{lies versus truth}

this will be a very butchered summary of today's sermon. do not let my poor job of summarization reflect what an awesome message bro. ronnie brought to us today. it was not all sugary fluff - which i love and appreciate, but, he went straight to the matter in love. and, bottom line, it is BIBLICAL....so, who can argue with that? although, we try...

this is wonderful for ANY married couple or any friend, who will very likely be in a position sooner or later to counsel or mentor another friend/couple...

i'll get straight to it....and, i will also STRONGLY suggest that you tune in to the audio on the church website (First Baptist Greenwood Arkansas)- to get the full sermon. I did add a few things that struck me during the sermon in my notes, and, included those as well.

"Satan's Lies About Marriage"

Satan's Lies versus God's Truth

Luke 6:46-49

LIE: Marriage is 50/50
TRUTH: Esphesians 5:25 - Husbands love your wife as Christ loved the church...
50/50 does not work. It is not biblical. That would make it performance based. What if God loved us and stayed in a relationship with us only if we performed our 50%. Do we ever even perform even close to 50% of what God gives us? Thank God he doesn't base our relationship on our performance. We should not base our marriage on the same. We should serve. We should love unconditionally ---- "just as Christ loved the church." Our marriage should be 100/0%. A hard pill to swallow, but, true and even more importantly....biblical. In our marriage, we should expect NOTHING back.

LIE: I can't forgive him/her for that.
TRUTH: Ephesians 4:32 - "Be kind to one another, tender-hearted.." Imagine for a moment if God chose not to forgive us. Think about what God gave to us and sacrificed for us so we could be forgiven. Do we deserve it? No. But, He did. And, will do again, over and over. NO MATTER what we do. (or, don't do) We are all flawed and need a Savior. We will hurt and get hurt in marriage.

LIE: I don't love him/her anymore.
TRUTH: (failed to write the accompanying verse of scripture)
This is exactly what Satan wants for you. For your family. Truthfully, we do not have what it takes to love our spouse. But, through God we do. Marriage is tough for everyone. The little things can escalate into an ugly monster. The marriage God designed is not based on those emotional feelings. But, His Word. This also goes hand and hand with the lie (to yourself) that "I will be happier if I divorce". Truth: Malachi 2:16 "for I hate divorce, says the Lord". Happiness was NEVER the goal for God in marriage. Happiness is based on emotions and fickle. Marriage is about commitment no matter. Today, recommit yourself to the fact divorce will NEVER be an option, never in your vocabulary. No matter.

LIE: The grass is greener.
Truth: Exodus 20:17 "do not covet your neighbors wife".
When you start thinking....they will treat me so much better, they would never talk to me like that, they could be so much better for me".....nothing but Satan's lies. Nothing more. Ask any of your friends who have crossed that fence for greener pasture...ask the ones that will be truly honest with you. With that honesty, it will be guaranteed that they will confide in you that the grass was absolutely not greener. Hopefully they will open their hearts to the regrets they have. The "He/She" they crossed the fence for....has all the flaws that we all carry.

LIE: That is just the way I am, I am not going to change. (this relationship is so far gone, it's not going to change or my feelings are gone, it's not going to change, i'm just not attracted to them anymore, we've changed, we've grown apart, and, it's over...i'm done)
TRUTH: Phillipians 4:1 "I can do all things through Christ...."
When we start thinking or saying those things......we are merely in a selfish mode. Because we are promised...we can do ALL things through HIM.

LIE: You don't need God anymore.
TRUTH: John 14:6..."I am the way..."
You decide you don't need God in your life, decisions, marriage. Part of this lie that we use is...God loves me. He wants me to be happy. I'm not happy anymore in my marriage and God wants me to be happy and basically "out of this." Satan gets us so side-tracked with this. We absolutely need to pray with and for each other. Only 5% of Christian couples actually pray together.

In summary, we can either follow God's design for marriage....or, Satan's. There is no in between. We have to take out the fluff. This is literal spiritual warfare and nothing less. There is nothing more powerful than for Satan to destroy a marriage...a family. God designed marriage, man did not. Would you ever attempt to build a dream home or an elaborate building without a blueprint? We have the architect and builder of marriages.....why would we not follow His plans but, rather, Satan's lies?