Couples Building Rock Solid Marriages

1. Couples Building Rock Solid Marriages TRADEMARKS

2. Intro New Couples Prayer

4. Game Time! • Coaches game plan • Players execution • Big Plays • Special Teams

5. Chinese saying: If you shoot for nothing you will hit it every time! What’s your game plan? The house is on fire. Proverbs 28:13 13 You can't whitewash your sins and get by with it;    you find mercy by admitting and leaving them. (Message) 13He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper,         But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion. (NASB)

6. Mark 2:13-17 14(B)As He passed by, He saw (C)Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, "(D)Follow Me!" And he got up and followed Him.  15And it happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. • 16When (E)the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, "(F)Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?" • 17And hearing this, Jesus said to them, "(G)It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

7. As individuals write down an evaluation of your marriage to share with your spouse. • Include: How you think you are doing as a spouse, as a partner, communication, serving, loving, etc. • Then write down how your spouse is doing (in your opinion).

8. How God sees us Our Tendency: Is to think that God sees your marriage as you describe it or think about it. As if God takes His cue about us from us. We even relate to Him as we think He would respond to someone like us. Lord teach us to pray “Our Father” To learn how to communicate to the Father. Greek word ‘pater’ which is the word abba in Jesus native Aramaic. Family word not formal. Representing the concept of: care, love, responsibility, discipline, hopes and dreams for one’s children.

9. David becoming king • I Samuel 16:6-13 • Israel needed a new king. • Saul: Israel’s 1st king – not a great one – continually kept NOT looking to God for direction but to those around him. • “what do you think I should do?” • God taps Samuel to get him a new king that would do His will so he could bless His nation.

10. Jesse’s Sons • Eliab: The most practical choice. • God has a history of taking what looks insufficient or barely capable and doing HUGE things. • Sarah and Abraham - Moses • For God sees not as man sees. • But the Lord looks at the heart • What you did yesterday is a far less concern to the Lord than your heart is today. • God redeems and restores.

11. God redeems and restores • 14 Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. • Your response today is of much greater concern to Him than the failures in the past. • What you know to be true verses what God sees to be true

12. The very thing that is the constant or greatest obstacle in your marriage may be the very thing God uses to redeem and restore your marriage. • God will continue to leverage the things that are broken in our marriage as points of great growth. • Open your marriage up to the game plan that God may have for you. • Seeing your marriage as God sees it and not you.

13. 7Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  8"For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Matt 7:7-8 • being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Phil 1:6 • But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 1 John 1:9

14. Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. Duet 31:6 • “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5

15. Strange Question? • Are these all the sons you have? • They didn’t even invite him • They didn’t think he was necessary • He was the one • Not according to what anyone would think • Do you want to know His will?

16. Why you need a game plan • Psychologists have concluded that the need to feel loved is a primary emotional need. • No other need is more foundational than the need for love and affection. • We needed love before we ‘fell in love’ and will need it as long as we live. • The love tank….making deposits and bad withdrawels. • Take some time and draw how full or empty yours is and also where you think your spouse is.

17. Remember that God is for you and the future ahead and be careful to look ahead to His great plans over what you feel like it has been. • You are the only one who rubber-necks in the past. • Don’t look behind to define today.

18. The Challenge • Get a plan • Communicate that plan • Know your spouses top 2 love languages • Allow yourself to see you and your marriage the way God sees it. • Write a letter to your spouse: • Commit to God to receive your spouse as His plan. • Tell them how God has used them to change you. • Share what attracted you to them when you first met • What do you appreciate about them • What struggles have helped you to grow • Set a time to sit down and read letters to each other