Knots - Part 4 - Knot Keeping Series

Knots

Pt. 4 - Knot Keeping

We talked about how our relationship status is the number 1 way of categorizing people in our society. We are either a "have knot" or "have no knot". Relationships can either be one of the greatest blessings in your life or they can produce more pain than drugs, bankruptcy or sickness combined. In order for us to survive relationships we must learn to navigate knots.

So in week 1 we talked those with no knots:

1. Get God involved early in the selection process. Otherwise you will then have to ask Him to perfect what He didn't select. We make a mistake and then ask Him to clean up! 2. If you want to have a garden experience, then you can't bring someone into your garden from the swamp. Good seed doesn't turn bad soil into good soil. Soil usually influences seed not vice versa. 3. You need to know who you are and you shouldn't mess with anyone who doesn't know who they are. They will suck the purpose out of you if they don't know who they are!

In week 2, I talked to those with knots. We talked about

1. What wins . . . keeps. We work hard to win someone and then seem to quit doing what we did to win so we don’t keep. Marriage is work . . . period. Perfect marriages are the product of work. 2. Work for the prescribed time frame! We want a quick fix or a change in 1 week. The prescribed time is until death. It will take time. 3. Work early. Make preemptive strikes to protect us instead of just taking measures to protect you. There are few mountain climbers left only mountain viewers that see a mountain and then leave. Therefore, you must deal with your molehills before they become mountains!

Then last week (at least in the 2nd Service) I talked to those with no knots about dating for data. We do in dating what we should be doing in marriage and then we want to punish our spouse because we do in marriage what we should have done in dating which is gather data. It is during dating that we must determine if we can handle a person's heart and therefore their issues. It isn't about whether they can kiss good. It is about are they a person of character and integrity. I also mentioned that we must avoid those who keep us tied in knots emotionally. It isn't normal to be in constant chaos or turmoil. Wear protection . . . peace! If God is not the author of confusion then finish the equation. If chaos is a curse then it comes not from God but the enemy and we expose ourselves to his schemes if we fail to keep peace.

So let's finish this series today on Valentine's Weekend by talking to those who have knots!

Matthew 1:18-24

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” which means “God with us”. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.

I would like to draw your attention this very familiar account. This isn't typically an account you reference when dealing with or addressing relationships. But perhaps we need to reexamine carefully for some subtle truths that could help us keep our knots tied!

You know the story but stop and think about it again. An angel shows up to a virgin teenage girl and says you are going to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit and her response is "Be it unto me!" That is pretty amazing. But Joseph's experience, at least from the man's perspective, may be just as amazing. Put yourself in his situation. Your fiancée shows up and informs you that she is pregnant and you know you aren't the father. Now don't get it twisted we get a small glimpse into his thought process and emotional state when Matthew tells us he decides to divorce her quietly to save her disgrace. But after a dream he obeys and does as commanded.