Matt 7:24-27[1]
As preached at Rolling Hills Church on Sunday, January 1, 2012
Scriptures
Matt 7:24-27 "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."
"Hears my words and obeys them." Built his house on the rock. Foundation. Today I want to take a few minutes to challenge you to build your life on a solid foundation in 2012. If you already have, then be encouraged to stand strong on that foundation! If you have yet to, then I pray that God will convict you of the need to get stabilized in Him. Here are four ways that I want to apply these words of Jesus' today…
Be Faithful to Read the Bible.
ESV Study Bible plan
Various Study Bible Plans
Discipleship Journal Daily Bible Reading Plan
Podcasts Daily Reading Plan (Daily Audio Bible, www.dailyaudiobible.com)
Psalms and Proverbs monthly
Romans 12:1-2 primarily undergirds this thinking, along with Philippians 3. We need to have our thinking transformed from the world's way to God's way, and we need to know Him! He is revealed in His Word.
The thing about Bible reading is you have to SCHEDULE it, COMMIT to it, PRIORITIZE it, and DEVELOP a HABIT of it. You can, by the power of the Holy Spirit, do this. You need to do this; you need to feed your soul, have your mind renewed in order to be transformed into a more and more holy person!
Be Faithful to Pray.
This is a challenge for most believers. When our prayer degenerates, it usually dims down to asking for things and blessings on our meals. This little acronym has greatly helped me to gain and regain balance in my prayer life, and I hope it will help you.
ACTS[2]: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. This is a starter kit; you could also study the Lord's prayer instructions in Matthew 6 and use that model to base your prayers on. I don't encourage rote repeating – but rather a study of what Jesus said and how we could engage the same concepts in our own prayers. Next…
Be Faithful to Fellowship.
We need each other. We need the testimonies we hear as we gather. We need the connection to the strong when we're weak, and vice-versa. We need to live out the 'one another commands', and not dry up sitting alone in our homes. Here are some basics you can do here to both bless and be blessed…
Come to worship as a priority
Come to small group as a priority
Show hospitality
Make friends with other believers
And finally…
Be Faithful to Talk to People about Jesus (Witness)
This isn't the easiest thing to do, but it is MUCH easier than most of us make it. Standing shaking before the door of a home where total strangers live – that's not what I'm talking about. I hate that scene, and most of you do as well. There are easier ways to initiate the conversation about Jesus Christ! You can take first steps by talking about our Lord…
To those in your extended family
To friends
To co-workers
To acquaintances
These four basic Christian disciplines have been taught and modeled by the Navigators[3] for years. In fact, they use a wheel as a basic visual aid to explain the basics of Christian disciplines. Let me show you…
The Navigators Wheel
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