• Lesson 1, continued:
    • It’s never too early to study the Bible truth relating to the family.
      • II Chronicles 34:1-3 – Josiah was only 16 when he began to seek God.
    • It’s never too late to study the family. Titus 2:3-5
    • Apply God’s work to yourself!
      • Who might we blame when we mess up?
        • Genesis 3:12-13 – Adam blames everyone but himself.
        • Proverbs 19:3 – The foolish blame the Lord.
      • In Ephesians 5:22-33 …
        • Find where the husband is told to make his wife submit.
        • Find where the wife is told to make her husband lead.
        • (This doesn’t mean we should never try to teach / encourage others to fulfill their roles.)
      • Matthew 7:1-5; James 1:22
    • Ephesians 4:22-24; II Peter 1:5-8; 3:18
    • Since the 1960s, the rate of new marriages has fallen by more than 50%. Rates of divorce and single parenthood have more than doubled. The trend of cohabitation is not making families stronger.
    • The importance of developing a good marriage:
      • Marriage is the bedrock of a family and families are the bedrock of a society.
        • Genesis 2:18-24
        • Genesis 18:20 – God was not pleased with Sodom and Gomorrah.
        • Malachi 2:13-16 – God cares about the family!
        • Jamestown, 1607
        • Oneida Community, 1848-1879
        • Matthew 19:4-9 – God’s strict marriage law. From the beginning, it was to be a permanent relationship.