This is the Motion Church Podcast. Thanks for joining us. If you'd like more information about Motion Church, you can always visit our website at motionchurch.com. If you'd like to contribute to what God is doing here at Motion, you can do that at motionchurch.com/give. We hope you enjoyed today's message. Hey, so we're kicking off a new... There we go. Kicking off a new series today called Rock and Soul. Rock and Soul. Did you know that that's an actual genre of music? There are people that have kind of tried to... There was an album. I forget who it was. It's like in the 70s or 80s, like Simon and Garfunkel or something, you know? Anybody feel me on that? And then they came out with an album and it was called Rock and Soul. Not what we're talking about at all. We're talking about... We're gonna shift gears a little bit from kind of the format of our last series. We were very localized in terms of, you know, timeline. We're just looking at some of the stories from the life and ministry of Jesus and stories that demonstrated incredible faith and really enjoyed working. One of my favorite things to do is just kind of taking a passage of Scripture and just working through it, right? Kind of what does it say? What does it mean? How does it apply to us? What are some details that we're inclined to miss? Because we read... Sometimes I do this. Sometimes I just read it to read it and I miss some stuff, right? So I love working through a passage of Scripture like we did each week in that series. This series, we're gonna be all over the place. We are gonna be in Matthew today. We'll probably be in the book of Psalms next week and maybe the book of Exodus the next week. So we're gonna be all over the place. And the point is what we're gonna be doing is looking at in Scripture some of the references to rocks and the imagery and the symbolism and kind of the analogies that rocks have in terms of a spiritual connection to what it is that we're trying to accomplish as followers of Jesus. Makes sense? How many of you like rocks? Rocks are fun. Now, all the dudes, I promise you if we walked outside and there was a pile of rocks, we would pick it up and we would have a target competition, right? We're gonna hit... First one to hit the light pole wins. And for 30 minutes, because all of our arms are trashed these days, right? And then tomorrow we'd wake up and be like, "I don't know what's wrong with..." So we're gonna look at one of the many, some of the many, a few of the many references and illustrations pertaining to rocks in Scripture. Here's what I believe. I believe that anything that is repeated in Scripture is important. If there's a pattern that is repeated, it's for a reason. You're a parent. You know you repeat things that are important because they didn't hear it the first time or the third time or the 300th time. So you just continue to repeat things that are important. I think if there are principles that are repeated, it's there for a reason. It's important. If there is symbolism that is repeated, it also is important. There's got to be something to it, right? And I think that is very true as it relates to rocks. Did you know this... So it's funny when I was writing out my notes, I wrote offhand... This is verbatim what I said. I said, "Offhand, I would venture to say that there are over a hundred references to rocks in Scripture." So then I was like, "Well, I better fact check myself because somebody will do it if I don't." Right? I know y'all. And is somebody gonna call me out because you were wrong past... So I Googled it. And it said that there are roughly between 99 and 136 references to rocks in Scripture, depending on which translation you use. And you know, maybe this is a looser analogy or whatever the case was. So about 100, okay? About 100. And we're only gonna look at a few. You can thank me later. For the next two years, we're gonna be doing a series called Rock and Soul. Got a hundred messages lined out. We're good to go. So we're gonna kick off this week. We're gonna look at an analogy that Jesus uses that highlights the importance of rocks. Here we go. Title for today's message is a firm foundation. A firm foundation. Y'all know this. This is gonna be fun. Sometimes, I think the expectation sometimes when we go to church is like we're expecting to hear something we've never heard before. And I'll be very honest with you. Sometimes we just need to hear what we've already heard and do what we've already... Right? This is for me, right? It's not that I need to learn something new. I need to do better doing what I already know. That's what needs to happen sometimes. So the title is a firm foundation. The first point is, we're gonna call this one construction 101. Construction 101. I know a lot of you guys, guys and girls are kind of in construction industries or construction adjacent injuries. You understand injuries. It's football season. I already think about injuries, right? The construction industry connected like you understand. And if you have it, you've seen houses being built. You understand kind of some of the basic components of construction. We all probably understand how important a good foundation is to whatever it is that you're building. And that's the point that Jesus makes in Matthew chapter 7 verses 24 through 27. It says this. So just before we dive into it, it's the two paths, right? It's the two ways that you can choose to live your life. I think we think sometimes that there's a lot of different paths. And the reality is it's like, yeah, those paths may look different, but it's still the same path, right? You can take this road or you can take this road. One ends well, one not so well. Therefore, if it says therefore, preacher joke, you got to see what it's there for. Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine, this is Jesus talking, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock 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. Founded on the rock is another way of saying what the rock was its foundation. So it was founded on the rock. 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 and the rain descended. The floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house and it fell and great was its fall. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to break down both of those paths, right? But what does it look like when you build your house on the rock? What does it look like when you build your house on the sand? What are kind of some of the things that go into that? And ultimately, what is the outcome of that? And really, I hope through contrast, we can see which is the better path for us as if you don't know this. But sometimes again, just important to be reminded of things that we know. So we're going to break it down. You ready? Break it down. I thought you were going to start dancing. Break it down. Break it down. This is the first thing that Jesus said. Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine, whoever hears these sayings of mine, that's where for us, for those of us who aspire to be wise people who build their house on the rock, it starts with hearing these words of mine. Now, specifically in context, what is Jesus talking about? The words that he just said, right? So Matthew chapter five, Matthew chapter six, Matthew chapter seven, it's a sermon on the Mount. And in terms of a sermon, best sermon ever preached, ever hands down, bar none, nothing even close, right? Just maybe the modern way to say it would be bars, right? Just so good. Matthew chapter five starts with the beatitudes, blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the me, blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. And then I'll be honest with you, like the back half of Matthew chapter five is tough. It's tough because he's like, Hey, I know this is what you've been taught, but I actually expect more of you. Like I know this is what you think about adultery, but I'm also going to teach you about lust. I know this is what you think about murder, but this is what I'm going to tell you about anger, right? Not that any of us struggle with those sorts of things, right? Not an angry person at all. Okay. Right. And so he gets into some stuff and he's like, Oh, those enemies that you've got, I'm going to teach you how to forgive them. That, that, that thing that people asked you how to do, I'm going to teach you how to go another mile. I'm like, why did you have to put all that stuff in there? Jesus, right? So it's such good, but challenging stuff, which is kind of the point. And we'll go over this a little bit more in detail at the end. The point for us, those of us who are aspiring to build our house on the rock, y'all, we don't get to pick and choose which sayings of Jesus apply to us or which ones we, we want to fit into our lives. The point is not for us to fit the teachings of Jesus into our lives. It's to fit our lives into the teachings of Jesus. Okay. And I look at, and not easy. Nobody ever said that it was, but worthwhile. It's building your house on a rock and it's something that will last. So he's specifically talking about the words that he just said, Matthew chapter six. This is how you give. This is how you pray. This is how you fast. Also stop worrying about everything. Look at the birds of the air. I take care of them. Look at the flowers of the field. I take care of them. What can you add to your life by worrying about all the things that you be out here worrying about? Right? It's good stuff. And in Matthew chapter seven, he's like, uh, you know, the, the ask, seek, knock, and then also our, our favorite, the judge, not list, you be judged, right? And then the two different paths, Matthew chapter Matthew seven, 13 and
