Good morning, brothers and sisters. Good morning. Proverbs 30, 26 says, the rock badger is not a mighty people, but it makes its home among the rocks. Why does scripture commend to us the wisdom of the rock badger? Rock badger looks like a marmot. It's not a marmot, but it looks kind of like one. It's about two feet long, about 10 pounds. It's got a coat of brown or gray. And the rock badger is all over the world, and in some places is preyed upon quite a bit. In Africa, the rock badger is eaten by wild dogs, by hawks, by owls, by snakes, by leopards. It is a vulnerable creature. So what can you learn from a vulnerable creature that gets eaten by predators? Well, there is some wisdom right off the bat, which is to recognize if you are a vulnerable creature and that you have predators. As Christians, we are in the same position as the rock badger. We are vulnerable and we have enemies. You know the list. The world, the flesh, and the devil. The world is constantly calling to us to leave the safe path and to go dangerous places. The flesh has sin dwelling in it. We have a sin nature, Paul says, sin dwells in you, and it's looking for a chance to break out against your spiritual nature. And then, worst of all, there's the devil. The devil is prowling about like a roaring lion, looking for someone to eat. And you and I are not strong enough to overcome these enemies on our own. We are vulnerable in relation to these enemies. But there's still wisdom even to be found in that position, which is simply to recognize the situation that you find yourself The Rock Badger knows there are places where it is more vulnerable. And so just knowing that you are less safe in certain places is the beginning of a certain type of wisdom. We need to be aware, just like Pastor Thomas was preaching to us about get away from the place where adultery might happen. There's strategy you can just use in your life to put yourself in safer places. So, you know, the alcoholic, where should the alcoholic hang out? At the bar, right? At Ben's Liquor. They will do a lot better if they just don't go to that place. Think about the media that you consume. We have all sorts of media coming at us all the time. And you know this. There is media that affects you better and worse. All sorts, all sorts of media on your phone, on your TV, wherever your computer, maybe what you listen to. If you are constantly going to certain comment, political commentators, and you find yourself always angry after you listen to that, you are putting yourself in a place where you are more vulnerable to your enemies. The people you spend time with. If all your pals are huge gossips, guess what's gonna happen? You're gonna get embroiled in gossip. It's just that simple. That's the way we're vulnerable like the rock badger. We get drawn into these things. But what we can do is know that those places are places of vulnerability for us. Even in your own mind, There are even places in your own mind where you are less safe. Sometimes you get hung up thinking about that person that did that thing or said that thing, and you just keep thinking about them. You keep replaying that instance, and you get bitter. What does Scripture tell us to do? Think about what is good, what is true, what is noble. Even in your own mind, There are places where you are more vulnerable to your enemies than not. And so, step one is to just recognize your vulnerability. If you find yourself consistently falling into the same types of sin, maybe you're putting yourself in a position of vulnerability. And maybe just moving positions might help you out. The rock badger does more than recognize its vulnerability to its enemies and that certain places aren't safe. The proverb tells us, 3026, it makes its home among the rocks. So, the rock badger in Africa gets eaten a lot, but this is fascinating. The rock badger in Israel does not get preyed upon very often. Why? It makes its home in these high cliffs. It goes in these high cliffs, and it goes into a little crevice or a crag, and the hawks can't get in it. It's that simple. It goes into the high cliffs, and it's safe. And we, like the Rock Badger, have been given houses of rock where we can go away from our enemies and be safe. Let's take a look at one fantastic rock. where we can make our house. Matthew 7, 24, the word of God. Jesus says, whoever builds his house upon my word is like the man who built his house upon the rock. I'm talking about your Bibles. This is the best book in the world by far. And if you build your life around the scriptures, You will be made strong, you will be made safe from your enemies. John 7, 17, or 17, seven? You don't have to catch me on that, which one it is. Jesus says, sanctify them with truth, thy word is truth. One of the greatest things that the Bible gives us is pure truth. And we cannot underestimate how valuable this is. Nobody else really has it. And everybody needs it. We have this incredible book full of truth. And what that truth does is it helps us out of our darkness. Without truth, a person is like somebody wandering around in the dark. And what's going to happen, eventually you're going to fall and get hurt. What does scripture do? It's like a lamp unto our feet. It turns on the light and it shows us reality for what it is in many, many different situations. But if you steep your life, if you keep reading your scriptures, you will just know more and more truth. And you will be so much better off, so much safer than someone who walks about in darkness. Scripture also gives us wisdom. Life is confusing. There's lots of situations that will arise where you sort of think, what do I do about this? Scripture will make you wise. If you spend time reading Proverbs, if you spend time reading the New Testament, the Old Testament, all of it, it will make you wiser and wiser so that you are less confused, so that you know what you're dealing with in the world around you. Scripture will also strengthen you in other ways. It'll comfort you if you are broken down, if you are struggling and you go to the scriptures, God will use it to speak to you, to comfort your heart. It will encourage you, it will tell you of your salvation, it will reassure you that you are one of God's children. Scripture is one of the best ways to build your life in a way that is safe and removing you from the influence of your enemies. And so, I say this, read your Bible every day. Charles Spurgeon said, backsliding begins with a dusty Bible. And I don't say this legalistically, like you have to read your Bible every day or you're not a good Christian. No, it's like me saying, get a good night's sleep every day. The word of God has been given to you as an essential element of your well-being. And you really need it every day. Meditate on it as much as you can. Meditate on it every day. We lose track. At least I do. My mind gets kind of mushy and I sort of forget what I learned in church yesterday. So tomorrow, try to crack open my Bible at some point and get back into it to be reminded of these basic truths. Talk about it. Talk about the Bible with people here. There's a wonderful fellowship and encouragement that arises when you talk about the scriptures with somebody else. They might see something you didn't. You might see the exact same thing and you have that experience and say, oh yeah, that's exactly right, that's exactly right. Talk about it, learn about scripture. Read other books about scripture. There's hundreds of thousands of volumes out there. Read some of them. There is really very little in this life that is a better use of your time. than to spend time in your Bible, getting to know it better. Keep reading it, read it over and over. Those who've read it the most could just keep reading it more. You will not grow weary of it. And find new ways into it. It doesn't have to be a one-size-fits-all. There's different ways. Maybe you like to listen to audio, or maybe you like to read different sections of it. But the Word of God is a great rock that you can go to and make your house in. and be safe from your enemies. But that's not the only rock that God has given us to make us safe from our enemies. Another great rock, or rocks, as you will see, 1 Peter 2, 1 Peter 2, 5. You, you yourselves are living stones being built up into a spiritual house. The church, you guys, you are living stones being built up into a spiritual house. The church is a place where you can go and find refuge and safety from your enemies. And so I say this simply, and we'll elaborate on it more, lean into the church. lean into your relationships with other believers. It makes a big difference. And I think most of you have experienced that and know that. But fellowship is so essential to your spiritual well-being. One of the big tactics of our enemies is isolation. Isolation is really not good for us. Even the secular world knows that. I think we learned a lot during pandemic and things like that. But when we get by ourselves, we get kind of weird. We get weak. We kind of drift. It is not at our best. And I don't mean never. It's good to have some time by yourself. But it is important that you reconnect with your community. And we are so blessed to have the church. You know, not everybody has community that's available to them. We have an actually very structured way to plug into a community. And what does Ecclesiastes say? Two are better than one. Even one other Christian in your life, one weak other Christian and you will be a Christian, is so much stronger than one all by yourself. By ourself, You never know where you might wander off to all by yourself, but you get one other Christian in your life, and it brings you back to the center. It goes on, it says three, a chord of three is not easily broken. You get three Christians together, and you're about to start a ministry. And I mean this here, this is great, you know, if you just have two or three, then you connect really well, that's great. You've probably had that at work, or you're on a trip or something, and you run into another Christian, and you say, Christian too. Praise God. It encourages you to have fellowship with other Christians. It does so many things for us. As we know, God says that we are a body, that we are the body of Christ. So, at one level, you can just take it on faith. God has said that you are meant to operate in this group of people. And you are not meant to be isolated off by yourself, right? We all do different things. We all contribute different things to each other. We all receive different things from each other. But obviously, you know, obviously your nose is better integrated into the whole body as opposed to how, you know, you want it around by itself. And so, and you know that, right? Everybody here has different strengths, different weaknesses, different perspectives. There are things that each of us bring that the others don't. Push into that group. That is actually where you are meant to find a certain type of spiritual health. Another thing that I find so powerful about connecting with this church, with some of you specifically, is you give me perspective. You give me reminders. I'm gonna go out in the world this week and live my life, and I will lose track of certain truths that I know today, that I know right now, but I'll lose track of them. And then I'll come back, and I'll be talking to you, and I'll say, oh yeah, I know that, I remember that, thank you for reminding me of these great truths of my faith. Again, things kind of go in one ear and out the other, but when we're together, we get perspective, we lose perspective as well. You know the tenets of your faith, but sometimes you go through the trials of life, or whatever it may be, and you lose a clear grasp of it, but then when you're talking to your brothers or sisters, it brings you back. The picture comes back into focus, and you say, oh, I remember. I remember how this works. The church can do that for you in fellowship. Another thing the church does for you is creates a certain level of accountability. That can be a formalized, hey, I meet with so-and-so, and we talk about very specific things. And that's great if you have that. Very good. That's a good relationship to have. Keep pushing into that. But even if you don't have a really intense one-on-one accountability, or whatever, in a small group, just being around your brothers and sisters will actually remind you, oh, here's who I'm supposed to be. Here's who I mean to be. You, again, you get out in the world and the world will help you lose track of who it is you mean to be. But just being around your brothers and sisters will remind you, well, this is what I want to be like. This is who I'm meant to be in Jesus Christ. The church will comfort you and encourage you. I think some of you experienced that here or in other churches and other circumstances. We will have our sorrows. But we can share them with our brothers and sisters, and it will help you. It's somewhat mysterious, but somehow sharing your sorrow does make it better. It does make it lighter. We can be encouraged. Sometimes your brother or sister will tell you, hey, here's a good thing to do in your marriage. And you think, you know, I hadn't thought of that. That is actually a really good thing. I really need to start doing that. We can pray. Boy, do not underestimate the power of prayer. I prayed with some of you, but I've been praying with Luke Hanson for a long time. And we frequently come back to this conversation where we say, it seems like God always answers our prayers. I mean, hundreds, I'm talking here, this has gone on for many years, hundreds and hundreds of instances at least of prayers being answered. And I bet you've experienced the same thing. I don't know if you've had this joy of having the church pray for you when you're going through a certain thing. You can feel it. You can feel it when this whole group, and I'm talking about you, Day Spirit, when this group is praying for someone. So, I think we've had a great... line of communication. I really love how the prayer requests go out over email through the week. I try to respond to most of those, I'm sure I miss some, but I'm sure many of you do the same, and I think that's terrific. And that's something the church can do, is it can pray for you. Another great thing the church, you can do together is ministry. You know, ostensibly in ministry I'm doing something for other people, but I've been amazed at how much doing ministry with you all actually strengthens me. Being drawn into common purpose together in the Church really lifts up my own sense of purpose in my faith and really has strengthened my faith to minister alongside each of you. The Church is a spiritual house. Press into it. Again, we have this tendency to isolate. And I think that's in us. I think the enemy does it to us. I think our society does it. And there's always these little barriers that come up where you're tempted not to press into closer fellowship with your brothers and sisters. And that's one thing. Keep making that effort. Put your shoulder into it just a little bit. Talk to somebody new. Talk to somebody in maybe a little bit of a deeper way. Reach out to somebody perhaps outside of church. These are just, these mechanical steps you have to take to cause relationships to grow. Spend time with people, go to lunch, I don't know, whatever it is. You can figure it out, but just notice that there's this pull. Our enemies sort of pull us away from church. Keep in mind that that's not where you're safe. Where you're safer, where you can be healthier and stronger is push in. And you know, be that rock for somebody else. We are meant to be this house, this spiritual house that people can go to. So keep your eyes open for people that you can say, you know, let me go see how someone's doing. Real simple, send them a text. Some of you sent me texts this week. That encouraged me, that was meaningful to me. Just a text, say I'm thinking of you, I'm praying for you. You don't have to do that much. to make a connection with somebody. Sometimes you have to do a lot. But keep pressing into it. Your spiritual health and increase will be found in pressing into relationships with other human beings in the church. But we have even greater rocks than this. We have an even greater rock than this. 1 Peter 2.4 says, come to the living stone. Come to the living stone. Whoever puts his trust in Him will not be ashamed. Who am I talking about? Jesus Christ. He is the chief cornerstone that the whole edifice is built upon. He's the foundation of the church. He is the Word of God. He is the way that we get access to the Father. He is the one who sends us the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is the great stone where we can go and be safe. And one of the things that's so wonderful about putting our trust in God for our safety is He's everywhere. What does Psalm 139 say? If I make my bed in the depths, If I go to the far side of the sea, even there, your right hand will hold me fast. There is nowhere you can go where the greatest rock of safety isn't available to you. All you have to do is call upon Him. Call upon the name of the Lord. You can do it anytime, you can do it right now. You can do it in the quietness of your heart. You can call upon Jesus Christ, and He promises that He will save you. God promises to be a rock and a fortress for you. He always wants us to call upon Him. He promises that those who put their hope in Him will not be disappointed, will not be ashamed. They will be saved. They will be restored and redeemed. So are you lonely? He loves you. Call upon Him for His love. Are you weak? Are you sick? Are you struggling? He will strengthen you. He will come alongside you. He never leaves or forsakes you, and He will do those things for you. Are you poor? I mean, money, financially. Are you not provided for? Call upon Him. Jehovah Jireh, He's our provider. God will provide for you. He promises. Are you poor in spirit? Are you broken down emotionally, psychologically, spiritually? If you call upon Him, He will restore your soul. Have you sinned? He provided the atoning sacrifice for our sin. He gave us the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. The penalty for your sin is paid. Go to Him and ask for it. Have you sinned again? He gives us more grace. Are you dying? The greatest man to ever live said that he would give you eternal life in paradise if you would simply believe in him. Believe in him, call upon him. That's the essence of the Christian life, is to say, God, I need you. Will you save me like you promised to do? And he will do it. There are millions and millions of testimonies that God has fulfilled that promise, that those who put their hope in Him are not disappointed, that He is salvation. So, let's use, let's be like the rock badger and recognize that though we are not abiding people, we can go to the great rock and be safe. Let me pray for us and then we're gonna just do a little bit of conversation. Father, thank you for your provision for us. Lord, thank you that you've loved us. Thank you that you have given us ways to be safe. You have revealed yourself to us and that you are love. That you have come for us as a savior. That you have provided ways for us to connect with you. I pray for everybody here. Lord, please build them up and encourage them. Strengthen them through your word, through your church, and through yourself.