Ephesians Part 9 - Submission & Sacrifice

Mark: We are gonna jump right in this morning though. ⁓ if you've been with us, we've been walking through the book of Ephesians. If you've got your Bibles this morning, your phones, open them up. We're gonna be in chapter five. This morning And if ⁓ you're brand new this morning, welcome. We hope you encounter the presence of the Lord more than anything, and we hope that you're led And the love and the grace of the Lord Jesus with you and your family. ⁓ we've been walking through Ephesians and we're now in chapter five, about halfway through. I apologize for where we're starting. We're gonna start in what seems like a very odd place. It's kind of the tell of a run-in run-on sentence. That's five twenty-one, but this is part of the same thought, so that's where we're beginning. Ephesians chapter five, verse twenty-one. Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. That he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their 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 Christ does for the church. Because we are members of his body, therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. Chapter 6, verse 1. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, bond servants and masters. Obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling with a sincere heart as you would Christ, not by the way of I service as people pleasers, but as bond servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord, not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he's a bond servant or is free. Masters do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with him. Let's pray, guys. Father, thank you for your word. God I ask in the name of Jesus that your Holy Spirit would rest. That it would clean, that it would heal. We open ourselves up for your work this morning, Lord. I ask that you would throw down everything that's not of you. Help me to faithfully carry your word, God. In the name of Jesus, everybody said. Amen. You know, as believers and followers of Jesus, we are committed not just to receive Christ as our Savior, but we're committed to receive Him as Lord, Lord of our lives. That means He gets to dictate what we do. Amen. And sometimes that looks like us giving up something that we would rather have on our own. To take something that he says we should have from him, right? And the word of God is faithful in the way that Christ is faithful. Christ said hard things. How many of you guys have read some things that Jesus has said? They were hard. And those hard things are not meant just to tick you off. Or just to make you uncomfortable. Those hard things are to clean you, to heal you, to prepare you, to gift you, to make you healthy and whole and radiant. And so if I see something that's difficult or challenging or chafes me or rubs me the wrong way in scripture, I shouldn't try to run from it, right? I shouldn't try to wiggle out of it. I shouldn't try to find all the ways that this doesn't apply to me. Instead, lean in. Right? I should lean into it and let it work on me. One of the things I love about the Time and the era in which we live. I know that part of this can be the downfall of a generation, but there's an upside too. ⁓ we have YouTube. How many of you guys have ever watched a DIY tutorial on YouTube? And ⁓ at your fingertips, you you're ex you have exposure to some of the world's best and most passionate craftsmen and women. And ⁓ a while back, probably about a year or two, my family we were watching. And up on our feed, this restoration project came up. And ⁓ it's one of these videos where all you're getting is a top-down viewpoint. You guys know what I'm talking about. You're just kind of watching the craftsman do his thing. And he had what he was, he was a professional restorer, and he had what was a copper plated purse. It was an antique purse, and it had been pulled out of the dirt. And so you can imagine what shape it was in. It was completely corroded, it did not open. And it looked like trash, to be honest. ⁓ it it was just disgusting and all corroded, stuff was growing on it. And little by little he began to clean it and to grind on it and to sand it and polish it. And by the end, this thing that looked like we all would have thrown it away. Was completely restored, fully functional, and gorgeous. It could have gone on any evening gown to any ball that's ever been held. It was beautiful. I mean, it's immaculate. It took time, it took effort, it took energy. And I believe that is a great picture for what the Word of God. Its purpose in our lives is. There's truths that are stated, it's held up like a mirror. It shows us what we are, and then it begins to work on us. It begins in a living and active way, it begins to pull on us. So if something this morning chafes you, lean into it a little bit. And if I'm wrong, Pastor Josh can fix it when he gets back. That's for you, Pastor Josh. Excellent. Let the word of God work in us. Amen. ⁓ by the way, men, if you I'm not sponsored by these guys in any way, but I recently discovered evaporust. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? Gray bottle, red cap? Look, am I right? This this stuff is amazing. Men, if you've got tools, bits, whatever, find some evaporust. You'll thank me later. Okay. All right, here we go. Let's take this piece by piece. We're going to ⁓ unpack this in three sections this morning. The first is going to be marriages, the second is going be family, and the last one's going to be work. So starting right at the top, Ephesians 5, 22, it says, Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church. He is the savior of the body. One of the first questions we should ask is, well, then how is Christ the head of the church? And what what correlations or comparison is Paul making there? And actually, you can look throughout Paul's letters, and he uses this phrase, head, so great. Thank you, Chris, wherever you are for bringing up head of the church. Christ is this. He uses this phrase in other parts of his letters, and he has a little bit of context around so we can kind of get what Paul is getting. Getting after in Colossians, he unpacks this as Christ is from the beginning. He was there at the beginning. He is the firstborn from the dead. He is the one who reconciles us back to the Father. This is Christ. He is the first to move. Everybody say, first to move. So he is the head. We are told later in Ephesians chapter 1, Pastor Josh hit on this. That he put all things under his feet and he gave him his head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. So Christ is the filler, he's the provider, he's the one that's giving you, resourcing you what you need. He's thirdly the overseer, the anchor. We see this in Ephesians 4. Paul writes, he says, rather speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ, from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. We're growing into what? We're going into Christ. You guys follow me here? And some of this word picture, if it feels a little odd to you, it's okay. There's a language difference. And so some of this has to kind of you have to sit back a little bit and think about it. It's at moments like this where I think it would be good to kind of have a little bit of a modern picture. And I'm gonna use one from our state, from Missouri. How many of you guys know of a famous president that? He's from Missouri. Somebody, anybody? This, yeah, Truman, that's right. This is the participatory part of the the message. Truman, ⁓ he was from Missouri. Now he he came in as vice president, he became president. And one thing that was very interesting about Truman is the fact that that he actually didn't know that we even had it. An atomic bomb program when he became president. If you go to the to the museum, you'll see the letter from the Secretary of War as a follow-up message saying, you know what, Mr. Truman, actually, we really do need to meet. I I know I said this before, but there's a few things you need to know. Something was on Truman's desk throughout a few years of his presidency, and it was a sign that says the buck stops here. You guys ever heard about this before? This is a poker term and it refers to if you're playing poker, you're you know, the dealer is supposed to pass around the table. Don't ask me how I know this. The dealer is supposed to pass around the table. And you're moving you're moving the buck to whoever the dealer is so you can keep track of gameplay. And if you're nervous about having the responsibility of dealing, maybe because somebody's gonna accuse you of cheating later, then you can pass the buck to somebody else to deal. And then you don't have to carry the responsibility. And so when someone says the buck stops here, what they're saying is, I And the one to be held responsible. It's a it's actually a major, major risk the person is taking on. Now, what puts this sign in, what puts that and makes it a little bit more sobering, when this sign was given to President Truman and he started displaying it on his desk, just was just two months after the decision was made to drop the bomb. In other words, he made a decision. There was a heavy decision, and whether it was right or whether it was wrong, the responsibility of that decision stopped at his desk. And ultimately, it was no one else's to carry. You guys see what I'm saying? In the same way, Christ has the ultimate desk. He carries what none of us can carry. Fourth, Christ is the deliverer, protector, and savior. We get this in this passage, five hundred twenty two. And when we see the word savior, most of us are probably going to jump straight to the cross, and that's good because Jesus does save us through his death. However, this original term starts from deliverer language back in the Old Testament. This term of deliverer or savior or Messiah figure, this would apply to Military leaders, guys that are coming up figuratively on a white horse, the shining night, to rescue and deliver someone. When you see the language here, it's actually kind of romantic. I know this probably isn't the first thing that hits you right off the bat when you first start reading Ephesians 5, but there's a romance of language here that Paul is drawing on. Because Christ is all these things, he is the head. And so the church submits to Christ and this allows Christ to work in and through us. It opens, it gives him permission to allow all the benefits of his power and authority and anointing to flow through us. Has anybody ever tried to give a present to someone who didn't want it? Is there anything quite as awkward as that? You're trying to give someone something, they're like, I don't want this. As followers of Christ, as his beloved, when we submit to him, it allows his gifts to flow freely through us. The blessing, the culture that he establishes will flow freely through us. And if there's no submission, the strength of his authority doesn't benefit it like it should. So wives submitting to your husbands can allow your husband to rise to the occasion. How so? In anchoring, in protecting, and providing for the family. This can unlock a new season of growth, maturity, and love in your family. God does not set, I want to be clear about this, He does not set wives to sit in a position of some kind of abuse in marriage. That is not of God. There's a very stern warning given to husbands multiple times throughout Scripture. We see it clearly in First Peter. And that instruction is given to say basically if you mistreat your wives, even your prayers are not being heard. Now I want to pick out a word here from Ephesians 5. And the word is this: it says, wives submit to your own husbands. That word own is a Greek word. Wives, if you get nothing else out of it, you might want to tune into this one today. It's a Greek word that says is idios, okay? And yes, it does sound like idiot. And that is where the word comes from, actually. So, at the risk of cutting my own ankles off, you could read this to say, wives, submit to your idiot husbands. I'm just joking. Word development etymology travels a long way throughout time. There's a long story that goes beyond where that word, how it evolved. If you want it, we can talk later or you can Google it. ⁓ But this word refers to your own, your private, the one thing that belongs to you alone. So wives, submit to your own husbands, not to another man. No Just as it would be a travesty for the church to look to another source for provision and protection and guidance and attention and affection and love. Outside of Christ, so it would be just as dysfunctional for a wife to look for attention and affection and guidance and protection and provision from another man beside her husband. If you've been frustrated with your spouse or had difficult times, it can be very tempting to look at another man. That appears to have it all together and say, I wish my husband was more like him. I wish he was better at listening. I wish he was more spiritual. I wish he made more money. I wish he had more time. I'd like to just lovingly tell you, if that's ever gone through your mind, or you've ever been tempted to go down that road, first, if you knew the man that you were trying to compare him to, like you know your husband, you probably wouldn't be that impressed. And that goes for everyone that comes on this stage as well. All the pastor's wives said Amen. Second, the man, if he's doing this right, the man that you married is slowly using up the life God gave him to protect and provide for you. Other men, no matter how good they may seem or are, they're not spending their life on you. And in the end, that does count. Third, a man who gets up and works to provide for his family and provides for them regularly is spiritual. More than that, it's godly. Wives, you're asked to submit and respect your own husband because he's the man tasked. This is his job from the Lord, with spending his strength, his mind, his resource, and his life providing, protecting, and helping to make help you make it. That's his job. And no other man has that responsibility. Now, all the wives can exhale. Husbands, are you ready? This is gonna hurt so good. Listen guys, when we preach up here we are preaching ourselves. So we're carrying this. Growing into it ourselves. Ephesians 5, 25, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church, and he gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. Husbands, you've got a simple job. Lay down your life for your wife. Spin your life for her. If you're really quiet, you might be able to hear it leaving your body. Do everything you can possibly to make sure that she has what she needs and she makes it. The words Paul uses here reflect back to the tabernacle, their tabernacle language. And he sprinkles these words. He just sprinkles them through them. We're just gonna hit it real quick so you can see it. Sanctify, cleanse, washing, presenting, without spot or wrinkle, holy, without blemish. It's describing the work that was done to make the sacrifice and the priests ready for God. And the association here is that Christ sacrificed himself to make sure the church. has what she needs. So husbands, you go and do the same. If she needs to talk, you listen. If there's a sacrifice to be made, you go first. You make sure that no other woman on this planet gets your heart, your ears, or your eyes like your wife does. This is your responsibility as a good man and a follower of Christ. And I don't listen, I don't want to downplay worship through song here. What we have here is very beautiful, and we want to foster that. But there is probably no greater act of worship than men, what you'll do with your yeses and your no's throughout the week. That's where the rubber meets the road, guys. We can say and sing and cry anything when we're in a room and the good music is flowing. What beautiful, true, pure worship looks like a lot of times is how you're managing your phone, how you're acting around other women. You guys hearing me on this? ⁓ it's quiet, guys. Come on now. How you manage your thought life, how you protect your spouse. Don't underestimate this. Don't make Christianity something ethereal. This is a very tangible thing. Husbands, watch your words. Christ washed his church with his word and it cleaned her. What are you washing your wife with? Right? First Peter, ⁓ it's interesting that Peter has Peter and Paul are like, I was gonna use an analogy and that's not a good one. Peter and Paul are, they address this same topic from slightly two different vantage points. And Peter lays out ⁓ a little section that I think is really helpful for us, husbands. ⁓ And I probably because he's married. He's married, and I think he probably has a couple little things in his tool belt that Paul might not have. God pours through him in 1 Peter, he writes a letter and he says this. He says. Likewise husbands live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. This verbiage he's using here in the Greek is valuation language. In other words, what something costs, how valuable it is. And think less, gentlemen, think less like a bad tool, a weak tool, a cheap hammer, and think more like a priceless heirloom. The weaker vessel. How many of you guys have ever been in a store that has some expensive stuff and you had your kids with you? Anybody? This is what Peter's saying here. You're walking through, you kind of like focused on something, and then you hear something behind you, and that sixth sense, the mother saw it first, not the dad's. The sixth sense shows up, and you turn around and you're like six-year-olds holding like a $300 piece of something that's glass. And you're like, ⁓ be careful with that. It's Yeah, whatever words you just said there. It's expensive. It's valuable. It's pricey. The Greek here is very specific on on valuation. Make sure you value her properly. Take care of her. You know, I don't have an Aston Martin. I'm not really a sports car guy. Like I appreciate it. Sorry guys. I'm like that does that just doesn't crank my tractor or whatever the word is. ⁓ Give me an off-road vehicle and I'm great with it, you know, something that'll pull something, but you wouldn't use your Aston Martin to haul compost. And if you would, you probably shouldn't have it. ⁓ you also wouldn't use your golf clubs to dig a latrine. So don't get frustrated with your wife if you're trying to treat her in a way that you would treat a bro. She's not a bro, bro. You know? It's not to say you can't be best friends. My wife and I are best friends. We were best friends before we got married. But she is my bride. She's my spouse. There's a story in the Old Testament, and I would encourage you gentlemen to write, really just like, look, you may not be into romance, but go read the book of Ruth. The reason why I'm gonna say this: husbands and wives, may look, there's a little take-home assignment for you, some homework. The book of Ruth is not long. Go and read that story. It is a beautiful picture of husbands and wives togetherness. And something that challenged me years ago as I read this is how Boaz honored Ruth. You have this woman who shows up, she's an immigrant from Moab, and she busts her butt taking care of her mother-in-law. So much so that the Jewish mamas and daddies in the land notice her. And they're like, man, she's she's rocking it. And Boaz, instead of sweeping in and being like, go back to your home there, lovely lady. I will take care of everything. Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle. You know? He doesn't, he doesn't, he doesn't do this. He just tells his workers, make sure she has enough. Make sure that when you're going through cutting, like Make sure you're leaving a few extras behind so she can pick them up. In other words, he does not steal her good name from her. He allows her to go and get it. And because of that, she's able, think about the long-term thinking here, guys. She's able to have a reputation of honor and status in a land that she would be a nobody in. He allows her to work that out. And he doesn't force himself on her. Not at all. He doesn't sweep in and try to just offer to like, I'm I'm gonna fix everything, I'm gonna take care of everything. He realizes, you know what, I'm I'm a little bit older, there's some younger studs around. I'm just gonna make sure this girl has what she needs and I'm gonna play it cool. And likewise Ruth when she comes. What does she do? Boaz, get up from there and marry me. What's wrong with you, you know? That would be the Western story. That would be the Western version. She comes and she gets at his feet. And she says, spread your cloak over me, cover me. I I'd like to I'd like for you to be my covering. Can she get by without him? Probably. She's a capable woman. But being with him is a blessing, not just to her, but to both. And their story actually brings us the line of Jesus. Isn't that gorgeous? Sheesh. Practical tools, guys. Practical tools. I'm just gonna give you two, husbands and wives, just two rules. These are just something to try. Number one, for both the husband and the wife, think about asking. What do you think? Everybody practice it. Here we go on the count of three. One, two, three. What do you think? Husbands and wives, if you have a hard time, like you you kind of like, woman, just let me do my thing, or he always screws everything up. I'm just gonna, you know. Maybe pick some time in this weekend, just say, what do you think? What do you think about this? A small first step for mankind. Second one, start praying for your spouse. Now some of you guys already do this. Maybe you pray for your spouse together. Maybe you guys pray together and that's wonderful. There's nothing wrong with that. I would challenge you to pray while you're by yourself. While you're by yourself, while you're in your car, gentlemen, when you first get to work, when you're getting ready to clock out, when you're de-greasing your hands, let your mind go to your wife. Think about what she needs and ask the Lord for it. And just keep doing it again and again and again and again. And I bet you. Your heart is going to grow for your spouse. Let's move on. Families. Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. This is ⁓ chapter six. Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land. First, parents, you're teaching your children honor and respect for you for their good. I'll say that again: you're teaching your children honor and respect for you for their good. This seems like what? This sounds very self-serving. It's for their good. Why? Because it is a commandment with a promise. In other words, when your children, you can use this by the way, parents, when your children are a little challenging, you say, you know, it's actually better for you if you obey and honor me. One thing that ⁓ we were talking, my wife and I, we were we had we had kids about you know real young. And ⁓ one of them to protect their identities, one of them ⁓ was being just a little challenging. And my wife had asked them him to s you know do something, and and he said, uh-uh. Started, yeah, yeah, that's what I did. And she laughed because it kinda you know, kids it's kinda cute, it's got like a cute and she kinda looks at me and I said, Yeah, it ain't gonna be it's cute now, it ain't gonna be cute when he's sixteen and he's head and shoulders over you. And then it's too late. You better take care of it now. And so I did. When you teach honor and respect to your children, that has a benefit for them long after you're gone. Proverbs 29:17 says, Discipline your son and he will give you rest. He will give delight to your heart. And that's true, guys. I can tell you that from experience. Dads, second part of this. Don't be a jerk. Don't provoke your children to anger. Don't lose your sanity and fuss and yell and carry on and throw things around when your child does something that frustrates you. Teach them about the Lord and correct them in the Lord. Just some practical tools with this. Number one, is three. If you want to write these down, I think they're good. Number one, read and pray with your kids. Try to do this every day. Read and pray with your kids. It doesn't have to be much. It doesn't have to be an hour-long intercessory session. It doesn't need to be whole chapters. If you got young kids, take them through some Bible stories. But do it. Try to do it every day. Number two, don't talk to your don't talk your kids to death. This is something I've had to work on. How many of you guys like enjoy trying to talk things out with your kids? Nobody. Awesome. Well, If you're ever tempted to, can I just give you some advice? Words alone will not solve every problem. So you can talk until you're blue in the face. You're like, don't you understand? Don't you understand? Why would you do this? No, they don't understand. That's why you're the parent and they're the child. Okay? So there are some things, if you're talking to your five-year-old. Your five-year-old does not have the capacity or world world experience to know what you're talking about. So how do they learn? Well, through consequence. And all of a sudden, boy, those synapses start firing like crazy in that brain. It's amazing, it works. Consequence. Hold the line, this is number three, hold the line for those of us who have made mistakes in our past, who has made a mistake they regretted either in life or family. Yeah, a third of you are being honest. That's good. ⁓ there's a temptation to kind of go easier on your kids because you know in the back of your mind, I've got a failure at that point. And I would say that is a really dumb move. Guys, I'm gonna say it again. It's a really dumb move. I feel strongly about this because that could be my story if I let it. The enemy will beat you up one side and down the other if you let it. If you're redeemed of the Lord, you're redeemed of the Lord. Move on. Embrace his truth, embrace his word, take authority in your home and hold the line. Amen? Okay. Thank you for that. That was a birdie. Onto work, bondservants. This is verse 5. Obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye service as people pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the who? Lord, and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord. Our job is ministry. Your job is ministry. If you're a stay-at-home mom, you have the ministry of stay-at-home momness. If you're if you're working in a call center, you have the ministry of getting hung up on. I'm just It's tough work. Cold calls in is is tough. I remember my parents and grandparents teaching me Ecclesiastes nine and ten. Some of you guys who like had hard working parents probably beat this into you. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. And I remember I had a job. I was very young. I don't remember how old I was, fairly young, young enough for this to be my job. There was a table in one of the classrooms at our church, and I was sitting in there with a cleaning rag. And they said, Clean that table. And I remember somewhere in the back of my mind, it stuck out to me. I'm working for Jesus. I'm working for Jesus. And I was a little kid. I started to imagine Jesus coming to that table and sitting down. With a smile on his face. And I started scrubbing that table, man. And I scrubbed that table, I scrubbed that table. Once I got to the end, I started scrubbing the edge, hit the legs, cleared some cobwebs out underneath. And when I finished, I got to the doorway and I turned around and looked. And I said, Yeah, I think Jesus would like sitting at that table. And guys, that's cute and all, but that we need to never lose our wonder. Simple obedience. When we're working or we're doing tasks, especially the meaningful ones, you know. Do it with your savior in mind, and I promise you you will not lose a reward from it. We're in a long game. Some of you guys have been in tough job situations, probably most. But we're in a long game. Don't cheap out because it's tough. If it's time to move on, move on, but finish well. Like no quitting unless it's for a really good reason. I mean something moral going on. No, like I'm angry and so I'm gonna throw in the towel and storm out. Protect your testimony. Bosses, managers, overseers. There is no hierarchy in the kingdom. The same respect you would give to a coveted business contact, you need to give to your lowest level employee. And some of you who are not bosses yet, you remember that. Take that and tuck it in back of your mind. Be careful, be careful not to ruin your testimony. Three hurdles, I'm just gonna hit these real quick, and this would just apply to the whole topic of submission and sacrifice. Number one is what you've learned. This is a hurdle you're gonna have to jump over. You might have been raised in a home that did not do marriage well. Or did not do parenting well, or did not do working well. You're gonna have to leave that behind if you're going to move forward with the Lord. Hurdle number two, you may have had made a bad habit. How many of you guys have ever had a bad habit before? I have. And you know what? Let me just tell you right now: by faith, the Holy Spirit is powerful enough working in you to break bad habits. But it will often require you to make a decision and say, you know what? I want to stop doing this. I want to stop. Freaking out on my child just because they surprised me with the wrong choice. I wanna stop s huffing off at work because I was given something I didn't want to do. Hurdle number three is your attitude and your outlook. Decide right now things can be different. Things can be different. Doesn't have to stay like that. You can go from glory to glory. Why don't we all stand this morning? If there was one thing I'd want for all of us, one thing. All those words. That was a whole bunch of yapping. If there was one thing I would want all of us to latch on to, it would be this. Let the word of God work on you. Let the word of God work in you. We're gonna do this as we're releasing today. Would you just put your hand right on your heart? This is not nothing magical or whatever. It's just, God, I want this to mean something besides words. And if you like, if you see something, you want to grow in something today, just let this, you just pray your own prayer while I'm praying. Father, I ask in the name of Jesus by your Holy Spirit that you would work us into the image of Christ. God, over wives that are struggling in a situation, Lord, I ask for the grace of the Lord to empower them. Especially those with lost husbands. Wise, if you've got a lost husband, you've been praying for him, I ask in the name of Jesus, God, that you would send help and bring that man to the truth in the name of Jesus. Father, over husbands, that they would be anointed as priests and leaders in their homes to love and cherish their wives, to lay down their life for them. Father, over our kids, Father, I ask that you would give us what we need to raise them well. Men and women of honor. Father, in the workplace, I ask that you would help us to carry your light in truth. Let these things be in Jesus' name. Everybody said, Amen. Guys, be blessed in the Lord. Enjoy the day.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention Proverbs 29:17