Laurie Hopkins

“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? “Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: “He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat  vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. “But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.” Luke 6:46-49

The commands of Jesus are a surefooted foundation for our lives.  

Jesus does not give us direction to spoil our fun or ruin our day.  

Jesus, in telling us how to live within ourselves and with others is helping us to build a firm foundation on which we can build successfully.  

The man building without a firm foundation is only building a house of cards, which will fall quickly and with much damage, as soon as the flood comes against it.  

The man building on the rock (that is Jesus) is building with brick and stone which will not be moved in the face of the flood.  

Similar to calling Jesus Teacher (like we talked about earlier in the week) and not aiming to be like Him, Jesus speaks about calling Him Lord without having intention to do the things He has said. 

In the same way we call Him Teacher, are we calling out Lord, Lord in a causal and offhanded manner, or are we calling out with the understanding that we are to follow His sayings? 

The fact of the matter is that the floods will come. 

Is your foundation firm enough to withstand them?

How do you understand Jesus’s direction in your life?

What is inside will come out. 

A tree cannot claim to be a good tree if it is bearing poor fruit.  

In the same way, we cannot claim to be one thing while the fruit of our mouth and our deeds clearly shows something else. 

We cannot harbour unforgiveness and offense in our hearts and hope that what shows on the outside is beautiful, shiny fruit. 

We may be able to maintain that for a while but eventually the facade will slip and what is inside will show on the outside. 

How do you nurture abundance on the inside, so that abundance comes out? 

Love freely; 

be kind and generous; 

forgive quickly and deal with offense upfront; 

do not harbour in your heart those things that cause hurt and negativity, bring them to the Cross and move forward; 

get into the Word and into prayer; 

fill up your heart with those things that are good and lovely. 

Above all things, be honest with yourself and with Jesus.  

Bring those things that you are harbouring to Him and work them out quickly. 

Don’t give them a foothold in your life.  

Make a determination to clean house inside and you will be guaranteed genuine curb appeal on the outside.   

What things are you doing to ensure abundance on the inside?

Many of us call Jesus Teacher. 

However, we often do it in a casual and offhanded manner without thinking about what it really entails.  

Jesus was very clear on what it entailed.  

“But everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.” 

This begs two questions:

1) do we know our Teacher, 

2) do we really aim to be like that Teacher.  

In order to know our Teacher, we need to be in the Word and in prayer.  

In order to move towards perfection in training, we need to have a genuine desire to be like Him. 

Do you call Him Teacher today; 

if so, today is the day to think about what that means in your life.

Do you call Him Teacher?  Are you calling Him Teacher in that offhanded manner or have you really considered what it means to be like Jesus?