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[0:00] Look at somebody and tell them, you're a child. Now, do we think of that as an insult or a good thing? It can kind of be used as both, can it?

[0:12] I mean, sometimes we tell people you're acting like a child or childish. Generally, when that's said, it's not a good thing, is it? But we do need to remember that if you're a believer, if you have Jesus in your heart, it says you've been adopted into the family and you become a child of God.

[0:32] So we are children. And that means we don't have it all figured out, doesn't it? It means we're not in charge, are we? Do children sometimes think they're the one in charge?

[0:46] Are children ever bossy? Do children ever not want to listen? Are we ever like that? We need to be children that are ready to be obedient.

[1:03] And that's really, we're in Ephesians today, so I'd encourage you to turn to Ephesians chapter 6. We've been working our way through Ephesians. And as we've been working our way through Ephesians, we've been talking about family.

[1:16] Now, Ephesians, the book of Ephesians isn't necessarily just about family, but there are so many things in here that are about family. And it reminds us that if you are a believer, you are blessed because you have two families.

[1:30] First of all, you have your physical family. If your parents are still alive, or brothers, sisters, children, aunts, uncles, cousins, all those fit in our description of physical family, don't they?

[1:44] Physical family is intended to be a blessing, right? Is it always? Can it be a source of frustration? Can it be a source of hurt?

[1:56] Can it be a source of heartache? It can be all those things. And yet, as God forms families, His intent and desire is that your physical family be a place of encouragement for you.

[2:09] Now, I know it doesn't always work out that way. But the blessing is, as believers, we have more than our physical family. Maybe your parents are gone. Maybe you've lost a spouse.

[2:20] Maybe you have no children. You still have a family. Because if you're a believer, God has put you in a spiritual family. And you have brothers and sisters in Christ.

[2:31] And as we think of ourselves as a church, or a body of believers, or Christians in general, do we think of ourselves as brothers and sisters? We need to.

[2:42] Because it's a reminder that we are family. We're going to be in Ephesians chapter 6. So I'd encourage you to find that. We're going to start in verse 10. And once you've found that, I'm going to ask if you'd stand as we read God's Word, if you're able this morning.

[2:56] Ephesians chapter 6, beginning in verse 10. And this is what God's Word shares. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

[3:10] Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

[3:26] Wherefore, take to you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

[3:45] Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

[3:58] Praying always, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. And that for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

[4:23] Let's pray together this morning. Lord God, once again, we just thank you for this time we have to share together. We thank you that you're here in our presence, Lord. We thank you that you've given us your Word, your message.

[4:34] And I pray, Lord, that you just use it to speak to our hearts. Teach us this morning. Lord, the reality is we are all children. We need to be taught. We do not have it all figured out.

[4:45] So, Lord, help us to listen to you this morning. Help us to be obedient to you. Help us to be the children that you want us to be. And when we ask and pray these things, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

[4:57] You can be seated this morning. So last week, as we were in Ephesians chapter 5, God was also talking to us, our physical families that He's given us.

[5:09] And if you remember last week, He addressed husbands and He addressed wives. And He gave us what I think are some challenges in His Word. First of all, He said, wives, what are you supposed to do?

[5:23] Yeah, we're going to hit on this again this morning. Like it or not? Wives, what are you supposed to do? It says, wives, submit yourselves to your husband. Do we like that?

[5:36] We're talking about children this morning. Do they always like to submit? Do they always like to listen? What is one of the first words that children learn? No.

[5:47] Why is that? That's what we tell them all the time. That's a good reason, yes. But that's our natural tendency to say no, because we want our way, not somebody else's way.

[6:00] Wives, are you any different? You can say it. No. No. But here's the thing. It says, wives, submit to your husband. But you know what?

[6:10] He tells all of us in the same chapter. He says, submit in verse 21 of chapter 5. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. And that is for everybody. Saying that we should submit to each other.

[6:22] We should be willing to put others first. Not just wives. All of us should be willing to submit. Now it also went on to talk to husbands. Husbands. And it says, husbands, love your wives.

[6:35] Is that ever a challenge? If you know what's good for you, say no. No challenge. Easy to do. The challenge comes in what it says after that.

[6:45] It says, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church. That is a deep, sacrificial kind of love. And that is the love that husbands are to have to their wives. Is that kind of love a challenge?

[6:58] Yes. Because that means always putting the other person first. That's what Christ did for His church. Sacrificing Himself for us. But again, the thing that it asked husbands to do, it said at the beginning of chapter 5 in verse 2, for all of us, it says to walk in love.

[7:16] So we're all supposed to do that anyway. So the directions He gives to wives, we're all supposed to do. The direction He gives to husbands, we're all supposed to do. He's just pointing out you're supposed to do that in your marriage relationship as well.

[7:30] So that was all in chapter 5. Chapter 6, we didn't read the first verse, but it doesn't want to leave everybody out. So the first person it talks about are children. Children, look in the first verse.

[7:42] It's in your Bible. What are they supposed to do? They are parents. That first word is the challenge. That first word after children is the challenge. Obey your parents.

[7:56] You that are children, kids out there under 18, is it always easy to obey your parents? Miss Ella is up here really shaking her head.

[8:09] Thank you for your honesty, Ella. It's not always easy to obey your parents. Why is that? Think back when you were a child. Did any of you in here always obey your parents?

[8:24] Why? Because we want to do what we want to do. And we think we know better. But here's the thing.

[8:35] He says, children, obey your parents. But again, is he just asking children to be obedient? We've talked about who's a child in here. We just sang the song.

[8:46] Did you sing? You said, I'm a child of the king. You just sang, I'm a child. Do you think we're supposed to also be obedient? Yes. So God really is telling us things that we are all to do here.

[9:00] We are all to submit to each other. We are all to love each other. We are all to be obedient to our Father in heaven. And it is not always an easy thing to do. But that is God's recipe for the family to work the way that it is supposed to.

[9:14] To be the family that God wants it to be. And that's our physical family and the spiritual family. For our spiritual family to be everything God wants it to be, we need to do all those things.

[9:25] We need to submit. We need to love. And we need to be obedient to our Father. When we do all those things, what do you think the church is going to be like? If we're all doing that, what is the church going to be like?

[9:39] It's going to be like heaven. It's going to be wonderful, isn't it? Don't you agree? And I wasn't going to add this in, but I want you to think about this for a minute.

[9:50] But those of you that have families more than one child, think about a time you've all been together. How many children does it take to kind of ruin the moment?

[10:06] How many? Only one. You might have eight kids. I don't know. How many does it take to ruin the moment? Just one. And kind of spoil it at times for everyone.

[10:21] What do you think about in the church family? Can that same thing happen? Can one person's action impact the rest of the church? And I think sometimes we need to consider that.

[10:34] That our role that we play in this family is important. For us to be obedient to God the way that we need to is important for the whole church body. For us to love and to forgive and to submit and to do all those things, to be obedient, is important to the whole family.

[10:51] So this is what God begins chapter 6 with. But I want to jump down to verse 10, where we began this morning, because it starts off with that word, finally.

[11:02] Did you notice that? If you didn't notice, we are in chapter 6 of Ephesians, and that is the last chapter of Ephesians. So as Paul is writing, he's beginning to sum up all of this that he's written, and he says, finally.

[11:16] So what he's going to say after this is important stuff. Not that all of it isn't important, but we need to pay attention. And what he says is, finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.

[11:32] Why do you think that's one of the things he starts with as he sums things up? To be strong in the Lord. Why in the family is that so important? No ideas?

[11:48] Everybody awake? Why is it so important that the family is strong? Serenity. So they can help each other through difficult times.

[11:59] Yes, there is a reason and a purpose for us as a family. And God intends that we are strong so that we can support each other and serve Him in the way He wants us to. And here is the thing.

[12:10] We need to be strong because, and Paul is going to go on to talk about this, because we're under attack. There is a world out there and there is a devil that is real.

[12:22] Do you believe the devil is real? You know, it's interesting. They've done lots of studies and surveys. Most people in the United States believe in heaven.

[12:34] That's a good thing, right? Guess what? There is a much smaller portion that believe in hell. Isn't that interesting? Why do you think that is?

[12:47] Because nobody wants to go there? There is a larger population that believes in God than believes in Satan. Why do you think that is? Serenity?

[13:00] They don't want to believe that the bad things are true too. That's right. We like to believe in the good stuff.

[13:11] Heaven, that's wonderful, but to think that there's consequences, that we don't like to think about. To think about God that's always there for us and wants to support us is great, but to think about the devil that wants to pull us in the wrong direction, we don't want to think about that.

[13:24] But the Bible says Satan is real, doesn't it? It says he is as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And you know who he wants to devour and what he wants to devour? Families.

[13:36] Satan wants to tear families apart. Individual families and church families. That is his desire. That's why as it writes here, he says we need to be strong because we're in a battle.

[13:49] We need to be strong in our beliefs. In the world that we live in, are there a lot of other beliefs out there? Are there a lot of beliefs that contradict what Christians believe?

[14:02] Are there a lot of beliefs that contradict what the Bible teaches? Yes. That is Satan attacking the family. Satan attacking God's Word. Satan attacking the church.

[14:13] And Satan has thrown out so many beliefs that are ungodly. Starting with the Big Bang and it's all evolution that God doesn't have any role in it. abortion, all kinds of things that the world says is okay, is not.

[14:26] Those are attacks from Satan and we need to be strong in the Lord in our belief. We need to be strong in the Word and live what this says. It's great to read it, but is it harder to live it?

[14:42] What do you think? Think of how many examples that's true for. You know the big one I always think of, the Bible says we're supposed to forgive, doesn't it? How many times?

[14:56] 70 times 7. And I don't think even that is meant to be the number that you keep track and when you get to that number, all right, you're done. It was an example that we are supposed to just keep forgiving because guess what God does for us?

[15:10] How many times has God forgiven you? How many times will God forgive you in the future if you ask for it in sincerity? He says that's the kind of forgiveness we're supposed to have to other people.

[15:20] Is that hard or is that easy? I'd say it's hard. It's hard to forgive when we don't think they deserve it or when they didn't come to us first. God asks us to do all kinds of things that are difficult, but folks, we need to be in the Word and not just talk about it.

[15:36] We need to live it. The Bible says love your enemies. Hard or difficult? Hard or difficult? Easy to read. Hard to do? It says pray for those that despitefully use you.

[15:48] Easy to do? You guys can answer. Is that easy to do? No. But folks, that's part of being strong in the Lord, not just reading the Word, but being willing to live it out.

[16:03] That is being strong in the Lord. We need to be strong in our beliefs. We need to be strong in the way we live out the Word. And we need to remember that we're in a battle.

[16:15] He goes on after this. This was in verse 10, but look at what he says in verse 11. Put on the whole armor of God. Is there any point in putting on armor if you're not in a battle?

[16:30] God is obviously reminding us here that we're in a battle. You need to understand that. The worst thing that can happen is you're in a battle and you don't even know it. Because if you don't know it, what aren't you going to be?

[16:45] Ready. Prepared. Ready to defend yourself. If you don't realize you're in a battle, you're going to be caught off guard and you're going to fall. Or you're going to get hurt. You're going to fall for whatever Satan has for you.

[16:58] I mean, we understand that physically, don't we? I mean, if I... I'm not encouraging you to crumple up your bulletins. But if I crumpled this up...

[17:14] Sorry, I didn't tell Jim I was going to do that. Did I hit you with the paper? I hit him with the paper.

[17:26] That wasn't very nice, was it? You're all right with that, aren't you? He's going to throw it back at me when I'm not looking. I'll be in the middle of my next sermon. There'll be stuff flying at me.

[17:37] But think about the point. Why did that... Jim's got good reflexes. Why did that hit him? He wasn't ready. Why wasn't he ready? He didn't expect somebody to throw paper at him, let alone the pastor up front, right?

[17:55] Does that happen every Sunday? When is the last time I threw a piece of paper at any of you out here? We might make it a part of every Sunday. I'll have paper wads up here to catch your attention. But he wasn't prepared.

[18:05] He didn't expect that. When we don't expect it and we're not prepared, expect that to be the result. You're going to get hit because you are not ready. You are not prepared. You did not see that coming.

[18:16] As believers, that should never be the case for us. Because what is God telling us here? Be prepared. You are in a battle. Don't be surprised when things come flying at you as you go through your life as a Christian.

[18:32] And do you ever feel like that? Like things just keep flying at you? Life can feel like that, can't it? Things that you don't always control. Things that you don't necessarily see coming.

[18:43] But God says, you need to be prepared for that. Understand that the devil is out there and his job, his purpose, his goal is to defeat us and to tear apart the family.

[18:55] And that's why he says, put on the armor, be ready for it. Don't let it take you off guard. When the world teaches something that is against the Bible, don't be surprised by that. Expect it. That is part of being ready and prepared for the battle that we have.

[19:09] If I had told Jim, hey Jim, I'm going to throw a piece of paper at you in just a second. Do you think it would have gone a little different? I'm guessing it would have.

[19:21] He'd probably had one prepared to throw back at me. Or he would have caught it or deflected it. God is telling us ahead of time to be ready for this.

[19:32] Shouldn't catch us off guard when the world and the things the world teaches go against what we believe is good for the family and what God is teaching for the family. He says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against stand.

[19:51] It's interesting that it says that you may be able to stand. What's the opposite of standing? Falling. Again, you think about times that you fall.

[20:05] What kind of things typically make us fall? Stairs. Uneven surfaces. A sidewalk where it's heaved up a little bit on one side and you didn't see that little thing.

[20:19] Again, it's times you don't expect it, isn't it? If somebody said, hey, there's something right there, are you probably going to trip over it? No. It's the times we're not looking for it. He says, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

[20:35] I always like the way the King James puts that. I know your translation may use something other than wiles. And I've shared this before and you know my mind thinks in probably odd ways, but do you know why I like that word wiles?

[20:48] Some of you know. Yes. It automatically makes me think of Wile E. Coyote, you know, and Roadrunner. But there's a truth that we can understand in that. It says the wiles of the devil.

[21:00] Wiles means tricks, right? Well, Wile E. Coyote, he was always trying to bring down the Roadrunner, wasn't he? And it always got me. He would like strap a rocket to his back or whatever to try to catch the Roadrunner.

[21:14] Did it ever work out? No. But here's the thing. Did he ever give up? No. No. He never gave up. And folks, we need to understand that when it talks about the wiles of the devil, the devil isn't going to give up either, is he?

[21:30] He is not going to quit just because you win one battle against him. He tries to tempt you in one area. It's not like he says, oh, they didn't fall for it. I'm done with them. He's going to come back.

[21:41] And the other thing about Wile E. Coyote, guess what? He never tried the same thing twice, which I never understood. I'm like, well, figure out what you did wrong and keep doing it and eventually you'll get the Roadrunner.

[21:52] Instead, he would go to some new thing. Folks, that's what Satan does. If he doesn't get you with one thing, guess what he's going to do? He's going to try another. And folks, we're talking about specifically families.

[22:06] If Satan can't get his foot in the door in your family in one way, guess what? He's going to try another. And it can be so many different things to tear families apart that Satan tries to use.

[22:18] To tear families apart. He can use even innocent things like busyness. That's one of the things we don't often think about. How busy are you in your life?

[22:32] You ever too busy? Can busyness ever be a bad thing? Yeah, because it can distract us from what's really important.

[22:45] And even as families, we can get so wrapped up in activity that we forget the most important thing that God needs to be at the center of our family. We can be running here and there and forget what it's truly all about.

[22:56] Guess what? Satan can use that, can't he? And he can use all different kinds of teachings and all different kinds of things to tear apart family. He can use selfishness and he can use lies.

[23:11] You think about the word selfishness. How often does Satan use selfishness to tear apart a family? Think about the number of couples that God has torn apart because they become selfish.

[23:22] They want to go their way and the other spouse wants to go their way and guess what? Before you know it, they're going the opposite direction. That's selfishness. Does Satan use that to tear apart families? Satan uses lies to tear apart families.

[23:36] Do you believe that? Yes. I mean, God's word, and I know some of the things are really push-button topics in the world we live in today, but God's word says very clearly, marriage is to be between what?

[23:50] A man and a woman. Anything other than that is Satan trying to tear apart what God instituted as a family because that's what God teaches. We can talk about abortion.

[24:02] Is that Satan trying to destroy families? Absolutely. Absolutely. We can think about more innocent things. Do you know what? How many people just live together and don't get married?

[24:14] The reality is what does God say about that? It's not what is ideal for God's, the family that God wants. But all these things are lies that Satan has used.

[24:26] So often I talk to people before they're married, well, we need to live together to figure out whether it's going to work or not. It's not what God teaches. And if it's not what God teaches, what does that mean it is?

[24:38] It's a lie that Satan has snuck in there to try to get us to believe. And if I'm stepping on my toes, it's just, it's what God's Word shares. And all of us have things that we get our toes stepped on because we all fall short.

[24:53] But our desire should be to follow what God's Word says. And he says this to understand we're in a battle, to understand that the world is going to have different ideas than we have.

[25:05] And he lists, and we're not going to talk about all the armor. That's a whole other series of sermons. But you know the things he talks about. He talks about truth. He talks about righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation.

[25:20] And he talks about the Word of God. All of these things should be a part of our family so that it is strong like God wants it to be. But the one I do want to point out is in verse 16.

[25:35] Because there are a couple words at the beginning of that verse which should catch our attention. What are the first two words? Above all. What does that mean?

[25:47] This is the most important. The others are important too. Very important. But this is what the Bible says, not me. Above all. So we really should pay attention to that, shouldn't we? Above all, take the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the devil.

[26:10] A shield is pretty important, isn't it? If Jim had had a shield, would the outcome have been differently? Come out differently.

[26:22] I remember when I was a kid, Eric Bidlack was down at my house. We grew up down the road from each other. We had a tomato war. You ever have one of those? Wouldn't recommend it.

[26:34] Mom had an abundance of those little cherry tomatoes, the small ones, and we decided it would be a great idea to just start chucking them at each other. And we also figured out it's even better if you have a shield.

[26:47] So we had garbage can lids. How important do you think those shields were? Very important. Until we got out the full-sized tomatoes and then it just, it didn't end well. A shield is vital.

[27:00] Especially if you know there's going to be stuff coming at you. You want a shield. God is telling us there are going to be fiery darts coming at you. Satan is going to be throwing stuff at you.

[27:12] You need to have, above all, the shield of faith. Faith is knowing what we believe and who we believe in and living like it. That is what faith is all about.

[27:23] Knowing that we believe in Jesus Christ, that He is the way that we find forgiveness, He is the way, the truth, and the life, that His Word is real and we need to follow it. We need to have that kind of faith.

[27:34] This is our shield. When the world tries to feed us lies, what do we have? This to look at and say, nope, that's not right. How do I know it's not right?

[27:45] Because it says it right here. Not because of my opinion, but because the Bible says it. That is having faith in God, in His Word, and in the fact that God knows what He's doing.

[27:57] Do you believe God knows what He's doing? That's called faith. And it says, above all, that we need to have the shield of faith to guide our families, to teach our families, to raise our families physically.

[28:14] But as a spiritual family, we need to have that same kind of faith, don't we? To know that we believe in the same thing, that we believe in God's Word from cover to cover. That we believe in the truth that God shares with us.

[28:28] That we believe that whatever the world says, we have to go by this, not by the opinion of the world. That is a faith that God wants us to have. Because Satan is going to come against that in any ways that he can.

[28:42] But as Paul goes on, the final thing I want to look at. I want you to look down in verse 18. Because he sums this up by saying, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.

[28:55] He's talking about the importance of prayer. Look what he says after that. And watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication. That's talking about requests and prayer for all who?

[29:08] Saints. Who do you think he's talking about there? Talks about praying for each other. Who's a saint? Does that feel uncomfortable?

[29:24] I don't care whether it's uncomfortable. It's what God's Word says. Did you know you are a saint? You're giving me some odd looks right now. If you are a believer, if you are a child of God, you are a saint.

[29:38] According to the Bible. Does that mean you are perfect? We think a saint as a perfect person. Don't we? That's not what it is. The saint is a believer.

[29:49] The saint is someone who has Jesus Christ in their life. Because if you have Jesus Christ in your life and you have His forgiveness, what are you in God's eyes? A saint.

[30:00] You are perfect in God's eyes. When the blood of Christ washes away your sins, what are you at that point? In God's eyes. You can say perfect in God's eyes.

[30:13] None of you are comfortable with that, are you? The Bible says we're saints. As believers, when we have Christ in our life, our sins are gone. It says they are separated from us as far as the east is from the west.

[30:24] Do you believe that? It says our sins are blotted out in the Bible. If you have no sins, if they are all separate from you, what does that make you? You're like, I can't say it.

[30:36] Perfect. If our sins are gone from us and we have no sin, we are perfect. Now, here's where I think we would be in agreement.

[30:48] How long does that perfection last? Does that mean we stay perfect and don't sin anymore? No. No. No. We sin. We fall short.

[30:59] But understand, when it's talking about saints here, it's talking about believers. It's talking about us. Look at, if you're a believer, look at somebody beside you and say, you're a saint. You called them a child already, so this is better.

[31:17] Some of you are struggling to do that, aren't you? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't know where God was going to take this sermon, really.

[31:30] Folks, in God's eyes, we are saints. We are His people. We are God's people. It says we're a royal priesthood. We're His chosen people. We are His saints.

[31:43] And here's the thing. It says, making prayer and supplication for all saints. It means as this family that we're in, as we're in this battle, we need to pray for each other.

[31:57] Folks, that is vital, that we pray for each other. Because to be honest, we need it. We need people praying that we would have strength, don't we?

[32:12] I love it when somebody says, Pastor, I'll pray for you. And you know what? I usually try to respond. Good. Thank you. I need it. Because I do.

[32:24] I need all the strength I can get. I need all the prayer I can get because I have temptations too. Because I sometimes fall short too. We need to be praying for each other.

[32:35] Folks, that is vital. You know, we know the saying, the family that, talking about our physical families, the finish this sentence, the family that prays together. There is truth in that.

[32:48] And there is truth in that for the spiritual family. It is vital that we pray for each other because we are in a battle and we need all the strength we can get. And this morning, we're going to close, but I want you to do one thing.

[33:02] I want you just to look at, and I've had you do this several times, look at the people around you. Maybe you don't know all of them, but just the ones like directly behind you, in front of you, beside you.

[33:12] If you're in the back row, just people in front of you, obviously, but... Okay. We're going to bow our heads and I'm going to encourage you. We're going to take a minute and I encourage you to pray for those people.

[33:25] You may not know everything going on in their life, but you know what? You can pray for them for strength. You can pray that they would have the shield of faith in their life. You can pray that they will have the strength that God gives them to live the life that God wants them to.

[33:41] Just pray for them. Pray for whatever situations they may be facing in life that God would give them wisdom. All those things. It doesn't take long, but I just want you to pray for them.

[33:53] If you forget who is behind you, turn around and look again in the middle of your prayer. That's okay. But I'm going to ask right now if we just bow our heads and you know, we have lots of children. You're probably going to be hearing some children while you're praying.

[34:04] That's all right. God understands that too. Bow your heads, close your eyes, and spend a minute praying for the people around you. God, we thank you for this morning.

[34:18] We thank you for your word that we have to read. And Lord, I pray that we would have the faith to trust that it is your word, that it is true from cover to cover, and it is what we're intended to live by. That it tells us the difference between right and wrong, that that's not something we're supposed to come up with on our own.

[34:34] But Lord, you say what is right, and you say what is wrong. And Lord, I just thank you for the things that it says about family, that your desire is that families would be strong, that you would desire that we understand that families and believers are going to be under attack, and we need to be ready for that.

[34:49] We need to rely on our faith and our trust in you to weather the storm. And Lord, you tell us that we're to pray for each other. And Lord, I pray as a family that we would keep each other in prayer.

[35:00] Lord, that as we share our prayer requests on Sundays or the prayer chain requests, we would just lift each other up in prayer. But even beyond that, that each and every day we would pray not just for our physical families, but our church family, that it would be strong and be the family that you want it to be.

[35:15] Lord, I pray for individual families today. Lord, as we hear some children, I just thank you for them being here, and I thank you for the parents that bring them. And I pray especially for them, that as their families grow and as they continue to raise their children, that they would just rely on you, that they would teach their children the truth of your word.

[35:34] But Lord, help us to understand that we are never done with that, that the way we live our lives teaches those around us. So help us to live our lives in accordance with your word, believing what you say, not what the world has to offer.

[35:46] Lord, thank you again for this family that you've made us a part of. Thank you for the forgiveness that you offer us. And Lord, if there's any person in this place this morning that has not accepted Jesus Christ, I pray, Lord, that they would make that decision today.

[36:00] Or Lord, if there are some that know that they've gone astray and gotten off track, I pray that they would get back on track today just by asking for your forgiveness. And Lord, I know that you will grant that when it's asked of you and we just thank you for that.

[36:14] So Lord, thank you for this family. Just help us to be strong. And we ask and pray all these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. This morning as we close, the altar's open as it always is.

[36:26] If you have a need, maybe you want to pray for your family or whatever other need you have, the altar's open as we close this morning. Becky, I think I've sung that song before, but if so, it's been a long time. But I like the words and I pray you remember them as we leave today.

[36:39] Be strong, be strong, be strong in the Lord and be of good courage. He is your guide. Be strong, be strong, be strong in the Lord and rejoice for the victory is yours. I encourage you to be strong in the Lord.

[36:51] Use His faith, your faith in Him as your shield and pray for the family, your physical family and your spiritual family. Let's bow our heads. Lord God, thank you again for each one that's here.

[37:03] Thank you for your word and I pray, Lord, that we would take it with us, that we would strive to live our lives the way that you want us to in accordance to your word. Help us to be strong in you to realize that we are in a battle and we need to stand strong in what you teach us in your word.

[37:19] Thank you again, Lord, and watch over us as we leave this place. And it's in the name of Jesus Christ we pray and all God's family said, Amen. God bless you and have a wonderful week. Stay cool.