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Partners for Life
Psalm 1:1-6; Malachi 3:6-10
Bob Shank

Psalm 1 (NKJV™)
1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.
4 The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.
Malachi 3 (NKJV™)
6 "For I am the LORD, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
7 Yet from the days of your fathers You have gone away from My ordinances And have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you," Says the LORD of hosts. "But you said, 'In what way shall we return?'
8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, 'In what way have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings.
9 You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation.
10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this," Says the LORD of hosts, "If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.

New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Keep Calm and Marry On

When couples marry, they form a partnership where they each agree to cooperate for their mutual interests—it's a partnership between a husband and a wife. But, there is a third party in that partnership—God. Each person's personal relationship with Jesus should be as active and as powerful as their relationship with each other. In this study, we see how we can improve our partnership with God and ensure His blessing on our lives, and we receive concise teaching on what God means when He tells us to test Him regarding our finances.

A Christian marriage is intended to portray Christ and His church to the world. But how do we ensure that our marriages live up to God's standards? God's Word contains what we need not only to flourish, but to overcome the emotional, societal, and spiritual attacks we face in our marriages. In this series, Pastor Skip Heitzig covers various scriptural texts to give us the biblical view on marriage. From dating to dealing with in-laws; from anger management to managing your finances; from conflict resolution to delightful sexual relations, this powerful series will provide the tools you need to strengthen your home and relationships.

FREE - Download Entire Series (MP3) (Help) | Buy series | Buy audiobook

Detailed Notes

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  1. Introduction
    1. Partnerships
      1. Between a husband and wife
      2. With God
      3. Rate your partnership
      4. How to move it from where it is to where we want it to be
    2. Economy—Recession
      1. Five years ago driving in the fast lane
      2. Effected by culture and economy but not participate–choosing to participate in God's economy instead
      3. What are you doing to fix your economy, where God is faithful and powerful in your life
      4. "One Nation Under God"
  2. God's Economy
    1. Under His blessing or curse—it's like oxygen
      1. Rockies versus sea level
      2. The blessing of God is "spiritual oxygen"
        1. Taken for granted
        2. When you live without God's blessing for so long, you begin to think it's normal
    2. Two things: The bias of the blessed, the course of the cursed
      1. Psalm 1—how do blessed people live
        1. The first song
        2. God wants everyone to be blessed
        3. Highlight "whatever he does prospers"
          1. Test for the blessed
          2. Not saying: prosperity gospel
          3. Culture's definition of prosperity
          4. God says prosperity is measured in your generosity
        4. Stop living the wrong way, understand and live the right way—righteous and unrighteous people
          1. Right and wrong
          2. The more we live in the right way, the more righteous we will be, the more God will bless us
          3. Satan does not want you to be blessed
            1. The world will see and want what you have
            2. Satan wants us distracted
        5. The people of God got further and further from God—more desperate; by the New Testament [under the curse] they just thought that's just the way things were
      2. "You were unfaithful" Malachi 3:6
        1. God says, "You were unfaithful"
        2. Expectations
        3. Robbed God
          1. Do both tithes and offerings
          2. Under a curse
          3. Not condemned, there is a solution
          4. "Test me in this"
        4. Progressive
          1. All born under the curse – hopelessness
          2. Surrender – solution that God offered through Jesus
          3. Confidence – God is hanging onto you, He will continue it (see Philippians 1:6); but He came for more than that (see John 10:10)
          4. Faithfulness – obedient to God's plan
            1. Without faithfulness, there is no blessing
            2. Without the blessing, you are living under the curse
          5. Generous—He did not give us resources to hoard
            1. Distribute
            2. Serve (see Matthew 10:28)
            3. We are here as representatives of Jesus Christ
          6. Prosperous—when God puts it in my hand, He has a purpose
        5. What did it cost these Jewish people to keep the tithe?
          1. They were running on empty
          2. Their grain and fruit were dropping
          3. Pests swept through
          4. They experienced resignation
          5. For generations, they had lived under the curse
        6. What would it look like if these people were to experience the blessings of God? V. 10
          1. Open the floodgates of heaven
          2. Only other occurrence of that term was back in Genesis 6 when speaking of the flood of Noah
          3. It will deliver an overload that you can't contain
          4. Folks around them would envy them their prosperity
      3. The Lord does not change V. 6
        1. The Law—what's replaced it?—grace
        2. Sermon on the Mount, don't murder versus don't even hate
        3. Grace raises the bar not lowers it
      4. Test the Lord V. 10
        1. Statistics: How many Americans tithe?
        2. Withhold what we know He expects (see James 4:17)
        3. Put principles into practice
          1. Question: Would you be willing to put God to the test in the fourth quarter of 2012?
          2. "God, I'm going to commit 10% of the gross that You bring into my life between now and the end of the year. God, I'm going to see what happens when I do it Your way."
  3. Conclusion – Salvation versus Blessing
    1. Salvations is by grace
      1. Not earned
      2. Given without expectation
    2. Blessing is through obedience
      1. Earned
      2. If you are not faithful to God, you are separated from God
      3. Return to the Lord and He will return to you (see Zechariah 1:3)
    3. Can God be trusted?
      1. Martin Luther – three conversions
        1. Convert mind, believe the right thing
        2. Convert heart, give up something
        3. Convert the purse, sometimes the most difficult
      2. Take God at His Word—see what He does
        1. Make the vow
        2. Be honest (see Ecclesiastes 5:5)

Figures referenced: Martin Luther
Cross references: Genesis 6, Psalm 1, Zechariah 1:3, Malachi 3:6-12, Matthew 10:28, John 10:10, Philippians 1:6

Transcript

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Pastor Skip Heitzig: We are trying to, in these series, give you the very best when it comes to the topics. We have identified some where we will consider core issues when it comes to relationships and one of them is dealing with finances in a relationship. I have asked somebody who has that experience in ministry and personally, our speaker today was an entrepreneur in a construction industry. He left about 28 years ago, got involved in ministry, pastored a large mega church in Southern California, but over the last several years, has been mentoring Christian leaders and those in the marketplace regarding purpose and what to do with their lives. He serves on 14 boards, including three church boards, including this church board, has been a good friend to me and a mentor of sorts, and I just know him as Bob Shanks.

So please welcome Bob as he comes and shares.

Bob Shanks: Good morning! It's a great morning. We are moving in the enemy territory this morning. We are in a minefield that we can get through, but we've got to dial in on reconnaissance from heaven because the enemy is trying to keep us captive in a strong hold that has to do with our money. I know money never comes up in life. It's something you can avoid dealing with and never have to think about it, worry about it, mess with it, right? Okay, thank you! I'm just going to ask to join me in prayer as we ask God to give us his wisdom this morning on a subject that is close to our lives.

Father, we are living in occupied territory. The enemy of heaven, the God of this world has blinded the eyes of people and has counterfeited reality and pretended that he could be trusted while in fact he is out to destroy. God, I pray that we would reexamine our thinking about a subject that you are very informed and communicated toward. You want your truth to be the basis upon which we plan and live our lives. So bring us through this conversation this morning with some new discoveries that will enrich our life experience, and bring us into a place where we are relating to you in new, in fresh, and positive ways that we were not when we came. All of that is possible because we're going to be serving our thoughts on your truth and listening to the voice of your Holy Spirit. In your son's name, we pray, amen.

One of the toughest things about a weakened message is coming up with a name for it. I have come up with a name for this. I'm calling it "Partners for Life" and it's a little spin because it's a two-sided coin. For life could mean two things and I mean both, one says, "It's all the way from here to heaven." In fact, anybody married here today? There is a line we use today when we got married, "Until death do us apart." Later, you're trying to kill each other but "Until death do us part" says for life, but I want to flip that coin and say, "For life" and not just on a quantitative but a qualitative scale because I want to figure out how to have the life that is truly life as the scriptures would call it between here and heaven. You too?

Well, that's where we are going today, and we want to think about our partners in this conversation. Now partnerships technically, it's an arrangement when the parties agreed to cooperate to advance their mutual interest. Everybody in the partnership stands to gain when the partnership works well. That's true in marriage, but I want you to know that your marriage is not a twosome, it's a threesome, God is involved. In fact your involvement with the Lord Jesus, personally, you bring into the marriage relationship and once two come together, you are now in what God planned from the beginning, 2 Corinthians 6:14-16 says, "Don't be yoked together with unbelievers." What is a believer have in common with an unbeliever? As God has said, "I will live with him and walk among them and I will be their God and they will be my people."

So this morning, though this is a series on marriage, it's a series for all of us, why? Because all of us have or can have a partnership, relationship with God, and if we are in marriage as adults, we are in a relationship that involves another person, but involves God as actively and powerfully as it does the other person.

I have an old friend, Gary Smalley was 25 years ago, a very well-known name in the Christian circles for marriage-related books and talks. Gary had a great way of making his mark on marriage by helping couples work through three interesting questions. He would coach husbands and wives to look at one another and ask three questions.

Here is the first one, scale of one to 10, where would you like your marriage to land? Now, what do you think the answer for most people is? "Oh man!  I really want to get married and have a six." No, where do you want your marriage to be? Ten. The second question follow up as you look your partner in the eye and ask the question. Same scale, where would you place our marriage today? He said it was always fun in a group setting to watch people do that because he said, "Husbands always rate their marriage about three points higher than their wives do." Not that we are optimist, we are just clueless. But the third question was the real grabber. If we were to move the marriage from where it is to where you want it to be, what would I need to do? That's taking personal responsibility, but what a great set of questions to post to your marriage partner if you believe that would be of value, try it today. Look at your partner in the eye and ask, "Where would you rate our marriage today one to ten and what would I need to do to take it from there to a ten?" Now having done that with your human partner, how curious is it to ask the same questions of God in heaven?

Now, let me just tell you. Already, I know where God wants His relationship with you to be. "No, maybe a five!" "Ten!" Well man, the question asked of God, "God where would you place our relationship today?" If you overrate it, the Holy Spirit in you will give you spiritual heartburns so you'll want to be a little honest about it, but the great follow up question and he doesn't want it to be a mysterious answer. If we're to move from where it is to where you want it to be, what would I need to do? That's what we are going to talk about in the next 30 minutes.

It's been a tough five years, hasn't it?  Did anybody vote for the great recession? It started in the fourth quarter of 2007. Here we are 20 quarters later. I don't know if you are old enough or conscious enough to remember five years ago, but five years ago, the economy was smoking about 80 miles an hour in the fast lane and all of a sudden we blew a gasket, started smoking, we ground to a stop, and we've been over in the weeds for the last five years and we are getting ready to figure out who we're going to let to fix the engine and get us back on the road again. Have you seen the movie "Dumb and Dumber"?

Here is the truth of the matter. I'm affected by, but I'm choosing not to fully participate in the culture and the economy, and the only way you can do that is to choose to live in God's economy instead. What are you doing to fix your economy? The big question for the candidates, what are you going to do to fix the national economy? Truth of the matter is, in the next 30 minutes, we're going to get some tips from God that are absolutely reliable regarding the question, how to fix the economy you live in? The space where God wants to be proven faithful and powerful in your life.

Now here is a simple principle, simple principle that one of the first memory verses you ever learned, you always recite it with your hand over your heart, and here is a verse from it, it says, "One nation under God." Truth of the matter is, we are all under God individually, collectively as a nation, but I want to submit to you this morning that we are not all under God at the same place because today you are either under God's blessing or you are under His curse.

Now, a lot of us would like to claim a third territory, that you are not in the blessing place but you are not in the curse place, you are in just sort of the middle ground. Well God has no middle ground, there are only two zip codes in His world, under His blessing or under His curse. What does it mean to be under the curse of God? I've ran 23 marathons.  I live at sea level and for a long time, we had a second home in the Colorado Rockies at 8,000 feet. Is there any difference running at sea level and running at 8,000 feet?

You can't tell by looking at it, but there is a little thing that you won't think about until you don't have it, it's called Oxygen. Not optional. It's interesting. The blessing of God is spiritual oxygen. When you have it, you take it for granted. You don't think about it until you get to a place where you don't have it. There is nothing wrong with the rocky mountains, except they don't have any oxygen there, and friends it's amazing, you can live without God's blessing for so long that you begin to think it's normal. Do you really want that? Two passages we are going to look at this morning.

One of them describes the bias of the blessed, the other unpacks the coarse of the cursed, and the first is Psalm 1. We are going to answer the question, how do blessed people live? Israel had a song book because they didn't have digital projection yet. Okay. Look, letterman hasn't hired me to do one liners, I do my best, okay? I'm not a writer.  The truth is whenever Israel prepared to worship and prepare to sing, someone was staring at them as the introduction to their worship, why? God wanted to start with the picture of what He wanted to reproduce in the people that were worshiping Him. God wants everyone to be blessed, do you believe that? It's not like the lottery where there is one winner and most, everybody losers. God wanted everybody to win in the blessedness category and He wants us to know what that looks like and so short, concise, but powerful, someone lays it out.

It reads like this, "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in a seat of mockers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and on His law, he meditates day and night." He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers." Do you highlight in your Bible? Do you underline? Do you write in your Bible? Some of you are trying to keep it in new condition so that if this faith thing doesn't work out, you can return your Bible. Well, I suggest that you go and use it because we won't take it back. Highlight this, God says, "If you're blessed, here is the marker, here is how you spot a blessed person." Whatever he does prospers. Let me verbally highlight that for your cognisant memory of the day. My friends who are pastors in black churches, use this device frequently to really drill home the point. I want you to repeat with me what the word of God says, "Whatever he does prospers." Out loud, come on! Whatever he does prospers. The wicked are not so. They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Now, the Psalm is just not saying. Well you know what, when they douse above 14,000 and when unemployment drops below six percent and when the prime rate is above four but when the conditions are right, God can really bring His people into a good place. He didn't say that. His promises are good no matter what the conditions surrounding us might be, and what's the test for the blessed? God doesn't mince words, He says, "Whatever he does prospers." Now, I've got to push the pause button for just a moment and make sure that we understand what God is saying here because as soon as I say propers, we live at a generational moment when our mind raises to this notion of the prosperity gospel. Have you heard that term before? Prosperity gospel came to life with Christian television. Prosperity gospel is neither prosperity nor gospel. It's a strange amalgam, advanced by people who say, "If you slip a check made out to them for $1,000 and send it to a post office box in Oklahoma, that you're holding God a hostage and He has to send you $10,000 back, and when you get the cheque back that you can use it as a down payment on the car, you can't afford, and they call that prosperity, God doesn't.

Our culture's definition of prosperity is kind of two-sided. Our culture says you're prosperous if you spend more as a consumer and then as you hoard more as an owner, if you can do those two things, you're prosperous. It's what you consume and what you accumulate, that's your measure of prosperity, not so with God. God's definition of prosperity is so much better than that. He says, "To be blessed and prosperous means, not that you have consumed and accumulated more." God says, "Your prosperity is measured in your generosity." It's what you give that measures your true prosperity from God's perspective. How do we get there according to Psalm 1? Let me summarize a brief text. There are two things He says to do.

Number one, stop living the wrong way, like the wicked sinners who mocked God, and second, understand and live the right way in agreement with God's law. The notion of the scripture is just there are two kinds of people, righteous people and unrighteous people. We hear that and at church, it's acceptable conversation. In fact, we interviewed people on the way in the door this morning said, "Would you like to become more righteous?" We'd say, "Well of course, why do you think I got up this early on Sunday morning? Why do you think I'm here? Of course I want to be more righteous."  But if someone ask you on Wednesday at work, or at school, or in the neighborhood, "Do you want to be more righteous?" We would probably say, "Well it depends on what do you mean by that."

Why? Because we are a little testy about whether or not righteous is a good thing when you're with real people.

Well let me strip to a Sunday school language away just a little bit and make sure that we understand what God's saying. The difference between righteous and unrighteous is the difference between right and wrong. The person who knows how to live in the right way and the person who lives in the wrong way and God wants us to live in the right way because our experience in life will be enhanced and bettered the more we live in the right way. That's what it means to be righteous. So the offer of Psalm 1 is, "wouldn't you love to live the right way and experience the blessing of God? Isn't that a good idea?" And our answer would be, "Absolutely!" But do you know who doesn't want us there? The evil one. Why in the world would he be so intent on keeping us from being righteous? Here is why, God says, "When you live in the right way, I'll bless you, and when I bless you, you will be truly prosperous." Why are you willing to be generous? Because you know there is more to give than you've got, and as you give, God gives you more to give. Not more to consume, not more to accumulate but more to give and when that happens, the world watch us and says, "Hey, what's different about you? How do I get a life like yours?" And God says, "That's what I was after." People whose blessedness makes them attractive to people who longed to be bless but don't know the God who is able to do that. You see the evil one wants us destructed and diverted from God's desire for right living.

These last words from God are going to be worth looking at because for the next 600 years, the people of God were making their way down this path and the further they went, the more desperate their lives became. How did they become desperate? Psalm 1 was written a thousand years before Christ. In those 600 years, the people of God moved further and further and further from the right living that God expected of them and the further they've got, the more distant their blessing became. Until finally at the conclusion of the Old Testament period, they were people experiencing dire hardship and difficult circumstances and they had come to believe that that's just the way life was. The last book of the Old Testament, the great Mexican prophet, Malachi. I just put in a little South Western flavor in it.

Malachi Chapter 3, join me there. It's a familiar text that we don't know enough about. God speaks into the tragedy of where the Jewish people found themselves, the old bumper stickers that said, God's chosen people were pealing off their chariots, they hadn't bought new ones because their lives looked anything but blessed. So God speaks up. In my notes, these words are in red. You'll say, "Wait a minute, Jesus didn't say that." Well, you buy one of those expensive Bibles with the words of Jesus in red.

On the cover, it should have said, the words of God in black, because they are just as authoritative and just as powerful, and so when Malachi speaks on behalf of the God of heaven, he speaks with the authority of the Almighty, and beginning in verse six, let me read the quote that Malachi offers as spoken by God, "I the Lord do not change." So you all, descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me and I'll return to you," says the Lord Almighty. Stop a moment. God is a partner in your marriage, or if you are single, God is like a marriage partner but He is in Heaven, but wants to be intimately involved in your life here. Have you ever had friends who are married but separated?

I found in art and life experience that too many times that we'd like to admit we've had friends who've gone through that, sure, and I have been married 42 years.  I married when I was six. 42 years later here we are, let me just tell you something, God says, "I will never divorce you, but if you're ever unfaithful, we will be separated." He is telling to His people that He has been separated from them. They have not been cohabiting, they have been living together, and when they asked the question, "What went wrong?" God says, "You were unfaithful." How important is faithfulness in a marriage? Friends, I'll just tell you that faithfulness to the big one, the big A, adultery is absolutely critical, but I've lived long enough with my wife to know that while that is important, it's not the only that is important. Every marriage participant establishes expectations of their partners and when they are not met, you can be separated though living under the same roof. Have you ever felt that tension? Have you ever known friends who did? No one would want to cap to it themselves, but I know what it is to have the cold shoulder, to have the quiet voice across the table, to know that something is not right and I always know that is because there is something I did or did not do. Ever been there guys?

See, men will be honest to the ministry treat, but the church — and they are not moving. God is speaking to His people, the Jews, and says, "We have been separated for some time now." And here is what God says, "Return to me and I will return to you," but you ask, "How do we return?" God answers, "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me, but you ask, "How do we rob you?" "In tithes and offerings." They knew what He was talking about, we don't because we don't come from that religious tradition. Let me just make sure we know what He's saying, tithes and offerings. Here was God's expression of expectation. For all the money that He would bring into their lives, His expectation was the first 10% of the gross would directly go to Him, 10% directly to God. That's what the word "tithe" means, 10%.

Aren't you glad that God didn't set it at 13 and a half percent? Something that was impossible to calculate. God says that the tithes belongs to God, and then the next 90% He gives to us to spend on our cost of living, but here is God's promise. When He gets His portion first, He makes practical things work better than they could have ever worked otherwise and the 90 cents that you have left from the dollar, you get more than with it than you could have ever gotten done with the dollar if you've taken it all in the first place and you have money leftover afterwards. What do you do with the money that's leftover afterwards, increase your spending? No. God said, "You are now going to increase your generosity," and that's where the offerings came from, the tithes at the front end and the offerings from the back end. And God said, "Wen you are doing both, we are in a good relationship. When you are doing neither, you are a thief. It's in your tithes and your offerings that you are not doing the right thing. You are under a curse, the whole nation of you because you are robbing me."

Is God subject to overstatement and embellishment, or does He speak truth? He calls them thieves because the tithe and the offering had not been brought.

But He isn't condemning them with no solution in sight.  He continues, "Bring the whole tithes into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. Test me in this." Again if you highlight, that statement warns the highlight, why? It's the only time in 66 books that God invites us to test Him. "Test me in this" says the Lord Almighty "And see if I will not throw open the flood gates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I'll prevent pest from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the Lord Almighty. "Then all of the nations will call you blessed for yours will be a delightful land," says the Lord Almighty.

You see, they were God's people, but they were missing His blessing, and if you are missing His blessing, you are under His curse. They like we are subject to personal experience with God that is progressive. Let me tell you where we all started. Every human being is born into a human family where their spiritual death is the legacy that we inherited from Adam and Eve. As a piece that one puts it, you are formerly dead in your trespasses and sins. Step one in your journey with God is hopelessness. You have no chance of heaven in the state in which every human being exists apart from Christ. Do we agree about that? The second step in this journey was the place of surrender. What is that? You finally give up trying to solve the problem on your own and you accept the solution that God has offered through His son, Jesus. The God man stepped into the line of fire for us and took the penalty of sin on himself. He died the payment of sin. The Lamb of God on the cross of Calvary, and three days later came to life out of the grave under His own power, demonstrating the power to forgive sin and to give life. And when you surrender to that, the magnificence of God's grace was now yours because your salvation paid for by the works of Jesus for you, not by your works but by His works, allowed you to become a son or a daughter of the Most High God. Is that worthy of a little shout out?

(Applause)

Hopelessness lead to surrender, and then you come, and you learn, and you hear what God says about what's just happened in your life, and the third step in your journey is confidence. What does that mean? It's not dependent on you hanging on to God because He is hanging onto you. Being sure of this very thing that He who has began a good work and you will continue it until the day of Christ Jesus. Friends, I know a lot of Christians who've gotten that far and stalled. Their hopelessness, their surrender have marked the journey and now they find themselves in confidence and they are there by the grace of God, but may I say to you this morning that there is more to the relationship than that. You see, we have experienced God's grace and getting to the place of confidence but Jesus said, He came for more than that. John 10:10, "I've come that you might have life and then life to the full." Are you experiencing life to the full today? Or if you use the language of Psalm 1 and Malachi 3, are you today living in the blessing of God?

Let me say to you that there's a step beyond confidence that has to be triggered. The next steps in this plan, the next step from confidence is faithfulness, what is that about? I'd become obedient to God's commands in my life. When I hear what God says to do, I become obedient, I do what He says, and God call that faithfulness. Friend hear this, without faithfulness, there is no blessing, and when God that it's not blessing, it is to live absent of blessing, which is the curse. What a tragedy to know that the children of God can live without the blessing of God and are experiencing the curse that God did not want for them and He is prepared to deliver the blessing as soon as we deliver our faithfulness. When we get clear what God wants, we'll do it. Do you know when it comes to the matter of our money, faithfulness with regard to what God has directed opens the door to the next step because beyond faithfulness, I become generous.

What is that about? Generous says, "I'm stewarding God's resources, God's way." Why? Because He didn't give me resources to hoard, He gave me resources to distribute, to meet needs because the Lord Jesus said, "I did not come to be served but to serve and to give." And we are here as His ambassadors, representing Jesus Christ alive in our culture through us, but Jesus is not working through us if our generosity does not demonstrate what Jesus would do if He was here. Faithfulness leads to generous and generous leads to prosperous. Why? Because our prosperity says, "When God puts at my hands, it's for a purpose and with my needs having been met, I'm now here to meet the needs of God's kingdom in His people and when I do that, God sees me as prosperous because my great prosperity is measured in my generosity, and when I'm practicing that, God knows He can trust me." Can He trust you?

What was it that it was costing these Jewish people to save the tithe? I'm sure it made perfect sense to them. They probably said, "Well you know, times are tough right now. We've been in the bandage of occupation and difficult situations and there are 10 good reasons why I can't give God the tithe. And someday when I've got it left over, I'll do it." But that's dangerous reasoning because you'll never have it left over. Why? Because you'll always be running on fumes. I would submit that it cost more to save the tithe than it cost to give the tithe.

What did the curse look like for these people? Three things number one, underproduction, their vines were casting their fruit. You know what that means? It means that these perfectly good plants were dropping in the field, their fruit, and rotting in the field, and the yield that they thought they were going to have from their acreage, they didn't get because active God caused their fruit to drop. They were seeing depletion. The pests were devouring their crops. Locusts would sweep through and they were completely beyond the control of this Jewish agriculturist. And in their difficulty, they failed to connect the dots to recognize that the hardship they were experiencing was directly tied to a spiritual issue. And because of that, they had experience resignation. Without experiencing God's blessing, they didn't know what they were missing. If you've only lived without it, you don't know what it is to have it. And these people for generations had been living under the curse.

What was God prepared to do if they would simply step in to doing what He had directed them to do? What would it mean for them to be experiencing the blessing of God, the three things that Malachi said, speaking for God Almighty? Here's what he said he would do. Number one, he would open the floodgates of heaven. I was intrigued with that statement because the only other place in the scriptures where that term occurs, the floodgates of heaven. It's back in Genesis 6, in little historic event called "Noah's flood," remember that story?

All of the intent of human kind was only evil all of the time. Universally corrupt except for Noah and his family who find God's favor. And it says that the flood was precipitated by God opening the floodgates of heaven. The term had been used to demonstrate judgment unrelenting judgment that flowed in a dimension that it'd never been experienced before now. It had rained, but it never rained like that. Imagine when it started to rain and people said, "Hey, do you have an umbrella? It's starting to rain. It will pass." And then it didn't stop. "Hey, it's still raining. Hey, it's really coming down. Hey, it's really coming up. Hey, there goes the car." The floodgates of heaven poured the consequence of judgment on planet earth. That same term triggered the memory and the minds of these Jews when Malachi declares, God would open the floodgates of heaven, not for the judgement, but for the blessing.

"Wow, that's a little bit of good luck. Wonder it's tithed to my tithing." Do you think there's any correlation? Unbelievable! Have you ever experienced the floodgates of heaven opened then pouring out a blessing before? He said, second, "It will deliver an overload that you cannot contain." I have two daughters who were in their 30s, they have families of their own, great grand kids out of that — not great grandchildren but grandchildren who are great. It's crazy.

We live in Orange County, but they become urban farmers. It's kind of like green acres in the 21st Century. One daughter has chicken, six of them and those little birds push eggs like there's no tomorrow. The other daughter has a garden in the back. There was a moment this summer where both of them were on overload. Chickens were producing more eggs than their family could eat. The other daughter had tomatoes coming out of ears. Her sons were going up and down the stream with bags of tomatoes meeting neighbors they've never met before, "Hi, we live down the street. Will you take these tomatoes, please?" The kids were turning red. Every container in the house had what looked like ketchup in it. They were on overload. It was not going to cost them anything to give away those tomatoes. Their generosity became profound. Why? They couldn't contain it all.

In fact God said, "The intent was to make these people enviable, then all the nations will call you blessed." What was God out to do? He was out to see His people become so notable that folks around them would say, "Tell us what it takes to know your God because we like what He does for you." Friends, our culture would like to know our God if they saw us blessed. This is an unbelievable passage. There are two phrases that I can't get out of my mind. Here they are. The first one, "I the Lord do not change." A lot of us hear this and say, "But women talked about tithing, that's the Old Testament, that's the law." And I will hear people push back from then and said, "The law is no longer applicable and you're absolutely right." But what's replaced it? Lawlessness? You see, the law is no longer the valid standard. When the Lord Jesus came, His major policy address occurred at the Sermon on the Mount, and in the Sermon on the Mount, to a crowd who understood and followed the law, who believed that the righteousness based on the law was all God expected.  Jesus came and said, "Let me clarify that. The law said "Don't murder your brother" but I'm saying to you that if you hate your brother, you're guilty of that statute of the law." Now the law said, "Don't be a murderer." Jesus said the new standard of grace says, "Don't even hate your brother." Does grace raised the bar or lower the bar? Raised. Jesus said, "Under the law, it said you cannot commit adultery. I'm saying to you, if you have thoughts in your mind that are impure with regard to another person, you're guilty under the same statute." Does grace raise the bar or lower the bar? Raised.

Friends, I get what Jesus never talked about tithing, Jesus' audience was Jews not Gentiles and the audience He addressed were so careful about their tithing that they would count the leaves on their plants in their garden and take the tenth leaf on each plant and devote it to God. He never told anybody to breathe either, but I'm thinking we probably should. You see, He was speaking to a tithing community, He didn't have to amplify that, they were already doing that, He was looking for more. Friends, don't play that the law is no longer in effect game, you lose. "I, the Lord, do not change and test me in this and see." I wonder, do you think God could pass your test?

Today marks the first Sunday of the last quarter of 2012. We live in quarters, right? This is the fourth quarter of the year. October, November, December are the months before we wrap up this year. It's interesting! The latest statistics in American Christianity are available from 2010. Here are the latest stats. Here's the question. How many Americans tithe? The answer, 2% of Catholics, 7% of mainline denominations, 11% of Charismatics and Pentecostals, 24% of Evangelicals. Now in the great categorization of church life, we are a church of evangelicals. Now part of us says, "Wow, look at that, we're winning against the other guys!" May I remind you that 24% tithing means that we've got 76% who are losers because God said that to withhold what we know He expects places us outside the territory of His blessing. Has His great series on marriage been a value to you so far? Have you found yourself putting into practice some of the principles that you've walked out of here with that you didn't have when you walked in? Has it begin immediately to make an impact in the way you're experiencing life? I trust it has.

Here's the question I'm going to be asking you this morning with your partners, if you're married, your spouse and God. If you're not married today, you still have a partner, He is in heaven. I wonder, is today a day that you can walk out for the principle into practice with your partner or partners because of today? Here's the question for you. Would you be willing to put God to the test in the fourth quarter of 2012? Now do you do that to commit today and say, "God, here's your 90-day challenge. I'm going to commit 10% of the gross that you bring into my life between now and the end of the year, the tithe. God, I'm going to see what happens if I do it your way." This is an amazing experience when it becomes personal because you've already been through hopelessness and surrender and confidence. In this area of your life has faithfulness come to live in your life experience with God. Let me say to you, you don't experience God's blessing in your salvation, you experience His grace. Grace is not earned, blessing is. God gives it without expectation when it's salvation but in the life of the believer, the blessing of God presumes the obedience of the child of God. If you're not faithful to God, you're separated from Him according to His word, and He says, "Return to me and I'll return to you." If God's present, He's blessing. If He isn't, you're living under the curse. You may just not use that terminology. Can He be trusted?

Martin Luther said there are three conversions necessary and it hasn't changed in 500 years. Luther said, "First, you have to convert your mind. You have to believe the right thing, then you have to convert the heart. You have to give up something." And then he said, "The third and sometimes most difficult conversion is the conversion of the purse." I'm so delighted that this is a church that believes that the conversion moments are worthy of celebration. Ain't it fun when someone hears the gospel and decides that it's time to trade in the ticket that they bought with their works, that the coach ticket to hell, they bring it and they trade it for that first class ticket to heaven, but by the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus? Is that a good trade? Trading your coach ticket for the first class ticket? Is that a good thing? I'm so delighted when we do that. We don't say, "Bow your head, close your eyes, and nobody looking around. We don't want to see the people who are smart enough to join us on the trip to heaven." No, this is a church where we celebrate the inclusion of more people.

Look, this morning, I'll say how we're going to close. I want to pray for you, if you're willing to take God up on His challenge to test Him. Now there are two groups of people that I want to pray for. One, you may walk in the door this morning saying, "You've just confirmed in the last 40 minutes what I believed when I came. We've been giving at that level for years, God is faithful. We are examples of His blessing in our lives. Can't explain it but we celebrate it."

A second group that would be responding this morning were the group that says, "I wasn't tithing when I came in, but on the way out the door, I am for the next 90 days. I've tried everything else, I'll try this. And God says, "Nothing else you try will work as this can." Can you begin at the foundation level? Can you take God at His word? If you're willing this morning to say either, "I came in a tither and I'm going out just as committed" or this morning if you say, "I wasn't that when I came but I am for the next 90 days, we're going to see what God does." We're not going to ask you to come down front, but I'm going to ask you to stand up so I can pray for you. And I'm thankful if you're sitting down and just saying, "I'm not going to make that commitment this morning because Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, better not to make the vow than having made the vow to break it." So I respect your honesty if you don't stand. But I want to celebrate the people who are courageous enough to say, "I want to see what God can do." And I want to bless you as you do that and pray for you. Would you stand up and let me just see if you'd like the blessing of God in the next 90 days, tithing when you came or you're going to be tithing as you leave.

Thank you God as we pray this morning ending our time together. We are alive people speaking to alive God who is no less powerful on the 21st Century as you were 2,400 years ago. Father, we live preoccupied with money. We're constantly under the ownness of deficiency in a culture that is constrained and conflicted, and there's nothing enviable about our lives when we're in that condition, but thanks be to God who graciously offers us your blessing when we simply will do what you've asked us to do your way. Now God before you, were men and women, who are either examples of that lived out or are prepared to test you and see if you can be trusted. I know you can be. Sherry and I have known your blessing because we've simply taken you with your word and done it your way. I pray that experience for this people this morning, that in the next 90 days, things that they cannot explain will follow their obedience, and that you will be proven to be great and powerful and gracious and trustworthy in being who you claimed you would be in response to their obedience. Father, may their blessing trigger their generosity and may the envy of the people around them raise the desire to know about a God who cares, who wants to be a part of our lives day by day, moment by moment in the reality of this experience. I pray in the strong name of Jesus, amen.

Additional Messages in this Series

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6/10/2012
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No Man Is An Island
Genesis 2:18-22
Skip Heitzig
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Welcome to a new series! If you're presently not married, don't tune out! You may be someday and it will be worth the investment to listen and learn. If you are married, this will provide needed affirmation of your marriage vows. Let's make a deal—let's decide that it's not enough to just survive in our marriages; let's aim to thrive in them. To do that, we have to revisit God's original design and plan for this foundational relationship.
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6/17/2012
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The First Wedding
Genesis 2:23-25
Skip Heitzig
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Today we go back in time to the first wedding—the prototype. The Divine Architect had something specific in mind when He established marriage. Before the days of ancient polygamy, before the days of male chauvinism and neo-feminism, before the days of no-fault divorce and pre-nuptial agreements was the simplicity of God and His creation. There He brought a man and woman together. What did He want this relationship to be like?
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6/24/2012
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Trouble In Paradise
Genesis 3:1-20
Skip Heitzig
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One pundit said, "'And they lived happily ever after' is one of the most tragic sentences in literature. It's tragic because it tells a falsehood about life and has led countless generations of people to expect something from human existence that is not possible on this fragile, failing, imperfect earth." Even in Eden, Adam and Eve didn't live happily ever after. The fall of man into sin brought repercussions that are still felt today.
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7/1/2012
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Gender Wars
Genesis 1-3
Skip Heitzig
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"Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" reads a popular book title. The genders are different from each other; we were designed that way. Today we consider that design and how it became marred. This section of Scripture helps us understand the roots of chauvinism and feminism, both of which have added confusion to our culture. It also helps us understand the roles God gave to men and women, and how they work today.
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7/8/2012
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Friends with Benefits
Matthew 22:37-40
Nate Heitzig
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No matter how you view dating, finding the right mate can be tricky. What should you be looking for in a potential spouse? How can you know that this is God's best for you? Though the Bible is silent about dating per se, it says a lot about how we are to treat one another and what our priorities ought to be. These principles play a major factor in the success of dating relationships—and marriages. Let's open our Bibles to Matthew 22:37-40 for guidance in playing the sometimes challenging dating game.
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7/15/2012
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The Hardest Word in a Marriage
Ephesians 5:22-24
Skip Heitzig
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Some people would consider submission to be as bad as a four-letter word. But that’s because they don’t understand it. God’s plan is always the best plan. He designed your life to be one that is fulfilling and rewarding. Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). For that to happen, we must function within the guidelines of His will in the relational roles we occupy. Today we look at the basic role of a wife in a marriage relationship.
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7/22/2012
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The Storm-Proof Shelter of a Husband's Love
Ephesians 5:25-32
Skip Heitzig
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OK men, it's our turn today—God's blueprint for husbands is in view here. God's plan is for a man's love to become a strong shelter for his wife. The kind of love the Bible directs a husband to have is the kind that makes it easy for a woman to submit to. In fact, I believe the husband holds the key to a flourishing relationship by his initiating and cultivating love.
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7/29/2012
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Strength and Honor
Hebrews 13:4
Levi Lusko
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From crude advertising campaigns to raunchy entertainment, sex has been taken captive to a mindset of dishonor and shame. In truth, sex is a gift from God. He knows best how it can be fully enjoyed—within the marriage relationship. As we ponder the biblical principles of honor and integrity, we gain a deeper understanding of God's plan for purity before marriage and a vibrant sex life afterward.
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8/5/2012
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Homemaker or Homebreaker?
Titus 2;Proverbs 31
Skip Heitzig
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We are surrounded by hostile, home-shattering influences in our world today. The supportive elements of society no longer shade and protect us (like they once did). The Christian home must blossom in a field of weeds! Today I'd like to speak to wives in their role as homemakers (fightin' words for some). Let's take a twenty-first century look at a centuries-old struggle and why God honors the role of the homemaker.
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8/12/2012
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Needed: Real Men!
Joshua 24:1-15
Skip Heitzig
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The definition of what a real man is will vary from person to person, background to background, and ideology to ideology. But one thing is certain: A man who really is godly and really is a spiritual leader and really serves his family is RARE! Today we consider the aged leader of the ancient Hebrew nation, who was calling on the men of his generation to become real men. Joshua instructed those men to do three things.
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8/19/2012
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How to Have a Love Affair with Your Spouse - Part 1
Proverbs 5
Skip Heitzig
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Being intimate with someone involves more than just sex. Intimacy is a sense of caring and affection in which one can be totally vulnerable without the fear of being hurt or misunderstood. Intimacy is essential if a marriage is going to thrive. How about your marriage? Do these following three elements that foster intimacy exist in your marriage?
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8/26/2012
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How to Have a Love Affair with Your Spouse - Part 2
Proverbs 5:15-21; Song_of_Solomon 1:1-7:13
Skip Heitzig
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For a majority of married couples, the word enduring sums up their nuptial experience. But let me offer another word, the idea of which comes straight from Scripture itself: It’s the word enjoying. For those of you who merely endure your marriage, you could enjoy it. Using two of the writings of King Solomon, we will explore four areas that healthy married couples could and should be experiencing enjoyment in.
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9/2/2012
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Weeds of Unfaithfulness in the Garden of Love
Matthew 5:27-30
Skip Heitzig
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A wise sage once remarked, "Passion is like fire and water—they are good servants but bad masters!" Sexual passion is like that, and every married couple needs to tend the garden of their love very carefully. That means pulling out the weeds that could lead to unfaithful behavior. Many a marriage has been burned in the fire of adultery or flooded with inordinate passion. Let's consider how our marriages can stay "adultery proof."
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9/9/2012
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Faith Walkin' and Tongue Talkin'
James 3:1-12
Gino Geraci
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Who or what controls your speech? Like a mighty ship that is controlled by a small rudder, our tongues are a small member with great power. Our speech is being controlled either by the Lord or it is being controlled by our own anger, bitterness, and selfishness. When Jesus is in control, we do not have to fear what is going to leak out between our teeth. In our text this week, we learn to be wary that we don't offend with our tongue.
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9/30/2012
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Short Fuse for the Long Haul!
Ephesians 4:25-32
Skip Heitzig
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How can couples have a good fight? Let's face it, there are good fights and there are bad ones. And anger only complicates things. Since marriage is a "long haul" commitment and some people have a "short fuse," there are four principles you need to know in order to fight fair. Moreover, disagreements can actually strengthen your relationship. How?
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10/14/2012
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Have a New You by Friday
Dr. Kevin Leman
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Guest speaker Dr. Kevin Leman provides insights for making changes in our marriages and our families. How do we change our behavior? By deciding to act differently! Let’s give 100% of ourselves to God—He is worth nothing less.
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10/21/2012
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In Sickness and in Health
Job 1-2
Skip Heitzig
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Couples who marry begin their relationship with a verbal contract of wedding vows. They are happy and eager to repeat the familiar "for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health," but most fail to read the fine print of those negative possibilities. Today we will consider what happens in a marriage when health issues become the issue.
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10/28/2012
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The Most Important Job in the World
Ephesians 6:4
Skip Heitzig
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What job could possibly be more important to the world than a parent? A surgeon, lawyer, president, pastor, or economist? Nope! Think of a parent's influence: Every word and deed of a parent becomes a fiber woven into the character of a child that ultimately determines how that child fits into the fabric of society. But children can both unify a marriage relationship and challenge it. Let's pull some principles out of Ephesians 6:4 to see how to "Keep Calm" while raising kids.
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11/4/2012
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In-laws or Outlaws?
Genesis 28-31
Skip Heitzig
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When two people get married, they don't simply marry each other; they marry into an extended family consisting of mother-in-law, father-in-law, and perhaps even sister-in-law and brother-in-law. These in-laws come in all sizes and shapes, and all personalities, and there is the potential for these in-laws to become outlaws to the married couple. Today we explore that relationship and see pitfalls to avoid as well as practices to apply.
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11/11/2012
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The Unequal Yoke
2 Corinthians 6:11-18; 1 Peter 3:1-22
Skip Heitzig
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There is a hybrid relationship we haven’t talked out yet—the unequally yoked marriage: when one spouse is a believer while the other is an unbeliever. Such a relationship can occur for a whole number of reasons and can provide a whole host of challenges. But it can also be managed, and done so well: with grace and great success. Let’s consider this relationship today.
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11/18/2012
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Are You Building a House or a Home?
Psalm 127
Skip Heitzig
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John Henry Jowett wrote, “Anyone can build a house: We need the Lord for the creation of a home.” There’s a huge difference between the construction of these two: One is built with earthly materials and anxious thoughts; the other is the result of strong relationships. As we conclude our series today, consider how you’re planning for the future.
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There are 21 additional messages in this series.
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