OceanSide church of Christ




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Building My House Upon The Rock
by: Dalton Gilreath

I.              Introduction

A.   The wise man built his house upon the rock and his house stood firm

                                          i.    The foolish man built his on the sand and it fell

                                        ii.    How do we build our houses on the rock today?

B.   This nation is failing at building godly homes (Psalm 127:1)

                                          i.    Our armies (the watchman) are useless without God on our side

                                        ii.    Here are seven things from the book of Proverbs we need to practice and teach our children to help build our homes and nation on the rock of Christ

II.            Work Hard

A.   We are to consider the ways of the hard working ant and be wise (Prov 6:6)

                                          i.    We must do more than “talk the talk” (Prov 14:23)

                                        ii.    We can desire things all day but we must work to get them (Prov 13:4)

                                       iii.    A lazy man is pictured as not being able to life his hand from his bowl to his mouth (Prov 26:15)

B.   Our nation’s welfare system is all wrong

                                          i.    Paul said a person that wouldn’t work (not couldn’t) shouldn’t eat (2 Thess 3:10)

                                        ii.    Of course, we also need to avoid working so much that we neglect our families and God (Prov 23:4)

III.           Watch our Mouths

A.   An ignorant person can hold his thoughts and be considered wise (Prov 17:28)

                                          i.    It is like the old saying, “better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt”

                                        ii.    We don’t always have to share our thoughts with others, especially when we know we wouldn’t say those things to Christ

B.   When we don’t always speak our thoughts we can avoid hurting ourselves (Prov 21:23)

                                          i.    Only a fool says everything on his mind (Prov 29:11)

                                        ii.    The world says to always speak your mind but the Lord says to be careful what you say

IV.          Exercise Discretion

A.   Some people do not have a filter

                                          i.    They use foul language

                                        ii.    They tell inappropriate jokes

                                       iii.    They make poor decisions constantly

B.   Solomon says a pig with a ring in his nose is like a women who doesn’t use discretion (Prov 11:22)

                                          i.    Physical beauty can be marred by lack of discretion

                                        ii.    Don’t ruin your image because you have no filter

V.           Caring People

A.   Mercy, or kindness, should always be part of who we are

                                          i.    It is like a necklace we always where (Prov 3:3-4)

                                        ii.    Notice we gain the favor of not just God, but also man

B.   Kindness is something that is desired of mankind (Prov 19:22)

                                          i.    We want to be treated with kindness

                                        ii.    We should treat others the same especially the innocent

1.    We show mercy to those who are innocent, like animals

2.    In fact, Solomon addresses the way we treat animals (Prov 12:10)

VI.          Control Your Temper

A.   Someone has said a temper is like flooring a car pedal and realizing you have no brakes

                                          i.    Being slow to anger is not easy but a must (Prov 14:17, 29)

                                        ii.    This takes patience, understanding, love, and other characteristics of a Christian

B.   Controlling your anger makes you stronger than a mighty man who overtakes a city (Prov 16:32)

                                          i.    This shows the significance and power of controlling our tempers

                                        ii.    On an additional note, we should watch our tone when we speak

1.    It has been said that 90% of daily friction is caused by our tone of voice

2.    We should watch what we say and how we say it

VII.         Live So There Is Nothing To Hide

A.   Someone hiding secrets lives a life of paranoia

                                          i.    They are always running even though no one is chasing (Prov 28:1)

                                        ii.    A criminal runs when he sees policemen

                                       iii.    A speeder slams on his brakes when he sees a police car

                                       iv.    A cheater lives in paranoia his wife will find out

B.   Living a life of fear because of our own bad choices is no Christian life

VIII.       Seek Good Advice

A.   We must humble ourselves and seek the counsel of others (Prov 11:14)

                                          i.    If we don’t we will personally fall

                                        ii.    Pride can get in the way of success

B.   Furthermore, our plans will also fail (Prov 15:22)

                                          i.    One mind doesn’t have all the experience or knowledge to always know the best path to take

                                        ii.    Finding someone older or more experienced can help us succeed