|
🍁Fall has become the most popular time of year for weddings. Over 40% of couples walk the aisle from September to November. In the US, one out of five weddings takes place in October. (Source: TheKnot.com) As the first day of fall approaches, it is peak season to look to Scripture for marital guidance. Here are five must dos for couples about to say "I do" along with couples who say "I still do." 1. Leave and Cleave.🏡A significant number of marital conflicts spring from getting this biblical principle wrong. Genesis Chapter 2 tells the account of how God the Father presented the first groom (Adam) with his bride (Eve) and performed the first marriage ceremony. Jesus Himself cited these words from Genesis 2:24, when asked about marriage in Matthew 19:4-5, "For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they two shall be one flesh?" Failing to Leave: When one or both spouses fails to "leave" their father and mother, they compromise their ability to establish the new family unit. In-laws can interfere. And God's design for that family is disrupted. God still wants you to honor your father and your mother (Exodus 20:12; Ephesians 6:2) as you give priority to your marriage. At times, you will deal with a tension between leaving and honoring. This tension can be stoked by your parents and your in-laws. God will give you grace (1 Peter 5:5) and wisdom (James 1:5) as you remain committed to his plan. Failing to Cleave: When a couple fails to "cleave," this failure leads to feelings of being rejected unwanted lonely and unappreciated. When you walk the aisle, you commit to having eyes for that one and that one only, and your God-given desires for intimacy find fulfillment only in that spouse. 2. Build Your Home on Christ's Teachings.🛠 "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it" (Psalm 127:1, ESV). This ominous warning sets forth that building a house without the Lord is a waste of time. You have a clear choice. Building your life on popular wisdom and social norms (and anything besides Christ's teachings) is the equivalent of skipping the foundation and just setting your house up on sand. The same storms will beat against your home as every other home, but your home will fall apart. If you want your family to stay together, build your home on Christ's teachings. Yes, the storms will come, but your home will survive. How can I be so sure? Christ addressed infidelity (Matt. 5:28), managing your finances (Luke 6:38 and Matt. 6:24), open transparency and honesty (Matt. 5:37), and parenting (Matt. 7:11). These are the most popular drivers of relationship difficulties. 3. Know that Your Spouse Is Not Perfect.There is an expression, "the honeymoon is over." This sad expression refers to a couple's discovery that their partner is flawed. They are past the infatuation stage. Marriage is a lifelong marathon, not a 40-yard dash. You have to find your rhythm and settle in for the long haul to do it God's way. Here's the thing. "Everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard" (Rom 3:23, NLT). Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?" This person to whom you have pledged the rest of your life is fallen just like you. You will both sin, and your sin will affect each other. You will disappoint one another. You will not meet each other's expectations. It's amazing the toll that Adam and Eve's sin took on their marriage. It led to finger pointing, the blame game, and modern couples do the exact same thing. We have to own our sin, confess it, and receive forgiveness. And we have to forgive one another as Christ has forgiven us (Eph. 4:32) and to bear with one another in love (Eph. 4:2). My prayer for your marriage is that, just as this verse is true of your salvation, it will be true of your marriage: "But as people sinned . . . God’s wonderful grace became more abundant" (Rom. 5:20, NLT). May the light of grace never go out in your home. 4. Love Like Crazy.❤ Show your spouse agape love. That is the New Testament Greek word for the kind of love God has for us. Though essential, physical attraction cannot be the only basis for the marital bond. A marriage built solely on eros love (from which we get our word "erotic") and even philia love (companionship) is in trouble. The deepest love is agape love. It is the love of God showed us when he sent his Son Jesus to be the sacrifice for our sins. It is a self-sacrificing love and unconditional love that seeks nothing in return. Although there is back and forth in marriage, marriage vows are rooted in covenanted permanence and not transactional love. the Bible tells us to look to the love Jesus poured out for his bride as a model (Eph. 5:25). 5. Commit "Until Death Do Us Part."A Christian couple should enter into marriage from the perspective that divorce is not an option. They are going to work out their differences with God's help, and they will offer and receive forgiveness as God has forgiven them (Eph. 4:32). Generally speaking, people in our day make promises more casually than they did when the Bible was written. In Bible times, breaking a vow, for example - to love your spouse 'till death do us part' - could have cost you your life. Take your decision to enter into a marriage covenant extremely seriously. Tread cautiously with prayer. And once you commit yourselves to each other, “Lock the door behind you and throw away the key.” That's a great lyric, and I leave you with the full song, "Love Is Not a Fight." My wife Ashley and I had it sung at our wedding twelve years ago.
0 Comments
🎁 Every child loves gifts. When we teach our kids proper manners, they learn to say "thank you." These fundamentals along with a few others, can form a surprisingly solid foundation for their future understanding of giving to God. 1: Emphasize God's Generosity toward Us.Verses like Luke 6:38, Romans 8:32 and James 1:17 are great places to start. Encourage your child to memorize these verses. (There are some fun games you can play to help them memorize Bible verses.) 1 John 4:19 says, "We love Him because He first loved us." Since giving is an expression of love, you could apply this verse to generosity. We give to Him, because He first gave to us. God has withheld nothing good from us. As early as Creation (Genesis 1:29), we see our generous God blessing mankind and providing for our every need. If we understand what we can about God's loving generosity toward us, how can we respond to His generosity with anything but open hearts? 2: Treat Giving to God as a Normal Part of Life.Treat stinginess and greed as weird and cheerful generosity as normal. Turn the world values upside down. When your kids see your own commitment to giving to God, they will follow your example. "Do as I say, not as I do," won't work here. You can get to a place where it's not even a question whether we will give to God. Of course we will give. We will give at least 10% and pray about giving more. This can become as normal to your children as breathing, bathing, brushing their teeth, and putting their clothes on. As diligently as you teach them these basics, teach them the fundamental discipline of giving to God. 3: When They Receive Money, Guide Them to Return a Portion to God.🎈Kids love receiving birthday money, Christmas money, and allowances. They may even operate a lemonade stand, conduct a yard sale, start a business, become a YouTube influencer, or find a $5 bill in the sofa. Any time your kids come into money of any amount you have an opportunity to teach them the value of returning a portion of what they have received to God. You can teach them that everything good we have is a gift from God (James 1:17). You are able to provide for them, because God has given resources to you as their parent. It's all God's anyway. We are stewards of what He has entrusted to us. Whether He entrusts $1 or $1,000 to your children, you can teach them to return a portion to God. 4: Connect Their Giving to Prayer.Jesus Himself said, "Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be" (Matthew 6:21 and Luke 12:34, NLT). There is also a principle that we move toward the things we pray for most intently. If you pray with your kids for the success of the Lord's work, your heart will move toward the success of the Lord's work. As a result, your kids will develop a heart for giving to God. When I was a kid, my parents helped me put together a notebook with prayer cards for the different missionaries that visited our church. One family in particular was ministering in Canada, and they came to our church to cast vision for their mission field and to request our help in purchasing a large van for the ministry. We prayed for them to be able to get this van. With all this praying, as a kid, I felt led to give. I contributed a quarter to the cause. 🚐 The missionaries raised the funds to purchase their van. I got my picture made with the missionary in front of the new van. Our church taught that no matter the size of the gift I gave, I had a share in the Kingdom fruit that this family was able to bear through the use of this van. And I believe that with all my heart. 5: Reward Them for Giving.My son and I recently attended a men's prayer breakfast at our church. At the end of the buffet line of this monthly breakfast, there is typically a donation basket for us guys to toss a few bucks in to help cover the cost of the meal. As my son and I were leaving our house to go to the breakfast, I had him get some money out of his toy bank to donate toward the cost of his breakfast. I explained, "You cannot out-give God. God always blesses you for what you give to Him." (My plan was to give him money the next day in his bank to teach this principle.) When we got to the breakfast, my boy pulled out his money and put it in the basket. The guys who cooked that morning said, "It's free today! No donations accepted." The guy who sponsored the food did not want to be repaid. They had my son take his money back. Right then, I took the opportunity to teach him that God had just rewarded his generosity by giving his money back. There's nothing wrong with you giving their money back or doubling their money to teach the principle. God can use you to reward their giving. I've also heard hundreds of testimonies of how God rewarded people for their generosity. It's a tried and true principle. In fact, God urges us to put Him to the test in this area in Malachi 3:10. Using these five tips, you can set your children up for a lifetime of God's blessing as they continue being faithful stewards of everything God entrusts to them. Billy Shaw is the Lead Pastor of Town Creek Baptist Church in Leland, NC. With an MDIV from Southeastern Seminary and an MBA (Finance) from the Regent University School of Business and Leadership, Pastor Billy enjoys helping churches achieve financial health through biblical and practical insights. He is available to local churches as a keynote speaker and consultant.
Whether you are a pastor, a staff minister or elder, or a volunteer tasked with some level of financial management for your church, here are five fundamental facts that will set the tone for your budget work. As a bonus, at the end are some guided prayers you can download for free. Fact 1: Your church's budget is a spiritual document.Since your church's budget is a guide that helps you plan how you will deploy your church's resources to accomplish your God-given mission, it is a spiritual document. The budget outlines how you will compensate your paid staff, how you will allocate funds to serve and love your neighbors, and how you will maintain good stewardship of the property God has entrusted to you. Every cent of your church's budget is, at some level, spiritual. When you handle matters related to your church's budget, you are handling holy things. Fact 2: It's OK to have a faith element in your church's budget.There is an undeniable pattern in Scripture (Dt. 29:5, 1 Kings 17:8-16; Matthew 17:24-27; Mark 6:37-44) where God leads His people to do things for which they have insufficient means on hand. Such a pattern should not shock us. After all, (2 Corinthians 5:7, NKJV) "we walk by faith, not by sight," right? Part of God's purpose in leading in this way is to ensure He gets all the glory. Another part of His purpose here is to stretch and grow our faith. You may wonder how to distinguish between faith and fiscal irresponsibility. One key factor in each biblical example of this reality is God's leadership. God told His people to do something, before He gave them the resources to do it. It was a test of obedience. The Jordan River did not split until the priests' feet touched the water (Joshua 3:13). Once God's people took the initial step of obedience in faith, then His provision came. Don't be afraid to build some faith into your church's budget, so long as you are doing what you believe God is calling your church to do. Fact 3: The budget serves the church, not vice versa.View your budget as working for your church. Done properly, it is a helpful guide. But it is not Scripture. Things come up. Sometimes we get it wrong in our planning. There is a time for flexibility. Tied to Fact #2, sometimes God may lead your church or open a door for your church in unforeseen ways. When this happens, it is far better to update your budget than to miss out on what God has for your church. The budget can play an important role in the church's fiscal responsibility, but the church does not serve the budget. Fact 4: It's Vision > Goals > BudgetIt's not Budget, then vision, then goals. If you create your church's budget first, doing so will put shackles on your vision and distort your goals. Your church will not accomplish everything that it could have and God will not get as much glory from your ministry as He would have. Believe me. I understand that budgetary constraints have to give shape to the fiscal decisions we make in our churches. But if you sell yourself short in the first step of planning, you will hamper your ability to achieve your church's max. Fact 5: Discover God's will for your church's budget through prayer.Many churches treat "church business" as distinct from the so-called spiritual work of the church. Such an unbiblical distinction leads to significant problems. As I mentioned in Fact #1, the budget is a spiritual document. You are handling holy things. God's plan for your church requires funding. Out of obedience, you are all-in with God's plan. God understands that vendors charge your church for the goods and services they provide. He understands that costs continue to rise. He knows the unemployment percentage in your community. He even knows what your financial position will be twelve months from now. Why not talk to Him? "If [you] lack wisdom, . . . ask of God" (James 1:5). "Trust in the LORD" for your budget preparation (Proverbs 3:5-6). To help you with this, I have prepared some guided prayers. I offer them for FREE to you and your church. Adapt them as you see fit for your ministry. Follow me on social media for future content on Church Finance. Pastor Billy is the Lead Pastor of Town Creek Baptist Church in Leland, NC. He holds an MDIV from Southeastern Seminary in Wake Forest, NC and an MBA (Finance) from Regent University. He is available to consult with your church to speak at your event. Click "Contact" on this site's navigation menu to get in touch.
Congratulations! You achieved a win. You blew through a checkpoint along the way to your next goal. Your hard work has paid off. You feel great, right? But it's not what you expected. You don't feel as great as you thought you would. Why? Because you are still facing challenges you thought you had overcome. Take a deep breath. There is a silver lining. Don't be discouraged. Let me help you. 1. Look at yourself in the mirror.You are not the same you that you used to be. You have grown. This is good news for at least a couple of reasons. For one, hurdles that used to feel 5' high now only feel 3' high. And, given your commitment to continued personal development, you are facing these challenges with an upgraded set of knowledge, skills, and abilities. 2. You've attracted heavier hitters.When you face familiar obstacles, you are better equipped to manage them, so they don't come as close to derailing you as they did in the past. But now that you are leading at a new level, you will face a new set of challenges. You've likely heard the expression that you don't know what you don't know. As you grow as a leader, you will face more nuanced headwinds. You may need to update your systems for personal growth, but whatever you do, don't interpret this pushback as defeat. You will always be growing. You will always be encountering the next Bowser. You never really beat the game. So, expect challenges. Fine tune your instincts. And give discouragement to God.
🔦New believers and those we call "seasoned saints" all endeavor to know and do God's will. The simple fact that God has a will for our lives stuns me, but His Word assures us repeatedly that God indeed does have things He wants us to do. It's not that He needs us to do these things. It's more that He wants us to enjoy the benefits of living a life that pursues His plan. The Bible even tells us certain things explicitly that are God's will for us, and then for other things, it simply tells us how to discover His will. 📖 1. It is Written - Some things never change.I mentioned that the Bible explicitly lays out certain things we can know for sure are God's will. And in the process of fulfilling these, we will discover His will on most other issues that arise.
🌍2. A Global Christian - Go Into All The WorldOne of the most obvious commands we have from God is commonly called The Great Commission. For one thing, these were Jesus' final words before ascending back to Heaven. For another thing, we find the Great Commission in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts. Anytime you tell your kids something 5 times, they had better listen! You know what God wanted to be sure we did not miss? "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8 (NLT) This mission is extreme in every way. It is extreme in the Person who gave it - there is no one like Jesus. The risen Son of God to whom all authority in heaven, earth, and under the earth has been given (Matthew 28:18). It is extreme in the Power that it promises. More on that in a moment. And it is extreme in the Scope it demands. Start where you are - your family, your neighborhood, your workplace, your community - and branch out from there "to the ends of the earth." Something amazing . . . the first century Christians had spread the news of Jesus to the edge of the known world in Spain within a generation without the use of YouTube or TikTok. When you consider the onslaught of persecution they faced, there is only one explanation for the Gospel's success, and that explanation is a He - God the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, "You will receive power." Can you serve God without His power? Maybe for a bit. But all you do will eventually amount to nothing. Your labor in your own strength will not bear lasting fruit. Jesus told His followers (and the same goes for us) - wait where you are until you receive this power. You are going to need it. Why? God does not typically call us to do things we can do without Him. Jesus even said, "Without me, you can do nothing" (John 15:5). How do you receive this power? As a believer, you already have the Holy Spirit indwelling you and sealing you to the day of redemption. Take the first step of obedience as a new follower of Jesus and be baptized at a local Bible-believing church in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then, pray and ask God the Father to fill you with His Spirit and use you in the fulfillment of His Great Commission as He sees best. Be a surrendered vessel unto honor for Him. He will direct your path (Proverbs 3:5-6). If I can help you more specifically, get in touch through my website using the contact page.
Here's a little song I was taught as a child. It has appeared in some 622 hymnbooks since its publication in the 1860s, so you may know it too:
Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong; they are weak, but he is strong. ❤ Jesus' Love For Us Cost Him Everything The Bible describes the love Jesus has for us as infinite and divine. No mere human has ever fully comprehended Jesus's love for us. Another stanza in that same song says: Jesus loves me he who died heaven's gate to open wide. He will wash away my sin, let his little child come in. This stanza echoes the message of Romans 5:8 (ESV), "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." His love for you and me cost Him everything. But why? ✝ Why Did Jesus die? You and I have sinned against God. Sin is putting a "yes" where God put a "no" or putting a "no" where God put a "yes." We decided we knew better what was right for ourselves than God, and so we sort of made ourselves a kind of god. In sinning against the infinite God, we incurred the infinite penalty of death and being condemned to an eternity in hell to face the full, never-ending wrath of God. "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved--and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:4-10 There's a few dozen porterhouse steaks of substantial truth in that passage. So you will want to read it over and over. The bottom line is that Jesus loves you more than you can imagine. In dying on the cross, Jesus fulfilled the death sentence that we sinners deserved, and as full deity, He rose again from the grave. The instant you believe in Him (it is by grace through faith), He washes away your sin record, gives you new life, and secures your eternity with Him. I know - it's amazing and more than we can imagine. If God had not revealed it in His Word, the Bible, we would have never created such a narrative on our own. This news is not of human origin. Isn't it time you believed and accepted Jesus's love? If this post resonates with you, get in touch through this site. I want to help you find a local church to grow in your faith. And if you have some other feedback on this post, you can comment here or get in touch also. Never forget - Jesus loves you. He always has. And He always will. |
AuthorFollower of Jesus. Husband. Father. Pastor. Author. ArchivesCategories |
RSS Feed