The Vow, Part 3: The Vow of Partnership

    Title of Message: The Vow of Partnership     For more help in your marriage: [email protected]   Week 1:  I Vow that God will be my #1 PRIORITY and my spouse as #2. Week 2:  I Vow that I will always PURSUE my #2. Week 3:  I Vow that our marriage will be a PARTNERSHIP.   (Genesis 2:24) “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”   The Big Idea: Perspective determines behavior.   What’s the difference? Contract is: an agreement based upon mutual distrust          Covenant is: an agreement based on mutual commitment      (Malachi 2:14) (MSG) “…You fill the place of worship with your whining and sniveling because you don't get what you want from God. 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.”    Three areas of making our marriage about We and not Me:   1. I am here to serve, not to be served (Matthew 20:28) “…just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."   (Ephesians 5:21) “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” 2. Combined effort rather than equal effort. (1 Corinthians 13: 4,5,7) (MSG)  “…  Love never gives up.  Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head, Doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.”    (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10) (NLT) “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.”    3. We are on the same team (Ephesians 5:28,29) “In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church”   The Characteristics of a Covenant Marriage:   1.    I am here to serve, and not to be served 2.    Combined effort rather than equal effort 3.    We are on the same team (1 Corinthians 13:13) (The Message) “Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly.”