AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE

0:05 I love to fish. I don't know if you understand how much I love to fish. Fishing is one of my greatest hobbies, my greatest passions. And my father has taught me everything I know, how to cast, where to cast, what bait to use, what rods and reels to use, how to handle fish when they're outside the water. Everything can be credited to my father. One summer, when my sisters and I were in elementary school, my dad took my sister and I, Landra, fishing. It was a beautiful day of fishing. Some amazing fishing took place, and Landra lands the most beautiful fish we'd ever seen, a fish that was not really native to this body of water. So my dad quickly grabs a bucket, fills it with ocean water, gently places his fish in the bucket, and says, Landry, we're gonna show your mom, we're gonna show your other sisters when they get back from running errands.

1:02 Then he turns to me and says, EJ, do not mess with this fish. You understand me? I was like, yes, yes, sir, I understand you. We go back to fishing. But something in the back of my mind was like nagging at me. He's like, EJ, just go check this fish out. It's okay. So I go over to the bucket, reach my hands down, and as soon as my hands hit this water, The fish got spooked. It jumped out of the bucket, hit the dock, fell into the ocean, never to be seen again.

1:37 I didn't lose that fish because I didn't know what I was doing. I lost that fish because I did not listen to my father, the one who's taught me everything I know about fishing. Isn't that what you and I do with God? God hands us his word, his way of living. Hey, I have a perfect plan for you. Just obey my word. And then what do we do? We say, my way's better. In the long run, God, my way is better. I know what's best for our lives. And we convince ourselves that our way will work out just fine. and this is exactly what a man named Joshua is dealing with Joshua is in the Old Testament he's part of the nation of Israel think about the nation of Israel what they experienced what they went through God led them out of slavery led them out of bondage they witnessed the Red Sea part they saw God's faithfulness even through their journey in the wilderness they saw the walls of Jericho crumble and fall to the ground after all this after all these miracles after all the faithfulness of God Joshua witnessed one by one by one them turn and follow other gods if you've heard Bibles turn with me to the book of Joshua Joshua chapter 24 verse 15 It says this, but if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living.

3:25 But it's for me and my household. We will serve the Lord. No Christian wakes up one morning and says, hey, guess what, God? You're not the center of my life. Hey, guess what, God? I'm no longer going to serve you. But this is exactly what the Israelites were doing. And if we're not careful, we can fall into the same trap. Today, I wanna show us some ways that we can identify areas in our lives where we can fall into that trap and how we can prevent it. So if you're taking notes, the first thing I want you to write down is that every house serves something. Every house serves something. Imagine a beautiful neighborhood. It could be in Dallas, Fort Worth, Frisco, or right here in Grapevine.

4:18 Now imagine you've been given the keys to these homes in these neighborhoods. You come in through the front door of the first home. Man, it's all about the children's activities. It's about sports, recitals, the next practice, the next great coach, driving all over the Metroplex, summer, spring, winter, and fall is jam-packed with activities. Dinner conversations are had more in the car than they are at home, and you're hoping and praying, maybe my child will be part of the club that gets a scholarship opportunity. It's the sports. It's the activities. You come into the next home, and man, it's all about the career. Mom and dad chasing the next job promotion, the next pay raise flying to the next conference mom and dad's career is the most important thing in the home then you come to another home it looks like the first two has its flaws has its mess ups and foul ups but this one's different why it's because christ is the center of this home It's rightly ordered.

5:31 Every one of these homes is worshiping something. Every home is worshiping something. Notice that Joshua does not ask the nation of Israel, hey, will you serve? He already knows the answer to that question. He's saying, hey, choose for this day whom you will serve. Why does this matter to you and to me? How is this applicable thousands of years later in our lives? because little by little, just like the Israelites do, we turn and serve other gods. It's shown in our schedules. It's shown in our priorities. And like that fish, I thought I knew better. I thought I knew better than my dad. And we think that we know better than God. We say, for me and my house, we serve the Lord. But our actions tell another story. And that leads to destruction.

6:25 that leads to higher stress levels, bad habits, bad relationships. Little by little is how it happens. I want us to walk through your home. Maybe you have an apartment, condo, townhome, single family home. Whatever your living situation may be, we all have a place we call home. Let's go to the living room where life happens, where relationships are had, conversations happen. Is your home centered around sports, dance, cheer practice, work, another vacation, another round of golf? Those things are great. Those things are fine. Enjoy them and do them. But I have a question. Does Christ shape your schedule or does your schedule determine where Christ fits in it? Is church another checked box, another part of your to-do list?

7:22 oh, maybe this Sunday I can make it and I can check that box off. Yeah, I'm good with God. Our house serves God. You're the average Christian, only attends church once every six weeks. Some say it's up to once every 10 weeks. Marrieds, can you imagine only seeing your spouse once every 10 weeks? That marriage would not last. It would not last. We say, as for me and my house, we serve the Lord, but our schedules are saying a completely different thing. Pastor Cliff Koneckley, an amazing apologist, amazing theologian, was once asked this question. He said, he was asked, can you be a Christian and not be a part of a local church? He simply responded by saying, sure you can. Not a good one.

8:14 Not a good one. You and I cannot be the people that God wants us to be if we're not plugged in to a local church. And here's the thing. This is not me and old EJ hating on hobbies, hating on activities. I love to golf, play tennis. I love to fish. I love all these things. God's given us these great gifts. But good gifts, man, they make some terrible gods. Idolatry rarely begins with bad things. It begins when good things become the most ultimate thing. We say yes to a golf trip. We say no to being here on Sundays. We say, oh, my child has this practice that he needs to be involved in. He needs this extra training. I'm sorry, I can't be at church. And then we say no to church. And then we say no to having our students here at the mix. We say no, no, and no. And then we're making compromises that we never intended to make.

9:11 Again, what does your schedule show you and I are serving? so we've been through the living room let's go to the kitchen where bread is broken where great conversation take place at the dinner table what do your relationships look like do you have the right they in your life they is the right they are trustworthy friends their age honest you need to have honest people in your corner telling you the real deal you should have E, encouraging friends. You shouldn't have friends that tear you down. You have friends that build you up. You have Y, yielded to God, friends, the right they. And the wrong they will take you to places you never intended to go. Singles. We have so many singles people here at Fellowship Church. Are you dating God's way? Are you dating someone or pursuing someone that has a relationship with Jesus and can say without a shadow of a doubt that their house serves the Lord?

10:17 Or are you missionary dating? Dating someone, pursuing someone far away from Christ, and you're hoping and praying that eventually they'll come around, eventually they'll bow the knee to Jesus? And we have many people here who are playing house. You're shacking up, hooking up, not wanting to get married and you have the audacity to carry this Bible in acting like it's not a big deal. Hey, this little area, God does not really care that I'm living with my boyfriend or girlfriend. He does. He absolutely cares. And it's a sin. We're living in sin if we're doing that. Married. Does your marriage point others to Jesus? The people that are looking at your marriage, can they say, oh my goodness, so-and-so, their life, their marriage revolves around Jesus? Are you helping your spouses grow in their relationship with Christ?

11:15 Are you helping them pursue Christ? And when your kids look at their parents' marriage, are they seeing the same thing? Oh my goodness, mom and dad, they love God and they love his church. Now let's go to a room that no one really sees. the bedroom? Because I doubt you let many guests when they come to your house, visit your home, go into your bedroom. What does your relationship with God look like when no one's watching? Has that slowly faded beneath the surface? Are you spending time with God in your quiet time? Are you praying to God about what you're going through, what you're requesting him to do in your life? Are you feeding your mind with the things of God or are you feeding your flesh? Are you feeding a quiet time or doom scrolling on Instagram. Because often the private decisions that reveal what we truly worship.

12:13 Joshua, again, isn't asking you and I, hey, will you worship? Again, he knows the answer to this question. He's asking you and I who we're going to worship. Because we only have two options in this case. Hundreds of years later, a man named Jesus comes on the scene in the New Testament. And he asks us this question. He asks, hey, what are you building on? What are you building your house on? See, Joshua says, hey, who are you gonna serve? Jesus asks, what are you building on? These are not two different questions. They're the same question from two different angles. So the first thing is every house serves something. Number two, every house is built on something. Matthew chapter seven, verses 24 through 27 says this. Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

13:12 The rain came down, the streams rose, the winds blew, and beat against that house. Yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, the winds blew, and beat against that house. And it fell with a great crash. last week if you were not here at church pastor sam kelly did an amazing message on matthew 7 if you're not here i encourage you when you go home today go watch that message this verse this parable that jesus said is so powerful and so relevant to you and me so i have a question are you a wise or a foolish builder let's see what are the words of jesus what has jesus told us to do Jesus says, hey, be generous, forgive others, tell the truth, take temptation seriously, choose prayer over worry, treat others the way you want to be treated.

14:19 Then in the Gospel of John, it says, Jesus answered this in John 14, 6, I'm the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Then John 3, 16, a verse that many of us know. It says, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. I'm talking about the gospel, the good news of Jesus. But before we can hear the good news, we have to get to some bad news. The bad news is that we've all fallen short of the glory of God. We've all sinned. I'm a sinner and you're a sinner. and we're in need of a savior. And the worst news is that we can do nothing to bridge the gap for our mistakes we've made. But the great news is that Jesus did the work for you and for me.

15:15 He came down from heaven to earth to pay the penalty for our mistakes. He rose again and he is living victoriously in heaven. And that gift, that free gift is offered to you and to me, that free gift of salvation. we can either choose to accept it or we can choose to reject it it's by grace through faith friends if we're just hearing these words of Jesus and not doing anything with them if they're in one ear and out the other and we're not putting them into practice we are like that foolish man the foolish builder from the streets I bet both houses could have looked similar They could have used a similar building plan. Yes, one was obviously on the sand. One was obviously on the rock. But they could have looked the same.

16:08 What happened? When the storms came, the storms revealed what curb appeal couldn't. The storms revealed what curb appeal couldn't. Following Christ does not exempt you and I from the storms. The Bible never tells you and I that as Christians, we will be exempt from life's troubles. life's turmoils. It says, though, if we have built our foundation on the rock, that we'll be able to withstand it when the storms do come. And I've seen this played out beautifully in my life. My parents modeled what it is to have a foundation built on the rock. Way before they preached it on the platform, they were demonstrating it to my sisters and I at home. and they weathered some serious storms that as a young person, we didn't realize it.

17:01 We didn't realize it until we were much older knowing they went through so many storms and they were able to withstand it, protect my sisters and I. And not only that, they taught us how to build our own foundation because they knew that my siblings and I could not rely on their foundation when we got older. We had to have our own foundation and start building it early so when the storms do come, because again, the storms will come. Our foundation was strong as a rock. When my wife and I were pregnant with our son, Tripp, we went in for a routine appointment and they did the sonogram. Sonogram ended. It brought us back to the office. They set us down. They said, Mr. and Mrs. Young, I'm so sorry to tell you this, but your son has a VSD. He's a hole in his heart.

17:53 He's going to require open heart surgery as soon as he's born. It was like a category five hurricane just came out of nowhere and just rocked Jess and I's foundation. Unexpected. We were looking so forward to having a healthy child, everything that was going to come with it. Then this news, this bomb that was just dropped on us. They said, hey, we need to see you back in eight weeks for a follow up. Eight weeks of torrential downpour. eight weeks of waves just crashing and crashing against our foundation. And our prayer was, hey, God, please, God, heal our son while he's still in the womb. But Lord, we'll trust you no matter what the outcome. If he's born with this and he has to get open heart surgery, we'll be praying for the surgeon. We'll be praying for the doctors, the nurses, because we're going to trust you no matter what the outcome may be. We get to the end of the eight weeks, come back for the follow-up appointment. They do the sonogram. They come back to the office after the sonogram ends. They said, Mr. and Mrs. Young, I can't believe I'm telling you this, but the hole in the heart's not there anymore. The VSD is gone. We were like, thank you, Jesus.

19:08 Thank you, Jesus, for that miracle. And I know that's not everyone's story. So many of us have prayed for miracles, prayed for storms to cease, and the miracles didn't happen. We prayed for my sister to be healed. That did not come. We prayed for my grandmother to be healed. That did not come. But don't wait for the storms to start building your foundation. Foundations are poured long before the storms come. And if you're in the middle of a storm, it's not too late. Yeah, we can give it up for the head. And if you're in the middle of a storm, it's not too late. It's not too late to start building your foundation on the rock. The rock is Jesus. The rock is Jesus. Again, Joshua said, choose this day whom you will serve. Today I want to ask you to identify three areas in your life where you need to start choosing this.

20:06 The first is choosing your foundation. Many people here today do not have a relationship with Jesus. You've been kicking the tires of coming to church. you've never given the Lord tax title and license your life you've never given the reins today needs to be that day and I know as I'm speaking the Holy Spirit is stirring in your heart stirring your soul that today is the day to make it do not put off this decision you need to make today the day where you bow the knee to Jesus others here have been leashed up chained up to unforgiveness there's people that have betrayed you people that have hurt you and you're still holding on to that holding on to that resentment or holding on to that pain you need to release it release it to god and seek forgiveness maybe there's unrepentant sin in your life there's something that you've done in your past and you've never confessed it to god never confessed it to a loved one you need to confess that today.

21:13 So you need to choose your foundation. You also need to choose to build on top of that foundation. A foundation is nothing without a structure. I was 11 years old. I was sitting in my dad's office. Been to church multiple times already, like a good PK. I was like polishing my halo and patting myself on the back. Yeah, I've been to church multiple times. Better than anyone else. and then my dad turns the corner to go on stage to preach and he turns and looks at me he says EJ what are you doing I was like nothing I was just playing on my phone he point blank asked me EJ why are you not serving I was like I didn't have an answer I was choking on my own words I couldn't get anything out and he's like EJ pick a ministry so I picked a ministry he said go there now I walked to that ministry. My dad walked onto stage to preach.

22:09 I remember that Sunday like it was yesterday. Looking back, my dad was not trying to fill a quota, fill a volunteer role. He's like, oh, we're really lightened students or really lightened greeting. EJ needs to go there and fill a spot. No, he was not doing that. He knew that I loved the church. He knew I loved being here, but he was giving me greater ownership. He knew that once I started investing my own time, my own money, my own research, my own energy into this place, that I would grow to love it 10 times over. And that's exactly what Jesus is saying in Matthew 6. Matthew 6 says, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. We often think that our heart leads our investment, but Jesus says the opposite. Our heart follows what you and I invest in. That's the greatest gift my parents gave me, a love for this church.

23:03 Because I was in here no matter what. Rain, sleet, or shine, I was here. I was here in the mix. The church was not even an option. And I know that's a lot of kids here, students here, that's you. Church is not an option. Grow to love this place. That's what my parents did for me. They unlocked the keys in my life to now I'm investing into this place. So we've got to choose your foundation. We've got to build on the foundation. And once that house is built, we've got to open our house to so many people. My parents, growing up, countless dinners, we had people who were far away from God at our dinner table. People who had never been to church in their life were at our dinner table, dinner conversation with them. My parents, sharing Jesus with them, inviting them to church.

23:56 modeling to my siblings and I what it means to be the hands and the feet of Jesus, living out the great commission, which is to there go for, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. My parents lived that out, demonstrated that to my siblings. So when we built our own house, hey, it's now our turn to start inviting people to church, sharing our faith with people. Have you done the same? Have you opened your house, opened your life to people who are far away from Jesus? God's placed you in a specific area for a reason. You've been placed in a vast sea of humanity to be the light of God to someone. You need to invite someone to church today. You need to share your faith with someone today. When I read Joshua 24, verse 15, again, I think about my son, Tripp, whom I love so much.

24:55 I love him to death when I read that verse my hope my prayer is not that he'll remember a perfect father he does not have one my prayer is that he remembers a house that grace was quick forgiveness was quick that we had a house centered around serving Jesus and Jesus was the center of his mom's and mine's marriage that's my prayer my prayer is for you parents grandparents singles whatever age and stage of life you're in what type of inheritance are you leaving are you leaving an inheritance of earthly treasures things that will eventually turn to ash or are you helping build invest in to your kids your neighbors your grandkids a house that they could build in heaven with heavenly treasures showing them what it means to have a relationship with Jesus.

25:53 Because today, you can make that decision. Because my hope and prayer is for everyone here today to be able to say, for me and my house, we serve the Lord. Would you bow your head with me? Dearly, Father God, thank you so much for this message, God. Right now, I know in a room this size, there's so many people here who have never bowed the knee to you, Jesus. If that's you here today, and you're ready to give your life to Christ, I want to lead you in a simple prayer. Just say this prayer after me. Just say, dear Jesus, I admit to you I'm a sinner. I believe you came from heaven to earth to pay the penalty for my mistakes. Right now, Jesus, I commit my life to you. I repent of my sin and I turn towards you.

26:48 Jesus, thank you for rescuing me. Thank you for saving me. We pray this in your most mighty and precious name.