[The following was written by Craig Redmond, a fellow brother at Providence church, for the Confession of Faith. Providence will be looking at the attributes of God during this part of the service.]
According to A. W. Pink, "Unfaithfulness is one of the most outstanding sins of these evil days. In the business world, a man's word is, with exceedingly rare exceptions, no longer his bond. In the social world, marital infidelity abounds on every hand, the sacred bonds of wedlock being broken with as little regard as the discarding of an old garment... we cannot claim complete immunity from this fearful sin. In how many ways have we been unfaithful to Christ, and to the light and privileges which God has entrusted to us! How refreshing, then, how unspeakably blessed, to lift our eyes above this scene of ruin, and behold one who IS faithful - faithful in all things, faithful at all times."
Paul Washer, whose teaching and preaching I strongly urge you to look into if you aren't familiar with him, describes God's faithfulness this way: "When the word faithful is used with regard to God, it means that He is worthy of absolute trust, and that His people can depend upon Him without doubt or reservation. It is important to understand that God is faithful, not because He does everything that His people desire, but because He does everything that He has promised. Not one word of all the words that the Lord has spoken has failed. God is faithful to fulfill every promise and to carry out every decree."
Fortunately, we do indeed have a God who is faithful in all things, but let's not just take man's word on that matter, though. Let's look at what just a small sample of verses say about God's faithfulness.
Psalm 36:5
Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
Psalm 100:5
For the LORD is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
Isaiah 25:1
O LORD, you are my God;
I will exalt you; I will praise your name,
for you have done wonderful things,
plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
Lamentations 3:22-23
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
 In recent years the practice of cohabitation has become increasingly common. Studies have suggested that 70% of couples today live together before they get married. This statistic does not even include the vast numbers who move in with each other but never marry. This is radically different from the way it was just a few decades ago. It used to be that cohabitation was a great scandal in most people's eyes. Today though, it has lost much of its stigma and is virtually normalized. Even the word "cohabitation" demonstrates the normalcy of the practice. In years past it was known as "living in sin." Then it came to be known as "shacking up." This was still a derisive term, but it was a movement away from the more basic notion of it being an offense against the law of God. Today cohabitation is the preferred term for couples who live together. It is a word that undoubtedly has a much more acceptable tone to it as it is sanitized of any real negativity. Nevertheless, there continues to be the nagging echo of olden times that living together outside the bonds of marriage is not right. Though most would no doubt agree that it was taboo in the past, they probably not be able to say why this was so. The simple answer is this: God said so. We could site numerous sociological reasons why living with someone outside the bonds of marriage is a bad idea. Studies show that it is a disastrous thing, including child molestation, economic upheaval, emotional strain, as well as divorce (if marriage is pursued). However, all these are but symptoms of the greater reality: God has declared that it should not be so. In Hebrews 13:4 it says, " Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous." This verse gives the two main reasons why cohabitation is unlawful. For one, cohabitation is for the purpose of indulging in sexual immorality. Some might posit other motives for sharing a living space. Finances is perhaps the one that most people will site. However, if the couple is honest they will admit that a shared bed and ease of fornication is the main reason for their arrangement. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, cohabitation is a dishonor to God's institution of marriage. People who live together do not give the rite of marriage its proper esteem mainly because they do not give proper esteem to each other. If they did, they would be married! Think about it this way: When a couple lives together they are basically saying, "I don't care about you enough to commit to a life long loving relationship with you. I just want to have sex with you as long as I can. If things get rough or if someone better comes along, we can have an easy exit plan." With such self interest at the base of a relationship, one wonders why you would want to even attempt it. To honor marriage is to honor the one you marry. It is to love them enough to commit yourself to them through all circumstances (good or bad) till death do you part. This was God's original design, and it is the practice that couples are called to embrace. Cohabitation may be countenanced by the broader culture, but that does not make it right. God determines what is right and what is wrong, and our living arrangements need to be based on His standard. This is why couples who intend on living together need to take heed to this and do what is right in the eyes of God. They need to remain apart (and remain sexually pure altogether), until they have been properly wedded. Those who have been living together need to remedy their ways as well. They need to confess to God that they have been living in sin and then seek to correct it. It may mean calling a pastor and asking if he would be willing to marry you at the earliest possible date. Or it may mean ceasing the relationship altogether and parting ways (after all, we don't want to add divorce to the string of sins that have already been committed if there isn't a possibility of a lasting relationship).
 "It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife." Proverbs 21:9
It is admitted that true men are basically extinct. We are left with the man-boys who know nothing of responsibility, honor, or integrity. Due to this occurrence, women need to understand their role in dealing with these remnants of maleness.
Ladies, you are placed in a position where you are called upon to do more. Where he abdicates, you must fill the gap. At the same time, you must demonstrate a greater dose of virtue. The man-boy needs you if he will amount to anything.
You will be tempted to snarl. Nagging and haranguing will be a vice that becomes almost second nature because there is so much he fails to do. But make every effort not to be the quarrelsome wife mentioned in the proverb. Provoking him in such a way will only drive him further away.
The rooftop was basically the man-cave of the ancient times. It was a place to go to get away from the constant harassment he would take from his spouse.
In sum, if you continuously browbeat him for playing his video games rather than doing the dishes, he will retreat further into his video games as a form of escapism. If you gripe at him for his "do-nothing-ness" (no matter how much he deserves it), he will do more nothing-ness because he wishes to escape from you. Ultimately, such an attitude will force a divorce, the ultimate escapism.
While your inclination will be to do otherwise, make every effort to encourage him on a regular basis. Even though he deserves a ripe slap in the face (or a hefty kick in the backside), seek to find some vestige of manliness in him to praise. It may be that your humility and tenderness will evoke what the sharper tones could not. Perhaps, by God's grace, the small ember of manhood can be kindled by the virtues of your femininity.
If he will be won to Christ and his duty before Him, it will be because you have been gentle and patient. It will be because you have sought to be gentle and kind.
“He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.”
Proverbs 18:22
My beloved,
On this the 13th anniversary of our marriage I wish to thank-you for your constant faith and abiding love. You have been my unwavering help and true friend, bringing me great joy and happiness through all our days.
I am blessed for having such a crown and am grateful that this treasure from the Lord was bestowed upon me so early in life.
I take great pleasure in your exemplary devotion, tender affection, and willing submission. Your service, support, and cheer have brought me unbroken delight.
With my whole heart I pledge again my vow of love and loyalty. I renew my oath to love and cherish you, honor and serve you, protect and care for you, even as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
I affirm to you my unremitting affections and utmost devotion, and am without hesitation in doing so. For I am so knit to you that I cannot do otherwise.
With great affection,
Your loving and grateful husband
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 Our group on the State House steps. A hand full of Providence church members went down to Columbus for the recent Heartbeat Bill rally. Some estimate that there were 300-500 in attendance. It was a great time to support the last push for life before the senate breaks for the summer. It was even better to enjoy the fellowship of my Providence brethren during the trip.
The speakers did a fine job in their presentations too. Those who organized the event did an excellent job of picking the speakers and moving the event along.
 "Come out from among her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues."
Rev. 18:4
I find these to be some of the most stunning, yet neglected words of Scripture.
John pleads with souls to separate themselves from the whoring, apostate church that they might have salvation. Their continuation in that communion puts them in a double danger: They will be entangled in the gross sins associated with the false church and they will experience the temporal, and perhaps eternal, judgments that God inflicts upon her.
The point is easy to recognize: If you side with those who set themselves against Christ, gravity will have its way. You will be pulled in the direction of darkness. Then, when the damns of God's anger break, you will find yourself being given over to the miseries that it brings.
As the mainline denominations of today continue to tank and churches openly affirm their disregard for the principles of Christ, there is need for this call to be heeded. Christian people must leave churches that do not recognized the headship of Christ.
If a church condones homosexuality or abortion, waffles on the exclusivity of Christ for salvation, or continually neglects to preach the pure gospel, then that church no longer is Christian. It has capitulated to the world and committed fornication with it. It is incumbent upon you to leave it and have no more fellowship with that institution.
This is true for individual churches which are a part of wayward denominations. The fight you put up is admirable. Your love for those people and the heritage associated with it is honorable. However, you must cut those ties for the sake of purity and peace. To fail to sever the relationship is to make a god out of your denomination and put yourself and the righteous souls with you in great peril.
I know you think that it is pious to continue and try to win souls, but this is a false premise. True piety is following Christ's behest. Disobedience to these words is not heroism. It is rebellion.
Remember, bad company corrupts good morals. You are not immune to their ways. Can a man remain free from the stench of dung if he lives in a barn? No matter what he does. No matter how hard he tries to steer clear of the stalls, he will eventually wreak of the mess.
Dear friend, you would never join yourself to a fellowship which affirms the legitimacy of rape. You would be aghast at the thing. But you now ascribe to a fellowship that approves of a man's lust for another man! By your affiliation you give approval to the act!
Your complacency in removing yourself shows how you have already been sucked in to the ways of darkness. Evil has already begun to charm you. If you do not flee, you will find that the coals of brimestone will be heaped upon your head.
Some will say, "I am safe. For I am in an independent church. We have no denominational ties!" But oh, how easily you can fool yourself. Do you think that a church without any Christian accountability is free from Satan's grip?
There are many an independent church that like this freedom. They are all the more free to tickle men's ears. It behooves you to listen well. Listen to what is not said in the pulpit. Do you hear the silence? There is no gospel there. No one is told to repent. Instead there is fun. Silliness and frivolity abound.
Where is the thunder of the law? Where is the consolation of Christ in the gospel? It is absent! For Christ is not there!
Run then from this whore! Come out from her and be separate. Do not be mesmerized by her enchantments. The Song of the Siren will lead only to your destruction.
Christ says plainly, "My sheep hear my voice and follow me." If you are one of his sheep, then may your ears be open. Turn away from the brothel of unbelief and enter a true fold of Christ.
The Calvinist says that he is wicked and utterly depraved. If his salvation were up to him he would never attain it, let alone persevere in it.
The Arminian says he is desperately sick, but not altogether dead in sin. He has "a goodness" deep down--a power to the contrary, so to speak, whereby he can reach up and grab hold of Christ in faith. Yet by his sin he can can let go of God and fall from his state of salvation.
Interesting how the Calvinist has the stronger view of sin, yet is the one who believes that sin cannot separate him from the love of God in Christ.
If anyone says that the grace of God can be conferred as a result of human prayer, but that it is not grace itself which makes us pray to God, he contradicts the prophet Isaiah, or the Apostle John who says the same thing, "I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me." ...
The sin of the first man has so impaired and weakened free will that no one thereafter can either love God as he ought or believe in God or do good for God's sake, unless the grace of divine mercy has preceded him.
~The Counsel of Orange (529 AD)
Throughout history artists have sought to depict the glory and beauty of godly womanhood. However, portraying the splendor of a godly mother in one scene on a canvas is as ineffectual as painting Christ himself. The grandeur of it all is impossible to capture.
While the stroke of the paintbrush might fail, the ancient pen of King Lemuel has most certainly captured its sum and substance in the most exquisite form. The Lord, by grace and mercy, had these words secured for us in the Scripture that we might have this depiction of what a mother and woman before us.
With this look into the window of the heavenly home every man has set before him a divine template of what he ought to be seeking in a woman. Every girl has a godly prototype presented for which she should strive. There, in the frame of Proverbs 31 we see her on display; her worth, work and worship particularly expressed.
In order to impress us with the treasure that she is, Lemuel begins by recounting in general her immense worth.
I. Her Worth [10]
He sates, "An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels."
To be sure, women are as common on earth as sand. Yet few among them are found to be diamonds. In our day, we are awash in an abyss of women who are described in the book of Proverbs in more ingnobale terms. They are dripping faucets that cause their men to run to the edge of their roof to make their preferred habitation one of solitude. Women abound who are able, with the ease of Samson, to tear down their houses. Their fool hearty mouths and unchecked desire for usurpation kick out the home's supporting pillars and the roof caves in with swift and painful consequences.
No doubt, just as there are some stones in the creek bed or the mine that are pleasing to the eye over and above the others, there are many women who possess an outward beauty that exceeds average physical appearances. Yet even these have no real value to the wise and discerning souls. Their lack of wisdom makes them ruinous at best. At worst they are as the temptress who leads one down to the pits of hell.
Rare are the gems of true femininity. To happen upon one possessing a meek and quiet spirit is as grand a feat as Magellan or Columbus.
Think of all the models of womanhood set before us today. The Cosmo girl bears her breasts to everyone at the checkout counter. She offers the tantalizing desire of her body, however she is as a gold ring in a pigs snout. She may be compared to the Barbie doll: Fine in appearance, but squeeze her head and you will find that there is nothing in it.
The feminists set many strong willed, strong bodied women before us as exemplar ladies. However, they lack any such beauty. Their sternness of heart creates an outward sternness that is as cold as the inward person. Moreover, her incipent disrespect for men shames any who would dare be her husband. This eventually becomes a rottenness to his bones that is worse than any stage four cancer.
No woman is as glorious and full of splendor as the noble lady that the Lord exalts. Because she esteems the Lord, she is precious and of immense value. All who are wise will forsake all to possess her and seek to be like her, like a man who has found a pearl of great worth.
Anyone with a keen eye for jewels will note her worth. They will see that she is worth much because of her work.
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