A Brief History of Marriage

 When God brought Eve to Adam and Adam recognized who she was, there was no romance and there was no wedding. And yet we accept as fact that Adam and Eve were a married couple. In the Bible there are many occurrences where men and women are together as a married couple without any legally or emotionally binding ceremony. We accept that these people were indeed married, but nothing is mentioned about a wedding.

The first recorded marriage took place about 2350 BC in ancient Mesopotamia. By this time in human history marriage was already an accepted and established institution. But this is the first actual record of a marriage.

My point is that marriage is not a Christian institution at all. People have been getting married as long as there have been people. All eras, all locations, all kinds of people for as long as we know have been getting married.

The first recorded marriage in America was in Jamestown in 1608.

In the past, marriage was more a legal apparatus and a social arrangement, not a romantic one. Romance in marriage is a rather modern addendum to marriage.

The Bible gives us ancient truths that can easily be applied to the modern world about marriage. And God know who is really married and who is playing games.

What's your excuse for not being married and never getting married? You have the weight of all of human history against your selfish decision.

The Coming Crisis

I see a crisis brewing in our Fellowship. As we of the first generation of people who were saved in the early wave of revival age out, including some of our older pastors, a new group of young, zealous, enthusiastic pastors take the reigns of leadership. There could arise a conflict between the I'm hanging on for dear life, or the old wine is better group, and the new wine, all in, go for broke young guys.

We who have been around and are still here cannot do what we used to do anymore. We are not on the cutting edge of evangelism anymore. We are too busy enduring to the end to be involved in what makes a church grow. And the pool of brand new converts is not as big as it once was so that there are not as many new people to do what needs to be done.

The way that I see it is that a pastor can do one of two things with this scenario. First, he can blow the bugle and holler charge and lead the troops to war. And ignore or abuse the elders in the church. Or, he can use wisdom and minister to everyone in his church where they are. Run with the runners. Sit with the elders. Lead the outreach, visit the sick and infirm. A wise pastor will see what is in front of him and try hard to help everyone, not despise the old folks and cater only to our youth.

One big myth is that the elders among us are a treasure trove of wisdom to tap. We are not quite sure of the how or why of the past, much less what we ought to do going forward. A pastor who lives in the past will become frustrated in his ministry, wishing it could be like it used to be in the good old days.

There seems to be a crisis coming. Are we prepared to handle it?

When Evil Is Beautiful

 In the world of evil there seems to be a progression. In the beginning evil looked evil. Evil worked by fear. We are afraid of monsters and demons that look like monsters and demons. So evil progressed from monstrous to beautiful.

Why are demons portrayed as beautiful? Monsters want to take something from us. A beautiful monster will get us to give it to them freely. Beauty invokes desire. Desire, by nature, requires something worth having. The devil know this. He can be monstrous if need be. But he can also be beautiful if necessary.

"And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light." 2Cor. 11:14

Just because something is beautiful and desirable does not make it right to have or good for us. Satan did not tempt Eve by being monstrous. He beguiled her with smooth words and enticed her with a beautiful appearance. Some things never change. Desire has destroyed more souls than fear ever could.

A Lesson

When everything is a crisis, nothing is a crisis. Or so it seems.  It's like the boy who cried wolf. People stop hearing even when the warning becomes real. This is a lesson that every preacher of the Gospel should learn.

Does God repeat Himself in the Bible? Sure He does. With a span of sometimes centuries between the times He spoke. When we read the bible we see themes and patterns emerging and we do well to heed those words. But let a preacher preach on the same subject or give the same warning time after time and soon, no one will hear that preacher anymore. Especially if nothing in life really changes.

Don't be the boy who cried wolf. Don't be the preacher who tries to light the same fire every time. Don't be the husband who makes the same promises or the wife who makes the same threats day after day.

It's he who endures to the end who will in the end be saved. Not him who runs the fastest of who climbs the highest. Endurance takes time. And patience. And wisdom.

Truth That Isn't So True Anymore

 Winning isn't everything. It's the only thing. Until sports became about making money and not about winning anything.

College athletes are students first. They get paid with an education. That was a big lie that we used to believe.

Discipleship is not a program. Except when your pastor is too busy to spend time training disciples. Except when the emphasis is on evangelism first and not on training young men on how to become a pastor. How to work with people and how to craft a sermon that real people can benefit from hearing.

There are truths that used to be true, but in the modern world seem to not be true anymore. Is this what it means to call light, darkness, and to call darkness, light? Thank God that His word, though old, is still true. And God is not too busy to help us in our hour of need.

I just set myself on fire and people come to watch me burn only works once. After that you must have something to say that inspires and moves people.

My Thoughts For Today

 I go to church on Wednesday night to hear the word of God preached. To be fed with some hidden manna.

The events of 9/11 happened. I remember it happening. People over reacted and freaked out about it. Pastor Mitchell did not. Neither did I.

The death of my wife affected me far more than 9/11 did. The death of my wife hurt me personally. 9/11 hurt us as a nation, but me, not so much.

Perspective helps us endure the trials of life. Experience helps us rightly process the events of life.

Most of the anti-America sentiment comes from universities and the national news. Most people do not feel like those radicals do. I've lived through this before.

The Jesus People Revival, of which we are a part, saved us from the turbulent and dangerous time of the 1960's.

Pray for your pastor that he can rightly divide the word of God and that he can bring us sermons like apples of gold in pitchers of silver.

A Biblical Perspective.

"let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak..." James 1:19

God gave every person two ears and only one mouth.  James understood this when he wrote these words. Some people feel the need to speak up or to speak out or to defend what they believe. They are swift to speak and slow to hear.

Being a pastor means that the focus of your ministry is speaking. Speaking in prayer, speaking in counseling, speaking in preaching, and speaking in fellowship. Their job is to bring a word in season for those who are weary I wonder if pastors ever get tired of talking?

Some people feel it is a sin not to speak up to defend the faith. It's is God's word. Let Him defend Himself.

Men feel the need to fix problems. Fixing means working or giving advice. Contrary to popular opinion, men do like to talk.

Women, we are told, like to talk. They like to teach and instruct which involves a lot of talking. Women see the world in a unique way and they definitely talk about their world in their own way.

Children should be seen and not heard. But they learn early on how to talk in an appropriate manner.

The Bible makes is clear that we all, men, women, children, and pastors need to keep watch over our words. Swift to hear, not swift to speak, is the Biblical perspective.