Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Marriag Under Fire

During my Ethics: The Christian Home class yesterday we watched a series of videos from ABC's Nightline FaceOff program they ran last year. We watched the one that was titled "Born to Cheat?" I encourage you to do a few things for me.

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/FaceOff/

First, watch them. It might take about an hour or so. But they are such a great look into the state of marriage in this day and age. Culturally we are bankrupting marriage. This is where we are heading. Forget Gay marriage and other obvious attacks on marriage. Listen to the subtle problems spoken about here, even from Ed Young Jr.
Second, pray for the state of this culture. That people would recognize that God is the Author and perfector of Marriage. That they would return to the wives and husbands of their youths. That they would put the Cross of Christ right in the middle of their marriages, flee from their sinful selfs, and focusing on affecting the generations to come with the kingdom of heaven.
Lastly, love your spouse. Take them into your arms and approach the throne of Grace. Ask Jesus to be the centerpiece of your marriage. Hold fast to them always, and honor the vows you made to them and to God.
Dear reader, take time to open your Bibles to Ephesians 5:22-33, and remember that God loves us purely.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Easter Edition

We had a community wide Easter-Egg hunt at my church this weekend. It was a big success, we had around 35 kids and their families come and participate. We had plenty of eggs to find, and we used "Resurrection Eggs" as a tool for sharing the gospel. I got to share, with the help of my Pastor Chad, the Easter story and the gospel with everyone - especially the children. It was a humbling experience talking about the death of Christ to children. I spoke of the beatings he took, the crown of thorns and the spear piercing his side. I was reminded with the gruesomeness of the cross. Dear Reader, Jesus paid a terrible price for me and you.

During the presentation, I was humbled with the idea that it should have been me on that tree. My sin had pierced the side of my Savior and I was reaping the benefit of His grace. We are blessed with a chance to receive that grace and let it be a subsitute for the sin in our life.

The hard part of that grace is that it is given as a choice. We can choose to accept or ignore the gift. There are so many who have delayed or even denied acceptance. God is slow in His judgement to give adequate time that none should perish, but all should have everlasting life. Please pray for those families that were there this Saturday, that they would begin to ask questions and seek the face of God. Pray also for those that you know who are on the odd side of God's grace. May their hearts be stirred to change their sinful fate.

1 Corinithans 15:1 Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand, 15:2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you – unless you believed in vain. 15:3 For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received – that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, 15:4 and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures,