A Word (or two) from Mark

We all work in different capacities. Some of us work in the traditional sense of a job for a company that involves a paycheck. But it would be foolish to think only of that as “work”. Moms who stay at home certainly work. A major part of a student’s life.. their work… so to speak, is their studying. In each of these capacities we need to learn to follow Paul’s advice. In Colossians 3:17 he encourages us to do all that we do, whether in word or deed, in Jesus’ name. All should be done as if it were being directly done for Him.

In Ephesians the focus is on fulfilling our responsibilities in our work setting. If we are employees, we should work hard. If we are employers, we need to learn how to treat those we lead with both dignity and respect. Sometimes it is hard to even see the paradigm we have been using as we approach our work. A very helpful book that can show you how to cultivate some new perspectives is Stephen Covey’s book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Although it is not written as a “Christian” book overtly, he certainly challenges us to live in terms of a moral compass. There are some very helpful ideas about learning to work with others as well. If you struggle with thinking correctly about your work, this book can give you some very helpful ideas that may change your perspective.

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There is a stretch of time when we are “sandwiched”. Everyone is someone’s child. But when we have children of our own we are sandwiched between our own parents and being a parent. This can be confusing. Sometimes people repeat the patterns of their own homelife, other times people set out purposefully to avoid them. What is clear is that when there has been sin or relational pain in this most basic of relationships, healing is necessary. You will never be truly at peace with yourself until you can obey the Biblical command to “Honor your parents”.

Here are some books to help with this process. If you are struggling with issues from your own past here is a book that can help you get startd. Embracing the Love of God by James Bryan Smith. This is a great book about giving and receiving God’s love. It is a good primer to living in the Kingdom of God. Although it isn’t specifically about the parent/child relationship it has some good starting principles for living alive to God in a way that can allow you to forgive others. If you need help with parenting a good book about discipline is Dare to Discipline by Dr. James Dobson. It has been recently been updated to The New Dare to Discipline. Dr. Dobson has also written other parenting books and each of them has very helpful things to say. If you go to www.family.org you can find a number of shorter articles on various topics on parenting. It is a great resource for specific answers to specific questions.

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As we have been studying Ephesians together, I have gotten a lot of encouraging comments about how practical this book is. I don’t think I have ever gotten as much positive feedback from a message as I did last week. That reminds me again of how specifically and practically God’s Word addresses our core needs. Love and respect really are deep needs within a marriage. I mentioned a book on Sunday. Here is some more information about it. The title is Love and Respect: The Love She Most Desires and the Respect He Desperately Needs and the author is Emmerson Eggerichs. It is published by Focus on the Family.

As with all of our messages you can download the audio at that main Grace site. You can also download the power point for this message from the link on the right.

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