#The wise and foolish builders

Well, good morning to you all. I hope you are all well and

enjoying the summer. And who likes a good story?

Anybody. Everybody likes a good story.

So I'm going to tell you a story this morning.

So if you're sitting comfortably children, we shall begin.

But we're starting our series on parables and I'm going to be

doing a parable this morning, which you will recognize very

well indeed. But what is a parable?

Well, first and foremost it is a story, as I've already

mentioned. But it could be seen as sort of

a fable, couldn't it? A story with a bit of a moral to

it. But like Esop's fables, if you

remember those the parables, the parables are a bit more than

just a moral story. They have a bit of depth to

them, don't they? They have wisdom in them and

they have revelation. What do I mean by that?

I mean, well, wisdom obviously comes from God.

So Jesus gave us that story, those stories, those parables.

But he also, it reveals something of his Kingdom to us,

doesn't it? A lot of the stories about, a

lot of the parables about the Kingdom of God, but it also

reveals something in us. And that's what I'm hoping for

this morning, that as we look at this parable, it will reveal

something in you. They speak about the human

condition. Don't they?

So that's what we're going to be looking at.

But let me just pray. Start with Father God.

I just thank you, Lord, that you have guided me with this

parable. And Lord, I pray that you will

just let your Holy Spirit settle on us now.

Let our ears and our hearts be open.

So what you have to say? And Lord, I pray that everything

that you have in this talk goes into the hearts of men and women

here. And anything that is just of me,

I pray you leave behind. I pray that all in Jesus name.

Amen. So let's have a look at the

text. It's from Matthew 7 and 21 that

will be coming up on the screen and welcome everybody online.

We've got to say hello earlier. Just wanted to welcome.

You are very welcome with us and this should be coming up on your

screen as well. Let's have a read.

And now let me just Simply put this in context.

Jesus has taken a whole lot of people who've been following him

around because he's been doing miracles.

All around the holy lands. And he thinks, right, let's take

them up the mountain, and then I can have some chance to speak to

them and teach them. And he goes through a whole load

of subjects, and at the end of that he comes with this parable.

Therefore, everybody who hears these words and puts them into

practice is like a wise man who built his house upon the rock.

The rain came down, the streams rose, the winds blew and beat

against the house. Yet it did not fall because it

had its foundation on the rock. But everybody who hears these

words of mine and does not put them into practice is like the

foolish man who built his house on the sand.

The rain came, the streams rose and the wind blew and beat

against the house, and it fell down with a great crash.

But what a great story. And I know we love to teach the

children this story, and there's a song, and I did think about

singing it, but you don't want to hear that.

But like most parables, we've heard them before, haven't we?

Get the gist of what Jesus is talking about.

And of course this parable is not really talking about

physical houses, is it? It's a metaphor by like so many

things that Jesus spoken as parables.

It's a parables about foundations in our lives, both

good and bad foundations. So we're going to start with the

bad, just like Mark spoke in his series on the gospel, The Bad

News 1st and followed by the good.

So let's have a look at building on the sand.

When we think of sand, we think of the beach, don't we?

We live in an island nation and we think sand or I love going to

the beach. I love the lovely soft feeling

of the hot sand between my toes. Or if you're like me, I don't

like sand between my toes. I like that where you on the

squishy wet sand. And you leave the footprints.

You have sort of lovely feelings of that.

You go there for a holiday or for a day out.

You're near the ocean, aren't you?

Or an estuary. And it's a place where you feel

relaxed and you enjoy your holiday and your time with your

family. But.

And we build sandcastles, don't we?

We often bury Dad in the sand, We have ice cream, we enjoy some

fish and chips. It's a great place, isn't it?

But sand is not also not always at the the seaside, is it?

A lot of sand. In fact, I would say the

majority of sand on this planet is in the desert.

And the desert is a desolate place, a place of isolation, a

place where there is very little water and very little life

indeed. Let's have a take.

Let's firstly have a look at a few pictures of some structures

built on sand. There we are, Sandcastle.

How lovely. Next one, please.

And there we are. We'd love to go to the beach and

build on sand. Next one, please.

Chantelle And then, of course, the waters come and the

sandcastle start to disappear very quickly, don't they?

And that's sort of part of this, this story.

Next one, please, Chantelle. Then some people do some

beautiful structures, and the next one, and the next one,

lovely. And then this one is the largest

sandcastle ever built, apparently built in Germany by a

bunch of artists. And in fact, it would have gone

in the Guinness Book of Records, but it fell down before they

turned up. There's a story, isn't there?

So I want to look at three things That is like building our

lives on sand, those foundation stones on sand.

Well, of course. The easiest one to pick, of

course, is sin. The stuff that we shouldn't do

but we end up doing, don't we? Mark spoke about this in the in

the series on the gospel, didn't he?

He explained sin was a bit like having a pet snake and going to

a cage and go get in the pet snake and having a little play

and hopefully it won't bite. You put its venom into and then

you stick it back in the cage and you think got away with

that. And there's no harm done really

in some respects as long as we go to God and and repent and say

Lord, I'm sorry. But when sin becomes habitual,

it becomes a bit of a problem, doesn't it?

We keep going back to it, we keep going back to that place

that we know we ought to do, and it becomes a bit of a problem.

Habitual sins then become addictions, don't they?

And addictions are like building on sand.

In fact, I would say addictions can be like building on

quicksand, because sooner or later they might suck you down.

And then where are you? But of course that sort of thing

doesn't happen straight away. And we are talking about

foundations. And if you've seen a builder

build a house, you will have seen that they will dig a big

hole, they will put some concrete in and then they will

lay 1 brick at a time. And that's what it's like in our

lives. We lay 1 brick at a time and we

choose to lay those bricks on sand which is not solid, or we

get to choose to lay them on the rock which is Christ Jesus.

Let's have a look at Galatians 6-7 to 9:00.

But whatever a man sows, he will also reap, because the one who

sows to his flesh will reap the corruption from the flesh, but

the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from that

spirit. So we must not get tired of

doing good, for we will reap up to proper time if we don't give

up. So what am I?

Why have I built that scripture? And we were talking about

foundations, weren't we? But there's a principle here

with reaping and sowing. We often think of sowing and

reaping. We often think that we sow into

good things and then we will reap a harvest.

And there's lots about that in in the Bible, isn't there?

But we can also sow into bad things.

And the more we do something, the more we're sowing.

And yes, we will reap a harvest of those bad things.

If you've had any form of addiction or any form of habit

that you can't get rid of, you know it's really difficult

because you keep sowing the seeds.

Into that habit in the other habits are also a distraction

that maybe not quite as serious as some of the scene I've been

talking about. We can get into our habits

around our pastimes. I mean, what is your what's your

favorite thing to do? Do you like celebrities?

Do you like sport? Do you like fashion, Shopping,

films, theater, music, maybe online gaming?

We're all into something or other, aren't we?

And there's nothing wrong with any of those things.

Now, there's nothing evil about them in themselves, but when

they become a little bit obsessive, when we end up

spending a lot of time on those things, that's when they become

a bit of a problem. When they become a bit of an

addiction, that's us laying another foundation stone on the

land, on the sand, We start to identify ourselves with them.

We wear the clothes, don't we? We speak the lingo.

We buy items that attach us to the things that we.

Love and we spend our money on them, don't we?

Things that we find that we spend all our time on, we also

spend our money. And you know, in Matthew, Jesus

said your treasure is where your heart is.

So if you want to examine what you spend your time or what

you're perhaps got in your life, that's too much for you.

Just look where you spend your money.

Let's give an example of that. Anyone here like football?

Yep, only three. Three people.

Only three people. Simon, you didn't put your hand

up Simon. He actually works in a Christian

charity that that teach the the gospel through for playing

football. Fantastic, the work they do.

But football is a bit of an obsession for many people in

Britain, isn't it? And in fact when you watch

football on the TV you see the masses of crowds.

And they are cheering away at their favorite team and they

often have a favorite player and they're all in the in the gear,

aren't they got all the gear, They got hats.

They got everything and they sing the chance and there's

nothing wrong with that in essence.

But. But wearing the clothes and and

and and worshipping the team as I see it is is like, it's almost

like an idol, isn't it? Or it can be.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong within yourself.

I mean, they call it the beautiful game.

I'm not sure it's the beautiful game.

As I like rugby, I think that's much more beautiful.

Thank you. But you know, if you look in

those crowds, you see the enthusiasm, just look at those

bunch of those guys. When a goal is scored, they're

all over each other. They're cheering, they're

shouting, they're having a wonderful time.

I just, it always makes me think, if we were that enthusic

enthusiastic about Jesus, how quickly could we change the

world? We really would, wouldn't we?

Entertainment is also a big draw.

You know, we have what we used to call when I was a child, a

little black box in the corner. The TV has now turned into the

big 86 inch flat screen square in the middle of the lounge.

Taking prior to place in some cases, isn't it?

And I worked in TV for 33 years, so I know TV and I know how much

of A drawer it is. Let me tell you one little fact

about TV. You know that addict.

Let's get the right word, that phrase.

But that says the camera never lies.

That is the biggest lie on the planet.

Every camera lies. Just look at Photoshop.

But you know TV and entertainment become become just

as much an idol as anything else.

So we just have to watch our time, how much time we spend.

We get into the box sets, don't we Get into crime, drama,

whatever it might be. It sucks us in and in essence as

I said all these things that we that we.

That we enjoy and we spend our time doing.

In essence, there's nothing wrong with them.

But let's have a look at Corinthians 1, Corinthians 10

and 23. Everything is permissible.

This is Paul speaking, but not anything.

Everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible, but

not everything is constructive. And then he says in 612 also

everything is permissible for me, but not everything is

beneficial. Everything is permissible for

me, but I will not be mastered by anything.

And there's the key, isn't it not being mastered by something?

So I encourage you examine yourself.

Is there anything that takes my time too much?

I mean, one of the things that I think does take our time is the

mobile phone. We've all got one of these.

If you've got a smartphone, let's say we will.

Some of you may not. If you haven't, I'm sorry.

There's lots and lots of apps on there that can take our time.

We can spend a lot of our time on games or on social media.

Can't wait. I'll talk about that in a bit.

So let us use the things that God has blessed us with as tools

for good, tools for relaxation, tools for fellowship, and tools

for learning. But not so they become the

foundations of our lives because we are building on.

Sand So #2, we've talked about things that just detract from us

and we've talked about addictions.

And by the way, we just had a wonderful interview, haven't we,

with Joe and Restore, Restore deals with things that are very

deep in our hearts. And when we get addicted to

things like alcohol or drugs or pornography or things like that,

then that draws us away from God, doesn't it?

And then we often do that because.

We're medicating for something that we're hurting, something

that's deep in our soul that we've been hurting.

And Restore is about getting to the roots of things that hurt

us. So if you're considering that

you got something that you just can't get past, something that

just comes back to you again, and maybe you do medicate for

it, then consider going on Restore.

So let's have a look at #2 #2 is money or the love of As it were.

The Western world is obsessed with money.

I hope you agree with me. I think it is investments,

equities, pensions, annuities, interest growth, hedge funds,

EBITDA, markets, stocks and shares, all those words and

plenty, plenty more. We have a world based around

what they call business, which is really means busyness,

doesn't it? But I don't think it is

business. I think it's really about.

Facing money because money really is one of the things we

can get caught up in. And if we lay foundations in our

life based on our wealth, we are definitely putting our

foundations in the sandy land. The more richer we get, the

happier life will be, won't it? Not sure about that.

The modern mantra of health, wealth and happiness.

That's what it's all about, isn't it?

The more money you've got, the healthier you will be and the

happier you will be. But.

Just examine someone you know who's filthy rich.

Are they really happy? Often we see stories, don't we?

On on the TV or in the news of people who've got into something

they should have got into because actually they've got too

much money. The Bible has 500 or more

verses, you know, on prayer and faith, but it has around 2000 on

money. Interesting.

God wants to make us. Very aware of what money does to

us and how it can consume us. Let me tell you a story.

I went out to Nigeria. Anyone here from Nigeria up

Nigeria. I went out to a place called

Ashok Bowl. Anyone from Ashok Bowl?

I probably. I probably announced it wrong.

No, I went out there many years ago.

I told you I was in filming and we were out filming.

It was a crusade actually and we did it for three or four days.

Can't tell you how many people came.

It was wild. Ask me if you want to know the

story, but at the end of the job we had a crew with us of about

10 people and the producer was paid for the job in cash.

And she called me to her room in the hotel and said Trevor,

Trevor, because I used to run the crew, we've been paid in

cash. But I was just wondering, do you

think we could drop the rate for everybody?

Do you think we could pay everybody less?

And I looked at her and I said, you've got to be joking, you'll

have a riot on your hand. But the problem was, she had

this stack of £50 notes in front of her face.

And if you've got a stack of money in front of you, you want

to keep it, don't you? There's a draw there.

That is not good. Jesus said in Luke 1613, no one

can serve 2 masters. Either you will hate the one and

love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise

the other. You cannot serve both God and

money. You serve money.

You place your foundations on the sand.

You serve God. You place it on the rock.

In Timothy. It says, for the love of money

is the root of all kinds of evil.

Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and

Pierce themselves with many grieves.

They have pierced themselves with many grieves because of the

root. Of evil, of money.

And in Hebrews it says keep your lives free from the love of

money and be content with what you have.

Be content with what you have. Because God has said never will

I leave you and never will I forsake you.

And that's a really great scripture, because being content

with what we have is about knowing the truth, which is the

foundation on the rock that God will never leave us or forsake

us or we can pick. Non truthful.

Oh yeah, I'll be okay if I have enough money.

The scriptures speak for themselves, don't they?

The love of money is like building on sand, because when

the storm comes, when the rain comes down and the waters rise

and the wind blows. In other words, when that

money's gone, or when you've lost it all, or you've been made

redundant, whatever it might be and you don't have an income

anymore, where do you stand if your love?

It's with the money. But if you stand on the rock,

right Jesus, you will know he will never leave you or forsake

you. OK, #3 identity.

I want to talk about identity because it's really quite

fundamental that we place our identity in God.

Identity is fundamentally who we are.

It is the place that our soul resides.

It is a place where we feel we can feel peace and security and

love. But it's also a place where we

can feel isolated, insecure and troubled.

So where we place our identity is vitally important to who we

are as human beings and how we find our place in the world.

You know, I often think the angst of being a teenager is all

based around identity. When you're a child and you grow

up with your parents or parents or your guardians, then.

They do everything for you, don't they?

From starting out when they change a nappy and feed you, to

bringing you up and taking you to school and clothing you and

teaching you what is right from wrong.

Sometimes they get it right, sometimes they get it wrong, but

that's what they're there for. But you get to adolescence,

which is what we call teenage now.

You get to a point where you are trying to find your place in the

world. What's my purpose?

I'm an individual. I'm no longer just my parents

child. I'm an individual.

I need to find my place in the world, and that's where identity

sits for a teenager, which is why they join clubs and they

like the famous band or whatever they like to wear a brand.

All that stuff is based around trying to find an identity and

purpose. It's not much difference really

with adults, is it? It really isn't.

And much of adult anxiety is based around identity as well.

Let's have a look at the dictionary definition of that,

our sense of who we are. As individuals and as members of

social groups, that's what the the Cambridge Dictionary says.

I think our sense of who we are as individuals and our members

of groups isn't that interesting.

Our sense of who we are, in other words, who we are for me

in God and who we are in groups, how we love one another.

There's some real truth in that, isn't it?

This the mistake that many and I think would nearly say that

everybody make is identity is in what we do and it just is not.

We get mixed up with our we get it mixed up with our ego, our

position in society, our purpose, our self worth, our

self esteem, our self fulfillment.

Not just the word self in those God tells us we are.

And wonderfully made, isn't it? In Psalm 139, great Psalm to

read, he says that we are his treasured possession.

And you see that many times in Deuteronomy and in one pizza it

says we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his treasured

possession again. So that's who we really are.

We are His, We are His creation, and we are his sons and

daughters, and we belong to Him. And nothing that we do or any

position that we hold is going to change that If we love God.

God gave us a choice to lay down our foundations on good or bad

ground. He also gave us his creativity

because he's a creative God, isn't he?

So He made us in his image and our creative mind.

We choose other paths. We naturally do that because

we're creative. The creative spirit is

something. Oh, I'll go and do something.

I'll go and make something. And that is all fantastic.

But it also steers us away from who our identity is because we

think we are what we make and what we do.

So we choose our identity, we choose position, we choose

power, we choose notoriety, we choose being seen as somebody of

importance and anything else that might pop up into your mind

that you might have chosen over God.

Which is a purpose that makes us feel wanted and connected with

others first, before we choose a connection with God.

And that's like laying our foundations on the sand.

We're relying on our position, our purpose, and perhaps our

talents and giftings. Let me give you some examples of

that first one career in what we do.

I said we often place our identity in our career.

Because our careers often span the whole of our lives, don't

they? And so when we're made

redundant, perhaps, or maybe when we retire, we then find

this big vacuum in our life of our purpose.

Oh, I used to do this. This is what was me.

I am a Carpenter, for example. For me, it was I was a cameraman

originally. And I remember when I retired

from my role and took this role on.

That unpicking of that was actually quite difficult.

It was a brain ache for a start, but I knew that my identity was

in God, so I knew I'd get through that.

But if you if you get there with your career and you put your

career first before everything else, then you will find your

building on the sandy land. And that could be eventually a

bit of quicksand and it will take you down if suddenly your

career is gone secondly. We could put our identity in

being a mother or a father, bringing up children, and then

in essence, there's nothing wrong with that.

Of course we have to be good mothers and fathers, but if it

becomes the only thing we are, what happens when the children

leave home? What have we got left?

We feel a sense of emptiness, a hole in our life.

Some people try and keep hold of the kids, don't they?

Some kids won't actually go away, will they?

I'm sure there's some of you. What do they call it?

Semi fledged, I think it's called.

If you've got children that are semi fledged, let me give you

one quick thing. When an eagle wants to get rid

of the Eaglets from the nest, they don't make it nice and

comfy. They start taking all the

feathers and all the fluff out until then, until the sticks

start to stick in the side of the eaglet and then it wants to

go. Just take that one on board.

Yeah, you're laughing. I know it's in the room.

Well, there's a bit of wisdom. So #3, #3, and perhaps this

one's a little bit bit more nuanced, and that is position.

We often think that our identity is based on our position, and

that could be a position in your company or your career.

It could be a position in organization you get involved

in. It could be who you are in the

local football club or whatever your pastimes are, and it could

also be a position in church. It could be something that

you've perhaps attained or you've chosen to do.

And you make it bigger than it really is.

And what do I mean by that? It's good to serve.

Of course it's good to serve and it's good to help others.

But when we make that our identity when we go, no, I am

the guy that greets at the door. I run the parking team.

You know, I I, I'm with the prayer team, whatever it might

be. I work with the children's work.

If that becomes your position, that your identity, then you're

in trouble. That's a very nuanced thing,

isn't it? Laying a foundation over here on

the sand. Rather than laying our identity

in God, so just watch out for that.

We start to believe that who we are is based upon our talents

and giftings. And there's nothing wrong with

talents and giftings. In fact, God gives us good gifts

and He gives us a talent. But let's not base our identity

on that. We start to believe that who we

are is based on what we've achieved as well.

I've achieved this. It's not a good place to go.

We are taught to be humble, aren't we?

It's great that you achieve, and you should thank God for it, but

identity is definitely in Him, because all those things are

counterfeits for who we really are.

We are first and foremost, children of the Most High God.

We are coerced with Christ and we are eternal beings.

And Mark talked about this quite a bit in the last series.

And we would take our place in eternity before long.

The Bible says we are here for the blink of an eye.

So let's not invest in what we have here, but let's invest in

our future, which is putting our foundations in God.

A simple test on whether you're laying your foundations is to

ask yourself if my career was suddenly gone, if my children

flew the nest, if I didn't have this gifting or this position,

if someone said to me you can't do that anymore, where would I

be? How would I feel that?

You might feel a little bit bereft, but if you've got your

identity based firmly on the rock, then you will go, well,

Jesus, I understand that this is now gone, but you have something

new for me because my identity is firmly in you.

This is what Jesus is talking about when he talked about the

rain and the wind and the water rising.

That we can stand firm when things are taken from our lives.

And you know, if you hold on not to say this to people, if you

hold on to something too tight, you find this in church a lot.

You hold on to some positional gifting or whatever that you

have so tightly, God will very gently come slowly ease your

fingers and take it away from you.

Why? Not Because just because it's

become an obsession, which perhaps it has, but also to show

you that he is enough for you. In himself.

Your identity is him. Look at Job.

He lost everything, didn't he? But he still praise God.

OK, so there's all the building on the sand ones.

Let's have a look at building on the rock.

How much time have I got? Not a lot.

We're going to whistle through this.

So what does it mean to build our house on the rock?

We'll build our lives on the rock.

Building our lives on the rock is based upon God's design for

our. Of our lives.

But let's have a look at a few houses.

Firstly built on the rock. When they whistle through these.

Not sure that one is real. Firstly, next one.

That one's sort of building a house between the rock.

I think that one's sort of building it under the rock, I

think, although it's probably on a rock as well.

I really like this one. I mean, but if you want

isolation, that's the place to go I guess.

And then this one that's down in, I think that's down in

Torbay. Beautiful, right?

You love a house like that, but none of those houses are going

to fall. Oh, and this one is a modern

design, but it'd be great to have a house like it's never

going to fall down, is it? It is just never going to fall

down because a rock is immovable and Jesus is immovable.

So when Jesus asked what's the when Jesus was asked what's the

most important commandment, he, He answered this in in Matthew

22. And he took this from Isaiah.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart.

All your soul and with all your mind.

This is the first and the greatest commandment.

And the 2nd is like it. Love your neighbors as yourself.

All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.

So laying our foundation is based on these two commandments,

seeing God first and loving our neighbors.

So I'm going to look at three things on loving God and three

things on loving our neighbors. First thing and these, you'll

see these is repeat some of the stuff that Mark did when he was

doing the talk last week. I thought, oh, he's just picked

my points for next week, so I'm going to repeat them anyway

because they're worth repeating. One read and study the word.

The word brings life and it brings freedom.

It's life changing. It's transformational because

it's a living word. Jesus, the rock is the living

word. So reading the word is so

important. Make that a stone you lay.

Every day in your life, on the rock in Jeremiah 31, it says,

this is my covenant which I made with my people of Israel.

After that time, declares the Lord, I will put my law in their

minds and write on their hearts, and I will be there with their

God, and they will be with my people.

But am I? Why have I quoted that?

Because it says I will put the law in their minds and write it

on their hearts. The more we read the word, the

more he writes it on our hearts. The more we start to understand

those timeless truths in our lives.

So reading the word is like laying each day an extra stone

on your foundation that will be strong because it's sitting on

the rock #2 pray without ceasing.

Praying is something that we need to make as a lifestyle, not

praying when we need to, praying when we're in trouble, or

praying when we come to a prayer meeting or go to church.

But praying every day make it a habit in your life.

This is a good habit, not a bad habit.

Get up each morning and if if there's anything you can pray is

Lord, I give you this day. And if you've got no words, then

speaking tongues. Because speaking tongues, God

has given us that heavenly language for our soul to

communicate directly with Him without our mind having to

distract us with other things. And if you don't speak in

tongues, and some of you may not, God desires for you to be

able to speak in tongues. Perhaps come out after service

to my right, your left. Ask someone to pray for you to

speak in time. Remember, prayer is a two way

street. So we pray and we ask God for

what we need and what we desire, and we pray for others in

intercession and we pray for him to look after the church.

But then when you've prayed, have some time just listening.

Give him time #3 worship. Mark put this down.

A surrender in adoration, praising God in all

circumstances. So we talked about the rock and

the sand. We talk about the storm coming,

the waters rising. Praising God in all

circumstances. When it's good and when it's bad

is a real key to lay foundations in our lives.

You know, there's there's a phrase in Isai 61 that says I

put on the garment of praise. And often when you come into

church and you've come and maybe you've had an argument on the

way or someone's cut you up on the road or whatever, it took

time to get here and you're late and you're not in the mood to

praise God, are you? Come in the first song, say, oh,

I might get into it. I might get into it.

But, you know, we have to make a choice to put on a garment of

praise. And that is like laying a

foundation. You know, you need to spend some

time soaking or we need to spend some time soaking in the

presence of God because. Soaking in, we will hear from

him and that is the place of healing and restoration.

You know, we do space every first week.

Tuesday night 8 till 10 we do space, which is a place to soak

in both in prayer and worship with God.

So if you've not been to that, I encourage you to come to that.

But worship, of course is more than just singing.

Actually worship is submission. And it is surrender.

And the word submission is interesting because people think

submission is about about getting submission from somebody

else. But submission could not be got.

It can only be given. Submission is a gift.

You own it and you can give it. No one can take it from you.

I could stray into marriage bits here because it says wife submit

to your husband's husband's. That doesn't mean you can ask

your wife to submit. It is a gift only she can give

to you. Remember that one.

Where am I? We worship with our hearts, we

worship with our time, and we worship with our resources and

with our money. So worship is more than just

singing. It is a part of our whole life

#4 Now we're on to the stuff about us loving one another.

Meet Together Fellowship and now already mentioned it today and

we mentioned every week and I feel we bang on about it every

week. But it is so, so important to

get connected in church because if you don't get connected then

you will be isolated. In that desert I talked about

earlier, you'll be isolated. Even though you're surrounded by

other individuals in church, you will feel isolated.

Get into a group, get into a connect group.

At the very least get into a serving group.

Because then you will get some fellowship with one another.

It is so important. And secondly, keep coming to

church. Church is a place where we meet

as a body of Christ. Every part of us is important.

Not one of you is unimportant. Every single one of you has a

place in this church, in this family.

And when you're missing, we're missing you.

So don't do the whole oh, I might go once a month or you

know, I'll do it when I feel like it.

Oh, today, don't. Just just don't fancy it.

If you've got the time and you're not away, come to church.

It's really good to finish it #5 love one another.

There are plenty of serving opportunities here at Vineyard

and Mark's talked about many of them.

You can join loads of different teams and that is the 1st place

where we love one another. We are serving the servant is

something that's not convenient to us.

It's actually quite inconvenient in some ways.

But when we get to serving and we actually get some sense of

reward and achievement out of it, and that's the way God

designed it, we need to sacrifice for the people around

us. Sometimes we have to do things

that really are very inconvenient and take us away

from something else we really wanted to do.

But that is what sacrifices. And again, it's a gift that we

can give to the people around us, small acts of kindness.

We could just bake a cake for our next door neighbor and that

would be showing love to them and submit to one another in

love in one Peter, it says. In the same way, you who are

younger, submit yourselves to your elders.

All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another

because God opposes the proud that shows favor to the humble

and hospitality. You know, we've got a great

opportunity in August. We've only got 1 service,

10/30/10. Thirty, everybody 10-30.

That means you've got some time afterwards to have perhaps

invite someone around, make them some dinner or put on a BBQ or

perhaps just say, hey, let's go down to the park and have a

picnic. Hopefully the weather will be

beautiful. It's just about better shipping

together. And lastly, and I'm pretty much

out of time here, make disciples.

We need to make disciples of one another.

That's why the connection is so important.

Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we can make disciples of one

another and learn from one another.

First thing to do, I would say, is get on the equip course.

If you haven't been on an equip course, it's a good place to

Start learning discipleship. There are four courses this year

as Mel mentioned. Have a look on the website and

you'll find out if you've not done any quick course before.

Then do introductions which introduction to vineyard eagerly

desire the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

We should desire the gifts because God has freely given

them to us, particularly the gift of prophecies that all

should prophesy. And then practice the fruit of

the Spirit. What is the fruit of the Spirit?

Love. Joy.

Peace. Patience, kindness, goodness,

faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

We could all do with a bit of self-control in particular to go

along with all those, couldn't we?

So perhaps join others in a Bible study.

Be a lifelong learner. Don't stop when you when you

stopped learning before, when you left school or university or

did a did some courses at work. Be a lifelong learner?

Get into the word. We're all called by the spirit

of God. Ask God what he has called you

too. I believe you all have a calling

in God that, as I said, we're all part of the body here.

Every part is important. Ask God what he has called you

too, and why he has called you here.

And then listen and follow your godly passions.

He will desire something in you that will be godly, and you'll

want to do something. The only reason I'm up on stage

here preaching because I wouldn't choose to do this is

because God put something in me and said I want you to do that.

It's like a deep passion and I'm learning how to do it hopefully

right. The band come up we have only a

minute we haven't got a lot of time Please while the band come

up and I just conclude, if you've got children, Please

remember you don't need to collect them.

So in conclusion. Laying foundations on sandy land

may feel good for a while, but when trouble comes, the sand

won't stand. Laying good foundations on the

rock sets you up for life of freedom in Christ because God is

more interested in your character than He is in your

comfort. It's a daily choice 1 brick at a

time, the Holy Bit, Holy Spirit being the cement that cements

those truths. Into your life.

And when you look back, having laid those foundations, you will

see God's faithfulness in life, and you will see that He has

built a beautiful thing with you in Him.

I'm Em.