Fortune Magazine asked 19 accomplished people what was the best advice they ever got. Here are some of them: (Don't try to preach all 17 excerpts below.  We suggest using 3 to 4 examples that mean the most to your community. Then skip down and use the conclusion to this illustration.)

Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, got his from his days at Salomon Brothers: "Always ask for the order, and second, when the customer says yes, stop talking."

Mark Hurd, the CEO of Hewlett-Packard, got his years ago from his days under NCR CEO Chuck Exley who was listening to an executive's presentation. At the end Exley said to the presenter: "Good Story, but it's hard to look smart with bad numbers." Hurd said he has reflected on that over the years, and says, if you "deliver good numbers and you earn the right for people to listen to you."

Indra Nooyi, an India born woman and Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, says her father was an absolutely wonderful man who taught her: always assume positive intent.  Whatever anybody says or does assume positive intent. She went on to say, "you will be amazed how your whole approach to a person or problems becomes very different. If you assume negative intent your anger goes up and your response is random. Assume positive intent and you listen, you're non defensive, and you seek to understand.

Sam Palmisano, the chairman and CEO of IBM, was told this but he has observed it. The most effective leaders, CEO's and head of state, which he has observed, don't make themselves the center of attention. They are respectful and they listen. This makes people comfortable; they open up and speak up.

Eddie Lampert chairman and CEO of Sears Holdings, said that when he was 7, 8, 9, and 10 almost every weekend he and his dad would toss a football in the backyard. He would say, "Go out ten steps and turn to the right." The ball would reach me just as I turned. He asked his dad why he did this. He said, "If I waited for you to turn, you and the defensive player would have an equal chance to get the ball. Your opportunity is gone." His conclusion from those football days in his back yard? Anticipation is the key to investing and business generally.

In 1982 Gen. David Patraeus, then a captain with eight years military experience was weighing various options for his life. His boss Maj. Gen. Jack Galvin, said, "I think you ought to look for an out-of-your-intellectual-comfort-zone experience. He took that advice and went to staff college and then graduate school at Princeton getting his Ph.D. in international relations. There he learned that seriously bright people can think differently about issues and come to very different conclusions about world problems.

Thoams M. Murphy, former CEO of ABC, learned from his father, "Doing the wrong thing is not worth the loss of one night's good sleep."

Nelson Peltz, who along with his father bought Snapple in 1997, learned from his father a very simple lesson about business: "Get sales up, and keep expenses down."

Peter G Peterson, Chairman of the Blackstone group, learned from his professor Milton Friedman, at the University of Chicago, "Focus on those thing that you do better than others."

Joaana Shileds, the president of BEBO.com, says she always goes back to the things that her dad said, "Your career is long and the business world is small. Always act with integrity. Never take the last dollar off the table."

Elon Musj, founder and CEO of SACEX, learned from the very humorous book "The Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy," a very short piece of advice: "Don't Panic." You have to be wary of emotion clouding your decision-making process.

Tina Fey, the comedian from Saturday Night Live, learned from an Oprah Winfrey show, "Always be the only person who can sign your checks."

U. Mark Schneider, the CEO of Frensenius, was pushed by his father to become fluent in English. He told him, "No matter what you are going to do this will give you an edge. The English language is the operating system of the free world."

Tony Robbins, a performance coach, learned that the selection of your friends and advisors matter more than anything else. He got this advice from a personal-development speaker, who said, "Tony, think of it this way, If your worst enemy drops sugar in your coffee, what's the worst think that is going to happen to you? Nothing. But if your best friend drops strychnine in your coffee? You're dead. You have to stand guard at the door of your mind."

CONCLUSION:  Perhaps a few of the Disciples would have said that this was the best advice they ever got from Jesus: When you construct your house build it on the rock. When the winds blow and rains come it will still be there after the storm. Those who build on the sand will find otherwise. Many of us can probably articulate the best advice we ever received. We either got it from our Father or Mother or from some teacher or boss. I wonder what Matthew would have said were I to ask him, "What was the best advice you ever got from Jesus?" Perhaps it was this story about the wise and foolish builders.

Being able to identify wise ideas is important; it's even more important to put those ideas into practice. This separates the fool from the philosopher, the simpleton from the sage. Jesus starts his parable with this very warning: Everyone who hears my words and puts them into practice is wise; those who hear and do not are fools. Hearing wisdom is one thing, putting it into practice is another.

But there is a third element here to the wisdom of Jesus' parable that might be easily over looked by careless reading. It is true that Jesus offers the disciples a wise word: Build on rock not sand. That's the obvious first point of the story. Secondarily, he reminds them to put this advice into practice. Now the third: There is the difference between Jesus and every leader, teacher, boss, or father you will ever encounter. Jesus draws a sharp contrast between him and the rest of the world in the phrase "my words." Those who hear MY WORDS and put them into practice. It begs the question: What do you think of THIS man? Will you listen to HIM? Will you practice HIS teachings? Will you live as HE directs?

Will you?

After all Jesus is not talking about building a house here or simply offering this well crafted image of rock and sand as a way to approach life.  He is claiming that his Words, his teachings, make the difference between wisdom and folly.