Jesus on Relationships [Marriage] | Doug Sauder

More than the people who decided to get a divorce. What's happening? The power of commitment. The power of they get, well, I'm not happy. And if I leave this marriage, I'll be happy. Not necessarily. Listen, the only person who can make you happy is God. That's his job. No human being can take on that weight. The only person who can make you feel fulfilled and help you develop a sense of identity and purpose is God himself. And if you're stuck around happy marriage is that God, I need you to help me fill that cup that she or he can't fill God. I need you to help show me my mission that he or she can't fill God. I need you to give me the strength of heart to honor you, to keep this covenant that he or she can't give you. It's amazing how God can show up and all that. But even if you've failed, you've gone through a divorce and you're like, well, what do I do? (upbeat music) - All right, welcome to church. Everyone wanna extend your feet. If you haven't already. We've got the joy of the Lord via day 10,000 and the joy of the Lord is our strength. We're gonna sing about that together this morning.

Let's put our hands together. (upbeat music) ♪ This is the day you made ♪ ♪ So I rejoice and be glad ♪ ♪ And rejoice and be glad ♪ ♪ And this is where I believe ♪ ♪ That you are more than enough ♪ ♪ More than enough for me ♪ ♪ You are faithful to your promise ♪ ♪ You are strong when I am ♪ ♪ When I'm standing in your presence ♪ ♪ I have everything I need ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ More than a feeling ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ Oh my soul, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Bless his name ♪ ♪ Oh that is the name he sang ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ (audience cheering) ♪ Jesus, come one name ♪ ♪ You are worthy of all ♪ ♪ Worthy of all my praise ♪ ♪ You are faithful to your promise ♪ ♪ You are strong when I am ♪ ♪ And I'm standing in your presence ♪ ♪ I have everything I need ♪

♪ The joy of the Lord ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ More than a feeling ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ Oh my soul, oh bless his name ♪ ♪ Oh that is the name he sang ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ Let it rise up like a river ♪ ♪ Overflowing ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ And let it pour out ♪ ♪ With no living ♪ ♪ Overflowing ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Let it rise up like a river ♪ ♪ Overflowing ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Let it pour out ♪ ♪ With no living ♪ ♪ Overflowing ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. (upbeat music) ♪ The joy of the Lord ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ All that I feel is the joy of the Lord ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ All my soul will ask this day ♪ ♪ All that is beneath me say ♪ ♪ All my soul bless this day ♪ ♪ All that is beneath me say ♪ ♪ All my soul will ask this day ♪ ♪ All that is beneath me say ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ It is my strength ♪ (upbeat music) - We're grateful for the joy that we have in the Lord this morning's church. We're gonna continue singing about gratefulness that we have to our King Jesus, the same as today. ♪ There was no way until you made one ♪ ♪ Race upon race ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Even though I don't deserve it ♪ ♪ You did it ♪ ♪ Even though I could've done it ♪ ♪ You give it ♪ (audience applauding) ♪ Who am I ♪

♪ Let you be beyond your mind ♪ ♪ I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ All my life ♪ ♪ You've been right here by my side ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ Holy, holy ♪ ♪ There's only one ♪ ♪ I give you glory ♪ ♪ For all that you've done ♪ ♪ Even though I don't deserve it ♪ ♪ You did it ♪ ♪ Even though I could've done it ♪ ♪ You did it ♪ ♪ Who am I ♪ ♪ Let you be beyond your mind ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ All my love ♪ ♪ All my life ♪ ♪ You've been right here by my side ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ Who am I ♪ ♪ Let you be beyond your mind ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ All my love ♪ ♪ All my life ♪

♪ You've been right here by my side ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ Who am I ♪ ♪ We're just grateful ♪ ♪ 'Cause you've been so grateful ♪ ♪ People ♪ ♪ And I am ♪ ♪ I'm lifting both of my hands ♪ ♪ You give me chance after chance after chance ♪ ♪ They're all ♪ ♪ I'm giving all that I am ♪ ♪ 'Cause you give me chance after chance after chance ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm lifting both of my hands ♪ ♪ 'Cause you give me chance after chance after chance ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm giving all that I am ♪ ♪ 'Cause you give me chance after chance after chance ♪ ♪ Who am I that you gave me on your mind ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ All I know ♪ ♪ All I know ♪ Just grateful for you I don't just pray for you, for with you You and I, you keep me on your mind I'm just grateful for you I'm just grateful for you I'm just grateful for you I love you and I, you brought it by my side I'm just grateful for you

God, I'm just grateful for you I'm just grateful for you I serve, I'm dead, I'm here to test it God, I'm just grateful for you God, I'm just grateful for you I'm just grateful for you God, if they say I'm not, my, my God I'm just grateful for you God, I'm just grateful for you Yeah, anybody, anybody grateful in this place that God is who He says He is? That He's the same yesterday, today and forever And He knows exactly what's going on in every single one of our hearts, our minds, and our lives And sometimes we can look at a mountain and feel like it is just too hard to climb or to move And sometimes we can look at a giant feel like fear overcomes us But when we look again at Jesus doesn't all of those things seem a little bit smaller in comparison to what He can do who He is Romans 12, 1 says this "Therefore, since we have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensigners us let us run with endurance the race that lies before us keeping our eyes on Jesus the source and perfecter of our faith for the joy that lay before Him He endured the cross

despising the shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God for consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself so that you won't grow weary and give up we can trust Him let's look at Him together church as we continue to sing and let all those other things be very small in comparison to what He can do in our lives and the joy that was set before Him He went to the cross for us I cast my mind to Calvary where Jesus prayed and tied for me I see His wounds His hands His feet I save your all that curse and truth His body bowed and drenched in tears they laid Him down in Joseph's tomb the entrance here by heaven's stone a sigh of stare in awe

let's praise Him together church and all praise the name of the Lord and all praise the name of the Lord and all praise the name of the Lord and all praise the name of the Lord and all praise the name of the Lord and all praise the name of the Lord and all praise the name of the Lord and all praise the name of the Lord and all praise the name of the Lord and all praise the name of the Lord and all praise the name of the Lord and all praise the name of the Lord and all praise the name of the Lord and all praise the name of the Lord and all praise

the name of the Lord and all praise the name of the Lord and all praise the name of the Lord and all praise the name of the Lord and all praise the name of the Lord and all praise the name of the Lord and all praise the name of the Lord and all praise the name of the Lord and all praise the name of the Lord and all praise the name of the Lord # Of the Lord our light # # O praise His name # # Forever Lord # # For endless days # # We will sing your praise # # O Lord # # O Lord our light # # How the darkness shall be turned # # In robes of white # # Yeah, I declared # # The blazing sun #

# Shall pierce the light # # And I will rise # # On the Spirit's wings # # My gaze transfers # # O praise the name # # Of the Lord our light # # O praise His name # # Forever Lord # # For endless days # # We will sing our praise # # O Lord # # O Lord our light # # O praise the name # # Of the Lord our light # # O praise His name # # Forever Lord # # For endless days # # We will sing your praise # # O Lord # # O Lord our light # # O Lord # # O Lord our light # My Lord, you are worthy of every ounce of our praise. Every breath in our lungs, you have given to us. Let us give it back to you, daily, Lord. To say thank you, thank you. We're so grateful that you're always by our side. We're so grateful that you see it before we see it, God.

And you're moving even when we may not feel it, God, you're making a way. And you're doing it on our behalf, God. And we say thank you. Would anybody just want to say thank you to your King this morning? Thank you, God. [APPLAUSE] There's nowhere that we can go that your spirit isn't. So we thank you, God, for the mountains, for the valleys, for everything in between. That you will never leave us or forsake us. And if anybody in this room is feeling forsaken right now, God, speak the truth to them. For mind them, that you love them, that you're with them, that you're for them. And for us to just look back at you, Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Oh, how we love you, God. Keep our ears open, our hearts open and soften to hear what you have. As we continue to learn and to grow as a church, what it is to follow you. And every area and every season of our life, God. Be blessed by our offering of worship today. And we love you. We praise you. We ask this in the mighty name of Jesus. All God's kids said, amen. So over the last 25, 30 years as a pastor,

I've had lots of conversations about marriage. One of the most common is, hey, pastor, I was a single guy and I was floating through life. And I was feeling lonely and a bit aimless. And really, I was unhappy and insecure. But then I met her. And I grabbed onto her like a flotation device and all of a sudden I wasn't lonely. And I was happy and I felt secure in who I was. And I discovered this great love. But then something weird happened. We started to drift. And that feeling wasn't there. I had lost that loving feeling. And then that's when I struck me. I think I married the wrong person. So pastor, what do I do? This is a person who's fallen for the Hollywood rom-com thing that a person can meet all of your needs. And your ultimate goal is happiness. I just want to say it right now. If you are not happy and you want to get married to be, (congregation laughing) Because the same person who makes you happy will also make you sad. The right person, myth, that if you find the right person, all those insecurities will go away. The right person, if you find that right person, you're not happy, you'll suddenly be happy and fulfilled.

It is not true. See, maybe you haven't fallen to the right person, myth. Maybe, like conversations I've had, it's like the overly optimistic or naive view of marriage. This is sort of the version where people are like, well, how hard is love? How hard is the relationship? You just communicate, say you're sorry when you get in each other's way and you sort of go through life. And these are people who've never been in long-term relationships. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Because love and relationships are complicated. Let's be honest about that. The Bible says when two sinners live together, there will be trouble, there will be struggle. Though marriage is a beautiful gift, let's be honest about the challenge of a living, a vibrant marriage. And so the most common conversations I've had recently sort of sound like this. Pastor, I don't know if I ever want to get married. Frankly, I'm afraid because I've actually never seen a good marriage. I've heard people talk about it. I see in the Bible how it's supposed to work, but I didn't have it in my family. My parents got divorced or they fought like cats and dogs.

And so I've not experienced it. I've not experienced it in other people's lives. And so I'm scared to death. And so what's happening now? One of the latest trends is young people are delaying marriage by almost a decade. I mean, look at this slide for a second. In the 1960s, the average age of marriage was age 20, 21 for men and women. That's gone up almost a decade, 10 years later. Now it's 29, 30 years old. People that are young are delaying marriage. And not just for economic reasons. Not only is marriage being delayed, but often now today it's being redefined. What is marriage, marriage between a man and a woman for life? No. What if I get married and it doesn't work out, then I just move on to the next person to find happiness. And that doesn't work. Then I go on to the next person and marriage becomes a disposable asset. Or let's say my wife is not meaning bisexual beings. Well, let's have an open marriage and let's have people come in and out of our marriage bed and people are redefining marriage that way. Or maybe I have an attraction for someone of the same sex. So a man, marries a man and a woman, marries a woman and marriage today is being redefined. But the most common I think is not the delay of marriage

or the redefinition of marriage. It's simply the replacement of marriage. It's people who say, well, I want to be happy and I want my sexual needs to get met, but I don't want the commitment and the stress and the pressure of marriage. So I'm just gonna swipe right. I'm gonna hook up. I'm gonna get into a situation ship. We're gonna move in together and we're gonna live together because marriage is just a piece of paper, right? This idea of sex without commitment, this idea of meeting my own needs digitally, pornography. So I don't have to deal with a complication of living with an actual another person and working through all the things that I could actually mature and grow out of this sort of adolescence that we all want to live in. And so in all this confusion, the Bible is going to speak because there's nothing new under the sun. At the same time that Jesus taught and spoke, all these controversies were going on in the same way. In the Roman world, it was common for a man to have a wife and a mistress and a boy for sexual fulfillment. In the Jewish culture, it was common to divorce your wife for any reason you chose to, a small reason. You cooked the food wrong.

You didn't do what I wanted. And so marriage had become this sort of disposable asset. And so in this conversation with Jesus on marriage, it begins with this question. People want to know the answer to this question. Matthew 93, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason? Here's the question, Jesus, what are the acceptable ways I can get out of this marriage in God, not the anatomy? That's the question. And we're going to notice Jesus answered the question because it's not the right question. When someone asks Jesus the wrong type of question, he always reframes by asking another question or telling a story of sorts to sort of realign. So Jesus is going to give us a vision for marriage. And he's going to do it in three sentences. There's a clarity by which Jesus is going to say, hey, you're asking the wrong question. The question is not how do I get out of this marriage, it's not working for me. The question is what is marriage for and who made it? So Jesus in answering this question takes the people all the way back to Genesis. In other words, your people of the book, haven't you read the first page of the story? That at the beginning, the creator made them male and female and said for this reason, a man will leave his father and mother

and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate. Jesus pans back and elevates their view. He says, I wanna give you the original vision of marriage. Marriage is not a Western American idea. Marriage is not a sheet of paper. Marriage is God's design for humanity is a gift that's gonna reflect something powerful. We'll see that in a moment. He goes on to say, it's just because of the hardness of your heart that Moses permitted divorce, but it wasn't always so. And so as Jesus elevates this vision for marriage, I hope today that your view of marriage goes from here to here. Whether you're married or single, divorced or widowed in every way, Jesus wants to offer us this vision. And so in the very beginning, Adam is all alone. And Genesis records, this simple line. It's not good for this man to be alone. I wanna give him a strong helper, someone to walk with him through life, even in paradise. Adam all by himself was not a good idea. And so God creates holy matrimony. And so I'm just gonna take us through these three sentences and create a description of marriage based on Jesus' description of marriage. And it starts with this simple idea.

Marriage is a sacred covenant. Sacred means not ordinary. It means set apart, something that has a dedicated purpose. And the word covenant is a powerful word. It's the strongest relational word the Bible uses for how God interacts with people. So God makes a covenant with Abraham. This is a divine promise. He makes a covenant with Moses and all the people of God, the nation of Israel. When Jesus comes, He says, I am going to shed my blood and I'm gonna give you a new covenant. A covenant is a promise that God keeps. It's not a contract. A contract is sort of like an agreement that if it doesn't work out, you're looking for loopholes a way out, like a higher attorney to get out of this contract. A covenant is where God is present in the promise, where God is part of the promise. So when a husband and a wife enter into this sacred covenant together, they stand before their friends and their family and a pastor and God, and they make a promise to each other and to God. He's involved in that covenant promise. Marriage is a sacred covenant. And a wedding is one of God's favorite illustrations in the Bible. The Bible begins with the wedding,

it ends with the wedding. And I don't know if you know this, but when Jesus comes back, we're gonna go to a wedding in heaven called the Marriage Feast of the Lamb. It's gonna be a great time. You don't wanna miss it. And so there's this beautiful picture of this sacred covenant, this love of God. And there's a single word in the Old Testament that describes this covenant love of God. It's the word hased. Everyone say hased. It rhymes with blessed, easy to remember. 250 times, God says this is the way I love in covenant. Sometimes this word is described as the mercy of God or the love of God or the loyal love of God. My favorite interpretation of this very rich Hebrew word, it's the covenant love of God that you cannot run away from, that you cannot exhaust. A love that doesn't give up. A love that when you least expect it to be there is still there. And this is how God loves. And so if marriage is a sacred covenant, the question is not how can I be as happy as I can be or how do I get out of this? If it's not working for me, it's what does covenant love require of me? Jesus defines marriage as this sacred covenant.

Now let's build on that sentence. Marriage is sacred covenant between a man and a woman. Jesus says in the beginning, he made them male and female. Two distinct sexes, different but complimentary. And so let's talk for a moment about that because in our world, we've found this way to sort of separate sex from gender and now there's like 60 or 70 different genders and now people don't know what do I do and we have a world where there's toxic masculinity and there's over femininity and like people don't know what to do, what to think, what to feel, what do I believe? Just say, let's go back to God's. God created them male and female. So let's just, again, talk about this different on purpose. You see, if my wife and I are sleeping and we hear a noise at night and someone's breaking into our house, I'm not gonna say to my wife, hey, you get that. (audience laughs) That would be odd. Why? It's self-evident that the man should go and defend his house. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Now, why is that? Why is that? (audience applauds) Because God gave men testosterone a more dense muscle mass. Men's bodies are different than women's bodies

because testosterone has a different effect on the body than estrogen is. That's why at the men's conference we sung an octave lower and it sounded more like, oh, Jesus. If you go to the gathering, it sounds more like, Jesus. You know, it's not just the way we speak. It's the way our bodies are wired. It's the way we think, feel. Listen, there's a wave of empirical evidence about the difference between men and women. Now, we don't wanna overgeneralize and say women can't be strong or a man can't be gentle. We don't wanna do that, but we don't want to deny the differences that God created. Now, here's the brilliance of God's design. He takes a man and a woman who are different in so many ways, physically and emotionally and spiritually and puts them together so that their primary human connection, the most powerful social unit, is gonna require them to reach out to their primary, primarily their heavenly relationship. In other words, for this to work, there has to be this. God help us, I don't understand her. God, I don't understand him. I need your help to understand there's this difference between us and that difference turns out to be not a flaw in the design, it is the design. And so if you're like, man, men are different, women are different, yes, on purpose and for purpose. That's why there's this beautiful,

complimentary relationship. And so he says this union of two different people, a man and a woman, well, those two people are gonna become one flesh. They're gonna be naked and not ashamed. This idea in the Hebrew word means two people will experience this miracle in this mystery, the mingling together of souls in this beautiful gift called sex. Now, what is sex within a marriage? What is that union? Physical intimacy, along with emotional and spiritual intimacy? So I say here's probably the best way I understand sex within a marriage. And sex is the appointed way for two people to say, I belong to you completely, exclusively and permanently. I'm saying that again, sex is God's appointed way for two people to say, I belong to you by body belongs to you. I belong to you completely, exclusively and permanently. And so within this relationship, this beautiful intimacy of a man and a woman, I'm not gonna use sex to coerce or manipulate. I'm gonna use sex to serve and strengthen this union, this beautiful mystery of two distinct people becoming one. And then let's add to the definition. Marriage is a sacred covenant between a man and a woman for life. For life means there's no exit. And this leads to a joy and a security.

And so if your wife one day freaks out and starts packing her bag and says, I'm leaving. What do you do as a husband? You start packing your bag and you say, where are we going? 'Cause you're gonna go with her wherever she goes. You understand? That's what that means. This is, we're in it to win it, we're in it for life. No matter how we feel at the present moment. And so Jesus gives us this definition, these two becoming one. This glimpse of security and joy with one person for the rest of your life. But a lot of people, they wanna take sex outside of marriage, outside of God's good design and that has an implication. There's a difference between buying a car and renting a car. If someone wants to have sex with you and they don't wanna make a commitment, they turn you into a rental. But you were meant to be together with one person for the rest of your life. And so be thoughtful about how you use your body because there are implications. Sex within marriage is like enriched uranium. It can provide power for the entire marriage and all people around them but we can blow up the whole block. 'Cause be thoughtful because sex is not just a physical thing. We see this in this definition of two becoming one. Our world today says sex is a physical act. You eat, you drink, you have sex.

It's just a purely physical act. But if we're honest with ourselves, we know that's not true. Stay with me. When there is a physical assault, we know there's pain. But when we talk about a sexual assault, we know there's something more that happens in the human soul in a situation like that. Physical assault, sexual assault, two completely different things. And so if we know there's a weightiness by which we were created, and this gift of sexuality, we'll carry it in a different kind of way, a non-casual way. See, here's what we know. When people say today, if I say, you know, I just wanna live with this woman to see if we're compatible. I wanna see if we're sexually compatible, I wanna see if we can get a license. It seems logical to go, let's practice marriage before we buy. But if you just look at the research, and I encourage you, look at the research yourself, if you live together before you're married, your divorce rate goes up 30 or 40%.

Why is that? Because you're going against the design of God, and hoping it works out. This is Adam and Eve in the garden going, here are all the trees you can eat from. No, we want that one. We wanna do it our own way, and our own way that sin has implications to it. Now, I know that some of you, maybe you're new to church, new to Christianity, new to the Bible, and you're like, Doug, what are you saying? Do you realize how out of touch what you're saying is in the world we live in? I do. And here's what I wanna say. What Jesus says here was not just out of touch today in this culture, it was out of touch back then. People like that, that's not the way the world works, Jesus. So here's the thing you need to know about Jesus. Jesus will offend you no matter what culture you live in, and no matter what time you live in. He loves you enough to tell you the truth. So when people are talking about how to get out of marriage, he's like, you have it all wrong. Let me elevate God's ultimate vision of marriage, and that's gonna lead to an offense. And so here's what the Christian view of sex and marriage is. It's different than the worlds,

because we have a different view of God, and we have a different view of the Bible. And so you're gonna have to wrestle with that when you go to work and talk to your friends and family and have these conversations, because we can't pretend like it's not different. It is different. This is our authority in our life. And Jesus' words are the ones we follow, because we say we're Christians, we're followers of Jesus. And so we wanna take these words to heart. The last part of the sentence I wanna complete is this. Marriage is a sacred covenant between a man and a woman for life that mirrors Christ's love for the church. And this is the one that most Christians don't think about. Your marriage tells a bigger story than just your story. It tells the story of God's covenant love that doesn't give up on us. Wow. Here's how Paul describes it. We talked about a husband serving his wife and a wife respecting honor and her husband. He talks about this inner play of how they live together. He says this. This is a profound mystery. I'm talking about Christ and the church. Which means the way you live out your marriage is a witness, not just that God's grace is real, or that God's blessing is over your marriage, or your family.

It's actually pointing people to a greater love, the greatest love that God has, that he so loved the world that he gave his only son. And that he's not gonna give up on us, no matter what we do, no matter what we say, no matter how far we run. Aren't you grateful for the love of God doesn't give up on you? (audience applauds) And this can reframe marriage. It can actually give marriage a mission. So some people, when they think about like, my number one goal is that I'm happy in marriage, that my needs are met, that I can express myself and unfulfilled. If that's your number one goal, you're gonna be disappointed a lot. Listen, there are some couples that have an ease in marriage. There's not a lot of conflict. They see the world the same and that's some people's marriage. And that testifies to the glory of God and a couple that are deeply in love and deeply friends and act together and live on mission. But there's some couples that are like, we just struggle. It's just hard for us. But you know what, if your goal is to glorify God and point to Jesus, both of these marriage, 'cause equally point to the power of God to keep you together in spite of your differences.

And this gives marriage a mission. So does your marriage have a mission? Jesus is causing us to think in a deeper way. And so I wanna address an issue for the Bible. I messed up, I got divorced. How does God view this? And I wanna first give you sort of the hard truth so buckle your seatbelt. And then I wanna give you a story of hope and redemption. So let's do the hard part first. The book of Malachi chapter two, God is addressing men who made a covenant to marry their wife and raise their kids. And now they've abandoned that covenant. They've left their wife and they've left their kids. And now they want God's blessing. And so here's God's response to the men who have left their families. He says, "You flood the Lord's altar with tears. "You weep and wail because He no longer looks with favor "on your offerings or accepts them "with pleasure from your hands." And you ask, "Why?" It's because the Lord is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You've been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage, covenant. It's God's saying, look at that word, witness. He's like, "I was there when you stood

"in front of your family and friends "and made a vow to be faithful to this woman, "in front of all these witnesses and in front of me. "I was there, I was a witness to your marriage, "and now I'm a witness to you abandoning your marriage. "You made a covenant, and now you've broken the covenant, "and you wonder why when you pray I don't answer. "You wonder why my favor is not on your life." And then he goes on to describe what happens when a family breaks up. What happens to those kids? What happens to that life? Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth. The man who hates and divorces his wife says the Lord albighty, the God of Israel, does violence to the one he should protect, says the Lord almighty. So be on your guard and do not be unfaithful. He says, you know, when you leave your wife and your kids, you allow them to be vulnerable to suffer violence. There's no one to protect them, no one to provide for them, especially back in this time. And so God's like, I, you've promised to protect and provide,

and now you've left, and now they're vulnerable, and you want me to bless you. And this just speaks about the role of a husband and a father in the household. So I just want to say this. Sometimes a woman will come to us and say, you know, my husband is using profanity, and he's pinned me up against the wall, and I'm afraid to go home. And he's saying, I should submit to him and come on home. So what do I do? And here's what we'll do. We're gonna call that husband, that father, and we're gonna invite him in to have a conversation. And we're gonna invite him to think about how the fear of God needs to change the way he thinks that a woman shouldn't go back into a violent or abusive situation, just because he says he has the power. Listen, power in a Christian marriage is not meant to control or harm or manipulate. Power in a Christian marriage is meant to serve, right? To protect so that families can thrive. And so often what we don't think about in this situation is living in the fear of God, is that God is not just your father, but God is your father in law. (congregation laughing) That means that the woman you marry, that's his daughter. Now I'm gonna give you a little insight into weddings.

So when I say everyone stand, the bride comes in, the father, the bride walks in, she's beaming, the groom is crying, always crying. And then there's this handoff where the father of the bride hands his daughter's hand to this man who's gonna marry his daughter. And he always whispers in his ear and people like, "Oh, that's so sweet." But what you don't hear him say is, if you hurt her, I'll kill you. That's what you don't hear. I get to hear that. And he smiles awkwardly and politely and shakes his hand and will woe. Why would a father say that to his future son-in-law? That's my girl, that's my baby. I've cared for her since she was young. I prayed for her. I've showed her what a man is like, how a man should treat a woman. And I wanna make sure that you treat my daughter right. Yeah. That's how God thinks about your life. Boom. And not just when she's 20, but when she's 30 or 40 or 50, when her body changes, when her energy level changes, when she goes through all the things that women go through, yeah, yeah, she's still God's daughter and he's still your father-in-law.

And so how you treat her matters to God. And so when we think about Christian marriage, we see God's view is always over our life, not just the things that we do, but even the way we think and feel. And so if you're like, man, this is hard. So maybe you're here and you're like, I feel stuck but our mind feels broken. What do I do with that? Here's what I want you to know. The power of commitment, of keeping a covenant, has a blessing in and of itself. And again, researchers have seen this. University of Chicago, Linda Wade did a study, hundreds of couples that said, "I feel very unhappy in my marriage." Now let's follow those couples for five years. Two-thirds of the couples who said, "I feel very unhappy in my marriage," but didn't quit on their marriage. Five years later, two-thirds said, "I'm happy in my marriage." What's happening? More than the people who decided to get a divorce, what's happening? The power of commitment. Well, I'm not happy, and if I leave this marriage, I'll be happy, not necessarily. Listen, the only person who can make you happy is God. That's his job. No human being can take on that weight. The only person who can make you feel fulfilled and help you develop a sense of identity and purpose is God himself. And if you're stuck or unhappy in marriage is a God, I need you to help me fill that cup that she or he can't fill God. I need you to help show me my mission that he or she can't fill God. I need you to give me the strength of heart to honor you, to keep this covenant that he or she can't give you. It's amazing how God can show up and all that. But even if you've failed, you've gone through a divorce, you're like, "Well, what do I do with that? Do I just live in shame or guilt? Do I keep my head down? How do I lift my head back up? How do I live for Jesus?" I want to share with you a story of hope from a guy named Mackay and a woman named Linda whose lives in relationship were so broken and they wondered, could marriage be for us? Take a look at Linda and Mackay's story. Well, I was raised by a single mom. I grew up completely fatherless. I did not see any marriages growing up. It was all unwed moms, single moms. You hear this verbiage of, all men are the same, all men are cheaters. There's no point in getting married. So I grew up with that as my background and I just felt like my mom did it by herself. I can do it too.

Let me just focus on my career. Let me focus on my education. So I felt like no point in getting married. Growing up, for me, it would always see either one parent or you would never see like that tea parent household. I just thought it was normal especially in the environment. I grew up in vision of marriage or husband and wife and how they should interact. I just didn't have any of that. I ran from commitment and everything was very superficial. Most girls want a wedding. Most girls want to get married but when you've been so hurt, when you come from abandonment and fatherlessness, bad things happen to you. I was in my early 30s and unfortunately being in my sin, I got the woman that I was with pregnant. So what do I think at this point? I'm like, well, I don't want to be like my dad. I want to try to do things the right way but this is all the wrong reasons I got married. Less than a year, it's pretty much, it's a wrap, it's done. The thing I didn't want to be, it's now showing it led me to a point where I needed to start really having doing some self-evaluation. It was a strip of everything. I was humbled and to a point where I was like, you know what, I'm tired of doing it my way. All right, God, yeah, I'll do it your way. I tried everything. You know, partying, the careers, the jobs, the traveling. That didn't, that doesn't last long. I started coming to Calvary. It was because I said, you know what, man, I've tried everything. Let me give God a try. It was here where I learned that, you know, marriage at his best is a mirror or a picture of the gospel. I totally surrendered my heart and my mind to the Lord and it was the word of God that transformed me. When I met my husband, we were both in very, we were leaving very bad relationships. I was like, you know what, man, I've tried everything, you know, and I'm like, let me go back to what I know and that's sports. I decided to take on amateur boxing. So I joined the boxing gym and he was there as well. We just started sparking the same interest. It was, it was organic. I was not looking for anything at that point. Neither was my wife. So it was important for us to do things differently. Little by little, the wall started coming down, but I think it's because God was also doing something in me. I had to just remember scripture and remember what he says, you know, do not lean on your own understanding. Don't try to figure this out on your own knowledge. submit to me and I will direct your path. The reason why I didn't want it is because of my pain and my trauma, you know? But when I see what God has done, I'm like, man, he is good,

he is gracious, he is kind, you know, he gives good gifts. Right after we got married, we were like, we need to learn 'cause we don't know what we're doing. So we got into small groups, we got into married couples groups, we came to everything that Calvary had to offer for married couples. And then we went from being in small groups to leading premarital tables, to then eventually becoming mentors and then just helping other couples navigate the journey of marriage. Everything I went through and all this stuff I got there, you kind of feel embarrassed by it, right? You come to a point now when you surrender to all the Jesus and he's like, no, I'm gonna use that. I'm gonna use it for good, I'm gonna use it, we're gonna use that to bless somebody else. This other young man who makes who's going through the same thing, he sees that God was able to redeem you, right? So now there's hope for him to be redeemed as well. I understand that if I do a God's way, we do our marriage, God's way. When we surrender that to him and we understand that, I truly believe and I've seen him again in my life that he will redeem and will restore. I never wanted to get married. I never wanted kids and how beautiful what God has done. He's brought life out of all that brokenness that I brought and he does beautiful things, out of broken things. I never thought marriage was attainable for a girl like me.

I really didn't. The purpose of marriage is not to give you a comfortable life. Marriage serves a greater purpose. (audience applauds) Yes. Our God is a redeemer. I mean, when Linda says I didn't think marriage was something for a girl like me. I'm too broken. Makai says when I think about all the relationship failures, all the brokenness, I was embarrassed. And sometimes as a Christian, you could just walk with your head down, like, you know, I wish I could have a marriage like them, I messed it up so bad, I wonder God just shakes his head and he looks at me. No. No. Makai and Linda realize that God is a God of redemption, that God is a God of grace, that his hased unfailing covenant loves as get back up. I'm gonna give you a second chance, I'm gonna bring forgiveness and I'm gonna give redemption and you can walk not just in a way where you're happy in marriage, but if you see Makai and Linda, they're on a mission in marriage. They're here to help other couples. They talk to couples before they get married and as they get married, they're discipling,

they're meeting, they're praying, they're giving books, they're challenging, and they've discovered this beautiful mission in their family. What if God gave you a mission? So we see Jesus elevating this vision of marriage above what people could see and talking about his depth of redemption. And now we wanna get practical. I wanna close our time with just some practical ways that the postures of marriage that you can walk through as you walk, 'cause I wanna show you something happened for Suzanne and I 33 years ago, this happened for us. We started Doug and Suzanne Incorporated. It was a brand new merger and acquisition. It was beautiful. Two people became one and you're like, who is that? Well, so when people walk up to Suzanne, they're like, you have an aged a day and they look at me and they're like, you've aged well. (audience laughs) Like fine wine or something. But listen, through all the stages and changes, there are these postures of marriage that allow you to live a fully alive marriage in Christ. And so we're gonna bring out a couple to illustrate these three postures of marriage. So please welcome Jamie and Cece, not only do they lead worship, but today they are gonna demonstrate

these postures of marriage. Jamie and Cece, we are so glad that you're here. So the first posture is back to back. So this is one of the postures of marriage. And here's what we guys like. I got your back. What is Psalms and Ecclesiastes? The one can be overpowered, two can defend themselves. So in marriage, this is one of the postures because here's the thing. Jamie can see what's coming at his wife's back. He can see her vulnerability. So when someone comes, back up, back up, that's his woman. And if a temptation comes, if there's a girl coming for Jamie, Cece is like, that's my man. You better stay away from my man. And the goal in back to back is you have a watch flight. You see, in the Garden of Eden, Adam did not do his job. He passively sat by and watched the enemy tempt his wife. And who suffered for that? Both of them because they're one flesh. If he suffers, then she suffers. And I got your back means we understand. We are a union together. Now, let's say Jamie's acting the fool. And he's not doing what he's supposed to be doing. Sisi's not helpless, she can pray. God, bring conviction. God, draw him to your grace. There's something about the spiritual battle

because there is a very real enemy that wants to destroy this relationship for real. His name is Satan. He's come to steal and kill and destroy. And part of, I got your back and defending support is realizing that Jamie and Sisi are not the enemy. The enemy's the one who's coming to destroy them. And in a successful, thriving marriage, back to back posture is something that you practice. Now, the second posture is gonna be side to side. And this is where you sort of walk through life together. Something powerful about holding the hand of your partner, your covenant partner. They dream together. They're gonna do life together. They're gonna build a family together. They're gonna go on adventures together. But here's the thing, they're not always going to agree. Anybody married know what I'm talking about? So sometimes Sisi's like, hey, let's go right. And Jamie's like, let's go left. And oh, wait, wait, wait. Okay, the one thing you can't do is can't let go, right? 'Cause there's a bond here. And so not everyone can just do their own thing. So this whole side to side, you're my person. It's gonna require yielding and serving. So there are some days where Sisi's like, hey, let's go right. And Jamie doesn't really want to go right, but he looks at his wife and is like, oh, oh, look at that.

Jamie, you like, come on, we should clap for that. That's a good skin. And then there are some days that Jamie's like, I think we should go left. And Sisi's not really gonna agree, but okay, here we go. (audience laughing) Now, what is this? So this is how you walk side by side. The book of Amos says is how can two people walk together unless they've agreed to do so? We agree, hey, it's the most important thing is not the decision we make. It's that we go together in the decision we make. And so Sisi and Jamie are each given a role in this partnership of side by side. Ephesians five first describes the role that Sisi's gonna play. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. So submission or yield is both ways. Both are called to yield. But it is Sisi's primary Jesus' role in the relationship to yield to her husband's leadership in their life. Now, yielding and submission is not weakness. When Jesus yields to the Father, that was not a sign of his weakness. It was a sign of his greatness. And because he yield to his Father, God exalted him to the highest place.

Sisi gets to play that role in this marriage. Is this marriage images who God is? Jamie gets to play the role of the servant leader, Jesus. Look at Ephesians five, the next verse. Husbands, love your wives. This is Christ, love the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word. Jamie is called not just to defend his wife, to lay down his wife for his life, but to serve her. Like Jesus washed his disciples' feet. That means when he's not feeling it, "Hey baby, rub my feet." Sure, I'd love to. You can do that later. - Yeah. (congregation laughing) - How do I read the Word of God to her? It doesn't mean that she never speaks over your life, but that's your primary role. And so each of these have a Jesus role to play as they walk side by side. And I wanna say her greatest need is that you love her. His greatest need is that you respect him. And often I'll watch the elevation of a wife's words will allow that man to rise to those words because your words have a power in his life that no one else's words have. Power of tongue is the power of life and death. Those who love it will eat its fruit.

And this is what it means to walk side by side. And then there's a third posture, and now it's face to face. It's intimacy. And intimacy begins with a gaze, with eye contact. As you look at this person and you're like, "This is a person that I'm gonna open my life up to." Fully known and fully loved. That feeling requires trust. That feeling is uncomfortable. That feeling can make you vulnerable because here's the reality. The person who loves Jamie Most, C.C., can also hurt him the most deeply. The person who loves C.C. the most can also hurt her the most deeply. This is what love is. When you open yourself up, you open yourself up to hurt and misunderstanding as well as love. And so there are gonna be these moments where they're gonna offend each other, not be on the same page. And so one of the most powerful things that Jamie can do in his marriage is to say, "C.C., I'm sorry, will you forgive me?" One of the most powerful things C.C. can say to Jamie, is Jamie, "I'm sorry, will you forgive me?" Now here's the question, who apologizes first in marriage? Ready?

It's true. Think about it. It might be the race then. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Now here's the other thing you don't know about Mary's that no one tells you. Jamie didn't know this when he married Sisi, but he's going to be married to seven versions of Sisi. By the second he figures out who she is and finally begins to get a glimpse of understanding who she is, she's going to change the combination to her heart. Because women, you know this, you want to be pursued, you know this, it's okay. Jamie's going to be married to the 20-year-old version of Sisi and the 30-year-old version, the 40-year-old version, the 50-year-old version, the mom version, all the ups and downs versions, the kids, the grandkids, all the things. And at every stage of life he's going to have to learn to love her differently and Sisi in the same way is going to have to love seven different versions of Jamie. Remember a sacred covenant between a man and a woman for life that reflects the love of Christ for the church, and this is the picture and posture of marriage. Back to back, side to side, face to face, you may kiss your bride. Oh, thanks guys. So, here's what I've discovered, so this is Suzanne and I, 33 years into this journey of doing back to back, side by side, and face to face. And I remember my 22-year-old self writing an underlying something in my Bible in the book of Proverbs. He who finds a wife finds a good thing and receives favor from the Lord. And I found 33 years later that is true. I am the man I am today because of my wife. I'm the person and I'm the father of the husband because of my wife, and she has shaped me and I have shaped her, and there's a beautiful, beautiful vision that God has for your marriage. It's not going to be perfect, but it still can be glorious.

And God has helped us discover that our marriage has a mission. And so we want to open up our home and interact with singles and help newly married couples to try to figure out how to walk and the question is, does your marriage have a mission even in its imperfection? You see, each of us in our own way have strength. Some of you are really good at back to back, but you're not really great at side to side. You're not going to yield in serving. Some of you are yielding in serving, but you're not created in intimacy at those type of conversations. You're not going to opening up. But in every one of these ways, if you're a married couple, you can lean in and begin to get God help us in this area of our life specifically. And one of the ways you can begin to grow in this area, especially if your marriage feels stuck or stagnant, is that you begin to ask this question to your spouse this week. How can I serve you? How can I help you? What a simple question. Even if you ask that question every day, all of a sudden you get these little drops of healing, these little drops of hope, wow, so we just ask a simple question of what we're called to do together. We find the power of God is present. And here's the interesting thing. When Jesus says the relationship with the husband and wife reflects Christ's love for the church, those postures back to back, side to side, face to face, are the postures of our relationship with Jesus. You know Jesus has your back. You know Jesus fights for you. He defends you. He advocates for you. He intercedes for you. Jesus has your back.

Are you grateful for that? Jesus fights for you and defends you. It's a picture of us coming in love. Even when you go to deserve it, he still fights for you. How can we then do that for our spouse? Is he just walk side by side with you, is he your friend and partner for life? Does he speak words of life in you as you journey? Yes, this is what Jesus does. And does Jesus look you face to face and say, I want to know you. I knock at your heart open up. I want to come on in. I want to have a relationship with you. Every one of these postures is a picture of these postures of God. And so marriage has a holy purpose. As we go through life, we don't want the world's version to dumb down what this beautiful sacred covenant is all about. So I'm going to ask every married couple to join hands. I'm going to ask every single person to pray for the marriage of the random or the marriage they know. We're just going to take a moment and pray for every marriage in this house. Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus. I pray for every husband, that they would learn how to serve and love their wives, to understand, to pray for them, to lead their homes spiritually. God, I pray for every wife that she would learn to respect and honor her husband and this beautiful yielding of back and forth, this beautiful words of affirmation and encouragement God that you would take moments of criticism, moments of disconnection and bring healing and forgiveness. God, I pray that conversations of forgiveness. And God, I pray for every couple that you would give them a deep love for each other and a mission

that's greater than their marriage, a greater than what they've thought about. For their kids, for their hours to others, God, I pray that you would begin to give them glimpses of your goodness and for those marriages that feel like they're just hanging on by a thread. God, we know that your grace and redemption is present like we saw in Lyndon MacKay's story. God, bring healing, bring redemption, bring your peace. And we pray that these marriages and the families that are represented would not just change this church, but would be used to change the world for your name, Jesus, we pray. Amen. Amen, hey. (audience applauding) So, the Bible lets us know that marriage has a holy purpose, but marriage is hard. Bible lets us know that singleness has a purpose, but singleness is hard. Do you know why marriage is a thing of us so hard? Because life is hard. Anybody know life is hard? Yeah, and this is where we need the grace of God. And so as you sit here today, I want you to know that in the crowd, Jesus sees you and knows you and loves you. In the book of Revelation, we get the description of Jesus walking through the church.

He's walking through the church and he's making observations. And in Revelation chapter two, he makes an observation about a certain group of people in a church called Ephesus. And here's his observation. He says this, "I know your deeds, your hard work, "and your perseverance. "You have persevered and have endured hardship "for my name and you have not grown weary." He sees some of you that are working so hard and you haven't quit. He's some of you that you want to keep your commitments. You want to honor him, but it's tough at where you at at work, where you at in your relationships, where you at in your marriage, where you are with the kids. It's hard, he knows that, he sees that. And he gives this beautiful accommodation. I see you. But then he says this, "He looks deeper. "Yet I hold this against you. "You have forsaken the love you had at first. "Consider how far you have fallen. "Repent and do the things you did at first." You see, just can see not just what we do, but why we do it. And he calls these Christians back to those first moments when they met him, when they loved him, when they felt forgiven, when they felt free, when they felt so joyful, when they felt so alive

and they felt so blessed, they were so grateful. And that slow fade of just walking through your life and life is hard, creates a drag. And so now you might be doing the right things, but not for the right reason, not because you love, just 'cause maybe you have to, or it's duty, or it's the right thing to do. It's like, I see that. And I want you to get that all back, that love back. And so you have a chance to repent, to change the way you think and behave, to change the attitude of your heart so that you can experience this relationship you had at the very beginning. Then he says this, "And whoever has ears, "I'll let them hear what the Spirit says to the church, "to the one who is victorious, "I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, "which is in the paradise of God." Now this is the beautiful part of the invitation. Jesus sees you and knows you and is calling out what is going well for you, what you're doing, that's hard. But he also points out the area of need and repentance, so that, not just so that you can obey him, get in line, so that you can experience refreshing, so that you can experience the abundant life that he has called, Jesus doesn't want you to just live your life and drag your feet in hope for heaven one day. He wants to walk with you, he wants to experience the awe and the love of a relationship with him,

but that's gonna require a change for all of us. So how often does a Christian repent? Well, if a Christian is self-aware, we repent every day, every day we fall short of the glory of God, every day we fail, every day we say God. Forgive me, and there's this beautiful promise, if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and cleanse us from unrighteousness. When Peter's preaching a sermon in the book of Acts, he says, "If you repent, then times of refreshing from the Lord will come." Think about that, refreshing from God himself will come into your life, that dryness, that emptiness, that staleness, that numbness, he can wash all that. And so I wanna create a moment for us to repent, and I don't want you to think of repentance as this super high bar that the really messed up people need. If you're a sin, raise your hand. Okay, great. And so I'm gonna walk you through some things that maybe today you can repent of. And then at the end, I'm gonna ask you, if any of these hit you, just stand. This is what we're gonna close. We're gonna close together as a group of people who are poor in spirit and need the help of God in our life. So maybe if you're married and your marriage is characterized more by criticism and words that are wounded and words of encouragement. Maybe you see the sin of your spouse,

but not your own sin. Maybe you've just gone on autopilot and you're coasting. Maybe you've used sex as a tool to punish your partner by withholding. Maybe you've decided to meet your sexual needs outside of your relationship. And so that may be the form of a hook up with someone or ongoing relationship of adultery. Or just that private sin of pornography and fantasy and living in your own world. Maybe for you, it's a marriage without a mission. You're focused on what you don't have and what you don't get from that person and you've missed the chance to live on mission and glorify God. If you're not married, maybe you've made marriage your idol and you're not gonna really live life 'cause you're waiting for that thing to live life and you can repent of that and live out your singleness for Jesus. Maybe you've sort of been one of these people that redefined marriage. Like I don't wanna get married, but I'm living together with someone who's not my husband or wife and we just sort of settled in that place 'cause everyone does it, right? And today you realize that's a sin I need to repent of. I need to get right with God. Again, as a single person,

how do I honor God and my sexuality in this face of my life, knowing his love over me helps me to know who I am. Maybe you're hearing, you don't know Jesus at all and all this is like, wow, this is a lot for church. Listen, the most important thing for you is that you get to know Jesus. It's not that you get your life altogether and come to Jesus, as you come to Jesus and he helps you get your life altogether. And so repentance is just God, I've sinned. I live my life apart from you and now I wanna live my life with you at the center. And so I repent, I admit I'm a sinner. I wanna ask you in my life. I know the story that God so loved the world that he sent his only son that whoever believes and wouldn't have to perish but could have everlasting life. Do you just, I wanna acknowledge that if you die for me on that cross, I wanna live for you. So forgive my sins and then come into my life. And that begins with the repentance, just calling out for help. One of those powerful things a human being can say to God is help because he has power and wisdom and strength and love that you do not have, that's true of all of us. And so if any of those things that I just shared sort of hit you and you feel that like, yeah, that's me.

I'm gonna ask you, don't worry about who's around. Just stand up to your feet and we're gonna pray a prayer of repentance. We're gonna pray a prayer of God's grace. We're gonna pray a prayer of what only he can do in our lives. He's the only one that can do these things. And so as you stand, know that God sees the courage of your standing and the faith of your standing. And when we stand in faith and in boldness, while the Bible says without faith, it's impossible to please God. And so Jesus, we offer you our lives. In that area of conviction, today we stand and say, we wanna repent. We wanna confess that sin. The sin of what we've done, that we know is wrong, or the sin of what we haven't done, that we know we should do. God, whether that sin to us seems big or small, it's all the same to you. And your grace is enough to bring forgiveness and healing and redemption. So help us not to live and shame for those who've never started a relationship with you, God, as they now confess in their hearts and minds that they're a sinner that they need to savor, that you would forgive them, that your spirit would descend into their life, that you would cover them with your covenant love. And Jesus, we thank you right now for all the prayers

you're answering in the room. And we thank you for the grace to walk out of here and begin to make some of the difficult changes you've called us to, whether that's confessing to a friend or someone in prayer, or making a bigger decision about changing the way our whole life is structured. Jesus, we don't want to just say we love you We don't want to just call you Lord, and then keep all these things to ourselves. We want to honor you in every area of our life. So this is how we stand before you today, and we ask you to give us the grace to walk in this identity. We pray this together in Jesus' name, amen. Hey, can we thank God for the beautiful gift of conviction and comfort and peace. And so here's how we're gonna close. If you stood and you prayed and you're like, I prayed to come to know Jesus, or I need to pray with someone. There's something I need wisdom on or help on. We're gonna have our prayer counselors here. We're gonna be here till the last person leaves. And so we invite you, come forward, pray with someone, and watch God work in your life. God bless you, have a great weekend. If you don't come for prayer, we'll see you on Wednesday or next weekend. (gentle music)

(gentle music) [MUSIC PLAYING]