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Welcome To The Home Page Of The Birdwell Lane Church Of Christ 1616 E. 11th Pl Big Spring, TX 79720 (432)267-2132 www.birdwelllanechurchofchrist.org blcofc@att.net Follow Us On Facebook |
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We would love for you to come worship with us!
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GOD'S DESIGN FOR MARRIAGE How do you determine whether something is genuine or fake? Do you have to discover and learn every detail of every fake item in order to figure out if one thing is real or fake? You may have heard or read the illustration of this principle. A Treasury Department counterfeit specialist was asked how she was able so quickly to identify a fake bill. Her reply was not that she had spent so many countless hours studying every known counterfeit but, that she and her coworkers had studied what real, paper currency was like in every detail so that, when presented with a fake piece of money, they quickly knew it was not genuine. When it comes to false teaching, or teaching that is not genuine, you first must have a standard by which you may determine whether something is the real thing or not. The standard for truth that we must look to is the Bible. Even when Jesus' teachings were attacked, he would go back to the Scriptures as the foundation. How well do we know the Bible? Do we know it well enough to be able to identify false teaching when it is presented as truth? Matthew 19:1-6, Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?" He answered, "Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two but one flesh. "What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate." (ESV) Jesus didn't use their traditions as the standard. Jesus didn't tell them to follow their hearts and their feelings. Jesus didn't try to reassure them that ultimately God just wanted them to be happy. No, Jesus quoted from the Scriptures, because they were (and still are) the standard by which we must do things. Our first consideration should always be - what does the Bible say? Jesus goes back to the very beginning, to creation itself. According to God's design, marriage should be between one man and one woman. In other words, Biblical marriage is heterosexual. Jesus again quotes from Genesis and explains that marriage is the foundation for the family. This model is then reproduced as a man (being the product of one family) comes of age and leaves that home while a woman (being the product of another family) comes of age and leaves her family, and they are joined together by a bond which God states is intended to be permanent. We can sum it up and say that God's design for marriage is one man and one woman for life. Instead of immediately saying, "I don't think that is right," let's remember that God's word is the standard and not what we think or feel. Greg Surles Preacher Birdwell Lane church of Christ |
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Elders Minister |
Bruce Griffith David Smith Greg Surles |
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- - Ministry Purpose Statement - - Teaching, Training and Transforming Lives Into The Image of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29) |