Turn to Proverbs chapter 31 where we have Ben. Proverbs chapter 31. Proverbs chapter 31, last chapter of the book of Proverbs. We're all there. All right, let's pray. Father, we come to you this evening. Lord, we are thankful, Lord, for those that are here tonight. Lord, we are missing a lot of people. We're traveling. And Lord, we pray that we can be a blessing, Father, to those that are here. Pray, Father, for those that are dealing with sickness, Lord, that your healing hand would be upon them. Lord, we need some spiritual help. We need spiritual food. And as your children, we sit at the feet of our Father, waiting to hear from heaven. And Lord, you've chosen the foolishness of preaching. And so, Lord, you have the foolishness up here that's nothing but a piece of dirt, a piece of stone, rock. Take this clay vessel and fill it with your spirit and your power, your passion, your words, your wisdom. Give it grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Put a watch by its mouth and a guard by its lips. Lord, I do pray that you would minister to us tonight. Lord, we could do this every day and still need more. So Lord, I pray tonight that you would bless your people. Give us something, Lord, that'll help us. Spirit of God, stand behind this pulpit, move amongst us, sit with us. But please, Father, minister to your people. I ask this in Christ's name, amen. All right, we left off last week, Proverbs chapter 31, and talking about the virtuous woman. And we get into verse 22. It says, she maketh herself coverings of tapestry. Her clothing is silk and purple. talked about the tapestry, and we equated that somewhat to a quilt. And a lot of the ladies like to do quilting. And I mentioned last week how my grandma used to have her frame, a quilting frame. You actually have a quilting frame that's set up. You gotta stretch the quilt over it, and then you do your sewing and all that stuff through it. And she had it set up in her parlor, And I told you what a parlor was originally used for. And she fortunately was using it to do quilting. And I was inches within my life if I got within five feet of that quilting frame. She guarded that with her life. And it's not the easiest thing to do is to do a quilt. But it's a fun thing to do for ladies. I mentioned how my daughters would spend time on one of our trips probably going down I-75, going south on 75 and we'd stop in Cincinnati and spend a week with Aunt Pat and we would, they would, they would quilt and I would go back to where the bus was parked and stay away from all that estrogen. I mean that house was just filled with estrogen and I would wade through it for dinner time and lunch time and stuff like that but yeah it was, And I always teased them. They had a week to get a quilt done. And the last couple of years they did it, they didn't get them done because they just sat and talked. And nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with talking and fellowshipping. But you know, it's a real gift when you're able to talk and work at the same time. And I've noticed that with some people, especially women, that when they're texting or something like that, everything stops. And it's like, you could do that. My wife, when she gets a text, stops. I said, honey, you can walk with, it's a cell, it's a mobile phone, you can walk with it and talk, you know. But they would get to yakking and all that and having a great time and sometimes get it done, amen? But this is a lady that she makes these things and the woman in Proverbs chapter seven mentioned she had decked her bed with coverings of tapestry. That's what I'm telling you, it's probably more like a quilt than anything else. But notice what it says about her clothing. Her clothing was made of silk and probably more the cloth, the cloth that's made out of silk. this sense the word had a plural silks denoting different sorts varieties black silk white silk colored silk stuff like that when I did when we did VBS and I did my gospel magic I had a change bag little bag I had a head of had a handle here in this beautiful red plush bag and I would hold that bag there and I would do great lessons with it. One of the things I would do, and I had silks. You buy these squares of silks. And you say, well, why would you buy those? Because they're so thin and so easy to fold up. And I would take those silks and I would hide it in that bag and I would start pulling it out. I'd pull one silk out that was black and that talked about sin and how we're sinful. And then I'd pull one out that was red and talk about the blood of Christ. and then pull one out that was white. I talked about righteousness and pulled one out that was gold and I talked about heaven. And I would put them in that bag and then I would pull them out and they were all tied together magically. They were all tied together except for one thing. Sin was missing. Where's the black one? And I would reach in the bag and I'd pull the bottom of the bag out and it wasn't in there. So how did you do that? It's magic. And if you've ever seen a magician do that, you figure, how did he pull a rabbit out of his hat? How did he do that? How did he do that? It's so simple, it's unbelievable. But being on Facebook here, I can't divulge the secrets or every magician would be mad at me. And I would tell the kids, this is not magic. I'm fooling you. I'm tricking you. And I'd have kids come up after the service and say, tell me how you did that, tell me how you did that. And I would say, when you turn 18 and you get involved in vacation Bible school at your church or serving the Lord, talk to me then, I'll show you all the tricks. But up till then, I couldn't do it. But it's unbelievably simple. So anyway, the silks worked so well. They were bright colored. And I would order them, I would order them from a gospel magic place. And they work so well because they're so fine, they're so thin. the different colors and all that. So here's a lady that's got the silk material and she's using that to make her clothing. Remember in this day you didn't go to Walmart to buy your clothes and you didn't go to Kohl's and you didn't go to wherever people go and buy clothes anymore and there was no goodwill. Well, I take that back. Maybe there was a goodwill. Maybe when somebody got tired of their clothes, they took it someplace and somebody else wore it. I don't know how that worked. But they're making their clothes. They're making their clothes. So there's a lady who is skilled in the art of making clothes. And many of the women were in that day because how else do you get clothes? How do you clothe your family? Well, just order it on Amazon. I don't think they did. I don't think they could. They had to make their own stuff. And I told you last week, when they used the disk staff, that women were known as distaffs. That was the nickname that they were given, a distaff, because that's what they did so much. So here's a lady, and she's got purple, and a cloth dyed a purple color, a garment of such color. But the thing about purple is a purple robe was worn as an emblem of rank or authority. A purple robe or mantle was worn by the Roman emperors as the emblem of imperial dignity. And as to put on the imperial purple, as I would say, hence imperial sovereignty, royal rank, dignity, favor, lucre, colloquial, any exalted station, great wealth. When you wore purple, people figured you were loaded. And I mentioned what Gibbons, who did the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, in that day, if somebody was born into a family like that, you were said to be born in the purple. We use the term born with a silver spoon in their mouth. They would say born in the purple. Because that's the status that purple had and the people that wore the purple clothing. And she's wearing purple clothing. So here's the point you need to get. She's dressed modestly. but she's dressed well, okay? And I mentioned last week, you don't have to dress like Little House on the Prairie to be pleasing or acceptable to the Lord. You say, well, you know, people that wear fancy dresses like that, and I didn't say fancy. People that wear very nice dresses and things like that are trying to draw attention to themselves. They may be, they may be, but in this case, She's complimenting her husband, okay? That's an important thing to understand. Ladies, the way you dress many times compliments your husband and his status in life. Is her husband a big shot? Well, verse 23, her husband is known in the gates. He said among the elders, yeah, he's a big shot. So she dresses in such a way that compliments him. Somebody said one time this, don't judge a man by his clothes, judge him by his wife's clothes. because a lady will dress pretty much in response to her relationship with her husband many times. And this lady chose well, okay? He chose a good woman in her and she chose a good guy in him. And that is so important. Now, verse 23. Her husband is known in the gates when he sitteth among the elders of the land." How many times have you seen that term in the Bible about the gates? Say, what in the world is this stuff about the gates? Well, go to Deuteronomy 16. Get Deuteronomy 16 in one hand, Jeremiah 17 in the other. And those of you that grew up over a nuclear waste site, take your third hand and go to Romans chapter 8. They didn't have... courthouses in the middle of the city. They didn't have the capital. I mean, you would have the palace. The king stayed there, but you didn't have what went on in the city. That wasn't resolved in buildings in downtown. I don't know if you've ever been to downtown Phoenix or not, but you go to that one area, and there's the courthouse, and that's where the Arizona Senate meets, and there's an amazing thing that there is a, I'm sure if it's still there or not, Above one of the domes of one of those buildings, there is a weather vane. And there was a time when the weather vane had a, probably a rooster on it. And so when these guys came to do their job, we're talking representatives, we're talking when they came, this is the Wild West. On their way there, they'd pull their pistols out and they'd aim at that rooster and try to hit that thing off the, those were the good old days, amen? Those were the good old days. But they didn't, you know, we centrally, we centralize all of our government right in downtown, whatever the city is. They didn't back then. The important places in the cities back then were the gates because every city had a wall around it. They had a wall around it. Why did they do that? Protection to keep the bad guys out. What a thought. Let's put a wall up so bad guys don't come in. That's a revolutionary thought, isn't it? And in these walls, they had 12, usually 12 gates, three at each direction. Jerusalem had 12 gates. Some of the other cities may have had less, but they had gates. And the gate was the place where the big shots met. Deuteronomy 16, look at verse 18. Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the Lord God giveth thee. Throughout the tribes they shall judge the people with just judgment. So where do they do their judging? At the gates. Okay, Jeremiah 17. Now the kings, they would go through the gates in and out. Verse 19, thus saith the Lord unto me, go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah come in, by which they go out, and on all the gates of Jerusalem. So Jeremiah, that was what the Lord told him, that's where you need to preach. Preach at the gates, and sometimes the king will be going in or be going out when you're standing there preaching, but preach at all the gates. Why? Because that's where the big shots were. Look at Nehemiah chapter eight. Nehemiah chapter eight. The children of Israel have just come back. I believe the temple has been finished. And the walls apparently have gone up. And it says in Nehemiah 8 and verse 1, it says, all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street which was before the water gate. So they're all gathered in the street that leads through the water gate. And what do they do? They speak unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded Israel, verse 3. And they read therein before the street that was before the water gate. So here's all these people standing in the street right before the water gate. And they said, Ezra, we want you to preach right there. And this is the only time, if you continue on reading that, the only time there's a pulpit in the Bible is when Ezra found something to stand on so he could elevate himself so he could preach to all the people. That's the purpose of a pulpit, that's the purpose of elevation. It's because the voice falls. shoot their voice out because it would fall in on the people. The only place the pulpit is found. But notice where it is. Why didn't they go into the temple and do that? Because that wasn't what the temple was for. The temple was for sacrifice. The priest had a lot to do in the temple. But it wasn't for preaching. Where did they preach? Ezra is standing in the gate preaching on the street to all the people that had gathered together saying come and preach to us. Look at Joshua chapter 20. Joshua chapter 20. Joshua chapter 20 is about the city of refuge. And there were six cities of refuge. And if an individual committed manslaughter, you had access to that city. First or second degree murder? You didn't get to kill someone and run to the city of refuge. Manslaughter, accidental death, you could go. Now here's what happened. Verse four, and when he that doth flee unto one of those cities, city of refuge, shall stand at the entering of the gate of the city, and shall declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city. Why? Because that's where the elders are. The elders are sitting there at the gate, and they'll hear his story. And if his story is acceptable, they shall take him into the city. unto them and give him a place that he may dwell among them. But that decision was made in the gates because that's where the judges sat. Now there are two opposite examples in the Bible of people that did something at the gate. Go to Ruth chapter 4. Ruth chapter 4. Ruth chapter four, incredible four chapters, incredible book to read. Ruth comes back with her mother at the death of her husband and of course Ruth lost her husband and both her sons. They come back and by divine appointment, Ruth has the ability or the access to a guy by the name of Boaz. And long story short, she's going to marry Boaz. But according to the law, if there was a kinsman before, remember what the law said? The law said if a man has a wife and they don't have any children and he dies, who marries her next? Next of kin, next brother. And if they get married and they don't have a kid and that guy dies, then it's the next one. That's the way they did it. I know one preacher up in Michigan who used to talk about that in front of his wife and she just gagged at the thought of that because she didn't care for her, his brother. And he teased her about it quite a bit. He said, honey, you know, if we didn't have kids and I died, you'd have to marry him. Oh, she would have a fit. But anyway, that was the law. That's the way they did it in the Old Testament. And so Ruth chapter 4, starting at verse 1, they're gonna work out a deal here then went Boaz and where did he go up to the gate and sat him down there and behold the kinsmen of whom Boaz spake came by this is the one with the first choice by whom he said ho such a one turn aside sit down here he turned aside and sat down and he took ten men of the elders of the city and said sit you down here and they sat down and they're gonna do business And he's going to say, I've got property here that is up. If you want to take it, you can take it. He said, yeah, I'll take it. He said, by the way, you've got to take this woman with you, too. He said, I'm not taking any woman with me. So he rejects that. And who's next in line? Boaz. And they got married and lived happily ever after. That's a good example of somebody making a deal at the gates, a good result. And then there's the other one. Go to Genesis chapter 19. Genesis chapter 19. you'll remember lots separated from Abraham and Abraham said go whichever direction you want to go lot had cattle he had herdsmen Abraham had cattle he had herdsmen Abraham being the adult because they were having a problem between the two two groups of cowboys were having a problem and so Abraham being the adults that you take the pick go wherever you want to go And Lot looked around and he saw the green plush grass over by Sodom and Gomorrah. And he thought, boy, that's the place to raise cattle. So he headed his herd right in there. Well, he's a big shot going in there. He's got herds. He's got cattle. He's got herds, big herded cattle, which means he's got money. He's got clout. And so when he goes into Sodom and Gomorrah, he's going to find himself in a position of leadership simply because he's financially able. And that's where you find him here in Genesis chapter 19 verse 1 it says there came two angels to Sodom and even and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. And Lot seeing them rose up to meet them, bowed himself to his face toward the ground and all that. They resented it. Because when that crowd came to Lot's house that night and they're banging on the door and said, send those guys out, Lot wouldn't do it. He said, you know, who do you think you are? You came in here and then now you're a judge and all that. Who gave you that position of authority? They didn't like it. But there's Lot sitting in the gate of Sodom. And the Bible says he was vexed by their evil lifestyle. It was by seeing them and hearing, he was vexed every day, and seeing and hearing the wickedness that they had done. Do you realize what's missing in that statement? Never said anything. In seeing and in hearing, but never speaking. That's the difference between him and Jonah. You look at Jonah. Jonah runs from the Lord, gets swallowed by a whale, gets spit out. He says, all right, I'll go preach at Nineveh. And he's excited to go because he thinks they're gonna get judged. He walks into Nineveh and says, you got 40 days and God's gonna burn this place down. He's gonna fry you like French fries. And then he went up and sat on a hill waiting for a nuclear explosion. And the people repented and Jonah wasn't even happy about that. He was mad because the people repented. He wanted to see him judged. But Jesus said it greater than Jonah's here. Jonah was a great preacher. What made Jonah great? He opened his mouth. What was Lot's problem? Didn't open his mouth. Had a position of authority, but he had business. I mean these people aren't going to buy his meat or his cattle or what have you if he starts running around shooting his mouth all about Jehovah God and the need to repent. And this sin that you're committing and that sin you're committing is not right. It's against God. You need to turn from that. Do you honestly think he's going to say that if he's got a business he's trying to run? So he compromises. He sits in the gate. He's a big shot there. And every day he sees this stuff and he hears this stuff and it vexes him. And he remained righteous, but he never said a word. He was compromised. Now, we look at her husband. The Bible says her husband is known in the gates. So apparently this virtuous woman married a successful and prominent man. And if I could give, I guess I'm talking to young ladies on the camera here, but if I could give young ladies some good advice, and I always told my girls this, don't marry a project. Okay? There's a psychology behind it. Psychology is called the psychology of a deadbeat loser. And for some reason, young women are attracted to these guys that are, I call them a project. I was nicer than the psychologists who call them deadbeat losers. For some reason, young women are attracted to them. I don't know why. And my advice has always been, stay away from that. Use your head, okay? Stay away from the loser. And here's the problem. Every young lady that's attracted to some loser, thinks, I can fix him. I can change him. I can fix him. I can help him. And pretty soon he won't be a deadbeat loser. They make a project out of him. And every time, I can't say every time, 99.9% of the time, they lose. They lose. I remember Pastor Sowell saying years ago, he had counseled married couples for years and he said, I came to this conclusion, a woman thinks she can change a man and he doesn't, and a man thinks a woman will never change and she does. Those are two great truths about marriage right there. You think you're gonna change your husband? He may change the way he behaves around you because he don't wanna hear it. But when he's not around you, he's the same old whatever he was, okay? You're not gonna change him. God'll change him. God can change him. You're not gonna change him. And the problem is that you've got a young woman that is trying to change this man. He, after a while, resents it. He begins to realize, what do you think I am, a loser? And he begins to resent it. And you talk about strife in a marriage. And she's mad at him and he's mad at her. And she's complaining about him all the time because he's a bum. And the fact of the matter is, lady, you married the bum. So you don't want to look for a project. And maybe there's some guys that do the same thing. This is more women toward, you know, loser men. But maybe there's some guys that, you know, think they can make a project out of a loser young lady. But the idea is be careful, be careful, be careful who you marry. Because that will affect your life for the rest of your life. Don't marry a project. Okay? So, verse 24. She maketh fine linen, selleth it, Delivereth girdles unto the merchants. So not only is she making these clothes for herself that she can wear and her family can wear. We talked about the scarlet clothing her family was dressed in to protect them from the snow. But she's making fine linen and she's selling it. She's an entrepreneur. And delivereth girdles unto the merchants. So she's making some things that have to do with clothing. She makes her own clothes and she makes clothes to sell. And again, there's nothing wrong with that. If you're meeting the needs of your family, if your family's being taken care of, if you're fulfilling the responsibilities that you have toward your family, if you're meeting that, nothing wrong with trying to make some extra money, nothing wrong with trying to make something to sell it and all that, nothing wrong with that at all. Verse 24, it mentions, she maketh fine linen. And there's something interesting about fine linen. Go to 1 Kings chapter 10. And then get Ezekiel 27. 1 Kings 10, Ezekiel 27. Fine linen was one of the most precious commodities a person could own. There were two primary sources for fine linen, and that was Egypt and that was Syria. 1 Kings 10, verse 28, Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt and linen yarn. The king's merchants received the linen yarn at a price. So what did this young lady do? This virtuous woman, what did she do? She bought the linen yarn. And from that linen yarn, she was able to make some fine linen. Ezekiel chapter 27, look at verse 16. Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making. They occupied in thy fares with emeralds and purple, there's your purple again, embroidered work and fine linen and coral and agate. So fine linen was a finely woven, sometimes sheer material often associated again with wealth and royalty or the priestly status. According to the Encyclopedia of the Bible, the flax plant was common in Egypt, being cultured extensively in the fertile Nile Valley. I think there's Egyptian linen today, or sheets today, I think it's 800 count, maybe a thousand count, that's really... per inch, thousand count per inch. That's really incredible. Even to this day, Egyptian linen and weaving are considered the best of the ancient times, so much so that some could not distinguish the fabric from silk. Imagine that, you're making linen that's so fine that people say, is this linen or is it silk? That's incredible. Syrian textiles are remarkable for their artistic and social economic significance. Finely woven clothing and furnishings were the work of highly skilled weavers and artisans. They are also important markers of status and identity that reflect the local tradition of Syrian villages. So it's the same thing, it's a status thing. Valuable luxury goods that were traded widely. Syria's climate's ideal for silk production. Historically, it was a major crossroad on the silk routes that connected the east and the west. And so Syria was into the textiles, and they could make, they made silk, and they made fine linen. And so again, this woman probably bought the yarn, was able to make the material out of it. So, oh, that's interesting, preacher. Why do I care? Well, you ought to be interested in fine linen. because someday you're going to wear it. You realize linen is the garment of the material of heaven? Go to Matthew 15. It's interesting how this happened here. The term fine linen in the Bible refers to sheer, often almost translucent material of the expensively finely woven linen. Think about that, translucent, almost translucent. I believe this, and this is just my personal belief. I believe that when the rapture takes place, you're given your resurrected body, I believe your skin is going to glow. It's gonna glow like the skin of Elijah and Moses at the Mount of Transfiguration when the Lord Himself glowed, there's Elijah, there's Moses and they glowed. I think Adam and Eve glowed before they sinned. So in the rapture, when the rapture takes place, I think you're going to look at your skin and there's going to be a glowing to it. And then you put fine linen on top of that that's kind of translucent. And that light's going to kind of go through that linen. And yet you're going to see it. That's going to be something. Some of you for the first time in your life are going to dress high. Now, Matthew 15. Joseph of Arimathea is going to get the body of Jesus. Alright? He's not going to wrap him up in burlap. He's going to take a bloodied beaten, broken, dead body and put it in some of the most valuable material you can imagine. Mark 15 45 and when they knew it, this is a pilot knowing that Christ was dead, when he knew it was a centurion he gave the body to Joseph and he bought fine linen Took him down. He planned that ahead of time. He didn't just suddenly say oh, I need to go buy some fine linen He had that planned ahead of time. He had bought fine linen just as Nicodemus had a hundred pounds of spices He had that planned ahead of time Bought him fine linen and took him down and wrapped him in the linen and laid him in the sepulcher Which is here now the rock and rolled a stone under the door of the sepulcher. So he wraps him in fine linen Well, why did he do that? I mean, he knows what he's getting there because of his great respect for Jesus Christ. Did he expect him to rise from the dead? I don't know. Probably no more than the disciples did. But he knew and he loved Jesus Christ. And so even when his body was dead, he wanted to give it honor. And so he goes out and buys fine linen to put a dead, bloody, beaten body in. That's great respect there. But here's what I want you to get, Revelation 19, go there. And understand, the priests wore fine linen. Angelic beings, when they show up, are either glowing or they're wearing something that's white. And someday you will. Revelation 19, look at verse 8. This is the marriage supper of the Lamb. Judgment seat of Christ has taken place a long time before that. Marriage supper of the Lamb, about to return to earth with Christ. And look at what it says in verse 8. And to her, it's the church, was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. So when you get to heaven and you get your resurrected body, you're gonna be given fine linen to wear. That's an amazing thing. You're not going to wear cotton. I think the Americans might be a little dismayed there because all we know how to wear is cotton and synthetics. And back in the old days they wore wool all the time. This is fine linen. And so you ought to get excited about that when you see fine linen in Scripture. You think, well, you know, someday I'm going to be wearing that. And you won't have to wear a tie with it. And you won't have to wear a dress shirt with it. It's just right over you. And you're going to be looking good. You're going to be looking good. And it also says she sold girdles. Now I know what you're thinking. And it's not, I really don't think that's what we're talking about here. A girdle in fashion is anything that encircles and closes, makes a circumference like a belt. You call it a belt, you call it a sash. Any article of clothing that goes around the waist would be considered a girdle. Maybe she tried to make the other ones too. I don't know, but that's the idea. And you've seen some ladies that have been well-dressed, and they've got kind of a sash around them. That's the idea of the girdle. Now, look at verse 25. Look at verse 25. And it says this, strength and honor are her clothing. Now, we've just talked about what she's wearing, the purple, the fine linen, the silk, and all that stuff. We just talked about that, but now verse 25 says let's step it up. Strength and honor are her clothing. Okay? So what does that mean? Go to 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3. And sometimes when I read 1 Peter 3, I look up to heaven and say, why did you write this? Nobody preaches it. Those that do, that read it, don't believe it. They don't practice it. Why did you write that? Because that's usually the case when you get into 1 Peter 3, especially this first part, at least in America. Look at verse 1. 1 Peter 3, verse 1, likewise you wives, see right there, that's the problem. Likewise you wives, be in subjection, boy that's a bad word, to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives. So the advice there is if your husband's lost, and it comes time just to keep your mouth shut and live it in front of him, You can witness to him and witness to him and witness to him, but sometimes it's a good idea just to keep your mouth shut and live it in front of him. Okay? Verse 2. Verse 3. Who's adorning... Now here's advice on what to wear, the adorning. Let it not be that outward adorning of plating the hair, of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel. Hmm. Now there'll be people that look at that and say, well, you're not supposed to do anything with your hair, okay? You're not supposed to wear gold, okay? And you're not supposed to put on apparel. Somebody's talking about there. He wants to take this a step further. Look at verse four. But let it be the hidden man of the heart, and that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of God is great price. and hear her clothing. And the spiritual level is strength and honor. In verse 30, the Proverbs 31, it says, favor is deceitful, beauty is vain. But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. So here's the idea, that the inner person ought to be noticed before the outer person. Well, sometimes that's hard to do. Or the outer person is averted so as to commune with the inner person. In other words, One is more interested in the inner beauty of the person than the attire. So here's a beautiful woman that comes in, and you're obviously gonna see what she's wearing, you're gonna see that, but then you're gonna notice, boy, she's, look at how kind she is and gracious she is when she talks, and she's friendly and got a smile on her face, and she's helping people out, and pretty soon you forget about what she's wearing, because her attributes, are coming out, kindness, graciousness, friendliness, strength, honor. That's what you're seeing and that's the idea. The idea is that's what people need to see. Nothing wrong with dressing good, nothing wrong with dressing like that, but please make sure that your inner qualities are overwhelming people more than your outward adorning. That's what he's trying to talk about. Somebody said this one time. If honor is your clothing, it'll last for a lifetime. But if clothing is your honor, it'll be threadbare in a matter of months. So the idea is people need to get to know you and see you and get more excited about fellowshipping with you. I mean, this would be ladies with ladies. Fellowshipping with you because of your kindness, because of your grace, because you always have a good word to say, because you always have a positive attitude. You're always there to hear the problem. You're willing to pray with them when they need it. That's the idea. And after a while, it's not gonna be the beautiful dress you're wearing. It's gonna be you. It's gonna be you that people want. It's gonna be your character that people want. And that's what makes this woman stand out here. And the saddest thing is that there are people that are not that. There are people that not that. You wonder what her husband must think about her. about her husband's thankful he's got her because she it has in her mouth a law of kindness and sometimes that isn't the case verse It continues on, verse 25, and she shall rejoice in time to come. So what does that mean? Not only does she see short-term, but she sees long-term. She does things that meet a need in the present, but also plans the need of the future. She's helping her husband with what he needs today, and she's helping her husband to be more successful in the future. They say behind every good man is a woman. with a big boot knocking him across the room. But anyway, behind every good man is a good woman that is helping him, a help me, a compliment and what have you, that's helping him get along. She's raising her children to be productive adults. I told you before when my wife, we had our first child, we probably already had two at the time, but Rachel was old enough to be able to stand on a stepstool, stand up to the sink, she could barely see over the sink, but she was there helping mom dry the dishes. She wanted to at first, but after a while it became a chore. But what is my wife doing? Preparing her for life. or until you get the dishwasher, one or the other. But a lot of times parents just are not preparing your children to be productive, to be helpful and all that. You know what, I'm gonna tell you one thing that drives me nuts, we'll be about done. But one thing that drives me nuts. And it's more like a putt than a drive, but one thing that drives me nuts is when I see parents at the end of the day, kids are in bed, and what are the parents doing? They're picking up the kids' toys that they've been playing with all day. And the old adage is this, if they could get them out of the toy box, they can put them in the toy box. And I wish parents would figure that out. You know, you do more for your kid if you say, OK, we've got a half hour before you go to bed. It's time to start cleaning stuff up. And if you want to really make it complicated, you can buy these things that have like eight pockets in it, eight places in it. And you pull a cloth drawer out of them. And you label them. This is where the kitchen toys go. The play food toys go. This is where the trucks go. This is where this goes. And you teach them when you put the toys away, that's where they go. It's not just grab them up like that and dump them in something. It's this goes here and that goes there and that goes there. Do you realize how much good you're doing for a kid when you do that for them? You're teaching them how to number one, put stuff away once they played with it. Secondly, you're teaching them how to sort things out. So certain things go here and certain things go there because life is full of sorting this out and sorting that out. And this should be done here, but that should be done there. You're doing a great thing for them. You're helping them be productive. I have a hunch that this virtuous woman did the same thing. I mean, I bet she had her girls working, helping make those dresses and taking care of stuff. And I imagine at the end of the day, it was time to clean up. OK, let's clean up. And they cleaned it up. Why? Because that's what they're going to do the rest of their life. Oh, you're damaging your children. Damaging them to what? So they won't do that when they get older? That's what you're going to do the rest of your life. You're going to work the rest of your life. You get your young men doing stuff, working in the yard and all that. And they can cry and fuss and all that stuff about it. But what are they going to do the rest of their life? They're either going to work or they're going to live down the mission or collect welfare or be homeless. You know, the kids after a while will realize, I don't like to cut the grass, but you know what? I can cut so-and-so's grass over there and get paid for it. And I can cut so-and-so's grass over there and they'll pay me for it. And they realize there's a reward to work. I mean, there's sweat and there's what have you, but there's a reward to working. And that's something that needs to be inbred in children as much as possible. I don't know what these people out here are thinking when they stand on the street corner with a cardboard sign. But to me, somebody that's been raised with a work ethic would never do that. They would find something to do. They would find someplace that's hiring. They'd find someplace to go. Like you guys do. You guys do that. You've been trained and taught the work ethic. And somewhere along the line, there's people that have forgotten that. Oh, I don't want poor little Johnny to go out and sweat so much and work so hard. Well, poor little Johnny is going to sweat and work hard the rest of his life. Might as well get used to it. It's not going to kill him. Not going to kill him. Anyway, I'm going to stop there for now. Any questions or comments? And I look at you guys, you know, I look at Phillip and Micah, you guys work like dogs, and look at you other people around here, Josh and John and Nate and what have you. Bill, all of his life has worked like a dog. They throw him a bone now and then. And Royal, he works like a dog. Sheila, you work like crazy. All you guys do, all you guys do. And I don't know if I had to pastor a church where you had a bunch of people in there that didn't know how to work. That would be a tough thing. Anyway, no questions or comments, let's have a word of prayer. Continue to pray for those that are traveling. And Brother Rigney will be here Sunday, preaching Sunday morning and Sunday night. And I hope there's enough people here for him to preach to. Father, we thank you for your word tonight. Lord, we pray that you'd help us all to have the virtue that this young, this lady has here in Proverbs chapter 31. We thank you, Lord, for a great example. We thank you, Lord, that you were the example to the men. Thank you for that. Lord, bless us now. Give us safe traveling mercies as we head home. Bless those that are traveling tonight. And Lord, give good trips. Let things be accomplished. Miss Sally trying to reach her family. Walter trying to reach his family. Lord, pray that good things will be accomplished from these trips. We thank you in Christ's name. Amen.