From This Day Forward | Never Give Up
Saturday, February 29th 2020
Marriage is a covenant, not a contract!
SEEK GOD
FIGHT FAIR
HAVE FUN
STAY PURE
NEVER GIVE UP
Matthew 19:3-6 NIV
Some Pharisees came to (Jesus) to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?” “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”
Marriage is a covenant, not a contract!
A Contract is based on mutual distrust.
A Covenant is based on mutual commitment.
A Contract limits my responsibilities and increases my rights.
A Covenant releases my rights and expands my responsibility.
Galatians 6:7-9 NLT
Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.
What are you planting?
Where are you planting?
If you have lost a marriage…From This Day Forward
Choose today to stop looking back start looking forward!
- Covenant is between 2 equal parties having equal privileges and equal responsibilities
- Hebrew word for covenant literally means to bond or permanently joined together: Super Glue
- Reason divorce feels horrible, ripping one thing in two, permanent damage.
- Don’t un-one what God made one.
Contract….If you fully trusted the other person you would not need a contract?!
Covenant…You enter a covenant not expecting to get, but promising to give! Vows, I promise to give to you my love and devotion!
Contract…Needed when you rent houses, apartments, appliances, etc
or how about a prenup—don’t want to lose my Chevy, golf clubs & my fish tank.
Covenant…Permanent relationship—no end date—till death do us part.
I’m not happy.
I don’t trust him.
I don’t love her.
Challenge you to stop pointing the finger, and start pondering your failures. It’s easy to blame the other person, but how about starting to take accountability for your actions. If you are constantly looking for their faults you will constantly find them…Read Galatians 6:7-9NLT
When you plant:
Plant a seed over here—should I expect a tree over here?
If I invest all my passion in my hobby, my career, my kids should I expect a harvest with my spouse?
God is my one. My spouse is my two! Prioritize your marriage above everything but God!
Look at each other, realize your marriage is as good as you decide it’s going to be.
Listen, not giving up—doesn’t just mean not getting divorced…it means you are not going to stop Seeking God, Fighting Fair, Having Fun, Staying Pure!
Reap a HARVEST—Intimacy, Story, Integrity
Get a Harvest—if you do not give up!
What could your Harvest look like?
…Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Gal 6:9