A deacon friend jokingly asked me on several occasions after a sermon, “Preacher, is that something we’re supposed to do, or is that just one of those things we discuss and talk about doing?”

When Jesus was bringing His Sermon on the Mount to a close He said, “He that hears these sayings of mine, and does them is like a wise man who built his house on a rock and it withstood the storms that came. But, the man that hears these sayings and ignores them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand and when the storms came it fell.” (Matthew 7:24-27)

James, the half brother of Jesus wrote in his epistle, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” (James 1:22)

It was told that the nation’s champion bait caster had never caught a fish. I fear that many Christians can lead a discussion on practically any subject in the Bible but fail to make application in their own lives. That’s “a house on the sand.” Storms are coming. Only the house on the rock will stand when the storms come.