Rock & Sand
Notes
Transcript
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
On October 19, 2010, a test was conducted at the Institute for Business and Home Safety in Richburg, South Carolina.
Researchers constructed two 1,300-square-foot houses inside a $40 million laboratory and then observed how a simulated hurricane would impact the homes.
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The first home was built according to conventional standards.
The second home included reinforcement straps that connected every level of the building, from the foundation all the way to the roof.
Then the researchers turned on giant fans, creating gusts of wind up to 110 miles per hour (equal to a category 3 hurricane).
In the first two experiments, which lasted under ten minutes, both homes survived the intense winds.
But when they tried a third experiment, turning on the fans for more than ten minutes, the conventional home began to shake and then collapsed.
In contrast, the home with the floors and roof reinforced to the foundation sustained only cosmetic damage.
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Tim Reingold, an engineer working on the experiment, summarized the results with a pointed question:
“The bottom line you have to ask yourself is, which house would you rather be living in?”
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That is a very wise question we all have to ask ourselves...
What kind of house do we want to live in?
One with a foundation of sand?
Or a house built on a foundation of stone?
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So, please turn your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke.
We will conduct our study in Chapter 6 and focus on verses 46 through 49.
Our message this morning is titled, “Rock & Sand”
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This message today will focus on the final section of Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain...
Today we will discuss the different kinds of structures we all build that represent our faith...
Really there is only two options...
The foolish build their faith directly on sand...
While the wise build their faith on solid rock.
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This may not seem like the biggest difference...
That is until the storms start coming...
Then the choice of foundation is crucial!
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So, this morning we will cover three main points:
The False “Christian”...
The Word of God...
And...
The Wisdom of Men.
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider our text, please join me in prayer...
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Heavenly Father...
You are mighty and powerful...
You are awesome and merciful...
You are infinite and all knowing...
And You are the one true God!
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Guide us throughout our lives to the paths You desire us to follow...
Guide us as we explore Your words of wisdom contained in Your Scriptures...
And guide our feet, hands and mouth so all that we say and do bring glory and honor to Your great name!
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Forgive us in our daily stumbles...
Forgive us for our foolish pride...
And Forgive us for a lack of appreciation of all the wonderful gifts You shower us with!
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Thank You for Your patience...
Thank You for Your mercy...
And thank You for Your grace that is sufficient!
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And it is in Jesus’s name we pray all these things...
Amen.
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Let’s turn to our text for today:
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?
47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like:
48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.
49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
So, let’s look at our first point...
1) The False “Christian”
1) The False “Christian”
Verse 46: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?
Beloved, please note the dual proclamation of the word “Lord”...
This expression of saying “Lord, Lord” is an indication that the one uttering this statement believes they are speaking to someone they have a close relationship with...
These individuals really believe that Jesus is Lord and believe they are in right standing with Him.
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So, the sincerity of the individual is not in question here...
They sincerely believe Jesus has the title of “Lord.”
They sincerely believe this truth in their mind...
But this reality is lacking in the heart department.
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You see Church, Jesus Himself is not amused!
In fact, Jesus questions this group of individuals on why they would bother to even call Him “Lord” id they refuse to do what He commands!
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What Jesus is saying is that these false converts...
These false “Christians”...
Are fooling themselves!
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One cannot genuinely believe Jesus is Lord with both one’s mind and heart and live a disobedient and lawless life!
That is not possible...
This truth picks up what we discusses last week...
The truth only a good tree can produce good fruit...
And the only fruit a bad tree can produce is bad fruit...
This is an essential doctrine that needs to be understood, Beloved!
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To further illustrate this point...
Let’s take a look at this account in the Gospel of Matthew...
Here Matthew shares a little more about what Jesus said...
And the words our Lord and Savior says are the most terrifying words one can ever hear...
So, let’s look at the warning recorded in Matthew 7:21-23 which says:
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’
23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
As the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament on Luke says:
“Why give Jesus a title of honor and respect like ‘Lord’ and then ignore what he teaches?
In fact, the double invocation of ‘Lord’ is emotive and emphatic, but the life that makes the confession without obedience is without substance, despite the emotion of the appeal.
Such an approach is foolish at best and hypocritical at worst.”
So, it should be apparent that submission to Jesus Christ as Lord is a non-negotiable element of true salvation...
One can’t claim to be in fellowship with the Lord and live a carnal and wicked life filled with lawlessness.
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Beloved, I understand that this is not an easy teaching...
I understand that this is a hard truth...
That for many it is a hard pill to swallow...
But do not be deceived by the charming words of false teachers...
Do not be duped by those that only care to promote a cheap grace...
A grace that has no power to transform an individual’s life.
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My brothers and sister in Christ, God’s grace is so much more powerful than that!
The gift of the Holy Spirit that God puts in every true believer guarantees that we will produce good fruit and be workers of righteousness!
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People have been arrogantly calling out to God while refusing to obey Him for a long time...
This truth is recorded in the Old Testament in passages like Proverbs 1:28–33 which says:
28 Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me.
29 Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord,
30 would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof,
31 therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices.
32 For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them;
33 but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”
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To ignore God’s commands...
To ignore the truth found in the Word of God is follow one’s own wicked heart.
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You may have heard the advice in popular television and film...
To go follow your heart...
Well, that is awful advice from the pit of Hell.
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Follow God’s Word...
Follow God’s commands...
For the failure to do so will come at a great cost...
As Jeremiah 13:10 says:
10 This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing.
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So, it is not about lip service...
It is not about what we profess with our mouths alone...
What is vital is what we confess with our words and what we do with our actions!
Our works may not save us but they do reveal the condition of our heart...
Again that was a major point we talked about last week in our study...
And that truth is found in passages like Titus 1:16 which says:
16 They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
Wow!
That is some major language thrown at false “Christians”...
Detestable...
Disobedient...
And unfit for any good work!
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The reason for the strong words is that this is a very serious warning...
Many will be shocked on Judgement Day...
Many will be confused....
But the reality is that no one can blame God for not warning us!
The truth is all over His Word!
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Additionally, within the Word of God we witness many internal tests we can subject ourselves to in order to expose to ourselves if we really have genuine saving faith...
The epistle that James wrote is a great example...
He recorded in James 2:14 that:
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
Do you claim to have faith?
Do you believe the truth of what Scripture records?
You do well!
But the million dollar question is:
Do you have saving faith or dead faith?
Is the faith you have the saving kind or is it worthless?
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Be honest and look to the kind of works you are producing...
Are they good works?
Or are the bad works?
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If you are not producing good works and if you are living like a law breaker then you are in danger...
As James continues in James 2:17-19 he says:
17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
If your idea of faith and belief is limited to an intellectual exercise...
Then Hell is at your front door!
You are on very shaky ground and if one’s current dilemma is not dealt with before it is too late then the rest of eternity will be lived with great regret.
Once again James, the brother of our Lord and Savior says in James 2:26:
26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
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That is why true believers are not only a hearers of the Word of God...
They are also doers of the Word of God.
Ones faith can be seen, Beloved!
Our actions are just an extension of our heart condition...
To believe otherwise is to be fooled by the wisdom of men that originate from the Father of Lies.
Just look at what it says in James 1:22:
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
Likewise, the apostle Paul is in unison with James and the rest of Scripture when he says in Romans 2:13:
13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.
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That is very clear...
There should be no argument about this point...
For Scripture is saturated with this truth.
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Next, Jesus gives us two visuals...
One of the individual who hears His Word...
And another of the individual who ignores it.
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Let’s start with those who hear and do what the Word of God says...
And this takes us to our second point of our study today.
2) The Word of God
2) The Word of God
Verses 47-48: Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.
To better understand this illustration...
Let’s review a few facts that would have been naturally apparent to Jesus’s original audience...
The soil in Isreal and other Middle-Eastern provinces is often hardpan...
Hardpan is defined as a hardened impervious layer, typically of clay, occurring in or below the soil and impairing drainage and plant growth...
This type of soil is tempting for one to build on rather than investing time, labor, and money in digging through the hardpan to lay a proper foundation...
But Jesus shows how building on a bad foundation is foolishness as it makes one unprepared for the flood that will one day come.
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Additionally, when Jesus mentions the flood that arose He is referring to flash floods...
His audience would have understood this too as they lived in a dry climate and that meant that the ground often could not absorb large amounts of rainwater, resulting in rapid flooding that could produce violent rivers...
So, that is the visual that Jesus is presenting with this illustration.
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In the Gospel of Matthew, this passage is rendered like this in Matthew 7:24-25:
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
So, building on a solid foundation is vital both in building a house and building one’s faith...
The rock...
The solid foundation...
Is the Word of God...
For this is the only source that contains the very commands of God!
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As usual, this was no foreign idea...
This truth is a timeless truth that is recorded in the Old Testament...
Just look with me at Psalm 119:9–11 which says:
9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.
10 With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!
11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
I love that last line...
“I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”
This is why the life of the follower of God needs to incorporate constant reading of the Word of God...
And not just reading God’s Word...
But putting those precious Words of life in our hearts!
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You can’t have Jesus as Lord and Savior if you refuse to abide in His Words!
One must know His truth to really be set free!
One must keep His truth in one’s heart at all times!
As it says in John 8:31–32:
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
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Hearing God’s Word and obeying it has always been the outside indicator of who is a true follower of Christ...
It has nothing to do with what family you are born into or what people you come from...
Even Jesus’ own family were no exception.
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Hearing and obeying...
That is the key, Beloved!
Luke 8:19-21 indicates as much as it says:
19 Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd.
20 And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.”
21 But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”
Furthermore, Luke 11:27-28 records a great response by Jesus on the necessity of hearing and obeying the Word of God:
27 As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!”
28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
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Another angle to approach this doctrine is to look at it in terms of “love.”
John, the Beloved often talked about “truth” and “love” in his Gospel account and epistles...
So, it is only fitting that he communicated the truth of hearing and obeying the Word of God to the reality of our love for Christ.
As Jesus says in John 14:15:
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
And only a handful of verses after that He says again in John 14:23:
23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Move over to the next chapter in John’s Gospel and Jesus once again hammer’s this truth as it says in John 15:10:
10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
Clearly this is an essential doctrine to understand, Beloved!
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Before we engaged in our study in the Gospel of Luke...
We as a church went through the 1st Epistle of John...
For those who sat in that study you may recall that the point of John writing that letter was to give believers assurance of their salvation and to warn those who were false converts to repent and truly believe.
John provided insight into the kind of actions that reflect a good or bad standing with God...
One of those key passages that has relevance to our study today is 1 John 2:3–6 which says:
3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.
4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,
5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:
6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
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So, now that we covered the first visual that Jesus gave us...
It is time to look at the illustration of the individual who ignore God’s Word...
And this takes us to our third and final point.
3) The Wisdom of Men
3) The Wisdom of Men
Verse 49: But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
Keep this in mind as we study this final section of our passage...
The ruin of the house being described as great here has the meaning of complete and utter destruction...
So, this should be understood as the fate of all those who do not heed Jesus’ teaching and trust in the Word of God.
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This includes putting one’s trust in the wisdom of men...
And that can take the form of traditions that have no biblical bases...
To build one’s faith in these innovations to to be as foolish as the builder who builds a house directly on sand.
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For a time the structure may stand...
Especially when it is not tested...
But one day a flood is coming...
And a house built on sand will not survive...
Just look at what is recorded in Matthew 7:26-27 which says:
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.
27 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.”
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In Jesus’ day as in ours many religions are held up by the pillars of man-made traditions...
These traditions as often a great burden on people and lack the perfect and reliable wisdom found in the Scripture’s alone.
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It then should not be surprising that after Jesus said these words the crowds themselves noticed the start difference in Jesus’ teaching versus the religious elite...
In Matthew’s account he closes off this section with Matthew 7:28-29 which says:
28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching,
29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
The Scribes and the Pharisees based there teachings on the tradition of the elders...
They quotes rabbi after rabbi in a vain attempt to justify their man made doctrines.
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Likewise, the Catholic, Orthodox, Mormon, and Jehovah's Witness of our day follow in these foolish footsteps...
They too based there teachings on the tradition of their particular elders...
They quotes church father after church father in a vain attempt to justify their man made doctrines...
They quotes their own scholars and saints in a vain attempt to justify their man made doctrines.
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However, to follow these charlatans is to like them, build a house on sand.
It doesn’t matter id the house looks pretty...
It doesn’t matter how much work was done to the structure if the foundation is not solid.
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In order to follow the doctrines of the Catholic, Orthodox, Mormon, and Jehovah's Witness...
One will find themselves in conflict with the Word of God...
So, a decision must be made...
Build on the reliable and solid Word of God...
Or build on the wisdom and tradition of mere men.
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You see Beloved, Christ had strong words for the Scribes and the Pharisees of his day the are applicable to all religions that follow their formula...
This truth is found in Mark 7:6-8 which says:
6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
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So Church, instead of trusting in the knowledge of men...
Stand on the Word of God and I promise you by the authority of the Scriptures you will not be disappointed.
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Paul put it nicely when he said under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in Colossians 3:16:
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
So, as this message comes to a close...
I would like to share this that I came across in my study:
Years ago a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast.
He constantly advertised for hired hands.
Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic.
They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops.
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As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received nothing but refusals.
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Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer.
“Are you a good farm hand?” the farmer asked him.
“Well, I can sleep when the wind blows,” answered the little man.
Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired him.
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The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man’s work.
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Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore.
Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand’s sleeping quarters.
He shook the little man and yelled, “Get up!
A storm is coming!
Tie things down before they blow away!”
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The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, “No sir.
I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows.”
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Enraged by the old man’s response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot.
Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm.
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To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins.
The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred.
The shutters were tightly secured.
Everything was tied down.
Nothing could blow away.
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The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, and he returned to bed to also sleep while the wind blew.
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The moral of the story is this:
When you’re prepared, you have nothing to fear.
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Can you sleep when the wind blows through your life?
The hired hand in the story was able to sleep because he had secured the farm against the storm.
We secure ourselves against the storms of life by genuinely accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior and by grounding ourselves firmly in the Word of God.
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If our faith is firmly planted in the Word of God then we know in our heart and mind that our hope can only be found in the person of Jesus Christ...
He is our hope because He lived for us...
He is our hope because He died for us.
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And it is now about Christ’s sacrifice that we bring our attention to.
Communion
Communion
As we begin our communion service, I want to invite every genuinely born-again believer in the room to partake in this act together.
If you do not yet know the Lord and do not have a relationship with Him...
Or if you are under church discipline from this church or another church...
Then I will ask that you wait until you have resolved your issue before participating.
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As you came in you should have picked up a communion packet if you are joining us.
This has both the bread and juice in a convenient package.
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If you have not received one of these please raise your hand and someone will get you one.
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Before we join in communion together, I would like us to consider 1 Corinthians 11:26:
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Regarding this passage, The Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon said this:
“The center of our holy religion is the Cross.
The central thought of the whole of Christianity is Christ and the great point in Christ’s history is His Crucifixion.
We preach Christ–but more–we preach Him Crucified!
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Beloved, this, which is the keystone or the whole arch of our religion, should be more constantly in our minds than it is.
It should more frequently occupy our meditations.
It should engage more incessantly our tongues–we should sing of it more often, we should pray more in the shadow of it and we should live more under the control of the impulses its suggests.
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The Supper reminds you of your Lord.
There is the bread broken.
The wine, the juice of thegrape, crushed out with pain and labor–poured out.
Now remember that Jesus Christ, though not a bone of Him could be broken, was broken in spirit–“Reproach has broken My heart; I am full of heaviness.”
He poured out His soul unto death.
Let the bread and the wine remind you of the bloody sweat in the Garden–of the anguish unto death which He endured in dark Gethsemane among the olive trees.
Let them bring to your recollection, Beloved in the Lord, the scourging at the hands of Pilate and of Herod.
Imagine you see Him standing patiently there, giving up His back to the smiters and His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair–hiding not His face from shame and spitting.
That bread broken and that wine poured out should remind you of the journey along the Via Dolorosa, as He went fainting beneath the burden of His Cross.
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They must remind you of the Cross and the nails, the grief of being forsaken, the anguish of thirst, the bitterness of scorn, the torment of fever and, at last, death itself.
I do not say that, perhaps you will be able to make the whole scene pass before your minds, but I bid you try to do so.
Drive away every other thought as Christ drove the buyers and sellers out of the Temple.
Charge your soul to stand with His Virgin Mother at the foot of the Cross and pray that His blood may fall upon you, drop by drop, that you may be so enchanted by what you see, withal so dreadful, but yet so full of bliss, that you may not dare for a moment to let a stray thought come in!
This and this only, think of!
Think of Jesus Incarnate and of Jesus suffering!”
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So, Beloved...
Let’s all take a moment right now in silent prayer to thank the Lord for all He did for us...
(MOMENT OF SILENCE)
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Tom will you pray before we partake in the bread:
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The Word of God says in Luke 22:19:
19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
(TAKE THE BREAD)
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Adrian will you pray before we partake in the cup:
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The Word of God says in Luke 22:20:
20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
(TAKE THE CUP)
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With that we conclude the communion portion of our service.
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To God be all the glory.
Amen.
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Please join us for one more song from the Praise Band.