Wed 8.22.12 - Applying God's Word - Pastor Harry Lilly
Unite Service at Bethany Church in West Monroe
Matthew 7:21-28
We don't typically go out and "ooh and ahh" at the foundation of a house before it is built. It's just a slab of concrete. We don't typically care about it until the finishing touches are being applied, but everything relies on that foundation. If the foundation was imperfect, nothing in the house would matter.
Every family has that story they don't like to talk about, that black sheep that no one makes reference of, but the foundation that the family is built on determines whether or not the family stays together or crumbles. If the foundation is weak, it will show up somewhere else first as something small. A crack in the sheetrock perhaps.
Whoever hears the sayings AND DOES THEM is like the wise man who has the strong foundation. People come and hear all the time, people who have heard for years but are no stronger than they were 20 years ago. There's nothing that makes them stand against the storm because their foundation is weak. Their foundation is weak because they never applied the Word to their lives. They were the foolish man with sand for a foundation.
James 1:22-25
If you just hear and don't do, you're deceiving yourself. Just hearing will not make you better or improve your life. Christianity is more than coming to church, sitting in the pew, clapping your hands, and listening to the guy talk about God for a while.
Coming to church is like looking into the mirror when you get up in the morning. The one who doesn't go do the things he hears, looks in the mirror, says "oh well" then goes about his day with bed-head and crusty eyes. The mirror shows us what we need to fix, and we don't get away from that mirror until we fix what the mirror says is wrong. We go to church, look into the mirror, and walk off without fixing what the mirror showed us was wrong.
But when we start looking into the Word of God and we see it as liberty rather than a boundary, we see what's wrong and we fix it. As we gaze into that mirror and stay there, we are blessed in all our DEEDS all that we DO.
There is more to Christianity than just hearing about it. Chill-bumps and emotions are great, but there's more to it. If all you ever do is hear, and you never apply what you're learning, you're deceiving yourself to believe that you're growing. Deeds won't save your soul, only God's grace can do that, but acting on God's Word will provide what is needed for growth in your relationship with Him. With that strong foundation you will have what you need to remain standing in the storm.
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