First Baptist Church Cedar Vale

  It’s easy to take our spouses for granted.  It’s easy to pick apart flaws in the person you married. For some reason, this inclination comes naturally to us.  It’s difficult to praise our spouses. For some reason, it’s hard for us to see the good and focus on that good over the bad. Bottom line, it’s because of sin, which has fractured everything in our world.  However, that is not an excuse that we should snuggle up to in hopes of being proven right. We have to make war on our sinful nature. We have to rise above what comes naturally to us. So I listed three different ways we can see the best in our spouses, three ways we can change our marriages. 1.  When your spouse messes up  (and they will) be ready to show the kind of Grace that has been extended to you by Jesus Christ. “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful”  (Luke 6:36). I want you to honestly think about this for a moment. How often does Jesus forgive you? And how many times has He stepped into our timeline and forgiv

  Football season is over after the BIG GAME tomorrow. Men all over the country are in mourning. The thing that really just blows my mind is how we as men take this thing called football so seriously.  I know men who know every stat and every ounce of information that they can possibly know about certain players or teams, and the sad thing is, they don’t really even know these players personally. If I knew everything there was to know about you and your job…like what time you took breaks and your title and how well you did your job, you’d be totally creeped out, right?   But yet we are OK with doing this with football players and sports guys in general. I think we need to take a hard look at how much time we spend focusing on these men. Look at these verses,  “ fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer, and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition

   I woke up with this verse on my heart. ‘Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!’ -2 Cor. 13:5 I grew up in the church. My dad is a pastor. I have been around the church world my entire life. I went to church camp; I went to youth retreats; I walked to the front of a church; I prayed prayers…I did all that stuff. It was not until the summer of 1998 that it truly connected, and made sense.  The pastor  was preaching out of this text: ‘Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!’ -2 Cor. 13:5 ‘TEST YOURSELF.’ Then he went to the following text…. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s