Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the need to tear down the walls we build around our hearts due to fear, pride, and past hurts. He encourages the congregation to bring their 'withered hands'—the broken parts of their lives—to Jesus, who is ready to heal and restore. By acknowledging our vulnerabilities and letting go of the desire to control our lives, we can experience true freedom and connection with God and others. The sermon calls for honesty and vulnerability in relationships, urging believers to trust in God's love and to seek healing from their emotional and spiritual wounds. Ultimately, Beach Jr. reminds us that Jesus is the healer who can break down the barriers we erect in our lives.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, we bless you, Lord. We bless you, Lord. We want to look to the Lord now to minister to us, but the children that are going with Miss Danielle, please don't run children, okay? We're going to let the children go at this time. Let's just sing it out before the Lord and let the Lord prepare our hearts. Yes, Lord. Father, we want to thank you for your Holy Spirit that is present to learn how to more heavily lean upon you. Lord, we're very needy this morning. You're teaching us, Lord, that we really can't take one step without your help. And when we do, we end up stumbling and falling. But because you are the good shepherd and you love us so much, you reach down and you help us back up and whisper into our ear. Now, you see, you can't do it on your own. You need my help. And we like little children say, I know that. And we go on again and very shortly, we're trying to do it on our own and we stumble and fall again. But you never leave us and you always come to us and you always help us back up. And now this morning, Lord, help us back up. Help us back up, Lord, because we stumble and Lord, we feel sometimes we're caught in our stumbling. And today, Lord, please speak to our hearts by your word and help us. Help us, Lord. We pray, Lord, your presence is so wonderful. We love you, Lord. We just want to say in our hearts, thank you, Lord Jesus. We want to welcome you, Lord. We want you to shine brightly this morning, Lord. Lord, help us to cast our cares upon you now, cast our burdens upon you, cast our anxieties upon you, cast our cares upon you, Lord. There's so many of them in our lives, Lord. There's so many things that we are troubled about this morning, Lord. Our hearts are troubled about so many things. And yet you tell us, don't be anxious or troubled about anything. And Jesus, we just need your help, okay? And so we come to you as just needy people, Lord. I, Lord, feel that I'm the most needy this morning, in need of the most help. And so, Lord, I come to you for help. Please, Holy Spirit, speak to us by your word. His presence is here today, isn't he? He's here, and we just want to reach out to him. Listen, there's a story in the New Testament where Jesus was in a synagogue, a Jewish temple, and there was a man in the temple, and he had a withered hand like this. It was all withered. And I have a feeling, now, carry the, Scripture doesn't say this, but I have a feeling that he was ashamed of his withered hand, and he sort of probably had it behind his back, or maybe he had it inside his coat like this, so no one would see it. But you know what? Somebody saw it. His name was Jesus. Do you know what he said to that man with the withered hand? Did he say, leave the temple? People with withered hands aren't allowed in here. No. He went to this man, Wendy, he went to this man, and he said, Sir, would you please stretch forth your withered hand? Stretch it. Show me your withered hand. I feel that there's areas in my life that are like that withered hand. And when I'm not real close to Jesus, I start feeling ashamed of that withered hand in my life. And you know what I tend to do? Hide it. I hide it. You know why I hide it? Because I don't know what to do with it. I don't know what to do with my withered hand. I'm afraid to let you see it, because I don't know what you'll think. I'm even afraid to let God see it, because I'm not sure what he'll think. Maybe he'll think less of me. Maybe he'll reject me because of my withered hand. But Jesus said, stretch forth your hand. Now, maybe there's something in your life this morning and you feel that it's all withered and you're hiding it. You're hiding it right now. You're ashamed of it. You're even afraid to tell a close friend because you just don't know what they're going to think of you. But brothers and sisters, this morning I heard the Lord and he spoke to me and he said, stretch forth thy withered hand. Don't hide it. Don't pretend it's not there. Stretch it forth. Jesus, here is that withered part of my life, that broken down relationship, that broken friendship, that fear. Whatever it is this morning, dear friends, God is saying to us, don't hide it. You don't have to hide it. You know who Jesus died for? People with withered hands. He died for people who have ugly things inside. Broken things inside. He died for that kind of person. That's me. Is that you? So what do we do? We're all withered. We're all broken. Some people turn to drugs because the pain is so great. Some people turn to religion and religion sort of puts an outward look on you, but it doesn't reflect what's really true inside. It's Jesus and it's hypocrisy. The word hypocrisy means a play actor. In other words, you put a mask on and you pretend to be something that you're really not. Listen, Jesus wants you and I to hear his voice this morning. And he's saying to you, stretch forth your withered hand. Don't hide it anymore. And you know what Jesus did when this man stretched forth his withered hand? He healed him and he became whole. Let's bow our hearts for a moment before we move on with the Lord. I wanted to be faithful to the Lord and speak this word that he whispered into my heart, because I know that we have withered hands in our life and I know that we have the natural tendency because of our lack of understanding of God and because of our pride. Pride, you know, pride will make you hide your withered hand because you don't want people to know that you've got a problem. You don't want people to maybe know that you're not as perfect as you would maybe want them to think you are. You have to throw all that out when you come to Jesus because you don't come with all those. You don't come with all those ideas. You come just as you are broken, a sinner in need. And so let's come to him now. Father, thank you for loving us enough to tell us the truth. Lord, there's a lot of withered hands in our lives this morning. And we're tired of hiding them. We're tired of the shame that we feel night and day because of these withered hands. We're tired of trying to be strong in ourself. Lord, help us. Help us to see your love and to believe in your love enough to where we can stretch forth that part of our life by faith to you right now who stands in our midst right now. I don't know what your withered hand is this morning, but whatever it is, Jesus is saying, stretch it forth, show it to me, confess it, tell him, and he'll heal you. He'll heal you. He's here. Lord, by faith, we stretch forth that withered part of our life, withered with sin and sorrow and failure. We stretch it forth to you, Lord. Lord, help us. Help us. We pray. How many would like just with a show of hands say, yes, the Lord is telling me I have something withered in my life. And I just want to acknowledge before him and my brothers and sisters that I believe he can heal my withered hand if I just lift it to him. If that's you, just wave your hand to him this morning, not to me, not to me because I have a bigger withered hand than you. I need the Lord to touch my withered heart. Lord, we lift our hands to you this morning and we know you are the one who heals the withered hand. And Lord, we pray that even now you would speak your word into our spirit and address that withered condition and begin the healing process. We pray in the mighty name of Jesus. All you have to do is say inside your heart, say, Jesus, help me. I've been hiding my withered hand, but I want to bring it to you now. And he'll heal and touch you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord, for being faithful. Thank you, Lord, for being faithful. The one who heals the hit the man with the withered hand. Aren't you happy that he's a healer? I want to read and you just continue to mind the Lord now because there's a healing going on now. It's it's going on because Jesus is speaking to us. He's speaking into our spirit. I want to read this scripture here. This is another healing word. Hebrews chapter four, verse number 11 and 12 and 13. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest. A better translation would be let us be diligent. To enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief let us be diligent to enter into that rest. Now, the rest that he's talking about is very simple. It's very simple. It's the rest, the satisfaction that God finds when he sees his son's death and resurrection. It's the rest that comes to the soul when they say, I will no longer seek to try and justify myself or be righteous in myself or try and please God in myself. I come as a sinner. I come with all my withered hands, all the parts of me that are broken and messed up. I'm no longer going to put on a front. I'm no longer going to pretend they're not there. I'm no longer going to deny it. I'm no longer going to resist by the grace of God, the Holy Spirit, when he says to me, stretch forth your withered hand, confess your fall, confess your sin. The Holy Spirit is saying, be diligent to enter into that kind of rest. Oh, the soul that finds rest from trying to please God on its own and comes and falls before Christ and says, Lord, Jesus alone is the one who can save me and forgive me. And it's his righteousness. It's his goodness. It's his love that I need. And so this is the rest that God is calling us to. And he's saying, be diligent, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. Now, unbelief can be very simply defined as misguided trust, misguided faith. Unbelief is simply faith in the wrong person. Unbelief is faith in me. Trust in me. Unbelief is living a life that is trusting in one's own resources, one's own wisdom, one's own understanding, one's own abilities, one's own righteousness, one's own religion. Rather than trusting in another. Very simple. It's very, very difficult to trust in another person because sin that's in us resents having to trust in someone else. The nature of sin is I can do it. That's what sin says. You remember the original sin in Adam and Eve. What was it? Eve looked at what was forbidden and she said, I think that that would be pleasant to taste. I think that that would make me wise. What was she doing? Trusting in who? Herself. She knew better than God. Unbelief. There it is. And so the writer of Hebrews is saying, be diligent. Pray. Be before the Lord day and night. Don't give him any rest. Say, Lord, teach me to trust in you. I have thought a lot about Norman's testimony that he gave a few weeks ago, and he was talking about how he was realizing the Lord was speaking to him possibly about prayer. And he said that if he just was, if he relied on his natural instincts to move him to prayer, he'd never pray. And he was realizing that he has to go beyond his natural instinct. He has to go beyond what he naturally feels like doing. Because what we naturally feel like doing, the Bible says, is at enmity to God's will. It's at enmity to God's will. The law is spiritual. The Holy Spirit is spiritual. But I am one carnal flesh. And so if I live my Christian life out from my natural instincts, I will not obey God. Or I will obey him only outwardly with a religion, but inwardly my heart will not be right. And so this is the same struggle here. To have faith in God is to beg God for something that comes from him. A power and a strength that comes from him that overrides, listen, overrides our natural tendency to want to trust in who? Ourselves. We need something from God working in our life night and day that will overrule our natural impulses. Verse 12. For the Word of God, the Word of God is quick and powerful, or is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder, or the separating of soul and spirit. Now see, the separation of soul and spirit here is simply teaching us, and God already knowing the difference, listen, between that which is natural and that which is spiritual. That which is purely the natural instinct within us, and that which is spiritual, or that which God is putting in us in relation to desires. The Word of God makes a distinction, can separate. Watch what he further does. The dividing of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow. That is a term that describes the ability to separate the very things that make up a bone. The very things that are mixed, that you could never distinguish by a glance. God's Word can separate the two, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. And so, our Lord is admonishing us, and encouraging us to pray, God, put diligence in my heart to seek to enter into your rest, which is a life of growing dependence upon you, and a growing distrust of me, of myself, of what I think. You know, you get into a lot of trouble when you live your life on the basis of what you think. Did you know that? You get yourself into a lot of trouble. The Bible says in Proverbs, trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct you. We need to pray, God, help us today to trust you. Lord, show us right now in our life where we may be trusting in ourselves or in something else. Lord, penetrate our hearts, show us how much you love us, and how well you know the way that we don't know. Now, listen carefully. Listen carefully. God is speaking to us through his word. Now, listen, the Lord wants to address right now walls that have been erected in our life that keep us in the prison of fear, and in the prison, listen, of being caught in our own self, in our own dryness. How many want to be free from yourself today, and from sin, and know the bounty, and beauty, and goodness, and riches, and wealth of living a life filled with God. Okay, now listen carefully. Lord, we need honesty now. I pray, Lord, that you will give every one of us honesty now. Lord, help us not do what Adam and Eve did when they heard your voice in the Lord, and they hid themselves. Brothers and sisters, you are going to want to hide yourself as you hear the word now. You're going to want to hide. It's that withered hand. You're going to want to hide. Don't hide. Come to your Savior. He loves you. Now, listen carefully. Here's 10 walls. Now, these have been given to me by the Lord, so they're going to address us today. It's a living word for us today, and He wants us to so understand what's going on in our hearts so He can heal us and bring us into the abundant life that He came to give us. Now, listen carefully. Listen carefully. If you can identify with what I'm about to read, it means that you are somewhere trapped in this prison, and it has become a wall, and it's a wall between you and the Lord, and it's a wall between you and your brothers and sisters. But I stand here confident that this wall will be torn down this morning in the lives of everyone who says, Lord, have mercy on me, a needy sinner. Are you prepared by the grace of God to do that? Now, watch. Listen carefully. Have you ever said or are you now saying, number one, I'll never share my feelings again with that person? Number two, I'll never get hurt again? Number three, I'll never show my inner feelings again. Number four, I'll never be controlled by that person again. Number five, I'll never be rejected by that person again. I'll never trust another soul again as long as I live. I'll never become vulnerable or transparent with that person again. Never. Forget it. I'll never freely love another person again. I'll never be brought through that pain again. And lastly, I'm just going to live my own life and simply not get involved in anyone else's. I can't deal with it. I'll never share my feelings again. I'll never get hurt. I'll never show my inner feelings. I'll never be controlled by that person again. I'll never be rejected. I'll never trust anyone. I'll never become vulnerable. There's, listen, there's going to be healing. Listen, before a physician can cure a disease, what does he have to do? Diagnose it. We don't like the diagnosis. Sometimes we get mad at the physician when he tells us the truth, right? But he's only telling us the truth because he wants to heal us. I'll never become vulnerable again. I'll never freely love that person again. I'll not show that part of myself again. I became vulnerable. I opened up. I showed my weakness. I'll never do it again. I'll never be brought through that pain again. And lastly, I'm just going to live my own life and not get involved in anyone else's. Now, brothers and sisters, listen carefully. Jesus is here in our midst. And all of these statements are symptoms of a real problem. Okay? They are symptoms of something. When we understand what they are symptoms of, admit our guilt before God, repent, and look to Jesus for help. These walls, just like the walls of Jericho, will come crumbling down in your life this morning by the power of Jesus Christ. Now, let me ask this question. How many have seen one or more of these walls having been erected in your life, possibly in the past or even now, they're there? And you feel the struggle of them. And you feel the barrier of those walls between you and God and between your brothers and sisters. And how many know that it's a horrible, dry place to live? How many knows that God loves you too much to let you stay in prison behind those walls? And that today there's a word of deliverance for us all. Do you believe that? Believe it, brothers and sisters. It's true. Believe it. Believe it not because I tell you, but believe it because Jesus said in Isaiah chapter 61. Turn there before we go to the root of the problem. Isaiah chapter 61. This is the Spirit. This is the Scripture that the Spirit of the Lord spoke to me when He addressed these walls and these stones that have erected themselves in the house of God. He wants to tear it down. Isaiah 61. This is Jesus speaking now. This is a Scripture referring to Jesus. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. This is Jesus speaking now. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek. The word good tidings there means good news. There's good news this morning. But what good is good news to people who don't know they need it? What good is good news to people who don't know they're sick? I mean, if you met a physician who walked through this door and he had a miracle cure for cancer, most of you, all of us would say, oh, great. Nice to meet you. My name's Phil. I gotta go. But if you had terminal cancer and you knew you only had a few weeks left, you wouldn't let that guy out of your sight, would you? You would grab onto his coattail. You would ask him, where are you having lunch? Please have it at my house. Please, sir, come to my home. Talk to me. I need to tell you something. I have cancer. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty, liberty to the captive, to the captive, to those who are imprisoned by a life of walls, a life of sorrow, a life of bitterness. Listen, if you can identify with any of these walls or stones, when they put together, they make a wall. If you can identify with them and it's more than a struggle in your life, but it's something you've accepted, there's a root of bitterness in your life right now. Bitterness has come into your life. Bitterness is like spiritual cancer. And unless bitterness is taken out by the skillful hands of our surgeon, Jesus Christ, the Bible says bitterness will defile you and many others. Because when you're bitter, guess where it comes out? Your words. Your attitudes towards others. Bitter, bitter, bitter comments, bitter attitudes, bitter hostility. And then you start putting that bitterness in other people. Let's say Wendy and Rob have been given by God a great love for brother Phil. They have no other reason to love me. I don't know them that long. And they get together with another couple who's bitter toward Phil. And they get to talking about the Lord and get to talking about Jesus. And sooner or later, this couple starts putting thoughts and words in Robert's and Wendy's mind, saying things about brother Phil. They're bitter toward me. They've not resolved it. They've not come to me. They're bitter. And so Brian and Wendy go home at night and they get to talking, not about the Lord, but they get to talking about the seeds that were planted in their heart about brother Phil. And they come to fellowship the next Sunday. And they look at brother Phil and guess what? Yeah. They start to view brother Phil a little bit differently. And before they had a heart so open and so willing to embrace brother, praise God, I love you. Thank God for the word. But now it's take care, brother. We'll see you. It's okay. Why? Why? The root of bitterness is defiling many. And now Robert and Wendy have been defiled. Bitterness. Bitter. Bitter. Bitter. But Jesus said, I've come to heal the bitter. I've come to open up the prison to them that are bound. Now. The root. The root. Why? Why are we identifying with I'll never show my feelings again. I'll never be rejected. I'll never freely love. I'm going to live my own life. Bless God. I'm going to keep myself out. Why? Here's the, here's the root right here. We have the wrong person in view. Guess who that person is? Me. All these walls indicate that we yet desire to be the king of our own lives. When we are king, we care very much about how others treat us and how we feel about them. A king by right of who he is, is so concerned about everyone in his kingdom, right? A king demands what? Allegiance. A king demands the people's approval. He will not accept their rejection. He's king. You're my servants. Oh, brothers and sisters, may God open our hearts to see. May open our hearts to see people have hurt you. People have wounded you. People have disappointed you. People have betrayed you. People have not met your expectations and you have done the same to them. Don't forget that. And the reason why we fall prey to these walls is because of self-love, because we want to be king. And when we want to be king, everyone has got to act just the way we want them to. And when they don't, the wall is erected. But when we see the error and sin of our way and ask God for forgiveness and we repent of wanting to try and be the king of our own lives, wanting to retain the rights, when we realize we are called not to be kings, but servants of the Most High God. What everyone else thinks. But when we become servants, we care about what? What our Master thinks. We care only that we may please our Master, who has bought us with a price. With this revelation, the walls begin to tear down by the power of Jesus Christ, because we lose sight of ourselves and of men and women and what they have done to us and what they haven't done to us and seek only to please our Master. That is done by faith, trust in who He says He is. Spiritual maturity, listen carefully, will not happen without being spiritually related to other people. Follow? Being related to other people will not happen in your life unless you stop being king. Because guess what will happen when you start getting related to other people? Related meaning you become vulnerable and transparent with those that God brings into your life. Guess what will happen if you're king and you try and get related to other people and become vulnerable and get involved in their lives and they get involved in your lives? You're going to get offended. You're going to say, I will no longer be rejected by that person anymore. I'm not going to be hurt anymore. I'm not going to be emotionally spent anymore. I'm getting away. We run. See, we hide the withered part. We hide. We don't like what happens when God is asking us to be vulnerable. But see, Christianity is not about lone rangers. It's about a body. It's about members being related one to another under the headship of Christ. The Spirit of the Lord is saying this. The reason why there is such a deficiency of spiritual maturity in our lives, particularly in the church in America, is because everybody's a lone ranger. Everybody wants to work out their own Christianity in their own prayer closet. And there's a place for that. Don't misunderstand me. There's a place to love Jesus with all your heart. There's a place to seek him and to find his word to be precious to you. But brothers and sisters, equally, there's a place where God meets us as we become related spiritually with others and our hearts and souls are knit together. And the process of growth occurs in that setting. God says, freely love your brother and sister. God says, submit one to another in the love and fear of God. God says, confess your faults one to another. God says, seek help and encouragement from your brothers and sisters. God says, seek input from your brothers and sisters, not just anyone, but those that God has uniquely brought into your life. You know who they are. And if you don't pray, God will show you. Oh, I'm not going to seek input. What if they tell me something I don't like? Bless God, I'll do this myself. Seek input and be judged by them? I'm not going there. I'm not going there. Who's king right now? I'm not going there. Who's king right now? I'm not going to be rejected. Who's king right now? God says, be honest and vulnerable and accountable to one another and speak the truth one to another. God says, reach out and bless and pray for and keep loving those who hurt you and betray you and disappoint you and do not love you back. God says, keep pursuing under my direction, meaningful Christ-centered fellowship with others and don't let misunderstandings become a breach, a wall. God says, be willing to lay down your way, your opinion, and in the spirit of humility and love, prefer your brother. Prefer him above yourself. Seek his counsel. Where is this Christianity? This will never happen until we say, Lord, your word has been a bright light into my heart today, and I'm guilty. I'm guilty, Lord, and I ask you to forgive me. Lord, this is a scary thing. Because I'm afraid. I'm afraid to be vulnerable to others. I'm afraid because of the pain. But Lord, this is the only way to truly know your love and is to distrust what I think and to trust you. See, when we tear down the walls, we got to deal with unforgiveness in our heart. We got to deal with resentment in our heart. We got to deal with the unwillingness to submit in our heart. When we tear down the walls and we get involved in other people's lives, we got to deal with the danger of maybe them seeing us when we're not at our best. We don't like that in America, do we? No, we don't like that in America. We like to put on a show, and when we don't have that show on, we bar people out of our life. We bar them out. Is there healing here today? Oh my God, it's here. Do we need further diagnosis? Has the Lord dug deep? Should we go deeper? Or do we want to now say, Lord, carry us out? No. Or do we want to say, all right, we got the point. We got the point. What's the prophet say? Is there not a healing balm in Gilead? Is there not a healer? Are we ready? Are we ready? Are we ready to say, Jesus, these walls are horrible. Now, does Jesus forsake us now in the walls? No. Do we still hear him from time to time? Yeah. But we're not walking in the full light of his countenance, and therefore, not only are we, listen, not only are we hindering ourselves, but we're hindering others because we're part of a body. All right. Where did we start? The withered hand. We thought we knew at the beginning maybe some areas in our life that were withered, but now do we see a little more clearly? Do we see a big withered hand in our life? Foot, leg, ears, nose, everything. We're a mess, aren't we? But guess what? Jesus loves messes. He loves us. Are you afraid to tear down the walls? Are you afraid to tear them down? Is it unfamiliar territory? Does it open up all kinds of questions? Go to Jesus. Go to Jesus. Let's bow our hearts. Okay, brothers and sisters, he's here. He's here. We went from the withered hand to Hebrews 4.12, and our Lord being the one who can penetrate into the depths of our heart, and now we went from there to him exposing us by his word and showing us that we have erected these walls for one reason. We are guilty of the sin of pride and wanting to be the king of our life. We're guilty of wanting people's approval, people's praise. We're guilty of wanting everything in life to affect us in the way that we think is best. Lord, we're guilty of having the wrong person in view. It's not about us. It's about you, you and us as your servants. Lord, together we pray in this moment that the Holy Spirit will search every heart here. First of all, identify these walls that have been up to this point unpenetrable. Nothing has been able to tear these walls down. You've known they were there, or now you even know more because of the light of God. And Lord, by the power of Jesus Christ, speak a healing word into every soul here, and with that healing word, begin the tearing down of every wall that we have erected in wanting to be kings. Lord, let the walls fall as we bow before you and say, no more king will I be, but that thou alone wouldest be my king, and I your servant in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Let's sing this song together. If you need to pray for your loved one, if you need to pray for someone, just go ahead and pray, and let's let Jesus do now. It's time, brothers and sisters, it's time. Let Jesus be the king. Let him tear the walls down, reach out in love to one another, and pray, Lord, help us to be healed by your love today. Everyone together, let's look to him for a few moments.