Message from Darren Johnson, Development Director

"Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock." Matthew 7:24

Luke's account says that the wise man digs deeply to get to that bedrock foundation.

"Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won't collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and ignores it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash." Matthew 7:25-27

The same storm seems to hit everybody's lives. The Christian is not immune to the storms of life, but what happens is that the Lord says that the strong house is built upon the doing of His Word. That house is going to stand because you've built your life upon the firm foundation of what He says, and you're doing it. Those who merely hear are building on sand. If you are hearing the Word and not doing it, your house is going to collapse!

The time to learn the Word of God is now and not in a time of crisis. If you don't know how to swim and you fall into someone's pool, that's not the time to learn how to swim. If you're out on the lake and fall overboard, that's not the time to learn to swim. A lot of people don't really begin to apply and do what they've heard until they're in a crisis. When they hear they have cancer or a relative is sick and dying, or they have an accident, they think, "Oh, what was it that I heard about this five years ago?" The time to apply the Word of God is now. Get it into your life so that it is woven into the fabric of your life, and that way, when the storms come, your life is going to have strength to it.

Look at what Jesus said in Luke 11:28:

"Jesus replied, 'But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.' "