Greetings, everyone. Let me ask you a question. Are we not always looking for something better?
Especially something better in our lives and even in our homes? I would say, yes, we are. So today, let’s see what’s ahead for your home here from the International Gospel Hour.
Stay with us.
Hi, this is Jay Webb for International Gospel Hour. We’re so glad you’ve decided to listen to our program today. In a world of challenges, we need God’s Word to help us face those challenges.
Thank you for joining us in this period of Bible study with our speaker, Jeff Archey, of International Gospel Hour, a broadcast of the Churches of Christ. Let’s listen now. Here’s Jeff.
Once again, friends, greetings and hello to you. Thank you for being with us today on our broadcast from the International Gospel Hour. From time to time, we term this program, Are You Listening?
A nod to our very first speaker, the late VE. Howard, who would ask the question, Are you listening? Friends, let us always listen to the things that be of God.
And again, it’s always good to have you. As we look at the things that be of God, His divine instruction and the blessings therein. What greater place can we go than the Word of God to strengthen our homes?
Indeed, as God is the Creator of the home, it is only sensible, and it only stands to reason, that we go to the Word of God, His Word, in order to strengthen our homes. Now with that said, our study today will take us to Hebrews the 13th chapter. From this chapter, it’s as God says, here is some guidance for your home.
Thirteen times in the Book of Hebrews, we find the word better. So with our desire for better homes, what a great text for us to study today, the 13th chapter of the Book of Hebrews. Before we do that, I want to pause and give a special thank you to our announcer, Jay Webb.
Jay introduces and closes our programming, and you hear him throughout our broadcast, as he shares with you a number of things that we hope will be of help to you in your studies of the Word of God. With that being said, allow me to pause here for just a moment and hear a few words from our Jay Webb.
Hello, friends! Miss a broadcast of Are You Listening? You can find previous broadcasts at our website, internationalgospelhour.com, and we are on several podcast platforms.
Maybe we are on your favorite podcast site. Just search for International Gospel Hour, and you can find previous broadcasts. They are always there, 24-7, for you to listen or even to download.
And now, let’s continue our study.
For your home, God says keep your marriage honorable. Hebrews 13, 4 says marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. Two dangers to an honorable marriage, fornication and adultery.
Older Bible translations may use the word, whoremonger, defined as one who indulges in fornication, an intimate and sexual relation outside the marriage commitment. In other words, someone may be married to an individual, but they will have sexual relations with somebody else. That is condemned in 1 Corinthians 6, 9 and 10, and Ephesians 5 and verse 5.
And yet there are those that may leave a spouse and will marry another one. Dear friends, that is adultery. In Matthew 19, beginning with verse 3, the Pharisees also came to him, testing him and saying to him, Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?
And he answered and said to them, Have you not read that he who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So then they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God hath joined together, let no man separate.
They said to him, Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce and to put her away? He said to them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for fornication, sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.
And whoever marries her who is divorced, commits adultery. Dear friends, that’s pretty serious. May we keep our marriages honorable according to God.
One man for one woman for life. For your home, number two. God says, keep Christ and his Church, number one.
We drop down to Hebrews 13, 8, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. And we drop down as well as to verse nine. Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines, for it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them.
The heart to be established by grace, Jesus Christ, to keep him first. Matthew 633 says, to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all those things will be added unto us. Imagine each and every family part of the Church, the Kingdom, of which we read of in the New Testament.
No denominational body, no departures from the faith, but simple assurance that truth, the truth, will guide our families, established by grace. Oh, how there are individuals who are so dissatisfied with Churches they attend that seem to be moving away from the truth. We submit to you that we in Churches of Christ wish to stand on that truth, and we would encourage you to visit a Church of Christ very soon.
You see, friends, Jesus said, You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. For your home. God says, Don’t put material things over the spiritual.
In Hebrews 13, 5 and 6, Let your conversation or lifestyle be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have, for he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you, so that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Friends, covetousness or greed has been called idolatry in Ephesians 5, 5 and Colossians 3 and verse 5. Too many good men and women, husband and wives, will find their marriages separate and start to fall apart when we place the physical needs over the spiritual needs.
Wisdom from before, in Proverbs 38 and 9, remove falsehood and lies far from me, give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with the food allotted to me, lest I be full and deny you and say who is the Lord, or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God. You see, friends, when we put material things over the spiritual things in our lives, we lose our focus on keeping Christ in the Church number one, and our marriages are not as honorable when we try to put the physical in there to fix them rather than the spiritual that God provides. Now obviously we’re going to work and provide for our own.
We’re taught that in 1st Timothy 5 and verse 8, and how the wife is to be the keeper at home. We understand the importance of home life and the work therein. And may we never allow the material things to get in our way or as in the old saying, try to keep up with the Joneses or to try to keep up with a standard physically and we suffer spiritually.
Friends I want to pause here and want to talk with you. You know one thing that will help the home is when the home will spend time talking about the things that be of God. I’ve got a very special online study for you and regardless if you are married or children or whatever the case might be or single or whatever, it’s a great study and one that I would love for you to bring together with your family and maybe you want to stream it on your television.
I want to pause here and this is a video by my friend Rob Whitaker and a very good video study called Believe the Bible. Here’s J Webb with the details of how you can receive that information.
Where did we come from? What is your purpose in life? How you answer these fundamental questions is greatly affected by whether you believe in God, believe the Bible is true and believe Jesus to be divine.
Our friend Rob Whitaker has a free online video study titled Believe the Bible and it is an awesome study. Please allow us to send you the link and you can check it out for yourself. Just call toll free at 1-855-IGH-6988 and leave your name, email and just say Believe the Bible.
Again, call toll free at 1-855-IGH-6988 and please leave your name, email and just say Believe the Bible. You may also go to our website at internationalgospelhour.com, click on the contact tab and leave us the same information, name, email and type Believe the Bible in the message blank. We will send the link to you.
And now, let’s get back to the Bible.
So friends, we hope to hear from you and again, when you reach out to us, we will make certain that you receive that link titled Believe the Bible. It’s a number of videos that we believe will help you in your study of the Word of God. For your home, we’ve talked about keeping your marriage honorable, to keep Christ in the Church first, and not to put material things over the spiritual.
And as I mentioned moments ago, we encourage houses to spend time in a study of the Word of God together. Maybe an evening of Bible time with you and your children or grandchildren, where you may read a passage in the Bible and talk about it, or let them tell you their favorite passage, and to help you along life’s way. We will be glad to help you with various ideas along that line.
So if you would like to have more information about Bible time for your family, give us a call at 855-444-6988 and just simply ask for the Bible time track. It’s free too. I can send that to you by email or we can mail it to you either way you wish.
Again, when you call 855-444-6988, simply say Bible time track and we’ll get that to you and let us know how you want us to send it to you. We’re glad to help you in any way. We want to strengthen the home and to help the home, for it is the foundation of nations, and to help mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, boys and girls, to help them be the very best they can be for God.
And we’re going to continue our thoughts and study together at another time. As always, friends, thank you for joining me here on the International Gospel Hour. I’m Jeff Archey and as always, keep listening.
Thank you for listening today. May this study prompt your search of God’s Word for His will in your life. To assist you in your study or to listen to other programs, please visit our website at internationalgospelhour.com.
To God be the glory.
