The Church: The Bride of Christ

As I was looking for interesting sermons to listen to last night, as always, I decided to procrastinate first. So checking Twitter updates I found that Pastor Eugene Hor had posted a link for Mark Driscoll's sermon on Godly Men and Marriage. (Pastor Eugene's right; social media can be a powerful weapon if used correctly.) Going back to earlier in the week, Pastor Scott, Tricia, and Dan had made some comments on how Driscoll's preaching style could be seen as controversial, as he is a bit sharp with his tongue. So naturally I was intrigued and decided to watch the sermon.

Here are the sermons:

Marriage and Women (1 Peter 3:1-6):


Marriage and Men (1 Peter 3:7):


I posted up both videos because I think it's beneficial for Christians (and Non-Christians) to watch both, despite their gender. And of course it's not just for married people; definitely helps the singles.

As a disclaimer, Mark Driscoll can be considered unorthodox in his style (aka he's can be harsh with his words). This is especially evident in his Marriage and Men sermon but he does give his reasoning for his tone in the sermon. (I didn't see/hear anything controversial in his Marriage and Women sermon.) Personally, I don't have much of a problem with his style, in fact, I enjoyed it quite a bit. I've listened to a number of sermons on godly men and this is definitely one of my favorites, certainly a challenge for many guys. In any case, you may want to keep the volume a bit lower when listening to the Marriage and Men sermon (to avoid the mistake I made of wearing earphones and having the volume on max); you can see why for yourself....

After listening to these sermons, I began to think more about the church: the roles of men and women, the foundation of leadership and "strong pillars", mentorship, accountability, and fellowship. Moreover, as the day of when I leave for college (for the first time) approaches, I've been thinking more about Boon Church, my church in college (possibly Grace Covenant Church in Philadelphia), and matters concerning my spiritual walk in general. I pondered on the dynamics of different churches and what kind of church would best help me grow as a Christian woman. Out of these many trains of thought, what I realized is that the amount of work I need to do in my own life and the growing pains the church needs to go through to prepare for Christ's return is absolutely overwhelming. Nevertheless, we need to remember that the chiseling begins with ourselves.

So my prayer for myself and the Bride of Christ is this:
That while we can rejoice in God's Grace and have comfort that His love is boundless, that we will not abuse His Grace. That we will not become complacent in our luxury and freedom and prolong our childhoods, but that we will begin to take responsibility for our lives. I pray that we may see the urgency in preparing ourselves to meet our Creator, to live as godly men and women, living selflessly as Christ did, meditating on the Word, and praying continuously. I pray for God's patience, wisdom, leadership, guidance, courage, persistence, and strength to be upon His church. Thy will be done.


P.S. Sorry if it was difficult to read this entry. It was hard to find the right wording to organize my thoughts. It's been a while since I've written and I've been trying different writing styles.