Foundations Part 1 - Dr. Mike

This week we began our series on Foundation, examining Jesus' teaching about the wise and foolish builders. Jesus reminds us that a strong life is not built merely by hearing God's Word, but by putting it into practice. The foundation we choose determines how we withstand the storms of life.

In a world that often feels unstable, divided, and broken, the Sermon on the Mount offers a vision for kingdom living. Jesus speaks directly to the weary, the marginalised, the oppressed, and those longing for hope and transformation.

The Gospel is not only relevant for eternity—it is relevant for the challenges we face today.

Transcript

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Welcome to Life Series, a podcast from King of the Bay Baptist Church, where we gather together to experience God's love, grow in God's love, and give that love back to each other.

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Matthew chapter seven, we're reading from verse 24 to 27. Uh, we're reading for the new international version of the Bible, uh, Matthew chapter 7, verses 247 to 27, reading from the New International Version of the Bible, and we're just so grateful for what God is doing for us to be able to be in the first Sunday in June. And after such after this service, we're gonna be baptizing folk, amen. Uh, we're just so grateful for people who are still staking a public decoration of faith to say, I will follow Jesus. We're reading your hearing, and we read together collectively. It says, Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came, the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house. Yet it did not fall because it had a 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 builds his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew against that house, and that house fell with a great crash. I want you to be able to share, we share semmonically on this morning on foundations. Foundations. Look at your name and say foundations. God, I pray right now, in this moment, that you quicken our hearts and bring our attention to this moment. Allow anything that is distracting us from allowing this word to permeate not only in our minds but our hearts and in this atmosphere be removed. God, you are mighty God, and you've preserved us for such a time as this to declare a gospel that seems to be going out of style, and for people who seem to be more fascinated by feeling good rather than doing good. God, I pray, Lord, now for those of us who are in the middle of the fight that you said you'll never leave us or not forsake us, then never get tired of speaking truth to evil and lighting a dark, lighting a candle in the midst of the darkness. God, we are so grateful to have another opportunity to be in your presence. And I pray, Lord, that there's just one or two people who are still happy to be in the house of the Lord. I pray that I'm not preaching to myself, but we are preaching together to encourage us to make sure that no devil in hell will be able to stand against the word of God. And once one or two or three of us are gathered, you are here with us. And because you are here, we have freedom and have liberty. In your name we pray. Amen. You may have your seats. We want to say we live in a society that seems to be falling apart. Life seems to be hard. And winds and waves and storms seem to be raging on every side. Life seems to be tumbling us around sometimes like clothes in an endless dryer on a cycle that would never stop. It seems nonstop before we can catch our breath. Another ingredient is added, and another problem is added, another struggle is added, and little by little it became to wear on us just like fabric and clothes that are worn over and over. But I want to submit to you today there's a place where you who find yourselves on the outskirts, the marginalized, the disenchanted, that I want to tell you there's a place for you who feel like you are just the 99% who's left on the outside. Those are who are disenchanted and those who are the disinherited, the marginalized, the broken, the weak. I want to tell you there's a place and a gospel for you. Those who have become acquainted with the sadness and anxiety and depression and disappointments and struggles of life, the gospel that Jesus came to preach was designed particularly for you. I've stopped by again today to start this journey of the sermonic series to start with the difficult questions, some questions that we sometimes don't answer, but the questions that Jesus definitely came to answer. How are we able to withstand oppression? How are we able to withstand injustice? How are we able to withstand hardship? How are we able to withstand things that come against us in life? Well, I want to point you and bring you to this sermon that we are on this morning. Matthew chapter 5 to 7 is now what we call the Sermon on the Mount. And it's Jesus' full proclamation of his entire gospel and ministry. I submit to you that the Sermon on the Mount came and is important for us to understand. And there's so much theological iterations of what we could talk about, but I want to go to some of my forefathers in ministry. You may not know and be too familiar, but I pray that your widened notes are taking something down, that you'll be able to go look up these giants in history. You have to understand the sermon on the mount is designed for us, the broken, the weak, the tired. It is not this glamorous sermon that Jesus spoke on a sermon that everybody liked and everyone loved. He preached this in a time when it was not popular. Some of the great theologians of our time, the Howard Thurmonds, the Martin Luther Kings, the James Cohn's of our time, and the Jeremiah Wrights, and many others have stood on a prophetic tradition of answering this question. How can we preach a gospel in a broken world? Well, the gospel is needed because we need a strong foundation. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a foundation that you can stand on in spite of where you go and in spite of how low you go. A foundation that can help turn an upside world right side up. But it's not just the world that needs transformation, it's not just our systems that need transformation, it's our hearts that need transformation. What it means is that our hearts and our minds is what we need to know that we as people need to be transformed. But I want to let you know that transformation is not only necessary, transformation is possible. Some of you might be sitting here and think that I can't change and my life will continue to be the same, but that's the lie of the enemy. Your life can change. But what are your building blocks of society? What are we building our life upon? What are we building our churches upon? What are we building our families upon? What are we building our lives upon? What do we need to get back individually? What do we need to do collectively? What do we need to get back to socially? Because if we don't, we will fall. We are building societies and families on businesses, on everything else but the principles and the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we're trying to think that because we have more intellect and more resources and more networks, that somehow that this teaching that Jesus played on the Sermon on the Mount doesn't apply to us. This is for everyone else. But the gospel says no matter what you do, if you don't build your house, your life, your business, your society on a firm, solid foundation, it will crash. I'm sorry, I don't have a better and a prettier message to share with you on today. I'm sorry, I'm not making you feel cozy, and hopefully you'll stick with me. Uh, but that you have to understand that Jesus preaches his sermon on the mount and he starts with the Beatitudes, but I want to jump to the end first. The end is where we find ourselves. Matthew chapter 7, verses 24 to 27, of the parable of the foolish builders saying that those who are hearing and not obeying are just like people who are building their house on sand. If I go through all of this and all this teaching for the next couple Sundays, and why preach up here and you don't listen to anything that has been said, it's just like me sitting up here preaching to you and watching you go home and build a house on sand. You were like, Well, Pastor, I thought it didn't apply to me, it applies to everybody who has ears to air and a heart and a mind to think. So don't try to say that you didn't hear any better. And if we say amen but never change, it's just a waste of time. God not wants to transform our businesses, He wants to transform our life. Obedience matters. How do we respond? Matters. It is important, pivotal, not only in your life, but in your family's life, in our community's life, but even generations yet on board. God is compelling us to be a voice in the darkness, to stand up to the injustice and not get comfortable with meteorcrity. God is compelling us to stand up for truth, to speak truth to power and allow us who are liberated to snatch those who are struggling out of oppression. Ah, but we stand around in a society of 24 square miles and watch so much things falling apart that we don't even know who we are as a community anymore. Some people are wondering why there's so much political candidates emerging in these hair Virgin Islands. You are saying, but where's they, where are they going, where's she going, where they're going. When people are rising up, it's a sign to show you that things are falling apart and people just want something better to do, they want a better option because we've become so comfortable with what is less, and we've become afraid to stand up. But the gospel was written for those who are oppressed, the gospel is written for the marginalized, the anxious, and the depressed. The monk, the gospel is written for those who want to struggle against the forces of evil, the gospel is willing to push back against the enemy, the gospel is written for those of us who want to stand for righteousness, the gospel is written for those of us who believe in a family and God first and praying before your meals and coming to church and tithing. The gospel's written that I see with my brother and my friend. The gospel is written so you can stand up and say, I will not stand for this in my community. You will not bribe me, you will not make me shut up, no matter what. The gospel is written when you see somebody hurting, that you stop and help them. That's the gospel, but we are compelling and living and understanding and thinking that our GDP and our networks and our affiliation with the UK and all that we do and our progress and our boasts in Taurus numbers that this will go. And you're gonna tell me we're gonna sit here. I I'm I'm a preacher like our feeler. We're gonna sit here and put all the money that we have for our celebration this summer. All the money has already been given to everything but the gospel fest, but the emancipation mark. We are living in an upside-down world that a million plus has gone to have a celebration, but we've left God for last. Every year we have to be begging and asking for what needs to be done for the Christian nation. But you're building your house on sand. I like Barris Hammond too, but I know I gotta praise God first. And you're gonna tell me you can't put $50,000 for gospel fest and an emancipation mark, but you can pay one artist almost $300,000? The devil is a liar, and Dr. Mike is no longer gonna be quiet. I'm no longer putting up my own money to put on a celebration where we have millions of dollars in the bank. The truth shall set you free. And God is watching you build your house on sand, and we are gonna have to stand around and try to wonder what happened, and then we're gonna have a national prayer service over the ruins and the rubble, and when wisdom says you should have just built your house, this rock is Jesus, the only one. Priorities show where things are gonna go. But what foundation are you standing on? What foundation God is calling us to be a voice in the darkness. Build your rock and your foundations, strong and healthy, and families that love each other and that say, I love you, and I put my arms around you so I can embrace you. That's what God is saying. That no matter how much are you messed up, no matter how much you trodden, that I love you anyway. This whole Sermon on the Mount, as Jesus was ending, he was now preaching and coming down with the place where Jesus lived and was preaching was much of a land that most of the year was dry. During the dry season, the riverbed and the valley called the Wadi would dry up. And it was a convenient place, not a convenient or safe place to build a house. Because, however, when the rainy season arrived, sudden storms could cause the waterbed to fill. And Jesus was preaching there in a place that if you don't weren't wise, well, let me break it down. That's like us. Imagine us having a morning service in the middle of a gut. A gut here in the BVI is like a river that is barking way to the sea. Imagine building your house, and Jesus is standing in the middle of a gut telling you a foolish man builds his house here, but somebody who's wise will build their house on another side. Some people are in here building lives in the middle of a gut and saying it's in gonna rain. And then as soon as the rain comes, you're out here asking for help. Can we just get smart and wise and just don't do the wrong thing first and then try to keep bringing God into our mess? Jesus now, his audience would completely understand. But one of my bases for this sermon, Howard Thurman is one of the pronounced philosophies and theologians of our time. At Howard University, School of Divinity, we had Mays Hall, and we had a Howard Thurman Library, and in one of these books that he written was Jesus and the disinherited. But what he says now as you read this gospel is that fear, deception, and hate cannot be a part of who we are. Howard Thurmond applies and understands three things that keep oppressed people oppressed. First, we want to talk about fear. I want you to know the reason why that you sometimes don't talk about what needs to be talked about is because of fear. You are afraid of what they will do to you. Fear of violence, fear of economic hardship. Your family will lose a contract, you will lose your job. So fear keeps you oppressed, fear of exclusion keeps you oppressed because you don't want, you want to be a part of the crew, even though the family that you're a part of, it ain't no good for you, no way. But because you don't want to be excluded, you stay with them. And fear of losing one's future that keeps you oppressed because you stay in a group. And and some of you right now are thinking, well, Dr. Mike, what are you really talking about? We are now in a country that has now been living under colonial rule for so long. You know the reason we really don't want to be free? It's because we're fearful that there may be violence, uh, because we can't take care of ourselves. We're fearful of economic hardship because somehow we believe that a colonial power is gonna come and save us, even though the last time we got grant aid was over 60 something years ago. We're afraid of being excluded on the globe and market. We feel like something's gonna happen, and we're afraid of losing one's future. What's gonna happen if we govern ourselves? Uh, but I want to bring it to you. Some of you in your personal life are in oppressed situations because you are fearful. Some of you are in bad relationships and don't want to leave because you are fearful. Some of you are in situations that your mind feels crushed and because you are fearful. And the deception is that when people have no power, they may resort to manipulation, mask, and dishonesty to survive. Thurman saw this as a natural but dangerous end. Hatred can become a source of strength for the wounded. Hatred can become a source of strength for the wounded. What does that mean? You see people hating on you for no reason, they're hurt. That person in your job, in your family, your neighbor, your friend who talks about you for no reason and they're hurting you, is because they're hurt. But I want to tell you that what Jesus did was offer a different solution to the gospel. The first thing I want to tell you, if you want to be able to change a stronger, found sure a foundation, is that the inner life matters. Look at your neighbor says, the inner life matters. The inner life matters, that battlefield going on in your soul, that matters. The thing that's going on in your mind, that matters. If you want to have a firm foundation, we have to win the battle within. Look at your neighbor says, we gotta win that battle within. Anybody ever try to fight a battle when you're hungry and you're trying to decide what you want to eat? And it seems like an oh, let me go to this. This is a this is a struggle that my wife and I have not been able to conquer. Not yet. I don't know ever it's gonna be ever. We work really, really hard, and both of us are involved in so many different things. And uh sometimes I think, God, why? And and and and by time, sometimes we get to have a little downtime to watch TVs, 9:30 minutes to 10. And we go through this battle. I don't know if this happens, a battle in our mind. She's smiling because she knows exactly what I'm gonna say. The battle to find something to watch on Netflix. We go through 30 minutes of battling to find one show that we're gonna watch for no more than five minutes. Because we fought the hardest battle finding something. And Netflix has this thing, I've realized that even when you shut off the TV but you don't hit pause, it keeps flaying. So the next day. We're like, did we fall asleep and watch this in our unconscious? And we start this battle all over again. And after a while we feel defeated. But here's what I want to tell you: the battle that you need to win is within your mind. Before society can change. Look at the name says, before society can change, people must be liberated from these four things. Fear, hatred, bitterness and despair. Fear, hatred, bitterness and despair. If you want a society to change, we gotta get rid of these things. I wish I had time, but we're gonna come back throughout this series and concentrate on these things a little bit more. But I want to just tell you, the hatred that we have for one another, we gotta get rid of it. There's no way we can experience kingdom experience walking around with hate in your heart for people. Not because I speak truth to power means that I hate someone. You should see someone as your brother and sister, regardless of race, class, money, or economic status. We are all one people, but our society can't change if we feel that some people are better than the other. Hatred. Bitterness and despair. Jesus was deeply concerned about the condition of your heart. Jesus cared about your emotions and your heart and what's happening, and he wanted you to free yourself of bitterness and despair and hatred. He doesn't want you to, because he knows it becomes a barrier for you experiencing the fullness of his joy. And the second thing is, I want to remind you that the kingdom of God is present. It's not merely in the future. But God really can be experienced in us now. You are a ruining family. Because you can forgive somebody, because what they did hurt your feelings. More than what they did two days ago. You came home and 121. You didn't close me on your status. I don't close nobody on my status. And you are blocking God's kingdom in your life because of unforgiveness. But God reigns can also be experienced because of love, forgiveness, courage, and community. We're gonna go into all these throughout this entire month. And courage and community. Can I just talk about community before I go to my last one? We have to understand that we have to create a society and a community that does better. We have to make sure that we align ourselves as a community where we see each other as family and we understand the importance of coming together. Not only in a general community, but as a loving Christian community. If you are in here and you're saved, you are not just saved, you are my brother and my sister. You're like, well, we don't make sacrificial offerings anymore. It's saying if you're in here in church praising and giving God thanks and praise, and you have problems at home, you should leave church and go fix that thing. Or at least attempt, or send a message, or leave it. Just don't leave things unended. Let me end with this. Jesus now says that we have to build a society where we look out for one another. I want to tell someone that we preach the protection of the marginalized. Here, here, here, here's the method. Here, here, here's here, here, here, here it is. You want to build a better society that's focused on kingdom building? You want to change around your life? Start with these things. Protect those who can't protect themselves. Look at your neighbor and says, How are you doing a good job of protecting those who can't protect themselves? Protection of the marginalized. You have to understand that everybody has a role in looking out for the least of these. Your responsibility for being better is to make sure you turn back and reach down and help someone behind you. That's how we as a Virgin Islands were able to build ourselves up from slavery. It's because we looked out for each other and nobody was left behind. There was nobody going to hungry. But can I tell you, in these Virgin Islands, there's a growing trend of men, women, and children going to sleep night after night, hungry? Yeah, in these Virgin Islands. Hungry. Moms who will give their children bread, cheese, and crackers to eat, and they will just drink a glass of water and go to sleep. In these Virgin Islands. And I ask yourself, how do you feel comfortable with your fridge being stocked, but you don't want to donate to the pantry? Not because you don't see it means it doesn't exist. And then for some of us who've been in situations where life has hit us hard, we should be the first ones to be able to lend a helping hand because we know what it is to suffer. We know what it is to be sad. We know what it is to pick ourselves up and feel like we can't go on. I'm calling out to you, look out for the least of these. I want you to also know that we gotta be equal. Equality. Justice for everybody. Not just some people. Everybody deserves just acts. Your children deserve to be treated well, your parents deserve to be treated well, your partners deserve to be treated well, your parents deserve to be treated well. It's not just regulated to a court of law. Everybody deserves justice because all of us have value. Not because I don't know of this person or have these tiles behind my name means that I don't deserve justice. God says all men are created equal. That means no matter who you are, we deserve the best things in life. So what it means if we are standing and saying that everything deserves justice means that we need to get to a point where we stand up for what is right, justice for all. But I want to end uh because we have a baptism and we also have a communion. Uh, we started on this end, and I hope you'll come back for the rest of this sermon series. I believe that God is gonna be able to do something amazing, and I believe that God is gonna be able to shift some things in your life if He has not already started. If you want to build your house on a firm foundation, here's what I'm gonna be able to tell you that I want you to hide in the bottom of your heart. That no matter where you go in this gospel, there's something that permeates throughout the entire gospel, and you will understand that Jesus was preaching one singular message from time he sat on the scene. He was being able to say that I want to turn this world upside down, and I came down through 42 generations just to be able to pass a message on to you. I want to be able to tell somebody in here. I know that life may be hard sometimes. I know that you might be feeling like giving up sometimes. I know that you might wonder why the storms come. But Matthew chapter 7 and verse 24 to 27 says, in Jesus' own words, he says that the winds will come and the rain will happen. He says that storms will come. That was Jesus telling you that it doesn't matter how you go, no matter who you are, life is gonna get hard. That rains are gonna come, the storms are gonna come, but no matter what, he's reminding you that you have an option. Look at your baby girl, look at somebody to your right, to your left, say you have an option. You have an option to choose where you build your house. You can build your house on sand. Some of you are building your house on your intellect, on your connections, on your money, and trying to feel that somehow you're gonna make it through. But the Bible says, and Jesus says, that when the storms really come, that these things are not gonna be able to hold you up anymore. I wanna let somebody know right now you have a choice. I'm not gonna be like the foolish person. I'ma make sure I build my house on a solid rock. Well, I just wanna be able to tap into you right now. That Jesus says, Upon this rock, I built my church. Meaning the church is now married to Christ. If the church and Christ is the same, and he said, The Christ, I build my church upon this rock. And referring to Peter, what he means is, I want you to make sure you stick so close to me that you connected to me, that your life is so enthrined with me, that no matter what happens, no matter what hell comes in your life, you can look around to life and says, I know you were coming. I was preparing for you. Those nights I was praying, I prepared for you. The nights I was fasting, I prepared for you. The nights I had my Bible crying with my tears in my eyes. I was preparing for you because Jesus told me that these storms were gonna come. Uh, but he told me the rain was gonna rise. He told me that my friends were gonna leave me. He told me that my health may fail, that my mental health may be up and down. But here's what he guaranteed. He guaranteed if you build your house on a solid rock, you will be able to withstand. And if you didn't get it, all I wanna tell you, build your life upon Jesus, because that's all that matters. This rock that we talk about, this foundation that we talked about is built on Jesus and what Jesus exemplified is. But he went to gell and the grave and said, I want these keys because that somebody needs to know that no matter what life put us to you, you might be down Friday, you might be down Saturday, but there's hope coming for you. I want somebody in here who says, Devil, you thought you had me, but you lost because Jesus says he left behind a rock for me to stand on. So when the winds and the waves of light start to go, I rip on to that rock. I hold on to my fur foundation. It may not be pretty, you might get butts and bruises, but hold on to the rock. Don't you let go, don't you give in, don't you let life knock you down. God is saying you are able to do exceedingly above all you ever asked, hope or think. I cling to the rock. My foundation is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust a sweeter friend, but only lean on Jesus, only Christ, all other ground, all other ground is sinking sad. He did it for me, he did it for you, and if you believe that God is gonna make sure that no matter what happens in your life, no matter what happens in your life, he's gonna make sure that you're gonna be able to stand. And you know why he did this? God did it because he loved you, he did all this because he saw you, he did all this because he saw the future pain that you're gonna go through, he saw your medical situation, he saw your financial situation, and he gave you something to hold on to, and even though that life you might feel like giving up, even though you might feel like you're the only one trying, I want to let you know, hold on to the rock. There's a place, there's a place in glory that's preserved for those of us who must hold on long enough. I know it's tired, I know you feel like giving up, but God stopped by to use me today to tell you just to keep holding on. I don't know what the altar call should be. But if you want to just keep holding on, I just want you to be here at the altar. If you just want to keep holding on, keep moving forward, this altar is open for you.

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We're gonna pray. I'm stepping.

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Here's the affirmation for you yet you're gonna make it true. Say that for yourself, I'm gonna make it through. Declare it over your life, say, I'm gonna make it through. Say I'm gonna make it through. At the top of your voice, say I'm gonna make it through.

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One more time, say I'm gonna make it through. Because here's why, because

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We're about to pray. Please, if you need to, come to the altar. You see you being down there by your seat alone. It's the devil trying to keep you there, thinking that you have to fight these things alone. Come to the altar because guess what? The people already here, we're already struggling, we're already going through. Join us. So now you know you don't have to do this alone. It's not meant to do alone. Join us. Come. Put your arms around somebody. Touch somebody next to you. We're all in this together. The glory of the Lord is able for you. I want you to touch somebody. Make sure you're touching somebody. I don't want nobody up here by themselves. The devil wants you to feel that you need to be alone. One second, guys. Lord, we come with broken hearts, sometimes broken minds, and wounded bodies. And we offer ourselves to you. And we ask you to touch us right now. The parts of our heart that human hands have hurt. God, I pray that you will hold us together in the palm of your hand. The enemy tried to make us give up. But today you set heaven on earth and gave us deliverance and power. So God give us the strength and the wisdom to know where we should start building. Guide our thoughts, guide our hands, guide our hearts, guide our words. So we move from this place, speaking life over ourselves, over our family. God, you have never left us. You will never leave us. And you have us holding with love that no matter how much we mess up, you says, Come on to me, all ye that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I pray that right now from the crown of your head to the sole of your feet, that your mind will experience peace. It's not over. It's not over. You're gonna be amazing. It's not over. It's not over. You have been preserved because God has a plan and a purpose for your life. And it's gonna be amazing. I want you to accept it that who God has called you to be uniquely is destined for an amazing purpose. God has preserved you for all these years so you could be a light, so you can be a light, so you can be a light, so you can be a light, so you can be a light, so you could be a change maker, so you could be a change maker, because God says you are here because I preserved you. So God, now I ask for your grace and mercy to descend upon us, forgive us, and turn our hearts back to you. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, and all those that believe, say amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

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Thank you for worshiping with us today. If you'd like to go deeper in your walk with Christ, we invite you to contact us at 284-442-4222 or email us admin at thgbbc.org. Visit our website at thgbbc.org. The others can be encouraged and blessed as well.