Proverbs 5:18 (KJV); 26 March 2006
by
U.S. Army Chaplain (MAJ) Ken Harris
CP Walker, Taegu South Korea
BIG IDEA: Christian husbands should live under the assumption that the wife of their youth, will also be the wife of their Middle Age, and the wife of their Old Age too.
REFERENCES: Ephesians 5:21-29 (KJV) The Marriage Vows; Malachi 2:10-16 (MSG); Malachi 2:14-15 (MSG) Do you know why? Simple. Because GOD was there as a witness when you spoke your marriage vows to your young bride, and now you’ve broken those vows, broken the faith-bond with your vowed companion, your covenant wife. 15 GOD, not you, made marriage. His Spirit inhabits even the smallest details of marriage. And what does he want from marriage? Children of God, that’s what. So guard the spirit of marriage within you. Don’t cheat on your spouse; Proverbs 21:9 (GW) Better to live on a corner of a roof than to share a home with a quarreling woman; Proverbs 5:18 (KJV) Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth; John 13:34-35 KJV (A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another); Philippians 2:5 KJV - (Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus); Matthews 6:24 (KJV) (No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.);
I. ANNOUNCE THE PERICOPE: Malachi 2:10-16 (MSG); Proverbs 5:18 (KJV)
II. READ THE PERICOPE: Malachi 2:10-16(MSG); Proverbs 5:18 (KJV)
III. READ THE TEXT: Malachi 2:14-15 (MSG): Do you know why? Simple. Because GOD was there as a witness when you spoke your marriage vows to your young bride, and now you’ve broken those vows, broken the faith-bond with your vowed companion, your covenant wife. 15 GOD, not you, made marriage. His Spirit inhabits even the smallest details of marriage. And what does he want from marriage? Children of God, that’s what. So guard the spirit of marriage within you. Don’t cheat on your spouse.
IV. PURPOSE: To motivate Married Couples to remember their Wedding Day, and their Marriage Vows by reawakening their Flames of Love.
V. SERMONIC THEME: ”Memories And The Marriage Vows”
INTRODUCTION: ”I would like to take this time to shower praises and accolades upon two individuals today: Toni Duncombe and Angie Lambert for having planned and strategize a flawless SWEETHEART Retreat in February 2006 for 30 couples of CP Walker’s Multicultural Gospel Service.”
Now, I’m quite aware that this is an awkward time to have accolades and kudos rained down upon them, because most of our participants aren’t with us today. Instead they are participating in our Korea-wide exercise: Joint Reception Staging and Onward Movement & Integration (JRSO&I 2006).
Nevertheless, if you were bless to witness February’s Retreat, first hand, then you know exactly how deserving these two ladies are …
therefore … please join me by standing and giving Toni and Angie a thunderous round of applause!
**********Take 5 Beats ************
Move 1: Ladies thank you so much for making The Sweetheart Retreat 06, one of the most memorable moments in my life, and in the life of many other couples.
a. Your personal sacrifice to ensure we had the time of our life will forever be remembered.
b. Although you deserve pay and so much more.
c. We can’t afford to pay you.
d. So, please accept these flowers, from Dedra and me, as a token of our Multicultural Gospel Service Collective appreciation for all you’ve done.
e. Lets give these ladies another round of applause!!
*********** TAKE 5 BEATS *********
MOVE 2: What a memorable moment etched into the minds and hearts of those that were in attendance.
a. The Sweetheart Retreat was truly an unforgettable series of events.
b. We learned from one another in the classroom/seminar setting and “Journey toward Intimacy”.
c. We ate and fellowship together in a Fine Dining atmosphere;
d. we experience a Korean Mall together … walking, shopping and laughing … while holding the hands of spouses.
e. We collectively stroll down the isles of the Weston Chosun Ballroom to participate in a Korea-Style Wedding … as we refreshed our memories and renewed our Marriage Vows one to another!!
f. And who can ever forget how we slow danced to the Love Songs of Kenny Rodgers …
g. …. and parted the isles of the Weston Chosun as we ushered our love ones to our various quarters …
h. What an awesome experience that was … and what awesome experience and Oneness Marriage is to become!
************ Take 5 Beats ************
MOVE 3: Nearly 22 years ago, I had my first and only experience reciting my “marriage vows” as a young 21 year old man.
a. I was so nervous … my hands dripped with sweat … my heart accelerated as I gave thoughts to the idea that this woman who would soon stand beside me …
b. would be the wife of my youth; the wife of my Middle Age, and the wife of my Old Age too.
c. In fact, I can still hear the original sounds of that occasion …
(At this point, have the Computer & Video Ministry Leader to play the CD and the original wedding tape) …
***********TAKE 5 BEATS**********
MOVE 4: In The Book of Malachi we find the last book of the Old Testament which is separated from the Book of Matthew by more than 400 years.
a. Malachi is the last of the Minor Prophets and the last prophetic voice of the Old Testament to speak to Israel.
b. In our particular passage this afternoon, we learn how the negligent practices of Judah’s Religious Leaders left the entire nation insensitive to sin.
c. They couldn’t tell RIGHT from wrong or wrong from Right.
d. They were no longer filled with RIGHTEOUSNESS.
e. They had forgotten the Wife of Their Youth!
**********Take 5 Beats *********
MOVE 5: Marriage vows were being broken left and right.
a. As a result, their was an exact correlation between the increase of broken marriage vows and the increase of sin and unfaithfulness.
b. Believers spiritual lives were declining.
c. In other words, as goes the Spiritual Lives of believers…
d. … so goes the Institution of Marriage.
e. It has been said that the root of any neglect in the marriage relationship is sin.
f. Sin such as selfishness, inconsistency in marriage, laziness in marriage, and self-centeredness in marriage to name a few.
***********Take 5 Beats **********
MOVE 6: When the people of God start slacking in their devotional time with God …
a. … and Spiritual Leaders don’t Shepherd God’s People with a Shepherd’s Heart by sharing God’s Word in Season and Out of Season then the destruction is evitable.
b. For you see, my brothers and my sisters, it hadn’t been too long ago that the People of God had been in Babylonian Captivity.
c. Now, that God had FREED THEM and seen them through some of the toughest time in their life/history …
d. The attitudes of their hearts had changed.
e. And with this change was their understanding and expectations of marriage.
f. They had misplaced affections.
g. They gave God’s love and affection to false gods; and this made God angry!
**********Take 5 Beats *************
MOVE 7: They intentionally married unbelieving foreigners who worship OTHER gods.
a. God didn’t have issues with his people crossing racial boundaries;
b. His issues had to do with them crossing cultural boundaries to married unsaved and unbelieving individuals …
c. Whether we married within our own race or culture has never been an issue God. For we can see this is self-evident throughout the Bible.//
d. God does not want His children to be ungodly.
c. And many of the people of Judah and Israel were unequally yoke. They were setting themselves up for failure and temptations.
d. So God reminded them in the Scriptures today that He was watching them and they SHOULD NOT CHEAT on their spouses.
e. In other words he encourages them to REMEMBER THEIR MARRIAGE VOWS and The Wife of their Youth …
********* Take 5 Beats ***********
CELEBRATION: REMEMBER THE FUN YOU FORMERLY HAD …
REMEMBER WHEN YOU PROMISED HER THAT YOU WOULD NOT ALLOW ANYTHING OR ANYONE COME BETWEEN YOU …
REMEMBER WHEN YOU STOOD AT THE ALTAR AND MADE YOUR VOWS
REMEMBER HOW YOU WERE SO LOVED WITH ONE ANOTHER …
GRAB HOLD OF THOSE MEMORIES AND REFRESH THEM …
BECAUSE I (GOD ) HATE DIVORCE …
