2/25/2018 Podium Mode – Sermonary Crime of Passion

Opposites attract, and sometimes they attack! But it’s just a matter of learning how to negotiate the dierences in our relationships. God wants to use our dierences so that we can better serve Him together.

Genesis 2:24

ILLUSTRATION

https://sermonary.co/dashboard/sermons/podium/?ssid=144107 1/19 2/25/2018 Podium Mode – Sermonary INTRODUCTION FUNNY MEME – HOW TO HAVE A SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE:

TWEETS

1. You don’t nd a great marriage, you build one.

2. God’s way is not just right, it’s better.

3. Conict can not continue without my participation.

4. You may have made a mistake, but you are NOT a mistake.

https://sermonary.co/dashboard/sermons/podium/?ssid=144107 2/19 2/25/2018 Podium Mode – Sermonary Today, we will conclude Marriage Forensics, I hope and pray that God has used this series to not only speak to you about your marriage, but also your relationship with Him as well.

How many of you would say that you’re married to someone who is very opposite from you? People say opposites attract, that may be true when you’re dating; but when you get married opposites often attack!

https://sermonary.co/dashboard/sermons/podium/?ssid=144107 3/19 2/25/2018 Podium Mode – Sermonary Kristie and I are very opposite. I’m the extrovert and she’s the introvert. I am the one who can deal much better with change, and she likes for things to stay the same. But it’s just a matter of learning how to negotiate the dierences in our relationships.

In the forensic science world, a CRIME OF PASSION refers to a crime, especially an assault or a , that is committed against someone because of a sudden strong impulse such as a jealous rage or heartbreak, rather than being a premeditated crime. And perhaps one of the greatest crimes in our relationships is when we don’t recognize the blessings that exist withing the tension of being opposites in our . And when we don’t recognize those blessings, it can quickly kill the passion in our relationship.

You see, God wants to use our dierences so that we can better serve Him together. But Satan wants to use those dierences to https://sermonary.co/dashboard/sermons/podium/?ssid=144107 4/19 2/25/2018 Podium Mode – Sermonary create a place of tension so that passion dies in our relationships. So, let’s take a few minutes and talk about the blessings and tensions of being opposite; and how that it’s God’s desire for us to be united with Him and each other!

(PRAYER)

1 TWO BECOME ONE

ILLUSTRATION

https://sermonary.co/dashboard/sermons/podium/?ssid=144107 5/19 2/25/2018 Podium Mode – Sermonary

BIBLE VERSE Genesis 2:24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his , and they shall become one esh. https://sermonary.co/dashboard/sermons/podium/?ssid=144107 6/19 2/25/2018 Podium Mode – Sermonary EXPLANATION

The Hebrew word that is translated as “One” is the word Ached, when you say it you have to act like you are clearing your throat. Trust me that is the right way to say it, “Ectad”. If you try to say it, you may have to wipe o the back of the person’s neck in front of you.

This word means “united, altogether, completely joined as one.” The man and woman will become one and joined together. In the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon says,

BIBLE VERSE

https://sermonary.co/dashboard/sermons/podium/?ssid=144107 7/19 2/25/2018 Podium Mode – Sermonary “Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:12 NKJV)

EXPLANATION

What great picture of what God is doing in Christ when a couple comes together to tie this relationship together.

God wants to strengthen us, He wants to complete us, and Jesus wants to be the cord that unites the two to become one. When we are united by Christ in our marriages, it’s not going to be broken.

Marriage is a Covenant, Not a 2 Contract

EXPLANATION

https://sermonary.co/dashboard/sermons/podium/?ssid=144107 8/19 2/25/2018 Podium Mode – Sermonary

What many people don’t understand about marriage is this: “Marriage is a covenant not a contract.”

But sadly, most people today treat it like a contract. They’ll get out of when things start going bad. To them, it’s just a piece of paper or a legal arrangement. But in God’s eyes it’s so much more. You can see a great picture of this in the Old Testament over in

BIBLE VERSE

https://sermonary.co/dashboard/sermons/podium/?ssid=144107 9/19 2/25/2018 Podium Mode – Sermonary Malachi 2:14 Yet you say, “For what reason?” Because the Lord has been witness Between you and the wife of your youth, With whom you have dealt treacherously; Yet she is your companion And your wife by covenant. You cry out, “Why doesn’t the Lord accept my worship?” I’ll tell you why! Because the Lord witnessed the vows you and your wife made when you were young. But you have been unfaithful to her, though she remained your faithful partner,

https://sermonary.co/dashboard/sermons/podium/?ssid=144107 10/19 2/25/2018 Podium Mode – Sermonary the wife of your marriage vows” NLT

APPLICATION You mean acceptable worship is tied to our marriage covenant? According to God’s Word it is.

EXPLANATION

People break contracts all the time, but a covenant is dierent. A covenant is based on mutual commitment. It is an unending, totally binding commitment and it can be maintained by one person. One person may say to the other, “You may break this but I am not going to break my covenant vows before God.” In other words, “I’m all in, every bit of me, totally in, completely, 100%. There is no back door. I am giving my covenant vows, not before the state of Georgia, but before God and the people that gather together with to witness them.”

https://sermonary.co/dashboard/sermons/podium/?ssid=144107 11/19 2/25/2018 Podium Mode – Sermonary A covenant is a totally binding, all in, no back door arrangement, no escape hatch commitment to the Lord!

ILLUSTRATION

Ruth Bell Graham was asked, “Have you ever thought about divorcing your husband Billy?” She answered, “Divorce? Never! Murder? Often.”

EXPLANATION

The word covenant is a Hebrew word – berith. It means a cutting, it means a binding agreement, and it means a blood covenant.

https://sermonary.co/dashboard/sermons/podium/?ssid=144107 12/19 2/25/2018 Podium Mode – Sermonary

In the Old Testament what would happen many times at marriages is a bride and groom would stand before the priest, and the priest would ask for the hand of the bride and the groom. Then, he would take a knife or a sharp blade and cut into the hand of the groom and into the hand of the bride and blood would emerge. And then he would join their hands together so that their blood would mingle and this was a picture of their two separate lives mingling together. The Book of Leviticus says that the life of the esh, the life of a person, is in the blood. And then he would take a cord and tie their hands together with the picture that the two have become one. They are completely joined, altogether, one, united.

https://sermonary.co/dashboard/sermons/podium/?ssid=144107 13/19 2/25/2018 Podium Mode – Sermonary ILLUSTRATION I heard about a pastor who did a wedding and when it came time to say “The two will be united to become one esh” he’d made a typo in his notes and said, “The two will be untied.”

https://sermonary.co/dashboard/sermons/podium/?ssid=144107 14/19 2/25/2018 Podium Mode – Sermonary

3 UNTIED OR UNITED?

EXPLANATION

However, I see this happen all the time. When the “I” is in the right place we’re united, but when the “I” is in the wrong place we become untied. The enemy comes in attempts to move https://sermonary.co/dashboard/sermons/podium/?ssid=144107 15/19 2/25/2018 Podium Mode – Sermonary things around in our marriage all the time. His purpose in the church and the world is the same purpose in your marriage.

BIBLE VERSE John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

EXPLANATION

He’ll steal the joy, kill the passion, and destroy the romance in our hearts all because we approach God’s covenant like a contract and in the process get ourselves untied.

Some of you right now are going to go, “Well, our marriage isn’t what it is supposed to be. It’s her fault, it’s his fault”. But wait a minute. Maybe you need to invest some serious time searching out the heart of God about your marriage and let Him speak to YOU about it before you play the “blame game.”

https://sermonary.co/dashboard/sermons/podium/?ssid=144107 16/19 2/25/2018 Podium Mode – Sermonary BIBLE VERSE Psalms 34:3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together. “Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness; let us exalt his name together.” (Ps. 34:3 NLT).

APPLICATION God’s desire is for us to be united, to exalt (or lift up) His name…how? He wants us to do it together. But chances are we won’t do that if our marriage covenant has become untied.

CONCLUSION

https://sermonary.co/dashboard/sermons/podium/?ssid=144107 17/19 2/25/2018 Podium Mode – Sermonary

The image of a covenant is an image of something that unites us, makes us one, and completes us. The greatest covenant that we’re invited to participate in isn’t marriage (as wonderful as it is). The greatest covenant that we are invited to participate in is what Scripture calls the New Covenant. It’s the one that Jesus sealed with His blood when He died on the cross at Calvary.

When we accept the gift of forgiveness in Christ, we enter into this New Covenant and we’re united to Christ, completely joined, and made one with God.

Have you entered into that covenant today? If not, why not do that right now? Make you way to the altar and give your heart and life to the Lord.

https://sermonary.co/dashboard/sermons/podium/?ssid=144107 18/19 2/25/2018 Podium Mode – Sermonary And if you are here today, and you need a touch from the Lord in your marriage, or you just want the Lord to continue to bless that covenant you have made with your spouse, make your way to this altar right now as the song plays.

Let’s pray.

https://sermonary.co/dashboard/sermons/podium/?ssid=144107 19/19