Today’s message summary of September 11, 2016 from Pastor Gus Brown:
Marriage is not something that is an easy undertaking. It’s tough. It’s work. It can wear you out. But it also brings great joy into your life…that peace that surpasses all understanding. It is very complex. Marriage is something that it is constantly being worked on.
Society would like people to believe that attractiveness leads to love. That’s not true. Attraction is not love in itself. Love is a development over time. In a relationship, there will be days where love is prevalent, while in others it may be missing. Love is a mental attitude where each day a person has to decide that you love the other person. At times, it is the problems that come up over time that is the hindrance to love.
A relationship has substance and meaning, but it starts to fall apart when one is not seen as worthy or as valuable.
Marriage is a divine creation. Adam and Eve were created as the first married couple, and that is what God intended for all of humanity.
God intended for two to become one, while Satan’s desire is to separate couples. Satan is at war with married couples. A person has to decide where the fight is coming from and, once it is recognized that Satan is the opposition to reject him. Satan is out to defeat both the husband and the wife. His goal is to have two bitter enemies and to also reflect all of this on the children involved. Each of these will keep a person from recognizing Jesus Christ or the importance of Jesus Christ in life. Satan is trying to steal that which God has given to you.
John 10:7-10
So Jesus said again, “I assure you: I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.
The battle is not between ourselves—the battle is with Satan.
If a married couple acknowledges that they are together, the credit should also go to the One who they look to. God is trying to build the relationship, while Satan tries to tear it down.
Genesis 2:25
Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame.
Being naked at that time was not associated with anything corrupted.
Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?
Satan attacks us with our thoughts and perceptions, and as a result, our intellect.
Both God and Satan reveal themselves to people, but for different reasons and purposes. His influence is bad because what he reveals causes a person to change and even become irrational. A person winds up using his own reasoning and going to God less and less.
Satan has to be defeated by looking to God for reasoning that overcomes unspiritual strongholds.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5
…since the weapons of our warfare are not worldly, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to obey Christ.
The shame of sin is what created the environment of the need to be covered with clothing. Our marriage does indeed have boundaries that are established, and it is important to understand what is good and proper within the marriage relationship. It is important to be sensitive to the person that you are married to. It speaks to our emotional state and the ability to trust the spouse.
The days where there is a struggle within the marriage should be the days where there is patience and understanding. Couples need to remind themselves to refer back to how God is working with both the husband and the wife each day. This will contribute greatly to demolishing any negative thoughts or arguments.
Eve did not take every thought into captivity when interacting with the serpent (and neither did Adam). They entertained thoughts that were not of God.
Genesis 3:6-7
Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
When Adam first saw Eve, there was no shame. After their sin, they both saw each other differently and experienced a closed-off relationship. The relationship changed from an open one to a more secretive one. (Also notice that Adam had the responsibility to warn Eve about the fruit, but failed to do so adequately, and did not intervene. God came on the scene not at the point that Eve ate the fruit, but immediately manifested Himself when Adam ate it. Adam failed to be the covering influence for their marriage by saying nothing.)
Numbers 30:10-12
If a woman in her husband’s house has made a vow or put herself under an obligation with an oath, and her husband hears about it, says nothing to her, and does not prohibit her, all her vows are binding, and every obligation she put herself under is binding. But if her husband cancels them on the day he hears about it, nothing that came from her lips, whether her vows or her obligation, is binding. Her husband has canceled them, and the Lord will absolve her.
In marriage, you should be able to share freely with each other. You should be able to understand more about the other person as you gain understanding about what the person has gone through in life. It is important to be able to know and understand one another’s places of security and insecurity. In contrast, secretive relationships create boundaries that impede the marriage and, as a result, the development of the marriage in a positive manner.
The truth sets people free. Lying only causes separation and mistrust.
God has created us, and not Satan. God has given us His Word as a guide for personal development in every aspect of life. He has given us His Word for successful living in the marriage for both the husband and the wife.
Satan has not given us anything with which to build success on. What he has done is caused shame. It is a damaging emotional and mental state. Shame brings about discord, frustration and disappointment.
When a person begins to disconnect from another person, it is based upon some sort of disappointment. Satan is definitely in it, and he desires to keep God out of the picture.
A person has to declare that nothing will separate me from the one that I love in marriage.
In marriage, we are to help each other. You are to consider their past experiences as they will surely be revealed. Jesus took into consideration the person’s life experience (John 4:16-17). He saw (and revealed) more than what the woman at the well wanted Him to see; yet, she needed to know that He was concerned about her insecurity. Jesus already knows the hearts of everyone He encountered, and still does, but it is important for couples to share about themselves to each other.
In a marriage, you have to see more about the spouse than what is visible.
1 Peter 3:7
Husbands, in the same way, live with your wives with an understanding of their weaker nature yet showing them honor as co-heirs of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.
The King James version uses the word “knowledge” for understanding. It comes with studying one another. Husbands and wives are to be thoughtful to others as you understand the life of the other person.
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