You Asked for It: Can God Fix my Marriage?

every weekend thousands of people get together and they get together on a weekend put on their fancy clothes they spend lots of money they stand before a preacher or a priest or a judge and they they make a promise to one another afterwards they decide to eat some cake they go on a trip and but when the trip ends they are now left with the hard work of building a life together back at home and many times what seems to feel like a fairy tale dream can digress into what we call a nightmare why is that you see I believe every marriage can experience a meltdown a marriage meltdown you see the harmony and the happiness that begin and and then you start off that new life together with they can turn into hostility as you begin to pick at each other's faults and shortcomings and the things that you don't like about one another and that hostility eventually can yield itself to what we call apathy which in other words you just say I don't really care now what happens because I'm not finding a whole lot of joy in this relationship and who I thought was mr. right has turned out to be completely mr. wrong I'm reminded of the man who actually thought that he married Miss right he said I know I've married Miss right I just didn't know her first name was always I just I didn't know that that's the way that it was supposed to work out and then I reminded of the woman who said I never knew what real happiness was until I got married and about that point it was too late so I mean there's these things in married this thing called marriage it doesn't necessarily always turn out the way that we want and we can feel about our marriage in ways that isn't Minnis isn't bringing me happiness this isn't bringing me the love I'm not experiencing that romance that we used to experience maybe you're hearing you're asking yourself the question can God fix my marriage because you feel as though that you're on the verge of a total failure and you're on the verge of walking away and experiencing a painful divorce maybe you're here this morning and your marriage is doing pretty good but you want to know some some things that'll strengthen you and no matter what category you're in this morning maybe you're single maybe you've experienced the pain of a divorce I don't want to come to you today with a whole lot of thoughts that are just you know made to make you feel bad about decisions you've made or mistakes that you've made I believe that we sometimes we can't go back into our past so today's intention is for us to look into the future so we can have the blessing that God wants for us to experience if we'll apply his principles to our hearts so I want everybody to feel that in your heart as we get into today's message because I want to share a message with you about how God can bring your marriage back to a place of happiness and harmony how many of you are ready to learn how to experience a relationship like that this morning amen let's look at the scriptures where we'll find the answers Malachi chapter number two if you'd like to follow along on the screens please do so you also have a handout I'd encourage you to use or the YouVersion Bible app you can search live events and you'll find it right there Malachi chapter 2 and verse 15 this is the message paraphrased version and it says God not you made marriage his spirit inhabits even the smallest details of marriage God wants to help our marriages succeed after all God made marriage and he kind of has an understanding of how everything is supposed to work it was his idea all along you see there's many in our culture today that would say that marriage is simply a legal contract and it is a legal contract I don't want to make light of that at all but at the same time it's so much more than just a legal contract it is a spiritual contract between one man one woman and Almighty God coming together to make it happen in Matthew chapter 19 Jesus spent a lot of time talking about marriage talking about divorce talking about a lot of things because people had questions about this at his time as they do still today and verse 4 this is what Jesus said haven't you read in your Bible that the Creator originally made man and woman for each other male and female and because of this a man leaves his father and his mother and is firmly bonded to his wife becoming one flesh no longer two bodies but one because God created this organic union of this two sexes no one should desecrate his art by cutting them apart you see here in this scripture that God brings two people from two different backgrounds two different personalities two different experiences in life and he brings them together and something awesome happens the Apostle Paul calls it in Ephesians 5 he describes it as a mystery something happens that these two people come together and they're no longer two now they become one in the eyes of God and God calls this beautiful union he calls it a work of art and he says y'all not desecrated now just think of some of the most beautiful pieces of art in the world today what would happen if someone got the Mona Lisa and a spray you know got some spray paint maybe a razor blade and just went after it one day and somehow got to it could you imagine the outrage that you would see on on the news and newspapers and online I can't believe it the Mona Lisa has been desecrated can you believe it the world would cry out in outrage over a piece of art and undoubtedly beautiful but still a piece of art you're saying Josh what does it have to do with me in my marriage well every single day this beautiful work of art that God created called marriage is being desecrated all over America all over the world and many times this desecration and damage that's done to these relationships is not always done by an outside party but many times it's done by our own hand and we begin to do things maybe intentionally many times unintentionally that are desecrating what God wants to bring forth in our marriage relationship because we don't understand why and how this relationship is designed to work so in order to fix what's been broken in order to go back and to begin to repair the damage that has been done in the relationship we have to understand why these relationships get to the point of pain that they find themselves in and I want to give you five reasons this morning why marriages begin to suffer and that they're in pain and they need a loving God to come in and help fix and repair number one the first thing that'll really cause us to to not experience the blessing of God in our relationship is what we call unrealistic expectations and I believe it's absolutely insane what people expect from their marriage partner nowadays it's almost unbelievable no more sadness no more unfulfilled dreams for me because the person that I'm marrying is going to make me happy and I'm going to be happy every single day of my life all the dreams of my heart are coming true and there are no more problems inside oh that's funny isn't it you married people think that's really funny you know what I'm saying Hollywood sets us up for this many times there's the young damsel and she's there all alone lonely and here comes this man with nothing on but a loincloth riding a white stallion oh you know he's got six-pack abs and he ride rides up to her home and he puts her on the back of his horse and he rides off into the sunset and we think that's how our relationships going to work first of all if anybody comes up wearing their underwear riding a horse and takes you on the back of their horse it's time to call the police can you say man I mean something bad is about to happen to you you don't want that you know so and then you've got the whole dating scene that's totally been skewed you got the farmersonly.com commercials you don't have to be lonely at how it is the weirdest commercial people actually call that number and get onto that website Wow the dating scene is full of butterflies it's full of goose bumps and it's full of total creeps out there I'm telling you just the way it is it's dangerous out there many of you that are single today you know exactly what I'm talking about but when you're dating you do things that you would never do any at any other time in your life I mean guys we think about it the things that we do when we're dating I mean we'll go out and we'll buy and spend 60 70 80 hundred dollars on flowers on flowers we'll go buy new clothes I mean we'll even go as far as to ask the girl if she would like to watch a chick flick like The Notebook I mean think about that what decent man would ever suggest such a thing watching the notebook can I get a good amen fellas this more time a come on the things that we do then there's the TV shows the magazines everything that talks about this this wonderful wedding and then thousands of dollars get spent on this one event that lasts for just a couple of hours and fellas remember when you're getting married there's only one star to that show and it's the bride and everyone else everyone else they're just a they're just an extra the co-star of the show is the bride's mother and just know that all right I mean there is no you're just there to make it work all right you really have no other purpose other than to just show up all right so all the married men know what I'm talking about today but on that day this beautiful bride is pampered she's dolled up she's she's treated just having her skin fix just ride her nails and she's put like in seclusion for days you know and you don't see her but you just kind of hear these rumors that she's nervous and she's excited and all this stuff's coming up but they don't tell you this but I'm here to tell you that it's true fellas is that she'll never look as good as she does on the day of your wedding all right I mean that's the best that it's ever going to get why are y'all not laughing this my eyes I guess that's it you've reached the pinnacle and then there's the poor bridesmaids the ridiculous dresses that they're asked to wear have you ever noticed that they wouldn't wear those dresses at any other time but in a wedding all of that's designed to make them look bad so the bride can look even better y'all know what I'm saying like let's make them look ridiculous so I can look even better you guys know I'm having some fun and then you go on a honeymoon to a place that you really can't afford in the first place but thank God for credit cards and you know you come back and then fast forward six months and you're sitting on the couch on a Saturday morning and you look over adding ladies and he's got stubble on his face not to mention the stubble on your legs and you know under your arms and now you've got kind of morning breath working and you've kind of got some weird odors bodily odors that are kind of in that room and you just kind of look at each other and you're thinking to yourself what's going on how did I get here what am I supposed to do with the rest of my life such a big letdown right because when you went into it with these unrealistic expectations you thought everything was going to be perfect you thought everything was going to be right but then here come the problems here come the challenges here come the things that you never saw coming you never thought that this person that you said I do would actually have this many shortcomings and failures as a person and you're left there wonder what am I going to do next let me ask you a question for those of you that are married this morning what are some of the unrealistic expectations that you have of your spouse the person that you say that you love what are some of the things that that you had you know every guy in here thinks that he's marrying a sex goddess and a gourmet cook for some reason and then you're like hey but then he realizes that you don't like to sleep in lingerie matter of fact you never do that you were these flannel PJs you know these turtlenecks in the middle of the summertime and then you really she doesn't really even cook that good you know I mean she does it and the guy that you married he used to be in shape but now he's like he doesn't have a six-pack he's kind of got a case going on here y'all know what I'm saying it's like what are some of the unrealistic expectations that that you've had of your spouse so they really lead us to a place of pain if we don't watch that the second thing that's a misstep is that is the unaccepted differences I can't believe you're like that you think when you get married well I mean I can't I know this that opposites really do attract it's true God has wired us in some in such a way that we naturally look out to connect with people that are different than us that have strengths in areas of our weaknesses that that are different than us in every kind of way and many times this is what happens in a marriage and I think God does its we can bring balance to the force y'all know what I'm saying just as he just does that so he can so he can help us and to strengthen us and to compliment us in our areas of weakness so you're probably married to somebody that's your bold boldly your opposite one of you is super messy and the other one is a neat freak to the max one is carefree and how they approach life and the other and they're a planner I mean you can't even go on vacation without them having an agenda one is a firecracker in the bedroom and the other is just a dud I mean it's just kind of like you've got these different personalities and it's just the way that it is and I love doing premarital counseling and I go home after every single one of the those meetings with that new couple and I laughed and I took your chicken you believe what they think they think they have so much in common we have sue what you call me we really do it's like I'm just like no you don't you don't know him and you don't know her you have absolutely no idea what you're getting yourself into so I try to get them to a point where they disagree in the meetings I try to get them to fight in the meetings in front of me sometimes I'm successful at it you know and then I go to show and I tell them that hey the reason why I'm doing that is so that you can recognize that there's going to be conflict that comes about just because of your differences as people and you have to know how to appreciate the differences that you have in your spouse and here's one thing that I've learned because I you know I'm a married guy but I've learned that God's number one tool for sanctification in my life is my spouse because my spouse Cara reveals things in me that are imperfections and it gives God the opportunity to begin to strengthen weak areas of my personality in my life are you hot-tempered are you impatient are you naturally lazy or are you procrastinate guess what you'll marry somebody that I hope you figure all that out real quick but don't push against it you see marriage is like a furnace that reveals the impurities in our life you know if you take your gold ring ladies and you were to take it down to to a jeweler or someone that was really good at what they do and they begin to but get that that rings superhot you'd find out that it's not a hundred percent gold if there's probably fifty percent of it gold and another 50 percent are impurities and those impurities as it's heated and that's it's in that process they'll begin to come to the top and in our lives that's what marriage does it reveals things about us that really are impurities that God wants to help but it doesn't have to be a bad thing God wants to help and he and he uses our spouse to strengthen us you know Cara has made my life so much better so much richer so much more blessed this Wednesday we celebrate 15 years of marriage I mean 15 years and you should have seen her when I found her and the state that she was in I've blessed her - amen y'all know better than that but the greater listen the greater the difference is in your life I believe is the greater the potential for God to release his supernatural power through your Union together because God didn't bring you together for you just to be happy no God does everything with the kingdom mindset he brought you together so that he could expand the kingdom of God through the children that you have together so that he could use your life to be a light pushing back darkness in the community that you're in in a place that God has a higher purpose in mind for every marriage other than your happiness and happiness is a part of that but God wants you to appreciate the difference is the third thing that will cause us to not it's a misstep in marriage is unresolved issues unresolved issue you see every one of us that's married in here today or if you're single and you will be married one day if that's a desire in your heart you were raised a certain way and to you that is reality and to you that was something that's right and you know we did it this way when I was a kid and your spouse did it a different way you see life has a way of shaping us that's how it works so now you're coming into a relationship where both of you really have unresolved issues about your life I believe that families they set us up for success and they also set us up for failure because there's things in every single home that's a little bit dysfunctional how many of you believe that your family puts the fun in dysfunctional how many know what I'm saying but there's these things that we bring into the relationship that we think this is right but in reality it may just be our perception it may just be something that we think should be right but it may not be a right or wrong thing and and we try to force those values on our spouse and what's not fair is when we bring those unresolved issues of our childhood in our life into a relationship and ask our spouse to fix them you see that's what they're not wired to do you know one has the ability to do that and when you get married you'll start seeing things in your spouse and realizing man they've got some issues in their life that they need a challenge to change so I want to start a new Improvement Program and it's going to be entitled let's change you all right so we're going to put you on this program and you know what that's a big that's a big misstep when you try to change your spouse when you try to put them on this program to make them into who you think that they ought to be you see marriage doesn't create problems gang marriage does not create problems it only reveals the problems that were already there you brought those into those that relationship and the reason why you're single and you don't think anything is the problem is there's no one there to have to put up with you I'm you know what I'm saying I mean but once you get married now someone looks at your like menu or whack what are you doing I mean that is just no logic in what you're doing why do you treat money that way why do you treat people like that why do you talk to me that way and when they're think well this is the way that I was raised this is what I saw happen time in time again but what would happen if we begin to approach the problems in our marriage with this thought in mind this marriage problem begins with me and we begin to look inwardly and start saying you know what it's probably my it could be my selfishness that that's the problem and it takes you out of the you vs. me game and it starts putting the focus on where it needs to be the fourth misstep that we can experience at times is our Unforgiven mistakes Unforgiven mistakes you know why we hurt one another in marriage because we're imperfect flawed people that's in need of God's grace and God's love in our own lives and many times we hurt our spouse and we may not even mean to do it but you know it just happens and now there's this pain that's there and how are we going to get through it I believe that forgiveness is an essential habit for every successful marriage that's why if you're going to have a successful thriving marriage you're going to have to learn how to forgive and you're going to have to learn how to do it every single day just look at the people that have been married 50 years 60 years and they'll tell you the same thing that the secret was learning how to forgive and if you have a habit of bringing up the past against your spouse you are killing your marriage you are bringing it up if they've asked for forgiveness and they're at a point where they saying I'm asking you to forgive me listen reconciliation can only happen when there's true repentance and when you have true repentance then you can learn to move on it doesn't mean you have to trust overnight completely but it mean that I'm saying I'm willing to go down this journey of reconciliation with you because I want to forgive you I want to move forward I'm reminded of the quote that says to forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that that prisoner was you you know when we don't forgive others it's really we're putting ourselves in a box we're putting ourselves in a jail cell if you will reliving the pain over and over again but I'm reminded of the scripture in proverbs 17:9 that says that love can prosper when a fault is forgiven when I learned to forgive that's when love can begin to prosper and there's no perfect relationship there's no way that you can sit there and undo everything that's been done but by the grace of God you can move forward and say you know what I can't do anything about my past but I could put my future in the hands of a loving God and this marriage is going to make it if we learn how to forgive each other as God has forgiven us amen everybody that's the only way you can get through it and that's a hard step to take many times when you've been hurt but it's a step that must be taken if you're going to move forward the fifteenth is that the misstep is that they're unlearned truths that we have in our lives there's things that we don't know and what you don't know can hurt you it goes this is true with every one of the principles that we see in Scripture that God has for us if we don't learn the principle and the wisdom then we'll experience pain it goes this way with with finances if you don't learn God's principles for financial prosperity and how to tithe and how to give and how to do things right and say then you'll experience pain and you're in the area of your finances if you don't take care of your body the way that scripture says that we can and you'll experience natural pain it goes on in relational skills too and how to process life and how to move forward if you don't know the skills that God has outlined in his word you're going to experience pain so you got to be mindful to say I'm operating with just the world system here am i listening to the world says well you deserve to be happy so just drop this guy drop this girl and move on is that how you're processing it are you saying no I want to do things God's Way what does God say about it and listen here's something you must know when can God fix my marriage God can fix any marriage when he finds two people that are committed to him and committed to seeing health come about in their marriage matter what has happened if both parties are willing to move forward into what God has then there's absolutely a hundred percent chance that that marriage is going to make it but if one of them aren't committed to God's principles and one of them aren't committed to to forgiveness and and moving forward then that marriage is really on the rocks and it probably won't succeed but thank God for what he can do in our hearts when we begin to operate with new truths in our lives Matthew 622 tells us that the eye of the body is the lie that the eye is the lamp of the body so what that means is how we see things and how we perceive life is what's going to be our reality that's what so now let's start looking to what God has what God has in store well Josh I just want a good marriage well who doesn't everybody wants a good marriage everybody wants to experience that but how does that happen how does that happen we've seen the 5 missteps but what is going to bring about the joy that we're looking for is it just living in the same house is that going to have make it happen it's just going to happen there is no couple on the face of the earth that's that compatible with one another you have to have a plan for how your marriage is going to succeed if you're going to build a house you're not going to build a house and say well I just hope I have a house here let's just get some wood let's get some cisco have a cement truck come in one day and man I have a hammer I can probably figure out how to make us a little room no that would never work with it no you have to have a blueprint for what you're trying to produce and I want to give you some of those things today Luke chapter 14 verse 28 jesus said suppose one if you want to build a tower won't you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it you've got to have a plan you have to have a blueprint or it will inevitably fail now let me talk to those of you in here today that feel like there is no more hope for your marriage and you've been putting it off and I just you know I don't know we'll just go habitate and it just feels like there's no life left in this marriage I've got good news for you today I love what Romans chapter 4 and verse 17 says it says the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that art were not friends can I tell you something we serve a God that specializes in raising dead things back to life and what he's done for so many other couples he can do for you and you have a vibrant passionate hot relationship that you love and you love to be a part of again if you learn how to get God's blueprint on the table and start operating for that Amen everybody I mean if you five things that you can do to begin to give God the opportunity to create a miracle for your marriage the first one is that you're going to have to accept responsibility accept responsibility and I know what you're thinking stop elbowing your spouse and see I told you no you listen for you and not for them for the next few minutes will you do that for me accept responsibility Galatians 65 says every person must be responsible for himself in other words if the healing process is going to begin we must own it personally we must own it and say I'm going to own my part of this relationship in other words we gotta say God if you're going to have a chance to work here I gotta want you to work and I'm accepting responsibility so can God fix it yeah if both if you want him to fix it if both of you own your part of it but you have to own it and here's all you can do your part you can't control your spouse I mean hey some of us have tried to do that I don't even know it doesn't necessarily work out the way we hoped it would you can't control them like you can't control why oh you you but you can control you you can control yourself at first Peter chapter 5 and verse 5 says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble that is hard to say I was wrong it is hard to say yeah I can see how I contributed to this part don't put it all off on your spouse if there's a mistake no I was a part of this too remember the to become one and what the enemy wants to do is to get you to drive a wedge and get you going after each other instead of you two going after him and the problem that he's created in the first place through one of your decisions so begin to say God I want your grace in order in order to for this marriage to thrive so stop blaming your spouse stop comparing your spouse to other people I'm reminded of this couple that was at dinner one night this wife looked over at her husband and she said hey do you see that couple sitting over there across the room look how devoted they are look how much they love each other he kisses her every time he meets her why don't you do that and the husband said I would love to but I just don't know her very well you know I might come off wrong stop comparing your spouse to other people and stop looking at them saying you're the main reason notes begin to say I'm going to accept responsibility and I'm going to begin repairing this marriage can I give you some great advice this morning if those grass on the other side of the fence is looking greener it's time to water your own grass can I get a good Amen everybody time to fertilize that grass it's time to get on your hands and knees in prayer and pull the weeds out of that grass start taking care of your own lawn because they're you on the other side of that fence it's a whole other set of issues that you're not ready to deal with the second thing you got to do be a bee is believe that God can fix your marriage do you believe God can fix it do you believe that in your heart really do you believe that God can heal this start acting like it it says this in Luke 18:27 what's impossible for people is possible with God Josh I don't know if I have what it takes to stick it out let me tell you something you don't you don't have what it takes but God does God's got all the power that you need Philippians 2:13 says that God is going to work in us giving us the desire and the power to do what pleases him God gives us the desire to do that only God can make you want to stay in a relationship now if you're being abused physically I just want to tell you get out of there you know don't let that happen because that that's dangerous and you shouldn't allow that to happen if you're being abused physically you get out of there but you say well what about what Jesus said that there's grounds for divorce let me tell you why Jesus said that and you can read all about that in our text that we read earlier today in Matthew 19 I believe it is is that Jesus said I'll give you room for four divorce but the only reason why that we even let you have room for that is because you've got hardness of heart you won't forgive and you won't move Pat and he lays out a few reasons why you can actually have a divorce but he said listen if you if you'll let me work in the midst of this I can heal everything and it could be a testimony of my power if you'll let me work so believe that God can move the third thing is commit to new habits new habits how have you approached the challenges up to this point in your relationship have you gone negative have you been toxic have you been you know moping around hurtful and trying to hurt people back building walls what's been going on have you been withholding sexual intimacy from your spouse because you're mad at them you know all of that has to change if you're going to see the new blessings that God wants to have bring to your life commit to new habits Galatians 6:9 says and let us not get tired of doing what's right for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't get discouraged and give up well Josh I don't feel like it can I tell you something your feelings will cause you to experience a great big failure if you don't get in control of them feelings are given to us by God to prompt us to do new things but if you just are led by your feelings then you'll find out that you're not going to like where that's leading you because many times our feelings can be unpredictable how many know they can change from day to day they can be unreliable they can be something that will mess you up now God made you to be an emotional person if you're the emotional person in the relationship but don't look at your spouse and say you ought to feel exactly like how I feel about this well they're a different person different background and now they're trying to just just find the common ground and say I'm going to commit to new habits and look what happens in proverbs 24 and verse 3 says by wisdom a house is built and through understanding it is established so if I'm going to experience God's best I've got to find ok God what's your wisdom on this now what do you what do you want me to do right here not what I feel because I have to check that with the scripture and go back to the word and say what is my building my life on my feelings or God's eternal word God what do you want me to do here and this is where I can feel the push back even while I'm sharing it right now because you're like you don't understand what I'm been through you who are you to talk about my life well I'm here to tell you what God's Word says because I love you and I want you to experience God's best also know that through secular studies that say that 2 out of 3 people that are unhappily married if they'll stick it out for five years and commit to new habits that they'll be happily married people I know that feelings change so you have two seasons of your marriage that are going to be seasons of abundance and then you're gonna have seasons where you know that I'm in is the driest year I've ever experienced and all of my life and it's going to be both but God knows how to bless it if we commit to doing things his way Amen everybody and some of you are going to have to learn new truths as I mentioned earlier that's why we have small groups that's why we have things for you to do to help you to know how to have a great marriage it's not easy it takes a lot of hard work Karen I just you know the 15 years I'd love to tell you that angels are around us all the time but I'm telling you I think I've seen some demons in the room at times before I mean because there are times when were there it's hard and when we planted this church then our marriage and every part of our life was put in the crucible man it was put in the furnace and we experienced more pressure than we ever had and I'm here to tell you that God can do anything God can bless you and God can bring you to a place of closeness again I'm almost done but this morning just takes a little bit longer thank you for bearing with me the fourth thing that we want to do is we got to deal with the real issues we have to deal with the issues the real issues don't don't keep putting them off deal with them learn to say I was wrong and when your spouse says that to you try not to smile too big all right everybody I got a graphic it's going to help the guys in here today I'll show it I'll show that picture if y'all would please he says I do something stupid she gets mad which leads to I apologize the other way she does something stupid I get mad then she gets mad then I apologize how many guys want I'm talking about that's if you learn that you probably gonna be alright fellas I mean deal with the issue god I god I need your help here I was wrong tell your wife that Colossians 3:13 it says be gentle and ready to forgive never hold grudges remember the Lord forgave you the Lord forgave you so you must forgive others seasons 4 says be humble and gentle be patient with one another making allowances for each other's faults because of your love because if you're what because of your love try always to be led along together by the Holy Spirit and so be at peace with one another and when you start saying God I'm going to let you deal with the issues of my life and I want to be a willing partner in this then the Holy Spirit begins to lead you to a place of peace with your spouse like you hadn't experienced in a long long time and the last thing that I believe could be the most important thing that we can do is give God the opportunity to bring about a miracle in our relationship in our marriage is encountering God's love personally the love of God is so powerful and until you experience the love of God for yourself it's hard to love other people the way God wants you to love them in the way that it's going to require for you to love them if you're going to have a great marriage because your spouse will hurt you hurt you and your spouse will break your heart at time and your spouse won't live up to your expectations but how many of you know that we break God's heart sometimes and there are times where we don't live up to God's expectations and potential that he has in his heart for us but when you learn to experience God's love for yourself then you in turn can begin to love others so don't let it be a secondhand experience God's love in your life no live by first-hand account I know how much God loves me and if he can love me despite all my mistakes and shortcomings and bonehead decisions that I've made man I can if he can love me that I can then experience his love to love other people Ephesians 3 is our last scripture we're looking at this morning it says Christ's love is greater than anyone could ever know but he says I pray that you'll be able to know his love that's my prayer for you today it's see it's then you'll be filled with the fullness of God the fullness of God so let me ask you a question this morning have you experienced the love of God for your own life I'm talking to you whether you're single you're married you've experienced the pain of a divorce no matter what situation that you find yourself in this morning I want to ask you a question have you experienced the love of God yourself you see Jesus didn't come to this earth live a sinless life died on the cross and come back from the dead just so you could follow a set of rules wasn't his intention no he did all of that because of his great love for you he did all of that so you could experience that love personally for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever would believe in him that means anybody that means anybody no matter what their mistakes have been no matter what their past may be he said if anybody will believe in him they'll have everlasting life life that begins now not just when we get to heaven but now the life of God the love of God and that's what God wants for you that's what God wants in your life and it starts with the you saying god I want to experience your love I want to invite you into my life and today I want to lead you in a prayer that's going to allow you to begin to experience the love of God Janene you'll begin to know the fullness of God's love for you and how it can begin to change everything from the inside out your relationships your mindset your habits I mean God in asking you to get it all together right now gang God wants to help you get stronger every day and that's what walking with him is all about so you may be here today and you've never done that you've never made a decision to give God your life to ask him to forgive you of all your sins to ask him to come in and to make you brand new today I want you to do that I want to give you that opportunity some of you you have done that before but over the years you just find yourself now in a place where your relationship with the Lord is not as close not as tight as it used to be and God saying I'm mad at you I just want you to come close to me again why don't you get its new start today and recommit your life to God so with every head bowed and every eye closed no one looking around with me if you're here you say

Channel: Faith Family Church

Views: 62,174

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Id: WGfvgiqsKMc

Length: 36min 55sec (2215 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 30 2015