What Are You Building On?

Matthew 7:24-29 11/16/25 a.m. What are you building on?

I guess I ought to do a series of sermons on SONGS we SANG in Children’s Church. I’ve mentioned some of these songs in different messages that I’ve brought. “Oh be Careful Little Eyes what you See.” “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus.” “This Little Light of Mine, I’m Gonna Let it Shine”

But as I was reading through Matthew 7, this song came to my mind. I thought about making all of you young adults who ENDURED my Children’s Church come on up here and help me sing it. Amanda, Kara, Bonnie, Olivia, Riley, Carla, Mary, Hannah and Abbie come on up here and help me. NOT REALLY.

“The wise man built his house upon a rock,

(REPEAT TWICE)

And the RAINS came TUMBLING DOWN.

The rains came down and the floods came up.

(REPEAT TWICE)

And the HOUSE on the ROCK STOOD FIRM.”

And then we’d sing the second Verse.

“The foolish man built his house upon the sand

(REPEAT TWICE)

And the RAINS came TUMBLING DOWN.

The rains came down and the floods came up.

(REPEAT TWICE)

And the HOUSE on the SAND WENT SPLAT.”

And so the last verse of this song talks about building your house on the Lord Jesus Christ.

I turn on the news and it makes me ask the question. “What has happened in our country?” It seems like things that were once so important are crumbling. We talk about our infrastructure collapsing. The basic NEEDS that are so important for us as a country and society are FAILING. So much TIME and MONEY that is INVESTED into our SOCIETY is WASTED on TRIVIAL and USELESS THINGS.

Our health care system seems to be on the rocks. It takes weeks and even months to get into a specialist. Costs are out of sight for even basic medical procedures. Doctors are controlled by Corporate America instead of their own CONSCIENCE.

Our power grid system is at risk. I was reading a report that was put out in July of this year by the U.S. Department of Energy. It said that, without major changes, most regions of the country will face unacceptable grid reliability risks within five years.

Our ROADS are getting worse and worse but yet they keep building new ones. You don’t believe me? Try driving up Javine to Avant. That road is getting bad. Or Highway 11 North of Skiatook. The East side of the road is falling off.

My point here is that it seems like our infrastructures are crumbling. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna preach on BAD ROADS and BAD HEATH CARE. I could but I won’t. I could go on for hours pointing out things that need to be fixed.

ILLUS: It would be kind of like the deacon who got up and started WALKING OUT towards the end of a Really Really Long SERMON. The preacher stopped right in the middle of his PREACHING and boomed out, “Where do you think you’re going DEACON?” The fellow turned around and said, “I’m going to get a haircut.” The preacher frowned and said, “Why didn’t you get one before you came?” The guy looked over his shoulder on the way out and said, “Because I didn’t need one.”

But the most concerning thing for me is that it seems that the VERY FOUNDATION that our country was built upon is STARTING to CRUMBLE.

So why? Why is this happening? Well, I believe, the VERY REASON for this is the FOUNDATION that people have built their LIVES upon is also starting to CRUMBLE. You see, we are a nation of people. 342 million people. We are what HOLDS UP this country. But what HOLDS YOU and I UP? What makes up the FOUNDATION of MY LIFE and YOUR LIFE? It’s a GOOD question that each one of us needs to answer today.

And so let’s go ahead and turn to Matthew Chapter 7 and we’ll read Verses 24-29.

“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:

29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”