Voice of the Nazarene 2-15-26

Voice of the Nazarene 2-15-26

Transcript

Unknown: 0:00

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 La Salle and the voice of the Nazarene.

Pastor Ray LaSalle: 0:18

The Pharisees also came unto Jesus, tempting him, saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for forever cause? And he answered and said unto them, Have you not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female? And he said, for this call, shall a man leave his father and his mother? And incidentally, that was given to Adam and he didn't have a father or mother. So it must be an important issue. And they shall, the twain shall become one flesh. Wherefore they are no more two or Twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder building a marriage that will last. In the last 50 years, the divorce rate has increased 700% so the question is, how can you build a marriage that will last? Number one, don't forget, the 14th of February. Man was traveling down the highway in a Mercedes, good rate of speed, and he happened to notice something flashing in his rear view mirror. And sure enough, there was a patrolman following with his lights on. Then the sirens came on, and the guy thought, I'm driving a Mercedes. I could outrun that that Trooper, so he just floored it, and that Mercedes roared off into the distance, but he got to thinking, if he's got a radio in that car, I might be able to outrun him, but he'll radio ahead, there'll be another Trooper, and he'll throw out some spikes. So he finally pulled over, the state patrolman came up to the car and motioned for him to drop the window down, and he said, you know, this is the end of the shift, 530 it's Friday. I don't want to have to book you. I don't want to have to put you in jail. I don't want to go through all of that. I just want to go home. I've been a trooper for 37 years. If you can give me a good story I've never heard that makes sense, I might let you off. Why were you speeding? And the man looked up and he said, Trooper, my wife left me two months ago. Fact of the matter, after all those years, left me and left with the state patrolman. When I saw your lights, I thought you were bringing her back. That's why I was speeding up. One man said to his wife said, Honey, why did God make you so beautiful and yet so dumb? She said, he made me beautiful so you'd marry me and made me dumb, so I'd marry you. Marriage is God's plan. Marriage originated with God. If your watch is not working, I'd suggest you go to a watchmaker. If your little world's not turning just right, I'd suggest you go to a World Maker. And if your marriage isn't working, you need to go to the match maker. That's God. God put it together. Dr field had nothing to do with it. Oprah had nothing to do with it. Ann Landers and all the rest of them had nothing to do with originating marriage. God did. So God's got the answers, and if we want to learn from him how to make this thing work, we need to get to God. 76% of everybody that will get married this year will have cohabitated together before they were married, they were living together before they got married. Now John Hopkins Hospital, one of the brilliant doctors, they stated that if people live together before they get married, there's a 50% greater chance of divorce. And while we think that will secure a marriage and and be advantageous to a marriage, the opposite is true. 50% greater chance for divorce when you go to just checking it out without commitment, but there's 100% chance of marriage working if you do it God's way. Me, I'd like to talk to you about that for a few minutes, because we're to be one flesh. Do you realize you can't compartmentalize your life and have this little segment over here and another little if part of your life doesn't work, it's going to affect the other parts of your life. It'll affect you on your job. What's happening there in the home? Now I'm just going to tell you a little secret. But you you're most of you're having dementia problems. Anyhow, you can't even remember how to say Amen, so I don't worry about you spreading the rumor, because you won't remember. There's been times at my house where there's been some disagreements, and I've come to church and went to my office, and knew in a little while I had to stand up here in this pulpit and try to preach without being anointed, and I've had to get on the phone and call home and say, I'm sorry. I want this thing righted. I want us to be together, because a little bit I've got to stand in the pulpit. Will you forgive me? Boy, it's quiet now we're going to look around for a new pastor. Help yourself. I'll look for a new crowd, but maybe the devil's visited your home on Sunday morning too. And I'm just simply saying, if you left the house and you slammed the door, you might want to lean over and whisper, I'm sorry before we go any farther, your prayer life and everything about you will be hindered if you've got problems at home. Now let me give you three simple little things. Number one, let's talk about an arrangement most sacred. And two quick things I want you to see. One, the definition of marriage on June 26 19 or 20, 2015, the Supreme Court, the highest court in America, redefine what marriage is. But there's only one problem. You can't redefine what God has already defined. And here in Matthew 19, verse four, and he said unto them, Have ye not read that he made them at the beginning? Made them male and female, and I don't care how many bills get passed and how many debates are waged and how many amendments may be argued, but marriage will always be between a man and a woman, because that's the way God defined it. I didn't write the book on it. I'm just called to preach it. But then I want you to notice the design of marriage. The Pharisees came and they said, When is it okay to get a divorce? And I want you to know that I'm not here to beat you up this morning. I love you. I love this pastor, and I love the people that make up this and I love the town and the county. I love people. I'm not here to beat up on anybody. But divorce is certainly not the unpardonable sin, and there is forgiveness in the Lord. But you need to understand something that in Jesus' day, there were two schools of thinking, two two mindsets. There was a rabbi by the name of Helio, and he said, you can just put your wife away for any cause. If she burns the toast, she puts too much sugar in your tea, if you find somebody a lot younger and more attractive, it's okay, just put them away. That's what Hillel said. But there was another rabbi that had another school, and his thoughts were and his name was Shama i, and he said, there's no grounds for divorce, no biblical grounds. But if you read verse eight again, Jesus spoke, and he said there were biblical grounds for divorce. He said he dealt, first of all with adultery. He saith unto them, Moses, because of the hardness of your heart, suffered you to put away your wives. But from the beginning, it was not so. But what Moses was dealing with, with those 2 million Jews, and he saw the hardness of their heart out of mercy, God told Moses, you can give them a bill of divorcement. Now, what's that talking about? You know, I've been around the church for 100 years or less. I've never heard this preached. I've never heard it taught. But during Moses day, it was very common for a man to marry a beautiful lady, and they would have children, and they would raise these children, and the children would become successful and move out and and do well on their own. And then those men would look at that woman, whose body is broken down and she's aged and her face is wrinkled. And then he'd see a pretty young, shapely thing that's about 20, and he would put her away and get the 20 year old. Now, the law said that that woman, who's in her 40s, raised the kids, been kind, been a husband to this man and loved him that she could not work a job against the law. She could not go get a job. The only thing left, she had to go into prostitution in order to get food, to keep body and soul together, she would become a prostitute. And God said, that's not right. And God in mercy said being merciful because of a hard hearted husband said, allow this girl to have a divorce so she can remarry and not live in prostitution because of God being merciful. We want to preach God as being harsh and hard and and unbendable, but I want you to know God cares about what's going on in your life. And so he said, there are certain grounds. But he said, from the beginning, it was not so. And while I'm on that, Paul makes a statement about abandonment. He said, In First Corinthians, 715, but if the unbelieving depart, they abandon you. Let him depart or her depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such occasion. Cases, it was commonly called the Pauline prerogative. And may I also add this thing of abuse, God doesn't expect anybody to get their brains knocked off, knocked out every week and not know whether you can get up and you're going to live when you go home with this, the ice is going to break and you're going to be killed, and it's better to separate for the safety of that one that's under abuse. But may I say again in verse eight, but from the beginning, it was not so. Does God permit divorce, certainly, but he never commanded it. But he does permit it, but for certain grounds. But he said from the beginning, it was not so. And I want you to understand something in Malachi, 217, or 16, rather, God said, I hate divorce. I hate divorce. Listen to me closely. God does, does not hate the divorcee. Are you with me? But he hates divorce, and God's a loving God, and God hates what divorce brings into a marriage, the hurt, the division the damage. God hates how it hurts a man or hurts a woman. But in verse 15, he tells us why he hates it. And I, I've been preaching for a couple years now. You didn't know that, but at least two years. Zoom, I just saw this for the first time. Only twice that God, that Jesus addresses divorce. And that's over here in Matthew 19, and that's where we're at. And then over there in Mark chapter 10. And in both times when he addresses this thing of divorce, he immediately tells you why he hates divorce. He says, Suffer the little children to come unto me. God knows what it does to kids, how it destroys emotionally and mentally a kid's future for the rest of their lives. You say, Pastor, I'm walking through a divorce right now. What would be your advice to me? Well, my advice to you would be, don't focus on a new, brand new relationship. Get your focus off of that. Get your focus on how you're going to feel free and how nice it's going to be in the sunlight shining days are hazy and lazy. Get your focus on your kids. Get your focus on how much is this going to damage them? Are you mad at me? I know this is not popular, but I don't know how in the world a pastor could pastor for years and not deal with these issues once in a while, we just need to see both sides. You say, Well, my kids are growing. Hey, it'll affect them. Also focus on the impact on your children, and I'm not here to beat up anybody, but I want you to know that divorce is damaging, but it doesn't only hurt the husband and the wife, but the kids rest of their life, the arrangement most sacred. Now, I understand that some people are going through a divorce and there's nothing they can do about it. I understand that I'm just talking to you, but the second thing I want to bring up is. The Assignment most solemn. See the arrangement is God's part. God put this whole idea together. The assignment is our part. One little couple got married and and he said to her, he said, I sure wish you could make biscuits like mama. She said, I wish you brought the dough home like daddy. Now Coach Bobby Bowden, the football coach, he said, I don't care when or where you got married. There's nothing easy about marriage. It's work. It truly is hard work. And in my research this week, the number one reason for divorce in America is a lack of commitment. 50% of first time marriages end in divorce. 67% of second time marriages end in divorce. What's the crucial year? Years pastor? Well the first two years, year one and two the most crucial, and then the next most crucial is between year five and year eight. And then the next is, after 20 years, a couple has raised their family, the kids have left, and you poured all of your attention and your love and your focus into those kids, and suddenly they're gone. You've got an empty nest, and you look at each other and wonder, who's that? I don't remember anybody being that wrinkled. I don't Who are we and you got to learn each other. Now I'm talking about the assignment. Let me give you six simple little words about the assignment. Assignment Number one, acceptance. Look at what God's Word says, accept one another. It's Romans 15, verse seven, accept one another then, just as Christ accepted you in order to bring praise to God. Now I'm not talking about accepting them. If there's something immoral or unethical, understand what I'm saying, but I'm saying we learn to accept one another. We are who we are, and this is what happens a man gets married and he thinks, wow, she's got it, she's hot, and she'll always look just like this. She'll never change. And she's thinking, I don't agree with him, but once I get married, I'm going to change him. And I've got a news flash for you. She's probably going to change it. He probably never will change. Moving along. Column four, Page nine. Paul Harvey, good day. Ben Franklin said, before you get married, keep both eyes open. But after you get married, keep both eyes half shut. You say, Well, Pastor, she's an arrowhead. She was before you married her. Well, she don't make good decisions. It's very obvious. She married you. Acceptance. What about the word attention? You say, Pastor, where you get this stuff out of the Bible? Ephesians, 533, nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself and the wife, see that ye reverence her husband. Number one thing that a woman wants from her husband is security. Knowing things are going to be secure. I've got a secure marriage, a secure home. He'll never cheat on me, he'll always provide for me and the kids. And the number one need of every man is for his wife to respect him. There's not a man in this building that's married, but what he doesn't want his wife to respect him. That's why, when you're out with somebody and he says something, and you speak up and say, I hate. Hate to even take him out in the public shame on you. He wants to be respected, especially when he is in front of somebody and his wife just puts him down to a low level. There's a little boy and every man in the house that wants his wife to be proud of him. Here's the third word, adjustment. The Bible says they too shall be what one flesh. You don't use your body for leverage. You don't use your body for manipulation. You don't use your body for punishment. You say preacher, I don't know what you're talking about. You know exactly what I'm talking about. Somebody said, This is mine and that is hers. I got news for you. What is mine and Thine is no longer. It's ours. But she's got two kids. I've got three kids. No, you've got five kids, five kids, and the next word is amnesty. When you get married, you get a brand new middle name. It's called I'm sorry, so sorry if you want your marriage to sizzle with love and a loving cup whenever you're wrong, admit it whenever you're right, shut up. Me. Poet said that I said a little harshly, didn't I? Now, if you want a long term relationship, you've got to learn to say, I'm sorry. Where do you get that? Ephesians 432 be you. Kind one to another. Tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Another word is appreciation. Say thank you often. Another word is affection. James Dobson said, women in America, 85% of them would rather have a hug than a physical relationship. I don't get it. Pastor, it means hug him not be Oscar the octopus. Now, loss may cause a man to stray, but a woman can literally be hugged into an affair if a marriage is void of affection. I'm going to go for my last thought and quit that accomplishment. Most special look at what God's Word says. Ephesians, 522, husband or wives, rather, submit yourselves unto your own husband as unto the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife. Even as Christ is the head of the church, he's the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything, Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. What's he saying? He's simply saying the world will never see that a lost world will never see Jesus. But if they see a husband treating his wife right, they'll suddenly see Jesus. And when they see a wife responding in relationship to her husband, right, son of the world has seen Jesus. I want somebody to see Jesus in my life. If you're a man, treat your wife well. If you're a wife or a woman, treat your husband well. Now listen closely every major religion in the world. I'm talking about Hinduism. First of all, there are more males than there are females. And in Islam, there's way more males than there are females. And in Buddhism, there's a lot more males. The only major religion in the world that has more females than males is Christianity. It's time for men to stand up and be leaders in the cause of Christ, in the cause of their home. It's time to reach over and grab your wife by the hand, saying, I'm going to church with you. I'm not going to be out on the golf course, not on Sunday. I'm not going to be out in the woods on Sunday. I'm going to be in church with you, as for me, in my house. We will serve the Lord, step up, be the man that God called us to be. America's void of that. And there's five stages of marriage. And I guess I'll be done wonderful stage. It's hormone heaven. You know, it's when you're on fire to get married. Just gotta get married. Don't let Jesus come before I get married. But many times, it moves from wonderful to war. And what started off, and I've said it many times, is an ideal become an ordeal, and we're looking for a new deal. And the next is the Wonder stage. You grab your head, and you say, My Lord, why did I marry them? How did I get into this? Am I stuck forever? Then comes the work stage. You realize it's not easy. If it's going to last, you've got to work at it. And then you get to the worth it stage, and you're glad that you stayed together. And you look over one another and you're comfortable. You don't have to put on any airs. You're one flesh. Now you finally get it. His name was Bob, hers was Sarah. They were married for 52 years, and when I came to the knowledge of their life. It was amazing, the love they expressed, one to another. I never met them. Only read of them. 52 years, they had a little special something they did. They had February the 14th, all year long, all life long, he'd open his dinner pail and there'd be a little note. All it would say is, smiling, S, H, M, I, L, Y. Now if you have a better pronunciation for it, try it. You can't even say Amen. So how would you handle a big word, 16 syllable double jointed words? Makes me feel like a super social intellectual. So she would open a pot to start doing some cooking. There'd be that little word, S, H, M, I, L, Y, smiley all the time, everywhere they'd look. He said, Would you get something out of the glove box? So and that big old paper would flip out, and there's that word spread across it. 52 years Sarah died, and they put that word on that wreath, on top of the casket, and found other grad kids came up and they said, Grandpa, what's that word mean? We found all kinds of scraps of paper around the house, and we've lifted pillows on the dev important under it would be that a piece of paper that would say, S, H, M, I, L, y, y, what does it mean? Always said, it's simple. Those those letters stand for see how much I love you. You say, Pastor, I'd give anything to have that happen. I understand. I'm sorry, but I know a better type of love than that, even, and that's the cross and Jesus saying to the world, see how much I love you and people, where's the church? It's kind of like the preacher that was preaching on tithing. You've heard of preachers that mean old preachers that preach on tithing, ought to run him out of town, right? And he got really excited, got down off the platform, and there was a guy on the front seat by the name of Bob, and he got right under his face and put his finger under his nose, and he said, Bob, do you pay tithe? The whole church went silent. The back of his neck turned red, and he just went red all over. And he looked up at the preacher, and he said, From now on, from now on, and I don't care what kind of relationship you're in right now, from now on, let's make things work. Let's work on it. Let's make our homes happy. Let's make them holy. Let's make them godly. It may be that some things will fall apart. But as your pastor, I'm pulling for the very best out of you, and I believe that God wants the best for us, you'd be surprised. What would happen if some folk would make a few little apologies, how things would begin to resolve? Family reunions be a lot better too. Well, I'll move on. While you're shouting happy, Husbands love your wives. Wives respect your husband. Well, he's kind of hard to respect, yeah, and you're kind of hard to love, too. Sometimes this is what Keith's notes said, just reading this. But if you want to be happy, and life is so short, I don't know about you, I've made up my mind. I'm going to be happy, and I can do it better if I'm holy. And what we need to do is get back to that cross. See how much I love you. Get back to Jesus. Have a relationship with him, father.

Unknown: 28:07

Thanks for being a part of the voice of the Nazarene. Visit us every Sunday at 9am with B and C's pastor. Ray La Salle for more information regarding B and C visit you. Cyrus, nazarene.org, you.