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We read of a place that's full of heaven, It's faithful of your end of dream, It's true to God's word he had given, How beautiful heaven must be, How beautiful heaven must be, Sweet home for the happy and free, Sweet home for the happy and free, Fair heaven, the rest for the weary, How beautiful heaven must be, In heaven, no dropping, no grinding, No place for us to be, God's light is forever this shining, How beautiful heaven must be, How beautiful heaven must be, Sweet home for the happy and free, Fair heaven, the rest for the weary, How beautiful heaven must be, The waters of life are overflowing, And all who will drink may be free, Where children of splendor are floating, How beautiful heaven must be, How beautiful heaven must be, Sweet home for the happy and free, Fair heaven, the rest for the weary, How beautiful heaven must be, The angels so sweetly are singing, Up there by the beautiful sea, Sweet doors of their low hearts are ringing, How beautiful heaven must be, How beautiful heaven must be, Sweet home for the happy and free, Fair heaven, the rest for the weary, How beautiful heaven must be. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Give a crowd a round of applause. Thank you, crowd members. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. I reach the fold, you say, just beyond the river. In the frosting, the cross, be thy glory ever, till thy rapture so shine, hence beyond the river. And you can sing it this time with both of our hands. All right, well, good morning. It's good to see everybody out this Sunday morning at Faithful Word. If you'd like a bulletin, go ahead and slip up your hand. We're going to be brought to you. As always, we have our service times listed there on the upper left-hand side. We'll be back this evening at 5.30 PM and again on Thursday at 7. I'm planning on being the book of Genesis, but being the fourth, I might preach a sermon, count around that theme I haven't decided yet. You know how patriotic I am, but we'll see what happens. So I guess you just got to come to find out. We have the salvations, the baptisms, as well as the offering totals for both the month and year. And don't forget, next Sunday, we'll be having our coffee and donuts in honor of those celebrating their birthday in the month of July. So come out early for that at 10 AM next Sunday. Also, the annual mega conference is going to be kicking off here not too long from now. So Sunday, July 14 through Wednesday, August 7, every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and every midweek service, Wednesdays at 6.30 up in Tempe. You're going to have a guest preacher up there. So if you want to make plans to go up there, please do so. It's always a great time up there. I don't know that I'm going to be able to make it up this year, myself personally, for the midweek. Obviously, I'm busy on Sundays. But I'm sure there's other people that are going. The church van is always available. Folks want to carpool in that and go up there. So you can kind of work that out amongst yourselves if that's something you're interested in doing. And also, on the back, thank you to those who prayed for the Nigerian mission trip. So we had a small soul winning team of Brother Raymond, I believe Brother Daniel, and then I'm not sure who the other guy was, but I think he was a local, maybe. I'm not sure. But it was just the three of them. And over the course of that time, they had 63 salvations, so praise God for that. Also, it looks like the Navajo soul winning trip was a success. And we had 66 soul winners out, so praise God for that, and 36 salvations. And hopefully everybody had a good time. We haven't really had a lot of time to talk to those of you that went. But it sounds like I'm glad to see everybody made it back. The van's in one piece. So I know it's got some mud on it, so it was out there. Took me back to my, it's got that red clay on there. I know what it's like. So that's good to see. Below that also, this Thursday on July 4th, we're going to have hot dogs at 6 p.m. So if you want to come up early, and they're not grilled, these are steamed hot dogs. So just so you know what you're in for. I've got the hot dog steamer with the steamed buns. So we're going to have that. I'll have all the toppings out. We'll have your mustard, your relish, ketchup, for those of you that put ketchup on hot dogs. And we'll also have the jalapenos, the sport peppers, all of that good stuff. I don't know if there'll be any chili. There might be. I don't know, I haven't decided on that yet. Or nacho cheese, it might just be pretty basic. But we will have hot dogs at 6 p.m. for those of you that would like to come out. We'll also have beverages, of course, beverages being the sparkling water that we have. And we'll have some chips and maybe some dip as well. And I might even really spring and get a veggie plate. But we'll see. Who here thinks they would like to join us at 6? Just, you know, just kind of guessing. One, two. All right, just so I can kind of get an idea how much I might need. If there's too many, that's always okay. So anyway, come on out. And if you'd like to bring a dish, you're more than welcome to do so. But it's not that kind of a thing. If you just want to come early, have a little bit of fellowship, have a little bit of a hot dog eating contest, we can do that too. Below that, there's some small town soul winning taking place with the Tempe group. So if you want to get on that, you can always just speak to me and I'll get those details to you. That will do it for announcements. Let's go ahead and just sing one more song before we get to the preaching this morning. Right, please open up your song books. The song number 404. We'll be singing the song number 404, When the Battle's Over. We'll be singing the song number 404. ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] ["When the Battle's Over"] As he went out of Jericho with his disciples, a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the wayside with David. And when he heard, it was Jesus of Nazareth who began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on him. And when he charged him, he should hold his peace. And he cried for more, a great deal. Thou son of David, have mercy on him. And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And he called upon him, saying unto him, be of good comfort, rise, be called. And he, casting away his garments, rose, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him, what will it be that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, go thy way, thy faith, that may be whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in his way. Lord Adam, would you pray for us? Lord Adam, your Father, I just thank you for your goodness and mercy, Lord. We're thankful for that, Lord. Amen. Amen. So we're there in Mark as we're going through the book. And one of the great things, and I guess maybe one of the not so great things about going through a book like this, is that often you just come upon a passage, and as you do, you're going through it verse by verse. And you're kind of just forced into preaching whatever is in the text. And that's certainly the case this morning. I want to start out by saying that it's not my intent ever to get up with the Word of God and to purposely offend people. Nevertheless, you know, if we get up and preach a book that deals with the nitty gritty of human nature, if it just shows man for what he is on the surface, it's inevitable that we're going to offend people through the preaching of the Word of God. And that's definitely the case this morning when it gets to the topic of divorce and adultery. Because this is something that has become so commonplace in our society today that you can't help but offend simply by preaching it, because there's so many people that have committed this sin. And that's what it is to be divorced and to remarry. The Bible is very clear that that is a sin, that it is a form of adultery. And again, I didn't go out of my way to try and preach this this morning. I have preached other sermons on this topic, but I did want to just make that perfectly clear that, you know, if you've been following along through Mark, you know, we're just going through this verse by verse. And this morning I'm going to end up preaching something that has certainly has the potential to offend because, you know, no doubt there's people that even in this very room are guilty of this sin. And I'm not mad at those people. I'm not angry with them. I love those people. I'm not upset. I'm not trying to hurt anyone's feelings. And maybe it might be possible that people would walk away this morning and not be offended, that they would be understanding of what the Bible says and understanding that I'm just doing my job as a preacher to get up and preach the word of God. And quite frankly, you know, the reason why I believe that divorce is so rampant in our society today is because so many preachers failed to preach it. And so many of them want to have all these cute little ways to wiggle out of preaching on this topic or to excuse people and to say it's not a sin to get remarried. The Bible couldn't be clear that it is. I don't know how many different ways Jesus has to say it. If you are divorced and you remarry man or woman, you have committed adultery. And again, I'm not trying to offend anybody, but I think part of the reason why there's such a problem with marriages today is because people go into marriage thinking divorce is an option, that it's something they can go into. And if it doesn't work out, hey, they'll just try again a second, third or fourth time. Right. And that's why we see the kind of numbers that we do. I won't bore you too much with statistics, but there are certainly negative outcomes today as a result of the lack of preaching on the subject. And even not a lack of preaching, an excusing of this sin even I've seen. But today in America, 43 percent of first marriages end in divorce. So a lot of people say half of them. That's a little bit of an exaggeration. And this is all coming from I can't remember the exact source, but it's all very credible. You know, a lot of studies have been done on this, but 43 percent of marriages end divorce, 60 percent of second marriages end in divorce. So if you are one who's gotten divorced and contemplating getting remarried, thinking, you know, your chances are better, you know, the statistics say otherwise, that you actually have an even greater chance of being divorced the second time. And the third time you have a 73 percent chance of ending a divorce, 73 percent of third marriages end in divorce. They don't go on and cite fourth or fifth. I don't know if anybody, you know, besides the whores and whoremongers of Hollywood rack up that many marriages over the course of their life. But I suppose it's possible. I'm sure it's out there. But, you know, the alarming one is that 43 percent of first marriages end in divorce. And that's unfortunate today. The average marriage length is eight years. So most marriages last about eight years. And then that's when you start to see divorce come into the picture. And I think, you know, part of the reason, and again, I'm not going to try and quote this entire article, but I believe part of the reason they say or the reason they say that marriages end in divorce at all is because a lot of people go into marriage not understanding that marriage has an ebb and flow, that marriage has phases that you go through. And, you know, people go into marriage bright-eyed and hopeful. And I have to be careful because my wedding anniversary is in two days, okay. And so I have to be very careful how I talk about marriage this morning. But, you know, people go into it very, you know, hopeful and amen. I'm not saying you shouldn't. And people go through that honeymoon phase, right, which is great. But as the saying goes, you know, the honeymoon is over, right. And the honeymoon does end. You know, that honeymoon phase of marriage ends when, you know, children come into picture and marriage becomes what it is and it's work. It's like any other relationship in life. It's not just going to be, you know, this, you know, feeling in your pit of your stomach and the sweaty palms and the ecstasy and the bliss of marriage, you know, for the entire length of your marriage. There will be seasons of work. There will be seasons where marriages are strained, when life and its circumstances make marriage difficult, when you just have to put one foot in front of the other. And, again, I'm not trying to be disparaging a marriage, but let's be realistic. Let's not have this Hollywood idea of what marriage is supposed to be like, where it's just this happily ever after kind of attitude, because that's unrealistic. And, again, I'm not trying to paint the picture of marriage as one that, you know, yeah, it starts out great, but then it's just downhill from there and you just have to, you know, you just have to white knuckle it to the bitter end. That's not what I'm saying either. What I'm saying is there's an ebb and flow. There's seasons. And a lot of times when people find themselves at a low point, that's when they give up. You know, and that's true of any institution. That's true of many things. That's just kind of human nature to choose the path of least resistance when things get difficult, when things get hard, when things are trying, that's when people throw in the towel often. You know, and people take that attitude into marriage, and that's why so many marriages today end in divorce. Because as soon as it gets difficult and tough, and it will, that's when they say, well, you know, this is not what I expected. I just thought, you know, she was going to worship the ground I walked on all the days of my life. You know, I just thought he was just going to be the same kind, sweet, caring, loving, you know, guy he was when we were dating for his entire marriage. You know, people aren't always going to be the way they were when they were trying to get what they want. People are going to change, people are going to go through different things, and marriage is a relationship between two sinners, you know, basically. And we have two sinners getting together, there's going to be difficult times. That's reality. And that's why if you're going to go into marriage, you have to have an attitude of divorce is not an option. And it cannot be one-sided, okay? If both parties went into it understanding that the words till death do us part are, you know, literal, like that's literally what it's supposed to, that's how marriage is supposed to end in death, right? If people actually, you know, went and said those words and meant them, you know, we would probably have a lot less divorce today. And, you know, I'll just give you some more facts here about the negative outcomes of divorce. And this is just as it pertains to those being divorced, the married couple who are getting divorced. The average cost of divorce is $7,000, right? So the average cost, which is probably a lot cheaper than it used to be, because it used to be very difficult to go get a divorce, right? There was a lot of legal proceedings. You know, the irony is, I was reading this, I think it's an article from Forbes.com is where I found this, is literally on the article they had advertisements for lawyer, divorce lawyers. Like it was a sponsored ad within the article. You know, what they offered, how much they charge, there's like three different guys like offering, you know, here's how you get a divorce. You know, we can, hey, need a divorce? We can help you, right? And, you know, we see it advertised, right? We see it on the side of the bus. We see it on the bus bench. We see the little, you know, wire signs on the corner, divorce, $300. You know, part of the reason we have so much divorce today is because of the fact that people have made it so easy. Now, again, I don't want to go on and on about the statistics, but there is one last statistic that I do want to point out, and it pertains to religion. Amongst, you know, people who profess a certain religion, there's a varying degree of rates of divorce, okay? Now, who would like to venture a guess? You don't have to. I'm not a big fan of putting people on the spot, but is there anybody that would like to guess which major world religion has the lowest divorce rate? Nobody? You would hope so. That's not the case. Well, nope, nope. You would think Islam, maybe, right? But it's actually Hindus. No? He's shaking his head. Muslims actually have quite a bit of divorce. It's actually Hindus. They have a 5% rate of divorce amongst Hindus. Now, who would like to guess how much the rate of divorce is among evangelical Protestants? Amongst we would be lumped in with that. Right, basically non-catholics, right? How much? 50? Man, you've got a bleak outlook. This is why no one wants to answer, right? 43. It's actually 14%. Of evangelical Protestants. Which is high. I don't know why we shouldn't be applauding that. That's nothing to like, hey, not bad, okay, alright. The Hindus, because the Hindus got us beat. The Hindus are at 5%, folks. I'm not real familiar with the Hindu religion. I haven't studied a lot of their so-called holy books. I don't know what they teach about divorce, but I know what the Bible says about it. And I know that the Bible deals with it at length. I know the Bible talks a lot about it. So I'm sitting here scratching my head and I'm wondering, how is it that Hindus can have a lower rate of divorce than evangelical Protestants when the Bible is just so adamant, it's so clear about divorce? How is that? And the only answer, the only conclusion I can come to is that it's because it's not being preached. Because there's too many guys that want to get up behind pulpits today and just not offend anybody. Because again, and I'll say this, this is probably the most offensive topic you could preach on today. You'd say, no, it's the homos, no. Because no one in here is guilty of that sin. Otherwise you wouldn't be in here. Because you wouldn't be welcome here. Everyone loves that preaching because that's a million miles away from anything. Maybe we have some relative or something. The hard preaching is when we start preaching the things that actually apply to us. When we actually start to step on your toes. And a lot of guys want to get behind pulpits today and they don't want to do that. And they don't want to upset several people in the church. They don't want to upset 14% of their congregation because they're divorced and remarried. But I believe that's why those rates are the way that they are. It can't be because God was just like, oh, divorce, I totally forgot that topic. Whoops, forgot to mention that in the Bible, forgot to bring that up. No, the Bible brings it up repeatedly over and over. Very strong warnings, very crystal clear warnings and teachings about marriage, divorce, and remarriage. What it is, what he thinks of it. The whole gamut, right? He comes at it, you know, and Mark from both sides, from man's side, from woman's side, from the husband and the wife. I mean, God's covering it every way he knows how. So how is it that the Hindus have us beat? It's because it's not being preached, okay, because people don't want to offend. And look, I don't want to offend people, okay, but I already know I'm going to. It's just like, that's just par for the course. Don't get up and, you know, the last thing we need is another pastor to get up behind a pulpit and hold back on the word of God. Because he just doesn't want to offend anybody, okay? Those are a dime a dozen, we don't need any more of that. You know, so if you want to go into the ministry, if you want to be somebody who preaches the word of God, you know, be prepared to be one that's going to probably hurt some feelings and offend people along the way. You just can't help but do it. And I'm not saying like set out to do it, right? And by the way, if that is in your heart, you know, don't go into the ministry either. I can't wait to get up and, you know, make people uncomfortable. It's not as fun as it looks. It's not fun at all, okay? Anyway, you know, we have to preach these things because preventative preaching protects people, okay? Preventative preaching protects people. You know, there's probably a lot of divorced people today who, if they knew what the Bible says, never would have made that decision. They would have made a different decision in life. Perhaps they would not have gotten married. Perhaps they would have waited to marry somebody else. Perhaps they would have clarified things with the person that they were marrying. Hey, do you believe it's death to depart? Do you believe it's death to depart? Okay, is divorce an option, yes or no? They probably would have taken marriage a lot more seriously if they knew how seriously the Bible treats it, okay? So that's why we have to get up and take the risk and step on toes and offend people so that we can protect those that have not made these same mistakes. And that's really the purpose behind preaching this. Because honestly, what good does it do to jump down someone's throat who's already done this? You know, it doesn't do any good. That decision's been made. People have made that decision. And once that decision has been made, you know, those people need to just be loved and respected and you need to be treated like any other married couple and it's between them and God from that point forward, okay? I'm simply getting up and trying to preach this to protect other people. Who have not yet made that mistake, okay? Because the Bible has very strong and very negative language about divorce and divorce and remarriage, okay? Let's look at a little bit of it, okay? Keep something there and mark. But go over to Matthew chapter number five. Matthew chapter number five. I'll read from you from the book of Malachi where God is likening Israel unto a wife who has become adulterous and divorced, right? The Bible says in Malachi chapter two verse 16, for the Lord God, excuse me, for the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away, okay? Now, he's not referring, you know, you kids don't take this and say, see, Mom, God hates it when we put our toys away. That's not what he's talking about, okay? The putting away there is an old euphemism or an old expression for divorce, okay? That's what it means to divorce, to put away your wife, to put away your spouse is to divorce them, right? You're cutting them off. You're putting them away from you. You're no longer having that relationship. And the Bible says in Malachi that God hates putting away. He hates divorce. That's what God says. Let me, again, give this little caveat here, okay, to kind of soften the blow. He does not say that he hates divorced people. It says he hates the act of being divorced. There are some things that God says is an abomination and those that committed an abomination, okay? Cross-dressing is one of them. But not everything that God hates necessarily makes him hate that person, okay, and divorce is one of them. So, again, if you're somebody in the crowd tonight that, or this morning, that has committed the sin, God does not hate you. Okay? God is not against you. God hates divorce, but he does not hate the divorced, okay? He hateth putting away. Look at Matthew chapter 5, verse 31. It says, It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement. But I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery, and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced, commiteth adultery. Now, how could Jesus say this any plainer? How could he make it any clearer that there's only one exception for divorce and that's fornication? Okay? And, again, fornication and adultery are not the same thing. You know, you can't just say, well, you know, any immoral sin of a, you know, carnal nature, you know, that's grounds for divorce. No. Jesus said fornication, okay? And, you know, I don't have time to go through it all this morning. I'm going to go through it in depth. But, you know, that, what he's referring to there is that when a man marries a maid and finds her not a maid, he's under the impression that she's a virgin and it becomes clear on their wedding night that she's not. She's been, you know, she's been, you know, putting up a front, okay? And she finds some uncleanness in her, okay? And the Bible talks about how he can then go and, you know, return her unto, basically, unto her father, okay? So, and, again, that's something that has to be taken care of right then and there, right? You think about, you know, the Christmas story, the birth of Christ. When Mary was found with child, Joseph, being a just man, but not willing to make a public example of her, thought to put her away privately, right? Because he's saying she's not a maid. She's with child. She's been, you know, sleeping around. She's not what I expected, right? And the angel, of course, came and explained all that, right? And that wasn't the case. The angel of God was a miracle, okay? We understand that. But, you know, that's, that's what, and the Bible says that Joseph being a just man, meaning he was just in his actions, in that instance where he's betrothed someone to himself, you know, he has this Mary, who he assumes is a maid, a virgin, right? He's just to put her away because he's found an uncleanness in her. That's the only exception in the Bible, okay? That's it. It's the only one. And, you know, I've preached this, other people have preached this, people have heard these sermons, and yet they still reach out and contact us all the time. Well, what about, does it fall into this category of fornication, as described in the Bible? Then there isn't one. And here's the thing, is like, people get in these situations where there is no good answer. You know, I married him. He turned out to be a sodomite. You know, I don't, you know, sorry. You know, he should be put to death. You know, but we're not, that's the government's job, and they're obviously not big on that. You know, don't hold your breath on that. I'm pretty sure that's not what Trump's running on this year. You know, he, you know, people get in these situations, there's no good answer, and they want to, well, what about, you know, if he does this or she did that? Well, it's, you know, I'm sorry, but, you know, as long as he's alive, you're bound to that husband, no matter what he's like. You know, and it's just, there's no good option sometimes. That's the way life is. You know, so that should wake the rest of us up that haven't made these mistakes, that haven't made these decisions, and take marriage seriously. You know, if you are married to somebody, make it work. You're going through a rough patch, you're having a hard time, you better make it work. You know, you haven't gotten married, you better, you know, think about who it is you're going to get married to and take it seriously. And not just, you know, marry them because they got a pretty face or something. So the Bible's real clear here, right? Except for the cause of fornication and whosoever commit, causes her to commit adultery and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced commiteth adultery. Go over to Matthew 19. Jesus said it again in Matthew 16. I know a lot of these are parallel passages. Whosoever put away with his wife and marrieth another, commiteth adultery and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband, commiteth adultery. Whosoever put away with his wife and marrieth another, commiteth adultery and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband. And maybe if we brought back these terms, maybe if we brought back these definitions, you know, maybe we could show these Hindus how it's done. You know, maybe we'd have the lower divorce rate. You know, maybe, you know, Christianity wouldn't be a joke to some people. If we started bringing back terms like adultery, you know, whoring, fornication, words like bastard. I mean these are strong words for a reason and these are Bible words, right? But no, today we want to call it, you know, my, it's my, what's the term? My baby daddy. It's my baby mama, right? We're having an affair, right? They want to gloss these things over, right? Why? Because they don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. And again, I'm not, it's not that I want to hurt feelings. It's that I want to protect other people. I want to help other people. Keep them from making mistakes. And you say, well, why? Why should you take that upon yourself? It's kind of a personal subject. Because the Bible talks about it. Because God hates it. And God judges and God chastens. You know, and this is what I often warn people. When people come to me and say, hey, who are divorced and are considering getting remarried, I'll tell them right to their face. You know, you'd make whatever decision you want. You're welcome to come to church here. You know, the Bible doesn't say you can kick you out of church over this. You're in God's hands, though. I'm the least of your concerns, right? I'll be nice, you know. I'm still going to preach the sermons when appropriate. I'm still going to talk about it. And if it makes you uncomfortable, I'm sorry. I have to do my job. But really, me, I'm the least of your concerns. It's God that hates putting away. It's God that hates divorce. And I'll judge, especially if we go into it knowing these things, what the Bible calls presumptuous sins, okay. That's why I have to preach about it. That's why I have to go ahead and say, I'm sorry, I'm going to hurt feelings this morning, but, you know, other people need to hear this. And not just go with the flow and just be like the majority of preachers today and just not touch this subject with a 10-foot pole. Or have some cute way of backing out and excusing, you know, somebody that's divorced to go ahead and get married. I've heard some dumb things over the years. I remember I knew a guy who was divorced and the pastor came to him and was like, you know, it wasn't God's will for you to marry that person to begin with. Kind of like when Israel tried to, you know, go up against A.I. when they shouldn't have. Then they went up later and had victories. Like, you know, you just need to find the person that it's God's will for you to marry and it'll be okay because that first person wasn't God's will. You know, that's stupid. That flies in the face of the New Testament. That flies in the face of all scripture to sit there and say that, oh, divorce is okay because you married the wrong person? Well, I mean, if that's the case, maybe I married the wrong person, you know? Maybe when, you know, we both get a little older and things aren't going as well as I'd like, maybe when I start, you know, wanting to do something, you know, maybe when I start, you know, wanting to trade up for a new model, I'll just say, well, I think I just married the wrong person. You know, it wasn't God's will for me to marry that person. That's where that kind of stupid thinking leads. What we need today is guys to just get up, pastors, to get up and just preach what the Bible actually says that if you get divorced and get remarried, you've committed adultery and it's between you and God and God hates it. If you would, go over to 1 Corinthians chapter number 7. You know, the Bible has very strong, very negative language about divorce and it needs to be preached. Forty-three percent of marriages in America end in divorce within eight years. The Hindus have got us beat by 10 percent. You're like, oh, that's not so bad. That's terrible. I mean, at what rate of divorce is acceptable? And I'll be perfectly honest, you know, I do kind of have a personal, I have a bone, a dog in this fight a little bit because my parents were divorced. My parents got divorced when we were young and it wasn't pretty. I don't know if there is such a thing as a pretty divorce, but things did not end well. I'm not going to go into it, but I know firsthand, I'm just talking about the effects that it has on the people getting divorced. I've preached entire sermons, one entitled The Devastating Effects of Divorce. I preached that in Tempe years ago. Go back and listen to that if you're contemplating divorce this morning, and especially if you have children, and listen to the statistics of the effect it has on children, you know, which is something I've experienced firsthand. It's something I've been through and I can attest that a lot of it's true. I mean, again, I don't want to just get divorced, but, you know, if you get divorced and have children, you put them at a deficit in life. You handicap them in life. It's just a fact. You know, kids need stability. They need security. They need to know that mom and dad are going to be there and not, you know, spending, you know, some time with dad and some time with mom. It's hard. You know, it's an uphill battle for children who come out of broken homes. Again, I'm not trying to upset people. I'm not trying to make anybody mad. I'm just telling you the facts this morning. And I'm not, I'm not just, you know, those aren't just numbers I'm pulling out of the air. These aren't just things I'm just like, well, I heard. I know it's a fact. I've seen the effect it had on my own family. Okay? Now, look at 1 Corinthians chapter 7, verse 10. He says, and unto the married, I command, yet not I, but the Lord, let not the wife depart from her husband, but, and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, and smile to her husband and not let, let not the husband put away his wife. So you can see how put away and divorce are being used synonymously there. But notice he's saying, you know, if the wife departs, she abandons, you know, if you have a situation where someone gets saved and the other one isn't saved, you know, maybe later on in life, and they depart, he says, let them depart, but they are still to remain unmarried. Because this is a passage some people say, well, now I'm free to remarry. That's not what it says. It says, if she depart, let her remain unmarried and be reconciled to her husband. How can she be reconciled if the husband went ahead and got married? Okay? You know, if your spouse departs, if you get a divorce, you're to remain unmarried. For the rest of my life, yes. Well, that sounds hard. It is. But you know, there's some things and modifications. That's just the way life is. You know, marriage is not a video game where you just get to respawn and try again. You know, there's some things in life you get one shot at to do it right. And if you blow it, it's over. That's it. You know, and again, I'm not saying that. I know I have to keep saying this, but I just feel compelled to say this, not trying to say that to hurt people's feelings. I'm saying that for the rest of you that haven't made that mistake. Don't go into marriage thinking, well, if this doesn't work out, you know, I'll just hit the reset button, you know, and try this level again. Well, you know, go ahead. You're statistically likely to not succeed. The stats are against you. God's not for it. God hates it. Because a lot of times what people find out is that they're the problem. Right? You know, you listen to people's stories and it's always them. One thing I always have to remind myself as a minister is like there's two sides to every story. And I'm not discrediting one person's side. I'm just saying, you know, people, and I'm not saying people are trying to be deceptive or whatever. It's just people tend to skew things in their favor, especially when they're talking to somebody whose opinion they value and care about. You know, they want to be thought of a certain way. They're like, so it's always the other side, right? It's always them. It's never us, okay? Even though we're traffic too. We're perfect drivers. Everybody else is an idiot, okay? But, you know, that's the case is that there's two sides to every story. And, you know, here's the thing. You think it's all your spouse, it's, you know, the person, it was all them, it's all their problem. No, you had a big part in it too. And, you know, you're just gonna take your problems and yourself that, you know, that problem is just going to follow you. That's why you should try to make the first marriage work. Just make it work. Sit down, talk, get counseling. You know, I'm giving counseling three times a week down here. You know, if you need, I'll do my best if you want me to take you guys aside and talk to you if you're thinking about it. I don't know that anybody is and we'll work through it and we'll do our best. But, you should try to make it work and let me just read to you the abstract findings of a study that was done by the National Institute of Health, okay, which is a government funded organization and it was a nearly three decades of research, okay, evaluating the impact of family structure on the health and wellbeing of children, okay. This is part of that, you know, the negative consequences of marriage. Why do I gotta get up and preach this? Why do I gotta go ahead and hurt people's feelings this morning? And possibly even, you know, I'd be surprised if anybody did, but would it be the first time quit this church, okay. Why do I gotta do that? Because it has negative, divorce has severe negative impacts not just on the people getting divorced but on the children of those families. And this study that lasted nearly three decades evaluated the impact of the structure on health and wellbeing of children and it demonstrates that children biological parents consistently have better physical, emotional and academic wellbeing. And look, this article, you can go read, I mean it just breaks it down. I mean it starts giving you numbers, examples, and it's three decades practically of research. This is something they put a lot of time, money and effort into. Someone devoted their life to studying the subject basically. And this is just the abstract findings like hey, you don't wanna read the rest of the article, these are biological parents, they are at an advantage over those that are not in every area of life, physically, emotionally, academically and I would even say spiritually. Pediatricians in society should promote the family structure that has the best chance of producing healthy children. Unless you want the fabric of society to just come unwoven over the course of a few generations, unless you just want the pillars of society to just crumble, you know the traditional, you know, man and woman and their children, that is the bedrock of civilization. You destroy marriage, you destroy families, you will destroy society. It'll fall apart. And the devil knows that and that's what they said, hey this study backs it up, this is basically what they're saying. I'm reading this going like, I'm preaching this, what church is this out of? Pediatricians in society should promote the family structure that has the best chance of producing healthy children and you know what structure that is? Biological parents staying together. The biological parents of those children remaining together and not getting divorced. That's the best chance you have for your children. The best scientific literature to date suggests that children fare better when parents work at maintaining the marriage. So it could be worse if mom and dad are just beating each other up every night. Which is one of the lowest leading causes of divorce. The leading cause for divorce is infidelity. And it says consequently, society should make every effort to support healthy marriages and to discourage married couples from divorcing. That's what she found, in the National Library of Medicine. It was a study that was done by the National Institute of Health in 2014. She's saying look, my conclusion, you don't want to read all the facts? Here's what we need to do. We need to make sure that society supports healthy marriages and discourage people from getting divorced. Now is that what you see today in the culture? You don't. You see people promoting it. Oh, you need to go find someone better. Time to trade up. You know, he doesn't deserve you. Whatever. One of the leading places for, the leading place for divorce, or the leading industry, rather, is in offices, business offices. People that are managerial, kind of that administrative setting, that's the leading place for divorce. That industry has more divorce than the rest. Because it's, you know, it's coed, typically, right? It's a lot of men and women together. You know, and she's going there and getting to know, you know, the nice guy at work at the copy machine, right? Having a nice talk over by the water cooler. And she's venting all her problems about his husband and he's talking about his wife and now they fall in love, right? I mean, that kind of, that's like, I just described probably the plot of several movies. You know, there's probably, you know, entire movies that are based on that right there. These star-crossed lovers who married the wrong person, but they found each other and all they had to do was just destroy, you know, wreck their homes in order to find one another. You know, people gloss this over, okay? But, you know, it's unfortunate. And even the world, even the society is saying, hey, we need to protect marriage. Traditional marriage, right? And I get it, this is nearly a decade, it's a decade-old article of research here. But I doubt that things have changed, right? If they're being honest, that's what they're gonna find out. And isn't it, you know, perhaps there's a correlation with the rise of all this perverseness, all this abomination, all this filth, and the rise of divorce in our country. I wonder if those things kind of go hand in hand. There probably is. So let me just make some application here, okay? Because I feel like, you know, the Bible's pretty clear. And if you're still struggling with this and you still think, I don't know, I think the Bible, God's okay with divorce, I don't know what else to tell you, okay? I've given you everything I know to, I mean, I quoted Jesus several times this morning where he's saying, it's a sin, it's adultery, don't do it, God hates it, okay? So let me just make some application here to several people. First of all, if you're offended, if you're somebody who's offended, you know, and please don't take this the wrong way, get over yourself. I don't know what else to tell you. If you're offended about this, you know, get over yourself. I'm not preaching at you this morning. I'm preaching for the people that haven't made this decision. And here's the thing, your feelings are of less concern to me than the well-being of others. And it's not that I don't care about people's feelings. I don't like hurting people's feelings. I don't like giving people bad news. But your feelings are of less concern to me than the well-being of other people, okay? And what I'm saying is that I value the welfare of other people more than your feelings, okay? Because you'll walk, you know, maybe you'll walk out of this morning and you'll be mad, but you know what, hopefully you'll get over it. I can live with that. And what my hope is, my goal is that maybe there'll be somebody who'll walk out of here this morning and think, you know, if I'm not getting married, I'm going to make sure I do it right. I'm going to take it seriously. I'm not going to mess around. I'm going to make sure I do things right the first time, okay? That's who I'm worried, that's who I'm more concerned with. I'd rather, I want that result. That's what I want to have happen, is someone to leave here this morning and be serious about marriage, whether they're already married, whether they're contemplating marriage or will be getting married someday, you know, whenever I preach sermons like this or I think about this, there's always that verse in Psalm 141, you can just listen if you'd like. It says, let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness. I've thought about that verse so many times over the years, let the righteous smite me. Now, smiting is like, you know, hit me. Let the righteous person come and just smack me in the face, right, and tell me I'm wrong and bounce my head off the pulpit. I'm messing up, right? Let them do that, it will be a kindness. You know, it's a kindness when we come to church and hear something that convicts us. It doesn't feel like it, doesn't feel like a warm fuzzy, right? It feels like a cold prickly. Does anyone know what I'm talking about when I say that? Okay, a few people. I remember there was like some push in our elementary school to like how to treat people nicely. Is what you said a warm fuzzy and there's some cold pricklies here this morning, right? But inside, it's warm and fuzzy, okay? That's the intent. But the Bible says, you know, let the righteous smite me. It shall be a kindness. Let him reprove me. It shall be an excellent oil. You know, the reproofs of instructions are the way of life, the Bible says. It shall be an excellent oil. Reproving, being reproved is an excellent oil. It's like an anointing, right? If you receive reproof, it's like you're being anointed with oil. It'll make you stand out, right? Think of like a fragrance. You know, someone goes a little heavy with a cologne or whatever, we all know who it is, right? They stand out. No, you keep going. You keep using it. Someone's like, no, you need it. I was gonna say more. I'm just playing. Now I'm hurting feelings unnecessarily. Okay. If anyone needs cologne in here, it's this guy, right? You always wonder why does he stay so far away? Why is he always back there in the office? Well, anyway. What was I saying? It'll be like an excellent oil, right? It'll make you stand out. It'll make you different. If you're somebody who can receive rebuke and do something with it, it's gonna be an excellent oil which shall not break my head, okay? You know, if I'm preaching something this morning or any morning or any time for that matter that is reproofed to you, it's not gonna kill you, is it? You know, in all the years that I've been preaching, which hasn't been that long, almost six years now, I have yet to preach something so hard that it literally killed somebody or caused physical injury. I've never made anybody bleed from their skull with my preaching, okay? It's not gonna break your head. It's not gonna do permanent, in fact, reproof is an excellent oil, the Bible says. And the Bible says that open rebuke is better than secret love. You know, if I ever get up and reprove and rebuke something that you're guilty of, it's because I love you. That's it. I'm not trying to make people, it doesn't make me feel like a big man or something. I'm not trying to stroke my ego up here. I'm doing it because it's my job and it's because I love the people that I preach to. So that's the first group of people. I mean, how do I apply this? Well, if you're offended, get over yourself. If you're divorced, go to Colossians chapter number three. And again, I'm just, you know, I'm a very, I like to think, and maybe I shouldn't like it, that I'm a blunt person. You know, it's kind of hard to evaluate yourself, but I think probably everybody in here, or most people that know me would agree that sometimes I'm pretty blunt. I see some heads nodding. Okay, it's fine. You know, I can take that, right? Because open rebuke is better than secret love, okay? And so, you know, I just like to say things straight. I just like to get right to the point and just say it, okay? And if it comes across harsh sometimes, I'm sorry. I guess I could work on my tact a little bit. I don't know. Maybe I need to work on my vocabulary and learn how to put things in a way where you don't realize what a jerk I'm being, okay? But here's what I would say if you're divorced. You had your chance. You had your chance. That's it, okay? And you say, that's harsh. I know, but that's the Bible. That's the truth. And if more people went into marriage thinking this is the one chance I have, they might have done things differently. They might do things differently. Look at Colossians chapter number three. Well, what's your advice to the divorced? Serve God. And I understand. It's easy for me, as a married man, to get up and say this. I understand that. And I'm not in your shoes. But you ask, you want my opinion, you want what I think a divorced person should do, they should serve God with their life. Okay? And that goes for everybody, obviously, okay? Everyone should serve God, married, unmarried, whatever, okay? But I think sometimes people are so fixated on one thing in life, they think, if I could just do this, then it's going to fix all my problems. It's just going to make me a happier person. Not necessarily. I know the Bible says that godliness with contentment is great gain. Look at Colossians three, verse one. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. You know, if you're divorced, don't become fixated on remarriage. It's a sin. Well, I don't know what else to do. Set your affection on things above. Set your affections on Christ. Serve God with zeal. And it's like you're in a church that, I mean, will send you around literally to different parts of the world to serve God. At our cost. At no cost to you, other than your time. I don't know a lot of churches like that. I don't know a lot of churches where you can get a plate of spaghetti without having to cough up 10 bucks. You know, we're getting ready to pop popcorn again. I saw some eg's coming here. I didn't even have to ask for that. It just happened, right? It's like we're giving stuff away. We're sending people to Navajo. We're sending people across the world. We'll send you to Fiji. We'll send you to Africa. We'll send you, you know, all over the world. You know, and here's the thing. If you're unmarried, whether it's because you simply haven't gotten married yet your life's not over. You can still do great things for God. You can still do powerful, amazing things where God could use you in a great way. Well, I'm older. Moses was 80. He did his greatest works. You know, that's what I would think. If I were older, I'd just want to go out with a bang. I want to go out in a blaze of glory for the Lord. Seek those things which be above. Verse 2, set your affection on things above, for you're dead and your life is hid with Christ and God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory. Oh, it's hard. Oh, it's difficult. I know, but when he appears, you'll say it was worth it all. You'll look, as the song says, by and by when I look in his face, that scar-tattered face, I'll wish I'd given him more. I don't care how much any of us serves God, but we see Christ, we'll wish we had given him many times more. Whatever we gave him. He says in verse 5, mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth. And look, I get it. You go home at night, it's late, you close that bedroom door, it gets lonely real fast. But you know what? You need to mortify your members. Paul did it, which are upon the earth. Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate of fashion, concupiscence, eucalyptus was adultery, we need to just be done away with it. He says adultery. Idolatry, does he say it there? Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate of affection, eucalyptus is covetousness, which is idolatry. You know, these carnal things that are going to lead us into sin, we need to mortify our members. And again, I get it. It's easy for me to say it. It's another thing for you to have to go live it. But that is my advice is don't get married, don't commit that sin, and serve God with your life. I'm just telling you what the Bible says. That would be my first bit of advice, which is harsh. This is maybe a little harsh, too. Go to Psalm 19. My other bit of advice would be you've been warned. You've been warned. You know, if you just sat through this sermon you were warned that God hates divorce and that committing that sin is adultery. The Bible says in Proverbs 29, He that being oftener approved, hardened at his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy. Psalm 19, look at verse 9, the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, the much fine gold. Moreover, by them thy servant is thy servant warned. You know, a lot of the Bible is just like God saying, warning, warning. God's righteous. God is holy. His judgments are pure. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. There's a lot in here that is just God saying, by them, by what? By the judgments of the Lord, by his commandments, by the law is thy servant warned and in keeping them is their great reward. You know, it doesn't mean life just has to be this monastic, just you know, endurance race where you just you know, just grin and bear it. There's still great reward for the divorced. I believe that. And the married, the unmarried alike, we all have the opportunity to earn reward in keeping God's word. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. He's praying, hey, the things that I do that I don't even realize are sin. Help me get that, bring that to my attention. Help me clean myself from that. Look at verse 13 though. Keep back thy servant a presumption to just presume to sin. And here's how people do this. I know it's a sin. I'm going to do it, and then I'll ask forgiveness. It's like, well, God just heard you say that. God knows that's how you're thinking. Well, I'm going to go ahead and do this, but then when I'm done, then I'll be sorry for it. That's a presumptuous sin. You know, and I'm not saying God will never forgive you for that, and you're not going to be sorry. Well, I'm going to do it, but then I'll be sorry later. No, you won't. You're going to get what you want, and you're going to do what you want to do, and you're not going to be as sorry as you thought you might have been. But that's when God gets involved and says, okay, well, you're the one who said you'd be sorry, so let's go ahead and make sure you're sorry. That's scary. That's a scary thing. It is a fearful thing to fall in love. God, whoever said God loves, he rebukes and chastens. Neither is there any son who will be chastened if not. I mean, God's chastening comes to all of us. How much more so the person who's just asking for it? Let them not have dominion over me. Let me move on here to the next group of people, okay? So the application this morning is if you're offended, get over yourself. If you're divorced, you had your chance, and you've been warned. Stay married or let's say you've already been divorced and remarried. Here's my advice. Stay married. You know, there's this dumb doctrine. Well, if you're remarried, you need to divorce that spouse and go back to the first one. The Bible says the complete opposite. The Bible says that's an abomination. Stupid. I'm not going to spend time on that because I don't think anyone here is struggling with that. But stay married. Well, you know, you don't have to go. I'm almost done. Let me just read these for you. Because, you know, me just saying stay married, you know, that warrants a whole series of sermons that need to be preached many times over the course of many years because marriage is work. And marriage will always be work. But Bible says in Proverbs 28 verse 13, He that covereth their sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth the sake of them shall have mercy. You know, if you've already committed that sin, just admit it. Just say, you know, what I did was wrong. You know? Because it was. And be willing to admit that and ask for mercy. And especially if you're one who has done it presumptuously. I would be begging for mercy. If you're unwed, the last group of people, because it's getting really awkward in here. But this is this topic. And now you see why people don't preach it. It'd be a lot easier this morning to say, you know, those first five verses in Mark 1 or Mark 10, I'm still meditating on that. You know, I'm still having, you know, I'm still talking to my pastor friends about that. We'll circle back, you know, some other times. It'd be really easy to do that this morning. And, you know, there's probably, hopefully nobody here, there's a lot of people out there to be like, amen to that. They'd be like, yeah, you just skip right over that. They love that. That's why those churches are full. They just, they love going to a church where no one's gonna step on their toes. If you're unmarried, if you're unwed, my advice to you, and this is the people I'm most concerned with this morning when I preach this, be patient and marry well. And I don't mean marry money, right? That's all the time some people take that. You know, marry well. You know what I'm saying? Get some more money in that plate over there, right? That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying marry somebody who understands these things out of the word of God. Marry somebody who knows that marriage is for life, that divorce is not an option, that has some spirituality about them. And, you know, sometimes you have to be patient. You have to be patient. You have to be in a rush. But, you know, you say, well, why should I? Why is it worth it? Because there's some things in life you only get one shot at. So set yourself up for success. There's no guarantees. Nothing's guaranteed. But, you know, you can set yourself up to succeed. You can increase your chances that you're gonna succeed if you're patient and marry well. Don't marry that person and say, I'm gonna marry somebody here. I know they're not saved. I'll get them saved. Oh, you're gonna get them saved. You're gonna get a new IFB, huh? That's a long, that could be a long haul, my friend. That can be a chasm they'll never span. That could be a hurdle they'll never get over. You know, that's difficult. I mean, think about marrying somebody who has completely different views from you religion and everything that comes along with a child rearing, all of that. I mean, marriage just turned into a battle. So why don't you marry somebody who out the gate is on the same page with you? I'm not saying they have to check every box down the line where you have to agree on everything because no one is. That's part of what makes marriage exciting, right? You can have these little arguments about trivial things, okay? And you could spend your whole marriage trying to convince your spouse what flavor of Ben and Jerry's is the best, okay? But when it comes to things like the Bible, child rearing, I mean, you need to be on the same page. Marriage, men and women's roles. I mean, people get married, people sit in churches like this and they get married and then they're divorced within months because they never bother to talk about, you know, the fact that, you know, she should stay home and raise kids. I'm not doing that. You should get that out before you got married. To me, that's a red flag. I'd say, well, that's not what I want for my home. You know, I want my wife in home raising the kids, having my babies and raising them, teaching them. So you should probably find somebody who, you know, is on board with that before you get married. And again, sometimes, I always have to give these little caveats because I think sometimes young guys, single guys, they hear this and they're just like, that's another, okay, let me put that on my application for my spouse, you know, right? And then they're like, do you, and then they hand it like, see this clause right here, you know, on the first date, you know? Like, you know, if they don't have to agree with you on the first date, but if by the time you want to pop the question comes around and you're still not on the same page on these major issues, you either one, haven't had those conversations or two, you're trying to, you know, you're on the verge of marrying somebody who's never going to agree with you and you should go running in the other direction. And find somebody that will, okay? So anyway, you know, that's where we were in Mark this morning. You know, that's, these 12 verses here are difficult. They're hard. These are hard sayings, especially in the society that we live in today where this thing of divorce and remarriage is just glossed over even in the church house where it's promoted, you know, it's bad enough that it's promoted out in the world, it's not frowned upon anymore in the world, used to be, but it's really sad where even behind the pulpit today, people are just doing that effeminate little skip over this portion of the word of God. You know, I'm not going to demonstrate that again, but they, that little thing I did that one time, someone told me, he said, the more you try to look effeminate, the more masculine you look. I'm too manly, I couldn't even look effeminate if I wanted to. You look like a guy who's trying to look effeminate and it just comes across wrong. Anyway, but you know, spiritually, that's what a lot of guys are doing. It's what they look like. Some of this preaching that's out there, you know, just skipping over that part of the word of God. And it's a shame. And that's why the Hindus are beating us today when it comes to marriage. You know, we should fix that. I mean, it starts here behind the pulpit. And again, if I've offended you this morning, if I've hurt your feelings, that was not my intent, I'm simply just trying to preach the word of God, yes, for those that have not, you know, married, made these decisions yet, and also offer some practical advice for those that have, that are making these decisions. Understand that our decisions come with consequences, that God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer. Dear Lord, again, thank you for the word of God. And Lord, I pray you'd help us, Lord, each and every one of us, to search our hearts, Lord, and to allow your word to be a candle and a light in our hearts, Lord, as you search the reigns and hearts of us, Lord, and help us to be people that are ready to conform to your word, Lord, and to do those things which are pleasing to you in every area of our life, Lord. Help us to surrender to your will. We ask these things in Christ's name, amen. All right, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we are dismissed. All right, please open up your song books. Song number 343. We'll enter our Sunday morning service. Let's hear the song number 343. Provide us again. We'll go ahead and sing the song number 343. We'll enter our Sunday morning service. Let's hear the song number 343. Provide us again. We'll go ahead and sing the song number 343. We'll enter our Sunday morning service. Provide us again. We'll enter our Sunday morning service. Provide us again. We'll enter our Sunday morning service. Provide us again. We'll enter our Sunday morning service. Provide us again. Provide us again. Provide us again. Provide us again. Provide us again. Provide us again. Provide us again. Provide us again. Provide us again. We'll praise Thee, O God, For Thy Spirit of Life, Who has shown us our Savior and scattered through our night. Hallelujah! By the glory! Hallelujah! Amen! Hallelujah! By the glory! We provide us again. All glory and praise To the black and white To the land that was slain Who has worn all our sins And has been to every stain. Hallelujah! By the glory! Hallelujah! Amen! Hallelujah! By the glory! We provide us again. Provide us again. Provide us again. Village heart lives by love. Peace or pain, We can't cope with our problems. Hallelujah! By the glory! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! By the glory! We provide us again. All right, before we dismiss, we broke the record. So we had 36 with anything, and we had 40 this morning, so it would have been nice if three of you had stayed behind, but that would have been a broken bottom, I'm just kidding. But we do have popcorn popping, and it looks like somebody went and got an E.G.s, so you guys must have known I was starting that diet tomorrow, but stick around and have some popcorn and some E.G.s. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.