in the book of Psalms tonight, Psalms chapter number 15, and the Lord gave me this message last night when I was reading my Bible, and I wrote it down. I wasn't planning on preaching it today. I was looking at going another direction for the Sunday night service, and the Lord said, no, quit being lazy. He said, this is what I want you to preach. So I said, Amen. And so this is as fresh as it gets. I got it in the last hour. So praise the Lord for that. We are in the book of Psalms 15. If you found it, say Amen and we'll know that you're there. Amen. Psalms 15, look what it says in verse number one. There's only five verses. Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle, and who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, he that worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart, he that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up reproach against his neighbor, and whose eyes a vile person is contemned, but he honoureth them that fear the Lord, he that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not, He putteth not out his money to use you, nor taketh reward against the innocent. And then it says, He that doeth these things shall never be moved. And that's where we're going to take our text from tonight on that thought, I shall not be moved. Amen. I shall not be moved. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for the word tonight. And God, I'm thankful that you're not movable. You're the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. God, you're the rock which our soul is anchored to. And God, I'm thankful that you're the solid rock. I'm thankful that you're the firm foundation. I'm thankful, God, that you've never been moved. And God, it's our prayer that we will not be moved. And God, as we look at this thought tonight of the psalmist, God, I pray that we would be steadfast and unmovable. and God that we would be sure, and God that, Lord, our position would be secure. And bless the word now and guide my heart and lips as I preach this thought. And God, I ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. This thought this evening, I shall not be moved. It's a great thought and a great passage and a great saying that David said, He that doeth these things shall never be moved. Amen. You know, stability is the mark of God's blessing in your life. Amen. There's no doubt about that. And if you'll notice from the book of Psalms, the book of Psalms has a lot to say about that. Look in chapter 16, you're right there. He said, I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel. I shall not be moved. Now, you're going to read that phrase over and over throughout the book of Psalms. We don't have time to go through every one of them, but I want to look at a couple of them tonight. Look in Psalms 21. Psalms 21, again, the Psalm of David. David said this, The king shall joy in my strength, O Lord, in my salvation. How greatly shall I rejoice? Thou hast given him his heart's desire. Thou hast not withholden the request of his zealot. For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness. Thou set'st a crown of pure gold upon his head. He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever. His glory is great in thy salvation. Honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him. For thou hast made him most blessed for ever. Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance. For the king trusted in the Lord, and through thy mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved. You know the amazing thing about David? He wrote all these things. And one day David is going to take possession of the kingdom. And he's going to rule on earth for all eternity. From Jerusalem. From Jerusalem. You say, where does Jesus rule from? New Jerusalem. And when you look at these things and these promises, I was reading last night that David said that concerning the heathen and concerning the Gentiles, he says when he begins to rule, they will submit to him immediately. Hey, God did something with David that he didn't do with anyone else in the Old Testament. He gave him his sure mercies. And David said, I shall not be moved. Thank God as a child of God, we don't have to be moved. Thank God that we have a firm foundation. We're not on shifting sand. We're not on sinking sand. We are secure in Jesus Christ. Look at chapter number 30. Chapter number 30 and verse number 1. Flip over a few more pages. Notice what he said. I will extol thee, O Lord, for thou hast lifted me up and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. O Lord, my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave and has kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his. Give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness, for his anger endureth but for a moment. In his favor is life. Weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning. And in my prosperity, I said, I shall never be moved. I shall never be moved. You know, we sing that song. I shall not be, I shall not be moved. I shall not be, I shall not be moved. Just like a tree that's planted by the waters, Lord, I shall not be moved. You know about the great promises we have as a child of God. Look in Psalms 55, we'll just get a couple more single verses, Psalms 55, and notice what it says there in verse number 22. He said, Hey, you say, what's the thing here? Casting your care upon the Lord. Isn't that what Peter said? Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you? Hey, if our confidence and our trust is in the mighty God, I'll tell you right now, we're not going to be moved. How do people make Christian service for 50 and 60 and 70 years? Because they're stable in their walk with God. Amen. And they're sure. You know, they're like clockwork. If they don't make it to church, we know something's up. Something's wrong. Because they are consistent in everything they do. Isn't that lacking in the day in which we live? I mean, an employer cannot even... He never knows who's going to come to work the next day. I'd hate to manage McDonald's. Because what happens, you end up having to do it all. Because you can't count on anybody to be there. I was somewhere just the other day, and I pulled up the place, and the doors were locked. I said, what's going on? I walked around back and said, hey, how come the doors are locked? The doors are never locked. He said, hey, we ain't got nobody, and the guy went home. I said, you gotta be kidding me. But see, we're living in unstable times, are we not? Very unsettling times, where nothing is certain. And God help us. David said, hey, I shall not be moved. And when he speaks about this, being solid and being firm and being steady used to be the norm. But now it's the exception to the rule. Psalm 62 and verse number six, this is what David said, he only is my rock and my salvation, he is my defense, I shall not be moved. You know, there's one thing I never, I don't wanna be moved. I don't want to move away from what is right. I don't want to move away from God's blessings. I don't want to move away from the people of God. I don't want to move away from where God has put me in my Christian service. There's something about being steady Eddie. There's something about being consistent. There's something about being reliable. there's something about being unmovable. Psalm 66, verse number nine, and notice what he said there. He said, verse eight, oh, bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard, which holdeth our soul in life and suffereth not our feet to be moved. You see, it speaks of stability. And stability is the mark of God's blessing in your lives. One thing I've learned about unstable people is unstable people have an unstable walk with God. And it's without exception. James 1.18 says, a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. I'm glad I made up my mind one day what I was gonna be. I said, hallelujah, I'm gonna be a child of God, and I'm gonna be a faithful church member somewhere. And that's what's lacking in the day in which we live. Would it be great if every church member could be counted on to be here for every service? It would change the landscape of the city, of the neighborhood, of our Christianity. If every child of God was in their place on Sunday, this would be a different nation. But see, instability is the mark of the age in which we live. Unstable men, unstable women, producing unstable children, which produces an unstable school, an unstable society, an unstable country, and an unstable world. You know what happens to explosives when they become unstable? They blow up. When a nuclear plant becomes unstable, millions and billions can be at peril. And we know that God is not the author of confusion. The devil loves confusion. Hey, the devil's crowd always likes to be stirring up trouble and causing problems. And see, we live in a day, it is so sad that four and five-year-old kids are mentally unstable. How do we get to the place where small children are unstable? And I just think, you know, God intended us to be sure-footed and to not be moved. Look in 2 Peter 2, we're going to get to the message. We're going to preach out of our text here in Psalms 15. Just kind of laying the foundation here in 2 Peter 2. And again, Peter understood these things. 2 Peter 2 and verse number 14. And notice what he says there. It says, talking about this generation, right? He says, "...having eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls, a heart of exercise with covetous practices, cursed children." Now we call them unstable souls. We see that here in our church every Sunday with these kids that we bring in. Unstable souls. I talk with their parents and they're unstable souls. You know sometimes we drop these kids off on Wednesday night and they don't even know if their parents are gonna pick them up. Because they get on at the park. And they're just hoping that their parents will come get them. And when they don't, they go to a friend's house. And it's no wonder that these kids are unstable themselves. Because their parents are so unstable. I mean, they can't maintain a job. Whatever happened to the person who worked one place for 25 years? Now we know part of the problem is employers are unstable. But who was unstable first? The employee. And now after the pandemic, there's nothing that is certain. There's no place a business is sure they'll be open the next day. What did Peter call them? Unstable souls. Look in 2 Peter 3, verse number 16. He said this. I talked to a man this last week, and he was telling me about his situation. I asked him, I said, well, where do you go to church? Matter of fact, I asked him first, do you go to church? He said, yes. I said, where do you go to church? He started to say something. I said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm the pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church. Where do you go to church? And he said, well, I have a house church. And he said, don't start judging me. I said, okay, okay. You're worried about our church and you don't even go to church because you have a house church. You're a law unto yourself. I'm not against house churches. Man, they're all over Vietnam. They're all over China. They're all over the Middle East. And when it's all said and done, we'll probably be at house churches here in America because of persecution. He said, I want to know why your church doesn't have elders. I said, do you have elders at your house church? We said, well, we're not big enough to have elders. And I said, do you even know why there were elders ordained in the Bible? Because the apostles started churches, and with lack of pastors in place, they ordained elders to carry on until a pastor would come there. I said, no, we have deacons and trustees. And deacon is a viable and legitimate office mentioned in the Bible. And if there was no pastor in the churches, and if we had a church and there was no deacon, we would need elders to run it. But I thought to myself, you strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. And you're unstable. And you're teaching your family to be unstable. And you're teaching your family to think the church is important and Christ died for the church. And gave himself for it. Jesus Christ loves the church. He loves the gathering of his people together. We were commanded on the first day a week to gather together as a church. And the church is not this building. People are connected to buildings and lands and those kind of things. Instead of the fellowship of the saints. It's not this building that connects us because there's been three buildings here at this church. It's our faith and our bond of love and our relationship with Jesus Christ. You start talking doctrine and they can't even handle the simplest of doctrine. You know why? Because they are unstable and they rest the scriptures to their own destruction. They'll be the first ones that'll say, you shouldn't do this, you shouldn't do that, and then they're doing that very thing they said you shouldn't do. 2 Timothy 3 and in verse number 7, 2 Timothy 3 and verse number 7, and again, Paul wrote to Timothy and it was bad in his day because the Roman Empire was collapsing. You understand that? The Roman Empire was on its way to collapsing even at that day. You say, why? Because they were becoming unstable because of all the sin in their society. 2 Timothy 3, in verse number 7, and notice what he says there. He says, but refuse profane and all wise fables. That's not the right spot. 2 Timothy 3, let me get in the right spot. That'll always help. 2 Timothy 3, I was in 1 Timothy. 2 Timothy 3, in verse 7, and he says, talking about these people, well, matter of fact, Back it up there. He's talking about perilous times shall come in the last days, right? Look at verse 6, verse 5. Immorality, right? Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also, resist the truth, men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith." You say, what's the problem? They're ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. You know why? Because they're unstable. Now you contrast that with what David said in our text in the book of Psalms. He says in verse number 5, he says, He put if not his money to usury, nor take the reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved. Now, as I think about this thought of not being moved, I shall not be moved. God's plan, God's prescription, God's path is given in these five verses to the child of God. And he asked the question, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? You know what the word abide means? It means to live there. That's stability. What's a homeless person have? Instability, right? They have instability. But to abide in his tabernacle was to have stability. And it says, and who shall dwell, that means live, in my holy hill. You see, there's something about the house of God that lends stability to the church goer. Who are the most unstable people in church? People that can't find themselves sitting on the pew from week to week. Right? Who has the most trouble in their lives? People that lack stability. They lack that, how you want to put it, that routine of being where they're supposed to be when they're supposed to be there. And it adds and provides stability for someone's life. It speaks of stability. Now, where does all this begin? What's the prescription and the plan and the path and all these things to have stability in your life? Notice it says in verse number two, it says, Now there's a lot to be said for walking uprightly. And matter of fact, the Bible says a lot about our Christian walk and why it's necessary for stability and consistency in your life. Look back in Psalms 1, and notice what he said there in verse 1, and we know this chapter, it's only six verses, but blesses the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the sea of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. You know if we could read our Bibles every day, we'd have more stability in our life. It's funny, we'll read everything in the world. And I think we ought to be well-read. I read all kinds of things. I listen to all kinds of things. I look for all kinds of information. But I'll tell you right now, if I don't have this information, my life becomes unstable. And I wouldn't want to say that I've read the Wall of Harvard, but I've never read the King James Bible. I wouldn't want to say that I know all about all these different books that kids read, but I've never read the Bible. That's why we have beguiled and unstable souls. He says, Hey, the tree is unmovable. Why? Because it's feasting and feeding on the things that are right. And see, walking uprightly has a lot to do with God's Word and God's righteousness in our life. He says the ungodly are not sober like the chaff which the wind drives away. They're unstable. They're like a tumbleweed. They have no direction. They're tossed to and fro. You never know where they're going to be. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. You ever saw an unstable soul that's faithful to anything, let alone the house of God? For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Look in Romans chapter number 8. And this is... I really could preach on this a couple nights. There ain't no way I'm going to finish even through the first point tonight. But Romans chapter number 8. And notice what it says in Romans 8 and verse 1. I'm sorry, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of Christ, life in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son, the likeness of sinful flesh, for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind of things of the flesh, and they that are after the Spirit do things of the Spirit. Now, what do sinners do? They mind of things of the flesh. But the child of God minds the things of the Spirit. And that's why they dwell in the holy hill. Right? That's why they abide in his tabernacle. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because a carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So that they that are in the flesh cannot please God. We know that. We know that. Look in chapter 13. Chapter 13, verse number 10 of Romans. Chapter 13, verse number 10, and he says this. He says, Love worketh no ill to his neighbor, therefore love is fulfilling the law. And that knowing the time, thou is now high time to wake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than we believe. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light, and let us walk honestly. as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chamberness and wantonness, not in strife and envy, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. You say, how do we get along in the Christian life? We put on the armor of God every day. We consistently do it. Because it speaks of stability in our life. That's why Paul said in Ephesians 4.1 that we should walk worthy of our calling. Walk worthy of his calling. It's very important when it comes to the Christian life that we be consistent in our Christian living. You say, why? Because if you're not consistent in your Christian living, you lose all your credibility. I've known people throughout my whole lifetime, they went to church one week and they were on the bar stool the next. Hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, in between, up and down, all over the place. And they wonder why no one takes them seriously. Paul said, God wants us to do those things. With all willingness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. You know, kids, they see mom and dad, they're hot, mom and dad's cold. Mom and dad's hot, mom and dad's cold. Yeah, we're going to church today, but we're not going next month. I grew up that way. I begged my dad to go to church. We're not going, and you can't go either. Yeah, but let the cops bring you home. Oh, son, you need to go to church. And I never laughed in my face, my dad's face, but I did that day. And that was the first time he never slapped my face off. Because he was under conviction. My dad had a memory, he remembered things. And he can remember his little seven, eight, nine year old boy begging to go to church, and him telling me absolutely not. And you're not gonna tell me when I'm 14 and 15, 16, that I need to go to church. He said, son, you need to go to Sunday school. I said, dad, when have you been to Sunday school? And dad never spoke to me again on that subject. We have got to be consistent in our life. And the worst thing you can do is get mad and go home and rail at the table about how disgusted you are with the preacher and the people at church. We need each other. And we need to speak well of each other at home. And when my kids would get mad, I'd defend them folks at church and say, hey, they didn't mean it. They love you. Sometimes the kids would come home, they'd be fighting mad. I said, let me tell you, sister so-and-so, she loves you. Brother so-and-so, he loves you. Is that right, sir? I defended them to the last tooth and nail. And I hope people would do the same for me. Half-time people are offended, we don't even know why they're offended, and that we even did something wrong. I do not intentionally offend anybody. Unless you call telling the truth offensive. And I am called and commanded to tell the truth. But I try and tell the truth in love. Put my arm around and said, listen, we love you, but you gotta get your life straightened out. That's what I told Sally, told her that right this morning. I said, Sally, we're so glad you're here, we want you to be here, but you gotta get your life straightened out. It makes a difference how you walk. And those who walk uprightly are more stable than those who don't. because there's just something about it. 1 John 1, 6 says, We walk in the light as he is in the light. We have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ is sin cleanses us from all sin. You want stability? Then walk uprightly. You want stability? Hey, abide in his tabernacle. Dwell in his holy hill. Walk uprightly, for God's sake. Be consistent. A guy one time said, you know, I don't like Brother Chris, but I can say one thing. He's consistent. He invites me to church every Sunday, aggravates the heck out of me. But I know for one thing, when he walks in, he's going to invite me. At least I was consistent. Have a pocket full of tracks, and they'd want to run when they see them pocket full of tracks. But at least I was consistent. I used to preach in the parking lot, and I told you, they had the frequency on the loudspeaker was the same frequency as my CB radio. So when I'd be in the back corner preaching, I was preaching to the whole factory. They say, man, we heard, how are you on the intercom? Well, I'm down, I'm out there in the back parking lot, just the right spot. But nobody had to ask me ever, did you go to church Sunday? They knew I went to church on Sunday. My poor old car used to have scripture signs all over it. And I delivered pizza part-time for Domino's Pizza. I pulled up in my car, had them scripture signs all over it. It was covered from both sides, front and back, on the hood, on the trunk. It was covered in scripture signs. The manager said, Chris. I said, what? He said, that car, I said, it's my car. And that's what I'm delivering pizza in. He said, you know, you don't have to put the domino sign on top of your car tonight. I didn't want to put it on top of the car anyway. But there's no doubt in their mind who and what I was. and they'd watch their P's and Q's, and we did all kinds of things. But see, I wanted to be stable. Our kids didn't ask if we were going to church today. They said, can we stay home today? And I said, what do you think? No, we're not staying home. One of them was sick. Christopher's sick. Can we stay home? He's sick. You're not. You're going. If one of the kids is sick, do they all stay home from school? No. You say, what do you want to be? Stable. I just want to be stable. I don't want to be moved. I want to be consistent. I want to be like my Savior, the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. There's something to say about stability. You know, men's fashion is stable. You understand that? Ladies' fashion is always changing. Is that not right? But you see these Florsheim shoes? These are what they call full wings. They've been making these things for the last hundred years. And I'm still wearing them. They've been making this same suit for the last 200 years, and I'm still wearing it. I'm wearing the same white shirt. Well, thank God they've improved technology. You can just pour spaghetti sauce down this shirt and just wipe it off, because it's cost-guarding. But the point I'm trying to make here, there's something to be said for consistency. And that's why God said, I am the Lord, I change not. Some change is necessary. You understand that? I'm glad we got light bulbs that are energy efficient. Right? I'm glad we got new carpet. Hey, I'm glad we, you update things, right? I'm glad we got a new sound system. Those are called aesthetics. And they have to change. But see, our principles should never change. Our beliefs should not change. Our walk with God should not change. And see, this instability is what has destroyed everything. David said, uh-uh. Over and over again, he says, I shall not be moved. I shall not be moved. Thank God we ought to be consistent. Thank God we ought to be stable. Thank God we ought to be planted. We ought to be predictable to a certain degree. Years ago, I'd go home and eat lunch at mom's house, and every day when I came back from lunch, they'd be green with envy. because I'd have an ice cream cone with two scoops of ice cream on it. And I would eat that while my press was inking up. And they said, there's Chris and his ice cream cone. One day it'd be chocolate, one day it'd be strawberry, one day it'd be another flavor. But every day, an ice cream cone when I came back from lunch. There's nothing wrong with being stable. There's something horribly wrong with being unstable. Would to God that the church family and we as Christians could be stable in our walk, consistent in our walk, regular in our walk. What happens when your body's not regular? You got serious problems. Irregular heartbeat, right? Irregular blood pressure. God help us irregular bowel movements. I mean, hey, irregular regularity with our sight, your body's telling you, you got some problems. And that's the problem with the people of God in the day in which we live. Do everything you can to be consistent. Do everything you can, hey, to be regular in what you do. Have a regular prayer life. Have a regular Bible reading time. Have a regular witnessing time. Have a regular time, hey, fellowshipping with your family. We have date night, three days a week. You say, haven't you been married a long time? Yeah. My sister, she said, hey, are you on date night again? I said, yeah. You either get your honeymoon at the beginning or you get it at the end. We got married, we're 18, so we get it at the end. And yes, three days a week, Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. Everybody, every couple ought to have date night. It ought to be regular. Nothing wrong with that. Hey, and if you don't get to do that, I'm sorry. But it's a good thing to do. Now there's exceptions, we're coming to the thing on Friday night, right? Miss Lisa was less than enthused about it. And I get that. I get that. But you know what? Sometimes we make exceptions, right? We make exceptions, right? And I said, hey, it'll be fun. We'll take some Trinidadian food and we'll freak everybody out with it and we'll have a great time. And if they don't eat it, I'll eat it because I love it. But you know what, it's okay to do something different every now and then. But I promise you, we'll be back to date night Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. Now when there's no King's Kids, it's Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. And Friday sometimes. There's something to be said about being consistent in your life. I wake up every day pretty much the same time. I go to bed the same time. I like to eat dinner at the same time, ask of my family. He said, Dad, is it gonna be the end of the world if we don't eat dinner at 5.30? Yes, it's gonna be the end of the world. My body's telling me I'm hungry. I know, I know. Kid said, you're insane, Dad. You're insane. You eat dinner at nine o'clock at night. Who's insane, me or you? It's you. Thank God, David said over and over and over again, he that doeth these things shall never be moved. I'll give the other points in case we don't ever visit it again. But walketh righteousness, speaketh the truth in his heart, hallelujah, backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh reproach against his neighbor. He that swareth to his own hurt and changeth not. Hey, there's some indelible truths right there. You know why I love this Bible? It ain't changing. And you know why people don't know the Bible anymore? Because they get a new Bible every month. And they cannot memorize it. I've never seen anybody memorize when they're using different various translations. All they can do is paraphrase, they cannot memorize. Thank God we can be consistent in our walk with God. And that is what God's looking for, consistency. Let's stand for prayer. Ms. Susan, Ms. Linda, you come, and if you know that we got that song, I Shall Not Be Moved, I don't even know if we got it in one of our books, but if you know that I Shall Not Be Moved, you can play that. If not, play something else. But thank God we can be stable, and the more stability you have, the happier you're going to be. The more