I mean, although you might feel like yelling amen when I give you the title, but there are some things that you may not want to yell amen during the message, so don't get too excited just till you hear the whole thing. Then, if you want to yell amen, you can quietly to yourself later. So, Matthew chapter 27, notice verse 19. When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man, for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him." Tonight's message, I want to title this, He Should Have Listened to His Wife. He should have listened to his wife. Father, bless this evening. We pray, first of all, that you'd just be with Brother Nicholas, help us to be able to get a way to get him down to Mexico, and Lord, that you would possibly use this as a way to get him back on his feet. We'd love to have him with his strength back and his color back, and Lord, be able to, and even some of his memory, Lord, that he could get behind the pulpit and do, have the strength and the ability that he had in the past. We thank you for him doing what he can now, but Lord, we ask you that you might bring back a new person. Cindy as well, Lord, help her get back on the, the weight back on, Lord, that she'd be getting around to do better. And I pray, Lord, You'd just bless tonight. I ask, Lord, that You might give us something from the Word of God. Lord, I pray You'd help the things that You gave to me, that I might get them across to the folks tonight. Lord, that that might be a help and a blessing, and we might leave better people than we came in Jesus' name. Amen. Title is, He Should Have Listened to His Wife. Now, I'm a big believer. that the Bible has a chain of command, and I'd be the first one to tell you that the Bible has a chain of command. The fact is, that's my first point. Again, when I say a chain of command, God has a chain of command in the church, God has a chain of command in government, and God has a chain of command in the family. By the way, in the chain of command it's pretty simple. In the family it is, and you can flip over to Ephesians chapter 5 verse 23, in this chain of command in the family it is, husband is the head. Now when I say husband is the head, that does not mean for a second, again, and if you listen to my other points on that you'll realize, that does not mean the wife, as in some countries, has no position and no authority and no voice, because the Bible doesn't teach that at all. But the Bible does teach that the husband is the head of the home. Ephesians chapter 5, notice verse 23. For the husband is the head of the wife, and this Christ is the head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body. Now, if you know anything about the military, you know that in the military there is a commanding officer. Does that mean that all the other guys underneath him are dumber than him or her? And the answer to that is no. Many times they notice, but the truth is there has to be someone that gives the command. There has to be someone that takes authority, takes that position. So it doesn't matter why. God's not implying that the wife isn't as smart as the husband, or is not as wise as the husband. But what the Bible teaches is that there has to be someone in charge and God put the man in charge. Now, so again, the chain of command is the husband is the head. The Bible then teaches us also in Ephesians chapter 5, the lady's position, and that is, by the way, she is under her husband. Notice where it says in chapter 5, verse 22, wives, submit yourselves unto your husband, as unto the Lord. Now, what he says is serve him like you'd serve, I mean, do it just like you're serving me. Now, it is easy to serve someone when you do that. Let's just say I have a boss that I don't like. Which means if I'm going to treat the boss the way I would want to treat that boss, I'd treat that boss not very good because I don't like the boss. But if I'm going to treat the boss like I would treat the Lord, by the way, I want to treat the Lord pretty good. So what the Bible is teaching me is you treat your boss like you treat the Lord. Wives, treat your husband like you treat the Lord. Serve him, put yourself under him, and just simply say, while you're doing that, I want to be under my husband because I want to obey God. And God said, obey your husband. So again, the wife is the second in command. She is to submit herself to her husband. The third chain, the third part of this chain is children obey their parents. In Ephesians chapter 6 verse 1 it says, children obey your parents and the Lord for this is right. So again, the chain of command, the proper chain of command is dad or husband and then wife and then child. So again, when I said that Pilate should have listened to his wife, and by the way he should have, you say, what would have changed? Jesus still would have hung on the cross, trust me. Jesus was going to, I mean, that was why he came. But Pilate wouldn't have been doing it if he had listened to Brother Nicholas Tell. History says that Pilate, I mean, continued to wash his hands, and wash his hands, and drove himself crazy trying to wash his hands of the innocent blood that was on his hands. If he listened to his wife, that wouldn't happen. He wouldn't have went crazy. Jesus still would have died. Somebody would have put Jesus to death. Because again, Jesus came to die. So it wouldn't have changed history at all, but it would have changed Pilate's history, is what it would have changed. But again, he didn't listen to his wife. So husbands, we should pay attention and listen to our wives. Again, wives, realize that that doesn't mean that you're the boss, because you're not. Number two, wives are not a slave, but a helpmate. Notice in Genesis chapter 2. Genesis chapter 2, notice verse 18 and verse 20. Now, if you understand what a helpmate means, that does not mean that she is to be a slave to me or a slave for me. There are a lot of husbands that are not very bright. Usually it's young husbands that are not very bright. Those of us that are a little wiser, if we're still married, guess what we did? We wised up. We learned. Now, it may be that we were smart as a young person, but that means that we either had a daddy that said some stuff and we learned from our daddy, or we had a preacher that said some stuff and we learned from our preacher. Now, I was very lucky. Brother Vineyard spent a lot of time in Bible college teaching about the relationships of husbands, wives, kids, all of it. And then he taught a class called The Christian Home. He had a whole semester of The Christian Home. I mean, he taught on, I mean, great details of everything about Christian home. So, not only did I have a great example because I had a mom and dad that were godly Christians, and mom and dad both had a great relationship, I also had Brother Vineyard, I mean, pounding it away in Christian home, in Bible college. So again, I was lucky in that respect. I also got to drive to work with some married men before I got married. And I'll listen to the things they did that got them in trouble. I'll listen to the things that they did that got them, I mean, you know, blessings. And I realize, you know what? There are some ways I can handle stuff and not be in the doghouse. And there's some ways I can handle stuff and be in the doghouse. And I can tell you the reason they call it the doghouse is it's not a good place. The dog does not have near as nice a house as you have. Unless you're really rich and then your dog might have air conditioning and a nice place to lay. But, again, understand, wife is not a slave. She's a helpmeet. Notice Genesis 2, verse 18. Now, if you know anything about, again, the chain of command, the commanding officer is the head. But if he has some good men or women under him, guess what? It makes his job so much easier. By the way, it doesn't mean, again, it doesn't mean that they are inferior in rank. They're inferior in position. They are not inferior in intelligence. They're not inferior in talent. They're not inferior in ability. The truth is, it doesn't say for a second that wives have less intelligence or less abilities than a man. It doesn't. But again, she's a helpmate. Now, again, when I say that, She's not a second-class citizen. I know men that treat their wives like dogs. And if you do that, by the way, not only are you unbiblical, you're also just not very bright. If you're wondering why you can't, I mean, why no woman can live with you, why, I mean, no one can put up with you, it's pretty simple. If you were married to you, you would hate you too. And there are some in this that way. Again, your wife is not your slave. She's a helpmate. Point number three, and again, this is kind of the introduction, but I got four points of introduction and one point of why we should listen to our wives. Number three, Jesus had a special relationship with his mom. Notice in your Bibles in John chapter 19. In John chapter 19, realize what's going on at this time. Jesus Christ is on the cross. Jesus Christ has had his back beat raw. Jesus Christ has had thorns pounded down on his head. His head is swollen. The truth is, how many of you have ever been poked by a mesquite thorn? You know what it did? It hurt. Made you swell up. That was one thorn. By the way, that was the thorn that just poked you and you pulled right back out. These, they pounded down into his head and left there. Again, each of these thorns would put a poison. His face swole up. After they'd already beaten him, I mean, again, understand, he's in grievous pain. He's in awful torment. But while he's on the cross, notice what he does. Again, what is on his mind and what he thinks about. Again, he's there dying for the sins of the whole world, but he also thought about his mom. Notice John chapter 19, verse 26. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciples standing by whom he loved, he said unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son. Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother, and from that hour that disciple took her into his own home." While he was on the cross, while he was in all this pain and all this trauma, just a few moments he's going to say, I thirst, and a few moments after that he's going to cry out, It is finished. But while he's in all this pain, you know what he does? He wants to make sure his mother is taken care of. Now, by the way, if she was like in some countries, no better than a dog, he wouldn't have cared whether she had a place to go or not. And he surely wouldn't have cared if she was well taken care of or not. But the truth is, he did care. Now he had some, again, Mary had other children. But Jesus knew that John, I mean, John was close to Jesus, knew that John had done everything through, again, you follow his ministry, John wasn't like, I mean, Peter was more outspoken, but John was the guy that, again, I mean, the Bible calls him the disciple whom Jesus loved. I mean, he had a special relationship with Jesus. And what Jesus was saying is, John, just like, I mean, you cared for me, I want you to care for that lady right there, you take care of her. And he said, and again, understand, Mary would have, if she could have argued, she would have said, I've got, I mean, I've got the boys, I mean, I've got the kids. He didn't want to, all he wanted to say is, I want you to, I want to know what you're taking care of, and I want to make sure you take care of her. And that's what he did. Again, one of the few things he, he didn't say very many things on the cross. One of the few things he said on the cross was about his mom, which means, again, he thought very highly of his mother. Now, unlike the Catholic Church, who put her as deity, and by the way, Jesus didn't ever do that. And by the way, the Bible doesn't do that. Fact is, if Mary went to heaven, it wasn't because she was Jesus' mom, it was because she got saved. That's if she went to heaven, and I'm sure she did. Again, she was one of those that guaranteed she knew who Jesus was. She knew he was the Son of God. But the fact is, Jesus took care of his mom. He had a special relationship with his mother. The fourth truth, again, underneath this. The Bible makes a big deal about the right kind of mom or the right kind of wife. Proverbs 31 is known for the fact that it spends so much time talking about the right kind of lady. Now, if you don't think about Proverbs, the Bible in Proverbs also talks about the wrong kind of lady. It talks about there are some men that have a husband. You know where they'd rather be? They'd rather be out in the wilderness. Now, by the way, some of you go camping. Camping's fun unless that's where you live. Camping's fun when you can go camping for the weekend and then you come back home. And by the way, usually if it's raining, I mean, you put the camping trip off until the weather clears up. I mean, if it's really, really cold, now we have some folks here that are crazy. They go out and camp in the rain. They go out and camp in the snow. I mean, you know, they think that's funny, but I mean, and I'm all for them. When I was their age, I probably would have thought it was fun, too. At my age, I mean, I like my bed and my pillows and the blankets and the air conditioning and the heat, so more power to them. I mean, I'll egg them on, you know, and listen to their experiences when they come back. Brother Locke, you want to go? No, not hardly. But the fact is, understand, the Bible makes a big deal about the wrong kind of woman, but in Proverbs 31, it makes a very big deal about the right kind of woman. Now, notice in Proverbs 31, verse 10, the Bible says this, says that, again, a good woman's hard to find. Notice where it says, who can find a virtuous woman? raises a question. Where can you find one? You know what that implies? They're not everywhere. It's not like they're, you know, a dime a dozen. It's not like you can find them, they're just hanging on every tree around. I mean, you gotta look for them. So guys, what that means is, by the way, guys and girls, the same thing would apply to a good husband. There are a lot of men out there, a lot of guys out there, but there's very few guys, I mean, there's very few guys that, again, are godly men that will be the kind of husband you want. And there's lots of gals out there, a lot of females out there, but very few ladies that are godly ladies. So what he says is, who can find a virtuous woman? And then he tells us how much she's worth for her price. Now listen, it didn't just say her price is above rubies. Her price is far above rubies. He's not just saying that, by the way, and rubies were very expensive, still are. What he's saying is, listen to me, she's more valuable than the most valuable, I mean, most valuable thing you can get. She's higher, she's better than that. And not just, not close. Sometimes some people say, well, I mean, how close were we? I mean, she is way out in front. I mean, way, way, way out in front. Again, to find a good woman, they're hard to find. They're very valuable. I mentioned that in verse 10. Again, her price is far above Ruby's. Notice verse 11. In this case, the Bible teaches us that she completely satisfied her husband and fulfilled her husband. It also says, "...the heart of her husband that safely trusts in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil." Now what it says is, you know what? He has no need to look anywhere else because she is everything that he could possibly want her to be. By the way, that's the ideal woman. The ideal woman is one who, I mean, is virtuous. She's a godly woman, and she's one, by the way, that, I mean, again, you couldn't think, if you said, Brother Block or Brother so-and-so, I mean, if your wife could pick up one more trait, I mean, what would you want her to have? And if they would think for a second and say, you know what? I don't think there's, I mean, she's perfect. Now, by the way, guys, that's a way to get good brownie points. to tell your wife when she says, you know, I mean, if I could do something to improve myself, what would you like me to do? That's when you look at her and say, baby, there's nothing you can do to improve yourself. I mean, how can you improve on perfection? Say, Brother Barker, is my wife really perfect? No, and neither is mine, but the fact is it doesn't hurt you every once in a while to use your brain, okay? Again, that's why I've been married for 30 plus years, and I mean, and you're still working on the third marriage, and I mean, you got 14 years between the three, so I mean, listen up, I learned this from somebody. But again, it says again, her husband does safely trust in her so that he has no need for her. He doesn't have any reason to look anywhere else. She is everything he possibly could want. Notice again, in Proverbs chapter 31, Verses 12 through 27 give us this. They give us numerous traits and abilities that she has. You ought to read this sometime. I don't have time to read it tonight, but you read all the rest of it. It tells you all the things she does. Now listen to me. She is an amazing woman. She is. Most people think that this is Solomon describing his mother, Bathsheba. Some folks think it's someone else, but the truth is a lot of folks think it was Bathsheba. I don't know who it is. The truth is, whoever it is, she's an amazing woman. I do think she really was. I think it's not just something God made up. I don't think this is a fictitious story of some lady. I think this is really talking about someone. I think Mary probably fell in this similar category. I think Mary was the same kind of woman. I think you would call her a virtuous woman. I think she was like that. And by the way, there are still some around, but they are hard to find, guys. So again, that's why it says, who can find? What it means is you're going to have to look. Again, you're not just going to walk out and the first one you grab, that's it. I mean, you want to make sure you find that virtuous lady. Notice verse 28. Notice what verse 28 says. Now, notice it says her children rise up and call her blessed. She's valued by her kids and she's valued by her husband. By the way, that is, that is, now girls, ladies, please be careful. Sometimes the world might look down on you being a wife or, I mean, the right kind of wife or the right kind of mother. They may, they may think that you have an inferior job or that, I mean, that you're having a career doing something else would be far better. And by the way, the Proverbs 31 lady had a career. Truth is, she worked, I mean, and outside of the home. But it taught that she took care of the stuff at home first, and then she did the stuff outside. And if you read all the stuff she did, I mean, she, I mean, she was a community servant. She, I mean, she made money for the family. She took care of the, I mean, she was an amazing gal. But the fact is, in this case, the kids and dad, I mean, they, they couldn't have thought of, I mean, couldn't have wished for a better lady. Couldn't have bet, wished for a better mom. Couldn't have wished for a better wife. Which brings me to my fifth and final point. Again, I said the whole thing was he should have listened to his wife. Let me give you several things now on let the help meet help. Listen to her. Let the help meet help. Now, I had to learn this. This was not something that came natural for me because I'm a doer. When Brother Taylor worked with me in the youth group years ago, one time he said something to me. He said, Brother Block, let me do something. You do everything. I mean, what's the use of me working with you if you don't let me do something? So I had to learn to delegate. Now, some of you are already good at that. That was not something I was good at. Now, I've gotten better at it, but the truth is, that was something I had to learn. The fact is, I learned a big part from Brother Blocker. Brother Blocker was very good at delegating. I was not a good delegator, so I had to learn. Now, to delegate, you know what really the biggest issue with delegation is? Not only because you enjoy doing it yourself, but sometimes you also just don't think the other person, you don't know that the other person will do it as well as you, so you hate to take a chance. So it's a trust issue to a degree as well. So when you delegate, what that's saying to the person you delegate to is, you know what? I trust in you. I'm counting on you. I believe in you. You know what that helpmate's supposed to be? She's supposed to be someone that, again, I mean, she helps us do what we have to do, and she does stuff that, by the way, makes it where, I mean, sometimes we couldn't have got it done, and she gets it done. And by the way, the proper husband-wife relationship makes it where both your jobs are easier. Again, my responsibility at Liberty Baptist Church, being an associate pastor, my responsibility is to make Brother Nichols' job easier. That's what my job is, to make his job easier. Now, The truth is, if I'm the right kind of associate pastor, I'm a blessing to Brother Nicholas. I'm not just an employee, and I am an employee, but I should be a blessing to him. Brother Taylor was a blessing to me. Now, by the way, he taught me to delegate. Now it's much easier now, but it took me a while. If you're in the youth group now, you'd realize the first Sunday, I preach. The second Sunday, Brother Bejewel preaches. The third Sunday, Brother Roy preaches, right? Fourth Sunday, Brother Taylor preaches. The fifth Sunday, we have to find somebody, so it's usually we come in here, and we come into the auditorium. The first week of Sunday school, we have roundtable. The second week of Sunday school, I teach. The third week of Sunday school, Brother Pujol teaches. The fourth week of Sunday school, I teach. But the truth is, though I'm youth director, and by the way, you can ask Brother Taylor back then, I taught and preached all of that. I didn't know anyone had any of that. But I realized a couple things. One, when they do it, it's kind of nice. I have some time off. It's kind of nice. Two, the kids don't get bored to death with me. They're not all falling asleep because they haven't heard me 47 times this week. That's what you say, brother Block? I kind of heard you quite a bit lately. I'm getting kind of bored, too. Come on, now. But the fact is, I let all these guys preach. Now, none of these guys are rubber stamps. Roy don't think like I do. Brother Taylor don't think like I do. Kurt don't. I mean, so the truth is, they have pet peeves that I don't have, and they have strengths that I don't have, and they have weaknesses that I don't have. But the truth is, we all give the team something, and so they get the best of four different guys. Same thing with Sunday school. We try to spread it out so that it's not the same person all the time. Now understand, if you have a helpmate and you trust her, she will make your life easier. She won't make your life harder. A good wife will make you... Now, let me give you some ways that you ought to... some things you ought to listen to her about. Number one, child rearing. The Bible uses a mother when it comes to kids and teaches you, you know what? Mom's the thing when it comes to kids. Dad's important to raising kids, but when you see anything about children, you know what I always talk about? The mom. The mama bear, the mom, I mean, what it simply says, you know what? You do not, now, it doesn't say you don't want to mess with daddy. It will say you do not want to mess with mama when it comes to the kids. I mean, he says, you know what? You don't want to get between the mama bear and her cubs, because she will tear you up. I often tell people all the time, you don't have to worry about me. I mean, I'm kind of a nice guy. The person you ought to be worried about isn't a guy at all. She wears a skirt, and her name is Mrs. Block. I mean, you mess with the kids, you're going to get a lot more flack from Mrs. Block. I mean, you're going to have—you better be more afraid of her than afraid of me. And by the way, that's true of almost all mothers. That's why they're mothers. You get mama mad. Hoo-wee! It's one of the reasons, Brother Patton, years ago, I used to say, Brother Block, I used to say, you say, Brother Patton, when are you going to get a school? He says, I'm never going to get a school as long as you have a school. I said, why? He says, because I do not want to have to deal with the parents. When you deal with people's kids, he said, you end up with, and by the way, that's true. You can ask my teacher sometimes to deal with parents. We love the kids. We just wish we could do without the parents sometimes. Just joking, more or less. But in child rearing, now, when I say that, typically in child rearing, Because opposites attract, you know what's kind of weird? We are not alike. Sometimes it'll be dad that's really strict and really tough and mom that's sweet. Sometimes it's dad that's really sweet and mom that's really strict. And by the way, that works because that's, I mean, again, if you think of the ideal train up the child in a way that he should go, you know what it means? The proper amount of love and the proper amount of discipline. Too much love and not enough discipline, messed up kid. Too much discipline, not enough love, messed up kid. The proper amount of love and the proper amount of discipline. And by the way, that's what's really tough because it's hard to find that proper balance. But that's why a husband and wife together makes it so much easier because we... Listen to me. Something that would bother me doesn't bother her. Something that bothers her doesn't bother me. There's times she wants to kill him and I'll... I mean, because I understand. Especially when... I mean, for instance, there's some things that my boys did that I understood, you know why? Because I'm a boy. There's some things my, that my, there's times my wife wanted to kill my daughter, but I mean, you know, she's my, she's my baby. I mean, so, again, understand the kids, it's nice when the kids have mom and dad, because again, they're usually kind of a plus minus, plus minus kind of thing. Proper mixture. Second thing, you ought to let your help meet, help win, you ought to listen to her, is when we're angry, when we are in extreme. Now listen to me, there are a lot of men that would have lost their job if they came home and listened to mama. Because they came home mad, and mama would have said, it's not too bad. Now listen to me, there isn't probably a man alive that hasn't wanted to quit a job. Hasn't wanted to, I mean, mess his boss up. But you come home, and mama will say, I mean, tell you what, let's just sleep on it. If you still feel that way, if you want to quit tomorrow, I mean, by the way, you'll find this, a nice sleep changes your feelings about a lot of stuff. I don't remember who it was that taught us this years ago, it may have been a brother of Indian. But he taught us this in class and I made it a rule at my house. And my wife has the temper. I don't have much of a temper. My wife is the one that has the temper. So there'd be times she was going to tell someone something and she was going to get mad at someone. So I would say, you know what? You can write a letter. And tomorrow morning, before you mail that letter, you've got to read it again and see if you want to mail that letter or if you want to change it. She's never mailed the letter she originally wrote. Now, sometimes she still mailed a letter, but she never mailed that original letter. Sometimes she still made that phone call she wanted to make to whoever it was she wanted to make it to, but her tone was a lot different the next morning than it would have been the night before. By the way, that's why husbands and wives work together. Because we're not now. If we're both angry at the same time, we're in trouble. If we're both down at the same time, we're in trouble. I mean, the truth is, that's why a husband and wife compliment each other. Because, I mean, when I'm going crazy, I want to commit a million dollars to it. She goes, let's talk about this. I mean, a million dollars is a lot of money. I mean, and by the way, there's other times when you're like, I'm going to quit. And again, she talks you out of that. Let your help meet help when it comes to your emotions. that you help me help when it comes to money matters. Now, it may be that your wife has the money mind and you don't. It might be that you have the money mind and she don't. But either way, there'll be times if you pay attention to your wife, there'll be times your wife will say, by the way, she don't have to say anything. You can just sometimes look at the facial expression. They'll be like, and she's saying, I don't know about that. Which means, you know what y'all do? Talk about it. Doesn't mean you make, again, husbands will ultimately make that decision, and then we have to live with that decision we made. But we will usually make a wiser decision if not only we listen to our wives, but we also sometimes get counsel and pay attention to the counsel. But again, in money matters. There'll be times that you want to do something and your wife will say, you know what, let's think about it for a while. Let's wait on it a little bit. There's other times you might hesitate and she might say, you know what, you need to do this. I mean, so there'll be times she might push you. There's other times she may hold you back. But again, that's why you married her. I mean, she is to be the helpmate. She is to have a voice. She's to have an opinion. She's to have, I mean, again, a say-so. Number four in household things. Brother Vineyard told us in Bible college, all the house, I mean, leave that up to the wife. That has to do with the furniture, paint colors, how they arrange it, the curtains, the appliances. The good news is, when they're older, they can't move the furniture by themselves. But how many of you have ever, I mean, I used to work in iShift, and back at that time, I had no idea how a little bitty skinny woman can move furniture. I mean, but I would go to work, and the room was in a certain way, I'd come home, and I'd trip over something. Boom! Fall on the side of my toe and get hurt, flip on the light, and it's like, what? I mean, she'd rearrange the, now, I don't know where they get that strength. I don't. I mean, they can move couches and chairs and desks. Thankfully, when they get older, it's like, you need to help me move the furniture. And then she'll be like, yeah, maybe tomorrow. And so sometimes, you know, we just don't do it because I talk her out of it. But the truth is, if she wants to rearrange the furniture, we'll rearrange the furniture. You know what? I really care less. As long as I can get to the TV and the refrigerator, I'm a pretty happy guy. I don't care if the walls are pink or they're yellow or they're orange. I don't care if the refrigerator has two doors or six doors, as long as it has a door and she don't put a lock on the door, I'm happy. I mean, I'm not real hard to please and most men are not. So again, when it came to the house stuff, that's mama's. And she likes to know that she has a voice, she has some say-so. Matters around the house. Matters of the heart. Notice in your Bibles in 1 Peter chapter 3. 1 Peter chapter 3. Notice verse 7. It says, Now notice the phrase, the weaker vessel. Someone explained this to me this way and it makes a lot of sense. Here's what they said. How many of you have a set of fine china? few of us. We have one because my wife's mother gave it to us. Then I bought my wife one in Russia. I spent two million bucks on that set of china. Of course, the exchange rate was $50,000 in Russian dollars to $1 in American dollars, so it wasn't too mean. I guess it was $200,000 because I spent $8, so I bought a set of China for $8. Now, to put that in your suitcase and bring it back on all the airlines to make it safe, that was the trick, to get all the China back. So we have two sets of China. Listen to me, it is more fragile. Some of you have that corny word, some of that stuff, I mean, you can take it, you can throw it like a frisbee, you can bounce it off the floor, you can bounce it off your kid's head, sometimes a good use for that. I mean, you can use all kinds of stuff with that. You don't want to do that with China, you'll break it. China is, I mean, it is a weaker vessel, but it's not weaker in the sense that it's useless. Sometimes people think of weaker, and they think it means, I mean, that she's, I mean, she's inferior. It doesn't mean that. Brother Injun said it's like she's fine Chinese. I mean, she's just made differently. Now, again, I don't care what people say. How many of you ever go golfing? A couple of us. I haven't went in years. Do you golf anymore? He hasn't went in years. He probably went the last time I went, which was probably the last time you went. which was yours, why don't we go golfing? Then maybe my granddaughter wouldn't lay on my belly like she did last night. She looked at the picture on the wall, which was our wedding picture, and she looked at me and she said, how did that happen to you? That's what she asked me. How did that happen to you? And I said, just won't you just shut up and watch the TV? I mean, we were having a good time a minute ago. Now you're going to. And then she raised up my shirt, and she looked at it, and she said some other comment. I don't remember what it was. It wasn't very helpful either. So I said, why don't you go out and see your grandma for a minute? Leave me alone. But just joking. I just put up with it because I love her. But the truth is, if you've ever went golf, you know what they have? They have a tee-off place for the professionals, which is not where we teed off. They have a tee-off place for the men, which is where we had to tee off. Then they have a tee-off place for the ladies. Now, you know why they do that? Because women don't have the same type of bodies men have. And no matter what, you girls say, now, I know there's some women that can beat me up. But that is a rarity, by the way, rather than the rule. Now, I know there's some guys that, I mean, are such sissies, and I mean, a fourth grade girl could beat him up, and again, but that is, well, that's not the acceptance of the rule anymore. That is kind of the norm anymore. But the bottom line is, men are made differently. Our body structure and our strength and the things, I mean, we're different than women. For a woman to try to be a man would simply mean you're going to try to be something that you're going to fail at. You can't be a man. For me to try to be a woman, I asked for the prayer. I dressed up like a woman one time. He was not impressed. It was on Halloween, and he said later he didn't recognize me. I mean, I really did good on my decorations, but then he told me later that was the ugliest woman I'd ever saw in my whole life. That's what he told me. For that matter, I'm kind of the ugliest man he's ever seen in his life, so not much changes except the hair and the hairy legs. But the fact is, they're a weaker vessel. It doesn't mean they're inferior. The fact is, if you know anything about fine china, it is very viable. It is expensive. It's not like you're corny and well. I mean, you can get corny and well. You can get that other stuff. You can get those plastic plates everywhere. Find China, that's a big deal. She's a weaker vessel. When it comes to matters of the heart, they understand that because they have emotions. We don't always have the emotions. I mean, sometimes men can be emotionless. Now, I don't know why it is. When we grow older, we have the tendency to get more emotions. I mean, I can cry over it. I mean, I always cried over old Yeller. Now, I mean, I can cry over silly stuff. I mean, I can just be laying in bed thinking about something to start crying. I'm thinking, wow, my daddy can only see me now. He'd probably say, you little sissy. I mean, he wouldn't be too impressed with my crying. But the truth is, I have a lot bigger heart now than I did when I was younger. But women always have, they have those emotions. So again, they understand matters of the heart. There'll be times, I mean, that mom will say, Let me talk to him. You know what you need to do? Listen to her. You're going to go in there and tell him, hey, shake it off, man. I mean, be a man. He knows how to be a man anyway. I mean, his heart's broke. Now, if you've ever had your heart broke, and I'm not even going to ask if some of you ever had your heart broke. Some of you don't even have a heart. You like to grinch. I mean, you know, if it grew any bigger, I mean, your chest would burst. But some men don't have much of a heart. Women, I mean, so when Mama says, I'll take care of it, let me talk to him or let me talk to her, that's a good time to listen to Mama. She understands emotions. She understands right now, I mean, you know, they don't want to live. They understand that. You and I don't. It's like, stop being such a baby! My grandson broke my heart Sunday. He went with us on Sunday after church, so we're going to the house, and we have a great big dog, Dante, about the size of a small pony, and he loves to meet, he met Thane at the gate, and Thane was, you know, holding him back and letting him, Dante was trying to lick him and mess with him. So Dante did his usual, smart thing. We start, as he turns from the gate, I close the gate, he walks up and lays right down in front of the porch. I mean, so, boom, he lays down right there. I mean, the porch. He lays down on the walkway, and he's big enough, he covers the whole thing. Now, me, I just step over the stupid thing, and I get up there. Next thing I hear is a thunk. Same, trying to go around Dante, ran into the bar that comes down, you know, that we put our hands on, right with his head, just, bam, hit his head. I mean, I could hear it. It sounded like, I mean, you hit, I mean, a watermelon with a sledgehammer. I mean, it was a thunk. I looked back at him, and he wasn't crying, and he said, I think that hurt really bad, Grandpa. That's what he said. I think that hurt really bad. And then he didn't cry yet, and then he started crying, and I grabbed him, and I said, it's okay. Then he says, Daddy says I can't scream. I mean, so he's not allowed it, which is a good thing, by the way. Have you noticed there are some boys that can scream worse than girls? And I'm thinking, one of them's screaming, and I thought, what girl? And it was a boy, and I thought, goodnight. Yell. Don't do the screaming voice. If you have a girl's voice when you scream, I mean, scream silently. I mean, don't do it out loud. But he says, that hurt really bad, Grandpa. And then he says, but I can't scream. So I just held him, and it felt really bad, because I thought, Man, I'd have probably screamed at that one time. I'd have broke the screaming rule. But again, understand, women understand the things when it comes to emotions and the things of the heart. We don't always understand. Sometimes mom will say, you just don't get it, do you? And it's like, no, I really don't. So again, understand, that's one of the things she's good at. That's what she's there for. Another thing, I need to let you help me help. And again, this is a truth that especially young guys can learn, as older guys have already either learned it or it's too late for us, which means, I mean, you know, we're sitting here by ourselves at church tonight and, you know, we don't have a wife, or we're not here because she killed us, or any one or the other, but when she's talking and crying out without saying a word, again, I said you need to listen to her. Sometimes she'll talk and not say a word. Here's what I mean by that. You've got to be aware that silence means something. Sometimes it means I'm mad. Now, if your wife is one like my wife, when my wife is mad, my wife wants to be left alone. How many of you husbands, your wife is like that, she wants to be left alone when she's mad? How many of you, your wife is mad, she wants you, you better get your butt in there and talk to her. Because every wife is different. My wife wants me to leave her alone until she has some time to think about it. If she's right, she'll come, I mean, if she's right, she'll let me apologize later. If she's wrong, she'll come apologize to me later. But she wants me to leave her alone right then. I don't help it by going there and there. Now, sometimes, for some reason, I have this weird personality. Sometimes I think that's funny. And so then I will laugh or I will make fun of the fact that she's mad, which I don't do that near as much now because I learned all that really does is makes her madder, okay? And she'll say, you're not helping anything. And I'm thinking, I really thought I was because it was really, if you were looking from my viewpoint, it is really so funny. I mean, but she didn't think it was funny. For some reason, it wasn't. It was only one of us laughing. And I was laughing by myself for a little while. That's where that went. But again, sometimes you have to listen. You have to let your help mate. You have to listen to her when she's silent. By the way, sometimes you have to understand this truth. Sometimes they mean just the exact opposite of what they say. When they say it's fine, it really ain't fine. When they say, well, just do whatever you want, that really isn't what you should be doing. doing whatever you want. When they tell you nothing's a matter, something's a matter. So sometimes they tell you, you say, well, how do you figure that out? Well, when you figure that out, you tell all those older married men, because we still don't know. We just know that that's the time to shut up and say, I love you, baby. I mean, you know. go buy her something, okay, or go in the other room and mind your own business. But, so if you figure it out, that's when you can come and explain to us. We still don't know the answer, we just know what the answer is not, okay. We don't know what the answer is, we just know what the answer is not. But again, she's, again, Pilate should have listened to his wife and some of you men tonight, and again, I had to learn this the hard way in some areas. Again, I was, I'm lucky I had good parents. If you have, if you young people have a good mom and dad, imitate them. Learn from them. If you have a good grandma and grandpa, they have a great relationship, learn from them. There are men and women at Liberty Baptist Church that have a great relationship. Learn from them. By the way, if you don't have an example, find someone that'd be a good example to you. Or, by the way, read your Bible. A lot of stuff in the Bible about that. Pay attention to preaching. There's books on it. Read on it. But again, understand, ladies, you have an awesome responsibility and an awesome privilege to be the right kind of helpmate. Husbands, if we're smart, we will let them be the helpmate. It will make our job easier. Again, it's like that. When I finally learned to delegate, it was like, wow. This is a lot easier than it was when I was trying to do the thing. And by the way, when I tried to do a thing by myself, I didn't get it all done, and I didn't always do it. Because again, when you've got so many things to do, you don't always do your best, because you've just got to get it done. Things are so much better when I learn to delegate, when I learn to let others, by the way, I let them use their strengths. And by the way, you know what I did? It made me look good. All of a sudden, I'd be like, boy, but it was a great banquet. Yeah, it was. I didn't do nothing, but it was a great banquet. I mean, I delegate that to those guys, and they did it. So again, husbands. listen to your wives. Pilate should have listened to his wife and he wouldn't have the blood of Jesus Christ on his hands. He wouldn't have kept washing his hands and washing his hands and washing his hands trying to get it off. Again, young men, especially if you're married, you need, and again, you want to make sure you marry a godly woman because you listen to an ungodly woman, she will steer you in the wrong path, which is why you want to find that virtuous woman that's her price is far above rubies. You get the right gal, she will make you better than what you were. I mean, she will, again, when you think about it, when you take, when you take Two people, and you put them together, if they're the right kind of folks. That's why I tell people all the time, if you're in a dating relationship, and you are not a better Christian because of the dating relationship, break it off. If he doesn't make you a better Christian, and you don't make her a better Christian, break it off. The right relationship makes it where it's, I mean, you are better Christians, not worse Christians, because you're together. If the girl or the guy you plan on marrying is not, I mean, doesn't help you to serve the Lord, doesn't make it easier to serve the Lord, wrong one. If they're holding you back and they're making it where, I mean, you can't live for the Lord, wrong one. I mean, find the right one. When you find the right one, that is where the two people, and by the way, you walk together because you agree, and by the way, it makes carrying that ice chest so much easier when there's one on each end carrying it instead of one trying to carry it all by themselves. Yes, men, we are the leaders. And by the way, that is an awesome responsibility and a scary responsibility when you realize that the buck stops here. But understand, you can get some wisdom from that godly woman that God gave you. You can draw some wisdom from her, and she doesn't think like you think. She doesn't look at everything the way you look at stuff, but she still wants those kids to turn out right, and she still wants God to bless your family. She wants the same things you want, so if you pay attention, you'll be smarter because of that. It won't make you weaker, it'll make you stronger. Me having Brother Joe, or Brother Taylor, or Brother Mario, or Brother Nielsen, or the ladies in the school, they make my job easier, and they make me a better principal, and a better teacher, and a better person. Again, Liberty Baptist Church needs men who have enough sense to listen to their wives. Wives, you want to make sure you're that virtuous woman, you're that woman from Proverbs. Not the one earlier in Proverbs where he'd rather go to the wilderness or rather go to the attic. Not that one, not the quarrelsome one and that type, but the godly one. The one that, by the way, like Jesus' mom. That godly woman. That, by the way, God chose her for a reason. He chose Mary because of who she was. He didn't choose her because she was just an average gal. I mean, she was special. And that's why God chose her to bear his son. Again, understand, there were thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of ladies, and Mary stood out. She was the one. Now, I don't know if she was way above everyone else. I think she was. I think she was just, again, one-of-a-kind. Just like the Proverbs 31 lady was one-of-a-kind. And by the way, ladies, you should strive to be that one-of-a-kind, and guys, you should strive to get that one-of-a-kind. You young people that are getting ready to date, you want to be very, very wise. You say, how can I tell, I mean, what's one of the things I can tell about, I always tell people all the time, find out how that girl treats her daddy. Find out how that boy treats his mama. That is a big way how he or she will treat you, whether you're the husband or the wife, someday. A girl that doesn't listen to her daddy is probably not going to listen to her husband. A girl that treats her daddy like dirt will probably treat her husband like dirt. A girl that loves her daddy, I mean, and gives him her heart, I mean, and loves him with all of her heart, and that's a good thing. And a boy that, I mean, doesn't want to see mama cry, and doesn't want to hurt mama, and wants to please mama, I mean, that's, he's probably going to treat his wife the same way. Find a guy that gives, I mean, gives mama flowers, he'll probably be a guy that brings you flowers. Find a lady that, I mean, that does stuff for her daddy. I mean, when he gets home, gets him a cup of tea and gets his slippers and asks him if he needs anything and massages his shoulders because he's working hard. I mean, she'll probably do that to you when you come home. So that's a good thing to check out. But the fact is, the one thing you always want to do, you want to compare her to the lady in Proverbs 31 and find out if she's like that lady. That's a great kind of lady to be. Again, ladies, that's something for you to live up to, guys. We want to live up to the right kind of husband as well. Again, would the Proverbs 31 lady even want to marry us? I mean, would she be able to serve us? Would she be able to give herself to us? And again, the relationship is one, I don't boss my wife around. My wife follows me, my wife obeys me, my wife, again, she submits to me. I'm not, I mean, again, for a man to stand up and say, well, my wife don't do it, I mean, you listen to that guy, he is a knucklehead. You know why? If there is a great relationship in here, it's because the wife submits herself to her husband. Now, again, he can lead all he wants, but if she's not following? How many of you did that? You said, come on, let's go! You get out in the car, and nobody's there but you. Sounded good. You led, but the problem is, if they don't follow, it didn't accomplish anything. You go back in and say, come on, let's go! I mean, the truth is, a husband only leads if his wife will submit. And by the way, ladies, you're supposed to submit. It's a clear Bible command. You say, well, what if my husband's a jerk? God will still bless you for doing the right thing even if he doesn't. God doesn't bless the relationship based on, I mean, if both of you are doing right, that is a great relationship. But you can still be blessed whether, I mean, whether your mate is the right kind of mate or not. The lady is still supposed to submit and let the husband lead, and the husband is still supposed to lead, and by the way, he's supposed to love his wife. Again, I tell people all the time, if the man would love his wife like he's supposed to, a lot of marriage problems would be a lot less than they are. If the wives would submit like they're supposed to, a lot of marriage problems would be a lot less than they are. By the way, the proper kind of lady, we want to make sure that we listen to her. Father, thank you for tonight. Pray, Lord, you'd help us as husbands to be wise and realize that when you give us a helpmate, you've given us a good thing. The Bible says when we find a wife, we find a good thing. Lord, I pray you'd help us to realize that you gave her to us to complete us. Lord, we're more with her than we are without her. We can accomplish more. We can serve you