ANNOUNCEMENTS
Guys’ Discipleship – This Sunday we are having discipleship for the guys at 9:40 am. We will be going over “Our Daily Blog,” lessons April 14th through April 18th.
Band of Brothers – Join us this Saturday at 10 am at UNF. I cannot stress enough how important it is that your sons get involved with Godly friendships at this age. Every young man that is consistently involved in B.O.B. has had a remarkable impact on their relationship with God. Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character" (I Cor 15:33). Get connected with Godly company!
Girls’ Life Group – Saturdays at 11am the jr. high girls meet for Bible study at Starbucks in Tinseltown. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to get your daughter connected into Godly relationships! Talk to Shelby Reeder for details. Email: shelbinater17@bellsouth.net
THE MESSAGE
“Foundations”
I Corinthians 3: 9-10 says, “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds.”
The life of a Christian is compared to a building. The single most important feature to any building is its foundation. Without a proper foundation the building over time will eventually fall. The foundation determines how high you can build and how much weight it can hold. People have spent millions of dollars on the leaning tower of Pisa to keep it standing all because of poor foundations laid since its beginning.
I remember when I was in 6th grade my brother, some friends and I loved building forts in our backyard. One particular time we were building a fort that extended from our house to the backyard fence. This fort was about as tall as me and was built so that you could stand on top or walk underneath, like walking under a tunnel. As the day came to close we finally finished this amazing piece of art. The only problem with this fort was that all the weight was resting on a single 4 x 4. There must have been twenty pieces of wood hammered into this 4 x 4. When we finished we rejoiced momentarily for the fort was gone within twenty minutes. As my friend, Daniel was standing on top the fort suddenly came crashing down. Luckily, none of us were underneath.
Without a proper foundation, over time, as the building becomes old and the wind blows and the rain pours and weight is added the building will not hold up but will eventually come crashing down. In the same way, if you do have the proper foundation as a Christian, as you get older and temptations blow your way and the world pours its beliefs on you and the weight of this world increases, you will eventually crumble under the pressure. This happens in the lives of so many young people who profess to be Christians. They set out to live the Christian life but almost every time their lives fall apart. When they get to high school they join the parties. When their friend shows them a bad song that has a sweet beat they go ahead and listen. When a bad picture comes up on the computer they look – all because they have the wrong foundation.
What is the foundation we are supposed to have? I Corinthians 3:11 says, “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Jesus Christ is your foundation. There can be no other foundation in your life. Any other foundation and you will fall. Your foundation cannot be: your parents, your friends, success, religion, excitement, happiness, what you can get from God (blessings), or how you feel. If your foundation is anything other than Jesus you will fall. When something tragic happens, if your foundation is being happy you, the building will fall. In other words, if you are a Christian because it makes you happy, as soon as you lose happiness (your foundation) you will fall. If you read the Bible because your parents make you, as soon as you go off to college you will stop reading the Bible because your foundation (your parents) is gone. If your foundation is God’s blessings, as soon as you break a leg and lose your chance of being in the NFL you will fall. If your foundation is the Christian religion, as soon as a new religion is presented you will abandon Christianity.
In Matthew 16:18, Jesus says, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it.” When reading this text it almost sounds as if Jesus was saying that the foundation He was going to build the church on was Peter. But if you look closely you will see differently. In Greek, Peter means petros, which is defined as “small stone” or “pebble.” The word “rock” here means petra, which is defined as “large rock.” Therefore, Jesus was actually showing Peter how small he was compared to the foundation we are supposed to build upon – a solid and sure foundation.
Now that we know that our foundation must be Jesus how do we make Him our foundation? We must first learn to hear and obey Him. In Matthew 16:13-18, the first thing that happened to Peter was he was personally confronted by Jesus. He stood face to face with Jesus. Secondly, he had a revelation of Jesus: “This was not revealed to you by…” A Sunday school teacher didn’t just tell him something about Jesus. God personally revealed who Jesus was to Peter. Peter then personally acknowledged this truth God revealed to him. Finally, he openly (publicly) confessed this truth.
Today Jesus usually personally confronts us through the Bible, church and parents. What do you do when Jesus confronts you, when he shows you something you need to change and gives you a revelation of who he is? Do you respond in obedience? When your parents tell you not to listen to a certain type of music do you listen? When you are told to read God’s Word do you read it? When you know not to look at a bad picture do you look? If you do not respond in obedience to Jesus now, when you get older you will fall, if you haven’t fallen already.
The second thing you must do in order to make Jesus your foundation is you must know Him. John 17:3 says, “This is eternal life, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ…” This verse does not say, “Know about God.” It says, “Know God.” You know about Michael Jordan. You know your brother. You could tell me something about your brother or sister. You could also tell me something about Michael Jordan, such as he played for the Bulls. What you could not do, though, that you could do with your brother is tell me that last thing that you two talked about, or what he is like when he is around the house. God wants us to know Him. Most people know about Him, but we are created to know Him.
Is your foundation Jesus? Do you know Him? Are you obedient to his confrontation?
What You Can Do as a Parent
A problem we are having in the Jr. High right now is there is a lack of respect for God’s Word. On Sunday mornings during service there will be times when I look out and less than 15% of the kids will have a Bible. When I was in Jr. High my parents instilled in me a love not just for God’s Word but the actual book, the Bible. Still, to this day I carry around the blue Bible my parents gave to me in 7th grade. Along with this Bible they gave me a notebook to write down everything that God speaks to me and everything my Jr. High Pastor Eric Terwilliger talked about. This simple act of giving me a sweet Bible and notebook and encouraging me to take care of it and take everywhere produced in me a respect for His Words and made journaling a habit.
