Marriage by God’s Design: What It Is and Why

Good morning. Praise the Lord. To start off service, I will be reading from Philippians four, verses six through seven. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through. Christ Jesus. So when Apostle Paul was writing this letter, he wasn't in necessarily a nice place or the comfort of his home. He was actually writing from a prison cell. And even though he was going through tough times and he wasn't very certain of his future, he didn't let that overtake him or stress him out. In our daily lives, it's really easy to let our situation stress us out or just not even think to pray. But the Apostle Paul tells us, no matter big or small, give all the things to the Lord through prayer. So when we pray today, give God your anxious thoughts and receive the peace that He offers to you. Let's stand and pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you, God, for bringing us here together. Praise your name, Jesus. Another Sunday, God, that you've given us. We thank you, God, that you care and you tell us to cast our cares upon you, Jesus. Bless the service, God, and help us to honor your name and bless the speakers today. In your name, we pray. Amen. And for our first song, we'll be singing. Wonderful words. Sing them over again to me, wonderful words of life. Let me more of their beauty see. Wonderful words of life, words of life and beauty. Teach me faith and duty. Wonderful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life. Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words Us to heaven. Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life. Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life. Sweetly echo the gospel call, wonderful words of life. Offer pardon and peace to all. Wonderful words of life. Jesus, only Savior, sanctify forever. Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life. Beautiful words, wonderful words, Words of love, and for our second song, we'll be singing, leaning on the everlasting arms. What a fellowship! What a joy divine! Leaning on the everlasting arms. What a blessedness! What a peace of mind! Leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. Arms, oh how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way, leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh how bright the path grows from day to day, leaning on the everlasting arms, leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. What have I to dread? What have I to fear? Leaning on the everlasting arms, I have blessed peace with my Lord. Far from all alarms, leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms, leaning. Leaning, safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. Praise God. Praise God, friends. Praise God, friends. Today, we are speaking on the topic of marriage, and I just wanted to read. That's going to be in Matthew 19. And Jesus says these words, and said, "For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife, and two shall become one flesh. So then, they are no longer two, but one flesh." Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate. And today, we're going to be learning and hearing from our speakers this morning about marriage, about what is marriage, what it is to live a godly marriage, how to fix relationships or marriages that are already kind of on the edge. We're going to be, with God's help, going through all those topics, but also. If you have a question, the people at the front doors they gave papers, so you can just write it down. If you need a pen, just raise your hand. We'll get you a pen. If you have questions, you can write it down. One of our brothers who's not here right now, Dima, he can like walk around and pick up those papers. But if we don't get through this topic. This week we will also be continuing it. the The week after, but next week actually, I just want to do a little bit of announcement because usually at the end I forget. But next week, a lot of people are going to be gone, so service will be canceled. Canceled next week, and Bible study on Thursday will be canceled. Bible reading will be canceled on Tuesdays, so we will see everybody the week after. So just just remember that next week our Sunday service will be canceled, but we will resume on the 23rd. And right now, we're just going to take these few minutes to meet and greet each other, and then we'll begin our our how I call it the podcast series. Amen. Okay, so our air speakers can take their spots. Okay. Oh yeah. Let's maybe move these. So this is another fun morning, and very important topics of our age. Because you know, when I was getting married, nobody told me. What you do and how to do things, so you're kind of guessing through life, and I guess this is like it also builds your faith to hold on God even more. But but for sure, marriage it's an important topic because we will go through. Some questions that people online they ask, and also there's these chats on on marriage, and people ask all sorts of questions that either they go through, or maybe some roadblocks that they are hitting in their marriage, and also things that we can improve in our marriages. Hey, you know, if if your marriage is going smooth, praise God. But I wanted to to start out with the statistics, and the statistics are actually pretty surprising because I know that just not long ago, I believe it was like thirty something percent, where we would see failed marriages. But as the years grow, the numbers grow as well. But the Bureau of Labor of Statistics reported that the first marriages, eventually ending in divorce, are forty to forty-five percent, and the. The marriages ending in divorce by age of fifty five is forty six percent. Church hard, and we want to to share this information with our congregation, and as well those who are watching us online, and also share these topics with our friends. Before we go into this, but just like last time, we had our topic on dating, and it actually was a true blessing because I was able to go on our live stream, and there were some. People that just started that process, and I said, "Watch this, watch this." And they're like, texting me back, like, "We're, like, I'm watching it." I'm like, "Okay, good." You know, because there's a lot of good tips for dating the right way. And what we learned last time, it was if you're gonna date, it's it's to get married. And there's no point to wait, wait, wait. It's like you like her, you propose, and. And you know you move on with your life, but practically that's what we saw. A lot of the relationships were blessed. So I'm going to ask our guests to introduce themselves, and I would ask for you all to share us to share with us how many years you've been married, how many children you have. That's also you know we kind of want to to. Share that so people who are married, say with no kids or with kids, can kind of relate to to our guest speakers today. And the third one I forgot. My wife, January 6, 1984. We got married in July 19th, 1985. So 41 years. And congratulations! That's a blessing. Yeah, we have. She has two daughters, Aunt Alicia and Ally, and then I have a son, Thomas, and many grandchildren. Okay. So, thank you, Vassilian, Svetlana, or Lana. Me and my wife, Svetlana. Been married together for twenty-two years. I gotta double check. I don't. It changes every year. How am I supposed to remember? And then we have seven kids. We were married April twenty-fourth, two thousand and four. Okay, two thousand four. Wow. I graduated from high school two thousand five. So. Every time I say I graduated 21 years ago, I'm like, Wait, what? 21 years ago? I'm that old? Okay. Hello. Mics, please. Oh, here's one more. Okay, this one works. My name is Peter, and this is my wife, Zoya. So we've been married for 18. Yes, I have to double check with my wife always. And totally, we have eight children. One is in heaven, so seven are here. Yes, so that's a brief intro. Awesome. Okay, so we have our guest speakers: Dan, Vasily, Svetlana, Zoya. And Peter, and we're going to ask them hard questions. But I think today we're just going to warm up and see where the time leads us. But but hopefully, if we do have to come back, you guys are able to come back. So the first question is: Can you share with us one or a few things that kept your marriage? Strong. That's one of the questions that people ask, especially those that are maybe two, three years into marriage and already experiencing some difficulties. And that's one of the questions they ask. So I want to ask this question to to each one of you because I believe that it could be one or it could be a few. Dan, please. For me, God has always been part of my life, and my wife. Erica, and when we first met, like I said, I always believed in God, but I never really went to church or anything. Never read the Bible and stuff. And over the years, my wife said, "You know, maybe you should go to church. Maybe we should go to church." And over time, she also said, "You know, have you ever read the Bible?" And I said, "No, not really, but I've skimmed." Through it like a lot of people have, but so I've read it three times now, and the first time was really pretty shocking because it's pretty brutal, you know, the early chapter of the Bible. Anyway, we we've always had God in our life, and that's always been the staple for us. Okay, and Vasili, is that it? I can probably go on and on, but I better not. Okay, okay, Vasili, and then I want to also after you, I want to ask Lana the same question. So, I do remember when we first got married. Probably, we. I don't remember if this was right before or or right after our marriage. We said. Down and we decided that for us divorce was not going to be an option. And and I admit there. Sometimes I was like, why? What am I doing? What am I here? But I was like, nope. I promised divorce is not going to be option. So I came back. And no, no matter how big the problem was, or they weren't that big, but they they you in your head they look big. Yeah. And at that moment. And at that moment. And and if divorce was not an option, you just had to go go back and try to figure. Yeah. So I think that that thought carried me through. Amen. Lana, Anne. What about from your end? Love to each other. Let's keep us. Yeah. Whatever happened in the life, you just remember. I love this person. We can go to. Yeah, love is strong. Peter and Zoya. I will share with Dan. The the first, Christ was always part of our life. We grew up in a Christian family, so. So, so we were raised as Christians, and we had obviously a good example were our parents. And so, just remembering how they resolved conflict, which we did not see much of. And but seeing them really rooted in their faith, they had a strong faith, always like a consistent prayer. So this is what we did. Even even though there's always little bumps in the marriage, but just having that consistency, I would say we always prayed in the morning and evening together. We would eat together and just do small things for each other daily. That no matter if there was a conflict or not, you still do those things, and and that consistency it helps it helps you pass through the rough time, and then when the good times come, you're happy that you were consistent. Right and that that so yeah, I would say those little consistent things in life, spiritual and just little acts of kindness. I would say they they go a lot to smooth out the the rough patches. Yes. So. I agree, and well, also yeah. So your relationship with God is very important. So you have to have a strong relationship with God, like with God's help. You know, everybody, and also being thankful. Like if if you're if there's any like rough patch or something like that, you think you're like, so why did I like? What did I like about Peter when I before I got married, or what was I like? So you remember those things, and then you also remember what you're thinking before right now, like all the big things, little things, everything he does, lots, lots of things. So you think about that, and then also just being thankful to God in general, like for everything in your life. And so that that's very important. Okay. So yeah, yes. Go ahead, Dan. That was from what I said was from my perspective. That was from my perspective, but my wife Erica, she wrote. Some stuff down, and she put. Be careful what you say with words. Love is kind. Use kind words. Words of appreciation and compliments are very powerful. Don't beat a little each other. Verbal compliments is better than nagging words. Words with a loud, harsh voice does not show your expression of love. Love verbally. The way we speak, the tone of our voice. One way to express love is to use compassion, words that build us up and inspire courage. And if you've ever met Erica or been around her, she's a very genuine person, and she has a lot of compassion for everybody. Yeah. So, so what we heard from this question is communication, communication, but also Christ, Christ-centered. Then, then we heard Vasili's kind of that decision he made: divorce is not an option. So, figure it out mentality. Like Lana was talking about love, you know, love, true love. It it will forgive. It will overcome those obstacles. Sometimes those obstacles seem so big at the moment, but literally two years down the road, you don't even remember those arguments. You don't even remember them. They they don't even exist in your mind. But at that moment, they could actually ruin your marriage. And with Peter and Zoya, the conclusion was Christ centered in doing good deeds of kindness consistently, no matter how you feel, no matter how you feel. Okay, we will be moving on, and this question I want to ask Peter and Zoya: What is the biblical person of marriage purpose? Like, what is the biblical purpose of marriage? So, let's first read from Genesis. To eighteen, and then I will read twenty-one and twenty-four. The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him. I will make a helper suitable for him." So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man was sleeping, the Lord God took one of the man's ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man. The man said, "This is." This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man. This is that is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. So, what's the purpose of marriage? Why should I get married? Well, if you have something to. I would say one, two. If we look in Genesis, it here. Let me give you another mic. This, this green one. When God created, the purpose of marriage was for the human race, obviously, to continue because we, as God said, be fruitful and multiply. And when, so, so that's the that's the ultimate, I would say, purpose is God wanted to make sure that the human race continues on. And love comes into that. The scripture talks about love and two people becoming as one. But ultimately, I would say it's for the human race to continue to raise your children so they would understand and do the same thing. If we look, that God, he had a relationship with Adam and Eve. He would come out, the scripture says, and meet them in the evening. And so, the point of that is to so they had this personal relationship with God, also. And when they were going to have children, is to also teach those children to continue that relationship with God. So building those healthy families, so the human race continues. And so I would say that's the ultimate purpose. Love sometimes people put love as the ultimate thing. I my opinion is that's not. The main goal of marriage, even though it should be part of marriage, but people will do a lot of things. I would say for love, for example, they'll they will love, but but not have decide not to have any children. I think that doesn't fulfill the purpose of marriage. Can we make the mics louder? They're kind of quiet, please. Hello. Okay. Um. So, well, there's a verse. I think it's Jeremiah. I think it kind of summarizes. Um. The well, like so, and I'll give them one heart and one way that they may fear me always for the good of their them and their children after them. So, like one heart, like in marriage, where God promises that, like, um, and love, and so, and then for your children, so they'll, you know, be brought up in the fear of the Lord, but in that loving family, um, environment. Yeah. Okay. And for Vasili and Lana, I want to ask you the second part. You can also, if you want, you can also share the first part. If you feel that there's there's something else to add, but what does a Christ-centered marriage look like every day? Like in everyday Christ-centered marriage, how does it look like? So I think these two questions do need to be answered together, and I think they were with Peter. Good job. I would probably just re-summarize what Peter said: what biblical marriage and Christ-centered marriage looks like from the beginning. Man was lonely, so so. Can you imagine Christ being in heaven by himself? You know, so he he's got a bride that's church. So then, it provides a safe place for children to grow, a good marriage. So, Christ-centered marriage is when a husband and wife are. Love each other like, like Christ loved the church. Kids have a safe. The kids are not traumatized by dad flinging stuff. You know he's angry and mom's doing all kinds of, you know, just temperamental stuff. And then also. Peter mentioned it to what I already forgot what he said, but yeah. So us following Christ's example of how he loves the church, he loves the church unconditionally. He loved us before we loved him back. He protects, so a husband should protect. Jesus provides, so so so the man would provide. So would so would the mother for the kids. Okay. So yeah. Okay, I'm gonna translate. Melehty po ruski. Okay. Когда в центре семейной пары Христос, тогда все вопросы жизненные, они стараются к Слову Божьему подходить. When Christ-centered marriage in a couple, a couple's life, then if there's any questions, they refer to the Bible, to the Word of God. Okay. So what we heard right now that the biblical marriage is love is part of it, but the bigger purpose is to have children, so that generations don't fall off and. And we heard that a Christ-centered marriage is to to have. If there are any questions, the Bible is your foundation for your answers. We heard that, but let me ask you guys again. One of you guys can answer this. Let's define marriage. What is marriage? Define marriage for us. I think to that first question, I would also add that, and I agree with Vasily that it's not good for men to be alone. Men was alone, and I think at a certain age, we come to where we feel like. We're lonely, and we need a a partner, and that's where once we begin and say, okay, I need a partner. Then how do you build that life? What's the point of that life? Okay, so now I've chosen a partner. The word of God says that whoever finds a good wife, you know, that's a gift from God. So we see that God is in the midst of this entire process and helps people to build these successful marriages. And then once they've become a couple, now where do they go from here? Right? Do they lead a life that? Just focused on themselves, and they're gonna have adventures all over the world. Just have fun for the entire life, or like, what? What's the point? And and that's where it comes in. Is to we see it in the scripture. Is to raise that next generation that they would first of all grow up to know, to love and fear God. And be also be able to build a successful family when they are ready, because I would say a lot of people they are afraid to get married, and have children. I've talked to people. They said, No, no, I never want to have children. I said, Why? Said I could never raise them. I don't know how to do that. And and I get it. I understand what they're saying because they never had that good, healthy example. In their own families, so they don't know how to do it, and and that's where it's important for us as parents to show that you know what does a Christian home look like, what does a successful family look like, and then our kids they're not going to have that fear they're they're going to be very they're going to have a strong foundation to build their own families. So, like, my question because right now, like, we know that the the world is defining marriage to its standards. Like, we, I want our church to lay the foundation. What is marriage? Well, like, what's the standard of marriage? And, Dan, Dan, go ahead. I knew you were going to ask. Sorry, I did it again. I knew that this was going to be one of the questions, so I like to write, so I wrote it down, so I don't sit there and repeat myself five times. So, the question is, what is marriage? Yeah. Marriage is more than a legal commitment or a promise between two people. It is a sacred covenant between my wife, myself, and God. It is the union of a man and a woman joined together, in His sight, with a shared commitment to love, honor, and remain faithful to one another. Okay. Yeah. And like right now, we see that the the world is. Defining marriage its way, but we know that marriage is between a man and a woman. There could be no other way of marriage. So any other way of marriage, it's not marriage. You, they can put a name to it. They can put a title to it, but it's not marriage. We, the the. The Bible, God who created us, He defines what marriage is, and it's between a man and a woman. And how I like how Peter was saying that, like in a marriage, we lay the strong foundation for the future generations. But also, Basilian Peter mentioned that. Guys, we don't want to be alone. We don't want to be alone. We get lonely. We need that second half. That's natural. That's natural. So, so God, He gave us a woman, and don't be afraid to have kids. If you can, don't be afraid to have them because, how Peter mentioned, it's a blessing, and that's what God intended families to do. That was the purpose of family. Did you guys notice how he said it? He said, "A man and a whoa man." Yeah. Well, I think every guy when they like when he sees the one, he's like, "Whoa, man!" And Tim, I wanted to maybe add a little bit since we touched on that subject. There is a lot of confusion going on right now, especially within the young people. What is a marriage? Is it just when two people love each other? That's how people. Say, and doesn't matter who they are. They love each other, so and and they and they come and form a covenant or an agreement, and that's a marriage. Scripturally, we find that's not a marriage, and it's not because because the purpose, once again, one of the purposes of marriages was that two shall become one, and then God tells them to go and and to have children. Right, it says be fruitful and multiply. So, whatever partnership cannot fulfill that requirement, I'm not talking about like medical issues or things like this. I'm saying overall naturally. If if this partnership cannot fulfill this requirement, it's not a marriage. And so, so that's why. For example, if it's a gay couple, they can never they can try to adopt, but that's that's not naturally. That the human race doesn't continue because they're adopting someone else's child. So, but it's them who are supposed to do that. And so, and the only way that we can see that that that other part can be fulfilled, if it's only between a man and a woman. There's no other way to do it, and so that's where that second portion. So, so marriage is not just defined by love, like two people loving each other. There's like several layers to I believe how God defines what a marriage is, and that's a critical part of it. I think you guys had the the perfect biblical answers, and yeah, there's nothing to add to that. Let's move on to the next question, and this is going to be to Dan. Okay. Okay. We're going back to it. Dan, Mike. We're going back to the purpose of marriage. Once again, I knew this was going to be a follow-up question for what is marriage. So what I wrote down last night I think is really important. But the purpose of marriage, the purpose of marriage is not simply to share a life together, but to glorify God through that life. To grow together spiritually, support one another through every season, and to build a relationship grounded in faith, love, and devotion. When entered into a true covenant with God, at its center, marriage becomes a lifelong partnership designed not only to strengthen the husband and wife, but also to reflect God's love and purpose. Yes. So, so marriage is a foreshadow of what's going to be between the bride and Christ. So, so, so we, so we are. What's that word? I'm trying to find that word. So we are examples. Even though there's a different word I'm looking for, foreshadow and like we're examples of how a family. While a marriage between Jesus and His bride is going to be forever, we are to carry that throughout our life. So, if we do not fulfill that in our life, if we are not being those examples, then we are breaking the rules of marriage. Do you guys kind of understand where I'm going? Okay. Well, we don't have much time, so last question, Dan. I would like for you to to answer this one, Dan and Erica. Is there such a thing as a perfect marriage? If so, what does that look like? If not, what should couples strive for instead? I think this this question arises because. The guy and the girl fell in love. They think it's all roses, it's just green pastures, you know. They're they're all head over heels, which which is good, which is right. And so they think that they're never going to argue. And then they get into it, and it's just like reality opens up. So, Dan, is there such a thing as a perfect marriage? If so, what does that look like? If not, what should couples strive for instead? Well, I think the goal for every marriage is to strive to be a union, you know, from God, and with that, and I said it is important to take the time to be patient with your spouse and to understand. Their point of view on many things and how it's important to share a life with a common goal, which is to be up there someday. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Vasili already set the mark. So I don't have the freedom that Dan has. Like I have to say, there is a perfect marriage. Okay. I might get in trouble. Just joking. Yeah. So I think there are perfect marriages. I think every marriage that is trying is perfect. It's just it's a mindset. Can you imagine never having a fight, never arguing? She is just a yes, yes, sir, all the time. There's no drama. The life would be boring. So there's gotta be. So a perfect marriage is when a husband and wife love each other. They argue, they love. They. So that's natural. That's normal. I nothing. That's perfect. That's perfect. Imperfect marriage is a marriage that that divorce problems start. All the problems you start when you do a divorce. So yes, every marriage that tries is perfect. I like that answer, Alana. What do you think? Yeah, she she said that she supports. It can't be the other way. Peter and Zoya, what are your thoughts? Or hold on a sec. I want to add. When they gave us these questions to discuss, we spent three days, three evenings, we spent an hour and a half. Рассуждали. Yeah, so when we when we got the list of questions that we might get asked, we spent three nights thinking about these. И я сделала для себя решение, что семья, ну, которую называют perfect, это семья, в которой обсуждается все, как бы не так, что муж все решает или жена все решает, но они все решают вместе. And came to the conclusion after three days of thinking about a perfect couple is when they attack every or try to deal with every question together, not just the man decides or just the woman decides, but together. That's a perfect couple. Peter and Zoya, let's. Your guys's answer is the last. So. Well, yeah. So I think, you know, there's a passage I, I kind of, you know, where it's like basically like, where you basically it's like two rocks rubbing against each other, kind of. And so you're kind of, you're kind of, going like that, you know. So that's kind of maybe conflict, but then it's kind of getting smoother as you know time goes on. But that's okay because it's you both have like, you know, you both have. Opinions and stuff. So it's good to discuss. Well, another just side thing. Like I want to add actually to Peter's earlier is actually as a couple, it's very important to be part of your local church. You know, as Bible says, do not forsake the gathering of believers. That's very important as a couple. Even over the years, you know, of being married and stuff. You kind of you go to church together, and you're you know other Christian couples, and so you're kind of like and your parents, and then and you're kind of like growing together in church, serving together, or and working together and stuff. That's also important, kind of like the spiritual aspect of along with you know praying and. Read the Bible, and and that's very important as a couple, as a family, as well. Yeah, so I think a perfect marriage is what God sees as a marriage that was successful. So I think a marriage, a perfect marriage, is when two couples. Or a couple, two people, they see each other as partners and friends. That they are in it together to accomplish a certain purpose, and and they're working on the same goal, right? And so they're working on the same goal of you know having a. First of all, loving each other. They're working on that to have a beautiful environment inside their home for their children, and and the purpose that God had put in their hearts. In life, different people have, let's say, different talents. That they are working on that, and essentially finishing strong, right? And then when a person stands before God, and he. He can say, you know, here I am. Here's my wife. Here my children. We lived this life. It wasn't a smooth, necessarily life, but but we accomplished those things that you set us out to accomplish, right? We raised our children. They love the Lord. And yeah, so I would say it's that it's that family that fulfills God's purpose here on Earth, right? Serving the Lord, learning to love each other, teaching their children, helping them set up strong families. That's a marriage that God would be pleased. Okay, so we ran out of time, but next next two weeks we're going to start with the deeper questions, and so next week we don't have service, and two weeks we'll be back. But the question we will start with when conflict arises in a marriage, what are some biblical, healthy and biblical ways to work through it and find a resolution? So that is the question that we will start with. But we just left off with the question of a perfect marriage. And have we heard a perfect marriage is the one that work together. Nobody is saying that there's now going to be bumps. There's now going to be arguing. There's it's not going to be smooth. But the perfect one are the ones who work it out, who work it out and make it work. Does Does anybody have a question? Just we got like five minutes left. Does anybody have a a question for our guests? If not, we can also save those for in. Two weeks when we come back. Yes, go ahead. To get married, do you have to have a legal marriage where everything's split up fifty-fifty? Because I've been married twice and I want to, or three times, and I want to get married again for the fourth time. Is it legitimate to have a legal marriage, or can it just be by common law? Okay. Okay. So. I think common common law marriage, which actually means a boyfriend and a girlfriend spend together for more than I think seven years. I think that's what common law is. And if you do get divorced, everything gets split. I think that is not a biblical marriage. I think it needs to be a. It's very sad if there's a prenup and it's written down in a way to where if you. You're pretty much coming into a marriage knowing you're going to split, and you're already decide how the split's going to be before it even happened. So, I think the biblical one is going to be the one where you don't expect to get divorced or split up. You you go you go in there, and it's not what you can benefit from this marriage, but it's how you can benefit. To the marriage, what can you do for that? For the other half, so I think it's just a mindset. Just need to change it up just a little bit. Not a coming in. What? What am I going to benefit from it? But other. But the other way, how can I help the other person benefit? That's my. And and I would say that it has to happen in the church. There you go. Yeah, but when you're married at the church, you understand that the first marriage, Adam and Eve, it was God who presided over it, and the Bible says, "Whatever God put together, let no man separate." So we see that in a biblical marriage, God is involved, and that's why if you're getting married, first of all, it should happen by. It should be officiated by by ministers or within the church, so there's a blessing of God over it, and then the couple understands that God watches their marriage. That they've not just promised to each other, and if they want to break the contract, well, let's just break it, you know. Because, but but now they're breaking this promise that they said before God, and God will hold those people accountable. And that's why it's really important, like Vasiliy said, that when you're making that commitment, you have a clear understanding that this is for life. And because you promise that to her and to God, can I add to Peter? I think it does need to happen in church, but it also needs to be recorded in the court level too. Probably the spiritual aspect done here at church, but the actual physical of taxes and and and and other purposes for say you have children and they need to go to school, you know, it needs to be also probably recorded. I think they're equally important. I even told my daughter, make sure. I know the church marries you, but go to the courthouse. Make sure it's properly recorded. There, there is a story. This is back in the day when the Chinese immigrants were were coming down to America, and a lot of them lived in New York. And they found out that a single mother would get better food stamps. This is in the nineteen thirty s, forties, and what they did was they they, on paper they divorced. And the men just figured it out that hey, we're now free. Now they would remarry, and so the the Chinese women were were pretty much left, you know, all all by themselves. So even though sometimes we try to cheat the system or think it's not that important, that the devil always finds a spot where he can grab on and he'll destroy. He'll use that pathway to destroy. So so get it recorded at the courthouse and and and have an ordained minister. Do the blessing and and don't give the devil any room. Okay, thank you, guests. Would would you guys be able to come back for more slides and questions? We didn't even scratch the surface, Tim. Yeah, I know. So much to this. I know, but. Okay, so in two weeks we'll see everybody here. If you guys know anybody who's about to get married, who's thinking of getting married, who is married, please invite them. In two weeks we will be back, and we will continue our topic on marriage, on biblical marriage. Let's all stand up and pray. Lord God, we thank you, Lord, for these times, God, that we could talk, Lord God, and just see how you like want a man and woman to be one, Lord God, how you intended it to be, how you created us to be, how you created marriage to be, Lord. Right now, the world is defining marriage its way, God, but it's not the way you. God define it, Lord God, and over here, just give us the wisdom and the guidance, Lord, to teach and to share the way that you want us to be united in one, Lord, like with you and with our spouse. God, we pray for the rest of this day. I bless each person here. I bless each person watching us online. May you bless all of us in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For your kingdom, your power, and glory, forever are yours. Amen. Be blessed. We'll see everybody for breakfast.