🎵Piano music plays🎵
🎵Piano music continues🎵
Welcome to First Works Baptist Church.
If you could, go ahead and come in.
Please stand with me.
Song number 173,
Love Lifted Me.
Song number 173,
as we find our seats.
Song number 173,
Love Lifted Me.
On that first verse.
🎵I was sinking deep in sin🎵
🎵Far from the peaceful shore🎵
🎵Very deeply stayed within🎵
🎵Sinking to rise no more🎵
🎵But the master of the sea🎵
🎵Heard my despairing cry🎵
🎵From the waters lifted me🎵
🎵Now safe am I🎵
🎵Love lifted me🎵
🎵When nothing else could help🎵
🎵Love lifted me🎵
🎵When nothing else could help🎵
🎵Love lifted me🎵
🎵All my heart to him I give🎵
🎵Ever to him I'll cling🎵
🎵In his blessed presence live🎵
🎵Every praise and sing🎵
🎵Love so mighty and so true🎵
🎵Marries my soul's best songs🎵
🎵Faithful loving service to to him belongs🎵
🎵Love lifted me🎵
🎵When nothing else could help🎵
🎵Love lifted me🎵
🎵When nothing else could help🎵
🎵Love lifted me🎵
🎵Souls in danger look above🎵
🎵Jesus completely saves🎵
🎵He will lift you by his love🎵
🎵Out of the angry waves🎵
🎵He's the master of the sea🎵
🎵Billows his will obey🎵
🎵He your savior wants to be🎵
🎵Be saved today🎵
🎵Love lifted me🎵
🎵When nothing else could help🎵
🎵Love lifted me🎵
🎵When nothing else could help🎵
🎵Love lifted me🎵
Great singing. Let's go ahead and pray.
Father, thank you for this wonderful and beautiful day.
Thank you for your Holy Spirit that you've given us.
Lord, I pray that it be upon the preacher and upon the singing to come.
Father, we love you in Jesus' name. Amen.
Please be seated. Our next song, song number 60, Face to Face.
Song number 60, Face to Face.
Song number 60, Face to Face, on that first verse.
🎵My Savior🎵
🎵Face to face what will it be🎵
🎵When with rapture I behold Him🎵
🎵Jesus Christ who died for me🎵
🎵Face to face I shall behold Him🎵
🎵Far beyond the starry skies🎵
🎵Face to face in all His glory🎵
🎵I shall see Him by and by🎵
🎵Only faintly now I see Him🎵
🎵With the darkling veil between🎵
🎵But a blessed day is coming🎵
🎵When His glory shall be seen🎵
🎵Face to face I shall behold Him🎵
🎵Far beyond the starry skies🎵
🎵Face to face in all His glory🎵
🎵I shall see Him by and by on the third🎵
🎵What rejoicing in His presence🎵
🎵When our banished grief and pain🎵
🎵When the crooked ways are straightened🎵
🎵And the dark things shall be plain🎵
🎵Face to face I shall behold Him🎵
🎵Far beyond the starry skies🎵
🎵Face to face in all His glory🎵
🎵I shall see Him by and by on the last🎵
🎵Fort to face all blissful moments🎵
🎵Face to face and see and know🎵
🎵Face to face with my Redeemer🎵
🎵Jesus Christ who loves me so🎵
🎵Face to face it shall behold Him🎵
🎵Far beyond the starry skies🎵
🎵Face to face in all His glory🎵
🎵I shall see Him by and by🎵
Sunday morning service is at 1030 Sunday evening at 5 p.m.
Excuse me and then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock.
Currently going through the book of Matthew so hope to see you doing our midweek service.
And of course we know that we are a family integrated church and so infants and children
are always welcome in the service for your convenience.
There is a mother baby room located in the back of the building and you can use that at your discretion.
Changing tables, speakers and screens are available in there as well.
You can still tune into the preaching. It's great to see a lot of people on a Sunday night. Amen.
And so today marks the first day of our summer family nights and tonight is carnival night.
As you can plainly see we got all the stuff out here.
We try to put the blinds down because the kids are probably going to be looking out there the entire service.
And so but I'll try to keep it short tonight. I don't know we'll see.
And but either way we're going to have a carnival night after the service.
Of course there's going to be jumpers there.
Oh actually let me hold off on announcing what we're going to be doing because I got to talk about some stuff.
Let's see here Samaria zoning Monday July 10th. That's tomorrow.
Meet at the building at 1130. You can see brother Elise Hernandez for more details about that.
And then Pastor Anderson will be preaching for us on Thursday July 27th.
He's making his rounds through the new IFP churches.
He's doing his road trip and so our church will be the last stop.
So hope you make it to our midweek service.
If you don't typically come I want to encourage you to be there on that Thursday.
It's always a blessing to have Pastor Anderson come preach for us.
Ladies prayer breakfast is coming up on Saturday August 12th.
So let's talk about the carnival night.
Just give some details regarding what's going on after the service.
First and foremost obviously there's going to be games for the kiddos.
There is going to be food. We're going to have burgers.
I think we're going to I've been announcing hot dogs.
Are we having hot dogs because I haven't really gotten confirmation on that.
Okay we are having hot dogs and burgers.
There's going to be jump there's a jumper and there's a bull ride a mechanical bull riding machine.
Okay.
Amen.
Now just a few things here.
First and foremost please have keep an eye on your child at all times.
Your children at all times.
The parking lot is blocked off to motor vehicle traffic.
But it's still public thoroughfare on a main street and so just you always want to be aware of the surroundings there.
We have a block that we have the entrance here blocked off but still you know it is a main street and so just keep an eye on your on your kiddos.
And don't just let them wander off.
Make sure you're supervising them at all times and make sure your children take off their shoes when they go into the jumper.
Okay.
And so if they're going there make sure you just keep an eye on them as well and just supervise your children that they're not like body slamming the little ones.
You know suplexing them and doing like WWE type stuff in there to the little ones.
Okay.
I remember being a very little child in a jumper and just getting stuck in the crevices with someone body slamming into one.
How many know what I'm talking about.
Okay.
You're probably the ones who are body slamming them and so just make sure you supervise your children if they're there.
Now the mechanical bull.
Okay.
That is for the adults.
All right.
And I learned something new about the men in our church.
Because we got the mechanical bull for the church and stuff.
And then I kind of went around expecting everyone to participate.
And then all of a sudden everyone started like ranking out.
They're just like I got things to do.
You know I'm not really into that kind of stuff or whatever.
And I think I got a couple people saying that they they're thinking about they're praying about it.
They're fasting about it trying to see if that's something that God would want them to do.
And so I'm going to put a motivation out there for everyone.
For all the men.
Whoever can stay on the bull the longest.
Okay.
We'll get a gift card for you and your spouse.
If you're single it'll just be for you.
It'll give me a gift card for you and your spouse to Texas to Brazil.
Which is a Brazilian steakhouse.
Okay.
It's actually better.
Than Fogo the chow.
Okay.
How many know what Fogo the chow is.
Okay.
It's better than that.
Okay.
So it's worth you getting a slip disk all that stuff on the bull.
Bashing your face in or whatever.
And so I hope I'm going to put that motivation out there.
So you have to be on there the longest to get that.
Okay.
And so please ride the bull.
It's not going to be crazy.
We're not going to we're not trying to hurt you.
All right.
Don't be a wimp please.
Okay.
Don't be a party pooper either.
All right.
And that's it.
Okay.
And brother Ulysses is going to be the one manning the controls.
And he has nothing against anybody here.
He's unbiased.
So you can safely trust in him that well maybe not him.
Trust in the Lord obviously.
He's apt.
Okay.
So he's just going to be on there.
And the rule is I think the rule is you're just going to have one hand on the bull.
Oh.
Yeah.
I mean like you know someone have a cowboy hat.
Out of all the weeks you guys bring hats.
No one brings a cowboy hat on this day.
You know you use your hand for something else.
Okay.
But that's that's the deal.
But I'm telling you the gift cards are worth it because I've been to that restaurant is
delicious.
Okay.
And so hopefully we see a line there and I'll be there to time everyone.
Now brother Ulysses and I we're going to participate as well but we're not going to get the gift
cards though even if we last longer because we work for the church.
So it'll be unlawful for us to do it.
Okay.
But it's expedient for you to do it.
It's very profitable.
So just keep that in mind.
And again there's going to be games.
Now the bull riding is not necessarily the highlight of the carnival.
It's going to be pretty pretty fun.
The highlight is the pie to the face we're doing.
So you know brother Geo and brother Christian have have graciously volunteered to use their
face to be pied.
Okay.
And so that'll be in the corner there.
They're going to stick their face to the hole and there's a certain distance they have
to be.
And I think that I think all these games here have gifts and prizes that you can win including
the pie to the face.
And so if you get it then you know you get a little prize or whatever.
So we're looking at we're looking forward to tonight's can be great.
It can be it can turn out really great to just be you know ambulances and it could be
really bad too.
Who knows.
You know this is how the Christian life is exciting.
Just keep things exciting.
So that's pretty much it.
Again I want to congratulate Connor Melissa the announcement that they're expecting.
We'll put that on the put them on the prayer bulletin there and just pray for her for a
safe delivery safe pregnancy.
And then you should just see the regular reminders at the bottom.
Please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction
during service.
Actually men if you can pass those out.
This is one of the only times that I'm actually passing out a lesson for tonight for the sermon
tonight entitled preventative medicine for the home.
And so along with the family nights I'm preaching on the family and just giving a lot of practice
practical tips.
And so go ahead and play some music for their it helps them to streamline their service
here.
Little faster but there.
And pens as well by the way.
Nothing that wasn't for you.
Anybody not have a lesson yet.
Right here.
We've got a couple of people here.
If we run out then you guys are just going to have to share but I don't think we're going to run
out.
OK let's go and take some Sony numbers from this past week's salvation from Monday to Thursday any
salvation from Monday to Thursday.
Yes.
Three salvations here.
Anybody else.
How about Friday and Saturday salvations for Friday and Saturday.
And then for this afternoon.
Salvations for this afternoon.
One for the Cody's team.
One for the Marcus's team.
One for brother Morris team.
Did I miss anybody.
Going once twice thrice.
All right.
Keep up the great work.
Let's go to see our next song one hundred and twelve.
Be still my soul.
Song number one hundred and twelve.
Be still my soul.
Song number one twelve.
As you're singing the song think about the lyrics you and your relationship with the Savior on the
first verse.
Be still my soul.
The Lord is on my side.
Bear patiently.
The cross of green for pain.
Lead through thy gun.
To order and provide.
In every change.
If faithful will remain.
Be still my soul.
My blessed my heavenly friend.
Through thorny ways.
Lead to a joyful end.
Be still my soul.
My God.
Under.
To God.
Sure.
The past.
By.
Call.
The.
The way.
The.
Be.
Be still my.
The.
Way.
For.
The.
Way.
The.
May grief and fear are gone, sorrow for God, love's purest joy restored.
Be still, my soul, when change and tears are past, all safe and blessed we shall be at last.
A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger.
The tongue of the wise useth knowledge all right, but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.
The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.
A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.
A fool despiseth his father's instructions, he that regardeth for proof is prudent.
In the house of the righteous is much treasure, but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble.
The lips of the wise disperse knowledge, but the heart of the foolish doeth not so.
The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord, but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness.
Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way, and he that hateth reproof shall die.
Hell and destruction are before the Lord, how much more than the hearts of the children of men.
A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him, neither will he go unto the wise.
A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge, but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness.
All the days of the afflicted are evil, but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.
Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith.
Better is a dinner of herbs, where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.
A wrathful man stirreth up strife, but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.
The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns, but the way of the righteous is made plain.
A wise son maketh a glad father, but a foolish man despiseth his mother.
Folliest joy to him that is destitute of wisdom, but a man of understanding walketh uprightly.
Without counsel purposes are disappointed, but in the multitude of counselors are they established.
A man hath joy by an answer of his mouth, and a word spoken in due season, how good is it?
The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from held beneath.
The Lord will destroy the house of the proud, but he will establish the border of the widow.
The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord, but the words of the pure are pleasant words.
He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house, but he that hateth give shall live.
The heart of the righteous studieth to answer, but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.
The Lord is far from the wicked, but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.
The light of the eyes rejoiceth the heart, and a good report maketh the bones fat.
The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise.
He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul, but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.
The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility.
Let's pray. Dear Lord God, thank you for every soul here at this church right now, Lord.
I just pray that you bless the preaching Lord, that you bless pastor and fill him with the Holy Spirit, Lord, as he preaches your word.
And I just give the congregation here attentiveness of hearing, Lord, and I pray that we go away edified, Lord.
We just pray that you bless the service. We pray this all in Jesus name. Amen.
Okay, tonight we're in Proverbs 15, and tonight I'm deviating a little bit by my usual delivery of a sermon.
And I'm actually gonna be more teachy tonight because I'm gonna talk about the home.
I'm gonna talk about marriage and child rearing over the next couple weeks or so, and it's part of our family nights.
And so I'm deviating a little bit, and part of that is we handed out those sheets there that are fill in the blanks
because I'm just gonna give a lot of practical points regarding the home, regarding marriage and child rearing.
And I do want to say that I'm really proud of our church for taking that serious in the sense that they're here tonight.
You guys want to learn and see what the Bible has to say about certain things and just get practical tips regarding the home.
And at the end of the day, you know, we want to have a strong soul-winning church.
We want to have a very doctrinally sound local New Testament church,
but we obviously want to have a very strong family-oriented church as well
because we want our church to last for a good amount of time.
And part of that is not just preaching the gospel and getting people saved.
It's actually teaching our children and raising them in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord, right?
And raising up another generation of soul-winners, of those who hate sin and are willing to take a stand in the future generations.
And so that's very much important. That's why we're having these evenings in the summer to kind of hit the reset button on the family.
If you look at verse 31 of Proverbs 15, it says,
The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise.
What is this talking about?
It's referring to the fact that a person who doesn't necessarily experience failure in their life,
but learns from the failure of others, that's a wise individual right there.
A lot of times we have to, in order for us to be successful or be knowledgeable about a certain area,
we sometimes, if we're too stubborn or hard-headed, we have to experience it firsthand in order to get that understanding.
Whereas a lot of the times we can just learn from someone else's mistakes.
Someone else's experience, someone else's mistakes.
And the Bible says that if your ear abides in the reproof of life,
whether that's someone else's reproof or even your own, you're among the wise.
You're a wise individual to give heed to those instructions.
But it says in verse 32,
He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul.
Now what kind of person refuses instruction?
A prideful person.
An arrogant person who feels like they know it all, they're not willing to learn anymore,
they're stubborn, they're proud, they're arrogant.
A person who's humble is willing to receive instruction and sees value in the reproof and the instructions of life.
But those who refuse it, they despise their own soul.
It says,
But he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.
The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility.
So obviously God places a heavy emphasis on the virtue of being able to receive instruction,
whether it's from the preaching of God's word, whether it's from the experiences of others.
We want to keep our ear to the ground and listen for instruction in all manner of life
so that we can be successful in different areas of our Christian life.
Now, the series I'm preaching or I'm starting this evening is entitled Preventative Medicine.
Okay, preventative medicine.
These are the principles that I'm going to give you to prevent certain things in your Christian life,
to prevent your marriage from falling apart, prevent your children from going astray,
prevent certain things that can take place in your home or in your Christian life that can be destructive.
Now, let me just say this by way of introduction.
These principles will not prevent conflicts in your marriage.
Okay.
In other words, every marriage has conflict.
Don't ever have this high expectation or unrealistic expectation, should I say,
that marriage is just an institution where there's no fights, no arguments, no conflicts whatsoever.
It's wrong because marriage is two individuals who are sinners who make mistakes
and therefore conflicts will arise.
So what I'm going to give you tonight will not prevent conflicts because conflicts are always going to arise.
Okay.
Another thing is this will not prevent unforeseen trials in your family.
Okay.
Sometimes there's unforeseen trials, things that you did not expect to take place.
This determines not to prevent that because sometimes we need those trials and tribulations in our life
to mature us and make us better.
This will not prevent a foolish child because by nature all children are foolish.
Okay.
They're going to do foolish things.
They're going to be disobedient.
There's going to be times of rebelliousness.
So this is not to prevent that.
And as I mentioned, they will not prevent arguments, disagreements or seasonal trials to occur in your family,
marriage and or child rearing.
Okay.
So don't have an unrealistic expectation of this sermon to say this is the key to all of your life's problems.
This is preventative medicine.
And if you're newly married or you've been married within the last couple of years, give heed to this.
If you've been married for a long time, view this as a reset button in your personal life
because these principles can still apply to you even though you've been married for quite some time.
Okay.
So I'm going to give you a lot of points here and I'll read the verses you can, I mean you have the verses there,
but you can view them later if you like or if you want to turn there immediately you can.
But let's talk about marriage for a little bit.
And some of these are going to get a little uncomfortable but that's, you know, that's alright.
You guys came here to get uncomfortable so let's just do it.
Let's talk about marriage.
Number one, and these are not in any particular order either.
Okay.
So let me just say this, tonight we're talking about marriage and child rearing.
I'm going to talk about homeschooling at a different week and then I'm going to talk to the singles at a different week as well.
I'm not going to tell you which week it is so that, you know, you just decide to miss on that.
You just schedule a cold on that day or something like that.
Okay.
Just be in church.
Number one, to prevent a sour complaining atmosphere in the home, learn and express gratitude.
To prevent a sour complaining atmosphere in the home, learn and express gratitude.
Colossians 3 17 says, and whatsoever you do in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
So in a home, we want to cultivate an atmosphere of just gratitude.
Right?
And at its most basic level, the way you do that is training your children to say thank you.
Not to have a spirit of expectation but rather to say thank you anytime you impart something to them.
And also just being grateful for your spouse.
In other words, when's the last time you thanked your wife for the dinner she made you?
When's the last time you thanked your spouse for a task that they would typically perform on a daily basis that you might take for granted but maybe you should express some gratitude for?
Gratitude goes a long way and can prevent having a complaining, sour atmosphere in the home where people just develop this spirit of just ingratitude, just being ungrateful.
The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5 18, and everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
This is a big thing in our home.
We want to teach our kids to say thank you for pretty much everything.
Right?
Anytime their older brother, if their brother or sister do a kind act for them like share their toy, they give them a bubble gum that they have.
We always say, what do you say?
What do you say?
Why?
Because we want to train our kids to not just take things for granted.
Right?
Which is why a lot of teenagers and young people today have this mentality, this entitlement mentality where it's like they think they deserve everything because they were never grateful for the things that they received.
They feel like they earned it or not earned it, but they deserved it or something.
We want to teach our kids that, you know, sometimes we don't deserve certain things.
And so when we get them, we should be grateful for them.
OK, say thank you.
Say thank you when mom places food on your plate.
Say thank you for the dinner that mom made.
Say thank you for dad and for him providing for the home.
Say thank you to your brother and sister for sharing their toys.
Have a spirit of gratitude.
OK, number two, to prevent burnout.
To prevent burnout, practice recreation.
And what I mean by burnout?
Well, sometimes husbands, if you're not careful, you don't want to go home.
Let's just be honest.
You don't want to go home because of the fact that you're kind of burned out with family life, work, whatever it may be.
Well, you want to prevent that because you need to be home.
So what you do in order to prevent the burnout of your family is you need to make sure you practice some sort of recreation.
Now, what do I mean? Well, within the marriage, here's recreation, dating.
OK, I know that's practical. I know it's pretty simple.
But dating, making sure you keep that physical relationship where it needs to be.
And we have a mixed group here, so I don't want to get too detailed in that.
But if you have two brain cells to rub together, you know what I'm talking about.
That part of the relationship needs to be healthy.
And in fact, it's actually against God's will to not participate in that with your spouse.
And you're making essentially, you're providing temptation for yourself and or your spouse if you're abstaining from that physical relationship.
So to prevent burnout in your marriage, practice recreation, dating, physical relationship, family days.
What is a family day? Well, let me give you just a personal example.
OK, personal testimony. My family day for me and my family is on Friday.
So after dad gets home from work, which I typically on Friday get home a little earlier than usual,
we have that Friday early afternoon or excuse me, late afternoon to evening designated for us as a family to do something fun together.
OK, whether that's going to Yogurtland or we go to the park or we go to the beach and play in the sand,
it's a time designated where we're not on our phones. We're not, I'm not dealing with church business.
We're not talking about anything else. We're just solely focusing on the family.
Maybe it's getting a pizza and being at home and watching an Andy Griffith together or something like that.
How many know what Andy Griffith is? Shame on everyone else. You guys did not have a childhood.
Having a family day, you say, yeah, but I'm too tired. I don't want to have a family day.
OK, well, first of all, you need to learn to like your family day, number one.
But secondly, it's more for your kids than anything else.
They need to create those memories with their parents to have, you know, on a weekly basis something that they could look forward to and say,
I can't wait till Friday when we all spend the day together and have that family trips.
OK, so dates, family days, family trips, you know, a staycation.
And you think to yourself, well, you know, we don't have enough money for that.
Then do a staycation where you don't even go that far.
You get an Airbnb somewhere close by for a day and you get away and you create memories with your family.
OK, you know, a great way to do this is if you do have the means, go to the Red Hot Preaching Conference, you know,
and plan a trip to go to Sacramento, whether it's for a few days or if you have the capability for a week.
That's a great opportunity for you and your family to create memories to say, you know what, this is what we do once a year.
We take a trip up there and we have a bunch of fun. We create all these memories.
We eat ice cream. We go out to eat. We hear preaching. Just a fun time.
You're like, I don't know. This seems kind of redundant.
You'll thank me in 10 years because this is very essential for kids, especially when they're young, to create these types of memories when they're little.
And, you know, we need to give our kids more credit than we already give them to realize that our kids actually have a really good memory.
OK, they're very impressionable when they're young, when they're four, five, six, seven years old.
They're very impressionable and they will remember those things.
So to prevent burnout in your family life, in your marriage, with your children, you need to have and practice recreation.
Don't be such a holier than thou that it's just like it's all work and no fun.
You know, we're Christians. We're serving the Lord. Can't have fun. Wrong.
OK, you're supposed to recreate and have that time with your family.
And I've mentioned this before. Let's say you don't have the financial means to do something like that, where you take a trip.
OK, then make it, or you don't have the financial means to do it on a Sunday or something.
Or, I'm sorry, to do it once a week where you guys go out and do something, go to a restaurant.
OK, then make soul winning on a Sunday or recreational period where you go out soul winning and then you go get an ice cream afterwards.
You say, yeah, but, you know, buying ice cream for all these kids, make them share.
What's wrong with buying a large Coke and everyone shares that Coke?
There's absolutely nothing wrong with that.
And in fact, if you think there's something wrong with that, then you have a bad perspective on money or, you know, living below your means.
Because at the end of the day, the kids don't care.
You know, you buy your kids a large fry and you have them all share that fry, that large fry, they'll be ecstatic about it.
Unless you're just always giving your kids what they want.
And so that's just a tip there. Number three, let your spouse utilize their strengths.
Let your spouse utilize their strengths.
That's pretty general, but let's give an example here.
What do I mean by that?
Well, sometimes there's conflicts in marriage because of the fact that one party does not necessarily understand the strengths of the other or even the weaknesses.
But more so, let's talk about the strengths here.
You know, for example, if you have a marriage and one of the spouses is better at finances, let that spouse take care of the finances.
Let's say your wife is better at finances than you.
Let her take care of the finances.
It doesn't mean you're any less of a man.
It doesn't mean you're not the leader.
It doesn't mean that you're any less in essence.
It means your wife is just better at finances than you.
And you're not relinquishing your authority.
You're not, you know, delegating your manhood.
If you're allowing your wife who's good at finances to take care of the finances, maybe that is your strength.
And the Bible tells us that a prudent wife is of the Lord.
So maybe God knows that you suck with the money.
So he gave you a wife that's good with money to kind of help balance you out.
I think that's great.
But you have to have the maturity to understand that your wife has certain strengths that you don't.
And it takes a humble man to say, okay, you're in charge.
Now, let me say this is that people listen to something like that and say, oh, man, you know, what you're saying is that like I have to ask her for permission or something.
No, the order is still existent.
In other words, the one who has the final say in all purchases, grand purchases, so to speak, is the man, right?
Like, for example, my wife is in charge of the finances because she's great with them.
She's excellent with the finances, far better than I would be with the finances.
And so she's in charge of it.
Now, any major purchases, she comes to me before and says, are you okay with us doing this?
And I say yes or I say no.
One of the two, ultimately, I get the final say because I'm ultimately in charge of the finances.
But I delegate that responsibility and the details to her because she's really good at it.
And here's the thing, when you allow your spouse to take care of an area that they're strong in, they kind of flourish in that area.
It's actually really good for them.
And they can flourish, they can feel like they're being successful at home.
And it places within them a heart of confidence knowing that their spouse or husband safely trusts in her in that particular area of the home.
So let your spouse utilize their strengths.
If they're good at something specific, allow them to use that in the home to the best of their abilities.
Give them as much liberty in that particular area as possible.
Do not hinder them. Don't allow your manhood to get in the way and say, well, you know, then everyone's going to think that she's in charge.
Well, then, you know, then you got other issues, okay?
Because that's not the point here.
1 Corinthians 12 verse 7 says, But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all.
For to one is given the Spirit of the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another the faith by the same Spirit, to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
But all these worketh that one and self same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
Obviously, as a husband, you have the responsibility that if your wife thinks she's good at something, but she's really not, then you obviously have to take that responsibility back if they're not taking care of that in its proper way.
So you're obviously the man, you are the CEO of the company.
So if your wife has to be a good manager in that particular area, but if she has that strength, and obviously I'm using finances, but this could be applicable to all different kinds of areas.
If she has that strength, then allow her to utilize it, she'll be a lot more happier at home knowing full well that you're okay with her delegating a specific sphere of responsibility in the home.
So let your spouse utilize their strengths.
Number four, to prevent a resentful spouse, keep your spouse's emotional tank full.
To prevent a resentful spouse, keep your spouse's emotional tank full.
If you're not careful, we can really get caught up in the day to day tasks and responsibilities in marriage that we neglect the most important person in our life from an earthly perspective, which is our spouse.
And we might take them for granted, and just kind of, you know, we just were busy all the time, not knowing that it's our responsibility to make sure that their emotional tank is full.
And when you don't fill your gas tank, or let's not even use the gas tank illustration, let's say the oil, I think that's more applicable.
You know, when you're not changing your oil, and you're just running that thing on fumes, you might be able to do that for a while, but then all of a sudden you're going to be driving down the freeway, and then all this smoke is going to start issuing out.
You blow a gasket, am I right? I don't know, I'm not a mechanic here. I'm just speaking by experience. Mark, is that correct? You crack the head gasket, right?
What he said. Told you!
Told you! You know, the head gasket cracks, and you have all this smoke billowing out, and you ignore the check engine light for so long, you put tape over it or whatever.
You get Mark to use his little computer so it goes away, you know what I mean? But it doesn't really fix the problem.
Okay, now you're in deep trouble. Now you're going to have to get a new motor. Now you might as well just get another vehicle. Now, that doesn't apply to marriage though, okay?
Because you can't get another spouse, okay? However, you can blow a motor, a head gasket, to a point where if you're not keeping that emotional tank full, if you're not satisfying your spouse emotionally, the way they need it, and you're just kind of taking them for granted, they become resentful towards you, you blow a head gasket, and then your marriage completely falls apart thereafter.
You're like, no, she's supposed to respect me and reverence me. This is what the Bible says! Submit to me, and I'm just going to show her Ephesians 5.
If she ever comes at me with that stuff, I'm just going to be like, Ephesians 5, read it. You don't believe the Bible? I thought you were a Baptist!
Yeah, try that out and tell me how that works. Go ahead and try that out and tell me, let me know how that goes for you when you try that, okay? It doesn't work, let me just be honest with you, okay?
It creates resentment, bitterness, and now you have to work twice as hard to fix the engine, and make sure that once it's fixed, you get a new motor in that vehicle, a renewed motor in that vehicle, you're keeping up with the oil change, meaning you're keeping that tank full, you are fulfilling the emotional desires of your spouse.
Now, what do I mean by that? I have a lot of points, so I'm just going to give you a couple things. You know, it really depends on your spouse, and this is why the Bible tells us to dwell with our wives according to knowledge, because every wife is different.
Some wives require you to verbally tell them that you're thankful for them, that you love them, that they're beautiful, and they need these words, right? Some women don't care about that stuff, they just want you to buy them things.
You know, they require like gifts. I'm serious, I'm just telling you, okay? You know, others don't necessarily care for that, they just want your time. They just want you to spend quality time with them. You got to figure out what you got to do for your wife, okay?
Not for my wife, not for anyone else's wife, because not all wives are the same. You got to figure out what you got to do for your wife, and do that which is necessary to keep oil in that tank so that you don't blow a gasket.
They become resentful towards you, become bitter towards you, and yeah, they're running your home, and they're your wife, but in the long run, you're going to pay big time, okay?
And most of the time, listen to this, and this is not, I'm not blasting anybody, I'm just saying by experience, most of the time, because I'm a spiritual mechanic, okay?
Most of the time people come to me when the gasket's already blown, when there's smoke already billowing out, right? Not when the check engine light was on, you know? You want to avoid that, okay?
So remember, the sermon's preventative medicine. So if your check engine light is on in your marriage right now, now's the time to get help.
Not when the gasket has been blown out and we have to go pick you up off the 405 and get your marriage towed to First Works Baptist Church to get it fixed.
Nah, that's what we got to do, that's what we got to do. Mark, I'm sure you've been in situations where you've had both, you know, a car that's just completely destroyed, you know, and Mark's probably one of the most optimistic mechanics.
The car can literally be on fire and he's like, ah, it's fine, we'll fix it, you know? He's like, no problem, we'll fix it. Just put some water on it, you know, I don't know, on a car that's on fire or something, you know?
But, you know, I'm sure he prefers when the issue is not really that big. That way it's fixable and you don't have to worry about, you know, the cost. Because look, it's costly to get a new motor.
Well, you know what, it's costly to fix a broken marriage when it's already falling apart. Gaskets and all messed up and that's all I know that a car has is gaskets, so that's all I'm saying.
Alright, let me move on here. So remember, to prevent a resentful spouse, keep that emotional tank full. And let me say, that not only goes for the wives, it goes for the husbands too, wives.
You know, make sure you're keeping your husband's emotional tank full and one of the best ways to do that is not disrespect him, but to respect him.
And it seems pretty practical, but let me say this, that goes a long way. If you render to your husband respect, because he's your husband and you're doing it as unto Christ, you will have a happy marriage.
Very important. Reverence, respect, things of that nature.
Number five. To prevent confusion and unnecessary major conflicts, live out biblical roles. What do I mean by that? Husband is the leader and the provider.
Wife is the keeper at home and caretaker of the children. It's not very complicated, right?
Major conflicts and unnecessary confusion arise when these roles are not being fulfilled. When you have a stay at home dad, which is not biblical at all.
And I don't mean stay at home like you have a business at home. Don't confuse that. By stay at home dad, I mean the wife is the breadwinner and the husband is the one homeschooling the kids or something.
That's a nightmare. That's destruction waiting to happen. It's not the proper role.
So if you want to prevent confusion, unnecessary major conflicts, you need to make sure you get into your role. Know your role.
Who said that? Was it The Rock or something? Know your role. I mean there's wisdom in that. Your role as a husband is to be the leader and to bring home the bacon.
And stop sending your wife to go out and work in the secular world so you can have all these extra toys.
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a stalled ox and hatred therewith. And so better is beans and tortillas for dinner.
But you know, you're fulfilling your God-given roles than having a stalled ox, but your wife is the one who got it for you.
Now look, that's not to say that a wife can't have a home business. We see the proper 31 woman. She had a business and she definitely brought in some income.
But let me say this is that the major bills of the home should be paid by the husband. Anything above that should be recreational money if the wife provides that.
You never want your wife to pay the bills. By the way, this is the second time today that someone has walked out of a service because of something I'm preaching.
And it's just going to happen every single year. In our ministry, that's number six actually. I've had at least six people walk out of the service and all of them have been women by the way.
They've all been women. And it's just like, you haven't even heard the worst of what I can preach. I mean, I can get pretty harsh, you know.
But this morning, some woman literally got up and walked out of the service because I was preaching. It's just like, this ain't nothing. You weren't here in June.
I remember the first time a lady walked out of the service, I like, it wasn't even part of the sermon. I was just like, the Jews aren't God's chosen people.
And that's like the lightest thing I've ever said about the Jews. You know what I mean? That was like the most nicest thing I've ever said about Jews.
And she was like, no, no, no. But she got up and she like walked out of the service.
The second time a lady walked out of the service is because I told her she can't be speaking in church because women ought to keep silence in the church, amen.
And she got upset and she walked out. When was the third time? Oh, the third time was like a couple months ago here.
I was talking about how rich people, it's harder for them to enter into the kingdom of God and then she just got up and walked out.
And then this morning another lady just did that and then we have this lady who just did it. Couldn't she just wait until she left before he said no?
Well, she ain't coming back so, oh well. I've only had one dude, a guy walk out of the service.
And I'm not even counting that dude who was sitting in the back that one time who left before. He left when we were singing a song.
It's like, oh man. I'm talking about a dude who came one time and I know I'm deviating from the sermon right now but I'm just...
You know there's one dude who was in the service and I said fags or something and the guy just got up and he just walked out.
But the thing is his friend came to our church so his friend was his ride so where's he going to go?
So he just like stood outside and waited until the service was over and I didn't even notice until I walked outside.
I was like, hey, he's like, nah, I don't want to shake your hand. I don't agree with you. I'm thinking he's a fag hack. Whatever.
Just get used to it, okay? So anyways, she walked out and I'm talking about biblical roles here.
By the way, if you don't agree with what I'm saying, the door's right there. So yeah, you can leave at any time you want.
If you don't agree with anything that I'm saying and you think it's unbiblical or I'm not being nice,
then go to some limp-wristed faggoty pastor who will tell you what you want to hear and tell you that, you know,
the woman can be independent and run their home and all this stuff. Go to that dude then. You're not going to get that here.
So anyways, hey look, I'm in charge here just as a man is in charge of his home. I'm in charge of the church here.
And so this is the role, this is the order of the church here, my friends. This is God's order in a home that a man's supposed to be a provider.
A woman's supposed to be a keeper at home. Doesn't mean she can't work at home or, you know, have a business.
But when it comes to paying the bills, the man should be doing that, okay?
Let's move on here before anybody else gets offended.
Number six, to prevent bitterness, forgive. To prevent bitterness, forgive.
We talk about marriage. There's instances where things can be done, words can be said, situations can take place, arise,
and it creates resentment, bitterness. What is the solution? Forgiveness is the solution.
Just old-fashioned forgiveness, okay? You don't need a 12-step program. Really, at the end of the day, it is forgiveness.
The Bible says,
One of the greatest things you can do in your marriage, one of the greatest things you can practice in marriage,
and please do not take this lightly, is practicing forgiveness. Early and often, okay?
Practicing forgiveness early and often.
If I ever have conflict with my wife, and I feel like I don't have a right spirit towards her, I feel like I was being mean to her,
I will do the best I can in my power to resolve it as soon as possible and ask her to forgive me.
Why? Because of the fact that I'd rather deal with the hill than the mountain.
So if I can deal with it when it's small, and ask for forgiveness then, and forgive her when she offends me,
and not just let it go for days, weeks, months on end, we can avoid a lot of drama.
So one of the greatest pieces of advice that you can get tonight, do not take it lightly.
I know you want to go ride the bull, I know you're hungry, but listen to this.
Practice forgiveness early and often. Don't hold grudges against your spouse.
If you're mad against them, let them know, I'm upset, and you offended me, and the second party should say,
well please forgive me for doing that. You will save yourself a lifetime of heartache if you practice forgiveness early and often.
Number seven, to prevent a wounded spirit, choose your words wisely.
The Bible says in Proverbs 18 14, the spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit, who can bear?
And this applies to a marriage, but it also applies to children. You can wound the spirit of your wife,
you can wound the spirit of your children by the words that you say.
And sometimes it's just like, yeah, but they need to hear the truth. Okay, then choose your words wisely when you say it then.
You need to make sure that you discern how to speak to your wife. If she's a sensitive woman, speak to her in that way.
Because you can wound them and it can cut deep, it can cut deep.
And you know, yeah sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me, but that's actually not true.
Words can hurt, especially if they come from your spouse.
Okay, the tongue is a fire, you know, a world of iniquity.
And so sometimes it's just choosing your words wisely and choosing when to say it.
As a pastor, I have to like pray for discernment, not only on what to say to a person, but when to say it as well.
Sometimes I have to think through and say, when do I need to talk about this? Does it need to be now?
Now when it comes to the pulpit, those rules do not apply here.
Okay, you know, I got to preach whatever I got to preach, what the Bible says, as hard as I possibly can, unfiltered, cry out loud and spare not.
And so that doesn't apply. I'm talking about when I'm dealing with people face to face, one on one.
Okay, all right, number eight.
To prevent mistrust, be transparent with your spouse.
And let's be specific here. Social media, bank accounts, text messages, phone calls, where you're at at all times.
Oh man, I just feel like that's just too much. Then that's why no one trusts you.
Probably why your spouse doesn't trust you.
You see, my wife has the authority to just look through my phone anytime.
If my wife goes through my phone, I'm like, Whoa, what are you doing? What are you doing?
You know, why? You have your own phone. Why do you have to go through my phone?
That's us. She should have the liberty to go through my phone and see who I'm texting, see who's messaging me.
And if I got, look, the truth fears no investigation. Right?
So if we got nothing to hide, we got nothing to fear.
Transparency is extremely important in a relationship.
Making sure that you keep no secrets from your spouse.
Separate bank accounts, I'm not for that. There should be only one bank account.
Why have to? Social media, text messages, and just being accountable to your spouse.
Whenever I'm going somewhere, I let my wife know this is where I'm going.
What's wrong with that? Like, Oh man, it sounds like, you know, it sounds like that's a little too strict there or something.
Aren't you a grown man? Well, that's why I'm doing it because I'm a grown man.
Because a grown man has no problem having accountability.
It's little kids who have problems having accountability.
It's immature people who have problems with that.
I have no problem telling my wife, Hey, I'm going to be over here. I'll be this late.
Sometimes I fail at that part though, you know, just like, you know, being late for dinner or something like that.
Or, you know, I'm on my way home. I'm leaving the parking lot right now because I want my wife to trust me.
And you know what? I've had years and years and years of consistency in that area.
And so, you know, if I miss a day, she's not necessarily going to, she's not going to go crazy on me or anything like that.
Because I've already built a reservation of trust with her because I'm consistent in that area.
So be accountable to your spouse, you know.
And I'm not saying, yeah, check it, check my phone, you know.
But I'm just saying, let your wife know, let your husband know, Hey, I think you trust me.
But, you know, if you ever want to check my phone, go for it, you know.
This is the passcode. Here's my Instagram. Here's my Facebook.
All yours, you know. There's nothing wrong with that.
It prevents mistrust. Be transparent with your spouse, okay.
Hey, if some lady hits on you, which I don't think it'll happen to any of you in here.
I just got to be general here. Some lady hits on you, tell your wife about it.
I have to tell my wife that like every day. Just kidding.
You know, if that were to happen, I'll tell my wife, you know, this lady was acting all weird around me and stuff, you know.
I mean, be transparent about it. Don't keep it a little secret.
You know, let these secrets fester in you and you're not being honest and transparent with your wife.
Be honest and vice versa. You know, if some dude's hitting on you or being weird around you at the grocery store,
when you're out doing running errands or something like that, go talk to your husband about it.
This dude is being weird. I think he was trying to hit on me or something like that and flash my finger at him.
I mean, my ring finger and not the other finger.
Although that wouldn't necessarily be bad, you know. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Number nine. I'm not even going to be able to get done with the child rearing part. We'll see.
Number nine, to prevent a lack of understanding. Okay, this is really important, really important, okay.
To prevent a lack of understanding, communicate.
Let me teach you ladies something really important about men. Don't miss this.
Are all ladies listening? Look up here ladies. I'm going to teach you something that you probably don't know about your husband.
You probably don't know about a lot of men. This is life changing. Husbands can't read minds.
Did you know that? Husbands can't. Ariel, Marcos can't read your mind, Ariel.
Can't read minds. I know you want us to and look, you know, we want superpowers too but that's just not going to happen.
So you know what you have to do? You have to communicate.
And, you know, obviously that's like a work in progress sometimes.
Because girls are not necessarily the best at communicating what the real issue is sometimes.
Like I'll give you a personal example. My daughter is probably going to get mad at me for this but Checha I love you.
But this is a great illustration here, okay. We're on a vacation, not vacation, I was preaching at a church.
And I took my daughter with me on the trip. So she was with me on the trip and I was kind of getting an inkling that she was going to get homesick.
She hasn't really been away from home, away from her mom for that long.
But she was doing really well and then towards almost the end of the trip, probably like the day before, she would just start bawling her eyes out.
And I'm like, Checha what's wrong? And she's like, I don't know.
I'm like, why are you crying? I don't know why I'm crying.
And this happened like a couple times and every time I ask her she's just like, I don't know why I'm crying.
I'm like, man, my daughter is like legitimately a girl.
You know, if I'm crying, you ask me when I'm crying, I'm like, you know, I just stub my toes.
I don't know, I can point to something specific, okay.
But girls, you know, they're not the best at communicating.
And you know what, let me say this guys, is that sometimes when and if your wife cries,
they don't necessarily need a three-step program how to solve their issue that they got going on.
Because you know me, I'm a pastor so I'm just like, easy.
I know the Bible, here's ten things you need to do to get rid of your problem.
Number one, get right with God, right?
Get the sin out of your life.
Two, start referencing me.
You know, it's just like, you got all the points here, you fulfilled these ten things, you're good to go.
Problem solved, stop crying.
But sometimes ladies will cry and they want to talk to you but they don't want a solution.
Now this is very foreign to men and trust me, I understand.
Because you know, I understand why it would be like weird because I'm a dude.
And so sometimes, you know, women want to just talk but they don't necessarily want a solution, believe it or not.
They just want you to listen.
And that's kind of like, it's mind-boggling to the man.
You're like, but if you just do these things, the problems will go away.
Like you don't need to cry, you know, it'll fix the issue.
But they don't want that.
You're like, why? I don't know.
This is as far as I can, this is as far as I've gotten.
Sometimes they just need to talk about it and just express that they're sad or they're crying and they're just, you know.
It reminds me of this video on YouTube and I think it's called The Nail and the Head, right?
I think it's called The Nail and the Head or something.
And it's a really funny video because it's like this couple and the wife is just like, you know,
I just, I feel like I just got something in my mind, in my head.
And she's just like, and then the husband's like, you know, I think I know how to fix that.
And she's like, you know what, you never listen.
You're always trying to create solutions, you never listen.
And he's like, okay, alright.
She's like, but anyways, it's just like a pain.
A pain that I feel deep in my mind.
And then the camera backs away and you see like a nail lodged in her forehead.
And he's like, if we just remove the nail.
And she's like, see, you're doing it again.
You're just, you're not listening, you know.
And what the video's trying to convey is the fact that to us the problem is just easily solved.
But women don't want to just solve the problem.
They just want to talk about it.
So this is a time when men, we need to be swift to hear, slow to speak.
Okay.
Now that's what we need to do, but ladies, help us out.
Communicate.
Communication is key.
Okay.
And there's nothing more that we love as men as just clear communication.
Just telling us plainly, make the path straight for us.
Okay.
Be a John the Baptist and explain clearly what the issue is so that we can just listen.
I guess, you know.
And so let me give you one point from the child rearing and then we're done.
I'll finish just on the one point on the child rearing.
And I'm going to continue this next week.
But be here for next week because there's some things that I really feel like we need to talk about as a church on here regarding child rearing.
Okay.
Number one for child rearing, we're talking about preventative medicine.
To prevent your child going to hell or acting like hell, spank them.
To prevent your child from going to hell or acting like hell, spank them.
The Bible says in Proverbs 23 verse 13, withhold not correction from the child, for if thou beatest them with the rod, he shall not die.
Thou shall beat him with the rod and shall deliver his soul from hell.
Let me say this.
It's a blessing to have a family integrated church, but you need to make sure you do it right.
We need to do the family integrated church thing correctly.
And by correctly I mean you need to discipline your children.
When they do wrong, when they disobey, when they're rebellious, okay.
Or if they're behaving maliciously in church towards others, they need to be disciplined for that.
And when I say discipline, I'm not saying with your words either.
Don't do that.
Stop that.
I mean a physical chastisement as the Bible prescribes, okay.
Now it may be that some people don't want to chastise their children because maybe they were never spanked.
Maybe you were never spanked.
But you know what, you need to change that and institute that in your life.
And you know what, if you feel like you don't have the right discernment of when to spank, how to spank,
come talk to me, go talk to my wife, go talk to someone who's had children and is disciplining their children
to get some tips and advice on how to do that, okay.
But that needs to be an integral part of your child rearing and that is spanking.
And let me say this, spanking does work.
And the reason I say that is because some of us, myself included, we have a rambunctious little one in the fold, you know.
And sometimes there are certain children that just are more spirited than others.
You guys know what I'm talking about?
Do we know, or do I need to be more specific, okay.
You know sometimes there's children that are more rambunctious than others.
And it almost seems, moms can often feel like, I don't even know if I'm making any progress.
Because I spank, I spank, I spank and they're still, trust the process, it works.
You may not see immediate results, but you will see results in the long run.
It does work.
So if you're spanking your child, and again I'm speaking by personal testimony because we got a rambunctious little one in the fold.
And I'm constantly reminding my wife, it works.
I know it feels like sometimes it doesn't, like you're not making any progress, but you are making progress.
You need to keep it up, keep spanking, keep chastising them, you know, don't give in, make sure you're disciplining him.
We will see results in the long run, I promise you.
And the reason I can promise my wife that is because I'm basing it off of God's word.
I mean what are we going to say, the Bible's not true or something in that regard?
Spanking your children does work.
And look, you know people are freaking out over this stupid documentary that
whatever about Bill Gothard and what he taught about spanking and how it's so similar to ours.
That's because he just copied us.
Copies fundamental Baptists.
So don't get duped by that and say, oh because he taught spanking, he's a false prophet.
That means anybody who teaches on spanking, you know, they're a part of that same group.
Wrong, those guys are a bunch of freaks and pedophiles.
Okay, a bunch of false prophet freaks and pedophiles who steal the right doctrine from the right people
so they can masquerade as a man of God and deceive people.
You can see it in the Bible, spanking is biblical my friends.
Okay, and it will deliver your child from hell because it teaches your kids that life has consequences.
But not only that, even after they're saved, it helps them to grow up to not be a spoiled little brat.
With the victim mentality disrespecting anyone and everyone, spanking is necessary.
Okay, and so I'm going to stop right there. I got more points on child rearing.
Preventative medicine. I hope you keep that sheet and not throw it in the trash because you got offended.
Just, you know, sleep on it, okay?
You know, I promise you it will help.
And so we'll pray. I'm going to pray for the food as well.
We're going to sing that last song and then we're all just going to dismiss, okay?
So let's pray. Father, we thank you so much again.
We're thankful for our salvation. We're thankful for the institution of the church.
We're also thankful for the institution of marriage and the family.
I pray that you give us wisdom as your people, Lord, to raise our children in the nurturing and admonition of the Lord.
And to have a marriage that glorifies you in every way, Lord.
I pray that you help us to take these principles to heart and bless us as we go on our way.
And also bless the food that we're about to eat.
Thank you so much for the fellowship and for the members of our church, Lord.
Keep us safe as we're out here as we fellowship together and bless the food in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. Go ahead and please turn in your song books to song number 188, The Love of God.
Song number 188. Song number 188, The Love of God. On that first verse.
The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell.
It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell.
The guilty pair bowed down with care. God gave his son to him.
His erring child he reconciled and parted from his sin.
Oh, love of God, how rich and pure, how measureless and strong.
It shall forevermore endure the saints and angels sung.
When holy time shall pass away and earthly thrones and kingdoms fall.
Women who here refuse to pray on rocks and hills and mountains call.
God's love so pure shall still endure all measureless and strong.
Redeeming grace to Adam's race, the saints and angels sung.
Oh, love of God, how rich and pure, how measureless and strong.
It shall forevermore endure the saints and angels sung.
Could we with ink the ocean fill and were the skies of parchment made?
When every stock on earth ink will and every man to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the hole, it'll stretch from sky to sky.
Oh, love of God, how rich and pure, how measureless and strong.
It shall forevermore endure the saints and angels sung.
Great singing. You're dismissed.