Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to the World Changers Church Gold Coast Podcast. Join us as we listen to today's message.
[00:00:12] Amen.
We'll keep going for just a second.
Wow.
God is so good.
Yeah. You know, everybody says, why do you preach with a MacBook? Someone asked me the other day, they said, why do you preach with a MacBook? And I said, well, you can't zoom in with a Bible.
I'm getting older.
She just called it out. I'm getting older. This is what I live with. No, I'm kidding.
No, no, it's. Praise the Lord.
And, you know, what God does here is so special.
You know, I could get up here and tell you what our budget is and tell you what we do, and you'd be overwhelmed with, how do you do that?
We do it because God first provides the needs of this house. We believe God over and above what we can ask or think inside this house. And when I look at the figures that flow through this house, sometimes I ask, where does it go?
Well, it goes to feeding families in this house.
It goes to feeding families outside of this house.
It goes to being the hands and feet of Jesus. And I said something to someone the other day. I said, I feel like I've never done ministry. I've done ministry for 25 years. I don't feel like I ever really started ministry until I came to Australia. Now, I'm not saying that about Australia, but here in Australia, I had the freedom to discover what ministry is.
And ministry is being a servant.
This part is the easiest part. I do preaching.
It's not that I take it for granted, it's just the easiest part. But what we do Monday through Saturday, the lives we get to encounter, the marriages we get to see restored, the people that we get to see fed, the laughter that we get to have with homeless people as they're sitting there eating. And I'm just thinking, man, their problems are so much bigger than mine. And they're laughing.
I've never done ministry until I started getting amongst the people and really seeing where the need is and really seeing the heart of the Father begin to work in that space. So as you give, it's not to give so that we can have fancy cars or a bigger building, which we do need.
Amen.
So we do have a building fund, by the way, but it's on the way. God is good.
But that's not what I'm preaching this morning. That is just to add to what Riley is talking about. And I couldn't be more proud of her this morning, because when she first came here. Let's go ahead and give the Lord a hand clap of praise.
When she first came here, it was like trying to keep her on one trail. Not just many rabbit trails, but to see her actually just nail it this morning and to sit back and think, wow, she speaks well. I just praise the Lord for the seeds that we as a house have sown into this life. Give the Lord another hand clap of praise.
So we're going to start our series this morning on finished.
And I think the kids compete with me every time I start a sermon, but it's beautiful because what would we be without life in the house?
Amen.
Children's ministry shows us the future, and that's we're building something here. So this sermon series that I'm starting for the next six weeks is called finished.
Okay? Look at your neighbor and say, it is finished.
Okay?
It is finished. Today's sermon is titled what you're built on. Okay. What you're built on.
Now, sermons on Sunday are a little milky, but I just can't usually do that. I woke up this morning, I said, lord, we need more.
And he gave me more. And I'm very excited to minister to this to you this morning. So let's just pray. Father, we thank you for the word that we're about to release into this house that is from your spirit. We thank you, God, for the kids.
We thank you, Lord, for this message. We thank you for the joy in this house. We thank you for the building and land we do not yet see. But you have established in this season of building and formation, shaping this house as you're building this community, as you're building this culture. Thank you, Lord, for what you have built and showing us what we're built upon. Amen.
So I want to start this series by pointing something to you out that you might not have noticed about your life. You are building things.
There's a place back home called Lowe's. It's similar to your Bunnings, and their catchphrase is, let's build together.
And every time you go in and buy something from Lowe's, it's like you want to install the carpet, you want to put in new windows. Let's build together.
You want new plumbing, you want new garden, you want a barbecue? Let's build together. It's a really catchy phrase.
But you are building something different. And I want you to have a look. I want you to actually have a look at your life. Some of you have built marriages that are still standing after the years have tried to tear it down.
Really. Look at that for a moment. You're together, whether it's been a year, four years, six years, 25, 35 or 40 years together. You have built something that the years tried to rob.
You should be thankful to God. Amen.
Some have raised kids. There's a single mom here that raised kids, three kids on her own, working two jobs and getting them to school and to adulthood. You did that.
You built that. Praise God. Maybe you're a couple and you have kids that actually made it to adulthood. And you're looking like, man, I killed plants. But those kids survived.
Praise God.
Some of you are looking at your mom right now saying, that's you.
[00:06:20] Amen.
[00:06:23] There's a bloke here that restarted his ticket for a trade at 28 and finished it at 32 and finally has a business that he can be proud of. And he learned it the hard way.
But you built that.
You didn't quit.
Some of you built sobriety with white knuckle Tuesdays.
You did that.
Some of you stayed clean, stayed faithful, built jobs, built careers, taking kids into adulthood. And you don't drift into that by accident. You built that. So let's take a moment.
You're building something.
And I start there. Because the Bible starts there. Scripture takes your building seriously. Seriously enough to warn you about it. Solomon, he says this. The greatest builder in Israel that Israel ever produced. The man who built the temple itself writes this in Psalms 127:1.
We have that, guys. Yeah.
Unless the Lord builds the house, the work of the builders is wasted.
Unless the Lord protects the city, guarding it with sentries will do no good.
I'm just going to keep reading there for a minute. It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late night, anxiously working for food to eat. For God gives rest to his loved ones. Children are a gift of the Lord and they are a reward to him. Let's stop there.
Unless the Lord builds the house in vain, God is taking your building seriously. All those great achievements, your house, your career, your marriage, your kids in adulthood, you being the CEO, he's taken it seriously. But he says a clear warning to us. Let the Lord build it unless it be in vain.
Because the watchmen of the house would watch in vain if the Lord is not the first protector.
Notice, Solomon doesn't say, don't build. He says there are two ways to build the same house. The Lord over it or vanity over it.
The Lord over it or vanity over it.
You know, in 2019, I was building a church, similar to a church back home. We had. I don't know, Don, who was there, Timmy, how many people we have in that school hall? Three, two, 300 people. We had four locations. And, man, we started looking back. Like, man, look.
[00:09:00] Look at what?
[00:09:00] Look at what we've done.
I started listening to that language, going, oh, then Covid happened. And, man, you could have split us in half with COVID this and Vax that and politics this. And you need to stand up and stand for the faith. And we just got shattered. Because what was not the house was not built on was the Lord. It wasn't built on community and it wasn't built on the word. And we had to learn a very valuable lesson.
Built on the Lord. It's in vain.
It can't be built on political opinion.
Let's not go there this morning.
Let's stay away from there. Jesus.
But when you build these houses from the street, they look identical.
There's glory to them.
When you build these houses, they have the same roof line, they have the same archways, they have the same doorways.
So I want you to hold that thought. Because Jesus picks up the exact same picture from the greatest sermons he ever preached in Matthew 7. Let's look at Matthew 7, 24 and 26.
Anyone who listens to my teachings and follows it is wise. Like a person who builds a house on a solid rock.
Through the rain comes the torrents and the flood waters rise, and the winds beat against that house and it won't collapse because it is built on.
But anyone who hears, oh, go back to 26. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn't obey it is foolish. Like a person who builds on a house on sand. Now, let's stop there.
Two men, two women, two houses. And here's what they have in common, because we always rush to the difference. One wise, one foolish.
And I'm gonna point out some things about this overly preached sermon. Build your house on the rock and it shall stand against the rain, the fire, the flood, and the this and the that, and the three pigs and the wolf. I don't know.
But I wanna talk to you about something that we never look at, so let's not rush this.
Both built, both finish, both presumably. Stand back and look at a completed house.
Same roof line, same windows, same door post.
You could have driven past them both and picked neither. But it's like Metricon. They just look the same.
Nothing against Metricon, especially if you work for them.
But they're the same house.
Jesus does not divide the world into builders and non builders. He just, he assumes we all build.
Everyone in the room is mid build right now. A life, a family, a career, a reputation, a person, yourself.
Building is never the question. Solomon and Jesus ask the same thing. It's not about what you're building, it's about what you're building on.
The parable has exactly one variable and it's the part no one can see.
So let's look at this.
The storms that come.
It doesn't decide, it just reveals.
Because both houses face the same storm, both houses face the same rain. Both houses face everything the same.
Now read it from this point of two identical houses and listen to the repetition. Jesus says it twice, almost word for word in Matthew 7:25.
And the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house and it did not fall. I'm going to read from a different version.
For it was founded on the rock and the rain descended and the flood came on. The winds blew and beat on that house and it fell. And great was the fall. 25 and 27.
The rains came, the winds blew.
The rains came and the winds blew.
Same rain, same floods, same winds, same verb. Beat, beat against the house.
Well, you know, you might be going through this. Cause the Lord's raising you up. Hogwash.
You might be going through this because the Lord's building your testimony. Hogwash.
The Lord might have a lesson on the other side of this hogwash.
With the Lord wise, without the Lord foolish. You both get the same beating.
[00:13:48] So encouraged. Right.
[00:13:50] I feel so good about this message. Thank you.
But what's the difference?
We always look at the storm that beats against us and say what is wrong? What am I doing wrong? What am I not getting right?
It's not the storm. The storm is not the judge. The foundation that you're building on is the judge.
So stay with me.
Storms of life are equal for both parties. Jesus says so in the plainest terms possible. And let it free you from it right now. Let it free you from this lie. That if you're being left alone, that you're in sin and if you're doing what you're supposed to do with God, that's why the devil's bothering you. No, everyone has the same reign on their life.
That's the thing you need to understand.
Rain falls on both houses and this is the story. It just falls. You ever heard that? It's just life.
That's how it is.
Yeah, it just happens. There's other phrases that we won't Say life happens. And we sit back and go, why has this happened to me? Why does it seem like the world is against me? There's somebody in the Bible that has went through exactly what you've went through. And they did nothing wrong either. His name is Job.
Paul teaches the identical principle to us. In Corinthians. Same building picture, different weather. Listen, First Corinthians 3:13.
For no one can lay a foundation other than the one we've already laid in Christ Jesus.
Go to 3 and 13.
We'll keep reading. Let's go to the next verse.
Verse 12. Just go to verse 12. It's okay.
You got it?
No. All right. Each one works will become clear for the day. We will declare it because it will be revealed by fire. And fire will test each one's work and what sort it is received, declared, tested.
Different storm, different weather, different judgment.
Whether it's a storm or a fire, the scriptures agree. Pressure doesn't decide what your life is built on. Pressure publishes it.
I'm gonna say that again.
Pressure doesn't decide what your life is built on. Pressure publishes it.
When pressure is on, when the heat is on, who you are in that moment reveals who you really cause. Man, it's easy on Sunday. Kumbaya, my Lord. Kumbaya.
You know, getting all. You just feel good on Sunday in the crowd. Then Monday blues happen. Anybody know about them Monday blues?
[00:16:45] Whew.
[00:16:45] I do as a pastor.
[00:16:46] I preach.
[00:16:46] And look at y'. All. And y' all look at me out the parking lot. Y' all may be thinking about what you gotta do, but you're looking at. You're mad at me. And I'm thinking, did I preach bad? I just get beat up all day on Monday.
Amen. Tina's not here to stop me from my stupid jokes, so pray for me.
Pressure does not decide what your life is built on. Pressure publishes it. The difference between those two houses was settled years before the clouds formed quietly underground when nobody was looking, when nobody was applauding. Foundations are the most important part of a building that no one can see.
The only thing that makes a foundation visible is weather.
Trial.
Now, some of you are thinking, oh, no, he's telling me about the foundation I gotta build. Stay with me.
I want to talk to you about a bloke in business that lost everything in March.
You know him. Maybe you are him. 15 years of work gone in one season.
He didn't cause it. He couldn't stop it.
Hear me carefully. The claps didn't make him who he is.
It revealed what he was standing on. Some of you watched that man lose everything visibly but strangely whole.
You didn't even know who he is.
And you couldn't work out where the wholeness was coming from, because the part of him doing the holding was the part you never could see, the foundation of faith that he was standing on.
And some of you have watched the opposite. Every visible thing intact. The house, the car, the marriage, the kids, the hair.
And it took one phone call and the whole structure tore down because the weight was resting on everything visible. The facade.
The storm doesn't decide what you're built on.
It just publishes it.
Am I making sense here?
Yeah.
So here's where everything visible in this sermon that you can start yelling out, that you can know where I'm going from past podcast, Build on the Rock.
Dig deeper, get serious. And if I ended there, I'd given you a renovation show, not a gospel.
Because the question that the whole Bible keeps answering is not how do I lay a good foundation? It's who already laid one?
Start 700 years before Jesus.
Isaiah chapter 28, and watch who's doing the laying. Isaiah 28:16.
Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says. Look, I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem, firm and tested.
A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. Whoever believes will not act hastily.
Long before Jesus ever came, God said, this precious cornerstone that is safe to build on. Whosoever believes it need never to be shaken.
I lay not. You lay.
Look at the verbiage. Go back there. A precious cornerstone, safe to build on.
Therefore, thus says the Lord, behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried and precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. Whosoever believes will not act hastily. Whosoever believes will not be shaken.
It is finished.
It's done.
You have that. God has laid it. It's not you laying the foundation.
God announces seven centuries in advance, the foundation stone is his work, his expense, his placing. A tried stone, Tested before you ever stood on it.
Generations have stood on this stone.
Amen.
The psalmist saw the same stone and prophesied something strange about it before Jesus in Psalms 1 and 18.
The stone which the builder rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
The one they rejected will be the chief cornerstone. Does that sound familiar?
The experts who looked at this stone rejected it. And God who made this cornerstone, placed everything on it. Anyway, 700 years later, on a hill outside of Jerusalem, the builders reject him. And with the weight of the world pressing down on him, listen to the last words off his lips in John 19:30.
So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, and it is finished. And bowing his head, he gave up the spirit.
It is finished. 1.
The one word in Greek, Telestai. Yeah. Thank you.
The word telestai, the word a builder used when the work was complete, and the word a debtor used when the account was paid.
This series called finished is built off that same word. The same word Jesus used.
Think about that.
The debt is paid.
Is that good?
Is that good?
Come on.
And Paul, writing in Corinthians tells you exactly what got finished that day. First Corinthians 3 and 11.
For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have in Christ Jesus.
Which is Jesus Christ?
That which is laid. Past tense. Do you have to lay this foundation to build upon?
I can't hear you.
Okay, thank you. No, you do not have to dig the foundation. You do not have to pour it. You don't have to earn it. You don't have to maintain it. You don't have to improve it. The costliest work of any structure is the foundation. The part that holds everything was done by someone else at his expense. Before you swung a hammer, before you started to build a life, before you started to fight for your marriage, before you started to fight for your kids, before you decided to stay, when everybody else quit, before you decided to take your next step, he already done it.
Ephesians 2 says, the whole household of God is built the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.
Huh?
There is nothing at the bottom of your life left for you to lay. Christ has done it.
You got something firm to stand on.
Did you ask who built the chair when you sat down in it this morning?
Did you ask who the manufacturer was?
Probably IKEA. I don't know.
ChurchCentral.com? i don't know.
But you didn't question it. You just sat down in it. You didn't pick the color. You didn't do the placement. You just decided that chair could hold you.
It was designed to hold you.
Amen.
Why do we question God differently when we walk into something that's our next. Why do we go, are you sure, God, is this gonna work? Well, if it's you, it's the reason you're asking that question. If it's God, step on it.
Amen.
When you are questioning whether it's gonna hold, it's because you're still unsure whether it's God or you.
That's the only reason you're questioning.
And that's why you shouldn't take your step. But when you know that, you know that you know God has ordained my next step. You step, no matter the cost, no matter who is or who ain't coming with you.
Amen.
[00:25:25] You step.
[00:25:28] There's someone in the room. You've been coming for a long time. You sit near the back and
[00:25:36] you've
[00:25:36] got a plain theory.
Sort out life a bit more, clean a few things up and then I'll get serious with God and I'll serve and I'll answer the call. Because surely the mess can't sit on something so holy. Friend, with all the gentleness in the world.
You have it exactly backwards.
Isaiah says God laid the stone. Jesus said the work is finished.
Paul says the foundation is already done. You don't renovate your way onto the foundation that was poured for people mid mess. You just move your weight onto it.
Amen.
Now somebody sharp is going to catch me, you Bible scholars.
Pastor, Jesus said these sayings and Jesus said, hear these saying and do them.
Sounds like the doing is the point. Sounds like work. Good catch. Solomon answered you 3,000 years ago in Proverbs 3. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths.
Amen.
You're still caught in the doing instead of the being.
Be in Christ instead of trying to do Christianity.
They are two different things.
You cannot produce the fruit of Christ unless you are in Christ, which being a part of the vine.
Amen.
Your first work is to be on the foundation. Your first work is to be a part of the vine. Your first work is to say, I surrender to you, Jesus.
Amen.
So the language is not do. The language is lean.
Have I ever leaned on this wall?
It held me.
Lean is an act of trust.
The language is not do more. The language is not build more. The language is not pray more. The language is not say more. The language is trust more on the foundation that is already laid.
Lean in. That's the weight of the language.
Trust in the Bible.
It's never a feeling. Well, I feel good. Keep feeling. But don't make decisions out of that space.
It's where the when you lean in and trust, that's where the weight actually rests.
So the doing in Matthew 7 is not bricklaying to earn yourself a slab. It's leaning when you forgive because he said forgive. When you tell the truth because he said, let your yes be. Yes. In that moment, you are resting your actual weight on his word. That is true.
You didn't forgive because they earned it. You forgave because it releases you.
You didn't tell the truth because it was easy. That truth actually probably cost you something.
That truth maybe cost you a job. That truth maybe cost you a friendship. That truth maybe cost you time. But that truth is what was necessary, because the truth is where we lean on and have our firm foundation.
Amen.
Well, Pastor, is it okay that we move in together, you know, before we get married? I think you know the answer.
People don't like that truth. Just like the whole room just got uneasy.
I know somebody here right now that's living with someone and they're not married.
[00:29:18] Hmm.
[00:29:20] Well, let me talk to you. He who looks at everyone else's sin.
The Bible says, look at the beam in your eye before you look at someone else's splinter.
Judge not unless you be judged.
Let the weight of the truth of the Bible not be judgmental, but may it be truth in love.
Let your yes be yes.
Walk in faith.
Doing is how trust stops being a theory.
It's when you trust in the Lord.
You have no more theories about chairs holding you. You have no more theories about beds being able to be slept on. You have no more theories about broccoli when you hated it as a kid. You have no more theories about things. You have trust because you have practiced those things enough to know that they work. If you've been a Christian for a reading, your Bible builds up your inner man to make your outer man go, we gonna do the right thing no matter what. Getting in prayer, praying, and having communion with God changes things. Instead of running to Netflix and saying, I just need my time. Hello, Talking to Kyle. Amen.
Amen. Your marriage doesn't need you to run from it. Your marriage needs you to lean into it with God.
You didn't get your kids raised because
[00:30:34] you were a good parent.
[00:30:35] You killed plants and almost killed your dog, too. You trusted God when they were sick. You trusted God when had no money for meals. You trusted God.
Amen.
It's about trusting God.
A man can admire a foundation his whole life. Walk around it. Look at that foundation. Look at Jesus. He can photograph it. Look at Jesus.
He can agree with it. Look at Jesus.
But never once stand on it.
Hearing without doing and admiring the slab from the street.
Doing is moving in.
Move in.
Let Jesus be a part of every part of your life. I got priorities, Kyle. I got God. First my family, my job, then the church. Well, half of those are out of order anyway. But you know where God should be in all of them, he should not be God. First, he should be God.
He should be God in your marriage. He should be God on your workplace. He should be God in your church. He is the number one priority in everything you do and then everything else lines up.
Amen.
Come on, somebody.
You don't lay a foundation. You put your weight on the one already laid. Amen.
I'm just carrying my cross, Kyle. How's that working for you?
[00:32:10] I'm just kidding.
[00:32:17] How's that working for you?
[00:32:18] You bringing anybody to Jesus looking painful?
[00:32:20] No, carrying your cross is not you
[00:32:23] looking worn out, beat up, tired, angry. I'm just sacrificing for the Lord. Carrying your cross is surrendering to a life lived in Christ.
[00:32:35] You got some picture of carrying your cross?
I know it looks weird, but hang out with me for a minute.
[00:32:41] You got some picture like you just need to be in pain all the time.
[00:32:46] They got it.
Amen. Carrying your cross is not about you suffering.
That's the wrong religion. Carrying your cross is about you surrendering your life to live it in abundance the way Christ called you to to
[00:33:00] live an abundant life that is attractive to others.
[00:33:03] And say, why are you smiling when all hell's breaking loose in your life? Why are you smiling when people back talking you?
[00:33:09] Why ain't you defending yourself when the
[00:33:11] devil's coming after you?
[00:33:12] Why ain't you angry right now? Because I got Jesus and he's my firm foundation and you can't do nothing about it.
Amen.
[00:33:28] Somebody has some rest.
Somebody had some sleep yesterday. Praise the Lord.
Hallelujah.
Amen. I can't do it.
Nope.
So what does this look like on Monday?
Paul gives the whole rhythm in one sentence, Colossians 2, and notice the order of the verbs.
Colossians 2, 6, 7.
Oh. And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him.
Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Let your faith, then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught and you will overflow with thankfulness.
Next, let your roots.
[00:34:24] Yep.
[00:34:25] Don't let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high sounding nonsense that comes from human thinking or from spiritual powers of this world rather than from Christ.
For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in the human body. Back up a couple of verses.
Let your roots grow down.
Build on that.
Then your faith will grow strong and you will overflow with thankfulness. Next verse is the most important.
Don't let anyone capture you with empty ways of thinking.
Empty ways of thinking is what philosophies mean and high sounding nonsense. I want to talk to you this morning about the seven dispensations of Christ from Genesis to Revelations. Well, thank you very much for your Bible knowledge, but I don't need to know your high sounding nonsense, even though it's very good. I don't need to know what you know. I need to know what you're built on.
Amen.
Amen.
So received, then walked. Grounded, then built. Received, then walk. Grounded, then built.
The receiving comes first. A gift before the building. Every time, the same order. Grace always run. But then walk, build, receive, walk, build. James says the same thing in the warning attached. Be doers of the word, not hearers only.
Amen.
Coming to church. Kumbaya. Malora.
What does Monday look like?
Yeah.
So I'm not giving you a program this week. I'm giving you one brick.
Take one of the sayings of Jesus, one saying of Jesus and put weight on it in your life.
Just once.
Take one. He said forgive. We all have somebody we need to forgive. Amen.
He said forgive.
There's one person, you know their name. And this week you need to let it go. Lay that brick.
You talk about it too much.
Not because they earned it, because he said it holds. He said give. There's one thing you've been gripping, been holding on to that last little bit.
I don't know if I should give it to. I don't know, Riley. I don't know if I should give it to the church or this ministry or that ministry.
I ain't gonna talk about that right now.
But you're holding onto it because you got an attachment to it. The freedom you can have with money is stop holding onto it and realize it's like water. It flows from anywhere. You just gotta know where to tap in.
Amen.
Stop holding on to the money you have.
Oh, he just wants us to give it to the church. Well, that might just be your problem.
Cause I'm going to give it away anyway.
And most likely you're going to benefit from it if you look outside. Praise the Lord. Not I have to acknowledge. Where is Glenn Pillow? Praise the Lord for that hard work he done this morning. Give the Lord a hand clap of praise.
He said let your yes be yes. There's one conversation you've been dodging.
Have it faithfully.
One saying, one act, one transfer of weight from your own footing onto his. I don't know if I should tell Simon this. You know what I mean? You know, Simon may not like it Too much. Tell him anyway. Let your yes be. Yes, faithful are the wounds of a friend.
I would rather you tell me the truth in love instead of lie to me and let the fruit of my life fall apart because you sat there and watched me do something I shouldn't do, that you knew was wrong.
But you didn't want to upset me and you didn't want to deal with me. You ain't a good friend.
Amen.
Praise the Lord. I don't know what I'm on this morning, but praise the Lord. Sleep and no sleep, they seem to work for me.
Amen.
Don't underestimate what one brick does.
Because your building is more than public than you is more public than you think.
You know, there's some people that are never going to read Matthew, but they're reading you and Monday, you transferring weight onto something and living it out through the week. There's somebody watching you. They've never been to church. They're saying church ain't just the church ain't for me. But they're watching you because you're their living Bible.
Amen. They may never read Matthew, but they reading the book of Jewels.
They reading the book of Timothy. That's a good one.
[00:39:16] Amen.
[00:39:16] They're reading the book of Pauli.
How are you letting them read something that will build their life?
One act? Actually resting on Jesus is the most persuasive thing they'll see this week.
You living it.
That's where this house is headed. For the next six weeks, we're going to look at how Jesus has already finished it. The word finished on purpose and what kind of life it gets built on for ordinary people to put weight on it.
Not a life to be impressive.
A life for single moms and single dads, second start apprentices, blokes whose businesses went under the CEO that has everything with empty hearts.
So no matter whether you got the Maserati or the Mazda, this is for you.
Whether you have the apartment with two bedrooms or the lake Shore house and it's just empty, this is for you.
That's who this church is for. For those that need to know God, not just have knowledge about him.
Amen.
As you guys come up, here's the question that this whole morning has been walking towards.
And I want you to answer it honestly. On the inside, right where you sit, Where is your weight resting?
Not where do you believe it should rest?
Where is it right now actually?
Is it on your business? And the next check coming in, as a pastor, I know what it's like to look in week to week going, how are we going to pay these bills?
I could get up here every Sunday and I could talk about money. I could tell you how short we are in our budget. And all you do is complain and leave and say all they do is talk about money.
I can't persuade you to give. I can't persuade you to listen to God. I can't persuade you to do things. I can't persuade you to serve. I can't persuade you to attend. I can't persuade you to be good people.
I know what it's like going from week to week.
But you know where my foundation is. It's not on the business, it's not on you.
It's not the cap in hand.
It's on trusting God.
I don't know how it's going to happen, Lord.
For 10 years. I don't know how it's going to happen, Lord.
And this year we have the highest amount of money going through our bank account.
And I'm still going, Lord. We just keep giving it away.
Well, that's just not good business, Pastor Kyle. That's not selling me on the giving. I'm not trying to sell you on the giving.
The giving is meant for the.
To bring people and to show them the love of God, man. Like, not so we get, you know, if we have a smoke machine and an LED light one day, that's because you persuaded somebody else to have it. Because I don't need one.
I've been. I've been one of seven pastors in a 5,000 member church. I've ran 30 programs off the U.S. i know how to do big church. I don't need all that extra stuff. You want it, let's go after it. But you know what I want? I want every person that walks in the room to know who Jesus is and know the foundation that they're building on.
It rained on the wise man, too. On the marriage, the kids, the reputation, the plan.
Good things.
You know, where is your weight at?
Is there some part of you still waiting to be good enough to stand on something that was poured precisely for people that aren't good enough, It's like they know when we're done, they're cheering God on.
I know. Oh, yes, trust me, I know. I believe that. I know what it is to have nothing under your feet.
I know what it is to say these words. He also brought me up out of the horrible pit, out of the miry clay and set my feet upon the rock and established my steps. He Brought me up. He set my feet. He established my steps.
Even the standing is his work.
I just got decided to move in with Jesus.
The foundation is laid, the standing is there. The strength to live that life is his through the Holy Spirit.
[00:43:57] All I gotta do is decide to move into a foundation laid for me. I don't have to do the work. It is finished.
There's nothing for me to do but believe. Only believe in what he's already done.
I just gotta move in.
What's it like having a beautiful house? Sleeping in your car, out the front door? Why move in?
Take all that he has? You didn't earn it. You don't deserve it, but take it anyway. He gave it to you.
You don't have to pay for it. You don't have to make up for it. You just gotta live in it. Come on, move.
[00:44:44] This is not people coming to fix themselves.
It's for people coming to stand on something. Finished.
That's the whole invitation. You bring the weight. He already laid the slab.
[00:44:58] You bring the ashes. He'll give you the dancing.
[00:45:01] Come on.
[00:45:01] He'll give you beauty for ashes. He'll give you dancing for mourning. You just gotta make the exchange.
You don't have to be good. You don't have to be pretty. You don't have to have the theology. You don't have to have a suit on. You just gotta lean in.
[00:45:17] He gave you something beautiful.
I want the whole world to hear messages like this.
But I want them to hear them from your mouth on a Monday.
I want them to hear them from your mouth on a Tuesday. To the barista, when you're picking up your coffee.
I want them to hear it from your mouth at your table, when you're praying for people that you've invited over to fellowship with and break bread with to go on walks with. I want them to hear it from your mouth by the way you live. Because you are the letter and the Bible that they're reading. You are the book that is representing Jesus.
[00:45:52] But don't let that weight fall on your shoulders. No, no, no, no, no, no. Just lean in.
Oh, Lord.
[00:45:58] He just told me that they're reading me.
Paul made some mistakes.
Listen to me. As we land, Peter denied him three times.
Paul went to the wrong destination.
Judas couldn't see him for who he really was.
Isaiah prophesied about him, but still lost his mind.
Went naked, running naked for three and a half years in the street. That's one of our greatest prophets, one of our greatest kings.
Got down to his ephod dancing to a box with stuff on the inside. The Ark of the Covenant.
You don't have to be perfect to be a living Bible.
You just have to be living in he who is the Word that was made flesh, who can produce and complete in you a precious promise over and above what you could imagine or think.
Just lean in.
So let's pray.
Father, you've laid the foundation.
You've given me the strength to stand.
You've given me authority against devils to tread over scorpions and snakes.
The standing.
Your word says that when you've done all else, stand, stand the more, but stand in faith.
And you gave us the measure of faith to stand in.
I have two words, God only.
[00:47:42] Believe.
[00:47:43] Do I believe you?
Do I trust you?
He asked, Peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord, I love you. He asked him again, do you love me? Yes, Lord, I love you.
He said, peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord. You know I love you. Then feed my sheep.
I know Peter better than I do Paul, because I've denied him plenty of times.
I chose myself plenty of times.
And he always brings me back to that charcoal fire when I've went back to fishing. And when I see him again, this time I don't ask him to come help me walk on the water or bid me to come. No, this time, every time, I just jump in the water and start swimming towards him.
There should be no condemnation for you this morning. That should simply be in the name of Christ, a clear reality of how much you are loved and the strength in which you have to stand upon which is founded in Christ Jesus and His grace.
Believe in him.
Trust in him. Let your yes be yes, your no be no.
Quit talking yourself out of what God said to do and just walk into what God is doing.
Don't be afraid.
Don't be afraid.
We thank you for this. In Jesus name, Amen.
Now just keep your heads bowed for a moment, eyes closed. Don't be tempted to look around.
If you're here this morning and you don't know the Lord or even just got a small question in your heart and you just want to be sure, there's the one time you can just simply say yes, pray a prayer, and it's finished.
If you're here this morning and you don't know him, can you just raise your hand?
And we want to pray for you.
I know your heart's beating fast.
Father, we thank you this morning.
We thank you for the invitation that invites us time and time again in this and that. You never stop pursuing us.
Oh, we thank you for the goodness in our life and the promises that you placed upon us.
For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in the human body.
We receive that this morning.
We dismiss confusion.
We dismiss deliberation.
We seek confirmation from the Lord, from you Lord, from your Holy Spirit. We don't act in haste or just take leaps of faith.
We are stepping into a season of formation and confirmation. Lord, confirm my steps and I will take this step for you.
Confirm what you've called me to and I will say send me. I'll go.
It's in Jesus name I pray and we all say Amen. Give the Lord a hand clap of praise.
[00:50:52] Amen.
[00:50:58] Thank you for tuning in to today's message. To connect or find out more you can reach us online at worldchangers Life. Remember to subscribe for more uplifting messages from our pastoral team and may you continue to walk in faith and transformation until we meet again.
