Why do we build a foundation?

This may seem like a silly question but why do we build a foundation? Growing up in Sunday school I use to sing that song "a wise man built his house on the rock..." but what does that mean and how can we do that? 

Matthew 7:24-27

(24) "Therefore 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. (25) "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. (26) "Everyone 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. (27) "The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall."

You have two people here that hear the word (logos - image of Jesus). Person one Jesus compares as a wise man because he built his house on the rock. His house was founded on the rock. How did he do this? He heard the WORD and ACTED on it. If you read the Bible and do not do what Jesus says, Jesus calls them foolish. 

So what are we to ACT on? What is the WORD? - God will not leave you hanging...

Hebrews 6:1-2

(1) Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, (2) of instruction about baptisms and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

In the Greek the word teaching is the word LOGOS, the same word in Matthew 7:24 "word". And its interesting that this word is elementary which is the word arche in the Greek, meaning chief, beginning, corner, first. Its like school, you start with elementary school before high school. Jesus tells us to ACT on these elementary principles.

1. Repentance away from dead works

2. Faith on God

3-5. Doctrine of baptism(s)

6. Laying on of hands

7. Resurrection of the dead

8. Eternal Judgment

These are the foundations we are to build our house on. If we fail to do this, our house (life) will perish. But praise God that He made this easy. First thing we must DO is just change our mind and start seeking the LORD!

The True Teacher of the Bible = Holy Spirit

Joe mentioned some interesting things about commentary and how many books are about the Bible but the Bible itself, people have laid aside. 

But something interesting that Joe mentioned was that Moses was a man of God and he would listen to God and say exactly what God would command him. Do you know who God deemed the most humble man that walked on the face of the earth to be?...
Moses (Numbers 12:3)

Very interesting...Something God gave Moses to help him out in leading Israel was the Holy Spirit or Gods Spirit. Lets look at this:

Numbers 11:17 (16-30) I encourage you to read this whole context on your own. I am going to highlight the verses that I found to be interesting...

(v.17) "Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit who is upon you, and will put Him upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you will not bear it all alone.

Basically Israel wanted more then just manna, they wanted meat. They complained against Moses and in turn complained against the LORD. The LORD is going to give Moses some help by giving him 70 elders from among the tribes of Israel. The LORD notes that He is going to take of the Spirit that is upon Moses and place it upon these 70 elders to help carry the burden. So the Spirit will help carry burdens.

(v.25) Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him; and He took of the Spirit who was upon him and placed Him upon the seventy elders. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do it again. 

Here is something else that is interesting, not only will the Spirit help carry burdens but when the Spirit is upon someone, it says they can prophesy!

(v. 29) But Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the LORD'S Spirit people were prophets, that the LORD would put His upon them!" 

Moses' response was that he wishes the LORD would put His Spirit on all the people. Interesting statement if you ask me. Remember this is the most humble man that walked on the face of the earth. It says that Moses would talk face to face with God. Yet he wished that all men would have the Spirit and prophecy.

One thing I always saw in church was the same man up at the front. It was 98% of the time the same guy up there. The other 2% were other qualified members of the church that could speak in the front of the church. Let me ask you, do they have the same heart that Moses had? Do they want all men to have the Spirit of God? The Body of Christ is not a "one man show". It says that Jesus is the head and that there are "MANY MEMBERS". If you see the same man up at the front all the time, ask yourself, who is truly the head of the church? You may be looking at him.

There was a connection from the LORD to Moses and to the sons of Israel.

Moses was given a Helper to help him lead the sons of Israel to follow the LORD GOD.

John 14:15-21

"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. "After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. "In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. "He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him."

• Jesus is going to give us a Helper, those of us who keep His commandment. This shows that we love Jesus. He is not interested in "lip service".

• The Helper = The Spirit of Truth

• If we do these things, Jesus will love us and we will be loved by God and Jesus will disclose himself to those that keep His commandments. He will make Himself known to them. (Keep this in mind, its going to come up shortly.)

John 14:25-30

"These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. "You heard that I said to you, 'I go away, and I will come to you.' If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. "Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. "I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.

(v.26) - "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

This is where it starts getting interesting...

• The Helper = the Holy Spirit, will be sent in the name of Jesus Christ. 

• He will teach you ALL things and help you remember ALL that Jesus says.

If the Holy Spirit is going to be sent in Jesus name, that means that man does not have the Holy Spirit to begin with. Think about that...

John 16:12-15 (context 1-15)
"I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. "He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. "All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.

• The Spirit of truth will guide you into all truth.

Psalm 119:160 - The sum of thy word is truth and all of your righteous ordinaces are everlasting. 
The Holy Spirit is going to guide us through all of Gods word not leaving any out. If we take anything away from Gods word, its not truth. If we add anything to Gods word, it is not truth.
• The Spirit is going to take of what is Jesus' and disclose it to you. The Holy Spirit is going to share what Jesus' thoughts are to those that have His Spirit.

1 Corinthians 2:6-16
Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, "THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM." For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.

• We speak wisdom that is from God, not man (which is passing away)

•This wisdom that is of God has been hidden but He has prepared if for those who love Him (keeping His commandments)

• GOD HAS REVEALED THEM THROUGH THE SPIRIT, FOR THE SPIRIT SEARCHES ALL THINGS, EVEN THE DEPTHS OF GOD!

• Even the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit! These things are freely given to us to know if we obey Gods commandments. If not, then you will not know what is hidden in God. Why do you think that there are so many books written about the mysteries of God? Why dont these authors of all these books encourage people to read the Bible? Its all in here, not out there. Maybe there are so many books and views about it because they are all taught by different men? You think if the Spirit had taught them, they would all come from the same point.

• THE THINGS WE SPEAK ARE NOT TAUGHT BY HUMAN WISDOM. WE DID NOT LEARN THEM FROM MAN OR MANS WISDOM BUT TAUGHT BY THE SPIRIT.

Remember, Jesus said that He was going to give us a Helper, the Holy Spirit, who is going to lead us into ALL truth and teach us ALL things and bring to rememberance ALL that Jesus says. The Spirit is ONLY given in Jesus' name. 

Did Jesus or any of His disciples go to school to learn? 

Acts 4:13 - Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. 

Peter and John spent a lot of time at Jesus' feet listening. These men were uneducated and untrained. They did not go to seminary school and were not taught by men but by Jesus and these men had the Holy Spirit and were still learning even after Jesus left the earth. 

Acts 5:32 (12-42) -  "And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him." 

The Holy Spirit, who is going to teach us all things, is ONLY given to those who obey Jesus. 

If the Holy Spirit is given only to those who OBEY Jesus commandments. And is only sent in Jesus' Name. Then what is this commandment that we must obey that is invloved with Jesus Name?

Conquering Sin

So Steve brought out some interesting things in the Milk and Honey post and a scripture that he so kindly allowed me to expound on. John 8:34 Jesus is talking here and says “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. This scripture is cut and dry, there are only two people in the world; those that are slaves to sin and those that aren’t and in this context they are called sons.

So now arises the question, how are we set free from being a slave to sin? The answer lies within my favorite scripture (which is why Steve saved if for me). If you want to open up your Bible to Romans 6 and take some time and read the entire chapter, it is only 23 verses but those 23 verses are jam packed with answers.

Paul starts out with a rhetorical question to the believers in Rome “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?” 

Interesting concept right, continue on in sin so God’s grace is glorified? There is a phrase for that today, its called “come as you are”. Ask yourself one question; what was the first thing Christ preached when He started His ministry? I will give you a clue; come as you are isn't in the Bible.  Here are the scriptures of how Jesus started preaching. Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and say “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”.  Mark 1:15 “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel”.

Repent in the Greek is translated Meta-nous it’s a compound word simply put it means “change your mind”. Coming as you are does not equal changing your mind, it means the opposite; it means I’m fine where I am at, even if I partake in drunkenness, sexual promiscuity, sensuality, strife, and jealousy; I’m only human God understands... Jesus was very clear about those that do not repent it is in Luke 13:3. We as people have two options; change our mind and do things God’s way or perish. There is no plan C its life or death that’s how serious it gets.

You can see this in Paul’s response to his own rhetorical question in verse 2 of Romans 6. “May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”

So this brings us back to our original topic; how are we freed from sin? Paul is speaking to a group of believers that have already been freed from sin it says in 2 that they died to sin.  How do you die to sin though?

If you continue on reading it answers that question. “or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death”

So this group of believers that had died to sin, died to it by being baptized into the name of Jesus Christ. In Acts 4:12 it says “for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved”  Baptism has to be done in the name of Jesus Christ, you can’t be baptized into a church or anything else because there is no other name that can save you.

There is a list of promises if you keep on reading through Romans 6 that all follow baptism.

1)      Become united with Christ in the likeness of His death

2)      Also be of His resurrection

3)      Our body of sin is done away with

4)      You are no longer a slave to sin

5)      Have the ability to live with Christ

6)      We are alive to God in Christ Jesus

7)      Enslaved to God (in which we derive our benefit resulting in sanctification and eternal life.)

There are more things that come through baptism that are listed in other scriptures like in Acts 2:38 we receive the Holy Spirit when we repent and are baptized.

Our main focus however is how to be set free from sin. As Steve brought out before, Israel could not serve God in Egypt because they were under bondage and Egypt was the pleasures of sin. So put two and two together they were slaves to sin. Nothing has changed since then; people can not genuinely serve God while they are still slaves to sin, they have to act on what the scripture says.  When Christ said “repent and believe the gospel” believe actually derives from an Anglo Saxon word that means “by life” it is more than just “knowing it is real or exists” it means LIVE IT. So now put that into what Christ said, “Repent and make the gospel your life.” Has a bigger impact I think.

So if you have struggles overcoming your flesh and you are ready to stop fulfilling the lusts of your flesh there is an answer and it works. The Bible is truth and I believe Romans 6 says it better itself than I could ever explain it. There is a neat scripture in Isaiah 43:2 it says “when you pass through the waters, I will be with you.” Christ meets you under the water when you take that step of faith to be baptized into His name and He gives you the victory and sets you free from sin. Praise the Lord!

 Like always if you ever have any questions feel free to ask and if you are thinking about getting baptized feel free to write and we will try and answer any questions you may have about it in greater detail.

Until next time, keep those Bibles open and searching the scripture through.