hello and welcome back to another Sunday conversation last week we were discussing the framework of our life and how Hebrews tells us that by faith we recognize that the worlds were framed by the word of God that means they're supported and upheld consider what we thought about last week with regard to if the foundations be destroyed what then can the righteous do the righteous don't need to worry about the destruction of the foundation the right just need to stand upon it and live in it here's the verse that I want to take you to this week habac the 2 chapter the fourth verse Behold The Proud his soul is not upright within him but the just now recognize here we're speaking about two different individuals one person is a proud person the other is a just person now I don't know about you or which one you would choose to be but I would choose just I want to be justified not by anything that I've done but I want to be justified by his grace I want to be justified by his Mercy my personal definition for justification is simply this it's just as if I'd never sinned I certainly don't want to be thought of in God's eyes as a proud person why because throughout the word of God it says the Lord resists ists the proud if there's anyone that I don't want against me it's God himself and he has said that of the things that he hates in this world one of them is a proud look Peter said the Lord resists the proud but he gives grace to the humble I would much rather receive his grace than I would his resistance so here in habac we're looking at two individuals the proud person whose soul is not upright and the just person and here's what the Bible says habac 2 and4 the just shall live by his faith how are we going to live you know there's certain things that are essential in order for me to live food shelter water and there's certain amounts of time that I can go without those things and not really worry about whether or not I'm going to continue to exist but for example if you take water away from me for 3 days then I have a high chance of dying if you take food away from me for an extended period of time I might feel like I'm dying but eventually over time malnourishment would set in and I would have health issues if you take shelter away from me I'm fine until the elements turn so contrary that I wouldn't be able to survive I could sleep outside most nights in San Antonio and not be worried but if I would have chosen to sleep outside on a night when it was below zero I might not have been able to get up in the morning but here what the Bible's talking about is your soul that part of you that was spoken by God in the beginning and it says the one thing that you need to survive is Faith the just shall live by faith faith is everything without faith the Bible says it is impossible to please God without faith you have no access to Sal salvation Ephesians It Is by grace that you have been saved through faith it is the gift of God that no man can boast faith is the basis of everything so how does God build your life first he gave his life so that you could have life that's the foundation but everything after that Foundation comes with faith if you're going to see the best in this life you have to have faith in the God who promised that you could have it that's what habakuk is saying by faith is how the just shall live how does God build your family by faith Deuteronomy 6 6 and 7 this is a very important verse to understand God's responsibility towards fathers and parents in society Deuteronomy 66 and 7 it says and these words which I command you today shall be in your heart you shall teach them diligently to your children you shall talk with them when they sit in your house when you walk by the way when you lie down and when you rise up now if we have faith in God's word we understand that it is imperative that we share that faith and primarily with the Next Generation Deuteronomy 6:7 and you shall teach them diligently what does diligently mean diligently does not mean that you do it occasionally diligently means that you do it daily you know what I do diligently I eat breakfast diligently as a matter of fact if I skip breakfast I'm grumpy I don't know maybe you drink coffee diligently or there's certain people you call diligently but diligent Deeds are the things that you do on such a regular basis it's irregular when you skip them let me ask you this do you pray with your children diligently do you do it so often that when you don't do it they ask for it do you discuss the things of this world and apply God's word to them for your children diligently whether you know it or not your children no matter what age they are they're impacted by the culture that we live in but do you speak to them that the the Bible says God hasn't given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of sound mind do you help them understand why the word of God is the answer to the things that they're facing in this time you see this verse in Deuteronomy chapter 6 is a verse that God gave to the fathers of Israel just before he gave them the promised land this is what they have been striving for for 40 years and in the book of Deuteronomy God is telling them here's how you're going to keep the land from generation to generation in many ways we can look at the world that we live in and suggest that the United States is somewhat of a modern-day promised land and if we are going to keep this promised land from generation to generation it is not going to be through an educational system it's not going to be through a Sunday school system it's not going to be through a great youth group or anything that some organization does for young people it's going to come first and foremost in the home and it's going to become a thing that is essential for you as a parent to pass down to your children that's why the word of God said you teach them diligently you teach them when you talk with them and sit in your house let me ask you something how much of your home time is spent digitally disconnected from the people that you're physically living with you need to have have some device free time in your home where you and your children learn to have a conversation you ask them questions about the world that they're living in how are things going in your home how are things going in your school how are things going with your friends and you ask them on such a consistent basis that you understand and can interpret when their behavior changes so that you'll know how to impact their life as a parent where to give them advice where to offer them counsel where to let them know that you're constantly there to pray and support them in their hour of need talk with them when you sit in your home also Deuteronomy says when you walk by the way what does that mean when you go through your daily life don't take God out of the day-to-day things that are happening in your life explain to your children when God answers prayer if you have a great day at the office connect God's blessings to that great day if you're walking through a difficult time connect God's promise to be a deliverer to that difficult time why because when your children have a good day you want them to give God glory and when they have a hard day you want them to put their faith in God but they won't do it unless you do it this is a simple verse to read but I promise you it's not that easy to impact I strive to do it on a daily basis and many days find myself falling short because the world we live in is such a busy world it's such a hurried place there's so many things to do there's so many things that you've got to accomplish and at the end of it all you fall in bed and you're exhausted and just a few minutes later you feel like the alarm clock rings but these are the things that are important to God this is how he builds your life this is how he builds your family by faith and by his word it says when you lie down and when you rise up basically it's saying there isn't a time that isn't good to teach your children the word of God or connect them to what God is doing in the world today how does he Build Your Life by faith in his word how does he build your family by faith in his word how did he build the church 1 Timothy 3 and15 here's what the Bible says Paul is writing to Timothy he says I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God which is the Church of the Living God the pillar and the ground of Truth think about that here Paul tells Timothy it's not just a structure it's the house of God now I don't know about you but there's a way that you should conduct yourself when you go to someone's house when I went to my grandmother's house as a child I knew which furniture was for sitting and I knew which Furniture was for staring I don't know if you had a grandmother like mine but there were certain pieces of furniture you just looked at you couldn't sit in or touch and it was something that we accepted because it was her house so here Paul is saying to the people of the church I'm writing this to you so that you'll know how you should behave when you go to the church because it's not your house it's God's house and not only is it God's house but it serves a purpose now listen to this it's the pillar and it's the ground of Truth it is The Anchor You know here in the Texas Gulf Coast what they'll do whenever there's a hurricane that's going to come ashore they'll take boats out into the water and they will anchor them to concrete pillars that are poured down into the ground because they know that if the boat stays in Port it's going to get knocked around with all the wind and it's going to get damaged up against the dock but if they put it out in the water and they just use an anchor as the ground that's being turned over by the storm moves then the anchor is going to move and the boat won't be there when they come back but if they go out and they tie the boat to a concrete post that is grounded into the Earth it really doesn't matter what happens that boat's going to be right where they left it well that's exactly the picture that Paul is painting when he says says the church is the pillar it's the thing that the world is tied to that no matter how tumultuous and how chaotic it gets it's the one place we can all come back to think about this what do people do anytime there's a tragedy the Twin Towers fall a horrific and tragic day for those of us who remember 911 impacted millions of people's lives where did they turn the church a tragedy occurs there's a mass shooting there's a high fatality incident what do people post on Instagram praying for fill in the blank there's a storm somewhere in the world prayers are extended why because even if they don't admit it we are the ground we are the place that they come back to connect to when the winds and the waves and the storms of life are blowing so if that's our role how are we going to fulfill it first we fulfill it by faith in God's word and then we fulfill it by doing what Jesus said this is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you that's the qualifier often times we love each other so long as that relationship is beneficial to us but what is it to Love Like Jesus loved Jesus loved us when we weren't right the Bible says while we were yet sinners Christ died for us can you love somebody when they're not right can you look at somebody in their wrong state of mind and in their wrong behavior and still extend to them the grace and mercy and love that would pull them closer to God instead of the judgment and wrath that pushes them further from God not only did he not love us when we weren't right he loved us while we were growing look at how he treated the disciples Peter for example James and John these individuals walked with him for three years and many times on many occasions when he would finish sharing some of the most profound truths that the Bible contains in the Proverbs they would look at him and they would say master we don't understand do you know how frustrated I would be if when I shared the word of God with my congregation and felt like I had done all that I could to share and encourage them with share with them and encourage them with the word of God they said we don't understand my patience level couldn't tolerate much of that but Jesus patiently loved them while they were growing in understanding when they were wrong he just pointed them right he didn't beat them right when they needed help he gave them the help that they needed are are you willing to love other believers that way how often do we see it in church where somebody who's been going to church for a long time would much rather cast judgment on somebody who just started going to church because they don't know as much as I do I've heard the conversation more times than I can count a young Christian gets excited because they read their Bible and then somebody will say well how many chapters did you read you need to read more I look at it like I did when I was a parent for the very first time my daughter Hannah had come home you know she grew she's sitting in a high chair we're teaching her to eat my wife and I if we could have videotaped ourselves we would have looked absurd because all we would do is Cheer and clap every time this little baby took a spoon and put it in a bowl and stuck it in her mouth if she did it the right way or was attempting to do it the right way oh yay you did it you did it you did it it why because we wanted to encourage more good behavior but it begins by encouraging and you can't encourage others if you don't love them first if there's anything that the world needs from the church right now more than ever it's love because the love of God is the fuel that allows the light of God to shine love the Lord your God with all of your heart with all of your soul with all of your mind with all of your strength and love your neighbor as yourself I pray that you were encouraged by the conversation that we had today and I want to encourage you to join us again next week as we continue to talk about how to build this building the Living Church of Jesus Christ here on the earth for his glory in a day when Israel is fighting for its very survival we need to wake up and vote in leaders that can help us return to being a great nation under God if you want to know how things are going to turn out in Israel in America or in your own home read the word it is the most prophetic book you will read written by an author who works all things together for your good for your gift of any amount we want to send you the Bible packed resource why Christians should support Israel and a vial of anointing oil you can use in prayer for your generous gift of $200 or more we will send you an entire bundle of Israel related gifts that include an authentic Jerusalem chaar made in Israel a Jerusalem stone tile in stand with the Jewish prayer the shama a beautiful home blessing artwork in Hebrew and the 65th commemorative ornament to claim these precious resources call the number on your screen or visit jhm.org deffend Israel hi I'm Kendall haggy thank you for connecting with us today God bless you and we pray that you'll join us again again next week