SPEAKER_01 0:01

O Lord, who shall saunger in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart, who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend, in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord, who swears to his own hurt and does not change, who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent, he who does these things shall never be moved.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Amen. At the beginning of today's Psalm, Psalm 15, David is seeking the face of the Lord. He's seeking the presence of the Lord. And he asks, How can I enjoy fellowship with the Lord? How can I enter the presence of the Lord? And that song we just listened to, released in the year 2000, 26 years ago, answers that question well. Those of us with clean hands and pure hearts and a refusal to lift our souls to another, we may enter the presence of God and enjoy fellowship with Him. Hey, in the book of Matthew, chapter 7, verses 24 through 27, Jesus tells a parable that may be familiar to some of you. He tells the parable of two builders: one builder who built a house on the rock, and another builder who built a house on the sand. One would call the first builder the wise builder, and the second builder the foolish builder. The wise builder built his house on a solid foundation, whereas the foolish builder built his house on a sandy, uh soft foundation. On the outside, both homes look identical, but when the storm came, it looked very different. The home built on the rock withstood the storm, whereas the home built on the sand crumbled. Now there's a there's a common misconception about that parable that uh the wise builder built in a region where the ground is automatically solid and rocky, and the foolish builder, he built in a region where the ground is automatically soft and sandy. The problem with that interpretation is in order for the same storm to hit two houses, those houses must be really close together. They need to be not just in the same zip code, but in the same neighborhood. Perhaps the wise builder and the foolish builder were even next door neighbors. This happens all the time. I mean, just on Wednesday afternoon, uh right here in Oxford, Florida, we got about two inches of rain. But miles down the road at my house in Wildwood, Florida, we got zero inches of rain. In order for the same storm to hit two houses at the same time, those homes must be next door neighbors. And so what the wise builder did is he took the time to pay attention to the foundation. He dug through the sand, pulled the sand away to find the solid rock, and built his house on the rock, whereas the foolish builder was lazy and complacent and just built right on top of the sand. And his house was probably constructed faster than that of the wise builder, and he was probably proud of how quickly his home went up. But when the storm came, the wise builder's house was immovable, and the foolish builder's house crumbled. Now you're probably sitting there thinking to yourself, did he get the wrong passage this morning? What are we doing talking about a parable? The parable series was over months ago, and you'd be right. But here's the thing, brothers and sisters the Lord desires for you to have an immovable life. The Lord does not want you to have a fragile, shaky, movable life. He wants you to have a steady, stable, immovable life. And God gives us principles all throughout His Word about how to have an immovable life. In the New Testament, Matthew chapter 7 is a great example of some principles for an immovable life as a Christian. And in the Old Testament, Psalm 15 is a great example of a passage that gives us some principles for an immovable life. God desires that your life would be steady, stable, and immovable. And this morning, David gives us some principles about the way to an immovable life in Psalm 15. And so if you haven't already, turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 15. Psalm 15, and I'll meet you there in just a moment to talk about the way to an immovable life. Well, this morning uh we are continuing our Songs of the Summer sermon series. And uh throughout the summer, uh we are looking at different a different psalm each each Sunday throughout the summer months. So there are 150 psalms, so as we talked about last Sunday, we won't be able to study all of them, but we are going to do our best to study some of the greatest hits from the Hebrew hymn book. Last Sunday we looked at Psalm 9 together. If you missed that message, you could catch it on our website. Today we're looking at Psalm 15. Now, in Psalm 15, we learn one thing about the Psalm from its superscription, that heading above the Psalm. It says, a Psalm of David. And so we know the author of this psalm to be King David. Now, David, while he wrote many psalms, he didn't write all of them, but he did write Psalm 9, and he did write Psalm 15. And so the David you're thinking of, Shepherd Boy David, King David, he's the one who wrote this psalm. Now, David doesn't specify for us exactly when in his life he wrote Psalm 15, but we think it was probably during his reign as King of Israel, probably toward the end of his reign, after he has conquered Jerusalem and established Jerusalem as the political capital of Israel, because of some of the things he says in Psalm 15, but we don't know for sure other than the fact that David wrote it. Psalm 15 is a bit shorter than Psalm 9. Last week we had 20 verses to cover. Today we have just five verses to cover, but they are a dense set of verses. This is a dense passage of scripture. Psalm 15 is structured as follows. In verse 1 of Psalm 15, David asks a question. Who can fellowship with the Lord? Who can enter into the presence of the Lord and fellowship with him? In verses two through five, David answers his own question and tells us who can fellowship with the Lord, who can enter the presence of the Lord. And then at the end of verse five, I can't wait to get there, the Holy Spirit, through David, gives us a promise that we can cling to today. So you get a question, you get the answer, and then you get a promise. But all throughout Psalm 15, David is teaching us this morning the way to an immovable life. And so if you're taking notes this morning, brothers and sisters, uh, let's dig right in. And number one on your notes is this. Number one, use your mouth rightly. Step one on the way to an immovable life is that you would use your mouth rightly. Look with me in verses one through three of Psalm 15. In verse 1, David says, O Lord, who can sojourn in your tents, who can dwell on your holy hill? The address here in verse 1, it's addressed to the Lord. In your English Bibles, Lord is probably completely capitalized, L-O-R-D. David is using in Hebrew the most personal name of God, and that is the name Yahweh. David is asking how he can enter the presence of Yahweh, how he can fellowship with Yahweh. It's a very personal, covenant-keeping name for God. David could have used a different name for God. In fact, in other places in scriptures, he uses a different name for God, but he chose Yahweh here in verse 1. One of the other common names for God would be the name Elohim. It's a name that points us to the majesty and the glory of God. But Yahweh is very personal. Think about this as you survey the scriptures. Genesis chapter 1, verse 1. In the beginning, God, Elohim, created the heavens and the earth. In Psalm 19, verse 1, the heavens declare the glory of God. Elohim. That's a name that uh displays his majesty and his glory. But then Yahweh is way more personal. If you think about Exodus chapter 3, verse 14. The Lord, Yahweh, said to Moses, I am who I am. Or in Psalm 23, verse 1, David says, The Lord, Yahweh, is my shepherd. I shall not want. Yahweh is far more personal. And it's it's Yahweh that David is seeking his face. David is wanting to enter his presence and enjoy fellowship with the Lord, with Yahweh. David's first question is, Who can sojourn in your tents, O Lord? That idea of sojourning or being an exile, it's it's uh something that's familiar to us right now because we've been in the book of 1 Peter for a little while, and Peter's original audience was a bunch of sojourners and a bunch of exiles. So this is perhaps a concept that is familiar to us. So sojourn simply means to pass through or to visit or to be a guest. And so in his first question, verse one, David is saying, How can I just be in your presence for a moment, O Lord? Just pass through, just enjoy it for a second. How can I have a temporary experience in your presence, God? He he builds on this question about a temporary experience when he talks about a tent. Tents are temporary, tents are movable. And so David says, How can I sojourn in a temporary way in the tent of your presence in a temporary location? A very temporary question. Now the tent is is probably more than what you're thinking of in your mind, a camping tent that you might unpack and go camping with your family. The tent here is where the presence of the Lord dwelt at the time. The tent or the tabernacle. In David's time, the temple had not yet been built. David longed to build the temple, but he never got to see that dream become a reality in his lifetime. Up until David's lifetime, the presence of the Lord, the Ark of the Covenant, it dwelt in the tent, in the tabernacle. And it moved around a little bit. Once David conquered Jerusalem and established Jerusalem as the political capital of Israel, that's where the tent was. That's where the Ark of the Covenant was. But ultimately, the tent was temporary, the tent was movable. A really cool thing, though, is that David's son, Solomon, he succeeded David as the king of Israel, and Solomon was able to build the temple finally. And so Solomon was able to turn his dad's dreams into a reality. Solomon was able to build the temple that David longed to build. David set up his successor for success. David set up the next generation for success. And I'd like to pause here, Church, and ask the question what are we doing to set up the next generation for success? Your kids and your grandkids and your great-grandkids, what are you doing to set them up for success? Are we uh are we uh um investing in healthy marriages and healthy households and and healthy friendships and neighborhoods and communities and governments and businesses and churches? What are we doing to set up the next generation for success? As one preacher puts it, your kids and your grandkids are going to go somewhere that none of us can go. And that is the future. What kind of future are we sending them into? What kind of legacy are we leaving them? David set up his successor for success. I hope that we are doing the same here at Oxford Campus and all across the First Baptist Church, Leesburg. David goes on in verse one. He says, Who can sojourn in your tent? Who can dwell on your holy hill? In some ways, the question is repetitive. There's a bit of parallelism in Hebrew poetry in the Psalms. But the second question that David asks, it really intensifies the first question. Because David's first question was a lot of temporary things, sojourning, tents. But his second question is a lot of permanent things. Dwelling, your holy hill. How can I be a permanent residence on your holy hill? Your holy hill, a hill cannot be moved. Unlike a tent that can be moved, a hill cannot be moved. The holy hill is most likely referring to Mount Zion in Jerusalem, but regardless of what hill it's referring to, David is talking about something now that is immovable. If we're going to have an immovable life, then it must be founded upon the immovable, immutable presence and character of God. That's how we start building an immovable life. Well, moving on in verse 2, David starts to answer his own question. Who can sojourn in your tents? Who can dwell on your holy hill? How do I enter your presence, God, and fellowship with you? Well, verses two through five, David starts to answer his own question. And he says, The one who is blameless and always does what is right, speaking truth in his heart, that person can fellowship with the Lord. That person can fellowship with Yahweh. At the end of verse 2, speaking truth into your own heart. What does that phrase mean? What it does not mean is uh today's popular uh self-talk and morning affirmations. That's not what this phrase means. Speaking truth into your heart in verse two, it simply means being honest with yourself. Are you honest with yourself? What is David calling us to be honest with ourselves about here in verse 2? Well, he says, the one who is blameless and always does what is right can fellowship with the Lord. Well, I don't know about you, but if I'm honest with myself, I uh missed the mark of that standard a long time ago. The blameless righteous perfection. And if you're honest with yourself, brothers and sisters, you missed the mark of that standard a long time ago as well. The blameless righteous perfection. And so, and so what is it? Is that it? Is it hopeless from here on out? Do we do we have no hope of entering the presence of the Lord and dwelling with him forever? And it's not hopeless, but what we need is someone to live a life of blameless, righteous perfection on our behalf. And that's the good news of the gospel. Church, Jesus had to first live for us before he could die for us. He lived the perfect life that you and I could never live so that he could die in our place. The one who is blameless and always does what is right can enter the presence of the Lord. You and I have never done that, but Jesus did it for us. If you remember from our first Peter series, 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 19, Peter describes Jesus as our blameless, spotless capital L lamb who was sacrificed in our place. Jesus lived the life that we can never live. And something else is really cool about a sacrificial lamb, Leviticus chapter 1, verse 3. The people of God are told to bring a sacrifice sacrifice, bring an offering, and that sacrifice, that lamb will be inspected to see if it's blameless and spotless and to see if it will be accepted by the Lord. Here's the thing, brothers and sisters: the worshiper is never the one inspected, always the lamb being sacrificed. When we're talking about the presence of the Lord, the Lord is not going to inspect your record of rights and wrongs. He's going to inspect the record of rights and wrongs, that of the lamb that you bring to him. And what lamb are you bringing to him? I'd suggest that you bring to him the capital L Lamb of God. I suggest you bring to him Jesus Christ. Because when he inspects Jesus, what he's going to find is someone who lived a blameless, righteous life of perfection in your place. It's always going to be the lamb that gets inspected and never the worshippers. So you can be confident as you enter into the presence of the Lord. Moving on in verse 3 of Psalm 15, David tells us, do not use your tongue to slander. You probably remember from our 1 Peter series in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 1, we talked about the topic and the concept of slander briefly. Slander is different from gossip. To gossip is to tell something true about someone to a person that has no business knowing that information. When it comes to gossip, if you're not part of the problem and you're not part of the solution, then you shouldn't be part of the conversation. That's how you should think about gossip. Slander's different. Slander is telling a bold-faced lie about someone to anyone who will listen. That's what slander is. And so while gossip has a grain of truth in it, slander is a lie from start to finish. You know, this week I heard a preacher talking about uh how um how how snakes uh navigate through the earth. We've got all kinds of snakes in uh in in Florida. Uh I grew up, there's there's there's rat snakes and chicken snakes and garden snakes and cotton mouse and in the Everglades you can hunt pythons without a permit. It's it's it's awesome. So there's there's all kinds of snakes in Florida, and no matter what kind of snakes you've got, all snakes are very hard of hearing, and so they navigate by by flicking their tongue and gathering some more data about the world around them, and that's how they that's how they slither around. They they navigate with their tongues and rather not not their ears, they don't navigate with their ears. So, how can you tell if there's a if there's a snake among a group of people? Well, if there's a person navigating that group of people with their tongue rather than their ears, there might be a snake in the grass. Someone who's constantly gossiping and slandering and refusing to open their ears to any kind of truth or correction or rebuke or feedback, that might be a snake in the grass. Don't use your tongue for slander, instead, use your tongue to lift up and build up and encourage one another. Use your mouth rightly, David says. That is how you start building an immovable life. Hey, brothers and sisters, let's keep moving uh through your notes here. Number two on your notes is this treat people rightly. Treat people rightly. If you want to uh build an immovable life, uh the third uh the second way that you do that say Number two on the pathway to building an immovable life is treating people, treating others rightly. Look with me again in verse three. Let's finish verse three, the second half here. David says, Do no evil to your neighbor, and also do not hold a reproach against your friend. That word evil is worth zooming in on for just a moment. Maybe you've heard someone ask a version of this question, or perhaps you've asked this question yourself before. How can a loving God exist and evil exist at the same time? That doesn't seem to go together. How can you reconcile the existence of a loving God and the existence of evil? And maybe you've thought to yourself, well, I know for sure evil exists because of my experience in this world, therefore God must not exist. And I kind of sympathize with that question, and I sympathize with that line of thinking, but I want to turn the question on its head in a way that might surprise you. The very existence of evil is such evidence, such clear evidence for the existence of God. The fact that evil exists means God undoubtedly exists. Here's why. Follow me. In order for evil to exist, a good and loving God had to exist first. Because evil only has its existence as a corruption of good or as a derivative of good. And if there's no good to corrupt, or if there's no good from which to derive, then you have no evil. In order for evil to exist, a good and loving God had to exist first. And the Bible tells us that good and loving God still exists. And he's still on his throne, and he's still working all things together for his glory and your good, even the evil things. Now that doesn't make evil any less evil, but I want you to know this morning the fact that evil exists should give you confidence that your God exists and he's got your back. Do no evil against your neighbor. That word neighbor is another word that's worth zooming in on. Later on in the New Testament, in Luke chapter 10, verses 25 through 37, Jesus clearly defines for us the term and the word neighbor. You might remember that chapter, that passage. Jesus issues to us the greatest commandment and the second greatest commandment. He says that the second greatest commandment is that we would love our neighbor as ourselves. And some of the religious leaders who were listening to Jesus at the time, in Luke chapter 10, they tried to, what the text says, they tried to justify themselves. They tried to get Jesus to very narrowly define the word neighbor. Because those religious leaders, they haven't been loving to everyone, but if they can trap Jesus in a narrow definition of the word neighbor, then maybe they could say, Well, I've been obedient to the command because I've been loving to those people, but not to those people. And so they ask Jesus to define the term neighbor in Luke 10. And this is how Jesus responds. He tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. Maybe you've never connected the second greatest commandment, love your neighbor as yourself, with the parable of the Good Samaritan, but they go together. It's one story, it's one conversation. And we won't recap the whole parable of the Good Samaritan, but the point of the parable is that everyone is your neighbor. Neighbor is synonymous with everyone, everyone is synonymous with neighbor in a biblical sense. And so, in fact, the religious leaders in Luke chapter 10, they had not been perfectly obedient to the second greatest commandments because they hadn't loved everyone. They hadn't loved all their neighbors as themselves. And that definition of neighbor also applies here in Psalm 15, 3. Your neighbor is everyone. And so what David is saying is, do no evil to anyone, instead, do good to everyone, because your neighbor is everyone. David goes on to say, Hold no reproach against your friends. I don't know about you, but I don't really use the word reproach in everyday conversation. And so what does it mean? We may not use it in everyday conversation, but it's a very important Bible word. Most notably in the book of 1 Timothy, chapter 3, Paul is giving Timothy the qualifications for pastoral ministry. And in 1 Timothy 3, 2, Paul tells Timothy that pastors should be qualified men who are above reproach. And so what is reproach? Reproach would be having a bad reputation. Reproach would be living your life on the edge, such that false accusations are actually pretty plausible. That's reproach. Reproach would be ill repute. Pastors are to be above reproach. Pastors are to be above ill repute and not towing the line but three steps back from it. And in a similar way, reproach here in Psalm 15.3 is talking about your reputation. And so when David says, have no reproach against your friends, David is saying, hey, don't ruin your friend's reputation. As a friend, you probably know something about that person that no one else knows. Don't weaponize that information to tear down your friend. Don't ruin their reputation. You see, you should hold your friends accountable to try and prevent sin in their life. But if sin arises, help them squash it quickly and quietly. Don't have a reproach against your friend. Don't ruin your friend's reputation. That's what Psalm 15.3 means. I love David's progression from neighbor to friend in Psalm 15.3. And here's why. Psalm 15.3 is exactly what we're trying to do here at First Baptist Leesburg. Check this out, church. First Baptist Leesburg, we want our neighbors to become our friends through relationships with you. And we want our friends to become our family through a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Let me say that again. Psalm 15, 3 is my prayer for First Baptist Leesburg. That our neighbors would become our friends through relationships with you, and that our friends would become our family through a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. David moves from neighbors to friends, and at First Baptist Leesburg, we're going to move from neighbors to friends to family in the name of Jesus. And so if you want to have an immovable life, something you've got to do is you've got to treat others rightly. Moving along in your notes this morning, church, number three on your notes is this. Number three, discern character rightly. Step three on the way to an immovable life is discerning character rightly. Look with me now in verse four of Psalm 15. In verse 4, David says a few different things, three different things. He says, one, you should despise a vile person. Two, you should honor those who fear the Lord. And three, you should swear even to the point of hurt and do not change. We've got some difficult phrases in this verse. We're going to do our best to unpack them. That first one in Psalm 15, 4, despise a vile person. Wait a second. I thought we just talked about in verse 3 how we're supposed to love our neighbors. And neighbors means everyone, so we're supposed to love everyone. And now here's David in verse 4 saying, despise a vile person. What's going on there? David is not contradicting himself. What David is saying in verse 4 is that sometimes, brothers and sisters, you know this well, sometimes you have to love someone without admiring or affirming their lifestyle. And you can do that. But sometimes you have to love someone without admiring or affirming their lifestyle. The easiest example in today's day and age is the example of homosexuality. We have a biblical conviction that homosexual attraction and activity of any kind is unnatural and sinful. That said, every Sunday morning, the doors of our church are wide open to anyone who's struggling with homosexuality. They are welcome here. Because we can love people without admiring or affirming their lifestyle. You don't clean up before you get in the shower. You get in the shower to get cleaned up. And when it comes to any kind of sin, including homosexuality, you don't clean up before you meet Jesus. You meet Jesus and then he'll clean you up over time. We can love people without admiring or affirming their lifestyle. That's what David means when he says, despise a vile person. David goes on in verse 4 to say, honor those who fear the Lord. You'll remember from our 1 Peter series and in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 17, we talked a little bit about that phrase, fear the Lord. To fear the Lord simply means this take God seriously. If you fear the Lord, then you believe God exists, you believe the Bible is his word, and you both take God and His Word seriously. That's what it means to fear the Lord. And when you meet someone else who fears the Lord like you, you should honor them. Honor those who fear the Lord. And then that last phrase in verse 4 swear to the point of hurt, and then do not change. What is David saying there? David is basically saying this: be a man or a woman of your word, even when it costs you something. When you make a commitment, follow through on your commitment. Do not change your commitment, even when it hurts. Psalm 15, 4. In Matthew chapter 5, verse 37, Jesus says a version of this when he says that Christians should let their yes be yes and their no be no. David is saying here, if you make a commitment and you find out later that commitment is going to cost you more time, more energy, or more money than you originally expected, then stick to your commitment anyways. Do not change. Or perhaps you make a commitment and a better opportunity arises. Stick to your original commitment. Be a man or a woman of your word. I'll tell you what, uh, here at uh at First Baptist Leesburg, really, really church ministry anywhere, not just at our church. Church ministry, the vast, vast majority of church ministry is planned and led and run by volunteers. And the thing about volunteers, all we really have to go on with volunteers is their word. And so when a church is filled with volunteers who are men and women of their word, that church can go places. That church can accomplish things in the community. And I'll tell you what, Oxford Campus, brothers and sisters, I'm preaching to the choir because many of you in this room are volunteers and you are men and women of your word. God is blessing our church replanting efforts here at Oxford Campus because we have a bunch of volunteers who have made a commitment, a commitment that sometimes costs you something, and you're not changing your commitment, you're sticking to your word. And if you want to continue seeing Oxford Campus grow, then you've got to continue being men and women of your word. You've got to make a commitment and stick to it. If uh if if Sherry asks you to volunteer in the kids' ministry and you say yes, then follow through. If Pastor Jackson asks you to be in the choir or on the praise team or in the media booth and you say yes, then follow through. If Valerie asks you to be a greeter or Jeff needs help with the grounds, or Bertie needs help in the office, or Lori needs help in the kitchen, and you say yes, then follow through. That's how we grow a church is with a bunch of volunteers, a bunch of men and women who are men and women of their word. We make a commitment, and even when the commitment costs us something, we don't change. We follow through. This is what David says when he tells us to discern character rightly. If you want to build an immovable life, then you've got to be able to love people without admiring and affirming their lifestyle sometimes. You've got to be able to discern those who actually fear the Lord and honor them. And then when it comes to your church family, make a commitment and be a man or a woman of your word. Discern character rightly. Steward God's resources rightly. Step number four on the way to an immovable life is that you would steward God's resources rightly. Look with me finally in verse five of Psalm 15. Remember, in the beginning of verse five, David is uh he's finishing up answering his own question. So in verse one, he asked a question. In verses two through the first half of verse five, he's answering his own question. And then at the end of verse five, the Holy Spirit through David gives us a promise that we can cling to today. But in the first half of verse five, David says, Do not put your money out at interest, and do not take a bribe against the innocent. What does it mean, do not put your money out at interest? Psalm 15.5 is not saying that all debt is bad. Some debt is bad, but not all debt is bad. For instance, I'm a pastor and I have a mortgage on my house. I pay that mortgage every single month with interest. Not all debt is bad. Psalm 15.5 is also not saying that all business dealings are bad. Perhaps you are a person or a household of means and you've chosen to make an investment in a startup or in a small business, and you're expecting your money back with interest. Or you're expecting your money back with equity or with royalties. That's fine. That's actually probably a good thing for you to do. What this verse is saying, Psalm 15.5, it's in relation to the family of God. It's in relation to the church. There was no church at David's time, but you know what I mean, the church today. Here's what David is saying in Psalm 15.5. Do not exploit the hardship of a church member for personal financial gain. If there is a church member who is struggling financially, perhaps with a medical bill they're struggling to pay, maybe with some repairs that are piling up, maybe they're just struggling to put food on the table, do not exploit that church member for personal financial gain. What you can do is you can give that church member a gift, a financial gift, expecting nothing in return. You can even give that church member a lump sum of money expecting the exact same amount in return, but you cannot loan a church member money expecting it back with interest. That would be disobeying Psalm 15, 5. Do not put out your money and expect interest in return when it comes to the financial hardship of one of your brothers or sisters in Christ. I've never observed that at this church, but the day we do, we'll squash it quickly. Going on in verse 5, uh David says that you should not take a bribe against the innocent. This phrase is a little more plain in its interpretation. If you're ever in a situation where you can influence a decision about justice, maybe in a court of law or perhaps in your workplace, if someone bribes you with money or bribes you with career advancement, if you'll lie about someone in order to condemn the innocent, don't do it. Don't take a bribe against the innocent for your own personal gain, for your own personal financial gain or career advancement. Don't take a bribe against the innocent. Now David concludes verse five by giving us a promise that we can cling to. David says, He who does these things will never be moved. The end of verse five is really where the title of our message comes from today. The way to an immovable life. The end of verse five, he who does these things will never be moved. He who does these things will not be a sojourner in the tent of God's presence, a temporary guest in the temporary tent of God's presence. He who does these things will dwell in God's presence on the holy hill of God's presence, a permanent resident on the permanent hill of God's presence forevermore. He who does these things will never be moved. I thought back on it, and over the past eight years, I have moved four times. Three of them were local moves, not all of them were job changes or anything like that, but no matter what the reason is, I don't like moving. I don't know if anybody in the room enjoys moving, but I don't. You always have to pack up all your stuff, and when you're packing, you have more stuff than you thought you did, and then you gotta move and unpack it all and change your address everywhere. I don't enjoy moving. And so when I read Psalm 15, 5, I'm like, sign me up for that. If I do these things, I never have to move again. That's what I'm talking about. I can dwell as a permanent residence in the presence of the Lord if I do these things. If I do what? If I use my mouth rightly, if I treat people rightly, if I discern the character of others rightly, and if I steward God's resources rightly. That's how I build an immovable life. If I do these things, then I will never be moved. But as we close our time of Bible study today, uh maybe you're here this morning and you wouldn't consider yourself to be a Christian. You're in the room today and you're having a Psalm 15, verse 2 moment. You're being honest with yourself. And you're saying, at best, I'm a sojourner in the presence of the Lord. At best, I'm a guest in the presence of the Lord, but I'm definitely not on track to spend forever in the presence of the Lord. Can I extend an invitation to you today? There's an open invitation to join the family of God today through a personal relationship with Christ. If you place your faith in the person and work of Jesus today, then you can change your eternal trajectory. You'll no longer be a guest in the presence of God, you'll be a permanent resident in the presence of God with no need to ever move again. You'll have an immovable life and you'll have an immovable eternity. In just a moment, I'm gonna close our time of Bible study in a word of prayer, asking God's word to take root in our hearts. And when I say amen, everyone in the room will stand and we'll sing one more song of worship. As we sing, many people in the room will pray and reflect from their seats. You'll see a lot of people come forward to pray and reflect at the altar. The entire altar is open for anyone to pray about anything this morning. But as we sing, myself and some other members of our team, we'll be standing across the front. And if you'd like to become a Christian today by placing your faith in Jesus, then you walk forward and grab one of us. We'd love nothing more than to talk and pray with you about becoming a Christian today. Let's pray together. Father in heaven, God, we love you and we praise you. We're grateful for your word that is clear all throughout the scriptures. Psalm 15 this morning. God, I pray for my brothers and sisters and for myself. Would you help these five verses to take root in our hearts and produce fruit even this week? Would you make this campus and this church filled with Christians who are living immovable lives, prepared to withstand whatever storm comes our way? God, I do pray for that person in the room who's not yet a Christian, who does not yet have a relationship with you. God, we know that when you start a work, you are faithful to complete it. And you started a work in that person's life today by bringing them here. God, would you complete that work by giving them the courage to walk the aisle this morning and come talk to somebody about becoming a Christian? God, we give this time over to you. Everything we've done this morning has been to glorify and honor your name. We pray all these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.