Unknown: God is good all the time. I haven't heard that strong of a reply like that in a while. Church I grew up in, well, I say grew up in the church I got plugged into when I came back to the Lord, that was a big thing, right? Anybody else grow up in a church like that, or involved in the church, God is good all the time, all the time, there you go. Well, always lots to lots to go through. It's exciting to see. You know, it really is true that we do need to invest in marriages. You know, seems like every few weeks you hear a new headline that reminds you that as the people of God, and especially if God's called you to leadership, just how important it is to keep a strong foundation in your home, in your marriage, amen. Amen.
Unknown: Because I don't know about you, we don't want to throw away all the good things and the testimony of the goodness of God just because we don't look after the basics. Amen. You can be the best preacher, you can be the best teacher, you can be the most anointed person, or whatever. But if your family's falling apart, your marriage is falling apart, it's a mess, and you need to get back to that center. Amen, well, I just throw that in because of the event that's coming up and what Danny and Kayleen are doing. It's a great time. I'll also mention next week, we'll give you a little more info on the upcoming trip. We gave you guys a bit of a just welcome back to welcome to the new year. There's things going on with our daughter church in El Salvador. We'll plug you in a little bit more next week about some of those details that's coming up fast.
Unknown: We'll be flying out on February the fifth, actually. So yeah, we want to let you know a little bit more in detail all about that. But this morning, let's get into the Word of God, and let's just pray for a moment.
Unknown: Amen father. We thank You for Your Word. We thank you for your spirit. We thank You, Lord God, for what you're going to do in our lives in 2026 you're good God, and you've always got good things in store. So Jesus, we ask you to to draw Lord us deeper into your presence, deeper into your word Lord. Give us ears to hear hearts to receive what you want to speak to us today. In Jesus, name Amen, well, we might as well start in Matthew chapter seven, and last last week to kick off the new year, I really drove home the idea that we need to strengthen our foundation. Amen.
Unknown: And more than anything, it was a call to ask ourselves, are we really standing on solid ground.
Unknown: Let he who thinks he stands, let he who stands be sure that he doesn't fall right. Because we can get overconfident. We can just move along in life and think we're standing on solid ground, but we've really been building on sand, and we saw how the apostle Paul in First Corinthians, exhorts the church and says, it's not just about, are we allowed to do certain things, it's a question of, are we building something that is helpful? Sorry, are we? Are we not just, are we allowed to do it, but is it helpful, and is it building something in our own lives and in the lives of those around us? How many of you know that you have a responsibility, not just for yourself, but for the people around you?
Unknown: That's why the Bible talks about not just avoiding evil, but even avoiding the appearance of evil, related to what we talked about last week, right? Maybe you can do that thing, but maybe it doesn't look so good on the outside looking in, and it's going to create confusion. It might cause your brother or sister to stumble, so your best to avoid it. You're building a solid foundation for you to stand on, but also that others can join in and stand together.
Unknown: Because this is always about doing this together. Amen together. Well, Matthew chapter seven, Jesus is wrapping up the most famous sermon of all time, the Sermon on the Mount. And we're just going to jump to the end where he says, In 724, everyone then, who hears these words of mine, which of course, apply to his sermon, but we know they also apply to everything Jesus says. Amen, and they apply to all of the God inspired Word of God that we have been entrusted. Everyone who has ears to hear these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who builds his house on the rock.
Unknown: How many of you want to build on something solid, 25 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. And then we see somebody else. It says everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them, say, do them will be like a foolish man who builds his house on the sand, and the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against the House, and it fell, and great was its fall, both houses looked pretty good until stuff started happening, right? You know, and I've seen this firsthand in Central America, you know, if you're in Central America, of course you want to go to the beach, yeah, the Pacific Ocean, at least the part of Central America that I'm mostly in, and, you know, beautiful beaches and palm trees and all of the rest especially well today, we can't complain too much, but negative seven to palm trees, I'll still take palm trees right. Let's just be real.
Unknown: But you know, everything that's built in those beach communities is really not that lasting. And Central America gets assaulted on a yearly basis by tropical storms and occasionally by hurricanes. And you see the results of it because they do dig down in the sand and they build some sort of a foundation, but it's just basically floating there as soon as the tides rise higher than the normal levels, as soon as the wind starts blowing with those hurricane forces, those foundations. Have nothing solid to hold on to. We want to build on something solid. And I love how Jesus talks here. It's not enough to hear Jesus' words and all even challenge some of our thinking as evangelical type people, evangelical type we are evangelicals in the broad evangelical world, right?
Unknown: Evangelical means you believe in being born again, amen, that if you what, believe in your hearts that Jesus died, he went to the grave, but God, by His Holy Spirit, Rose him back to life, and you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved. That's the gospel, as we read it in Romans chapter 10. If you believe that, if you've experienced that, you're an evangelical. So it so a lot of us, we have such a focus on belief that we've downplayed the doing because we know that we know and it's true that we are not saved by anything that we do. Amen, if you ever think that you are somehow doing something to earn, to deserve, to merit your salvation. You are out to lunch. Jesus would not have died on the cross. God would not have humbled Himself and come in flesh, subjected himself to humiliation and the death of the cross, if you could ever do something in your own power, to merit salvation, to deserve going to heaven, to deserve to have all of your sins forgiven, the good you do we do out of gratitude because of all that God has already done for us, amen, and the good that you do doesn't erase the bad that you've done.
Unknown: Amen. Amen, you can't this isn't a tip of the scales thing. If I just do enough good, then I'll make it the good that you do does not erase that the bad that you have done. Nobody gets thrown in prison based on a judgment of, well, you know, I only killed one person, but I've done all sorts of great things in my life. It doesn't matter if you have one moment of rage and killed someone in anger and then the rest of your life, or all of your life leading up to that, you had been a stellar citizen.
Unknown: None of that matters. You're still a murderer, you're still guilty, you're still under condemnation and judgment. Amen.
Unknown: This is basic stuff, people. I hope we all understand this. So.
Unknown: Saying this. Why? Because when we read Jesus here, we need to understand that while it is we are saved by belief, right? If we simply hear the Word of God, hear about what Jesus has done for us, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, confess that He is Lord. Believe that He rose from the dead. We will be saved, yes, but that doesn't necessarily mean that your life is built on a solid foundation. Ultimately, you might go to heaven when you die, thank you, Jesus, but you could still be building on sand, because you know all the right things, but you're not doing the things that anchor you to the right foundation. You need to do the Word of God. We need to walk with Christ. We need to live out His commandments, because you can be Christian in name and still live your whole life building things that are going to disappear in a moment, a moment of hardship, a moment of economic turmoil, in a moment of, I don't know, just something, some storm, can come to your life and erase everything that you've done. And you know, it would be a favor to you and I to experience that earlier in life than later, so we can recognize, wait a minute, this was all for nothing, didn't we read that last week from Paul in First Corinthians, chapter three, that some people will be saved through fire, but everything they've done is going to be burnt up.
Unknown: And we should look at that verse quickly again. I know we looked at it last week, but I want to drive home a couple of things.
Unknown: We just kind of jumped there, but we didn't really dwell on it. So first, Corinthians, chapter three.
Unknown: I hear some Bibles out there.
Unknown: You, bless my heart. I heard somebody saying that there, there are churches and pastors out there that one of their big goals for 2026 is to get people back in paper Bibles. And I'll say it again. I'll never stop saying it. You will get more out of reading this physical book than you will off of screen every time we are built for real life with real physical things.
Unknown: Thank God for technology. I love Bible software for looking stuff up. But it, you know, if it's quick and easy, it goes quick and easy. Don't give yourself too easy. Can I just say that?
Unknown: Don't give yourself too easy, it will make you weaker. You know, just to exemplify that for a brief moment, let's just be real about, you know, where technology is taking us. Have any of you heard some of the statistics and studies that are starting to come out on how little people retain when they use AI to find information? It was like old school education.
Unknown: People retained, you know, a decent chunk of what they interacted with, paper, books, lectures, all of this sort of stuff. As soon as we went to Google, it dropped down to like a fraction, because I don't have to remember, I can Google it.
Unknown: Now we are just exponentially going further that direction, what we've it's the same way that what we used to remember when we read books and studied things physically. How it dropped down with Google. Now we're dropping down like that again with AI. So you know, it has its reasons. It has its functions. You know, I'm sure you can't really avoid it, but especially if you work in a business place, all of that. But don't get lazy. Amen. Let's not get weak, especially in the things of the faith. Do not, do not. Let your faith be reduced to what pops up on a social media feed, and, you know, an email in a Tiktok, in a you need to invest in real life, getting in front of a book, getting on your knees and praying, really investing in time into and that's one of the lies. Is that we are so efficiency driven that we think if we can get answers faster, we're getting ahead know the process of digging it out for yourself is building something in you that is far more valuable than jumping the process to the answer. The process is important, the searching is important. We're being robbed in Psalm. Many different ways of a pursuit of God. We just want good answers.
Unknown: How many of you know that it's not enough to have good answers?
Unknown: You have to have a right position, an attitude, a right pursuit of God. God says that if you draw near to me, I will draw near to you, not that if you believe the right things about me, that I will draw near to you. You draw near. That's pursuit. Come on. This is why Jesus says it's not enough to hear it. You got to do it. So again, looking at the Apostle Paul's words here in First Corinthians, chapter three. And I come back here again and again, and I do not apologize for that. I'll just pick up in verse 11, it says, For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our rock, Amen. Jesus Christ is our foundation. Jesus Christ is what our lives are supposed to be, built upon, who he is, what he's done, what he said, more than what culture and society is always trying to convince us, this is why you need to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. People, I need to be transformed by the renewing of my mind, by the Word of God, not just by Christian influencers, the word of God itself, like you know, we used to have a time and a place we think about the Protestant Reformation.
Unknown: Everybody in here has probably heard of Martin Luther, right?
Unknown: And Martin Luther, he kind of stood up and he said, You know what, we're relying on, these supposed, you know, priests and people that to bring us into, you know, the things of God. But how many of us have gone back to the source, have gone back to the Word and seen what it really says for ourselves? Sometimes you got to cut out the middleman and just get into this yourself.
Unknown: You know, they did it with priests and bishops and monks, and some of them were good men, and some of them knew God. Some of them didn't. Some of them were just looking for a position of power and wealth. Some of them were just in it for the benefits. Now we mediate. We go to the internet as our priest, as influencers, as our priests, come on. You need to be in this book, yourself, yourself. You need to know Jesus for yourself, yourself. Don't get me wrong, I have preachers I enjoy listening to and and they encourage me, but my relationship with Jesus can never depend on somebody in internet land who doesn't even know me. And isn't it funny how sometimes in our minds and our hearts, we elevate people, you know, to these positions of authority in our life and our whole belief and our whole relationship with God, and they don't know us. Wouldn't know if you dropped dead. Come on, we need to know God for ourselves, and it all comes down to Jesus.
Unknown: Do I know Jesus? Am I pursuing Jesus? Do I have an ear to say, Lord, what are you speaking now?
Unknown: Let me go do it. Okay. Lord, I have faithfully done what you have asked. Now, what are you speaking to me today? Lord, I'm back in your word, not just to know it, but to put it into practice. There is no foundation other than Jesus Christ, and then he says what we talked about just a moment ago. If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay and straw, each one's work will become manifest for the day. Will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire.
Unknown: That's something that we don't escape. By the way, you know what I'm saying? Like, I've read this book for a long time, and I have not found the shortcut out of having everything put through the fire.
Unknown: There's no magic prayer. There is no, you know, I'm an exemption to the rule, no, it's everything will be tested with fire. The day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire. And by fire, it will be tested what sort of work each has done if the. Work that anyone has built on the foundation. Like, let's not even talk about what's not built on the foundation. That stuff's just like, washed away. It crumbles at the storms that came. But this is the stuff that we have intentionally built in our Christian life upon the foundation of Christ. But how many of you know some of the stuff we do, we believe, we say, isn't really according to God's will, isn't really His perfect will, isn't really what lines up with this book. That's why we come to church week after week, amen.
Unknown: That's why we get around brothers and sisters in Christ who can challenge us. Amen. You know what?
Unknown: How do I say this?
Unknown: The people I most respect in life are the people who have challenged me and spoken the truth to me even when I don't want to hear it, and one of the biggest voices in my life is sitting right over there. God bless Pastor Brent Amen.
Unknown: People who can look at you and be like, You know what? What about this? What about that?
Unknown: Let's take this deeper. Let's go into the Word of God. How are we really living this life out?
Unknown: So he says, if the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward, a reward. How many of you like prizes.
Unknown: And I know, again, some people get so caught up in grace, and, you know, love, and don't get me wrong, we need the grace of God.
Unknown: We need the love of God, but God would not have talked about rewards if we shouldn't want to get them. Wouldn't that be weird for God to talk about rewards in the Bible and be like, Oh yeah, you're gonna get a reward if you do this, right? But don't want the reward. You know, that's like telling your kid, if you clean your room, if you behave, if you get good marks, then I'm gonna, you know, do this thing for you. But then you see them working away, and they're cleaning their room, and they're doing their homework. It's like, I hope you're not doing this, because I'm going to take you to the movies. You know what I'm saying? Like, why did you tell them about the reward? If you don't want them to get the reward or want it, there's a sense that, I mean, this is just human nature. It's built into us. We want to get a reward, and I think that's okay. I mean, don't become a mercenary and just do it because there's some perk at the end of it. We should love the Lord. We should do it out of gratitude. Yes, amen. But I am glad that if we do this right, we can get a reward. I think, you know, we could study all morning about the rewards that God talks about in Scripture. If what he has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved. I'm both grateful and in fear and trembling as I hear that verse, I don't know about you, I'm grateful that it's like there's that safety net, you will be saved, but it's also, Lord, let that not be us, that everything we do burns away. But here I am.
Unknown: You know, just That's it. I think being saved through fire with nothing to show for it, versus walking into a reward is put there as a contrast, as a reason for us, amen, we should want rewards. And look at what he says here. He's talking about building on the foundation that is Christ, Jesus, and he's talking about how we build rewards, judgments, and he says this, this is what is getting built. And this is so important.
Unknown: In verse 16 and 17, it says, Do you not know that you are God's temple, that you that God's Spirit dwells within you. If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him.
Unknown: That's some severe stuff. For God's temple is holy and you are that temple. Why is this important to put in here? For a number of reasons, and I can think of a few. Number one because it sometimes, when we read about we're building on a foundation, and Christ is the foundation. I want to build something that lasts. I want to build something that will have a reward at the end. Ultimately, everything we are doing is building a temple. Do. Okay, I lost half of you. It got quiet in here. In other words, we are individually, the temple of the Holy Spirit. Amen, the Bible bears that out. We have the Spirit of God dwelling on the inside of us. So in other words, what truly builds up our spiritual life, our relationship with God, the dwelling of God in us. Isn't it amazing that God chooses to dwell in us, heaven meets Earth in us, because that's what the picture of a temple is in the Bible. You know that, right? It's where heaven meets Earth. This is the place where we go and we interact with the living God, even though, you know we're flesh and blood. That's why Jesus said that He was the temple of God, right? Because He's God in flesh. It's heaven and earth coming together, and He gives us His Spirit, so we get to enjoy and be part of that as well. But as you continue to study scripture, you see that God is not just building up individuals. Amen. Thank God for your personal spiritual life, but thank God. It's not just about me. It's not just about my happy little spiritual life, my, you know, godly little bliss and peace and comfort that I can have alone at home. It's about me fitting into something that's grand, something that's glorious, something that like.
Unknown: If I can experience this much of God in my own personal and devotional life, how much more can I experience God when I come together with my brothers and sisters, who are all filled with the Spirit of God, and we're walking together and we're pursuing together, and we're seeking together. How much more can we experience together?
Unknown: Thursday night, that was what I just felt so strongly from the Lord and exhorted. There's a oneness of hearts that we're called to, that we're building, that we need to pursue. We fit into a bigger picture. I'm grateful that if God sent me to the far corners of the earth, and I was the only believer in an entire city, that I could enjoy God's presence right there, because I am the temple of God. But I am so grateful that I am here in a room full of believers in a nation where there are 1000s upon 1000s that call on the name of Jesus, and we are something more together than we are apart. The Bible says, if one can put 1000 to flight, how much can two put to flight? 10,000 there's an exponential sort of reality dynamic in the Spirit of God, that when we join together, it's more than just the sum of our two efforts. We're more together than the sum of our individual lives. We're more together. But it needs to be something that we are intentionally building, Jesus, I want to build my life on you. But Jesus, I know that you're building something called the church. And the church is that kingdom. Reality is that in breaking kingdom on the earth, He is building something eternal. And we see this picture again and again through Scripture. You know, another one of my favorite passages turn to First Peter two. Why do I have to say that as a preacher, it's like if I'm going there, it probably is my favorite passage and another favorite passage and another favorite passage.
Unknown: I know what I should do one day, I should just find, like, all the weirdest, most uncomfortable passages in the Bible that I've never preached on and just be like, This is my least favorite passage Sunday. I'm sure we would get lots out of it, actually, because, you know, I do that on a personal level, I'll go into weird stuff, and I'll be like, there's something going on here that's just not clicking with me. God help me.
Unknown: Yes, there are parts that even I struggle to understand in the Bible. That's okay, right? I'm glad that this is easy enough to understand that a child can hear the gospel and respond to it, come alive with it, walk in it, but there's depth in here that the you know, greatest genius in the world, can come back to it again and again and again. And still have to be like, God. I'm wrestling with this God. I want to understand you more. There's depth in here. So you look at this very same picture in First Peter, chapter two, and you know, here we have Peter. And I love this passage for so so many reasons. One of the reasons is that other favorite passage of mine, where Peter, you know, he says, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, and Jesus says what he says, You're right.
Unknown: And on this rock, I will build my church. I keep saying it right, Matthew chapter 16. And on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail. And you're a rock, Peter. And then I get to this passage, and I'm like, isn't it interesting that Peter talks a lot about rocks.
Unknown: I don't know about you, but if Jesus looked me square in the eyes and changed my name, I probably think a little bit about the meaning of that name.
Unknown: And so we see Peter here meditating on, you know, what does it mean to be a stone? What is God building? What is this?
Unknown: This church, this kingdom that he is, is building. And so we see here in chapter two, verse four, he says, As you come to him as a living stone, rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious.
Unknown: You know we need to cling and we need to cherish and value Jesus above all the opinions of men. And you know, we might be coming to a day, even in our own Canadian society, where it's going to become more and more difficult to publicly speak about the things of the kingdom of God. I pray that doesn't happen. But there are even things at work in our political system that seem to be going that way. Pray for our government. Pray for what's going on right now? Amen, and you can look up what's going on with Bill c9 but it's very clear here that Jesus was rejected, and he warns us that we shouldn't be troubled if we too are rejected. In Verse five, he turns it around and he says, You yourselves, like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood. That's you and me.
Unknown: We are priests before God, priests before God.
Unknown: We're living stones. We're part of this temple, but we're also those who are offering the sacrifices. We are those who are worshiping we are those who are praising God. Continue on. We are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, for it stands in Scripture. And here's Peter connecting the words of the Prophet together, meditating on this, this rejected, precious stone that is Jesus, that is our foundation.
Unknown: He says, Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a corner stone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. We may endure shame in our supposed sophisticated modern society, but ultimately, if we stick with Jesus, if we stand on that foundation, if we value what he values, if we honor what he honors, then we will not be put to shame. Amen.
Unknown: So the honor is for you who believe, isn't that beautiful?
Unknown: The honor is for you who believe.
Unknown: I never really thought about that, even until I just read that right there, just when we believe, when we value God and the things of God, it's counted as honor. It's counted as honor.
Unknown: So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who don't believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.
Unknown: They stumble because they disobey the Word of God as they were destined to. Now, different people look at this cornerstone thing in different ways, but I've come back to it again and again. And what the cornerstone again? It's related to a foundation, okay? And you think about, of course, today, you know, we dig. Inches, and we put up forms and we pour a foundation. But we know they didn't do that back in the day.
Unknown: They would dig down, and then they would put one big, very nicely cut square, sewn that stone becomes everything is based on that stone, right? It's like, we're going to put this down, and we've got to make sure that this rock, you know, if we want our building to be lined up right, then we've got to make sure that the lines are north, south, east, west. We got to make sure that, you know, it's cut just right and placed just right, because everything else that is built from this point on is in reference to that stone.
Unknown: You know, we build out from it this way, out from it, that way up from it this way. But everything starts with getting that first stone in place, right? Jesus is that first stone, but we are also stones in this structure that God is building. Amen.
Unknown: In verse nine, he says some of the most beautiful words in Scripture that should always encourage us when we read them, they speak about our true identity. They speak about this kingdom that we're a part of.
Unknown: They speak about all that's been done for us and all that is available for those who will yet believe in Jesus amen church, we can become familiar and comfortable with all that we've experienced with all that we already have in Christ there are people who are dying to have what you have and to experience what you have experienced. We can never lose the wonder, the awe, the gratitude of what Christ has done for us, for what we get to be a part of Amen. And I know the Christian life isn't perfect. It has its challenges, its struggles, even church life has its challenges and struggles, but it's worth the challenge. It's worth the struggles, and it's better to be in the midst of what God is doing than to just get hurt and go off in my own corner. Amen, we're always supposed to be part of something in first, Peter, chapter two, where we are here.
Unknown: In verse nine, it says, For you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, I will be their God, and they will be my people. God's possessive about you in a good way, right?
Unknown: Our God is a jealous God, in a good way. He is jealous for us.
Unknown: He is zealous. He desires us. He wants us. He wants to be near us. He wants to be pursued by us. We are his possession, a people for His own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. You once were not a people, but now you are God's people. You once had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Thank you God for your mercy. Thank you God for bringing us out of darkness into light. Thank you God that we are your people. We are not our own. We have been bought with a price. Thank you, God.
Unknown: Oh, that I'm part of something that God is building for all eternity. And it all is anchored. It is all built upon Jesus as we worship this morning, I was in tears just remembering how God met me as a confused, conflicted young man.
Unknown: Some of you know me, some of you know my testimony, some of you don't. But whatever place you find yourself in life, whatever place those around you find themselves in, God is calling out to people. I'd been brought up in the things of God, but my family dropped out of church when I was 10 years old, and we were kind of left to, you know, navigate the world. I was in public. School, I had mostly friends who weren't believers, all sorts of influences, all sorts of substances, all sorts of relationships available. I was in a high school of over 1000 people. All the options are there, and I dabbled in a lot of stupid stuff. And it wasn't until I was getting to the end of high school, because what do you do as a kid, as a young person, as any real person who hasn't been anchored to that rock, which is Christ, you're looking to feel good, you're looking for fun, you're looking for whatever. But there's more to life than that. Amen. None of that will answer the big questions of life. So in my life, I was looking at the end of high school coming up fast, and I began to ask the big questions, what am I going to do? What's my life got? You know, should I study? Should I travel? Should I go here? Should I do that? And as exciting as freedom sounds, it's terrifying when you don't know what to do with your freedom. And I know God was already calling on me. I can remember looking back as a little boy. I had received the Lord, but I walked away from him. It was, it was a real God moment. I was in the house, I was down. I don't know why I remember this. I was downstairs.
Unknown: My dad was upstairs. Nothing was happening. I don't know if I was even in church at the time, but I ran upstairs just like, basically, like the Philippian jailer going to my dad, like, what do I need to do to be saved? Like, so I had that encounter as a kid, and that sealed me. You know, I the Holy Spirit came into my life, but I was grieving the Holy Spirit as I was in my high school years. I was trying to shut him out of my life. I was trying not to listen to that voice, because when we listen to His voice, then we have to do what he says, and that's the last thing we want to do as people, right, is give up control. It's like, I want my life on my terms. Then you get fruit on your terms too, by the way, then you get to put all of the effort necessary into it to make it happen. And that's what was happening to me. I was looking into my future that was wide open, and all I could see, all I could see was dead ends. I could see that that's really hard. That sounds fun, but what's it going to lead to? And I had doubts and I had concerns.
Unknown: I just had anxiety to the point how many of you have ever got so frustrated you're just like, got this energy that you're like, I got to do something to burn this off? No, I know sometimes anxiety is like chips TV, just just, you know, I'm just gonna dull the voices.
Unknown: But for me, I was so pent up.
Unknown: God, what I wasn't saying. God, I was just like, I don't know what to do with myself. I got on my bike, I went on a bike ride, and I'm going down the road, and thank God, the light shone. The lights came on, and I realized I could bike from here to Quebec.
Unknown: I was living in Ontario at the time. I could go as far as I want to go, but there's no answers in that. And I literally got off my bike on the gravel curb, the gravel of the shoulder of the road, and I just said, God, I don't know what to do with my life, but I know you do, because there are people, and I want to say this, there are people that you see, that you're frustrated with them because they're like, why can't they just see why don't they because they're still holding on to their own will. They're still holding on to their own sense of I'm in control. But all the time that I was doing that, it was like the voice of God was right here. It was like, if I just turn two degrees this direction, God will give me direction. But wait a minute, I know that means I need to bend the knee to Jesus, that I need to call him Lord and serve Him as Lord. So it wasn't until I was frustrated enough that I gave my life to Jesus. Thank you, Lord for frustrations that leave us to Jesus.
Unknown: I am so grateful.
Unknown: I am so grateful that God didn't leave me to my own purposes. I am so grateful that I didn't have to figure this all out. Amen, all it takes is surrender. Referring to him.
Unknown: All it takes is saying, Jesus, you're building something. Make me a part of it. Jesus, take my life. Burn away the stuff that doesn't belong. Blow away the stuff that's not built on the right foundation. Put me on the rock that is Jesus. Jesus, us, Jesus. Why do I share all of that with you today?
Unknown: Because it's so easy for Jesus to become just a word we sing.
Unknown: But Jesus is the one who lived, died, gave himself for the sins of the world. Jesus is the one who is there in my confusion and brought order, brought purpose, brought meaning. Jesus is the one who is there, who's healed so many people in this room.
Unknown: That's why we testify in this church. We testify of salvation, we testify of breakthroughs, we testify of healings. Because the world needs to know that Jesus isn't a name in a book. He isn't a name in a hymnal. He isn't a name in some route prayer. He is the living God that if we would cherish him, he would transform our lives and align us. He would build us on that eternal foundation.
Unknown: I know you might be like, we got this all last week.
Unknown: I doubt it. I really doubt it, because I didn't get it all last week. I love it was one of the great revivalists of the past. We were studying about him one day, and some people came up to him. He was having these meetings, open air meetings, I think, in the American countryside. And some people came up to him after a little while. It's like, so when are you going to start preaching a different message? He's like, when you get it, when we do it, when it actually happens, right?
Unknown: And, you know, I say that because it's funny, but I also say it because, again, don't go to the Word of God to be entertained, to find something new. You know, we are not in the business of tickling your ears.
Unknown: There are people out there in that business, and the Bible warns us about that. We are in this business to see lives transformed by the Spirit of God, the Word of God, to see lives built on a foundation that won't be shaken, amen. And if that takes going back. You know, building is a slow, difficult, laborious process. Thank God for the years I roofed, it teaches you something about hard work and how it takes effort to really produce something of quality, right? It's going to take some efforts to build a life that will stand the trials that come. It's going to take time and effort and coming back again and again to the Lord and saying, God, shake it all away.
Unknown: Burn it all away. I just want what is real. I don't want to be sold a bill of goods. I don't want pie in the sky. I don't want nonsense. I want the real deal. I want the Spirit of God.
Unknown: I want the Word of God. I want eternal realities. Come on. I want Jesus. I want Jesus. Can you stand to your feet this morning? Come on band. Can you stand to your feet and just say, I want Jesus. I want a stronger foundation. I want my life to be built on a rock that cannot be moved. And I want to be part of something that's bigger than me and Jesus, I want to be this big worldwide. And Lord, this what you're building right here before our eyes, and faith alive in Canada, in Saskatoon, I want to be part of that.
Unknown: Jesus. Jesus, come on, just tell him you want him this morning.
Unknown: Tell them you want them today.
Unknown: Jesus, take us back, Lord God, for those of us, for those of us who have forgotten where we were and what life was like. Before we found you, before you called out to us, and we responded to that call. Remind us Lord God of the darkness, so that we can cherish the life. Remind us Lord God of how we were building lives built on sand, but now we stand on a solid rock. We have a foundation, which is Jesus, Christ, Lord God, I pray for those that you have been calling, for those that you have been speaking to, for those Lord God that you have been trying to get through, cut through the interference, the distractions.
Unknown: In the Name of Jesus, we lay that all before you And Lord, we just say, speak, draw, draw, draw, men and women, children to yourself as you drew me upstairs to bend the knee to Jesus as a little boy, as you drew me to my knees at the gravel at the side of the road to surrender to your Lordship, Lord God. I don't know where everyone in this room and everyone watching is, but I ask that there would be such a draw upon us today that we wouldn't be able to deny. We wouldn't be able to hold on our castles made of sand anymore, but we would jump and cling to the rock that is immovable. We would say, Jesus, I need you. I need you.
Unknown: I want to give those people an opportunity this morning, today to just say this prayer with me, Jesus, I believe that you died for my sins, that you rose from the grave by the power of the Spirit of God, Jesus, I confess that you are Lord, and I ask that you would come live in me, make me your temple, and show me my place in your temple, the church, the kingdom of God.
Unknown: I want to be part of what you're building on the earth.
Unknown: Jesus, wash my sins away, speak and I will listen, and I will do what you ask, Lord God, I align my life to the cornerstone that is Christ.
Unknown: In Jesus name I pray for those who have been walking with Jesus. But some things have gotten out of alignment. Maybe they're completely off the foundation.
Unknown: Maybe they're just not square to that cornerstone anymore. In the name of Jesus, let there be an aligning of hearts, purposes, desires. Let there be an aligning Lord, God of wills, not our will, but yours be done. Not my will, but yours be done. Your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, Lord, let your will be done in me.
Unknown: For those who have just prayed to receive Jesus, he is a good shepherd. He's going to lead you, he's going to guide you, he's going to take you in to green pastures, places where he's going to comfort you, he's going to strengthen you, but continue to draw near to Him.
Unknown: This life of faith isn't a moment of belief. It's not a moment well, I said that prayer, that's it. No, it's pursuing and being pursued by the living God.
Unknown: Thank You, Jesus. Let's take a moment to worship, amen, and this altar is always open if you want to come. You know, some of you maybe don't understand why some of us come to the front again and again and again.
Unknown: It's just an act of drawing near sometimes. Times I just got to put one foot in front of the other and act out what my heart longs to do, to go forward with God, to go closer to God. I know God's as much in the back of the room as he is there, but there's something about acting out that action of faith that says I'm drawing near I'm putting other things behind me. I'm not remaining in a posture of familiarity that this is my spot and this is where I am and I'm comfortable. I'm leaving that behind, and I'm just approaching your presence. I'm approaching you God. So I encourage you, let's worship together, and this altar is open. Amen. Amen.