WEBVTT 00:00:03.184 --> 00:00:17.411 On Wednesday, october the 10th 2018, hurricane Michael roared ashore in the panhandle of Florida and it hit a little place called Mexico Beach. 00:00:17.411 --> 00:00:27.251 The eyewall went directly over Mexico Beach and it had sustained winds maximum sustained winds of 155 miles an hour. 00:00:27.251 --> 00:00:40.988 It was a bad storm In fact, it was the first category five hurricane to ever hit the panhandle on record anyways and 59 people lost their lives across the country from deaths related to this hurricane. 00:00:40.988 --> 00:00:45.655 From deaths related to this hurricane, losses totaled $6.23 billion. 00:00:45.655 --> 00:00:50.844 It was an amazing, amazing storm. 00:00:50.844 --> 00:01:04.341 But as pictures began to surface, as they typically do after an event like this, there was one picture that caught everybody's attention and you can see it right here. 00:01:04.341 --> 00:01:07.885 This was an aerial picture taken of right at Mexico Beach. 00:01:07.885 --> 00:01:20.924 This was the center of the storm, this is where they got the brunt of the major winds and the rain and the tidal surge, and here stood this one house. 00:01:20.924 --> 00:01:22.628 All around it was devastation. 00:01:22.628 --> 00:01:26.903 Houses were totally gone, some were so badly damaged they had to be raised. 00:01:26.903 --> 00:01:36.753 You know, taken all the way down anyways, but this one, one home stood there and everybody wanted to know the question why this home? 00:01:36.753 --> 00:01:38.740 Why did this one stay here? 00:01:38.740 --> 00:01:41.125 Why did it get blown away? 00:01:42.066 --> 00:01:51.087 And so eventually, they quickly found out who built this home, and it was built by a guy named Russell King and his nephew, lebron Lackey. 00:01:51.087 --> 00:01:55.260 And they were interviewed as to what did you guys do? 00:01:55.260 --> 00:02:07.352 Well, they had built it the year before and the Florida building code said that a house had to be built to sustain damaging winds up to 150 miles an hour. 00:02:07.352 --> 00:02:09.045 They didn't even look at the code. 00:02:09.045 --> 00:02:17.406 They said to their builder we want to build it to withstand winds up to 250 miles an hour, and so they did. 00:02:17.406 --> 00:02:22.292 This building was built with insulated concrete forms. 00:02:22.292 --> 00:02:33.229 These were reinforced with concrete and steel and the pilings went down 28 feet into the sand 28 feet. 00:02:33.229 --> 00:02:55.912 When they were watching the hurricane come in, they had live cameras on their house and they were watching it come in and they're like there ain't no way, but you know what it stood it In fact, the only damage was and if you look at the bottom of the bottom is there was a bottom floor there, but they built it so it could get the title search could just take those walls out. 00:02:55.912 --> 00:02:57.342 They built breakaway walls. 00:02:57.342 --> 00:02:59.389 The steps that were there they broke. 00:02:59.389 --> 00:03:02.103 They built it, so those steps would be broken off. 00:03:02.103 --> 00:03:03.545 It wouldn't damage it any further. 00:03:03.545 --> 00:03:06.932 This house was very strong. 00:03:06.932 --> 00:03:24.331 It had a foundation that went all the way down to where it could reach good, solid, firm foundation, and having a strong foundation for your home is important, especially if you're going to build on a coastline in Florida, but having a spiritual foundation is even more important. 00:03:24.439 --> 00:03:25.746 We're going to talk about that today. 00:03:25.746 --> 00:03:31.582 So today we're finishing up our sermon series that we've titled Red Letters, and this has been a great. 00:03:31.582 --> 00:03:33.427 You guys enjoy this series. 00:03:33.427 --> 00:03:34.390 It's been great. 00:03:34.390 --> 00:03:35.824 If you don't, then you don't like Jesus. 00:03:35.824 --> 00:03:36.367 So there you go. 00:03:37.300 --> 00:03:54.951 They're his letters, they're his words, right, and we've been systematically going through these words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, and we've been systematically going through these words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, and we are ending this today in Matthew 7, the very last verses of Matthew 7, in a section of scripture that's often titled the wise and foolish builders. 00:03:54.951 --> 00:04:00.056 So we're going to read the text first, so let's go ahead and read through this very short, just a few verses. 00:04:00.056 --> 00:04:06.082 So Matthew 7, verse 24, says this is Jesus again speaking. 00:04:06.082 --> 00:04:30.199 Everyone, then, who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall Because it had been founded on the rock. 00:04:30.199 --> 00:04:35.312 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 00:04:35.312 --> 00:04:42.494 And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and it beat against the house and it fell, and great was the fall of it. 00:04:42.494 --> 00:04:53.367 So this morning, we're going to do two things we're going to read through these words of Jesus and unpack the spiritual principles that he teaches us in this very short story about the wise and foolish builder. 00:04:54.189 --> 00:05:14.274 But the second part of this message, we're going to explore this concept of what does it mean to have a rock solid foundation, solid foundation, what does it mean to have a strong Christian foundation and what is the role that you and I play in building that foundation. 00:05:14.274 --> 00:05:15.016 You guys ready to do this? 00:05:15.016 --> 00:05:16.500 Well, let's pray. 00:05:16.500 --> 00:05:23.584 Father, we thank you for your word, jesus, we thank you for these precious words that were preserved for us. 00:05:23.584 --> 00:05:46.908 And, father, today, as we unpack these words, god, we pray that you would search each of our hearts, that you would show us where our foundation may be weak, that you would teach us through these words, that you would inspire us and, father, that you would convict us so that we indeed can have that strong foundation that nothing will be able to ever push over. 00:05:46.908 --> 00:05:49.988 In Jesus' name, we pray amen. 00:05:51.240 --> 00:06:02.848 By the way, I'm sitting there singing these songs, I'm like I think my sermon's already been given through the worship and in the words that were given, both of them were exactly right on par with that. 00:06:02.848 --> 00:06:04.646 I didn't plant them, by the way. 00:06:04.646 --> 00:06:05.641 That's just what happens. 00:06:05.641 --> 00:06:09.151 Well, let's start by doing a little exposition of the words of Jesus. 00:06:09.151 --> 00:06:13.216 On the surface, by the way, when you look at this, it may seem rather simple. 00:06:13.216 --> 00:06:14.319 The words seem rather simple. 00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:15.541 Hey, this is a real simple scout. 00:06:15.541 --> 00:06:16.843 We get it, okay next. 00:06:16.843 --> 00:06:23.610 Next, no, there is very specific words that Jesus chooses here to portray these divine principles. 00:06:23.610 --> 00:06:24.050 So we're going to. 00:06:24.050 --> 00:06:26.293 We need to give that a deep examination. 00:06:26.293 --> 00:06:27.553 So let's start in verse 24. 00:06:27.553 --> 00:06:34.031 Jesus says everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:42.744 Now I first want to identify that Jesus is continuing to use a pattern of teaching that is called contrast. 00:06:42.744 --> 00:06:50.242 Okay, he contrasts basically two opposites, and he does this all the way through this. 00:06:50.242 --> 00:06:52.267 Chapter seven, verse seven. 00:06:52.267 --> 00:06:54.401 He talks about a good father and an evil father. 00:06:54.401 --> 00:06:55.904 Right, he does that contrast. 00:06:55.904 --> 00:07:00.334 Verse 13, narrow gate versus wide gate, all right. 00:07:00.334 --> 00:07:04.668 Verse 15 through 20, the good fruit versus the bad fruit. 00:07:04.668 --> 00:07:16.714 So he's using this, this literary teaching, right, this teaching I guess you could call it pattern to be able to continue to show these spiritual principles. 00:07:16.714 --> 00:07:22.091 And he's doing it here specifically, obviously, to make a spiritual point. 00:07:22.091 --> 00:07:29.194 And in this case, of course, he's contrasting the wise man building it on the foundation of a rock and the foolish man on the sand. 00:07:29.916 --> 00:07:34.908 Now, the spiritual meaning begins to take shape almost immediately with the very first verse. 00:07:34.908 --> 00:07:40.983 Everyone, then, who hears these words of mine and does them and we're going to stop there. 00:07:40.983 --> 00:07:44.387 You see, he doesn't leave any ambiguity here. 00:07:44.387 --> 00:07:46.490 He's very clear. 00:07:46.490 --> 00:07:50.295 He doesn't say a good person is a person who builds his house on the rock. 00:07:50.295 --> 00:07:53.742 He doesn't say that. 00:07:53.742 --> 00:08:00.673 It's not, and we're going to explore this a little bit more this isn't just about behavior, behavior modification, it's not about just changing your behavior. 00:08:00.673 --> 00:08:09.987 It's something a lot deeper, and he specifically makes this clear that the whole thing, this whole analogy, this whole metaphor. 00:08:09.987 --> 00:08:15.261 It is rooted on him and the truth that he has been given. 00:08:15.261 --> 00:08:17.007 They've been listening to all these words, remember? 00:08:17.007 --> 00:08:25.002 They're hearing all this, and so everything is going to hinge on that, and we're going to go a little bit more into that in the second part of the sermon. 00:08:25.944 --> 00:08:28.309 Now, how about the topic of the metaphor itself? 00:08:28.309 --> 00:08:32.244 This is a metaphor of a foundation on a home. 00:08:32.244 --> 00:08:34.347 Now, it's really interesting. 00:08:34.347 --> 00:08:40.527 As I looked at this, I thought you know, talk about a universal metaphor that everybody would get. 00:08:40.527 --> 00:08:46.123 You know, if you don't have a vineyard, it might be hard for you to grasp. 00:08:46.123 --> 00:08:47.187 About the whole fig tree, I mean, I don't know. 00:08:47.187 --> 00:08:47.950 We got a fig tree. 00:08:47.950 --> 00:08:50.220 By the way, in our yard we planted a fig tree. 00:08:50.220 --> 00:08:51.842 How many people like figs? 00:08:51.842 --> 00:08:54.346 Okay, there'll be more surveys later on. 00:08:54.346 --> 00:09:00.342 So some of us have figs and have picked figs, and some of us haven't. 00:09:00.342 --> 00:09:03.089 But everybody understands this metaphor. 00:09:03.089 --> 00:09:06.235 This metaphor holds water, no pun intended. 00:09:06.235 --> 00:09:17.174 Even today, in fact, when I read this, you probably in your mind had this vision of a house of some kind and a kind of foundation and what might be happening. 00:09:17.174 --> 00:09:21.285 It's a visual that every you don't have to be an engineer to get what he's talking about. 00:09:21.285 --> 00:09:23.150 It's a very simple metaphor. 00:09:23.150 --> 00:09:33.472 Now he says in this he says, continuing in verse now 25, and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house. 00:09:33.472 --> 00:09:45.307 Now it's interesting that Jesus uses specific types of what we call perils, specific types of naturally occurring events. 00:09:45.346 --> 00:09:47.802 Now, I work in the property insurance industry. 00:09:47.802 --> 00:09:54.884 Okay, so we provide data and software for insurance companies and then all the ecosystem that supports them. 00:09:54.884 --> 00:10:03.975 So we have a pricing database that if an adjuster came to your home, they would use it to write an estimate and generate how much that estimate is right. 00:10:03.975 --> 00:10:25.947 Well, in the property insurance space, they use the term perils, a peril, p-r-i-l, and these perils basically talk you know your house is covered for, you know rain, wind-driven rain, and it's very specific because, of course, an insurance policy is basically a legal document. 00:10:25.947 --> 00:10:27.811 So it gets very, very specific. 00:10:27.811 --> 00:10:32.206 How many people here have ever read their housing, their homeowner's policy for their house? 00:10:32.206 --> 00:10:33.711 I didn't think so. 00:10:33.711 --> 00:10:37.826 Chad has, because he works with me, he has to. 00:10:37.826 --> 00:10:39.308 He's trying to figure it out. 00:10:39.308 --> 00:10:50.172 But listen, there's three primary perils that he talks about here and they each have a very specific impact on the foundation and their spiritual implications to them. 00:10:50.172 --> 00:10:51.173 So let's look at them real quick. 00:10:51.832 --> 00:10:56.927 Falling rain, falling rain Well, I don't know if you've ever been. 00:10:56.927 --> 00:10:59.489 I'm sure all of us have, because it's what happens. 00:10:59.489 --> 00:11:06.153 Have you ever been in a situation where the rain has just come, coming down and coming down, and coming down, and coming down? 00:11:06.153 --> 00:11:07.765 What happens to the soil? 00:11:07.765 --> 00:11:18.831 It gets saturated, and if your house was built on the soil, versus down deep into something solid, that's not impacted by that? 00:11:18.831 --> 00:11:36.565 What happens is ground begins to liquefy, almost right, and so falling rain causes it can truly rock a foundation, especially, of course, a sand foundation, right, rising water flood. 00:11:37.086 --> 00:11:39.615 By the way, most of you do not have flood insurance. 00:11:39.615 --> 00:11:43.825 Flood insurance is very specific, by the way, and it's put together. 00:11:43.825 --> 00:11:57.235 It's sold through insurance companies that are undergranted by the government, but because, of course, if you live in a flood zone, your probability of getting a flood loss is high and no insurance company wants to insure that. 00:11:57.235 --> 00:11:59.187 So there's, we won't get into that. 00:11:59.187 --> 00:12:01.187 Talk to Chad after he can explain it to you. 00:12:04.042 --> 00:12:07.109 But what does rising water and floods do? 00:12:07.109 --> 00:12:13.607 Well, floods not only come in quickly, right, they can erode. 00:12:13.607 --> 00:12:17.763 Moving water can erode around a foundation and, by the way, in Tennessee. 00:12:17.763 --> 00:12:24.105 All you have to do is drive through some of these hills and look at these driveways going up and you see these ravines going down. 00:12:24.105 --> 00:12:26.649 That's erosion because of water, right? 00:12:26.649 --> 00:12:31.014 I used to have a house where I had to deal with this all the time. 00:12:31.014 --> 00:12:35.890 It kept eroding along the side of my driveway and eating into my driveway. 00:12:35.890 --> 00:12:37.062 Well, that's what floods will do. 00:12:37.062 --> 00:12:39.568 Plus, it saturates the ground. 00:12:39.568 --> 00:12:40.893 How about wind? 00:12:40.893 --> 00:12:42.216 What about wind? 00:12:42.216 --> 00:12:45.408 Well, he actually describes wind beating against the house. 00:12:46.801 --> 00:12:58.374 Again, being in the property insurance industry, one of the things that you find very quickly is if a house, even if it quote survives a hurricane, it will become shaken. 00:12:58.374 --> 00:13:16.946 You know, if I were to take two two-by-fours and put one on end and one like this and put two nails into this, okay, now if I were to grab that and just begin to move just a little bit, what starts to happen Starts to work that nail loose and pretty soon it's like this, and pretty soon you can even see the nails between the two boards. 00:13:16.946 --> 00:13:25.272 Well, what happens is a house gets shaken so bad that, even though it's standing, it has to be destroyed because it's compromised. 00:13:25.272 --> 00:13:27.727 Its structural integrity is gone. 00:13:29.100 --> 00:13:43.630 So from a spiritual viewpoint, we can easily see that Jesus is using these natural weather events as a metaphor for trials and tests that we, as Christians, have to go through and, by the way, so does everybody else. 00:13:43.630 --> 00:13:47.466 Everybody has this. 00:13:47.466 --> 00:13:50.548 The rain falls on the good and the evil. 00:13:50.548 --> 00:14:08.831 We all experience this and, just like wind-driven rain, flood, wind, we have different types of trials that we have to go through, and all of you I know a lot of you pretty closely all of you have talked to me about the different perils that your life has gone through. 00:14:08.831 --> 00:14:29.442 It could be health challenges we pray for people all the time Health challenges, addictions, death of loved ones, financial struggles, relationship struggles, relationship struggles, struggles within your family, maybe it's related to your employment. 00:14:29.442 --> 00:14:40.744 We all go through things some of our own doing, some not right and the reality is, trials and tests can really be viewed from two different perspectives. 00:14:40.744 --> 00:14:45.068 The first one is Satan's perspective. 00:14:47.731 --> 00:14:51.981 Can anybody guess what Satan's goal is with a test and a trial? 00:14:51.981 --> 00:15:07.695 Well, in John 10, jesus is talking about being the good shepherd and he talks about the thief that comes to steal the sheep, and he says this in verse 10, he says the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. 00:15:07.695 --> 00:15:14.125 That's what the thief wants to do, and that's what Satan wants to do through the trials you go through. 00:15:14.125 --> 00:15:20.629 He is a thief, and the number one goal he has is to knock you off your foundation. 00:15:20.629 --> 00:15:22.625 That's what he wants to do. 00:15:22.625 --> 00:15:24.525 Let's just understand this. 00:15:24.525 --> 00:15:41.815 He wants to knock you off your foundation and for a Christian, though, we have something that should give you a lot of assurance, and that is for a Christian. 00:15:41.815 --> 00:15:51.815 We know that God uses tests and trials to produce an entirely different outcome, to rather strengthen our foundation, to strengthen it. 00:15:51.815 --> 00:15:57.361 We need to remember, by the way, that tests and trials we signed up for this. 00:15:57.361 --> 00:16:02.597 We signed up for this In John 16, 33,. 00:16:02.658 --> 00:16:07.793 Jesus says very clearly I've said these things to you that in me you may have peace. 00:16:07.793 --> 00:16:18.653 I wish he'd stopped there, but he kept writing, he kept speaking In this world, you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world. 00:16:18.653 --> 00:16:23.193 Now you might say well, scott, isn't that more reference to you know, being persecuted? 00:16:23.193 --> 00:16:25.479 Well, that's true, but is persecution a trial? 00:16:25.479 --> 00:16:27.182 Yeah, it is. 00:16:27.182 --> 00:16:37.445 We go through trials all the time, but he says we can have peace during these times. 00:16:38.711 --> 00:16:45.203 You see, when you build a physical home, you don't build it for the gentle rain and the gentle winds, do you? 00:16:45.203 --> 00:16:48.217 You don't build a home with that in mind. 00:16:48.217 --> 00:16:56.600 You build a home to make sure it's going to resist, just like those guys who built that home on Mexico Beach. 00:16:56.600 --> 00:17:01.378 They built it to resist what they knew was coming. 00:17:01.378 --> 00:17:09.890 And I remember when I read the article on this, the guy says we didn't think it would be put to the test the very next year, but sure enough it did. 00:17:09.890 --> 00:17:12.634 And he said, and we're so glad we built it that way. 00:17:12.634 --> 00:17:15.037 I mean, literally it's the only house standing. 00:17:15.037 --> 00:17:16.858 It was amazing. 00:17:18.381 --> 00:17:24.794 We build our spiritual foundation on Christ and we build it in such a way. 00:17:24.794 --> 00:17:26.358 We want to resist. 00:17:26.358 --> 00:17:31.111 We want to make sure it's strong enough to resist the inevitability of what's going to happen. 00:17:31.111 --> 00:17:34.096 That's one of the reasons why I have a real issue. 00:17:34.096 --> 00:17:40.704 All of us have an issue with the health and wealth gospel, because the reality is it's coming. 00:17:40.704 --> 00:17:49.711 The trials are coming and they're going to make you stronger. 00:17:49.751 --> 00:18:02.622 You know, if I were to do testimony time and ask anybody here, tell me the worst thing you went through and how God used it to change you, there'd be a lot of hands coming up Some of the most difficult things I've ever walked through in my life. 00:18:02.622 --> 00:18:13.279 God used it to change me, to shape me more into the image of Christ, and I'm so grateful he did, and we can have joy in that thing. 00:18:13.279 --> 00:18:13.823 That's the thing. 00:18:13.823 --> 00:18:21.811 And, by the way, nobody really understands this better than Jesus' disciples, those that he mentored and discipled directly. 00:18:21.811 --> 00:18:28.471 Now, apostle Paul, as we know from scripture, he got mentored directly by Jesus in a supernatural way. 00:18:28.471 --> 00:18:32.239 And in Romans 5, verses 3 through 5, this is what he says. 00:18:32.900 --> 00:18:35.423 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings. 00:18:35.423 --> 00:18:40.779 Oh, come on, paul, can't we just slog through these things? 00:18:40.779 --> 00:18:42.844 No, he says we can rejoice in them. 00:18:42.844 --> 00:18:44.333 But why can we rejoice in them? 00:18:44.333 --> 00:19:01.759 He says, knowing that suffering produces what Endurance and endurance produces what Character and character, produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:04.175 Isn't that amazing? 00:19:04.175 --> 00:19:09.541 What this tells me is it starts with suffering. 00:19:09.541 --> 00:19:13.580 This whole chain starts with suffering. 00:19:13.580 --> 00:19:19.517 I always say God's not interested in your comfort, he's interested in your character. 00:19:19.517 --> 00:19:27.919 He is building something in you, brethren, and when you come flat up against the trial, you have to realize God's doing something in your life. 00:19:27.919 --> 00:19:29.435 He's doing something in my life. 00:19:29.435 --> 00:19:35.157 This is not something just to be endured, although that's a byproduct of a trial. 00:19:35.157 --> 00:19:38.740 This is something to rejoice in, because he loves you so much. 00:19:38.740 --> 00:19:41.897 He's going to carry you through this and your faith is going to be strengthened. 00:19:41.897 --> 00:19:49.142 Wow, and that's why I said you know the wind and the rain and the rising water, the flood. 00:19:49.891 --> 00:19:51.959 They come at the people who don't have that hope. 00:19:51.959 --> 00:19:53.859 They don't have that hope. 00:19:53.859 --> 00:19:54.489 They don't have that hope. 00:19:54.489 --> 00:19:57.017 And you can see them. 00:19:57.017 --> 00:20:01.080 It's like there's this desperation in their hearts. 00:20:01.080 --> 00:20:03.936 They have nothing to hold on to. 00:20:03.936 --> 00:20:08.201 Rejoicing is the last thing in their mind, because there is no purpose for this. 00:20:08.201 --> 00:20:10.557 Their only purpose is to get out of it. 00:20:10.557 --> 00:20:13.374 They want to get through it and move out of it. 00:20:13.374 --> 00:20:17.321 For us, it's strengthening us. 00:20:17.321 --> 00:20:26.053 Peter also writes in 1 Peter 4, 12 through 13,. 00:20:26.073 --> 00:20:29.357 He says beloved, do not be surprised at the little, tiny little trials that come your way. 00:20:29.357 --> 00:20:30.519 Fiery trials. 00:20:30.519 --> 00:20:34.526 You think a flat tire is a real trial? 00:20:34.526 --> 00:20:36.273 It's an irritant. 00:20:36.273 --> 00:20:42.622 Okay, you think a person that backed into your car in the Kroger parking lot? 00:20:42.622 --> 00:20:44.957 I hope that wasn't a prophetic word, by the way. 00:20:44.957 --> 00:20:47.916 You think that's a real trial? 00:20:47.916 --> 00:20:52.840 No, but maybe a cancer diagnosis? 00:20:52.840 --> 00:21:10.945 That's a trial, fiery trials, and it's unfortunate today that sometimes that little accident where someone bumps into our car and bends in our left quarter panel becomes this big thing that we make. 00:21:10.945 --> 00:21:14.814 Come on, get this in perspective, get this in perspective. 00:21:14.814 --> 00:21:23.258 If you can't handle that and you start questioning God's love for you because someone backed into your car, what are you going to do when this happens? 00:21:23.258 --> 00:21:26.044 Right, see, fiery trials. 00:21:26.651 --> 00:21:39.653 He says these are difficult things, beloved, don't be surprised when a fiery trial, when it comes upon you, to what Test you, you're like oh, come on, god, really do that. 00:21:39.653 --> 00:21:46.593 Yeah, he does, because he loves you and he wants your foundation strong, as though. 00:21:46.593 --> 00:21:51.032 And he says, as though something strange were happening to you but rejoice, there he goes again. 00:21:51.032 --> 00:21:53.199 He's like he's buddies with Paul. 00:21:53.199 --> 00:22:01.717 He's talking about rejoicing in trials, but rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 00:22:01.717 --> 00:22:07.634 The end goal, the end goal, the glory that's what we live for. 00:22:08.450 --> 00:22:11.058 You know, as I get older I'm turning 60 next year. 00:22:11.058 --> 00:22:12.474 Oh, I shouldn't have said that. 00:22:12.474 --> 00:22:13.551 Is that on tape? 00:22:13.551 --> 00:22:14.775 Can you scratch that off the tape? 00:22:14.775 --> 00:22:17.913 You know what I look at every year. 00:22:17.913 --> 00:22:19.398 I get older, I get closer to Jesus. 00:22:19.398 --> 00:22:21.057 I really seriously think about that. 00:22:21.057 --> 00:22:24.416 Some mornings I feel closer to Jesus than others. 00:22:24.416 --> 00:22:34.758 It's like Tyler said I've never felt 90, tyler, but I'm pushing 85 sometimes, especially when I try to do things I shouldn't be doing. 00:22:35.830 --> 00:22:39.597 But when we experience trials as Christians, we must remember that they have a purpose. 00:22:39.597 --> 00:22:41.474 It's to strengthen us. 00:22:41.474 --> 00:22:45.417 So my question is for you what trials are you being faced with today? 00:22:45.417 --> 00:22:49.498 Maybe you're going through something now. 00:22:49.498 --> 00:22:56.219 I mean, we see the prayer list come through on the prayer, but sometimes we're not. 00:22:56.219 --> 00:23:01.519 There's a lot of times those are health ones, but we don't hear about what's really going on. 00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:07.557 With a lot of you Everybody here, I can guarantee in this room you're going through some kind of trial. 00:23:07.557 --> 00:23:11.339 Just can I encourage you that God's got you. 00:23:11.339 --> 00:23:15.295 He knows the end from the beginning and he's got you through this. 00:23:15.295 --> 00:23:17.373 He hasn't abandoned you. 00:23:17.373 --> 00:23:19.898 He's going to teach you through this. 00:23:19.898 --> 00:23:22.011 He's going to strengthen your foundation through this. 00:23:23.395 --> 00:23:24.679 Okay, let's look at the loser. 00:23:24.679 --> 00:23:29.694 I mean the other guy, the foolish builder, verse 26 and 27,. 00:23:29.694 --> 00:23:31.219 And he basically repeats what he just said. 00:23:31.219 --> 00:23:51.221 He just changed a couple words and everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew same perils right and beat against the house and it fell and great was the fall of it. 00:23:51.221 --> 00:23:53.234 You notice Jesus again. 00:23:53.234 --> 00:23:58.462 He centers this whole contrast on his words, on him right. 00:23:58.462 --> 00:24:07.220 He once again mentions all three perils and of course, the outcome was very different. 00:24:07.220 --> 00:24:16.960 Now, I really keyed in on this as I was studying this whole, the last few words, and great was the fall of it. 00:24:18.230 --> 00:24:27.183 I'll tell you, and I think I can get an amen from you guys, there's nothing sadder than watching a believer get hit by a trial and walking away from God. 00:24:27.183 --> 00:24:29.000 It's so hard. 00:24:29.000 --> 00:24:39.378 It's so hard to watch that Because we know that they're walking away from the only thing that really will hold them and give them purpose and meaning through this. 00:24:39.378 --> 00:24:42.458 We've all known people like that. 00:24:42.458 --> 00:24:47.656 But you know, there's one thing I want to just encourage you on their book's not done. 00:24:47.656 --> 00:24:50.055 Their book's not done. 00:24:50.055 --> 00:24:51.412 We don't quit, we don't go. 00:24:51.412 --> 00:24:53.692 Oh, you loser, I can't believe. 00:24:53.692 --> 00:24:54.717 Oh, he's probably one. 00:24:54.717 --> 00:25:07.864 No, we pray for that person, we encourage that person, because a lot of those people who respond that way and they walk away from God, just like Paul, talks about giving one over to Satan. 00:25:07.864 --> 00:25:11.375 Right, they leave and they start. 00:25:11.375 --> 00:25:12.817 I don't believe in God anymore. 00:25:12.817 --> 00:25:13.618 And you know what? 00:25:13.618 --> 00:25:21.921 Through living in life and God's calling them, they come back and they repent and guess what? 00:25:21.921 --> 00:25:32.571 They're stronger than ever and they can say something that maybe you and I can't, if we've never fallen away that way, if we've never walked away from God, they can help that person that's going through the trial and say you know, the same thing happened to me. 00:25:32.571 --> 00:25:40.765 Don't make the mistake I made and walk away from the very foundation that's going to hold me. 00:25:40.765 --> 00:25:49.991 Don't do that, so don't write them off. 00:25:50.011 --> 00:25:50.614 Okay, second half of the sermon. 00:25:50.614 --> 00:25:51.134 We're changing gears here. 00:25:51.134 --> 00:26:00.500 We know the importance of a strong foundation, but the natural question that we should ask is how do we ensure we have a strong foundation? 00:26:00.500 --> 00:26:03.178 What's our role in that foundation? 00:26:03.178 --> 00:26:11.280 Well, I think it's very clear that Jesus is saying that the strong foundation is the one that's going to handle these tests. 00:26:11.280 --> 00:26:31.510 But we need to identify a little bit more detail than just listen to my words, because there's more in there than you think, and I propose that there are three key foundational stones that need to be a part of our spiritual foundation and I'm going to walk through them and, as I do, I want I'm going to use a few props to kind of illustrate this. 00:26:32.272 --> 00:26:34.538 So here's my props. 00:26:34.538 --> 00:26:37.230 By the way, we are not ignoring this side of the room. 00:26:37.230 --> 00:26:39.038 You just have to watch the screen. 00:26:39.038 --> 00:26:39.740 I was assured. 00:26:39.740 --> 00:26:43.251 I wanted to tell that because they have a camera over here. 00:26:43.251 --> 00:26:44.374 So I just want to ensure you that. 00:26:44.374 --> 00:26:52.194 So this is my house and I've got some foundational stones that I'm going to bring up here in a second. 00:26:52.194 --> 00:27:00.349 I'm going to turn them so I can see them correctly. 00:27:00.349 --> 00:27:04.118 All right, they're actual stones. 00:27:04.118 --> 00:27:11.237 By the way, you can get them at Lowe's for about $1.50 apiece. 00:27:11.277 --> 00:27:22.836 Foundational stone number one is exactly what Jesus says, and that is the words of Jesus himself. 00:27:22.836 --> 00:27:41.624 Now, it's interesting that when I say that, some people could look at that and look at those words and totally misinterpret what that means, they can say, oh, so all I got to do is obey and do things, and then that's my foundation. 00:27:41.624 --> 00:27:51.356 Well, I'm going to propose that it isn't just doing Jesus what Jesus says to do as some type of strategic action. 00:27:51.356 --> 00:27:53.362 That's not what he's really getting at. 00:27:53.362 --> 00:27:57.375 You know, we had a sermon last week and it was pretty powerful. 00:27:57.375 --> 00:28:03.161 It identified those who took the approach to just obey and do things. 00:28:03.161 --> 00:28:05.636 And what did Jesus say to them? 00:28:05.636 --> 00:28:08.636 He said I never knew you. 00:28:08.636 --> 00:28:10.958 Depart from me, you, workers of lawlessness. 00:28:10.958 --> 00:28:16.095 These are people that on the surface it looked like they were doing Jesus' work. 00:28:16.095 --> 00:28:17.580 They were casting demons out. 00:28:17.580 --> 00:28:20.550 They were doing all kinds of really powerful things. 00:28:21.853 --> 00:28:27.221 Now there's a deeper meaning in hearing and doing, and that meaning is believing. 00:28:27.221 --> 00:28:29.204 Believing. 00:28:29.204 --> 00:28:40.551 Believing that Jesus is the Son of God, that he is the savior of the world, means that we will follow him. 00:28:40.551 --> 00:28:45.561 When you make him Lord of your lives, we will naturally obey him. 00:28:45.561 --> 00:28:47.151 You understand what I'm saying. 00:28:47.151 --> 00:28:48.917 Let's make sure that we're clear. 00:28:48.917 --> 00:28:53.575 It's not just about stepping our way somewhere by doing a bunch of things. 00:28:53.575 --> 00:28:55.059 It's about a change in the heart. 00:28:55.849 --> 00:28:57.233 Belief is the key here. 00:28:57.233 --> 00:29:02.007 That's why it says Jesus is the foundational stone. 00:29:02.007 --> 00:29:11.334 In fact, all through scripture he's referred to as the cornerstone no more clearly than in Ephesians 2, verses 19 through 22. 00:29:11.334 --> 00:29:21.075 I want to read this so then you are no longer strangers and aliens Again he's talking to the church in Ephesus but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. 00:29:21.718 --> 00:29:43.537 We already see there's a structure in here, a household right, a household of God built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure being jointly together, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 00:29:43.537 --> 00:29:48.913 Again, you get this metaphor of a temple now being built In him. 00:29:48.913 --> 00:29:53.760 You are also being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. 00:29:53.760 --> 00:29:57.751 Jesus is the cornerstone of your foundation. 00:29:57.751 --> 00:30:03.351 Now I'm putting him here in the middle and you'll understand why, but I got the big side here. 00:30:03.351 --> 00:30:04.173 So this is supposed to be. 00:30:04.173 --> 00:30:15.604 Jesus is the main core cornerstone, and that really means that he's everything to us, and we either got to be all in or all out. 00:30:15.604 --> 00:30:17.836 There is no middle ground. 00:30:17.836 --> 00:30:21.515 I always like to say it's like being pregnant You're either pregnant or you're not. 00:30:21.515 --> 00:30:26.837 Although you know what, search YouTube enough, you'll probably find something. 00:30:28.250 --> 00:30:30.358 You know Isaiah 28,. 00:30:30.358 --> 00:30:42.040 There's a messianic prophecy about Jesus, and some of you may already have this scripture in your mind, which I think is so beautiful because it describes Jesus as the cornerstone. 00:30:42.040 --> 00:30:48.078 In Isaiah 28, beginning of verse 16, he says Isaiah says, therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says. 00:30:48.078 --> 00:30:53.903 Look, I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem. 00:30:53.903 --> 00:30:55.310 Remember. 00:30:55.310 --> 00:31:03.138 This is years and years before Jesus right, a foundational stone in Jerusalem, a firm and tested stone. 00:31:03.138 --> 00:31:07.154 Was Jesus tested? 00:31:07.154 --> 00:31:13.198 Yeah, how many of you wanted to go through the 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness and come against Satan? 00:31:13.198 --> 00:31:15.390 How many of you want to go through the 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness and come against Satan? 00:31:15.390 --> 00:31:16.756 How many of you want to go through that? 00:31:16.756 --> 00:31:21.819 And there's nobody here that can live a perfect life for even a few seconds. 00:31:21.819 --> 00:31:25.615 He did it for his whole life, firm and tested stone. 00:31:25.615 --> 00:31:28.578 It is a precious cornerstone. 00:31:30.270 --> 00:31:38.038 When something is precious to you and no, I will not go down the Lord of the Rings path with this one I will not do the voice of Gollum. 00:31:38.038 --> 00:31:42.298 Unfortunately, that word gets twisted a lot. 00:31:42.298 --> 00:31:45.278 What is something that's very precious to you? 00:31:45.278 --> 00:31:47.134 I think about my wife. 00:31:47.134 --> 00:31:52.959 My wife is so precious to me, but I don't base my life on her. 00:31:52.959 --> 00:31:55.557 I base my life on Jesus. 00:31:55.557 --> 00:31:59.540 He is precious to me because without him I got nothing. 00:31:59.540 --> 00:32:06.738 I'm just counting days till I draw my last breath and he's everything. 00:32:06.738 --> 00:32:08.036 He's precious to us. 00:32:08.036 --> 00:32:13.882 And it says and I love this that is safe to build on. 00:32:13.882 --> 00:32:19.190 It says and I love this, that is safe to build on. 00:32:19.190 --> 00:32:24.073 Whoever believes. 00:32:24.073 --> 00:32:24.976 See this need never be shaken. 00:32:24.976 --> 00:32:28.012 You see this metaphor, it's so beautiful. 00:32:28.012 --> 00:32:30.401 Jesus should be your chief cornerstone. 00:32:30.401 --> 00:32:35.064 He should be my chief cornerstone. 00:32:35.430 --> 00:32:36.333 The story of the wise and foolish builders. 00:32:36.333 --> 00:32:38.519 Jesus isn't talking about just obeying him. 00:32:38.519 --> 00:32:43.392 He's talking about believing in him, making him the center of your life. 00:32:43.392 --> 00:32:49.878 Jesus is the heart of the gospel brethren, he is the core of everything. 00:32:49.878 --> 00:32:56.967 The Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is the story of Jesus and the salvation. 00:32:56.967 --> 00:32:59.413 He is the truth. 00:32:59.413 --> 00:33:00.957 Can you imagine that? 00:33:00.957 --> 00:33:06.531 It says literally he is the truth, he's everything. 00:33:06.531 --> 00:33:12.601 He's the son of God himself and we have to make sure that we make him Lord of our lives. 00:33:12.601 --> 00:33:20.101 We take up our cross and we follow him, and we follow him with every part of our lives. 00:33:20.101 --> 00:33:22.858 And this is what I want to park on for a second. 00:33:22.858 --> 00:33:25.876 Make sure you have your seatbelts on. 00:33:25.876 --> 00:33:29.436 This doesn't always happen, does it? 00:33:29.436 --> 00:33:34.839 Many people are only partially in when it comes to jesus. 00:33:34.839 --> 00:33:42.544 They only make him lord of certain part of their life, and that's usually the convenient part. 00:33:44.874 --> 00:33:58.997 The late philosopher and theologian francis schaeffer wrote a book titled escape from reason and that he identified the unfortunate tendencies of Christians to separate their lives and compartmentalize their faith. 00:33:58.997 --> 00:34:02.001 And he did this. 00:34:02.001 --> 00:34:06.428 He used the metaphor of a two-story house and it's really interesting how he does it and it's very visual. 00:34:06.428 --> 00:34:08.052 I don't know if these guys got the visual. 00:34:08.052 --> 00:34:10.277 I sent them some stuff, but anyways. 00:34:10.277 --> 00:34:20.682 He said basically he was addressing the effects of rationalism and how it seeped into the church and seeped into the changing of the hearts of people. 00:34:20.682 --> 00:34:23.356 And he said there's a two-story house. 00:34:23.356 --> 00:34:24.559 This is what they, the metaphor. 00:34:24.559 --> 00:34:25.690 He said there's two stories. 00:34:25.731 --> 00:34:30.822 The first story, the lower story on the bottom, was called the objective category. 00:34:30.822 --> 00:34:33.717 This is where things that represent facts belong. 00:34:33.717 --> 00:34:43.876 Okay, so things like data, logical reasoning, the hard sciences, right, these are things that you can see, touch, you can prove unequivocally. 00:34:43.876 --> 00:34:46.806 That's what they said is the lower story. 00:34:46.806 --> 00:34:51.478 But the upper story, now, these are things, they're a little different. 00:34:51.478 --> 00:34:54.244 These things are subjective. 00:34:54.244 --> 00:35:12.755 The culture said these are those things that are subjective, such things as morals, values, preferential tastes and, unfortunately, religion, religion, what you believe. 00:35:12.755 --> 00:35:24.239 The culture says that these things are subjective, they can't be proven empirically, they can't be proven with a scientific method and therefore they should not be trusted like those things in the lower story. 00:35:24.239 --> 00:35:29.237 Can you see Satan in all this? 00:35:29.237 --> 00:35:33.110 Can you see Satan working on what he's doing. 00:35:33.110 --> 00:35:34.795 And, by the way, the the culture. 00:35:34.795 --> 00:35:37.893 They literally claim that all religions fall into this category. 00:35:37.893 --> 00:35:45.893 The impact on this in the church has been significant and we see it and deal with it all the time. 00:35:46.554 --> 00:35:53.739 People only believe and follow jesus when it's convenient, when it's not hard or when it benefits them or their're Sunday morning Christians. 00:35:53.739 --> 00:35:59.465 But when they get around their people at work or their buddies here or whatever they change. 00:35:59.465 --> 00:36:00.951 They morph into somebody different. 00:36:00.951 --> 00:36:03.576 What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. 00:36:03.576 --> 00:36:05.519 What a crap line. 00:36:05.519 --> 00:36:06.842 Can I say crap? 00:36:06.842 --> 00:36:07.929 I don't know if I can. 00:36:07.929 --> 00:36:08.248 I'll get. 00:36:08.248 --> 00:36:09.626 I'll hear about that on Tuesday. 00:36:09.626 --> 00:36:10.463 I did that for you, derek. 00:36:10.463 --> 00:36:11.400 What a bogus line. 00:36:11.400 --> 00:36:13.141 I did that for you, derek. 00:36:13.141 --> 00:36:14.264 What a bogus line. 00:36:14.264 --> 00:36:20.353 You can scratch that up, but listen, is it not? 00:36:20.353 --> 00:36:22.260 What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. 00:36:22.260 --> 00:36:29.507