Sermon Cloud

RECIPE #1:  CREATING SECURITY

 4 INTRUDERS TO YOUR MARRIAGE

“Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.” Song of Solomon 2:15 (NIV)

1.      Escalation

2.      Harsh Language

3.      Retreat

4.      Assumption

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you?”  James 4:1 (NIV)

“God opposes the proud  but gives grace to the humble." James 4:6

 3 KEYS TO A SECURE MARRIAGE

KEY #1 - SAFETY

Suspend JUDGMENT

"Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults--unless, of course, you want the same treatment. 2That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. 3It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbor's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. 4Do you have the nerve to say, "Let me wash your face for you,' when your own face is distorted by contempt? 5It's this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.”  Matthew 7:1-5 (MSG)

KEY #2 - HONOR

Recognize Your Mate’s Incredible VALUE

"Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!  It is amazing to think about.  Your workmanship is marvelous... You were there while I was being formed... You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe."    Psalm 139:14-16 (LB)

KEY #3 - COMMITMENT

Resolve To STAY

3Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?"  4"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator

'made them male and female,'5and 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'? 6So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." Matthew 19:3-6

15 Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.
16 "I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel, "and I hate a man's covering himself with violence as well as with his garment," says the LORD Almighty. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.” Malachi 2:15-16