Finding the Will of God

Finding the will of God is a most relevant issue — so I preached on it at Corban University for their year end chapel. I responded to the “traditional” searching for the “dot” of His perfect will and then outlined my 5 step process: Be Christlike, Search Scripture to rule out sinful, Live wisely to rule out stupid, Inquire of God: He may have an opinion, Do what will make you most deeply happy. The sermon recording is here, the outline here, and the Power Point here.

Marriage Jobs

I am speaking on marriage at Door of Hope today. The Power Point is here. The basis of marriage is in imaging the Trinity as Genesis 1:26-28 makes clear. As we unpack 1:28, 2:18 and 2:23-25, we discover four “greats” for marriage: great family, great mission, great friendship, and great passion. I noted that for our culture good sex is a pleasurable recreational activity between consenting adults. But biblically it is a whole person connection between a husband and a wife to express, confirm and deepen marital intimacy. So biblically there is no sex outside marriage — only porneia. As we move into the New Testament, exploring Ephesians 5 and 1 Peter 3 reveals four roles for women: submit, respect, beautiful spirit of purity, reverence, gentle and quiet, and not give into fear. The four roles for men are love by giving yourself, love by nurturing and cherishing, understand, and honor. Submission does not mean do what you are told and smile, but — following the example of Jesus in Mark 14:32-26 — give your feelings, give your desires and give your trust.