Hello, this is Pastor Darrell Bailey. We wanna invite you to come and be with us at People's Valley Baptist Church. We're located at 68 Ledford Lane. Come and join us and worship with us as we get into the word of God. And now, let's go into the wonderful word of God. life rest was something that we were challenging a lot of Christians that have stopped and that are not moving forward in their maturity of their Christian life. They're at a standstill. It's almost like our kids today, some of them have got at home and they don't want to move out. They don't want to grow up. They just want to stay in that same area of their life for the rest of their life. And I thank God that one thing, the first thing I want to do when I turned 18 was leave home. I went into the military, and that doesn't always happen. A lot of times, kids got it so good, they don't want to leave home. They want to stay right there. And there's nothing wrong with staying at home, but eventually there gets to be a time in your life, just like a Christian, that you ought to mature. You ought to want to move up and move into that next area of your life of commitment. And today, as we look, we want to talk to you about the value of commitment. I thank God a lot of us today, as we look at this, how that we can restore those lost values because there's a lot of things in our life that we lose sometimes. And in America, there's been a lot of things that have been lost. And I'm gonna tell you something, as we look at the political scene, we look at the business area of our life today, and the educational world that is out there today, our young people and all of the culture that we have, we see that there is a crisis in our country today. And because we've lost in normal practice many of the values that made our country so great, we've lost those values and we need to learn how to restore them. And the only way that I know how as a man of God is to go back to the foundation, and the foundation is the word of God. And so I thank God as we look today and talk about that value that's been forgotten as we look at restoring those values. Especially, we have to start with ourselves because it is only by example that we set as parents and grandparents in front of our children today that they can mature and have the courage to step up and move on with their life. You know, it is very frightening as a young teenager Trying to move out of that area into another part of your life, as you begin to grow up, and as you begin to make a commitment with your life, to do that is very scary. I mean, if I could have just stayed and hid behind my parents the rest of my life, I probably would have too. But I was forced to move up and to make a commitment, and it takes courage. to do that with your life, to move on to that next stage. And it takes courage for us. We have to let go of our kids, and we have to trust them to the Lord a lot of times. And here in 2 Chronicles, those that are able to stand or have your copy of the scripture, and if you don't, you can just look up here, and I have it up. As we stand to honor the reading of God's word this morning, in 2 Corinthians 16th chapter and the ninth verse, the Bible says, for the eyes of the Lord, listen, run to and fro, throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly, therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. You may be seated. Let's pray this morning. Father, I want to thank you for our church family, for People's Valley Baptist, and those, Lord, that have so many gifts they give back to you freely. I pray this morning for the many that are searching out their hearts as they start out their lives, that Lord, they really don't know the areas of their strength. They don't know the strong areas that make them special, that you have given each and every one of us gifts, abilities, and talents. And Lord, I pray that may we as a church and as a family of God always encourage our young folks as they take that step to adolescent, young adults that are growing up and that are maturing, not only in their personal life, but in their Christian life, that Lord, they are our future. And I pray that Lord, that through our examples, as we encourage them through the word of God, may we make them stronger in those values that we've lost. This morning, thank you for forgiving us of our many sins. Thank you for saving us by your marvelous grace. And I pray that you'll speak to us this morning, Father. Speak to our church family. And Lord, I pray that each and every one that is here this morning, may they have attentive ear to listen for their part of the service that you want them to hear and to apply to their lives. If there's someone here this morning that's never been saved, by your marvelous grace. I pray that the most important commitment and value in their life would start with you, Lord. Lord, to make them strong for everything else that's coming their way. Strong men, strong women. Lord, to be able to be strong in the areas of loving you. And Lord, how to love those ones that are around them even better. Thank you so much for your salvation. Thank you for giving yourself to us freely on the cross of Calvary. And I pray this morning, Father, hide us behind your cross and speak your word to this church family out of a love that you so richly gave your life for all of us to have freedom over the areas that would hold us back in this life today and in this body today. In Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, amen. Well, I thank God today, as we look at this area we're in, we're scared about what is unexpected. What we don't know, especially as adults today, we don't know what's coming next. We probably look back at the history back in October the 27th of 1997 when there was a mini, and a lot of people when that happened, they were looking at that and they said, well, what is it gonna do to me? How's it gonna affect us in America? And believe it or not, it was a mini crash. But anytime something like that happens, it affects everybody. and it affects all of our homes. And I want to tell you something, the only way that we can ever be successful as Americans and as an adult and as Christians today is through the long-term commitments that we make. Now thank God when I started out with my wife, one of the things that really made me successful is that I wanted to make a commitment to her and I wanted to make a commitment to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And I knew that I dated her for about a year, but the only way that I could really be successful is if I took her and married her and said she's mine and I'm hers, amen. And I thank God today, that is one of the things that makes us all successful. And I'm gonna tell you something, the system today in the world that I see is a lot of times, and me and Brother David was talking in the prayer room this morning, is the government has some things out there today that doesn't promote marriage. And so there's a lot of folks that live together today because they're more financially better off to be single, living together. Now I want to tell you something this morning, that might be good for the pocketbook, but it's not good for the long term relationship in your life. And so I thank God anytime you want to be successful with any kind of commitment to make it long term, especially if we're talking about marriage. is to make that commitment to that individual. So I thank God. A lot of times, this is what the world does today. Hey, I want to keep all my options open. I want to be able to get out of this thing, and if I change my mind, if something wants to come along, then I can back out of it. But when you truly make a commitment, you're in it for the long term, amen. And I thank God that's exactly how it is for us today. And so you cannot build life without a commitment. Now listen to where I'm going with this. We want to build up and we want to disciple our Christians today in the house of God and especially our younger Christians to grow up and to mature today. But you can't build without commitment. And so there has to be a commitment somewhere. You can't build a house without a commitment. You can't make a commitment to get a car, you can't buy a car without making a commitment to somebody today. You have to sign something. And we got some of our men and women today that are signing contracts to join the military. You're making a commitment to the government that you're gonna be there for such and such a number of years, you gotta make a commitment. And so every one of us, as you go through life, Without any commitment, you're going to just drift through life. It takes commitment and it takes the value of that commitment today. And so I thank God, restoring those lost values is what I want to talk about this morning. And one of the first things that I want to talk about is the power of commitment itself. Because the Bible says that God's looking for people whose hearts are fully committed to Him. He says, I'm looking to and fro, He says in 2 Chronicles. That was a story of a king that was looking for Syria out of Damascus to make a deal with him to where he could go back and be successful in his campaign as a king for Israel. But you know what? It was successful, but not totally. You know why? Because he was banking on the faith that he had a while back. And every one of us, in order to be successful as Christians, you have to step out on that new faith every day in your life and in your commitment today. I can't go back to when I started and ask Jesus to come into my life and say, okay, that faith that I had back then, I'm gonna go with that faith. No, I've matured since then. I've grown since then. And my life quest today is to get more like Jesus. to grow up and sometimes some of you might want to say I want to be more like my dad or I want to be more like my mom. There's nothing wrong with that if you've got that great example. That's a life quest that's great today. But the power of commitment is your commitment shows your values. And so the time, the energy that you spend on something shows that you value that thing. Whether it's your wife, whether it's your husband, whether it's your girlfriend, whether it's your boyfriend, whether it's the things that you do with the skills. Like man, if your goal in life is to have the most fun and you spend your time and money on that, then I'm going to tell you something. You're committed to something, but you're not willing to commit to it if you spend all of your time and money on something else. that you're not committed to. Now there's a point. And so whether you're a teenager, whether you're a single adult this morning, I'm going to tell you something. If somebody tells you they love you and they want you, but they're not willing to make a long-term commitment to you, then they're lying because they don't love you. I'm gonna tell you something, when somebody's willing to make a long-term commitment, that shows their value that they have for you. And so where I spend my time, where I spend my money, amen, it reveals whether a thing is really important to me. And it shows our values, amen. And so I thank God, if you're committed to your health, Do you show that you're committed to your health? Are you doing the things? Are you eating right? Just an example. Are you trying to do some kind of exercise? I say, oh me, now you get it. A little too personal there, amen. But it shows our commitments, amen. And so if I'm committed to my family, and yes, I don't take time to spend time with my family, then I'm just talking and I'm just using words today. I'm not really committed to my family. And so that is exactly what we're saying. The commitment shows your value, Amen. And so it narrows it down to what I call the narrow road, Amen. When you make a commitment, it's a narrow road in society today. And so anything in life, or any cause in life, or any person in life worthy of our time, and our money, and our energy today, then you're saying, I am only committed to me if you're not putting those in those areas today. And that's selfish. And that's what we see in America today. And so I thank God that commitment shows your value, but it also, it shapes your life. And so in Proverbs 4.23, the Bible says, keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. You know, God says, I'm looking for people whose hearts are committed to me in 2 Chronicles chapter 16 verse 9. It will shape our life and it will image us to the image of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That's what we want to do when we mature as young Christians today. That's where we got our examples from our moms and our dads and our grandmas today because they showed the image of Christ themselves when they made a commitment. They said, I want to be like my mom. I want to be like my dad when it comes to those things, amen, today. And so every one of us, your life is the sum total of your commitment. And I thank God, whether you think being wealthy is the most important thing, whatever that is, it's going to shape your life. And so being popular, and being popular is the most important thing. I'm going to get on Facebook, I'm going to tell everybody what I'm doing, where I'm going, amen. I don't want to be popular, amen, but your life will be shaped around those things that make you popular. And so if you think having a good time is a goal or a life, then your life is going to be centered on those things, about having a good time. That's all that your goal is. Your character is going to be set in stone when you do that. And so your commitment shows your values, amen. Your commitment shapes your life, how it is going to be shaped. And your commitment secures your destiny for the future today. I thank God your commitment not only affects you in this life, it affects you for eternity. And that's a big deal this morning. They affect you in the life to come. And I thank God, if you know Jesus Christ as a personal Savior, you've made preparations for the future. But if you don't know Him, I'm going to tell you something, that's something to think about. What will a man give in exchange for his soul? Was one of the questions that the Bible, the question that Jesus asked. What will a man give in exchange for his soul? Every day you're making choices, you're making commitments. and you're exchanging these things for your life. Some people exchange their life for television. Some people exchange their life for certain hobbies. And so I'm not saying those things are all bad, you know, whether you got a great hobby at home in the garden or whatever. But what you're committed to today, and how that you properly put those things in the right perspective. And so on average, you and I, today as we live, you know what they say? On an average, you got 25,550 days to live. Somebody came up with that. I don't know how they come up with it. They said that's an average of days to live. How did we spend those days will secure our destiny. Not only shape our life, but it will shape our eternity. And I thank God today, that is only a certain amount of minutes that we have left. And the Bible calls it sowing and reaping. He says, whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. And so the choice, the commitments, how do I show my values? How do I shape my life? How do I secure my destiny today? Most important commitment is the commitment that we make ourselves to Jesus Christ. I believe that with all of my heart. That's the power of commitment right there. That's the first place, I thank God, in our lives today. How can it be more powerful than to determine where you're going to spend eternity at, whether it's going to be in heaven or whether it's going to be in hell? That's the power of commitment. But the second one that we see as well, this one, is the price of that commitment. In Luke chapter 14 verse 26, the Bible says, If any man come to me and hate not his father and his mother and wife and children and brother and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Boy, you know what? I just read it. That's the price of commitment. They said they wanted to follow Jesus. They got caught up in all the emotion of the crowd, all the miracles that were going on. And then Jesus said, You know what? You better count the cost. Follow Him, well you know what, it ain't cheap. And I'm gonna tell you something, what I mean by the price of commitment, it ain't cheap to follow Jesus today. It cost Him a high price of His life. And it cost a price of commitment that He was willing to give for every one of us today, amen. To follow Him, it wasn't cheap. Salvation is free, but it's not cheap, amen. And so it cost God His Son, amen. It cost Jesus His blood, amen. It cost everyone, it cost Him everything that he had, and I'm going to tell you something, he really gave it up for us. He took our sins upon him and he took our place. And so Jesus gave his life for every one of us today, Amy. And so I thank God as we look at that and begin to realize the many things that God has. He's the one that created us. He's the one that has a purpose for our life. And he's the one that died and gave his blood on the cross of Calvary. So Jesus said, if you have loved somebody else more than you love me, he said, you're not going to even love your wife or your husband more than me. That's what he was saying. I ain't adding to the word of God. I'm going to tell you something. Let me go back over there again. If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children, brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. He's that pretty harsh. What's he saying in this verse? He's using the language of comparison is what he's using. He's saying your greatest love for the dearest person on earth to you has to look like hate compared to the great love that you have for me. That's what he's saying. That's pretty tough, isn't it? I know, I know it's pretty tough. But yet, here, the most powerful dictator that's ever been anywhere in the world, that ever lived, could say this. Only God could say this. Jesus was God. And so he said, if anyone comes to me, if he does not hate his father, his mother, his wife, his children, his brothers and sisters, yes, even his own wife, he cannot be my disciple. That's tough. Jesus knows how to get your attention. That's why that was a language of comparison. Listen to what I'm fixing to say. Because everyone was, what does he mean, hate my father and my mother? I thought the Bible commanded me to love and to honor my father and my mother. It does. Jesus is trying to get our attention. And he's saying, I want to be number one. That was his language of comparison. You need to put me first in your life before anything else. Before anybody else. That was his language of comparison. You see, too many people look at the commitment to Christ to look at life like a pie. A slice of pie. You know what? Well, it's just a slice of pie for business. A slice of pie for the family life. It's a slice for the entertainment life. And there's a slice of pie for the recreational life. There's a slice, and Jesus, let's leave Jesus a slice. You know what? It says, no thank you. I didn't die to be a slice of pie for you. I want every bit of you. I want all of you. I'd die for you. I don't want just to be a slice of pie in your life today. I didn't die to be a slice. I didn't die to be no more than just number one in your life. I purchased you. You belong to me. I will determine, listen, I will determine all in your life and I will have a perfect plan for you. And I thank God the only way that you'll ever find peace and happiness and joy is if you give all to me. That is exactly what he's saying. Jesus said, you got to love me with all of your heart, with all of your mind, with all of your soul, and with all of your strength. I remember those old country western music shows. I ain't going to say a show like, oh, Hee Haw. Oh, I like Hee Haw. But let me give you my scenario with that. And I'm not making fun of it, because I like country music. Let me tell you how they did it. It reminds me how people live the Christian life when I would watch that show. Because as you view the Christian life, they would sing all the good country songs. They would sing about drinking. They would sing about dancing. They would sing about partying. And then they would come to the end of the program, and then they would have the gospel portion of the program. Now you say, hey, that's great. Yeah, that's fantastic. They sang about getting stoned, cheating, and on their wives, and shacking up, and then they were going to amazing grace. Now that's how that fit in. You see, that's exactly how the world does today. Am I not preaching the truth? I'm going to tell you something. That is so. Folks, I tell you, we don't want to be tacked on to the end. I'm going to tell you, God don't want to be tacked on to the end. He wants to be the whole program. He wants to be the whole thing. He wants to be number one, amen. That's the price of commitment today that I'm talking about. And give the Lord the first thought of every day. When you wake up in the morning, what do you think about? Well, I don't think about the Lord probably, huh? Psalms 5.3 says, My voice shall I hear, that I hear in the morning, O Lord, in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. I'm gonna tell you, how many of us is the very first thing that we do in the morning, we think of the Lord? I'm gonna tell you, that's the thing that we can either say, Good Lord, it's morning. Or we could say, good morning, Lord. You know, it's one of those days of the day. Every one of us, we ought to have the thought, Lord, I'm thinking of you first in my life today. And I thank God, not only that, give the Lord the first day of every week. He said, what is that? Today. Sunday's the first day of every week, not Saturday, not Saturday. The Bible tells us in Acts 20, verse seven, and upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached on them ready to part on the morrow and continued his speech until midnight. Boy, I like that, and he preached on them on into the night, didn't he? Why did they come together? The first day of the week. Most of them at that point, they'd probably just been Jews. They worshiped on the last day of the week, which was the Sabbath, okay? And I'll tell you something, but the believers, the Christians says they came together on the first day of the week because Jesus rose from the grave. And I thank God that's why it's so important today. We can look around today and we can see probably anywhere how many people are really putting that commitment today. Because they're not here on the first day of the week to worship Him and to say, I love you, Lord, for what you did for me on the cross of Capernaum. And I thank God to give the first of that paycheck. Don't matter what it is, whether you want to say it's a tenth or a penny or whatever, but something, but to give something back to him. I'm going to tell you something, every one of us, that is a tremendous blessing. I can tell you scripture out of Deuteronomy, Leviticus, but I want to tell you something, if we do that, just to give something back, because he's the one that gave it to us anyway. He's the one that blessed us with the jobs we have today. And so I thank God. That's why God gave us the command to give back to Him because He's the one that gave it to us. He wanted us to remember that He's the one that blessed us. He's the one that provided. He says, do you trust me? Then I want you to trust me with everything. Trust me with your finances. Trust me with all of the areas in your life. Amen. The power of commitment, the price of commitment. But then we see the pitfalls of that commitment because every one of us, there's some things that we got to watch after we've made a commitment to the Lord. And I thank God, every one of us, as we go through this time in history today and look at our lives, one of the first things that we look out for is the commitment of distraction. Because that's the pitfall. There is so many distractions coming at us today. And what we do is we try to put so many things on our calendar that we're not committed to one individual thing the most. And that would be the Lord, our Savior, Jesus Christ. And then it goes down, why us? family members, amen? It just has this thing that it goes down. The first thing that we look to is that commitment of distraction that comes against us. That's the pitfall. I'll tell you, the word of God is like the sower who sowed the seed, and the seed fell upon the ground, and the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness that was there, and the riches and the lust of other things, amen, entered in, and it choked out the word, and it become unfruitful. And that is the word of God, Mark chapter four, verse 15. And these things are they by the wayside where the word is sung. But when they had heard, Satan cometh immediately and taketh away the word that was sung in their hearts. Well, I'm gonna tell you, he'll do it by distraction. You'll be sitting right there, and the next thing, you'll have a thought of what you're gonna do in the next half hour or on into the rest of the day. And that distraction is a pitfall of commitment today, because when you try to make a commitment, you have an enemy that is coming against you to work against your commitment that you've made, to work against you and the Lord, our Savior Jesus Christ, to work against you, the love in your marriage, the love that you have for each and every one of us today. There's nothing wrong with being wealthy, nothing wrong with having fun. I ain't got nothing wrong with entertainment. But do we honor the Lord in those areas of our life and make that commitment? And that one, number one primary commitment today that we have in our lives today. Every one of us, you know what? The second thing that we have, not only a distraction, but complacency. We're self-satisfied with ourselves today. That's what happened to Israel. All of a sudden, they went around Jericho. Woo! Man, they were walking around. The Lord told them everything to do. They did it. And the walls fell down. But then, a little old AI came up. They went over there and said, that's a little old AI. Man, we can win this. They were so self-confident, they had complacency. That was the pitfall of their commitment. We can never let that happen in our life. God wants to know what we have done in our life today. Not last week, not last year. We've got to say, what have I done recently that I'm committed to have victory in my Lord and Savior today? Have we learned to walk by faith even greater in our maturity today? And so God's teaching us to walk by faith, amen, and to have victory. But little old AI took them out because of the sin of complacency. They said, well, we can beat this little town. They had the worst defeat ever. Can you imagine? All of a sudden, God showed up. They got down on their faces. God said, get off of your face. There's a time to be on your face in prayer. And there's a time when God said, get up, amen. Because there was a sin of complacency there. Every one of us, the church can get complacent too. I'm going to tell you. Well, I love you today, and I ain't picking on the church, but I got to preach the word. I'm going to tell you something. We can get complacent in our Sunday school classes today. A Christian can get complacent in their lives today where we're just so complacent and self-satisfied with what we have that we're not moving on to do those things that the Lord wants us to be doing today. I'm going to tell you, Jesus told them in Revelation chapter 3 to watch that. He said, you're neither hot nor cold. If you're lukewarm, I'm going to spew you out of my mouth. Does it sound familiar? I want to tell you something, we get complacent in our churches, and we get complacent in our lives today. And so we become, these are the pitfalls of that commitment. Let me move on to my last and better thing today, man, it's closing out. And I thank God this morning as we begin to look, and that is the payoff of what commitment is all about. There's a power, and there's a price, and there is a pitfalls of the downsides of commitment, but there's a payoff as well, and it's threefold. And I thank God as we look at scripture again to give us the answers. We remember in Matthew chapter six, verses 33 and 34, the Bible says, very, very familiar scripture, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. Take therefore no thought for the moral, for the moral shall take thought for the things of itself, sufficient in a day is the evil thereof. God says, when you become mine, I commit myself to you. That's what he's telling us. I put a roof over your head. I put food on your table. I put clothes on your back. Amen. And I answer your prayers. And I bless your life. And I watch over your family. I commit myself to you. But listen to what I'm fixing to say here. I know that as we go through these times today, there's a lot of things that we deal with. And one of those things is as we become a slave to the Lord. During the Roman period, there were two-thirds of the people during that time that were slaves. You say, why were they? Some of them volunteered because the law for the Roman citizen was commanded to take care of their slaves. They had to take care of them. They had a meal. They had to provide for them. And I'm going to tell you something, just like the Lord said, I'm going to provide for you. I'm committed to you. Are we committed to him? And so I thank God that every one of us, he gives us a short-term payoff is what I'm talking about. When we give our lives to Jesus Christ voluntarily, become that servant of Jesus, And we make him number one, he's the master, we are the server. And so I thank God, he says he'll meet all of our needs, amen. I wanna tell you something about that. If he's not number one in your life, he's under no obligation to answer that prayer. That's what I was reading in that scripture. You say, what? You better read your Bible because if he's not number one, he's under no obligation to meet your needs. If he's not number one, he's under no obligation to bless your life because you're out of that will. All you're doing is cheating yourself. That's the payoff right now. He gives us that short term payoff. But there's also a long-term payoff. Matthew 25, he gives the parable of the tablets. Everybody knows it. Here's the long-term payoff. He said, one of these days, I'm coming back. One of these days, you're going to stand before me. Matthew chapter 25, you can read it from verse 14 all the way down to verse 30. And he's talking about this. What was he saying? He said, well done, thou good and faithful servant. That was his saying, wasn't he? Thou has been faithful over a few things. I'm going to make thee rude over many things. Enter thou into the joy of the Lord. Remember? I thank God I've got all the scripture right here. Remember and read that. Read that later. I'm going to tell you something as he's going to affirm that, what we've done for him, he'll confirm every cup of cold water we've given in his name. There's somebody in need and we go and provide for them, he'll confirm that. We've done for the Lord as a church and a family. Every kid that's provided for, everyone in the shelter over there at the homeless shelter that we provide food for, every single ministry that we do for, it'll be confirmed, amen. Every act of love that is given in His name, it'll be confirmed. That's the affirmation, amen, the act of agreement. And there is a proclamation as well, that we've been faithful in a few things. That he's going to make us rule over many things. He says, I'll do those things. He said, there's even a promotion. If you do good with that title, I'm going to give you more of that. And he says that, amen. He says, I'm going to tell you what, I'm going to share and bless you. He says, well done, thou good and faithful servant. So what kind of life do we live? Do we live an uncommitted life? Is your life a half committed life today? Or is it totally committed? Today, that is the blessings that we have in our favor today, that the Lord says, I'm committed for you. You're going to stand in front of me one of these days. I'm going to provide for you. I'm going to give you the very best. I'm going to tell you something. How can we take care of all the vanishing values? that we have that's happening today. Because there's a lot of families that are without foundations today. And the only way that we can go back and get that foundation value back is through the word of God today. That is the only way that we can do that. There's going to be a lot of kids that's going to be losing their lives. There's going to be a lot of things that's happening. You know what, we've got a government without God, so to speak, today, because it's been removed. Am I not telling you the truth? I want to tell you something. It's sad that all of our founding fathers, 34% of the quotes in those 15,000 documents are from the Bible, the Word of God that founded this nation. 34% of those documents are from the Word of God. We founded a nation in Princeton upon the book of the word of God. What's the remedy for all these vanishing values? We've got to rebuild that foundation. How do we do that? It is through the word of God and the parent today, or if you're becoming a parent and you're going to have a child, I'm going to tell you something. The only way that we can give those values back is it begins with you. By example, I mean, we've got to be able to get those kids back in the word of God. Because he says, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path, amen. And that, the only way that we can build our life, a life that needs commitment, is on the foundation of this holy and fallible word. And so I want to challenge many of you, what's holding you back? What are you waiting for today? I started this whole series out about some people are afraid to cross the road because they're going to get burned. Remember? They're going to get scorched. But I want to tell you something. The Lord is willing to help you to get through that time of your life where it's immaterial, where you're irresponsible, if you'll trust Him with everything in your life today. That is the wonderful thing that we have to look at today. That is our life quest. We want to see our young generations come back into the values today. It's okay if they look at the things in the world out there today, whether it's man and man and woman and woman, that ain't what God stood up for. We've got to get from here to there. Now, thank God, our strength, our hope, our private time, we need to get back to the foundation of the Word of God. And if you start that in your marriage this morning, as heads are bowed, eyes are closed, every day, how many of you have a life of eternal significance? The moment that I asked Jesus Christ to come into my life, my life had an eternal significance. It mattered about something. Not just about the things around me, but I had an eternal purpose. that I was seeking out today. A timeless gift of a good life that I received from my Heavenly Father. An eternal reward of being a faithful steward because I asked Jesus Christ to come in my life.