# Post-Groundbreaking Celebration

May 4, 2026

Today is an exciting, exciting day. Now, we’ve already had, you know this, but we’ve already had our, we call it our pre-groundbreaking. Our brother Frank was about to go home to heaven. He had dreamed of putting a shovel on the ground. So we went over there one Sunday afternoon and had our pre-groundbreaking. And by the way, he’s watching from heaven today, you know. Then we had our groundbreaking ceremony where we had the mayor and all those big shots in. They’re good people. I don’t make light of them. Praise the Lord, they came in great spirit. We appreciate that. Today is our post-groundbreaking service. We’re going to go over there after service is all over. We’ll be done early. I would imagine by 1 p.m. probably will be done here. Nobody said amen on that. You’re like, whoa, come on now, you know.

As soon as we’re done here, we’re going to try to get out here a little early. We’ll head over there, and we’re excited about the heavy equipment. Here’s what we’re going to do. We have an excavator over there. Brother Philip is going to be driving that. You’ll be grateful that it’s him, not me, because I’ve never drove one of those things, you know. He’s going to take that. Well, first of all, we’re going to surround where the building is going to be at. It’s staked out. We thought about marching around it. You know, they marched around it seven times and it fell. We thought about marching around backwards seven times, you know, see if it would come up, you know. But we’re just going to surround it. We’re going to pray over it. I ask God’s hand of blessing, protection, safety, financing, all that over the building. Beyond that, what it’s all about is people’s lives to be changed, souls to be saved, and lives changed, family trees to be changed.

I sometimes think about—I don’t know how many, I could probably name five right off the top of my head—men that were alcoholics, and they said, “Pastor, I haven’t touched it, drop it, I don’t know how long.” That’s what it’s all about: God changing lives and family trees and on and on. We want to pray for God just to put His hand on that property over there. I’m excited about that; we will head over there a little bit early today. Looking forward to that. We’re honored to have our builder here today: Brian Young, the vice president of construction at Steel Coat Builders. I’m only going to—just for today, just for today—if you have any issues with the building, see him. He says, “I’m never coming back again, man,” you know. They’re from Atlanta, Georgia. They didn’t have to come up for this, but he said, “I want to be up here for this.” I appreciate them making the drive. They have a little one in the nursery now. You’ve got to see her. She sees the cuter of the two there, you know. And Brother Bryant says yes, for sure.

I was sitting up here thinking about the last time they were up; they were here for our Building by Grace banquet. I thought, you know, it really is all God’s grace. It’s not been the pastor or the deacons. We’ve got great people. It’s been His grace. Jesus earned it for us on the cross. Praise the Lord for His grace. We are here today about to start this journey, fully because of His grace. The glory belongs to Him, and the praise belongs to Him. He’s led, He’s guided, He’s provided. It’s all been Him, and I’m just glad to be along on His team, by His grace. I am excited about the day. Let’s rejoice in Him and His goodness to us. I’m excited about going to pray together. Something about praying together bonds you together. I’m looking forward to all that. I’m going to ask Brian to come just talk with us for a bit. We both went to Christian schools, a little similar. How many have ever been to A.C.E. Christian school? Anybody ever been to one? All right, all of y’all have your minds messed up too, like our minds are messed up. I’m teasing; it’s a good thing. We just have a little bond there, but I appreciate him. He’s in a good spirit, and I’m looking forward to it. He’s going to come just say a few words to us at this time. Thank you, my friend. Yep, so A.C.E. for sure. That was the first thing, I think, when I asked what kind of school you guys were in, that was the first thing he told me: A.C.E. I said, “I don’t know.” Don’t worry, most of them don’t turn out looking exactly like me. Exactly. I went to school having to wear a uniform every day, and my wife did as well. She went to A.C.E. school with me. We’re happy to be here. This is the second time; we were talking about this probably over a year ago when you had your banquet. Man, that’s a long time. I apologize for that. We’ve done everything we can do, but…

I got to thinking about it when I was sitting there. We can try as hard as we want to, but if the time isn’t right, it’s not going to happen, right? I told somebody this morning, sometimes it’s harder to build a church than it is a liquor store, and we’ve certainly seen that here. We’re going to do all we can do to get this thing moving, and we’re just days away at this point. I appreciate you guys having me here. I’m glad to be here and looking forward to meeting y’all out there. Thank you, man. Thank you, brother. Amen. Brian has been pushing. He really has, and he’s made changes, really. There have been some major changes to make it happen, and I appreciate that. Like he said, it’s in the Lord’s time. God values patience. Sometimes I don’t like that, but He does. He’s in control. Brother Brian, I believe, will be pushing the whole way through. I appreciate him being on board and doing a good, good job. We’re honored to have both of them with us today. That’s great. Looking forward to that.

Thursday is a special day. It is the National Day of Prayer. We kind of change things around here that week, so we will not have midweek service on Wednesday. No, don’t come. Don’t show up at 6:30 Wednesday because you may be here. It’ll just be me and the deacons here that night. You don’t want to be in that; it’s a budget meeting. We change everything from Wednesday to Thursday for the National Day of Prayer. We’re going to meet down at the Murphysboro Square at six o’clock for singing. The Hart family was coming; it’s been on the flyer. We had booked them a while back. Many of you heard their RV burnt up. They were going to be the first ones back on their schedule, but they let us know that just can’t make it happen. God knows better than me, but some of our local folks will be singing for us. Brother Dusty Ray’s church will be singing a couple of specials. Our choir will be singing some specials. Some of our choir members are like, “Well, I didn’t know that.” You’ll find out in choir practice tonight, you know. We have some of our folks doing several different specials. It’ll be good. I’m kind of excited about that. God knows what to change, you know.

From 6:00 to 6:30, we’ll be having that just out in the open, right in the public square. Then at 6:30, we’ll have a service. Here’s the thing: naturally, we have prayer. A lot of times there’s a prayer breakfast here and there, and I’m not against that, but there’s just a lot of eating and fellowship and not a lot of prayer. I would love it if we could have some true, spirit-filled, sincere, humble, but faithful prayer for our nation. Our nation needs that. Can you imagine if America were to have a true spiritual awakening and just God working? I think you could kind of feel some changing, some growing. I’ve referenced a lot lately: you see more sports players talking about the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ or kneeling in the end zone. I love all those things, but maybe that’s just the beginning. We’re going to meet down there and pray. Also, it is a midterm election year, and our country needs that. We’re in the middle of a conflict over in Iran; we need to pray for that. I want you to pray what the Bible says: “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray.” We’re going to meet down there, out in the open, out in the public. You say, “What if people stare at us?” Let them stare, amen. Say, “Come over here and join us,” you know. I mentioned that’s how some folks got saved in their church and are good, godly people now. Just go down there and meet. We’ll have a good time. If you want to bring some lawn chairs, you’re welcome to do that. We’ll have chairs set up, but you can do that. We’ve got permission down there and all those things. Pray for good weather. Pray for good weather. Bring someone with you. I believe we have some more flyers back. Anyone need a flyer about that? Sometimes you invite somebody, and they’ll forget the time or whatnot. If they have a flyer, it’s so helpful. Ms. Reese Sidney’s been passing those things out; that’s great. Be there for that Thursday. Six o’clock starts the music, and 6:30 the service. That will be a great, great thing.

Two other announcements. We’re going to have our offering now. A bus driver is interested in maybe helping us drive one of our buses. If we had a couple of people help us there, we could spread the weight out a little bit. If you have your CDL or are willing to get your CDL, please see myself or see Brother Josh about that; it would be a great value. By the way, one of the greatest ministries is the bus ministry. We’ve already had a young man ask the Lord to be his Savior from the bus ministry this morning already. God uses that, so if you’d be a part of that, that’d be great.

The audio-visual ministry is just so important in our day and time. Most people who visit our church—adults—have already watched us online. They’ve already checked us out, and it’s just so important in our day and time. If you’re willing to be a part of that ministry or have an interest in the P.A./audio-visual ministry, we’ll have a meeting here on May 29th at 6 p.m. It’s a Friday. Even if you don’t want to commit, just come and listen; that’d be great. We’ll be talking about the new building and the plans for it. We’ll be using new software, so we’ll be training for that. Even if you’re already in the ministry, come to that so you get trained for the new software, and that will be great. I hope you are a part of that.

Ushers, if you’re coming for an offering, we appreciate that. We have been praying that God would bless this offering in a special way. We have a bill; we paid much of it, but we were still lacking. Now, here’s the thing: before you get too worried, we already have a loan ready to process. We can borrow anytime from that, but once you start borrowing, they start charging this monster called interest. I don’t like that monster; he’s not a friendly monster, you know. We want to delay that as long as we can.

Of course, we’re praying for the sale of this property, and I want you to pray about that. I was praying that I’d be able to give you a wonderful announcement about that today, but the Lord’s timing is better than mine. His is always perfect. We have someone that’s interested in giving us an offer on it; their offer is being written up. They’ve been writing it up for a week, and I’m like, “Hey, let’s get it by Sunday.” It’s at the lawyers, and lawyers don’t get in a hurry about anything. They’re reviewing it. So I say all that to say things are—the wheels are turning. Keep praying. We’ve asked you every night at 7 o’clock to pray about that. We want to use the proceeds from this before we take the loan out.

For this bill we have now, we were about $90,000 short. You’re like, “Whoa, ninety.” I was like, “Whoa, $90,000.” But God’s already sent in $10,000, and just recently someone gave us some stocks worth about $10,000. So God’s already provided 20 of the 90. We’re praying for today. You pray for it: “Lord, would you just bless the offering today?” God’s able.

Here’s the thing: let’s just be obedient. Whatever—whatever. You know the widow, she put in those two mites, and Jesus said she put in more. It’s not a matter of how much you have; it’s the matter of just being obedient to the Lord. We’ll honor the Lord, and that’s when God gets involved. You say, “It’s bigger than us.” Yeah, but it’s not bigger than our God. Let’s just obey Him, whatever it is. You just be obedient to the Lord. The song was perfect: “Trust and Obey.” We are just obeying and trusting Him; He’s able. Let’s be obedient. Let’s pray: “God, would you bless our offering today and make it a special, special day?” We won’t have all the totals today, but we’ll let you know as soon as we get them in. Just pray for that, that God would bless. Let’s just be obedient to the Lord in doing that; He’s able. Amen.

“Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it.” We just look to Him and are excited about today and you being here. Glad every person’s here. By the way, good to have Miss Donna back. She was arm wrestling Russ and broke her arm in that—no, she fell and broke her arm. Good to have her back. First time others back too, and we’re glad to have every single person here today. Praise the Lord for you. Brother Kevin, pray for the Coopers. What a blessing. They’ve been a part of our church for how long, Brother Kevin? Since 2012, 14 years. Wow, praise the Lord, great people. What a blessing they are. Amen. They have some exciting announcements. I don’t know if he’s ready to make all those announcements. Brother Kevin, you want to make an announcement real quickly? I’m sorry if I pushed you on that; I’m excited for it. That’s a blessing. Would you lead us in prayer, please, brother?

Thank you so much, Brother Tim and Miss Jennifer. I was just thinking I’m a blessed man. I really am. I had the privilege of marrying Tim and Jennifer a couple of years ago, my wife playing the piano, my wife playing the organ, my daughter playing the piano. I’m blessed. God’s been good. I don’t deserve all His blessings. He’s just a good God, and I’m honored to be with you today.

Matthew chapter number seven, if you would please. Matthew chapter number seven. Jesus is finishing the famous Sermon on the Mount. By the way, I remind you that was Matthew 5 and 6, three chapters of Jesus preaching. So He preached so long, too. Come on now. I didn’t hear one amen. I heard a lot of that; I get it. But He is finishing this sermon up. He is drawing the conclusion, really the last words of the Sermon on the Mount. We’re going to look at those very briefly today and try to pull out, of course, the Word of God—that’s the key—pull out some truth, and we’ll try to narrow it down to one particular truth at the end.

Matthew chapter 7, if you’re there and able to, would you please stand, just to show the Word of God respect? We like to do that; they did that in the book of Nehemiah, so we like to do that if able.

Verse number 24 of God’s Word. You there? Good. Notice what He says. He says, “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.” And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. By the way, that’s why when we go over there, we’re going to dig a hole and put a big rock right in the foundation. That’s what it’s going to represent here in just a minute. But let’s finish it, verse number 26. “And every man that heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.” And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

Would you pray with me that God would speak to us, all of us, just about what you are building your house on, what you are building your house on for just a bit this moment? Pray that God would speak to your heart.

So many different ways you can go as He’ll apply it to your life the way it needs to be. Father, Lord, we do come. Lord, would You help me to rightly divide? Lord, I don’t want to preach by a little saying; I want Your Word to be magnified and preached and taught. Lord, I pray that You take Your Word today and help us to build up on top of the rock. Lord, have me say everything You want said, nothing You don’t want said. Father, have me go quickly; keep us on board. We’ll thank You, Lord, for what You do, and we ask this in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated. One of our good men was telling me he’s been in building. He’s an engineer. He’s been in building for years and years. Back in the '80s, he was involved somewhat with a house being built. He didn’t do this, but the house was the last lot in a neighborhood that was being built. When they were building the other houses, they were coming and bringing leftover dirt and whatnot, and they were bringing it to that last lot. When they got to build that last lot, it was built on over 12 feet of fill. Now, if you know anything about building, you know, man, you’re in trouble—12 feet of fill, just extra dirt added in.

They were warned a little bit about it, and that gave some safety to some people. But they built that house, and within three months of that house being built, the slab broke or cracked. He said the crack ended up being about three-quarters of an inch. That’s not bad, the crack, you know, but one end of the house ended up being over seven inches, about seven and a half inches lower than the other half of the building. It was to the point—this was only three months, it’s only been built three months—that it was leaning so much that windows were even beginning to break in the house, and doors wouldn’t stay shut, because seven inches, you know, is a lot. Of course, they got their suing papers out. They sued, I think—I can’t remember—over 22 different people, I think they sued, for millions of dollars, they said. The lawyer said that when he went in there to deal with the paperwork and all that, he would put his pen on the table, and it was leaning so much that the pen would roll off.

The Bible here is talking about our foundation. If a house or a structure is not built on a good foundation, you’re going to have major problems. This foundation—the comparison here is to being built upon a rock. Rock is something sturdy, something strong; you can put weight on it, and when you put pressure on it, it doesn’t change. It’s consistent; it’s hardened; it’s a rock. Then you get sand. There are houses built on a rock or on sand. Sand shifts as pressure gets put on it. How many have built a sandcastle before? Come on now, you got a kid or you were somewhere there, you know. Come on, you did it before. It just kind of conforms to the mold that it’s placed into. One house was built upon a rock; one house was built upon sand.

When I think of the rock, the first thing I think of is Jesus Christ. He is a rock. “Upon this foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” That is it. Can I just hear the context here? Jesus is the living Word here in this context. Notice the difference between the one that was built upon a rock and the one that was built upon the sand. Let’s look at it just here real quick. What’s the difference between the two? Look in verse number 24, Matthew 7, verse number 24. Are y’all still with me here in this context? He says, “Therefore whosoever heareth these…” What are the next three words? “…sayings of mine.” The words of Jesus, who is Jesus God? Oh, yeah, He is. He’s the Everlasting Father, the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace, Isaiah 9:6.

Look down in verse number 26: “And everyone that heareth these…” What? What are the next three words? “…sayings of mine, and doeth them not.” The difference here, really, if I get into the context, is that one hears “the sayings of Mine.” It’s interesting. The Greek word there for “saying” is Logos. It means “Word.” Some people have this Bible program; these people that have their very students of the Word—I’m teasing one of our members—he has a Logos program, and it’s very helpful. It’s all about the Bible. Typically, people apply that word logos to the Word of God. These are the words of Jesus or God.

If I take it directly what He is talking about here in scripture, He is saying, look, the difference between someone who builds their house upon a rock and those who build their house upon sand is those who take the sayings of God. That’s the sayings of God. Some say, “I want to just hear it, but I want to do it,” and they build their life upon a rock. Sand conforms to the mold it’s put in. It reminds me: “Be not conformed to this world,” remember Romans chapter 12? People just kind of shift and change to the mold. The world is always trying to fit you into its mold. Don’t let them give you a hard time: “Why, you Christians are trying to conform us into your mold.” No, no. Typically, we’re just standing. The world is always trying to put you into its mold, friend. The sand will shift with time, and it’ll shift with YouTube videos, and it’ll shift with some professor in his book, and it’ll shift with all these things. But the rock doesn’t change. The fellow that was the wise man and it stood when the storms came, his house was built upon something that did not change. That’s what it’s talking about here. Jesus just preached this whole sermon and said, now those that do these things that just taught the words of God, that’s the fellow to build upon a rock. The fellow that just heard Him and didn’t do anything about it—that’s sand. See me now?

Can I just encourage you to build, young people? By the way, I commend you for the most part. Your parents aren’t making you come. There are ones down front here. You got on a bus and rode to church on your own. My hat’s off to you; that’s awesome. When I was growing up, I didn’t have a choice in the matter. If I didn’t want to go to church, my dad would hit me over the head and drag me; I was going to church. I was raised on drugs, dragged to church Sunday morning, Sunday night. That’s just me. Praise the Lord for you all, and I mean that. I commend you. Some of you have been in our church for years, and that’s wonderful. I appreciate that. Can I encourage you to build your life upon the Bible? That’s the rock.

Adults, there’s so much rhetoric, so many voices out there today. I always say, whichever side you want to find yourself on any argument, you’ll find somebody on the internet that will agree with you on that side. But can I say, somewhere along the line, you’ve got to push it all out and say, “You know what? I know what everybody else says, but I want to find out what God says.” Build your house, your life, on the rock.

I thought about this while studying: years ago, when we lived in L.A.—that’s Lower Alabama—I was a youth director down there. I remember a boy, a teenage boy at the time, Mark. God just got a hold of his heart. He got saved. I can’t remember when he got saved, but he got on fire for the Lord. He didn’t have a good home life, but he said, “I don’t care about all that. I’m going to build my life upon a rock.” He would come to Sunday school and church, and he would be like on the edge of his seat. He said, “I want to learn the Bible.” I remember he was in public school. At one time, he had a speech class, and he said, “Brother Paul, I’m going to give the gospel in my speech class.” His teacher threatened him and said, “No, you can’t do that.” I said, “Man, you give it, Mark.” We called some lawyers and said, “We’ll get the lawyers to back you up,” you know, and he gave his speech in public school about the Bible. It was a speech class, and it was his choice. He was just on fire for the Lord, and God used him greatly.

He got a boy to come to their church—an atheist, I think, or agnostic—who got saved. He was one of those intellectual people. That’s not me; I’m a country boy, amen. Some of you who aren’t intellectual say, “We know that path; you don’t have to tell us that.” It’s true. He got this guy to come, and he was saved. He graduated, you know, not summa cum laude later, but summa cum laude comes early, you know, one of those two. At the public school, which was the pride of the county, thousands of people graduated. He got up there, a former atheist, and talked about the Lord all through his speech. God used Mark to get that boy in there. Mark—just wonderful—I remember how he built his life upon the rock. He said, “Man, I want to hear everything about the Bible.” By the way, he’s married to the same girl he would bring with him, and they have four or five kids in church serving the Lord, and he built his life upon a rock.

I think about another girl. I don’t want to make light of her. She had issues, and I don’t mean middle or anything. She was a very smart, intelligent girl, pretty girl, all that. But we had a youth activity, and we had a boy that was maybe new or a boy that may be a little bit girl crazy. We knew we better watch this girl because she was going to find that guy, and we better watch them like a hawk because she was always looking for a way out. She didn’t want to build her life upon the rock at the time. We’d have chaperones with us on youth night. We’d say, “Hey, watch so-and-so; you better keep out of them.” We’d try to keep them apart. Years later, her dad died. We had already moved to Tennessee, and we went back for the funeral. Riding out to the graveside, she said, “Hey, Brother Paul, Ms. Tammer, can I ride with you?” We said, “Sure.” She hopped into the car and rode to the graveside. On that ride, I’ll never forget. She said, “Brother Paul,” she said, “I remember, Ms. Tammer, remember back in the day when I gave you all such a hard time?” She said, “I remember just always…” She was boy crazy. At this point, she had children, and her life was beginning to crumble. She was trying to get it back right, trying to get her life built back upon the rock. She said, “You know, I gave you such a hard time back then, but those were the happiest days of my life.” I thought, wow, I wish she had just built her house upon the rock. Friend, I’m telling you, it’s never too late to build your house upon the rock. Never too late. Money won’t hold up, health won’t hold up, friends—good friends, but they are human friends. The thing to build your life upon is the rock.

Let’s look at three quick comparisons, similarities between these two people. Look in verse number 24. We’re just going to get three similarities between the house built on the rock and the house built on sand. Look at verse number 24. “Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which…” Notice that: “built his house” upon a rock. Look down in verse number 26: “And everyone that heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which…” “built his house” upon the sand.

Both built a house. Both of them worked hard. Both of them poured concrete, got forms, got insulation, got nails, got screws, got siding, got bricks, got OSB board—both worked hard. But one was on a rock, and one was on sand. They both worked hard.

Here’s what I’m getting at, friend: You say, “Well, I’m going to work hard.” A whole lot of people work hard, and when the storms came, their house fell apart because it’s not a matter of how hard you work. Everybody thinks they are the exception: “I work hard enough. I’m smart enough. I have the IQ.” Friend, you may be a hard worker, but if your house is not built upon the rock, it doesn’t stand. Both of them worked hard. They both built a house. One was wise, one was a fool. One stood, one fell. They both worked. It’s sad to see some people working so very hard, but they don’t do it God’s way.

Look at verse number 24. “Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine and doeth them…” What are the next five words? “I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock.” It doesn’t matter if you don’t have the IQ someone else has. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have the background. Whosoever hears the Word of God and wants to follow it—it doesn’t matter who you are, however smart, however tall, however short you are—He said, “Whoever, you can take the rock and build your life upon that rock.” I like that. If you had to have a certain IQ, I’d be left out for it. Amen, we’re from Tennessee.

Look down in verse number 26: “And everyone that heareth these sayings of Mine and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.” It doesn’t matter how much charisma you have; that can win over anybody. It doesn’t matter who it is. They can be intelligent, wealthy, born with a silver spoon in their mouth. It doesn’t matter who it is. If they are building their house and they don’t listen—they hear, but they won’t follow the Word of God—they are building their house upon the sand.

Interesting similarities. First, both of them built a house. Number two, we’re going to move on quickly. Look at verse number 25. Watch what He says. This is the one that built a house upon a rock. Look at verse number 25. “And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house.” Look in verse number 27: “And the rain descended”—kind of sounds familiar—“and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house.” Here’s what I’m getting at, friend: Everybody is going to have the rains come in your life, and the floods are going to come up, and the wind’s going to blow.

I remember a lady in our church, already saved and living for the Lord. She used to think, “Man, if you live for the Lord, you’ve got more battles.” No, no, no. It doesn’t matter if you live for the Lord or not; you’re going to have battles. You live in this world; there are going to be battles. Whether you build your house upon the rock or you build your house upon the sand—sometimes we think, “Well, I’m just going to breeze through life.” Nobody breezes through life. I like that verse: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man.” Job said, “Man’s life upon earth is a warfare.” There’s just trouble in this life. It doesn’t matter; you’re going to have the rain and the storms and the wind beating upon your house, whether you’re living for the Lord or not.

If you’re living for the Lord, there’s a little bit more purpose to it. If you’re lost, you’re trying to get saved. But once you’re saved, you’re building on a rock. He’s trying to grow you. I often say, come to church; it’s not going to make your life free of problems, but it’ll give you a little strength to go through the problems with. Everybody has storms, friend. Either you’re in a storm today or you’re about to enter a storm. But the one built on the rock stood, it stood, it stood, even in the midst, because you’re going to have storms. My former preacher used to go off the air—they had a radio program. He used to say every day, “Be good to everyone because everyone’s having a hard time.” It’s pretty true; it’s just part of life.

What a wonderful thing, though. God gives us a promise if you’re building your house upon a rock. Many of you might know Romans 8:28. If you know it, say it with me: Romans 8:28. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.” If I’m building my house upon a rock, there’s some purpose to it. God’s going to bring some good out of it. That’s what it means. But everybody has storms, everybody does. It doesn’t matter which way you built; there’s going to be storms.

Let’s look at one more similarity. We’re trying to get to—this is all introduction. We’re about to get to the main point here in a second.

Look at this, verse number 24. One more similarity: both built houses, and both had storms. Look at this here, verse number 24. He says there, “Therefore, whosoever…” What are the next five words? Look down in verse number 26: “And everyone that…” What are the next five words? “…heareth these sayings of Mine and doeth them not.” You know, it’s an amazing thing: they both heard. Both of them did. Both of them heard the sayings of Jesus, the sayings of God. Both of them had heard it.

Look over in James chapter number one, please. James chapter one. We’re going to focus on this part here; I think this gets to the key of it all. We tried to point out some truths with the Word of God, but I want to go over this last thing: they both heard it. Notice what James says in James chapter one, verse number 22: “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only.” Wow, both of them heard it over there. “But be doers of the word, not hearers only.” This is interesting. What happens if I just hear it but I don’t do it? Deceiving your own selves. I’m always amazed how sometimes we can be so deceived. I’ve had so many people come and say, “Pastor, do you think they really believe that?” I say, a lot of times, they probably do; they’ll probably deceive themselves. It says in 1 John 1:7, “If I say that I have no sin, I deceive myself, and the truth is not in me.” If I hear the Word, the amazing thing is the guy who built his house upon the sand probably thought he was built upon the rock. Because when I hear the Word but I don’t do the Word, I deceive myself. There’s a lot of church lingo in our day and time. I can go to church and hear the Word, but if I’m not doing it, if I’m just hearing it, I’m taught. I know how to put on a show, but I’m hearing it, but I’m not doing it. The Bible says I deceive myself.

It is so important that I not just hear it, but I practice it. Nobody’s perfect at it, but I seek to practice it. That’s very important. A key—there’s so much to it, but a key—let’s keep reading over here in James. I think God wants us to focus on one part. Let me get back over there. James 1, verse number 23: “For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass.” That glass has to do with a mirror. A mirror is just glass with some reflecting things behind it. He is looking at the mirror, “for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.”

How many of you ladies—hopefully none of you men—look in the mirror and say, “I need to put some mascara or eyebrows or eyelashes, I don’t know, blush or whatever you need,” and you say, “All right, I remember,” and you go and put it on without looking in the mirror? Anybody do that? I’m joking with you over there. She’s been riding the bus here for years and years. No, you stay there and you look at the mirror. All right, us guys, hopefully guys, you shave every once in a while now, you know. I told my wife when I grow a beard, I’m going to do Duck Dynasty. She said, “Uh-uh, no, you’re not.” Trim it once a week, amen. I stand before the mirror so I can see. He said you don’t—when you leave, you’re going to forget exactly where that mascara goes, whatever.

Verse number 24: “For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.” Verse number 25: “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty…” I think here’s the key coming up, “…and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work…” Isn’t that interesting? It’s work. “…this man shall be blessed in his deeds.” Continue therein.

I don’t have it all together about continuing therein, but can I give you just a couple of thoughts real quickly? If we’re going to continue therein, number one: seek to hear it and understand it instead of seeking to avoid it. Don’t try to search it out. I love it when some of our men say, “Pastor, I’ve been listening to preaching.” There’s a lot of good preaching out there. Some of our men put me to shame; they are always listening to preaching, and they are seeking to hear it. They are trying to continue therein. We have a man in our church; he has already listened to the Bible this year, I think, twice. He’s working on it; he’ll have listened to it several times by the end of the year. He’s just trying to continue therein. I don’t do it like I should. For a while, I was listening to—you can find, you just type in “King James verses for strength” or whatever—a YouTube video that lasts like eight hours, reading 30 or 40 verses over and over. I listen to that. I don’t retain it all, but I’m trying to continue therein. Being in church, man, being in Sunday school and church, just trying—don’t despise prophesying; preach the Bible. You’re trying to get in there and hear it. By the way, he said He manifested His Word through preaching, Titus 2:3. You’re seeking to be continually in the Word of God.

Number two: try to implement it in your life; don’t just hear it. We’ve been studying Proverbs on Wednesday night, and I’ve been saying Proverbs is like a reference book, maybe more than the rest of the Bible. The whole Bible is a reference book. My marriage—we have issues. What should I do? What does the Bible say about being a husband? What does the Bible say about being a wife? You’re trying to follow it. You’re trying to—what is it? I have financial problems. I need to get my finances right. What does the Bible say about that? You’re trying to implement it. When you’re trying to implement it, it’s more than just hearing it. You’re like, “Man, I got to focus on that. What does it say to do about relationship problems?” You’re trying to implement the Word of God. That helps you continue therein. Trying to build our house upon a rock—child rearing. Man, you’re just focused. Young people, are you all still with me up here? There we go. Good deal. Man, you’re starting your life. Okay, what does the Bible say about this, this, this? Rebecca, you still mad at me over there? You say maybe a little bit, right? I understand; I probably deserve that. But you’re trying to implement it. That’s so very, very important.

Number one: seek to hear it and understand. Don’t run from it; run to it, the Bible. Don’t avoid it. “I don’t want to hear that.” No, you do want to hear that. And try to implement it. When you’re trying to implement it, it’s just an extra level of, “I want to see what it says.”

Then number three: Once you hear a verse—now here’s the key, and we’re going to get out of here—here’s the key. Help me. We’ve talked about this a lot in the last year. What is this over in Romans 10:17? “Faith cometh by what?” By hearing. It doesn’t actually say faith comes by the Word of God; it says faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. What’s the difference? Hearing is when you’re reading the Bible, and all of a sudden one verse goes, “Boom, that’s for me.” You just had a hearing from the Word of God, and that verse will give you a lot of faith.

So here’s what I’m getting at: When you have a hearing from the Word of God, you focus on it. I’ve had so many hearings from the Word of God, and I just kind of forgot about it. I’ll remember that later on, and you know what? I don’t. But when God speaks to me from a verse, I say, “Man, I want to memorize that verse. I want to meditate.” There are a lot of promises about meditating on the Bible. Typically, they’re in my truck. Typically, I’ll write it down. I have 35 cards in my truck with Bible verses—those are the verses that God has spoken to me about. I want to take advantage of that.

Someone just listened to a video that said about rewiring your brain: take one Bible verse and focus on that verse for 30 days. There is something about it. When you get a Bible verse, you say, “I’m going to focus on that.” All the rest are good, of course, but when God gives you a verse, man, you latch on to it. A man asked me this morning—I try to do this, and he tries to do it. He said, “What’s your verse right now?” I told him two different verses God has been kind of leading me to focus on. I was talking to another man out here; his wife was in here decorating for the tea party, so he was out back, amen. He said, “I don’t want to be in there; they’re going to put me to work.” He was telling him about his verse he’s been focusing on lately. When you get a verse, man, just focus on that verse, and you meditate on that verse. We’re trying to continue therein, and you build your house upon a rock.

I remember years ago we lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and we lived in a trailer that had a furnace, and the pilot light wouldn’t stay lit for long periods of time. So it got cold, and Dad would take a newspaper, wad it up, make it long, you know, and he would light the end of that thing, and then he would stick it down this tube in that furnace, and it would light it up. There was a back door right there, and that back door would be open. All of us kids would be at the back door. We had pine needles and leaves and everything. He would take that newspaper and throw it out there. As soon as he would throw it out there, man, we’d pounce on that, put leaves on there and pine needles. We were trying to start a fire. We did have the fire department called on us one time in that location, not from that same instance, but in that location. Brother Brian says, “We’re not going to let the pastor have a match or any gas or anything over there in that new building,” you know. Here’s the illustration: When God gives you a verse, pounce on it. Put some pine needles, put some leaves on it. That’s how you build your life upon the rock.

Two people. One built his house upon a rock. One built his house upon the sand. Both built. They worked hard. One stood. One fell. Both heard, but only one put it into practice.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? Would you do this right where you are? If you have your Bible or your Bible on your phone, would you take that and tell the Lord, “I want to build my life upon that”? Grab your Bible. Get your Bible in your hand. If you have it on your phone, whatever, get it. Hold it in your lap, and would you tell the Lord, “I want to build my life upon this right here”? Would you tell Him that? I’ll disappoint you, but the Word won’t. Money will disappoint you, but the Word won’t. Storms will come, friend, to everybody. Would you tell Him, “Lord, I want to build my life upon this rock right here”? Would you let Him know that?

We didn’t have time to do it, but the verses right before this, He is talking about a man giving his reasons why he should go to heaven. He’s talking about all the things he’s done: prophesied in Jesus’ name, cast out devils in His name, wonderful works in His name. He said, “No, no, no, no, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Why? The only reason you can give that you enter into heaven is the blood of Jesus. That’s the only way you get there, not your works, not any of that. Just Jesus. Just Jesus.

Maybe you hear this morning, you say, “Preacher, I’ve never called on Jesus. I’ve never put my faith in Jesus alone to save me.” He is the rock, friend. He is the living Word. If you’re there this morning, you said, “Preacher, I’ve never trusted in Jesus, and Jesus alone, to be my Savior.” Would you take a moment right there where you are in your heart, in sincerity? You mean it. Say, “I’m a sinner. I know that. I understand there’s a penalty, but I believe Jesus died for me.” If that’s you, you’ve never called on Him, right now, would you call on Him? Something along this line: Would you tell Him, “Dear Jesus, I admit that I am a sinner, and I understand that penalty, death and hell. But Jesus, I believe You died for me on the cross. Right now, Jesus, I’m asking You, would You pay for all my sins? Would You come into my heart and be my Savior? Jesus, as far as eternity, would You be my rock?”

In Jesus’ name I pray.

If you never have, but you just called on Jesus to be your Savior, would you simply let me know? I would rejoice in that. Anybody here this morning and say, “I never have, but I just called on Jesus to be my Savior”? Anybody like that? I don’t see any hands.

Christians, would you spend a few minutes just letting me know? I want to build my life upon the rock of Your Word. Would you stand, please? We’ll have a word of prayer, and we’ll just spend some time building our life upon the rock. I want to continue in the Word. Don’t run from it; run to it. Try to implement it in every area of your life. When it gives you a verse, when you get a hearing from the Word, man, pounce on that thing. Focus on that verse, that promise—marriage, your childhood, whatever it may mean, get your promise, focus on it.

I’ll give you just a couple of instructions here as we head over to the new property. There are three ways you can get on the new property. The first way I would suggest: this is back behind O’Reilly’s parking lot and the bridge store. You can actually drive on the property now. I warn you, it’s very rough; tractors have been driving on it, it’s very rutted. I drove it this morning; it seems dry. I don’t think you will get stuck, but you can drive on there a little bit, or just park on the road and you can walk over. Then you can drive on the property on the front side. I would be very cautious with that; it’s very narrow, it’s like a service drive. I would think many would not want to go that way. And then some of you may just end up parking on the side of Ammaville Road. We did that with Brother Frank. But if you do that, be very cautious passing or going on Ammaville; it’s a very busy road. The best way would be behind O’Reilly’s.

We’re going to pray. We won’t shake hands here or whatnot. Let’s just head right over there. Once you get there, we’re going to surround where the building is staked off. You’ll see it there. We’ll surround that. You may have to spread out. I don’t know how many—our buses are just going to head to take the children home, so not everybody will be there. I don’t think it will be spread out somewhat, but let’s surround that building. We have a little bit of a P.A. system there. I’ll talk for just a minute, and I want you to sincerely pray over it. Once we pray over it, I’ll have some hymns in that. Then we’ll have Brother Philip; he’s going to dig a hole and put that rock in there. This church was not built on me or anybody else; it’s built on the rock, Jesus, in that Word right there, and that’s what it represents. Let’s head right over there. It will be a special time you’ll remember. I was there when it all started, and I’m excited about what the Lord is doing and just being a part of His team. Let’s head over there.

Brother Bill, you’re always in the back there. Would you lift your voice and dismiss us with a word of prayer, and we’ll just head that way?

Original File: 2026-05-04 - Pastor Paul Chisgar - Sunday AM 05⧸03⧸2026