Built to Last

Matthew 7:24-29 Built to Last

It is important people of God that you know the word of God. It is important because it is the primary way that God speaks to us. Our God is a communicating God and God can communicate in any language there is. Although we can know God through what we call natural revelation – The heavens and the earth, the God that we serve is a speaking God.  You and I cannot go to heaven to get the mind of God, but God then has to come to us and show us in our finite state what is in his mind.  God must take the initiative to bring to us what is in his mind to our minds and that can only happen with those that God opens up to receive his word.  God is so in tuned to you that if I can’t speak to you, God knows how to talk to you and he does not only talk to your mind, God speaks to your spirit and makes your spirit come alive.

That is why I don’t play around with preaching. I don’t need a whole lot of jokes, caricatures and gimmicks to get your attention but if I give you what thus said the Lord it will get your attention. The word of God is spirit and it is life.

Whatever God says it does come to past. Why because God constantly calls himself the Lord, our God. When he speaks of being the Lord it means that God is in control, he has authority and the very presence of God is right by our side.

Control has to do with the might of God. God has the power to make the impossible, possible.  God sends the rain, the sun, the thunder, the lightening. The Bible says is Proverbs 16:33 – That the lot is cast into the lap, but its very decision is fro, the Lord. Look at somebody and tell them that it’s God’s decision.

Whenever there is the real word of God there is the divine presence of God.  The presence of God also reflects his covenant with us. It reflects a God who is keeps his promises and who is intimately committed to us. I know you had people cheat on you and I know you had people let you down, but I am to tell you this Sunday that God will never let you down. If he said it, he will bring it to past. God is so committed to you that he loves you, he fights your battles, he opens up doors, he claims us as his own (we are his people and he is our God), he not only dwells with us but he also lives in us by the Holy Spirit. That is why we call him, Immanuel – God with us.

If God is speaking you better get ready because something is about to happen. When God acts that means that he is revealing himself to us in a special way. God does not move just to be moving but when God moves, he is moving for a reason and a purpose. What God does by his word is never an accident.

That God backs up his word with his power. He is not just talking just to be talking when God speaks God establishes. That should raise a question even in our lives. How important is the word of God in your life? Are you just a hearer or are you both a hearer and a doer? If you are a doer of the word why hasn’t your life been changed? Why do you continue to go the wrong way? You do know that there are only two directions the right way and the wrong way.  The wrong way is often considered the Broadway, but you should tell somebody give my regards to Broadway because I want to live God’s way. God way is the only way.

So important was the word of God that in the Old Testament they carried in what was called the Ark of the Covenant.  Whenever Israel went to fight against their enemies they would always say let’s go get the ark.  It made their enemies fear Israel because when the ark was seen their enemies would say that Israel’s God fights for them. What is inside of you has to be the word of God? Because with a word from God you cannot lose.

There is something about the word of God that helps you to fight against the wiles of the devil.  It is what Paul calls in Ephesians 6 the Sword of the Spirit.  It’s my offensive weapon against the enemy. That is why when you come at me with some crazy junk trying to speak to my mind I can cut it down. Look at somebody and tell them to Cut it Down. I am cutting down doubt. I am cutting down negative talk. I am cutting down the can’t do spirits around me. I am cutting down fear. I am cutting down disappointment. I am cutting down debt. I am cutting down poverty. I am cutting down complacency. I am cutting down the works of the devil.

Oh, don’t take the foolishness of preaching lightly but when the word of God comes God is about to cut up some stuff

You have often heard me speak about Matthew in the sense that Jesus consistently talks about the Kingdom of God because Matthew presents Jesus as the King and as the Messiah. How did Matthew know this because at every turn Matthew being an accountant himself writes about the careful accounts of what Jesus did in order to validate that Jesus is the one who should come and he backs it up with old testament prophecy.

However there is another key aspect of being the king and that is the aspect of having authority. The authority that Jesus has is based on his word. Now the word authority means that you have power of influence, you have command, you have full supervision over, you have the right to govern over, and you have complete control. In this sermon on the mount Jesus was showing them the attitude and mindset of the people of the kingdom. There are always two groups.  In this sermon you have the two gates.  One that leads to Broadway and the other to the narrow way. You have the two trees ( One that bears good fruit and the other that bears bad fruit). Every tree that bears bad fruit is cut down and is thrown into the fire, Then finslly you have tow kinds of men. One who build his house upon the rock and one who builds his house on the sand, but please notice that whether good or bad both still have to deal with the storm.

Jesus has authority over everything. He has authority over sickness, over death, over life and authority who can come into his presence and who cannot. God has the right to decide to his creatures and creation what to do. God makes everything happen and with God’s authority he has the right to be obeyed. That is why he is called in this text “The Lord.”  Because God is Lord nothing else can come between my loyalty to him. For his Lordship is absolute. His Lordship transcends or is above everything and everybody else.

That is why when the storms come I can stand. I don’t stand on my own, but I stand on the rock who is and which is Jesus. The rock of the word made and manifested in the flesh and he told me that if I obey him. I‘ll make it through the storm.

Deal with the Floods – An excess amount of something that is rushing up against me

Beatings Winds – Something I can’t see, yet they keep moving my way

Thank God for the Rock. – Thank God for the Petra – That is what Jesus called Peter (Firmness and my foundation)