Guest Speaker - Rev. Claire Yoder | "The Body of Christ" | A Sermon on John 6

Rev. Claire Yoder spoke at my church this past Sunday while I was a away celebrating my 32nd wedding anniversary.  Here is a transcript of her message:

The Ggospel of John, chapter 6, and I will be starting at verse 26. But I will not read the entire thing — we will do specific verses 26 and 27. Jesus answered them and said, "Truly, truly" — now when he says that, it means listen up, guys, I got something important to tell. "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and you were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God has set his seal."

And then we'll go to verses 33–35. "Truly, truly, I say to you, for the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world." Then they said to him, "Lord, always give us this bread." And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst."

Verse 41: "Therefore the Jews were grumbling about him." So what else was new? Because he said, "I am the bread that came down out of heaven."

Verse 48: "I am the bread of life." Is anybody keeping count of how many times he said, "I am the bread of life."

Verse 51–57: "I am the living bread that came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." Then the Jews began to argue and say to one another, "How can this man give his flesh?" So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As a living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me, he also will live because of me."

The Word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.

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This story from John has a few surprising elements to it. The way Jesus handles this situation is confusing sometimes, because some of the things that he is saying is upsetting his followers. It seems that he doesn't make it easier. You would think a God of compassion, a God of love, the God of wonderful things, of miracles, would want to make it easier for the people. But it gets more difficult for them most of the time.

We want to take down barriers in people's way and we want to help them get past these barriers. If someone finds something difficult to understand, what's the first thing we want to do? Explain it to them. We want them to understand. We just hop right in there. We want to make it easier for them. And if there is something in their way, especially one of our children, we want to move it. We want to take it out of the way. And certainly this is what we would expect of Jesus. But this isn't what Jesus does here. Instead of making it easier to believe, he seems that he wants to make it harder. Instead of opening a door, he seems to throw up a barrier.

Early in this chapter, Jesus has fed the multitudes. And so they follow him because they have experienced that miracle. They believe in him. They saw it happen. It's the perfect opportunity for Jesus to add to the number of his followers. They'd appear to be on his side. But Jesus says to them, "I tell you the truth. You are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate the loaves and you got full. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you."

Now, notice here, he begins a little gently. He's healed them. He's fed them. But now he gets down to business. He points them beyond the satisfaction of their physical needs to their eternal spiritual needs. He promises to give them the bread of life of which he is speaking. But this isn't the kind of bread that they were thinking about. Jesus, if somebody says to you, "I'll give you some bread," we think about the loaf of bread that we go and get and make a sandwich with. That's the kind of bread they're thinking about. They don't get yet what Jesus is saying to them. They're as clueless as the disciples are so many times.

Jesus said, "The bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." And then they respond, "Sir, from now on, give us this bread." As if they haven't already gotten it. Jesus knows they don't understand. And he says, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry and who believes in me will never be thirsty." But they still don't understand the metaphor. And they are offended. The scripture says they began to grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven."

Now, since they are upset, you'd think that Jesus would move on to something else, but he doesn't. He only repeats what he's already said, but he adds to the offense. He says it again: "I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."

How many times now has he said it? More than once. We know the Jews had very strict dietary rules. There were kosher foods and foods that they would never ever think of eating. Pork was one of the meats that they'd never eat. And if they did, they would become unclean, which was a bad thing back in those days. And cannibalism. Now Jesus is saying, "You've got to eat my flesh." That's cannibalism, folks. Well, and it's a whole different category. So when he said that the bread he was talking about was his flesh, it offended them beyond words. "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

Now, this really would be a good time to kind of soft pedal, but Jesus just makes it worse by saying, "I tell you the truth. Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him."

How many more times does he have to say it? Because we don't know the original language, we don't really understand the provocative impact that this had on these people. Jesus makes it even worse because he changes the verbs here. Early in his statements, he uses a verb that simply means to eat. But in the last part of his statement, he uses a verb that means to chew, to gnaw, to crunch. Pretty graphic. Many of his followers turned back and no longer followed him. They never came back. Why does Jesus do this? Well, the loyalty of the 12 is even questionable at this point. And we know this because he said to them, "You don't want to leave me too, do you?"

I believe Jesus did this because he was interested in something more than superficial faith. He was not looking for numbers. You know, a lot of times pastors, churches, they want numbers. They got to turn them in at conference at the end of the year. They got to be responsible for growing the church. Except they want numbers. But Jesus was looking for true disciples. It's all too easy to want God to meet our needs and provide for us and never consider what's really important and what he really desires to do for us and in us.

Through our faith, we have to scale the barriers. Rather than trying to avoid them, rather than trying to go around them, rather than trying to pretend they aren't there, we have to face them. Life is full of barriers. And those of you that are in my category, the more mature people, we've had one or two barriers in our lifetime. I know a lot of people who are offended at God. They're mad at him and they turn away because their life hasn't turned out the way they think it should have for them. They don't face the barriers. Their temptation is, "Where was God when I needed him? Why did God let this happen to me or to my loved one?" Now, I understand these feelings, but it's a barrier that must be faced if we are to find our way. And it's not easy to follow God. The scripture tells us following Jesus is not going to be easy. So get ready for it when you make a commitment. It is not easy to follow God all the time. And we should not pretend that it is. We shouldn't go out there and tell God we have 100%, 365 days a year, 24 hours of every one of those days, and nothing is ever wrong. It just doesn't work that way. The way of God is often hard, but in the end, we see that it is better and easier than not following God.

There have always been barriers and those who have faced them with faith have become much stronger people. Ever heard of the saying, "If it doesn't kill you, it'll make you stronger." I think everybody has.

Let's take the Israelites for example. They're leaving Egypt. They're excited about what's to come and at the same time, they're a little anxious because they really don't know what's getting ready to happen. They're filled with the excitement of God's promises. And at the same time, there are so many barriers to obtaining their freedom. They got to deal with Pharaoh. They don't have any food. They don't have any water in the desert. And it doesn't take them long to start bickering among themselves. They're complaining already and asking Moses, "Why did you take us out of Egypt? Why did you save us?" How many years? 400 years they prayed to God, "Take us out of this forsaken place," and he answered their prayers. So you better be careful what you pray for.

Think about Job. Job is the epitome of facing his barriers with faith. He was the most tortured person I know of in the Old Testament. But he is the epitome of how to deal with our barriers and not try to avoid them. He kept the faith. How he did it, I'm not sure. I think Paul would have said to Job, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." Job kept his faith throughout his entire ordeal. He never let anyone or anything weaken his faith. Remember one of his friends say, "Why don't you just forget about God?" He says, "No, no, no. That's not the way it works." He had every reason to be angry at life. He had every reason to be angry at other people. He had every reason to be mad with God. But in the end, he overcomes the barriers. And he says, "Though he," meaning God, "slay me, yet I will trust him." No matter what God does to me, I will never forsake him because he will never leave me alone. Now, how is that for strong faith?

I know people who have prayed for strength to allow their adversities to bring glory to God. They never lose their faith. They never get angry at God. But you know what? If we do get angry with God, he can take our anger. The trick is don't lose your faith. Don't lose your faith in God. He understands you're frustrated. He's going to get you through it in spite of all of your doubts. He's going to get you through it. But we must keep the faith.

I saw an interview with a man who had no arms or no legs. You may have seen it. It was quite a while ago. His name was Nick. He had a rare genetic disorder. He had two small feet attached to his torso. Now, as a kid, he had struggled emotionally and physically because his years in grammar, kindergarten, grammar school, middle school, high school were kind of miserable because the other kids didn't really accept him. He had to work on accepting his conditions. And as an adult, he said he had a ridiculously wonderful life. He has a motorboat. He loves to fish. He can swim. He's married. People are always asking him how he can claim he has a ridiculously good life. And he tells them, "You assume — have you ever divided the word 'assume'? You assume that I am suffering from what I lack. I choose to live by what the Bible says. God is the answer yesterday, today, and always. When people read about my life or witness me living it, they are prone to congratulate me for being victorious over my disabilities. And I tell them very quickly that my victory came in surrender. It comes every day when I acknowledge that I can't do this on my own. So I say to God, I give it to you, and then I give it to him, and I don't take it back."

How many of us say we're going to give it to God and two hours later we're worrying about it again? We're fretting over it. We really didn't give it to him, or if we did, we're Indian givers. He says, "The Lord took my pain and turned it into something good. He gave my life meaning when no one and nothing else could. And if God can take someone like me, someone without arms or legs, and use me as their hands and feet, he can use anybody. It's not about ability. The only thing God needs from you and from me is a willing heart."

Barriers — we all have them. I hear my grandmother who died in 1987 and she's still in my head saying, "My dear, it isn't your problems that count, but how you face them and how you handle them."

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen.

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Now, today we're going to celebrate communion. I kind of battled a little while back and forth with myself. Am I going to do a Labor Day sermon or a communion sermon? And it didn't take long for me to say communion's the important one. That's the way we're going to go. Jesus said, "Remember me every time you eat or drink." How many of you eat more than once a day? Twice a day, three times a day. Do I need to keep going? A snack in the morning, take a nap, get up, go to the refrigerator, get something to eat, get something to drink. We don't even think about it. Sometimes it's just gotten to be habit. I know some of us have an elastic arm — it just goes from there to here. Do you remember to thank God every time you eat and drink? Probably not. I don't. I should. I try to. I'm getting better at it. It took me 83 years, but I'm getting better at it.

But Jesus came to take the sins of the world on himself so that we might be saved from our sins. He continued to tell his disciples and us on that night when he broke the bread that he was coming for that very purpose — to save the world from sin. And after he broke the bread, he gave it to them and he said, "This is my body which has been broken for you." And then after the supper, he took the cup and he said, "This is my blood of the new covenant which has been shed for you and for many. Drink ye all of this."

Now, this is the Lord's table. This is not a Methodist table, a Baptist table, Episcopalian table, a Presbyterian table. I could just go on and on. But it's the Lord's table. And all who earnestly have repented of their sins and want to live as Jesus wants us to live — he invites us to come and partake in this holy meal.

Holy Different | A Sermon on 1 Peter 1:1-2

Introduction
I’m proud of all my kids.  They're all intelligent, independent, and successful.  They’ve never been afraid to be different, to be themselves.  My son Gavin graduated from High school 3^rd in his class.  He went to college and used to ride his bicycle from his dorm to his classes.  But two wheels got boring to him.  So he decided he wanted to learn to ride on one.  So he got a unicycle!  He's older now--28.  He decided to learn Vietnamese.  Why?  Because his girlfriend's family immigrated from Vietnam and he want to be able to speak to her mother.  

My middle child, Grace, is a talented creative.  She started singing solos in church when she was in Kindergarten and then with our praise band when she was 13.  Now that she's a young adult, she has sang with rock bands on stage, and I'm always proud to remember who she cut her teeth on performance in church.  She loves plants and birds and decided to go back to school recently to study horticulture.  

My youngest daughter is Abigail.  She also graduated 3rd in her class from high school.  She's a talented musician on a full ride scholarship to West Georgia College studying music education.  She can talk to anybody and loves everybody.  She is firm in her Christian faith, but has never shied away from making friends with people of all walks of life and loves to talk to people and understand their point of view, while always being firmly planted in her own beliefs.  

I've always been proud of their individualism.  They not afraid to be different.  And people like that have always impressed me.

Colonel Sanders was different.  He started his dream when he was 65 years old! He got a social security check for only $105 and was mad. Instead of complaining, he did something different.  He thought restaurant owners would love his fried chicken recipe, use it, and sales would increase, and he’d get a percentage of it. So, Sanders drove around the country knocking on doors, sleeping in his car, and wearing his white suit.  Can you imagine how strange people must have thought Sanders was?  They did.  His idea was rejected 1,009 times before someone finally said yes.  The rest is history.

1 Peter 1:1-2

¹This letter is from Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.  I am writing to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. ² God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.  May God give you more and more grace and peace.

God Chose You!
Do you remember thos pickup games we used to play when we were kids?  Maybe it was kickball or touch-football.  Two captains would pick kids to be on their teams.  They always picked the most athletic kids first.  And you never wanted to be last.

Well, in this life, God chose you to be on His team. 

And He chose you long ago.  Abraham lived about 4,000 years ago when God chose him.  He told Abraham if he would life his homeland and go where God sent him, God would make him a father of many nations.  And Abraham chose to follow God.  

And we who follow Jesus are Abraham's spiritual descendants.  Over 4,000 years ago, God already knew He was going to choose you.  His choice has been in the works for at least 4,000 years.  So if God ever asks you to do something and you feel overwhelmed, like you're not up to the task.  Remember, God already knew He was going to choose you and help you do His will, millennia ago.  You can do it, with God's help.

God's Spirit has made you holy.  Holy means “set apart for the special, sacred purposes of God” – Not to be used for unholy purposes any more.

A communion chalice is just a fancy cup.  But you wouldn't use it to drink you morning coffee with breakfast.  It could, technically, do it.  But coffee is not that chalices intended purpose.  No, the communion chalice is set apart for a different, sacred purpose.  It was made to serve Holy Communion.

Likewise, you were set apart for a different, holy purpose by God.   When you are holy, you are different, not like the rest.

It's interesting to me that so many people have tattoos these days.  When I was a kid, it was unusual to see someone with a tattoo.  They were considered different.  (Now, I want to be clear--I don't have any problem with tattoos and I don't think God does either.)  These days, it seems everyone has a tattoo (it's actually 32 % according to a 2023 survey).  If you want to be different today, maybe it's not getting a tattoo that makes you different, but not getting one!

God doesn't want us to be like everyone else.  God wants us to be different.  Then we stand out as special.  When you are holy, you are special.  Perhaps you've known someone who was special, who was different, because of the way they walked with the Lord.  The loved people and were full of God's grace in ways that were different from most people.  People remember folks like that.  And they have a positive impact on people and the world.

·         When you are holy, you stand out--like a diamond.  Diamonds are so valuable because they sparkle.  And that's how God wants His people to be.  He wants us to sparkle and shine for Jesus.  Stop trying to blend in.  Be yourself--the unique, special, sparkling work of art God made you to be.

But some people might say, “I don’t want to be different…”  An interesting thing happens with most teenagers that causes their parents a lot of anxiety.  Doctors and psychologists tell us that teenagers are biologically engineered to start separating from their parents and create their own identity.  From the time they are babies to about the age of 13, most kids adore their parents and want to be just like them.  

Then they turn into teenagers and start to pull away.  All of a sudden, they stop admiring their parents and start thinking they are boring and old and uncool.  And parents often get frustrated because it feels like their teenagers are going off the deep end, rejecting everything they've worked so hard to teach them.  

This is natural, because teenagers are trying to establish their own identity apart from their parents.  They want to be individuals. It isn’t until teenagers mature a bit more, maybe in their twenties, that they truly find their own identity.  They stop trying to be like everyone else and discover it's ok to just be themselves.

Unfortunately, many people never grow out of the human desire to “fit in”.  Most people want to adhere to “social norms.”  We want to be in fashion; we want to "fit in" our community; we want to be accepted by everyone else.  Many still define themselves in relation to others.  Few ever stop to think what they really want without regards to what other people have.  Even fewer stop to think about what God really wants for them and trust that what He wants is really best.

I've always been a little bit nerdy and curious.  That's the way God made me.  I was at the beach on a family vacation a few years ago staring out at the ocean.  I thought, "I wonder how much salt is in that ocean water and if there's a way I could extract it out?"

So I got a empty gallon jug and filled it up with ocean water and went back to our condo.  I put the water in a pot on the stove and boiled it for over an hour until all the water was gone.  And in the bottom of the pan was about a half a cup of salt!  I was so proud of myself, I used some of it to season my dinner that evening when we got together with our extended family.  My brother-in-law looked at me and said, "Chris, I'm all about this DIY stuff you like to do.  But salt?  Really?  You're a wierdo!"

And I said, “Hallelujah!”  I own it!  I'm proud to be weird--to be different, to be the way God made me!

God wants us to be Different
Anybody can start a fast food restaurant, but Chick -fil-A founder Truitt Cathy said, “We should be about more than just selling chicken. We should be a part of our customers’ lives and the communities in which we serve.”  And that's what they do.  Not only do they make great chicken, they also help schools and churches and community groups.  And they take young employees and teach them skills and values that stay with them long after they go on to work in other companies--values that make the world a better place.  And when all other restaurants are open and working on Sunday, Chick-fil-A make a bold statement "We're different!" and they are closed on Sunday.

God wanted the Israel to be like that.  He gave them all kinds of weird laws about what food to eat and what cloth to wear and how to act.  And they were to rest on the Sabbath.  All the other nations around them would look at them and say, "Those are some weird people!"  And yes!  That's what God wanted!  God wanted Israel to be special, to stand out, so everyone would know they were His people and they would represent Him to the world.

In the New Testament, Jesus told us the most important way we would be different be in the way we love.  He said in John 13:35, “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”  He even said His followers are to love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them.  Now that's different!  And when Christians truly live this way, people take notice.  And many even want to follow Jesus themselves.

God Chose You, but Do You Choose God?
Long ago, God chose you to be holy.  How long will it be before you humble yourself, bow down, and choose to follow God?  When you choose God through faith in Jesus Christ, Peter says you, “have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.”  Then, you are holy and forgiven and you will have more grace and peace.  People will begin to see you are Holy Different and you will live a Holy and Different life, a better life, and you will have eternal life.  And you will know you are loved.  And you will love people like Jesus loves.  

Are you ready? If you are, turn from your sins and follow Jesus and let Him make you Holy Different today!

 

Building a Soilid Foundation | A Sermon on Deuteronomy 6:4-9 & Luke 7:24-27

Introduction
This week our church was filled with children. They sang songs, played games, made crafts, memorized Scripture, and learned about God.  It was a wonderful week.

VBS was incredible.  But VBS alone won't build a lifetime of faith.  You can't build a house on one good week.  A solid foundation is laid one brick at a time. 

That's exactly what Moses tells Israel in Deuteronomy 6.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9
⁴ “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.^{[a] 5} And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. ⁶ And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. ⁷ Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. ⁸ Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. ⁹ Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

The Lord is Our God, the LORD Alone
The very first thing this passage reminds us is The LORD is our God.  Now you will notice the Bible capitalizes the word LORD in this passage.  Whenever the Scripture does that, it is translating the name of God, the name of God He gave when He spoke to Moses out of the burning bush.

God said His name is Yahweh.  That is the Hebrew word for God's name.  It is not really translatable, but it means something like, “I Am Who I Am” or just “I Am”.  Yahweh, God, is the only true God.   He is who He is.  We do not get to change Him into something we would like.  We are made in His image, not the other way around.  We can have our opinions about what we think god is like or what we wish He is like, but that doesn't change anything about who God really is.  He has always been the same and always will be the same.  He is sovereign.  He is the great I AM.

They may be other spiritual beings or demons, but there is only One God–the Creator of everything.  He made everything that we see and nothing exists that He has not made and does not have authority over.  And so, we are to worship God alone.  We are not to have any other gods.   And we are never to put anything else ahead of God in our lives.  “Listen, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the Lord alone.”

There are so many things that vie for our attention in this world today.  We are so busy.  We have work and family, and leisure activities, and family obligations.  And if we are parents, then their are so many activities we feel pressured to be involved with for our children and grandchildren.  And sometimes, worshipping God or studying His word or prayer feels like just one more activity we have to fit in an already busy schedule.  But The LORD should be our number one priority.  He should always come first and then we fit the other things around our time devoted to Him (or they don't fit in); but God should always fit in because He is FIRST. 

The Greatest Commandment
Then Deuteronomy spells out what Jesus said is the greatest commandment:  “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.”

Love Him with all your Heart – Your affections and desires. Love God with what you value most and what your heart longs for. Ask yourself: What do I love the most?

And we are to love Him with all our Soul – Your whole life and being. Love God with your identity, your worship, and your commitment to Him. Ask yourself: Who do I belong to?

And love Him with all your Strength – Your energy, abilities, resources, and actions.  Love God not only with your feelings but with what you do and what you have.  Ask yourself: How do I live out my love for God?

Building a solid foundation starts here–by Loving God with all your heart, soul, and strength.

The Second Greatest Commandment
In the New Testament, when they asked Jesus about the greatest commandment, he said, “A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:39)

And when asked, “Who is my neighbor?”  Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan, making it clear that everyone is our neighbor–even those who are different than us, even those who we might despise.  And Jesus went even farther, teaching we must even love our enemies, and pray for those who persecute us. 

1 John 4:20 teaches, “If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?

Building a Solid Foundation with Kids
Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says, “you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands…  Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.”

 Our faith in God is so important to us.  We want to pass it on to our children and grandchildren.  That is why we go to the extraordinary effort to provide a great VBS each summer.  This was a focused time of fun and learning for our children (and for the adult volunteers too).  It was hard work, but also a labor of love.  And I bet our volunteers got as much out of it as the kids!

But you can’t build a solid foundation of faith with children with just one week out of the year over summer.  Think about it.  Children go to school 5 days a week, 10 months out of the year, for 12 years (plus one for kindergarten).  It takes that much effort to educate them in the basics of mathematics, English, social studies, etc.  On top of these, there will also be interests in extracurricular activities like sports, music and the arts, etc.

But if we are going to instill in our children a true love of God and a desire to value His commandments and the knowledge for how to know Him and trust Him and pray to Him, it must be done through regular lessons and time spent in worship. 

Kids are constantly inundated with worldly ideas.  We must be sure they hear the Truth from God’s Word even more.  And we as parents or grandparents, we too must be so marinated in God’s Word and filled with God’s love that our children see in us a faith they want for themselves.

So we must must commit ourselves wholeheartedly to God’s commands.  Repeat them again and again to our children. Talk about them when we are at home and when we are on the road, when we are going to bed and when we are getting up.

Built on the Rock/Built on the Shifting Sand
In Luke 7:24-27, Jesus said, “²⁴ Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. ²⁵ Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. ²⁶ But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. ²⁷ When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

I have an unfortunate truth to share with you (in case you don’t already know it).  The fact is, everyone faces storms in their life–times when troubles come that threaten to blow you away like a terrible storm.  It is not a question of if the storms will come, it is only a matter of when.  They come for us all–health problems, divorce, financial problems, the loss of a job, the loss of a loved one…  Many are the storms that can shake our lives to the very foundations.

But when they come, will your life stand because it’s built on the solid rock of faith in Jesus?   Or will you have wasted your time building on the shifting sands of something else?  

We choose what our lives are built on not by words or wishful thinking or good intentions.  We build our lives by our daily practices and disciplines.  Here are some of the spiritual practices that ensure our lives are built on the solid Rock of Christ.

Regular Spiritual Practices that Help Build a Solid Spiritual Foundation

Here are some activities and spiritual disciplines that, when practiced regularly, help you build a solid foundation of faith for your own life and your family.

Be Part of a Church.  Christians need to be part of a church.  There is a lion out there, a great enemy, who wants to devour you--especially when you decide you want to follow Jesus.  And like a young, vulnerable zebra separated from the heard, you can be sure the lion is going to come for you if you are not part of a church.  So, be part of a church.  Attend regular.  Share your life with the church family.  Be committed.

Read Scripture.  If you really want to know God and spend time with Him (and not just what you imagine God to be) read you Bible.  It tells you who He really is and allows you to hear His Word.  

Prayer.  Prayer is the heart of a relationship with God.  He wants you to ask for what you need.  But prayer is not just asking for things.  It is also thanking God, praising God, listening to God, and sometimes just sting with God in silence.  Prayer is so much deeper than we realize, and it is essential to a vibrant relationship with God and a strong spiritual foundation.

Discuss God.  Spend time talking with others about God and about the Bible and your prayer life and what you are learning and experiencing.  We like to talk about people we know or celebrities we admire.  How much more fruitful it is to discuss God with our friends and family.

Express Gratitude.  Be thankful and express it.

Forgive.  Forgiveness can be very hard, but it is at the heart of the Christian faith.  God has forgiven us.  We need to practice forgiving others.

Serve.  Somethings can only be learned by serving.  And serving helps us stop focusing on ourselves and our own problems.  It helps us see others and practice compassion and empathy.

Encourage One Another.  Be an enxourager.

Worship Regularly.  Regular worship is vital to a fir spiritual foundation.  God is worthy of our worship and praise.  And if we love Him with all our heart, soul, and strength, we must honor Him with our songs and prayers and presence and praises and attention.  The routine of regular worship reshapes us into the people God wants us to be and unites us together as the body of Christ on earth.

Repent.  We all make mistakes.  And we are all sinners in need of the saving grace of God.  Repentance opens the door to God's forgiveness in Jesus Christ and starts us along the road to true holiness God wants us to live.

What Are You Building Your Life On?
You know, no one builds a foundation because it's exciting.  No one drives by a construction site and says, "Look at that beautiful concrete slab!"

The foundation isn't the part people admire.  But it's the part that makes everything else possible.  A beautiful house without a foundation won't last.  Neither will a beautiful family.  Neither will a successful career.  Neither will a busy life.

If we neglect the foundation, eventually the storms will reveal it.  Jesus said the wise man builds his house on the rock, because storms will come and test it.

So today I'd simply ask:  What are you building your life on?
Is Christ truly the foundation of your home?
Or has He become just another activity squeezed into an already busy schedule?

This week our children learned songs about Jesus.  They memorized Scripture.  They laughed.  They played.  They made crafts.  But they need more than one week of Vacation Bible School during summer break.  They need parents and grandparents who are building their own lives on Jesus every single day.  They need to see us reading God's Word.  They need to hear us pray.  They need to watch us forgive.  They need to see us worship.  They need to know that when life gets hard, Mom and Dad don't run from God—they run to Him.  Because children usually learn more from what we practice than from what we preach.

Invitation – Maybe today your family needs to begin laying a new foundation.
Maybe you've been trying to build your life on success, or money, or sports, or simply trying to "be a good person."  None of those things can carry the weight of a human soul.  Only Jesus Christ can.

The greatest gift we can give our kids is a faith that will carry them for the rest of their lives.
So I invite you to pray to God and make a commitment…