Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine,
and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man,
which built his house upon a rock:
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the
winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not:
for it was founded upon a rock.
And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and
doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man,
which built his house upon the sand:
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the
winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and
great was the fall of it.
Matthew 7:24-27
1. Build your house on the rock: Jesus likens your life
to the building of a house.
Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that
build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman
waketh but in vain
Psalms 127:1
2. Build your house on the rock: Beware of things that
are done quickly. You can do things quickly, but
things done quickly are fraught with evil.
He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth
not that poverty shall come upon him.
Proverbs 28:22
3. Build your house on the rock: Beware of things that
look easy. The easy way is often not the right way.
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad
is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be
which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow
is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that
find it
Matthew 7:13-14
4. Build your house on the rock: The same types of
storms come to everybody.
There are several types of storms. These storms come to
everybody: the rich, the poor and the famous.
Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and FULL
OF TROUBLE. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut
down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
Job 14:1-2
The same adjective “beat vehemently” is used to describe
each person’s storm.
You may be a chicken farmer and you may lose all your
chickens in an epidemic. This is a kind of storm. You may be a
bank manager who loses his treasured job unexpectedly. This is
also a kind of storm.
You may be an investor who loses all his investments, stocks
and bonds in a financial crisis. You may be a happily married
person who never expected to get divorced. You may lose a loved one suddenly and find yourself
organizing an unexpected funeral. You may be a couple that is
unable to have a child. You may hear bad news from the doctor
that you are going to die soon. These are types of storms.
Indeed, there are financial storms, marital storms, storms
of impending death, career storms, storms in relationships,
storms of sorrow, bereavement storms, dashed expectations and
disappointment, storms of divorce and storms of betrayal that
beat upon everyone. Build your house on the rock.
5. Build your house on the rock: The final and greatest
storm of life is the storm of death and it also comes
to everyone.
For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the
ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth
God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his
banished be not expelled from him.
2 Samuel 14:14
6. Build your house on the rock: The storms of death
will definitely come to everyone, no matter who you
are.
For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the
house appointed for all living.
Job 30:23
For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the
brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.
Ps 49:10
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this
the judgment:
Hebrews 9:27
Appointment in Accra
There was a certain Nigerian rich man who lived in the city of
Lagos, the capital of Nigeria. This man had many servants, but
he was particularly fond of the chief servant who was a Ghanaian
and he had been with him for many years.
One day, the chief servant went to the market to buy some
things for his master. And whom did he meet? He met a person
called Death. Death had appeared in the market in bodily form.
Death stared at the chief servant who in turn became frightened
by the long stare of this stranger. He was so frightened that he
abandoned his mission and forgot to buy the goods his master
had sent him to buy.
When he got back home his master asked him, “Where are the
things I sent you to buy?”
He told his master about how he had met Death who had
appeared in a bodily form. The chief servant was truly shaken.
The master quickly realized that the chief servant had been truly
shaken because he had not behaved in that way before.
The chief servant begged his master saying, “I am so terrified
by the way Death stared at me and I want to leave Lagos
immediately. I would like to go back to Accra before tonight. I
really feel that death wanted to kill me.”
The master really loved his servant and so released him to
leave immediately to Accra. After the chief servant left, the
master decided to go to town himself and there, to his surprise, was
Death in bodily form. The master was fearless and approached
death, confronting and challenging him, “How dare you stare at
my servant that way? Who do you think you are? What do you
mean by that?”
Death stared silently at the master and then spoke. He said,
“I was staring at him because I was surprised to find him in the
market this morning seeing I have an appointment with him in
Accra tonight.”
The master was aghast. His servant was already in Accra
for the appointment. He knew that there was no way his servant
would escape the appointment with death.4
7. Build your house on the rock: When the certain storm
of death comes will you be ready?
Death on a plane
Once, whilst waiting in an airport for a flight out to Malaysia,
I chanced upon an amazing story of an Ethiopian Airlines plane
that was hijacked and forced to crash into the sea. There were a
few survivors who lived to tell the story of what had happened.
One passenger said the hijackers had taken over an Ethiopian
Airlines jet that was full of passengers and commandeered the
plane until it ran out of fuel. When the fuel finally ran out, the
pilot announced that they had been hijacked and had run out of
fuel so were going to crash.
He also added that the passengers could do whatever they
wanted with the hijackers. It became clear to everyone on board
that they were going to crash and the pilot guided the plane to
crash into the sea.
This writer described how the cabin of the plane was filled
with the stench of urine and faeces as most of the passengers
urinated and defecated on themselves as the plane went down.
They knew they were heading to their certain death. The plane
crashed into the sea and broke up. This passenger described how
water came rushing into the cabin amidst screams and cries from
the passengers. It must have been a terrifying experience for all
who were on board.
I often wondered what it must have been like for all these
people to know that they were going to die. Most of them were
terrified beyond description. That is why they urinated and
defecated on themselves and the cabin was filled with such a
strong smell.
What would you do, if death were staring you in the face?
Would you be terrified or would you be ready to meet God? Will
your house stand strong when the storm comes?
8. Build your house on the rock: After the storm of death,
you will be faced with the storm of judgment. If you
build your house on the sand you will not survive; you
will go to hell.
If you build your life on Jesus Christ, you will survive the
storm. If you receive Jesus Christ as your Saviour and receive
His blood to wash away your sins you will survive the storm of
death.
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this
the judgment:
Hebrews 9:27
