RPM : Prenuptial Nursery Rhymes (Full Experience)

It says, "My soul is downcast within me, yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope. Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed for His past compassion has never failed. Their new every morning, great is your faithfulness. So maybe you're coming in today and your soul feels downcast. We're going to call to mind the faithfulness of God, remind ourselves that His mercy is a new every morning to come all this worshipless, let's lift our spirit. Here we go. One, two, three, let's go. I feel the means that there's scars reached out and rescued me and I have known the love of the Father's heart, a prodigal now routine from where I was to where I'm now. It's so overwhelming, the more I see a boom, the more and more. I see a boom, all the roundly, come on, say I can't help but raise you, raise you, Lord. I can't help but lift a shine of joy when I think about it. I can't help but raise you, raise you, Lord. For the blood you spilled to save my life, until I cannot repay, for the cross you bore me with hope in arms salvation that call my name, come on, from where I was to where I'm now. It's so overwhelming, come on, call the mind, the more and more. I see a boom, all the roundly, I can't help but raise you, raise you, Lord. I can't, I can't help but lift a shine of joy when I think about it. I can't help but raise you, raise you, Lord. I can't help but lift a shine of joy when I think about it. I can't help but raise you, raise you, Lord. I can't help but lift a shine of joy when I think about it. I can't help but lift a shine of joy when I think about it. I can't help but lift a shine of joy when I think about it. I can't help but lift a shine of joy when I think about it. I can't help but raise you, raise you, Lord.

I can't help but lift a shine of joy when I think about it. I can't help but raise you, raise you, Lord. I can't help but lift a shine of joy when I think about it. I can't help but lift a shine of joy when I think about it. I can't help but raise you, Lord. I can't help but lift a shine of joy when I think about it. I can't help but lift a shine of joy when I think about it. I can't help but lift a shine of joy when I think about it. I can't help but raise you, raise you, Lord. I can't, I can't help but raise you, raise you, Lord. Come on, we're going to set our attention this morning. Now while we're here in this place and the house of God, we're going to fix our eyes on him and we're going to worship him today with all we've got because he's worthy of it all. Amen. Come on, let's sing this one more time. I can't help but raise you, raise you, Lord. I can't help but lift a shine of joy when I think about it. You've been faithful now until the end, I can't help but raise you, raise you, Lord. Say I can't help but praise. Praise the Lord. One more time. I can't help but praise. Praise the Lord. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again.

Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again.

Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. Sing it again. You are more than able. Yes, you're more than able. You are more than able. Yes, Jesus. Oh, you're more. You are more than me. Oh, we believe, we believe. You are more than able. Who am I to deny? What the Lord can do? Oh, we know tonight. We believe. Jesus, you're more than able. You are faithful. Jesus, today, regardless of the situations we face, we put our trust in you. Lord, your will be done. We long for you, we worship you. Oh, teach me to rely on you. You know better than I do. Help me to not assure. I know better than you. I lean on on my own understanding.

I fix my eyes on you. To you alone. I fully surrender because I only long for you. Oh, I only long for you. Oh, we long for you, Jesus. We sit our eyes on you. We put our trust in you, Jesus. Oh, you're all we want. You're all we need. Oh, can we sing what you were? To lay your word. God, my life. And I will fall close beyond. So my steps. So my steps. And save my mind. For you are God and I am not. I lean on on my own understanding. I fix my eyes on you. To you alone. I fully surrender because I only long for you. I lean on on my own understanding. I fix my eyes on you. To you alone. I fully surrender because I only long for you. I only long for you. Oh, we surrender. Oh, we lay it down on your feet. We trust in you, Jesus. We trust in you, Lord.

His promises are true. Oh, we trust in you, Lord. We thank you, Jesus. You will sing this. I don't want anyone else. I don't need anything else. You are my one thing. You are my one thing. I don't want anyone else. I don't need anyone else. ♪ Or you are my one for me ♪ ♪ Come on, lift it up to him this morning, say ♪ ♪ Oh, I want anyone else ♪ ♪ And I really feel just Jesus ♪ ♪ In one, one, one ♪ ♪ Nothing else matters ♪ ♪ In one, one, one, one ♪ ♪ To see your face to face ♪ ♪ The only one ♪ ♪ I don't need any help ♪ ♪ I don't need any help ♪ ♪ You are my one for me ♪ ♪ What you love are you ♪ ♪ What you worship and say ♪ ♪ I don't want anyone else ♪ ♪ We say I don't need anything else ♪ ♪ Or you are my one thing ♪ ♪ You are my one for me ♪ ♪ Just Jesus ♪ ♪ I don't need anything else ♪

♪ Who you are my one thing ♪ ♪ Come on sing you are my one thing ♪ ♪ We said you are my one thing ♪ ♪ You are my one ♪ ♪ Oh yes you are my one thing ♪ ♪ It's ready to have ♪ ♪ Give me Jesus ♪ ♪ Give me Jesus ♪ ♪ For you, you can not hold me ♪ ♪ 'Cause the world, you can not hold me ♪ ♪ 'Cause the world, give me Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, give me Jesus ♪ ♪ Give me Jesus ♪ ♪ You can not hold me to her ♪ ♪ You can, come on with all you've got this morning ♪ ♪ Pull out your words upon Him ♪ ♪ We said, I don't want ♪ ♪ I don't want anyone else ♪ ♪ Shut it up ♪ ♪ I need anything else ♪ ♪ You are my one ♪ ♪ That's it, He deserves it all ♪ ♪ He's been faithful through it all ♪ ♪ And you know it ♪ ♪ Pull it up, pull it up ♪ ♪ I need anything else ♪ ♪ Yeah, I should be a Jesus ♪ ♪ It's all you ♪ ♪ You are my one ♪ ♪ I don't wanna say ♪

♪ I don't want anyone else ♪ ♪ I don't need anything else ♪ ♪ You are my one thing ♪ ♪ You are my one thing ♪ ♪ I don't want anyone else ♪ ♪ I don't need anything else ♪ ♪ You are my one thing ♪ ♪ You are my one thing ♪ ♪ Come on, give 'em praise this morning ♪ Fellowship Church, how we doing so far this morning? Are you thankful you made it to the House of God today? I am too. Hey, do me a favor, high five the person next to you. Tell 'em it's gonna be a great day. Here at Church, let's go. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Good morning and welcome to Fellowship Church. You might be wondering, what am I doing in a grocery store? More on that in a moment. But first, on behalf of our pastors, Ed and Lisa, we're so glad you're here today. We're one church family in many locations. And if you're looking for the right people to do life with, they're right here. There are so many opportunities to find your community no matter your age or stage of life. All you have to do to find out more is tap your seat or visit our website, fellowshipchurch.com

or better yet, come enjoy a free brunch on us right after the service at our newcomers luncheon. We'll help you get connected today. Now, as I said, you might be wondering what I'm doing in this grocery store. Well, I am getting ready and prepared for the biggest opportunity we have this fall to invite families to church. I'm talking about super sweet Sunday. At every one of our campuses, kids can wear their costumes and we'll have a trunk or treat like you've never seen. It's all about reaching families. And together, we can make this a day our community won't forget. So invite a family, sign up to church, and bring some candy with you to church next week, because nothing could be sweeter than helping someone find Jesus in a church to call home. But that's not all we have this month. This Thursday night, we have our men's rally, stay in the fight with Pastor Ed. And on November 11th, we have encounter night with special guest, world-renowned, Spanish worship group, Neil San Marcos. A night will all come together for worship, prayer, healing, and the expectation that anything is possible in the presence of God. All right, that should do it. Actually, how about one more?

Hey, thank you so much for spending part of your weekend with us. I'm gonna go check out. Let's get back to today's experience. - Fellowship Church, how are we feeling this morning? Are you excited to be in God's house? We'll try that again. Are you excited to be at Fellowship Church today? I love it. Why don't you turn to your neighbor and say, "I'm glad to be sitting next to you in church this morning." I love it. Welcome, welcome to everyone, especially those of you who are in the room for the first time. Can we show our appreciation to all the guests in the room today? One of our greatest goals is to help you find your community, because we all know that in life, we're all in a fight, whether it's health, finances, relationships, and men, that is why we're hosting this Thursday night at 7 p.m., stay in the fight, because you are in a fight, and many of you, you're not just fighting for yourself, you're fighting for your wife, and for your kids. We wanna help you stay in the fight. And just as important as staying in the fight is, we have to remember that we're not fighting on our own, that we have to find community that's fighting with us

and for us, which is why we're hosting our newcomers luncheon right after this experience. If you're new to Fellowship Church, trying to find community, this is the spot for you. We'll feed you and take care of your kids, and we would love to have you there as you go through the fight of life. And I'm sure that all of us have seen the hurricanes that have been coming through to the United States, and I wanna say thank you. Because of your generosity, we've been partnering with Convoy of Hope, and helping bring necessary supplies to these communities that are in need. And if you rewind the clock, to last April, we had our sisterhood conference with thousands of ladies in the room. There were many ladies that sponsored Bibles, and took the time to write handwritten notes. And we just got word from a local church in Kerville, Texas, as they experienced the second flood in two years, that they were handing out these Bibles and giving these notes, and just the hope that was brought to that community, because of what we're doing here. I'm so thankful to be a part of a church. That isn't just fighting for a church here, but that's fighting for the generations to come, which is why we're building the anchor center.

I don't know if you've walked through the atrium and looked outside the windows, but there is some stuff that's going on as we continue to take ground for the kingdom of God and excited for what God is continuing to do. So thank you again for your generosity. Host, I'm gonna ask that you begin to come and pass the offering. And as they do, we know that we're continuing this series RPM relationships, passion, and marriage. And how many know relationships can be a little complicated? We know they can. So we thought we'd just test us today. We'd ask some questions. Don't worry, they're multiple choice, just to see where you're at in regards to relationships. So here's question number one. I need you to answer this out loud. When a man asks, how was your day? And the woman responds, "Fine." What does she really mean? Is it A, everything is completely fine? We've all fallen for it before. B, I just, you look, look babe, I just need a little space. C, you're about to hear what you just did in 2019. And I have the receipts. Or D, I'm just tired. What do you think it is? It's actually E, all of the above.

Yep, we'll move on. Question number two. When a woman asks, "What are you thinking about?" And the man responds with, "Nothing." What does he really mean? A, I'm just processing some really deep emotions right now. B, I'm wondering if a gorilla can beat a grizzly bear. Honestly, great thought. C, I'm just, babe, I'm reflecting on our marriage. Of course. Or D, literally, and absolutely nothing. What do we think it is? It's a D, ladies, we can do it. I know it seems unreal. We can do it. Last but not least, I believe. Here we go. The question is, when a woman as says, "Hey, I think we might be lost." And the man replies, "Look, look, babe. "I know exactly where we're going. "What does he really mean?" A, I've driven this route before. B, Google Maps is obviously wrong. C, I have an excellent sense of direction. Or D, I'd rather drive into another state than admit that I'm lost. Anybody? What do we think it is? Yeah, B or D, we can take either of those.

But the best place to drive on any Sunday is at Fellowship Church. I think we're officially ready for R, P, M. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] (engine revving) (engine revving) (upbeat music) (engine revving) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - I might just sit in here for a while, just enjoying this Lamborghini, ladies, you either marry a bro or a Lambo. (audience laughs) Guys, you marry either a Karen or a McLaren. (audience laughs) The question is, I'm tall.

Can I get out of this car? (audience laughs) Now, some of these will go, you know, $1.52 million. I'm not sure how much this one costs, but a lot. Let's see if I can get out of here. Oh, man. (audience applauds) Do you remember when your kids were small? Think back for a second. For some of you, you might think way, way back. I'm talking about when they were tiny, and you were driving your SUV down the freeway, and they were strapped into their car seats, your car smelled like some stale french fries, and as a wise parent, you intuitively thought, you know, I'd better get these kids to sleep. I mean, they need to relax. So parents, we have found ourselves in this situation listening to nursery rhymes. I'm talking about old school nursery rhymes. I can't believe the amount of nursery rhymes that Lisa and I listened to when our kids were small. Just driving along, we knew that the nursery rhymes would relax them and ultimately put them to sleep. I remember as a kid listening to nursery rhymes, my mother read so many nursery rhymes to me, that's probably why I love rhyming to this day. I OD'd on nursery rhymes.

As I got older, you know the drill, I realized these nursery rhymes aren't real. Their fantasy file, their fake, their phony, they were made up by some creative geniuses. I would suggest to you today though, that a lot of us, in fact, maybe I would suggest that most of us still believe in nursery rhymes. I think a lot of us are driving through life, listening to nursery rhymes, and we buy into them. You wouldn't think so on the surface because we're smart, you know, we're well adjusted. DFW, suburbanites, but I'm gonna argue, if you let me, that a lot of us believe nursery rhymes, prenuptial nursery rhymes. And the prenuptial nursery rhymes, we believe, give us a trajectory into marriage, and then scores and scores of us, after we walk the wedding runner still believe in these nursery rhymes. One of my favorites was a rhyme I heard on the playground. Add in Lisa, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage, and then comes the baby, in the baby carriage. It makes it sound so easy, doesn't it? First comes love, then comes marriage. There is a brilliance, though, about that nursery run. Have you ever thought about it? They got the order right. First comes love, and we've talked about that during this series, you have to have that attraction.

The Bible calls that love Eros. We get the word erotic from it. Wum, wum, wum, you have to have that love. Then it segues from Eros into agape, which is that covenant commitment-based love. So first comes love, that's right. Then marriage. Marriage, let me say it again, friends, is the only institution that's analogous to God's relationship to his people. Marriage matters. I cannot describe to you how important marriage is. The Bible tells us in Genesis chapter two, verse 24, for this cause, for this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. That's the order, leave, cleave, and become one. Two, become one, it's oneness. The marriage is Trinitarian, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, three in one, right? One in three, it's a unity, it's a covenant before God. Something though is amiss in our world today when you think about marriage. We're not doing marriage very well. We're hydroplaning. A lot of us are going off-roading. We're taking a Lamborghini. I mean, if I gave you this Lamborghini, if I said, okay, take it, it's yours.

What would you do? You would put the best fuel in it. You would garage it. You would drive it the way it's supposed to be driven. You would go like off-roading. I would never take a car like that off-roading. The car's gonna go for a while, but then it will bog down. We have a problem in marriage. A worldwide problem because we have taken God's order and we have tried to make our own order out of it and that's led to disorder. First comes love, then comes marriage. And there is the baby and a baby carriage. We have it all inverted in our hookup culture. It's sex and maybe love, maybe love and sex. And then we'll cohabitate together 80% of couples live together before marriage. Did you realize that? 80%. Those couples who live together have a much higher divorce rate than those who don't. So we have that inverted. First comes love, then it should. It's like going to marriage if you wait long enough, if you take it, oh, if you go through four seasons, four seasons, fall, winter, spring and summer, if you date long enough to allow the Eros to erode and realize a gape love, the commitment love, the covenant love is where marriage resides. I'm not at all saying that there's no erotic love

in marriage, yes. God invented sex. Did you hear me? I know for some of you that's a wake-up call. God fought sex up. Pornhub did not invent it. Only fans did not think it up. No, God thought it up. Yet our culture, we have taken a God-given desire and it's gone haywire. We have hydroplained, but there's a problem in marriage and this problem really goes back to the soils of the garden. I want you to stay with me. You've got Adam and Eve, they had some kids, Cain, and Abel, and Seth and probably others. Cain, murder. Cain and his descendants were known as the ungodly. Seth, their other son, was a godly man. His descendants were considered godly. God, from the book of Genesis, in fact, I could argue all the way through, said in no uncertain terms, he told the godly people, don't marry ungodly. If you're godly, if you are from Seth's descendants, don't marry the Cainites. What happened? The godly married the ungodly. And we've seen that in the history of God's people. We've seen that throughout the biblical record, and we're facing that today. The godly has married the ungodly. That's why 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 14 says, "Do not be yoked together with non-believers." Don't. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? Is god being discriminatory or cruel? Is he practicing spiritual apartheid? No, no, no, no. God has your best interest in mind, my friend, your best. He wants us to operate off the same owner's manual. He wants us to make sure that Jesus is driving the car. Because if he's not, I hate to reign on your sensual parade, it's not going to work. It's not. Just look

at the stats of marital mayhem that we see. Almost half of all marriages end in divorce, 67 percent of second marriages end in divorce, 74 percent, I believe, of third marriages end in divorce. So, oh, yeah, we've done a really great job. Have we not? Oh, we really know the score, don't we? We really know sex, don't we? We really know intimacy, don't we? Really? Really? The Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 18, "Flee sexual immorality." The Bible talks about sexual immorality. The Bible talks about adultery. The Bible talks about fornication. God says, and I'm going to reign on your sexual parade, five times directly and 23 times indirectly abstain from sex until the marriage bed. Straight up. So for you to turn your back to do a U-turn on God's directives, you are committing cosmic treason before God. God will not bless your relationship. It's just not going to happen. Furthermore, you are really messing up and couples are really hydroplaning when they decide to play house before marriage. See, ladies, you think you can lure your man into marriage. You think your man is going to go, oh, this is so great living together. We've just got to get married. No. It's the best of both worlds for guys, free sex, no commitment. Once she goes crazy or active, we're out. We're out. And you see again the brilliance of God. God does not say no about sex. He says wait until you mate. Wait until you find the ultimate. Well, Ed, you don't know my man. He's not in it for sex. Okay. Let me give you an experiment. Those here who are living together. Ladies, you go home and look at your man and go, all right, I'm cutting off sex for the next six weeks. He'll be gone in ten days. 80 percent of people are living together these days. We're turning our back on God's directive. Sex outside of marriage. There's some consequences. 40 percent. contract an STD. That's a sexually transmitted disease or you could say a stupid thinking disorder, either one. 66 million developing babies have been murdered since 1973. And we're like, oh, what's happening in the Middle East and what's happening in all these wars and this genocide. Oh, it's so terrible. And the U.S., we fear God and we are godly people. Really? Really? So, I mean, you don't have to be that smart to realize, look at the mayhem of sex outside of marriage and just go, thank you, God. I'm going to give you the keys and I'm going to trust you and I'm going to do it your way. First comes love, then comes marriage, then the baby with the baby carriage. That is the right order. So, I've got to give some props to that. It's been windy, did you know that? I might just fly kite.

In fact, what if I took a kite right now when I did the parking lot and just ran around and just threw it up in the air? It wouldn't work, would it? But if I took a ball of string and anchored that kite, it's going to soar. Our sexuality is the same. By ourselves, it's going to come crashing down, but when we say God, I give it to you. When it's anchored on that ball of string, it's going to soar and we're going to soar. Sex is reserved for the marriage bed. If you're having sex outside the marriage bed, you are committing sin and God will not bless your life. It's not going to happen. So, today, you can make that choice to go. We're going to move out. We're going to do it God's way. We are going to take this series, live by the principles and precepts, and at the right time, we're going to get married. That's nursery rhyme number one. Nursery rhyme number two, this is one of my favorites, hickory-dickory-dock. The mouse ran up the clock. The clock struck one and the mouse ran down, hickory-dickory-dock. That clock, that biological clock. Ladies, it starts when you're real small, playing with dolls. You remember Ken and Barbie? I'm going to date myself. Then you have these little crushes on guys, and then you have the prom. Then, surprisingly, a couple years later, several friends run up to you, shoving their diamond prize in your face. We're getting married, and you feel like an unclaimed piece of luggage at DFW Airport. You scroll and see all of these beautiful weddings and all of these romance. Let me stop. You know social media is not real. I hope you know that. I know you think it's real. It's not real. Half of the interaction, there's a bunch of bots anyway. Did you know that? You can talk to bots, so it's not real. Let me say it again. Hey, kids, it is not real. Everything on there is out of context. Have you ever thought about that? Really? Yeah, it's out of context. It's out of context. But the whole marriage thing is there for single ladies. It's almost like social media singing to you what's wrong. ♪ Life will have no meaning until you say I do. ♪ (audience laughing) It's like the NBA player, the shot clock, the biological clock is ticking. And you're like, man, I'd better take this shot. I know this guy is named Igmo Jones, but he might be the last one coming through.

The biological clock, the cultural clock, the comparison clock. Go slow. Go slow. You're Lamborghini. I'm a Lamborghini if Christ is driving. If he's not, no. Go slow and get to know. Drive the car long enough for the shine to wear off, to understand the brilliance of God's covenant. So learn the secret, what am I saying? Like the Bible tells us of contentment. In Philippians 4 verse 12, Paul so Paul says, "I have learned," and that's part of dating, isn't it? I've learned the secret of being content in any and every situation. There is another nursery rhyme, believe it or not. Number three, Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. I didn't know this is right there behind me. This is great. You know what, let's read this together. One, two, three, Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again. It ain't easy being oval, is it? (congregation laughing) But guys, you can be oval,

and if you have a lot of money in driving a Lambo, oh, you're sexy. (congregation laughing) I can get married and I can fix him. I can get married and I can fix her. I can do what all the king's horses and all the king's men could not do. I can't fix you. How many times do we get married thinking that and Lisa can't fix me? I can't fix Lisa. As I've told you before, Lisa and I have bought and sold a lot of houses. We flipped houses and there was one house. Lisa, I know you remember this one. This was the coolest house. We actually went to this house, knocked on the door and we were like, "Hey, would you sell it?" They were like, "Okay." And they gave us a great price. And the house was a great house and everything. But we went to the inspection, which you normally do, for this house. And we've been to and through a lot of inspection. So we walked into this house and this house is a little bit older. And we were with the inspector. He was like standing to my left and Lisa's to my right. And I looked and sitting on the hearth like this.

We're the sellers. I thought, that's unusual. I mean, it's kind of weird a little bit for the seller to be there. I'm sure a lot of you go, "Well, we'll get ripped off." Just don't show up for that, okay? That's not a smart move. They were sitting there like this. They didn't get up when we walked in. And let me give you some manners. I'm gonna do a series of manners. Whenever you're seated at a restaurant or a table or anywhere, get the heck up off your butt, look the person in the eye, shake their hand. Excuse me, your manners are showing. So these people just sat there. And now that's weird, isn't it? They didn't get up. They kind of nodded our way. And the house brilliantly passed the inspection. Great house. So, you know, the drill went to the mortgage company and they proved it and blah, blah, blah, blah, all the, you know. So it's moving day. And so I am-- I need to show you how to get up if you're into Jiu Jitsu. An instructor showed me that. Oh, this is-- you can't do it.

This is totally free of charge. Let me see. She said, somehow, you back up, back up, back up. Here, I think that's it. I don't know. OK. So-- so you get the first shot at my sermon. This is fresh. The second service, don't tell them, you know, I cut out some of the fun stuff for them. I'm carrying back to the house. Boxes-- and Lisa goes, honey, put the fireplace equipment on the hearth. So I walk over, and I put it on the hearth. The whole hearth falls into the family room. These people were covering the cracks. Don't laugh. They were sitting on the fractures. What are you doing? Sitting on the fractures. What are you doing? I mean, allow the Holy Spirit of God to invade your relationship, allow Him to inspect you. We all are broken. We all are sinners. We all are fractured. But that's not what I'm supposed to do. And you feel me as a husband. And that's not what you're supposed to do as a wife.

There's only one physician who can heal our wounds, who can bandage us up. His name is Jesus of Nazareth. [APPLAUSE] Number four, Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. I don't know why I'm singing this. Jack fell down and broke his crown, and Jill came tumbling after. If I get married, if I can get the diamond prize, if I can lure him, we're living together, down the wedding runner, right? I'll never be lonely again. This person, watch this, will solve my companionship cravings, because I have companionship cravings. I'm made of the image of God, so do you. So what happens in marriage is we get married, and there is a divine side to relationships that can only be fulfilled by the God of the universe. There's also a human side that can only be filled with community and connection with human beings. Here's why so many marriages end up as relational wreckage. We are putting divine pressure on a human relationship. We think that person can meet the needs that only God can meet. And when it doesn't work, we're out. We hook up with someone else, it doesn't work again. It doesn't work, it doesn't work, it doesn't work. The Lord Jesus is our ultimate companion. It starts with him, it starts with the keys.

It starts with him driving, Jack and Jill. Companion ship isn't interesting, one falls, the other falls, just read the nursery rhyme. That's the math of marriage. And sometimes if the spouse falls, Jack goes, you know what, I'm tired of Jill. I like the way this younger girl walks up the hill. Number five, row, row, row your boat. Gently down the stream, merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream. Marriage is dreamy, isn't it? [BLANK_AUDIO] There are moments that it's dreamy and steamy. But sometimes you can have bad dreams and even nightmares. But we think marriage will solve all of my problems. I mean, I'm single and I'm so busy as a single. Really? Just get married, crank out a couple of kids. Then you'll be busy. You'll look back and go, what was I doing as a single adult? We think, though, that marriage is going to put everything together. And then you get married, the shine kind of wears off. You go, I'm going to-- I'm going to have some kids that'll really-- that'll really gel us together. Kids are written an entire book on this, keeping intimacy at a distance successfully. It's supposed kids. Kids, really?

We love our kids. We would give our lives for our kids. But that's not going to do it. And the apostle Paul, when he was writing to the Corinthians, was encouraging them, hey, you don't have to get married. Paul was like going, marriage brings more problems. Have you ever thought about that? Now, I know 91% of us will get married at least once. And I highly recommend marriage. And most of us need to get married. I'm not saying that. But God does gift some people with the aptitude of the single lifestyle. And I want to thank the Lord for the singles at Fellowship Church. I want to thank the Lord for the young adults. We have a young adult ministry led by J.C. Lopez. That's awesome. And if you're single, think about what you can do. You're going to be involved in two or three ministries. You have to worry about your spouse, kids. You don't have those financial worries, do you? You don't have as much conflict in your life, do you? No, no, no, you're just single. So some of you, maybe God will bless you with the gift of singleness. But again, I go back to marriage is not always a dream 24/7. What if marriage, as I've been saying around here, was more for your sanctification than your satisfaction? What if marriage was more for your discipleship

than just your delight? Marriage mirrors our relationship with the Lord Jesus. So do it God's way. That's all I'm saying. Do it God's way. Do sex God's way. Do dating God's way. Do spell selection God's way. Do it God's way. Because God's way is the real way. Its reality is not fantasy files. It's not a bunch of nursery rhymes. But let's do it God's way. Next time, I'm going to drive a car on stage you have never seen before. You will not believe the car that'll be on the stage next Sunday. And even if you watch it online, you're not going to have the same experience. In fact, I would say very few people who've ever seen a car like this. That's next time. I know you can't wait, I can tell. Who has the keys to your car? If Jesus is not Lord of all, then he's not Lord at all. I'm talking about Jesus being the driver, not just a driver, the driver. Because when that happens, you'll hit on the RPMs that God desires. Maybe you're here today.

Maybe you're at one of our campuses in Dallas or Fort Worth. Maybe you're watching online. Maybe you're in Frisco. Maybe you're in Lasso Ranch. everything to Him. I want to encourage you to make that decision. Because the Bible is about news. Bad news is we're sinners. The worst news is we deserve eternal separation from God. The good news is God did something about it by sending Jesus Christ to down the cross for our sins and rise again, and the great news is you can make the choice today to give the keys to Christ. Have you made that decision? Have you transferred the keys to Him? Because that's where it starts. I mean, I push a button to start this Lambeau. This is how you start. You have to have a relationship. Have you made that step, that decision? You can say it and make that decision right now by simply saying it. You can say it with me. I believe to the best of my ability that you lived perfectly and died sacrificially and rose bodily. I admit to you, I'm a sinner, I do a U-turn and turn to you. I give my life to you. If you said that, that's the greatest driving decision that you'll ever make. Right now as we move into a time of meditation, a time of prayer, a time of worship, I want us as a church to begin to pray, to begin to seek the Lord. Our prayer team is now in front. They're along the sides, they're in the balcony, they're in all of our different dynamics.

I'm going to ask you just to stand if you would. No one moving or stirring, because if you're moving, you're disrupting the movement of the Holy Spirit of God and I would not want anyone to do that, just remain standing. We indeed are going to have a time of worship and prayer. If you would like someone to agree with you and pray, it could be about a relationship. It could be about a dating relationship. It could be about marriage. It could be like God, thank you. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for what you're doing. It could be a praise, like, man, this is awesome. Maybe you're dealing with sickness and you want a prayer for healing. You want the touch of God on your life. I'm going to ask you, while our heads are bowed and eyes are closed, if you feel so led to come forward and just to say, hey, would you pray with me about and you could fill the blank in? Because the church is to be about a lot of things, but one of the things the church is to be is the house of prayer. Let's worship together and let's seek the Lord and you come forward and just take the hand of one of our prayer team as God leads. I don't want anything but you, you're more than every dream come true. All of the things I thought are one and don't come close to knowing you. Now that I'm yours and you are mine, all of is a secret that I find. I'll spend forever in the pleasure I've found, King in your arms. Give me Jesus, give me Jesus, you can have all this hope, you can have all this hope. Oh, just give me Jesus, more than silver, more than gold, you are the treasure that Give me Jesus, give me Jesus. You can have all this hope. You can have all this hope. Give me Jesus, give me Jesus. You can have all this hope.

You can have all this hope. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for healing, for touching. Thank you for these decisions. Thank you for these choices. Thank you, God, for your direction. Thank you for your Holy Spirit that gives us the fuel to do life and, Father, we want to do it your way. And I thank you that you provided a way in that you are the way, the truth and the light. Would you please be seated in the presence of the Lord. This has been and is such a powerful, powerful teaching. Anytime you open God's Word and talk about marriage, because obviously the Christian life is about relationships, is something that I know I need and every single person here needs. So let me kind of segue Derek into just a couple of quick announcements. You know, next time I'm driving a car on stage, like I'm a year, you're going to freak out with this one. These have been awesome cars, don't get me wrong, and we've had very generous people who provide them, but this one next week, I don't want to overpromise, but it'll be shocking. I'm excited to see what that will mean. It's going to be great. Yeah, next Sunday, you get to see that, next Sunday, super sweet Sunday, so be back and invite a friend with you, and listen, maybe today, you're ready to make a next step. You're ready to give your life to Jesus, you're ready to get involved in His house and surround yourself with people who will help you, you know, fire on all cylinders. We mentioned it earlier in our experience right across the hall, we're about to have our newcomers luncheon in our source cafe. Come join us. We've got a free meal ready and waiting for you, and we would love to get you plugged

into this incredible community that'll grow your faith. But thanks for being here with us. Let's stay to our feet. We're going to declare this as we start our week together fellowship church. Say it with me, "Jesus, thank you, that in you, I am love, forgiven." Bless for you. I will reach up in worship, reach out to share my faith and reach in to become more like you, and because of your Jesus, I know the best is yet to come. We love you guys. We'll see you next week. I can never praise You, I can never praise You, I can never praise You, I, I, I, I, I.