How to Celebrate Marriage God’s Way with Scott LaPierre the author of “Marriage God’s Way”
He is a teaching pastor, author, and conference speaker. Katie, his wife, is the love of his life, together with their children. The eldest child is fourteen years old, and their youngest was born in September.
Scott has written various books about marriage, parenting, and family. As a senior pastor, author, and father, he has been balancing things in their lives, all of which can add to a lot of responsibility, making him stressed and hank shoes.
He has grown up to be an only child. Although, he used to have a brother who died from a drug overdose. One of the adversities that Scott has to go through is the passing of his father last year. It happened suddenly, which was difficult for the family. His mother felt lonely, so he suggested that she should live with them instead.
Episode 216 of The Beyond Adversity Podcast is for those people who want to strengthen their relationship with their family through building their relationship with Christ. This is for those people who want to make their lives Christ-centered.
Having a great relationship with Christ can help establish a strong marriage and family because He can help lead you to the better path in life.
In this episode, Scott discusses all about being Christ-centered in the family and what are the benefits it can bring. He also shared information about his books.
“The Beyond Adversity Podcast with Dr. Brad Miller is published weekly with the mission of helping people “Grow Through What They Go Through” as they navigate adversity and discover their promised life of peace, prosperity, and purpose.
https://www.scottlapierre.org/
Books (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/Scott-LaPierre/e/B01JT920EQ/
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ScottLaPierre
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Transcript
Hello, good people. Dr. Brad Miller here with you on the Beyond Adversity podcast.
Dr. Brad Miller:This is the podcast where we help you to grow through what you go through
Dr. Brad Miller:navigating adverse conditions in your life, to achieve peace, prosperity,
Dr. Brad Miller:and purpose. And we love to talk to people who have navigated
Dr. Brad Miller:challenging aspects of life and have something to teach us. Scott
Dr. Brad Miller:LaPierre is our author guest with us today, and he has several
Dr. Brad Miller:walks in life that he has had his share of challenges and opportunities.
Dr. Brad Miller:Today, we're gonna be talking particularly a little bit about marriage,
Dr. Brad Miller:but it also has to do with some parenting because he is the parent of
Dr. Brad Miller:nine children. He and his wife are gonna talk about how that brings
Dr. Brad Miller:some challenges into life. But we are certainly pleased to have the
Dr. Brad Miller:author of Your Marriage God's Way, Scott LaPierre. Scott,
Dr. Brad Miller:welcome to Beyond Adversity.
Scott LaPierre:Thanks, Brad. Glad to be here with you and with your listeners.
Dr. Brad Miller:It is awesome and I think we're going to kind of talk about marriage
Dr. Brad Miller:as part of the context also of your life, your household, and how
Dr. Brad Miller:everyone has a household and how there's challenges there. And
Dr. Brad Miller:I guess got to ask, you have nine children, and a spouse and your
Dr. Brad Miller:wife. And that alone is gotta be crazy, my man, it's just got to be
Dr. Brad Miller:crazy. Tell me one crazy story out of your household life that has
Dr. Brad Miller:to be happening.
Scott LaPierre:Okay, that's probably a pretty fitting additive for our home what our
Scott LaPierre:home feels like at times. Yeah, I have nine kids. The oldest is 14, the
Scott LaPierre:youngest was born in September. And so it does seem pretty wild and
Scott LaPierre:busy around here. In terms of a crazy story, that's interesting. So we
Scott LaPierre:had a little time before the show. And you might have asked me, I
Scott LaPierre:apologize, you sprung this on me. No problem. I'm just joking around.
Scott LaPierre:You know, I'd say just trying to balance our lives in general is pretty
Scott LaPierre:crazy. Being a senior pastor would be a full time job without throwing
Scott LaPierre:in the children. But you know, having nine kids would be a full time
Scott LaPierre:job without throwing in the pastoring or authoring. And so
Scott LaPierre:yeah, it's life in general can be very overwhelming and stressful
Scott LaPierre:at times to try to keep things in balance.
Dr. Brad Miller:Well, that's what we try to do here on our podcast is help people
Dr. Brad Miller:to identify some of the issues that they have, and then to work a
Dr. Brad Miller:process there to get through to a better place. And so in your life, I
Dr. Brad Miller:know you've had a few challenges, whatever may be either in your
Dr. Brad Miller:marriage or in your family life, what would you say are some of the
Dr. Brad Miller:real challenges or some of the adversities you may have faced that
Dr. Brad Miller:you have had to deal with here?
Scott LaPierre:You know, I guess I could have mentioned this earlier, my father
Scott LaPierre:passed away, unexpectedly last year, and my parents, we've been
Scott LaPierre:very close with my brother and my brother actually died of a drug
Scott LaPierre:overdose when I was growing up. so then it was just just me, I was
Scott LaPierre:the only child and my parents have followed us around. After I got
Scott LaPierre:married, they moved closer to us in California. When we came up
Scott LaPierre:to pastor of this church in Washington, they followed me up here.
Scott LaPierre:When my dad passed away unexpectedly, my mom was pretty
Scott LaPierre:lonely and I met with her and nights are particularly difficult. I said,
Scott LaPierre:Well, you know, if you want to move in with us, Mom, we can look
Scott LaPierre:for a place together and so we've been living with my mom as well.
Scott LaPierre:We had to get a bigger house and we've been renting something.
Scott LaPierre:We're buying something in June. So that was tough losing my dad
Scott LaPierre:unexpectedly, we thought we had a few, quite a few more years left
Scott LaPierre:with him. He had Alzheimer's and I guess one thing I would share
Scott LaPierre:with your listeners is that often, when difficulties happen, we can
Scott LaPierre:remember the truth of Romans 8:28, that God works all things
Scott LaPierre:together for good. Because at the time, I didn't really see any
Scott LaPierre:good for my dad's passing. But in hindsight, I think there was
Scott LaPierre:really a lot of good when I was able to get a little distance
Scott LaPierre:and reflect on I mean, one thing is just, as you probably know,
Scott LaPierre:when someone has Alzheimer's, that last chapter of life is
Scott LaPierre:dad to remain with us longer, I feel like the Lord allowed him
Scott LaPierre:to pass with dignity, if that makes sense. We're getting toward
Scott LaPierre:pretty unpleasant. I feel like, while I would have wanted my
Scott LaPierre:that chapter when he's not he wasn't really remembering
Scott LaPierre:names, wasn't really having conversations. And so it was
Scott LaPierre:nice. We had a nice, wonderful last day with him. Going to
Scott LaPierre:church in the morning was a Sunday. We had lunch together
Scott LaPierre:as a family. After church went to evening service together. And
Scott LaPierre:then Mom had called that night and she was really panicky on
Scott LaPierre:the phone. I had not heard her like this before. I thought maybe
Scott LaPierre:dad wandered off or maybe he wasn't thinking right and was
Scott LaPierre:had gotten upset or something who knows. So I raced over to
Scott LaPierre:the house and my dad was lying on the floor and he had
Scott LaPierre:choked on and my associate pastor was with me and we
Scott LaPierre:delivered CPR for until the ambulance came and then they
Scott LaPierre:came and worked on him for an hour but they weren't able
Scott LaPierre:to save him. So that's why I say it was shocking because even
Scott LaPierre:though he had Alzheimer's, we thought he had
Dr. Brad Miller:sure
Scott LaPierre:a few years where perhaps,
Dr. Brad Miller:I lost my dad about five years ago and he had last
Dr. Brad Miller:year or so of his life, he had significant memory loss.
Dr. Brad Miller:It's a tough one. That's a tough one. Then, you got your
Dr. Brad Miller:family, you got your wife, you got trust around your pastor
Dr. Brad Miller:on the pastor. So there's dynamics of that going on. So
Dr. Brad Miller:how'd you, when you when your dad did pass, and all that
Dr. Brad Miller:happened, and you're dealing with a dad dynamics of your
Dr. Brad Miller:mom, now moving in with you, other things, what are
Dr. Brad Miller:the actions you took to make sure that you kept your
Dr. Brad Miller:life together spiritually, you and your marriage with
Dr. Brad Miller:your parenting. There's certain pressures that come with these stresses.
Scott LaPierre:Yeah, for sure. So many times, I kind of think about
Scott LaPierre:the end of the parable, the Sermon on the Mount, when
Scott LaPierre:Jesus tells the parable of the two builders, and he talks about
Scott LaPierre:these storms that beat on this house, and there's two houses,
Scott LaPierre:they seem to be identical regarding the way they're built.
Scott LaPierre:They experience identical storms, the storms that that
Scott LaPierre:beat on, these houses are not described any differently
Scott LaPierre:from each other, and one house stands and the other one
Scott LaPierre:falls. And so it has nothing to do with the house itself, and
Scott LaPierre:has nothing to do with the storms as the one experience,
Scott LaPierre:less or more severe storms. And the other just had to do
Scott LaPierre:with the foundation they were built on. And so I think,
Scott LaPierre:yeah, you know, my dad passing mom living in with us,
Scott LaPierre:there could have been, these are the sorts of stresses
Scott LaPierre:that can affect a marriage. I found when I perform
Scott LaPierre:marriage counseling, that it's often some external factors
Scott LaPierre:that have caused some of the conflict in the relationship,
Scott LaPierre:kind of those storms that are beating on the house or
Scott LaPierre:beating on that marriage or was threatening to cause
Scott LaPierre:that marriage to collapse. So yeah, it comes down to
Scott LaPierre:our foundation, what what we're building on, and if we're
Scott LaPierre:building on Christ in His teaching, then we're going to be
Scott LaPierre:able to withstand those storms. That's why a lot, you know,
Scott LaPierre:Brad, a lot of my counseling, and I'm sure this the same for
Scott LaPierre:you and your ministry, as a pastor is to point people toward
Scott LaPierre:Christ and strengthen that vertical relationship. Because
Scott LaPierre:when that relationship stronger, it usually strengthens the
Scott LaPierre:horizontal relationships. And so when people come in for
Scott LaPierre:counseling with me, the one of the first things I'm doing is
Scott LaPierre:talking to them about what their relationship with the Lord
Scott LaPierre:looks like, what their devotional. How much time are they
Scott LaPierre:spending in the Word of God? How much time are they
Scott LaPierre:spending in prayer? I think that can be kind of confusing
Scott LaPierre:to people, because they are coming in and they want to
Scott LaPierre:use. Unfortunately, people frequently kind of want to ref.
Scott LaPierre:They want someone that's gonna say who's right and
Scott LaPierre:who's wrong. They want you to look at their spouse
Scott LaPierre:and criticize your spouse when they tell you how badly
Scott LaPierre:their spouse and that's obviously not helpful. They want
Scott LaPierre:you to look at them and say, You're right, and he's wrong, or
Dr. Brad Miller:They want a confirmation of their point of view.
Scott LaPierre:Well said, Yeah, defend them and instead, you're kind of
Scott LaPierre:pressing them about their relationship with Christ. The
Scott LaPierre:reason is that if you can help that relationship to grow,
Scott LaPierre:then typically their marital relationship will grow too
Scott LaPierre:because I'm convinced that a strong relationship with
Scott LaPierre:Christ produces a strong marriage and a strong marriage
Scott LaPierre:can produce a strong family, but a weak relationship with
Scott LaPierre:Christ is going to be a weak marriage. I mean, that's why
Scott LaPierre:one of the things that I stress to people is that our marriages
Scott LaPierre:are reflections of our relationship with Christ. So when I do
Scott LaPierre:marriage conferences, I'll frequently say something like, Why
Scott LaPierre:do you treat your spouse the way you do? Just take a
Scott LaPierre:moment to think about the answer to that question. And
Scott LaPierre:I'm telling you that the reason you treat your spouse, the
Scott LaPierre:way you do is because of your relationship with Christ. Your
Scott LaPierre:relationship with your spouse is an outpouring or a manifestation
Scott LaPierre:of your relationship with Christ, I mean, a husband that loves
Scott LaPierre:Christ is going to love his wife, a wife who wants to submit to
Scott LaPierre:Christ is going to submit to her husband. And so it is really the
Scott LaPierre:an overflow of our relationship with Christ in our relationship with our spouse.
Dr. Brad Miller:So you see a tramp different type of relationship, you know, between
Dr. Brad Miller:the two parties in blue with God here, the vertical and the horizontal,
Dr. Brad Miller:here, like to use the analogy of the cross, you know, the cross has the
Dr. Brad Miller:vertical post, and then the horizontal crossbar. You know, that vertical
Dr. Brad Miller:is what takes us connects us with God and horizontals with other people.
Dr. Brad Miller:It sounds like what you have or the action that you're advocating that
Dr. Brad Miller:people take. This is important kind of duality, to understand how
Dr. Brad Miller:people can transform their lives as you get to be an action taker.
Dr. Brad Miller:You cannot just sit back and let it just happen to you. What you're
Dr. Brad Miller:advocating is just a really recommitment or reunderstanding of
Dr. Brad Miller:your spiritual Christian commitment. Is that fair to say here, Scott.
Scott LaPierre:Yeah, I think that's great. I think that's very accurate. You know,
Scott LaPierre:there's that triangle analogy that if you've got the husband wife
Scott LaPierre:down on the corners and Christ at the top, as they grow toward
Scott LaPierre:Christ, they're going to grow toward toward each other and to
Scott LaPierre:kind of ask people do you understand that when the Lord as
Scott LaPierre:a husband, if he Since 525, is the primary command to Husbands
Scott LaPierre:love your wives as Christ loves the church, and gave Himself
Scott LaPierre:for her, and to ask her husband, you know, do you understand
Scott LaPierre:that you love your wife, not because you necessarily feel like it
Scott LaPierre:at the moment, but you love your wife, because you love Christ.
Scott LaPierre:If you love Christ, you will want to obey His commands to you,
Scott LaPierre:and to talk. And so sometimes, you know, people go by their
Scott LaPierre:feelings or their emotions, and it's like, you know, I don't feel
Scott LaPierre:like loving my wife, or I don't feel like respecting my husband.
Scott LaPierre:Well, at that time, you have to draw on another relationship,
Scott LaPierre:a higher one than the one with your spouse. Because if you
Scott LaPierre:draw on the way you feel toward your spouse, you're gonna
Scott LaPierre:probably ignore the person yell at them. Who knows what,
Scott LaPierre:but if you draw in your relationship with Christ, that's where
Scott LaPierre:the motivation comes to treat your spouse the way that God commands.
Dr. Brad Miller:Let's talk for a minute, some practicalities about how to
Dr. Brad Miller:do that if you're going to have a strong marriage, or gonna
Dr. Brad Miller:be a strong parenting or deal with tragedy of death and so
Dr. Brad Miller:on. What are some of the ways that you make this
Dr. Brad Miller:connection to God to a higher power and certainly in
Dr. Brad Miller:how do you what are some of the ways you didn't integrate
Dr. Brad Miller:that into these vital relationships? Your marriage, your kids, your parents?
Scott LaPierre:Yeah, that's a great question. Like, what does this look like
Scott LaPierre:practically? One of the phrases that I frequently mentioned
Scott LaPierre:whether preaching, counseling, writing, is Christ centered?
Scott LaPierre:What does it look like to have a Christ centered marriage
Scott LaPierre:or Christ centered home, a Christ centered family, and
Scott LaPierre:essentially, to have Christ at the center of something is to
Scott LaPierre:focus on Him. So if we're going to have Christ centered
Scott LaPierre:marriages or Christ centered homes, then that means we
Scott LaPierre:can't just go to church Sunday, worship the Lord Sunday,
Scott LaPierre:and then not look like Christians. I don't mean we're being
Scott LaPierre:terribly worldly or wicked. I'm just saying, we go to church
Scott LaPierre:Sunday. And then there's no family worship or no family Bible
Scott LaPierre:study or prayer throughout the week, that's not a Christ
Scott LaPierre:centered home. a Christ centered home is one where we
Scott LaPierre:worship together Sunday morning. But then we also are
Scott LaPierre:having Bible studies and prayer time during the week. I'm
Scott LaPierre:not saying it's gonna happen every day. There's, there's
Scott LaPierre:times Katie and I sit back. And it's like, hey, we haven't
Scott LaPierre:been, you know, in the Bible as much as a family like we
Scott LaPierre:should. But practically, if we're gonna have Christ centered
Scott LaPierre:marriages or Christ centered families, that means we're
Scott LaPierre:going to bring the family together around the word of
Scott LaPierre:God, we're going to, you know, when we have meals
Scott LaPierre:together, I'm not saying every single conversation has
Scott LaPierre:to be have some, you know, verse at the center of it, but
Scott LaPierre:that conversations will frequently be, you know, what did
Scott LaPierre:you think about last Sunday sermon? What have you read
Scott LaPierre:in the word recently, if it has ministered to you? What if you
Scott LaPierre:know, my wife will frequently have the kids write down a verse
Scott LaPierre:that they read that day that spoke to them, and then they're
Scott LaPierre:supposed to share about it at the table. I mean, to be clear,
Scott LaPierre:with my oldest with nine children, and the oldest is only 14, there's
Scott LaPierre:a lot of our time together that's difficult, chaotic. It's trying to get
Scott LaPierre:kids to set up, set up trying to get him to pay attention, you know,
Scott LaPierre:don't have this picture of like nine kids and perfectly on a couch
Scott LaPierre:together, you know, totally attentive to their father. It's busy, it's
Scott LaPierre:hectic, there's discipline, there's frustration.
Dr. Brad Miller:Right? So I guess we're just going to ask this point, just out of
Dr. Brad Miller:curiosity, are all these children or any adopted children? Is there
Dr. Brad Miller:any, all natural?
Scott LaPierre:Because, yeah, they're ours. You know, we got married, this is not a
Scott LaPierre:commentary on what other people have to do, that we got married,
Scott LaPierre:we have the conviction to just let God give us what he
Scott LaPierre:wanted to give us. We kind of wanted to get to the end
Scott LaPierre:of our lives and feel like we had God's fingerprints on our
Scott LaPierre:family. But he built our family for us. He could have given
Scott LaPierre:us three kids or four kids. He's given us nine so far, my wife
Scott LaPierre:turned 40, a few months ago. So maybe that's, that's all
Scott LaPierre:we'll have. But yeah, we just have that conviction to let
Scott LaPierre:God kind of be in charge of our of our family.
Dr. Brad Miller:Well, that's amazing in and of itself, my friend who
Dr. Brad Miller:amazing in and of itself. It has to do with what I wanted
Dr. Brad Miller:to talk to you about next and that has to do with discipline,
Dr. Brad Miller:or have to do with how you organize life. You've
Dr. Brad Miller:mentioned already a little bit about some of the
Dr. Brad Miller:disciplines that you use in terms of Bible verses, the
Dr. Brad Miller:dinner table, things like that. How have you disciplined
Dr. Brad Miller:your life and in your marriage in your family in order to
Dr. Brad Miller:live out some of the things that you're talking about here?
Dr. Brad Miller:And in order to have done or to overcome when challenges
Dr. Brad Miller:do come? What do you do now? What how do you live life?
Scott LaPierre:Yeah, so if someone's listening to this, and they're
Scott LaPierre:saying, you know, I wish that we were doing these
Scott LaPierre:things more as a family. So those haven't been the
Scott LaPierre:habit or pattern or routine. I would say it takes time
Scott LaPierre:to establish these. establish certain trends or patterns
Scott LaPierre:and our families and don't serve search for perfection.
Scott LaPierre:Don't think that if you know, you don't read the
Scott LaPierre:Bible or pray together every single day that that you're
Scott LaPierre:a failure. I would say you know you if you look back and
Scott LaPierre:it's like, you know, last week we didn't pray as a family as
Scott LaPierre:much as I think we should have or we weren't. We didn't
Scott LaPierre:have as many family Bible studies as we should have. Just
Scott LaPierre:strive to do better the following week. This is not about
Scott LaPierre:perfection. This is simply about trying to point our
Scott LaPierre:children toward the Lord. It's not a performance based
Scott LaPierre:religion, it's not like, we think that if we spend enough
Scott LaPierre:time in God's word, and God's gonna bless this and
Scott LaPierre:totally turn our kids into, you know, the next missionaries
Scott LaPierre:and pastors or something, we're just relying on God's
Scott LaPierre:grace and trusting that if you, you know, we put our
Scott LaPierre:children to the Lord, and he's gonna bring about
Scott LaPierre:what's best in their lives. I will say this, that if there's
Scott LaPierre:for the men who are listening, because God has called
Scott LaPierre:men to be leaders in the home and in the church, then
Scott LaPierre:more of it rests on our shoulders. So it's nice if women
Scott LaPierre:share the word with their children. But God has called men
Scott LaPierre:according to Ephesians, six to be the spiritual leaders. So
Scott LaPierre:that responsibility largely rests on our shoulders
Scott LaPierre:and so it's not a wife's responsibility to say, Hey, let's
Scott LaPierre:go have family Bible study. It's a father's responsibility
Scott LaPierre:to say, Hey, let's go. Now a wife can say, you know, this, it
Scott LaPierre:would be a good time tonight, if we, you know, there's
Scott LaPierre:nothing else on the calendar. I mean, Katie frequently does
Scott LaPierre:that we our lives are busy and she'll say, you know, it would be
Scott LaPierre:good if we did our family bible study at breakfast, or if we
Scott LaPierre:gathered together in the evening, but she still expects me to
Scott LaPierre:be the one to lead that
Dr. Brad Miller:So your observation in your approach, you're the teacher
Dr. Brad Miller:and your wife is not allowed to teach or is not. You believe
Dr. Brad Miller:biblically that it's her place to teach. Help me understand
Dr. Brad Miller:where you're coming from?
Scott LaPierre:Good. Yeah, thanks. Thank you. I don't want this is a sensitive topic
Scott LaPierre:and I wouldn't want there to be any misunderstanding. I definitely
Scott LaPierre:would not say that my wife doesn't teach or share. When we have
Scott LaPierre:our times around God's word, she shares valuable insights.
Scott LaPierre:Many times when I'm preaching, I've said when I was going
Scott LaPierre:over the sermon with my wife, because I go over the sermon
Scott LaPierre:with my wife. Every week, there's a there's a family, that when
Scott LaPierre:our children were younger, that would send two children over
Scott LaPierre:to watch our kids. So my wife and I could go over the sermon
Scott LaPierre:together. There were frequently times where Katie provided
Scott LaPierre:some very valuable insight or thought that help helped shape
Scott LaPierre:the sermon for me. I'm just saying that because God has called
Scott LaPierre:men in Ephesians, five to be the first Corinthians 11, to be the
Scott LaPierre:head of the relationship, it's an unfortunate thing. When women
Scott LaPierre:say, you know, I wish my husband was more spiritual, or I wish
Scott LaPierre:my husband would lead more. I wish my husband didn't look at
Scott LaPierre:these things that he shouldn't look at, because it's pretty clear
Scott LaPierre:that God in Ephesians, five, you know, Ephesians 5:25, gives the
Scott LaPierre:command, love your wives, and then the following verses tell us
Scott LaPierre:what it looks like to obey that command because you can see
Scott LaPierre:the command in verse 25. Love your wives as Christ loves
Scott LaPierre:the church. Well, then why are there any verses after
Scott LaPierre:that, because verse 25, as the command and then the following
Scott LaPierre:verses tell us what it looks like to obey that command and the
Scott LaPierre:following verses say that a husband is going to sanctify and
Scott LaPierre:cleanse his wife, with a washing of water by the word of God.
Scott LaPierre:It doesn't say that the wife is going to sanctify and cleanse
Scott LaPierre:her husband, with washing of water by the word of God
Scott LaPierre:looking to that responsibility, a husband has to be the
Scott LaPierre:spiritual leader in your home, but it in his home. But it
Scott LaPierre:definitely doesn't mean that a wife doesn't have valuable
Scott LaPierre:contributions. I mean, Genesis 2:18, you know, God's
Scott LaPierre:creating, and at the end of each day, it says, God saw
Scott LaPierre:that it was good, God saw that it was good. And what's
Scott LaPierre:the first time that he saw something that was not good?
Scott LaPierre:When man was being alone, when man was alone, he says,
Scott LaPierre:It's not good for man to be alone. And it's interesting when
Scott LaPierre:that occurred, it was before the fall. We generally think of
Scott LaPierre:everything being good, or nothing being not good, until
Scott LaPierre:after the fall, yet God looked and saw man being alone
Scott LaPierre:prior to the fall of something not good. And he says, I will
Scott LaPierre:create him a helper, comparable to him. And sometimes
Scott LaPierre:women kind of cringe at that verse, or being called helper,
Scott LaPierre:but it's actually more of a commentary on a man than it is
Scott LaPierre:on a woman. What I mean by that is, it's like God looked
Scott LaPierre:and said, Man needs help. You know, he's an adequate or
Scott LaPierre:sufficient or scallop here, Brad Miller isn't going to make it.
Scott LaPierre:They need some help here. And so that's what a wife does.
Scott LaPierre:That was God's way of providing the help that we need to
Scott LaPierre:be to be, I don't know if I'd use the word success. I don't like
Scott LaPierre:that word, but to be all that God desires us to be on the side
Scott LaPierre:of our wives of that greater
Dr. Brad Miller:God given potential is one of the phrases I like to use in this
Dr. Brad Miller:kind of context. But let's talk for a minute about how your
Dr. Brad Miller:books and your teaching has to do with helping people to
Dr. Brad Miller:be their best. You have several books based on the theme
Dr. Brad Miller:of doing life, God's way. Marriage: God's way, Parenting:
Dr. Brad Miller:God's way, and so on. So let's talk about these books. What
Dr. Brad Miller:are people going to learn from your books? First of all, you
Dr. Brad Miller:have several Marriage: God's way, Parenting: God's way and
Dr. Brad Miller:some others. What can you learn for your books that they
Dr. Brad Miller:can apply to their life in terms of what it really means and
Dr. Brad Miller:for them to live God's way.
Scott LaPierre:Good. Yeah, thanks for having me. That's a question
Scott LaPierre:that I love to answer. So they are basic Christian living
Scott LaPierre:books. Their books that relate to daily Christian life and
Scott LaPierre:the Bible speaks to us about all these different areas of
Scott LaPierre:life, marriage, finances, work, you know, parenting, and these
Scott LaPierre:are sermons. These are books drawn from my sermons. And so, I
Scott LaPierre:would like to say that if anyone read my books, even if they
Scott LaPierre:didn't like something, they wouldn't be able to say that they're
Scott LaPierre:not biblical, because they're, I believe they're thoroughly biblical.
Scott LaPierre:They're drawn from the sermons that I've labored over each
Scott LaPierre:week, you know, for 20-30 hours per sermon. I mean, that's
Scott LaPierre:how I ended up publishing books. As my wife said to me, you
Scott LaPierre:know, you're pouring your heart into these messages. Every
Scott LaPierre:single sermon each week is like a love gift to our
Scott LaPierre:congregation, you really, it would really be great to
Scott LaPierre:get more mileage out of these sermons, if you turn them
Scott LaPierre:into books. Well, I'm already trying to, you know, I'm already
Scott LaPierre:feeling overwhelmed. I kept kind of putting her off. But this is
Scott LaPierre:one way God used Katie in my life, to nudge me to publish these
Scott LaPierre:books. And so I guess what I'm
Dr. Brad Miller:Gonna roll around about every week, don't they
Scott LaPierre:Ya? Yeah, that's always looming, you know, for us, isn't it.
Scott LaPierre:And so it's very easy to put my wife off for some time.
Scott LaPierre:But I really believe God used her to encourage me in this
Scott LaPierre:direction. So if anything, I'd say the books are, are very
Scott LaPierre:thoroughly biblical, they they're not my opinion, or thoughts,
Scott LaPierre:it the best I can, I'm trying to present to people what God says
Scott LaPierre:about these different areas of life. If you open the book, I
Scott LaPierre:don't think you're going to see, you know, Scott LaPierre's
Scott LaPierre:opinion, on marriage, on finances, on trials and suffering my
Scott LaPierre:book and during trials God's way, it's basic, it's not, you know,
Scott LaPierre:I, it's not how I think people should respond to trials. It's how
Scott LaPierre:God's word talks about trials, what God wants to do through
Scott LaPierre:them, and how he can use them in our lives to conform us into the image of into Christ.
Dr. Brad Miller:Well, that's a, that's also several titles there that can be
Dr. Brad Miller:helpful to people. I kind of suspected, maybe you'd call
Dr. Brad Miller:them from your sermons to where you were describing
Dr. Brad Miller:your sermon preparation process. When folks do that,
Dr. Brad Miller:and that's great that you put it out there, because
Dr. Brad Miller:otherwise you're this opens up a whole new world of
Dr. Brad Miller:possibility for your the impact of your message. So let's
Dr. Brad Miller:talk about the impact of your messages for the second
Dr. Brad Miller:here. Can you just share at a time when the outside of
Dr. Brad Miller:your own family, you mentioned about how being
Dr. Brad Miller:some influence in your mother for instance, but outside
Dr. Brad Miller:your own family, either you and your congregation or
Dr. Brad Miller:maybe readers or your books, or some of the other
Dr. Brad Miller:resources that you put out that you know that what
Dr. Brad Miller:you've shared has had an impact on someone and there's
Dr. Brad Miller:been some tangible visible life change happened in your
Dr. Brad Miller:marriage, or parenting or whatever It would be? Because
Dr. Brad Miller:I'm looking for to use the parlance testimonial here,
Dr. Brad Miller:Scott, do you have any stories to share with us?
Scott LaPierre:You know, I have a touching one I'll share with you that I
Scott LaPierre:believe is going to stick with me for a while. I was at church
Scott LaPierre:Sunday morning. There was a gentleman and his wife and
Scott LaPierre:their they had a child and a stroller with them and they were
Scott LaPierre:coming toward me. It was one of these scenarios where I
Scott LaPierre:could tell they recognize me, and I didn't recognize them.
Scott LaPierre:It's one of those ones where you're kind of searching and
Scott LaPierre:you're like, Lord, how do I these people know me? How do
Scott LaPierre:I know them? What is their name?
Dr. Brad Miller:Bring me the name Lord. Yeah,
Scott LaPierre:Yeah, as a pastor, you don't want to be in a situation where
Scott LaPierre:you can't remember. So this gentleman comes up and he
Scott LaPierre:says, you know, do you remember me? And I said, I'm sorry,
Scott LaPierre:Goes on and on. The ledger goes on, I have the greatest joys I've
Scott LaPierre:I really don't. I apologize, can you refresh my memory. He
Scott LaPierre:said, I was at a conference that you spoke at on
Scott LaPierre:children, you and the blessing the children are, and then
Scott LaPierre:I went up to you after your message, I think I caught you
Scott LaPierre:at your booth. I asked you if you would pray for us, because
Scott LaPierre:we were having difficulty having children, but we want to
Scott LaPierre:have another child. And you prayed for us right there. And I
Scott LaPierre:said, okay, and I didn't even didn't even remember this moment.
Scott LaPierre:And he said, Well, I wanted to bring you the child that God has
Scott LaPierre:blessed us with, after you prayed with us. And then he reaches
Scott LaPierre:in the stroller, and he pulls up this child, and shows me this child.
Scott LaPierre:I mean, it was incredibly touching and he said, I just I drove all
Scott LaPierre:the way here, just to be here this morning and introduce you to
Scott LaPierre:this this son that God gave us we believe after he prayed for us
Scott LaPierre:at that conference. You know, that was really touching because
Scott LaPierre:I believe children are a blessing. The Bible speaks so so well
Scott LaPierre:of them. And I'll just say this, if I if I have another moment
Scott LaPierre:here, Brad, one of the. When I say this, I'm not trying to
Scott LaPierre:condemn anyone and that's the sincere truth. My heart is
Scott LaPierre:to see people protected from experiencing regret. One of
Scott LaPierre:the most common regrets that I've noticed from people is they
Scott LaPierre:wish they'd have more children and, again, that's not to condemn
Scott LaPierre:anyone who has stopped having children or hasn't had more
Scott LaPierre:children. It's more to help people not have that regret when
Scott LaPierre:they get older. Many people have told have told us, we've
Scott LaPierre:talked about children, the blessing there. It's one of the
Scott LaPierre:messages I'll deliver at conferences, and then you'll hear
Scott LaPierre:people they'll come up and they'll be crying and they'll say,
Scott LaPierre:you know, we wish that we wish that we'd have more children.
Scott LaPierre:So I would just invite people to consider the way that God's word
Scott LaPierre:describes children before they take any, you know, severe steps
Scott LaPierre:to stop having more of them. Because it can, it can leave
Scott LaPierre:people with regret. And I'll be the first no children are a lot
Scott LaPierre:of things, they can be expensive, they can be difficult. I've
Scott LaPierre:heard it said that children can give you some of the greatest
Scott LaPierre:joy and some of the worst pain that you experience.
Scott LaPierre:On this side of heaven. I believe I've seen my children are
Scott LaPierre:pretty young. So we haven't experienced any, you know,
Scott LaPierre:incredible rebellion or anything, but I know some people who
Scott LaPierre:have and it's been excruciating for them.I do know that that
Scott LaPierre:there's a lot of sacrifice associated with, with children. But it's
Scott LaPierre:the only time I mean, it's the only time God uses you to
Scott LaPierre:bring an eternal being into existence. That's your house is
Scott LaPierre:not eternal, your job's not eternal. Your car is not eternal.
Scott LaPierre:The books that we write are not eternal, that the children that
Scott LaPierre:we raise are eternal beings. It
Scott LaPierre:ever had happened this past Sunday, when I was able, I have three
Scott LaPierre:children, and I was able to baptize with my granddaughter.
Scott LaPierre:My granddaughter, this past Easter Sunday, as we're speaking
Scott LaPierre:a few days after Easter. And so that's what the greatest
Scott LaPierre:joys of my life because it was a real indicator of that
Scott LaPierre:lineage of Christ being handed down from father to daughter,
Scott LaPierre:granddaughter, and big thrill, big thrill. And so what you've
Scott LaPierre:shared there is the thrill of how people have responded to the
Scott LaPierre:message. And really, the message that doing life God's way is
Scott LaPierre:the way to go. And your marriage and dealing with adversity
Scott LaPierre:and dealing with parenting and so on. And, and I know that you
Scott LaPierre:have resources to share with people, you've got several books,
Scott LaPierre:and you've got other resources once you share with us, what,
Scott LaPierre:what people if you want to find out more about Scott, where
Scott LaPierre:can they find out more about you and get access to some of
Scott LaPierre:these resources regarding doing lifeguards away?
Scott LaPierre:Yeah, thanks, Brad. So, my website is the main place to go
Scott LaPierre:scottlapierre.org and I'm guessing he'll put that put that in the show notes.
Dr. Brad Miller:Put that in your show notes at drbradmiller.com. Absolutely. Yeah.
Scott LaPierre:So my my website, scottlapierre.org. That's where people can find
Scott LaPierre:my books, my conference messages is kind of the hub they can
Scott LaPierre:find my social media, my YouTube channel with my with my
Scott LaPierre:videos on my sermons and so forth. From there but
Scott LaPierre:the other thing I'll mention is my have a free gift to your
Scott LaPierre:listeners. It's a book, a short read, it's more of a pamphlet
Scott LaPierre:almost called Seven Biblical Insights: For healthy, joyful, Christ
Scott LaPierre:centered marriage is seven biblical insights for healthy, joyful,
Scott LaPierre:Christ centered marriages, and people can get that from, from
Scott LaPierre:my website, just my free gift to your listeners, and I hope, you
Scott LaPierre:know blesses them and points them toward Christ.
Scott LaPierre:You know, you're talking to me about books earlier in the
Scott LaPierre:books that you feel like God's put in your heart for you to for y
Scott LaPierre:ou to write in the future. And maybe you've heard this before,
Scott LaPierre:but there's not a ton of money in books. Most of the people that
Scott LaPierre:write books, they're not doing it for the financial gain. They're doing
Scott LaPierre:it for the spiritual game that they feel like, there's something God
Scott LaPierre:wants them to share with others. So I'm just blessed to know that I
Scott LaPierre:would write something that people would consume and that it
Scott LaPierre:would strengthen their marriages and their relationships with the Lord.
Dr. Brad Miller:Well, good stuff there. And you can head on over to scottlapierre.org.
Dr. Brad Miller:And you can find it at our website, drbradmiller.com. We'll have
Dr. Brad Miller:connections in our show notes, and his books and his whole series of
Dr. Brad Miller:messages about to doing life or living God's way among the several
Dr. Brad Miller:titles, your marriage God's way. Our guest today on the beyond the
Dr. Brad Miller:adversity podcast, has been Scott LaPierre, we thank you for being
Dr. Brad Miller:our guest today on Beyond Adversity. Thank you, Scott.