Summary: We are not called to save our buildings, but to conquer Satan's domain. We are to storm the gates of Hell. But, how can do we do that and how can we shake the foundations of people's indifference and bring down the walls of their lack of faith?

Walls Come Tumbling Down

OPEN: About 1400 B.C. (1400 years before Jesus was born of Mary) Israel crossed the Jordan River, following Joshua into Promised Land. The first city that Israel that came to was Jericho, and archaeologists tell us that Jericho was a massive fortress-city with walls as high as a 4-story building. (https://www.israel-a-history-of.com/walls-of-jericho.html). Jericho was an almost impenetrable city - safe even from the armies of Israel. But they just weren’t safe from the GOD of Israel. In 7 short days, the walls crumbled to dust and the city was burned beyond recognition. Archaeologists have found that the city was destroyed exactly as the Bible says it was. (see footnote)

Now what’s interesting to me is that – when God sent Israel into Palestine - from crossing of the Jordan River until Joshua conquered the rest of the land - Israel never built a fortress, nor a castle. No place! Nowhere did Israel ever build a fortified wall anywhere in the land. Why? Because Fortresses and castles are places to be… DEFENDED, and Israel was not there to defend anything. They were there to conquer!!!!

Now hold that thought, and let’s fast-forward to the days of Jesus. In Matthew 16 - Jesus asks His disciples to explain who THEY thought He was, and Peter replied: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

Now pay attention to what Jesus said next: “On this rock (Peter’s confession) I will build my church, and the GATES of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18

So, Jesus was going to build His church, and the purpose of the church was to attack the gates of hell. Now gates are usually attached to something. Gates are what you’d find on a fortress or a castle, because gates are barriers to keep people out. The church is called to attack the gates of Hell and like the walls of Jericho, the Gates of Hell can’t keep us out.

You see, Jesus BUILT His church. His church was built of Christians - not of brick & mortar. And He built His church (us) to go to war. We were never called to defend buildings, we have been called to conquer Hell. We are an army on the march.

Now, this sermon series is called “Thinking Outside The Walls” because, too often, churches don’t do that! Too often churches see Christianity as something happens in the building. And too often congregations view their building as the mark of success. The bigger and more ornate the church building, the more successful they think that they are.

Now, just so you so understand - there’s nothing wrong with church buildings - if they’re used right. But Jesus never meant for us to focus on our buildings. He meant us to focus on conquering the kingdom of Satan. He meant for us to rescue souls from Satan’s control.

I like this sign: (we put a graphic on the wall) “ENTER TO WORSHIP… LEAVE TO SERVE”. In other words: think outside the walls.

Now we already serve people with various ministries like our free lunch once a month, and our food pantry and our clothing ministry. We touch a lot of lives doing that, and we do a lot of good for Jesus that way. But allow those of you who'd like to up your game and win some people to Christ... let me make a suggestion.

ILLUS: Scott told of a church where the building was on a major road where a walking marathon was scheduled to pass by around the Sunday School hour. Scott suggested they set up a table on the sidewalk (during Sunday School) outside the church building and hand out free bottles of water to the contestants, along with literature from the church. But the church didn’t want to do that. If it didn’t happen INSIDE their walls, it wasn’t ministry and they didn’t want to give a single Sunday School class on the off chance someone might want to ask about Jesus.

Scott does a lot of stuff like that here. He takes his laptop to McDonald's every day and talks with the regulars there. He rounds up some of our folks to help pack food bags for the elementary kids in town. He uses our church buses to take 6th graders home from special programs. He eats lunch twice a week with different kids at schools. And he’s been coaching for football and track for a several years. And on… and on … and on. He does all that to reach people for Jesus.

Now of course, you might think – “we pay Scott to do stuff like that.” And you’re right! As I often say, you pay Scott and I to be good - but you folks are good… for nothing.

All joking aside Scott is an excellent example of what we ALL should be like! Because the conquest of hell will NOT be done HERE inside the building. The Conquest of Hell will be done OUT THERE outside the walls.

Ray Comfort: “A church that is waiting for sinners to visit their building is like the police waiting for criminals to visit their station.” The point is, you can’t wait for folks to come to the church building, you gotta GO GET them.

The question of course is… HOW? How do I get people to get interested in Jesus (not interested IN our building - but in Jesus?) Well, notice what Peter did in Acts 2:36-37… he told them: “’Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.’ Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’”

Peter said something there that CUT THEM to the heart. It bothered them so much that they cried out “WHAT SHALL WE DO? Peter had said something that made them question their relationship with God. That made them wonder if God would ever forgive them. Peter declared: YOU CRUCIFIED THE CHRIST!

Acts 2 is describing Pentecost - a Jewish festival that occurred 50 days after Jesus had been crucified. It had only been a month and ½ since many in this same crowd had been shouting “CRUCIFY HIM! CRUCIFY HIM!” They had literally helped crucify the Messiah that God had sent. And they knew it!

Peter’s statement shook them and made them ask what they should do!

YOU CRUCIFIED THE MESSIAH! It was such a powerful statement that Peter repeated over and over again. He said it here at Pentecost. He said it again after he’d healed the lame man outside the Temple. And he said it so often the Sanhedrin complained: “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name. Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to MAKE US GUILTY of this man’s blood.” Acts 5:28

Peter made people so uncomfortable that folks had to make a decision about Jesus. Folks either accepted Jesus (like the 3000 who repented and were baptized at Pentecost), or they rejected Him (as the Sanhedrin did with Peter and John).

But there was no mistaking what Peter was saying: MAKE A CHOICE. MAKE A DECISION. Accept Him or reject Him… but make a choice! And he did that by making them uncomfortable! He shook the foundations of their lives, and tore down the walls of their indifference. MAKE A CHOICE!

Now, a lot of us aren’t quite as bold about this as Peter was. I can’t picture myself walking up to a crowd and telling folks that “YOUR sins put Jesus on the cross.” Now that’s true… I just can’t imagine doing it. But that doesn’t mean that you & I can’t make people uncomfortable about their sin.

ILLUS: I ran across an idea while reading in my files recently. Someone noted that… “In the gospels, Jesus was asked 187 questions of which He answer (maybe) 8. He Himself asked 307 questions.” (Kevin Nye) Now what that suggests to me is that you can tear down the walls of people’s indifference to Jesus by just asking them a few questions. You may want to write these questions down.

ILLUS: One man wrote: “When someone asks me a spiritual question, I almost always reply, ‘That’s an interesting question. What do you think?’” This is the approach Jesus used when he asked, “What’s written in the Law? How do YOU read it?” It gives me an opportunity to understand the person. And it also affirms that I care for him or her, and I truly want to know what they think. (Judson Polling, http://www.christianitytoday.com/biblestudies/articles/evangelism/050803.html?utm_source=connection-htmlandutm_medium=Newsletterandutm_term=7697495andutm_content=125996120andutm_campaign=2012andstart=2)

Then, because they asked Him a question about God/Bible he would ask “’What situation in your life makes you wonder about that?’ Kathy had tried Christianity before. It didn’t work out. Her husband, Jim, was raised in a secular Jewish home. When I met them, they had lots of pointed questions about God, Christianity, and faith. Jim, a logical man, said he wanted proof of Christianity’s claims. How should I answer his skeptical and sometimes antagonistic questions? And I thought. Is he really after more information? Why is he asking in the first place? We could have spent our entire evening lost in theology. Instead, I asked what situation prompted their questions. That’s when we discovered they were uncertain about their children’s upbringing. Should they be brought up Christian, Jewish, nothing, or a little bit of each? Knowing the key issue directed our conversation towards helpful answers… rather than theological debate.”

THAT’S WHAT THAT GUY DID.

ILLUS: Another kind of question was asked by a child with Down’s syndrome. A missionary named Milton Cunningham boarded a plane and found that his seat was right next to a young girl with Down’s Syndrome. She smiled sweetly at him and asked “Mister, did you brush your teeth this morning?” A little awkwardly, Milton replied, “Well, yes, I brushed my teeth this morning.” “Good” she said ‘cause that’s what you’re supposed to do”. Then she asked “Mister, do you smoke?” This one was a little easier on Milton. When he said no, she smiled and said, “Good, ‘cause smoking will make you die.” The 3rd question was easier to answer. The young girl asked, “Mister, do you love Jesus?” Milton answered with confidence, “Well, yes, I do love Jesus.” “Good, ‘cause we’re all supposed to love Jesus,” she replied.

Just then, another man settled into the seat beside Milton. Immediately, the girl urged Milton to ask the new fellow if he had brushed his teeth that morning. Milton didn’t want to disturb the stranger, but the girl wouldn’t leave him alone. Finally, he gave in. He said, “Mister, I don’t mean to bother you, but my friend here wants me to ask you if you brushed your teeth this morning.” When the man noticed the girl, he realized her question was innocent enough, and he answered that YES, he had brushed his teeth that morning. With a sinking feeling, Milton realized where this was going. Next the girl urged him to ask the stranger if he smoked. Milton and the man went through the second question. And sure enough, the girl wanted Milton to ask the third question: Did this man love Jesus? Milton protested that the question was too personal, that he was uncomfortable asking it. Now remember, Milton Cunningham was a missionary, but something made him uncomfortable pursuing a spiritual conversation with a perfect stranger. But the young girl persisted, and so Milton said, “Now she wants to know if you love Jesus.”

At this, the man’s face darkened. He began to talk about his desire to know God. He was at a point in his life when he was searching for God, searching for meaning, for purpose in life. But he didn’t know where to turn. So Milton Cunningham finally took advantage of the opportunity God gave him through an innocent little girl to explain to the man the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (Tom Clairbourne, Restoration Herald, March 2012, p. 18)

Are you a Christian? Do you LOVE Jesus? Those are great questions.

Now there’s all kinds of questions you can ask people, but one last question might be: “If you died today… what would happen to you? Would you go to heaven or hell? And are you sure? The Bible says there is a heaven - a place of joy & great pleasure. Would you WANT to be SURE you’ll go to heaven?

CLOSE: Now… hopefully you’ll get them to the point where they’ll ask HOW they can be sure they’ll go to heaven. Or as the crowd at Pentecost said “What must we do?” And that’s the question you want to answer. And do you know what the answer to that question is? It’s the same as it was at Pentecost when Peter declared “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38

Footnote: The correlations between the biblical account and the archaeological record are impressive: • The city was strongly fortified (Joshua 2:5, 2:7, 2:15, 6:5, 6:20). • The attack occurred just after harvest time in the spring (Joshua 2:6, 3:15, 5:10). • The inhabitants had no opportunity to flee with their foodstuffs (Joshua 6:1). • The siege was short (Joshua 6:15). • The walls were leveled, possibly by an earthquake (Joshua 6:20). • The city was not plundered (Joshua 6:17–18). • The city was burned (Joshua 6:24).(https://answersingenesis.org/archaeology/archaeologys-lost-conquest/?utm_source=aigsocial07142014conquestchat&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=facebooktwittergooglelinkedin)