Barbara Rainey's Top 10 Interviews

Click Here to Listen to the other parts in the series
Reclaiming Easter (Part 1) - The Miracle of Easter
Reclaiming Easter (Part 2) - Regaining the High Ground
Reclaiming Easter (Part 3) - It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...Easter

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript  

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It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like…Easter

Guest:                         Barbara Rainey                    

From the series:       Reclaiming Easter (Day 4 of 4)

Air date:                     March 19, 2015

Bob: In Matthew’s Gospel, we read that, when Jesus cried out with a loud voice and yielded up His Spirit, at that moment, the curtain of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Here’s Barbara Rainey.
 
 Barbara: It’s one of those little pieces in the story of Easter that, every time I read it, I get chills because it says, at the moment that Jesus died, the curtain in the Temple was torn, from top to bottom. Now, think about a curtain that is four to six inches thick and sixty to ninety inches tall—and all of a sudden, there is this thunderous sound; and the curtain is being torn in two—and it was the moment that Christ breathed His last. 

Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Thursday, March 19th. Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey, and I’m Bob Lepine.  There are a lot of little details in the story of Jesus’s death, and burial, and resurrection; and all of them are important. 

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We’ll talk more today about how we can dig deeper into the biblical account of the greatest moment in all of human history. Stay tuned. 

And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us. Just found myself, this week, kind of thinking [Singing], “It’s beginning to look a lot like Easter.”  I guess—haven’t you wanted to sing a few Easter carols? [Laughter] 

Barbara: Why don’t you write us a song that would kind of capture that?  

 Bob: We have some songs—

Dennis: You’ve written all kinds of songs—Legacy Partner songs. 

Bob: I have written those, but I think—

Dennis: Yes, by the way, I just want to give a shout out to Legacy Partners. Thanks for standing with us. This is an important ministry to you and your family, but it’s also an important ministry to our nation. I think our nation needs all the help it can get when it comes to marriages and families. 

 Bob: We are focused this week on the coming celebration of Easter. It’s just right around the corner—trying to help families get in the Easter mood and not just wait until the week before and go: 

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“Oh, yes, Easter is coming up. I guess we should do something about it,” but be in the mindset here, weeks in front of the holiday. 

Barbara: Well, we’re very intentional about Christmas. We spend lots of time making our lists and just countless things that we do to be intentional at Christmas. I think we need to capture some of that intentionality and use it toward Easter. My hope is that we can help you and your family find some ways to be intentional this year so that Easter for you and your family, this year, is much more meaningful than it ever has been in the past. 

Dennis: Millions of our listeners know that’s the voice of my wife, Barbara. There are probably two that didn’t recognize it. 

Bob: Two people who are going, “Who’s she?”  [Laughter]  

Dennis: But she’s back, again, today on FamilyLife Today. Welcome back, Sweetheart. 

Barbara: Thank you. 

Dennis: Earlier, Bob kind of came into the studio and he remarked about what you see on the table. It really is the result of close to three years of work that you’ve been at—

3:00

—trying to bring great teachings of the Scripture to people’s homes, around the major Christian holidays that we celebrate—to help families prepare both their home and their hearts for the reason for the season. 

Barbara: I know there is so much more to the Easter story—in fact, to all of the stories in the Bible—than we know and appreciate. One of the things that I am hoping to do is to help families understand more of the story. I think, because we’re so familiar with it, we think it’s kind of old hat, or it’s boring, or “Oh, I know this story.”  And yet, there is so much more to it than we know. I think it helps elevate our celebration when we know more about what happened on the cross and all of the events that surrounded the first Easter. 

Bob: Over the years, you’ve designed decorative elements that can be used in the home, whether it’s a banner you can put on your front door that says, “I am the Resurrection and the Life,” a chain garland that can hold cards that talk about the “I Am” statements from John: “I am the Door,” “I am the Good Shepherd,” 

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“I am the Bread of Life,” “I am the Light of the World.”  

This year, one of the new things you’ve developed is what you are referring to as conversation cards. Explain what these are. 

Barbara: Well, I think that all of us—women especially—when we go to the trouble to set a really nice table, we’re hoping that we can have a meaningful meal. We go to that trouble because we are hoping that we can capture something that will be memorable—something that will kind of hang with us. That’s why we do traditions. That’s why we repeat recipes and all of that. It’s a way of binding us together, as a family, and it knits our hearts together. 

One of the things that I wanted to do was help families, help couples, help moms and dads initiate meaningful conversation around your Easter brunch, or your Easter lunch, or Easter dinner because—we can set a beautiful table but, then, if we sit and talk about sports, or we talk about homework, or we—the kids break into a fight, we lost it. 

5:00

We lost that element that we were trying to create. 

So, sometimes, we all need prompts / we need reminders. We need some kind of a little nudge to help us have a meaningful conversation or t...

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript  

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Storms of Life

Guests:                      Dennis and Barbara Rainey                       

From the series:       Something from the Cruise (Day 2 of 3)

Air date:                     March 6, 2012

Bob:  There are times when life is hard; and when life gets hard, marriage gets hard.  Here’s Dennis Rainey.

Dennis:  I’ll quote a little girl who was sitting on her grandpa’s lap.  She looked at her grandpa and she said, “Grandpa, life is like licking honey off a thorn.”  

Barbara:  You just tend to think, “Well, it’s not going to be me.  It’ll be somebody else.  It’s not going to be me,” but there we were.  It was the two of us, and we had just gotten that bad news.  It was a storm.  It just came, flying at us and knocked us flat.  

[Song:  Let the Wind Blow]

There’s a storm on the horizon,

Oh, let the wind blow.

Bob:  This is FamilyLife Today for Tuesday, March 6th.  Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine.  When there are storms on the horizon, what can you do to make sure your marriage stands strong?  We’ll hear from Dennis and Barbara Rainey about that today.   

Let the wind blow.

Upon the solid rock of God I stand,

Oh, let the wind blow.

And welcome to FamilyLife Today.  Thanks for joining us on the Tuesday edition.  Thought it was interesting, when we were together about a month ago on the FamilyLife Love Like You Mean It® marriage cruise—this was our second year to do the cruise.  Again, it was sold out this year.  We had a thousand couples joining us—had the whole ship to ourselves.  

Dennis:  It is one of the best things that we do here at FamilyLife.  There’s no question about it—the entertainment, the content, the opportunity for engaging with folks in ministry, and finding out how you can plug in, as well as just leaving there with a better relationship with God and your spouse.  It really is a home run.  

Bob:  Here is what I thought was interesting.  You think of going off on kind of a cruise vacation with couples—it’s a marriage cruise.  You’ve got the whole boat to yourself, and we have devotions each morning.  Folks will crowd into the theatre for morning devotions.  

 You and Barbara spoke one morning; and I thought, “You tackled a subject, in the middle of the cruise, that was kind of a sobering subject.”  You think of a cruise—you think, “Well, it’s just going to be fun and lighthearted;” but you guys went deep that morning.  

Dennis:  We talked about some of the storms in our marriage that have occurred and how a marriage has to be built upon Jesus Christ and obedience to Him.  I don’t have a solution for how a marriage can go the distance otherwise.  

 Bob:  The interesting thing to me is how much powerful ministry happens onboard the Love Like You Mean It Cruise.  Again, I think a lot of people think, “Well, that would be a fun vacation, we’d get to hear some good messages, and it would be nice;” but we see God at work in the lives of a lot of couples who join us on this cruise.  

 Dennis:  It’s more than a vacation, Bob.  Certainly, it is some time away from work, phone calls and e-mail, and all the hassles of bills and everyday life; but it is an intensely spiritual time—a time of equipping, encouraging, putting our arms around people and saying, “You know what?  You’re not the only couple who’s faced difficulty in your marriage and in your family.  You can do this thing.  You can do this thing called marriage and family.  God’s Word speaks to how you do it, and we’re going to help you by equipping you with the biblical blueprints to know how to make your marriage go the distance.”  

 Bob:  Because the cruise has sold out each of the last two years and because we are on our way already to starting to sell out the 2013 cruise, Valentine’s week of 2013, I went to our team.  I said, “I want to make sure our FamilyLife Today listeners get a chance to sign up and to join us.  Is there any kind of incentive we could provide for them to do that?”  

The team put together a special offer.  You can go to FamilyLifeToday.com for more information about what’s involved in that special offer.  We’ve already got lined up, for the cruise this year, Sara Groves, and Denver & the Mile High Orchestra.  Anthony Evans is going to join us.  Priscilla Shirer is going to be on the cruise with us.  Voddie Baucham is going to be back again.  You and I are both going to be there.  Barbara is going to be along, as well.  

Dennis:  Right. 

Bob:  So, go to FamilyLifeToday.com for more information about how you can be a part of the Love Like You Mean It Valentine’s week cruise in 2013.  The special offer is good this week and next week only.  Again, go to FamilyLifeToday.com for more information about how to join us on the cruise.  

We wanted to share with our listeners the Tuesday morning devotional that you and Barbara provided onboard the ship where you shared a little bit about—I hate to use this word—some of the rough seas that a marriage will pass through and how you weather the storms in marriage.  

There is thunder in the heavens,

Oh, let the wind blow.

[Recorded message]

Dennis:  The more of life Barbara and I have shared together and the more we experience what God is up to in our lives, the more I believe life is anchored in this illustration that Jesus uses at the end of the Sermon on the Mount.  

Matthew, Chapter 7, verse 24, “Everyone, then, who hears these words of mine and does them, will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock.”  Jesus said, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.  The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house; and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”  Two houses—similar storms—two outcomes.  The difference is in how two people who build a house relate to their God.  

We’ve had a few storms in our lives in our almost 40 years of marriage; and specifically, some storms this past year.  

&n...

Click Here to Listen to the other parts in the series
Relating to Your Adult Children (Part 1) - Relating to Adult Singles
Relating to Your Adult Children (Part 2) - What Adult Children Need When They Get Married
Relating to Your Adult Children (Part 3) - Walking Through Crisis With Your Adult Children

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript 

References to conferences, resources, or other special promotions may be obsolete.

Relating to Adult Singles

Guests:                      Dennis and Barbara Rainey                       

From the series:       Relating to Your Adult Children (Day 3 of 5)

Air date:                     March 1, 2017

______________________________________________________________________________

Bob: As a parent, what do you do when one of your adult children faces difficulty—they come to you, asking for help? Do you help out? Dennis Rainey says, “Maybe, but be careful.”

Dennis: If you've got a child who has a pattern and a habit of irresponsible behavior, I think you dare not rescue them.

Barbara: I agree.

Dennis: You can't rush in and say, "Oh, let me help!" And some parents get their sense of importance and their own personal self-identity in terms of their relationship with their adult children. What they don't realize is they're raising children to become dependent upon them and not learn the lessons of life God has for them.

Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Wednesday, March 1st. Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine. As a parent, how can you tell when you ought to step in and help out and when you shouldn’t? We’ll talk about that today. Stay with us.

1:00

And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us on the Wednesday edition. You hear —it's almost become a cliché — people will say, "Kids grow up so fast." And they do grow up fast; but there are times, when you look at them, and you think they ought to be more grown up than they are, and they haven't. Part of our assignment, as parents, is to help finish that job —to make sure we have pointed them to what adulthood is supposed to look like and gotten them ready for when full adulthood arrives. Then, when that happens, our relationship with them needs to transition away from what it's been to something different; doesn't it?

Dennis: We have to move from being authoritative parents to affirming them, as adults, and then begin to relate to them, not as a parent in charge of them, but instead relate to them more as a peer, although we'll always be a parent with them.

2:00

Bob: That's right. You've been defining adulthood this week as —what is it?—independently dependent; right?

Dennis: Independently dependent upon Jesus Christ. 

Bob: That's where you want your children to be.

Dennis: That's right. We want our children to have a faith of their own and learn how to live life under God's authority. 

Barbara —who joins us again on FamilyLife Today —Barbara and I have —well, it sounds easy in the studio; but it's been an interesting process of releasing six of our children now through this transition phase toward adulthood and watching, now, five out of six get married. Hello!  It's an interesting process—trust me!

Bob: Barbara, welcome back to the program. 

Barbara: Thanks.

Bob: We’ve talked about the transition that begins when the kids leave home for college, or for career, or maybe they’re still home for awhile as they get established in a career / in a job. 

3:00

We’ve also said we’re aiming for a day that is a full-release day / an emancipation day. Did you memorialize that / did you ceremonialize that? In other words, did you have a dinner or an event, where you said: “Congratulations!—here’s the title deed to the car,” or whatever you did to launch them into adulthood?

Barbara: We did more of a ceremony upon graduation from high school, going into college and on their own, than we did going into adulthood. The real ceremony, when we officially said they were adults, was when they packed up the U-Haul® and pulled out of the driveway —that was the real ceremony.

Bob: Right.

Dennis: I think there are times when we, as parents, need to help our kids out —getting started—but we do need to be very careful that we’re not using our position in life to just carve out a place for them where they don’t have their own identity.

4:00

Bob: You know, I think most of us are aware that when children get married, we're supposed to have a new relationship with them. But there is a phase between, I don't know, the end of college and the time that they get married —that may be a couple of years —and they are adults but not married. That's kind of an awkward phase for us, as parents, to know what our responsibility should be —particularly, I think, for girls.

Barbara: I think it's a little bit different for girls. Two of our children moved into that phase, unmarried —one was a son, and one was a daughter. It was different with our daughter than it was with our son. I felt a little bit more responsibility to help her with things. For instance, we went to visit her when she was still single and living in Atlanta. She picked us up from the airport, and we're driving down the freeway. Dennis said: "Your car feels kind of funny. Have you had it checked lately?" And she said, "Oh, yes; I had the oil changed,"—whatever. Well, when we got where we were going, he got out and looked at it. Her wheels —I mean, the tires on her car were nearly bare.

5:00

Dennis: You could see the steel belts.

Bob:   Oh, really?—yes.

Barbara: And she just—even though she did some minor car repair with her car when she was in college—I mean, you know, we told her, "Go get your oil changed," and all that kind of stuff—she never really was responsible for it totally on her own. And now she was, and she just didn't—she had no idea why her car was shaking. It didn't occur to her that there was anything wrong with it. She just thought it was the car, or the road, or whatever. We felt a little bit more a sense of responsibility to protect her and to help her take care of that.

Click Here to Listen to the other parts in the series
Relating to Your Adult Children (Part 1) - Relating to Adult Singles
Relating to Your Adult Children (Part 2) - What Adult Children Need When They Get Married
Relating to Your Adult Children (Part 3) - Walking Through Crisis With Your Adult Children

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript  

References to conferences, resources, or other special promotions may be obsolete.

What Adult Children Need When They Get Married

Guests:                      Dennis and Barbara Rainey                       

From the series:       Relating to Your Adult Children (Day 4 of 5)

Air date:                     March 2, 2017

Bob: Alright; imagine this scene—one of your children was recently married. She is now back from the honeymoon—been back in town for a couple of days, and you haven't heard from her. Do you call her, or do you wait for her to call you? Here's Barbara Rainey.

Barbara: I think that the best course is to give your children as much freedom as you can, and then let them invite you back into their lives rather than showing up all the time and calling every day and there being a sense of "Just leave us alone!" because sometimes parents are over-involved from the beginning when they—what that other person really needs is for them to step back and be invited.

This is FamilyLife Today for Thursday, March 2nd. Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine. Are you giving your adult children the space they need? We’ll talk more about that today. Stay with us.

1:00 

And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us on the Thursday edition. We're talking this week about parents dealing with adult children and how our relationship, as parents, has to change as our children become adults. I always think about Stu Weber's wife Linda, who joined us years ago on FamilyLife Today—the point that she made when her son had just gotten engaged—you remember this story; right?

Dennis: I do remember the illustration she used.

Bob: She gave a present to her daughter-in-law, and it was the night of the rehearsal dinner; right?

Dennis: Right.

Bob: And the daughter-in-law opened up the box and pulled out two strips of cloth—

Barbara: Apron strings.

Dennis: —that had been clipped.

Bob: It was Linda’s way of saying: “The relationship is changing—I acknowledge that. The apron strings belong to you now.”

2:00

Dennis: Yes; and to talk about the apron strings—we bring Barbara back to the studio, my bride now since 1972.

Bob: Have you clipped off some apron strings?

Barbara: We have.

Dennis: No doubt about it! 

Barbara: We have.

Dennis: Contrast that with parents who lengthen the apron strings when their kids get married.

Bob: The tether, you mean?

Dennis: Oh my goodness!—and the problems that that brings! You know, in raising kids, you move from high control to ultimately no control. You move from total influence to—how should I say it?—minimal influence—

Bob: Limited influence?

Dennis: Limited influence— 

Barbara: Yes.

Dennis: —maybe that’s the better way to state it.

Bob: Well, and that’s what I’m wondering: “Does the relationship between a parent and child change to the point where there is virtually no influence / where there is no control?—or once they’re married, do you still have some level of control?”

3:00

Dennis: Yes; it can move to that Bob—at the decision of the child. It really does depend upon the adult child, if he or she is going to allow the parent, or the parents, to influence them.

Barbara: For us, we really wanted to be invited into our adult children's lives as opposed to assuming that we could have influence. We wanted to have some influence—we still wanted to keep the relationship going—and we hoped they would call and ask for advice on buying their first house, or a job, or some of those kinds of things; but we didn't assume that would be the case. We didn't want to presuppose anything with them because we wanted them to want our involvement in their lives.

Bob: And you've gotten that invitation from your children; right?

Barbara: Yes.

Bob: If you hadn't gotten it—let's assume for a moment that a child didn't call and ask for your opinion on buying a first house, changing a job—any of these things. There was still a cordial relationship but a clear signal of distance.

4:00

Dennis: Hands off.

Bob: Would you observe those boundaries and say, "That's the way it ought to be"?

Barbara: Yes; because to do otherwise is to not really give them their freedom—it's to not give the apron strings / it's to say, "I still know better than you, and you need me." All that's going to do is create resentment and hostility, and it's just not healthy for our relationship. So, I think if any of our kids had made it clear that they didn't want our advice, or our thoughts, or our counsel, we wouldn't have given it.

Dennis: We're talking here about what adult children need when they get married.

Bob: Yes.

Dennis: I think they have some very specific needs. First, they need the blessing and the approval of their parents as they begin to establish this new relationship that they've never had before—that they've never experienced before. They need us to, I think, provide—if not in a ceremony, certainly through our words and our attitudes—a sense of s...

Click Here to Listen to the other parts in the series
Relating to Your Adult Children (Part 1) - Relating to Adult Singles
Relating to Your Adult Children (Part 2) - What Adult Children Need When They Get Married
Relating to Your Adult Children (Part 3) - Walking Through Crisis With Your Adult Children

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript  

References to conferences, resources, or other special promotions may be obsolete.

Walking Through Crisis with Your Adult Children

Guests:                      Dennis and Barbara Rainey                                   

From the series:       Relating to Your Adult Children (Day 5 of 5)

Air date:                     March 3, 2017

Bob: Even after your children have grown up and left the nest, what's happening in their lives can continue to have an impact on your marriage. Here is Dennis Rainey.

Dennis: A crisis with an adult child?—it can threaten the marriage of the parents, because the parents can begin to turn against one another as they process grief and they're not off the same page. One wants to rescue and the other wants to let them hit the wall. I mean, the combinations are endless here; but what has to happen is—I think a couple has to go to their knees before God and then ask, in faith, for wisdom.

Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Friday, March 3rd. Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine. It still requires a lot of wisdom on the part of a parent to know how to relate to a child when he or she is all grown up. We’ll talk more about that today. Stay with us.

1:00

And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us on the Friday edition. You know the story from the Bible of the Good Samaritan; right?

Dennis: Right.

Bob: The guy is off in the ditch—he's been beaten by robbers, who have taken his money—left him for dead. The people pass by and ignore him until a Samaritan comes by. The Samaritan stops and helps him out. I mention that because we've been talking this week about relating, as parents, to our adult children. You and your wife Barbara, who joins us again today—Barbara, welcome to FamilyLife Today.

Barbara: Thank you, Bob.

Bob: You guys have told us that what we need to do, as our children reach adulthood, is to get to a point where they are emancipated—where they are no longer under our authority. But there may be times when we pass by, and they're in the ditch. 

Barbara: Yes.

Bob: Then: “Do we ignore them when we find them in that situation?” That's the subject we want to explore today: 

2:00

“What happens when your adult child finds himself or herself in trouble / in crisis?  When do you step back in; or when do you pull away and say: ‘You know what? You're grown up. You're going to have to work your way out of this one yourself.’” That's a tough issue for parents.

Dennis: It is, Bob; and I think, on this one, instead of beginning with what your adult child needs, I want to pull back. In the midst of a crisis—I want to talk to parents about what the parents need as they relate to their adult children in crisis; alright? First of all, I think we need, as we relate to our children, a healthy perspective of God's grace, His mercy, and His forgiveness. You know, Ephesians, Chapter 4, verse 32 says that "We are to forgive one another just as God, in Christ, has forgiven us." 

3:00

The problem is, as parents, when our children fail, as adults—and they go through an abusive marriage, or get involved in a relationship that's shameful, or an addiction, or maybe go off the deep end and become a full-blown prodigal / publicly dishonoring us—

Bob: Yes.

Dennis: —well, a part of our fiber, as parents, is—we want to grow old, being honored by our children and fulfilling the fifth commandment. The fifth commandment commands children, “Honor your father and mother, that it may be well with you, and that you may live a long life in the land which God gives you.” Well, it’s a command to the children to honor their parents; but it's also a need of the parents to be honored in their later years by their children.

When our children go through a crisis, whether it's self-inflicted or whether they are a victim of some other person, there is a sense in which their shame becomes our shame. 

Bob: Yes.

4:00

Dennis: And if we, as parents, do not have a healthy perspective of grace—that we're all sinners / that all have failed and that we all are in need of Jesus Christ to have a right standing with God—then they're going to find it very difficult to relate to their adult children.

Bob: Right. 

Barbara, you've heard of those young ladies, in particular, who—in the first few years of marriage, have marital issues come up—and they run back home to Mom and Dad and say: "Oh, he's doing this. He's doing that," and they're crying and all of that. I've heard every response from parents—from taking them back in and comforting them / to leaving the door locked and saying, "You go home and work this out on your own." And you never are sure: “Which is the right decision?” because you don't know all the circumstances that are going on back home. How does an adult parent make a decision in a moment like that?

5:00

Barbara: Well, I think you have to have a basic framework to operate from; that is that you are assuming some things about the health of the marriage. Basically, what our approach would be is—their first responsibility is to their spouse. And so, when our daughters have talked to me about issues, I'm always pointing them back to their husband. 

I even wrote one of my letters—we talked on another broadcast about some letters that I've written—and one of the letters that I wrote was about being careful about how much you say about what's really going on in your marriage; because it is private—it's between you and your husband. You have to be so wise and cautious about what you say and to whom you say it, because you are going to color someone else's thinking about your spouse. 

It's so important that you coach your kids—your married kids—on what to say...

Click Here to Listen to the other parts in the series
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 1) - On Mission, Your Assignment as a Couple
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 2) - World Avoiders or World Changers?
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 3) - My Home, God's Embassy
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 4) - A Christian's Mission
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 5) - A Home For Hospitality

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript  

References to conferences, resources, or other special promotions may be obsolete.

On Mission: Your Assignment as a Couple

Guest:                         Dennis Rainey                      

From the series:       Your Home Is an Embassy (Day 1 of 5)

Air date:                     August 22, 2016

Bob: Dennis Rainey believes that marriage is about a lot more than just happily ever after. He believes it’s about two people being on a mission together. 

Dennis: Jesus Christ didn’t just come to give you a happy marriage and a family that takes perfect Christmas card photos. He came to use your marriage as a living message of Christ’s relationship with the church—a profound mystery / a model of covenant-keeping love even during hard times—and to use your family as a training center for the next generation of Great Commission warriors and soldiers. 

Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Monday, August 22nd. Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey, and I’m Bob Lepine. Do you know what your mission is, as a married couple; and are you on mission together? 

1:00

We’ll explore that today. Stay with us. 

And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us on the Monday edition. Do you ever get tired of challenging couples to be about the Great Commission—to be on mission together as a couple?  

Dennis: Never. 

Bob: You don’t think: “I’m starting to sound like a broken record. I’ve said this so often”? 
 
 Dennis: Well, I do feel like that sometimes. [Laughter]  I wonder if our listeners get tired of me challenge them to get in the game and be a part of what God’s up to on the planet. It’s the greatest adventure of a lifetime, Bob—is to join God in what He’s doing here on the earth. I mean, it’s been our privilege—Barbara and me for the last, almost 44 years now / and here on FamilyLife Today, coming up on 24 years. 

Bob: That’s right. And today, we’re going to hear that charge afresh. In fact, you spoke recently to an audience of couples, urging them to be in the game and to understand the good works that God has prepared for us to be involved with before we were even created. 

2:00

Dennis: That’s right. And before we get to that message, I just want to say a hearty “Thanks!”—and I mean this—I just want to say, “Thanks,” to you who are Legacy Partners and donors to FamilyLife Today. I just want you to know you keep us on the air, here on FamilyLife Today, ministering to millions, not only here in America, but globally in more than three dozen countries and who knows how many millions of people around the world. I just want to say, “Thank you for standing with us.”  

If you haven’t given or if you gave some time ago and haven’t given recently, I’d just like to challenge you to join us on our mission of deploying God’s people to do God’s work in marriages and families and, also, in their communities. I’d like to invite you to give a gift, financially, to FamilyLife Today and help keep us on the air. 

3:00

We’re short in terms of the number of donors that we’ve had join us over the last seven months. This month of August, I’ve been coming to our listeners, occasionally—not complaining / not whining—but just saying, “Hey, if you believe in what we’re doing / you believe that marriages and families are in trouble and need biblical help and hope that we provide, here on FamilyLife Today, then, would you keep us going strong and help us expand?”  I need your help. And I need your help now. 

Bob: It’s easy to make a donation. You can go to FamilyLifeToday.com and do it online, or call 1-800-FL-TODAY to make a donation over the phone. Again, we do appreciate those of you who stand with us in this ministry. If it’s been awhile since you’ve made a donation—or maybe, you’ve never supported this ministry—would you consider doing that today?  Go to FamilyLifeToday.com; or call 1-800-“F” as in family, “L” as in life, and then the word, “TODAY.”  

Alright, let’s hear the message that you shared recently as you were challenging couples to be a part of the work that God has called each one of us to in strengthening marriages and families. 

4:00

Here’s Dennis Rainey. 

[Recorded Message]  

Dennis: You know, you have no idea what God is up to in your marriage and where you may find yourself six hours from now / six weeks from now; but God wants you to know who you are, according to this Book, and what you’re all about as you leave here. There are a lot of believers today that suffer from spiritually amnesia. Their souls have been erased by the enemy, and they have been tricked to believe that they are someone that they’re really not. 

 Do you know who you are, spiritually speaking?  Do you know why you are here?  What’s your purpose as a couple?  Every couple here needs to have some sense of a purpose that you’re about, according to God’s design. 

5:00

Who are you?  

If you were born again by faith in Jesus Christ / His finished work on the cross, at the moment you placed your faith in Christ, more than 30 things happened to you that changed your spiritual identity, as a man / as a woman. One of three things that occurred—that I’ll just list real quickly—is that you became / you were adopted as a child of God. John, Chapter 1, verse 12 and 13 say this—it says, “But to all who did receive Him,”—speaking of Christ—“who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood nor the will of flesh nor of the will of man, but born of God.”  You were adopted into God’s family. You’re His child. That makes Him your Father. 

<...

Click Here to Listen to the other parts in the series
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 1) - On Mission, Your Assignment as a Couple
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 2) - World Avoiders or World Changers?
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 3) - My Home, God's Embassy
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 4) - A Christian's Mission
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 5) - A Home For Hospitality

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript  

References to conferences, resources, or other special promotions may be obsolete.

World Avoiders or World Changers?

Guest:                        Dennis Rainey                      

From the series:       Your Home Is an Embassy (Day 2 of 5)

Air date:                     August 23, 2016

______________________________________________________________________________

Bob: As a parent, should you be teaching your children to be world avoiders or world changers? Here’s Dennis Rainey.

Dennis: What if you could give them the concept of being on the offensive as they go to school / as they go to college? Instead of losing their faith—as they graduate from high school and never darkening the doors of a church—instead they’re on the offensive, not even thinking of losing their faith because they have a reason for why they believe. They’ve been trained by you helping open the Book and address some of the issues that we’re facing today that are thorny—thorny—issues.

Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Tuesday, August 23rd. Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine. Are you winsomely engaging the culture around you, being salt and light in this world, and are you training your kids to do the same? We’ll explore that today. Stay with us.

1:00

And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us on the Tuesday edition. You’re aware of the fact that some people / some married couples aren’t fully engaged around God’s assignment for them because they’re not sure what God’s agenda is or what their part to play in it is.

Dennis: I think a lot of couples, Bob, never get around to asking the question: “Why are we here? What’s our mission as a couple?” They may say, “You know, I’ve never been to seminary / I’ve not been trained by some of the great Bible teachers / Bible schools in America—so what do I have to say?” The answer is: “If you are a follower of Jesus Christ and you’re in the process of being discipled, you have stuff you can share with others at some level and impact them.” It may be a youth group. 

You may start kind of like I did— 

2:00

—I picked a group that I was well ahead of. I taught a sixth-grade Sunday school class. [Laughter] I taught it for 11 years, not realizing that they were educating me and preparing me, as a parent, to know how to direct our children as they moved into adolescence. You have no way of knowing how God wants to use you, long-haul, with the gifts and abilities He’s given to you.

Bob: You recently spoke to a whole group of couples. We had spent time with them, over the course of a week, encouraging them to strengthen their own marriage relationship / to forgive one another where there’d been offenses—really trying to build into what their marriage can and ought to be. You decided, after all of that pouring into them, it was time to light a fuse and let them loose; right?

3:00

Dennis: Jesus Christ did not go to the cross to turn families into holy huddles / into little Christian groups that sing Kumbaya around a fire. He put us here to build some fires, and to make a difference, and to do good in the culture. I don’t know what that is for you, but you need to be grappling with it—both as a man or a woman—but certainly as a couple as well. 

I just want to say one thing, Bob, to a group of people that make this broadcast possible every day, here on FamilyLife Today—Legacy Partners who give / donors who give—thank you for standing with us. We’re short in terms of the number of donors we need to keep FamilyLife Today coming on strong on this station and hundreds of other stations, here in America, and hundreds of others around the world.

If you believe in marriage and family—and I suppose you do because you’re listening to this broadcast—and you believe that FamilyLife Today is providing help / biblical help and hope / biblical hope to people, then would you consider joining us? 

4:00

Just pray, “Lord, would You want us, as a couple—or me, as a single person—to help this ministry stand strong in a culture of confusion?” I need your help right now. The last seven months have been slower than we anticipated, and we need to pick up some steam here as we finish the month of August and head into the new school year.

Bob: You can make a donation online at FamilyLifeToday.com, or call 1-800-FL-TODAY to make a donation over the phone. Again, we appreciate those of you who have been standing with us this year. If you’ve never made a donation to FamilyLife Today, we’d love to hear from you. FamilyLifeToday.com is the website where you can make an online donation, or call 1-800-FL-TODAY.

Alright; here’s Part Two of Dennis Rainey’s challenge to married couples to be a part of God’s agenda for planet earth.

[Recorded Message]

Dennis: So, what if you’re a little unclear about your mission? 

5:00

Well, I have some tips for you. Just really quick, kind of in Gatling gun fashion, let me just give you some thoughts—that if you don’t know what your mission is—perhaps this might be of help.

First of all, really capturing your mission begins with surrender. You’ve heard every one of us, as speakers, speak about surrendering to Jesus Christ. It’s coming before the King and going: “You know what? I’m Yours. Tell me what You want me to do. Tell me where you want me to go. I will obey.”

Second thing, read what’s on the King’s heart—read the Book [the Bible]! This is God’s heart between two covers. This tells us what’s important here—this tells us what is valuable / what’s eternal.

Then Ephesians 2:10—know this—that He created you for good works: Ephesians 2 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” 

6:0...

Click Here to Listen to the other parts in the series
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 1) - On Mission, Your Assignment as a Couple
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 2) - World Avoiders or World Changers?
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 3) - My Home, God's Embassy
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 4) - A Christian's Mission
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 5) - A Home For Hospitality

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript  

References to conferences, resources, or other special promotions may be obsolete.

My Home, God’s Embassy

Guest:                         Barbara Rainey                    

From the series:       Your Home Is an Embassy (Day 3 of 5)

Air date:                     August 24, 2016

Bob: If you are a citizen of your homeland, it’s easy to forget that the Bible describes you differently. The Bible says you’re a stranger and an alien. Here’s Barbara Rainey.

Barbara: For the most part, we’ve forgotten that this isn’t our home. It is a little bit of a paradox to live in this land, and yet to be mindful that this isn’t our home. I don’t think we think about that enough. I think our roots have gone down too deep into the soil of this land, and we’ve forgotten that we really belong to another place, another time, and another King—that’s whom we serve.

Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Wednesday, August 24th. Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine. If this world is not our home / if we’re just passing through, how does that affect how we ought to live? We’re going to spend time thinking about that today with Barbara Rainey. Stay with us.

1:00

And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us. 

Dennis: Bob, what’s your favorite candy bar? [Laughter]

Bob: Really? This is how you want to start?

Dennis: I want to start because we were talking about this before we came on the air. You asked Barbara— 

Bob: She brought what looks—it looks—can we admit it? It looks like a candy bar.

Barbara: It does look like a candy bar.

Bob: She brought what looks like a candy bar.

Dennis: But it’s a protein bar.

Bob: It’s a protein bar.

Dennis: It’s—you know, it is cardboard covered with some kind of nutrient. [Laughter] I don’t know what it is.

Bob: No; no! It’s a candy bar with protein added. [Laughter] That’s what it is.

Barbara: That’s probably right!

Bob: That’s exactly what it is.

Dennis: But you asked her something I didn’t know the answer to. You asked her: “What was her favorite candy bar?” I’ve been married to her for coming up on 44 years, and I don’t know what her favorite candy bar is. I think the reason is—I don’t think I’ve seen her eat any. [Laughter]

Bob: You know, I asked, “If I were going down to the vending machine to get a candy bar, which one would you want?” You had to stop and think—

Barbara: Yes.

Bob: —because it’s been a while.

2:00

Barbara: It’s been a long time. In fact, I didn’t have an answer; so you rattled off about five or six names. I went: “Oh, yes! I used to like Milky Way®.”

Bob: And then Reese’s® came up; and you were like: “Oh, yes! I like those.”

Barbara: Yes; I could eat a Reese’s.

Bob: So you still will indulge occasionally.

Barbara: I still have a sweet tooth.

Bob: Alright.

Dennis: So, yours, Bob?

Bob: Mine would be the 72 percent dark chocolate made by the Izard Chocolate Company in downtown Little Rock.

Barbara: Oh, my goodness!

Bob: Yes! I want the pure bar.

Barbara: Okay; yes. It’s very good.

Bob: My friend Nathaniel Izard makes them.

Dennis: I didn’t ask what you’d like to have intravenously. [Laughter]

Bob: Mary Ann brings them home. He also has a wonderful chocolate-covered caramel that’s very good. I like the gourmet. If I’m going— 

Barbara: That sounds really yummy.

Bob: Now, see? All of a sudden here—

Barbara: Yes; that sounds really yummy.

Dennis: Yes, it does. I like Toblerone, which is made in [Switzerland].

Bob: Those are very nice.

Dennis: That’s pretty good. 

Let’s just do a little straw poll with our listeners and find out what their favorite candy bar is. Go online to FamilyLifeToday.com—

Bob: We’ve got the quiz up there.

Dennis: We’ve got the quiz, but it would be fun to see what wins. 

3:00

The reason we were doing that—we were talking about going overseas/international. Barbara talked about how she nearly starved to death on a Josh McDowell mission trip to Russia.

Barbara: Yes.

Dennis: You said that the food you were fed every day—a little boxed lunch—what was in it?

Barbara: Well, we were on the buses, day after day, going to visit orphanages and different places. It was a wonderful, wonderful trip; but the hotel that we stayed in always packed us a little sack lunch to take on the bus. The lunch consisted of a Subway-type sandwich, a very paper-thin slice of meat that you could read through, a very thin—one very thin—tomato, and a very thin piece of lettuce. There was virtually no nutrition in it. It was really thin! [Laughter]...

Click Here to Listen to the other parts in the series
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 1) - On Mission, Your Assignment as a Couple
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 2) - World Avoiders or World Changers?
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 3) - My Home, God's Embassy
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 4) - A Christian's Mission
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 5) - A Home For Hospitality

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript  

References to conferences, resources, or other special promotions may be obsolete.

A Christian’s Mission

Guest:                         Barbara Rainey                    

From the series:       Your Home Is an Embassy (Day 4 of 5)

Air date:                     August 25, 2016

Bob: As a follower of Jesus, you have been commissioned / you’ve been given an assignment. You’ve been called to be an ambassador, and you’ve been sent by God. Here’s Barbara Rainey. 

Barbara: It’s not a mistake that God has put all of us where He’s put us—the neighborhood we live in / the schools we go to—all of those things—God has sovereign purposes for us. When we remember that we are ambassadors, and that we’re here on mission, and that we’re here for the purposes of God, then it helps us to see meaning in all of the circumstances around us and in the places where God has called us to live and relate to people. 

Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Thursday, August 25th. Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey, and I’m Bob Lepine. So, how would you say things are going at your embassy?  Are you living as an ambassador for Christ?  We’re going to explore that subject today with Barbara Rainey. Stay with us. 

1:00

And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us. 

Dennis: Looks like Snickers® is doing well. [Laughter]  

Bob: Well! You know, that’s interesting—

Dennis: That’s not a dog by the way. That’s not a dog’s name—it’s a candy bar. 

Bob: If you go to our website, FamilyLifeToday.com, because this kind of came off the cuff with Dennis this week—[Laughter]  

Dennis: It was not off the cuff. We were talking about how Barbara kept herself from near starvation in Russia because she had the Lion bar. 

Bob: Okay; so, here’s my question: “How long did you think about putting a straw poll on our website before you actually spoke that on the air?”  

Dennis: Days, Bob—days. [Laughter]  

Bob: Seconds!—off-the-cuff Dennis came up with the idea of putting a straw poll on. And here’s what is interesting—the other category, where people can write in their own candy bars—that’s what’s winning. 

Dennis: It’s a long list. 

2:00

Bob: There are people who—they’re—

Barbara: There are a lot more choices today than there used to be; right?  

Dennis: You gave a local—

Bob: I did. 

 Dennis: —intravenous chocolate—

Bob: It’s awesome. 

Dennis: —that’s 70 percent—

Bob: —72 / 72 percent—  

Dennis: —to be exact. 

Bob: —bean to bar. I’ll just put in a plug for Izard Chocolate, one more time, while we’re—

Dennis: Oh, wow!—shamelessly. 

Bob: It is awesome stuff. 

Barbara: Oh good!  

Bob: Yes. 

Dennis: But he does go to Bob’s church. So, you know—Bob’s asking him to tithe off of that. 

Barbara: Oh. I love local. So, we’ll go local. [Laughter]  

Bob: But our focus this week is not on candy as much as it is on recognizing that where you are and where you’re from may be two entirely different questions. Barbara, this has kind of been the meditation of your soul for a season now. 

Barbara: And it was all sparked by a video—and I don’t even remember, now, who showed me this video or sent me the link to this video—but it’s a YouTube video about this person who lives in a former Communist country in Eastern Europe. 

3:00

This person has on the outside of his home—we’ve been calling him, “him” because we’re not allowed to say the gender of this person because of security reasons—but this person has on the outside of his home a brass plaque that says, “Embassy of the King of Heaven.”  He goes on to tell the story of how his home is an embassy for the King, and it looks like the home of the King—he thinks of it that way. He invites people in, and serves them, and listens to them because he is a representative of the King of heaven. 

When I heard that, I thought: “Oh, that’s who I am. That’s who we are. That’s who all of us are, who belong to Christ.”  But how often do I think of my home as an embassy?  Well, until I saw that video, I really didn’t think about that too much. 

Bob: And when you saw that plaque, you thought, “I want to make one—

Barbara: “I want one.”  

Bob: —“of those plaques.”  

Barbara: “I want one of those. How do I get one of those?” [Laughter] 

Bob: And since you couldn’t find one online at Amazon—

Dennis: She created one. 

Barbara: That’s right. 

Bob: —you decided to make your own. In fact, you—

Barbara: That’s right. 

Bob: —you’ve made a stainless steel one that can be screwed into the concrete, you’ve made a banner, you’ve got a framed plaque— 

Click Here to Listen to the other parts in the series
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 1) - On Mission, Your Assignment as a Couple
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 2) - World Avoiders or World Changers?
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 3) - My Home, God's Embassy
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 4) - A Christian's Mission
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 5) - A Home For Hospitality

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript  

References to conferences, resources, or other special promotions may be obsolete.

A Home for Hospitality

Guest :                       Barbara Rainey                                

From the series:       Your Home Is an Embassy (Day 5 of 5)

Air date:                     August 26, 2016

Bob: As an ambassador, your assignment is to represent your homeland—to represent the culture and the values. We are ambassadors for Christ. Barbara Rainey says that means: “When people see us, they should be reminded of who He is and what matters to Him.”  

Barbara: Jesus talked to anybody and everybody. He welcomed everybody. His love was available for everybody. And as His ambassadors, we need to share His love with anyone. I think it’s a great exercise for families to teach your kids to reach out to their friends in school and to invite their friends to come to your home so that you can know who your kids are hanging out with in school; but also, so that you can have an influence on those kids and, maybe, give them a different experience—

Dennis: Yes; right. 

Barbara: —on what home is supposed to be like because theirs may be very different. 

Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Friday, August 26th. Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey, and I’m Bob Lepine. 

1:00

When people see you, your home, your family, how much of Jesus are they seeing?  How much do your values reflect the values of the kingdom?  We’re going to spend time talking about that today with Barbara Rainey. Stay with us. 

And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us. I’m actually not surprised to see the Reese’s® Peanut Butter cup in the position that it’s in on the poll on our website at FamilyLifeToday.com—this is the candy bar poll we’ve had going on this week. 

Dennis: That is no way connected to the content of the broadcast. 

Bob: No. 

Dennis: Although the broadcast this week has been sweet because Barbara is with us. 

Bob: That’s true. I’d like to just acknowledge that—

 Dennis: How’s that?  Come on, Bob—

Bob: —there’s no connection—

Dennis: —acknowledge that may be worth one point. Come on. 

 Bob: There’s no connection.

Dennis: One point.

Bob: It was you who brought this up at the beginning of the week. [Laughter] So, the fact that it’s completely random should not surprise listeners at all. 

2:00

But do you think of a Reese’s Peanut Butter cup as a candy bar? See, I don’t think of it as a candy bar. 

Barbara: It’s not. It’s a candy, but it’s not bar shaped. 

Bob: It’s not a bar. So, it’s not—we put it up there as one of the choices, but I’m just a little surprised because I don’t think of it as a candy bar. 

Barbara: I don’t either. 

Dennis: It was not a random choice, either. We were talking about how you can be on mission as an ambassador. We’ve been talking this week, with Barbara—welcome back, Sweetheart. [Laughter]

Bob: At last, we see the connection—we see the connection between being on mission as an ambassador—

Dennis: I’m about to get there. 

Bob: —and a candy bar. 

Dennis: An ambassador knows whom he serves. 

Bob: Yes. 

Dennis: He knows and executes the mission of the one he serves.  

Bob: Right. 

 Dennis: Third—

Bob: Waiting for the candy bar part. 

Dennis: —he operates out of an embassy; and in this case, we’re challenging people to think about making their home an embassy. 

Bob: Right. 

Dennis: And we’ve got a little sign—a stainless steel sign—that says, “Embassy of the King.”  And finally, I think a good ambassador, operating out of his embassy, needs to train his kids to know how to operate in the world. 

3:00

Bob: Here’s the connection to candy bars—  

Dennis: And Barbara—

Bob: —kids.

Barbara: Kids. [Laughter]  

Dennis: Kids—yes; that’s it!  [Laughter]  We took the kids to Russia on a Josh McDowell trip to go visit orphanages. 

Barbara: We did. 

Dennis: And the way Barbara survived was a candy bar made only in Russia—it’s not exported, I’m sure. [Laughter]  She survived all week because the sandwich, or whatever it was, had lettuce-thin meat. 

Bob: The supplies were meager. 

Dennis: They were. It was survivable only because of the candy bar. Thus—

Bob: Okay. It took a long way to get there, but that’s how we got to the candy bars. 

Dennis: —thus, the straw poll. It’s okay. 

Bob: Our focus, though, this week has been rethinking about our lives—thinking about being ambassadors /...