Series Base text: Matthew 7:24-27 - The Wise and Foolish Builders
24. “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
25. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
26. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
27. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
Foundation stones:
1. Prayer
2. Bible
3. Fasting
4. Tithing
5. Worship
6. Giving
One of my favourite kinds of books to read or programs to watch are autobiographies, especially Christians ones, or ones where the person has some kind of encounter with God. I like these because they are stories about real people who, through experiences, have learned something that they now share with me – who is reading the book. I then learn from these people and my life is richer for it.
Some examples:
· Ken Blanchard – Whale done: Leadership Lessons
· Always look up – Michael J Fox: Inspiration
· Next Generation Leader - Andy Stanley: Leadership Lessons
· Soul Obsession – Nicky Cruz: Inspiration
Each book hold gems of wisdom, through their life experiences, that have helped me in my life.
Now, today I want to about 66 other books that offer way more pearls of wisdom than today’s autobiographies and leadership books. All of these books have been collected and placed into one publication.
We know it as the Bible.
So what is so special about the Bible?
“It’s the most successful literary creation ever; more influential than Shakespeare or any of the other great texts. It’s completely international. Consider the translations of great literary works.
· Take the Greek philosopher Homer, for example. He has been translated into 40 languages.
· Shakespeare, the British playwright, has been translated into 60 languages
· The Harry Potter stories: 67 Languages
· The Bible has been translated into well over 2,233 languages! That’s ten times more than any other book. It’s every publisher’s dream. It’s the world’s bestseller — 44 million copies of the Bible sell every year.”
(Source: How and why should I read the Bible – The Alpha Course)
Quote: Ghandi said to the Christians of his day: ‘You look after a document containing enough dynamite to blow all civilisation to pieces, turn the world upside down and bring peace to a battle torn planet. But you treat it as though it were nothing more than a piece of literature.’
So lets compare what Ghandi said to you now:
· If you claim to be a Christian, do you read the Bible as the powerful word of God? Or do you simply read it now and then like an ordinary piece of literature?
I do not know how a person can grow as a Christian without reading the Bible. There is no other way. The only way to move from a beginner to a mature Christian is when you engage the Bible - when you read the Word of God.
What you are about to hear is probably one of the most important messages you will hear in your life. Why? Because you DO NOT have what it takes!
You do not have what it takes to be the kind of person you need to be or want to be. You have these aspirations to be the best father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, friend, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, etc. in your life, but you do not have what it takes to be the best.
Well, what is that makes you the best? Wisdom.
You do not naturally have the wisdom it takes to be the best friend, father, mother, etc… when you get started. We do not have wisdom as a default setting when we are born. No baby pops out of the womb and automatically councils the gynaecologist on the issues of life.
No, wisdom is a gift you acquire and grow as you experience life.
And for interest sake… God designed it like that.
How many of you would say you could use a little more wisdom?
Well, then how does a person get wisdom?
There are two ways:
1. Personal experience – Example: You run barefoot across the veld when you stand in a pile of devil-thorns. Ouch! You sit down to take them all out. You start thinking, maybe I should wear shoes next time when I run across a veld.
It took one painful incident to gain one lesson in wisdom.
The second way is a better way:
2. Other peoples experiences – Have you heard the saying, “Life is too short to make all the mistakes by yourself?” Well, life is too short to learn all the wisdom yourself.
Example: Your friend runs across the veld, he stands in thorns, his feet are bleeding as he sits there taking out the thorns. Then you ask his, “What did you learn?” Well, do not run into the veld barefoot.
If you’re smart, you then take that piece of wisdom that your friend gained and apply it to your own life.
Let me tell you why this is important:
You do not have enough feet to stand on all the thorny lessons of life to become wise. We have to learn from other peoples experiences. We do not have enough life in us to learn everything by our own experiences.
Now we are stuck with another question, “Where on earth are we going to do that?”
Well, let me show you. Raise your hand if you have ever gained a gem of wisdom from personal experience?
Now if I was to learn from all your gems of wisdom and apply them to my life… I would be a rich man!
I will have wisdom beyond my experience.
We hear Jesus saying the same thing in the base reading for this series;
24. “… everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
26. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.”
What’s the difference between wise and foolish?
The application!
Both hear, but both do not put it into practice.
Also, how can you put words into practice if you don’t know them?
It’s best we get to know them.
What are his words?
They are not only literally his words that are written in red in some Bibles, but also the words used throughout the whole Bible that is inspired by God. Different Characters, different situations, different contexts, different lessons – all of which we can learn from. We need to learn from all of their experiences.
The way to do this, it to not only learn from Jesus, but also learn from the other characters in the Bible who had a first-hand experience of God.
The Bible has 66 books to learn from.
66 unedited accounts of men and women who made mistakes – that are not hidden - but shown to us so that we have 66 books giving us a wealth of wisdom to learn from.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (Read the underlined out loud with me)
“ All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living, so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed.”
Do you know what Inspired means?
God is wants us to know that the same wisdom God gave all these great people in the Bible, is the same Wisdom He will give us! So that we will be fully qualified and equipped.
Think about it this way;
These 66 accounts are here to mentor us in this life so that we are able to become the best we can be.
Some of my great mentors have come from the Bible:
· Job – Gave me understanding in my two years of illness and how to be honest with God.
· Gideon – Allowed me to believe in myself and what God could do through me when others didn’t.
· Esther – giving me courage to do the right thing.
· Nehemiah – How to be a good leader.
God specifically designed the Bible to tutor you in this life. He knew you would need it.
But some might say, “Isn’t the Bible just a historical account of God?”
No no!
1 Corinthians 10:11
“1Co 10:11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.”
Roman 15:4
“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
Do you get it? All this is for us to learn from.
Picture all the Bible characters alive at once.
Picture them all seated in a huge auditorium and every time you had a questions about something or needed advice, all you had to do was walk into that room and ask them your question. Imagine the answers you would get from all the collective wealth of wisdom from them… all for you! Can you imagine what your life would be like if you could do that?
Well that’s the point of the Bible! You can have an audience with them any time you like! The Bible is the powerful word of God, not a simple piece of literature.
King David got this, so he wrote this:
Psalms 119:98-100
98) Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me.
99) I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation.
100) I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts.
Do you get this?
You can get wisdom beyond your lifetime because of these people in the Bible who have learned from the throny issues of life, who now can impart their wisdom onto us.
And you know what else… ITS FREE!!!
I have often had many questions where I found answers in the Bible - From personal battles to direction in leading this church.
The Bible hold nothing back as it give freely to you, through these people who have gone before us.
I want to challenge you today, to begin to feed yourself on the word of God. Because everything you need to be the best father, mother, aunt, uncle, grandparent, business person, etc. is found in this book. But you’ve got to feed yourself!
Imagine this with me:
What would look like if you only ate once a month? You’d be scrawny and weak; you won’t have stamina and strength – it wouldn’t be long before you are dead.
Not because you had no food but because you just didn’t want to eat.
If you want to become stronger – you MUST eat!
Now imagine this same analogy for your spiritual life. If we do not feed it, we won’t have any stamina and strength. We’d become scrawny and weak and fade away. No wonder Satan has his way with us and makes our lives miserable. Without feeding on the word of God we won’t have the power to fight him.
We may have the knowledge, but not the strength.
If you want your soul to be strong and powerful – you MUST eat!
How many of you literally still get fed by your mothers? None of you!
Why? Because you know its up to you. The same goes for feeding our spirits.
We need to begin to feed ourselves!
Jesus lets us know this:
Mat 4:4 But he answered, "It is written, "'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
I want to challenge you to the most important thing you can do in this life – READ YOUR BIBLE!
You may say, “This is not for me because I have read the Bible from cover to cover, I know the stories, so I'm ok.” No, you’re not. You are missing the point.
You see, your daily devotion, as a Christian, is the foundation for your whole life.
When you read your Bible, it’s more than reading, it’s a time when you sit at the feet of God let Him teach you.
When you read the Bible, you’re not studying the Bible, you are allowing the Bible to studying you. Its great to have the knowledge of the stories but it’s a different story when you are opening up your heart to the word of God. You are saying “Lord search me and take out those things that shouldn’t be there.”
One of the cool things about the Bible is that it’ll search you. It’ll help you find things in your life that shouldn’t be there that will potentially wreck you. It’ll start pointing those things out so you can start dealing with them.
Let me ask you something… Do you think the Holy Spirit will know what you are going to face next week? Next Month? Next year? Of course! But you don’t!
God knows what will trip you up in the future and he WANTS to give you the wisdom to not trip. He knows you are going to need the wisdom you learn today, tomorrow. He wants to equip you but if you don’t take the time to feed yourself and allow God to pour wisdom into your heart, you won’t have it.
You may think, well the Bible takes time to read! No No! By having the wisdom you need for your future challenge, you will save time. Because the Holy Spirit knows exactly what we need before you do. So it’ll save you from digging out of the pit.
I want to learn to play guitar. Imagine if I signed up with a guitar teacher for 1 one hour session a week. I would play ok in a years time.
But how different would my playing be if a master like Jimmy Hendriks or Eric Clapton came up to me and told me they would personally mentor me one hour a day for a year. I would play BRILLIANTLY!
You would be able to tell I had been taught by the master.
That’s what the Bible does for you on a daily basis.
You are learning from the Master about your marriage, your addictions, your soul, your future, your problems, etc. as the Master pours His wisdom into your heart every day.
And it wont be long before someone will recognise that you have been spending time with the master, by the way you will naturally live your life.
That’s the kind of wisdom people need to see in the Church of the Living God.
Where do I begin?
Develop a habit: Last week we spoke about prayer.
I said; “When you pray, give God the best time of your day when you will talk to Him.”
So, begin there. Use the best part of your day to pray and read the Word of God.
You want to give the Holy Spirit your best, so that when these mentors walk through your life, you will not miss a thing.
Earlier this year, I told the church my God Goal was to read the Bible in Chronological order (Read it as it happens). I set time aside each morning and read a few chapters. In the beginning it was difficult because my old habit was to sleep later. But now that I have been doing this for a few week, I find myself excited to read my Bible. I can’t wait. I am LOVING IT! I am learning SO much.
I have developed a good habit of feeding my spirit with the word of God.
Bring 5 things to bring to your devotions:
1. Bible (Devotions are great but bring the BIBLE) – learn how to use the Bible. There is only one book in the universe God promises to inspire. And that’s the Bible.
2. PEN! Underline pieces of scripture. Make notes! The book isn’t holy – ink on paper. What’s Holy is what God teaches you that you place in your heart. Highlight what the Holy Spirit is teaching you. Its not a magical book that will chase the devil out your house. It becomes alive when you engage with it.
3. Reading plan! Else you’ll only read what you know. Do you know who the loneliest people in the Bible are? The Minor Prophets. They are always neglected. I have placed a reading plan on our website for you that you can access to help you. It’s the one I'm busy with.
4. Journal – Write what God is telling you. Remember the wisdom he is giving you. By writing it down, you can always go back and read it. Its like having a cheat sheet for your life. The Bible saves you time.
5. SOAP (acrostic)
· S – Scripture
· O - Observation
· A - Application
· P - Prayer
God almighty has made sure that every word we read is there for a reason.
He has protected the Bible for 2000 years so that YOU can read it today.
So will you?
Friends, read you Bible – Feed your Soul!
*sermon adapted from ‘Read’ – Wayne Cardero
