Review: Week 1: Fight the right enemy Week 2: Fighting fair Week 3: Throwing in the towel

Transcription

1 Against the Ropes 4 Going the Distance Review: Week 1: Fight the right enemy Week 2: Fighting fair Week 3: Throwing in the towel Today: Going the Distance Mark 10:6-9 (NLT) 6 But God made them male and female from the beginning of creation. 7 This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, 8 and the two are united into one. Since they are no longer two but one, 9 let no one split apart what God has joined together. The heart of God for our marriages is to go the distance To outlast the challenges and cross the finish line! The question is how? Let me start by giving you some seasons to consider: 1. The romantic season

2 Intense passion Unrealistic bliss Selective blindness Ecstatic loss of judgment Debt 2. The reality season Eyes opened Work Kids Bills/financial pressure Kids Distance 3. The rich season Reward Experience Investments Romantic To make it to the rich season, there are two things you re going to need in your corner! 1. Wisdom

3 Proverbs 1:20-33 (NLT) 20 Wisdom shouts in the streets. She cries out in the public square. 21 She calls to the crowds along the main street, to those gathered in front of the city gate: 22 How long, you simpletons, will you insist on being simpleminded? How long will you mockers relish your mocking? How long will you fools hate knowledge? 23 Come and listen to my counsel. I ll share my heart with you and make you wise. 24 I called you so often, but you wouldn t come. I reached out to you, but you paid no attention. 25 You ignored my advice and rejected the correction I offered. 26 So I will laugh when you are in trouble! I will mock you when disaster overtakes you 27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster engulfs you like a cyclone, and anguish and distress overwhelm you. 28 When they cry for help, I will not answer. Though they anxiously search for me, they will not find me. 29 For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the LORD. 30 They rejected my advice and paid no attention when I corrected them.

4 31 Therefore, they must eat the bitter fruit of living their own way, choking on their own schemes. 32 For simpletons turn away from me to death. Fools are destroyed by their own complacency. 33 But all who listen to me will live in peace, untroubled by fear of harm. In the season of the romantic and reality, you re going to need the wisdom to grow to maturity. You re going to need wisdom in your corner to recognize distance when it sets in. You re going to need the wisdom that it takes to know when you can t fix this by yourselves! You re going to need wisdom to help you keep your marriage a priority! 2. The right people 1 Corinthians 15:33b (NLT) 33 bad company corrupts good character. Proverbs 27:17 (NLT) 17 As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend. A spiritual community (home groups, resources, etc.)

5 Christ- following friends (so important ) A Biblical counselor (on call if you need them) In Sacred Marriage, Gary Thomas notes that there are trees in Washington State's northern Cascades that are hundreds of years old. One tree in particular is 700 years old. Typically, forests experience damaging fires every 50 to 60 years. The reason the trees in the North Cascades live so long is because the drenching rains protect them from forest fires caused by lightning strikes. Thomas says: I think that's a good picture of a marriage that is based on the ministry of reconciliation. Strong Christian marriages will still be struck by lightning sexual temptation, communication problems, frustrations, unrealized expectations but if the marriages are heavily watered with an unwavering commitment to please God above everything else, the conditions won't be ripe for a devastating fire to follow the lightning strike. Thomas notes there were hundreds of trees in the forest, but the National Service put a sign in front of the 700-year-old tree because "it had survived seven centuries. It had simply gone the distance, and in so doing, it commanded attention." Intro to video Song Prayer