The Bridge Austin

Foster care and adoption can be wonderfully redemptive for needy children, but parents also need to be aware of the loss and trauma these kids have experienced. Of course, not everyone is called to be foster or adoptive parent, but anyone can come alongside these families to encourage and support them. Ryan and Kayla North describe the joys and challenges of foster parenting and adoption.

A suitcase bundle is a constant and caring reminder for children in foster care they are very loved and a valuable child of God.

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Blending a family takes grace—and so does blending your finances.

When couples merge families, they’re also merging priorities, habits, and sometimes, financial baggage. Ron Deal joins us today to show us that with honesty and a shared vision, what begins as a challenge can become a source of strength for blended families navigating both money and marriage.

Ron Deal is a bestselling author, licensed marriage & family therapist, podcaster, and popular conference speaker who specializes in marriage enrichment and stepfamily education and is the co-author of The Smart Stepfamily Guide to Financial Planning: Money Management Before and After You Blend a Family. 

There once was a man who, when his girlfriend thought he was about to propose, surprised her by asking for her credit report instead. It’s a funny story—but one that reveals a serious truth. Beneath money conversations are usually heart conversations.

For couples forming blended families, this truth runs even deeper. Life has already taught them that marriage isn’t guaranteed, whether because of death or a divorce. That experience creates an understandable sense of caution: How deeply do I invest again? Can I trust this new relationship?

Money becomes the testing ground for those questions. That’s why avoiding financial conversations doesn’t protect your relationship—it weakens it. Only about one in four dating or engaged couples forming a blended family ever have a serious talk about finances before they marry. The rest often underestimate what needs to be uncovered.

Finances are never just about dollars and cents. They’re about values, power, and security. Beneath a discussion about budgets might be an unspoken fear: Will your children be treated equally with mine? Beneath a talk about wills might be a hidden worry: Will you care for my kids if I’m gone?

There was once a woman who had been remarried for 25 years—two and a half decades of life together—and she still wondered whether her husband would provide equally for her children after she passed away. The question had never been resolved. It lingered from the past, quietly shaping their relationship.

When those unspoken fears remain unaddressed, they create invisible walls. Healthy couples have the courage to name them and work through them together.

Consider the story of Sandra and Dave, a couple who married later in life. Sandra, a divorced mother of two adult children, was asked by her new husband, Dave, to change her will and make him her sole beneficiary. To Dave, who had no children of his own, the request seemed simple and loving: We’re one now—just leave everything to me, and I’ll take care of your family.

But Sandra hesitated. Her adult children hadn’t had time to form a close bond with Dave. For her, the request stirred deep questions: How do I know that what she's set aside for her children will be honored after she's gone?

This is where trust, loyalty, and belonging intersect. Financial peace in a blended family isn’t achieved through documents—it’s achieved through relational clarity. You can’t solve financial questions until you’ve addressed the relational ones.

So what’s the alternative? In the book, The Smart Stepfamily Guide to Financial Planning: Money Management Before and After You Blend a Family, Ron Deal, Greg Pettis, and David Edwards, introduce what they call a “Togetherness Agreement.”

Think of it as a redeemed version of a prenuptial agreement. A traditional prenup is something you do to your spouse—it outlines what they won’t receive if the marriage f

Today’s reality shows and Hollywood tabloids tend to venerate individuals who live recklessly and spend extravagantly. And while the pictures might seem enticing, that lifestyle can never truly satisfy. Dr. Robert Jeffress examines three Old Testament stories that teach us what life apart from God is really like.

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Condemnation. Doubt. Guilt. Is the enemy using these emotions to keep you from God’s love and power? How do you get rid of them? Chip explains how you can prepare yourself for spiritual battle and win!

Introduction: The South Pacific after WWII was won

• The victory had been won, but battles continued and lives were lost; the bullets were real.
• The same is true spiritually:

1. Satan was defeated at the Cross.
2. Sin’s penalty was paid for all people for all time.
3. Sin’s power was broken.
4. Yet, Satan and his host of fallen angels engage in guerilla warfare to discourage, deceive, divide, and destroy God’s people and God’s program.
5. Believers are commanded to equip and prepare themselves in the strength of the Lord and in His mighty power to stand firm against the enemy’s schemes, repel his multi-faceted attacks, and engage and defeat him in specific battles.

Four keys to spiritual victory

1. We must become AWARE of the Invisible War.
2. We must learn to APPROPRIATE God’s protection for daily living.
3. We must learn to ENGAGE the enemy with supernatural weapons.
4. We must utilize God’s means of deliverance when spiritually attacked.

How can you prepare yourself for satanic attack?

1. Having girded your loins with TRUTH
2. Having put on the breastplate of RIGHTEOUSNESS
3. Having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of PEACE

Application

1. Know and understand the content of the Gospel. -1 Cor. 15:1–5; Eph. 2:1–9
2. Know the basis for your eternal security and the assurance of your salvation. Security – Rom. 8:38–39; Eph. 1:13–14. Assurance – 1 Jn. 5:11-13
3. Faith is based on facts, not feelings.
4. Sharing your faith is one of the most powerful faith-builders available, often “the best defense is a good offense.”

Broadcast Resource

• The Invisible War Resources
• Message Notes

Additional Resource Mentions

• The Invisible War Small Group Offer

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It seems like Satan and evil is winning. But all of Satan's supposed gains are merely illusions. In this message from Genesis, Pastor Lutzer encourages us with the first of three conflicts where Satan appeared to be winning but God still hastened Satan's judgment. You can't be neutral in the battle between good and evil.

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Erwin W. Lutzer is Pastor Emeritus of The Moody Church in Chicago, where he served as Senior Pastor for 36 years. He is a prolific author of over seventy books. A clear expositor of the Bible, he is the featured speaker on "Running To Win" and "Songs In The Night," with programs broadcasting on over a thousand outlets in the U.S. and across more than fifty countries in seven languages. He and his wife, Rebecca, live in the Chicago area. They have three grown children and eight grandchildren.

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In this episode of The Creative Connection, Ed Young teaches that the majority of modern dating is flawed and calls believers to only date and marry fellow Christians in order to be equally yoked, avoid emotional and spiritual incompatibility, and honor God’s design for relationships. He highlights defective dating habits such as ignoring a partner’s faith, basing decisions on superficial attraction ("showroom mentality"), engaging in premarital sexual immorality ("off-road mentality"), and failing to consider personal baggage, urging listeners to heed God's protective guidance to find their "ulti-mate."

Take heart, this civilizational moment has some warriors. 

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Give your kids a stronger foundation to embrace a biblical worldview and much more at summit.org/breakpoint.