April 13, 2025 • 23 mins
Foundations aren't glamorous – nobody compliments the concrete. Yet as Pastors Lee and Jim reveal in this deep dive into Matthew 7:24-27, everything you build depends on what lies beneath. Jesus's parable about the wise and foolish builders offers a stark choice between two foundations that determine our stability when life's storms hit.
The truth hits hard: both builders heard Jesus's teachings, but only one put them into practice. This fundamental distinction between hearing and doing forms the centerpiece of our conversation. We explore what it means to be "doers of the word and not hearers only" (James 1:22), challenging the notion that mere spiritual knowledge or church attendance is sufficient for a vibrant faith.
When Jesus says "the rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew" against both houses, He's revealing something profound about life's challenges. As we unpack in this episode, following Christ doesn't provide immunity from trouble – it provides stability in trouble. The difference is life-changing.
What parts of your life are merely admiring Jesus's teaching from a distance rather than building upon it? We get personal about how this applies to parenting, relationships, financial decisions, and everyday choices where obedience matters. We challenge the "appetite shopping" approach to Scripture where we selectively apply only what feels comfortable.
The good news? It's never too late to rebuild your foundation. Whether you're just beginning your faith journey or recognizing areas built on shifting sand, Jesus invites us to trust and follow His way. Join us as we discover what it truly means to build a life that stands strong – not just on Sunday, but every day.
Listen now and share with someone who needs to build their life on the rock of Christ's teachings.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the podcast that takes
you deeper into the Word of Godthroughout your week with your
hosts, pastors Lee and Jim.
It's time to inspire, upliftand dig deeper.
Beyond Sunday starts now.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hey, what's going on, everybody?
This is Beyond Sunday.
Welcome back to a brand newepisode.
I'm Pastor Lee and, as always,I'm sitting here alongside of
Pastor Jim and we are thepastors of Christ Family
Outreach Church in Amelia.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Pastor Jim, good morning, how you doing brother,
good morning, feeling good andI'm ready to jump into the Word
today.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Amen.
Yeah, today we're going to takea look at what Jesus is
teaching in an amazing parablein Matthew, chapter 7, verses 24
through 27.
So, if you've got your Bibles,go ahead and open to the text.
And while you're turning there,I just want to take a moment
and remind you.
After you're done listening tothis episode, we want you to be
(01:01):
able to share the link withsomeone that you know.
Pastor Jim, let's go ahead andget into the text.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
All right, here we go .
Matthew, chapter 7, verses 24through 27,.
And this is what the word says.
Everyone, then, who hears thesewords of mine and does them
will be like a wise man whobuilt his house on the rock, and
the rain fell and the floodscame and the winds blew and beat
on that house, but it did notfall because it had been founded
(01:26):
on the rock.
And everyone who hears thesewords of mine and does not do
them will be like a foolish manwho builds his house on the sand
and the rain fell and thefloods came, and the winds blew
and beat against that house, andit fell, and great was the fall
of it.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah, pastor, jim, this text right here, what Jesus
is teaching, is so powerful,and I just kind of want to set
up the two scenarios that we seein the text here, both having
two different outcomes.
Right, but they both start offwith something in common.
Whether the house was built onthe rock or the sand, jesus
starts both scenarios off bysaying everyone who hears these
(02:07):
words of mine, which means weare accountable for what we hear
.
So this parable is all aboutthe rock of obedience.
So today, after you finishlistening to this podcast, you
will be held accountable, myfriends, with what you've heard.
The question is what will youdo with the information that
(02:28):
you've been given?
Remember both scenarios.
Both households had heardsomething and there has to be an
accountability piece to it.
So when you go to church and youlisten to your pastor preach,
you're then held accountablewith the truth that you've
received, that you've been given.
Will you let it impact yourlife?
That's option number one.
Are you going to let it impactyour life, bringing forth change
(02:50):
, or option number two you won'tdo that.
You see, both types of peopleJesus presented heard the word.
The outcome was up to theindividual.
How it ended, in other wordswas up to them.
So, just like in this life, theoutcome of what we go through
is up to us, and how we finishis also up to us, pastor Jim.
(03:10):
So I'm choosing, as far as meand my house, I'm choosing to go
through life on the rock ofChrist and finish strong.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, right out the gate, jesus is going to connect
hearing with doing.
He says it there in verse 24.
Everyone then, just like yousaid, pastor Lee, everyone then
who hears these words of mineand does them blank, blank,
blank, because he says it twice,right?
So, right away, he's connectinghearing with doing, and that's
the theme that we're going tocome back to over and over again
today.
It's not just about listeningto sermons.
(03:39):
It's not just about hearing ustoday on this podcast.
It's not about readingdevotionals or even just
agreeing with Jesus in theory.
Right, what he's saying here.
Jesus is saying if you do what Isay, if you apply it, you're
going to be building your lifeon something solid.
And I want to think about thatfor a second, because a house
built on a rock it's not talkingabout the house in general.
(04:00):
It's more specifically talkingabout the foundation.
Right, it's built on a rock.
That's not the flashy pieceit's talking about.
You can admire your house fromafar, on the outside, because of
the pain or the porch or allthese different things, but it's
about the stuff underneath thatJesus wants to talk to us about
.
It's the stuff that nobody sees, right?
It's that where we need tobegin applying.
(04:21):
This is in the foundation ofwhat we're building our house on
.
So I want to ask everybodylistening today and really I
want to ask myself and us thistoo what parts of our life are
built on Jesus's teaching andnot just admired from a distance
?
Right, you know what I mean.
Like we can read the word andsay, oh, that sounds real good,
but if we don't put that in ourpocket, apply it to our lives,
(04:42):
then it's just being admiredfrom afar.
We're not building ourfoundation with this.
So we can ask this with ourmarriages and with our finances,
all of it, are we grounded ingrace?
Are we grounded in humility?
Are we grounded in forgiveness?
Are we grounded in the thingsthat Jesus taught?
Are we building our foundationon preference or performance?
Because, at the end of the day,what we need to be doing and
it's not because we're savedthrough our works, but Christ is
(05:04):
very clear about when youaccept him as Lord and Savior
over your life that there shouldbe a change in demeanor.
We are called to be set apartfrom this world, and what that
means is we need to be actingand living like Jesus.
Christ has given us thatexample to.
So the last little point I haveis this it's easy to hear these
ideas on Sunday.
It's easy to hear these ideason Sunday, it's easy to read the
(05:26):
Word, and it's easy to hearJesus saying, hey, this is what
you should do.
But the person who actuallydoes them, the person who
actually lives them out loud,that's the wise person, and
that's the life of someone who'sgoing to stand strong.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeah, amen, amen, jesus.
Again, he says everyone whohears these words of mine, right
?
So just getting the informationand not doing anything with it
is like I put it in a wordpicture like this it's like
going to the store, bringing thegroceries home and never
cooking a meal.
You would have the foodavailable, but never eating it
(05:58):
means you would eventuallystarve.
And one problem we have today,even within the church, is we've
got starving, malnourishedChristians.
They come into the house, thefood has been made readily
available, the Word of God isthere.
They went to the church, theyreceived the Word, they take it
home, they put it in their heart, but they do nothing with it.
Malnourished Christians.
(06:19):
I'm reminded of James 2, 14 and19,.
And it says this Pastor Jim,you had just mentioned this
topic of works.
James 2, 14 through 19 says whatgood is it, my brothers, if
someone says he has faith butdoes not have works?
Can faith save him?
If a brother or sister ispoorly clothed and lacking in
daily food and one of you saysto them go in peace, be warmed
(06:40):
and filled, without giving themthe things needed for the body,
what good is that?
So also, faith by itself, if itdoes not have works is dead.
But someone will say you havefaith and I have works.
Show me your faith apart fromyour works, and I will show you
my faith by my works.
You believe that God is one youdo.
Well, even the demons believein shudder.
Man isn't that powerful, youknow, like even the demons
(07:02):
believe.
So what he's teaching here isgo do something with what you
believe.
Take what you've heard and godo something.
Because if all you're doing isbelieving, he's saying right
here in James 2, 14 through 19,even the demons believe in Jesus
.
Even the demons believe in theword of God being truth.
So he's like hey, just beliefby itself is not enough, you've
(07:24):
got to go do something with it.
It takes me to James, chapter122.
James 122 says but be doers ofthe word and not hearers only
deceiving yourselves.
I mean, think about that.
If all I'm going to do is hearand not do, then according to
the text, I've deceived myselfto think that that type of
living, that type of faith, isenough.
(07:46):
So I don't want to be aChristian that only hears.
I don't want my family to beChristians that only hear.
I don't want my ministry and mychurch to be a body of Christ
that only hears.
I want us to go do something,pastor Jim.
I want us to go do somethingwith the knowledge that we've
been given, putting our faithinto action.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Yeah, I love James 1.22, man talking about just
being doers of the word, nothearers only.
And you know, verse 24 tells usthat if we do these things, all
right, we're going to be wiselike the man who built his house
on a rock.
And if we look at verse 25, ittalks about what happens once
you do that.
And this is what verse 25 says,and there's a lot in just this
one verse.
Jesus doesn't say if the raincomes, what's he say?
(08:37):
It will come, right.
Life is going to hit us.
It's going to hit us at allangles.
Storms are going to come,whether you're righteous or
whether you're rebellious.
Following Jesus doesn't giveyou and I love this right here.
This is what I want you.
If you get anything from this,I want you to take this right
here.
Following Jesus doesn't give youimmunity from trouble, but it
gives you stability from trouble, right?
(08:58):
So following Jesus is not goingto give you immunity from
trouble.
You're going to see it, You'regoing to experience it.
It's going to hit you, but whatit does is it gives you
stability in that trouble.
And I've talked to people whohave gone through loss and I've
gone through people who ortalked to people who have gone
through health crises with theirfamilies, and you know, what's
often said is this I don't knowhow I could have gotten through
this without my faith.
(09:18):
That's right faith, and whatthey're really saying is exactly
what Jesus is saying.
He's saying when the storm hitsyou and your foundation is me,
is Christ you might be shaken,but you're not going to be
shattered.
And I want to be very clear thestorm exposes the foundation.
You see it across the Midwestall the time with tornadoes, the
storms come and knock downhouses, but what is always still
(09:39):
there?
The foundation.
So it's going to reveal whoyou've really been trusting in,
and I love that.
And that's why applying Jesus'sword is not just some spiritual
window dressing that we put ona house from afar that can be
admired.
You have to live it.
You have to get into thetrenches, you have to do the
work to get that foundation so,and that becomes the difference
(10:00):
between standing and fallingwhen all those pressures come in
.
And I look at this in myparenting as well.
Like as a dad, I want my kidsto know the Bible 100%, but more
than that, I want them to seeme living it, because I don't
think at their age, they're evengoing to be able to understand
the dynamic of the Word.
But if they see that theirfather is not only reading the
(10:28):
Word and he's living the Word,that means that they're going to
grow up to see okay, that'swhat it actually means.
I'm applying this word, I'm notjust reading it.
I want them to see that when Imess up, I'm able to say I need
forgiveness and I need gracebecause I'm living out the
principles that God teaches us.
You know?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, so good brother , so good.
As you mentioned, bothscenarios get the rain.
In both scenarios the floodscame.
In both scenarios the winds areblowing and beating on both
houses.
So, no matter who you'reserving and I want our listeners
to understand this no matterwho you're serving, no matter
who you place your faith in,trials and storms, tribulations
(10:57):
are going to come into liferight.
So it's all about how youhandle those things and how we
handle them, how we go throughthem, how we experience them,
depends upon whether or notJesus Christ is your king.
The one who was obedient to theword and built up on the rock
made it through the storm.
They made it.
They made it through the floodsand the house did not fall when
(11:20):
the winds beat and pressed hardagainst it.
But the one living indisobedience did not make it
through the storm.
The house did fall and Jesussaid according to that house,
great was the fall of that house.
So the first house I'd like tojust call the obedient house, if
we could just slap a title onthat for a moment.
We're going to call that theobedient house, and to me the
(11:41):
obedient house, that's aservant's house, pastor Jim.
That is a survivor's house.
That's a house where the onewho lives there studies the Word
of God.
They've got a heart after God.
They want to live like Jesus,they want to honor God.
To me, that's a house thatworships the Lord on the inside
of it, not just in the churchhouse but also in their house.
(12:03):
And that type of house theobedient house, brother they've
got a reputation for living forJesus.
And in 1 Samuel 2.30, god saysfor those who honor me, I will
honor.
And I want that, and I know youdo as well, pastor, jim, I want
the honor of God.
Every day of my life, brother,every day I want the honor of
God.
And think about how amazingthat is that God says if you
(12:24):
honor me, I will let you walk inmy honor, I will let you live
in my honor, I will let youexperience the honor that I have
for you.
I mean, that's absolutely huge.
I want my house to be theobedient house.
That's the house that's builtup on the rock.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Yeah, and it's that shift from obedience to
disobedience that he says therein verse 26.
And I think that one of thethings that I took from it that
was most impactful to me is thisthey both still heard the words
.
Okay, it says that everyone whohears these words of mine and
follows it.
But then it says in verse 26,everyone who hears these words
(13:00):
of mine and doesn't follow it,notice.
They both heard the words.
And so what Jesus is saying isthese aren't ignorant people.
You might have been at churchevery single week, you might
have been reading yourdevotional every morning, but
these are the people Christ istalking about.
That didn't do anything with it.
They're not living out whatthey've learned, they're not
(13:21):
applying it to their life.
And Jesus says that's foolish.
And in a biblical sense,foolish isn't about intelligence
, it's about living as if Goddoesn't matter.
That's what the Bible teachesus, as foolishness is God
doesn't matter.
It's about thinking that youcan skip over the obedience part
and still end up with stability.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Yeah, if I'm trying to make something and I don't
know how to make it and I goonline and I get the ingredient
sheet right and and, and I'vegot the ingredients in the house
, it's all been made readyavailable to me.
But then I go try to kind ofcheat some of the ingredients.
Well, you know, I'm on a dietso I don't want to add that to
it.
You know what I mean.
Like so I'm going to leave thatout, and ingredients that we're
(14:04):
going to get the same productat the end of the day.
You know what I mean.
Like how many people come intothe house and at the end of the
message the pastor's like okay,now, what you're going to go do
with it.
You know, like you got to leavehere and go do something with
it and they're like well, Ididn't like that one thing.
He said that kind of stepped onmy toes, so I'm going to leave
that there at the pulpit, I'mgoing to leave that in the house
, but I'm going to take out thethings that I like and are
comfortable for me to do.
And yet then we expect to getthe same result.
(14:27):
And that's not what the word ofGod was talking about at all.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
And that's the trap, right?
The trap is I'm building mylife in comfort, I'm giving, I'm
building my life on popularityand emotion or or things that
feel good in the moment.
Jesus is saying, nope, thatfoundation is not going to hold.
And here's the thing.
From the outside both housesthey might have looked great,
they might have looked awesome,but you can't always tell what
(14:51):
someone's life is built uponuntil the pressure hits.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, man.
You know I had breakfast thismorning so I'm not hungry.
I don't know why I keep gettingthese like word pictures with
food and stuff like that.
But I, just as you're talkingright there making that point,
I'm thinking about, like thisperson going down the aisle.
We've all been there before.
We'll go down the aisle of thegrocery store with our shopping
cart and we kind of base off ofwhat's on sale Some people sale
(15:16):
shop, other people— Appetiteshop Some people.
Appetite shop is exactly whereI was going, right, like you
know they.
Oh, this looks good.
This looks good based off thepicture on the label.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
If I go to the store hungry, I'm coming out with way
more than I need Way more thanwhat you planned.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
God's house, right, god, almighty's house.
We pull up into the sanctuarywith our shopping cart, if you
will, and we're like, yeah, youknow, I like that, I'll add that
to the cart.
Don't like that, not going toadd that to the cart.
And we go window shopping, ifyou will, right, we're going up
and down these aisles pickingand choosing, and it's like no,
(15:56):
if you trust that your pastorhas heard from the heart of God,
if you trust that your pastorhas heard from the voice of God
and that is your shepherd, underthe shepherd, jesus Christ, and
that's where you go to graze,that's where you go to eat,
that's where you go to get yourmilk and meat, depending on
where you are in your spiritualmaturity, your walk with the
Lord Jesus Christ, then youbetter take everything that he
gives for you.
You know, because everything onthe menu is for you.
(16:16):
You know, and you may be likewell, I'm not going through that
particular thing at that time.
Well, praise God if you're not.
But you better get it and storeit so that when you need that
ingredient, right when you needthat ingredient, you can go to
your spiritual pantry and saythe pastor already preached on
this one.
I got that ingredient andbecause I'm not going to leave
that ingredient out, and becauseI didn't leave it out that day
at church and I let it getinside of me and do something,
(16:37):
that now I'm going to let theword of God that's in me have
the full effect so that I canget this thing that God is
trying to do in my life in thefullness.
In the fullness of what he'strying to do.
It is manifested now in my lifebecause I didn't leave any
ingredients out, yeah, and onthe other side.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
My point with the going to the grocery store
hungry and then leaving out withmore than you need.
Praise God, he does give usmore than we need.
So when we go to church hungryand he gives us more than we
need and we take it home, myhunger is only satisfied if what
I consume, the food and applyit as energy.
So if I go home with all thethings and all the tools that I
(17:16):
need or all the shoppingingredients that I need and I
just put it on the shelf andnever go back to it or never
touch it, I'm still hungry.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
I was just this week at a, at a, a rehabilitation
house, uh, for addicts and I wasin there talking to one of the
guys.
He's been in there for a fewmonths and this dude, this
brother, is just on fire for theLord, and they had bought a
bunch of pizzas that day.
It was a handful of guys fromour church that went out there
to visit these brothers and justfellowship with them and just
(17:42):
sharpen his iron sharpens iron.
We're doing a Bible study withthem.
You know this particular dayand you know the pizzas come in
and everybody sits down at thisbig, long, beautiful table man,
it was a beautiful picture andeverybody's just fellowshipping,
but myself and this one brother, we're still off in the kitchen
, we're not in the dining areaand we're just talking.
Well, after we're sitting theretalking for about 20, 25
(18:03):
minutes or something, I look athim.
I'm like man, brother, go inthere, get you something to eat.
Man, like you know, we're goingto be doing a Bible study soon.
I don't want you to miss out onthe food.
And he looks at me, pastor Jimmy, he goes, man.
What we're doing right now isso fulfilling that it's taking
away my physical hunger and Iwas like, come on, bro, and
preach to me.
I got so fired up on that, Ilost my appetite.
(18:25):
I lost my physical appetite.
I won't hungry for pizza, nomore, bro.
Like we just stayed in there,man, and we just kept sharpening
and as the Spirit was doingthis work, we literally are just
getting full on the thoughts ofGod.
And it was just a beautifulthing, man, just so beautiful.
So I just wanted to share that.
As we're talking about food andputting items in our cart, I
(18:47):
know we're not talking so muchabout physical food.
We're trying to relate thisstuff spiritually right.
So, man, I just had thattestimony walk out in my life
and got to live that this week.
It's that spiritual food thatif you take every piece of it,
it does not only nourish you, itfills you up too.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
That's a powerful testimony, because the truth is,
as we walk through these truthstoday, and we're looking at two
very different foundations Ithink what we can take from this
and what we're going to getinto with verse 7, is that the
collapse of this house, of theman who does not follow what the
word is teaching him, it, canbe avoided.
Okay, and that phrase hits mereally hard At the end of verse
(19:24):
27,.
It's this phrase that hits mesuper hard.
Great was the fall.
Jesus doesn't say that itleaned a little bit.
It doesn't say that there was aminor crack, he says it
completely collapsed.
And I think that's one of themost loving things that Jesus
does here is he's warning us,like we're trying to do right
now through the Word of God, notto scare us, but simply to wake
(19:45):
us up Because collapse ispreventable.
He's saying you don't have tofall apart, you just got to
listen.
And then, when you do listen,you got to live it out.
Live this thing out.
A practical way of living theWord are the testimonies that
we're talking about right now,that you've experienced this
week and that we do every singleday of our lives.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Yeah, that's right, Absolutely.
You know we go from theobedient house to what you just
mentioned in the 27th verse, thegreat fall of the disobedient
house, that house that is notbuilt on the rock, that is the
disobedient house.
They heard, just like theobedient house did, Pastor Jim.
They heard, that's right, sothey heard the word.
(20:24):
They just didn't and here's thedifference they just didn't do
anything with what they heard.
The food was made readilyavailable, the nutrition was
made readily available.
They just didn't take it anddigest it and because they
didn't digest it, they're notgoing to get the benefit of it.
Because they're not honoringGod in their house, they're not
(20:46):
going to receive honor back fromGod for over and within their
house, yeah, and so what doesthis look like in our day-to-day
?
Speaker 1 (20:53):
We got to forgive, even though someone hasn hasn't
apologized, because Jesus toldus that we're supposed to
forgive as we've been forgiven.
It means telling the truthright, even when lying would be
easier or even when lying wouldmake you look better.
It means telling the truth.
It means loving people who arehard to love because, even
though they've hurt you or eventhough they disagree with you,
(21:13):
jesus tells us to love like heloves us.
It means putting our trust inJesus's words when culture is
shouting something completelydifferent.
You know, none of that isflashy, but what Jesus calls
that is rock solid living.
And this is what I want to endwith Foundations.
They don't get the headlines.
Nobody compliments the concrete.
You know what I mean.
(21:34):
No one's come to my house everand said man, your foundation
looks real strong.
Yeah, that's a great point, butit's what everything else
depends on.
It's what everything in my homedepends on.
And when we build our lives onJesus not just believing in him,
but believing him there's adifference.
Trusting that his way isactually the best way.
(21:55):
What we're doing is we'relaying down something that's
going to last forever.
We're going to lay downsomething that's storm-proof.
The storm may come, but I'mready for it because my
foundation is in the love ofChrist.
So, wherever you are today,maybe you're just starting to
build this thing, maybe you'rerealizing that you've built some
things on some shifting sands.
What I want to do is I want toencourage you that it's not too
late to rebuild.
It's not too late because Jesusis inviting us to hear and do
(22:19):
what he tells us to do.
He's inviting us to trust himevery single day.
He's inviting us to trust himand obey him, and that's the
life beyond.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Sunday.
That's so good, brother.
That's so good that life thatis going to last beyond Sunday.
Let's pray, father.
We are grateful that we get anopportunity to come here and
share your word with theselisteners.
I'm so thankful for theirprayers, for their love, for
their kind words, for theirsupport and, lord, I just pray
(22:48):
that they would experience yourhonor in more ways than they
ever have before.
Father, that they would beincreased in strength because
they choose to receive everyword that you have for them in
their life.
We ask that you would blessthem and protect them mightily,
father, in the name and theblood of Jesus.
May their eyes be opened to seeyour hand at work for them
(23:13):
every day and moment of theirlives, in Jesus name and blood,
amen.
Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the podcast that takes
you deeper into the Word of Godthroughout your week with your
hosts, pastors Lee and Jim.
It's time to inspire, upliftand dig deeper.
Beyond Sunday starts now.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hey, what's going on, everybody?
This is Beyond Sunday.
Welcome back to a brand newepisode.
I'm Pastor Lee and, as always,I'm sitting here alongside of
Pastor Jim and we are thepastors of Christ Family
Outreach Church in Amelia.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Pastor Jim, good morning, how you doing brother,
good morning, feeling good andI'm ready to jump into the Word
today.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Amen.
Yeah, today we're going to takea look at what Jesus is
teaching in an amazing parablein Matthew, chapter 7, verses 24
through 27.
So, if you've got your Bibles,go ahead and open to the text.
And while you're turning there,I just want to take a moment
and remind you.
After you're done listening tothis episode, we want you to be
(01:01):
able to share the link withsomeone that you know.
Pastor Jim, let's go ahead andget into the text.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
All right, here we go .
Matthew, chapter 7, verses 24through 27,.
And this is what the word says.
Everyone, then, who hears thesewords of mine and does them
will be like a wise man whobuilt his house on the rock, and
the rain fell and the floodscame and the winds blew and beat
on that house, but it did notfall because it had been founded
(01:26):
on the rock.
And everyone who hears thesewords of mine and does not do
them will be like a foolish manwho builds his house on the sand
and the rain fell and thefloods came, and the winds blew
and beat against that house, andit fell, and great was the fall
of it.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah, pastor, jim, this text right here, what Jesus
is teaching, is so powerful,and I just kind of want to set
up the two scenarios that we seein the text here, both having
two different outcomes.
Right, but they both start offwith something in common.
Whether the house was built onthe rock or the sand, jesus
starts both scenarios off bysaying everyone who hears these
(02:07):
words of mine, which means weare accountable for what we hear
.
So this parable is all aboutthe rock of obedience.
So today, after you finishlistening to this podcast, you
will be held accountable, myfriends, with what you've heard.
The question is what will youdo with the information that
(02:28):
you've been given?
Remember both scenarios.
Both households had heardsomething and there has to be an
accountability piece to it.
So when you go to church and youlisten to your pastor preach,
you're then held accountablewith the truth that you've
received, that you've been given.
Will you let it impact yourlife?
That's option number one.
Are you going to let it impactyour life, bringing forth change
(02:50):
, or option number two you won'tdo that.
You see, both types of peopleJesus presented heard the word.
The outcome was up to theindividual.
How it ended, in other wordswas up to them.
So, just like in this life, theoutcome of what we go through
is up to us, and how we finishis also up to us, pastor Jim.
(03:10):
So I'm choosing, as far as meand my house, I'm choosing to go
through life on the rock ofChrist and finish strong.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, right out the gate, jesus is going to connect
hearing with doing.
He says it there in verse 24.
Everyone then, just like yousaid, pastor Lee, everyone then
who hears these words of mineand does them blank, blank,
blank, because he says it twice,right?
So, right away, he's connectinghearing with doing, and that's
the theme that we're going tocome back to over and over again
today.
It's not just about listeningto sermons.
(03:39):
It's not just about hearing ustoday on this podcast.
It's not about readingdevotionals or even just
agreeing with Jesus in theory.
Right, what he's saying here.
Jesus is saying if you do what Isay, if you apply it, you're
going to be building your lifeon something solid.
And I want to think about thatfor a second, because a house
built on a rock it's not talkingabout the house in general.
(04:00):
It's more specifically talkingabout the foundation.
Right, it's built on a rock.
That's not the flashy pieceit's talking about.
You can admire your house fromafar, on the outside, because of
the pain or the porch or allthese different things, but it's
about the stuff underneath thatJesus wants to talk to us about
.
It's the stuff that nobody sees, right?
It's that where we need tobegin applying.
(04:21):
This is in the foundation ofwhat we're building our house on
.
So I want to ask everybodylistening today and really I
want to ask myself and us thistoo what parts of our life are
built on Jesus's teaching andnot just admired from a distance
?
Right, you know what I mean.
Like we can read the word andsay, oh, that sounds real good,
but if we don't put that in ourpocket, apply it to our lives,
(04:42):
then it's just being admiredfrom afar.
We're not building ourfoundation with this.
So we can ask this with ourmarriages and with our finances,
all of it, are we grounded ingrace?
Are we grounded in humility?
Are we grounded in forgiveness?
Are we grounded in the thingsthat Jesus taught?
Are we building our foundationon preference or performance?
Because, at the end of the day,what we need to be doing and
it's not because we're savedthrough our works, but Christ is
(05:04):
very clear about when youaccept him as Lord and Savior
over your life that there shouldbe a change in demeanor.
We are called to be set apartfrom this world, and what that
means is we need to be actingand living like Jesus.
Christ has given us thatexample to.
So the last little point I haveis this it's easy to hear these
ideas on Sunday.
It's easy to hear these ideason Sunday, it's easy to read the
(05:26):
Word, and it's easy to hearJesus saying, hey, this is what
you should do.
But the person who actuallydoes them, the person who
actually lives them out loud,that's the wise person, and
that's the life of someone who'sgoing to stand strong.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeah, amen, amen, jesus.
Again, he says everyone whohears these words of mine, right
?
So just getting the informationand not doing anything with it
is like I put it in a wordpicture like this it's like
going to the store, bringing thegroceries home and never
cooking a meal.
You would have the foodavailable, but never eating it
(05:58):
means you would eventuallystarve.
And one problem we have today,even within the church, is we've
got starving, malnourishedChristians.
They come into the house, thefood has been made readily
available, the Word of God isthere.
They went to the church, theyreceived the Word, they take it
home, they put it in their heart, but they do nothing with it.
Malnourished Christians.
(06:19):
I'm reminded of James 2, 14 and19,.
And it says this Pastor Jim,you had just mentioned this
topic of works.
James 2, 14 through 19 says whatgood is it, my brothers, if
someone says he has faith butdoes not have works?
Can faith save him?
If a brother or sister ispoorly clothed and lacking in
daily food and one of you saysto them go in peace, be warmed
(06:40):
and filled, without giving themthe things needed for the body,
what good is that?
So also, faith by itself, if itdoes not have works is dead.
But someone will say you havefaith and I have works.
Show me your faith apart fromyour works, and I will show you
my faith by my works.
You believe that God is one youdo.
Well, even the demons believein shudder.
Man isn't that powerful, youknow, like even the demons
(07:02):
believe.
So what he's teaching here isgo do something with what you
believe.
Take what you've heard and godo something.
Because if all you're doing isbelieving, he's saying right
here in James 2, 14 through 19,even the demons believe in Jesus
.
Even the demons believe in theword of God being truth.
So he's like hey, just beliefby itself is not enough, you've
(07:24):
got to go do something with it.
It takes me to James, chapter122.
James 122 says but be doers ofthe word and not hearers only
deceiving yourselves.
I mean, think about that.
If all I'm going to do is hearand not do, then according to
the text, I've deceived myselfto think that that type of
living, that type of faith, isenough.
(07:46):
So I don't want to be aChristian that only hears.
I don't want my family to beChristians that only hear.
I don't want my ministry and mychurch to be a body of Christ
that only hears.
I want us to go do something,pastor Jim.
I want us to go do somethingwith the knowledge that we've
been given, putting our faithinto action.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Yeah, I love James 1.22, man talking about just
being doers of the word, nothearers only.
And you know, verse 24 tells usthat if we do these things, all
right, we're going to be wiselike the man who built his house
on a rock.
And if we look at verse 25, ittalks about what happens once
you do that.
And this is what verse 25 says,and there's a lot in just this
one verse.
Jesus doesn't say if the raincomes, what's he say?
(08:37):
It will come, right.
Life is going to hit us.
It's going to hit us at allangles.
Storms are going to come,whether you're righteous or
whether you're rebellious.
Following Jesus doesn't giveyou and I love this right here.
This is what I want you.
If you get anything from this,I want you to take this right
here.
Following Jesus doesn't give youimmunity from trouble, but it
gives you stability from trouble, right?
(08:58):
So following Jesus is not goingto give you immunity from
trouble.
You're going to see it, You'regoing to experience it.
It's going to hit you, but whatit does is it gives you
stability in that trouble.
And I've talked to people whohave gone through loss and I've
gone through people who ortalked to people who have gone
through health crises with theirfamilies, and you know, what's
often said is this I don't knowhow I could have gotten through
this without my faith.
(09:18):
That's right faith, and whatthey're really saying is exactly
what Jesus is saying.
He's saying when the storm hitsyou and your foundation is me,
is Christ you might be shaken,but you're not going to be
shattered.
And I want to be very clear thestorm exposes the foundation.
You see it across the Midwestall the time with tornadoes, the
storms come and knock downhouses, but what is always still
(09:39):
there?
The foundation.
So it's going to reveal whoyou've really been trusting in,
and I love that.
And that's why applying Jesus'sword is not just some spiritual
window dressing that we put ona house from afar that can be
admired.
You have to live it.
You have to get into thetrenches, you have to do the
work to get that foundation so,and that becomes the difference
(10:00):
between standing and fallingwhen all those pressures come in
.
And I look at this in myparenting as well.
Like as a dad, I want my kidsto know the Bible 100%, but more
than that, I want them to seeme living it, because I don't
think at their age, they're evengoing to be able to understand
the dynamic of the Word.
But if they see that theirfather is not only reading the
(10:28):
Word and he's living the Word,that means that they're going to
grow up to see okay, that'swhat it actually means.
I'm applying this word, I'm notjust reading it.
I want them to see that when Imess up, I'm able to say I need
forgiveness and I need gracebecause I'm living out the
principles that God teaches us.
You know?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, so good brother , so good.
As you mentioned, bothscenarios get the rain.
In both scenarios the floodscame.
In both scenarios the winds areblowing and beating on both
houses.
So, no matter who you'reserving and I want our listeners
to understand this no matterwho you're serving, no matter
who you place your faith in,trials and storms, tribulations
(10:57):
are going to come into liferight.
So it's all about how youhandle those things and how we
handle them, how we go throughthem, how we experience them,
depends upon whether or notJesus Christ is your king.
The one who was obedient to theword and built up on the rock
made it through the storm.
They made it.
They made it through the floodsand the house did not fall when
(11:20):
the winds beat and pressed hardagainst it.
But the one living indisobedience did not make it
through the storm.
The house did fall and Jesussaid according to that house,
great was the fall of that house.
So the first house I'd like tojust call the obedient house, if
we could just slap a title onthat for a moment.
We're going to call that theobedient house, and to me the
(11:41):
obedient house, that's aservant's house, pastor Jim.
That is a survivor's house.
That's a house where the onewho lives there studies the Word
of God.
They've got a heart after God.
They want to live like Jesus,they want to honor God.
To me, that's a house thatworships the Lord on the inside
of it, not just in the churchhouse but also in their house.
(12:03):
And that type of house theobedient house, brother they've
got a reputation for living forJesus.
And in 1 Samuel 2.30, god saysfor those who honor me, I will
honor.
And I want that, and I know youdo as well, pastor, jim, I want
the honor of God.
Every day of my life, brother,every day I want the honor of
God.
And think about how amazingthat is that God says if you
(12:24):
honor me, I will let you walk inmy honor, I will let you live
in my honor, I will let youexperience the honor that I have
for you.
I mean, that's absolutely huge.
I want my house to be theobedient house.
That's the house that's builtup on the rock.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Yeah, and it's that shift from obedience to
disobedience that he says therein verse 26.
And I think that one of thethings that I took from it that
was most impactful to me is thisthey both still heard the words
.
Okay, it says that everyone whohears these words of mine and
follows it.
But then it says in verse 26,everyone who hears these words
(13:00):
of mine and doesn't follow it,notice.
They both heard the words.
And so what Jesus is saying isthese aren't ignorant people.
You might have been at churchevery single week, you might
have been reading yourdevotional every morning, but
these are the people Christ istalking about.
That didn't do anything with it.
They're not living out whatthey've learned, they're not
(13:21):
applying it to their life.
And Jesus says that's foolish.
And in a biblical sense,foolish isn't about intelligence
, it's about living as if Goddoesn't matter.
That's what the Bible teachesus, as foolishness is God
doesn't matter.
It's about thinking that youcan skip over the obedience part
and still end up with stability.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Yeah, if I'm trying to make something and I don't
know how to make it and I goonline and I get the ingredient
sheet right and and, and I'vegot the ingredients in the house
, it's all been made readyavailable to me.
But then I go try to kind ofcheat some of the ingredients.
Well, you know, I'm on a dietso I don't want to add that to
it.
You know what I mean.
Like so I'm going to leave thatout, and ingredients that we're
(14:04):
going to get the same productat the end of the day.
You know what I mean.
Like how many people come intothe house and at the end of the
message the pastor's like okay,now, what you're going to go do
with it.
You know, like you got to leavehere and go do something with
it and they're like well, Ididn't like that one thing.
He said that kind of stepped onmy toes, so I'm going to leave
that there at the pulpit, I'mgoing to leave that in the house
, but I'm going to take out thethings that I like and are
comfortable for me to do.
And yet then we expect to getthe same result.
(14:27):
And that's not what the word ofGod was talking about at all.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
And that's the trap, right?
The trap is I'm building mylife in comfort, I'm giving, I'm
building my life on popularityand emotion or or things that
feel good in the moment.
Jesus is saying, nope, thatfoundation is not going to hold.
And here's the thing.
From the outside both housesthey might have looked great,
they might have looked awesome,but you can't always tell what
(14:51):
someone's life is built uponuntil the pressure hits.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, man.
You know I had breakfast thismorning so I'm not hungry.
I don't know why I keep gettingthese like word pictures with
food and stuff like that.
But I, just as you're talkingright there making that point,
I'm thinking about, like thisperson going down the aisle.
We've all been there before.
We'll go down the aisle of thegrocery store with our shopping
cart and we kind of base off ofwhat's on sale Some people sale
(15:16):
shop, other people— Appetiteshop Some people.
Appetite shop is exactly whereI was going, right, like you
know they.
Oh, this looks good.
This looks good based off thepicture on the label.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
If I go to the store hungry, I'm coming out with way
more than I need Way more thanwhat you planned.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
God's house, right, god, almighty's house.
We pull up into the sanctuarywith our shopping cart, if you
will, and we're like, yeah, youknow, I like that, I'll add that
to the cart.
Don't like that, not going toadd that to the cart.
And we go window shopping, ifyou will, right, we're going up
and down these aisles pickingand choosing, and it's like no,
(15:56):
if you trust that your pastorhas heard from the heart of God,
if you trust that your pastorhas heard from the voice of God
and that is your shepherd, underthe shepherd, jesus Christ, and
that's where you go to graze,that's where you go to eat,
that's where you go to get yourmilk and meat, depending on
where you are in your spiritualmaturity, your walk with the
Lord Jesus Christ, then youbetter take everything that he
gives for you.
You know, because everything onthe menu is for you.
(16:16):
You know, and you may be likewell, I'm not going through that
particular thing at that time.
Well, praise God if you're not.
But you better get it and storeit so that when you need that
ingredient, right when you needthat ingredient, you can go to
your spiritual pantry and saythe pastor already preached on
this one.
I got that ingredient andbecause I'm not going to leave
that ingredient out, and becauseI didn't leave it out that day
at church and I let it getinside of me and do something,
(16:37):
that now I'm going to let theword of God that's in me have
the full effect so that I canget this thing that God is
trying to do in my life in thefullness.
In the fullness of what he'strying to do.
It is manifested now in my lifebecause I didn't leave any
ingredients out, yeah, and onthe other side.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
My point with the going to the grocery store
hungry and then leaving out withmore than you need.
Praise God, he does give usmore than we need.
So when we go to church hungryand he gives us more than we
need and we take it home, myhunger is only satisfied if what
I consume, the food and applyit as energy.
So if I go home with all thethings and all the tools that I
(17:16):
need or all the shoppingingredients that I need and I
just put it on the shelf andnever go back to it or never
touch it, I'm still hungry.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
I was just this week at a, at a, a rehabilitation
house, uh, for addicts and I wasin there talking to one of the
guys.
He's been in there for a fewmonths and this dude, this
brother, is just on fire for theLord, and they had bought a
bunch of pizzas that day.
It was a handful of guys fromour church that went out there
to visit these brothers and justfellowship with them and just
(17:42):
sharpen his iron sharpens iron.
We're doing a Bible study withthem.
You know this particular dayand you know the pizzas come in
and everybody sits down at thisbig, long, beautiful table man,
it was a beautiful picture andeverybody's just fellowshipping,
but myself and this one brother, we're still off in the kitchen
, we're not in the dining areaand we're just talking.
Well, after we're sitting theretalking for about 20, 25
(18:03):
minutes or something, I look athim.
I'm like man, brother, go inthere, get you something to eat.
Man, like you know, we're goingto be doing a Bible study soon.
I don't want you to miss out onthe food.
And he looks at me, pastor Jimmy, he goes, man.
What we're doing right now isso fulfilling that it's taking
away my physical hunger and Iwas like, come on, bro, and
preach to me.
I got so fired up on that, Ilost my appetite.
(18:25):
I lost my physical appetite.
I won't hungry for pizza, nomore, bro.
Like we just stayed in there,man, and we just kept sharpening
and as the Spirit was doingthis work, we literally are just
getting full on the thoughts ofGod.
And it was just a beautifulthing, man, just so beautiful.
So I just wanted to share that.
As we're talking about food andputting items in our cart, I
(18:47):
know we're not talking so muchabout physical food.
We're trying to relate thisstuff spiritually right.
So, man, I just had thattestimony walk out in my life
and got to live that this week.
It's that spiritual food thatif you take every piece of it,
it does not only nourish you, itfills you up too.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
That's a powerful testimony, because the truth is,
as we walk through these truthstoday, and we're looking at two
very different foundations Ithink what we can take from this
and what we're going to getinto with verse 7, is that the
collapse of this house, of theman who does not follow what the
word is teaching him, it, canbe avoided.
Okay, and that phrase hits mereally hard At the end of verse
(19:24):
27,.
It's this phrase that hits mesuper hard.
Great was the fall.
Jesus doesn't say that itleaned a little bit.
It doesn't say that there was aminor crack, he says it
completely collapsed.
And I think that's one of themost loving things that Jesus
does here is he's warning us,like we're trying to do right
now through the Word of God, notto scare us, but simply to wake
(19:45):
us up Because collapse ispreventable.
He's saying you don't have tofall apart, you just got to
listen.
And then, when you do listen,you got to live it out.
Live this thing out.
A practical way of living theWord are the testimonies that
we're talking about right now,that you've experienced this
week and that we do every singleday of our lives.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Yeah, that's right, Absolutely.
You know we go from theobedient house to what you just
mentioned in the 27th verse, thegreat fall of the disobedient
house, that house that is notbuilt on the rock, that is the
disobedient house.
They heard, just like theobedient house did, Pastor Jim.
They heard, that's right, sothey heard the word.
(20:24):
They just didn't and here's thedifference they just didn't do
anything with what they heard.
The food was made readilyavailable, the nutrition was
made readily available.
They just didn't take it anddigest it and because they
didn't digest it, they're notgoing to get the benefit of it.
Because they're not honoringGod in their house, they're not
(20:46):
going to receive honor back fromGod for over and within their
house, yeah, and so what doesthis look like in our day-to-day
?
Speaker 1 (20:53):
We got to forgive, even though someone hasn hasn't
apologized, because Jesus toldus that we're supposed to
forgive as we've been forgiven.
It means telling the truthright, even when lying would be
easier or even when lying wouldmake you look better.
It means telling the truth.
It means loving people who arehard to love because, even
though they've hurt you or eventhough they disagree with you,
(21:13):
jesus tells us to love like heloves us.
It means putting our trust inJesus's words when culture is
shouting something completelydifferent.
You know, none of that isflashy, but what Jesus calls
that is rock solid living.
And this is what I want to endwith Foundations.
They don't get the headlines.
Nobody compliments the concrete.
You know what I mean.
(21:34):
No one's come to my house everand said man, your foundation
looks real strong.
Yeah, that's a great point, butit's what everything else
depends on.
It's what everything in my homedepends on.
And when we build our lives onJesus not just believing in him,
but believing him there's adifference.
Trusting that his way isactually the best way.
(21:55):
What we're doing is we'relaying down something that's
going to last forever.
We're going to lay downsomething that's storm-proof.
The storm may come, but I'mready for it because my
foundation is in the love ofChrist.
So, wherever you are today,maybe you're just starting to
build this thing, maybe you'rerealizing that you've built some
things on some shifting sands.
What I want to do is I want toencourage you that it's not too
late to rebuild.
It's not too late because Jesusis inviting us to hear and do
(22:19):
what he tells us to do.
He's inviting us to trust himevery single day.
He's inviting us to trust himand obey him, and that's the
life beyond.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Sunday.
That's so good, brother.
That's so good that life thatis going to last beyond Sunday.
Let's pray, father.
We are grateful that we get anopportunity to come here and
share your word with theselisteners.
I'm so thankful for theirprayers, for their love, for
their kind words, for theirsupport and, lord, I just pray
(22:48):
that they would experience yourhonor in more ways than they
ever have before.
Father, that they would beincreased in strength because
they choose to receive everyword that you have for them in
their life.
We ask that you would blessthem and protect them mightily,
father, in the name and theblood of Jesus.
May their eyes be opened to seeyour hand at work for them
(23:13):
every day and moment of theirlives, in Jesus name and blood,
amen.
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