Walls, Roads & Foundations
Preamble
We are living in the greatest harvest time in historyMore Muslims have to come faith in the last 30 years than in the previous 700 yearsThe earth is about to see both a growing darkness and the growing of light
Imperative to finish well
For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. [7] I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. [8] Now there is in storefor me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on thatday---and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. 2 Timothy 4:6-8
Introduction
• Why do some start so well and then get side tracked, cut short - distracted, fail, quit
• Why do people do things that they once never would have contemplated
• Sexual Sin
• Bitterness, gossip, accusation etc
• Why do some grow old sweet and yet many become bitter and sour
• How do we finish well?
I believe the answer is in the Foundations we lay, the Walls we build and the Roads we travel.
Lay Foundations
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will becalled Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. Isaiah 58:12
There is a fundamental principal of construction: the size and strength of any building will bedetermined by the size and strength of it’s foundations. ……… The same principal applies in spiritual matters. We must build down before we can build up. The amount of patience wehave in building down will determine the greatness of that which can be built up. Rick Joyner
• Foundations determine size
• Foundations will determine Strength
• Foundations will determine accuracy of building
• Foundations determine the longevity
• There can be shallow or deep foundations
• Foundations can be repaired
If the foundations are destroyed what can the righteous do. Psalm 11.3
1. Jesus Is the Foundation
For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:11
• Jesus is the ultimate foundation
• We need him at the core
• He is the Rock
Knowing Christ
- Everything is relational
- Do we know Him, I mean really know Him.Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3
I want to know Christ---yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, Philippians 3:10
Walking with Christ
Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Matthew 4.19 Called his disciples to him, that they may be with him. Mark 3.13-14 John 15 - Abide in me, remain in me, or stay connected to me
Obedience to the teachings of Christ
• Obedience is a demonstration of our love for Christ Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wiseman who built his house on the rock. Matthew 7:24
If you love me, keep my commands. John 14:15
2. God’s Love is a Foundation
We must know the foundation of Gods Love - That he is love and therefore he is good.
• God is love - it is the essence of who he is
• God is good - I will not question his goodness, he is good all the time.
• God is for me - therefore who can be against me.
• He is trustworthy even when I don't understand or comprehend
• When I feel pain and confusion
• I still run to him
•David trusted God's goodness while waiting, Job trusted, Joseph trusted in that goodness,Stephen the first martyr, Jesus trusted the goodness of his father while in Gethsamne
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. Psalm 136:1
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through allgenerations. Psalm 100:5
I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their childrenbegging bread. Psalm 37:25
• For God so loved the world that he gave
• I know the plans I have for you declares the The Lord , plans to prosper - Jeremiah 29.11
3. The Fear of the Lord is a Foundation
No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the Lord areon those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death andkeep them alive in famine. Psalm 33.16-19
Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing. Psalm 34.9
Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Psalm 34.11
a. You choose the Fear of the Lord “Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me, since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord. Proverbs 1.28,29 -It can be embraced and cultivated by growing in the knowledge of who he is
b. You grow in the Fear of the Lord by growing in the knowledge of GodMy son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdomand applying your heart to understanding — indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then youwill understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Proverbs 2.1-5
Build Walls - things we won't cross, inner boundaries, places we won't let others in I went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment; [31] thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins.
[32] I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: [33] A little sleep,a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest--- [34] and poverty will come on you like a banditand scarcity like an armed man. Proverbs 24:30-34
Laziness and lack of judgement produced
• Thorns
• Weeds
• Broken down wall in ruins
• Outcome - poverty
• A field that should be producing wealth was producing nothing
• It had potential but no good having potential
Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control. Proverbs 25:28
Define walls
• Invisible boundaries
• Lines you won't cross
• They need establishing
• Build and strengthen them
• Walls protect from enemies, wild animals
• Walls help protect from wild jungle encroaching your territory
• Walls create boundaries for those within and those without
• Walls help me to know where the safe place is
• Walls help create spaces where fruitfulness abounds - SAFE, HEALTHY PLACES
Why have you broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its grapes? Psalm 80:12
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23]gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23
Walls of purity
• What we watch
• What we think
• What we will do
Walls of integrityMay integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, Lord, is in you. Psalm 25:21
• People who keep our word
• People who live the same lives in private as they do in public - No duplicity
• People who maintain a vibrant walk with the Lord
Build Walls of wholesome speech - no accusation, no negativity, no gossipLet your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Colossians 4:6
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for buildingothers up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Ephesians 4:29
• This is a biggy
• Conversation seasoned with grace
• Encouraging
• Believing the best
• No accusation
• It becomes a wall we won't climb over
Build Walls in your thinkingFinally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable---if anything is excellent or praiseworthy---think about such things. Philippians 4:8
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23
Travel Roads - things we will do and places we travel, pathways we traverseThis is what the Lord says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask wherethe good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, `We will not walk in it.' Jeremiah 6:16 The road of praise and thanksgiving
Travel The road of spiritual disciplines
• The word
• A life of secret intimate prayer
• A life of prayer strong warring tongues
Travel The road of building Christian, biblical friendships
Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is withChrist. [13] For we were all baptised by one Spirit so as to form one body---whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free---and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. [14] Even so the body is notmade up of one part but of many. 1 Corinthians 12:12-14
From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:16
• Natural family
• Church family Koinania
Travel the road of forgiveness
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgiveyou. [15] But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. Matthew 6:14-15
Travel the Road of Gratitude Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the Lord is good and his love endures for ever; his faithfulness continues through allgenerations. Psalms 100:4-5
Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us comebefore him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. 3 For the Lord is the great God,the great King above all gods. Psalms 95:1-3
• It’s the way in, ordained by God himself
• The secret password into his presence
• His presence changes everything
• His presence creates hope it lifts the atmosphere and changes our own demeanour
Thanksgiving will release the miraculous into your life11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. John 6:11
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will becalled Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. Isaiah 58:12
Time to build foundations, walls & roads David's inner boundaries, impacting his outer behaviour
• I will sing of your love and justice; to you, O Lord, I will sing praise. - foundation & Road
• 2] I will be careful to lead a blameless life---when will you come to me? - Road & Wall
• I will walk in my house with blameless heart. - Wall
• 3] I will set before my eyes no vile thing. - Wall
• The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me. - Wall
• 4] Men of perverse heart shall be far from me; - Wall
• I will have nothing to do with evil. - Wall
• 5] Whoever slanders his neighbour in secret, him will I put to silence; - Road & Wall
• whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, him will I not endure. - Wall
• 6] My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; - Road
• he whose walk is blameless will minister to me. - Road
• 7] No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house; - Wall
• no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence. - Wall
• 8] Every morning I will put to silence all the wicked in the land; Road &Wall
• I will cut off every evildoer from the city of the Lord. Psalm 101
Inner boundaries and foundations produce outward fruit and reward
Two Examples
Josephand after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, "Come to bed with me!" [8] Buthe refused. "With me in charge," he told her, "my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. [9] No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How
then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?" [10] And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. Genesis 39:7-10
Samson - Judges 16
One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her.
Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. Therulers of the Philistines went to her and said, "See if you can lure him into showing you the secretof his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Eachone of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver." So Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me thesecret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued."
• At first he told her lies
• She acted upon them
• But he was too dull to realise what was happening to him
[16] With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death. [17] So he toldher everything. "No razor has ever been used on my head," he said, "because I have been aNazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and Iwould become as weak as any other man." [18] When Delilah saw that he had told her everything,she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines , "Come back once more; he has told me everything." So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. [19] Having put him to sleepon her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him.And his strength left him. [20] Then she called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awokefrom his sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free." But he did not know thatthe Lord had left him. [21] Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him downto Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison. Judges16:1,4-6,16-21
• Samson had not built up inner walls, laws, boundaries - premature death, humiliation
• Joseph had strong inner walls, conviction - fruit, promises and blessing and usefulness in thepurposes of God
Conclusion - Application
Do you need to strengthen and deepen your foundationsDo you have walls, boundaries on the insideAre there roads that need travelling?What will you do after today?
Strengthen by the wordStrengthen by the SpiritStrengthen by conversation with others - authentic community