michaelj
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- Gender
- Male | 58
- Country
- United States
- City
- enid
- State
- Oklahoma
- Height
- 5'10"
- Last Login Date
- Click here to learn more
- Age
- 58
- Eye Color
- Blue
- Body Type
- Athletic
- Hair Color
- Brown
- Ethnicity
- Caucasian
- Denomination
- Charismatic
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- Anything
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- Church Raised In
- Do you drink?
- Socially
- Smoker
- No
- Willing to relocate?
- Sure, why not
- Marital Status
- Single
- Do you have children?
- No
- Do you want children?
- Undecided/Open
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- Masters/Post Grad
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- Pastor/Counselor/teacher
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- About Me
-
Outgoing Christian man, loves travel, the outdoors, fitness...
Pastor and chaplain with the USAF...currently assigned to OK for the summer, but heading back to Savannah in the fall.
Working for our Father for about 11 years now. Intend on continuing this course until He is finished with me...
I look quite young, with a youthful sense of humor. Enjoy quiet days on the beach, quiet walks in the mountains, reading, writing, dogs.
- First Date
- Genesis 2:15-23
�I DO� means �I WILL�
A sermon by michael james martin
A LOT of people are suggesting in our modern world that the institution of marriage is broken�may have worked years past, but now it is an OUTDATED and OVERRATED relationship model!
The US Census Bureau�s seems to agree� recent data concerning divorce in America alone notes a stunning 43-50% of first time marriages ending in divorce. WOW.
In 2000, an astounding ONE MILLION divorces were filed again, just in America�.
1 million!!
Throw in the undocumented scores of spouses that REMAIN MARRIED but miserably unhappy day after day � like dragging themselves daily to a job they�ve hated for years�
And the case against marriage as a divinely blessed institution of magical love becomes increasingly GRIM.
Bringing this tragedy closer to home, Christian couples statistically divorce just as frequently, perhaps even at a slightly higher rate than the total US average! UNBELIEVABLE!
Although it is tempting to list the NUMEROUS reasons for this perceived failure of MARRIAGE in our world�
WE will instead direct ourselves to the ONLY opinion that matters in this TOPIC�GOD�S OPINION.
WHY? How can we honestly �spiritualize� the confusing union between a man and woman?
WHY INDEED?
Whether we remember this fact one fact everyday or not, GOD CREATED MARRIAGE!
Man only created divorce.
And what we often fail to UNDERSTAND or deliberately IGNORE is that God DESIGNED marriage to function in a very special and specific way�
To accomplish very specific end results.
Marriage is a COVENANT�an agreement that I will do MY PART as God directs in matrimony, my wife promises to fulfill her commitment and GOD PROMISES HE WILL be in the midst of our marriage as well�KEEPING HIS END OF THE BARGAIN AS WELL.
Too many people do not realize that marriage is a GREAT PROMISE that is never up for negotiation.
When I say, �I DO� at the altar, or the Justice of the Peace, I�m actually saying YES, GOD, I agree to and EMBRACE your rules and regulations in this MARRIAGE VOW.
In fact this profession of I DO really means I WILL� fulfill Your MANDATES and EXPECTATIONS concerning marriage, Father�for richer or poorer, in ease or difficulty.
I WILL EMBRACE THE ROLE OF HUSBAND or WIFE as you have defined, NOT AS I UNDERSTAND THEM TO BE, but as YOU have decreed in your wisdom�
I DO really means I WILL build my marriage everyday the way GOD intended�not the way I THINK or WANT my marriage to be.
If I WERE to discuss predictable reasons for marriage failure, this would be one of the greatest�
TOO many people get hitched today fixated on THEIR PERSONAL MOTIVES and DESIRES�
To GET WHAT THEY WANT rather than GIVE to their spouse what God intends them to give through this most blessed union of man and woman.
They wish to PLAY THEIR OWN ROLES�seek their OWN AGENDAS.
Not a good idea.
Marriage, like ALL THINGS GODLY, is not designed for MAN-MADE SPONTANEITY. Man does not have the wisdom to tamper with divine enterprises�especially something as complex and marvelous as the institution of marriage!
Only ONE WAY to excel in marriage�GOD�S WAY!
THIS MEANS first UNDERSTANDING and then EMBRACING OUR ROLES AS participants in HIS marriage design!
And to learn this, we are going all the way back to the FIRST MARRIAGE�Genesis 2�
And begin our study with a MOST IMPORTANT NOTATION concerning our study today�V:18:
�It is not good for man to be alone.�
God has just completed creating all things�the universe, the sea, all life�
The earth is pure and undefiled in anyway�
Adam is walking with God�best friends�INDESCRIBABLE RELATIONSHIP!
This makes the reality of V:18 STUNNING!!
�Adam has uncharted relationship with the creator of the universe�hand in hand, best friends�but still ADAM is ALONE!!�
And perhaps more importantly, its GOD who makes the notation, not Adam!
Incredibly, Adam needs something else in his life to remove this ALONENESS� something God himself can not fulfill�
So, God in his infinite wisdom brings all living creatures that he has just made to Adam to see if THEY can FILL THIS RELATIONAL VOID�
REMEMBER�GOD IS DOING THIS�he isn�t worried about Adam falling more deeply in love with something more than Himself�different level of relationship.
V:19-20 God brings every bird and animal forward, but this does nothing to remove Adam�s loneliness� �NO SUITABLE HELPER� could be found.�
Ah, here we have a clue. Adam needed more than just sheer companionship�he needed a HELPMATE�someone to HELP him grow in his full potential as a man�to HELP him become the man God needs him to be�
A HELPMATE to COMPLETE Adam in a way that even God Himself could not�
A PHYSICAL UNION�BUT A UNION THAT constantly reflected God �s own LOVE through the marriage bond�helping one another grow in love everyday�
A lot of people who do not like the word HELPMATE�
For them, this word seems almost demeaning�
BUT in reality the concept is so beautiful�
HELP MATE means COMPLETING OUR LOVED ONE at the DEEPEST LEVEL OF HUMANITY!!
HELPMATE IS A ROLE WHERE GOD POURS HIS LOVE FOR OUR SPOUSE THROUGH US, mixing his love with ours�and using us as a LOVE VESSEL TO GROW our spouses into the mature loving and loved Christians God wants all his children to become!
** EXPLAIN **
HELPMATE IS THE GREATEST LIFE ROLE�because HELPMATES allow God�s love to combine physically and emotionally with our mortal love in a daily presence that EVEN GOD COULD NOT PROVIDE ADAM!!
Well, we know the rest OF THE STORY�puts Adam to sleep, makes Eve from a rib�
And in V:23 we discover Adam�s instant recognition of Eve�s TRUE LIFE PURPOSE�
HER HELPMATE POTENTIAL�
Na�ve and innocent, Adam still IMMEDIATELY RECOGNIZES EVE�s place in his life�
SHE COMPLETES ME!
�FLESH OF MY FLESH�� Recognizes purpose and relational completion instantaneously!
No other creature did this for Adam�But now he has Eve�HIS HELPMATE�
Saying �I do� means I will be a HELPMATE for God�I will help GOD build MY SPOUSE into the man or woman HE has called them to become�thru shared divine and mortal love�
NEVER underestimate the POWER and NECESSITY of being a HELPMATE�
It is from this divine marital role that we find and maintain the HUMILITY to wake everyday, prepared to love our spouses MORE than the day before�to build deeper intimacy and a ever richening love that begins to reflect the magic found in 1 Cor 13� �THIS KIND OF LOVE NEVER FAILS��
So this is WHY God created marriage�to both cure the ALONENESS of mortality and provide us with the ULTIMATE HELPMATE who will GROW US with their love daily�
But�there is still more�GOD�S promised ROLE in marriage�
A role he LOVES to carry out in every marriage in the history of man�
If we learn nothing else from today�s sermon, it is this�MARRIAGE IS NOT the simple interaction between male and female�GOD IS CONSTANTLY AT WORK in the midst of spouses.
Once we say I do, God begins immediately to keep his role promise�GENESIS 2:24�
�For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife�and they will become ONE FLESH�� 2 into 1�
Paul Eph. 5:32, the most famous NT verse on the roles of marriage, quotes this Genesis 2 scripture and admits he does not fully understand how this mystical union happens�
�IT�S A MYSTERY!� Somehow God makes TWO INTO ONE!! �A MIRACLE!!�
And this, my friends, is one of the GREAT but UNDISCOVERED keys to understanding marriage�
God PROMISES to ACTIVELY CHANGE SPOUSES to make them fit together, like 2 in 1!
And depending on how unified spouses are when they marry, and their individual relational health, this process can range from PAINFUL to excruciating!!
**ROCKETS EXAMPLE**
God promises he�s will bind these two HELP MATES together supernaturally�
Every time a couple says I DO, God begins a life long miracle of making two separate and independent people into one person�
A truly blessed and total union, unmatched by any other relationship in this life�
MANY people saying I DO are really saying I WILL GET EVERYTHING I CAN OUT OF THIS MARRIAGE�I�m here for all the MORTAL benefits of marriage�
But are ABSOLUTELY STUNNED when their marriage becomes a daily arena of great INTERPERSONAL CHANGE!!
Ready for romance, someone to clean and wash clothes�BUT perpetual CHANGE??
When we say I DO, we are accepting permanent ROLES as HELPMATES�
AND we are begging God to CHANGE US�FORCED CHANGE EVERYDAY!
If this does not sound 100% appealing when considering marriage, DON�T GET MARRIED!
Because this is what God has promised to do EVERYTIME a man and woman say �I DO.�
Difficult, YES�laborious�DEFINITELY!
But when we REALIZE that our I DO really means I WILL�
And we learn to embrace and release ourselves to the POWER of being HELPMATES�
And DISCIPLINE our souls to ENJOY the process of DAILY CHANGE�
A man and woman truly begin the most amazing love adventure possible this side of Heaven.
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