Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Men need to be Men

Men should be men. Sometime over the last forty years, I am not sure when it happened. It became a bad thing for men to act like men. God has created a specific role for men to fill. Our society has some how made that a bad thing. Today I would like to talk about this and maybe get you to think a little.
In Ephesians 5 God tells man to love his wife as Christ loves the church. There has been very few christian husbands read this command and felt good about it. How can I ever do that? I have heard preachers say “A man should be willing to die for his wife”. I would die for my wife, but if I never get a chance. Does that mean I will never fulfill this scripture? I think the preacher who said that was taking and very simplistic approach. Truthfully the easy way out. God is requiring more here than for you to be able to say “if I ever need to I will die for her”. What does this commandment mean to me?
The first step to understanding this commandment we must understand God’s definition of love. The Pastor/Teacher in me wants to go into a long discussion of the Greek words for love, but I will spare you. All we need to understand is John 3:16. God so loved us he did something for us. Love is not a feeling it is an action. To understand what this commandment means our focus must be on Christ’s relationship with the church. What actions has he done for the church?  Men we are being called to use his actions toward the church as an example on how we treat our wife's.
I want to look at three examples of how Christ treated the church. If we can demonstrate our love for our wife's in these three areas, it will change our marriages. Christ leads the church. Christ prays for the church.  And Christ speaks in a way that edifies the church. Over the next few days I will talk about each of these here. Check back every few days.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Introduction

Hi, my name is Jack Epperson. I am the Bishop of Fairview Worship Center in Cleveland Tennessee. As I have told many of you, God has been leading me to start a blog for some time. I use to write a letter every week for the Sunday bulletin at a church I use to attend. I called it The Last Word. I got the name from two brother arguing in a restaurant one time. They argued about a topic for ten to fifteen minutes. Finely, they just started saying last word, last word. Each wanting to get in the last word.
The thought came to me there in the resturant, we are like that toward God. God will give us clear direction. We tend to give every reason we can't do what God wants. But requrdless how much we say different God will get the last word. God always gets the last word.
In this blog I will attempt to remind you that God WILL get the last word. I will be funny some times and serious some times. But as God's children we need to be reminded he will always get the last word. I for one am glad he does. I have based my life on the fact that he knows best. I don't understand his will sometimes, but I know it is for my best.
I plan on posting at least once a week. Check back often as together we remind each other that God does get the Last Word.