A Theology of Men and Women

1. God made humans—male and female—in His own image and likeness (see Gen. 1:26–27).
    
2. In Christ Jesus, men and women are equal before God (see Gal. 3:28).
    
3. Men and women are interdependent and should serve one another (see 1 Cor. 11:11–12).
    
4. Marriage was designed to be between one man and one woman—for life (see Gen. 2:24).
    
5. Husbands are called to a sacrificial, servant leadership of their wives and to love them as Christ Jesus loves the church (see Eph. 5:25–33).
    
6. Wives are called to yield voluntarily to their husbands—to submit to them as the church submits to Christ Jesus (see Eph. 5:22–24).
    
7. Only qualified men should be ordained leaders in the church (see 1 Tim. 3:1–7).

There are not multiple genders/sexes. Men and women are not equal uniformly. Men are physically stronger than women. There are things men can do that women cannot. There are things women can do that men cannot. Men and women cannot do without each other. Two men or two women is not a marriage. Women, no matter how qualified they may be, cannot be ordained leaders in the church.

More Fit To Be Called A Devil Than A Parent!

by Richard Baxter

"Bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." Ephesians 6:4

Parents! Your example and life are a continual and powerful sermon which is always seen by your children!

Parents! Your children have an everlasting inheritance of happiness to attain, and it is that which you must bring them up for. They have an endless misery to escape, and it is that which you must diligently teach them. If you don't teach them to know God, and how to serve Him, and be saved, and to escape the flames of Hell, you teach them nothing, or worse than nothing. It is in your hands to do them the greatest kindness or cruelty in all the world! Help them to know God and to be saved, and you do more for them than if you helped them to be kings or princes.

If you neglect their souls, and bring them up them in ignorance, worldliness, ungodliness, and sin, you betray them to the devil, the enemy of their souls, even as truly as if you sold them to him! You sell them to be slaves to Satan! You betray them to him who will deceive them and abuse them in this life, and torment them in eternity!

If you saw but a burning furnace, much more the flames of Hell, would you not think that man or woman more fit to be called a devil than a parent, who could find in their hearts to cast their child into it? What monsters then of inhumanity are you, who read in Scripture what is the way to Hell, and who they are that God will deliver up to Satan, to be tormented by him, and yet will bring up your children in that very way, and will not take pains to save them from it!

If you love them, show it in those things on which their everlasting welfare depends. Do not say you love them, and yet lead them unto Hell! If you do not love them, yet do not be so unmerciful to them as to damn them! You cannot possibly do more to damn them, than to bring them up in . . .

    ignorance,

    carelessness,

    worldliness,

    sensuality and

    ungodliness!

There is no other way to Hell. And yet, will you bring them up in such a life, and say that you do not desire to damn them?

But if you train up your children in ungodliness, you may as well say that you intend to have them damned! And is not the devil more excusable, for dealing thus cruelly to your children than you who are their parents, who are bound by nature to love them, and prevent their misery?

Let me seriously speak to the hearts of those careless and ungodly parents, who neglect the holy education of their children. Oh, do not be so unmerciful to those who you have brought into the world! Oh, pity and help the souls that you have defiled and undone! Have mercy on the souls that must perish in Hell, if they are not saved! Oh help them who have . . .

    so many enemies to assault them;

    so many temptations to pass through;

    so many difficulties to overcome;

    so severe a judgment to undergo!

Help them who are so weak, and so easily deceived and overthrown!

Help them speedily. before sin hardens them, and Satan makes a stronger fortress in their hearts!

Oh be not cruel to their souls!

Do not sell them to Satan, and that for nothing! Do not betray them by your ungodly negligence, to Hell!

If any of them will perish, let it not be because of you who are so much bound to do them good.

The undoing of your children's souls is a work much fitter for Satan, than for their parents!

Consider how odious soul-betraying parents are who betray their children to be the slaves of Satan here, and the firebrands of Hell forever! O do not join with the devil in this unnatural, horrid wickedness!

"Do not withhold correction from a child, for if you beat him with the rod, he will not die.

 You shall beat him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from Hell." Proverbs 23:13-14

(Please send this to every parent you know!)

A Question For You...

COULD YOU BE WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING YOU CLAIM TO KNOW?

NO?

According to Christianity, the God of the Bible is the source of all knowledge.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” –Proverbs 1:7

THE PROBLEM:
Contradictions amount to lying, as opposing statements cannot both be true. Your worldview contains many contradictions in your source of knowledge, which means that you could be wrong about everything you claim to know!

So, how can you know anything?

Just as breathing requires air, thinking requires knowledge. Without knowledge, nothing makes sense.

WHAT IS OUR ONLY HOPE IN THIS LIFE AND THE NEXT?

THE BAD NEWS:
The possibility that you could be wrong about everything is absurd. If you could be wrong about everything, you really can’t know anything at all—not even that! The fact that you DO know things exposes that you know that God exists, but are stealing your foundation for knowledge from Him.

Without having all knowledge, something you don’t know could contradict what you think you know. In order to know anything, you would have to know everything, OR have revelation from someone who does. Only God knows everything. He also cannot lie and never changes. Unless you start with the God you DO know (Romans 1:18-22), you have no basis for knowledge. God does not condemn people for what they don’t know, but for sin against the God that they do know.

You were created in God’s image, to glorify and enjoy Him forever. When you sin, you fail to imitate God as He commands, and lie about who He is. God alone is good, and the final standard of truth. All have fallen short of His standard and deserve eternity in Hell. This is not because of the severity of sin, but because of the goodness of God. Since God is perfect, no sin can be in His presence, and His perfect justice demands a perfect sacrifice to atone for sin.

THE GOOD NEWS:
Christ Jesus, who is God the Son, came into the world as a man to live in perfect obedience to God the Father. With His death on the cross, Jesus became the perfect sacrifice, cancelling the debt against sinners by taking their full punishment upon Himself. Three days later, He rose from the dead, defeating sin and death, earning eternal life for all those who trust in Him. Through His love and mercy, Jesus satisfied God’s justice and is the only way to peace, assurance, forgiveness, and salvation. To be reconciled to God, you must repent and trust that Jesus died for your sins. Your sins will be forgiven, God will see you as perfect in Christ, and God the Holy Spirit will make you a new creation with a redeemed soul for eternity, and redeemed reasoning NOW. The only answer and only hope in this life and the next is Christ Jesus.

Why Do So Many Marriages Fail?

by Sye Ten Bruggencate

First, no one needs to point out the irony of a man who has never been married telling others why so many marriages fail. I realize that the subject is off topic from this website but I heard a talk recently from a Christian marriage counselor and I felt that the information was important enough to share.

The reason marriages fail is because they are built on the wrong foundation. They are built on the foundation of ‘being in love.’ This may surprise some people, but let me explain. The Biblical definition of love is best summed up in the familiar passage from 1 Corinthians 13:4–8:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

With this definition of love we can see that people do not fall ‘in love.’ Can people ‘fall into kindness?’ Can people fall into ‘not delighting in evil,’ or ‘protecting’ or ‘trusting?’ People fall into arousal, they CHOOSE to love.

The Bible does not teach that people should be ‘in love’ with their spouses, but it does command people to love them.

The Christian marriage, then, is a marriage where a man and woman make a covenant before God to love each other, not a display that they are in love. Sure it would be wonderful to be ‘in love,’ in fact I can’t imagine marrying someone I was not ‘in love’ with, but that is not what Christian marriage is about.

If people get married because they ‘fall in love,’ it makes perfect sense to end that marriage if they ‘fall out of love.’

In Christian marriage, the reason to be faithful and remain married is not because your spouse is wonderful or worthy of love, but because of the vow you made in the presence of Almighty God to love that person.

For those who are not yet married, don’t decide if you are in love with your chosen partner, but decide if you are willing to choose to love this person for the rest of your life, and to make that commitment before God.

Think of the reason God loves you. Would anyone be so deluded as to say that God loves them because they are worthy of love? Surely not! God loves us because he chooses to love us. Our marriages should be built on the foundation of choosing to love as well.

The Practice of a Good Preacher

PERSONAL:
INDIVIDUAL STUDY: YOU’RE ACCOUNTABLE TO GOD!
“Study to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.” 2 TIMOTHY 2:15

PRACTICAL:
SEEK, OBEY, THEN TEACH!
“For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and rules in Israel.” EZRA 7:10

PUBLIC:
EXPOSITORY PREACHING: READ, THEN TRANSLATE (INTERPRET)!
“They read from the book, from the Law of God, translating to give the sense so that the people understood the reading.” NEHEMIAH 8:8