What is “Marriage “?

 What makes a good marriage?  One can go to many conferences on marriage and come away with many different ideas as to how to make it successful.  What should be the source or sources to make a determination.  I fear we make it too complicated.

We hear all the time that “you have to work on your marriage”, “ marriage isn’t easy”, “you have to keep it fresh”, etc.  doesn’t that sound a lot like checking boxes and if you check enough you will have success?

I’m going to contend that “Marriage “ is a relationship not a task to be done.

Colossians 3:19

Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.

1 Peter 3:7 (DBY)

Ye husbands likewise, dwell with them according to knowledge, as with a weaker, even the female, vessel, giving them honor, as also fellow-heirs of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered.

This appears to be relationship not work  

Your actions should come because of your relationship not out of duty.

Do you really think that GOD is treating us, his bride, as a duty that HE has to work at?

It is more the case that HE does for us because of HIS relationship with us.

Should we not follow that same model of relationship over checking off boxes; work?

Tale of Two Mayors

The Tale of Two Mayors

A Parable

2020

 

  This is a story of an elected Mayor and a hired Mayor in a small town.

Years and years ago there was a small town that needed a municipal government to carry on the operations apart from the county government.  So they asked for a charter from the state to become a city with a functioning body of officials elected by the citizens of the town.  The citizens formed a body consisting of a Mayor and five city council members.  The Mayor acted as the administrative part and the council the voting part for ordinances and resolutions.  Both of these positions were part time in nature.  As the city began to grow and prosper there arose the need for someone to come along to assist the Mayor CEO in the execution of his office.  They looked at the charter and it contained a portion that provided for just that position.  It was called the City Administrator. 

 

  It was during two previous Mayor’s serving that the position of City administrator was discussed and envisioned to provide much needed assistance to that Mayor.  In the tenure of the most recent previous Mayor’s service that a person was hired to assist the Mayor with his duties; he was only part time and the demands were becoming greater and greater.  The city administrator was charged with general oversite of the employees of the city.  The city administrator in turn answered to the Mayor (per city charter).  It was a good thing for the city citizens with oversite and checks and balances. 

 

  Well, along comes an election with an unexpected outcome.  Up for election was two council seats and Mayor.  The two council seated were re-elected to the incumbents to continue serving with the other three council seats for a continuation of the five council seats remaining intact.  But what of the Mayor’s post?  As you can guess it was won by the challenger.  Now they had five tenured council members and one new Mayor. 

 

  Mayor elect ran on the platform for less spending, slowing traffic, and transparency in government.  Mayor elect was not enamored with having a city administrator, but could work with having an assistant as Mayor elect would be new to this job.  Do you remember the unexpected outcome?  It did come and the established council and staff and outgoing Mayor needed to do something(s).  With two months left in the elected year, some resolutions and charter changes needed to happen.  The pay scale for city employees was raised to comparative levels.  The city administrator would be re-designated as the City Manager.  LOI was issued for $440,000.00 for a park.  One business needed approval for building on a lot; variances needed to be granted.  This and more needed to be done before the swearing in of the new Mayor.  What was the result of some of these measures?  Well, now you have an elected Mayor with authority granted within the city charter and a hired city manager with the same authority as Mayor without voting rights.  One Mayor, the elected one, is part time, the other City Manager/Mayor is hired fulltime at $80,000.00 salary.  So you have Mayor (CEO) and Mayor (CHO) chief hired officer competing for the same authority.  The most glaring problem is the CEO Mayor is the citizens’ Mayor, the other CHO Mayor is the city council and staff Mayor.

 

  Where do they go from here?  All the business of the little city is executed by the CHO Mayor, but ultimately needing approval by the citizen’s Mayor.  The problem is that the CHO Mayor is hesitant to share any city business with the citizen’s Mayor.  As you can imagine there is much confusion at public meetings.  It appears that the citizen’s Mayor has not a clue as to the day to day operations of this little city. Oh, and let’s not forget that the council, and legal team are in communications with the CHO Mayor.  Do you want to know how voting on important matters goes?  Well, that would be all Council to ZERO on any measure the citizen’s Mayor proposes.  He might ask questions, but they will come with replies of scorn and derision; none of which will be in his favor.  The citizen’s Mayor can do no good; the CHO Mayor can do no wrong.

 

    As you might have figured out by now, the CITIZENS are the losers here.  The council is operating under the direction of the CHO Mayor leaving the citizen’s Mayor on the outside looking in.  But wait, guess who has to answer to the citizens when questions arise?  You guessed it, The Citizen’s Mayor.

 

  There does not seem to be anyway out of this dilemma.  On the one hand you have a CEO Mayor elected by the citizens which is mostly PR in the electoral process. This Mayor is the official voice and face of the citizens and surrounding areas.  This Mayor has all the rights of Mayor by charter. The other has been granted all the rights of CEO Mayor with the CEO Mayor with general oversite.  The little city citizens asked the question, “What does that even mean?”.  Well, what it means is the CEO Mayor is impotent.

 

  What should be the moral of this story? 

  The little city should have resorted back to the model of Elected Mayor, Elected Council to run the business of their city.  Since the city had grown the duties of Mayor had grown in execution.  As provided by their charter, he could have hired an assistant to assist in the day to day duties for the city.  That assistant should have been under instruction of the Mayor not act as Mayor.

Let the Mayor be Mayor.

 

 

Fake Christianity

What passes today a "Christianity" in the church is quite fake from what 1st century church looked like. Today it is so much about "ME", respect of persons, entertainment, etc. It is fake compared to true church.
I would say it looks more like 1 century temple than church.
I'm so done with all the falseness.
.

Courage

Conviction, commitment, call to action, Courage

Many of us develop a conviction for a particular subject or idea; be it religious or political or social. We will deepen it and move to a commitment towards that conviction. In many cases there will be a call to action.  Too many times this is where we stall.  We know all about the subject, feel deeply towards it, and even know what to do about it, but this is where it stops.

Oh, that we had courage to take that final step.

I wish many times that I possessed courage to act on my moral convictions.

"Church" for the Un-Churched, Are we not just speaking in tongues?

“The church is one of the few organizations in the world
that does not exist for the benefit of its members.”

                                                             -Ed Stetzer & David Putman
Can someone explain to me how you can have an assembly of redeemed people (true Christian) for un-redeemed?  How will these un-redeemed persons even understand what is being said or conveyed in a true church?  It would seem to them as if the redeemed are truly speaking in tongues.  It would be a foreign language to them.

If the mission of the churches is to exist for the un-churched then where is the church for the churched?  These who advocate for a church for the un-churched would say well you have yours we have ours.  True, but don't those very advocates believe that they have found the right formula?  That would make the others working from the wrong formula.

All one needs to do is read Ephesians 4 to get the answer as to why an assembly of believers exist.

Listen Church

Ezekiel  33: 30 - 33

30 And as for thee, son of man, the children of thy people keep talking of thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from Jehovah.
31 And they come unto thee as a people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they do them not; for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their dishonest gain.
32 And behold, thou art unto them as a lovely song, a pleasant voice, and one that playeth well on an instrument; and they hear thy words, but they do them not.
33 And when this cometh to pass (behold, it will come), then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them. Allen

What god and which city?

Consider the following:
Chris Tomlin " God of this city"

[Verse 1]
You're the God of this City
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You are


[Verse 2]
You're the Light in this darkness
You're the Hope to the hopeless
You're the Peace to the restless
You are

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

[Chorus]
For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater thing have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City

[Verse 1]

[Verse 2]

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

[Chorus]
For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here

There is no one like our god
There is no one like our God

[Chorus]
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here*
* http://www.lyricstime.com/chris-tomlin-god-of-this-city-lyrics.html

Above is a song by Chris Tomlin.
We have sung it in our church, maybe you have in yours.
I do have a question though, since "God" is not defined here it will fit many of the "gods" of this world, what "god" is he talking about?
Which city, people, or nation also?
As I look around this world I can not find a single city, people or nation that Jehovah is claimed  GOD of.  You can be sure that if He were GOD of them, you would surely know it.
Don't you think it would look like heaven? No corruption, no greed, no unrighteousness ?

What are the "greater things yet to be done"?  For that matter, what things have already been done?
This seems to me to be just words.  It makes a catchy tune, but what is the truth in it?
You see, this song could relate to many other gods and still fit the lyrics. All want guidance and hope and peace from their god and their religion.  There is no differentiation here.

We need to be careful with the lyrics we use.  What is the Gospel here?
If it does not rest in Scripture we better be careful that we do not create a new gospel.
Even if there is a back story here, does it fit "your" City, people, nation?
Allen

"VISION" vs "VENTURE"

There is a great deal of talk these days about having a vision in the church.  Those that talk are using proverbs 29:18
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. (Proverbs 29:18 KJV)
I do understand that if God's word is not revealed then the people will perish.
The problem is that this is not the definition they are using for "vision".
When they use the word, they use it:
VISION
noun
2.
the act or power of anticipating that which will or may come to be: prophetic vision; the vision of an entrepreneur.
3.
an experience in which a personage, thing, or event appears vividly or credibly to the mind, although not actually present, often under the influence of a divine or other agency: a heavenly messenger appearing in a vision.  Compare hallucination (  def 1 ) .
4.
something seen or otherwise perceived during such an experience: The vision revealed its message.
5.
a vivid, imaginative conception or anticipation: visions of wealth and glory.

This is quite different from revealing GOD's word.  This is more forward looking.
What you have here is NOT vision at all.
When they use the word they are incorporating part of the dictionary definition along    With spirituality mixed in to make it sound good and acceptable.
Many start out with a proper definition of vision and move to a more progressive definition and from there to something all together different.  I'll call that "Venture"
VENTURE
noun
1.
an undertaking involving uncertainty as to the outcome, especially a risky or dangerous one: a mountain-climbing venture.
2.
a business enterprise or speculation in which something is risked in the hope of profit; a commercial or other speculation.
3.
the money, ship, cargo, merchandise, or the like, on which risk is taken in a business enterprise or speculation.

 You see, for them it is an end game.  They want to move the church to marketing.
Marketing is for profit.
For them vision is more speculation with an end result of profit.
Church has become a business, enterprise.
They do not really care about revealed truth; they need to run this business, and business takes monies.

When your leader starts quoting "vision", make sure of the definition he uses.  It could mean something totally different to him than to you.

Parallel to USA

Romans 1

18 For there is revealed wrath of God from heaven upon all impiety, and unrighteousness of men holding the truth in unrighteousness.

19 Because what is known of God is manifest among them, for God has manifested it to them,

20 -- for from the world's creation the invisible things of him are perceived, being apprehended by the mind through the things that are made, both his eternal power and divinity, -- so as to render them inexcusable.

21 Because, knowing God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but fell into folly in their thoughts, and their heart without understanding was darkened:

22 professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of an image of corruptible man and of birds and quadrupeds and reptiles.

24 Wherefore God gave them up also in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, to dishonour their bodies between themselves:

25 who changed the truth of God into falsehood, and honoured and served the creature more than him who had created it, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

26 For this reason God gave them up to vile lusts; for both their females changed the natural use into that contrary to nature;

27 and in like manner the males also, leaving the natural use of the female, were inflamed in their lust towards one another; males with males working shame, and receiving in themselves the recompense of their error which was fit.

28 And according as they did not think good to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind to practise unseemly things;

29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil dispositions; whisperers,

30 back-biters, hateful to God, insolent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

31 void of understanding, faithless, without natural affection, unmerciful;

32 who knowing the righteous judgment of God, that they who do such things are worthy of death, not only practise them, but have fellow delight in those who do them. Doesn't this sound like the leadership of this country?  We have elevated ourselves above Jehovah   Where is the humility.  I see only arrogance  and selfishness and greed played out on the common people. Understand that verse 18 explains beforehand about Jehovah's  wrath.  We would do well to heed this warning Allen

Nationalism over Holiness

I am as great a patriot for this country as anyone.  I am even still a patriot for the great Confederate States of America.  When we began over 200 years ago, what were the ideals and morality of this country?  Where are we now?

Psalms 119

9 BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed [thereto] according to thy word.

10 With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.

11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

12 Blessed [art] thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.

13 With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.

14 I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as [much as] in all riches.

15 I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.

16 I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.

These are the words we should be celebrating but only if this is our desire.
We as a nation started great, but now look where we are.
This time of year we will celebrate our country, but what are we now celebrating.
We have become very immoral yet in our churches we will talk of  all our virtues.
In a few weeks we will talk about how we need to pray for leaders and of revival needed in this land.
Somehow we will raise the national flag over and higher than the banner of Christ.
We will accept immorality and ignore Holiness.

As a Christian, should not the banner of Christ be flown higher than any national banner?
Allen

WORLD | If Platt's Radical was radical | Anthony Bradley | May 12, 2010

WORLD | If Platt's Radical was radical | Anthony Bradley | May 12, 2010

I agree.  Purpose Driven has the same ideology.
Allen

WORLD | John Piper on homosexuality | John Piper | April 13, 2013

WORLD | John Piper on homosexuality | John Piper | April 13, 2013

EUTOPIA and UTOPIA

Eu·to·pi·a           " Dictionary.com"

1.a place in which human society, natural conditions, etc., are so ideally perfect that there is complete contentment.

2. Utopia.The state of Eutpoia

Is it not interesting that in order to acheive Utopia those seeking that state will lie, cheat, steal, murder, covet, harm, revel, etc...
So it is you have to violate the definition to gain it.
This is the ultimate "the end is justified by the means to aquire it".
Heaven will be Utopia but we do not have to violate GOD's commandments to obtain it. We only need to receive the atoinment for sin.

Achiever vs Non-Achiever

I have observed my generation and other generations older and younger. One thing that I have noticed is the desire to.... On the part of a particular generation.  The conclusion that I came to was there were achievers and non-achievers.  Proverbs labels them as diligent or slothful.  This current generation tends to be non-achievers; they have no motivation to complete a task from start to finish.
They do not want to learn how best to do the task, they just do the task somewhat like the Borg of Star Trek.  These are just assimilated into the culture with no independent thinking required.  (This will pave the way for Socialism, Marxism, or Communism).  I do not know how you convince a non-achiever to become an achiever.
How do we train these to become Achievers?

Team vs Synergy

We all know what team work is.  Can you have team without synergy?  Sure you can.

According to Wikipedia 

Synergy is two or more things functioning together to produce a result not independently obtainable. The term synergy comes from theGreek word synergia συνεργία from synergos, συνεργός, meaning "working together".^{[1]
I work on a team with my job; there is no synergy.  I have worked on a team at my church; there was no synergy.
Why? you may ask. 
I'll tell you......
Team work is one thing; all have the same goal but getting there is indivudialzed.
Synergy is team work towards the same goal but the goal is accomplished with communication.
Take a Football team.  You have talented players, all with specific skills.  Those teams that focus on those specific skills individually do not win often. Those teams that individually communicate with each other often excel (synergy).
In our churches we have individual persons trying to accomplish one goal.  Often though, those team members at the top are ok with synergy as long as it is done their way.  Competition gets in the way of true synergy.
I have seen this up close and personal.
What could we have accomplished if we allowed each skill set to do what it does best and worked together (synergy) to meet the one goal?
There is too much competition for recognition.
Allen}

The Name of God

I'm in church on Sunday and while we are singing our praise song I notice that we are 
Singing and referring to God.  While that is not odd for me,  if someone from India,  China, Kenya, or Egypt were here, they might think that this same  God is their god.  We have a name for our God and should use it to be specific whom we are speaking of.  What about using Jehovah when we refer to God.  It surely would make clear we are not talking about Buda, or Allah, or any other god of differing religions.

Allen

Really! Do Pastors think we the members are that bad?

I'm listening to the pastors conference online From the Southern Baptist Convention today. I heard one Dr. ..... say that "those Christian church members are just full of the Devil". Really? How is that possible? Do Pastors think that their members are really nothing more than demons in a Christian body? Do they think that low of us or do they think that high of themselves? You pastors have it so hard. Come walk a month in my shoes. 10 hour days, lawn and Auto repairs, ball practice, budgets..... After the 10 hour work, and then say we "are just full of the Devil". Maybe you should cancel the rest of your club "SBC convention", go home and humbly serve your Devil filled church members. Allen

T4G vs Traditional

Together 4 the Gospel (T4G) and Traditional

It looks like this discussion started out lopsided.  We have a group putting out a document to affirm their beliefs, just putting it out there, after a coming together "conference about various topics".  It is a formal statement about salvation.  There were no other documents about other topics at this conference with signatures.  This leads me to believe that this T4G document was the main thrust of this conference.  I also notice that only 4 signed this document. There were 27 invited speakers so I will assume that there really should be at least 27 signatures attached to it.  Maybe they (the 27) did not expect much to be made of their conference in regard to this document; They could fly under radar.  This document states a fairly firm stand on T-U-L-I-P.
T4G Here ----Calvinist Document
The BP news reports a counter to that T4G document  called "Traditional"
Traditional  Here -----Traditional Document
These have taken the T4G document head on.  Signatures and comments open.
Lest you think "what is all the rub about?" consider what is being taught in Christian schools, SS classes, small groups that the members at large do not know anything about.  I am seeing this first hand.  Our church is "Traditional", our school adheres to T4G document; our SS has as it's foundation T4G.  The rank and file and some on staff have no clue of this basis.

I am glad that the discussion is now brought to the surface.  I despise the sneaking in like this.  I have seen it with "Transitioning your Church" back around 2004.  This was snuck in before the membership even knew it happened.  Now, the Hyper-Calvinist are doing the same.  Wake up Church!!

This new Calvinism will be the Religious law of Christianity and the SBC.






So, Where do we go from here?

Allen

Marriage Seminar

  I attended a marriage seminar on Sunday.  It was typical. There is a great deal of psychology in marriage but very little scripture for its basis.  I understand that, well, not really.  That is the way these are in Churches today.  They are a product to sell.  Why do I say this?
  A little back ground. I am divorced after 5 years of marriage, bad enough, re-married for 20 years.  Good you say.  I am now like this Jaguar.  Man what a ride.  Beautiful machine.  A wonderful thing to show off.  Imagine that if you looked on the other side there is a long scratch down the side.  I'm OK as long as you don't look to closely.  But you see, the leadership can not take a chance on someone possibly looking at the other side.  I am damaged goods. I can not be used.
  What does this have to do with the seminar?  These are geared to those without a divorce in their background.. I have yet to hear of someone that has been through a divorce, re-married, and is praised for there long, Godly marriage this second time around.  Never mind if there were legitimate reasons for the demise of the first marriage,  I am NEVER going to be without that long scratch on the other side.
  If the data is correct in the church, then 50% of the marriages are in divorces.  Is there no grace among the leaders of churches and seminar producers for those people? 

 You see,  I will never not have the scratch on the other side but I am still that beautiful machine through out.
Please consider this when you talk on longevity of marriage and say you almost went through a divorce but you worked it out.  You put yourself a notch above those like me.  I turn you off if you can not offer those that are like me that went through the divorce, re-married and have attained longevity.

Where have all the Pastors gone?

In a day and age in the church where the goal is to attract the un-churched ( un-saved), I wonder how a pastor can be a pastor and not and evangelist.  You see, the more un-saved you attract to your church the more preaching must be on salvation.  The result is that those that are saved and make up the true body of Christ are left with very little teaching or pastoring at a level to "feed the flock amongst you".  If your Pastor is teaching Holiness then the Un-saved get the idea that salvation is by works; not understanding that good works are the expectation of the regenerated.  If your pastor must always preach to the un-saved because that is his mission, to get lost people there to expose them to the gospel, then the flock is starving for something more than milk.
The best evangelistic tool is for saved people to live out the doctrine taught in the church out in the world.
We Are Starving
Allen