Praying and Forgiving
Ephesians 5:15-20 James 5(especially 5:16)
There are many times in our life when we need forgiveness. There are many times in our life when we are simply overcome with the struggles within us. We were talking Sunday night at our services which, by the way, happen at 5pm each Sunday, about fighting the good fight-- that we have to continue to fight even when we sometimes fail. We continue to fight even when we mess up and sin. The Bible says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That certainly includes me and includes other people as well. All of us, to be exact, have sinned and all need to have forgiveness for that sin.
For those who have never become a Christian the way to get forgiveness for sin is to hear what God says, believe it, to repent of our sins, confess our faith, to be baptized and wash away our sins.
For those who have already done those steps and are already Christians but have simply messed up--who have not been doing the way we should have been doing-- we need to pray. We need to go to God for forgiveness for doing those things we should not be doing.
Prayers are also used to make requests to God for those who are sick and hurting, or those who are sad and need comforting. There are so many reasons why we pray and ask for those things that are needed. The Bible will say, “You have not because you ask not.” If we need something and are in a situation where we need comfort, we need to ask for it, and God will give us those things that we need.
We also need prayer to just say thank you to God. We need to thank God for the things we have, and all the food and the ways God blesses us. We should thank Him for our family and friends and church, and you name it…if it’s in your life in a positive area of your life you should thank God for it. The Bible says we should pray, and teaches that we set good examples when we are praying. If we really love God we will want to communicate with Him, to talk to Him, and the way we do that is through prayer.
I want to encourage you today to be thankful for what God has done for you. Ephesians 5:15-20, is our scripture reading for today, and Ephesians 5:20, in particular says, “Always give thanks to God the Father for everything. Give Him thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We should say, “Thank you God for all the things you have done for me.” Hey, check out our website at www.elbachurchofchrist.com. There you will find all the services times.
~Philip
31 August 2010
27 August 2010
Seven Most Dangerous People in a Couple’s Life
Exodus 20:1-3, Heb. 10-25-27, Num. 12, Proverbs 11:5, Proverbs. 6:1,2 &5
All this week we have been talking about things that are important to our relationships, especially the relationship of a married couple. We have been giving you the most dangerous people in a couple’s life. We have talked about intrusive parents and overbearing in-laws, covetous people, a whisperer or busybody, and a flirtatious person.
I still have three more to give you today. The fifth dangerous person is a user or taker. Let me encourage you to send somebody who is a user or taker to a professional. Sometimes people come to us for help or advice. It will affect our relationship negatively if we try to fix everybody’s problems and not focus on our own. I mentioned this to folks Sunday as we talked about this, because it is personal to me. So many times people come to me asking for help and wanting me to talk to them. I’m a terrible counselor, but before you know it they will be calling every day monopolizing all my time, so we have to be careful with that. Sometimes I will get home and my wife will say, "Look you have been caring for them more than you have for our family. When you do that it makes me feel that I’m not important to you or first in your life.” “The kids feel the same way.” I have decided never to let that happen again.
Proverbs 11:5, and Proverbs 6:1,2, and 5, are all very important verses. The Bible tells us here that when people come to you wanting to borrow money....don’t do it--if the bank won’t let them borrow, you shouldn’t. They will come wanting advice....send them to an expert--don’t give advice if you are not an expert on the subject. The Bible says to flee from the users and takers like a gazelle running away from a hunter.
The sixth one is a jealous person. We should avoid a jealous person like the plague. By the way, if in a relationship one of the members in that relationship is a jealous person over every little thing, things need to change. We need to make sure we are not that person ourselves because a jealous person is dangerous to have around. You may want to read Numbers 12, the story where Miriam became jealous of Moses, specifically his wife who was not from where they were from, and talked about her. The results were devastating for Miriam .
The seventh person on the list is a distracting person . Here’s what we mean by this. Here’s a person who is distracting us from God-- getting our attention and somehow distracting us from letting God be first in our lives. And we are guilty of breaking one of those great commandments. You may remember over in the Old Testament in the book of Exodus 20:1-3, the first of those commandments is "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." It can be your boss, it can be someone who is interrupting the relationship as a couple. We need to encourage each other not distract each other. Hebrews 10:25-27
~Philip
Exodus 20:1-3, Heb. 10-25-27, Num. 12, Proverbs 11:5, Proverbs. 6:1,2 &5
All this week we have been talking about things that are important to our relationships, especially the relationship of a married couple. We have been giving you the most dangerous people in a couple’s life. We have talked about intrusive parents and overbearing in-laws, covetous people, a whisperer or busybody, and a flirtatious person.
I still have three more to give you today. The fifth dangerous person is a user or taker. Let me encourage you to send somebody who is a user or taker to a professional. Sometimes people come to us for help or advice. It will affect our relationship negatively if we try to fix everybody’s problems and not focus on our own. I mentioned this to folks Sunday as we talked about this, because it is personal to me. So many times people come to me asking for help and wanting me to talk to them. I’m a terrible counselor, but before you know it they will be calling every day monopolizing all my time, so we have to be careful with that. Sometimes I will get home and my wife will say, "Look you have been caring for them more than you have for our family. When you do that it makes me feel that I’m not important to you or first in your life.” “The kids feel the same way.” I have decided never to let that happen again.
Proverbs 11:5, and Proverbs 6:1,2, and 5, are all very important verses. The Bible tells us here that when people come to you wanting to borrow money....don’t do it--if the bank won’t let them borrow, you shouldn’t. They will come wanting advice....send them to an expert--don’t give advice if you are not an expert on the subject. The Bible says to flee from the users and takers like a gazelle running away from a hunter.
The sixth one is a jealous person. We should avoid a jealous person like the plague. By the way, if in a relationship one of the members in that relationship is a jealous person over every little thing, things need to change. We need to make sure we are not that person ourselves because a jealous person is dangerous to have around. You may want to read Numbers 12, the story where Miriam became jealous of Moses, specifically his wife who was not from where they were from, and talked about her. The results were devastating for Miriam .
The seventh person on the list is a distracting person . Here’s what we mean by this. Here’s a person who is distracting us from God-- getting our attention and somehow distracting us from letting God be first in our lives. And we are guilty of breaking one of those great commandments. You may remember over in the Old Testament in the book of Exodus 20:1-3, the first of those commandments is "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." It can be your boss, it can be someone who is interrupting the relationship as a couple. We need to encourage each other not distract each other. Hebrews 10:25-27
~Philip
26 August 2010
Seven Most Dangerous People in a Couple’s Life
Proverbs 5:3-6
Over the last few days we have been talking about the seven most dangerous people in a couple’s life. The reason these people are so dangerous is that they affect directly our relationship with each other and with God. These principals can be applied to all relationships in life. We’ve talked about Intrusive Parents and In-laws, Dream Killer or Covetous Person, and a Whisperer or busybody. Today I want to talk about a Flirtatious person. This one is so very important. A flirtation person is a very dangerous person. They can make you feel good for a while but ultimately if we are not careful it leads to other things. It leads to the devastation of a marriage and on a church. A group of friends, and you know the story and seen it again and again, this man or woman have an opportunity to chat with somebody else and they say things that make you feel good. All of a sudden before you know it you are engaged in a relationship with this other person.
In "His Needs, Her Needs", the book talks about having a "Love Bank", and you are really supposed to have one account and make deposits into that one account. But now all of a sudden you have opened up an account at two different banks. You are making deposits in banks in two different places. It’s not that you don’t love your spouse, but you love this other person too, and are dividing your love funds and making deposits in both places. As those accounts grow, the fact is, you are going to make some withdrawals. If we are not careful we bounce checks in our love bank. We zero out the account and things go negative very quickly. You know how quickly they can add up in a negative direction. That is what happens in relationships if we are not careful.
Proverbs 5:3-6, tells that the lips of an adulterous woman drip like honey. Their speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharper than a two-edged sword. By the way, there are only two things referred to as a "two edged sword" in the Bible–the Bible and an adulterous woman. Sometimes these women just show up and are around. My wife and I talk about this particular issue, and we’ll say, "Hey, we have got to be careful about this one. You know, she’s looking–it’s not that I’m so great looking, but it is that I may offer some things that a lot of ladies would look at and say, "That’s kind of I want."
Preachers, by the way, have problems with three areas and that is with money, pride, and women. But that woman will come to a church, and say that guy, he’s nice to his wife, he is doing what he is supposed to do, and has a nice stable life. She may not know what is going on, but she’s looking there and all of a sudden there is a problem. We call these women, "Big Eyed Jesus Girls". We need to realize we are in a covenant relationship with God and our spouse.
I was reading another book called "Ten, ten, ten". It says you need to ask yourself about a decision you may make now, "How am I going to feel about this ten minutes from now–maybe pretty good, ten months from now–maybe not so good, and ten years from now–probably terrible?"
~Philip
Proverbs 5:3-6
Over the last few days we have been talking about the seven most dangerous people in a couple’s life. The reason these people are so dangerous is that they affect directly our relationship with each other and with God. These principals can be applied to all relationships in life. We’ve talked about Intrusive Parents and In-laws, Dream Killer or Covetous Person, and a Whisperer or busybody. Today I want to talk about a Flirtatious person. This one is so very important. A flirtation person is a very dangerous person. They can make you feel good for a while but ultimately if we are not careful it leads to other things. It leads to the devastation of a marriage and on a church. A group of friends, and you know the story and seen it again and again, this man or woman have an opportunity to chat with somebody else and they say things that make you feel good. All of a sudden before you know it you are engaged in a relationship with this other person.
In "His Needs, Her Needs", the book talks about having a "Love Bank", and you are really supposed to have one account and make deposits into that one account. But now all of a sudden you have opened up an account at two different banks. You are making deposits in banks in two different places. It’s not that you don’t love your spouse, but you love this other person too, and are dividing your love funds and making deposits in both places. As those accounts grow, the fact is, you are going to make some withdrawals. If we are not careful we bounce checks in our love bank. We zero out the account and things go negative very quickly. You know how quickly they can add up in a negative direction. That is what happens in relationships if we are not careful.
Proverbs 5:3-6, tells that the lips of an adulterous woman drip like honey. Their speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharper than a two-edged sword. By the way, there are only two things referred to as a "two edged sword" in the Bible–the Bible and an adulterous woman. Sometimes these women just show up and are around. My wife and I talk about this particular issue, and we’ll say, "Hey, we have got to be careful about this one. You know, she’s looking–it’s not that I’m so great looking, but it is that I may offer some things that a lot of ladies would look at and say, "That’s kind of I want."
Preachers, by the way, have problems with three areas and that is with money, pride, and women. But that woman will come to a church, and say that guy, he’s nice to his wife, he is doing what he is supposed to do, and has a nice stable life. She may not know what is going on, but she’s looking there and all of a sudden there is a problem. We call these women, "Big Eyed Jesus Girls". We need to realize we are in a covenant relationship with God and our spouse.
I was reading another book called "Ten, ten, ten". It says you need to ask yourself about a decision you may make now, "How am I going to feel about this ten minutes from now–maybe pretty good, ten months from now–maybe not so good, and ten years from now–probably terrible?"
~Philip
25 August 2010
Seven Most Dangerous People in a Couple’s Lives
Day Three-Proverbs 16:28 Proverbs 26:20
A whisperer or a busybody is the next person we need to avoid on our list of the seven most dangerous people in a couple’s lives. Even if you are not married this is the kind of person you do not need to be around. We not only need to avoid this person, we need to make sure we ourselves are not guilty of being this very person. A busybody or a whisperer is a gossip and always into everyone’s business. We need to be aware of this person and don’t bring them into our lives. Proverbs 16:28 says “A dishonest man causes strife and a whisperer separates close friends.” I believe even a couple could be separated by this kind of person. They are always saying, “Have you heard….. or Did you know…..”, and it is usually something that probably doesn’t even need to be said.
Proverbs 26:20 says, “For the lack of wood a fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer there is no contention.” Isn’t that interesting? Here the Bible is telling us that where there is no whisperer there is no contention or strife. It will cease.
In the New Testament book of 2 Thessalonians 3:11, the Bible says, “We hear that some among you are idle (in other words, lazy) they are busybodies. Big people talk about service for God and things that are needed in life and important to God. Let’s be careful not to be a busybody or a whisperer. If we are, let’s change today--don’t wait until tomorrow. Today we should take steps in God’s direction. The way we do that is through faithful obedience to God’s will. We hear what He says, we believe it, we apply it by repenting of or sins, confessing our faith and being baptized into Christ. Then we need to continue to study God’s Word, to pray, to attend church services, and live faithfully the rest of our lives. If we do those things God is well pleased.
~Philip
Day Three-Proverbs 16:28 Proverbs 26:20
A whisperer or a busybody is the next person we need to avoid on our list of the seven most dangerous people in a couple’s lives. Even if you are not married this is the kind of person you do not need to be around. We not only need to avoid this person, we need to make sure we ourselves are not guilty of being this very person. A busybody or a whisperer is a gossip and always into everyone’s business. We need to be aware of this person and don’t bring them into our lives. Proverbs 16:28 says “A dishonest man causes strife and a whisperer separates close friends.” I believe even a couple could be separated by this kind of person. They are always saying, “Have you heard….. or Did you know…..”, and it is usually something that probably doesn’t even need to be said.
Proverbs 26:20 says, “For the lack of wood a fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer there is no contention.” Isn’t that interesting? Here the Bible is telling us that where there is no whisperer there is no contention or strife. It will cease.
In the New Testament book of 2 Thessalonians 3:11, the Bible says, “We hear that some among you are idle (in other words, lazy) they are busybodies. Big people talk about service for God and things that are needed in life and important to God. Let’s be careful not to be a busybody or a whisperer. If we are, let’s change today--don’t wait until tomorrow. Today we should take steps in God’s direction. The way we do that is through faithful obedience to God’s will. We hear what He says, we believe it, we apply it by repenting of or sins, confessing our faith and being baptized into Christ. Then we need to continue to study God’s Word, to pray, to attend church services, and live faithfully the rest of our lives. If we do those things God is well pleased.
~Philip
24 August 2010
Seven Most Dangerous People in a Couples Life
Day Two-Luke 12:15-21 Gen. 37:
We are talking this week about Summer Love and shoring up our marriages and other
relationships. By the way these principals can be used in many other relationships in
our lives. Yesterday we talked about overbearing parents and intrusive in-laws.
We need to get that out of our lives.
Today we need to talk about a dream killer or a covetous person--someone
who is jealous and negative about everything you want to do. Instead of helping
you plan a budget for a new house, he tells you all the reasons why you can't do it.
We need to be careful about those kind of people in our lives.
In Genesis 37, we find the story of Joseph and his brothers. Joseph's brothers
were jealous of his coat of many colors, of the way their father loved him, and
they were jealous of his dreams. Joseph dreamed a lot. He told them what his
dreams were and they got mad. They threw him into a pit and pretended he was
killed by some wild animal. They took his coat home and convinced their father
he was dead. They then sold him into slavery in Potifer's house. He eventually
was put into prison, and finally ended up as Vice President of the country. It is
amazing how God works. His brothers were dream killers and said Joseph could
not do it-- they were not going to let it happen.
A covetous person is a person who always wants to keep up with the Jones' and
are never happy for you. Instead they look at you and say, “It ought to be me who
gets all the stuff and all the blessings.” Our Bible reading today from Luke 12:15:21,
verse 15 specifically, says it doesn't matter. All the stuff doesn't matter. A man's
worth is not in the things he possesses. It is in his relationship with God and with
other people, so be aware in our marriage relationship especially, of a dream killer.
It will be detrimental to our relationships if we allow a dream killer to influence you.
We would like to invite you to come be with us. We meet at 6pm for a Fellowship Meal
on Wednesday night and 7pm for Bible Study. On Sunday, Bible classes start at 9am
for all ages, and Worship at 10am, with Sunday evening worship at 5pm.
~Philip
Day Two-Luke 12:15-21 Gen. 37:
We are talking this week about Summer Love and shoring up our marriages and other
relationships. By the way these principals can be used in many other relationships in
our lives. Yesterday we talked about overbearing parents and intrusive in-laws.
We need to get that out of our lives.
Today we need to talk about a dream killer or a covetous person--someone
who is jealous and negative about everything you want to do. Instead of helping
you plan a budget for a new house, he tells you all the reasons why you can't do it.
We need to be careful about those kind of people in our lives.
In Genesis 37, we find the story of Joseph and his brothers. Joseph's brothers
were jealous of his coat of many colors, of the way their father loved him, and
they were jealous of his dreams. Joseph dreamed a lot. He told them what his
dreams were and they got mad. They threw him into a pit and pretended he was
killed by some wild animal. They took his coat home and convinced their father
he was dead. They then sold him into slavery in Potifer's house. He eventually
was put into prison, and finally ended up as Vice President of the country. It is
amazing how God works. His brothers were dream killers and said Joseph could
not do it-- they were not going to let it happen.
A covetous person is a person who always wants to keep up with the Jones' and
are never happy for you. Instead they look at you and say, “It ought to be me who
gets all the stuff and all the blessings.” Our Bible reading today from Luke 12:15:21,
verse 15 specifically, says it doesn't matter. All the stuff doesn't matter. A man's
worth is not in the things he possesses. It is in his relationship with God and with
other people, so be aware in our marriage relationship especially, of a dream killer.
It will be detrimental to our relationships if we allow a dream killer to influence you.
We would like to invite you to come be with us. We meet at 6pm for a Fellowship Meal
on Wednesday night and 7pm for Bible Study. On Sunday, Bible classes start at 9am
for all ages, and Worship at 10am, with Sunday evening worship at 5pm.
~Philip
20 August 2010
Seven Most Important People in a Couples Life-Day Five
I Cor. 16:20 I Sam. 26:1-11
All this week we’ve been talking about summer love and strengthening our marriages. We’ve been talking about the seven most important people in a couple’s life: a wise person, a marriage mentor who has already been through what you are going through, a faith builder and encourager--someone who will encourage us in faith and all aspects of our life, a couple on the same journey, and a prayer partner. Now here is the seventh important person we need.
We need a church family. If we are going to have a church family, we first have to hear His Word and obey His will by repenting of our sins and confessing or faith, then be baptized into Christ and added to the church. We then can become a part of a church family. It adds so much to our lives and strengthens us.
In the Bible in I Corinthians 16:22, it says, “If anyone does not love the Lord a curse will be on Him. Come, Oh, Lord!.” So the idea is we should love the Lord with all our being. That’s the way we should all feel. I am always surprised when people come by the church asking for help and I’ll say to them “Do you have a church family, or do you have a church home. They will say no but we’ve been looking. We all need a church home and a church family. We need to go to church and be involved with other Christians, and respect those church leaders. Those people have been chosen to lead the church. There was a time in the Old Testament when David had an opportunity to kill Saul. Saul was looking for David in order to kill him. David did not kill him when he had the chance because Saul was God’s chosen one to lead the Israelites. We should realize when God is involved in a person’s life then we can connect with them . The way we get God involved our life again? --Faithful Obedience to His Will. We need to put Him first in our life we need to do His Will. If we will put God first in our life God will be pleased with us and our relationships will be strengthened as well. Let me invite you to come be with us at the Elba Church of Christ this Sunday.
~Philip
I Cor. 16:20 I Sam. 26:1-11
All this week we’ve been talking about summer love and strengthening our marriages. We’ve been talking about the seven most important people in a couple’s life: a wise person, a marriage mentor who has already been through what you are going through, a faith builder and encourager--someone who will encourage us in faith and all aspects of our life, a couple on the same journey, and a prayer partner. Now here is the seventh important person we need.
We need a church family. If we are going to have a church family, we first have to hear His Word and obey His will by repenting of our sins and confessing or faith, then be baptized into Christ and added to the church. We then can become a part of a church family. It adds so much to our lives and strengthens us.
In the Bible in I Corinthians 16:22, it says, “If anyone does not love the Lord a curse will be on Him. Come, Oh, Lord!.” So the idea is we should love the Lord with all our being. That’s the way we should all feel. I am always surprised when people come by the church asking for help and I’ll say to them “Do you have a church family, or do you have a church home. They will say no but we’ve been looking. We all need a church home and a church family. We need to go to church and be involved with other Christians, and respect those church leaders. Those people have been chosen to lead the church. There was a time in the Old Testament when David had an opportunity to kill Saul. Saul was looking for David in order to kill him. David did not kill him when he had the chance because Saul was God’s chosen one to lead the Israelites. We should realize when God is involved in a person’s life then we can connect with them . The way we get God involved our life again? --Faithful Obedience to His Will. We need to put Him first in our life we need to do His Will. If we will put God first in our life God will be pleased with us and our relationships will be strengthened as well. Let me invite you to come be with us at the Elba Church of Christ this Sunday.
~Philip
Seven Most Important People in a Couples Life-Day Four
Person on the same Journey and a Prayer Partner
James 5:16-20
In the song summer love, love happened so fast and was a blast. We need to realize we need to settle in and be the people God would have us to be. This week as we talk about the seven most important people in a couple’s life, we’ve talked about the need of a Wise Person in our life, a Marriage Mentor, and a Faith Builder and Encourager.
Today I want to give you two others that are so important. You need to have a Person on the same Journey as you, and a Prayer Partner. Let me explain what I mean about both of those. We need someone who is going on the same journey as we are. They have kids about the same age and are at the same place in life as we are. This can’t be your mentor because your mentor has already been through this. Their kids are probably already grown. This is a couple who is there now. You need someone you can call and say, “Hey, we’re going, are you? And they can say, “Yeah, we are going if you’re going.” That’s an important person to have in your life isn’t it? We’ve all been in that situation
where we ask our wife, “I don’t really want to go, do you.” And she replies, “I don’t , but if they are still going we’ll go.” You all go and it ends up being a good thing you’ve done. We need that in our life. Ecclesiastes 4:12 is a great example of that. “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.” “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken” I realize contextually we are taking a little liberty with that verse, but I think the principal is the same, and it certainly true in life. If we actually have people there with us who are going through the same thing, we are there together.
The second one we need to talk about today is the idea of a prayer partner. I’m not talking about the group of prayer partners that some of churches have. I’m talking about a person you can call to come pray for you and with you. A lot of times I have a person come to me and say, ”Hey, Philip would you pray for me about this?” I don’t want anyone to know …. I do, and don’t even tell my wife. The same thing happens to her sometimes. This is someone who is not excited about the juicy gossip they have just heard. This is someone who will just listen and then pray about it. They may not be the one who actually helps you solve the problem. They might not do anything physically about it, but this person is simply someone who will say I understand. I hear what you are say. I know what you’ve been through and I will pray for you. The Bible teaches in the book of James that the “fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
We also know the Bible says we are to confess our faults one to another and pray for each other. Build a strong marriage and use these great principals.
~Philip
Person on the same Journey and a Prayer Partner
James 5:16-20
In the song summer love, love happened so fast and was a blast. We need to realize we need to settle in and be the people God would have us to be. This week as we talk about the seven most important people in a couple’s life, we’ve talked about the need of a Wise Person in our life, a Marriage Mentor, and a Faith Builder and Encourager.
Today I want to give you two others that are so important. You need to have a Person on the same Journey as you, and a Prayer Partner. Let me explain what I mean about both of those. We need someone who is going on the same journey as we are. They have kids about the same age and are at the same place in life as we are. This can’t be your mentor because your mentor has already been through this. Their kids are probably already grown. This is a couple who is there now. You need someone you can call and say, “Hey, we’re going, are you? And they can say, “Yeah, we are going if you’re going.” That’s an important person to have in your life isn’t it? We’ve all been in that situation
where we ask our wife, “I don’t really want to go, do you.” And she replies, “I don’t , but if they are still going we’ll go.” You all go and it ends up being a good thing you’ve done. We need that in our life. Ecclesiastes 4:12 is a great example of that. “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.” “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken” I realize contextually we are taking a little liberty with that verse, but I think the principal is the same, and it certainly true in life. If we actually have people there with us who are going through the same thing, we are there together.
The second one we need to talk about today is the idea of a prayer partner. I’m not talking about the group of prayer partners that some of churches have. I’m talking about a person you can call to come pray for you and with you. A lot of times I have a person come to me and say, ”Hey, Philip would you pray for me about this?” I don’t want anyone to know …. I do, and don’t even tell my wife. The same thing happens to her sometimes. This is someone who is not excited about the juicy gossip they have just heard. This is someone who will just listen and then pray about it. They may not be the one who actually helps you solve the problem. They might not do anything physically about it, but this person is simply someone who will say I understand. I hear what you are say. I know what you’ve been through and I will pray for you. The Bible teaches in the book of James that the “fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
We also know the Bible says we are to confess our faults one to another and pray for each other. Build a strong marriage and use these great principals.
~Philip
18 August 2010
Faith Builder and Encourager
Numbers 13:30
As we continue our series on the most important people in a couple’s relationship, we have already talked about having a Wise Person, also a Marriage Mentor, and today we will talk about a Faith Builder and Encourager.
One of the greatest things a couple can do is dream big together. We need someone to help us to dream big for God as a couple. I believe we should give at least a tithe and as we give that ten percent make that a minimum standard not a maximum. We need to do that as a couple and we need somebody to challenge us to do it. We need this person to help us keep our balance in life, who will keep us stable as we go and keep us focused on what is important. This person will encourage us to do the right thing and to be there with us when we end up where we never expected.
I told a joke at church Sunday about a man who is in jail and he can’t call the Faith Builder because he is there with him. This is that kind of person who is there with you. Our text for today is Numbers 13:30. Here is Caleb. Caleb was one of the faithful spies who went into the land of promise and had spied out the land.
The ten other spies came out and said it is a land of milk and honey, but there are so many giants there that we can never take the land. The people were in an uproar and there in verse 30, the Bible says, “and Caleb silenced the people before Moses.” The picture I get is: Caleb stands up before the people and says, “Hey, listen, we can do this.” The quote from the Bible is, “Let us go up and take the land, because we can certainly do it.” “We can do this because God has already given it to us.”
We need a person like that in our marriages to say, “Hey, you can do this.” “Be the person you can be for God.” We need an encourager to be there with us each step of the way. We might even be that person for somebody else. As we look for the seven most important people in our marriage we need to realize that it needs to be more than one person because it takes it. It also takes a church and we will talk about that on the last day of our series. Come be with us tonight for our Fellowship Meal at 6pm and our Bible Class at 7pm.
~Philip
Numbers 13:30
As we continue our series on the most important people in a couple’s relationship, we have already talked about having a Wise Person, also a Marriage Mentor, and today we will talk about a Faith Builder and Encourager.
One of the greatest things a couple can do is dream big together. We need someone to help us to dream big for God as a couple. I believe we should give at least a tithe and as we give that ten percent make that a minimum standard not a maximum. We need to do that as a couple and we need somebody to challenge us to do it. We need this person to help us keep our balance in life, who will keep us stable as we go and keep us focused on what is important. This person will encourage us to do the right thing and to be there with us when we end up where we never expected.
I told a joke at church Sunday about a man who is in jail and he can’t call the Faith Builder because he is there with him. This is that kind of person who is there with you. Our text for today is Numbers 13:30. Here is Caleb. Caleb was one of the faithful spies who went into the land of promise and had spied out the land.
The ten other spies came out and said it is a land of milk and honey, but there are so many giants there that we can never take the land. The people were in an uproar and there in verse 30, the Bible says, “and Caleb silenced the people before Moses.” The picture I get is: Caleb stands up before the people and says, “Hey, listen, we can do this.” The quote from the Bible is, “Let us go up and take the land, because we can certainly do it.” “We can do this because God has already given it to us.”
We need a person like that in our marriages to say, “Hey, you can do this.” “Be the person you can be for God.” We need an encourager to be there with us each step of the way. We might even be that person for somebody else. As we look for the seven most important people in our marriage we need to realize that it needs to be more than one person because it takes it. It also takes a church and we will talk about that on the last day of our series. Come be with us tonight for our Fellowship Meal at 6pm and our Bible Class at 7pm.
~Philip
17 August 2010
Seven Most Important People in a Couple’s Life
1 Corinthians 4:15 Prov. 19:20
We are talking this week about the seven most important people to have in a couple’s relationship. We know when we fall in love and we get married and start trying to build that kind of relationship, it is tough to do. I was joking with one of the couples in our congregation recently. They celebrated their twenty first anniversary. I announced it in the pulpit, and she said it seemed like forty one years. We joke about that, but it tough to build a strong marriage. These seven people you need though will help you to build a strong relationship.
The first person we talked about yesterday was a WISE PERSON. The second person we need involved in our life is a MARRIAGE MENTOR. In 1 Corinthians 4:15, the Bible talks about all sorts of people you look to as your father, your guide, or your mentor. The idea is to have someone who knows what he is doing. In Proverbs 19:20, it says, “Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.” This is the idea of a marriage mentor. We say, “Okay, we are going to listen to them and follow them.” This is someone who is older maybe, who has been there and done that. You may call them tell them and say, “ Here’s the problem.” They might say, “Let me think back, and remember. This is what we did when we went through this.” So, they have already done it, and they know what you are going through.
For my wife and I, we have my parents. We look up to them, and they have just celebrated 45 years of marriage. We need to find someone who we can follow, someone who has a great marriage, and will give it to you straight. Not everybody can be a mentor in every area, but we know if we look to somebody who has been married a long time that will be a good place to start. We don’t want to go to someone who has been married several times for a marriage mentor. A lot of times we see people going to the wrong people for advice. I’m always amazed at how many people who don’t have any money go to poor people to see what they should do. If we have money problems we need to go to somebody who has money to find out what to do. If we have marriage problems we need to go to somebody who has a great marriage to learn how to do it better. So we need a marriage mentor. As we go through these things this week, I hope we find things that will help us to build a great relationship with our spouse.
Hey, come be with us at the Elba Church of Christ. Attending church together is a great way to build a strong relationship. You can go to our website at www.elbachurchofchrist.com to check out our time schedule.
~Philip
1 Corinthians 4:15 Prov. 19:20
We are talking this week about the seven most important people to have in a couple’s relationship. We know when we fall in love and we get married and start trying to build that kind of relationship, it is tough to do. I was joking with one of the couples in our congregation recently. They celebrated their twenty first anniversary. I announced it in the pulpit, and she said it seemed like forty one years. We joke about that, but it tough to build a strong marriage. These seven people you need though will help you to build a strong relationship.
The first person we talked about yesterday was a WISE PERSON. The second person we need involved in our life is a MARRIAGE MENTOR. In 1 Corinthians 4:15, the Bible talks about all sorts of people you look to as your father, your guide, or your mentor. The idea is to have someone who knows what he is doing. In Proverbs 19:20, it says, “Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.” This is the idea of a marriage mentor. We say, “Okay, we are going to listen to them and follow them.” This is someone who is older maybe, who has been there and done that. You may call them tell them and say, “ Here’s the problem.” They might say, “Let me think back, and remember. This is what we did when we went through this.” So, they have already done it, and they know what you are going through.
For my wife and I, we have my parents. We look up to them, and they have just celebrated 45 years of marriage. We need to find someone who we can follow, someone who has a great marriage, and will give it to you straight. Not everybody can be a mentor in every area, but we know if we look to somebody who has been married a long time that will be a good place to start. We don’t want to go to someone who has been married several times for a marriage mentor. A lot of times we see people going to the wrong people for advice. I’m always amazed at how many people who don’t have any money go to poor people to see what they should do. If we have money problems we need to go to somebody who has money to find out what to do. If we have marriage problems we need to go to somebody who has a great marriage to learn how to do it better. So we need a marriage mentor. As we go through these things this week, I hope we find things that will help us to build a great relationship with our spouse.
Hey, come be with us at the Elba Church of Christ. Attending church together is a great way to build a strong relationship. You can go to our website at www.elbachurchofchrist.com to check out our time schedule.
~Philip
16 August 2010
Seven Most Important People in a Couple’s Life
1 Cor. 13:1 Prov. 13:20
At our church service we have been involved in our Summer Series on Sunday night when different men come in and talk to us. On Sunday morning we have been talking about Summer Love. We’ve been talking about our marriages and different ways to improve our relationships. They will work in our marriage, but will also work in other relationships in our life. I want to take a little time to give you a list of the most important people in a couple’s life. Again you can apply these to any relationship in life. It will make a difference wherever you are.
There was a man name Paul Horton who played football for the Green Bay Packers years ago. He scheduled his wedding for the middle of football season at on a Saturday morning at 11am. When interviewed on the Today show he told them, and the nation, that his teammates were giving a hard time about scheduling his wedding on Saturday morning during football season, and he replied, “I tried to make it early enough that if it didn’t work out we wouldn’t lose the whole day.” That’s the wrong attitude to have about marriage isn’t it. We know that marriage is not for everybody.
This week we will look at the seven most important people in a couple’s life. Here is the first one. We need to have a wise person in our life. In the book of Proverbs of your Bibles, Proverbs 13, is our scripture reading today. Proverbs 13:20 in particular says, “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of the foolish suffers harm.” Two contrasting ways to look at this is if we walk with someone who is wise, we will become wise. If on the other hand we walk with a foolish man will suffer. We need to walk with the wise person because he can help us design our lives and help us to give back to God and give us good counsel. They will always tell us the truth even when it hurts. I am reminded of a Bible verse which says, “The kiss of an enemy is sweet but the scars of a friend is better.”
The idea is that a friend tells you the truth even if it hurts and it is better than when an enemy kisses your cheek. We need someone who will not let us take shortcuts. We also need this wise person because they will remind us to fear the Lord. It is that idea of respecting God. If we respect God we will do things His way and we won’t have as many problems in life. If you don’t have this wise person in your life helping you along life’s journey, that should be the first person you work on finding. Come be with us this week and worship with us. You can find all the information on our service times and activities at www.elbachurchofchrist.com.
~Philip
1 Cor. 13:1 Prov. 13:20
At our church service we have been involved in our Summer Series on Sunday night when different men come in and talk to us. On Sunday morning we have been talking about Summer Love. We’ve been talking about our marriages and different ways to improve our relationships. They will work in our marriage, but will also work in other relationships in our life. I want to take a little time to give you a list of the most important people in a couple’s life. Again you can apply these to any relationship in life. It will make a difference wherever you are.
There was a man name Paul Horton who played football for the Green Bay Packers years ago. He scheduled his wedding for the middle of football season at on a Saturday morning at 11am. When interviewed on the Today show he told them, and the nation, that his teammates were giving a hard time about scheduling his wedding on Saturday morning during football season, and he replied, “I tried to make it early enough that if it didn’t work out we wouldn’t lose the whole day.” That’s the wrong attitude to have about marriage isn’t it. We know that marriage is not for everybody.
This week we will look at the seven most important people in a couple’s life. Here is the first one. We need to have a wise person in our life. In the book of Proverbs of your Bibles, Proverbs 13, is our scripture reading today. Proverbs 13:20 in particular says, “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of the foolish suffers harm.” Two contrasting ways to look at this is if we walk with someone who is wise, we will become wise. If on the other hand we walk with a foolish man will suffer. We need to walk with the wise person because he can help us design our lives and help us to give back to God and give us good counsel. They will always tell us the truth even when it hurts. I am reminded of a Bible verse which says, “The kiss of an enemy is sweet but the scars of a friend is better.”
The idea is that a friend tells you the truth even if it hurts and it is better than when an enemy kisses your cheek. We need someone who will not let us take shortcuts. We also need this wise person because they will remind us to fear the Lord. It is that idea of respecting God. If we respect God we will do things His way and we won’t have as many problems in life. If you don’t have this wise person in your life helping you along life’s journey, that should be the first person you work on finding. Come be with us this week and worship with us. You can find all the information on our service times and activities at www.elbachurchofchrist.com.
~Philip
13 August 2010
Summer Love- Day Five
The Secrets of a Happy Marriage
1 Peter 3:1-9
All this week we have been talking about the secrets of a happy marriage. In our Sunday morning worship service we are doing a series this month on this topic. We are talking about different things. By the way, I would like to invite you to come to one of our services this weekend--9am for Bible Class and 10am for Worship Services. In that service we will be talking about “The Seven People Needed in a Couple’s Relationship”. This week we have already talked about the fact that we need Total Trust, To Talk, To Fight Fairly, and To Accept Differences. Today I want to encourage you to “Follow God Together”. Husbands and wives need to be united in the belief that God is, that He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. One of the most important things a husband and wife can do together, and even with their children, is to be involved in a church-- be involved in learning about God, involved in Bible Study.
Often I meet with families that are in a crisis situation--maybe it is a physical need, or an emotional need, or they are at the point where they think divorce is inevitable. I ask them if they have a church in which they are involved? Are they trying to do it God’s way? They will usually say something like this, “Well, no we don’t really have a home church. We’ve been looking around. “ What we need to do is get our Bibles out and try out God. We need to involve God in every relationship of our life, especially one as important as our marriage.
As we have pointed out before in marriage a little bit of heaven can be found on earth. But the other side would be true too. It can be hell on earth if we are not careful, and if we don’t involve God in our relationship. How do we involve God? We read our Bibles, we give of our time, talents, and treasures. We make sure that we are teaching our family the Word, we pray together.
If we make sure we do all of those things it will help us to get where we need to be spiritually at the end of this life. The question today is are we trusting God, are we really obeying Him completely. Are we doing it His way. I hope we can, as a couple, say yes. If not we need to make those changes as a couple. Not too long ago, it was neat to see a husband and wife respond together to the invitation. Every time we are together at worship service, we sing an invitation song when people are able to respond and come to the front. This husband and wife came to the front and said we are ready to be baptized together. It was a wonderful sight to see. I hope you will involve God in your life daily.
~Philip
The Secrets of a Happy Marriage
1 Peter 3:1-9
All this week we have been talking about the secrets of a happy marriage. In our Sunday morning worship service we are doing a series this month on this topic. We are talking about different things. By the way, I would like to invite you to come to one of our services this weekend--9am for Bible Class and 10am for Worship Services. In that service we will be talking about “The Seven People Needed in a Couple’s Relationship”. This week we have already talked about the fact that we need Total Trust, To Talk, To Fight Fairly, and To Accept Differences. Today I want to encourage you to “Follow God Together”. Husbands and wives need to be united in the belief that God is, that He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. One of the most important things a husband and wife can do together, and even with their children, is to be involved in a church-- be involved in learning about God, involved in Bible Study.
Often I meet with families that are in a crisis situation--maybe it is a physical need, or an emotional need, or they are at the point where they think divorce is inevitable. I ask them if they have a church in which they are involved? Are they trying to do it God’s way? They will usually say something like this, “Well, no we don’t really have a home church. We’ve been looking around. “ What we need to do is get our Bibles out and try out God. We need to involve God in every relationship of our life, especially one as important as our marriage.
As we have pointed out before in marriage a little bit of heaven can be found on earth. But the other side would be true too. It can be hell on earth if we are not careful, and if we don’t involve God in our relationship. How do we involve God? We read our Bibles, we give of our time, talents, and treasures. We make sure that we are teaching our family the Word, we pray together.
If we make sure we do all of those things it will help us to get where we need to be spiritually at the end of this life. The question today is are we trusting God, are we really obeying Him completely. Are we doing it His way. I hope we can, as a couple, say yes. If not we need to make those changes as a couple. Not too long ago, it was neat to see a husband and wife respond together to the invitation. Every time we are together at worship service, we sing an invitation song when people are able to respond and come to the front. This husband and wife came to the front and said we are ready to be baptized together. It was a wonderful sight to see. I hope you will involve God in your life daily.
~Philip
12 August 2010
Summer Love-Day Four
He Secrets of a Successful Marriage
1 Corinthians 13
All week long we’ve been talking about a successful marriage. It is very important because the statistics of divorce is over 50%, and that is certainly not how God wants it to be. He wants us to find a spouse and be married to that spouse for our entire life. So we are giving you some things that will help in those kind of relationships. Someone might say, “I’m not married”, or” I’m not old enough to be married.” These things will help you in any relationship. For example, the first secret we talked about for a successful marriage is “TOTAL TRUST”. Even on your jobs if you can get to the point when people can totally trust you, it will make a difference. It certainly is true in our marriages. The second thing we need to do is to “LET’S TALK”. We need to talk to each other and make things plain and we don’t need to “hem haw” around. Yes, we think of the other person’s feelings. We talk in a kind tone and make sure what we are saying is true. We talk to each other. “FIGHT FAIR” was the next thing we talked about. We always need to fight fairly.
Today I want to talk about something important in every area of your life. We need to “ACCEPT THE DIFFERENCES”. You know, often when we first get married we think we are marrying one person and realize later on as we learn more and more about the person that there are some major differences. For instance, with my wife and me, I’m pretty good with leadership stuff and I see the big picture and just want to just go do it. If someone says lets go do such and such this afternoon, I say, “Okay, let’s go do it!” My wife, on the other hand, has a different idea. She doesn’t see the big picture; she sees all the little things involved--she’s a more detailed kind of person. She says, “We’ll go, but let’s talk about it first.” “ What is it going to cost and what do we need to take?” When we go on vacation sometimes we say my wife has brought a pharmacy with her. She will have medicine for anything that can possible ail you while on the road. We have learned to appreciate that about her. We get to the point when we appreciate the differences. Paige will say, “Don’t we need some money for this trip? Don’t we need to pack some clothes?” and I will say, “Oh, yeah, that’s right.”
The idea here is that we need to accept the difference s and that maybe there is some truth in that old saying that opposites attract. There is some truth in that, because we see it all the time. We need to see that just as we need two legs to walk, and two wings to fly a plane, we need two people to work together. Someone says, “How do I apply that to my job?” Maybe you and your boss are very different. He may think one way and you another, but if you work together you can accomplish much more. The same is true in marriage. If we accept those differences and apply those things that each of us have as special skills and talents, then it will help the group as a whole. I hope that you gain from these things and that you will apply them to your life.
~Philip
He Secrets of a Successful Marriage
1 Corinthians 13
All week long we’ve been talking about a successful marriage. It is very important because the statistics of divorce is over 50%, and that is certainly not how God wants it to be. He wants us to find a spouse and be married to that spouse for our entire life. So we are giving you some things that will help in those kind of relationships. Someone might say, “I’m not married”, or” I’m not old enough to be married.” These things will help you in any relationship. For example, the first secret we talked about for a successful marriage is “TOTAL TRUST”. Even on your jobs if you can get to the point when people can totally trust you, it will make a difference. It certainly is true in our marriages. The second thing we need to do is to “LET’S TALK”. We need to talk to each other and make things plain and we don’t need to “hem haw” around. Yes, we think of the other person’s feelings. We talk in a kind tone and make sure what we are saying is true. We talk to each other. “FIGHT FAIR” was the next thing we talked about. We always need to fight fairly.
Today I want to talk about something important in every area of your life. We need to “ACCEPT THE DIFFERENCES”. You know, often when we first get married we think we are marrying one person and realize later on as we learn more and more about the person that there are some major differences. For instance, with my wife and me, I’m pretty good with leadership stuff and I see the big picture and just want to just go do it. If someone says lets go do such and such this afternoon, I say, “Okay, let’s go do it!” My wife, on the other hand, has a different idea. She doesn’t see the big picture; she sees all the little things involved--she’s a more detailed kind of person. She says, “We’ll go, but let’s talk about it first.” “ What is it going to cost and what do we need to take?” When we go on vacation sometimes we say my wife has brought a pharmacy with her. She will have medicine for anything that can possible ail you while on the road. We have learned to appreciate that about her. We get to the point when we appreciate the differences. Paige will say, “Don’t we need some money for this trip? Don’t we need to pack some clothes?” and I will say, “Oh, yeah, that’s right.”
The idea here is that we need to accept the difference s and that maybe there is some truth in that old saying that opposites attract. There is some truth in that, because we see it all the time. We need to see that just as we need two legs to walk, and two wings to fly a plane, we need two people to work together. Someone says, “How do I apply that to my job?” Maybe you and your boss are very different. He may think one way and you another, but if you work together you can accomplish much more. The same is true in marriage. If we accept those differences and apply those things that each of us have as special skills and talents, then it will help the group as a whole. I hope that you gain from these things and that you will apply them to your life.
~Philip
11 August 2010
Summer Love -Day Three
Secrets of a Happy Marriage
1 Peter 3:1-9
All this week we’ve been talking about Summer Love and the secrets of a happy marriage. We’ve been reading texts like 1 Peter 3:1-9. I want to give you that as your assignment today. If you read this text I think that you will see some great lessons for us that Peter is teaching here. Peter is an interesting apostle. He is apparently very opinionated and is always willing to take the lead. He had a wife, we know because he had a mother in law, and it would be a foolish man to take a mother in law without a wife. We are sure they went through struggles. We know that because everybody goes through struggles.
We are working on secrets to make marriage work better. Over the last couple of days we have talked about “TOTAL TRUST” and the fact that we need to completely trust our spouse. If you have lost that, you may know first-hand as many of us probably do that it is a tough thing to regain her trust once it is lost. But hang in there, keep working on it and maybe it will get better.
We also talked about talking and we called that secret “LET’S TALK” Maybe we need to take time to talk to each other and be clear and plain about what we are saying.
Today I want to stress to you a third area which is a secret to a happy marriage that will really help us. We need to “FIGHT FAIR”. Everybody wants to win and there and there are going to be fights in a marriage aren’t they. There are going to be fights in other relationships of life besides marriage, so you can still apply these things, but those of us who are need to learn to fight fair. If we keep talking with a come-back after come-back, we are throwing gas on the fire. It just gets worse and worse. Instead we need to learn to just hush and be quiet for a minute and listen. Even the UFC has rules to their fights. The referee will come out before the fight and say something like this. Now over in the dressing room are the rules for these guys in this cage who are going to battle to what appears to be the death. Even these guys had some rules. We need some rules. One of the rules needs to be, do not explode. We do not need to get to the point to where it builds up and builds up and then there is an explosion. We need to talk about it beforehand. We are going to also set a rule that we are not going to bring everything up. We are going to talk about what it is that we are fighting about, but we are not going to bring every little thing up.
I heard about a man and woman who were having some problems and went to a counselor . The counselor looked at the man and asked, “What is the problem?” The man said, “Well, every time we get into a fight, she gets hysterical and historical.” The counselor asked, “What do you mean?” The man said, “She gets crazy but the biggest problem is she brings up everything that I have ever done wrong, and we have to talk about that.” We need to stay on point.
Let me even suggest that you have a time and place to talk about it. If you have a disagreement, you say how about we talk about this after dinner. It gives everybody a cooling off period and time to get their thoughts together. Then you can sit down and have a reasonable discussion about what is going on. We are going to stay on one thing and if the fights gets bad we are going to call a time out-- and by the way, don’t have the last word. If we are always thinking about it and sometimes I think “That is the best come-back in history but if I use it, it will be devastating. Fight Fair and it will make a big difference in our marriages.
~Philip
Secrets of a Happy Marriage
1 Peter 3:1-9
All this week we’ve been talking about Summer Love and the secrets of a happy marriage. We’ve been reading texts like 1 Peter 3:1-9. I want to give you that as your assignment today. If you read this text I think that you will see some great lessons for us that Peter is teaching here. Peter is an interesting apostle. He is apparently very opinionated and is always willing to take the lead. He had a wife, we know because he had a mother in law, and it would be a foolish man to take a mother in law without a wife. We are sure they went through struggles. We know that because everybody goes through struggles.
We are working on secrets to make marriage work better. Over the last couple of days we have talked about “TOTAL TRUST” and the fact that we need to completely trust our spouse. If you have lost that, you may know first-hand as many of us probably do that it is a tough thing to regain her trust once it is lost. But hang in there, keep working on it and maybe it will get better.
We also talked about talking and we called that secret “LET’S TALK” Maybe we need to take time to talk to each other and be clear and plain about what we are saying.
Today I want to stress to you a third area which is a secret to a happy marriage that will really help us. We need to “FIGHT FAIR”. Everybody wants to win and there and there are going to be fights in a marriage aren’t they. There are going to be fights in other relationships of life besides marriage, so you can still apply these things, but those of us who are need to learn to fight fair. If we keep talking with a come-back after come-back, we are throwing gas on the fire. It just gets worse and worse. Instead we need to learn to just hush and be quiet for a minute and listen. Even the UFC has rules to their fights. The referee will come out before the fight and say something like this. Now over in the dressing room are the rules for these guys in this cage who are going to battle to what appears to be the death. Even these guys had some rules. We need some rules. One of the rules needs to be, do not explode. We do not need to get to the point to where it builds up and builds up and then there is an explosion. We need to talk about it beforehand. We are going to also set a rule that we are not going to bring everything up. We are going to talk about what it is that we are fighting about, but we are not going to bring every little thing up.
I heard about a man and woman who were having some problems and went to a counselor . The counselor looked at the man and asked, “What is the problem?” The man said, “Well, every time we get into a fight, she gets hysterical and historical.” The counselor asked, “What do you mean?” The man said, “She gets crazy but the biggest problem is she brings up everything that I have ever done wrong, and we have to talk about that.” We need to stay on point.
Let me even suggest that you have a time and place to talk about it. If you have a disagreement, you say how about we talk about this after dinner. It gives everybody a cooling off period and time to get their thoughts together. Then you can sit down and have a reasonable discussion about what is going on. We are going to stay on one thing and if the fights gets bad we are going to call a time out-- and by the way, don’t have the last word. If we are always thinking about it and sometimes I think “That is the best come-back in history but if I use it, it will be devastating. Fight Fair and it will make a big difference in our marriages.
~Philip
09 August 2010
Summer Love
The Secret to a happy marriage
1 Corinthians 13:4
This month during our Sunday morning church services we have been focusing on Summer Love. The idea about summer love really comes from the movie Grease. You know they sing that song about summer love and about how they had fallen in love over the summer. But now the summer is gone.
We have taken that idea about summer love and tried to give people something useful as they live their lives each day to have happy marriages and happy relationships. Maybe it is not necessarily with a marriage but maybe it is some other relationship in your life. I was telling some of our folks who weren’t married that they could take these principals and use them at work, at school, or with future spouses. We will start today with one particular key for the secrets for a happy marriage. Over the next four days or so we will give you each of those different secret, and by the end of the week if you will apply those secrets you will already see things getting better and better. I hope they will not only help us now but for a long time to come.
Let me encourage you to take the love test. It of course comes from 1 Corinthians 13, verse four in particular. That is the verse that says, ”Love suffers long, love is kind, love is patient, does not envy, does not pump up itself.” Love is all those kind of things. You should stick your name in the love test, and say “Okay, can I really say Philip is longsuffering, Philip is kind, Philip is whatever the blank might be.?” If you don’t pass the love test I would encourage you to keep working with that before we even give you the secrets.
But now I want to give you the first secret of a happy marriage. It is from the idea of 1 Peter 3. That really is our text for today, I Peter 3:1-9. Let me encourage you to read that text. We could have used several verses from the Bible. We will give you those and refer to them over this week. Here is the secret for today for total success in a happy marriage. It is TOTAL TRUST. It means we are not going to be deceitful, we are not going to have any secrets. We are going to share those passwords, and not have any e-mail accounts that our wife doesn’t know about. We are not going to have any secrets from our spouse. We are going to be loving and faithful when it comes to money and what we do with our bodies. We are going to be sure we are doing what we need to be doing there. We are going to be respectful. We are going to accept the differences. We are going to be willing to work on this foundation of trust. We are not going to embarrass our spouse. We are not going to do things that are hard on them. We are going to give them the very best. As I have reminded you before, we need to give the very best to the ones who are going to be on the front row crying at our funeral. It’s not going to be those guys you work with, that you leave your wife to go out and do something with. Those guys are going to be cleaning out your office and getting your job, and she’ll be there crying at your funeral. Let’s take care of those first, the ones that we love and care about. That’s the first secret we need to get -- TOTAL TRUST.
~Philip
The Secret to a happy marriage
1 Corinthians 13:4
This month during our Sunday morning church services we have been focusing on Summer Love. The idea about summer love really comes from the movie Grease. You know they sing that song about summer love and about how they had fallen in love over the summer. But now the summer is gone.
We have taken that idea about summer love and tried to give people something useful as they live their lives each day to have happy marriages and happy relationships. Maybe it is not necessarily with a marriage but maybe it is some other relationship in your life. I was telling some of our folks who weren’t married that they could take these principals and use them at work, at school, or with future spouses. We will start today with one particular key for the secrets for a happy marriage. Over the next four days or so we will give you each of those different secret, and by the end of the week if you will apply those secrets you will already see things getting better and better. I hope they will not only help us now but for a long time to come.
Let me encourage you to take the love test. It of course comes from 1 Corinthians 13, verse four in particular. That is the verse that says, ”Love suffers long, love is kind, love is patient, does not envy, does not pump up itself.” Love is all those kind of things. You should stick your name in the love test, and say “Okay, can I really say Philip is longsuffering, Philip is kind, Philip is whatever the blank might be.?” If you don’t pass the love test I would encourage you to keep working with that before we even give you the secrets.
But now I want to give you the first secret of a happy marriage. It is from the idea of 1 Peter 3. That really is our text for today, I Peter 3:1-9. Let me encourage you to read that text. We could have used several verses from the Bible. We will give you those and refer to them over this week. Here is the secret for today for total success in a happy marriage. It is TOTAL TRUST. It means we are not going to be deceitful, we are not going to have any secrets. We are going to share those passwords, and not have any e-mail accounts that our wife doesn’t know about. We are not going to have any secrets from our spouse. We are going to be loving and faithful when it comes to money and what we do with our bodies. We are going to be sure we are doing what we need to be doing there. We are going to be respectful. We are going to accept the differences. We are going to be willing to work on this foundation of trust. We are not going to embarrass our spouse. We are not going to do things that are hard on them. We are going to give them the very best. As I have reminded you before, we need to give the very best to the ones who are going to be on the front row crying at our funeral. It’s not going to be those guys you work with, that you leave your wife to go out and do something with. Those guys are going to be cleaning out your office and getting your job, and she’ll be there crying at your funeral. Let’s take care of those first, the ones that we love and care about. That’s the first secret we need to get -- TOTAL TRUST.
~Philip
Look to God
Lamentations 3:19-32
Jeremiah was a prophet of God who told the Jewish people many sad things. As a matter of fact, that is why many people sometimes referred to him as the weeping prophet. He would cry out about all the bad things that would happen to the Jews, to Jerusalem, to their people. He would tell them bad news but also in the mix of this he would also tell them good news as well. He was encouraging the people to look to God .
Our scripture reading today comes from the book of Lamentations 3:19-32, over in the Old Testament. Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations. Here he told the people that there were some terrible things that were going to happen to the Jewish people when they stopped obeying God. He told them that a foreign nation would come and would capture the city of Jerusalem and destroy the temple. I think that it would be like someone warning us about the September 11 experience which so many of us remember so well. We think about that time and remember how we felt, that our whole country was under attack. The same was true for the Jewish people. They saw these foreign nations coming and it is probably how they felt about the terrible things happening to their beloved city of Jerusalem. The people were sad and discouraged and Jeremiah reminded them that God was faithful and loving. That really is the theme of our text for today-- bad things are going to happen but God is faithful and loving to you. He told the people to trust in God. Jeremiah told the people that God wanted to bless them again.
Maybe today you are discouraged about something and struggling with something. Let me encourage you today to be faithful and loving to God because He is faithful and loving to you. Tell God that you are hurting. Let Him know what is going on in your life. And remember that God is faithful and loving to you in ways that you can’t even imagine. God will bless you. We need to believe that we will be blessed in life even in the hard time. We need to believe in God and trust Him complete. That is the faith part of the Bible isn’t it--part of the faith that we as Christians must have in order to be pleasing to God. We know that without faith it is impossible to please God.
Let me encourage you today and this weekend to spend time with people that we love, and go to church services on Sunday. We would like to encourage you to come be with us. We would love to have you. Remember if we will faithfully obey Him, he will pour those blessings out from heaven. One of the verses in our text for today says, “The Lord’s loving kindness never ends. His compassion never ends” Lamentations 3:22. That is true today. We are having an Area Wide Youth Devotional going on Sunday afternoon at 4:00pm with our regular worship service at 5:00pm and Fellowship and meal at 6:oopm
~ Philip
Lamentations 3:19-32
Jeremiah was a prophet of God who told the Jewish people many sad things. As a matter of fact, that is why many people sometimes referred to him as the weeping prophet. He would cry out about all the bad things that would happen to the Jews, to Jerusalem, to their people. He would tell them bad news but also in the mix of this he would also tell them good news as well. He was encouraging the people to look to God .
Our scripture reading today comes from the book of Lamentations 3:19-32, over in the Old Testament. Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations. Here he told the people that there were some terrible things that were going to happen to the Jewish people when they stopped obeying God. He told them that a foreign nation would come and would capture the city of Jerusalem and destroy the temple. I think that it would be like someone warning us about the September 11 experience which so many of us remember so well. We think about that time and remember how we felt, that our whole country was under attack. The same was true for the Jewish people. They saw these foreign nations coming and it is probably how they felt about the terrible things happening to their beloved city of Jerusalem. The people were sad and discouraged and Jeremiah reminded them that God was faithful and loving. That really is the theme of our text for today-- bad things are going to happen but God is faithful and loving to you. He told the people to trust in God. Jeremiah told the people that God wanted to bless them again.
Maybe today you are discouraged about something and struggling with something. Let me encourage you today to be faithful and loving to God because He is faithful and loving to you. Tell God that you are hurting. Let Him know what is going on in your life. And remember that God is faithful and loving to you in ways that you can’t even imagine. God will bless you. We need to believe that we will be blessed in life even in the hard time. We need to believe in God and trust Him complete. That is the faith part of the Bible isn’t it--part of the faith that we as Christians must have in order to be pleasing to God. We know that without faith it is impossible to please God.
Let me encourage you today and this weekend to spend time with people that we love, and go to church services on Sunday. We would like to encourage you to come be with us. We would love to have you. Remember if we will faithfully obey Him, he will pour those blessings out from heaven. One of the verses in our text for today says, “The Lord’s loving kindness never ends. His compassion never ends” Lamentations 3:22. That is true today. We are having an Area Wide Youth Devotional going on Sunday afternoon at 4:00pm with our regular worship service at 5:00pm and Fellowship and meal at 6:oopm
~ Philip
04 August 2010
Do What God Wants
John 4:31-38
In our Bible reading today Jesus was traveling with his disciples through Samaria. As they traveled they came to a certain well. Jesus sat down by the well. His disciples went into town to buy food. When they returned they tried to encouraged Jesus to eat, but he refused at that time, and instead taught us a great lesson found in John 4:31-38.( The same rule still applies here—read the 20 verses before and after so as to get a clear picture of what is going on here in this story.) In particular in verse 34, Jesus said “My food is to do what the One (referring to God) sent me to do.” Some versions say “I came to do the will of Him who sent me.”
Jesus wanted to do what God wanted Him to do. Can you imagine that picture? Here is the Son of God saying, “Look, I didn't come to eat, I didn't come to do a lot of other stuff. I just came to do what God wants me to do.” We should always do what God wants us to do. Sometimes God leads us into a path that is difficult for us. It may be something we didn't expect—it may be having an opportunity to be a missionary in another country, or maybe a missionary right here in ours. It might be out of our comfort zone.You may have an opportunity to teach a class or talk to someone about God, or something you are just not comfortable doing.
Let me encourage you to do what God wants. Whatever it is, God is giving us the opportunity to do what He wants. He is giving us opportunities to follow His will. We can always find those opportunities around us. We probably all have stories about times in our lives we were doing one thing and lo and behold we met someone who really needed us at that time and it all led us back to seeing that God was in control. If we will let Him be God wants to be in control of our lives and He'll give us what we need to do—He will tell us what we need to do. We need to do the will of Him who sent us.
I hope that you will be looking for opportunities to do what God wants you to do, not for opportunities to do what you want. “My true brothers and sisters and mother is any person who does the things my Father in heaven wants, Matthew 12;50.” That text says that anyone who does God's will is one who is my brother my sister my mother. We are with Jesus if we are doing it God's way. If we are hearing God's Word, believing it, repenting of our sins, confessing our faith, being baptized, that's doing it God's way. We are on His side. If we continue to do it His by teaching others, by prayer, by studying for ourselves, by giving of our time, talent, and treasures, that we are attending services and doing all that stuff! In doing that, God is pleased with each of us.
What are you doing today? Are you doing what God wants? I hope that you are and I hope that you will check out our website at elbachurchofchrist.com A lot of great information there. I hope you will come be with us.
~Philip
John 4:31-38
In our Bible reading today Jesus was traveling with his disciples through Samaria. As they traveled they came to a certain well. Jesus sat down by the well. His disciples went into town to buy food. When they returned they tried to encouraged Jesus to eat, but he refused at that time, and instead taught us a great lesson found in John 4:31-38.( The same rule still applies here—read the 20 verses before and after so as to get a clear picture of what is going on here in this story.) In particular in verse 34, Jesus said “My food is to do what the One (referring to God) sent me to do.” Some versions say “I came to do the will of Him who sent me.”
Jesus wanted to do what God wanted Him to do. Can you imagine that picture? Here is the Son of God saying, “Look, I didn't come to eat, I didn't come to do a lot of other stuff. I just came to do what God wants me to do.” We should always do what God wants us to do. Sometimes God leads us into a path that is difficult for us. It may be something we didn't expect—it may be having an opportunity to be a missionary in another country, or maybe a missionary right here in ours. It might be out of our comfort zone.You may have an opportunity to teach a class or talk to someone about God, or something you are just not comfortable doing.
Let me encourage you to do what God wants. Whatever it is, God is giving us the opportunity to do what He wants. He is giving us opportunities to follow His will. We can always find those opportunities around us. We probably all have stories about times in our lives we were doing one thing and lo and behold we met someone who really needed us at that time and it all led us back to seeing that God was in control. If we will let Him be God wants to be in control of our lives and He'll give us what we need to do—He will tell us what we need to do. We need to do the will of Him who sent us.
I hope that you will be looking for opportunities to do what God wants you to do, not for opportunities to do what you want. “My true brothers and sisters and mother is any person who does the things my Father in heaven wants, Matthew 12;50.” That text says that anyone who does God's will is one who is my brother my sister my mother. We are with Jesus if we are doing it God's way. If we are hearing God's Word, believing it, repenting of our sins, confessing our faith, being baptized, that's doing it God's way. We are on His side. If we continue to do it His by teaching others, by prayer, by studying for ourselves, by giving of our time, talent, and treasures, that we are attending services and doing all that stuff! In doing that, God is pleased with each of us.
What are you doing today? Are you doing what God wants? I hope that you are and I hope that you will check out our website at elbachurchofchrist.com A lot of great information there. I hope you will come be with us.
~Philip
03 August 2010
DO GOOD
Galatians 6:7-10 Gal. 6:9
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and He established some plans to put into place for amazing things. For example, God made a wonderful plan for growing plants, vegetables, and grains. We plant the seed in the ground and with water they sprout and grow out of the ground into the air and are exposed to the sunshine which continues to give them nourishment. The plants continue to grow until they are finally ripe and can be harvested.
Another part of God’s plan is that those plants will only produce the same kind of thing. An apple tree will only grow apples. Corn will only grow corn. What a great plan God made for growing things, and teaching us a great lesson there. Our Bible reading today, Galatians 6:7-10, tells us that like plants our spiritual lives should grow and produce something special for God. If we grow the wrong thing we will reap that thing. For example, if we are selfish and we live our lives just for ourselves, then what we reap will not be very pleasant. On the other hand, if we reap good things God gives us gains in those areas. Then when Jesus comes we will be able to live eternal life with Him in heaven. Our scripture reading tells us that we reap what we sow.
How should we live our lives for God? We should do good things-- we should sow good things so that the end result will be good. We should tell other people about Jesus. By the way, telling others about Jesus is one of those commandments that Christians often overlook. They say, “Well, we have a preacher for that, or we have somebody for that.” Telling others about Him is all of our jobs. We should live our lives for God by helping poor people. We should be benevolent in our spirit and help with all kinds of needs. We read our Bible every day and fellowship with other Christians. There are many, many more things we should do as we try to live our lives for God that is part of sowing stuff--it is planting those good seeds.
Verse ten of our Bible reading tells us when we have an opportunity to do good to any person we should do it. God gives us so many opportunities to do good things. Sometimes we have on blinders and fail to see opportunities to do good, but if you are really looking for an opportunity to serve God He will certainly give you those doors. He will give us so many opportunities we will often be overwhelmed with an attitude of, “I don’t know if I can help anyone else.” We need to look for opportunities to do good things for our family and friends. We must not become tired in doing good because if we become tired and weary we won’t have eternal life. But we will receive our eternal life at the right time if we continue to go on and not give up . Read about that in our Bible reading today.
~Philip
Galatians 6:7-10 Gal. 6:9
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and He established some plans to put into place for amazing things. For example, God made a wonderful plan for growing plants, vegetables, and grains. We plant the seed in the ground and with water they sprout and grow out of the ground into the air and are exposed to the sunshine which continues to give them nourishment. The plants continue to grow until they are finally ripe and can be harvested.
Another part of God’s plan is that those plants will only produce the same kind of thing. An apple tree will only grow apples. Corn will only grow corn. What a great plan God made for growing things, and teaching us a great lesson there. Our Bible reading today, Galatians 6:7-10, tells us that like plants our spiritual lives should grow and produce something special for God. If we grow the wrong thing we will reap that thing. For example, if we are selfish and we live our lives just for ourselves, then what we reap will not be very pleasant. On the other hand, if we reap good things God gives us gains in those areas. Then when Jesus comes we will be able to live eternal life with Him in heaven. Our scripture reading tells us that we reap what we sow.
How should we live our lives for God? We should do good things-- we should sow good things so that the end result will be good. We should tell other people about Jesus. By the way, telling others about Jesus is one of those commandments that Christians often overlook. They say, “Well, we have a preacher for that, or we have somebody for that.” Telling others about Him is all of our jobs. We should live our lives for God by helping poor people. We should be benevolent in our spirit and help with all kinds of needs. We read our Bible every day and fellowship with other Christians. There are many, many more things we should do as we try to live our lives for God that is part of sowing stuff--it is planting those good seeds.
Verse ten of our Bible reading tells us when we have an opportunity to do good to any person we should do it. God gives us so many opportunities to do good things. Sometimes we have on blinders and fail to see opportunities to do good, but if you are really looking for an opportunity to serve God He will certainly give you those doors. He will give us so many opportunities we will often be overwhelmed with an attitude of, “I don’t know if I can help anyone else.” We need to look for opportunities to do good things for our family and friends. We must not become tired in doing good because if we become tired and weary we won’t have eternal life. But we will receive our eternal life at the right time if we continue to go on and not give up . Read about that in our Bible reading today.
~Philip
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
