It's such a privilege to have Pastor and Mrs. Solomon with us here this morning, as well as tonight and for the next two nights as well. Brother Solomon has been pastoring Pembroke Valley Baptist Church in Southern Manitoba for now over 30 years, probably close to 40, right? 36 years. 36 years, praise the Lord. Amen. And his wife has stood by his side all these years. They've raised eight children together and 30 plus grandchildren, I believe, right? 35. There you go. Praise the Lord. Amen. And have experienced a lot, have helped out a lot of families, a lot of marriages, a lot of messed up young people such as myself when I came as 19 years old for a first time into their church in Southern Manitoba. Amen. And praise the Lord for their faithfulness and His grace. And Mrs. Solomon was my voice teacher and my English teacher in college, and she probably recognized how much I've forgotten. And Pastor Solomon taught many of the pastoral classes and counseling and other classes as well, and very thankful for them and their help and influence in my life. Esther, of course, grew up in the church of Pastor Solomon and the pastors. And it's a great privilege to have them here. Pastor Sowin is married over 200 couples, including my wife and I. He has taught a marriage Sunday school class for many decades now. And so I want to encourage you to listen attentively to the messages and glean the wisdom from experience and especially the Word of God. as well as come back tonight, in the evening service tonight, as well as Monday night and Tuesday night, we want to give you the opportunity to ask questions. Ask the hard questions, amen? Those difficult issues in your home, your relationships, your life, that you're looking for answers from the Word of God. And I want to encourage you to take this opportunity and open up with your questions and glean the wisdom, amen? And so it's a great privilege to have the Solomons here and ask Pastor Solomon to come up and preach at this time. Well, it is good to be with you today. I know you've got a lot going on as well. And so it's a special time of celebration for the graduates. And it's also a special time for Brenda and I, as we have the opportunity to come out here and see Pastor Jansen and the family. And of course, as he already said, we're not just meeting each other for the first time. Esther's folks, Peter and Esther, I mean, and Tina were out here just a few weeks ago. but they've been a real, I guess, foundation for our church. And of course, we started a church up in Carmen, and my son-in-law pastors that church now. And so they sort of, we have Sunday morning services up there, Wednesday night services up there, then they come down for Sunday night until they reach self-support status. And so it's exciting to see the family serving God. And Esther's brother is pastoring in Kenora, And we're getting ready to have a big tent meeting for them just in about a month. And so we're excited about that and excited what God is doing here at the church. You are packed out today. And there's hardly a seat otherwise. And so if somebody needs to sit there, they can. But it is good to see you. And as was mentioned, I've had the privilege of pastoring there in Winkler for 36 years. We started the church. in 1988 in an upstairs meeting room of the ice hockey arena there in Winkler. And then little by little, we've been able to get some property and build a building, and God sure has been good to us there in that place. And God's good to you here, isn't he? And so we praise the Lord for what he's doing in churches all across our land. Now, you're going to pick up a little bit of a Southern accent. I don't think I have an accent. But everybody tells me, they say, where are you from? And I say, from southern Manitoba. And then they say, no, no, no, no, no. I say that I was born in the United States, but I'm a Canadian by choice. And so we have lived here all this time. This, Manitoba's home. And I will have to expand on the grandchildren thing, though. And that is, we do have 35, but I have two on the way. And so October we have another one due and November we have another one due. And so we'll have 37. Can you believe it? So I am broke most of the time, you know. You can imagine what it's like for Christmas and holidays and you say, how can you remember all those birthdays? I can't. And that's, I'm techno dumb, but I've got a good secretary, and she puts all those birthdays and anniversaries in the computer, and so a couple days beforehand, they pop up, and so I can remember everything. And so, but it's a thrill. I told Brenda the other day, I said, you know, our grandchildren can get away with things that our children never would be able to get away with. You know, that's what grandparents do. We can spoil our kids. I'm gonna ask my wife to stand as she would. This is Brenda. And so we've been married 45 years this coming September. And we got married on her parents' 25th wedding anniversary and her grandparents' 50th. So none of our eight children were, you know, fortunate enough to keep the tradition going. But we have six sons and two daughters. And so we're definitely rich. Somebody said, you know, with eight children, in the Bible, eight is a number of new beginnings. And the pastor said, well, you know, Pastor Sullivan, when he said, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, Pastor Sullivan took it personal. And we're supposed to take the Word of God personal, right? No, I'm kidding, of course. But it's good to be with you. If you take your Bibles as we start the service, the preaching time, in 2 Timothy chapter three, familiar passage of Scripture, and this is not really the focus, but I want to just sort of, we were in Sunday school, we laid a bit of a foundation, I want to build on that foundation. And I have no more authority than the next person. We get our authority as pastors from the Word of God. And our biblical authority is really what we stand on. That's one of the hallmarks of being a Baptist. Someone has taken the acrostic Baptist and they put our distinctives on there. And biblical authority is the first one. And then we have the autonomy of the local church, the priesthood of the believer, and so on. But biblical authority, it's so critical when we think about whatever area of life we're addressing that we go to the Word of God, because God is the authority. and he's given us his word. And so I just want to, as we begin the message this morning, just to reiterate that so you know where I'm coming from. And so it says here in 2 Timothy 3, verse 15, and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures. So praise the Lord for Lois and Eunice, who were the grandmother and the mother of Timothy. how that they instilled the Word of God in their young son. Of course, Paul had a great influence in his life. But the Scriptures point out to us that it was a grandmother, a godly grandmother, and a godly mother that really helped bring salvation by teaching him the Word of God. And it says here, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. And that's so critical to know that as parents we have a great influence in the lives of our children, the primary influence. And so it doesn't matter what kind of a home you have grown up in. Let me encourage you at this particular station of life is that you seek to be godly and to spread salvation through your realm of influence. And if you go to Acts chapter 16, which we won't look at right now, but if you want a background for Timothy's life, you would go to Acts 16, the first few verses of Scripture. And in that passage of Scripture it shows that, you know, Timothy by all likelihood did not grow up where Dad was in the home. A lot of times we think because our homes are not perfect. that somehow we have been shortchanged and that there's no hope, or, you know, it's going to be more of a struggle than at other times. There are challenges to be sure, but yet at the same time you can make a difference, no matter what station of life you find yourself. And so we find that in the life of Timothy. And here, as you look at 2 Timothy, Timothy was pastoring the church at Ephesus. So here's a young man in all likelihood growing up without a dad in the home. And that's why Paul took him under wing, taught him the Word of God. But he had a godly grandmother, a godly mother, and then we find him through a process of time and he's pastoring a church. And so you can make a difference in someone's life. And so we find here it says in verse 16, all Scripture, not some Scripture, but all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, meaning that it's God breathed. We believe in what we call the verbal plenary inspiration of the Scriptures. That means every word is spoken by God. It's not the thoughts of God, it's the Word of God. And we find here it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. I like what somebody said. The Word of God tells you what's right, tells you what's wrong, tells you how to get right, and then also how to stay right. And so the Word of God is all-encompassing in whatever area of life we're addressing. And then it says here that the man of God may be perfect. That means thoroughly mature. It's not talking about sinlessly perfect. We're always being conformed to the image of Christ. And so, our perfection ultimately will come in glory at the rapture of the church. That's when we'll be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. But until that time, there's a maturing that takes place. And maturing happens at all different times and levels, right? All of us come from different backgrounds. And so I grew up, and my dad was a military man, and we traveled around quite a bit, and from pillar to post, so to speak. And my dad got saved when I was about six, seven years of age. And our life was just turned upside down because things that they used to do, they didn't do anymore kind of thing. And we just started going to church all the time and so on. And it made a difference, but yet it didn't just all of a sudden happen. Just like when you got saved, I'm sure that everything just didn't go right for you. You didn't find yourself fully mature. However, you've been growing in your faith as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. So the Christian life is growth. Parenting is such one of those times, it's a growth process, isn't it? I find that the experts in child rearing either have no children, or their children are already gone, right? And so that's the expert. But when you're going through it, there's that ebb and flow and so on. And what's so wonderful about that is God knows that. The Bible says he knows our frame, he remembers that we are but dust. And so he is patient with us, he's merciful to us, and he is going to help us even through the valleys as well as the mountaintops of life and parenting. Parenting is a challenge. Why? You've got your sin nature, your spouse has a sin nature, each one of your children have sin natures, and so everyone receives things at different times in different ways. But God has given us the resources in His Word, and so it's important for us. Now, when you have a family conference, How do you address every situation? You can't. How do I address each segment of the congregation? I can't. And so what we have to understand is even when something doesn't directly apply to us, God can use it in our lives for a purpose. And there's a reason why, even if we find ourselves, well, as you say, I don't have a family or my children are all grown, and so what good is it going to be for me to sit in a family conference? Well, we're to pass on what we know. In 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 2, the Bible says these words, and the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. Now, some of you Bible students, you may say, well, that was written from an older preacher to a younger preacher. And that's true. However, we know that no matter what the Scriptures or who they're written to, they're written for us. you go to the book of Ephesians and you find that it was written to the church at Ephesus. It doesn't mean because that book was written to that particular church that since Capital City Baptist Church is not Ephesus, it doesn't apply. No, the truth contained therein applies. And the fact of the matter is, Paul was telling his young protégé in the faith, he said, He says, you need to, the things that you've been taught, you need to pass that on. Take your Bibles one book over to Titus chapter 2. Titus chapter 2. And it says these words, Speak thou the things which become sound doctrine. Sound doctrine is healthy doctrine. It's the Word of God. And so he's telling Titus, who he left on the Isle of Crete, he says, that the aged men be sober, that's seriously minded. Sometimes today we look at sober as just simply being free from alcohol, drugs of some sort. But sober means seriously minded. And it says here that the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith and charity and patience. The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviors becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things, that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded, in all things showing thyself a pattern of good works and doctrine, showing uncorruptedness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech, that cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you." So already in this passage, here is Paul addressing Titus and saying, look, there were some things I wasn't able to accomplish on the Isle of Crete in the churches. So I've left you there to set things in order. That means put it in place. That also lets us know that we're not going to be able to do everything that we want to do, you know? And Paul is the same way. But then he says this, he says, Here's what you need to do. The older need to continue teaching the younger. I encourage our church all the time. I said, we ought to pay attention to the older folks in our congregation. Why? Because they've been through it. One of the joys I had as a college student years ago, it was going to what we call Wildwood Manor Mount. That was the name of a rest home facility. It was a 65 bed facility in Gary, Indiana. And what we would do as a family, we'd go on there on a Sunday, we would get the clients from their rooms and bring them into the day room area. We'd hold a church service for them. But one of the joys of that was the fact that we could go around and we talked to a lot of the older folks that knew Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. And they would testify about answers to prayer, what God had done in their life. And that was an encouragement to me. I got a lot of encouragement by those who had been saved for so many years and were still in love with Jesus. And so a lot of times we think of people who, you know, get saved and we hear about the casualties. But how about the multitudes that stay faithful to the things of God? And they were passing that on. They were testifying to Me what God had done for them. And so that's what we ought to always be doing. So whether a particular truth directly applies to you, don't be dismayed and don't think it has no value. You can always say, hey, you know, this is what the Bible says, and this is what I heard take place, and so on and so forth, and you can help someone else. We all need help. We all need help from time to time. Even at this state of my life, with my children grown and now with grandchildren, you know, we talk many times, Brenda and I, about, hey, what we need to do and what we can do and how we pray. We have prayer time every night before we go to bed. We listen to a passage of Scripture. And then one night Brenda will pray, and then the next night I will pray. We pray through the family list, and we pray that God would save all of our grandchildren. Some of them have not reached the age of accountability. There's one that seems to be there, but at the same time, they are refusing to accept Christ right now. And they're not real old, to be sure. They're just a child. But by the same token, I want them to accept Christ as Savior while they're young. before the devil gets a hold of them anymore, right? And so it's so important for us to bathe even our grandchildren in prayer, but it's a learning process as we go through life. And so I want to just address a few things this morning in regards to family life, generally speaking, as well as apply them in a practical way. And I told the men in our Sunday school hour, I said, I am not an expert. I have been exposed to a lot of things in regards to ministry and life. As a pastor said, I've had the privilege of performing over 200 weddings. And I've got, I think, four that I'm doing this summer. I've done as many as 14 in one summer. And so it seems like I don't have a summer sometimes because of the weddings we're doing. But we require all of our couples that go through premarital counseling as well to give them the best start that they possibly can because we all know that there are struggles that go on in life. and struggles that go on in families because of the fact the devil hates the family, and hates the family of God, and tries to destroy the family unit. And he's doing a good job of it in this day and time. So we have to come back to what God has to say. I told the men, I said, you know, the worse this society gets, and the closer we come to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, I mean, we see that things are just degrading, don't we? And so we need to go back to the Word of God, and we're going to seem more and more out of step. We're going to seem like weirdos, you know. And yet, God's way is the best way. No matter what, no matter how we don't always apply the truth properly, God's way is still the best way. And when we do something that we shouldn't do, we go in a certain direction that we shouldn't go in, instead of just hanging it up and saying, it doesn't work for me, or hey, you know, I'll do something else, I'll quit. You just get right back in, get in the harness with God. We see the children of Israel as they were going through the wilderness. It was up and down, up and down, but they kept going and ended up in the promised land. And let me encourage us to do the same. Amen? Okay? And so let's go and take our Bibles to Luke chapter 10. And I think we need to nail this particular principle down. In the Old Testament, there were something like 613 or 615, depending on your count, commands that the Jews tried to keep track of. I think that's why when you get to the book of Romans and it says, there's none righteous, no, not one. You know, who could keep up with over 600 commands in the Scripture? And according to Galatians, The Scriptures, the, you know, sin, the commands, and the sins that man committed, what the law did was, it was a schoolmaster, the Bible says, to bring us to Christ. And so we realize our inability to keep all the law, all the commands, we fall short. And so the Word of God points that out for us. In the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's interesting that people are always trying to pick Him apart. And He boiled down all of the 600 plus commands, He boiled it down to two. And here they are. In verse 27 of Luke 10 it says, And He answered and said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself." I boil it down to love God and love others. Love God and love others. And that's something that we can wrap our heads around and that we can remember. And so when you think about life and you think about your home, you think about your personal life, your home life, and every other area of life, you need to put God first. And you need to love Him with all your heart, your mind, soul, body, and strength. Now, what happens is our flesh is weak. And in the flesh, we can't please God. And we see that the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these in Galatians chapter 5. It lists all the works of the flesh. If we do what comes natural to the old man, it will be a fleshly work. but we need to be influenced by the Holy Spirit of God, controlled by the Holy Spirit of God. Where it says in Ephesians chapter 5, be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. And that gives the indication that we, at salvation, we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, but now we need to be under the control of the Holy Spirit of God. And that's really the key to personal life as well as family life, is having God in control. And that's really where we need to begin in life. So the obvious question begins with is laying that proper foundation, which is, do you know Christ as Savior? Has there been that time in your life where you realize you were a sinner, you realize that you deserve to die and go to hell, and that you realize that Jesus Christ paid that sin debt for you? He gave His life, He shed His blood, He died your death. In other words, because of your sin, then you should have been the one on the cross. But you weren't, because Jesus died on the cross for the sins of mankind. Praise the Lord for that. And as you put your faith and trust in Him, for whosoever shall, what, call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And in 1 Corinthians 3, in verse 16, it says, don't you know, not an exact quote here, but he says, don't you know that you are, what, indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God? The moment you ask Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sin, that entails repentance, the moment you do that, then the Holy Spirit, and you ask Jesus Christ, trusting only in Him, Because He is the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Him. And you believe in Him for your salvation. He saves you. He seals you. You are sealed by the Holy Spirit of God unto the day of redemption. Amen? And so right there, you know as a Christian parent, you have the Holy Spirit of God in you. See, there's only three types of people alive today. According to I Corinthians 2, verses 14 down to chapter 3, verses 1 to 3, there are the unsaved. That's the natural man. Then there's the saved, the spiritual man that's walking with God. Then there's the carnal believer. That's the believer that even though they're saved, they live according to the flesh. They have not dedicated their lives. They're not seeking to walk in the Spirit. And so we find that as a Christian parent, the first thing you need to really nail down is, are you saved? And if you're saved, then are you in love with God? Is He the focus of your life? Have you given your life and your family over to God? That's the starting point. Because the Bible says, in James chapter one, if any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not. There's gonna be so many situations in your life, whether you're a parent or not, that you're gonna say, Lord, what do I do now? How do I handle this now? What decision do I make now? And you know, you're gonna ask those questions. And God says, as you're walking with him, I'll give you the answer. I'll give you what you need to make the right decision. That's wisdom. Wisdom is the application of truth. I was a corrections officer before I went into the ministry. I worked at a maximum security prison. That's where they housed Death Row for the state of Indiana. And when I was there, I met people who could quote scripture upside, one side and down the other. It was unbelievable. There's one guy, I'm thinking of him right now, I was in what they call E-dorm on the four to 12 shift, and he could quote scripture, and I was a Bible college student, and yet he could outquote me left and right. But you know what? He knew it up here, but he didn't know it down here. Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against God. And so it's amazing where, you know, it's not just knowing the Word of God, it is applying the Word of God. And it's one thing to say, okay, this is how our home, or this is what we need to do in our home to be a godly home, but how do you implement it? How do you take those things that maybe, since you just got saved, you say, okay, this is all new to me. And that's where you ask God for wisdom, you get into the wisdom book, and then you begin to dig out those truths and then begin to apply those things as God gives you that knowledge. And don't be dismayed that he gives you a little bit at a time. You know, sometimes you look at somebody who's been saved a number of years and you say, wow, you know, I wish I could do that, or I wish I was that far along. The fact of the matter is, they've been saved possibly longer than you. Maybe they've sat under the teaching of the Word of God longer than you have. So it's not wise, according to 2 Corinthians, to compare yourself among yourselves. What you need to do is say, hey, look, I'm gonna seek to apply the truth that God has given me. And as He gives you that truth, then you apply that particular truth. But it starts with loving God. Do you love God? And one thing you have to do is have that introspection. Ask God, God, am I right with you? And if He points out areas of your life that you're not right in, deal with those. God never brings us truth into our life to, what, to discourage us, but to bring us to repentance so that we can get right, and then He takes us from there and takes us where we need to go. Any time God's people would repent of their sin, God would hear from heaven, He would forgive their sin, He would send a deliverer and help them. And He'll do that for us day after day after day. And so as you apply truths, you apply the home truths, the child-rearing truths to your life, He will help you in the implementation for sure. And so you need to love God and you need to love others, and it all begins in the home. Let me encourage you. Have a time of devotions. Now when we talk about devotions, I'm not talking about just 15 minutes, 30 minutes so that you can say I've done my guilt satisfaction for the time. No, you do have devotions and it may take you 30 minutes or so, but you have that to feed your soul as you begin your day to go out in the highways and byways and do whatever God has for you to do. But let me encourage you, if you have a family, to take your Bible, and read Scripture with them. Read Scripture. Have some time of prayer. What we would do in our home, whether if I was traveling, then Brenda would do it, and then when I was at home, we would do it, okay? And what we would do is we would read some Scripture, and then we'd have a time of prayer. And sometimes, as the children were younger, we would actually have one pray one day, and the next would pray the next day. And we would teach them the importance where all the hustle and bustle in the home would come to a screeching halt, and we would gather together, we would read the Bible, we would pray, and then the home would resume its activities, you see. But what we were teaching the children is that the Word of God is important. And I want to encourage you parents to begin that process when they're young. And so that way you develop that habit of them getting and recognizing God and being sensitive to what God is saying. I don't know about you, but they say that the younger the children are, the more likely they are to be saved. The older they get, the harder it is to see people come to a saving knowledge. of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so let me encourage you to just saturate your home life with the love of God. And so you do that by a variety of means, and one of those is time in the Word of God together and praying. And then let me encourage you this way. If you'll take your Bibles and go to 1 Kings 2. I've taken the word lead, and I've made an acrostic out of it. And the L stands for love, love God and love others. And then the letter E stands for example, stands for example. In 1 Kings chapter two, and I want to begin reading here in verse one. It says, now the days of David drew nigh that he should die, and he charged Solomon his son saying, I go the way of all the earth. Be thou strong therefore and show thyself a man. and keep the charge of the Lord thy God to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and withersoever thou turnest thyself, that the Lord may continue his word which he spake concerning me, saying, If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee, said he, a man on the throne of Israel." Now, we see here the power of an example. And I'm going to give you just a couple of things in the interest of time here. We find here under that point that Paul was a pattern in 1 Timothy 1 and verse 16. A pattern is something that you can follow. And so even though it's one thing, you know, you've heard the saying that says, don't do as I do, do as I say. But the fact of the matter is, if you have children, they do what you do. They follow you. And so you've seen children, they like to clump around in mom or dad's shoes around the house, you know, clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk. They try to dress like, you know, dad, they want to wear his hat and that kind of thing. And children follow our example. If you're watching something you shouldn't watch on the boob tube TV, then chances are they're going to watch it as well. If you're listening to the wrong kind of music, they will listen to the wrong music too. You can say, oh, you really shouldn't listen to that, you know, that kind of stuff. They're going to follow your pattern, your example. And we find that Paul was a pattern. We find in Titus chapter 2 verse 7 that Titus was to be a pattern as well. We also find that according to Exodus chapter 25, three verses of Scripture, verses 8 and 9 and 40, that the tabernacle that they built in the Old Testament was to be built according to the pattern that God showed Moses on Mount Sinai. And so God has established the principle of being a pattern. And you and I are patterns. We ought to be copyable. and our children will copy us. That's why it's important, when you think about the house of God and the things of God, you need to make sure that you set the proper example. You know, I live in a strong Mennonite area, and they know where their third cousins three times, four times removed are. They know who they are, they have family gatherings, and so on. And I'm not against that, except what happens is, many times, is they all have their own birthdays and family gatherings. And what happens if you're not careful is to make all these social networking things work and keep everybody happy, then it means you miss one Sunday, and then another Sunday, and then this Sunday, and then that Sunday, and so on, because you're so busy trying to keep up with everyone, and you're neglecting the house of God. And it's like, what happens is, many times, what we do in moderation as adults, children will do to excess. If I want two cookies after supper, my children are going to want four, six, eight. They want to just keep indulging. They'd rather have cookies than the meal that's still sitting on their plate for some of them. You know what I'm saying? And so it's the same thing when we see this happen in our lives as a pattern. We need to set the tone and say, look, when my dad got saved, I mentioned that our house was in an upheaval. When my dad got saved, they quit smoking, they quit drinking, they quit going to movie houses. My dad ran the projector after work at the military base and so on. He stopped doing all that and he started going to church. And he said, every time the church doors are open, We're there. And I can remember one particular time, oh, I have a stomach ache. I don't feel like going to church today. And my dad said, Mike, if you're too sick to go to church, you're gonna be too sick to play this afternoon with your friends. Instantaneous healing took place. I got healed. And so, hey, look, I went to church. But that's what my dad said. When we had revival services, we were there. And you know, that set a pattern in my own life. It set a pattern in my life that, hey, our family goes to church. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. And you say, well, church isn't the end all of it. No, but God has chosen in this dispensation of time to work in and through the local church. And so if we neglect what He has set up, then we are actually expressing and setting a pattern that, hey, it's not really all that important. If we deem something else is more important, we will. And so what I'm saying here in this message this morning is we need to fall in love with God, walk with Him personally, and then, as well, make sure that we're setting that tone of an example for our next generation and for generations to come. I want my grandchildren to know that I love God, not just because I'm a pastor, but that I love God and He's important, and that our decisions need to be made according to the Word of God. So let me give you two other things real quick like, and we're done. Love is the letter L. Example is what we see here with the letter E. A is attitude. Make sure you have a good attitude. Make sure that your home is a home of peace and joy. It's an oasis. It's a retreat, if you please. Sure, there's gonna be struggles, but at the same time, you need to be humble, you need to have the right kind of attitude, an attitude that God is alive, he's active, he's working, and I like the little chorus, oh, it is wonderful to be a Christian. Oh, it is wonderful to be God's child, amen? It is wonderful, amen? And so we need to understand that principle of life. So make sure, according to Philippians chapter two, those first 11 verses of scripture, that your home is a happy place. Be joyful. And then letter D is development. And we may work some of this stuff in other messages, but when I talk about development, I say you should always be developing yourself to be the person God wants you to be. Growth never ends. Our maturing never ends. I'm amazed at how many times in studying the scriptures, I'm going through a certain situation and God will give a verse that I never really saw before in that particular light. He gives you exactly what you need. And that's part of maturing in the Christian life. And so I say this, make sure that your home has good books to read. Make sure that you have the right kind of literature in your home. And then also, study good people. Read some biographies. Read some Christian biographies. Those men and women of days gone by that served God, and some of them in unbelievable circumstances, and yet they served God. I say this, listen well. Listen well. I love sometimes just sitting and listening to other Christians talk. and not to be nosy, but to glean and learn. And as an older preacher now, I can remember in the younger days of the ministry, I would always have older preachers come in that I could pick their brains, I could talk to, and I could glean truth so that I could get help and that I could help the people that I pastored. And so listen well, be faithful to church, and seek to bring others to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll get into other things as time goes.