Marriage Is Critical

The Ten Commandments are the list of basic rules by which people are to live in relationship to God. It is not an exhaustive list. But it covers a lot of moral and spiritual ground.

The first four commandments deal with out relationship to and worship of God. Honor and respect God. Obey what God says. Do not substitute anything or anyone else in place of God. Give to God the first and the best or your time. You could obey these commandments and be right with God.

The last five deal with our relationship to other people and to society. These are the moral rules of conduct. These five deal with hate and lust and greed. These deal with honesty in human relations. The rule of law rests on these basic truths.

In the middle of all of these is the one unique commandment concerning family. Let me say that family is the cornerstone of our faith It is the key to an orderly society. God instituted marriage long before there was any law of Moses. Marriage is the foundation on which society is built and in which we learn how to honor and how to please God. Our relationship to God and our relationship to our fellow man hinges on a stable traditional family unit.

The world, the flesh, and the devil all work tirelessly to undermine and to discredit and to destroy marriage as it was instituted by God. We as the local body of Christ ought to do all that we can to promote, encourage, and to support marriage. Marriage is critical to our church, to our vision, and to our survival.

Jesus The Social Man

How much time did Jesus spend alone? Not counting his relationship with the Father. I only count a few times where Jesus was not in the company of others.

Once it was in the temptation in the wilderness. Fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. He did that alone.

Then it was for times of prayer on the mountain. He withdrew from his followers and from his disciples for times of prayer. He did those prayers alone.

The rest of the time Jesus was always in the company of others. Sometimes a small group, sometimes with a big crowd. Even on the cross Jesus was not alone. He had two thieves crucified with him.

Jesus was an actively social man. Should we follow his example and engage in social activities? How about going to church in person? How about greeting others? 

It's the banana that leaves the bunch that gets skinned.

Honor Your Parents

"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord you God is giving you." Exod. 20:12

We are told that this fifth commandment is the first commandment containing a promise. Here are some basic thoughts on honoring your father and mother thus obeying God's command.

1. Honor means respect. It does not say to only honor them if they are good or if they are perfect. I take it to mean that we are to honor the position more than the person. This is a marriage commandment. 

2. Honor means maintaining the relationships. Taking the time and making the effort to keep the lines of communications open.

3. Honor could imply taking care of them as they age. This might be a stretch, but it is true that giving is proof of your love.

4. Honoring parents does something to us. I makes us better people. I teaches us how to successfully work in any field. It teaches us how to live that we might live blessed lives.

5. The God factor. It is the Lord who commands this. It is the Lord who gives the land. This only works if the Lord Jesus is involved.

6. Honor is not blind obedience. Do not go to Hell over a family obligation. At some point you have to honor God first. Honoring your parents teaches you how to honor God.

 

Things That I Would Do Differently

 If you could live your life over again what would you do different? This is a question that most people answer by saying that they would not change anything. I cannot say that. There are things that I would do different. I know that it would change how life worked out for me. But nonetheless, I would do a few things differently.

First, I would not get married so young. I was a teenager when we got married. I would not do it like that again if I could. I would wait a few years and wait until  I had grown up and become settled in church and become more mature.  

Second, I would not try so hard to get into the ministry. I spent years of my life trying to be a pastor with zero success. I would learn to be content to serve the Lord in Prescott without being a pastor.

Third, I would honor my mother and father and not try so hard to preach to them. I would not let my wife dictate to me the terms by which I honor my parents. I failed at this before, I would not do that again.

Fourth, I would make a living doing something more in line with my abilities, not letting the town dictate my career choice. If I couldn't make a decent living in Prescott, I would go where I could make more than subsistence wages.

Fifth, I might go back to school and get a degree. It would have helped back then.

Sixth, Along with marriage, I would have more than two children. At least three or four.

Finally, You cannot go back and change the way you lived your life. But if I could, these are things that I definitely would do differently.

Boot Camp Time

 Our annual boot camp starts tomorrow. It used to be a time to give kids a break from their phones and to teach them leadership and teamwork. Now it is a time where we hope that the kids will get saved. This tells me that we are missing the point of camp.

Call it boot camp if you want. Bring in drill instructors to yell at the kids. But don't treat it like a week long outreach. Let kids be kids. Teach them life skills and leadership skills and teamwork skills. Preach to them every night and tell them what God expects from them. They have churches and they have families and they have ample opportunities to get saved every week. Camp ought to be a special time, a memorable time. A moment in time that kids will fondly remember.

Parent will be praying this week. Not for salvation, but that their teens will be safe and happy. Parents are nervous about trusting us with their teens. We ought to be trustworthy to put their fears to rest.

Choose This Day

Most of the popular music that I grew up listening to I am finding out was drug inspired. What I mean is the artist who wrote the songs came up with the inspiration for the music while using illegal drugs. That is one reason why there are so many one hit wonders in pop music. Only truly gifted song writers wrote songs for a living.

Most of the movie stars from my youth were immoral. They were adulterers and fornicators. They did not honor God or their marriages. 

What am I saying? Entertainment is the world of anti-Christ and lawlessness. This is why trying to Christianize the world is a waste of time. This is why being a friend of the world makes you the enemy of God.

"Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." James 4:4

Entertainment is popular because it is popular. It is designed to draw you in and keep you coming back for more. The world is not planet Earth, but the organized systems by which society functions.

When you realize this, you begin to appreciate having three services a week to hear the Bible taught and truth preached. It is a small price to pay to keep on the straight and narrow path.

"Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." Mat.7:13-14

A Living Hope

Another ongoing big lie that people believe has to do with creativity. Creativity is impossible to define but that doesn't stop experts from defining it. They never use the word inspired, since inspiration comes from beyond us. Inspiration comes from God. Creativity comes from us.

It is incredible the lengths the world goes to to keep God out of the equation. It's almost like they have grown up in a Godless society and dysfunctional families so that God is absent from their minds and hearts.

The church you are a part of is the last, best hope for humanity. AI is a false hope. Science is an empty hope. Christ is a living hope.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." 1Pet. 1:3

The reason why they cannot define creativity is that any honest definition must come to grips with Divine inspiration and to an evil and unbelieving world, that is unacceptable.

You shall be like God is a lie as old as humanity itself.