February 13, 2025 • 21 mins
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You can read the blog articles for this month's series on Marriage here:
Part 1: You Can Have a Happy Marriage
Part 2: The Most Important Thing You Can Do For Your Marriage
Part 3: The Purpose of Marriage
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello friends, welcome back to Grace From my
Home.
My name is Audrey McCracken andI'm so glad to be back with you
again this week.
I'm so glad you've joined me.
I hope that you're doing well.
We are doing well.
We've had some bumps andbruises this week but we're
making it through that.
We would start our firstfour-part series on marriage and
(00:25):
so we are, and I'm excitedabout this.
I hope that it is a blessing toyou.
I hope it's a blessing to many.
I do want to give a littlecaveat, a little disclaimer,
before I get started, becauseI'm excited about the message,
but there's a reason why it hastaken me a while to get it
together and I want to sharethat with you.
What I want to share with youis what I truly believe about
(00:49):
marriage, after being marriedfor 23 years and spending time
in God's word, reading it andsearching it for help in my
marriage, and so I want to sharethat with you and I hope that
it will be life giving.
I hope it'll be encouraging.
I want to share that with youand I hope that it will be
life-giving.
I hope it'll be encouraging.
(01:11):
But I want to tell you that I'mfully aware that there are many
women out there who have reallystruggled in marriage.
Maybe you're struggling now,maybe you have been through a
divorce, and one of my concernsabout sharing on this topic is
that it can sound like becausethe things I'm going to share
with you can make it sound likemarriage is easy.
Or you know, if you arestruggling in marriage, that
(01:34):
there's something wrong with you, because marriage is good and I
just want to make I just wantto put out a disclaimer right
now, before I even get startedthat I know marriage is not easy
, and I know many women who havegiven their all to see their
marriage fall apart and there isno condemnation in Christ.
(01:57):
And so what I want to sharewith you today is what I truly
believe, but it's hopefully fullof grace and truth, and as I've
been preparing to share thiswith you, I've been praying
about it and I feel like theLord gave me a word picture and
I want to share that with you.
See, what I'm going to share inthe next four weeks is what I
(02:19):
believe God's word says aboutmarriage.
As to the best of my ability,I'm going to put it forth plain
and clear, but it is thestandard Now.
God's word is our standard, andit makes me think of years ago
when we fought wars on footinstead of in tanks, or at least
(02:40):
horseback, and people went intobattle and they clashed and
they did hand-to-hand combatbefore the army would go out a
standard bear, and that standardbear would carry the standard
or the flag for that army.
And that was necessary, becausein the heat of the battle you
(03:02):
get turned around and you don'tknow what way is forward.
You don't know because you'refighting hand to hand, you're
dodging swords and arrows, andwhen you come up for air it's
really easy to not know what'sthe way forward, what's the path
forward.
And so a soldier would look forthat standard and that's the
(03:25):
direction he would head in.
And so that's what God's wordis like.
It's the standard and it showsus the path, it shows us the
direction.
But none of us are followingthe standard perfectly.
But it's important to have youknow.
You might say well, if none ofus are following it perfectly,
then why have it?
(03:45):
Because it shows us thedirection to go in.
You know, if I don't have anideal, if I don't have an idea
of how God expects me to walk inthis thing either a marriage or
my life, then how do I knowwhat direction to go into?
Well, that's what the standarddoes, that's what the Word of
God does.
It gives us the direction andwe keep going in that direction,
(04:10):
even imperfectly.
We may have taken some hits inthe battle, we might be dodging
some arrows, we might behobbling forward, but when I
look up and I see the standard,then I know where to go.
And so my prayer is that in thenext four weeks, the messages I
share with you, the insightsthat I give to you, my prayer is
(04:31):
that it would be a way for youto look up and say, okay, that's
the direction I'm going in,even imperfectly, that's where
I'm going to walk towards.
And if that in any way ishelpful to you, if that's
encouraging to you in any way,then I'm thankful.
And so that's how I'm coming toyou this week and the next
three weeks.
(04:51):
I'm humbly sharing with youwhat I believe, but, like
anything else that I share withyou, if it does not help you,
then you can throw it away.
You're not going to hurt myfeelings.
I want to encourage you, I wantto help you see things with
hope and not to condemn.
(05:13):
I've heard some really crazyideas, but people have taken
God's word and, in my opinion,twisted and hurt people with it.
And God's word is a gift to us.
It is to bring us out and notto beat us with.
God does not beat us with hisword.
His word is to help us find theway, the way out and the way to
(05:36):
him, and so that's how I wantto handle it this next couple of
weeks, and that's why it's beenhard for me to put this message
together, because we're dealingwith hearts.
You know we're dealing withvery sensitive places in
people's hearts and I want totreat those places well, I want
to treat them with kindness, andI don't have it all together
(05:59):
either.
You know I struggle in the verythings that I'm going to share
with you this week, because thisis where we live.
You know this is where the termsays where the rubber meets the
road.
You know this is where we live,and it's not easy, because
marriage is basically two people, two sinners, put together in
one house and then, if they havechildren, then they have other
(06:22):
sinners in one house, and we'retrying to learn how to love, how
to get along with each other.
So it's work, even for the best, it's work.
And so today I want to startoff with talking about God's
perfect plan.
We have a little glimpse inGenesis 1 and 2, god allows us a
(06:45):
little glimpse into what couldbe, into what should be, into
what he had planned.
He had planned good things formankind, for us, for his
children.
He designed this beautifulworld and in this beautiful
world he put a beautiful garden,a lovely garden, and in that
(07:06):
garden he placed Adam.
And Adam was not like anythingelse he had created.
Adam was a living soul and hebreathed his own breath into
Adam.
And he created Adam in his ownimage.
And part of that image meantthat Adam had the ability, the
(07:28):
capability, the capacity to loveand be loved.
We, as human beings, have theamazing capacity to enjoy
intimate relationships with eachother and with God.
That's how God made us.
We're unique and we're made inthe image of God, and part of
(07:50):
that image is that we can giveand receive love.
So God puts Adam in this garden.
He gives Adam assignments.
Adam named all of the animals.
God brought all the animals toAdam and said whatever you name
them, that's what they will benamed.
And then, when everything wasnamed and everything was
(08:10):
accounted for.
God said it's not good for Adamto be alone.
He needs a partner, he needs ahelper, he needs somebody.
And so he causes Adam to go tosleep and from Adam's side, he
takes a rib and he creates awoman.
And then he brings that partnerback to Adam and Adam says this
(08:31):
is bone of my bone, this isflesh of my flesh.
And it says that they werenaked and not ashamed.
They were intimate with eachother, they loved each other,
they were one.
And that's how Genesis startsoff.
This is what God's plan was.
God's plan was for man andwoman to love each other, to
(08:54):
support each other, to care foreach other, to love one another
and to love him, so they wouldhave fellowship together and
they would have fellowship withhim.
Now we know it didn't stay thatway.
Right, sin entered the picture.
And as soon as sin entered thepicture, division is what
(09:17):
happened, is what resulted.
When Adam sinned, he ran andhid from God.
And when God came after him andhe asked him what are you doing
?
What's going on?
Adam blamed Eve for his sin.
So Adam is separated from God.
And then there's divisionbetween Adam and Eve.
(09:38):
No longer are they partners.
They're pointing fingers, andso sin kills anything and
everything it touches.
And so, after this, godpronounces the consequences for
Adam's sin.
Because of his sin, they haveto leave the garden.
(09:58):
They can no longer have thatintimate relationship, that
close fellowship with God.
Every to leave the garden, theycan no longer have that
intimate relationship, thatclose fellowship with God.
Every day in the garden they'reseparated from God and there is
a change in the relationshipbetween the man and the woman.
God says to Eve your desire willbe towards your husband.
(10:22):
The way I read that, the wayI've studied it, is that no
longer will your desire betowards God.
He is not going to be your aim,he is not going to be the one
that your heart longs for.
It's going to be your husband.
It's going to be your partner.
You're going to long for thatman and he is going to rule over
(10:46):
you.
So now strife has beenintroduced into the marriage
relationship.
There's a fight for control,and that was not God's perfect
plan.
That is the result of thedivision that came because of
sin, and ever since the gardenrelationships have been strained
(11:11):
Wars, division, strife.
Those things are real and it'spart of our sinful nature when
we fail.
Our very nature was marred,marriage was marred, everything
that is touched by sin is marred.
It wasn't completely destroyed,but it was negatively affected.
(11:36):
And so we see throughout thecourse of history, throughout
the Bible, there's division.
Now, god, he didn't leave themin that state.
He told them.
He made a promise right therein Genesis.
In Genesis 3.14, he says hesays he speaks to the serpent
(11:57):
and he says so the Lord, god,said to the serpent Because you
have done this, cursed are youabove all livestock and all wild
animals.
You will crawl on your bellyand you will eat the dust all
the days of your life and I willput enmity between you and the
woman and between your offspringand hers.
He will crush your head and youwill strike his heel.
(12:20):
Offspring and hers, he willcrush your head and you will
strike his heel.
So God is saying there issomeone coming, an offspring of
Eve, who will destroy you andwho will make right what has
happened, and that was Jesus.
We know that that was Jesus.
But for all those years, untilChrist came, this curse reigned
(12:41):
over the earth and there wasstrife between man and woman,
there was competition, there wasnot a good relationship between
men and women and betweenmankind and God.
And Jesus came and he paid theprice for our sin, for mankind's
(13:02):
sin.
He paid the price.
He redeemed us.
He was our redeemer.
Through his death, through hisresurrection, through his shed
blood, he broke the curse.
Now we believe that andtherefore we are saved.
We believe it.
Someone told us Maybe it wasour mom and dad, maybe it was a
(13:25):
friend, maybe we heard about iton TV but someone one day shared
the gospel with us and webelieved.
And because we believed, wewere born again and we can walk
in the newness of life.
Praise the Lord.
We can walk in the newness oflife, praise the Lord.
But with that, the curse hasbeen broken and we can walk in
(13:47):
freedom.
See, strife was not a part ofGod's perfect plan for marriage,
but it was a part of the cursethat came as a result of sin, of
mankind's sin, as a result ofsin, of mankind's sin.
And Jesus came to deliver usfrom sin and from the curse that
it brought.
It says in Galatians 3.13,.
(14:08):
So through his death, throughhis resurrection, jesus made a
way for us to walk in healthyrelationships again.
He made a way for us to beintimate with each other and
(14:29):
with God again.
He brought forgiveness, hebrought mercy, he brought grace,
and we can walk that way in ourhomes.
We can walk that way in ourmarriages.
Our marriages can be marked bylove.
They can be marked by mutualrespect and trust.
You know we can walk with ourhusbands with a shared vision.
(14:52):
You know we can be an exampleto the world of what God
intended originally when hecreated man and woman and he put
them in that garden together.
And I'll get to this in the nextfew weeks.
We are a reflection of JesusChrist in the church.
Paul says that.
He says it's a mystery andwe'll talk about that in the
(15:15):
next couple of weeks, but we canbe a light to the world that
God redeems.
God didn't mean it to be thisway.
He has a plan and the thing iswe have to know that, so we have
to believe.
It's just like our salvation.
Okay, you can't believe inChrist if you don't know about
him.
If nobody showed Christ withyou, then you can't believe.
(15:40):
And it's like this when it comesto a redeemed marriage, if you
don't know that, it doesn't haveto be this way that God wants
us to walk together in unity,with mutual love and respect for
each other, that that'spossible.
Now, if nobody tells us, thenhow do we know?
And so today I'm telling youit's possible.
(16:02):
It's possible to walk with yourhusband in love.
It's possible to have a sharedvision.
It's possible to walk in graceand mercy and forgiveness.
Strife does not have to rule inyour life and in your home.
It doesn't have to rule.
Jesus made a way and we have to.
(16:24):
First of all, we have tobelieve that.
If we don't believe that'spossible, then nothing else I
say in the next four weeks isgoing to matter.
See, that's the foundation isthat Christ made a way, because
he died, because he broke thiscurse, that we're going to
always live in strife and we'realways going to be fighting over
who's in charge.
And you know, because he brokethat, we can say yes.
(16:45):
Now it's not easy.
I don't want to make it soundlike marriage is easy.
It's not easy.
It's never meant to be easy.
I don't even think you know itwas supposed to be easy with
Adam and Eve.
But it's possible.
You know there's a differencebetween being easy and being
possible.
Jesus said with God, all thingsare possible.
He didn't say with God, allthings are easy, and that goes
(17:06):
for marriage too.
We have to.
Now that we know, now that weknow that it's possible, then we
have to renew our minds inGod's Word.
We have to find out, we have todig into the Word, we have to
search for the buried treasure,we have to find the principles
that relate to marriage and torelationships, and we have to
(17:27):
learn how to walk in new ways.
I've lived my life for what?
22, 23 years not being aChristian, doing things as best
as I knew how, but not living inthe newness of life, not
walking in the fruit of theSpirit.
Because the Spirit didn't livein me.
How can he produce His fruit inme?
(17:47):
He didn't live in me.
And so when I come to Christand the Holy Spirit comes inside
of me and he starts doing awork in me and I start learning
how to cultivate the fruit ofthe Spirit, I'm like a baby.
I'm a baby, and so you have toget in the Word and you have to
figure out okay, lord, what areyou saying in your Word?
You know where's the treasurein your Word.
(18:09):
How do I renew my mind in this?
What do you say about walkingin healthy relationships?
And there is a lot of good stuffin God's Word, but first of all
we have to believe that it'spossible.
And in the next four weeks,that's what we're going to talk
about.
We're going to talk about howto walk in a healthy
relationship with our husband,with God, with other people, but
(18:31):
I'm going to relate it towardsmarriage and I think God's going
to speak to us Amen.
I think he's going to help usto grasp it, to understand, to
have hope that he cares about us, he cares about our marriage,
he cares about our homes.
He will teach us how to get thestrife out of our life and how
(18:53):
to love another person well, andhe can do that.
But first we have to believethat he wants to, that that's
his will, that it's possible.
And so today I'm here to tellyou that you can have a happy
family and that you know, evenif you're the only one trying,
(19:13):
god will honor your obedience,he will honor your obedience,
and you know, and we can learnlife-giving principles, and not
only are they life-giving, butthey're life-changing.
And so in the next few weeks,that's what we're going to talk
about.
But today I just want to cometo you and say it's possible.
(19:35):
It's possible, it's probable,and God is cheering you on, amen
, and I'm cheering you on andI'm saying, hey, let's do this.
Let us let Christ transform us,change us, teach us and, in the
process, transform ourmarriages and our homes, and let
(19:56):
us be examples to the worldthat Christ has redeemed, that
marriage is good because it'sGod's idea, and that in Jesus
it's never going to be perfect,but he is our standard and as we
go towards Him, we won't getlost in the fray.
Amen, god bless, have a greatweek.
Hello friends, welcome back to Grace From my
Home.
My name is Audrey McCracken andI'm so glad to be back with you
again this week.
I'm so glad you've joined me.
I hope that you're doing well.
We are doing well.
We've had some bumps andbruises this week but we're
making it through that.
We would start our firstfour-part series on marriage and
(00:25):
so we are, and I'm excitedabout this.
I hope that it is a blessing toyou.
I hope it's a blessing to many.
I do want to give a littlecaveat, a little disclaimer,
before I get started, becauseI'm excited about the message,
but there's a reason why it hastaken me a while to get it
together and I want to sharethat with you.
What I want to share with youis what I truly believe about
(00:49):
marriage, after being marriedfor 23 years and spending time
in God's word, reading it andsearching it for help in my
marriage, and so I want to sharethat with you and I hope that
it will be life giving.
I hope it'll be encouraging.
I want to share that with youand I hope that it will be
life-giving.
I hope it'll be encouraging.
(01:11):
But I want to tell you that I'mfully aware that there are many
women out there who have reallystruggled in marriage.
Maybe you're struggling now,maybe you have been through a
divorce, and one of my concernsabout sharing on this topic is
that it can sound like becausethe things I'm going to share
with you can make it sound likemarriage is easy.
Or you know, if you arestruggling in marriage, that
(01:34):
there's something wrong with you, because marriage is good and I
just want to make I just wantto put out a disclaimer right
now, before I even get startedthat I know marriage is not easy
, and I know many women who havegiven their all to see their
marriage fall apart and there isno condemnation in Christ.
(01:57):
And so what I want to sharewith you today is what I truly
believe, but it's hopefully fullof grace and truth, and as I've
been preparing to share thiswith you, I've been praying
about it and I feel like theLord gave me a word picture and
I want to share that with you.
See, what I'm going to share inthe next four weeks is what I
(02:19):
believe God's word says aboutmarriage.
As to the best of my ability,I'm going to put it forth plain
and clear, but it is thestandard Now.
God's word is our standard, andit makes me think of years ago
when we fought wars on footinstead of in tanks, or at least
(02:40):
horseback, and people went intobattle and they clashed and
they did hand-to-hand combatbefore the army would go out a
standard bear, and that standardbear would carry the standard
or the flag for that army.
And that was necessary, becausein the heat of the battle you
(03:02):
get turned around and you don'tknow what way is forward.
You don't know because you'refighting hand to hand, you're
dodging swords and arrows, andwhen you come up for air it's
really easy to not know what'sthe way forward, what's the path
forward.
And so a soldier would look forthat standard and that's the
(03:25):
direction he would head in.
And so that's what God's wordis like.
It's the standard and it showsus the path, it shows us the
direction.
But none of us are followingthe standard perfectly.
But it's important to have youknow.
You might say well, if none ofus are following it perfectly,
then why have it?
(03:45):
Because it shows us thedirection to go in.
You know, if I don't have anideal, if I don't have an idea
of how God expects me to walk inthis thing either a marriage or
my life, then how do I knowwhat direction to go into?
Well, that's what the standarddoes, that's what the Word of
God does.
It gives us the direction andwe keep going in that direction,
(04:10):
even imperfectly.
We may have taken some hits inthe battle, we might be dodging
some arrows, we might behobbling forward, but when I
look up and I see the standard,then I know where to go.
And so my prayer is that in thenext four weeks, the messages I
share with you, the insightsthat I give to you, my prayer is
(04:31):
that it would be a way for youto look up and say, okay, that's
the direction I'm going in,even imperfectly, that's where
I'm going to walk towards.
And if that in any way ishelpful to you, if that's
encouraging to you in any way,then I'm thankful.
And so that's how I'm coming toyou this week and the next
three weeks.
(04:51):
I'm humbly sharing with youwhat I believe, but, like
anything else that I share withyou, if it does not help you,
then you can throw it away.
You're not going to hurt myfeelings.
I want to encourage you, I wantto help you see things with
hope and not to condemn.
(05:13):
I've heard some really crazyideas, but people have taken
God's word and, in my opinion,twisted and hurt people with it.
And God's word is a gift to us.
It is to bring us out and notto beat us with.
God does not beat us with hisword.
His word is to help us find theway, the way out and the way to
(05:36):
him, and so that's how I wantto handle it this next couple of
weeks, and that's why it's beenhard for me to put this message
together, because we're dealingwith hearts.
You know we're dealing withvery sensitive places in
people's hearts and I want totreat those places well, I want
to treat them with kindness, andI don't have it all together
(05:59):
either.
You know I struggle in the verythings that I'm going to share
with you this week, because thisis where we live.
You know this is where the termsays where the rubber meets the
road.
You know this is where we live,and it's not easy, because
marriage is basically two people, two sinners, put together in
one house and then, if they havechildren, then they have other
(06:22):
sinners in one house, and we'retrying to learn how to love, how
to get along with each other.
So it's work, even for the best, it's work.
And so today I want to startoff with talking about God's
perfect plan.
We have a little glimpse inGenesis 1 and 2, god allows us a
(06:45):
little glimpse into what couldbe, into what should be, into
what he had planned.
He had planned good things formankind, for us, for his
children.
He designed this beautifulworld and in this beautiful
world he put a beautiful garden,a lovely garden, and in that
(07:06):
garden he placed Adam.
And Adam was not like anythingelse he had created.
Adam was a living soul and hebreathed his own breath into
Adam.
And he created Adam in his ownimage.
And part of that image meantthat Adam had the ability, the
(07:28):
capability, the capacity to loveand be loved.
We, as human beings, have theamazing capacity to enjoy
intimate relationships with eachother and with God.
That's how God made us.
We're unique and we're made inthe image of God, and part of
(07:50):
that image is that we can giveand receive love.
So God puts Adam in this garden.
He gives Adam assignments.
Adam named all of the animals.
God brought all the animals toAdam and said whatever you name
them, that's what they will benamed.
And then, when everything wasnamed and everything was
(08:10):
accounted for.
God said it's not good for Adamto be alone.
He needs a partner, he needs ahelper, he needs somebody.
And so he causes Adam to go tosleep and from Adam's side, he
takes a rib and he creates awoman.
And then he brings that partnerback to Adam and Adam says this
(08:31):
is bone of my bone, this isflesh of my flesh.
And it says that they werenaked and not ashamed.
They were intimate with eachother, they loved each other,
they were one.
And that's how Genesis startsoff.
This is what God's plan was.
God's plan was for man andwoman to love each other, to
(08:54):
support each other, to care foreach other, to love one another
and to love him, so they wouldhave fellowship together and
they would have fellowship withhim.
Now we know it didn't stay thatway.
Right, sin entered the picture.
And as soon as sin entered thepicture, division is what
(09:17):
happened, is what resulted.
When Adam sinned, he ran andhid from God.
And when God came after him andhe asked him what are you doing
?
What's going on?
Adam blamed Eve for his sin.
So Adam is separated from God.
And then there's divisionbetween Adam and Eve.
(09:38):
No longer are they partners.
They're pointing fingers, andso sin kills anything and
everything it touches.
And so, after this, godpronounces the consequences for
Adam's sin.
Because of his sin, they haveto leave the garden.
(09:58):
They can no longer have thatintimate relationship, that
close fellowship with God.
Every to leave the garden, theycan no longer have that
intimate relationship, thatclose fellowship with God.
Every day in the garden they'reseparated from God and there is
a change in the relationshipbetween the man and the woman.
God says to Eve your desire willbe towards your husband.
(10:22):
The way I read that, the wayI've studied it, is that no
longer will your desire betowards God.
He is not going to be your aim,he is not going to be the one
that your heart longs for.
It's going to be your husband.
It's going to be your partner.
You're going to long for thatman and he is going to rule over
(10:46):
you.
So now strife has beenintroduced into the marriage
relationship.
There's a fight for control,and that was not God's perfect
plan.
That is the result of thedivision that came because of
sin, and ever since the gardenrelationships have been strained
(11:11):
Wars, division, strife.
Those things are real and it'spart of our sinful nature when
we fail.
Our very nature was marred,marriage was marred, everything
that is touched by sin is marred.
It wasn't completely destroyed,but it was negatively affected.
(11:36):
And so we see throughout thecourse of history, throughout
the Bible, there's division.
Now, god, he didn't leave themin that state.
He told them.
He made a promise right therein Genesis.
In Genesis 3.14, he says hesays he speaks to the serpent
(11:57):
and he says so the Lord, god,said to the serpent Because you
have done this, cursed are youabove all livestock and all wild
animals.
You will crawl on your bellyand you will eat the dust all
the days of your life and I willput enmity between you and the
woman and between your offspringand hers.
He will crush your head and youwill strike his heel.
(12:20):
Offspring and hers, he willcrush your head and you will
strike his heel.
So God is saying there issomeone coming, an offspring of
Eve, who will destroy you andwho will make right what has
happened, and that was Jesus.
We know that that was Jesus.
But for all those years, untilChrist came, this curse reigned
(12:41):
over the earth and there wasstrife between man and woman,
there was competition, there wasnot a good relationship between
men and women and betweenmankind and God.
And Jesus came and he paid theprice for our sin, for mankind's
(13:02):
sin.
He paid the price.
He redeemed us.
He was our redeemer.
Through his death, through hisresurrection, through his shed
blood, he broke the curse.
Now we believe that andtherefore we are saved.
We believe it.
Someone told us Maybe it wasour mom and dad, maybe it was a
(13:25):
friend, maybe we heard about iton TV but someone one day shared
the gospel with us and webelieved.
And because we believed, wewere born again and we can walk
in the newness of life.
Praise the Lord.
We can walk in the newness oflife, praise the Lord.
But with that, the curse hasbeen broken and we can walk in
(13:47):
freedom.
See, strife was not a part ofGod's perfect plan for marriage,
but it was a part of the cursethat came as a result of sin, of
mankind's sin, as a result ofsin, of mankind's sin.
And Jesus came to deliver usfrom sin and from the curse that
it brought.
It says in Galatians 3.13,.
(14:08):
So through his death, throughhis resurrection, jesus made a
way for us to walk in healthyrelationships again.
He made a way for us to beintimate with each other and
(14:29):
with God again.
He brought forgiveness, hebrought mercy, he brought grace,
and we can walk that way in ourhomes.
We can walk that way in ourmarriages.
Our marriages can be marked bylove.
They can be marked by mutualrespect and trust.
You know we can walk with ourhusbands with a shared vision.
(14:52):
You know we can be an exampleto the world of what God
intended originally when hecreated man and woman and he put
them in that garden together.
And I'll get to this in the nextfew weeks.
We are a reflection of JesusChrist in the church.
Paul says that.
He says it's a mystery andwe'll talk about that in the
(15:15):
next couple of weeks, but we canbe a light to the world that
God redeems.
God didn't mean it to be thisway.
He has a plan and the thing iswe have to know that, so we have
to believe.
It's just like our salvation.
Okay, you can't believe inChrist if you don't know about
him.
If nobody showed Christ withyou, then you can't believe.
(15:40):
And it's like this when it comesto a redeemed marriage, if you
don't know that, it doesn't haveto be this way that God wants
us to walk together in unity,with mutual love and respect for
each other, that that'spossible.
Now, if nobody tells us, thenhow do we know?
And so today I'm telling youit's possible.
(16:02):
It's possible to walk with yourhusband in love.
It's possible to have a sharedvision.
It's possible to walk in graceand mercy and forgiveness.
Strife does not have to rule inyour life and in your home.
It doesn't have to rule.
Jesus made a way and we have to.
(16:24):
First of all, we have tobelieve that.
If we don't believe that'spossible, then nothing else I
say in the next four weeks isgoing to matter.
See, that's the foundation isthat Christ made a way, because
he died, because he broke thiscurse, that we're going to
always live in strife and we'realways going to be fighting over
who's in charge.
And you know, because he brokethat, we can say yes.
(16:45):
Now it's not easy.
I don't want to make it soundlike marriage is easy.
It's not easy.
It's never meant to be easy.
I don't even think you know itwas supposed to be easy with
Adam and Eve.
But it's possible.
You know there's a differencebetween being easy and being
possible.
Jesus said with God, all thingsare possible.
He didn't say with God, allthings are easy, and that goes
(17:06):
for marriage too.
We have to.
Now that we know, now that weknow that it's possible, then we
have to renew our minds inGod's Word.
We have to find out, we have todig into the Word, we have to
search for the buried treasure,we have to find the principles
that relate to marriage and torelationships, and we have to
(17:27):
learn how to walk in new ways.
I've lived my life for what?
22, 23 years not being aChristian, doing things as best
as I knew how, but not living inthe newness of life, not
walking in the fruit of theSpirit.
Because the Spirit didn't livein me.
How can he produce His fruit inme?
(17:47):
He didn't live in me.
And so when I come to Christand the Holy Spirit comes inside
of me and he starts doing awork in me and I start learning
how to cultivate the fruit ofthe Spirit, I'm like a baby.
I'm a baby, and so you have toget in the Word and you have to
figure out okay, lord, what areyou saying in your Word?
You know where's the treasurein your Word.
(18:09):
How do I renew my mind in this?
What do you say about walkingin healthy relationships?
And there is a lot of good stuffin God's Word, but first of all
we have to believe that it'spossible.
And in the next four weeks,that's what we're going to talk
about.
We're going to talk about howto walk in a healthy
relationship with our husband,with God, with other people, but
(18:31):
I'm going to relate it towardsmarriage and I think God's going
to speak to us Amen.
I think he's going to help usto grasp it, to understand, to
have hope that he cares about us, he cares about our marriage,
he cares about our homes.
He will teach us how to get thestrife out of our life and how
(18:53):
to love another person well, andhe can do that.
But first we have to believethat he wants to, that that's
his will, that it's possible.
And so today I'm here to tellyou that you can have a happy
family and that you know, evenif you're the only one trying,
(19:13):
god will honor your obedience,he will honor your obedience,
and you know, and we can learnlife-giving principles, and not
only are they life-giving, butthey're life-changing.
And so in the next few weeks,that's what we're going to talk
about.
But today I just want to cometo you and say it's possible.
(19:35):
It's possible, it's probable,and God is cheering you on, amen
, and I'm cheering you on andI'm saying, hey, let's do this.
Let us let Christ transform us,change us, teach us and, in the
process, transform ourmarriages and our homes, and let
(19:56):
us be examples to the worldthat Christ has redeemed, that
marriage is good because it'sGod's idea, and that in Jesus
it's never going to be perfect,but he is our standard and as we
go towards Him, we won't getlost in the fray.
Amen, god bless, have a greatweek.
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