GraceLife - LIVE! @11:00am

[Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] hey everyone we want to welcome you to gracelife this morning whether you're here in person or you're watching online we're so glad that you're here today if this is your first time visiting with us make sure you stop by the guest services table in the front lobby or you can text welcome to the number on the screen we have a great opportunity coming up this saturday september 25th at six o'clock for you to invest in your marriage with our annual marriage conference it's going to be held right here at grace life you can get more details at gracelifefamily.org marriage tomorrow is the deadline to sign up so we can plan for space and food so don't forget to head to the website and sign up today hey if you're new here we would love to get to know you better so come to our guest reception next sunday september 26th this is a great opportunity for you to meet some of our pastors and staff here at graceline we would love to see you there registration has opened for upward basketball and cheerleading for this year you can register by going to gracelivefamily.org forward slash upward we're also needing help with coaches scorekeepers referees and concession stand workers for the season if this is something you'd like to help out with you can give us a call on the church office currently we're in our family series with pastor tim we are so excited about how god is moving us as a family here at gracelife if you would go find us on facebook and share what has impacted you personally through this series it's another great day to be here at grace life it's time to worship so would you stand with us as we get ready to sing good morning grace i have come on we're so excited you're here whether you're in person or joining us online today's a good day to praise the lord amen come on psalms 18 it talks about how god has delivered his people how he's provided i'm sure in your life you can think back of when god has done amazing things right we can look back at our life and we can say god i saw you come through there i saw you provide here and most important we've seen god provide grace and mercy redemption at the cross right we can look back and say god we are so thankful and the psalmist says this in chapter 18 verse 49 it says for this because of all that because of how he's provided because of how he has delivered us it is for this oh lord i will praise you among the nations i will sing praises to your name you give great victories and you show unfailing love amen so come on let's worship to the lord today and let's respond to him for all the things in our lives that he's done amen so come on sing yes i will lift you high in the lowest valley yes i will bless your name come on if he's [Music] yes i will i count on one the same god that never fails will not fail me now you won't fail me same god that's never laid is working all things out you're working all things out oh yes i will lift [Music] [Music] when my heart is heavy [Music] [Music] [Music] things [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] everybody m i choose [Music] yes [Music] is [Music] come on isn't it good to just declare that we're going to leave a legacy of praising the lord amen don't you guys go and be seated today we get to celebrate a wonderful legacy of someone serving in our church for the past 20 years can you believe that amen so would you guys turn your attention to the screen we got a special thing going on well hello everybody i'm up here in our children's room where a lot of our best ministry takes place here at grace life and of all the things we're celebrating this morning one of the great things we're celebrating is pastor dave's 20th anniversary let's everybody thank the lord for pastor dave for 20 years now for all of you that are watching downstairs we can see you a little bit and we saw you just a moment ago when you were clapping but because this is where the heart and soul of pastor dave's ministry takes place right up here with our children we decided this would be one of the best ways we could celebrate the goodness of god through pastor dave's ministry with us so pastor dave you're around here somewhere come up here and join me there we go there is pastor dave you gotta look right in there yeah there we go so we have some things that we want to give for pastor dave and his family angela and the kids we have a monetary gift that we're giving him today along with a number of notes that many of you in the church family have written just as a way to say thank you and to be a blessing to pastor dave and his family so one more time let's thank the lord for his goodness past today thank you guys so much it's such a great privilege to be able to serve here at grace life alongside you guys love you guys thank you so much amen hey let's stop and pray real quick can we do that let's pray together god we thank you for your loving grace and all the many wonderful things you've done for us in saving us and calling us and lord in putting us here together at grace life for such a time as this thank you for pastor dave and his family thank you for all the many boys and girls who've come to know christ as their master and savior these 20 years and lord thank you for the ones who've been discipled that they might grow to love jesus even more and we pray that this would be a special day for the widgeon family and lord as we show them our love that you would show them and remind them of your great love in jesus name we pray oh amen on let's stand let's continue to worship let's just thank the lord for all that he's doing here at grace life in our lives [Music] [Music] everything found in your hands [Music] jesus [Music] unlock these chains [Music] we give you the highest praise [Music] [Music] [Music] the father had is [Music] jesus [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] my heart cries out to you [Music] me foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] oh two [Music] yes [Music] unworthy [Music] i [Music] [Music] how is thou art sings my soul my savior how great though [Music] can [Music] my [Music] [Music] [Music] my savior [Music] how great [Music] when christ shall come [Music] [Music] then i shall [Music] my god [Music] god [Music] oh [Music] [Music] is [Music] how crazy [Music] [Music] what a blessing i hope your soul has been looking forward to singing this week with your church family i'm thankful that god ordained uh that we would get together at least once a week on the first day of the week and celebrate who he is and what he's done be seated thank you for being here this morning especially those of you who are guests today we welcome you in the name of the lord jesus and it's our prayer that you'll feel right at home worshiping together with us today here at grace life i hope you paid attention to the announcement slides as you came in the marriage conference is going to be a lot of fun an exciting evening here at grace life next saturday night but you need to get registered by tomorrow and you can find the link on the website to do that or if you need help just call the church office uh it's 20 per person i think dinner will be provided but if you can't afford it please don't stay away call us and let us know that you can't afford it and we have somebody who'll be happy to scholarship you and help you and your wife uh our fiancee be here if you're married you ought to be here if you're thinking about getting married you ought to be here if you're engaged it'd be a great opportunity for you to come together with other grace lifers and laugh a little bit and have fun and be encouraged about your marriage also next sunday is our guest reception if you've been visiting for a while please make plans to attend that it's right after this service out in the picnic pavilion and our staff's looking forward to meeting you answering some questions and just hanging out a little bit we'll have some finger foods for you a little food and fellowship and we won't keep you very long we promise and then the following sunday i think that's october 3rd we start a brand new series of discover grace life uh pastor sean will be leading that that's kind of a four week journey about all things grace life we like to say so you'll hear about who we are as a church our history background doctrine how things work uh if you're thinking about joining uh you really ought to plug in if you're a brand new member and haven't been through discover grace life that would be a big help to you and that begins sunday october 3rd now you don't always get to see what goes on behind the scenes but you got a little glimpse of that today up in the children's department that happens every sunday at both hours up there and back behind you in the preschool area and in life groups a lot of things going on that you don't see but that are happening so that we can help people uh know jesus and know him better and invest ourselves in the lives of boys and girls and preschoolers and because you give week by week that's what make that makes that possible so thank you for being faithful to the lord uh in your giving in these days let's pray together i'm going to kneel and if you'd like to kneel there at your seats you may kneel with me otherwise just stay seated but please pray with me as i pray god what a blessing to be in your presence today to give you our praise and honor and lord thank you that we get to celebrate pastor dave and his family and the grace that you've given them to serve here these years lord thank you for letting us have an impact in the lives of kids and preschoolers and adults and senior adults uh here and around the world and thank you for the opportunity to give back to you something that you've already given to us and i pray that we would do that faithfully gladly cheerfully and obediently as we celebrate your goodness and grace and our salvation through jesus christ our master and our savior in whose name we pray amen [Music] [Music] most family problems can be solved through frank and friendly discussion which points the way to a happy family life you know this is beginning to be quite a family project it certainly is [Music] well i love that little funny look at family life before every sermon kind of gets you in the right mood doesn't it sure open your bibles to ephesians chapter five this morning we're talking about vintage values in the modern age and we're taking time to take god's word and raise it up as a standard in our lives and in our hearts and our relationships talking about family life early on i think in sermon number one we looked in the passage in deuteronomy talking about building homes that last and homes that go the distance and and we looked at bible blueprints and fortified foundations and concrete commitments and if you haven't heard every message it help you to go back and listen to those because they all kind of build each one on the other and then the next week last week we looked in genesis chapter one through three we called it the family job description god's purpose and satan's perversion for our families now today we're going to look specifically at marriage this great passage in ephesians chapter 5 we'll look at it a little bit by the way ephesians 5 and ephesians 6 there are great passages in the new testament that talk to husbands wives kids parents i mean there's literally something something there for everyone i picked up an article from u.s news and came out just a few months ago and basically the headline was this marriage in america is in big trouble i think a lot of us have known that for a while what they were basing that story on are several things but number one the marriage rates in america that have been consistently falling for the last 150 years that is the number of people per 1000 that actually get married and that number is all of a sudden at a 150 year low the number of married adults between the ages of 18 and 34 has now dropped from 59 to 29 now we've known for a long time that that people aren't getting married as young as they once did in fact back in the 60s the average age was about 21 and and 20 for girls and boys to get married and now that's up to like 31 and 29 so we've known for a long time that young men and young women aren't getting married is early and some of them are not wanting to get married at all and so the marriage as an institution as god intended it really is in trouble in our culture and our culture does not place the high view of marriage that we should as believers and christ followers um i'm reminded of a pastor who once got together with a bunch of fourth graders and he was talking to them about marriage and he said to the group of fourth graders do any of you know anything that god says in the bible about marriage well some of them made some suggestions obviously the things they thought that god said about marriage but the best one came from a little kid in the back who lifted his hand said said preacher i know one thing that god says about marriage well what he says father forgive them for they know not what they do well you know maybe some of us maybe some of you feel that way about marriage somebody said this married life can be very frustrating in the first year of marriage the man speaks and the woman listens in the second year the woman speaks and the man listens in the third year they both speak and the neighbors listen uh maybe that's true in your life i don't know i i heard about one fellow said this to his wife one day i don't think he's very smart but anyway here's what he said he said baby i just can't understand how god could have made you so beautiful and at the same time made you so dumb well she looked at him and she said i know exactly why god did that god made me beautiful so you would marry me and he made me dumb so i would marry you i'd never say that to my wife nothing like that hey today we're talking about marriage the match made in heaven the match made in heaven look contrary to what our culture is saying let me tell you something marriage is still a good idea i think it's a wonderful idea by the way and uh i like saying that a lot better in this service than i did in the last service because my wife wasn't here at the last service but she's here for this one usually she's here for both but uh you know it's good to have your wife and kids present when you talk about the family it gives you a little greater level of accountability doesn't it and i like that i mean i'm thankful that i've been married for uh about 40 years now right plus i think yeah the match made in heaven look with me here in ephesians chapter five i'm going to read several several uh verses 25-33 i think i'm going to skip a couple it says this paul writing the ephesian believers husbands love your wives just as christ loved the church and gave himself up for her in the same way husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies he who loves his wife loves himself after all no one ever hated his own body but feeds it and cares for it just as christ does the church for we are members of his body for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh this is a profound mystery but i'm talking about christ and the church however each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself and the wife must respect her husband first thing i want to talk about this morning is what i've called the power of a biblical marriage i know some of you thinking when i read that well you skipped a section didn't you pastor tim i mean there's there's a section in there about the wives that you skipped well i skipped that on purpose we'll get to that at some point uh in this series so those of you that may be worried about that don't worry about that i read this this section specifically for this point the power of a biblical marriage because there's one word used in this section that's used more than any other word did you recognize what it is l o v e love and that's the power of a biblical marriage god-like biblical love now i know many of you know this there are three greek words in the bible that are used for love actually four greek words but not all of them are actually used in the bible one of them is called storge not in the scripture which means a family type of type of love like between mother and son or our brother and sister one of the words that's used in the bible in translated love is the word phileo that may be familiar to you it's where we get the the word philadelphia brotherly love the city of brotherly love and that's what phileo is brotherly love and then there's the word eros it's where we get the english word erotic which means a sensual or sexual type of love and sometimes described as a a selfish type of love a love that gives in order to get well it's certainly not storge or fellaio or eros that's this word for love this word is the word agape that many of you know and that's the word that's most often used for god's love it is a self-giving love it is a self-sacrificing love it's a love that just gives it's a love that seeks the best in the person being loved and so agape is a god-like quality of love that always responds in self-sacrifice in in service that's the word that's used here in ephesians five that's that that's agape and so paul paints here very beautiful picture of agape love in the relationship that christ has for his church and the way his church responds to him and that's to be the model for love in a biblical godly marriage but then that great passage in first corinthians 13 that really gives us how this kind of love this god-like love this christ and the church love how this love behaves both outwardly and inwardly and so paul says this a lot of times we use this passage in weddings you may have used it in in your wedding first corinthians 13 verse 4 love is patient love is patient were you patient with your husband or wife and kids this morning as you got ready and and were late for church were you patient pastor just read the verse don't ask questions love is patient love is kind it does not envy it does not boast it is not proud it is not rude have you been rude at all pastor read the verse don't ask questions it's not rude it's not self-seeking it's not easily angered it keeps no record of wrongs love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth it always protects always trusts always hopes always perseveres and you know the next part says love never fails well that's a great understanding that's a great description of biblical love the love that is the power of every christ honoring marriage on the face of the earth ephesians 5 and 1st corinthians 13. now let me take some time this morning to dispel what i think are some misunderstandings about love especially about genuine love and so let me say four things or make four statements number one our most complete understanding of genuine love comes from the bible comes from god's word our best understanding of what real love is really like this is where we we get that understanding no greater source to comprehend or understand or talk about genuine biblical love than god's word now i've been performing weddings for couples for 40 plus years in in the ministry um and and most all the time the only couples i will marry are couples who know the lord and who are walking with the lord because that's my goal in performing not just to perform a ceremony but help somebody have a biblical christ honoring marriage and so uh all the couples that i counsel are they're believers and and they love the lord that's their profession and typically early on in the session i'll i'll ask them this question where did you get your understanding of what true love is how did you as a as an individual as a young man or young lady how how did how do you how did you come what things influenced you about real love is and 90 of the time here's what they say music movies television and books those are the top four once in a while they may talk about their parents occasionally somebody might say well from the scripture but most of the time 90 of the time that's what they say that's evidence clear evidence of how our culture is influencing even young believers most of the time here's here's how i came to understand what genuine love is from what i read what i saw on tv music i listened to or what i watched in the movies friend you can you can be certain today the culture is influencing you no matter who you are all right you can be certain that the culture is playing a role in influencing your mind and your heart and your life but let me tell you something about the scripture all right the world's greatest love story is not found in sleepless in seattle all right not found in you've got mail not found in the titanic not even found in the way we were and it has nothing absolutely nothing to do with when harry met sally right it's all right here throughout the pages of the scripture where we find god the most loving person there is god wooing and nurturing drawing and seeking and loving those that he wants to draw into close fellowship with himself through a relationship with christ all summed up through the prophet jeremiah when talking to the lord said you have loved us with an everlasting love and god's saying it's that kind of love that i drew you to myself with with cords see that's god-like love that's true biblical love that's what love is and what love does all right here in god's word and so ephesians 5 gives us a great description of the ways that christ shows his love for his bride and becomes a perfect pattern for love in the context of marriage in first corinthians 13 show us shows us specifically how love acts both internally and externally our most complete understanding of genuine love comes from the bible number two love is an art to be learned and a disciplined to be maintained an art to be learned and a discipline to be maintained now the culture wants to tell us that love is just a simple thing just a simple thing well friend love is not a simple thing and if i'm going to learn the art of love it's something i have to i have to pour a part of my life into to learn how to love it's not easy to love like the culture tells us it requires great effort it requires great thought and if you're going to master the art of loving well you have to commit yourself to be a lifelong learner and to pour some time and energy in the loving well i heard a fella say one time he said since i've been married i've fallen in love hundreds of times and every time with the same woman that's someone who understood that love is an art to be learned and a discipline to maintain number three love is a power that i control by my own will now i can tell you truly that's not what our culture thinks our culture thinks that somehow you become some kind of helpless slave of love friend let me tell you what the bible teaches you choose to love you choose to love and the propaganda of our culture tells us that that love is some uncontrollable feeling that comes and goes like heartburn or like a wayward butterfly you just never know when it's going to land but that's not what love is according to the scripture all the movies and television shows and all of that the music will you know tell us that that you know love is just a feeling that happens i can't help falling in love like you're walking around you just fall in a manhole well that's not it at all the truth is that love biblical love is a great power that we were meant to control by our own choices if james brown were still alive you could go find him and tell him that he was wrong he is not a prisoner of love if you're a believer and you're a follower of jesus you have the love of christ shed abroad in your hearts as i do and you may because of that intelligently make the choice to love love is a power that i control by my own will here's number four love multiplies itself as we learn to give it rather than work to attract it as we learn to get that's how you make love multiply you learn to give it rather than work to attract it now our culture teaches us in all of its advertising and all the social media posts that we must learn how to be lovable in order to be loved i i hope you've seen in the news lately i mean this is finally making it into mainstream media all the problems that instagram and facebook and social media have calls for our children because that's when the primary things that they teach them in order to be loved you have to make yourself lovable in order to be desired you have to make yourself desirable and so you'll be more lovable if you choose to follow the right people if you choose the right toothpaste or the right haircut or the right perfume or the right store from which you buy your clothes or the right shampoo the right diet or the right car right deodorant whatever but that's not what god's word teaches god's word teaches that the secret of being lovable the secret of being desirable to your marriage partner if you're married you need to listen to this real close the secret to being desirable to your partner is by learning to show love rather than working to attract love now that's a powerful secret but not really a secret because it's all through the scripture you want to multiply love what you do is show love rather than working hard to attract love and so that's that's the power of a biblical marriage genuine god-like agape love that's demonstrated to us very clearly in the scripture and that's the power behind every biblical christ exalting god honoring marriage number two what i want to call the purposes of the biblical marriage the purposes of a biblical marriage let's go back to genesis chapter 2. this is the account of creation we touched on this a little bit last week but we didn't get to read all of it but in genesis chapter 2 as god is is making his creation and he's made man and he's put him in the garden it reads like this the lord god said it is not good for the man to be alone this is a hugely significant verse here 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 beasts of the field and all the birds of the air and he brought them to the man to see what he would name them and whatever the man called each living creature that was his name so the man gave names to all the livestock the birds and all the beasts of the field but for adam no suitable helper was found so the lord god caused the man to fall into a deep sleep and while he was sleeping he took one of the man's ribs and he closed up the place with flesh and then the lord god made a woman from the arabia taken out of the man and he brought her to the man and the man said this is now boneth my bones and flesh with my flesh she shall be called woman for she was taken out of man now that's our english pronunciation but people you know scholars who know a lot about the original language say what happened was here adam saw what god had made in his his his word his two words were whoa man she shall be called woman for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and they shall be one flesh now let me give you three purposes for marriage and there could be five and sometimes when i've done this there's been five but these are the most important ones and for the sake of time we're just going to do three number one companionship god's purpose of marriage is companionship now in all of god's creation there's only one thing that god said was not good everything else god said it was good but when he saw adam's aloneness he said this is not good why because god made us for relationships all of us for companionship whether you're married or not and it's not god's plan that everybody be married i get that it's not god's will that everybody have a husband or wife but it is god's will that we function in relationships and it's got whether you're introvert or extrovert we function best in relationships and so that's why god knew that adam needed someone for companionship and so god made the animals now by the way god knew what he was doing god had a purpose and plan in all of this and god wanted adam to see eve for what she really was and so he didn't make eve first he made all the animals that he was going to make and he paraded them by adam one by one so that adam would give a name and god adam gave gave a name and god was exercising adam intellectually and emotionally and spiritually so that adam would get it when it finally happened and so those animals came by and and god god brought an animal by and adam said i'm gonna call that a hippo but that's not the one and god brought an animal by and adam said i'm i'm gonna call that a skunk but that's not the one and god brought an animal by and adam said well i'm going to call that a giraffe and i don't know how i'd ever kiss it that's not the one and god in his mercy and love and grace and sovereignty and provision put adam to sleep and the bible says he he took a rib and and he made out of that rib a woman see adam slept and god made a specifically designed companion and so ladies and gentlemen let me say this look you ought to enjoy the presence of your spouse more than anyone else because that's god's specifically designed companion for you and for you to achieve oneness of body and soul and spirit and true companionship i i know not everyone can say this but i'm telling you today you ought to get yourself on the road to saying this all right i mean if we'd be honest i know they're marriages and not everybody can say this but if you can't say this you ought to be on on the road to being able to say this and that's this my husband or my wife is truly my best friend my best friend because that was god's design for us to have a companion men and women where there would be oneness of body soul and spirit but not only companionship cooperation cooperation god saw that it was not good for man to be alone and so he didn't want him to be alone and so he created what the scripture calls a a helper now i'm telling you our culture does not like this word and our culture looks at things like that and says you know the bible doesn't have a very high view of women well look nothing could be farther than the truth he created a helper the word is easier or as there as some people say it's used many times throughout the old testament to describe god god's our refuge and strength the very present help in times of trouble and so that word's used to the bible describe who god is to his people the same idea of who the holy spirit is we talked about that a few weeks ago as our paraclete one called alongside to help us it's not a verb it's a noun god made someone to help adam maximize his potential god made someone with whom adam would be able to achieve far more as a partner and so men and women are better or worse because of their spouses you've heard it said before behind every good man is a better woman well that's biblical that's true every husband ought to be a better husband because he has a wife and every wife ought to be a better wife because she has a husband marriage is a a team effort and there must be cooperation that's what god intended that's a part of his purpose companionship cooperation number three completion completion god saw that it was not good for man to be alone god made a helper and the next word is suitable for him so the king james word is help meat and it puts those two words together a help meet for him that's what that means that's where we get the word help meet all right a helper okay not hamburger helper a helper we've already gone over that a helper suitable for him a helper fit just for him eve completed what was lacking in adam eve became the solution to all of adam's deficiencies eve became the one who would fill up the empty places in the life of adam so that they together fulfill god's purpose and bring wholeness and so only when a husband and wife learn to complement one another that's where we get that idea of complementarianism people use that in theological circles only as a husband and wife learn how to complement one another are they going to reach their greatest potential as god intended now why why did god do that with a rib why a rib i mean he made adam from the dust couldn't he have made eve from the dust absolutely i mean could he could have made her from a dead tree branch or a dead possum i mean it was god doing this he could have chosen anything he wanted but he picked a rib to symbolize that something absolutely necessary was missing from adam's life until god returned it in the form of a woman that's why matthew henry once wrote and you've heard this at weddings i say this at weddings she was not taken from his head to rule over him or from his feet to be trampled on by him but by from his side to be equal with him from under his arm to be protected by him and from near his heart to be loved by him a helper suitable for him god made something different he made a woman so that he might take this woman and this man and make them one together as peter says heirs of the grace of life and so there's the power of a biblical marriage the purposes of a biblical marriage number three the partnership of a biblical marriage the partnership of a biblical marriage it says this in genesis 2 it also says in ephesians 5 verse 31 where paul said so that the two male and female the two man and woman will become one flesh now there's a powerful picture just in that and that analogy so that the two will become one flesh the two together will become one and then the gospel is wonderfully wrapped up just in that phrase and the picture of a gospel marriage that that where we're united spiritually and emotionally and intellectually and physically and sexually the two become one flesh in partnership two that are distinctively different god made us different that he might make us one now our culture doesn't like that and our culture wants to tell us that all the differences are due to cult to culture and education and nothing else but look we are different by divine design there are obvious differences i mean we're different physically anatomically we're different sexually psychologically emotionally and spiritually every cell has a different chromosomal pattern one that is unique to men and men only and one that is unique to women and women only hey that's the science by the way by divine design now there are obviously obvious physical differences we won't go into those but you know what they were you know what they are some not so obvious physical differences by the way men have a third finger that's longer than their first finger and women have a first finger that's longer than their third finger if you don't believe it look at it there it is most of the time there there could be a few oddballs in the bunch but that's most of the time the way it is you see that's the science we are different by divine design men uh their brains work most mostly from the right side that's why they're more manual women their brains work primarily from the left side that's why they're more verbal that's why boys are more aggressive than little girls that's the science that's by divine design it doesn't mean that one is inferior to the other just means they're different that's the way god made them listen this thing about the bible says women are inferior that's that's just a load of no good stuff when you hear that listen my wife is infinitely superior than i am in a number of things i mean a number of things you know what the main one is she is infinitely superior to me in being a woman that's right and i can tell you i'm thankful for it my goodness god made men to be provider that because of the differences their roles are different men are providers women are nurturers that's why god put men in the garden and let women have children men are more geared towards success that's one of their basic needs women one of their basic needs is security that's why he finds his worth in his job and accomplishments ladies that's not a bad thing sometimes you think he puts work first that's the way god made him that's why you find significance and security in relationships that's by divine design men were made to be leaders and women to be enhancers he's to protect the home and that's why god had held adam by the way accountable for eve's sin she's the enhancer she cares about the details of the home and the details of the kids look i can tell you this through 40 years of marriage and five kids most of the time when i took my kids out of the house i didn't care what they had on i mean i didn't and i didn't care what their hair looked like um you know she cares more about those things than i do i don't care what picture's hanging in the den or for the most part what color the den is but she cares a lot about that okay most of the time when i go out of the house i don't even care what i have on but she cares about that and so she does she won't let me go out sometimes uh mismatched or she might say you know honey put a hat in your sunglasses on you may run into somebody from the church and you need to hope nobody recognizes you wearing that i mean that's the truth it doesn't mean one of us is inferior or superior that's the way god made us that's divine design and why did god do that to put us together in this partnership that he might make us one i heard about an old couple one day elderly couple a retirement age and after dinner they lived out in the country they went out on the front porch and sat down their rocking chairs and they were just enjoying the evening and the sunset and sitting there rocking holding hands they weren't saying much to each other and as they sat there down in the valley there was a church and and the windows were up and obviously the choir was practicing getting ready for sunday and the lady was sitting there listening to that music and it made her happy and she was thinking about church and while she was sitting there listening to the choir he could hear the crickets chirping under the porch and as he was listening to those crickets he was he was thinking about going fishing they were sitting there holding hands and she smiled and she said honey that sure is beautiful isn't it he smiled and looked back and he said boy it sure is she looked at him a few minutes later and squeezed his hand and she said honey i could just listen to that all night he squeezed her hand and smiled and he said you know baby i could too i sat there another minute rocked along she squeezed his hand she smiled she said honey i could just listen to that music forever it's the most beautiful music i've ever heard he squeezed her hand said you know baby that's right and you know they make that sound by rubbing their hind legs together listen why did god make us different we're so different why did god make us different so that he might make us one there's the power of a biblical marriage and the purposes of a biblical marriage and number three the partnership of a biblical marriage and number four what i want to call the proof of a biblical marriage the proof of a biblical marriage i mean how do i know that my marriage is genuine that it's godly that it's christ honoring you remember we talked about from genesis 1 when we talked about purpose of the family what it meant that god made us in his image he made us in his image so that as people and as family families we could put his glory on display we could we could show others what god looks like well he takes that a step farther in ephesians chapter five doesn't he he says this this relationship marriage between one man and one woman for life this relationship is the only earthly illustration of the relationship jesus has with his bride the church this is how people know who jesus is this is how people know how jesus loves his bride how jesus loves his church does it illustrate jesus is it a living letter of the truth of god's word in ephesians chapter five somebody says well preacher we got married in church that ought to be enough we got married in church yeah guess what you're going to get buried in church and you still may bust tail wide open actually getting married in church doesn't solve the problem the question that i need to ask and you need to ask and we all need to ask is is my relationship to my husband or wife through our mutual daily submission and sacrifice pointing others to jesus that's the proof it was william lyon phelps who said this the highest happiness on earth is in marriage every man who is happily married is a successful man even if he has failed at everything else well i would say yes and every woman is a successful woman if she's happily married even if she's failed at everything else somebody once said this a perfect marriage is nothing more than two imperfect people who refuse to give up on each other isn't that good two imperfect people who refuse to give up on each other why is that so good because that's who god is that's how god relates to us to you and me as his children he he refuses to give up on us no matter what we've done no matter when we stray no matter how bad we mess things up no matter you know how much we think we disappoint him god's love never gives up he's loved he loves with an everlasting love and it's that love that draws us that woozes us that binds us to him and so you know this side of heaven i'm never going to not be imperfect and you're never not going to be imperfect and your husband or your wife is never going to not be imperfect the person you marry is never going to not be imperfect they're always going to be imperfect but you can have a perfect marriage a biblical marriage a godly marriage a match made in heaven if you'll never ever give up on the one god gave you bow your heads with me if you would close your eyes i'm gonna well don't close your eyes yet pastor sean come up here keep your eyes open some of you hadn't gotten to welcome pastor sean back to church would you do that amen isn't that a blessing amen oh my goodness we're so glad that he's back um and i want you to pray for us and pray for our marriages and families and you can say a word if you want to you don't have to just pray okay uh but what a blessing that uh the lord raised up our brother and healed him from covid and uh we're so thankful he's back and he's he's gonna lead lead our benediction you can say something first yeah was actually amen last sunday in the early service and um but that is just i appreciate your prayers for the lord's graciousness amen and the lord is gracious in all things in both the big and the small it is amazing to think that uh not only in marriage but in every aspect of our life that god does have a design and purpose for us and so each one of us is here this morning for a purpose and uh for some of us it may be to continue just to grow on our walk with the lord to grow deeper in our understanding of who he is and the love that he has for us and what he's done for us for some of us this morning maybe you're sitting here and you don't have that relationship with god because you've never repented of your sins and turned your life over to christ but today's the perfect day to do that because god has brought you here with a purpose and and christ has died for you in god's perfect design and his divine design while we couldn't save ourselves he had a plan to save us and that was through his son jesus that he would take upon himself the wrath of god to take along the take upon himself the penalty for our sin that uh through christ jesus that we might be restored into a right relationship with the father and so as i pray this morning if that's that's where you're at then i just encourage you to seek out myself or pastor justin or one of the other pastors here today just allow us to talk with you about that share with you more about the love that god has for you but if you would bow with me as we pray heavenly father we do thank you for this day lord we thank you for the opportunity to gather together in your presence and to to worship you and to study your word and we do thank you for uh the divine design that you have for marriage and lord that you have given us guidance on how to have healthy god-honoring marriages that reflect the relationship between christ and his church between christ and us and so father we thank you that not only is there design in that but in every aspect of our lives lord and all of creation and so father we uh we do commit our our marriages to you while we commit our our lives to you lord that in all that we do in our marriage relationships and our work relationships and friendships and just the the many different uh circles of influence that you have put into our lives lord that we would honor you in the way in which we the way in which we live and father if there are some here today who have never come to a point of confessing their sins and embracing christ as their savior and lord i pray today would be the day of their salvation lord and the father that they would commit themselves to you and they would seek to start that relationship lord that the rest of their life they might honor you in the way that they live but father we just give you the praise and the glory this morning because you are the only one deserving of it amen thank you for being here this morning we are tearing down chairs uh this morning so if you can stick around and help us stack chairs we would greatly appreciate that just uh six to a stack and we're going to stack them too deep on this side and single stack over on this side i think all right thank you [Music] you

Channel: GraceLife Television

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Length: 78min 42sec (4722 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2021