Build your life on what lasts

Let's go to the scriptures and see what He has done for us today, amen? Let's read in Colossians, it says this, For you were dead because of your sins, and because of your sinful nature was not yet cut away. But thank God made you alive with Christ. Say, alive with Christ. Amen, amen. For He forgave all our sin. He canceled the record of the charges against us. And took it away by nailing it to the cross. Amen. And that's why we come in this morning, freed, redeemed, celebrating with joy what Jesus has done for us. That He's washed away our sin, and He's nailed it to the cross. Amen church? And so come on, let's get our hands together, let's praise Him. Let's give Him the honor that He deserves today. Hey, hey, hey, hey. Oh we love you, Jesus. Oh come on, let's put our hands together and sing. I'm shaking off the heaviness, I'm dancing out of my regrets. I'm throwing caution to the wind, for I am not ashamed to praise like this. Some will say it's foolishness, but I say it's worth the risk. I can't forget what Jesus did, no I am not ashamed to praise like this. Where are the shames, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone, how can it be? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, looking what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way I was, I've seen how dancers are healed. I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free, yes. Come on, here we go. Father, friend, I've found a friend that never quits. No other love is good as this.

I don't care what anyone says, I'm not ashamed to praise like this. Where are those chains that once held me? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone, how can it be? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, looking what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way I was, I've seen how dancers are healed. I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free. You took the cross and you broke your body. You shed your blood, now the sinner can't see. My debt is paid and my record is clean. I couldn't do it, but you did it for me. You took the cross and you broke your body. You shed your blood, now the sinner can't see. I take space, so my records clean. I couldn't do it, but you did it for me. You took the cross and you broke your body. You shed your blood, now the sinner can't see. My debt is paid and my record is clean. I couldn't do it, but you did it for me. I couldn't do it, so you give it to me. I couldn't do it, so you give it to me. I couldn't do it, so you give it to me. I couldn't do it, so you give it to me. Where are those chains that once held me? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sins don't have names. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. I'm never going back to where I was. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free.

You took the cross and you broke your body. You shed your blood, now the sinner can't see. My debt is paid and my record is clean. I couldn't do it, but you took the cross and you broke your body. You shed your blood, now the sinner can't see. My debt is paid and my record is clean. I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it. So why not be good? ♪ I was going back to the way I was ♪ Come on, give Him praise. We thank you, God. Psalms 34, verses three and four. David says, Oh, magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord and He heard me and He delivered me from all my fears. ♪ Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine ♪ ♪ He's been my fourth man in the fire time after time ♪ ♪ Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood ♪ ♪ And what He did for me on Calvary is more than enough ♪ ♪ So I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail ♪ ♪ My Savior, the one who will never fail, He will never fail ♪ ♪ I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail ♪ ♪ He will never fail ♪ ♪ Perfect submission, all is at rest ♪ ♪ I know the author of tomorrow, the Lord in my stead ♪ ♪ The Lord in my stead, so this is my story ♪

♪ This is my song, my song, praising my risen King and Savior all the day long ♪ ♪ And I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail ♪ ♪ The one who will never fail, He will never fail, I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail, He will never fail ♪ ♪ He will never fail, He will never fail, I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail, He will never fail, I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail, I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail, I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail, I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail, I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail, I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail, I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail, I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail, I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail, I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail, I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. ♪ Sometimes when we say that we trust in God, we're like, God, I trust you with this thing, but we don't quite release it yet, you know what I mean? Like, it's like, God, I trust you with all of this. I'm just going to hold on just in case. I'm going to invite our prayer team to come forward right now. Maybe you're here today, and you've said that you've trusted God with something, but you're still holding a little too tight to the strings. I encourage you to come forward, and we'd love to pray with you, pray for you, pray for that thing, but also pray to help you release these very things, because God's like, hey, by the way, I've got it. God has proven trustworthy. This is why we trust Him. It's not a blind trust. It's a very educated trust. But this is the God that has made blind men see. He can handle your work issue. This is the God who you put your faith in, your eternity in. He can handle your finances, right? Maybe you're here today, and there's something that you just, you haven't even gotten there yet. You haven't even gotten to the point where you're like, hey, God, I trust you with this thing. I'd encourage you to come forward. Don't worry about the people next to you. We can make some room, tap them on the shoulder. That's what this time is for, for us to come to the feet of our Father who says, I love you enough. Let me handle this for you. Lay your burdens upon me. My yoke is easy. And maybe you're here, and there's something specific that you you need prayer for, will you join me in carrying the burdens of this house together? I'm gonna pray for a handful of prayer requests, representative of the many. If you're comfortable, would you just extend a hand this morning? God, we come before you, recognizing, giving you full trust for all things because we recognize you are the God worthy of our trust. You have proven time and time and time again that you are a God that can be trusted, that everything that we've placed at your feet, that you have taken it and you have cared so deeply. You've shown up. You've never forgotten us.

You've never forsaken us, Lord. You've never led us astray, God. And so we come before you with the burdens of this house, believing that you have big plans for them. So God, we come before you, praying for summer camp this week, praying for local youth camp, believing that you're going to work in it. God, we thank you in advance for what you're going to do this week. We thank you for the protection that you'll provide. We thank you for strengthening the team. We thank you for multiplying the sleep, Lord, so that people are energized and those leaders are showing up with love and grace and truth, God. But most of all, we thank you that your spirit will meet them there, that the youth of this church will come to know you and their lives will be transformed and it won't be for a moment, it won't be for a day, it won't be for a week, it will be for an eternity. And that the middle schools and high school campuses in South Florida will look more like the church than ever before because what you're going to do this week at local youth camp, we thank you in advance for the work that you're going to do. We come alongside the burdens of this house, Lord. We pray for Jan, who's being hospitalized right now. She's got internal bleeding and pneumonia and complications.

We pray for your healing hands upon her body. You have done it once before, you can do it again, God. We thank you in advance for the healing that you're going to bring for her. God, we pray for Tomas, Lord, coming alongside his son, praying for his father, Lord, for an achy body, God, for a hurt shoulder and hurt knees. God, I pray that you would strengthen his body. I pray that you would bring healing. I pray that he would be renewed energy and new life in his bones, Lord, that he could step into the path that you have for him. He can continue to do the work you set before him with purpose, on purpose, with passion, God. We pray for the people in this room right now, carrying burdens they weren't meant to carry, God. We pray that they would leave them at your feet. Pray for the people in this room right now who are facing battles that they were never expecting to face. We thank you in advance that you are working against those battles. We thank you for what you are doing in the spiritual, Lord, and that you show up in the natural and the supernatural, Lord. We pray for the people in this room right now who are carrying the burden of anxiety, who are carrying the burden of addiction, who are carrying the burden of mourning, Lord. We pray that you would just hold their hearts,

you'd hold them so tight, Lord, you'd bring hope and healing in their circumstance, God. We thank you that you're showing up. We thank you that you've proven trustworthy. We thank you that we get to run before you, Lord, and you carry our burdens with such joy. You carry them with trust, Lord. We love and praise you. It's a great day to pray. We love you, amen and amen. ♪ I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ That's why I trust Him That's why I trust Him ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ That's why I trust Him That's why I trust Him ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ That's why I trust Him That's why I trust Him ♪ ♪ And God, my Savior, the one who will never fail ♪ ♪ He will never fail He will never fail ♪ ♪ I saw Him and God, my Savior, the one who will never fail ♪ ♪ He will never fail He will never fail ♪ ♪ I taught the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ I saw the Lord, and He heard me answer. ♪ I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪

♪ I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ That's why I trust Him. That's why I trust Him. I saw the Lord And He heard me answer. I saw the Lord And He heard me answer. I saw the Lord And He heard me answer. That's why I trust Him. That's why I trust in God. Oh, we trust in God. That's why I trust Him. That's why I trust in God. Yes, we trust in God. Oh, remind our souls of your faithfulness. We thank you, Jesus. Come on, church, let's lift it up one more time. I saw the Lord, and He heard me answer. I saw the Lord Oh, He's delivered us. He's redeemed us. He's healed us. That's why I trust Him. That's why I trust Him. I saw the Lord And He heard me answer. He's provided. And He heard me answer. He's saved and redeemed.

And He heard me answer. Thank you, Jesus. That's why I trust Him. That's why I trust in God. In every season, You're true. In every moment, You're there. As rain came and wind blew, sing. As rain came and wind blew, my house was built on I'm safe with You I'm gonna make it Put your voice in faith. As rain came and wind blew, my house was built on I'm safe with You I'm gonna make it Sing, I'm gonna make it through I'm gonna make it I'm standing strong on you I'm gonna make it through I'm gonna make it My house was built on you I'm gonna make it through I'm gonna make it through I'm standing strong I'm standing strong I'm gonna make it through I'm gonna make it through My house, my house was built on you Oh, we thank you, Jesus

You're faithful, God Yes, you're faithful, God Yes Oh, we thank you, God We trust you, God We trust you, God Yes, we trust you, God Sing Christ, come on Christ is my firm foundation Lift your voice The rock on which I stand And everything around me shaking I've never been more glad I've never been more glad Yeah He's never let me down He's never let me down Yes, he's faithful So I will keep it high He won't He won't I still got joy in chaos I got peace that makes no sense I won't be going out ♪ I'm not held by my own strength ♪ ♪ Cause I built my life on Jesus ♪ Oh yes we do. ♪ He's never let me down ♪ He's faithful, come on. ♪ He's faithful in every season ♪

Somebody testify. ♪ So why would he fail now ♪ ♪ He won't, he won't fail ♪ ♪ He won't fail, he won't fail ♪ Come on cry it out. ♪ He won't, he won't fail ♪ ♪ He won't, he won't fail, he won't fail ♪ Let's take a groove. ♪ Past is my firm foundation ♪ ♪ No rock or bridge I'll stand ♪ ♪ With everything around me shaking ♪ ♪ I've never been more glad ♪ ♪ That I put my faith in Jesus ♪ ♪ He's never let me down ♪ ♪ He's faithful through generations so far ♪ ♪ So I would be there now ♪ ♪ He won't, he won't, he won't fail, he won't fail ♪ ♪ Oh he won't fail ♪ Yes we thank you Jesus. You're faithful to us. No matter our circumstance. Let's give this song to him right now. Rain came, wind blew. Yes we thank you God, you're faithful. ♪ Rain came, wind blew, my house was built on you. ♪ Sing with me. I'm saved, I'm saved with you. Yes and faith declare. ♪ Rain came, wind blew, my house was built on you. ♪ ♪ I'm saved with you, I'm gonna make it through. ♪

♪ Rain came, wind blew, my house was built on you. ♪ ♪ I'm saved with you, I'm gonna make it through. ♪ ♪ I'm gonna make it through. ♪ ♪ I'm standing strong on you. ♪ ♪ I'm standing strong on you. ♪ ♪ I'm gonna make it through. ♪ ♪ I'm gonna make it through. ♪ ♪ My house was built on you. ♪ ♪ My house was built on you. ♪ ♪ I ceased my third foundation. ♪ ♪ The rock on which I stand. ♪ ♪ Everything around me is shaking. ♪ ♪ I've never been more glad. ♪ ♪ Because I put my faith in Jesus. ♪ ♪ He's never let me down. ♪ ♪ He's faithful through generations. ♪ ♪ So I will be faithful now. ♪ ♪ He won't fail. ♪ ♪ He won't fail. ♪ ♪ He won't fail. ♪ ♪ He won't fail. ♪ ♪ No, He won't. ♪ ♪ He won't. ♪ ♪ He won't fail. ♪ ♪ He won't fail. ♪ ♪ No, He won't. ♪ Father, we're so grateful that your presence is here with us, full of grace and truth. You've done everything so that we can approach you with confidence. God, we know some of us right now, it feels fake for us to sing these songs of victory

because if we're honest, what's happening around us is overwhelming. But you've given us this incredible gift of being able to worship you with your words, your promises that never fail, your truth that sets us free, God. So Lord, I pray that the songs of our lips would be the declaration of our hearts, that it would grow our faith as we declare, you are faithful. You've never let us down. Our life is built on you. And so we will make it through, Jesus. Thank you so much that you love us. Thank you, God, that you're going to teach us, that you're going to grow us, that in our time together, it is not wasted. In our time together, we can have faith in our feet and hope in our heart, Lord. I pray that you would just free our mind of every distraction as we open up your word today, that you would grow us and then send us out to do infinitely more above anything we can imagine or think. That's the God and Father that you are. You're so faithful to us. Thank you for what you're about to do, Lord. We give you this time, we give you our lives and we pray all of this in the name of Jesus and all God's people said. Come on, church, if you are grateful to be in the presence of God for the people of God, let's give them praise. Turn to a few people as you're having a seat and say, I'm so glad I'm sitting next to you today. Before we continue on through the worship of opening God's word, we're going to respond with our giving right now of our tithes and offerings. And so if you've come prepared to give us part of your worship today, I'm so grateful for your generosity to and through the church. If you're a guest with us, we're so glad you're here. We have some instructions for you at the conclusion of service. We want to give a gift to you. But this is not for you. Those of us who call Jesus our Savior, this is how we respond

with gratitude. And so several ways you can do so. Our service guides are going to be passing down some buckets. We have a giving kiosk out in the lobby, some boxes in the back. A lot of you, you automate what's important to you. But the most important thing the Bible says, don't give out of guilt or compulsion. The Bible says He loves a cheerful giver. And the reason why we not just give Him our, our, our treasure, but our time, our talent, our lives, is because God has been so good. Amen. I want to welcome you once again to the perfect place for imperfect people to experience the presence of God. I'm Eric. And what a gift it is to be able to teach God's word here today. As we began, I want to get a feel of who's here today. I know summer started. And, and so we have some guests who are with us today. Some church family who may be watching online or out of town. So I just want to get a feel for who's in the room. By show of hands, I got two questions. I want you to respond by raising your hand if this is you. How many of you, when you go to a restaurant, you look at the menu and you start eliminating immediately all the things you don't like? Is that you? Show of hands. Like my wife. Liver and onions? Gross. Mushrooms? Disgusting. I get offended whenever I see a salad on a menu. It's like, why would you waste ink and paper to, to put down grass and stuff? It makes no sense to me. All right. Quite a few of you. Okay. Here's the second question. By show of hands, how many of you, you don't even look at the menu because you already know what you're going to get? Wow. A whole lot more of you. Okay. Yeah. And if you're married, maybe you've heard from your spouse one day. Why don't you order something different today? My response is because I know what I want and I'm only going to get what I want, woman. I

wouldn't add that last part. That, that, that'll get you in trouble. Most people don't approach a menu looking for what the chef thinks is best for us. What do we do? We scan for our own preferences. We look for what sounds good to us. We skip what we don't think we'll enjoy. And let me tell you, that's perfectly fine. You, you can do that. You can do you that way when you go to a restaurant. But that's a terrible decision when it comes to reading the Word of God. And if we're not careful, we can treat Scripture the same way. We only like to read what comforts us. We only go over the verses and the promises we love and we quietly move past all the parts that challenge us, or convict us, or call us to change in our life. Church Amelia, hear this. God did not give us His Word to treat as a menu where we pick and choose based on our preferences. He gave us His Word as a manual for life, as a master plan. for our living. And His Word will begin to lose its power for our life the moment we start picking and choosing which parts matter to us based on our preferences. When we do that, we're no longer building like we sang upon His Word, upon the rock. We're building it on our own lives. We're building it on our preferences. Today we're starting a new teaching series titled, It's All in the Word. It's our second year of committing as a church to go all in for the ones that we love. And this title, it's also a declaration because I'm telling you everything you're looking for, it's all in the Word. The hope that you're praying for can be found in God's words. The peace that you're chasing after, it can be found in the Word of God. All the strength that you need for all that's ahead, all of it is all in the Word of God. But this Word, this living and active and powerful Word will do nothing in our life until we start filtering, until we stop filtering it. It's not enough for us to simply admire the Bible or say, I believe the Bible. Every single one of us, we have to answer the question one day, is this something that I simply admire or is this what I will surrender my life

to? I want you to turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter 7. Now I asked you last week, if you have a physical Bible that you would bring it throughout this teaching series. So if you have a physical Bible, would you just put it in the air right now and wave it like you just don't care? All right. Listen, if you don't have a physical Bible, let us know in a Connect card. We will give one for free to you as a gift. But I would encourage you, church, to bring it every week during this series. Matthew chapter 7. As you're turning there, let me give you the context. Jesus, He's, He's about to finish the Sermon on the Mount. Perhaps the most important and the most powerful sermon that any person has ever preached in history. For three chapters, He tells us what the kingdom of God looks like on earth and what it actually means to follow Jesus. And then at the conclusion of this powerful preaching, He ends with a simple story. A lot of you, you're familiar with this story. We, we mentioned it several times over the past several weeks. It's a story of two builders. Two people who built two different homes. One was on sand and one was on a rock. Then a storm came. One fell and one stood. There's no twist ending. There's no surprises in it. Yet Jesus uses this simple story to conclude the most powerful preaching to man. Why? Because He wants us to listen. So I want to read together. And I want to read it out loud. In fact, we're gonna do this a little bit different in this teaching series than we've ever done. If you've ever, maybe you grew up in the church where they would stand for the reading of the Word of God. I want to do that in this series. So would you stand to your feet right now? And the reason we're gonna do that is because when someone important walks in, we honor them by standing to our feet, right? If a lady that we love or someone that we honor comes in, we stand to our feet. We're standing in reverence to the Word of God because it's not simply a book that's on our shelf. This is the living, active promises of God for us. So let's read this out loud, all together. Matthew chapter 7, starting in verse 24. Let's read it. It says, Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came and

the winds blew and beat on that house and it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. Verse 26. 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. And if you used to do this in the church you grew up in, maybe, you know, at the end of the reading we'd say, this is the Word of God. You may have a seat. Now we didn't really have to read that out loud. Many of you, you're familiar with this passage. If you've been here for the past five weeks, you know we made mention of this almost every week. But let me remind you what he doesn't say. What Jesus doesn't say. He doesn't say that one of them heard the Word and the other one didn't. He didn't say one went to church and one of them, because it was summer, they stayed at home. No, they both heard the same information. The only difference was with what one of them did with what he heard when he heard it. And church, I'm telling you, this is a difference between a life that stands up and one that falls down. It's not admiring. It's not hearing. It's obeying. Obedience is what I want to talk about today. I want to give three truths today. Three truths for us to grab onto and apply to our life. And when we apply these three truths, it will, it will create for us a foundation that will not be shaken when difficulties and storms hit our life. The first one to write down is this. God's Word replaces ... my foundation. God's Word, it replaces my foundation. Listen, everyone, they're building their life on something. It's not if you have a foundation. The question is, what is your foundation? I want you to turn to your neighbor and ask them that question. Ask them, what are you building your life upon? Okay, now the person asked you. Now I want you to respond to them. Tell them what you're building your life upon. And as, as they're responding to you, I want you to quote the famous theologian, Dwayne the Rock Johnson, and tell them, it doesn't matter what you're doing. Go ahead and do it. If our foundation is not the Word of God, it doesn't matter. Because every other foundation that we build upon eventually will begin to shift. Some people, they, they build their, their, their

life upon culture. Culture changes all the time. Do you remember several years ago when everyone had to have a hoverboard? Remember those, those things and people would make videos around Christmas time. They'd fall off and crack their head. Then after that, what was it? It was fidget spinners. Everyone, everyone had to have a fidget spinner. Then it was Stanley Cups for some reason. NFTs. All these things have come and gone. Feelings change. A lot of people, they build their foundation on, on what makes them feel good. But one day you could feel good because you made a post on Instagram and 10 people liked it. Then the next day you feel terrible because you made three more posts and not a single engagement. Every foundation will change. Success comes and goes. Relationships, they fail. They're imperfect because we're imperfect people. Jesus says there's only one foundation that will never shift. One foundation that's strong enough to carry the weight of our life. And it's the only foundation that will keep us secure when storms hit our lives. And what is that foundation? The foundation is the Word of God. A year ago we committed as a church and we proclaimed, God we're all in. We're all in for our ones. And we are praying and we said, God whatever it takes for, for a thousand more people, a thousand more ones that are personal to us, that you would trust us with, and that we would pray and fast and see them saved and set free, and taking a step of obedience and baptism. And we committed ourselves to whatever it costs, whatever it takes, whatever God is asking for us. And as we've, as we've made our life a priority to, to go and pursue after that one, God has been trusting us with more people that here we are at the place where we're actually finally talking about breaking ground and, and building and expansion. And as you see things happening around this facility, I want to let you know that, that one thing that every builder knows is before a single wall goes up, before anything impressive is revealed or visible, someone has to pay attention to the foundation. The most important part of the building is the part that nobody else sees, right? No, no one goes to a construction site and says, oh my goodness, look how beautiful that concrete foundation is. I want one of those in my house, right? No one does that.

No new business takes a picture of the floor and the post goes viral. But yet every builder knows that if we don't have a solid foundation, if the foundation is not firm, if the foundation is wrong, nothing else matters. You can have beautiful architecture. You can have impressive walls, expensive finishes. You can have a full room. But if the foundation is weak, eventually everything will fall apart. Say foundation. God wants us to have a solid foundation. And a foundation is not what you say you believe. That's not what your foundation is. Your foundation is the actual thing underneath everything else. The foundation of your life is what you actually trust most. This is why foundation is so important, because it's easy for us to say we trust in God. It's easy for us to sing, I trust in you my Savior. But it's much more difficult to to decide whether or not that's actually honest. To discover whether that's actually true. See, I learned something about my life over the past several years. The times in my life where I struggled spiritually, there was no confusion about what God said. I knew exactly what God said. I just didn't like it. The times that I got the most trouble in my life, I had clarity of what God's Word taught me. I just wanted a different answer. And isn't that true for a lot of us? We're not ... for more information. We already know generally what His Word says about purity and holiness and generosity and sacrifice. The issue is not information or confusion of that information. The struggle is our surrender to His Word. The struggle is, will we trust it? Will we trust what God's Word says more than how I feel in the moment? That's a struggle that we have. Will I trust what God says more than what culture says is right? Will I trust what God says more than what seems easier than what's going on in this moment? Listen, we can quote Scripture all day long but still make our decisions based on fear, right? We can come to church every single week and still let culture shape our worldview more than His Word. This is why Jesus said, it wasn't the wise men who admired the Word or who read the Word. It's the one who obeyed it. Church, and that's the invitation today. Not to admire the Bible or to simply

agree with it, but to build our life upon it. And He's not asking us to let it be part of our foundation. He wants to replace our foundation. He wants us to be the only thing that we build our life upon. Because when we start building our life upon this, then we stop living our life on, on what culture says. We start, we stop living our life based on what other people say, rather on what God's Word says. We start living our life not in reaction, but revelation. We don't ask, how do I feel? We, we ask, what does His Word say? Because His Word is good. His Word is honest. His Word is truth that sets us free. His Word will grow us. His Word will mature us and lead to our holiness. Amen? I felt a little reluctant there. I get it. Here's a challenge though. Knowing cognitively that God's Word is the right foundation doesn't mean that we'll automatically build our life upon. This is the second truth I want you to write down is this. God's Word requires my response. It requires my response. Again, both builders, they heard the same word. The difference wasn't access to the truth. The difference was, am I applying it? I'll tell you, we live in a time in history where we have more Bible reading plans. We have more podcasts. We have more, more digital Bibles and, and Bible apps. More sermons available to our fingertips than any other time in human history. And if information alone was what produced spiritual maturity, we would be the strongest church that the world has ever seen. But Jesus reminds us that hearing and doing are not the same thing. Right? It's possible to know the Word of God and not allow it to transform your life. If you don't believe me, ask your atheist friend who's read the Bible more times than you. Has anything changed for them? No. I pray you take notes. Because what you write down, you have the tendency to better remember. But hear this. You can write down notes all throughout the sermon time. You can highlight your Bible from cover to cover. You can listen to worship music every single day of the week, and still never do what Jesus asks you to do. The issue isn't whether the Word hits our ears. It's, is it affecting our lives? I want you to turn to James. Chapter 1, verse 22. This is Jesus' little earthly brother, who, by the way, gave his life up. Died a martyr's death because he believed that his older brother was actually the Son of God.

Listen what he wrote. He said, but be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Let me tell you, that's one of the strongest warnings in the Bible. James says the person who's in danger is not the person who hasn't heard the Word. He said the person who's in the most danger is the one who's heard the Word, and assumed that hearing it was enough. He's saying it's possible to confuse, and mistake agreement with God's Word, and church attendance for obedience. You can do all the things, and never actually obey what God asks you to do. And James says that's self-deception. You're deceiving yourself. I'm glad you're here today, but, but hear this. God is not impressed by how many sermons you've listened to. He's impressed by how many you've actually put into practice. It's not simply that we know and have read the truth. It's, are we walking in his truth? Are we walking in obedience to it? That's where the change happens. Let me paint the picture this way. Let's pretend, or maybe safely assume, that in this room there are two couples that are struggling with their marriage. Both came to the same service. Both heard the same message. Both took the same notes. That afterwards, one goes to the car and continues to live their life like nothing's changed. Act the same way, talk the same way, behave the same way. The other person gets to the car and realizes something needs to change. I need to have a conversation. I need to apologize. I need to repent. I need to call somebody up for help

because the way that I'm living, I'm convicted, is not the way I should live anymore and I need to change something. Now, neither one of them are perfect. Neither one of them figured all of it out, but one of them turned their hearing of God's Word into doing. And this is the difference. This is the point Jesus is trying to make. The difference between someone who built their house on a rock and someone who built it on shifting sand is obedience. The person who built their house on the rock, all they simply did was took a next step of what God was asking them to do. And let me tell you, today is the perfect weekend for us to understand this passage because it's Serve Team Weekend. As you leave today, you'll see all of these different booths with various ways that you can get connected and serve here, whether it's kids ministry or student ministry, greeters, service guides, production, groups, prayer. There's so many ways that you can get connected and serve here at the local church. Now, I want you to hear my heart, okay? This isn't some volunteer drive. This isn't some recruitment push. This isn't about making you guys work for free so the ministry runs a little bit smoother here.

No, this is about discipleship. This is about looking and living more like Jesus because I'm telling you, one of the easiest ways to move from hearing to doing is through serving. When we serve, God grows the gifts that He's given us. When we are part of what He's building in His church, He develops us, He helps us to start to see that this is not simply a place where we attend and where we consume and where we simply receive, but He's using us to build this up, to grow this, to bring the kingdom of heaven down to earth. Some of you, you've been coming here for months, you've been coming here maybe for years, you love this place, you're grateful for this place, but you're sitting around on the sidelines and watching everyone else build. Can I lovingly encourage you today that there's more for you? God wants to grow what He's placed inside of you. God wants to mature you and use your life, not in mundane ways, but in ways that you've never imagined as you serve other people through His church. And there are things that God can only develop in you when you're in the game, not when you're sitting on the sidelines. Find a place to jump in, find a place to serve, find a place to build, there's more for you. Now, let me make this clear as I make this charge, okay? Don't think that your next step is going to be your final step.

Don't put the pressure on yourself to find the perfect place on day one. Most people don't discover their calling because they went home and they thought about it, right? They discover their calling as they were actually serving, as they were actually doing the work of ministry for Jesus. So I encourage you, serve faithfully, serve with excellence, give it six months. And at the end of six months, if you say, Eric, I love this church and I love Jesus, but I don't love middle schoolers. We're gonna tell you, that's okay. We'll find another place for you to fit where you serve. We're not trying to hold you down to something you don't like. This isn't the Hotel California of serve teams, all right? There is a way out. Maybe you're not called to hold the camera. Maybe you realize I'm called to hold babies. I'm called to hold little children when they're crying so mom and dad can worship God without distraction. Maybe you're not called to sing. And trust me, we know if you're not called to sing, okay? That one's really easy to discover. But maybe you're called to pray for people. Maybe where you fit best is. helping people, and being the first preacher on property, on the parking team. The goal is not to find an excuse not to serve. The goal is to find out where God has you to serve. Because I'm telling you,

there's a place. There's a place in his kingdom. There's a place in his church where God wants to use your life in ways you can't imagine. Same is true when, when we read his words. Serving is not just filling out an application and filling a spot, just like reading the Word of God isn't filling out and checking off boxes in a Bible reading plan. As a church, starting tomorrow, for the next 21 days, we're going to be reading the Gospel of John together as a church. We're going to read one chapter a day. We're going to go chapter by chapter for the next 21 days. Why 21 days? Well, there's 21 chapters in the book of John, but also because all the research shows that if you do something for three weeks straight, if you do something for 21 days, it's more likely to become an ongoing habit in your life. We want to create a habit in our lives of, of reading the Word of God, of honoring the Word of God. And when we do, when we spend time in his Word, he builds us up. He grows us. He matures us. And because growth happens not simply by reading the Word of God, but by responding to the Word of God that's spoken or, or read to us. Every day, like we do every Sunday, we're going to ask this question as we read the Gospel of John together. God, what are you teaching me? We're not going to tell you what he's teaching you. We're going to give you a theme for the week. We're going to give you a theme for the chapter. And then we just want you to read and ask, God, what are you teaching me? What do I need? Your, your, your Word is living and active and powerful. We'll talk about that in a few weeks. It speaks to my current situation. What are you teaching me today? And perhaps more importantly, what do you want me to do about it today? How do you want me to apply this in my life? I'm telling you, over the next three weeks as we read God's Word together, he's going to grow us.

He's going to give some peace to some weary hearts. He's going to convict some wandering hearts. He's going to strengthen some of our hearts that are weary. He's going to give us direction. He's going to deepen our love for him as we open up his love letter for us. God is going to grow us. I can't wait to see what God does in and through your life. But one of the first things that the Holy Spirit does when, when we read his Word as a whole and not just cherry-picked verses that we like, one of the first things he does when we consume it, like an omakase. You ever been to an omakase? You know what that word means? It's a Japanese way, I think, of saying, the chef is right. They just give you, this is what you're going to eat. You don't get to pick. You don't get to make changes. When we consume his Word like an omakase and not like the Golden Corral Buffet where I pick and choose the things that I like, one of the first things that he does is he reveals what we're built on. That's the next truth I want you to write down. God's Word reveals what I'm built on. Remember, Jesus describes this storm the same way for both builders. He says same rain, same wind, same waves, same storm for both people. What does that teach us? That we're not exempt from difficulty. We're not exempt from danger. Whether you're a new believer, or mature believer, whether you live in Parkland or Hialeah, it doesn't matter. Storms affect every single one of us. One thing I want us to note, because I think we have the tendency to miss this every time we read this, is I want us to recognize when did the builder's house fall? Not a trick question. When? Rick, you know the answer. When did it fall? During the storm, right? Not during the building. Which means this person, they built their home oblivious to the fact that their foundation

was not strong enough. They put up the pictures. They put up the wallpaper. They bought all the furniture. All throughout that time, they had no idea that their foundation wasn't strong enough. I wonder how many of us are living in that same type of house. We're not rebelling to God. We're not running away from Him. We're just busy building our life, doing the things we normally do, but we've never stopped and asked the question, will this last? Is this built on what I like and what I want, or is this built on God's words? Some of us, when we hear that, we're convicted. Can I tell you, that's the Holy Spirit. When God brings pressure to our life, it's not to punish us. When He brings pressure to our life, it's to help us to understand and see what we're built on. To show us what needs to change before the damage is permanent. Write this down. God would rather disrupt your comfort now than watch you lose everything later. Storms, when they come, they reveal what we've been standing on. What we're building on. They don't create weaknesses, right? The weakness was there. They just reveal what was there. And this is what this 21 days in God's Word is really about. It's an inspection. It's inviting the Spirit of God into our whole home, room by room, and showing us what is weak, what is strong, what needs to change as we read God's Word. Some of His Word is going to encourage us. That's a good thing. But church, some of it is going to convict us. It's going to make us feel uncomfortable. But all of it, all of it is an act of love of a God who wants our house to stand after the storm. It's all in the Word.

Jesus, He ends the most powerful sermon ever preached. Not with a theological lesson. Not with a doctrinal statement. He ends it with a construction story. Two people built two homes, experienced the same storm, but the difference happened with what they did with what they heard. Two completely different choices. I'm telling you today, church, that same opportunity, that same invitation, that same choice is in front of every one of us today. You've heard God's Word. What are you going to do about it now? What I find funny, this happened to me so many times, is some of you, you've walked in knowing exactly what God is telling you to do. But you're not doing it. And I get it. It's difficult. It's not because we don't love Jesus. It's not because we don't want His way. It's because it's difficult to say, God, I'm surrendered wholly to You. I'm not going to base anything on how I feel anymore or what I think is right, but on what Your Word instructs me to do. That's not a little thing. I get it. But that's the whole thing. Jesus says the wise builder didn't simply agree with Him and nod his head and take down notes in church. He actually built his life upon Jesus. And that opportunity is the same opportunity that all of us have today.

That decision is the same decision all of us can make today. In a moment, I'm just going to ask us to do something simple. I'm going to ask you to simply respond with whatever the Holy Spirit is asking you to do. For some of you today, that might be salvation. Maybe you've lived your life so close to the rock for so much of your life. Your family went to church. You've been going to church, but you've never actually surrendered your life to Him wholly. Today, today all that can change. Today you can start a relationship with God and build your life upon His Word that will not be shaken. Maybe for some of you it's not salvation. Maybe it's surrender. Maybe you've given your life to Jesus, but you've held on to the blueprints. And today you're saying, I can't do this anymore. I don't want to do this anymore. I want to surrender myself to Him. Today, today you can make that decision. Maybe for some of you it's just a simple step of faith. In just a few moments I'm going to ask our prayer partners to come back up here. I've got to go up and down. I've got to confess something. I've got to give something to God, but I don't want people to see it. And maybe your step of faith is just coming forward and receiving prayer. Coming forward and saying, I need help. Will you pray with me? Will you pray for me? Maybe that step of faith is when you leave today,

going to one of those booths and finding out and signing up for where you feel God is leading you to serve, to build your life, to grow His kingdom here Maybe it's to take a step forward and say, okay, starting on Monday I'm going to look at the app, I'm going to look on social media, and I'm going to... Read the book of John, and I'm gonna ask you every day, Lord, what are you teaching me? What do you want me to do? And I'm gonna take a step of faith forward. Maybe it's all three. But I wanna encourage you, whatever the Spirit of God is convicting you of, leading you of, don't leave here without doing it. Don't leave here without obedience to what He's asked you to do. Because hearing and not doing is exactly what leads to building on shifting sand. You heard the truth, you just didn't build on it. But today, all that can be different. Today, before the storm hits your life, you can choose to build your life upon a foundation that will strengthen you, that will secure you, that will keep you safe on this side of eternity, and to build your life on a foundation that gives you all of eternity. I wanna ask you all to bow your heads right now. If you've never given your life to Jesus, you've been to church,

you've claimed being a Christ follower, but you've never said, Jesus, I surrender all of my life to you. And today you realize that's your next step. Would you raise your hand? We wanna pray for you in this place. Wow. Praise God. You put your hands down. Maybe you're here today and you are a follower of Jesus, but you've held onto things so tightly haven't allowed him to lead you in every area, haven't built your life upon him in every area. When it comes to finances, Lord, I know better. When it comes to relationships, God, I know better. I've been hurting, so I'm not gonna be vulnerable. And today you want to hand him the blueprints and say, God, not my will, not my way, yours. You wanna surrender all, if that's you, would you raise your hand as well? We wanna pray for you in this place. Praise God. You put your hands down. I want to see everyone to stand to your feet right now. Hi, everyone in this place, hi. Here's what I wanna ask you to do. Would you just stretch out your hands? Some of you in a posture of receiving, some of you in a posture of surrender, some of you in a posture of agreement.

And here's what I want us to do. I want us to pray this prayer. Just like we read the word of God together out loud, I want us to pray this together out loud so that those who are taking a step forward in faith, those who are surrendering themselves or committing themselves or recommitting themselves, that they will know that they're not alone in this place. Would you pray this out loud together with me? Say, Jesus, I'm a sinner, but today I surrender my life. I believe and thank you that you live for me, that you died for me, and that you rose again for me. I trust that my sins are forgiven and my home is with you forever in heaven. I receive it for myself. You are my Lord, you are my Savior, you are my friend. Be my foundation now. I surrender all to you. In Jesus' name I pray. Church, can we just celebrate with a host of angels right now? Those who have new life, for those who have recommitted life. Now here's what we're gonna do. Don't leave, let's worship. Let's respond because for some of you right now, we're gonna sing this chorus again, but it's different this time. This is now your testimony

that my life is not built on me anymore from this moment. I'm building it upon him and I'm gonna be safe in the storm, amen. I'm gonna make it through to the end, amen. Why? Because he is always with me. Let's sing it out, let's believe, let's declare it in faith that the best is still before us. ♪ With you I'm gonna make it ♪ Sing Reign King. ♪ Reign King with you my house was built on you ♪ ♪ My house was built on you ♪ ♪ I'm safe with you I'm gonna make it ♪ Oh, Reign King. ♪ Reign King with you my house was built on you ♪ I'm saving you I'm gonna make it I'm gonna make it I'm gonna make it I'm standing strong on it I'm standing strong on it I'm gonna make it I'm gonna make it My heart's been spilled on it I don't know where it went I see my friend, I'm danger The rock on which I stand Everything around me is shaking I've never been more glad

I put my faith in Jesus Oh yes, He's never let me down His faith walks through generations So I could be a failure But He won't He won't He won't fail He won't fail He won't fail