BNC Podcast
BNC Podcast
Voice of the Nazarene 8-24-25
Voice of the Nazarene 8-24-25
Ray coming to you from North Central Ohio. We share with you the voice of the Nazarene, a week by week, venture into the Word of God sponsored by the Bucyrus, Ohio Church of the Nazarene. We join our Pastor Reverend Ray Lasalle and the voice of the Nazarene.
Pastor Ray LaSalle:Talking about Home Sweet Home Series, and I want you to join me in the writings of Simon Peter. It's the first little book that he had written, chapter three, verse seven, likewise, ye husbands, dwell with your wife according to knowledge, giving honor unto her as unto the weaker vessel and as being heirs together the grace of life that your prayers be not hindered. Likewise, your husbands dwell with them according to knowledge. What's that saying to us? Well, it's saying husbands, you'd better be a student of your wife. And it's saying wife, you'd better be a student of your husband. Dwell with them according to knowledge. Get to know them. Learn all about them. Dwell with them according to knowledge. Couple had been married for 50 years, and they were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, and it was quite a celebration. Family had come and neighbors came in, and friends gathered, and right toward the conclusion of their celebration, somebody said, you need to give a toast. And so the elderly gentleman looked over at his wife, and he held up his little cup, and he said, after 50 years, you're tried and true. She said, Huh? He said, after 50 years, you're tried and true. She said, What? He said, after 50 years, you're tried and true. She said, after 50 years, I'm tired of you too. Well, that's not really the way that a marriage should be. The Bible says in Proverbs, 18, verse, 22 Whoso findeth a wife, findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favor with the Lord. Not only did you find a good thing, but you obtained God's favor. The Bible
says in Ephesians 5:31, for this call, shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and they shall be one flesh. Now catch this little phrase, and I may conclude with it, I speak unto you a mystery of Christ and the church. Do you know that every ordinance in the Bible is very symbolic? We recently baptized right up here in the front and baptism is so symbolic of the death and the burial and the resurrection of Christ, it's symbolic that you have died out to sin and you've been raised to the newness of life. When we celebrate the Lord's Supper, it's symbolic of the blood and the body of Christ, that his body was broken and symbolic that his blood was shed for our sins. Now I want you to understand something, this thing of marriage is also very symbolic, because marriage symbolizes that relationship between Christ and his Church and you who are Christians and have a Christian marriage, when the world looks on, it's symbolizing to them that Christ loves His church and we reverence Christ. It's a testimony to the world about the Church that Jesus died for. Marriage is very important. Do you ever stop to think of the fact that the devil before he came after Adam went after Eve first. And I know what you're thinking, I concur. You just don't know what I concur. I'm just reading Keith's notes here. And he went after Eve before he went after Adam. He knew the impact and effect of marriage. He knew what a kingdom marriage could be all about, and trying to fight Christ in the church, he tries to fight this whole thing about a marriage, because when a couple comes together, they can accomplish great exploits, and even great exploits in the lives of others. Get this Genesis 1:27, so God created man in His own image, in the image of God, created He him, male and female. Created he them. It's kind of the way you come into this world male and female. Preaching pretty good so far, right? Three of you thought so. And the Bible said that God blessed them, this male and female, and God said of them be fruitful and multiply. Marriage is a wonderful thing, sir, but there's some things you can't accomplish without a female. God has a purpose for every one of you, but you need someone else to be a part of that relationship so you can fulfill the purpose that God has to replenish and multiply the Earth with offspring. That's why you need a wife. That's why you need a mate. It bothers me it's an indictment against the church when there's about as many divorces inside the churches there is on the outside. And I'm not trying to beat up on anybody I'm just saying. Because, look, the success rate of marriage can be 100% if we do it God's way, it can be 100% successful if both husband and wife said we want to do it God's way. Now we wind up we get into struggles. I mean, it starts off as ideal, and then if we're not careful, it becomes an ordeal. And we're not careful, we begin to look for a new deal. Somebody said that, when a man comes home and he's met with a smile and he's encouraged to take off his shoes and sit on a pillow and eat a delicious meal, I can show you a man that lives at a Japanese restaurant. That reminds me of a book I ran across some years ago back during college days. It's 1992 Columbus sailed the ocean blue, no a guy by the name of Dr. Gary Chapman. He was an associate pastor. He did a lot of counseling at the church, and in his research, found there are five major love languages. Do you want to take a little course on an extra language? I'd encourage you to check one of these out. Things will sure go better for you at your house. I'm telling you. And in his research, he came up with a book called The Five Love Languages. It has sold over 20 million copies. He said, The problem many times, is the man is speaking in Japanese and the wife is trying to listen in English. She doesn't always hear what he's trying to say. And they're speaking in two different languages, and if they connect, they're going to have to get on the same page speaking the same language. And here's what I want you to see as a foundation, Ephesians 5:25, Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Now man says, Pastor, I'd like to know what my responsibility is as a husband. Since I can't meet with all of you in my office, especially at the same time, if you come up real close, I'm going to tell you, as a pastor, sir what your responsibility is as a husband, is to love your wife. Simple as that, kids are watching. Neighbors are watching. The judge is going to be watching, love your wife. Just real simple. And while I'm on that wise, if you want to know what your responsibility is, is to love your husband. Over in Titus, chapter two, verse four and five, it says For the older women to teach the younger women to do what? Love your husbands. Love your husband. You You love your husband, not somebody else's your husband. You love your husband. You love your husband. And so husbands are to love their wives, and wives are to love their husbands. Yeah, but the problem is, are we speaking in the right language to one another? Dr. Chapman claims there are at least five languages, and each of you have to find out what your wives love language happens to be. She's got a primary language and the secondary. Somebody said, I've got all five. No, you don't. You've got a primary. You got a primary language, and you receive love in a primary language. Now, let me give you the five love languages real quick like and I'm just basing my sermon kind of simply off of that during this series, the first is words of affirmation. This is the second most popular language of all couples. Simply words of affirmation. Everybody responds to praises and raises, right? Right, Thank you, preacher. And here in Genesis, one three, and God said, Let there be light. And guess what? There was light. Do you know how this world came into existence through words? God spoke it in existence. Words are important. Words can build up and words can tear down. Lady and her husband went shopping, and she was trying on dresses, and she put this dress on and came out of the dressing room and she said, Does this make me look fat? No, no he said, It's your hips. Evidently he hadn't read Proverbs 18:21, where Death and life are in the power of the tongue. That'll be a new one. It'll be a shocker for him. Evidently, he hadn't read
Proverbs 25:11, a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold and pictures of silver. Evidently he hadn't read
Ephesians 4:29, Let no corrupt communication proceed from out of thy mouth, but that which is good to them edify. It wasn't very edifying at their house, nor did it create any grace among the hearers. If you've got a husband, the greatest need that a man has is to feel respected. Why did I get on this series? Don't give me any more notes. Greatest need, fact of the matter over in Ephesians, 5:33, it talks about a wife reverencing her husband, and his greatest need is respect. He wants the admiration of his own wife. He wants that little lady that was given to him at an altar, and he give himself to her. He wants her to admire him. And you gotta look at the way that we can affirm each other through respect and through reverence. And you know, I've never told Jan that she looked nice, but what she just started glowing. Always, she believes me every time, if you all keep your mouth shut, it'll continue. And we got, she got not we got, she got packages from Amazon, whoever they are, some corrupt group. She came in and I'm still in bed, and she spread it all out over the bed. You got a knife? I thought, ooh, I'm going to say nice things. And she began to open the packages. Next thing I know is this skirt and that skirt and this blouse and does this look nice? What are you going to say? Couldn't look better. Love Language. You say, Well, I can't think of anything good to say about him. Well, just say your back looks good as you're leaving, I'll be watching something. Say something, but maybe your wife's primary love language, instead of buying everything and doing all this other stuff. Maybe it's just simply affirming her saying, I have eyes only for you, and you're the most important lady in the whole world, words of affirmation. Well, moving off of that, since that didn't go over, well, let's go to number two. I wish I'd wrote the book I'd have changed some things. It's acts of service. Now, did Jesus ever do any acts of service to his bride? Well, he cooked a breakfast for them, and he washed their feet. And a man's greatest need is respect. Do you know what a woman's greatest need in life is? Security. Every woman under the sound of my voice, her greatest need is to know that she's got security. You say, Well, Pastor, how can I create that for her? Well, it's being a sacrificial serving husband. One lady said, My husband is a do it yourself, sort of a guy. Every time I want him to do something, he said, Do it yourself. The University of Pennsylvania did a research, and they wanted to determine when a man is the most sexually attracted or attractive. And in their research, they said that women generally were attracted about five or six days a month. And to their consternation, a man was attracted 32 times a month, even on short months. So what is it about a man that's attractive to a woman? I think I'm gonna buff up. I think about it every so often. I'm gonna get me a tan and I'm gonna get me a gold chain. You know what'll help you the most? Just grab that vacuum sweeper. Grab the vacuum sweeper. Have you got it yet? It's called acts of service. Acts of service. Now let's move along. What's the third? Gifts. Getting better innit? Acts of service and now it's gifts. The
Bible said in John 3:16 that God so loved the world that He gave. I believe we're never more like Jesus than when we're giving. I like what Bill Bright said. He said, I'd rather do my giving while my hands are still warm. Lady was on an airplane and glanced over at the lady next to her and saw the biggest diamond she'd ever seen, and she was mesmerized by it. Finally she whispered, that's the most beautiful diamond I've ever seen. The lady held up her hand with her diamond on that ring, and she said, Yes, it's called the famous white diamond. Oh, she said, it's beautiful. She said, but with it comes the dreaded white curse. She said, What's that? She said, Mr. White. Well, Abraham. You remember Abraham? I think he understood this love language of gifts. He had a son named Isaac, and he said, I want you to go down into Mesopotamia and find a mate for my boy Isaac. I don't want him to marry one of these worldly, ungodly Canaanites. Can we just stop here for a moment? Christians, oughta date Christians. We're not to be unequally yoked. Fact of matter, we don't even believe in missionary dating service, dating unbelievers so you can get them saved. There's three groups. One group is the grabbers, just whosoever will may come. And then there's the gripers. Nobody likes me, and I know it. I wonder why. And then there's the grippers. They grip the Word of God, and they reach out and say, God, I want your will help me to find who you want me to find. Let's move on that's not going over well. So Abraham said, now you're getting the camels ready to go, and you're about ready to mount up. I want you to put gifts in the saddle bag, because gifts might be her love language. Here's the fourth physical touch. UCLA said that women need eight to 10 meaningful touches a day. And the survey said 80% of them need to be non sexual in nature, a hug, a kiss, a shoulder rub, just being there with them. One lady was very depressed, and it was becoming suicidal. Finally, her husband took her to the psychiatrist for counseling. He came into the office, listened to the story, and he just said, it's very simple, I can help you without medication, got up and walked around the desk and grabbed a hold of that lady, stood her up, leaned her over, and put a great big smacker kiss right on her mouth, and a big smile broke loose. You could have put a clothes hanger in her face. And he looked over and he said, bro, that's what she needs three times a week. Three times a week. The guy said, Okay, I'll bring her back Mondays and Wednesdays and Fridays he's waiting for. The last love language is the most popular of all among all couples across the board, and that's quality time. Quality time. Now it must have not been with one guy. He was out shopping with his wife, and he couldn't believe what he caught out of the corner of the corner of his eye and he looked over and his wife had taken a can of peaches and slipped it in to her coat. Of course, you know, if you're shoplifting, you get caught. You go to court. They wound up in the courtroom, and the judge said, What did you steal? And she whispered, a can of peaches. Say it louder. She said, a can of peaches. He said, How many peaches were in the can? She said, six. He said, six days in jail. Husband spoke up. Said, Your Honor, Your Honor she also stole a can of peas. Evidently, he didn't like quality time. I don't know. But evidently, did you know that 80% of women said I'd give up a part of my husband's salary if I could just spend more time with him? Quality time. So let's skip off of that. How do we determine my mate's love language? How can I determine? Number one, observe how your mate expresses love to you. If there are many times saying, I think of you, I miss you, it might be their love language is quality time, you need to catch on. And if your mate is always buying you things it may be the gifts is your mates love language, and they might like a gift too. Observe how your mate expresses love to you. And secondly, observe how your mate expresses love to others. If you're married to someone that's always hugging everybody, it's pretty obvious that physical touch is their love language. If you're married to someone that's always been kind to everybody, they want to help cut their grass and bake them a cake. It might be that their love language is acts of service, but here's the most important, observe what your mate complains about. If your mate says you're never here, it may be that quality time is their love language. Or if your mate says you fix everybody else's stuff that's broken, you never fix ours. It may be that their love language is acts of service, and if your marriage or mate says I just wish you would hold me once in a while or kiss me back. It might be physical touch. If you'd listen to what I'm telling you, you could probably help your situation at home, Columbia International University had a president by the name of Robert Roger McQuilkin he was their third president, a great university still in existence. Robert had a wife her name was Margaret, and she was diagnosed with dementia, and it was really coming on quickly. He was trying to run that large university, and at the same time, he had a wife that was fading away and drifting away from him, and he had someone to come in every day and sit with her while he was at the university. When he would come home, he would ask the person sitting with his wife, how was she today? And said, well, the school was only located a mile from the president's home said, Well, I have to tell you. I hate to tell you this, but 10 times today, she tried to slip out of the house wanted to walk up and see you. She misses you. He came in one evening, and as they were putting her to bed, he noticed that her feet were cut and spots of blood were on her feet. And he said, what happened? They said, Well, we didn't want to tell you, but when we weren't looking, she tried to go out of the back door without us noticing, and got into a briar patch. She wanted to see you. He said, You've told me all I needed to know. And he went to the school that afternoon and met with some board members and said, I'm turning in my resignation. I'm resigning. And they said, Dr, why would you do that? He said, My wife has dementia, and I'm going to stay with her. And one of the board members said to him, but doctor, think of the impact that you're having on so many lives of young people that'll change the world, to go home and sit with a woman that doesn't even know who you are. Big tears gathered in his eyes and started down his cheeks, and he finally looked up and said, Yes, but I know who she is. And here's a man that is simply trying to show to the world the mystery of Christ and His Church. It's a testimony of how much a man loves his wife, how much Christ loves the church. Can I just mention this little verse of scripture again? Likewise, your husbands dwell with your wives according to knowledge, giving honor unto her as unto the weaker vessels, being heirs together the grace of life. Now catch this that your prayers be not hindered, that your prayers be not hindered. Do you want the best for your home? And yet, you've got issues at your house. You've got issues, and some of you have issues, and you have issues if you don't want your prayers hindered, and you want God to respond to the needs in your home. You've got to get things right. You've got to settle issues. Wouldn't it be something in a service, just like we're in if somebody would lean over and take their mate by the hand and say, You know what? I want God to resolve all the issues. I want God to hear me when I pray, the husband puts his arm around his wife and said, we've been hindered. I've been hindered in my prayer life, and I know I'm not speaking the right language. We're not always connecting. Now, I'm not going to let this happen any longer. I'm going to love you and I'm going to find out your love language till we respond together, till we connect together and we're one, so that our prayers be not hindered.
Unknown:Thanks for being a part of the voice of the Nazarene, visit us every Sunday at 9am with BNC Pastor Ray LaSalle. For more information regarding BNC, visit us at bucyrusnazarene.org.