12.2- I am a better husband when I put Jesus first in my life.

 12.2-

I am a better husband when I put Jesus first in my life.

1 Peter 3.

3 In the same way, you wives, be subject to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won over without a word by the behavior of their wives, 2 as they observe your pure [a]and respectful behavior. 3 Your adornment must not be merely the external—braiding the hair, wearing gold jewelry, or putting on apparel; 4 but it should be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. 5 For in this way the holy women of former times, who hoped in God, also used to adorn themselves, being subject to their own husbands, 6 just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord; and you have proved to be her children if you do what is right [b]without being frightened by any fear.

7 You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with [c]someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.

8 [d]To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, [e]loving, compassionate, and humble; 9 not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you would inherit a blessing. 10 For,

“The one who desires life, to love and see good days,
Must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.
11 He must turn away from evil and do good;
He must seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous,
And His ears attend to their prayer,
But the face of the Lord is against evildoers.”

13 And who is [f]there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you [g]are blessed. And do not fear their [h]intimidation, and do not be in dread, 15 but [i]sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a [j]defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, but with gentleness and respect; 16 [k]and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who disparage your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. 17 For it is better, if [l]God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. 18 For Christ also [m]suffered for sins once for all time, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the [n]spirit; 19 in [o]which He also went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison, 20 who once were disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. 21 Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God [p]for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him

Luke 14.

²⁵ Now ^[q]large crowds were going along with Him, and He turned and said to them, ²⁶ “If anyone comes to Me and does not ^[r]hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. ²⁷ Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. ²⁸ For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? ²⁹ Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who are watching it will begin to ridicule him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This person began to build, and was not able to finish!’ ³¹ Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to face the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³² Otherwise, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and requests terms of peace. ³³ So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not ^[s]give up all his own possessions.

I want to love Jesus more than my own life.

I want to have Jesus lead they way that I treat my family and friends.

I want to carry my cross.

Acts 27.

27 Now when it was decided that we would sail for Italy, they proceeded to turn Paul and some other prisoners over to a centurion of the Augustan ^[a]cohort, named Julius. ² And we boarded an Adramyttian ship that was about to sail to the regions along the coast of ^[b]Asia, and put out to sea accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica. ³ The next day we put in at Sidon; and Julius treated Paul with consideration and allowed him to go to his friends and receive care. ⁴ From there we put out to sea and sailed under the shelter of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary. ⁵ When we had sailed through the sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we landed at Myra in Lycia. ⁶ There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy, and he put us aboard it. ⁷ When we had sailed slowly for a good many days, and with difficulty had arrived off Cnidus, since the wind did not permit us to go farther, we sailed under the shelter of Crete, off Salmone; ⁸ and with difficulty sailing past it, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea.

⁹ When considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, since even the ^[c]fast was already over, Paul started admonishing them, ¹⁰ saying to them, “Men, I perceive that the voyage will certainly be with damage and great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” ¹¹ But the centurion was more persuaded by the pilot and the ^[d]captain of the ship than by what was being said by Paul. ¹² The harbor was not suitable for wintering, so the majority reached a decision to put out to sea from there, if somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete facing southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.

^13 [e]When a moderate south wind came up, thinking that they had attained their purpose, they weighed anchor and began sailing along Crete, closer to shore.

Shipwreck

¹⁴ But before very long a violent wind, called ^[f]Euraquilo, rushed down from ^[g]the land; ¹⁵ and when the ship was caught in it and could not head up into the wind, we gave up and let ourselves be driven by the wind. ¹⁶ Running under the shelter of a small island called Cauda, we were able to get the ship’s ^[h]boat under control only with difficulty. ¹⁷ After they had hoisted it up, they used ^[i]supporting cables in undergirding the ship; and fearing that they might run aground on the shallows of Syrtis, they let down the ^[j]sea anchor and let themselves be driven along in this way. ¹⁸ The next day as we were being violently tossed by the storm, ^[k]they began to jettison the cargo; ¹⁹ and on the third day they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. ²⁰ Since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm was assailing us, from then on all hope of our being saved was slowly abandoned.

^21 [l]When many had lost their appetites, Paul then stood among them and said, “^[m]Men, you should have followed my advice and not have set sail from Crete, and thereby spared yourselves this damage and loss. ²² And yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. ²³ For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong, whom I also serve, came to me, ²⁴ saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has graciously granted you all those who are sailing with you.’ ²⁵ Therefore, keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that ^[n]it will turn out exactly as I have been told. ²⁶ But we must run aground on a certain island.”

²⁷ But when the fourteenth night came, as we were being driven about in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors began to suspect that ^[o]they were approaching some land. ²⁸ And they took soundings and found it to be twenty fathoms; and a little farther on they took another sounding and found it to be fifteen fathoms. ²⁹ Fearing that we might run aground somewhere on the ^[p]rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern and ^[q]prayed for daybreak. ³⁰ But as the sailors were trying to escape from the ship and had let down the ship’s boat into the sea, on the pretense that they were going to lay out anchors from the bow, ³¹ Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain on the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved.” ³² Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship’s boat and let it fall away.

³³ Until the day was about to dawn, Paul kept encouraging them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been constantly watching and going without eating, having taken in nothing. ³⁴ Therefore, I encourage you to take some food, for this is for your survival, for not a hair from the head of any of you will perish.” ³⁵ Having said this, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all, and he broke it and began to eat. ³⁶ All of them ^[r]were encouraged and they themselves also took food. ³⁷ We were 276 ^[s]people on the ship in all. ³⁸ When they had eaten enough, they began lightening the ship by throwing the wheat out into the sea.

³⁹ Now when day came, they ^[t]could not recognize the land; but they did notice a bay with a beach, and they resolved to run the ship onto it if they could. ⁴⁰ And casting off the anchors, they left them in the sea while at the same time they were loosening the ropes of the rudders; and they hoisted the foresail to the wind and were heading for the beach. ⁴¹ But they struck a ^[u]reef where two seas met and ran the ship aground; and the prow stuck firmly and remained immovable, while the stern started to break up due to the force of the waves. ⁴² The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim away and escape; ⁴³ but the centurion, wanting to bring Paul safely through, kept them from accomplishing their intention, and commanded that those who could swim were to ^[v]jump overboard first and get to land, ⁴⁴ and the rest were to follow, some on planks, and others on various things from the ship. And so it happened that they all were brought safely to land.

I want to finish strong.

I want to give up everything needed to do God’s will.

I want to be a salt and light.

Psalm 119.

¹⁵⁰ Those who follow after wickedness approach;
They are far from Your Law.

Luke 14.

³⁴ “Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be ^[t]seasoned? ³⁵ It is useless either for the soil or the manure pile, so it is thrown out. The one who has ears to hear, ^[u]let him hear.”

Larry this is a reminder that if you are imitating Jesus you will be pleasing to God the Father and will be praying for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.