“The Stable Christian”

What Kind of Christian Are You? Sermon Series

“The Stable Christian” (Part #8)

KEY PASSAGE: Matthew 7:24–27 (NASB)

And so, Father, as we conclude our praise and worship service, we pray that Your presence and Your Holy Spirit will fill this place. We “Thank You” for Your unfailing love and grace that sustains us. May we be the church and not just a part of the church? And now, we give You all the glory, [All] the praise and honor. And everyone says Amen. You may be seated.

BABY DEDICATION

Today is our Baby Dedication Sunday, and we come at Shayla Shelton’s invitation to share in this precious, profound, and yet joyous occasion. God established the home as one of the most essential institutions on earth. In Genesis 1:28, God said, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” Since then, God has blessed man and woman with the wonder of birth. The birth of Niah Zanella Joshua has been a great blessing to the parents and grandparents. So, we come today to ask for God’s special blessings on their lives and to challenge and encourage the child’s mother to be a godly mother who will love and care for Niah.

I will now call on the child’s mother, the grandparents, and the great-grandparents to please come forward before the church.

Please say, “I do.”

CHARGE TO THE PARENT

Minister: Do you, Shayla Shelton, present your child to God today?

Parent: I do.

Minister: Do you stand before us and God today, seeking to be a godly parent?

Parent: I do.

Minister: Do you commit before God and these witnesses that you will do everything within your power to maintain your home where Niah Zanella Joshua will be cared for and loved, and do you commit to raising your child to love, honor, and obey God?

Parent: I do.

Please say, “We do.”

CHARGE TO THE CONGREGATION

Minister: The Anointed Church of Jesus Christ, do you commit yourselves to do everything you can, in formal roles of service and informal interactions with the family standing before us, to assist the parent in fulfilling the vows of dedication just made?

Congregation: We do.

PRAYER OF DEDICATION

Let’s pray: Heavenly Father, what a glorious sight this is today! A devoted and blessed mother stands before You with a gift of infinite value that You have entrusted to her care. We celebrate with the mother, the grandparents, and the great-grandparents this morning and pray that You will fill them with abundant wisdom and knowledge to raise this child. Help them stay in tune with Your Holy Spirit as You provide them with the internal guidance they need. Fill this family with Your love so that they will experience kindness, mercy, and hope. I pray that You will bless this child with abundant life in You. As a church, we open ourselves in a fresh way to be used by You to help shape and encourage this family. We pray this in the name of the One who blesses children as no other, Jesus Christ. And everyone says Amen.

Congratulations, and God bless you.

TITHE and OFFERING

We will call on the ushers to pass around the plates so we can give our gifts to God. Please follow the instructions on the screen on how to give to the church. The worship team will lead us with a song as we collect our tithes and offerings.

WELCOME

Please stand up [everyone], greet some folks around you, and welcome them to worship [Service]. We welcome you [all] again to our Sunday Worship Service and are glad to have you in God’s house. Our first-time visitors, please stand so we can see you. We also welcome all who join us online.

ANNOUNCEMENT

· Worship Night is Friday, January 31st, at 6:00 p.m. Please join us for an evening of extended praise and worship!

· The Men's Breakfast is Saturday, February 1st, at 10:00 a.m. We will also meet at the church that same day at 8:00 a.m. for our Corporate Prayer meeting.

· Wednesday Night [Remember] is our Bible Study Connect at 7:00 p.m. Please join us on Wednesday night to STUDY [and NAVIGATE] THE WORD OF GOD. We are studying the Book of First Corinthians. All the weekly activities for the church are posted online on the church’s website.

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

Let us pray.

Our God and our Father, have we longed to be Your people? Our record is marked with times of failure when we disappointed You. We have made poor choices. We have failed when we should stood firm. We have weakened when we should have been strong. And so together, as we stand as a church, we [are able to] do so because of Your grace that provides for what we don’t deserve and Your mercy that minister to us in the misery of our memories. Thank You, Father, for Your great heart of forgiveness, for Your love that is everlasting, overwhelming, and beyond description. Thank You for caring about us for more than we have ever cared about You. Thank You for Your consistency even when we are inconsistent. Thank You for Your faithfulness even when we are unfaithful. Thank You for Your sovereignty. How grateful we are that You have given us our families. We thank You for the women who have stood beside us – our wives who know us better than anyone on this earth, who understand us even when we don’t understand ourselves. Who has provided [For] us with stability when we lack it. And perspective when we miss it. Who counsel is wise and is always for our good. How much better we are as men because of these ladies. And so, today, we thank You for them. We thank You for each of our children and how precious they are to us. We are grateful for their love for us, for their acceptance, for their forgiveness, and [For] their respect. I pray that You will remind us that we earn it each day we live [That] every dawn brings a new day of possibilities. Refresh our hope, Lord, as the enemy will push us down [And] do his best to drown us in our [own] failures. But today, we stand by Your grace because of Your mercy and look ahead, counting on You to provide us the strength we need to face whenever [Storms] may come. They are inevitable as we learn [About] in this story that Jesus told. Keep us firm in our resolve through the rains, floods, winds, and storms that slam against our homes. May we be a church of integrity, but we live in a world that has long since forgotten the meaning of that word. I pray that You will bless Your people in a very special way as we [Together] acknowledge You, Lord of our lives. And our gifts we give to You with gratitude for all the things that You have provided, the pleasure of our homes, the delight of days gone by, even the beauty of the earth. [And all that we] have to enjoy day and night because of Your provision. We thank You, [We] praise You, and [We] give to You because of that; through Christ our Lord, we pray. Everyone said Amen.

DECLARATION of FAITH in GOD

Let us stand and say the Declaration of Faith in God together.

SERMON INTRODUCTION

When you are building a house, selecting the foundation, the site, and the materials where the new house will be built are critical because they determine the future and longevity of the house. When you build a house, and the foundation [Of the house] is not stabilized, you will eventually [Begin to see] cracks in the wall of the house over [a period of time].

[The cracks in the wall of your house will begin to show maybe gradually or progressively depending on the foundation of the house. And you may think that the cracks in the wall of your house are the problem. But the issue that you are dealing with is a much bigger problem. If the cracks in the wall of your house are not fixed and corrected, the cracks will reappear, and you will continue to deal with the same issues over and over again by spending money and an inordinate amount of time. Your problem is due to a shifting foundation under your house. The foundation under your house is moving, [And] so what you see on your wall [On the outside] is a symptom of a [much deeper] and bigger problem. You have a foundation problem that needs to be fixed and corrected.

Today, our lives are [Full] of cracks, and we spend a tremendous amount of time, money, and attention to fix [The cracks], only to watch them reappear. We have personal cracks, [We have] emotional cracks, financial cracks, relational cracks, and of course, we have cracked cracks. And great attempts are being made on all [kinds of] levels to patch [The crack] up to [make it better] and to fix it. And for a while, the crack disappears [And things] get better [For a short time], only to discover the crack keeps reappearing. Could [it be that we] are addressing a symptom rather than the source of the problem? Could it be that we are addressing something that is not the cause of the problem, and that is why it keeps reappearing [When we fix the problem]?

Today, I want to talk to you about what I call ‘The Stable Christians’ from a foundational passage in the New Testament that I want to rehearse with those who know it, [Read it] and introduce to those who don’t know it… because it is [a very simple] story with a very potent message for everybody in this room who has a crack that needs to be repaired in your life, properly and gone forever [Lastingly].

SERMON EXPOSITION

Sermons that linger in our minds and touch our hearts often include a final story reinforcing the speaker’s points. The most remarkable stories feature relevant people, everyday situations, and timeless lessons that, if applied, can alter the course of our Christian lives. This story comes at the end of the ]Greatest] sermon ever preached by the greatest preacher who ever lived. Jesus Christ has been proclaiming what has become known as The Sermon on the Mount. This is where He spoke to His disciples, and the crowd grew to hear this famous teaching from this famous Rabbi, who was indeed the Son of God.

To drive home His points [Or His message] [at the conclusion] of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told a life-changing story about two builders. It is a story about two men. Each decided to construct his house on a different foundation, leading to drastically different consequences. [Jesus was a master storyteller] and [So] He concludes the Sermon on the Mount with a story. There is a comparison between the men, a contrast between the two men, and a conclusion regarding the two men. [And] Through [the course of] His story, Jesus cements a lasting lesson built upon these two builders’ decisions in [the minds] of His people. [And] So, I want to look at the comparison and the contrast and then draw a striking conclusion about your foundation.

Jesus left no one who heard His sermon wondering what to do. The question was: Would they build their lives on His truth? The same question applies to us. Will we build our lives on the Truth? First of all, let’s review the comparison that Jesus made between these two men: [We Told] Both of these men shared the same dream. Because the story says they both wanted to build a house. [And] I am sure you would agree that building a [house] is [a good thing.]

The two men wanted to see something erect from the ground and become a house. Both men desired to build a house. Now the question is, what does it mean to build a house? In the Bible, building a [house] could refer to anyone of four things. First, building a [house], as it is in this passage, can refer to building a life. Both men wanted to build a life. They wanted to build a life of substance. They wanted to build a life of significance.

SERMON EXPLANATION 1

[Watch This] How you build your life determines your destiny, not just for this life but for eternity. And so, how you build your life makes all the difference. A life between success and failure. A life between acceptance and rejection. A life between standing and falling. A life between reward and loss. And a life between life and death. Nobody wants to end their life as a failed life. Nobody wants to end their life as a defeated man or woman. Nobody wants to end their life with a life that does not matter, that has no substance and significance to it. You want your life to work; you want your life to matter. That is why it is so much of a struggle when life is not working [because] that is not how you intend your life to be. Everybody here wants to build a life; you want a life that works.

Secondly, building a house can be referred to as [Building] a family … building a home. Nobody walks down the aisle on your wedding day planning to get a divorce … that is not normal … I mean, you want to walk down the aisle planning to be happily married forever. Building a family involves planning for a fulfilling family, a productive marriage, and a unified home! Because that is the plan: you plan to build a house, you don’t, and you don’t plan to have your house collapse. And so, these two men were building a home!

Thirdly, building a home can refer to [Building] a ministry. After all, the church is called ‘The Household of Faith’! And so, building a home can refer to your ministry; you want your ministry [Your Church] to flourish, grow, and expand for God’s glory. We want our ministry to [flourish], and we don’t want it to be a ministry or a church that does not impact the lives of God’s people. We want to see more of God [Experience more of God] this year than last year. We want to see transformation in each person’s life in this church. We want to build a vibrant ministry. We don’t want to be satisfied with the status quo.

Fourthly, … building a house can refer to building a civilization. Israel was called “The House of Israel.” Ezekiel 34:30: The Lord God declares that “the house of Israel” [are] His people. Matthew 10:6: Jesus tells His disciples to go to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 15:24: Jesus tells a Canaanite woman that He was sent only to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Acts 2:36: Peter addresses “the house of Israel.”

It means to build a nation. We have a house on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue called The White House. And that house represents the nation, [That house] represents The Centerpiece of America and the First Family lives there … who is headed by the President, who is to speak on behalf of the nation from the White House! The president has a location that represents something much bigger than his own [Personal] family—the family of America. He wants to build a house. Building a house can refer to your individual life, [your] family, [your] ministry, or even our whole nation, according to the Scripture!

SERMON EXPLANATION 2

Both of these men wanted to build a house. You want your life to be meaningful, [you want] your family to be strong, [you want] the church [that] you are a part of to be vibrant and impactful, and you want your nation to be stable and strong. We all contribute on all four levels because, like these two men, we are trying to build a house.

Not only did both men share the same dream and aspiration, but they also went to the same church. We know both men went to the same church because verse 24 says, “Both these men heard the words of Mine and act on them!” They were listening to the same Pastor. In this case, the preacher was Jesus. You don’t get a better preacher than that because you have the Living Word teaching the written Word He wrote.

There were no inaccuracies in His presentation or flaws in His declaration. It was the perfect message [Perfect Sermon] by the perfect preacher who has ever spoken. So we are not talking about a Christian versus [vs.] an Atheist. We are not talking about a church person versus [vs.] a non-church person. Verse 24 says, “Both ones heard these words of Mine.” Both were sitting under the teaching of PERFECTION and [under] the teaching of excellent Bible exposition. You could not have gone to a better Bible Study than the one Jesus taught.

SERMON ILLUSTRATION 1

Everybody here sitting under the message today is [sitting] under ‘these words of Mine!’ … Those are the words Jesus Himself spoke, which I am now communicating to you, and we are all on the same page. Everybody here is trying to build a house, and everybody here is sitting under ‘The words of Mine!’ so that makes us all alike, like these two men in our text for today.

There was another thing that made these two men alike because the verse says that they were all exposed to the same storm. Have any storms swept through your life lately? Storms will surely come. It says a storm came, and the storm affected both men. What is the storm? The storm is the day of judgment. In verse 25, we are told the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and burst against the house, and the same thing is described in verse 27.

Storms in the Bible are adverse circumstances. When the Bible talks about storms, it means negative circumstances that have entered your life. Some storms are financial, some [storms] are relational, and some [storms] are circumstantial. Some storms relate to careers, and some storms relate to emotional well-being. There are storms of rejection, mistreatment, disappointment, neglect, loneliness, death, pain, and abuse. There have always been storms in life, and there will always be storms.

SERMON ILLUSTRATION 2

Storms don’t care who you are, how much money you make, where you live, what your background is … or… how much money you have in your bank account because the last time I checked, when it was raining, it rained on everyone. Jesus says, “In this world, you will have a storm.” So, these two men had three things in common. They both had a dream [they wanted to build something, a house. They [both] sat under the same Bible teaching [The same teacher], and [they both] struggled with the same circumstances. And that is true of everybody in this room right now. Everybody has a dream, [everyone] is sitting under the same Bible teaching [Under the same Bible Teacher], and [everyone] has been, is, or will be … in a storm.

SERMON EXPLANATION 3

Do you know the problem with a storm? You don’t know how long it will rain. Jesus ends His comparison, and the contrast begins. Jesus dealt with the comparisons [First] and [Then] introduced a contrast. Jesus calls one man a wise man [A wise builder], and [He calls] the other man a fool [A foolish builder]. Jesus calls one man a wise man and another [man] a fool, even though they both had a dream. Even though they went to the same Bible-teaching church and [They] struggled, what made the difference?

You can be a wise man with a dream … and a fool with a dream. You can be a wise man and a fool sitting under the same Bible teaching and teacher. You can be a wise man [in a storm] and a fool in a storm. That raises a question (?). What is the difference between wisdom and foolishness so that we all know what Jesus is talking about? Wisdom in the Bible is the willingness and ability to apply spiritual truth to life’s circumstances; that is wisdom. Wisdom is not, first of all, concerned with IQ or information gathering. Wisdom is the willingness and ability to apply spiritual truth to life’s realities.

On the contrary, and in contrast, is the fool. In the Bible, Foolish is not the person who did not graduate from kindergarten; that is not the fool. The fool in the Bible is [the person] [Watch This] [Who is] unwilling and unable to apply spiritual truth to life’s situations. A fool in the Bible is a person who is unable to apply spiritual truth to life’s circumstances. So, you are a fool because you refuse or [You] are unwilling to apply spiritual truth to life’s situations. And you are wise because you are willing and able to apply spiritual truths to life’s realities. That is how you know you are a fool. And that is how you know if you are wise—willingness or unwillingness to apply spiritual truth to life’s realities!

So, a fool refuses or is unwilling to apply spiritual truth to life’s situations. And you are wise because you are willing and able to apply spiritual truths to life’s realities. That is the difference between a fool and the wise. Willingness or unwillingness to apply spiritual truth to life’s realities! There is a foundation of stone and rock in one place. And there is a foundation of sand in the other place.

It is easy to build on sand; you just put your building up. This speaks of the fool in a hurry, the easy way, [The] shortcuts, and [The] quick results; fools are always in a hurry. Fools always want to get stuff done fast. And in many ways, in Christianity in our time, in our place, we foster and assist the fools by making everything quick and easy. [A] Quick and easy evangelism, [A] quick and easy [Sermon] presentation, [Let’s] keep it moving, no time for soul conviction, no time for building a deep sense of one’s sinfulness. No time for building God’s people up. There is no time for [the cultivation of] conviction by the Holy Spirit, regret over sin, [There is no time] for deep soul searching, and [There is] no time for counting the cost. The fool is in a hurry; he wants to get things done quickly and easily. And some of us often accommodate the fool by making it quick and easy. Why did Jesus call one man a wise man and the other [man] a fool because of what they built their houses on?

In verse 24, Jesus says, “The wise man built his house upon a rock,” and then He says in verse 26, “The foolish man built his house on the sand.” The difference between these two men is the foundation. One man builds his house on Petra, [a large rock or stone]—not Petros, a little stone. The other builds on sand. So, there is a foundation of stone and rock in one place and a foundation of sand in another [Place].

[Watch this now:] They went after the same thing but didn’t start at the same place. The foundation is where you start. It was about the foundation where they [started] and their [point of reference]. Whether it is your life, [your] family, the ministry, or the government, the question is where you start. Jesus says one foundation was a rock, and the other [foundation] was sand. It is easy to build a house on a sandy foundation. You don’t have to do much work for sand. Sandy Foundation is a cheap foundation. Rocky foundations are rough, and you have to drill through the rocks. Building on a rocky foundation takes time, energy, and commitment. A rocky foundation is expensive to build on.

“The fool built on sand, the wise man built on a rock.” And that made all the difference between the two builders! What is Jesus saying? Here it is: “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them shall be like a man.” Jesus says. To put it in everyday language, a sandy foundation is a human opinion, and a rocky foundation is a divine viewpoint (God’s point of view). Christ is the only Rock, the only Foundation upon which we can build and structure our lives. First Corinthians 3:11 says, “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

[You see] The Lord Jesus is not a lifeless rock but “a living stone.” When we come to Jesus as “a living stone,” we are “built up as a spiritual house.” We are to thirst after His Word. We are to “desire the sincere milk of the Word.” We grow [And are built up] through His Word. We taste that the Lord is gracious through His Word. We come to the Lord as a living stone through His Word. And then, we build a spiritual house through Him through His Word.

SERMON ILLUSTRATION

Sand shifts and moves around, but a solid foundation stands forever. Our problem is we want sandy rock. We want to mix sand and rock. And whenever you introduce sand to rock, when it comes to the foundation Jesus is talking about, you weaken the rock. What we often do is [We come to church on Sunday and attend Bible Study on Wednesday] and hear God’s Word, and then we leave and dip it into human opinion. [And then] we wonder why our lives are not [getting better] and [we are not] growing spiritually.

The Bible says you can make the Word of God ineffective. You can make the Word of God not work not to work for you. work. When you become a Christian, .… Your new nature is only designed to receive a divine viewpoint. Once you accept Christ, you become a new creation. And your new nature is only constructed to receive God’s point of view. Many people say, “The Bible does not work.” … to which the Bible says, “You have not moved!” Whenever God did something in Scripture, He always required movement first.

In Exodus 14:16, God told Moses, “Well, if you want to see something happen, lift [up] your rod, stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it.” God told Israel when they were getting ready to cross the Jordan in Joshua 3:13, “Tell your priests to put their feet in the water first.” When the priests put their feet in the water first, God blocked the flow of the Jordan River. Throughout the Bible, [you will see] God telling men to do something before they would see what He would do. Why? Because God wants to see faith in action. If there is no movement, it is not the activation. It says that one house stood, and one house fell. We call this The Stable Christian, the house that stands the test of the struggle. [The Final authority]: The Word of God must have authority if you [are going to] be stable in your life’s circumstances.

FAITH APPEAL, CALL to ACTION and ALTAR CALL

God is not going to change, and God will not adjust. And so, you can fight, scream, and waste… days, months, and years … or [You can submit and] adjust to God. That leads to the conclusion: What is the conclusion? One house was stable [Built on a rock foundation], and the other [house] fell [Because it was built on sand]. God wants His people to build on the [right] foundation . . . the solid Rock of Jesus Christ rather than the sinking sands of a self-made life. Your salvation was [built] with your storm in mind. [Whatever that Storm is – You can fill in the blank].

God knew that you would deal with all kinds of circumstances that life offers, but God wanted you to stay with His Word because your salvation was built with this storm in mind. Life may sometimes explode, and you will begin to see cracks when this happens. But if you are resting on the foundation of Jesus, ground yourself in Him and [put into] practice everything Jesus said. Then, your foundation will be strong, and your life will [stand through] the [Most severe] storm.

The question is not, “Am I building my life?” Of course, everyone is building their life. “Will hard times come?” Of course, hard times and circumstances will come because the winds will blow, the rain will fall, and the flood will rise. The real question is, “Is your foundation strong?” There is only one Foundation for every life: the Man, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Rock and [Foundation] upon which [both] individuals and the church are to build. May we build our lives and the church on the Foundation of Jesus Christ. God bless you.

God [came up with] a plan to provide salvation for us for free. God sent Jesus Christ, His Son, to die on the cross as your substitute. If you are here today and [You] have not accepted Jesus into your heart as your Lord and Savior. Please come so we can pray for you. If you need prayer, please come forward so our prayer counselors can pray for you. Let’s stand on our feet, everyone.

BENEDICTION [CLOSING PRAYER]

Let us pray.

Our Father, as we conclude this soul-searching message today, [A true] invitation on the one hand and a severe warning on the other hand. We thank You, Lord, for confronting empty words and empty hearts, those who profess to be in the Kingdom of God [Those who profess to be God’s people] but are not. Lord, rescue those [Who are] guilty of being hearers of the Word of God and not doers. We pray, Lord, that for those who may be in the hearing of this message, who have been building a very elaborate house and have now found out that they have no foundation and [They] will be swept into hell when judgment comes, may this be the hour of their true [Genuine] salvation and repentance. May they dig deeper? May they come to grips with their sinfulness, their helplessness, their hopelessness, their spiritual bankruptcy, and their desperate condition. May they see all the glory of the cross of Jesus Christ in its magnificence, and [May they truly] repent, confessing Jesus Christ as [Their] Lord and themselves as His slaves … willing and eager and joyous in their commitment to faithful obedience. And we ask that You would do this for Your glory in the name of Christ, we pray. And everyone says, “Amen.”

God bless you. We will see you next week at 10:30 a.m.