Building My Life | Jason Martin

You're listening to a message to go from axt church. We hope this message

will light up your day. Actually, I was preparing. I was preparing

to preach a different message, and I thought I had my notes all sort

of. I was working on my notes. But suddenly on Friday and I

felt uneasy. I felt like, hey, this is not what I'm supposed

to preach about. And God just told me to like change it. So

I was like, oh, man, how do I change if you all

don't know? Right? Preaching here is not easy. Preaching here is not

easy. Preparing is not easy. And so when that happened on Friday,

So I was like, okay, God, so you tell me what to

preach and I will obey and figure out how to do it. You give

me your strength, Okay. So today it is. It's actually a word

that I got during the prayer rally. So we had a prayer rally earlier

this year on the first of jan And during the prayer rally, when we

had worshiped different church plant coordinators, we we were if we had a word

from God, we had to go up and like sort of share it with

the congregation. And the word that was given to me was cornerstone. So

Jesus is known as the cornerstone. Right. So just down in the earlier

month, earlier in the morning, when I say that Jesus is our rock,

all the kids were like, are you sure? Because the only rock

that they know is Dane Johnson, you know, the actor the rock.

So then I realize that, hey, we have probably taken it for granted.

If you have been charged long enough, you know that Jesus is the

rock, the rock of my salvation in whom I will stand right. But

right now we have to remember again what is Jesus being the rock meaning?

Okay, so there is a video that I want to show you. But

before I show you the video, right, I just tell you what's it

about. It's a story in the Bible. I think it's a story which

y'all are very familiar with. It's about the two builders. So what's the

story about the two builders? One builder build his house upon the sand,

another one build a house a bonder rock. Wow, See the kids are

paying attention. Well don ex kids teachers, so they have been getting something.

So watch this video. Watch this video. I had to play at

two x speedler so that it's faster. But I hope you can still catch

it and try and understand or see what you get from this video as well.

Okay, all right, so let's play the video. H stop it

eighth all right, So y'all have read this story before, but now you

have seen it. Okay, So what are some of the things that you

have observed from this Some of the insights that you've got from this video?

There's no mister beid, Okay correct? What are some of the insights that

you got from it? Which builder build faster? Correct? The one that

built on the sand build it faster? Why is the one on the sand

build it faster? Because it's easier to build, right, Because it's easier

to build, and then if if you want to build it on the rock,

it will take much longer. Right. So from this one right,

what is the house? If you look at this scripture, what is the

house? The house is your life. The house is your life. Right,

So you're building your life. So the title of today's sermon is building

your life. Okay. So even as we start the year right, we

want to start the year well. We want to build our life well so

that we will last. Right. You do not want after Chinese New year,

like, for example, right, uh you you you said that first

of January, I'm gonna be healthy and I'm gonna lose a lot of weight.

Okay, So what did you build that on. You build it upon

the thing that, okay, I'm going to eat healthy, right, And

then because you didn't build it deep enough, the first time you pass KFC

or McDonald's, you stop and it becomes easier because hey, it's easy but

fast food. So they say fast food right, without the as it's actually

fat food, right. And then slowly that new year's resolution by the time

you reach Chinese New year is gone. How many of y'all are still sticking

to your new year's resolution? Yes? Hands? Wow, one hand,

two hands? Right. So even as we start this year right now,

it is still January, right, How do we build our life that it

will last? How do we build our life that we will last? Okay?

And the first point, so there's three points today. It won't be

a very long summon, it will be quite short, but there are three

points today. Okay. So the first point is build on solid rock.

Build on solid rock. You know when somebody says, wow, this uh,

this car or this building is rock solid. What do they mean by

that rock solid? Or you're gonna touch maybe you're gonna touch Julian's biceps,

or rock solid? You know what is rock solid? Mean? A lot

of times? Right, we think that it is. It is. It

is super strong, right, it is not weak. It will stand the

test of time. Right, and for us, we need to build our

lives on solid rock. But I told you earlier, right, what is

the solid rock? I asked you Jesus? Woh, you see the kids

right, they're not even looking at me, but they can answer. You

know, It's awesome. It's like ingrained in them. They are definitely the

foundation is built on solid rock. All right. So Jesus is the solid

rock. So how do we build or why do we need to build our

lives on Jesus? Why just because the Bible tells us? So? Is

it because you have to? But why why do you want to build your

life on the solid rock? Okay? I'll give you all a few verses?

So Matthew seven, Okay, so let me read Matthew seven. Anyone

who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise like a person who builds

a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents, and the

floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house. It won't collapse because it

is built on bed rock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn't obey

it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When

the rains and the floods come and the winds beat against that house, it

will collapse with a mighty crash. Okay, So again, what is the

house? What is the house referring to our lives? So how do we

build if we replace the word house here with our lives? How do we

ensure that our lives stand the test of time? Because it says here right

that though the rain come in Torrance and the floodwaters rise and winds. They

didn't say if it is though, that means right, it will come.

It will come. So this year, although it might come earlier in the

year, it might come later. It might be heavy rain, it might

be light rain. But whatever it is, there will be different challenges.

And we have to ensure that we build our lives on the rock. So

again, why let me take you to the next light Isaiah twenty eight.

Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says, Look, I'm placing a

foundation stone in Jerusalem, a firm and tested stone. It is a precious

cornerstone that is safe to build on whoever believes will never be shaken. So,

whoever believes will never be shaken, When will you know whether the house

will be shaken or not? When will you know whether your house is strong

enough to be shaken or not? It's when there's an earthquake. When it

is calm, when its sun shining and stuff like. When things are good,

both the houses look good. But only when an earthquake comes we will

know whether our house will be shaken or not. So that's why he says,

why do we need out to build our house on Jesus? It's because

Jesus is the precious cornerstone that is safe to build on. Who ever believes

need never be shaken. Amen. Right, So that's the first verse.

Yes, Jesus is the strongest Okay, next son Psalms eighteen. The Lord

is my rock, my fortress, and my savior. My God is my

rock in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that

saves me and my place of safety. Do you want to build your house

in this kind of place right now, right, if we stay in a

place which does not have security guards already, we are scared. You know,

we're like living in a place where there's so much of fear. There

is so much a fear. Everything is like lock your doors and do we

ensure that ah uh, this special, this person looks suspicious or whatever it

is. There's so much of suspicion. But we know that we are living

in a world which we will have challenges. So would you want your life

to be built on solid rock, which is where you can find protection?

Because right without protection? Would you want to build your life without protection?

No, but most of us sometimes do. Because how we do it is

we don't build it on Jesus. Because without Jesus there's no protection. And

that's what the next verse is First Corinthians three. For no one can lay

any foundation other than the one we already have, Jesus Christ. So if

you do not build your house or your lives on Jesus Christ, you are

not building it on any other foundation. All other ground is sinking sand.

We know this, and this year, even as we start right, we

want to make sure that we build our lives so that we will last.

We will God will give us our protection. He's our savior, he's our

fortress. Amen. Okay, next one, So I go back to the

verse again, right, anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is

wise like a person who builds his house on a rock. Okay, So

what is the teaching that Jesus is talking about? Because he says that anyone

who listens to my teaching will build his house on solid rock. So do

you what do you need to know? What is that teaching? What is

the teaching? If you don't know that teaching, then how are we going

to listen to it? Right? And that is that's why when I was

doing this study, right, I mean, God just revealed it to me.

He said, like he the prerequisite to building a house on solid rock

is to listen to my teaching and follow it as the wise do. So

first of all, we need to know what is the teaching and we need

to follow it. So I won't go into all the teaching today, definitely,

but I want to give you a summary. I'll give you a summary.

So the next line the suspense s killing us. Okay, so this

is from Matthew seven, right, what was Jesus teaching before Matthew seven,

verse twenty four. This is worse twenty four. So the Bible is all

connected. Right, So when Jesus says that he is teaching, listen to

my teaching and follow it as wise, there is a teaching that came beforehand.

Okay, okay, I need to wait for that slide because there's quite

a lot next slide. All right, So Jesus say, you need to

listen to my teaching, and if you're wise, you will follow it,

and then your life will be You're building your life on the rock. So

you have to understand what that teaching is, and that teaching right started from

Matthew chapter four. From Matthew chapter four, Matthew chapter five, Matthu chapter

six, Matthew chapter seven. Jesus was teaching us so many different things.

He was teaching us so many different things on how we should live our lives.

First one is giving to the needy. What we should do with our

money and possessions, How to be the salt and light. How should we

live a married life, How do we deal with anger? How do we

love our enemies, do not judge others? How to pray and fast?

The Golden rule, which is treat others the way same way you want to

be treated, being fruitful and being a true disciple. So you can see,

right, if you follow all jesus teachings in line with this, then

you will build your house on the solid rock. But if you do not,

then your house will not be on the solid rock. It's as simple

as that. Okay. So now do you know why Jesus is the solid

rock. It's because there is no foundation other than Jesus. And when we

say he's the solid rock, he teaches us how we should live our lives

in every area of our life. Okay, So again the first point where

it was actually built on solid rock, and the second part of the scripture

was next night, A lot of us we build sand castles instead of building

on the solid rock. So how many of us have built sand castles before?

You build sand castles? Right? It takes a lot of effort as

well. Is it easy to build sand castles? Yeah? Yes, the

building in the bucket, so the kids have a lot of experience building sand

castles and they know it's not easy. But our lives, our lives.

If we build sand castle instead of building houses on solid rock, what does

it mean, because right, even a kid can build a sand castle like

the video that we watched earlier, Right, wish to builder built faster?

Yeah, the one that built on the sand. It is much easier to

build on sand. It takes much less effort. And also when you look

at that house in the cartoon earlier, right, both look roughly the same.

So, right, why would you want to spend more effort? Why

would you want to spend more effort? If you can build a house that

looks exactly the same as your neighbor's house that builds on the rock. But

I can build a house it looks the same, it has the same number

of rooms, it's as comfortable, but I spend less time, I spend

less money and less effort, and I can take all the shortcuts I want.

Why do I have to build upon the rock? But you know what

happens to a sand castle? Right, what happens to a sand castle?

Yeah, it'll get destroyed the sand castle, right, every time there is

a high tide, that's it. Yeah, So it's good that the kids

are very interactive, so you can see, right, the sand castle will

not even last a day. And sometimes our lives are like that. If

we do not build our lives based on the solid rock we base, We

build it on sand. We won't even last a day. Then how do

we progress? How do we live the life that God has wanted us to

live? Can you imagine how many of y'all January already has been tough?

Wow? Good? Some of us? January already has been tough. Jude

doesn't say it's tough. But if January already is tough, why are we

surprised? We shouldn't be surprised. Because God said that the flood and the

rain will come, the strong winds will come. It doesn't He didn't say

when will it come, but it will come. So for some of us

it may have come earlier, some it will be later. But we should

not be surprised that it will come. And when we know that it is

coming, we need to make sure that our lives are built to last.

You know, have you heard of so when you're building your life right,

what are the parts that you want to build in your life? Next life?

So when we are building our lives, these are some of the building

blocks that we use in our life. This is what we build our lives

upon, our career, our marriage, our family, our relationships, our

hobbies, our health, our finances and also our desires. All these are

your building blocks of life. Right. But if you build your finances upon

sand, what happens. The waves will wash away your finances. Have you

seen the scheme chapat kaya, you know, get quick rich scheme? Like

you say that, A it's very easy. You put in your money here,

you will get your returns very fast. And you know right that a

lot of people have been burnt because it is not building your finances upon the

solid rock. It is building it on the sand. So the sand looks

good, it has the looks out from the outside looks the same. It

takes much less effort. It you save time, and it is much faster.

But if we build our finances on the sand, the moment we are

hit by the challenges of life, it will be wiped away. If our

marriages are not built upon the rock, what is the number one reason of

divorce finances? When your finances collapse, your marriage collapse, When your marriage

collapse, your family collapse. When your family collapse, your career also sometimes

collapse. And that's what happens when we build our lives on the sand.

Every part of our life. Every block that we put up there will collapse

the moment. Half times come. We think that each part of our life

is separate, but they are all connected. For example, if your health,

you build your health upon the sand. Don't take care of your health

right, you eat whatever you want, you do not exercise, You probably

don't go for check out. When your health collapse. What happens your finances

collapse? Your finances collapse, what happens your career collapse? Career collapse,

your family collapse. So we need to make sure that every part of our

life we build it upon the rock. And you know that who is the

one that wants to build wants us to build our house upon the sand.

Next night, John ten ten, The teeth does not come to steal,

kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and they

may have it abundantly. The devil is out to destroy us. Let's make

that very clear. He is not our friend. And because of that,

he will always try in every way to convince us to succumb to our flesh

instead of to submit ourselves to God. So what do I mean by submit

to flesh? Okay? Next light? Okay, So this is from Matthew

seven thirteen. Right, you can enter God's kingdom only through the narrow gate.

The highway to Hell is broad, and its gates is wide for the

many who chose that way. Okay, so we know this verse La New

King James n LT. We know. But when I saw the message version

of the verse, I was like, Wow, what is the narrow gate

and what is the broad gate? From the message reason, don't look for

shortcuts to God. Don't look for shortcuts to God. You want to build

your life to last, don't look for shortcuts because the moment you do the

shortcuts right, you are not building your foundation. You're not building your foundation

immediately when something hits you will collapse. The market is flooded with sure fire,

easy going formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare

time. Have you seen YouTube videos? Make a million bucks five minutes a

day all it takes, or live your best life? Spend nd gate here.

There's a lot of schemes and formulas out there, But why do these

people? Why do they sprout out like mushrooms after the rain? Why are

there so many of them? Because no one is willing to do the hard

work. No one is willing to build our foundation on Christ. And you

can do that. But know that when the challenges come away, what will

happen to the house. It will collapse, okay, and the third verse

next slid Okay. So the two houses in good times, it will look

the same. In good times it will look the same even in good times.

Right, it will think that, hey, the fella who built on

Sanna was smarter in good times because he did it faster, he spent less

money, and he is now enjoying life. But then what does the Bible

say? But notice that in the last day, perilous times will come,

for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money and boasters, proud

blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slenderers

without self control, brutal despires of good, traitors, headstrong, hearty,

lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of Godliness,

but denying the power. So your house may look like a house, but

it does not have the power of the house. I think if you all

have gone camping before, right, if you do not put the stakes of

your camp, if of your tent deep enough, the moment a wind comes,

what happens to your tent? Yeah, it will be destroyed, it

will fly away. So you have the form of the tent, but you

do not have the power of the tent. Why would you want a tent

which is useless? So why would we want to live alivee which does not

have the power of God? I mean, I do not want to live

alife that has the power without the power of God, because then I will

it will just have a look, look and see that it's good. So,

for example, when you know how to stop Christianese, you know what's

Christianese? God is good all the time. God is good all the time.

Hallelujah, Praise the Lord. Amen. You know you know how to

speak all the language in church. But do we put out faith and trust

in God? And that is key? Okay? So how now coming to

my third point, how do we then know that? Okay, Jason,

right now, I want to build my house upon the rock. I have

probably built my house upon the sand. How do I build my house upon

the rock? First of all, right, next night, this is the

point tree, which is my last point. It's transformation, transformation. Why

do you first of all build your house upon the sand instead of the rock,

when you know that the rock is more solid. Why do you think,

why do people still build their house upon the sand instead of the rock.

It is because of the way they think. They think. It's the

way we think. We know. The Bible says this. But because we

think we know better, we think we know better, we think we have

the answers, and that's why we build upon the sand. But what we

need is a transformation. So you know the picture of this, right,

I think if you followed Jazz Instagram, right, she go and posted insta

story of witnessing real live event of people turning into a butterfly, you know,

and I saw this quote. No, a caterpillar is not an upgraded

butterfly. A butterfly is not an upgraded caterpillar. It's a totally transformed being.

You know, it is totally different the transformation that a caterpillar goes right

from being a slug and you being able to fly. It requires a transformation.

It's a total change. It's a total change. So what do we

need to do. We have to change the way we think and change the

way that we think to what we have to think, like Jesus. Correct,

we have to think like Geesezus. Don't think like a butterfly. I

saw. It's like think like Jesus, because Jesus says, if you hear

my teaching and you follow it, then you will build your house. Is

like a builder that builds his house upon the solid rock. So tell your

neighbor, I have to think like Jesus. So what is thinking like Jesus?

Thinking like Jesus. There is one way, one word for it.

It is called repentance. Repentance. We have probably if you've been in church

long enough, right, you've probably heard this word repentance, So repentance a

lot of time you're like, hey, repent or die. You know,

you have a lot of this where when people use this word repentance, right,

there's a lot of shouting. When there's a lot of shouting, there's

a lot of uh saying that you have to turn from your sins, you

have to be crying, you have to be very sad, you know,

in terms of that. But when we study the word repentance, the meaning

of repentance is actually, I just want to change my thinking to think like

God. I want to change my thoughts to think like Jesus, okay,

next nighte no worry, I'm drawing towards are close. So the Greek word

is meta, the metaya okay say meta noia? So what is metaoya?

Meta means change, a noya means mind. So what is repentance changing your

mind? Why do you build your house upon the sand? What are you

thinking? There is something that you are thinking that is causing you to build

your house upon the sand? What is it? Is it that it takes

too much effort? Or God's world is too difficult? I think I know

better. But when we repent, when we change our mind and we say

God, I want to repent, I want to think like you, then

I will follow your teaching right next light. And I said in Matthew chapter

four, right, this was actually right after Jesus was tempted in the wilderness.

You'll know that story, right. It was just before Jesus started his

ministry. So after he was tempted in the wilderness, the first thing that

he said after being tempted in the wilderness, this is the first message that

he preached. From then on, Jesus began to preach preach repent of your

sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near. Change

your mind and think like me. That was the first message rate that Jesus

was preaching. Change your mind, transform your mind, and think like me.

Okay, next light. So this is Romans twelve verse two. Don't

copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into

a new person by changing the way you think. You want to become a

new person, change the way you think. Because right if you say,

I don't like who I am right now, I don't like my career,

I don't like the person that I am, what do you need to do?

The first thing you have to do, before you do anything at all

physically, is to change the way we think. Be transformed by the renewing

of my mind. Right, and it's my last light. What does that

mean? So some of us, right, we have different thoughts and beliefs

that we hold onto. We think money is the most important thing. Okay,

we may not. If I ask anybody right in this room who thinks

money is the most important thing? Yeah? Not, I think right most

people won't put up their hand. But our actions show that money is the

most important thing. We may not admit it in our mind with our mouth,

but our actions show that you know. So what happens that I will

do whatever it takes to get money, which means that if I have to

be cruel to somebody else, if I have to backstep, if I have

to stop serving God, I will get a better job. All this are

thoughts that we are building upon the sand. Money is the most important thing.

But what does the Bible say? My God will supply all my needs,

and that's the word of God. Next one is I have I have

to fix my problems. God can't. How many of us think like this,

I tell you more than would we would like to admit. Do we

worry? Do we have anxiety? Where does it come from? It comes

from this thought I have to fix my own problems. God can't. And

that's why you have anxiety. That's why you have worries. That's why you're

saying that I'm stuck. I can't do it on my own, and you

get worried. You and that's why when God doesn't come true, we fall

away. But the Bible says I can do all things to Christ who strengthens

me. And maybe one more is the goal of life is happiness. How

many of we all goal of life is happiness. Again, we may not

say with our lips, but our actions speak louder than words. That means,

right the moment we are unhappy, we feel that god happiness is more

important than Godliness. That means if following Christ makes me unhappy or uncomfortable,

I will not follow him or my comfort is more important than God. But

the Bible says to live is Christ and to die is Gain. So even

as I get the band church this morning, have we built our house?

Have we built our lives upon the sand? Or are we saying God,

I want to change the way I think and I want to build my life

upon the rock. Transform the way I think, Transform my mind, less

of me, more of You, because then no matter what comes my way,

I will stand firm in Christ. Man, So Church, let's just

stand. Is it? God? Transform my mind? Christianity is not a

bunch of rules that we have to follow. Do this, don't do this.

But Christianity is about following Christ. When we follow Christ, it's his

thoughts. How does he think? What does he want us to do?

And that when we do that, that is how we build a solid foundation.

Man, we hope you've been blessed by this message. For more information

on our church, please visit as church dot org. We are also active

on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing that this week is going to be a

good week for you. God bless