Greater Families
by Sam Hodum
July 22, 2026 · Cornerstone Apostolic Church (Chattanooga, TN)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: Matthew 25:40, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Genesis 9:6, 1 Kings 19:4-8, Proverbs 6:6-10

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/sam-hodum--greater-families
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you, church. Thank you, church. I know that you can you can be seated. I thank you for standing for prayer. Uh, I know that I expect every one of us I've seen how many coffees they've made before service. I expect this to be a pretty hype Wednesday night. Thank you, Ethan. Thank you. Also, I had to remind myself I can't drink coffee and teach. I don't I know it's a terrible rule. I hate it. Um, we're going to start a petition on a coffee cup. Uh, no. No. Uh, I do I do thank you for being here tonight. How many How many of you got a Healthy Homes book? Anybody? Couple. It's a Now, some of you guys y'all y'all probably like Sister Sloan. All right. I don't know if y'all know anything about Sister Sloan or not. Talk about discipline. Because I can just tell you, Lauren and I have not been able to keep up.

I'm going to make a confession tonight. All right. I'm going to confess that that way. that way. I'm not alone in this, right? And you're not alone in this. Yeah, Sister Sloan, she's really good. She's like, "And you not done your I'm like, "What?" And now that they're watching online, I hope they're, you know, can we mute that part? Just beep it out. I don't even care if what they think I said. So, this this this week, this is week four of this teaching. Next week, we'll have family night, okay? It'll be fifth fifth Wednesday, but I don't I don't know if you've if you've gotten to this. It's a very it's a very interesting set of days. And I'm going to teach through this just a little bit, but it's physical and financial health. I know fin physical health is that's a hard one to teach about if you're not in great in the greatest of shape.

And then if you're in the greatest of shape, then you're like making your body an idol. And it's just it's a double-edged sword. So, just just bear with me, okay? I'm not in the greatest of shape. I mean, I did pull some carpet, so I don't know. I'm in better shape than I was. Thank you. I I need to I need to stop here. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you, ladies, for your work Sunday. I don't know of a person. Thank you. I don't know of a person that left not sore. I almost sent out on the chat and make sure you take some ibuprofen tonight, but I didn't want to like be held liable if somebody like took too much. I was like, nah, that's a bad idea. There was allergic and I was like, yeah, okay. I I just want to make a joke on the chat then. So, uh, brother Tim, y'all pray for him.

Ask him about his his escapades today working on floor or don't. He didn't want to tell anybody, but somebody told me, so I'm not going to tell So now now everybody's like what what he do what he [groaning] physical and financial health that's those are those are things that how do you how do you start that conversation in your life because those are things that that are very much very personal. Like if I was to go around the room, how much you make? Everybody be like, "What culturally?" Now, I don't know if that's I I think that's an American culture thing. I don't I don't know if that's around the world culture. I don't know. I didn't I didn't like when I've traveled, I haven't been like, "How much money you make?" As an American, it's probably not a good idea. Uh but that's just something culturally we don't we don't talk about.

We don't we don't have lively or conversation. Sometimes even in the family, even in in in relationships, we don't talk about money a whole lot. Um, and if we do, studies have shown that money has been at sometimes the foundation of an argument for and foundations of divorce because it's very he it can get very heated. And so I I started I was trying to think about why that is. Uh, and it I couldn't help but think about all right, what is money, right? Because the reality is, if I was to give you a hundred bucks, but why doesn't it mean anything to you? You don't really care about that hundred bucks, do you? Why not? There's no reason to. There's no reason to. It's fake. But if we're playing Monopoly, that's a nice That's a nice little gesture, isn't it? Money Money is a medium. Okay? It is It is not. Look at this $500 bill.

It didn't even have Trump on it. It's not even Right. Isn't there some rumor about that or something? I don't know. The 500. If I g If I were to give you Here, look at this. Here's your three $500 bills. There you go. You're so kind. Yeah. Look at I'm just generous. This is This is like Joel Olstein's church, guys. Got everybody with that one. It do what? In reverse. It's It's such an interesting concept. Money is because the reality is we would look at it and we'd be like, you know what? Why don't we just trade? Why don't we barter? I've often heard people say, "Wouldn't that just be simpler? Wouldn't it just be easier to barter?" How many's ever bartered for something? Yeah. I used to know uh there was this gentleman in church in Colinwood.

He every I think it was every first Monday they would go down to the flea market in Ripley, Mississippi. And that's all they did. They just barter and trade. They trade dogs and hound dogs and rabbit dogs and chickens. And I always wanted to go. And then when I went, they were just standing out in a field in the hot sun. I was like, "This is terrible. This is a horrible idea." I was like, "Ah." When when you start looking at Monopoly, you start thinking about money. Okay? And monopoly was it was created to show the evils of capitalism but then it was like also turned out to be capitalism's like number one game. I don't know like it that's what capitalists do. They find opportunity take advantage of it. Uh when you when you look at it money is created it is it it's a medium exchange that con connotates or implies or denotes value.

That's all it is. Monopoly money has no value outside of the game. Well, guess what? I don't carry cash, but neither does my cash. Outside of the game of life, my cash carries no value. If if the system goes down, my credit card carries no value. Well, guess what? If the system goes down, my my cash carries no value. So, then we're stuck with bartering. So, econ microeconomics. Anybody that goes to college, you're going to have to take microeconomics. It's one of those foundational classes. Very fun. Very fun class. Um, who has got who's got the hat? Does anyone have the hat? Stand up. You got the hat. This is class. I want the hat. Would you trade it for this boat? It's a battleship. You would. I don't want it that bad. I like the battleship better. Who's got the horse? Does anyone have the horse or do I have the horse? I've got it.

Oh, hate that for you. What you got? The car. You want a battleship? Nah. Do you want a You want a battleship? So does Iran. We're gonna have to cut the stream tonight. Oh man. All right. Anyway, what you got? You got a shoe? I really want a shoe. Can I have Will you trade for a shoe? All right. Would you trade I really want that car. Would you trade a shoe for the car? No. What would you trade for the car? 1,000 hairs. This is a horse. Would you trade? What you got? A hat. What you got? Oh, I don't know what that is. What you got? A thimble. Would you trade for a thimble? Would you trade for a horse? It's a really cool horse. You'd trade for a horse. I really wanted the thimble, though. What do you What would you trade for the thimble? Um, the car. The car. But I really needed the car. You have a horse?

I have a I don't I traded the horse. I only have a shoe. Get to walking. All right then, Izzy. End of that game. Y'all see how long that takes? That takes so long. Now, some people Tim, this this class is not for you. You love bartering. I mean, like him and my cousin the only people that I know that go in and barter to get a hotel room. I don't know. They're like, "Ah, you take five less dollars." I don't know. Are you on our rewards program? No. Like, sure. I just like how'd you do that? I don't know. Bartering is it's a very inefficient because the reality is if I needed the car, I had to trade three things to get to the car, but I don't know the true value of the car. And so then I'm lost and I traded a goat to get some hay. But then now that I've got hay, I can't I don't have anything to feed because I traded my goat.

That's what bartering is. It's a very inefficient system. And so we we created some sort of fiat, i.e. money. And it looks like paper money or it looks like a credit card to us. It looks like a number. All right. To indicate this this is value. So when you go to a job, you're doing something that creates some sort of value for someone, believe it or not. Yeah, some of us. I mean, you create value. Like all the packaging that we ever use, it just goes right through your hands essentially. Yeah, pretty much. Do you create value? Now you're still in school trying to make yourself valuable so that you can create value. Create value. Okay, that's that's about right. I mean you guys that work at Volkswagen, you create value. Um I work I'm not really sure. I'm just kidding.

I create value based on and the company says, "All right, you've created this much value. This is how much you are worth in that year. This is how much value you've created for us. It's subjective. It's not always. Sometimes we feel like we create more value than what we're getting paid. We're worth more than what we're paid, right? How many of us truly are? I don't know how many of us aren't. I don't know. I'm not here to establish that. But then what happens is we all decide we're going to work. We're going to trade our time to create value for someone for a medium. So then we create a medium of $500 here. And we say, you know what, that was worth my time because now I can take this and efficiently purchase what I need to make my life comfortable or to make my life better or to satisfy a desire that I have.

That's pretty much the function of money. But somewhere along the line, we because it's a medium, we forget the value that it carries. I if we print more of it, it loses value. Uh the gain changes over time. We forget those things. And then we get married and we've got two separate value systems coming into one house. My wife has She's in the nursery tonight. Thank God. My wife has no concept of money. Nothing about She didn't waste it. It just doesn't It doesn't add up. She's like, "What's What's that?" I don't know. She doesn't She just doesn't She's like, "Yeah, I can make that happen." It's like comfortably. Yeah, I can make it happen. You can't make that happen comfortably. Like she loves travel. Guess what? Guess what? I love travel.

But also like a house, you know, and like if it came down to it now with a kid, her value system has changed. But but for the majority of our marriage, we haven't had kids. And so guess what? We spent a lot of time traveling because that was where she got utility from. She got uh she received value for the time that we worked. I'm telling you, like you slowed it, you slowed the traveling down. Like last year, I don't know that we I don't know that we went anywhere. She was so mad, miserable. It was awful. It was depressing cuz that that's what is valuable to her. Some of us uh I'll tell you ladies, um you guys like numerically are 70% of all spending is done by women for the household, for yourself, all those things. Hey. Hey, settle down. It's for you, too, Seth. You eat a lot. So, 70%. You can tell that in the way vehicles are made.

As much as like guys are quote unquote car guys, women choose the vehicles. I don't know if y'all paid attention to it or not, but not of like there's like a very subset of trucks that are made for guys. Like, yeah. And then they like jack it up and everyone's like, "Okay, dude, that was weird. Let's bring it back down." You know, it's like, but the sleekness of a BMW is not marketed for me, but that white vehicle, the sleekness of it, that's that's that's for you ladies. I don't know if y'all know that or not. Or whatever the vehicle is, okay? Like, it's it's the way they're made. The cup holders, they're made for you guys. The interior is designed, the the the seats are designed for you. Heated seats. I like heated seats. I would never put heated seats in a vehicle.

That was designed because they asked the lady, "Do you want to go get in a car? Cold car?" No. And so, guess what? Someone invented heated seats because guess what? You guys value comfort. Now, us men, we didn't complain till it came to pay for it. Then like, why why are vehicles so expensive? Well, it's got like you can still get a base vehicle, but not very many people drive base vehicles anymore. I mean, I had a truck that still had the road the handle row down thing. Yeah. Yeah, I did. It was like a 2005. It was a base model vehicle. Nobody was fighting me for that vehicle. I liked it. It was a great vehicle. girls, ladies, y'all be like, "What's this? You mean I have to Oh, I'm tired." Like I said, my wife's not in here tonight, so the value we put on things, then then that determines what we do.

There's a reason why there's a reason why the Bible says, "Where where man's treasure is, there's his heart be also." There's a reason why ladies sometimes it's good for a guy to spend money on you. Amen. Thank you. Thank you. That was a good pause for that. There's that's sometimes good because guess what? Men will men will only like the we only make as much money as we need cuz why would we work more? I mean, it's fine, but the reality is married men make way more money than unmarried men. You know why? Cuz we have to. We got mouths to feed. We got people to look out for. We got someone that needs to be a little more comfortable or repaint the house or throw pillows. Listen, I made a deal. You guys did not. Y'all didn't. I made a deal. I got five throw pillows in my house. That was a deal. That was like on the on the Bible promise.

That was it was a non-negotiable in our marriage. So, we negotiated. She added some more somehow, but because she valued those, but it's still a deal. All right. Curtains, guys. I sold every bit of furniture. I had a I had a I had a furnished apartment. It was very nice furniture. Had it. Bought it. It was very nice. I sold every bit of it. I was like, I don't want none of this stuff. Bought a bean bag. She was so mad. This was before we got married. And she was like, why did you sell all your good furniture? Cuz I I wanted a bean bag. I didn't want all that furniture in my way. Simple. Just a simple-minded person. That's all I am, Richard. I mean, that's it. Guess what? She valued furniture. Guess what? We now have furniture. Oh, it's in the way. You stub your toe on those things. Value.

We carry values differently and then we look at it and we wonder why we have disagreements or arguments over money because we value different things. I value food. I mean that like I really value I value fresh food. My mom like she was a she was a a decent cook like you know she wasn't like a chef by what I mean. She was a good cook. We didn't have like prepackaged food. We had like garden food or, you know, fresh food that would either been frozen or was fresh. And that was just the way I ate. I didn't eat like the best healthy healthiest of things. She wasn't cooking what we weren't vegan. Our bones weren't hollowing out. I'm picking on everybody tonight. All right. We weren't We weren't. But like that that to me I value that highly. I will work 80 plus hours a week so I can buy the food that is good to me. Okay.

I ate ramen noodles like one time and I was like I ain't doing that again. And then I just worked harder. Like that's what was valuable to me. I was like that's not good. That is going to kill me. Value. Now, some of you guys, you value Dunkin' Donuts or Crispy Cream. Okay, I don't know. But what you I mean, that's what you value. Now, now we have a nice coffee shop over here. We're going to ban Duncan from the church. So, it's I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. We we look at those things and and and it and it starts we start to see the differences. We start understanding the conflicts because it's not actually about money. It's about value. It's not actually about the dollar because the dollar where's those $500? You're a rich man today. Good luck. It carries nothing. it all. It's only value valuable if I'm playing the game.

That's part of part of understanding how we interact with money is understanding what we value. I value my motorcycle. Really do. It's been really hard. I've been I've been thinking about selling it. It's been a really hard time on me. I could use the money. I really value it though. it might just rot where it's at because I don't have time to write it. So, it's you know, but at least it's there, you know, it's like ah, no, that that's and that's a that's sometimes there's emotional ties to those things, right? And then there's other things. I don't know what you ladies I don't I don't know what you value, Jess. What do you value? Coffee. Yeah, we can tell. Let me cut that out just a little bit there. Sister Stacy, what do you value? Books. I'm with you there. I'm with you there. Yeah, books.

But to others, it's like I can just read it on a Kindle. Like why would I pay for that? I get it. It matters. It changes. But then we have to look at if I can. We're talking about healthy relationships. when we come at the conversation, something I've noticed and I've just paid attention to over the past month or so. Um, one person in your household usually handles the finances, George, we know it's not you. We do. We do know. We know that one person usually knows what's happening in the household. Uh, Stephen and I were talking about this. Stephen Ashmore and I were talking about this yesterday and he was like, "Yeah." He's like, "Yeah, Hannah really just doesn't care about it." I was like, "Yeah, Lauren doesn't either." like she probably should. Maybe she should start doing those now.

You know, like, but that's for some of y'all it's the opposite. Some you Bethany, we know. We know you wouldn't sleep at night if George was like doing. We get it. It's part of it. And sometimes maybe maybe your marriages are like y'all work on it and have your budget meeting every day and it's initiated by both of y'all and everyone loves to talk about it. But in my household, my wife's like glazes over when I start talking about budget and money. She's like, she's not in here tonight. All right. She's watching kids. She can't even be watching online. We're good. We're good. We're not good. Yeah. Yeah. All right. We're gonna take this one down there. It It's part of it is trying to understand how we talk to each other about it.

The thing is when we're doing that to have health about ourselves is to understand that we are coming at value systems not money. That's very simple. I took maybe way too long to talk through that but it was also funny so I was enjoying it. We're talking about value systems. When we come to the house of the Lord, it comes down to our value system. Because I can't talk about a healthy relationship with money and a healthy relationship with other with each other without talking about having a healthy relationship with God and money. Because he says you can't serve both God and mammon. What happens is when we start to misunderstand how the the medium is just a means to the end. But something in our brains start to connect that actually that medium is more than it's the end, right?

That's the that's the Scrooge McDuck diving in on his pile of gold over there. That that's the greed that starts to take over. It comes down to then choices. What do we value? And then we make choices based on those value systems. Can I say then having a healthy approach to that in our marriage is is one is starting to understand what each each other value and then establishing those values in a proper order.

the there is a there's a point to in giving and and and I I want to I'm going to Matthew 25 and 40 and this is the end this is day five but this is a verse there Matthew 25 and 40 says the king shall answer and say unto them verily I say unto you and as much as you have done it unto least of these my brethren you have done it unto me this is talking about taking care of the the homeless, the broken, the the disenfranchised, the all of those things. But here's the thing, we see that and we want to do that. I see that and I want to do that. But in order to do that, I have to be disciplined here. I have to have my value system set here so that when the need is presented, I can answer that need. Because if my value system isn't presented, I'll go homeless and then I'll be right there with them.

That's that's not a healthy relationship with our money, with our time, with our there's there is such a thing as sacrificial giving, but every giving shouldn't be sacrificial. Some of it has to just be disciplined. There is such a thing as a healthy budget. There's such a thing as a healthy relationship with one another in conversation about money of how how can we value these things. Some of us value retirement. Some of if you guys ever listen to Dave Ramsey, he's like live on rice and beans, beans and rice and rice and beans. Like okay, what if I die before retirement and all I've eaten is rice and beans. That's my question to it, right? My value system's like, h, I get it, but I really like other food besides beans and rice and rice and beans some days. But then, okay, does my retirement look as good?

Like, there's the choices in this. I want to help people. I do. Guess what? There's a limit to how much I can help people. A church, as a church, we are called to help people. We are called to give. We are called to to help needs. You know how many needs that that we can't help with because if we help all the needs that's presented at once, guess what? We have no building. We have no place together as a church. And so there there is a there is a point of between understanding okay money has value. it connotates or indicates value and having disciplines and then order to share and appreciate that value there. That's part of having the healthy relationship with that. I'm going to with that we can then go on if I if I can I'm going to move on to the physical side because I'm not I'm not Dave Ramsey.

I'm not going to build us a budget here tonight. But part of part of that is the disciplines of taking care of ourselves. It's real easy. Real. It's easier the younger you are because your body is like burning calories faster than you can consume them. And then the older you get, it's like the more stress eating happens, the more desk job that happens, the more air conditioning and less sweating you want to be around. I mean, that's real. Then how do we develop a healthy relationship with with with our bodies and physical and being physically fit or at least somewhat healthy? We're in the South. It's hard, y'all. It ain't easy. Like, I'm serious. I went like in Europe, like you go around, everyone like Americans are bigger, okay? We just we have different food.

In case y'all didn't see those videos of like people in the World Cup coming from like Europe and they're like, "Oh, what is all this portion sizes?" Portion sizes are massive here. Let's just be real. All right, let's be really real with that. In Europe, like you got to pay for that extra Coke, you know? You get like one Coke, it's like four bucks, and you're like, "Oh, that's a lot. Can I get a refill?" And they're like, "Absolutely not." And then they just like bring you a small glass of water. So, I honestly think Europeans are just dehydrated. I really do because they do not drink that much water. It's like guys, you got to drink more water. Like what's happening? But as as a country, we have an issue with health. We really do. The last 25 26 years have seen an absolute increase in obesity rates.

That's a it's a problem that we have to deal with. We have to individually look at that. And the reason it's We're not ju I'm not not just being I'm not just pulling this out of thin air thin air. Uh 1 Corinthians 6 says what know you not that your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which you have of God and you're not your own for your bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your b and in your spirit which are gods. Genesis 9 and6 says who who so shedth a man's blood by his by man shall his blood be shed for in the image of God made he man. We are imagebearers of God. We are bought with a price. We're made in the image of God and then we are bought with a price. God God used his blood as currency as the medium of our purchase. The value of the blood bought us. That should tell us how valuable we are.

The lifeblood, right? The life is in the blood. So the life we were purchased with the life and so it it it it it carries the value of a soul of a person. It's not just well Jesus died on the cross hip hip hooray. No he he put value on us. He cares what we do with ourselves. We are purchased. We are made. And then we are even purchased. We're redeemed through the blood of the lamb because we were already his. He gives us free will. And what do we do with free will? Become a free will Baptist. Sorry, that was a rough joke. You have to know who a free will Baptist is. Yeah, you know, it is what it is. No, what we do with free will, we we do our own thing. And then God's like, "Hey, why don't you come back to me?" He He He puts value on us.

Now, how does how do how do the There there seems to be a disconnect between the spiritual and the practical. But I'm telling you, the practical has spiritual implications in everything we do. A a disciplined life has It it comes into a disciplined spiritual life. It's not easy. Like, what do you mean? I got the Holy Ghost. I'm good to go. Like, okay, if you die now, maybe. But how are you going to develop a walk with God that's a disciplined walk with God that you're abusing his body that he purchased? You know, and and and I'm I'm saying that in the sense of we all have to make that we have to we have to be conscious of that. I I don't know where the rule is. Bella, she loves black and white. She's like, I you tell me the rule. I just need to know the rule. I got to know the rule. She's like, all right. All right, Bella. Calm down.

I I need to know the rule. It's like there there's not a rule, but there is a there's a principle. I'm sorry. Sorry, did I embarrass you? There there's a principle. We have to take care of ourselves. Then that translates to the mental and the emotional. There's a whole there's a whole day dedicated to taking naps. It's my favorite day. How many Listen, y'all may or may not do this in your household. Okay. But there's some conversations I will not have unless I've had a nap. I am so serious. You do not want me having the conversation unless I've you know what? I've had a nap. I'm not grumpy anymore. Y'all may not do that, but maybe you should. All right. Very interesting passage of scripture here. Pro uh Proverbs uh well well I'm I won't go to I'm going to go to Proverbs after this.

First Kings 19 it says um it was it was Elijah was running. Okay. First Kings 19 Elijah was running. He was in despair. The angel of the Lord came again the second time. Now let's go to uh four verse four. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat under a juniper tree and requested for himself that he might die. And said, "Is it it is enough now, oh Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my father's." It's like dude just had the greatest spiritual experience ever. He runs into the wilderness is like, "I'm just kill me, God. Just kill me. Just kill me, God." And then he lay down and slept under a juniper tree. The angel of the Lord touched and said unto him, "Arise and eat." He took a nap and he ate something healthy. Angel food cake.

He looked, and behold, there was a cake baking on the coals and a cruise of water at his head. He did eat and drink and laid down again. And the angels of the Lord came a second time, touched him, said, "Rise and eat because the journey is too great for thee." He arose to eat and went in the strength of that meat 40 days and 40 nights. Wow. 40 days and 40 nights. All he needed was a nap. He's like, "God, kill me." It's like, "Maybe just go to sleep." Our mental, emotional, spiritual health is tied to that. It is. There are real repercussions of drinking coffee at 9 or 8:00 at night. Real repercussions, Jess. We know when that happens. I know you don't tell us, but we know. We notice it shows up. It does. The next day, o might as well. You might as well just I'm just kidding. You might as well not just go out to the bar and get drunk.

No, don't do that. But, you know, it's bad is bad. It's not good for us. Sleep does an amazing thing. Olympic athletes apparently sleep like 12, 14 hours a day. I know. I almost signed up to be an Olympic athlete when I heard that. But then they're running the rest of the time. I was like, "All right, never mind." Apparently, it's good for you. Sleep is restorative. It's regenerative, guys. There are things that are that are important in life. And I I understand this. We we get things. Can I can I say and and I'm I'm trying to make sure that I'm conveying the practical tonight because I mean as a preacher, listen, I would preach in the practical all the time. Sometimes God's like, "Good luck, buddy." You know, and it's like it just just rips my heart out and and here I am over here and and that's that's part of it, right?

That's part of of following after the spirit. But tonight, I get to teach in the practical of understanding these very simple things. They're godly. They matter. How much sleep you get, guys matters. Structuring your life in that m It matters. It It I mean, it doesn't show up maybe today, okay? It doesn't, oh, I didn't get enough sleep last night, so you know, that's terrible. I'm just a terrible person going to hell, dying. No, let's it's not what I'm saying. But it matters in our life how we can con conduct ourselves, how we can be Christian. You know how hard it is to be a Christian when you ain't had a night's sleep. Yeah, buddy. Like, go ahead. Cut me off again. It's like, no one cut you off. You were asleep, dude. Proverbs 6 says something. Six and six and 10 through 10. 6 through10. Go to the ant, thou sluggard.

Consider her ways and be wise. Which having no god over overseer or ruler, provide provideth her meat in the summer, and gather her food in the harvest. How long would thou sleep, oh sluggard? When would thou rise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, and a little folding of the hands asleep. It's funny to read that verse in contrast. I just talked about sleeping, right? It's like, oh, you slugard. Can I can I indicate the audience if you're a male between 12 and 35 40 would you raise your hand? Yeah, that was to us. That was to us. You know what that means? You should be tired from working. You should be not not from FIFA Made. You should be tired from working. That's godly. But you know what also has is you bring it into balance. And that's where you start having value.

Because here's here's what a wife would do for you guys in case y'all didn't know this. Some of you guys that aren't married might not know this. You guys that are married will know. It's easy to work a lot of hours. It is until you start missing things and you're like, "Oh, how much do I value this?" It's easy to work that overtime or whatever to complete that project. It's easy. It's easy to get on that project mindset. It's easy as a guy. That's what we're made to do. And God God bless you. You should be because if you ain't right that that's that's part of it. You should be. That's you. God God gave you testosterone for a reason. That's so you can run and put your head through a through a brick wall and just keep running. I mean that's what it's for. I mean Kool-Aid man. Yeah. I like being close to Richard.

He's a good commentator, you know. and Justin sometimes. Sometimes that's that's what we're made to do. And then I'm going to bring it back. We get married, have a family, and those value systems start to they start to clash a little bit. Now, here's the thing, ladies. If we went by just your value system and sat around with you all the time and was like, I'm talking about the honeymoon phase value system. All right? Please understand me here. We'd all be broken without a job. All right? It just be bad. It just be real bad. All right? And some of you ladies, like y'all work, some of y'all don't, some of y'all did, and then you had a kid and you're like, you know what? That's for the birds. Some of y'all were like, staying at home with these kids is for the birds. More power to you either way. All right. I I ain't judging you.

That's is your value system. Okay. Like I get it. I like watched my kid today for like half a day and I was like, Morin, are you better yet? He's a great kid. I was just like, I really need to do something else. It's part of it. It's value systems, understanding. And I'm I'm coming to a close tonight. If you guys want to get ready for the music and all that good stuff, understanding our value systems uh help us have a healthy home. Money is not just money, okay? It it's not it it literally means nothing. And as long as we can keep it in its proper place, it'll help make our life better, more comfortable. We can bless others. We have to keep it in the right place. There's a reason that that he asked 10%. There's a reason that tithing was 10%. It helps us indicate where our values at.

It help us helps us build that that connotation and denotes I value the things of God. I value what God has blessed me with. There's a reason. It wasn't accidental. God God has blessed you and I so much that in all of our value systems we are a miss if we do not establish him as first our time, our talent and our treasure. It starts and it ends with a with the proper valuation. You can't get it right unless you have him first. Would you stand with me, Jesus, we love you, God. We thank you so much for your kindness, your goodness, your mercy. God, I thank you, Lord, for your your word unto us. God, I thank you, Lord, for allowing us, Lord, to be in your house tonight, Lord, for allowing us to step into your sanctuary.

God, I pray Lord that you would help us tonight, Lord, to align the disciplines, the value systems, the things that you've blessed us with, the the day in and day out things of life. God, you would help us with our with our finances. God, help us to have a proper valuation there. God, help us, Lord, in our relationships. God, help us, God, to have a proper valuation of physical health, God, of spiritual health, of mental health. God, help us, God, in our families. This has been a month focused on it, God. God, I pray, Lord, for our families, God, I pray, Lord, that in every home, big or small, God, that there's a piece of God because we have the the fundamental things proper. We have the value system set in place, God, so that week after week, day after day, minute after minute, we're taking right steps that are ordered of the Lord.

God, I pray, Lord, that you would you would allow the blessings of the Lord to reside upon the homes of CAC. God, I pray Lord that you would allow the the the kindness and the peace and the longsuffering of the Lord to reside upon the homes. God, we're not perfect people, but God, we're your people. God, you've purchased us with a price. And God, help us to understand the value that you have put upon our lives. God, that you've ransomed us. God, I thank you. And God, I praise you. And would the church say, "Amen." These guys are going to be ready in just a few moments. and we'll have worship time. Thank you so much.