A (0:03)

Welcome to Mariners Church Weekend Message Podcast, inspiring people to follow Jesus and fearlessly change the world. Discover your purpose and get connected by visiting MarinersChurch.org or click the link in the show notes.

B (0:26)

So good to see everybody today. If we haven't met, my name is Eric and I'm really glad to worship with you today and to look at the scripture. I grew up in the New Orleans area hearing a fable that I know Many of you have heard the fable of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf. The version I grew up with was a bit more rough than the version that Kay grew up with in a kinder, gentler part of Louisiana. The version I heard growing up is the big bad wolf shows up at the first pig's house who built his house out of straw and says, little pig, little pig, let me in, let me in. And the pig says, not by the hair of my chinny chin chin. And the wolf says, well, I'm gonna huff and puff and blow your house down. And blows down the house. And eats the pig. Eats the pig. I shared that with Kay and she's like, oh my gosh. Where I grew up, the pig went to the other pig's house. Like went wee wee wee to the other pig's house. I guess the second home, the home is not made of straw, but is made of stick. And the big bad wolf is able to blow down that house as well. But the third home, no matter which version is, it's still the same ending. In the third home, the big bad wolf tries to blow down the house but cannot because the house is built on rock. It's made out of bricks. And the big bad wolf can't blow the house down. The moral of the fable was and is what you build on matters. You're going to build your life, you're going to build your relationships, your career. You're going to build on something. And the foundation matters. Jesus shared something very similar. Here are his words, the words of our Lord. Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn't collapse because his foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn't act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. This is the word of the Lord. Jesus gives a very quick parable, and it's a really clear one. You're gonna either be wise or foolish. And if you're wise, you're gonna build your life on the rock. If you're foolish, you're gonna build your life on the sand. Jesus presents himself as the rock throughout the Gospels. He's the rock, the one we can build our lives on. And if we build our lives on something other than him, we're always building our lives on something less than Him. And so be wise. Build your life on the foundation of Jesus and his grace and his truth. Build your life on that foundation. Now, what the wise person and the foolish person, the person who builds on the rock and the person who builds on the sand have in common is storms come for both of them and storms will come for all of us. We live in a world where there's evil and brokenness and there's trials and struggles. Storms are going to come, and you'll find out what your house is built on when the storms come. Is it on rock or is on sand? This is true for your relationships as well, which is why we're in a teaching series called Proverbs for your love life. And what I've been doing, and I'm going to do over the next several weeks is I'm trying to expose a proverb that you have heard from the world that is not true. That really is like straw or sticks or sand, not a great foundation for a relationship, whether you are single, dating, or married. I'm trying to surface a proverb that the world tells you that isn't true, that I'm going to, like, attack it, and then I'm going to bring you to a proverb in the word that is true. A strong foundation, a sturdy foundation. In our world, you will hear often statements that set up the foundation of a relationship based on very common beauty, attraction, looks. You have heard it said, love at first sight, or I'm gonna fall in love. As if I didn't even know what happened. I was just walking and bam. I just fell. It was like an accident. I met Kay my sophomore year of college, her freshman year, and I saw her from a distance, and I did think that she was very attractive and would love to have a conversation with her, but. But if someone hears us talk about how we met and started to date, if they would say, was that love at first sight? I would reject that because it actually cheapens the commitment that Kay and I made for one another. It wasn't love at first sight, nor was it falling in love as if it was an accident. I fell head over heels, actually head over the handlebars. Mountain biking six Years ago. That was an accident. I was with some guys from the church. And I mean, I hit a rut and then went over the handlebars and bam. Just hit the ground so hard. I mean, it was so painful. I knew something was wrong. The guys were so kind to carry my bike out, brought me to the hospital. The doctor says, this is a AC joint. It's a grade three separation. I'm like, what does that mean? He said, it means that this joints in your collarbone are never gonna be connected again. And I said, what does that mean? He said, you're always gonna. I hate to tell you this cause you're gonna start looking every time I preach. But this side, this side sticks up more than this side. And I'm like, is there nothing that can be done? And he said, well, typically not at your age. It's like he was saying, at some point you stop investing in the used car. At some point you stop spending money. And so I just kind of live, I just kind of live with it now. That was a fall, and it was an accident. What Kay and I have was not just a fall, an accident, nor was it merely something that was based on sight. Here's essentially what happened. I had been the president of the freshman class of that college ministry on the public school campus. And then my sophomore year, Kay comes to the school, and then she gets elected as the freshman president. And the executive director asked me if I would pray about mentoring Kay. I was like, yes, Lord, send me, send me. I, I, I feel the call of God upon my life to mentor Kay. Which was great because for a season, then we became really good friends. And I needed that because I was awkward. I was awkward. I needed that to help me have all these conversations with her. And then finally, we had been friends for several months, and I could no longer not ask her to go on a date. I wanted to take her to dinner so badly. So I was in my apartment and she was in her dorm room. And I picked up a phone to, like a real phone, Like a phone. Picked up a phone to call Kay. And I dialed the number. I'm joking. I dialed the number. And Kay answers. And I, I mean, I'm awkward. I say, hey, this is Eric. She said, hey. I said, I like you. She says, oh, I like you too. I want to take you on a date. She said, that sounds great. I would love that. Yes. I said, all right. That sounds awesome. Thank you. I'll talk to you soon. Realized right after I hung up that I didn't, like, set a Time or a place. So I was injured on the play, but I stayed in the game, picked up the call phone, called her again. And we've been married for almost 29 years right now. And I say that because I have a heart for the young men in our church. And I've had so many young men ask me, like, man, I want to pursue. I want a date. I don't even know how to start. I feel so awkward. And what I often will tell those guys, and I tell you, man, you feel more awkward on the inside than you're coming off. Come on, man, you can do this, man, you can. I believe I was awkward too, man, you can do this. But love at first sight lowers the commitment that I made decay. So we started to date. We dated. It really wasn't a long season at all. And I believed. I want to become one with her. I want to give my life to her. I want to esteem her and cherish her for the rest of my life above all else, above all other women. And she is going to be the one that I commit to, that I will lay down my life for her, that I love her, and I want to spend the rest of my life serving her as my bride. I committed to be one with Kay. So to call it just love at first sight would be to cheapen it. It was more than just physical beauty, more than just physical attraction. And if it's just love at first sight, then the foundation is sand, straw at best. Because sight changes over time. We've been married for almost 29 years. We look differently. I look differently than I did 29 years ago. And if it's only about what is sight? What happens if there's cancer? What happens if there's a car accident? We don't want the foundation of our relationship to only be sight. And all of us age over time. All of us do. Now, I know in Southern California we age better than anyone else in the world. We age the best. But even us, we refresh our settings more frequently than anybody else. But even us, we age as well. And so we want the foundation of our relationships to be more than just sight. I want you to see what the scripture says. So the world says, love at first sight. Scripture says, no, beauty is fleeting. This is God's word. Proverbs, chapter 31, verse 30. Here is the wisdom of the Proverbs. Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting. But a woman who fears the Lord will be praised. And you'll see. I will apply this to both men and women. Let's Leave this verse up for a moment. I want you to see, charm is deceptive, meaning if you are single and dating, be careful because someone can present themselves deceptively based on what you want the person to be, which is why you want community around you, which is why you want wisdom, because someone can deceive you. Charm is deceptive. And notice beauty is fleeting. So you don't want charm to be the foundation of your relationship. You don't want beauty to be the foundation of your relationship because charm can lie to you and beauty can flee from you. You want something else that's stronger to be the foundation of your relationship. And. And what the proverb says is, you want fear of the Lord to be the foundation that you want. Fear of God. Not. Not afraid of God, like he's going to strike me down. But no, an awe, a reverence of God. You want the foundation of your relationship, if you're married, to be. We have this mutual respect and adoration for God. And if you're single looking for someone, you want the characteristic that matters the most to you to not be beauty that flees, but fear of God that can grow. See, beauty never will grow over time, but fear of God can grow, which means your marriage can become stronger over time as you both have this collective together, all for who he is. Beauty, love at first sight is a too weak of a foundation for you. In fact, the whole definition of beauty even changes over time. I have two daughters, so I've been well aware of the pressure that women in our culture face to try to have these standards of beauty that are constantly bombarding you. But the whole beauty definition even changes throughout our culture. In the 1920s, the standard of beauty was a group of young women known as the flappers. They would wear really short hair bob haircuts, and they were extremely thin. And they wore at that time what was known as very short skirts to their knees. That's where the short skirt was in the 20s. In the 50s, the beauty of the definition of beauty changed. You had models like Marilyn Monroe and other curvaceous models who changed the standard of beauty in our culture from extremely thin to curvy. And then in the 1990s, things went back to extremely skinny. So even the definition of beauty changes in our culture. It's like fashion. If your clothes are out of style, just they'll be back in style in a while. And if you feel like your body type's not in style, just hang around, it will come back in style. The standards of beauty change. And so love at first sight is damaging. That phrase is damaging to those who are married because it tempts you to have beauty or appearance as the foundation of your marriage. But it's not strong enough to be a foundation for your marriage. And if you're single, it can cause you to look for the wrong characteristics in a person. You have heard people talk about the list. Even Christian speakers will say, hey, get a list of the qualities that you want in a person. Write that list down so that you don't date someone or pursue someone that violates that list. And I'm not against the list as long as the right characteristics are on the list and shallow characteristics don't make the list. And the right weight is given to the characteristics that are on the list. And oftentimes beauty is the top of people's mind list. Now, I'm still very attracted to Kay. I believe she is beautiful. She has aged like fine wine. I have aged like milk. I told her that and she's like, nah, that's not true, baby. Maybe almond milk. Maybe almond milk. But often what makes people's list is only external characteristics. What will make often a young woman's list. It relates to the guy's height and hairline. And I want to say young women, his height or his hairline has nothing to do if he's going to be a great dad or be with you in the midst of trials in your life, no bearing whatsoever on what kind of father he's going to be and how faithful of a husband he's going to be to you. His height and his hairline matter nothing for that. And young men, I'll say, as you look at a young woman, I want this color hair or this body type. Her hair and her body type have nothing to do with the kind of mom she's going to be for your children. And if she's going to be with you through your ups and downs and your career, nothing at all. Be sure the right characteristics are on your list. If you have a list. So what should be on the list? If you're single, what should be on the list? And if you're married, what really are the bricks that cause you to have a strong house? The three little pigs had an enemy. The enemy was the big bad wolf who came to huff and puff and blow the house down. Those of us who are married, we have an enemy as well. Our enemy, Satan prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. And he came to steal, kill and destroy. He wants to destroy your marriage. And so you don't want your marriage to be built on straw or on sand. You want bricks. You want a strong house, a strong foundation. So if I'm single, what characteristics should be on my list? If I'm married, what are the bricks that should be the foundation? I'm going to bring us back to Proverbs chapter 31. Proverbs 31 is often referred to as a chapter in the Bible about the woman. In fact, sometimes she trends on social media. The Proverbs 31 Woman and her characteristics are very admirable. But it can be a lot of pressure for a woman because it is a daunting list of characteristics. But I want you to see in Proverbs 31 that not only is the woman mentioned, but the man is mentioned as well. I want to pull the characteristics that we see in Proverbs 31 of both the man and the woman. Now, I'm a dad of daughters, and I've been praying for my daughter's husband since they were months old. Since I would rock them to sleep at night and feed them a baby bottle, I would beg God and I really would pray. Three for 17 years for my oldest and 15 years for my youngest. Three things. Lord, I pray that there will be a man that enters her life. I'm praying for her spouse right now, that he will love Jesus, love people, and work hard. Lord, bless my daughter with a man who loves Jesus, loves people, and works hard. So where do I get that from? Well, I want you to see in Proverbs 31, I put this chart together for you about both the man and the woman. We have this on the Mariners app if you want to see it. But you're going to see the characteristics in both the man and the woman. And if you're single, these are what I think should be on your list. This is the list I think you should have. And if you're married, these are the bricks you want in your marriage. First character. Among others. Both a man and the Woman in Proverbs 31 are people of character. Notice verse 23 about the man. Her husband is known at the city gates. So people look to this man as a man of character and integrity. He's a man of honor. People know him and they trust him. The woman is a woman of character as well. Who can find a wife of noble character? She is far more precious than Jules. It is said of the woman of character that she is more valuable than all the riches in the world. A woman and a man of character. They both also have compassion for others. Verse 8. The wisdom writer says that his mom taught him as a child to speak up for those who have no voice. So he cares for the vulnerable and for the marginalized. But the woman does as well. Verse 20. She extends her hands to the needy. They're both compassionate for others. They both have wisdom from above. It is not for kings to drink wine or for rulers to desire beer is what the mother told the son. He references it in verse four. He's basically saying, I was raised from a young age to not allow my desires to rule me, to not allow alcohol to run my life. But no, I'm gonna seek God and fear God, and his wisdom is gonna guide my life. The woman is wise as well. Verse 26. Her mouth speaks wisdom. And they also are both hardworking. Within he sits, the man does, among the elders of the land. It means he's been respected. He's been hard working in his life, in his career. He's not been lazy at all. He's well respected among the elders. The woman we know in Proverbs 31, if you read it, I mean, she's a very hard working woman. Verse 17 sums it up. She draws on her strength and reveals that her arms are strong. A strong woman. So these are the characteristics we see in Proverbs 31, and this serves an incredible foundation for their relationship. Let me walk you through these real quickly. First character, among others, both the man and the woman have this fear of God. The woman who fears the Lord will be praised. Beauty runs, charm can lie to you, but a fear from God for God can grow. And that's the foundation of their character. So if you fear God, respect God, have an awe for God. He will make you into a person of integrity. He will guard your character. And character is ultimately what you want if you're looking for someone to date. And if you are married, you want you both to grow in your character as the foundation of your relationship. Jonathan Grant, in his book Divine Sex, he offers a critique of online dating. He's not against online dating. He says, I know many who have married through online dating, but I want to offer a careful critique. He writes in his book, and I agree with his critique. I'm not against online dating. I know people in our church have married via online dating and God can use the tools of technology, but he gives a caution that I think is wise. He says that online dating came after online shopping. And because online shopping conditions you to look at what you're seeing on the screen as a disposable resource, you have to be careful that you don't transition that thinking to online dating and view people's profiles online as if that person is disposable and can just be thrown away. That you must see each person, each profile as that person is created by God and God loves that person. And what causes you to treat people well with respect and care is if you will fear God, have this character that is growing. You want someone who is filled with character. Now notice if you are dating, oftentimes people will start with the physical attraction. I shared this with our young adults on Thursday night and it was mind blowing for them, but I'm going to share it with you as well. What if you changed it? What if instead of asking, am I physically attracted to this person? And then let me get to know the person and see if they have character, what if you did the opposite? What if you found, if you're a young man, what if you found the young woman who loves God the most? What if you. What if you pursued the person who is chasing after Jesus with the fiercest intensity? Young women, what if you looked for a guy not based on how he looks, but what if you were first going after the person's character? What if you ask God to give you an attraction to the things that matter to him the most because beauty is fleeting? What if you said, God, help me see what you see. Help me be attracted to the things that you honor, the things that are most valuable to you. And what's most valuable to God. And what's most sustaining in a relationship isn't beauty because it's fleeting, but what is most important is the foundation of character. So what if instead of looking for the person who's the quote unquote hottest, what if you look for the person who's the most godly? The person who loves Jesus and their faith inspires you the most. Number one character among others. Number two, compassion for others. Both a man and the woman we see in the proverb that we read, they have compassion and kindness towards other people. And so when they get married, their marriage is beautiful because they enter marriage together not being consumed with what is it for me? Or what is in this marriage for me, this marriage is about me. No, they enter their marriage as a way for their marriage to bless the world. This is a beautiful vision of Christian marriage that one compassionate person commits to be united with another compassionate person, and they become one. And then they use their marriage as a tool, a means of God's grace to bless the world, to care for other people, to be Compassionate for others. Which means if you are single and you're dating, you should watch carefully how the person you start to date or you're interested in dating how the person treats others. Because how the person treats others is how the person's gonna treat you. And I've heard people say, no, no, I know that they're a jerk to other people, but they're so nice to me. If they're a jerk to someone, to others, one day they'll be a jerk to you. If the person always has drama around, the person is always gossiping about other people, one day that person will do that to you. As you are dating, if you watch the character of the person and you see that they are not kind and compassionate, they're not caring towards other people, that is a warning sign because you want to enter into a relationship where two compassionate people become one and then their marriage is away and to bless the world with their compassion. Number three, wisdom from above. You want someone who is wise. And according to the proverbs, wisdom comes from fearing God. You want the foundation of your marriage, if you are married, to be wisdom. I'm so thankful that when Kay and I got married, we had wise people around us who had the important conversations. And I know some of you were engaged and or soon to be married. And you are going through that process of having people speak into your marriage. I applaud you for doing that. That is wise to do. So there are all. There are important topics that those who have gone before us know that we should talk about. People talk to us about these things, the big ones. Family. How many kids do you. Are you talking about having? How are you going to raise those kids? What are going to be the priorities on the weekend? Is it going to be travel ball or is it going to be you worship together as a family? You should have that conversation. Sex. You need to have conversations about the sexual intimacy that you crave with one another and how you're going to safeguard sexual intimacy in your marriage. You need to have wise conversations about finances. Kay and I did as well. People sat us down. Okay, are you a saver? Are you a spender? Okay, how does this work? Are you going to have a conversation about how much percentage of your income you're going to spend? How much are you going to save? How much are you going to give? We had wise people in our lives have these conversations with us, and it was so helpful. But at the same time, you'll never be able to have all the conversations because life's gonna overwhelm you with things you never even thought about. There's gonna be trials that hit that you never could have planned. There's gonna be situations that enter your life that you could never have had a conversation about. Cause you didn't know it was coming. And in that season, what you want is a marriage built on wisdom. Because wisdom will guide you through those difficult challenges. And wisdom comes from fearing God. So you don't want someone who looks really good on the outside but is a fool on the inside. You don't want someone who is like really beautiful on the out, but on the inside they're a fool. And if you're like Eric, that's like, that's hardcore to say it that way. I'm actually being really gentle. Here's how the proverb says it. Proverbs 11, verse 22. A beautiful woman who rejects good sense is like a gold ring in a pig stick snout. That is the word of the Lord right there. This is what the proverb is saying both to men and women. If you are attracted to him and he and you think he looks great on the outside, but on the inside he's a fool, you are getting the gold ring of his attractiveness, but you are getting the pig snout with the gold ring. You are getting a fool. And if you are pursuing a woman and you are only attracted to her external beauty, but inside she's a fool because she doesn't fear God. You are getting the gold ringer for beauty, but you're also getting her foolishness. You're getting the pig's snout. And so you want wisdom. You want to be a Beauty is fleeting. Wisdom can grow in a marriage. Wisdom can grow as you seek God, as you pursue him. And here's number four. You want someone who is hardworking within. Now, people sometimes are surprised that this is on the list, and some sometimes have. I shared with people that from a young age, from my girls being three months old, I was praying for their husband to love Jesus, love people, and be hardworking. Like, how's hard working make it to the list? Well, if you read the book of Proverbs, you see there's a lot of emphasis on someone's discipline and someone's work ethic. And why? Well, the longer I've lived, the longer that I've been a leader and a pastor, I've seen this. That laziness spills. It spills over into every area of somebody's life. If someone is lazy in their career, they'll be lazy in their relationship with you. Laziness spills. So when someone says he's not motivated, I know he's not motivated right now in his career, but once he gets a job he likes, then he'll be motivated. Warning sign. If he's not willing to work at what God's given him in his career, when God gives him a marriage, what makes you think he's gonna be willing to work at that? And so work ethic also spills over as well. Now, I'm not advocating for someone to be a workaholic. It doesn't mean that the person has to be like, man, I just work all the time. I just make it rain. I just work, work, work. No, you don't want that, but you don't want laziness, because laziness spills over. And marriage is hard. There are seasons in a marriage that are really challenging. When Kay and I both had to. Both of us, when we've been married and we had toddlers together, when we had toddlers and we had two of them at the same time, it was a challenging season. It takes work in a marriage. And so work ethic also spills over. And so you want someone who isn't lazy if you're single, and if you're married, you want also to give work to your marriage. Listen, I know where I live. I know. I know many in this room. You're highly successful, and you have a work ethic in your career, and you have accomplished great things that same work ethic in your career. Come on, let that spill over to your marriage. Let it spill over to your marriage, where you're committed with the same intentionality and intensity to work on your marriage. You want to be these things for your spouse, and if you're single, you want to look for these things in a spouse. I led a group of high school guys in a life group here for four years. I mentioned them last week three years ago, when we were finishing their senior year. I'd been with them for four years. The last eight weeks of my time with them, I just had this overwhelming burden of, oh, my gosh, they're about to graduate. I want to be sure I've given them everything I possibly can give them. And so I pulled them into my office the final eight weeks and said, man, we're gonna. I'm gonna be in your face. And you know I love you. I've been with you for four years, but I'm gonna challenge you big time over the next eight weeks. I want you to go all in with me the next eight weeks. And they all did. One night we were in my office and I said, okay, I want you to tell me what you're doing 10 years from now. Everybody went around, most of them said they were married and would have kids 10 years from now. I'm 18 now. I'll be 28, 29. They would talk about their career. Spent like 20 minutes, everybody sharing what they think they're gonna be doing in tenure. So then I said, okay, all of you are saying you're going to be married. Talk to me about the woman that you've married. So I went to the dry erase board in my office, took out the big pen, and wrote down the characteristics that they called out. And they called out amazing characteristics, which I was so thankful for because I'd been discipling them for four years. And if it had been shallow, I think I would have wept and walked out of the room. But they, they called out amazing characteristics, things that we talked about now. Faith in Jesus, character, servant of others, compassionate, passionate for life, hard working. I mean, they were awesome. And I said, guys, listen, if. If you marry a woman like this, if you find a wife like this, if God blesses you with a woman like this man, you. I'm telling you what I expect. You honor this woman, you cherish this woman. You treat this woman with care and respect because this is an amazing woman. I hope God gives you a woman like this. But if he does, you must honor her and cherish her. You got that? I want you to honor a woman like this. I'm talking to you. You're not boys anymore, guys. You're about to graduate high school. It's real. Now, I want you to honor a woman like this. But I also want you to think, what kind of man do you think she wants? This woman's awesome, but what kind of man do you think she wants? You're going to be like, three months from now, there's going to be a Friday night at your university where you're going to be asked to do this thing and this thing and this thing. What do you think she hopes you're going to choose three months from now on a Friday night? What kind of man do you think she wants? You decide right now you're going to be that kind of man. If you want a woman like this with these characteristics, you have to be a man with these characteristics. And here's the good news for those of us who are Christians. We don't live with the pressure of turning ourselves into that kind of man. If we follow Jesus, he turns us into those kinds of people. You follow after Jesus and He changes your character. You follow after him. And the one who entered this world to absorb in his flesh all of your sin and your shame, he's the same one who then enters into your life and changes you, and he keeps changing you. And he's committed to you. He's never going to leave you or forsake you. You follow after Jesus and He keeps working on you. He works on your integrity. He works on your character. So you follow after Jesus and He makes you a man, or where he makes you a woman of character. You follow after Jesus and He makes you a person of compassion. He changes how you treat people. Jesus changes how you treat people because your heart is then overwhelmed with how he treated you, that you were distant towards him, that you were once hard towards him, and he loved you first and he entered this world to offer himself for you and his compassion towards you, his kindness towards you. When. When you really understand his grace, it changes how you view people and changes how you treat people. So you follow Jesus and He turns you into a compassionate person. You follow after Jesus and he fills you with wisdom because he is the only wise king, the wise God over all little g gods. You follow after the wise One and He fills you with wisdom. He gives you a hunger and a thirst for his Word. And when you read his Word, he turns you into a wise person. You follow after Jesus and he turns you into a person of discipline and work ethic. He does. Now, I know we have different personalities. Some of us are more laid back, some of us are more intense. But all of us, as we follow after Jesus, he changes how we view everything in our lives, including our professions. And so the guy who's like, I don't like my job. I only get passionate about my job when I like my job. You follow after Jesus. He changes that. Because then you see your career and your job not as something that you found for yourself, but in God's sovereignty and providence. He gave that to you. And you work with all your might at your job or your career because you realize you're not really working for somebody here. You're ultimately working for King Jesus because he's the one who rules and reigns over everything. And so he then even motivates you in your daily life. He motivates you to view your car differently. If you're like, I didn't care about my car. I was sloppy with my car. Well, when you follow after Jesus, you realize it's not your car, it's his and he gave it to you and you then steward what he gave you. So it changes how you treat everything in your life. Do you understand that Jesus changes everything about you. He changes everything about you from how you view people to how you view everything in your life as a gift from Him. So you follow after Jesus and He turns you into the kind of person who is a man or woman of character, of compassion, of wisdom and hard working. And that is a great foundation for a relationship so that when the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy and wants to blow down your house, he can't blow down the house because it's built on the rock and the rock is Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God. All right, extend your hands please and let me pray a prayer of blessing over you as we go. Jesus, I pray you'd bless your sons and daughters this week, that you would remind them that you were gentle and approachable and that you love them, cause your face to shine on them. I pray they will experience your mercy and your joy this new week. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Go in peace. Have a great week.