If you turn again in your Bibles to Ephesians I don't know if you picked that hymn in particular after reading Ephesians 5 and 6, but that was perfect. As we finish up Ephesians today, we will see that, I think that is kind of the lesson from Ephesians, is God has made us one, and we as a body, as we gather together, that is our desire, that should be what we strive for. So what we're going to do this morning in this, you may find this a little unusual, but it's the best I could come up with. We're going to be on vacation next week, so we won't be with you the next couple of Sundays. And so I really needed to finish Ephesians today. And we're going to go through and finish this morning, basically with the rest of chapter five and into chapter six. And I'm going to skip the section on the armor of God. And we're going to do that at the one o'clock service. So it's a little out of order, but I think it worked because it's pretty much that can be a standalone series. In fact, if you've been here a while, you remember that I did a series on that quite a while, quite a number of years ago. So that's my intention, is to do that and try to cover all these things. Again, in a survey manner, not so much in a verse-by-verse thing, although we'll cover each of the verses as we go. Now, just my way of remembrance and kind of introduction to get us to where we are. Last week we had looked at, after the matter of the book of Ephesians being written to remind the Jews and the Gentiles of their relationship to one another, and that God has now brought the Gentiles into the church. And he's brought the Jews into the church. The Jews aren't the church anymore. The Jews aren't the chosen people of God. They are now brought into the church, which is what Christ ushered in. And so after that lean out of that doctrine, if you will, then Paul goes on to start admonishing those who are gathered together, basically in chapter 4, and we picked it up last week in verse 25, with the admonition, therefore, put away lying. Let each one of you speak truth. with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. There's that theme again. There's what we sang about. We are members of one another. We have a relationship with one another. We don't just come here because this is our church, like you might go to the Elks or the VFW or any other club like that. We come together because we are members of one another. And that means we're a whole number of obligations that we have because of that membership of being one another. Now, that brings us then this morning to what I'd called continuing admonitions, as Paul goes through these things here. And some of these I'm going to try to go through briefly. You know that sometimes I fail at that, but we're still going to try to get through them. Because my intention in looking at these, and especially the first couple about wives and husbands, My intention is not to teach you everything there is to know about it. My intention is not to make you think, oh, that's something I never thought of. My intention is to bring this to your attention to say, you should be looking at these things and you should be working through these things. These are things that as children of God, are important enough that God put them in the scriptures, and so we shouldn't take lightly the admonitions that we see in scriptures. And so the first one, which I kind of grouped under marriage, but really it's broken up into wives and then husbands, is this admonition beginning in chapter 5 and verse 22. wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord." Now let me just stop for a second and say this. Do you realize how opposed that is to the world's view? We don't do these things because we receive them and go, oh, that's a good thing, or that's a logical thing, or even that's a beneficial thing. We receive these things because God has revealed them to us. They aren't easy things to accept. As I go through the section on wives, some of the ladies might think, oh, you're being hard on us. Wait till I get to the husbands, OK? Because I'm a husband, and I can be harder on myself. But in all of this, understand this is because we are doing these things as to the Lord, and we are not doing them perfectly. I really struggle with lessons like this, where I come and say, man, I'm like the worst person to be teaching this. But I have to teach it because it's the Word of God. And as I teach it and as I prepare for it, I say, hear these things yourself. Be open and be willing to say, even at this age in your life, are you doing these things? And are you and your wife living together as you should be after 41 years of marriage? And where there needs to be work and improvement and confession, those things need to happen. but it is because we are submitting as we submit to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. So, a couple of thoughts from this, and let me just start too by saying, not everyone is a wife. Not every woman is a wife, but that doesn't mean there aren't lessons here as we look into these things as to how are we to act, and in particular, if we have no husband, how are we to act in submission to the Lord and to the matters that God has laid out in the church. But notice again, submission to your husband is a spiritual matter. This is not some worldly oppression. This is not the evil patriarchy and the patriarchy is absolutely scriptural and God-ordained, but it's not some means of oppression of putting women down and making them slaves and making them servants. This is submission in matters that are very important because they're eternal. And so submission to a husband is a spiritual matter. If you're struggling with submission, you're struggling spiritually. And you need to recognize that and deal with it from that perspective. And Colossians 3.18, I think, says this in just a little bit different way that helps show that. It says, wives, submit to your own husbands as is fitting in the Lord. So you see, the submission to husbands has to do with as to the Lord, as is fitting in the Lord. It's a spiritual matter. And the model is Christ in the church. Just back last week, the verse 21, the last verse we looked at in Ephesians, Ephesians 5, 21, submitting to one another in the fear of God. That's the model for all of us. but it's also the model for wives in submitting to their husbands. We submit in the fear of God, not because we fear our husbands, not because we fear man, but because we fear God. And God has said, wives, submit to your own husbands. And of course, the benefit of this submission to your own husband is more grace. James 4 and verse 6 says, but God gives more grace. Therefore he says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up." And you see the key here and how this is connected to wives being submissive to husbands is the benefit of being more gracious. James starts that by saying, God resists the proud. What's wrong in modern society? What is behind the entire feminist movement? that led to the whole homosexual movement, that led to the whole trans pride movement. Pride. It's pride. Nobody's gonna tell me what to do, not even God, especially not God. It's been interesting in the news this last week with the shooting at the school there and all the usual hype and nonsense that's made over it, but that there's been this weird backlash from Democrats, and it's one of those things that you can't quite comprehend unless you understand their worldview, is mocking prayer. Well, yeah, because they don't believe in God. So to them, praying is foolish. It's utter foolishness. But why? Because they don't acknowledge God. They resist anyone but themselves. And God resists the proud. So as feminism tries to seep into our society and into our churches, we have to be careful that we don't let feminism come into the Reformed Baptist church that we're in because it will seep in. It will come in. Satan will try to use every little thing he can to harm and to hurt us, but God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. So wives in particular, the benefit of submission to your husband is grace. It's growing in the things of God. It's being gracious and humble in the things of God. And you will see, and especially as you see older ladies that have lived this way much of their lives, you will see the benefits of that. And you will see how women who are in true and proper submission to their husbands and to their Lord and Savior are very happy and content people. And they are not constantly running after the world and the things of the world and then always upset because they didn't get it and having to take tranquilizers because they're worried about this and they're worried about that. And all those things that flow out of a lack of submission because of pride. But then in verse 25, Paul goes on and he says, husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband." And so as Paul goes through this, he doesn't jump on the ladies and say, you do this or else, and now you men, you do what you want. He brings an even greater weight to bear on the husbands that we are to love our wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. That's a great responsibility. That's a great weight for us to bear. And again, even though not all men are husbands, we still have that example as to how we're to behave in the church and how we're to serve in the church. We are to give ourselves for the church of God. And we are to seek to serve and to honor in whatever ways we can. And we are to do that also with our wife, which I think is an example in the world that the world sees that, and they don't maybe understand all the things about the church, but they see how we treat our wives, and they see how we act with one another as husband and wife. And so Christ is our example of self-sacrificing love. for our wives. Back in chapter 5 in verse 2, it says, And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. Think about that, men. As we seek to serve our wives, how are we to do it? Just as Christ serves the church and sacrificed his own life He didn't get to do all the things that you think of as a man wanting to do because he was busy sacrificing and ministering and serving the church that was being brought into being by his death and resurrection. And so, husbands, we need to guard and promote our wife's spiritual, mental, and physical welfare. at the expense often of our own selves. Again, I think this is a huge difference in the world. You have comedians is the nicest place you see it, you have men and women that joke about it, but that men and women that go their own way. They may be married, they may be living in the same house, but they do their own things. The guy's a fisherman and every weekend he's out on his bass boat fishing. Nothing wrong with that if you fish, okay? I don't, but if you want to, that's fine. But the wife has her friends, and she does her thing, and she likes to whatever, shop, antique shop, whatever. And those, you know, that's just the way things are. That's not the way things should be. Men and women as husband and wife are to promote and guard their spiritual, mental, and physical welfare, often men at the expense of your own desires and your own pleasures. There are times that you may want to go off and do something with the guys and you have to say, no, I have a responsibility to my wife. Wife and children perhaps. And I should be doing those things instead. Hebrews 13 and verse 15 says, therefore, By Him, which is Christ, by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. And so do you see the application there in Hebrews? Offer the sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of our lips, thanks to His name. But don't forget to do good. You can't just say to your wife, oh honey, you be spiritual, now I'm going to go do what I want. We have to do good. We have to take care of them spiritually, mentally. The world is constantly out trying to damage the mental and thought process of our wives. Be on guard for that. Talk to them about it. Ask them, what do you think of this? Have you thought this through? And of course, their physical welfare. We need to make sure that they're physically well off. And that doesn't just mean they're comfortable and have everything they want, but that they're physically doing OK. And we should look out for these things. These are responsibilities that we have in the doing good and the sharing. And in doing that, we live together for our mutual benefit. Now, this shouldn't be your motivation, but it is certainly a benefit. 1 Peter 3 and verse 7 says, husbands likewise. dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered." And so, husbands, we're to dwell with our wives with understanding. That's the hard part. There are times I don't understand my wife. Why do you do that? You gotta stop and say, work at it, deal with these things, understand and give benefit and give patience and give honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel. Now again, not in the worldly sense of, oh, she's weaker, she can't do, yes, women can go into, no, they can't, that's silly, but whatever. That's not what it's talking about. The weaker vessel is in the more delicate vessel, the more, kept and watched over a vessel. I tried to think of a good example. The best one I got, sorry, best one I got. I have a truck. I know some of you don't think it's a real truck, but I got a truck and I have a car. And the car, I see you laughing out there, and the car is, it's a nice little car. I like it. I got it when I could get it. I enjoy it. We enjoy riding around in it. My truck has scratches on it. Why? Because it's a truck. When I needed to drive out into the fields and throw some wood in it, I drove out in the fields, a bush scratched it, and it's got some scratches in it. It's a truck. If my car got scratches like that, I'd be a little upset. I'd be down there buffing it out. I'd be trying to take care of it. Why? Because it's more delicate, all right? It's more... reserved for a certain purpose, for a certain use. Well, think of the wife in the same way. We don't treat our wives roughly. They're not just one of the guys. You shouldn't treat your wife like one of the guys. She thinks different, she acts different, she has different needs. She is the weaker, the more precious vessel. And we are heirs together of the grace of life, together. We are heirs of the grace of life. And men, the final warning here in Peter, that your prayers may not be hindered. Your spiritual life will be hindered by the way you treat or mistreat your wife. Give thought to that. That's sobering as a man and as a husband to realize that. And then finally, in this area here. I wanted to say this, and I tried to say it in a way that was short and precise, and hopefully this makes sense. This is complementary companionship, not equality. And I knew I'd be pressed for time, but I'm going to touch on it anyway. We go back to Genesis 8, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. So man has a job, and man has a commandment to obey. Religion. Right here. Right up front. The very creation of man. Okay? And so obviously by the creation commandment, God is telling him, you and I have a relationship and there are rules and there are benefits to it. And there is that fellowship that comes and that was spoken about of God walking in the cool of the garden in the afternoon with Adam and Eve. And the Lord God said next, it is not good that man should be alone. I will make a helper comparable to him. Again, before the fall. Man has a job, man has a relationship to God, and God says it's not good that you should be alone. I will make you a helper comparable to you. Think about that in terms of the companionship aspect. of what we have in our wives. It is a complimentary companionship. It is not equality. As soon as you accept the feminist notion that men and women in a marriage are equal, you are on the wrong path. And you are gonna end up in wrong places. Because if men and women are equal in marriage, well then why aren't the men and women equal in the church? And next you got a woman pastor. And you see, okay, I skipped a few steps, but you see how you get there? Because you've accepted a wrong premise. Eve was created as a companion for man because he needed a companion. But it was complementary companionship. It was not equality. And we do well to be careful to not adopt the thinking and the words of the world when it comes to relationship between men and women. And it doesn't mean that the opposite is, oh, it's women are oppressed. Women should be treated like cattle. Absolutely not. That's not in the scriptures. but understand the roles that God created. And so Adam goes on to say in verse 23, Adam said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh. There's so much to unpack there that I can't begin to touch on. But you see this in the modern feminist movement. They're spelling woman different. Why? Because they don't want to recognize that even after all the translations, we still in English see man and woman. Woman got man right in the middle of it. And something that somebody else pointed out recently I got a kick out of. I've never had much use for hyphenated names. I don't think anybody has one. But if you do, don't mean to be offensive. It's your parents' fault. I get that. I'm going to hyphenate my name because I'm not going to take my husband's name. Right. you're gonna take your grandfather's name. See, you can't get away from the patriarchy. It's silliness. And then as the person was saying, and it falls down because now the next kid, what are you gonna do, do another hyphen so you got hyphen, hyphen, hyphen and four names? No, it's ridiculous. It's self-defeating. It's just like homosexuals. In order to propagate themselves, what do they have to do? They have to get children from other people and brainwash them into their thinking. They can't produce their own children. And so wrong thinking against God has its own consequences built into it. And that's a comfort in some ways to us as we look at the world and we think things are terrible, things are bad. Yeah, but there's a self-correctingness to God's creation that I think we sometimes underestimate. But what is it that Adam said? Man and woman are one. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother. There's a point, men, at which you need to leave your mom and dad. and move out and become a husband and a leader in your own new home and be joined to your wife and become one flesh with her. And you see, that's the issue that you have with all the perversions of homosexuality and lesbianism and all the other things. They can't be joined together. They can't be one flesh. It doesn't work that way. And so therefore, understand that the creation of man and the role that he's been given as a husband is to be complementary companionship, not equality in the marriage relationship. Now, we have a couple more necessary submissions that are addressed here as we move into Chapter 6. And we'll start first with the first one, which is to children. Now, of course, I realize there's no children here this morning. In fact, there's never any children here because they're downstairs. So as I go through the children's section, one, I'll try to keep it brief, and two, Parents, it's your responsibility to teach your children these things. Children don't naturally know these things. So verse one, chapter six and verse one, children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise. And the promises that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. And you fathers do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. So a couple of thoughts. And this is, I think, more relevant to parents in a sense than it is to the children. Although children need to hear and be taught these same truths. Children need to understand they are under an obligation to obey their parents because God said they were. Not because daddy's bigger than me, or daddy's smarter than me, or any of those things. And see, that's where the world gets into this silliness of, well, your children are just, let's let 12-year-olds vote. Let's hear what they say. Who cares what a 12-year-old thinks? They haven't got the world figured out yet. Some 12-year-olds might more than some adults, but that's not the point. Children are to obey their parents in the Lord, for this is right. And they are given a commandment. Think about the fact that in the Ten Commandments, OK, only ten commandments and one of them is about children honoring their parents. That's how important this is. And so childhood obedience is commanded by God and includes a promise which includes an implied threat. that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. If you don't honor your father and mother, it may not be well with you and you may not live long on the earth. Now, that doesn't mean that you can always say, oh, they were bad, they died early. No. but there is a promise from God, and it is one that we would do well not to simply ignore. And then notice also that along with this goes the idea that fatherly discipline is commanded by God, and there is guidance and boundaries given in the word of God. Now, as an aside or as part of this, the mother's disciplinary authority is delegated from the father. Always keep that in mind. Mothers, you're not on your own. All that you do with your children is because you are acting under the authority of your husband, who is acting under the authority of God. You see how that works together? And that chain of command, if you will, is beneficial. And so when a child disobeys their mom, if the mom can't bring the child into compliance, the mom can take the child to the father and say, you need to deal with little Henry. I was trying to think of a name we don't have. And you need to deal with this. And fathers, you better deal with it. And I think it's interesting, and we have to be careful, because a lot of people have taken this, and you fathers do not provoke your children to wrath, to be the idea that, well, you can't discipline them if they get upset about it. That's not what it's talking about. It's saying don't provoke your children to wrath, but there's a contrast, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. I think there's two aspects to this that we overlook. One, if you don't discipline your children, they are going to be subject to wrath. God's wrath because of their disobedience and the world's wrath because they don't put up with stupid nonsense. I have seen this over and over again where a young person comes into the workforce thinking that everything revolves around them and quickly finds out not here it doesn't because that's not how it works. We don't care what you feel like today. Get to work. Get that job done. If you don't get the job done, guess what? You can go work for the next guy you think you're smarter than. But I think that's part of this. Not provoking them to wrath is making sure they're prepared to stand before God and to be in cooperation with men. But it is also a matter of directing and guiding them how? By the way of God. In the training and admonition of the Lord. It's not up to you to make up how you discipline. It's up to the word of God. And the word of God directs us how and when we are to discipline. So we should take note of that as parents and particularly as fathers. So you see, I might have said that was the children's section, but it really was still the father's section for the most part. And I think we should take great heed to those things. And again, I look back on this going, boy, there's a lot of things I wish I'd done better as a father. And there's some things I maybe did okay, but we always are going to do that, but it doesn't mean we don't stop looking and learning and helping and giving direction to our children, to our grandchildren, to others. It's all part of being one body in Christ. And then finally under submission, the section verses five to nine regarding bond servants. And before I read it, let me just say, I take bond servants, I think to be in a very broad sense, anyone who works for anyone else. That's pretty much all of us. All right? Back then, a bondservant meant it was a servant who had attached himself to someone, either voluntarily or involuntarily. But here, I think we have a little broader realm here that it applies to those who have to work for others. And even when you work for yourself, you have to work for others. You're providing for your family. You're having to satisfy your customers, et cetera. But bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in sincerity of heart as to Christ, not with eye service as men pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ. doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. And you masters do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own master also is in heaven and there is no partiality with him. Isn't it interesting that in a book written about the church of Christ, we get down to the nitty gritty of husbands, wives, children, bondservants, those who work in regard to one another. God is concerned with these details in our lives. And so we should especially take away from these verses, we should work for God's glory and not our own. We can be motivated by interest, we can be motivated by aptitude, but pleasing God should be the central thing we look to do in whatever we put our hands to. And men and women, okay, we think of men being the workers outside the home for the most part, but all of us have obligations, whether we're working in the home, whether we're working outside the home. Everything that we do should be for God's glory and not our own. I will tell you, this is one of the hardest things I've had to wrestle with over the years, because it's too easy at eight o'clock or nine o'clock, whenever you go to work, or seven o'clock for many of you, as you go to work, it's too easy to all of a sudden forget about God and focus on what you got to do for the day. And oh, the boss wants something. And if your boss likes to have a list ready to go first thing, and all of a sudden you're getting all these messages, and immediately you forget about working for God's glory, and you're plunged into working to get things done, and to make sure everybody's happy, and you're not getting fussed at, and people are good with what's going on. But we need to stop and cultivate A sense of our motivation is for God's glory and not our own glory, not our own benefit. Even though God does bless us and benefit us, we are taught in the Lord's Prayer, give us this day our daily bread. And that's not in the context of the scriptures especially. That's not in the context of I'm just gonna sit around and wait for food to fall on me. That's in the context of work. He who doesn't work won't eat. That's the context. But God says, as you work, as you get your daily bread through work, do it for God's glory. And so even when the service is involuntary, and there are times, and I know in my years of working, there are times that you're working in fear and trembling. And you might say, well, it's not involuntary. You can quit if you want. No, because there's family to feed at the end of the day. And you've got to put up with some of the nonsense and you've got to deal with it. And there's a time and a proper time when you say, enough, I'll go find something else to do. But even when it's involuntary and there's fear and trembling, we should be sincere in heart with goodwill towards those we work with, towards those who are telling us what to do, knowing there's an eternal reward. God compliments the servant who is faithful, who has done what he was commanded to do. That doesn't mean going to far off lands and saving thousands of souls for Christ if what God has given you to do is go to your job, do it diligently, do it faithfully, speak of Christ when you have opportunity, and at the end of the day, go home knowing you gave it your all and you did what you were supposed to do. There is eternal reward for that faithfulness in the service that you've given, just like Adam would have received reward when he was put in the garden and told to tend it and care for it. We should keep that in mind. God gave Adam a job, God has given us jobs. And if you happen to be in a position of power, sometimes more or less, but some of us manage other people, we should remember who has placed us there and why. It is easy when you're the boss to fall into the, because I said so, don't ask questions, get it done. And there are times you have to do that. But there are also times that as you work and you exercise power over others, you should be reminded what it was like when you were having to be told what to do. And how did you perceive those things? And even from the spiritual aspect of how can I treat this person so that at the end of the day, they come back and say, I don't know, you're a good boss, and that's not the goal, but you're a good boss, you treat me fairly. Well, let me tell you why I treat you fairly. And you see, now you have an opportunity to talk about your relationship to God and the fact that even though you're in a position of power, God's put you there and you answer to God, not to your boss. So bond servants, all of us keep these things in mind. Now, the next section that we would have covered If we've been doing this in order, was the armor of God, we'll do that at the 115 service. I hope you'll all be here to hear that. I think it's an excellent summary of the Christian life and an encouragement to the Christian life, but I'm not gonna go aside. I'm gonna wait, okay? But let me cover two small things, because obviously it's only four verses left here. First of all, in chapter six and verse 21, we are taught fellowship among churches, Ephesians 6, 21 says, but that you also may know my affairs, Paul's, what's he doing? What's he up to? And how I am doing. Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will make all things known to you whom I have sent to you for this very purpose that you may know our affairs and that he may comfort your hearts. So while we are to fellowship amongst ourselves, and I emphasize that a lot, I am often talking about fellowship amongst ourselves, we should also build bonds with other sheep, in other flocks, and make an effort to maintain and strengthen one another in the greater church of God. We have the advantage of here in our area, we have several churches that are close to us, even geographically close that we can fellowship with. We have things like the Keech Conference where the churches in Virginia in general get together. But we should work at fellowshipping with one another in our church as well as in establishing relationships with other churches so that as we read the missionary letters, we know those people because we've been involved with them. It doesn't mean you have to pack up and go off to visit them. If you can, I encourage that. It's a whole new perspective on life when you've seen the church and you've seen the people and you've seen what their daily life looks like. But you don't have to do that, but you can at least engage in the reading of the letters, and praying for one another, and fellowshipping with other brothers and sisters that you know, and saying to them, how are things going in your church? How are things spiritually at your home and your church? And fellowship amongst ourselves. And then finally, the summary is this, and it is pretty much a doxology in verse 23. Paul says, peace to the brethren, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen. And so I'd leave you with just a couple of thoughts here, a couple of questions for you to think about, because I do hope you may not do it right away, but I hope you'll go back and dig into some of these things as they pertain to the needs in your life. But do we strive for the peace and love of God among the brethren? That's what should bring us together in this place, that we love one another and we love with faith, not because we're perfect, not because we're the epitome of what love should be, but peace to the brethren and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is Christ that allows us to gather together with all the different backgrounds and ways of thinking that we have and to fellowship together. And so then I think the final question is this, is therefore Jesus Christ the center of everything in this church? As a church, as we go through time, as we go through different decisions and different difficulties and different ideas, we should always come back to, is Jesus Christ the center of everything we do in this church? If not, Throw it out. Get rid of it. Discard it. Because Christ is the center of all things. Without Christ, there is no salvation. Without Christ, there is no fellowship and there is no worship together as the people of God. Let's close with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank you for your word. We thank you that it is the word that is clear and speaks truth to us. And Father also convicts us as well as encourages us and helps us to grow in the things of God. Bless us in these matters, direct us as we read and hear these things, and may your name be honored and praised as we worship together this day. Do be now with our brother Breyer as he brings the word in our 11 o'clock service Do gather together the people of God in this place and glorify your name. We pray in Jesus name. Amen