Do As I Say

June 22, 2008

Morning Worship

Text: Luke 6:46-49

Subject: A Solid Foundation

Title: Do as I Say

Do you believe that God has a plan for your life and that He has always had the same plan? I do! I also believe that even though God’s plan for my life was to be a pastor of a church in Palmyra, MO, I resisted His plan of salvation until I was older. That didn’t remove His plan for my life – it just put it behind schedule. My fault – not His!

Now, I also believe that even though our timing isn’t always the same as God’s when it come to our obedience, He will use us anyhow. All the time that I was hearing the message of Jesus from my brothers and sisters, and resisting what I knew was the truth, the Lord was building something up in me. He started by training me with people skills by allowing me to become a lead man and then a supervisor in a factory. Then He allowed me to get into the carpenter trade. He used that time to help me to understand the process of building things that would last.

I loved being a carpenter, and I still do. That was thirty good years of my life. I also like telling stories of when I was a carpenter. I worked for one contractor for 10 years in various subdivisions in St. Charles County. I have always had a reputation for having an eye for detail. I understood that the little things done right from the very beginning of the construction made everything easier. That is the reason when there was a problem in a house that had been framed up all the sub contractors would come and get me to do repairs or make it right. I think God was using all that time to prepare me for ministry in this church. It isn’t much different in the church than in the construction trade. Once you realize that there is a plan for the building and learn to follow that plan the construction goes better. Even though I used to have disagreements with the architects who drew our house plans, most of the time they knew better than I what was right. In the church our architect is always right.

I want to show you today that God has a plan for you and has outlined a perfect blueprint for you to be built into the Christian that He has called you to be.

Lord, open my eyes to see and my ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church today.

I. LISTEN TO THE ARCHITECT (46-47) 46“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? What does it mean to call Jesus “Lord”? When you trust Jesus you trust Him as “Lord” and Savior. So what does it mean to call Him Lord? The word translated “Lord” is the Greek word “KURIOS” and it means “supreme authority, or the one who is in control.” So is that who Jesus is for you? Is He the supreme authority in your life? Now I have to believe that the majority of us here today would say yes to that, but wait a minute. Do you realize what you are saying? Is Jesus the final authority in your life? Do you respond to His authority through the inner voice of the Holy Spirit? And if you do – if you call Jesus Lord, Lord, then why do you not do what He says? Listen to me; I’m not just talking about living a holy and moral life. If you aren’t doing that you should be. But right now I’m talking to those of you who are Christians and have been for a long time. When Jesus says, “and do not do what I say” He is talking about His word. You see if you call Him Lord then you have to confess that every word that He speaks is true. And if every word He speaks is true then why don’t you build on the foundation of His truth? Well, Pastor Mike, I do believe every word. Then are you doing what He says? I’m trying to lay a good foundation for you here so listen to this. The church can only be built to stand if the individual stones of the foundation are solid. So as this church is being built each of you need to be grounded in the Word of God, trusting that word, and then acting upon that same word. You see if there is doubt in any of you in the body of Christ then the foundation will not be stable. In Mark 6:4, 4Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” 5He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6And he was amazed at their lack of faith. Why couldn’t Jesus do any miracles among those He knew from His childhood? There was a spirit of familiarity there. The people thought they knew Him. Does that spirit of familiarity invade the church today? “Well I know Jesus as my Savior, but I’ve never seen any of the things like we are seeing in the church now. I’m not sure if people can be healed or not. That’s the same attitude that kept people in Nazareth from receiving what God wanted them to have. Verse 2 of Mark 6, 2When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. “Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! 3Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. If there is that kind of doubt in the church then the foundation will not stand. You see it is that kind of doubt that will also keep others from receiving what the Lord wants them to have. When Jesus was in Nazareth the power to work miracles was there, but it doesn’t say He wouldn’t do any. He couldn’t do any miracles because of the lack of faith. Back to Luke 6, 47I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. If you have faith in God’s word then what is keeping you from putting them into practice? It is because you hear the word with your physical ears but not with your spiritual ears because the spiritual ears are the ears of faith. The word “Hear” means to understand. It refers to the spiritual enlightenment that the Holy Spirit gives to the Word of God as you read and meditate on the word.