Get Ready With Me

You're listening to a message preached at Front Range Baptist Church by Pastor Dean Miller.

It is our prayer that this message will be a help and an encouragement to you in your spiritual walk.

Now, here's Pastor Miller.

Those of you that are visiting, it's always encouraging to come into a church that's in the middle of preaching through a book of the Bible, and they come to a powerful and encouraging text like we're going to read today.

Our text today is 1 Peter chapter 3, verses 1 through 6.

1 Peter 3:1–6

Why, likewise, you wives, be in subjection to your own husbands.

That if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives, while they behold your chaste conversation, coupled with fear.

Whose adorning, let it not be the outward adorning, a plating of hair, or wearing of gold, or putting on of apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price.

Notice verse 5 For after this manner also in the old time the holy women who trusted in God adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands, even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters ye are as long as you do well and are not afraid with any amazement.

And I want you to bear in mind the context here, because the context of this is that Peter is dealing with believers who are s he calls them strangers and pilgrims.

Strangers because they're living in foreign lands, foreign language, foreign culture, foreign lands, foreign ethnic origin.

And now they call them pilgrims because they're on their way to heaven and they're living in a world that is not.

And so on two fronts, they have a strange place in the world.

They are foreigners in the world, but they are believers in an unbelieving world.

And Peter's context here is telling them this is how you need to live in that environment so that you can bring glory to God and win others to Christ.

And he starts it back in verse 11 of chapter 2 by telling them the first thing you need to do is go to war with your own flesh and abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.

And he's saying here, I want you to live a pure and godly life.

Listen, if you're going to make a difference in the world, you're going to have to live different than the world.

You cannot run to the same things, you cannot run to the same environments, you cannot pursue the same pleasures, you cannot follow the same philosophies that the world follows if you want to make a difference in the world.

So Peter said, the first thing you need to do is go to war with yourself and submit yourself to God.

Then he says in verses uh 13 and on, he said, Then I want you to learn to submit to the civil authorities, legitimate authorities, governors and mayors and police officers and all of our legitimate officers of the law.

We need to submit ourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake.

If you're going to make a difference in the world, you need to be uh bring yourself under subjection to God and abstain from fleshly lust.

Then you also need to bring yourself under subjection to the civil government and live not as an anarchist, but live as a Christian citizen who follows the law.

Render under Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.

And then he says, uh, and then in verse 18, he says, I want you to, I want you to understand that you're living in a culture where there are genuine slaves and slave masters.

There are people who were born indentured slaves.

They're in a family.

You don't get to choose your master.

You might have a master who is good and gentle.

You might have a master who is forward.

But you have no choice in your position.

And so submit yourself to your master in the fear of the Lord and uh and be a submitted slave.

And that's very difficult language for many of these believers to hear.

I'm gonna live a submitted life to God personally and keep my life pure and clean according to this word.

I'm gonna submit myself to civil government, and I'm gonna submit myself to those in my life who have authority over me.

And Peter's saying, if you want to make a difference, this is how you live.

The world knows how to go to protests, the world knows how to live in anarchy, the world knows how to live in rebellion.

And in fact, the Bible tells us that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.

It is a dire problem when you have a rebellious heart.

So Peter said, now look, that's your public life.

This is the life that everybody sees.

But let's go inside the home into the life that nobody sees.

Let's talk about wives and husbands.

Now, I want you to remember this.

Next week is Friend Day.

So Friend Day, we're gonna back up and we're gonna preach to the verses that are the foundation of these verses.

Verse number one starts likewise you wives.

Verse number seven starts likewise you husbands.

So, husbands, in a couple weeks, you're gonna get your message, okay?

But we're gonna predicate, this is all predicated on the verses that we're gonna preach next week, and I want you to see them.

Look at verse number, look at verse number 21 of chapter 2.

For even hereunto were you called.

Because Christ also suffered.

Now remember, he's talking to people living in foreign lands under unjust, they're living under Nero.

They're living under an unjust culture, they're living under slave masters, many of them.

And he said, But I want you to remember that Christ also suffered, leaving us an example that we should follow his steps, who did no sin, neither was Guile found in his mouth, who when he's reviled, reviled not again.

When he suffered, he'd threatened not.

But what did he do?

He committed himself unto him that judgeth righteously.

Likewise, like just like that, wives, be in subjection to your own husbands.

Just like that, husbands, that's how you're gonna dwell with your wife.

So, what he's gonna talk about here is he's gonna talk about a wife who has a beauty that never fades.

He's gonna talk about what it means to be a godly, beautiful wife in the face of an unbelieving husband, a husband that does not obey the word.

Now, some of you may not understand this, but in our world today, in social media culture, we have uh a trend called get ready with me.

And a lady sets up a camera and she's like, get ready with me, and she does her hair, she does her makeup, and and and then she has her OOTD, outfit of the day.

And uh, this is my outfit of the day, my OOTD, hashtag OOTD.

Look at my outfit of the day.

Come get ready with me, we're gonna do my hair.

Now, when my girls were growing up, um, it was YouTube channels, and it was always the same voice.

Hey guys, today we're gonna do our makeup tutorial, and we're gonna take this powder, and we're gonna take this sponge, and we're gonna dab dab dab dab, and we're gonna just put it and throw away the sponge.

I'm like, no, that's an$80 sponge, we're not throwing that away.

And you're gonna dab, dab, dab, then wipe it off.

That was 160 bucks.

You're not wiping that off.

And I would hear them in there doing their little makeup tutorials and all of that.

And so today's message is get ready with me.

It's the godly women of old who said, This is the outfit of the day.

See, here's the problem today.

We live in a world that is obsessed with appearances.

We've taught our young people, and especially young ladies, that if you're gonna get ahead in life, you have to be attractive, you have to be aggressive, and you have to be available.

So they dress and behave and deport themselves, available, attractive.

I'm I'm uh here I am, look at me.

And uh and we think that's how you get ahead in life.

Well the Bible says, no, no, no, no, no, modest apparel, shamefacedness, a purity of heart, purity of character, and if you're gonna get ready, your outfit of the day ought to reflect the beauty of Christ.

See, in our world today, billions of dollars are spent every year on cosmetics, clothing, hairstyles, procedures designed to preserve the outward beauty, nips, tucks, injections, eyelids, lips, all kinds of things.

And I've I can speak with authority to this.

I've been married for 30 years and I've raised three girls in a world that puts tremendous amount of pressure on women.

This is what you have to be.

This is the model you have to follow.

This is on every magazine cover.

This is on every TV show.

This is the portrayal of what a woman is to be.

And I want to tell you, God has a different way of getting ready in the morning.

In fact, when you do your hair, you better be working on your heart.

When you're putting on your clothes, you better be making sure that you're cultivating your character.

Because this is the godly beauty that never fades.

The problem with putting all of your work into your outward beauty is you young ladies are gonna one day be old ladies.

And your color of your hair is gonna come from a bottle.

And the beauty that God's gonna talk about today never gets laugh lines, it doesn't get crow's feet, it doesn't wrinkle and fade.

It just gets more beautiful and more beautiful as the days go on.

So Peter is gonna give us a contrast of the world's beauty and the beauty that God says you ought to have.

So let's get ready with a godly woman today.

Let's see the outfit of the day.

Number one, I want you to see her godly conduct.

Verses 1 and 2, likewise, you wives be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives, while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.

Peter begins by addressing a wife's conduct toward her husband.

And I want you to see a couple things about her conduct.

Number one, her conduct demonstrates a biblical spirit.

Likewise, you wives be in subjection to your own husbands.

That word subjection comes from the Greek word uhseo, which means putting yourself under an established order.

It is not a declaration of inferiority.

This is what always gets said when a preacher preaches on submission.

I mean, in the world today, you would think that what I should have titled the message today is how to be a misogynistic, sexic, bigoted, chauvinist pig.

But what always gets preached and interpreted is that what we mean by submission is inferiority.

When Genesis 1.27 says the man and the woman are both created in the image of God.

In Galatians chapter 3, that in Jesus Christ there is neither male nor female, bond nor free, Jew or Greek, that the foot of the cross is level and equal, and that all of us have equal standing in Christ.

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

A husband is not spiritually superior or in any other way superior to his wife, except at being a man.

My wife is superior to me in so many ways.

She is far more superior at me at being a woman than I am.

And I'm grateful for that.

She has great superiority.

But this is what always gets taught.

You know, and I remind you of 1 Corinthians chapter 11 when Paul said, here's the order of authority in the world.

1 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

God is the head of Christ, Christ is the head of the man, man is the head of the wife.

And we always think of headship as boss.

No, headship is not privilege and position, headship is responsibility.

So when Jesus committed himself to the Father, the Father was responsible for Christ.

Now let me ask you a question.

Is Christ inferior to God?

Yes or no?

It's not a trick question.

No.

Jesus said, I and my father are one.

He thought it not robbery to be equal with God.

He did not violate one thing of the glory of God to claim equality with God.

Why?

He is God.

So is Jesus inferior to God?

No.

But what did he do?

He submitted himself to him and said, Not my will but thine be done.

He committed himself to him that judges righteously.

Okay.

So is a wife inferior to a husband?

Yes or no?

No, in fact, they're one.

He made them one flesh.

But what does she do?

She understands that the responsibility is to come under the established order that God has put that her husband has not privilege but responsibility.

And so she comes in with a biblical spirit of submission.

Submission does not mean unquestioning obedience.

Wives, you do not have to obey your husband if he asks you to sin.

The Bible says in Acts chapter 5 that we ought to obey God rather than man.

Acts 5 · chapter mention

If a husband asks you to involve yourself into something that is morally and biblically objected, then you do not have to obey that.

Submission is not exclusively the responsibility of wives.

The Bible tells us all believers are to equally submit ourselves one to another in the fear of the Lord.

Husbands have their own serious responsibilities.

Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 25.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

Husbands, love your wives even as Christ loved the church.

Okay, let me ask you a question.

How many husbands in this room are submissive to that command?

How many husbands are submitted to the command that you are loving your life, your wife, as Jesus loved his wife, sacrificially, completely, and giving yourself to them to meet every need physically, emotionally, spiritually, to nourish them.

So it's not exclusively a wife's command.

What happens is when people get their ire up about this, it just tells you about your heart.

What your heart says is, I don't want to do that.

And not to him.

Well, every one of us has to submit.

Biblical submission is not a statement about a woman's worth, it is an expression of her trust in God's wisdom.

Biblical submission is not a statement about a woman's worth, it is an expression of her trust in God's wisdom.

I want to say, secondly, her conduct demonstrates a powerful witness.

If any husband obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wife.

Peter is specifically addressing here wives that are married to unsaved husbands.

A husband that has not obeyed the word.

He has not submitted himself to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

These husbands are not responding in faith to the gospel.

Peter tells these wives that their conduct may become a powerful testimony to their husband.

When they see a wife respond with patience, integrity, kindness, faithfulness.

Over time, that husband may begin to recognize the reality of something beyond herself, that there is the reality of Christ in her.

A transformed life is what makes the gospel attractive to somebody who has privilegedly rejected its message.

I've said this time and time again, but the most powerful testimony to the gospel of Jesus Christ is a transformed life.

I was once blind, but now I see.

And when the blind man was standing with them, they could say nothing against it.

Why?

Because he was different.

Now don't confuse this that Peter is saying that this husband is not going to be saved without the word of God.

When he says without the word, he's not saying that salvation comes apart from the Bible.

Faith only comes by hearing and hearing by the Word.

We are born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God.

If you're going to get saved, it's because it's the hearing of the Word of God.

So don't think that Peter's saying that a man can be saved without hearing the word of God.

What he's saying is, is he can be won not by your preaching, not by your word, not by constant nagging or berating.

But notice what she is saved by.

She is saved, he is saved by the continued life of chastity and purity and submission.

And he may begin to ask himself at some time, what has made the difference in her life?

And the answer will always come back to one thing: Jesus.

Someone say also that her conduct demonstrates, this godly conduct demonstrates reverence for God while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear, joined with respect and reverence.

Peter's describing a woman whose life is characterized by moral purity and godly respect.

Notice that the husband beholds her conduct.

He's watching that.

He observes not merely what she says in public, but how she behaves in private.

And she sees he sees genuine relationship that is in her life towards God and towards him.

And she begins to see Christ cultivated in her heart.

Genuine godliness is not what you are on Sunday.

Genuine godliness is what you are in your home on Monday.

Wives, what does your husband see when he observes your daily conduct?

Does he see a woman whose relationship with Christ is producing patience?

Purity?

Kindness and peace?

Does a husband have to be worried when he sees his wife walking out the door as to how she's deporting herself when she's going out in public?

Or as the Proverbs 31, husband, his heart safely trusts in her.

As husbands, we have to ask the same question of ourselves.

Does our conduct make it easier or harder for our wives to see the character of Christ?

And of course, this principle applies to every believer, but he's talking about in the context of our home.

You may not always be able to persuade people with your arguments, but you can always demonstrate the reality of your faith through your behavior.

And then they see Jesus.

So Peter now moves away as he's getting ready, as a showing a godly lady getting ready for the day.

He moves away from her godly conduct into her gorgeous character.

Verses 3 and 4, he talks about the adorning of a wife.

It's not outward adorning, a plating of hair, a wearing of gold, or putting on of apparel.

But it's the hidden man of the heart.

I think these are some of the most beautiful words in Scripture that talk about godly womanhood.

Peter is contrasting here the outward adornment with inward character.

We spend so much time getting our hair ready and the right earrings to match.

We get all of our outfits on and our shoes and all the outfit and everything that goes together with that.

But sometimes we do all of that and we don't cultivate the inward character that matches that.

See, what Peter is doing here is he's saying right now, if you want to get ready with a godly woman, the first thing you're gonna understand is that her beauty is not primarily external.

Peter talks about plating the hair, wearing gold, putting on of apparel.

Now, I've heard a lot of people misinterpret this and say women shouldn't be able to fix their hair or put on makeup or jewelry.

Well, if you're gonna be consistent with the text, that means she can't wear clothes.

Not as a plating of hair or wearing gold or putting on of apparel.

We all know that she needs to put on apparel.

It's okay to wear jewelry, it's okay to fix your hair, and you should.

Peter's making a contrast between outward appearance and inward character.

He's not saying that a woman should neglect her outward appearance.

What he's saying is that her outward appearance should not become the primary source of her identity or her beauty.

And I'm gonna tell you, you young girls, listen to me.

If you build your life on how you look and your beauty, you're gonna be disappointed the older you get.

Because that beauty will always fade.

It is corruptible beauty.

What you need to be working on is maintaining a pleasant character and heart and attitude.

See, the problem is when outward beauty becomes more important than inward godliness, there's a certain kind of ugliness that comes from that.

The book of Proverbs calls it a gold ring and a pig's snout.

Is a beautiful woman without discernment.

She just takes her beauty and lets the world drag it through the mud.

Used and abused by every boy that comes along.

But that's not what God desires for you.

Proverbs 31 and verse 30 says, Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.

Physical beauty is temporary, but Christianity and Christian character lasts a lifetime.

There's nothing wrong with outward beauty.

If you're beautiful, you didn't choose that.

You were born that way.

How are you gonna use that?

What will you do with?

That.

You can have a beautiful face.

It's just like Hollywood today.

Hollywood are people who have the looks of angels and the morals of alley cats.

They're vile.

And our culture teaches women to measure their value by how they look.

God measures character by what's in the heart.

Her beauty is also developed internally.

It's the hidden man of the heart.

This expression refers to the inner person.

Peter directs our attention away from what people can see to what part of you only God can see.

People love to use that verse.

Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.

I've seen people use that to justify why they're dressed inappropriately.

Well, men look on the outward appearance.

God sees my heart.

Well, yes, he does.

And if God sees beauty on the heart, it will be seen in our deportment.

Because the heart is the source of our attitudes, our desires, our motivations, and our decisions.

Peter says that the most important beauty a woman can possess is displayed inwardly.

By the way, you can't buy a beautiful, godly spirit at Sephora.

You can't go down to the doctor and have them inject enough of that in your face.

It only grows through walking with God.

It is only developed by prayer.

It only comes through a life of obedience.

It only matures through trials and difficulties and pressure.

And it only deepens under obedience to the Holy Spirit of God.

This is the difference between outward appearance and inward character.

Outward beauty can be applied in minutes.

Inward beauty is developed over a lifetime.

Outward beauty can be purchased.

Inward beauty has to be cultivated.

Outward beauty eventually fades.

Inward beauty continues to grow.

It is not corruptible.

Hey, you want to be beautiful for the rest of your life?

My mother died at 79 years old, radiantly beautiful.

Godly Christian.

My wife has grown more and more beautiful over the years by her spirit.

See, this is an imperishable beauty.

Age is going to diminish your strength, it'll change your outward appearance.

But a woman's spirit can become more beautiful with every passing year.

I've got to close.

We're way behind time.

Her beauty is expressed through a meek and quiet spirit.

Let me give these to you very quickly.

A meek spirit is not a weak spirit.

The word weak is an old English word that was used for what we do with horses.

Today in our Wild, Wild West, we say we break a horse.

Back in the Old English, they would say they meeked a horse.

They brought that horse, all of its power and beauty, under the control of the rider.

And before women get all up in arms about, well, I mean, I'm meek and client.

Just to be a little wallflower, let me just remind you, Jesus said, Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek.

Meekness is a quality of Christ.

It is strength under submission.

It is strength under the power of the Lord.

Not only that, she has a quiet spirit.

What does a quiet spirit mean?

Peter's not teaching that a godly woman should never lift her voice or have an opinion or talk about her concerns or her convictions, and that she just has to be, like I said a moment ago, a wallflower and better seen and not heard.

That's not the idea.

The idea here of a quiet spirit means a tranquil spirit, a peaceful spirit, composure.

She's not constantly agitated.

She's not constantly contentious.

Not always anxious.

There's a deep peace.

And by the way, you know what these things are?

These are the fruit of the Spirit of God.

You cannot buy that in a bottle.

You have to get it from the power of God.

I want to just tell you something.

I have been a blessed man.

I am so grateful today that for 30 years, when I have walked inside my home, not my house, but my home.

That for 30 years, when I step inside that home, I can always go.

And it is a peaceful place.

My wife has cultivated a spirit and a heart in our home where we can have peace and tranquility.

This is the kind of woman who can speak truth without being cruel.

This is the kind of woman that can speak her concerns without being contentious and embattled and embittered.

She demonstrates strength without harshness.

It's the kind of character that is cultivated only through surrender to the Holy Spirit.

Gentleness and temperance are fruits of the Spirit.

It is in the sight of God of great price.

This is probably one of the most important phrases in this whole text that God looks at that and says, that is valuable.

That is far above rubies.

That is valuable to me.

What is God's treasure?

Not expensive clothing, not impressive physical appearance.

God is not impressed with how you look.

God is impressed with your heart.

It is that heart is a precious stone.

It's the difference between costume jewelry and true diamonds and rubies.

Social media can't celebrate that.

The world overlooks that.

Popular culture doesn't understand it.

The world mocks that.

But God sees it and calls it precious.

There's nothing wrong with caring for your appearance, but how much attention are you giving to the condition of your heart?

And the last thing I'll say today is that she has a glamorous confidence.

You've noticed today that I've preached with my suit coat buttoned, I've stayed right, you know, I'm just behind this for protection.

I have a bulletproof vest on.

But the Bible says after this manner, in the old time the holy women also adorned themselves.

And who does it say they were?

They were women who trusted in God.

Peter goes back to the examples of Old Testament women.

Notice the thing that's important.

He describes, before he describes their conduct, he describes their source of their confidence, their glamorous confidence in God.

They trusted in God.

That's the foundation of everything that Peter has been teaching all the way back into chapter 2.

That you have to have faith and confidence in God.

These were women who trusted in God.

Notice that her confidence is in the Lord.

This phrase unlocks the entire passage of scripture.

Why could these women live with meekness?

By the way, these are in days, in Old Testament days, when women were sold as property.

How could they live with confidence?

They live that way.

How could they live with meekness?

How could they live with a quiet spirit?

How could they demonstrate faith in difficult situations?

Not because they were confident in their husband necessarily.

Their confidence was in God.

It doesn't say that they trusted in their husband's perfection.

They trusted in God.

They didn't say, the Bible doesn't say that their husbands always made the best decisions.

Many of these husbands made horrible decisions and they failed to demonstrate trust and faith in God themselves, and they didn't give godly leadership.

But these godly women place their confidence in the Lord.

Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 7 says, Blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord, whose hope is in the Lord.

Jeremiah 17:7

Her confidence was illustrated by Sarah.

Before you jump thinking, man, Sarah was a great woman, let me just remind you, this was not a perfect home.

When the example of a good marriage is Abraham and Sarah, Abraham is the guy who endangered his wife twice by saying, She's not my wife, she's my sister.

He's the guy who brought Hagar out of Egypt and then had a baby with Hagar.

It was not a perfect home.

And Abraham was not this guy that just was a rock solid man that demanded leadership and he always lived for God and he was always the guy making the best and right decisions.

No.

In fact, he was often getting out of line and had to be corrected by God.

But what did Abraham hear Sarah call him in Genesis 18?

My Lord.

And he references that here.

What it reflects is that she had respect and recognition within her marriage towards the role that God had given Abraham.

Abraham and Sarah experienced uncertainty.

They were always moving.

They lived in tents.

She just couldn't run down to Walmart and buy anything.

Abraham made serious mistakes.

Well, let me tell you what the Bible says.

Let me tell you what God's testimony of Sarah is in Hebrews chapter 11 in the Great Hall of Faith.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

In verse 11 of Hebrews 11, through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age.

Why?

Because she judged him faithful who had promised.

She judged God faithful.

Her confidence was not in Abraham's perfection.

Abraham and Sarah faced an uncertain future.

They had left familiar surroundings.

They had followed God out in the middle of the desert.

They lived as strangers and pilgrims.

Sound familiar?

They waited and waited and waited for this promise from God.

They experienced over and over again disappointments and uncertainty, but God's promises remained sure.

And Sarah discovered that God makes promises and is faithful to keep them.

Ladies, let me tell you something right now.

Your peace does not rise and fall with every circumstance in your marriage and family.

Your peace does not rise and fall with every decision your husband makes.

Your confidence needs to be in God.

And her confidence overcomes fear.

As long as you do well and are not afraid with any amazement, what does this mean?

Do well and don't be afraid.

Do right when circumstances are difficult.

Ladies, find out what God has called you to do and do it even when it's difficult to do it.

Do right when the outcome is uncertain.

Do right without being ruled by fear.

You know why?

Listen to me.

Ladies, listen, when you become fearful and uncertain of your future, and you think, oh man, my husband's making a terrible decision.

This is gonna mess us up, but we're gonna lose our retirement.

I mean, I don't know how we're gonna do this.

I mean, I don't know if I listen, when you let fear dominate, let me tell you what happens.

Fear in a lot of people is seen as anger.

Fear will produce manipulation.

Fear produces the desire to control other people.

Fear enables a believer to obey God.

Our faith enables a believer to obey God without demanding control of every outcome.

The fear of man brings a snare, but whoso puts faith, his trust in the Lord shall be safe.

So, ladies, a godly woman one day said, Get ready with me.

And what does she do?

She put on godly conduct, she put on gorgeous character, and she put on glamorous confidence in God.

You talk about a wonderful O O T D.

That is the outfit of the day.

Oftentimes we hear people say, well, the husband's the head of the home.

And he is.

God has given him that responsibility.

But the wife is the neck.

She's connected to the head, and she can turn the head.

And when a wife has the character of Christ, she can turn her husband's attention back to Christ.

And what a beautiful partnership.

When she's a fitting helper.

Ladies, we are not competers, we are completers.

And through that, God can take two things that are different and make them one and get the glory for it.

Father, I pray today that we would be reminded in this world that has absolutely tried to destroy the home.

Oh, Lord, how many marriages are on the rocks.

And simply because their marriage is not founded on the rock, we're not doing it your way.

We claim to, we say we're Christians, we say that we're Bible believers, and yet sometimes we're not Bible behavers.

And so, Lord, I pray today that you would help every one of us to be surrendered and submitted to the Word of God, to see what true godly womanhood is all about.

Cultivate the heart, cultivate the character.

Let the Holy Spirit rule within us.

What an ornament precious to God.

Lord, we need to call back to this.

In a world that has put so much pressure on women.

Lord, you have called us to trust.

You do a work on the inside that is more glamorous, more beautiful, more precious than rubies.

So I pray for our dear ladies.

Lord, I pray as they live as strangers and pilgrims in this world, it won't be popular in this world.

It won't be popular among other people to be the godly Christian that they ought to be.

But it'll be popular in heaven.

You love it.

You cherish it.

You value it.

So help them to see their value in that.

Our heads are about, our eyes are closed.

Let's stand if you're able to, all over this room.

We're going to take just a moment to pray.

Maybe, husbands, maybe take your wife by the hand and pray with her and just say, Lord, thank you for my wife.

Help me to be the husband that I ought to be.

My wife to be the wife that you've made her to be.

That our marriage would be a union that would glorify you.

Let's pray together today.

If you need to be saved and you need to know Christ as your Lord and Savior, if you've never been born again, leave your seat right now and step right here to the front.

We have prayer partners down here.

Step right to the back.

Someone will take the Bible and give you the gospel and teach you what it means to be saved.

Worldly philosophy, worldly thinking, worldly behavior has crept into the church.

We cannot have rock solid homes without this.

Father, we're grateful today for what you've done in our hearts.

We're thankful for the family that we are as a church.

Lord, I thank you for our dear family here.

Thank you for the love that they've shown to us today.

And Lord, you know that we humbly are grateful for that.

But Lord, I pray that you would help us to live worthy of the vocation that we're called.

That we would walk in obedience to the scripture.

Thank you for your word today.

Build us strong, Lord, in the faith.

Strengthen our homes, our marriages, our young people.

Give us a heart that will pursue you and not ourselves in this world.

We pray this, Lord, that we would be testimonies for Christ.

I pray we'll bring a lot of friends next week that we can introduce to the gospel.

What a great day it will be as we hear about our friend that we have in Jesus.

We thank you for what you do for us in Jesus' name.

Amen.