When the Walls Fall (Trusting God’s Process Through Pain and Praise)

Transcript

Pastor Robert Mosley
Whatever it is, that God’s got it. I want to say that again, whatever it is, whatever you go through, God’s got it. And not only does he have it, God has it all in control.

And when God has it all in control, I want to let you know that there are three things that I’d like you to focus on. And these three things to focus on are this: praise.

I know, you know, the praise that you praise God in the sanctuary. You praise God in your home. You praise God in the firmament. You praise God on your way to work. You praise God when you get paid. But I want to talk about a new praise.

And what is this praise and why do it? And then not only why do it, when to do it. And if you give me a few minutes just to talk about it, I’d like to just let you know. First of all, I’m coming out of the book of Joshua, the sixth chapter and the fifth verse.

And when it says here, it says it shall come to pass that 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. And then the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, every man straight before him.

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 ram’s horns before the ark of the Lord. And he said to the people, proceed and march around the city, and let him who is on advance before the ark of the Lord. So it was when Joshua had spoken to the people that the seven priests, bearing the seven trumpets of ram’s horns before the Lord, advanced and blew the trumpets.

And the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them. The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came after the ark, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets.

Now Joshua had commanded the people saying, you shall not shout or make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth until the day I say to you, shout. Then you shall shout. So he had the ark of the Lord circle the city going around it once.

Then they came around to the camp and lodged in the camp. And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord.

Then seven priests bearing seven trumpets of ram’s horns before the ark of the Lord went on continually and blew the trumpets. And the armed men went before them, but the rear guard came after the ark of the Lord while the priests continued blowing the trumpets.

And the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. So they did this for six days. I want to let you know that there are some things that you may think strange in your life.

There are some things that you may not understand, but God has given you some instructions. And the instruction that God gives you may not make sense to you right then and there. But it’s up to us to follow what God says, because he says, my ways are not your ways.

My thoughts are not your thoughts. His ways are so much higher than ours. His thoughts are so much higher than our thoughts.

But if we acknowledge him in all of our ways, he will direct our paths. If we continue to seek him first, he’ll add everything else to you. So sometimes, I want to let you know, it might seem strange. Sometimes it may seem a little strange. It might not give you the instruction to go straight ahead.

It might be some curves. It might be some bumps. It might be some crooked roads.

It might be some hills and some valleys and some mountains that you have to go through to get to your promise. But the Israelites were in the same way. They had been promised by God that they were going into the promised land.

And now they get to the point where they are marching around this city, this fortified city of Jericho. And when Joshua had sent in some spies, they said that actually a while back, when you think about it, Moses sent in some spies.

And when they came back, Joshua was one of the ones who came across. Joshua was one of the ones with Caleb. And while everybody else was saying, oh, we look like grasshoppers.

And all these people decided to give a bad report. Joshua and Caleb had a different spirit. And see, sometimes you have to have a different spirit from some folks that are around you.

Sometimes you have to be different. You have to think different from those around you because a lot of times people don’t understand. If you do the same thing that you’ve always done, you’re still going to get the same results that you’ve always gotten. So you have to be able to step out on faith and do these things. And then realize that once there is a promise, there is some pain that you have to go through.

And then after the pain that you go through, you’ll be able to praise God because of the promise. And not only because of the promise, but because of the pain that you went through to get to the promise. And then, therefore, you have a praise.

But I want to talk to you today about let’s focus on the praise. So I want to let you know what praise is. Well, I’m glad you asked.

Praise is to glorify God, especially by attribution of perfections. Praise in words like ‘to heal’ means a song, praise, or a confession. Thanksgiving, Shabbat means to praise and glorify. All these things mean to praise, to stretch out the hand. There are different ways you can praise God.

You don’t have to praise God the way I praise God. You don’t have to praise God the way Mama and Daddy used to praise God. You don’t have to praise God the way Grandmama used to praise God.

But when God gives you a promise, and he takes you through that promise, and you’ve been through some pain, and once you can see that, like I said, the instructions might seem strange, but trust the process. As people say, trust the process.

And if you trust the process, God will show up. God will be on time, and God will bring you through. God will bring you out.

And when God brings you out, there will be a new praise for you. And so as we look at this new praise, it comes from the Latin word meaning price or value. So I want to let you know this, that there is some value associated with your praise.

Don’t think that just because you might not have a lot of times you may think about offering as monetary. No, you can offer up your praise to God. You can offer up your praise right now in the sanctuary.

So it does not matter where you are, whether you’re driving along right now, on your way to work, in the sanctuary, or wherever you might be, you can praise God in your own way. Know that not only when you praise God, put some value into your praise, that it has some weight to it.

That praise, because when, as the old saying goes, when praises go up, the blessings come down. When you think about it, I want to let you know that praise has a value, and the value means that it has some worth to it. So I don’t care who you are, how old you are, how young you are, wherever you are in life.

Your praise has some value to it. I’m letting you know what praise is. The definition of praise is also that, as Christians, praise is the joyful thanking and adoring of God, the celebration of his goodness and grace. And this simply means that the act of praising God is rightfully due to God and God alone. Praise is a spiritual offering.

When you look at Hebrews, the 13th chapter and the 15th verse, where it says, through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess his name. There is a sacrifice of praise.

And I just feel in my spirit that there is somebody that has to sacrifice their praise. Somebody says, I had to sacrifice some things. And because I had to sacrifice some things, I’ve been through some good days, but I’ve also had some bad days.

And because of the bad days that I’ve had, I can trust God because of the good days that I’ve had as well. Because if he can take care of me in the good days, I know he’ll take care of me in my bad days. And because of that, I have a sacrifice of praise.

Now, praise is also thanking God for his many gracious gifts. The 103rd number of Psalms, second verse, says, yes, I will bless the Lord and not forget the glorious things he does for me. Yes, we will bless the Lord at all times. My soul shall magnify the Lord.

Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together because God is so good. And when you think about how good God is and how good God has been to you, I can’t— I don’t know about you, but I can’t help but give God some praise because God is, yes, just that good.

And not only is he just that good, he’s so much more good and better. As we figured out what praise is, now the question is, why praise God? Why praise God? Because God is worthy to be praised.

Nobody should have to pump you. Nobody should have to prime you. Nobody should have to tell you to lift your hands.

Nobody should have to tell you to stand up. Nobody should have to tell you to stomp your feet. Nobody should have to tell you to clap your hands.

Nobody should have to tell you to make a joyful noise because God is so good. And yes, he’s just that good and more because we serve a mighty God, a God who woke you up this morning. If you need five things just to give God some praise, let me just go ahead and tell you that right now.

Number one is because he woke you up this morning. Number two is because he woke you up this morning. Number three, he woke you up this morning. If you need one more, number four, he woke you up this morning.

And number five, he woke you up this morning. God is just so good and more. When you’re on this side in the land of the living, it’s up to us to give God some praise.

First, he deserves our praise. He is worthy to receive our praise. In 2 Samuel, the 22nd chapter and the 4th verse, it says, I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. Yes, God will save you from your enemies. God will save you from the wrong things, the evil things that happen in life.

But that’s just one of the reasons to praise God. The second is in Revelation, the 4th chapter and the 11th verse, where it says, you are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power. You created all things, and by your will, they were created and have their being. He, God, is our creator. And not only is he our creator, God is so much greater.

So whatever you go through in life, know that God’s got it. God’s got your back.

So it doesn’t matter what it is. You will have a new praise in 2023. I don’t care if we’re already into the fifth month of 2023.

Yes, you’ll still have a new praise in 2023 because God is just that good. When you think about it, and not only is he just that good, when you think about his goodness, his mercy, and his grace, God gives us some things that we can be thankful for. And here’s the biggest reason: because he thought I was worth saving. And so he came and changed my life.

And he thought I was worth keeping. So he cleaned me up inside. He thought I was worth dying for.

So he sacrificed his life so that I could be free, so that I could be whole, so that I can tell everyone I know that he thought I was worth saving. And because he thought I was worth saving, my God is worthy to be praised. Another reason that God is worthy to be praised is because when you hear you’re reminded of the greatness of our God, the 96th number of Psalms, 4th verse says, for great is the Lord and most worthy of praise.

He is to be feared above all gods. And then also when you go down to the 145th number of Psalms, 3rd verse, it says, great is the Lord and most worthy of praise. His greatness no one can fathom.

That means that our good God is so much better than our good. We might say God is good. And in the second part of that, it says all the time, but all the time, God is good.

Well, all the time, God is so much better than what we even think good can be, because he’s just that good. He’s just that God. And when you say, well, what does praise do? I’m glad you asked again. What does praise do? Well, because third, praise discharges strength in faith. Yes.

Praise discharges your strength in faith, and that causes God to move on your behalf. In other words, praise from the lips of children and infants, you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. The 8th number of Psalms, 2nd verse, says praising God can transform your environment.

Because I remember a song by Kurt Carr where he said, you can change the atmosphere, and you can change the atmosphere by your praise. You don’t believe me? Your boss says something crazy to you.

Your wife says something strange. Your husband starts acting up. Your kids start acting funny.

It does not matter what it is. Go out by yourself and go into your secret place, and you start praising God. You start giving God some praise.

I’m not going to be here with you all day. I’m almost through. But when you start thinking about how good God is, you can go by yourself.

Nobody has to go with you, and you can praise God because God is so good. You can praise God because of what he does.

When you remember this as we go on, that God inhabits the praise of his people. God inhabits the praise. That means that I create an environment for God to come into.

That means there are some environments that God probably wasn’t going to be in just because of all the evilness and everything else that goes on. But when you start to praise God, you start to create an atmosphere for God to move in and move in your life. It does not matter what the doctor said.

It doesn’t matter what the lawyer said. It doesn’t matter if you get a bad report. It doesn’t matter if you get fired from your job.

It doesn’t matter if the car got repoed, if the house burned down. It does not matter what the situation is. We have to understand God has our back through everything, every situation, every problem, every trial, every temptation.

Everything that we go through, God covers us and has our back. And because he has our back, he deserves our praise. If you give me a few more minutes, I’m almost done.

And God, not only does he have our praise, we can praise God for forgiveness and prayer. I’m going to say that again. We can praise God for forgiveness and answered prayer.

The 65th number of Psalms, 1st and 3rd verses, says, praise awaits you, O God, in Zion. You, our vows, will be fulfilled. O you who hear prayer, to you all men will come. When we were overwhelmed by sins, you atoned for our transgressions. And as Joshua was telling these people, I’m sure that the Israelites didn’t understand everything when he lined up the priests.

And he lined up the ones who had their guards, and they were armed and went before the ark. And they went, and they blew their trumpets. And when it says they blew their trumpets, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them.

And the army went before the priests who blew the trumpets.

I’m sure they didn’t understand everything because everything God tells you won’t make sense to us, but it will make sense in time. Because as old folks say, while you’re trying to figure it out, God’s already worked it out. So everything won’t make sense in our time.

But they went around on day one. And as they go around on day one, I’m sure they were thinking, what is God doing? What is God going to do for us? What

is God going to do? This fortified city of Jericho, I’m marching around, and I’m marching around, and I’m marching around. And then after we march around and blow trumpets, but don’t say nothing on the first day.

See, every time, everything that you go through does not require a response. And sometimes that’s where, when you look back in the Bible at Jacob, and when you go to his son Joseph, that’s where Joseph messed up because Joseph gave word to his adversary. Joseph gave word to everything that he went through.

He told his brothers, and he had a multicolored coat, and he knew they didn’t like him. And that’s when he got thrown in the pit. But see, everything you go through, everybody that does something to you, everything that you go through does not require a response.

He said, don’t say nothing. When he says, you’ll keep quiet until the day I say shout, then you shall shout. But see, sometimes the enemy has to see you going through some things.

It won’t make sense to the enemy, but it makes perfect sense to our God. And he says, march around there seven times, but don’t say anything until the seventh day. And then, so they go around the city once, and they go back to the camp, and they lodge in the camp.

Then they went back the second day. Day number two, they go out, and they march around the city. The priests with their trumpets and the armed guards in front of the priests.

And when they go in front, marching with the Ark of the Covenant—Ark of the Covenant symbolizes God with them. So as they’re going out with God, see, you can go out with God. But sometimes God doesn’t reveal—God is not going to always reveal his plan to you. You have to trust God. And when you trust God, as they say now, trust the process.

So you have to trust God and trust the process that God will bring you out, and that God will bring you through. And that when you see that as they go—day number three, they did the same thing. They’re going around and around the city of Jericho.

And I’m sure the folks inside Jericho thought that these Israelites were crazy. And see, sometimes when the enemy looks at you, when the enemy doesn’t realize what you’re doing, when the enemy doesn’t know that you’re working on God’s plan, sometimes it might seem a little strange. Sometimes it might seem a little crazy.

Sometimes you might get called outside of your name. But I want to let you know, it does not matter. It does not matter what the enemy thinks.

It does not matter what they say. You keep on trusting God and holding on to God’s unchanging hand. And God will bring you through.

God will bring you out. And it says that on the day that only they marched around the city seven times, and when they marched around seven times, and the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, shout, for the Lord has given you the city.

See, sometimes when you trust God and trust the process, God will give you the city. God will give you the desires of your heart. God will give you— not only will he fulfill your needs, but God will also even give you some of your wants as well.

But you have to trust God and trust God in the process. And don’t—while you’re trusting God in the process, don’t deviate from the process. See, because we can praise God because he is powerful.

We can praise God because we can praise God through our music and our song. You can praise God by the lifting of hands. Oh, Mother once said that if I can’t say a word, I’ll just wave my hand. And we can praise God when our heart is breaking.

You can praise God. And that should be something that happens daily. When you wake up in the morning, you can say, thank you, Lord.

You can say, thank you, Lord, for one more day, because God has been so good to me. God has been so good to you. And because he’ll turn our mourning into joy.

And you can praise God for his loving kindness. And one thing that I want to let you know, too, you can praise God for his son. Over 2,000 years ago, he went to that old rugged cross, not only for you but also for me.

That not only did he go to that old rugged cross, but he was beaten, and he bled, and he died, and he suffered. And he was bruised for our transgressions. He was bruised and chastised for our sins and iniquities.

And one thing that, because he was bruised for my transgressions— bruised for my sins, your sins, our sins, and the sins of this world— we ought to have a praise in us that nobody should have to tell you when you come into the sanctuary to lift your hands. Nobody should tell you when you come to the sanctuary to praise God.

Nobody should tell you in the sanctuary to lift your hands and thank God because he’s been so good to you. Let us give God some praise. You should have a praise on the inside of you because I’m almost done.

But when you think about it like this—those who used to go to the club, and I know I might be stepping on some toes here—but those who used to go to the club, where you got ready for the club, you didn’t just get ready on the day you went to the club. You got ready. You picked your outfit out a week in advance.

If you knew you were going to the club that weekend, you picked your outfit on Wednesday or Thursday, and you probably had a second outfit ready by Friday. But you knew that if things didn’t work the way you wanted them to, you had a backup plan. And as we go through, we should be the same way with God. God is so good.

God is so loving. God is so kind. He’s so merciful that he gives us chances over and over and over again.

Donnie McClurkin has a song that says, a righteous man falls seven times, but he gets back up again. And I just thank God because he is so good. I thank God that he is not only giving you another chance, but he’s giving me another chance for all of us to get it all straightened out, to get us all worked out in order to make this right.

So I want to let you know that as I leave here today, that God has everything in control, and he’ll give you a new praise for 2023. It does not matter what you go through. It does not matter how you go through.

It does not matter when you go through or why. It does not matter if folks talk about you, laugh at you, or make fun of you. God has everything all in control.

And as I close, I want to pray for you. I pray that if this message has touched you, that all you have to say right now—all God wants to hear—and if you are not saved, I want to let you know that today is a good day to be saved.

If you know, by opening up your heart to God, confessing with your mouth and believing in your heart that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, the Bible says, thou shalt be saved.

All you have to say is, Lord, come into my life. Save me. Help me to be a better man, a better woman.

Help me to be a better person, Lord, as I go through this Christian life on this Christian journey. Lord, I need a new praise because I’ve gone through some hell, and I’m going through some high water. I’ve gone through some things.

And God, I just know that this praise on the inside— when he gives you a praise, there’s joy that you have. The world can’t take it away because the world didn’t give it. And the world can’t take it away. So I want to let you know I’ve enjoyed this.

This is Pastor Mosley, New Strangers Home. We thank you for having us.