4/28/2026 Weekly Bible message

A special series with Mark and Charity called Back to the Blueprint

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Hello, everyone, and uh uh welcome to a special podcast series we are doing doing here on Lifeline Church Peterstown Podcast. It's called Back to the Blueprint. I am your host, Mark Williams, and I'm here with um uh my lovely wife. Um so just a little background on my wife. She does kids' ministry at church and community outreach at church and the most monthly food pantry. So you are one very busy lady lady, and today we are talking about something that honestly has gotten really confusing in our world. What it means to be a real man and a real woman, not what culture says, but what God says.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Because they are very two different things right now, and we're not coming at this like we've always had it figured out because we haven't. Not even close. So I think somewhere along the way, the home got flipped kind of upside down. Men don't know how to lead, and women feel like they have to do everything, and everybody's just exhausted.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

Yeah, and instead of working together, we end up competing or just surviving.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

That's true. But that's not how God designed it. Let's see what the Bible says. In Genesis 2.8, the Lord God said, It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

Yeah, God created us with a purpose. Um, and those roles weren't meant to hurt us, they were meant to help us.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

And I want to be real for just a minute. Because I know some women are listening out there, and you might feel stuck or confused. And um, I was married for about 27 years, and we had four wonderful kids together, and our marriage didn't fall apart right away. It was really just the last few years where everything just kind of changed. There was betrayal and things became very unhealthy and very unsafe. I didn't tell anyone, I just carried it. So when that marriage ended, I didn't heal, I reacted. And I went looking for love, which I might have had, it's never a good idea. I thought if I could just find someone to love me, it would fix everything, but it didn't. I ended up yet in another marriage that was controlling and unfaithful and only lasted for six months. I had to quietly plan my way out just to protect myself and my girls.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

That had to be incredibly difficult and hard.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

It was. And after that, I just went into survival mode, working, providing, taking care of my kids, but still completely broken inside. And the truth is, I just didn't understand my worth. I didn't understand what a real godly relationship looked like. I didn't even really understand what it meant to be a woman walking in God's design because I was just trying to survive life.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

And a little bit of my story, it's it's a it's different, but it's still broken in its own way. Uh my first marriage fell apart, and it was a really unhealthy situation. But after that, something in me changed. I I made choices I'm not proud of. I wasn't leading, I wasn't faithful, I wasn't living like a godly man should. Then I ended up in another relationship trying to fix what was broken but without God. And that just doesn't work. And now uh and even when we got together, I still wasn't who I needed to be, and I heard you.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Yeah, you did.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

But, you know, God got a hold of my life, and that's when everything changed. Not overnight, but he started teaching me what it actually means to be a real man, not what I thought, not what culture says, but what he says. And Ephesians 5.25, um, it says, Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church, and he gave himself up for her. That that verse, you know, it hits me hard because Christ didn't leave with control, he led with sacrifice.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

And for me, I had to learn that being a real woman, it wasn't about being hardened or independent because I've been hurt. Proverbs 31, 25 through 31 tells us that she is clothed with strength and dignity. She can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praises her. Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all. Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting. But a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate. It was about strength with wisdom, about trusting God again, and even after everything that I had been through. So if you're a woman listening, here's what I would tell you. Start with your identity. Know who you are. You are not what you've been through. You are who God says you are. God says that. For you created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. That's what Psalm 139, 13 through 14 tells us.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

And for men, just lead, not perfectly, but take responsibility and pray and show up and be consistent.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

That's big. And stop competing with each other. That's a big one.

SPEAKER_01 8:19

You're not enemies. We're on the same team.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Yes. And it's like in Joel said in two in Joel sac two, twenty-five, I will restore to you the years that the swarming locusts have has eaten, and the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

If you feel like you've messed up too much, you haven't.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

Yeah, you haven't, definitely. If God can restore us, He can restore you.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Yes, we are not perfect.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

We're still learning. But we are committed to doing God's way now.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

Yes. And that's what we want for you.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

So let's say a prayer together. Okay, you ready? Mm-hmm. God restore our homes. Heal hearts. Teach us to walk in your design.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

Not the world's confusion. In Jesus' name.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

Amen. And amen. Join us next week for episode two of Back to the Blueprint called Healing After Betrayal. Thank you for listening. And please like and share and comment. Join us on Sunday mornings at eleven in person at Lifeline Church Peterstown or live stream through YouTube or on Carla Bragg's Facebook page. We have Lifeline Kids every Sunday morning. You can also join us Wednesday evenings for men's and women's small groups. And kids and youth also on Wednesdays.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

And don't forget, we added youth on um Sunday evenings as well at 6.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

We did, didn't we? Yeah. And on Friday evenings, starting at 5 30, um is a hot meal at Celebrate Recovery, followed by, you know, the small uh small group shares. Yes. Uh so thanks for listening and God bless.