Not good enough. I said, how we doing this morning? I said, I said, I said, I don't think, hey, we said it or I think we could maybe say hi. Welcome to Old Timers Day.
Now for those of y'all who never experienced this before, we dress up like this to recall where we come from, throw back Sunday. We got some good music playing for you. Let me feel into what's going to happen this morning. Y'all go ahead and stay in with us and get ready, because this is what's going to happen in just a few minutes.
In a few minutes, we're going to kick this thing off. Now, when we do that, what's going to happen is you're going to start feeling slap tingled out here in this left foot and it's going to start tapping. OK, and it's going to start moving. It's going to start living on up to all your extremities and everything else.
And that's fine. Don't hold it back, because if you hold it back, then we ain't going to get where we need to be going. So is everybody ready to get kicked off this morning? We got Mr.
Chair here with a band, Joe. So the first thing we're going to do this morning, we like to call it a whole fashion to hold down. First thing we're going to do is Hank Williams, I believe it's called us all of that. Good, good.
Good. Join join that. I'll give Terry one more hand right here on that band, Joe. And the whole worship team, you didn't get in my hand let them know how much we appreciate them each and every week.
You may be seated for just a moment. I hope that you're having a great day. Now listen, if you're visiting with us for the first time or the first time in a long time, we don't always dress like this. We might, sorry, I don't know.
I kind of like it, to be honest with you. But we don't always dress like this. It's our old timers day. We're just throwing back.
If you're being like Josh said, we use days like this to look back on what God has done over the last 101 years now here at New Light Church and all the miracles and people that's lives have been changed through that. But also, we're just looking back because we know he's just getting started. And the best is yet to come. You believe that church?
So if you're here visiting today, make sure you fill out one of those blue cards. Candy Q or code in front of you. Stop out of the area for you. We got a special gift for you.
Just want to say thank you so much for worshiping with us. How many of you try one of those pancakes or flamjacks when you came in today? Give them guys a hand for being out there working. Yep.
Special thanks to mutual buff. He kind of hit that up for me. And he's just a such a sweetheart. When you go by and see him, just give him a big old hug.
And he loves that kind of stuff. But anyway, thank you so much. Those guys for doing that. And a lot of great stuff happening.
You may have noticed we got a little Mother's Day display. I don't know if guys, gentlemen, you know Mother's Day's next Sunday, right? There's a few of you heart just saying, OK? Because you're like, oh, no.
That's all right. Amazon's got two day delivery. But anyway, next week is Mother's Day. We're going to be giving away a gift basket from Market on Main Long with a gift card.
And it's going to be for any mother that is here. OK? So that means you've got to be here, mothers, to get it. Right?
So that means you can't tune in online and say, well, I'm watching virtually from the beach. There's your Mother's Day gift right there. OK? Enjoy the toes or you're saying it in the toes.
You know what I'm saying? We want you to be here. OK? So you're interested in that at all.
It's not going to go back in it. It's not going to mean that you're locked in. You have to go. But if you just want some more information about that, go back in it.
Sign up for that. Coast sign up for Church 101. You want to find out more about our church and what's going on there. If you want to be baptized at the place that goes, it's the past recorded, his team at the Connect next.
I know we get you hooked up with all the good stuff that we have happening here. A lot of good stuff happening. Graduation services coming up this month. We'll be hosting that again for West Blading.
So looking forward to that as well. But I'll tell you why I'm fired up. I'm ready to worship a little bit more. Well, your mind's going to stand up.
Get ready to worship. I'll tell you. I got some good news. I told you last week, I think.
But I'll remind you that today, we start what could be the best sermon series that we have ever done at this church. If that's what else got a great message for you, yes, yes, yes. It's called Blue Priet. And we're going to talk about the foundations that last.
So we're looking back today, those foundations that we're building. We're just going to keep on going forward and looking forward to what God is doing. So he's got a great message for you. But right now, we're going to sing one of those songs that we used to sing down at the Old Building.
It's called More Than Amazing. How many of you know we serve a God that's more than amazing? There's all kinds of testimonies through this building today, through the past 101 years and beyond, of people who ask God for something and He did more than they ever thought imaginable. So here's what I want to do today as we worship together.
Let's talk about sing and raise our hands to this God that's more than amazing. You're the one that took our burdens and you bled upon the promise and you kind of send your mercy, you became the way for us. Forgetting all our sins, remember all your promises. You are amazing, our God, you're more than enough.
We serve the last 101 years, every last thousand years, every last 2,000 years. It's the same God is here today. We oftentimes pat God into this storybook, God, and we read about these stories in the Bible, and we all truly appreciate how glorious and marvelous it is that He has performed the miracles that He has done and be great and incredible at all some things that we read about in the Bible. He is still doing them today.
He is still healing, he is still restoring, and he is still in the miracle-working business church. And last song we're going to sing for you this morning is One that I know everybody in this room has at least heard one time. And it is How Great Thou Art. And something I remember from growing up at Cinereaux Baptist Church is we would always feel the altar on Sunday mornings and whatever we were carrying on our shoulders, whoever we needed to lift up God, we lifted it that altar.
Zion by every single one of you, I know you're either carrying something or you know somebody that's carrying something. Let's pack this altar out today as we worship and give reverence to the God that is the same, that is everlasting, and that has never changed and He never will church. So come on up. Oh Lord my God.
When I know someone's wonder, consider's that it may lift your voices more. I see the stars just play. I shout this shout. Yet you're just so loving, you're merciful.
You see the things that nobody else can see God. Even when it looks scary, even when it looks wrong, even when the two laughs, God don't make a right God. You are still so great. Even when the diagnosis doesn't go the way we wanted to go, God, even when our finances fail, even when the people that we love turn us away, God, you're still so great.
Because it says in your word, God, that He who began a good work in us will carry it to completion until the day of Jesus Christ, God. Even when things go wrong, we know that you're not done working because we know that you work all together, God, to ultimately fulfill your plan. God, we thank you for the opportunity that you give us to gather with a body of believers that truly love you, God. Dressing up is great, cutting up is fun, God, but at the end of the day we are so blessed to be able to gather in this building and sing or praise God because in all things you are great.
We thank you for the mercy you show and seek to every day, God. In fact, you allowed us to get out of the bid this morning and come here, God shows us that you're not done working. And God, I pray that everyone under the sound of my voice will take a moment today, if not your God, when they return from whence they came to just marvel in the glory of you. And to recognize how great you are, God.
If we start writing our blessings down today, God, we could go all day. We just thank you, God, for being so great and for carrying us the way that you do. We love you and we ask all these things in Jesus' Almighty name. Amen.
In search, y'all may be seated. Well, good morning. How are we doing? What a great job that praise team did, what you think?
Sure is good to see the smorn I want in a little house on the prayer. Then he played that music there and I thought it was sat for the sun all over again. I don't really know what to do now. Good to see you this morning.
Thank you again for coming today. I tell you, I'm just about tempted to call that praise team back out here. I can feel the spirit of the Lord in this place this morning, but we'll see how it goes. Maybe I'll preach a minute and then call them back out here.
How about that? Help me welcome the Radio Ministry Internet Minister. Let them know you love them. I think Pastor Bobby will be starting a revelation class here this week.
I think down at the Connex Center downtown, if you interested in learning the book of revelation, please make sure you're a part of that. We're going to start a new series today called Blue Fred. Now, when you think about this, the reason this is so important is because in the Bible, particularly in the New Testament, over 60 times, the Lord tells us, do not be deceived, take heed that no one deceives you, watch out. And He does that in for three really three aspects of our life.
of our life. In the doctrine that we believe, the teaching that we believe, he says, be careful. You can be easily deceived. He says when sin comes in your life or you're contemplating or playing around with sin, he deals with that area.
He says, don't be deceived by sin. False teachers and sin. And don't be deceived by yourself. So the reason I think that this sermon is so important, this series particularly is so important, it's because we're easily deceived people.
And in fact, when you look at the false teachers that are out there and you look at the condition of sinful man, then you understand that we can be deceived and drawn in summaries. So this thing called a blueprint is so important. Now if any of you have ever built a home or built anything, you understand blueprints. You understand how important they are.
You understand how to keep everybody on the same course, same path that kind of show us the way, right? So when we think about blueprints today, I want you to think about the word of the Lord today. I want you to think about this word right here because here's what God has done for us. He's given us the blueprint for life right here.
It covers every aspect of your life. It tells you how to live, how to conduct yourself and what to believe. So when you think about a blueprint, I want you to think of it in these terms right here. Blueprints are essential because they act as a universal, act as a universal, detailed road mat.
Remember that right there that translate a conceptual vision into a safe, functional and tangible reality. So here's what God has done in his word. He's given us his word, the blueprint for life and he's told us to follow that. And then if we follow that, he guarantees us the reality of being who God called us to be and do what God has called us to do.
So I want you to understand that. I want you to get that as we go through this sermon today. Through this series, we'll explore what it means to build a faith or build faithfully in our families, our community and our own walk with the Lord and in our church. In other words, everything that God has called us to do and be is in the book right here.
This is the blueprint for life. Unfortunately, when we look at the body of Christ, what we learn about the body of Christ is not a whole lot of Christians are reading the blueprint anymore. They'll come to church, of course, and they'll come and they'll engage in worship and they'll they'll serve sometimes in church. But the real question is for myself and for you as well, how much time are you spending studying the blueprint?
Because if you fail to get the blueprint wrong or get it right, if you fail to get it right, then you're going in a wrong direction. The Bible says absolutely that we can be deceived easily in these last of last days. So why is this series so important? I'll show you why it's important right here.
I think we all can say this. We all know people who started well but didn't end well. How many of you know that? You know people right now in your family, people may be in the community.
They started out well with the Lord. They started out on the right track. The Lord saved them, delivered them and did something great in their life. But somewhere they got off course.
We also know a lot of people who started well with ended well. And the question is why in the world were they in well? How did they end well? And the other people didn't well.
The reason that they ended well was because they stuck to the blueprint. When it comes to churches, all of us know churches that have started well. Some not so well by the way. Some started because it splits and fights and all that kind of stuff there.
That's certain enough not God. But we know some churches that started out well and they didn't end so well. And when you look around our community now, what used to be very thriving churches and packed full of people on Sunday morning, you don't see that anymore. So the question is why in the world that they start well but they didn't end so well.
I could use a new light church as an example. 101 years ago, we started out of a revival in a brush arbor. It was started correctly. The Spirit of the Lord moved and drew people in.
And for the next 101 years, here's what will happen in the in you light church particularly and in every church and in your life and in my life. We have been flow. We have seasons where we're here and everything's going well. We're following the blueprint God's blessing it and everything looks good.
Then we have seasons where it doesn't look so good. Our life is the same way. We have seasons where we get off track. We don't follow the word.
Maybe we follow a man-made doctrine. Maybe we follow a denominational hierarchy and maybe we do all that stuff. And sometimes we get off course. But here's what I'll come to tell you.
In your life, my life and in the church, whatever church name you put there, there will be ups and downs. No question about that. There will be highs and there will be lows. But I'm going to tell you right now, if we follow the blueprint that's in the Word of the Lord, He guarantees us the success and He guarantees that He'll be there with us.
So when you think about that, today I want to talk about something like this. I want to talk about foundations at last. And this is so important not only to you as an individual. It's important to you as a family.
It's important to us as a body of believers. It's important to us because our community. It's important because the Lord is coming back pretty soon. And so you and I have to lay a foundation or stand on a foundation that lasts forever.
And in fact, when you look in the book of Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 3, 11 and 15, here's what it says. This is Paul talking to the Corinthian church. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have, Jesus Christ. Somebody say amen about that.
There's only one foundation that's Jesus Christ and the gospel of Jesus Christ and the good news about Jesus Christ. And when you encompass that, you look at the entire Word of the Lord because this whole word from Genesis to Revelation is about Him. It's about Him. It's about what He came to do.
It's about how men you or you and I needed a personal Savior. We were all still undone without God. That is the foundation that the original church was built upon. And that hasn't been the foundation that we stand on today.
Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials. What's this now? Gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay and straw. Now there is a direct difference between what was just said there.
In other words, it's talking about when you are working for the Lord and you're building on a foundation that's already been laid, make sure you can use material that will stand the test of time. And He gives us gold and He gives us silver and He gives us jewels. Those can stand the test of time, particularly in fire. And in fact, when you put them in fire, you kind of purify them and keep working.
In other words, they can stand the test. But wood, hay and straw cannot stand the test. They can't stand the test of the fire. Watch this right here.
But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. This is for your life. This is for your family. And this is in the church house.
The fire that's being talked about right there is the fire of the Word of God. Because when you and I stand before the Lord, this is what we're going to be judged on right here. Doesn't matter what society says, it doesn't matter how I feel about it. It doesn't matter how I want to take scripture out of context and make it say whatever I'd like for it to say.
That doesn't matter at all. What matters is, it's the work that I've done in my personal life. The work that you've done in your personal life, the work that this church is doing, the work that you do in your family, how you structure your family, and what you teach your family, will it stand up to the fire, the test of the Word of the Lord? When you and I stand before God, we're not going to be judged on anything except what God's Word says and how we maybe ascribed His Word and how we work now His Word in our life.
That's what we're going to be judged on. So you've got to be careful about that. The fire will show a person's Word has any value at all. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward.
But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaped through a wall of flames. Church, here's what I want you to see. It doesn't matter right now where you are in this thing right now.
Here's what does matter. That you hear what the preacher says today. That you understand that the way you're going to be judged by God when you stand before Him is what's in this book right here. And the question ultimately is this, when it comes to your family, your life, the church will be judged by this right here.
Did we follow the Word of the Lord? Can I work, stand the test of time? It's a deal. So with that said, I want to talk about three things today that I think you need to know about standing on the right foundation or standing on foundations at last.
The first one looks like this right here. We build on, we build on inherited ground. So we're understanding that we honor the past and we kind of honored the past a little bit today. And we went back and we were appreciative of what happened in the past.
In fact, what I say all the time is we're drinking out of wells and other people dug. Somebody say amen. So when you get there, you go back not just the past of the new light church, but I'm talking about the apostles and the prophets and what they laid out. This is the foundation that we're building on.
We inherited that when you think about that, we didn't start that. You and I didn't start that. We didn't start this church right here. There were people back in the day who heard a word from the Lord and they got excited about what God was going to do.
They launched churches. They followed the prophets and the apostles and the word of the Lord and they followed that to the detail as best they could. Yes, they got off course from time to time, but they started that the apostles in the old days. We stood on their foundation.
So we got to give them praise and honor for what they did because here's what I understand. I know that they prayed. I know that they sacrificed. I know that they gave sacrificially a lot of times.
One time I went back into the archives of this church right here and I was reading about some of their business meetings. Everybody said, oh, me. I was reading about some of their business meetings and here's what I learned. Now, remember this was a cotton mill village over here and remember everybody worked in the cotton mill.
So that means everybody was kind of poor, right? We didn't have a whole lot. So I looked in there and they were only able to give $1 to the to the missions calls, the foreign mission calls. And you would say, well, that's not enough.
But I want you to understand how God views this God views it this way. Whatever he blesses you with, he expects you to bless his work with it. It doesn't matter how small or how large what matters is how God has blessed you. The point I'm making is this.
These people gave sacrificially, they love sacrificially, they serve sacrificially, they had children, they had two jobs, they had to work, but they laid the foundation that you and I are standing on today. And when you go back and look in the Bible, you go back to the inception of the church. Here's what you will understand that those men gave their life for a cause greater than themselves. They laid their life down to do the work that God had called them to do.
And not only did they lay their life down to do that, they gave their life for what God said was worthy of giving their life for. So when you look at yourself today and you want this foundation that lasts, I want you to understand that it's an inheritance to us from Almighty God and from the people who worked in the past. And one day, if the Lord tears, what we're doing here, people will look at and say, well, they did this and they did this, they'll learn, we should learn and they should learn from the mistakes that were made in the past. And we ought to get on the program and not make those same mistakes over again and do what God has called us to do.
That's for the church. That's for your life. And that's for my life. I can look at my mom and dad's marriage and I can understand how to have a happy marriage.
Some of you can look at your mom and dad's marriage and say, that's not anything I want to be a part of. That's okay. But God gives us in His work how this thing works right here. So when you think about that, we've got to honor the past, we do that.
And we understand that people gave of their life for you and I'll be doing what we're doing here today. In Hebrews 12 and 1 and 4 it says, therefore, here's what I want you to know. Every time you see a therefore in Scripture, that means there was something there before this. If you go to chapter 11, you'll see what He's talking about here, the heroes of faith.
There's a long list of them and they're named out in there. And some of them in there, we have trouble understanding, like Rahab the harlot, how in the world did she ever make that because God said she can make it? She was faithful, although she had this lifestyle and it tells me that God accepts everybody. He doesn't turn anybody out.
It doesn't matter what you did yesterday or what kind of lifestyle you've lived up to this point. What does matter is there's a God in heaven that can wash that away and wipe that away and can use you mildly to do the work that God has called you to do. So we see these heroes of faith, they're there and it says, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily traps us up and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. What do we got to do if we go to work on this foundation that we inherited, we got to work, we got to get out there and we got to remove everything in our life that weighs us down.
If you're going to have the family that God says you can have in this blueprint right here, you got to take the weights off, you got to get it unentangled with the world and you got to stretch out there and you got to serve God and you got to put some things behind you and strain for what God has ahead of you. We do this by keeping our eyes what? On Jesus Christ, the most important thing that you and I will ever do in this church as a pastor, in my life as a husband, as a believer of Christ, I got to keep my eyes on Jesus Christ. I can't get my eyes on this world, I can't get my eyes on other Christians, I can't get my eyes on the circumstances around me.
What I'm called to do is focus on my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and understand that he's written throughout the pages of this book right here. When I have a problem, I come to the book. When I have a situation, I come to the book. When my life is out of line, I come to the book.
It is the most important blueprint that you and I would ever have. God has given us a great gift in his word. How do I conduct my life? It's in the book.
How do I handle myself in situations? It's in the book. How do I have a family like God would call me to have a family? It's in the book.
It's all there and God said, take this blueprint and live life according to the blueprint. And if you'll do that, you'll find some success, but keep your eyes on Jesus, the champion who nishakes and perfects our faith because of the joy of waiting him. He endured the cross disregarding his shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside of God's throne.
You know what that tells me? When I do it like God says, God will lift me up. I'll be in a place of honor. I may not have everything everybody else has and I may not be able to do what everybody else can do.
But one thing I do know one day is all going to come to an end and one day. It's not going to even matter in one day. Everything in this world that we work so hard for is going to be going away. But one day, I'll stand before my Savior, Jesus Christ.
I'll give an account for what I did with what I had and when I had it. And I'll give an account for the Lord and what he did for me and how come me that I was to him and how the foundation that he laid was a good foundation. I'll give him glory. I'll give him honor and I'll inherit eternal life with Jesus Christ.
I keep my eyes on Jesus Christ and what he's done for me. I trust him to do that. Think of all the hostility he endured. I'm going to have some hostility in your life.
I may be know that we live in a tough world. It's not easy. Jesus endured that. Think about what he went through from sinful people.
Then you won't become weary and give up. After all, you have not given your lives in your struggle against sin. He gave his life, but you and I don't have to give our life. First Corinthians says this, three, five, and seven.
Each of us did the work. The Lord gave us. This is Paul, the apostle Paul talking again to the Corinthians church. He said, I planted the seed in your hearts and a Paulus watered it.
But it was God who made it grow. It's not important. Who does the planting or who does the watering? What is important is that God makes the seed grow.
And in this particular church right here, what was happening there was a blueprint laid out. And this church got in there and some of them got super spiritual and some of them thought that, you know, Paul is the man or a Paulus is the man. And he's the one I got saved on and he's the one that he's the one that taught me and they should have given him credit and they should admire him. But Paul says, let me dial you back in a little bit.
It's not what the preacher does. It's not what some Sunday school teacher does or some person in the church does. We all the plant, we all the water. But the most important thing is when we plant the seeds and we water, then God makes it grow.
And God gets all the glory and all the praise and all the honor for whatever we do. Just works that way. When you think about that, now we've got to talk about the foundation. We're grateful for what was, but we're building for what we will be.
We don't start it, but we are responsible for continuing it. Now that is the blueprint of the book for the church, for your life and for your family. You didn't start that family. God started the family a long time ago.
Therefore, if God started the family a long time ago, he gave us the blueprint for how the family is supposed to be raised, what we're to do with the family. And he tells us that about our own life. He started it. We didn't.
And the church, he definitely started. And you and I didn't start that. But he tells us that we are to continue the work. And here's what I want to say about New Light Church.
I thank God for every one of y'all. I thank you so much because here's what I see on Sunday morning when I come in. I see the hand of God moving a little bit differently maybe than you see it because I see people who are working and serving and using their gifts and talents and volunteering. They have two jobs.
They have a family. They suffer the same things you and I suffer. They face hardships and difficult times, but I see them on Sunday morning taking their place and doing what God has called them to do. And I want to tell you right now, if you want a church to grow or you want a church to be healthy, there are two things that have to happen with that.
Number one, the pastor has a habit, a desire for it to grow. How many of you have ever witnessed some lazy preachers? Come on now. Just two or three of you.
Some of you have been asleep somewhere at the Emacles. There are some lazy preachers out there. But when God calls a man or God to do a work, I'm telling you right now, he requires that man or woman to lay his life down for a cost greater than himself. The church cannot grow unless the pastor is willing to put the time in the prayer in the study and invest in people's lives.
But watch this. It just doesn't stop with him. It will not grow unless you as a body of believer, get on fire for the Lord and understand what the blue friend says and understand how important the church is and what God has called us to do and use your spiritual gifts in the context of the body of Christ to do and be who God has called us to be. We ought to give God a hand and a clap of praise right there and yourself for that matter.
So it doesn't matter what you think, but there are some I'm afraid in the body of Christ. They haven't read the book. They think that boy, I'm gonna get on the tangent right here. Lord help me.
They haven't read the book. They don't understand what the blueprint says. They don't care about the church. They're unconcerned about the church.
They're living their life. They got a little fire in church. But God sent me to tell you today, it's time for you to shake yourself off and stop being deceived and understand. We're living in the last of the last days that Jesus Christ is about to come back and we're going to spend eternity in a place called heaven or a place called hell.
And you and I will make the difference in somebody's life in this community based on what we did. Ask yourself the question. What foundation am I building on? Is the foundation I'm building on?
Is it going to last? Will it work through the test of times? You got to do that second thing I want you to see as this right here. We can't coast on our inheritance.
We got to take personal ownership right here. Too many believers are coasting on what somebody else worked on. They come in here week after week and they go to other churches all around our community and throughout the world and we coast on what other people are doing. We don't ever put anything in.
We're always taken away but never giving. And God said, no, it doesn't work that way. He said, I want you to understand there's no way no place in the body of Christ for nobody to be coasting on anything that we're on a timeline right here. And it's God's timeline.
Now, I want to show you something right here so you understand in Psalms 1, 2, and 1. Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builder is wasted. The reason I put that scripture in there is I want you to understand that only God can build it. He said, I will build my church in the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
But he also said right after that, that I will give you the keys of the kingdom. I'll show you how to build that thing. It's me that's building. It's me that's making it grow.
But I'm working through you. Can I just let you in on a little secret church? God uses men and women to do his work. Always when he needed a nation delivered from Egypt, he used Moses, right?
He called God, have delivered them and spoke the word. Yes, he did. But he's showing the church something right here. When he wanted a nation delivered, he called a man named Moses and he said, well, you lay your life down for a cause greater than yourself.
Moses said, yes, I'm not qualified, but I'll do that. And he delivered the nation of Israel. When he wanted anything done throughout the Bible, he uses men and women. Therefore, here's where we are.
If you and I are going to do what God's called us, we can't coast. We have to build God's way and only God's way. We have to use his blueprint, right? He's called us to do that.
Use my blueprint, build, go to work, get the job done. Now, can I ask you a question? I mean, that's a tough question. But I go and ask it right here.
I don't know what you respond. I want to lodge this in your spirit. Are you building like God said, build? Are you tuned in to the family like God said, be tuned into it?
Are you allowing the world to help you orchestrate the family life that the world says you can have? Or are you using the Bible, the blueprint, the building family God said you had? Are you allowing your feelings and emotions and your selfish desires and your will to allow the church to kind of just be out there and not be affected because you're not involved and engaged? Because the blueprint doesn't say that.
Oh, if God has miraculously saved you and the gift of eternal life has been given to you, God says that we're to lay our life down for a cause greater than ourselves. We're to be in there getting the job done. We can't coast. There's no way the Bible says we've got to coast through this thing.
So when you think about this, there if a generation fails, now this is going to be hard right here for you. If you fail to do it like God said, do it, there are consequences. What does the Bible say about a generation that fails? What does it look like?
You want to see what it looks like? Because through the Bible, we see this. I'm glad God gave us this blueprint. Here's what it says right here.
Judges 2, 6 through 10. After Joshua sent the people away, each of the tribes left to take possession of the land allotted to them. The Israelites served the Lord throughout their lifetime, or lifetime with Joshua, and the leaders who outlived him, those who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel. Joshua, son of none, the servant of the Lord died at the age of 110.
They buried him in the land he had been allocated or allotted. After that, generation died. Watch this right here. Another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord, or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel.
When you and I fail to take the responsibility that God has given us, and I want you to happen every day left and right. When I see moms and dads use a different way, or I see moms and dads not being committed to the Lord, and I see moms and dads using everything but the church. I wish somebody to say amen. Help the preacher right here.
When I watch them time after time after time after time, their children can tell you more about things going on in this world than they can tell you about in this world right here. And this Bible here tells us today that when you live your life that way in the family raising your children, the man and wife, or in the church house that we're raising a generation that may know a little something about the Lord. They've heard of him, but they don't have a personal relationship with him. We've kind of got to the place where you know he's kind of an add-on.
God put you here. God bless you. You can live your life and you can do it any way you want to do it. You can partake of everything in the world, get caught up in the world, do all this stuff.
But how many of you know that when I started this sermon today, I told you you can be easily deceived. We can deceive ourselves. And we get all called up and everything going on in this world because we haven't been reading the blueprint. Here's what ought to be happening in your house today.
You ought to be telling your kids about everything that God has ever done for you. You ought to be showing them by example how to be committed to him and serving him and working for him and telling them it's the most important thing they'll ever do. That's what we're told to do because everything's going to go away, right? When you see that, understand this right here.
We can't assume our kids want on our faith just because we bring them to church. And a lot of parents, thank God you bring them to church and we're going to plant the Word in them down there. But you're not doing your job at home. That was amen.
It don't matter how much it hurts you acknowledge the truth. You want the church to take an hour on Sunday morning and do what you ought to be doing every day. And I will challenge you with this right here. When is the last time you sat down with your children and read them the Word of the Lord?
When is the last time you showed them what God had done in your life and how God made away when there was no way. When is the last time they lived your life without you saying a word and can save you on the shadow of a doubt? They served the Lord and they loved the Lord and they're committed to the Lord in his ways. But the truth is we're committed to a lot of stuff other than the Lord, right?
And his word. See, when you think about this, God gave us this blueprint and Moses would be the one that offered the blueprint. Watch what God's word says about this right here. Now remember this generation didn't even know the Lord.
They didn't know about deliverance out of each. They didn't know what God had provided. The food, the water, the meal, the clothes. They don't even realize that their clothes never were out because God's hand was upon them and God protected them the Red Sea part and the Jordan River and all that.
They didn't know about all that stuff. Maybe they heard about it but it was not put in their spirit like it should have been. Watch this right here. Just watch Moses say it's a dude running six one through nine.
These are the commands, decrees and regulations that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you. You must obey them and the land you are about to enter and occupy. And you and your children and grandchildren must fear the Lord your God as long as you live. Stop right there.
Look at that word for your moment. We would respect the Lord. We would have a healthy reverence and respect for the Lord in every aspect of our life. And some of you are in this place right here.
You don't have, you know, I say this a lot of times I say if the church really feared the Lord like they supposed to fear the Lord, you wouldn't see some of this mess going on in the lives of church people. If we had a healthy fear of the Lord, I'm telling you right now, even the pastor right here, I have to pray to the Lord all the time say, Lord, search my heart, change my heart, give me a healthy fear of you, not a perverted fear where I'm afraid you're going to wipe me off any time, not that kind of deal, but one where I desire to please you and live for you and do what you've called me to do. We need a healthy fear of the Lord and respect for the Lord. That's what Moses said we needed right here.
And that was God speaking through him. If you obey all his decrees and commands, you enjoy a long life. Listen closely Israel and be careful to obey. Then all will go well with you and you will have many children in the land flowing with milking honey just as the Lord the God of your ancestors promised you.
Listen, oh Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone, and you must love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, and with all of your strength. Let me read that again. You must love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, and all of your strength. You must be a lead to the Lord.
Do what he's called you to do. Trust him in everything. Obey him in everything and give your life to him. Again, church, when you read that, are you doing that in your life?
Is he number one? Is his work number one in your life? Hard sermon, but if you're going to have a foundation that lasts, you got to hear what the word of the Lord says about that, right? With all your strength.
And you must commit yourselves whole hardly to these commands that I'm giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home alone and when you're on the road and when you're going to bed and when you're getting up, tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as a reminder. It's the word of God of priority in your life.
Just a question. Is the work of the Lord of priority in your life? Because this sermon gets a little bit uglier as we go. It gets a little bit uglier.
I'll read you this right here. Here's what the word says. Write them on the door post of your house and on your gates. Watch Matthew.
This is New Testament because some of you have said, well, it's Old Testament. We're under grace. Now, watch this. Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows his wives, like a person who builds a house on a solid rock, who's the rock?
Jesus Christ. Though the rain comes and torus and the flood waters rise and the winds meet against the house, it won't collapse because it is built on the bedrock of Jesus Christ. If we need anything, and this day and I, we live in right now, we need to be standing on the bedrock of Jesus Christ. We need to be standing on his word and confident about what his word says and do what he says to do because this world is hard and difficult and wicked.
And we're choosing every bedrock to build our house on other than Jesus Christ. And here's what it says. You say, well, I know the Lord, I love the Lord, his grace has saved me and I'm going to heaven. That's good for about three seconds.
It takes you about that long to say it. But when you look in the mirror and your children are looking at you, I got one question. Do they see you standing on that bedrock 24 hours a day, seven days a week? Do they understand without a shadow of it?
That's the only way you survive and get off this planet. Do they understand that that is what brings you through the tough difficult times of life? Oh, you can teach them all the positive, the thinking you want to teach them, and you can teach them the positive ways and you can teach them not to say the thing negative and just say all the confess the positive stuff and be successful over here and be successful over there. Church, you better be successful in the Word of the Lord and you're coming up with the Christ.
That's where it goes right there. But anyone who hears my teachings and does obey it as foolish, like a person who builds on a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash. God said, there's a way to keep your family together.
There's a way to keep your house together. There's a way to raise your children up. There's a way to have a church. Floods are going to come.
Storms are going to come. Difficult times are going to come. You got to be prepared. There's only one way to be prepared, build on the foundation that was put there before you ever got here.
The one who knows that, right? A strong pass is a gift. No question about that, but it's no guarantee. It's no guarantee.
My mom and dad had a great relationship with the Lord. They was no guarantee for me. I had to start using the blueprint myself together. Last point we'll close.
We are responsible for what comes next. This requires active responsibility. You know what that means? That means for me as a pastor that I'm responsible for my own life and my own walk and the question about that.
I can look at what mom and dad did. If I read the book and someone asked me what mom and dad did and didn't line up with the book because they didn't know that I know what the book says. I have to do what the book says. In this church, I can appreciate the past.
And I can look at all the positive things that were done. But I have to identify the sacred cows. And when I see the sacred cow, I got to remove the sacred cow. Particularly if the sacred cow is interrupting what God's trying to do.
I'm going to agree we're living in a different time than we lived in back there. We're battling the same devil and the same tactics, but the problem is he's been freed to do what he's doing in this world today. And God said evil would abound and men would wax worse than worse than evil was going to come and grow it. And he said this, if we're not careful, even then let can be deceived.
Therefore, I need to tune into the word of the Lord more than I've ever been in tune with the word of the Lord. Because I can be easily deceived and you can't do it. We have a responsibility and the problem in the church, here's the deal. How many of you agree that God's not from building his church?
He says coming back after church without spot or wrinkle. You know what that means? Those who are anchored in Jesus Christ and what he did. There's no spot or wrinkle there.
Not denominational rule, not personal convictions, not law and order and religious activity and legalism and all that other stuff. None of that gets you anywhere. But you got to anchor everything you do in God's Word and follow the Word of the Lord. If you got that, we honor the past by building forward.
The church isn't preserved by protecting what was there, but by advancing it. You and I ought to be advanced within this kingdom. We're to go beyond where we are and we're to reach the lost in nine world for Jesus Christ. That is the priority of the church.
First Corinthians will say this because of God's grace to me. I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. You know what Paul said? I know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified.
It's the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. He laid it out and in all the epistles they laid it out. He showed us how it would work. Now others are building on it, but whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful.
For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already we already have. Jesus Christ. Bigger than that. Jesus Christ.
He's called the word of God. He's the living word. And this is his written word. You and I.
This is the foundation we build on. This is the only foundation that will last. And some of you, you're trying to have relationships. You're trying to have family.
You're trying to raise children and you're raising them every way. But what's in this book right here? And the Bible just said they're not going to last. They can't withstand the storms of life.
So here's the question. What does it look like when we stop building on the foundation that God gave us? What does it look like in my life and your life? What does it look like in the church?
Can I show you? I'll give you the scriptures in the word right here. Hey guy, one, four, three, eight. Here's what the Lord said to him.
Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins? Why are you pursuing everything you want and not pursuing anything I want? After he's laid his life down for us, shed his blood for us, then we pursue what we want and we ignore what he wants. So what he says to him?
This is what the Lord of heaven's army says. Look at what's happening to you. Stop right there. Look in your life, look in your family, look at everything.
What's happening to you. Notice what's happening to you. He says, this is not going to work out good for you. It may seem good for a season, but it's not going to work out too good for you.
They come up a payday time, a time to reap what you saw on here. Now these people didn't hate God's house. You know what? They just had apathy for it.
They didn't take it seriously. It wasn't a priority in their life. It was an add-on, but they were more interested in what their desires were and what their wheels were than they were and what God's wheel was. So when you see that, here's where it goes.
Look at what's happening to you. You have planted much, but harvest little. Some of you are working your fingers through the bone in a lot of areas right here. You're trying to have the relationship that God says, but you're not doing it God's way.
Can I ask you a question with that work? No. Will that work? Or you'll sleep with that work?
Will it work? It's not going to work. You're trying to have the family that God wants you to have, but you're going about it a different way than what God says. And God said it won't work.
Your priorities is all wrong. He said, this is a hard sermon, Lord. Help me get through it right here. But He says it's not going to work that way.
Look at this right here. You eat, but you're never satisfied. Can I tell you, satisfaction is not going to come to your house if you're not doing it God's way. Satisfaction in your relationship with the Lord is not going to happen until you do it God's way.
Satisfaction. In any relationship you have until you do it God's way, it's not going to happen. Not going to satisfy. Some of you ought to be tired of not being satisfied right now.
You drink, but you're still thirsty. Nothing satisfies you. You put on clothes, but cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with this hard sermon.
Is it true? Do I love you? Do I want you to be on the right foundation? You got to do it God's way.
And some of you are in dead up your eyeballs because you haven't waited for God to provide. You decided you would provide yourself. You've chasing after the Joneses and don't realize that chasing after the Beals. And you think you're doing something.
But the Bible says you're buried in dead. Somebody helped the preacher right there. This is what the Lord of Heaven's Army says. Look at what's happening to you.
You put on clothes, but cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes. Now go up into the hills. Watch this right here.
Bring down timber, rebuild my house, and then I will take pleasure in it and be honored, says the Lord. The greatest thing you and I are to do in our life, in this church, in our families, on our jobs is to honor God. And listen to me now. And I won't get too far.
I'll close right here, but listen, come in the church one time on Sunday and then living any way you want to live money through Saturday. It's not honoring God. You honor God when you obey God. So if you have a little bit of cussing you and you come to church and you raise them hands and it feels good and you think you've done something, then Monday morning you cussing everybody out.
Is that honoring God? If you're stealing, stealing, cheating, and lying, is that honoring God? If you're not putting God as a priority in your life, is that honoring Him? Our number one cause in the body of Christ as believes, the family of God is the glory of God in everything that we do.