[Applause]
All right, thank you guys for being here this morning in my favorite weather. I love it! If you see my car out there, you'll see the skis on top of it. We are ready to go, and this is just what, you know, it's my favorite time of the year. I know I'm an anomaly, but you know, one of the things that always intrigues me about storms and bad weather, whether it's snowstorms or thunderstorms or hurricanes or tornadoes, is to see the things that last after them. To see the things that can stand through the storm, what can make it through the storm and what cannot make it through this storm.
Whenever I lived in Louisiana, we would have hurricanes every few years or so. One of the times we lived down there, we had to flee for our lives. They said, "Get out! It's going to be more than a 3." We got out of there, so we flew to Houston and stayed there for two weeks. When we left, we were like, "What's going to be remaining when we return?" In Louisiana, we didn't have big basements and foundations because the ground level, the water level is so high. We actually had to build houses up on stilts or on concrete blocks, cylinders, different things to get them up higher. The foundations were not like they are here in the Northeast.
When we left our home for a couple of weeks, we only thought it was going to be a couple of days we'd have to leave, but because the storm was so bad, it knocked out power for a couple of weeks. When we came home, we would question ourselves, "What are we coming home to? What's going to be lasting when the storm passes? What's going to still remain after this hurricane?" I think it was Ida, maybe. It's back quite a while ago now. When we finally got home, there were trees down, power lines down, half of my roof was off the house, and a lot of siding. This storm came through and ripped apart part of my home.
When I was a kid, I always loved how strong different things were, especially my father. Does anyone have strong dads? A few of you? Right? Some of you are strong dads. My dad was a really big, strong guy, and as a kid, I would try to fight against him, wrestle him with everything I had. I just tried to, you know, and one time when I was older, like 16, I got in trouble, and I was so mad at the world, so mad at everything. I remember trying to fight against my dad, and my dad was just holding me like this with one hand. He wasn't moving. I was like, you know, I wasn't—I was little. I was pretty skinny back then, and I was trying to come fight against my dad, but my dad just held me up against the wall. He was just a strong, burly 300 lbs probably at the time. I wasn't moving him; I probably weighed 150 lbs wet, you know, after a shower maybe. He was just a strong man, and I was not.
I just loved the strength and the power of stability. We all, in our lives, have the opportunity to build our lives on a solid foundation or on a rock, or we can build our lives on shaky soil, on the sand. We all make decisions every day about how we're going to live. Are we going to live according to God's word and how He says to do things, or are we going to live our ways, in the ways that we think things ought to be done?
See, there's a big difference between the two. One way is solid, unmovable, unshakable, and that is the word of God. It's always been; it always will be. It's solid; it doesn't change. It's truth, and it will always be. The other is wavering; it tosses back and forth. It's changing; it's uncertain. Our ways are not God's ways; they are feeble. They don't last. Even the things that we put our hope and our trust in, so many times they don't last; they don't fulfill long-term. They change, and they shift. If we build our lives on the sand, then our lives become unstable or cracked.
I think I have a picture here of a house that looks like it's built on a solid foundation, but as you'll see—do you guys have the picture? I don't know, maybe they don't have it.
The Bible says it like this in Matthew 7:24. Jesus says, "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house."
Now let's just pause for a second. How many of you have had storms in your life? We're not talking about the storm that we have outside now or a hurricane; we're talking about storms in our own personal lives, like trials, things we go through. How many of you in this place have been through something in your life where it just seems like something was beating down against you? Something was coming against you; it seemed like nothing could go right.
Let me just ask it this way: has anybody not experienced that? Right? Even in this place, as I look around, I see many people I've known, I know, and I talk to. Different people in this place have gone through different health issues or marital struggles or even divorce or other physical things, financial situations. Everybody in this place, in fact, Jesus promised it to us: "In this world, you'll have trouble." We've all faced storms of life.
So the Bible talks about that when these storms come to our life, when we face these storms, those that build their house and put God's words into practice are like those that are built on the rock. When the storms come and beat against us—and they come against us as they will—the house did not fall, the scriptures say, because it had its foundation on the rock. How many of you want to have your foundation on Jesus, on the rock?
Right? Then Jesus goes on. He says, "But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand." The rain came down just like it did to the other people. The streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house. Again, just like the people that have it built on the rock, the same storms come to both. The Bible says the just and the unjust alike; storms come against all of us, no matter if we have a relationship with God or we don't. Storms come because we live in a fallen world.
As these storms come, the people that have built their house on the sand or their foundation on the sand, when the rain comes, the streams rise, the winds blow, and it beats against the house, the Bible says, Jesus says, it fell with a great crash.
It's really interesting here that the only difference in these two types of people is because, look at it, they both hear the word of God. They both have opportunities to build on the rock or build on the sand. They both probably have enough wisdom or knowledge to realize that if I go this way, this is what's going to happen; if I go this way, this is what's going to happen. They have all these opportunities, but the only difference between those that stood and those that didn't were those who chose to do what God told them to do versus build their house on the sand.
They're like, "Oh yeah, Jesus said we're supposed to do this, this, and this," and they're like, they probably—some of them, a lot of them said, "Oh yeah, that's probably what I should be doing." But how many people know that just believing in something isn't doing something? You can believe that what God tells us to do is truth. You can believe all you want, but if you don't— the Bible says faith without works is dead. You can have all the faith you want. "Oh, God has told me to live this way according to my marriage or according to my finances or give it to Him," and this and this, and man, that sounds like such a great idea, but I think it's a little too difficult for me. I think, you know, God will forgive me. I think my way is just easier, you know.
But what we don't realize is that every time we make those decisions and every time we do things our way instead of God's way, when we do things according to not the word of God and we do it according to the world's ways or different philosophies that are not God's, we are building our lives on sandy soil. It's only a matter of time when that storm will come, when those winds will blow.
I remember not long ago—it seemed like not long ago—when other storms came and faced this whole world. It wasn't long ago that COVID came and took a lot of people out. I remember, you know, just during that time how it stripped people back. Things that they thought mattered so much didn't matter anymore. Even more so, I think I saw it back when 9/11 happened many years ago. I remember 9/11 vividly because I was in the city when that happened, and I remember the weeks and months after that happened that people weren't so concerned about doing things their way anymore. They were instantly like, "Oh, we better get back to church. We better get back to God."
Man, everybody was coming back to the rock, and everybody was coming back to like—even this country—we need to turn back to God. For months, churches were full in America right after 9/11. But the two—everybody has the same choice in this parable: are we going to live according to God's ways and build our lives on the rock, or are we going to do things and build things our way and build our lives on the sand?
How many of you in this place could say, "You know what? My life, I'm putting my trust and my hope, and I'm doing things God's way—my marriage according to my other relationships and how I treat people, how I love." You know, the Bible tells us how we're supposed to love people. The Bible tells us how we're supposed to handle our money. The Bible tells us—the word of God tells us how we're supposed to live, how we're supposed to talk, how we're supposed to treat other people. The Bible tells us all these things, things of how to build our life on a solid rock foundation.
The Bible tells us even how we should look towards our future and what we should live for. It talks about our motives and how our motives even talk about how we should think. It tells us how we should pray. The Bible tells us so many things of how our relationship should be between us and God, the one who created us. It tells us all these things, and when we build our life on this rock, our lives become more solid. We become more steadfast; we become more secure; we become more full of joy. God's fruits of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience—we get filled with more of God's presence in our life. We become more of a light; we become more of an example when we're on the rock. It's a beautiful place to live.
I look around even in this church and see so many families that have just built their lives and dedicated their lives to not just hearing the word of God but actually doing it. This week, actually, was it yesterday? Two days ago, Friday night, I went to a wake for one of our PE families in our church. They used to come to our church here; they don't anymore, but they went here for many, many years. They have three boys, and the dad just passed away. This family was—for those that you don't know—it was Ted Pinter, and their three boys, Josh, David, and Seth, they were in my youth group when I first came back here. They were such a strong family; they are such a strong family in the Lord. They're like pillars, and now they have grandkids. Ted has grandkids—lots of them. All those boys have kids, and their whole family is just like solid, like loving God and serving God and have built their life on a solid foundation.
So not just Ted and Sharon, the parents, love the Lord, but their kids love the Lord, and now the grandkids love the Lord because they built their life on a solid foundation. I look around this room even here today; there are such strong pillars that have built their life—people that families that have built their life on the rock. Because of that, their children and their children's children will build their lives on the rock, Jesus.
It tells us how to live in all kinds of ways. Last week, Bethany did such an awesome job of showing us even what the Bible says about our physical health and how the Bible talks about how our bodies are not our own, but they belong to God too. But there are some of us in this place that don't build our lives on the rock, or maybe there are areas in our lives that are not so much on that rock, but we've chosen to build our lives on this sandy soil.
If I'm honest with you, it doesn't take much to see that even in my life, there are areas in my life that I'm so proud of. Like, yeah, I love the Lord in so many ways, and I've tithed and I've given to the Lord all my life, and I've grown up in church. I've had a great father who is solid, not just physically but spiritually, and a great mother who has great wisdom, has helped me stay off the path that leads to the sandy soil. I've had the great privilege to be under great leadership in this place, and I've learned how to pray, learned how to fast, learned how to get close to the Lord and build my life.
But there are still areas in my life—other stuff—that if you looked at the foundation, like, "Oh, that looks like a pretty bad crack; that's not solid rock." Even last week, Bethany's message spoke to me as much as it did to anybody else because our bodies do belong to the Lord. But when I grew up, I didn't know that scripture. When I grew up, I grew up in the '80s when everything was processed food. I grew up on microwave food. Anybody else? I love microwave food. Then I became, as a teenager, I worked at WGAN, so I just would take my paycheck and go buy gummy bears, gummy worms. I would literally cash my check and just go to the bulk food section and fill up a bag full of gummy worms, and it wouldn't last long. I was skinny back then, but then I became a youth pastor, and teenagers—they love sugar, and I love sugar, and they love pizza. I love pizza.
Over time, over time, I even had philosophies in my own life that were not solid rock, like, "This body isn't going to last forever anyway because we're going to have a new body," not realizing that I was building my life physically on a sandy foundation. One of the things, even over this next season of prayer and fasting, my prayer for my life is, "God, this has cracked in my life. I need to ask you to help me to go from a sandy foundation to a rock foundation with even how I treat my physical body."
All of us probably have some areas that we can look into our own personal lives and say, "You know what? I haven't been building this part of my life on the rock." Maybe it's like me with your physical body, or maybe it's in your finances that you haven't really trusted the Lord with your first fruits. Maybe it's with your relationships or with your marriage. Maybe it's with your children, maybe it's something else. But God's word shows us how we ought to live. When we build on His ways, our future is bright. We are solid even in the storm. When we don't, we build on a sandy foundation that will be destroyed.
You see, sometimes there are even people—times in my own life where my life seemed good, and you may feel this way now, like, "Oh, my life looks good. My life appears to be perfect." On the outside, it all looks really good, but on the inside, deep down, I know that there are some things that are just—Jesus said it like this: He said to the Pharisees, "You're like whitewashed tombs. On the outside, you look really beautiful, but the inside you're full of dead man's bones."
You see, there are probably areas in each of our lives where on the outside we put on a good facade, and everything looks like, "Oh yeah, how you doing? Oh, I'm doing great, like always, you know, plugging along." But on the inside, there are areas in our life where we know that if a storm came right now, if the waters rose just a little bit higher, if the wind blew a little bit harder, we don't know what we'd be coming home to because there are areas in our life where we have not put our foundation built on the foundation of the word of the Lord.
I've seen in my many, many, many, many years of ministry now—over 30 years—great friends of mine that I love deeply, that for different reasons have decided. I can give you a few examples of this one story where different pastors have gotten offended for different reasons or hurt in a church for different reasons. Instead of reconciling, instead of forgiving, like the word of God would say to do, they say, "You know what? I'm leaving, and I'm going to go start my own thing." But because their motive isn't right, because they're doing it out of hurt and not out of the rock, they go build on this sandy soil, this other church down the road or down in another town or another—it doesn't matter. They go build on another site, but because they're not doing it out of pure motive and because it's really the Lord, instead, they're doing it because they're hurt. It's only a matter of time when the winds come and the storms rock; they fall with a great crash.
I've seen it happen over and over and over and over again. Some of you in this place, watching online today, may be here today and say, "You know what? No, I am building my life on the rock, and everything is great." But really, what you may not recognize is that there are areas there on the sandy soil. I want to urge you today, even as somebody that loves you, like I told you I do, I want to urge you as your pastor, as your friend, to take a time this next 21 days as we go into this time of prayer and fasting to take this opportunity to ask the Lord, "God, what in my life has been built on this sandy soil? What needs to change so that when the storms come, I'm not going to be going through this great crash?"
None of us want to go through a great crash, do we? None of us want to see something in our lives fall completely apart, whether it's a financial crash or a marriage crash or any kind of crisis. None of us want to see that happen in any of our own personal lives, in any of your lives. But when the winds come and the rains come, if our life isn't built on the solid rock and there are areas in our life that aren't, it will come crashing down.
You know, that was one of the really cool things about COVID is that when it came through, it really did destroy a lot of things that were not necessary. Even in the church, we were doing a lot of things that probably weren't necessary—just busy time. When the storm came, it knocked off all the things that were built on the sand. In your life, when storms come, when the winds blow, when there's a crisis, the things that don't matter fall off pretty quick. We start to care more about, "Oh, I need to cling back to Jesus," or, "Oh, thank God that I have that loved one in my life that we used to take for granted."
When storms come, they give us a big picture of what really is solid and strong and what falls down in the storm. So what areas in your life have not been built on the rock? What are some of the cracks in your foundation that need to be fixed, need to be restored?
You know, this scripture is right before this scripture in the previous passage. Jesus is saying that in the future, when people stand before Him, they will say, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name do many great miracles, and we even cast out demons in your name?" Jesus says, "I will look at them plainly and say, 'Away from me, you evildoers; I never knew you.'"
Think about that for a second. Here are people that are thinking that they have built their life on a solid rock. They're doing miracles; they're prophesying in Jesus' name, and they're doing all these great things for Jesus. Yet Jesus is telling them, even ministry that you did was not built on me. You cared about prophecy; you cared about miracles; you cared about casting out demons, which, by the way, it's all great. But Jesus didn't care about that stuff; He cared that they knew Him.
Their life was on Him. A relationship with Jesus is way more important than what you can ever do for Jesus. Jesus is even revealing, right, even in this passage, that if we don't build our lives on the rock, even when we stand before Him, things are going to be like, "Oh, that really didn't matter."
Now think about this for a second. We're comparing this to the rock and the sand with storms. Now think of it in the terms of one day we're going to stand before Jesus, and everything will be laid bare. Everything that doesn't stand will be stripped away. What is left? What do you have to show?
"Well, God, I did—man, my kids were really good in sports." "Oh, God, like we got really—you know, we made it; we had a really good career." "Lord, did we not prophesy? Did we not save all these people?"
Every day we choose how we build our life. Every day we make choices: are we building this life—your life, my life—on sandy soil, full of ourselves, full of what we want to do, what's easier to do, or are we building our life on how the word of God tells us to live, on the rock, on Jesus, on a personal relationship with Him?
How do we build on Jesus? First of all, you can't build on the word of God, on the rock, which is the word of God, which is God, unless you know the word of God. How can you do what this year? We started the one-year reading plan on January 1st, so today is day number seven. I want to encourage you, as somebody that cares about you, that loves you, there's nothing that God will want more for you than to build your life on this rock, on Him. To do that, you've got to know His word. He speaks through His word; His word is Him speaking. If you don't know what it says, it's going to be really hard to build your life on Him.
We started it seven days ago. If you haven't started, start today on day seven. It's all right. If you're watching online and now it's day 10, start on day 10. Whatever day it is today, start on the Bible reading plan. It's the Bible Project on the Bible app. You can go and find whatever day it is. I want to encourage you; those videos for the devotionals are outstanding. I've been watching it every day because there's a little devotion at the beginning of it, and it's like a five-minute video. If you haven't seen it yet, please—if you're not going to—if you can't read the whole, because it's probably about 20 minutes worth of reading, but also you can listen to it. If you're in your car, you can press play, and a guy will read it for you.
But if you don't want to read all that, at least watch the videos. The devotionals—they are amazing! I forced my kids to watch the videos a few times already. Like, "We're watching this video together at family time. We're watching this video. Come on!" The videos are amazing, and they give a good summary of what God is trying to say in those passages of scriptures for the day.
But if we want to build our life on the rock, we've got to know what the word of God says. Number two, we've got to know how to talk to God. We have all this time this upcoming season starting tomorrow night at 7 o'clock, Encounter Night. We're going to talk about how to pray. We're going to pray in the mornings from 7:30 to 8:30, in the evenings from 6 to 7. Is that right? 5 to 6 or 6 to 7? 6 to 7, every night, Monday through Friday. We have pre-service prayer. We're going to find ways to connect with God, to talk to Him.
Prayer is not just us talking to God; it's God talking to us too. We're going to learn how to hear from God over this season. We fast during this season. If I could summarize what fasting really does, it exchanges all the sandy parts. We let go of all the sandy things in our life, all the things that we built on the sand, all the things that we built on us and all the things on the flesh, and say, "You know what? I am putting that aside, and instead, I'm taking this time to solidify my relationship with Jesus."
As we start tomorrow, even myself personally, I'm saying, "God, I'm going to stop watching TV so I can spend more time getting to build my life on the rock, on You." Whatever you're giving up, God, I'm doing this so that instead of living for myself on the sandy soil, I'm going to live for You, on this rock. I want to make an exchange over these next 21 days that You will help me for even the rest of this year, from going from this way of living to living my life on the rock, closer to You, deeper in You, stronger in You.
For those of you that want more help, Pastor Bethany is doing a Thursday night class every Thursday night at 6 o'clock. We have an awesome opportunity this new year, this new day today, to build our lives on the rock, on a solid foundation. We only have one chance to live this life, and it's really quick. I don't want to be a person that builds their life on the sand, and when the storms come and the hard times come in life, that every time that happens, everything shifts and everything just—I'm all over the place.
Even any areas in my life that are like that, I don't—this doesn't speak loud; this doesn't do well. This is how most people live on the sand. We have an opportunity as Christians that hear the word of God to put it into practice. Many people never even get to hear it. But not only are we hearing it today through the preaching of the word or by reading the scriptures, but we have the opportunity to go a step further—to not just hear it. Jesus said this, by the way, many times: "Don't just listen to the word; do what it says." It says that throughout scriptures: "Don't just merely listen to the word; do what it says."
I want to encourage you again, as your pastor, as somebody that loves you, to not just listen to the word. Don't just read the word; don't just listen to these words I'm saying, but do it, and your life will become solid. It will become steadfast; it will become unmovable. When the storms of life come, not only will you remain standing, but the things that you have built your life around will remain. Others will come and flock to you. Others will come and say, "How are you so strong even though this is going on in your life?"
Do you know when storms—really bad storms come, people look for shelter? In the South, when hurricanes or things come, they say, "Go to a basement." But there's no basements, and so they go to a convention center or these places that are built out of more solid foundations and rockier or pillars or cylinder blocks, and everybody flocks to them. Likewise, as people, when you build your life on the rock, you will become strong in the Lord so that when storms come, people will say, "Can you help me build my life that way too?"
We have a lot of people in this place that have chosen to build their life on the rock that are willing to help you when you go through storms. Maybe you're going through a storm even today, or maybe you just know that I'm on some shaky soil, and I need to get this foundation firm. I want to encourage you to reach out. We have an amazing staff, an amazing elder team that has built—and a lot of leaders in this place that have lead crews and different things that want to help you build your life on Jesus.
Let's pray. God, we thank You so much for Your word to us today. This one passage that talks to us about these storms of life that will come at us. God, we don't want to be those people that built their life on the sand so that when the storms come—and they will come again—that our lives will not fall with a great crash. God, we want to be the people that build our lives on a solid foundation, that build on You.
So today, God, we ask that You forgive us for building and doing things our way or the world's way, oh, that seems right to us, but in the end, we know it leads to destruction. God, forgive us for doing those things, and today we pray that You would help us, God, to build our lives on Your rock, on Your word.
In Jesus' name, with everybody's eyes closed and head bowed, if you're here today, or even if you're watching online, and you say, "You know what? I've never even chosen to allow Jesus to be a part of my life, and today I need to get that right." Even before you can start building this solid foundation, you have to have Jesus in your life as the architect, as the one that will help you to build upon Him.
If you're here today and you have not made that decision but you want to, you want to ask Jesus to help you in your life and open your life to Him, with everybody's eyes closed and head bowed, would you just lift your hand and say, "That's me. I need to get things right with Jesus today. I need to build my life on Him."
Anybody else? I see your hand. Anybody else? "I need to get things right with Jesus." If you're watching online, "I need to get things right with Jesus." Would you say this prayer with me? Say, "Lord Jesus." I want everybody to say this prayer in this place too. Say, "Lord Jesus, I need to get things right with You. I am away from You. I have been doing things my way. I've been building my life on the sand. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Help me today to build my life on You. I believe that You came for me, that You died for me, that You rose again for me so that I can be forgiven and so that I can have a relationship with You. I receive that forgiveness. Thank You, Jesus."
Amen. Amen. Come on, let's give it up for those that just did that in this place!
Would you stand to your feet? We're going to worship Jesus one more time.
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on Jan 08, 2024
