Memory Verse for the Week: Ephesians 5:15-17 (ESV)

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Worship Folder | Fill-in Outline

Intro: To you, what defines the best elements of a marriage?

GOD’S MARVELOUS DESIGN
What is God’s design for marriage?

DEVASTATING SELF-INTEREST
How does self-interest ruin the beauty of what God has designed?

MARITAL BLISS … WITH JESUS
Why do we believe that only death and resurrection in Jesus can explain marital bliss, recover it, or fuel it?

YOU CAN PRAY WITH US ...

1. Worship the LORD for being our faithful and loving Husband! Praise Him, Father, Son and Holy Spirit for His heavenly love, that He has revealed Himself to us in the gospel as a loving Bridegroom.

2. How have you lived for your own self-interests? Confess your selfish pride and sin to Jesus, asking Him to cleanse you and secure you by His work on your behalf – His life, death and resurrection power. Who do you know that lives in the guilt and wreckage of their own will? Pray for them, asking the Lord to make known to them the hope of Jesus’ victory over everything wrong in us.

3. Give thanks to Jesus for His miraculous love to sinners like us. Thank Him for committing to us at our worst, and for beautifying us by His Grace to transform us “in splendor, without spot or wrinkle … that [we would] be holy and without blemish.”

4. Who are you closest to who is single and married? Pray for them, asking the Lord to win them to His way of loving: for those who are unmarried to remain chaste, for husbands to lead and love as Jesus does, and for wives to honor their husbands as Christ does His Father.

5. Pray for the men and women in our congregation that are unmarried and discontent. Ask the Holy Spirit to be their Comforter, and to bear His fruit of patience.

Looking Back

The Facilitator is a study tool designed to help you engage with the weekly sermon through the five elements we incorporate in our Community Groups; Get Acquainted & Sharing, Sermon Study, Mission, Worship and Prayer. This tool will be made available Monday morning to give us the opportunity to look back at what we heard on Sunday.