The Secret Love Ingredient- Chris Lindberg

Hey, guys, once again, it's such an honor and a blessing to be able to speak into your life through the Pando app from Life Fellowship Church here in McKinney, Texas. We are so blessed and so honored. My name is Logan Williams. My TDC number was 1490218. I have four numbers after that, so I understand being in places that you are, being round and round and round. Because I know many of you that are there, it's not your first time there. It's maybe your second time or your third time. And I understand those feelings of, man, is this it? Am I ever going to get past this? Am I ever going to figure this life thing out? Am I ever going to stop coming to places like this? I understand that. And I just want to tell you that and encourage you that all things are possible with Christ. He's just looking for your yes, and he is looking for you to just get all in with him because he has a plan and a purpose for your life that you can't even fathom or imagine if you could just step in to your purpose. Everyone has a purpose on their life. They have a calling on their life. Romans 11 29 says the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. That means they can't be taken away, canceled out, changed, omitted, edited, it's like he changes his mind. It's irrevocable. And we need to know that. We need to know that in our hearts that that thing that he has put in your heart, that just gets kind of get your juices flowing when you think about it, man, it'd be really cool to do that, man, I really see a need right there. And I'd love to do that. That's what it is for you.

And it's irrevocable. It can't be taken away by anyone, because God put it in you. And so I want to just encourage everybody in that. And I want to remind you that you can have your friends and family download the same Pando app on their phone. So y'all can watch the same services together, lots of awesome stuff on the Pando app. And then you can talk about it when you see each other and you can grow together. We were never meant to do this walk alone. And even if you're behind bars, men, you can still lead your family, women, you can still lead your children. Believe the lie that it's all over because I'm here. It's not. It's not. Again, God can do anything. So I was reading Colossians this morning and God kind of put it on my heart to just talk about Colossians chapter one with you guys. And I really don't know what I'm going to say about that. But I'm looking through it and, you know, it starts with a greeting, you know, Paul always just greets the people that he's writing to in an amazing way and says, man, we always pray for you. We always give thanks for you. We've heard of your faith and your love for all of God's people. And a lot of times we feel the same way about you guys. When we go and we visit facilities, you know, we like, man, it's really popping off here. And so I want to tell you the same thing, man. We pray for you. We've heard about your faith. I know that God is raising up an army behind bars, behind the wire. He's raising it up there and he's doing it in the young adults. I see it.

That's where God is. And God's going to do it, man. God's going to raise you guys up. And then he goes into verse nine. He's going to talk about how he prays for the church. He's going to talk about how he prays for the church and Colossae says, so we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. And so when I read verses like this, man, I want you to think born again, believer. Okay. I want you to think, am I, is this me? Do I, do I pray like this? Do I have the same heart for others that Paul has for this church? So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. It's like, are you praying that I have to ask myself, Logan, do you, am I praying for other people to have complete knowledge of his will and spiritual understanding? Then the way you, then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord and you will live to produce every kind of fruit. All the while you will grow as you learn to know God better and better. And we also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power. So you will have all the endurance and patience you need, man, that's a prayer. You can be praying for your brothers, your sisters, the people at your table doing Bible studies, the people that you do this walk with in, in your church there at whatever facility that you're at, that they be strengthened with his glorious power. So you will have the endurance and patience that you need because man, I know that in the situation that you're in. And you need endurance and you need patience That that's that is a place I say it all the time if you can begin to practice these spiritual principles in the place that you're at

You're gonna be miles ahead when you get out here because it's easier out here. It just is Says he has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people who live in the light So I'm all living in the light. Is there any darkness in my heart? These are the questions I ask as I as I read the word Am I in the light do I have something I need to confess to somebody do I have something that I need to confess to God do I have something that I need to get from the dark to the light so that God can sever it from my life For he has rescued us From the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into his marvelous light It actually says the kingdom of his dear son who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins He purchased our freedom. Am I free? I need to ask myself and forgave our sins Do I really believe that he forgave my sins? Do I really believe that my sins have been thrown in the sea of forgetfulness that East from the West? That he remembers our sins and our lawless deeds. No more Do I believe that because there's lots of times that sometimes I don't there's a lot of times that maybe in my mind I won't say no, I don't feel forgiven. But in my in my heart in my subconscious, I'm always Kind of bringing up all those things that I've done to God and he and he's if the Word of God is true He's saying what are you talking about? Like I died for that. I It's gone it's in the it's East from the West It's in the sea of forgetfulness because I just believe with all my heart that many of you who are watching this video You wouldn't be watching this video in the places that you're at if God wasn't drawing Trying trying to woo you trying to draw you leaving 99 to come after you searching for you like a lost coin Searching for you That should give you encouragement like he's after you and so there's a calling on your life and sometimes we can we can get in this mindset of Yeah, there's a cult may be calling on my life, but God would never use me after I did all those things And if and what he's saying is he purchased our freedom and forgave us our sins. That's verse 14 Says that Christ is a visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and the supreme over all creation For through him God created everything and in the heavenly realms and on earth He made the things we can see and the things we can't see

Such as thrones kingdoms rulers and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him He existed before anything else and he holds all creation Together Christ is also the head of the church Which is his body? That's a that's a good verse Because it's saying that we are all part of one body and he is the head and a body needs all the parts Maybe maybe you got Some brothers and sisters there that that are kind of unlovable. Maybe you just don't get along with them Maybe they're not there. They're still immature and they're not they're not that's why they annoy you because They're still doing immature stuff. They're still Gossiping about people. They're still whatever it is But if they're part of the body the body needs that a body needs the fingernail as much as he needs The shoulder as much as he needs the foot And so this paints a picture of the body as a part of the body And so this paints on a canvas that we all need each other and if if I harm If I take an axe and I cut myself in the leg it affects the whole body So if I do something to harm my brother that that annoys me that that's over here I'm really harming myself because we're all part of one body. And so if we can get that in our heart it changes how we How we interact with people it changes how we? Maybe we start praying for people these same prayers that we were just talking about Maybe we can pray those for the people that annoy us and when we start doing that when we start Getting trained like that man. It changes things and the church takes off and the last verse that I really love in Colossians chapter 1 As verse 27, it says for God wanted them to know the riches and glory of Christ who are for you and This is the secret Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory In another version, it says Christ in you the hope of glory. Like if you're born again, if you're a follower, if you're a believer, he's not just kind of close to you.

He's not just, I don't know, for the leaders, for the pastors. He's not just close to the worship team or the people who are living right. He is closer than the breath that we take. He is in you the hope of glory. That should give us hope, man. And so I just want to encourage you guys today. Thank you for watching. God's after you if you're watching. We just began an interesting series called Kiss and Tell, and there's a lot of good information that we can learn about being in relationship with people, about the words that we speak, how they can create or they can destroy, about how we can pray for one another, about how we can change some of our mindsets and some of our belief systems to have a better godly relationship. And so I hope you guys get a lot out of it. Thank you guys for watching. Again, man, God's amazing. Just a little bit of my testimony. I shot dope for 25 years in and out of prison, in and out of jails, crime, and all the stuff that goes along with that. And suddenly, man, he met me right where I was at in a hotel room, and I just surrendered, and I just walked out of there. And he's had me every step of the way.

That surrender part was a difficult part because there were many more things I had to surrender as we did the walk, but that's what he's asking for. And I know that you guys are tired of being where you're at. And so man, just wave the surrender flag. And if you don't know Jesus, man, I want you to have a moment with him. I want you to cry out to him that there's nothing like what he did on that cross. That's the greatest news that we have, what he did on that cross. There's no love, there's no forgiveness, there's no grace, there's nothing like it. And if you wanna just wave that surrender flag, you can lay all that stuff down at the feet of Jesus. You can surrender it all, and he is with you. He will be closer than the air you breathe. So Heavenly Father, I just lift up these men and women who are watching. I thank you for their hearts. I know that you love them with a love that we can't even fathom or imagine. And I thank you for the Pando app, just for the technology to be able to speak life into them where they can be edified and they can take their free time and chase after you. God, I pray that if anyone's watching that doesn't know you, that you would just reveal yourself in a mighty way to them right now.

I just declare salvation. I just declare healing and freedom and bonds breaking in Jesus' name over them. God, I've seen men freer that are in prison than some of the people in the free world because they're free in their hearts because you have touched them. You have entered into them and they understand that. They understand that you, your Holy Spirit dwells within them. And so God, that's what I pray for all these men and women today. And I ask that you would bless their families as they're gone and ask that you would just continue to woo them, continue to draw them. And we love you. We give you all the praise and glory in Jesus' name. Amen. You know, I just got one more question. Whose house? God's house. Let's give him some praise. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. I was raised in church, but it wasn't until I went through Free & Deed

that I actually truly felt like I knew Jesus. I struggled with addiction for about 20 years, and having gone through Free & Deed, I really understood that I was giving the enemy legal access to my life. You know, I had an abortion. I struggled with addiction, sexual immorality, and was really holding on to unforgiveness of sexual trauma that I had experienced as a child. And so having gone through the class and really learning my identity in Christ, I really know who I am in the Lord, and I've been set free from about five different spirits that I was struggling with my whole life. So I would recommend anybody, no matter where they are in their walk with the Lord, to go through Free & Deed and experience the freedom that I have experienced. Good morning, Life Fellowship family. Come on. I want to welcome you to stand on your feet as we jump into our worship today. All you guys, just close your eyes around the room. We make up space between you and Jesus. And in your own way, just welcome his presence in this room. He's already here. He's already moving. Yes Lord, we welcome you Jesus. How we love your presence. How we love to worship you. How we love your presence. Thank you Jesus. There is a sound I love to hear. It's the sound as the Savior drove. As he walks into the room where people pray. Where we hear praise as he hears faith. There is a sound I love to hear. It's the sound as the Savior drove. As he walks into the room where people pray. Where we hear praise as he hears faith.

There is a sound I love to hear. It's the sound as the Savior drove. As he walks into the room where people pray. Where we hear praise as he hears faith. Come on church, let your faith arise today. How we love to worship you Jesus. Awake my soul and sing. Sing his praise aloud. Sing his praise aloud. Come on church, you sing awake my soul. Sing his praise aloud. Sing his praise aloud. How we love to sing your praises Jesus. Come on church, begin to sing your praises. There is a sound that changes things. It's the sound of his people on their knees. Awake of you slumbering. It's time to worship him. There is a sound that changes things. It's the sound of his people on their knees. Awake of you slumbering. It's time to worship him. Awake my soul and sing. Sing his praise aloud. Come on church, sing his praise aloud. We come to awake our souls this morning. Awake my soul and sing. Sing his praise aloud. Sing his praise aloud. Awake my soul. Awake my soul and sing. Sing his praise aloud.

Sing his praise aloud. We awake our souls. Awake my soul and sing. Sing his praise aloud. Sing his praise aloud. And when we move, and when we pray, What's so wrong? God said we wait. When every promise is his, amen. Come on church, lift your voice. Sing his praise aloud. And when we move, make no mistake. Two thousand hairs will be his stake. I'll have the Lord. I'll have the king. And when we move, and when we pray, What's so wrong? God said we wait. When every promise is his, amen. And when we move, make no mistake. Two thousand hairs will be his stake. I'll have the Lord. I want to feel, I want to feel, I want to feel Come on, when He moves, yeah And when He moves, and when He breathes What's the one that's best for me? Well, I've been promised Yeah, when He moves, yeah And when He moves, yeah And when He moves, yeah

And when He moves, yeah I'll have the Lord, I'll have the King Oh, come on Oh, oh Oh Lord, You're glory and shame Oh, oh Oh, down on Your knees and worship Him Oh, oh Let His praise rise up, come on Yeah, yeah How I love to praise You How I love to worship You That's the love of my soul And let all that's within me praise You, man Bless the Lord, oh my soul And let all that's within me give You glory Bless the Lord, oh my soul Love to worship You, Jesus Love to praise You, man Oh, oh Sing His praise, yeah Sing His praise, yeah Sing His praise, yeah Sing awake our souls Awake my souls Sing His praise, yeah Sing His praise, yeah Now I want to give you a moment to begin to sing your praises to Jesus He loves the sound of His people Worshipping Him

The Bible also declares when there are two or three, He's already in the midst And I know that the Lord is here and He's already moving, He's already in our midst So could we just begin to express our hearts to the Lord right now Oh, oh Yes, Lord, how we love Your presence, Jesus Yes, Lord Oh, I love Your presence, yeah Let my worship be sweet and sincere, it's Jesus How I love to praise You May You be glorified May You be lifted high today Oh, I love to praise You We join with heaven as they praise You We join with heaven as they worship You, Jesus How I love to praise You How I love to lift You up How I love to praise You How I love to lift You up How I love to lift You up How I love to lift You up How I love to lift You up How I love to lift You up How I love to lift You up Jesus, praise Him now Praise Him now I love to see You by Your own We have come to give you praise, to sing your name, Lord. We love to sing about you, Lord. If I could sing your name for all my life and still find more to love each time. Jesus be the name ever on my lips.

It's sweeter every time that I call on you. There's just something about your name. There's just something about your name. There's just something about your name that makes me cry holy. There is no other name. There is no other name. There is no other name. Jesus, you're worthy. Oh, you have been the friend who never left. I won't forget your faithfulness. Oh, Jesus be the name ever on my lips. Just yours, Lord. It's sweeter every time that I call on you. There's just something about your name. There's just something about your name. There's just something about your name that makes me cry holy. There is no other name. There is no other name. There is no other name. Jesus, you're worthy. Come on, sing it again. There's just something about your name. There's just something about your name. There's just something about your name that makes me cry holy. I know there is no other name. There is no other name. There is no other name. Jesus, you're worthy. There is no other name. There is no other name.

Just Jesus. There is no other name. Jesus, you're worthy. There is no other name. There is no other name. Jesus, you're worthy. There is no other name. There is no other name. There is no other name. There is no other name. There is no other name. Jesus need a name. Jesus need a name. Jesus need a name. There's no other name. Jesus need a name. Jesus need a name. Jesus need a name. There's no other name. Jesus need a name. Jesus need a name. Jesus need a name. It's happening... Jesus came down... Jesus came down... Jesus came down... The Death Serpent of Mount Carmel. 🎵 Jesus came down... Jesus came down...

Jesus came down... Jesus came down... Jesus came down... Oh, Jesus came down... Jesus came down... Oh, Jesus came down... Oh, Jesus came down... Oh, Jesus came down... Oh, Jesus came down... Jesus be the name that gets all the glory There is no other name There is no other name There is no other name Jesus, you're worthy Oh, Jesus be the name Jesus be the name Come on, sing it out Come on, sing it to Jesus Oh, Jesus be the name Oh, something always changes when I bless you Oh, something always changes when I bless your name Oh, something always changes when I bless your name I bless your name Oh, the air gets clearer, the sun gets brighter My soul gets lighter when I bless your name The air gets clearer, the sun gets brighter My soul gets lighter when I bless your name Cause something always changes when I bless your name Yeah, something always changes when I bless your name Oh, something always changes when I bless your name

So I'll bless your name I'll bless your name I'll bless your name I'll bless your name Whatever happens next I'll bless your name I'll bless your name I'll bless your name I'll bless your name I'll bless your name I'll bless your name I'll bless your name, Lord Oh Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name that gets all the glory. Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name that makes me cry holy. There is no other name, there is no other name. There is no other name, there is no other name. There is no other name, Jesus you're worthy. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus Lord. You're the name above all names. You are worthy of all praise. Come on every voice in my heart. You're the name above all names. You're the name above all names. In my heart we'll sing. In my heart we'll sing. How great is our God. I need every voice to sing how great. Come on how great is our God. How great is our God. Yeah.

Sing with me. How great is our God. And oh we'll sing how great. How great is our God. Jesus you are so great. And we love to call on your name. We thank you for your presence being in this room today. And as we continue on Lord just continue to move by your spirit and do whatever you want to do. We love you and we praise you. And it's in Jesus' name. Let everyone say amen. Amen. Come on let's give it up for Jesus. Hallelujah. I just love the presence of God. Can't you just feel the presence of the Lord in the room today? We thank him for his presence. What I want to say, welcome to Life Fellowship Church. If this is your first time joining us today, we are so glad that you came to visit us today. If you could do us a favor and text new to 51010. We would love to connect with you and get to know you. And you get to know us. And as you're being seated today, please prepare your heart for today's message. God bless you. God bless you. Well hello everybody. Good to have you with us in service today. A big welcome to every one of you for our very spicy,

steamy series that we've called Kiss and Tell. I want to say a big hello to our church online family and all of the men and women in over 150,000 of you that are joining with us today. with us today in over 6,000 correctional facilities. Come on, everybody, would you put your hands together? Make them feel welcome today, God bless you guys. Right on. Well, hey, as you're pulling up your message notes, let me just bring your attention to two quick pieces of information. Number one is we're just a few weeks, a couple, not too far away from our Legacy Leadership Dallas event. We only have four of these events happen annually. This is your opportunity to connect in with other business leaders that are part of the church and the community. In fact, our guest for this event is Ellie LeBorg, and she's a corporate C-level executive coach for Fortune 500 companies, and she's gonna be with us. Gonna be talking about how do you balance in a dual career relationship in the marriage? Like, how do you do your kids? How do you do life? How do you do your finances? And how do you make sure that all that is successful as well as advancing in the marketplace? And so we're gonna have great food, Hutchins Barbecue.

We're gonna have a lot of connection. Make sure that you get your tickets. If you can, buy a ticket for somebody that's maybe in your organization, bring them with you. We have a lot of different businesses that are actually buying entire tables for their company so that they can be exposed to this kind of teaching. So make sure that you're a part of that. Second thing is, can you all do me a favor and just scoot in just a little bit? I see we have some folks that are coming in, and we just wanna make sure that everybody gets a space. And that dovetails into something that's really important. I'm asking you, would you consider, those of you that are typically at our 9.30 and 11 o'clock services, would you consider attending our 8.15 and our 12.30 services on a weekly, consistent basis and give us the opportunity to get some more room so that God can bring more people than we could possibly ever even imagine into the church? So help me out with that. Amen, all right, so cool. It's quiet. You guys are gonna be rowdy on me today, right? Okay, so today's message, I am dedicating this to every single person that you are single or you are engaged or dating and you're moving towards marriage. This is what this message really is all about.

Now, next week is gonna be inclusive of every single person because we're gonna be talking about great sex. We're gonna see what God's word has to say about that. And so I'm just gonna remind you, I just need to forewarn you, it will be PG-13. Yeah. Will you wait till next week? I mean, it will be PG-13, like yeah. So you're gonna wanna take advantage of our exceptional children's ministry if you do not normally do that. And don't invite your grandma, okay? In fact, if she comes, don't sit next to her, okay? Because it might be a little uncomfortable. Let's talk about dating for just a minute. 50% of our culture today is single. I remember when I got to the point that I wanted to find somebody that I would be connected in for the rest of my life. I was gonna go find that special someone. I was living in Memphis, I didn't know anyone. And so I did what every desperately spiritual man does. I went online to go try to find a date. And I'm telling you, everybody, this is true. What I'm about to tell you is true. If I'm lying, I'm dying. I found a gal, she seemed great. She had a pretty smile, she was a Christian, she checked all the boxes.

And so we set up a date and come to find out she was volunteering at her church's Halloween outreach program. And so I offered to pick her up. So I show up, get out of the car, I'm leaning against it, and all of a sudden, this five foot tall demon looks straight at me and starts walking right at me. I mean, I'm telling you, I mean, it's full face paint, red eyes, horns, the whole thing. And then to make matters worse, this demon comes up to me, smiles, and says, Chris, thanks so much for coming to pick me up. And I was thinking, you know, I think I'm gonna need some counseling after this. So she asked, hey, could we go back to my house so I can get changed? And so I said, sure, we go back, and she runs upstairs. Her mom is sick. In the living room and she has eaten Doritos like it's a competition Like there are chips everywhere soda cans and then to make matters worse They had three Demons and cats Satan and cats come on everybody put it together So about two hours later she comes down I was held hostage for that entire time She said we go on out and so we go to a movie the entire time. She wants to talk about her ex and all of her cats What they eat their personalities at one point she tried to reach over and grab my hand I yanked that thing away and I Yanked that thing away as fast as I could

At the end of it she looked at me she smiled which by the way when she came down the stairs She looked nothing like her profile picture And so she looked at me at the end of the night. She's like hey Chris I just want you I had the best time ever. I'd sure love to be able to do this again with you And I just looked back at her and said hmm. No Actually, I said I need to pray about it. I did the Christian thing I'm just gonna pray and ask God if this is something I need to do. I hope that your dating experience is a whole lot better than mine and So today we're gonna look at King Solomon and the Shulamite woman his wife as they look back on their marriage and what it was that Formed them into the couple the person that God had created them to be King Solomon actually says this in Ecclesiastes He says there is a what a time for everything and notice this other word right there a Season that's pretty cool that I can do that. Huh? I can do it. I can do an arrow there. I can make myself a little smiley face I Can do all kinds of things there so I can also delete it But there is a time and a season for every activity under the heaven and today I want to speak to all of my singles now if you are married or married again This message is going to really impact your life So no matter where you're at in any season of relationship today is going to have valued to you But I especially want to look at the three different seasons God uses to prepare us for marriage Here's the first one and it's the season where God prepares you before he pairs you so before relational fruit grows God will put you through a season of preparation and We see this all throughout Scripture So we find Moses was in a season of preparation in the wilderness We see David was in a season of preparation as a shepherd We see Joseph being prepared in the prison and we find here this Shulamite woman

She reflects back to this relationship between her and Solomon and here's what she says verse number 11 See the winter and I want you to notice that word there. The winter is Past and the rains are over and gone So typically in Scripture whenever you talk when you read about winter, it's speaking about the season of preparation that is needed before the season of the spring of the of the blossoms and The growth and it says now that the flowers appear on the earth The season of singing has come the cooing of doves is heard in our land And so you remember the Shulamite woman here. She worked in the vineyards So that means that she understood all about the seasons She understood and it's in the winter that the vineyards look like they're all dead Looks like nothing is happening But instead those roots of those vineyard vines are actually growing down deeper the plant is actually becoming stronger in preparation for the blooms that are beginning happening in the spring and For some of us that are here today you look at your relationship and you think I see no Blossoms like I don't see anything good necessarily happening. Why am I not seeing blessings? That are happening and what you would need to know is that before you can ever experience the spring You have to first experience the winter and It's in the winter seasons That we go through that season of preparation that God takes your root and he drills them down deeper so that the plant can become stronger and The tension that you're feeling today is not just theoretical. It's actually very personal in Fact I asked on social media a number of my singles. I asked him I Asked him this question. What's the hardest part about singleness while you've been waiting on God? And I want you to hear some of their responses and hear it with your heart a Lady in her late 30s said attends our church. She said I feel there's a lot of pressure on me to get married young and I feel so behind because of my age

This is probably why I've dated such idiots. I Keep lowering my standards because of the pressure a 29 year old guy in our church said I struggle with loneliness and I keep asking myself What's wrong with me 55 to your lady who's single again said I know I'm completing God, but I still want to share my life with somebody Trusting again is hard. It's a good thing to be single because dating today is exhausting 21 year old single lady said this single makes me wonder why? Is it me am I doing something wrong? Why is it too easy for everybody else people ask me all the time? Are you dating and I force a smile and I say? not yet a 30 year old guy in our church said if I'm honest Marriage scares me. I Don't feel like I'm exactly where I want to be with my job and money and then I remember how awful I was to girls in college and maybe this is just Punishment For a lot of people they view singleness as punishment instead of preparation and I will say it like this that the the blessing that Tatum and I are both experiencing in our marriage right now has come from the season of singleness that we both Endured so that we could plant our roots down deeper so that our lives could become Our lives could become stronger and so if you're encountering that right now, hey everybody listen to me Don't give up Don't throw in the towel. In fact as the old adage says in martial arts They say that a black belt is simply a white belt that never quit Come on, everybody In fact, there's an old the Hebrews believe as is their custom that when God spoke to Noah to Build the ark that the very first thing that Noah did was plant trees

Because he knew that in order to fulfill the purpose to call the destiny on his life. He would need a boatload of planks so whatever God calls you to build tomorrow Will always require preparation today Now for all of my married folk That you are walking through what you would say a winter season I Mean you look at your marriage you look at the situation. You think this is just not This is not fun. This I just don't see any good coming out of this Unfortunately, most marriages that call it quits do so in the winter season Any marriage that's survived 20 30 40 50 years That couple will tell you that they have endured multiple winters and it's in the winter that We get to learn how to dig our roots down deep. It's where you learn to walk in love to forgive to pray for one another To open up to those that are in your life for accountability Maybe it's your life group that they can speak life into you This is it's in those winter seasons that you learn how to speak life-giving words instead of life Taking words because your your words carry life or they create death And so if you're in the middle of that winter season, come on everybody. I'm just gonna encourage you today. Don't give up Don't throw in the towel I'm telling you that there's something amazing on the other side of it because the winter is going to end and Your springtime is coming And if you'll just hang on The amazing beauty that is gonna happen in the spring Is it gonna come your way so just don't give up Stay the course. Amen, everybody Amen. Here's the second thing that I would give you today and

This one is actually a lot of fun. Okay, so when there's a couple that is Moving towards marriage. They will always experience number two a season of infatuation And this is where you think she is Perfect Now all of it and married couples, you know exactly what I'm talking about This is when you all the songs and the love songs on the radio all now start making sense to you You go into a drugstore and you want to buy all the love cards, you know Not all the drugs the love cards You come up with all these little cute names for each other you like you're my you know My my lovey-dovey my honey bunny. My baby boo. What's uh? You're in a season of infatuation and I'm here to tell you this too shall pass In fact, I want you to see How both Solomon and the Shulamite woman his wife how they what they said in this season look at this This is how it played out verse number eight Listen, my lover Look here he comes and what is he doing? He ain't walking man. He a leaf and baby. He is bounding over the hills my lover My lover Is like a gazelle or a young stag and oddly enough that's kind of what Tatum has always called me our entire marriage and so Look there he stands Behind our wall gazing through the windows peering through the lattice. So notice this he's either a peepin Tom Or He's playing peekaboo and I'm going with the ladder. You know, I'm saying like they are flirting with each other my lover spoken said to me arise and there's that word again my Darling, he has these pet names for her arise. My darling my beautiful one and let us go with two fuzzies taco with We will get it a shrimp tempura taco with a Cocas zero with and I just wanted to be a together with with you with Like he says they're just I just want to I want you just come with me and so notice this in this season of

leaping and Bounding and everything is wonderful. You're gonna start thinking that you're in love But you are not in love You're not in love You're in in the fat infatuation Love is something so much deeper than in fashion infatuation a whole lot deeper So there's nothing wrong with it. Enjoy the season as long as it lasts But I would submit to you today that it's in this season of infatuation That you're gonna need to be careful to limit three things. Number one, you're gonna need to limit your time together So don't abandon your life for the season of infatuation don't drop out of school don't quit your job Don't kiss your family and friends. Goodbye for a season of infatuation instead bring them along Let them become a part of your family Let them listen when you watch How they interact with their family and they interact with your family you get to learn things about them that you would have never seen otherwise So when Tatum and I were dating I used to love going over to her house Because I would watch how she would She would serve with joy I'd see her with the biggest smile on her face and she would just I Would I think my goodness? That's not like something she's just putting on when she's around me Like she's she's and I heard stories about her that she would have never told because all her brothers told on her And then I watched her around my family and my my mom and my dad and my siblings and I Begin to see another side of her don't abandon everybody else When you go through a season of infatuation number two limit your talk So when your heart starts racing and she starts smelling really good and you start getting the tingly-wingleys You're gonna want to look at her and say hey, baby. I just want you to know My whole life I have been waiting for the moment to be able to say to somebody I Love you, and you're not in love. You've known her for 30 minutes What's happening is is that

Your words are moving faster than the foundation of your relationship So you're gonna need to limit your talk number three. You need to limit your touch Don't kid yourself when you were attracted to her when you're attracted to him. You're gonna want to reach out and touch someone and God put that in you Listen, whenever your heart moves towards somebody the touch wants to follow But don't do it Save that for the other side of marriage Save it. It's kind of like when I was growing up. I remember I was out one day and I found a baby bird I Picked that little bird up. Oh my god. I got a baby bird Look at baby bird. I'm gonna show my mom. I got baby bird baby bird baby bird baby bird baby bird. I Ran all the way home opened up Baby bird is dead. I I Squished the little baby bird in my enthusiasm Everybody listen to me in your season of infatuation Don't squish the bird Amen All right. Here's the third one This is where things start getting really fun because you actually start getting to the heart of the matter who the person is Number three, it's a season of discovery that reveals depth and direction so here's we're gonna do we're gonna watch Solomon as he invites this girl to come out of her hiding because she's already Revealed some of her insecurities in chapter 1 and now he's saying I want to know more And he says in verse 14 my dove in the clefts of the rock in the hiding places on the mountainside Show me your face I Mean hear your voice For your voice is sweet and your face is lovely and it's in these seasons of discovery that you're gonna want to make

sure That you have two conversations in fact, I'll say it like this if you are a Parent a grandparent and you're my age and your kids are older like I'm a empty nester You're gonna want to make sure that your kids have these two conversations number one You're gonna want to talk about your past So right before Tatum and I got engaged We opened up and we shared things about our past We were incredibly vulnerable with each other in fact Tatum shared with me some of the most deepest personal parts of her life and it was one of the most intimate moments that we had ever had and As you're walking through this season of discovery in it's gonna be inevitable that the topic of past relations and sexual relations is going to come up and When that does how do you respond to that? How do you answer that What do you say? My hope would be that you'd be able to look at them and say hey I just want you to know I've been saving from myself for you my whole life And get ready cuz honeymoon is gonna be good That was Tatum story That was her story Unfortunately for a lot of people That's not your story That was not my story So, what do you do how do you answer the question about past relations and Sexual your sexual past Here's my theory Okay, so the scripture It doesn't give us

Specifics on every single situation, but it makes it very clear that we are not to lie So I would make the argument that it's a whole lot easier to forgive somebody's past than it is current deceit so Hear me really clearly on this, okay Shared share the truth But don't share all the details Because I have seen the enemy use those details to absolutely destroy corrupt couples So I so they may push and say well, I mean what's your body count and what's you know? What's their names and where was this at and all these things and the best that you possibly can I would encourage you? Not to give all the details because what the enemy does is he uses those details to sow doubt in people's hearts And they start questioning themselves and the relationship and all kinds of different things so To hear me today, this would be my encouragement to you. Tell the truth, but don't overshare, don't overshare. There's a second conversation that you're gonna need to have, and that's this. You're gonna wanna talk about your plans. So where are you going in life? What's your dreams? What's your thought on owning a house? Like you need to talk through where you see, do you even have shared like values? So I'll say it like this, when Tatum and I were dating and before we got engaged, we talked about all these things and come to find out, we had a lot of similarities in who we were. One of the things that, you know, we just made a decision early on, this might sound shocking to you, but for 26 years,

most of our married life, the majority of it, we have shared one car. And we've done that so that we could put other finances in involved to be able to give more and to be able to put into investments and what have you. Cause you know, doing youth ministry for all those years, ministry, it's not like what you see in the marketplace. We made a decision early on that she would stay at home with the kids as they were in their early years, even in through up and through elementary school. We said, we're gonna sacrifice. We made a decision that when they got into their junior high and high school years, we said, hey, we wanted to put them into a university model school. When she was staying at home with the kids, she would pack my lunch every single day. And some people call that weird. We call that being intentional. That's what we decided to do. Now, I'm not saying that I could not have found a great Christian gal that was thinking, you know what? I want to put career first and we're gonna travel the world and we're not gonna have any kids. If that was who I married at some point, there would have been friction in the relationship because it wouldn't have been like shared values, if that makes sense. And so talk about your values.

Talk about what you dream about. You know, when do you wanna buy a house? What's your view on unsecured debt? How do you wanna lead the house spiritually? What's your take on tithing? How do you wanna discipline the kids? Do you even want kids? How many kids do you want? Like those are important questions. You need to vet those things out early. Talk about your plans. Talk about them. Here's the fourth key. And this is gonna relate to every person that is here today. Number four, protect your purity in every season. Now, when I say protect your purity in every season, I mean before marriage and after marriage. I believe, men, listen to me, look at me, look at me in the eyes. Men, I believe that God has given you a divine assignment to lead your marriage, to lead your family, to lead your relationship towards it. In fact, this is what King Solomon said in verse 15. He said, catch for us the foxes, the little foxes, that, notice this, they ruin the vineyards. And the vineyards there is talking about our bodies. Our vineyards that are, that are what? They're in bloom. In other words, our bodies that are wanting each other. He says, catch those little foxes.

This is those sexual temptations I would submit to you today, that sexual temptation has the ability to actually destroy your relationship, your marriage, faster than anything else. So what would happen is, is that these foxes in the middle of the night, they would sneak into these vineyards and they would eat the buds that were growing so that the grapes couldn't be produced and so it would actually ruin the harvest. That's those little foxes. And I would submit to you today that the little foxes are that sexual temptation that can get into your marriage and that will destroy that relationship and the blessing and the harvest that God wants to bring. Let me say it like this. Your body was never designed by God. It was never designed for sexual immorality. It was designed by God for Him. Now, next week, we're gonna talk about sex and we're gonna talk about how that it's good, that it's right, that it's pure, that it's fun. Come on, everybody. Can I say that, that sex is fun? Can I say that in church? I know. I get three amens. I thought I'd get a few more than that Let me tell you something. Hey, listen, watch this God made sex

Not the devil he hijacks it turns it into something corrupt God never walked into the Garden of Eden one day and saw a bush kind of just shaking over there Kind of said man what's going on there? God Never kind of just walked over there and kind of moved that bush to the side and went oh my god In fact, he would have said oh I God No, it would not have been a surprise to him because it's something that God made it's a gift from God But it is to be used in the context of a covenant marriage between one man one woman in marriage And people say well, it's my body can't I do what I want to do with it? Yeah you can But if you want God's results, you need to follow God's standards Don't ask God to bless a relationship that you know is not honoring God If you want God's results you need to follow God's standards That's and let me just say this. I live in the real world. I understand the pressures and things that are happening So I'm gonna give you four different things that will help you to stay free from sexual to keep you yourself sexually pure number one inform others of your limits up front be clear Basically you're saying hey, I know you want this and I know I want that But can't touch this don't don't don't don't don't can't touch this don't know That's about as good as dancing as you're gonna get from me everybody What you saw right there is all of my moves. In fact, that's what I used to get Tatum, you know, so She actually tells me she's like this She's like Chris. You are the whitest white boy. That's ever lived man. You just I Have I have no rhythm. I Got I can keep a beat with my hands and clap but not dancing. No You can't touch this until You go get yourself a job buy a ring

Walk an aisle Have your daddy give you away? We stand before God heaven the angels all of our friends and family. We make a covenant that till death do us part Part after that you can have me as much as you want. You can have me 20 times a day In any way like it's all yours But only after marriage Here's the second thing second suggestion number two keep four on the floor So no hopping into bed for prayer time Listen no, no cuddling on the couch and you get that little blanket and you put her over the two of you So nobody can see what y'all are doing because you know, you both are attracted to each other and inevitably what's gonna happen is She's gonna take her leg. You both have shorts on and She's gonna rub that leg up against yours and you're gonna think and there's no hair on that leg That thing is feeling nice and smooth Nice and smooth And before you know it hmm, yeah, you got yourself a world of some issues Keep all four on the floor number three Keep everything buttoned and zipped. Can I get an amen? It's amazing how easy it is to be pure when everything stays buttoned and zipped up And people make this statement they're like, well we're gonna get married yeah, but are you Well, we're engaged we're gonna be we're gonna be getting married in three months from now That's great. But are you married right now? Two weeks before your marriage are you married? No Keep it zipped and buttoned until after marriage and then number four and this one's a little controversial but number four avoid Tonsil hockey No spit swapping, you know, I'm saying I'd say, you know, it's that French kiss and stuff there and I would just say it like this You start doing that and it's amazing how it accelerates

Sexual intimacy So listen Tatum and I we kissed like this before we got married. Okay, but here Is what I can tell you that when we did that it amplified the sexual tension and we're like, whoa, what's going on with this? This this good, but it's also not good That's why the Bible comes along in Ephesians and says but among you there must not even be a Hint of sexual immorality, so let me talk to you for a second from a heart And this is for every person that's listening You're gonna have to guard your mind and your thought life from Sexual temptation because I would submit to you today. Nothing can destroy a relationship faster than sexual temptation Keep the foxes out of your marriage Keep them out of your marriage And let me just say this before you put me on some pedestal that I do not deserve to be on Let me tell you something In my own life. I have placed Accountability all around So for me, you may not know this. I have on my devices on all my devices. I Have a thing called covenant eyes That that yeah, that's right Yeah, I have that on all of my devices and what it does is it monitors everything that I look at Everything and it sends a report to a an accountability Friend in my life that can call me out on things it monitors everything My wife and I we go to counseling There is not a question that my wife nor my board is off limits to talk to me about in fact I've shared with all of my board and as open as honest with questions What have you about if there is an area in my life that there would be weakness. This would be my one area this would be the thing like there like I am as open and as vulnerable as I possibly can and some people will say Well, that's just a sign of weakness and I say no, I think that's a sign of wisdom Your purity in your life is not determined by your willpower. It's determined by your guardrails that you have all around you

So if you walk up into my office If you go back into our green room back here, I've got one word sitting on the wall just one word Finish it's all it says finish Because I want to finish the race that God has for me I want to finish the race as a husband I want to finish the race as a father. I Want to run run well for you I Know what God is gonna do in these coming years. He is accelerating things He is he is speeding things up the influence. The impact is gonna grow greater and greater And I want to make sure that I finish the race, right And I want the same thing for you because how many of you all know we are all one step away from stupid Every One of us So here's what's happening right now For some of you you're really the enemy is been just having a heyday with you this during this whole message You've been feeling all this condemnation and guilt He's been reminding you of your past and your failures and your mistakes and your regrets And I'm here to tell you today that there's not a story that you can tell me That the grace and the love of Jesus is not greater than And no matter what your struggle has been in the past no matter what those little foxes are that have gotten into your life I can tell you this that the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead Lives on the inside of you and your great Jesus the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords Has the strength the power to set you free Amen, everybody. So don't you let the enemy destroy your heart? So do me a favor all across this place won't you just bow your heads What's God speaking to you about in this message You have destiny on your life Your marriage is not just about your marriage it's about the the generational tree that it is creating The reason why the enemy has worked so hard to attack to divide that thing is because he sees

What could happen with the two of you? And your roots going down deep So that that season of spring can produce this most incredible joyous Blossom of life Maybe you're here today and you're single and you've just been just frustrated in the season of preparation You're just like man, this stinks. This sucks. I'm not interested in doing this And maybe the Lord is just shifting your perspective on that to realize Don't push against something that God is actually using to strengthen you because he's doing the same thing for the person that he's gonna Unite you with someday Maybe you're here and you're in a in a winter season in that relationship Maybe you've allowed a compromise in your life It's time that you rise up So father I pray for every person that's here today give us your strength There's a world that just glimmers and it It tries to lead us in a way that is Counter to your way Today Lord, we want to march underneath your banner Because we want the marriage the relationship God that you've always promised and that you've designed for us With heads bowed and eyes closed if you're here today And you're away from from Jesus It's time that you lay your pride down Because you've been thinking what my life is good I can do this thing by myself Well life may be good, but it's also short There's coming a day that you will stand before God himself You're gonna want to make sure that you've had a relationship with him So right where you're at if you're ready to do that, just pray this with me to say Jesus I give you my life Change me Forgive me of my past forgive me of my sins Make me new. I Confess with my mouth and I believe in my heart that you are the Son of God in

Jesus mighty name I pray and all God's people in the house. Come on say a Man and amen. Come on. Can we celebrate those that just made that decision for Jesus? Amen, thank you. Pastor Chris guys. If you just prayed that prayer I want to tell you there's not a better decision that you'll ever make in your life Scripture says that heaven is rejoicing over you right now and you may be saying okay. Well, what's next? I'll tell you what's next Text the word Jesus to 510 10 because we want to connect with you and come alongside you and walk with you guys We were never meant to do this walk alone. We're never meant to do this walk alone Amen, and so as we close I want to tell you about one of our homeless outreaches It's so we've done several of them last year. We're gonna do several of them this year We come alongside Metro relief the volunteers actually go in they actually prepare the food They actually prepare and organize the waters and the and the toiletries and the socks and all the things and then we get on this big Bus that's got a kitchen in the back of it and we actually go down into like the tent cities the homeless camps and all the places that the homeless people are to be the hands and feet of Jesus and it's a Amazing day like have you ever had one of those moments where you just realize wow God just used me and how good that feels This is one of those days This is one of those days and it changes my perspective on on my problems my so-called problems I remember last summer man. We went out. It was it was hot It's like a hundred degrees and of all of the things that I would think a homeless person would worry about Like where am I gonna sleep? What am I gonna eat? Where am I gonna use the bathroom? Where am I what about my stuff like you know what they were worried about they just wanted to get out of the Sun They just wanted to find some shade and they were all grouped up in these little Huddles like next to buildings where there was shade and I remember thinking gosh as messed up as my life has been at times I have never stressed on Getting out of the Sun, you know, and it just changes your perspective And so one of the things I love about life fellowship is our generosity It doesn't just stop at the doors of this building. It goes out. It goes out into the streets It goes out into the community. It goes out into the prisons. It goes out into the recovery homes It goes out with partnerships that that reflect the heart of Jesus to the people that need it the most And so that's why we like to say around here

Hey, don't give to a church give through a church because at life fellowship We really do remember the forgotten people and so the ways to give are on the screen You can text the word give to 510 10 or you can just tap the seat back in front of you And we just want to say thank you for your time generosity I want to say thank you from a pastor's heart who oversees prisons and outreach like we could do nothing if it weren't for you guys in your generosity so I just personally want to say thank you I'm grateful for you and I love you amen all right before we go quick announcement next Sunday the 15th we're having baptisms right out here at the baptismal if you've made a decision to follow Christ and you haven't yet taken that step of baptism next Sunday is your day we were it's a powerful way to just proclaim publicly what Christ has done in your life and there's ways to sign up for that on the website on the Church Center app if you have some confusion hey just get with one of us a staff member a leader we want to get you plugged in to that if that's what you want to do because it's it's a great day and you don't want to miss that and so guys have a great Super Bowl Sunday let me pray for y'all y'all can stand I want to invite you to stand the prayer teams will be coming up we do believe in the power of prayer if you've got something in your life man that that that's worrying you if you've got a prayer need like you're in the church I don't be shy come down and get some prayer prayer moves mountains prayer changes things and we just really want you to come I want to invite you to come and so may the Lord bless you and keep you may make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you may he turn his face towards you and give you peace in Jesus name Amen y'all have a wonderful day