Building for the Big One // Sermon on the Mount

Welcome to the Lookout Weekly Podcast.

Church of the Lookout is an old of Colorado, and our vision is Jesus, abiding in his presence, growing in his family, and living on his mission to transform the world with all inspiring love.

Visit us online at thelookout.church.

Okay, so this morning, um, I have the distinct privilege of welcoming a good friend.

Many of you guys know her because she's up on stage a lot.

Her name is Tiana Miller Jackson.

Come on, yeah.

That energy level right there.

I expect that from you for the next half an hour, okay?

And what I love about Tiana, what I love about Tiana, Tiana teaches, she's been faithful to teach.

Uh she she leads in our youth ministry with Gary.

She's faithful to pull these young people, these students around her, and walk with them through the seasons of life.

She teaches in youth groups.

She's a part of the Colorado School of Worship as well.

Yeah.

Doing some instruction.

She's anything we do, you're gonna find a little bit of Tiana sprinkled in, alright?

That's the kind of thing she just sprinkles herself in wherever she can find.

But she's got a word of God inside of her.

And our responsibility is not to just be listeners, but to receive the word of God inside of us.

Amen?

So I just want to encourage you guys this morning as we honor the word of God inside of Tiana, that he is going to speak to every single one of us, and we're gonna come out more full of Christ in Jesus' name.

So Jesus bless Tiana.

We blessed her in the name of Jesus.

We thank you that she's full of the word of God.

Let your word be like fire in her bones, Lord Jesus.

We thank you that you haven't just given her good ideas, you've given her the gospel, which is the power of God for salvation.

So we've blessed her to speak with authority, and we're with her, Lord God, it's her family.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, thank you.

Thanks, Pastor Luke.

Good morning.

I'm Tiana, as was stated.

So, okay, we've been in the Sermon on the Mount.

If you've been with us, you've been seeing that.

How many of you guys have been enjoying the Sermon on the Mount?

I've really been enjoying it.

I'm glad you have too.

If you didn't, you don't have to say it out loud.

It's all right.

You can just take that up with the Lord.

So I just wanted to do a quick recap first of the Sermon on the Mount and the different topics that we covered.

So uh we got Beatitudes, Salt and Light, Jesus, how He is the fulfillment of the law, anger.

If you guys, I'm just hoping if you've been with us, you're kind of remembering.

Oh yeah, okay, I remember that one.

Okay.

Lust and divorce.

That was on Father's Day.

It was super cool.

God bless Luke for doing that.

Oaths and what Jesus says about oaths, retaliation, loving our enemies, pretty countercultural.

Righteousness for applause, doing things to be seen by others, or are we doing it for the Lord?

The Lord's Prayer, the Lord taught us how to pray with that.

And then he talked about not serving the spirit of mammon, not serving two masters, not serving money and God, but just serving the Lord and what that looks like.

So if any of these topics interest you and you weren't here, you can go back in the YouTube and listen to them.

I recommend.

He talked about anxiousness, that's such a big topic these days, and then judging others, and then finally last week he talked about false prophecy, which Jeanette led us in that talk.

So now here we are at the end of his big grand sermon.

And what Luke said before is that this sermon isn't just, you know, one Sunday sermon like we have here.

This is probably a compilation of Jesus' message that he would preach when he would go into the towns and he would talk.

So what he's giving us here is the conclusion of all this.

So it's kind of important.

So we want to pay attention to that.

So what he's gonna tell us is what to do with everything he's just told us.

And everything he's just told us, that list, and it's not exhaustive, obviously, but that list is a vision of what it looks like to live in his kingdom and not live in the kingdom of this world, right?

So the people that are newly hearing this, they're used to a certain way, and he's saying, actually, I'm bringing this new kingdom, this new way of life, and this is how to live into that.

So now in this conclusion, he's telling us what to do with that picture that he's given us, all right?

So we're gonna read this last passage here in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7, 24 to 29, bringing it home.

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, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

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.

So Jesus is talking about someone who succeeds and someone who fails.

Now, I have to give a confession here.

I really I don't like to fail, if you know me.

I really don't like to fail, but I sometimes like to watch other people fail.

Okay, you're laughing, but just wait till I show you some of these photos.

So these are just a few fail photos that I found amusing.

Maybe you will too.

Hopefully, Blaze can help me show them.

You know, have you ever tried to IKEA something?

And you're like, someone's I heard someone post, I have no IKEA.

I thought it was pretty good.

I've I've been there, I've been there recently.

What are we going for?

I'm gonna sleep in the pregnancy.

What, especially because Jesus is talking about building?

I thought it's kind of funny to do a building film.

Not sure what's going on there.

Okay, let's get the next one.

Uh, this one is a manhole, and it was titled parkour question mark.

Like, how are you supposed to climb up and then jump to the next?

This is not, this is a design film.

Please, no one go down there.

You will not get back up.

And finally, I thought this one was kind of funny, like, kind of scoot.

You know, I've I've built things as an engineer.

It's sometimes it doesn't work out how you thought, so no hate on these people.

But it is see, you're laughing.

See, you're laughing at me, and you're laughing at these people failing.

We're all together.

Sometimes it's funny when people fail.

And it's good when we can laugh at ourselves as well.

But sometimes it's really not funny when people fail, right?

So I actually on the side note, I was gonna do a bunch of gymnastics fails, but we actually had a student who did get really injured doing gymnastics last week.

So if you could be in prayer for her, she broke her arms and her neck and she's doing okay.

But would you guys please just as a church body come around and pray for her?

And if you know who that is, there's ways that we're able to support that family as well.

But that that is a serious thing.

So I didn't show my gymnastics fails.

I thought that would be kind of traumatic.

But um, yeah, it's not funny when people fail, really.

When people get hurt, when people hurt others when they fail.

So I was thinking about, I feel like we've seen an unprecedented amount of faith leaders fall in the past few years.

And I don't know if it's just me or if it just happens to be people that I subscribe to, but it's been really painful to watch people who I've really followed their example, set them as a role model, and then for something to come out in their life that they had a moral failure.

It's so devastating.

It's really unsettling.

And so if you're like me, it makes me think, how does that happen?

How does someone get there?

How do they go from being a faithful follower of Jesus and having a strong faith to finding out that their faith is actually flimsy and they fall?

And then even in our own lives, we can't just look outside, but looking inside, we fall sometimes, right?

I've been really disturbed at my own faith sometimes.

When I think we all like to think that our faith is pretty strong, that it's decent.

But there'll be times when we make a series of decisions right and we end up somewhere, and then we kind of look back and think, how did I get here?

Why did I choose that?

Or in a moment of weakness, you know, maybe you burst out and say something you didn't mean to someone, or you burst out and make a decision that you know you'll regret.

And so those moments are really humbling for me.

And I think about the same kind of thing.

How did I get here?

How did this happen?

Is this preventable?

I thought that I was so strong, I thought I was going this way, and then it just collapsed, and it turned out that my faith was flimsy, and maybe what I was standing on was hollow.

So Jesus is gonna give us a picture to tell us a little bit about this situation and what it looks like, you know, for someone to have a faith that's strong and to have a faith that falls.

But it's interesting that he talks about building a house because it's something that we do brick by brick, day by day, every little decision that we make.

He's not saying just one day someone, you know, was a foolish person or was a wise person.

It's about their lives, the things they're doing every day.

So we'll get into that.

So let's go to Matthew 7, 24 to 27 again.

He gives us these two pictures.

Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

And then 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.

So, what's interesting about this passage, maybe you didn't catch, is they both built a house.

They're both listening to Jesus, they're both followers of Jesus.

So it's not, I used to think of this as some, you know, person who's not a believer or of another faith who's closing their ears to Jesus, like, I don't want to hear anything you have to say, Jesus.

I'm just going my own way and I'm doing my own thing.

But these are two people that were probably at the Sermon on the Mount.

These were two people that were actually followers of Jesus.

Maybe they're both in church, you know?

Maybe they both read their Bible.

So he's he's really making a smaller comparison, a smaller group that we probably are all included in.

I mean, we're all here this morning.

So thanks for coming this morning.

I'm glad you're here.

I'm glad you're here.

But what Jesus is saying is just because we're here doesn't mean that our house is built on the rock.

Is that a little bit staggering?

Okay, it was for me.

So, what is it, you know, about these two followers that makes a difference?

And what is it about our lives as we're building that's gonna make the difference?

And when we look, it's the foundations.

So let's talk about these foundations.

Sand.

Who doesn't like sand?

Sand is so fun to play in.

It's easy, right?

It's easy to build things with sand.

We go on vacation to sit in the sand.

We love sand.

Yeah, even babies can build stuff in sand.

It's not hard.

It's it's free, it's instant gratification, it doesn't cost anything.

Oh, I was realizing you could build a castle, you could become a king or a queen in an afternoon with sand, right?

You could have your own kingdom.

Sand.

Yeah, okay, someone should put me on an advertisement for sand.

So now we all want to go to the beach.

Now I'm thinking about the beach.

But how about the other builder?

Why didn't you want to have fun in the sun and go on vacation and build in the sand?

So the thing is, actually, as I as I looked into this and dug deeper into it, they probably both built on sand.

But the truth about the the builder who built on the rock is that he had to dig past all of the sand to get down to the rock to build on.

So it has a lot more to do with being quick and careless versus doing something long and lasting that's more arduous.

So when we think about this digging and and the rocks coming up, that's a lot more work, right?

So let's look at a parallel passage, Luke 6, 47 to 49.

This sheds more light on it.

Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like.

He's 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 the house and could not shake it.

I want that to be me, amen.

And because it because it was well built.

And the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who builds a house on the ground without a foundation.

When the stream broke against it, immediately, whoa, immediately it fell.

And the ruin of that house was great.

I almost feel Jesus' grievance in saying this.

He's not just saying, Oh, one stood, one fell, but he's like, one fell, and it was devastating.

It was really disheartening and sad to watch.

So if we're digging deep to get down to the rock, we're not on vacation anymore.

Okay?

Now we're at work.

We probably need some seel toe boots, we need a hard hat, we need some shovels, we need a crew, it's expensive, it's time, it's money, it's sweat.

So rock is work difficult, time consuming.

So with these two pictures, why would we choose the second one, right?

If we can go on vacation and have fun in the sand and just build on the surface.

Wow, do we expend all of that energy?

So I think we all know where I'm going with this, that it's hard, but it's worth it, right?

Because what Jesus is telling us is that that's the only way to build something that will last.

And that's what we want.

So it's a little hard in the moment when things look easy.

Oh, we can just do this and get this instant gratification.

But if we look down the road, we'll see that that's not gonna last.

So is it really worth my energy and my time and my heart that I'm putting into it?

So, what is this work of digging down to the foundation that Jesus is talking about?

If it's not listening to his teaching.

Because we all thought, oh, that's a Christian thing to do.

Go to church on Sunday, check the box, cool, I'm a good Christian.

But then we all also have areas where our faith is weak, right?

So he's talking about digging down, and what does that look like?

So I have a few um a few ways that I think that this could play out for us.

So, first of all, it could look like if you haven't even had in mind Jesus' teachings, to actually start to think about them and put them into place.

I know for me, I grew up in a Christian home, but there is a period in high school where I actually started to realize, because I uh started going to church and started going to a girls' Bible study, and we actually got in the word, oh, my life doesn't look like this scripture that I'm reading.

That's interesting, you know.

So I just was oblivious to it.

And I've had friends like that as well, where they didn't know, they thought they were doing all the Christian stuff, but they didn't actually see the the teachings of Jesus and line them up with their life.

And then the other, the other person that that might be in this room is you've heard them, but maybe we're not digging down into what does it actually look like to put them into our lives.

So we'll get into that.

I just wanted to share in my life what this has looked like.

Uh, when I was in college, it was a party school, so a lot of people were going out partying, doing things, premarital things.

Wasn't sure how to put that, but you know what I mean.

And um, and from what I read in the teachings of Jesus, that's not, you know, his way.

That's not the way that he's showing how to belong to his kingdom and live in this higher way.

So, what that looked like for me was me and one other girl in my dorm who didn't go out partying would just hang out and have movie nights.

And did I miss out on some fun times?

Probably, but did I also miss out on some heartache, some hangovers, some regrets, you know, some building something on sand that falls over and is devastating?

I'm sure I did.

And so I have no regret standing here today that I missed out on the fun of the world in college.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks.

And then because of that foundation that I started to build in high school and college, I went overseas to live for several years.

And I realized that while I was there, I could be anybody.

I don't have my family around me.

I could stop following Jesus.

I could kind of start doing my own thing.

It was kind of unsettling to realize, like, oh, that was really holding me down in a good place, and now that's not here, now I'm on my own.

And there were times, to be honest, that I was just making new friends, kind of go along with what they did, definitely did things that were like building on sand, and then started to realize over time, like, okay, and find my footing.

No, this is this is where the Lord is, this is where the rock is.

I'm gonna say no to that.

Even if it means being lonely in a country by myself, even if it means, you know, saying no to a romantic relationship because they're not a believer and that's not what the Lord's asking me to do.

So it was tough, but it was worth it.

So here's Psalm 127.1 that says, Unless the Lord builds a house, the builders build in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over a city, the watchmen stay awake in vain.

I love this verse because it always plumb lines me to what really matters and really makes me look like a litmus test at my life.

What am I doing right now?

And sometimes the Lord, I'll be doing something, expending my energy, even something good, honestly.

Maybe I'm working really hard at my job, or maybe I'm even doing Christian y stuff, and the Lord will go, What are you building?

And I have to really examine my heart and realize, okay, am I seeking out what the Lord's doing and standing there, or am I just off doing my own thing, or am I off doing the world's thing?

And if I'm not, then I get that picture of it's built in vain, it's gonna fall.

I love the watchman stays awake in vain.

It's like that poor guy staying up all night, like doesn't matter if you give the best warning to this town, if the Lord is not protecting this city, it's gonna fall, you know?

So just to think about okay, what am I doing?

And is this something that's gonna last, or is am I just pouring it, you know, in the garbage all my time and energy?

So I encourage us to think about uh what is the Lord building so I can stand right there.

So, what does it mean to build on a solid rock?

I got some slides for you if you're a visual person.

Let's get the slide, thank you.

So, first is living different, which is some of what I just talked about.

But I just want to say I don't know if anybody else is disheartened by this lately, but I feel like there is a gray area, a graying of what it means to be a follower of Jesus, where we start to look more and more like the world, like, oh, that's fine, oh that's okay.

And I've seen it in my own life.

I'm not trying to point fingers at anyone, but I just notice it every once in a while, and I look and I look like the world.

And I feel like what the Lord's asking us to do is to look different than the world.

And the whole Sermon on the Mount, those things were very counter-cultural.

Love your enemies, that is not what the world is saying, right?

Forgive, give your money.

So I really want us to examine what that looks like to live different than the world and to choose to live in a way that Jesus is inviting us into his kingdom.

It's not a rules thing, it's not this heavy thing, it's an invitation into something.

And then the second part is digging onto transformation.

And I'm gonna unpack what that looks like, but it's taking the time and the care to discover how Jesus' words actually play out into my personal life.

And so, what that means is let's take judgment for example.

So we had the sermon about judgment, right?

And so what what we probably all did was said, Amen.

Yes, Lou, great sermon.

Yeah, judging's totally bad.

I'm not gonna do that anymore.

Yeah, I'm gonna follow the way of Jesus.

Amen, amen.

We're we're at the Sermon on the Mount, those people saying yes, and then walk away.

And are we really gonna stop judging just by that one, you know, 30-minute talk that we thought was a good talk and gave a thumbs up to?

This is convicting for me.

Actually, someone else suggested this to me, and then I was thinking, man, I haven't revisited that or thought about it in my own life.

So, what would it look like?

Here's just an idea of a framework of what it would look like.

It would look like asking ourselves, okay, where am I judging?

Why am I why am I experiencing that?

What's underneath that?

What's the foundation underneath that?

What are maybe some lies that I'm believing about other people, about myself, about the Lord?

What's causing my vision to be clouded that I can't see clearly to see what the Lord is saying?

So Yeah, to be honest, I haven't done that, but that is a way that we can actually dig down into what Jesus is saying and then look at what does it look like, what is the truth in that situation?

What does it look like to press into that and to invite that into my life?

And there have been areas that I've done that, but there's definitely plenty that I haven't.

So that's an encouragement to us who do know the word and are trying to live the word to go deeper with it.

Amen.

And that's why it's good to talk with other believers too.

I love it when oh, one of my favorite questions that my friends ask me is what's the Lord talking to you about right now?

And then we're just able to look at the Lord in our own lives.

What does that really look like to be a real disciple of Jesus and not just know all the answers, but actually live and embark.

And the reason why we want to do that is because we want to be this firm foundation that's not gonna move when the trials come.

So here's Psalm 125, 1.

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but abides forever.

So we're looking for something lasting, and Jesus is giving us this key to make us immovable.

So I did have a slight problem with this though.

I was looking at this, thinking, okay, Jesus says, Here, I'll show you this very, very firm place to build.

You don't have to build on the sand that's gonna just be demolished.

And I'm like, great, what do I have to do?

And he's like, just obey all my commands.

What?

I don't know if you know me or if you checked, but I'm not you.

Like, I can't just obey all your commands.

He puts it so easy.

Like, if you want to be a wise man, just do all the things I said, you know.

So I just want to tell us that what Jesus isn't saying is we have to get it perfect, we have to get it right, or we should be worried that our house is gonna crumble.

But he's just inviting us into a discipleship relationship.

And what that looks like is John 15, 10, where it talks about abiding.

If you keep my commandments, you'll abide in my love, just as I've kept my father's commandments and abide in his love.

And then he talks about your producing fruit that will last.

So it's this conversation with the Lord, inviting him into those places.

Where am I judging?

What does that look like?

And there's no condemnation.

That's the beautiful thing.

It's not, oh, bad me, I shouldn't be judging, and then you condemn yourself.

It's a conversation.

Lord, here's what I'm doing, here's where I see your word not aligning with my life.

How do I align with you?

And what does that look like?

So I just want to encourage you to have those conversations.

Okay, let me give you one more piece of good news before we close out.

So we're told that we're supposed to work out our salvation with fear and trembling in scripture, but it's so good because the next verse says it's him who works in us to will and to act according to his good pleasure.

It's him who carries it to completion.

The work, the good work that he started, he promises to carry it to completion.

So I needed to hear this because I'm such an achiever.

I'm like, oh, I need to get all the things right and I want to get this in my life, and we're gonna fail.

But he's telling us, I'm with you, and I'm so committed to making you a disciple and someone who lives out the culture of my kingdom that I'm gonna stick with you and I'm gonna help you work this out.

So I hope that's good news to somebody.

Okay, so the last thing that's the same about these two builders is that they faced adversity.

So for both of them, the rain fell, the flood came, and the winds blew and beat on their house, right?

So what Jesus also isn't saying is if you build on the rock, you're gonna live in Hawaii, you know, and there's gonna be no storms, and it's gonna be nice weather all the time, and it's great, and everything's easy now.

He's saying, You're gonna you're gonna still hit these storms, you're gonna still hit these hitches, but your house is actually gonna stand.

So let's take a look at this house.

Here's here's a house before in a Florida neighborhood on the beachfront.

And then here is the same neighborhood after a category four hurricane.

Hurricane Michael.

Oh, Michael.

That's Michael if you don't know Michael.

Strong as a hurricane.

Okay, so this hurricane busts up this landscape, right?

But that house looks okay.

It's so wild.

And there's a reason why that house is standing up and the others around it are leveled.

I'm trying to play a clip.

We'll see if it works.

Of the in an interview with the two builders of that house.

Not gonna work?

Okay.

I got it to him really late.

I'm sorry.

If you want to know it, you can send it to me.

It's like 30 seconds.

I I appreciate your sympathies, but it's okay.

Okay, so so they interview the two builders of that house and they said, Why did your house stand when everyone else's is leveled?

And they said, We built for the big one.

When every decision that we made, they kept saying we built for the big one.

Because there's building standards in that area.

Oh, it has to be able to survive.

Oh, it's working now?

Okay, never mind.

Maybe it's gonna work.

All right.

Why did your house survive?

Go ahead, dude.

We put a lot of work in it.

We we paid attention to every detail from the ground up at every point from uh from pilings to the roof uh and everything in between when it came time to to make a decision about what level of material or what to use.

We didn't pay attention to code.

We went above and beyond code and we and we tried to and we asked the question what would survive the big one?

And and we consistently tried to build it for that.

Yeah, it does look like it blocked the one behind it, as a TD said, I want someone to bigger blocking.

Well, then maybe that's true in our lives, you know, and we have strong faith, we're able to bolster other people who would be falling apart.

So praise God for that.

But we can only focus on ourselves.

So this is a perfect picture.

Here's what it looks like when we build on sand.

There's nothing left, it's so devastating, and this isn't what the Lord wants for us.

So we in order to be this house that's standing, this is the picture that we want to be when the flood comes, when the hurricane comes, and they all come for us.

Lord, what does it look like to stand?

And what they said was that they didn't build with the standards of the area, they went above and beyond that.

And we can't build with the standards of the world, what the world says is successful.

The world says, oh, that's fine, that's good enough, oh that's great, that's a good thing.

We have to build with what the Lord says is successful, and that is the only way that we're gonna stand in a storm, right?

Amen, amen.

So one last scripture, 1 Corinthians 3, 11 to 14, says no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the day will bring it to light.

It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each per each person's work.

And if what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward.

So we're not saved by our works, but everything that isn't built on the Lord with our time and energy is gonna burn away, and we'll see.

So here's the thing, guys, we live in a fallen sinful world, right?

There's difficult things that happen.

People pass away, people leave us, our expectations get dashed, painful things happen, we lose a job, you know, we lose friends.

We even we can get frustrated with the Lord, we don't get what we prayed for, we get weary.

But the thing is, Jesus knew that he was sending his disciples into this and he wasn't worried because he was giving them this place to stand and this mindset of how to weather the storms of life.

You guys can come up.

Maybe you know what it feels like to be in a hurricane storm.

When I was thinking about this and I was watching some of the other footage of just hurricane winds and storms blowing around those houses, I thought, man, there's some seasons in my life that that is what it felt like just being tossed around and who even knows what's happening.

And even with that house, some of the other footage, the interesting thing is there it did sustain some damage.

There were some places, and the owner said, I learned from that, now I know what to do next time.

But even in our lives, even if we build, you know, so so um resolutely, there's gonna be things that that come and knock down parts of our houses.

But we can trust the Lord that He's gonna keep us standing, right?

So I feel like the Lord wants to bring three invitations this morning.

Oh, and I also wanted to add that the testing is actually merciful because if I had something that was built on an unsteady foundation, I would want to know it.

As painful as it is, right?

What if you what if you bought a house and then you found out that the foundation was cracked and that your house was gonna fall into the ground or something?

You'd want to know, even though it's a painful truth.

So in the shaking, in the testing, the Lord's mercy is showing us where we've built on sand and how we can start to build on solid rock instead.

So let's come before the Lord today.

I want the I want to get the Sermon on the Mount recap slide back.

So the first kind of person that I'm thinking of that's here is someone, like I mentioned, who maybe hasn't even thought about, oh, what I believe Jesus died for my sins, so I'm saved.

But what does it look like in my everyday life to actually live that out?

And oh, I don't want to be devastated by building on sand.

How do I step into that?

So these are all in Matthew 5 through 7.

If you have your Bible, just go ahead and take a look.

But during this time, I just want us to come before the Lord and say, what does it look like for me to live in the way that you've shown in this invitation you're giving us to a new kingdom?

So maybe you're here and you've been inundated with Jesus teaching your whole life because you, you know, were a church kid or whatever.

And it's more of that, oh, I thought I knew, but am I actually looking at my life and digging into my life, taking that pickaxe into my life?

It's painful, it's uncomfortable, it's not fun to sit there and think, oh, how have I judged someone?

I don't want to put that effort in, but the Lord's saying it's worth it.

So I feel there's an invitation there to dig deeper.

So I'm gonna give some some time for the Lord to speak to you if there's something that comes up where he wants to go deeper in your life in a certain area.

And then lastly, I feel like there's probably people here who've been trying, you know, they're trying to do the God thing, and they feel like, why is my house still feel like it's in shambles?

Like, you know what I mean?

I think there's probably people here that would say, Tiana, I trusted God and things fell apart for me.

What about that?

And I felt that in certain areas as well.

So the picture that I got for this was uh once I was I was working at this site, and there was a building next to the building that I was working in.

It was probably two stories high.

And the first year I was working in it, they leveled that building and they started to build a new building.

So they leveled it, they started digging, digging, digging, digging.

For three or four years, next to my building, there's just a hole, a gaping hole.

It was hideous.

And they were just building the foundation, maybe letting it settle, and then after that, it shot up in a few months.

The building was like suddenly there.

I was actually surprised, even though I would walk by every day.

And I feel like the Lord just wants to encourage some of us that if you are in a place where you feel like I've been trying to build on the Lord, and I feel behind, or I feel like I'm going backwards, or I feel like other people who are making worldly decisions or foolish decisions are doing better than me, that maybe the Lord is expanding your building and he's expanding your house, and he's giving you a firmer foundation to build on.

So it might look like you're going backwards, but you're actually going forward in that process.

So I just want to take some time, let's sit with the Lord and see what he speaks to about those things as we respond with this song.

So at the close of the Sermon on the Mount, the very last verses of this section, it says, And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching.

For he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes.

So in thinking about this, we realized that the reason he was able to teach with such authority is because he actually lived what he was teaching.

He was the embodiment of what he was teaching.

He wasn't asking us to do something that he didn't do.

He went first as the forerunner for us.

And then his life carried so much authority because he was stepping into the Father's love.

He says, Abide in me as I'm abiding in the Father.

And so that's what Jesus is wanting to invite us into is this life that carries the authority that his carried, that's authentic.

Where our life and our profession of our faith match and are aligned, and there's so much strength and authority there.

And I don't know about you, but that's what I want for my life.

I want to be a real one.

I want to stand in such authenticity that nothing can break me, that nothing can come against me.

Because I have integrity with what the Lord's asked me to do and what I've chosen, where I've chosen to build my house and build my life.

Amen.

So this week, as we go about our life, what this might look like is taking time to pray through a decision.

I'm always shocked at I'm struggling with something and then days, hours, weeks, however long I realize, oh, I didn't even ask the Lord about this and invite the Lord into this.

Or it could look like taking some of the teachings that we've heard in the Sermon on the Mount and just one, just asking the Lord, bring up one for me.

What do you want to dig into my life?

Because this is an invitation, again, guys.

It's not, oh, what's one more thing to put on my to-do list?

It's where is my vision low and you want to bring it higher?

And you want to show me the kingdom way of living.

Where am I in bondage to something to a lie to a mindset and I'm thinking this way looks better?

And you want to show me, no, this is actually better.

The way that I'm asking you to live is actually better, is actually more empowering, is actually victorious, and is actually standing strong.

So, Lord, as we go into this week, thank you that you you haven't left us alone to just figure out what to do and try to hope that what we've built will stand in the storms of this life, God.

Thank you that you've given us a very clear instruction and invitation to build with you and we can have assurance that it's such a good investment, that's an investment that will last for eternity.

Thank you for that, God.

Thank you for that assurance we can have as we're building with our time.

So we just invite you to come ask us in areas of our life, what are you building on?

Thank you that you're so gentle in your conviction, God.

We just invite you, Holy Spirit, come invite us into this better way of living that you died to purchase for us.

We want to take advantage of that.

We want to live into that, God.

We want to dig into that and let our lives embody the truth of who you are, Jesus.

Thank you for who you are, God.

We just worship you.

You're higher than the ways of the world.

You are King, Jesus.

Your kingdom is forever, God.

We want to be part of your kingdom, God.

We bless your name.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Well, thanks for coming, guys.

Lord Jesus.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You're the rock.

You're the rock of our foundation for our lives.

So beautiful.

You're so good.

You're just so good.

Amen.

Amen.

So this morning, if you're a guest, visitor for the first time, please don't forget to stop by.

Amy's back there with a sign.

And uh I know that uh Pastor Luke's ready to get to meet you and uh find out who you are and maybe even why you're here.

Don't miss this time for prayer.

It will set you free.

And some of us today, we got some sand in our shorts.

You know what I mean?

So let's get set free today.

All right.

I want to bless you.

And a way to receive those blessings is to put your hands out.

The Lord bless you.

May the Lord keep you.

May the Lord make his face to shine upon you.

May your weakness week be saturated with supernatural joy.

May favor fall all around you in every way.

May you find the Spirit working in your midst, every place you go.

May the Lord be all for you.

And may you flourish and prosper.

In the name of Jesus, amen.

Have a blessed week.

We'll see you next week.