Matthew Botelho

“For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.” –1Corinthians 3:9-10.

One thing I love about our Lord Jesus is that first, He loves me and forgives me of all my sins! Secondly, I love how He speaks to one person in His Body and will confirm that Word through another within His Body.

A “rebuilding of hearts” and “reconciliation” is happening within the Body of Christ. Jesus is so powerful and awesome! Still, He does not favor one over the other. God looks at you in the pew with the same love as He looks at your pastor. The roles you each serve are different. Your assignment may not match what other brothers and sisters have been given, but God no less loves you. 

I pray that you will know how much our Lord Jesus loves you.

And I pray you know this also: God will not stop loving you when you fall. Because His Love enables us to pick up the broken pieces of our hearts and say, “Lord help me! Fix this heart that I am laying before You.” The Apostle Paul writes: “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” –Romans 8:37-39.

If you are Christ’s, then you are a conqueror in Christ Jesus. You are a coheir to the Kingdom of God and a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

As ministers of His Word, we build on good ground—a sure foundation.

Building upon God’s Word assures us that as we build, so long as our works align with His Word, His Word will support our good works. “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 3:11.

Every building needs a strong foundation. Without it, the structure will fall. Our sure foundation is built upon our faith in Christ and our time spent worshiping Christ Jesus. We will never be able to support the things of God and the works He has assigned us without first knowing and obeying Him and keeping Him first in all things. “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” –1 Corinthians 4: 12-14.

Everything man builds starts as a vision and is brought into existence.

As God spoke His vision, plan, and purpose for creation, they became manifest. God said, “Let there be,” and everything came into being. God creates. It is just one of His many Characteristics. He has also placed this ability to create—to partner with His will and plan into His children.

If you belong to Jesus, you have been given faith to speak life into that circumstance or over a family member. You can speak life into something you thought was dead, such as a dream or goal, mending relationships, and new beginnings. Whatever it is you declare, it will be done if it is according to the will of God within Christ Jesus. He is God. You are not. “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. If you love me, keep my commands.” –John 14:13-15.

The Holy Spirit that lives in you, child of God, will tell you how to pray when you are unsure what to speak. Romans 8:26 tells us this: “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses, For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

When we lay the groundwork of worship and praise in Jesus Christ alone, we will see the vision of what God has for us come into focus.

Jesus is the Cornerstone the builders rejected. “Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” –Mark 12:10-11.

Yet, without a cornerstone, a structure will collapse. So, too, what we attempt to build without God.

The importance of a cornerstone is that it bears much of the weight of the building’s outer structure, and it connects and unites two of the walls. As a builder for God’s Kingdom, you need Jesus to be the Cornerstone of everything you build concerning life and ministry.

In other words, “Do not try to do what God must do first.” Put Jesus in the front of it. His name carries Authority. His Blood washes away our sins, and He sets the captive free!

Jesus teaches us about rock and sand, two very different types of foundations: It would be foolish on our part to dismiss God’s instructions for our lives.

“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock; and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that that house; and it did not fail, for it was founded on the rock.” –Matthew 7:24-25.

As we read and declare the words of Jesus, we must also apply them to our daily lives. Jesus says in the Scripture, “Whoever hears these sayings of Mine, AND DOES THEM, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Proverbs 1:7 reminds us: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Now, fear of the Lord is not fear, as we understand it, being terrified or scared of something or someone; instead, fear of the Lord is a reverence for a deep and abiding love, respect, and awe of God.

“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand; and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell, And great was its fall.”

Jesus gave us the blueprint on how to walk out our faith, but if we choose not to adhere to the Word of God, the collapse, the storms of doubt and fear will rain on us and crush us just as they did the house built on sand. We who believe can and must rely on Truth: The Word of God is consistent and always will be. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, says the Lord, Who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” –Revelation 1:8.

As I close, dear friends, I pray the Holy Spirit speaks to anyone needing a firm foundation to stand on. Assuring you that to receive salvation, you need only confess and wholeheartedly repent your sins to the Lord Jesus, asking that He come into your heart.” for, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.” –Romans 10:9-10.