Built To Last: Grace Not Grit
You weren’t made to earn your way to God—you were made to live from His grace. Discover why soul-level exhaustion can’t be solved by working harder, and how grace—not grit—is the key to a life built to last.
Transcript: (Optimized Version)
Welcome to HighPoint Church at Bullard! We’re here for the summer and thrilled you’re with us. Especially if you’re a guest—we’re honored to have you.
For more than 4,500 years, the Great Pyramids of Egypt have stood through storms, empires, and earthquakes. Crafted with over two million massive stones—some heavier than a school bus—and precisely aligned, these wonders of the world weren’t slapped together. They were intentionally, painstakingly built to last.
Here’s the irony: we spend more time planning our next trip, our kid’s next activity, or which gym shoes to buy than we do building our actual lives. We chase money, success, and validation—but ignore the foundational things that make life strong: integrity. consistency. faithfulness. wisdom. a relationship with God. And without those, life falls apart under pressure.
Ecclesiastes 10:15 says, “The toil of fools wearies them; they do not know the way to town.”
Not because they don’t work hard—but because they ignore what matters most.
It’s not a work problem. It’s a wisdom problem.
The “town” in the Bible was essential to life—commerce, justice, worship, community, and news all flowed from it. Not knowing the way meant being cut off from provision, protection, and purpose. It wasn’t funny. It was tragic.
Today, we’re still getting lost trying to get to town.
We pray for peace but feed on chaos online.
We want spiritual strength but never open our Bibles.
We desire a Christ-centered relationship but never talk about faith.
We hope our kids know Jesus but never pray with them.
And at the heart of it all—there’s one overlooked roadblock: grace.
Grace is the most essential, most misunderstood part of the gospel.
It’s not just something we agree with.
It’s something we live from.
Ephesians 2:8-9 — “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith… not by works, so that no one can boast.”
In the 1500s, Martin Luther launched the Protestant Reformation over this truth: salvation isn’t earned through good works, rituals, or church performance. It’s by grace alone, through faith alone, based on Scripture alone. This revolution of truth reshaped history—and it still shapes our lives today.
Titus 3:4-5 — “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy…”
Romans 11:6 — “If by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.”
So what happens when we get it wrong?
We live in performance mode. We try to earn our way back to God instead of receiving the gift He’s already given.
Here’s a picture: a kid breaks something, messes up big—and instead of going to his parents, he starts scrubbing the house, doing chores, trying to make up for it. The whole time, his parents are waiting at the table, ready to forgive. But the kid won’t come inside. He’s doing the right things… for the wrong reasons.
That’s how many of us treat God.
We serve more. Pray harder. Read longer. Hoping to earn what’s already been offered: grace.
But grace isn’t the reward at the end of the road.
It’s the invitation to begin.
And that’s how you find your way to town.
That’s how you build a life that lasts.