It being a new year, most of you should have a bright plan or hope for the future. Personally, I haven't been able to have enough time to fellowship with the Lord over the past few weeks, owing to several things, including a funeral service yesterday. However this morning, God showed me this part as a sermon today.

As you can find in this place, many people were greatly surprised to see that Jesus taught with such authority. This reminds me of a picture story I possessed several years ago: the two main characters were carpenters. Each one built a home for themselves; one on a rock, and one on a flat, sandy base. And, then a storm came. The last question was 'which of the two was wisest?' Well, now, we all know the answer.

After receiving today's passage, I began to think strongly about this year. We need to prepare a firm foundation for the coming future! Remember last year's new year day? We couldn't even imagine some of the sad things that happened last year. We encounter such unexpected things in life, don't we? Some people died who we never expected to. Life is full of unexpectations, so we need to keep preparing ourselves for such things. We are to build a foundation strong enough to last against such harmful things.

We can't see the foundations of houses from the outside. But, we are apt to be influenced by the parts that we do see. We can tell some things from their appearance, however the important things are invisible to us. See II Cor.4:18.

Luke 6:47,48. Last year, I had the chance to visit a newly built church in Oita City. It was great! All those visible materials were high in quality. We were truly awed by it. But, nobody seemed to care about the foundation. In today's passage, it was written that the wise man dug down deep until he was able to secure the bedrock. He might not have dug down that far, but he did. He dug and he dug until he found the rock. Now we read that the more one is forgiven, the more one should love the One who has forgiven. His love should go down - deeper and deeper. To dig down deep spiritually means not to care about what people around us think, but to keep digging down for the love of God. We tend to care about the visible things than we do about the invisible things. See Mt.24:35.

I Pe.1:23. No matter how much things around you might change, remember the very first part of John's Gospel. This world was created by God's words. God shouted "Let the light be!" Everything was created by the words of God - and remain in this world by His words too. See He.1:3; Ja.1:21; and Acts 20:32. God has the authority even to destroy it! We all are living by the words of His grace.

On the 30th, one of our church ladies passed away. She was the mother of one of our Elders, who is also a lady in this church. She had been very sick when she was baptised in her bed last November. She couldn't come to church to worship with us, but she listened to christian radio broadcasts for over 10 years. Though she was very sick, she still memorized holy verses. Last Christmas, she was given a christmas card by the church ladies. On the card were these words: "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, dismiss now your servant in peace." Of course, they first wrote the verse of Christ's birth. "Today the Saviour is born." After receiving this card, she had God's peace.

God's words work in and through us like this.

Translated by Junko Okamoto - Edited for the Net by Shido
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