Are you a Living Sub-stone?

What mean these stones?

Josh 4:21 (KJV)

Ye also as lively stones

1 Peter 2:5 (KJV)

   There should be something so remarkable, so peculiar about the live and conversation of a Christian that men should be compelled to ask, “What does this mean?” . . . . Is there anything in your character, words, and habits of life so different from the world around you that men are involuntarily compelled to ask themselves or others, “What does this mean?” Not that there is to be a forced singularity, a peculiarity for the sake of being peculiar; that were merely to copy the pharisaism of ancient days. . . . Oh, that we might realize that this is the purpose for which God sends us into the world, as He sent His only begotten Son!—S.A. Blackwood

A Life founded on Lust vs A Life founded on Jesus

   A life founded on LUST is unstable; the foundation of your life will become a muddy mess with no guidelines or limits. But a life grounded on Jesus (1 Corinthians 3:10-15), that life will produce eternal treasures.

Focusing on the Mark's Core Values: Foundation

 

Foundation.

We all must have a foundation on which our life is built. It must be on the Rock—Jesus Christ. On this foundation, we cannot be destroyed. It is of upmost importance that the Body of Christ is truly founded on this because everything our lives are built with will be tested with fire. 1 Cor. 3:10-15

 

 

Lack of Dependence on Each Other = DIVORCE ???

 Lack of Dependence on Each Other = DIVORCE ???

    Dear readers, as much as some of us hate to admit it, we are all dependent on others. For example, I am more dependent on my parents than I let on. They counsel me, bandage my bruises, and instruct me in the way of the Lord; but I still have a choice to make: will I be healthily dependent on them? What I mean is that I need to grow up, get a job, move out and get married one day. It wouldn’t be healthy to be dependent on them for everything when I’m 40 when I have the capacity physically and mentally to provide for myself and a family.

     Without the same principle of dependence, a marriage is not possible. A husband and a wife are supposed to “become one” (Gen. 2:24). What does that mean? I have heard Kevin Swanson illustrate it this way:  an ax head and an ax handle are both needed to have an ax, right? One piece alone cannot, and will not efficiently cut down the tree. In the same way a man and a woman that have married need each other to “get-the-job-done.”

        When marriage is no longer dependence on one another; but rather, two separate people that just said some vows, live together, and have children, there is no reason for a marriage to continue in many minds. People get bored of a life like that. But God meant marriage to be so much more than what we think it is. It is to be the foundation of the family, yet also an intimate relationship where two people become one in the sight of God. O this is a mystery!

 

Dear Christians, the divorce rate is higher in the Church than the world!

We do NOT live what we preach and what Jesus taught!

 

      Young adults, children, young men and women, older boys and girls or whatever you want to be labeled, you need to ground your marriage in God! Both of you being dependent on God together will be the strongest binding force of your marriage. Please, do not just become another statistic in the divorce rates when you get older. You have a role to play in a lasting marriage! When you marry, you have a part to play in the one person that emerges from two. Work together, love each other, but most importantly grow in Christ’s Truth together!

     Dependence is a key to marriage. You must be dependent on each other and God; you cannot separate through divorce, that is the only way a marriage can last. Husbands, no other woman will do. Wives, there is no other man for you. You are made for one person. Your vows last the whole lifetime that you are both to spend in this world. Live, learn, and grow in God’s love; grace; purpose; plan and everything else HE has for YOU TWO.

Read 1 Peter 3:1-7.

Culture’s Twisted View on Marriage

Culture’s Twisted View on Marriage

Prior to reading this thought, please read Matthew 19:1-12.

    Marriage is an institution that was established and is initiated by God. Today, however, the media, the culture, the government, and even some churches treat marriage as an unimportant institution.

     Why does the younger generation of America have crumbling marriages, broken families, devastated hearts, and a rule twisting spirit?  One of the answers lies in the viewpoint that many have toward marriage. On many TV stations, on any given day of the week, programs are featuring two people happily fornicating or a “needed” divorce is taking place.

     The devil understands all too well the folly of allowing children to grow up with a view that says that fornication is ok; so he uses his demons, the World, and the media to do so. The fragmented foundation that the devil sows into people’s lives obscures the proper view that Christ wants to instill in us about sex, male roles, female roles, and marriage relationships. Could this be the reason why sexually transmitted diseases are appearing to rise? And why so many families break up and so many children have to “brave the waters” of everyday life without a mother or a father to lovingly comfort them?

      I will conclude with the following verses, but you don’t have to end this thought. You can still dwell on the topics mentioned and pray.

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” ~ Romans 12:1-2 KJV

“And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” ~ Matthew 19:4-6 KJV

 

Thought 310: God Instituted from Ryan's devotional book series Thougths

Thought 310

God Instituted

  God institutes marriages. Why do so many fail then? The answer is pretty simple: mankind’s pride. Many divorces are over small matters or just because “we’re not ‘in love’ anymore.” Ending a marriage on ANY grounds other than marital unfaithfulness (aka adultery) is wrong.

Matthew 5:31-32 KJV:

³¹ It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:

³² But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

 

 Even when marriages are formed without God’s direct blessing, He still does not want them to end (God hates divorce Malachi 2:16); but rather He wants them to be re-committed to Him so that He might bless and redeem their marriage. If you have married out of the will of God, the solution is not to get divorced. Stick with that person and set the example of Christ through your life. Even if you both commit your marriage to the Lord at one point, you still may have some consequences for your previous wrong. God’s heart is to heal a marriage, but He has given each member of the marriage a free will to choose what they choose. Thus, your choices have consequences, either blessings or curses (punishments, marks of the past, damaged name).

Why has the United States stood so strong and tall for so long as a pillar of freedom? It is not because of American initiative. It is not because of pride and patriotism. The reason why America has stood so long is rather simple as well. The Scripture tells us that we cannot lay any other foundation than Christ, because no other will stand the eternal test of the Lord’s fire (1 Corinthians 3:10-15). America succeeded as a nation because the very foundation of the first colonies and the resulting states and provinces was grounded on the foundation of Jesus Christ. The Lord blessed them! Americans have invented so many things and have become so well educated and talented, not because of the Protestant Work Ethic, but because the foundation of Christ was laid in their colleges and schools. The educational system was in the hands of the mothers and fathers of the pupils and they committed their children to education so that their children could read the Bible for themselves.

  God institutes things, but in order for marriages to succeed one of two things must happen, either the man and woman will lay aside their differences and work on the problems in their own strength for the greater good or the foundation of Christ shall laid and the result shall be the blessing (and renewal).

It is pride which is killing the educational world, our country, our people, and certainly our marriages.

 

Thought 172: What is you foundation? from Ryan Marks' book series Thoughts

Thought 172

What is your foundation?

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.  1 Corinthians 3:11-15 (NIV1984)

Contemplate this verse.

 

Check out some more Scripture:

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.

Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God. 1 Corinthians 3:16-23 (NIV1984)

Contemplate this verse.