 Amen. All right, so as we approach the New Year, we're going to keep in the spirit of last week's sermon. It's not a sermon series, but I want to keep in this spirit of just encouraging you to think about your spirituality for the New Year. And last week, we talked about the purpose of preaching, why you come to church and listen to preaching, what the purpose of that is. This morning, I want to talk to you about who keeps you, who keeps you in your faith. We see this story in 2 Chronicles chapter 24 about Joash and Jehoida, and what we're going to do this morning is I want to step through this story and then I want to apply it to your life and talk to you about who keeps you in your faith and who should keep you in your faith. And look and see if you have any issues there that need to be thought through or short up. So let's look at 2 Chronicles chapter 24. This is a parallel story in 2 Kings chapter 11, but the verse in 2 Chronicles 24 has a little bit more detail. But the background to this story, go back to 2 Chronicles chapter 22, let's do a little bit of a Bible study to get the context of what's happening here, what happened in chapter 24, and then we'll look at what that means for us. Look at 2 Chronicles chapter 22 and look at verse number 10. The Bible says this. It says, But when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she rose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah. Nice lady. Look at verse 11, But Jehoshabeth, the daughter of the king, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bed chamber. So Jehoshabeth, the daughter of King Joram, the wife of Jehoida the priest, that's the Jehoida we just heard about in chapter 24, for she was sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Athaliah. So she slew him not. So here you have a situation where the king has died and Athaliah, the mother, who is the daughter of King Ahab by the way, you know these two families of the southern kingdom of Judah, and the northern kingdom of Israel, they got joined together. These two kingdoms were joined together by marriage. And Athaliah was the son of Ahab, she was the mother of the king, and she goes and she kills all her grandchildren, so she can rule herself. But she doesn't kill all her grandchildren, because the aunt of this child saves him. And she saves him, and her husband happens to be Jehoida the priest. So you know, Joash's aunt is the one that saves him. So if you want to get a context on how everybody's related to each other here, I'm not going to draw you a family tree, but his aunt is the one that saves him, and then his uncle is Jehoida who raises him, and he's also a priest. Then of course, if you turn one chapter over to second chronicles chapter 23, Jehoida, as soon as the young Joash is seven years old, he leads a coup to basically take the kingdom from Athaliah. He takes the kingdom back from this wicked woman, this evil woman, and they anoint Joash king when he's seven years old. So things must have not been great. They're kind of pushing this situation as fast as they can. The kid is seven, okay, and he's anointed king. Look at second chronicles chapter 23 and verse number one. The Bible says, and in the seventh year, Jehoida strengthened himself, which means by the way that the child was a baby. You could see that he had a nurse made in the story in second chronicles chapter 22. He was a baby, he was a young infant when he was saved by his aunt and uncle, but look at second chronicles 23, and in the seventh year, Jehoida strengthened himself and took the captains of hundreds, Ezariah, the son of Joram, and Ishmael, the son of Jehonanan, and Azariah, the son of Obed, and Masiyiah, the son of Adiah, and Elosaphat, the son of Zikri, into covenant with him. So he gathers all the leaders of the nations, and they went about in Judah and gathered the Levites out of the cities of Judah, and the chief of the fathers of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem. And then the congregation and all the congregation made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And he said unto them, Behold, the king's son shall reign, as the Lord hath said, all the sons of David. So of course, you know, we see here that just this is another miraculous fulfillment of God's promise to David that, you know, your kingdom will have no end. Of course, you know, that means that in the southern kingdom of Judah, every single king was a successive son of the king before tracing back to David, and of course Jesus Christ takes that kingdom into eternity. Okay, so that promise is saved. It almost looked like it was broken. When Athaliah comes and she destroys all the grandchildren, if she would have killed them all, that prophecy would have not come true. But because of Joash's aunt and uncle. So there's a lot of amazing things that come out of this story, not really the point. Look at verse number 11 of 2 Chronicles chapter 23. And the Bible says this. So he gathers all the people together and he says, look, this son is going to reign. He's going to fulfill this promise of, you know, he's the son of David. And in verse number 11, it says, then they brought out the king's son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimony and made him king. And Jehoiadah and his sons, don't forget that. His sons anointed him, plural. So Jehoiadah, the priest, and Jehoiadah's sons, he had many sons. They anointed Joash king. Now look back at verse number 2 of 2 Chronicles 24. Let's talk about the context of what we're going to speak about this morning. So that's the back story. You have Joash saved by his aunt and uncle. You have him now. You know, he's appointed king. Of course, then they kill Athaliah. And in 2 Chronicles chapter 24, in verse number 2, the Bible says, and Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. But that's not all it says, right? So Joash does some good things. He goes and he rebuilds the temple and he does all these great things for the Lord. And it says that Joash did that was right in the sight of the Lord. And you'll see that as we go through the history of the kings. You'll see, you know, certain kings like most of the kings in the northern kingdom is like he did evil in the sight of the Lord. You know, they have, you know, evil kings that will say he did evil all the days of his life or whatever. And you have some kings that did right in the sight of the Lord. And then at the end of their life, they did bad, they did evil. So this is a common saying, but it says here that Joash did what was right in the sight of the Lord, but there's more to it. It says all the days of Jehoida the priest because in chapter 24 something happens, Jehoida dies. Okay, Jehoida, look, and let me tell you something, Jehoida was a great man. How do I know? Because the Bible tells me, look at verse 15. Now this is very interesting because you'll also see after the kings die, if you go and you read through Chronicles and Kings and first and second Kings, you get to all the history of the kings and you'll see if they did good at the beginning of their reign, if they did good at the end of their reign, but then it's very important to remember where they were buried because where they were buried tells you what the people thought of them and what they actually accomplished in their life. Many of the things, by the way, I don't mean to break your spirit this morning, but people will kind of remember you by how you end up, by how you end this thing. The ending is much more important than the beginning, folks. So if you think, oh, you know, in the beginning of my life I was just kind of like I was off and I wasn't even saved, look, the ending is more important. The ending of your life is much more important than the beginning. So look at 2 Chronicles chapter 24 in verse number 15. Once again, not the point, but Jehoida waxed old. Did you know you're going to get old? Jehoida waxed old and was full of days when he died and 130 years old was he when he died. I mean he lived a decent life here, he lived a decent long life, verse 16, and they buried him in the city of David, whoa, among the kings because he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house. So this is super important here because Jehoida was not a king. Jehoida was not a king, but he was buried with the kings. That's why it's so important when Ahab and Jezebel died, you know, where were they buried? The dogs ate him. The dogs ate him, nobody even knows. Jehoida was not a king and he was buried with the kings. That's a big deal. Joash was a king and he wasn't even buried with the kings. So this is important. He was buried with the kings, he was a great man of God, both toward God and toward his house. So he was a good man towards his family and towards the Lord. So now, let's explore this idea of, you know, Joash did all, you know, did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoida the priest. So Joash did correctly and he was a great king while Jehoida was over him. It's important to see that clearly, Jehoida we see was a great man, but after the days of Jehoida, look at verse 17 of chapter 24, Joash turned almost immediately away from God. Look at verse 17. The Bible says, now after the death of Jehoida came the princes of Judah and made obescence to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them. There's a whole sermon in that right there, but we're not going to go there either. Verse 18, so they basically came and they just, they flattered him and they showed obedience to him and then they told him what they really wanted him, they thought he should do. And the Bible says the king hearkened unto them. He listened unto them. So these were the princes of Judah. These were other rulers that were below the king. Verse 18, and they left the house of the God of their fathers and served groves and idols and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass. But it wasn't just that he turned away, folks. Right after Jehoida's death two things happened here. Number one, others came along to challenge Joash's faith and his beliefs and his actions. So right away these other people come in, these princes, and then he falters and he falls away. Okay, to the point, to the point of killing Jehoida's sons. And you say, well, it just talks about in chapter 24, it just gives the detail about him killing the one son, but it says clearly, number one, that at the end, the conspirators, they killed him for the blood of the sons of Jehoida. So Joash, others come in to challenge him and to challenge the beliefs that he had and the actions that he was taking towards the Lord. And he falls away right away to the point where he kills the very cousins of his that anointed him king. Because if you go back and you look at who anointed him king in verse 11, it was Jehoida and his sons that anointed him king and he kills these people. I mean, talk about an epic failure. He immediately turns away. So look, we see that Jehoida in his presence was the one thing that when removed from Jehoash caused everything to fall apart. Not a great thing. Not a great thing that we see here. So the question this morning is as we see this story of Jehoash and this important failure in the Bible, look, we can learn as much from failures in the Bible, sometimes more than we can from successes. Because quite frankly, there's not a lot of success stories in the Bible. That's why sometimes people think that the Old Testament is kind of negative because there's a lot of failures. There's a lot of wrong things being done. But look, Jehoash fell on his face to the point where he murdered the very people that brought him to power after Jehoida was gone. So let me ask you this question this morning. As Jehoida kept Jehoash, who keeps you? Who keeps you in your faith this morning? Is there a man? Is there a personality that you follow that if they were gone, you would quit this Christian life? Is there somebody like that? Another one is this. We're going to talk a little bit about Christian maturity and moving past this. But should someone keep you? Should someone keep you? Now, you think about this question. Who keeps you as I continue through the sermon and I'll ask it again at the end of the sermon. Think about this and in order to come to an answer, let's explore first this question. Who do you keep? Who do you keep? So I want you to be thinking in the back of your head about who keeps you. If there was somebody that if they were gone, if they quit this Christian life, if they died, whatever, if they fell, if you would fall as well. If there's somebody like that, I want you to think about that and I'll tell you if that's correct or not at the end. But let's just look at this. Who do you keep? Who do you keep under you? And I know the parents in the room are sitting here thinking, well, I keep my kids. Okay, good. Okay, Joe Ash, when he started ruling, he was seven years old. He was seven. Children, turn to Proverbs chapter 22, children need to be kept. Children need to be kept and that is normal, that is biblical. Look at Proverbs 22 and verse number six. This is a verse that we talk about a lot. Proverbs 22 verse number six. The Bible says, train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it. So the Bible says here that you need to train them, meaning they don't know everything. We're here to show them, to train them, to teach them. And when they're old, when they're no longer a child, they won't need to be trained anymore because they'll know. Look if you know, you don't need to be trained. So they need to be trained so they do know. So the idea with kids. The idea with kids, as they come here, as they come here, they're really piggybacking off of your faith. These kids, I mean they're piggybacking off of your loyalty as you come to church. But the idea is this, is that eventually, eventually those training wheels need to come off and they need to start being powered by their own faith. And look, it's not that tough. It's not that tough to have your kids piggyback off of your faith. I mean I watch, I watch people come in this morning, even when I'm going over, you know, in the mornings, even when I'm going over my sermons, I see the camera at the entry and it's like the little kids, I can always tell when, you know, a family's here because the little kids are the first ones blasting through the door. It's not that tough. I can see the kids jump out of the truck when it's still pulling up to the curb and just run right into the church. I mean it's not that hard for these kids, you know, especially when they're small to piggyback off their parents' faith. It works. Okay, it works. But look, they come here to see their friends. They come here to play soccer in the back. They come here to, you know, it's a great thing to see. It's a great thing to see, but the teenagers, when they get older, you teenagers, let me ask you, are you getting your own zeal for the Lord? Are your kids starting to get their own faith, you know, and after they get saved, are they having that own zeal to serve God that is growing alongside yours? Or are you just, you know, teenagers, are you coming because your parents just bring you? Look, that's not good. If you're raising kids and they get to be in their teens and they're only coming to church because you say that they're supposed to come to church, there's a problem there. That means that things that that training is not happening how it should happen. Because look, if should circumstances change, you know, these kids eventually need to be a self-powered machine in their faith. Because, I mean, the bottom line is the more people that your faith is dependent on, the bigger chance that you have at failure. That's why we're training these kids up. The second thing is, what else are we doing? We're protecting them. We're protecting them from harm. You're not just to strengthen and raise them, but you're there to protect them. Turn to Psalm 65. What immediately happened to Joe Ash? Jehoida was gone and what immediately happened to this kid is like immediately after Jehoida was gone, the evil influence came in right away. Do you think that, look, there is no coincidences. There is no coincidences. Those evil influences were always there, folks. Those princes were always there, but they were kept away by Jehoida. They were kept away by his presence. Look at Psalm 65. Look at verse number five. The Bible says, a father of the fatherless and a judge of the widows is God in his holy habitation. Look, the Bible here is saying that when kids don't have a father or is a judge of the widows or widows don't have a husband, God will fill that role. But that is showing us also what that father's role is, is to protect the children and their wives, their spouses. So this idea, this methodology that I'm talking about this morning is that we raise these kids from the time that they're small to the time they grow up to be teenagers. The idea is to teach them to walk on their own, to teach them to start running on their own, but eventually they're going to need to fight on their own. And that's why God is saying here that, look, if there is no father, if there is no husband, God needs to step in because that's an important role is what God is saying. Look, it's like this, you know, time's not your friend, by the way. Time's not your friend. I don't mean to stress you out this morning, but I kind of do. You're walking towards a cliff, you're walking towards a cliff and they're going to be dropped off a cliff. Are you teaching them to fly? Maybe a better example is you're going to toss them in the ocean. You're going to toss them in the ocean, you're on a boat and in a certain period of time, you're going to throw them off the edge into the water and there's a bunch of sharks in the water. Can they swim? I'm telling you, you're going to find out if they can swim because that edge of that cliff, that edge of that dock that they're going to have to walk off of, that's coming. That's coming one day. You say, oh, but you know what? I'll always be there. I'll always be a lifeboat for them. I'll always be there to catch them if they fall. Guess what? That's great, but no, you won't. No, you won't always be there. You know, and here's the thing. I fear. This cliff is so steep and this water is so filled with sharks that I fear that few will get this right. I fear that few will take it seriously enough. Why do I fear that? Because look, if you can't get yourself right, you have no chance at helping the next generation learn how to swim. Zero. So I can see in certain cases that there's no chance for certain people. Because look, look, folks, those princes are waiting. Those princes are already there. Those princes existed. It was just Jehoi that went away and Joach wasn't ready and they got them. At some point, you're going to put these kids out the door and those princes will be waiting for them. That fight is coming. Let me speak to the men especially. Look, you had better be careful what your faith is dependent on. You say why. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. You better understand what your beliefs are. You better have your beliefs based on what the Bible says and not based on what someone has told you. You had better be in your Bible. You had better be looking for yourself. Hey, don't take my word for it. I'm telling you, don't take my word for it. You better not rely on me. You better be in your Bible and you better be figuring things out for yourself. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Look, when I moved to California, you know the pastor that preached the sermon that inspired me to move? You know he's not even a pastor anymore. But you know what? What he said was true. What that sermon said matched the Bible. It doesn't make what he said at that point any less true. Because my faith is in the Bible. And I had somebody point me to the Bible and show me something in the Bible. That's great. But ultimately, the rock is here. Not in some man. And that's what it needs to be for you as well. Look, it's OK to have leaders over you. That's OK. Look at Hebrews 10 verse 23. Hebrews 10, 25, we read all the time. But if you want to have a great verse in the Bible, read the couple verses before and the couple verses after it. Those are great verses too. 9 times out of 10. Look at verse number 23. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. Look, it's OK to be encouraged and provoked by others. But ultimately, your faith should reach a point, men and women, that it is not held up by a man. That it is not held up. Your faith should not be held up by a person, by a human being. Turn to 1 Peter chapter 3. You say, well, what about my wife? Well, that's different. I'm talking to you, men. Look at 1 Peter chapter 3. I want to first just emphasize to the men the importance of you not being propped up by somebody. You can be encouraged and provoked and rebuked in all these things by a man. That's fine. But ultimately, your faith needs to rest on the word of God. Look at 1 Peter chapter 3. Look at verse number 7. The Bible says, likewise, let's talk about the wives. Likewise, ye husbands dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel and as being heirs together in the grace of life that your prayers be not hindered. Look, your leadership, men, matters because your wife is weaker than you. Did you know that? The Bible says so that she's the weaker vessel. I mean, look at the judges. I mean, leadership matters. Look at we're going through judges. As soon as the judge is gone, as soon as the leader's gone, it immediately falls apart every single time. So leadership in the family depends on you. Look, there's consequences of falling for those that you keep. We're talking about who you keep. Men, people will rely on you. Their faith will be shaken if you are shaken. God designed leadership in the family to strengthen the weaker vessels. Men. So the downside of being the leader of your family is that if you fall down the hill, you're going to knock others down as you roll down. That's the way it works. This is a massive responsibility. Turn to Ephesians chapter five. Turn to Ephesians chapter five. Men love Ephesians chapter five. Let's see if you love it in five minutes. Men love Ephesians chapter five. Turn to Ephesians chapter five. And let's start reading, once again, at verse number 22. Ephesians 5, 22. Look, men, this is a massive responsibility that you have. The Bible says Ephesians 5, 22. Wives, submit yourselves under your husbands. Chous unto the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. And everybody quits reading at that point. Let's read verse 26. Why? Why? Every man loves this verse. See? Honey, honey, submit, do what I say. Well, I mean, that's true, okay? I mean, there's nothing untrue about that. But why? Look at verse 26. That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. Who? Well, it's talking about Christ and it's talking about you. Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word. You are to keep your wife sanctified, cleansed with the word. That translation, you are to spiritually lead your wife. And guess what? Wives, the only way this works is if you submit to your husband. If you submit to that leadership, he is to be that spiritual leader for you. But the whole point of these verses is the spiritual leadership part. It's giving you all the pieces of how it goes together and verse 26 is the point. It's so you can be the spiritual leader of your family. But it only works if you have a wife that just won't submit to the authority of your husband, it's not gonna work. But if you have a husband that's not a spiritual leader, it's not gonna work. I mean there's two sides to this coin. If you're some dictator, you know that you're not doing your job in this area but you just want your wife to listen to everything that you say, okay, you just wanna be in charge. Look, it's not gonna work the way the Bible says. It's just not gonna go that way. I can't tell you how many times I've seen this. Where the wife is the spiritual one. You know where the wife, the husband isn't leading. And hey, I mean, look, now let's talk to the women. Go to Romans 13. It's great. Look, it's great that she didn't get taken out. It's great women that the woman is the spiritual one and it's great that as her husband rolled down the hill, she got out of the way. And she didn't get knocked down the hill with them. That's good. You say, why is that good? Well look at Romans 13. Because this is a Romans 13 woman here. Okay, Romans 13, one, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God, the powers that be are anointed of God. So here's a woman whose husband, her husband rolled down the spiritual hill and he's not leading in that spiritual area, but she still understands that she's subjected, she's a subject to God. She's still serving the Lord. She's still doing spiritually. She's still obeying God. She's still continuing. But look, this is outside God's model. It's great that God has a plan B in that situation. But it's outside God's model. And whenever you are operating, if you haven't figured this out, you need to read your Bible more. But whenever, I mean, the Bible's laying out a model for you. The Bible's laying out models for your life. And whenever you step outside that model, whether it be a big area or a small area, look, things just aren't gonna go well. Things just aren't gonna go the way that you thought that they would go. Because you stepped outside that model. If the wife is having to spiritually lead herself and the husband is not doing it, it's great that there's a plan B and that the Bible tells her that she should obey God rather than man and that she's subject to the higher powers. It's great that she's figured that out, but that is not God's model for the family. At that point, we're outside God's model. And something is gonna go wrong. And guess what? Something's gonna go really wrong. And let me show you, there's so much on this, I could never even read it all to you. But everybody knows this. Let me just read you a couple research studies on this. On when the father's not the spiritual leader, but the mother assumes that role. And we're glad that she did. We're glad that she didn't get knocked down the hill with her husband. But let's look at just a couple things. According to Life Way Research Group, Father's Day is the holiday with the single lowest average church attendance. That just shows you where we're at in this country. Statistically lower than Labor Day, Memorial Day, and even Fourth of July. This isn't, imagine, more fathers are in church. I mean, and we're not gonna get into all the different churches and all that, but this is general. This will give you a general idea. I mean, more fathers are in church on the Fourth of July when no one's in church in this country than even Father's Day. This is interesting, especially when you consider that Mother's Day tends to be the day with the third highest church service attendance after Easter and Christmas. So you have Father's Day, nobody goes to church, and Mother's Day, everybody goes to church, basically. Here's another one. According to, I mean, here's proof of God's plan right here, just from secular research. According to data collected by promise keepers, don't endorse, in Baptist press, if a father does not go to church, even if his wife doesn't, look, you will find these numbers again and again and again. I don't care who did the study. This is happening and it's real. There's books written on this whole thing right here. If a father does not go to church, even if his wife does, only, so you have a dad doesn't go to church, but the mom goes to church. Only one in 50 children will become a regular churchgoer. One in 50. However, if a father does go regularly, so now if the dad does go to church. So basically, I mean, and look, we're trying to, we're measuring spirituality. This is not talking about salvation, we're just measuring spirituality by some study measuring church attendance, okay? But basically, if the dad doesn't go to church, it doesn't matter what the mom does, and she does go to church, one in 50 kids. That's 2%. That's bad. That's like none of them. You can almost round that to zero. However, if the dad does go to church, and here's the funny thing, if the dad does go to church, if he's the spiritual one, assuming that this means that he's the spiritual leader, it doesn't even matter what the mom does. I mean, it doesn't even matter. Like, you're just like, why? That doesn't seem, that's the way it is. Because that's God's model. You're seeing God's model researched and proven true here. But here's the numbers. If a father does go regularly, regardless of what the mother does, between two thirds and three quarters of their children will end up in church as adults. So let me repeat this. If a father goes to church regularly, 75% of kids remain in the faith. And all we could take that to, you know, look, I mean, my goals for my kids, my base goals, my base goals. Like, we have to achieve these base goals, are that they get saved, and that they serve the Lord with their life. Those are my base goals, okay? I mean, that's basically what that is. It's saying 75% of those kids, it all is basically, all depends on the father. It all stands or falls on you, Dad, have a nice day. Do you still like Ephesians 5? Because that's what it is saying. So men, your wife may grow to be spiritually mature without you. She may Romans 13 this thing and good for her, but the kids will pay. The kids will pay for you. The kids will pay for your lack of leadership. And you women, you women, I mean, you're sitting there, I can hear your thinking. Not your voices, because you're to be silenced in the church. But I can hear what you're thinking, and you're like, you know what, it's not fair. Like it's not fair that I could be so spiritual. I spent all day with these kids, teaching these kids, reading them, showing them the Bible, showing them all these things. And it's not fair that, but that they could fall on my husband only. But that's God's design. Who are you to question it? That's the way it is. Single girls, be careful who you marry. Single girls, this man, this man will make or break the most important things that you will ever see in your life. This man that you marry. For all you who are not married yet, are you nervous? You should be. This man, because look, Proverbs 29, 15, I'll just read it for you. There's a reason that when the children grow up, you see something in the Bible where the Bible says this phrase, and you're like, why does it say that? Because it's true. The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his family shame. No, it's not what it says. It says a child left to himself bringeth his mother shame. See, you marry some man who's nice. Maybe you think he's got a good job and he's good-looking and more. And he does not spiritually lead your family. You will have a life filled with shame. You will have a life filled with shame. If you do not marry somebody it will spiritually lead you and your children. Because you will bear the shame. And you know what you think? Well, isn't the father... Look, I'm old enough to have seen it several times. That's how it works. It's the mother's shame. When the children go astray, when the children go aside, I mean, for some reason it's just easier for the dads to just be like, yeah, I don't know. Maybe I'm just not a good dad or whatever. But the mother lives a life of shame. The mother, it is her shame. Look, there is so much. So ladies, just think about that. I don't mean to wreck your day, but you must consider this spiritual leadership portion of your family before you even consider marrying somebody. Because everything rides on it. There's so much trust put in you men. That's why, look, look, there's so much riding on your shoulders men. That's why I'm so hard on you. That's why if you're just some loser that will never work and doesn't wanna work and doesn't wanna be committed to anything in your life, that you're just gonna have a hard time here because I'm not gonna watch this happen to some single lady under my watch. It's on purpose because it all rises and falls on you. So back to the question. Back to the question I asked you. Who holds you up? Who holds you up? Men, it's great to be encouraged by others. Please don't get me wrong. It's great to be encouraged by others. It's great to be exhorted and rebuked by others and comforted, look and comforted and sharpened by others. That's why we're here and edified by others and provoked by others. Hey, let's have a challenge. Let's have a weight loss challenge to provoking some small thing just on being physically healthy. Let's provoke each other and let's challenge each other and let's edify each other. But the head of you should be Christ. Not any man, including this man because I'm just a man and I'm always gonna be a man and I mess up and I'm always gonna mess up and the head of you Ephesians 5, the head of you is Christ. That's why it's the model. Everything and everything and you getting this model right, everything depends on it. Everything that you will ever love, everything that you will ever do in your life depends on you getting this model right. So who holds you up? Look, I'm here to encourage you. I'm here to support you with whatever you need. I'm here to exhort you, to provoke you, all these things, to sharpen you. That's what I should do. But if I'm gone, Christ better still hold you up. That's where you need to be in your life because it all depends on that. We have to follow this model. If we don't, there will be trouble at some point which is why we're talking about this before the new year or anytime of the year. So who holds you up? Is it Christ? It should be. Let's borrow our heads and have a word of prayer.