Passion 4 Him

Many people choose marriage for good reasons yet the divorce rates are still high. Why? Some idealize marriage; others underestimate the amount of effort it really take to make a real relationship work. With so many marriages failing, an increasing number of people are wondering if marriage is even worth the trouble. According to a 2002 survey on marriage and cohabitation, Approximately 28% of men and women cohabitated before their first marriage Among men and women who considered religion very important, more than 4 in 10 had cohabited at some time in their lives  Top Reasons 1. Love: 91% 2. Companionship: 88% 3. To signify a lifelong commitment: 82% 4. Security for children: 79% 5. To make a publice commitment to each other: 77% 6. Legal status or for financial security: 66% 7. Because of religious beliefs: 62% 8.  Response to family pressure: 50% 9. Desire for a special occassion: 45% Courtesy of: http://theartofmarriage.com/what-is-aom/topics-covered/

The best marriage advice I never received. by Dave Boehi I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what couples should know before they get married. For one thing, I’ve been making some updates and revisions on FamilyLife’s  Preparing for Marriage workbook, which is used by thousands of pastors and counselors around the country each year for premarriage counseling. In addition, my younger daughter, Missy,  was married recently . As a parent you think of all the things you should tell a child before marriage, and nothing ever seems to be enough. When Merry and I were preparing to be married, we went through counseling and got a lot of good advice. But there are some important things that we did not fully understand. So if I were talking with a premarried couple, here’s what I’d tell them about the “5 Things I Wish I Had Known Before I Was Married”: #1: Marriage is not all about you....

  by Jesse Johnson   ~~Meriam Yehya Ibrahim is married, 27-years-old, mother to a 20-month old son, 8-months pregnant, and last week was sentenced to death for being a Christian. Her story is not all that uncommon. Her father was Muslim, and her mother was an ethnic Christian. As is common in much of the world—including the United States—Muslim men frequently marry non-Muslim women, because by Islamic tradition their children are considered Muslim. It frankly doesn’t matter what the children of that religious mish-mash marriage actually believe about God or faith; because the father was Muslim, so are the children. Period. These kind of marriage don’t often last—but that is not their point. Their point is simply to expand Islam through the children. Such was the case for Meriam. Her parents had two children, herself and a brother. Her father the...

By John MacArthur Discernment is not automatically built in to the lives of Christians. The ability to wisely divide truth from error is something that must be pursued and developed as a part of the sanctification process. As we saw last time [link], the biblical recipe for discernment starts with fervent prayer and earnest desire. Both of those are foundational, but not enough on their own. A third vital ingredient in developing biblical discernment is obedience to the truth. Obey the Truth Someone will point out that with all his abundance of wisdom, Solomon was nevertheless a dismal failure at the end of his life ( 1 Kings 11:4–11 ). “His heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been” ( 1 Kings 11:4 ). Scripture records this sad assessment of the wisest man who ever lived: King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, a...

Hunt, Dave Excerpted from chapter five of  Judgment Day! Islam, Israel, and the Nations   The accusation has been widely publicized and believed that the Israelis drove nearly a million Arabs out of Palestine during the 1948 war. This is the foundation for the demands that the “Palestinians” make for the right of return to their former villages. There were some instances where Arab civilians who were sheltering, helping, or hiding attacking Arab soldiers were forced to leave. But most of the Arabs who fled did so in spite of Israeli promises of safety and pleas to stay…. Many left before Israel declared its independence and the war had really begun. It was the  Arab military  that warned Arab civilians to “get out” and declared that those who remained would be considered traitors to the Arab cause. Nevertheless, they are the only “refugees” in the Middle East, as far as the world is concerned, and to whom all the sympathy is give...

By John MacArthur We cannot simply flow with the current of our age. We cannot elevate love while downplaying truth. We cannot promote unity by repressing sound doctrine. We cannot learn to be discerning by making an idol out of tolerance. By adopting those attitudes, the church has opened her gates to all of Satan’s Trojan horses. God gives us the truth of His Word, and He commands us to guard it and pass it on to the next generation. Frankly, the current generation is failing miserably in this task. Our failure to discern has all but erased the line between biblical Christianity and reckless faith. The church is filled with doctrinal chaos, confusion, and spiritual anarchy. Few seem to notice, because Christians have been conditioned by years of shallow teaching to be broad minded, superficial, and noncritical. Unless there is a radical change in the way we view truth, the church will...

Newby, Ed “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” ( 1 John:3:13 ). These words were spoken by John. If historical tradition is accurate, he is the only apostle who died of old age. The others were martyred, put to death in a number of ways, including crucifixion, by the sword, thrown from the summit of a building, or beaten to death. Although we are aware that Christians are being martyred in other nations, for several centuries the church in America and the West has enjoyed a peace and safety that is somewhat of an anomaly. Consider John Fox. John Fox (or Foxe), author of  Fox’s Book of Martyrs , was said to have lived in “respectable circumstances.” Educated at Oxford, he became a Fellow at Magdalen College, where he would “resort to a grove near the college...In these solitary walks he was often heard to [utter] heavy sobs and sighs, and with tears to pour forth his prayers to God. These nightly retirements…gave rise to the first suspicion of his...

By John MacArthur   True biblical discernment is grounded in the knowledge and love of the truth—as Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 , every discerning believer must “hold fast to that which is good.” But that’s not the only ingredient. Too many pastors and church leaders today believe that if they just preach the truth, their people will be able to avoid error by osmosis. True discernment doesn’t work that way, as Paul made clear in his very next line to the Thessalonians: “Abstain from every form of evil” ( 1 Thessalonians 5:22 ). The word translated “abstain” is a very strong verb, apechō , meaning “hold oneself back,” “keep away from,” “shun.” It is the same word used in 1 Thessalonians 4:3 , “abstain from sexual immorality,” and 1 Peter 2:11 , “abstain from fleshly lusts.” It calls for a radical separation from “every form of evil.” This would include evil behavior, of course. But in this context, the primary reference seems to be evil teaching—false doctrine. ...

Question: I have been told that there is a great deal of archaeological evidence proving that the Bible is not reliable. I don’t remember the details, and perhaps none were given, but the impression I’ve gotten from several professors at the university is that the archaeological evidence against the Bible is pretty solid.   Response:  There have been many claims that the Bible is not true, but none of them has been able to stand up under careful scrutiny. The Bible claims to be the Word of God, which He inspired prophets and apostles to put in writing for the benefit of all mankind. As such, it must be infallible and without any error. Therefore, it would not take “a great deal” of archaeological or any other kind of evidence to disprove the Bible. One piece of evidence would be enough. Paul wrote, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God” ( 2 Timothy:3:16 ), and Peter declared that “holy men of God spoke [or wrote] as they were moved [inspired...

“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” - John 15:18-19 Because they are not part of the world’s system, Christians should expect it to hate and oppose them. If you’ve been a Christian for a while, you doubtless remember how soon you realized that you were no longer in step with the world’s culture. You were no longer comfortable with its philosophy. You no longer had the world’s desires and yearnings. You no longer felt good about doing some of the things the world takes for granted. In fact, you even felt constrained to speak out against such things and urge unbelievers to turn from their sins and embrace Christ. All that opposition to worldliness, when added up, can and will result in hatred ...

First published in December 1993 By Dave Hunt God’s holiness and justice require that sinners be eternally separated from Him. To be cut off completely and eternally from that Love for which one was created will be to burn with a thirst that will only grow ever more unbearable. God, however, graciously and freely offers salvation from that most dreadful condemnation. “The gospel of God’s grace” declares that God became a man through virgin birth, that this sinless God-man died for our sins, satisfying His own justice by suffering the eternal punishment we deserve, resurrected the third day, and that all who believe in Him are forgiven and receive eternal life as a free gift. Salvation is that simple—and wonderful—and must be preached in that simplicity. It is not the academic credentials, brilliant oratory, or persuasiveness of the preacher, but the pure gospel that convinces hearers. We must not attempt in human wisdom and zeal to embellish, improve, or in any w...