Battle of the Sexes 1 - Sexes by Design - Jonathan Pokluda

oh yeah I don't know if you've seen that that is the ad campaign before Mac just this whole idea I'm a Mac you're a PC right and so I don't know as you watch that you probably have a favorite and some of you are like yeah I just don't get the Mac the finger commands it doesn't really work for me I really like my PC maybe for you it carries over to the iPhone or the Google Android or whatever that is but here's what I want to point out to you up front is that both of these machines right I've got the Mac I've got the Dell or the PC if you will they're both given value by their manufacturer right if you want a computer you don't just want a computer you want a Mac or you want a Dell you have some specific computer in mind they're both the same value can get either one for $11.99 at Best Buy okay and the difference between the two is both a difference of hardware the outside and a difference of software the inside right and it's interesting because I bought this hard drive online I wanted to go ahead and take all these pictures I've been taking with my iPhone or the kids and in all of these videos I thought I'd get an external hard drive and I'm a Mac guy so that's the camp that I'm in right and I'm gonna I'm going to put them on my computer and I get it I'm in community with a bunch of software engineers and they're like and I'm trying to do it I'm like hey man it won't work you know I know I'm stupid come over and help me and they're like no no this is incompatible with your Mac no we're going to have to do some things to it to make it compatible we have to reprogram it right if you will so that it can be compatible for you my it's interesting that the two machines they do very very similar things but in ways in lots of ways they're really really incompatible and isn't that true of man and woman that God made man and God made woman and they exist for a really really similar purpose but in so many ways they're incompatible and they have different hardware that's the external right and then different software that's the internal they think different and feel different and a mote different they are altogether different and you can only even look at the the physical the hardware if you will and realize that these two were made to be compatible but something has gotten wrong something has gone tragically wrong right we're not getting better at this idea of relationships I don't know if you realize this we are getting a whole lot worse with the progression of time we're getting so much worse that this almost arrogantly almost arrogantly like now we can we can do whatever we want and we've got it all figured out and no not the divorce rates skyrocketing at over half that's crazy that people would plan their entire life to spend the rest of their lives with one person and over half of them would get it wrong it's actually much more than half because the marriage satisfaction rate is tragically low as the majority the vast majority of marriages fail miserably either by divorce or undestroyed or open marriages and so there it seems as though we're incompatible and so tonight we're talking about sex by design really sexes by design just this fact that we have a manufacturer one who made us and he has a desire and to know how we work the best we have to return to the manufacturer and say hey how did you make us what is your purpose because those who live according to how he created them to be get it right all right whether they're believers or not those who live according to the way that he created us those who understand his intentions or unknowingly they live according to his intentions those are the ones right who get it right and tonight I want that to be you and so it's it's not it's no confusing issue that we get this wrong I mean it's just the reality think about your breakups and heartbreak and really every relationship you have ever been in that you're not in anymore because it ended something went wrong and there's this idea right now that gender doesn't matter that's being populated by our culture and I think the church kind of raises up says yes it does but I don't really know why now I think it really matters but I'm not sure how to explain that so we've seen not only incompatible we seem to be getting less and less compatible and so we're starting this series tonight just this battle of the sexes which is the designers plan for man/woman sex dating and relationships and sort of preview tonight we're going to look at God's design in the beginning what went wrong and the implications of what went wrong and what we should do now as you leave here and as you consider interacting with the opposite sex what should we do now what was God's original intention for us we're going to be in Genesis okay which is just is a book that that means the beginning so we're going to be in Genesis one two and three so pray for clarity and brevity tonight as we go through Genesis chapters 1 2 and 3 and we just go back to this book of origin if you will that says where we come from and why we were created we'll start in Genesis chapter 1 verse 26 then God said let us that's the Trinity make mankind in our Trinity image in our likeness so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky over the livestock and all the wild animals and over all the creatures that creatures that move along the ground so God created mankind that's us in his own image in the image of God he created them male and female he created them God blessed them and said to them be fruitful and increase in number fill the earth and subdue it rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground my first point this evening is that we were created opposites to complete that we were made male and female to complete that God could have made all men he could have made all women he could have done this deal however he wanted to he could have stopped at dogs okay he could have stopped at rhinoceroses or whatever or not made anything but but by design very intentionally he made them male and female in the beginning that we were created opposites to complete and that there's this profound reality in this text that we are made in God's image this is the Maya day what does it mean that we were made in God's image here's what it means simply put that you have value that you have value that you were made by God for God okay this thing has value because it's Apple has value because it's Dale you have value because you're gods what's your brand gods do you have less value because you were hurt in that relationship do you have less value because what happened to you do you have less value because you I don't care if you live in the projects or the park cities your value is the same because you were made by God he made you intentionally he has his plan and his purpose for you and so we were made not only by God but to represent God and so God is represented as masculine of course we know that God is referred to as he and so we know we see the the metaphors in the scripture to describe him as husband and father and King and warrior but God is also represented as feminine in the scripture as a mother giving birth as a nursing mother caring for her infant as a hen with chicks under her wings caring for and protecting them and so your value doesn't come from your facebook status single or married your value comes because you are an image bearer of the creator of the universe you were made like I don't know if you've known your purpose your entire life but you were made to represent him and when you do so you are fully alive and when you miss it you are missing the calling on your life we see in this text the first great commission you've heard that term probably there in Matthew but here we have the first great commission he says be fruitful and increase in number fill the earth and subdue it rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground what does it mean to be an image-bearer of God it means that you were created to rule that you were created as ruler over the earth this is so important that God made little gods to rule over the earth or better said image bearers of the one true God to rule over the earth and so we're created as opposites male and female to work together to bring order in this place that's important to bring order into this place not made to war against each other but to work together together we are made like God for God by God to represent God in filling and forming the earth together we are made like God for God by God to represent God in filling and forming shaping making in the earth this is your purpose may distinctly male and female different are we different male and female are we different man I can tell you from a young age you can observe these differences I have two daughters and my son was my daughter's they have this this it's this pink wand with the big store on it that lights up and makes this little twinkling noise and they kind of walk around and they're like you know they're you know doing this like the hose and I'll turn that I can turn on the candles look daddy it's magic you know and and they're kind of using this one my 17 month old the son gets it and it becomes a weapon of mass destruction you know he's like wham Wham he's just sitting there like banging the couch like it's a hammer or a broadsword swinging and I'm duck and he's swinging it at my head like they're just different I mean even at that really really really early age and that's one silly example but I see their differences in so many ways how are they different genesis to now verse 15 the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it and so Genesis 2 is really an expanding of the parenthetical Genesis 1 so Genesis 1 we had this summary and then Genesis 2 says hey let me show you how it all went down and the Lord God communicated to commanded the man rather you are free to eat from any tree in the garden but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for when you eat from it you will certainly die the Lord God said and so it all up in to this point he's like he made it it was good he made it it was good he made it it was good he said it he made he said it it was and it was good he said it it wasn't was good this is the rhythm we've seen he said it wasn't it was good and he's God and so you think everything's perfect in the Garden of Eden it is paradise right there's nothing wrong and then God creator the heavens veer says whoa there's something wrong he says this is really odd he says it is not good now it is not good for the man to be alone I will make a helper suitable for him now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky he brought them to the man and so this is just kind of a parenthetical statement showing you everything that's happened up to this point he brought them to the man to see what he would name them and whatever the man called each living creature that was its name so the man gave names to all the livestock the birds in the sky in the wild animals we see the man bringing order to this place God says hey you are there you are a ruler made in my image to rule bring order to this place this is the biblical this is very important this is the biblical definition of masculinity okay it is what to benchpress do any note to love football nope to be ripped up nope to fight nope to spit to costs No the biblical definition of masculinity is to bring order through work and care that is what it means to be fully a man to bring order through work and care man I hope you hear that so did Adam like football or play the harp we don't know but we know he didn't like football let's be honest it doesn't matter to bring order through work and care but for Adam no suitable Circle that word suitable helper Circle that word helper was formed so the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep and while he was sleeping he took one of his ribs one of the man's ribs and then closed up the place with flesh then the Lord made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man he brought her to the man this is not figurative it's not poetry this is actually how it went down picture Adam he's sleeping God the Creator grabs his rib and makes woman from him this literally happened in the garden okay it says that Eve is a suitable what does that word suitable mean it doesn't translate well in English it means as the opposite of Eve was made as the opposite of you ever heard opposites attract it's biblical it's biblical opposites do indeed I've done many many weddings and usually they are very very different people that come together and like oh you guys are going to be sanctified they're getting along okay opposites attract they also later attack opposites attract and later they attack true story and so Eve is made according to the opposite of Adam and then that other word is she's not just suitable she's a helper that's the word a czar ok helper and so the biblical definition of femininity is this ability to come alongside and help and then listen to this part a necessary complement ability to come alongside and help a necessary complement anybody upset by that if I read it and I was a woman on my helper what am I not sistent you know right there's a couple of stay with me there's a couple ways to think about helper and we've got to clarify this this is important okay you could think like Santa's Little Helper like there's Santa and he needs all these helpers right little helpers okay now now if you will picture for me like a little car stuck in some mud and it needs help and he's a big monster truck to come and pull them out of that right helper C helper can both be demeaning if you will but it can also be a huge compliment I think personally it's funny it says that us men we need help amen try to hold down the applause and yeah yeah it says men it says men we need help you know who is called helper in the Old Testament the same word God this same word is used most often to describe two things twenty-one times in the Old Testament to describe warrior and to describe God his relationship with Israel he was there I lift my eyes upon I lift my eyes to the hills where does my a sir come from where does my help come from God I need you the Holy Spirit is our helper this is the word that is given to the women women you are a helper it's beautiful it's it's really really beautiful and so femininities ability to come alongside and help a necessary complement and says that Eve is made from Adam side I love this from Matthew Henry's commentary I just want to read it to you not made out of his head to top him not made out of his feet to be trampled upon by him but out of his side to be equal with him under his arm to be protected and near his heart to be beloved women let me tell you this your complete mystery to us you just are met like we don't understand you and we think we do like right when we like I get women I've had some men tell me that I really understand women I'm like that's cute buddy that's really cute you're a mystery to us but I can just tell you that most of the men in the room remember that time when that girl they were attracted to came up and just said hey hey can I help you with that uh no yes maybe no sure I remember when I met Monica she just was like you know I just like whoa and uh that's because she's yeah and uh and uh and I was like whoa and and and then and she was like she you know she would start to come over and we would start to hang out and and she would come over sometimes when I wasn't there and my roommates would let her in and I had my room was like a tornado like it was just like a you know you know it needed that yellow tape around it it was really bad they were stuff growing in there she would tell you that and there is true and and she would just go in there and she would bring order to it and she would put stuff where it goes and I would walk in as I didn't even know that had a place to go like you created a place for that to go I didn't even know that was possible right and it was just like I saw how necessary it was for us to spend time together so I would have a better understanding of who I was created to be as a man to bring order and needing help with that needing help not someone to do it for me right not just someone to do me do it for me someone just show me how necessary it was and I want you to watch what happens next the man said ready in quotes this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be called woman for she was taken out of man this is in quotes in the Hebrew this is actually a song so you can just see Adam like he wakes up from this dream and he looks and go whoa her eyes her eyes I mean he's just Bruno Mars right like is going off on he's like oh this is good you got it you did good God well done he did like his first words are song there they are they're getting a long man and woman that is why man leaves his father that is why man leaves his father and mother and his unit united to his wife and they indeed become one flesh Adam and his wife were both naked and why would God put this in the scripture listen why would he go to such great lengths to preserve this one little line Adam and his wife were both naked and they felt no shame they felt no shame they were made to complete not compete and there they are and there's there's no shame they were naked and unashamed no insecurities no do I look fat in these jeans no jeans you know just there they were safe like some of you that's the longing of your heart I just want to be in a relationship and I just want to be safe that there's a safety in the Garden of Eden right now that is uncomprehensible to us we can't even imagine it in our wildest dreams that they coexisted and just realized their comp completion of each other how much they are both necessary just this reality and they're there and there's no shame they're unashamed and so Eve is not leveraging her sex appeal for power over Adam that Adams not dominating over Eve like they're just there and they're just safe and so men were created to bring order through work and care women created to help in that purpose as a necessary complement together they feel and form the earth they are unashamed and loving and trusting each other in right relationship with each other and more importantly in right relationship with God they walk with God there in the garden and they get to walk with the Creator at the heavens of the earth they get to talk with him and commune with him so what went wrong number two we become opponents who compete we become opponents who compete the serpent comes up to Eve this is how this goes down and says hey you can eat from the tree that God told you not to eat from okay if you eat from it you will be like god that's confusing because she was already like God she was made in God's image to be like God by God for God to be like God the serpent is offering her a shortcut to be like God without God that is still the light of the world that you can be like God without God it will never ever ever work see when you walk with God you become like God when you spend time with God you become like God they were walking with God but the serpent says hey you don't need to walk with God just eat from this just disobey God and you will be like him then the eyes of both of them are open and they realized they were naked so they sewed fig leaves together and make coverings for themselves all of the sudden with this one fracture in existence in the universe everything is undone in a moment and now all relationships are broken - no shame that no shame part it's undone and now women feel insecure and then they overcompensate by using their bodies and flaunting their bodies as a tool men do the same thing now then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden but the Lord God called the man where are you their relationship with God is fractured here's what that means they don't trust him in one moment the one who created him and them and was good to them they don't trust him you want better relationships you can have 100% better relationships simply by trusting God what was undone in the fall is that we no longer trust God he answered Adam answers I heard you in the garden I was afraid because I was naked so I hid and he said who told you you were naked have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from the man said the woman you put here with me she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it then the Lord God said to the woman what is this you have done the woman said the serpent deceived me and I ate it what's happening blame-shifting this still happens this still happens today no no I'm like this because of what happened to me like I'll meet with someone who got a divorce and they're like yeah you wouldn't believe my scumbag husband cheated on me I'm like the man that you chose out of all men on the face of the planet that you said this is the one I want to spend the rest of my life with that man cheated on you right and I'm not trying to be Merce merciless right now right I know that sometimes maybe it's a true surprise maybe his heart changed I get it you know that that girl you wouldn't believe what she did the girl you chose of all the girls like you chose crazy you got crazy you said hey I want crazy and then you're surprised can't believe she was crazy everybody was said she's crazy that girl's crazy hey hey check this out right like we're always like pointing this is why I'm the way I am and I want to say this to some of you and I really want you to hear me and this is important okay like if you're angry right now I want you to hear this some of you some things have happened to you that were beyond you abuse rate physical verbal that bad things happen to you a guy was just really really good at pretending and then he got you know bad things and you're moving through life and you're blaming and you're saying hey that's the reason I am and I want you to know that evil wins in that I changed her the wicked one says yeah see she's damaged goods and you're not and so the question is if I've been raped if I've been abused is there any chance that I would have a healthy marriage or a healthy sexual relationship and the answer is a resounding loud yes my god is so big that but-but-but there's a there's a big asterisk to it you have to start healing and not going through life finding identity in that I'm damaged I hate men I can't trust I just don't trust anyone but actually starting to saying God I trust you and I want to be led by your spirit and I want to begin to heal from that which happened to me God I trust you you have to begin to heal to the woman he said I will make your I will make your pains and childbearing very severe I read that Wow with painful labor you will give birth to children your desire will be for your husband and so femininity in a moment is compromised filling the earth just became difficult helping the man just became difficult where'd I get helping man it says your desire will be for your husband I read that I'm like that's good news you know monitor The Fault praise God for the fall now Monica is going to desire her husband that's not what it means desire there in the Hebrew is actually translated desire to control desire to master we only see this word three times in the Old Testament it's a strange word and we see it just one chapter later in Genesis 4 verse 7 it says sin is crouching at your door God speaking to Cain it desires the same word to have you it desires to master you but you must rule over it when it says her desire will be for her husband the result of the fault is now Eve desires to control her husband this is the effect of the full any women here struggle with control don't raise your hand okay right yes yes we sure do you sure do missions that we they sure do but there's some implications in this for single women right listen to illustration I'm just hot there's some implications in here for single women see this is why you like the guy that doesn't pay you attention because of the fall this is why games work I'm not telling you to play games Romans 12 says love must be sincere you should not play games it is not christ-like to play games but I'm telling you because of the fall games work you begin to like the guy who doesn't pay attention to you because you want to master the situation you want to control it and the guy that loves you and cares for you and buys you all the wonderful things and chocolates and flowers on Valentine's Day you know yeah and I know he's kind of always there but you know I don't know we're just friends right and it's so frustrating right amen guys that's because of the fall that's because of sin okay that's all I'm saying and so some of you you like yeah you're going around and you just kind of got this chip on your shoulder and you're like you know like help her like whatever hey listen I don't need a man right I can do whatever I want and I don't I don't need somebody to come around me and to help me help so he could help me right that's cool you don't win that attitude is going to keep you single I'm just I'm just I'm trying to love you here okay that attitudes gonna keep you single or there's two results I've seen them or you marry a very very very passive man those are the two results you stay single or you marry a very very very passive man and you know I can do anything anything he could do I can you might be right maybe you can but should you or should you understand God's role for you his intended purpose for you right that he has this this design for you and he says and he that's the man will rule over you what that is saying now is that masculinity is compromised he doesn't bring order through care he is domineering that rule over you is not loving leadership it's harsh domination okay this is really broken now in us men that this reality that we just became very incompatible just imagine the woman wants to control the man and the man wants to dominate the woman that doesn't work 52 percent divorce rate it doesn't work unless we conform to the image and character of Jesus right unless we pursue an understanding of how our manufacturer made us it doesn't work and so think of every relationship you've been in think of your parents relationships your friends relationships think about the way that sitcoms play this out it's broken because of the fall to Adam he said because you listen to your wife and ate the fruit of the tree about which I commanded you you must not eat from it cursed is the ground because of you through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life it will produce thorns and thistles for you and you will eat from the plants of the field by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground since from it you were taken for dust you are and to dust you will return and so man finds identity now in feudal labor that never ceases to exist the man continues to find his identity in what he does for a living and it never goes away and he spends his entire life in that we see this this is profound result of the fall that happened in the garden that still exists today in all of us both man and woman and so Adam named his wife Eve because she would become the mother of all of all the living and so now making disciples through procreation that first Great Commission is now complicated and as a father of three kids that trust me it's complicated at the fall all relationships were fractured relationships with each other male and female and relationships with God we desperately need a Savior we need someone to come and save us and mend these relationships and bridge these relationships and as we trust in him and him alone right are these relationships mended as we understand how we were designed how we were manufactured to co-exist and so my third and final point is that servants complete why the selfish compete the selfish continue to compete with each other but those who serve and only those who serve are able to complete each other and so who is selfish who's selfish out there people with an agenda men wanting sex men wanting to abuse women and use their bodies they have a selfish agenda they will always compete women who want men and I don't mean want men like you know wanting a husband in general I mean want to find identity in men they need a man in their life they're not comfortable alone they desperately need the attention of a man they are selfish people who are desperately wanting to domineer or lead or control are selfish people wanting to push their gender agenda right it's selfish do nothing out of selfish ambition but Jesus our Savior Jesus Christ was self less he modeled this perfectly we see this in Philippians 2 write these down I want you to read them on your own philippians 2 mark chapter 10 Ephesians 5 the husband is the head of the wife and we're like oh yeah the husband is the leader I don't know if you read that verse and says as Christ is the head of the church and gave himself for her serving her ultimately with his all that this idea that the man should be the chief servant servant monic and I went into premarital counseling we were we were masked like we were new Christians and and we met with this guy and you know we were happy we're getting married like that was cool and he was sitting there giving us advice and I was just kind of over it and I remember II said this thing he just said hey you guys stop pursuing each other and start pursuing the Lord together I think well that's cute man you read that I like preacher handbook like that's really neat like let me let me get this straight we're to stop pursuing each other and start pursuing God together okay you know and and I look back on our relationship which was a disaster if you've been around here long you know we were facing divorce year two and now we've been together over a decade and I'm like that was totally prophetic like that's exactly what happened when we stopped pursuing each other and we started pursuing God together he changed everything here's what it looked like I would constantly try to make Monica like me and Monica would constantly try to make me like her but as we understood that we were Christians that we had trusted in Christ and the Holy Spirit had come in our lives what I mean by that is that we had trusted in Christ for the forgiveness of our sins that we were going to be with God forever we knew that and the Holy Spirit God's Spirit came to live in our lives I didn't need to change her anymore God was changing her he was changing her to make her like him and she saw his work in my life too that she didn't need to change me anymore that God was changing me God was changing me to be like him and as we began to trust that instead of competing with each other but completing each other became a really beautiful thing became a really really incredible thing in our marriage it saved our marriage that advice and so let me give it to you again stop pursuing each other and start pursuing the Lord together start serving God the Creator together see we were created male and female to walk with God together in the garden and when you walk with God you learn his desires his desires for us and how we love and respect each other this is what is playing out as we were male and female distinct and so the culture is coming at you right now with another agenda saying that gender doesn't matter that you should be what you feel and so let me tell you this like I can take this computer and I can change the software I can take this computer and I can change the software on it but it's still a Mac because it was made a Mac and so hot what is on it what's inside doesn't change its identity and this is the this is the progression of transgender if you if you're here and you heard that word I've been asking people do you know what transgender means people don't know what that means I've heard homosexual I've heard hermaphrodite okay transgender simply means that you feel different than you are that's all it means it has nothing to do with your sexual orientation it doesn't have anything to do with whether you like men or women it just says I I'm created a man I have all man parts but I identify more as a woman and so what's happening in places like Philadelphia is there's transgender restrooms and they're comparing this to civil rights and say well if you feel like a woman even though you're a man and you may be attracted to women you should be able to go to the women's restroom and this is happening in kindergarten kindergarteners are told hey boys you can go in the girls restroom if you feel like it okay and it's important that we educate our self on this like so that we can come with love as we address these issues that were educated and know what is going on around us right you were born male or female there's a guy that said what am i man just because I have a penis simply put yes yes yes you are and so the message of culture is to be whoever you feel like right that your emotions define your sex we're so rebellious that we reject the very way we were created and so what I want you to do tonight is understand who the Lord made you to be right and stop placing blame on your past and what has happened to you and begin to heal through those experiences so that you can live as God made you to be understanding who he's intended you to be and I understand that the world hates change but to grow up means to change to mature spiritually means to change sanctification means change and so we can stop saying like well I don't want to chain like changes but change is not bad change is synonymous with maturity it means change so I want to talk to you for a second I want to talk to you for a second I don't want to tell you that if you're here and you're single and you're waking up at 2 in the morning and you hate the fact that you're single and you wish you had some outlet of release but you're waging war with that desire because you believe God calls you to I want you to know I'm so proud of you I'm so proud of you and if you're here and you're a girl and you refuse to get a guy with your body knowing that that's a shortcut and knowing that you can get his attention with your body but you say I won't because I know it offends my Creator I'm so proud of you if you're here and you're a man and you realize that your natural urge is to dominate and to be forceful but you're yielding to his spirit at work inside you to make you quick to listen and slow to speak and slow to become angry and and conforming to the image and the character of Jesus to be soft and gentle and compassionate I'm so proud of you if you're here and you've been hurt like something awful and unspeakable has happened to you or maybe you did something in just a moment of naivety you thought hey this is the only way and so you pursue a solution that is outside of God's design and you know that it has impacted your life but you are seeking healing and you want to be restored I'm so proud of you so proud of you and you're here and you struggle with same-sex attraction you identify as gay and the world is saying it's okay it's not a struggle it's offensive that he said that's a struggle and you say but I think that's not God's best for me and so I will pursue healing in that or I will pursue celibacy in that I'm so proud of you and if you're here and you're a man and you identify as a woman or you're a woman and you identify as a man but you think you know what I don't know that this is God's best for me so I want to understand a biblical idea of masculinity or femininity a biblical idea and you begin to educate yourself to that and yield to his spirit at work in your life so that you would grow towards that I'm so proud of you I'm so glad you're here I'm so glad we are worshiping the creator of the universe together I'm so proud of you and if you're here and you've just missed it you just missed it I want you to know I did too man I missed it there's a wake of destruction behind me relationally 10 years of marriage I'm still comforting and consoling my wife from terrible things and terrible ways I've treated her I'm looking at past relationships and realizing there's lots of baggage they're in my life and in dozens of girls I've spent time with I'm healing but I found freedom in a Savior Jesus Christ who came to this earth to die for my sins he went in the grave and he came out he resurrected to new life so that I can walk in that and he's restoring me by his power at work in me he's making me new and that right now is available to you for free friends porch goers Dallas you were created with a purpose you have a purpose and we work together male and female even if we're not married we serve the king together what is the application for you to be fully man what does it mean to be a fully a man it means to serve in the church in his body to bring order and form that which is around you what does it mean to be fully a woman to partner with the men around you in serving in the body of Christ forming and filling the earth through discipleship using the gifts and the talents that the Lord has entrusted to you as an incredible woman who he made to serve him when the fall happened it's like we got a virus it's like we got a virus and if something went really wrong and we we just started fighting we couldn't get along and in her brain our hearts were clouded and we didn't understand what it was like to give and to serve we just wanted to take to take and to take and to feel good and to seek pleasure and when your machine gets a virus what you got to do is you strip everything out of it you got to reprogram it you got to reprogram it you got to go back in there then all the original software and so what we must do is educate ourselves to the Creator the manufacturers original design so that we can understand fully how we can coexist god-willing with one of the opposite sex for the rest of the rest of the rest and that a beautiful thing it's a beautiful thing that's my hope for you that is my hope for you let me pray for us Lord thank you just for the beginning of the battle of the sexes fathers we can consider what is your desire for us as man and woman mother I pray for my friends here who are wrestling with some of what they heard tonight is very different than what their parents are telling them or the friends are telling other co-workers are telling him and lord I pray that you would just give us the wisdom to return to your word and that your spirit would meet us there and make known to us the things of you and father would you increase our ability to love those different than us father would you increase our ability to love those different than us Lord I pray that you would use this series just the rest of our gathering together to continue to give us a vision of what it looks like today continue to answer the biggest questions that we have around relationships with the opposite sex though we do love you and we sing love songs to you now I think one of my fears is I was just thinking about reflecting on this term God's best and I think some of us we don't want God's best because we settle for good enough it was good enough or God's best is so like big and lofty we're like I don't know how to how to get God's best so good enough is fun yeah I was preparing for this message yesterday at a restaurant and this girl that kind of across the restaurant I guess I'm on one wall she's on the other wall and and she's on her she gets on her phone and she's very loud and very angry and she's like you won't believe what he did like no he comes in the room and shuts the door behind him and he's like oh girl you look good in that bathing suit and I'm like what you can say that to me and I know cuz I know he was with her the other day too and he said he'd been saying the same stuff to her and I just can't believe it that went on for 25 minutes I timed it 25 minutes and just like I can't you know I'm sewing and so she hung up I got up pulled up a chair to her table said hey I know it's weird I said I said uh I really didn't want to eavesdrop she's like but you did and I was like like no you were just loud okay and I said here's the deal man we're starting this thing tomorrow I don't know if you've heard of the porch you know and we're starting to deal battle the sexist frankly we're talking about everything that you were just talking about it's a great to gathering for 20s and 30s she's like well how do you know I'm not 18 I'm like you just told your friend you were 23 I heard you the whole restaurant heard you you know and I was like I'd love for you to come I said do you have a faith so yeah I was raising the church I said cool did you know do you know Jesus you know he loves you you know he's gone to great lengths to adopt you as his daughter you know he has something better for you then that Joker you were just talking about she was like yeah I was mad I was I could tell I could tell and he wants to restore you so just pray for my friend okay I don't know if she's here but pray for her and let me just tell you something's gone wrong and God's best is better than your good enough and God's best is available to you tonight as someone who has had much much less than God's best I can tell you from experience it's available to you you

Channel: The Porch

Views: 9,190

Rating: 4.84127 out of 5

Keywords: BOTS, Watermark Community Church, Watermark, the porch, theporchdallas, jonathan pokluda, men, women, serve

Id: f8jKey2OqOU

Length: 50min 2sec (3002 seconds)

Published: Mon May 12 2014