Freedom River Church

Marriage is not about coexisting in the same house. It's not about sharing children and a bank account. It is about sharing your life. You get married because you want to share your life with someone you love. Many people in failing marriages describe their marriage as "growing apart." In terms of marriage, that is an oxymoron. If it is growing, it is "growing together." If it is growing apart, it is dying.

The two MAJOR reasons we must serve each other are: 1, We can't meet our own needs 2. We are sworn to fidelity. This means (and let me use an analogy of a store) if my needs are not being met by my mate, I can't shop at other stores. If your shelves are empty, I can't shop at another store – (at least not legally.) Therefore, I am at your mercy. We are at each other's mercy.

From the very beginning God told us the truth about marriage. It is going to take a lot of work for marriage to be rewarding. Some people have the romantic misconception that, if they marry their perfect soulmate, they will not have to work at it. You fall in love because you work at the relationship. You fall in love because you serve each other. God created marriage to bless us and fulfill us. If you do not serve each other, it is not going to work.

God expects men to lead, and leadership is one of a woman's most important needs in marriage. Wives want their husbands to be the loving initiator of the well-being of home and marriage while treating them as equals. Both spouses must reprioritize their lives to make the marriage first place. Marriage only works in "first place." If it is second to anyone or anything else, it will not work. Allow your spouse to be honest, train your children to respect your marriage, and make time for each other.

As we begin this series concerning love, let me share a couple of broad statements: First, marriage is the safest relationship on earth when God's laws for love are honored. Secondly, you have a 100% chance of success and happiness in marriage when you honor God's laws of love! If half of the airplanes that were taking off from airports were crashing, it would be a sign of intelligence not to board one. With half of marriages failing, smart people are justified to ask, "Why would I want to do that?" That is a legitimate question. It is the question we seek to answer in this series of messages concerning God's Four Laws of Love. Let's demystify marriage!

Though God has given us His grace for our weakness, there are three crucial understandings of this grace that propel us to conquer our limiting weakness.

The Devil wants you to believe that God is repulsed by your weakness. God is in no way turned off by your weakness, but rather, He is attracted to it. Your weakness and God's strength is a perfect match! Grace is the solution for your issues. The answer is NOT performance, pretense, or practice. The answer is grace!

I'm convinced that the Christian life is not intended to be a mountain-top experience followed by drifting until the next mountain-top comes along. God wants us to GET on course and STAY on course, and He's given us principles and promises in His Word to assure us that we can!

I think God likes to surprise us! He must. Just look at the Christmas story. I say this respectfully (I don't want to become a crispy critter), but the events of the first Christmas seem to be a case study in poor planning. There has to be more to it than that. What happens when God shows up and changes the plan without consulting your itinerary?

There is a big difference between the way people look at weakness and the way God looks at weakness. People have the tendency to look at weakness as a liability. God looks at weakness as an opportunity for Him to show Himself mighty in our behalf. Your weakness and God's strength are a perfect match!

The major truth of this series is the fact that it is impossible to get closer to God than your concept of God will allow. If you don't believe God loves you and desires the best for you, then you are not going to come close to Him. You are not going to seek a God. One of the great truths of God's grace is the extraordinary understanding of the true heart of our Heavenly Father.

There is a back-and-forth conversation between God and Moses, and Moses realizes that there is obviously something that he is not seeing here. So, he asks God to reveal Himself. Would You please show me Your glory? God is about to make all His goodness pass before Moses.

Christianity is the only set of beliefs in the world that has the concept of a gracious, personal, loving God. Thank God that we don't have to relate to Him based on our merit or our works. That's what grace is all about! God is a God of truth, but that's not how He wants to be seen first. He wants us to see His grace and mercy first. This is what makes God different from every other "so-called" Deity in this world today. It is the fact that He is full of grace and mercy.

Christianity is the only set of beliefs in the world that has the concept of a gracious, personal, loving God. Thank God that we don't have to relate to Him based on our merit or our works. That's what grace is all about! God is a God of truth, but that's not how He wants to be seen first. He wants us to see His grace and mercy first. This is what makes God different from every other "so-called" Deity in this world today. It is the fact that He is full of grace and mercy.

Satan is the cruelest being in the universe. When evil is present, Satan is always behind that evil. The devil is so cruel and vicious that your agony actually brings him joy. When you are at your most vulnerable, he's at his worst. The enemy has no mercy. When you are down, he pours it on. What do you do when Satan attacks you? How do you win the battle?

Satan is the cruelest being in the universe. When evil is present, Satan is always behind that evil. The devil is so cruel and vicious that your agony actually brings him joy. When you are at your most vulnerable, he's at his worst. The enemy has no mercy. When you are down, he pours it on. What do you do when Satan attacks you? How do you win the battle?

1 Peter 5:8 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Peter uses the analogy of a roaring lion. Be sober, be vigilant – be on the alert because you have an enemy that is prowling around like a roaring lion. He's looking for someone that he may devour. It doesn't say can. That would mean the ability to devour you. Peter uses the term "may" because the roaring lion is asking permission. We actually must give him permission to devour us.

According to 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, one of the major strategies of our enemy is A an outpouring of spiritual deception to incite the world to rebel against God. This is what we see happening in our world right now. It is an end time falling away from truth. It's a spirit of deception that is poured out upon this earth like we have never seen before. The purpose is to create an environment in which the world can be seduced to follow the Antichrist and accept him as God.

Ezekiel 38-39 tells of a future invasion of Israel by a vast coalition of nations that surround it. As we read the headlines on internet sources today and witness the bombing of Israel by the terrorist group "Hamas'", it's not hard to imagine that this invasion prophesied over 2600 years ago is now being fulfilled. Ezekiel 36-37 predicts a gathering of the Jews to the nation of Israel, which will be followed by this massive invasion. For 19 centuries the Jewish people were scattered throughout the world, and, until May 14, 1948, there was no nation of Israel to invade. With the nation of Israel now a reality, the stage seems set for the war that will usher in the tribulation and the rise of the Antichrist - a war that will end with the destruction of Israel's enemies by God Himself and lead to the signing of a peace treaty with the Antichrist. This is one of only two end-time wars that are prophesied in the Bible. The other is the battle of Armageddon that will end the Tribulation period on earth. This is a BIG DEAL y'all!

Diablos is the accuser and slanderer. The devil tries to divide us from every redemptive relationship in life.

God has given us the capacity to live in total victory and freedom from the power of our enemy and to overcome him at every opportunity. The question then becomes, why do we have so much trouble defeating the devil? Could it be that our difficulty lies in our lack of understanding his nature and tactics? Let's examine five of the most common names used for our enemy and learn his nature and his plan of attack. Satan is Our Adversary. He Opposes Us on Every Hand.

God has given us the capacity to live in total victory and freedom from the power of our enemy and to overcome him at every opportunity. The question then becomes, why do we have so much trouble defeating the devil? Could it be that our difficulty lies in our lack of understanding his nature and tactics? In this series of messages, we will examine five of the most common names used for our enemy and learn his nature and his plan of attack. Lucifer's problem was pride.

Why did God set Adam and Eve up for temptation and failure by placing "the tree of knowledge of good and evil" in the Garden? Why was there a tree in the garden that they couldn't eat from? It seems like a set up to me!

Adam and Eve knew God and had a brief relationship with Him, but they were inexperienced. Of course, the devil did what he does to all of us. He offered them an exchange. He offered them Something for Someone. In exchange for God the Father and their intimate relationship with Him, the devil offered them a piece of life altering fruit. His offering was the temptation for them to obtain knowledge immediately rather than learn it over eons of time as God mentored them through relationship.

Adam and Eve lived with God in the garden of Eden, and they saw Him face to face every day. They walked and talked with Him in perfect intimacy and ease. The relationship didn't have the unique significance we would now appreciate, because they didn't have any frame of reference. They had never lived without Him; so, they didn't appreciate it as they should have. Adam and Eve obviously didn't treasure this wonderful opportunity, because they traded it for a false promise reflected in a piece of forbidden fruit. When Jesus returns for us, we will get that incredible intimacy with God back!