Aren't you thankful for a love that redeems, restores, renews? Wherever you are in your spiritual walk today, our God is relentless in his pursuit of you. I believe you're here on purpose and not by mistake. This is God's design and it's perfect timing for you to be here today. and that God has a work to do in your life through his word. So join me in the same passage that Troy read as our scripture reading, 1 Peter 3, verses one to seven. And I said, Pastor Tom, there's something really familiar about that passage that Troy read. Yeah, because that first two verses was the text of last week's message as we were talking about, as a believer, how to live with an unbelieving spouse. This morning, we're going to broaden that to this first seven verses to talk about the adornments of a godly wife and the adorations. And by adorations, I mean the loving attentions of a godly husband as found in these verses. Now, ladies, let me preface this by saying you're going to see six verses speaking to the ladies and only one to the men. There's a whole lot packed in that one verse, okay? And so don't think that this is gonna be an imbalanced message, all right? Well, God has something for all of us this morning in his word. So let's go ahead and we'll read all seven verses again. I'll read through them quickly. I want you, again, just to be refreshed in your mind as we look at the flow. Notice the flow of this passage, and then we'll get into the adornments of a godly wife and the adorations of a godly husband. In verse one, likewise ye wives, be subject, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they may also without the word be won by the conversation or the lifestyle, the manner of living, the attitudes, of the wives, while they behold your conversation coupled with fear, whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of the plating of the hair of wearing of gold or putting on of apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner, in the old time, the holy women also who trusted in God adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands, Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord. Boy, does that rub the fur the wrong way in 2025 America. That phrase right there. We're gonna talk about it because that's a very important phrase. whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well and are not afraid with any amazement. Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with him according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together to the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered." The adornments of a godly wife. The first is a discipline of submission. because when the bible says in verse 1 be in subjection to your own husbands that is actually outside the bible used in greek literature of it's a military term and it means to stay within your rank or to submit to those of a higher rank over you it is not that that person's any smarter it's not maybe that that person is any more trained or that that person is in their character any more sterling than you But it means they've been placed in that rank and that's where they are. This is where you've been placed in your rank and you need to stay within your rank and you need to obey the commands of your superior and you need to treat them with honor and respect. That is proper protocol within the military. And so why is that we're not treating our homes as a military? It's just that same kind of an idea that you are putting yourself in within staying within the rank that God has placed you. For instance, submission is not a reward for a husband's good behavior. Submission is acknowledging that this is God's order within the family and it's obedience to God's command. The command to wives to be subject to their husbands should never be taken to imply inferior personhood or spirituality or lesser importance. It is simply God's command within the structure of the home for the wife to place herself under the authority of her husband. Second of all, it's wholly dedicated living for Christ. Look at this in verse one, that if any obey not the word, speaking of the husbands, and literally they are living anti-biblical, it's really describing an unbeliever, but could that not also describe a man who claims to be saved, maybe is saved, but is living in the flesh instead of walking in the spirit? He's violating the clear commands of the scripture. So what is the wife's response? that they may also, without the word, be won by the conversation of the wives. Moral purity in all aspects of life are to be motivated by reverential awe and love for God. But Peter also reminds them that God's plan is that wives impact their husbands, not through persuasive lectures, but through the godly submission, chaste conduct, and the fear of God. And then another one of the adornments of the godly wife is attractive character. Look at verses three and four. Who's adorning, let it not be that the outward adorning of the plating of the hair or wearing of gold or putting on of apparel, but let it be of the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. And by the way, this is not just a first century AD cultural attitude that the apostle Peter is copying here. Instead, this is the Apostle Peter in submission to the Holy Spirit who is inspiring him to write eternal scripture. And as he writes this, he's saying this, every Christian, by the way, I don't believe that modesty is just for women. I think it's for us men too. And so I wrote down this observation. Every Christian's appearance should be neat and orderly. Okay, God doesn't want us to walk around like a bunch of slobs. Okay? Because that can draw as much attention as trying to impress people with our professional, or blingy, or whatever term you want to use, appearance. You can draw as much appearance by being a slob and unkempt as you can be overly adorned with outward accoutrements, shall we say. So, every Christian's appearance should be neat, orderly, modest, and conservative, so that the things people notice aren't primarily hair, jewelry, or clothing. Now that doesn't mean that we should not dress neatly. Matter of fact, if your clothing is very dated and very out of date, that doesn't make you any more spiritual or godly. It doesn't make somebody less godly if they dress in a trendy fashion either. But the idea is that I am not putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable. And that is that I am so emphasizing dress for success and hair and all this kind of stuff and jewelry to show how prosperous I am or whatever, that the attraction is to me instead of the glory being reflected to the Lord Jesus Christ. See? So God is not saying, ladies, don't do your hair, wear jewelry, or do makeup, or wear nice clothes. He's not saying that. He's saying, don't put the emphasis on the wrong salamo. Okay, where should the emphasis be? What is the proper emphasis on the right syllable? It is on the hidden man of the heart. It should be that our appearance should deflect attention to Jesus Christ. We're to be what the moon is to the sun. Jesus is the sun, S-U-N of righteousness. We're to be like the moon, all right? that we are not the originators of the light, but we are the reflectors of the light. And as the light of Christ has shined upon us and shown in our heart, and we are being transformed into the very image of Christ, then we are to reflect in the spiritual darkness of this world, the glorious image and light of the truth and love of Jesus Christ. And so, folks, it is imperative that, yes, we do things decently and in order, that our appearance is neat and orderly, that it is not either being slovenly or by putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable, drawing attention to ourselves and away from Christ, but rather that people don't see us. In other words, they reflect and see Christ in us. And that even has to do with our outward appearance, and that is what Peter is saying. I love what this writer said. He said, the incorruptibility of a gentle and quiet spirit. The inner beauty of a godly woman is incorruptible. This means that it does not decay or get worse with age. Instead, incorruptible beauty only gets better with age and is therefore of much greater value than the beauty that comes from hair, jewelry, or clothing. If you want an interesting study in human nature, go to a nursing home or an assisted living home and look around and have somebody show you the pictures of what they looked like when they were younger. And you say, man, she was a knockout, you know? And she is aged with time, maybe gracefully. But you know what a lot of times you'll find? You will see one of two things. Often you will either see a countenance that has been hardened and aged by anger and bitterness and selfishness and arrogance. And you can see, though the physical features may be symmetrical and may be what we would have thought at one time attractive, the whole demeanor and outward expression and appearance, maybe even body languages, is aggressive or is defensive and it is showing the wearing, the aging of time in a character that was not transformed to be like Christ. And other times you'll find somebody that, man, I tell you, you just love being with them. There's just, there's something about their countenance that just glows and shines. There's something sweet about just being in their presence. You, you feel like, you know, you're with them and being in their presence, they are so much in Jesus presence. You're in Jesus presence right along with them. You know what I'm talking about? And there's this beauty of forgiveness and joy and having had a teachable spirit and a walk with Christ. There is a beauty, no matter what happens to their physical features, there is just an incredible beauty in their life because of the beauty of the inner man that God through the years has transformed. So as you age physically, no matter what happens with your physical features, you can have a growing beauty that draws people to Christ. Because this gentle, under the Holy Spirit's control spirit, that's what the word meek means, shows forth the beauty of Christ. Let me illustrate it for you, maybe in this way. Have you ever met somebody that you thought they were physically attractive. Man, that's a sharp young man or that's a lovely young lady, wow. And you thought that maybe even their physical features were handsome or beautiful, right? Or like a pastor told my, when Cameron was like two years old, we were in a church in North Carolina. And this pastor, real Southern, and he said to Cameron, he said, Cameron, you're such a purdy boy. And Cameron got mad at him. Cameron says, I am not purdy. I am a boy. I am handsome. OK. And so then that became the running joke all week. Yeah, you're a purdy boy. I am not. But have you ever noticed somebody you thought was pretty or handsome until they opened their mouth? The old Southern saying, beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes all the way to the bone. It's so true. And folks, when we emphasize and put so much attention and work and money and effort into the external, without God transforming the internal, that ugly goes all the way to the bone. And you know, a lot of times in Christianity, it's not that we're worried about our clothes and our hair and our jewelry. You know what it is that we're worried about? It's what other Christians think about us. It's how respectable we are in the community. That we're a good person. Yet God knows the heart. And out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh, and eventually that facade will crack. And the reality of what's inside will come out. So folks, let's make sure that God is transforming us in our spirit. with a humble, teachable, listening, submitted under the control of the Holy Spirit. So you see, this is not just for you ladies, though it includes you, this is for us men as well, that we would have an inner beauty. You can't do a whole lot, unless you have a lot of money for plastic surgery, you can't do a whole lot about what happens to your body as it ages, but you certainly can allow God to transform your spirit. Another thing that is one of the adornments of a godly lady is voluntary respect. Look at verses five and six. Can I sum this up? In just one little statement that I wrote down, Sarah spoke to Abraham with respect in a way that acknowledged his position of authority. She referred to him with honor, not griping about him. You see, when she was talking to her servants and her ladies-in-waiting, or whatever she had, and to her family and to her children, she honored Abraham by addressing him in such a way that he was the, that word, Lord, used here in the Greek is kurios. It means boss, means head honcho, okay? It means one in authority. And so she was supporting his authority. By the way, ladies, do you understand, especially with your kids, that when you support your husband's authority, you're strengthening your own, but then when you disrespect the authority of your husband's to your children, you're knocking out the pillars of support, of authority and respect in your children's eyes from underneath yourself. Doesn't mean that they're not times when you need to go to your husband quietly and privately and ask him to prayerfully consider some things. There is always, I believe, the right as brothers and sisters in Christ and husbands and wives being married in a Christian marriage are brothers and sisters in Christ. When a wife can, in a respectful, gracious way, lovingly confront her husband and appeal to him, that maybe he needs to make things right with his children, maybe he didn't do something right, maybe he didn't make a right decision, and he should prayerfully consider it. It is right and proper. It is not that the wife should just shut up and always do what her husband says and always agree with everything. I'm not talking about that at all. That's not what a meek and gentle and quiet spirit is. But it means with gentleness, with honor and respect, with your attitude and temper under the control of the Holy Spirit, to go to your husband and appeal based on scripture what needs to be confronted, whether it's in your relationship as husband and wife or whether it's with your children or some other aspect. You don't have to silently suffer when your husband's doing wrong. But it's a voluntary respect. You say, he doesn't deserve it. How many of you in the military always submitted to your superior officer only because you thought they deserved it? And you had a personal great respect for them. Now, some of you did, I'm sure. But maybe there was some officer, somebody in authority over you in the military that personally you didn't respect them very much, but you still submitted to their authority, and you still showed them honor, and you still referred to them as sir, and of a proper rank. because that's the authority that you are under. It doesn't mean that there's not a proper time and place and way of making appeals that need to be made, but there needs to be a voluntary respect no matter whether you deem that person worthy or not. Men, I think we ought to work to be worthy of that respect. And then a mindset of faith. Please look at this carefully, the last part of verse six. Whose daughters ye are, daughters of Sarah. Now, it's interesting in verse five because he says even the women in old time did this. Why do you think Peter mentions this? Of the godly ladies in the Old Testament? Because they, the women in the Old Testament did not have the permanent dwelling of the Holy Spirit like you do, saved lady. Did not have the completed revelation of the written scriptures like you do. There's so much in resources that they didn't have in the Old Testament, and they still honored their husbands, were in subjection to their husbands, not just because it was a cultural thing, but because it was pleasing to God, and they did it by faith. And they had a meek and gentle spirit, and if they can do it with limited resources spiritually, how much more can a Christian wife, right now in this age of grace, who had all of these blessings, not do that? Certainly, it is well within, and what Peter's point is, it's well within the capacity of every Christian wife to have a right response here, to show this honor, to follow the leadership of her husband, and that's what we're gonna get into here in verse six. But if they could do it, then no excuse, lady, for you not to. But the mindset of faith, look at this, Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well and are not afraid with any amazement. To do well literally means to be a good doer, one who walks righteously, the one who consistently does the right thing. The word in the Greek for fear is the word phobeo, where we get the English word phobias. And the word for amazement literally translates terror, or to be terrified. So what does that mean? Well, let me ask you a couple of questions and kind of think through this with me, ladies. Should couples discuss decisions in life? Absolutely. Yes, they should discuss that. Should a wife not have input on maybe major decisions? Absolutely. And not just major decisions, but she certainly, her husband should be listening to her. It's something that as a couple and one before God, they should make decisions concerning their children or finances or relationships with extended family or job situations, whatever. Certainly, they should have those discussions. But let me ask you this, ladies. Is your mindset something like this? When you come to a point where you need to trust the decision or the leadership of your husband? If I let my husband make the final decision on this and follow his leadership, we're gonna crash and burn. Or, my husband won't decide, or he won't lead, so what am I supposed to do? Now, it is sad that those questions are sometimes legitimate, men, because we're not leading the way God intends for us to lead. And we are putting A pressure on our wives to take upon them a responsibility God never intended them to have. And we'll be accountable to the Lord for our negligence. But let me answer those questions, ladies. Trust God. Encourage your husband to make the final decision and do your best to support him in that decision so it will be successful, but without you manipulating circumstances to make it successful. Let your husband make mistakes and learn from them together without the, I told you so, okay? Stop, and here's another thing, stop doing his job for him. People will often let you do their work, And if something fails, that's on him before God. Your interference might be a roadblock to the work of transformation God can bring into your husband's life. God is bigger than your husband's failures. God's bigger than his mistakes. And you know what, if you don't let your husband lead and if you don't without manipulation, if you will just refuse to make the final decisions and to lead in those areas and encourage him to do that, and then you do your dead level best to help him be successful in that decision, how's he ever gonna learn to lead in the home and lead in the marriage if you don't let him make those mistakes and encourage him and do your best to help that to be successful? And when the mistakes are made, the damage is done, you help him pick up the pieces, you support him, you love him. And as God teaches him and he learns from those mistakes, he'll be a stronger spiritual leader and leader in the home and in the family. Let God do a work of transformation in your husband. Stop interfering. Say, that sounds kind of harsh. Sorry, but it's for your own good. It's for the good of your children. It's for the good of your husband. It's for the glory of God in your marriage and in your family. Let God teach your husband from those failures. Don't be in terror that your life's going to fall apart. It's going to be the end of the world if your husband is given all the leadership in the home. Now, it may be that your husband is part of the leadership, administrates things. For instance, when we were in evangelism, we were incorporated as a ministry. I handled all of the ministry finances. I asked Krista if she would handle the personal finances and she agreed to take that on. She loves organization and she loves detail and all of that. She did a great job with that. And so when we came here in the past, I was like, Hey, do you want me to take the finances back again, paying the bills and all that kind of stuff? Or would you like to do it? And she says, well, I would love to do that. I enjoy doing it. It's one less thing you have to worry about. And so she does that. That's something, if you want to put it this way, that is administrated to her. Now, we still talk about financial decisions and all that sort of a thing, and we discuss where we are financially and in other things as well. But you know what, that is part of that trust that I have in her, like the man who trusts in his Proverbs 31 wife. The heart of his husband safely trusts in her, and his name is praised in the gates. Why? Because she's an excellent wife, and he's a husband who trusts her in that symbiotic relationship of trust. And husband, by the way, if you expect your wife to trust you in leadership, you need to trust her. You need to listen to her. You need to share life with her. You need to ask her. for her counsel. You need to make decisions together. Now let's look at the adorations, and by that I mean the affectionate, careful attention of the husband, a godly husband. Look in verse seven, likewise ye husbands dwell with them according to knowledge. He dwells with his wife. Obviously, Peter means much more than commanding the husband and the wife to reside at the same address, okay? It means that you share life together. I was preaching years ago in New England State, was preaching a message from this passage to men, and I had a man come up, And he asked me that night after the service, if God's really spoken to me in my heart, I'd like to take you out to breakfast tomorrow and talk with you. And so we did. He says, you know what God used, the little statement that you made, that just like nailed me. I was like, what was that? I had no clue. He said, you said in passing that dwelling together doesn't just mean living under the same roof where your wife is watching Fox News and CNN in the kitchen or something, and you're in the den watching ESPN. He says, that's us. He says, and when you said that, it shocked me. And then he says, you know what, I realized that there are very few discussions that my wife and I have. Very few things we're purposely pursuing together, interests that we are sharing, life that we are sharing. I realized we are living under the same roof at the same address. But other than that, and our bills, and just things like that, that's all we have really in common. And I'm at fault in that. I should be living with my wife What's that mean? It means keep learning your wife. None of us are stagnant. All of us are changing. It could be as something as silly as our taste buds change. And things we used to enjoy, now we don't like so much. Things we used to not like very much, now we really enjoy. It's things like that. And things much deeper. How God is growing us, how God is changing us, life experiences, what we're going through. And as you're going through those things, husbands, keep current on your wife. Keep learning why nobody loves being taken for granted. None of us likes to be too predictable, right? Where our husband or wife said, oh, he's going to do that. She's going to say that. No, I wasn't. Even if it's true, we don't, we don't like for people to predict us that much, right? Because sometimes it means that They're really not that interested in us, or so it seems, because they're not really learning us anymore. Husbands, study your wife. Keep learning her. Keep current on what she's going through, what she's learning, how she's changing, and if her preferences are changing. And if you think you're an expert on your wife, gentlemen, just ask her, and she'll help you. So he studies his wife, he dwells with his wife, he treasures his wife. Look back in verse seven, giving honor unto the wife. as unto the weaker vessel. Honor the weaker vessel. Value your wife like an expensive vase, not like a five-gallon Lowe's plastic bucket. She is like a fine Chinese vase, right? That you put on a pedestal and you put under special lighting and you put it in a safe place. It's not a five-gallon slop bucket for feeding the hogs. honor your wife. When it talks about the weaker vessel, it's kind of that idea of that beautiful vase, that porcelain vase that is beautiful. It has its own strength, but there's also a beautiful fragility to it. I'm not referring to, I'm talking about taking great pains of effort and expense to protect what you value. We do that, don't we? We take great pains and expense to protect the things that we value. Maybe you have a safety deposit box. Maybe you have a gun safe at home where you keep not just your weapons but other valuables. We go to effort and expense to protect the things that we value so men treasure your wife. I'm not referring to being a suspicious, possessive, prison warden kind of husband. Rather, I'm talking about the chivalry of protecting and shielding your wife from harm and from hurt. You know, if the grandkids come over, you make sure that the fragile, expensive items in your home are in a safe place and proper instruction is given to those grandkids, right? So let me encourage you husbands, be willing to set boundaries on others' demands of your wife. for her own good, be her protector. And part of that is realizing that she is the weaker vessel. She's the thing of beauty, she's the thing that is fragile, like a fine-tuned instrument, and you need to protect her. And then he regards his wife, look at the end of verse seven, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered. Godly husbands recognize that even though they've been given greater authority within the marriage, their wives are still equal with them in spiritual privilege and eternal importance. And then husbands, remember that you'll give an account to God for the stewardship of your marriage and your family. One writer said, anything which hinders prayer must be wrong. This was Charles Haddon Spurgeon said this, commenting on this passage. If any management of the family or lack of management is injuring our power in prayer, there is an urgent demand for an alteration. Something needs to change. Our relationship with our wife. affects our spiritual walk, gentlemen. Just as our spiritual walk affects our relationship with our wife. And our prayers can be hindered. When I think of this, I think back to our Wednesday night Bible study that we just had. And there, Jesus said, as we're studying through prayer in the Gospels, that unforgiveness hinders our prayers. We're not right with God. if we're not right with those around us, if there's somebody we have not forgiven. And so my mind, having meditated on that, goes here, husbands, is there unforgiveness with your wife in some area? Maybe some area of your life, maybe it is just a weakness in her life, but it's a frustration to you. Maybe it is some difficulty, maybe it is some struggle that you've been going through or something that she's been going through, and you're not being forgiving and loving and getting past it and working with her, and just allowing it to frustrate you to the point where you almost sometimes want to avoid her. Say, Pastor Todd, why are you being so brutally honest? Well, I'm hoping that those of you that need to make some decisions and get right with God and get right with your spouse, it'll avoid a whole lot of marriage counseling that I'll have to do later. But most of all it's because as your pastor I love you and I want you to have a joyful, fulfilling marriage that God intends you to have. And I want God to use you as a couple. I want you to have a family that rejoices in the goodness of God and wants to share that with others. And God uses you to impact the spiritually dark world with the light and the joy and the goodness of Christ. So two points, and we're not gonna have a come forward invitation this morning. You say, why? Well, because two of my sister pastors are in Spain, all right? And Pastor Jason will come to lead our dismissal hymn in just a minute. But I want you to know the invitation will be this, in just a moment, we're gonna bow our heads, our pianist will play a hymn of invitation, and I want you to respond to the Lord in your heart. And afterwards, if you would like someone to counsel with you or pray with you, maybe you need to trust Christ as your savior. Maybe there's something in your life as a wife or as a husband where you say, God needs to work this in my life. I need some help. I need some accountability. I need some more further biblical instruction. Men, come and see me. Ladies, why don't you come and see Christa? We would be glad to help you. But two things. First of all, nobody can be what God designed them to be unless they're born again. Do you know that you know that you have eternal life? 1 John 5, 13, these things are written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. If you don't know, you can know. The word of God is very clear. As a matter of fact, Jesus said, unless you come with the faith of a little child, you can't enter the kingdom of heaven. So if you need to to trust christ if you need to settle the matter of where your soul will spend eternity Please come back to the connection point. I'll be glad to get with you in the quietness of that room Sit down with my bible and show you the way of salvation See what other people are lined up to talk to you. Listen, they won't mind a bit Waiting or talking to me later if I can help you through the scriptures to come to know Jesus Christ as your savior Or maybe there's another person here That's a friend of yours that you know is a believer that could take the word of god talk to them and say hey Can we talk about this? I want to know for sure I have eternal life and they'll be glad to sit down with you in a quiet place somewhere Open up the word of god and show you the way of salvation and help you today, but please get that help the other thing is this as described in this passage ask let the spirit of god ask you this question as described in this passage How are you fulfilling your spousal role? And where God shows you you have need of improvement, would you pray and get that right with the Lord? And, and there's gonna be the hard part of making this decision, you're gonna need to ask God for his grace in this. Say, Lord, I'm also committing right now, would you help me to have the grace and the humility to talk to my spouse? So we can pray about this together and we can discuss this together. And then, if the two of you feel like you do need marriage counseling, by all means, let me know. I was joking about trying to avoid marriage counseling. We love helping people. We love taking the Word of God and helping people. And sometimes you really say, hey, we just need a little bit of help. We both wanna do what's right, but we just really need some practical biblical instruction. Please come and see Christa and I as a couple. We'll get together with you as a couple, and we would love to help you. Please don't throw away that opportunity. Let us help you with that, okay? I'm serious about that. But ask yourself this morning first, don't put the responsibility on your partner. Don't start thinking about and praying for all of their faults. You've probably already done that. Pray and ask God to show you where you need to change. Ask God to give you the grace to change and the courage to talk to your spouse. Shall we bow our heads and our hearts? I'll pray and then our pianist will come and play our invitation song. By no means does any marriage here completely and perfectly reflect the relationship that we as a church have with you. For none of us men are perfect husbands, and you, Lord Jesus, are the perfect bridegroom. And certainly no lady here is the perfect wife, and we as the church, oh, we're so imperfect. And yet our desire is to be that bride adorned for you, to be that which brings delight to you, to that which is holy and pure and brings you joy and is well-pleasing to you. And may we submit to you, knowing that you will lead us right always. May we, as Christian husbands, desire always to lead our wives in the right direction. May our example of walking in integrity and righteousness through your grace and strength as we walk with you, Lord, be an example to our wives and our families. And where communication's broken down, where things we've let slip have gone into disrepair, I pray, Lord, today that you would work restoration. For those who need to be redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, they need to receive eternal life through faith in Jesus. Father, would you draw them to your Son? Spirit, would you convince of sin, righteousness, and of judgment? Lord Jesus, would you pour out your love upon them in a way that they understand your personal love for them? And may this be the day of their salvation. We ask in Jesus' name. Our heads are bowed. You may remain seated while our pianist begins to play our song.