of serving your family and ministering to your children. Ushers, come ahead, please. We wanna receive our offering for our church people this morning. Visitors, if you'd honor us with that visitor connection card, we'd appreciate that. And daycare parents, we have a gift for you from the daycare on Daycare Sunday. Ms. Julie will have that for you out in the gym when you collect your children just in a little while. It's a little thank you gift and a memento of the day, and we have one of those for each family. Let's go to the Lord in prayer, ask God to bless our offering today. Dr. Bartlett, our founding pastor, my dad, would you stand and lead us in prayer over the offering, please? Thank you very much. Amen. you parents today, Miss Christy Johnson. She is the wife of Pastor Greg Johnson, pastor of the Big Bottom Baptist Church up Campbell's Creek. And I didn't know she was going to be able to be AWOL, play hooky from her church, and be with us today. Miss Christy and her husband Greg were on staff here at our church for about six years, and so they're part of our extended church family. And so when I saw her today, I said, you need to sing for us today because if you're in the building and you don't sing, I could get fired. And so, we're so thankful to have little Gwenny. She was the tall one in this last group in our daycare. And she'll be graduating out this, at the end of the summer, headed to school, as many of those children would be. But before the message today, and I do have an important message, I want you to stay, about protecting our homes. We saw the reason. We need to protect our homes. It was displayed for us prominently on the platform. That's the message today. Before that, Ms. Christy Johnson is going to come and sing a wonderful song of worship and adoration, How Great Thou Art. When I, in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds thy hands have made, ♪ The rolling thunder ♪ Thy power throughout ♪ The universe displayed ♪ Then sings my soul, my Savior God ♪ How great Thou art ♪ How great Thou art ♪ Then sings my soul ♪ My Savior God to Thee And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, to die I scarce can take it in that on the cross my burden gladly bearing he bled and to take away my pain. Then a cry shall come With shouts of acclamation And take me home What joy shall fill my heart Then I shall bow In humble adoration And then proclaim, my God, how great Thou art. Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Miss Christy. Appreciate that so much. 1 Peter chapter 5 is where we are in the Word of God this morning for a few moments. 1 Peter chapter 5, as we talk about protecting your home. It's a different day that we live in. For those of us that have a few years on us, we look back on a time when Crime was something that happened just in the inner cities as far as impacting your life daily and the threat of it. But we've learned terms in recent years like home invasion. We've learned that we ought to consider having security systems and lighting up the outside of our homes. Keeping ourselves armed is the choice that many Americans would make. As Americans, we value personal liberties and personal property. We understand it's appropriate to defend ourselves, defend our property, and certainly to defend our families. The thought of some outsider sneaking into your home to cause harm makes our blood boil, does it not? Well, I got news for you, for every one of us. No matter how well you have protected your home in the physical aspect of it, I want to tell you, your home is under attack. Your home is under an invasion. The enemy of your home and the enemy of your family is the enemy identified in the Word of God. The enemy is Satan. The enemy is the devil. And he is vicious, he is evil, he is pitiless, he is cunning. He is heavily armed and he is brilliant. He is out to destroy your home and your family. Satan stalks the little lives that we saw on our platform this morning. The Bible warns us in many places, I call our attention this morning to First Peter chapter five, verse eight, be sober, be vigilant. Because your adversary, your enemy, if you will, your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour, whom resist steadfast in faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accompanied in your brethren that are in the world. We have an enemy. We have a vicious adversary. This is what the Bible says. I want to look this morning to the Word of God and determine and see some things to give us five biblical strategies, very quickly, five biblical strategies to protect your home. Whether you have little kids in your home, whether you have little grandkids as part of your extended family, nieces, nephews, whether you live alone or whether you live with a large family, Satan's out to get you. and he comes stalking us even in the sanctity of our homes and families. Number one, this biblical strategy. First of all, the Bible says, as we read in the first part of the verse, be sober, be vigilant. In other words, this is serious, take it to heart, be careful, be sober, be vigilant. Number one, acknowledge that your home and family is a target. Acknowledge that your family is a target. Your home, whether it's one person or 15 people, your home's the target. Some people seem oblivious to the fact that their home is under attack. Here's an eye opener for all of us today. If you have a child or grandchild that is 14 years of age today, beginning this fall as a freshman in high school, here are some things to expect over the next four years by the time they graduate if they are the average. Two-thirds of their class, by the time they graduate, will have used illicit drugs. One in five will be an alcoholic. Two in five will have consumed five or more drinks at one sitting. 20% will be using tobacco daily. That number is sharply on the rise, thanks to the vaping products. 40% of babies born out of wedlock will be to this age group, high school teenagers. One third of all abortions will be performed on girls this age. Half of those teenagers in that four year span, by the time they graduate, half of them will be sexually active. And the second leading cause of death for these kids their age at graduation will be suicide. I'm telling you, Satan is on the prowl. And he's after your home. He's after your family. And as Americans, for us who are Americans, as the family goes, so goes our nation. For West Virginians, I love our state. As the family goes, so goes our state. For Christians, as the family goes, so goes our churches. Acknowledge that your home, your family, is a target. The response to that understanding, that acknowledgement, is to develop a mindset for spiritual warfare. If you knew a physical attack was coming to your home, man, you would get engaged. You would arm yourself, you would take steps, you would be proactive to protect your family as you should be. Well, I want to tell you, your family's under attack from the spiritual realm, so I want to, first of all, to acknowledge that your home is a target. Develop a spiritual warfare mindset. When we were attacked three generations ago at Pearl Harbor, our nation went to war. When we were attacked by Islamic terrorists 20 years ago, we went to war. We're at war today because we've been attacked and we're being attacked. The Bible says in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 12, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, our enemies, not other human beings. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. It's a spiritual battle. Satan and his demon army are on the attack. Acknowledge that your home is a target. Number two, identify who it is leading the attack. The second phrase in our text that we looked at there to begin is in First Peter, because your adversary the devil, your adversary the devil, an enemy, a vicious one who is stalking you. Jesus warned us in Luke 22, 31, talking to Peter, he said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat. Satan's aggressive, he's on the prowl. Satan hates God. He's anti-God. Whatever God wants, Satan wants the opposite of that. God is the great creator. How great thou art. Satan is the great destroyer. he comes to tear apart and to destroy. Our enemy, our adversary, is powerful and intelligent. He's persistent. He never lets up. He doesn't play prevent defense. He's always on the attack. Listen to the book of Job from the Bible. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, from whence comest thou? And Satan answered and said, from going to and fro on the earth, walking up and down in it. Satan doesn't take a break, he doesn't take a rest. He's always on the prowl. And as first Peter said, like a roaring lion, stalking. So in relation, our response, and as we identify who it is that's leading the attack, we have to admit we can't defeat this powerful enemy on our own. You're no match for Satan. The preacher's no match for Satan. The deacons are no match for Satan. No human being is a match for Satan. He's the most powerful being ever created. We just spent three Wednesday night Bible studies in identifying who our enemy is. Let me tell you, you can't handle it. I can't handle it. But God can handle it. And God takes up residence in us, and greater, the Bible says that greater is he that is in us, Jesus, in the person of Holy Spirit, than he that's in the world. We can win, not because we're rough and tough and eat our spiritual marshmallows raw, no, but because we have Holy Spirit, God, living in us and flowing through us, and he fights for us, and he fights in us. Ye are of God, little children, 1 John 4, 4. And have overcome them, the wicked influences of this world, because greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world. Acknowledge that your home, your family's a target. Identify who it is leading those attacks. Number three, understand the strategy of the enemy. He's got a plan. He's got a plan. We see in the Word of God there in our text as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. He's aggressive, he's active, he's attacking. His general strategy is this, deception. Deception. 2 Corinthians 11 and 14, and no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Satan is a master deceiver. He's a trickster. He's a bait and switch specialist. He makes wrong look like it's okay. He makes wickedness seem like it's normal behavior. He makes evil look like fun. Listen to what Jesus said about our adversary, our enemy. Listen to what Jesus said about Satan. John 8, 44, Jesus said that he abode not in the truth, because there's no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar, Jesus said, and the father of it. Satan is the father of lies, Jesus said. His specific strategies of lies and deceptions include these specific tactics. to attack the authority of the Bible in homes and families. Now he started this little tactic back in the Garden of Eden, challenging Eve's thought process. Half God said? Are you sure that's what God said? Is that what God really meant? Half God said? Questioning the authority of God's word. How do we know what God wants from us? He wrote it down for us in the pages of the Bible. We know what God wants for us. It's right there for us to learn and to follow. Now Satan doesn't mind you having an understanding that, oh, the Bible's important, the Bible's a religious book. But if you start taking it literally, if you start applying it to your life, if you start following what the Bible says and receiving it as the word of God, Satan's gonna bring things into your life to try to get you to question that. Attack the authority of the Bible in our homes and families. Another strategy for Satan in his master deceptive play, attack God's structure for the home and families. God's structure for the home is laid out all the way through the Bible. It starts way back in the earliest parts of the Old Testament. We find principles in the book of Deuteronomy. We have principles in the book of Genesis. Then we have specific New Testament instructions for us in Ephesians chapter 5 and Colossians chapter 3. And you can distill it down to what the Bible teaches us about a loving husband who submitted to God, a godly wife who submitted to her husband, together parenting with Bible wisdom their children, training their children to be obedient and to honor their father and mother. But when the Bible authority is removed, the divine structure is gone, and the strength of the family and home begins to weaken. Attack the authority of the Bible, attack God's structure for homes and families, which is delineated in the Bible for us, to attack the morality of homes and families. With now the Bible being questioned or removed out of families, what's the moral authority? Where do the rules come from? Where do the standards come from? Well, Satan begins to erode on those things. The divine structure gone, the moral fiber diluted down to almost nothing. Listen, why should a person be honest? If there's no authority that we ought to be honest, why should we be honest? Because sometimes you just lie to people and kind of get ahead. If all you're worried about is this earth and earthly things and no accountability to a creator, no accountability to a sovereign Lord, Why should a person not take someone else's life? Why should a person not take someone else's stuff? Why be concerned with morality if there's no authority, if we're all just in the human race? Well, if it's a race, do whatever you gotta do to win. but it's not a race, it's an eternity, it's an existence. There is a God, he created you and you are accountable to him and he reveals that to us in his word. Satan knocking these principles down, attacking the morality of homes and families, attacking the integrity of character, integrity and character of homes and families. with the standards of morality gone and people have been lured into a perpetual pursuit of self-gratification and personal pleasure, then their minds are open to Satan's continual trick philosophies. I'm not happy, so I'll go find happiness in a sexual relationship with somebody else. I'm bored, so I'll waste my family finances on vices and wickedness that the world has to offer. I'll just spend paycheck and hours at the casino. I'm empty on the inside, so I'll just numb my brain every weekend with booze and drugs. I don't like somebody else telling me what to do, so I will make my own rules. Satan just keeps pulling all these lies, pouring these lies onto us. And the fallout from this attack that Satan has been launching on the homes and families of the American culture now for four or five generations has led to a new word in our culture. It was new when I was a young adult. I'm 64, I'm not young anymore. But I learned a new word as a young adult. A phrase, if you will, the dysfunctional family. The dysfunctional family. What's dysfunctioning about it? All the principles and the morals and the rules and the structure and the guidelines of the Word of God. Because it was weakened and weakened and weakened after a couple of generations of this attack, the traditional family delineated for us in the word of God, one man, one woman raising obedient children, that's a rare thing. And it's gotten beyond even what we would identify one generation ago. I learned just two weeks, three weeks ago, three weeks ago, in the state of West Virginia, there are over 6,000 children in the foster care system. In our little state, 6,000 children that are coming out of that broad definition, dysfunctional families. I tell you what, you can't deny Satan is having success in his attacks on the home and on the family. And then, he attacks the youngest generation. He has set his sights on the youngest generation. You see, Satan has been around since man's been around. He was created before humanity was created. And so he has 6,000 years of human history to build on his understanding of what works and what doesn't work, what suits his agenda and what doesn't suit his agenda. He's brilliant. He's brilliant by creation. He's brilliant by experience. And he can get by with things now that he couldn't get by with in America two or three generations ago. We're talking about pastor. Let me give you one more thing, then we gotta move on. I want one more illustration of this. Some of you are aware, there's a case pending before the United States Supreme Court right now where some parents, I think in New York State, Wanted to say to the State Board of Education, we don't want our kindergarten, first, second, and third graders as parents, we don't want our kindergarten, first, second grade children to be part of the curriculum where you're teaching the beauty and the glory of homosexual relationships. To kindergartners, first grade and second grade, And the State Board of Education said, well, no, if you're going to be enrolled in our public school system, they're going to have to participate in that part of the curriculum. The Supreme Court has to decide whether you're going to pollute the brains of little children. Satan is having great success. Why is Satan having great success? Because we're not fighting back very hard. That's the bottom line of it. We're not fighting back very hard. He goes after the weakest, the youngest generation. He goes after our children, our teenagers. What's the response? Before we can correct the symptoms of the situation, we must address the cause. And the cause was the absence of this book. The absence of this book led to all of this. The Bible says, Psalm 119 verse 160, thy word is true from the beginning and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever. So we acknowledge that our homes are a target. Acknowledge who it is leading the attack. Understand the strategy of the enemy. Number four, recognize the weapons that are being used. Recognize the weapons that Satan is using. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 11, "...lest Satan should get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices." We can be aware and alert to what Satan is doing and what he is using. Let's not be ignorant of Satan's devices, the weapons. He uses the entertainment industry of course, movies and television and music. Satan's special operation forces, if you will. Sneak attacks, infiltrators get into the mind of our children and our adults in the homes and families. And the reason some parents don't see how dangerous their kids' activities are is because parents have been numbed, they have been desensitized to wickedness and sinfulness and immorality that has been pumped into our families, into our homes by Hollywood. Our homes are bombarded by sinful images and vulgar language. What if I came into your home and began using vile, vulgar language and displaying evil behavior? I would get, in some cases, I would get literally thrown out the front door. We must set a standard for what we are allowing into our homes and our families. Recognize the weapons that are being used, the entertainment industry, the educational system. The educational system. I praise the Lord for a few real Christians who are school teachers in the public school system. I know several of them. And I commend you, there's some in the room today. I thank you for that. I want to tell you, you're in a system that is designed in its structure and its curriculum to be anti-God. and more and more anti-historically accurate American. He said, now, Pastor, you're just making that up. No, let me just give you a little bit of credentials real quick, and then I'm going to move on. I serve in the West Virginia State Senate. I sit on the Education Committee. I know exactly what I'm talking about. The education system. This philosophy was embedded into our culture through the college campuses and universities in the 50s and 60s, and it has taken strong roots now. And we see stories on the news even this week about the upper echelon of the higher education system, the Ivy League schools. and their mentality and philosophy toward traditional American values, their ideas and philosophies against having absolute authority of the Bible and just recognizing that there must be some basic standards. Oh no, the education system is a weapon that's being used very effectively by our enemy, our adversary. And then technology, technology of cell phones and computers and whatever the next device that comes along. And all the pornography and the violent entertainment and the smut, the evil videos, all the devil's smut and debauchery is hooked up coming right into your home and now right into the palm of your hand and right into the palms of your children's hands. From our friends at the Christian Law Association, we learn a few staggering statistics. 12% of internet content is pornography. 12%. The average age of first internet exposure to pornography is 11 years of age. The percentage of 9 to 16 year olds who have viewed pornography online, 9 to 16 year olds in America, 90%. No, my teenager's never seen that stuff. You are living in a fantasy land. Percentage of 15 to 17 year olds who are having repeated exposure, repeated exposure to pornography, 80%. You see, this is not just a passive threat, it's an invasive threat. One in five children have been approached by online predators. And only 25% of those cases are reported to law enforcement authorities. All the smut and debauchery of Satan's empire is hooked up right into our homes, into our hands. We must be careful. We must be active. We must be recognizing these weapons. Then there's another weapon that Satan is using. This one's a little more old school. The fun and games society. The fun and games society. Nothing high-tech about this. It simply boils down to this. Anything and everything comes before the Lord. You give the Lord what's left over. You give the Lord what you can squeeze in after you get to everything else. The camping, the sports leagues, the vacations, the recreational activities. Let me tell you, I like to fish, I like to hunt. I felt like the kids left out a season. One of the four seasons, spring, winter, summer, fall, they left out hunting season. I like to fish, I like to hunt. I enjoy football games, college football and all that. Those things are okay in their proper place. But I will not sell out my savior for these trivial things. And certainly we must not sacrifice our family for these trivial things. We must acknowledge the success that Satan has had in achieving in our homes and families with these weapons. American churches in many denominations are rejecting what the Bible says about who a man is and who a woman is and what a marriage is. American churches are full of people who regularly choose these other trivial things over the service of the Lord. What's wrong? What's wrong is our weak and wobbly homes are providing no protection from constant attack by Satan. The response, get busy. Get proactive. Get involved. Engage the enemy as he attacks your homes. May I challenge you dads and moms Get as involved in your kid's spiritual life as you are in their athletic life. Get as involved in your kid's spiritual life as you are involved in their educational life. Teach them what the Bible teaches you from Ephesians chapter six, to put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles, the attacks, the wiles of the devil. We are equipped to fight this battle. We are equipped to win this battle. We are equipped to defend and protect our homes against the wicked, evil enemy. First John chapter two, verse 14. I have written unto you fathers because you have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you young men because you are strong and the word of God abideth in you and you have overcome. You have overcome the wicked one. Listen, victory is possible. If we'll just do it God's way, if we'll just fight back in His power and with His weapons, that armor of God. Lastly, number five, protecting our home. Last one, establish some standing orders. Some of you have served, some of you may actually be serving now in the United States military. Thank you for your service. You know the term, standing orders. Orders that are in place until the commanding officer replaces it with something else. It's a standing order. It just doesn't have to be repeated every day. It's a standing order. Establish some standing orders in your home. Provide consistent spiritual leadership. Basic standards. Establish, first one, establish a God-first standard. God-first. That's what the Bible says in Deuteronomy 6.5, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy might. Jesus repeated in Matthew 6.33, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Establish a God first standard. Number two, establish a Bible atmosphere standard. The Bible says in Colossians 3.16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. In other words, let it just be at home in you. Let it be common in your thought processes, the Word of God. All the divine principles and perfect wisdom for a safe and happy home are found in the pages of the Bible. C, establish a Christ-like thinking standard. A Christ-like thinking standard, perceive the world through the eyes of Christ. Colossians 1.18, and he, Christ, is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. In everything he ought to have first place. He ought to be front of mind, top of mind awareness, the Lord Jesus Christ. Establish a Christ-like thinking standard. That's delineated for us in Philippians chapter four, verse eight, finally, my brethren. Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of a good rapport, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. If our entertainment or our recreation activity doesn't pass the Christ-like thinking standard, do something else. Letter D, establish a God's glory standard. A God's glory standard. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10, 31, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Similarly, the Bible says in Colossians 3, 17, and whatsoever you do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father by Him. If you'll approach every choice of activity in your home, every practice of what you do in your home with those two verses, is God gonna be glorified by this? Can I bring glory to God by participating and practicing this thing? Letter E, establish an as-for-me-at-my-house standard. I take you back to Joshua. Moses has passed on. Joshua's the new leader. And Joshua's led the people. And there's been some ups and downs through his leadership. There's been some times of victory and some times of defeat. There's been some strong days spiritually and some weak days spiritually. And he's leading the people to resolve themselves to make a choice as to whom they're gonna serve. He says in Joshua 24, 15, choose you this day whom you're gonna serve. Quit messing around, are you gonna serve God or not? And then he makes this declarative statement. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. He's basically saying a little paraphrase here. Y'all can do what you want to, but we're gonna serve God in our house. Man, establish that in your home. As for me and my house standard. Others may think you're nuts. They may think you're fanatics. They may think you're weird. They may think you're not so cool. Teach your kids that we're in a battle, we must fight together, and in Christ we'll win. And in the end, when this life is all over, and we're with the Lord, if you're a believer, no believer's ever gonna look back at their earthly life and say, well, I should've spent more time goofing around on worldly things. I spent way too much time focusing on the Bible and trying to teach my kids to live to please God with their life. I wish I hadn't done that. Never going to happen, but the opposite will be magnificently true. We look back and say, I should have emphasized the important things and de-emphasized the trivial things. Our homes, our families are under a vicious attack. If you're willing to fight and fight God's way with God's tools and God's equipment, God's armaments, You can fight back victoriously. In our text, we were looking at 1 Peter 3, verse 9. Whom resist Satan, the wicked one? Whom resist steadfast in faith? It's in God's power. We can be victorious. The Bible says we can declare victory. 1 Corinthians 15, 57, but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me tell you how you get started today. Let me tell you how you get started. You get started by making sure you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. It starts with a saved mom and dad. I'm not talking about mom and dad that are church members, that comes along later. I'm not talking about folks that are tied to the church, that comes along later, that's all good, that's part of it, but it doesn't start there. It starts with knowing that you have a right relationship with your Creator. If you died right now, do you know for sure you'd go to heaven or would you doubt it? The Bible says these things were written that you may know that you have eternal life. You can know. Here's how you know. First of all, it starts with the need. The Bible says, the kid said it this morning, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The Bible says there is none righteous. No, not one. Everybody's a sinner. Everybody gets saved the same way. And because everybody's a sinner, Jesus came to earth to die for our sins. The Bible says that God commendeth his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, everybody is, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, Romans 5.8. That is precisely why Jesus came to earth, because we were all sinners. God demonstrated his love by sending Jesus to come down the cross for your sin and for my sin. He paid the price. You're a sinner. God holds you accountable as a sinner, but Jesus said, I'll take your place. I'll pay for your sin debt. I'll bear the punishment of your sin. Christ died for us. And because Jesus did that, God then offers you eternal life. The Bible says in Romans 6, 23, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now there's quite a difference between Wages and a gift. The wages of sin, getting what we deserve. That's what a wage is, getting what I've earned, getting what I deserve, getting what I'm entitled to. The wages of sin is death. Everybody's a sinner. If everybody gets what they deserve, they get death. And the Bible's not talking about just physical death there. In fact, the Bible's more precisely talking about spiritual death. Forever death, eternally separated from God in a place designed for the punishment of sin. A terrible, awful, fiery place called hell. The wages of sin is death. Here comes the contrast. But, Romans 6, 23, the gift of God. Now a gift is different than a wage. A gift is not what I've earned, it's not what I deserve, it's not what I'm entitled to. A gift is what someone offers me. because they decide to love me. I want to tell you, God has decided to love you. God decided to love you. And in that love, he offers you the gift. You can't earn it. You could never qualify to deserve it. You can't negotiate for it. He offers you a gift. Here it is. The gift of eternal life. The forgiveness of your sin. And the key to it is at the end of the verse. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. You see, it's in the receiving of Jesus that we receive the gift of eternal life and the forgiveness of our sins. It's only through Jesus. It's only through Jesus. Jesus said it this way. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. So Jesus made it very clear, no one's ever gonna have a right relationship with their holy God except through Him. It's all about what you do with Jesus. You see, the Bible says in 1 John 5 11, and this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Do you have Jesus Christ? Has there been a moment in your life when you acknowledge, I'm a sinner, I need a savior? Lord Jesus, as best I know how, I'm asking you to be my savior. As best I know how, I'm placing my faith in you, just believing that God will save you. Here's what he said. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, this is Romans chapter 10. Confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Those verses simply mean that when we believe God, when he says he'll save you, based on what Jesus did, if you believe him, then when you ask him, he does. He does. For me, that happened when I was just a child. I asked the Lord Jesus to forgive me of my sin, to come into my life and save me. I didn't know a whole lot about it, but I believed God would save me. If I asked, I believed that Jesus died for me and rose again the third day. I believed those things. And so I asked God to save me based on what Jesus did for me. I believed that he would. And I want to tell you, how great thou art. He did. He did. Now if you haven't done that yet, you ought to do that today. Not because it's Sunday, not because we're in church. You ought to do it today because you have today, you have right now. You can't get saved yesterday, that's gone. You're not guaranteed tomorrow. You might not live to see tomorrow. Holy Spirit, God has your attention right now and Satan's fighting hard to get it back. God may not have your attention tomorrow. but he has your attention right now. Why don't you say yes? Why don't you say yes to God today, who's offering you the gift of eternal life? How do you take possession of a gift? You just receive it. You just accept it. If you're willing to do that today, you can be saved today. We have people here to help you. We don't save you. We can help you. God will do the saving, but we're here to facilitate and help if we can. That's why we have a special day today to offer you this opportunity to receive Christ as your Savior. And also to challenge and encourage you who already know the Lord as your Savior to protect your home, guard your home, to fight for the integrity, the biblical integrity in your homes. Let's pray together. Father, we love you. We thank you for your goodness today. We thank you for your mercy and your grace. you