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Strong Tower Radio

Sean Reed

A Wiser Year

♪♪ Fresh manna fell to the ground as a gift from God while the Israelites were in the wilderness.

It was fresh from the ovens of heaven, baked by the master baker himself.

How the Israelites must have anticipated the taste and the smell of each morning's delivery.

Just like the Israelites, you too can now experience the taste and smell of fresh manna.

Today, you'll be listening to Shawn Reed, pastor of the Atzikko and Pawpaw Seventh-day Adventist churches.

Building is important, and the foundation that we build on, whether it's the building of a building or the building of a life, the foundation is critical.

There are some famous buildings in the world where the foundation wasn't quite what it should have been.

The Tower of Pisa, which we call the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Construction began in the 12th century, and early on in the building process, they realized that the building was kind of settling in an uneven fashion, And over the next 200 years or so, as the building continued, it was finished in the 14th century, they adjusted to try to take into account the tilting that was happening.

It wasn't until 93 and then in 2001 that some extra work was done to try to rectify some of the leaning, and it was leaning at about 5 degrees, and they were able to reduce that lean to a little over 3 degrees.

But the Leaning Tower of Pisa, if you've been to San Francisco, even if you haven't been to San Francisco, you may have heard of the Millennium Tower.

The Millennium Tower is a 58-story, 645-foot tall residential building in San Francisco.

It was the premier place to live in San Francisco.

But by 2015, the developers had to admit the building was sinking at a faster rate than anticipated, and it wasn't sinking evenly.

120000000 dollar effort was underway to help shore up the foundation, yet, even after all that work was done, the building at the top today is tipped 29 inches 1 direction, and it has sunk 18 inches down into the ground.

That's twice what they had anticipated would happen over the life of the building in just the first decade or so 18 inches.

But the residents have been assured the building is safe.

Water will flow out of the faucets until it's at 40 inches tipping at the top and then maybe the elevators won't work, but that's okay, you can take the stairs.

Now sometimes a building is built on a foundation, there are obvious problems, and there's no solution but to simply tear the whole thing down.

In 2006, which evidently was not a good year to begin construction of towers in the United States.

On South Padre Island in Texas, a 30-some story building was started.

It was going to be a residential as well.

By 2009, they determined that it was tipping so far that they were just gonna have to blow the thing up.

They imploded the building, carted off all the wreckage, and all the people who were planning on moving into South Padre Island, the 31-story ocean tower, had to find other places to live.

Incidentally, just a month or so before they blew the thing up, the developers sent a message out to the people who had purchased condos in the building saying, don't worry, you're going to be able to move in on schedule.

More recently, in fact, this very year in Cambridge, England, a large housing development project of 2, 500 houses was being built And the developers determined that 88 of those houses, retailing for a little over 1 million US dollars each, the foundations were just a little shoddy.

And so 88 of those houses this year were bulldozed to the ground.

Sometimes, sometimes the foundational issues just can't be rectified, and you have to start all over.

And it's common, it's typical, it's customary as we get to the end of an existing year and we're anticipating a new year that we take stock of our lives and we think back over the year we've lived where we find ourselves today perhaps who we are today and determine there's a need for some adjustments in the year to come.

It might be adjustments in our work-life balance.

It might be adjustments in our physical activity.

It might be adjustments in, well, the list could go on and on.

And sometimes some minor tweaking is all that's necessary, but there are times when it's necessary to start all over.

I invite you to open your Bibles and go with me to Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter 7.

And while you're turning there, I want to highlight for you that the scripture reading that was read this morning was exactly the scripture reading that I gave to our bulletin secretary, and it was exactly the scripture reading that was given to Laurie to read, but it wasn't the scripture reading I thought I was giving.

Matthew chapter 7 and Luke chapter 6 contain the same teaching of Jesus, and I mixed up the chapters in my mind when I submitted the scripture reading.

And so, as you're thinking through the scripture that was read, there is a connection there because we're talking about the Savior who gives us a new beginning, amen?

And He forgives our sins, He lets us start again.

But we're going to focus on Matthew 7 and Luke 6.

So as we're there, I think we could use the Holy Spirit's help this morning.

So let's ask him to guide us as we read the Bible.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your love.

Thank you for your desire to communicate with us.

Thank you that all of Scripture is valuable and important for us to consider.

And as we focus our attention on Matthew 7 and Luke 6 this morning, we ask that you would teach us.

Matthew 7, beginning in verse 21, Jesus is wrapping up what we think of and talk of and speak of as the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 5, 6, and 7 is the longest exposition of Jesus we have recorded for us in the Bible, and we're looking at the conclusion of that Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter.

Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons, and in your name perform many miracles.

And then I will declare to them, I never knew you.

Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness." Therefore, and Jesus continues this thought about who is truly a follower of his, therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.

And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and slammed against that house, and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.

Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

The rain fell, the floods came, the winds blew and slammed against that house, and it fell, and great was its fall." As we consider our lives, as we reflect on who we are at the end of this year and are looking ahead to a new year, we must ask ourselves the question, Am I a follower of Jesus Christ?

Our theme as a church this year is Back to the Altar, reconnecting our lives with Jesus Christ, living connected to our Lord.

And this month, our focus has been honoring Jesus as Lord of our lives.

And that is a theme that is a reality that needs to carry forth into the new year for us.

Let's think a little bit about what it means for Jesus to be Lord.

It's clear here in Matthew chapter 7 verse 21 and 22 that it's not simply saying the right words that determine whether or not Jesus is Lord.

But what is the determining factor over Whether or not Jesus is truly Lord of our lives comes down to a choice, or many choices, that we make in our lives.

As Christians, and in fact as people in general, we are often attracted to the grand and exciting.

And that's true even in the Christian life.

When we come to worship God and there is powerful music that just elevates our souls, when perhaps there are powerful words that are spoken that just draw us close to Jesus, when there's a prayer that makes us feel as if we are kneeling right in the very presence of God, we're right there before His throne, and we feel that in our souls, and we say Jesus is Lord.

We need those experiences of worship that move us and draw us close to Jesus.

Looking at what Jesus noted in His conclusion here to the Sermon on the Mount, He said, "...there will be people who will say to me, did we not prophesy in your name?

Did we not perform miracles in your name?

Those are the visible, the grand, that we might look at and say that is a person of God.

Someone who's able to speak God's Word with power, someone who is able to pray and Satan flees, someone who is able to reach out and touch the hurting and they're healed.

We would look at someone who accomplishes those things and say that certainly is someone who Jesus is Lord of his or her life.

And yet Jesus said at the end of time, there will be people who can profess we have done all of these things, and Jesus will say, I never knew you.

Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.

Our attention is often drawn to the external.

But in the final evaluation of your life and mine, what Jesus is looking at is the heart.

And we know this, Jesus noting you who practice lawlessness.

Because Jesus uses that same word, lawlessness, elsewhere in the Gospel of Matthew to highlight the connection between what's happening on the inside and the love that is expressed to God.

In Matthew 23, verse 28, Jesus speaking to the religious leaders said, you outwardly appear righteous to men.

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A Wiser Year

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