Good morning. This is from Matthew chapter 7 starting with verse 24. Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act upon them, will be like a foolish man, who built this house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the wind blew, and burst against that house; and it fell, and great was it's fall. It says the one who hears God's word and acts upon them that person may be compared to a wise man who built his house upon the rock. James said to be a doer and not just a hearer of the words. A lot of Christians sit in church and hear words from the preacher. They say yes and amen; but they don't act upon the words. Some of them even want their ears tickled. They don't want to hear words that say they've done wrong. When you are a doer of God's word then nothing can defeat you. Rain, flood, wind – nothing made the house fall. That's because your foundation stone is the rock - remember that Jesus said upon this rock I will build my church. The one who hears God's words and does not act upon them will perish. They will not be able to stand against the storms of life. They will seek shelter in the things of the world. How do you know if someone is acting upon God's word, and who is the one that just listens but does not act? Verse 16 you will know them by their fruits. Every good tree bears good fruit every bad tree bears bad fruit. What kind of fruit do you see in that person's life? Of course is easy to show good fruit when nothing bad is happening; when there is no storm beating against your life. You have built your life upon the rock, and you will stand in the time of storm. You have heard God's words and acted upon them. You bear good fruit in every situation. Father help the reader to continually act upon Your word; to stand strong on the firm foundation in the time of storm so that nothing will defeat him/her.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me

  Good morning. Paul then gives a list of a lot of things that he has gone through as an apostle. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. There could be many people that you listen to either in church or through the Internet or other means; but there was only one person (as a general rule it was a person) that lead you to Christ. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. He was saying that just like a child imitates his or her father, they were to imitate him. He says that again seven chapters later. Since it is easy to forget some things about people we have not seen in a while, Paul says that he sent Timothy to them to remind them of his ways which are in Christ, just as he taught everywhere in every church. Some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. I shall find ou...
Read more
  Good morning. So Peter just told them that basically they were responsible for the death of Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brethren, what shall we do? Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. As we will see much later, it seems that at this point in time they believed that you could not receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit without first being baptized in water. It appears that that idea did not change until chapter 10 after God baptized Cornelius and his family in the Holy Spirit before they were water baptized. Now lest someone think that this was just for the people in the first century Peter then says, for the promise (of the Father - baptism in the Holy Spirit) is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself. That means us! And...
Read more

And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it

  Good morning. I pray that everything is all right with your family. And as he heard these words,  Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it – ya think? Based on Peter’s words to the wife later, I don’t think Peter was expecting this to happen. If that happened today, a lot of congregations would be shrinking 😳 . The young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him. Notice that there was no ceremony, and no one gave a eulogy. I don’t know if that was the custom or if it was because of the way he died – probably the custom. They needed to bury people right away because there was no embalming. Now there elapsed an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. What, no one cellphoned her 🙃 ? Notice that it took three hours. Whether that is because it was a long way off, or it took a long time to dig a grave we don’t know. Responding to her, Peter said, tell me whet...
Read more