Text: Matthew 7:24-29
Big idea ? “build your house on the Rock”
Introduction ... The Problem– Storms!
Can we find Peace in the pandemic?
the Covid -19 pandemic makes “snow-maggen” look like a picnic in Bowering Park in a sunny afternoon.
Worldwide we seem to be in a second wave... case loads are surging.
This week West-Jet has decided to cancel flight to St. Johns and a number of other cities as the airline industry is being devastated.
We might need to start building some dories if we ever want to get off this island ever again!
Sometimes I like to ask people “how is the weather in your world?”
I’m not asking for a weather report – I’m asking about your life?
• Well it's all blue skies, pastor
• There’s a storm brewing pastor
• We’ve just been through a hurricane, pastor
• It's very windy today...things are being blown all around; nothing is staying put.
? Pandemic
? Oil patch/jobs/
? Moral decay
? Govt deficits
? ...Politics ! ....Lives down-stream from culture.
? Even the church is losing it's way...
Declining church attendance...(N America)
ZERO – THE NEW NORMAL IS NOT HAVING ATTENDED A SINGLE RELIGIOUS SERVICE IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS
...poll shows there are nearly eight times as many Canadians who never attend religious services as those who attend once, twice or three times a month.
It's very stormy!!!
1. You Have A Lot At Stake – A House/Life.
? Your trying to life your life...
? Success...family...career... working hard...save for a house/mortgage... have some kids
? Kids
? Grand-kids
? You want them to know Jesus...
? You don’t want them to stray...
2. The Solution – Jesus Words
Who else?
Other words...
Did you watch the debates?
People are listening to the words...
....some say.... “Lets stack the supreme court”... that will solve our problems
This may not sound like a quick fix
Jesus isn’t offering “storm-prevention” - “storm-proof”
Jesus words: (mostly from sermon on Mt)
• Except you are born again you cannot see the kingdom of God! )john 3)
• What should it profit a “man” if he gains the whole world but lose his own soul” (Luke 16
• Greatest command ? love God; love neighbour; (love enemies)
• Don’t lay up treasure on earth ....Seek first the kingdom
o Which means...Choose his kingdom over this kingdom!
o
• Turn the other cheek...
• Give to the needy – but don’t brag about it
• Pray... (Lord’s prayer...)
• Do not worry!
• Be careful of sawdust and 2 x 4’s (ch 7:3)
Recommendation – read the gospels – your life depends on it!
3. Call To Action ... practise Jesus/follow Jesus –
This requires faith!!! Do you believe in Jesus? Do you trust him?
Decide...make a commitment.
Who are you listening to?
Who are you building your life on?
• Parents?
• Financial advisor
• Doctor?
• Dentist?
• Therapist?
• Mechanic?
• Teacher
• Best friend
• Experts in their respective field
...All good!!!
It may even seem we can float along with no need of Jesus.
But not good enough... not good enough to build your life on.
Jesus separates us into 2 kinds of people –
(1) wise practise Jesus teaching
(2) foolish fail to practise Jesus teachings.
4. A Testimonial –
Conversion Story of Author Frederica Mathewes-Greene
"The Dick Staub Interview: Frederica Mathewes-Greene," ChristianityToday.com, (10-1-02)
Author Frederica Mathewes-Greene said:
... as a teen I began to doubt the entire Christian story. I felt almost as if I'd had somebody try to cheat me. They had fed me this long, complex story about virgin birth, born in a manger, died on a cross, came back to life?it just sounded preposterous to me. I thought that it was something that no normal, sane person could be expected to believe, and I'd been made a fool.
I began then to consider atheism, agnosticism, and various other religions. But I rejected Christianity with vehemence. Initially I chose Hinduism because it seemed to me the most intriguing and colorful of all the different world religions.
[What ultimately led me out of Hinduism] was a strange experience. I was with my husband on our honeymoon, hitchhiking around Europe. He was an atheist who had been assigned in one of his classes to read a gospel. And he kept saying, "There's something about Jesus. I've never encountered anyone like this before. I know that he's speaking the truth. I'm an atheist. But if Jesus says there's a God, there must be a God."
It was a very scary experience for me, because I didn't want him to be a Christian. He was not ready to make a full commitment to Christ at that point, but he was curious and wanted to study more?.
We're in Dublin sightseeing. I walk into a church. We're admiring the windows and altar and so forth. In a corner of the church there was a small altar with a white marble statue that showed Jesus' heart exposed on his chest with flames coming out of the top and thorns wrapped around the heart. As I was looking at this, I suddenly realized that I was on my knees. And as if a radio inside of me suddenly clicked on, I could hear a voice. I didn't hear it with my ears, but it was like a presence that filled me. The voice said, "I am your life. You thought that your life was your history, your name, your personality. You thought that your life was the fact that your heart beats. But that is not your life. I am your life. I am the foundation of everything else in your life." It was pretty incontrovertible who it was that was speaking to me?.
I started reading the Bible, and I found that I just disagreed with Jesus about a lot of things. But something had happened to me in that church in which I realized that I didn't know everything about the world.
Gradually we were able to come into faith.
It was several months later that a friend of ours said,
"Well, have you ever given your hearts to Jesus? Have you ever asked Jesus to be your Lord?"
You have to picture that both of us grew up in Charleston, South Carolina, him Episcopalian, me Catholic, and our response was, "We're not Southern Baptists."
Our association with that kind of talk is that you have to be Southern Baptist for Jesus to be your Lord.
He said, "Actually, it's for everybody."
We said, "Well, you know, we're in graduate school."
"No, even for you."
So the three of us knelt down together and prayed and asked Jesus to be our Lord, having no idea what that would mean but wanting so much to find out.
Grisham Describes Conversion
John Grisham, The Testament (Random House, 1999), p. 374; submitted by Greg Asimakoupoulos, Naperville, Illinois
In The Testament, novelist John Grisham paints a portrait of one man's surrender to God's will.
Nate O'Reilly is a disgraced corporate attorney plagued by alcoholism and drug abuse. After two marriages, four detox programs, and a serious bout with dengue fever, Nate acknowledges his need for God.
Grisham describes the transformation:
With both hands, he clenched the back of the pew in front of him. He repeated the list, mumbling softly every weakness and flaw and affliction and evil that plagued him. He confessed them all. In one long glorious acknowledgment of failure, he laid himself bare before God. He held nothing back. He unloaded enough burdens to crush three men, and when he finally finished Nate had tears in his eyes.
"I'm sorry," he whispered to God. "Please, help me."
As quickly as the fever had left his body, he felt the baggage leave his soul. With one gentle brush of the hand, his slate had been wiped clean. He breathed a massive sigh of relief, but his pulse was racing.
Conclusion...
The Stakes are high – If You Don’t build your life on Jesus...your house will crash.
Build your house on the rock that is Christ...
On Christ the solid rock I stand – all other ground is sinking sand.
