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Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20, 21). These are the favorite verses for those who believe “Politics is a dirty business and good Christians don’t get involved.” Context, context, context! The Pharisees were asking Jesus when He thought the promised Messiah…

In the model prayer that Jesus asked us to pray in Matthew 6, the first petition is this: ” Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9, 10). For the past few weeks, we have been examining, according to the Bible, how this prayer is being answered NOW, through the institution of the family. Furthermore, the “kingdom comes” in the family only through the rule of the husband,…

As we investigate the vision of a husband’s responsibilities in a biblically structured family, we have seen that its initial aspect is that we LOVE our wives “as Christ loved the church” (Ephesians 5:25). Last week’s posting outlined God’s “crazy, mixed-up, backward and upside-down” way He will accomplish this impossible task in our lives. If you missed it, you can get to the blog by clicking on “Comments.” Our second, God-assigned task as husbands is to LEAD our wives with strong, firm decision-making. They…

Without doubt, the first foundation stone of a family is the initial, sacrificial, and unconditional agape love of the husband for his wife. “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her” (Ephesians 5:25). We discussed that at some length last week. The problem is, we live in sinful bodies, and, if we are honest, we know that our love for our wives is dreadfully inconsistent. We get irritated with them, lose our tempers, or ignore them.…

Charles Dickens’ famous “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times,“ from A Tale of Two Cities, beautifully describes the world today for Christians. From a human perspective, the world is going to “Hell in a handbasket,” with Marxist, atheistic globalism seemingly in unstoppable ascension. But for the knowledgeable, believing Christian, they know that “God’s got ‘em right where He wants ‘em!” At the very heart of God’s eternal purpose is the family, designed to supply godly, well-trained, educated, spiritual…

Imagine being a young husband who just brought home from the hospital a wife with a brand new baby. You yourself had grown up with a father who was an irresponsible alcoholic, neglecting and abusing you as a child, so you have no idea what a godly father even looks like, much less how he functions in the family.  How do you learn what to do with this brand new little creature you and your wife have just brought into the world, and for…

We all are seeking to live our lives in a meaningful, fulfilling manner. We may not know this consciously, but, nevertheless, that longing is there. We are looking for a purpose in life for which we can know in our hearts, “I was made for this!” There is such a purpose for each of us, and experiencing it begins with first discovering God’s one, universal, eternal purpose that He has for us all. When we catch this vision, it will not supplant the other…

Last week we discussed the first half of God’s judgment on Eve after the Fall in Genesis 3:16: she will have an inherent, unrecognized desire to control her husband, and men in general. Today, we look at the second half of God’s pronouncement to Eve: 2. “He shall rule over you.” Eve was created to help Adam in his task of ruling over the earth. However, fallen Eve, with a new desire (even a compulsion) to be the leader and not the helper, will…

As one grows older, and health and mobility decline, opportunities to be a part of a church where truth can be discussed freely, openly and honestly decline as well. In this time of life for me, a “little child” who is just beginning first grade in God’s learning process, this blog is invaluable. I share with you what I am learning and ask you to respond with questions, criticisms, disagreements, etc.  Everything is on the table. I never have the final word, but only…

We have recognized our addiction, openly repented and believed that Daddy has forgiven and forgotten our sin of wanting to be “good” the way only He is good. Furthermore, He has given us His Holy Spirit to be good IN us—naturally, spontaneously and unconsciously (NSU)—with absolutely no help from us and no credit to us.  We have no clue (until someone tells/shows us) that when we are walking by faith in this way, we can legitimately and truthfully say, just as did our perfect,…