The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Life: When Our Foundations are Destroyed

Episode Date: July 23, 2021

How many of the foundations in your life can you be sure will last forever? Today, Jeff explains how we can root ourselves in the foundation of Jesus Christ, and the wonderful effect it will have in our lives. Snippet from the Show “Is your life really built in Jesus Christ?” Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

You're listening to the Jeff Kaven Show, episode 2.29, Life, when the foundations are destroyed. Hey, I'm Jeff Kavans. How do you simplify your life? How do you study the Bible? All the way from motorcycle trips to raising kids, we're going to talk about the faith and life in general. It's the Jeff Kaven show. Hey, thank you for joining me again this week. I'm sorry. Jeff Kavans, and every week we talk about issues that we face as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. We talk about scripture. We talk about putting the Word of God into practice, how to deal with difficult situations, and how to build strong families. And this week I want to talk to you

about the foundations in society and the foundation in your life. And I have some wonderful scriptures I want to share with you. And I am very aware that many times people listen to the show when they're jogging or they're driving in the car on the way to work or on the way home or taking a walk and they don't necessarily have a pen and paper at hand and they can't take down the notes. And that's why I want to make all of the show notes available to you. And I'll give you the way you can do that real quick. All you have to do is text my name, Jeff Kaven's, one word, and you can text it to the number 3377. It's a real easy number. It's a biblical number, 3377. And then you'll be on the list, and I'll give you the show notes every week. And typically, we do have some really good quotes, and we have some wonderful scriptures, and we have some paragraphs from the catechism and other sources that are quite valuable. And if something catches your attention as you're jogging or driving to work, you know that awaiting you at home are the notes and you can go through them once again. It's kind of a little perk we offer

all of the listeners to the Jeff Kaven show. So I want to talk a little bit about the foundations in society and the foundations in our own life. Just recently, in Miami, Florida, there was a horrific collapse of a luxury condominium right there on the beach. And I think it was about 1.15 in the morning or so. People are watching movies. Many people are asleep. Others are talking to relatives around the country. Others have come to Miami. They came to Miami to vacation or to be with family. And suddenly, literally, in one moment, the building collapsed. The foundations gave way. And the building collapsed in a pancake, leaving over 150 people dead. And I want to to encourage you to take a moment today and pray for those families. How horrific that must have

been. It happens so quickly. And what we have discovered since is that people were living on faulty foundation, and it came down so quickly. You know, the psalmist in chapter 11, Psalm 11 and verse three, asks a very, very important question. And I want to share that with you a couple of times and let it sink in. The psalmist asks the question, if the foundations be destroyed, what will the righteous do? That's powerful. Let me say it again. If the foundations be destroyed, what will the righteous do? Now, when we speak about foundations, of course, you think about homes, you think about office buildings and so forth. But even in our society, there are foundations in our society that were laid decades ago that families built on and they could rely on

and people had a pretty good idea of what life looked like and what they could depend on. But I have heard so many people recently question those foundations. And I have heard, from many good friends in conversations, email, phone calls, where people are saying things like, they'll say, Jeff, this isn't the country that I knew growing up. Things are changing radically, and I don't know what to depend on anymore. The foundations that I thought I was building on have suddenly collapsed, and I don't know what to tell my kids. My kids are asking me questions. They come home from school and they ask questions, and I don't know exactly what to tell them, because I don't know exactly what is going on.

I remember not too long ago talking to people, and, you know, people had this sense of certitude that our nation was built on such powerful foundations that could never be removed. It could never collapse. I suppose Rome felt like that at one time, didn't they, that Rome would go on forever and ever and ever. And, of course, they collapsed, and they collapsed, wrap. quickly. And the question is, is that what's happening in America today, in our society today? Do you have those thoughts that this isn't the country that you grew up in? Let's take a look at foundations for a moment today and take a look at what our life is built on. You know, when we

build on a foundation that is not there or build on what we thought was a foundation and we're not clear about it. It's called desperate, is that people are desperately searching for something that they can count on and that is reliable. But we're not finding that in society today. So we ask the question again, what will the righteous do? Or let me ask it in a different way. What are you going to do? What's your family going to do? What are you going to teach your children? What are you going to build on when you spend time with your grandchildren? How are you going to build your business. If the foundations be destroyed, what will the righteous do? The apostle Paul in Romans 15, he talks about building on other people's foundation. And he says, and thus I make it my

ambition to preach the gospel. Now, Paul is talking here about preaching the gospel. And he says, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation. The part there, caught my attention was Paul saying that he didn't want to build on someone else's foundation. In this case, he's talking about others who have proclaimed Christ. They preached the gospel, and a foundation was laid in their life. He says, I'm not building on their foundation, but he's preaching the gospel to new people who have never heard the gospel before. But he equates that gospel, the preaching of the good news of Jesus Christ, to a foundation. Now, there's two things there that I caught my attention. One was that the preaching of the gospel, that is the charygma, that God loves you and has

an amazing plan for your life. Sin has screwed up the plan. Jesus has died for you, and he asks you now to completely reorient your life to him. That's a foundation there. But the second thing that really caught my attention in Romans 15 there was that Paul is bringing up this topic of not building on someone else's foundation. And I'm wondering if you would agree, and I'd love to hear from you in the show notes or in the comment section of the podcast, are you building on someone else's foundation other than the foundation that has already been laid, which is Jesus Christ, and we're going to get to that in a moment. But do we find ourselves building on someone else's foundation, maybe somebody on television, a talk show, or a political view, or a social media empire, building a

they have a foundation, and people are building on that foundation. What is the foundation in your life? What is it that you are depending on? It's going to be there and that you know that you can build it and that it will last and hopefully last throughout eternity. Timothy, in 2 Timothy chapter 2, it says, but God's firm foundation stands bearing this seal. The Lord knows those who are his, and let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity. I love that when Paul talks to Timothy, and he says that God's firm foundation stands.

It stands. And it is something that we can depend on. it's something that we can build on. But there is a huge difference between just knowing that and grabbing a hold of it and saying, yes, yes, there is a firm foundation. God has a firm foundation. There's a difference between proclaiming that and believing that and actually building a life on that. And that's the thing that concerns me so much is that we run the chance of agreeing to that, that God has a firm foundation, agreeing to it, but then building on someone else's foundation. In other words, there is this gap between what we believe in everyday life.

Oh, we believe in the foundation of Christ. We believe in the foundation of the church, but in reality, we're building on someone else's foundation. And as we have seen in the last couple of years here, that foundation, I think, is crumbling. It is crumbling. Jesus taught in Matthew 7, it's the tail end of the sermon on the Mount, chapters 5, 6, and 7. He talked about building our lives on the rock. And he said, everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a man who's built his house upon the rock. And the rain fell and the flood. And the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house. But it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like

a foolish man who built his house upon the sand. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell. And great was the fall of it. So Jesus is talking about two foundations on which to build, and both experience the rains and the winds and and so forth. One lasted, one fell. Now, though, the one that lasted and could withstand the winds and the storms of life, that one was built upon the rock, the rock, and the one that fell was built upon sand. And so it's an important thing for all of us. seriously, this week, to ask ourselves, is my life built upon the rock of Jesus Christ? Is it built upon the rock of Peter and the church with the apostles as the foundation?

Is that the life that I'm building on? Or am I building on someone else's foundation or a foundation of sand? That is really a great reflective question in one that you might want to bring to the whole family, mom, dad, bring it up to the family. Talk to your family members about foundations in life and what is going to endure and what will not endure. So often foundations are like fads. The word fad, FAD, is an acronym. It stands for for a day, FAD, for a day. And foundations that are fads don't last, but the foundation that God established that will withstand any changes in society, and it will be that place on which you can build that will ensure a strong family and a family

that endures. That is really, really important. Now Paul said to the Corinthians in chapter 3, 1 Corinthians 3, and all this is in the notes, he said, for no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. And that brings such comfort to me to know that God has given us a foundation on which to build. When marital problems arise, you have a foundation on which you can deal with those marital problems. When you're trying to raise your children, God has given you a foundation on which to raise those children. A sure foundation, a foundation that won't disappoint, not a mirage, not some fanciful idea that comes up on talk radio or on television or news networks, entertainment news, I think I would call it. But it's a sure foundation. And that foundation

is Jesus Christ. And so I would ask you to think, think clearly today, as I am doing this in my own life, is your life really built on Jesus Christ? Do you believe in Jesus? You most likely would say yes, as I would say, yes, I believe in Jesus. But there's a difference between believing in Jesus and building your life on him as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, 24-7, 365 days a year. Now, foundations were also brought up in Matthew chapter 16 when Jesus asked the question, who do people say that the son of man is? And they answered, well, it's, you know, Jeremiah, one of the prophets, John the Baptist. But Jesus said, who do you say that I am? And Peter said, he said, you are Christ, the son of the living God. Blessed are you, Peter

Barjona, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my father who is in heaven. And then he says to Peter, listen to this. He said, and I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now, that rock that Jesus is referring to there, of course, is Peter, and this is the church. He's going to build his church on Peter, and he's going to build his church on the revelation of who Christ is. And this is going to be the kingdom of God that is built on this rock, and the gates of hell are not going to prevail against it. Now, in antiquity, in the Old Testament, when they built the temple in Jerusalem, when Solomon built it, he built it on Mount Moriah on the rock. There was a rock there.

And Jewish tradition tells us that there was the Evan Hashetia, that is the capstone, the rock. And the legend is, it's not scripture, but it's kind of the tradition of the Jewish people that there was a shaft underneath it all the way down to Hades, and it was the presence of God in the temple that would block the enemy from prevailing on earth. And so that provides us with a beautiful picture there of a solid foundation that we can build on in the presence of God, with the presence of God, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Now, when we look at foundations, you have to think about that foundation as it relates to all the different topics that you face in life. Morality. What is the foundation of morality

in your life and your family's morality? Is it based on shifting foundations? a popular culture or someone else's foundation? Was it built on simply the American dream, which many of you are saying now that that's crumbling right beneath you? Or what about virtue? Virtue. What foundation do we build on when we try to develop virtue in our life or fight vice in our life? Finances is a big topic. Is there a foundation for you concerning finances in your life or raising a family, raising children or grandchildren and marriage, as I said before. Or what about something as simple as voting? Did you vote based on a foundation or did you vote based on someone else's foundation? And that's easy to do. You can say, I'm going to vote

simply Republican or I'm going to vote Democrat or whatever, you know, independent, or are you going to vote based on the foundation which you are living on, which is Jesus Christ? Now, it's interesting because this whole term now is being used, cancel culture, and what we have seen in many areas is that your foundation, or the American foundation, can be completely canceled overnight, and you can be blotted out of the American scene. It's really, really interesting. I'm going to take a break here. When I come back, I want to talk to you about a couple of things that you can do to ensure a sound foundation for you and a sure foundation for your family.

I think you're going to be interested in this. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ chose corrupt, broken, imperfect, sinful men to be the foundation of church. And because these broken and perfect men chose to remain in relationship with Jesus, they became saints. And they were used by Jesus to transform hearts and minds 2,000 years later. I invite you to check out my book, Broken and Blessed, where you'll find practical tools to overcome habitual sin, to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and to walk with an imperfect church toward a perfect God who is calling all of us to perfection over time. To order the paperback book or audiobook, Broken and Blessed, visit ascensionpress.com or Amazon.

Talking today about foundations, if the foundations be destroyed, what will the righteous do? Notice in Psalm 113, and I mentioned this at the top of the show, if the foundation foundations be destroyed, what will the righteous do? Notice that it doesn't say, if the foundations be destroyed, what will be the opinion of the righteous? Or if the foundations be destroyed, what will the righteous think? Or if the foundations be destroyed, what will the righteous talk about? No, it says, if the foundations be destroyed, what will you do? What will you do? Not just thinking. It's word and deed. What will we do? Now, there's a couple of things that I want to draw your attention to when it comes to building a strong foundation.

Jesus said earlier in Matthew 7 that if you have a strong foundation, it is because you heard him speak, the word of God, and you did it. You put it into practice, and that's how you build a strong foundation in your family, in your own life, is that you are obedient in your response to God's word. He revealed himself in words and deeds, and the catechism tells us all about this in the first hundred paragraphs of the catechism, and we respond to God. He revealed himself in words and deeds, and we respond in faithfulness in like kind. In other words, we respond to his revelation in words and deeds, and Jesus said that that's the foundation that will withstand the storms in life. life. So I want to encourage you this week. Don't be discouraged. Don't look at the landscape out there and say, oh, man, I'm just going to give up. What's the point? No, this is our time to shine. This is our time to build and to share with other people, this amazing foundation that God has given us,

that can be built in anybody's life if they will be obedient to the revelation of Jesus Christ. Paul said to the Ephesians in chapter two, he said, so then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. This is a beautiful picture, isn't it? It's a beautiful picture of the household of God being built on the foundation of the

apostles and prophets with Jesus as the cornerstone, and we are being built together into a dwelling place for God. And so God is not only the foundation, he's provided us this foundation with the apostles and prophets and Jesus being the chief cornerstone. But he is giving us a place where God can dwell in our midst. You see, it's the presence of God that makes this foundation so much different than what the world has to offer. So I'm going to encourage you to work on building the foundation in your life and your family.

Now, there's two things. Number one, if you are going to have a strong foundation in your life that will weather the storms that we're in now and will face in the future, you simply have to know salvation history. You say, oh, Jeff, you always talk about that. Well, of course I do. That's it. That's the story. The creed, which is the first pillar in the catechism, the creed is the story of salvation history from Genesis to Revelation in a tightly wound form, squished, if you will. And that creed is the shortened version of the entire amazing plan of sheer goodness that God has for us. And that acts as an amazing, amazing foundation. Because you see, when you read scripture and you pray scripture

and you obey scripture, guess what happens? You gain an understanding of your father's heart. And you gain an understanding of your father's household plan. Those two things, knowing his heart, in knowing his plan, that provides a foundation on which you can trust. Isn't that what you are out of sorts about right now? Who do you trust? Who do you believe? I just talked to a couple of priests just this last week who said to me, he said, you know, we're not even sure who we can trust anymore in society.

But you can trust God as he reveals his heart and his plan to you. now it's it's one thing just to say well you got to know the bible but you got to have a plan to know the bible and allow me a commercial here for a moment if you have not gone through the great adventure bible study that's available at ascension press and we'll put that in the show notes for you you've got to get on board and you've got to know that story mom and dad it's your responsibility to pass on that story to your children it's your responsibility And that great adventure study comes in two forms. One is called Unlocking the Mystery of the Bible, which is a very short way to go through the whole story very quickly.

It's only eight half-hour sessions. And you get a workbook and you get the Bible timeline, get your Great Adventure Bible, and start learning that story, that plan of God and get to know his heart. And now there's a longer version called the Great Adventure Bible Study, and that's 24. one-hour sessions that I teach in. And so I go through the entire story where you can come to know God and to understand his foundation in 24 one-hour sessions. And that one is a more complete one, obviously, because we're teaching more. The point is get one and start to lay that foundation in your life of God's amazing plan of sheer goodness as the first paragraph of the catechism talks about. But now is the time to do it. It's really not a time to say, yeah, I should do that

someday. Today is the day. You only get so much time on earth and even more so you only get so much time with your children and your grandchildren. We have to start taking our faith seriously and building on this foundation. And if, you know, the recent recent history, is telling us that everything is crumbling around us, but the good news for the faithful is our foundation's not going to crumble. Oh yeah, there might be storms and everything else and attacks, yes, but we know that that foundation is a sure foundation. Now, the second thing outside of the Bible that I would encourage you to wrap your mind and your heart around is the catechism. The catechism is not a great big, big, fat book that simply acts as a reference

tool for you to look up certain things about the church. No, that's not what the catechism is. It was Pope Benedict when he was Cardinal Ratzinger. He talked about this, and he said that the catechism is actually organized in such a way where it tells a story in itself. It provides you a plan in itself. And that could be understood this way. Everything that is Catholic is brought into four pillars. And the first pillar is the plan, right? It's salvation history. The second pillar is sacraments in liturgy. It's how you get into the story. Life in Christ. The third pillar is your script, what you live in the story in prayer. That permeates all of it. So the catechism is something that is very important for all of us to get our minds around.

Now, Jeremiah, chapter 29, said, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil to give you a future and a hope. And the writer of Hebrews said in chapter 11, speaking of Abraham long ago, a couple thousand years before Jesus, for he, Abraham was looking forward to the city that has foundation. whose designer and builder is God. That's what has been given to us.

That's what we are looking forward to. And that's what we're building currently on. My friend, I hope that you will give some serious attention this week to the foundations in your life and make the adjustments now. If the foundations be destroyed, what will the righteous do? they will turn to the foundation which is solid and will not crumble let me pray for you in the name of the father and the sun and the holy spirit lord i lift up to you my friend right now and i ask you to move on their heart to move them to action to make that assessment as to what they're building their life on in every area and then turn to you with all of their heart to go about building

on a solid foundation. I lift them up to you now. Bless them, O God. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, pray for me, my friend. I'll pray for you. I love you. And look forward to talking to you next week.