Couples Retreat - Psalm 16:11
Notes
Transcript
Text: Psalm 16:11
Thou wilt shew me the path of life:
In thy presence is fulness of joy;
At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
Thousand voices and they all want me to give them my talent and treasury. - Art Wilson
Satan came up with an amazing scheme. Instead of trying to remove your only true option he just fills up your life with a million of the wrong options.
Car key fob- Anyone else spend an embarrassing amount of time wandering through a parking lot. I’m thankful when they put the key fob on my car. Next time you are in a Walmart parking lot and you hear a car alarm you don’t need to worry it’s just me locating my vehicle.
Danger in Marriage are the temptations are doubled.
All the ways I could go are now multiplied by all the ways she could choose to go. She can choose to follow God’s instruction on submitting to her husband but if I chose to ignore Scripture on leading with love. I am affecting the kind of marriage she will have.
Our world has a millions ways to do marriage, or if I could say that have a millions way to destroy your marriage.
Feminism has a plan for your marriage…
Trash the roles that each of you play: Feminism's push for equality leads to confusion or conflict in marriages. Feminism advocates for equal power and decision-making within relationships.
Strain on family dynamics: feminism's emphasis on individual rights breaks family structures, leading to tensions between spouses or between parents and children.
Ugh pastor All you want are women pregnant and barefoot in the kitchen, that’s ridiculous, If you don’t wear socks you could catch a chill.
By the way husbands can go to the other ditch.
Chauvinism: hostile views towards women, which can lead to disrespect, mistrust, and conflict in marriages. This can lead to unhealthy competition and conflict rather than cooperation and mutual respect in a marriage.
Emotional unavailability: masculinity and emotional stoicism may discourage emotional expression and vulnerability in men, potentially leading to communication difficulties and emotional distance in marriages.
Macho - Lack of empathy: leading to a lack of emotional connection and support in the marriage.
Materialism: the pursuit of material wealth and possessions, can indeed impact marriages in various ways.
Financial strain: The pursuit of material goods can lead to overspending and financial stress.
Misaligned priorities: Materialism can lead to a focus on possessions rather than on the relationship itself, causing couples to prioritize material goods over spending quality time together or investing in their emotional connection.
Lack of satisfaction: Material possessions can provide temporary happiness, but this feeling often fades quickly, leading to a cycle of seeking more possessions to fill the void. This can create dissatisfaction within the marriage if one or both partners feel unfulfilled despite acquiring material goods.
Impact on children: Materialism can also influence the way children are raised, potentially leading to a focus on material goods rather than on values such as compassion, empathy, and personal growth.
Hedonism, the pursuit of pleasure and self-indulgence as the chief goal in life:
Prioritizing personal pleasure over the relationship: A hedonistic approach to life may lead individuals to prioritize their own pleasure and gratification over the needs and well-being of their spouse, potentially leading to neglect or emotional distance in the marriage.
Emotional instability: Relying on pleasure and gratification as a primary source of happiness can lead to emotional instability in a marriage, as individuals may struggle to cope when faced with challenges or setbacks that do not align with their hedonistic pursuits.
Hollywood:
Unrealistic expectations: Hollywood often portrays idealized and romanticized versions of relationships, which can create unrealistic expectations about love, romance, and marriage. This can lead to dissatisfaction when real-life relationships do not meet these idealized standards.
Focus on superficial aspects: Hollywood often emphasizes superficial aspects of relationships, such as physical attractiveness, wealth, and status, which can lead people to prioritize these factors over deeper emotional connection and compatibility in their own marriages.
Comparison with fictional relationships: Watching idealized relationships on screen can lead to comparisons with one's own marriage, potentially causing feelings of inadequacy or dissatisfaction if the real relationship does not measure up to the fictionalized one.
I want to challenge you this weekend to rededicate yourself to doing things God’s way. To submitting yourself to the path and way that God has given to us in his Word.
Thou wilt shew me the path of life:
In thy presence is fulness of joy;
At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
GOD HAS A PATH FOR YOUR MARRIAGE.
Let me assert to you this evening that God has a path for you. He has a path of life for us to follow that is outlined from His word.
I. It is a path of Life.
Not all paths lead to life. We get tricked when we imagine that we can mindlessly move forward and be on the right path.
II. It is a well tested path.
David could look down his line and see that God had brought him to this place. His Fathers trusted, their fathers had trusted. He could look back to his Father Abraham, His Father Issac, His Father Israel. He could see that when they chose to follow Yahweh he held them up.
I can tell you what a joy it is too look at my father, grandfather, uncle, Pastor Sam Davison, or Pastor Carl Bush, and I see that if I will trust the Lord’s path for my marriage it is better than anything the world has offered me.
III. It is a path that ends in joy.
The quality of the path is not the enjoyment of the journey but the fruit of the destination.
On thegospelcoalition.org titled, Self-Worship Is the World’s Fastest-Growing Religion NOVEMBER 10, 2021 | THADDEUS WILLIAMS
84 percent of Americans believe that “enjoying yourself is the highest goal of life.”
Further, 86 percent believe that to enjoy yourself you must “pursue the things you desire most.”
And 91 percent affirm this statement: “To find yourself, look within yourself.”
There is a way which seemeth right unto a man,
But the end thereof are the ways of death.
The path isn’t easy…
You say tonight but it doesn’t sound like fun sacrificing my free time to raise children. Its not. Sleeping at night is nice, losing sleep is not fun.
Do you know what is rewarding, is watching my children want to serve others. Do you know what is rewarding, is seeing the couples whose children are long out of the house but keep investing in children at our church. Rewarding is seeing the couples who couldn’t have their own but who have taken the time to invest in the lives of my kids.
My wife and I didn’t just send our kids out of the house there was a whole church that was with us in the process. Our graduation Services are a celebration for families that have invested to get those kids to that point.
Back in the 50s there was a feeling that electric refrigerators and dishwashers, and clothes dryers were going to add so much time back into your life. Now you buy refridgerators that keep track of your food and tell you what to swing by the store and pick up. I’m sure glad you get the chance to save your fridge some time.
Our lives have not gotten slower paced in the last 70 years. Technology has made us less patient. We are in a big hurry about less and less important things. And we can get to feeling like everything is supposed to be now.
The best investments you will make are a lot more like Grandpas bean garden and you wont get to see the reward till you catch it in hindsight.
III. It is a path that produces eternal fruit.
Ephesians 5: Helps the Christian couple by reminding us that there is an eternal reason to do what we do. There is a holy and heavenly purpose behind what God has given to us. We think about the work of God as this one big massive move.
We Americans love that kind of action.
We like big sweeping gestures. We like 7 weeks to the fitness of your dreams. We like, three weekends to a startup business that will make a million. We like, 2min 30 seconds to the best bowl of Orville Redenbacher’s you’ve ever had.
This is not how it works, Well except for popcorn, anything built correctly will regular, daily, practical application of Bible principles that we trust will work after years of dedication.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Wake up tomorrow knowing that you have been built for good work. Great husbands are those that wake up ready to do the work of great husbands. Great wives are not going to be one or two broad strokes. It is daily setting aside yourself and choosing to walk the path and work of great wives.
This is what teaches us the value and need for hope.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth:
My flesh also shall rest in hope.
GOD’S PATH FOR YOUR MARRIAGE HAS SOME THREATS
I. I’m inclined to Fail.
O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord:
My goodness extendeth not to thee;
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
We acknowldege that the day you got married two sinners came to the altar and joined themselves for a life long adventure. That adventure is discipleship, transformation, and purging all done at the hand of your savior.
Till we all come into his image
He that began a good work
II. Temptation wants to make sure of it.
Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god:
Their drink offerings of blood will I not offer,
Nor take up their names into my lips.
Our world has an idol a day for us. We are so easily distracted from the things that matter by these idols that we can squander our lives for.
GOD’S PATH FOR YOUR MARRIAGE HAS SOME HELP
I. Learn how to hear counsel from Godly people.
But to the saints that are in the earth,
And to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.
II. Commit to keep his word you primary Counselor.
I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel:
My reins also instruct me in the night seasons.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
GOD’S PATH FOR YOUR MARRIAGE IS REALLY ABOUT TRUST
To boil it down to the basics we have to trust.
The reason to get on this path is because we trust it is taking us where He wants us to go. It is acknowledging what Scripture makes clear his way is better than our way.
Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.
The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup:
Thou maintainest my lot.
I have set the Lord always before me:
Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
But it is always been about trust.
Messianic Psalm
Its purpose is to point out one who when given all the chances to turn back from the Will of God He pushed forward.
For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell;
Neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
He is willing to go all the way to death itself. Verse 16 speaks of the trust that Jesus had in his father. He went all the way to calvary knowing that God would not let him see corruption. It was Jesus who offered the Path of life for us…
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
It is he who is seated at the right hand of his father.
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.
It is he that offers us the pleasures of eternal life.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
It is this same Jesus that offers us the grace to daily follow the path that God has for us.
He gives grace to help the two sinners on this adventure by washing us and cleansing us and keeping us close to his father.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
It is He who will work his way in and through us. And even this weekend will demonstrate his grace in and through your marriage. Because he is able and willing to give the grace needed to live God’s will for my life for he had done it himself.