A New Foundation Series

EASTER – A NEW FOUNDATION

In May of 1981, a woman named Mae Rose in Winter Park Florida heard her dog barking outside. She thought that maybe it was barking at a squirrel. Turns out the dog was barking at a sinkhole that was opening up in her back yard. It kept opening until it had swallowed up her entire home. But it didn’t stop there. It continued to open until it engulfed several other homes and the local community pool. In the end it did about $4 million worth of damage. Nearly thirty years later in 2010 in Guatemala as Tropical Storm Agatha swept across Central America, a sinkhole opened up in Guatemala City and swallowed up a three-story building.

Building our lives on the rock of God’s Word is the only sure foundation. Every other foundation is shifting sand. As I look at our world today, it seems like culture is working overtime to promote it’s own version of what truth is. The foundation that it is laying is well advertised and may seem like an attractive place to build, but in the end it is just another sinkhole waiting to happen. Whatever you build on that warped worldview is just going to get swallowed up.

Today we are starting a new series and we are calling it the Easter Challenge. For the next couple of weeks leading up to Easter we will be looking at the difference that Easter makes in our lives. Because of Easter we have a new Foundation, Fellowship, Focus and Future. The challenge is to take these 4 principles and make them real in your life this Easter season. Today we want to talk about the new foundation that we have in Jesus.

Mat 7:24-27 Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.

In this scripture, Jesus talked about 2 builders. You will notice that it was not a matter of IF the rain would come, it was a matter of WHEN. The rain did come, the waters did rise, the winds did blow, and they did beat against the house. The reality is that all of us will face storms in life. The rain, the waters, and the wind will come into your life and my life. I know of many people that could give a testimony of this from their own life. The question is whether or not your foundation will stand. Will it stand firm or get swallowed up?

Every day you and I are laying down bricks in the structure of our lives. What we are living today is the result of what we were building yesterday. Every day at work, every weekend, every interaction is part of the structure you are building called your life. Whether you’re an atheist, agnostic, or a Jesus follower, most of us build careers, families and friendships. The main difference is found in the foundation that undergirds all that we’re building.

What is undergirding and shaping everything that you are building? Is your career built on your desire to know, follow, and glorify Jesus or is it built on your desire to get what you want? Those who have built it all on Jesus can lose it all, yet they still possess everything. And those who have built on the desire to get what they want can lose it all and . . . they’ve simply lost it all.

I want us to consider 3 truths today;

1. Hearing the Truth – hears these words

Verse 24 starts by saying “everyone who hears these words of mine …” The first thing we have to be able to do is identify what truth is. Did you know that 29 times in the gospel of Matthew Jesus repeats the same line – ‘I tell you the truth.’ Jesus wants us to be able to distinguish between truth and error. So how do we know what truth is?

John 17:17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

Jesus said that God’s word is truth. This includes the teachings of Jesus;

John 8:31-32 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."