Holy Buckets - God's Portion - Part 1 - Pastor Adam Bower

Thank you for listening to this message from

Lifehouse Church. Good morning, Lifehouse. Man,

you all got quiet at one time. I'm not used to

that. You're a noisy bunch. Well, it's good to

have you here this morning. This is Pastor Adam.

Could you give him a warm welcome? And I'm here

just to do a little intro and just to welcome

you this morning. If you're listening online,

thank you for joining us. We know you're there.

We can't see you, but we love that you're online

this morning and joining in. And this is the

beginning of a message series called Holy Buckets.

Say it, Holy Buckets. Yeah, holy buckets. And

how many know that God gives us buckets full

of money and possessions? He does, right? We're

blessed with that. And he asks us to manage it.

And really, that's what this whole message series

is about. How do we handle our money and possessions

in a godly manner? And I brought Pastor Adam

in, mostly because this is the week he had available.

He's a very busy guy. But he is a friend. He's

a colleague. He's an expert in many fields in

ministry. It's true. He's laughing, but it's

true. And this is one of the areas that he's

passionate about. I'll let him share a little

bit about himself and his family. But we are

excited about what God's going to do in your

life, what he's going to raise up and change

in your heart and mind. And we're just believing

God for great things. Amen? Amen. Amen. It's

true. So, again, would you give Pastor Adam a

warm welcome, and we'll let him minister to the

Lord. All right. First, Kip and Dixie are just

the best. Can we just thank them for everything

they've done? Kip and Dixie have been so kind

to me. I joined the denomination when I was 29

years old. That was forever ago. I'm balding.

I need glasses now. So they knew me when I was

very young. They've just been so kind to me.

And just watching them and the honor they show.

State Overseer, you guys are so nice to share

them with the state. I know they've done a lot

of work there. And Dixie, thank you for answering

all my questions. Anytime I had a question about

anything, I just called Dixie. So it's a pleasure

to be here with you this morning. How many of

you go to a public pool? Anybody? Is there public

pools in Carlisle? I go to a public pool, and

I have three kids. They're 8, 11, and 14. And

every, every, this happens every summer. Every

summer they say, we get a pool pass and we go

to the public pool and they say, dad, will you

get in the pool with us? I don't really think

about it. I'm just like, yeah, I'll get in the

pool. So I get on a swimsuit and I get going

and I get there and we laid it on the towels

and I'm like, dad, get in. And then it occurs

to me, I have not been ready for this moment.

And I'm about to show all these strangers every

single one of my nutritional choices over the

last year. And it's an incredible reveal every

year. And every year I'm like, man, I could have

done better. And I just take off my shirt and

I get in that pool and I just hang out in there.

You know what, I've realized something though.

We tend to, as people, have goals and aspirations,

but we live on our floors. So if you have a low

floor, that's where you're gonna live. And I

think one of the things that we need to do, especially

as people of God, is to raise our floors up.

Because whatever you tolerate, is what you help

create. I want to say it again. Whatever you

tolerate is what you help to create. The Bible

is amazing, and I'm going to read a lot of Scripture

to you today, but I just want everybody in this

room to understand something. You don't have

to do anything. You don't have to pray. You don't

have to read Scripture. You don't have to give.

You don't have to do any of that. That's completely

up to you. But whatever you sow, you will reap.

You also get to have the results of that. If

you have a prayerless life, I can promise you

you don't have the fruits of the Spirit. You

don't have patience. You don't have kindness.

You don't have joy. And so today, I just want

to share with you, I'm very, very passionate,

very passionate about giving. There's a few reasons

for that. When I was younger, when I was young

as a pastor, when you guys first met me, I didn't

preach on money because I felt like the real

reason was is because I didn't want people to

think that I wanted money. So I'd always avoid

the topic of money. And I came across a verse

one time. I want to read it to you. It's in the

book of Malachi. It says this, behold, I am going

to rebuke your descendants. This is God talking

to the priests. And I will spread dung on your

faces. Does everybody know what dung is? The

dung of your feasts and you'll be taken away

with it. And I'm reading this and I was reading

this as like a young, I was 30 years old. I was

in the ministry and I read this verse and I said,

what on earth? I've never told anybody that I

want to wipe dung on your face. Why? What's going

on? Who is God talking to? Do you guys know who

he's talking to? He's talking to the priests.

And I said, well, why does he want to do that?

And you go back a chapter before, it's because

they're accepting lame offerings. They're accepting

blind and lame offerings from the people. You

might say, well, why is God so upset that people

are offering blind and lame offerings? And he

says, well, where's my, if I am your king, where's

my honor? He says, try giving that to one of

your governors and see what they say about it.

And I began to realize something. The reason

why God is so upset with those who are in ministry

is because they're a mediator or moderator between

the people and God. And because they were accepting

lame offerings and people were bringing lame

offerings, their heart was far from the Lord.

And the priests were putting a stamp of approval

and saying, it's okay. Wherever your treasure

is, there your heart will be also. And so by

them accepting lame offerings, their hearts were

far from God and they were putting a stamp of

approval on it. And I realized in that moment

that I'm not going to be that guy. I'm not going

to be one of those priests that end up not talking

about giving because I fear people more than

I fear the Lord. So I got really into this, and

I wanted to do my research. Can I just share

some things with you this morning about it? Come

on. Let me just get you a little bit excited

about this. When I took over a church, the church

was in sharp decline. I'm sure you guys have

a Dixie. Are you the treasurer? Yeah. No, you

can't be. Well, anyway, you guys have a treasurer.

And one of the treasurers at my church actually

said to me one time, because the church, I took

over the church and it was sinking fast. They

said, Adam, you can't cash your check till next

week. And I was so ignorant. I was like, oh,

why? Are the banks closed? Like, what's going

on? They said, no, like we don't have any money

left. And then I said to myself, oh, okay. And

I played it cool. And I said, okay, well, it's

time for me to get my resume ready. I'm going

to go find a new job. And this is what my financial

treasurer said to me. He said, but I had an idea.

He said, how about we give away more money? We

were already giving 10 % to the Church of God,

5 % for missions, 5 % for administrative use.

And he said, I was thinking, what if we gave

away another percent? And I said, you know what?

That's a real great idea. And I didn't care.

I was leaving. So, and then he said this. He

said, and what if, what if, if we're in the black,

What if we gave away another percent? And I said,

sounds good. And so as I was getting my resume

ready, our treasurer began to give away more

money. And then we were in the black that month.

And then he said, hey, we were in the black.

And I was like, great, yeah, hey, awesome. And

he said, so I'm gonna give away another percent.

I said, do it. And so we began to give away a

percent, a percent, a percent, a percent, till

we got to 30 % of the money was going out. And

I'm not saying this to boast. We have one of

the largest budgets in the state. And it's because

God trusts you whenever you trust him with your

money. I'm somebody who can't, I get bored so

easily. I can't tell you how bored I can get.

And if you guys feel like your relationship with

God is not exciting, it's because he's not trusting

you with anything. And the first thing that you

need to trust him with is your finances. And

then he can trust you with true riches. And I'm

telling, does anybody else get bored easily?

If your relationship with God is not exciting,

it's because you're not trusted with anything.

He's not trusting you with something. And this

is how you get the trust of God. How many of

you guys know that God loves you? I love my kids.

That doesn't mean I trust them. I want to be

trusted by God. I want God, when I'm in York

County, that's where I'm from. I want him to,

like, when he stands over York County and he

says, who can we trust? What church are we going

to trust this with? I want him to see our church.

I want him to say, I can trust Adam. Adam's someone

I can trust. Give it to Adam. I want you to know

that God's doing that over all our lives. His

heart, his eyes go to and fro throughout the

earth looking for a heart that's fully devoted

to him. And how... How do we change the affection

of our heart? Well, it's actually through your

giving because where your treasure is, there

your heart will be also. And whenever God sees

a giving heart, he sees someone he can trust.

Like I said, you don't have to give, but he doesn't

have to trust you either. And I don't know about

you guys. I love that God loves me. I love it.

And I love his forgiveness. And I love that one

day that I'm going to be in heaven, but I want

to be trusted before I go there. so that I can

be trusted then with something pretty cool too.

So I want to talk to you guys this morning about

giving. I want to talk about tithing. I want

to talk about being trusted by God. Would anybody

like to be trusted by God more? Have you guys

heard of this concept of tithing? So this is

the concept. You take your first 10 % and you

give it to the Lord. That's tithing. That's in

the Old Testament. It's clearly laid out. So

this is what ended up happening. The first early

Christians were Jewish. They were Jewish Christians.

The temple was still around. Early Christians

still tithe to the temple. At 70 AD, the temple

was torn down, and then the Christians had to

decide, what are we going to do with the tithe?

I just want to read to you a few quotes from

the early church fathers. Irenaeus says this,

in his work against heresy, he refers to tithing

saying, for the law prescribed the tithes, whether

in the Old or New Testament, and the early Christians

continued the practice to honor God. Do you guys

remember what I said? We often try to reach for

the ceiling, but we live at our floor. Can I

tell you this? My floor is tithing. I'm gonna

give more than tithe, but my absolute floor is

tithing. There's no way that I'm not tithing.

God's gonna get 10%. That's my floor. It's not

anything lower than that. I know a lot of people

that think they're generous. Can I tell you something?

Your mind's playing tricks on you. If you add

up all you're giving at the end of the year,

it's usually a percent or a half a percent. My

floor, my floor is 10%. St. Clement said this,

it is necessary that each one should present

his ties to the Lord so that the church may be

strong and grow in grace of God. St. Gregory

said this in one of his sermons, he mentions,

even as the law of old included tithing, so too

should we give what is due to God from our earnings.

St. Ambrose said this, let us pay our tithe to

God that the supplies of the church may not fail,

but rather be gathered in abundance for the needs

of the faithful. St. Augustine. The ancient custom

of tithing, though the law of Moses has been

fulfilled, is still a fitting expression of gratitude

for the gifts of God, and we should inspire to

such generosity. There was a woman who heard

me talk about tithing. She didn't have anything.

She was single. She had a young child. She was

on disability. She heard me talk about tithing.

She came up to me afterwards, and she said, Adam,

I want you to know that I'm going to start tithing.

To be honest with you, my heart broke, and I

wanted to tell her, hey, don't worry about it.

right? Just because of her situation that she

was in. And she goes, next Sunday, I'm going

to bring my tithe. Her tithe was $27. That's

how much it was. That Sunday, she didn't come

to church because she was too scared to give

her $27. On Tuesday, she came into the church

office, still scared to death, came in crying,

saying, I'm so sorry I wasn't here Sunday. I

was too scared to do this. She said, here, will

you take this? Took the $27, put it in the vault.

And this is what the secretary gave her. She

said, excuse me, Denise, that's her name. She

said, somebody left this for you. Handed her

a check for $900. It was her rent on her house.

It was in the office waiting for her. All she

had to do was come to church. Now, I'm not saying

you're going to have $900 checks waiting for

you, but you might. God's expression in his heart

towards her wanted her to know that he could

be trusted with her money. I'm a second -generational

tither. My parents taught me to tithe. When I

was little, we belonged to the Methodist Church,

and in the Methodist Church, I sat on my dad's

left. My dad doesn't have his right arm. He has

his left arm, and I'd always have to sit on his

left so he could hit me to wake me up during

service. And one day, he'd always give me the

tithe check to put into the offering baskets.

They passed baskets back in the day. And they

were actually big old metal plates. And I remember

the one day I opened up the check and saw how

much he was giving. I almost passed out. It was

100 times more than my allowance. My parents

taught me to tithe at an early age. So I want

to read to you. In Matthew, it says this. It

says, woe to you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites,

for you pay tithe of mint and arise of anus and

cumin and have neglected the weightier matters

of the law, justice and mercy and faith. These

you ought to have done without leaving the others

undone. I want everybody to know these Pharisees

were oftentimes proud of their giving and they

would actually make these little bouquets out

of their mint and their dill and they would actually

give 10 % of their spices to the Lord. And the

Lord is saying to them, like, there's important

things that the law has to say and tithing is

one of them, but you're missing out on the way

to your things and I don't want you to neglect

that. And I want you to know that Jesus was actually

confirming the tithe, that the Pharisees, they

should be tithing. There's another verse in Hebrews

that says this, here mortal men receives tithes,

but there he receives them of whom it is witnessed

that he lives. It's talking about the order of

Melchizedek. But tithing was something that was

still assumed in the New Testament. When people

say, well, the New Testament doesn't talk about

tithing a lot. It's because they were still tithing.

It was a given. Another place, this is what Jesus

says. They said to him, he held up that coin.

He said, whose face is on the coin? And they

said to him, Caesar's. And he said to them, render

therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's

and to God the things that are God's. Can I tell

you what is God's? What is God's portion? If

you're a Jew in that day and Jesus said to you,

give to God's what is God's. What is it? Is it

all of it? No, because Caesar's some of it. It's

10%. So Jesus is saying to the people, I know

you're being taxed, but. Give to God what is

God's. Okay, now I want to jump in. Are you guys

still with me? Here's the thing. The way that

he talks to the priests is not the way that he

talks to the people. The way that he talked to

the leaders is I want to wipe dung on your face,

right? So he wants to wipe dung on their face.

And this is what he's saying to the people. He

talks very softly to them. He says this, behold,

I send my messenger and he will prepare the way

before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly

come to his temple. Even the messengers of the

covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming,

says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the

day of his coming? And who can stand when he

appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and

like launderer's soap. This is Malachi talking

about Jesus. He will sit as a refiner of purifier

of silver. He will purify the sons of Levi and

purge them as gold and silver that they may offer

to the Lord an offering in righteousness. Who's

he talking about? This person named Jesus is

gonna come and purify the people and then they're

gonna offer the right kind of offering. Who's

he talking about? Has anybody in here been purified

by Jesus? So he's talking about you and you're

gonna offer the right kind of offering. Then

the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant

to the Lord as in the days of old, as in the

former days. And I will come near you for judgment.

And I'll be swift witnesses against the sorcerers.

What happens when people offer up themselves

to the Lord? The Lord draws near. I want to say

that again. What happens when you offer up yourself

to the Lord? When you draw near to him, he what?

When we offer up our offerings to the Lord, what

comes swiftly? His judgment. Is there anything

wrong in Carlisle? Do you know what I want my

kids to see? I want them to see the swift judgment

of God on those who do wrong. I want to say it

again. I want my children to see the swift judgment

of God on those who do wrong. Because I want

them to know that there's consequences for doing

wrong. The reasons why often... towns and cities

and places where it seems like, it seems like

those who are doing wrong are getting away from

it is because the people of God haven't learned

to give themselves to God yet. But when we give

ourselves to God, his judgment comes swiftly

on those that do wrong. And I will come near

you for judgment and I will be a swift witness

against sorcerers, against adulterers, against

perjurers, against those who exploit wage earners

and widows and orphans and against those who

turn away an alien because they do not fear me,

says the Lord of hosts. For I am the Lord, I

do not change. Isn't that an interesting thing

to say? In Malachi, when he's talking about the

tithe and offerings, he says, for I am the Lord

your God, I do not change. Yet from the days

of your fathers, you've gone away from my ordinances

and have not kept them. Return to me and I'll

return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you

say, in what way shall we return? Will a man

rob God? Yet you've robbed me, but you say, in

what way have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings.

Says you are cursed with a curse, for you have

robbed me, even in this whole nation. Bring all

the tithes into this storehouse that there may

be food in my house and try me now in this, says

the Lord of hosts, that I will not open for you

the windows of heaven and pour out for you such

a blessing that there will not be room enough

to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer

for your sakes so that he will not destroy the

fruits of your ground nor shall the vine fail

to bear fruit for you in the field, says the

Lord of hosts. And all nations will call you

blessed for you'll be a delightful land, says

the Lord of hosts. I, some people get it and

some people don't. If you will trust the Lord

with your finances, and what is your finances?

Your finances are you. You are your finances.

How do I know that? You exchange your time and

talents for this thing called money. So when

you lay your money in the offering, you're actually

laying yourself. And we're actually called to

be a living sacrifice. I have my friend here,

his name's Dylan. He's a missionary. He takes

himself and he lays down his life and goes into

these places. Now, I'm not called to missions,

but I can lay down my life in the offering plate

to support what God's doing here, to support

what God's doing there, to support people all

over the place. And I want to say this because

I just don't feel like anybody talks about it

anymore. Do you know what happens? It's appointed

man once to die and then the judgment. I want

to say that again. It's appointed to man once

to die and then the heaven, no, the judgment.

Do you know at the end of your life, before you

go to heaven, something happens? Does anybody

want to guess what it is? You give an account.

You're going to give an account for your life.

And I want everybody to understand something.

Like I know that God loves me, but I'm gonna

give an account one day. And in that account,

I'm gonna be given the opportunity to have shown

him whether or not I love him. Not just with

my money, but also with my life, with how I dealt

with people, how I was as a husband, how I was

as a pastor, how I was with my children, how

I am as a father. My whole life is gonna be given

the opportunity to shine. And it actually says

this, that my life is going to be, put in this

place, and fire is going to be applied to it,

and we're going to find out whether it was made

of wood, hay, and stubble, or gold, silver, and

precious jewels. We're going to see if there's

anything left. And anything that wasn't motivated

by love is going to be burned up and completely

gone. But on that day, whatever Jesus wants to

talk to me about, we're going to talk about.

Whatever I didn't repent for, we're going to

talk about. Because I'm going to be his roommate

forever. Did you know that? Did you know that

the Holy Spirit is grooming you to be a roommate

to Jesus forever? And he's not done with you

yet. And if you're in this room and you're a

new believer, you might say, well, hold on, this

sounds pretty heavy. Listen to me. I want you

to know that I have an eight -year -old. I just

let him mow the lawn the other day. We have one

of those riding lawnmowers. He did an awful job.

It was like the worst lawn mowing job I've ever

seen in my life. And he got off the lawnmower.

You know what I said to him? I'm so proud of

you. I said, come here, give me a big hug. You're

such a big boy mowing the lawn. I have a 14 year

old and I told him, get out there and fix that.

And so he went out there and he fixed it. And

I was like, I didn't even tell him good job.

It was just expected. So God's dealing with us

as individuals. He's not saying like, okay, across

the board, everybody act this way. No, you guys,

his grace and mercy when I was in stage one was

absolutely mind blowing. I can't do what I used

to do or not do back here. I'm just in a different

stage. And I know, like I used to, I was so blown

away by his forgiveness and the fact that he's

created a place for me to heaven. Like that blew

my mind. It still blows my mind, but I want to

blow his mind. I want to be trusted. For where

your treasure is there, your heart will be also.

Did you ever get around people and you feel like

they love God more than you? I don't mean like

they act like they love God more than you. I

mean like you genuinely know that you know that

you know that these people love God. They're

givers. And we actually direct the affection

of our heart through our treasure. Nothing's

more powerful than that in all the world. My

wife, I can't tell you, I used to be a waiter,

believe it or not, before ministry. I would go

to school and I'd wait on tables. And I would

get all these $1 bills. I would spend all my

money on my wife. She wasn't my wife yet. I was...

courting her, if you will. I spent all my money

on her. My heart beat for her so much. Her heart,

we should have went Dutch. It was just a little

bit for me. Then I just, if there's people in

the room that are already tithing, there are

people that aren't, and there's people in the

room that are an eight -year -old mowing the

lawn. There's three groups of people. I don't

want you to get to the end of the line and find

out what God wanted you to trust you with, but

he couldn't trust you because you weren't trusted

with money. Therefore, if you've not been faithful

in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to

your trust the true riches? Unrighteous mammon

was another word for money. If we have an opportunity

to be trusted with true riches, don't we want

to be trusted? And if he ends up giving back

the money and some, don't you want to find out?

Can I have the band come up here? So... We have

something up here. They're going to show you

the traditional giving that you guys do here.

If you're in the room and you're like, you know

what? I want to give thriving a shot because

Malachi actually invites you to try it. That

kind of giving, that kind of generous giving

of 10%. If you want to make that your floor,

maybe you need to have a conversation with somebody.

If you're married, maybe that looks like something.

I don't know what it looks like. But until we

are trusted with money, he's not going to trust

us with true riches. Until we're trusted with

money, our heart's affection isn't gonna be with

him. There may be another group of people in

this room and maybe you don't know the Lord.

And I just wanna say this to everybody in the

room because it's a really good reminder. Precisely

about 48 % of what Jesus spoke about was the

day of judgment in his parables. Did you guys

know that? That means every other sermon was

about judgment day. That's a lot. of sermons,

of our judgment day. I'm trying to do it. But

there's, I'll just read it to you. How about

that? If you look at John 3, chapter 3, I think

everybody's familiar with John 3, 16. Did you

guys know there's a 17? It says this, for God

so loved the world that he gave his only begotten

son. That whoever believes in him should not

perish, but have everlasting life. For God did

not send his son into the world to condemn the

world, but that the world through him might be

saved. He who believes in him is not condemned,

but he who does not believe is condemned already

because he has not believed in the name of the

only begotten son of God. And this is the judgment.

Some verses saying this is the verdict, that

light has come into the world and men love darkness

rather than light because their deeds were evil.

For everyone practicing evil hates the light

and does not come to the light lest his deeds

should be exposed. But he who does the truth

comes to the light that his deeds may be clearly

seen that they have been done in God. This is

the picture that's described. One day I'm gonna

die and there's gonna be a great light and that

light is Christ. And that light is going to reveal

my life, my motives, what I did, what I didn't

do, what I was trusted with, what I wasn't trusted

with, all of it is just going to bang across

me. And in front of me, two things are either

gonna happen. There's gonna be a path that's

lit and that path is actually me doing life with

God because I practiced the truth and I came

to the light. I came to the light my whole life.

Every morning I started off, I sought him first

and I came to the light. And because I came to

the light and because I practiced the truth,

and I'm not talking about being perfect. I'm

just talking about like just coming to the light

and just coming to the light. And every morning

I practiced what I was going to do one day, which

was actually approach the light. I'm gonna be

very practiced at it. It's called practicing

the truth. And that path is going to be lit up.

And on the path, I'm going to see my deeds that

I did with God, or I'm going to hate the light

because it exposes the reality that I didn't

love God. It exposes the reality that I lived

for myself. It exposes not this image I had of

myself, but actually who it is that I lived for,

which was myself, because I needed to be saved

from myself. And I'm actually going to turn and

run away. When I was a young man, I used to think,

how long is judgment day? It's going to be real

quick, very quick. you're either going to approach

him because you practice coming to the light

or you're going to run from him because you feared,

because you hated the light and you love darkness.

That's what's going to happen to every person.

And here's what we like to do. And I'm not saying

that we should or shouldn't do it, but every

funeral I've ever been to, people talk about

where it is that they went. And we're not the

judge, if I'm being honest. In fact, the Bible

actually says, do not say who will ascend or

who will descend. And so if you're in this room

and you don't know Jesus, like you don't have

a relationship with him, how do you know you

have a relationship with him? Because you practice

coming to the light. If that's not you and you

wanna start a relationship with him today, I

wanna invite you to do that. And this is all

I'm gonna ask you to do. I'm just gonna have

everybody close your eyes just for a second.

And I'm not just gonna have you raise your hand.

Kip Penrod is up here and you know who he is.

He's the one who introduced me. I'm gonna ask

that after this service, that you would come

up and approach him and then say that you wanna

follow Jesus. If that's you in this room and

you don't know Jesus and you don't practice coming

to the light, I want you to raise your hand.

Awesome. You can put your hand down. Anybody

else? Amen. I know who that was that raised your

hand. Sir, I'm gonna ask you at the end to come

up and talk to Kip. And he's just gonna lead

you in a prayer. For everybody else in the room.

In Matthew 7, it says something specific and

I just wanna read it to you. Then we're gonna

close. And I'm not one of those guys. If I'm

one of those, maybe I am one of those guys that

says we're gonna close, but we never do. Remember

when I talked about my eight -year -old and how

proud I was of him? There comes a point in your

walk. When you come to this conclusion, are you

guys ready? Matthew 7, verse 24 says, therefore,

Matthew 7:24

whoever hears these sayings of mine and does

them, I will liken him to a wise man who built

his house on the rock. And the rain descended,

the floods came, and the winds blew and beat

on that house. And it did not fall for it was

founded on the rock. Now, what's the rock? Everybody.

always says Jesus. But Jesus is talking and he

actually tells you the answer at the beginning.

Are you guys ready? I'm gonna read it again.

Don't you dare say Jesus after I read this again.

Therefore, whoever hears these words of mine

and does them, is like a man who builds the house

on the rock. What is the rock? It's those who

do. what he commands. Whoever hears these words

of mine and does them is like a wise man who

built his house on the rock. The foolish man

hears the words and then doesn't do them. The

foundation in other places, it calls Jesus the

rock. But in this parable specifically, it says

the wise person is the one who can hear what

Jesus is saying and does them. Let's be wise

so that when the storm comes, the house stands.

Kip, I'm gonna just go ahead and invite you up

here to close. Church, I'm gonna ask you to stand.

Can God trust you and can you trust him? That's

what this all boils down to. You can trust God

with what he says, what it requires of us, what

he calls us to do. We pray that you were impacted

powerfully by this message. If you have been

personally affected by our ministry and you would

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people every day, visit our website at