Whose Words Will You Build On? | Matthew 7:24-27 | September 17 | Derek Neider

Speaker [00:00:05] Jean-Paul Sartre said life is an empty bubble floating on a sea of nothingness. Well, that seems obviously depressing. Many people live their lives with that type of fatalistic attitude. Do you believe that? Is that your approach to life? Once you discover the mission of God, you not only discover that life isn't empty and fatalistic, but in Christ, you see the ultimate purpose of God expanding time and eternity. And from that, everything else begins to make sense. Good morning. Good to be with you. Today, we're Matthew chapter seven. If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open up to Matthew chapter seven. If you don't have a Bible, we want to get you a Bible today so you can raise your hand and we will put a Bible in your hand. Matthew Chapter seven. If you're not familiar with the Bible, Matthew is the beginning of the New Testament. So if you turn like two thirds of the way through your Bible, you will. You'll get there. And if you still don't know, just ask somebody next to you and they'll give you a hand as well. Stand up today. Once you're in Matthew chapter seven, verse 24, say amen. Say say it like you mean it. All right. Hey, we're going to do something different today. We're going to read together. It's nice on Sunday morning to have reading time and I get to read to you guys. And, you know, you get all comfy and relaxed in your seats. But today what we're going to do is we're going to read these verses out loud together. Sound good? All right. Well, the Bible says in verse 24, Here we go, everyone, then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

Speaker [00:02:01] And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house. But it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell. And great was the fall of it. Father, thank you so much for your word. And we can collectively say together, this is the reading of the word of God today. Amen. We pray that you would God. We pray that your words, the words of your son would influence our lives. Father, we are barraged. Week in and week out with ideas and philosophies. God. We are barraged with people's points of view and our own confusion. God, the voice in our own head. God. We need the voice of Jesus today. We need the words of our Savior. We need our thinking set straight. We need an anchor for our soul. We need light in the midst of darkness. God, we need hope. Where there's futility and despair. God, We need a firm, mighty and strong foundation that won't shift in the storm. And so teach us today. Lead us today. Help us to be believing. Not just hearing, but also doing. What the savior has to say. It's in Jesus name, we pray. Amen. You can have a seat today. You know, there. There is. There is. And I know you know, but there is power in words. There is power in words. Words have the power to build up and to tear down. Words have brought peace to warring nations and have brought warring nations to peace.

Speaker [00:04:26] That, by the way, can be said for marriages. Words have brought peace to marriages that were at war, and words have brought war to marriages that were at peace. Words have initiated the civil rights movement. They've led to the collapse of countries. They've created ideologies that other countries have been built upon. Words have warmed hearts at wedding ceremonies, and they have destroyed lives in divorce courts. Words from a parent have strengthened the soul and the heart of a child, and words from a parent have destroyed and afflicted hearts of children who've turned into adults decades down the road. The reality today is this Words shape your life. Words shape your life. Now, it's interesting to consider that the average American every day is bombarded with about 30,000 words. So as you go throughout your day and I know some of you, it just it depends on your screen time depends on your screen. Time depends on the friends that you have, because some of us have friends who love to talk and some of us have friends who are really quiet. But on average, you have 30,000 words that are influencing you ideal eating, determining your identity, determining your sense of self, shaping how you treat other people, shaping your perspective of the future and your interpretation of the present. Because culture is based on words. We're socialized and influenced by what we hear and what we see. And today, just remember, none of us has an island to ourselves. All of us, all of us are being influenced. Somebodys words are shaping your life. I can say that based on the past, somebody's words have shaped your life. And I can say that with respect to the present. Somebody's words are shaping your life.

Speaker [00:06:31] Jesus in these verses. And of course, for those of you who are Bible students, you know the section of Scripture that he just wrapped up, we often call the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is speaking to his disciples. And the reality in that moment, that cultural moment that he was dealing with was this There were things that had been floating around in that culture. And of course, we're not talking about a secular culture. We're talking about a very religious culture, a monotheistic culture, a culture that claimed to follow the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Nevertheless, there were things that had been being perpetuated in that culture that Jesus had to set straight. And so those of you who are familiar with the with the Sermon on the Mount, you know, the the equation that Jesus that Jesus used, he said to the disciples, you've heard that it was said by those of old. But I say to you, hey, there's there's been these ideas that have been floating around. There have been these ideologies about God that have shaped your understanding about who God is and how you ought to practice your life in a way where you're worshiping him. He would say in the Sermon on the Mount, there are individuals who have claimed to be the ones who understand praying and fasting and giving. And this is the way that that you've seen it done. And they've kind of been the emblem of what it means to be really followers of God. But I've got to set the record straight. What they've done in public to herald themselves and proclaim themselves is like the ultimate thing to follow Jesus as you do in the secret place. Jesus had to set the record straight and He was the one.

Speaker [00:08:10] Listen to me. He was the one who was able to set the record straight because he was the son of God. He's a son of God. You know, he's not just a and I've said this to you guys many, many times. It's important for me to say it, to say it, to say it again if you're tired of hearing it. Too bad. Too bad. He's not just a he's not a mere mortal, Right? He's not a mere mortal. He's not just one of the many spiritual lights that were given by God to influence the bulk of humanity. He's not just an example to follow, you know, a good pattern to base your life on. He's more than that. He's the son of God. He's God incarnate. The Bible says, no, man. No man has seen God at any time. But he who was in the bosom of the Father has made him manifest, has declared him to us. In other words, listen, if you want to know what God is like, if you want to know who God is, if you want to know how to connect to God, you look to the person of Christ. Anybody. Anybody in the House of God agree with that today. Right. And the word became flash and dwelt among us. And we be held as glory as of the only begotten of us, the only begotten of his unique. He's distinct. He's unlike any other as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. Full of grace and truth. This was why Jesus was able, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount to make such an exclusive claim. It's a powerful claim that we just read. Anyone who hears my words and does them will be a wise man, will be a wise woman.

Speaker [00:10:02] They will be like the person who builds their life upon the rock, the solid rock, the cliquey in Las Vegas terminology. And then conversely, the person who hears and doesn't do is like a foolish woman, a foolish man who builds her life on shifting sand. You know, for the reason we're gathered together today as the people of God is because we've experience the power of the words of Jesus Christ. We've experienced lives that that have flourished because of his words. We've experienced the ability to be connected with the father because of belief and obedience to the words of Christ. We've experienced the endurance in adversity that the power of His words have brought to us. In fact, the flourishing life connected to God and empowered to endure adversity is built on the words of Jesus Christ. Anybody today believe that? I'm just curious. Yeah. Yup. All right, hold on. Hold back before you ruin it by, like, giving a half hearted response so to God. If this is your life, if this is your life, if you've trusted, in the words of Christ, in you yourself have experienced a flourishing life. You've been connected to God. You've experienced the power to endure adversity. I want to give you an opportunity today to to give God. To give God the praise that he deserves. No, no, no, no, no. Wait. No, no, wait. I love it. You radio stand up and let it. Let it roll. That's good. And then in addition to that, you know, maybe there's a thing that rises to the surface. You know? Noe was just leading us in song. Like he never fails. We trust in him because we've called on the name of the Lord. He doesn't fail us.

Speaker [00:11:59] And maybe today, as I say, Hey, the flourishing life be the life that endures in the midst of adversity, connectedness to God, there's something that rises to the top. I want you to shout it out in an acclamation of praise to him today as well. And the thing is this For many of us in our church culture, we're not we're not accustomed to that. We're just not necessarily altogether familiar with doing that in the congregation of God's people. So we're going to do that today. All right. If, in fact, you have experienced a flourishing life, if in fact, you have experience being connected to God through faith in Jesus and obedience to his words, if in fact you've experienced endurance and power and strength in the midst of adversity, and if in fact something rises to the top, I want you to tell let it rip today in a way that heaven itself will hear. Go ahead. Amen. If they soak it in, y'all soak it in. And for those of you who are like, Man, that's loud. And you got you, heaven's going to be a bummer for you. I'll just tell you right now because because that right there was a little slice of heaven. It was a little slice of heaven. Hey, the words of Jesus, the words of Jesus are so important today because we live in an age of deception and manipulation. Like, maybe more than ever, this this could be an exaggeration, but maybe more than ever, we need to be people who cling to the words of Christ because we are constantly bombarded with news feeds that have agendas and propaganda with social media algorithms that are learning us and then shaping content to influence us, to manipulate us.

Speaker [00:14:16] Whether you're on Instagram or maybe you're on Tik Tok for the 50 plus people here, the Facebook folks, the faith, the Facebook like, you know, I was I was talking to someone the other day and I'm like, Hey, bro, give me give me your email address so I can hit you up. And he gives me his email address and everything was fine until he said at AOL dot com. Like, no joke. I'm like, Dude, are you kidding? This can't work any longer. Are you serious? Do you still use AOL like you are a fossil that someone just dug up? That is. That is ancient. That is ancient. But you guys know your social media feed. Rachel was. She was hanging out with a group of people a couple of weeks ago, and there was someone who was just on their social media feed, just. Just roll in through it. And the influence. I'm not anti social media, but you guys know, all I'm saying is this there is constant influence in our lives, whether it's a news feed with an agenda or a propaganda or a social media platform that has content shaped based on an algorithm. Everything that's being conveyed is reinforcing this lie in the culture that there's no such thing as truth. Right? The postmodern mind we talked about this last week says that there's no such thing as truth. And so it sets people up to be absolutely open to anything without any source of truth to judge those things against. Now, the reality is this What they really mean is there's no truth but our truth. Right. I mean, that's really what the postmodern mind is saying. The only thing that's absolute is that there's no absolutes. And we can say that absolutely.

Speaker [00:16:12] You hang out at lunch time and talk about that together and you'll understand how philosophically. Right? That makes no sense. But we live in a culture where everybody is believing somebody. Everybody's believing somebody. There's someone in your life that is influencing you. And the reality is this. I don't think that that scenario has changed from generation to generation either. Culture has always been in a place where it's just been a beautiful mess. I shared with you last week maybe this was new to you, maybe it was not. That culture is created by God, cultures created by God, but it's affected by the fall. Like if you go back to the Book of Genesis, what you see is a pure culture, a perfect culture made by God, that God created Adam and Eve in the context of creativity, that He even invited Adam in to be a part of that creative moment, giving him the opportunity to not only name the animals, but then in addition to that, to have Adam and Eve oversee creation in a loving way. There was this perfect and pure culture. And so it was until it was penetrated by the adversary. And you know the story. Like, there he is. He's next to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And and Eve is hanging out somewhere that she really shouldn't have been. And there was truth that had been laid out to Adam. Hey, you can have everything in the garden. Everything's yours, man. Except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You shall not eat of the tree because in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die. Truth, right? Absolute truth. Direction, Guidance. Clarity. Adversary penetrates that pure culture, and he brings lies and deception.

Speaker [00:18:10] He. He. He deceives Eve and Adam about who God is. He perverts the truth. He gives this perception that in the midst of all these great things that God has done, that there's something he's left out. Hey, you're incomplete. Your identity is not necessarily shaped perfectly. There's something that's missing and God's God is been holding out on you. And not only has he been holding out on you, the truth is this He's a little threatened because he knows that in the day that you eat of the tree, of the knowledge of good and evil, you'll be just like him. And so there's this lie. There's this perversion of truth. And Adam transgresses and Eve is deceived, and sin enters into humanity and creation and everything at that point. And from that point forward is broken. Everything is broken. And this attitude that these lies and deceptions about living a life apart from God, dependance are they culminate ultimately in the Tower of Babel as humanity is this monolithic group of people who speak one language and they have one goal, and that is to live a a unified, secular, progressive social experiment while casting off God and dependance upon God. This was what they wanted. They wanted to build a tower that that ascended up into the heavens, brought them to a. Place where they would be able to escape the judgment of God if, in fact, God flooded the earth again, that they could create this environment where they didn't need God any longer. Hey, listen, all other gods are welcome. But. But not Yahweh, not the God, not the Creator God. And so this experiment, obviously, you know, God recognized the waywardness of humanity and fragmented that society by introducing other languages because God loves us so much.

Speaker [00:20:14] He doesn't want us to live lives dependent upon ourself and casting off reliance upon him. I say all of this to say that, like you look at that picture and nothing has changed from generation to generation. Nothing has changed. There is the goodness of God in culture. There is also the marring of culture because of the sin of humanity. And then there is also the influence of the devils lies in the culture as well. You know, when we're ministering to people and I said this last week that, you know, one thing that we are confronted with is that we're talking about we're talking about truth and we're talking about a relationship with God while people are in the marketplace of ideas and people are in the marketplace of ideas. But make no mistake about it, there is an adversary. There is a sinister force at work who is seeking to deceive people. And, you know, one of the greatest lies that he is foisted on the Western world is that he's just a myth. That is just a myth that he doesn't really exist, that he's a fabrication of the minds of people who are Judeo Christians. You know that this is the that this is the anachronistic mind. People who believe that there's a literal devil are like fossils themselves. They're like people who have AOL email accounts, right? They've not progressed. They've not progressed Anyone, they would say, who has really developed and progressed as a human being doesn't believe those simplistic truths anymore because they're not choose their fairy tales, their fables. And I just I want to expose that lie for what it is today, because he has foisted this lie not just on the secular, unbelieving world, but there are people even in the church today that don't believe there's a literal devil.

Speaker [00:22:11] And I would just say to you, if you don't believe that as a Christian, you have a problem, because Jesus did write, Jesus did write. He said himself, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I mean, the Son of God was present on the day where where Lucifer drew with him, a third of the angels, and sought to usurp the authority and power of God and kick him off the throne. And can I just say to you today, it wasn't even a like it wasn't even a match. Well, it wasn't like this big throwdown. It didn't go multiple rounds. You know, it wasn't like it wasn't a technical knockout, you know what I'm saying? It wasn't a technical knockout. God spoke the word and Satan was gone. Right. 186,000 miles per second kicked out of heaven. And he descended and Jesus said, I saw it. I saw it with my own eyes. Jesus was talking to religious leaders that were consumed with lies. And he said to them, He's speaking of Satan. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. You know, the devil wants you to discover your life. He wants you to discover your life apart from God. And that's why truth matters. That's why you. It matters. Truth mattered in the origin story. Truth mattered for Adam and Eve when God laid out the truth and said, Hey, listen, it's all yours, man. It's all yours. Be fruitful, be multiply. Enjoy what I've given to you. Just that one thing. Just that one thing. It mattered in that moment for Adam and Eve to be obedient to God and to do what he said.

Speaker [00:23:58] But they chose not to. And it matters in this moment, you know, Christ is the ultimate revelation of God. Christ is the ultimate revelation of God. Remember that all of time from the beginning of creation to win the New Jerusalem. By the way, Jesus Christ is coming back soon. I don't know. I know. Do you know that or not? I don't know how you look at time, but I want to say to you today, from a biblical point of view, and this is a metanarrative, this is the big story from the biblical point of view, from creation to the New Jerusalem, the epicenter of all time in history is the incarnation, the perfect life, the crucifixion, the resurrection, and the ascension of Jesus Christ. That is it. That is it. Everything. Everything revolves around that. And that's the macro picture. Let me just say in a micro sense, your life should revolve around that till your life should revolve around it. To God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit, determining before the world was ever made that the sun would be sent, that the sun would, that the sun would bring bring revelation of the father. You know, he is the image. He is the very image of God. You remember the story, Philip and the disciples are hanging with Jesus in the upper room. Jesus is talking about his coming departure. Philip's a little unnerved by it. And so Philip says, Hey, listen, Jesus, show us the Father to show us God. It'll suffice us not a not a small request, let me tell you. Just show us God and it will suffice. And and Jesus says, Philip, have I been with you so long that you've not known me? He who has seen me has seen the father.

Speaker [00:25:53] He is the full revelation of the truth of God. He has come to bear witness of the truth. Jesus was talking to pilot and you remember the story, right? He had been betrayed in the garden. He had been taken to the court of Annas and Caiaphas. He'd been brought before pilot and now pilot has a one on one with Jesus pilots. A person of power and influence. Pilot represents the Roman Empire pilots, the governor of Judea. And so he is looking down on this Jewish rabbi who is before him putting him on trial when he doesn't realize that he was the one that was on trial, he was the one that was being judged. And in the midst of that conversation, Jesus says this for this purpose, I was born and for this purpose, I've come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. Pilot said to him in very post-modern fashion, What is truth? What is truth? He just disregards the statement of Christ. But Jesus makes a powerful statement here. If you want to know the truth, you've got to look to him. Some of you may not be Jesus followers today, and we're really thankful that you're here. But you might have been thinking, why is there so much emphasis on the words of Christ? And you know, it's true because according to Jesus, he himself has said that his words are worthy. They're worthy for you to build your life on. Jesus makes a claim is an exclusive claim, right? He says the person who hears his words and does them is like a wise man. Wise woman builds their house on the rock. The storm comes, and because they build on solid foundation, their life will endure.

Speaker [00:27:47] That's a powerful statement to make. It becomes exclusive when he says the alternate is true as well. I mean, because Jesus could have just said it, He could have left it there. We could have walked away thinking, well, you know what I mean? He brought a truth and his words are good, but he's not the only source of truth. But he doesn't leave it there. He goes on to say, The person who hears and does not are you are you a doer of God's word today? Are you a doer? Are you a doer, or are you just a hearer? Right. Because he didn't say, Hey, hearing is enough. He says, hearing and doing. And so on the alternative side, he says, there's the person who hears and chooses not to do guaranteed the day. There's going to be something that God speaks to your heart. You have a responsibility to do it between yourself and God. Jesus says the person who chooses not to do is like a foolish man. A foolish woman builds their house on sand, shifting sand. When the storm comes, that house is going to fall and great will it's fall be. That's an exclusive claim. It's an exclusive claim. You're blessed if you do and you're cursed if you don't. When you look at the words of Christ, what you discover is his words Answer the most important questions in your life. You've been designed by God. You've been designed by God. Innately, you have questions that you want answered. These are questions that your your pets don't ponder. I mean, your dogs, you're not having conversations with your dog about origin, meaning destiny and morality. Those those conversations don't work. You're certainly not having them with your cat. Because if your cat could speak, there's only one word your cat would say.

Speaker [00:29:40] Right. Me That's the first part of the word, because that's all your cat thinks about is itself. Most selfish creature that God has ever made. Be blessed, I pray. So I'm just saying, today I lost some of you, man. I may. I know email here like this is at AOL dot com. This is my email to you. But. But, but. But you guys got questions. You got questions. You got big questions. It's not just about, hey, is it a Big Mac or a double double animal style today? That's not that's not the big question. I'm not saying that's not an important question, but you know, it is the big question that you have on your mind. You're not thinking today just about your football team and the outcome of the game. You got big questions. You got questions about origin, you've got questions about destiny, you've got questions about meaning, you got questions about morality. And you have those questions because God has built you in such a way where where He is put within you a desire to know, a desire to know. You're made of the image of God. And God has intentionally left something out so that you would only be able to have that thing satisfied in him. I'm saying to you today, it's the words of Christ. It's the words of Christ that answer the most important questions in life, not just origin, destiny, meaning, and morality. But if you just survey the Sermon on the Mount, you discover that his words give you moral and ethical guidance they bring to you spiritual fulfillment. They supply to you a pathway for community and belonging. They give you guidance for decision making and how to make decisions in your life. It is the power of the words of Christ that bring personal transformation.

Speaker [00:31:37] I know, like for some of you, this next one is totally true. And if it is, say amen in your most darkest times, times of confusion, times of hopelessness. It's the words of Jesus that have brought to you hope, endurance and resilience. It's the words of Christ that will give to you a legacy of positive change. You know, I mean, some of us, we think, well, this is the way my family's been and my family's always going to be like this. I'm just I'm just cursed. I'm curse to continue this this negative trajectory from generation to generation, not if you build your word, your life on the words of Christ like that chain can be broken in your life and your life can be turned around so that the legacy that you leave is a positive legacy of pursuing God. His words have the power to do that. His words will provide culture for your family, you know, topic for another time. But the greatest culture generator in society is the family unit. That is the greatest culture generator. This is one of the reasons why the adversary, the devil, is always seeking to destroy and break up the nuclear family. Right. Because the biggest the biggest issue or problem facing Christianity today is not a secular culture. It is a divided family. The family is where you pass your faith on. The family is where you shape world, values or worldview and where you transmit biblical values. You want to create culture for your family, build your family on the words of Christ. It's the words of Christ that answer the quest for meaning that you have. It's the words of Christ that connect you to the Kingdom of God. It is the words of Jesus that have freed you from the devil's lies.

Speaker [00:33:37] Anybody? Anybody freed here today? You know what I'm talking about. Like you got to a place in your life or like, I don't even know why I believe what I. What I believe. I don't know how I got taught all this stuff. But my life's a disaster. My life's a mess. And so you did something that seemed so simplistic, and it was you trusted in. You believe in the words of Jesus. And he plucked you out, man. Yes. Yes. You know what I'm saying, man? He plucked you out. He rescued you. He got his hands on your life. Pulled you out out of the miry clay. You were tangled up in the lives of the double. Your life was all bound. And I'm not saying, like you were just a passive observer. You engaged wholeheartedly in it. And you know what he did when you trusted in him? Snip, snip, snip. He started or break, right? He broke those chains. He broke those chains. He set you free. He pulled you up out of the pit, and he set your feet upon a rock. This is what he is able to do. We have a room full of people. There's a room full of people today who have experienced the power of Christ's words. He said this If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth. And the truth will set you free. He came with powerful truth claims. Jesus didn't just say he was going to give you a better life. He said that he is the giver of life. Jesus didn't just philosophize about life after death. He said that he was. He was the resurrection and the life. If someone died because they believed in him, they would be raised again from the dead.

Speaker [00:35:28] Here's the pathway to everlasting life with God. Jesus didn't just say that he had some information to convey to people about God. He said that he was the Son of God. He said that there's one way to God, that there's one way to the Father. Like this was the set up would fill up. Fill up. Like I said, it's like a you know, Jesus, show us the Father. It will surprise us how I've been with you so long, Philip, that you've not known me. He was seen me, has seen the father. That is a setup for the next thing that he says. Which is this. I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father, but by me, the way to be liberated, the way to have the lies of the devil broken in your life is to believe in the words of Christ. For He was crucified. For our sins. He was dead and buried. And he rose again on the third day for your justification. It's the resurrection of Jesus that that proves he has the authority to bring his claims to pass. I'm saying to you today that all matters of life, all matters of life are answered in the person of Christ, whether it's family or sexuality or identity or love or gender or value or ethics. Jesus is the one who has the answer. Now, the reality is this The devil. The devil is more than happy with you having 96.5% truth. As long as he can get 3.5% lie. He's more than happy. He's more than. And let me let me just say this. When we talk about the words of Jesus, you know, for for the most part and probably maybe in overgeneralization, but but the truth is this.

Speaker [00:37:21] Even for the Church of the Living God, some of us aren't even aware of the words of Christ, like some of us are more influenced by our social media feed. Some of us are influenced by our favorite influencer. Some of us spend more time searching and serving the podcasts. Some of us are more intent on downloading the news feed than we even are concerned about considering the words of our savior. And, you know, it's just sobering because the devil he's all set with you have a 96.5% truth as long as he can get 3.5% lying. And, you know, if you're traveling from Los Angeles, you get on an airplane in Los Angeles because you're crazy enough to go to LAX, an airport. Airport I try to avoid with with everything in me. But you go to LAX and you want to go to New York City. And so you get in the plane and, you know, you're you're buckling up and you're here in the stuff that the flight attendants normally say. And little do you know that the pilot in the cockpit, she's adjusting the trajectory because she's like, you know what I mean? What is 3.5 degrees matter anyway? As long as we've got 96.5 degrees set, 3.5 degrees shouldn't make that much of a difference. So she turns the knob or pushes the button or whatever they do now and you're all set, The plane takes off and you can't tell, right? You can't tell right away because there's not a significant change. Everything seems great. You're cruising at 30,000 feet. The drinks are flowing. I'm talking about Diet Coke and ginger ale. Right. The drinks are flowing. The peanuts are being popped. The pretzels are being passed out. You got your little video screen or, you know, you got your your iPad and your cruise and you're watching a movie.

Speaker [00:39:22] Little do you know, little do you know that that 3.5 degrees has made a significant difference in your trajectory and you're not headed toward New York City anymore. You're headed to Washington, D.C., which is an even bigger problem because, you know, they don't have your flight trajectory planned out. And so as you're flying over the White House, since they don't have your trajectory planned out, they shoot you right out of the sky. Right. I mean, you just it is a ball of flames, you know, head crashing into the ground. And I just I want to say to you today, it's not enough for us to have some of the truth. It's not enough for us to have some of the truth. It's not enough for us to get a little Bible teaching under our belt. You know, a little Bible teaching can be a dangerous thing in the heart of a person who's not intent to pursuing Jesus with all of their heart. Right. We need to know his word. We need to be familiar with this word. We need. We are a community. A community of people, excuse me, who hear and do the words of Christ. And this is what makes us a contrast community. This is what makes us different. This is what makes us a city set on a hill. This is what makes us the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Listen to me. Because the church is the living manifestation of the claims of Jesus. The church is the manifestation of His power and ability to bring his claims to pass. I want you to think about that. We're not just another social organization. We're not a religious group of people that that have gathered together.

Speaker [00:41:11] I think it's the next slide. Maybe I'm wrong. We're more than that. We're the manifestation. We're the manifestation. We're the evidence that not only does Christ make truth claims, but he's also the one who has the power and the ability to bring those claims to power. That is true for the church and it should be true for your life. Your life. Isn't Exhibit A is Exhibit B, Exhibit A is the resurrection. Exhibit B is your life. People should be able to look to your life and say, Hey, you know what? Maybe there is some truth to what Jesus said. Maybe there is some truth I like. I know what they've been saying to me, but there's something different about this person. When I was in college, you know, I had chemistry classes and we would spend time in the classroom reading the book and learning the information. But then it wasn't until we went into the lab where we took all the chemicals and mixed them together, and that's when things got really crazy, you know? And and I was, of course, putting a little bit of more this and a little bit more of that in and stuff blown up all over the place. But but there had to be the mixture of the elements. And you know what? There's no power in the words of Christ until they are believed and obeyed by you. There's no power in the words of Christ until they're there, believed and obeyed by you. You can be a Christian who knows a lot about the book. You're sitting in the classroom, your head's full of information and knowledge. You can reiterate the information you've learned chapter after chapter, but there's no power in that until you say, Yes, Lord, I hear and I obey those things that you're speaking to my life I want to put into practice.

Speaker [00:42:55] And that's when the world discovers that, yes, in fact, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, there is a new kingdom that's been birthed. There's a new era that is come. There is a people group that is really filled with the power and influence of heaven. And it's not because their buildings are great or their screens are big or their pastors are charismatic. It's because there's a man, the son of man, the son of God, the incarnate one, the one who became flesh, who lived a perfect life, who died as a sacrifice in our place on the cross, and who rose again on the third day. And make no mistake about it, that that is our answer to fatalism. That is our answer to hedonism. He is the answer to this. This view that life is just an empty bubble floating on a sea of nothingness. It has to be true in your life. If you're going to be an effective witness, It has to be true in your life. People in our generation want to know it works before they believe it's true. People. People in. People in our generation. They want to know that it works before they will believe it is true. And so, hey, it's great that you got your Jesus shirt on. It's great that you got your WWJD If people do that anymore bracelet around your wrist, it's great that you're you got 90.5 crank in the workplace, you know where it's like a collaborative thing and people are hearing messages but you know what people are really doing? They're looking at your marriage, they're looking at your marriage. They're watching how you respond to difficulty in adversity and stuff that frustrates you and gets on your nerves. They're watching to see what's going to tick you off and send you over the edge and how you're going to respond in the flesh.

Speaker [00:44:54] They're watching your life. When you get news from a doctor, that's devastating, no doubt. But there's something in you that is anchored you that you're holding on in the midst of the storm. And the world looks at the piece, the supernatural piece that governs your heart in the midst of what would otherwise wipe anybody else out. The world is watching. They're looking because they want to know that it works in your life before they believe that is true. Brothers and sisters. This is why holiness matters, right? This is why holiness matters. Holiness isn't just about the quality of your worship. It is also about the quality of your testimony. Holiness being set apart, having a life that wholly belongs to God. And this is this is a danger in our Western Christian culture, is we have a lot of people who are partially dedicated, right? They've got some Christian culture under their belt and they think they're just fine. But holiness means that your whole life I'm not talking about sinless perfection. I'm saying that your whole life belongs to God. Your life is centered around him. Jesus is the passion of your life. You feed upon his words and you strive to be obedient and you're thankful for his mercy when you struggle. Because that's just the reality of our lives. But it's not. Holiness is not just about your worship before God. It's about the quality of your testimony. It's about living in such a way where your life does not disqualify your words. Living in a way where your life does not disqualify your words, where your life lines up with the truth. And the truth is this, you know, God has put us on this planet. He has he has delayed the coming of his son so that we have an opportunity to declare Jesus to the people around us were heralds, not our old were h h h e r a l d s.

Speaker [00:47:00] We're we're heralds, we're proclaimers, we're preachers, we're declares we've got a message. Our king is alive. He says that the right hand of the father and he is beckoning the last to come to him and his and his words and his words are worthy to build your life on. You know, we're in hurricane season, so of course, you know, a lot of us watch the news and and so we see the hurricanes being tracked and there's the eye of the storm. And it's approaching Florida or, you know, supposedly approaching Southern California and Las Vegas, something that obviously never happened. But we track the storm. We track the storm and we prepare for the storm when it comes. The storm is here, brothers and sisters. The storm's upon us. The storm is upon us. Whose words are you building your life on? What claims have they made? Because no claims are greater than the claims of Christ and no one has the power to fulfill them like he does.