I’d like to ask you to connect with me around a VERY serious issue this morning. Before we get there, however, I want you to complete this sentence. “If I was the Christian I should be, my life would look like ________”. This is, and has always been, an important question. Read the rest of this entry »

Paul, in the first seven chapters of 2 Corinthians, is attempting to do many things. He is attempting to help the readers understand his position as an apostle, his authority in bringing God‘s truth to them, and his heart in his ministry to them. He does not want them listening to false teachers. He is ALSO teaching them by his example. Read the rest of this entry »

• Every marriage is God-ordained (Matt 19:6)
• Every marriage is designed to be an example of God’s love for his children – marriage is designed to image the gospel (Eph 5:28-32)
• Every marriage is designed to be permanent (Matt 19:6)
• God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16) (God hates bad marriages)

Malachi 2:13-16 (NIV) – to Judah
Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask, “Why?” It is because the Lord is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. “I hate divorce,” says the Lord God of Israel… Read the rest of this entry »

Last week we started our brief study of marriage as we looked at Matt 19 and Ephesians 5. In Matt 19 we find that God designed marriage to be a permanent covenant – “…as long as we both shall life” Read the rest of this entry »