The Fatal Failures of Religion: #6 Mistaken Identity



Lesson #5 - Wise and Foolish Builders

Main Point: Build your life on the solid Rock of Jesus Christ and His Word.

Matthew 7:24-27

24"So then, everyone who hears my words and puts them into practice is like a wise man. He builds his house on the rock. 25The rain comes down. The water rises. The winds blow and beat against that house. But it does not fall. It is built on the rock.

    26"But everyone who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man. He builds his house on sand. 27The rain comes down. The water rises. The winds blow and beat against that house. And it falls with a loud crash."

James 1:22 Don't just listen to the word. You fool yourselves if you do that. You must do what it says.

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   Say This: There were 2 people in the story Jesus told: a wise man and a foolish man. Both men built a house. From the outside, these two houses could have looked exactly the same. But there was a difference.

The foundation.

What the foundation is made from and how the foundation is built is EVERYTHING to how long the house will last.

The wise man built his house on the rock.

PowerPoint:

PowerPoint: Matthew 7:25 The rain comes down. The water rises. The winds blow and beat against that house. But it does not fall. It is built on the rock.

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Say This: The other man, the foolish man, also built a house, but his foundation was sand.

PowerPoint:

PowerPoint: Matthew 7:26-27 He builds his house on sand. The rain comes down. The water rises. The winds blow and beat against that house. And it falls with a loud crash."

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Say This: There were 2 builders and 2 houses. Everything looked similar on the OUTside, but the BIG difference was the foundation.

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Say This: Jesus used this word picture of building a house to help us understand that it’s NOT what people see of us that matters. Jesus wants us to build our lives on Him – our ROCK.

PowerPoint:

[pic] Say This: Yes, the winds blow and the waves beat against the Rock, but it never moves. Jesus never changes. (Hebrews 13:8) He is the same yesterday, today, and forever! His Word never changes. You can depend on Him!

Winds and waves some to everyone. That’s why it’s important to have a solid foundation.

Ask: What are some examples of winds and waves that you’ve experienced?

PowerPoint:

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Say This: The gift of eternal life is FREE. Receiving Jesus is a GIFT. Before you can build anything in your life, you need Jesus as your Savior for your foundation.

Being His disciple can be very difficult. To be honest, it is impossible. Just as you must rely 100% on Jesus for salvation, you must depend on Him 100% to be his true follower. You can’t do this on your own! Even though your outside actions may appear to be good, only Jesus can make you truly good on the inside.

Staying connected to God is what gives us a solid foundation that can stand up to the bad things in life we ALL will face. Problems come to EVERYONE!

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The wise person hears what God is saying through His Word and then DOES what it says. You have a choice to trust Jesus to save you and a choice to follow Him in every decision after that.

PowerPoint: James 1:22 Don't just listen to the word. You fool yourselves if you do that. You must do what it says.

Say This: Both men built a house. One house was built upon a rock solid foundation, the other was build upon sand. Everyone in here has a life. You can choose whether you’re going to listen to and obey God’s Word or not. The choice is up to you.

The sad thing is that many kids are building their lives on their feelings or on their own ideas about God. Being a true follower of Jesus Christ means that you recognize the Bible as the absolute authority on every decision you make. It’s not about how you feel or what you think; choices should be made that are in obedience to God’s Word.

People who build their lives on how they feel or what they think are building their lives on a very shaky foundation of sand. The sad part is that they will have to live with the consequences of those choices. The foundation of the house wasn’t tested until there was a storm. The way you build your life won’t be seen until trouble comes into your life.

Main Point: Build your life on the solid Rock of Jesus Christ and His Word.

Note to the Teacher:

Both the wise and foolish men experience the same problems: rains, floods, winds. However, the effect of those problems in their lives were quite different.

I read or heard recently that there was a study that showed that divorced couples had no more problems than people who stayed married. However, the married couples had more effective ways of dealing with their problems.

How can two churches less than ten miles apart can be so different? One is healthy, thriving and growing, while the other is declining? Does one have more problems than the other? Probably not. More likely, one has learned how to better deal with and learn from the problems when they happen.

The wise man expected problems to come and prepared for them with a lot of hard work to build his house on a solid foundation. What if we used that as a model for the governing body of a congregation? What if we told them, "We expect difficulties in the years ahead, and the best way to prepare for them is to become more firmly grounded in Scriptures, in Jesus, in our own lives of discipleship -- and it will take some time and effort to do that."

Notes by Brian P. Stoffregen

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