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Does your wife feel like a treasure—or taken for granted? In this raw and practical episode, Dave Wilson dialogues with pastors Rechab Gray and Ike Todd as they talk man-to-man about humility in marriage, accountability, and loving like Jesus when it’s hardest. From awkward confrontations to life-changing repentance, they show how God uses community and surrender to transform us as husbands—and help marriages become safe, life-giving places again.

Show Notes and Resources

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Courage is just another word for inner strength. God’s Medal of Honour winners are made in secret, because our most courageous acts occur down deep inside, away from the view of the general public. That takes courage. It takes a strong resolve.

From the Series: The Sanctity of Life...The Inescapable Issue

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What’s holding you back from living your life to the fullest? Feelings of uselessness? Self-pity? Fear? Guilt? It’s never too late—or too early—to make positive changes.

Dino and Ashley Petrone have lived a whirlwind life — they married young, started a family, and have had many adventures remodeling homes together. They don’t want to settle for what’s “comfortable,” because they believe God has often called them to harder, more challenging paths in order to become the best couple and parents they can be!

At first, Rob's friends thought he was avoiding them. They'd ask him to go somewhere and he'd say, "Sorry, I can't." Eventually he told them why he couldn't go. He had something much more important to do. He would just say, "I've got to go to my meeting." Not too many teenagers would choose going to a meeting over going with their friends, but Rob made a good choice. See, Rob is a teenage drug addict, and he's being rehabilitated through a 12-step program modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous. One important key to fighting his problem is attending that support group meeting several times a week.

A few months ago he went back to cocaine. He had stopped going to the meetings. Actually, all of us addicts, like you and me, will only make it if we make the meetings.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Meeting Jesus, Daily Light."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Mark 1. I'm going to begin reading at verse 35, as we get a look inside some of the intimate side of the life of Jesus Christ. It says, "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed." Simon and his companions went to look for Him. And when they found Him, they said, 'Everyone is looking for You.' Jesus replied, 'Let us go somewhere else - to the nearby villages - so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.' So He traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons."

Now, in this passage, Jesus is doing what He does repeatedly in the gospels. He is modeling the highest priority of a busy schedule. And here is His highest priority - a regular one-on-one meeting with the Heavenly Father. If Jesus did it, we cannot possibly say we've got an excuse for not doing it. Scripture is filled with examples of this. Moses getting up to meet God in His tent of meeting. David saying, "Early will I seek You. Satisfy us in the morning with your love."

You see, we need our meeting because of our addiction. We're all earth addicts; we're hooked on this world's ideas. We're hooked on this world's entertainment. We're hooked on this world's ways of treating people. We're all sin addicts as well.

After following Christ for a while, Paul says, "The things that I want to do, I do not do. The things I don't want to do, I keep on doing" (Romans 7:15). We're addicted to sin. We're addicted to earth. Now, the 12-step dependency programs recognize that you can't change without regularly going to the support group meetings.

Now, our support group is a support person. We cannot stay away from sin unless we have our meeting - yeah, our meeting with God - regularly. The day you skip your meeting is the day you start to slip. We're not talking about some legalistic ritual where you have check the box Christianity: read my Bible and prayed. No, not doing your duty. It's a love thing. I must be with my Lord because I love Him; I want to be faithful to Him, not unfaithful. I need to plug into His power this day, picking up fresh manna for this day, getting His daily dose of strength for this day, getting His guidance for this day. I need that to fight my addiction to sin this day and my addiction to earth stuff. Yeah, today.

See, I've been hooked on things that hurt me, things that hurt others, things that hurt God. We were all addicts, and we just can't afford to miss those meetings. So, did you show up for yours today?

Read: Matthew 20:9-16

Bright and early in the morning, Kira flew into Grandma’s kitchen with a grin on her face while her cousins were still sleeping upstairs. Grandma had just finished setting out bags of flour and sugar and loads of cookie cutters. This could only mean one thing—Grandma’s delicious sugar cookies.

“Oh, Kira, thank goodness you’re here!” Grandma exclaimed. “We have to make twenty boxes of cookies for the church fundraiser tomorrow. If you help, you can bring a dozen home tonight to enjoy.”

“I’m in!” Kira cried.

After an hour of working, Sophie came downstairs and spotted the cookies. “Can I help?” she asked.

“Join the fun!” Grandma replied.

Another hour passed and Jackson ran in with his nose in the air. “I smell cookies!” he cried.

“Roll up your sleeves!” Grandma said with a laugh.

Finally, just as they were rolling out the last bit of dough, Kevin wandered in yawning. Without even asking, he grabbed a cookie cutter and got to work.

When all the cookies were iced and boxed, Grandma gave each grandchild a dozen cookies. But Kira frowned.

“Grandma, I worked the longest,” she said. “Kevin barely did anything. Why does he get the same number of cookies as me?”

“Be quiet!” Kevin shushed.

“Kira, we agreed to a dozen cookies as compensation, right?” Grandma asked, crossing her arms. Kira nodded. “So why are you upset?”

“It’s not fair!” Kira cried.

“Maybe not,” Grandma said. “But is Jesus’s love based on fairness?”

“Ooh, this is like the parable of the workers!” Sophie said.

Grandma winked. “Exactly. That parable illustrates how at any stage of life, we have the chance to receive Jesus’s love and forgiveness. That might not seem fair to us who have been saved longer, but we have no right to complain when it wasn’t fair to begin with that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. We serve a generous and merciful God.”

“I’m glad I have a generous God and a generous grandma,” Kira said with a smile as she bit into a cookie.

–Hannah Chung

How about you? Has someone’s generosity ever seemed unfair to you? Perhaps your sibling got a present on your birthday or your teacher allowed another student to turn homework in late. Just remember that if you trust in Jesus, you are the recipient of the ultimate act of generosity—His gift of unconditional love and forgiveness. As you recognize His love in your life, consider how you can be generous to others too.

Today's Key Verse: For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. 1 Peter 3:18 (NIV)

Today's Key Thought: God is generous

When you have a need, where do you go for the answer? Dr. Stanley reveals that only God fully knows our needs and He desires to meet them.

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Charles Joughin was a sailor from the young age of eleven. He served as a baker on a number of ships, and in 1912 got hired onto a cruise ship sailing out of Southampton, England. That ship, the Titanic, hit an iceberg in the Northern Atlantic. As the ship went down, Joughin helped people into lifeboats. He himself stood atop the end of the Titanic as it sunk vertically into the water. Miraculously, he survived.

Thirty years later, during World War II, Charles was on another ship, the RMS Oregon. It was rammed by another vessel, and it also sank. Remarkably Joughin survived, again.

Scriptures tell us we’re all on a sinking ship. Paul writes, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). He refers to the rebellious nation of Israel, quoting Isaiah: “Unless the Lord Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom” (Isaiah 1:9). Paul speaks of a “remnant” of Israel, a shipload of survivors: “only the remnant will be saved” (Romans 9:27). How are they saved? By receiving the good news (Romans 10:16). You see, we’re all like Israel, drowning in our sin. None of us can be rescued unless we receive the good news. The lifeboat that God throws out to us all is Jesus.

We who believe in Jesus might need to be reminded of the remarkable truth that we are, by God’s mercy, survivors. Those who haven’t yet found Jesus in the troubled waters of life might do well to climb in the lifeboat.

You don’t need a fortune to start investing—just a few small, faithful steps. It’s easy to assume investing requires a large sum of money, but that simply isn’t the case. On the next Faith & Finance Live, Rob West and Mark Biller explain how starting small, staying consistent, and keeping it simple can put you on a lifelong path of wise stewardship. Then, it’s onto your calls and questions. That’s Faith & Finance Live— biblical wisdom for your financial decisions—weekdays at 4pm Eastern/3pm Central on Moody Radio.

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