Do the Work

How many of you have experienced some some kind of big situations & squeezes this past year or 2?

Have you had some tough situations happen that you didn’t respond as well as you would have liked to?

You know what that is? It’s a flood - a life-flood

Today I want to share my, & my family’s, real life journey with our home & some ways that the Bible has come alive though this experience.

I believe these Biblical truths are really gonna come to life & speak to you right where you are at.

First of all, we are so blessed to have been found faithful by God and to be able to have purchased a home in January of 2019 that, by most standards of wisdom, should have been torn down.

Lots of people have asked, “Why didn’t you just tear it down & start again.”

Trust me, if I had my way, we would have - But that wasn’t God’s plan! That wasn’t the way God was gonna do the miracles.

Do you ever think to yourself, I totally would not do it that way- BUT that’s the way God wants to do it?

Isaiah 55:8 NKJV

8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.

Psalm 18:30 NKJV

30 As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

We should all intentionally develop trust in God!

- enough trust to believe that the way He wants to do it is the best way!

I had things to learn in the process of rehabilitating this home over the last 3 years

One of the things I learned is that my house had a flooding problem in heavy & prolonged rain!

We knew there were water seepage issues because of some of the signs indicated during the inspection that was done, but we had NO CLUE how bad it really was.

We knew there was an issue because of some of the signs, so we did something pretty major to handle it & fix it.

We dug deep!

Here’s the work we did…to fix the problem.

The things we found when we started digging were disturbing!

The things you find when you start digging may be disturbing & make you want to quit!

So you have a choice to make at this point:

We could have just put the dirt back and would not have to see those things & no one else would know that those disturbing things were there, making this home unsafe.

Proverbs 28:13 Tanakh

13 He who covers up his faults will not succeed; He who confesses and gives them up will find mercy.

We are called to good life-stewardship - stewardship isn’t only about what other people see, but also about what only we & God know is there.

We did some pretty significant work, right?!

BUT...

Do you know how you know whether or not your house floods?

There has to be a situation - a flood.

& when we had a big rain and flooding....after all the work and time and expense…you know what happened?

Our house flooded....oh…and we learned that we had a collapsed & undersized drain line that added to the flooding problem.

Here’s what we did to fix that!

Painstaking, back-breaking, time-consuming, energy sucking, irritating, and expensive work!!!

Then we entered into the Summer Time & didn’t have many rain or wet weather events forecasted.

When it’s not flooding & the pressure is off - temptation comes and says: “Why should I do anything about this when it’s not a problem?”

How many of you know that:

If you haven’t fixed the problem it is STILL THERE even if you are not actively experiencing its effects?

You know what?: I can prophesy this to you - “Thus saith the Lord”

If it’s not currently flooding, a flood IS coming!

Luke 6:46–49 NKJV

46 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? 47 Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. 49 But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”

I decided that even though I swore I would never see that particular dirt in my yard ever again, I wanted to truly handle the situation

Even when it wasn’t flooding

Even though the sun was shining

Even though it was going to be a lot of difficult, slow, up-close and personal work

Song of Solomon 2:15 NKJV

15 Catch us the foxes, The little foxes that spoil the vines, For our vines have tender grapes.

I Want You to See My Work:

Here’s the next thing I learned about all this work we have done to protect our home that ONLY matters in the fairly rare case of a flood:

I want EVERYONE to see what I have done, but all the work that I have done is gonna be buried in the ground and no one would ever know (by simple observation) the extent of what holy destruction went on in order for me to steward this home that God gave into my hands to caretake.

This makes me not want to do the work I need to do!

“Reordering Your Private World” - Gordon MacDonald

LAW #4: Unseized time gets invested in things that gain public acclamation.

I had to turn down fun & the approving nods of people who invited me to do fun things in order to choose to get back into the hole and dig some more.

If we don’t seize the time and the moments that we have between the storms & do the unseen and uncelebrated, ugly, painstaking, & dirty work, the storms will continue to bring destruction into our lives.

The only thing people on the outside will see is the destruction & will wonder why it happened.

I’ve got great news for you:

God is willing to get into the dirt with you.

There are some friends in your life that will get into the dirt with you and help you to repair the damage you find.

All the hard work is buried and invisible, there is no public praise to be had - but the peace of mind is exquisite!

Guess what, it’s been raining & flooding this past week and all the water stayed outside!

Just One Thing:

Do not love public acclaim more than you love a true, solid, healed, whole life.

Let’s do the work (the unseen work) this year & build on the rock by doing God’s commands - even in the secret places.

Discussion Questions:

Which apocalyptic dystopia do you think is most likely? [Yup…look it up;) ]

What did the Holy Spirit reveal to you about your “house”/life through this sermon?

Please read Proverbs 28:13 & Song of Solomon 2:15 and share what these scriptures mean to & speak to you personally.

What would you say are your biggest fears and your biggest tools in “doing the work” this year? Share a little bit.