What Are You Building On
Notes
Transcript
Announcements
Collection
Birthdays and Anniversaries
Our sermon will be on Matthew 6:19-34
We have a website: https://tahlequahworshipcenter.com/
We have started Sunday School
We are going to do something at the church on July 4
Prayer requests:
Sue
Georgey
Billy and his Dad
Dorcus
Uganda
Songs
Victory In Jesus
Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
What Are You Building On Introduction
What Are You Building On Introduction
Today is the 4th of July.
Many people think of it as a time to set off fireworks.
My Dad told a story of when they were younger that one of my uncles had a pair of shorts on with pockets.
They were leaning over and so Dad slipped a firecracker in his pocket and lit it while he was trying to light a different one.
When my uncle stood up, it slipped down into the pocket. All the energy of it now directed on his buttocks.
So, he didn’t go tell on my Dad, because they would all get a really bad spanking.
Well, July the 4th is really the day that they signed the Declaration of Independence.
That’s the birth of our country.
I want to read part of the Declaration:
In Congress, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
This Declaration is the Foundation of our Government and it is a great foundation.
But as with everything written by Men, it is not perfect.
If we would have held to these principle, we would have been better off.
Let me talk about a few really great things here:
All men are created equal.
It is a great ideal to say something like this. Jefferson added a clause in the Declaration denouncing the King for forcing the slave trade in America. It was removed.
He didn’t like slavery but he owned about 600 slaves throughout his life.
He tried to get slavery stopped and proposed a law banning slave trade after 1800, but if failed by 1 vote.
He did sign a law in 1807 as President which banned slave imports.
The point I’m making is that even though the start of this country looked good, there were cracks already forming.
One of the clauses of the Declaration is this:
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
Cracks were already present.
Then came the 3/5 rule in the Constitution, and in 1856, the Dred Scott case where descendant of slaves could be a citizen. They did not have standing in a federal court.
So how were all men created equal, well they weren’t at that time.
While our foundation was about as good as there is, it was never perfect and nothing that man makes will be.
I believe it is something to be celebrated, but we also need to know the truths behind it.
What we need to do is find a foundation that we can build on that is not made by human hands.
13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:
25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:
27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
What Are You Building On
This section of scripture is contrasting between 2 different people. Those that love God and those that don’t.
It starts out with 2 different gates, 2 different teachers, 2 different disciples, and finally 2 different builders.
I wanted to read the whole passage and then talk each one separately.
The Foolish Man
The Foolish Man
The Foolish Man is someone that has chosen foolishly. Someone that ignores all of what God has said.
He takes the easy path. I know this man. I was him for most of my life.
Deep down I knew the truth, but I went down the wide road that everyone else goes down.
I wanted to be the popular guy, and I was. So off I went on the wrong path.
I was trodding down to that wide gate.
I heard the truth when I was younger, but I chose to listen to false teachers.
They would say “What’s a little bit of beer going to hurt you?”
They would say “What’s sex outside of marriage going to hurt you?”
What do you need church for?
Isn’t all religions about the same?
Do you get my point?
Some of those even believe they are believers
They believe they will stand before God someday.
And they will, but God will say “I never knew you.”
What I did, what most people do is they have built on the wrong foundation. They have built their ideas on the ideas of Men.
I want to be clear here: America is the greatest nation on earth. We have done so much good. But there has been bad as well.
We can’t trust what Man has built. Instead, we need to be like ...
The Wise Man
The Wise Man
The Wise Man takes the path less traveled. He takes the narrow gate.
He understands that the path the God has chosen is the best path.
You can tell by the fruits what path he is on.
I’ve been trying to go on that road for the last 21 years.
When I got saved, I was working for a certain company. There was a young lady there that knew me before and then after I got saved. She came to me afterward asking for advice. I don’t remember what she was asking about. I just remember her saying this: Lance, I have a question for you. I’m asking you because I know that you are a Christian.
She saw my fruits even though I had only been saved a few months.
I decided at 30 years of age to build my foundation on the truth. Not man’s truth, but God’s truth.
The Declaration says “That all men are created equal” They found the truth, but they distorted it just as soon as they found it.
Paul tells us in
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
That’s the truth that I will stand on
We all have value
God valued us so much that he died for us.
So,
Which one are you?
Which one are you?
Which path have you taken? The narrow path or the wide one.
Many people will be on the wrong path, only a few of us will be on the true path.
We are celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It was signed 245 years ago.
At that time, our founding fathers were signing their lives away so that others could be free.
The King of Britian, George III, had done many things to the colonies and they couldn’t take it anymore.
They wanted freedom.
The problem is that the Declaration and the Constitution don’t give us freedom.
True freedom can only come from God.
Jesus tells us in
34 Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.
35 And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.
36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
I know the trap of sin. It holds on to you and you can’t escape it.
Even after being saved, it can still grab onto you.
Why do you think so many pastors and leader of the church fall?
Whatever their sin is power, pride, or porn. It all is because of this sinful nature.
But Jesus came and he took care of that sin and we don’t have to sin anymore.
Today, Let’s celebrate the Freedom that the Savior brings
As well as the Freedom that our Founding Fathers did ring.
Do you have that Freedom today?
Do you believe in Jesus?
If you do then your foundation is secure
I’m standing on the Rock
How about you?