If the Foundation Be Destroyed
A building is only as solid as it’s foundation. The foundation of our life is Jesus
Christ; He is our base. Jesus Christ is the blueprint for our foundation.
Everything we are and do must fit into the pattern provided by Him (II Corinthians
10:5) “casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against
the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ”. Are you building your life on the only real and lasting foundation, or
are you building on a faulty foundation such as wealth, security, success, or
fame? God predestinate for us is to conform to the image of His Son (Romans 8:
29).
Isaiah prophesied “therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign, behold a
virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel” Immanuel
means – God with us (Isaiah 7:14). We see the fulfillment of this in Matthew 1:18-
23 “now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise; when as His mother Mary was
engaged to Joseph, before they came together she was found with child of the
Holy Ghost. Then, Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make
her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on
these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying,
Joseph, you son of David, fear not to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is
conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and you
shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. Now all this
was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet,
saying. Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they
shall call His name Immanuel which being interpreted is God with us”. People
discount the virgin birth of Jesus and see Him as a good man, who didn’t sin, but if
Jesus was not born of a virgin, His blood would be just like ours (tainted) and not
able to forgive our sins.
Two ways to destroy a building are to tamper with the foundation or to build with
inferior materials. The church must be built on Christ, not on any other person or
principle. Christ will evaluate each minister’s contribution will reveal the sincerity
of each person’s work. God will determine whether or not they have been faithful
to Jesus’ instructions (Matthew 25:31-33) “when the Son of man shall come in His
glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His
glory. And before Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shall separate them,
one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He shall
set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left”. As you continue to
read down to verse 46 you see the sheep are told “come you blessed of My
Father, inherit the kingdom, prepared for you from the foundation of the world”
verse 34; and verse 41 says “then shall He say also to them on the left hand
depart from Me, you cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
angels”. We are warned in Colossians 2:8 “beware less any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, and not after
Christ”. Developing a dependable foundation is a personal responsibility, each
church member should be mature, spiritually sensitive, and doctrinally sound (II
Timothy 2:15) “study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that needs
not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”.
Jesus said “upon this rock, I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). He gave us apostles, and prophets,
evangelists and pastors and teachers. For the perfecting of the saints, for the
work of the ministry, for the edifying the body of Christ. Till we all come in the
unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That we hereafter be no more
children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the
sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But
speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head,
even Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-15). Yet we look at the church today and we can
see that something went wrong.
As we look back at the early church, the early church was born on the day of
Pentecost and were all filled with the Holy Spirit and power to witness as Jesus
spoke in Acts 1:8 “but you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come
upon you and you shall be witnesses to Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea,
and in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth” and we see that they
turned the world upside down and walked like Jesus walked, and did what Jesus
did. They did as Mark 16:17-18, in the name of Jesus they cast out devils, they
laid hands on the sick and they recovered. And they continued to do this in spite
of the persecutions that they went through. They were stoned, they were sawed
in two, were slain with the sword (Hebrews 11:37). In spite of this the church
continued to grow. Then Constantine made a law that all people had to become
Christians. Even though this stopped the killing of Christians, this brought all
kinds of people in and negated what the Bible says in Ephesians 2:8 “for by grace
are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God”.
People became Christians merely because it was required, not by faith. You see
the devil couldn’t stop the church so he brought in pagans with all kinds of beliefs
and the church became just like Israel did when they mixed and began to worship
other gods, which is idolatry. The enemy came in with his foundation which was
contrary to the foundation that Jesus laid. People came in that was not saved and
polluted the church.
This continued through the dark age, where the scriptures were taken out of the
hands of the people. They were told they couldn’t understand it, and it was put in
the monastery and were told what they should believe. Apposed to what the Bible
says in Hebrews “the just shall live by faith”, and “faith comes by hearing and
hearing the word of God”. The Bible says “what ever is not of faith is sin”. You
had people thinking they were working for God and killing the Jews, Hitler thought
this way, others were making people superior over people, (racism) which goes
against the word of God.
The Bible says in Psalms 11:3 “if the foundation be destroyed, what shall the
righteous do”? I am not saying this to bring in fear, because Jesus said “the gates
of hell shall not prevail against the church”, and we know it’s not over to it’s over.
Thank God that many churches are going back to the basis. Believing the word of
God and acting upon it.
Study by: Harriet Bond
Date: April 29, 2008
A building is only as solid as it’s foundation. The foundation of our life is Jesus
Christ; He is our base. Jesus Christ is the blueprint for our foundation.
Everything we are and do must fit into the pattern provided by Him (II Corinthians
10:5) “casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against
the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ”. Are you building your life on the only real and lasting foundation, or
are you building on a faulty foundation such as wealth, security, success, or
fame? God predestinate for us is to conform to the image of His Son (Romans 8:
29).
Isaiah prophesied “therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign, behold a
virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel” Immanuel
means – God with us (Isaiah 7:14). We see the fulfillment of this in Matthew 1:18-
23 “now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise; when as His mother Mary was
engaged to Joseph, before they came together she was found with child of the
Holy Ghost. Then, Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make
her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on
these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying,
Joseph, you son of David, fear not to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is
conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and you
shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. Now all this
was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet,
saying. Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they
shall call His name Immanuel which being interpreted is God with us”. People
discount the virgin birth of Jesus and see Him as a good man, who didn’t sin, but if
Jesus was not born of a virgin, His blood would be just like ours (tainted) and not
able to forgive our sins.
Two ways to destroy a building are to tamper with the foundation or to build with
inferior materials. The church must be built on Christ, not on any other person or
principle. Christ will evaluate each minister’s contribution will reveal the sincerity
of each person’s work. God will determine whether or not they have been faithful
to Jesus’ instructions (Matthew 25:31-33) “when the Son of man shall come in His
glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His
glory. And before Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shall separate them,
one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He shall
set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left”. As you continue to
read down to verse 46 you see the sheep are told “come you blessed of My
Father, inherit the kingdom, prepared for you from the foundation of the world”
verse 34; and verse 41 says “then shall He say also to them on the left hand
depart from Me, you cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
angels”. We are warned in Colossians 2:8 “beware less any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, and not after
Christ”. Developing a dependable foundation is a personal responsibility, each
church member should be mature, spiritually sensitive, and doctrinally sound (II
Timothy 2:15) “study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that needs
not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”.
Jesus said “upon this rock, I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). He gave us apostles, and prophets,
evangelists and pastors and teachers. For the perfecting of the saints, for the
work of the ministry, for the edifying the body of Christ. Till we all come in the
unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That we hereafter be no more
children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the
sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But
speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head,
even Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-15). Yet we look at the church today and we can
see that something went wrong.
As we look back at the early church, the early church was born on the day of
Pentecost and were all filled with the Holy Spirit and power to witness as Jesus
spoke in Acts 1:8 “but you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come
upon you and you shall be witnesses to Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea,
and in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth” and we see that they
turned the world upside down and walked like Jesus walked, and did what Jesus
did. They did as Mark 16:17-18, in the name of Jesus they cast out devils, they
laid hands on the sick and they recovered. And they continued to do this in spite
of the persecutions that they went through. They were stoned, they were sawed
in two, were slain with the sword (Hebrews 11:37). In spite of this the church
continued to grow. Then Constantine made a law that all people had to become
Christians. Even though this stopped the killing of Christians, this brought all
kinds of people in and negated what the Bible says in Ephesians 2:8 “for by grace
are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God”.
People became Christians merely because it was required, not by faith. You see
the devil couldn’t stop the church so he brought in pagans with all kinds of beliefs
and the church became just like Israel did when they mixed and began to worship
other gods, which is idolatry. The enemy came in with his foundation which was
contrary to the foundation that Jesus laid. People came in that was not saved and
polluted the church.
This continued through the dark age, where the scriptures were taken out of the
hands of the people. They were told they couldn’t understand it, and it was put in
the monastery and were told what they should believe. Apposed to what the Bible
says in Hebrews “the just shall live by faith”, and “faith comes by hearing and
hearing the word of God”. The Bible says “what ever is not of faith is sin”. You
had people thinking they were working for God and killing the Jews, Hitler thought
this way, others were making people superior over people, (racism) which goes
against the word of God.
The Bible says in Psalms 11:3 “if the foundation be destroyed, what shall the
righteous do”? I am not saying this to bring in fear, because Jesus said “the gates
of hell shall not prevail against the church”, and we know it’s not over to it’s over.
Thank God that many churches are going back to the basis. Believing the word of
God and acting upon it.
Study by: Harriet Bond
Date: April 29, 2008
