SPEAKER_00 0:05

This is the fourth of five sessions from our 2023 church camp held in Phuket, Thailand. Our speaker, Reverend Peter Chun, shares session four Faith that stands versus faith that fails.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Are you all ready to complete the race? Wow. Still full of energy, excited. Well, let's pray. Thank you for the opportunity to receive holy sacraments. Lord, we thank you for the words of Jesus that has power to transform life. We thank you for your spirit that is here to empower us, to transform us, so that we may become more and more like Christ. So that we may know Christ deeply, personally and more fully. In this growing of running the race. And you are running with us. You are calling us to move into a next level of faith, growth, and service. Lord, we thank you. And we ask that this morning you would by your spirit impress upon us the choices, the decision that we have to make to grow in faith. Faith that will stand but not fail. That we may know what it means to walk by the spirit and not according to the flesh. May your spirit come fill us and draw us to yourself. That we may enjoy your presence and the spirit of peace, joy and love in us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. When my wife and I were doing our theological study in uh Vancouver, Canada, we spent quite a bit of time uh driving around to enjoy the sceneries and get to know uh the places. And we were surprised to find that most of the houses and buildings were built of wood and only two to four uh story high. Now at first uh we thought that it was because of the ample supply of wood from the forestry, that wood, the main materials for building house would be wood, right? But we were told later that the reason wood was used because Vancouver was within the earthquake zone in that part of the world. And as a matter of fact, people were constantly warned that earthquake might hit Vancouver anytime. So the houses were designed to build to withstand the tremor of uh earthquake. Obviously, using wood would reduce uh damages to the buildings and minimize losses of human lives and properties in the event of an earthquake. Now I was uh really impressed with their foresight and uh wise planning, you know, and I hope the same can be said in planning our lives. So, one key uh question we ask, we want to ask ourselves is do we build our lives such that when an earthquake or storm comes, it will stand and not fall. We don't see scenes like this in this part of the world in Singapore. Because we have strong foundation and and we don't have storm and earthquake, but it happens in many other countries. So ask yourself what kind of lives we want to build. Yeah. In Matthew chapter 7, verse 21 to 27, Jesus told the story of two builders, I mean familiar to many of us, a wise and a foolish uh builders who built their homes on different foundations. Now, in this parable, Jesus tells us that the strength and the stability of the house depends on the foundation it is built on. Let me read what Jesus said. Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does then will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And anyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like the foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. So, Jesus, what Jesus is saying is that the wise man is one who built his house on the rock. And when the storm came, the house was able to withstand the flood and storm. Why? Because it was built on the rock, it has a strong foundation. Now, on the other hand, the foolish man is one who built his house on sand. And when a storm and floods come, the house collapsed, totally ruined. Why? Because it was built on soft and sinking sand. The foundation was weak. Now, Jesus is here teaching us the importance of building our life on a strong foundation. And he said, if our life and faith is not built on solid rock, when calamity or disasters come, it will fall, it will be destroyed. No question about it. We want to address two questions this morning. What kind of house should we build that will stand in times of crisis and testing? And second question: what type of foundation should we build our life on? With these two questions in mind, I want to suggest two points for you to consider, to reflect upon. First point is that the type of foundation you build depends on the type of house you want. Now, if you want to build a skyscraper, you must first build a deep foundation, right? You need to dig deep and to build a foundation that will support the tall building and the massive structure. If you want to build a two-story house, obviously the foundation need not be that deep. In other words, the type of house you want to build will dictate the depth of the foundation. And your vision of the type of house you want will determine the type of foundation to build it on. So I want to ask these questions. What kind of house do you want? I know. Well, in other words, what what kind of life are you building? You you're every one of us is building a life for ourselves. But what kind? And what is the vision or goal of your life? Now, these are very important questions that we must seriously think about. So let me ask you is it a life of material success, glamour, power, social recognition, worldly status? Are you pursuing such a life? Sometimes we do, but we still don't we don't even know because we are led by circumstances and people around us. Now, if it is if this is the kind of house or life you want, you will know what kind of foundation you need. Yes? And the foundation of your life will be that of self-interest, self-promotion, jostling with others to get promoted, yeah, to get to what you want. And it will be a foundation that will be built on principles and values of the world, like how to get to the top and how to get that get to the top fast. I mean, it may not happen to our people here, but I know a lot of young people they are pursuing such a life, building such a life. Now, invariably, you'll be driven to live your life according to worldly standard and worldly values. Your preoccupation will be to climb the social ladder, to rub shoulder with the rich and the powerful, to compete and to be seen as somebody in the eyes of the world. Now, is that what you aspire to? That's ourselves. More importantly, is it what God wants you to do, to be? You know, most of us want to be successful. It's normal, understandable. We want people to know that we are doing well in our careers and life, and this is the problem. So we buy things and own things to impress others. We buy cars and houses beyond our beans. We wear and own branded goods. Why? We want to show to people that I'm doing well in society. I made it in life. It is such an attractive motion to tell people around us, I'm okay. I'm not, I made it. The trouble is that to project and maintain such an image of success, we must work very hard day and night. We have no time for family, no time for friends, no time for the church. Even more tragic is that we are so busy that we don't even have time for God. And if we are not careful, God will be squeezed out of our life, and for sure, we are on our way to spiritual bankruptcy. So, what did Jesus say? What did Jesus say about the kind of life that we are to build? What kind of faith that will stand in times of adversity and will last for eternity? Now, the life Jesus talks about is a life of godliness. I asked you what kind of life do you want to build? A life of godliness, a life of integrity, holiness, and righteousness. He wants us to build our being, our character on godly principles, not really worldly values. He wants us to build our life on the foundation of God's word, not worldly wisdom. So Jesus uses the story of the wise and the foolish builders to teach us, in fact, to conclude a series of teaching on kingdom values. And this teaching, commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount, is recorded in three chapters in Matthew chapter 5 to 7. Now, this series of teaching is about what it means to live out the kingdom life. See it first, the kingdom of God, right? Yesterday and last night, we again talked about it, which is in the right smack in the center of the sermon of mouth. So, what it means to live out the kingdom life in this sinful world. What it means to live out our life, God expected us, who belongs to Him. So if you look at Sermon of Mount, we don't have the time to expound the entire Sermon of Mount, but briefly, in the beatitude, you start with the beat attitude. Jesus described who are the blessed, who are those who are blessed. In other words, who are the people who are favored by God? The meaning of blessed is God's favored by God. And he says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied, satisfied. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. And then Jesus moved on to tell the disciples, those who are listening to the sermon amount, not to worry about our physical and material needs, not to worry about what to eat, what to drink, and what to wear. He said, Life is more than food and clothes. And then in verse 33, in chapter 6, he said, seek first. And all these things shall be given to you as well. Wow, what a promise! In essence, Jesus gives us the vision of what a godly life looks like. This is what we are to build, the kind of values we are to have, the type of faith that that will stand, that will go along all. And this is the house we are to build. The life and faith of this house, so to speak, that we are building must be different from the world. That from what the world exhaust extolls. Life that is pleasing to God can only be built on the foundation of God's word. And this brings to my second point. The second point is this a strong foundation is one that is deep on and on the rock. Now, in the third century BC, uh a Jewish high priest known as Simeon the Judge said this. By three things, the world is sustained, held together. He said, by the law, by temple service, and by deeds of loving kindness. What wisdom, what insight, you know, that the world is held together by the law of God, by the way we worship God, and by the kindness we extend to each other. So, church, by what world, and by uh by what is your world sustained? What holds together your world, your life? What is the foundation of your world, your life around you? Well, listen to Jesus. Jesus emphasized in Matthew chapter 7, verse 24, 26. Again, I read any everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. Now I like what is recorded in Luke chapter 6. Luke chapter 6 also carries a shorter version of the Sermon on the Mount or Sermon of Jesus that was preached elsewhere, captured by the author Luke. And in Luke chapter 6, verse 46 to 49, which I like very much, which both is direct and pointed. Jesus said, Why do you call me Lord Lord and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does that, I will show you what he is like. He is like a man building a house who dug deep and lay the foundation of the rock. You know, I see James's mind is ticking and clicking, and because he's a builder, he's uh in the building industry, he knows it. No, the the key to building a house that will stand against the storm that is rain, floods, and winds. You know, today we see hurricanes, tsunami, pandemic, I don't know what else. You know, it's to dig dig and build on the wrong. Simple principle. Similarly, the key to building a line of faith that will stand in times of testing, like crisis, adversity, the setback in life, is to build it on unshakable foundation of God's word. Yeah, and Jesus used this illustration to drive home the importance of knowing and obeying his word instead of paying him lit service. Unfortunately, the church today is guilty, is guilty of Bible abuse and neglect, guilty of Bible illiteracy, Bible distortion and disobedience. The church is not perfect, is not free from guilt. Many professing Christians, including leaders, do not read the Bible. Do not know the Bible. And it is tragic that many believers are still spiritual babies when it comes to God's word. And I like the author of Hebrews who has so succinctly and pointedly described to us the scene of the 21st century, although it was written in the first century. He said, For though by this time you ought not, you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principle of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food. For everyone who lives on meal is unskilled in the work of righteousness since he's a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment, trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. You know, how lacking we are, you know, uh in uh solid food and immaturity because we have been constantly fed with milk. So those who know those who know what the Bible teaches, choose not to take God's word seriously. This is what's happening, and do not live according to his teaching. They see biblical teaching as irrelevant in this time and age. Not just Singapore, it's a universal problem. The Bible is God's revelation to us, far from being irrelevant, his commands are never obsolete, they remain the same yesterday, today, and forever. The prophet Isaiah proclaimed, the grass with us, the flowers face, but the word of God, the word of our God will stand forever. So the word of God is not only relevant to us, they should have absolute authority over our lives, and this is what is missing in our treatment to Jesus. We say that he's our savior. We never acknowledge and live out our life with him as our Lord, who has the authority over our life. So to recognize the authority of the Bible is to recognize the Bible as a divine, uh divinely inspired word of God that is relevant and essential for Christian life and witness today. To recognize the authority of the Bible is to seek to understand, seek to accept and to stand by it, and to live according to its truth and to obey its commands. That's the implication. To recognize the authority of the Bible is to put biblical truth and teaching above all other teachings, such as science, logic, reason, cultural and social norms, church traditions, denominational practices, personal experiences, philosophies, etc. etc. You know, I was shocked when I was in Vancouver, the Bishop of Westminster, the British Columbian, you know, he came out to say that we should not talk about uh Jesus' resurrection because it's faith fussy, it's illogical. Wow. And he took uh the theologian Jai Packer, who's an Anglican, to wrote publicly in the uh Christian's uh news, uh newsletters to uh take him to task, rebut his claim or his his uh remark that that it is illogical, you know. But see, Jesus' resurrection is a historical fact, it's a fact, you know, so what is illogical to man is logical and possible to God. That is the foundation of our faith. What else? What is he had to question? It has happened, but I don't understand, but I believe. You know, we feel embarrassed to say that I understand something you feel logical, illogical. This is our problem, not Christian. There are a lot of things that cannot be explained because it's God, but we apologize to non-Christians, yeah. Why to acknowledge the authority of the Bible is to put our trust in what God said in his word rather than to believe what the world said. This is a very sharpened principle for us to embrace, you know, to relate to people in the world. Our spiritual growth and maturity so depends on how much we know the Bible, and having known the Bible, how faithful are we to live according to its teaching? Fundamental teaching and principle. So that begs another question. Why is the Bible the solid foundation on which we should build our lives and faith? Fair question. Why you need to know why, otherwise, your your friend asks you why you your Bible is so important, you you must use your Bible as a foundation. Why? Why do you think Bible should be the solid foundation for me to build my life on? Anyone? Hello? You read the Bible every day. Is it a solid foundation? Yeah, of course. Why? Huh? Why is the Bible a foundation? You put on the pillow, pillow, and sleep. Strong foundation. The word of God, yeah. To build our faith. Yes, very good. What else?

unknown 29:14

How to live.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

Huh? Yes, teaches how to live. Yeah, what else? There are many, many reasons, but I think sometimes we need to think about because you know, if I believe the Bible is true, has authority over my life, I need to explain to non-Christians. Otherwise, why why it's so attractive? They exist in another superstition in this view, right? So I think we need to go back to the fundamentals. Okay, first, the Bible gives us answers to life questions. Do you believe that? What is the life questions? Who am I? You know, who am I? These questions, none of the philosophers of the world have found the answer. Yeah. Who am I? What's his life purpose? Where am I going after death? You know, there's so many other questions. And such questions, we either look to the scientists, secularists, philosophers for the answer, or to we look to the book, to the Bible, to God for the answer. And we do, right? So we must know. Fundamentally, I'm a child of God. How do you know? I I got the Bible to tell me. I've got experience of God's assurance that I'm I can call him Abba Father, and so on. Second, the the Bible not only gives us answers to life questions, it claims you know that it is the truth. That is the most important statement. When people, because today a lot of people don't believe that there's such a thing as truth. In fact, a philosophy already said I quoted for you, for everything there are many opinions, but there is only one truth. You know, this philosophy I I I did not find out the name, maybe must be a good Christian, you know. Because young people today, what is truth? What is good for you may not be good for me, and what is good for me is my truth. So, truth is relative. There is their understanding of truth. There's no such thing as truth, it's all relative. You know, so the Bible tells us the truth about what? About who God is, what is his attributes, how the world came about. Yeah, the Bible tells us about the the the truth about what original origin of sins, why there is so much wickedness in the world. You know what is happening in the world does not surprise me. I think the worst is yet to come. It's only in the kingdom of God that the best is yet to come. In fact, the best is already here. We are already having the best, except that you are not experiencing, you're not you know uh taking him in. It's the best. Yesterday we were saying that this is heaven or earth, right? Book it and what what what what uh royal royal paradise? Ah, royal paradise. Royal is uh royal priesthood, the royal paradise is heaven, yeah. You already said, yeah, no, serious, the Holy Spirit, you know, enable us to be uh people of the future. The screen gives us the future. We are people of the future, we are living the future today. That that is the Christian understanding of why what is our life? Our life is not just wait to die and then go to heaven. This is a very narrow view of the Christian life. Our life is a race of faith that is running in the heaven on earth, right? And we are seeing the future striving ahead, pressing on, running into the future, and we are living now with the future energy, if you like. Holy Spirit. You know, the truth about what fallen state of the world, you see, what is happening in the world. Yeah, I don't expect worldly leaders to exercise Christian principles because they are of the world, and what they do, the policy cannot be attaining the truth of God and the heaven on earth, so to speak. There's no none, no peace in the world. The truth about the destiny of the fallen man, and we can tell people who do not know where they are going in the next life. No, I have the truth for you. You know, and the coming judgment and eternal reality, the purpose of present life and the eternal destination. The Bible, you know, is full of truth about God, us, the world, everything, present, future, you know, everything. In fact, I think in our own lifetime, we can't really uh don't have the capacity and life, you know. For some, it's really wasted 60 years of life, right? You know, uh just like the Dini Tan, you know, 60 years, then you come back. You will try to catch up and uh they call it revenge living. Yeah, to live right, to live right this time, you know. And whenever you lost something, you get it back, you you you want to maximize it right. But young people here, you know, you have a full life ahead of you. You know, get it right, get the truth into your life. How can the life be wrong? You know, give yourself a challenge, and you know, and finally, the Bible helps us, it's very personal, helps us discern right from wrong, truth from error, good from evil. Help us discern what is from God, what is from the world, what is from the devil. Don't you have to be such a person? The Bible has truth on this. The Bible teaches us how to live this person's life with purpose and meaning, how to relate to others, with how to overcome our life's problems and challenges. Wow. And the Bible also refreshes refreshes our our souls and gives us peace, joy, and hope. And of course, the Bible is the word of God, and and and and with the help of the Holy Spirit, the the word of God become alive, you know, in us. Let me share with you my wife's testimony how she anchored her faith on the word of God. Well, she fought two types of cancer, three times in the last 38 years. She's now 68. But the treatment of cancers has led to many side effects, partial loss of vision, loss of hearing, and she has problems eating and swallowing food, among other side effects. She can only see uh uh a very narrow vision. Ahead, standing beside her, you put up your hand to shake the hand, she cannot see. Unless she's her vision is very narrow. Hearing loss, both eyes are deaf. Without hearing it, cannot hear. Only one ear without hearing it can hear. But not so clear. So sometimes the pronunciation, communication, even between both of us, can uh mix the words and the meaning. And she has problems eating, swallowing food, rice and hard uh food, only porridge, soup, noodle, or if you want to rice soft rice and then with water to go along. So this is her her situation. And at one time her doctor told her that uh she would not live to celebrate her 37th uh birthday. That was at age of 32. The doctor said, five years, I'll give you five years, you know, because uh the doctor suspected the second cancer, the second time cancer, that the cancer from the neck has uh uh gone to the brain. But praise the Lord, she's still alive. You know, all these years, because it is a cancer thing, you know, uh I in spirit I never pray for healing. Although I do pray, but in spirit, I pray that God will extend her life for a purpose. That's all I pray. God, you want to give her a life, give her a purpose. Yeah, in the in the same breath. If there's no purpose, why do I want to live? You know, but I mean, what is given, we must take it positively. So I want to live. So God, please extend her life, but give her a purpose. So praise the Lord, she's still alive and well, for those who have to cope with all the side effects. Her doctor said that she's a miracle, and it is a miracle that she's still alive. And they said that the way she fought cancer was also a miracle. The way uh, the way she handled the side effect and all the problems uh of cancer is a miracle. And one of her doctors asked her, how come you still remain so cheerful despite your your uh uh health problem? And my wife told him, I leave, he's the doctor is not a Christian, I leave all my problems in God's hands, so why worry? Just leave the words to the doctor. And the doctor, there was one doctor shaked hand and smiled and said, you know, I I respect you on that. Now my wife said that she was not hit by the storm of life, she was hit by the tornado, you know, after tornado of cancer and the devastating side effects of his treatment. And my wife told me that she overcomes all her affliction by hanging on to God because only he can protect and heal her and give her peace, joy, and strength. Not me. I can't help much. Yeah, but she looked to the right person, to God for that, the word of God. So she attributed her faith, you know, to the years of reading the Bible and seeking to know God and what is on God's heart. You see, since her conversion when she was still uh uh in her teen, she would at that time she will read the Bible every day and write down what she read. And she will ask God to show her what God wanted her to learn that particular day. She is with good with words, read internalized and write down, and she kept a lot of material. And in the later years, all these materials become very useful for writing cell material. She had wrote cell material for one or two churches. Now she also asked God to show her what uh he wanted her to learn uh for uh to even to help me, that kind of uh uh notion. And now she says that she has only a one-man ministry. She left the church ministry because of me, because I become a priest poster to cathedral. She uh stopped work uh as a church staff in St. John's St. Margaret to follow me to Cathedral, helping me alongside me. So all these years of building uh her foundation was on God's word, and that made her strong. That is how she she knew it. And when she was when she was hit by the tomatoes of life, her faith was shaken, but did not collapse. So you want a house that can today's house building with uh uh uh uh uh what do you call that? Or even earthquake or what they can move, right? Uh build, uh they can move. It's built such that you know it can withstand the the storm and all this, but we will not collect. He may be shaken, but not collect. That should be our faith, you know. My dear friends, we don't know what awaits for us, you know, in the future. So my question again is is your faith strong enough to withstand the storm of life or the tornado of life? We have to ask ourselves, do you think if a situation comes, a crisis comes, can you handle it? Now to be able to be able to overcome life's crisis and to be able to persevere to the end, and here I want to encourage you do not neglect your daily time with God. You know, many of us can spend hours reading newspapers, just take Half an hour to for the for the old papers, if you like, in the Bible, in the newspaper, and allow the word of God to impress upon you. Not just mine. Let it go to the heart. Because that deep, deep foundation must go to the heart. And you'll be surprised that after the long years, you know, when things happen, you know why you are able to stand. Because of the years of foundation that you have invested, you have built upon. And it is so essential to spend unhearted time with God to pray and meditate on his words. You hear this all the time. So that you take a decision to make some changes in your routines. And not only to know his words, but be ready to live by his words. You know, during Jesus' ministries, multitude of people follow her, right? Jesus knew that many of them followed because they were amazed by his miracles. They were awed by his teaching. They enjoyed listening to his stories and follow him. But when it comes to obeying his words, they always fail to put fail to put uh what they learned into practice. And Jesus was deeply disappointed with the shallower, shallowness of their faith. And Jesus warned that if our faith is superficial, if our faith is superficial, when the rain comes, when the storm comes, when testing comes, we will be hit by the when we will be when we are hit by the disaster and crisis of life, we will fall. And oftentimes we are very nice in church. Yeah, yeah, outside. When we go home, you know, we are a different person. We are very nice in church, very nice to one another in a fellowship. Totally different person in our workplace. Why? Because we can be selective. Our heart can be so selective in applying God's words in our life. We obey God selectively. We don't even know that. Why? We ignore biblical teachings that require us to make sacrifices, require us to be unpopular with the crowd. Give you an example. When your friend says that all religions are the same. I know when you share Christ with friends and all this, the best way to stop you from sharing is say, all the same, uh, you know, all religions are the same. You know, uh, Jesus is just one of the uh prophets or one of the religious uh leaders, you know, and they even tell you, you know, at the end of the day, whatever faith, religion it be, we go to the same God and go to heaven. So when someone tells you that Jesus is, you know, like this, would you dare to say no? Jesus said that he's the way, the truth, and the life. Nobody go to the Father except through him, in whatever way, you know, that is in love and in truth that you can share. Would you dare to do that? Well, in order not to offend or sin to be intolerant, very often we just keep quiet, right? We just flow with the crowd. Is it not true? You know, we obey only the Bible passage which is safe to proclaim and to follow. And someone said selective obedience is not obedience at all, it is merely convenience. Okay, see, obedience is more than listening to sermon, which we all do, yeah, listen to sermon, even even studying the word. It's more than that, but it must include putting what we learn into practice. Hearing, studying, even memorizing God's words is good, but not enough. In fact, it is meaningless if we don't live up what we what we learn and if we don't uh proclaim to be in Christ. True obedience, true obedience means putting our trust in God. That means putting Him first, obeying His word, doing His will. That is complete obedience definition. And truly, we cannot say that our faith is active and strong if in our hearts, in our spirit, we are not concerned with what it means to obey uh his word and and and and and and the will of our Father. And here these words of Jesus, which is so pointed and uh uh sobering, he says that in Matthew chapter 7, 21 to 23, he says that not everyone who says to me, Lord to Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. Very serious, right? You follow him for so long, he tells you not everyone will enter the kingdom of God. But the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven, it is not you do the will, therefore you get to heaven. But the will of the Father, you do the will, it is the evidence of you are in Christ, you are with him. He said, On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you work, you workers of lawlessness. It's very frightening, it's it's sad and frightening that we we run the race and and even right to the end now we find that this is the word that we receive. You know. So we need to win, win the race, win Christ. You know, not just finish the race, but win, win Christ. Faith is more than what we experience every Sunday or here. It is more than what we do in church, it is who we are the other six days of the week. See, authentic faith requires us to take the word of God seriously and to live out its truth. Where? In our workplace, in our home, in our church, in the public square, in our everyday situations. And obedience to God's words and to do his will is so central to growing in faith, to the so central to the running of the race. Faith that is true will require obedience on our part, to respond to God's call, to live up our faith according to his purpose, to be the person God wants us to be, to build our lives and deeds on his word alone. You see, if you look deep, dig deep again, love for God is so central. Love and foundational. Love for God is the key to uh wholehearted obedience. Love and obedience are two sides of the same coin. You cannot say you love if you don't obey. Or you obey without love. That is not obedient, there is something else. Indeed, Jesus said, if you love me, you will obey my commands, you will obey my words. You find this in John chapter 14, right? Again, we cannot say that we love God and not take his teaching and expectation uh seriously. A heart that that loves God will want to please him and obey his word. And we obey because we want to, not because we have to. Trust, love, trust, obedience are mark of an authentic faith, uh, evidence of an authentic faith. Our hesitation to trust and our reluctance to obedience are symptoms of a deeper problem that there is little or no love for God. So the hell of the church as a community of faith is how ready the people are to put their trust in God and live by His word. Amen. Let me summarize. First, the type of foundation uh you build depends on the type of house you want. So you need to know what kind of house, what kind of life you want. Decide. You now you know the choices. You need to have a vision and a goal of your life so that you can run and pursue. You need to be really clear about the kind of life you are building, right? And once you are clear of the kind of life you want, you know what foundation uh is needed. And second, a strong foundation is one that is deep and built on the unshakable uh rock of God's word. Jesus alone is our sure foundation, and he must be our foundation. So obeying God's word and doing his will is key to building this strong foundation of faith in Christ. Let me quote this, D. Hal Moody, who said this of God's word. He said the Bible is given to us, it's not given to us to increase our knowledge, but to change our lives. How true, right? Another man of God, A. W. Tulsa, said that it is not by reading and knowing the scriptures that make us better Christians. It's even sharper. Just now encouraged to read and know the scriptures. He says that it is not by reading and knowing the scriptures that make us better Christians. Rather, it is getting on our knees with the scriptures spread before us, allowing the Spirit of God to break our hearts. Then when we have been thoroughly broken before God Almighty, and we get up off our knees, go out into the world and proclaim the glorious message of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. Amen. Truly, the faith in Christ must come out of us to reach the world. So we need to approach the word of God humbly, with an open mind, a desire to know what is on God's heart, on God's mind, on God's will, and be rooted in his word, seek to understand it, and to live by it. A simple principle, but very tough. We can't do it on our own, only by the work of the Holy Spirit. So the man who built his house on the rock of God's word will find that his house will stand when the storm and flood comes. Last questions. How much of God's word do you know? Do you read and meditate on God's truth daily? But most of all, do you strive to obey God totally or only obey what is convenient and easy to ask? Amen. May God bless you.