boundary wouldn't been as evident as it was at the

Red Sea. And so on the opposite sides of

that, the children of Israel, moms and dads and children

rejoice and sing their song. That happened then.

But in our text, the Bible tells us that there once again was

salvation. There once again was

deliverance. Why?

Why? Because again, there's an

established boundary that has been provided the wall, and they

talk about a den that the Lord is their strength and their song

and has become their salvation. This is listen to me, folks.

This is not coincidence that the deliverance from Egypt, Amen, is

associated also with a boundary line and their songs are

rejoicing, and that in the day of Nehemiah there is a

deliverance from the captivity and the enemies that are around.

And it's also associated with a boundary line that produces song

and thanking God for salvation. But verse 15 even goes a little

further and it tells us the voice of rejoicing and salvation

is in the tabernacles, or if you will, the tents of the

righteous, and the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.

That statement, brother Daniel, was made after God had become

their salvation, after God had become their salvation.

The shouts of joy and victory follow it.

And as we already looked at Nehemiah, he said the wives

also, and the children rejoice. Someone say Amen.

Nehemiah, 12, speaks a lot about the rejoicing that took place in

the city. But Psalms 118 gets a little bit

more personal for us. It doesn't leave it to the

generality that's there's rejoicing in the city, but he

makes it more personal. There's some rejoicing going on

in the household. He takes it from just the

generality of the city or the generality of the sanctuary or

the generality of the church. And he says they are celebrating

the boundary and the deliverance in their home, among their

family at the dinner table. Listen to me, folks.

This thing has to get beyond the city.

This thing has to get beyond the church.

We got to celebrate the deliverance and the boundary,

Brother Fred, in our households and in our homes and with our

wives and with our children. It's not good enough for daddy

to like it. We need Mama to join in the

celebration. It's not good enough for the

parents to adopt it. We need the children in the

home. Yes, if the only time of

rejoicing is at church. And there's never a time of

rejoicing over those things in the house.

Jesus name baptism in the church at home.

Never spoken about what God what Lord, what faith, what baptism

in the church at home. Not a word uttered about it.

Sanctification being separate unto God in the church, Yeah, at

home, no guidelines given. It doesn't just need to be in

the sanctuary, but in the tabernacles, in the tents, the

dwelling of the people. When God becomes your salvation,

it'll impact the ambience of your home.

It'll impact the ambience of your household.

Salvation brings along joyous and victorious shouts even in

our dwellings, even in our houses.

And if the joy and the victory over the boundary and God's

deliverance has waned in your house, you might need to ask God

restore unto me joy of my salvation.

You might need a fresh deliverance to encourage your

celebration in your home. We got confusion in the home all

across America, even Christian homes, because what's acceptable

home is different than what's acceptable at church.

And I know God's the same yesterday, today and forever,

but he's not like the other gods of the Old Testament.

He's not. He's not confined to a

geographic location. I know they had their gods of

the wood and gods of the stone and gods of fertility.

If he was in a certain area, you need to address that God because

he's the God of that geographic area.

That's not our God. He knows no bounds.

He's the God of the hills and the valleys.

He's the God of the rivers and the woods.

He's the God of the sanctuary in the house.

He's it's what we expect in the sanctuary needs to proliferate

through the tents in the homes and Israel rejoiced on the banks

of the Red Sea. They were happy, yes, that God

had drowned the Egyptians. You know what they were also

they were pleased that they had crossed over and I said at the

beginning of the wall project, he said he told him he said the

God of heaven, he will prosper us, but he didn't leave it

there. No in our English Bibles there's

a little semi colon. He says, therefore we his

servants will arise and build. He's not saying we're leaving

this all up to God, He said, but we're going to do our part in

this too. The God of heaven is going to

prosper us, therefore we're going to rise and we're going to

build. Someone say Amen.

Do you know why the husbands and wives and children are resorted

rejoicing? Yes, God help them, but you know

another reason why? Because they weren't sitting

over on the sidelines detached from the perimeter and boundary.

They had a hand in re establishing it.

Is that doing OK? Let's look at Nehemiah one more

time. You can look at Nehemiah 3 and

verse #10 and there's several verses in there I'm just going

to reference and not necessarily read, but in Nehemiah 3 in like

verse #10 the Bible says Jediah made repairs over against his

house. Verse 23 says certain men who

made repairs over against their house.

The Bible says Azariah made repairs besides his house.

Verse 30 mentions that Meshulem, son of Burekia, who made repairs

over against his chin. What are you?

What are you telling us, Nemi? Nemi says I made each family

follow me. He says I made each family

responsible for rebuilding the boundary that was close to their

house. He says I didn't just dispatch a

bunch of Masons say rebuild the wall.

No, I made the members of the family that was close to a

certain section that was broken down.

You be responsible for rebuilding the boundary close to

your husbands, wives, children. You all have a hand.

You all have a hand in getting mortar and brick and stone and

lifting stones and setting it back up.

Can I put this in there just as a as a little clarity?

It wasn't there. It wasn't their obligation to

determine where the boundary was.

It was their obligation to recreate the boundary that had

been there. Sister Cox, their family didn't

get a committee together and say, where do we want the

boundary at our section of the wall?

And they got some plans together.

You know what? We're going to move this 20 feet

more out from where it used to be.

That wasn't it. They had to go where there was

some broken down pieces. The walls of Jerusalem are a

patchwork, really. Over generations and

generations, the walls have been broken down many, many times.

And they say if you dig deep, you see that the walls of

Jerusalem is a patchwork of several different eras where

it's been broken down and people rebuild where always where it

was before. So you have a certain course of

stone and a little different change of a course because this

air always built back up on where it was before.

So I'm not, I'm not over here on my side thinking, well,

whatever's best for Johnny and what's whatever's best for Dad

and whatever's best for Susie, We'll, we'll make sure the

boundary is all inclusive for our family and that it fits us

and it's comfortable to us. No, no, no, God said long ago

when he got Jerusalem built. Here's where the wall goes.

And from here on out, if it ever gets demolished or broken down,

rebuild it where it's at. But I want you to have a hand.

Damn. I says God's going to prosper

us, but I want you to have a hand in the interest of the

boundary that's close to your household.

Yes, Sir. And say, man, what are you

saying, pastor me? I'm saying start at home.

We've got scripture precedence this.

Let me just blow and win. We got biblical evidence verse

#12 still in Nehemiah 3. And that's the hymn repaired

Shalom, the son of Halohesh, the ruler of the half part of

Jerusalem. This is a, this is an

influential figure here. He's the ruler of half the part

of Jerusalem. And it says he, he's, he's

repairing he and his daughters. Shalom is Shalom is rebuilding,

he and his daughters. Isn't that amazing?

Can you picture this? A father out there with his two

girls? I mean, they're girls, Dad, You

know, stones rough on those fragile lush hands that they've

been soaking in buttermilk to be smooth, rubbing goats cheese on

their fingernails so that they would glimmer and shine.

These are girls. They may be girls, but I want

them involved so that they know where the Valley folks, the next

generation will never involve their hands in the work or

appreciate the boundaries if when they're young, we as

parents don't include their hands and don't encourage them

at a young age to know where it's at and have ownership.

So there's rejoicing in the Tabernacles, there's rejoicing

in the dwellings of Israel, men, women, children.

Because everyone, I'd say like this, everyone settled with

that. They built where it stood.

They had a temple already, had an altar already.

But now they had a guarded temple.

Now they had a guarded altar, now they had a guarded

household. And they're rejoicing, Isaiah

says in Isaiah 12 and two a little later, actually, I think

it's verse #1 of Isaiah that says this, that in that day and

the day that Isaiah is referring to is the day of the Messiah,

the day of Christ Jesus. You can see that from Chapter 11

of Isaiah that that's what he's referring to.

But in verse 12, he says, here it is again.

He says in that day, the day of Christ, the day of the Messiah,

he sees. He said behold God, you'll say

God is my salvation. I will trust and be not afraid

for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song.

He also has become my salvation, Folks, if the other two are

precedents for the third occurrence, if the first one

involved deliverance and salvation and a boundary line.

If at Nehemiah's day it was deliverance and salvation and a

boundary line, there is no difference then for me in the

future as He's Speaking of Christ day, it will be

deliverance and salvation, but also accompanied by a boundary

line. He is my strength and my song,

and He has become my salvation. And it creates shouts in the

household when the household is involved.

Stay with me this morning. Many today experience worship.

We experience God's presence. But we lack the protective

boundaries of spiritual walls and gates.

And so Nehemiah teaches us, even through the songs, that a

restored temple without walls leaves us vulnerable.

We're vulnerable to attack. We're vulnerable to compromise.

We need, you need to tell yourself, I need some spiritual

boundaries to protect my relationship with God.

Yeah. His salvation brings joy in it.

It overflows from the sanctuary to the household, or at least it

should. He's our strength.

He's our song. All of these things in the tents

of the righteous. We hear the rejoicing in the

temple and in the home because they had taken part and invested

in rebuilding the walls. If you are on this side of the

fence this morning, I want to tell you differently.

If you think rebuilding our spiritual walls is about

restriction, you've missed the boat.

Our walls are about protection. Our walls are about protection.

It's a call to secure our lives, our homes, our communities, our

families. It's about teaching the next

generation to value God's boundaries.

When we rise to build, God adds his strength.

He prospers our efforts. You know what that does in the

end? It transforms our homes, the

places of songs and rejoicing and victory.

Well, I don't. I just don't know.

Brother McGee. What?

What should I do? I'll tell you what you need to

do. You need to examine the walls

and the gates of your life. Do you have any spiritual

boundaries in place this morning or are they broken down?

Are you protecting what God has entrusted to you?

Where is your enemy? Finding ways to infiltrate your

home, your heart, your mind, just as every member of the

family of Nehemiah's day. Had to hand them building the

wall near their home. I'm calling you today through

scripture to secure and defend a spiritual boundary at your

house, at your dwelling. Get involved.

Don't leave it up to the preacher.

Don't leave it up to the Sunday school teacher.

Don't leave it up to brethren. Sister Mason, as the Ignite

Youth directors, they'll distill it in them on their trips.

Don't leave it up to them. You get your hands on the hands

of your kids and take them to the boundary line and get them

involved. We don't want just join the

church house. We want the joy to be heard in

your house. He'll be your strength.

He'll be your song. He'll be your salvation.

You can trust him to help you build.

But somebody's got to walk across the dry Red Sea.

Somebody's got to get their hand involved in the boundary of

Jerusalem. Amen.

Listen, this morning, these are not the words.

I'm not mad, upset or anything, but I am concerned.

The primary teachers of the Old Testament, we're the parents in

the home. The reason why Deuteronomy 6

tells us here, O Israel, the Lord our God is 1 Lord, how we

should live with all of our heart minds.

So how we then should teach our children when they lay down and

when they wake up, we have it on the doorpost and the gate of our

house. They were the teachers.

They were the examples, they were the modelers.

Thank God for an altar in worship.

But honey, if it's unguarded, Jude, I believe it was, that

there would be a day he said that silly women would creep in

unawares. You know how things just creep

in when there's no walls and there's no gates?

That's how stuff just creeps in. Well, you know, came to the

scene. My house has been robbed.

Yeah, it's horrible. It's been robbed.

They took this. That.

Were your doors locked? No.

I always leave my doors unlocked.

Some of us even have gates, but we don't keep them secure.

There's a reason why the gates were open all during the day,

but the Bible says at night they locked them.

Folks, we're living in a night season.

We bow our heads all across this place.

It's the songs that are behind the walls, songs that's behind

the walls. So ma'am, I don't care where you

are right now in your relationship with God or where

you are in your season of life. If you are simply just attending

church, coming to church, feeling the experience and the

blessing of God, but you have no perimeters, you have no

boundaries. You need to make touch with

God's Spirit in God's word and say, Lord, help me to work on

the perimeter at my house. Help me to work on the perimeter

of my house. Help us God.

These altars are open today. For someone that might just say,

God, this thing is too, too, too meaningful to me for it to be

unguarded. This thing is too meaningful to

me to just be open to anything, just to walk in and walk out of

my life for anything, just to walk in and try to corrupt,

Amen. What I have found in you, this,

this is too meaningful to me, Amen.

For me to allow the the walls to stay dilapidated and and

corrupted. It's too meaningful for me for

you to open a path and for me to walk not over it and have

victory. It's too meaningful to me.

God, I want some songs on the backside of the walls where my

house is, where my home is, where my God, I want to gather

with my husband and my wife. I want to gather with my

children as we celebrate and say the Lord is our strength and I

saw he's become our salvation. Someone start now.

Someone build now. Someone get their hand in the

word. Now God will prosper you.

God will prosper you. Let's talk to him right now.

Help me, God. Help me God.