Tag Archives: holiness

The Road Through Romans: His Holy People Pt. 2

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles, Uncategorized

100_5431Today we continue our discussion through the Book of Romans. We are currently in verse seven, but if you have missed any of our previous discussions you can catch them on THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.

Today we are continuing to discuss Paul’s audience. Paul says his audience is, “all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:” Ro. 1:7

Because this book is included in the canon of Scripture it also means we are the audience of this book. It was written for the Roman church going through a particular set of circumstances, but the teaching which was directed to their specific circumstances can also be applied to our general Christian lives. Therefore “all in Rome” also applies to you and me. As the old saying goes, “When in Rome…”

Paul begins by reminding his audience that they are loved by God. He also states that as Christians we are called to live holy lives. The word “holy” means “separated”, “different”, “dedicated”. Our lives are to be separate or different from the world. Our lives are to be dedicated to obeying God.

I recently had an individual come to me feeling like they were “falling away from God.”

I asked the person if there was anything they were doing that was sin in God’s eyes. The person admitted there was. But when I asked this person if they were ready to repent or turn away from the sin the answer was a resounding “No!”

Well, holiness means never saying “no” to God even when your heart defies Him and wants to do what is contrary to God’s desires.  Holiness means following God’s plan for your life even when the whole world is calling you in another direction.

Of course holiness is a work in progress. No one lives completely holy. Sometimes our hearts deceive us and lead us down paths that are anything but holy. It is the pursuit of holiness, the practice of holiness and not sinless perfection that we are called to here.

Separation and dedication are mindsets that begin to create a condition of ever increasing righteousness. As with most things in Christianity the battle of the mind has to be won before the battle for behavior can ever be addressed but once the mind is brought into submission behavior begins to change.

Before you go today, tell me some things you do to practice your holiness or dedication to God.

 

Don’t Be Mr. In Between Pt. 4

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

Today we will conclude our discussion on “friendship with the world.”

If you have missed any of our previous discussion segments you can find them….

HERE

HERE

OR HERE

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Yesterday we defined the terms “friendship with the world from James 4 and 1 John 2

Here’s the problem. Most of us mess with Mr. In Between. We do the absolute opposite of what we should do. We make friends with the world by accentuating the negative in our lives and by eliminating the positive.

We build up pride in our achievements and call it self-improvement or positive affirmation. I have no problem with saying someone did a good job or even “I did a good job”; But if I fail to recognize the role God plays in my success, if I take His credit then it is pride!

We encourage ourselves to hunger and thirst after lifestyles God never meant us to have by buying into the thought that Jesus intends everyone to have the best and newest of everything and so we begin to spend our resources for our own wants and needs rather than investing our resources with the Kingdom in mind. Folks when you get to Heaven God is not going to ask you what cable package you had or what television you watched it on. He is going to ask what you did with the resources HE gave you. He is going to ask you how what you did pointed other people towards Him.

Finally, we accentuate a life focused around forward advancement creature comforts and worldly success and pleasure and we eliminate the place of prayer.

God is challenging us in these days. God is challenging us towards relationship because He loves us. God has great things in store for you. God has amazing miracles in store for you. Some of you God would use to bring restoration to your family. Some of you are about to learn what it means to walk in a healing anointing. Some of you are about to be used as prophets. I believe there are people reading who are about to go on incredible God adventures . Some of you may have the opportunity to lay your hands on cancer patients and watch them recover. Some may even be given the opportunity to see the dead raised and lepers cleansed as you pray. But before He can do any of that you need to let go of your friendship with the world because it is holding you back.Mr. In Between is holding you back. Perhaps you have sold out for a paycheck. Maybe you have given up on God’s plan because you know it will displease someone important to you. You are holding back because you know the anointing means getting rid of your pet sin or that impure relationship.

Can I encourage you with these words of Jesus from  the Gospel of Mark?
Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

There is a price to pay for the life God wants you to have. But the price is never higher than the reward, even when the price is everything you have. So I dare to call you today. Will you leave behind your friendship with the world today and give everything to Jesus? He will give everything He has to you.

Don’t Be Mr. In Between Pt. 3

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

Over the last few days we have been having a discussion on what it means to be a “friend of the world and an enemy of God.”

If you have missed the first two segments of our discussion you can pick them up

HERE

AND HERE

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Today we will begin to discuss the nature of friendship with the world…

The problem is  most of us can’t get out of our own way when it comes to having a relationship with God all because we won’t take Johnny Mercer’s advice. When it comes right down to it, many of us struggle in our relationship with God because we keep messin’ around with Mr. In Between or as James would put it we have a friendship with the world that makes us an enemy of God.

Folks, if this is going to change we must begin to accentuate the positive and eliminate the Negative, and I am not just talking about “thinking happy thoughts.”

John the apostle helps us to understand what we have to accentuate and eliminate when he gives us a definition of what being a friend of the world really entails.

Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 17And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. I John 2:15-17

So let’s put this to a list:

James says“Come close to God” (James 4:8)– Which means to accentuate a life in God that is a life rich in: prayer, church and study of the Bible.

John says- Eliminate a life focused on physical pleasure and comfort. (I John 2:16)

James says- Wash your hands you sinners and purify your hearts (James 4:8)–  which means to accentuate a life based on Kingdom principles. Accentuate a heart that desires the things of the Kingdom of Heaven before everything else. This was the last point of last week’s sermon.

John says- Eliminate the tendency to crave and want everything we see. Stop wanting what everyone else has. Stop wanting all the creature comforts. (I John 2:16)

James says- Accentuate humility (James 4:7). This is a whole sermon series itself. I encourage you to do a study through the Bible on the subject of pride versus humility because humility is one of the most misunderstood virtues in the Bible. Suffice it to say we should accentuate the truth, which is that we are just empty vessels. Our created purpose is to be filled up and poured out, nothing more

John  says- We need to eliminate the tendency we have to take credit for God’s work by thinking our achievements are all about us and our talent, when they are really only gifts from God. (I John 2:16)

Tell me which of these forms of “worldly friendship” stands out to you as the hardest to avoid?

Don’t Be Mr. In Between Pt. 2

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

Yesterday we started our discussion on “friendship with the world” from James chapter 4 using the song “Mr. In Between” by Johnny Mercer.

If you missed that you can catch up

HERE

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Now let’s talk about keeping away from Mr. In Between.

You know there’s actually a whole In Between family you should avoid if at all possible…They are a real problem for just about all of us.

You know who Mr In Between is don’t you? Oh sure you’ve met him. James talks about Him when he says, What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? James 4:1

Mr. In Between is the guy who goes to church on Sundays, but who fights all the way to church with the family. He’s the guy who puts on his plastic grin and walks into service. Then the worship leader starts Mr. In Between’s favorite worship song. Suddenly his hands are raised and  he’s praising God. Mr. In Between shakes hands  with everyone on the way out. Then, he gets in the car to go home and he gives the family the silent treatment for the rest of the day.

You know who Mrs. In Between is don’t you. James identifies her when he says, “You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. 3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.” James 4:2,3

Mrs. In Between is the lady who is trying to keep up with the Jones’. She’s the lady who gets jealous and pouty every time she’s invited to THAT friend’s house, because THAT friend has things Mrs. In Between wants that Mr. In Between can’t provide. So Mrs. I.B. goes out and spends money she doesn’t have to look good for people she doesn’t like and all the time she forgets to check with God to find out what HE thinks she should have.

And of course Mr and Mrs. have darling little Kid Betweens too. Of them James says, “Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. 5 Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning?” James 4:4,5

You can always tell a Kid Between. He has his thumbs wrapped around the latest I Phone tech. He can tell you almost anything about anyone on Facebook in a New York minute but can’t find Genesis in the Bible without first going to the Table of Contents to find out what page it’s on.

Last week we learned that Jesus loves us and passionately wants a relationship with us. Isn’t that just a kick in the pants? The God of the universe wants a personal relationship with you. If you were the only person on Earth Jesus would have died to restore relationship with you! You can have a personal relationship with God, a relationship where you can talk to Him daily and where He will talk back! This is  relationship where you will pray for things and God will do them because He loves you. You can have a relationship in which you are powerfully aware of God’s presence guiding you through even the darkest of life’s circumstances.

The problem is  most of us can’t get out of our own way when it comes to having a relationship with God, simply because we won’t take Johnny Mercer’s advice. When it comes right down to it, many of us struggle in our relationship with God because we keep messin’ around with Mr. In Between, or as James would put it we have a friendship with the world that makes us an enemy of God.

What do you think it means to be a friend of the world?

Don’t Be Mr. In Between Pt. 1

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

My lead Pastor started home from Canada this weekend; so yesterday I got to take the pulpit and address the congregation at Cornerstone Church one last time. The title of the message was “Don’t Be Mr. In Between.” Here for discussion is pt. 1

Today our study together from the Word of God is taken from the Book of James Chapter 4. Let’s begin in Verse 1

What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? 2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. 3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.

You adulterers![a] Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. 5 Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him.[b] 6 And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say,

7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.

Today we are talking about friendship with the world and what it does to us.

In 1944 Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen wrote a song that went like this:

As Johnny says, I feel a sermon comin’ on.

Saulish Worship Pt. 5

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

We have been discussing the heart that is acceptable to God over the last several days.

If you have missed any of the conversation you can find it…

HERE

HERE

HERE

AND HERE

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Yesterday we discussed the heart that was unacceptable to God and worship that was unacceptable to God by using an illustration from I Samuel 15

This is an example of Saulish worship. God gave a command. That command was, “Destroy everything.”

Saul reinterpreted that to mean “Destroy everything but those things you find useful.”

Then he compromised and said, “Well I won’t do what the Lord said to do but I will worship just after my own fashion. That will be good enough. God’s way costs too much. God’s way is too hard. So I have a better way. I am still going to worship God but I am going to do it in a way that makes me comfortable, a way that benefits me as well as God. God gets some of His way and I get some of mine.”

I believe this is the mindset that those on the day of judgment in Matthew 7 will hold (see Saulish Worship Pt. 1). They will worship God according to their way. Jesus says they do not do the will of the father even though they worship and serve. They are like Saul worshipping God but only in the way that makes them comfortable.

In contrast there is another story from 2 Samuel 24 of How David, the King after Saul, worshipped.

 “David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.”

11 Before David got up the next morning, the word of the Lord had come to Gad the prophet, David’s seer: 12 “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.’”

13 So Gad went to David and said to him, “Shall there come on you three[b] years of famine in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me.”

14 David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into human hands.”

15 So the Lord sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died. 16 When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand.” The angel of the Lord was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

17 When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the Lord, “I have sinned; I, the shepherd,[c] have done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall on me and my family.”

18 On that day Gad went to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David went up, as the Lord had commanded through Gad. 20 When Araunah looked and saw the king and his officials coming toward him, he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.

21 Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”

“To buy your threshing floor,” David answered, “so I can build an altar to the Lord, that the plague on the people may be stopped.”

22 Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take whatever he wishes and offer it up. Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. 23 Your Majesty, Araunah[d] gives all this to the king.” Araunah also said to him, “May the Lord your God accept you.”

24 But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”

So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels[e] of silver for them. 25 David built an altar to the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord answered his prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.”. 2 Samuel 24:10-25

What differences do you see between David and Saul?

Saulish Worship Pt. 4

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

Once again we are launching into a conversation on holiness and the type of worship God accepts.

If you have missed the previous postings of our conversation they can be found…

HERE

HERE

AND HERE

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In our previous discussions we have established that Grace isn’t just about forgiveness. It is about change. I am afraid while many are on board with the forgiveness part they are not on board with the change part.

There are two illustrations from the Old Testament that help us understand this mindset which is unacceptable to God and the mindset He desires us to have. Today I will share the first illustration. This  is the story of two kings…

I Samuel 15

1Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord. 2This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. 3Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroya all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’ ”

4So Saul summoned the men and mustered them at Telaim—two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand from Judah. 5Saul went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the ravine. 6Then he said to the Kenites, “Go away, leave the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you along with them; for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.

7Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt. 8He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. 9But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calvesb and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.

10Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11“I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.

12Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.”

13When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.”

14But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?”

15Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.”

16“Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”

“Tell me,” Saul replied.

17Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’ 19Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?”

20“But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. 21The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”

22But Samuel replied:

“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices

as much as in obeying the Lord?

To obey is better than sacrifice,

and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

23For rebellion is like the sin of divination,

and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.

Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,

he has rejected you as king.”

What are your thoughts as you read this passage? What do you see in Saul?

Saulish Worship Pt. 3

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

Sunset Prayer

Over the last few days we have been holding a discussion on holiness here at Lillie-Put. If you have missed any part of that discussion you can find it

HERE

OR HERE

Now let’s continue with today’s discussion.

We brought up the idea yesterday that there will be a group of people who are ejected from Heaven on judgment day because they are not known by God and because they broke God’s laws and refused to do His will…

Some of you are probably saying, “Pastor J that smacks of legalism. It sounds like you are saying that we are saved by our works and if we don’t do works we can’t get into Heaven.”

I am not saying that at all. In fact the people who Jesus is talking about in Matthew 7 have lots of good works. In fact it is those very works they fall back on when Jesus tells them to depart. Look at it,

Matthew 7:21-23New Living Translation (NLT)

21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

The Bible is very clear, your good works in or out of church will not save you. It is the grace of God which comes into your lives through faith which saves you.

Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. …But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!… God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. Eph. 2:1,4,5,8,9

Salvation, eternal life, forgiveness come to us only because of grace. That said, I am convinced that many people even in the church will miss salvation, eternal life, and forgiveness by inches because they have bought into a faulty definition of grace.

You see we have come to define grace as forgiveness of sins, and it is that. When we ask for God’s grace we get forgiven of all the wrong we have ever done. The Bible tells us that God actually overlooks our transgressions, but Grace doesn’t just forgive us. It’s more than just  super soap to wash away super sins. Grace is a power that once we receive it begins to change us. It actually turns us from one thing into another.

Paul says it this way in 2 Cor. 5:17

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

I went to see a worship team in Manchester NH the other night called Rend Collective. In his opening remarks the lead guitarist of the band said, “If our Christianity doesn’t change us. If it doesn’t make us better. If it doesn’t make us love the world like Jesus did then maybe we didn’t really get Christianity the first time around.”

What do you think is there any such thing as Christianity without change?

Saulish Worship Pt. 2

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

Sunset Prayer

Yesterday we began a new discussion series on the topic of holiness. If you missed this beginning you can find it

HERE

Scriptures like the passage from Matthew we shared yesterday are called “hard words”.

In I Timothy 2: 7 Paul the Apostle says,

And I have been chosen as a preacher and apostle to teach the Gentiles this message about faith and truth.

As preachers of the gospel, pastors are called to deal with the entirety of Scripture. We are told to preach the “sweet words” of faith and the “hard words” of truth. We are to encourage men and women with the mercy of God and at the same time warn our generation that while God is merciful, He is also the judge of all the Earth sworn to bring justice. We are called to preach the healing words and the words of Scripture that assault our senses. We are to remind men and women that the same God who will say, “Well done good and faithful servant enter into the joy of the Lord” to some, will say “Depart from me I never knew you.” To others.

Our generation is one which by nature and according to prophecy wants its ears tickled.

“Bring me a good word preacher man.” is on the lips of so many.

Our generation is the generation of unlimited do overs and no consequences.

I have actually had it said to me “You’re a pastor. You are supposed to love and support me in whatever I do like God does. You are not supposed to try to change me.”

To which I reply, “I cannot change you but God MUST CHANGE YOU if ever you are to see Heaven.”

I have struggled with this message because the words  from Matthew 7 are hard words. Words of judgment. Words that remind us not everyone will be entering Heaven. Harder still because these verses indicate that not even everyone who calls themselves a Christian will enter into Heaven.

The people in our story from Matthew Chapter 7 are not Buddhists; They are not Muslim; They are not Hindu. They call Jesus Lord. These people would call themselves Christians. They believe in Jesus. More than that these people are not just pew warmers. They are active in their churches. They are active in ministry AND they are active in supernatural ministry…And yet they do not make it to Heaven. Why?

Well Jesus gives us two reasons in these verses.

First reason…Jesus says, “I never knew you.” Ma 7:23:

It is possible to believe in Jesus as God; It is possible To believe in the historical Jesus; It is even possible to believe in His resurrection and not have a relationship with Jesus.

It is possible to work for the church; It is even possible to perform miracles in the name of Jesus and still not have a relationship with Jesus.

Paul, the Apostle said it was possible to do all the works of ministry and still miss Heaven. He said it this way in speaking of himself.

I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified. 1 Cor. 9:27

And that leads us to the second reason these people are rejected

Jesus says they are rejected because… they broke God’s laws and because they did not do the will of the Father in Heaven. Ma7: 21,23, 26

Do you think there is a difference between breaking God’s laws and not doing the will of the Father in Heaven?

Saulish Worship Pt. 1

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

I had the wonderful opportunity to preach once again at Cornerstone Church in Winchendon MA yesterday. We are walking through a study on the need for holiness and the title of my sermon was Saulish Worship.

Carried on the backs of angels

Carried on the backs of angels

Here is the opening to that sermon:

Today we continue our study along with John Bevere through the Book Good Or God. My thoughts spring (loosely) from chapters 4 and 5 of that book and we will be dealing with a passage of Scripture in the book of Matthew chapter 7: 21-27

True Disciples

21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

Building on a Solid Foundation

24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. 26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”.’

As we begin what about these verses stands out to you?