From the sermon series ?Family Business? As we?ve been looking into this passage of Scripture on the biblical teaching of marriage and family, we?ve been using the analogy of a pair of scissors. We?ve seen that Paul is very fair and balanced in the way that he addresses the people involved in these relationships. For instance, he talks first to the wives, then to the husbands; he talks to the children, and then he talks to the parents.

When I was in high school a new music teacher came to town. He was fresh out of college and full of ambition. But here he was, stuck in a very rural community where people didn?t put up with (as they called it) ?long-haired music,? either from the Beatles or Beethoven. Still, he was determined to teach us good music. We were going to sing selections from Handel?s Messiah for our Christmas concert. Most of us had never heard of Georg Frederic Handel, and when we first tried to sight-read through the selections, we became convinced we didn?t like his music. It was too hard, too complicated. More than that, Handel wouldn?t allow us to sing simple harmonies; no, he created different parts for each voice, and we in the bass section weren?t able to hide all our typical mistakes when Handel and our new director demanded that we sing alone.

Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body. (1 Cor. 6:18-20)

There are hundreds or even thousands of promises in the Bible, depending on who is counting.

Jesus said, "Be careful not to do your ?acts of righteousness? before men, to be seen of them. If you do you, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven."

In a Joe McKeever cartoon, the pastor sits behind his desk. (We know it?s make-believe because the desk is clear of everything except his blotter and the nameplate with "Pastor" on it.)