The Rock
A few days ago I posed the question, "what does it mean to stand on the Rock". I have gotten several great emails back from you guys! From now on you can just post them here for everyone to read and benefit from . Of course, if you would rather, if for some reason your reply is more confidential then please just send it to me via the email.
Anyway, I want to address the idea of the Rock.
Matthew 7:24
24Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth themTherefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
There are several very interesting things in these 4 verses. There is the idea of the foolish and the wise man... there is the obvious fact that in life there are two Foundations upon which we can builld our House. There is the question as to what "His'" house actually is. There is the great revelation that no matter where you build your house you are going to be faced with Storms in life.
We are going to examine all of these issues! However, the first thing that I want us to examine is the actual subject of the text.
THEREFORE, whosoever heareth "these sayings" of mine and "Applies these sayings" in their life...
Jesus is telling us that Living our Lives according to the Wisdom that He has given us will be like building a House upon a Solid Foundation. That if our lives are established upon the Solid and Unmoving Truth of God's Word then no matter what weapon the enemy might try to bring to bear against us, we will not be harmed. The scripture states that a man living by the Wisdom of God will experience great storms, the same storms as the man who lives life according to his own understanding. Yet, the results of each life will be as different as the Wisdom they live by.
Now, we understand that Jesus is the Word of God. We also understand that, " 1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2The same was in the beginning with God.
14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Yet, knowing the person of Jesus is not the same as having the Wisdom of Jesus. Jesus doesn't say that you will know Him and that He will set you free... He states that you will know the Truth, (His Wisdom, these sayings of mine) and that the Truth will set you free. Jesus doesn't state that a Wise man is a man that knows Him, He states that a wise man is a man that lives according to the Wisdom that He has given to us. In short, overcoming the storms of life is not the result of Grace or Mercy or Unmerited Favor... it's the result of applying the Wisdom of God to every area of our lives.
Proverbs says it best, "7Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding."
Wisdom is the Principle Thing! Principle from the root word "Prince" meaning a comprehensive and fundamental law, doctrine, or assumption. Wisdom, God's Understanding is the Foundation upon which we are not only to live our lives but it is the Foundation upon which we are to establiish it.
Jesus says that Success, Victory over the storms of life comes from Hearing His Words and Living by them. If this is truly the case, and we believe that it is, then He has just established the priority for our life. We must put a premium on Hearing the Word of God and then set about learning how to walk in God's Wisdom. However, in order to do so we must become Students of God's Word. There are many different ways and means by which we can learn but learn we must if we are ever going to be able to Stand without falling.We must remember that it is not our strength that enables us to stand, for the strongest amoungst us can not stand when that which he is standing on is not Sturdy!
I have an urgency in my Spirit that we must examine the Foundation... the question is not do we know Christ or even do we love Christ... I believe that for any Christian that is a fordrawn conclusion... the question is do we know His sayings, do we Love His Wisdom and have we developed a Passion for His Word?
Life has a way of becoming all consuming, church and ministry are guilty of doing the same... but Proverbs states that above all else, above prayer, above praise, above sowing and reaping, above actually working in the ministry... that Wisdom, God's Truth, is the Principle thing. In other words, "the Just shall live by Faith"... by the Wisdom of God!!! and how does Faith come? Faith comes by Hearing (Therefore whosoever Heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them) and hearing by the Word of God!
The Rock, the cornerstone that the builders rejected is not the flesh and blood Jesus but the Wisdom and Revelation of Jesus.
Matthew 16:
15He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Again, Jesus states that Wisdom had been Revealed... and upon this Rock or this Revelation of Truth he would build His Church and it would stand not just in the face of the trials and tribulations of this world but that not even the Gates of Hell could cause it to fall. When our lives are established in His Wisdom nothing in this world and nothing the enemy brings against us can bring about our defeat, nothing can move us, nothing can prevail against us!
It's time that we sure up our Foundation, it's time we Immerse ourselves in His Word! Everything, prayer, fasting, direction, ministry... everything will flow from and be established upon His Word!
Blessings,
Pastor
the source
Hey Pastor
Boy did this strike a cord with me. A couple of months ago, I preached a message entitled "The Source". When the Lord started bringing this revelation to me I was astounded as how much that I did not look to Him (or Stand on Him) for. The truth is, and this is not news to any of us, that God, in all three of His Persons, is the Source for everything for the true believer. However, just like our children, if we walk out from under that covering then we can no longer look to Him as our source of anything.
I the message I roughly broke it down to 6 areas of our lives that we need to first acknowledge that God is our Source.
In the Natural
Emotional Needs
Boundaries
Example
Salvation
Authority
I think that it is important that we see all the things that God has made provision for.
In the Natural - he has provided "Food" or sustenance even it he had to make it fall from the sky as Mana (Psa 78:23-25). He Provides water-even if it has to pour forth from a rock (Num 20:7-8). And then, just so that we wouldn't be lonely he provided companionship, even if, because we were created complete (the image of God), he had to take a help meet from our side. (Gen 2:18-22). He has promised us a life of abundance, we sometimes just focus on the natural things but the truth is that he provided for these things from the beginning.
Emotional Needs - (Isa 61:1-7) begins with "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me;" when Jesus proclaimed that the Holy Spirit would be coming to us he said that "the Comforter will come", this is the same Holy Spirit that was on Isaiah that binds up the broken hearted, proclaims liberty to the captives, or in essence brings total Joy and Peace.
Boundaries - If we don't know that the speed limit on Hwy 74 is 65 miles per hour, how can we be held accountable to the law that upholds that limit. There must be knowledge of good or bad before we are expected to live according to those laws as well. We have the 10 commandments but also we have the writings of Paul to describe how to live according to the heart of the Law and not the word.
Example - God understood that we will be swayed by what we see, Adam proved that we could be deceived within our own minds, so God provided for us a living example of what if "Looks Like" to live according to God's Holy principles. I love the following scripture because it shows truly what it means to have "Dominion" over something.
Mat 20:26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
Mat 20:27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
Mat 20:28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
Salvation - Because of the cost of sin (Rom6:23) God provided a perfect Lamb to be a propitiation for us. It was never in us to redeem ourselves, so God knowing our nature had to interceed for us.
Authority - Because we are Joint Heirs with Christ, we have been given the rights to operate in the authority of God Almighty. The Holy Spirit is the evidence of the authority in that the Word says "as many as are lead by the Spirit of God these are the Son's of God". If we are sons then we come in the authority of our Father.
Mat 21:22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
If we think clearly about the meaning of "All" we soon understand that when in Genesis we were commanded to have dominion over all things, that God did not do this with out the provision for, or the authority to see all things taken care of. So we should Stand on Faith that anything that God gives us the Vision for He has provided the Provision to accomplish it. That is inclusive of All things Spiritual, emotional, or natural. We can, there for, have Hope (or the expectation of) that all things are within our grasps if we will just understand that the provision for that comes in the command that God gave to man in the very beginning.
Gen 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Thanks Pastor for causing us to dive into the Word. We Love Ya'll very much.
jeff