Steven Furtick - I'm Not Stuck Unless I Stop
It's amazing. I just wanted to give you a chance, in case you're still amazed by the grace of God, to celebrate him. It's amazing. Tell your neighbor, "If you only knew what I've been through and the wrong things I've done, you'd be amazed that I'm still singing". Tell them, "But I am". I am what I am by the grace of God. I know that much. It's amazing! Come on. Shout out loud. It's amazing! Let's lift up a praise like amazed people. How do amazed people praise God? Glory to God. Absolutely amazing. I thank God that I get the opportunity to shepherd you and to serve you as a minister of the Word of God. My job is to put God's Word in your heart in every way I possibly can…if it needs a song, if it needs a sermon, if it needs a book. If God has it and he gives it to me, I won't even wrap it. I'll just give it to you unwrapped out of the box.
How many love those out-of-the-box words from God? Well, I've got one today. Yeah, I've got one today. Oh, I'm excited about what he shared with me to share with you. Be in prayer for us. We're due to be in Hershey, Pennsylvania, about 60 hours from now or so, maybe a little less than that. We're going to be ministering to people all over the Northeastern United States. We're going to be in Hershey, Pennsylvania; Bridgeport, Connecticut; Chicago, Illinois; Columbus, Ohio; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and three other places…Boston, Philly, and Long Island. Now listen. If you can't come, you can stream it. You can stream the last night. This is the first time we've ever streamed an Elevation Night. So, if you can't get there… If you can get there, go to elevationnights.com and sled or ski or whatever you need to do to get there. Many of the nights are sold out. We're trying to add seats where we can, so go there and see if there's availability. If you can't get there, then you can find the information at elevationnights.com and get a ticket to stream online. When you do, you will get the audiobook of Do the New You for free, and that'll be great.
So, I'm excited. Those of you we'll be seeing in the next few days… We're going to sing and worship and pray. God is going to move and break chains and part seas and lift the spirit of heaviness, and he's going to save people and heal people and deliver people. We're counting on our church family to pray for us and lift us up before the throne and ask that God would use our entire team. It takes a whole army to go out there and do it. Thank you for having our backs. Do you have our backs? All right then. Well, I'm good. If you've got my back, I'm good. Also, I want to thank every single one of you who has supported the new book this week. Thank you. If you bought it, if you shared about it, if you left a positive review, thank you. I believe the message is important. We're taking our time over the next few weeks, because we're on a journey together, a journey to be more like Jesus, a journey to follow him into our future. This journey of following Jesus cannot be done alone. That's why I'm so grateful that we don't have to.
Today, I want to pray one more time before we take our seat that the Holy Spirit would be our guide. I also want to encourage you that every single one of you, whether online or at a campus, has an opportunity to join what we call our eGroups today. The E stands for empowerment. I bet you didn't know that. You thought it stood for Elevation. Nope. It stands for empowerment, because getting the instructions from God without having the empowerment to live them out will frustrate you. These groups are our way of putting some very wonderful people in front of you who voluntarily have given their time, their homes, their Capri-Suns, and their Fudge Rounds to feed you, physically and spiritually. So please click on the link. Stop by at the location. You cannot do the new you without the right y'all. Do you know that? The Bible says you are a chosen people…people (plural), you (singular). You have to get around the right people. This year, I'm looking for some people who are headed where I'm headed and are hearing what I'm hearing and who want to be like Jesus with me. So, let's follow Jesus together. Are you ready for the first mindset?
All right. Somebody shout it. Say, "I'm not stuck unless I stop". Now high-five six people and say, "Don't stop now". Amen. Bring the screen. Let's teach. Let's preach. Pray for my handwriting. I'm going to put some words on that screen. First, I want to read this word to you from Matthew, chapter 20. Congratulations to Graham Furtick, state champion. Congratulations to Elijah Furtick who released my most personal interview ever on the YTH Nation Podcast this week. We put it out together. Y'all have had some amazing guests, but I checked and mine is the highest viewed y'all ever put out, so congratulations. Congratulations to Abbey who's taking pictures on the photography team somewhere. When I woke her up this morning, I asked her, "How many smiles do you want during the sermon today"? because they have to get pictures of me smiling, and she said sometimes I don't smile enough. She said, "Ten". So we'll try to get there. She said, "I need you to smile 10 times, but not all in a row".
Matthew 20:29-34. You know what? Let's do it onscreen. I asked Brody, "Can you put the whole Bible on the screen for me, and I can just pull it up at will"? And he did that for me. Y'all give it up for Brody. Thank you, Brody! Matthew, chapter 20, all the way down to verse 29. "As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, 'Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!' The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder…" I like these guys. The crowd told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us"! Let's shout that. "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us"! Now, if you don't need mercy, keep your mouth shut, but if you need mercy in your life because you're not always perfect, shout with me. "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us"! "Jesus stopped and called them. 'What do you want me to do for you?' he asked. 'Lord,' they answered, 'we want our sight.' Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him". Say it again. "I'm not stuck unless I stop".
I want to make a connection, as we study this today, where it says they received their sight and followed him. I want to draw your attention to something. If you go back to the beginning of the passage, these men have experienced an amazing change. How many believe God can still change your life in an amazing way at any moment, at any age, at any stage? It can come from a direction that you never see it coming, and it can happen at a time when you had convinced yourself it was over. When you feel the "stuckest," that's when God does some of his best stuff. I had a friend in high school who had a big truck, and he lived for when somebody got stuck so he could show off his truck. I have a God who has a big truck. He lives for the moments when somebody gets stuck so he can show what he's got. The stuck word is kind of a nice word to use to describe how we feel sometimes.
We could use a lot of other words as well…depression and anxiety; states we get stuck in; situations and circumstances that seem insurmountable; relational profiles that never seem to change, though everyone else seems to change theirs monthly; habits that seem unbreakable and patterns of thought that seem to be embedded into the very way you are. That's what we're challenging in this series Do the New You. That's why I wrote the book. I don't just want to be your life coach; I want to be your Holy Ghost life coach. Can I be your Holy Ghost life coach for a few minutes today and talk about the way that discipleship, which is really what we're talking about… Following Jesus. Discipleship. Discipleship is always about redefinition, and I'll explain. In the passage we just read, these two men had a physical problem. They were blind. This blindness is not only limited to the physical realm. The disciples who followed Jesus were blind, not because they couldn't use their eyes but because they could not see what he was doing even as he did it. They would fight over position as he was speaking about purpose.
Even as he was moving toward the cross to save the world from its sins, they were arguing about status and who gets the best seats in heaven. Can you believe that? The disciples were blind. The men were blind. The Bible says there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, probably begging, because the procession called Passover was happening. Passover was an annual feast for the Jews. This one was different. This one was different because Jesus was going not to see the lamb that was sacrificed in the Passover but to be the Lamb. He wasn't going just to commemorate an event in history; he was coming to redefine history as we knew it. It's a significant moment in Jesus' life, yet everything in the passage screams of limitation, for although Jesus is fully God and able to do whatever he wants, he doesn't have much time left to walk the earth as a man. He's one week away from hanging on a cross, just a little bit over a week away from rising from the dead. He's headed to Jerusalem. He's headed to Jerusalem to face the cheers of the crowd when he arrives riding on a donkey, as they spread their palm branches on the road, saying, "Hosanna! Hosanna"! which means, "Save now". Yet days later, many of the same crowds that shouted "Hosanna!" will be shouting, "Crucify him"!
Don't ever commit your view of yourself to a crowd. If they like you, wonderful. If they don't like you and God still loves you, you'll still have something to eat and somewhere to live in his presence. I know what I'm talking about. Therefore, Jesus never committed his identity to the opinion of a crowd, and you can't either. I wish I was preaching just to the youth right now. I would talk to you about your crowd, and I would tell you that you are becoming too much like your crowd and too little like your Christ. Your Christ can help you stand out from the crowd. Your Christ can help you go the right way even if the whole crowd goes the wrong way. But I'm getting ahead of myself, because I want to talk about the two men who were blind. Notice it says two things happened to them because they shouted, "Lord, have mercy on me". When they shouted, he called them. When he called them, he touched them. When he touched them, he healed them. When he healed them… This is what I thought was the best part of the text.
In verse 34 it said, "They received their sight and followed him". Now all the way back to the beginning of the passage. Do you see this little chapter heading right here? That is not originally in the Bible. This is the part that is the Word of God that was translated from the original language. This is something somebody put in a study Bible to tell you this is a new section, but the Bible isn't like Netflix with chapter titles. The Bible doesn't have track IDs. The Bible is just written. There are no chapter and verse divisions, and there are certainly no subject headings. So, what was written here I want to talk about for a moment and I want us to think about for a moment. The reason I wanted it to be on the screen is so you can see it for yourself. I have a question. It says "Two Blind Men Receive Sight". Here's my question. If this happened, why are they still called that? If they received their sight, it stands to reason that they are no longer blind.
I would like to suggest that we re-title this passage. Don't change the passage. Just call it what actually happened. Maybe, instead of calling this chapter "Two Blind Men Receive Sight…" If they see, they're no longer blind, but people will memorize how they met you and call you that for the rest of your natural days. I would suggest that God is the author of your story. I would suggest that he is the Alpha and Omega. I would suggest that it's him holding the pen. I'm smiling, Abbey. Do you see me smiling? I'm smiling because I know he turned it around for me. I'm smiling because I know it doesn't matter what they called me. I'm smiling because I know he did some things for me. It's amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found; was blind… I was blind, but I'm not now. Now I see. How about we call this passage not "Two Blind Men Receive Sight…" Watch this. I think we need to call it "Two Bold Men…" How do you like that, Devil?
I'm not going to call them what their condition said they were. I'm not going to call them what their past had them trapped in. I'm not going to call them what they had known up to that point before they met the Savior who knew them from before they were born. How about we call this passage "Two Bold Men Become Disciples"? Three people like it. You don't have to like it. God did it his way. You don't have to vote for it. God does what he wants to do. The whole crowd was telling them, "Stop shouting. Stop that. That's ridiculous. Would you stop that"? Look at your neighbor and say, "Stop that". Do it like I did it with whatever voice that was. "Stop that". The whole crowd told them to be quiet. I circled the phrase told them. The whole crowd told them, "This is pointless. Don't you see you're blind"? No. "He's making jokes". I'm just bringing the irony of it to the surface. I love their boldness.
Now, I just want to speculate that maybe their blindness contributed to their boldness. The Bible says we walk by faith, not by sight. Maybe if they had seen how big the crowd was around Jesus they wouldn't have had the faith to say anything about their own condition. For all of you who think we shouldn't preach about personal growth from the pulpit… When Jesus asked the men, "What do you want"? they didn't pray about environmental pollution or carbon footprint or world hunger. They asked for something they needed, and Jesus did not turn them away as selfish, but he enabled them to experience what their previous tradition had indicated was not possible. There are some of you here, and there is a whole crowd telling you, "Just keep it down. Don't even bother. Don't even worry about it". The interesting thing is not all crowds are outside.
Some of the crowds that tell us to keep it down are the crowds you carry inside from the voices of fear you've accumulated in your life. I mean, you don't even really understand sometimes how the trauma of what you went through became your template for where you think God can take you. Here's the problem I have when people say, "I'm finding myself". If I'm finding myself, it means I'm lost. If I'm lost, I need a guide. I have come to the point in my life that the only way I'm going to find me is to follow Jesus, because the only one who really knows what my life is supposed to be or mean or produce is the manufacturer, or the Bible calls the gardener, who planted the potential in me to begin with. Let's talk for a moment about this crowd that told them to be quiet.
I don't know what your insecurities are trying to tell you today. I don't know what your regrets are trying to tell you today. For some of you, it's this constant voice that says, "You missed it. You blew it. It's over". "You wasted it. It's gone, and you can't now. If it was going to, it would have by now. It's stronger than you, and you can't go back now. You shouldn't have done it, but you did do it, and now you have to keep doing it". It is the voice of the crowd telling you, "Stop it". Even being at church today was a struggle for some of us.
While you want to hear God's voice, there's another voice telling you, "You really need to stop going to church. It's not changing your life anyway. Why do you keep serving God? Why do you keep trying to be a person of integrity? Don't you notice that the nice guys finish last anyway? Why are you trying to be pure? Didn't you notice that all of your friends who have no sexual morals are getting the girls and you're not? Why are you even trying to reclaim this part of your life when every time you try it only gets harder? Why are you even going back to rehab right now? Why would you even try again? Just stop. Just give up on yourself. Everybody else has given up on you".
The voice of the crowd on the inside is louder than the voice of the crowd on the outside. There is no noise cancellation for the voice of the crowd on the outside. There is no numbing of the things you say inside of yourself that keep you down. So, I know that while the voice of God is going forth today, calling you forward into some things, calling you out of some things and into some others, calling you above some things so that the things that are under your feet can stay there where they belong and you can walk on ahead into your future, I know there is another voice telling you, "Just stop". But I love these bold…not blind…these bold men. If you get to heaven and want to meet these two men from Matthew 20, make sure you ask for them by the right name, because if you ask for the blind men in Matthew, chapter 20, nobody will come to meet you and sign your book.
So say, "I want to meet those bold brothers from Matthew, chapter 20. I want to meet those bold brothers who decided, 'I'm leaving the life I knew and following into the new. I'm going forward!'" They shouted, and the crowd said, "Stop". They shouted, "Lord, have mercy on us"! I love that they shouted. Don't you? Everybody shout some kind of way. What is amazing about their shout is it indicates a principle that I think will be very important to you in this season of your life. Don't ever let what you don't have keep you from using what you do. Remember, saints. They couldn't see, but you don't have to see to shout. Not only did they shout, but watch this. When Jesus called, they came, because you don't have to see to step. It's harder, but you can still do it. I came to preach to somebody today who feels stuck. The issue is not that you're stuck; the issue is that you've stopped. The issue is not that God is done with you. Not by a long shot. The issue is that you have allowed what you don't have (your sight) to keep you from using what you do have (your shout and your steps).
Even if I have to shout and stumble and shout and stumble and shout and stumble, I can still get there. Even if I have to proclaim I am the righteousness of God and stumble in sin and proclaim I am the righteousness of God and stumble in sin and proclaim I am the righteousness of God, because Jesus died for me, and stumble in sin and carry the heavy burden of my habits, but know that every day he's transforming me… Even if I have to stumble, a stumble is still a step. A stumble is still a step, and a shout is still a shout, even if I shout with my eyes closed. Watch this. "Lord"! I closed my eyes. I couldn't see, but I could shout. Right now, I'm in a season of my life where there are some things I can't see clearly. I don't know which one God wants me to do next. I don't know how God is going to make a way on this. I don't know how he's going to help me pay it off. I don't know how I'm going to bounce back from it. I really don't know who's going to be with me in this season, but the fact that I can't see it will not stop me from shouting about it. That's my decision.
Come on. Tell somebody, "You're not stuck; you just stopped". You just stopped. You stopped being optimistic, because you didn't see any evidence. You stopped believing you could rise above it, because nobody in your family ever had. You stopped believing it could really be true for you even though God spoke it. Now, I'm not trying to be ignorant about the challenges you face. I'm just trying to issue a higher point of view than the one you've been living with. They heard Jesus was coming, and they shouted. I need you to know something. There is nothing that you're not that God will require to do what he intends to do through your life. Do you know how many people give up and stop on something God spoke to them just because they don't see? I talked to one guy who told me, "I would have started a church…" He's 70. He said, "I would have started a church, but I didn't know how to do children's ministry". It would surprise you what stops people. He was anointed to preach. He was anointed to teach. He was anointed to lead, yet he couldn't see that in leading someone else to do what they were gifted to do, children's ministry, he could have moved past the limitation.
The key premise of my message and the mindset that I'm not stuck unless I stop is this. It's very simple, but I feel like I should break it down for you. What? What? Well, maybe that's the word God wanted you to get to today. You're telling me, and I'm telling you. Keep going! Through the valley, through the storm, I will worship all the more. Praise is a weapon; it's more than a sound. Praise is the waters my enemies drown in. I'm not dying in this Red Sea; Pharaoh is. I'm not dying in this Red Sea; fear is. I'm not dying in this Red Sea; sin is, shame is, disgrace is. Give him praise if you know how to shout! How about now? Now would be a very good time to shout! No, no, don't shout now. Save it for a football game. No, no, don't shout now. Save it for a baseball game. No, don't shout now. Save it for March Madness. It's not like God brought you this far. It's not like he made way after way. It's not like he performed miracle after miracle. It's not like he opened door after door. What are you shouting for, baby? Yeah, I'm shouting. I'm like those two bold men. I'm shouting before I can see it.
Oh, I saw something, y'all. I saw something in my Bible. I brought this Bible up here on this screen to show you something. I want to show it to you right now. I've been saving this. I'm excited about it. I'm excited about what God did. I'm excited about who he did it for. He did it for the ones no one else was paying attention to. He did it for the ones who were in the most desperate situation. He's going to do it for the one here today who's hurting the most. He's going to do it for the one here today who is confused. He's going to do it for the one here today who is reaching out to him. He's going to do it for the one today who doesn't have much time left. He's going to do it for the one today who wasted some of the good seasons. He's going to do it here today for somebody who's weak in their body. He's going to do it for somebody who's stuck, because he has a really big truck, and he likes to show you what he can pull you out of.
So, if you've been in something… The Bible says Jesus did it for the blind men, and he did it instantly, and he did it compassionately. He touched them, and when he touched them, he didn't need to shout anymore, because God doesn't have to shout when he's close to you. So, if you can't hear him right now, if you can't feel him right now, if you can't see him right now, maybe you will hear the still, small voice and feel a touch. All of a sudden, what the crowd told them had no power over the Savior who touched them. When God touches you, no matter what fear tells you, no matter what the Enemy tells you… When God touches you and says, "I don't care what they've told you. I don't care what they've called you. I don't care how they've labeled you. I don't care if they said it's a learning disability…" No.
When this ability meets the disability, God will raise up something that is absolutely grace-compounding amazing. It's amazing grace. He did it for people who couldn't see it, and he did it for people who couldn't do it for themselves. He called them, and they followed. I was reading this passage over and over again, and I realized that he did not come to them; he called them. When he found them, they were sitting, but he didn't want to leave them sitting in Jericho; he wanted to get them stepping toward Jerusalem. This is why God doesn't always make it easy for you. This is why even in the moments where he has compassion… Sometimes in his compassion he'll tell you, "Come". It does not say Jesus went to them.
As a matter of fact, what it says is absolutely amazing. I want y'all to love this Bible. I want y'all to get a highlighter, a blue one, a yellow one, a pink one, a raspberry one, and a scented one. I want you to sniff that raspberry in the morning and start looking for the righteousness of God in the Word of God and the revelation of God with your raspberry highlighter and start circling stuff God speaks to you so you can get a better word over your family. Everybody shout, "Lord"! Now be the crowd. Say, "Stop". Say, "Lord"! Now be the crowd. Say, "Stop". This side say, "Lord"! Say it loudly. Oh, by the way, I want to show you something. I love these guys. It says when the crowd told them to be quiet, they shouted all the louder. So let's practice. Everybody say, "Stop"! on this side. Now say, "Lord"! Now say, "Stop". Louder, louder.
Now watch this. The crowd says, "Stop". Fear says, "Stop". Insecurity says, "Stop". Past says, "Stop". Addiction says, "Stop". Depression says, "Stop". Anxiety says, "Stop". Because they didn't stop… Put it back on the screen, tech team. I've got to show this to my eFam. I've got to show this to somebody who has made up their mind. "I'm not going to stop following Jesus. I'm not going to stop praying about it. I'm not going to stop seeking him. I'm not going to stop encouraging. I'm not going to stop using my gift. I'm not going to stop using this anointing. I'm not going to stop speaking life. I'm not going to stop praising him. I'm not going to stop trusting him. I'm not going to stop. I'm not going to stop". Because they didn't stop, Jesus did. He did, because they didn't stop. They just shouted louder. I love them. Not only did they not stop; they took it to another level. Not only did they get healed; they followed Jesus, and they didn't go back to Jericho. All of this started with a shout. I'm not going back to Jericho, and it started with a shout.
Now, I seem to remember something in the Bible about a shout in Jericho. I seem to remember something… Can we find it in the Bible? Come on. Everybody who wants this good part of the word, shout right now. Shout louder! Everybody who wants God to give you an update and make you a disciple and purge you and purify you and get your mind right and bring his Spirit to break chains, make some noise right now! This is not the first shout in Jericho. The Bible says in Joshua 6:1, "Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred…" You remember Jericho. It was the first city God called his people to take over after 40 years of stuck in the wilderness. After 40 years of going in circles, after 40 years of saying, "Those giants are bigger than us," after a whole generation complained and wasted away and waged not a war against their enemies but a war against their own destiny, now Jericho was securely barred up. Talk about stuck. You're standing at the edge of something.
How many feel like this? "I'm at the edge of something, and I can't get in. I'm at the edge of joy, but I can't keep it. I'm at the edge of a blessing, but I keep messing it up. I get a little bit, and I spend more. I get a little bit, and I eat more. I stuff and I numb, and I don't understand why". "Now Jericho was securely barred because of the Israelites". Remember, the Enemy is intimidated by you, because he knows who's fighting for you. "No one went out and no one came in". They are stuck, but where the previous generation stopped, they didn't. The Bible says in verse 2, "Then the Lord said to Joshua, 'See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once…'" "Oh, cool. Okay. I can do that. Yeah, I'll march around the city once. You're going to give me the victory if I just march around the city once? Yeah, sign me up. I'm going to do it". "I'm going to absolutely do it. I'm going to join a gym, and I'm going to get a meditation app on my phone as well, and a Bible plan. I've got a Bible plan. I'm going to read it in The Message Bible. I really like The Message Bible".
That's great, but nothing happened once. "March around the city once" is what God told Joshua. This is what God tells you. "March around once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day…" Take a few deep breaths, because you're about to shout again. Tell the people in your apartment, "Don't get nervous. I'm about to shout again". Just tell them, "Hey, you're going to hear me holler, but don't call 911. Just call Joshua 6, because I'm shouting about something I can't see right now. I'm shouting about something I can't feel. I'm shouting about something I don't have the factual backing for right now. Yeah, I'm shouting about something you can't see right now". "Have them march around seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets".
Remember, every day they marched and nothing happened took faith. Every day you pray and believe and nothing comes back in the form of love toward your life is a day that takes faith. Every day that the desire doesn't leave you but you commit to get back up even though you slipped takes faith. So you're waiting for the walls to fall. You're waiting for the pain to go away. You're waiting for it to get easier. You're waiting for the right pill to fix it. You're waiting for the right key to break it and unlock it forever. But the Bible says it took six days of "stuck," and on the seventh day… I preached a message one time called Don't Stop On Six. I preached that message when I was going through hell. I preached that message when the media was saying I was a liar and a hypocrite and that I was buying my way onto a bestseller list with my book that I never did and that we were faking baptisms. I preached that message Don't Stop On Six, and I walked around the podium and got down on my face. (I'm 44 now, so I'm not going to do that part anymore, because getting up is different.)
I got down on my face, and I talked about the laps where you have to crawl. I talked about the nights where you have to fake it. I talked about the days where you have to go into the bathroom at work and cry and go, "I can't even get through the day, and it's 9:45 in the morning. The Bible is just hieroglyphics to me right now, and the impulse is stronger than my integrity right now". I preached, and I said, "Don't stop on six," because on the seventh day…you never know…this might be the one. I mean, this might be the time. This might be the day. This might be the seed. This might be the season. This might be the moment, and you might be the one to break it off of everybody with your last name who is yet to be born. So don't stop. The Bible says when you march around the city seven times… Everybody shout, "Seven"! That's the number of completion.
Now, high-five seven people and say, "I'm getting this done". What did you say? Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Yeah, I stumbled. Yeah, I slipped. Yeah, I did it. Yeah, I struggle with it, but I'm not it! No, I'm not it! I've got a new name! I'm not a blind man; I'm a bold man! I'm not the old man; I'm a new man! Watch this. Verse 5 is my verse. Somebody shout, "Don't stop"! They didn't stop shouting, and Jesus stopped in the middle of the street on the way to the cross to save the world. He's calling you right now. He stopped this moment in time. For some of you, God stopped a relationship you were addicted to so he could open your eyes to who you really are. For some of you, God stopped a job you were greater than so you would develop your skill in humility to go to the next level and learn from the mistake. When you don't stop, God does. I silence accusation. I silence condemnation. I silence what the crowd says. I silence what your Instagram feed says. I silence what your negative result says.
Now that the crowd has to be quiet and the Christ has called you, let's look at this Jericho shout. I didn't realize when I read about the blind man that the shout they released in Jericho was an echo. It was the echo in Jericho. If you know anything about what happens next in this passage, in Joshua 6:5… Now we're ready. The Bible says, "When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout…" What are you going to do? You mean I preached an hour in this heavy sweater and you still don't know what to do? Are you kidding me? You mean I wrote a whole book, I've been pastoring a whole church, and you still…? Eighteen years and we still don't know what to do with a wall? What's a wall to a way maker? What's a chain to a chain breaker? Here it is. The Bible says, "When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout…"
Watch this! No, no, no. Stop. Stop. If you shout, you might get joy. If you shout, you might get an answer. If you shout, you might get out of your self-consciousness and get Christ conscious. Don't shout now! "Have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall will collapse…" Watch this. Not shout when the wall collapses. Shout… What are you shouting about? Something I can't see, but he spoke it and it's got to come down! It's got to come down! Say it. "It's got to come down"! I praise when outnumbered, I praise when surrounded, 'Cause praise is the waters my enemies drown in. I praise when I feel it, I praise when I don't, I praise 'cause I know you're still in control. I praise 'cause you're faithful, I praise 'cause you're true, I praise 'cause there's nobody greater than you. My praise is a weapon, it's more than a sound, My praise is the shout that brings Jericho down!