Unshakeable

Introduction:

(In case there’s a video before the teaching you can add this paragraph!)

That’s a fun video right! I tell you what, we are SO excited about this next month. Because each week we’re going to have a new article of clothing that we’ll be selling. and tonight we’ve got this FIRE hat for sale!!! Like the video said, we’ve got the opportunity to support our kids at the church because this is the first year they’re having CAMP! And y’all know, that we LOVE getting to have CAMP each year, so we want to show our kids at the church how much we support them and want them to have the same experience you get when we have CAMP. So after the service tonight you can get your hat…

Thank you for joining us for our Tailgates & Tournaments night! I got to know who won our tournament? Let’s hear from the crew that won!

That’s awesome, if you’re friends with them, let’s hear you celebrate your friends! It’s important to have friends like that who will support you and cheer you on, and have a good time with you!

(SP NOTE: Story about trusting something shaky to come through. EX: a person who was always late, a table that was already shaky that you placed things on, a teammate that hasn’t been able to make a shot before that you passed the ball to and they missed.)

That makes me think of my friend group from college! We always had a great time together, we would play video games, go out to eat, we did a lot together!

One of these guys in particular though, his name was Michael. Michael was one of the funniest dudes I’ve ever met. Any time around Michael was fun. Michael and I ended up working at Starbucks together while we were in college and one time he put up a sign in the drive thru on my birthday encouraging people to wish me a happy birthday. Except the sign said I was turning 16. I actually turned 22 that day. So all day people kept telling me happy sweet 16. Here’s the picture of us that day.

Michael was great but I have to tell you something that all of my friends knew about Michael, while he was hilarious, he was also always late. You might think I’m embellishing a little, always late? That’s not possible… no trust me, I worked with the guy, he was late every day. There wasn’t a single day he showed up on time.

One day that really came back to hurt me, I asked Michael to take me to the airport. I didn’t have any other options, we lived about 30 minutes away from the airport, we were going to leave 2 hours early. I had taken every precaution necessary to make sure I was going to be there on time because I knew he was shaky when it came to being somewhere on time. You might’ve guessed already but I missed my flight that day. I really beat myself up, I didn’t really blame Michael, I knew he wasn’t really on time to things and I bet on him to come through.

When you’ve seen something be shaky before, it’s not just a bad idea to trust something that’s shaky, it’s WILD to ignore the unshakeable option. When you know something’s shaky, just try the unshakeable way.

TENSION

We all do this though. We know that something is shaky, but we still roll with it. Usually because it’s the comfortable option. Like I know the shaky thing for my diet is more Whataburger, but it’s pretty easy and I like it so I swing through that drive thru. I know the shaky thing for my grades is to ignore my homework and play video games, but I don’t really feel like doing my homework. When I put my trust in a shaky relationship, I should know it’s not going to come through, but it’s all I’ve ever known.

I also know it’s shaky for me to worry about the future, because that never actually helps me, but I still do because I don’t really know what I can try that would be unshakeable. I know it’s shaky for me to try to control everything, I start to feel like I’m in a pool trying to hold down a bunch of beach balls and it’s never going to work, because trusting myself is shaky.

This month as a church on Sundays and Wednesdays we’re answering this question personally: “Am I building my life on things that are unshakeable, or am I building my life on things that won’t last?”

For tonight though we have a more specific question. When things are shaky what do we do? When my life is shaky what do I do? Maybe the better question is, How do I build an Unshakeable life?

This might not shock you, but here on Wednesdays at 12Stone Church we believe that God has an answer to that question. An answer that you can know for certain is an unshakeable life. The only question will be do you want to trust the unshakeable life that God offers or keep putting your trust in shaky things.

You might be wondering why am I putting it so directly, like Zach how can you know for sure that God offers an unshakeable life that sounds too good to be true? I didn’t think God could promise that bad things wouldn’t happen to me, what do I do when that comes?

I’m glad you asked, because Jesus says it with more certainty than me and he has an answer for what to do when bad things come your way.

How do I build an Unshakeable life?

Let’s start with the words of Jesus, and see what He has to say about it:

Let’s start with the words of Jesus, and see what He has to say about it:

24 “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.

Foundation on the rock, that sounds like an unshakeable life. Jesus says directly, “everyone who puts into practice the things that I say, builds an unshakeable life.”

Okay so it’s that simple! Put the things Jesus says to do, into practice! But what if I don’t do that, it can’t be that bad right… well Jesus keeps going.

26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

So if I don’t put what Jesus says to do into practice, my life will be shaky. That feels too simple, but it’s not there’s only one thing that’s different about the two houses. Let’s look at a side by side comparison:

(PRODUCTION NOTE: Put Matthew 7:24-25 on one side, and then Matthew 7:26-27 on the other side. And highlight “the rock” and “the sand”. Highlight “does put them into practice” and “does not put them into practice.”)

The same things happen to both houses, but one house is shaky while the other house is unshakeable. Both houses have the same rains, the same winds. Jesus is saying you’ll encounter the same storms as everyone else, but there’s something different about you if you build your life doing the things I do.

So one of the things we should learn from this is that you are NOT somehow “exempt” from the trials of life if you build your house on the rock. It is not like: “Okay, now that you are a Christian, nothing bad is going to happen to you.” Quite honestly, most of you have probably figured that out by now, right? As a Christian, you will still get sick, you will still have problems with your parents, friends, at school, you still have “rain and floods and wind.”

If you don’t know this already, you need get it today: the message of Jesus is not “just ask Jesus into your heart” and everything will be smooth and easy from this day forward. That is just not true and you are setting yourself and others up for bitter disappointment if that is your message. It is not true. There are “rain and floods and wind” for everyone in this life: those who build their life on the rock, as well as for those who build their life on the sand. The storms of life are common to us all. But it’s the ones who listen and obey the teachings of Jesus that are able to overcome them. What happens when you build on a shaky foundation?

One famous example that comes to mind is the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse in 1940. The bridge was built in Washington state and, while it was meant to be a marvel of engineering, the foundation and design weren’t really suited to the conditions of the area. Specifically, the bridge was built with too much focus on aesthetics and cost-efficiency, but the engineers didn't properly account for the area's high winds.

A few months after its completion, strong gusts of wind started causing the bridge to sway more and more. The design flaws, combined with this constant pressure, led to the bridge literally twisting itself apart. It became a symbol of how trying to rush through the building process or cutting corners—whether it's in the planning, design, or foundation—can lead to disastrous consequences. The bridge famously collapsed in front of a crowd, and while no one was killed, it made engineers rethink how they approach structural stability.

The bridge’s failure wasn't immediate, but because the shaky foundation wasn't addressed early on, it led to the catastrophic collapse.

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The same can be true for our life. If you build your life on the shaky foundation, it might not be immediate that your life falls apart. But there’s something that we can know for certain based on how certain Jesus was about building your life on sand. (PRODUCTION NOTE: put this verse back on the screen.)

26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

That when the rains and winds of life come your way, it will reveal what you built your house on. It will not be a time for you to try to fix your foundation. Jesus so clearly tells us:

Who you put your trust in determines your foundation.

If you trust the words of Jesus, you will build your life in an unshakeable way.

So why would anyone not trust Jesus?

Here’s the pinnacle of what I want us all to realize, the reason I wouldn’t trust Jesus is that I trust myself more.

The reason you might not decide to trust what Jesus is saying, is that you trust yourself more.

(SP NOTE: Tell a story of when you trusted yourself and doing things your way instead of God’s way and it did NOT work out for you.)

I get this, there’s been plenty of moments in my life where I know the way of Jesus, I know the instruction of Jesus and instead of trusting that way, I trust my own way.

Honestly it’s kind of like that bridge I showed you earlier. Let me explain:

When I was in middle school I was focused on doing life my way, I went to church and everything but I was really good at pretending at church and being a completely different person at school. I cut corners, I cheated on my homework, I got into fights at school. No one at church knew though, I was really good at keeping up this “Christan aesthetic.” I would talk about my quiet time and how great it was, I knew all the worship songs… but I would be a different person at school.

It all came to a crash in the summer after 7th grade when I wasn’t in school anymore and I couldn’t live my double life, so it started coming out at church. I was mean to my friends at church, I started cussing at church, I ruined the whole persona I had created. My life started crumbling around me because just like the story that Jesus shared. The houses looked the same on the outside but there was something wrong with my foundation.

That summer I got hit with some storms in life too… my mom was laid off from her job and we didn’t know how we were going stay in our house. The wind and rain really started to hit and I could feel my life be as shaky as it’s ever been.

It was that summer though, that I went to a church camp. It all came to a moment where I had to give up trusting myself, I had to stop pretending to be someone I’m not, I had to realize I was building my life on the sand. It was a shaky foundation. (BAND LOAD)

I needed to start building my life on the Unshakeable rock. I needed to actually put my trust in Jesus not just make it look like it from the outside.

So tonight, I want to give you that same opportunity. Maybe you’ve been really good at pretending. Maybe you know you’ve been building your life on some shaky ground.

Well let me tell you what to believe about Jesus in order to put your trust in him:

If you need to know, this is the message of the bible: You and I have been separated from God because of our sin. “Sin” is just another word to describe how we’ve broken God’s laws and put our trust in ourselves. We’re all guilty and there’s nothing we can do to earn our way to God. But God, in his grace and love worked his way to us in and through the person of Jesus and his work on the cross. We believe that Jesus died on a cross for the sins of the entire world. He took the punishment you and I deserved upon himself. After He died, three days later God miraculously rose him from the dead! And here’s the good news, if you accept what Jesus did for you on the cross, you can be made right with God and set free from the power of sin and death! It’s that easy!

If that’s you, tonight, you want to actually put your trust in Jesus.

Here’s what we’re going to do, I’m going to put a prayer on the screen and we’re all going to read it together. For some of you it’s going to be a moment you can look back on and know for sure that you have built your life on the rock. This is a moment to confess your belief, but from this moment forward it’s a way you will start to live to show that believe. You are placing your trust in the firm foundation, you’re deciding today to put into practice the way of Jesus.

Let’s read this together:

God, I confess that I’ve been trying to build my life trusting myself. Thank you for sending Jesus to be the firm foundation that I can trust fully. Help me to see that I don’t have to build my life on my own but to remember that I have an Unshakeable life through Jesus. Amen.

If you said that prayer and you meant it. I want to ask you to do a crazy bold thing. I want to ask you to stand up. Let everyone know that you have decided to put your trust in Jesus.

If you’re standing, I want you to know I’m proud of you, God loves you. I want to help you continue to follow in the way of Jesus. To do that, I want to know who you are, so I’m going to invite you to talk with your small group leader, there should be an adult around your group they have these cards and this card helps me follow up with you to hear more about this decision you made.

For all of us, our response to a message like this is to worship the God that would do this for us. The God that has an Unshakeable life for us. So let’s worship together.