(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 Good morning everyone, let's sing our sates and welcome to Verde Baptist Church Manila. Let's start our first service and let's begin with opening our hymns to hymn number 53. Let's sing the song Beulah Land, hymn number 53. Hymn number 53, Beulah Land, everybody on the first. 🎵I've reached the land of joy, divine hand, all is rich and sweet in mind. Here shines a dim, wonderful day, for all my night has passed away. Oh, Beulah Land, see, Beulah Land has only highest wealth, I said. I look away across the sea, where mansions are prepared for me, and view the shining, glory shore, my head, my home forevermore. My Savior comes and walks with me, and sweet communion here have we. It gently leads me by a scent, for this is heaven's borderland. Oh, Beulah Land, sweet Beulah Land has only highest wealth, I said. I look away across the sea, where mansions are prepared for me, and view the shining, glory shore, my head, my home forevermore. Everybody on hymn number 53, on the third. 🎵Our sweet perfume of wonderbeast is born from heaven's throne, and stars that never fade in growth, where sweet supply forever flow. Oh, Beulah Land, sweet Beulah Land has only highest wealth, I said. I look away across the sea, where mansions are prepared for me, and view the shining, glory shore, my head, my home forevermore. The stepper seems to float to me, sweet sounds of heaven's melody, as angels with a white robe flow, join in the sweet redemption song. Oh, Beulah Land, sweet Beulah Land has only highest wealth, I said. Yes, mother sand, I look away across the sea, where mansions are prepared for me, and view the shining, glory shore, my head, my home forevermore. Great day, everybody. We thank the Lord for this morning. We ask the Lord that you bless our service and that you would bless the members who are still coming here. I pray, Lord, I just want to thank you for your protection for the whole week. I pray that you would bless our pastor, Lord, as he preaches a sermon to us, Lord. I pray that you would help him and help him in the Holy Spirit, Lord. I pray that you would just bless this special day, our special event for us, as our church will have banquet. And I pray that you would also bless the events in the afternoon, and also the going and singing, the reading of the word, and most especially the preaching of the sermon. I pray that you would also allow us to preach the gospel this afternoon. We're asking all of these things. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church. And take out your bulletin. We'll go through some announcements real quickly. Our verse of the week is Genesis chapter 2 verse 18. The Bible reads, and the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make an help meet for him. That's a great verse. We'll tie into both of the sermons here today. We are a family integrated church, meaning children and infants are welcome during the services. We do have a mother baby room back there for your convenience, and the men's restroom, and the lady's restroom. The basic rules on the mother baby room are down there below. On the next page, in the middle of your bulletin, our service times are listed. First service is at 10 a.m. Second service is at 11.15. Wednesday evening Bible study is at 7 p.m. Official soul winning times are listed there in the bulletin for Wednesday's meeting at the church building at 4 p.m. Saturday soul winning will be announced each week. And of course, we do have soul winning this afternoon. For today's soul winning, if you are a married couple that is staying for the banquet, we're going to have your soul winning nearby, because obviously, we have a lot of activities to do. If you're not part of the married couple sweetheart banquet, we're going to send you a long ways away, or something like that. So if you're a married couple, but you're not planning to stay for the banquet, just let brother Chris know who's going to be doing the pairing. But otherwise, we'll have you nearby so we can get back for the event. Our salvations and baptisms are listed there for the year, as well as the month for all of our churches and our monthly church services. The next page, our Bible memorization challenge. And so for the book of the year, it is the book of Ecclesiastes. A question came up this past week. What if you memorize a chapter of Ecclesiastes? Does that count for the monthly prize? And it does count for the monthly prize. So if you memorize chapter one, you can get your monthly prize. And then if you end up finishing all of the chapters at some point during the year, you'll get a big prize. And then of course, we have the normal memorization for ages below eight. And New Testament Bible reading challenge. So we're obviously past the month of January. The prizes are over there on the table. So if you're able to read the entire New Testament in the month of January, you can pick out one prize. We have various different options that are over there. All of them are incredibly healthy. Lots of energy. Lots of carbs. Energy's good. All of them very healthy. So you've got your choice over there. And let's see. Upcoming activities. So let me just give you a quick rundown for the banquet here today. So the order of events. Lunch is first after the service. The lunch is not catered. So bring your own lunch or order lunch or whatever. And then we have soul winning time. And then we have pictures for the married couples. Just individually pictures, each couple. And then a group photo with all of the married couples. And then we have the catered food. And then we have the not so newlywed game. And then we have marriage counseling. And inflation's really hit hard this past year. So unfortunately, I've had to increase my rates. Okay. But I can do group or individually. And so we can talk about that afterwards. I hope I'm joking. I guess we'll find out later on. But anyways, the game is always a fun time. And we had a great time yesterday in Pampanga doing the married couple sweetheart banquet. It's great just to get questions going. Kind of spurs you on and just talk to your spouse more and get to know them better and think about these things. And let's see. We have listed there in the bulletin the missions trips coming up. February 17th through the 23rd. The 22nd is Saturday. The 23rd is Sunday. I believe every single day during that week, we have school preaching. The 17th through the 21st. And so some of the schools, we have more opportunities. Some we have less. Obviously, we're going to give first dibs to those that are actually coming here for the missions trip. You will not get opportunities like this in the US. We're excited about that. And then we have the Beagle missions trip, February 24th through March 2nd. Not in the bulletin because obviously this is new news. But as I mentioned in the group chat, Pastor Jimenez will be here on that Sunday. And so if you're not already booked through to Beagle through Sunday, it's up to you what you want to do. But you could always decide to come back here. Pastor Jimenez will be preaching on that Sunday. I'm not 100% for sure of his entire schedule yet. I'll know more as we get closer. His family is going to be staying. Him, his father and his sons are going to be staying in Pampanga though, but they will be coming up here for that Sunday service on March 2nd. One thing I did want to mention, because we actually, a few days ago in Pampanga, we've never really had the opportunity to preach in schools. We've just always been rejected. And we had a lot of success a few days ago. And what I heard is that the head of the values program, at least in central Luzon, is a different person. So it's a lot more, I mean, most of the schools actually accepted us, which was a shock to us. But I think just as a result of being past COVID and just a certain impeached vice president no longer being the head of the education department, I think it's kind of making it more open, at least according to the teacher that we talked to. So praise God for that, that there could be a much more open door than there was before. Because when we talked to the schools, they were excited, like, yeah, we're trying to get schools to partner with us. And so that's awesome because I think we're going to be able to get into a lot more schools going forward than we did in the past. So praise God for that. Let's take up the advantage of that opportunity. As I said, during the mission strip the entire week, I think we're going to have one every single day. So we have a lot coming up. This Thursday, we do have a school preaching. I believe it starts at 10 AM. It ends at 1.30. Four different preaching sections, 11 people preaching at one time simultaneously. So I think 44 sections. And so if you're available on Thursday between 10 to 1.30, we can definitely use you. We're bringing up a lot of people from Pampanga. Some have not gotten the chance to preach yet in schools. But this Thursday, if you have the opportunity, I'll mention in the group chat later on. So there'll be a great opportunity this coming Thursday. Next Sunday, we'll have a brief meeting about the Manila missions trip. I presume those that are going to be coming for it from out of town or out of country will actually be here by that date just so they can kind of know the schedule where everything is. As I said, since there's school preaching, I think every day, it's going to be kind of the main thing in the morning. Go to the schools and then they can do soul winning in the afternoons if they would like. Then we have our current upcoming series, the book of Matthew. We're not going to be preaching through that here today because both sermons are going to be themed on marriage and birthdays and anniversaries there. On the back, we have the basic rules of conduct for a church, and you should have an insert in your bulletins to take notes for both of the sermons here today. So I believe that's the pronouncements while Brother Marlon lead us in another song. All right, for our next song, let's turn our hymns to hymn number 54. Let's sing the song, All That Will Be Glory. On the first, when all my labors and trials are o'er, and I am safe on that beautiful shore, just to be near the dear Lord I adore, will through the ages be glory for me. All that will be glory for me, glory for me, glory for me, when by his grace I shall look on his face. That will be glory, be glory for me, when by the hymn of his infinite grace I am accorded in heaven afraid, just to be there and to look on his face, will through the ages be glory for me. All that will be glory for me, glory for me, glory for me, when by his grace I shall look on his face. That will be glory, be glory for me. On last, friends will be there I have loved long ago, joy like a river around me will flow, yet just a smile from a Savior I know, will through the ages be glory for me. All that will be glory for me, glory for me, glory for me, when by his grace I shall look on his face. That will be glory, be glory for me. For our script reading, please open your Bible to Genesis chapter number two. Genesis chapter number two, we will read beginning from verse number 15 to verse number 25. Genesis chapter number two beginning from verse 15, the Bible reads. And the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayst feel it, but of that tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest rough thou shalt surely die. And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone, I will make him and help him meet for him. And out of the ground the Lord God formed every piece of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them, and whatsoever Adam called every living creature that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every piece of the field, but for Adam there was not fowl and help named for him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. And I took one of his wreaths, and closed up the place instead of. And the wreath which the Lord God had taken from man made him a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, it is now my bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh, she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore Solomon leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one place. And they were both naked, and the man and his wife, and were not the same. All right we're here in Genesis chapter two, and of course today we do have our married couple sweetheart banquet, which will be after the soul winning time. And so I like to preach theme sermons about marriage, and love, and romance during this time of year. And the name of the sermons are the lessons on marriage from Adam, and then the second sermon lessons on marriage from Eve. I'm not the most creative with my sermon titles. That's what it's about. But there's a tendency when you preach very specific sermons that you could be in this room right now, and you might say, well I'm not married, so therefore it doesn't apply to me. But the Bible says all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof. No matter who you are in this room, when the word of God is open, you can learn this. You can get information. And so don't have this attitude, well I'm here, and I'm not married, so it doesn't apply to me. Well if you're younger, and you're going to one day get married, it's good to know the information ahead of time. I would say for those of us in this room that are married, we probably wish we learned a lot of the lessons before we were married, that we ended up learning after we already were married. Right? And so you can actually get a head start to really be kind of prepared for marriage by just getting advice from the word of God. But regardless of who you are in this room, whenever the word of God is open, there's information we can get, we can learn, it's profitable, it's helpful, and it's just good for us, even if we've heard it, to be reminded of these things. Now before we get into the sermon, I'm going to kind of give you just kind of an introduction, introductory idea on marriage in general from Genesis 2, because our main story is going to be Genesis 3, where we're going to see basically the mistakes of both Adam and Eve, when they end up getting tempted by Satan, and then end up eating of the fruit, and the fall of man, and everything. But Genesis 2 verse 18, and the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone, I will make in help meet for him. And you know the first thing, just introductory, what we see here is that the woman was created to be a help meet for the man. It's not meant to be like a competition, who's going to be above, men or women. And the Bible's saying that the wife was actually given to be a help to her husband. And as a wife, don't fight against this idea, don't rebel against this idea, just realize you were created by God to be and help meet. And then it says here in verse 19, and out of the ground, the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air, and brought them onto Adam to see what he would call them. And what server Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found and help meet for him. Now I'm not preaching about animal worship here today, but it's like if you're unmarried and you think just getting like just 20 animals is going to fill that void, it's not. That was not the help meet for Adam. I'm not saying it's wrong to have a pet. I loved having a pet when I was younger, but it's just like that is not what God created for Adam to be the help meet. What God actually created was a woman, which is the help meet for the man. Verse 21, and the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman and brought her under the man. And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. Now, of course, at this time, Adam and Eve do not actually have a father and a mother. They were the first man and the first woman here on earth, but we do have the principle that when you get married, you leave and you cleave. You leave father and mother and cleave on your spouse. And as I've said before, that doesn't necessarily mean that you can't live near them or anything like that, but you need to understand you've got a new family that is being formed where the husband is the head of that home and the wife is the help meet for the husband. And then if God blesses you with children, both the husband and the wife are above the children. And even if it's a male son that's a teenager, he's under the authority of his mom living in that house. But we need to understand that a new family is being formed. You leave, you cleave. Go in your Bible to Romans 5. Romans 5. So the Bible teaches just introductory that husbands are the leaders of their homes. And if you're in this room and you're married and you are a husband, you are the head of your home. You are the leader in your house. You say, well, you know, I believe that's very outdated logic. I believe that it ought to be like, you know, 50-50. I believe that there ought to be like, you know, where it's both are just equal. Yet you say, what's the problem with that? The problem is when two people vote on something, if they come to different conclusions and you're dead equal, one to one, there's no winner. Now, being the leader does not mean that you boss around your family. And it doesn't mean that you always pick what you want. I'll give you kind of a silly example that I think can help us understand. It's like for me, you know, because I don't really think food is that big of a topic, so it's kind of fun to joke about or whatever. I don't like McDonald's, right? That's pretty much the last place that I'm going to choose to drive through. But we often go through McDonald's on the drive-through. You say, why is it you choose McDonald's? Aren't you the man of the house? Because I'm more concerned about my kids being happy than myself. If it was my choice, I would never pick McDonald's unless that was the only place in town. As much as I've made jokes about Jollibee, I would put Jollibee way above McDonald's. But we drive through McDonald's sometimes. You say, why? Because the kids want McDonald's oftentimes, and I like to see them have a smile upon their face. So as the leader, and obviously that's a bit of a silly example, but what I'm saying is it's not like you're just choosing what you want all the time. And if that's how you lead, you're going to have followers that hate you. You don't just always choose what you want. You're leading for the benefit of the people following you. And Jesus gave us an example of being more concerned about the followers than himself. He didn't come to be ministered onto, but he came to minister and to give his life a ransom for many, the Bible says. So as a husband realizing you're not leading for your own benefit, you're leading for the benefit of those that are actually following you. So that means sometimes you're not actually picking what you want, but actually what's going to benefit your family, your wife and your kids. Now in Romans 5, I think it's very interesting. Romans 5, notice what it says in verse 12. Wherefore is by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin. And so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. And the Bible is very specific upon the man here. One man, it's referring to Adam here, sin entered into the world. For until the lost sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. Now, the Bible does not teach original sin. A lot of people might say they believe in original sin, not understanding what that term means. Original sin basically means you're born guilty and you must be baptized to get your sins forgiven. That's what the Catholics teach. We don't believe in original sin. I don't believe a baby is born guilty. Every baby and very young child in this room, if they passed away, they would go straight to heaven because they are not guilty. And they don't have to go to purgatory to get their sins covered for all the horrible sins they did when they were six months old. Okay? The Bible teaches actually there's an age of accountability and until kids reach that point, they are innocent. But even though they don't have original sin, they do have a sin nature, meaning that they will be makuli. They will sin. They will do wrong. And the Bible is saying here that sin is actually passed down from father to child. Why is it that my kids are sinners? It's because I'm a sinner. Now, here's the thing about this. Who is the father of Jesus Christ? It's not Joseph. It's God the father. So Jesus did not have a sin nature because the Bible shows us that sin is passed down from the father to the child. Okay? Now, Mary, on the other hand, had an earthly father. So guess what Mary also had? She had a sin nature, which is why we see Mary actually commit sins and do wrong in the Bible, though she was a godly lady. Okay? And so the Bible teaches that sin is passed down from father to child. But what's interesting about this passage for the sake of this sermon is when you read this and you think back to Genesis chapter 3, you're thinking, well, wait a minute. Eve ate the fruit first. Right? Why is the Bible blaming the husband when Eve ate first? Because she disobeyed. She did wrong. You know why? Because his husbands were the leaders. And we are responsible for what our followers do, and God says, hey, I'm putting the blame on Adam because he was the leader of his wife, and he messed up. He did not do a good job leading. And that is why God actually puts the blame upon the man as opposed to mentioning Eve there in Romans chapter 5, even though Eve is the one that ate the fruit first. Go to 1 Peter chapter 3. 1 Peter 3. You know, oftentimes, especially in this world, they want to fight about leadership and women empowerment and everything. But one thing I want to remind all of us about is if you are the leader, you're responsible for anything that goes wrong. That's just the way it is. It's like sometimes I think to myself, I'd prefer not to have that responsibility where you're always accountable for anything that goes wrong. But that is what the Bible actually teaches, that as the leader, you are responsible when something goes wrong. Now, of course, the wife would also be responsible if she does wrong, but so would the husband for the wife's choices that she makes according to the Word of God. We see that in Romans 5. Now 1 Peter 3 verse 7. Likewise, he husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge. Dwell with your wives according to knowledge. Giving honor onto the wife is under the weaker vessel and is being heirs together of the grace of life that your prayers be not hindered. Every marriage has problems. Every marriage has difficulties. But one thing we need to remind ourselves is that if God has blessed you with the spouse, you can accomplish more together than you can separately for the cause of Christ. Now that does look a little bit different because Paul was a single person who started all these churches. And if you're married, you're probably not going to be bouncing around your family all the time, all over the place, starting churches in new areas. But if God has blessed you with a wife and then God blesses you with children, you can raise those kids for the glory of God. And just a basic understanding of multiplication and exponents, I mean, if you have several kids and you actually teach them to love God, you can accomplish a lot more by actually taking this mentality. We are heirs together. It is not an individual one-person show. Go to Genesis chapter three, Genesis three. One thing I love about our church is that this is not a church where only the men go soul winning. The ladies go soul winning at our church. I mean, ladies do a lot of soul winning at our church. And obviously there's responsibilities on a mom of watching the kids and taking care of them. But I don't believe that when a wife gets married, it's like, okay, well now you're just kind of on the sidelines. Your only responsibility is raising the kids. No, you actually should still be involved in the work of actually going soul winning. And of course it's going to be more difficult. It's not the easiest thing, but you see this in the Bible that it's not just the men, it's also the handmaidens. And if you want to impact your kids, your sons, and your daughters, they need to see both mom and dad involved in the work. Both of them reading the Bible. Both of them going to church. Both of them going soul winning. Heirs together of the grace of life, the Bible says. Now, obviously in this story of Genesis three, we have mistakes on both sides and really nothing good. I think Adam was probably a pretty godly man. And I believe Eve was probably a pretty godly lady. But the example God gives us is of their mistakes. So we're going to be looking at the mistakes they made here in Genesis three. And the first mistake of Adam is he failed to teach his wife. He failed to teach his wife. Notice what it says in verse one, Genesis three, verse one. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden. By the way, you can look at serpents today. You can look at snakes today. And they are very subtle creatures. They will hide underneath rocks. They don't make it obvious what they're planning to do. And we see all the way back in Genesis three, as we have the devil here, he's very subtle. And Satan is also very subtle. He is not going to make it obvious he's trying to destroy your life. He's going to do it very subtly where you don't really necessarily see it very clearly. And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest ye die. Is that what God said? No, it's not. Now it's partially true, but neither shall you touch it. It's like, now I would say it's good advice if you shouldn't eat it, don't go near it. That's good advice. But did God say don't touch the tree? No, he did not say that. Go to Genesis two, we'll see the story. Now, where is the woman learning the information from? She's learning it from her husband. God told Adam, Adam told Eve. Have you ever played that game where you have a bunch of people and you're passing down information from one person to the next, either verbally or some sort of action? And after like 10 people, it's completely different than the way it started off. It's a fun game. And you say, what's taking place? Why does it get so far off? It's basically the person that's communicating is not doing a proper job or the person receiving the information is not paying attention closely enough. And quite honestly, usually it's both. And it's probably both with Adam and Eve, but we're looking at the man in this sermon and he failed to teach. She said the wrong thing. It's like, well, wait a minute, Adam, didn't you tell your wife very clearly what God told you? Or did you kind of just say it in passing and not actually take it all that seriously when you're passing down that information? Because notice what it says in verse 15 of Genesis two. And the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. What God said is, don't eat of that tree. And then when Eve repeated it, she got that part right, but she added, neither shall you touch it, which is not what God said. You say, why is this taking place? Well, Adam's not doing a proper job teaching his wife. He failed to teach. And look, here's the thing. God didn't speak to Eve that we see in the Bible here. God spoke these words to Adam. So what is Adam's job? To accurately give them to his wife. So she would be aware also, right? And he did not do a great job. He failed to teach. Verse 18, and the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make an help meet for him. The wife was created to be the help meet, but as the leader, you have to actually pass down the information of what you want or what the truth is. When you raise kids, you start to really see this all the time because sometimes you give your kids instructions, but you don't give really clear instructions. And then you just kind of assume they're going to figure it out. And then all of a sudden, 20 minutes later, it's like, why didn't you do this? And they didn't fully understand what you were saying. You got to be just very clear, do this, do this, don't do this, because sometimes they'll mess it up because they're just not fully aware of what you're actually trying to say. And I would imagine that's what's taking place with Adam, where he basically tells his wife, but he's either not doing it seriously enough or being clear enough, and then somehow it kind of gets lost in translation from God to Adam down to his wife, Eve. Go to 1st Corinthians chapter 14. 1st Corinthians 14. Of course, this is true with husbands to wives, but it's also true with any followers you have. I mean, if you have children, whether you're a father or a mother, you are the one that's leading. You need to teach them and give clear instructions. Or if you're a business owner and you have employees, you need to give clear instructions of what you want. 1st Corinthians 14. Notice what it says here in verse 30. 1st Corinthians 14 verse 30. If anything be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace. Now, in the context, it's talking about in a church when the preaching is taking place, if you're sitting at your seat right now, and all of a sudden you have a great thought that comes to your head, you don't just jump up and then just start saying, hey, and also this. It's like, no, you hold your peace. You keep it to yourself. I've been to a Baptist church before where somebody did this, and they would just always, like every service, they would just kind of over talk the pastor for like 30 seconds and say something. And it's just weird. But that's not how we do things at our church. It's like, I'm the one teaching. And it's kind of like, if you learn something, it's like you hold your peace. Or if you have a thought, you hold your peace. By the way, we can also apply this to when we go soul winning. When we go soul winning, we use the expression silent partner as we pair people two by two. You say, what does it mean to be a silent partner? It means to be silent. So basically, as the person who's speaking is doing the talking, the silent partner, I mean, there is a role for the silent partner, but that role is not to just take over the conversation or speak or say, hey, also this verse. That makes it Magalo. It makes it confusing. It will annoy the speaker. It will distract them. It's just not the way that things are done. Now, here's the thing about this. I'll give you an example from yesterday where the silent partner can be very helpful. And I didn't even know this until after the conversation. But I was soul winning with Brother Red yesterday after church. And I was talking to a group of people. And I could tell that they're part of a larger group that is probably doing some dance practice or whatever in a little bit after we left. And I was talking to a group of like five or six of them. And I noticed that they were getting distracted. And I was thinking, this conversation is going to end. I'm not going to be able to finish it because I see them just kind of looking around. And then all of a sudden they started paying attention again. And I'm thinking, I'm doing such a good job keeping their attention. And it turns out that Brother Red actually went to the other group and said, hey, do you mind just giving us 10 minutes? And he got them to basically leave to get rid of the distraction so I could just give the gospel. And we got three saves. And so there is a role for a silent partner, but how he was effective was not by speaking to the people I'm talking to, but getting rid of the distraction so I could actually do the speaking, right? But the main context of this verse is inside of church, when the preaching is going on, whether you're a man or a woman, you hold your peace, okay? Verse 31, for you may all prophesy one by one that all may learn and all may be comforted. So if you have the opportunity to get up here and preach, it's like you can say everything you want with the slight chance I might kick you out if you preach heresy, okay? But you can get up and just give your thoughts on what you learned from the passage, but not during a sermon, right? But it's when you get the opportunity to speak. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. And what that means is you can actually control your own spirit. It's not like the Holy Spirit's forcing you to say something. No, you can learn to control yourself. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak, but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. Now, everybody wants to tell us in our modern day, everyone that promotes and supports women preachers, why 1 Corinthians chapter 14 has nothing to do with preaching sermons. It has absolutely nothing to do. You've got to understand the context of Corinth. At that time, he's speaking to a specific crowd. He's not saying there's anything wrong with a woman preacher. How about we just read the Bible and let it determine our beliefs? Now, the Bible's saying the women keep silent. It's not saying during the singing of hymns. It's not saying before or after the service. It's saying that women are not permitted to speak in terms of doing the teaching. And I also believe this applies when you think of like saying amen, because when you're saying amen or saying, hey, that's right, pastor, you're getting on board with the pastor and the preaching, it's like that is something for men according to the word of God. Now, look, if you're a lady and you start laughing during the service, I'm not going to be like, hey, it's like keep your mouth shut. Don't laugh. Okay. But what the Bible's saying is that you know what? You're not getting involved in the preaching. But it's even true for men other than saying amen and that's right, where they're not going to say anything. Now, obviously, if you need to talk to your kids, I'm not saying I'm going to be mad at you because your kids are acting up or you have to deal with them or say something to them. Obviously, we get that. But the idea is everything should be done decently and in order. And I would just say that if you look at any country, because a lot of times women get this idea, it's like my goal in life is to be a CEO or be really famous and prominent. That's what they're teaching women in 2025 when the Bible actually shows that women were created to be a help meet. And I would just say, look at the female leaders that end up being really high up in politics, whether it's the Philippines or whether it's the US, and is that the example you ladies want to follow? Is that the person you want to be like? Verse 35, and if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is a shame for women to speak in the church. Now, the Bible says that wives should ask their husbands. And one thing that shows us as husbands is beside the fact that we're the leaders, we need to actually have the knowledge to teach. If you are a single lady in this room, I would not advise you to marry a guy. If you've been saved for a long time and you're serving God and somebody newly gets saved, I would not advise that to be the person that you would end up marrying until they actually reach a point where they have a lot of knowledge themselves. You say, why? Because men are the spiritual leaders in the home, not women. This is not like a thousand years ago where the Baba Ilan, where it's like, you know, you have female spiritual leaders. It's like, no, that is not the way God intended it and certainly not inside the home. The husband is the spiritual leader in the home. There's nothing wrong with a guy that's newly saved, but if a guy is newly saved, is he going to have the knowledge and ability to teach his wife that's been saved for 10 years? And so I would suggest if you're a lady, marry a guy that is a godly guy that knows the word of God, that's been saved and has been serving God rather than marrying someone who just doesn't really know that much. Now as guys, obviously if you love God, you should marry someone also who loves God. But since you are the teacher, it is okay if your wife has less knowledge than you. But I would not suggest personally that you reverse that as a lady and say, hey, you know what? I mean, I've been saved for 20 years. I've been soul winning every week for the last 20 years. I've read the Bible 40 times and this guy just got saved. He's never read the Bible cover to cover. Even if he loves God, I would say, you know, I wouldn't suggest that. I would say, wait until he's actually grown spiritually. And you can agree or disagree. You don't have to follow my advice. That's just the advice that I would give. Go to Genesis chapter three. But point number one, Adam failed to teach. Adam failed to teach and it was his responsibility as the leader. He's the one that had the information. God told him and somehow in the translation to his wife, it kind of got crumbled up a little bit. One thing we also need to keep in mind is it's not just teaching, you know, what, but it also should be teaching why if we're able. Because, you know, if I were to give advice to my kids or tell them something like, for example, you know, kids, you know, they might run across the road without looking for traffic going either direction. I mean, kids do that. They don't really see the dangers at a young age. As a parent, you know, you're scared to death your kids are going to run out on the road. And of course, one thing I think every parent has probably told their kids is look both ways before you cross or something very similar. But we can also tell them why. Here's why you need to look both ways. Because there's going to come a motorcycle that you don't expect out of nowhere and end up hitting you, one that you did not see. Right? We need to make sure that we're not just telling kids what, but we're also telling kids why. The same is true in any situation of teaching. When you teach someone, actually explain why. Genesis chapter three, Genesis chapter three. So point number one, Adam failed to teach. Adam failed to teach. But point number two, Adam followed his wife. Adam followed his wife. And notice what it says here in Genesis three, verse six. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took the fruit thereof and did eat. And look, we'll talk about the woman in the second sermon. But notice, at least with the woman, she's deceived. But notice what it says with the man and gave also under a husband with her and he did eat. I mean, at least she was deceived. But she just says, honey, eat this. It's like, okay. And he just eats the fruits. I imagine it being an apple. I realize it doesn't say that, but that's the picture I've seen. Okay. Whatever the fruit was, whatever you think it is, it's not a reason to split a church over. But it's like, she gives it to him and guess what? He just does it. Now, look, I'm not saying that a husband can never follow advice from his wife, but he's following advice to do wrong and he knows it's wrong. You know, I mean, if you're walking and you're about to walk off a cliff and your wife says, stop, and it's like, well, I'm not going to listen to that. I'm the man. I'm going to do whatever I want. And you walk off the cliff, you're an idiot. Okay. So yeah, you can go too far with this idea of never following your wife, but here's the thing. In the Bible, we see many examples where wives ask their husbands to do something wrong and they just do it. Don't we see that with Jacob? Don't we see that with Abraham marrying Hagar? It's like, you know this is wrong, but you're following your wife and doing something wrong. And it's like, if something's wrong, then you don't do it, especially as the leader. Go to 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3. Now look, I try to preach a proper balance on everything I'm preaching. I don't want to try to go overboard on any direction. We have one sermon to the husbands, one unto the wives. And you know, an expression that is pretty famous, happy wife, happy life, it actually has some scripture to back up this idea, even though it can be taken to a wrong extent or misapplied. But notice what it says here in 1 Peter 3, verse 7. Likewise, he husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vestal, as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered. Finally, be all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love his brethren, be pitiful, be courteous. Now the passage in 1 Peter 3 from the beginning up until verse 7 is clearly about marriage. After that, it's what I would call a soft transition where he speaks more generically, but it's not like the advice he's going to give does not apply to marriage because he was just talking about husbands and wives. So that would be the most applicable way that we could look at these next several verses. Verse 9, not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing, but contrary wise blessing, knowing that ye are there and too called that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile. So the Bible says, if you are a guy and you want to love life, it's like, you ought to refrain your tongue from saying something evil. And that certainly applies in marriage. In marriage, you will get upset sometimes, but to the best of our ability, we need to learn to just keep our mouth shut if we get really upset. And so yeah, there are times when maybe you make decisions and it's what your wife's advice would be or what she wants. And maybe it's not what you would want, but you know what? Happy wife, happy life. And it does have some validity here in scripture. Now that can be taken way overboard, but there is some context for that. But if your wife is asking you to do something that's wrong, if your wife's asking you to do a sin, if your wife's asking you, hey, don't read the Bible, or I don't want to go to this church anymore or do something that's wrong or wants to lead the family in a way that you don't think is correct, you don't follow your wife in doing something that you believe is wrong. And it's a real problem with men because we see it in the Bible many times where men will follow their wives into doing something they do not agree with and do not believe in. And here's the thing about this. If you reverse things, Naomi follows her husband, Elimelech, who makes the wrong choice. But it's not her fault because she's following her husband. And that was his choice to move the family. But here's the thing. If your wife is trying to get you to move the family to Moab as the guy, you don't have an excuse because you're the leader. You say, what do I do? You say no. That's what you do. Now with Naomi, I don't think Naomi did anything wrong. That was her husband's choice. And she never blames her husband after that, even though it is Elimelech's fault. But the thing is, she's following her husband, and I don't think she agreed with it, but it's like, that's his decision, and I'm going to follow my husband. But as a guy, if things are reversed and Naomi was telling Elimelech, you know what, let's move to Moab because of this famine. And then Elimelech went, it's like, well, you did wrong because you're the leader. As the leader, you are responsible. And so if your wife is asking you to eat of the forbidden fruit, say, what do I do? I mean, she wants me to do this, and I don't think I should. You say no. You're the leader. It's that simple. You are the leader, meaning you are responsible. Turn to Exodus chapter 32. Exodus 32. And I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself because I'll talk about this in the next sermon, and we'll talk about the mistakes of the wife. But let me say this, that men and women are different. And people should not get offended when they realize the fact that men and women are different, and God created them different. And from my perspective, when I think of some of the differences, because the Bible refers to women as the weaker vessel, the context is not about physical strength. It is about emotional strength. Now, I do believe that women are physically weaker than men, but the direct context is actually about emotional strength, and women are the weaker vessel. And what you will often see is this, and you see it in Scripture, if you don't agree with my logical explanation, but women tend to mix emotion and logic in all of their decisions. And so in the Bible, there's women that really want to have a baby, and they get emotional, and then all of a sudden, they decide to do something. They say, well, you know, just marry my bondmate. It's like that is an emotional decision, and as the guy, you should say no. This is not good advice. We're not going to do it. She's doing that based off of emotion. Or you look at Job's wife. She gets emotional, and I think Job's wife was a godly lady, but obviously, we see her making a mistake in the Bible. Men are different. Instead of mixing emotion and logic into every decision, we kind of just go 100% one way or the other. So men can kind of tend to be just completely logical, and then if they lose it, they lose control of their emotions, they're like 100% emotional, and they're just like, have no control, and not thinking logically at all. And so as a guy, sometimes your wife might make an emotional statement that she does not really mean, and might have a suggestion that she's not doing based on logic, but she's thinking through emotion, and that is what you're seeing in the Bible. It's like you say no. That's what you do. Abraham, I'm not going to marry Hagar. Jacob, just say no. It's like no, I'm not going to do that. I understand. You want a child, but it's like no. And yeah, I understand. Obviously, she's emotional. That's a tough time, but here's the thing. It ends up being worse when you do wrong. It's never going to work out better when you do wrong. So as the guy, do not follow your wife into doing something that's wrong, and of course, that's something that men struggle with because the Bible is giving us that as an example. Let me give you another example of listening to the followers here. Exodus 32 verse one, and here's a story of Aaron and the golden calf. Exodus 32 verse one, and when the people saw the Moses delay to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto them, up, make us gods, which shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what has become of him. And Aaron said unto them, break off the golden earrings, which in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them on to me. Now, this is not everybody in the congregation that wants the golden calf. What I find interesting is that the ones that do want the golden calf, you see that their sons have earrings. And you can agree with this or disagree, and that's fine. Men shouldn't wear earrings. And you see the ones that are wearing earrings, it's like those are the ones that are worshiping idols. Verse three, and all the people break off the golden earrings, which were in their ears, and brought them on to Aaron, and he received them at their hand and fastened it with a graving tool after he had made it a molten calf. And they said, these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And so in Exodus 32, we see that the people come to Aaron and say, hey, you know, we need to have gods. We don't know what happened to Moses. And Aaron just does it. It's like just listening to the followers. He knows it's wrong, but he just follows what the followers say. As the leader, you are the one responsible. And so if the followers are asking something that's wrong, it's very easy. You say no. Look, I've had a lot of people that have given me suggestions over the years, and I'm not against getting suggestions, but sometimes you get suggestions of things that are just wrong. It's like, you know, and generally it's like, you know, I try to be nice when I basically say no. It's like, well, you know, I understand it's just not something that we're going to do, and I understand people are well-intentioned, but sometimes people have advice that is just not good advice. And if you're going to come up to me and say, hey, pastor, maybe we should change the music to bring more people in. That might sound logical to you, but no. It's not going to happen. Well, you know, maybe we should change the Bible to fit the modern times. Okay, well, no. There's my answer. Pastor, I mean, we're really into soul winning. Maybe we should comment down on the soul winning. I think we're doing too much. Oh, no. Not going to listen to it. Now, I'm not saying I turn down every single thing that is mentioned to me, but if there's something where I do not agree with it, it's like, no, we're not going to do it. You say, why? I am responsible as the leader of this church. And it doesn't matter if people are pressuring me to do something wrong. If I think it's wrong, then no. And if I do it and I follow the followers into doing wrong, it's like, I am responsible as the leader because as the leader, I can just say no. Look, one of the most important words that you can teach your kids and tell to your kids is no. If you always gave your kids what you wanted, what would be the result of your kids? Because think about the things your kids asked for at a young age. They want ice cream for breakfast. They want candy for breakfast every single day, don't they? I mean, if you gave in to everything that your kids wanted, you'd have a disaster. Now, I love giving my kids things that they want, but sometimes I realize the best thing I can give my kids is no. And then if they whine and complain, it's like, all right, you need to learn to accept the answer no. And all followers need to learn this. In any stage of our life, any situation you're a follower, it's like a good leader is not always going to give their followers what they want. Now, sometimes they will, but they will not always. Go to Genesis chapter three, Genesis chapter three, Genesis chapter three, verse 17. And here's the punishment that God gives to Adam here in Genesis three, verse 17. And notice what it says here. And unto Adam he said, notice this, because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife. He said, because you followed your wife, you did what she said, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it. Cursed it at the ground for thy sake, and sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. What does God say as part of the condemnation? He's like, you listen to what your wife said. Now, this is not to say that we should never listen to what our wives say in any situation, but what she's telling her husband is clearly wrong. And he hearkened to his wife, even though he knew it was wrong. Why? Because he wanted to please his wife. By all means, please your wife, happy wife, happy life, do things that make her happy, but not if it's something that's sinful, not if it's something that's wrong. It's like, honey, I really miss the rosary beads we used to have in our house. It's like, I mean, for our anniversary, could you bring them back? Oh, okay. And let me buy you some idols too. No, that's the answer. And no, we don't have that problem in our home, but it's like the answer is very simple. No. And so if it's wrong, then you don't do it. Now, look, if you are the person underneath the leader and they're not asking you to sin, but maybe it's something you don't agree with, you should follow that, like Naomi following Alimelech. I think it's wrong what he did, but I think she should follow him in his decision. If they're asking you to do wrong, you should just disobey that. But as the leader, if there's something that you just don't agree with, you just say no. It's that simple. Turning your Bible to Genesis chapter three. And by the way, let me say this, that if you don't learn to say no to your wife, are you going to learn to say no to your kids? As the leader, the word no should come out of your mouth at some times through your followers. Now, look, I don't think that you should try to mimic what I'm doing in the sermon. It's like, oh, you want that honey? No! I'm not saying scream no in her face, okay? It's just like, you know, obviously use some common sense. Say things in a nice way, you know, say things in a respectful way, say things in a calm way. But the reality is sometimes as a leader, you have to say no. And this is an instance where Adam should have said no. Point number one, Adam failed to teach. Point number two, Adam followed his wife. But point number three, lastly, Adam forfeited his leadership. Adam forfeited his leadership. Notice what it says here in verse nine. And the Lord God called onto Adam and said unto him, where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden. I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. And he said, who told you that thou was naked? Has thou eaten of the tree whereby I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? Now, here's the thing about this. As a leader, part of being a leader is responsibility, right? You are responsible. God directly asks Adam this question, did you eat of the fruit? You say, well, how do you answer that question? Yes, I did. That's how you answer it. Yes, I ate the fruit. Yes, I disobeyed. I did it. Or he says later on, I did eat. That's how you answer. You say, why? Because God asked you a question, you just give the answer. And of course, as the leader, you're responsible. But notice the response of the man. And the man said, the woman. It's like, well, wait a minute. I didn't ask whether the woman ate of the fruit. I asked, did you eat the fruit? The woman. So what does he do? He brings blame upon the woman. But then he goes it a step further because he puts blame on God, the woman whom thou gave us to be with me. He's not accepting responsibility. And you know what he's doing? He's basically forfeiting his leadership. Because as a leader, you are responsible when things go bad. And if you are not willing to admit it, you're forfeiting your leadership. You are responsible men as the leaders of your home. And if something goes wrong in your home, you are responsible. You say, but my wife did this. And that might be true, but you're still the leader. And yes, she might be guilty on some of the things she did, but you are guilty as the leader. You know, I used to really love watching sports. And you know, you would notice that there are different types of coaches. Every single sports team, no matter how good they are, they have bad games. Right? In basketball, NBA, it's 82 games. Nobody wins 82 games. And sometimes a team goes out there, and they lose by like 25 points to a team that they're much better than. And then they have the press conference afterwards. And there's kind of two types of coaches. One type of coach will be like, I did not prepare the players. And other coaches are like, yeah, you know what? So and so was missing a shot. So and so didn't do that. And they cast the blame upon the players. Isn't that true? There's some coaches that say, you know what? I messed up. And there's other coaches that just cast the blame upon the players. They deflect the blame. As the leader, you are responsible. Even if it's only a small amount in a situation, you are still responsible, and you need to be willing to say, you know what? I messed up. Did you eat of the fruit? Yes, I did. And nothing about the woman. He didn't ask about that. Nothing about that, well, you gave me this woman. No, no, no. It's like, did you eat of the fruit? Yes. You got to accept responsibility. And if you're not willing to accept responsibility, you are forfeiting your leadership because the leader is responsible. The woman who now gave us to be with me, subtly casting the blame, she gave me up the tree. Okay, can you just answer the question, Adam? And I did eat. It's like, okay, you finally answered the question. Right? You know, have you ever noticed sometimes you'll give your kids a yes, no question, and then they keep talking and talking and talking and talking? Yes or no? Did you hit your sister? Why is it you're spending 10 minutes talking about, well, they did this and this. No, no, no. Did you hit your sister? Yes or no? It's a one word question. And then they're talking and talking. What are they doing? They're trying to excuse what they did. Right? This is what Adam's doing as well. Now go to Exodus 32, and we'll close up Exodus 32. Look, what the wife did was wrong. And we'll talk about that in the next sermon. But with Adam, there's literally no excuse because you're the leader. And God has specifically told you. I mean, if you're in this situation as the husband and you catch your wife eating the fruit, it's like your reaction would be like, no, what are you doing? Put that down now. Let's beg God for mercy. Right? And not be like, well, you know, okay, I guess I'll eat it too. I mean, he knows what he's doing. There's no excuse for doing this. It's like, I mean, this is, you know, it's going to go back also with Eve because I'll wait for the second sermon for that joke. Anyways, Exodus 32, we'll close up here. Exodus 32. It's always hard to preach like sermon series or multi parts to a sermon because you want to get everything out at one time. It's like, no, I got to hold off, wait till the second sermon. Okay. Exodus 32 verse 21. And Moses said unto Aaron, what did this people unto thee that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? So Moses asked Aaron, you know, what happened? Why would you possibly do this? And Aaron said, let not the anger of my Lord wax hot. Thou knowest the people that they are set on mischief. You know what Aaron should have said? He's like, there is no excuse. I shouldn't have done this. I made the cap. I was wrong. That's what he should have done. And it's not just these examples. I mean, isn't this the big problem with King Saul that he did not accept responsibility? I did obey the voice of the Lord. Well, why do I hear this bleeding of the sheep? And it's like, well, you know, the people, they took of the best to offer them. It's like casting the blame and not accepting responsibility. It's like, you're the King. Right? Look, as husbands, we are the heads of our homes and it is our job to teach our families, our wife and our kids. Adam failed to teach as husbands were the leaders of our home. This doesn't mean you never take advice from your wife, but you don't follow the advice that you know is wrong. You are the leader. There is no excuse for it. And here's the thing. If you're not willing to accept responsibility when things go wrong and you want to make excuses or blame somebody else, you're forfeiting leadership because part of being a leader is accepting responsibility when things go wrong. Look, every leader is going to have things go wrong in the authority of leadership they have. Why? Because we're sinners and we're not perfect. And when it goes wrong, you accept the responsibility. And if you're not willing to do that, you're basically forfeiting your leadership. And I'll tell you what, if you actually want your followers to be good followers, you're going to have a much bigger impact if you're the sort of person that says, hey, you know what? I messed up. I was responsible. I messed up. There's no excuse. We're not going to let this happen again. That is actually going to give you, your followers are going to look at you with some respect because they see that. But if you don't do that, you're forfeiting your leadership. Let's go as a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and ask you to help all of us in this room apply this sermon to our lives, God, especially us in this room that our husbands, help us to take the proper authority that God has given us, that you have given us, God. Help us to accurately teach our families, God. Help us not to follow doing something that is wrong, but as the leaders be willing to say no, God, and help us be willing to accept responsibility and not forfeit our leadership when things do go wrong, God. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, for our closing song, let's turn our hymns to hymn number 57. Hymn number 57, When They Ring the Golden Bells. Everybody, there's a land beyond the river that we call the sin forever, and we only reach the shore by faith's decree. One by one we'll gain the portals there to tell with the immortal, when they ring the golden bells for you and me. Don't you hear the bells now ringing? Don't you hear the angels singing? Tis the glory, hallelujah, jubilee. In the far south forever, just beyond the shining river, when they ring the golden bells for you and me. We shall know no sin or sorrow in that haven of tomorrow, when our hearts shall sail beyond the silver sea. We shall only know the blessings of our Father's blessing, when they ring the golden bells for you and me. Don't you hear the bells now ringing? Don't you hear the angels singing? Tis the glory, hallelujah, jubilee. In the far sweet forever, just beyond the shining river, when they ring the golden bells for you and me. When our days shall know their number, when in death we sweetly somber, when the King commands the Spirit to be free. Nevermore with anger slated. When they ring the golden bells for you and me. Everybody, don't you hear the bells now ringing? Don't you hear the angels singing? Tis the glory, hallelujah, jubilee. In the far up sweet forever, just beyond the shining river, when they ring the golden bells for you and me. Amen. Let's have a short break.