[SPEAKER_00]: High praise podcasts.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey everybody, this is Pastor Josh.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll leave Pastor here at High praise and I want to thank you for downloading today's podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: We know that this message is going to encourage and bless you.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I want you to open up your heart and receive with the Lord as for you today.
[SPEAKER_02]: Open up your Bibles to Ephesians chapter two.
[SPEAKER_02]: I want to start with this thought real quickly and we're going to jump into a few different scriptures.
[SPEAKER_02]: I want, if you want to take notes in this room, which note taking is good, the fact is this, people who take notes are actually statistically smarter people.
[SPEAKER_02]: All right, so if you want to be smart, take notes.
[SPEAKER_02]: If you want to title for tonight's message, we're going to call it bill different.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I say bill different.
[SPEAKER_02]: Look at some, I said, tell them, you're just bill different.
[SPEAKER_02]: All right, we're gonna talk about this evening.
[SPEAKER_02]: Ephesians chapter two verse ten, I just wanna read this one text real quickly.
[SPEAKER_02]: It says this, for we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for what?
[SPEAKER_02]: Good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
[SPEAKER_02]: I want you to know the beginning of this message this evening that you have purpose
[SPEAKER_02]: But your purpose is different than what you may perceive your purpose to be.
[SPEAKER_02]: Your purpose is not TikTok influencing in your purpose.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not fame.
[SPEAKER_02]: Your purpose is not what the world calls purpose and calls fame.
[SPEAKER_02]: This is the truth of the matter.
[SPEAKER_02]: God has already prepared for you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Purpose and your purpose is simply this.
[SPEAKER_02]: An image bearer of Christ.
[SPEAKER_02]: Good works is bearing the image of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_02]: Good works is not getting a bunch of likes, follows and loves and comments and dopamine hits.
[SPEAKER_02]: Good works means I am showing people Jesus in my words and in my actions.
[SPEAKER_02]: I am a fruit.
[SPEAKER_02]: I am a tree that is bearing good
[SPEAKER_02]: fruit in the world and I'm showing forth the fruit of the Spirit in my life because the Spirit has done a work in me and because the Spirit has done that work within me.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now I give to people what Jesus has done in me.
[SPEAKER_02]: Listen, if Jesus has done something good in you, then shouldn't it show forth from you?
[SPEAKER_02]: Right?
[SPEAKER_02]: The problem is we have a lot of people and a lot of Christians in the church that have this.
[SPEAKER_02]: Jesus has done a great thing in me.
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't like you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Jesus has done such a good work.
[SPEAKER_02]: Let me tell you about how good Jesus is and the great things that He's done in me.
[SPEAKER_02]: But first let me tell you about how much I hate my parents.
[SPEAKER_02]: Huh?
[SPEAKER_02]: And we don't actually bear the fruit of good works because we're too busy chasing what we want are fleshly desires, the things that we desire rather than the things that the Lord actually has for us.
[SPEAKER_02]: and Pastor Joshua talked about it some this morning.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not talking about standing and preaching on a microphone.
[SPEAKER_02]: Your life every day can preach of the goodness of God.
[SPEAKER_02]: It can preach of the good works that he's already done in you that he's already prepared for you before you were even here on our, this is the truth.
[SPEAKER_02]: You are God's workmanship.
[SPEAKER_02]: You were crafted by a creator.
[SPEAKER_02]: You're not a leftover.
[SPEAKER_02]: The Lord didn't nuke you in the microwave for a minute, and Boon there you are.
[SPEAKER_02]: He carefully crafted you, and he knew that he was creating you as someone who should bear the image of Christ.
[SPEAKER_02]: So first of all, I want you to know that you have purpose, but it may look different.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm a, listen, for about eleven years,
[SPEAKER_02]: I was a kid man, okay?
[SPEAKER_02]: You don't know what kid man is, that means kids ministry.
[SPEAKER_02]: We do kids ministry.
[SPEAKER_02]: And no Joshua, Pastor Joshua, this is not an open challenge for the intercontinental title, okay?
[SPEAKER_02]: I like props.
[SPEAKER_02]: I like to sometimes preach.
[SPEAKER_02]: I like to preach sometimes with
[SPEAKER_02]: some help, some visual aid to help you understand some things, okay?
[SPEAKER_02]: So today I brought this because I want to kind of give you this idea and this example of this.
[SPEAKER_02]: That purpose is actually above your human strength, meaning this.
[SPEAKER_02]: It is above what you can reach in your own flesh, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: If there was, I'm just gonna lean into this for a second.
[SPEAKER_02]: If there was a WWE World Championship belt hanging up here.
[SPEAKER_02]: Give me thirty minutes.
[SPEAKER_02]: We're coming back.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm gonna do it now.
[SPEAKER_02]: I should have thought about that.
[SPEAKER_02]: You all got a lift.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's right.
[SPEAKER_02]: If anybody's ever watched WWE before.
[SPEAKER_02]: All right.
[SPEAKER_02]: Couple of you nerds.
[SPEAKER_02]: Just like me.
[SPEAKER_02]: Feel at home.
[SPEAKER_02]: If you've watched it, guys cannot jump and reach the championship, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: They have to use a ladder, something that will help them get above
[SPEAKER_02]: where they're, where they're flushly or their capability is in their own strength in their own power, they need something to help them get to the purpose that they're going to.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, I want you to think on that just for a second, let's read some more scripture.
[SPEAKER_02]: I want to read some more scripture.
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's read some scripture because I like scripture.
[SPEAKER_02]: Matthew chapter seven, verses thirteen and fourteen, I want to give you some context before I read this text.
[SPEAKER_02]: This is Jesus' sermon on the Mount here.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's preaching, and Jesus is speaking to some people who think they're close to God.
[SPEAKER_02]: Anybody think they're close to God in this room?
[SPEAKER_02]: Amen?
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_02]: Some of you aren't sure.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay?
[SPEAKER_02]: That's okay.
[SPEAKER_02]: At the end of this sermon, hopefully you feel closer to God.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's speaking to some religious people.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's speaking to people who think they're close to God and he's calling them to something deeper than religion.
[SPEAKER_02]: And Matthew chapter seven verse thirteen and fourteen says this, intro by the narrow gate, for why does the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction?
[SPEAKER_02]: And there are many who go in by it because narrow is the gate and beautiful is the way which leads to life.
[SPEAKER_02]: And there are few who find Jesus throughout the course of this sermon.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's exposing false foundations
[SPEAKER_02]: He's challenging some religious assumptions and he's reframing what success even looks like and what righteousness looks like.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's calling people to live a different life with hearts fully surrendered to God, fully surrendered all the way.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so as he's wrapping up this sermon, Jesus leaves them with this incredible, beautiful picture.
[SPEAKER_02]: And
[SPEAKER_02]: I know as a minister myself and I know there's Pastor Casey and Pastor Joshua and there's other ministers.
[SPEAKER_02]: Pastor Robert Dan and Pastor Kenny and so many other people in this room.
[SPEAKER_02]: Pastor Garrett that minister the gospel that preached messages and oftentimes when we get to the end of our sermon.
[SPEAKER_02]: We try to leave you with something that makes what I was just preaching, stick.
[SPEAKER_02]: You don't talk about some of the last lines that we'll say, well, hopefully be something that encompasses everything that we just talked throughout our sermon and helps you really digest and take home the Word.
[SPEAKER_02]: I believe Jesus does this here.
[SPEAKER_02]: I believe what Jesus is speaking here is important because it's at the end of his sermon and he says this, verse twenty four, we're still Matthew chapter seven.
[SPEAKER_02]: He gives us the parable of the wise and the foolish builders.
[SPEAKER_02]: He says, therefore, whoever hears these things of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock.
[SPEAKER_02]: And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house.
[SPEAKER_02]: And it did not fall for what's founded on the rock.
[SPEAKER_02]: But everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who bill his house on the sand.
[SPEAKER_02]: And the rain descended, the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house.
[SPEAKER_02]: And it fell and it was and it's and great was its fall.
[SPEAKER_02]: Notice a couple of key words here.
[SPEAKER_02]: Both times when he's talking about the wise and the foolish builder, there are two things he says the same about them.
[SPEAKER_02]: He is both talking about those that hear these words.
[SPEAKER_02]: Can I tell you in order to be built different first of all, in order to build your life differently than the culture and then the world?
[SPEAKER_02]: First of all, you have to be somebody who hears his words.
[SPEAKER_02]: Scripture says this, how is faith built?
[SPEAKER_02]: Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
[SPEAKER_02]: In other words, this, when you hear Scripture, there is opportunity for your faith to be built.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I use the word opportunity on purpose because I'm going to show you in just a second, just because you hear Scripture does not mean you live Scripture.
[SPEAKER_02]: And just because you hear the word of God does not actually mean that your faith is being stirred and actually being built up within you because it takes a level of intentionality and taking the word for yourself as a matter of fact when you see an act chapter two
[SPEAKER_02]: And it says, it talks about how you receive power.
[SPEAKER_02]: Acts one eight.
[SPEAKER_02]: When you receive power and the Holy Spirit has come upon you, receive there is actually translated to Lombano, which means actually to take hold up.
[SPEAKER_02]: Can I tell you this?
[SPEAKER_02]: In order to receive faith and receive the Word, it's not good enough to just hear the Word, you have to take hold of the Word.
[SPEAKER_02]: You've got to make it yours.
[SPEAKER_02]: You've got to make it personal.
[SPEAKER_02]: This word is for me.
[SPEAKER_02]: What do I need to do with this word?
[SPEAKER_02]: How do I need to grow with this word?
[SPEAKER_02]: You can write this down if you take notes.
[SPEAKER_02]: The beginning of the foundation of faith is hearing the word.
[SPEAKER_02]: And scripture is clear on this that it's impossible to please God without faith.
[SPEAKER_02]: You've got to have some faith in order to please God.
[SPEAKER_02]: You can't have a foundation of faith without hearing and knowing the word.
[SPEAKER_02]: Can I tell you this?
[SPEAKER_02]: that faith is not built on your feelings.
[SPEAKER_02]: Faith is going to speak opposite of your feelings.
[SPEAKER_02]: Feelings are going to say one thing, but faith is going to say something absolutely, probably contrary to what you're going through.
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's whenever your faith is actually tested, and we'll get to that in just a moment, so just say with me.
[SPEAKER_02]: But James I also talked to this, James says it like this, but he's talking about hearing the word.
[SPEAKER_02]: He talks about those that hear the word in our doers.
[SPEAKER_02]: They're like those that observe themselves in the mirror and walk away and forget who they are.
[SPEAKER_02]: You have no identity in Christ if you don't know and actually walk out the word.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, thank you for that this this evening, huh?
[SPEAKER_02]: You don't even know your identity in Christ.
[SPEAKER_02]: If you can't walk out the world, you can hear it all day long.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm gonna go and get ahead of myself, but it's okay.
[SPEAKER_02]: Listen, you can sit in church every single Sunday.
[SPEAKER_02]: You can come to you, every Wednesday night here, Pastor Garrett.
[SPEAKER_02]: You can get the tingly, spining experience that you've been craving.
[SPEAKER_02]: You've been going after dope.
[SPEAKER_02]: You may go after scriptural dopamine hits.
[SPEAKER_02]: You can jump conference to conference to conference.
[SPEAKER_02]: You can do all these things and hear all these amazing powerful messages, but unless you do something with it.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's useless.
[SPEAKER_02]: Say like this, I can go sit my butt in a garage all day long, but that does not make me a car.
[SPEAKER_02]: I can go to an NBA game.
[SPEAKER_02]: You do the math.
[SPEAKER_02]: That does not make me an NBA star.
[SPEAKER_02]: Huh?
[SPEAKER_02]: What changes the whole thing is faithfulness, which Pastor Joshua talked on this morning.
[SPEAKER_02]: Faithfulness and actually walking out the word is what changes everything and gives us identity.
[SPEAKER_02]: And it's a matter of fact, in James, whenever he continues in that, he actually talks about how there is blessings, prosperity actually associated with those that walk out the word.
[SPEAKER_02]: Can I tell you that I firmly do believe that God blesses those who walk out the Word?
[SPEAKER_02]: I do believe that He blesses those openly.
[SPEAKER_02]: That actually are faithful to His Word.
[SPEAKER_02]: What is blessed?
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, blessed is this.
[SPEAKER_02]: Blessings anything more than what you've got right now.
[SPEAKER_02]: Anything, start praying this or better.
[SPEAKER_02]: Start believing in faith, this or better.
[SPEAKER_02]: Whatever I'm going through right now, Lord, you're gonna do something.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's to me this or to me better, because every step forward has a foundation floor, amen.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, Jesus paints his verbal picture of someone building on sand, and someone building on the solid rock.
[SPEAKER_02]: He says, the foolish builder builds on sand.
[SPEAKER_02]: Sand is that representing of something unstable, something temporary, something like circumstances or human wisdom or material possessions or strengths or relationships.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm going to go and say this, now I understand that we live close to the world's most beautiful beaches.
[SPEAKER_02]: But the truth is this, I hate sand.
[SPEAKER_02]: Do I got to witness in the house?
[SPEAKER_02]: I hate sand.
[SPEAKER_02]: I get some places that the Lord never wanted it to be in.
[SPEAKER_02]: I hate going, I don't like going to the beach because they're saying there.
[SPEAKER_02]: But I want to say this too.
[SPEAKER_02]: Sand is also associated even in the natural with us to something beautiful.
[SPEAKER_02]: We got beautiful powdery beaches, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: But that doesn't mean that I need to go build a house
[SPEAKER_02]: on the sandy beaches.
[SPEAKER_02]: That does not mean that I want to go bury myself either in the sand of the beaches.
[SPEAKER_02]: When I'm getting out here saying not all sand is ugly, meaning this.
[SPEAKER_02]: Hear me.
[SPEAKER_02]: This conference, what we're in right now, can be sand if you're not careful.
[SPEAKER_02]: If you don't steward it properly, if you don't steward what God is doing in your life right now, this can be sand.
[SPEAKER_02]: Why?
[SPEAKER_02]: Because this can just be an experience you go through, not something you actually live out.
[SPEAKER_02]: And therefore making it a sand you build on, rather than Jesus Christ, the Solid Rock.
[SPEAKER_02]: I know you think your girlfriend is all that.
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know what you'll use anymore.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm thirty-three and I feel so out of touch.
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't even know what you say anymore.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I know it's going to get worse.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thankfully, I got kids and they're going to help me in Jesus' name or make fun of me.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm fine with that too.
[SPEAKER_02]: Whatever.
[SPEAKER_02]: It is what it is.
[SPEAKER_02]: Right?
[SPEAKER_02]: I know you think that your boyfriend or girlfriend are the best thing ever in your life.
[SPEAKER_02]: The biggest fulfillment you've ever had was the day she said, yes, I will go to Applebee's with you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, I will go to Chili's and split that triple dip for honey.
[SPEAKER_02]: Chili's is about to be packed after service.
[SPEAKER_02]: Do not go there.
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's do it.
[SPEAKER_02]: I know that was the best day of your life.
[SPEAKER_02]: But hear me.
[SPEAKER_02]: It can also be sand.
[SPEAKER_02]: Because if you try to build your life and your purpose and your destiny base around a boy or a girl, eventually things kind of begin to change.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'll say, ladies, I'll break up.
[SPEAKER_02]: Y'all didn't think I'd know how more.
[SPEAKER_02]: All right, some of us, we try to build stuff in our own strengths.
[SPEAKER_02]: I hope this was built well.
[SPEAKER_02]: All right, some of y'all are saying, you know what, if I just make enough money, if I just make enough money to get me back.
[SPEAKER_02]: I can build my whole life on money.
[SPEAKER_02]: Money is never gonna, if I get enough money, it won't run out on me.
[SPEAKER_02]: I sometimes I don't feel Jesus, but I always feel the Almighty Dollar in my back pocket.
[SPEAKER_02]: So we try to build our life on money.
[SPEAKER_02]: Right?
[SPEAKER_02]: Stay there.
[SPEAKER_02]: All right.
[SPEAKER_02]: Here we go.
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's get where we're living right now.
[SPEAKER_02]: We try to build on our experiences, huh?
[SPEAKER_02]: Or our feelings.
[SPEAKER_02]: This is what I've experienced in my past, so this is what I'm going to experience again.
[SPEAKER_02]: Am I going to tell him out?
[SPEAKER_02]: I've been rejected before.
[SPEAKER_02]: I guess I'm just going to build on rejection and learn how to live my life with a spirit of rejection.
[SPEAKER_02]: That ain't for you, baby.
[SPEAKER_02]: You need deliverance.
[SPEAKER_02]: All right?
[SPEAKER_02]: And sometimes we try to build on?
[SPEAKER_02]: These are heavy y'all.
[SPEAKER_02]: Circumstances, okay?
[SPEAKER_02]: When all the stars are high, when she calls me back, when they slide in my DMs, when the ball says you're getting a raise, huh?
[SPEAKER_02]: Huh?
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, then I can build on my circumstances.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, Jesus caution us against this.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know what he calls you?
[SPEAKER_02]: A fool.
[SPEAKER_02]: And if you don't like that, you're probably not going to like Jesus very much.
[SPEAKER_02]: He says, this is foolish to do.
[SPEAKER_02]: He gives us, but this is the great thing about Jesus.
[SPEAKER_02]: Even when every point's out foolishness, he points out wisdom.
[SPEAKER_02]: He doesn't just go, yeah, you're foolish and walk away.
[SPEAKER_02]: Jesus always points to a better way.
[SPEAKER_02]: And you want to know what the better way is?
[SPEAKER_02]: Him.
[SPEAKER_02]: He says, you want to see something better?
[SPEAKER_02]: Look at me.
[SPEAKER_02]: You've seen me, you've seen the Father.
[SPEAKER_02]: You've seen the visible image of the invisible God.
[SPEAKER_02]: Huh?
[SPEAKER_02]: There's nothing greater than that.
[SPEAKER_02]: So Jesus always points something better.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, these strengths, I'll hurry, I'll start you, they were.
[SPEAKER_02]: Right?
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know why y'all saying no.
[SPEAKER_02]: Y'all is like I'm a climber or something.
[SPEAKER_02]: and build on some circumstances.
[SPEAKER_02]: I know my parents are probably having heart palpitations right now, but it's okay.
[SPEAKER_02]: Where are my grandparents?
[SPEAKER_02]: It's okay.
[SPEAKER_02]: All right, guys.
[SPEAKER_02]: I got money.
[SPEAKER_02]: I got shrank.
[SPEAKER_02]: I got circumstances that are going my way right now.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I've got good experience under my belt.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, I think now is the time.
[SPEAKER_02]: to go after the purpose of the Lord over my life and be an image bearer.
[SPEAKER_02]: Because I feel strong in the Lord.
[SPEAKER_02]: And because I got a lot of money and I'm able to tie it without having to sacrifice.
[SPEAKER_02]: Because I've got some experience in kids' ministry and looking at me as a prospect for the future.
[SPEAKER_02]: And because I've got some good circumstances going on in my life, now I can finally start being an image bearer.
[SPEAKER_02]: Right?
[SPEAKER_02]: So we say, who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
[SPEAKER_02]: And we start climbing.
[SPEAKER_02]: Huh?
[SPEAKER_02]: Why all of them so scared?
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm building on my experience, my money.
[SPEAKER_02]: Surely it'll hold me, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, I'm not going any higher because I don't trust it either, okay?
[SPEAKER_02]: But here's the thing, here's the thing.
[SPEAKER_02]: Watch this though.
[SPEAKER_02]: I got money, I got good circumstances, I got experience, but all of a sudden, I feel weak.
[SPEAKER_02]: What happens now if I try to climb this?
[SPEAKER_02]: What's gonna happen?
[SPEAKER_02]: What Jesus said is gonna happen, a great fall!
[SPEAKER_02]: There's gonna be a great fall because I'm building on my sand of life on the things that are getting me by, not Jesus.
[SPEAKER_02]: And here's the thing I came to bring to you today.
[SPEAKER_02]: Some of you are trying to fulfill purpose while failing spiritual OSHA standards.
[SPEAKER_02]: If the Holy Spirit showed up in your life, Holy Spirit OSHA, whatever they do, they're gonna say, whoa, get down, shut the whole thing down, your life is a mess.
[SPEAKER_02]: And then we're looking at the Lord going, why?
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm just trying to be, I'm just trying to send the hell of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm just trying to fulfill your purpose.
[SPEAKER_02]: No, you're not.
[SPEAKER_02]: You're trying to build your kingdom, not his kingdom.
[SPEAKER_02]: You're trying to build a castle instead of building the kingdom of God.
[SPEAKER_02]: So in the same way, when we try to move forward in faiths, without the firm foundation, listen, that cannot hold us.
[SPEAKER_02]: What I loved in this room was this, is soon as I put
[SPEAKER_02]: The latter on the sand.
[SPEAKER_02]: Some of y'all went, ugh, cause you knew what was next.
[SPEAKER_02]: And then went to the first step, y'all were really going, no.
[SPEAKER_02]: My brother castled down here, who literally is like another brother, you better not?
[SPEAKER_02]: Tell you hear me, hear me.
[SPEAKER_02]: You need people.
[SPEAKER_02]: Like castling your life.
[SPEAKER_02]: You need some of those people who are in your life because they realize you are trying to do something and build something that you are never called to do, you are never called to build, you are simply called, your purpose is to bear the image of Christ and do the good works that he prepared for you beforehand, which is showing people the Father.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's scripture.
[SPEAKER_02]: He just says this.
[SPEAKER_02]: When you do that, when you do that, people then turn around and glorify the Father in heaven.
[SPEAKER_02]: I really believe that lukewarm Christianity has become normalized in the church, though.
[SPEAKER_02]: and true Christ's following has become radical in saying, true Christ's following has talking Pastor Josh about it in the office and he's used a good word.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's either radical in and saying, or we call it boring.
[SPEAKER_02]: That person's fulfilling purpose.
[SPEAKER_02]: They're bearing the image of Christ.
[SPEAKER_02]: They've got a boring life because they're just married.
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know, some of them don't need to be dating right now.
[SPEAKER_02]: They see your focus on bearing in the image of Christ, okay?
[SPEAKER_02]: They're boring because they just got kids.
[SPEAKER_02]: They got a nine to five.
[SPEAKER_02]: They volunteer at their church.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's a boring life.
[SPEAKER_02]: They don't get mad at people whenever someone does them a little bit wrong.
[SPEAKER_02]: They don't keep from giving the waiter a way or a tip whenever they get their food wrong.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's boring.
[SPEAKER_02]: I like to be a little bit mean sometimes.
[SPEAKER_02]: And we call that Christianity.
[SPEAKER_02]: We call, we call going out and doing whatever we want, building whatever we want, and showing up to church every so often.
[SPEAKER_02]: train once in a while but only with one of the butt bags of sand is missing.
[SPEAKER_02]: And we need it back immediately.
[SPEAKER_02]: I've got to turn to Jesus now.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's the author in the finish or my faith.
[SPEAKER_02]: He has it fit.
[SPEAKER_02]: He can't finish what he hasn't even began.
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, you run and let him actually begin in you.
[SPEAKER_02]: You've got to actually let him start that within you, that work within you into the, to bring it to the fullness.
[SPEAKER_02]: Hear me, recognize what's again.
[SPEAKER_02]: Jesus says that both hear the word.
[SPEAKER_02]: I know guy, he'd go here.
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's talk about the rock for a little bit.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm not talking about the Wayne Johnson, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
[SPEAKER_02]: So Jesus, in paying this picture, He gives us the wise builder, represents someone who not only hears God word, God's word, but puts it into practice.
[SPEAKER_02]: And when we build our lives on Jesus and His word, that becomes the blueprint for our every decision.
[SPEAKER_02]: And hear me, it's not just about knowing about Jesus.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's about knowing Jesus.
[SPEAKER_02]: You can't, could you imagine if you went to go build a home?
[SPEAKER_02]: Any contractors in the room?
[SPEAKER_02]: Anybody?
[SPEAKER_02]: Couple?
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: Could you imagine going to build a home?
[SPEAKER_02]: Anybody's ever went to the house building process?
[SPEAKER_02]: And you go, it's time to build the house.
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's pour the foundation.
[SPEAKER_02]: And then you go,
[SPEAKER_02]: Actually, let's just know about the house needing a foundation and then try to build the house.
[SPEAKER_02]: How's that gonna turn out for you?
[SPEAKER_02]: Not so well.
[SPEAKER_02]: That house is not gonna go up and they're gonna stay up.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's gonna fall with a great crash just like you just talked about.
[SPEAKER_02]: This is the difference between knowing about Jesus
[SPEAKER_02]: and knowing Jesus.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, personal relationship with Jesus.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, you talk to Him daily.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, you actually know His ways and know how to respond to things because you know who Jesus is and you know what He has done, not just know about what Jesus has done for others.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'll say it like this for you right now.
[SPEAKER_02]: You cannot build your life on your parents' relationship with Jesus.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay?
[SPEAKER_02]: You cannot build your life on your unpastered parents relationship with Jesus or your youth pastors relationship with Jesus.
[SPEAKER_02]: You can't build your life on any of the pastors in this church or your church.
[SPEAKER_02]: Church's relationship with Jesus.
[SPEAKER_02]: You have to have your own personal relationship with Jesus.
[SPEAKER_02]: Understand this.
[SPEAKER_02]: They are there to help you build your life and help you on the way and help give you the tools that you need.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, absolutely.
[SPEAKER_02]: They're there.
[SPEAKER_02]: But that does not substitute.
[SPEAKER_02]: You having a personal relationship with your creator, with Jesus, with Almighty God, and actually talking to Him daily.
[SPEAKER_02]: You have to actually know Him in a real way.
[SPEAKER_02]: You can't have a firm foundation of faith if you don't know Jesus personally.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, let's come back to here.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, I think Cleve did most of the build on this stage.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm sure those are some other people.
[SPEAKER_02]: And it feels pretty firm.
[SPEAKER_02]: I will call it a, this is a firm foundation, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: There's nothing in this is gonna be what make it what make that wobbly now, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: So now, if I try to climb to get to purpose, to be an image bearer, to show people the image of Jesus through me,
[SPEAKER_02]: It's going to be a little different.
[SPEAKER_02]: Y'all ain't freaking out now.
[SPEAKER_02]: Y'all ain't getting scared on me now, huh?
[SPEAKER_02]: I might go any higher right now.
[SPEAKER_02]: This is firm.
[SPEAKER_02]: I am scared.
[SPEAKER_02]: Hear me.
[SPEAKER_02]: One thing that you may not have noticed, and maybe you do, loud as a shade like this.
[SPEAKER_02]: Meaning this.
[SPEAKER_02]: The closer I am to actually bearing the image of Christ.
[SPEAKER_02]: Huh?
[SPEAKER_02]: The more careful I have to be with my next step.
[SPEAKER_02]: The more careful I have to be when I tell you that except because the path is getting more narrow, where I'm going is becoming more narrow.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so now, what was amazing was the difference in you, as I'm plotting Islamic Clemson, now I said, you're good.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's got firm foundation on the ground.
[SPEAKER_02]: But then even, whenever I got a little higher, what's interesting, if I would have said, hey, I need some guys to come hold this.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, I'll take the next step.
[SPEAKER_02]: I guarantee we would have about ten people run up here and hold this ladder.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I take the next step.
[SPEAKER_02]: What am I saying in that?
[SPEAKER_02]: You also need people around you.
[SPEAKER_02]: D come up here.
[SPEAKER_02]: Run up here.
[SPEAKER_02]: D run.
[SPEAKER_02]: Run, D run.
[SPEAKER_02]: Castle Ruppet, jump up here.
[SPEAKER_02]: These two guys, good answer, Castle.
[SPEAKER_02]: Good answer.
[SPEAKER_02]: Hear me.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now.
[SPEAKER_02]: Huh?
[SPEAKER_02]: Sometimes you need some people around you.
[SPEAKER_02]: to hold you in seasons as you are going closer to purpose and destiny, you need some, understand what I say, this Aaron and hers in your life, you need some people who will hold you in the balance, holds you accountable as you're climbing and as you're growing more and more narrow spots, who will help strengthen and empower the foundation around you because as soon as they're out of the picture, the foundation, even in the foundation strong, I still need some help and I still need some strength, thank you guys.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, don't give Castle D a big praise, though.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now hear me.
[SPEAKER_02]: I promise you, I will end at some point in time this evening.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now I want to show you this as I come to a close.
[SPEAKER_02]: Notice in both scenarios, what's against you says there's a hear the word, but he also gives this.
[SPEAKER_02]: Both times, he said, when we said, you build on the sand, the storms come.
[SPEAKER_02]: When you build on the rock, what happens then, too?
[SPEAKER_02]: Storms come.
[SPEAKER_02]: Jesus did not promise you that on your climb, in bearing the image of America, Jesus promised you opposite.
[SPEAKER_02]: But on your climb to bear the image of Christ and fulfill purpose, he doesn't say, oh, you will never be touched.
[SPEAKER_02]: Anybody ever seen the Lego movie?
[SPEAKER_02]: Nothing bad, there it happened to me.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's one of my favorite lines in the whole movie.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a passing line.
[SPEAKER_02]: I love that.
[SPEAKER_02]: No, it's a Lego Batman style.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think it's Lego Batman.
[SPEAKER_02]: It is.
[SPEAKER_02]: Lego Batman.
[SPEAKER_02]: Jesus is not promising.
[SPEAKER_02]: Nothing bad's ever going to happen to you.
[SPEAKER_02]: That people are going to talk about about you.
[SPEAKER_02]: That situations and I'm not talking about you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Jesus is not what he says, but when he says this, that in this world, your child and tribulations will be a good cheer to overcome the world.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's not saying in this world, your boyfriend's gonna break up with you.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's not saying and talking about in this world, you're not gonna get enough Instagram followers to be monetized your Instagram account and have the blue check by your name for free.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not talking about that.
[SPEAKER_01]: But man, somebody comments something on Facebook against us.
[SPEAKER_02]: I am persecuted for his namesake.
[SPEAKER_02]: Bro, you posted something stupid.
[SPEAKER_02]: You're not persecuted for his namesake.
[SPEAKER_02]: You're persecuted for some stupid you posted.
[SPEAKER_02]: Probably shouldn't post that.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, no.
[SPEAKER_02]: Pastor called me in for a meeting.
[SPEAKER_02]: Because I wasn't acting right, I am persecuted.
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's say something that Proverbs says, and Proverbs twelve once says, whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.
[SPEAKER_02]: Put that on your plate and eat it.
[SPEAKER_02]: All right.
[SPEAKER_02]: Storms are part of life.
[SPEAKER_02]: We know that very well around here.
[SPEAKER_02]: Storms are just pop about a nowhere.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, where did you come from?
[SPEAKER_02]: There it is.
[SPEAKER_02]: Storm.
[SPEAKER_02]: Storm is part of life.
[SPEAKER_02]: But listen, it's not whether the Storm will come, but whether we're built on the foundation that can withstand the storm.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not a contractor in case you didn't know.
[SPEAKER_02]: And it's not my field of profession, but I did do some studying and say to Holiday Inn Express last night.
[SPEAKER_02]: But that's like for the fifty and up in this room, that was your joke just for you this evening, okay?
[SPEAKER_02]: When building a single-level home, the foundation doesn't have to be very deep.
[SPEAKER_02]: Matter of fact, even in colder climates, this is through my study, contractors correct me in the back later from wrong.
[SPEAKER_02]: But in colder climate, the foundation only has to be about five to six feet deep.
[SPEAKER_02]: It should just be below the frost level.
[SPEAKER_02]: And in Florida, we build more on grain.
[SPEAKER_02]: However, when building a skyscraper, you cannot build on grain.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know what you have to do?
[SPEAKER_02]: You have to dig deep.
[SPEAKER_02]: There are skyscrapers, I think the
[SPEAKER_02]: The deepest build of a skyscraper from what I looked up was over four hundred feet deep.
[SPEAKER_02]: They had to build to withstand the weight and the structure that was there.
[SPEAKER_02]: What am I saying?
[SPEAKER_02]: The higher you go in purpose and destiny, the deeper the foundation of Jesus has to be within you.
[SPEAKER_02]: A lot of you, you want, you are swinging for the fences.
[SPEAKER_02]: You want to be the highest you can be, and I don't mean that way, okay?
[SPEAKER_02]: I hope not.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a very home.
[SPEAKER_02]: Some people are wanting to build this life which the world calls perfect, which I'm not supposed to be for service.
[SPEAKER_02]: Here's the truth.
[SPEAKER_02]: A lot of times we'll say things like,
[SPEAKER_02]: people, you know, these people that have all the riches and all the fame and all these things.
[SPEAKER_02]: They are building lives, but they literally, they really, they're miserable.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I agree, there are people like that, but also one of the kind of challenges of this.
[SPEAKER_02]: This is the truth.
[SPEAKER_02]: There are also people who are building the dollars that will die happy.
[SPEAKER_02]: That doesn't mean anything to them.
[SPEAKER_02]: because scripture talks about you can gain the whole world.
[SPEAKER_02]: But lose what?
[SPEAKER_02]: You're so.
[SPEAKER_02]: You can gain all the clout, the happiness, get to the highest point of your life and still not have anything at all truthfully.
[SPEAKER_02]: The world calls success one thing.
[SPEAKER_02]: Scripture and Jesus calls us something totally different.
[SPEAKER_02]: Remember, intro by the narrow game.
[SPEAKER_02]: Why does the gate and broad is the way that leads to where?
[SPEAKER_02]: Destruction.
[SPEAKER_02]: Hear me.
[SPEAKER_02]: The more you begin to fulfill your purpose of being an image bearer, the narrower the path gets, which means more faithful.
[SPEAKER_02]: You have to be.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm truly coming to close with this.
[SPEAKER_02]: No matter how high you go, the truth is this, the storm of life, fear, doubt, insecurities, those things.
[SPEAKER_02]: They'll show up, temptations, temptations will show up.
[SPEAKER_02]: For some of you in this room, you've been in this conference, experiencing the presence of the Lord, a powerful way, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: And you're gonna leave here, and that girl who's been sliding in your DMs is gonna show up again.
[SPEAKER_02]: That thing that you've been wanting to do and you've been thinking about, but this week you have nothing about once you get back to your house, you're going to think about doing it again.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's going to show up again.
[SPEAKER_02]: The temptation is going to be there.
[SPEAKER_02]: And that is whenever you find out in my building on the foundation of Jesus, in my really wanting to be an image bear, or in my wanting my circumstances.
[SPEAKER_02]: Or am I wanting my experiences?
[SPEAKER_02]: Or am I wanting my money?
[SPEAKER_02]: Am I wanting the strengths?
[SPEAKER_02]: Here's the truth.
[SPEAKER_02]: Paul says in the first Corinthians three, eleven, for no one could lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
[SPEAKER_02]: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever and has proven himself for generations and generations and generations and generations and generations as a truly faithful God, and he will continue to do that.
[SPEAKER_02]: Man on the other hand has failed over and over again, but yet we still try to build on man.
[SPEAKER_02]: People have failed us over and over again, but yet we still go back to those things.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's funny, you'll go to chilies and have a bad experience.
[SPEAKER_02]: Your triple differ will not be sauce properly.
[SPEAKER_02]: But in a couple weeks, you're going to find your butt back in a chilies.
[SPEAKER_02]: You pray one time and the prayer is not answered.
[SPEAKER_02]: And you give up.
[SPEAKER_02]: You go to church a few times.
[SPEAKER_02]: Expect everything.
[SPEAKER_02]: You expect church to be like a magic wand for your life.
[SPEAKER_02]: And then it doesn't happen.
[SPEAKER_02]: So you stop going.
[SPEAKER_02]: Because we are quicker to build on the flesh.
[SPEAKER_02]: which is once again, the sand's of life, experience, money, fame, cloud.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's easier to build on those things because that's what we're seeing.
[SPEAKER_02]: But here, me, Jesus has proven himself faithful to every generation.
[SPEAKER_02]: To end, band you can go, come up.
[SPEAKER_02]: You can write this down to kind of give you kind of a final thought here.
[SPEAKER_02]: And that is this.
[SPEAKER_02]: Our foundation can never be our circumstance.
[SPEAKER_02]: It must always be Jesus.
[SPEAKER_02]: It can never be what we're seeing and what we're facing right now.
[SPEAKER_02]: It has to always be Jesus.
[SPEAKER_02]: has always be what he has said, what his word is speaking, what his, there's a better word he speaks over your life.
[SPEAKER_02]: And here me building on the right foundation isn't once again just about hearing the word, but it's about living it out.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's about trusting God fully even when the storms of life come.
[SPEAKER_02]: I know there's on this front row right here.
[SPEAKER_02]: I've walked through with some of these people on the front row with most everyone on this front row.
[SPEAKER_02]: In some way,
[SPEAKER_02]: some form of a storm that has been experienced in their life.
[SPEAKER_02]: And you know what gets them through the storm and still standing on the other side?
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not vindication, it's not experience, it's not money, it's not strengths, it's not any of those things.
[SPEAKER_02]: It is Jesus alone that continues to give us the power to face every storm in obstacle of life
[SPEAKER_02]: and still stand strong and say, I will not be overcome, but I will stand in the goodness of God.
[SPEAKER_02]: I will see the goodness of God.
[SPEAKER_02]: Here in the earth today, I will see the goodness of God in my life.
[SPEAKER_02]: I will see God's goodness on display and I will continue to bear the image of Christ in the face of persecution in the face of what people are saying about me.
[SPEAKER_02]: in the face of everything going to hell in a hand basket around me.
[SPEAKER_02]: In the face of everything wrong going on, I will still continue to build God's kingdom because hear me today.
[SPEAKER_02]: You can step into the purpose that God has for you, not because your own strength, but because of the spirit of God that is living within you and Jesus can be your ultimate foundation, amen?
[SPEAKER_02]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_02]: We stand to your feet this evening.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks again for downloading this podcast.
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[SPEAKER_00]: God bless you and have a great week.