Church's response to divorce

The scripture is very hard on divorce. God understands the destructive power it has. When you take the image of Christ and the church and destroy it, devastation will occur. And in his love for us, God is hard on divorce in order to protect us. And we can’t be light with it. The Bible teaches that in most cases, excommunication is required for the offending party. And if we love the person, we need to follow through with church discipline and strong teaching. However, in my heart, my primary blame for divorce is not with those couples who get a divorce, for them my heart is broken. I believe the primary promoter of divorce in the church is often the church (at least in general). There are some churches that do an amazing job in this area, but in general the church is not teaching enough on how divorce is an affront to the Gospel. And in general, the church has lost a proper fear of God when it comes to divorce. And more importantly the church is not being gospel oriented in meeting the needs of those struggling in marriage. Marriage is hard. There must be church discipline, but if you sit in judgment on those who are going through a divorce, be aware, you are sitting in judgment because you don’t understand your own heart. Staying married is difficult. As a church we should have compassion on marriages that are struggling. The church should be a place where a couple can come, be honest with where they are at, and say, “We don't want to stay married. We don’t see any other way out, but divorce” and be surrounded by people who will run to them with open arms, love them, and say, “You are right, you cannot do it, but this is what the Gospel is for, and we are here for you and will love you through this”. We must be hard on divorce, in love, the scripture demands it. But it also demands that we take the plank out of our own eyes, that we don’t sit in judgment, and that we strongly present the Gospel in these situations. We walk alongside them, and we pray for God to deliver them. The scripture calls us to compassion and charity. The church should be a place where the struggling, the weary, the broken, and the downtrodden are met with the Gospel. God is Holy and God is patient with us. With divorce we must have a proper fear of God, a fear that does not allow us to back down on the horridness of divorce and a fear that drives us to compassion for those who are struggling, because except for the grace of God, I also would be going down a horrible path. If divorce is prevalent in the church, it is because as a church we need to understand the Gospel more and the fear and amazing love that come with it.

Divorce is rebellion

    But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
    (Mark 10:6-9 ESV)

Jesus taught that it is God who brings together a husband and a wife in marriage. It was that way from the beginning and continues to be the case, today. God has joined them together and made them one.

When we divorce we are telling the LORD, this spouse you have given me, I reject. I reject your work in my life and my marriage. Divorce is an act of rebellion against God. God hates divorce.

Marriage can be hard and we may suffer difficulties and heartache. However, God wants to walk with you through these difficulties in your marriage. He wants you to come to Him and be embraced by Him. Divorce is rejecting God's embrace and solving your heartache on your own. You may be weeping and crying out to the Lord, but refusing to do it His way.

"You cover the LORD's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

(Malachi 2:13-16 ESV)

Divorce is rebellion against an Almighty God.So guard your heart and do not be faithless. God's way is not always easy, but it is coming to the embrace of a God who loves you.

For those who have rebelled through divorce. God's arms are open wide, there is forgiveness for rebellion. Reject your rebellion and come into His embrace and submit to His love and His way.

Shades of grey

You say that you see things in shades of grey and not in black and whites . . . you have missed the point.

Well, the Kingdom of God is in vivid colors. . .

It is other. It is Holy. It is commanding. It causes you to tremble and engages the whole of who you are. It cuts soul and spirit and discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

And the Door of the Kingdom is open to those who surrender and come through faith in the worth and work of Jesus Christ.

The fear of the LORD is the begining of wisdom

The man who thinks he can carry on his business life, or his political life, or his social life, without God is to that extent an irreligious person. The teacher who thinks that his relation to God does not affect his teaching of chemistry, or his interpretation of European history, is to that extent an irreligious person. The consistent Christian will realize that his religion is the ruling principle of all his life, and that there is nothing in life which can be isolated from his relation to God. - Johannes Geerhardus Vos

Strength of a woman

"Every woman, whether rich or poor, married or single, has a circle of influence within which, according to her character, she is exerting a certain amount of power for good or harm. Every woman by her virtue or her vice, by her wisdom or her folly, by her dignity or her levity is adding something to our national elevation or degradation." —John Angell James

Cultural Health tips

I like this just because its a doctor looking at the the culture around him and engaging it.

God's love sanctifies us by Jason Gray

"...very much" 2011 by Doug Phillips

"...very much" 2011 from Douglas Phillips on Vimeo.

A quarrelsome wife

When a man has a wife who is constantly crushing his thoughts, ideas, vision, it starts to destroy the man. There is a place for healthy constructive and appropriate edification. A man thrives on that and often welcomes it from his wife, “rebuke a wise man and he will love you” (Proverbs 9:8b). Godly men thrive on godly edification from their wives. They love it. A quarrelsome wife, however; is quick to find fault with her husband’s ideas, no matter how good they are. She is critical of his thoughts without truly listening to what they are. She assumes false motives from her husband, no matter how noble they are. No matter how much knowledge he has on a subject, she treats him as if he knows very little. She doesn’t trust in his leadership, and is only happy when she is leading.

It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.  –Proverbs 21:9

A continual dripping on a rainy day and a quarrelsome wife are alike; --Proverbs 27:15

It is better to live in a desert land than with a quarrelsome and fretful woman.  – Proverbs 21:19

It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife. –Proverbs 25:24

A foolish son is ruin to his father, and a wife's quarreling is a continual dripping of rain. –Proverbs 19:13

 "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers." Eph. 4:29

There are many wives who just don’t realize that they are being the foolish woman. They are just not aware. And it is not intentional. This is a link to an article that talks about some practical ideas for learning to be a woman who supports her husband.

practical ideas for supporting your husbands vision



       

John Piper - The Gospel Saves Kids

How "The Pill" works as an Abortifacient

I am not supporting the site for this video (I just don't know anything about them) or natural family planing. But I do think this video does a good job at explaining the abortive nature of oral contraceptives.

Continuum

We often think in continuums and God, He is often not even on the continuum. For He is completely other. He is Holy.

Divided the Movie

http://dividedthemovie.com/

Official Divided the Movie (HD Version) from NCFIC on Vimeo.

"Love Me" By: JJ Heller Music Video *Amateur*

some proverbs on speach

With his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor,
but by knowledge the righteous are delivered.

The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life,
but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

The tongue of the righteous is choice silver;
the heart of the wicked is of little worth.
The lips of the righteous feed many,
but fools die for lack of sense.

The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer,
but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.

The Incalculable Impact of One Woman

True Womanhood Looks Like Christ

Voddie Baucham Talks about homeschooling our children

Jesus challenges culture

Jesus challenged the culture of his day. He will challenge your culture as well.

God will give us more than we can handle

There is a saying, "God will not give you more than we can handle". This is not true. The fact is He will. But God will not give us anything He can't handle.

Created in the image of God . . .

“It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.” -- Galatians 3:1

God has called us to be image bearers of God. That’s what we were created for. It is easy to think, I need to be “holy” so I can portray God’s image. History or His story has another take on portraying the image of God. The pinnacle point in history where the greatest portrayal God took place was at the cross in Jesus.  As we bear God’s image in our own lives, it’s not an outward holiness that is the greatest portrayal of God, but Christ being portrayed as crucified in our lives that is at the pinnacle of our being made in the image of God. As the Gospel permeates us and Christ becomes great we fulfill what we were created to be, image bearers of God.

False Motives

Some people will neglect doing good, because what prompted that good was a false motive. I have learned to thank God for using the false motive to remind me to do good. I will do the good and ask him to work on my heart so that my motivations are good as well.

You see, it is not about me or my motives, I am saved by grace. And it is grace, because my motives will never be right. If you are obsessed by being perfect, your trying to save yourself, it is a self-righteousness, and no gospel. The Gospel has faith in the work of Christ, not ones own works. We make much of Christ, not ourselves. It is about the Gospel and glorifying Christ.

I fight vigilantly against false motives, and I do plead fervently with God for pure motives, they are sweet, but my hope is not in them.

The realist

If a man sees and experiences the world, unafraid of the darkest places, and knows that God is on His throne, believes the promises of God, and sees the beauty, joy and wonder of God. Is this man a dreamer or the true realist -- Hebrews 11.

Joy from Christ, not your performance - Paul Washer

Preaching the Gospel through God's love for us

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

                                                                                             -- 1 John 3:16,17

The Gospel is commanding. It takes dominion in our lives changing our hearts and our minds, conforming us into the image of Christ. We preach the Gospel, because God has ordained the preaching of the Gospel as a means of His grace. And he has established that His Gospel will be preached through those in the church, us. But even though God has ordained this, it is not mechanical. John doesn’t just say, we obey and do what is right. John says that we love. We love to preach the Gospel. And we love others. So where does this love come from?

John lays out the heart of the believer and where our motivation comes from to love the lost– the work of Christ in our own lives – “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” When we get this, when we get the depths of Jesus’ love for us, our hearts will be moved to love others. John demonstrates an integral connection between being loved by God and walking in the truth of the Gospel and the outward expression of the Gospel’s work in loving others.  Our motivation for ministry to others comes from the security of the redemption we have in work of Christ.

 I like the words of Jeremy Riddle’s song, Sweetly Broken -

At the cross you beckon me
You draw me gently to my knees
And I am
Lost for words so lost in love
I am sweetly broken holy surrender

 As we are beckoned to Christ, we are “sweetly broken” and able to walk in “holy surrender”. It is no longer a work. It is trusting in the work of Christ, having faith in His work, laying all that we are down, and allowing His work to change us. In the Gospel, God boldly works in us through sanctification, with all certainty and determination to continue to grow in our hearts love for others. We are God's handiwork. This is why John states that loving others must happen if we are in the Gospel. He says this because the Gospel is not weak, the work of Jesus is not weak, but certain to work love into our hearts. So this love that we have growing in our hearts for others is a work of God and not our own. And God is not thwarted  . . . . 

This fact gives me much encouragement, when I don’t feel capable of evangelizing or loving others or even don’t feel like loving others. God is at work in me and He will accomplish it, because it is about His work, not mine. And even when I have those times I don’t want to love others, I know He is at work in me. 

Here is the deal; we are motivated not through looking at ourselves and working to muster up a love in ourselves. We are motivated, because He first loved us. He loves us! Do you get that? Let me repeat that. He loves us! He loves us so much that He brings us into His love for others. God has chosen the Gospel as the means for this love to be made manifest. And as we come to trust the Gospel, not just that He saves us from God’s wrath, but that God also brings us into His Kingdom and conforms us into the image of Christ; we will discover that love is growing in our hearts. We don’t look to ourselves; we come and look to Christ, believing in His work. 

And as we step out in these truths knowing it is not about whether or not we fail, because God’s work does not fail. God has determined to do a good work in us, because He deeply loves us. . . . Paul says that all things are "Yes" in Christ.

This is the power of the Gospel as it sanctifies our hearts and conforms us into the image of Christ. The more we see the magnificence and grandeur of what Christ has done for us and grow in our understanding of the Gospel in our own lives, the more passion we will have as God takes us into His story and uses us to reach out to others and bring them into this love. 

Robots

I have heard the argument from those who disagree with Calvinism, that they feel like this notion of God choosing us, makes us into robots, and they don't believe that God would do that. This statement, however, shows a misunderstanding of what Calvinism is, because there is no way that one would use this argument if they understood the premises of Calvinism. This statement becomes a straw man in an attempts to knock down a notion they feel uncomfortable with.


On the contrary from making us robots, Calvinism states that God so loved us that He came to us when we were enemies, enslaved, and dead, or you might say we were lifeless, our choices were enslaved to sin, and we were in some ways "robotic" in our nature. God came to us in this state and gave us life making a new creature, through His spoken word. Someone who is alive. So on the contrary of making us "robotic", God has taken the believer from death into an abundant, joyous life, that is fully animated, and full of intense love and desire and choice to be together. A true Calvinist is not a stoic, but a die hard romantic.


I can say this my choice for God was real, and it is more free than the choices made as an unbeliever.

Christian Nation?

I do believe that as we push Christian principles in the government of the US, it should be done under the rule of the Constitution. It is not a free for all. For example, it would not be ok to push a law that stated that everyone must confess Jesus Christ as Lord. I do think we need to be wise in how we approach issues and to do so based on Constitutional limitations. But Christian principles and obeying scripture should be what rules us as we make these decisions. The scripture is great at teaching us how to walk and how to make decisions that honor both the Constitution and God. Our Christian principles should never be left behind in anything we do nor should they be compromised.

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work."

Christian Nation?

I think there has been some confusion on whether this nation began as a Christian nation or not. The issue becomes muddled as people try to take one position or the other in some polarised version of an answer to this question. This nation was founded by men who were both Christian and not Christian. They were men who had an understanding of history and wanted to develop a country based on strong principles and foundations, learned from the lessons of history. And, yes, some wanted this nation to honor God. But even though all were not Christian, both non-Christian and Christian men drew many of their morals and principles from Christian and Biblical ideas. And there was a strong Christian influence in their thinking. So despite the fact that both non-Christian and Christian men founded this nation, Christian principles had a huge part in developing our nation. That cannot be denied. So even though you might say that this nation was not founded as a Christian nation, it is very clear that it had a very strong Christian influence in its development.

We do know this - the scripture is very clear that a nation is greater, when their laws are based on Christian principles. The Constitution is set up not to deter this, but to allow for those in government to make decisions based on principles, as long as they are not unconstituional.  So as Christians it is important that we bring our Christian principles into the way we make decisions in government. I think this is safe, because the scriptures tell us to honor the ruler of the land. In our nation, that is not a man, but the Constitution. So a Christian will try to honor the Constitution in the decisions they make and also respecting those constitutionally elected to offices.

My point is we cannot deny that Christian principles had a part in the founding of our nation, whether or not it was founded as a Christian nation. And, today, whether or not our nation is a Christian nation, we cannot separate our Christian principles from the decisions we make for our nation, nor do we need to be ashamed of our wanting to bring Christian principles into governmental decisions.

Let those who are mature think this way

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”

It’s not perfection, but the pursuit that we are after. So often people fail because, they feel like they have to be perfect. We won’t be, but that doesn’t mean we give up. We are no longer in a pursuit to be perfect, Christ won that victory. We now have the freedom to pursue joy and to run hard in that pursuit with all abandonment into a relationship with Jesus Christ.

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained”. –Philippians 3:12-16

Training for one of the most important careers

Our society tends put an emphasis education and on training for a job, but little emphasis is placed on training our children for the most important career they will have - being a husband/wife, father/mother and keeping a home. These skills take a lifetime to learn and require purposeful and intentional training and growth. We are foolish if we take them lightly or wait till we are in those situations to learn. Thankfully God's grace is there for us all and God is a good trainer and shepherd, and if our hearts our willing to pursue these things He will be there.

Preparing older daughters in the home

Open Minded

I am learning that you have to believe in the scriptures in order to be open minded. There is no other way. God's ways are far above our own and any other standard for thinking falls short and is narrow in its expanse and ability to understand the world. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" And "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'"


This will not sit well with a lot of people, even Christians, but the scriptures make us wise in all things in life. And it is a solid ground that can be trusted in. It puts you in a secure place, where you are free to be open minded. 

Baby steps

Discipline is being determined to go a direction in the grace of God, even when you fail, not necessarily getting to the destination

The Power of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit doesn't point us to some "great experience", the Holy Spirit's passion is to point us to Christ, where we are at. This is the power of the Gospel. This is the power of the Holy Spirit. 

 

Communication with the opposite sex

I think it is important that we work hard to understand our spouse's language as well as learning how "translate" for our spouse.

Nature glorifies and worships the LORD

New Trailer: Join us Tonight, Thursday, January 20, for "The Mystery of the Strange Creatures of the Amazon" from Douglas Phillips on Vimeo.

Large Family - Duggars and Bates

The Bateses and Their 18 Children 1/19/2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh_njlNFEls