We are excited to announce some new features to the blogsite. As more and more readers are viewing from foreign countries we have added the translate feature to the site. Our readers can also now choose to have the blog emailed to them, and they can search the blog by keywords on various topics. We hope that this makes the site more manageable for you. God Bless.

Hear current audio messages by Pastor Scott Burr at:
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Thursday, April 20, 2017

The Role of a Godly Wife (Pt. 3)

(Part 3 of 3)

“These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children, to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes, to do good and be submissive to their husbands. Then they will not bring shame on the world of God.” -Titus 2:4-5

The role of a Godly wife is not defined merely by submission. Titus teaches us that women are also to love their husbands. This may look different in every home dependent on your spouse’s love language. It’s important to discover what make’s your husband feel loved. My husband feels loved from receiving words of affirmation. I could bake him a cake and wash his car and although he may appreciate it, it doesn’t communicate love to him. If you want to love your husband you must discover what makes him feel loved. 

Titus also teaches us that a wife should also strive to live self-controlled and pure lives. I am the only person who controls what I look at, what I listen to, what I think about and what I say. Am I honoring God with how I present myself? Women are screaming to be valued, yet many (not all mind you) are flocking to the movies and throwing money at the devaluing of women in movies such as 50 Shades Darker. What are we saying? If we want to be valued, we must first value ourselves my maintaining a pure heart before God. 

Godly wives are also industrious at home. In some seasons of life being busy at home looks like changing diapers, feeding babies, and just trying to maintain the crazy. At other times it looks like running teenagers from one event to another while trying to provide some fashion of a healthy meal and clean clothes in the midst of it. The key is to be involved in the life of your family regardless of how busy or crazy life gets.  

Another key component of being a Godly wife is to be kind and do good. When I think of this I am reminded of Proverbs 31:23: 

Her husband is well know at the city gates, where he sits with the other civic leaders.”

What a powerful truth regarding a true woman of God. That she lives her life in such a way that her husband is respected because of how she carries herself. Her love, industrious nature, purity, and respect communicate the strength that she brings to her family. 

A Godly wife understands the importance of respect in a marriage. When I respect my husband, I give value to him, to his thoughts, his ideas, his wishes and desires. I never devalue him in the eyes of others by bad mouthing him or undermining his decisions, because I know that God has called me to demonstrate respect towards him:

“So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”-Ephesians 5:33

Finally, a Godly wife is concerned about developing her inward beauty:

“Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.”- 1 Peter 3:3-4

There are so many ways that a wife can bring insight and value into a marriage; but one of the most important ways she can contribute to the health of her marriage is by learning to develop within her the nature of God in its unfading beauty. 

Tandy Burr
Dayspring Community Church



Thursday, April 13, 2017

Jesus broke the chains of sin


“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you.”-Isaiah 59:2

This passage of scripture, recorded for us by the Prophet Isaiah, communicates the seriousness of sin. Today there is a movement to distract, diminish, and ignore the significance of sin. However, if sin keeps me separated from God; then sin is a serious problem that I must address.

The word for sin, most commonly used in the Bible, means to miss the mark or to go beyond the limits. Although there is no singular definition of sin found in the scriptures, when you link together the passages regarding sin you begin to get a feel for the scope of sin. Sin is described as lawlessness (1 John 3:4), wrongdoing (1 John 5:17), and unbelief (Romans 14:23). James 4:17 takes it even a little further when he writes:

 “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”

Where did sin begin? Some would contend that sin began with Adam and Eve. However, sin had its start before Adam. Adam was the gate by which sin entered humanity, but sin began in heaven with an angel named Lucifer. Lucifer became full of pride and ultimately wanted to ascend above the throne of God (Isaiah 14:12-15). This act of defiance became his downfall. He, then, entered the Garden of Eden and tempted Adam and Eve with the same temptation. He encouraged them to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil so that they too could know right from wrong and be like God; even though they had been instructed by God not to eat from that tree.

Genesis 3 describes Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God and His command. Since that time, sin has been passed down through all generations of mankind. We, as Adam’s descendants, have inherited a sin nature (Romans 5:12). The cost of that sin nature being death (Romans 6:23). This means that we are not simply sinful in practice, but by nature. We are born into sin (Psalm 51:5). This is why the Apostle Paul declared in Romans 3:23 that we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.

According to 1 John 1:8: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” How then can we be saved?

There is only one person in the history of the world who did not have a sin nature: Jesus! His virgin birth allowed Him to enter our world while bypassing the curse passed down from Adam. Jesus then went on to live a sinless life (2 Corinthians 5:21); which allowed Him to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins (1 Peter 1:19).

It is through Christ that we are born again! John 3:6 declares:

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.”

When we were born we inherited Adam’s sin nature; but when we place our faith in Christ we are born again and we inherit a new nature:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old is gone, and the new is here.”-2 Corinthians 5:17. 

Although Jesus breaks the chains of sin off of our lives, the struggle does not disappear. In fact the Apostle Paul wrote about the inward struggle that remains in Romans 7:15-20 when he dialogued about how he continues to do the things that he ought not do and fails to do the things he knows he should. Although God has given us a new nature, the old nature (which has had total control of your life for so long) is not going to go away quietly. We were slaves to sin. We were destined to be separated from God, forever. We had no other option until Jesus came along. He made a way for us through His own death that we may have a chance at life. He broke the chains of sin off of our lives and gave us hope for a future. Sin is no longer our boss! We are under new management and no longer have to be subjugated to sin:

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness.”-1 Peter 2:24 

Through His finished work on the cross, Jesus satisfied the wages of sin and through His resurrection provided believers with victory over their sin nature!

Pastor Scott Burr
Dayspring Community Church

Thursday, April 6, 2017

The Role of a Godly Wife (Pt.2)

(Part 2) 

“And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”-Genesis 2:18

To understand the role of a Godly wife we have to look back in Genesis to discover God’s heart in the creation of Eve. When we casually read this verse, the word “helper” can carry with it a connotation of weakness; like she is suppose to be the Robin to his Batman. However, in reality, as a wife I am not my husband’s sidekick, but his partner. I am more like the Wonder Woman to his Superman; each of us using our gifts, talents, strengths and interests to move forward together, as a team. 

Translated from the original Hebrew the word helpmeet can be broken down into two parts:  the word helper implies: one who has power or strength to give help and the word meet translates as like or equal to. Thus husbands and wives were each created equally in the image of God, with our own set of strengths to lend to the other. 

In our marriage we work together, as a team, to pursue God’s will, plan and calling for our life and our family, but I still have an individual part to play. As a wife I have responsibilities, not mandates established by mankind, but a pattern for my life established by God’s Holy Word. 

The first responsibility that I have is to initiate and nurture my own relationship with God. We read in Genesis Chapter 2 how God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep while He created Eve. So there was a period of time before God presented Eve to Adam that Eve was alone with God. We don’t know how much time that it was, only that it was enough time for her to establish an intimate bond with her Creator. As Godly wives we too must seek our own personal relationship with God. We cannot expect our husbands to carry us along on his coattails, but we must get in the Word, get in God’s presence, and find out what He is saying to us personally. 

As a Godly wife I also have the responsibility to understand God’s established order in our home. 

“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.”-Ephesians 5:22-24

The topic of submission in marriage is always a sensitive subject. Even though Ephesians 5:21 states that we are to submit to one another in the fear of God, it seems that the topic of submission focuses primarily on wives.  That is why it was important to reinforce the value and strength of a Godly wife in a marriage relationship. However, in any relationship whether it be work, military, political or family; someone ultimately must carry the responsibility of the decisions made. If a decision is an epic failure, the responsibility can sometimes be shared but other times it must rest on someone’s shoulders. So, how does biblical submission look in our home? Whenever we are facing a big decision, my husband and I carefully discuss and talk through the details. He shares his thoughts/opinions and I share mine. Sometimes it may be an area that he knows I have more knowledge and experience and he defers to me; sometimes it’s the other way around. However, there are times that we reach an impasse, where we, for whatever reason, cannot reach a mutual agreement. This is where I look to God’s Word for direction. In those moments I yield to his discretion and to the authority God entrusted to him as the spiritual head of our home (1 Corinthians 11:3). Together we pursue what he believes is God’s direction for our family. I may not always like it, but I always trust him because I know he has sought God in prayer over it; and I trust that if I honor God’s Word; God will be faithful to us. 

Tandy Burr

Dayspring Community Church