Matthew chapter seven, beginning in verse 24. Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand. and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. And it came to pass when Jesus had ended these things, the people were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Thank you, you can be seated. There's a danger in preaching familiar passages of scripture. And the danger is that as soon as I read this text, there'll be some of us that will say, well, I've heard everything there is to hear about that passage of scripture. I mean, it's pretty simply laid out in it. This Matthew chapter seven is actually a trilogy of chapters that's actually one long happening. It's actually called the Sermon on the Mount. And this is the very end of that sermon that Jesus preached. Let me just give you some good advice. If you're having trouble on how to live with yourself, how to live with others, and how to live for Christ, read Matthews 5, 6, and 7. And I guarantee you'll find something in that sermon that'll help you out. Jesus was the greatest preacher anyway. And so we need to learn from him. It's not a very lengthy sermon. In fact, we probably preachers, we need to learn more from Jesus in that aspect, don't we? We always hear the greatest addition to any message is shortening. Amen, somebody said amen. I heard one preacher say amen. But anyway, so this is a familiar text and the danger with preaching familiar texts is everybody already knows everything about the wise man built his house upon the rock, the foolish man built his house upon the sand. But we can read that so many times that we miss the true meaning of what Jesus was trying to tell us. Of course, it's obvious here what is happening. Jesus is telling a parable, and he tells us a story of two men. We don't know what they built their house out of, but we do know what they built their house on. And so we have here a wise man, we have here a foolish man, and both face a storm. In fact, I believe that this was the very same storm that each one of them faced. And so some things are obvious, a wise man, a foolish man. One man built his house upon the sand. One man built his house upon the rock. And so many times we read that and that's all we get from it. But if you don't miss it, if you don't read it closely, you'll miss, I believe, what I call the X factor in this message. Levi does a great job on the piano, but he's going to school to be a math teacher. And he'll tell you an X factor is a variable in a situation that has an effect on the outcome. And in this passage of scripture, there is an X factor. And here's the X factor. See, it doesn't matter if you build your house on the sand. It doesn't matter if you build your house upon the rock. Here's the reason why. Because verse 24 tells us, therefore, whoso heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them. Verse 26. and everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not. See, it doesn't matter if you build your house on the rock or you build your house upon the sand. Jesus was not trying to give us that emphasis. What he was telling us was, it all has to do with what you do with what I tell you to do. If you hear what I'm telling you to do and do what I tell you to do, then you'll be like a wise man that builds his house upon the rock. But if you hear what I have to say and you aren't obedient, you're like a foolish man that builds his house upon the sand. And so tonight, it really doesn't matter to me where your house is built on. I'm more concerned if you're listening and doing to what Jesus is telling you. Because if you're obedient to what Jesus is saying, my friend, your house, is on the rock, hallelujah. If you're not doing what he says, your house is on the sand. And when the storms come, it will crumble. And so I'm thankful today that if we just do what he says, we'll see great things happen in our lives. That's what he was trying to tell us. What sayings was he talking about? He was talking about everything he had said up until that point in Matthew five and six and seven. He said, it's not a matter of just obeying part of it, you gotta obey everything I say. And if you do those things, you're like a wise man that builds his house upon the rock. So three things I want you to notice. Number one, I want you to notice the sayings of Jesus. See, church, and hear me out here, church can be a dangerous place, so to speak, because in church, we get used to hearing sermons. We get used to it. If you were raised like me, this is all I've ever known my entire life, for 44 years. I was raised in church my entire life. And I don't apologize for it, I thank God for it. But I have heard thousands and thousands of messages. And those of you that have been going for Jesus a lot longer, you can say a hearty amen to that. Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of sermons you have heard in your lifetime. And sometimes, let's be honest, we can get used to hearing messages, that we truly don't hear what the sermon is saying to us. We can get used to hearing that. And see, both of these men heard the exact same thing. The very same message they heard. And the message was, get your house in order, and there's a storm coming. See, hearing is not the problem. It's your obedience to what God is telling you, that's where we have the problem. These men both sat in a church house. These men both sat in a pew. No doubt both of these men came to the house of God probably on a regular basis. They heard the exact same message. The problem was one of them didn't heed what the man of God was telling him from the word of God. and they begin to build their house upon the sand. Both heard the same things. Hearing is not the problem, but it's our obedience. See, when you hear what God has to say to you, you can do, really, there's only two things you can do. Number one, you can be informed, then you can conform, then you can be transformed. If you're a wise man building your house upon the rock, when you're informed, then you're conformed, then you'll be transformed. But if you choose to not listen to what Jesus is saying, you're getting the same information. You're being informed, but instead of being informed, you begin to contemplate or ignore what God is trying to tell you. And then when you ignore what God is trying to tell you, you do not become transformed, you become vulnerable. You say, well, Brian, what are you trying to say? I'm saying that after you hear a message on a Sunday, and you get in your car, and maybe your spouse tells you, boy, that was a good message today. Oh yeah, that was a good message, but it wasn't for me. You know what you just did there? You were informed, but you ignored, and now you're vulnerable. But if you take what God is trying to tell you to do, and you get that information, and you conform to what the Word of God is telling you, then you can leave that place transformed by the renewing of your mind. Thank God, and that's where we're sitting in our church, week after week, week after week, service after service, people are getting information overload, but they're not doing anything with what God is telling them to do. And so instead of being conformed and transformed, we're being informed, but we're ignoring and we're contemplating what Jesus is saying. And instead of being transformed, we're not being transformed at all. We're becoming vulnerable to what Satan is throwing at us. You say, well, what are you talking about contemplating? I'm talking about when God begins to tell you something. See, sometimes God's commandments, sometimes God's things that he tells us to do are hard things to do. Oh, it's easy to, sometimes it's easy, we say, oh, to give and it shall be given. Whoa, glory to God. But the same Jesus said, love your enemies. Pray for them that despitefully use you. Well, well, well, you know. Surely he don't mean that, enemy. Lord, you don't know what he did to me. I mean, I ain't got the problem, he's got the problem. He's the one that needs to come to me. See what we do? We're informed. but instead of conforming to what Jesus said, to love our enemies, pray for them that despitefully use you, forgive as God has forgiven us. Well, surely you don't mean that, Lord. Yes, he does mean that. It's either all or nothing, and instead of being transformed, we become vulnerable. See, the battle of life is not won in church, it's won when we obey what he says to do. It's easy living for God in the four walls of the church. It's easy living for God in Sunday school. It's easy living for God during revival time. But when you go out those doors, and when you meet those in the world, what are you gonna do with what God has told you? Amen. And this applies to, there's nobody in here that cannot not listen to this message tonight. You say, what? Yeah, this message is for everybody. It is? Yeah, Jesus said it was. Therefore, whosoever. That includes you, and verse 26, and everyone. So for those of you that don't think you're a whosoever, then you're an everyone. Everybody in here tonight. You cannot not listen to this message. You have to understand, and you have to understand that this applies to everybody, and that's why it's so dangerous. That's why people, so many of us, are just barely getting by. You know why we're barely getting by? Because the word of God is not meant to be observed. It's meant to be obeyed. and we're simply coming every service and every weekend, observing the word of God instead of obeying. Somebody better say amen right there. I know they're saying a glory hallelujah, go to heaven kind of sermon, but listen, you'll be more blessed if you do what he's telling you to do. And information is not the problem. We have an information overload. Last year in our home church, and I record, I went through every service we had at our home church, and if I calculated correctly, we heard 133 messages at the Rubyville Community Church in 2019. A vast majority of them, probably 85% of them, were from our pastor, Calvin Ray Evans. and then from myself, and then we had several visited in from the year. They are people hear the word of God. And none of you, you're not exempt. Most of you, every weekend, will hear two messages on a Sunday. If you have a midweek service, you'll hear a message there. Sometimes you hear good singing, you'll get a Sunday school class, you'll go to revival meetings. Information is not the problem! Our problem is we don't do what God says. And when we don't do what God says, we have to understand there's a storm coming. Notice the sayings of Christ, but secondly, notice the storms. Wise man, foolish man, both heard the same message. Both sat under the same preacher. They both went through the same storm. They did. You say, well, Brian, why would you think that? Because the way Jesus described it, the rains descended, the floods came, the winds blew and beat upon that house. The very same storm. These houses could have been standing beside each other and the rains fell down. The floods came up and the winds blew against. You ever felt that way? The storms of life ever hit you from above? Had the floods of the world started gathering up around your house and the winds beat against your house so that everywhere you looked there was a storm? So many people think when storms come you've done something wrong. You haven't done anything wrong. It's called life. Don't you understand? If the man that built his house upon the rock did something wrong, what did he do wrong? He didn't do nothing wrong. He went through the same storm. But when storms come, here's what happens. Storms expose what you're built on. And see, if you don't do what Jesus says to do, and you don't do and follow what he says, when the storms come, it'll expose if you built your house upon the rock or if you built it upon the sand. Because a house that's built on the sand and a house that's built on insecurity, when the storm comes, it will crumble. And the storm's coming, folks. Sickness is coming. Wayward children are coming if they aren't already here. Discouragement's coming. Depression's coming. Death is coming. Disease is coming. It doesn't mean you've done something wrong. It means that Jesus said, get your house in order. There's a storm coming. What you built your house on is what will outlast the storm. If you do what Jesus says, you'll be thankful you'll do what he said when that storm comes. Because you know that if your house is on the rock and you were obedient to what he said, you can say, children, we may have to go through a little storm right now, but we don't have to worry about the foundation. Hallelujah, because we built our house upon Jesus. Thank God we built his house upon the word. And no matter what happens, thank God we're gonna outlast the storm. Somebody say amen, I'm busy preaching. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And what you build your house on is determined by what you do with what God has said. Storms come, and you gotta have stability. I want you to notice something here that God showed me. As I mentioned, these were the same storms but I want you to notice this as well. The wise man built his house on the rock and the foolish man built his house upon the sand. You ever notice this? Those are the exact same material. The only difference is, sand is rock that has been compromised. Just let it sink in for a little bit. The wise man built his house upon a solid foundation, but the foolish man built his house on compromise. And when the storms came, compromise couldn't help him. You say, Ryan, what are you trying to tell us? I can take you to dozens of 20-somethings right now, that I have seen grow up in our church. And I'm not bragging on Rubyville Community Church. I'm just stating as a fact. We preach and believe out of the Bible. We preach it between the lids. We don't preach our opinion. We try to raise our kids on the word of God. We try to give them a firm and a solid foundation. That way, whenever they go out into the world, they're not overcome by the storms. But I can take you to dozens of 20-somethings right now. Every church camp, they was at the altar. Every church camp, they were crying tears and burdened for their friends to be saved. And now you can't even get them to even talk about coming to church. Why? Somewhere along the line, that rock the rock they build on, the King James Bible, the Holy Ghost services, the power of God. Somewhere along the line, they listen to somebody that says, oh, you don't need all that to be saved. Oh, God loves you no matter what you do. See? And that's true. God does have unconditional love, Just like Satan, he gives us half-truths. The friend will tell you, oh, it's okay just to have a little drink every now and again. God's not gonna throw you out of hell. See what he does? Somewhere along the line, the devil just chipped away. And the rock had been compromised and turned to sand. and now the storm's coming. And I can take you to couples that have stayed in the church, that have built their families now on the rock and the word of God, and I can show you how they've raised their hands and worshiped God. They've been through some things, but they've stuck it out because they built on a firm foundation. Now those others, where are they? What happened? Compromised. You say, Brian, that can't happen to me. There's your first step of being chipped away right there. It won't happen to my kids, there's another one. It won't happen to my grandkids, I'm protecting them. You have no idea what your grandkids and your kids are on every single day that you have no idea. They're being flooded, flooded with information about compromise. The storm's coming, the sayings of Jesus, but notice finally the security, the security we have in Christ. If I'd have ended that message on point two, it'd be pretty sad. But I've got good news for you because see, there is something to this building your house upon the rock. There's a reward for building your house upon the rock. Ezekiel had this problem back in his day. In Ezekiel chapter 33, God talking to him, he said, Also thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord. You know what they were saying? Ezekiel, you're the man. Everyone's talking about you on Facebook. They're talking about you on Twitter. They're coming to Winterfest to hear you. That's what they're saying. and they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as thy people, and hear thy words, but they will not do them. For with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their own covetousness. And lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song, and one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument, for they hear thy words, but they do them not. There's the danger. He said, Ezekiel, my people, hear what you're saying, but they're not doing what I'm telling them to do. And there are consequences for building your house upon the sand. But can I give you some encouragement as we close this evening? If you build your house upon the rock, my friend, the storms will come and the winds will blow, but hallelujah, you will outlast the storm because you're standing on the rock. Hallelujah. Why? Because we have security. We have security. So what are you gonna do with what Jesus is telling you? What does he put into your heart tonight? Maybe it's something you need to do that's out of your comfort zone. Maybe it's a card you need to send. Maybe it's a forgiving heart you need to have. I don't know why I'm even saying this. but some of y'all need to hear this tonight. It ain't worth losing your joy over what someone's done to you. Forgive them. Go on, forgive them. I have three other words for you too, let it go. You'll be blessed. Let God take care of it. If they've done it wrong, you make every effort to make it right. And if you've made every effort, you're cleared by God. Let God and them take it up. Amen! Somebody say amen, that's good preaching. But if you wanna be blessed, you gotta be a doer of the work. And do what Jesus says. If you don't know the Lord is your savior tonight, my friend, you're building on a, oh my, it's a crumbling foundation. It won't even stand. one moment of a storm that comes your way. But hallelujah, you can be founded upon the rock tonight if you ask Jesus into your heart. Let's be standing.