vassal of the King

At Christ Fellowship Bible Church (St. Louis, Missouri), we have been teaching through the CFBC Distinctives during the Family Bible Hour (at 4pm on Sundays). Here is what the men have taught through thus far: Expository Preaching —  audio   |  handout Expository Listening — audio   |  handout Discipleship — audio   |  handout

Last week, this blog hosted a number of articles on Cultivating a Godly Marriage . Here are the individual links: Part I — The Meaning of Marriage Part II — The Husband Leads with Love  Part III — The Wife Submits with Delight Part IV — The Couple Communicates Openly, Honestly & Frequently Part V — The Goal of Marriage: The Exaltation of God & the Christlikeness of Your Spouse Part VI — The Mystery, Meaning & Magnificence of Forgiveness  Part VII — Your Personal Pursuit in Marriage: For You to Change, Not for You to Change Your Spouse   The entire Cultivating a Godly Marriage eBook can be downloaded as a pdf HERE .

This is part 7 of the ' Cultivating a Godly Marriage ' blog series. Part I — The Meaning of Marriage Part II — The Husband Leads with Love  Part III — The Wife Submits with Delight Part IV — The Couple Communicates Openly, Honestly & Frequently Part V — The Goal of Marriage: The Exaltation of God & the Christlikeness of Your Spouse Part VI — The Mystery, Meaning & Magnificence of Forgiveness Part 7: Your personal pursuit in marriage: for YOU  to change; NOT for you to change your spouse & conform them into your liking. A Christian wants to please the Lord in all things. A genuinely converted Christian hates his sin, quickly confesses it, endeavors to turn from it, and strives by God’s enabling and empowering grace to walk in holiness. A great problem arises in many marriages when couples want change — and they want it fast. And usually the change must begin with the other person. How easy it is for us as sinners to be blinded to our own sin. How ea

This is part 6 of the ' Cultivating a Godly Marriage ' blog series. Part I — The Meaning of Marriage Part II — The Husband Leads with Love  Part III — The Wife Submits with Delight Part IV — The Couple Communicates Openly, Honestly & Frequently Part V — The Goal of Marriage: The Exaltation of God & the Christlikeness of Your Spouse Part 6: the mystery, meaning & magnificence of real forgiveness Forgive! That concept perhaps seems foreign to many people. Undoubtedly many misunderstand what forgiveness is because they’ve never received Christ’s forgiveness and are ignorant of its glory and importance. In this brief essay, I want to uncover the tremendous riches of forgiveness. I want to describe the mystery, meaning, and magnificence of forgiveness by asking some diagnostic questions and then providing helpful, clear and understandable answers. I. WHY : why is forgiveness needed? Every needs forgiveness because of one reality — sin. Sin has so infected and

This is part 5 of the ' Cultivating a Godly Marriage ' blog series. Part I — The Meaning of Marriage Part II — The Husband Leads with Love  Part III — The Wife Submits with Delight Part IV — The Couple Communicates Openly, Honestly & Frequently    Part 5: the goal of marriage: the exaltation of God & the pursuit of your spouse’s Christlikeness Marriage exists for and points to one ultimate end, the glory of God and the exaltation of Christ. As is the case for everything in the universe, the end of all things culminates in the preeminence of the Lord Jesus Christ. He rules as King over all things. He upholds all things. He created all things and all things exist through Him and for Him. One misses the real meaning of marriage if one neglects to understand that God created marriage to manifest His glory. So, then, I want to spell out the preeminent goal (end, purpose, reason) for marriage in one glorious thought encapsulating two inseparable features: the magn

This is part 4 of the ' Cultivating a Godly Marriage ' blog series. Part I — The Meaning of Marriage Part II — The Husband Leads with Love  Part III — The Wife Submits with Delight Part 4: the couple communicates openly, honestly & frequently The model for communication stems from the Triune God and then from how God has communicated with His people. The community with the Trinity is perfect, eternally wonderful & gloriously open. Each member of the Trinity enjoys perfect fellowship with the other two members of the Trinity. And they always exist in perfect unity, harmony, peace, and gladness. Even still, there is only one God! The communication from the Father to the Son is clear, open, honest and specific. The Father had given the Son a mission to accomplish (John 20:21). Jesus came to accomplish the work of His Father (John 5:36). The Father sent the Spirit into His New Covenant believers (John 14:26) as well as the Son (John 15:26). Thus there is complete

This is part 3 of the ' Cultivating a Godly Marriage ' blog series. Part I — The Meaning of Marriage Part II — The Husband Leads with Love Part 3: the wife submits with delight The all-wise God fashioned and designed the marriage covenant to manifest His glory in the best possible way. In the Bible, God commands all wives to submit to their husbands (Colossians 3:18). Since God created marriage, He has all the rights to define marriage and to state how the people in the marriage covenant should act. God created man first in the Garden of Eden and then, from the man, God created woman. The headship of man over a woman is a creation ordinance and is not, therefore, a result of the fall. God’s glorious design in marriage is to reflect the relationship even within the Trinity. The Father has all authority and the Son willingly subjected Himself under the Father’s authority and made it His ambition while on earth to do precisely what the Father had appointed Him to do. This in

This is part 2 of the ' Cultivating a Godly Marriage ' blog series. Part I — The Meaning of Marriage   Part 2: the husband leads with love The Bible clearly presents the function and duties of a biblical husband. They do not come naturally and easily to man battling the sins of the flesh. The natural, unsaved, man cannot perform these tasks. To the unrepentant man, these qualities seem foolish, outdated, and outright ludicrous. But to the man of God, these not only are glorious and radical charges, they are personally experienced since every child of God has received this kind of love from Jesus Christ, the delightful Husband. In what follows, I want to speak of some ways that a husband must lead with love. 1. He must have a SPECIAL LOVE. A Godly husband has a special, particular, definite and exclusive love for only his wife. Just as Christ has one Bride who receives His love, protection, care, and leadership, so a godly husband has only one wife who receives his love,

This week, I plan to provide some blog posts relating to the topic of cultivating a godly marriage . Part 1: the meaning of marriage Marriage points to something much bigger than a husband and a wife. Even the best marriage in the world, with all the joys and blessings that exist with it, serves to direct the focus to something greater. The Bible declares that God created marriage for Himself — to display Himself gloriously, beautifully, attractively, and delightfully. The meaning of marriage is quite simple: God. God created earthly marriage to reflect His marriage to His people. God’s covenant-keeping marriage with His elect people flows entirely from His grace and results exclusively for His glory. So then, in what follows, I will simplify the above paragraph by highlighting a number of essential factors. First, marriage is about GOD. Marriage exists because God created it. God designed and fashioned marriage to suit His sovereign purposes and His supreme plan. Marriage, thus, i