As all good preachers do, Jesus ends the Sermon on the Mount with a call to respond, a call to not just listen to his words but to put them into action. The seriousness of this call is underlined by his use of a simple illustration: two different builders each building a house, but using two different foundations. One house stands up to the storms and one does not. The foundation makes all the difference.

As we'll see, Jesus tells us that hearing and doing what he says is a secure foundation for building a life upon, Hearing and not doing is building on a foundation that is just waiting for trouble to happen.

We face the same decision Jesus' first hearers did. Will we just listen to his words, or will we build our life upon them? No decision could have more far-reaching consequences.