O say can you see by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's
last gleaming, Whose broad stripes and bright stars through
the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched were so
gallantly streaming, And the rocket's red glare, the bombs
bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag
was still there, O say can you see by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming,
Yeah, it'd be nice to take a woodworking class and learn how to make furniture and, you know, make my own, you know, four poster bed and make my own, you know, French table to put behind the couch.
It'd be nice to buy a new couch. You know, it'd be nice to do a lot of things, but it's just like that's not where we're at in life.
Middle-aged with young children, it's not the time to sit there and think about your persona as a man.
It's time for you to put some bacon on the table, bring home the bacon, put some bread on the table to sacrifice.
And, you know, that's exactly what you would do. You would do it if you let the word of Christ dwell in you, rich with all wisdom.
If you walk in the spirit, not in the flesh, you want to know, this is why the Bible is just so redundant and just so basic when it comes to marriage,
because there's really only one thing that ruins marriages. One of it is selfishness. That's it.
I'm a firm believer that if you just boil down everybody's marriage problems, it just comes down to one thing, selfishness.
Because isn't that the antithesis of exactly what the Bible is saying?
Wives submit yourselves under your own husbands as is fit in the Lord. That's a selfless act, isn't it?
Husbands love your wife as Christ also loved the church, which is a sacrificial love.
That's selflessness. That's sacrifice. So the opposite is also true.
That if you don't submit and if you don't sacrifice, you're a selfish person and you're going to ruin your marriage.
Or you're just going to stay married to somebody that in your heart you despise.
And you're going to forego one of the most precious and meaningful and impactful relationships that you have in this life, that of your spouse.
It'd be a real shame. You know what? But you wouldn't be the first Christian couple to do it.
You know, we've got more to look at. I know I'm going along this morning, but since it's already gotten nice and uncomfortable, let's just keep going.
Go over to 1 Peter chapter number 3. 1 Peter chapter number 3.
Because people come to church and they think that if they're just going to talk about their spouse, that someone's going to fix things.
It's not. Here's what fixes things. When husbands and wives fill their respective roles.
You say, well, my husband's not doing it. Well, he's a lot less likely to do it.
He's less likely to come to church and find all this out and get on board with things if he knows that everyone knows what a lazy jerk he's being.
Don't talk smack about your spouse to anyone ever. Be loyal to your spouse. It's your friend.
You know, let's just go through this quickly. 1 Peter 3, verse 1. Likewise, your wives be in subjection.
I mean, I just feel like a broken record this morning. It just feels like the Bible saying the same thing over and over again about marriage.
Verse 4. Let it be the hidden man of the heart and that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit,
which is the sight of God of great price. Verse 7. Likewise, he husbands dwell with them according to knowledge,
giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel. It always blows my mind when I see some husband being a jerk to his wife
after she's, you know, put her body on the line, gone through the jaws of death, burying his children.
And I don't think I'm being overly dramatic there. That's exactly, and it just blows my mind when I see a husband just,
just right off of somebody that's done that for him. You know, you ought to honor your wife as the weaker vessel.
She's already working a 70 plus hour week if she's homeschooling and taking care of those kids.
She's a stay at home mom. She's already got her plate full, husbands.
You know, she can't go out and work an additional 40 hours to make up for us being lazy bums.
But, you know, I know I'm kind of ranting this morning, but I just, I'm trying to drive this home.
Because it'd be a real shame for people to come to this church and then have their marriages and their houses fall apart.
And look, I'm already convinced we'll see it. It's just, it's just, it's going to happen.
I just don't want it to be anybody. I wish we could prevent it, make it not happen. And I also, like I said, I'm a realist.
But here's why it'll happen is because people just don't do simply what's in the word of God.
You know, so again, I'll just, this is about being loyal to your spouse. Don't bad mouth a complaint about your spouses ever to anyone.
You know, and I've talked specifically about people at church or on the job site or wherever you go.
But let me just in closing emphasize this. Don't ever talk smack about your spouse to your in-laws.
You know, I don't know that any of my other relations, the other in-laws to my wife's family will see this sermon.
But I have it on good confidence that I am my my mother in law's favorite son in law.
I've been told as much. She's expressed that. Your husband's my favorite son in law.
I wear that as kind of a badge of pride. I'm glad I'm somebody's favorite something, you know.
And do you think that's because I'm just Mr. Spectacular?
Do you know who I give credit for that to? To my wife. Because you know what my wife doesn't do?
He doesn't call her mom and go, who did this? And he said that and he won't.
My wife has never complained about me to her mother. Part of that might be because she knows if she did, she'd get told not to.
Maybe not so nicely. Because my mother-in-law doesn't stand for it. She won't.
She's not going to stand for people talking bad about their spouse to her. You shouldn't do that.
Don't because your in-laws, they're going to side with you every time.
And you're only going to tell them your side of the story. And after you forgive, they're going to hang on to things potentially.
And don't be one of these these these parents that tells your daughter, oh, you can come back any time, honey.
If he says something mean, he raises his voice or if he tells you what to do, you just come on back to daddy.
You're just you know, you're just setting that couple up for failure at that point.
I marry my daughter's off. He's you know what? She's your problem now, buddy.
He's your problem now. It's like you married him, sweetheart. And that's why you say, well, what do you do?
Any kind of counseling? I'll do premarital counseling. I've already said that.
I do preventative maintenance on the marriage counseling. And by the looks of things, I probably won't be doing any of it anytime soon.
That was mean. But, you know, I'll figure out exactly how I'm going to do it when the time comes.
But, you know, that I'm all for that. Making sure we're you know what we're going to cover?
Everything we just talked about this morning. Basically, we're going to look at all these things.
Do you understand this and you understand that? OK, great. No, not so great.
Probably advise against it. But that's what I would say.
That's what I would say. Hey, don't to the in-laws, don't sit there.
Have an open door policy for your little princess. First time she gets a little upset, she can just go running back because it'll happen.
The last group of people you should never talk smack to. And probably the most importantly is your children.
Never talk smack about your spouse to your children.
Be a big resounding amen right there. Let's try it again.
Never talk smack about your spouse to your children. All God's people said? All right.
You're undermining their authority. You're you're you're just that's just I don't think I should have to explain that one.
Right. You know, we need to be loyal to our spouses.
And loyalty is something that is not proven until it's tested.
And if you're married, you will go through a rough patch. You will go through difficult times.
You will go through the highs and lows with somebody. Praise God, they'll be there.
You know, marriage is going to offer ample opportunity for loyalty to be tested.
Make sure you pass that test. Be loyal to your spouse.
Do not criticize your spouse. Do not share the sore details of your marriage to other people.
And I get it. A lot of times people say things and share things. They're just looking for sympathy. They're looking for empathy.
They're just looking for help. You know, but there's really nothing anybody can say to fix your marriage other than what the Bible has said.
So at that point, it's like, why are we talking about it? Why are we bringing it up?
I mean, what is any of us going to do? If you're going to complain to somebody about your spouse,
if you're going to cry about something, if you're going to be overwhelmed about your spouse, go to God.
Just go to God and trust Him. And look, I understand it's easier said than done,
but I know people that have done it and they have good marriages as a result because they've remained loyal to their spouse.
Let's go ahead and close the word of prayer. Dear Lord, again, thank you for our spouses.
Thank you for our wives, our husbands. Thank you for this great relationship that we can have on this earth,
one that reflects the relationship that we as your people have with you,
that we can trust in you and that you provide our needs and, Lord, that you've sacrificed for us.
And, Lord, I pray you'd help us as husbands and as wives to fulfill our roles.
And, Lord, most importantly, that we would walk with you, that we would seek out the word of Christ
and we would let it dwell richly with us in all wisdom, that it would give us the wisdom,
the knowledge, understanding to help us walk circumspectly and not as fools in this area of marriage,
this powerful and significant and impactful relationship that we have,
that we would succeed in it by obeying the word of God and what it says.
We thank you for it in Christ's name. Amen.
All right, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we go.
Let's sing one more song.
Till the earth, till Jesus comes from the earth,
till Jesus comes from the earth,
we will gather all of that.
I saw that once one single sigh
of hope on the steps shall hold.
We can all wake up till we cry,
if we just let me go.
We'll work till Jesus comes,
we'll work till Jesus comes,
when we only gather all of that.
We'll work till Jesus comes,
when we only gather all of that.
We'll work till Jesus comes,
when we only gather all of that.
We'll work till Jesus comes,
when we only gather all of that.
We'll work till Jesus comes,
when we only gather all of that.