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When the Storm Comes from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

“The words of Jesus, written in red, so easily ignored, by those who are misled.” That is what came to me while praying over this message. Jesus’ longest sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, spans chapters 5, 6, and 7 in the book of Matthew. Those three chapters contain the core of His message, and all the words there were spoken by Him. These chapters are wonderful to read and they bring us things like the Beatitudes: (Matthew 5:4 NASB)  “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

Jesus said some particularly scary things in His message like this one:

(Matthew 5:19–20 NASB)  “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

That is a flat out warning. The scribes and Pharisees looked holy on the outside, but inside they were so full of darkness they plotted on the best way to kill Jesus. They played the game outwardly, but inwardly they were a complete failure. Matthew 23:3 tells us the Pharisees “say things and do not do them.” They talked a good game but were just bench warmers sitting on the sidelines and giving advice. They were like back seat drivers.

In these chapters, Jesus covers personal relationships with very important changes that we should not look over, like this one: (Matthew 5:27–28 NASB)  “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Jesus goes on to cover giving to the poor and praying in secret. He covers fasting, how to handle wealth and anxiety. He warns us about judging others. He said to “treat people the same way you want them to treat you” (Matthew 7:12). He speaks of a broad gate that leads to destruction, a narrow gate that leads to eternal life, and the few people that find it. Jesus speaks of false prophets who wear sheep’s clothing, and He tells us that we will know a tree by the fruit it bears. Then Jesus wraps up His three-chapter sermon with this:

(Matthew 7:24–27 NASB)  “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. “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. “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. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”

Let’s compare the two men this sermon concludes with and see the differences between them.

- Jesus called one man wise, and the other foolish.

- The wise man heard and obeyed the words of Jesus, while the foolish man heard them but did not obey.

- The wise man’s house was built on the rock, while the foolish man’s house was built on sand.

- The wise man’s house withstood the storm that came, while the foolish man’s house collapsed in a great fall.

These two men had one thing they could control before the storm hit both of them. They both heard the words of Jesus, but only the wise man acted on them. The foolish man heard those same words but he chose to pay them no attention.

The wise man’s foundation was automatically being built behind the scenes while he was living by the teachings of Jesus. The foolish man did not deliberately choose to build a bad foundation, he merely neglected it, gave it no thought. He put no time or effort into it, and a bad foundation is what he got. It does not tell us that the foolish man burned in hell, for that is up to God, but everything that man had built here was destroyed. In contrast, when you live by the words of Jesus Christ you are storing up a treasure in heaven which can never be destroyed.

The storm does not just represent Judgement Day in the distant future, but the hardship, the calamity, the crisis, and the tragedy, that we face right here, right now. What does it take to shake your faith? How solid is your foundation? The same storm hit both houses equally hard, but the man who had heard and acted on the words of Jesus came through it fine without any loss. While the man who only heard and then ignored His words lost everything.

Reading the word of God is not enough. Hearing it is not enough. Memorizing it, preaching it, singing it, and defending it, are not enough. It must be followed by obedience, action, and doing. The only difference between these two men is in their response to the Sermon on the Mount. One obeyed His words, while the other did not.

Build your house on the Rock that cannot be shaken by living the words of Jesus. That will mean loving God and loving others. Give and it will be given to you. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Pay attention to those red letters in your Bible for they were not included as filler.

Faith alone justifies, but not the faith which is alone. Saving faith is a working faith. If you believe that you are a Christian but your faith does not require you to obey the words of Jesus Christ, then you need to wake up and question your teachers. Too many today take one verse from the Bible and build a giant skyscraper of teaching on top of it that sounds good, but Paul warned us about things like that:

(2 Timothy 4:3–4 NASB)  “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

Be encouraged. Our faith grows during the storms, and storms don’t last forever. It will pass and you are going to come through the other side. Read Matthew chapters 5 through 7 and try to incorporate as much of the words of Jesus into your life as possible. The more His word is active in your life, the more solid your foundation will be when the storms come.

You can pray this with me if you like:

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I pray that You help me learn to live right, to let Your word change me from the inside out. Help me align my will with Yours and to get in tune with what You are doing on the Earth today. Purge the darkness from inside of me and let me shine the light of Jesus on the Earth, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen!