Speaker 1: 0:00

So, as you can see, I am representing VCU basketball today. Come on One. They had a great win, big win last night. And also, as we start our first series ever as a church on marriage, I want to remind us all that marriage is a team sport. It's a team sport and we do it better together. Okay, it's a team sport and we do it better together, okay. So how many of you know that marriage can be a blessing? When marriage is a blessing, right, raise your hand. Okay, it's good, all right. How many of you know that marriage is not a blessing? When marriage is not a blessing, don't raise your hand. Don't look at a person next to you, look straight ahead, okay, all right, we know that. Right, marriage is great. But, man, marriage can be painful, it can be complicated when it's not a blessing. And this isn't just my opinion, this isn't just what I think.

Speaker 1: 0:54

Scripture says something very close to what I said here. God gave you a couple of verses. Proverbs 18 says this the man who finds a wife finds a treasure. Come on and receives favor from the Lord. I like that one, that's a good one. But the next one, the next one, proverbs 27,. The steady dripping of rain and the nagging of a wife are one in the same. Okay, here you go. I'm not going to pick on the ladies today. This one's for the guys. This is from the Jacob version of the Bible, the Jacob verbs. Here you go. It is better to get stuck in traffic with no AC on a hundred degree day than marry a man who is a self-centered, narcissistic jerk. Amen. Okay, that's not a real translation of the Bible. Just in case you were wondering like oh man, that's one of these weird churches. They make up their own Bibles. No, it's not. Okay, it's just a joke. Marriage is a blessing when it's a blessing, but it's complicated. But it can be complicated, it can be painful when it's not a blessing. Like I said, this is our very first series as a church on marriage, on marriage, and so I have three goals for this series, okay, so for the next four weeks, here are my three goals.

Speaker 1: 2:02

If you're single, I want to show you how singleness can actually be a gift and how you can honor God in the season. And despite what a lot is being taught in Christendom, marriage is not the paramount of Christian living. It is not. It is not. There's more. There's stuff that God can do in your singleness too. If you're dating, I want to help you date in a way that honors God, and if you're married, I want to help you build a marriage that honors God. So today we're going to kind of build the foundation for the rest of this series.

Speaker 1: 2:31

And so, as an everyday person who is learning how to become a Jesus follower, what is marriage? Well, what is marriage and why does this matter so much for us to define what marriage is? It matters because how you see marriage shapes how you approach relationships. How you see marriage shapes how you approach relationships. It's incredibly important how we view marriage as a follower of Jesus.

Speaker 1: 2:58

The challenge is that a lot of people today simply see marriage as a contract. Yeah, there's love involved and there's feelings and warm fuzzies, but it's kind of a contract. It's a contract. It's a contract between two consistent adults. So when you get married, you can get married in a church by a pastor, and then they simply just sign the contract at the end of the ceremony. Or you might get married by the justice of the peace and they sign a contract at the end of the ceremony. Or you might get married by the justice of the peace and they sign a contract at the end of the ceremony. Or you might even go out to Vegas and get married by Elvis Come on, and they sign a contract at the end of the ceremony. They would say that marriage is very simply a contract. It's a legal agreement between two consistent adults.

Speaker 1: 3:46

But according to Scripture, marriage is way more than that. It's way more than that. Jesus shines a little light on this. Check this out in Matthew 19. He said Having you read, he replied that at the beginning, the Creator made them male and female. For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate. So what we see from Jesus is that marriage is from God. It's by God, ordained by God.

Speaker 1: 4:22

It is not just a contract, because when you think about it, when you think about it, when you think about a contract, what is a contract based on? A contract is essentially based on mutual distrust. That's why we sign contracts. That's why we sign contracts with our general contractor, right when they come into our house, hey, there's a job. But if you don't do it, I got the right to do this. I have the right to get my money back. There is an agreement that we don't actually 100% trust what you're doing. So it says if you do what you promise, I'm in, but if you don't hold up your end of the bargain, I'm out. That's the nature of a contract.

Speaker 1: 5:02

And if people say, well, if marriage is only that, here you go. If marriage is only a contract, if it's only a piece of paper, then why bother getting married in the first place? This is especially what a lot of young people are asking. Why get married if it's only that? It's a common question. If you're defining marriage as a contract, why even bother? We might as well just live together, which is again becoming way more common today. Now here you go.

Speaker 1: 5:29

I was born back in 1990. Come on back in the day, back in the day when I grew up. We still didn't have internet. I grew up in a time where there were still home phones. I grew up in a time where you had to watch the Nanny because Nickelodeon hasn't switched to cartoons yet. My kids know nothing about that. They get mad when little ads come up. You know they don't understand the struggle of being a 90s baby, okay, but I grew up back then, okay. So why do I highlight that? Because a lot has changed in marriage since 1990 to present day. To present day, a lot has changed. Fewer people check this out, fewer people are getting married from 1990 to 2019.

Speaker 1: 6:11

The marriage rate for adults 25 to 54 dropped from 67% to 53%. That's a big drop. That's a big drop, while cohabitation has more than doubled. People are waiting longer. That's not necessarily a bad thing. That might actually be a good thing. But in 1990, people typically married in their mid to late 20s. Now, for men it's 30. And for women, the average age is 28.

Speaker 1: 6:35

And then here's a big one. Here's a big one Divorce. Divorce has doubled among the age 55 and plus, and so those love scenes from the movies like the Notebook or the end of Titanic, when the couple is holding each other as the water comes in we're not seeing those as much. Divorce rates are actually going higher. They call it the gray divorce is what researchers call it, and today 80% of teenagers expect to live with a partner before marriage. It's become a common culture that you live together before marriage, so our culture's view of relationship has shifted.

Speaker 1: 7:12

So the question is how do we approach marriage in a way that truly lasts, that truly lasts, which, honestly, I don't blame people who are confused or disillusioned by marriage. I mean, if Christian marriages 50% according to Pew Research, 52% of Christian marriages are ending in divorce, that's a big deal. So if Christian marriages aren't working, secular marriages aren't working, if I'm a young person, I'm like well, why bother? Why bother with it? Why bother with this thing? Maybe it's just an ancient practice that we should move away with. Here you go. Why get married If marriage is just a piece of paper and you can split the responsibilities and enjoy the benefits if you're not married, if you can move in together, cut the rent in half and share your Netflix account to the glory of God, like, why not?

Speaker 1: 8:08

Why not? You know, it just seems to make complete sense. Cohabitation seems like a smart step for a lot of people. If marriage is just a piece of paper, why not test things out first? Why not take a test drive first? Right, that's why so many couples move in together, thinking it will strengthen their relationship. But this is actually pretty interesting because studies also show that cohabitation actually makes long-term commitments harder, not easier, researchers say, instead of making intentional decisions and commitments together as a couple, they begin to slowly slide into decision-making. Slide into decision-making without ever having a moment of saying are we truly choosing this? Are we just sliding into the next step? So if you're in that space, let me just encourage you. What if, instead of just sliding forward, you pause and you ask what kind of foundation do we want to build our lives on together? What do we want to do? And again, hear my heart today.

Speaker 1: 9:08

This isn't about judgment, because this happens in church world too. Okay, I've been in church world for a long time and I've seen couples who rush into marriage without ever listening to wise counsel. They have three or four different pastors. No, don't do it, they get married anyways and it ends up not being great. And they get married more because it's wedding season in their friend group. Everyone else is getting married, why not me? Some get married fast just to avoid sexual sin, and they misquote Paul's verse better to marry than to burn with passion. That's not what Paul was talking about when he said that. But then they do that with this misquoted verse better to marry than to burn with passion. That's not what Paul was talking about when he said that. But then they do that with this misquoted verse. And reality hits them when sex doesn't magically fix everything, especially when there's a hidden porn addiction that one of the spouses may have, and then they're disillusioned and they're stuck in an unhappy marriage. Unhappy marriage Am I being too honest today at church?

Speaker 1: 10:11

Here we go how you see marriage shapes, how you approach relationships, and a true Christian marriage isn't just a contract, it is a holy covenant before God. A contract is based on mutual distrust. A covenant, a contract is based on mutual distrust. A covenant well, a covenant is based on mutual commitment before a holy God. I lost my voice this week when I was playing with my kids because all those snow days, man. So in fact, the Old Testament, the word translated for covenant is the word bereath and it literally means a cutting. To cut it means to cut. Like when you think about a new covenant, what is that? There's always a shedding of blood. When there is a covenant made Jesus shed his blood on the cross, entering a new covenant, our sins forgiven. So here you go.

Speaker 1: 11:02

I got a graphic example and this is why we kind of highlighted this message. It had a little bit more PG-13 content in it. But here you go, because in Jewish culture in Hebrew culture, I should say because at a Hebrew wedding, what they would often do is this A bride and groom. They would stand before a priest, they would get married, just like how we do it now, and once they set their vows, they would go into what's called a bridal chamber. That don't sound good, but that's what it's called. So let me highlight this. Okay, let me highlight this. Let me pastor you for a second.

Speaker 1: 11:32

When we read our Bibles, when we read our Bibles, beware of the temptation to put modern Western views on an ancient document. Okay, let me say that one time, be careful of putting our modern Western views on an ancient document. Okay, let me say that one time, be careful of putting our modern Western views on an ancient document. When we read Scripture effectively, we have to understand what did the original audience know back then, what was their culture like back then, and then apply it to our lives today. Okay, does that make sense? Because what I'm about to say to you you're going to be like what? So, okay, here you go.

Speaker 1: 12:03

Here you go, the bridal chamber, where there might be like four postmaids and then some drapes that would cover it, and this is where they would actually go. After the wedding vows, after the ceremony vows, the couple would go there and to consummate their marriage. And again, this is hard to imagine, but there will be people all outside the bridal chamber ready for you to do the deed your Aunt, susie. That's weird. And so here you go. But the reason why they would do this? Because they were celebrating this couple. They were celebrating this couple and the virgin groom would consummate the marriage with the virgin bride and there would be a shedding of blood. Enough details. Okay, so then the family would cheer, the family would celebrate. The two are now united as one flesh. They're celebrating, and you thought your wedding night was awkward, but this was it. This was a sign of a covenant being made. This was a sign, this was a promise I will be faithful to you for the rest of my life. And we see this throughout Hebrew culture the shedding of blood, new covenants being made.

Speaker 1: 13:16

Here you go, speaking of sex, though, speaking of sex, since you brought it up, it's been said that men think about sex every seven seconds. Now I did the math on that, that is 514 times an hour, and some of you are going. Yeah, that sounds about right. That sounds about right, okay. Okay, it's actually not right.

Speaker 1: 13:38

According to the study, men think about sex roughly 19 times a day. 19 times a day. So how many times do you think women think about sex? Well, according to this study, women think about sex roughly 10 times a day. So if men think about sex 19 times a day and women think about it 10 times a day, that raises a very important question what else do women think about? This is a good question. According again to the study is that women think about food 15 times a day. So women think about food more than sex and men think about sex more than food. That explains a lot. Helps us understand. Okay, here you go. Here's an important question how do we live with sexual integrity in a culture of sexual brokenness? How do we do it? Is it even possible? Is it even possible to do so? Well, again, it depends on how you define marriage, because how you see marriage shapes how you approach sex.

Speaker 1: 14:43

Scripture teaches us that a Christian marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman. Hebrews 13 says this marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed should be kept pure. Come on someone, it should be undefiled. This sounds good. This is good news. I actually got three books I want to suggest to you that are really important I believe can help with this topic. One is a book called God Loves Sex by Dan Allender. I encourage you to read that one. The second one is called Sexual Character by Marva J Dawn and then the last one is called Loveology by John Mark Comer, and I encourage you, if you're interested in kind of digging deeper, even in this topic of what does God think about sex and how does that look, I encourage you to read these books. These are great books I recommend. Okay. Okay, but here you go.

Speaker 1: 15:25

Scripture teaches us that God's design for sex is within the covenant of marriage. And if you're thinking, wow, that really narrows down the options, I get it. I get it. And let me just be fully transparent here today. I know this can sound easy. Coming from a 34-year-old guy who is happily married with a good sex life, it can sound oh, jacob, of course you can say that Things are going good for you, buddy, but I know that may not be everyone's reality. That might not be everyone's reality. So let me take you on my own personal journey. Okay, can I be open? Can I be transparent? Today I'm going to be so here you go.

Speaker 1: 16:05

So when Aaron and I started dating, I was already a youth pastor and that meant certain non-negotiables were in place, like, obviously I couldn't have sex before marriage because of the agreement that I had and the values that we have as church and as pastors. But let's be real, I wasn't coming into this relationship with the blank slate. Both Aaron and I had past relationships where sex was very much involved. In those past relationships they were a big part. And I also had just come out and I've shared this before with you guys. I've also come out of a long and difficult journey of finding freedom from a porn addiction that almost derailed my life it almost did and that journey involved some intense counseling, soul searching and depending on God, and I can say today with confidence that I've been porn free for over 10 plus years of my life. It's been amazing, yeah, it's been amazing. I could preach a whole message on that thing, but there you go.

Speaker 1: 17:03

But so when Aaron and I started to date so needless to say, with all that, when Aaron and I started dating, temptation was real. Temptation was very real, and I'll be honest with you guys. I felt bad for Aaron because she had to resist all of this. How was she going to do that? So this is where things got complicated, though, because we received some advice that was well attended but didn't actually help. Have you ever got advice like that? Like that won't even help me. Advice number one that we got was Aaron should be the gatekeeper, and this is what we were told that it's Aaron's job to make sure that we don't have sex, and the idea behind this was that men can't control themselves, so it was up to the woman to set boundaries.

Speaker 1: 17:53

Now, I understand what they're saying. I get it. I get it, but here's the challenge. Let me be honest with you. Here's the challenge If I don't learn self-control before marriage, how will I suddenly have self-control after marriage, and this time with a woman that's not my wife? See, self-control isn't Aaron's responsibility. It was mine, it's mine and beyond that. Relationships work best when both people are learning to honor God together, not just one carrying all the weight.

Speaker 1: 18:24

Okay, the second advice, if you got that, well intentions to it, but maybe not the best. A church elder told me if you have sex, you'll lose your job. Now, I get it. I understand that. I 100% agree with that too, but the way that it was said to me, what do you think that led to? That was using fear as a motivator. And this is what I want to say. When fear is the motivator, it often leads to secrecy rather than holiness. And I want to say something to the parents here. For a second. I want to say something to the parents If fear is your primary way of discipling your kids, or disciplining your kids, your kids are going to learn the habit of keeping secrets from you, and I'll take an honest person who's making some bad decisions any day over, someone who looks perfect on the outside but behind the curtains. I just want to say that to you, okay, okay. So here you go. So if we had messed up though if we had messed up, I wouldn't have felt safe to seek grace I probably would just hit it. Like I said, and that's one of the unintended consequences of purity culture when the focus is only on avoiding failure, people are more likely to hide their struggles instead of bringing them to God and to others. So here you go.

Speaker 1: 19:42

If you grew up in church in the 90s or the early 2000s, you probably remember things like purity rings, pledge ceremonies, books like I Kissed, dating Goodbye. You know the intention was really good. I'm sure a lot of those things have helped a lot of people. But when duty gets put before grace, the result is always shame. Let me say this one more time when duty gets put before grace, the result is always shame. Let me say this one more time when duty gets put before grace, the result is always shame. Studies show that most purity pledges weren't kept within a year. They actually led to higher rates of teen pregnancy in conservative churches because, instead of learning healthy boundaries, teens learned how to hide what they were doing until they couldn't hide what they were doing. But I get it, I get it.

Speaker 1: 20:28

When I first gave my life to Jesus, I was somewhat in that movement too. When I was 16 years old, my brother and me we bought purity rings from a Christian bookstore. And man, I'm telling you this we wore those purity rings as if women were beating down our doors to get to us. Look at this, I'm saving myself. And here you go. And so, in case you're wondering what happened to those rings, where are they now? Well, mine, well, it didn't fit, so it fell off my finger and my brother. He lost his in a car while making out. Okay, so it didn't work out. So maybe you grew up in the purity movement and it left you feeling shame or like you had to hide. And if that's your story, I want to invite you into a different way. I want to invite you into a different way, one that's not about duty but about grace.

Speaker 1: 21:23

So how did Aaron and I navigate our relationship, knowing our past, knowing our struggles and wanting to honor God? Well, we had to go to Scripture. We had to. I know it sounds kind of cheesy and it is, but I'm okay with that, but we had to go to Scripture, and Paul told us this, and the Apostle Paul wrote this, and this meant a lot to us. It says I have the right to do anything. This is important. I have the right to do anything. This is important. I have the right to do anything you say, but not everything is beneficial. The body, however, is meant for sexual morality, but is not meant for sexual morality but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. So we knew that God's boundaries weren't there to limit us but to help us flourish, and we have already experienced. Check this out. We have already experienced when we did it our way and we didn't like the result of that. So we wanted to do something different. We want to do it God's way, and I'm going to be real again.

Speaker 1: 22:18

The standard that God calls us to can feel impossibly high at times, and this is what I want to say. I think that might be the point of it. Sometimes God's standards feel so high and I'm not just. I'll shift a little bit, not just in marriage, but in life bit. Not just in marriage, but in life and living a life that honors God. Living in the tension that we face as Jesus followers and when we want to lean towards what culture says to do. But when we look at what God's calling us, there's a tension there and God's standards sometimes can feel incredibly high. But the point is not that they're so high that we can't reach them. The point is that His standards are so high that they draw us to our knees and say, god, I need you, holy Spirit, I need you to guide me. I'm going to trust you with this thing. I'm going to you. I'm going to you Because it's not about more shame, it's about more Jesus, it's about realizing that we are all in desperate need of God's grace.

Speaker 1: 23:23

And Jesus isn't just a Savior for those who did it right. He's a Savior for all of us who have even fallen short. And wherever you are in your journey, whether you're single, dated, married or feeling the weight of past mistakes, god's grace is bigger than your history. So let's lean into His grace and His power to live a life that truly honors Him. And here's what I want you to understand too God, god, is very pro-sex. He's pro-sex. He's more pro-sex than what the culture tries to tell you, what the good life of sex is. He's more pro-sex.

Speaker 1: 23:59

Let's read a couple Bible verses, okay. Proverbs 5, 19 says this may her breast satisfy you. Always. Some of the husbands are like I told you we should have been reading scripture at night. That's nothing compared to what the lover said to the other lover in the Song of Songs. And again, I suggest Dan Allender's book because he breaks down what this whole book in the Bible, song of Songs is all about. And Song of Songs was so intense that Jewish boys couldn't even read it until they became of age. It's a whole book. You want to know how pro-sex God is? There's a whole book in the Bible about what lovemaking should look like. It's a whole book in the Bible. Just because you didn't know that, there it is. It's called Song of Songs, and check this out. This is what she says. She says I will climb the palm tree and I will take hold of its fruit, and that's a poetic way of saying something else.

Speaker 1: 24:51

The problem is that sometimes, unknowingly, the church world excludes people. Come on, I'm going here today. The church world excludes people and they make sex outside of marriage seem so bad, so dangerous, so bad that people don't even want to hear the message of hope that God has for them. And, trust me, I've been in church world for a long time. I've seen this. People are getting married and it's like don't do it, don't do it, don't have sex, don't have sex. And then, once the wedding night halves, do it, buddy, like it's a light switch to turn on and off and it leaves people confused. It leaves people confused and not knowing how to handle their bodies.

Speaker 1: 25:35

We treat sex like God is constantly telling people no bad. Where God is actually telling people hey, just wait, just wait, because this is holy and this is righteous. God is not some kind of prude trying to forbid you from physical enjoyment. He wants to protect you because he loves you and he wants to bless you with righteous intimacy. He wants to protect you because he loves you and he wants to bless you with righteous intimacy, and he wants to protect you. Here you go. He wants to protect you from the emotional pain that you are aware of when it comes to sexual brokenness.

Speaker 1: 26:07

Come on, come on, we're not going to play games today. We're not going to act like, oh I just, if I want to sleep with anyone, I'm going to be perfectly fine. You know you're not. You know you're not. And you know there's so much areas of our life and when there's shame, we feel shame because of past experience that we did and things, things that were done to us without our consent. Come on, it's heavy today. It's heavy today. It's okay, because we know this is where freedom comes. This is where freedom comes.

Speaker 1: 26:49

Some of you, the heartbreak of what you experienced, it hits home today. So where are you today in the context of relationships? Let's talk about this for a moment, because I know for some of you, like I said, this might hit home, might hit close to home. Maybe you're dating right now and you're realizing, man, the way I've been doing this might not be fully honoring God. Some of you are in here and you have been divorced and hurt and marriage seems like nothing you want to jump into again. And here you go and you got married with the mindset of it being holy and not a contract. But you would use the word, you use the phrase I've been burnt, been burnt. I was trying to make the right decisions, but it didn't work. I was trying to make the right decisions, but it didn't work.

Speaker 1: 27:40

Maybe you're living with someone you deeply love. Here, this is what I want to say. Maybe you live with someone you deeply love. You're not just doing something because, oh, I could do what I want. No, you deeply love them. You love them. You're in a committed relationship where sex is a part of it. See, here you go. Please hear my heart.

Speaker 1: 27:54

This is not about making anyone feel guilty, or less than not, for a second. I know the world gives us so many different options when it comes to relationships, and I just want to offer you another one, one that I truly believe can lead to the kind of love, intimacy and fulfillment your heart is actually longing for. So please don't feel condemned and if you do, please talk to me at the end, because that's not my intention. But if you feel a little bit convicted, that's the Holy Spirit moving in you to do something better. And so you may ask the question well, jacob, what do I do? What do we do? Here's my answer to you Ask the Holy Spirit. Ask the Holy Spirit. I'm not going to tell you what to do. It's not my going to tell you what to do. It's not my responsibility to tell you what to do. It's not my job.

Speaker 1: 28:45

But when you spend daily time with God, when you tap into the heart of God, the Holy Spirit is the revealer and that he reveals truth. Jesus says it like this, he says but when he, the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, is the revealer and that he reveals truth, jesus says it like this, he says but when he, the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. How you see merit shapes, how you approach relationships, and God's way is different. It's wildly different, and I know it can feel impossible, especially when you've been walking a different road for a long time. Maybe you made choices that felt right in the moment, but now there's something in your soul that feels off. I've been there. I've been there before you wake up one day and it hits you. This isn't what I wanted, this isn't what my heart was made for.

Speaker 1: 29:35

Here's the beautiful truth Jesus didn't come to modify your behavior. He came to restore your soul. Scripture says that anyone in Christ, they are a new creation. The old is gone and the new has come. God doesn't just forgive, he restores, he renews, he takes what feels broken and beyond repair, even your sexual past, your wounds, your shame, and he breathes new life into it. You were made for more for holiness, yes, but also for healing. And the invitation of Jesus is not just to do better, but the invitation for Jesus back then and the invitation for Jesus for us today is to let Him make you whole again. It's to come to Him.

Speaker 1: 30:22

If you're feeling burdened and heavy, you come to Him. So what do you do? Maybe you're in a marriage right now and you're thinking we didn't do it right when we were dating and we're not doing it right right now. What do you do? Take your spouse's hand right now, just right in this moment, each other's hand, and turn to God and say God, forgive us. Make us new. Make us new and he will. That's what he does. That's what he does. Maybe this is the moment to step into something new. Maybe the Holy Spirit is nudging you Like, for example, we weren't able to do a marriage group this go around for our small group semesters. Maybe the Holy Spirit is nudging you right now, saying you're the one that's supposed to have this marriage group going. Here you go, you can lead it. Just talk to me. Just talk to me because the Holy Spirit is nudging you. It's nudging you Because what you need to know with God, there's always a second chance and a third and a fourth and a fifth.

Speaker 1: 31:18

There is no sin too great for His grace. Here's what God is. God. With God, there is no such thing as a plan B, just a new plan A. That's a new plan A. So how you see marriage shapes how you approach relationships, and it's holy, it's righteous and it is good. And a marriage that is blessed by God is a bigger blessing than you can ever imagine. Now, god wants to bless you in your singleness, he wants to bless you in your dating. He wants to bless you in your marriage, and it's a beautiful thing.

Speaker 1: 31:53

Two questions of application for us this week. First one is this what is one specific way you can align your viewpoint and relationships with God's week? First one is this what is one specific way you can align your viewpoint and relationships with God's design? Second one is this what is one intentional step you can take this week to strengthen your relationship together? Let's pray God, jesus, holy Spirit. We say more of you, more of you, more of you. Heaviness there is some heaviness here. This is a heavy topic. I won't deny that.

Speaker 1: 32:37

Come Holy Spirit. I just have this illustration in my head I'm going to share with you guys as we're in prayer. The other day my son Hayden fell and hit his head, hurt himself, and he ran up to me and he's wanting me to hug him and in that moment his head hurts and my hugs cannot erase the pain that he's feeling, but my hug can bring him comfort in his pain. That's like the Holy Spirit saying he wants to hug you in your pain. Yeah, come Holy Spirit. Love one people. Come Holy Spirit, healing in Jesus name, healing in Jesus name. And I just hear the word forgiveness, not forgetfulness, and I just hear the word forgiveness, not forgetfulness, but forgiveness.

Speaker 1: 34:11

Come Holy Spirit. Come, holy Spirit, we lean into you. We're not in a rush, lord. I pray healing over marriages, communication, communication just is not happening. Holy Spirit, I pray that you pour Drano in the clogged pipes of communication in marriages. I mean, for right now there's a spouse, there's a wife who wants to tell her husband something and she's nervous, she's scared, and I don't even feel like it's like because you're trying to confess something you want to challenge, you want to challenge him to something. You're nervous. If that's you, just, holy Spirit, give courage, give courage, holy Spirit, give courage, give courage. Come, holy Spirit, we're not in a rush here. Come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit, for the Spirit of the Lord is there, is freedom.

Speaker 1: 35:53

If you're in here today and you're like Jacob, that sounds good, this sounds great, but I don't even know this Jesus you're talking about. I actually don't even have a personal relationship with Jesus. If that's you, if you want to make a decision to trust Jesus with your life, what I want to do, I'm going to count to three and I want you just to toss a hand up in the air. I'm not going to call you out. Have you come up front? Nothing like that. I just want to see who I'm praying for.

Speaker 1: 36:24

So if you want to make a decision to trust Jesus with your life for the first time or trust him again with your life on three, just toss your hand up in the air so I can see who I'm praying for Again. I won't call you out, nothing like that. I won't embarrass you, nothing like that. I just want to see who I'm praying for. One, two, three, bless you. Bless you, just right where you are. You can say with me, say Jesus, forgive me for my sins, make me new. Today I trust you with my life Today. I follow you In Jesus' name. Amen, amen. Let's give God some praise in here today.