Pastor Bob shares how God shows his unfailing love to us and how we are to reflect His love in our relationships, even when it’s not the easiest thing to do.
Sermons
Sermons
Mercy is not a popular concept. Jesus received very heavy criticism when he showed mercy during his ministry. Many people resent those who offer mercy, but mercy is a key to living a life as a follower of Jesus Christ. This Bible study shows how we can live a mercy-filled life as Jesus did. Following […]
Events
Pastor Bob will be sharing with the congregation at the Fellowship Church of God on Sunday, March 27th. His sermon is entitled, ” I am the way, the truth and the life” based John 14:6-11. Fellowship Church meets at the Bayshore High School in Bradenton, Florida. The school is located at 5401 34th Street West. Fellowship […]
Sermons
When you pray, do you feel God is far, far away. Do you feel all alone? Have you ever wondered where God is when you need him most? Listen to what I believe about how close God’s kingdom really is. Where God Lives from PastorBobDouglas on Vimeo.
Sermons
Scroll through the TV Guide on any cable system and you will find hundreds of hours of programming by self-proclaimed experts. You will find diet and exercise experts. There are financial experts that explain how you can make tons of money without any effort. Almost every channel has either a medical experts or political experts, […]
Parenting
Parents face lots of challenges; this can be especially so at holiday times or when they have a child who faces challenges of their own. When you combine both of these situations, it can be extra stressful for everyone. A parent of a child with Sensory Integration Disorder tries to explain why his child might […]
Marriage Advice
Is marriage becoming an outdated practice in a modern world? The media is constantly announcing a new study or a recent report about the decline in the percentages of people who are living in a stable marriage or family. Since so many people are opting out of taking marriage vows, the government must adjust to […]
Marriage Advice
I had a young person write to me at MarriageHelp.com and complain about my “old fashioned” ideas. This person was letting me know that our society had outgrown old rules about what we should expect from our sexual relationships. They had read my lesson called “No Sex before Marriage” where I taught about the value […]
Sermons
There’s Just Something About That Name from PastorBobDouglas on Vimeo. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, we have been together for a very long time. I was introduced to you as a small child. I needed someone who was strong enough to keep the “bad things” away from me. You were my strong Shepherd that kept me safe. […]
Sermons
Please DON’T watch this video! It will jerk your heart out. It will make you cry. It will tear you up…and make you think in ways you have never done before! This message will change you. If you don’t want to be a different person than you right NOW…don’t watch this video! This is a […]
Testimonials
Pastor Bob Douglas’ counseling helped us in many ways. I, for one, never realized how differently men are “made” than women. For instance, I learned about the things that were most important to my husband-to-be, and no, not just the obvious. It was about connecting with each other on a deeper level by understanding more […]
Marriage Advice
This is the fourth lesson in this series and it asks the question, “What happens if you do face infidelity?” Does finding that your spouse was unfaithful mean that you must get a divorce? NO! It means you have a problem to deal with.
Marriage Advice
This third lesson in our four part series is entitled Keeping Inside the Fences. Normal human beings have a healthy fear of intimacy. Intimacy is dangerous and makes us very vulnerable to harm. We have a defensive “fence” around us to keep people away from us who are not our spouses or partners. Think of […]
Marriage Advice
This is the second lesson in the series “The Path to Infidelity” which I have entitled How to Lead a Healthy Life. After our discussion in the first lesson, we can now say, Okay, you are God’s Person. But what does that look like? First of all, if you are married, it means that you […]
Marriage Advice
You don’t have to be a sport’s superstar, a nationally known political leader or a television celebrity to know that sexual infidelity is disastrous! All you need to see are friends and coworkers, family and classmates, watch the evening news on TV or read the local newspaper, and you will see the “train wreck” that […]
Marriage Advice
I told my children as they were growing up, “Don’t give anyone the power to control your emotions!” How many times have you heard someone say, “That person makes me SO MAD”? Sometimes it is stated, “As soon as that guy walks into the room he gets me angry.” I have listened to many people […]
Marriage Advice
It is very easy to feel trapped and hopeless. One cannot give or receive love once hope is lost. We simply must not give up when we feel like we are at a dead end. Hope is still an option. Hope – When you are going through a troubled time from PastorBobDouglas on Vimeo.
Parenting
In the rush of day-to-day living we sometimes forget to stop and think about our long term goals. As parents, we are faced with many different roles we could fill. Pastor Bob helps lead parents through the process of finding the best ways to prepare children to live as independent adults. What are your Goals […]
Marriage Advice
When marriages run into problems, it is easy to feel like you are living in a war zone. Sometimes we treat our marriage partner like the enemy who is “out to get us”. We divide our world into “us” and “them” and trade shots back and forth. Pastor Bob teaches about how to love your […]
Marriage Advice
I hear it all the time, “I will NEVER forgive that person for what they did to me. I trusted them and they made me look like a fool. I will never give them another chance to stab me in the back again.” Betray my trust once, shame on you. Betray me twice, shame on […]
Marriage Advice
It is in your best interest to repair your relationship following a broken trust. I know there are many people screaming just the opposite viewpoint. They have experienced hurt and betrayal of every description and degree. I understand how hard it is to face an uncertain future with only a broken past for a reference […]
Marriage Advice
We have talked about how we cover up our deepest thoughts, feelings and desires. We have talked about how we can paint over the outsides without changing the insides. We have already discussed our desire to be seen as “unbroken people” even though we know the truth about ourselves. When those broken things show up […]
Marriage Advice
Nothing breaks our hearts more than when someone breaks our trust. We work with an assumed social contract with those people closest to us. The people we call our closest friends are assumed to be those people who would never do anything to harm us. We expect our friends to support us and encourage us. […]
Parenting
Life sometimes leaves us in difficult circumstances with big challenges. Being a single parent is one of those challenges. We have been saying that it takes two people in partnership to live out a healthy relationship for the children to witness. I don’t see being a single parent as a “second class” option or an […]
Parenting
We, as parents, are basically different people who need to be working in partnership. When we see old western movies where teams of horses were harnessed together, their combined strength was much greater than their individual strength; each pulling separately. The trick is to keep both parents pulling in the same direction. There are times […]
Parenting
There are two kinds of parental love; conditional and unconditional. Every child needs to have the unconditional love of their parents and mentors as well as a good healthy dose of conditional love. Parenting is a constant struggle to find the right balance. In my early years as a parent, I would feel like I […]
Parenting
Being a parent is a non-stop event. We face daily challenges, crises and emergencies. Schedules become impossible. Illnesses and injuries catch us off guard and are emotionally (and sometime financially) draining. We face homework, practice sessions, tutors or team meetings and the pressure only gets worse as we move along. This constant pressure often results […]
Greatest Fears
One of the great truths of life is that no one in the world can harm you as badly as the person who loves you most. That sounds really strange because the assumption going into marriage is that no one in the world is more unlikely to harm you than the one who loves you […]
Conflict Management
Conflict is as much a part of married life as breathing is to our physical bodies. In marriage we usually underestimate how different we really are from each other. In these lessons you will learn that our differences are massive but never hopeless. Each husband and wife brings the same kinds of issues to the […]
Marriage Advice
This is the third lesson in our discussion of the Parent–Child-Adult within each one of us. I will be honest. Some people tell me that they have difficulty getting their minds around the idea that we have three different people living inside our heads! It is not hard for me because I have listened to […]
Marriage Advice
This is the second of three articles on the discussion on the Parent-Child-Adult within us. The discussion about the “Child” part of our personality is much more fun. The Child is that automatic, built-in emotional core of who we are. It is not learned because you will find a newly born infant crying his eyes […]
Marriage Advice
I was a very young father who was coping with being a part-time church custodian, a full-time student as well as having our first toddler at home. At one point I became frustrated with my young son and yelled, “If you do that again, I’ll nail your hide to the wall.” When he heard my […]
Marriage Advice
Nobody knows you better than your marriage partner. So no one can answer the question of how well you do your job as a husband or wife, better than they can. We all make mistakes. We don’t do it right all the time. So how do you handle this kind of guilt? How do you […]
Marriage Advice
Do you feel like you’ve drifted away from your spouse? How do you re-connect? How would you answer the puzzle we give you in this video? After you watch the video, drop me a note and let me know your answer. ….When you DRIFT Apart! from PastorBobDouglas on Vimeo.
Marriage Advice
There’s never a day you should not be bringing your “A Game” into your marriage relationship. If professional athletes accept advice and take lessons to improve their game, we should be willing to learn new ways to improve our marriage. Listen to the video and see where you can tweak it up a bit. You […]
Marriage Advice
I can just hear the screams of protest when people in our culture hear that the Bible makes it very clear that sex is for a HUSBAND and WIFE….and for no one else. That means before the marriage ceremony as well as after the marriage ceremony and excludes everyone except that one man and one […]
Marriage Advice
Our self esteem does not come from within ourselves, but from others. The value that we receive from our spouse, our family, our employer, and friends is what gives us our self esteem. Your Self Worth does not come from Yourself from PastorBobDouglas on Vimeo.
Greatest Fears
There is a myth in our culture that men have a fear of making a commitment. I have made it clear that none of our wives or girlfriends are to be reading this post, so we can have this conversation in private….man to man. All of us who are built on a “man chassis” know […]
Conflict Management
Rule #10: I love you enough to stop when either one of us calls for a halt. Not every issue has to be solved in one session. In fact, few ever are. We slowly change to accommodate each other. In between discussions, Let There Be Peace. We are two different people with two different personalities. […]
Conflict Management
Rule #9: I love you enough to forgive and forget all wrongs. The healing of all conflicts really lies with the asking for and the offering of forgiveness. We can in love see the sinful side of each other and continue to love. This is only possible because we forgive and forget. (Forgetting is defined […]
Conflict Management
Rule #8: I love you enough to actively question and search for what you need. We often cover our deepest problems with a smoke screen of superficial complaints or issues. We can argue all day and make NO progress if we are not really dealing with the honest issues. Ephesians 4:15 says we are to […]
Conflict Management
Rule #7: I love you enough to really listen to your words. Try playing “I bet you can’t repeat what I just said”. When we listen, not just hear, conflicts are seldom as emotional. Honest listening often brings out honest answers. There are few greater proofs of genuine love and concern for each other than […]
Conflict Management
Rule #6: I love you enough to stick to the subject. There are often at least two arguments going at once. Too many issues on the table at one time, leads to frustration not a solution. Stick to one subject at a time. One of the frustrations of marital conflict is the number of times […]
Conflict Management
Rule #5: I love you enough to set a time to talk. DO NOT strike when your partner is unprepared. You must give your partner a chance to get ready, “cool, calm, and collected”. Don’t continue if you are caught off guard or are distracted. Both persons should feel rested (not late at night) wide […]
Greatest Fears
The greatest fear in the heart of a man is the fear of failure; the fear of being unworthy of respect or approval. This video describes how a man’s Greatest Fear can be calmed by the love and respect of his wife. Men-What are you afraid of? from PastorBobDouglas on Vimeo.
Conflict Management
Rule#4: I love you too much to open you to public ridicule. We must keep our discussion “within limits”. There will always be people we can turn to for help. But, to speak out in public about personal conflicts or disagreements will open our most personal feelings and thoughts to everybody. Public humiliation is a […]
Conflict Management
Rule #3: I love you too much to harm you. We are all vulnerable to severe harm on certain issues. They include past mistakes, sensitivities, insecurities, fears or guilt. I won’t subject you to harm by raising these things. It seems almost too simple; “Don’t hurt each other”. But when the tempers flare and the […]
Abuse
This is an unpleasant topic for everyone concerned. Some people hurt other people. Sometimes this happens unintentionally and other times it is done will full knowledge and intent. A Social Contract When I drive my car, I acknowledge and accept a “social contract” that I will abide by the laws, the rules of the road […]
Greatest Fears
The Bible says in the fifth chapter of Ephesians that the Greatest Fear of women is that they will be left alone and unloved….rejected. This can take several forms. This fear can be that the woman remains married but will be ignored or isolated. In its worst form of her fear, she will be used, […]
Greatest Fears
The Bible (Ephesians 5:33) points out the greatest need in the heart of a man is the fear of being unworthy of respect or approval. In common terms, we would say that man’s deepest fear would be a fear of failure, fear of accomplishing nothing, fear of not measuring up, or a fear that no […]
Greatest Fears
The Greatest Fear of Women and the Greatest Fear of Men The Bible tells us that there are deep, abiding fears with each person. They were created inside of each of us to help us become loving partners. These are not weaknesses or character flaws that must be ignored, denied or covered up. They are […]
Conflict Management
Rule #2. I love you just the way you are. Some things CAN’T be changed. Some things you couldn’t change. I won’t ask you to change these. Backgrounds of family life or our “walk of faith”, personality, values, or Gifts that God has blessed us with… are most difficult to change. We just won’t argue […]
Conflict Management
Rule #1: I love you. I will always love you. You are my husband/wife. I have pledged myself to help you, support you, and care for you. I’m not going to stop taking care of you. Most arguments begin when someone really wants something that they are not getting! The Bible explains it this way: […]
Conflict Management
If you are feeling trapped in a very bad place we can help you. We will show the right way to handle conflict in your marriage! We call it the Ten Rules to a Good Fight. You can read the Ten Rules to a Good Fight in a few minutes but you will not understand […]
Marriage Advice
Introduction After watching the introduction, use the links below to drill down into each lesson.
Pastor Bob
When I was growing up, my grandparents were business people in our small town. Because they were in the public view from daylight to dusk, most of their arguments were also public. They had never learned the “where and when” of working out their frustrations… let alone never understanding the “why”. They were constantly picking […]