August 24, 2025 • 56 mins
As Red Letters concludes, Pastor Scott Wines sets Jesus’ wise and foolish builders beside a modern image from Hurricane Michael: a single house left standing because it was anchored far beyond code, on pilings driven deep into the sand. Scott shows that the difference in Matthew 7:24–27 isn’t the weather but the foundation. He lays three stones for a storm-ready life: Christ as cornerstone, Scripture and sound doctrine to keep us from being tossed by every wind, and an abiding relationship with the Triune God through prayer and the Spirit. Trials intend opposite ends—Satan schemes to destroy, but the Father uses suffering to produce endurance, character, and hope. Scott resists “upper story” relativism and calls us to the objective truth of God’s Word shaping everyday obedience. Because this is the final week of Red Letters, he gathers the series’ themes into Jesus’ closing charge: hear His words and do them. The life fastened to the Rock will stand when rains fall, floods rise, and winds beat against it.
We are Trinity Community Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Subscribe to our Podcast & YouTube channel to find past sermons, classes, interviews, and more!
Find us on Facebook & Instagram
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Scott Wiens (00:03):
On Wednesday, october the 10th 2018, hurricane
Michael roared ashore in thepanhandle of Florida and it hit
a little place called MexicoBeach.
The eyewall went directly overMexico Beach and it had
sustained winds maximumsustained winds of 155 miles an
(00:27):
hour.
It was a bad storm In fact, itwas the first category five
hurricane to ever hit thepanhandle on record anyways and
59 people lost their livesacross the country from deaths
related to this hurricane.
From deaths related to thishurricane, losses totaled $6.23
billion.
It was an amazing, amazingstorm.
(00:50):
But as pictures began tosurface, as they typically do
after an event like this, therewas one picture that caught
everybody's attention and youcan see it right here.
This was an aerial picturetaken of right at Mexico Beach.
This was the center of thestorm, this is where they got
(01:11):
the brunt of the major winds andthe rain and the tidal surge,
and here stood this one house.
All around it was devastation.
Houses were totally gone, somewere so badly damaged they had
to be raised.
You know, taken all the waydown anyways, but this one, one
home stood there and everybodywanted to know the question why
(01:36):
this home?
Why did this one stay here?
Why did it get blown away?
And so eventually, they quicklyfound out who built this home,
and it was built by a guy namedRussell King and his nephew,
lebron Lackey.
And they were interviewed as towhat did you guys do?
Well, they had built it theyear before and the Florida
(02:00):
building code said that a househad to be built to sustain
damaging winds up to 150 milesan hour.
They didn't even look at thecode.
They said to their builder wewant to build it to withstand
winds up to 250 miles an hour,and so they did.
This building was built withinsulated concrete forms.
(02:22):
These were reinforced withconcrete and steel and the
pilings went down 28 feet intothe sand 28 feet.
When they were watching thehurricane come in, they had live
cameras on their house and theywere watching it come in and
they're like there ain't no way,but you know what it stood it
(02:46):
In fact, the only damage was andif you look at the bottom of
the bottom is there was a bottomfloor there, but they built it
so it could get the title searchcould just take those walls out
.
They built breakaway walls.
The steps that were there theybroke.
They built it, so those stepswould be broken off.
It wouldn't damage it anyfurther.
This house was very strong.
(03:06):
It had a foundation that wentall the way down to where it
could reach good, solid, firmfoundation, and having a strong
foundation for your home isimportant, especially if you're
going to build on a coastline inFlorida, but having a spiritual
foundation is even moreimportant.
We're going to talk about thattoday.
So today we're finishing up oursermon series that we've titled
(03:29):
Red Letters, and this has beena great.
You guys enjoy this series.
It's been great.
If you don't, then you don'tlike Jesus.
So there you go.
They're his letters, they're hiswords, right, and we've been
systematically going throughthese words of Jesus in the
Sermon on the Mount, and we'vebeen systematically going
through these words of Jesus inthe Sermon on the Mount, and we
are ending this today in Matthew7, the very last verses of
(03:50):
Matthew 7, in a section ofscripture that's often titled
the wise and foolish builders.
So we're going to read the textfirst, so let's go ahead and
read through this very short,just a few verses.
So Matthew 7, verse 24, saysthis is Jesus again speaking.
Everyone, then, who hears thesewords of mine and does them
will be like a wise man whobuilt his house on the rock and
(04:24):
the rain fell and the floodscame and the winds blew and beat
on that house, but it did notfall Because it had been founded
on the rock.
And everyone who hears thesewords of mine and does not do
them will be like a foolish manwho built his house on the sand.
And the rain fell and thefloods came and the winds blew
and it beat against the houseand it fell, and great was the
fall of it.
So this morning, we're going todo two things we're going to
(04:45):
read through these words ofJesus and unpack the spiritual
principles that he teaches us inthis very short story about the
wise and foolish builder.
But the second part of thismessage, we're going to explore
this concept of what does itmean to have a rock solid
foundation, solid foundation,what does it mean to have a
(05:11):
strong Christian foundation andwhat is the role that you and I
play in building that foundation.
You guys ready to do this?
Well, let's pray.
Father, we thank you for yourword, jesus, we thank you for
these precious words that werepreserved for us.
And, father, today, as weunpack these words, god, we pray
that you would search each ofour hearts, that you would show
(05:31):
us where our foundation may beweak, that you would teach us
through these words, that youwould inspire us and, father,
that you would convict us sothat we indeed can have that
strong foundation that nothingwill be able to ever push over.
In Jesus' name, we pray amen.
By the way, I'm sitting theresinging these songs, I'm like I
(05:56):
think my sermon's already beengiven through the worship and in
the words that were given, bothof them were exactly right on
par with that.
I didn't plant them, by the way.
That's just what happens.
Well, let's start by doing alittle exposition of the words
of Jesus.
On the surface, by the way,when you look at this, it may
seem rather simple.
The words seem rather simple.
Hey, this is a real simplescout.
We get it, okay next.
(06:16):
Next, no, there is veryspecific words that Jesus
chooses here to portray thesedivine principles.
So we're going to.
We need to give that a deepexamination.
So let's start in verse 24.
Jesus says everyone then whohears these words of mine and
does them will be like a wiseman who built his house on the
rock.
Now I first want to identifythat Jesus is continuing to use
(06:37):
a pattern of teaching that iscalled contrast.
Okay, he contrasts basicallytwo opposites, and he does this
all the way through this.
Chapter seven, verse seven.
He talks about a good fatherand an evil father.
Right, he does that contrast.
Verse 13, narrow gate versuswide gate, all right.
(07:00):
Verse 15 through 20, the goodfruit versus the bad fruit.
So he's using this, thisliterary teaching, right, this
teaching I guess you could callit pattern to be able to
continue to show these spiritualprinciples.
And he's doing it herespecifically, obviously, to make
(07:21):
a spiritual point.
And in this case, of course,he's contrasting the wise man
building it on the foundation ofa rock and the foolish man on
the sand.
Now, the spiritual meaningbegins to take shape almost
immediately with the very firstverse.
Everyone, then, who hears thesewords of mine and does them and
we're going to stop there.
You see, he doesn't leave anyambiguity here.
(07:44):
He's very clear.
He doesn't say a good person isa person who builds his house
on the rock.
He doesn't say that.
It's not, and we're going toexplore this a little bit more
this isn't just about behavior,behavior modification, it's not
about just changing yourbehavior.
It's something a lot deeper,and he specifically makes this
(08:07):
clear that the whole thing, thiswhole analogy, this whole
metaphor.
It is rooted on him and thetruth that he has been given.
They've been listening to allthese words, remember?
They're hearing all this, andso everything is going to hinge
on that, and we're going to go alittle bit more into that in
the second part of the sermon.
Now, how about the topic of themetaphor itself?
(08:28):
This is a metaphor of afoundation on a home.
Now, it's really interesting.
As I looked at this, I thoughtyou know, talk about a universal
metaphor that everybody wouldget.
You know, if you don't have avineyard, it might be hard for
you to grasp.
About the whole fig tree, Imean, I don't know.
We got a fig tree.
By the way, in our yard weplanted a fig tree.
(08:50):
How many people like figs?
Okay, there'll be more surveyslater on.
So some of us have figs andhave picked figs, and some of us
haven't.
But everybody understands thismetaphor.
This metaphor holds water, nopun intended.
Even today, in fact, when Iread this, you probably in your
(09:10):
mind had this vision of a houseof some kind and a kind of
foundation and what might behappening.
It's a visual that every youdon't have to be an engineer to
get what he's talking about.
It's a very simple metaphor.
Now he says in this he says,continuing in verse now 25, and
the rain fell and the floodscame and the winds blew and beat
(09:32):
on that house.
Now it's interesting that Jesususes specific types of what we
call perils, specific types ofnaturally occurring events.
Now, I work in the propertyinsurance industry.
Okay, so we provide data andsoftware for insurance companies
(09:52):
and then all the ecosystem thatsupports them.
So we have a pricing databasethat if an adjuster came to your
home, they would use it towrite an estimate and generate
how much that estimate is right.
Well, in the property insurancespace, they use the term perils
, a peril, p-r-i-l, and theseperils basically talk you know
(10:17):
your house is covered for, youknow rain, wind-driven rain, and
it's very specific because, ofcourse, an insurance policy is
basically a legal document.
So it gets very, very specific.
How many people here have everread their housing, their
homeowner's policy for theirhouse?
I didn't think so.
Chad has, because he works withme, he has to.
(10:37):
He's trying to figure it out.
But listen, there's threeprimary perils that he talks
about here and they each have avery specific impact on the
foundation and their spiritualimplications to them.
So let's look at them realquick.
Falling rain, falling rain Well,I don't know if you've ever
been.
I'm sure all of us have,because it's what happens.
(10:59):
Have you ever been in asituation where the rain has
just come, coming down andcoming down, and coming down,
and coming down?
What happens to the soil?
It gets saturated, and if yourhouse was built on the soil,
versus down deep into somethingsolid, that's not impacted by
that?
What happens is ground beginsto liquefy, almost right, and so
(11:24):
falling rain causes it cantruly rock a foundation,
especially, of course, a sandfoundation, right, rising water
flood.
By the way, most of you do nothave flood insurance.
Flood insurance is veryspecific, by the way, and it's
put together.
It's sold through insurancecompanies that are undergranted
(11:47):
by the government, but because,of course, if you live in a
flood zone, your probability ofgetting a flood loss is high and
no insurance company wants toinsure that.
So there's, we won't get intothat.
Talk to Chad after he canexplain it to you.
But what does rising water andfloods do?
Well, floods not only come inquickly, right, they can erode.
(12:13):
Moving water can erode around afoundation and, by the way, in
Tennessee.
All you have to do is drivethrough some of these hills and
look at these driveways going upand you see these ravines going
down.
That's erosion because of water, right?
I used to have a house where Ihad to deal with this all the
time.
It kept eroding along the sideof my driveway and eating into
(12:35):
my driveway.
Well, that's what floods willdo.
Plus, it saturates the ground.
How about wind?
What about wind?
Well, he actually describeswind beating against the house.
Again, being in the propertyinsurance industry, one of the
things that you find veryquickly is if a house, even if
it quote survives a hurricane,it will become shaken.
(12:58):
You know, if I were to take twotwo-by-fours and put one on end
and one like this and put twonails into this, okay, now if I
were to grab that and just beginto move just a little bit, what
starts to happen Starts to workthat nail loose and pretty soon
it's like this, and pretty soonyou can even see the nails
between the two boards.
Well, what happens is a housegets shaken so bad that, even
(13:20):
though it's standing, it has tobe destroyed because it's
compromised.
Its structural integrity isgone.
So from a spiritual viewpoint,we can easily see that Jesus is
using these natural weatherevents as a metaphor for trials
and tests that we, as Christians, have to go through and, by the
way, so does everybody else.
(13:43):
Everybody has this.
The rain falls on the good andthe evil.
We all experience this and,just like wind-driven rain,
flood, wind, we have differenttypes of trials that we have to
go through, and all of you Iknow a lot of you pretty closely
(14:04):
all of you have talked to meabout the different perils that
your life has gone through.
It could be health challengeswe pray for people all the time
Health challenges, addictions,death of loved ones, financial
struggles, relationshipstruggles, relationship
struggles, struggles within yourfamily, maybe it's related to
(14:28):
your employment.
We all go through things someof our own doing, some not right
and the reality is, trials andtests can really be viewed from
two different perspectives.
The first one is Satan'sperspective.
Can anybody guess what Satan'sgoal is with a test and a trial?
(14:51):
Well, in John 10, jesus istalking about being the good
shepherd and he talks about thethief that comes to steal the
sheep, and he says this in verse10, he says the thief comes
only to steal and kill anddestroy.
That's what the thief wants todo, and that's what Satan wants
(15:12):
to do through the trials you gothrough.
He is a thief, and the numberone goal he has is to knock you
off your foundation.
That's what he wants to do.
Let's just understand this.
He wants to knock you off yourfoundation and for a Christian,
though, we have something thatshould give you a lot of
(15:38):
assurance, and that is for aChristian.
We know that God uses tests andtrials to produce an entirely
different outcome, to ratherstrengthen our foundation, to
strengthen it.
We need to remember, by the way, that tests and trials we
signed up for this.
We signed up for this In John16, 33,.
(16:02):
Jesus says very clearly I'vesaid these things to you that in
me you may have peace.
I wish he'd stopped there, buthe kept writing, he kept
speaking In this world, you willhave tribulation, but take
heart, I have overcome the world.
Now you might say well, scott,isn't that more reference to you
know, being persecuted?
(16:23):
Well, that's true, but ispersecution a trial?
Yeah, it is.
We go through trials all thetime, but he says we can have
peace during these times.
You see, when you build aphysical home, you don't build
it for the gentle rain and thegentle winds, do you?
(16:45):
You don't build a home withthat in mind.
You build a home to make sureit's going to resist, just like
those guys who built that homeon Mexico Beach.
They built it to resist whatthey knew was coming.
And I remember when I read thearticle on this, the guy says we
(17:05):
didn't think it would be put tothe test the very next year,
but sure enough it did.
And he said, and we're so gladwe built it that way.
I mean, literally it's the onlyhouse standing.
It was amazing.
We build our spiritualfoundation on Christ and we
build it in such a way.
We want to resist.
(17:26):
We want to make sure it'sstrong enough to resist the
inevitability of what's going tohappen.
That's one of the reasons why Ihave a real issue.
All of us have an issue withthe health and wealth gospel,
because the reality is it'scoming.
The trials are coming andthey're going to make you
(17:49):
stronger.
You know, if I were to dotestimony time and ask anybody
here, tell me the worst thingyou went through and how God
used it to change you, there'dbe a lot of hands coming up Some
of the most difficult thingsI've ever walked through in my
life.
God used it to change me, toshape me more into the image of
Christ, and I'm so grateful hedid, and we can have joy in that
(18:13):
thing.
That's the thing.
And, by the way, nobody reallyunderstands this better than
Jesus' disciples, those that hementored and discipled directly.
Now, apostle Paul, as we knowfrom scripture, he got mentored
directly by Jesus in asupernatural way.
And in Romans 5, verses 3through 5, this is what he says.
More than that, we rejoice inour sufferings.
(18:35):
Oh, come on, paul, can't wejust slog through these things?
No, he says we can rejoice inthem.
But why can we rejoice in them?
He says, knowing that sufferingproduces what Endurance and
endurance produces whatCharacter and character,
produces hope, and hope does notput us to shame, because God's
(18:57):
love has been poured into ourhearts through the Holy Spirit
who has been given to us.
Isn't that amazing?
What this tells me is it startswith suffering.
This whole chain starts withsuffering.
I always say God's notinterested in your comfort, he's
(19:18):
interested in your character.
He is building something in you, brethren, and when you come
flat up against the trial, youhave to realize God's doing
something in your life.
He's doing something in my life.
This is not something just tobe endured, although that's a
byproduct of a trial.
This is something to rejoice in, because he loves you so much.
(19:38):
He's going to carry you throughthis and your faith is going to
be strengthened.
Wow, and that's why I said youknow the wind and the rain and
the rising water, the flood.
They come at the people whodon't have that hope.
They don't have that hope.
They don't have that hope.
And you can see them.
It's like there's thisdesperation in their hearts.
(20:01):
They have nothing to hold on to.
Rejoicing is the last thing intheir mind, because there is no
purpose for this.
Their only purpose is to getout of it.
They want to get through it andmove out of it.
For us, it's strengthening us.
Peter also writes in 1 Peter 4,12 through 13,.
(20:26):
He says beloved, do not besurprised at the little, tiny
little trials that come your way.
Fiery trials.
You think a flat tire is a realtrial?
It's an irritant.
Okay, you think a person thatbacked into your car in the
Kroger parking lot?
I hope that wasn't a propheticword, by the way.
You think that's a real trial?
(20:47):
No, but maybe a cancerdiagnosis?
That's a trial, fiery trials,and it's unfortunate today that
sometimes that little accidentwhere someone bumps into our car
and bends in our left quarterpanel becomes this big thing
(21:10):
that we make.
Come on, get this inperspective, get this in
perspective.
If you can't handle that andyou start questioning God's love
for you because someone backedinto your car, what are you
going to do when this happens?
Right, see, fiery trials.
He says these are difficultthings, beloved, don't be
surprised when a fiery trial,when it comes upon you, to what
(21:34):
Test you, you're like oh, comeon, god, really do that.
Yeah, he does, because he lovesyou and he wants your
foundation strong, as though.
And he says, as thoughsomething strange were happening
to you but rejoice, there hegoes again.
He's like he's buddies withPaul.
He's talking about rejoicing intrials, but rejoice insofar as
(21:56):
you share Christ's sufferings,that you may also rejoice and be
glad when his glory is revealed.
The end goal, the end goal, theglory that's what we live for.
You know, as I get older I'mturning 60 next year.
Oh, I shouldn't have said that.
Is that on tape?
Can you scratch that off thetape?
You know what I look at everyyear.
(22:17):
I get older, I get closer toJesus.
I really seriously think aboutthat.
Some mornings I feel closer toJesus than others.
It's like Tyler said I've neverfelt 90, tyler, but I'm pushing
85 sometimes, especially when Itry to do things I shouldn't be
doing.
But when we experience trials asChristians, we must remember
(22:38):
that they have a purpose.
It's to strengthen us.
So my question is for you whattrials are you being faced with
today?
Maybe you're going throughsomething now.
I mean, we see the prayer listcome through on the prayer, but
sometimes we're not.
There's a lot of times thoseare health ones, but we don't
(23:00):
hear about what's really goingon.
With a lot of you Everybodyhere, I can guarantee in this
room you're going through somekind of trial.
Just can I encourage you thatGod's got you.
He knows the end from thebeginning and he's got you
through this.
He hasn't abandoned you.
He's going to teach you throughthis.
He's going to strengthen yourfoundation through this.
(23:23):
Okay, let's look at the loser.
I mean the other guy, thefoolish builder, verse 26 and
27,.
And he basically repeats whathe just said.
He just changed a couple wordsand everyone who hears these
words of mine and does not dothem will be like a foolish man
who built his house on the sandand the rain fell and the floods
came and the winds blew sameperils right and beat against
(23:46):
the house and it fell and greatwas the fall of it.
You notice Jesus again.
He centers this whole contraston his words, on him right.
He once again mentions allthree perils and of course, the
(24:06):
outcome was very different.
Now, I really keyed in on thisas I was studying this whole,
the last few words, and greatwas the fall of it.
I'll tell you, and I think I canget an amen from you guys,
there's nothing sadder thanwatching a believer get hit by a
trial and walking away from God.
(24:27):
It's so hard.
It's so hard to watch thatBecause we know that they're
walking away from the only thingthat really will hold them and
give them purpose and meaningthrough this.
We've all known people likethat.
But you know, there's one thingI want to just encourage you on
their book's not done.
(24:47):
Their book's not done.
We don't quit, we don't go.
Oh, you loser, I can't believe.
Oh, he's probably one.
No, we pray for that person, weencourage that person, because
a lot of those people whorespond that way and they walk
away from God, just like Paul,talks about giving one over to
Satan.
(25:07):
Right, they leave and theystart.
I don't believe in God anymore.
And you know what?
Through living in life andGod's calling them, they come
back and they repent and guesswhat?
They're stronger than ever andthey can say something that
maybe you and I can't, if we'venever fallen away that way, if
we've never walked away from God, they can help that person
(25:30):
that's going through the trialand say you know, the same thing
happened to me.
Don't make the mistake I madeand walk away from the very
foundation that's going to holdme.
Don't do that, so don't writethem off.
Okay, second half of the sermon.
(25:50):
We're changing gears here.
We know the importance of astrong foundation, but the
natural question that we shouldask is how do we ensure we have
a strong foundation?
What's our role in thatfoundation?
Well, I think it's very clearthat Jesus is saying that the
strong foundation is the onethat's going to handle these
(26:10):
tests.
But we need to identify alittle bit more detail than just
listen to my words, becausethere's more in there than you
think, and I propose that thereare three key foundational
stones that need to be a part ofour spiritual foundation and
I'm going to walk through themand, as I do, I want I'm going
to use a few props to kind ofillustrate this.
(26:32):
So here's my props.
By the way, we are not ignoringthis side of the room.
You just have to watch thescreen.
I was assured.
I wanted to tell that becausethey have a camera over here.
So I just want to ensure youthat.
So this is my house and I'vegot some foundational stones
that I'm going to bring up herein a second.
I'm going to turn them so I cansee them correctly.
(27:00):
All right, they're actualstones.
By the way, you can get them atLowe's for about $1.50 apiece.
Foundational stone number one isexactly what Jesus says, and
that is the words of Jesushimself.
(27:22):
Now, it's interesting that whenI say that, some people could
look at that and look at thosewords and totally misinterpret
what that means, they can say,oh, so all I got to do is obey
and do things, and then that'smy foundation.
Well, I'm going to propose thatit isn't just doing Jesus what
(27:47):
Jesus says to do as some type ofstrategic action.
That's not what he's reallygetting at.
You know, we had a sermon lastweek and it was pretty powerful.
It identified those who tookthe approach to just obey and do
things.
And what did Jesus say to them?
He said I never knew you.
(28:08):
Depart from me, you, workers oflawlessness.
These are people that on thesurface it looked like they were
doing Jesus' work.
They were casting demons out.
They were doing all kinds ofreally powerful things.
Now there's a deeper meaning inhearing and doing, and that
meaning is believing.
Believing.
(28:29):
Believing that Jesus is the Sonof God, that he is the savior
of the world, means that we willfollow him.
When you make him Lord of yourlives, we will naturally obey
him.
You understand what I'm saying.
Let's make sure that we'reclear.
It's not just about steppingour way somewhere by doing a
(28:52):
bunch of things.
It's about a change in theheart.
Belief is the key here.
That's why it says Jesus is thefoundational stone.
In fact, all through scripturehe's referred to as the
cornerstone no more clearly thanin Ephesians 2, verses 19
through 22.
I want to read this so then youare no longer strangers and
(29:14):
aliens Again he's talking to thechurch in Ephesus but you are
fellow citizens with the saintsand members of the household of
God.
We already see there's astructure in here, a household
right, a household of God builton the foundation of the
apostles and the prophets,christ Jesus himself being the
cornerstone, in whom the wholestructure being jointly together
(29:40):
, being joined together, growsinto a holy temple in the Lord.
Again, you get this metaphor ofa temple now being built In him
.
You are also being builttogether into a dwelling place
for God by the Spirit.
Jesus is the cornerstone ofyour foundation.
Now I'm putting him here in themiddle and you'll understand
(30:01):
why, but I got the big side here.
So this is supposed to be.
Jesus is the main corecornerstone, and that really
means that he's everything to us, and we either got to be all in
or all out.
There is no middle ground.
I always like to say it's likebeing pregnant You're either
pregnant or you're not.
(30:21):
Although you know what, searchYouTube enough, you'll probably
find something.
You know Isaiah 28,.
There's a messianic prophecyabout Jesus, and some of you may
already have this scripture inyour mind, which I think is so
beautiful because it describesJesus as the cornerstone.
(30:42):
In Isaiah 28, beginning ofverse 16, he says Isaiah says,
therefore, this is what thesovereign Lord says.
Look, I am placing a foundationstone in Jerusalem.
Remember.
This is years and years beforeJesus right, a foundational
stone in Jerusalem, a firm andtested stone.
(31:03):
Was Jesus tested?
Yeah, how many of you wanted togo through the 40 days and 40
nights in the wilderness andcome against Satan?
How many of you want to gothrough the 40 days and 40
nights in the wilderness andcome against Satan?
How many of you want to gothrough that?
And there's nobody here thatcan live a perfect life for even
a few seconds.
He did it for his whole life,firm and tested stone.
(31:25):
It is a precious cornerstone.
When something is precious toyou and no, I will not go down
the Lord of the Rings path withthis one I will not do the voice
of Gollum.
Unfortunately, that word getstwisted a lot.
What is something that's veryprecious to you?
I think about my wife.
(31:47):
My wife is so precious to me,but I don't base my life on her.
I base my life on Jesus.
He is precious to me becausewithout him I got nothing.
I'm just counting days till Idraw my last breath and he's
everything.
He's precious to us.
(32:08):
And it says and I love thisthat is safe to build on.
It says and I love this, thatis safe to build on.
Whoever believes.
See this need never be shaken.
You see this metaphor, it's sobeautiful.
Jesus should be your chiefcornerstone.
(32:30):
He should be my chiefcornerstone.
The story of the wise andfoolish builders.
Jesus isn't talking about justobeying him.
He's talking about believing inhim, making him the center of
your life.
Jesus is the heart of thegospel brethren, he is the core
of everything.
The Bible, from Genesis toRevelation, is the story of
(32:54):
Jesus and the salvation.
He is the truth.
Can you imagine that?
It says literally he is thetruth, he's everything.
He's the son of God himself andwe have to make sure that we
make him Lord of our lives.
We take up our cross and wefollow him, and we follow him
(33:17):
with every part of our lives.
And this is what I want to parkon for a second.
Make sure you have yourseatbelts on.
This doesn't always happen,does it?
Many people are only partiallyin when it comes to jesus.
They only make him lord ofcertain part of their life, and
(33:41):
that's usually the convenientpart.
The late philosopher andtheologian francis schaeffer
wrote a book titled escape fromreason and that he identified
the unfortunate tendencies ofChristians to separate their
lives and compartmentalize theirfaith.
And he did this.
(34:02):
He used the metaphor of atwo-story house and it's really
interesting how he does it andit's very visual.
I don't know if these guys gotthe visual.
I sent them some stuff, butanyways.
He said basically he wasaddressing the effects of
rationalism and how it seepedinto the church and seeped into
the changing of the hearts ofpeople.
And he said there's a two-storyhouse.
(34:23):
This is what they, the metaphor.
He said there's two stories.
The first story, the lower storyon the bottom, was called the
objective category.
This is where things thatrepresent facts belong.
Okay, so things like data,logical reasoning, the hard
sciences, right, these arethings that you can see, touch,
you can prove unequivocally.
(34:43):
That's what they said is thelower story.
But the upper story, now, theseare things, they're a little
different.
These things are subjective.
The culture said these arethose things that are subjective
, such things as morals, values,preferential tastes and,
(35:04):
unfortunately, religion,religion, what you believe.
The culture says that thesethings are subjective, they
can't be proven empirically,they can't be proven with a
scientific method and thereforethey should not be trusted like
those things in the lower story.
Can you see Satan in all this?
(35:29):
Can you see Satan working onwhat he's doing.
And, by the way, the theculture.
They literally claim that allreligions fall into this
category.
The impact on this in thechurch has been significant and
we see it and deal with it allthe time.
People only believe and followjesus when it's convenient, when
(35:49):
it's not hard or when itbenefits them or their're Sunday
morning Christians.
But when they get around theirpeople at work or their buddies
here or whatever they change.
They morph into somebodydifferent.
What happens in Vegas stays inVegas.
What a crap line.
Can I say crap?
I don't know if I can.
I'll get.
I'll hear about that on Tuesday.
(36:09):
I did that for you, derek.
What a bogus line.
I did that for you, derek.
What a bogus line.
You can scratch that up, butlisten, is it not?
What happens in Vegas stays inVegas.
What happens in the deer campstays at deer camp.
What happens at the bar staysat the bar.
(36:32):
What I watch on my TV, onNetflix, that's between me and
me, because they'vecompartmentalized their faith
and they said well, it's allsubjective.
There's a bumper sticker that iscalled Coexist.
(36:53):
You guys seen this bumpersticker and on the surface it
really looks good and itbasically says coexist, and it's
got all the symbols of all themajor faiths in there, right,
and it says we should coexisttogether.
Well, yeah, I agree that weshouldn't fight, and I think the
meaning and the purpose of the,of the, of the bumper sticker
was good.
It was to say we shouldn't befighting each other.
(37:14):
You know, we don't go out andpicket, you know Hindu temple or
something.
We don't do that, right, yeah,we want to exist and coexist
together.
However, there's one thing thatsometimes it does and people
can look at that like, well,they're all equal.
I mean, listen, if you were totalk to somebody who's a
Buddhist, right, you thinkthey're going to say, well, yeah
(37:37):
, you guys are right too.
No, we believe that Jesus is theonly way to salvation, and it's
part of Satan's plan to kind ofget us to dumb down our beliefs
.
And so belief in Jesus Christand making the cornerstone of
your entire life is that firstfoundation.
(37:59):
It has to be that you got to beall in or all out, or you might
hear those words that we heardlast week.
Now, the second cornerstone isthe word of God.
Now, I just put the Bible,because the Bible is the word of
God, because the Bible is theword of God, it's our foundation
(38:26):
.
You know, jesus himself talkedabout scripture.
In fact, he even used scripturein his dealings with,
specifically, the Pharisees andthe Sadducees.
In fact, in Matthew 22, 29,he's talking to the Sadducees
and he says you are wrong.
He's identifying they're wrongand he says because you know
neither the scriptures nor thepower of God, scripture is so
(38:47):
important to us.
In fact, at TCC Knox and thankyou for bringing up that was
good, by the way on TCC Knox, alot of you already know this,
but if you go there, you'regoing to see what we believe,
the Bible, what the Bible is.
And if you look at it up hereI'm running a little bit out of
time but it says the Bible is.
We believe that the Bible is theinfallible record of God's
(39:08):
revelation to man and it camedirectly from God.
That's what we believe.
If you don't believe that,that's going to be a problem,
because we're going to alwaysreference the Bible as our core.
That's what our foundation is.
And it goes on and says thusthe scriptures are God-breathed
and unerring.
We don't believe there's errorsin the Bible.
All believers are exhorted tostudy and apply the scriptures
(39:30):
to their lives.
Brethren, you have aresponsibility.
I have a responsibility to knowwhat the Bible says, knowing
scriptures.
I won't keep reading because oftime, but he said I just want
to mention that knowing thescriptures means that we know
what scripture says, and itinforms our doctrine.
(39:52):
Oh no, I said doctrine.
For the Christian, knowingsolid doctrine is a core,
foundational stone and isessentially part of our faith
foundation.
It has to be there.
Unfortunately, satan has foundan opportunity with this.
He's brought a lot of grief tothe church through doctrine,
(40:14):
hasn't he?
And here's a couple of waysthat he's done that.
First, so many differentviewpoints of scripture, so many
different doctrines.
And because of so manyviewpoints and doctrines, many
Christians just have the mindsetthat, you know, if I talk to
this guy over here, thisChristian over here, and he's
(40:34):
Lutheran, and he starts goingthrough and telling his doctrine
, well, that's really convincing.
But then I go over here and Ilisten to them, and that's
really convincing.
But then I go over here and Ilisten to them, and that's
really convincing.
And you know what?
I just want to know Jesus Everfallen into that path, that trap
?
I'm just going to know Jesus.
Oh well, you have just falleninto one of Satan's biggest
(40:58):
traps, because see if he can getyou to say the doctrine really
doesn't matter, I just have toexperience Jesus.
Then guess what?
You're going to believeanything?
And you won't have thatfoundation to stand on.
It's exactly what he has.
He's effectively taken one ofthe stones of your foundation
(41:20):
away.
Another way Satan used confusionover doctrine is to convince
people that experiencing God ismore important than having good
doctrine.
I mean, you know, we put a highdegree of emphasis on the work
of the Holy Spirit.
In a church like ours, we're aword and spirit church.
Right Word and spirit, spiritand word.
Whatever you want to say, theyare equal.
(41:40):
We believe that Whatever youwant to say, they are equal.
We believe that that's why weteach.
That's why we have classes thatteach.
It's important.
But what's lost in the approachif all you do is focus on the
experience?
Of course, what's lost is thatdoctrine informs our
relationship and our experiencewith God, doesn't it not
(42:03):
Absolutely?
We have to think critically, wehave to be able to look at that
and, by the way, I understandsome of you may go.
Well, what are you saying,scott?
Listen?
I'm saying we have to have both.
I'm saying there's times God'sgoing to lead you through his
Holy Spirit.
But I've had this in all thepastors' experiences, a lot of
you experiences.
Someone comes up and says Ibelieve that the Holy Spirit is
(42:24):
telling me to leave my wife.
Really, god's now in favor ofdivorce for you, or I believe
that I'm supposed to do such andsuch, or I believe this is and,
by the way, we get this all thetime.
(42:44):
God told me this as if youcan't push back on that.
But wait a second.
What does doctrine tell you?
What does the word of God tellyou?
You weigh everything againstthat.
If Tyler, mark, derek, anybodywho preached up here, kelly,
myself, if we say anythingthat's contrary to scripture,
(43:04):
there is an expectation.
Number one, we're in troublewith the other elders.
But number two, you should beable to say you know what that's
not.
That doesn't line up.
You know JI Packer.
He speaks to this tendency todownplay doctrine and it's
really interesting.
(43:25):
He really taught that doctrine.
There's three things Doctrine,which is correct.
Belief.
Experience, which is thepersonal encounter with God.
And practice, which isobedience to God's word.
He says it's like athree-legged stool.
Okay, you have to have allthree.
Have you ever tried to sit on atwo-legged stool.
You won't sit there long,depending on how good your
balance is right.
(43:45):
But this is a quote.
He says and I love thisDoctrine again correct belief
and experience, personalencounter with God without
practice meaning obeying God'sword would turn me into a
knowledgeable, spiritualparalytic.
You get that Couldn't move.
(44:06):
I'm knowledgeable, I'mspiritual, but I can't move.
And then he says experience andpractice without doctrine would
leave me a restless, spiritualsleepwalker.
Ever had anybody that you knowas a sleepwalker?
(44:27):
If you talk to them the nextday, what do they tell you?
They can't remember a thing.
I had a guy I worked for,literally he did a lot of
traveling.
One morning he woke up and hewas really tired.
He didn't know why.
He went to the front desk tocheck out and this lady's
looking in with big eyes likethis and she said are you okay?
And he goes what she said youcame down here last week last
(44:50):
night in your underwear with noshirt on and you asked me for a
Snickers bar or something likethat and I said we don't have
that.
And you said okay, and he'sjust.
His face gets all red.
He was a sleepwalker and he wasso embarrassed he didn't
remember any of that.
If Christ is to be formed in me, doctrine, experience and
(45:15):
practice must all be theretogether.
We can't ignore that.
Paul knew the importance ofsound doctrine.
In Titus 2, verse 1, he says toTitus but as for you, teach
what accords with sound doctrine?
Sound doctrine this is what hetaught Titus.
He said whatever you teach,always go back to that when we
talk in the elders meeting aboutthe sermon that's coming up.
(45:38):
This is one of the things wetalk about.
Whoever's going to be preachingkind of tells you what we're
going to go through, and a lotof times we'll run things off
past each other, get really goodideas.
That's important.
We're accountable, just so youknow I'm not up here going solo.
I'm accountable to them, I'maccountable to you, but I'm
really accountable to God.
(45:58):
You want to teach.
Just realize you have a hugeresponsibility and it's a burden
.
We have to make sure we teachthe truth he also talks about in
Ephesians 4, verses 11 through19.
I'm going to just jump down toverse 14 on this he's talking
about you know the office, giftsof the spirit.
(46:19):
You know apostles, prophets,evangelists, shepherds, and then
down in verse 14, this is oneof these big, long Paul
sentences, right, that go on forlike three paragraphs, if there
was a paragraph.
But he says this so that we mayno longer be children tossed to
and fro by the waves andcarried about by every wind of
doctrine, by human cunning, bycraftiness and deceitful schemes
(46:43):
.
You know, as I was putting thistogether, I had a metaphor jump
in my head.
I had a vision in my head of alittle bird nest and little baby
birds.
And you know, they're in there,they're quiet and all of a
sudden they hear the flutter ofthe wings.
And what do they do?
You see these huge beaks openup.
Their eyes are closed andthey're just, ah, anything, you
(47:05):
know, put anything in there.
And I think sometimes, asChristians, that's what we do.
If the Bible preacher onlinethat we're listening to is
convincing enough and he's gotenough charismatic, you know, I
like this guy, we're just likethat little bird, just anything
you want, just toss it in.
No, no, we're supposed to bediscerning, we're supposed to
(47:28):
know what we believe, and that'ssomething we run into all the
time.
And the question is do you andI know what we believe?
If I did audience participationright now and grabbed that
microphone and said, hey,so-and-so, come on up here and
tell me about why you believe inthe Trinity.
Would you quote some reallycool sermon you heard, or would
(47:52):
you know what the Bible saysabout it?
See, I believe that somethinghappens sometimes, that we as
Christians, we avoid these typesof conversations because we
don't know what we know.
How are we going to share thegospel if we don't know what we
know?
Doctrine's important.
All right, the final stone.
(48:18):
I wanted to write the wordrelationship, but I didn't have
room.
So I put Trinity, because ittruly is a relationship with the
entire Godhead that has to bethere.
So I've talked about Jesusbeing our chief cornerstone,
belief in Jesus.
Right, I've talked about God'sword and now abiding with the
(48:39):
Trinity, the whole being of God,the whole Godhead, and it's so
very important.
You know, last week we heardthose sobering words.
You know, depart from me, youworkers of lawlessness.
And it really hit me becausethe reality is you have to have
(49:01):
a relationship.
You just can't have a knowledgeof God through his word, you
can't just survive on that.
You have to make him, jesus,the corner of the stone of
everything in your life.
It has to be informed bydoctrine and you must have a
relationship with the Godhead,and that relationship is so
(49:21):
important.
You know, jesus said some verypowerful things to the disciples
in the book of John, and inJohn 15, he's talking about the
true vine, and in verse four hesays Abide in me and I in you,
as the branch cannot bear fruitby itself unless it abides in
the vine.
Neither can you unless youabide in me, man, that word
(49:45):
abide is so powerful, it's sopowerful.
God transforms us by a work ofthe Holy Spirit, god informs us
of truth through his word andGod conforms us to the image of
Christ through that relationshipwith him.
I lived a life of a Christianthat was really based upon just
(50:11):
doctrinal knowledge.
Oh, I acknowledge Jesus as mysavior and I focused on this,
but I didn't really have thisSavior.
And I focused on this, but Ididn't really have this.
And I, my life, was changedwhen I began to listen to the
entire Godhead.
It was life changing.
(50:33):
I'm not the same.
The experience is informed byJesus as being the Lord of my
life, and it's also informed bythe truth of God's word.
And you, you know, you've heardlots of sermons about what it
means to abide.
You know pray, talk to the Lord, meditate on his word,
(50:56):
experience the Holy spirit, beopen to the experience of what
the Holy Spirit wants to tellyou.
Pray to God, the Father, allthose things, but you gotta
realize that there's no step bystep there, it's a total
surrender.
You surrender to God, he willshow up.
He will show up and it's suchan important foundation stone.
(51:20):
So, listen, I wanna conclude bysimply saying this is your
foundation, it's your house andthe foundation.
But you have to understand ifyou start taking some of these
stones out, it quickly loses itsstability.
You take doctrine out, itstarts to fall down.
(51:41):
If you take this centerpieceout, well, if you know anything
about rain and you've got a holeunder your foundation and now
your foundation is vulnerable toerosion, you can take any part
of this out and it will becompromised.
And it's so important that welook at this from all of those
(52:04):
foundational stones.
Keep them firm in your mind andkeep focused on that, and I
will tell you that this is animportant thing to do some
self-examination with.
Sometimes we go away from that.
We don't want to and, by theway, I never want to be a
(52:26):
preacher and talk to you aboutgiving you guilt trips.
This is not the purpose of thisHoly Spirit.
As you listen to this messageand as you watch this, the
question will be you can answerthat question Do you have
weaknesses in your foundation?
I do.
I hate this sermon.
I'm serious.
(52:47):
It was hard for me because I'vegot real serious things I need
to change in my life.
Oh, I wouldn't not sin, butthere are things that I'm not
doing correctly in my foundationand I got to change that.
I don't do it out of guilt,it's because I want to stand
when the 155 Mount Arrow windscome.
(53:09):
I want to be there.
So you need to ask yourself thequestion is Jesus truly the Lord
of your life?
Have you given everything tohim or have you
compartmentalized him and puthim on that first story?
That is just subjective.
(53:32):
Can you defend the beliefs thatyou have?
Do you have good doctrine?
Do you know what you believeand do you have a genuine
relationship with God?
Because he wants that from you,I want us to take just a few
minutes and just silence.
(53:53):
I want you guys just to closeyour eyes and just do a little
business with the Lord.
I'm going to do the same.
And you ask him to give youthat examination in your heart
about where you might be Allright.
(54:24):
Thank you, heavenly Father, ourgreat God, the powerful God that
(55:29):
we worshiped earlier today, theone through whom we have a
solid foundation, through Christ, who is the cornerstone,
through your word, which you,you preserve for us, and through
the experience of experiencingthe entire Godhead, father, we
are coming before you, we'reasking for your kindness and
(55:52):
your mercy on us.
Father, all of us, all of us,fall short.
We know that and we know thatyour grace covers all of this.
But, father, I pray that youconvict each one of us into how
we can, in our role, instrengthening our foundation.
Everything's based on Jesus andyou want us to have that
(56:17):
relationship.
You've given us your word toknow truth.
Help us, father, to have thatfirm foundation, and we repent
if we haven't put you first, andwe ask that you would change
our hearts and give us thatdesire that we wouldn't fall
prey to the enemy who wants tokill and destroy.
(56:37):
So we thank you, we rejoice,father, that with you we have
that foundation and it's firm.
Keep us strong, father, and wepray this in Jesus' name Amen.
On Wednesday, october the 10th 2018, hurricane
Michael roared ashore in thepanhandle of Florida and it hit
a little place called MexicoBeach.
The eyewall went directly overMexico Beach and it had
sustained winds maximumsustained winds of 155 miles an
(00:27):
hour.
It was a bad storm In fact, itwas the first category five
hurricane to ever hit thepanhandle on record anyways and
59 people lost their livesacross the country from deaths
related to this hurricane.
From deaths related to thishurricane, losses totaled $6.23
billion.
It was an amazing, amazingstorm.
(00:50):
But as pictures began tosurface, as they typically do
after an event like this, therewas one picture that caught
everybody's attention and youcan see it right here.
This was an aerial picturetaken of right at Mexico Beach.
This was the center of thestorm, this is where they got
(01:11):
the brunt of the major winds andthe rain and the tidal surge,
and here stood this one house.
All around it was devastation.
Houses were totally gone, somewere so badly damaged they had
to be raised.
You know, taken all the waydown anyways, but this one, one
home stood there and everybodywanted to know the question why
(01:36):
this home?
Why did this one stay here?
Why did it get blown away?
And so eventually, they quicklyfound out who built this home,
and it was built by a guy namedRussell King and his nephew,
lebron Lackey.
And they were interviewed as towhat did you guys do?
Well, they had built it theyear before and the Florida
(02:00):
building code said that a househad to be built to sustain
damaging winds up to 150 milesan hour.
They didn't even look at thecode.
They said to their builder wewant to build it to withstand
winds up to 250 miles an hour,and so they did.
This building was built withinsulated concrete forms.
(02:22):
These were reinforced withconcrete and steel and the
pilings went down 28 feet intothe sand 28 feet.
When they were watching thehurricane come in, they had live
cameras on their house and theywere watching it come in and
they're like there ain't no way,but you know what it stood it
(02:46):
In fact, the only damage was andif you look at the bottom of
the bottom is there was a bottomfloor there, but they built it
so it could get the title searchcould just take those walls out
.
They built breakaway walls.
The steps that were there theybroke.
They built it, so those stepswould be broken off.
It wouldn't damage it anyfurther.
This house was very strong.
(03:06):
It had a foundation that wentall the way down to where it
could reach good, solid, firmfoundation, and having a strong
foundation for your home isimportant, especially if you're
going to build on a coastline inFlorida, but having a spiritual
foundation is even moreimportant.
We're going to talk about thattoday.
So today we're finishing up oursermon series that we've titled
(03:29):
Red Letters, and this has beena great.
You guys enjoy this series.
It's been great.
If you don't, then you don'tlike Jesus.
So there you go.
They're his letters, they're hiswords, right, and we've been
systematically going throughthese words of Jesus in the
Sermon on the Mount, and we'vebeen systematically going
through these words of Jesus inthe Sermon on the Mount, and we
are ending this today in Matthew7, the very last verses of
(03:50):
Matthew 7, in a section ofscripture that's often titled
the wise and foolish builders.
So we're going to read the textfirst, so let's go ahead and
read through this very short,just a few verses.
So Matthew 7, verse 24, saysthis is Jesus again speaking.
Everyone, then, who hears thesewords of mine and does them
will be like a wise man whobuilt his house on the rock and
(04:24):
the rain fell and the floodscame and the winds blew and beat
on that house, but it did notfall Because it had been founded
on the rock.
And everyone who hears thesewords of mine and does not do
them will be like a foolish manwho built his house on the sand.
And the rain fell and thefloods came and the winds blew
and it beat against the houseand it fell, and great was the
fall of it.
So this morning, we're going todo two things we're going to
(04:45):
read through these words ofJesus and unpack the spiritual
principles that he teaches us inthis very short story about the
wise and foolish builder.
But the second part of thismessage, we're going to explore
this concept of what does itmean to have a rock solid
foundation, solid foundation,what does it mean to have a
(05:11):
strong Christian foundation andwhat is the role that you and I
play in building that foundation.
You guys ready to do this?
Well, let's pray.
Father, we thank you for yourword, jesus, we thank you for
these precious words that werepreserved for us.
And, father, today, as weunpack these words, god, we pray
that you would search each ofour hearts, that you would show
(05:31):
us where our foundation may beweak, that you would teach us
through these words, that youwould inspire us and, father,
that you would convict us sothat we indeed can have that
strong foundation that nothingwill be able to ever push over.
In Jesus' name, we pray amen.
By the way, I'm sitting theresinging these songs, I'm like I
(05:56):
think my sermon's already beengiven through the worship and in
the words that were given, bothof them were exactly right on
par with that.
I didn't plant them, by the way.
That's just what happens.
Well, let's start by doing alittle exposition of the words
of Jesus.
On the surface, by the way,when you look at this, it may
seem rather simple.
The words seem rather simple.
Hey, this is a real simplescout.
We get it, okay next.
(06:16):
Next, no, there is veryspecific words that Jesus
chooses here to portray thesedivine principles.
So we're going to.
We need to give that a deepexamination.
So let's start in verse 24.
Jesus says everyone then whohears these words of mine and
does them will be like a wiseman who built his house on the
rock.
Now I first want to identifythat Jesus is continuing to use
(06:37):
a pattern of teaching that iscalled contrast.
Okay, he contrasts basicallytwo opposites, and he does this
all the way through this.
Chapter seven, verse seven.
He talks about a good fatherand an evil father.
Right, he does that contrast.
Verse 13, narrow gate versuswide gate, all right.
(07:00):
Verse 15 through 20, the goodfruit versus the bad fruit.
So he's using this, thisliterary teaching, right, this
teaching I guess you could callit pattern to be able to
continue to show these spiritualprinciples.
And he's doing it herespecifically, obviously, to make
(07:21):
a spiritual point.
And in this case, of course,he's contrasting the wise man
building it on the foundation ofa rock and the foolish man on
the sand.
Now, the spiritual meaningbegins to take shape almost
immediately with the very firstverse.
Everyone, then, who hears thesewords of mine and does them and
we're going to stop there.
You see, he doesn't leave anyambiguity here.
(07:44):
He's very clear.
He doesn't say a good person isa person who builds his house
on the rock.
He doesn't say that.
It's not, and we're going toexplore this a little bit more
this isn't just about behavior,behavior modification, it's not
about just changing yourbehavior.
It's something a lot deeper,and he specifically makes this
(08:07):
clear that the whole thing, thiswhole analogy, this whole
metaphor.
It is rooted on him and thetruth that he has been given.
They've been listening to allthese words, remember?
They're hearing all this, andso everything is going to hinge
on that, and we're going to go alittle bit more into that in
the second part of the sermon.
Now, how about the topic of themetaphor itself?
(08:28):
This is a metaphor of afoundation on a home.
Now, it's really interesting.
As I looked at this, I thoughtyou know, talk about a universal
metaphor that everybody wouldget.
You know, if you don't have avineyard, it might be hard for
you to grasp.
About the whole fig tree, Imean, I don't know.
We got a fig tree.
By the way, in our yard weplanted a fig tree.
(08:50):
How many people like figs?
Okay, there'll be more surveyslater on.
So some of us have figs andhave picked figs, and some of us
haven't.
But everybody understands thismetaphor.
This metaphor holds water, nopun intended.
Even today, in fact, when Iread this, you probably in your
(09:10):
mind had this vision of a houseof some kind and a kind of
foundation and what might behappening.
It's a visual that every youdon't have to be an engineer to
get what he's talking about.
It's a very simple metaphor.
Now he says in this he says,continuing in verse now 25, and
the rain fell and the floodscame and the winds blew and beat
(09:32):
on that house.
Now it's interesting that Jesususes specific types of what we
call perils, specific types ofnaturally occurring events.
Now, I work in the propertyinsurance industry.
Okay, so we provide data andsoftware for insurance companies
(09:52):
and then all the ecosystem thatsupports them.
So we have a pricing databasethat if an adjuster came to your
home, they would use it towrite an estimate and generate
how much that estimate is right.
Well, in the property insurancespace, they use the term perils
, a peril, p-r-i-l, and theseperils basically talk you know
(10:17):
your house is covered for, youknow rain, wind-driven rain, and
it's very specific because, ofcourse, an insurance policy is
basically a legal document.
So it gets very, very specific.
How many people here have everread their housing, their
homeowner's policy for theirhouse?
I didn't think so.
Chad has, because he works withme, he has to.
(10:37):
He's trying to figure it out.
But listen, there's threeprimary perils that he talks
about here and they each have avery specific impact on the
foundation and their spiritualimplications to them.
So let's look at them realquick.
Falling rain, falling rain Well,I don't know if you've ever
been.
I'm sure all of us have,because it's what happens.
(10:59):
Have you ever been in asituation where the rain has
just come, coming down andcoming down, and coming down,
and coming down?
What happens to the soil?
It gets saturated, and if yourhouse was built on the soil,
versus down deep into somethingsolid, that's not impacted by
that?
What happens is ground beginsto liquefy, almost right, and so
(11:24):
falling rain causes it cantruly rock a foundation,
especially, of course, a sandfoundation, right, rising water
flood.
By the way, most of you do nothave flood insurance.
Flood insurance is veryspecific, by the way, and it's
put together.
It's sold through insurancecompanies that are undergranted
(11:47):
by the government, but because,of course, if you live in a
flood zone, your probability ofgetting a flood loss is high and
no insurance company wants toinsure that.
So there's, we won't get intothat.
Talk to Chad after he canexplain it to you.
But what does rising water andfloods do?
Well, floods not only come inquickly, right, they can erode.
(12:13):
Moving water can erode around afoundation and, by the way, in
Tennessee.
All you have to do is drivethrough some of these hills and
look at these driveways going upand you see these ravines going
down.
That's erosion because of water, right?
I used to have a house where Ihad to deal with this all the
time.
It kept eroding along the sideof my driveway and eating into
(12:35):
my driveway.
Well, that's what floods willdo.
Plus, it saturates the ground.
How about wind?
What about wind?
Well, he actually describeswind beating against the house.
Again, being in the propertyinsurance industry, one of the
things that you find veryquickly is if a house, even if
it quote survives a hurricane,it will become shaken.
(12:58):
You know, if I were to take twotwo-by-fours and put one on end
and one like this and put twonails into this, okay, now if I
were to grab that and just beginto move just a little bit, what
starts to happen Starts to workthat nail loose and pretty soon
it's like this, and pretty soonyou can even see the nails
between the two boards.
Well, what happens is a housegets shaken so bad that, even
(13:20):
though it's standing, it has tobe destroyed because it's
compromised.
Its structural integrity isgone.
So from a spiritual viewpoint,we can easily see that Jesus is
using these natural weatherevents as a metaphor for trials
and tests that we, as Christians, have to go through and, by the
way, so does everybody else.
(13:43):
Everybody has this.
The rain falls on the good andthe evil.
We all experience this and,just like wind-driven rain,
flood, wind, we have differenttypes of trials that we have to
go through, and all of you Iknow a lot of you pretty closely
(14:04):
all of you have talked to meabout the different perils that
your life has gone through.
It could be health challengeswe pray for people all the time
Health challenges, addictions,death of loved ones, financial
struggles, relationshipstruggles, relationship
struggles, struggles within yourfamily, maybe it's related to
(14:28):
your employment.
We all go through things someof our own doing, some not right
and the reality is, trials andtests can really be viewed from
two different perspectives.
The first one is Satan'sperspective.
Can anybody guess what Satan'sgoal is with a test and a trial?
(14:51):
Well, in John 10, jesus istalking about being the good
shepherd and he talks about thethief that comes to steal the
sheep, and he says this in verse10, he says the thief comes
only to steal and kill anddestroy.
That's what the thief wants todo, and that's what Satan wants
(15:12):
to do through the trials you gothrough.
He is a thief, and the numberone goal he has is to knock you
off your foundation.
That's what he wants to do.
Let's just understand this.
He wants to knock you off yourfoundation and for a Christian,
though, we have something thatshould give you a lot of
(15:38):
assurance, and that is for aChristian.
We know that God uses tests andtrials to produce an entirely
different outcome, to ratherstrengthen our foundation, to
strengthen it.
We need to remember, by the way, that tests and trials we
signed up for this.
We signed up for this In John16, 33,.
(16:02):
Jesus says very clearly I'vesaid these things to you that in
me you may have peace.
I wish he'd stopped there, buthe kept writing, he kept
speaking In this world, you willhave tribulation, but take
heart, I have overcome the world.
Now you might say well, scott,isn't that more reference to you
know, being persecuted?
(16:23):
Well, that's true, but ispersecution a trial?
Yeah, it is.
We go through trials all thetime, but he says we can have
peace during these times.
You see, when you build aphysical home, you don't build
it for the gentle rain and thegentle winds, do you?
(16:45):
You don't build a home withthat in mind.
You build a home to make sureit's going to resist, just like
those guys who built that homeon Mexico Beach.
They built it to resist whatthey knew was coming.
And I remember when I read thearticle on this, the guy says we
(17:05):
didn't think it would be put tothe test the very next year,
but sure enough it did.
And he said, and we're so gladwe built it that way.
I mean, literally it's the onlyhouse standing.
It was amazing.
We build our spiritualfoundation on Christ and we
build it in such a way.
We want to resist.
(17:26):
We want to make sure it'sstrong enough to resist the
inevitability of what's going tohappen.
That's one of the reasons why Ihave a real issue.
All of us have an issue withthe health and wealth gospel,
because the reality is it'scoming.
The trials are coming andthey're going to make you
(17:49):
stronger.
You know, if I were to dotestimony time and ask anybody
here, tell me the worst thingyou went through and how God
used it to change you, there'dbe a lot of hands coming up Some
of the most difficult thingsI've ever walked through in my
life.
God used it to change me, toshape me more into the image of
Christ, and I'm so grateful hedid, and we can have joy in that
(18:13):
thing.
That's the thing.
And, by the way, nobody reallyunderstands this better than
Jesus' disciples, those that hementored and discipled directly.
Now, apostle Paul, as we knowfrom scripture, he got mentored
directly by Jesus in asupernatural way.
And in Romans 5, verses 3through 5, this is what he says.
More than that, we rejoice inour sufferings.
(18:35):
Oh, come on, paul, can't wejust slog through these things?
No, he says we can rejoice inthem.
But why can we rejoice in them?
He says, knowing that sufferingproduces what Endurance and
endurance produces whatCharacter and character,
produces hope, and hope does notput us to shame, because God's
(18:57):
love has been poured into ourhearts through the Holy Spirit
who has been given to us.
Isn't that amazing?
What this tells me is it startswith suffering.
This whole chain starts withsuffering.
I always say God's notinterested in your comfort, he's
(19:18):
interested in your character.
He is building something in you, brethren, and when you come
flat up against the trial, youhave to realize God's doing
something in your life.
He's doing something in my life.
This is not something just tobe endured, although that's a
byproduct of a trial.
This is something to rejoice in, because he loves you so much.
(19:38):
He's going to carry you throughthis and your faith is going to
be strengthened.
Wow, and that's why I said youknow the wind and the rain and
the rising water, the flood.
They come at the people whodon't have that hope.
They don't have that hope.
They don't have that hope.
And you can see them.
It's like there's thisdesperation in their hearts.
(20:01):
They have nothing to hold on to.
Rejoicing is the last thing intheir mind, because there is no
purpose for this.
Their only purpose is to getout of it.
They want to get through it andmove out of it.
For us, it's strengthening us.
Peter also writes in 1 Peter 4,12 through 13,.
(20:26):
He says beloved, do not besurprised at the little, tiny
little trials that come your way.
Fiery trials.
You think a flat tire is a realtrial?
It's an irritant.
Okay, you think a person thatbacked into your car in the
Kroger parking lot?
I hope that wasn't a propheticword, by the way.
You think that's a real trial?
(20:47):
No, but maybe a cancerdiagnosis?
That's a trial, fiery trials,and it's unfortunate today that
sometimes that little accidentwhere someone bumps into our car
and bends in our left quarterpanel becomes this big thing
(21:10):
that we make.
Come on, get this inperspective, get this in
perspective.
If you can't handle that andyou start questioning God's love
for you because someone backedinto your car, what are you
going to do when this happens?
Right, see, fiery trials.
He says these are difficultthings, beloved, don't be
surprised when a fiery trial,when it comes upon you, to what
(21:34):
Test you, you're like oh, comeon, god, really do that.
Yeah, he does, because he lovesyou and he wants your
foundation strong, as though.
And he says, as thoughsomething strange were happening
to you but rejoice, there hegoes again.
He's like he's buddies withPaul.
He's talking about rejoicing intrials, but rejoice insofar as
(21:56):
you share Christ's sufferings,that you may also rejoice and be
glad when his glory is revealed.
The end goal, the end goal, theglory that's what we live for.
You know, as I get older I'mturning 60 next year.
Oh, I shouldn't have said that.
Is that on tape?
Can you scratch that off thetape?
You know what I look at everyyear.
(22:17):
I get older, I get closer toJesus.
I really seriously think aboutthat.
Some mornings I feel closer toJesus than others.
It's like Tyler said I've neverfelt 90, tyler, but I'm pushing
85 sometimes, especially when Itry to do things I shouldn't be
doing.
But when we experience trials asChristians, we must remember
(22:38):
that they have a purpose.
It's to strengthen us.
So my question is for you whattrials are you being faced with
today?
Maybe you're going throughsomething now.
I mean, we see the prayer listcome through on the prayer, but
sometimes we're not.
There's a lot of times thoseare health ones, but we don't
(23:00):
hear about what's really goingon.
With a lot of you Everybodyhere, I can guarantee in this
room you're going through somekind of trial.
Just can I encourage you thatGod's got you.
He knows the end from thebeginning and he's got you
through this.
He hasn't abandoned you.
He's going to teach you throughthis.
He's going to strengthen yourfoundation through this.
(23:23):
Okay, let's look at the loser.
I mean the other guy, thefoolish builder, verse 26 and
27,.
And he basically repeats whathe just said.
He just changed a couple wordsand everyone who hears these
words of mine and does not dothem will be like a foolish man
who built his house on the sandand the rain fell and the floods
came and the winds blew sameperils right and beat against
(23:46):
the house and it fell and greatwas the fall of it.
You notice Jesus again.
He centers this whole contraston his words, on him right.
He once again mentions allthree perils and of course, the
(24:06):
outcome was very different.
Now, I really keyed in on thisas I was studying this whole,
the last few words, and greatwas the fall of it.
I'll tell you, and I think I canget an amen from you guys,
there's nothing sadder thanwatching a believer get hit by a
trial and walking away from God.
(24:27):
It's so hard.
It's so hard to watch thatBecause we know that they're
walking away from the only thingthat really will hold them and
give them purpose and meaningthrough this.
We've all known people likethat.
But you know, there's one thingI want to just encourage you on
their book's not done.
(24:47):
Their book's not done.
We don't quit, we don't go.
Oh, you loser, I can't believe.
Oh, he's probably one.
No, we pray for that person, weencourage that person, because
a lot of those people whorespond that way and they walk
away from God, just like Paul,talks about giving one over to
Satan.
(25:07):
Right, they leave and theystart.
I don't believe in God anymore.
And you know what?
Through living in life andGod's calling them, they come
back and they repent and guesswhat?
They're stronger than ever andthey can say something that
maybe you and I can't, if we'venever fallen away that way, if
we've never walked away from God, they can help that person
(25:30):
that's going through the trialand say you know, the same thing
happened to me.
Don't make the mistake I madeand walk away from the very
foundation that's going to holdme.
Don't do that, so don't writethem off.
Okay, second half of the sermon.
(25:50):
We're changing gears here.
We know the importance of astrong foundation, but the
natural question that we shouldask is how do we ensure we have
a strong foundation?
What's our role in thatfoundation?
Well, I think it's very clearthat Jesus is saying that the
strong foundation is the onethat's going to handle these
(26:10):
tests.
But we need to identify alittle bit more detail than just
listen to my words, becausethere's more in there than you
think, and I propose that thereare three key foundational
stones that need to be a part ofour spiritual foundation and
I'm going to walk through themand, as I do, I want I'm going
to use a few props to kind ofillustrate this.
(26:32):
So here's my props.
By the way, we are not ignoringthis side of the room.
You just have to watch thescreen.
I was assured.
I wanted to tell that becausethey have a camera over here.
So I just want to ensure youthat.
So this is my house and I'vegot some foundational stones
that I'm going to bring up herein a second.
I'm going to turn them so I cansee them correctly.
(27:00):
All right, they're actualstones.
By the way, you can get them atLowe's for about $1.50 apiece.
Foundational stone number one isexactly what Jesus says, and
that is the words of Jesushimself.
(27:22):
Now, it's interesting that whenI say that, some people could
look at that and look at thosewords and totally misinterpret
what that means, they can say,oh, so all I got to do is obey
and do things, and then that'smy foundation.
Well, I'm going to propose thatit isn't just doing Jesus what
(27:47):
Jesus says to do as some type ofstrategic action.
That's not what he's reallygetting at.
You know, we had a sermon lastweek and it was pretty powerful.
It identified those who tookthe approach to just obey and do
things.
And what did Jesus say to them?
He said I never knew you.
(28:08):
Depart from me, you, workers oflawlessness.
These are people that on thesurface it looked like they were
doing Jesus' work.
They were casting demons out.
They were doing all kinds ofreally powerful things.
Now there's a deeper meaning inhearing and doing, and that
meaning is believing.
Believing.
(28:29):
Believing that Jesus is the Sonof God, that he is the savior
of the world, means that we willfollow him.
When you make him Lord of yourlives, we will naturally obey
him.
You understand what I'm saying.
Let's make sure that we'reclear.
It's not just about steppingour way somewhere by doing a
(28:52):
bunch of things.
It's about a change in theheart.
Belief is the key here.
That's why it says Jesus is thefoundational stone.
In fact, all through scripturehe's referred to as the
cornerstone no more clearly thanin Ephesians 2, verses 19
through 22.
I want to read this so then youare no longer strangers and
(29:14):
aliens Again he's talking to thechurch in Ephesus but you are
fellow citizens with the saintsand members of the household of
God.
We already see there's astructure in here, a household
right, a household of God builton the foundation of the
apostles and the prophets,christ Jesus himself being the
cornerstone, in whom the wholestructure being jointly together
(29:40):
, being joined together, growsinto a holy temple in the Lord.
Again, you get this metaphor ofa temple now being built In him
.
You are also being builttogether into a dwelling place
for God by the Spirit.
Jesus is the cornerstone ofyour foundation.
Now I'm putting him here in themiddle and you'll understand
(30:01):
why, but I got the big side here.
So this is supposed to be.
Jesus is the main corecornerstone, and that really
means that he's everything to us, and we either got to be all in
or all out.
There is no middle ground.
I always like to say it's likebeing pregnant You're either
pregnant or you're not.
(30:21):
Although you know what, searchYouTube enough, you'll probably
find something.
You know Isaiah 28,.
There's a messianic prophecyabout Jesus, and some of you may
already have this scripture inyour mind, which I think is so
beautiful because it describesJesus as the cornerstone.
(30:42):
In Isaiah 28, beginning ofverse 16, he says Isaiah says,
therefore, this is what thesovereign Lord says.
Look, I am placing a foundationstone in Jerusalem.
Remember.
This is years and years beforeJesus right, a foundational
stone in Jerusalem, a firm andtested stone.
(31:03):
Was Jesus tested?
Yeah, how many of you wanted togo through the 40 days and 40
nights in the wilderness andcome against Satan?
How many of you want to gothrough the 40 days and 40
nights in the wilderness andcome against Satan?
How many of you want to gothrough that?
And there's nobody here thatcan live a perfect life for even
a few seconds.
He did it for his whole life,firm and tested stone.
(31:25):
It is a precious cornerstone.
When something is precious toyou and no, I will not go down
the Lord of the Rings path withthis one I will not do the voice
of Gollum.
Unfortunately, that word getstwisted a lot.
What is something that's veryprecious to you?
I think about my wife.
(31:47):
My wife is so precious to me,but I don't base my life on her.
I base my life on Jesus.
He is precious to me becausewithout him I got nothing.
I'm just counting days till Idraw my last breath and he's
everything.
He's precious to us.
(32:08):
And it says and I love thisthat is safe to build on.
It says and I love this, thatis safe to build on.
Whoever believes.
See this need never be shaken.
You see this metaphor, it's sobeautiful.
Jesus should be your chiefcornerstone.
(32:30):
He should be my chiefcornerstone.
The story of the wise andfoolish builders.
Jesus isn't talking about justobeying him.
He's talking about believing inhim, making him the center of
your life.
Jesus is the heart of thegospel brethren, he is the core
of everything.
The Bible, from Genesis toRevelation, is the story of
(32:54):
Jesus and the salvation.
He is the truth.
Can you imagine that?
It says literally he is thetruth, he's everything.
He's the son of God himself andwe have to make sure that we
make him Lord of our lives.
We take up our cross and wefollow him, and we follow him
(33:17):
with every part of our lives.
And this is what I want to parkon for a second.
Make sure you have yourseatbelts on.
This doesn't always happen,does it?
Many people are only partiallyin when it comes to jesus.
They only make him lord ofcertain part of their life, and
(33:41):
that's usually the convenientpart.
The late philosopher andtheologian francis schaeffer
wrote a book titled escape fromreason and that he identified
the unfortunate tendencies ofChristians to separate their
lives and compartmentalize theirfaith.
And he did this.
(34:02):
He used the metaphor of atwo-story house and it's really
interesting how he does it andit's very visual.
I don't know if these guys gotthe visual.
I sent them some stuff, butanyways.
He said basically he wasaddressing the effects of
rationalism and how it seepedinto the church and seeped into
the changing of the hearts ofpeople.
And he said there's a two-storyhouse.
(34:23):
This is what they, the metaphor.
He said there's two stories.
The first story, the lower storyon the bottom, was called the
objective category.
This is where things thatrepresent facts belong.
Okay, so things like data,logical reasoning, the hard
sciences, right, these arethings that you can see, touch,
you can prove unequivocally.
(34:43):
That's what they said is thelower story.
But the upper story, now, theseare things, they're a little
different.
These things are subjective.
The culture said these arethose things that are subjective
, such things as morals, values,preferential tastes and,
(35:04):
unfortunately, religion,religion, what you believe.
The culture says that thesethings are subjective, they
can't be proven empirically,they can't be proven with a
scientific method and thereforethey should not be trusted like
those things in the lower story.
Can you see Satan in all this?
(35:29):
Can you see Satan working onwhat he's doing.
And, by the way, the theculture.
They literally claim that allreligions fall into this
category.
The impact on this in thechurch has been significant and
we see it and deal with it allthe time.
People only believe and followjesus when it's convenient, when
(35:49):
it's not hard or when itbenefits them or their're Sunday
morning Christians.
But when they get around theirpeople at work or their buddies
here or whatever they change.
They morph into somebodydifferent.
What happens in Vegas stays inVegas.
What a crap line.
Can I say crap?
I don't know if I can.
I'll get.
I'll hear about that on Tuesday.
(36:09):
I did that for you, derek.
What a bogus line.
I did that for you, derek.
What a bogus line.
You can scratch that up, butlisten, is it not?
What happens in Vegas stays inVegas.
What happens in the deer campstays at deer camp.
What happens at the bar staysat the bar.
(36:32):
What I watch on my TV, onNetflix, that's between me and
me, because they'vecompartmentalized their faith
and they said well, it's allsubjective.
There's a bumper sticker that iscalled Coexist.
(36:53):
You guys seen this bumpersticker and on the surface it
really looks good and itbasically says coexist, and it's
got all the symbols of all themajor faiths in there, right,
and it says we should coexisttogether.
Well, yeah, I agree that weshouldn't fight, and I think the
meaning and the purpose of the,of the, of the bumper sticker
was good.
It was to say we shouldn't befighting each other.
(37:14):
You know, we don't go out andpicket, you know Hindu temple or
something.
We don't do that, right, yeah,we want to exist and coexist
together.
However, there's one thing thatsometimes it does and people
can look at that like, well,they're all equal.
I mean, listen, if you were totalk to somebody who's a
Buddhist, right, you thinkthey're going to say, well, yeah
(37:37):
, you guys are right too.
No, we believe that Jesus is theonly way to salvation, and it's
part of Satan's plan to kind ofget us to dumb down our beliefs
.
And so belief in Jesus Christand making the cornerstone of
your entire life is that firstfoundation.
(37:59):
It has to be that you got to beall in or all out, or you might
hear those words that we heardlast week.
Now, the second cornerstone isthe word of God.
Now, I just put the Bible,because the Bible is the word of
God, because the Bible is theword of God, it's our foundation
(38:26):
.
You know, jesus himself talkedabout scripture.
In fact, he even used scripturein his dealings with,
specifically, the Pharisees andthe Sadducees.
In fact, in Matthew 22, 29,he's talking to the Sadducees
and he says you are wrong.
He's identifying they're wrongand he says because you know
neither the scriptures nor thepower of God, scripture is so
(38:47):
important to us.
In fact, at TCC Knox and thankyou for bringing up that was
good, by the way on TCC Knox, alot of you already know this,
but if you go there, you'regoing to see what we believe,
the Bible, what the Bible is.
And if you look at it up hereI'm running a little bit out of
time but it says the Bible is.
We believe that the Bible is theinfallible record of God's
(39:08):
revelation to man and it camedirectly from God.
That's what we believe.
If you don't believe that,that's going to be a problem,
because we're going to alwaysreference the Bible as our core.
That's what our foundation is.
And it goes on and says thusthe scriptures are God-breathed
and unerring.
We don't believe there's errorsin the Bible.
All believers are exhorted tostudy and apply the scriptures
(39:30):
to their lives.
Brethren, you have aresponsibility.
I have a responsibility to knowwhat the Bible says, knowing
scriptures.
I won't keep reading because oftime, but he said I just want
to mention that knowing thescriptures means that we know
what scripture says, and itinforms our doctrine.
(39:52):
Oh no, I said doctrine.
For the Christian, knowingsolid doctrine is a core,
foundational stone and isessentially part of our faith
foundation.
It has to be there.
Unfortunately, satan has foundan opportunity with this.
He's brought a lot of grief tothe church through doctrine,
(40:14):
hasn't he?
And here's a couple of waysthat he's done that.
First, so many differentviewpoints of scripture, so many
different doctrines.
And because of so manyviewpoints and doctrines, many
Christians just have the mindsetthat, you know, if I talk to
this guy over here, thisChristian over here, and he's
(40:34):
Lutheran, and he starts goingthrough and telling his doctrine
, well, that's really convincing.
But then I go over here and Ilisten to them, and that's
really convincing.
But then I go over here and Ilisten to them, and that's
really convincing.
And you know what?
I just want to know Jesus Everfallen into that path, that trap
?
I'm just going to know Jesus.
Oh well, you have just falleninto one of Satan's biggest
(40:58):
traps, because see if he can getyou to say the doctrine really
doesn't matter, I just have toexperience Jesus.
Then guess what?
You're going to believeanything?
And you won't have thatfoundation to stand on.
It's exactly what he has.
He's effectively taken one ofthe stones of your foundation
(41:20):
away.
Another way Satan used confusionover doctrine is to convince
people that experiencing God ismore important than having good
doctrine.
I mean, you know, we put a highdegree of emphasis on the work
of the Holy Spirit.
In a church like ours, we're aword and spirit church.
Right Word and spirit, spiritand word.
Whatever you want to say, theyare equal.
(41:40):
We believe that Whatever youwant to say, they are equal.
We believe that that's why weteach.
That's why we have classes thatteach.
It's important.
But what's lost in the approachif all you do is focus on the
experience?
Of course, what's lost is thatdoctrine informs our
relationship and our experiencewith God, doesn't it not
(42:03):
Absolutely?
We have to think critically, wehave to be able to look at that
and, by the way, I understandsome of you may go.
Well, what are you saying,scott?
Listen?
I'm saying we have to have both.
I'm saying there's times God'sgoing to lead you through his
Holy Spirit.
But I've had this in all thepastors' experiences, a lot of
you experiences.
Someone comes up and says Ibelieve that the Holy Spirit is
(42:24):
telling me to leave my wife.
Really, god's now in favor ofdivorce for you, or I believe
that I'm supposed to do such andsuch, or I believe this is and,
by the way, we get this all thetime.
(42:44):
God told me this as if youcan't push back on that.
But wait a second.
What does doctrine tell you?
What does the word of God tellyou?
You weigh everything againstthat.
If Tyler, mark, derek, anybodywho preached up here, kelly,
myself, if we say anythingthat's contrary to scripture,
(43:04):
there is an expectation.
Number one, we're in troublewith the other elders.
But number two, you should beable to say you know what that's
not.
That doesn't line up.
You know JI Packer.
He speaks to this tendency todownplay doctrine and it's
really interesting.
(43:25):
He really taught that doctrine.
There's three things Doctrine,which is correct.
Belief.
Experience, which is thepersonal encounter with God.
And practice, which isobedience to God's word.
He says it's like athree-legged stool.
Okay, you have to have allthree.
Have you ever tried to sit on atwo-legged stool.
You won't sit there long,depending on how good your
balance is right.
(43:45):
But this is a quote.
He says and I love thisDoctrine again correct belief
and experience, personalencounter with God without
practice meaning obeying God'sword would turn me into a
knowledgeable, spiritualparalytic.
You get that Couldn't move.
(44:06):
I'm knowledgeable, I'mspiritual, but I can't move.
And then he says experience andpractice without doctrine would
leave me a restless, spiritualsleepwalker.
Ever had anybody that you knowas a sleepwalker?
(44:27):
If you talk to them the nextday, what do they tell you?
They can't remember a thing.
I had a guy I worked for,literally he did a lot of
traveling.
One morning he woke up and hewas really tired.
He didn't know why.
He went to the front desk tocheck out and this lady's
looking in with big eyes likethis and she said are you okay?
And he goes what she said youcame down here last week last
(44:50):
night in your underwear with noshirt on and you asked me for a
Snickers bar or something likethat and I said we don't have
that.
And you said okay, and he'sjust.
His face gets all red.
He was a sleepwalker and he wasso embarrassed he didn't
remember any of that.
If Christ is to be formed in me, doctrine, experience and
(45:15):
practice must all be theretogether.
We can't ignore that.
Paul knew the importance ofsound doctrine.
In Titus 2, verse 1, he says toTitus but as for you, teach
what accords with sound doctrine?
Sound doctrine this is what hetaught Titus.
He said whatever you teach,always go back to that when we
talk in the elders meeting aboutthe sermon that's coming up.
(45:38):
This is one of the things wetalk about.
Whoever's going to be preachingkind of tells you what we're
going to go through, and a lotof times we'll run things off
past each other, get really goodideas.
That's important.
We're accountable, just so youknow I'm not up here going solo.
I'm accountable to them, I'maccountable to you, but I'm
really accountable to God.
(45:58):
You want to teach.
Just realize you have a hugeresponsibility and it's a burden
.
We have to make sure we teachthe truth he also talks about in
Ephesians 4, verses 11 through19.
I'm going to just jump down toverse 14 on this he's talking
about you know the office, giftsof the spirit.
(46:19):
You know apostles, prophets,evangelists, shepherds, and then
down in verse 14, this is oneof these big, long Paul
sentences, right, that go on forlike three paragraphs, if there
was a paragraph.
But he says this so that we mayno longer be children tossed to
and fro by the waves andcarried about by every wind of
doctrine, by human cunning, bycraftiness and deceitful schemes
(46:43):
.
You know, as I was putting thistogether, I had a metaphor jump
in my head.
I had a vision in my head of alittle bird nest and little baby
birds.
And you know, they're in there,they're quiet and all of a
sudden they hear the flutter ofthe wings.
And what do they do?
You see these huge beaks openup.
Their eyes are closed andthey're just, ah, anything, you
(47:05):
know, put anything in there.
And I think sometimes, asChristians, that's what we do.
If the Bible preacher onlinethat we're listening to is
convincing enough and he's gotenough charismatic, you know, I
like this guy, we're just likethat little bird, just anything
you want, just toss it in.
No, no, we're supposed to bediscerning, we're supposed to
(47:28):
know what we believe, and that'ssomething we run into all the
time.
And the question is do you andI know what we believe?
If I did audience participationright now and grabbed that
microphone and said, hey,so-and-so, come on up here and
tell me about why you believe inthe Trinity.
Would you quote some reallycool sermon you heard, or would
(47:52):
you know what the Bible saysabout it?
See, I believe that somethinghappens sometimes, that we as
Christians, we avoid these typesof conversations because we
don't know what we know.
How are we going to share thegospel if we don't know what we
know?
Doctrine's important.
All right, the final stone.
(48:18):
I wanted to write the wordrelationship, but I didn't have
room.
So I put Trinity, because ittruly is a relationship with the
entire Godhead that has to bethere.
So I've talked about Jesusbeing our chief cornerstone,
belief in Jesus.
Right, I've talked about God'sword and now abiding with the
(48:39):
Trinity, the whole being of God,the whole Godhead, and it's so
very important.
You know, last week we heardthose sobering words.
You know, depart from me, youworkers of lawlessness.
And it really hit me becausethe reality is you have to have
(49:01):
a relationship.
You just can't have a knowledgeof God through his word, you
can't just survive on that.
You have to make him, jesus,the corner of the stone of
everything in your life.
It has to be informed bydoctrine and you must have a
relationship with the Godhead,and that relationship is so
(49:21):
important.
You know, jesus said some verypowerful things to the disciples
in the book of John, and inJohn 15, he's talking about the
true vine, and in verse four hesays Abide in me and I in you,
as the branch cannot bear fruitby itself unless it abides in
the vine.
Neither can you unless youabide in me, man, that word
(49:45):
abide is so powerful, it's sopowerful.
God transforms us by a work ofthe Holy Spirit, god informs us
of truth through his word andGod conforms us to the image of
Christ through that relationshipwith him.
I lived a life of a Christianthat was really based upon just
(50:11):
doctrinal knowledge.
Oh, I acknowledge Jesus as mysavior and I focused on this,
but I didn't really have thisSavior.
And I focused on this, but Ididn't really have this.
And I, my life, was changedwhen I began to listen to the
entire Godhead.
It was life changing.
(50:33):
I'm not the same.
The experience is informed byJesus as being the Lord of my
life, and it's also informed bythe truth of God's word.
And you, you know, you've heardlots of sermons about what it
means to abide.
You know pray, talk to the Lord, meditate on his word,
(50:56):
experience the Holy spirit, beopen to the experience of what
the Holy Spirit wants to tellyou.
Pray to God, the Father, allthose things, but you gotta
realize that there's no step bystep there, it's a total
surrender.
You surrender to God, he willshow up.
He will show up and it's suchan important foundation stone.
(51:20):
So, listen, I wanna conclude bysimply saying this is your
foundation, it's your house andthe foundation.
But you have to understand ifyou start taking some of these
stones out, it quickly loses itsstability.
You take doctrine out, itstarts to fall down.
(51:41):
If you take this centerpieceout, well, if you know anything
about rain and you've got a holeunder your foundation and now
your foundation is vulnerable toerosion, you can take any part
of this out and it will becompromised.
And it's so important that welook at this from all of those
(52:04):
foundational stones.
Keep them firm in your mind andkeep focused on that, and I
will tell you that this is animportant thing to do some
self-examination with.
Sometimes we go away from that.
We don't want to and, by theway, I never want to be a
(52:26):
preacher and talk to you aboutgiving you guilt trips.
This is not the purpose of thisHoly Spirit.
As you listen to this messageand as you watch this, the
question will be you can answerthat question Do you have
weaknesses in your foundation?
I do.
I hate this sermon.
I'm serious.
(52:47):
It was hard for me because I'vegot real serious things I need
to change in my life.
Oh, I wouldn't not sin, butthere are things that I'm not
doing correctly in my foundationand I got to change that.
I don't do it out of guilt,it's because I want to stand
when the 155 Mount Arrow windscome.
(53:09):
I want to be there.
So you need to ask yourself thequestion is Jesus truly the Lord
of your life?
Have you given everything tohim or have you
compartmentalized him and puthim on that first story?
That is just subjective.
(53:32):
Can you defend the beliefs thatyou have?
Do you have good doctrine?
Do you know what you believeand do you have a genuine
relationship with God?
Because he wants that from you,I want us to take just a few
minutes and just silence.
(53:53):
I want you guys just to closeyour eyes and just do a little
business with the Lord.
I'm going to do the same.
And you ask him to give youthat examination in your heart
about where you might be Allright.
(54:24):
Thank you, heavenly Father, ourgreat God, the powerful God that
(55:29):
we worshiped earlier today, theone through whom we have a
solid foundation, through Christ, who is the cornerstone,
through your word, which you,you preserve for us, and through
the experience of experiencingthe entire Godhead, father, we
are coming before you, we'reasking for your kindness and
(55:52):
your mercy on us.
Father, all of us, all of us,fall short.
We know that and we know thatyour grace covers all of this.
But, father, I pray that youconvict each one of us into how
we can, in our role, instrengthening our foundation.
Everything's based on Jesus andyou want us to have that
(56:17):
relationship.
You've given us your word toknow truth.
Help us, father, to have thatfirm foundation, and we repent
if we haven't put you first, andwe ask that you would change
our hearts and give us thatdesire that we wouldn't fall
prey to the enemy who wants tokill and destroy.
(56:37):
So we thank you, we rejoice,father, that with you we have
that foundation and it's firm.
Keep us strong, father, and wepray this in Jesus' name Amen.
Popular Podcasts
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com