Words to Build A Life On
27/08/2023 - Jody Destry
Big Idea: Building our lives on the firm foundation of Jesus’ teachings sets us up to weather life’s challenges and invites us to experience health, wholeness and flourishing in our relationships, marriages & families.
Key Scripture – Matt 7:24-29
Who’s at centre of your life – Jesus or you?
The invitation – an opportunity to reexamine the foundation – to check for mission drift
– to reset – to reorient – to reestablish a firm foundation in Jesus.
Q: What are the situations and seasons in life that can cause us to put ourselves at the centre of our lives out of our need to be in control rather than keeping Jesus at the centre?
Application Points – How do we rest our foundation and put Jesus back in the centre?
1/ Locate yourself
- Where are you and where is Jesus?
- What place does Jesus hold in your relationships, marriage, family, life?
Pray David’s prayer: Psalm 139:23-24
23
Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
2/ Relinquishing control
Letting the Master builder build.& partnering in the plan
Psalm 127:1-2
1 Unless the Lord builds the house,
the builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the guards stand watch in vain.
2 In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to those he loves.
Prov 16:4
Commit to the Lord whatever you do,
and he will establish your plans.
3/ Work his WORD into your life
The bible is our roadmap to God’s best life for us. It’s teeming with truths and wisdom that when worked into our lives – when infused into every area – every room – brings life and health and wholeness.
Q: Do you have a rhythm for the Word in your life?
Psalm 1:1-3
1
Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
4/ Have a bigger VISION for your relationships
Genesis tells us that God created marriage and family to reflect his image – but he didn’t just create it – he gave it to us as a gift – as something to steward and delight in!
His vision for all of our relationships is that they would be healthy and fruitful – places of joy and delight.
This isn’t the reality for many of us – but we can take prayerful and active steps towards this.
Q: What are the opportunities in front of us to move towards greater health in our relationships?
Q: What’s one thing you could intentionally do this week to create health in a relationship?
Q: How is God inviting us to see and imagine our relationships, families, marriages through his eyes?
5/ Be anchored in a faith community
One of the greatest tools to guard against drifting is being tethered to others
Heb 10:24-25
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Q: Do you have a community of people spurring you on?
Q: Is there anyone in your world that you could be a safe community for?
Closing Thoughts:
Sometimes we confuse God’s renovation work in us for an external storm. He is rebuilding and restoring each one of us day by day into a masterpiece that reflects his glory.
“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity