The Builders and The Destroyers

We are witnessing the stark destruction of society, and we are witnessing this from Ground Zero, the United States of America, formerly considered the greatest nation on Earth in history.

This country is rapidly replacing its foundations with a new philosophy, a new humanism type of concept that is an improved culture that it is building, and that it is promoting throughout all of its channels from politicians, government, entertainment, all the social media, is pressuring the world to take on this so-called building of a new type of culture. But this culture is actually destroying humanity, and we'll take it ultimately to the edge of genocide. Some of the elements that we see in this degradation that is taking place very rapidly include the advancement of stealing personal wealth, advancements in stealing personal rights, stealing personal information, and thereby stealing one's own freedoms.

We see the fracturing of interpersonal relationships as being touted as a great thing for society and the fracturing of families through these new concepts as being good and somehow building an improved culture.

And yet, at the same time, we see individuals' lives not being improved but being wrecked and almost put on kind of an altar to be executed by behaviors and concepts that are threatening one's own life and taking them down a very dark road. Advancing better in modern terms is leading to catastrophe. I'd like to give you an example of this. The new speaker of the House, about four weeks ago, made some statements. Mr. Mike Johnson was worried that America's wickedness is inviting God's wrath. He stated, America needs to recognize there's so much to repent for. We're violating his commandments. We're inventing new ways to do evil. The culture is so dark and depraved, he said, that it is almost that it almost seems irreversible.

He remembered God's burning of Sodom for its wickedness, and Mr. Johnson stated, we have to ask ourselves, how long can his mercy and his grace be held back? He said, America is in disastrous and calamitous times and is hanging by a thread.

When we see through the eyes of the Bible and through the clarity that God gives us understanding with by his Holy Spirit, we can recognize that there are two main concepts, two main mindsets, that are driving human individuals in this world. And a vast majority, it seems, are catching on to this new, improved way of thinking, seemingly it's better in their minds.

And the other concept is very different, very different. And as Mr. Johnson said, it is so in God's face we might wonder how much longer it will be until he allows something like happened to Sodom and Gomorrah in the past. Now we live in this world, society, the cosmos, and the world. But we are warned to not be of this world. And so the question that I like to ask myself is, how am I doing with that? How much of this societal influence is either appealing to working its way in as tolerance or acceptance or even application? And how clearly do I see the two sides? And so today what I like to do in this sermon is compare this darkly contrasting entities of that which God says and is and that which Satan and his mindset says and is. Now we know the Bible contrasts those as absolutes. One is light and one is darkness. One is truth and one is false. One is good and one is evil. And there's no blending of the two. And yet it's in the human mind easy to sort of commingle those two and easy to kind of get into some of the situations that Jesus Christ warns his church about in Revelation chapter two and three and those seven lessons to the church where they have brought in. They're allowing other things and mindsets and concepts to come in to the group that God has given his spirit to to know right to know wrong.

When we look at these two mindsets, I'd like to look at them through a little different lens than we often do, which is good and evil, right and wrong, sin and righteousness. Let's do the same thing looking at it as the title of this sermon is, The Builders and the Destroyers.

This is something we can relate to more and more as we see it on television, rolled out. There's one group that is building, edifying, building up, improving, developing with future, and there's another group that is destroying, dismantling, undermining, breaking apart, disassembling, and trying to get rid of. Those two are absolutes as well. You can't have a builder-destroyer. Humanity likes to do that with war. We'll blow it up, then we'll rebuild it, but that doesn't really work. So let's take a look today at the builders and the destroyers. When we look at destroyers, the ultimate destroyer body, you might say, is an army with weapons. Armies with weapons. What are weapons for? What are armies trained for? Destruction. They're not trained for building. They're trained to destroy, and destroy very, very effectively. You can watch this on television. You hear, well, this thing over here is a problem, and therefore they're taking care of that. What do you see? You see absolute destruction of neighborhoods, cities, buildings. Just, it's an incredible hulk of destruction, whether it's throughout the Middle East or the Near East. We've seen cities for decades now that have just been reduced to rubble. You go back to World War II. What was the way of warfare then? You just firebombed massive cities all throughout Europe. And then when that didn't seem to work for Asia, you got a bigger bomb, an atomic bomb, and you made cities disappear. That is what armies do. Some of their things are called destroyers, and some of the planes, people would paint things, horrible things on them, you know, vicious, mean monsters, and we're going to go out and destroy. What are the elements that the armies use? What does a bullet do? What does a bullet do? Can it do anything except destroy something? No, it cannot. It must slam into something and destroy that thing, whether it's a person, a building, a vehicle, a drone, whatever. That's the... what does a bomb do? What does a missile do? What does a hand grenade do? What does a laser beam do? What do all these things do, coupled with deception and lies?

You know, they destroy destruction and death. There is a book. I've owned a copy. I was given a copy of this book some years ago, and I had it for a while until I started reading it, then I threw it away. It didn't apply to me, but it's an incredible book to humanity in this world. It's called The Art of War. It was written back in about 5 BC by a Chinese warrior or a relative of one who wrote the strategy of war that was used by the Chinese Imperial Army at the time. The Art of War. The Art of War is such a profound book about war in all of its elements and strategies and purposes, etc., etc.

As the author, not the actual author, but the one who was writing the preface said, war is the highest achievement that a human can reach.

The highest endeavor of achievement that a human can reach is to wage warfare. That's about when I threw it out. Didn't read any further, but I'd like to give you just a few things about this book. It's used by the U.S. Army. It's used by the U.S. Marine Corps.

It's used by the U.S. Military Academy West Point. It's used and recommended for all U.S. military intelligence personnel.

Colin Powell said that it influences both soldiers and politicians. We see now we're moving out of armies into conflicts among politicians. It's also applied as a training guide for many types of competitive endeavors.

Business books employ principles from this book, The Art of War, for office politics and business strategy. Corporate executives gain advice on how to succeed in competition.

Lawyers have relied on it for negotiation tactics and trial strategy.

Sports applications have included NFL's most winning Super Bowl coach and Brazil's World Cup coach. This is the strategy of destroying your opposition, destroying the competition, destroying the character of someone else, destroying what lies in your way in order to get something. You know, over in 1 Timothy 3, it starts out that, beware, in the end times, it's going to be dangerous because men will be after things for themselves and they will not have any ethics.

It'll just be who can come out on top.

General George Patton, I don't know if he read the book, may well have.

Let's see, the commander of the Allied forces in the Pacific used it as his guidebook.

I don't know about George Patton, but here's a quote George Patton said, Compared to war, all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance.

God help me, I do love it so, he said.

So on the one hand, you may have those who are effective at warfare or competition or bringing your company, your team, your political party, your candidacy, come out on top, and you may say, oh, we honor that. That is great.

But is that what the Bible promotes? Is that what you and I are to be part of? The destruction in order to get something for self. Let's go to James 4 and verse 1 and bring this to the church, God's church. James 4 and verse 1. Where do wars and fights come from among you?

There's various types of this destruction that takes place on the human level, and now we see it's in the church. Where do these wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure? That war in your members you lust, notice, and do not have. Put an emphasis there. Do not have. I lust. I want something. Shouldn't be mine. It's not mine. I don't have it. So you murder. It might be verbal murder, character assassination, running down other people, gaining an advantage by disqualifying others. In other words, warfare, destroying someone's character, his nature, his personality, his reputation. But you do not have. And notice, you murder and covet and you cannot obtain.

There's no future in this. It doesn't work. You might even get it temporarily, but that ends in destruction for everybody. You fight in war, yet you do not have. That's that comes into our lives. So the good question for me, and perhaps for you, is how much of this destruction that's coming in society at all different types am I embracing? Or am I incorporating? And am I saying, oh, this is good, and this is working for me, and this is smart? Let's examine two different societies, two contrastingly different societies. So you might say two contrastingly different mindsets, black and white, right? Right and wrong. There's no middle ground. There's no middle sort of, you might call it, balance of the two together. We don't find that in the Bible. Builders and destroyers. Let's examine these two cultures. We start with a builder. God and Jesus Christ are builders. Think about that.

What have they built? They've built everything. They've built the universe. They've built our solar system. They've built everything that you can see. They built you. And to stop and give God the credit, as we look at some of the things he's built, whether it's a bug or a plant or a flower or our own bodies, as we some things break down, you realize, well, I didn't even know I had one of those. I didn't know it worked like that. Well, this thing is pretty ingenious. Did you know that right here next to your nose on either side, there are two little water jet thingies and a little pool of tears called a tear duct and a little well there. And it's lubricating our eyes. Didn't know I had those. I mean, I knew I'd cry, but I didn't know how it worked. But it turns out there's a whole system that supports watering your eyes. And get emotional, you can really water it. Yesterday, I went running and as soon as I left the house, I was going down the street and got something in my eye and it was stinging and burning. And I couldn't hardly see and trying to get back home. And I finally get back home and I realized before I got all the way up the driveway, my tears were coming out. I thought, well, that's pretty good. I was going to go get some water and wash this out of my eye. But the tears are taking this acidic stuff out of my eye. And by the time I got to the top of the driveway, it was fixed. Tears all over, all fixed. Well, guess I don't need to go in the house. I went back and kept running.

You know, when we appreciate that God is a builder and He builds lives inside of mothers, and those lives get built and they come out and then they grow, and then spiritually helps us grow. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 9. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 9. We'll just look at this passage a little bit.

For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field. You are God's building. Just notice how God is a builder. Wow! There's workers. We're a field. You're a building.

You're a seed that grows up into a plant that produces fruit.

Verse 10, according to the grace, the reciprocal gifts that God gives us. Here Paul is a master builder. I've laid the foundation. Another builds on it.

Verse 11, no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. He is the first, the main component of the body of Christ, the building, the church.

Now, if anything builds on this foundation, in verse 14, if anyone's work which he built on it endures, you see where this is going? Dropping down, verse 17, if anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. This building up is very important to God. He's a builder. In 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 4, we come to this builder on our knees and in prayer and before him at services.

1 Peter chapter 2 and beginning in verse 4, we come to him as a living stone.

Jesus Christ is a living stone. He's part of building. He's a builder. The Father's a builder.

He's chosen by God and precious. In verse 5, you also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood.

So we have this growing relationship. It's a building relationship. Verse 9, But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people. He's building us into his family that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness, out of this other concept that seems so logical, into his marvelous light, who were once not a people. You hadn't been built into anything, but now are the people of God. You've been built into this building. You've been built into this family.

You know, a biblical description of the mindset of a builder can be found over in the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians chapter 5. Let's go to Galatians chapter 5, and we'll begin.

In verse 22, the results, the fruit, the fruit is what you get after you've done all the plowing and the seeding and the fertilizing and the watering and the growing and everything. You finally get the fruit, right? So it's the result of the effort. So the result of God's Spirit working in a person is agape love and joy and peace and long suffering and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control. All these things build up each other. It's the encouraging. It's the it's the helping. It's the agape. I love and I'm concerned about others as much as I am about myself. So we're pulling it up together. I'd say that's the best definition of a builder.

What's the definition of a destroyer? Let's just go back up three verses. Verse 19. The works of the flesh. See, there's no fruit. It didn't say the fruit of the flesh. There's no fruit here. Just a bunch of works. Just a bunch of stuff. A bunch of deeds. You might say the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are. Now find something here that builds. You can't. There's nothing here that builds. It's going to divide marriages, family, relationships. It's going to divide towns, countries. It's going to divide relationships between God and man. It's even going to divide a person's own potential from himself or herself. It's going to take that away. And there's just nothing left. Ends in murders. So instead of building and acquiring life, that all leads to destruction. And so a great description of a destroyer is found in those verses. I didn't like to read through those verses. I don't like to think about that stuff. There's nothing there. It comes from the mastermind of a destroyer, Satan the devil. You want to see what that's like? Let's go back to Jeremiah chapter 4 and verse 7. Jeremiah chapter 4 and verse 7. And again, let's try to see if there's anything beneficial about the concept of the destroyer.

Again, it will seem beneficial because, as everybody knows, like Jesus said, you've heard it's been said, love your friends but hate your enemies.

Is there anything beneficial in hating your enemy? Well, it seems like it. You know, we can go take them out. Do away with them. Problem solved. Peace and happiness ever after. Not realizing when you kill somebody, you just offended 20 friends and what relatives of that person who now have a crosshairs on you. But nevertheless, it seems logical. It always does.

So let's go here in Jeremiah chapter 4 and verse 7. The lion has come up from his thicket. What can a lion do beneficially for you? Anything?

Nope. The lion has come up from its thicket. The destroyer of nations is on his way. So here comes Satan. Here comes the mindset of the destroyer. And he's the destroyer of nations. This is what nations do. And you can see now there are nations around the world who are dissatisfied with other nations. Not only dissatisfied, but in some cases they want what that nation has. They lust and they don't have, so they're going to war and fight and try to get it. And in the end, they still won't have, probably because they destroyed it, destroyed that thing that they were wanting to achieve in the first place. That's what war does.

He has gone forth from his place to make your land desolate. Again, hark back to any military initiative that you see or have seen, films, on TV, the news.

The destroyer is coming to make your land desolate. Your cities will be laid waste without inhabitant. Anything beneficial there? Anything building there? No, but let's get bigger bombs. Let's make better jets. Let's make, I don't know, some type of cyber warfare better.

Let's let AI get so smart it can just go decimate the other side, while the other side's decimating us. That really makes a lot of sense. Your cities will be laid waste without inhabitant. Without inhabitant. No one left.

That's where destruction goes. The results of the destroy your mindset can be found also in Hosea chapter 4. If we begin in verse 1, I'll break into that first sentence.

In Hosea chapter 4 and verse 1, there is no truth. There's certainly no truth in the world.

Everybody lies to gain advantage.

There is no mercy or knowledge of God in the land. We can see this.

By swearing and lying, verse 2, killing and stealing and committing adultery. Now, if you just stop right there, we live at ground zero for those things. That is what our culture has come to promote and promulgate.

Find a novel that's not about those things. Find a television show. Find a music video.

Find a way of life, a person's lifestyle that's not about those things. These things are what America has come to publish from all types of terrible things.

Electronic, audially, visually, personally.

They break all restraint with bloodshed upon bloodshed. Verse 3, therefore the land will mourn, and everyone who dwells there will waste away with the beasts of the field. Does this sound like anything being built here? Any new prosperity? Any kind of enhancement to humanity? Not so far.

Even the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and even the fish of the sea will be taken away. Isn't that what we're seeing globally? Decimation of any and everything?

You know, when humanity makes something, creates something, be nervous.

Because humans cannot create a single thing, period. Never have, never will. What we say we make or we create is done by destroying something God made. Just look at this building. How many trees were destroyed for the ceiling?

You know, how many beaches or sand dunes were destroyed for light bulbs, the glass? How much mining and digging for tungsten or for rare earth metals? You know, what do we have to do to tear and rip things apart in order to fashion them and put them back together? Our planet is just full of mines and full of deforestation.

We go out, if we're going to make dinner, how do you make dinner? You go out and kill fish and things in a frying pan if they're still alive. If there's any life left in it or in an oven, that's how we make things. Now, there's nothing wrong with that, per se, but let's not start thinking of mankind as somehow creating. You know, the next invention is going to be destroying even more things and more rare earth materials and some decimating our seaflowers and maybe raising our temperatures. When we think of sinners, they destroy people. That's what sin does. We're destroyers as human beings. We destroy relationships. We destroy others. Kane murdered Abel. Nimrod was a great person of war, warfare, going around destroying cities, destroying civilization, destroying the world. Sinners destroy relationships like David, Bashema. He destroyed a marriage that he already had. He also destroyed the life of Uriah. You know, he unfortunately destroyed a marriage of Uriah. In Bashema, he destroyed a relationship between himself and God. He destroyed the life of their illegitimate son. Yes, through repentance, things can turn out. And Jesus Christ is part of a lineage of a lot of sin and sinners. And that's what it is. It's not just a marriage. It's a marriage. And Jesus Christ is part of a lineage of a lot of sin and sinners.

In Isaiah chapter 57, in verse 3, Isaiah chapter 57, in verse 3, it says here, But come here, you sons of the sorceress, offspring of the adulterer and the harlot, whom do you ridicule? Against whom do you make a wide mouth and stick out your tongue? Society could be described just like that. And yet it wags its tongue at builders and says, oh, you know, we're so much greater. That's hate speech. That's wrong. You know, God's way is bad.

Are you not children of transgression, offspring of falsehood?

In flaming yourself with gods under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rock, among the smooth stones of the stream, it's your portion. You know, in verse 7, on a lofty and high mountain, you have set your bed. Do it in the open. You know, in a lofty, the bed, the sexual sins, they do it. Society just puts it up there and says, yeah, this is the way to do it. Even there, you went up to offer sacrifice. He goes on and talks about things, and it's just it's really terrible. Drop down to verse 20 in Isaiah chapter 57 there. But the wicked are like the troubled sea. See, all this stuff that they think is, oh, this is great, but they're like the troubled sea. If you ever go out in the ocean, there's a systematic way to sail or boat in the ocean. There are swells, and there are waves, and you can learn, and you can work with those swells and waves. But there's also a troubled ocean. When you get what's called a squall, a thunderstorm that pops up, and you have the swells and the waves, but now the thunderstorm will kick up its own wind and send currents of air that generates crazy waves coming in a circular manner with its own swells that come, and you have a troubled ocean that's very, very difficult to navigate. Very difficult to navigate.

I once had the dashboard of my boat shaken off. All the instruments just fell out under such a condition. So when we think here of where this is going, there's no good in it.

When it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. Verse 21, there is no peace, says my God, for the wicked. There's no future, there's no peace, there's no benefit to any of that.

So all the elements of destroyers are about suffering. Let's go to Romans chapter 6 and verse 16. I like to come back to the New Testament as well because sometimes people think, oh well, that's Old Testament, and that probably went away somehow. But Romans chapter 6, look in verse 16. Do you not know that to whom you present yourself slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death? That whole way of destruction, whether you take a bullet or whether you slowly kill yourself through all of this division and divisiveness and the hatred that comes back and all the stress and the lack of support and blessings from God, you know, that's going to end up in death. Or obedience to God's laws of building up others, leading to righteousness. Verse 21, for what fruit, what results did your life have then in the things which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. Once again, you cannot point to a single thing from the destruction side that is regenerative. But now, having been set free from sin and becoming slaves of God, you have fruit, the end results of holiness and the end everlasting life. God is a builder to the point where He's going to build you into His kingdom with spiritual body and power and abilities and into family that is wonderful forever. That's the difference. I mean, it is so clear, so concrete.

The builders have achievements. They, God and Christ and the church, they're about achieving something. They have a goal, and that goal is achieving. Now, look at society, look at the destroyers. What's the goal? What are they trying to achieve? What was the great goal of World War II from the Allied side in both theaters? Stopping, stopping getting killed. That's pretty much it. Dominated by the Axis powers. What was the Axis powers' goal? It's kind of hard actually to define what that goal was. It got started in a rough way, and then you had a madman who was sort of the mindset, the mastermind of it, and yet it was about conquering more and more. But what was the goal in making other nations, I don't know, crumble down and say, okay, you're in charge. Was there a goal? I don't know. Maybe you know more than I do. But come back to this side, what is the goal of the builders? Well, you find it in Revelation chapter 21 and 22. A new Jerusalem, a new heavens, a new earth. You have an organized, loving society of righteousness that goes on forever. It is a utopia times a billion or more that we can't even imagine. It doesn't even enter into our hearts and thoughts what that can be, because it's in a different dimension than we've ever seen.

If we go to Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 12, a familiar verse, but let's see it in the context of the builder. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 12.

What is, you know, Jesus gave some to be leaders in the church. Why? Verse 12, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of service, for the edifying. That means the building up, the edifying of the body of Christ. That's what we're achieving. That's what we're part of. In verse 15, speaking the truth in agape love may grow up. See how this works? Grow up in all things into him who is the head Christ, from whom the whole body joined and knit together by whatever joint supplies. Wait a minute. What is warfare? It's shooting. It's breaking apart. It's blowing apart every joint, every thing, every building, every edifice. It's breaking it apart, breaking it down. And yet here it is building up, causing growth of the body for the edifying, the building up of itself in love. That's a really good, clear view that we have here. And so then there are some things that we need to do in our lives in order to be part of this and participate with the builders, because we all actually are called to be builders. If we consider building, then we have a master builder, we're told. And that master builder is God the Father, and he laid Jesus Christ as the cornerstone. And that temple is being built, and you and I are building. And others, Christ is called to help encourage that building. They don't do the building, but they encourage each of us to build. What should we be building? Well, a relationship with a builder links us to the processes he's involved with, and that's why we want to come out of the world. We want to come away from destruction, competition. We want to come away from this destructive type of getting on top. We want to join the builder.

We can find an example of how this relationship works in this present evil age in the book of Job, Job chapter one. And we'll begin in verse eight. Job chapter one and verse eight. Then the Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant? There's a relationship. There's a familial relationship. Job, that there's none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and shuns evil. You've got to realize that wasn't Job. That was Job with God in a relationship, and the two of them had built that stone of the temple to this point. Look what I've built, God is saying. Look what Job and I have built together. And Satan, though, of course, he returns in verse 10, have you not made a hedge around him? Not only does God and Job have this relationship they've built, but it comes with blessings protected from Satan. He's a hedge about him, full of blessings, miracles, angels. And he says here, you built a hedge around him and around his household. His household is blessed. He has angelic protection. He's going through a wonderful life. You see how it works with a relationship with God, with the builder. It's a good life, and it's only growing. And we learn this from what Satan is saying, going on and around all that he has on every side. This isn't just about you and me individually trying to do what's right. This is a relationship as a son and daughter of God, a brother of Christ, the wife of Jesus Christ, a child of our Father.

Notice going on, you have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. That's a relationship that you and I want to have. And we cannot take credit for anything that we have or own or whatever Satan comes in. And what does he do? Well, you'll find that he stole all of his auction, all of his camels. He killed all of his workers. Then he burned alive all of his flocks of sheep with their shepherds. Then he kills all his sons and daughters and probably his grandkids with them. How do you like that side? Is that a side we want to be part of? All the destruction that's come down through the last 2,000 years under the banner of Christianity and the misery and the deception and the lies and the tortures and the murders and the thefts of money and the sexual sins and the rejection of God and the requirements to disobey the laws of God, the Sabbath, the Holy Days of God, etc., etc. There's no, oh, we'll just do a little bit. We'll just be part of that. We'll just be part of society. You know, when God says in Revelation, come out of her my people lest you share in her sins, there's no sort of come back to the sort of middle ground or, you know, a moderate, balanced connection there. When you think of God and Jesus Christ being perfect builders, all you have to do is go to Genesis chapter 2. Let's do that real fast. Genesis chapter 2 and start in verse 4. Again, we know these scriptures, but look at them through this lens of builder and destroyer. Genesis 2 and verse 4 says, this is the history of the heavens and the earth. When they were created in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. He's a builder. He's a maker. And what a fabulous creation. You go on to verse 7.

And the Lord formed man out of the dust of the ground.

And verse 8, He planted a garden in Eden. He put the man whom He had formed. In verse 9, out of the ground the Lord made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.

The tree of life. Verse 10, a river went out and watered the garden.

Verse 19, out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, every bird of the air, brought them to Adam. These are some of the things we enjoy. You know, you look outside and you see birds, maybe you have a bird feeder, maybe you see an animal come around. We just love that.

You might have trees and fruit or vegetables. It's just amazing to plant seeds. God is an incredible creator. Now we find that in verse 22, from the rib the Lord God had taken out of the man, He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And they then began building a family and a relationship.

God is a God of building, and He takes things also that have been broken, us, and He pulls them back together. His Son had stripes so that we like sheep who had gone astray could be healed or stitched together with God. We have now returned, the Bible says in two places, to the overseer of your lives.

And God then heals us in our relationships, and He builds us into holy people. We find in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 20 that this building includes our citizenship is in heaven. You and I are now not to be part of the world. Don't think about your country. Don't think about your country's power, prestige, or whatever, blah, blah, blah. We are citizens of the heavenly country. Read that in Hebrews chapter 11, or here in Philippians 3, 20, for our citizenship is in heaven.

Disconnect from that. Quit trying to save your country mentally from the effects of sin, the effects of destruction, destroying, competition. Let's just blown it out the window, and then this new philosophy that just smashes and trashes its own foundation that was once somewhat biblical. Pull into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus Christ is talking about many times there in the book of Matthew. The kingdom of heaven, that's what we're part of, from which, Philippians 3, 20, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, for the Lord Jesus Christ.

There's no politician, no matter how good his or her speech is, it's going to turn anything into gold that's made of refuse. It's just not going to happen. But we have a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body. There's creation, there's re-creation, there's rebirth. That's our God. He's a maker, he's a builder. He's going to transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body.

This is such a great opportunity. I'd like to give a few points for being a builder. Let's all be co-builders with Jesus Christ. Being a builder. I don't have them numbered. I have x number of points. I have encountered them. I'm just going to go through a few.

You can come up with some of your own. Do not destroy your adversary. I'll say it again. Do not destroy your adversary, your enemy. That's what humans do. You see it on the news right now. It's a common human solution. Well, if I could just destroy that individual, that other whatever, that person that's against me, everything's like, what if they just died in their sleep and solved a lot of things?

You just committed murder in your heart. You want the person, you want them eliminated is what you want. Then you might sort of have bad thoughts about how that might happen, etc. But that's the human tendency. There's a problem person. Eliminate them.

People have been doing that forever. That's why Cain eliminated his brother Abel. If I got rid of Abel, problem would be solved. Solve a problem? Nope. If the Israelis could just eliminate Hamas, the Palestinians would be nice people, the ones left. So we'll go kill them all off and we'll leave just nice Palestinians. How's that gonna work? Sounds logical. The reality is, even part way through it, the entire Middle East now hates Israel and is sharpening weapons to do away with it.

Most countries in the world, if you've been watching the news, now hate Israel, including United Nations. Everybody hates Israel. How's that working? Deuteronomy chapter 28 and verse 15 might be a better solution. Deuteronomy 28 verse 15. You don't hear this one on the news. You won't hear this in the war councils. Deuteronomy 28 and verse 15. If you do not obey to observe carefully all his commandments, skip down to verse 25, the Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them, and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth.

That's playing out right now in the news. The Israelis are no longer carefully to observe his commandments. In fact, most of them aren't even religious.

And because they haven't, they have now become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth. And eliminating one little pocket of their enemies is not going to solve what the biblical prophecies for the end say. What's the solution? We go back to verse 1 of Deuteronomy 28. Here's the solution. If you diligently obey to observe carefully all his commandments. That's verse 1. Now skip to verse 7. The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face. They shall come up against you one way and flee before you seven ways. But who's wanting God as their God, you see? Who's wanting to carefully obey the commandments of God? It seems like just destroying the enemy is the way to go.

Point here is don't destroy your enemy. That's not the solution. The solution is, verse 1, diligently obey God. Be careful to do his commandments. God will take care of the enemy.

Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 44, but I say to you, love your enemies. It's not in the book of war, by the way. What was it? Yeah, the, you know, the art of war. It doesn't say love your enemies in there. But in our book of war, and this is a book of war, it's us, us overcoming or conquering Satan and conquering his type of nature tendencies that are in us, our defective human nature. It's an art of supremacy over that, not as individuals. The Bible says we do not fight against war. We don't fight against people. We fight against principalities and powers in the spiritual realm. And this is accomplished by loving your enemies. And that word is agape. Didn't just say, kind of be nice, a little brotherly love.

Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you. Pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. Verse 45, why? That you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He is the Father of all builders. You want to be a builder? Start with praying for your enemies, blessing them, doing good to them. Be a builder like your Father. It says, for he makes the sun rise. Every day the sun comes up. Everybody loves the sunrise, and the sun helps us all, doesn't it? It gives us the opportunity to see, grow things, do things, gives us warmth and rain. You know, sometimes we go without rain for a long time, and then the rain comes. Who does the rain fall on? Saying people the sunshine falls on. Everybody. And so it says here, he gives, makes the sunrise on the evil and on the good, sends rain on the just and on the just. So send your love, send your love on the just and the unjust. On the just, the upright, the evil, and the good. Builders do good deeds. They leave the correction with God. They don't go destroy adversaries. Leave it with God, and continue to bless those who don't like them. Another point I'd like to make. Do not destroy people with words. Let's go to James chapter 3 and verse 8. James chapter 3 and verse 8. This is a tendency of humanity that we, through our words, have an ability to assassinate people, their character, their whole life's accomplishments to someone else through words. And so here in James chapter 3 and verse 8, but no man can tame the tongue. It's an unruly evil full of deadly poison. Don't use the tongue to destroy other people, and I'll just leave it at that. Lots to think about there. Another one, do not destroy for revenge or for retaliation. We see this play out. Somebody does this to me. Okay, I'm gonna do this back, whether it's an army or whether it's an individual. Don't destroy for revenge. In Romans chapter 14 and verse 4, there's a there's a background to this, a background mindset to when someone hurts you and you want something done to them in return. Romans 14.4 says, who are you to judge?

Another servant. That word, judge, is from the Greek Strongs 29.19, to judge, to condemn, and to avenge.

Judge, condemn, and avenge. Might be something as little as, look at that speeder go by, I hope the cops'll get him.

You know, who are you to condemn that man who's driving his wife to the hospital to have a baby? Well, I mean, maybe he's not. Who knows? But who are you to judge, condemn, or avenge another servant? To his own master, he stands their fall. Here's the encouraging thing. No matter who is out there, no matter what they've done, no matter how bad it is, right, and you want to slice and dice them or judge them mentally, notice the next statement. It's profound. To his own master, he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. We don't tend to think that. We were all sinners once, and everybody's a sinner out there. But no matter who the enemy is or what he's doing to you, he will be made to stand by God. He will repent, and he will be your brother or sister forever in the kingdom of God. One person esteems one day above another, another steams another day alike. So we can then start to shoot at each other. But what does he say? In verse 6, he who observes the day observes it to the Lord. In his or her way, they think they're doing right for God. And the other person who says, oh no, the way I do this, I'm doing this for God. They're both doing it for God. And so he says in verse 7, for none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord. If we die, we die to the Lord. Verse 9, for to this, in Christ died and rose again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

Dropping down to verse 19, therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace, and the things by which one may edify another, build up another. So forget these little skirmishes, skirmishes, things that, you know, we want to kind of argue with each other about. Leave that with God and pursue things which make for peace, and the things which edify, build up. God's a builder. Be a builder. If there's somebody that you know in the church, out of the church, a neighbor, a co-worker, whatever, look at the things where you can build up that person. And don't go around as their critic trying to destroy them.

In fact, we're told to build up the good things in other people. And you can find weaknesses, you can find them in me, you can find things that you don't like, or offensive things, or things you feel are flaws in other people. That's easy. It says in Philippians 4 and verse 8, finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of a good report, if there's any virtue, if there's anything praiseworthy, about another individual, think on those things. And it's always easy to see the dent in the car.

It's easy to pick out flaws and dents, a missing hubcay. Oh, look, that car's got a missing hubcay. You ever say, wow, that car has air conditioning inside, soft seats, it goes fast, it transports kids, you know, it gets groceries at the store. That car is wonderful. Look how many miles it's gone, and it's only gotten one dent. There's different ways of looking at co-workers and each other and relatives, etc., etc. So what we want to do is build up the good things about others.

That fosters relationships. It says in Romans chapter 15 and verse 2, it kind of might be difficult, but here it is. Paul says this to the church at Rome. Romans 15, too, let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. That's what we should be about, not assessing our neighbor or criticizing our neighbor, but let each of us please his neighbor.

Please his neighbor? For his good! We're building something, we're wanting his good. Leading to edification. You could add so much is possible with your desire to do so. Not everybody is amicable that way, but most people are. Most people you can find, even if they're very hostile and cantankerous, you can find a way to please them for their good and lead to building a relationship.

In conclusion, there is a stark contrast between builders and destroyers, and the Bible is just full of that contrast. We have Jesus Christ's future reign over the world that's coming, and we celebrate the builder mindset that will come in the millennial reign of Christ. What's that about? Oh, you know, everything that's broken down is built back up. The cities are built back up. The people are built back up. The vegetation is built back up. The animals are built back up. Things turn into a Garden of Eden type of constructive environments, and everybody gets along. The nations get along. They love each other, and they're all sons of God, you know, the Assyrians and the Egyptians and, you know, the twelve tribes of Israel. Everybody gets along. Right now, we have a different God or ruler of this world, the current ruler of this world, and things are being ruined and destroyed. We see the ecosystems around the world being dismantled and destroyed and wearing down. We see people's lives being ruined, ending in death. But we see Jesus Christ as the restorer, and we should be restoring now, not waiting, saying, oh, your kingdom comes someday. No, your rule come now. Your laws come now. Our relationship with the builder come now. Let's be builders with him. Let's be building that temple. Let's be building that stone, building up. Even, you know, you should be a builder on your own property, not a destroyer, but a builder, you know, dressing and keeping the garden. Certain things have to be culled in order for sunlight and soil to be utilized by the plants, and other things can be planted to enhance and feed birds and, you know, bring things to the environment where things aren't always decimating and species aren't, you know, being eradicated. But coming back to life, just like you and I are coming to life under God.

In John chapter 10 and verse 8, we'll just go through a couple of scriptures here. John chapter 10 and verse 8, Jesus says, all who came before me were thieves and robbers. What's a thief do? He comes, he destroys your possessions. A robber comes, he takes, he destroys your possession. He destroys your possession numbers, let's say, the things that you own. He destroys that, takes away. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.

That's a wonderful verse right there. Everybody else that's not of Jesus Christ is a lying destroyer, but my sheep did not hear them. Verse 10, the thief, Satan, comes only to steal and kill and destroy. That's only it. There's no good there.

Now notice our relationship with our builder in verse 10.

I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. More abundantly, to the full. One is destroying. What do you say? He comes to steal and kill and destroy.

In the last half of verse 10, I've come that they may have life and have it to the full. Destroyer and builder in the same verse. How do we receive life to the full? Let's conclude by going to Revelation 22, verse 12, right at the very end of the Bible.

Revelation 22, verse 12. Jesus says, And behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me, to give to everyone according to his work. And what is that reward? Remember, he said, I've come that they may have life and they may have it to the full. Well, if we look in verse 14, blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life. They will not only have life, they'll have a right to the tree of life in the New Jerusalem, and that they may enter through the gates into the city of New Jerusalem. That is life to the full. As a bright, brilliant, powerful God-being member of the Godhead with Jesus Christ as his bride, forever with them in New Jerusalem, he came that we can have life and have it to the full. So if you want to have life and have it more abundantly forever, then grow the mindset of our builder father and his creator-builder son. Reject the destroyer and join the kingdom of God.