June 10, 2024

"Christ is my firm foundation..."   We sang of this Sunday morning.  How important is a foundation?  A recent article listed five reasons why a foundation is the most important part of your home.  So hard not to make connections to Christ, our Firm Foundation:

1.  Your Foundation Resists Movement
Unless your home is a houseboat or RV, this is pretty critical.  A moving foundation cracks and harms the rest of the house.  How much more important that you resist movement in the shifting sands of culture and world commotion?    There are natural and supernatural forces at work trying to move you away from God or break you.  Without being anchored to Christ, your life can crack or even be washed away.  With a firm foundation, the heavy load of your life is transferred to that solid rock.

2.  Your Foundation Insulates Your Home
Foundations provide a thermal shield from the harsh northern winters and the cold that tries to seep in.  How much more important that you be warmed in the cold seasons of life?    Christ acts as a shield to protect you from the dangers of that cold but also helps to preserve the warmth that only He provides.    "For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock" (Ps. 27:5).  With a firm foundation, you are protected from the dangerous cold.  

3.  Your Foundation Keeps Moisture Out
Foundations provide a barrier against moisture that can weaken or destroy your home.  How much more important that you be kept safe from damaging influences?  Water is essential for life but even good things in excess or used in the wrong way can harm or even destroy us.  Christ gives us wisdom to say "enough" or "no" to these influences and, like a well-laid foundation with good drainage, He will direct the floodwaters of danger away.   When the rains & floods come and winds blow, your life will not fall (Matt. 7:24-25).

4.  Your Foundation Keeps Insects Out
Foundations keep bugs and critters that live under the soil from infesting your home.  It even lifts the wood framing from termites on the ground.  How much more important that your life be free from tiny, dangerous infestations?   Tiny little words, actions, and attitudes can eat away at us over time eventually affecting our entire life.  Christ gives us His Word to shield us and put a stop to those "critters" from infiltrating your life.  

5. Your Foundation Supports Your Home
Probably the most important benefit.  A foundations primary purpose is to hold your house up.   How much more important that your life in Christ is built on Christ?   He is the support of your life that keeps you from sinking into the ground or losing your footing.   >Foundations must be tailored to the site - Christ, your foundation, is your very Creator; He knows everything about your "site."   >Foundations must take into account the soil conditions, the water table, and backfill - Christ, your foundation, is all-knowing; nothing in your background is hidden and He can handle it all.   >Foundations must be properly set and of the right materials - Christ, your foundation is God incarnate!    Before the worlds were framed, He not only was, he said "I am!"  The universe was created and is upheld by Him;  He's got you - He is your Firm Foundation!  

We did not vote on hiring Jaime Farias to be an evangelist under SSB's direction.  Note, that certainly is not stopping him as he is having many conversations each week doing the work on his own.  We plan on continuing to give him some support, temporarily at least, from our benevolent funds.   A main concern was enough of you felt that it would have been nice to have gotten to know Jaime a little bit better.  We will schedule another time for him to share with us and for you to ask questions of him.  In addition, if you want to possibly invite him out to coffee or share a meal with him and learn more about him, let us know and we can get you connected to him.   We will likely consider a vote in the very near future.

We need others.  The preacher in Ecclesiastes wrote “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”  Consider just the benefits of having another in your life just in those few verses.   We need others to help and to hold us accountable.   Do you have another that can pick you up?  One who will keep you warm?  One who might help you battle an enemy?   How about the other side:  Who are you helping out that has fallen?  Who are you helping through a dark, cold time in life?   Who are you helping that is facing enemies?   Find another or two… be a “threefold cord that is not quickly broken.”  Be the church.