Gospel Preaching At A Wedding Reception

Have you ever been to a wedding where the vows fall way short of God's design and plan? Have you been to a wedding where the pastor/priest preached a message that loaded with sentimental humanistic fluff and lacking in biblical meat. Well in Denmark I have quickly learnt that this is the norm - even for weddings of professing Christians. Rampant feminism and fornication have been allowed to impose themselves on local churches to the point where weddings have become a massive disservice to Christ and His sacrificial love for the Church.

Well the last wedding I attended was the final straw - how about I take some action as a Christian? We are not called to be passive bystanders in life! After receiving a recent wedding invitation I knew exactly what to expect. But this time I was ahead of the game and approached the bride and groom several weeks in advance to see if they would allow me to deliver a short message on marriage at the wedding reception. Out of courtesy I gave them a transcript of the message so they knew what was coming.

My recent three part series on God's design in marriage (part 1, part 2, part 3) was based on this 13 minute message that you can now view on the youtube videos below. It was a great opportunity to present the Gospel, as it relates to marriage. There was a predominantly large crowd of non-believers present. If you listen carefully you might be able to hear the sound of feminists gnashing their teeth . . .





I want to encourage you to be proactive and seize opportunities like this to preach the Gospel to large groups of people. It can be done, and done to the glory of God. If you are attending a wedding soon you can do the same and you are most welcome to use the transcript from this message. Whatever you do . . . don't be silent!

Coming Monday - In response to all the questions it's time to talk more about Rob Bell. This sacred cow just won't die on us!!!

God's Design In Marriage (Part 3)

Continued from Monday . . .

That leaves one final person to talk about. And if I don’t talk about Him then none of this can make sense. Everything I’ve said so far hinges on both husband and wife understanding how Christ loved the church and I am inadequate to ever fully explain that. But it would be wrong if I didn’t try to give you some small glimpse of His amazing grace. To tell of the great love of my precious Savior. The Bible tells us that Christ’s love was revealed by dying for a people while they sinned against Him. You see if we don’t understand our sin we cannot understand Christ’s love.

Did you ever wake up in the morning and wonder “where did all the stars go?” Did they all just disappear? No – but we only ever see them shining in their glory against the background of a dark night sky. And the cross of Jesus Christ shines in its glory against the dark background of our sin against Him – and it was only when God helped me to see the awful darkness of my sin against Him that I could start to see the depth of His love for me in sending Jesus Christ - and this has everything to do with marriage!

Sin is so offensive to God, not only because of how evil sin is, but also because of how perfect God is. Good judges can never ignore crime. How much more can God never ignore every time we break one of his laws. If I lie to my daughter she can do nothing to me. But if I lie to my wife I’m going to be sleeping on the sofa. If I lie to my boss he can fire me and if I lie to the government they can throw me in jail. Did you notice that it was the same crime but when I did it against a higher authority the consequence became more and more severe. How serious is it to lie against an infinite authority? It is an infinite crime and that is why there is a hell.

I used to ask how can a loving God send people to hell? But then I realized that I was asking the wrong question. The right question was “how does God put up with me?” And there are times in marriage when you’ll be wondering “how can I ever put up with her” or “how can I ever put up with him”? Those are the times when you need to look in the other direction toward the cross and remember how much mercy God gave you and how He calls you to reflect that love to your sinful partner.

If you really see the dark night sky of your own sin then the question you will ask is this – How can God ever forgive me without violating His goodness and justice? How can He be both just and the justifier? How can He save me from the hell that I deserve? There was only one way and that is why He is the only way - it would cost Him everything! The God Who created the universe had to become a man, Jesus Christ, and live a perfect life keeping all of the laws that we have broken. He then had to die on a cross as a substitute, suffering God’s holy wrath that we deserve. God treated Christ as if He had lived our life so that He could treat us as if we had lived His - if we repent from our sin and cry out to Him for mercy.

Let me ask you – is God’s grace really amazing to you? May God’s amazing love be the fuel that keeps the fire of your love blazing for your spouse. May you always look in the direction of the cross when you don’t like what you see in the direction of your partner. Never move on from the cross. Dive deeper into it full of awe and wonder so that the wife's submission to her husband, and the husband's love for his bride will be a shining star of the resurrected Jesus in a very dark world.



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God's Design In Marriage (Part 2)

Continued from Friday . . .

Now for the men! In case you're confused - we're the ones who don't look as good! As a husband you are called to love your wife as Christ loved the church and gave His own life for it. Years ago in my Air Force days I can remember the day that my ultra feminist, commanding officer came walking towards me with steam coming out of her ears. Some of the guys I worked with had told her about me, that I was a Christian, and that I didn’t think that husbands should treat their wives as equals. That was fuel on her fire! In a voice that sounded like a volcano that was ready to blow, she asked me “Is it true that you don’t think women should be treated equally?” I looked that woman straight in the eye and told her that what she heard was true because real men don’t treat women as their equals, they treat them better than themselves.

Nowhere should this be more true than in the marriage relationship. Maybe you will never be called upon to give your own life for for your beautiful bride – but you’d better be willing to! And I can guarantee you that you will be called upon to die to your own agendas and desires in order to serve your wife. Yes your wife is called upon to submit to you - in all things! But remember also that her husband is called to be a servant and not a dictator. I’d be lying if I told you that I always do this right – but it is the goal that I must always aim for – always chasing it though never fully reaching it. So that is the other side of the picture that you and your wife are to present to a world that doesn’t know God. You are to portray Christ’s servant heart and sacrificial love for His church in the way you love your wife, and she is called upon to submit to you in complete devotion portraying the church’s submission to Christ. This is God’s design and plan for men in marriage.

Concludes on Wednesday . . .

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God's Design In Marriage (Part 1)

Some of you might be thinking – hmmm what could Cameron possibly know about marriage, after all, I’ve only done it once and that was ten years ago! But in reality it is a very fair question to ask of me. Who am I to speak on a subject of such great importance. The only reason I’m willing to speak here on this subject is because of my Maker and His Manual. I’ve come to learn that He speaks with authority on every subject in the Bible and this includes marriage. And I’ve come to learn that His advice trumps Oprah every time. God is always right about everything – hey, it isn’t arrogant if it’s true! So my answer to the question is that I can speak with authority purely because God speaks with authority through His Word and God is so kind that He made His Word knowable for a simpleton like me.

The God Who made the universe also designed marriage. He knows how it works and He gives clear counsel on how to make it work. This is because marriage is an earthly picture of Christ’s love for His Church. The book of Ephesians tells us:

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband (Ephesians 5:22-33).

The wife is called to submit to her husband just as we are called to submit to Jesus Christ. This verse is very unpopular in “modern Denmark” and many try to deal with it by ignoring it or denying it. I think we should try and understand it because the One Who made woman, and knows what is best for her, gave the Bible to teach her everything she needs to know about everything. To understand God's calling for a wife, she needs to see the big picture in this – and it is something very glorious!

The Scripture teaches that the church is the bride of Jesus Christ. It is made up of all the people who have repented from their sin and trusted in Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul wrote that “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28). So first of all we know that the call to submit does not categorize the wife as someone of lesser value, but rather someone different in function. Secondly, we see that she is not called to submit to other men in her role as a wife but to her husband, and that he belongs to her. His body is her possession. Thirdly, submitting to her husband is not about slavery. It is about a devotion that is so great that it paints a picture to the rest of the world of how devoted the church is to Jesus Christ. This is God’s design and plan for the wife in marriage.

Continued on Monday . . .

Go On To Part 2

Watch Voddie Baucham Eat 2 Feminists For Breakfast

Voddie Baucham is just not your shy retiring type of preacher. Never backwards in coming forward Voddie always speaks with biblical authority and sheer clarity. This also happened to be the case when he was invited onto CNN to give his thoughts on women's roles in the church and society. Get into a theological debate with Dr Baucham at your peril - you better know what you're talking about unlike the two women in this video . . .

Sacred Cow Saturday - Episode 4 - Where the Feminists Get it Wrong

Following on from last saturday's article on gender roles I thought I would post part of an article by Dr John MacArthur which critiques feminist thought and how it has badly influenced intepretation of Scripture and in turn the exercise of a Christian worldview when it comes to understanding what it means to be a biblical man and a biblical woman.

WHERE THE FEMINISTS GO WRONG! (Article by Dr John MacArthur)

If more Christians understood the methods of feminist thinking and what kind of biblical interpretation they must do in order to arrive at their conclusions, they would likely be more hesitant to accept the feminist position. To understand the feminist interpretation process, we begin by examining their view of Galatians 3:28 and how their interpretation of that verse affects their interpretation of the rest of the New Testament.

FEMINIST VIEW OF GALATIANS 3:28 - The foundation for all feminist interpretation of the New Testament is Galatians 3:28--"Their is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Feminists interpret this verse to refer to an equality which is both theological, regarding men and women’s standing before God, and also social, regarding all of their relationships in day-to-day living. If men and women are equal before God, feminists say, then there can be no differences within their roles and responsibilities in society. Feminists therefore use this verse as the basis for the elimination of all role distinctions between men and women in Christianity. They then interpret all other New Testament verses on women in light of the feminist understanding of Galatians 3:28, thus demanding that no other verse be allowed to teach role distinctions for men and women.

PROBLEM WITH FEMINIST VIEW OF GALATIANS 3:28 - Feminists fail to interpret Galatians 3:28 in its proper context. The verse concerns the subject of justification and the believer's relationship to the Abrahamic covenant. Paul was not seeking to establish social equality in the relationships he mentioned. Rather, he was showing that all, regardless of their standing in society, may participate by faith in the inheritance of Abraham to be sons of God. He was teaching the fundamental equality of both men and women in their standing before God. Even the feminists emphasize that this is a theological passage rather than one dealing with practical matters.

Equality of being before God does not require the elimination of all role distinctions in society. Equality of being does not rule out authority and submission in relationships. We could point to many examples of relationships in which there is equality and yet a difference in roles involving authority and submission--the Trinity, the President and U. S. citizens, parents and children, employers and employees, Elders and church members.

The theology of Galatians 3:28 will result in certain social implications, but they will be the ones given in the Bible. Where authority and submission are discussed in relationships in the New Testament, instructions are given for how those relationships may be regulated so that they function in Christian love and harmony and not with abuse. The Bible does not eliminate authority but cautions that authority should be exercised in a way that honors Christ. Those in authority (husbands, Elders, parents, employers) are instructed to use their authority in a godly way. And also, those who are to submit to these authorities (wives, church members, children, employees) are instructed to submit to authority in a godly way.

Because feminists want to rule out the submission of wives to husbands and of women to male leadership in the church on the basis of Galatians 3:28, they face a serious problem in biblical interpretation when they come to the Pauline passages which explicitly teach the submission of wives to husbands and women to the male leadership in the church. Beginning with their interpretation of Galatians 3:28 that all role distinctions must be abolished in the name of equality, they seek to interpret these other Pauline passages (Eph. 5:22; Col. 3:18; I Pet. 3:1; Ti. 2:5; I Tim 2:11-15; I Cor. 11:1-16; I Cor. 14:34-35) in light of that questionable interpretation of Galatians 3:28. Feminists of various persuasions have come up with four different ways of handling this biblical material in order to reach conclusions favorable to the feminist viewpoint:

FEMINIST VIEW #1 - The New Testament passages which teach the submission of women were not really written by Paul but were added by scribes, and thus are not part of the inspired Word of God.

PROBLEM WITH VIEW #1 - This position reveals a low view of the inspiration of Scripture. According to this view, some of the Bible was inspired by God and some was not. Therefore, the Christian, rather than submitting to Scripture, must function as the judge of Scripture--always making decisions about what is inspired and what is not inspired. Both II Timothy 3:16 and II Peter 1:20-21 indicate that God inspired all Scripture, that he was overseeing the process of the writing of Scripture in such a way that the end product is His Word, not the product of human authors. Thus, the Christian views all of the Bible as God's inspired Word and does not set himself as judge of the Bible.

FEMINIST VIEW #2 - The New Testament passages which teach the submission of women were written by Paul, but he was wrong. Those who hold this view believe Paul was too much influenced by his rabbinical background and that in his writing of Scripture he had not reached a full understanding of how the gospel related to relationships between men and women. Thus, he was mistaken in some of the passages he wrote.

PROBLEM WITH VIEW #2 - This position is also based on a low view of the inspiration of Scripture. In this view, too, the Christian must become the judge of Scripture to determine for himself what is correct and what is incorrect. This view assumes that twentieth century man has a better understanding of God's truth than did the Apostle Paul writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Again, II Timothy 3:16 and II Peter 1:20-21 indicate that God worked in and through the writers of Scripture in such a way that the end product was God's perfect Word and not a conglomeration of truth and error put together by human authors.

FEMINIST VIEW #3 - The New Testament teaches the submission of women, but the teachings are no longer applicable in the twentieth century. According to this view, Paul was teaching the world view of his own culture in the first century, but our twentieth century culture is more enlightened about the equality of men and women, so the teaching no longer applies. Or sometimes it is said that writers of the New Testament knew that the ideal was to abolish all gender-based roles but feared to hinder the gospel if they broke so radically with their own culture. Thus, these Pauline passages are relegated to temporary cultural truth rather than universal truth for all cultures and all times.

PROBLEM WITH VIEW #3 - The foundation for Paul's teaching on the role or responsibilities of women is never the culture of his own day but rather the purpose of woman's creation and the woman's failure in the fall as Paul points out in I Corinthians 11:1-9 and I Timothy 2:8-15. Adam was created first, and Eve was later created as a helper for him rather than their being created simultaneously and independent of each other. Eve was deceived and led her husband into sin rather than submitting to his leadership. If the reason for the woman's submission is related to the creation and the fall, than it is not something which can change from year to year and culture to culture. Rather, it is a universal principle.

Some feminists say that there was no submission for the woman in creation but only as a result of the fall, that Genesis 3:16 was the beginning of authority and submission. But Genesis 2:18-25 teaches a submissive role for Eve in relationship to Adam, and Paul interprets it that way in the New Testament. Thus, the cross does not rid us of authority and submission, but it brings harmony to authority and submission relationships.

FEMINIST VIEW #4 - The New Testament, if rightly understood, has never taught the submission of women. If the literary context, the historical context and the theological context were carefully studied, Paul would be clearly seen to be egalitarian, and thus the New Testament teaches that women may fulfill any responsibilities in the marriage and the church that men may fulfill. Thus, “headship" means only "source" and never "leader" or "authority." "Be subject" means only "relate yourselves to" or "respond to" or "adjust yourselves to" and never "submit to."

PROBLEM WITH VIEW #4 - In these last two views the confusion among the various feminist representives comes to the surface. Both groups read these same passages, and some say they teach submission and others say they do not.

Greek lexicons include "authority" as one of the meanings for "head" and "submit" as one of the meanings for "be subject" so that only prejudicial interpretation could limit these words to pro-feminist definitions. This last view is so unconvincing that other feminists even reject it.

If one wants to arrive at pro-feminist conclusions, there are a limited number of ways to interpret the biblical context in order to reach such a position. These four are the alternatives which feminists have devised thus far.

Each alternative has serious flaws which cause the Christian, in the process of feminist interpretation, to sacrifice either a high view of inspiration of Scripture or else to use a false hermeneutic, or principle for interpreting Scripture. Either is too high a price to pay. All of these exegetical gymnastics become necessary just to force the Pauline passages to harmonize with the feminist interpretation of Galatians 3:28. If Galatians 3:28 were interpreted correctly in context to refer to the fundamental standing of men and women before God, and if the feminists did not totally reject any concept of authority and submission, harmony of all the biblical material on the subject would be rather simple.

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