James 1:2-4

Connected – Week 4 – Marriage Matters

Genesis 2:18-24; 1 Corinthians 6:13b-20

[funny proposal story]

I wish I would have been taught more about marriage when I was younger. If you think about it, if you get married, you will spend majority of your life married. Yet, we might prepare for marriage for a month before our wedding, and actually we prepare more for the wedding than we do the marriage. We spend more time practicing divorce than we do preparing for marriage. I’m convinced that that is what most dating is…practice for divorce. “That person doesn’t make me happy…that person is starting to annoy me…” In marriage, that person isn’t always going to make you happy…they are sometimes, and probably often are going to annoy you…and much more!

I’m not an anti-dating person…but I do think that we’ve got it all wrong. I know that many of your future spouses will not be happy about the relationship you’re in right now or the relationship that you have had in the past. If you want a fulfilling rest of your life, you need to do it starting right now. You need to start thinking about your marriage now. If you date, it should be because you actually, truly honestly, not due to your overactive hormones of your need for affection, but actually, truly, want to and can see yourself marrying that person. Some of you may be that way…many of you most likely are dating for selfish and ungodly reasons, ones that will end up hurting that person, hurting you, and hurting both of your possible spouses and even the rest of your lives.

So…marriage…what about it, and what do I need to know right now?…

Purity paves the way to intimacy.

Our most intimate relationship on earth is marriage. See how intimate this relationship is. It goes all the way to the beginning, to the first man and woman. The first married couple.

Genesis 2:18-24

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones    and flesh of my flesh;she shall be called Woman,    because she was taken out of Man.”

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

So, we see that our most intimate relationship on earth is marriage…So, what does that have to do with the other point that purity paves the way to intimacy? Ok, well let’s look at a couple places in the New Testament that refer to this passage we just read in Genesis.

1 Corinthians 6:13b-20

13 …The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a

James 1:1

Connected – Week 3 – Authorities Matter

Romans 13:1-10

How many of you want to be like your parents when you grow up? How many of you say, “I will never do that when I have kids?” Do any of your parents have a rule that you absolutely hate? Ugh…my mom used to make me eat lima beans. And I couldn’t get up from the table until I ate them. Other than that, I was a perfect child.

Recap of our relationship series: Our relationship with God is our most important and most foundational relationship. But, it is played out through all of our other relationships. We cannot separate our relationship with God from our relationship with others. And we asked the crucial question – the question that is guiding this whole series: Is the way I act towards others, in each one of my relationships, accurately reflecting who God is?

Last week we looked at one of these relationships – relationships with friends. We saw that we should avoid unhealthy relationships and establish healthy ones. We read Proverbs 13:20 which says, “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” We saw that the friends we choose to have matter and will determine the direction and quality of our lives.

Tonight, we’re looking at another one of these relationships – relationships with those in authority.

Turn to Romans 13:1-7. What we’re going to do is walk through these verses and see the significance they have in our lives and in these relationships.

1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

13:1 – This is the basis of this message. God is the ultimate authority. Even more than that, God is the only authority. God is the only One who is truly in charge. Nobody else is, even if they think they are. Kings even do the bidding of the sovereign hand of God…He moves them like puppets. It’s Sesame Street to Him. Big Bird thinks he owns the place – nuh uh – He moves as God pleases – He doesn’t own the street, God does. Any authority that someone has has been given by God. So, when we obey authorities, we obey them not because of that authority, but because of the authority that put them there.

“Those that exist have been instituted by God.” So, what are these authorities that exist?This is how we’re going to break them down: Parents and Other authority figures (teachers, law enforcers, bosses, etc.). God has placed them in authority, so we must be subject to them – we must obey them – submit to them.

13:2 – If you resist an earthly authority, you are resisting the heavenly authority. If you resist authority, you Will incur judgment. Judgment is getting what you deserve. If momma is cooking and says, “Don’t touch that. It’s hot.” What are you going to do? Well, some of you are going to touch it, cause momma don’t know what she’s talking about. “Momma always said life is like a box of chocolates. You never know whatcha gonna get.” Well, if you touch that stove, I know what you’re gonna get, and so does momma! You’re going to get burned! If you disob

Help! – 2 Chronicles 20

Superman. Snow White. Harry Potter. Luke Skywalker. Princess Leia. Peter Pan.

Why do so many inspiring stories have orphans as main characters?

As we are entering the holiday season…and as some have already entered in…there will be several movies that play on a loop. Who likes The Christmas Story? What about It’s a Wonderful Life? Now how about a more modern day classic…Elf? In this movie a child who is put in an orphanage sneaks into Santa’s bag and is raised by elves. In the beginning of the movie, Buddy finds out that he’s not a cotton-headed ninny muggings and that he’s not an elf. Of course he’s not an elf—he’s 6’3.” Unfortunately, just like in the case of the elves adopting a human, some people think adoption is just for fairy tales. For someone else. But that’s not the case.

These stories of orphans and adoption, even in our beloved movies, tap into the innate feeling that this world is not our home. As C. S. Lewis wrote, “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”

This is why adoption is such a comforting doctrine. To be adopted is to realize you were made for another world—and for another person. Your home is in heaven—and you were made for God.[1]

Now, the adoption I am talking about this morning is theological in nature. What we see from physical human adoptions represents a spiritual reality for those who are in Christ. The Westminster Shorter Catechism 34 asks “What is adoption?” It answers: “Adoption is an act of God’s free grace, whereby, we are received into the number and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God.”

Just like earthly adoption, it’s the act of God bringing into his family those who weren’t naturally His and legally making them to be just like his Son. It’s where we are brought into a new family, and totally divested of our belonging to our former family. God totally changes who we are and what we get.[2] Today, as you have seen, we’re focusing on orphans and adoption.

 You know, the Bible has a lot to say about what it should look like, practically, to live out the faith we say we have. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” And it’s not silent on what many of those good works are. We are to look after orphans and widows in their distress.[3] We are to visit those who are in prison.[4] We are to remember and help the poor.[5] We so often neglect to live out the very good works that the Bible demonstrates we are to work.

Now, the Bible does not say we are saved by good works, but we, the workmanship of God, are created by God to do good works. And as we do, we are imaging Him and what He has done for us. It is so in adoption. The Bible draws a powerful, and very real, analogy with adoption and what God has done for us in salvation. And the earthly picture of adoption, a family taking in and making their own a child who was once not their own, demonstrates to an unbelieving world what the God of love has offered for them.

So, let’s look at some matters of importance in regards to theological adoption and draw some parallels with earthly adoption, and I pray we see together through it how much God really loves us.

Adoption has mattered for eternity and will matter for eternity. Before the foundation of the world, God predestined us to be adopted.

Ephesians 1:5 – He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.

Here’s what this means, and I will frame it within mine and Sara’s personal story of adoption.

(Tell the story of Sara and I desiring and seeking to adopt for our first child. We had purposed before we ever had children to adopt, even though God had different plans in mind for us.)

Adoption was plan A for God. It wasn’t a plan B after Adam and Eve sinned and became, in a sense,

Connected | Week 2 | Friendships Matter

Matthew 22:36-40; Proverbs 13:20

Our main text for this series is Matthew 22:36-40

36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

We are to love God with our everything and love others as ourselves.

Last week we saw that the most foundational relationship was our relationship with God, but we saw something else as well. We saw that we cannot separate our relationship with God from our relationship with others. Our relationship with God is played out through every single one of our relationships on earth, both good and bad. The way we act towards others (friends, family, enemies, strangers) in these relationships is how the world sees God. So, last week we asked one simple question: Is the way I act towards others, in each one of my relationships, accurately reflecting who God is?

Now, tonight, I want us to look at it in a little different way. Notice the most crucial word in our text…what is it? LOVE. Love was recognized in both passages as the main key to living as God wants us to. LOVE God with our everything. LOVE neighbors as ourselves. This is agape love – unconditional love – love regardless of what happens.

Check out the characteristics of this love – 1 Corinthians 13 shows us, and every time love is mentioned, it is the same word as in our main text – agape – unconditional love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 – 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends.  

Now, you’re probably thinking that I am going to talk about romantic relationships…ooh, I loooove him…I looooove her….No. Eww. I’m talking about something that you probably have never thought about when reading 1 Corinthians 13. We’re going to talk about friends.

The Proverbs have a lot to say about a lot of stuff. And, the Proverbs have a lot to say about friendship. We’ll look at a few throughout this message. Here’s one to start with…

Proverbs 17:17a – “A friend loves at all times…”

1 John 3:16 – “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”

The literal words in this passage mean a laying down of your soul – a giving up of the very essence of life on behalf of another, because that is what Christ did for us. So, if a friend loves at all times, shouldn’t we love in this way? Laying down our souls and caring for their souls?

The purpose of Christian friendship is a mutual sharpening. Proverbs 27:17 ESV says, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” Some translations throw in the word friend: NKJV – “A man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” NLT – “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” If you truly want to share the love of God, you will share the God of love. A true friend – one that agape loves – one that loves with the love of God – will want God’s best for you and will strive to build you up in Him…to sharpen you in Christ. So, this is the type of friend that we need and that we should be to others

(Non-Christian Friends)

Now, I know that we are to have acquaintances that are not Christians, but I want to warn you – do not fully confide in and seek counsel from a friend who is not a Christian. The purpose of non-Christian friendships is to show them the love of God by showing them the God of love. It’s caring for their souls – and if you truly love them, you will care about their soul – and if you tr

Titus 3:8-15