I received a letter yesterday that made my day…a lady had written that she had basically decided to leave her husband because there was absolutely no joy in their marriage. BUT…for some reason she decided to come to NewSpring on the first Sunday of our Lord of the Rings series…and everything changed!!!
I nearly wept as I read that, over the past three weeks she has developed a hope that had not been there in years. She said that for the first time in a long time that she is excited about her marriage…and that she knows everything is going to be ok.
THAT TYPE OF THING IS EXACTLY WHAT WE’VE BEEN PRAYING FOR!!! Our passion has never been to do a “fun series”—but to see lives changed!!!
It was our passion when we started this series to see marriages saved and transformed. Our reasoning was that if Jesus can come back from the dead…and He brings dead things back to life…that He can also bring marriage that are dead to a place where they are FULL of LIFE.
It was also our passion to teach singles to have a high view of marriage…and to establish standards in their dating life. Singles…trust me…if you have no standards in who you date…then it will eventually show!!! (Translation…you won’t be full of joy regarding who you married…you will full of regret in regards to who you “wound up with!”)
Please keep in mind that we were very strategic about the subjects that we felt needed to be covered. I personally studied (and stressed) over these messages more than any relationship series we have ever done. We wanted to be practical…to meet people where they are…and then show them how to get to where they need to be using Scripture—NOT the latest jargon from talk show hosts who talk about a lot of things but are experts on nothing.
So far we have covered…
- An overview on what God thinks about marriage. (Here we hit the subject of homosexuality, divorce, and a few other things that all people agree on and cause no controversy whatsoever. :-)
- God’s view on sex. (This is one of the most fun messages we have ever constructed!)
- How to have an affair. (The e-mail responses on this one were WAY more than we anticipated.)
You can download any of the messages here…for free. :-)
And this week…I will be challenging the men!!! Now—several things you need to understand…
#1 - Men, I am not going to be talking down to you. I am a man…and the things I am talking about this weekend are the lessons that I am trying to LEARN...I do not have it all together…but I want to share so bad with each one of you what God is teaching me.
#2 - If you are a woman…you do need to be here. If you are married and sitting next to your husband…elbowing him is not allowed at any point in the message…nor is looking at him with really big “I told you so” eyes!!!
#3 - If you are a single woman…I will be describing the type of man that you should establish as your BARE MINIMUM for dating and marriage. I know that’s a big statement…but just come and see…
#4 - If you are a man who is not coming because you are scared…dude…get over it. (By the way…I will be speaking about why men RUN from challenges!) I actually had a dude tell me he was going to miss this Sunday because he knew what I was going to say!!! WIMP!
#5 - Next Sunday will be a sermon specifically addressing the women…and if you are a dude…you need to be here!!!
#6 - What I have discovered is this—ladies DESIRE to be challenged…and men don’t want to be…uh, that’s a problem!!! (Maybe that’s why of the Christians in America…around 60% are women and 40% are men!)
#7 - We will be completing the series on Thanksgiving weekend with one of the most practical messages you have EVER heard on marriage…EVER…and that’s all that is being said for now!!!!
#8 - Don’t forget to invite someone this weekend…and get here early!!!!