What are you building your house on? On the sand, or on the rock?
Sandcastle kings is a book about building our foundation on the solid rock that is Jesus Christ. Rich Wilkerson. Jr’s is famously known as Kayne West’s pastor. He is the pastor who officiated Kim Kardashian and Kayne West’s wedding in Italy. That is all I knew of Rich Wilkerson Jr, and I assumed that the book Sandcastle Kings would be a shallow look at how he has reached successfully famous people around the world. I was wrong.
Sandcastle Kings is all based around Matthew 7: 24-27, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practiceis like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Rich Wilkerson Jr constantly chips away at our sandcastles that we have build, and the hardships we will find when we build our lives on anything other than Jesus. We live in a culture where we are constantly building up kingdoms, not God’s Kingdom. We are out to get ours, and we are often destroyed when things don’t fulfill us the way that only God could.
Sandcastle kings is a great book for youth and young adults. Rich Wilkerson Jr’s writing style is easy to read, and is biblical. I read this book in an afternoon, and I am sure that you could easily cruise through it, and find something new about a biblical text you have never heard before.
Top quotes from Sandcastle Kings:
“Jesus wants you to stop building sandcastles and pretending that you are the king. He is the king, and he wants to help you build your life on the only foundation strong enough to withstand the storms of this life: himself.”
“In most of life we usually don’t get a position unless we can perform, and if we stop performing we often lose that position. People try hard so that they can keep their positions. But this is not how the kingdom of God works. In the kingdom of God your position does not depend on your performance. Your position was purchased by Christ.”
“As long as I am focused on me, I will have a hard time seeing him.”
“And yet, time and time again I meet people who just won’t let go of their checklists. They keep pointing to the “good things” they have done, trying to balance out the failings and mistakes.”
“Their identity is all about what they do instead of who God is.”
“Religion says, “If I obey all of God’s rules, God will look out for me.” So we try to obey…But ultimately, religion does not make us proud of God. It makes us proud of ourselves.”
“One we start believing things about God, we are tempted to place more importance in our beliefs than in our God.”
“In my church, when we are considering a person for a leadership position, we like to know whether a person has been through tough times in his or her life — the death of a loved one, financial difficulty, sickness, or other such things. We went to know this not because we are fond of a good sob story, but because it is hard to know whether a person really believes something unless he or she has held onto her or her beliefs through tough times.”
“It is easy to believe when you are free of serious trouble, but when you are trapped and there is no hope in sight, doubt can set in, along with all of it’s disturbing questions.”
