Christian Marriage (Part 5)

To be a Christian is to be someone who recognizes, more sharply and clearly than our world, that the creation story is not the end.

As early as Genesis 4 we are introduced to Lamech who took more than one wife, even the great Abraham had more than one wife and also had concubines.The Old Testament accounts report polygamy but they never hold it up as an example to be imitated. By the end of Genesis we’ve seen adultery, incest, rape, homosexual rape, prostitution – quite a bit more than we really were bargaining on.

The fall has damaged all of our relationships, especially and profoundly the marriage relationship.

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The Purpose of Marriage (Part 4) – To Relate Sexually

The purpose of marriage is more than God bringing a man and a woman together to rule – the purpose of marriage is to bring a man and a woman together to relate sexually.

Back to Genesis. Let’s look at the flesh! The women is taken from the flesh of the man (2:21), to become flesh of his flesh (2:23) and to then join together as one flesh (2:24), naked and not ashamed (2:25) – this is sexual and deeply relational.

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The Purpose of Marriage (Part 3) – To Rule

We can dig deeper when thinking about the purpose of marriage.

Back to our verse in Genesis – It is not good that man should be alone. I will make a helper fit for him. (Gen 2:18)

The context in Genesis 1 reminds us that male and female are made in the image of God. Should we pause and consider what this means for marriage?

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The Purpose of Marriage (Part 2) – Togetherness

What is the purpose of marriage? Why does it exist?

The Lord said, ‘It is not good for a man to be alone’; I will make a helper fit for him’ (Gen 2:18)

The common reading of this verse implies that it is not good for a man to be lonely. – as if the night life for Adam in the garden was not great and there was nothing good on Eden Cable TV! But is that all that going on here? Man needed some cheering up?

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The Nature of Marriage (Part 1)

The nature of marriage has been under attack since the Fall – but particularly in the last 100 years as culture norms have challenged Biblical patterns for marriage.

Western society used to think biblical marriage was a good idea, and that divorce, adultery, pre-marital sex, cohabitation; serial monogamy and same sex marriage were bad ideas.

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Sermon: ‘Marriage: Will It Complete Me?’

‘Marriage: Will It Complete Me?’ by Geoff Lin is now available: http://bit.ly/1KtR10O

Grace Finds Expression In Prayer

Believers have something that the unbeliever wants (although they might not know it!).

God’s ear!

As the book of Job comes to a close there is an intriguing twist. God rebukes Job’s three unhelpful friends and sends them back to Job with their tails between their legs.

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Sermon: ‘God Knows!’ (Job 38-42)

Sunday’s sermon ‘God Knows!’ (Job 38-42) by Ken Noakes is now available: http://bit.ly/1K2P9ZL

‘Is there anyone who can presume to know better than God?’ – Ken Noakes

Sermon: ‘Listen To My Words’ (Job 32-37)

Sunday’s sermon ‘Listen To My Words’ (Job 32-37) by Ken Noakes is now available: http://bit.ly/1hFgtXd

‘A big danger when suffering is that you stop listening to God’ – Ken Noakes

Testimony

Darren

How were vampire movies and comic books involved in Darren’s journey to faith in Jesus?

“God first revealed Himself to me when I was ten years old. I was having trouble sleeping after watching a scary vampire movie, so my mother read Psalm 23 to me—’though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I shall fear no evil’. I was instantly calmed by these words.

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