Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. 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 every one 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 sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. (Matthew 7:21-29)
Today's Morsel: When I was a kid growing up in North Carolina, most of our summers were spent at the beach. We would often spend our days building castles in the sand. Sometimes, we would see who could build the biggest or the most unique ones. But one thing was always for certain, once the tides started coming in, or it began to rain, or the wind began to blow, our sand castles were either washed away, destroyed or partially destroyed, or blown away. Jesus relates our lives to how we build it and what we build it upon. If you will notice Jesus' teachings, He always includes the consequence for both right choices and wrong choices. In today's passage, He said that if we build our house on the rock, which is the word, it will stand. But if not, it will be just like building a castle in the sand without a firm foundation. He said it is going to fall when the rain, floods, and strong winds come. How are you building your life? Are you heeding the Word of God? James said that if we hear it and don't obey it, we can deceive ourselves. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:12, "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." The apostle Peter said that if we add to our faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity; and that if these things are in us, and abound, they will make us to not be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that we will never fall (2 Peter 1:6-8;10).
Sing: I go to Rock of my salvation, I go to the stone that the builder rejected. I go to the mountain and the mountain stands by me. When the earth all around me is sinking sand, on Christ the Solid Rock I stand. When I need a shelter, when I need a friend I go to the Rock!
Thought for the Today: "For who is God, save the LORD? and who is a rock, save our God?" (2 Samuel 22:32)
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