Week 1
February 15, 2025

97% of All People Want A Close Knit Home

Facing The Facts About Marriage and Relationships
We All Have Legitimate Needs and Longings

God Originally Designed Our Spouses to Be A Major Tool In His Hands To Meet Those Needs And Longings

The “Fall” And Sin Short-Circuited Man’s Relationship with God, His Mate and His World

What Once Was the Most Natural Relationship Response (Others-centered, Grace-giving) is now the Most Unnatural of Responses, Requiring Supernatural Enablement and Hard Work To Achieve.

God’s Perspective On Marriage Relationships and Why It Matters

So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. 21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
Genesis 2:20-22

And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined (Cleave) to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Genesis 2:23-25

Relational Intimacy

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:26-28

Reproductions & Spiritual Impact

Be happy, yes, rejoice in the wife of your youth.
Proverbs 5:18 LB

Your spring water is for you and you only, not to be passed around among strangers.
Bless your fresh-flowing fountain! Enjoy the wife you married as a young man! Lovely as an angel, beautiful as a rose— don’t ever quit taking delight in her body. Never take her love for granted! Why would you trade enduring intimacies for cheap thrills with a prostitute? for dalliance with a promiscuous stranger?
Proverbs 5:17-20 The Message Bible

Pleasure

Barriers To Intimacy In Marriage and Relationships
Spiritual Barriers
The Fall and Sin, Shame and Selfishness
Sharing – Has Turned To Shame
Givers – Become Takers and Manipulators
Builders – Have Become Blamers
Openness – Gave Into Hiders

The Only Cure For Spiritual Barriers Is Jesus

Mental “Psychological” Barriers = Personality Differences
Introvert vs. Extrovert
Assertive vs. Easy Going
Factual vs. Abstract
Systematic vs. Spontaneous

The Cure For Psychological Barriers Is Understanding Each Other

Gender Barriers
Men Are Different Than Women
Women Are Different Than Men
They Are Equally Different

IMPORTANT!!!
God’s Original Design Was To Compliment and Complete One Another Not Compete Against Each Other!!!

The Cure For Gender Barriers Is Appreciation

Historical Barriers = “Our Baggage” From The Past

Family Upbringing
Traumatic Events
False Beliefs / “Games We Play”
Rejection
Past Relationships

The Cure To Historical Barriers Is Knowledge

God’s Answer To All The Barriers
Honest, grace-filled understanding, communication, to lovingly “pull down” the walls, risk vulnerability, and restore intimacy.

Four Keys To Intimacy In Marriage
Commitment
A Lifelong Choice of Unconditional Love Toward Each Other

Communication
A Lifelong Skill of Learning To Understand Each Other

Caring
“An Adventure of Lifelong Friendship, Fun, and Mutual Fulfillment”

Commission
A Lifelong Shared Vision To Impact The Lives Of Others For Christ

Commitment
Communication
Caring
Commission