2. What does Jesus think about foundations?

3. How important are foundations?

4. Matthew 7:24-27 “Everybody who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise builder who built a house on

5. bedrock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the wind blew and beat against that house. It didn't fall because it was firmly set on bedrock.

6. But everybody who hears these words of mine and doesn't put them into practice will be like a fool who built a house on sand.

7. The rain fell, the floods came, and the wind blew and beat against that house. It fell and was completely destroyed.”

8. The fate of these two was determined by what they did with the words of Jesus found in Matthew 5-7.

9. It is not enough to know what the Word says, it is only when we DO what it says that this foundation works in our lives.

10. “Every great and redeeming movement of the church is given birth and direction by obedience.” (Donald Lacy)

11. “We must obey God rather than men.”

12. “a slave of Jesus Christ.”

13. The mark of genuine discipleship is hearing AND believing AND doing the thinking of Jesus.

14. 1) Everyone has storms.

15. God doesn’t excuse us from trials. He equips us to overcome them.

16. He doesn’t promise to take us out of the fire but promises to walk through the fire with us.

17. In this passage Jesus is talking about real storms, not just inconveniences.

18. 2) The only way to overcome storms is to base your life on the Rock.

19. Some need healing from PAST storms.

20. Some of us need help TODAY for the storms.

21. Some need help for TOMORROWS storms.

22. Revelation 3:14 “Write this to the angel of the church in Laodicea: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation.”

23. How do we make the Word of God our foundation?

24. 1) We see it for what it is- the greatest power available to us!

25. 2) We trust its truth enough to DARE to be obedient, even where humanly speaking it seems foolish to be obedient.

26. “They bring their bodies to the house of prayer but not their souls; they worship with their mouths, but not ‘in spirit and in truth’ ”. (Arthur Pink)

27. We have to be different!

28. 3) We accept whatever happens to us and take it to the Lord and leave the outcome with Him.

29. We know that God works all things together for good for the ones who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

30. “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them; but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it!” Hebrews 4:2

31. This is why the mark of genuine discipleship is not simply hearing and believing, but hearing and believing and doing.

32. James 1:22-24 “You must be doers of the word and not only hearers who mislead themselves. Those who hear but don't do the word

33. are like those who look at their faces in a mirror. They glimpse at themselves, walk away, and immediately forget what they were like.”

35. If you think according to the way the world thinks then the Word of God seems to be the sand-the most unlikely thing that is true in life.

36. If you think according to the way Jesus thinks then the Word of God will become your Rock that sees you through the worst of storms.

37. Who are you going to believe?