5 Building Blocks For Building Different

Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

Proverbs 26:11 “As a dog returns to its vomit, so also a fool repeats his foolishness.”

Dave Ramsey famously says, “If you want to live like no one else, you have to live like no one else.”

We’ve probably all heard those sayings, or others like them, and we all understand that there is the ring of truth there. In order for us to get a different outcome, we can’t continue to do the same things over and over again.

If we want to be built different, we have to start with different building blocks. We can’t build our lives, our marriages, our families, our churches in the same way that the world builds, or the way we learned may have learned to build from our parents.

We have to build our lives on God’s word.

Jesus tells a story in Matthew 7:24-26 ““Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.”

So, tonight I want to talk about 5 Building Blocks for Building Different

This verse comes at the end of Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth. Corinth was a really important city in Paul’s day. It was a hub for shipping and trade, it was a center of culture and thought, and it was a center of religion. It was also a city the was growing very quickly, and it was very wealthy because of the bronze trade. It has been compared to San Francisco during the gold rush.

Because of it’s prominent place in the Roman world, and because it was a place from which the gospel could spread quickly, Paul planted the church there. Corinth was also a city for a reputation that ‘anything goes’. There is evidence or the worship of at least 11 different gods in the city. Corinth also had a reputation for sexual license. So, they worshipped sex, they worshipped many gods, and they worshipped money.

Not so unlike our world.

Paul comes into this atmosphere preaching the gospel of Jesus. A message that many in Corinth accepted. It was also a message that stood in contrast to the ‘anything goes’ mindset of the Corinthians. Because, Jesus says, “you have to love me more than anything.” His call meant laying down all other gods. His call meant submitting to God’s plan for sexuality, and His call meant that wealth and power couldn’t be the thing that you live for anymore.

And, as it does, the truth of Jesus penetrated the hearts of many in Corinth, and they came to faith in Christ. But, as you and I can attest, living for Jesus in a hostile in environment can be difficult. Things can start to creep back in. We can be influenced by our culture; sometimes without even realizing it. As a result, the Corinthian church struggled with idolatry and immorality.

They worshipped the things their culture worshipped (specifically affluence and power) and they behaved in the way their culture behaved (specifically in regard to sexuality).

Paul addresses his concerns about these things, reminds them of what Christ has done for them, and offers practical advice on how they can overcome the issues they’re facing.

At the end of his letter, he summarizes his instructions into 5 essential building blocks for building a community and building lives that are distinct from the culture around them and that honor Jesus.

Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 16)

13 Be alert, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong. 14 Do everything in love.

1. Be Alert

Boxing - aware of your opponents tendencies, aware of his strengths, and aware of his weaknesses

Paul uses a military term here - Guard duty -

guard duty is about the squad, brother’s-in-arms

being alert is about more than just you or me

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 5

8 Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.

3. Two ways to be alert

a. Be alert to where God is moving

Christian Standard Bible Psalm 16

8 I always let the LORD guide me.

Because he is at my right hand,

I will not be shaken.

b. Be alert to what the enemy is doing

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 6

11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil.

If we want to build different, we have to be alert.

2. Stand Firm In The Faith

Why do you cut the ends off of the ham

we have to know why we believe what we believe

One of the greatest needs in the church today is Biblical Literacy

According to the American Bible Society only 10% of Americans say they read their bible daily

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 3

15 but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

2. Be in COMMUNITY!

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 27

17 Iron sharpens iron,

and one person sharpens another.

a. Different Circles - cast vision for this and challenge men to create circles with other men to gather around a table and share what God is doing in their lives

b. Radical Mentoring -

3. Be Courageous

Dogmen - dog soldiers of the Cheyenne

Dog rope - explain

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 1

9 Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

2. Give context for this verse - Moses has died

a. Joshua was probably feeling unqualified

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 22

30 I searched for a man among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land so that I might not destroy it, but I found no one.

3. This is one of the saddest verses in the scripture

WHERE MY DAWGS AT?!!

4. Be Strong

It’s one thing to have courage, and it’s another to be ready for the battle

Sports movie training montage -

“If the Holy Spirit is with me, why do I need training?”

Because the spiritual disciplines are the ways that the Spirit works to prepare us for the job

We have to take advantage of the tools that God has placed at our disposal

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 6

10 Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 9

26 So I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air. 27 Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

3. The spiritual disciplines aren’t something God wants FROM us; they’re something He wants FOR us.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 3

16 I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, 19 and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

THIS IS WHAT TIME IN GOD’S PRESENCE PRODUCES!!

Mensday Prayer 6AM Every Wednesday Morning

5. Do Everything In Love

1 Corinthians 13 CSB

If I speak human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known. Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love—but the greatest of these is love.

Conclusion

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 7

24 “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock.

Invitation - maybe you recognize that you’re building on sand...

Some of us might be like the church at Corinth. We’ve let things creep in, we’ve allowed ourselves to be influenced by the world around us and our passion for God has wavered.

Still others of you are discouraged. You’ve grown weary in the fight. You’re fighting for your family, for your marriage, for your life. You need to be encouraged, and you need to drive a stake in the ground.

Building Different is empowered by the Holy Spirit - some of you need to receive the power that Jesus promised would come from being filled with the Spirit - Acts 1:8

Acts 1:8 CSB

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

We’re going to sing again, some men are going to be here to pray, I’ll be down front to pray,