LUKE 6 BUILD YOUR BEHAVIOR ON GODS WORD2018 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 6 Build Your Behavior On Gods Word

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2018. Luke chapter 6. We're going to be here in Luke chapter 6, and we're kind of in transition in between...

the old series and the new series. And so we are now going to be heading into looking at the books of Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. But before we got into that, I wanted to kind of finish out the year with

And then start the new year with the book of Galatians. And so as I was praying about what the Lord would have for us, what he put on my heart was this passage here in Luke chapter six. And this passage has been on my heart for a while, along with the parable of the sower, which we're not going to get into tonight. But you'll hear these throughout the

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through those books. And so we'll begin by reading verses 46 through 49 here in Luke chapter 6. Luke chapter 6 verses 46 through 49. Here's what it says. But why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to me and hears my sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like.

He is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house and could not shake it for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation against which the stream beat vehemently and immediately it fell and the ruin of that house collapsed.

Here in Luke chapter 6, we have this classic illustration that the Lord uses of the wise and the foolish.

And again, this is what the Lord has had on my heart as I've been praying about the new series for us on Wednesday evenings. We spent, I don't remember exactly how much time, I think it was about two years in 1 and 2 Samuel, looking at the pursuit of God's heart. But now, as we transition into this, we're going to be looking at foundations for Christian living.

foundations for Christian living through the books of Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. And so as a introduction to this concept of this idea of foundations, we want to consider this evening Luke chapter 6 and this illustration that the Lord uses. Because what we're talking about is the interaction of doctrine and application. Doctrine is the foundation for Christian living.

We do what the Lord says because this is what he has taught. And we don't do, you know, what the Lord has forbidden because that's what he has taught. We stop behavior. We start behavior. We base our lives and our actions upon the teachings of God's word. And so there's this interaction of doctrine and application that is important and necessary.

And so that's the idea here of the foundations for Christian living. It's the doctrine that instructs us how to live as Christians.

How to, you know, be husbands and wives, how to be Christians, how to love others, how to walk a certain way, how to not do things, and all of that, it's based on the foundation, the doctrine that we will find throughout Paul's letters to these different churches. And so Paul's letters, as we work our way through them, are very doctrinal. They're also very practical. And sometimes, you know,

in Christian circles, it can be easy to be one or the other, you know, very doctrinal. And there's a lot of, you know, doctrine and teaching about what we believe and why we believe and all of that. But then sometimes it's lacking in the practical part. Well, what does that mean for us? How does that impact our lives? And, and it is appropriate. There are things that we need to know and, you know, we, we know them. And so that, that doctrine needs to be taught. But,

But then that also needs to inform us on how we live and why we do what we do and how we do what we do. Now, as Paul is writing these letters, he includes both very, very solid and sound and sometimes difficult doctrine, but also it has great application. He's writing instructions to these different churches and he makes clear distinctions between the doctrine and the application throughout the letters. The classic example is the book of Ephesians where Paul,

The first three chapters, you might already even know the outline by heart, right? The first three chapters are doctrine,

And it's all that we have in Christ, all that we are in Christ, and all of this doctrine about Christ. And then chapters four through six, he starts in chapter four saying, therefore, and he goes on with the application. And it's based on all of the teaching, the doctrine, the truth that was taught in the first three chapters. So here's, you know, what the truth is. Now, here's what that means for us and what that looks like in our lives. We see a similar pattern in the book of Galatians.

The first four chapters are doctrine, and then chapters five and six are application. And so there's this, you know, building upon this truth, the truth of the gospel in the book of Galatians, the way that it impacts our lives, we'll see, you know, carried out to great detail in chapters five and six. Philippians is interesting. It's a little bit different. It's not broken out like that. It's more intertwined.

And so every segment, every subject that Paul is talking about, he has the doctrine and the application just kind of tied together there in each section. And then back in Colossians, he goes back to the other method where he's looking at doctrine, the first two chapters, and then application, the third and fourth chapters.

But that's why we have this idea. We have, you probably heard that when you see the therefore, you need to find out what it's there for, right? This is the tying, the application to the doctrine. Here's the doctrine. Therefore, live this way. Engage in this behavior. Do this or don't do that. It's doctrines that teach us what we do, why we do it,

what not to do and why we don't do it. It's informing the commands that we have from the Lord. And so as we look at that concept here this evening, in Luke chapter 6 verse 46, we see Jesus's illustration of that. And I've titled the message tonight, Build Your Behavior on God's Word.

And this is kind of the concept that the Lord wants to remind us of and emphasize to us as we work our way through these books coming into this new year, that we need to build our lives, but not just in a general sense of, you know, this is kind of who we are as Christians and we go to church, but our behavior, like our actual actions and activities need to be built on the teachings found in the word of God.

Here, as we look at this example that Jesus gives, it's the wise and the foolish builders. And Jesus uses them to illustrate, to show us what it looks like when we interact with God's word in a particular way. But as we get started in this, I wanted to share this quote from Alexander McLaren because I thought it was really important. He says, the first noticeable thing here is Christ's bold assumption that his words are a rock foundation for any life.

He claims to give an absolute and all sufficient rule of conduct and to have the right to command every man.

And as we get started tonight and also with this series, this is something that we need to come to grips with. That there is this assumption that God has. It's a correct assumption because he's God. He has the final say, the final authority in all of our lives. He gets to say, this is okay, this is not okay. He gets to say, this is what you do.

You don't do that. He gets to say, this is how you treat one another. You don't treat each other like this. He gets to say, he has the authority on what we do and how we live in every aspect of our lives. And Jesus here, you know, comes like from that place

understanding, teaching the word of God and saying, look, the way that you interact with the word of God is going to be crucial to the life that you live. And so again, we need to build our behavior on the word of God. And I'm just going to share a couple of points as we look at this this evening.

The first one is found, well, it's actually just found in the whole passage. I'm not tying these to specific verses. Here's point number one. Wise people take action that God commands. So here's how we build our behavior on God's word. We deliberately take action that God instructs us to take. Let's look again here at verse 47. Here's what Jesus says. Whoever comes to me and hears my sayings and does them

Notice a couple things about what Jesus is saying here. He's giving an example of the wise man who builds his house on the rock.

He says what this person is like, this wise man who builds his house upon a rock, it's like the person who hears what I say, hears what I teach, and then does it. So it's someone who hears what the Lord says and then deliberately puts it into action, lives it out, makes decisions to do what it is that Jesus said. And

He referenced this guy as the wise builder. The wise part is more in Matthew chapter seven, where he also gives this parable. But it's this idea of wisdom. The right thing to do is to take what the Lord says and put it into practice. Now, the contrast is you go on into verse 48, you can see, he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation.

So you have a contrast with this house with a foundation and then a house without a foundation. And it might be easy for us to kind of think that the house with the foundation is the people who hear the words of Jesus. But actually both guys hear the words of Jesus, right? In verse 47 and 48, in verse 47, he who comes to me and hears my sayings and does them. And then verse 49, he who heard and did nothing.

So we're not talking about a difference between whether or not someone has heard the teachings of the Lord, someone who has heard doctrine, heard the truth. We're dealing instead with someone who has made a decision to take what they've heard and do it or not do it. And the foolish person is the one who's heard the doctrine. They've heard the truth, but they haven't lived it. They haven't put it into practice in their lives.

And so that's foolish. But a wise person takes action that God commands. And when you take action and obey the Lord and do what he has taught us to do and live the way that he's taught us to live, Jesus says your life is going to be established. It's like building your house upon the rock. And, you know, the contrast is significant. In Okinawa, you know, they live on a little island. It's built on rock, right?

but they hit, they're hit by major storms, right? Huge hurricanes. Nothing happened while we were there. We were praising the Lord for that, right? But, but their storms can come through. We were at the kind of the tail end, I think of, of their, their storm season, but, but the storms can come through, right? And, you know, winds over a hundred miles an hour, it just can, and do great damage. And so what they do when they build a house, you know what they do when they build a house in Okinawa? They

They don't do like we do and they just have, you know, like a six inch slab foundation, you know, that we have in our houses around here. Or maybe like the little piers that, you know, you might have like that are under here, under this foundation here. They actually dig down these, what are those called? Pits, whatever. They dig down until they hit the bedrock of the island, right?

And they do that several points and then they pour concrete so that every house is sunk down and attached to the very rock of the island. So that, well, unless the island moves, they're not going to move. That it's tied down. It's like what Jesus described here. So that when those 150 mile an hour winds hit, the house is not moved because it's tied down.

to the rock. And in the same way, Jesus says, when you take my words and you live them out and you apply them, it establishes you in a way that winds and storms and things of this life can beat against you and you are not moved because you have taken God's word and put it into practice.

You have chosen to obey the Lord and you've taken deliberate action based on what God has said. And the contrast is if you don't do that, you still hit with the same storms. You can imagine that, right? In Okinawa. So one guy builds a house, he digs down deep. The guy next to him decides, I don't need that. We don't do that in California. I'll just pour a six inch, you know, slab foundation and we'll be fine. The same storm is going to hit them both, right? Right?

But one will survive and the other will not. And that's the point that Jesus is making. If you want to be wise, take action. Like deliberately do things that the Lord commands. Now, what are the things that the Lord commands? Well, there's a whole book full of them right here. So I can't go through all of them. Let me just give you one example. Verse 27 here of Luke chapter 6.

Jesus says, but I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who spitefully use you. Here's a command set. Jesus says, here's what to do. Here's how to relate to these kinds of people. Here's how to pray, you know, for these kinds of people who are against you. Here is the kind of person that you are to be. And so here's a command. Do you do that command? Do you take action to

Because this is what the Lord has instructed. If you do, you're wise. And that is digging down deep and attaching yourself to the foundation to build on the rock. Right? Everybody on the same page? We good? All right. So just to kind of like throw you a little curveball here, what are some other things that we can do? What are some other actions that God has commanded that we can take? Anybody want to just...

Throw out something recent that the Lord has highlighted for you or something that comes to mind. I know that doesn't help, right? Oh, what were you saying? Be kind to one another and build each other up. That's a command, right? It's instruction and Jesus says it. It's what the Bible teaches. And so we can take deliberate action because this is what God has said. Anybody else? Colleen gets the prize. Oh, all right. To love. Good. What is love? I'm just picking on you because you're Pastor Pule. So you got to know these things.

All right, give somebody a hug. We have continually, constantly instructions from the Lord and his word in daily devotions, in Bible studies and teachings and our own experience. We have heard from the Lord and we have his word to tell us, this is what you need to do. And it's our responsibility then to figure out how can I take this and make it real in my life?

and make it actionable. Make it something that I do so that I can build upon the rock. Pastor Warren Wiersbe puts it this way, all of us are builders and we must be careful to build wisely. To build on the rock simply means to obey what God commands in his word.

To build on the sand means to give Christ lip service, but not obey his will. And that is a danger that we all face, where we say, I'm going to obey. We say, I love Jesus. You know, we sing songs and we kind of are on the outward, right? Again, if you picture the two houses in Okinawa, one on the regular slab and one tied down to the bedrock, you understand that

On the outside, you couldn't tell the difference. They would look similar. They would look the same until the storm hit. And then you would see the difference. And that's a warning for us to be aware that the houses that Jesus is describing here

They could look the same. In fact, the one built on the dirt could look even better, right? It could look like, you know, it could be bigger. It could have more rooms. It could have, you know, fancier things. But the storm will reveal how durable the house actually is. Well, the next thing to consider as we look at this passage, wise people take action that God commands. But point number two is that wise people stop behavior that God forbids.

It's the same point, right? It's the same thing, but just reversed. It's inverted. It's the same thing, but it's also important that we have behaviors in our lives and practices that, well, we pick up from others around us, that we participate in because of our sinful nature. We have things that maybe we didn't used to do, but we

They've kind of just become part of our lives. We have things that are going on in our lives and behavior that is happening that needs to stop. And it's different than not doing anything and then taking deliberate action. It's being able to recognize there's a problem. There is something that is going on that needs to stop. And wise people stop behavior that God forbids.

This is understanding the doctrine, understanding what God teaches, understanding what God instructs us and commands us. There are some things that he says, don't do that. A lot of commands do this, but there's also commands, don't do that. I don't know if you can think of any, but I'll give you another example. Looking here still in Luke chapter 6 and verse 37, back one page. Here's what it says, verse 37, judge not.

So there we have the command to do something, forgive. But we also have the command to stop doing something. Stop judging. And you won't be judged. Stop condemning. And you will not be condemned.

Now this idea of judging, it's not just the idea of like having an opinion on something. Judging is making a decision about a person's heart, which you don't have the capacity to do. I don't have the capacity to do. We can't see the heart. We don't know the heart. We don't know the motivations.

So someone, you know, inevitably, whenever someone is like involved in sin and then, you know, someone confronts them about it and says, hey, this is wrong. They say, hey, you know, don't judge me. But judging behavior, that's not judging. That's not what the Lord is talking about here. Judging behavior, hey, you're living in sexual immorality. The Bible says that sin. I'm not judging you. This is what Bible teaches. Now, if I say your heart is wrong,

Well, unless I have direct insight from the Lord, I can't tell that. I don't know that. I don't know, you know, what your motivations are. I don't know what's happening within, and I don't know what the end result is in your life. I can't come to those kinds of conclusions. And so there is a condemnation that we bring, and this is an important one as far as, you know, to stop behavior that God forbids, because we can easily slip into this idea that we have the gift of discernment.

We know. We know why people are doing what they're doing. We know what they meant. We know what they thought. We know what they were thinking. We know why they said that. And we know, you know. And it can be an easy, it can easily become a pattern to our life that's happening without even our recognition of it. We don't even recognize

you know, it's not like a deliberate decision. I'm going to judge this person. You know, it's just, it's just happening in our heads. It's happening in our hearts and we're, we're not always aware of it. And that's why here we see that wise people stop behavior, that wise people will, will stop and reflect and look at this verse and go, Hmm, it says, judge not. I wonder, do I judge? And what does that mean? And how do I consider that? And, and,

Lord, if there is judging that is going on, if there is that kind of judgment in my heart and that kind of analysis of other people and conclusions about other people, well, I need to now make a deliberate decision to stop and not continue on, to break that pattern, to make sure that I don't continue in that behavior. That's wisdom. That's building upon the rock, taking what Jesus says to heart and letting it analyze our lives.

Any other commands to stop or things that God has forbidden? Maybe you could throw out an example. Yeah. Fear not. Don't fear. That's a good one. Perfect love casts out fear. So when you start to fear, then you know I'm not behaving according to the instruction and you need to go back to the instruction and figure out how do I stop this? How do I not do this in that way? So good. Thank you, Colleen. Anybody else?

Do not bear false witness. What does that mean, Pastor Pule? He's like, I'm going to stop saying things if you keep...

Do not bear false witness. That is not only concerning, you know, issues in the court of law, but it's about lying to your neighbor. Paul will later on say, don't lie to your neighbor, right? But speak the truth in love. And so there is a responsibility that we have to stop. If you're lying, stop.

That's wisdom, to stop, not to lie more to cover it up or to try to fix it. And then once I lie enough to get all this sorted out, then I can stop lying. So I just got to get through this next season of lying to get to that point where I can stop. No, no, no. Stop. Wise people stop behavior that God forbids.

I like the comment that William Barclay had on this. He says, happy is the man who never barters future good for pleasant or present pleasure. Happy is the man who sees things not in the light of the moment, but in the light of eternity. When it comes to stopping behavior, I think this is really good insight. What we're doing is bartering future good for present pleasure.

I want this right now. It feels good right now. Seems easier to lie right now. But what you're exchanging is future good. And so when you choose to lie, when you choose to fear, when you choose to judge, you might feel good about it right now. It might be a present pleasure.

but you're exchanging that pleasant pleasure, present pleasure. I don't, that's a tongue twister. You're exchanging it for better things that would be there in the future for you. And so there's a trade that's going on. And whenever you pursue those things that God has said, don't do that, and you behave that way, it's taking away from the future good that God has in store for you. Wise people stop trading.

behavior that God forbids. Well, the third point and final point for this evening is wise people keep comparing their behavior to God's word. Same thought, right? Same, I mean, we're talking about, it's a simple illustration that the Lord uses, but this is an important thing for us to consider. And that is that, that ongoing comparison, that ongoing check to see, does my behavior match what the Bible teaches?

Does my behavior match what the scripture uses to describe, you know, a Christian man or a Christian woman, a husband or a wife? Does my behavior match that? Notice what Jesus says in verse 46 here. He says, Jesus here is calling out. He's saying, look, there is a mismatch. Things aren't lining up the way that they should. Things aren't matching up the way that they should.

There is that declaration, Lord, Lord. The house looks good. It's even got a couple extra rooms on it. You know, it's a good looking house. But Jesus says the problem is there's no foundation. You don't do the things that I say. It looks good. You sound good. You say, Lord, Lord, but you're not doing what I've called you to do. You're not following my instruction. This is not something that just happens naturally.

at the beginning. Sometimes when we're talking about and looking at some of these parables, we can easily relate them to like the idea of the initial gospel message, right? Think about the parable of the sower, the four different types of soil, and I'm not going to get into all the details there. But our typical mindset on that parable is whether or not someone is saved or

by how they receive the gospel, how they receive the evangelistic message of Jesus Christ and what he's done for us, right? But that's, I would suggest that's not the limit of what that parable is talking about because Jesus himself says,

The seed is the word of God. It's not just the initial gospel message that is being described there. And we'll get into that as we get into the book of Galatians because, well, we can consider what type of soil the Galatians had based on what Paul is addressing there in the letter to the Galatians. And there's some interesting things for us to consider about that.

But the same thing as we look at this illustration of the builders, building on the rock or not building on the rock. And you could think, well, hey, I'm building on the rock because I prayed this prayer back in 1973. I wasn't born yet, but Pastor Puglia, that's when he prayed the prayer. I'm just kidding. But, you know, I prayed this prayer many years ago.

I made this decision. I went forward at this. And so therefore, I've built my house on the rock. It's already done. My house is built. It's on the rock because I did this one thing, you know, 20 years ago. And that's not what the Lord is calling us to, you know, come to that conclusion here. He's talking to people who say, Lord, Lord.

They prayed the prayer 20 years ago or 10 years ago or five minutes ago. And they say, Lord, Lord, but there's a mismatch now in what they say and what their life is actually like. And so they're building their house on the sand because they're not being obedient to what the Lord says, even though they say, Lord, Lord.

Now in Matthew chapter 7, the passage is even a little bit stronger because Jesus is teaching there, not everybody who says, Lord, Lord, actually gets into heaven. Just because you say that, just because you have a good looking house, just because everything looks right, that doesn't mean that you're in. Then Jesus goes on in chapter 7 of Matthew to tell this parable that there has to be the application. And so there is a need for us to not just look at that first initial encounter with the gospel, but

but that we would look at our lives in an ongoing way and saying, does my behavior match? Are there issues, are there situations in my life where I'm saying, Lord, Lord, but I'm not actually doing the things that the Lord says? This verse continues to come back up in my mind as I prepare for the new series in Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. It's Paul's word to Timothy.

In 1 Timothy 4.16, he says, Paul is talking about here, and this idea of taking heed is, it's an ongoing, pay attention to this, guard this in your life. And he says two things here.

that he needs to pay attention to. You know what they are? Doctrine and application. Foundation for Christian living. These are the two things Paul says you need to take heed to those things. I think another good translation of this in 1 Timothy 4.16 is the New Living Translation, where he says, keep a close watch on how you live and on your teaching. These are two things you need to keep an eye on. And you need to do a comparison.

What is the doctrine? What am I teaching? What have I been taught by the scriptures? And how am I living? And do they match? Do I say, Lord, Lord, and live, Lord, Lord? Or do I say, Lord, Lord, and then do the things that God forbids? Or do I say, Lord, Lord, and then I don't do the things that God commands? Do I say, Lord, Lord, and do, Lord, Lord? Or is there a mismatch? And would Jesus say to us, why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and do not do the things that

that I say. This is something for us to consider, even as those who have been believers for a long time. Think about this building, right? This sanctuary and our foundation. And we have a very good idea of what this foundation is like, don't we? Because we had to rip up everything and look at the foundation. Now, what's interesting is when we started that project, we had a different perspective than what we actually found.

We thought the issue primarily was the foundation. And we were anticipating that we were going to be fixing the foundation of the building. But as we began to uncover and remove things, and then we could get a clear look at what was going on, we found here in the sanctuary that the foundation actually wasn't the primary issue. The issue is more that the structure, the floor itself,

wasn't attached to the foundation very securely. And so that's why there was dips and valleys and holes and, you know, people would walk by and you would go kind of roll with the wood, you know, as they were walking by and you would feel all that. There was, because there was foundation and the foundation was actually secure, but things had become detached over time. Things had deteriorated over time and there was, you know,

moisture and dirt and things that contributed to that and made it happen faster and worse. And so there was a lot of reasons for it, but, but essentially the structure had become detached from the foundation. And so things began to shift and things began to move. And, and that was the issue. I think that really illustrates in a, in a powerful way for us, those who have been walking with the Lord for some time, that,

we need to maybe perhaps allow the Lord to evaluate if our structure has become detached from the foundation. Maybe it used to be. Originally it was. When this building was moved here originally in 1960-whatever, it was attached to the foundation. But in the next 20 years, it became detached.

Things began to decompose and fall apart. And, you know, there are sometimes pieces of our lives that at one time they were secured, man. They were more, you know, you couldn't get more solid the way that we were attached to the rock. The way that we were walking with the Lord in that aspect of our life, it was solid, dug down deep into the rock, boom. And we loved our wife as Christ loved the church. And then, you know,

20 years passes and things begin to deteriorate. And that connection, that structure needs to be maintained. And there needs to be that comparing of what does my behavior match what it is that God teaches? You know, in some ways for us as believers, for the rest of our lives, we're going to be repenting.

Again, it's one of those things, sometimes we think about repentance, it's that one time thing that we did, you know, back at the Harvest Crusade. Well, no, actually, for the rest of our lives, we're going to be repenting as we see things that are not lining up, issues that are uncovered or maybe have developed. And we didn't have issues before there, but

Now there's termites all of a sudden and we got to repent and we got to turn back and there needs to be this comparison, checking where we're at and see if we're attached to and not just assuming that our behavior is in line with God's word, but being a little bit critical and thinking, hey, does this match? Why do I treat my husband this way? Why do I treat my teacher that way? Why do I...

drive this way why do i talk this way why why do i does it line up with does it match with does it does it keep in keeping with what god actually has taught me and has commanded me wise people keep comparing their behavior to god's word and where there's a mismatch where i say lord lord but i don't do lord lord then there's the repentance and going back to god and asking god for help

to be attached to the foundation. He's going to help us to attach to the foundation. He's going to help us figure out how to live that. He's going to empower us by the spirit to live that out. But we also need to have that openness to be honest enough and humble enough to say, I might have become disconnected here. And there might be this issue that's outstanding. And maybe at one time it was really secure.

Paul, you know, will later on say in Corinthians, if you think you stand, take heed lest you fall, right? You're like, I've got a sure foundation. Well, yes, you do. But also, you need to maintain that. There's some upkeep. There's some maintenance. And you need to continue to check. Maybe some new things have developed. Maybe there's some old things that you didn't uncover that first time around, but

Now the Lord's ready to uncover those things and show you there's a deeper work that he wants to do. And he does that in our lives. And so there's this ongoing need for us to compare, to look at God's word and consider, is this what you've called me to do? Have you commanded me to do this? And am I doing it? Have you forbidden this? And have I stopped doing that? Is there a mismatch? Am I saying, Lord, Lord, but not living it out?

The commentator Albert Barnes had a little bit of a challenge this way. He says, perhaps having heard his words from very childhood, perhaps having taught them to others in the Sunday school, perhaps having been the means of laying the foundation on which others shall build for heaven, he has laid for himself no foundation. And soon an eternal tempest shall beat around his naked soul. How great will be that fall.

It's an interesting thing to consider that we can be part of helping others establish their foundation while still lacking our own foundation, not being attached. Saying Lord, Lord, but not actually doing what Jesus says. There is a need for us to do some soul searching. Not so much us to figure out things, but to really be open and allow God to search our hearts and minister to us about where we're at and are there things in our lives that

that he wants to address. Our actions need to be based on God's instructions. It's foundations for Christian living. It's application that's built on doctrine. We do this because the Lord has told us to. We don't do that because the Lord has told us not to do that. And does that match the way that you live your life?

I pray for us that we would be wise people. I want to encourage you to build your behavior on God's word, to let the Lord minister to your heart and encourage you about the things that need to take place, that need to start happening. Maybe the things that need to resume that once were, maybe there's things that need to stop. Maybe you didn't do before, maybe you've always done, but it's just now's the time. God says, okay, now's the time I want to address that. And so let's put a stop to that.

Let's change that. Let's not continue in that behavior any longer. We as believers in the Lord need to continue to build our foundation upon the rock, digging down deep into the words of the Lord and putting them into practice. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.