 Welcome church family to our moments with Pastor David and Marie, and we're so excited to have you here this evening. And as always, it's so good to have you, Pastor and Marie, joining us. And so you guys want to say hello to the church? No, not really. Hello. Well, Pastor and Marie, we're going into our third week of being opened. And how do you guys feel? How are you guys feeling about that? What sense are you guys getting with our church coming together? You know, before we opened up, Marie and I were already here. As you know, we were already coming to the church. We were coming to the church from the first weekend of quarantine in the event that somebody might show up and maybe want to talk or need prayer or whatever. So we were here already. We never stopped coming to church on Sunday. And so for me, it's been just a logical continuation of what was taking place because the last four weeks prior to the official reopening, people were driving up. And before you know it, there'd be 100, 150 people in the parking lot. And so we would just come in, practice safe distance and have some songs and a devotion. So a month before we officially reopened, we were already meeting with people in an assembly that we were careful with. We made sure that we didn't put the church in any danger. And so we were already beginning to reconnect with our church. Now, as we've begun to meet once again formally, it's pretty much what I expected would take place for us. There are those who have hungrily desired to be in fellowship with one another, be in the Word in worship. They're coming. There are others right now who are nervous because they're concerned. There's so much information, some of it good, some of it not so good. And it's caused people to be hesitant to join their church family. We get the letters and emails and they're telling us that they're looking forward to being with us. But because they're in a certain group, age group, perhaps health group, they're just going to wait for a little while. And then there are others who were loosely attached to our church, never committed, never really cared that much, would be here for a while and perhaps would have chosen to go somewhere else eventually. And so what we have right now, I'd say, is about a third of the church. Very few children are coming as we today in our meeting were discussing. Very few, very few children, probably one-fifteenth of the overall, maybe one-sixteenth of the overall children's ministry that we normally see on a Sunday. Because many parents are concerned to bring their babies, their children to church. Again, I fully understand that. That's what we're seeing. And so when we go out and do our Sunday morning or we do our Wednesday, I'm happy just to be there with whoever shows up. I've always been that way, though, for a long, at least for the longest time. You show up and you want a Bible study, I'll do my best to teach you. So I'm happy. I'm happy to see people coming to church. I'd like to see more one day we will. But until then, it's a blessing. It's been good to have them. And again, I mentioned this last week, your messages that you've been teaching recently, even before the pandemic started. There's this fiery urgency. There's this seems like a renewed fire that's just coming across your message this last Sunday. And it was funny because you're mentioning that you didn't want to speak on giving right off the bat. But it went beyond just giving financially. You were talking about living a life that's for Christ. And so it was a really good and timely message, especially in the times that we're in today. And so good messages. Well, when the Macedonian church was Macedonian churches were used as an example by Paul to the Corinthian churches. It was very important to note that the Corinthian church, it was important to note that they gave out of tribulation. They gave out a trial, they gave out of affliction. They gave out a poverty. So yeah, we're speaking about that because there are there are people right now who are concerned on in those areas. You know, they're they're going through stress and and their budgets are tight. And and so what a timely time for us to consider what what the churches did in the face of those afflictions and trials. How they out of the their poverty gave generously. So Paul would use them as a an example of what genuine faith is and used it to to challenge the the faith of the Corinthian church. And maybe we need to remember that even in our day that if we really believe and this is something we need to consider. If we really believe that that God will abundantly supply our need. If we really believe that then in giving to him, there's a certain wisdom and faith that's being demonstrated in holding back. Well, even as the Proverbs tells us, there's one who holds back and it's to his own hurt. And so we learn those things. We learn to give generously. We learn to give out of faith. We learn to give obediently. We learn to give because there's a need. We learn those things and the Corinthians are a great example for that. And so in this time with the pandemic and people losing jobs and and money drying up for many. It was it was very difficult for the Corinthians to. And so yeah, what a wonderful opportunity to evaluate God's promises. We know we were going to speak on intimacy today. But you know, this is a good segue to speak about budgeting and finances within the marriage within the couples. Because as we were just speaking out before we started this, we're talking about the things that will really affect the marriage or really can really bring it down as the issues of budgets and finances and intimacy. And I think what you're just sharing right now, Pastor, is really a good way because in the midst of adversity or even in the marriage. How important is it to continue to tithe and continue to have a budget? So because even in that it's been a good steward of God's what God has given us. Can you speak a little bit about that? You know, it's one of the subjects that it's is difficult for me to speak on because of being a pastor. It's difficult to speak on the subject of giving. And those who are members of our church and know me know that to be true. I can speak on a variety of things without a second thought and sense of should I should I not, you know, maybe I won't because, you know, normally I can speak on a lot of things and share about a lot of things freely. Because I don't expect to be judged for making those those statements. They're biblical statements that I make their scriptural statements that I make. But when it comes to finances when it comes to to encouraging people to be faithful and they're giving and all. That's when I have most hesitation. It's because because the man's heart is entangled with his wallet and where your treasure is there shall your heart be also. Jesus said and there's that's obviously true. He said it, but it's obviously true. And so when it comes to issues related to finances, it's important to have your priorities established. And and when Marie and I as a young couple and into, you know, the present, we had to wrestle with those things because we didn't have two nickels to rub together. I mean, I can still remember going to purchase some furniture when we first got married and and I was going to buy a bed. We had we didn't have a bed when we got married. We had to fold out one of those couches that folded out. That was our bed. And so we needed to get a bed. And so, you know, being the season it was water beds were the thing to get at that time. Remember those. And so Marie and I went to a waterbed store that was just a few blocks from where we were living in Roland Heights at the time. And we looked at two different beds that I can still remember looking at one would have cost us what $25 $25 a month payment one. The other would cost us $20 $5 difference. And we had to take the 20 over the 25 because I didn't have an extra dollar and a quarter a week to spend on a bed. And so Marie and I, when we got married, we, we didn't have furniture, very little furniture. We had a $10 couch that had the springs coming out of it. So we had to put a comforter over it. We thought it was rather cool. I bought it from what we bought it from one of my friends. $10. And we had a small table that we had in this little kitchen that had two chairs and a TV set we eventually bought that was the big high ticket thing for us. I think the TV was $99. Yes. Yes. So we didn't have two nickels to rub together. We didn't have extra monies or anything like that. So fairly early in our marriage, we had to begin to make some decisions related to, to trusting God in our giving. And I, I will confess in an honest fashion that we did not tie that the beginning we didn't give regularly at the beginning. In my mind, we couldn't afford it. You know, and so we didn't. And it wasn't until about three years or so later in marriage, about three years into marriage. That Marie and I began to really think, you know, we're robbing the Lord. And if I really do believe that God supplies all my need, according to his grace, if I really believe that, I better take my faith and put it into action. And, and John, so Marie and I understand. We understand what it's like to have small babies, you know, to have need to, to not be able to buy him shoes, not to be able to buy even a hamburger. You know, we understand that. We understand what it was like to, to have a budget where you could only spend this much on meat. And if something happened to that meat, which happened to us on one or two occasions, I can still remember the tacos my wife made for me. Instead of putting red chili, she put cinnamon. Accidentally put cinnamon on top of the tacos. I was so mad. And it ruined our dinner. It was, it was for us. Did you guys salvage the meat? Yeah, we didn't have, if we didn't do that, we wouldn't have had a dinner. So, yes, we, we took it to the sink and we washed out the cinnamon off, dried it up and reheated it. And that was our dinner. Well, another time I accidentally left some groceries and it was meat in the car on a heated overnight day. Summer, summer. Was it cooked? Oh, it was cooked. Not only was it cooked, when I, when I, I could smell something. And I, so I opened the back, the, what do you, the. No, actually I did. You did. Yes, the trunk. And there was flies. Oh, it was dead. It was, it was horrible. It was horrible. I mean, not only did we lose our dinner. We almost lost our lunch. That's true. But it was, it was. Horrible. Horrible. I opened it up. Oh, it wasn't it. I opened up the trunk. Well, what happened is, is we didn't notice that we didn't load the meat in the freezer. So it was, Marie went on a Sunday. It was Monday. I had to go to work and I smelled something in the car. Remember, I went and got some Lysol or something and sprayed it inside the car. And I thought, oh, this horrible light. Something died in here. And I drove to work. I rolled the windows down road. Then spent the whole day at work and climb back in and we're driving. I drove home and I smelled, I had to roll all the windows down. I said, something's terrible. The next day again, roll the windows down Lysol. They thought, what is this? It was Wednesday where I finally said, there's something in this car. And I opened up the trunk and all the meat that we had had rotted. It was, it was rotted in smell. But here's something for you in that we were not happy. We lost our meals. But here's something for you, John, that the Lord taught me. He taught me that's what your flesh smells like to me. Yeah. Yeah. I told Marie, I said, that's flesh. That's flesh. That's dead flesh. I said, that's flesh. I said, and it stinks, doesn't it? We had to talk. That stinks, doesn't it? That's my flesh before the Lord. It was a little spiritual lesson that I'll never forget. That the old man, the dead man, that rotted carcass of a sinful nature. And I thought so, oh boy, you know, and never forget the smell of this. And it was horrible. And I never have, John. But yeah, it was things like that. So I guess getting to the real question is what did we learn to do? What we learned to do. And I've taught this before. And I don't think everybody yet has grasped what I'm really trying to say. Meaning those I've tried to share this with in church. And it's really simply this. And I tried to teach my children this, whether they learned it or not. I don't know, only God knows. I learned it. You can live just as well on 90 cents as you can on 100 cents. I can live just as well on nine dimes as I do on 10 dimes. I've learned that. And so what the Lord has given to us, Marie and I, have always, well not always, we learn together. Yes. We learn to put the Lord first from the beginning. We really did. And we do. And so because that's true, I have seen his faithfulness. And I think that, you know, there's only one scripture in the Bible. I know of where God actually challenges people to prove him. And that is in the book of Malachi when he says, prove me, you bring the grain and prove me if I won't bless you. Prove me. And, and it's not like I said, I'm going to prove God. What happened is we did that. And then I discovered what he was saying in Malachi. So I didn't say, I'm going to prove God because there's a guy who actually true story, who actually sued a church because the pastor said, God will bless you. And if you give, he will abundantly bless you. And so the guy kept track of his giving over the course of a year and didn't get blessed like he thought he was supposed to and sued the church. This is true, a true story. This is not just an illustration. It's a true story. He sued the pastor for false promises. And he held up? At that time, this is a good 20 plus years ago. I don't believe it did hold up. How can you? But, but in churches to this day, we churches, many of us are insured against suits because when people, people will bring suits against you because they, they, they will say that what you promised didn't take place. They do that. You know, and so we actually in this church for many years have had insurance that covers us for lawsuits against people who come to church but have no conscience about suing them. We have to carry that. So that just kind of shows you the human heart. And so that's why one of the things why I as a pastor, I'm very slow to speak about things pertaining to finances. And so with that said, yeah, everybody needs to have a budget. And in our, in our relationship, Marie, in my relationship, the first check that is cut is to the Lord, if you will, when we used to cut the checks. Yes. And I let me admit this to, you know, because I, I didn't have the faith he had, you know, at the beginning. I was always, you know, I was afraid about the finances. And, and, and we had a talk. They've talked in and, and we have put the Lord first and he has met every need. We've never gone without. We've always had more than an abundance. My children have never been hungry. And God has been faithful through it all. And it taught me, you know, that God taught me his faithfulness. They showed me his faithfulness to us and it's a blessing. I've heard you both say that we can't afford not to give to God. You know, I really, you know, at this moment, and I hope it's forever, John, I really do believe that. I really believe that. That he comes first. I've, I'm, I don't know how to illustrate this. You know, Marie said something right now that it's profound to me that may, that may not resonate with others. But I can tell you this because when she says they've never gone hungry, we made choices for food over shoes and clothing is what that means. You know, where I would have liked to have bought a pair of shoes for my babies, or I would have liked to have been able to afford taking them to, to get a haircut at a barber shop, which we didn't do. We couldn't, we didn't have the money. Even the few dollars it cost for my boys when they were little to, to get haircuts. You know, we did not have it. If I were to call Karen in it and I'd say to her, who used to cut your bangs for you? One day I cut her bangs and they were like two inches from the top and she was laughing so hard. But I felt terrible. Or the time I almost cut David's ear off with his pair of scissors. But he was better than me. He was. And so that's true. I mean, they didn't have nice shoes. They didn't have nice clothes. You know, we, we couldn't afford a lot of the things that others take for granted. Not to say it's bad because I don't think it is. If God gives you finances to be able to do those things, I've never felt, oh, we're being, you know, kept out. No, we just made our priorities. And that's really the, the answer to the budgeting thing is you have to have a priority. What is the most important thing to do? Well, for us, it was pretty easy. One, let's take care of the Lord. Let's take care of him too. Let's take care of our bills. My credit is, is not just good. It's, it's almost perfect. Almost perfect. I purchased a car years ago from a member, a manager of a, of a auto dealer here in town. And he comes to our church and I saved for, and this is something else I saved for 15 years, about 15, when my father had died, about 14 years, 14, 15 years. I saved, you know, one day I'm going to buy a car. And then, but I, I, I'm one of these saying, I don't need it. I won't buy it. But Marie and I had said, you know, one day it would be nice for us to have a little car to, to kind of put around in and enjoy. You know, why not? And I said, yeah. So I saved all the way from when my, my dad died in 2001. I saved 14 years. And, but I wasn't going to buy one. I just thought, well, I'll use this for a rainy day and I think you always need to have a rainy day fund. And so I said, there's ever a time that we have a need. Well, I was coming home from South El Monte. I think it was South El Monte. No, it's North El Monte. I had done a men's breakfast. Marie calls me up from the hospital. She had just had a heart. Something happened with her heart. And she said to me, honey, don't worry. Don't be concerned. I'm at the hospital. She said something happened with my heart this morning. Shouldn't go there. So I came home and she was okay. She was thinking. She was okay. I went out and bought the car. I went out and I'd saved for all these years. And I said, we're going to enjoy this. And you want to know something? I've had it for what? Mama five years. I've only got 15. No, 15,000 miles on it. I never drive it. The only time we drive this fun car is to get coffee. And she doesn't like me. It's a convertible. And she didn't like me to drop the top. But so 3000 miles a year, I've been driving this car. It's only 15,000 miles on it. But it's, I saved for that. And I made sure that my credit was good. So when I spoke to the brother in our fellowship, who is the manager of the place I purchased my car, he, he got up behind from behind his desk when he went over my credit report and he told me, I want you to know how proud I am to go to your church. You have the best credit I've ever seen of anybody who's ever applied for credit in this, in this, in this, in this company. Yours is the best. And I said, because my father taught me that a man's name is to be, is to, is, is a great importance and Proverbs says the same thing. And my dad taught me that he said, David, he said, your name matters. He says, keep your credit spotless. Well, my wife, my Marine, make sure that my credit is spotless. She does. So I hand my check to my wife. My wife does all of the bills, pays all the bills. And she makes sure every single bill is paid on time. And she's been doing that for a long time, as long as I can remember. And our credit is spotless, spotless, because my dad taught me this, John, he taught me this by not saying it. My mom said his words to my ear. She said, your daddy would rather pay a bill and keep his name pure than to even eat. Wow. That was my dad. And there were times when we didn't have anything when I grew up. My parents were not what you'd call poor in the sense that people see poverty today, but we didn't have anything. We didn't have anything because my mother was ill. My dad took his money to pay for doctor bills. And so we didn't have money. There were Christmases with no, no Christmas trees until the last day when you can get them a cheat, right? And no presents, you know, we had those. We grew up that way and learned to value other things as a child, you know, family being one of them. And that's how I am. So I would rather pay a bill and, and eat whatever little we have, whatever we can put together. Marie can tell you that it doesn't bother me at all. Whatever she cooks, I enjoy. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. You want to make eggs and a tortilla. I'm good with that. I love that. It's good. Put some bacon in it, some avocado, some salsa, you know, some, that's the stuff. No spam. No spam. I'm sorry. For our Hawaiian viewers. No. No. No. I will not do that. That's a sin. But no. So, so you put your priorities first, you know, and you establish, you establish your bills. You make sure you never put your name in credit. You never, you never extend credit. You never make it something that you will be paying for the rest of your life. You know, everything that we have wears out with the using everything. So I keep that in mind. And so if we're going to purchase something, we pay cash. We will wait. You know, there's only two things that we took credit on. And those are the two main expenses. One is for car payments. And but we'll say for a good down payment or to our house. Those are the two. My dad said to me, son, there are two major things you'll have to buy in life. You said a house and a car. You said, take care of both of them. And so, you know, this, we take care of our vehicles. We do take care of it. Because, you know, it's wiser to take care of them than it is to be repairing them. And so that's what we do. So we'll have our things that are important. Our gift to the Lord, a house payment, a car payment, everything else comes underneath those things, whatever bills we might have. And I'll be honest with you. You know, we've been married a long time. Our children are out of the house. So we don't have the kinds of payments that we used to have years ago. We don't have those payments. And so we're breathing easier now because I don't have to buy the shoes and buy the clothing or those things that are pertaining to children anymore. So I'm, I'm easier right now. I breathe easier financially, but that I still safe. I, I, I, one of these days, the Lord is going to remove me from being the pastor of this church. And I need to take care of my wife. So I've made sure that I have insurance for myself so that in the event the day comes and Jesus takes me home, should it be before mama. I will not leave her in a situation where one of my children feel obligated to have to bring mom under the roof because mom can't make it. She's not going to have that. She's not going to be able to make a decision to, to do what she wants with her life because that's my gift to my wife for her to do what's best for her and to take the pressure off of my daughters and sons who, who love mama and will fight to have her in their house, which is a fact, but mama needs to have the freedom to say, I just want to stay here for a while. Well, I want to make my life comfortable. She needs that. Right. So when my dad went home to be with Jesus, my dad had $10,000 in insurance and a house. That was it. So my father left my mother nothing, nothing. My mother had to sell her home to survive. And then she had to live with my sister, which she loved doing. And my sister loved mama. It was not a pressure on my sister at all, but she lived with her for 12 years. And the money she got out of the house would not have been sufficient for my mother to survive. She would not have survived. If it was just mom on her own, she wouldn't have lived more than two and a half years. That's how much she got out of the house. So because of that, we have to be aware of these things. And so I am aware of these things and I take care of that. Our budget takes care of all those things. What do you think? What would both of you guys can share? Then why is finances one of the core things that couples fight so over? It actually divides a house. It's one of those things, again, that we spoke of earlier that not only as a husband and wife do we need to sit down and count the cost and plan. But I see couples a lot that are coming in and finances is one of them. Are they seeking the kingdom first? And probably themselves, yeah. They probably want more stuff for themselves. Overliving our means. You know, there's a song that says, I'm living on money that I ain't made yet. And isn't that the theme of credit? I'm living off of money that I haven't made. Meaning I have bills that I'll continue paying before I've drawn a check to pay those bills. I think that part of the reason, and again, I don't want to make a judgment on those kinds of things. I don't know if you can hear the sound of my grandson, but he's really talking. But I believe that people have, they don't have their, very often they don't have wisdom in the amounts of money that they spend. I just think that they don't. I think that they just buy the things they want right now. And again, they forget that thing that they wanted so badly is going to be used up pretty quickly. When it comes to budgeting, some of the things that, one thing that we do is that I get envelopes. And I put, according to all the bills, and I'll do of 12 months, about 12 months of bills, and I'll figure it out regarding how much to put in each paycheck, how much to put in each envelope. And by the end of the year, everything should be paid off. And that work has worked well for you guys? Oh yeah, absolutely. Because Marie, again, we have every year, our bills don't really change that much with inflation and all that. They really don't change that much. So we have set things that we pay. You're always going to be paying on electricity, things of that nature. You're going to, we have a car payment, a single car payment that we, so we know that. So yeah, Marie will put things in envelopes, and the envelope system works very well. You know, so she uses envelopes and she puts some money in there and then she draws from it and pays our bills with it. And she has, in our, in our, in our economy, in the Rosales home, Marie has freedom to make decisions to purchase whatever is necessary. I don't have to be in every single decision, but I am in the major ones. You know, the, the average things, like how much does groceries this week cost or how much did we have to pay for, for electricity or whatever, you know, those are things Marie knows. And I never really ask her questions about that. It's not that, that I can't. It's that, that she handles that very well. But if there's something else, like one of the children, it's time for a birthday, I'd like to buy them. Well, we'll talk about things like that. But overall, you know, our life is pretty much stable. It plods along in a very consistent fashion. And so the only time we really ever discuss something financially now is if it's a major thing that we're considering. Hey, we ought to take a vacation, for example. Well, where could we go? You know, what would you like to do? Because Marie and I don't take vacations, as you know. But we may take a weekend sometimes, you know, or we'll, I will mix my ministry and time with Marie sometimes just by, oh, I'm going to be going to this place here, honey. And maybe we can get there early. We'll relax together, stuff like that. That's how we do it. So again, because I'm planning on, you know, one day not drawing a full check from this fellowship, I have to be prepared. And so Marie is too, and she handles our finances and puts it away or uses it, keeps our credit, and that's how she does it with envelopes. And so you've got several envelopes that she'll put this in for that, this is in for that, and so the paycheck comes and Marie will be upstairs and she'll have a little notebook and she's going through every single thing and then she'll put, okay, this is for this bill here, this is for that bill there. She's very good at it. Marie doesn't have an outside job that pays her. She ministers here, but she doesn't have an outside job that pays her. So in a way, her concern concerning herself for the oversight of our house in that fashion is, you know, that's what in modern terms would be what Paul was speaking to Titus about, you know, being a maker of a home. You know, she's actually a chief financial officer, if you will, in our house, because she knows our bills. She makes sure that they're paid. She regards my reputation in the community and my personal integrity very highly, so she makes sure all of those things are taken care of and we're in agreement. So I think that sometimes people may have problems with money because the husband think this is my money or the wife may say, well, I worked in, I make more than you, so that's my money and we've never had independent bank accounts. I see that, people do that. I don't agree with that. That's my personal, I don't agree with that. You know, but if they do, they do. If it works, that's between them and the Lord. For Marie and me, I've never seen it as my money, her money. It's always been our money. And when we got married, I was a student. I was making part-time work. I was working part-time, John. I didn't have that much. Marie was working full-time. And so we could have said for the first year or so, huh? About a year, for the first, almost a year, she brought, she was the breadwinner. She brought in enough to pay our bills. She paid, you know, I had a hand, a little money. I was going to college. So I never have thought, oh, that's her money. And that's my money. It's always been our money. And there were times, and it was her paycheck when our church began that we relied on. Without her money that she was making with her job, we wouldn't have made it. But she never one time ever made me feel less of a man because I wasn't drawing income like her. Never once. It was our money. It was our life. It was our marriage. It was us. It's always been that. And so what I have is hers, everything I have. I work for the Lord, but I work for her. That's what I do. I, whatever I have, and I bring it and I give it to her. It's yours. And she takes care of it because it's ours. And it works very well. And so she would never go out and just spend money frustrated. I just went on, I needed, she's not that woman. And I'm not the guy who goes and hides and buys myself a gun or buys myself, you know, a little sports car. I have a friend of mine. I have a friend of mine who had a particular car. John, true story, had a particular car. And he wanted to get a new one. So we went out and bought one that was identical to the one he had. Identical, but it was like three years newer. It was a new car. He traded his old one in, bought an identical car to the one he was driving. And his wife didn't know he had a brand new car. Yes, I've had more than one friend who's done that. You know, I'm, I'm not that guy. I'm not that guy. Marie and I will talk about things and I'll say, you know, honey, I'm thinking of this or what do you think about that? And if we work towards this and she never brings finances up to me, never, never, I'm the one who brings it up to her. And I'll say, what do you think we ought to do this? And I was thinking about that. And she always says the same thing. Well, if you want that or you want to do that. And, but me, I'm restricted. I'm restricted by what's best for us. And she's restricted by what's best for us. You know, she could, she could take advantage of me pretty easily. She really could. I don't know some things because I trust her completely with those things. I don't think it's unwise for me to do that because I safely trust in her. And she would never harm me. She would never harm me. And that's big knowing that. What, what would you guys encouragement would you guys to maybe some of those who are watching today where finances has become such an issue with their marriage that it's undermining their marriage or a young couple. That's beginning. And they're now learning to budget. What would be your, both your encouragement for them? You know, John. Here's where I'm, I'm not the best when it comes to things like that. And I'll tell you why. I don't understand that way of thinking. And it's not like it's a bad way of thinking. I, Marie, and I don't have that as a way of thinking for us. We really did try to build our, our lives together in Christ. We really did. You know, she's been under the word with me now for 40 some years. You know, and so we just together made an agreement that whatever pleases the Lord, we're going to do, you know, was it easy? Has it always been? No. Have we had struggles? Of course. Have we had our arguments? Yes. Have we had loud arguments? Indeed. You know, have we ever gotten physically violent? No, you know, but have we had disagreements and things? Yeah, everybody does. You work those things through. But when you have this, this knowledge that this honors God and, and we are testimony to, to others. And I've got children that are using me as an example of what it means to be a father and a husband. And she has daughters who look at her as what is the woman and what is a mom and a wife. When you really take that seriously, then nothing's going to tear it apart. You know, because again, I mean this sincerely. We made a decision. It's us to the end. To the end. To the end. And, and we both are very firm. You know, we, we had great, great examples in our parents. Marie's mama and daddy lived together and loved each other over 50 years. Mine did, too. And you had great parents, John, too. Yes, he did. And the years of, of, of watching them go through hard times and, and divorce was never an option. Well, as Christians, God hates divorce. And so I know there are three areas in marriage that are normally pointing, pointing, pointing out as being trouble spots. One is, is the sexual areas of marriage and sexual intimacy. Another one would be communication. You know, how do you speak to and, and then the third is finances. Those are the three basic things that everybody goes through all of them. All the elements related to that. Marie and I have been working on these things for over 40 years, over 40 years. And, and we just made an agreement that if there's anything that comes first, it's the kingdom. It's the kingdom. How does our life line up to what pleases God? That's what we do. So why would I have a problem with, with finances? If I put God first, if I, if I don't spend money just frivolously, because I, I think that money is going to give to me the answer and money, me answer all things, but it certainly doesn't give me joy. You know, so why would I think that if I spend money on a car or, or a boat or a cabin or, you know, I, and I don't enjoy the person I'm, I'm with when I'm doing that, or I can't even use it because I have to work overtime or I have to find something to sell in order to make a payment. And, and I lose my job. Why would I put myself in that kind of position? I don't do that. Never have never will. I, I, I put the kingdom first. I put my marriage where it's supposed to be. And I cater to the needs of my wife and she does the same with me. And if God gives us money, then we'll use it in the wisest way that we can because a wise man leaves an inheritance to his children's children. I want to make sure that my grandchildren receive something from me. So I budget for that so that one day when they, when daddy goes and papa goes to, to be with Jesus. And so there's a grandma, we left them something, you know, that could make their life a little better so they can use it for their own children. That's how we do things. And that's why I don't understand a guy who wants that gun or wants that whatever more than he wants his wife. I don't understand that guy. I think the guy, I think the guy is selfish and I think it works both ways for the woman as well. And I think that's why there's a lot of problems with the money because they're selfish. They want it to buy their own what they want. And, and both, both husband and wife instead of keeping the Lord first, right? Doing the things for the kingdom. Join each other. Join each other or even just maybe they can spend it, but they just are selfish. They're selfish. They don't, they want to spend it on themselves. Maybe one wants to spend more money on whatever, you know, and the other one doesn't want to get. It's just, it's, it's. Listen, man, when, when, when, when, when I, I've, I've been in hospitals enough to be able to say this and you know this too. I have just never talked to somebody who is, who's aware that they're dying. I just have never talked to anybody who's ever said, I wish I'd have bought that boat. That's right. I just don't. Man, I wish I had that cab in a, and I should have gone to Hawaii. I've never heard that. Whenever anybody gets real, it's always family. It's always family. I wish I'd have been a better husband. I should have told my wife how much I loved her. I feel so bad. I feel so bad. I could have, I, but I, I'm not going to be that guy, John. I will not be that guy. I made up my mind years ago. I will not die with regret. I tell my girl every day how deeply I love her. I tell her every day. And my life is built on Jesus Christ and loving her. That's a fact. And that's why, you know, money, money is a tool. It's used and we don't need money. She told me that years ago when we were dating, she says, I don't need money. I just want you. And good, because I like money. So you got me. I'm cheap. But it's true. And so I've never felt that I have to buy her something to make her happy. Never. Because if I can't make her happy being her husband, then nothing I buy will ever make her happy. So I've concentrated my life on just spoiling her with my love. That's a fact. And she doesn't seem to want anything else. You know, and I don't want anything else. I don't want anything else. I want her. And if there are married couples right now, ask yourself that. Does that person matter more than anything else? Or do you really think that that neat car, which there's nothing wrong with having a nice car, or whatever that you really think that vacation or is going to make you happy, it doesn't. What makes you happy is the Lord's joy and that person. I wake up every day. I get to wake up every day with the person I love the most. Every day. Every day. That's it. And for us, a simple pleasure is getting a cup of coffee. That's what we do. That's right. We buy it. That's it. That's our budget. That's a fact. That's a fact. That's our budget. We buy coffee and we sit down and we drink it. And she sits next to me on the couch and we watch the news. And we're happy. So you don't need to spend a lot of money on a date. You don't need to spend a lot of money on shoes. If you can God bless you as you do. But if you're spending more on shoes and coffee than you are on the Lord, your priorities are messed up. And that will trickle down into the marriage. Absolutely. Yes. Just ask yourself how much money you spend on coffee a week and what your gift to Jesus was this week. Just ask yourself, how much did you spend on that outfit? When you're sitting on say, no, I need that jacket or I need those pants or I need those shoes. And then compare the amount you spent on yourself with what you gave to the Lord. And that teaches you immediately what your priorities are. Immediately. I have seen people spend hundreds of dollars on shoes and pants and purses and you name it. And who don't give to the Lord because they can't afford to. Well, that's what I mean when I say I can't afford not to. That's what set my priorities straight. Keep him first and all the other things follow after that. Exactly. Well, that's that was great. I appreciate that and very practical because these are things that we don't have to do some financial planning is good. But when it comes down, it's the principle of first, give first to the Lord, right? And everything else will fall into place. Thank you guys so much. Is there anything you like to say to the church? As we close. Tithe. No. No. We love our church. We love our people. I am happy to be back with them. And it's it's a joy. It's a joy serving the Lord in this fellowship. We're going to be celebrating our church's Sunday morning churches, 39th anniversary in July. And that's a real blessing. Yes. And I'll be celebrating my birthday in August, you know, that is a real blessing to to be able to share with my church once again. And we're looking forward to whatever God has for us for the next season of our ministry, however long that that may be. If there's anything I'd want our church to know and we can close, I guess we can close with this is that, you know, when I seek first the kingdom of God, that includes caring for my sheep, you know, and and Marie and I both are firmly and and totally dedicated to caring for our sheep. We love we love our we love our church. May I share something with the church? You know, you guys when Pastor David and Marie just mentioned this before we started when when this quarantine first hit, I was here every Sunday that I'm not saying me, but Pastor David and Marie were here faithfully every Sunday. What their desire was to see you and they were there praying with people and that really spoke to me in ways that you guys were here. Remember, we just stand out there in chit chat with Victor, right? The guys, but you guys were here and and it's amazing to have a shepherd and and Pastor David and and the love and that Marie brings to our congregation. So thank you guys for that. It's those things that people don't see that shows and then you're not you're not out there to look at us. Look at us. It's not you're not that way, but the faithfulness that you were there even though we were in quarantine that you were there as our pastor waiting for the sheep to come. People would come. Yeah, and they would. I remember when we first the first Sunday where we had the drive by people are coming through the drive through. It reminded me when when Jesus saw the the multitudes, he had compassion on them because remember, it was a little warm that day and they were they weren't quite sure whether they should stay away. They were kind of across the parking lot and that's when you said, come on, let's go worship. And it reminded me when when Jesus had compassion on the multitudes and he ministered to them. That's what a shepherd is. They wanted to be here because where else would we have gone on a Sunday? That was where we wanted to be here in case somebody showed up. That was amazing to see. And we look back and to see even now what the Lord has done. Even in that time, we're now in the phases of meeting again. That's the amazing thing. You know, John, one of the things that I feel very strongly about is that people can say and they do all kinds of things about me as a man, but they'll never be able to say, I didn't love my sheep. That's true. They can't say that. Some do, but they're wrong. They could never say that. Both Marie and I, this fellowship is the heartbeat of our lives outside of one another in our Savior. It's a fact. You know, we've been here for 38, 39 years and it's because we love. I was given an opportunity twice now to consider other churches to go and pastor, which would have, by the way, benefited us in ways that this church does not. And I made choices not to do that. I wanted to stay here with my sheep. I never told them, you know, but I could have pastor to church. I could have very easily pastor to church that in terms of numbers was quite a bit larger than this church. Quite a bit. And another one in a location that Marie and I would love to live. Love to live. You know, I mean with flies and the heat. You know, I love the cows and all that. But we would have loved to live there because as a place, Marie and I would like to live. And I know that I could have taken this fellowship. I know because the pastor was vacating the pulpit and I was a guest speaker at this church quite often and had relationships with a number of the people there. And I could have said to their board, I want to take this church and the board would have handed it to me because I was on the board. And I know I could have said that, you know what, because I really loved the people there. I did. But the Lord said, no, you're called to Chino. You stay there. And I have never regretted that because, and it's all said and done, I love, I love Chino. I really do. I love Chino. And I love my people. And believe it or not, and whether it matters, most people don't care. But that's from my heart to theirs. Yeah, I love my sheep. And so does my wife. We love our sheep. Thank you for loving us. Thank you for loving us, Pastor. God bless you. God bless. Thank you guys. We'll see you next week.