Why Worship Feels Like Warfare

My God, how good does it feel to be in God's house today? I mean, every day is a great day to be in God's house. In fact, David said, There's no other place I'd rather be. Because a day in the house of the Lord is like a thousand elsewhere. So you're just you're calculating and consuming years at a time in these moments. What will take you years to accomplish, God just did in that worship moment right there. So it's a powerful whatever it is you're working for, whatever it is you're desiring, just those moments right there. And um I I agree with Pastor Matthew, by the way, powerful, powerful moment, PM. And um but I agree it is in those moments that you may look and say, well, that that seems expressive, or that seems emotional, or that seems that seems a little bit much. I mean, shouldn't we be proper in God's house? I'm just gonna tell you proper never got me what God wanted me to get. And um, you know, I was watching and worshiping with this incredible team and the band, and uh, I just want you to know like what's happening on drums and what's happening by the strings and what's happening by the keys, and what's happening when we clap our hands and we lift our hands, that's warfare. You're fighting battles in high places that cannot be battled with eloquent words, in thoughtful concepts, in quotable, tweetable uh phrases, when you're worshiping when those when those drums, David said play them on the high-sounding symbols, praise them on the high-sounding symbols, praise them on the crashing symbols. I mean, there's warfare happening that's moving your life forward. And so, yeah, with PM, we don't we don't apologize, but you know what? It's because it's not for you. I mean Listen, if I was in charge, or if you were in charge, we would have given up we would we would have given up on each other a long time ago. It kind of reminds me about last night. Y'all, y'all turned the channel through the remote. Start doing something else, and somebody had to text you and say, Oh, hey, what about this game? And you're like, I thought it was over. It ain't ever over. And I'm not saying spirit there's anything spiritual about football, there, but I am telling you, Jesus used parables, which is a real truth alongside of a story that would help seal the point. And can I just tell you that as long as there is time on the clock, and I don't know if you if you heard the interview last night at the end of the game where our quarterback, well, your quarterback said where the Bears quarterback said, but he said, listen, we just do what we're supposed to do, follow the plan and the call that was placed in front of us, and do our very best and fight and not even look up at the scoreboard until the clock is over. And I I wonder how many of us can actually live our life like that. We're so concerned about the scoreboard, and so it causes us to give up early and God's not done yet. Anyway, so that's why that's why we worship like we do, because our worship is an indicator we know God's not done yet. David said I was young and now I'm old and I've never seen the righteous forsaken, meaning there's still time on the clock for God to turn your life around and to do what you thought was impossible, and he already paid the price for it. So we just gotta get ready for it. Stop looking at the scoreboard and start looking at God. So come on, so welcome to free church. I mean, it's so easy to be in these moments because when you when you sacrifice anything, God honors the sacrifice. But I'll tell you this, and this this will be where I move in and transition to the message, but the one thing that's unique in Scripture is God says, I don't require the blood and the sacrifice of goats and bulls. I want your heart. I want the obedience of your heart. And so we have these powerful moments in the service like this, and it's in services like this where we say, I'm gonna lay it all down on the altar. I'm laying everything down, I'm laying it all down. And then the potential is for us to walk out of the room and not really lay it down. And God says, I don't I don't want the verbal laying down at the altar, I want the obedience that follows what happens at the altar. And so that's why we're we can have a powerful moment like this and then move into the word of God because we need the word of God to help us apply what we've experienced in the setting. So let me dive in. The year was, well, let me just say this, because it's not a, it doesn't start without me saying this. I'm ready to preach God's word. Are you ready to receive it? The year was 1993, and that is the year that I was standing at the front of an altar, and I watched the most beautiful bride on the entire planet walk down towards me. And I know if you've been around here any at all, it would surprise you to know that I was literally sobbing. My brother was my best man, and uh I looked at him and I said, and he said, he just hand me, like he just handed me something to wipe my eyes with, but I was just overwhelmed with the moment. And what I was overwhelmed with was first of all, all the days that got us to that point were exciting, but there was something in me that knew that beyond that altar moment, there was gonna be this lifetime together and the dream of our lives to do what God had called us to do. And what at that point we didn't know. We were just kids. We had no idea what God would do in our life. We had no idea we would move from Grand Rapids to Dallas and from Dallas to Houston, and then from Houston, thank God to Oak Park. We weren't born here, but we got here as soon as we could. And and I will I will tell you this that in just a few weeks, actually on February 27th, we'll celebrate 33 years of marriage. And that's mostly because of you. And um, but what I would say, church, is this that it 1993 is the year that I learned that when you start out with a thought of a covenant and you decide to live every day to not you don't have to be perfect, but you decide to live every day based on that covenant so that you can see your best life and more beautiful life through the years to come. There's just no question about it. I just I know she's more beautiful today than she was walking down that aisle. I mean, I don't I I got amens on that. That's and um and I tell you, uh, we've had our ups and our downs, but I would not trade it for the world. So why don't you turn to your neighbor and say, hey, I declare. And to the other one, just say, hey, you look actually really good. If you're a married couple in this room, maybe you started out this year like a lot of other married couples, and you had an expression of like, hey, I hope that our marriage gets stronger this year. And I would tell you that's a great way to start. Hope is a great word, it's a great concept. Hope is biblical, but hope is not a strategy. And it really requires us to, we can't wish our way into better things. We actually have to, we can make declarations, but then follow it up with determined consistency and persistence to see it happen. And last year we started the series uh uh the year with a series entitled I Declare. Remember, we made six declarations. And I I personally would say this for my life, that was the most transformational six weeks that we had experienced in church life. Um, it transformed our church, it transformed, it wasn't just the the messages, it was the worship, it was all the ingredients that went into that series and powerful, powerful moments really positioned us, many of you, to experience your best year yet. We had that saying all year long, our best year yet. And and um, and so here we are today starting a new series in a new year, and we're gonna, this is what we're doing. It's I declare, but it's the marriage and relationship edition. And we feel compelled to do this. This is not just something that um that we thought of like, hey, wouldn't this be neat? But really, about in the middle of the year last year, Ashana and I, as we were talking, and you know, a lot of times we can go on a date and we'll start with like talking about things just about us and fun and planning and excitement and fix things, and then but a lot of times we'll move right into church life and start talking about you. So thanks a lot for being on our dates with us. Some are better than others. But we had started having these discussions, and our our heart was to see marriages transformed in this house. And because this is what I know that if we can if we can help married couples experience better marriages, then homes will be stronger. And if homes will be stronger, our community will be stronger. So the reality is this series is a win for everybody. If you're married, single, divorced, widowed, want to get married, wonder about marriage, don't even know what marriage is, whatever it might be, this series is gonna help you. And so I want to just lean in singles. Don't don't excuse yourself from this series because we're gonna get to single life eventually, but we're starting with marriage life, and we want to be able to share with you, and if you'll learn these principles now, my thought and what I always shared with students when I was a youth pastor is you should always be working on being Mr. or Miss Wright before you become Mrs. or Mr. Wright. And so you apply, you build, you you put in the catalog. These are all of the things that I will uh I will have bringing into a marriage that I can share, and we'll start our marriage off better than what we could have had I not had this teaching in my life. And that's why we have God's word. So over the next few weeks, we're just gonna invite you to lean in and learn powerful truths that will build stronger marriages, that will build stronger relationships, and really help you on your way to your most divinely connected year yet. Amen? So the reason why I want to start with marriage is because marriage has taken an interesting um, let's just say, uh a position in uh our culture, in world culture. And I don't have to go into details, but marriage, what it used to be and what it is now, is much different. In fact, in 1970, 71% of the households were married couples. As opposed to the last time the study was done in 2024, that number dropped to 47% of households. Young uh among adults ages 25 to 34, over there was over 40% or 80% of those adults were married in 1968, as opposed to in 2022, that number dropped all the way down to 39%. So you might say, well, marriage is in a decline or marriage is being attacked, but the reality is I think marriage has been has a different position in our culture, but listen, in God's eyes, it has not changed. It's still it's still very, very uh important to God that we understand, that we understand marriage. And so I I want to start with a declaration. This is what we'll be declaring, and then we'll work our way through it. And we hope to get out of here soon. This year, with God's help and the power of the Holy Spirit, I declare I will seek God first. God will be my first priority, my spouse will be my second. Now that might sound uh uh countercultural to you that we are trained to it's my wife first, it's my wife first, but I'm gonna propose to you that when you put God first in your marriage, it will change your marriage. It will transform your relationship. And as it transforms your marriage relationship, it will transform every other relationship around you. Uh, because I think it is uh it is a special thing for us to learn from God's word. Like when you get a new car, we were just talking in the green room, and um I hate to share Retta's story, but Retta told us that she drove her car for more than a year and a half before she realized you could turn the button and it would open the window, the the moonroof all the way open. Up until then, she had only elevated it on the little angle that would open, like what we used to call back in the day a moonroof, where it just gave you a little breeze, but somebody showed her. And you know why she didn't know that? She never looked at the manual. And a lot of us we go into marriage and we stand at an altar and we say, and the pastor says, by the authority vested in me, by the state of Illinois and the authority of God's word, I pronounce you husband and wife. And that's about the only word we get in our marriage. So you need the manual to have your best marriage. So we're gonna look into God's word and discover because what I know is that marriage is more than just a relationship, it's a reflection. And it is a reflection of how Christ loves the church. Oh, by the way, Christ showed his love for the church that he died before the church was ready for him. He showed his love by uh that sacrifice and by this is what I know, sacrificial love, unwavering commitment, and unshakable unity. And that's the expression and the reflection that marriage should represent. Um Pastor Robbie was with us a few months, it was November. Remember, he was with us, and um he he told the husbands, like, look at your home screen on your phone, your screensaver. And he was like, It should be a picture of your wife. And I'm sure mine are. I have like five that I rotate through depending kind of how I feel, and and what I'm, you know, it just depends on the picture. And um, and so the one was from a few years ago in December, and Urshan and I were with friends, and we had like a massive pretzel and a big old burger, and just hang hanging out, having so much fun. It's around Christmas time, and so we we shared all that by the way. We we share our food. That that's what age we are. We share food now. So we went up and got a picture by the Christmas tree, and then we went down Michigan Avenue and we were taking pictures and all. So it's one of the pictures from Michigan Avenue, and Arsana looks spectacular. She's she looks like Chicago, she's she's like a snow bunny, she's got the perfect outfit on for being cold weather, and and I and I'm looking at, I'm like, man, this picture's a great picture. Maybe I want to print it and put it in my office. And I start looking at it closer, and I realized my winter coat can be zipped up and it has snaps that go over the zipper. So sometimes I just snap it because I'm lazy. And that day I'd snapped it leaving the little restaurant to walk down the street, and what I realized is I snapped it, the first button was off. So when I'm looking at the picture, there's so many words that come to mind, but I was like, what is going on? And you can't Photoshop that. There's no straightening it out. If you get the first button right, the rest of them are gonna line up just perfectly. But let me tell you, marriage, God is the first button in the jacket of our marriage. And if you get the first one wrong, then it's all gonna be off. It's all gonna be off, and you're gonna look back and go, what is going on? Well, you missed the first opportunity, putting God first. So look at Genesis 2 and 22. Oh, yeah, that was a good comment. I'll leave it. Genesis 2, 24. That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. That verse right there, found just in the second chapter of the opening book of the Bible, is repeated four times. No other scripture is repeated as many times as this verse right here. So it makes you think it's important. That's what that means. That this is God's design. And so, what I want to show you is. There's three movements that are happening right here for this marriage for a marriage. Number one, it's leaving. That word leaving in Hebrew is asav, it means uh to let go, to loosen the grip of, and it's the picture of the parents loosening their grip on their child and the groom or the bride loosening their grip on the their family control. And so literally, this is the idea then marriage requires separation from old dependencies in order to focus on the primary relationship. And I just dare you, husbands, to try to keep those same old dependencies in your life and stay married. It won't happen. It will not happen. You have to let go of some of those old friendships. Listen, you cannot walk in, young people that are, this is for all the singles. I told you I would give you some things that are for you. Young people, sons, the future grooms of America. Never walk into a kitchen when your wife is cooking and say, Well, my mother didn't do it that way. See, you got to leave that old dependency. Just helping you out. Things will fly. You better be good at ducking. So there's leaving, there's cleaving. Cleaving is uh to to commit and to pursue. And so this idea then is that you don't just fall into a great marriage, you have to choose it and have the discipline. You know, love isn't a feeling. You might you might be emotionally head over heels when you're dating and engaged, uh, but you you get married and they say the honeymoon, is the honeymoon still still on? Is this is the honeymoon over? The reality is what they're saying is have you gotten to a spot where the fun is worn off and now you got to choose to love? Nobody talks about that. You gotta choose to love your wife every day, you gotta choose to love your husband every day. And because you're a part of the reflection of Christ's love for his church, it's gonna be uh an unconditional love, it's gonna be a sacrificial love, it's gonna be an unwavering commitment, it's gonna be an unshakable unity. Why? Because this is the pattern God has set for us, and so I'm gonna cleave, I'm gonna stay committed, and I'm gonna pursue daily. It's not just a one-day event, it's a lifelong pursuit. And then the last rhythm or the last movement then is weaving. And I almost brought it. It's like a six-foot tapestry at the house, at our house. We have it on a wall, and I just couldn't figure out how to carry everything and it into the church this morning, so I left it at home. But it's this beautiful tapestry, stitched, um, antique. We love to antique shop, and so it's this antique, and it's beautiful. When you look at it, it's so incredible. And uh, and marriage is like a tapestry that that's stitched like that, like even like needlework. And you you look at it, and at the front, it looks amazing, and the picture is beautiful, it tells a wonderful story, but when you turn it around, all of that thread trying to work its way in and out each side from each side, and and and actually it's just a mess. And and marriage is like that. On on the outside, you see a beer, beautiful picture, but what you don't see is the hidden, messy work to make it beautiful. And trust me, it's work. And I'll tell you this: if you decide to give up on your marriage, it's gonna be work. And if you decide to stay in your marriage, it's gonna be work. You just gotta pick what kind of work you want to put into it. It will be work either way. So we we have these rhythms, and notice the last phrase of that chapter, verse 24, is that we become one flesh. And I would say, again, that is not just the consummation of marriage, that is the daily pursuit of one another to become more like each other, to become one. And when you're one, you know what each other's thinking. And I I don't know, we're we're we're sometimes there, and sometimes I'll think something, and I will be totally shocked when she thinks something different. I'm like, what? I didn't I wouldn't plan for that one. Why? Because we're still becoming one 33 years in, we're still becoming. So if you're young in marriage, hey, you just gotta keep working. And if you don't have it all together every single day, just keep on working. Because if you put God first, look at this, look at this little triangle here. If you put God first, the closer you get to God, the closer you'll get to your spouse. And I think what most marriages are missing is Jesus at the center of our marriage. So how do we do that? How do we how do we put God first in our marriage so that it shows and it builds our marriage to be our best marriage? Well, I'm gonna give you three keys real quick and then we'll be done. You ready? Number one, worship together weekly. These are non-negotiable rhythms. By the way, if you're single, you write these down and you live by these for yourself as you as you find your mate. This is one of the things you talk to your mate about before you talk about kids. Listen, I am, you need to tell that person I'm a committed, devoted, disciplined follower of Jesus, and I aim to be in church every Sunday. As long as the doors were open, I will be in church, and I expect that you will be by my side with me together as we worship together, and when we raise kids, we will raise kids in God's house. That's your first conversation, singles. And by the way, some of you already married need to have that conversation again. Paul tells us in Hebrews to not forsake the dwelling, the meeting together. And there's just something powerful that happens, couples, when you worship. I I told the 9 a.m. service, I don't have very many moments to do this because Urshana's up here leading worship, but there are moments where she's not leading and she's standing by my side, and there's nothing that I enjoy more than just reaching over and grabbing her hand and just worshiping in that moment together, whether we're praying together or whatever it might be in that moment, just a moment of just us uniting together. Why? Because you know what? Life wears us out and empties us out, trying to answer all of life's questions. But when you come into God's house, you become empowered with God's answers. What am I gonna do with this? You know what? You get in God's house and God shows the way. How am I gonna handle this? God shows the way. What am I gonna do with my kids? God provides a way. He will open the door, give you faith for a moment, energy for tomorrow, and the ability to keep fighting forward in his house together. Together. The second thing, you worship weekly and then you pray together daily. In Colossians, Paul reminds us that he always prays earnestly for you, asking God to make you strong and perfect, fully confident that you are following the whole will of God. 1 Thessalonians 5.17 says, just never stop praying. And what I believe is something that is so powerful for our lives is praying together as a married couple. See, prayer won't eliminate the conflict in your marriage, but it'll help you communicate better. See, as you as you get better at communicating with God, you'll be better at communicating with your spouse. And there's just something powerful that happens when we pray together. And I would just challenge husbands and wives this week, maybe through the rest of the 21 days of marriage, that husbands, you lead out in this and you pray for your wife before you guys go to bed every night, before you turn that light off and say goodnight, pray for one another. And we did this, I did this last night. We've done this for years, and I did this last night. I said, I just prayed this prayer. I was like, Lord, I just thank you so much for today. Thank you for your goodness and your blessing in our life. Thank you for being with us and helping us. And thank you for the blessing of Arshana in my life. And God, I just thank you that you're gonna give us a night full of peaceful rest tonight. In Jesus' name, amen. And man, I slept, I slept so great last night. I was like, that prayer worked. Simple prayer. And I'm gonna tell you, husbands, it's gonna be a challenge to you. Because you can have communication and conversation and talk back and forth across the table and have pillow talk and all those ways to communicate. But when you pray for your spouse, it's something so vulnerable and intimate about that. And I'll never forget when we first started this practice, you know, we we were like, okay, and Urshana's like, I'll pray first. I was like, great. And you know, she starts to pray, and it's just not fair to be married to a worship pastor because even her prayer sounds like a song. She works her way through this beautiful, melodious prayer, finds herself in the bridge with a little vamp, closes it off. It's like heaven kissed earth. It's it was wonderful. I I was like, man, that was beautiful. And she's like, Oh, great, now your turn. And I was like, All right, I'm ready. So I like I fired up a prayer. Just I man, I I went all in. I was like, I prayed, man, I was some fire. I'm gonna call heaven down. Fire is gonna fall from heaven into this bedroom. Hallelujah. And um, and uh I start praying, and I'm like, oh yeah, this is going good. I'm thinking as I'm praying, which is wrong. And um I'm just enjoying this moment, like, man, she's gonna be like, Oh, I've married the best husband in the world. So powerful. What a man of God, what a man of God. That's what I'm thinking. She's thinking. So I say, I say, Amen, and she's like, Amen. And she just looked at me, she said, Okay, can you redo that? Only pray as my husband and not as a pastor. And I thought, oh my God, I uh I came, I totally came into that with the wrong thought. And I don't it's not to be expressive or to be showy or to say it better than anybody else. It's just really an expression of your heart, and I promise you, it will be a game changer to your marriage. And it doesn't have to be it could be 30 seconds or less, but just something to seal the day. Maybe you want to start the day that way, but just something to start or to steal to seal the day of like God, you're the one that made it possible, which was the last point. So we worship it together weekly, we pray together daily, and then we remembered God's faithfulness always. Always remember God's faithfulness. You know, amen. Marriage is like a bank that you put deposits in every single day, only hoping to make withdrawals occasionally. That's the way a bank should work. And um, but the reality is some of you maybe in this room feel like you're always making deposits and the others always making withdrawals. And if that's you in this room, I'm just gonna tell you, just hold on, don't don't jump ship yet, don't give up yet, don't don't throw in the towel yet. If you feel defeated and undervalued and overlooked and wiped out by just the work that goes into making a great marriage, if you feel like it's not it's not working yet, just can I just compel you to just hold on, to not give up, just to not let go yet, because I I I want to just tell you that you won't be able to change the past. But by one declaration and one obedient step, you can change your future. And your marriage can be greater than you ever thought it could be. In fact, what I would say is not only can you not change the past, but can I encourage you to kind of let go of the past and maybe just start this day all over as a new day, and your marriage starts from today. No matter what's gone wrong before, it can be corrected if you both pursue God unashamed, and then as you pursue God, you pursue one another. And I I just feel compelled. I'm gonna tell you this little story to close, and the music guys can come back. And um Peyton Manning is an incredible quarterback. He's retired, he's a Hall of Famer. You see him on commercials all over the place now, but uh he was quite a quarterback. In fact, he was one of the first kind of uh quarterbacks that was known to all almost always change the play from what it was designed and how it was called from the huddle to when he got to the line and saw what the defensive alignment was, he would make a change. And and he's had words that he would say, and they they they use them for other you know commercials, and he would say Omaha, which was changing from one play to another, and he would call out the play. And basically, what they learned in this interview that I saw recently was that Peyton had gotten to a spot where he was such a coach on the field that when the coach on the sidelines sent the play in, it was really more of a suggestion than it was an actual like declaration. No, this is the play. When I played my one year of eighth grade football, I'll never forget, I ran in to my friend who was the quarterback, and I told him to play, and my friend was like, no, that won't work. Let's do this. I was like, no, you got to do this play because the coach thinks I got it wrong. I don't want to be the wrong one that gets it wrong. But Peyton always changed the play. And in this one game in 2006, they line up for the play, he assesses the defense, and as he starts going through the count for the snap of the ball, he looks over at Marvin Harrison, who was his wide receiver, and he says, San Diego 99. And Marvin Harrison runs not the play called, but runs a different route, a post pattern towards the end zone. Peyton Manning throws the ball. Marvin catches it, they score a touchdown, they win that game, and they go on that year, 2006, to win the Super Bowl. I'm not going to tell you who they beat. But it wasn't the Lions. And um, so afterwards they asked about that play. And one of the guys that was doing the interview says, Hey, I've talked to every coach on staff, and we've asked them about San Diego 99, and it's not a play that's in the playbook, it doesn't exist. So what did you call at that line? And he says, Oh, he says, Well, in that moment, I saw the defensive alignment and I remembered back in 1999. See, he's not the only, I'm not the only year was guy. He's like, I remember this play against this team before in 1999. And so he said, I knew if I called it, Marvin would remember it because on this one play, a broken play, Marvin ran and scored a post-pattern touchdown against San Diego in 1999. So at the moment, I just looked over at Marvin, I said, San Diego 99, and I knew he would know what that meant. And the interview said, Well, you guys must have talked about it often. And he says, No, we really didn't. We really didn't. But in that moment, I was reminded of it, and so I said it to him, and he ran the play, scored the touchdown, go on to win the Super Bowl. That is the power of rehearsing what worked before, God's faithfulness, reminding yourself of God's faithfulness, because you know what you can use? You can use uh the old the past faithfulness to feel your new journey, your new victory. And what I think is so powerful is you can have these moments, husbands and wives, have these moments where you sit down and just remind yourself just how good God is, just how good God has been in your marriage. When when there was sickness in your family and God healed that sickness, when there was when when you were struggling financially and God provided in a profound way. As couple, when you were when you were struggling in your relationship and God showed up and helped you with people around you that loved you and would support you, just rehearse those faithful moments of God. Earlier this week, Arshana and I were in the little entryway of our house, and um we we were like, there's a picture she has that is before we moved to Oak Park, and it's the four boys, and um, so like Ethan's like 11, Elliot would have been eight, and the twins would have been uh three. And it's it's a picture, it was part of our like family picture collection for the holidays that year, and we were out in a big field out in Texas, seems like Texas, and um, so we're out in this big farm, and uh we had a drum set set up, and Ethan was on the drum set, and he's like counting off to the next song, and man, just full of life, like the whole life of the picture is in him. Like this expression right here is him at 11 years old, like in this picture, just counting it off. And and then uh Elliot is eight, and he's got his, he's got the spikiest, you know, coolest hair, and he's got a guitar, and he's just like strumming, like to start this the intro of the song. And then the twins are seated next to each other, and Eli's super serious, like this is such a reflection of all their personalities. Eli's really serious, and like he wants to make sure he gets it right, and so he's not moving, he's in it for the picture because he knows that there was there's a reward coming after the picture, and then Evan, Evan's got this mischievous look on his face because he's found something from somewhere that's in his mouth, and he's occupied, and I think he's thinking, when is this thing gonna be over? And that picture is there, and we were just looking at that picture. It's really it's been up for a long time in our entry with it, but it might be the first time in a long time that I really looked at it and we we talked about it, and and we almost we had this reflection moment of just God's faithfulness in that season, uh, and then and then we started just rehearsing God's faithfulness over all these years, and now to see to see our kids loving God's house, leading in worship, leading in youth ministry, and loving Jesus is just the greatest testimony of God's faithfulness that I can tell you about. And that the reality is that all is happening because of what we started way back in nineteen ninety three. And our marriage has not been perfect. We'll tell some stories through the next few weeks of the series. And then I've got to tell you, couples, we have a marriage retreat coming in February, the 20 and 21st. There is a registration opportunity downstairs in the lobby if you want to register early. It's an overnight stay. It's a kid-free opportunity for us to go. We'll go to the Rosemont Hilton from our very own house. Dr. Donna Baptiste will be one of the facilitators. And then Pastor Ursh and I will share. It's going to be a powerful weekend. And I almost forgot to tell you that again. I forgot to tell 9 a.m. But it's going to be powerful. But my thought is like it just is just all of the possibility that if we put all the work in that we can to God be the glory, he blesses our marriage. And if he blesses our marriage, he blesses our family. And as he blesses our family, he blesses the people around us. You see, marriage is not a contract that you negotiate, it's a covenant that you protect. A contract says, if you fail, I'm free. It's in the terms and conditions. But a covenant says, even when we struggle, and when you struggle, I'll stay committed. And today we're not just promising perfection, we are declaring priority. It's God first. So stand with me and help me say this declaration if you mean it. If you're a married couple, I would encourage you to hold hands in this moment. Make the declaration together. Are you ready? This year, with God's help and the power of the Holy Spirit, I declare I will seek God first. God will be my first priority. My spouse will be my second. We will attend church weekly. Pray together daily and remember God's faithfulness always. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Can you receive that word today? Let me pray for all of you. Father, I thank you in this house. I pray for every marriage. That our covenant will be protected, that our hearts will stay soft and plowable and shapeable, that our words will bring life, that our home will be determined to be a home of peace and grace. And God, what you've joined together, I pray we will not give up on. And I declare that in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen, church.