Joshua chapter 6, beginning with verse 1. Now Jericho was straightly shut up because of the children of Israel. None went out, and none came in. And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor. And ye shall come past the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of ram's horns, And the seventh day you shall come past the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. Then 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, all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him." We'll stop there, and we do know that this came to pass exactly the way the Lord had directed them to. What I find is so interesting is that even before they did all this, God already said it's already won. He said, see, I've already given it to you. But in order for you to get your victory, you're going to have to do some things. And I want to preach a message of encouragement to you tonight that some of y'all have already experienced victories in your life, and some of you haven't experienced the victory yet, but you know victory is on its way. And I was listening this week to a sermon, and something ran across that sermon that he mentioned, and I went up and looked it up, and I found something very interesting. You won't find it in a Bible, you won't find it in a commentary, but you'll find it in a recipe book. How many of y'all ever ate Amish friendship bread? A few of you? I have. It's very good. It's very good, but it's a long process. In fact, it takes ten days. Ten days to make Amish friendship bread. I want to read you the recipe here. The first day, in a small bowl, you combine all the ingredients. I won't go into all of those. But you cover all the ingredients and then you mix, you stir the mix. Day two, you stir the mix. Day three, stir the mix. Day four, stir the mix. Sounds like something us men could do, couldn't it? Day 5, stir the mix, add a cup of flour, add a cup of sugar, add a cup of warm milk, stir the mix. Day 6, stir the mix. Day 7, stir the mix. Day 8, stir the mix. Day 9, stir the mix. Day 10, stir the mix. Put it in the oven, comes out wonderful. Now, us men, we couldn't make this very much because we ain't patient enough, but it's very, very good. And you have to follow the recipe exactly the way it says or you won't get good bread. Now, the children of Israel, when Joshua, when they were getting ready to battle, I'm sure these men of valor, these mighty men, were ready with their swords and with their shields, waiting to go in and say, OK, Joshua, maybe Joshua gave a big pep talk and said, I've heard from the Lord. He already said the victory is already won. We just need to go and take the city. All right, Joshua, we're ready to go. We're ready to fight. What are we going to do? Here's what we're going to do, fellas. Day one, march around the walls. Day two, what are we going to do? Joshua, we're ready to fight today. What are we going to do? Same thing we did yesterday, folks. We're just going to march around the walls. Day three, what are we going to do, Joshua? We're ready. We're ready to go in. Let's stop fooling around. What are we going to do? We're going to march around the walls. What are we going to do, Joshua? Day four, we're ready to fight. We're going to march around the wall. Day five, day six, we're going to march around the wall. Day seven, OK, boys, we're going to do something a little bit different today. All right, we're ready to fight. We're ready to go. We're pumped up. We're getting excited. What are we going to do today, Joshua? We're going to march around the walls. But seven times. Seven times. And you'll find that usually the priest and also the Ark of the Covenant didn't go into battle because you weren't supposed to fight a battle with the Ark of the Covenant there and with the priest there. But you'll notice that they didn't have to fight a battle. They went and obeyed simply what God told them to do. And my point I want to get across to you tonight is that I have some props. And you know me, I don't do anything normal because I'm not a normal person. And my wife's going to kill me. This is a pampered chef's spoon. But do you realize tonight, we see all these great heroes of the faith that we have here in our church. We see our pastor and the many people that we look up to that Debbie Franklin described as always having joy in their heart, joy on their face. And we see them living on the victorious Christian side. But do you realize they don't wake up every day watching walls fall down? Their life consists of stirring the mix. Stirring the mix. Stirring the mix. Marching around the walls. Marching around the walls. Marching around the walls. And see, God gives us promises and He says, see, I've given you a church already. I've given you a church. What are we going to do, God? How are we going to get there? Just stir the mix. Stir the mix. Don't do anything that I don't tell you to do. Stir the mix! And some of y'all, that's why I'm going to preach a message of encouragement tonight. Some of you are thinking, just about ready to give up. You've been praying and praying. Some of you have been praying for 20. Some of you have been praying for 15. Some of you have been praying for 30 years for your children to be safe. Some of you have been praying for your family to be safe. And you say, there's no use. There's no hope. I just might as well go ahead and give up. I'm telling you now, you keep stirring the mix! Stir the mix. You can't have good bread and you quit. You can't combine all the ingredients together and just stir the mix and put it in the oven and expect good bread. You've got to do what God says to do, and that involves stirring the mix. We need to stir the mix, fellas, in our preaching. Our pastor said, let us don't preach fluff sermons. We don't have time. To waste. We need to get in there and preach with the boldness and what thus saith the Lord. And you'll find the more churches you go out into, fellas, and the more times you go out and preach, you'll find that people will get mad at you. People will walk out on you. They won't like what you have to say. But listen, don't stand up there, yellow back. Get up there with the thus saith the Lord and what the Bible says. Proclaim it with the boldness and just keep stirring the mix. Keep stirring it. Every time you preach, I know the devil tells you you're a failure. Every time you get up in the pulpit, you think, I didn't do nothing right. But thank God, just keep stirring it. One of these days, the wall's going to fall down. But you ain't going to get there unless you keep stirring the mix. Woody, you're about the newest one here we have, right? You're just getting started. And I want to tell you, you had your first appointment a couple weeks ago. Had a great time. People were encouraged. Young people were encouraged. It ain't always going to be that easy. There's going to be times when you're going to have about five or six people to preach to. And what you do, Woody, keep stirring. Keep stirring. There'll be times when they'll look at you like a dog looking at a T-bone steak. Say, I dare you to bless me. Keep stirring the mix, Woody. Keep stirring it makes Tom McCain. Buddy, I love you with all my heart. Do you realize this boy takes care of our website at this church? Does a great job. Buddy, I love you. And I know every time you get up, you think you may not do as good as you think you should. But listen, you bless my heart every time you've got up. You keep stirring it, buddy. You keep stirring it. God's got great things in store for you. You don't have to preach like me. You don't have to preach like Cal. But you do what God tells you to do. And you preach what He didn't call you to be Brian Mayer. He calls you to be Tom McKay. And Tom keeps stirring the mix. Tom Martin, God was meeting you. I feel it. You see it. And going into the jails. and starting to minister to criminals. You know what I heard the other day? I heard this man, he went and preached. He went to preach to 15 people in a jail. 14 out of those 15 got saved. You know how they got saved? 7 of them was chained to 7 others. And so when 7 of them came to the altar, the other 7 had to come with him. 14 out of 15 got saved. Hey, there's a ministry in there. That's who God wants. He's always looking for the up and in, but thank God He's looking for the down and out too. And Tom, I don't care how tough it gets. I don't care if they spit in your face. You can't stir the mix, Tom. Hallelujah. Brian Davis, I'm telling you, you're going to get offer after offer after offer to go to pastor. Some of them are going to look good. Some of them are going to look not so good. And you already have. I know that. And God, you've been praying, and I know God's got great things in store for you, buddy. But don't let a dead church kill your ministry. You hear me? Keep stirring it, bud. Keep stirring it. Don't give up. You preach with the boldness and the power of God on you. I don't care if they don't like it or not. You keep preaching. And keep stirring it. Hallelujah to God. Have pain? I know you think maybe physically. You can't do it like you once did. The last time you preached, buddy, the power of God came on you. And I felt God all over you. And I know the stroke just kind of hindered your speech a little bit. But Pat, keep stirring the mix, buddy! You haven't served God all these times, and He ain't going to fail you now! You keep stirring it! And thank God the walls are going to come down, Pat! Glory to God! Keep stirring the mix! Hallelujah. We need to keep stirring the fellows in our preaching. We need to keep stirring the mix in our praying. Many years ago when I first met Heather, we'd been married nine years this December, December 12th. We'd known each other about 16 years. We dated for about five when she was in high school. She was the only one in her family that was safe. She got saved right soon after we started dating, I think a Sunday or two after she got saved. And we started praying for her family. She was the only one in her family that was saved. And you know what? There were times her dad, and I'll just be honest with you, he was a really bad alcoholic. He was abusive mentally to the kids, but he was abusive physically and mentally to his wife. I saw a lot of things that I'd never been brought up for with Marcia, and I didn't know how to take it. I really didn't know how to. Because, you know, I've been raising a Christian at home. You've all been there. It was just different. It was different for me. And I had to pray for things I never prayed for. So I began to pray for her family and had a burden for them. And she kept praying and kept stirring and kept stirring and kept stirring. There was one Sunday school class that didn't go by. She said, pray for my family. I'm the only one saved, but I'm going to keep stirring the mix. I'm going to keep stirring the eggs. One day I'm going to get good bread." And thank God it wasn't too long after we started praying, and her mommy got saved. And then we had two of us now, three of us together praying. And then her sister got saved. And then about a year ago, her dad got cancer and came down, and then there was a lady in Pike County, Ohio named Jamie Baconhaster. You all know her, don't you? If you haven't met her, you'll know her when you meet her, that's for sure. God woke her up in the middle of the night and said, go down and see Mike Fried. She had no idea where he lived, but she went down to Little Tick Ridge up on Davis Hill Road in Otway, Ohio. She pulled into the driveway and went in and talked to Mike. There in the living room of his house, he got saved. He's a new creature. I know he's going through cancer right now, but Mike's got the faith. As a grain of mustard seed, he's saying, I want him to do more tests because I don't think there's anything there anyway. Her grandpa got saved, an alcoholic. God saved the beach for her. Grandma got saved in her house. The preacher came down and prayed with her. Her other grandparents got right before the Lord and started being serious. Three of her aunts got saved. And I'm telling you, folks, it pays. Never give up on your family. She was the only one that was saved. Now her dad's saved. Her mom's saved. Her sister's saved. All of her grandparents are saved. Her aunts are saved. Folks, don't give up. Keep stirring the mix. Hallelujah. Elsie, does it pay to keep stirring? How many times did you send an application to the hospital? Oh, in five months? Yeah. I had no idea. At least two a month. See, five months, over ten applications. And you kept praying, you just kept stirring it, didn't you? Didn't hear nothing. Day two, stir the mix. Day three, stir the mix. Just keep marching around the wall. March around the wall, march around the wall. And then she said, you know what, let's get serious about this thing. She came up and anointed that application. And that very week, you got an interview, you got a job, and I think you're about ready to go to work this evening, aren't you? I tell you what, folks, it pays to keep stirring the mix. Robin, have you heard anything yet? Not yet? Keep stirring. Keep stirring, Robin. Hallelujah, it's going to happen, folks. We just got to keep it up. That Jericho wall thing was huge. Jericho set up on a little mound and it had a it had a retaining wall That was 15 foot high then on top of that retaining wall was a mud brick wall six feet thick It was about 20 foot high There was no way anyone could get in or anybody could get out. I Children of Israel thought, how in the world are we going to do it? Joshua said, I got the recipe. It's going to look stupid. They're going to look at us and think we're weird. And you might think we're weird, but we're going to do what God said. We're just going to keep marching, and keep marching, and keep marching. And folks, you know what? It came through. They didn't have to lift a finger. All they had to do was shout to God. And the walls came tumbling down. I'm telling you, keep starting. Keep praying. Never give up. The answer is coming. Glory to God. Rosie, don't give up on them. I know you won't. We see Rosie in here shouting every service, but we don't see what goes on in her daily life. How many hours a day she prays for this church to have the fire of the Holy Ghost. Prays for her children to be saved. That's why she can shout. Because she keeps stirring. Amen? Amen. Curry? A few weeks ago, a few months ago now, you came here, you were the only one, weren't you? Your mama was there, she came to church with you? The only one to say, shit, pray for my family. Raising her sons and her daughter. A widow, if you don't mind me saying, she's a widow. About two years now, right? She kept stirring it, Tom. Kept stirring it. Tyler, Spring Jubilee. On Tuesday night, she and her daughter got saved. Her daughter got saved here at this church. Her daddy. That's right. Hey, on Wednesday night, prayer meeting. It's only prayer meeting. Nothing can happen on prayer meeting. Hogwash. Maloney. We keep stirring it. And she's got a son, Derrick. And I want you all to remember Derrick in your prayers. He's going down the same path as Daddy did. And folks, we need to pray for Curry to give her strength. We need to pray for Derrick that he'll be saved. He don't believe there's a God. He says all this stuff is just a myth. Let's pray that God gets a hold of his heart and that he'll be saved. And Curry, you just keep stirring it. And folks, let's help her stir the mix a little bit. One of these days, she's going to get good bread! Hallelujah! Keep stirring it in our preaching. Keep stirring our prayer, keep stirring up in our praising. Paul and Silas are in jail cell. Having a rough way to go. Got down about midnight and they chained together. That's the worst thing they could do. They should have separated them, but they chained them together. Bible says we're two or three together in my name, and I'm going to show up. So they were there. What are we going to do, Silas? Well, Paul, I don't know what we're going to do. What do you think? You're the leader here. Well, we were thrown in here for preaching. We were thrown in here for praising. and holding up the name of God, so let's just keep stirring it. So they sang a hymn. I don't know what they sang. Probably one of the Psalms. Maybe the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Whom shall I be afraid? They might have sung that one. I don't know. Maybe they said praise the Lord, praise the Lord in the sanctuary, praise the Lord in the firmament of His power, praise Him according to His excellent greatness with everything, the half-breath, praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Maybe they sang that. I don't know. But see, God always likes three-part harmony the best because he's a three-part God. So here at a beautiful duet, Paul's singing lead and Silas singing tenor. He said, you know what, I'm going to sing a third part. And he starts singing bass, Marsha. They just kept stirring. And because they kept stirring, they started feeling the stir. And the Bible says, and God's voice, see, it rains like thunder. And when God began to sing, and you ever heard, you ever heard those cars that go down the road and boom, boom, boom, and your house begins to shake? See, God's voice was like that. And His voice was, He sung at a frequency that the walls began to shake. Thank God the walls began to shake and their chains were loosed. Not only were their chains loosed, but everybody that was in prison that day was set free because Paul and Silas kept stirring the mix. Glory to God! I love you, Colton. I'm going to take him everywhere I go. Amish Friendship Bread is unique in that when you make your recipe, you take part of yours and make a starter for someone else. You say, me just coming to church and being faithful, me reading my Bible, me praying every day, it ain't affecting no one else. You've got another thing coming. When they see folks like Marsha Fields, that is sick in body too many times a week. Care to count, don't we, Marsha? She comes here feeling bad, and we'll be singing a song like I've got so much to thank Him for. And she'll stand up weak in body and frail. Maybe she don't feel like standing up, but she's faithful to the house of God. She's faithful in her prayer life. She's faithful to the church. And she stands up and prays, God, Marsha, you don't think that affects me? You've got another thing coming. You keep stirring, and I'll keep praising Him. Hallelujah. Never give up praising God. You notice the children of Israel had to shout before the walls came down. And I used to think it was the shout that knocked the walls, but it wasn't the shout, it was their obedience to stir the midst. They were just following what God said to do. You say, Brian, I don't know what else to do. I've been praying for my family. I've been reading my Bible. I've been coming to church. I don't know what else to do. I don't know what's going to happen for them to wake up and realize that God's coming back. You just keep stirring and let God do the knocking down the walls. You praise Him. You shout through your pain. You shout through the trials. You shout through the storm. Thank God the walls will come down, Nathan. They will, won't they, buddy? Man, Nathan, I love you, buddy. I love you. Man, I tell you, every time I come to the church, I look over at him. Man, you haven't given up, have you, man? You haven't given up. A little over a year ago, you couldn't even walk out of this sanctuary. And I know, and I don't mean to embarrass you all, but it's been a rough year on you. Physically, spiritually, financially, the whole way around. It's been rough. Besides sickness and besides work or anything like that, something that they had to be going, they've been here every service. You guys just kept stirring it, didn't you? Look at it now. You're healed. I'll just go ahead and say it. And you all needed a babysitter. For your granddaughter, is that who it was? Your grandson? You needed a babysitter, didn't know where? She was going back to school, going to teach all those heathens out there, you said? I'm just repeating what you said. You needed a babysitter? Jessica felt like she needed to start babysitting. She needed one more kid, and that would help them get back on their feet where they needed to be. You guys got hooked up. Now you're babysitting her grandson. It got good! You both kept stirring the mix! And God showed up and knocked down the wall! I say, Hallelujah, Nathan! Glory to God! Friday night, I preached this same sermon. And at the end of service, we had this thing on the altar. And the pastor said, I feel like some of y'all need to come up, just stir the mix by faith. And buddy, if people would have came in out in the world and looked at what we were doing, they'd think we were plumbing nuts. Sure did feel good. You did, didn't you? Pastor's mom came up. She said, I'm praying for my sisters. The devil will get out of their house. She just kept beating his bowl. But listen, two mothers came up for their sons and said, I'm stirring the mix for my son to be saved. The other one came up. She was sitting in the back. I'm stirring the mix that my son will be saved before it's too late. The very next night, the two ladies that were stirring the mix, both of their sons got saved. They claimed it by faith. And they prayed to the Lord and said, it doesn't matter what it takes. That's where they got to. The dad of the one son and the mom of the one son said, Lord, if it means taking our own life, we'll risk our own life to see our son saved. How many of you are willing to pray that prayer? God came through. And the walls came down last night, didn't they? Never give up. How many of you have ever had to pray for something for a long time? You never gave up and God came through just when you think you wouldn't. Hey, I forgot about Moni back there. Yeah, yeah. Mylan, how many times, Fran, did you pray for Moni? Constantly. And Cal Ray saw her at the hospital. We're praying for you, Moni. And you know, Moni, we just kept stirring it for you. We never gave up. Sunday morning, wasn't it? Sunday morning, Sunday night? It was a Sunday morning. Sitting right over there where Ray and Jennifer are. Here she came out and God said, folks, don't ever give up on them. Don't ever give up on them. Tom? Where you at, Tom? Tom and Janet? Never give up. Never give up. They're there. He brought me some corn. He made the chicken today. It was great, Tommy. It was awesome. Look at them. They look brand new back there sitting there. They look beautiful under the glory of God. Why the cult? Tom and Jan never gave up. They kept stirring the mix. Peach, Memphis, never give up on your family. They're going to be saved. Your husband's going to be saved. Your family's going to be saved. Never give up, Peach. If you have to request prayer for them every service, just keep stirring it, Peach. You make good food, and I know you know how to stir the mix. You keep stirring it. Candy, your brother's going to get safe. Just keep stirring it. Hallelujah. Deacons, God's going to give us a new church. Howard, until he comes, we need to keep stirring it, buddy. Never give up. Let's fill this place up. We're about full. We are full on Sunday morning, Sunday night. Now we've got Wednesday night to work on. Let's fill it up. We'll fill it up. Say, well, I would invite more of them, but there ain't enough room. We'll make room for them. How many of you are willing to stand up around the walls if you have to, to see others come in? See, look at that. That's a challenge for us as leaders and for you that have been going here. Let's keep stirring the mix. Let's keep stirring this community, because one of these days, the oven's going to be heating up and the bread's going to come out and it's going to taste good. Glory to God. Hallelujah. And sinner friend, we're never going to give up on you. Some of you have been praying for a long time. And we ain't going to give up. Because this thing is winding down. Quicker than any of you and any of us can imagine. It's winding down. Tim was talking today. In our Sunday school class about the days of Noah, we went back to Genesis and talked about the days of Noah. Everything that was happening in the days of Noah is happening right now. In this crucial time. More than ever, we need to keep stirring. And you know what? I know it's going to maybe look stupid. But sometimes you gotta look stupid to show God that you're more serious about your family than you are your own pride. I'm gonna lay that bowl and that spoon on that altar. And if some of you feel like you need to come up and stir the mix in faith for your family or for a situation in your life, you come up and stir it. And I don't care how long you have to stir it. Don't ever give up. Answer's coming. Brother Howard, get us home. Thank the Lord. Thank the Lord. Thank the Lord. Hallelujah, folks. Are you ready to see the walls fall? I'm ready to see them fall. I'm ready to see them fall. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Your husband's going to get saved, Elsie. Your husband's going to get saved. Bob's going to get saved. Bob's going to get saved.