Walls of Grace | Aug. 30, 2026 | Ps. Raph Felix

The Bible calls us sheep because we are ruminating, cud-chewing animals. That means you eat here, but you need to keep eating later on. Amen, everybody.

Now, you need to keep meditating on the word of God. So I don't want you to just come here, you know, receive a word, some sort of religious lecture, and you go home, put this in a drawer of your memory, and forget about it. You have to meditate.

And I believe the Lord today will feed you with fresh nourishment and food. I am literally taking this word fresh from the oven for you, and you are not going to leave this place the same way you came in.

Amen. Close your eyes, bow our heads. Let's pray for the Lord to open the eyes of our hearts.

Father, I pray that you speak to your children in a personal way that only you can do. Answer their individual needs, God, and their concerns, cares, and worries.

Lord, speak to us. We bring our minds captive to your obedience, Jesus. We surrender our hearts as we sang today. Speak to us, Lord, breathe your spirit over us again to remind us of your promises, so we can leave this place confident in your promises. We pray in Jesus' name. Everybody said, amen! Are you guys ready for the word of God, everybody?

Amen. Ask somebody close to you, "Are you ready for the word of God?" Pastor Simon shared with me a story about his daughter, Jessica Jasmine, studying at Oral Roberts. She was with us here for a couple of months. She was coming back from the grocery store when suddenly a stranger's car made a U-turn and came in her direction. She was using her AirPods, and a lady inside the car shouted, "Come in! Come to my car! Right now! Come, come, come!"

And she was super scared. She said, "What do you mean? I don't know you." The lady said, "Come right now to my car." Then she noticed there was a Bible on the top of the dashboard of the car. And she just trusted, thinking, "Because there is a Bible, I can get into that car."

Now, you can imagine a father listening to this story, how he became so anxious just hearing it. I myself here, got, you know, breathless just now.

And then the lady drove Jessica to her door, and finally, Jessica asked, "But why were you in such a rush to put me in your car?" And she said, "I saw you walking distracted back to your door, but there was a man, probably with either a gun or a knife, right behind you. And he was up to do something very evil against you. So I rushed to pick you up in the car." She added, "My husband works here in the security system of this college, and I'm going to call him right now to take care of your safety."

And then Pastor Simon looked at me and said, "Pastor, my friend, I know that the Lord protects my children." And that consciousness of the walls of grace around us is what allows us to have confidence to dare, to believe bigger and greater. It is when we are reminded that we have God as our shield. El Elyon fights our battles. When we are conscious of that, when we are firmly grounded in this truth, you go back to your ministry with confidence. Despite your weaknesses and failures, you can give yourself a chance again because the Lord is a wall of fire all around you.

In 1937, before World War II, in San Francisco, a man-made wonder of the world was being built: the Golden Gate Bridge. The challenge was to cover a 4,200-foot span. And the project budget surpassed $27 million in the first half. Now, $27 million is nothing now, but back then it was more than a fortune.

The reason why the work was so expensive and slow is because nobody wanted to work on that bridge. It was known that more than 23 men had fallen into the cold bay waters and lost their lives, until the engineers understood they had to stop the construction and build a safety net. It cost a lot—at the time, $100,000. But that cost was quickly surpassed because the workers were now 25% more effective. And they saved money for the builders, because now, nobody was worried about losing their lives. The knowledge that they were safe gave them the sense of security they needed to finish the job.

Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works." The Lord has a ministry, a calling, a purpose, a divine assignment over your life. Say a good amen!

But you are afraid. "I may not be able to sustain myself. I may slip and fall. I don't think I can. I don't think I should get involved with this." But the Lord has prepared beforehand all the resources we need so we can walk in them. God desires us to live a life of purpose. But while we are in sheer terror of God, with the feeling that at any time he is ready to strike us down because of our mistakes—because we fail to keep our motivations pure—now our relationship with God is fear-based. Not the reverent fear of God; it is dread, it is concern, it is terror.

So that's why today I want to start first by dealing with your eternal security. If we are talking about security and safety in the walls of grace, first I need to speak over your eternal security. Serving out of fear hampers our best efforts and robs us of joy. True service springs from a grateful, loving heart, knowing that we are always under God's protection. Like that safety net I just mentioned.

But if you die today, do you know where you would spend your eternity? Or would you agree with those who say, "I don't think we ever know where we spend eternity until we actually die"? Well, I believe you can know where you will be in eternity.

Let me speak about four types of people that exist everywhere. (I put a slide up there, Skyler.) An old proverb says: He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool; shun him. He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is simple; teach him. He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is asleep; awaken him. But there are the ones who know, and know that they know, and they are wise; follow them.

All of us fall into one of these four categories. Some don't know and don't know that they don't know. Therefore, they are lost. They are separated from God. The message for those people is in Romans chapter 3, verse 10: "None is righteous, no, not one," or Romans chapter 3, verse 18: "There is no fear of God before their eyes." They cannot see. Or Romans 3, verses 22 and 23: "The righteousness of God is revealed through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." All men without Christ stand sinful before God, condemned, separated to an eternity without his presence.

Some, however, don't know, and know they don't know. The message for these people is 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 21: "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." It is a matter of just explaining, because they are in the search, they are seeking. Or we can also read part of Romans chapter 3: "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe." It's a matter of showing the message.

But the most tragic category includes those who know, but don't know that they know. They are believers who are saved, and whose destiny is certain, but who do not know they are saved and are not sure of their eternal security. And the consequence of that is that they keep hiding themselves in the corners of the church building like bugs, trying to run away from the pastor. As soon as the service ends, they run away, because they know the pastor will always come with a challenge: "It is time for you to stand as a disciple-maker. God is calling you as a minister. There is an opportunity, a calling upon your life." And they say, "No, me, pastor? Not me. Poor me." Because they don't even know where they're going to be in eternity.

No one has more peace and rest in this life than the person who knows God the Father through God the Son, and knows that he knows him. This isn't about being presumptuous or overly confident. It's about the truth.

You know, the Lord is moving in our church in such a beautiful way. Mainly through this—like the most, for me, distinctive way is this Holy Spirit-led move over adopting kids, fostering kids in our church. Such a beautiful move of God. No one can convince a young family to bring this stranger child into their home to literally disrupt their schedule so hard. But now the Holy Spirit is moving and bringing these children from all the places in Southwest Florida to be fostered and adopted among us.

And one element is so clear: some of them come to us in such a fearful place of insecurity. Some of them, in the beginning, don't stop crying. They are afraid to give their little arms to anyone who tries to approach them. But in very few days, suddenly, their little faces change from crying to a continuous smile. You can see that once they really understand they are adopted, and without any deserving it, they feel secure. And now they can rest, they finally can rest and enjoy peace.

When a parent adopts a child, no matter how many rules the kid breaks, they are still part of the family. That permanent relationship can never be undone. However, bad choices may ruin the closeness and the perception of the closeness. The kid might face discipline or lose some of their privileges, but they never lose their identity. They are forever adopted.

John chapter 1, verse 12: "But to all who did receive him..." Raise your hand and say, "I have received him." "...to all who did receive him, who believed in his name..." Say, "I believe in his name." Come on, church, say, "I believe in his name." God gave the right to you to become a child of God. And you are not born out of the desire of any man, nor of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but you were born of God.

Your eternal security depends on God's unconditional love, not on you being perfect. And if you make a mistake, you do not lose your spot in heaven. That is why the element of confessing your sins is not a matter of obtaining greater forgiveness. You are already completely forgiven. Say a good amen!

"But Pastor, where does confession come into place then?" It is just a matter of repairing our conscience and our fellowship with God, not that we lost our position and our identity as children.

Years ago, a man walked into my office and told me that he was leaving our church. He said that he was looking for a place that preached more heavily on repentance. He wanted his family to hear more about judgment and hell. In his mind, the only way to live a truly committed, godly life was to be constantly reminded of his sins and failures. What they misunderstood is that the fear of the Lord, the reverent fear of the Lord, is not terror of God. It is not being in a state of being terrified of God. But for that family, that was their misunderstanding.

So they left to join a legalistic church. And because they were one of our leaders, I had to rearrange the life group, and I had to fill the gap. So I put a leader in training in his place. I raised the leader in training to be the new leader. And over the years, these two families contrasted right before my eyes: two ways of living out their faith. The new leader stepped into their role grounded in the freedom and security of God's grace, knowing there were the walls of grace that were safeguarding his godly life. And because of this, this new leader grew his ministry out of gratitude and relationship with God; they flourished. Today, I follow this young leader—now not under my ministry, and he's still in the Vine, but in another vine—and he became a discipler, an overseer over at least 15 other life groups.

Meanwhile, the family that left seeking a heavier hand found exactly what they were looking for, but it did not produce the fruit they expected. From what I know, that family is still wandering, trying to find their place and purpose in ministry. They became quick to condemn others. Which you all know, is the psychological problem of projection: whatever you condemn in others is usually the very thing you struggle with the most. Those who are fast to judge others usually live a secret life in the very areas where they are condemning others. And because they continue believing that living under that cloud of condemnation would do anything, the result is that now they are barren and unfruitful.

God doesn't want us to walk on eggshells, terrified that one slip-up will get us kicked out of his family. When you know you are completely safe and loved, you don't do good things out of fear; you do them out of freedom, out of joy, gratitude, and real love. That's what we need. That's the standard we want to have in every ministry developed in this house. That's why you all need complete certainty of your eternal destination.

Let me press on more on the second layer of security: Job chapter 1. I want to talk about a hedge around your life. A hedge of protection around your life.

The book of Job is right before the Psalms, because under the rabbinical tradition, Job is considered a poetic book as much as Psalms, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, and Proverbs. It's part of this collection of books. And if you can see, the whole book is a huge poem. Most of the words there are written in stanzas. Because of that, the book of Job was never intended to be doctrinal. Listen carefully. The book of Job was never intended to be instructive in terms of doctrine. You should not take doctrine of our belief system from Job.

However, in this beautiful poem, this long parable, we find this scene where Satan comes and challenges God in his relationship with Job. And in that conversation, chapter 1, verse 9, we read this: "Then Satan answered the Lord and said, 'Does Job fear God for no reason?'" Verse 10: "'Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side?'" The question of Satan is, it's evident to him from the heavenly perspective that Job has this shield around him, this protection that he cannot ever cross over his life, over his assets, over his family. There is nothing he can do. Look at it more: "...You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land."

Now, then we read the rest of the story, and you wonder, "Okay, so God took away the protection, and now Satan had the permission to intervene in Job," just for us to find in the very final chapter that Job got what Abraham learned: that God himself was his shield. God, El Elyon, was his shield.

Let's speak more about this later on, because Psalm 3, verse 3 says, "But you, O Lord, are a shield about me." Come on, somebody. "You are my glory, the lifter of my head." Whoever came today downcast, depressed, and wondering what they are going to do tomorrow, today the Lord is lifting your head! He is your shield. Verse 4 says, "I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill." Say a good amen, everybody.

So the hedge here means this protection. Now, I don't know if you noticed—put the image of the message today, just the big wall. I know it's hard to notice, but when I called this message "The Walls of Grace," you see the wall, but maybe you didn't notice I placed a little tiny AI lady underneath the tree. And maybe you're wondering, "This wall is protecting from this side." No, no, no. This is the inside of the wall. This is where you are. You are on the inside protected area. And that's why you can rest. And that is you surrounded by this hedge of protection as the Lord is our shield.

Satan thought Job reverently feared God for protection, but he learned that Job had God as his protection, and from that relationship, he feared the Lord.

Abraham desired to deliver his nephew Lot from bondage. So he entered into a war that was not his problem. It was his nephew's life problem, but he loved his nephew, and he wanted to rescue him. But Abraham was not a general or a captain; he was at best a peasant, a good farmer. And he gathered 318 of his best workers to fight against kings that had trained, armed armies. And the Lord delivered Lot with the intervention of Abraham.

And Abraham is coming back now afraid, because probably one of those kings that lost the battle said some threatening words: "You did that to me, Abraham. Now get ready, because I'm going to come after you. I know your address. I know where you live, where your relatives live," just like mobsters blackmailing people. So Abraham probably had that shadow of fear going around him as he's trying to come back home.

Then this mysterious character in the Bible shows up. His name is also strange: Melchizedek, which means he is the King of Righteousness. I know a man that also has this title. And he was reigning over Salem, Shalom, the City of Peace. I also know a man who reigns over the City of Peace. So Melchizedek clearly is a picture of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament, and he brings some relief to Abraham. Curiously, he brings bread and wine. I also know a man who also offers us rest through his body and through his blood, the bread and the wine that refreshes us, reminding us of our forgiveness and our acceptance in Jesus Christ.

Melchizedek approaches Abraham and blesses him. Genesis chapter 14, verse 19: "And he blessed him and said, 'Blessed be Abram by God Most High.'" The Hebrew word here is El Elyon, Possessor of heaven and earth. "'And blessed be God Most High, who has...'" listen, "'...who has delivered your enemies into your hand!' And Abram gave him a tenth of everything."

Now, Melchizedek showed up basically to bring relief and a conscience of security. "Look, Abraham, you thought you fought the battle, but it was El Elyon, the God Most High, that delivered your enemies into your hand." And the same God is on your side continually. Say a good amen, everybody.

This needed to sink into Abraham's heart. He was still afraid. The Bible continues telling us the story that after this encounter, the King of Sodom showed up and tried to make a deal with Abraham, so he got a little bit distracted. But in chapter 15, the following part of this story says that in the night, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. And the Lord himself told him, "I am your shield; your reward shall be very great."

Say with me, "The Lord." Say with me, "El Elyon." The God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth. Take a deep breath. Say with me, "He is my shield." Say amen, everybody. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus.

Psalm 34 promises us in verse 7 that the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him. Listen, we don't need to fear anyone because we already fear the Lord, but it's not a fear of terror; it is reverence. It is this awe, this being mesmerized, this amazement feeling you have with his endless, sheer love. And the Lord delivers us from all our troubles. Verse 8: "Taste and see that the Lord is good." Romans is going to tell us that it is God's goodness that leads us into repentance. So taste and see that the Lord is good.

Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. If you can close your eyes, say today, "I take refuge in my Lord."

It is impossible to overstate the goodness of God. Some argue, "Hey, Pastor, stop with this preaching because this is so unbalanced. You are exaggerating the goodness of God. You are always preaching about his grace here. We need some alignment, some balance. We need to combine a little bit of grace with religion, a little bit of salvation with condemnation, so people will have a balanced Christian life."

This is not true. I don't know about you, but every time I open my news app, I don't hear or read any good news at all. There is always something terrible happening all around me. Throughout the whole week, the only thing I am bombarded with is bad news. So if I'm speaking about alignment, what I'm doing right now is exactly that: I'm feeding you with good news. Because you are being so unaligned, unbalanced with bad news and expectations of worse things in your life, that today you are being balanced.

This week something funny happened. A sister asked for help because the tire of her car exploded and broke apart. And the reason why was not that a nail or she passed through a wrong path; it is because the car was driving for many miles unaligned, unbalanced. And the result of this is that you're going to wear out the tire. I don't know if you ever drove an unaligned car. The steering wheel pulls you in the wrong direction. Do you guys follow me here? So you need to keep that continuous effort to keep yourself on the right track.

Let me align you today. The Lord is your shield. He is fighting your battles. We don't need to worry or carry this anxiety heavily laden upon us. Let me align you today: the Lord is going before you. He is your shield. Say a good amen, everybody! And if you try to keep yourself holding on, eventually you're going to burn out and get tired.

Psalm 34, verse 9: "Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!"

You might be wondering, "Okay, Pastor, if the Lord protects us all the time, why do bad things happen to good people? Even yourself, Pastor, in your own story, you had to endure a painful tragedy with the loss of your son 10 years ago. How do you explain that?"

Well, I don't explain that. I stand strong because I know I am surrounded by God's protection. In the same Psalm, Psalm 34, verse 19. Listen carefully there, Skyler. Verse 19 now, sir. "Many are the afflictions of the righteous." So the Bible does not deny the facts of this life. We are not in denial. We are simply confessing the truth over the factual realities. The Lord is still delivering the righteous from all our afflictions. We face afflictions. We do have hardships, unexpected tragedies, but the Lord delivers us from them all.

The kids were playing around the ladies yesterday night, Friday night for the prayer night. Kids being kids. One very known child of the house, a boy starting with L and finishing with I. He was running around when he fell and bumped his head on the ground. He looked around and found no adult paying attention. So he contained his cry. He held his cry until he found my wife running her errands for the meeting. So he went toward her, hugged her legs, and he gave himself the right to cry after, I don't know, maybe one minute after the hurt had happened. So he cried for a couple of seconds. And in a few seconds, he was running again, fearless again. Carefree again, unworried.

We can come before our Father when we are hurting. We can come to his lap, and we can cry and find comfort. The Lord tells us, in this world we may face tribulations, but in all of them, we as the righteous people of God, we are delivered from all of them with his comfort. That is my answer for my tragedy, and that should be your answer in the middle of your afflictions.

Second Corinthians chapter 1 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction..." That is the Lord delivering us, comforting us, "...so that we may be able," verse 4, "to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." Say a good amen, everybody.

Are you receiving something this morning? Because the Lord is reminding you he is for you, not against you.

I love this moment of conversation between the devil and the Lord. You know, the father of lies only lies, but a few moments in scripture, you find him stating truth. And what he said in Job is truth: the Lord has put a hedge around us, around our house, around all that we have. The Lord has blessed the work of our hands and our possessions will increase. I declare this over your life in Jesus' name.

A couple of days ago, I received a call in the middle of the night from a family. Very worried, because their children were nowhere to be found. And later it was revealed they were using a toxic substance, not to say drugs, alcohol. The family was very anxious because they didn't know what to do. I had to care for that family and give some guidance. But in the same night, when I thought I could go back to sleep, I received another message. It was from my son. He sent me pictures from Brazil. But he was sending pictures at a very inappropriate time: 3:00 AM in the morning. He was sending me videos, video clips of this crowd of young people on fire for Jesus in a vigil. In a vigil that probably started at 9:00 PM and finished at 6:00 AM. And in the middle of the vigil, my son sent me those pictures.

I do not take for granted the protection of the Lord around my house. I think because I'm a pastor and I hear so many stories, I know the Lord is protecting my family. And I know it's only because of his hedge of protection. He is a wall of fire all around my sons so that I can rest. I know that right now, he is seeking the Lord. It is not a fruit of my godliness, my pious life; it is only his love, his goodness, and his favor. It is totally unmerited. I don't know if you need this faith today, but the Lord wants to set us free from every fear.

Now, that's why I need to speak over the root of fear. So please don't get anxious; I'm heading to the end of my message. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14: "Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham, those who believe." Verse 17: "Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest, a representative in the service of God, to make propitiation"—the payment—"for the sins of the people."

Our greatest enemy is death, along with the devil who holds the power of death. But here we are learning that Jesus destroyed the one who has death's power. Now, the word "destroy" here—I know it seems that he is completely destroyed in the sense of missing and disappearing. That's not the original word. The word is katargeo in Greek. That means he was voided, deprived of any power, any force. He was unplugged from the power. So right now, it is useless. The devil in your life, in my life, he is jobless. Do you follow? He has no power anymore to threaten you with the fear of death.

Because the worst thing, listen, the worst thing that can happen to the believer is that you're going to go to heaven. That's the worst thing. So I know it sounds strange what I'm saying, but that's why his power now is powerless over your life. And you can see every fear in the world, and maybe every anxiety that surrounds you, that hovers in your mind. If you peel it off, you're going to get to this root of all fears: that you may die. You may lose everything and die of hunger. You get so sick that now you die. "I cannot drive. I'm anxious to drive because I may hit my car and die." So you can see that every fear, every anxiety, when you take all the layers off, you're going to find the root is the fear of death.

But not for you anymore. The one who held the fear of death is now jobless. He is powerless. He has nothing against you. When you think about a bomb squad, they come inside of a building where it's said there was a bomb inside. So these very smart people, they come, and they cut the right wires, and they deactivate it. They unplug the power of the bomb. They bring the bomb out, and everybody sees them, seized with fear. They are afraid because they think that the bomb still has some power in it. But the guys are juggling the bomb in their hands, because right now that bomb has no power at all. It was made powerless. That's the image. The Lord is your shield, and therefore, the devil is powerless to threaten you with any fear.

I'll tell you why the devil wants us so much under the bondage of fear: he wants to stop your calling. He wants to hinder your divine purpose. He wants you so afraid that now you hide yourself from the voice of the Lord in your life. But if you know there is a safety net, that you can walk boldly, confidently, that you can—yes, you still stumble—but you are still surrounded by the hedge of protection, now you can rest. Now you can try again. You can dare again.

Psalm 27. Would you stand on your feet? Let me pray for you. Psalm 27, verse 1: "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life"—a strong tower that the enemy cannot ever cross—"of whom shall I be afraid?" When David wrote this psalm, he did not say, "My perfect obedience is my light. It is my perseverance that is my stronghold." No, he said, "The Lord is my stronghold. The Lord is my shield. The Lord is my protection."

Psalm 125, verse 2: "As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people." Hallelujah. "From this time forth and forevermore." And finally, I love this one. Zechariah chapter 2, verse 5. Zechariah is trying to encourage the people of Israel to rebuild the city and saying, "Don't give up. Don't feel discouraged because of the threats." Because the Lord says, "And I will be to her a wall of fire"—picture that: a wall of fire all around—"declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst." Hallelujah.

Raise your hand as you are right now. Maybe you are afraid. You came here anxious, you came here tired, holding the steering wheel of your life, gripping it with all that you could throughout this week, and now you feel exhausted. Today, the Lord brings rest over you.

So Father, here are your people. Here are your children, Lord God. Some of them were on the verge of giving up on this idea. Some of them were almost, Lord God, forgetting their calling. Maybe thinking of the shortcuts of running away. But today, Lord, you are reminding us: you fight our battles. You are our shield. You are a wall of fire all around us, Lord. Come on, picture this. You are like the mountains that surround Jerusalem, Lord God. Who can trespass it? If the Lord is for us, who can be against us? Greater is the one who is with us than the one who is with them. Lord, you go before us, Lord God, and we rest in your promises today.

So, Father, I pray over your children: peace. Peace to their hearts. Come on, take a deep breath where you are. Let the Lord breathe over you the wind of the spirit that blows away every anxiety, every care, every heavy burden on your shoulders today. Lord, I prophesy over your children that the best is yet to come, Lord. Father, we will fulfill our calling. This is still the year of multiplication, and we believe your promises upon our lives, Lord God. Oh, you have so many good things in store for us, God, and we rest in your promises, in Jesus' mighty name.