TEN: 7th Word
Notes
Transcript
Opening Announcements
Opening Announcements
Good Morning and welcome to our Family Worship here at Eastern Hills.
I’m Joe Vivian and I’m the Children’s and Families Pastor here at EHBC.
For those of you joining us online, welcome, we’re so glad you are with us this morning.
Pastor Bill Connors and his family are on vacation this week and they’ll be with us next Sunday.
I have a couple of announcements to share with you all this morning.
WHDR Offering
The month of July we take up an offering for World Hunger/Disaster Relief. This is our last Sunday; however, you can still give through the rest of this week.
Right now we are at $5421.00! We are just $79 from our goal of $5500. I am very confident we will crush this goal today. Thank you Eastern Hills Family for your generous and giving heart towards this offering.
Sunday School Classes
Beginning this Sunday, we will share two of the many Sunday School Bible Studies that meet here at 9:15 every Sunday Morning before Family Worship.
For those of you who are not aware, we have many Sunday School Bible Studies that meet at 9:15 each Sunday.
These give our members and guests an opportunities to start new relationships within Eastern Hills. It’s a great way to experience what we mean by Family in our Family Worship.
At our Welcome Desk, we have this, an entire listing of all the classes: Name and location. You can also ask any of our Welcome Team and they will direct you to a class to visit.
We also have a listing of all our classes on our web page on the Worship/Study Page.
The 2 I would like place a Spotlight on is the Grief Class led by Deanna Chadwick. They meet in Room 104. We also have our Young Couples Class led by Chuck and Rebecca Crisler along with Mark and Della Bassman. They meet in room 205.
Get connected next Sunday.
Intro:
Intro:
This morning we will continue in our study TEN: A Look at God’s Unwavering Commands. We will be studying the 7th Commandment.
Now, you may be wondering why the 7th? Last week was the Fifth Commandment about Honoring Your Father and Mother, and this week we jumped to the 7th Word, the 7th Commandment.
Let me explain.
Kerry and I have a Marriage/Family Counseling Ministry. Over the past 12 years we have counseled many couples that have gone through or are still dealing with the aftermath of an adulterous relationship. These topics: Marriage, Family, Adultery and all that goes with communication, trust, and forgiveness is not only in our “wheel house” it is a ministry and calling from God that both Kerry and I are passionate about. God’s perfect plan for marriage and families is one that we will journey as long as God keeps us there.
Let me be clear too, we have seen majority of these marriages that have dealt with the devastation of adultery restored and redeemed to where God intend it to be. However, it took Forgiveness and Repentance on the part of both the Betrayed and the Betrayer that led towards Reconciliation. And it also took a-lot of time for that healing to occur.
So, we will skip the 6th Commandment and I’m certain Pastor Bill will “Kill” that message for us all next Sunday. (Pause…)
Sodium is an extremely active element found naturally only in combined form; it always links itself to another element.
Chlorine, on the other hand, is the poisonous gas that gives bleach its offensive odor.
When sodium and chlorine are combined, the result is sodium chloride—common table salt—the substance we use to preserve meat and bring out its flavor.
Love and truth can be like sodium and chlorine.
Love without truth is flighty, sometimes blind, willing to combine with various doctrines.
On the other hand, truth by itself can be offensive, sometimes even poisonous. Spoken without love, it can turn people away from the gospel.
When truth and love are combined in an individual or a church, however, then we have what Jesus called “the salt of the earth,” and we’re able to preserve and bring out the beauty of our faith.
This morning as we study out the 7th Word, the 7th Commandment, my prayer is that it is balanced with love and truth. This commandment is too often thrown off balance one way or another…too much love or too much truth.
Let’s please stand if you are able as we read God’s Word together as a family. We will be in both Exodus 20:14 and Genesis 2:24-25.
14 Do not commit adultery.
24 This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.
25 Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame.
PRAY
PRAY
Please be seated.
In 2014, the dating website Ashley Madison conducted a poll about the religious
affiliation of its members.
What it found is surprising, especially since Ashley Madison is a dating website for people who are already involved in a relationship; that’s right…
it is a website created to facilitate infidelity.
Of the 60,000 respondents from the US, 1 in 4 describe themselves as “born again” evangelical Christians.
“Catholics comprised the next largest group at 22.75 percent, followed by Protestants (22.7
percent)”
I also went into Amazon Books and search “Adultery” in Fiction.
It came out to 25,000+ in the search engine.
I tapped on the description on several of the “Romance” novels and pretty much all said the same: Unhappy spouse finds true love in the arms of another. Totally sad…but that’s what’s being read out there today.
The Seventh Commandment is one that speaks directly into a culture that is gaining grounds
on the acceptability of infidelity both in the world and, apparently, in the church.
Exodus 20:14 says, “You shall not commit adultery.”
My depressing search shows that the world struggles with infidelity.
The depressing study by Ashley Madison shows us that the church struggles with infidelity.
God wants us to love one another, and we cannot love one another if we are actively breaking
those relationships.
So this morning, I am going to take time to first focus on “What I’m For.”
What I mean is that too often, we in Christendom will focus on what another is doing wrong. How they are sinning and why that sin is sin.
Don’t get me wrong, it is important to share truth and reveal sin. We are called to bring a brother or sister in Christ to repentance.
Yes, that’s true. What I’m saying is that before I can tell someone why adultery is a sin and why if they continue, they will be forever separated from God…In simple terms, tell them “What I’m against.” I instead will tell them “What I’m For.”
This morning I want to start on What I’m For. I’m for Marriage as God created it.
One man, one woman, joined together as one in the sight of God. Forever. No one else within that covenant. God-Husband-Wife. Done.
This is also a message for everyone, not just those married or engaged. This problem of acceptance of infidelity crosses way beyond the threshold of just Husband and Wife, it consumes everyone and affects everyone.
So please, don’t tune out but instead tune in and listen closely.
This morning, our first focus is this:
God’s Truth on Marriage
God’s Truth on Marriage
Turn again to Genesis 2:24-25
24 This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.
25 Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame.
Here we have God’s perfect plan for marriage. It’s more than a blueprint, it’s a firm foundation for every marriage to focus and achieve.
It can be summed up in four simple statements:
Leave-Cleave-Become One-Not Ashamed
If we are going to talk about adultery and why it’s a sin, we had better understand God’s truth about marriage…again, what God’s for.
First let’s look at the LEAVE
God’s truth in a marriage is the commitment you are to have with each other as husband and wife.
Think of the word commitment.
Let me share with you Websters 1828 definition:
To give in trust; to put into the hands or power of another.
Let’s really read that definition.
Give in trust
Put into the hands of another
Power of another
Marriage vows use the word commit or commitment.
However, we don't really understand what that word means until worse comes thru, or sickness reveals itself, or even that of poorer becomes a reality.
I have a question to those married folks…Do any of you remember your vows?
At that time, when you were reciting your vows, was it easy or hard to "place yourself into the hands/power of your spouse?"
Is it now?
Some tough stuff to ponder..
Turn in your Bibles to Song of Songs 2:3,4
Let’s read it together
3 Like an apricot tree among the trees of the forest, so is my love among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.
4 He brought me to the banquet hall, and he looked on me with love.
Look how they are displaying a Commitment to a Pure, True Love
It is protected
Verse 2:3
-Sits in his shade
-Comfort, Protected, Refreshed
It is Passionate
Verse 2:3
-Refreshed: "his fruit is sweet to my taste."
-They demonstrate how much they love being with each other
-There is a growing level of appropriate passion
-Honesty and Humility
It is Public
Verse 4 "He brought me to the banquet hall, and he looked on me with love."
-Solomon made it evident to all those around him about his feelings for Shulamitte.
-Don't ever be ashamed to be seen with your spouse
-In public, is your commitment/love for each other evident?
"Marriage requires a radical commitment to love our spouses as they are, while longing for them to become what they are not yet. Every marriage moves either toward enhancing one another's glory or toward degrading each other." -Ashley Willis
Husbands, Wives, never let your spouse question your commitment to your marriage.
Parents don't put your marriage on the back burner for the sake of raising your kids. One of the greatest gifts you can give your children is the security that comes from seeing their parents committed to each other in a strong and loving marriage.
Again, God’s truth in a marriage is the commitment you are to have with each other as husband and wife. The LEAVE in Genesis 2:24-25
Next is the Cleave.
Let me be clear, there are two major definitions of cleave, the verb. One means to split or divide…that’s not the definition I’m using this morning.
The definition I’m using is this one:
To adhere strongly to or become strongly involved with or emotionally attached to.
When we
Build and apply the LEAVE, the commitment in our marriage we then have the CLEAVE, the opportunity to become strongly involved and attached to our spouse.
That begins with communication.
Definition: Intercourse by words, letters, or message. An interchange of thoughts or opinions. The act of imparting your thoughts and feelings from one to another.
The average married couple actively communicates on the average just 27 minutes a week!
168 hours a week, that's 27 minutes of quality talk, transparency and not ashamed, out of 10,080 minutes! Ouch.
In marriage, it is our duty to communicate.
To be sure, every marriage needs times of silence and meditation with God Himself.
But in our relationship with our spouse, communication is a discipline of love.
Communication is tough...
It's not what you say...it's how you say it.
It's not what you say...it's when you say it.
It's not what you say...it's how it is perceived.
We must begin to communicate Compliments/Encouragement
Let's be truthful now...
As time goes by in our marriages, criticism and sarcasm come quicker and sharper in our communication.
Here is a challenge...
"How would our marriage be if we were as quick to complement our spouses as we are to criticize or cast a sarcastic remark towards them?"
29 No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear.
31 Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice.
Foul, Unwholesome, Rotten, Without Life, Lacking Nourishment
Remember this...If you do not make an honest effort to compliment your spouse, odds are someone else will. Intended or not.
32 And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.
Which leads us into Communicating Forgiveness
A major facet of communication is forgiveness. How quickly are you willing to forgive your spouse? Not only giving, but receiving?
Gary Thomas, author of Sacred Marriage, states, "I believe one of marriage's primary purposes is to teach us how to forgive."
How does this forgiveness work? We are not called to "wait" for that person to come and ask for forgiveness. No, we must actively forgive in the moment.
Look at it this way, God sent His Son into a world that hated Him. If God had waited for the world to be "worthy" to receive Him, His Son would never have come.
But let’s make this crystal clear.
Forgiveness does not mean Reconciliation.
Barb Mulvey teaches this truth that we now share with those we counsel:
Forgiveness + Repentance = Reconciliation
The one who broke trust did just that…broke trust and violated the bond you have between each other. In the case of a husband and wife and adultery. That trust was purposely violated and taken.
However, forgiveness must be given. Forgiveness doesn’t always fix relationships, but it does help mend the hurting heart. It is the decision that their offense will not define you or confine you by the smallness of bitterness.
And remember that forgiveness is both a decision and a process, and healing is a long journey.
Forgiveness doesn’t let the other person off the hook. It places them in God’s hands. Forgiving the one who hurt you does not mean you are freeing them from the consequences of their sin. It does mean you refuse the burden of taking revenge and trust God to execute His justice with appropriate measures of mercy.
Forgiveness is required by God, but reconciliation is conditional. Forgiving someone doesn’t mean that trust is immediately restored or that hard relational dynamics are instantly fixed.
Remember the formula
Forgiveness + Repentance = Reconciliation
Reconciliation is dependent on two people being willing to work on the relationship.
In some cases, reconciliation is simply not an option. But that doesn’t make forgiveness any less necessary for the healing of your soul.
Remember, Forgiveness is so unnatural an act that it takes practice to perfect it. In fact, it is rarely the case that we are able to forgive "one time" and the matter is settled, more often than not, we must relinquish our bitterness a dozen or so times, continually choosing to release the offender from our judgment.
A good marriage is not something you find, it's something you work for. It takes struggle. You must crucify your selfishness. You must at times confront, and other times confess. The practice of forgiveness is essential.
How is your communication in your marriage? Are you and your spouse Cleaving… are you becoming strongly involved and attached to your spouse?
Next in God’s Truth for marriage that we see in Genesis 2:24-25 is the Becoming One.
This is the focus on Intimacy in our marriage
Definition: A close familiarity or fellowship shared with a sacred few. A nearness shared with one.
If we are to "Become One" with our spouse, it is more than just physically...it is emotionally as well as spiritually.
One Mind-One Life-One Body-One Flesh…ONE
It is very sad because so many married couples know each other but they don’t know each other.
They know the routines and habits, but they don’t know each other’s souls, their hearts.
You become One when you begin to seek the other’s heart emotionally.
Do you take time to really have conversations about your hearts with one another?
I mean, put down the electronics, turn off the TV and speak to each other by listening to listen and looking into the whites of each other’s eyes?
Do you take time to “Study your spouse?”
What makes them smile? What makes them sad?
One thing that Kerry and I are a huge proponent for are Date Nights.
Here’s a simple Date Night formula for all of us to possibly pattern
Once a week go on a walk together or an outing at a park or coffee shop.
Once a month take time to go out for a nice meal and possibly another place for dessert.
Once every three months…get a room! Go to a nice hotel and splurge for a romantic one or two night get-a-way.
Once a year, plan an out of town 3-4 night vacation for just the two of you.
Did you notice none of these date nights/getaways involve children, involve a movie night, or even another couple. Nope, it’s the two of you emotionally connecting alone.
Parents, plan ahead for the care of the kids and possibly swap out watching another couple’s children one time for them so they will return the care on your nights. Moms and dads, If it’s a priority, you will make it work.
Be intentional and allow your date nights to be one of anticipation and excitement for both of you.
Knowing, that hopefully, when it’s over you each will know something new about the other and will have also grown closer because of the experience.
You also become One when you begin to seek the other’s heart spiritually as well as emotionally.
Friends, how are you and your spouse growing spiritually as ONE?
Do you take time to do a Bible Study together?
Do you pray together?
The YouVersion bible app is a great place to start for you both.
You can set up a Bible Study for just the two of you to do together. It also can be at each other’s pace. There is a place at the end for your thoughts and reflections from that day’s study.
Then, as a couple, you can complete is at your time and later come back together to discuss it further.
As for prayer, you both should get in the daily habit of asking specifically to your spouse, “How/What can I be praying for you today?”
Listen to that request and PRAY! During the day you can also be texting them or even leaving a sticky note somewhere you know they will find it to encourage them and let them know you are praying for them. What a powerful way of growing ONE spiritually is to pray, and pray specifically for your spouse.
Most of all, live out Mark 12:30
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
I Repeat,
If we are to "Become One" with our spouse, it is more than just physically...it is emotionally as well as spiritually.
One Mind-One Life-One Body-One Flesh…ONE
Which leads to the last
LEAVE-CLEAVE-BECOME ONE…
NOT ASHAMED
The NOT ASHAMED in Gen 2:24-25 is all about TRUST
The webster 1828 definition is this for trust:
A confidence, a complete resting on the integrity of another.
Trust and honesty are a couple of the most basic, and most important, foundational issues in a marriage. Unfortunately, many spouses manage to mess these up – often without even being aware they are doing it.
Trust can come in shades of Grey...We look for the loopholes or we play word games to justify how our actions don't match our words.
We need to all understand, in every relationship, the "base level' of trust is not earned, it is given. From that point on, what we do increases or decreases that trust.
We do not have time to go into depth on what God teaches us about Trust as a whole. There are Trust Destroyers, Rebuilding Trust, and Maintaining Trust that are so vital.
Since I am sharing “What I’m For” in a marriage, I want to land on Maintaining Trust for this morning.
Maintaining Trust in our marriages begins and ends with Honesty and Integrity.
3 As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach false doctrine
4 or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These promote empty speculations rather than God’s plan, which operates by faith.
5 Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.
Pure Heart-Good Conscience-Sincere Faith
If we are to be "Not Ashamed" in our marriages, then we need to grow into transparency with one another.
Think of a Window Pane (Honesty). Cloudy and there is no clarity...however, the more we work on both our sides of the window, washing and polishing, the clearer we become to one another.
Here are some points to keep in practice:
1. No secrets
2. Follow Through with your pledges/commitments
3. Intentionally spend time together
4. Continue to "wash your side of the window"
5. If you stumble, then immediately confess, own it, and make sure that you continually seek God when faced with that issue again...Don't do it!
Here we just shared God’s perfect plan for marriage.
Remember, It’s more than a blueprint, it’s a firm foundation for every marriage to focus and achieve.
God’s Truth on Marriage
Leave-Cleave-Become One-Not Ashamed
We are now at our next Focus:
God’s Truth on Adultery
God’s Truth on Adultery
This is now what I’m against…Adultery.
Look again at Exodus 20:14
14 Do not commit adultery.
Let’s look at this verse closely.
To commit means to practice with intent, to effect or perpetrate in knowing an action.
You know what you are doing, it’s not an “oops.”
Adultery means to make impure or to mar something that is beautiful.
So to put it together…
God is simply saying Do not choose to make your marriage covenant, that I deemed beautiful, impure by your selfish actions.
Your choice
Marred and beauty tarnished that God ordained
The effects ripple throughout all your relationships
See, adultery is a sin that we all must recognize.
Physical Adultery
and
Emotional Adultery
See, adultery is a sin against yourself
It is, number one, a sin against yourself—against one’s own self.
Paul said, in 1 Corinthians chapter 6:18,
18 Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.
that, when a man commits the sin of immorality, he sins against his own body
There are few sins, if any, that will do more damage to you physically, more damage to you emotionally, more damage to you spiritually, more damage to your personhood and to your selfhood, than the sin of adultery.
You can laugh at God’s laws if you want.
But, friends, you don’t break God’s laws; His Laws break you.
But also, adultery is a sin against the home, your spouse and family.
Adultery is a sin against the home, and here is the sad thing about it—here is the unfair thing about it.
The lives of children every year are blasted and torn apart and wrecked and ruined by some selfish father, by some selfish mother, who seems not to care for the family, who seems not to care for the children. All they wish to do is to satiate their lust.
The collateral damage begins with the unsuspecting spouse. The one who chose to embrace the covenant of marriage and not violate it. To honor God and family.
It is a sin, a sin—not only against the self; it’s sin against the home.
But most of all, it’s a Sin against God Himself.
Friends, not only is adultery a sin against yourself, and not only is it a sin against your family and spouse, and not only is it a sin against the Church; God thundered from Sinai, “You shall not commit adultery,” because it is a sin against the Lord (Exodus 20:14).
David said, in Psalm 51 and in verse 4, “Against you and you alone I have sinned” (Psalm 51:4).
Surely, David sinned against Bathsheba. Surely, he sinned against Uriah the Hittite. Surely, he sinned against Israel. But, primarily, David sinned against the Lord.
It’s a sin against the Lord, but not only is it a sin that man must recognize; it is a sin that God must revenge—a sin that God must revenge. Take note of these scriptures:
4 Marriage is to be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, because God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
27 Can a man embrace fire and his clothes not be burned?
28 Can a man walk on burning coals without scorching his feet?
29 So it is with the one who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.
32 The one who commits adultery lacks sense; whoever does so destroys himself.
7 Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap,
God says, “Don’t kid yourself.” It doesn’t make any difference what other people say. It doesn’t make any difference what society says.
God says, “Be not deceived”.
Don’t you let anyone deceive you.
God’s Word is not changed.
The Ten Commandments have not been annulled.
God’s Word says, “You shall not commit adultery”
It is a sin that man must recognize. It is a sin that God must revenge.
Now that I’ve shared what I’m For-Christ Centered Marriage
And what I’m Against-Intentionally choosing to mar what God deemed beautiful and perfect,
It’s time to share with each of us to apply lessons from God’s Truth
God’s Truth Applied
God’s Truth Applied
Kerry and I have a new term for protective behaviors for a marriage to share with a husband and wife. Measures to apply into our covenant to not only strengthen our marriages but to help each couple grow closer to Christ as the center of their marriage.
They’re “Gates” to apply into their marriage.
See, a “Gate” is something that can swing open and closed, but should be done by only the “Owners” of that “Gate” no one else. They open and close it as ONE.
If there are thieves wishing to open that “Gate” without permission of the owners, and that permission is from both owners, not just one of them, it takes both owners in agreement, then a “Lock” must be placed on that “Gate” to prevent anyone from opening that except the owners acting together as ONE.
Now you get the picture. So here are the 4 Gates to install in your marriage today.
First Gate: Your Thoughts
That’s right, you must put up a gate to protect your thoughts.
Kerry and I agree that in our marriage, the most important principle, or “gate” was to not imitate the ideals and opinions of the culture around us but to be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how we think.
2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
The focus for us was not to transform the way we feel, but the way we think. This empowered us to discern God’s will.
5 and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.
We love to see how Jesus transforms hearts and how couples start to shift in their approach, perspective, and opinion when they build shared values based on the Word of God.
Everyone wants to improve their marriage; the problem is that everyone wants instant improvement.
Improving your marriage does not happen overnight. Like any other change you want to achieve in life, it takes time, effort and energy to create a marriage you love.
Begin by installing the Thoughts Gate.
Next Gate is Attitude
In your marriage, the first thing you, as a spouse, may need to adjust is your attitude. Start with an honest assessment of yourself. Step back and consider your own attitude before you start trying to change your spouse—then you will be heading in the right direction.
In your marriage you need to instill healthy habits for a healthy marriage; therefore it is important to make decisions together on what would be best for each situation. When your marriage needs healing, work through the conflict together.
10 I am my love’s, and his desire is for me.
The Third Gate…Conflict
One of the gates we need to put in place is how we handle conflict. Often, we seem to handle conflict with our spouse as if we are a parent talking to a child. The moment we do this, it creates a defensive barrier. Talk adult-to-adult. Do not attack or belittle your spouse.
32 And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.
When we handle conflict correctly, God can use it to grow us and strengthen our marriage as we don’t have to defend our case anymore.
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.
4 Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.
A marriage starts thriving when we consider our spouses needs over our own. Don’t try to get even in your marriage (or any other relationship). Build each other up! Rise above the offence and give your spouse what they need!
And the Final and Fourth Gate: Home vs. House
Be sure to create a home. In a house, people can stay together without sharing life. A home is where people live together, sharing and serving each other and making room for others.
Our worth, in the current culture, is often found in climbing the ladder of personal success or ministry. Or it could be found in other activities that, in themselves, are not wrong but have the potential to separate us from our spouse and godly relationships with those around us. These activities could also be considered an affair as well because it mars what God created as beautiful and perfect.
This could result in a husband and wife not talking to one another and hardly seeing or noticing their children.
Decide, as a couple, what godly values you want to build from for your relationship.
Your Identity in Christ has to do with who you are in Him and what you stand for in your relationship with Him.
Take time as a couple to talk about it, communicate it and live it!
Secure the gates in your marriage!
Thoughts-Attitude-Conflict-Home
Jonathan’s Quote
Jonathan’s Quote
God’s way just makes sense.
Whenever I’m speaking to kids I always tell them, “Close your eyes and picture this world.”
Then I help them visualize a picture of this world exactly how it is… with one small exception: for some reason everyone believes God’s plan for sex and marriage.
I paint the picture just like this:
“I want you to picture this world for a minute. Picture it exactly how it is. Wars, world hunger, sickness, brutality, death… the list goes on. Just imagine the world exactly like it is now… but with one exception: for some reason, everyone in the entire world believes God’s plan for sex and marriage and stays true to their one spouse for life.
The world still has suicide, crime, high school dropouts, and all other kinds of pain and hurt.
But for some unknown reason, imagine that every single person believes God’s plan to wait until sex for marriage, and no one performs any sexual activity outside of the marriage relationship, no one lusts after one another, and they once they get married they stay committed to their spouse, enjoying a sexual intimacy with just the two of them for the rest of their lives.
Picture this world.
• This is a world with no divorce.
• This is world with no dads cheating on mom, or moms cheating on dad.
• This is a world with no pornography, because no one is lusting and no one would pose for sexual pictures for that purpose.
• This is world with no prostitution, because sex is only for marriage.
• This is a world with no Pedophiles, no molestation and no sexual abuse of any kind, because again, sex is only between and man and wife in the intimacy of marriage.
• This is world with no STDs. No AIDS would be transmitted sexually, no gonorrhea, no Herpes, no Syphilis.
• This is world with no Chlamydia
• This is world with no HPV
• This is a world with very few abortions
• This is world with no rape.
• This is a world with no sex slavery.
Let me ask you… does God’s way sound so bad?
And that’s if the world just trusted God in one area. Imagine if they trusted him in everything.
that was from More than just the Talk by Jonathan McKee
Conclusion
Conclusion
Friends, we spent the better part of this morning looking at God’s Truth. His Truth of Marriage and His Truth of Adultery.
As we land this message, I would like to speak directly to those whose Trust has been torn away by adultery and to the ones who have chosen to be the one to Tear it away because of an affair, whether emotional or physical.
You both have a loving Savior named Jesus Christ who is here, alive and waiting to receive your pain, your hurt, your anger. He is here and wants to restore you to Him. To forgive your sins, the adultery that happened in your marriage.
Jesus is the One who will redeem you back into His love. He will take all the bitterness and shame.
Peter said it beautifully in his 2nd letter.
3 His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
He has given us everything. All you need to do this morning is ask…right now, right where you are.
This morning, you can surrender your life to Jesus Christ. Lay all your sin at the foot of the cross. Ask for forgiveness, repent from your selfish, self-centered ways. The sinful life you have been choosing and instead choose Jesus. You will then be reconciled with Him.
He loves you so much my friend. This is for all who are weary and tired. Tired of holding onto the bitterness and pain. Tired of holding onto the shame and regret.
For those of you online, I may be speaking to you as well. Please email me at joe@ehbc.org so we can have further conversations.
It’s time.
Kerry and Pastor Trevor will be down here this morning to pray with you as well as myself.
And for those who have a relationship with Christ, but you have realized this morning that you have not been applying God’s Truth into your lives, your heart.
We are here to pray with you today. The steps are open for you too.
And there may be those who are wanting to make EHBC their church home. Begin to join us in fellowship in discovering and applying God’s Truth into your lives. Then you too are invited to come down at this time and let’s talk.
As the band comes down right now and Kerry and Pastor Trevor join us on the floor, remember,
Jesus Christ has given us everything we need; His divine power and He calls us to Him!
Let’s Pray
Closing Announcements
Closing Announcements
Reading Plan
If you are following along with this month’s reading, we are on Daniel chapter 7 today. Starting this Saturday we will begin Galatians.
You can download this schedule on our web page on the What’s Happening page.
Library is OPEN!
And some really great news. We continue to return to more of a normal routine and activities.
Beginning today…the Church Library is open!
It is located down the EHBC KIDS hallway.
It will be opened between Sunday Morning Bible Study and Family Worship as well as after Family Worship. Open on Wednesdays before Prayer Meeting and also by appointment, just call the church office to make that appointment.
So, after we dismiss, feel free to check it out. Librarian Amanda would love to serve you.
Thank you all again for joining us this morning as we continue studying God’s Commandments for each of us.
Let’s all stand as I close us with an application truth from the Psalms for each of us.
Benediction
Benediction
3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!