Dunamis Church Yarrabilba
Peter Hartley - 17/11/24 - “ROCK & SAND - Week 6 - Two Ways”
I mean, let's get distracted these days, I mean, distractions are so real, aren't they? This is actually going into the message, so good work, at least. But I found over the last couple of weeks, especially because I've just been triggering more and more of my hunger for God, and what he wants to do in this place, that the more I press into him, the more the distractions come. Like the other day I was in prayer, and I was just praying, and I was just sitting there, and I'm just praying, and all of a sudden I just thought, "Gee, I'm hungry, what are we going to eat for lunch?" And I'm sitting there, "No, I mean, is there anyone else who gets distracted like that, or am I, I'm the only one, oh Connie, I'm so glad that I'm not by myself." And the rest of you people who are really holy, you know, I need to be listening to you guys on how on earth you guys do it, because I get distracted, you know. I mean, I take the dog for the walk and she gets distracted, you know, especially if there's another dog, she gets a little bit triggered, and anyway, it's, it's, yeah, it's fun times. But I found that actually my kids used to get distracted, it's so bad, we'd be doing something, we'd be balla-fly, balla-fly, there, there, but distractions come in all different ways and different types, and sometimes for us it's really important that we begin to learn how to move through distractions, right? The loudness of the world around us is going to increase. The world speaks, the world moves and all these different things. If you watch the, if you watch the news and you don't just take it as a grain of salt, it'll get depressing, right? Everything that's taking place in different people's opinions, I mean, I was, I was, I don't know if you know this, but there was an election that happened the other week and U.S. in the U.S. and Trump won, and then all of a sudden these people out of protest, these were women, I hit the laugh because I was trying to work out if this was satire or not, but there were women in a protest that were shaving their heads, and I was like, why? But anyway, it doesn't make sense to me, I'm so glad my wife didn't join that crew, but, yeah, but sometimes like the distractions of what's taking place in the world move us from where we are, right? And the enemy's plan is to distract you, get you off the path any way they can, right? He'll come and he'll sprinkle whatever, he'll put great things in front of you, nice things in front of you, things that you always wanted, things you always think you need to think you always wanted and blah, blah, blah, and all of a sudden, you know, it's like, it's like watching a dog go for a walk and all of a sudden distraction, like they're walking long, bird, dog, and all of a sudden they go chasing that, and go chasing that direction and all of a sudden you don't know where you are, you got to come back onto the path and start walking again, you know? Things are real, and I really want you to pay attention over the next few moments as we get in this and I'm losing time already, we'll see what happens, like I said. One thing I've learned in my life is the more distractions that happen at the more time, there's something that God actually wants to do and there's a reason why those distractions come, and you've got to pay attention, right? In any given situation, truth is only as good as the application to your life. To understand truth, we need to know what it looks like. You need to understand what truth looks like and what lies look like. Last week, we're talking about discernment, having discernment, discerning between the different spirits and understanding what they might look like in someone's life, understanding the loudness of the world and understanding what's taking place and the way the enemy works and his little minions that follow after him and what they want to take from you. You are valuable. You are valuable to God. You have more value to God than you even understand. I mean, he created you, he's put purpose in you, he's put destiny in you, he's put authority in you. He's put so many different things in you and then he loves you to the point that he would send his own son to die for you so he can be in right relationship with you. And the enemy hates that. The enemy hates God. If I said this last week, I'll say it again, if the enemy could, he would kill God. But the good thing is, God is bigger and he can't. So he can't kill God, he can't take God out. So he goes to the very next thing, that which God loves and that's us. So you understand truth, you need to understand what it looks like. Sending an apprentice to find a left handed screwdriver is hilarious. But that apprentice has no idea what they're looking for because what on earth does a left handed screwdriver look like? It doesn't exist, I just want to clarify that. Just in case you were going to go to Bunnings and go, "Oh, left handed screwdriver." You'll be walking through the shop all day long. But Jesus had this method to bring his message which brought understanding to the people of the day. And in Matthew chapter 7, as we go through the sermon of the Mount and we're tailing the end of it and as Jesus begins to land the plain in this passage, it's important to understand that when Jesus spoke, he spoke in a very real manner. He spoke in parables which were normal stories of the day. He spoke in a term that everyone understood what he was saying. The only difference is that was like 2,000 years ago in a completely different culture. That's an Eastern culture in a completely different language called Greek, right, or coin Greek, right, today we live in a Western culture and we look through Western eyes and we look through a language called English. So for us, when we read the names of Jesus or we read the words of Jesus and we try to understand what's going on, it can be complicated to understand. And even if you factor in the generations that are coming today, like we got multiple generations in this church, right, we got all those people that are over 20 and we got all those people who are under 20, right, and the people under 20, they have their own language. I've been part of youth and been involved in youth and I'm learning, I get an education in language, right, we muck around on our maximum night, that's our Bible study nights and we get out what's called the Gen-Z Bible, right. The Gen-Z Bible is a new Bible translation that's being written in language for the Gen-Zs and I mean I'm getting an education, I constantly get an education from my children and I had this great intention, I was going to read or make up a sentence and I couldn't because it doesn't make sense to me, it's just weird, but I can tell you certain words like bougie, yeah, bougie, bougie is fancy, yeah, that's another word for fancy, bougie, yeah, right, what's that? Yeah, that's a little bit bougie, fancy, it doesn't understand, it doesn't make sense to me, but anyway, that's their language, right. Then there's words like, oh that's no cap, means that's no lie, all you say, oh that's cap, that's means it's a lie, I'm like what, I'm getting an education from all these young people and then there's another language that's coming out as well called the Gen-L, Gen-L language and that's even wilder, if you don't think you can understand your teenagers now you wait for the next generation, I tell you, but the generational gap is getting greater and greater, right, this is all planned, right, if you think this is not orchestrated by the enemy this is planned, right, he is at work, he is working to whatever he can, he tries to get whatever he can, right, he goes after babies while they're still in the womb, he goes after children when they're out with whole transgenderism, he goes after the generations of the gaps with different language, he will go after whatever he can, however he can, right, but what really becomes important to the Word of God is not the language that is written, right, not the translation that you read in, but the context that's in there, the meaning that Jesus had when he spoke the words, that's what's important, we were talking about when we're talking about the Gen-Z and someone asked, should you recommend reading and I said simply this, right, when it comes to kids, when it comes to teenagers, it doesn't some matter matter what they're reading, but as long as they're reading it, as they progress and as they learn the Word of God then they can transition to something a little bit more meatier, I wouldn't necessarily use those translations to study from, but we're trying to give the basic understanding of these things and move people forward in the things of God and what's important to get out of it is the context, right, what it actually means. And when Jesus is preaching a message and this message that we're going to go actually has a passage of Scripture that finished, that tailed in last week, that is the beginning of this week and we'll go over it very quickly if I have time and I'm running out of time really quickly so maybe I should start speeding up to 1.5%, all right, but Jesus is preaching a message of warning, right, if you remember this passage of the Scriptures found in Matthew 7, 21 and 23, it says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of God,' or kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter." And many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name, cast out demons and in your name, perform many miracles and then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness, right. It is crystal clear, if you can't see this then we can go through a study process but it is crystal clear that there are believers who think they are right with God and they aren't. Jesus isn't talking to the atheist, he's not talking to the agnostic, he's not talking to the deism, he's not talking to the Buddhist, he's not talking to anyone in Islam, he is talking to those who are believers. And you've got to look at that word where it says, 'Lord, Lord, the only people who call Jesus, Lord, are believers.' This is a message to those who think they believe, right, who think they are right with God and Jesus is giving a very clear message, this is a build up of multiple layers of what he's preached to, he's sent them out, going from Matthew chapter 4, just after Matthew chapter 4, all the way through and he's building a concept, he's building principles in his word that need to be taken on and then he starts going on and he says, 'Many will come to me and say, 'I thought I knew you but you don't,' right. This is a warning and whenever Jesus does a warning it's probably a good idea to take note and we need to examine ourselves against the word to see if we are right with him, if we are walking in the will of the Father, right, walking in discernment, not being led astray by false teaching or false assurances but understanding, right, that Jesus gives a warning for a purpose and that we are walking in the ways of him, right, and as we approach these days ahead of us and as more and more temptations and trials and distractions come our way, we need to be more assured of who we are and that we are walking according to the word, that we understand the context of what Jesus wants us to have and we stop looking at messages that stroke our egos, right. But as we get into the crux of what I really want to talk today and as time ticks away we come to this passage in Matthew 7 verse 24 to 29, right. And the very first word, right, Jesus just gives a warning the very first word is therefore and if you don't understand what therefore is it is an anchor, right, is an anchor for what's just being said to what is about to be said. It's a joining word, it's a word that connects everything. It's a way of saying, hang on, look, I've just spoken, which he did through the seminal amount. Now I really want you to pay attention, I want you to grab hold of all that, I want you to grab hold of what I'm about to just tell you and I want you to understand it. I want you to hear, I want you to understand you need to get this, right, Jesus is landing a plane. He's a man to land a plane and he's coming to the end of it and he gets the crux of what he wants to tell you and he wants you to get this, right. The passage anchors everything that we have already covered to what he's just about to say. And then he says this word, I hope I got this going to fit in there, right, it just fits. I saw about putting this over two screens but there's too much in it. So we got this word therefore which is the anchor word and then he says everyone, right. So he's not just talking to the believers now, he's talking to everybody. He's talking to everybody who exists on this planet, right. Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and slammed against that house and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock and everyone, as that word again, who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and slammed against that house and it fell and great was its fall. And Jesus had finished these words, the crowd were amazed at his teaching for he was teaching them as one having authority and not as his scribes, right. We need to understand straight up from the bat that ending bit that when Jesus spoke, he spoke of one who had authority and the reason why he had authority is because of where he had come from. See, Jesus came from eternity to this earth to talk about eternity. And what gives him authority is the understanding of what is happening, what is happening and what will happening. Jesus is fully aware of what will take place. And anyone who's come from eternity and comes down and speaks to you about eternity or what will happen or how to get there is someone to worth to take a listen to. Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them, right. One thing to hear the words, it's another thing to act on them. If you understand anything about the context of Hebrew words, the word here in this context because you've got to understand that when they spoke, so this is Matthew, Matthew is a tax collector, he's a well versed person, he walks the whole life with Jesus and then he gets this point, right, and he's writing all these words down, but he's writing it from a Hebrew understanding into Greek, right. And so when we can understand the Greek words and we can take them back and understand the Hebrew words, we can understand the context of what's actually being said. So when Matthew is writing and he says he is, he has a second meaning to it, it has here and do. And so when he repeats and he says acts, he's actually reinforcing the concept of God. Don't just hear these words of Jesus, but live them. Don't just hear the words spoken, I think they're nice stories. Don't just hear the lessons that have been taught. You need to act upon what has been taught, what is being said because this is paramount to what we do. See, hearing is a powerful tool. Hearing is not just hearing the words, but it's registering. Like I've got to be honest, as a man, as a husband, there are times that I can hear my wife and not register what is happening. And then there are times when I can hear my wife and register what she's saying, right. We have this ability to turn off and turn on our hearing. I can hear the words, I understand this word is coming out, but I don't have a clue what you're saying, right. Hearing is linked to action because it's a verb. And when Jesus is referring to hearing, he's saying, talk about it more than just the words of the spoken, but act upon them, right. Prove yourself, do as of the word, not just me, here is. That's what James said in 122, right. It's the application of his word that builds the rocks in our lives. If you've ever built a house, the first thing they do is foundation, right. But if you ever get the blessing of ever building a house on rock bed, it's going to cost you a lot of money, right, because they have to dig into the rock, right. It's not easy, it's tough, it's hard work, they're sweat of the brow, right. You're going to have to break into the rock, to pour into the foundation, to establish your home. But I'll guarantee you right now, it doesn't matter what's going to happen. You could have a cyclone, you could have the most terrible storm to come through. That foundation is not moving. You could have a water slide, unless the whole mountain disappears, that house is not moving, right. It is so solid, but it's not the easy way, right. We come back to what Matthew is saying in Matthew chapter 7 when he talked about the narrow and the hard way. This is not the broad way, right. You build a house in the rock, it's not the broad way, it's not the easy way, it's the hard way, it's the narrow way, but it's going to come down to taking the application of the word of God that Jesus actually spoke, applying it to your life and living it out, right. And this is where it comes in when Paul starts talking about all the full and short of the glory of God. It's not about you living in perfection, but it's about you understanding the grace that God gives us to live the word, right. When we slip, when we fall down, when we're struggling to actually live what God says, this is when we ask the Holy Spirit to guide us and to speak into our lives and to help us strengthen through the process, right. You can't dig into rock by yourself. You need the Holy Spirit that enables you to actually dig into the rock so your foundation is strong. But the only way you're going to build your house on the rock is if you take an application of what has actually been spoken and begin to live it out. And the reason why this comes after the warning is God gives a warning through Christ, right. He says, look, many are going to come to me on my last days, right. Are we going to say, hey, look, are we right with you? And he says, no. Then he says, this is what you need to do. You need to take the word that I teach. You need to apply it to your life and live it. And even though they're going to be struggles, even though there's going to be temptations and distractions, this is paramount to your life. This will determine where you go. This will determine how you live. This will determine how you go through the storms of life. But if you're stupid, right, because this is what he says, he calls wise and foolish people, if you're stupid, right, which is foolish, don't listen, ignore me, ignore the word of God, ignore what is being said and nor what he writes, ignore it. Live however you want, live however you want to choose, right. Listen to the ways of the world, the finances of the world, do this, do this, do this, do whatever you want, right. I've lived in the world, I've understood the ways of the world. It doesn't bring you anything good. It only leads to destruction. My worst day, well, I can't say worst days because I learned I had not the great things. But all the days that I experienced difficulties and struggles were when I was not walking with God. And even though I've gone through hardship and difficulties knowing him, my spirit is good. I can sit here and testify and I can smile and say God is good. Even though what I have experienced, the hardships I've experienced because I know that when difficulties come, I can lean into him, right, and I can receive what he has for me. And the reason why, the reason why this is paramount to understand what Jesus is teaching, what he's telling his future church is in Revelations 2015, it says in anyone's name, right, if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he'll be thrown in a lake of fire. Right, this is not as, oh, you just made it, this way, no, no, no, this is so black and white, it's, it's, yeah, it's black and white. I don't even describe that. You either are right with him or you're not and he gives us all the clues of how to be right with him and he gives us all the warnings of how not to be. But he's saying there's coming a time and the thing is we don't know the time, we don't. We don't get a warning. There's not going to be a billboard assigned in the sky that says 10 minutes, right, there's not going to be angels flying around the sky is giving you plenty of time to get yourself right. Jesus even goes further and later down a Matthew, he gives the parable of the 10 virgins, right? Fiver them prepared, fire them were not and the five of them were running out of oil and they ran off to get by more oil and when they came back the door had shut. Like this is a warning that Jesus is giving us and say, hey, you don't know when I'm coming back but you need to be ready all the time. Keep your account short, keep yourself in the right place with me. Don't play with certain things, don't touch certain things, don't mess around with certain things, get wise. If you don't know, go to my word, what does my word say? If you don't understand, go to the Holy Spirit, let him guide you, use both, get wisdom, get wise counseling, get all the different things that needs to be happened so you can actually walk in the things of me so when the time comes you don't miss out. This is why he gives that passage of Scripture in Matthew chapter 7 which is what we just looked after and he says, then not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, because there are literally going to be people who I think they know him, right? That's why he uses the word Lord, who think they know Jesus, who think their believers, who think, oh yeah, I did that, I went to church once, were you, occasionally prayed when things really got bad, who were literally going to stand before him and God said, I don't know you, I don't know you, depart, but he's given a very clear distinction of the rock and the sand, the wise man who listens to the word of God, who applies to the word of God, will be wise, we found it on the rock and he who is stupid or foolish, who does not listen to my words, will be founded on the sand and when he gives reference to the storm of life, it's not the storms of that happen in life, this is actually the coming judgment that will happen, right? This is a second warning, second warning and when the storms come the sand will be washed away and the rock will stand. This is Jesus giving a second warning, whenever you understand twice, right, if you ever see word twice, you ever see the same calling twice, like when he called Samuel, it was Samuel, Samuel, Moses, Moses, virally, virally, these words when they said twice, this is what we call covenant, right, God is establishing covenant, right, this is law, this is principle, this cannot be changed, you cannot move this, this is impact, this is in the foundations of the earth, so when Jesus gives a warning twice in two different ways, in two different formats, you got to take notice of it, be aware, that this is not a game to play, right, you are responsible for what you hear and what you apply and if you don't know how to apply it, who to maximize, go talk with someone who does, go meet with someone, my number is easy to find, if you want to catch up, I am more than available, right, I will make time, but Jesus gives us a warning, remember he comes from eternity, he is concerned about your eternity, so he gives a warning about eternity, he gives us all the tools that we need to walk this road, he gives us everything we need to walk through it and then he says don't be stupid, right, we need routines, we need discipline, we need to apply things to our life, start off with what you can manage, this is why I tell people do things, do little things, right, establish them, like every morning I have the same routine, I get up, I read my Bible, sorry I pray, I read my Bible, this is what we do, I go for a walk, I pray, I listen to books, I come home, I do certain other things, this is just routine for me, but it is the very things that establish me in where I am going, where I am going, what has happened to me life, like honestly what got me through my hardest time, wasn't the fact that I have a beautiful wife, although that didn't hurt, the truth is it is because my silos were full, I had been in the Word of God every day since I got born again, I was filling my silos up, silos up, see you got to understand that this is living, this isn't a book with words on it, this is actually living, okay, and as you read it, it may not necessarily make sense, but it is about establishing the routine, getting into the word, routine has seen words and then God speaks to you through the Word, if you want to understand how to hear the voice of God, let me understand this, right, there is a reason why this is called the Word of God, because God has already spoken, right, God can speak to you orderly, he can speak to someone else, he can speak through his Word, he can speak through the sensing, which his spirit says, but every time that God will speak to you, it always lines up with his Word, he will never speak anything, does not line up with his Word, so you can always check it to see if it is actually God, so if God speaks to you and he says something to you, and you are like, hmm, okay, I will write it down, go look it up, and if it doesn't line up, discard it, because of this distraction, and as people we got to hear the voice of God clearly, we got to get discernment, right, and discernment comes from the Word of God, is why I am Word heavy, right, I love the Word of God, this is what got me through my life, right, this is what got me into my life and where I am today, this is what I will preach from, teach from, walk through, and even if there is no one else that will turn up, this is what I will come back to, right, I read this every single day of my life, this is what is important, the Word, right, I put Word, I put prayer, I put worship altogether, and I get a lethal combination to the enemy, I am not messing around, okay, I know where I am going, I am going to stay in that path, I am not moving, I am not leaving, okay, I will make it, and I am not afraid, right, my son, we were talking in the car the other day, we are not afraid to go, we know where we are going, right, we know we are right with God, I have got no fear, bring it, right, but I am concerned, I am concerned about what is happening in the world, I am concerned from a point of not that is going to affect me but it is going to affect a lot of other people, it brings in distractions, people lose their way, they do not know what is going on, they get filled up with fear, I am not afraid, the world can crumble, I know where I am going, right, it doesn't matter what the last days look like, what happens, it doesn't, honestly it doesn't, right, why, because I am going to grab that book and I am going to hold tight to it, because that is the word that has been spoken by God, and I have been building my whole life on this foundation of the rock and so when the storms come, I am not washed away, I am not worried about that, I am not concerned, I am solid, you know how I know, because I have been tested, I have been tested and I have still stuck through, I have been tested multiple multiple times, right, multiple multiple times and I haven't moved, that is how I can stand and say this, it is not pride that you are hearing, right, I know because of who I know, right, I know my heavenly Father, right, I know Jesus, I know the Holy Spirit, I am familiar with him, right, I spend time with him every single day, I am familiar with the Holy Spirit, right, and I can stand up here understanding who my God is that I am a child living God, I am not afraid of what has happened, I am not afraid of what is coming, right, something happens in our finances, whoop doo doo, right, why, because God has proved himself over and over and over and over again, because we have been faithful, right, I follow the principles of the word, I am not mucking around, you won't find this book in mind, right, because I have lots of Bibles that I have read through, highlighted, scribbled through, right, but you won't ever find any part of this, white it out, I never cut out bits and pieces, oh that is a bit offensive, no I don't like that bit, I am going to ignore that bit, right, I read the Bible cover to cover because everything is important, I don't skip through chronicles I don't, oh you know the fun ones like Leviticus, right, I don't skip those parts, I read them, there has got to be purposed into it, right, which you will find little tiny little nuggets in the books, it's like first chronicles, right, really good put, J. Beers, if you miss J. Beers, you missed out, right, you missed out on the stories of the Kings, you missed out, there is so many nuggets of wisdom in this book, and if you learn to listen to them words and sometimes the mention of it is so small, but it is still mentioned, it is so small to mention, it has got like three or four lines on it, but there is a mention of it, and sometimes we got to dig into it and go why did you write that God, why did you put that in there, and even though this book was written by man, right, it was inspired by God, it is the word of God, it was what exactly what he spoke, and sometimes he writes little tiny segments of different people, right, but they got to mention in the word of God, and if you don't understand how powerful this, let me put this this way, there have been many a person over the history of this earth that has tried to destroy this book, alright, they have burnt it, they have tried to outlaw it, they have removed it, and they can't, why, because it is the word of God, and you can't remove what God has respoken, ok, you can't, but you need to make sure that you are right with God, and the only way that you make yourself right with God is you go through Christ, alright, because Jesus died for all of us, so all the wrongs that I have ever done, all the disappointments that I have had, all the sins that I have committed, all the wrong things I have done, right, Jesus died on the cross for every single one of them, because without Jesus I can't have right relationship with God, and it's only through Christ that I can be right with God, and the first step that I have made, the greatest decision I ever made was to give my heart to Jesus, to give my life to Jesus, to say your actions covered mine, what you did on the cross is worthy of my life, he died so I could live, and if you don't know Jesus Christ your Lord is saviour, your far from him, oh that always came off, ninja skills, if you don't know Jesus is Lord of Saviour, then you need to put him right, you need to make that decision, you need to step in the process, and I will meet you down the front, because I will show you, see I'm not the source he is, I'm only a guide, I only guide you back to him, but I strongly want to encourage you all, that the Word of God takes prevalence in your life, see I can't make you do anything, I can only be a witness under him, I can shout it from the rooftops, I can say it a million times, but it's up to you whether or not you hear and you apply, it's only up to you whether or not you take in what he said and listen to it and act upon it, I can't make you do it, I can't even make my kids do it, I can only make my wife do it, I can only encourage you that you need to hear and you need to apply, but we're going to pray, we're going to close me because I've gone way over time, it's so abnormal for me, let's pray, Father I want to thank you for your Word, I want to thank you for your truth, I want to thank you for your life, and I want to thank you for the way that you have shown us, Father I pray that each one of us as we go, Father your Word that is like a seed will be planted deep and will grow inside of us, that there will be such a hunger for your Word, such a hunger for your presence, such a hunger to speak, guide and develop our relationship with you, like never before, that it would just sweep across this land, just to put things right, to make sure that we're right with you, Father I thank you for what you're doing in this city, in this place, in this region, in this state, in this country, and Father I just speak life into it, I pray that every person here and Father as we go today, and as we go about our weeks, that Father we would see you in more of what we do than ever before, that we would hear your voice clearly and be reassured that you are always, always with us, that you don't leave us, that you don't forsake us, and that you love us, Father we speak your hand upon each one of us, covering in your head your protection, your blessings and your favor, and your greater level of revelation of who we are in you, in Jesus' name we pray, amen, and amen, and amen, amen.
Sunday 17 November 2024 - 9:30am service
Sermon Title: “ROCK & SAND - Week 6 - Two Ways”