Sooner or later, everybody ends up in a bond — a situation with no good options and no clear path forward. Between a rock and a hard place. In week 2 of Rock and Soul, we sit with King David in Psalm 61, a song he wrote while fleeing the rebellion of his own son, crying out to God "from the ends of the earth."

But David doesn't just pour out his pain — he hands us a map out of it: "Lead me to the rock that is higher than I." Here's the good news: if you're between a rock and a hard place, you're already halfway to where you need to be. You just have to move from between to the Rock.

And here's the twist — the toughest thing you can do isn't gritting it out on your own. It's being soft enough to admit there's Someone stronger, and to run to Him. Because the hard places, when we take them to the Rock, have a way of becoming sacred spaces — anchor points for your soul where you look back and say, "Look at what God did."

Whatever bond you're in — financial, relational, physical, emotional — go to the Rock. His ways are higher, His rest is real, and He is present in every situation you'll ever face.

Scripture: Psalm 61:1-4; 1 Peter 5:6-7; Matthew 11:28-30

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This is the Motion Church Podcast. Thanks for joining us. If you'd like more information about Motion Church, you can always visit our website at motionchurch.com. If you'd like to contribute to what God is doing here at Motion, you can do that at motionchurch.com/give. We hope you enjoyed today's message. Hey, so we're kicking off a new... There we go. Kicking off a new series today called Rock and Soul. Rock and Soul. Did you know that that's an actual genre of music? There are people that have kind of tried to... There was an album. I forget who it was. It's like in the 70s or 80s, like Simon and Garfunkel or something, you know? Anybody feel me on that? And then they came out with an album and it was called Rock and Soul. Not what we're talking about at all. We're talking about... We're gonna shift gears a little bit from kind of the format of our last series. We were very localized in terms of, you know, timeline. We're just looking at some of the stories from the life and ministry of Jesus and stories that demonstrated incredible faith and really enjoyed working. One of my favorite things to do is just kind of taking a passage of Scripture and just working through it, right? Kind of what does it say? What does it mean? How does it apply to us? What are some details that we're inclined to miss? Because we read... Sometimes I do this. Sometimes I just read it to read it and I miss some stuff, right? So I love working through a passage of Scripture like we did each week in that series. This series, we're gonna be all over the place. We are gonna be in Matthew today. We'll probably be in the book of Psalms next week and maybe the book of Exodus the next week. So we're gonna be all over the place. And the point is what we're gonna be doing is looking at in Scripture some of the references to rocks and the imagery and the symbolism and kind of the analogies that rocks have in terms of a spiritual connection to what it is that we're trying to accomplish as followers of Jesus. Makes sense? How many of you like rocks? Rocks are fun. Now, all the dudes, I promise you if we walked outside and there was a pile of rocks, we would pick it up and we would have a target competition, right? We're gonna hit... First one to hit the light pole wins. And for 30 minutes, because all of our arms are trashed these days, right? And then tomorrow we'd wake up and be like, "I don't know what's wrong with..." So we're gonna look at one of the many, some of the many, a few of the many references and illustrations pertaining to rocks in Scripture. Here's what I believe. I believe that anything that is repeated in Scripture is important. If there's a pattern that is repeated, it's for a reason. You're a parent. You know you repeat things that are important because they didn't hear it the first time or the third time or the 300th time. So you just continue to repeat things that are important. I think if there are principles that are repeated, it's there for a reason. It's important. If there is symbolism that is repeated, it also is important. There's got to be something to it, right? And I think that is very true as it relates to rocks. Did you know this... So it's funny when I was writing out my notes, I wrote offhand... This is verbatim what I said. I said, "Offhand, I would venture to say that there are over a hundred references to rocks in Scripture." So then I was like, "Well, I better fact check myself because somebody will do it if I don't." Right? I know y'all. And is somebody gonna call me out because you were wrong past... So I Googled it. And it said that there are roughly between 99 and 136 references to rocks in Scripture, depending on which translation you use. And you know, maybe this is a looser analogy or whatever the case was. So about 100, okay? About 100. And we're only gonna look at a few. You can thank me later. For the next two years, we're gonna be doing a series called Rock and Soul. Got a hundred messages lined out. We're good to go. So we're gonna kick off this week. We're gonna look at an analogy that Jesus uses that highlights the importance of rocks. Here we go. Title for today's message is a firm foundation. A firm foundation. Y'all know this. This is gonna be fun. Sometimes, I think the expectation sometimes when we go to church is like we're expecting to hear something we've never heard before. And I'll be very honest with you. Sometimes we just need to hear what we've already heard and do what we've already... Right? This is for me, right? It's not that I need to learn something new. I need to do better doing what I already know. That's what needs to happen sometimes. So the title is a firm foundation. The first point is, we're gonna call this one construction 101. Construction 101. I know a lot of you guys, guys and girls are kind of in construction industries or construction adjacent injuries. You understand injuries. It's football season. I already think about injuries, right? The construction industry connected like you understand. And if you have it, you've seen houses being built. You understand kind of some of the basic components of construction. We all probably understand how important a good foundation is to whatever it is that you're building. And that's the point that Jesus makes in Matthew chapter 7 verses 24 through 27. It says this. So just before we dive into it, it's the two paths, right? It's the two ways that you can choose to live your life. I think we think sometimes that there's a lot of different paths. And the reality is it's like, yeah, those paths may look different, but it's still the same path, right? You can take this road or you can take this road. One ends well, one not so well. Therefore, if it says therefore, preacher joke, you got to see what it's there for. Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine, this is Jesus talking, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain descended. The floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house and it did not fall for it was founded on the rock. Founded on the rock is another way of saying what the rock was its foundation. So it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand and the rain descended. The floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house and it fell and great was its fall. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to break down both of those paths, right? But what does it look like when you build your house on the rock? What does it look like when you build your house on the sand? What are kind of some of the things that go into that? And ultimately, what is the outcome of that? And really, I hope through contrast, we can see which is the better path for us as if you don't know this. But sometimes again, just important to be reminded of things that we know. So we're going to break it down. You ready? Break it down. I thought you were going to start dancing. Break it down. Break it down. This is the first thing that Jesus said. Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine, whoever hears these sayings of mine, that's where for us, for those of us who aspire to be wise people who build their house on the rock, it starts with hearing these words of mine. Now, specifically in context, what is Jesus talking about? The words that he just said, right? So Matthew chapter five, Matthew chapter six, Matthew chapter seven, it's a sermon on the Mount. And in terms of a sermon, best sermon ever preached, ever hands down, bar none, nothing even close, right? Just maybe the modern way to say it would be bars, right? Just so good. Matthew chapter five starts with the beatitudes, blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the me, blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. And then I'll be honest with you, like the back half of Matthew chapter five is tough. It's tough because he's like, Hey, I know this is what you've been taught, but I actually expect more of you. Like I know this is what you think about adultery, but I'm also going to teach you about lust. I know this is what you think about murder, but this is what I'm going to tell you about anger, right? Not that any of us struggle with those sorts of things, right? Not an angry person at all. Okay. Right. And so he gets into some stuff and he's like, Oh, those enemies that you've got, I'm going to teach you how to forgive them. That, that, that thing that people asked you how to do, I'm going to teach you how to go another mile. I'm like, why did you have to put all that stuff in there? Jesus, right? So it's such good, but challenging stuff, which is kind of the point. And we'll go over this a little bit more in detail at the end. The point for us, those of us who are aspiring to build our house on the rock, y'all, we don't get to pick and choose which sayings of Jesus apply to us or which ones we, we want to fit into our lives. The point is not for us to fit the teachings of Jesus into our lives. It's to fit our lives into the teachings of Jesus. Okay. And I look at, and not easy. Nobody ever said that it was, but worthwhile. It's building your house on a rock and it's something that will last. So he's specifically talking about the words that he just said, Matthew chapter six. This is how you give. This is how you pray. This is how you fast. Also stop worrying about everything. Look at the birds of the air. I take care of them. Look at the flowers of the field. I take care of them. What can you add to your life by worrying about all the things that you be out here worrying about? Right? It's good stuff. And in Matthew chapter seven, he's like, uh, you know, the, the ask, seek, knock, and then also our, our favorite, the judge, not list, you be judged, right? And then the two different paths, Matthew chapter Matthew seven, 13 and 14. He's like, Hey, there's a Broadway and there's a narrow way. And it's like your mama said, if everybody else was jumping off the bridge, would you jump off the bridge also? Right. And then he finishes with, you know, if you hear my words and you do them, you'll be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. However, I think it's safe to expand this to the other teachings, the life of Jesus, the example of Jesus. So anything that Jesus said, anything that Jesus did, I think it is safe for us to assume that when we hear that, when we see that we should do that. Okay. Very good. All right. So that's the simplest takeaway is, is the idea for us, I think bottom line, we need to be hearing the words of Jesus. Like whoever hears these words of mine, we need to hear the words of Jesus. You know why that's so important? Because we hear everything else. We hear everything else. Like just all the chatter and all the talk and all the, the criticism and all the negativity. We hear everything else. We hear the news. We, we, we read the articles, right? We hear the reels. We see the shorts. We hear the opinions. We hear the criticisms and what you better have, what you have to have, if you want to make it, if you want to build your house on something that's going to last is you better build your house on the rock. You need to hear the words of Jesus to give you framework, to understand everything else that you're hearing. I'm hearing it, but is it true? And if I hear the words of Jesus, I know what truth is. So I know that that's not truth. So that doesn't get internalized into my life. If I hear the words of Jesus and I know what's good and right and, and just in those sorts of things, then all of the other things that I hear, they don't have the same effect on me. It just gives us a framework. We need to be hearing the words of Jesus. That means we get into his word. We read the scriptures like personally, like it's not, listen, and y'all know this, but it's not the church's job to feed you. Y'all, if you're eating one time a week, like you're in trouble, you are not getting the proper nutrition. You should be eating all the time. Just eat, eat, right? Sorry, another football reference. Just like we got to be, we have to be, we have to be hearing the words of Jesus on our own. Listen to sermons. Like you're not going to hurt my feelings. I know there are better preachers out there. I listen to them too, right? Listen to people who are preaching the word of God, hear the words of Jesus, be in, come to church. Like we're going to talk about it here too. And that's amazing, but that's once a week and we need to be hearing it more than just that. Get into some small groups where it's being talked about. Have some friendships where you can, you can like break it down. And man, this is what I think it means. And what do you think it means? I have no idea. Tell me what you're thinking, how you feel, and hear the words of Jesus. We just need to hear the words of Jesus. Have you ever known someone so well that you knew what, this happens to me a lot. Everybody thinks they know what I would do. And usually they're right. I'm kind of predictable, right? So there are so many times in my life, somebody's like, yeah, I know what you would have done. So I went ahead and did it. I'm like, all right, you got me. That's right. And so what's the point of that? It's like, you know someone so well that you know what they would do even if they're not there. Why? Because you've heard their heart. You've heard, if you hear the words of Jesus, you hear his heart and you know what you're supposed to do. So the person who hears these words of mine, and then the next part of that, and this is the challenging part of that, and does them, and does them. And I know you know this, but it is not enough to hear the words of Jesus. We need to do something with the words of Jesus. We got to, listen, it's got to get deep down. It's got to penetrate deep enough into your heart that it actually affects the way that you live your life. The point is never, ever just information. The point is transformation. Like information in and of itself is fine, but it's never enough. The point is to have the information that goes in and does a work on your soul that causes you to live differently. This is how it says it in the book of James, James chapter one, verses 22 through 25. One of my favorite passages of scripture, and I say that all the time, and I mean it. I got a bunch of, like some of y'all got a bunch of best friends, which is impossible because best means best. It's my favorite passage of scripture. Here we go. It says, "But be doers of the word and not hearers only." Deceiving yourselves. Isn't that kind of interesting? Because like I think what we do sometimes is we talk ourselves into not doing it because we know it, and that's kind of good enough, right? So we deceive ourselves because we're hearers and not doers also. And then it says, "For if anyone is," this is so good, listen to this, "For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror," checking yourself out, looking at all the angles. I know you snuck in that duck face selfie. I know you did. "Is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror, for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the word, this one will be blessed in what he does." You know what I think that means? Again, when we hear the words of Jesus, we understand the heart of Jesus. When you hear the words of Jesus and you do them, you know who he is. Therefore, you know who you are. You can look in the mirror and you know who you are. And when you leave the mirror, you still know who you are because you've heard the words of Jesus and you've allowed them to get deep enough into your heart that you understand your identity. You're not going to leave and forget who you are just based on who you're with because that never happens. Like, what is it? A code switch? Is that what they call it when you get around different people and you act different? Thank you, trendy. Youth pastor, right? It keeps me in touch. It's not enough. It's not enough to be a theologian. And I think that's amazing that there are people who devote so much of their time and, you know, effort and stuff to learning more about scripture and learning about God. But listen, if you're a theologian and not a practitioner, you are wasting your time. Like, if you got all the knowledge in the world and there isn't any application of that knowledge, you are missing the point. You're missing the boat. You're wasting your time. And trust me when I say this is like, this is not an attack on knowledge. Knowledge, I think, is incredibly important. We should always be aspiring to attain a better understanding of the things of God, but never just for the sake of knowing, but for doing, right? I know it so that I know how to do it. Not just so I know it so that I know it because y'all got a lot of, there's plenty of those. You met the know-it-alls that never do anything. I'm like, that's amazing. You got all this information in your head. How about you get out there and do something with your hands? That was good preaching. Sorry. You know what the difference in my opinion is between knowledge and wisdom? Again, knowledge is incredible. Knowledge is kind of, it's the doorway. It's the step in the right direction, but knowledge is simply information. It's having the information in your head. Wisdom is when you take that information and you apply it to your life. You're a hearer and a doer also. So that's the second part, right? So he hears the words of Jesus and he does them. And then Jesus said, this is like a wise man who built his house, which means, which is to say that then we get about the business of building our house built, which is kind of another way, a clever way of saying, an illustrative way of saying, go build your life on the principles of Jesus, the teachings of Jesus, the ways of Jesus. Then go and build your life. Like we are called to be doers, not just in the sense that we're doing God's word, but doers in the sense that we are building something that matters and something that lasts. Our lives are significant. We're not just, you're not just floating through time. Like you're here for a reason. You have a purpose. Like God has called you to do something with your life. So get about building that house, right? I think someone who follows the teachings of Jesus, you feel deep in your soul that you're supposed to do something significant with your life. We use language like this, like something bigger than myself. You feel this sense of urgency to build something and be a part of something that is bigger than yourself. It's something that you can pass on to the generations to come. It's never just about you because you're building something that matters. We're called to be builders and makers, not just grifters and takers. That was a good line. You can say amen or owe me, right? We're called to be builders. We're called to be people who make things, like who creates. God is a creative God and we're made in his image. Therefore we should create. So we're called to be builders and makers, not just grifters and takers. The world and the church for that matter. We've got too many of those. We've got so many people that are always about what can you do for me? What can I get out of this? It's always this consumption thing. It's always, and you live your whole life like that and it even bleeds over into your spiritual pursuits where it's always about consumption. Here's a thought. What have you given? What have you built? What have you contributed? Make sure it's not that we don't consume. It's just also we do contribute as well. So let's get about the building part of this. We hear God's word. We do God's word and we build our lives on the rock. And when you build your life on the rock, it is good for your soul. Rock and soul. Okay, good. Now on the other hand, this I thought about calling this point shoddy craftsmanship. On the other hand, this is the person who Jesus said built his house on the sand. And I thought I was kind of working like why did Jesus choose to use sand as kind of the reference point, the imagery of the foundation of someone who is unwise, a foolish person. And we'll get there. I think there's obviously significance to that, but I think there are some other things that we should point out first. The first thing is it's interesting how the story is set up exactly the same. So he says the wise man, hears the words, does them, then he builds his house on the rock. The foolish man hears the words, doesn't do them. So it's kind of the same order. It's just a different outcome because of what he chose to do with the information that he had. So he hears them. He doesn't do them. And he builds his house on the sand. And you know what I think this, this is just maybe this is my opinion. Maybe I'm reading too much into this. You notice how Jesus directs. It seems to be a directed message at a specific audience. And I think the tendency is to think that this is a message for them. Y'all ever do that and be like, man, that's a good word preacher for my neighbor, right? My wife needed to hear that. My husband show needed to hear that, right? My kids, God bless them, they show needed to hear that. And I think this is a message because we hear that and we're like, oh yeah, yeah, they're not doing the words of Jesus. This is obviously, obviously for all those, those sinners and those pagans and those outsiders. But what does he say? He's like those who hear my words and don't do them. I think this is a message just as much for the insiders as it is for the outsiders. I think it's easy. This is the easy thing to do. It's so easy for us to look at the world and all of the craziness and all of the evil and cast dispersions and be like, oh yeah, the world. And that's fair. Like we're allowed to call things for what they are. We're beholden to truth and light so we can call evil what it is. But this specific analogy is for those who hear the words of Jesus and don't do them. And listen, that very well could be me and you. You can go to church and I hope you do. I mean, I think it's important, right? You can go to church and you can make claims that you follow Jesus, but if you hear it and don't do it, you're a person who's building your house, building your life on the sand. If you aren't doing what he said to do, then you are building your house on the sand. Okay, here's the other thing. This is another thing that's interesting about this passage. Jesus doesn't make any distinction between the fact that both groups are building, right? So one is building their house, building their life on the rock. The other is building their house, building their life on the sand, which is maybe another way to say, hey, they're busy too, right? They've got full plates too. They've got activities too. They've got crowded hearts too. It's not that they're not building something. It's not that they're not winning. It may just be that they're winning at the wrong things. I thought that was good, right? Because I think that's sometimes, sometimes the measure that we use to evaluate the success of somebody's life is like how active they are and how busy they are and how much they accomplish. And that's not the measure. The measure is, are you building your house on the rock? Are you building your house to last? Are you building your house on the foundation, the principles, the teachings, the hearings, the words of Jesus? Or are you just busy building a life that's absent of those things? And if you do, you may be building, but you're not building something that lasts. You're not building something that's going to be significant down the road. And so there's a difference between the choice and foundation, and that makes all the difference. And so here's what we do, the tendency again, because that's the way sometimes that we tend to measure things. We can win, but we can win at the wrong things. And here's what's scary about that is like, I can tell you as a fact, there's a lot of things that I cannot tell you for a fact. There are some things that I've got strong opinions on. There are some things that I've got like, you know, sometimes I make up things just to fill in the gaps. I know, you know, Shelley, when we first got married, Shelley was like, man, you just know everything. I'm like, yes, I do. And the truth is, this is before the internet was like ubiquitous. And the truth is, I just kind of made it up on a best guess, right? And it's like, and I was like, right ish a lot of times. So it just, it just happened to work out. But the truth is like, we don't, we don't know everything, right? But I can tell you this for a fact, like from personal experience, that this is a possibility of this, this building your life on the wrong foundation is a possibility for good church-going folk like me and you. I know you don't want to hear that. And I think, you know, I'm at church, I'm building my, yeah, listen, if you hear it and you don't do it, you're building your house on the sand. And that can happen to any one of us. It can happen to me. It's like there have been seasons in my life where I've been building stuff, but it's not been the right stuff, right? So this is, I'm so thankful to God for these necessary warnings along the way. We can never, we can't ever get to the end of our life and be mad at Jesus for not telling us. Because He told us on the front end, you're going to have these troubles. You're going to have these struggles. Make sure you build your life like all of the warnings that He gave us. I'm so thankful for them. And then, then we get to the foundation selection. So you've got the one who built his house on the rock and the other who built his house on the sand. What is the significance of the sand? You know how foolish that would be, right? To build your house. You've walked on sand. You've been to a beach. You know that sand gives way under pressure. You ever tried to run in the sand? You look like a slug, right? Again, in my mind, I still got it, right? There's still some athleticism there. And you get in the sand, you're like, nah, it's gone. It is gone, gone, gone. You know how foolish it would be to build your house on the sand? It's unstable. It's shifty. Does it sound like some people's lives? The instability gives weight under pressure, gives weight under pressure. There's not some stick-to-it-iveness to it. It's like shifting and moving. That's crazy. Which is exactly the point that Jesus was making, right? That's exactly the point. The people that don't follow His ways, this is what they're inclined to do. They're inclined to just shift, to just change. Just like whatever. There's no stability under pressure. So I'm just going to go on to the next thing. These are the types of people who are inclined to follow their heart. Follow their heart into the next thing, this thing, that thing, everything, whatever is the next shiny thing. There's always the volatility and the instability. And these are the types of people who are so quick to start one thing. And then when it doesn't go, how they think it should go, they're on to the next thing. And that doesn't exclude relationships. I know that's offensive. And Frank, listen, you know, I've decided at some point in my life, in the last few years, I am not going to apologize for sharing the truths about God's Word. Just not going to do it. Like if it offends you, and obviously I want to do that as lovingly, as kindly as possible, but I'm just not going to apologize for telling you what God's Word says. So these types of people, that's why we see, like, marriages dissolve so quickly. It's like, "Oh, well, it's not Cinderella. It's not a fairy tale like I thought it was going to be." So I'm out. Or you can build your house on the rock, where there's some stability and there's some persistence. What is a rock? It is resilience, right? There is some stability in that. And it's like, just because there's adversity and there's hardship doesn't mean that I'm going to dip set, which is, is that another trick? Oh, he's gone. Another trendy word, right? So here's what this starts to look like as you kind of play these two lifestyles out. The one who chooses to build his house on the rock, the one who chooses to build his house on the sand, you really start to see, over time, the difference, right? The contrast between the two. And it takes some time sometimes. I think if you have a small sample size in terms of time, you may not notice that much of a difference. But over the course of time, it will be very obvious that one person, the wise person, is living for something that matters. They're living with purpose. They're living for something bigger than themselves. They're living for something that's actually going to have some lasting value. On the other hand, you got the person who builds their life on the sand and they're just living for the next thing. They're living for the moment. They're living for the feels, right? And that is not, that is, I'm just going to help you out. That is not a way to live your life. Do you notice how, this is interesting, this is the last correlation we're going to make kind of between the two groups. And I think it's, it's one of the most important. Do you notice how each of the groups described, the wise man, the foolish man, both of them, the rains descended, the floods came, the wind blew and beat upon that house. Happened to the, the man who built his house on the, the firm foundation happened to the man who built his house on the sand, but there were two completely different outcomes. What does it say for the man who built this house on the rock? It says the rains came, the rains descended, the floods came, the wind blew and beat on his house. But because it was built on this firm foundation, because it was built on the rock, it stood. On the other hand, the one who built his house on the sand, what happened to him? The rains descended, the floods came, the winds blew and beat on his house and it fell. And it doesn't stop there. It doesn't say it just fell. And it says, and great was its fall. Here's my hope. This is my prayer for us as followers of Jesus, people that come to this church who, who as a community, we are aspiring to live a wise life and build our house on the rock. Just make, make all of these principles a routine, a staple in your life. Hear the words of Jesus, like whatever that looks like, man, if you've got a rhythm where, where you do devotionals and you get into God's word, man, that's amazing. Keep it up. If you don't, that is a great place to start. Be in environments where you're hearing the words of Jesus, but not just picking and choosing. I had an old pastor friend and he's like, some of y'all, not us, other people, other churches, other parts of the world. He was like, some of y'all are like Piccadilly Christians. And y'all don't, does anybody remember Piccadilly? Used to be in the Longview mall, like right when you walked into the right, but that was in the eighties. So disregard that reference, right? But it was a buffet. And what would you do with the buffet? You just go, Ooh, I want some of that. Do not want any of that. And I think that's kind of the tendency sometimes, isn't it? It's like, Oh, we love this Jesus that's meek and mild in this Jesus that's love and rainbows and light. But when Jesus starts telling us these hard teachings that then we have to change our life to fit into his words, not get his words to fit into our life. It gets a little more complicated, right? Build your, hear his words, hear his words, all of them and do them and do them, not just have the information, but experience transformation in your life and then get about building the life, man. Go do that thing. Go, go build your life, build your family, build your legacy, using the principles, the teachings, the words of Jesus, always as the foundation. And here's what's so beautiful about that. It is, it is transcend everything that you do. Every facet of your life should have these principles, these teaching teachings and these ways of Jesus. And that's what we should be about is building our life, building our house on the rock. It is a wise way to build your house, build your house on the rock. It is good for your soul. Amen. It's a good time to say like, Amen. Amen. Let me pray for us. Jesus, thank you so much for, this is not an easy teaching to be honest. I get scared to think that we can hear your words. We can know your words. We can be in church. We can know scripture and still be like the foolish person who builds our house on the sand. God, God helped that not to be any of us. God help us as the book of James says to be not hearers only, but doers also. Father, we don't want to just know your words that we have information. God, we desperately want to experience transformation. God, I want my life to be different because I hear your words. When I hear your words, I know your heart. And when I know your heart, I can't help but be changed. God, give me the wisdom to see the areas that I'm resistant, that I'm hesitant, that I try to make your words fit my life, not my life fit your words. Father, and give me the courage to change what needs to be changed. The humility got to break off whatever needs to be broken off. And Father, in your grace, I know that you'll do that. It says that if we ask, if we seek, if we knock, you're there, you're willing and you're able. So Father, we thank you so much for that this morning. Help us to be people who are wise, Jesus, who build our house on the rock and have this stability, this resilience in our soul. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

We're closing out our Faith Stories series — stories from the life of Jesus where ordinary people show extraordinary faith. This week moves fast and packs in three of them, held together by one idea: faith is never isolated. Your faith should strengthen mine, and mine should strengthen yours. This week we're in Matthew 8 and Mark 5.

And, Not If — In Matthew 8:1-3, a leper approaches Jesus in the middle of a crowd that parts like the Red Sea to get away from him. He was more than sick; he was considered unclean, unaccepted, untouchable. And he says something full of faith: "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." He already believes Jesus is able — he's only asking whether Jesus is willing. Then Jesus does the unthinkable: he reaches out and touches the untouchable, and says, "I am willing." That's the key that unlocks greater faith. It's easy to believe God is able — the Creator of the universe, the one who set the stars in place. The harder thing is to believe He's willing to intervene for you personally. But His willingness was never tied to what you deserve, what you've earned, or what you could repay. He does it because He's a good Father who cares. Not just able — and, not if.

Wait Your Turn — In Mark 5:21-43, Jairus, a synagogue leader, falls at Jesus' feet begging him to come heal his dying daughter. Jesus goes with him — but on the way he stops, because a woman who'd been bleeding for twelve years reaches out and touches the hem of his robe, believing that even that would be enough. It is. "Daughter, your faith has healed you." And while Jesus is still speaking, word comes that Jairus's little girl has died. Imagine watching your miracle get "interrupted" so someone else can have theirs first. But Jairus doesn't throw a fit — he waits his turn, holding onto the faith that if Jesus could do it for her, he can do it for me. Jesus clears out the mockers, takes the girl by the hand, and says, "Talitha koum" — baby girl, get up — and she does. Then, so like Jesus, he tells them to give her something to eat.

Two takeaways: God is not just able, but willing — He wants to participate personally in your life. And: be patient. It won't always happen when or how you expect, and sometimes it happens for someone else while you're still waiting. Have faith enough to believe that if He did it for them, He can do it for you — and celebrate their victory while you wait for yours. When you rejoice with those who rejoice, you position yourself to receive from God.

Scripture: Matthew 8:1-3; Mark 5:21-43.

We're continuing our Faith Stories series, because faith never just affects the person who has it — it affects everyone around them. This week we're in Luke 18:35-43 with a blind man sitting by the road outside Jericho.

When he hears that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by, he starts shouting: "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" The crowd tells him to hush — and he cries out all the more. And Jesus, on his way to Jerusalem to be crucified for the sins of the world, stands still. He stops his mission for one man's faith, calls him over, and asks, "What do you want me to do for you?" The man is healed, and immediately follows Jesus — and all the people, seeing it, give praise to God.

A few things worth sitting with:

Jesus stood still. He didn't have to stop. He was on his way to the cross. But persistent, unembarrassed faith got his full attention — and it still does.

God closing the loop. Remember Jericho from Joshua 6 — the walls that came tumbling down? Where there was once rubble and ruin, here comes Jesus bringing redemption and restoration, near the end of his ministry, still loving and serving people on his way out. (Even the names rhyme: Joshua and Yeshua share the root meaning "Yahweh saves.")

Ask the questions. "Son of David" is genealogy and prophecy fulfilled — and if that's ever confused you, you're in good company. There are no dumb questions when it comes to figuring out your faith. Ask them.

The invitation: a persistent faith — one that won't quit, that isn't altered by the opinions of other people, that's anchored in God's character and track record. Position yourself around people who've walked through the fire, be strengthened by their faith, and then use your own story to serve, love, and inspire someone else's. Get up and follow Jesus.

Scripture: Luke 18:35-43 (with a look back at Joshua 6).

We're kicking off a new series looking at stories from the life of Jesus where someone's faith inspired the people around them. Because that's what always happens — when people encounter Jesus, their faith is strengthened, and that faith becomes a catalyst for something miraculous.

This week we're in Mark 2:1-12. Jesus is back home in Capernaum, and the crowd is so packed there's no room left, not even outside the door. Four friends carry a paralyzed man to Jesus, and when they can't get through the crowd, they climb up, tear the roof off the house, and lower their friend down at Jesus' feet. And here's the line that matters: "When Jesus saw their faith" — not the paralyzed man's, but his friends' — he forgave the man's sins and told him to get up, pick up his mat, and walk.

There are two miracles in this story.

Jesus the Multitasker — The obvious one: Jesus heals a man who couldn't walk. But he's doing two things at once. To the religious skeptics muttering in their hearts that only God can forgive sins, Jesus proves the point — he heals the man so that they'll know the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. It's never just about the moment; it's always about the bigger picture. May we never forget what Jesus has done for us, where he brought us from, and the mats he's helped us walk away from.

Vandalizing Faith — The less obvious miracle: this man had four friends who cared enough and believed enough to do something radical and disruptive to get him to Jesus. At some point, faith has to stop being theoretical and start producing action. You will be down at some point, and when you are, you need friends who have faith when yours is weak — friends willing to press through the crowd, climb the stairs, and tear the roof off to carry you to Jesus. And if you want friends like that, you have to be a friend like that — the one who picks up his corner of somebody else's mat.

That's what church really is. You may not hear the greatest message every week, but every week you'll find some friends who will carry their corner of your mat — and a chance to carry someone else's.

Scripture: Mark 2:1-12 (with a nod to John 9).

Four men. Three fires. Two stories ages apart. One flame.

In this message, Cody Knight walks us from the courts of Babylon to the fiery furnace, where Daniel — and his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego — refused to bow to the golden image and trade their God-given identity for the comfort of fitting in. The world is always trying to make us like it. So how do we stay standing when the heat is turned up?

This is a call to leave casual faith behind. Casual says "I'm a Christian" and still bows to the image. But when our faith meets the Father's faithfulness, there's a spark — and God is calling us to step into the fire and find Him right there in it.

If you've been facing your own fire, this one will strengthen you. And if you're facing your very first fire — believing in Jesus for the first time — know this: you can belong here before you believe.

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Warrior Poet Society — Week 4: How to Not Wreck Your Life

In the season finale of Warrior Poet Society, we close out our study of David with a simple but honest question: how do you keep from wrecking your life? Looking at the sweep of David's story, one pattern stands out — when certain things were properly ordered, life went well; when they weren't, David wrecked it. This message walks through three things that made the difference, and they all happen to start with the same letter.

Prayer — David led with prayer before he acted. "Should I go?" "Yes, go." Over and over he asked God first. When he prayed before he moved, things went well. When he didn't — Bathsheba, Uriah — he wrecked his life. Pray before you do, because if you do before you pray, you usually have to undo what you've done. It doesn't have to be eloquent. Sometimes it's just, "God, I don't know what to do."

People — The right people may be the single greatest factor in what your life looks like five years from now. God sent David an unlikely crew — the troubled, the indebted, the discontented — along with voices like Abigail who kept him from doing something he'd regret. The right people accelerate your progress, protect you, tell you the truth, and carry you when you're running on fumes.

Providence — David left room for God to do what only God could do. Time after time, "it just so happened." When you're down to nothing, God might be up to something. The place David escaped got a name: the Rock of Escape. Once we've prayed, gathered the right people, and done what we can, we trust God to make a way when there doesn't seem to be one.

Scripture: 1 Samuel 19, 22, 23, 25, and 30.

Motion Church | Warrior Poet Society, Week 3: "The Downstream Effect of Sin"

Happy Father's Day from Motion Church — "I think strong men are the backbone of any good society" — and then right into a tough but important topic in the David series: what happens after forgiveness.

This week picks back up exactly where Nathan left off with David after the Bathsheba confrontation. Nathan didn't just say "you are that man" — he also told David what would follow. "The sword shall never depart from your house... I will raise up adversity against you from your own house." Translated: "Because you chose sin... because you despised me, there will be downstream consequences for those actions."

Here's the tension the message sits in: God's forgiveness is instant and complete. "First John 1:9 says, if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us of those sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It is that good. It is that true." But forgiveness doesn't erase consequences. "We can be forgiven immediately and instantaneously, but that doesn't mean that there won't be a wake." Like a muddy dog getting a bath — clean, but the tub still needs cleaning up. "Spiritually, we can be forgiven, but relationally, there may be much work to do."

And David's family lived that out in devastating ways. His son Amnon assaults his half-sister Tamar. His son Absalom, consumed by two years of quiet rage, orchestrates Amnon's murder in revenge. Eventually Absalom turns against his own father, manipulating the people of Israel — "Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel" — and seizing part of the kingdom. "All of this is in David's house, and all of this is because of sin." It's Galatians 6:7 playing out in real time: "whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." Sow violence, reap violence. Sow scheming, reap scheming.

There's a striking detail in Absalom's story too — he was famous for his flawless looks and his luscious hair, which he cut once a year, "200 shekels" worth. That same hair is what gets him caught in a tree branch while fleeing on his mule, leaving him dangling and vulnerable — and it's there that Joab kills him. "Absalom was hanging by the hair that was a key feature in his rise to power." The lesson: "What got him to a certain point was also what got him caught up in that point... what took you there is not enough to keep you there." Talent, charm, looks — gifts from God, genuinely — "will get you to certain places in life, but it will not sustain you in those places. Character is the only thing that will sustain you."

A sobering reminder follows: none of us are exempt. "The cross is level. The ground at the foot of the cross is level." No one gets special privileges, and no one is above the standard just because of unique gifts or success. As one young man once put it in a moment of real wisdom: "but for the grace of God, that could have been any one of us."

So what do you do with all this? Two things, plus one final word of hope. First, avoid sin and even its appearance wherever possible — "if it looks like sin, at all costs, if at all possible, just avoid it." Second, if you're already dealing with consequences of past sin, lean into mercy. "His mercy triumphs over judgment." Your future is greater than your past, and God doesn't waste even the hardest seasons — "he's going to use those things that you've gone through to help you and to help others."

Motion Church | Warrior Poet Society, Week 2: "Lessons on the Lamb"

Season two of the David series backtracks a bit this week — picking up not after the Bathsheba scandal, but earlier, when Saul is still king and wants David dead. "Not the kind of situation you want to find yourself in." Jealous and paranoid over David's growing popularity (there was literally a chorus about him: "Saul has slain his thousands, David his tens of thousands"), Saul starts hurling actual spears at him. So David goes "on the lamb" — on the run — which gives this message its title: Lessons on the Lamb.

First lesson: strength doesn't always look like what we think it looks like. Even though David once stood fearlessly before Goliath, here he is running from a "washed up warrior." Why? Because David understood it wasn't his timing or his fight to pick. "There are battles in your life... that only God can fight." Sometimes the strongest thing a person can do isn't retaliate — it's walk away. "If I respond, it is not peace. It is debris, it is chaos, it is destruction, and I may feel right or think that it's right, but it doesn't make it right." Discernment — sometimes in the form of a spouse saying "babe" — matters. "Strength doesn't always look like you think that strength looks. It's a different kind of strength."

Second lesson, and maybe the coolest full-circle moment in David's life: old swords, new battles. After defeating Goliath, David took the giant's own sword as a trophy. Years later, fleeing from Saul and desperate for a weapon, David arrives at the tabernacle in Nob, and the priest Ahimelech tells him there's only one sword available — Goliath's, wrapped in cloth, practically forgotten. David's response: "There is none like it. Give it to me." The lesson lands personally: "The battles from your past are the weapons for your future." Nothing you've gone through was wasted. "God does not waste anything in our lives." And the weapon isn't just for you — "it helps other people too."

The final lesson is what gets called a "looney lesson." Fleeing into enemy territory — the city of Gath, ruled by King Achish — David realizes he's been recognized and is in real danger. So he does something wild: he pretends to be insane, scratching on the gate and drooling into his beard, until Achish dismisses him as a madman not worth the trouble. "Sometimes doing the right thing will make you look like a mad person." When you're doing what God has called you to do, "it's not always going to make sense to other people." And that's fine — "our purpose is more than to impress people. We are here to honor the sacrifice of Jesus' life on the cross." After all, the message of the cross itself looked like foolishness to the world — "the one who knew no sin became sin on my behalf... it's foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God."

Three lessons from a man on the run: a different kind of strength, old swords for new battles, and sometimes a little bit of "crazy" is exactly what faithfulness looks like.