September 4 2016 Affair-Proofing Your Marriage

Affair Proofing Your Marriage

Memory Verse: Exodus 20:14 "You shall not commit adultery."

How to Affair Proof Your Marriage

1. MAKE A COMMITMENT TO GOD'S STANDARDS

Psalm 119:9 "How can a (person) keep his way pure? By living according to your Word."

Proverbs 5:15 (GN) "Be faithful to your own wife and give your love to her alone."

2. MAGNIFY THE CONSEQUENCES

Proverbs 6:32 (GN)"The one who commits adultery is an utter fool, for he destroys his own soul."

3. MAINTAIN MY MARRIAGE

1 Corinthians 7:3 (GN)" A man should fulfill his duty as a husband and a woman should fulfill her duty as a wife, and each should satisfy the other's needs."

The top five needs of most men are:

1. Sexual fulfillment
2. Recreational companionship
3. An attractive spouse
4. Domestic support
5. Admiration

The top five needs of most women are:

1. Affection
2. Conversation
3. Honesty and openness
4. Financial support
5. Family commitment

1 Corinthians 7:5 (Ph)"Do not cheat each other of normal sexual intercourse ... or you will expose yourselves to the obvious temptation of Satan."

4. MANAGE MY MIND

How Affairs Develop

1. Accepting sinful thoughts in my mind
2. Emotional, non-physical involvement
3. Physical involvement
4. Rationalizing the affair

James 1:14-15 (LB) "Temptation is the pull of a person's own evil thoughts and wishes. These evil thoughts lead to evil actions and afterwards to death."

2 Timothy 2:22 (Ph)"Turn your back on lustful desires and give your positive attention to goodness, integrity, love, and peace..."

Romans 16:19 "I want you to be wise about what is good and innocent about evil."

5. MAINTAIN PROPER RELATIONSHIPS

Ephesians 5:3 "But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality."

6. MINIMIZE THE OPPORTUNITY

1 Corinthians 10:12 (LB)"So be careful! If you are thinking, `Oh, I would never behave like that - let this be a warning to you. For you too may fall into sin."

1 Corinthians 15:33 "Bad company corrupts good character."

Malachi 2:15 "Guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with your wife."

THE PATHWAY BACK TO PURITY

1. Acknowledge the sin (Psalm 51:1-4)
2. End the relationship immediately
3. Avoid ALL contact with the person from now on. Do whatever it takes to do this!

January 20 2013 How To Avoid Burnout

HOW TO PREVENT BURN-OUT
Exodus 20:8-9

Verses 8-9 - Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.

I. The Sabbath is God’s solution for burn-out.

• What is it? It means rest.

• Why did God create it? For man’s benefit.

Mark 2:27 - Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

• The problem: Ignore or corrupt.

• When is it? We Worship on Sunday, but the principle is what is important.

Romans 14:5-6 - One man considers one day more sacred than another, each man should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special does so to the Lord.

II. What to do on your Sabbath.

Three Purposes

1. Use the day to rest your body.
Psalm 127:2 - God wants His loved ones to get their proper rest.

Psalm 23:2 - He makes me lie down in green pastures.

2. Use the day to recharge your emotions.

• Have a time of quietness.
Psalm 23:3 - He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul.

• Spend time with your family.
Ecclesiastes 9:9 - Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love.

• Fellowship with believers.
Hebrews 10:25 - Let us not give up meeting together, but let us encourage one another.

3. Use the day to refocus your spirit.
Psalm 122:1 - I was glad when they said to me: Let us go to the house of the Lord.

Psalm 95:6 - Come let us bow down in worship before the Lord our maker.

Colossians 2:16-17 - Do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink or with regard to a religious festival, or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come, the reality however, is found in Christ.

June 3 2012 Rekindling Love In The Home

Rekindling Love In The Home

Revelation 2:4-5 - You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the tings you did at first.

Three Things To Do
•  Remember the good times.
•  Repent or change your attitude
•  Do the first things again.

Five Steps To Rekindle Your Romance:

1. You must give attention to your mate.
Philippians 2:2-4 -Live together in love, as though you had only one mind and one spirit between you, look to each other’s interest, not merely your own.

The first enemy of romance is a busy schedule.

2. There must be affirmation.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 - Give encouragement to each other and keep strengthening each other.

Proverbs 12:10 - Take delight in honoring each other.

3. There must be affection.
Ephesians 5:25 - Husbands be affectionate.

Ephesians 5:28 - the love a man gives his wife is the extending of his love for himself to enfold her.
Genesis 26:8 - Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.

4. Your marriage needs adventure.
Ecclesiastes 9:9 - Enjoy life with your wife, whom you     love.

1 Timothy 6:17 - God provides everything for our enjoyment.

5. Your marriage needs accordance.
1 John 1:7 - If we are living in the light of God’s presence, then we have wonderful fellowship and joy with each other.

How To Develop Spiritual Oneness:
•  Pray together

•  Share your life.    

Five Areas of Oneness:
•  Intellectual intimacy

•  Emotional intimacy

•  Physical intimacy

•  Recreational intimacy

•  Spiritual intimacy

April 22 2012 How To Storm Proof The Home

How To Storm Proof The Home

Matthew 7:24-25

Matthew 7:25 - The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall.

1. Be prepared for the culture you live in.

Romans 12:2 - Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed.

Exodus 23:2 - Don’t follow the crowd in doing wrong.

2. Prepare for the crisis you will live through.

Isaiah 43:1-3 -Don't be afraid when you go trough deep waters and great trouble. I will be with you when you go through rives of difficulty, you will not drown.

Three Things To Remember

• Relax in God’s Plan

• Recognize God’s Presence

• Rely on God’s Protection

3. Be prepared for the changes you'll live through.

Four Options

• Reject it

• Resist it

• Resent it

• Relish it

Philippians 4:11 & 12 - I’ve learned to be content whatever the circumstances may be. I’m ready for anything through the strength of Christ that lives within me.

Three Things Needed

• Contentment

• Flexibility

• Faith

1 Corinthians 3:11 - God has placed Jesus Christ as the one and only foundation and no other foundation can be laid.

April 15 2012 Six Ways To Grow A Healthy Family

Six Ways To Grow A Healthy Family

1. (F) Fun

Ecclesiastes 9:9 - Enjoy life with your wife.

Proverbs 5:13 - Be happy with your wife and find joy with the girl you married.

Psalm 127:3 - Children are a gift from God.

2. (A) Attention

Philippians 2:2-4 - When you do things, do not let selfishness or pride be your guide.  Be humble and give more honor to     others than yourselves. Do not be interested only in your own life, but be interested in the lives of others.

Philippians 2:5-7 - Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus…did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant.

Romans 12:10 - Love one another, out do one another in     showing honor.

3. (M) Ministry


1 Corinthians 16:15 - Stephanas and his family were the first to become Christians in Greece, and they are spending their lives helping and serving Christians everywhere.

Acts 16:33 - The whole family was filled with joy because they had come to believe God.

Romans 12:13 - When God’s children are in need, help them out.  Get into the habit of inviting guests home for dinner, of if they need lodging for the night.

4. (I) Insulate the members from the storms of life

Proverbs 14:26 - Reverencefor the Lord gives a man deep strength, his children have a place of refuge and security.

3 Kinds Of Storms

1. Change.

2. Failure.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 - Two are better than one, if one of them falls down the other can help him up, but if someone is alone and falls, it’s just too bad because there is no one to help him

3. Rejection

5. (L) Learning Center

Psalm 14:12 - May our sons, in their youth, be like plants that grow.

Ephesians 6:4 - Fathers, don’t exasperate your children, instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the     Lord.

Luke 2:52 - Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and with man.

Isaiah 38:19 - One generation makes known your faithfulness to the next.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 - These commandments impress them upon your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

6. (Y) Yield to God

Joshua 24:25 - Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods of your forefathers or the gods of the Amorites, but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Philippians 4:8 - Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and dwell on the fine, good things in others.