Ministering: Pastor Lanre Oluseye
Topic: Build it on the Rock : Dealing with offenses
Matthew 7:24-27, Luke 17:1
Often, when we hear relationships, we are quite to narrow it down to romantic relationships. But while that’s important, it’s also crucial to recognize that our relationships transcend romantic involvement. We will always interact with people.
What was Jesus saying in Matthew 7:24-27? Every time we focus on the analogy of the house built on the Rock, we miss the subject of the discourse. The subject of the discourse is; Use what you hear! “…whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them…”. The words are not lacking, and hearing is not lacking; it’s the doing that is the problem. Whoever hears and does is a wise person and can be likened to a house with a proper foundation. Whoever hears and does not do so is not a wise person. The premise of the story is: What do you do with what you hear? The test will reveal whether you really acted upon what you heard. The storms of life will determine the strength of the foundation. Jesus is saying that the test of the foundation is when the storms of life come.
We must understand that it’s not enough to hear the word; it’s what you do with the word that counts. As simple as it is, it can be the dividing line between whether you will survive the challenges in your life. So, be a doer of the word. Don’t just hear it, don’t just read it, and then forget about it. Are you a doer? Are you practicing the word?
Acts 9 tells the story of a man called Saul of Tarsus. Saul was a zealot, circumcised on the eighth day, and part of the Pharisee sect. His mission was to ensure that every Jew observed the law. He made it his life’s duty to persecute anyone not adhering to the law. Saul obtained a letter of authority to search for Jews everywhere and bring them bound hand and feet to Jerusalem for imprisonment. With this authorization, he had legitimacy. On his way to Damascus, he encountered a light and the light blinded him and a voice spoke out of the light saying “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” He knew he had encountered a greater power, so he answered, “Lord, who are you?” There is a level of light that confers lordship, a level of illumination that confers superiority. They don’t have to like you, agree with you, or think you are all that, but when you step into your office and your mantle shines with light, they will submit. Just let the light shine. Isaiah said, “Kings will come to the brightness of your rising.” It’s time to shine.
In Acts 9:5, Jesus said, from the light, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutes: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” At this time, Jesus was dead and resurrected, so how could Saul be persecuting Him when He was not physically on Earth? When Jesus said, “Why are you persecuting me?” There was a prior transmission where God the Father put Himself in humanity and showed up with a face called Jesus. In Him dwells the fullness of God (Colossians 2:9). Jesus had become the Temple of the Godhead, and “because as he is, so are we in this world” (1John 4:17), we also are temples of the Godhead, the persecution of the church is the persecution of the Godhead, even Jesus Christ.
