Let's take our Bibles and turn to Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 25 and take your notes and it'll be the notes entitled, Meeting the Greatest Need of Your Spouse. Meeting the Greatest Need of Your Spouse. And you can unfreeze the projector so we could be able to go through. and so it's going to be meeting the greatest need of your spouse Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 25 and Let's let's do this. I think it'd be okay Let's go ahead and and stand and as we read since we didn't stand to sing. Let's read a few verses and actually several and And you can follow along Ephesians chapter 5, and I'm on, okay, I am on here. Look at verse 25, it says this, Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify it and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So on men to love their wives as their own bodies, he that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth it and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church. For we are members of his body and of his flesh and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and they shall be joined unto his wife, and they, too, shall be one flesh. You can be seated. Thank you so much. beating the greatest need of your spouse. We're going to be just reviewing just briefly here. The greatest need of the wife is of course love. The greatest need of the husband is that respect. And going off of that premise and that understanding, we need to see that we need to meet that greatest need. Now, does your wife or your spouse have many needs? Yes. And we have different ways of communicating and we have different couples and all of the things and different cultural backgrounds. But you're commanded in scripture to meet that greatest need or that primary need. First of all, we'll deal with the husband and then we'll deal with the wife. These are normally split sessions. So we just are talking to the husbands and the wives don't get to listen. And then we get to talk to the wives and the husbands don't get to listen. Now we're accountable. Oh no, she's going to hear the same thing. And so if you wanted to get something on your phone to distract her right now, that would be a good thing. We're going to go through the men. And I left it pretty simple for the guys. Notice the note that says, demonstrating agape love. And then it goes down through, and it just has one word for each blank. I thought, that's what the guys can handle. One word, okay? Now, some of you guys aren't used to taking notes. Go ahead, you can write down one word for these, and this is a cross-stick for agape love. What's the first one? First one is A for agape love. It's active. Active. It says in verse 25, even as Christ loved the church. Who initiates love? It's always God. God created the man to be the initiator, the leader. You start it. You initiate. Be active in this initiation. Well, we're not going to church. Not doing this like about you. Okay, you're the the one that's going to be accountable to God ultimately for that relationship you need to be active and take the step the first step in leadership and especially with love agape love is You never see it. Just kind of sitting back Not doing anything as passive. I'll just wait How the other person treats me first? No agape love is initiates, it's active, it's a very, very interesting idea. But notice also, this is true whenever you see the love of God, it's agape love is giving, agape love is giving. Verse 25, and gave himself for, that is Christ gave himself for the church. This is giving for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Whenever you see this, you're going to see this giving. Now, ultimately, I believe this agape love is the giving of oneself. It is the opposite of selflessness. Self is self-focused. Agape love focuses on the other person, gives of themselves. Self-love just is meeting our own need. The agape love gives out of a reason to be able to help the other person and meet their need. It is constantly giving. It could be the giving of monetary. It could be the giving of something physical. It could be the giving of emotional things, but it's ultimately, I believe, it's the giving of oneself. And we're going to go into greater detail about that later. Agape love. It's active. It's giving. I love this one. It's accepting. It's accepting. Notice the description. love to the wife is the example of Christ to the church. Look at verse 6 again. Speaking of the church, it says, Husbands, in verse 25, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church, that he might sanctify it or sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it. Ooh, that's romantic right there. Oh, we had it. We had it for just a... That really created a mood, didn't it? Wasn't that nice? Okay, we lost it. Okay. We can read the Bible a little bit. I was just a chandelier turning, staying on while everything else is turning off. But this agape love is accepting. Notice what Christ does for the church. He washes it, and He of course is saving it. He makes it without, He sanctifies it, that means He sets it apart from anything that's dirty or unclean, evil, washes it by the water of His word, so he could then take the church, that's us, and present it to himself, just like that bride that would be presented on that wedding day, without spot, without wrinkle, without anything there, and fully, watch this, Christ fully accepts us. Because now we have been justified through Christ. We are in Christ. Now our sins are forgiven. Now I am sanctified. Now I am accepted of God the Father. I'm accepted of God the Father. We're changing? Okay, we're changing. Pay no attention to the man changing this right here. I will seamlessly keep talking and teaching without paying attention to him. Thank you very much, brother. But we are accepted of God. Now, see, all of these things you think are happening by accident, but there are key ways to keep you in attention mode. Dipping the lights and having the audio, all of those things are fully, I'm sure, intentional. But so it's accepting. So when God, when you enter heaven, it's not going to be, wow, you just barely made it. Whoa, I know how you lived. Whoa. Is that how God is going to accept us into heaven? No. We're accepted as His Son is, Jesus Christ. Why? Because the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5.21, For He, that's God, hath made Him, Jesus, to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And now, when God looks at me, He doesn't see my sin, He sees Christ's righteousness. And he now accepts me because I'm justified. He doesn't see any spot. He doesn't see any wrinkle. Fully accepted. If you could see that agape love for your wife, that you accept her just as she is. Just as she is. Fully accepting. I won't talk about too much in detail about spots or blemishes or wrinkles at this time. Okay, we'll just kind of skip over that. Men, stay very still at this time. But why is this talking about spot, not wrinkle? I'm not seeing the errors. I'm not seeing the faults. Our wives are not going to be without sin or without failure. But still, this agape love overlooks and forgives those things and accepts. And that is, you know what your wife needs? She needs to feel accepted. No matter how she changes throughout the years or decades in marriage, it's okay. You love her. She's secure in that love. You fully accept her. No matter if she looks the same as on the wedding day or she doesn't look the same on the wedding day. You fully accept her. You are accepting the wife. That is a key, I think, in this agape love. It's excellent. But not only do we see this accepting, we see this pardon. Not having spot, without blemish. So, in order for God to see us that way, we have to be pardoned. We need a pardon. If someone was guilty of a crime, and they received a pardon, It wasn't that they never committed the crime. They committed the crime, but they were forgiven of it. They receive a full pardon. They receive a full pardon. That is now they're free to go. They could act like any citizen. you and me, even though they've committed a crime, they've had a pardon. Are you holding the spots, the wrinkles, the blemishes, the failures of your wife, the inadequacies to her account, or are you pardoning and allowing her to be cleansed in that way? But then in verse 29, it says this, for no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it. You nourish and cherish with it. That is you esteem. You esteem her, you lift her up. This is, some say, would give the description of loving her and lifting her up as a queen. Another author, he said, no, it's really not so much a queen as a princess. Now, doesn't that bring a different connotation? Kind of different thought. Queen. Ruler. Leader. Demands and commands respect. That's really not her greatest need, respect. But what little girl does not love going to Disney World dressed up like a princess? I'm not a queen. I'm a princess. Every little girl wants to be a princess with the one in the bright and shining armor and the white horse and the stallion to be able to come and take her away or whatever or to marry her. It's the idea of stinging or lifting her up in that way. Continuing with the acrostic, agape love, there's the L as loyalty. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 31, it says, leave the father and mother and be joined unto his wife. So it is, they're going to cleave and join unto his wife. I have a loyalty to her. I remember when we were married, a couple things. The pastor preached a very long time. Way too long for any marriage. I think seven minute message is good enough. That should be it. Seven minutes. I was very brief when I preached the one wedding I've done. But he preached a very long time. But I remember he said this, imagine right now, and this is such a good thing because I think, I'm visual in my my understanding, my illustrations. He said, think of a concrete wall all around you and your wife, all around you and your husband. And nobody else is within this very high concrete wall. You just said yes to her and no to every other woman on the planet. And it's going to stay that way. You have a loyalty to her. that is not going to change. The kids need to have that settled feeling that dad is loyal. The wife needs to have that no matter what. He is loyal till death do we part. I might kill her, but I will not divorce her. And that may be the temptation. No, no, no. I see several nots. Please don't not at this time. I've never considered divorce. Murder, yes, but not divorce, some preacher would say. Not me, okay? But no, but the reality is and the seriousness is I'm going to be loyal no matter what. You know, divorce is on an incline. Are you ready? For the 50-year-olds and up. They're calling them gray divorces because of the hair color. Yeah, I used to think you get, you know, you're married 30, 35 years. You're set. You're golden. I mean, it's just going to take care of itself. No, it will not. We are seeing ones that train their kids right. that stayed true in their marriage, that did so well, and then now they're 55, 60, 65, and they're getting divorces? And I go, this isn't making sense at all. What's going on? Somewhere along the line, their needs weren't being met. His needs weren't being met. And so that's it. I've had enough. He's been bottling it up for all of these years so much. And then now they just have it out. And that's it. You want to call it off? I'll call it off. No, no, no. It's not even an option. By God's grace, you have the commitment and the determination to say, I'm going to be loyal no matter what. Don't think that you don't have to be on guard in your marriage against this matter of divorce. You've been married 30, 40 years. You need to continue to have that alertness, because Satan is as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. So be sober, be vigilant, be thinking, be aware. Somewhere along the line, Satan's going to try to steal your loyalty. Somewhere along the line, he's going to try to say, well, you know what? Someone else can meet your needs. Someone else can help you out with that. No, no, no. And the truth is, All marriages are basically intrinsically the same, okay? There's one man, one woman. There's going to be issues. There's going to be challenges to work through. Don't think if I leave this, I'm going to be better off. No, you're not. You can't afford divorce. You can't afford it financially. You can't afford it emotionally. You can't afford it just the loneliness that it brings. You can't afford it spiritually. It will devastate your life. Make it a decision saying, I am having this agape love and I am being loyal. no matter what. Not only is there this loyalty and this agape love, the next one for O is openness. It says they should be one flesh. Obviously, openness in the intimacy physically, openness emotionally. You know, oftentimes the wife wants to know how you're feeling. I know for guys it's like, how was your day? Good. OK, one word. That's why we have one word for the guys. All right, so just low verbal. All right, here it is. Just one thing. You know what? We need to be able to express ourselves and have an openness and even be vulnerable, I believe. But having the openness on both sides But there's an openness there. Now, one flesh is just more than just a physical. It's an intimate, emotional oneness as well. But not only do we have openness, we have a voice for V. Voice praise. I get this from Proverbs 31, 28, talking about the woman there. He praises her. Voice praise. I thank God for your sweet spirit. I thank God for what you do. I thank God for you following me and the leadership in our family. Thank you for not saying that in front of the children. Thank you for discussing that behind closed doors. voicing praise of her character, not just her outward beauty, that would be, I think we need to continue no matter what, but the attributes and the fruit that you see spiritually in her life. You know, I see this and thank you for that. I believe the voice of praise is good. You know, it's interesting how our children respond to react differently. Our kids are so different. Our youngest really, really responds to voice of praise. I could say, hey, you did really well with that. And I really appreciate your spirit. Thanks, Dad. Wow. OK, and now he's ready to conquer the world. You want me to go fight somebody for you? I'll do it. I'll go build a house. What do you want me to do? He's just ready, whatever. It's incredible how that voice of praise does go so far. It may not be yours, your thing that really communicates or resonates with you, but it may be for your spouse. But also, the wife doesn't just want, whenever she's going through something, she doesn't want just you to fix that problem. She wants you to empathize with her, and it's empathy. 1 Peter 3 7 again says dwell with your wives according to knowledge. So I'm learning how to empathize. How is she feeling? I understand this. I can let her talk and I can listen and empathetically understand what she's going through. So demonstrating love. You got a lot of words there guys, but I try to be simple as far as one or two for each one. But this agape love comes from God through you to help meet the need of your spouse. On the last page of that section of those notes, we see the matter of demonstrating respect to the husband. Now wives, there's a lot more words here and a lot more blanks, but let's take our Bibles and turn to 1st Peter chapter 2. 1st Peter chapter 2. First Peter chapter 2 and we'll read a couple verses here, but then we'll look into chapter 3 and verse 1. Sometimes we'll go back to Ephesians 5 perhaps as well, but First Peter if you will. Chapter 2. So, the first part was a session that would be for the guys. Ladies don't necessarily get to hear. This one is for the ladies, that the guys don't get to hear. But now, we're all going to be accountable. Okay, what is this demonstrating respect? Look at 1 Peter 2, and just briefly look here. It says, verse 21, For even here unto where ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example. that ye should follow his steps." So, ladies, we're following Christ's steps. "...who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who, when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not. He committed himself to them that judges righteously, whose his own self bear our sins, and his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed." For ye were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and the bishop of your souls." Continuing in chapter 3, verse 1. Likewise, ye wives be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives. Look in William, verse 2. It says, while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Let's understand, okay. In communicating and this love for the wife, we need to do it in such a way that it resonates with her. She senses and she feels that she is loved. When we are, as the ladies, are demonstrating respect to the husband, it needs to be in such a way that he can recognize that. It does resonate with him. So first of all, it's number one, demonstrate respect in your subjection. According to chapter 3 and verse 1, likewise ye wives be in subjection. Demonstrate respect in your subjection. by placing yourself under God, his God-given authority. According to chapter five of Ephesians, it's Christ is the head of the church and now he places the husband as the head of the wife. There has to be a leader. There has to be a head. There can't be two. Okay, there has to be one that's going to have the ultimate leadership. So this subjection is, okay, here's my authority and subjection places yourself under that authority. Submissions, objections, some of these terms are almost like a military term where I rank under. So it's not in or it's not in I'm ranking under in the matter of importance. but I'm ranking under in the leadership or the authoritative role. So I'm ranking under in the authoritative role. I have authority that's over me. Now obviously, God wants you to thrive, ladies. The best way for you to thrive is to place yourself under. That's not to make life difficult. That's to make life the most blessed for you and the most protection under that authority. And if you're out here, not only are you now directly responsible for your own sin of not following Him, but you're not getting the protection that you need. When you place yourself under and he has the lead and you say, well, you know, I don't know if I should, uh, you know, if we really need to do this, you know, with our investment or financially, I don't know if that's a good decision. And you both talk each other in the proper way, not, not in the wrong spirit, not with the edge, not with an emotional intensity, but you're talking about it. And he says, no, I think we ought to do this. This is a really good idea. then eventually will you place yourself under? Would you at that point say, okay, Lord, I don't think this is a good thing. I'm just going to place myself under. So what do you do when you do that? You put it right back on his shoulders. It's on his head. Men, you're now responsible for you and your wife. You better make the wise decision. You better make the right decision. One particular pastor, he was going to present something and he was all ready, you know, for his wife just to fight back and this one. So he was just ready to just go at it. He was going to dig in. He was going to have his argument. He was going to try to make his case. And so he was like, honey, I think we need to do this. And he was ready, you know, he was ready. And she said, OK, well, that's not my idea, but OK, I'll do it. And he was like, what did you say? I said, OK, we'll do it. No, you said it wasn't. He starts back paddling. It wasn't your idea. Well, what was your idea? Well, my idea was to do this this way. And he goes, oh, you know. There's something might be to that and so what happens he ends up This isn't psychological, you know manipulation, but he ends up Incorporating her ideas and what would happen if she said no that is dumb. That is the most boneheaded thing I've ever heard. What in the world are you thinking? Okay, that's probably not the good words to use in discussing things with your husband, making decisions. Okay, what happened when she didn't put up a fight and she's subjected? He ended up as well listening more intently to her suggestions because of following his authority. Now remember the end goal of your submission. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. So it's as if here's the wife, here's the husband, the Lord is just beyond your husband. And when your husband's saying, hey, I think we ought to do this, you look past your husband and you submit to the Lord. It's just your husband happens to be in the way. That's it. You know what? If Jesus walked into this room, there wouldn't be one lady that would not sweetly submit to him. If he said, I would really like for you to do this, you would be honored to do it. But if Jesus places your husband as your head and authority, would you sweetly submit to Jesus by submitting to the authority that's in your life. And it does say in verse 24 of chapter 5 of Ephesians, subject yourselves in everything. That is to submit in everything. It's an amazing thing. Okay, now how do we do this? Ladies, by placing yourself under his leadership unconditionally. Lord, I'm going to have to, I'm going to do this unconditionally, even if I don't feel loved, even though maybe he's not meeting my needs at the particular time. This, I believe, is a definite step of faith. A definite step of faith. Number one, it says, this must be a decision of faith. Will you trust the Lord that if you will Respect and submit to your husband, place yourself under his leadership, his authority, that he will love you like he ought. But even if he doesn't, let's say, by God's grace, I want to be spirit-filled, so I will do that. That's a decision of faith. You see, your behavior has more influence even than your word. Your words have great influence. But number two says this, is your behavior has more influence than your words. How is your behavior? Chapter 1 Peter 3 and verse 1 it says, likewise you wives be in subjection to your own husbands that ye that if any obey not the word they also may, without the word, be won by the conversation of the wives. Conversation would be the lifestyle, your behavior. Let's say, for instance, if there is a wife that has an unsaved husband, what is going to be most beneficial for him? Why don't you go to church with me? You never go to church with me. Come on! You know, if you don't go to church, you don't hear how to be saved, you're going to die and go to hell. OK, if he's hearing that, that, that, that, that, that, why do I need to go to church to hear a message? I just heard one right now and I don't like it. And so she's giving him words. But wouldn't it be better if she submits even to an unsaved husband? Now, I obviously, I'm not saying in illegal matters, in unethical things, but she's submissive to him. And he sees from her spirit and her behavior a difference, and she's going to be an effective one to him. But it does, in this passage, talk about, as we're following the Lord Jesus, we're talking about a lot with our speech. And that brings us to number two. Demonstrating respect in your speech. demonstrate respect in your speech. Notice 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 22 it says, who did no sin neither was in was guile found in his mouth. Also notice if you will chapter 3 verse 1 again it says the conversation about the words and such but There is a speech that's important. Now, I don't know if we'll have time for you to be able to write down all of these things. If not, we can be able to show you this later. But give your speech a test, OK? Is it negative or is it positive? The first one, is the speech criticizing? Am I criticizing in this way? Am I negative or is it courteous? Is it courteous? Lord, for me to demonstrate respect, it does matter what I say and, of course, how I say it. I put down crafty for the second one. That's the guile. There's some type of deceit. Have you ever seen a crafty lady? She knows how to work things. Don't tell dad. Okay, I'm trying to get this done and so there's a craftiness to be able to try to get her way. Just be truthful. Just be honest. Look, if you will, at 1 Peter 3.10. It says, 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. Just be truthful. Just be truthful. Don't have your own agenda that you try to manipulate or work through or try to do something that way. How's your speech? Is it contentious? You know, I don't have the Proverbs 11, I think it is on there, but only by pride cometh contention. Contention or contentious is argumentative. Argumentative. Am I arguing about different things? Look at 1 Peter 2, 23. It says, who when he was reviled, reviled not again, when he suffered he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously. He committed himself, the Lord Jesus did, to God the Father, recognizing, I'm not going to argue, he didn't threaten those. Hey, you do this and you're going to get it. You don't know what's coming for you. No, he didn't do that. He was blessing them. 1 Peter 3, 9 says, not rendering evil for evil, but railing, or railing for railing, but contrary wise, knowing that ye are there unto call, that ye should inherit a blessing. Will you bless others with your positive speech, and especially your husband? OK. How about the last one, complaining? Complaining, do all things without murmuring and disputing. Murmuring, isn't that an interesting word? Murmuring, murmur. Can we, in the count of three, can we say the word murmur out loud all together? In the count of three, ready? One, two, three, murmur. Now let's say it twice together, murmur, murmur. Okay, ready? One, two, three, murmur, murmur. Doesn't it sound like it is? It's like murmur, murmur, murmur. That's what murmuring is. It's this low rumble, oh man, not again. You know, here's the husband. He's on fire for God. He's like, that's it. We're getting rid of every TV, every digital device, no internet. We're going to cleanse our home. Oh, we're going to be on fire for God. We're going to every service, every outreach. And then three weeks later, where are you? Best Buy? Buying new digital devices and new electronic things or whatever. You know, it's like, oh, back and forth. He's inconsistent. And now, man. My husband could just be consistent for a little bit. I didn't realize how much I complained. until the Lord showed me, but also there's someone else that God gave me. It's my wife. She said, do you realize that you're complaining about that? I wasn't complaining. I was just saying something true that in a negative way that nobody else could change. I was complaining. How much of the time do we complain? Don't complain about your spouse. Don't complain. Be thankful. In my devotional format, I have a part for thankfulness. Just thank God. Just write down, I'm thankful for my spouse. I'm thankful for my family. Thank God for the people that are in your life. Thankfulness. You know, this thing the Bible says in Ephesians 5 is giving thanks always for all things. Isn't that amazing? Giving thanks always. That's impossible, isn't it? Impossible thanks. Only way possible for that impossible to become possible is to be filled with the Spirit. Colossians 3.15. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which you are called in body and be ye thankful. Just be thankful to the Lord. Be thankful in your speech. These type of things, criticizing, being crafty, not really being truthful, trying to get your own way, being contentious, argumentative, complaining, that is going to certainly spiral into the conflict cycle. But again, men, remember that cycle, that diagram. When you see that, it should be ding, ding, ding, red flag. Okay, my wife isn't feeling love, that's why she's saying these things. Okay, we as men could say the same things or do the same things, criticizing, contentious, argumentative, complaining, all on our end as well. But I need to realize, I need to communicate more clearly love to my wife. Okay, what's number three? How do we demonstrate respect? Demonstrate respect in your support. God created for Adam a helpmeet. Someone to meet his needs. Help your husband fulfill his God-given calling. What was Adam's calling? God had a job for Adam, okay? You know, be in the garden, name the animals, do these things. God, isn't that interesting? God gave man a job. Men need to work. There's a purpose. He wasn't just going to walk and talk with God all day and do nothing. God gave him a job. What is marriage? Dr. Rick Flanders said this, I thought it was so helpful. Marriage is a man with a job for God and a woman to help him. Why did God give Eve to Adam as a helpmate? You see, God gave him a calling. I think this is across the board. God calls you. But Brother Miller, I'm in business. I'm a technician. I'm an accountant. I'm whatever. You could be any of those things. But God has a calling for your life. You have a calling and certainly your ultimate calling is to serve God, bring glory to Him, evangelize others, and your wife is to help you in your specific niche or niche or whatever area of calling that you have in that way. So I believe, and for instance, my daughter is just dead set on missions. She's a senior in college and she wants to go to Africa. She surrendered to God. I don't want to myself send my daughter to Africa single. I want her to be married. Now she's also thinking about doing some medical training in that way. So I thought this would be great. Get her a husband and he has to pay for the medical training. I thought that was an excellent idea. But, so she's gonna have a little survey, okay, if she's, all right, okay, are you a potential husband? Okay, are you called to missions? She's focused on that, but I really believe ultimately she's gonna have to follow her husband, right, in his calling. And I believe God can work it out. So far we're like, is there any guys, you know? On the radar? Anybody out there? Nope. It's like very clear. No one. Dad, there's no one out there. There's someone out there that I believe is going the same direction. And if she's following God's will, they're going to meet. and their callings are going to come together. But ultimately, her idea, her responsibility is this, is your husband is your primary responsibility. And she's going to have to help him fulfill his calling. Would you see that? Now, you may be maybe a double income family. Okay. You may be working as a lady. All right. That's fine. Would you see, though, your main job is not your own vocation? your goals, and you're climbing the ladder, your main responsibility is your husband. Is your husband. Is your husband. Even above the children. Even above the children. Are you seeing your responsibility to communicate this respect? It's, okay, husband, you got it. Now let me tell you, I am so blessed. I see an evangelism as an evangelist. Evangelists stop. I've seen so many stop traveling. Maybe God's called them to be a pastor. Maybe God's put them on, I don't know, a mission field or something like that. But I've seen so many stop and they're not in the ministry because of two reasons. One is finances. It's a faith-based thing. And God provides offerings when he provides meetings. But secondly, and God's always been so good to us in 25 years, it's been amazing. Number two is the wives. You know how challenging it would be for you to sell your house, give up the lifestyle you know, and have a different capacity altogether because you're following your husband and his calling? Now, 90% of the time, we don't travel We take our home with us. We move. We don't own a house, but we own a fifth wheel trailer. Why do we do that? Why do we have a trailer? Is it because it's a good financial investment? No. It's a lousy financial investment. It is absolutely lousy. It's like putting money into a hole. A hole. A hole. A hole. and not seeing it again, okay? Yeah, I understand. It's like a car. It depreciates. The value is not what I paid for it originally eight years ago. Okay? I understand that. Why do I do it? It's a family investment. Because I've seen too many men lose their ministry, lose their marriages, because their wives weren't with them. You know, my wife, I would want a house more than she would want a house. That's true. You ask her. You want a house? No. In our trailer, we have a little plaque and a little frame that says, home is where you're level. Get that? OK. We pull up on boards. We're level. OK, we're home for the week. Home is in your parking lot, oftentimes, at the church. And our home right now is our house is in South Carolina. We'll go pick it up, and we'll continue back to Tennessee. And then we'll go to Indiana. And we don't travel. We carry our home with us. We move every week. It's a great way to live, because we have wheels on our house. You don't. If you don't like your neighbors, You know, we don't like our neighbors, we move. You don't like your neighbors, you're stuck. And so it's really, really nice. You know, I say all that being silly, but I'm so thankful for my wife and her support to me and my calling. And I know there's no way we would have it. Our kids, you know, we have one of our children, one, you know, is still trying to search. All of them are trying to see specifically where God's going to lead them. But one's called to ministry, generally. One is, two are called to missions. One's called to evangelism. Now, you know, especially as a young man or senior, or as a freshman in college, He's been traveling all his life. You would think, oh man, he'd be sick of that. That'd be terrible. You know, there's some people that come up to our kids and they're like, what's it like? Isn't it terrible traveling? Isn't that awful? Traveling every week, isn't that just terrible? And they're like, no, it's great. You know why? I don't think it's as much as me. It's been the positive influence as much as my wife. If she hated it, they would hate it. You guarantee there's not going to be any that is called an evangelism. This is terrible. You know what I have to do? I have to travel. I don't get a house. This is awful. My wife doesn't have that. You know, the wife, you're really going to set a lot of the spirit and emotional tone for the children in your home. And are you following your husband with the full support? How do you demonstrate respect to your husband? Number four is demonstrate respect in your spirit. Adorn yourself with a meek spirit. We don't have time to go through and look at all these other verses, but a meek spirit. And then, of course, Proverbs 21, verse 9, adorn yourself with a quiet spirit, meek and a quiet spirit. Okay. You say, well, that's not me. Okay, I understand. I know. It's not you naturally. It's you supernaturally. Did you hear that, ladies? No one here, even quiet ladies, as far as not very loud, they're not very vocal as far as in a group setting. It doesn't matter. It does not matter. I tell you, any lady naturally will not simply and just respect and do this. It's all going to be a challenge. So the making quiet spirit is going to be supernatural from being filled with the spirit for God to help you. And your heart condition, we're going to see is this in the last one. Your heart condition is the most important thing. The right spirit, the right spirit is of great price to God. So ladies, are you demonstrating respect to your husbands? Men, are you demonstrating love to your wives? A ton of information in this one, I understand. Would you go back, review, and look at these things, and understanding, God, I need to not focus on my need being met. I need to focus on my wife's needs, and her primary need is love, to feel loved. So I have to communicate that in a way that she's going to resonate with her. Do you understand? You need to meet the needs of your husband, and his primary need is the need to be respected. Would you say, Dear God, by God's grace, I'm not going to focus on my needs, but in the right spirit, I'll demonstrate that in such a way it resonates with him, and he feels, he recognizes that he is really respected. Let's pray and ask the Lord to help us, and we'll have some instruction. Father, we need your help and your grace. There's a lot of information here, and Lord, we just pray that you would take us and use us in the only way that you can. So Lord, would you help us to truly acknowledge our inadequacy, that we cannot communicate or meet the needs of our spouse without you first meeting our needs. So I pray that you would help us and help us in our meal together and our last session together this evening as well. Maybe an encouragement and a strength to our lives. I pray this in Christ's name. Amen.