Even as society's foundations are being destroyed, righteous people can and must build their lives on unshakable spiritual foundations in Jesus Christ, refuse to worry about what's out of their control while trusting God, and focus on shining their light by leading others to eternal salvation through Christ.

Transcript

If you have your Bible with you, would you open it up please and turn to Psalm 11. The 11th Psalm. Psalm 11. We're grateful for the presence of all.

Whether you're here in person or joining us online in our streaming, we're grateful that you've chosen to be a part. And we have a number of our members who are gone traveling because of the holiday, but we have a number of visitors as well. And so we're grateful that you've come our way, that you've prioritized spiritual things.

And you've been a blessing to us by your very presence, as we've sought to worship God together this morning. If you're there in Psalm 11 we'll read this psalm together, and it will provide the basis for our text this morning. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? Would you read with me beginning in verse 1 of Psalm 11?

Psalm 11 and verse 1. This is a psalm of David.

And in verse 1, David says this, 'In the Lord I put my trust. How can you say to my soul, 'Flee as a bird to your mountain? For look, the wicked bend their bow, 'they make ready their arrow on the string, 'that they may shoot secretly at the upright of heart. 'If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

'How often have you maybe felt like that, as David does here? Even in our days. For look, he says in verse 2, and that's all we have to do is look around at this reality. That the foundations are being destroyed. And there are those who bend the bow and notch the arrow at Christian values and biblical truth.

Many who, for years, have secretly shot at the upright of heart by putting force their godless agenda to those in the world, striving to marginalize and negate Christianity's righteous influence on this confused, frustrated, and lost world. The wicked do not want us to reach the lost world with the gospel message.

They want to continue to confuse the innocent. and destroy the godly moral foundations on which our country was built. America isn't a Christian nation. Maybe it never was. And there are sins in the past just as there are sins in the present in our nation. But I believe in my lifetime that we are further from God now than in any other time.

And it's interesting, a couple of weeks ago I was talking to my grandmother, she's 84 and we were talking about a number of things and I brought up this lesson that I was going to preach, and here she is at 86, excuse me, at 86, and she says, I just, I never thought any of this would be the way it is.

Looking back at my life and the way things have changed, we are so far from where we once were. Raise your hand if you've ever felt like that. That is as close to unanimous as you can get in our day and age, I think. We feel that the foundations are being destroyed. And we would have to put our head in the stand to not realize that there are many and many in positions of power who have openly rejected God in favor of man.

They fight. They fight for a humanistic society that attempts to solve our problems, man, problem, man's problems without God. And these humanists of different kinds reject re religion and suppress freedom, while at the same time demanding. So-called civil liberties, humanists advocate sexual activity and promiscuity for young and old, and make access to such things easier and easier in our society.

They advocate the free use of and involvement in pornography and drugs and endorse prostitution, homosexuality, and abortion on demand. All in the name of human rights. All in the name of what is good. And their guiding principle is to do what feels good. To do what is in your own best interest instead of the interest of others.

And to do so, the goal is to do so without consequences and with hostility toward Christianity specifically, but more generally anything else that dares question the morality, the uprightness of the decisions that they make. And many now believe that ethics are situational. Truth is relative. Gender is fluid.

And the ends always justify the means. And we are shocked that all these beliefs have come to fruition. In our time, and in our country, and in our state, and in our county, we live in a country where racial relations, social justice, and basic decency, and kindness toward your fellow man, those things are not getting better, they seem to be getting far worse.

And the LGBTQ plus agenda is being aggressively promoted as a moral good, and they target young people especially, encouraging them, encouraging you. To question your identity and your sexuality, the social contagion of those looking for a place to belong, and hoping to find attention and fulfillment. In this community, it's seen everywhere you go.

And it has become so extreme that those with genuine mental health issues, who deserve our love and our support and our help, are encouraged to mutilate their bodies instead of healing their minds. Even as children. Even in some cases without parental consent. And when reasonable, I mean, that's what we're supposed to be as Christians.

Let your reasonableness be known to all men, the Apostle Paul said. And when reasonable, rational people take a stand against such moral perversion, we are viewed and called simple minded, phobic, racist, and bigots. On the wrong side of history, I think is my favorite, or least favorite, depending on how you look at it.

Why? Because our society has become one where tolerance toward an endorsement of perversion is demanded. And I doubt anyone among the upright of heart would argue that many of the foundations that we see around us, that have been there for so many years, And it is easy in such an environment to become discouraged.

But our focus, and the focus for all Christians, the focus for this lesson this morning is on that question in verse 3. Not to establish if the foundations are being destroyed, but if they are. If the foundations be destroyed, our question should be, What can the righteous do? What can we do about it in such an environment?

And that question, at least in this psalm, is seemingly asked in defeat and despair and frustration. It is a rhetorical question. It's similar to, I mean, we say this, don't we? What are you going to do about it? You know, something happens and you have no control over it. And somebody says, Oh, I'm so sorry about that.

What do you say? And what's implied by that is there's nothing that we can do. There's nothing I can do, there's nothing you can do. We just have to accept that this is the way it is. And what is implied by the question in verse 11 as it is asked of David here is there is nothing that the righteous can do.

And verses 1 through 3 is really his advisors talking to him about what's going on in the nation during his time. And the answer that is provided by the counselors in verses 1 and 2 to David is flee, run away. Flee as a bird to your mountain. You need to get out of here. Don't face the onslaught of wickedness head on.

And I can admit at times that can be tempting. In these times where the very foundations of our country and culture are being destroyed, we throw up our hands and we say, well, what can the righteous do? I mean, let's all move to Montana or something, right?

But David's response in verses 4 through 7 is powerful and proper because there are things that the righteous can do. And the first answer is from what David says at the beginning of verse 1 and there in verse 4. Surrounding and bracketing the problem is the first and primary answer to what the righteous can do.

What does David say in verse 1 of Psalm 11? He says, In the Lord I put my trust. And in verse 4 he says this, The Lord is in His holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes behold. His eyelids test the sons of men. And if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? Well, the first thing that the righteous can do, the first thing that we must do as those who are believers in God, It's build our lives and faith and hope on foundations that cannot be destroyed.

Even just one psalm earlier in Psalm 10 and verse 16, the psalmist says, The Lord is king forever and ever. The nations have perished out of his land. No matter how long someone is a ruler, they're not ruler forever and ever. With the exception of the Lord Himself. And there are many who, it seems as though, are going to be in power forever, but that's never the case.

And for us, as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, we look to our King, we look to His Kingdom, and we realize that it cannot be, and will not be, destroyed. If you'd like to mark your spot there in Psalm 11, turn to the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter 16, if you would. Matthew chapter 16.

Matthew chapter 16, beginning in verse 13.

I love hearing the pages turn. Matthew chapter 16, in verse 13. When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? So they said, Well, some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. And He said to them, But who do you say that I am?

Simon Peter answered and said, You're the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

And I will give you the keys of the kingdom, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Then he commanded his disciples that they should tell no one that he was, that, that he was Jesus the Christ. Now, maybe you've heard the distinction in this passage between the word Peter and the word rock.

We know that Peter means rock. And every standard Greek lexicon distinguishes between the meter, the meaning of petros, which is Peter, and petra, the G, the word that Jesus uses for rock. Peter means rock. A small stone, we might say a pebble that's petras. Petra, petra means boulder, it means giant rock.

So you think pebble versus giant rock. And Jesus has a play on words here. He says, you're Peter, you're a little stone, but, but this truth that you've just said, this is a giant rock. This is a rock on which you can build something. Build something permanent. Build something lasting. And this is emphasized where we find Jesus on this occasion.

Did you see back there in verse 13 where they are? They're in Caesarea Philippi. And maybe you've seen this picture before. A great photographer took it. I took it. This is Caesarea Philippi. And you know what this is? This is one giant rock. And yes, people have cut stuff out of it. They have quarried out of it.

But this would have been what would have been behind Jesus. And he says, Peter, you've said rightly. You're a little stone, but on this rock, on this petra, I will build my church. And that's not just a matter of saying, well, you know, Peter wasn't the first pope or whatever else we might say about this.

Jesus has a point that he is actually making, just not points, not just points that he's not making in this passage. Jesus is saying, this is what a foundation looks like. This confession that Peter made, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, is a sure foundation. A rock. At the time when Jesus and Peter and the rest of the apostles were there, this is an artist's rendition, but this is basically what it would have looked like.

And you see that there is A temple to Zeus over here, and there is a court and temple to Pan over here. There are temples that were built at this time that would have been standing there when Jesus said this. And you see that the rock is even, because all of the shrubbery and trees are cleared off of it, the rock is even more clearly seen.

But you look at it today, and what is it like? It's just a big hole. And yes, there's remnants of what was once a window right there, and you can see a few columns that have been put back up here and there. But those temples are long gone. What remains is the temple of God. Not the physical temple, but the spiritual temple of His people.

His church that was built upon the sure foundation of Jesus Christ, on the Petra of who Jesus is. Not this small stone, Peter, or any other man. And as important as Peter was, the kingdom dwarfs the importance of any one person. Including me, or you, or the President of the United States. What does Jesus say about this church, this kingdom?

The gates of hell will not prevail. And the ancient world, I mean, we read that and it doesn't make a ton of sense. The gates of hell will not prevail against it. Did they take the gates and now they're moving the gates against the kingdom? I mean, what does that look like? Well, in the ancient world, the gates was where the, the elders of the city would come.

And it was there that you found their wisdom. It was there that you found their judgments. It was there that they would make decisions for what was going to happen in the city. And so the gates is representative of the teaching and the wisdom and the direction that comes from any particular place. And it says the gates of Hades, the gates of hell, shall not prevail against it.

And we look around us, at our world today, and what do we see? We see the, the so called wisdom, we see the direction, we see the authority of the prince of the power of the air. The, the son of darkness who is over this world in so many ways. And what Jesus wants us to know is that all of that so called wisdom and direction and authority will not prevail against His church.

Why? Because it's founded on the rocks. Because it has a sure And all of the devil's advice and direction that we see so rampant in our society cannot and will not prevail against the authority and the wisdom and the direction of Jesus Christ. So how do we build our life and our faith and our hope on this foundation, on this rock?

By submitting ourselves to his wisdom. And his authority turn, if you would, back in the Gospel of Matthew to Matthew chapter seven, after Jesus has given the, the great Sermon on the Mount, which is a description of what citizens of his kingdom are supposed to be like in Matthew chapter seven in verse 24, this is how he concludes that sermon with his same image of a foundation we might say being rooted and grounded, right.

Verse 24 of Matthew chapter 7, 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, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 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, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it fell, and great was its fall. And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching. Why? For He taught them as one having authority. Having authority and not as the scribes.

Listen to the words of Jesus and do them. That is how we build our lives on this foundation. And Harold will focus more on this concept of Jesus as a sure foundation tonight. But included in these words that we're supposed to build our lives on are what we see earlier in this sermon. Would you turn back to chapter 6, Matthew chapter 6.

In Matthew chapter 6 and verse 25 I think we see the second thing that we, as the righteous, what can we do? Well, we can build our lives and faith and hope on foundations that cannot be destroyed. But secondly, we must refuse to worry about things that are outside of our control. Begin reading in verse 25 with me, if you would please.

Matthew 6. In verse 25, Jesus says, therefore, I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink or about your body. What you'll put on is not life more than food in the body, more than clothing. Look at the birds of the air for they neither sow nor read, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly father feeds them.

Are you not of more value than they? Notice verse 27. Which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit to his stature? The question is, which of you, by worrying, can become taller? Can you add one inch to how tall you are just by worrying about it? And it's interesting the image that Jesus uses here. He uses one of height, of growth in that sense.

There are things that we worry about in regard to our size. We might could say instead, which of you, by worrying, can add one pound? Maybe sometimes there are situations where we need to put on a little weight. You know, somebody's sick and we say, you need to put on some weight. Maybe some of us worry about the other side of it.

Which of you, by worrying, can lose one pound? Why doesn't Jesus use that image here? Because there's something we can do about that. If somebody's sick and they need to gain weight, well, we can give them food to eat and protein to drink and all of these things to try and help them gain some of that weight.

There's something that they can do. And if we need to lose some weight, well, there's some things that we can do there as well. And maybe we shouldn't worry about those things, but there are things that we can do about it. But our height, how tall we are, our stature, we can worry about it until we're blue in the face.

And in high school, that's exactly what I did as a basketball player, but I couldn't do a thing about it by worrying. It was outside of my control. And what Jesus is showing us here in verse 27 is how limited our power is. That there are some things in life that we just don't have any control over. And we need to reach a point in our development where we recognize that.

And not worry about those things over which we have no control. And our limited power, our limited control is, is Contrasted so powerfully by what we see next in the passage. So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. And yet I say to you that even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you? Think about all of the flowers in all of the world, northern hemisphere half the year, southern hemisphere half the year, and all of the flowers that bloom by the power and control of God.

That's how much control God has. That's how much power He can exert. And so while we have many, many, many, many, many, many things in this life that we don't have any control over, God is the one who has the power and has the control. And so we need to refuse to worry about things that are outside of our control so that we can put them into the hands of the one who can do something about it, which is God Himself.

So let's finish what Jesus says, verses 31 through 34. Therefore, do not worry, saying, What shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For after all these things the Gentiles seek, for your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things, these physical, material things, shall be added to you.

Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things, sufficient for the day, for this day is its own trouble. There is so much that is out of our control, but is not out of or beyond the control of God. Where do you think this country is headed? Have you ever asked that question, been asked that question by somebody else?

Or, or maybe you've put it this way, can you believe where we're headed? How much control do you have over that? I mean, honestly, how much control do you have over the United States of America, all of the people therein, and what direction this country is headed? You know, worrying is a matter of thinking.

And we worry when we are thinking about and focusing on the wrong things. That's where worry comes, when we are thinking about... The wrong sorts of things. And this is exactly what the Apostle Paul addresses in Philippians chapter 4. If you'd like to turn over there for just a moment. Philippians chapter 4.

Philippians chapter 4, verse 6. Boy, I've worked up this morning. You'll have to excuse me. Come on, we'll calm down. Let's put it back in second gear for a second.

What does the Apostle Paul say? Philippians chapter 4 and let's begin in verse 4. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness, maybe your translation says your gentleness, be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God.

What surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are lovely or pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate, dwell, live.

On these things. What the Apostle Paul calls us to do here in these verses is to leave it in the Lord's hands in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known to God and he will take care of it both now and eternally to accomplish his purposes. May I suggest that we see this same thing back in Psalm 11, if you want to turn back there.

To Psalm 11, read with me verses five and six. The next two verses, Psalm 11 and verse five. The Lord tests the righteous wicked in the one who loves violence. His soul hates upon the wicked. He will reign coals, fire and brimstone, and a burning wind shall be their portion of their cup. God will reward and God will punish and we can take comfort in that and I should trust God that he will, that he will reward.

And that He will punish. And leave that up to Him. And focus on better things. Things like what we saw in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 8. He tells us that we're supposed to meditate on these things, we're supposed to think deeply on these things. This is what occupies our mind, this is what occupies our thinking.

And there are lots and lots of things that we could talk about there, but I want us to focus on whatever things are of good report. What is the opposite of good report? And what is it so often that we spend our time meditating on and thinking on? Do we think on the good report, or do we think so often on the bad report?

On the things that aren't good. And if you want to know where you can find bad report, well, just turn on any cable news station. It is all bad reports. And those bad reports are yelled at one another. Let me tell you that is not fertile ground for meditating on things that are pure and lovely and noble and true.

Do we allow that sort of garbage to consume us about a bunch of things that are outside of our control? Be honest with yourself. What do you spend more time thinking about? Aren't the things that we think about generally the things that inform our actions? And so if we're thinking about bad reports, we're going to worry about those things.

And those things are going to consume our lives. Where our focus needs to be are on those things that are of good report. And I'll be honest I'm going to tell you here in just a moment something I struggle with, so let me brag on myself first. I don't spend a lot of time thinking about bad report.

I think preparing the introduction for this lesson is the most I've thought about those things in, in years. I spend almost no time worrying about those things. And I don't think you or any other Christian should either. What did we read back there in Matthew chapter 6? Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

There's plenty of things that are within our control that we should be concerned about, that we should be working toward, that we should be doing in our lives. And so what I try and do is stick to my realm of influence. The things that I can control. The people who know me. And I pray for the rest. I pray for this country.

I pray for the leaders of our country. And every Christian is commanded to do that in 1 Timothy chapter 2, in verses 1 and following. And personally, I cast my vote. I do my civic duty. We just did that a couple of weeks ago. But then what I try and do is shine my little light in my little corner. To be who God has called me to be with the people I interact with on a daily basis.

And that doesn't seem like much when the foundations be destroyed shining my little light. But your righteousness and your faithfulness, right here. For wherever you live, if you're visiting with us, in, in your community, with your family, with your people, with your church, that's noticed by God. He loves it, and He sees it, even if others do not.

Notice what we see there in verse 7, and, and this is the third thing. Also from the Sermon on the Mount. For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness. His countenance beholds the upright. Yes, God sees the wicked and He will punish, but He sees what you are doing, the small things that you are doing to try and shine your light and be salt and light to this world.

And so, the third thing that the righteous can and must do is Focused on shining our little lights in our little corners. Turn to Matthew chapter 5 if you would. Matthew chapter 5. Again from the Sermon on the Mount.

You, in the plural, y'all, y'all are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. Y'all, you, are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 'Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

Notice verse 16. Focus on verse 16, Matthew 5, 16. Let your light, all y'all's lights, so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. You as an individual, we as a church, should be shining our lights. Shining our lights is about influence. And so I ask you, with what people do you have...

Friends, family, co workers, kids or grandkids, the local community. Wherever you have influence, that's where our focus primarily should be. That's the world, in a biblical sense, not the physical world, not the nation, not even the state. But just as importantly, what are we using that influence on? If this is what the righteous can do, to try and effect change physically, is that what we're doing?

Or to make an impact spiritually and eternally. Which brings me to the fourth and final thing for our lesson that the righteous can do. We can use our influence on the most important things. Those things that are spiritual and eternal that relate to God. You say, you're out of verses in Psalm 11 and you're exactly right.

But isn't it interesting what David doesn't say here? David is the what? Probably, by this time. The king! The king! If you want to talk about affecting the nation, that's the one who's going to be able to do it. He can change things. But David, as all of these things are happening around him, he doesn't suggest political campaigns or social programs or updating the Law of Moses to conform to the times.

Instead, David, as all other upright and righteous, puts his trust in the Lord, who is in his holy temple and sitting on his throne. And it's not about what David thinks, or who David is. It's about what the Lord says, and who the Lord is. It's not about the physical, it's about the spiritual. It's not about the temporal, it's about the eternal.

It's not my focus, as I said a moment ago, bragging on myself. Well, let me come back and cut my own knees out. I don't focus on it, don't worry about it. But I'll tell you, I've got lots of opinions. Lots of strong opinions on stuff. I love to read, I love to learn, and I feel like I'm pretty generally well informed on many issues.

I have, I have strong opinions about state and local and national politics and social issues and physical health and wellness and economics and sports. Education, as some of you know, is a special passion of mine. I've got a lot of opinions about that. And I have platforms to express those opinions. This pulpit among friends and family and acquaintances in the community in various ways.

Certainly we all have, we all have that platform of social media where we can express our opinions on stuff, right? And I will admit to you that I also know I have a temptation for pride in this area. Like many other people, I assume that I'm right until I'm proven otherwise. And I have to be conscious and intentional about considering seriously the viewpoint of others And considering the possibility that they might be right and I might be wrong.

You say, that doesn't sound like you, Reagan. Just ask Stephanie about that. Stephanie's my wife. You didn't know that. And all of this provides opportunities, well, temptations, to use my influence in the wrong ways. And so ultimately what I have decided is I'm going to choose to keep the vast majority of those opinions that I have to myself.

Not because I have to, but because that allows me more opportunities.

I have the right to express myself in all of those areas, but just because I can doesn't mean that I should. Let's turn to one more passage. Turn to 1 Peter chapter 2. This will be our last scripture this morning. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 15.

In the context of our relationship to the government and our submission to it, that's a discussion for another day. But notice what Peter says in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 15. For this is the will of God, in regard to the nation and the foundations and everything that's happening around us. That by doing good, you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.

Let me tell you, there is a lot of ignorance of foolish men that's being yelled from the rooftops. But it is by doing good that we put that to silence. As free, yeah, there's lots of stuff we could say and could do. Yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people.

Love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. There is a great simplicity to that, isn't it? That as Christians we are living our lives to the best of our abilities, living in such a way that they may see Christ in us, living in such a way that they see our good works, and at the same time it puts to silence the foolishness of ignorant men, and it causes many to praise and glorify our Father.

That's what life is about, and that is what the righteous can do. And so we should ask ourselves that very important question. Does this have any eternal meaning? I don't want to alienate or offend, quote unquote, people on things that have no eternal significance over things that won't matter a year from now, much less a million years from now.

And here is the reality, brothers and sisters. The gospel message is the greatest news that can be given to someone, but it is also offensive. It is a shock to the system. It is difficult to process and difficult to accept, and no matter how well seasoned our words, no matter how graciously we proclaim the gospel, it is hard to accept the reality.

If it is reality for someone that you are dead in your trespasses and sins and you're going to go to hell if you don't change. That is a difficult thing to acknowledge and accept.

I had a Bible study with someone, this has been several years ago, and we're walking through some biblical passages. We're just reading through the Bible and talking about what it means and so on and so forth, and the light bulb goes off for this person and they say, Whoa, wait a second, are you saying?

that I've been lost this whole time? I said, Whoa, wait a second. God is the judge of all things, but you read it from your Bible. What do you think? And they said, Yeah, I guess so. That's hard. That's offensive. So forgive me if I don't waste the difficult conversations on sports or politics, because this is hard.

And if I have, the reality is we only have so many limited opportunities to have difficult conversations with people before they finally say, that's enough. I can't take any more of these. And so if I only have a limited opportunity, I'm going to use it on what's most important. I'm going to use it on the gospel of Jesus Christ, Christ and Him crucified.

And what that requires for me, and what that requires for everybody else.

And are we crying wolf as to what's really important with our opinions, or even the facts of the matter about which there is no, ultimately no, eternal significance? Taking that a step further, maybe even biblical matters of judgment, which are not matters of faith. Are we saying to those with whom we have influence, this is important, this is important, this is important, about things that really, in the grand scheme of things, aren't?

So to, so that where when we get to what is really, really important, and we say this is important, folks have already stopped listening to us. Too often we only get one shot with people. Where are we going to aim? What are we going to use the one opportunity on? Social issues or the Kingdom of God? Our opinions or the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

Why am I preaching this lesson right now? Well, Harold and I planned to do this. Now, as I said, Harold has part two tonight about Jesus, our sure foundation. But part of the reason is because this is the beginning of a holiday. And I would ask you, I would admonish, beg, whatever word you want to use, think about this.

Think about what the righteous can do over the Thanksgiving holiday when you're around your family. And what you want to use your opportunities on. Think about that when you post and like things and share things on social media. What do you want to use? Your influence on. Think about that next year.

We're not too early to start thinking about that. When the presidential campaign is in full throat and everybody has an opinion. Think about that when you're raising your children and influencing your grandchildren. And use your influence to point people toward the foundations which cannot be shaken in Jesus Christ.

That is what the righteous can do, and that is what the righteous must do. That is what you can do and must do. And if we can help you in any way to build your life on the foundation that cannot be shaken in Jesus Christ this morning, won't you come now while together we stand and while we sing.