Thank you for listening to this message from
Lifehouse Church. Good morning, Lifehouse. Man,
you all got quiet at one time. I'm not used to
that. You're a noisy bunch. Well, it's good to
have you here this morning. This is Pastor Adam.
Could you give him a warm welcome? And I'm here
just to do a little intro and just to welcome
you this morning. If you're listening online,
thank you for joining us. We know you're there.
We can't see you, but we love that you're online
this morning and joining in. And this is the
beginning of a message series called Holy Buckets.
Say it, Holy Buckets. Yeah, holy buckets. And
how many know that God gives us buckets full
of money and possessions? He does, right? We're
blessed with that. And he asks us to manage it.
And really, that's what this whole message series
is about. How do we handle our money and possessions
in a godly manner? And I brought Pastor Adam
in, mostly because this is the week he had available.
He's a very busy guy. But he is a friend. He's
a colleague. He's an expert in many fields in
ministry. It's true. He's laughing, but it's
true. And this is one of the areas that he's
passionate about. I'll let him share a little
bit about himself and his family. But we are
excited about what God's going to do in your
life, what he's going to raise up and change
in your heart and mind. And we're just believing
God for great things. Amen? Amen. Amen. It's
true. So, again, would you give Pastor Adam a
warm welcome, and we'll let him minister to the
Lord. All right. First, Kip and Dixie are just
the best. Can we just thank them for everything
they've done? Kip and Dixie have been so kind
to me. I joined the denomination when I was 29
years old. That was forever ago. I'm balding.
I need glasses now. So they knew me when I was
very young. They've just been so kind to me.
And just watching them and the honor they show.
State Overseer, you guys are so nice to share
them with the state. I know they've done a lot
of work there. And Dixie, thank you for answering
all my questions. Anytime I had a question about
anything, I just called Dixie. So it's a pleasure
to be here with you this morning. How many of
you go to a public pool? Anybody? Is there public
pools in Carlisle? I go to a public pool, and
I have three kids. They're 8, 11, and 14. And
every, every, this happens every summer. Every
summer they say, we get a pool pass and we go
to the public pool and they say, dad, will you
get in the pool with us? I don't really think
about it. I'm just like, yeah, I'll get in the
pool. So I get on a swimsuit and I get going
and I get there and we laid it on the towels
and I'm like, dad, get in. And then it occurs
to me, I have not been ready for this moment.
And I'm about to show all these strangers every
single one of my nutritional choices over the
last year. And it's an incredible reveal every
year. And every year I'm like, man, I could have
done better. And I just take off my shirt and
I get in that pool and I just hang out in there.
You know what, I've realized something though.
We tend to, as people, have goals and aspirations,
but we live on our floors. So if you have a low
floor, that's where you're gonna live. And I
think one of the things that we need to do, especially
as people of God, is to raise our floors up.
Because whatever you tolerate, is what you help
create. I want to say it again. Whatever you
tolerate is what you help to create. The Bible
is amazing, and I'm going to read a lot of Scripture
to you today, but I just want everybody in this
room to understand something. You don't have
to do anything. You don't have to pray. You don't
have to read Scripture. You don't have to give.
You don't have to do any of that. That's completely
up to you. But whatever you sow, you will reap.
You also get to have the results of that. If
you have a prayerless life, I can promise you
you don't have the fruits of the Spirit. You
don't have patience. You don't have kindness.
You don't have joy. And so today, I just want
to share with you, I'm very, very passionate,
very passionate about giving. There's a few reasons
for that. When I was younger, when I was young
as a pastor, when you guys first met me, I didn't
preach on money because I felt like the real
reason was is because I didn't want people to
think that I wanted money. So I'd always avoid
the topic of money. And I came across a verse
one time. I want to read it to you. It's in the
book of Malachi. It says this, behold, I am going
to rebuke your descendants. This is God talking
to the priests. And I will spread dung on your
faces. Does everybody know what dung is? The
dung of your feasts and you'll be taken away
with it. And I'm reading this and I was reading
this as like a young, I was 30 years old. I was
in the ministry and I read this verse and I said,
what on earth? I've never told anybody that I
want to wipe dung on your face. Why? What's going
on? Who is God talking to? Do you guys know who
he's talking to? He's talking to the priests.
And I said, well, why does he want to do that?
And you go back a chapter before, it's because
they're accepting lame offerings. They're accepting
blind and lame offerings from the people. You
might say, well, why is God so upset that people
are offering blind and lame offerings? And he
says, well, where's my, if I am your king, where's
my honor? He says, try giving that to one of
your governors and see what they say about it.
And I began to realize something. The reason
why God is so upset with those who are in ministry
is because they're a mediator or moderator between
the people and God. And because they were accepting
lame offerings and people were bringing lame
offerings, their heart was far from the Lord.
And the priests were putting a stamp of approval
and saying, it's okay. Wherever your treasure
is, there your heart will be also. And so by
them accepting lame offerings, their hearts were
far from God and they were putting a stamp of
approval on it. And I realized in that moment
that I'm not going to be that guy. I'm not going
to be one of those priests that end up not talking
about giving because I fear people more than
I fear the Lord. So I got really into this, and
I wanted to do my research. Can I just share
some things with you this morning about it? Come
on. Let me just get you a little bit excited
about this. When I took over a church, the church
was in sharp decline. I'm sure you guys have
a Dixie. Are you the treasurer? Yeah. No, you
can't be. Well, anyway, you guys have a treasurer.
And one of the treasurers at my church actually
said to me one time, because the church, I took
over the church and it was sinking fast. They
said, Adam, you can't cash your check till next
week. And I was so ignorant. I was like, oh,
why? Are the banks closed? Like, what's going
on? They said, no, like we don't have any money
left. And then I said to myself, oh, okay. And
I played it cool. And I said, okay, well, it's
time for me to get my resume ready. I'm going
to go find a new job. And this is what my financial
treasurer said to me. He said, but I had an idea.
He said, how about we give away more money? We
were already giving 10 % to the Church of God,
5 % for missions, 5 % for administrative use.
And he said, I was thinking, what if we gave
away another percent? And I said, you know what?
That's a real great idea. And I didn't care.
I was leaving. So, and then he said this. He
said, and what if, what if, if we're in the black,
What if we gave away another percent? And I said,
sounds good. And so as I was getting my resume
ready, our treasurer began to give away more
money. And then we were in the black that month.
And then he said, hey, we were in the black.
And I was like, great, yeah, hey, awesome. And
he said, so I'm gonna give away another percent.
I said, do it. And so we began to give away a
percent, a percent, a percent, a percent, till
we got to 30 % of the money was going out. And
I'm not saying this to boast. We have one of
the largest budgets in the state. And it's because
God trusts you whenever you trust him with your
money. I'm somebody who can't, I get bored so
easily. I can't tell you how bored I can get.
And if you guys feel like your relationship with
God is not exciting, it's because he's not trusting
you with anything. And the first thing that you
need to trust him with is your finances. And
then he can trust you with true riches. And I'm
telling, does anybody else get bored easily?
If your relationship with God is not exciting,
it's because you're not trusted with anything.
He's not trusting you with something. And this
is how you get the trust of God. How many of
you guys know that God loves you? I love my kids.
That doesn't mean I trust them. I want to be
trusted by God. I want God, when I'm in York
County, that's where I'm from. I want him to,
like, when he stands over York County and he
says, who can we trust? What church are we going
to trust this with? I want him to see our church.
I want him to say, I can trust Adam. Adam's someone
I can trust. Give it to Adam. I want you to know
that God's doing that over all our lives. His
heart, his eyes go to and fro throughout the
earth looking for a heart that's fully devoted
to him. And how... How do we change the affection
of our heart? Well, it's actually through your
giving because where your treasure is, there
your heart will be also. And whenever God sees
a giving heart, he sees someone he can trust.
Like I said, you don't have to give, but he doesn't
have to trust you either. And I don't know about
you guys. I love that God loves me. I love it.
And I love his forgiveness. And I love that one
day that I'm going to be in heaven, but I want
to be trusted before I go there. so that I can
be trusted then with something pretty cool too.
So I want to talk to you guys this morning about
giving. I want to talk about tithing. I want
to talk about being trusted by God. Would anybody
like to be trusted by God more? Have you guys
heard of this concept of tithing? So this is
the concept. You take your first 10 % and you
give it to the Lord. That's tithing. That's in
the Old Testament. It's clearly laid out. So
this is what ended up happening. The first early
Christians were Jewish. They were Jewish Christians.
The temple was still around. Early Christians
still tithe to the temple. At 70 AD, the temple
was torn down, and then the Christians had to
decide, what are we going to do with the tithe?
I just want to read to you a few quotes from
the early church fathers. Irenaeus says this,
in his work against heresy, he refers to tithing
saying, for the law prescribed the tithes, whether
in the Old or New Testament, and the early Christians
continued the practice to honor God. Do you guys
remember what I said? We often try to reach for
the ceiling, but we live at our floor. Can I
tell you this? My floor is tithing. I'm gonna
give more than tithe, but my absolute floor is
tithing. There's no way that I'm not tithing.
God's gonna get 10%. That's my floor. It's not
anything lower than that. I know a lot of people
that think they're generous. Can I tell you something?
Your mind's playing tricks on you. If you add
up all you're giving at the end of the year,
it's usually a percent or a half a percent. My
floor, my floor is 10%. St. Clement said this,
it is necessary that each one should present
his ties to the Lord so that the church may be
strong and grow in grace of God. St. Gregory
said this in one of his sermons, he mentions,
even as the law of old included tithing, so too
should we give what is due to God from our earnings.
St. Ambrose said this, let us pay our tithe to
God that the supplies of the church may not fail,
but rather be gathered in abundance for the needs
of the faithful. St. Augustine. The ancient custom
of tithing, though the law of Moses has been
fulfilled, is still a fitting expression of gratitude
for the gifts of God, and we should inspire to
such generosity. There was a woman who heard
me talk about tithing. She didn't have anything.
She was single. She had a young child. She was
on disability. She heard me talk about tithing.
She came up to me afterwards, and she said, Adam,
I want you to know that I'm going to start tithing.
To be honest with you, my heart broke, and I
wanted to tell her, hey, don't worry about it.
right? Just because of her situation that she
was in. And she goes, next Sunday, I'm going
to bring my tithe. Her tithe was $27. That's
how much it was. That Sunday, she didn't come
to church because she was too scared to give
her $27. On Tuesday, she came into the church
office, still scared to death, came in crying,
saying, I'm so sorry I wasn't here Sunday. I
was too scared to do this. She said, here, will
you take this? Took the $27, put it in the vault.
And this is what the secretary gave her. She
said, excuse me, Denise, that's her name. She
said, somebody left this for you. Handed her
a check for $900. It was her rent on her house.
It was in the office waiting for her. All she
had to do was come to church. Now, I'm not saying
you're going to have $900 checks waiting for
you, but you might. God's expression in his heart
towards her wanted her to know that he could
be trusted with her money. I'm a second -generational
tither. My parents taught me to tithe. When I
was little, we belonged to the Methodist Church,
and in the Methodist Church, I sat on my dad's
left. My dad doesn't have his right arm. He has
his left arm, and I'd always have to sit on his
left so he could hit me to wake me up during
service. And one day, he'd always give me the
tithe check to put into the offering baskets.
They passed baskets back in the day. And they
were actually big old metal plates. And I remember
the one day I opened up the check and saw how
much he was giving. I almost passed out. It was
100 times more than my allowance. My parents
taught me to tithe at an early age. So I want
to read to you. In Matthew, it says this. It
says, woe to you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites,
for you pay tithe of mint and arise of anus and
cumin and have neglected the weightier matters
of the law, justice and mercy and faith. These
you ought to have done without leaving the others
undone. I want everybody to know these Pharisees
were oftentimes proud of their giving and they
would actually make these little bouquets out
of their mint and their dill and they would actually
give 10 % of their spices to the Lord. And the
Lord is saying to them, like, there's important
things that the law has to say and tithing is
one of them, but you're missing out on the way
to your things and I don't want you to neglect
that. And I want you to know that Jesus was actually
confirming the tithe, that the Pharisees, they
should be tithing. There's another verse in Hebrews
that says this, here mortal men receives tithes,
but there he receives them of whom it is witnessed
that he lives. It's talking about the order of
Melchizedek. But tithing was something that was
still assumed in the New Testament. When people
say, well, the New Testament doesn't talk about
tithing a lot. It's because they were still tithing.
It was a given. Another place, this is what Jesus
says. They said to him, he held up that coin.
He said, whose face is on the coin? And they
said to him, Caesar's. And he said to them, render
therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's
and to God the things that are God's. Can I tell
you what is God's? What is God's portion? If
you're a Jew in that day and Jesus said to you,
give to God's what is God's. What is it? Is it
all of it? No, because Caesar's some of it. It's
10%. So Jesus is saying to the people, I know
you're being taxed, but. Give to God what is
God's. Okay, now I want to jump in. Are you guys
still with me? Here's the thing. The way that
he talks to the priests is not the way that he
talks to the people. The way that he talked to
the leaders is I want to wipe dung on your face,
right? So he wants to wipe dung on their face.
And this is what he's saying to the people. He
talks very softly to them. He says this, behold,
I send my messenger and he will prepare the way
before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly
come to his temple. Even the messengers of the
covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming,
says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the
day of his coming? And who can stand when he
appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and
like launderer's soap. This is Malachi talking
about Jesus. He will sit as a refiner of purifier
of silver. He will purify the sons of Levi and
purge them as gold and silver that they may offer
to the Lord an offering in righteousness. Who's
he talking about? This person named Jesus is
gonna come and purify the people and then they're
gonna offer the right kind of offering. Who's
he talking about? Has anybody in here been purified
by Jesus? So he's talking about you and you're
gonna offer the right kind of offering. Then
the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant
to the Lord as in the days of old, as in the
former days. And I will come near you for judgment.
And I'll be swift witnesses against the sorcerers.
What happens when people offer up themselves
to the Lord? The Lord draws near. I want to say
that again. What happens when you offer up yourself
to the Lord? When you draw near to him, he what?
When we offer up our offerings to the Lord, what
comes swiftly? His judgment. Is there anything
wrong in Carlisle? Do you know what I want my
kids to see? I want them to see the swift judgment
of God on those who do wrong. I want to say it
again. I want my children to see the swift judgment
of God on those who do wrong. Because I want
them to know that there's consequences for doing
wrong. The reasons why often... towns and cities
and places where it seems like, it seems like
those who are doing wrong are getting away from
it is because the people of God haven't learned
to give themselves to God yet. But when we give
ourselves to God, his judgment comes swiftly
on those that do wrong. And I will come near
you for judgment and I will be a swift witness
against sorcerers, against adulterers, against
perjurers, against those who exploit wage earners
and widows and orphans and against those who
turn away an alien because they do not fear me,
says the Lord of hosts. For I am the Lord, I
do not change. Isn't that an interesting thing
to say? In Malachi, when he's talking about the
tithe and offerings, he says, for I am the Lord
your God, I do not change. Yet from the days
of your fathers, you've gone away from my ordinances
and have not kept them. Return to me and I'll
return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you
say, in what way shall we return? Will a man
rob God? Yet you've robbed me, but you say, in
what way have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings.
Says you are cursed with a curse, for you have
robbed me, even in this whole nation. Bring all
the tithes into this storehouse that there may
be food in my house and try me now in this, says
the Lord of hosts, that I will not open for you
the windows of heaven and pour out for you such
a blessing that there will not be room enough
to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer
for your sakes so that he will not destroy the
fruits of your ground nor shall the vine fail
to bear fruit for you in the field, says the
Lord of hosts. And all nations will call you
blessed for you'll be a delightful land, says
the Lord of hosts. I, some people get it and
some people don't. If you will trust the Lord
with your finances, and what is your finances?
Your finances are you. You are your finances.
How do I know that? You exchange your time and
talents for this thing called money. So when
you lay your money in the offering, you're actually
laying yourself. And we're actually called to
be a living sacrifice. I have my friend here,
his name's Dylan. He's a missionary. He takes
himself and he lays down his life and goes into
these places. Now, I'm not called to missions,
but I can lay down my life in the offering plate
to support what God's doing here, to support
what God's doing there, to support people all
over the place. And I want to say this because
I just don't feel like anybody talks about it
anymore. Do you know what happens? It's appointed
man once to die and then the judgment. I want
to say that again. It's appointed to man once
to die and then the heaven, no, the judgment.
Do you know at the end of your life, before you
go to heaven, something happens? Does anybody
want to guess what it is? You give an account.
You're going to give an account for your life.
And I want everybody to understand something.
Like I know that God loves me, but I'm gonna
give an account one day. And in that account,
I'm gonna be given the opportunity to have shown
him whether or not I love him. Not just with
my money, but also with my life, with how I dealt
with people, how I was as a husband, how I was
as a pastor, how I was with my children, how
I am as a father. My whole life is gonna be given
the opportunity to shine. And it actually says
this, that my life is going to be, put in this
place, and fire is going to be applied to it,
and we're going to find out whether it was made
of wood, hay, and stubble, or gold, silver, and
precious jewels. We're going to see if there's
anything left. And anything that wasn't motivated
by love is going to be burned up and completely
gone. But on that day, whatever Jesus wants to
talk to me about, we're going to talk about.
Whatever I didn't repent for, we're going to
talk about. Because I'm going to be his roommate
forever. Did you know that? Did you know that
the Holy Spirit is grooming you to be a roommate
to Jesus forever? And he's not done with you
yet. And if you're in this room and you're a
new believer, you might say, well, hold on, this
sounds pretty heavy. Listen to me. I want you
to know that I have an eight -year -old. I just
let him mow the lawn the other day. We have one
of those riding lawnmowers. He did an awful job.
It was like the worst lawn mowing job I've ever
seen in my life. And he got off the lawnmower.
You know what I said to him? I'm so proud of
you. I said, come here, give me a big hug. You're
such a big boy mowing the lawn. I have a 14 year
old and I told him, get out there and fix that.
And so he went out there and he fixed it. And
I was like, I didn't even tell him good job.
It was just expected. So God's dealing with us
as individuals. He's not saying like, okay, across
the board, everybody act this way. No, you guys,
his grace and mercy when I was in stage one was
absolutely mind blowing. I can't do what I used
to do or not do back here. I'm just in a different
stage. And I know, like I used to, I was so blown
away by his forgiveness and the fact that he's
created a place for me to heaven. Like that blew
my mind. It still blows my mind, but I want to
blow his mind. I want to be trusted. For where
your treasure is there, your heart will be also.
Did you ever get around people and you feel like
they love God more than you? I don't mean like
they act like they love God more than you. I
mean like you genuinely know that you know that
you know that these people love God. They're
givers. And we actually direct the affection
of our heart through our treasure. Nothing's
more powerful than that in all the world. My
wife, I can't tell you, I used to be a waiter,
believe it or not, before ministry. I would go
to school and I'd wait on tables. And I would
get all these $1 bills. I would spend all my
money on my wife. She wasn't my wife yet. I was...
courting her, if you will. I spent all my money
on her. My heart beat for her so much. Her heart,
we should have went Dutch. It was just a little
bit for me. Then I just, if there's people in
the room that are already tithing, there are
people that aren't, and there's people in the
room that are an eight -year -old mowing the
lawn. There's three groups of people. I don't
want you to get to the end of the line and find
out what God wanted you to trust you with, but
he couldn't trust you because you weren't trusted
with money. Therefore, if you've not been faithful
in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to
your trust the true riches? Unrighteous mammon
was another word for money. If we have an opportunity
to be trusted with true riches, don't we want
to be trusted? And if he ends up giving back
the money and some, don't you want to find out?
Can I have the band come up here? So... We have
something up here. They're going to show you
the traditional giving that you guys do here.
If you're in the room and you're like, you know
what? I want to give thriving a shot because
Malachi actually invites you to try it. That
kind of giving, that kind of generous giving
of 10%. If you want to make that your floor,
maybe you need to have a conversation with somebody.
If you're married, maybe that looks like something.
I don't know what it looks like. But until we
are trusted with money, he's not going to trust
us with true riches. Until we're trusted with
money, our heart's affection isn't gonna be with
him. There may be another group of people in
this room and maybe you don't know the Lord.
And I just wanna say this to everybody in the
room because it's a really good reminder. Precisely
about 48 % of what Jesus spoke about was the
day of judgment in his parables. Did you guys
know that? That means every other sermon was
about judgment day. That's a lot. of sermons,
of our judgment day. I'm trying to do it. But
there's, I'll just read it to you. How about
that? If you look at John 3, chapter 3, I think
everybody's familiar with John 3, 16. Did you
guys know there's a 17? It says this, for God
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
son. That whoever believes in him should not
perish, but have everlasting life. For God did
not send his son into the world to condemn the
world, but that the world through him might be
saved. He who believes in him is not condemned,
but he who does not believe is condemned already
because he has not believed in the name of the
only begotten son of God. And this is the judgment.
Some verses saying this is the verdict, that
light has come into the world and men love darkness
rather than light because their deeds were evil.
For everyone practicing evil hates the light
and does not come to the light lest his deeds
should be exposed. But he who does the truth
comes to the light that his deeds may be clearly
seen that they have been done in God. This is
the picture that's described. One day I'm gonna
die and there's gonna be a great light and that
light is Christ. And that light is going to reveal
my life, my motives, what I did, what I didn't
do, what I was trusted with, what I wasn't trusted
with, all of it is just going to bang across
me. And in front of me, two things are either
gonna happen. There's gonna be a path that's
lit and that path is actually me doing life with
God because I practiced the truth and I came
to the light. I came to the light my whole life.
Every morning I started off, I sought him first
and I came to the light. And because I came to
the light and because I practiced the truth,
and I'm not talking about being perfect. I'm
just talking about like just coming to the light
and just coming to the light. And every morning
I practiced what I was going to do one day, which
was actually approach the light. I'm gonna be
very practiced at it. It's called practicing
the truth. And that path is going to be lit up.
And on the path, I'm going to see my deeds that
I did with God, or I'm going to hate the light
because it exposes the reality that I didn't
love God. It exposes the reality that I lived
for myself. It exposes not this image I had of
myself, but actually who it is that I lived for,
which was myself, because I needed to be saved
from myself. And I'm actually going to turn and
run away. When I was a young man, I used to think,
how long is judgment day? It's going to be real
quick, very quick. you're either going to approach
him because you practice coming to the light
or you're going to run from him because you feared,
because you hated the light and you love darkness.
That's what's going to happen to every person.
And here's what we like to do. And I'm not saying
that we should or shouldn't do it, but every
funeral I've ever been to, people talk about
where it is that they went. And we're not the
judge, if I'm being honest. In fact, the Bible
actually says, do not say who will ascend or
who will descend. And so if you're in this room
and you don't know Jesus, like you don't have
a relationship with him, how do you know you
have a relationship with him? Because you practice
coming to the light. If that's not you and you
wanna start a relationship with him today, I
wanna invite you to do that. And this is all
I'm gonna ask you to do. I'm just gonna have
everybody close your eyes just for a second.
And I'm not just gonna have you raise your hand.
Kip Penrod is up here and you know who he is.
He's the one who introduced me. I'm gonna ask
that after this service, that you would come
up and approach him and then say that you wanna
follow Jesus. If that's you in this room and
you don't know Jesus and you don't practice coming
to the light, I want you to raise your hand.
Awesome. You can put your hand down. Anybody
else? Amen. I know who that was that raised your
hand. Sir, I'm gonna ask you at the end to come
up and talk to Kip. And he's just gonna lead
you in a prayer. For everybody else in the room.
In Matthew 7, it says something specific and
I just wanna read it to you. Then we're gonna
close. And I'm not one of those guys. If I'm
one of those, maybe I am one of those guys that
says we're gonna close, but we never do. Remember
when I talked about my eight -year -old and how
proud I was of him? There comes a point in your
walk. When you come to this conclusion, are you
guys ready? Matthew 7, verse 24 says, therefore,
whoever hears these sayings of mine and does
them, I will liken him to a wise man who built
his house on the rock. And the rain descended,
the floods came, and the winds blew and beat
on that house. And it did not fall for it was
founded on the rock. Now, what's the rock? Everybody.
always says Jesus. But Jesus is talking and he
actually tells you the answer at the beginning.
Are you guys ready? I'm gonna read it again.
Don't you dare say Jesus after I read this again.
Therefore, whoever hears these words of mine
and does them, is like a man who builds the house
on the rock. What is the rock? It's those who
do. what he commands. Whoever hears these words
of mine and does them is like a wise man who
built his house on the rock. The foolish man
hears the words and then doesn't do them. The
foundation in other places, it calls Jesus the
rock. But in this parable specifically, it says
the wise person is the one who can hear what
Jesus is saying and does them. Let's be wise
so that when the storm comes, the house stands.
Kip, I'm gonna just go ahead and invite you up
here to close. Church, I'm gonna ask you to stand.
Can God trust you and can you trust him? That's
what this all boils down to. You can trust God
with what he says, what it requires of us, what
he calls us to do. We pray that you were impacted
powerfully by this message. If you have been
personally affected by our ministry and you would
like to partner with us as we love God, love
people every day, visit our website at