The scripture verses 46 and 47 are revealing the four steps of success in life and verses 48 and 49 reveal us wonderful steps in building construction, more accurately about a house construction.

JESUS CHRIST IS LORD

Many people call Jesus Lord, Lord. Some call Lord, but do not confess the name of the Lord. In Indian villages, some ladies do not confess the name of their husbands. They believe that is godliness. Sarah in the Bible called Abraham as her Lord. Who is our Lord? What is his name? Our Lord is Jesus Christ. Jesus means savior, Lord means the one who rules, guides and controls our life. Jesus is not only our Savior, but He is also our LORD. Confession: “JESUS CHRIST IS LORD”. The scripture says: “ And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16;31) .This is a promise and prophecy about your entire household salvation. You and your entire household shall be saved, protected, forgiven, healed and given eternal life ( See Romans 10:8-10 and Philippians 2:9-11).

Step 1: Confess: Jesus is Lord

Step 2: Come to Jesus

Step 3: Hear His words ( teachings )

Step 4: Do the word ( obey the teachings of Jesus )

Let me illustrate these four steps to successful Christian living with four examples in the Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The first example is from Matthew Gospel: Jesus heals the leper.

1. JESUS HEALS THE LEPER

“When he came down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And , behold there came a leper and worshiped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying , I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed´” ( Matt. 8:1-4).

Here, we see these four steps. Leper confessed Jesus, Lord. His prayer was “ Lord, wash me lean”. That should be our prayer also. No one is as holy as Jesus is holy. He came to Jesus and worshiped Him. He was pleading him the will of God. If you are willing, you can make me clean. Jesus had divine compassion on him. Jesus put forth His hand and touched him, said five words: “ I WILL, BE THOU CLEAN”. Wonderful words of life. The Bible says, immediately his leprosy was cleansed. He became a child of the Almighty God. The man became a cured, cleansed, consecrated, colorful child of the ALMIGHTY God. Glory to God, Hallelujah, amen. While I was ministering as Full time Pastor in a local church in Chennai about 20 years back, one fine Sunday, I prayed for such skin disease person, Jesus cleansed him immediately. The next Sunday morning he testified about the miracle healing. Praise the LORD.

Exodus 15: 26 says: And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.

Secondly, We shall meditate a conversation between a rich young man and Jesus from Mark’s Gospel 10: 17-30:

2. THE RICH YOUNG RULER

You know about this conversation between Jesus and this rich, young, morally clean man. He asked a wonderful question to Jesus: “ What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” His inheritance was wealth, land, houses, grains, paddy fields etc., But, he wanted to inherit God’s DNA, God’s nature, divine nature, His life in Him. Good desire. The young ruler confessed: Jesus is good God, good teacher, good Man. He renewed his mind to keep the 10 commandments. 1-4 commands are about loving God. 5-10 commandments are about loving others as you love yourself.

The young man, though he lived a very good moral life, he was lacking something important. Jesus said: “ Go thy way, sell whatever thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross and follow me”v.21. This man, not knowing the divine economics, became sad at that saying, went away sorrowful. Because he had great possession and love of money.

The Bible says: He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will he pay him again” ( Proverbs 19:17). Had he obeyed the command of Jesus to distribute, and have given to the poor, God would have rewarded him 100 % greater blessings. Paul the apostle obeyed the Lord Jesus, and believed on him, and obtained eternal life. History says that he left great riches, education, ships etc., for the sake of the gospel and followed Jesus Christ. The disciples followed Jesus, leaving certain things dear to them, they inherited 100 times blessings in this life and eternal life. The greatest inheritance in this world and the world to come is the Eternal life. And we are heirs of God by means of New birth or being born again.

According to dictionary, inherit means:1. To receive property, money,etc from somebody who has died; I inherited quite a lot of money from my mother. She left me$12,000/- when she died. 2. ( Health, Biology) to receive a quality, characteristic etc from your parents or family: she has inherited her father’s gift for languages.

By an act of faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we receive an inheritance which is I believe the eternal life, the life of God, by which after receiving, you are a born again child of the living God. The distinctive characteristics of this inheritance are: i. incorruptible, ii. Undefiled, and iii. fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you. When you are born again, you enjoy Heaven on Earth. Your heavenly life starts here on the planet earth, when you became a child of God. Jesus gave his life for us, and that life is in us, this life of God is the greatest inheritance on this earth and the world to come. I thank my physical father for his life in me, and above all, I thank my God for His divine life, the everlasting live in my spirit.

Our third example is from Luke 5:1-11. Jesus pays for the use of the ship with a miracle

3. THE MIRACLE CATCH OF A GREAT MULTITUDE OF FISHES

“ Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they in closed a great multitude of fishes: and their net broke”( Luke 5: 4-6).

Jesus stood by the sea of chinnereth. He entered into one of the ships( ship is a large vessel floating on the water), which was Simon’s. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. When he stopped speaking, Jesus talked with Simon Peter. Simon listened to His teachings. Simon as all other fishermen, was a hardworking fisherman. He and his friends toiled all the night, and did not catch anything. It was like an apparent failure happened in their life. Are you suffering failure in business like these fishermen? There is a solution to the problem. Simon obeyed the words of Jesus. He let down the net and they caught a great multitude of fishes. Peter became a successful business man over a night and a day. Miracle happened in the life of the believing disciples of Jesus Christ. Peter acted on the word of God, that is success in life.

The next example in this message is from John’s gospel. Water changed into wine(grape juice).

4. GALLONS OF WATER MADE WINE ( John 2:1-11)

Jesus and His disciples were invited to a marriage in Cana of Galilee. Before they reached Cana, the mother of Jesus was there. The wine in the wedding house was lacking. Mary presented the need to Jesus. He did not perform the miracle at once, for He waited for God's time. She said, Whatsoever He saith, do it. That is, hear the words of Jesus and obey His teaching. Jesus said, Fill the water pots with water. And the servants obeyed Him by filling the stone jars with water up to the brim. And drew out and bear unto the governor of the feast. Water was made wine. Water became a colorful, tasting, and good smelling grape juice. All the people tasted the good wine and became happy and satisfied and praised the wonderful miracle which happened in Cana of Galilee marriage.

By following His words, you can have your miracle in your married life or in your future marriage life. Jesus wants to perform a miracle in your marriage life. Praise God. Following are the steps:

1. Present your needs to Jesus,
2. Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it,
3. Fill the water pots with water,
4. Draw out now and bear unto the governor of the feast.

Jesus will change the water into honey. Jesus changes the water into wine. You will experience life in your human body. You shall experience joy unspeakable and full of glory. Your marriage life will become a successful life.

BUILD THE HOUSE

Jesus spoke a parable about a man who followed all these four steps: " He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock" ( verse 48).

This story like teaching illustrates great facts and principles about Building Construction. First of all, Jesus said: a MAN BUILT AN HOUSE: what are the sequence of the Building Construction activities?

1. he digged deep,
2. laid the foundation on a rock,
3. built an house,
4. the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house,
5. could not shake it,
6. because, it was founded upon a rock.

Here, Jesus speaks about:

1. the need for deep foundation,
2. Building Construction in an marine/ coastal environment,
3. Lateral dynamic forces ...environmental loads ( storm & stream ) acting on it,
4. the structure had stability,
5. the foundation is upon the rock.

These are the technical procedures in the construction of a house in a coastal environment near the seashore or on the land based structure. The spiritual truths in this parable are:

1. House is the House of God which is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Deep foundation refers deeper spiritual life or obeying foundational doctrines of Christ ( Heb.6:1-3).
3. Rock refers our Lord Jesus Christ in the N.T. and God our Father in O.T.
4. Forces refer to false doctrines, demons activities against the church or Pastor or individual believer or minister of the gospel,
5. Stability ( success in life) is possible because of our stand on the Rock Jesus Christ.

PRAYER

Father God, Thank you Jesus for cleansing, eternal life, business success and success in my marriage life. I confess Jesus Christ is Lord, I come to you, want to hear your teaching, and obey your words! Father, build your house, the church, my life. Thank you for all the spiritual, physical, financial and social blessings upon me. Thank you for your kindness, grace, favor, abundant mercy and life forever. Thank you Lord. In Jesus Name, I pray. Amen.

GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR HOUSEHOLD. AMEN. PRAISE THE LORD.

For further details, please contact:

REV. C. PETER CHANDRAN THE LIVING GOD MINISTRIES

PO BOX 8760, ADYAR, CHENNAI 600020 INDIA.

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