March 3 2013 Relationship Rescue: Marriage Maintenance

Marriage Maintenance

Psalm 144:11 “Reach down from heaven and rescue me; deliver me from deep waters.”

Proverbs 5: Wisdom for A Married Man

Proverbs 5:1-2 “My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen carefully to my wise counsel. Then you will learn to be discreet and will store up knowledge.”

Three Point Marriage Inspection

1) Am I  my marriage?

Proverbs 5:3-11 “The lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil. But the result is as bitter as poison, sharp as a double-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave. For she does not care about the path to life. She staggers down a crooked trail and doesn’t even realize where it leads. So now, my sons, listen to me. Never stray from what I am about to say: Run from her! Don’t go near the door of her house! If you do, you will lose your honor and hand over to merciless people everything you have achieved in life. Strangers will obtain your wealth, and someone else will enjoy the fruit of your labor. Afterward you will groan in anguish when disease consumes your body.”

2) Am I  my marriage?

Proverbs 5:12-17 “And you will say, “How I hated discipline! If only I had not demanded my own way! Oh, why didn’t I listen to my teachers? Why didn’t I pay attention to those who gave me instruction? I have come to the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly. Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well. Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers.”

3)  Am I  my marriage?

Memory Verse: Ephesians 5:31-33 “As the Scriptures say, ‘A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”

February 17 2013 Relationship Rescue: Back To The Basics

Back To The Basics

Memory Verse:
“Reach down from heaven and rescue me; deliver me form deep waters.“ Psalm 144:7


Genesis 2:18 "And the Lord God said, “It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a companion who will help him ."

THREE RELATIONSHIP TRUTHS:

1. Expect Problems in my relationships. (The Myth of Perfection)

Genesis 3:1-7 - Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the creatures the LORD God had made. ''Really?'' he asked the woman. 'Did God really say you must not eat any of the fruit in the garden?" "Of course we may eat it," the woman told him. "It's only the fruit from the tree at the center of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God says we must not eat it or even touch it, or we will die." "You won't die!" the serpent hissed "God knows that your eyes will be opened when you eat it. You will become just like God, knowing everything, both good and evil." The woman was convinced The fruit looked so fresh and delicious, and it would make her so wise! So she ate some of the fruit. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her. Then he ate it, too. At that moment, their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they strung fig leaves together around their hips to cover themselves.

2. Accept Responsibility for my relationship problems. (The Myth of Blame)

Genesis 3:12-13 - "Yes, "Adam admitted, "but it was the woman you gave me who brought me the fruit, and I ate it. " Then the LORD God asked the woman, ''How could you do such a thing ?" "The serpent tricked me, " she replied "That's why I ate it."

3. Invite Jesus to be at the center of my relationships (The Myth of Self-Reliance)

Genesis 3:14-24 - So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your browyou will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

My Decision Today:

God will be the Center of my relationships!