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When Jesus was 30 years old, He moved from Nazareth to the city of Capernaum to begin His public ministry. The Psalmist prophesied, (Psalm 69:9), and His disciples all agreed, (John 2:17), that Jesus had a passion and a zeal for Church. He loved the house of God and every sabbath He made sure He attendedChurch (Luke 4:16).
Jesus was also committed to helping others everywhere He went throughout the week. He was a Bible Teacher by profession. Each day, after rising early and spending personal time with God in prayer, (Mark 1:35), Jesus found some person or some group of people to encourage or instruct in the Scriptures. He walked from town to town along the public highways, where everyother common man was walking, and along the way He met and helped people in need (Acts 10:38).
Matthew 4:23 & Matthew 9:35 both give the same account of an average day in the life of Jesus:
Jesus went about all the cities and villages of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every type of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.
This was His every day and all He wanted to do. Jesus wanted to show the love of God to others. Jesus wanted others to know God cared and that God would help them with their immediate personal need as well as teach them how to live a more godly and productive life. Jesus never left anyone worse than when He met them. Not everyone followed His advice, but if they had, they and everyone else around them would have been better off.
When Jesus first began His public ministry, He quickly gained a reputation as someone who cared and someone who had the ability to help. He healed the sick, He fed the hungry, He blessed the poor, and He loved the children. Jesus was perfect and except for the people who had an ungodly agenda or were motivated by the devil, everyone loved Him. He didn’t agree with or please everyone, but He was a good man.
One day a large group of people gathered on a hillside close to the city of Capernaum to hear what Jesus had to say. Perhaps you have visited this location with me on one of our past tours in Israel. I’ve sat with hundreds of people and scores of Pastors through the years on what is commonly called the Mount of Beatitudes and opened our Bibles and read the whole Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6, & 7) aloud together. It continues to be one of the most memorable highlights of our trips to The Holy Land.
This morning we are going to focus our attention on the last few verses at the end of the message Jesus taught the multitudes on the hillside that day. Picture them sitting on the waving grass looking out over the Sea of Galilee in all its beauty as they felt the God-sent breeze blowing the words of Jesus up the hillside and into their hearts.
I encourage you to read the whole sermon in a quiet setting and listen to that still small voice in your heart … this one passage has the power to change your life forever. Let’s read beginning at:
Matthew 7 NKJV
12 ¶ “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
14 “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
15 ¶ “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
16 “You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
17 “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19 “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 “Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
21 ¶ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
22 “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:
25 “and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:
27 “and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching,
29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
This morning I have no greater wisdom to share with you than to encourage you to listen to the words of Jesus … they are just as powerful today as they were 2000 years ago on that hillside. Let your guard downand follow the Lord with gladness. Jesus has no agenda but to save you from an eternity in hell and from the hell of this life as well.
Let’s sum up our time in the word today:
How can a person build their life on the Rock? Simply listen to the words of Jesus and start doing what He said. It is simple but it is not easy. Do you think you can please Jesus for an hour? I think you can. Ok then – try it. Then the next hour … try it again. If all you can do is please Him with your next word or next decision … you can build your house on the Rock, one block, one hour, one word, one decision, one day at a time.
Let’s all commit to the next hour … I’m going to start building on the Rock.
