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Why your family is the first priority of the Gospel

By Jeremy Myers
11 Comments

Why your family is the first priority of the Gospel

The family is the centerpiece of God’s work in the world.

We often look to churches and corporations and non-profit organizations as the chief method by which God carries out His work in this world, but that is a human way of looking at things. The place in the world that the gospel is most at work is in the family relationships.

If the gospel is not functioning within your family relationships, with your spouse, your children, and your parents, then you really have no business trying to live out the gospel in any meaningful way anywhere else.

family

If there is mistrust, hate, discord, anger, jealousy, and shame at the center of your family relationships, the truths of the gospel need to be planted within your family so that the gospel can begin to grow and flourish there. Self-sacrificial and forgiving love must be at the center.

We must love those in our family as God loves us. We must, as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13, be patient and kind. We must not envy or boast. We must keep our tongue and actions in check so that we say no evil and do no evil toward others. We must allow ourselves to be wronged while always forgiving those who wrong us. We must rejoice in the truth and always hold forth hope, always believe in others, and never let our love fail.

This is a tall order, and will consume most of the gospel energy of most people. But that is the way it should be. The home is the frontline of the gospel.

gospel familyIf Christians worldwide only sought to live out the gospel in their own home and nowhere else, our entire world would be completely different. The entire world would be Christian within a few generations if the gospel was only lived out in our homes. After all, if the first Christian had all simply passed the gospel down to their families, and this had continued through all history, then everywhere the gospel has spread (which was all the way to Asia within a few centuries) would continue to be Christian to this very day. But many of first century strongholds of Christianity (Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, etc.) have very little Christian presence today.

I believe that maybe 98% of the way you live out the gospel should focus on the gospel taking root in your own life and in the lives of those in your family. If Christians simply did these two things, the entire world would be transformed by the gospel.

At the same time, if the way we live out the gospel fails in the home, then we should not feel pressured to live out the gospel outside of the home either. If your home is not filled with gospel truth, gospel faith, gospel grace, and gospel love, then do not think you are called to live out the gospel anywhere else to anyone else. Make the relationships in your own home the primary target of your gospel life.

The Gospel According to ScriptureWant to learn more about the gospel? Take my new course, "The Gospel According to Scripture."

The entire course is free for those who join my online Discipleship group here on RedeemingGod.com. I can't wait to see you inside the course!

God is Redeeming Life Bible & Theology Topics: biblical living, family, following Jesus, good news, gospel

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Mother’s Day Memes

By Jeremy Myers
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Mother’s Day Memes

Happy Mother’s Day! It is extremely difficult to be a mother these days, and so please take some time to thank every mother you meet today. And especially make sure you thank your own mother for all she has done for you.

Below are some humorous Mother’s Day “memes” to help brighten your day and make you smile. Enjoy!

6-75088-mm_babymeme41-1406927586

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6-74557-mm_mommeme53-1406587193

6-74504-mm_mommeme24-1406587193

6-74536-mm_mommeme51-1406587193

6-74503-mm_mommeme23-1406587192

6-74495-mm_mommeme35-1406587192

6-74496-mm_mommeme37-1406587191

6-74550-mm_mommeme52-1406587190

6-74489-mm_mommeme40-1406587190

6-74483-mm_mommeme44-1406587189

6-74797-mom-chocolate-meme-1406668997

6-74497-mm_mommeme39-1406587187

6-73991-mm_mommemes8-1406156059

6-73987-mm_mommemes5-1406156058

God is Redeeming Life Bible & Theology Topics: family, humor, laugh a little, mothers day

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[#34] Genesis 2:24 – Leave and Cleave?

By Jeremy Myers
5 Comments

[#34] Genesis 2:24 – Leave and Cleave?
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/259963333-redeeminggod-34-genesis-224-leave-and-cleave.mp3

What does Genesis 2:24 mean when it says that a man will leave his parents and cleave to his wife? Does this mean we should abandon our parents for the sake of our wife?

This is what we’re going to talk about in this study of Genesis 2:24.

Genesis 2:24

The Text of Genesis 2:24

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

In this discussion of Genesis 2:24 we look at:

  • Various Bible verses that have caused marital strife.
  • How Genesis 2:24 may not mean what we think it means.
  • How Genesis 2:24 follows Adam’s statement in Genesis 2:23.
  • Why leaving parents doesn’t mean abandoning.
  • Why it is important to cleave to your spouse.

Resources:

  • Partner with Me
  • Zevit, What Really Happened in the Garden of Eden
  • Episode 21 – Sex, Food, and Animals
  • Subscribe and Leave a Review on iTunes

Downloadable Podcast Resources

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If you want to deepen your relationship with God and better understand Scripture, take one (or all) of these courses. They are great for personal study or for a small group Bible study.

You can see the list of available courses here, and if you join the Discipleship group, you can take all the courses at no additional cost. Go here to learn more and join now.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture Bible & Theology Topics: family, Genesis 2:24, marriage

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So far, I’m not using drugs

By Sam Riviera
2 Comments

So far, I’m not using drugs

Below is the third letter in the series, “Letters To Dad.” They are written by Sam Riviera, and are based on the true stories of people he actually knows in real life.

homeless youth in the city

Dad,

At least that’s what I’ve called you the last few years. You’ll probably be the only person I’ll ever call dad, even though you were my foster dad. According to grandma, if my mom knows who my real dad is she’s never said. She probably doesn’t know. Grandma says mom was strung out most of the time around the time she got pregnant with me so who knows who my real dad is. I’ll probably never know.

Grandma says it’s a wonder I ain’t in prison or some institution. All the meth mom was using when she was pregnant with me shoulda fried my brain. Well, I didn’t do great in school and spent a lot of time in the counselors office, but I’ve managed to stay out of jail. So far…

You told me I could go live with grandma or some other relative. That isn’t happening. No one wants me or has space for me. Grandma thinks I should be able to find a job. I’ve tried, but they tell me I don’t have any experience and they’re looking for people with experience. How much experience do you need to wipe off tables and take out the garbage?

I think grandma’s afraid she’ll have to support me. She barely gets by on her Social Security check and her landlord is threatening to raise her rent. She says she can’t pay more and doesn’t know where she can find another place for what she can afford, so she can’t have another mouth to feed and a big guy like me must eat a lot.

There’s this place for homeless and runaway kids where I can get a hot meal every night. They have showers and used clothes and a few other things. I got a backpack and I’m hoping for a sleeping bag. There’s a place I sleep up under a freeway bridge behind some bushes. It keeps me dry when it rains.

sleeping homeless teen

I was trying to sleep on the street, but it’s too dangerous. I couldn’t find anyone to hang with and you can’t sleep on the street alone. You’ll get kicked in the head when you’re trying to sleep and they take your stuff. You can’t get any sleep.

A guy I know down there said there was a shooting on the other side of the street last Saturday. Ten cop cars showed up. They ran everyone off the block and took what you couldn’t carry. The next night there was a stabbing in the alley around the corner. Some guy died. More cops. This stuff doesn’t even make the news. Like anyone cares when a homeless person gets murdered. Bad for the tourist business. Pretend it doesn’t happen. We’re not real people.

I guess I understand. The foster kid checks you got for me stopped when I aged out of the system. You have other kids and your job doesn’t pay much. You said it’s time for me to make it on my own. So far that looks like dinner at the homeless kids place, sleeping under a bridge, and hoping I won’t get stabbed. I’m trying to follow up with several places that are supposed to help people like me, but they really don’t have any place for me to live or work.

So far, I’m not using drugs. I don’t have money and I’m not selling my body or dealing for the privilege of getting messed up by drugs. You don’t know what it’s like down here. It’s a lot more messed up than you know. There are a few people who care, but they don’t have a place for me to get off the street. The system is totally messed up. Guess I’m luckier than most. So far…

Tony

God is Redeeming Life Bible & Theology Topics: family, homeless, Letters to Dad, parenting, Sam Riviera

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What I learned from almost following my GPS to my death

By Jeremy Myers
31 Comments

What I learned from almost following my GPS to my death

Olallie Lake
A friend told us that her favorite place to camp in Oregon was Olallie Lake.

So one Monday morning, my family and I hopped into our Toyota Sienna with all of our camping gear, I plugged Olallie Lake into my GPS, and we were off.

GPSThe GPS said it would take about 3 hours to arrive.

The first two hours of the trip went great. We drove up past Detroit Lake, and took a winding mountain road through luscious forests and cascading waterfalls. Since well all love camping, we were excited with anticipation.

With about twelve miles to go, the GPS told me to take a right hand turn off of the paved mountain road onto a dirt road. Though it was only twelve miles, the GPS said we would arrive in 1 hour. This was no surprise, since one has to drive slower on dirt roads in the mountains.

Five hours later we pulled in to Olallie Lake. Nevertheless, we were relieved to have even arrived. The road which the GPS took us down was nearly impassible. The road was nearly overgrown on both sides, with sometimes little more than two feet of visible road showing through all the brush, branches, and brambles.

Every few feet there were huge potholes or giant rocks which had to be carefully avoided. On the one hand, if our Sienna drove into one of those potholes, I knew it would not get back out, and on the other hand, if we drove over one of the giant boulders in the road, I knew it would rip the underside off our van. There were frequent times where my wife and I had to get out of the van to roll boulders out of the middle of the road.

As we were drove along at 2 miles per hour, we encountered many 4WD vehicles coming back down. Usually, one or the other of us would have to back up to find a place where one of us could pass the other. And without fail, as they passed, the driver of the other vehicle rolled down his window, looked at us in our Sienna van, and told us to turn back. Even they, with their 4WD, could not travel the road ahead.

But we pressed on. In our Sienna. Loaded to the gills. “Our Sienna is from Montana,” we told our girls. “It thinks it is a rugged 4WD pickup.”

At numerous times in those 5 hours, my wife and children had to get out of the Sienna while I crept along the treacherous road, slowly maneuvering around the potholes and rocks ahead of me, while carefully keeping my eye on the precipitous drop-off to the right.

As I look back now, it truly is a miracle that we made it to Olallie Lake.

Olallie LakeYet when we arrived, I was absolutely shocked to discover that there were dozens of cars and campers already there. And most of the cars were the little two-door and four-door sedans you see driving around a major city; none of them could have traversed the road we had just traveled.

I went and spoke to the camp host about how all these other people had made it up such a treacherous road, and he informed me that nobody, absolutely nobody, comes up the road I had taken. When I told him this was the way I had come, he stared at me, and then stared at my Sienna and said, “In that? I am surprised you made it. Why’d you go that way?”

“I followed my GPS,” I told him.

“Yeah,” he said. “A GPS is great for city driving, but once you get out into the hills, it doesn’t know the difference between a good dirt road, and an impassible mountain road which not even a 4WD truck can handle. Don’t follow your GPS when you go home.” He then pulled out a map and showed me the proper way to get home.

We had a great week of camping—probably the best week of my entire life. We saw eagles. We went on hikes. We had deer, ducks, and chipmunks in our campsite. We picked huckleberries. We played games. Talked around the fire. Read books. Went rafting. It was a wonderful week of camping.

And then traveled home. And just as the camp host had said, the road was a beautifully smooth dirt road for a mile or two, and then pavement all the rest of the way home. We made it in less than three hours.

I learned that day that my GPS, my infallible roadmap which I blindly follow around most of the time, was not infallible in all situations and circumstances. By following it, it had actually endangered not only my vehicle, but the life of my family as well.

And it got me thinking.

What else do I blindly follow in life, thinking it is an infallible guide for what I should think and how I should live? Even if this approach is safe 99% of the time, what happens when I follow it that 1% of the time when I shouldn’t, and it leads me down a road from which there is (almost) no return?

the Bible as a roadmapYes, I am talking about the Bible.

Reading, studying, memorizing, and learning the Bible has been my life passion for as long as I can remember. I remember the thrill of getting my own personal Bible in Kindergarten when I learned to read. I remember in high school at the lunch break, going out and sitting in a car to read my Bible for 30 minutes while all my friends went to shoot hoops or take a break. I remember as a pastor, sitting down eagerly every Monday morning to begin the study process of preparing a sermon for the next week.

But a few years back, the Bible I thought I knew led me down a path that almost destroyed my life and my family.

This caused me to step back and reconsider and rethink everything I thought I knew about the Bible, how to read it, and what it means. I have been doing that for six or seven years now.

Some days I think I am getting closer to wherever it is I’m headed; but other days, it feels like I have only just begun. But I believe that if I keep driving down this rock and pothole filled road, I will eventually arrive at Olallie Lake, where I will enjoy the best week of camping of my life.

And I really think I’m getting close.


This post is part of the January 2015 Synchroblog. Here are links to the other contributors.

  • Done With Religion – Looking Back, But Moving Forward 
  • Mark Votava – Learning to Love: Crossing a Decade of Rootedness 
  • Tara at Praying on the Prairie – A Year of New Beginnings
  • Carol Kuniholm – Looking Back, Praying Forward  
  • Mary at lifeinthedport – roaring chickens: how i found my voice
  • Moments with Michelle – The Year that Was: Looking Back at 2014
  • Glenn Hager – Things I Don’t Ever Want to Forget 
  • Michelle Torigian – Looking Back at All the Stuff 
  • Fedex at His Urban Presence – A Year of Changes
  • Charity at His Urban Presence – God is There 
  • Lisa Brown at Me Too Moments for Moms – Lessons from 2014
  • Bram Cools – 2015: Looking Forward, Looking Back 

God is z Bible & Theology Topics: bible reading, Bible Study, Discipleship, family, synchroblog, Theology of the Bible

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