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May 23, 2024 · 49 minutes

("Best-of" Edition from 12/19/23) The oft-cited quip that 50% of marriages end in divorce is actually not true.

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Show notes

0:00 - 15:00. Matthew 5:23-24. Reconciliation is central to worshiping God in Spirit and Truth. 15:00 - 31:00. The oft-cited quip that 50% of marriages end in divorce is actually not true. 31:00 - 48:00. If you are married, your ministry to your spouse is your first external context through which you render worship to the Lord.

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Transcript

6,855 words, in two-minute parts. Made by machine, so a few words may be off.

0:0048:52

  1. 0:00

    Darkness is not an affirmative force. It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light. This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio. It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite. Delivery people out of the bondage of mainstream media. And the philosophies of this world. God has called you and me to be his ambassador. Even in this dark moment. Let's not miss our moment. And now the Hamilton Corner. Good evening everybody. Welcome to the Hamilton Corner here on American Family Radio or NRB TV. I am your host Abraham Hamilton the third and the real Jay Mac is in the building holding it down as we are bringing today's program to you. I'm excited about the show that we're going to do today. I hope it is a blessing to you and to your family and to your loved ones. I'm at this very moment, many of you, if not most of you, are transitioning from your part-time jobs where you generate an income to your full-time jobs where you cultivate an outcome. And as you do so, I want to remind you to do so with full intentionality, understanding the primacy that God places on family. Before there was an order of priests, before there was an order of prophets, before there was a modern iterations of civil government, before there was even a New Testament ecclesia, the first institution, the first human institution that got established was the family with marriage at the center of the family. All right, when you have people like the wicked Black Lives Matter group talking about, we want to disrupt the Western prescription for the nuclear family. like first of all before there was a West there was family you know God's designed for a family a husband and a wife with the capacity to be our offspring most most often that does have offspring or often does have offspring that's not a feature of Western civilization that's pre Western civilization that's God or And God's designed frankly for the family has gospel import.

  2. 2:24

    When you get into even the New Testament context, when you see the qualifications for eldership in the Lord's church, the majority of the qualifications deal with how a man conducts himself within his family. Even raising the rhetorical question, how can a man shepherd the house of God, the household of God, if he does not steward his own family well? well. Hello. It's crazy what we've done to things and how we view things in consistent efforts to derogate away from God's standards. The first command given to mankind was given within the familial context to say it very simply, family is vitally important because God says it's vitally important and considering the primacy that God places on family, that primacy should inform from our approach to family. So as you are transitioning to your full time jobs, that is outcome cultivation based, understand that you are participating in God's plan for mankind and the primary vehicle that he's established for multi-generational faithfulness in Christ following is the family, is the family. To the word of God we go, Matthew chapter five, This is a portion of Jesus' sermon on the Mount, the longest recorded sermon of Jesus in scripture. This is the sermon that when he concludes, the people all say this man doesn't teach, like the Scribes and Pharisees, he teaches as one with authority. This here is a rabbi, you understand me? And we're gonna focus on Matthew chapter five, two verses, verses 23 and 24. Matthew chapter five, verses 23 and 24. This is a portion of the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus is instructing how relationships should be pursued within the family of God.

  3. 4:30

    And this is a portion of the sermon when Jesus elevates the concern of say it a lot, many, many times our God is far more concerned with who we are in our hearts than our performance. Our conduct is a downstream flow of what is actually in our hearts. This is where you say you've heard it said, and the ancients were told that you've shown out murder, for example, but then Jesus up to ante says, if you are angry with your brother, you call your brother good for nothing, you're into raha, you fool to your brother. He doesn't even say that you're guilty of sending a murder, saying, man, that makes you liable for a hellfire. The implication there is if it persists without repentance. Jesus consistently up to ante, you've heard it said, You should not commit adultery, but I say to you, if you look upon a woman with lust in your heart, it's as if you've come in, he's upstah anti, you see. And in the course of this discussion, Jesus provides us additional teaching that shows the significance of relationships for Christ followers. It is far too easy. Many people have become far too flippant in disregarding the people of God, While simultaneously saying, but we worship God, really? Remember when he said, when he was asked about the greatest commandment and he gave you two, to love the Lord with all your heart, all your strength, basically saying, all that you are to love him. And the second is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself. Love your neighbor as yourself. On these, hang the entirety of the law and the prophets. that's the entirety of the Hebrew Bible? The Bible that Jesus used as he was living what was recorded for the gospel, in the gospels.

  4. 6:34

    Well, it is within that context that Jesus says this, Matthew chapter five, verses 23 and 24. And I want you to consider it very closely, because a lot of us think about it and we kind of memorize paraphrases and we kind of assume things or even kind of relationally and historically isogic, meaning that we add things into this text that really aren't there. And we've come up with our own meanings instead of allowing the meaning, sorry, instead of allowing the text to dictate to us where we stand. That is the difference between isegesis, meaning reading into versus exegesis, the compound word ex, meaning out from Jesus, meaning text out from the text. That's how we derive our understanding. All right. Matthew chapter five, verses 23 and 24. Therefore, this is what immediately follows. I'll back up to 21 and then go to 23 and 24 because that's what I want to focus 21 it says you have heard that the ancients were told you shall not commit murder and whoever commits murder Shall be liable to the court But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother Shall be guilty before the court and whoever says to his brother you good for nothing Shall be guilty before the supreme court And whoever says you fool Shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell Well, verse 23, therefore, in light of this elevation of God's concern, beyond externalized demonstrable conduct, but peering into the heart. Verse 23, therefore, if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there, remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, Go first, first be reconciled to your brother and then come and present your offering. Therefore, if you're presenting your offering at the altar and there, remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go. First, be reconciled to your brother.

  5. 8:49

    Then come and present your offering. What Jesus is revealing to us there, and let me take a few steps back What Jesus is presenting, this is a Jewish and a break audience. He is presenting what would have been common to them, what would have been common to them concerning worship at the temple complex in Jerusalem where the people were required to come to the temple to make their offerings unto Yahweh. All right. Jesus says, if you are en route to render your offering in worship in worship and you arrive at the place of worship before the altar with your offering in tow and there you remember your brother this is what it says there you remember that your brother has something against you leave your offering and go what Jesus is revealing there is that worship to the Lord includes how we How we relate to one another. Have you ever considered that? Because I mean, many times you think worship is to worship you I live, to worship you I live, I live to worship you. And you got the sway going, the hands up. Oh, you know, with the wave, oh, to worship you I live. Do you realize from God's standpoint, Our worship unto Him includes how we relate to one another, especially how we relate to one another within the family of God.

  6. 10:58

    Too many times we want to divorce, how we treat people, our heart conditions concerning people from our understanding of Dubenevolence, rendering Dubenevolence unto the Lord in worship. But Jesus is teaching using the Hebraic worship system and explaining that if you are the would-be worshipper in process of rendering your offering, making your offering, and there remember that your brother has something against you, the first order of business and worship, this is what Jesus is saying. The first order of business and worship is to go and be reconciled to your brother and to affirm what I'm saying to you that Jesus is communicating that our relationships with people are intrinsic to the quality of worship we render unto him, he says, then come and make your offering. See, because Jesus is relaying the notion that it is a continuum. The relationship with the brother is a part of worship. And the submission of the offering is a part of worship. And it's such a vital, important, Jesus doesn't say, okay, make your offering, then go be reconciled to your brother. Didn't you notice that? He doesn't say, okay, make your offering and then go. No, he said, first, leave your offering right there, leave it right here. Let us say, let that thing rest right here and go and be reconciled to your brother, then come. And you wanna know what's amazing in that? This teaching man, I'm telling this is mind blown. This is how significant relationships are within the body of Christ. This is a part of, as the Apostle Paul about his Spirit of God taught, do good unto everyone. I believe as we do good time to everyone, especially the household of faith. This is the part of it, but all too often in the body of Christ, we have people that are content to be like, I don't know about sister's sons.

  7. 13:05

    I don't know about them. One of the most amazing things about this teaching, is if you read the text, you notice, Jesus doesn't let us know which one of them may have been wrong. It doesn't tell us if the one who is going to the altar, who is before the altar with his offering, Jesus doesn't say he's the one who was wrong, or he was one that had been wrong. The dah. And then tell us which one is responsible for the friction, which one committed the error, which one? You know what I'm saying, the ninth one, which one was in the wrong? And then tell us which one is in the wrong. All it says is if you would be worshiper, en route to offer, make your offering unto the Lord, and you remember that there's something wrong. There's a fragger relationship. There's ought between you and the brother, the first order of business in worship. the going be reconciled to your brother. Family of God, we cannot divorce how we treat one another from our desire to worship and obey the Lord. If we want to be those who worship the Lord in spirit and in truth, the way we interact with the body of Christ, the way we interact with the brethren, the way we interact with one another is a part of that. And if you are listening to me, In the Spirit of God is reminding you, as you are listening to me, that there are relationships that require your attendance. I want to encourage you to refuse to resist the ministry of the Holy Spirit and yield to the Spirit of God's leading and be reconciled to your brother. Be reconciled to your sister because this is a part of our worship unto the Lord. decades now. Many have grown callus because it seems surreal to think that over 64 million babies have been lost. Preborn will not stand silent, nor should we. We cannot stand by and let babies die at the hand of abortion. That's why preborn exists, to stand up for those who cannot defend themselves. The only defense for these precious babies is their heartbeat, which begins in just three weeks and can be heard on ultrasound by five weeks. When a mother making that ultimate choice. Here's her baby's heartbeat and sees the precious life inside of her the majority of the time she will choose life. By sponsoring an ultrasound for a mother you are being the voice of the pre-born. Please join pre-born in the cause for life. For just $28 you can be the difference between the life and death of a child. Just dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby that's pound 250 baby or go to preborn.com. That's preborn.com.

  8. 16:07

    Shining light into the darkness. This is the Hamilton corner on American family radio. Welcome back. Abraham Hamilton the third here. Yeah, it's gonna be one of those kind of shows. It's gonna be one of those kind of shows. And it's amazing to me and I want to set this up properly. Because as I'm describing that, for many of you who are listening to me, you may be at this very moment the same way that I am. I'm excited, man. My wife and I, we start year 16 of our marriage this month. You know, and I love my wife. With some of us, as we navigate the text I was just sharing from Matthew chapter 5, we may fail to realize that when the scripture describes that relationship and the significance of maintaining or understand better the significance of our relationships horizontally as they're viewed from God's perspective as intrinsic to our worship unto Him. You know that includes how we treat our spouses our relationships with our loved ones but I want to talk specifically about marriage a bit today. Many times and I'm gonna hopefully revisit this up to go through the program people allow their marriages to deteriorate to such a degree and then sometimes even within Christian families, people endeavor to serve the Lord in faithfulness, but do not include their commitments to their spouses in that concept. They exclude the way that they treat their spouses. They exclude the way they interact with their spouses from what they consider worship unto the Lord. In many instances, there have been breaches and intimacy and marriages for such a time where You know, married couple sometimes, they end up living as roommates.

  9. 18:09

    You know, they're sleeping the same room. They're not even operating in a oneness as a scripture talks about two becoming one. That is a reference to the physical conjugal intimacy that husbands and wives enjoys, but enjoy. But it's also, it also refers to the spiritual, emotional and relational intimacy, the two becoming one. And unfortunately, in too many instances, many Christians, sometimes in ignorance, other times in rebellion, refuse to include the ministry to their spouses in their understanding of worship to the high and holy God that they profess to serve. And I'm just going to say it straight up, brothers and sisters, that's wrong. You cannot profess to be a worshiper of God, yet you are content with living sinfully as it pertains to your spouse. Did he say, simply? Yes. I said sinfully. Then we just read the text. If you are on your way to worship and remember, if a brother has something against you, leave your gift. That includes your spouse. My brother, that includes your wife, my sister, that includes your husband. If you have beef with your spouse, don't try to, who worship you? I leave. Well, you might be in one of the places where, it's the Aries song. Oh, Father, we love you. There's none above you. Oh, oh, the out of breath thing, you know, whoa. And you know what I believe? Well, I'll say it this way, believe maybe too strong in that instance. One of the things that I think, that has infiltrated the minds of many believers concerning their approach to marriage really, is a statistic that percolates in society, but actually when you unpack it, well, you dig into it a little bit, it's not true.

  10. 20:14

    Many of you listening to me right now, Now, how many of you have heard the oft-cited statistics? I feel like I need to have a big background for this. 50% of marriages, marriages, marriages. End, end, end, end. End divorce, divorce, divorce, divorce, divorce. How many of you have heard that? Here's the question. Is that true? Well, I'm telling you, we have people, we have circumstances in our lives that we have allowed lies to shape our lives to such a degree. We've allowed lies to shape our lives to where we are, you know, shadow boxing in a paradigm that's based on falsities. Another one of the major ones, I've talked about this a lot, is the false construct that is the modern iteration of the notion of race. There's no such thing as multiple races of human beings. You have multiple ethnicities. You have ethnic groups. You have languages, you have cultural customs, but culture is not static, it's dynamic. Meaning that it changes. There's no such thing as multiple races or human beings, multiple races of people. It's one race, it's called human. That is biblically and scientifically true. Another lie is that 50% of marriage is in the divorce. I ain't stuttered, that's a lie guys, do you realize that? Let me unpack it. So many people, and I've heard it actually, When I was, I remember when I was pursuing Maria to marry her, and I've told you guys a story, I met her while we both were working at the Harris County District Attorney's Office. And I had a boss at the time, who was trying to give me advice. He gave me no, I really like you, man. You're kind of young to be getting married. Now listen, I was 26 years old when I met Maria.

  11. 22:17

    I'm like, I ain't that young, chief. He's like, you're kind of young. You're sure you want to get married, because 50% of marriage is in the divorce. He tried to help me. like you gotta, you're doing well, you have a great career ahead of you, I just don't want you to see you make a decision that's gonna hurt you. I say, all right, thank you. I know, thank you. I'm gonna get married. And y'all, I mean, many of you know the story, Marie and I got married a year and a month from the day we met, playing no games. But the statistic that 50% of marriages in the divorce is not a fact, all right? This is a claim, and people have also used that claim to say, yeah, you know, to percent of Christian marriages in the divorce as well. All right. But is that true? The simple answer to that is no is not true. Let's dig into it. Shanti Felden, who is a social researcher who has trained at Harvard University, she wrote a book titled The Good News About Marriage and she attacked this lie that is often stated as if it's fact. She attacked this lie in her book and she described, quote, the 50% figure was not based on hard data, rather the number came from projections of what researchers thought the divorce rate would become after states passed no fault, no fault divorce laws. In quote, that statistic, ladies and gentlemen, was a projection from the late 70s into the 80s as to what what what people what researchers thought the divorce rate in America would become once no fault divorce laws were passed. Some of you remember in 1969 the state of California was the first state to adopt no ford default. Man, can I talk to adopt no fault divorce. All right, Ronald Reagan was the governor at the time. Ronald Reagan says he has one of the biggest regrets he had that he led to no fault divorce being forced upon the United States of America.

  12. 24:33

    After California adopted it, states around the country began to adopt it as dominoes fallen. All right? You had people and researchers who were concerned about that, and so they provided a projection. Jeff was another, another term for projection. An estimate was another term for an estimate. a guest, a guest of it, as to what would happen if no fault divorce was adopted across the country. All right, again, digging into these numbers, the reality is that we've never hit those numbers. We hadn't hit those numbers. This is what Chantee Felden included in her book. According to her study, and she ultimately ended up working with George Barna to dig into that 50% number, And the numbers, the percentage of divorce is around 33%. This is what she published. Partnering with George Barna, Felden and Barna, re-examine our brother George Barna, man. What a blessing to the body of Christ he's been into the world, frankly. They re-examined the data concerning this 50% number and specifically focused on the 50% number as banting about concerning Christians. And you wanna know what they found? That people who responded to surveys concerning divorce, they identify themselves as Christian rather than some other religion. These were people who professed that this was their belief system, but they did not live a lifestyle consistent with that profession. So these are people who randomly respond in the survey saying they're Christians, but their lifestyles do not reflect their adherence to a Christian belief system. These are people who are not active in church. These are people who do not believe the the word of the Bible is the word of God.

  13. 26:37

    These are people who did not believe basic foundational doctrine that would identify you as Christian, namely things like, oh, do you believe Jesus is the only way to eternal life? That's kind of foundational. Is it not? It turns out when George Barnum and Shanti Felden dug into these numbers a bit more, they found that for people who were actually Christians and they were actively involved in their church, The divorce rate was 27 to 50% lower than it was for those who were non-churgegoers. Nominal Christians, those who said they were Christians, but their lifestyles were not consistent with that profession. Their rates of divorce were actually higher than the general population. Dr. Brad Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project, said that, quote, active Protestants who attend church services regularly are actually 35%, less likely to divorce than those who have no religious preferences. To come right down to it in our studies, Shanti Felden found that 72% of all married people, listen to me well, 72% of all married people people were married to the only spouse they ever had. And over 80% of those respondents indicated that they were thriving in their marriages. My point is many of us have been laboring under a conception, especially the lot of younger people who have delayed marriage or rejected it altogether in favor of just to be frank, shacking up in fornication, just to be frank. They've allowed these false numbers that have been circulating in our society for so long, the cause of having negative perception of marriage, and sometimes you also have immediate kind of anecdotal experiences with brokenness instead of first and foremost, relying on the word of God as the chief authority.

  14. 28:50

    And then secondarily, actually having real data. The summarizing that I'm endeavoring to say from this research is contrary to what has been reported for years, the divorce rate is not 50%. It's not. It's close to the 30%. But beyond that is when people who endeavor to keep God at the center of their unions, at the center of their homes and their families lives, their marriages remain intact at far greater rates. And people actually thrive in those marriages. One of the The main reasons for this is that when you have two people whose commitments are to Christ as pre-immanent, their capacity to thrive together for life is bolstered. Now I wanted to share that information with you, that statistical information with you, because as many of you have heard me say before, the marital union, the man's commitment, the husband's commitment to his wife, the lifelong commitment of a husband to a wife and a wife to her husband. The exclusive context that is God ordained for physical intimacy is also the only human institution that God has allowed to be described in his holy word as being illustrative of Christ's relationship with the church. It is a living and breathing picture of the bridegroom and his bride, which is why unsurprisingly, it is greatly under siege, greatly under attack.

  15. 30:55

    One of the things I do off the air, a lot of you guys know that I'm a pastor as well, is to walk with people through through difficult circumstances. And I'm greatly concerned that there are people who profess to be Christ followers, who exclude their relationships with their spouse from their understanding of what God requires from them in worship and obedience. When the text in Matthew 5, 23, that reread, says the worshipper is en route to worship and remembers that his brother has a problem with him. Guys, this passage also governs our relationships with our spouses. If my commitment is to render obedience to the Lord, that obedience includes my obedience to him in serving his daughter, my wife. It elevates to a higher level of significance. It should elevate to us a higher level of significance than the necessity of us as Peter said it, dwelling together with our spouses. Husbands dwell together with your wives in an understanding manner so that your prayers be not handed notice of consistency. Peter is explaining that man, if you are not living properly with your wife, your prayer life will be hindered. It's because our relationships are included in our offerings of worship to the Lord. Brother, you cannot rebel against God's commands in serving your wife as it applies to serving your wife and at the same time say, but I want to serve you Lord with all my heart. Worship you love you with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength. That's an oxymoron.

  16. 32:59

    Hamilton Quarter Podcast and One-Minute Common Terrence are available at aFR.net back to the Hamilton Quarter on American Family Radio. Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner, man. We're already in the last segment. Hey, Abraham Hamilton, III here. And I know I ended the last segment. We're talking to the brothers, but listen, let me talk to the sisters as well. My sisters, you cannot, you cannot live as a rebel against the commands of God as it and pertains to your husband and your marital union, yet say that you're gonna worship the Lord and Spirit and the truth, not so. Think about the numbers of scriptures. You know, he that says he loves God, but he hates his brother, he's a liar. That's what Jesus says. If you say you love God, but you hate who you cannot see, but you hate your brother who you see, many times we are able to, we consider these scriptures and we externalize them. Yes, I mean, the man at the gas station and the brother at the church building and all this, but we don't include our spouses in this. If you, like I am, if you are married, the first external outlet, meaning outside of yourself in your relationship with the Lord personally, the first external context, I should say, for discharging the pinnacle of worship, which is obedience from when we talk about worship, it's not an activity, it's a lifestyle, the lifestyle of obedience is typified The lifestyle of worship, I'm sorry, is typified by obedience. If you are blessed to be married like I am, you know what I'm saying? You mean blessed, you don't live with me.

  17. 35:00

    I know I don't live with you, but know who does, the whole spirit. Have you are blessed to be married? The first external context for you to discharge your worship unto the Lord is within your relationships with your spouse. If you're blessed to have children, praise God. The best thing you can do for your children is to show them what a godly marriage looks like. One of the best things, the best thing you can do is share the gospel with them. Following sharing the gospel is living the gospel. Living the gospel includes doing so with your spouse. And I want to offer the type of gravity to this conversation that the Lord requires of us because our interactions with our spouse is included in our offering of worship to the Lord. You might say, man, I evangelize on the streets, on a regular basis, I share the gospel everywhere I can. Whenever I'm in the restaurant, I always pray for the waiter or the waitress. I have discipleship relationships with all that, and all that is wonderful. Those things are important, we must do those things. But none of those things supplant your relationship with your spouse. None of those things justify, And I want to say it the way it is, living as a rebel in your relationship, in your marital relationships. I am saying living as a rebel because that is what disobedience is. It is rebellion. To know the commands of God, yet refuse to adhere to them, yet refuse to obey them that is knowingly, intentional, and voluntary rebellion. is similar to the rebellion of those who know what God says concerning human sexuality, yet they persist in one and half physical intimacy outside of the context, the covenantal context of one man and one woman.

  18. 37:12

    That would be a man and a woman who are not covenant to one another in marriage, that they are committing for an occasion, that is rebellion. For a man or a woman to take another man's wife or another man's husband, for a man to take another man's wife or for a woman to take another man's husband, that is the rebellious of adultery and for you to refuse to serve your wife, to dwell with her in an understanding manner, to love her as Christ loves the church and gave himself for her. That is rebellion. For you, sister, to refuse to submit to your own husband as unto the Lord and respect your own husband as unto the Lord. That is rebellion. That's not just, well, you know, I have a difference of opinion on this matter. understand there are lots of circumstances that are difficult there are lots of circumstances to where people have a history of reciprocal injuring of one another I get it these are the things that happen when you take two fallen people and they come together what happens when individual fallenness is brought together is that you have the potential for compound fallenness but is not the Grace of God sufficient is not the same God whose grace is available to take an individual who was a fallen rebel prior to being regenerated prior to being born again prior to being indwelled to the spirit and to be conformed to the nature and image of Jesus Christ. Can he not do that with two people becoming one? I say I know that he can. You might say, but you don't know what we've been through. You're right. I do not know what you've been through, but you want to know what I do know? We serve a God who is a master at using crooked sticks to paint straight lines. We serve a God who is the resurrection and the life. You can't tell me that is dead beyond resurrection because the God we serve is the resurrection and the life. What is impossible with man is more than possible with God. I understand it may be hurt and pain and you've heard me say this before in this program. The people that are closest to us because of that closeness have the most frequent opportunity to wound us in the wound us deeply.

  19. 39:42

    And we have the most frequent opportunity to wound them and wound them deeply. But the grace of God is sufficient. I'll ask you the way the script is recorded. Is there anything too hard for God? I hear this often, but you just don't know how they are. Listen, I'm not concerned with how they are. I'm concerned with how you are. How would God require you to respond? How would God require you to humble yourself? How would God require you to submit yourself before him in within the context of your marriage? And I'm just gonna say this very plainly. Some of you are listening to me right now and you may be considering walking away from your spouse. I'm just gonna tell you very plainly, don't do it. Don't do it. I know there's some extreme circumstances, but by and large, what often occurs is you have one or more of spouses, of the spouses in a marriage, they simply do not want to submit to what they know God requires of them. A lot of times you think about contending for the faith being something that is an external pursuit, you know, take down Disney. They're trying to corrupt our children in which they are no doubt. So you see all these shows they're making, you know, I have young children. I either tell you I have, I'm nauseated at the number of shows where they're perpetuating the emasculation of boys. Like, when's the last time you saw a cartoon where a boy is actually a hero? You know, you got the girl swashbuckling, they doing everything. And the boys are just like, you know, feeble attendants, you know? And look, I got daughters, so I'm not trying to have this thing where I don't want my daughters being who God made it to be.

  20. 41:47

    But let's keep it a buck. There is an agenda present. Now, I'll give you an example. My children like Paw Patrol. You know, they have a recent Paw Patrol movie that came out. We did our research on it and said we wanna see it. And it was a Mighty Pups, I believe. And my children liked the Mighty Pups. We saw the movie, the first thing my children would say is like, why do they make Sky the hero? Sky don't even have the powers in the Mighty Pups show that they have her within the movie. Because it's a part of the consistent phenomenon. And some of you listening to me now, you're thinking about it all of the shows that heroes, all of them are women. Look, I love women. I got a mama and I got sisters. I got a wife and I got daughters. But why is there such a concerted effort to only celebrate women when they display masculine traits and characteristics? It's ridiculous. It's nauseating. But to get back to the conversation I wanna have, there are too many of us that just to be frank, you are considering the easy way out. And it is a sinful, self-centered, self-absorbed posture. and people around you sometimes are afraid to tell you that directly, but make no mistake about it, your relationship with the Lord, in your relationship with the Lord, you cannot silo your marital relationship and say, oh, that's over on the side and then the rest of my life, this is where I'm gonna, to worship you, I live, can't happen, man. Christ following is a fully immersed integral reality. All that we are. We call to surrender to him. Love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength, everything, including our relationships in general, and specifically for today's conversation, our marital relationships.

  21. 44:01

    Satan, because he is a chief counterfeiter, and he knows the promise that God places his own family, wants to continue when he started in the garden as the talking snake, to throw What the purposes of God, which is why there's a current consistent demonic effort when God says he made them both male and female, the demonic world says, uh-oh, he made them Zim Zay Zare, them they, Kriqaladak, Kriqaladai, you know, in his image God made them male and female on the world in the demonic world says 156 different genders, you know, because you have to separate identity from genetics, fully. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and be joined into his wife and the two shall become one flesh to demonic world say Uh-uh Live and let live let love win the perversion is so robust they even begin to articulate You know refusing to sexualize children is to deny them their rights Rights for what? And all of that has resulted in this pornography decided that we live in well You can't even sell a hamburger what I have a some naked woman on the television because Satan wants to frustrate the purposes of God. But I want to tell you, and to encourage the people of God to submit fully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, to what may be impossible with men, is more than possible in God.

  22. 46:03

    What some of us need, as we're facing the difficulties within our marital unions, is internal reformation, just as Martin Luther pinning the 95th DC, to the Wittenberg, Germany, Castle doors, we need to have an internal marital reformation to where we resubmit ourselves afresh to the lordship of Christ, to where we re-establish that the foundational authority for all of our life and practice is going to be God's holy word. But it hadn't been like that before. Well, even though that may not have been the way it was before, from this point forward, This is the way we're going to go. A recommitment to operating as a Christ follower in relationship to one another, employing the virtues of Christianity, exercise and self-control in the way we use our mouths, refusing to let her to offer harsh answers, a soft answer turns away wrath, seeking to be peacemakers and our interactions with one another, steaming one another more highly than ourselves, humbling ourselves before the Lord and for one another. Saying I'm sorry when you've messed it up. Letting it be from doing so from a heart condition. Sometimes that is all that is necessary. Acknowledging with honesty and humility, and I've been wrong all of this time. Endeavouring to be more attendant. Not often, not trying to offer love and affection in the way that you receive it, but having the type of attention and intentionality where we learn one another and grow together. and do so as a worship filled commitment to God. Saying to one another, then I'm going to be done with the worship of the Lord better by how I serve you and how I treat you, how I talk to you, how I respond to you.

  23. 48:08

    I realize over time I've grown short in patience. I realize that patience is something that the Spirit of God produces in me. So the fact that I am inpatient is evident that there's more sanctification than I need and recognizing that God has placed you here to help me grow in faith, in relationship with him, and he's placed me here to help you grow. And recognizing that we're not enemies, we're on the same team. And together, we are going to work towards fulfilling God's purpose for bringing us together. The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.

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