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Revisiting Ancient Stones: The Healer

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The next ancient stone we will visit is found in the story of a man laying by the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1–6). Jesus is walking through an area that is filled with sick people. He stops by a man who was lame and asks a strange question: “Do you want to get well?” I call it strange because Jesus asked someone who was waiting patiently day in and day out, for the miraculous “stirring” of the waters, so he could just fall into the pool and gain the ability to walk out of it. The man’s answer speaks for itself: “Yes, I want to get well, but I can’t, I’m not fast enough. Of course I do, or I wouldn’t be here.” At the man’s response, Jesus instructs the man to get up, grab his bed, and go home. Then it happens.“At once the man was cured.” These are the stories we like the best. This is what we teach ourselves to expect when we hear the word “healed.” However, sometimes we miss the point in these stories.

Far too often we focus on a miraculous event and forget to praise the Source. This is the reminder from these ancient stones: There is no true healing outside of God, physical or otherwise. All healing comes directly from Him. I say this because I find that we often give man credit where credit is not due. Sure, mankind may accidentally stumble on a cure for symptoms, but it is only because God let us trip in front of His medical books. There is not a single dose of medical knowledge that hasn’t come from our Creator. Another reason I say this is because we can find physical healing from this collection of knowledge, but still remain un-well. Only when Jesus is entered into the equation will we find true healing. Only He can make us truly well. If we want healing we need Jesus. Plain and simple.

I believe there are different types of healing that can serve as reminders to praise the Source.

One type of healing we’ve just revisited. It is the one most want—the type most remembered—it is Immediate Healing. I put it first only because it is the more obvious and popular one. Jesus told the invalid to get up, and “at once” the man was healed. It is clear that Jesus healed him. Because of the nature of this type of healing it is easier to recognize it as being from God. Sometimes, in His great wisdom, God still frees someone immediately. Therefore, if God heals you immediately, remember to praise Him.

The next type of healing is Gradual Healing. We find an example of this in the healing of the Ten Lepers (Luke 17:11–14). Their healing came “as they went.” However, in this healing, only one of the lepers recognized that God had healed him (verse 15). Unfortunately, this is a strong warning that if we are not focused on the right thing, we too will fail to God the credit. Still, this story shows us that though God doesn’t always heal immediately, He did heal. Even if your healing is gradual, God should still be praised!

Another type of healing we find in the Bible I call 3rd-Party Healing. In other words, through a human source: Physicians, nurses, or some other person. God may heal us through medicines and other therapies even if we are hoping for a bigger bang. A great example of this is found in the story of Naaman (2 Kings 5:1–14). When Naaman did what was required, he was healed. Did the water heal him? No. Did Elisha heal him? No. God healed him—He just did it through a human source. So, in such cases, who deserves the praise? God does!

Then, there is Second Coming Healing. This one isn’t always viewed as a type of healing, because it is futuristic. But Paul explained that while we have mortal, perishable lives now, that will all change at the last trumpet (1 Corinthians 15:42–44, 51–54). Basically, you may be blind now, but you’ll see Jesus’ face; you may be deaf today, but you’ll hear Jesus calling your name; you may be physically impaired at this moment, but you will walk the streets of gold! Of course, just because we haven’t experienced this healing already (since Jesus hasn’t come yet), doesn’t mean we cannot start praising God for the healing we will receive! This is a type of healing—new bodies and new lives at Christ’s return! Definitely worth praising God about!

Now, the final type: Soul Healing. In Psalm 147:3 David says, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Sometimes, God needs to heal the soul. As a matter of fact, I believe that God uses this one more often than we think, if not every time. This is why there are so many promises in the Bible regarding the healing of souls. He can also heal emotional and spiritual pain and illnesses. Remember, Jesus comforted those who were sad, or depressed, or fearful. He still gives hope to those who think they are doomed and brings peace and joy to those suffering. So, if God has brings you emotional or spiritual healing, then praise Him!

These different types of healing remind us that Jesus still heals, and that He wants to make us well. Of course, we may never understand why God heals in different ways. Nor, are we given an explanation of why some people are healed physically and some are not. What we are shown is that there is One who heals, and only One Who heals—and in every healing, regardless of the type of healing, we need to praise Him!

This is the point of the memorial: it is the Healer that is important, not the healing. You don’t need to remember the types of healing, just the Source of healing. God tells us in Exodus 15:26, “I am the Lord who heals you.” Let us remember and praise our Healer!

Revisiting Ancient Stones: The Son

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As we revisit memorials meant to remind us of who God is, we will find some about Jesus. One such reminder is found in the claims that He made while on this earth. Two of these claims specifically, seem to be contradictory. On the one hand, He claimed to be the Son of Man—like us in every way. On the other hand, He claimed to be the Son of God—like the Father in every way.

Again, some may wonder if this really matters. It sure does! These are claims made by Jesus, and everyone who comes in contact with Jesus is faced with the validity of these claims. He is either a big liar, or He is telling the truth. If He is telling the truth, then both have to be true. So what is the truth? Can Jesus be both God and Man? Let’s see what the Bible says.

First, we’ll look at what God’s word says about Christ’s divinity. According to John 1:1–4, 14, John says that Jesus is the Word, the One who was in the beginning with God, and was God. All things were created through Him. We read a similar passage in Hebrews 1:1–3, 8, 9—which not only calls Jesus God, but says He is “the exact imprint of his nature.” In Titus 2:13 Paul says, “We wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” And again in Romans 9:5, Paul says that Christ is “God over all.”

The Bible says that Jesus was there from the beginning, He created the universe, and He would be worshipped. He would be called Mighty God (Isaiah 9:6). Every characteristic of God is given to Jesus. He did many miracles. He cast out demons. He healed the sick. He forgave sins, something only God could do. Because He is the Son of God. The centurion knew it when Jesus died on the cross (Matt 27:54). The demons knew it when Christ arrived to cast them out (Mark 5:7). Satan knew it when he tempted Him in the wilderness (Matt 4:3, 6). John the Baptist knew it when the Lamb of God came to be baptized (John 1:34). God announced it to the world when His Beloved came up out of the water, by saying, “This is my son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased” (Matt 3:17). Yes, the Bible is plain: Jesus is the Son of God. He is God.

What about Christ’s Humanity? He’s God, but is He also man? Back in our first text, John 1:14, it says that the Word (Jesus, God) became flesh. In order to become flesh He would have had to be born. Entering this world as an infant. And the prophet Isaiah told us that He would be called Immanuel or God with us (Isaiah 7:14). The Son of God with us. Galatians 4:4 says that “when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law…” And Luke 2:52 tells us that he grew in wisdom and in stature.

According to Paul in Galatians, He was also born under the same rules as we are. He didn’t get a break for being “the Son.” He was under the same Laws of God and the same laws of nature. He had the same fears and hopes and the same ups and downs that we do. He felt hunger pains (Matt. 4:2) and the grief of a friend’s death (John 11:35). He was tempted with power and greed and doubt (Matt 4:1–11)—without falling. Jesus became thirsty (John 19:28). He became sleepy (Matt 8:24). He laughed and cried. He also suffered and was bruised when He was hit. He bled when His skin was pierced. He died when He was murdered—on the cross. Because He is the Son of Man. In Hebrews it says that He is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters. It was important to Him to become like us in every way (Hebrews 2:14–18). And while the Bible may not list every temptation that Jesus endured, it does say that He was temped in every way that we are (Hebrews 4:15). That is what makes Him sympathetic to us. He knows because He lived it. Again the Bible is clear: Jesus is the Son of Man. He is man.

The Bible teaches Jesus as both the Son of God and the Son of Man, and it is the perfect combination of these two that gives us hope. We must not forget this because our salvation is counting on both of these to be true.

Jesus has to be God. Humanity in itself cannot save itself from sin. We are filthy with sin, and like the leopard we cannot change our spots—our reward is death. Neither could the angels come to save us because they too are created. It had to be the Creator. The One who loves His creation so much that He’d give up His own life for them—even if they hated Him. Furthermore, there’s only One who could conquer death: the Author of Life. The Great I AM. Any other sacrifice is worthless, because it needed to be the Son of God on that tree. Jesus has to be God, and He Is.

God’s plan required Jesus to be more than God though. The creator had to become one with His created—one of His created. In order to save us from our sins, He had to live what we should have lived and die what we should have died. He shared in our suffering so we would be able to share in His joy. He had to sweat, to cry, to laugh, to walk, to feel, to hurt, to bruise, and to bleed. For it is by His stripes that we are healed. It is His blood that covers our sins. It is His death that redeems us. He had to take our place, because it needed to be the Son of Man on that tree. Jesus has to be man, and He Is.

The Son of Man’s hands were nailed to the cross, the Son of God’s love held Him there.

The Son of Man’s body was broken by the cross, the Son of God’s heart was broken by our sin.

The Son of Man’s blood was spilled for your sins, the Son of God’s blood was spilled for your redemption.

He is the Son of Man to understand you, He is the Son of God to save you.

Yes, Jesus is both God and Man. This is why He loves us like He does. This is why He would die for us while we are still sinners. This is why the Gospel can proclaim: “For God so love the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Praise God, Jesus is the Son—of God and of Man!

Revisiting Ancient Stones: The Creator

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When revisiting memorials, it is good to start at the beginning and according to the Bible, our beginning started because of God: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). According to Genesis, God created everything and He did it in a specific amount of time. It didn’t evolve over millions of years, or even thousands of years, it was six literal days. Then, He capped off the creation week with the seventh day and established a lasting memorial. The seven day week stands only because God created it (it is not measured by any celestial movement). The very fact that the seven day week cannot be explained scientifically, is a strong memorial of God as our Creator.

You may be wondering why it would be important to remember this? Why have a memorial for creation, or more specifically, God as creator? Does it really matter how we believe we were created? Yes it does! Our lives did not happen on accident. God purposely created this earth and everything in it—especially mankind. If we were just accidents, then we would have no purpose in being alive. But we weren’t accidents.

Here’s what the creation story says about our beginnings: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). This does not sound like an accident! God intentionally made us in His image. The Bible also says we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). Of course, this isn’t supposed to give us a greater image of ourselves, but a greater image of God. As incredible as our bodies are, they were created by One greater than us! Our God is awesome and powerful and the only God, and we are only images of Him. Everything we have, or that we are, we owe to Him: He is the One “who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out he earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it.” (Isaiah 42:5). The reason you wake up in the morning and have breath in your lungs is because of God.

This is a very important thing to be reminded of. In fact, God being creator is the reason all of heaven worship Him. In Revelation, the elders by the throne of God sing out, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things and by your will they existed and were created” (Revelation 4:11). In Nehemiah 9:6, we read, “You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.”

It is also the reason which should cause us to worship Him (see Psalm 33:6, 8, 9). We should fear and worship the God who can create simply by speaking it into existence. Even the last-day message to mankind includes this call: “Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made the heavens and earth, the sea and the springs of water” (Revelation 14:7).

Understand, friends, that Satan has done much to cause us to forget this. Today, more than ever, there are constant attacks on God as Creator. There seems to be more effort given to disprove a Creator (even by Christianity), than to remember our Creator. And the removal of a creator does more damage than you might think.

You see, if God wasn’t Creator, and we all just accidentally came to be, then who we are is who we were always meant to be. Yet, according to the Bible, who we are today is not who we were created to be. We were originally made perfect and holy, in the image of God, but we fell from that original image (Genesis 3). When humanity chose to trust in the created rather than the Creator, we fell out of a relationship with God and into rebellion (sin). Ever since that day, sin has been a part of our lives, even from our birth (Psalm 51:5). Not one of us is free from sin (Romans 3:23), but we often forget this when we forget about God. And it is to our detriment that we forget, because the Bible warns us that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23)!

Again, according to the Bible, we were created to live forever, but sin has taken that away. God warned Adam and Eve that if they did not trust Him (and ate of the forbidden tree) they would surely die. Yet, this was not merely a punishment for doing wrong, it was the natural results of rebellion. If God is our source of life and we are separated from that source, then we do not have life. Our Adversary wants us to forget God because we will also forget that we are sinners—causing us to reject the Savior.

In addition, we must remember that, as Creator, God also has the power to re-create. God desires to, and can, change us into a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). He can change us from who we were, to who we were always meant to be. This is what God wants for you and I, to return us back into His image (Ephesians 4:22–24). Isn’t that incredible?

You can see, then, why it is so dangerous to forget God as Creator. When we do, we do not call on God to save us and change us. We will reject putting on “the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after its creator” (Colossians 3:10).

Here’s the beautiful part friends. If we will remember our Creator, and admit we need Him, He will forgive us and cleanse us. This is the promise of 1 John 1:9. This is taking off the old self. It is admitting we need a change. It is admitting we are in need of a re-creation.

I believe God created us. We are reminded of His creative power every where we look. We are reminded that He made us and can remake us. He did not create us for this pain and misery. He created us for eternal life and joy in Him. Do not forget your Creator! We need to admit we are the created. Admit that we are fallen. Admit that we need Him—a Savior. Then He will forgive us and cleanse us, and restore us into His image. And He promises that “whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:36).

Will you come to your Creator today?

The Purpose of Prophecy

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We are living in very exciting times. It seems as though prophetic signs are happening all around us. It is also possible, though, that we have become hyper-sensitive to things prophetic. What I mean is, while there are definitely signs occurring, not everything hyped up as a prophetic fulfillment is actually from a prophecy in the Bible.

Of course, I think sometimes we misunderstand the purpose of prophecy. I know I have. If you are like me, you might look at prophecy as “telling the future.” Because of this, we often think that prophecy was provided in the Bible simply to give us a future road-map. Another way to think of it is that it was given to us so we can solve the “puzzle” and know what will happen next. But is this what the Bible says about prophecy?

To start, we must understand that prophecies were always meant to be a blessing to us (see Revelation 1:3 and 22:7). Every prophecy in the Bible was given to benefit the people of God, not to scare or intimidate. The definition of the word “prophecy” is “an utterance of God.” A prophet is one to whom God speaks (Jeremiah 23:21) and then delivers God’s message to the people (Deuteronomy 18:18; Exodus 7:1). Anytime God speaks to His people through a prophet is considered prophecy.

This is why Paul says that the gift of prophecy is meant for believers (1 Corinthians 14:22)—because it is God’s message to them. Although we may be more familiar with the prophecies in which God reveals future events, there are many more prophecies that were given to the people as warnings of their wickedness. In fact, one of the major reasons for prophecies was to expose their sins and ward off captivity (Lamentations 2:14, see also 1 Corinthians 14:24). More prophecies in scripture consist of some kind of warning and a plea to return to God.

In fact, in Jeremiah 23:21, 22, God says that if the prophets had truly spoken His words, the people would have turned from their wicked ways. It is actually a false prophet who preaches peace and that no harm will come from sinning (Jeremiah 23:16–18; Jeremiah 28:9). We know it cannot be God speaking such words because He says, “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?” (Ezekiel 18:23). Again He says in 2 Chronicles 7:14—“if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” This is why we should not treat such prophecies with contempt (1 Thessalonians 5:20), because they are often given to us to warn us, change us, and save us!

But what about the ones that do reveal the future? Part of the reason we have been given future prophecies is so we can know the times in which we live. Jesus, after telling the disciples some of the signs of His coming, said, “when you see all these things, you know that He is near, at the very gates” (Matthew 24:33). In Luke 21:28, He says, “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Basically, the signs were to tell us that Jesus is coming soon.

Notice, though, that Jesus doesn’t say, “when you see a sign fulfilled, figure out what will come next.” The signs weren’t meant to be puzzle pieces for us to figure out, but were a means to warn us that Jesus’ kingdom was near! Our reaction to seeing a sign, according to Jesus, should be raising our heads in preparation to greet Him when He comes. If anything, any prophetic fulfillment we recognize should prompt us to deepen our relationship with the King Who is coming!

More than this, though, future prophecies have a greater reason. According to Isaiah 46:9 10, knowing the future, and telling it with 100% accuracy, is something only God can do. In a somewhat humorous challenge to idols, God explains again that knowing what is to come is an attribute to being God (Isaiah 41:22–24). This idea is also established in Daniel 2:47.

The fact that He can reveal the future, and is always right about it, proves He is God (this is also why God’s prophecies of the future are so specific and not vague). It is not surprising, then, that God would say, “when this comes, then you will know that I am the Lord God” (Ezekiel 24:24). That phrase, “then you will know that I am the Lord,” shows up more than 50 times in the book of Ezekiel alone. Each time it is in the context of when something takes place as God said it would, then they would know He is God. Therefore, prophecy was meant to be recognized when it is happening, not necessarily figured out before. It is meant to prove that God knew it would happen. This is the greater purpose of prophecy: when we see what God said would happen, happening, we will trust Him even more.

Yes, it is good to study and know what the prophecies are so we can recognize them when they happen. Understand, though, that some claim that a prophecy is from God when it isn’t. Deuteronomy 18:21, 22 says that if someone proclaims something in the name of God, but it does not take place or come true, then God did not speak through them. Because of this, we must be faithful to test everything to make sure it is from God (1 Thessalonians 5:21)—remember, Jesus warned there would be false prophets (Matthew 7:15), which means there will be false prophecies as well.

God’s prophecies are found in scripture (not on Facebook or Google). They are specific and they will be fulfilled exactly as He said. And when you recognize one being fulfilled, you can know that God’s kingdom is near—it can serve as a reminder for you to hold on to Jesus.

It is not for us to try to figure out how the future will unfold (the Pharisees tried this with their interpretations of the Messianic prophecies and still did not recognize Jesus as the fulfillment). We are not to wait until some greater prophecy is fulfilled to get right with God. There are plenty of signs that show He is near. So let us look to the sky—and prepare to meet our Savior!

How Three Can Be One

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Anytime a person commits to studying the Scriptures, there will be a few concepts that will pop-up that can make a mind spin. These seemingly impossible concepts are often used as a reason to not believe in the scriptures. Since our minds have a difficult time wrapping around the idea, we may feel that it can’t be true.

Some of these mind-frying notions are simply due to the limit of our human comprehension: the idea that God has always been (never had a beginning) is a good example. I think one could actually see smoke coming from my ears when I spend too much time trying to understand that one! Other ideas are difficult because of a limited amount of evidence: a great example of this is how the Sadducees didn’t believe in Angels or miracles because they felt these could easily be explained away and the Bible (only the first five books of Moses for them) did not specifically prove their existence.

It has been suggested by some that the doctrine of the Trinity belongs in such a group of impossibilities. It seems confusing because our minds have a difficult time allowing for one God to actually be three separate Gods.

One major argument against the concept of a three-in-one God is that the word “trinity” is not in the Bible. This is true. It is a man-made word introduced about 100-200 years after the Apostles. Yet, although the specific word does not appear in scriptures, the concept does. The word was simply created in an attempt to better describe the concept they found.

I have heard others attempt at getting around this difficulty by teaching that God is one but has appeared in three forms. Thus, the God of the Old Testament is the Father, who becomes Jesus in the New Testament, who then becomes the Holy Spirit after the resurrection. I’m not sure their explanation is any easier to understand though. It begins to sound like a Superman/ Clark Kent problem: neither is in the same place at the same time—they must be the same person.

However, there are several passages in scripture that disproves such teachings. A careful, honest, study of scriptures reveals that the idea of the Trinity has plenty of evidence.

One of the greatest evidences is found at Jesus’ baptism (Luke 3:21, 22): the description reveals all three at the same place at the same time—the Son being baptized, the Father speaking from Heaven, and the Spirit landing of Jesus in the form of a dove. This scene wasn’t a private one either, many people saw it, and John the Baptist testified about it (John 1:32–34).

Another passage that supports the idea of the trinity is when Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit (John 14:16, 17). He mentions three distinct persons of the Godhead: He, Jesus, will ask the Father who will send the Holy Spirit. God cannot be the one person in three different forms for this statement to be true. Either there are three different beings in the Godhead or Jesus is lying.

There’s also Jesus’ Great Commission found in Matthew 28:19. Jesus instructs the disciples to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Once again, He specifies three distinct beings.

Of course, that’s the New Testament though, what about the Old Testament?

At the very beginning, during the creation story, we are already introduced to the trinity. When making mankind, God said a very powerful, and revealing, statement: “Let us make man in our image.” God spoke in the plural. He could not have been talking to the angels, for we were not made in an angel’s image, but in God’s image. To whom else could He have been speaking? Genesis 1:1 say that God was at creation (He created everything) and it also mentions that His Spirit moved over the waters. This places the Father and the Spirit at creation. Then in John 1:1–5, we are told that in the beginning the Word, or Jesus (vs 14), was with God and was God. It also says that everything that was made at creation was made through Him. It makes sense, then, why God would speak in the plural, because the Bible places all three—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit—at creation.

Interestingly, throughout the Old Testament, God is always referred to in the plural. In English, we do not easily catch this though. The Hebrew word that is always translated as “God,” is Elohim. This word, however, is not singular, it is the plural form of the word. The singular form, El, is always translated with a lower-case “g” as in “god.” Thus, throughout the Old Testament, God was always known as, and referred to as, an entity containing more than one being.

But how can three be one?

Deuteronomy 6:4 says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” It may be easy to argue that this proves that He is one person. However, the word for “one” used here is the same as what is used in Genesis 2:24 when talking about Adam and Eve—“the two shall become one flesh.” No one would argue that Adam and Eve melted into one being. No, they remained two separate individuals, yet became unified. This word has the meaning of multiple equal things becoming one.

Jesus also said, “I and the Father are one.” He did not say that they were the same person. He said they were one. It was said in the context of unity. Further evidence that Jesus’ statement was about unity is found a few chapters later in John 17:11 when Jesus is praying that his disciples “may be one, even as we are one.” They weren’t meant to become one great big glob of merged humanity. Jesus desired His followers to have unity—the same unity He had with the Father. They were unified in purpose: Jesus was about His Father’s business of salvation and the Holy Spirit would come and help the disciple’s finish the work Jesus started.

This is just a few passages that provide evidence of a Three-in-One Godhead. All three mentioned in the Godhead are united, much like a husband and wife are united in marriage (at least in a healthy marriage there will be unity and equality). Although they remain separate individuals—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—they are united in purpose: the salvation of mankind!

Sandcastle Churches

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There’s a classic children’s song that talks about a wise man and a foolish man, both desiring to build a house (it is based off of one of Jesus’ parables—see Matthew 7:24–27). Here’s the gist of the story: The wise man chooses to build his house upon a rock (either a pretty big rock or a really small house) and the foolish man builds his house upon the sand. According to the song, and the parable, in both cases rains come down and floods come up. Because the wise man built his house on solid rocky ground, his house stays firm in spite of the stormy weather. The foolish man, however, who was enjoying a beach house, had different results—when the rains and the floods came, his house went splat.

It’s an interesting story. While some may think to use this as guidelines for when they’re searching for a house to purchase, Jesus had a different application in mind. He said that those who hear His words and do them are like the wise man—able to weather any storm Satan sends. However, those who hear Jesus’ words, but do not put them to practice are like the foolish man—they’ll fall hard when the storms blow.

Jesus emphasized this concept many times, and in many parables: listening is not enough, we must also do. We deceive ourselves if we think hearing is enough (James 1:22). Of course, His counsel makes sense. Consider how it applies in any other area of life. You will get healthier and in better shape if you not only listen to the personal trainers but do what they say. Also, it would not be enough to just listen to the instructors teaching you how to open your parachute when you jump out of a plane, you must do what they say as well, right? Because, when you are taught something valuable you are benefitted by that teaching only once you put it into practice. Likewise, you’ll find eternal life and more happiness here on earth if you will not only listen to Jesus, but actually do what He says (obey).

It seems like it should be an easy concept but it isn’t. Some have subscribed to the idea that knowledge is really the key and all we have to do is absorb it—through reading, watching, or just listening—to improve ourselves. Our culture heavily promotes this too. We have become conditioned to believe that as long as we have taken the class we are safe. Look around and it’s easy to see that that isn’t true.

Unfortunately, this mindset has also invaded the church. While Jesus may have meant His illustration for the individual, I believe churches (God’s people corporately) can suffer from it as well. A group of God’s followers also have to choose between building the foundation of their group on the Rock or on sand.

Of course, Jesus is supposed to be the foundation on which God’s people stand, both individually and corporately. He is the cornerstone upon which the church stands (Acts 4:11); He is the head of the body of His people (Colossians 1:18). As I mentioned in a previous blog, we are united, or become one, in Him. Therefore, any group that bears His name should be anchored in Him.

I am using phrases like “should be” and “supposed to be” because I have seen that churches can have very sandy foundations. Some churches have been built on division, split from another because of different ideas of theology, or worship, or leadership. Other churches are built only on a mutual agreement—they’ve found unity in a similar cause or belief. Some churches are even built on deception by a greedy false “prophet” or “messiah” seeking to steal people from God and pad their own pocket books. I’m sure there are many more “foundations” on which a church may be built, but if a church does not have following Jesus as their foundation they have built on sand—and they will fall. If you find yourself in one of these churches, be careful! You do not want to be inside a sandcastle church when the the angels of Revelation let the winds blow (Revelation 7:1).

I’m not saying that one day, all of a sudden, their church building will collapse due to high winds, but rather that they will not be able to stand the severe spiritual tests of the last days. There will be tests, difficult ones. Deceptions so strong that they could almost deceive those truly following God (Matthew 24:24). Only those who have made hearing and obeying Jesus their foundation will remain standing when all is done.

You may not have any influence on the foundation of your church, but you can choose a proper foundation for yourself. You can choose, like too many proclaimed Christians today, to sit in a church every week (or month or twice a year) and hear God’s word and be finished with your Christian “duties”. Or you can choose to act upon what you hear from God and plant yourself on solid rock. As another song says, “On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.”