Pastor Rick Hudgens | Things That Mess up a Marriage

Sunday/May/2008 13:27

¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”

¹⁹ So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one.

²⁰ He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.

²¹ So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening.

²² Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.

²³ “At last!” the man exclaimed. “This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.’”

²⁴ This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. God has a plan for good marriages, but in today’s culture it is almost impossible to have a marriage as God intended. However, it is possible!

Helen Rowland had it right when she said, “Marriage is like twirling a baton, turning handsprings or eating with chopsticks. It looks easy until you try it.”

We are going to try and figure out some of the things that “creep” in to wipe out good marriages. I believe that good marriages don’t JUST happen – you have to work at keeping your marriage strong!

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Pastor Rick Hudgens | The Job Description of a Good Marriage

Sunday/May/2008 13:18

I am aware of a 165-question survey that pastors and counselors use for premarital and marriage counseling. It scores about ten different areas of married life. The people who compile this survey and score it decided to do a little digesting of 10,000 surveys; 5,000 men answers and 5,000 women; and they asked basic questions to identify the top issues that men and women most often highlight as concerns in their relationships.

Here are the top concerns that women reported in their relationships:

My spouse can be too stubborn.
Some differences never seem to get resolved.
I wish my husband were more willing to share his feelings with me.
I wish my partner were less critical and negative.
My partner often does not understand how I feel.

Now, here is what the men said were the top issues for them:

My spouse can be too stubborn.
Sometimes differences never seem to get resolved.
There is difficulty dealing with my partner's moodiness.
There are serious disputes over unimportant issues.
I wish my partner was less critical and negative.

Pastor Rick begins a four part series of messages entitled, “Extreme Home Makeover for Families.”

The goal of the series is to help us understand:
(1) How our marriages can be as God intended
(2) How our parenting skills can be improved.

This series will also include a message designed for single adults in our church family.

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Pastor Rick Hudgens | A Mother's Day Card from God

Sunday/May/2008 13:14

Trivia about Mothers...

There are 84 million moms in the U.S.
The odds of a woman delivering twins are 1 in 33. Her odds of having triplets are approximately 1 in 539.
August is the most popular month in which to have a baby.
Kentucky has the highest percentage of women who are mothers at 67%. The national average is 57%.
About 4 million women will give birth this year.
The median age of a woman giving birth for the first time in the U.S. in 24.8.
Daughters keep in closer touch with their mothers than do sons.
There are more phone calls made on Mother's Day than on any other day of the year.
The number of people calling their moms on Mother's Day has declined in recent years due to email and other electronic means of communication.
While nearly 80 percent of Americans will buy a card for mom this year, 83 percent will be purchased by daughters.
Mother's Day is the third-largest card-sending holiday.
Mother's Day is the busiest day of the year for restaurants.

From wilstar.net

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Pastor Rick Hudgens | The Importance of Christian Baptism

Sunday/May/2008 14:13

Christian baptism, according to the Bible, is an outward testimony of what has occurred inwardly in a believer’s life. Christian baptism illustrates a believer’s identification with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. The Bible declares, “Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father; we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:3-4 NIV). In Christian baptism, the action of being immersed in the water pictures being buried with Christ. The action of coming out of the water pictures Christ’s resurrection.

In Christian baptism, there should be two requirements before a person is baptized: (1) the person being baptized must have trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior, and (2) the person must understand what baptism signifies. If a person knows the Lord Jesus as Savior, understands that Christian baptism is a step of obedience in publicly proclaiming his faith in Christ, and desires to be baptized – then there is no reason to prevent the believer from being baptized. According to the Bible, Christian baptism is a step of obedience, a public proclamation of one’s faith in Christ alone for salvation. Christian baptism is important because it is a step of obedience – publicly declaring faith in Christ and commitment to Him, and identification with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. (Reference: www.gotquestions.org)

This morning we will celebrate the baptism of several individuals who attended a baptism class in preparation for baptism and today wish to express their commitment to Christ through baptism. This is a day of rejoicing and celebration for our church! Pastor Rick will answer the question: What is the importance of Christian baptism?

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