Matthew 19:8 (KJV) Stop Looking for a Way Out

Matthew 19:8 (KJV)

He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.

There are very few subjects more hotly contested than those in our current passage: divorce and remarriage, singleness, and whether one should remain so. Concerning these things, Jesus says, “All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given,” and, “He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.”

Here is the fact of it.

God created one man for one woman for a lifetime.

A man is to leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife. (His wife is to do the very same. Consider the accounts of Isaac and Rebekah and of Ruth.) A new family is begun, and the two become one flesh, never to be parted again.

Marriage should be considered a joining by God, not merely an agreement between a man and a woman.

One man and one woman for a lifetime.

But then comes the objection: “Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?”

Jesus answered, “Because of the hardness of your hearts.”

I notice that Jesus did not say the hardness of their hearts, but the hardness of your hearts. He pointed fingers. He made it personal. This is not merely a problem other people have; it is a problem the very people asking the question have. The fact that they even asked the question—that they looked for the qualifier—demonstrated that this hardness was present among them.

Okay, the hardness of the heart, the corruption of sin, and the fallen nature that exists in us all provide a qualifier and a way out.

“…but from the beginning it was not so.”

Why not follow the Lord and stop leaning on qualifiers?

From the beginning, God's will has been one man and one woman for a lifetime.

A man and his wife ought to stop looking for the way out and start seeking from the Lord the way to preserve what God intended from the beginning.

#GodsDesignForMarriage #OneManOneWoman #Matthew19 #FromTheBeginning #KJVBibleStudy

Stop Looking for a Way Out: Get Back to God's Original Design

Do you believe Jesus was pointing us toward God's original design for marriage rather than toward exceptions? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Leave a comment below and join the conversation. For more Christ-centered Bible studies, visit marvinmckenzie.org.

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 7100 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

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Matthew 19:8 (KJV) Stop Looking for a Way Out

Here's a comic version of the lesson.

http://youtube.com/post/Ugkxk32ez8y9Wxuoq6pRxDiz_Ms3Zu4idYDy?si=MSQSMKtmhntCpgq1

Nehemiah 2:1 (KJV) Was Nehemiah Never Sad?

Nehemiah 2:1 (KJV)

And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.

Having been captive in Babylon for over seventy years, through numerous rulers, and even through one conquest by a foreign empire, it is telling that Nehemiah worked in the king's palace, that he was so trusted, and—to my point—that he had never been sad in the king's presence.

• I suppose that doesn't mean he had never been sad. He could simply have concealed it from the king before this time.
• I also suppose one could give this a more negative interpretation by saying that Nehemiah was happy in this foreign land, had settled into its way of life and culture, and had abandoned his God.

If we take that view, then I can see in Nehemiah a man whose spirit was awakened by the news from Jerusalem. Revival broke out within him. There is always hope that such a thing will take place in a person's soul.

But I want to consider this from a different point of view. Nehemiah, it seems to me, did have a spiritual concern, as evidenced by the fact that he inquired about how things were going in Jerusalem. He does not appear to be a worldly man. Rather, he is a man whose spirit is willing to serve where God has placed him. He does not allow his circumstances to drive him to constant sadness.

This doesn't mean he never became concerned, sad, or burdened. Obviously, he was capable of those emotions, as our text demonstrates. They simply were not his normal demeanor.

I look at the world in which we live and see many reasons to be burdened. There are things that could easily overwhelm us with sadness. But that is not to be the normal state of the saved, and it doesn't have to be. There are things that drive people to unhappiness, but we ought not settle there.

• We can fight for joy.
• We can do something about our burden.

I notice Nehemiah prayed—and then prayed again. I notice he asked for, and received, permission to go and make a difference. It may be that we, too, can change our surroundings as he did. But even if we can't (for changing locations alone won't change a person's joy), we can still take steps toward a changed heart.

• Seek the Lord and ask Him what needs to change in you.
• Speak with others and discover how you might help improve the situation.
• Survey the circumstances and devise a plan to begin working.
• Don't quit until God moves you.

I imagine that a burdened soul will always experience burdens. But a burdened soul does not have to live in sadness, nor should it settle for such a state.

#FightForJoy #Nehemiah #TrustGod #ServeWhereYouAre #BiblicalEncouragement

Was Nehemiah Ever Sad? The Secret Every Christian Needs

Has God ever used a burden to lead you into something better? I'd love to hear your experience in the comments. 

If this Bible lesson encouraged you, please like, share it with someone who needs hope today, and explore hundreds of free Bible studies, videos, and ministry resources at marvinmckenzie.org.

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 7100 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Nehemiah 2:1 (KJV) Was Nehemiah Never Sad?

Here's a comic version of the lesson.

http://youtube.com/post/Ugkx6XFQHjDKYlmfKSyHkpmr04rWPzMri4QN?si=b3rQfFrvjrpt9-pQ

Matthew 16:3 (KJV) Jesus Called the Most Educated Men of His Day Hypocrites

Matthew 16:3 (KJV)

And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?

It is not my desire or intention to "take liberty" with the Word of God. I understand the audience to whom Jesus was speaking. They were Pharisees. They were religious leaders.

They were also the religious elite—those who considered themselves the most educated men of their day. They would ask of Jesus, "How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?" (John 7:15). Years later, they would accuse the apostles of being ignorant and unlearned.

Pardon me, then, if I liken today's educational elite to the Pharisees. I see some similarities. Though they would deny it, much of the educational establishment belongs to a religion. They have meeting houses. They have sacred texts. They have a hierarchical system of leadership. They have prophets and teachers. They have a god of their own making—which can take many forms, so long as it is not the God of the Bible.

My point is this: Jesus called them hypocrites. They could learn all sorts of things. They could even forecast the weather. Yet they could not recognize spiritual truth when it stood before them.

Nothing is more hypocritical than a life devoted to knowledge that cannot come to the truth of God and His Word.

#SignsOfTheTimes #TruthOfGodsWord #BiblicalDiscernment #KingJamesBible #FaithAndTruth

Jesus Called the Most Educated Men of His Day Hypocrites: The Dangerous Blind Spot of Today's Academic Elite

Did Jesus' words in Matthew 16:3 challenge you? I'd love to hear your thoughts. What do you think is the greatest cause of spiritual blindness in our generation? Leave a comment below and join the conversation. Then visit marvinmckenzie.org for hundreds of Bible studies, Christian articles, and biblical resources to help you grow in your walk with Christ.

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 7100 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Matthew 16:3 (KJV) Jesus Called the Most Educated Men of His Day Hypocrites

Here's a comic version of the lesson.

http://youtube.com/post/Ugkx7v1sf-2ZtSp_jtxuCtMzBcMBxuRePSwL?si=rSxN1oGB3ypDs_rD

Matthew 15:6 (KJV) The Tradition Trap

Matthew 15:6 (KJV)

And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.

When my oldest son began courting his future bride, he met with her and her parents for dinner. When he came home, he shared how the evening had gone. One of the questions they asked him was, "What traditions does your family have?”

The question took him by surprise, and he answered, "We don't have any traditions."

His mother and I then began to recount a list of our family traditions: We open our Christmas presents on Christmas Eve, just after returning home from the Christmas Eve service. Every Memorial Day, we visit his mother's family graves in Oregon, and so on.

It reminded me of myself in my early days of pastoring. Whenever I led a wedding rehearsal, I would say something like, "We're Baptists. We don't have any traditions. The bride gets what the bride wants!”

That was, of course, not true. I had plenty of expectations for the wedding. I simply never thought of them as traditions.

We Baptists use the phrase "like faith and practice" as the basis of our fellowship. Faith is our doctrine. Practice is the application of that doctrine—in other words, many of our traditions.

To deny that we have traditions would be absurd. Paul even speaks of traditions and commands believers to separate from those who do not follow them. (I believe that separation is for the sake of peace and the preservation of the faith—not necessarily, or at least not always, as an act of judgment.) We have traditions. Everyone does.

But here's the important point: We must recognize our traditions and take careful steps to ensure that none of them make the commandment of God of none effect.

#BibleOverTradition #FaithAndPractice #GodsWordFirst #BiblicalChristianity #CommandmentOfGod

The Tradition Trap: Don’t Allow Customs to Replace God's Word

What do you think? Have you ever discovered that something you thought was "just the way we've always done it" was actually a tradition rather than a biblical command? Leave a comment below and join the conversation. Then visit marvinmckenzie.org for more Bible studies, articles, videos, and resources designed to help you build your faith on God's Word rather than man's traditions.

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 7100 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Matthew 15:6 (KJV) The Tradition Trap

Here's a comic version of the lesson.

http://youtube.com/post/UgkxkFcPQrSGbq0_uhw0zTv-KU7rXZUWp053?si=Xv15p830qnRrlImt

Ezra 9:9 (KJV) What the Bible Calls Revival May Surprise You

Ezra 9:9 (KJV)

For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.

Being a fundamental Bible believer, I am very interested in revival. I read about revivals in England. I research the revivals in the United States. I enjoy the sermons of revivalists from the past—Moody, Sunday, Whitefield, and others.

• I pray for nationwide revival in the United States.
• I beg the Lord for worldwide revival.
• I participate in and pray for church services intended to seek revival.
• I have also preached my fair share of messages from passages of Scripture that speak of revival.

As a spiritual exercise, I simply want to note what Ezra identified as revival in his day.

Israel had been dispossessed of the Promised Land for some seventy years. God moved upon the heart of Cyrus to decree that the Jews could return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple.

The return and the work on the Temple faced opposition and, frankly, were disappointing to many of the returning Jews.

Ezra confessed shame, astonishment, and heaviness over what had transpired. Yet, in his prayer, he declared that they had experienced "a little reviving." What was this reviving?

• Grace had been shown by the Lord our God.
• A remnant had escaped Babylonian captivity.
• They recognized that God had not forsaken them.
• Mercy had been extended through secular rulers.
• The house of God had been rebuilt.
• Jerusalem's wall had been restored.

I notice that this reviving was from God, but it was not:

• National
• Without conflict
• Perfect

Perhaps, by those standards, we have experienced more reviving in our own day than we have acknowledged or thanked God for.

We have enjoyed:

• Liberty to preach
• Churches planted
• Souls saved
• Opportunities for missions

Let us not forget that even in times when we are embarrassed by the evil around us and by the compromises of many who profess to be Christians, God has still been gracious to us. He has given us "a little reviving."

#LittleReviving #GodSendsRevival #Ezra9v9 #ReviveThyWork #BibleRevival

What the Bible Calls Revival May Surprise You: Have We Missed the Reviving of God?

If this devotional challenged or encouraged you, I'd love to hear from you. What does "a little reviving" look like in your church, your family, or your own walk with God? Leave a comment below and join the conversation. For more Bible studies, devotionals, and resources to strengthen your faith, visit marvinmckenzie.org. I look forward to hearing from you!

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 7100 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Ezra 9:9 (KJV) What the Bible Calls Revival May Surprise You

Here's a comic version of the lesson.

http://youtube.com/post/UgkxIi-K0zsUo78HceCCm0_Hnt2ZP1ycWJ8l?si=UBjrRioarUZzVUp_