The Proper Foundation

The speaker discusses the concept of building a spiritual house in relation to being a Christian. They emphasize the importance of having a strong foundation and following instructions. They also mention the need to choose the right foundation, consider the cost, and build upon Jesus Christ. The speaker highlights the consequences of building on the world instead of Christ. They conclude by discussing discipleship and the importance of obedience in building a life that can withstand the storms of life. Chapter 6, how many of you have ever built a house before? We've got a few in here that's built a house. How many of you are building a house now? Nobody's building a house right now? Eric's building a house right now. As a matter of fact, he poured the concrete this weekend. So 1 Peter 2, verse 5 says that if we are Christians, then guess what, all of us are building a house. But it's a spiritual house. He says in 1 Peter 1 and 2, verse 5, he says, you are living stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. And so he tells us there that we are building a house. And so the question is, if we're building a house and it's a spiritual house, the question that I want to start off and leave with us tonight is what type of house are you building? How good is your house? Because in order to have a great house, it doesn't matter what you put into the house, what's important is the foundation. If you don't get the foundation right, it doesn't matter what you build. You know, we always hear, if you watch the news, ED&L, especially during the summer in California, these million dollar homes that just all of a sudden are sliding off the side of the hill and eroding and wiping out. It may have been beautiful for a little while, but guess what? It's not real pretty to live in or to be in when it's sliding down and being destroyed. And so in Luke chapter 6, Jesus gives us a very simple story. And I thought about this this morning when we talked about a proper foundation and going back to Jesus Christ. And this passage of Scripture just kept going over my head. And I said, man, for the first Sunday night of the year, this will be a good sermon. This will be a good message that all of us need to go to. Because Jesus starts off with a question. He starts off, He says, Why call you Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Why call you Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh unto Me, and heareth My sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like. He is like a man which built a house and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock, and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon the house, and could not shake it, for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth and doeth not is like a man that without a foundation built a house upon the earth against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great. You know, as we look at this, think about this passage of Scripture for just a minute, and think about some... I want to kind of give you some of the applications and some of the spiritual insights at the beginning of the message, and not at the end of the message this time. And so, when you think about it, there's some very important things about building a house that you need to understand if you're really going to understand this passage of Scripture. Number one, you have to be able to hear instructions. You've got to be able to listen to the instructions. One of the most important things about building a house is, first of all, you've got to have a blueprint. Someone has to tell you how to build, what to build, what to do. And knowing how to build is one of the very critical things when it comes to building a house. And so you have to be able to hear, and you also have to be able to follow the instructions. In other words, to obey the blueprint. To obey what you hear. And so, you hear and build upon what you hear for a future building. And builders always are seen, according to 1 Timothy 6 and verse 19, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life. And so, you've got to be able to hear instructions. You've got to be able to read the instructions, to understand the instructions. The second thing is you have to select the right foundation. You can have the greatest blueprints ever and be listened to and follow them exactly the way that you're supposed to and build it on a bad foundation, and guess what? You've still got a bad house. And so you've got to be able to follow that blueprint, and you've also got to be able to pick a great foundation. A solid foundation. And that foundation is a rock. In 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 11, He says, For other foundations can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. And so if we're building a spiritual house, we've got to first of all hear the instructions. God, how do You want me to build this? What do You want me to build? And second of all, we have to make sure that we know what we're building it on. We've got to know who is in charge and the one that is there. And so 2 Peter 1 and verse 10 says, Wherefore, the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you shall never fall. And so listening, hearing the instructions and doing them, and doing them properly in the proper place. The third thing about building is you have to consider the cost. You can have the very best blueprints and you can have the very best, hardest foundation that you can find. The best place to build. And guess what? If you don't have any money to build it, it's going to look ridiculous that you've got this spot to be able to build on. And so there comes to considering the cost. You've got to make sure that you have the finances to build the size of house that you want to build. The type of ministry that you want to have and in Luke chapter 14 and verse 28, Jesus gave a story and He says, Which of you intending to build a tower, sit it not down first and count it the cost, whether you have sufficient to finish it. Less happily after you have laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, and behold, it begins to mock him, saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish. There is nothing worse than finding the perfect blueprint, the perfect piece of property, the greatest foundation, and laying a concrete slab and not being able to do anything else to it. People are going to laugh at you. People are going to point fingers at you. But you know, when we think about building, when we think about these main introductory applications that we have of building a house, a lot of us are doing these things in our spiritual life. A lot of us are trying to build a house without listening to God. A lot of us are trying to build a house with the right blueprints and maybe the money and the ability to do it, but we don't have a good foundation. And there's others that have a good blueprint and a good foundation, but what? They don't have the opportunity or the time to be able to accomplish what they want to accomplish. And so as we look at this passage of Scripture this morning, I want you to notice every person has a house. Every one of you as a child of God has a house to build. God says that this body is nothing more than a tent. It's just a dwelling place for your spirit. And so you are building a house to house your spirit. And we know that if we are in Christ, and Christ is us, we are a temple. We are a tabernacle where Christ dwells. And so all of us are building tonight. How you build your life determines your destiny. It doesn't determine your eternity because your eternity is settled with Jesus Christ. But it does determine your destiny. What you are going to have when you get there. What you're going to have when you finish. How you build makes all the difference between success and failure. Between life and death. Between rewards are being burned up like wood, hay, and stubble. Rewards and loss. Acceptance and rejection. Standing and falling. And so it's very important that we understand that we are building our future. We're building our house. Second of all, there's only one foundation for every life. And that foundation is Jesus Christ. And fortunately, spiritually, we don't get to go out and find the place that we want to live. We got to build that foundation in Jesus Christ. We got to build this body up in Him. Again, 1 Corinthians 3, verse 11, For other foundations can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. It's not built upon... Our spiritual house is not built upon a religion. It's not built upon a denomination. It's not built upon a man. It has to be built upon Jesus Christ. It can't be philosophy. It can't be vain deceit that we've been talking about in Colossians. It has to be built on Jesus Christ. Number three, everyone either builds upon the world, or you build upon Christ, which is heaven itself. You're either building on Christ or you're building on the world. You can't serve and do two masters. The foundation of this discipleship is obedience. And a true disciple will lay a genuine foundation, but false disciples will lay a counterfeit foundation. They will build upon the world, and what happens is when the storm comes, when the trials and tribulations happen, and they're going to come, they're going to happen, the house that's built on the world will not be able to stand. And so let's go in and look at this. When we're talking about our foundation, how do we build upon Jesus Christ? We're using a Christian word that we hear a lot talked about as discipleship. Discipleship is following someone before you. A disciple is what Jesus said, go and get rid of all of your stuff and you'll be my disciple and come follow Me. Learn of Me. Take My yoke upon you, for My burdens are light. And so in order to be a disciple, you attach yourself to Jesus Christ. You listen to Him. You obey Him. You do what you're supposed to be doing. And what happens is you build the house and the life that's going to stand the storms of life. And so as we think about this today, you know, when you look at this passage of Scripture, notice what it says there in v. 6. It says He asked that question in v. 46. I've got to turn my page over here. He says, "...why call you Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" If you look at this passage, and then He gives two different people. Both people, the wise man that built upon the rock, the foolish man that built upon the sin, both of them recognize Jesus Christ as Lord. He said, why do you call Me, Lord, Lord, and then you don't do what I tell you to do? And so both of them are acknowledging Jesus Christ as Lord. Both of them are calling Him Lord. They're acknowledging Him as Lord. Both of them are praying to Him as Lord, Lord. Both are witnessing before others that He is Lord just out of the statement of their mouth. They're recognizing that He is the Lord. Both are known to be followers of Jesus Christ, and yet what's happening? The house that they're building is faulty. And so we need to be careful because we have people in the church today that call Jesus Christ Lord. They think that they're spiritual. They think that they're building a spiritual house, a good place for Jesus Christ to dwell and to worship with, but yet what's happening? They're not building on the right foundation. And so Jesus answers the question here on how to deal with disobedience. How to deal with disloyalty. And He rebukes in this passage. This passage is actually a rebuke. It's a warning on anyone who calls Him Lord and does not do what He tells you to do. If Jesus Christ is really Lord, then we owe all of our allegiance and He expects all of our loyalty and our obedience to Him. As a matter of fact, in Philippians 2, He tells us there, He says that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven, things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Everyone, one of these days, is going to bow before God. One of these days, every tongue is going to confess that He is Lord. And so He says, why in the world would you confess Him as Lord now and you don't obey Him? Because one of these days, you will have to confess Him and you will have to obey Him. Notice what He says here. Let me back out of this and get back in it again. For some reason, it froze up. He says there, in here, go back to our text. He says, why call you Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to Me and heareth My sayings and doeth them, I will show you to whom He is like. Notice there's three steps to building on a foundation of Jesus Christ. The word and is a conjunction. How many of you remember the schoolhouse rocks? Conjunction, junction, what's your function, right? The function of an and is to do what? Connect two thoughts together. And so what He is doing here, He says, whosoever cometh to Me and heareth My sayings and then He is linking doeth them, I will show to whom He is like. There's three things. You can't just come to Jesus Christ. And that's what a lot of people want to do. A lot of people want to do like Christmas that we just celebrated and they want to come to that babe in a manger. And they want to worship Him and they want to praise Him and they want to say, man, this is the Messiah. This is good. And then they want to walk away and go back to their own life. But He says, no, that's not what we do. What do we do? We first come to Him, but then we've got to hear Him. And you know, if I had a nickel for every time Jesus Christ said, and John says in the last chapter of John that He didn't even record everything that Jesus Christ said. If I just had a nickel for every time He said it in the Scriptures, He that hath ear to hear, let him hear. Man, I would be able to go and get me a coffee at a nice coffee shop right now. So He says it over and over and over. Listen, listen, you come to me, but you're not listening. You're not paying attention. And then He says, here's another step. Once you listen, then you've got to do. You've got to do. The Pharisees came to Jesus Christ, but they didn't want to hear what He had to say. And they sure didn't want to do what He wanted them to do. And that's what separated the Pharisees from His disciples, the ones that was following Him. And then He would get them over to the side after He had given them a parable or He had given them a teaching and what would He do? He would explain it. Why? Because they wanted to know. Lord, teach us more about this. Lord, explain this to us. Why? Because they wanted to know because they were eager to serve and they were eager to do. And then look what He says in verse 48. He gives us two illustrations. First of all, He is like a man which built a house and digged deep and laid the foundation on a rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon the house and could not shake it for it was founded upon the rock. And so notice this first disciple, this first follower. A true disciple, a true follower of Jesus Christ lays a genuine foundation. They build in a genuine place on a genuine foundation. Notice that they come to Christ. They hear Christ. They do what Christ says. And all three of these are very, very essential. And when you look at this passage of Scripture, go back. He said He is like a man which built the house. And then what did He do after that? He digged deep. He digged deep. And He laid the foundation where? On a rock. On a rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon the house and could not shake it for it was founded upon a rock. As you read this passage of Scripture, I want you to understand, He is not digging in sand. He's not digging in dirt. He has found Him a rock, and He is digging in it. When I was reading this passage of Scripture, it reminded me so much of Concepcion when we went down there to build where their new sanctuary is. They have literally built their church on a rock. And to dig that baptistry, we had to dig down five feet into a rock. It wasn't easy. It took time. It took effort. It took sweat. It took ability. All of this effort, all of this energy. And you can ask Brother Eric, and he can verify this for me tonight. The most expensive and costly thing that a builder can have is hitting a rock. Because it takes so much time to get rid of that rock to be able to build a house. But yet, that's the very best foundation that you can actually build on. And the builder chooses this rock as his foundation. And he did not just hit it while digging the footing, while getting ready to build his foundation. He knew the rock was there, but he chose it because this was the right foundation. And what did he do? He dug down into that rock. He wanted to make sure that this thing was really, really there. He deliberately chose the most sure and secure foundation available. And when he found it, what did he do? He dug down deep. He took no chances. He wanted to be absolutely sure. And he was willing to put both the time, the effort, and the cost into digging out this rock. It was difficult. It was exhausting. It was expensive. But yet, he did it. He did it. Because God told him that's where he's going to build a good house. And so when we think about that, why in the world would he do this? Why in the world would he put so much effort into digging into this rock for his foundation because it was his house? You know, if you're building something for yourself, you put a little bit more effort into what you're doing than if you're building something for someone else. Because it's special. It's your house. This is where you're going to be. And remember, we are all a spiritual house. And so he lays this foundation. He digs down into the rock. We know that Jesus Christ is the only foundation which we can build. He's the only one that we can structure our lives. There's no other foundation that we can come up with that is going to be better than Jesus Christ. He tells us in Ephesians 2 that we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. And so all of the Bible, where do we have the prophets in the Old Testament? Where do we have the apostles in the New Testament? Guess what? All of the Word of God is what we build our foundation on. All of it because it's all from God. And Jesus Christ is the one stone that comes and ties it all together. He's the one stone that if you remove it, guess what? The whole thing crumbles. The only reason that the Bible does not have any errors in it whatsoever because it had 40 authors, over 2,000 years of writing, and there's not one single error because Jesus Christ is what pulls every bit of it together. This is the most ridiculous thing until what? Jesus steps in. And when Jesus steps in, guess what? Three men can go into a fiery furnace and walk out without even smelling like smoke. A whole nation can go across a river on dry ground with the walls of water on either side. None of that makes sense. None of that can actually work in our world unless Jesus Christ is there. And so it's just simply amazing. And so Christ is that cornerstone. He's the one that holds it all together in 1 Peter 2.4. It says, "...to whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. You also, as a lively stone, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." See, Jesus Christ, you need to understand when we call Him Lord, He is not a lifeless rock. He's not just some rock out there in the middle of nowhere, but He is a living stone. He is a living stone. And when we come to Him as a living stone, what happens? We begin to build a spiritual house. That is, a living house. It's always moving. It's always going. If you go back right before He made them two verses instead of that, He starts off in verse 1. He says, "...Wherefore, laying aside all malice, all guile, all hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings..." And then look what He says, "...as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that we may grow thereby. If so be you have tasted..." That what? The Lord is gracious. He says, man, we ought to desire Jesus Christ. It's hard work. It's not easy. It doesn't just happen overnight. If you want to get to know Jesus Christ, it takes effort. It takes digging deep into the foundation. It takes sweat. It takes toil. It takes trials and tribulations. But trials and tribulations does what? It works patience. And that patience all of a sudden gives us knowledge, right? Because we see how that Jesus Christ has actually helped us. When we get past that point, if we're patient, if we endure, God sees us through, and guess what? We get to know more about God. And all of a sudden, that knowledge does what? It produces faith. And that faith is more trusting and more obedient. Well, He got me through that situation. Guess what? He'll get me through this situation. There's a storm coming on the horizon, but guess what? Jesus has saw me through before. He can handle it again. And that faith as it gets stronger and stronger in Him, all of a sudden turns into a hope. One of these days, I'm going to be like Jesus Christ. One of these days, I'm going to see Him. I'm going to a house that He's building. Can you imagine? If I can build a spiritual house here, can you imagine the house that Jesus Christ is building for me? And so man, the reality, the hope that is there. And so a true disciple, He works for it. He stands there. This house, our life He builds, stands against the storms of life for all of eternity. See, God doesn't promise us that everything is going to be roses. Someone said yesterday, I was watching something, and he made the statement, and I've heard several different other people that have made it during the past. You are either coming out of a storm. You're either going into a storm. You're in a storm right now, or there's a storm out there brewing on the horizon. Because guess what? There's going to be storms. They're going to happen. But life is not just going to be a bed of roses because storms come. But Jesus says, guess what? If you come to Me, and you listen to Me, and you obey Me, then guess what? When these storms come, they're not going to affect your life. They're not going to affect your joy and your ability. He tells us in Matthew 5 and verse 45, He says that you may be the children of the Father which is in heaven, for He maketh His Son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust. Just because you're a child of God doesn't mean storms are not going to happen in your life. This is the false teaching that a lot of preachers are preaching today. There's health, wealth, and prosperity gospel. Guess what? If you're a child of God, Jesus said, I suffer. And if I suffer, you're going to suffer. He said, and there's going to be things that are going to happen because that's just the way life is. Guess what? Life is corrupt. Everything that we have on earth is corrupt. Guess what? Eventually, you drive that car long enough, it's going to break down. No matter how wonderful you are, no matter how spiritual you are, guess what? That car is going to have problems because that's the way the world is because of sin is going. And so man, it's just going to happen. You think about storms in life. What are some storms that we go through in life? Sickness, right? You know, I told my wife, I said, man, I hope my daughter kicks my grandkids out of daycare for one more week. And let's see what happens after they come back. Because last winter, they were sick the whole thing long. This year, we've held them out of daycare and around all these other kids. And guess what? They haven't even had a sniffle this year. Now, they may next week. Who knows? But right now, they're staying good. But sickness is a storm. It's just going to happen, you know, no matter how careful you are. Guess what? I tried. I worked very hard. But guess what? I still caught COVID. It was a year and a half into it. But guess what? I still got it. And so sickness is going to happen. Sin in our life is going to happen. Temptations are going to come along. Temptations are storms. There's going to be suffering. There's going to be disappointment. Guess what? Any of you that have any family or relationships or do anything with other people, there's going to be tension in life. Tension is a storm, you know? But you just get around people and there's that tension. There's that deal. And not all tension is bad. We're all going to face death. There's going to be accidents. There's going to be complaining. There's going to be mistreatment. There's going to be abuse. There's going to be hospitalizations. But listen, if we build our life on Jesus Christ, when these storms happen and they're going to happen, to each and every one of us, there is no other foundation that can withstand the trouble, the problems, the evil, and even death in this world than Jesus Christ. Because even death is the worst thing that could happen to all of us. You know, you think about what's the worst thing that could happen in my life? A fire? Guess what? You could rebuild. If you're alive, you can get things back together. Maybe it's cancer. Guess what? People have survived and got through cancer. The only thing that's the worst thing that could happen to you is to die. But Jesus Christ said if you're a child of God and you're built on His foundation, you know what? Our body dies, but our spirit doesn't die because immediately we go to be in the presence of Jesus Christ. And so we never experience that death. And so notice what He said in Matthew 21, verse 42, Jesus said to them, did you never read the Scriptures? Did you never read the Scriptures? The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner. This is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. In 2 Timothy 2.19, He says, nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are His and let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. The storms are going to happen. The question is where's our foundation? Where are we dug down deep into? Another thought, when the storms come, no man falls if he's built his life upon Jesus Christ. You know, we talked a lot in Colossians about God taking and adopting us and making us His child. A child of His. God promises to provide us as a child of His, He's going to provide us with all of the necessities and things that we need in life. He's going to go above the necessities. And He said He is going to bless us with all spiritual blessings that we cannot even begin to imagine what God has laid out in life for us. But guess what? We have to be in His foundation. He even promises to work things out. When the storms come and the storms happen, to those that build wisely, He says in Romans 8.28, we know that all things work together for good to them that love God. Them who are called according to His purpose. In other words, you've got to be into His foundation. You've got to be built upon Him. God blesses those who hear the Word of God and keep His Word. God blesses us. And Christ promises joy to each and every one of us that hear and receive the things that He says. In John 15 and verse 11, Christ said, These things have I spoken unto you that My joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full. You go back to Philippians and what did Paul say to the church of Philippians? It was for the joy that Jesus Christ gave His life. That's the joy that God wants to give us. In Luke 6 and verse 49, He says, But he that heareth and doeth not is like a man that without a foundation built a house upon the earth against which the stream did beat vehemently. And immediately it fell. And the ruin of the house was great. This is the false disciple. Remember, both of them are calling on the Lord. Both of them are praying to Him as Lord. Both of them are witnessing Him as Lord. But they're building on different foundations. One's building on Jesus Christ. The other one is building upon the world. And notice what happens. This false disciple lays this counterfeit foundation. The house looks great. The house may be worth a lot. And everybody may want to live in that house, but guess what? When the foundation begins to crumble, nobody wants it. Nobody is there. Nobody is around. And so what is the false disciple? The false disciple is someone who denies and doesn't listen to Jesus Christ. Just ignores Him. What Christ said. He doesn't apply Himself to what God wants Him to do. The false disciple is one that is always too busy to listen to Christ. You know, I know what I need to do and I know where I need to do it, right? We don't take time just to be still and listen to the still, small voice of God and what He wants us to do in life. We don't think about the consequences of our actions. We just go to do it. We want to hurry up and get our house built. We want to get it done so that we can move in. And so he talks about this false disciple, this builder here. He doesn't build a house. He does build a house, but note this very critical point. Here's the instructions of the Master Builder. He goes and He listens. He gets His blueprint. Everything that is there. How do we listen to Jesus Christ? How does Christ speak to us today? He speaks to us through the Word of God. He speaks to us through the pastor. He speaks to us through Sunday school teachers. He speaks to us through people on Wednesday night. He speaks to you through friends and through maybe TV shows or maybe you listen to sermons or other things. All of these things that are focused and centered around the Word of God, this builder has listened to. He's been told how to build. He knows where to build. He knows exactly what God wants him to do. He knows what's expected of him. But then notice what happens. It's shocking that he does not build his house upon a rock. He takes all that time, all of that energy, and builds his foundation, not on the rock, but just right there in the dirt. Look at what he says. Jesus is shocked at this. How many times did He say, you've heard these prophets. You've read the prophets, right? But yet, you're not doing. You're not building upon Christ. You're rejecting Me. You're walking away. He says, why call you Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Notice when you look at this guy, the difference between the good disciple, the true disciple, and the false disciple. It says, the false disciple, when he heareth, he doeth not, is like a man without a foundation, built his house upon the earth against which the stream did not dig. Notice he doesn't dig at all. He just says he just built his house right there on the dirt. You know, you go, well, that's kind of level, you know, I think that'll work, man. I'm just going to start building my house. And he takes off and goes, why does he not dig? Have you ever thought about that? Why does this guy not dig? Maybe the rock's too hard. Maybe the rock is time consuming. It's demanding. Man, if I just go ahead and get started on this house, I can get it done. But man, if I have to get into that rock, it's going to take forever. You know, he fails to look ahead. He's not worried about the future. He's interested in right now. I can get this house going. I can get this house taken care of. And he wants to be doing something. You know, a lot of false disciples, they want to be doing something, but they're not doing what God wants them to do. And they're building a bad foundation. That's why he says there's going to be many in that day that are going to say what? Lord, Lord, did I not cast out devils? Did I not prophesy? Did I not do mighty works? Did I not do a lot? God, I was busy my entire life. And He says depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. And so man, I don't want to build that kind of house. I don't want to be a foolish builder. And notice he lays no foundation. There is absolutely no mention of a footing. As a matter of fact, it says a man without a foundation. He didn't build a footing. What a tragedy. He knew better, but yet he ignored the blueprints. He ignored the directions in life. He heard, as we mentioned a while ago, all of what the prophets said. He's seen the apostles. He's heard what the apostles have wrote. He's heard what Jesus Christ wants them to do. And then he just turns around and goes and does something totally opposite. You know what's the biggest heartbreak for a pastor? When he pours his heart out with the Word of God, and he tells you and he shows you how you can have life and life more abundantly, you just walk out and ignore it. And I would rather you not even show up. I would rather you not even live, or just be out frank. Preacher, I'm not doing none of that, but to go out and pretend that we've got it all together and not do anything that we say. And you know what happens when you've been around 15, 16, 15, 14, 15 years, and you start seeing children and stuff coming up, and you tell them all the time, man, why don't you have them kids in church, and then when they become teenagers, now I want you to come and straighten them out. I want you to show them what's right. Why is my life all messed up now? He lays no foundation, no footing, and so notice he's not listening. In Matthew 13, 17, he says, For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which you see, and have not seen them. And to hear those things which you hear, and have not heard them. You know who Jesus Christ said it was going to be worse on in eternity? The Pharisees or Sodom and Gomorrah. It's going to be worse for the Pharisees, because they have had every opportunity. You know, for some Christians that have sat in church their entire life, when they stand before Jesus Christ, and all of a sudden, everything that they've built goes up in smoke. There's no foundation. There is nothing that is there. You know, they're going to get ready. They want to point the finger if they want to do, but guess what? They've had every opportunity to hear and to obey. Every man's work will be made manifest. He tells us in 1 Corinthians 3.13 that everything that you're building one of these days is going to be revealed. You know, you may fool the preacher. You may fool your spouse. You may fool your neighbor, but guess what? When God appears on your workmanship, He's going to know. You're not going to be able to fool Him. It says, "...for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire. And the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is." See, when you build upon sand, when you build upon this world and the world's idea, it is a false trust. It is a trust that is no good. And your faith and your trust are in the wrong thing. And you're going to come up at the end disappointed. Solomon said in Proverbs 11.28, "...he that trusteth in his riches shall fall, but the righteous shall flourish as a branch." See, are you trusting in what you can do? Or what? You notice the branch? Remember we talked about I am the vine, you are the branches. The branch has absolutely nothing to do with the fruit. It's the vine that does it. It's not me, but He just bears the fruit. Are we trusting in ourself? Or are we trusting in our foundation? That's what Solomon is saying. What are we trusting in? In Proverbs again, Proverbs 28, verse 26, he said, "...he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. But whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered." Another verse in Isaiah 47.10, "...for thou hast trusted in thy wickedness, thou hast said, none seeketh me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge it hath perverted thee, and thou hast said in thy heart, I am, and none else beside me." And I could go and give you verse after verse after verse where he tells us, don't trust in the veins of this world. Don't trust your heart. Don't trust your dreams, your conscience, your aspirations. Our foundation is in Jesus Christ. The person who builds upon the sands of this world of sin are going to fall. Again, Proverbs 11.5, "...the righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way, but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness." 1 Corinthians 3.13, we read this just a minute ago, but in verse 14 he says, "...if any man's work abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss. But he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire." In 1 Thessalonians 5.2 he says, "...for you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord is so coming as a thief in the night." We don't know when Christ is coming back, but notice what he says in the next verse, "...for when they shall say, Peace and safety." He said, man, look at my glorious house. Look at what I have built for Jesus Christ. Look at what I've done. "...then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape." The wise man built his house where? Up on the rock. The foolish man built his house up on sand. What kind of house are you building? What kind of house in 2025 do you want to build? See, if you're going to build a good house, a spiritual house, a house of Christ Jesus Christ, you're going to have to listen to Moses. They couldn't do it. You wouldn't do it. You wouldn't do it. All those things are what? Secret things. And what's going to happen? We're going to wake up one day and a storm is going to come. We're going to think, man, I'm here in this boat. You know, I'm all good and everything. Remember Jesus Christ was coming around and the water just hit? And what happened? The disciples were afraid because there was a storm coming around. What was Jesus? And it was the saints. Now, how in the world can you sleep through that storm? You know, they've got to wake them up. Jesus, are you going to let us die out here? We're not going to die. What do you mean we're not going to die? I think God has a different plan. I'm not going to die at sea. And if I'm in this ship, guess what? God's not going to let this ship go back. I'm going to die on the cross. God prepared for me to die at this place. So if you just trust me, guess what? I'm worried about the storm. Well, we can come around here and take a nap with me. And what do you notice? There were beautiful waters and immediately the storm was gone. Christ can do that now if we build a home, you know, a good salvage. Now, if a storm's coming, they're going to come. Wouldn't it be better just to have Jesus Christ speaking and singing and everything, you know? And all of a sudden, the storm's gone and your house is still standing there, your shelter and your joy and peace and happiness in your house and your charity and Christ in your life, you know? That's what the Holy Bible says. What do you notice? H511. First, Lord God, we pray that you're thanking the five more lives and having the courage to be more. We thank you for this year that we've come into, this new year, Lord, that we pray that you'll bless us, bless this earth, bless this people of Pascha and this country as we work to do good. Lord, it's a great thing to be done here this year in the Lord. We lift up all the spirits and the bishops as we mention the praying oil we ask that you keep the weak ones in your service, we ask that you warm our hearts and our mental health as we pray by the Holy Spirit. Lord, we ask you to give us more standing in your countenance and we ask you to thank the five more lives. Amen. Don't forget, you're out there, you've got the courage and the grit and the courage out there for you. Make sure you get them up and sign their one word on that pamphlet out there. I need more than that. I don't have it.