Before we get to the business at hand, I want to open to the Word of God. We'll be in Psalm 128 this evening, Psalm 128, as we continue our journey through the Psalms of Ascent. Psalm 128, as you turn there, is the ninth of the 15 psalms that are grouped together in the biblical canon under the heading A Song of Ascents or A Song of Degrees. I highlight that because the inscription that is at the beginning of each of these psalms is inspired in the text And so it's clear from that inscription that these psalms were meant to be grouped together. And that was meant to be grouped together by God's design. In fact, the actual Hebrew text uses a word that signifies steps going upward. And so there's these psalms of ascent that they would sing. And we talked about when. They would sing them three times a year. And they would journey together to Jerusalem for these feasts. And as they traveled, they would sing these psalms. Really, there was no need for them to carry the psalm book with them of these 15 psalms. There are just 15 of them, and they are pretty short in length. We've already looked at several of them, this now being the ninth of these psalms. Only one of these psalms is longer than nine verses. They're all pretty short. The last four are only three verses long. Simple enough that through repetition even a child could learn these, memorize these, and sing these. And no doubt you have noticed, and perhaps not so I bring it to your attention, as we've worked our way through this Psalms, there is rather a theme that ties them together. And the theme could be summed up with the word worship. It is the prominent theme of each of these psalms. There is a distinct focus on the Lord. In fact, some kind of praise or thanksgiving to God has been the starting point of every psalm that we've looked at so far in the Psalms of Ascent. I know we'll be in 128, but just review with me for a moment. Look at Psalm 120, verse one. I cried to the Lord, and he heard me. There's the theme of emphasis on the Lord, beginning in verse one of Psalm 120. Go to Psalm 121, verse two. My help cometh from the Lord. There's the emphasis there. Psalm 122, verse one. Let us go into the house of the Lord. Or Psalm 123, verse one. Unto thee I lift up mine eyes. Psalm 124, verse one. If it had not been the lord who was on our side psalm 125 verse 1 they that trust in the lord you seen what's happening here psalm 126 verse 1 when the lord turned again the captivity of zion last week's psalm psalm 127 verse 1 except the lord build the house they labor in vain that build it Worship is the singular thread that ties these Psalms together. And they are specifically worshiping the Lord, often reflected in your Bibles as all capital letters, L-O-R-D. Most frequently, that is referring to, and certainly in each of these, it is all referring to Yahweh. Not exclusively, but normally it refers to Yahweh. And here they are worshiping the true Yahweh, Jehovah. Now Psalm 128 then continues that thread. It connects back to the Lord through worship. Blessed is everyone, verse 1, that feareth the, there he is again. It's all connected there, but notice the connectivity and the theme of this particular psalm as we begin to read it. Blessed is everyone that fears the Lord. Blessed. So what this psalm is about is a God-blessed home. Now this is significant to the Israelites because of its topic and because of its connection to the other psalms of ascent and even the one that was right before it. Last week we looked at Psalm 127. And there is a reason Psalm 128 follows Psalm 127. I won't ask you what follows 127, but I would have asked if I was still at camp to make sure everybody was paying attention. But Psalm 128, of course, follows Psalm 127. And both of them are really significant in the fact that they are the middle of these psalms. Some would make arguments that this is now a chiasm. I don't know if we could make such a strong statement, though I understand their point. But here they come together on an emphasis, and Psalm 128 builds off the emphasis of Psalm 127. This all again centers on the home. And this time, the psalmist gives us the secret to a happy or blessed home. Verse 1. Blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord. that walketh in his ways. For thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands, happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the side of thine house, thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Behold that thus shall the man be that blessed, be blessed rather, that feareth the Lord. The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion, and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel. If you don't like a juicy secret, you're probably not human, or at least you're too pious to admit it. We love secrets. We both love keeping secrets, or pretending we do, telling secrets, and all the like. Major food companies right now are spending loads of money protecting company secrets. A recent study that was done by a group of combined scientists and technology services of McAfee Company and the SAIC conglomerate put together a study to prove that food and drink companies, we could say, spend more money in America today protecting their secrets than almost any other company. I thought that was fascinating, so I had to look it up. What are the top four companies that spend the most money protecting their food and drink recipes? And I came up with them. I don't know if they're interesting to you. They were interesting to me as I Googled them. One was KFC Fried Chicken. Probably guessed that one. Apparently, those 11 herbs and spices are inscribed in a pencil on yellowed paper that is inside a Louisville, Kentucky safe. So says the Kentucky Fried Chicken spokesman, Rick Maynard. It is under lock and key. Number two is Pepsi. North Carolina pharmacist Caleb Bradham, nice name there, invented it. Only a few fortunate people are allowed to know of its location, even, where that recipe is locked away. The other one really got me thinking. Next one, you could probably guess Coca-Cola, and that was on the list, but Bush's baked beans. I mean, that one really threw me off there. No single supplier of Bush's Baked Beans knows all the components. According to their spokesman, Mike Morris, we take our own safeguards very seriously. So apparently, Bush's Baked Beans is up there. I bring that to your attention because Psalm 128 reveals to us a secret. And it's a wonderful secret because it's one that's now been unlocked by our God and creator for us to know. And this secret is the foundation upon which any stable home rests. It's a secret that has long been sought and now revealed to us in scripture. It's the best kind of secret because it's the one God wants you to know. Here's what he says, blessed is everyone that fears the Lord. Don't you see it? This is a psalm about how to be blessed. The word blessed means happy. In fact, the very first word in the psalm is the word blessed. And the English word blessed, or its derivative, is used four times in this psalm. It's used in verse one, verse two, verse four, and verse five. And the word blessing, again, could literally be translated happy, or oh, the happiness of the one that fears the Lord. So to rephrase the secret in a different way, Psalm 128 teaches the secret to a happy home. Martin Luther, for that reason, loved Psalm 128. In fact, you remember, Martin Luther got saved out of the monk and monastery and out of this teaching of celibacy, and he came to discover that Psalm 128, he would say often and write down, was his favorite psalm. And the reason it was his favorite psalm is it proved that fruitful marriage, not mandatory celibacy, is what scripture points to as the epitome of a divine blessing. That's a good time for all the husbands to say amen and agree with Martin Luther. Again, it's important to know that this psalm is coupled with Psalm 127, and it's all about the family. Many people today look for fulfillment and blessing from their family, but do so without God. And such an approach is the exact opposite of the way happiness is detailed in the psalm. The fear of the Lord becomes the essential foundation upon which we build our homes and through which we can expect a blessed home. True happiness in the family is based on the fear of the Lord. Psalm 128 is showing us an ideal. But we don't live in an ideal world, do we? Some homes have already been split apart. Others have a difficult position where some member of the family is hostile or indifferent to the gospel. But if your family is far from the ideal, don't despair when you come to Psalm 128. It doesn't mean God won't bless you. Whatever your situation, God wants you to fear him and to walk in his ways. And God uses the secret in Psalm 128, the secret sauce, if you will, the fear of the Lord to prove what happens when anyone in this room chooses to follow God's divine plan. Let's just think for a moment. What would happen if every home was built according to Psalm 128's secret sauce? And what is that secret sauce? Well, number one, godly fear brings a divine paradox to the home. And I say paradox because we don't normally equate fear with things like happiness and the end of the Psalm, peace. But that's exactly what Psalm 128 does, doesn't it? The first thing that jumps out to me as I read this psalm is that it is a paradox of sorts. The opening note in verse one is that of fear, and the closing note in verse six is that of peace. In fact, this psalm is full of surprises and paradoxes like that. It turns out that God's blessing and true happiness looks nothing at all like the world's notion of happiness and self-fulfillment is told. to the typical world lean, happiness consists of a life full of leisure, material riches, honor, and fame. It's very self-centered. It's very self-indulgent. But scripture gives a completely different view of a blessed life. Life's greatest blessings are simpler and actually far more ordinary than fame and fabulous wealth. It's kind of a paradox, at least in terms of how we propped up things to look at. And the psalmist assumes that the truly religious will fear God and that a good and holy life will be stemmed from that fear, and righteous living and fearing God assumed to be working together. And so we see that the fear of the Lord brings happiness. Again, we know the word blessing means happy. In fact, the Hebrew word is in the plural. So you could actually begin the psalm this way, happy, happy, happy. It's in the plural. But how is it that this is true happiness, real happiness in life is only found for ones who fear the Lord? How is that possible? Well, fear doesn't normally, again, paradoxically, conjure up in my mind the idea of happiness and joy. If I'm thinking of fear, I'm thinking of being afraid of something. So what does it mean to fear the Lord? Well, let's start with what it does not mean, shall we? What does it not mean? Well, to fear the Lord does not mean to be so afraid of God that we run away from Him. Sometimes we think of fear that way, like I'm afraid of the dark. I've got to run away from something. That's not what's being communicated here, that we're so afraid of God that we run away from him. What does it mean to fear the Lord? Well, to fear the Lord means to be in awe of God's majesty so that you approach him with a reverence or a respect. You're not running away from him in fear. You are approaching him, but you're doing so with reverence. You're doing so in awe. So fearing the Lord means you take God seriously, we could say. One preacher described fear this way. that indefinable mixture of reverence, fear, pleasure, joy, and awe, which fills our hearts when we realize who God is and what he has done for us. Charles Spurgeon defined it this way, we must reverence the ever-blessed God before we can ever be blessed ourselves. Now this is where true happiness and fulfillment comes from. When you put God first in your life, you're doing exactly what God created you to do. And only then can you know the happiness you were meant and the fulfillment you were meant to have in this life. Verse one, blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord, continue, that walketh in his ways. Continue to verse two. For thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands. Happy shalt thou be, and it will be well with thee. The man who fears God is content. He isn't gripping how hard life is and griping about it and complaining about all the bad breaks he's received. The key to this kind of happiness is given twice in this Psalm, so we don't miss it. Verse one, blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord. Repeat verse four, the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. You get it? You wanna be fulfilled, happy? I've become increasingly convinced that our church culture struggles with such things as anxiety and loneliness and at times depression because we've never learned to truly fear the Lord. And the fear of the Lord is a divine paradox to us because the fear of the Lord does bring happiness. but also the fear of the Lord brings peace. Again, notice the wording. Verse one, blessed, or happy, happy, happy, is everyone that feareth the Lord. This is the foundation of which we build our lives, but notice the end result of such a foundation. The psalmist ends singing the praises of true peace. And, verse six at the end there, peace be upon Israel. Now what an astounding truth found by way of paradox. Not only is true happiness found as a result of fearing the Lord, but also true peace is found as a result of fearing the Lord. The opening note, again, is fear. The final note is peace. Scripture gives a completely different view of what a peaceful life looks like than the way our world paints peace, right? Rest, real peace, is not found in the tranquility of visiting a calm beach or taking a restful nap or retiring in a nice community. Real peace focuses our hearts on fearing the Lord, which in turn motivates and stirs us to serve others. You want peace? Fear the Lord. If you fear the Lord, you will serve others and you will know peace. And here's another paradox. As I learn to fear the Lord, I will discover that I want to serve others. Again, I have become increasingly convinced that so many struggle to find peace because they become so self-centered on themselves, they don't realize that peace is actually found in service. And my restless soul will be quieted in the work of the Lord. Pay attention to scripture when it offers peace for you, by the way. I think that's a wonderful thing. But godly fear brings a divine paradox. By fearing the Lord, I find happiness, and by fearing the Lord, I find peace. And the kind of blessedness scripture describes is actually a richer, fuller, and generally more fulfilling life. So here then is the secret to a happy home. A happy home fears the Lord. There's a reverence there. There's an awe. There's a respect. But a godly fear also brings then divine productivity to the home. The fascinating scripture of this psalm leads us to our second point, but I want you to notice what is happening. The first part of this psalm is a statement of blessing for those who fear the Lord. And the second part of the psalm becomes intensely personal as it states special truisms in the third person. And notice I did call the second half truisms and not promises. It's obvious, isn't it, that the blessings described in this psalm are not universal absolutes. There are, after all, God blessed people who never marry and never have children. It's also not universally true that godly living always results in a long life, material prosperity, or godly children. It's like a proverb. That's what a truism is. Here's a proverb for you, or a truism. Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. That's a general truism, not an ironclad guarantee. There are many parents who trained up a child in the way they should go, and the child did not walk with the Lord. How about this one, the fifth commandment? Honor your father and mother that your days may be long. The point of that very verse is that the lifestyle of a rebellious young person is not conducive to a long life. But it's also true that I know of many, and you do as well, godly people who honored their father and mother who died young. So bear in mind that these are guiding principles, not guaranteed promises, but these principles do outline some wonderfully divine productivities that should come into the life of the man who truly fears the Lord. And the psalmist is not saying that those who fear the Lord will necessarily be married or necessarily be given to children or necessarily, even as we end the psalm, be given to grandchildren. Rather, he is saying that those who are married and those who fear the Lord and those who have children will be blessed in these particular spheres. Now, what are those spheres? What are the divine productivities that we see? Well, we see them in occupational blessings. Read what the psalmist writes in verse 2. Thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands. There is an occupational success in the life of the one who fears the Lord. Those who fear the Lord will know the sweet satisfaction that comes by enjoying the fruits of their labor. We all at least strive to do a job or have a job that is satisfying one day. I don't imagine anyone in this room wants to work a job they don't enjoy. I talked to a friend of mine just a few weeks ago who said, I am totally unsatisfied with what I'm doing. It's terrible. It is a dread every morning to get up. And unfortunately, what he was saying is actually sadly true statistically for many, many people. Every year since 1982, the Conference Board, a New York-based nonprofit research group, has conducted a job satisfaction survey. Nearly three decades ago, 61.1% of American workers said they liked their job. That number has steadily declined, and now less than half say they like their job. There are many people who are frustrated in the workplace. Often we become frustrated at work when we don't have proper motivation, but there is a motivation that I want to share with you for everyone who enters the workplace who's a child of God. Whether, therefore, you eat, or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. And so surely every Christian, when we wake up in the morning, regardless of occupation, can wake up saying, I want to serve the Lord in the challenging or the mundane. And I have an opportunity to glorify him even in the challenging and even in the mundane. And here's what this psalm is saying. If you have that mindset, you can enjoy occupational blessing. Does that mean that my job now is no longer mundane? No, but it does mean my motivation is something different. What is my motivation? Why am I doing this job? Go back to verse one. I'm doing it to fear in the reverence and fear of the Lord. Not only do I have occupational blessings, but I have family blessings. There are two sides to this family promise, by the way, that we're about to read. Our spouse will be close to you, and your children will bring you honor. Read what it says in verse three. Thy wife, this is for the man who fears the Lord, thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house, thy children like olive plants round about thy table. I love the book of Psalms because of how they weave together metaphor to really pull in what is being talked about. He says, the wife of a man who fears the Lord is like a fruitful vine. What is that referring to? Well, it's referring to how his wife is close to him. as a vine climbs the trellis, very close, it's knitted together, until the point where you can hardly tell the difference between the vine and the trellis. I mean, they are just so interwoven together, so it is with the man who truly fears the Lord. They grow so close together. They grow upward, but they grow together. And he says, the children of the man who fear the Lord are like olive plants. Now that's interesting. By way of imagery, the olive plant shows us a lot. An olive plant grows very slowly, actually. It begins to bear fruit at around seven years of age. But even then, the fruit that it just bore at seven years of age is too infantile to really process. The real mature fruit of an olive plant doesn't start to show itself until around the 15-year age mark. And once that fruit comes, it gets better as it ages, and if it ages well, it will last for generations. And once that maintenance has been done, which is very heavy at the early stages of an olive plant, as it grows to maturity, it will produce more and more fruit the more the years go by. No wonder he chose olive plants. Isn't it interesting? Those are appropriate images for the home of a man who fears the Lord. And this imagery suggests that God's natural flow of order for the home. The fear of the Lord begins with dad. That's where it starts, which leads to mom in the home and is followed by the children. And how are the children to be led in the home? Well, there are some good news and some bad news. The good news, it's easy to lead. Kids, especially young kids, follow example. They follow what you're doing. That's the good news. The bad news, kids, especially young kids, follow examples. Did you catch what I'm saying? I shared this several weeks ago. I share it now again. A study once disclosed that if both parents attend church regularly, 72% of their children remain faithful. If only dad attends regularly, that number drops to 55%. If only mom comes, it plummets to 15%. If neither parent attends and they just send their kids, only 6% remain faithful. Of course God can overcome percentages as we seek him. Of course he can. If you look at your Bibles, you will find it littered with great men of the faith who came from really bad homes. I can think of one, Joseph. Joseph certainly did not come from a very good home situation, did he? And yet God used him in amazing ways, and so certainly statistics can be overcome. But there is still a divine plan. There is still a secret to a happy home. And as we look at this family psalm, we are learning that there's a divine paradox. It actually, if you want happiness and peace, it starts with fear. And once that fear comes into the home, there's these divine promises, these truisms, there's a predictivity there. And thirdly, godly fear brings divine potential for the home. The psalm ends by taking time to consider the future. And I want you to, again, notice what is happening. We glean best the truths of verses five and six by looking at them through the original lens of Hebrew poetry as it was written. And you'll notice the parallel of these verses. And Hebrew poetry, not like our poetry, although sometimes our poetry does use parallelism, we often normally use rhyme, but often it'll use parallelism. So notice the parallelism here. In verses 5a and 6a, it describes the well-being of the man who fears the Lord. Here's what will happen to this man. This man will grow close to his wife and his children will grow and be prosperous. And in 5b and 6b, it describes the national well-being of the people who fear the Lord. In other words, he's saying the future potential is at play here. You build a strong future through strong homes. Did you notice that? You build a strong nation through strong homes. And so there's this parallelism here. And what he notes is that your future well-being will flourish. The man pictured here is a happy old man enjoying God's blessing as he sees his grandchildren following the Lord. 5a, the Lord shall bless thee out of Zion. 5b, thou shalt see thy children's children. A man who pursues a financial success to the disregard of his home will end up bringing poverty to his own soul. But a man who follows God's blueprint for the home will end up with prosperity in his soul. Proverbs 17, verse six puts it this way. Children's children are the crown of old men. I think it was neat. Thanks, Bill. You gave us a great illustration to start our sermon out with. You know, we started with Bill moving away. Why? To be with his crown. That's what he wants to be with. What a joy that is. Now, history bears this out again. History bears out the truth of what God is teaching. There was a study done of two families, and it reveals exactly what God said. One family was the descendants of a man named Max Jukes, a real man in history, who did not follow the Lord, nor did his wife. Among the 1,200 descendants of Max Jukes that were studied, 310 were professional vagrants, 440 were physically wrecked by lives of debauchery and uncleanness, 130 went to penitentiary for an average of 13 years each. Seven were murderers. 100 were alcoholics. 60 were habitual thieves. 190 more were prostitutes. And collectively, that family cost the state of New York over a million dollars. What a legacy. The second family was a family that grew up in the same time period of their forefather. It was the family of Jonathan Edwards. He was a New England preacher with his wife, Sarah. Among his descendants, they studied, there were 300 who became pastors, missionaries, and theological professors. Over 100 became college professors. Over 100 became lawyers, including 30 judges. Over 60 became physicians. Over 60 authored good books. 14 became presidents of universities. Three became United States congressmen. And one, although admittedly the black sheep spiritually, became the vice president of the United States. That was Aaron Burr, Jonathan Edwards' grandson. Too often, there are those who have been gifted the gift of being a father or a mother, but they squandered that privilege by pursuing temporal things. God did not call you to spend your youth gathering wealth, and God did not call you to spend your youth climbing the corporate ladder. God called you as a mother or a father to spend those youthful years pouring it into the children that he put into your home. And as we were reminded of in last Psalm, Psalm 127, these are gifts. Children are gifts. Good gifts from a good God, but they are gifts. I think it's interesting that it didn't say how many were gifts, or which gender were gifts, or how tall they had to be to be a gift. It just celebrated kids. We need to get back to our churches celebrating the good gifts of children. pouring ourselves into them. Because after all, the nation's well-being will flourish as we do. Someone has rightly said, the strength of the country is measured by the strength of the families that make it up. I would also add, the strength of a church is measured by the strength of the families that make it up. And scripturally, we understand that when God established institutions, God started first with the family. Genesis chapter two, the first marriage ceremony. By the way, God was the officiant of the first marriage ceremony. And it was Adam and it was Eve. And in Genesis chapter nine, we see God establish government. And what we learn by that is that God gets to define the institutions that he created. We don't get to redefine them, not even in the month of June. There is something at play here. And we can't miss that at the end of this passage, that the nation, everyone is at play with what took place in the home. Look what it says in verse five. Thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all thy days. Who will? Go back to verse one. The man who feared the Lord. Verse 6b, and peace will be upon Israel. The national success is an evident and necessary flow that comes from the home that is dedicated to the fear of the Lord. Now, I understand that Israel was a theocracy, and we are not, I know that. Nevertheless, should our desire not be that God's shalom still rest on our country? In other words, should we not be concerned and committed to seeing our land under God's rule? Proverbs 14 verse 34 is another truism. Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. According to the National Review, the national average for children born without the benefit of a mother and father who have taken a marital vow is 40%. If you don't know what that means, let me tell you it's square. That means four out of 10 children born in America are born out of wedlock. Over 40% of Americans who were married before their 50th birthday will get a divorce in America today. The American home is in shambles. One in three women and one in four men have been victims of some kind of physical violence by a close relative in their own home within their lifetime. And here we are, friends, I don't just want to tiptoe around it, let's shoot straight, in a month that they call pride, aptly named because pride is sin. Friends, Americans' homes are in trouble. And it doesn't take a statistician to tell us that. We are in a national crisis when it comes to our families. And on the streets of New York City this very morning, they were chanting, we are coming for your kids. Friends, if they're not coming for our kids, and they are, we'd better be prepared to know what it means to protect our children. And it doesn't start, it doesn't start with pulling out our swords. It starts with us on our knees, fearing the Lord. a reverential awe that says and claims the promises we studied last week from Psalm 127. These children are a gift from you, our great creator, and we claim them as your gift, God. Will you help us guide them? Will you protect them? I know I look in the faces of some who'd say, man, I wish And I love how Rand Hummel used to say it, so I won't say it as funny as he used to, that we could live in the days of Little House on the Prairie, I think he said something like that, where all you have to deal with is Nellie's bad attitude. And I get that. And you might be able to say, man, our culture is so wickedly sinful, how can we ever raise a godly generation? And I just want you to biblically use your minds, use your biblical minds for a moment, just think. Do you think for a moment that it was easy to raise up godly homes in Corinth? Do you think for a moment that in such a base society that it was easy even to take your children to the marketplace? I mean, we walk through the mall and we tell our boys to look at their shoes. Can you imagine walking down the marketplaces in Corinth? And yet out of Corinth and out of these wicked places we can read the character profiles of men and women who were raised up to become building blocks of that first church. What does that teach me? What that teaches me is, that teaches me that I have a God that's more powerful than this culture. That's what it teaches me. It teaches me I have a God who has given me a guidebook for life that says start with fearing me. Just start with fearing me. John Phillips in his commentary on Psalm 128 says, no psalm in the Hebrew hymn book needs to be preached more incessantly than the 128th psalm. Psalm 128 is a beautiful psalm that speaks of God's blessing on those who fear the Lord, and it scribes the blessings of an ideal family. And if they're listening to this message up to this point, you might say, that's all well and good, but I don't have an ideal family, and I don't live in an ideal world. Well, in holding up the ideal family, the psalmist points beyond our broken, sinful families here on earth and to the beauty and perfection of God's family in heaven. None of us have a perfect family on earth, but those who have trusted in Christ as their savior will one day experience the blessing of an ideal family in heaven. God may or may not bless you and your marriage and your home and your children in this life, but either way, the promise still remains from this psalm. Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord. So don't miss out on God's blessing. Fear God and walk in his ways that you may know the fullness of God's blessing in this life and the next. Blessed are all who fear the Lord and walk in his ways. Let's pray together. Lord, we thank you so much for your word. Lord, it is startling to consider the culture that surrounds us. It's startling because of the baseness that is celebrated. And Lord, there are things that seemingly are celebrated now that would make us blush and should, frankly, make us blush. And yet they are celebrated openly Lord, may we learn to fear the Lord. May this be a place that has a reverential awe for those who come in and worship you, that we would come to your word and seek it out, that we would build strong homes that are built upon that righteous fear of you. With every head bowed and every eye closed, we're just gonna take a moment of invitation. Let me encourage you to do something unique, perhaps, If you're sitting close enough to your spouse, why don't you just grab her by your hand or put your arm around her husband, and let's just pray with our spouses. If you're sitting close enough to her, let's just pray together as the instruments play. Let's pray as couples. God, you would build strong homes in this church. Would you pray together? Yeah. Lord, we thank you that you have given us your word. Lord, we can honestly come to look at the news and see what's flashed across the screen before us and fear that it's even possible to raise a godly home in this culture and in this climate. Lord, we are so thankful that you are stronger than that. You have given us a guidebook on which we can build a strong home. May you guard us and protect us. Bless us, Lord, as we seek to follow you.