June 4th, 2021. I don't know if you remember this. I remember seeing this in the news. The Champlain Towers, which is a 12-story condominium in Miami, collapsed. Do you remember that? It killed something like 98 people.
It's there one moment. The next moment, it collapsed. They did an investigation, obviously, and they found that several things had happened. Number one, saltwater had corroded the reinforced concrete in the basement of that building. And then secondly, the land that it had been built on had begun to sink.
So what amazed me is a building that looked nice, a building that cost a lot to live in, a building that you had a beautiful view of the ocean. In a moment, that building had collapsed for one really simple reason. Its foundation, its base, was not secure. Do you know how many things I have seen destroyed because the base, the foundation, gave way? It wasn't secure. I've seen that happen to families. They fall apart because the base wasn't secure. The foundation wasn't secure. I've seen that happen to individuals, individuals whose lives fell apart because the foundation, the basis, wasn't secure. And I've seen that happen to churches. I don't want cross-assembly to be like that tower.
The building looks good. From the outside, it looks like we got everything together, but the thing falls apart because the base is not secure. And in praying about 2024, I think this is from the Lord, maybe it's not, but I kept getting this impression. The Lord kept telling me over and over and over, Chad, I want you to strengthen the base this year. Next week, I'm going to share with you a lot of the great things y'all did globally in 2023.
That's wonderful. But this year, I think God is saying, I want you to strengthen the base. The church at Ephesus is one of those churches that needed its base strengthened. Ephesus was the third largest city in the Roman Empire after Rome and Alexandria. And Clinton Arnold, Professor Arnold says, if you do your research, Ephesus was the epicenter of black magic in the ancient Roman Empire. It was one of those places where if you've ever maybe been in a city, as soon as you drove into that city, you could just feel a demonic presence. I remember, I think we were there about, what was it, Mardi Gras time a few years ago, we drove into New Orleans, and as soon as we passed into that city limits, I just felt a demonic oppressive spirit. I'm sorry if you're from that city, I'm sorry if you're part of the Chamber of Commerce, but your city wigged me out.
There was just this weird feeling when you drove in there. Ephesus was like that. Black magic, paganism, and in Acts 19, the Apostle Paul goes there, revival breaks out, and witches and warlocks, they all get saved. In fact, so many of these witches and warlocks that practice black magic got saved. They threw all their black magic books and charms and amulets on the fire, and it was worth millions of dollars. And so God began to use that base of people who got saved, and that base of people started a church there in Ephesus.
Can you imagine that? Whenever you read the book of Ephesians in the Bible, you're reading a letter by Paul to a church that was started with witches and warlocks who got saved. And in Acts 20, Paul says to this church, this has been great, the revival has been amazing, it's been wonderful, but here's what Paul says, after I leave, savage wolves are going to come in from the outside and try to tear this place apart.
And now 10 years later, it's happening. This place is a mess, and somebody needs to secure its foundation. And so we're going to be going through 1 and 2 Timothy. You know, we went through Mark about a year and a half, I don't think we'll be in 1 and 2 Timothy that long, but we're going to go through 1 and 2 Timothy because here's Paul writing a letter to his protégé, Timothy, and he says, Timothy, I'm sending you to Ephesus to strengthen the base.
That church is falling apart, you must strengthen the base. And I really felt if God is telling us to strengthen our base, then 1 and 2 Timothy is for us. So turn, if you would, to 1 Timothy chapter 1, verses 1 through 2. 1 Timothy 1, 1 through 2. Here's what Paul says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ our hope, to Timothy, a true son of the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Now I want you to look at verse 2. Who's this Timothy felt that he's writing to? In verse 2, Paul calls himself Timothy's spiritual father. He's not his biological father, but Timothy, you're my spiritual son, I am your spiritual father. Now what does that mean? 15 years before, on Paul's first missionary journey, he went to this town of Lystra, and there in Lystra, he met this godly young man, this young teenage boy, and he recognized the call of God in this young man's life.
Now here's what amazes me. Timothy did not have a godly father to influence his life. The Bible says his father was a pagan. We don't know if his father died, we don't know if his father abandoned the family, or if the father was still there but not exerting a godly influence in his life, but Timothy's father, he did not have any spiritual influence from a godly male, that's what I'm trying to say.
Now I want you all to listen to me. You've heard me say before, I believe in godly male leadership. The biggest need in the church today are godly men. The biggest need in a in a church.
The biggest need in a in America are strong men of character. So some of y'all got mad at me a couple years ago because I didn't get on the bandwagon and support this Marxist organization that said, y'all remember this, that we are here to dismantle the patriarchy, we're here to dismantle the nuclear family, and y'all got mad at me because I wouldn't support them because all the cool pastors were supporting this organization. Any organization that says in our charter we are here to tear down masculine leadership, that organization is not from God. What we need is godly male leadership in America. But ladies listen to me, we got some single mamas here today that said well there's no godly man in our house.
I guess my my children are a lost cause, they're not a lost cause. Timothy had a godly grandmother named Lois, he had a godly mother named Eunice, and Paul the apostle says it's those two women who exerted a godly influence in your life to make you the man that you are today. So ladies if there's no godly man in your house, do two things. Number one, you exert godly influence on them. And then number two, bring them to church and hopefully those young men and young women will find apostle Paul's here at this church to be spiritual fathers to them. And let me say this, older men instead of perving on the young ladies who come to our church why don't you be a spiritual father to them and exercise godly influence, whatever.
So all right, so that's who Timothy is. And here's what I said, I want us to strengthen the foundation, I want us to strengthen the base. In these opening verses you see a foundational concept, you see the concept upon which, watch this, every Christian must live their life on the base I'm about to share with you. Every church must build its foundation on the base I'm about to share with you. Every Christian family must build its foundation on the base I'm about to share with you.
What is that base? It's simply this, the lordship of Jesus Christ. Do you know what I mean by lordship?
Here's what I mean. He's in charge, you're not. He calls the shots, you don't. He defines right and wrong, you don't. That's the lordship of Jesus Christ. It's actually slave language, did you know that?
In the Roman Empire there were literally millions of slaves and in the slave relationship you had two characters, you had the master and you had the slave and when the Bible calls Jesus Lord, the Bible's calling him master, what he's saying is he is the master. When I get saved I now belong to him, I'm his possession. Listen to me, these days of easy believism where I used to say y'all stand up, how many of y'all don't want to sizzle in hell forever? Me? Well then repeat this silly little prayer and you won't sizzle in hell.
Those days are over because we do a bait and switch. And that's the way I thought all I had to do is say a silly little prayer. No it's not a silly little prayer, it is now surrendering your life to the lordship of Jesus Christ, it's signing the title deed over your life to that man Jesus Christ. That's what it means to be a Christian. And we see lordship in these opening verses. Verse one Paul says look I'm an apostle, that is I'm a missionary, I'm a sent one.
Why? Because God commanded it. I don't tell God what my plans for my life is and then God jumps to it, no God tells me what his plans are and I submit to that. I am a apostle by the commandment of God, do you see that? Verse one, now there's a textual variant if you're using the King James and the new King James like I am, Jesus is actually called Lord in verse one. Verse two, all translations, King James, new King James, all the newer translations, they all call Jesus Lord. Again, that means you're going to call you're going to call yourself a Christian, that's fine, but there's a price to be paid. It means now I'm following him, I'm serving him, I'm surrendering to him.
See we like the title, we just don't want to pay the price. Most Christians remind me of sanctuary cities, you know what I mean by sanctuary city? Sanctuary city, these liberal cities who think that they're morally superior to everybody else and so here's how they say this, we want all immigrants to come to our city. We're not like those mean conservatives, everybody's welcome, y'all come on to our cities. It makes them feel good to have that title sanctuary city. It makes them feel morally superior to call themselves a sanctuary city but you start sending immigrants to Martha's Vineyard or New York or Chicago, all hell breaks loose because I like the title, I just don't want to pay the price. Oh wait a second, I thought you said you're a sanctuary city. Oh I know what you meant, you like that morally superior label, you just don't want to have to pay the price and many Christians are like that. I like the label Christian, makes me feel good, makes me feel morally superior but the moment Jesus Christ steps into your life and tells you how to live your life, all hell breaks loose because I like the title but I don't actually want to do what that title implies, just like a sanctuary city and so Paul says to Timothy, Timothy this church, your life, my calling, it is all built on the lordship of Jesus Christ.
Can I tell you a little secret? Somebody's going to tell you how to live your life, did you know that? See we think we're autonomous, we're not autonomous. Somebody's going to tell you how to live your life, you might as well let Jesus be the one to tell you how to live your life. If I were to ask you, well who's calling the shots in your life? Who defines reality for you?
Who tells you right for wrong? If y'all are honest, most of y'all is what society does, culture does. Culture? You're getting your marching orders from culture? You're getting a reality from culture? This is the same culture that tells you a six foot 230 pound bearded man wearing a dress, they're telling you that's a woman and you're listening to them?
This is the same culture that's saying let's put feminine hygiene products in men's bathrooms because men can menstruate and have babies and you're listening to them? Why don't you get your marching orders from somebody who knows what what he's talking about? Jesus Christ understands reality, he understands truth, get your marching orders from somebody who actually knows what he's talking about okay? And so Paul says Timothy it all goes back to the lordship of Jesus Christ. The foundation of this church, the foundation of your family, the foundation of your life must be the lordship of Jesus Christ. And in this first sermon of the new year I'm begging you, I'm begging you, build your life on the foundation of Jesus.
Build your life on the foundation of the lordship of Jesus Christ. You say look I want freedom, can I tell you something? Freedom begins when you become a slave.
Isn't that ironic? I become free when I become a slave. I find my life when I lose my life. When I stop seeking my life and seek Jesus then I find my life. That's the paradox of Christianity. When you become a slave of Jesus, when he becomes lord, then you find true freedom. And I just think there are two things. What I'm finding is when you build your life, now watch this, when you build your life on the foundation of the lordship of Jesus Christ, I'm finding in my life two things happen.
Jot this down. When you build your life on the foundation, on the base of the lordship of Jesus Christ, he is in charge, he is in control, I build my life on him. Number one, that brings calmness.
It brings peace. It's amazing, look at this, it's amazing how many prepositions are used in the New Testament to describe our relationship with Jesus. We have this preposition in, when I get saved, Jesus comes to live in me. We use that a lot, that's a good preposition.
Another preposition that we have is with. When I get saved, Jesus comes to live in me. When I get saved, Jesus comes to live with me. You know you're never alone, did you know that?
He is with you. How long? Always. Until when? The end of the age.
Has the end of the age come yet? No, therefore he is with us. I like that preposition. There's another preposition in the New Testament, the Greek word is epi, it means upon.
And we kind of ignore that one over and over and over. When the New Testament talks about our relationship with Jesus, it uses that preposition epi, upon. I have built my life upon the rock of Jesus Christ.
I have staked my eternity upon Jesus Christ. Now there's a verse, all right, y'all know what life verses are? It's like a verse that you've adopted, this is now my life verse, if you want to know about me, this is the verse that kind of describes me.
Like if you go to a Christian celebrity and say, would you sign this piece of paper? A lot of times Christian celebrities will sign it and they'll put their life verse underneath it. So here's my problem, I change my life verses about every three weeks now, okay? So here's, for the next three weeks, here's my life verse that I've really latched onto. It's Isaiah 28 16. Isaiah 28 16. Now what's interesting about this is Isaiah 28 16 is an Old Testament verse, but both Peter and Paul in the New Testament, they say that verse, written several hundred years ago, that is an Old Testament prophecy of Jesus. Peter and Paul both say this verse was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Now here's the verse, I'm gonna read it from the New Living Translation, kind of brings out some meaning here. Isaiah 28 16. Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says, look I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem. It's a firm stone, it's a tested stone, it's a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on whoever believes need never be shaken.
Do you see what that verse is saying? You build your life on Jesus, you don't need to run around in a panic, you don't need to bite your fingernails down to the quick, you don't need to pop antacids like everybody else while this whole world is falling apart. You can be bold, you can be calm, you can have this peace that passes all understanding.
Why? Because I've done what Isaiah 28 says, I have built my life on the foundation of Jesus Christ. The King James and New King James puts it this way, you build your life on that rock, it says this, you will not make haste.
Do you know what that means? You won't run around in a panic, dear God what's going on? No, no. You build your life on Jesus, you won't make haste. You're just calm. The NIV says you build your life on that rock, you will not be stricken with panic. However you want to put it, you won't be shaken, you won't panic, you won't make haste.
However you want to put it, you build your life on Jesus, there's this calmness that comes no matter what happens in 2024. Dawn and I were at a restaurant this past week actually and I had a conversation with a wonderful lady, she's a great lady. We ordered our food and we were looking for a place to sit, we couldn't find anywhere to sit, the thing was packed out and there's this uh this older lady um she said come you can sit right here with us and so you sure? She said absolutely.
So Dawn and I went and sat with a senior adult. I had a great conversation with her. She is Jewish but she's a secular Jew, she she doesn't know the Bible, she's not religious, she told us that. She's a secular Jew and we talked about her wonderful heritage, a wonderful legacy, just again had a great conversation with this lady and then she said this, she shifted the conversation. She said I, man I don't know what's going to happen in 2024, I'm so scared, I know what happened in 2020, the last presidential election, I'm nervous it's going to happen this year, I'm just panicking. Now what kind of testimony would have been if I would have said you think you're scared?
I'm twice as scared, I can't go to sleep at night, I'm peeing my pants all the time, I don't know what's going to happen, dear God this whole place is going to hell. What kind of testimony would that have been? Can I tell you a testimony for those of us who know Jesus Christ in a world of people who don't know Jesus for us to have what the Bible calls this peace that passes all understanding and when they say, here's what Peter says, always be ready when they come up to you and say you're not as scared as everybody else, you ain't running around in a panic, why is that? Peter says you be ready to say because I built my life on Jesus Christ. Here's our problem, we're answering people who aren't even questioning us, they don't ask us why do we have that hope because I don't know that they see that hope in us and that verse right there says, you build your life on the rock of Jesus, this is going to be this calmness, this peace and the whole world's going to look and say I may not believe in their Jesus but I want what they got. Second thing that happens when you build your life on the foundation of the lordship of Jesus Christ, the foundation of lordship brings stability and I know those are kind of closely related but there's stability when you build your life on the lordship of Jesus Christ, and Jesus tells a little parable in Matthew 7. Now don't tell me Jesus just claimed to be a good man, good men don't say what about what Jesus about to say, God says what he's about to say but Jesus makes an audacious statement about his teaching in Matthew chapter 7 verse 24. Here's what he says, anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it, it's wise, he's like a person who builds a house on solid rock, though the rain comes in torrents and the flood waters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won't collapse.
Why? Because it's built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teachings and doesn't obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand when the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash. Now notice Jesus, you see what he's doing? He's talking about a man who built his house on the rock and the hurricane came and it stood. Man who built on the sand, hurricane came and tore apart. Now notice, the difference is not one man heard my teachings and the other one didn't.
Did you notice this? The man who built his house on the rock heard the words of Jesus. The man who built his house on the sand, he heard the words of Jesus as well.
Do you see what sets him apart? One man followed the teachings of Jesus. One man did what Jesus said. One man submitted to the lordship of Jesus Christ. The other person did not submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ. And I'm telling you, you can sit in this church all you want and hear people and hear preaching and teaching and good music and walk out here and still say I'm calling the shots in my life. That man Jesus, he's a two thousand year old religious figure, for all I know he's still laying dead in the ground.
You can walk out of this place and your life will be built on sand. The difference between the two is no, I believe that he is alive, he is well, he's coming back, he is Lord. What he says I do, I don't question it. Now next week, show up next week because I'm going to put that to the test for some of y'all.
I didn't say this to the first service but I'm saying it to y'all because I like you better than that. I'm just, I love everybody. I'm telling you, I'm not obsessed with this but I'm watching what's going on in our culture. These young people, they will follow the lordship of Jesus Christ in every area except for human sexuality. Is this microphone?
I don't know if this microphone is, okay can y'all hear me? I don't understand that. I'll follow the teachings of the word of God, I'll follow the teachings of Jesus in everything except for human sexuality. I don't understand that and Jesus says no, this isn't a cafeteria, this isn't K&W cafeteria the old folks go to on Sunday morning after church. You get to choose a little bit of okra if you want to, if you don't want okra get some mashed potatoes. No, no, I'm just telling you, you take all my teachings or you don't take any of my teachings because I'm Lord.
I call the shots and when you build your life on Jesus Christ there's a stability there. I was reading this past week about the 1983 Coalinga earthquake in California. I think it's something like eight point something on the Richter scale. Had that earthquake taken place in a highly populated area it would have been cataclysmic but it took place in more of a rural area but it was amazing. After this earthquake you would see structures that that were reduced to rubble right beside structures that were still standing. Everywhere you went in Coalinga you saw destruction and then you saw buildings still standing. Rubble, standing.
Oh good they put it up, I was going to keep repeating it. Rubble and then standing. And seismologists and geologists decided to do an intensive study. Why was it that some buildings collapsed and some buildings were left standing after that earthquake?
And after all this research, all their equipment, all this study, they came to this conclusion. The buildings that were bolted to the foundation stood. The buildings that were not bolted to the foundation did not stand.
All that time, all that money, all that study comes down to this. The buildings that were bolted to the foundation stood. Those that were not bolted to the foundation did not stand. And as we're seeing, I'm not a, look, I'm not a feel-good preacher. I'm not going to teach out a sore like the eagles and fulfill your divine destiny. I'm just going to be, as we're seeing a world and a society that is falling apart, I'm seeing the difference between those two. Those whose lives are bolted to the foundation stand. Those whose lives and families and churches are not bolted to the foundation of Jesus, they don't stand. See here's the thing, the earthquake is going to hit all of us.
You do realize that right? It's not those of us who follow Jesus won't have earthquakes, we won't have kids who rebel, we won't have cancer diagnosis, we're going to have all that. Question is, when the earthquake comes, are you bolted to the foundation? And here's what you don't do, you don't wait until you're in your house and you feel a little tremor to run outside, go to the basement, get your socket wrench and try to bolt you. It's too late then, you bolt to the foundation before the earthquake comes. And so again, my admonition to you in 2024, bolt yourself to the foundation of Jesus Christ. Don't wait till the earthquake hits, be bolted to the foundation of the lordship of Jesus Christ.
Edward Mote was a Baptist pastor that lived in England in the 1830s. He read that passage, I just read about this, the house built on the rock and the house built on the sand. And he loved that parable so much, he said, I'm going to write a hymn about this. And so he wrote down a couple lines based on that and he entitled his hymn, it's a very catchy title, quote, the immutable basis of a sinner's hope. You ever heard of that song, the immutable basis of a sinner's hope? Well, maybe you know that song better by its words, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus' name, on Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.
He loved that song, he kind of put the words in his pocket. A friend of his who's an older pastor said, my elderly wife is dying, she won't live out this week. Would you go by and pray with her? Edward Mote went by and shared some scripture with that older lady, shared some encouragement from the Word of God, but she's still nervous. And he said, ma'am, this may or may not help you, but this week God gave me these words and he pulled that paper out of his pocket and he read the same thing.
Ma'am, I know you're transitioning from this world to the next. Ma'am, I know you're nervous, but I want you to know our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus' name, on Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.
Can we stand and can we, can we start, brothers and sisters, our new year by returning to that foundation? I'll be honest with you, some of us have kind of gotten away from that foundation of the lordship of Jesus. 2023, you did things your way more than Jesus' way.
2023, you hit some tough times and you tried to use your own ingenuity to get out of it instead of turning to Jesus. It may be time for those of us who follow Jesus to turn back to that foundation. Do you know the earliest statement of faith in the church? The earliest statement of faith. Christians were killed for this in the first century.
Early statement of faith. Jesus is Lord. Maybe that needs to be what we pray today. Jesus, that means savior. Lord, thank you for saving my soul. Thank you for saving me from a devil's hell. Thank you that I'm going to go to heaven when I die because you, you're Jesus. You saved me.
Is, not was. You're not some dead religious figure decomposing somewhere. You're alive. You're with me. You're in me.
You're around me. You'll never leave me. Jesus is. Lord, Lord, I resubmit my life to you. I sign my life over to you once again right now.
Would you just pray by your head and just for a few moments, let's just for a few moments, let's just pray that prayer. Jesus is Lord. Jesus, thank you for saving us. Thank you for the precious blood that was shed at the cross that cleanses us from all unrighteousness. I don't care how wicked we are, Lord God, I thank you for that precious blood that continuously day by day, moment by moment, cleanses us from all unrighteousness. You are Jesus. Jesus is, not was. Jesus, you are alive with us. We step into this year with boldness and confidence, knowing that we don't go into this year alone, but you are with us. Jesus is Lord.
Lord, we admit we've done things our way in 2023. We admit that the foundation of your Lordship has been distant for some of us. And today we come back with the title deed of our car, of our house, of our families, of our health, of our past, of our future, and we sign that title deed over to you. Jesus, you are Lord. We build our lives on your Lordship, Jesus Christ. Man, would y'all do this, would you sing this song not as a song, but let's sing this song as a prayer of submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Raise your hearts and raise your hands and let's sing this to the Lord right now. But holy trust in Jesus' name. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but holy trust in Jesus' name. Christ alone, cold and strong, weak and strong, in the Savior's love, through the storm, He is Lord, Lord of all. Man, I kind of feel like Joshua and the people of Israel are standing on the Jordan River and they're about to step out into a new era, a new season, and they're a little bit nervous. There are giants out there, there are challenges that they're not familiar with, and God goes to this nervous group of people and He goes to their leader standing on the horizon of a new day.
And God says to them, what I'm saying to you right now, which means Joshua, Chad, cross assembly. Y'all be bold. You be strong. As you face 2024, you don't be afraid and you don't be terrified of anything.
Why? Because I'm going to be with you everywhere you go for the next 364 and a quarter days. I'm going to be with you always, even into the end, in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, we pray, Amen and Amen. God bless you. Let's go change that world for Jesus Christ.
