Pastor Don Carpenter / General

Some Assembly Required / Family; Wives in Ephesus; Submission / Ephesians 5:22–24; 1 Peter 3:1–6

A judge was interviewing a woman regarding her pending divorce, and asked, “What are the grounds for your divorce?”

She replied, “About four acres and a nice little home in the middle of the property with a stream running by.”

“No,” he said, “I mean what is the foundation of this case?”

“It is made of concrete, brick and mortar,” she responded.

“I mean,” he continued, “What are your relations like?”

“I have an aunt and uncle living here in town, and so do my husband’s parents.”

He said, “Do you have a real grudge?”

“No,” she replied, “We have a two-car carport and have never really needed one.”

“Please,” he tried again, “is there any infidelity in your marriage?”

“Yes, both my son and daughter have stereo sets. We don’t necessarily like the music, but the answer to your questions is yes.”

“Ma’am, does your husband ever beat you up?”

“Yes,” she responded, “about twice a week he gets up earlier than I do.”

Finally, in frustration, the judge asked, “Lady, why do you want a divorce?”

“Oh, I don’t want a divorce,” she replied. “I’ve never wanted a divorce.

My husband does. He said he can’t communicate with me.”

This evening we are continuing our series on the family entitled “Some Assembly Required”  Tonight we cover that often misunderstood and misused concept of wives submitting to their husbands.  As we have read … it is in there…  but how can this be?  Husbands can be boneheads at times!  Tonight we are going to study the Word and discover that there is a very sound answer when an exasperated wife asks “Me? Submit to HIM???”

Ephesians 5:22 KJV

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

hupotasso (????????)= primarily a military term, “to rank under” (hupo, “under,” tasso, “to arrange”), denotes (a) “to put in subjection, to subject”

“Wives, obey your husbands.” Submit is a very mild word. It is a loving word. It means to respond to your own husband as unto the Lord. The way we respond to the Lord is that we love Him because He first loved us.1

1 J. Vernon McGee

Submit to Him Because it is Good For You.

Ephesians 5:23 KJV

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.

•    He is there for your guidance

1 Corinthians 14:35 KJV

And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

•    He is there for your protection

Ephesians 5:25 KJV

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

•    He is there for your purity

Ephesians 5:26 KJV

That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

Ephesians 5:27 KJV

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.

•    He must give an account to Christ for how he led you.

Hebrews 13:17 KJV

Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

John 17:12 KJV

While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

A little boy finally sat down after first resisting his parents’ command to do so. He said to his parents, “I’m sitting down on the outside, but I’m standing up on the inside.

Michael P. Green, 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 26.

Submit to Him Because it is Good for the Church

•    Believers are joined to Christ

Ephesians 5:30 KJV

For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

•    Wives are joined to their Husband

Ephesians 5:31 KJV

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.

Your marriage is a picture of the mysterious union between Christ and the Church.

Submit to Him Because it is Good for Him

•    Win him without words

1 Peter 3:1 KJV

Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;

Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 41.3 ?????; ?????, ??; ????????????; ?????????, ??

?????; ?????, ?? f; ????????????; ?????????, ?? f: to conduct oneself, with apparent focus upon overt daily behavior

** Translated 13 times “Conversation” in the King James

•    Win him with your manner of life

1 Peter 3:2 KJV

While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.

1 Peter 3:3 KJV

Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;

1 Peter 3:4 KJV

But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

•    Win him like Holy women of old did.

1 Peter 3:5 KJV

For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:

1 Peter 3:6 KJV

Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.

SUBMISSION?

A poll was taken a few years ago asking, both men and women this question, “Should wives submit to their husbands?”

(In 1998, the Southern Baptists also sparked controversy with their statement that wives should “submit graciously” to the “servant leadership” of their husbands. At that time, when asked if they concurred with that statement exactly as quoted, 69% of the public disagreed.)

Wow, nearly 70% disagree with what the Bible teaches.

Its one thing for the unchurched and Biblically ignorant… but those of us who have been paying attention now know the answer to the question: “Me, submit to HIM?”….  YES You… YES to Him.

Pastor Don Carpenter / General

9/11 Anniversery / Comfort; Remember / 2 Corinthians 1:3–4

2 Corinthians 1:3 KJV

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

2 Corinthians 1:4 KJV

Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

The worst attack on America since Pearl Harbor December 7 1941 occured 18 years ago today when the towers fell.  18 years ago!!!  That means anyone under 25 probably has little or no first hand recollection of the events of that fateful day.  That also means that we must remember those events and what we learned.  It means we must not only remember, but pass on what we learned.

Our passage this evening tells us that the God of all comfort comforts us as believers.  He protects.  He Leads He Guides.  He does that so that we can in turn comfort, teach, lead and guide others.  This evening are going to remember some major lessons from that day and teach the next generation what this generation learned.

Life is Temporary

James 4:14 KJV

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

1 Peter 1:24 KJV

For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:

Genelle Guzman McMillan wanted a change from her home in Trinidad, so she moved to New York in 1998. In order to stay in New York, McMillan knew she needed to get a good, steady job. She couldn’t believe it when she was hired at one of the World Trade Towers and was excited as she began her first day there on January 19, 2001. She made many friends through work–including live-in boyfriend, Roger–and spent each weekend partying.

On the morning of 9/11 she went to her job on the 64th floor. She and her coworkers heard a loud crash and the building moved. They stayed on the 64th floor until it became known what had happened.

Genelle and a coworker started down one of the stairwells and made it to the 13th floor. That is when the whole building collapsed. Amazingly, steel and concrete had pinned her where she was; she was injured, but she was alive. She lay there unable to move, rethinking her life.

Twenty-seven hours after the building collapsed, she was able to push her hand through a few inches of rubble above her head and felt someone’s warm hand close around hers. Then she heard a male voice say to her: “I’ve got you, Genelle. My name is Paul,” he told her. “You’re going to be okay. They’re going to get you out soon.”

She heard other voices, sirens and a light. “They’re here,” Paul said. “I’m going to go and let them do their jobs and get you out.”

Genelle was the last survivor pulled from the World Trade Center. There were three things she promised God she would do as soon as she got out of the hospital: get baptized, marry her boyfriend Roger, and find Paul, the one who first held her hand.

On November 7, after 6 weeks in the hospital, 4 surgeries and hours of physical therapy and rehabilitation, she kept two promises she made while trapped under the rubble. She and Roger got married at City Hall, and Genelle was baptized that evening into Jesus Christ.

But Paul? She never found him. Who was he? No one knew, no one had ever heard of him. She called her preacher and asked him. They discussed another Paul, the one in the Bible who was totally in the dark, like Genelle, and fought against God until he saw the light.

Adversity Unites Us

James 1:2 KJV

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

James 1:3 KJV

Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

James 1:4 KJV

But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Ephesians 4:3 KJV

Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

I’m the daughter of a nurse and an FDNY rescue officer. When the first plane hit, I called my father. He assured me Rescue 1 would get there and everything would be fine. When both towers were in flames, I called again, urging him to put the TV on. “I have to go,” he said. I knew he was headed there.

I wouldn’t have contact with him again until I saw him on the 12th with pebbles in his eyes, covered head to toe in dust, soaking wet and shaking. He was one of many who had inhaled toxins for hours, as they dug with their hands, to get to a man trapped dozens of feet in the debris pile. The rescue was successful. But I remember the sick, hollow feeling I had at that moment, as I wondered if my father and his fellow heroes had even thought about the magnitude of their own loss.

 

We remember the desperate calls to loved ones, the heartfelt concern for people in harm’s way. We remember what it felt like, as a nation, to lose our innocence.

And we remember what we did in the face of it all.

We united. That might seem implausible in these divided days, but we really did unite. Everyday people joined together to help one another. We began to restore our hope and faith in humanity together.

On our nation’s darkest day, goodness prevailed. The everyday hero in all of us made sure of it. We came together through acts of kindness in ways we never imagined.

It’s important to share these stories with children, so they remember.

We remember storeowners providing shelter, health-care providers tending to the wounded, first responders and members of the military risking their lives, desperately searching for survivors.

We remember the U.S. Coast Guard’s call to boaters and the many who responded to help hundreds of thousands of people to safety that day.

We remember people creating tributes across cities and states and our American flag being hoisted over Ground Zero by three FDNY members. It would be an early warning signal to the world: Our American spirit wouldn’t be shattered.

We remember the people waving flags outside of Ground Zero and holding signs that said, “God Bless America,” “Thank you,” and more.

We remember iron, steel workers, electricians, members of other trades and civilians alongside first responders through the recovery efforts. We remember the first responders from across the U.S. and the world coming to help and the overwhelming outpouring of love and support.

We remember countless volunteers in various capacities helping complete strangers. We found the everyday hero in all of us and harnessed our strengths to positively impact the people around us.

On America’s darkest day, goodness triumphed. Acts of great courage and compassion overshadowed the evilest of deeds.

It’s difficult to talk about because discussing it takes us right back, as if 18 years haven’t passed and a generation of kids haven’t been born after it.

But talk about it we must, so children can remember goodness as the victor. We must etch these stories into the being of future generations so our stories live on for centuries to come. We owe it to the fallen.

In such divided times, we can all benefit from the retelling of stories of unity and the fortitude of our American spirit.

By KRISTIE KIERNAN BOURYAL
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
SEP 11, 2019 | 5:00 AM

We All Need God

Psalm 63:1 KJV

O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee:

My soul thirsteth for thee,

My flesh longeth for thee

In a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;

Psalm 63:2 KJV

To see thy power and thy glory,

So as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.

Christian retailers and publishers have reported Bible sales skyrocketed 20%-30% in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Some industry leaders say this is a time for aggressive ministry outreach, and not the time to shave marketing and advertising dollars because of a softening economy. (CBA Online 10/8/01)

We Must Stand As A Nation Against Evil

Romans 13:3 KJV

For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:

Right after the 9/11 attacks, the president addressed the nation. He said, “A great people have been moved to defend a great nation. Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot shake the foundation of America” In other words, “even though we just experienced one of the worst days in American history, we’re going to make it We’re going to survive Because this nation is built on something solid This nation has a sure foundation”

Greater Love Was on Display

John 15:13 KJV

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

FDNY Captain Jay Jonas and five other firefighters from Ladder 6 responded immediately to the attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11. When they entered the lobby of the north tower, the south tower was hit. Carrying 100 pounds of gear, they began to ascend the stairwell of the south tower. When they reached the 27th floor, the building began to shake. Jonas ordered his men to evacuate. When they reached the 20th floor they saw a woman, Josephine Harris, standing in the doorway who was paralyzed in fear, crying. Instead of leaving her, they decided to carry her down. When they reached the 4th floor, the bldg caved in around them. They survived because they were still in the stairwell. Ironically, their lives were saved because they risked their lives for another, “whoever wants to save his life will lose it, whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”

Pastor Don Carpenter / General

Some Assembly Required / Family; Love; Holiness / Ephesians 5:1–16

 An ideal marriage’s foundation is not find entirely in a couple’s romanticism, but in their commitment to live a holy life according to God’s will. Application Point: Learning to love as an individual will help you love your spouse.

Have you ever seen a product on a showroom floor and marveled at how awesome it looked? That shiny new all-terrain bike, or that beautiful contemporary desk for your home office call out to your consumer inclinations. Have you ever broken down and made the purchase, only to get a heavy box full of parts with the words “some assembly required” stamped on it? Why can’t it be simple and come out just the way you see it on the showroom floor? Why do you have to put in work instead of conveniently having everything all in place?  Wouldn’t it be great if life was like that? Especially when it comes to marriage. But marriage does require work. Paul understood that as he helped the believers at Ephesus recognize marriage required putting the proper pieces together 2. Ephesians 5:21–33 is a common biblical text used to outline the roles of husbands and wives. The first twenty verses of chapter 5 are significant to a   couple to understand how to conduct themselves as Christians in general. Before Paul wrote about marriage roles, he wrote about Christian roles couple to understand how to conduct themselves as Christians in general. Before Paul wrote about marriage roles, he wrote about Christian roles.   This evening we are going to discover that in order to build a good Christian home, we need a firm foundation.

Walk In Love

Ephesians 5:1 KJV

Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;

Ephesians 5:2 KJV

And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

•    Follow God’s example of love and tenderness toward each other.

•    Walk in love as Christ sacrificially loved us.

•    Lots of family issues would resolve if we learned from Christ our example about self sacrificing love.

1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching Greater Love Has No One …

Various persons have observed that no one has any more religion than he or she can demonstrate in an emergency. This was certainly true of Arland D. Williams, Jr., a bank examiner with the Federal Reserve System in Atlanta, who was aboard the ill-fated Boeing 737 that crashed in the frigid Potomac River shortly after taking off from Washington’s National Airport, January 13, 1982.
Identification of the hero was announced in June of 1983. Representatives from the Coast Guard said when a helicopter lowered a line to survivors, Williams indicated he was trapped (it was later discovered his seat belt was jammed) and passed “the line on to other injured persons.” By his not grabbing the rescue line, thus saving valuable time, other passengers were saved.
In presenting the medal to Williams’s mother, Virginia L. Williams, Mattoon, Illinois, his teenage son, Arland D. Williams, III, and daughter, Leslie Ann Williams, President Reagan said: “You can live with tremendous pride in your father.”

Walk In Purity

Ephesians 5:3 KJV

But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;

Ephesians 5:4 KJV

Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.

Let it not once be named among you:

•    Fornication

The term porneia (???????) (fornication) is to be taken in its proper sense and is not to be restricted to any one particular form—the license practiced at heathen festivals, concubinage, marriage within prohibited degrees, or the like. The moral life of the Graeco-Roman world had sunk so low that, while protests against the prevailing corruption were never entirely wanting, fornication had long come to be regarded as a matter of moral indifference, and was indulged in without shame or scruple, not only by the mass, but by philosophers and men of distinction who in other respects led exemplary lives.” The word porneia (???????) was used of illicit sexual intercourse in general.

Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest’s word studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English reader (Eph 5:3). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

•    Uncleanness

uncleanness: ceremonial and moral, Lev. 169a; consequence of sin (S T) Lev. 234; God’s deliverance. Jer. I 347; its removal, Lev. iv c; Passover requirements, Num. 74a; spiritual, Jer. I 347

Index

•    Covetousness

The word “covetousness” is pleonexia (?????????), “greedy desire to have more, avarice.” “Not once” is m?de (????), “not even.” Expositors says: “The strong negative m?de (????) gives it this force—‘Not to speak of doing such a thing, let it not be even so much as mentioned among you.’

Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest’s word studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English reader (Eph 5:3). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

•    Filthiness

obscenity (aischrot?s, “shameless talk and conduct”

Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1985). The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Eph 5:4). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

“Filthiness” is aischrot?s (?????????), “obscenity, shameless, immoral conduct.”

Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest’s word studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English reader (Eph 5:3). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

•    Foolish Talking

foolish talk (m?rologia, lit., “stupid words”)

“Foolish talking” is m?rologia (?????????), from m?ros (?????), “foolish” in the sense of the lack of forethought and wisdom. impious, godless, because such a man neglects and despises what relates to salvation, and logos (?????), “a word, speech.” Vincent says: “Talk which is both foolish and sinful. It is more than random or idle talk.” “Words obtain a new earnestness when assumed into the ethical terminology of Christ’s school. Nor, in seeking to enter fully into the meaning of this one, ought we to leave out of sight the greater emphasis which the words fool, foolish, folly obtain in Scripture than elsewhere they have or can have. There is the positive folly as well as the negative to be taken account of, when we are weighing the force of m?rologia (?????????): it is that talk of fools which is foolishness and sin together

Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest’s word studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English reader (Eph 5:3). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

•    Jesting

coarse jesting (eutrapelia, “vulgar, frivolous wit”)

Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1985). The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Eph 5:4). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Jesting” is eutrapelia (??????????). Vincent says: “Only here in the n.t. From eu (??), ‘well’ or ‘easily,’ and trep? (?????), ‘to turn.’ That which easily turns and adapts itself to the moods and conditions of those with whom it may be dealing at the moment. From this original sense of versatility it came to be applied to morals, as time-serving, and to speech with the accompanying notion of dissimulation. Aristotle calls it chastened insolence. The sense of the word here is polished and witty speech as the instrument of sin; refinement and versatility without the flavor of Christian grace. ‘Sometimes it is lodged in a sly question, in a smart answer, in a quirkish reason, in shrewd intimation, in cunningly diverting or cleverly retorting an objection: sometimes it is couched in a bold scheme of speech, in a tart irony, in a lusty hyperbole, in a startling metaphor, in a plausible reconciling of contradictions, or in acute nonsense … Sometimes an affected simplicity, sometimes a presumptuous bluntness giveth it being. Its ways are unaccountable and inexplicable, being answerable to the numberless rovings of fancy and windings of language’ (Barrow).”

Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest’s word studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English reader (Eph 5:3). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Walk In Good Company

Ephesians 5:6 KJV

Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

Ephesians 5:7 KJV

Be not ye therefore partakers with them.

“Partakers” is sunmetochos (??????????) from metech? (??????), “to hold with” another, and sun (???) “with,” the compound word meaning, “partaking together with one.” The prohibition is that the saints should not participate with the sons of disobedience in the vices mentioned in verse 5 The prohibition is in the present imperative with the negative m? (??), “Stop therefore becoming joint-partakers with them.”

Ephesians 5:11 KJV

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

“Reprove” is elegch? (??????), “to reprove or rebuke so as to bring out conviction or confession of guilt.” Trench says that the word “implies not merely the charge, but the truth of the charge, and further the manifestation of the truth of the charge; nay, more than all this, very often also the acknowledgment, if not outward, yet inward, of its truth on the part of the accused; it being the glorious prerogative of the truth in its highest operation not merely to assert itself, and to silence the adversary, but to silence him by convincing him of his error.”

Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest’s word studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English reader (Eph 5:11). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Holiness

Many trees appear to be healthy when we see them in summer. But, in the winter, after their leaves have all fallen off, we sometimes find that hidden underneath the lush green of the summer foliage was a parasitic plant called mistletoe, which had been slowly sucking away some of the tree’s vitality.
We as Christians sometimes have hidden sins, which—like the mistletoe—slowly suck away our spiritual vitality. Although not always evident in times of outward spiritual health and fruitfulness, we must always examine ourselves for those small, often unseen, parasites of sinful habits that will sap our vitality. And we must also remember that just because they are not apparent now does not mean that in another season of our life God will not reveal them for all to see.654

Walk Circumspectly

Ephesians 5:15 KJV

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,

Ephesians 5:16 KJV

Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

“Circumspectly” is akrib?s (???????), “exactly, accurately, carefully.”

Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest’s word studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English reader (Eph 5:15). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

TIME MARCHES ON

There was once a middle aged man who was considering going back to school to get that degree he had always wanted. But he was balking at the idea because he was now over 50 and what good would it do him now.

He went to his dad for advice and his dad asked him how long it would take to get the degree. The man told his dad it would take 3 years of going to school full time. His dad then asked him how old he would be when he graduated after those 3 years. The man said 53. Then his dad asked him, “Son how old will you be then if you don’t get the degree?”

The point of the story is that TIME marches on. Regardless of any decisions we make in our lives — Time marches on!

Therefore walk accurately, in love, in purity, and in good company.  This is the family’s firm foundation.