Matthew 7:24-29 [Build on the Rock Summer Series 1] Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace-Benson/Vail
June 3, 2018
“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.” 28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching. 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. 24
THE STORMS ARE COMING—WILL YOU SURVIVE? Dear Friends in Christ, I could hear the panic and concern in my mom’s voice when she answered the phone last fall. The path of hurricane Irma was projected to directly hit their home in Ft. Myers, Florida. She and my dad were worried that they might lose their home. They weren’t even there—they were on vacation in another state—and although that meant that they were safe, in some ways being away made it worse. They didn’t know if they would have a home to return to. Thankfully, the path of the hurricane changed enough that their house was spared. We have it pretty easy here in Tucson. Disastrous natural events are not something we really have! We certainly don’t have to worry about blizzards. We have no active volcanoes spewing out lava and toxic gasses. It is rare for us to experience a tornado or earthquake. We don’t live by the ocean, so no hurricanes. But enough of us have lived other places and have experienced serious storms. Certainly we see the devastation they cause as we catch coverage of the storms online or on the news. Often on that coverage, we hear people being warned and instructed on just how they ought to prepare for the coming storms. Sometimes they even enforce mandatory evacuation because they are afraid people will not survive if they remain. The words we are looking at this morning are the last words of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Here he gives warning and instruction to all people regarding storms that are coming their way. The question that each of us has to consider is whether we will survive those storms—and that depends entirely on what we do with what Jesus says to us. THE STORMS ARE COMING—WILL YOU SURVIVE? only if you… AVOID FAULTY FOUNDATIONS and FOLLOW JESUS’ BUILDING PLANS