Adrian Rogers: How Do Christians Overcome Adversity?
Adrian Rogers: How Do Christians Overcome Adversity?
Life, in its very nature, is tragic; sooner or later, the storms of life will come our way. The difference between a life built on the Word of God, and one that isn’t, lies underground. In this message, Adrian Rogers shares what to do when the bottom falls out of life, and how to have rock-solid faith.
do you know somebody some bodies perhaps an entire family that were faithful to the church seemingly serving the lord presumably happy in Jesus and then some Calamity came and they dropped out they stopped coming they seemed to collapse to fold up to throw in the towel the bottom has fallen out of life and they don’t know what to do friend I’m telling you from my heart Storms Come to everybody outwardly we look all alike but if you want to see the difference you’ve got to look beneath the surface to the foundation profound
truth simply stated This is Love Worth Finding with Pastor T teacher and author Adrien Rogers now you find Matthew chapter 7 and in a few moments we’re going to begin reading in verse 24 as you’re looking for Matthew chapter 7 may I ask you a question do you know somebody some bodies perhaps an entire family that were faithful to the church seemingly serving the lord presumably happy in Jesus and then some Calamity came and they dropped out they stopped coming they seemed to collapse to fold up to throw in the
towel the bottom has fallen out of life and they don’t know what to do maybe they went to the doctor and the doctor diagnosed cancer and really didn’t know what to prescribe what do you do what do you do when the bottom falls out well I tell you what you do you examine the foundation you examine the foundation when the bottom falls out look if you will in verse 24 this is a part of The Sermon on the Mount and our Lord says therefore whosoever heareth these things 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 because it was founded upon a rock and everyone 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 now what our Lord is doing here is talking about our lives as if they’re houses now we all need houses to live in what’s a house
for well a house is for shelter a house is for security a house is for sufficiency and satisfaction Supply it’s our place where we Retreat a house is for serenity and we all need some sort of a house we want some sort of a place to live in and so we uh we provide for ourselves some kind of a house well your soul also needs a house there needs to be a sanctuary for the soul there needs to be a place of security and sufficiency that your spirit can dwell in and that’s what our Lord is talking about now he’s using the analogy of an
Earthly house to speak of a spiritual house that is a sanctuary for the soul that we live in now all of us are building that kind of a house you are I am I can’t live in the house you’ve built and you can’t live in the house that I’ve built first of all let’s talk about the shity right down the word shity the shity of Rock Solid Faith how can we be sure that we have Rock Solid Faith well there are three things that are necessary for you to have Rock Solid Faith number one you must have the word
of God number two you must hear the word of God number three you must heed the word of God now Jesus said that the foundation is the word of God he said whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them is like a man that build his house upon a rock Rock so it is the sayings of Jesus the word of God uh that that gives us this foundation and what we’re talking about is the shity of the word of God now number one let’s make certain that you have the word of God back up to verse 15 in this same chapter Matthew
7:15 look at it do you have it look at it beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep’s clothes clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves now uh what he’s saying is that you cannot build you may be building on uh the shifting sand of philosophy you may be building on the mud of false religion uh you may be building on some Quagmire rather than on the word of God because there are many false prophets that are out there in the world Paul was concerned and no notice what he said in Acts chap 20 put this in your margin
verses 28-30 he’s talking to the church at uh Ephesus now and he said take ye therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock that is the Sheep over which the Holy Ghost ha made you overseers to feed the Church of God which he has purchased with his own blood and that’s my job is to feed the church with the word of God and then Paul said for I know this that after my departing shall Grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock Paul said listen take heed be careful that you have the word of God now when
you look for the pass when you look for the devil never fail to look in the Pulpit never fail to look in the Pulpit uh Satan is occupying many pulpits in America today a little boy told me one time time when I was preaching after I preached he said uh Pastor when you were up there preaching this morning I could see the devil just as plain well I hope he meant that he could see the devil that I was describing not portraying but here’s what the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11 beginning in verse 13 for such are false Apostles deceitful
workers transforming themselves as the Apostles of Christ and no Marvel for Satan himself is transformed as an angel of Light therefore it is no great things if his ministers also be transformed as the Ministers of righteousness and so a man may have a clerical robe on he may stand behind the sacred desk but he has not been divinely anointed divinely appointed he has been ordained of the devil you say Pastor Rogers that is hard no that’s the kindest thing I could say I’m telling you make certain if you’re
going to build upon the rock that you have the word of God look beneath the fleece Satan is a Master of Disguise so here’s listen we’re talking about building on a firm foundation number one make certain that you have the word of God beware of false prophets somebody says well I’m looking for church that suits me who are you God you better look for one that suits God you better find one that is based Rock Solid on the word of God you must have the word of God number two you must hear the word of God look in verse 24
again therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine now it’s one thing for you to belong to a Bible believing church it’s one thing for you to have a copy of the word of God and in your home it’s one thing for you to to subscribe to Orthodoxy but have you really heard the word of God do you really listen to the word of God in order to do this you must dig deep now we said that the man was built he built his house upon the rock put in your margin Luke 6: 48 Jesus is telling the same story Luke
reports and adds some details Luke said he is like a man which built a house and watch this and digged deep boys and girls that mean he dug way down and dug deep and laid the foundation on a rock and when the flood arose the stream beat vehemently against that house and could not shake it for it was founded upon a rock now what is our Lord saying he’s saying sometimes you have to dig to get to a rock you see you must have the word of God faith cometh by hearing and hearing hearing by the word of God so you must hear also the word of God when
