Scott LaPierre

 

Tell us a little about yourself…

I have been the senior pastor of Woodland Christian Church since 2010. My wife, Katie, and I grew up together in the small town of McArthur in the mountains of northern California. As of 2021, we have nine children.

Congrats. I have seven myself. Why did you write Your Marriage God’s Way?

I wrote Your Marriage God’s Way because I am passionate about this area of Scripture and life. God designed the family as the primary unit for every other segment in society, including the church. And marriage is the heart of the family. As a marriage disintegrates, the family disintegrates. As families disintegrate, churches disintegrate. As churches disintegrate, society disintegrates. When marriages are strong, however, families are strong. When families are strong, churches can be strong because strong churches are made up of strong families. As a pastor, I have seen many struggling marriages, but I have also seen couples find the solutions to their problems in Scripture. The truth of God’s Word has the power to heal and strengthen any marriage.

What do you hope readers will gain from this book?

I believe when couples read this book together it will strengthen their relationships with each other, and most importantly with Christ. Because the marriage relationship is a picture of Christ and His relationship to the church, it is one of the greatest evangelistic tools believers have. Godly marriages have the potential to reveal Christ to an unbelieving world; therefore, I also hope the book helps people become more evangelistic. As a husband, I have experienced firsthand the blessings that come from obeying God’s Word and the negative consequences that come with disobedience. I hope husbands and wives come to learn what God says about marriage and experience these blessings themselves.

I poured my heart into Your Marriage God’s Way, and I pray it strengthens your marriage and relationship with Christ! If you would like to learn more about me, or I can pray for you in any way, please feel free to reach out to me through my website, https://www.scottlapierre.org.

How did you decide to write this book? 

I’m not a typical author in that I don’t sit down at the computer to write. Instead, I sit down at the computer to study God’s Word and prepare sermons, and my books develop from that material. Let me elaborate. There might be some space between these two extremes, but for simplicity’s sake, let’s say pastors take two approaches with their sermons:

• Abbreviated notes of a few hundred words. Phrases and keywords meant to remind them what to say. This isn’t to say these pastors don’t study. I’m sure they do. But they don’t write out most of what they plan to say.
• Transcripts with thousands of words. This is me. I write out my entire sermon, and go over it with my wife on Thursday nights. A wonderful family in our church sends over some kids to watch our kids. We go over the sermon again Saturday morning. I wake up early on Sunday to pray and look over my notes again. Each time I go over my notes I’m refining and polishing them.

My books come from my sermon transcripts, which take twenty-to-thirty hours of work each week. This means each book contains hundreds of hours of study in God’s Word.

That’s a lot of time. What influenced your writing?

At the beginning of Your Marriage God’s Way I write, “First, and of greatest importance, I am not asking you to trust me. Rather, I am inviting you to trust what God says in the Bible. This book is not a collection of my thoughts about marriage. God is the author of marriage. He designed the roles and responsibilities for husbands and wives. He knows what couples need so they can experience healthy, joyful, Christ-centered relationships, and He provided the instructions in His Word. My desire is to present that guide clearly and biblically in Your Marriage God’s Way.”

I believe this communicates that the Bible is my greatest influence. I also regularly use commentaries from John MacArthur and Warren Wiersbe. These wonderful godly men have greatly influenced me.

Tell us about memorable feedback you’ve received on one of your books.

The most memorable feedback I’ve received relates to marriage. Couples will write me and tell me they bought Your Marriage God’s Way and the accompanying workbook, and God used my materials to strengthen and heal their relationship. For many people, they didn’t know what God’s Word says about marriage, and my book revealed the truth to them. Messages along these lines are always very encouraging.

Apart from writing, what hobbies or past-times do you enjoy?

I spend most of my time with my home and church families. I love studying and teaching God’s Word. The free time I have is usually committed to reading and writing. Our kids stay busy with church, music, and school. Between pastoring, authoring, speaking, and being a husband and father to nine, I have very little free time…which is fine with me!

Do you have a life motto or Bible verse that guides you?

At this point in my life, it’s Ephesians 4:12. Whether it’s pastoring, writing, or speaking, God has called me to “equip the saints for the work of the ministry.”

Tell us about what’s next for you? Any appearances, forthcoming book releases, etc.?

My next book and workbook, Your Finances God’s Way, are coming out in May.

I have speaking engagements throughout the year and am regularly available for guest preaching and conferences.

If you’d like to be part of the publishing journey with me, follow my ministry, and receive a free copy of my book, Seven Biblical Insights for Marriage, please sign up for my newsletter: https://www.scottlapierre.org/subscribe/

Where can readers learn more about you?

My website is best: https://www.scottlapierre.org/.

People can also visit my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/ScottLaPierre

Would you give us an excerpt of Your Marriage God’s Way?

Yes, here you go…

A Husband Gets the Wife He Prepares for Himself

Ephesians 5:27 continues the description of Christ sanctifying and cleansing the church: He does this so “that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” There is a tremendous truth contained in these words. Christ does what He does in verse 26—sanctifying and cleansing the church—so that He can obtain for Himself the glorious church (or bride) described in verse 27: one that has no spot or wrinkle, but is holy and without blemish. The ESV Bible puts it this way: “So that He might present the church to Himself in splendor.” Here is the simplest way to sum it all up: Christ gets the church He prepares for Himself.

Again, this is a picture for husbands and wives. What is the apostle Paul implying by this truth? Just as Jesus gets the church He prepares for Himself, a husband generally gets the wife he prepares for himself. Wives respond well to love, holiness, and obedience to God’s Word. When a husband treats his wife forgivingly, lovingly, and tenderly, he will generally receive a more forgiving, loving, and tender wife. When a husband treats his wife unforgivingly, unlovingly, and harshly, he will generally find himself with a wife who is less forgiving, loving, and tender.

Rather than be cruel or harsh toward their wives, some husbands tend to be apathetic or indifferent. They take no interest in their wives. They do not invest in them or even become annoyed with them. We will discuss this more when we look at 1 Peter 3 in chapters 16 through 19 in this book, but for now, we should note that 1 Peter 3:7 commands husbands to “dwell with [their wives] with understanding.” Husbands must try to know and understand their wives. This is what enables wives to blossom and grow. When husbands fail to show interest in their wives, they end up with cold, bitter, frustrated wives.

Earlier we learned about a husband’s responsibility regarding his wife’s sanctification. Another way to look at this is that husbands are responsible for the wives they get for themselves! It is a simple equation. If a husband is helping his wife with her sanctification and spiritual cleansing, he is going to get a sanctified and spiritually cleansed wife.

So aside from the fact that God commands a husband to take his wife to church, read the Word with her, pray with her, and help her grow spiritually, another great reason for him to do so is that he will receive a more spiritually mature wife. What kind of qualities will be produced as a result? Galatians 5:22-23 gives the answer: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

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Thanks for visiting, Scott.

The winner of last week’s book is ABC. And if you missed my post-script note, added days after the fact since I forgot to include it to the post, Kendra was the winner the week before.

Happy Reading,