Matthew 7:6

Speaker 2: And then that was a fun song to listen to. Appreciate that. Take your problems. We have and turn to Matthew. Chapter number seven. Matthew, chapter number seven is where we're going to be. Don't stand just yet. Um, I'll do my introduction first and then we'll read and then we'll get into the message. How many of you are familiar with Benjamin Franklin? Oh, good. A lot of milk. How many of you are familiar with Elizabeth Powell? Really? All right, cool. Elizabeth Powell was the lady that stood outside of Independence Hall waiting for the Constitution delegates to finish their work. She was a very influential lady at the time. She was the wife of the mayor of Philadelphia. And she was known almost as well in Philadelphia as Benjamin Franklin because of her her wit and her humor and her her striking questions that she was able to put forth to people. In fact, when the Constitution and all convention was going on, she would routinely host the delegates in her home to ask them pointed questions about how things were going. And so it was Elizabeth Powell who asked Benjamin Franklin as he came out, what kind of government have you given us, a republic or a monarchy? And of course, you're probably familiar with Benjamin Franklin's response. He said, what? Republic. If you can keep it. Now, the the facts of this story have been debated. Mrs. Powell, asked about it later, did not actually remember the interchange. Some say it took place in her home, not in the streets. But some of you are familiar with Franklin's writings. You know that he regularly would make a comedic statement that had just, like, a tinge of darkness to it, you know? I mean, he's he was pretty interesting. Of course, I've told you this growing up. Home schooled. You know, we we didn't do the normal history books that probably most of you would be familiar with. My mom had me read all kinds of books The Faith of George Washington, The Faith of Robert E Lee. I remember doing several projects on Benjamin Franklin. And so some of the quotes I'm going to share with you here, they're not they're not out of the ordinary for what you would expect to hear from Benjamin Franklin. But here's another one. Tell me if you don't think this might have some truth to it. When asked about the the first president. Washington had just been elected. Benjamin Franklin said this. He said the first man put at the helm will be a good one. Nobody knows what sort may come afterwards. Yeah, we've seen that a few times. He went on in that same quote to say this. He said, The executive will be always increasing here as elsewhere till it ends in a monarchy. Interesting. There's another addition to that same section of writing where the similar theme is told of his his comment to Mrs. Powell, a republic, if you can keep it. And then he went on and he said, And why not keep it? I think we've seen in recent days the importance of having checks and balances in our nation's government. Franklin went on to say this, he said, Because the people on tasting the dish are always disposed to eat more of it than does them good. I was a fan of BlueBell Ice Cream. I know exactly what he's talking about. A little taste of something good and you just keep on going until it's not as good for you. This morning, I want to talk to you about the importance of protecting those things that are valuable to us, guarding them, making sure we don't misuse them, making sure we don't waste them, definitely making sure we don't expose them to people who will destroy them. And this is right here in our passage today. And so I hope it'll be a help to you if you're there in Matthew seven. Why don't you join me in standing in honor of reading God's Word, and we'll get into the passage here this morning. I want you to go back and read verse number one, because it does it does play into the message here this morning. Jesus says, Judge, not that you be not judged for with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged and with what measure you meet. And shall we measure to you again? Why behold this now, the moat that is in thy brother's eye, but consider not the beam that is in thine own eye. How will now say to that brother, let me pull out the moat out of thine eye and behold a beam is in thine own eyes Thou hypocrite First cast out the beam out of thine own eye And then thou shalt see clearly to cast out the moat out of that brother's eye. Verse number six is our passenger this morning. Give not that which is wholly under the dogs. Neither cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and render you. Now. I don't know if you catch the irony here, but what did Jesus say in verse one, Judge? Not let's be judged. What does he say in verse number six? And you better judge, because there's some people out there that behave as dogs and swine, and you better not give them the things that are valuable to you because they won't value it. They'll trample it and they'll turn around and tear you up. We'll look at this a little bit more this morning as we get into it. But let's go ahead and ask God's blessing on our time together here this morning. Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for the people that are here. Thank you for preserving your word for us all these years. Thank you for a country lord that you have blessed us in particular to be able to live in where we can freely gather today without fear of of reprisals or or interruption. And God, just as your people to peacefully study your word together for claimant's truth. God, I ask that you bless us today. Give me the words you have me to say. Help the folks that are here to listen and apply with you here to their lives. It's in Jesus name. I pray. Amen. Thank you. May be seated. All right, so I wanna deal with this in a little bit different way. The first thing I want to do with you this morning is I want all of us together to consider the two valuable things that Jesus is referring to. In verse number six, he references things that are holy, and then he references the pearls, which are the things that are valuable. So we have a sacredness and a value that we want to consider. And I think the point that he's trying to make for us is, as his disciples, all of us have things in our life that are that are valuable and that are holy. And so first, let's consider those things which are holy. Now, a lot of people, I think, have a slightly skewed idea of what holy means. Perhaps you think of someone in a choir robe or with maybe a light bulb behind their head, shining beams of light from behind them, and they're standing there with this or some other gesture that looks very pious. And whenever they walk into the room, you just hear, Oh, like, Oh, that person must be holy. That's not exactly the picture of the word holy. The word holy refers to something or someone that is set apart someone or something that has been dedicated for a purpose. There's a lot of wood out in the world, isn't there? Is all wood holy? No. But this wood is wholly. This right here is wholly white because it has been set apart for a purpose. I mean, there there are a lot of lecterns. There are a lot of, you know, note holders. They're not all holy. This one is holding. Why? Because it has been dedicated for a specific purpose. This is the piece of wood or the collection of wood that has been set apart for the purpose of holding God's word. And for this time of studying God's word. Is there anything special about this wood other than the fact that it's been set apart for this purpose? I mean, is this like wood from Jerusalem? I don't know. I wasn't here when it was built. Doesn't anybody know? Is this wood from Jerusalem? They're saying no. Okay, so this is just normal. This normal what? That's been set apart. Okay. Okay, that's good. At my last church in Virginia, where I was on staff as a youth pastor. Of course, you guys know me by now. You know, I'm a Dallas Cowboy fan, right? Now, you know, living in the D.C. area. They're not cowboy fans, by and large. In fact, they don't like the Cowboys very much at all. The Washington football team formerly known as the Washington Redskins, now currently known as the Washington commanders. It's it's confusing. They're all big fans up there. And so one day, one of the deacons thought it would be funny for the pastor in the church to play, say, Dallas Cowboys bumper sticker on the pulpit. Stuck it to the pulpit. That's not what this is for. This is holding. This is not an advertising piece of wood. This is for the preaching of God's word. And so there was a little bit of a, you know, consternation about, you know, what the pulpit had been used for. This is not just any piece of wood. This is the place where we come together to hear God's word proclaim. But other than that, there's nothing special about this wood. But it's been set apart. It's been dedicated to this purpose. The word holy is regularly connected to words throughout the New Testament, such as the Holy Ghost, a holy city, a Holy Name, Holy Prophet's Holy Covenants. Holy Calling. Holy First Fruits. Holy Brethren. And. Yes. Holy cow. I'm just kidding. That's not in there. The list goes on and on. God has given all of us things that are holy, things that are sacred, that have been set apart for a purpose. And we'll talk more about some of those specific gifts in a moment. But you're I mean, you're a thinking adult. You have the Holy Spirit living inside you. You can probably start to come up with a list of things in your life that you have that are holy. If you've got a physical Bible in your lap today, I would assume that it probably says somewhere on it. Holy Bible. Okay, holy book. A book that is set apart for a purpose. We've been given access to these holy gifts for a reason. They have a purpose in our lives and the purpose of the Holy things that God has given us. Is to bring glory to him. The purpose of the holy things that God has given us are to produce holiness in us. Only things that are in our life are given to us for the purpose of producing holiness in others. I can't help myself. I've got to give you at least one illustration. Your marriage is holy. It was given to you for a purpose. Your marriage was given to you for the purpose of glorifying God. Your marriage was given to you for the purpose of producing holiness or sanctification within yourself. Because living with another sinful, fallen human being. Guess what? That's kind of hard sometimes. A lot of times. For them, not for you. You know, living with you is hard for them. I'm not being very clear here. Your marriage is holy because it was given for a purpose. Your marriage is wholly because it helps to produce holiness in others. Your marriage is a demonstration of the gospel. So the Fusion tells us. There are things that we all have which are holy. There are also things, gifts that we've been given that are valuable. Jesus. When he talks about something of value, what does he say? His need to cast your. Pearls, as you may, wearing pearls today. Nobody won. Pearls. I don't know what you think of pearls. Maybe you don't like pearls. Maybe. Here, pearls are your favorite. But Jesus refers to pearls in this illustration. And it's not by accident. If I said something about an iPhone, how many of you would know what I'm talking about? How many of you don't know what an iPhone is? Nobody. Okay. If I was going to talk about Disney, how many of you have an opinion about Disney? Okay. All right. How many of you don't even. You've never heard the word Disney before in your life. Okay. So it's like pretty, pretty wide, you know, understanding of what we're talking about. Well, Jesus, when he says pearls, he's not talking about pearls. Just because he decided to talk about pearls. He was being strategic and using pearls because pearls were kind of having, you know, like a little bit of a heyday at that time. You know, every year they come out with the most popular toys for Christmas. Remember Furbys and the insane rush on Furbys? Did they have a Furby? I never got to have a Furby. I'm not bitter about it. But, you know. Furbys. Tickle Me Elmo. You remember that one? That one was nuts. Tamagotchis. You remember tamagotchis sticking little egg pet things that died on you? I mean, yeah, I remember those. Razor scooters. You remember razor scooters? Okay, so you understand there are things that that pop up every time, and everyone knows about it. Everyone's looking for it. Everyone has an opinion about it. That's the way pearls were at this moment. Let me tell you a little bit about pearls during Jesus day. Pliny. Pliny. That's a name. Pliny like wining with Paul at the beginning, Pliny the younger said in 100 A.D. that pearls were the most prized goods in all of Roman society. That means rubies, emeralds. Now, pearls was what every person of status was looking for, especially those pearls that came from the Persian Gulf. I'll just do some quick geographic work in your head. I'll turn it this way so that it matches what you're looking at. Persian Gulf is over here. Roman society is over here. This is in between there. Huh? Mediterranean? Yes. Where you get to the Mediterranean? Israel. Guess where a lot of the pearl traffic, pearl commerce was headed during Jesus's day. Israel. Those those Jewish workers down at the docks barely getting by. They barely have enough food to to feed their families. They're under the oppression of Rome, and they're having to ship these pearls onto boats. They're having to transport these pearls for the rich people in some other society. And they're looking at those pearls thing, and it'd be nice. I could buy my wife some pearls. Ladies. All I can say, man, be great if I could wear something as beautiful as that. The pearls for the Jews. Pearls for the Jews were unattainable because of their their national condition. And so importing these pearls to Rome meant they had to go through Israel. And it was during this age of the Roman Empire that Pearls became very widely sought after some of the Persian Gulf. Pearls from this time actually made it as far north as the Vikings. That's how widely they were sought after. And so Jesus uses this modern example of something that was extremely valuable and extremely sought after to make his point. He says neither. Cast your pearls. It'd be like me saying, Hey, just be careful with what you do with all of that platinum you're carrying around in your pockets. Like. How many platinum? Hey, you know that handful of diamonds that you stowed away, you know, in your pocket? Be careful what you do with that. Like I don't have a handful of diamonds. Jesus, neither cast your pearls. And they're like, pearls. You got pearls? James You've got pearls. Pearls. Peter You have. I don't have any pearls. I've never seen a pearl. I never even seen a pearl. I know what they are, but I've never seen them. They don't have pearls. But what's he doing? He's trying to make a connection. Is it. Is it okay for us to say or is it too much of a stretch to connect the holy things with the valuable things and say that perhaps they were the same? That it was wholly and valuable. Not like you've got, you know, the candy, the goods and plenty, and you got your goods over here and your plenty is over there. It wasn't like they had their whole lives in their valuables. Jesus says, No, they're the same. You have things in your life that are both holy and valuable. Jesus is trying to get his listeners to understand is that the holy things that they have in their life are to be seen as valuable. They are to be seen as sought after in the lives of his followers. If you remember, the Sermon on the Mount is all about the life of a disciple. And the life of the disciple is characterized by things that are wholly invaluable. All of us have to answer the question regarding the things that we hold as wholly invaluable in our life. Do we treat as wholly the types of things that a disciple of Jesus should hold as holy? What are the things in your life that are holy to you? What are the things in your life that are valuable to you? It's the word of God. Holy. To you. A valuable to you. I said your marriage earlier. Is your marriage wholly invaluable to you? What about your children? But your relationship with God. What about your relationship with his church? You know, the sad thing is for for all of us, there is a constant pull and temptation for us to cheapen the things that God has identified as wholly and valuable to us. It's it's a large part of what we're trying to go through in our city and in the Sunday school class that some of y'all are a part of. You know, not everything that America identifies as valuable should be valuable to the disciples of Jesus. Devalued holiness is a problem in the life of a disciple. When we devalue holiness, that's a problem for us as followers of Jesus. And it's something we're going to come back to in just a moment. Now, let's move on. We've got the two things holy, holy and valuable. Holy and valuable. But Jesus also references to other things to animals, dogs and swine. I thought about doing this. I decided not to. I showed a picture of a puppy up there. Just imagine. What would your response have been? Oh, yeah, that's good because they're good with that. Okay. If I showed a little baby piglet up there, what would you do? I was waiting for someone to say Yum. Our culture really cannot comprehend the mindset of the contemporary Jewish culture towards the animals, dogs and pigs. It's so foreign to us. You realize that by and large, throughout Jewish culture, neither dogs nor pigs were domesticated. I was reading about the Wild Dogs of Africa and said, It is impossible to domesticate the wild dogs of Africa. It looks like a dog. It's a member of the dog family. You cannot domesticate them. And the dogs you had living among the the people therein in Israel were not the kind of dogs that you would accept into your home. I mean, today we see pigs and we see dogs living inside of people's homes. And my little brother Joseph's here. Do you remember the time where mom was, like, researching and was, like, on the verge of buying a pig to add to our collection of animals? I mean. Huh. Yeah. A potbelly pig. I mean, have you seen people walking their potbelly pigs on a leash? I mean, who would have thought we'd get to the point in our society where, like, you know what? We have so much extra of anything. Of everything. Let's buy a pig. And keep it as a pet. I'm not going to eat it. It's going to be our pet. We're going to name it. So. So today you see those things? I mean, it's even a a symbol of sophistication for a lot of people. You know what kind of dog you allow to live in your home? Don't raise your hand. How many of you have spent over $1,000 on a dog before? It's not as crazy as it sounds. A lot of people do it. People spend hundreds and thousands of dollars, not hundreds of thousands, although that maybe is true to the hundreds and thousands of dollars on their dogs and pigs because.

Speaker 1: They're so cute.

Speaker 2: I love them. It's a member of my family. This was nowhere close to the the society that Jesus is talking to. There were not hardly any other animals in the world, in their world, I'm sorry, that were viewed lower than dogs and pigs. I mean, this was. The Rats of our day. If I show a big old, nasty rat up on the screen, what is what is your response going to be? That's all about dogs and pigs. What makes this statement so eye catching is the very clear implication that Jesus is not referring to literal dogs and pigs, but rather people. That he classifies as dogs and pigs. I was not referring to dogs and pigs because of their reputation. He is referring to dogs and pigs and domesticated because of their actions. Swine are presented here. Because of the way they respond to the pearls. They're presented with something valuable from somebody. I mean, you just put it in your mind, the picture of this Jewish farmer who has somehow come across pearls. Multiple pearls. This unattainable, highly valuable object. And he takes these pearls that he has acquired. And Jesus, the picture he's painting is that he goes out to his his sly. And he shows them the pearls. Look, Inky, look at these pearls. Aren't they beautiful? Would you like some of these pearls? Okay. Throws his pearls out into the mire. That pig, of course, reaches down, picks up that pearl, begins to polish. It begins to stare at it. The pig says.

Speaker 1: My pet is.

Speaker 2: I didn't think I was going to laugh at that. But thank you. The pig has no sense of value with those pearls. It's just another rock. It's just something else to be trampled underneath its feet. It means nothing to a pig. If I had a handful of South Sea pearls, the most expensive pearls available to us today, and I cast them out into the audience. How would you respond? It'd probably be like VBS when I throw candy out to the kids who got church members elbowing each other in the face trying to get some of these pearls. But if I take that same same handful of pearls, which are potentially worth over $100,000 and cast them into a pig pen, those pigs aren't going to give them a second look. Jesus talks about pigs. He's he's showing us this picture that these pigs take something valuable and they just walk on it. They if they step on it, they're just going to push it deeper into the mud. Pigs are a representation of indifference to things that are wholly invaluable. The pig is not going to attack you because you put the pearls in there. He doesn't care. It's indifferent to the things that are wholly invaluable. Wild dogs have a slightly different response, according to Jesus, whereas a pig might respond with indifference. A dog might respond with violence. Imagine a child in Jesus day, a little kid and Jesus is day. He doesn't have the history or the experience to know, to just leave the stray dogs alone. You know, I mean, he sees an animal and he wants to play with the animal. He doesn't care that the animal's gross and mangy and covered in fleas. So he feels sorry for the dog. You know, maybe it's a little tender hearted child and he sees the dog's ribs and in his mind, the dog must be hungry. And so he goes after this stray to give him something to eat. And this dog is has hardly any interaction with humans. And the interaction he does have with humans is, you know, getting kicked, getting yelled at, having things thrown at him. It does not view this little kid with kindness in its heart. And so the dog smells the little piece of meat or the little piece of bread that's in the child's hand. He walks over in its hunger, smells the food, gets hungry and snaps at that kid. I mean, have you? I mean, I've seen my pet dogs get excited about a tree and accidentally snap my hand or somebody else's hand. I've seen that or my only one. I'm doing it wrong. I don't know how to give a dog a treat, I guess. That dog's teeth. Which are gross. Break that kid's skin and cause the child to bleed. Of course, the child cries because it's hurt. But, you know, kids, he also cries because he is offended that the dog has rewarded his charity with pain. The child didn't. Didn't think that he was doing anything wrong. He sees the dog. He feels sorry for the dog. He wants to give the dog something good. He can see the dog is hungry. And so in the innocence of his little child heart, he reaches his hand out to give the dog something to eat. But the dog, because it's a wild animal, snaps at him, bites him, latches onto his hand and hurts the kid. Now we know that that kid's probably not going to do that again. He learns from his mistake. But there are people out there who respond like that. Don't. And it's not the same as the the farmer casting his pearls out to the swine. There may have been good intentions, but because of a. Because of a lack of judgment. This child has just gotten hurt because he tried to give something valuable, something that had a purpose to a dog. Dogs represent. In attack in response to things that are holy and valuable. Jesus is using both of these models to illustrate the responses that some people have to an offering of wholly valuable things. Some people, you offer them something wholly. You offer them something valuable. And they're indifferent. Parents. I know I'm not the only one. How many times have you tried to do something nice for your kids? You're going to take them somewhere special. You're going to bring them a gift and not that they're brats. But they're just indifferent to it. You know, they don't understand the cost associated with what you tried to give them or do for them. And they're just indifferent. Other times. We try to offer someone something wholly invaluable. And we're met with hostility. Jesus wants his followers. To be judicious. In their management of things that are holy and valuable. Notice I said judicious, discerning, not judicial. I'm not I'm not I'm not the judge, jury and executioner for somebody else. But I'm going to be judicious about how I manage and steward the holy and valuable things that God has entrusted to me. It specifically tells us. To give them not. Neither cast. Those are pretty strong statements. How do we discern these things? How do we know who we can share or give or cast our holy, invaluable things to? Well, it's why you had to go back to the first five verses of Chapter seven. This. We have to be good judges. Of who we share our valuable things with. We have to be discerning and judicious about who we allow to influence those things that are entrusted to us that are wholly. Of course, as I said last week, this can only happen when we have undergone self judgment for ourselves. What does it look like? What does version number six look like? In real life. Well, let's think of something together that is either wholly or valuable. We already said your. Your marriage is holy and it should be valuable to you. What about your children? Are they valuable to you? Have they been given to you for a purpose or are they set apart? Yes. On this Independence Day, I have set my children apart. To be good citizens in the global community. That's not why God gave those children to you. God placed those children in your home so that you would train them and set them apart to be disciples of Jesus. What about your purity? Is that holy to you? Is that valuable? Your eternity is valuable to you today where you spend eternity. You're here on Independence Day weekend. A lot of other things you could have been doing. I would assume that probably the majority of people that are here, maybe not all, but the majority of people that are here are here because you have a relationship with God. You have. You have made this a priority because you value your relationship with God. You put a high priority on that relationship with God is valuable. It's holy. What about your reputation? Is it valuable to you? Can we go on with other things? And I guess would you just stop? Get it. You wrote down an exhaustive list of things. All right, well, let's think about how we might manage these precious things in our life. If your kids are valuable to you. Are you going to let an influence come in that will trample or tear up all that you've invested? Your kids are valuable to you, right? You see, your responsibility is wholly to train them to be disciples of the Lord. So are you just going to let anybody come into their life and influence them? Friend. Digital connection. The people that they are influenced by in the media they consume. Coaches, teachers. No teacher would ever try to corrupt my child from following God. Are you.

Speaker 1: Blind?

Speaker 2: I don't care how clean they look. You're their parent. Go check them out. We've got teachers in our our church. I know that they would not be offended if a parent took an interest in their own child. And said, Hey, I'd like to just get to know you. My kids are going to be spending more time with you than anybody else. I want to know who you are. That is your right and responsibility as a parent. You're careful about who your kids friends are, aren't you? Or do you just let your kids go over to somebody's house? You've never met the family. You never met the kid. You don't know who Johnny is. Johnny could be a serial killer for all you know. If your kids are valuable. If they are holy to you, then you're not going to cast them out before the swine. They don't care about your kid. Your kid is just a number. Your kid is a source of income. Your kid is just another like or follower so that they can make more money. Don't cash your kids before the swine and Doncaster. Don't give your kids to the dogs. They're going to turn around and rip them apart. This is. I don't know. You don't seem to like this, but I don't know what to do for you. Let's move on. You don't mess with people's kids. If your marriage is valuable to you. Let me ask you this. Are you going to let another person come in to that relationship that will disregard or actively oppose the sacred purpose of your marriage? Can a man take fire into his bosom and not be burned? Can you play with fire and hold it near your stomach and it not burn you? No. But that's what a lot of guys do at work. With their email coworkers. With. The people they're interacting with on social media. They can flirt. They can be extra friendly. And, you know, nobody's ever going to know. I'm not going to act on it. I'm just. Well, you're just a pig. You're indifferent to the holiness and value of your marriage. So is that person you're having a relationship with? Your relationship with God is with God is valuable. Are you going to let someone else cheapen or break down your time with him? No. You're not going to do this because these things are precious to you. That's why we want to know. That's why we want to have a say in who is teaching influence in our children. That's why we don't flirt with people that are not our spouse. That's why we don't play with sins like pornography. It's why we don't as Christians, give ears to false teachers. You don't have to know what all the false teachers are saying to know they're false and that you shouldn't be listening to them. It's why we don't let recreation, laziness or busyness come between us and our relationship with God. How many of you in here are busy today? Is anybody busy? All that stuff going on? Yeah, we all do. Anybody in here ever struggle with laziness? Don't let those things come between you and God. We as Jesus disciples, possess things that are holy and valuable blessings to us. God has given them to us so that we can bring glory to His name. God has given us things so that we can be more holy through through our relationship with Him. And God is giving us these things so that other people can become holy. Through a relationship with Jesus Christ. There are people that do not care about these things in your life. There are people who actively seek to destroy the valuable things in your life. You and I, as disciples of Christ, Jesus is giving us the responsibility to carefully manage the good things He's given us. As the under shepherd of this church, I have a responsibility to point out the dangers that are out there to you. But I can't live your life. You don't want me to live your life? I would do a bad job at it. I can barely live my own life. But it's your responsibility. He's given you holding things and used some valuable things. How valuable are they? Well, like pearls were to the Roman Society. What are you gonna do with it? You going to cast it before those that are indifferent? Are you going to try and hand it off to someone that will respond with hostility and violence? Are you going to hold them, dear? We're very blessed as Americans because by and large, to a large extent, we have the freedom to do this. It. It costs. But it doesn't cost what it costs. Some other cultures. You know. Well, Peter, we've talked before about homeschooling. By and large, nobody's going to come knocking on your door with with, you know, police authority to take your kids out of your home. I know things have happened strangely, but mostly you are free to make that decision for yourself. You can you are free to to if you if you so decide to put your kids in a Christian school. Oh, that. We could never do that. You could. Well, that would require a lot of sacrifice. Yeah. It would. Well, it's just. That's just not an option for us. Okay, you're free. To schedule a meeting with your teacher and say, I'd like to know. Who you are. And what you're going to be teaching my child. You're free to do that. Well, but I'm really busy. Too busy for your kids and their education. Too busy to go check up on who's investing in their life. It does cost all of these costs something. The same is true about our marriages. It's going to cost you something. You may actually have to live a monogamous life. But if it's valuable and it's holy, we're convinced of that. Then this will be an easy decision for us to make. The Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for the good intention of your people. Thank you for the good, holy, valuable things that you have placed in our life. Kind of focused on two of them. But, you know, there are many other good gifts that you've given to us. Your word. Our relationship with you, the gospel. Lord, help us to be good stewards of the gifts that we have received. I was not a. Cast them out. People that are indifferent to them. Or would seek to destroy them. Help us to protect those good things that you've given us. Well, I pray for the. Parents that are in this room, fathers and mothers. Husbands and wives. Or pray that you would use your Holy Spirit to strengthen them today for the task at hand. Well, I pray for our teenagers that are tempted on a regular basis to cheapen their holiness. The things that they watched and the things that they do. What I pray that they would see their purity as holy and valuable to you, that their future is wholly invaluable to you. God they would commit today not to waste those things. Lord, we love you so much and thank you for all that you've done for us. Help us now. During this time of invitation to be submissive to your will. The multiple in your hands. Jesus name. I ask these things. Amen.

‍