The Book of First Peter: Week 3

Well, just recently, my wife Lauren and I bought a

new house. Let me rephrase that. It's new to us,

but it was built over 60 years ago. And so

we love this new house, but it has some character.

You know what character is? It's code for problems. For example,

before we bought the house, we had the inspection and

all that, and there was an issue under the house.

The beam running across the width of the house and

the foundation had settled over the years, and there was

a little bit of a sag, a bend in the

middle of this beam that needed to be addressed. And

even on the main floor, you could kind of notice

that some of the floor sloped toward where that sag was.

And so before we could buy it, that needed to

be addressed and So contractors and professionals got in there

under the crawl space and they dug way down into

the ground and they poured these heavy concrete pads, these footers,

underneath the house. And then they installed these steel gates.

jacked supports. There are twice as many supports on this

beam than before. I mean, it is not going anywhere now.

I mean, it is solid. It is firm. It is strong.

It'll probably last longer than while I'm here. I say

all that because the title of today's message is called

Building a Godly Marriage that Stands Strong. It'll stand strong.

Now here at the very beginning, I want to recognize

I'm speaking directly to husbands and wives today, but I

acknowledge not everyone listening is married. There are some who

are single, some who are divorced, some who are widowed,

and not all of us are married. But here's what

I want to say. You might be single now, but

one day you may be married. This message is going

to help you. Or you may not be a spouse,

but you might be close friends with someone whose marriage

is struggling and you're a confidant, you're a support. This

message is going to help you be a Christian friend.

And I also want to point out, whenever we come

to God's word, when we read the scriptures, there is

always something for us in every scripture. There's application, there's

instruction in every scripture. Sometimes there is a specific principle involved.

And sometimes there is a general principle. And so today

as we read from 1 Peter chapter 3, there will

1 Peter 3 · chapter mention

be specific principles for husbands and wives, but there are

also general principles for all Christians. That's why if you

notice closely in verse 8, Peter concludes by saying, finally

to all of you, all Christians, men, women, all single, married,

all of you. So today we're going to see some

specific principles and we're going to see some general principles.

Lauren and I have been married more than 12 years.

And in that time, we've experienced all of life's highs

and lows together. We remember the honeymoon phase together where

everything was perfect, we thought, and we thought neither one

could do any wrong. And then, you know, things changed.

We've grieved together. We've moved away from family and friends together.

We faced health crisis together. We have hurt each other.

We have disagreed. We've been to marriage counseling together. We

are right now in the stage of life where we're

raising children and parenting together and trying to survive the

terrible twos and prepare for another one on the way together.

In all of life's ups and downs, we've been in

it together. And that's the message today. The main point,

the big idea today is stand together. The couple who

stands together will withstand whatever life throws your way. A

Christian couple who stands together will be able to endure life,

face life, and overcome challenges together. I believe that a

marriage that's built on the foundation of Jesus will stand

strong for a lifetime. And Jesus talks about marriage here

when he speaks in Matthew 19. He says, A man

will leave his father and mother and be united to

his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So

they no longer are two, but one flesh. Therefore what

God has joined, what? Together. Let no one separate. So

Jesus is explaining here that marriage is coming together. It's

two individuals who now become one. Together. Together. You see,

marriage is a covenant. It's not a contract. We enter

contracts all the time in business, contracts in our lives.

And the way a contract works is if one of

the parties doesn't hold up their end of the deal

or if they don't meet the expectation, then you can

break the contract, dissolve it, get your money back or

whatever and move on. But a covenant, especially the covenant

of marriage, is different. It is a lifelong commitment to honor,

to serve, to Submit to defer to one another even

in weakness, even in shortcoming, even when expectations aren't fully met.

It's a lifelong commitment. And Jesus says here, it's a

man and a woman who come together in that covenant.

I believe that the greatest threat to Christian marriage is

isolation and separation. This is the greatest threat to Christian

marriage is isolation and separation. Because the enemy, the devil,

would love to isolate Christian couples, would love to separate

Christian couples. Just imagine a married couple who, they wake

up each morning and then they rush to get ready

and they leave the house separately. They drive to separate jobs.

They work separate careers. They have whole separate circles of friends.

They eat meals at separate times and separate places. And

at the end of the day, they're back in the

house and the husband, he goes to the garage or

the basement and The wife goes to a hobby or

TV or whatever, and they're separate. Now, physically, they're under

the same roof, but emotionally, they're separated. Sure, their names

might both be on the lease or the mortgage, but

they are spiritually separated, isolated, and that's where the devil

sees vulnerability. That's where the devil can attack. That's where

the devil wants. He wants to divide Christian couples. I

came across a story recently about A couple that was divided.

The husband and wife were divided over an ethical issue.

Because one day the husband came home after stealing a

can of peaches. And the wife was abhorred that he

stole a can of peaches. But he would not return

the peaches or turn himself in. So the wife went

to the police and she turned him in herself. And

later the judge heard the court case. And the judge

asked how many peaches were in the cans. And the

wife said there were six peaches. And the judge says,

I sentenced the husband to six days in jail, one

day for every peach. And the wife raised her hand

and she said, he also stole a can of peas.

That's a really cheesy joke. 1 Peter 5 verse 8 says,

1 Peter 5:8

be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil

prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

The devil is looking to devour marriages, to divide marriages.

If you see National Geographic, who does the lion attack?

Does the lion go after the whole group? No, the

lion looks for the one that's alone, the one that's

alone or that's by itself, that's vulnerable. And that's what

the devil will do in a marriage. If he can

get couples isolated, divided, and separated, that's where the marriage

is under threat. And so Peter writes, The devil prowls

around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Resist him doing what? Standing firm in faith. That's today's message.

Stand together. Stand together in the faith. Stand together united

in Christ. Stand together on God's word, under his authority.

Stand together because the couple who stands together will withstand

whatever life throws your way. Whatever devastation comes, you will withstand.

You will withstand a health crisis, a health diagnosis. You

will withstand a financial downturn, a job loss. You will

withstand whatever life brings your way because you're standing together

in the faith. So with all that in mind, now

let's turn to 1 Peter chapter 3. And we're going

1 Peter 3 · chapter mention

to read verses 1 through 8. It's a little bit

of a lengthy passage. But I want us to read

the whole passage at once together. So that we have

the full context of what Peter is saying in these

eight verses. But I think we can do it. So

turn to your neighbor and say, we can do it.

We can do it. These next eight verses. We're going

to start in verse one. We read, Wives, in the

same way, submit yourselves to your own husbands, so that

if any of them do not believe the word, they

may be won over without words by the behavior of

their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of

your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornments

such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry

or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your

inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit,

which is of great worth in God's sight. Then here

in verse 5, Peter gives an illustration, a metaphor from

Israel history. For this is the way the holy women

of the past who put their hope in God used

to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands.

like Sarah who obeyed Abraham and called him her Lord.

You are her daughter if you do what is right

and do not give way to fear. Now in verse 7,

Peter addresses husbands. Husbands, in the same way be considerate

as you live with your wives. Treat them with the

respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you

of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will

hinder your prayers. And then in verse 8, he addresses

all people. Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic,

love one another, be compassionate and humble. So now what

I'd like to do, we've read this full passage in

this context. The rest of our time today, we're going

to go one verse at a time, line by line,

to understand what Peter is saying. And the first thing

I want to warn you, there are some common mistakes

with 1 Peter 3. Don't make these mistakes. One mistake

would be to disregard 1 Peter 3, to ignore it,

to dismiss it, to say, oh, that's outdated, you know,

that doesn't really apply today. That would be a mistake.

Another mistake would be to weaponize these words, to weaponize

this passage. An ignorant husband will use the word of

God to misuse, to manipulate and coerce his wife or

a woman into something that is inappropriate. And you don't

have to go very far to see wicked people manipulating

God's word for selfish, sinful gain. Have you seen that

new Netflix show? The one that's called Death of a

Pastor's Wife? It's a terrible, terrible story. And I'm not

recommending the show. I'm not endorsing it. But I know

many of you have already seen it anyways. But it's

just a tragic story of a young woman who took

her own life. And it goes into this whole back

story of how her husband used God's word and faith

to manipulate, to gaslight her, to abuse her. It's just

a tragic, tragic story. Wicked people will manipulate God's word

for wrong. In 1 Peter chapter 3, in no way...

1 Peter 3 · chapter mention

is advocating that we tolerate abuse or violence or harm.

That is incompatible with Christian living. I mean, just look

at what Peter says. All of you be sympathetic, love

one another, be compassionate, humble. And so any spouse or

any person that finds themselves in an abusive relationship must

seek help from the appropriate authorities. I want us to

return to verse 1. We're going to go each verse

at a time. Verse 1 says, wives, in the same way,

submit yourselves to your own husbands. Okay, let's talk about

this word submit. It's a complex word. And when we

come to a complex part of Scripture, we want to

see what the full counsel of God's Word has to

say about this topic. We want to see the whole

counsel of God's Word because Scripture interprets Scripture. So in

order to understand Scripture, 1 Peter 3 verse 1, we're

1 Peter 3:1

going to look at a similar passage in Ephesians chapter 5.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

Notice how similar Ephesians 5 sounds. Ephesians 5 says, I

want to talk about this verse and these words. These

words were originally written in the first century in the

ancient Greek language. And I want you to notice that

in Greek, this verb submit does not appear here. in

the Greek manuscript. In fact, if you were to translate

word for word from Greek to English, it might look

something like this, wives to your own husbands as to

the Lord. Now you might be wondering, well, if it

wasn't there in Greek, then why is it there in English?

Great question. Because as we know, when we learn an

English class, in order to have a full sentence in English,

you need to have a verb. You need to have

a subject, a verb, a noun, all that working together

for proper grammar. However, In ancient Greek, you could have

a complete sentence without a verb. It was completely acceptable

because often the verb might be implied or the verb

might be borrowed from a previous line or previous sentence.

And so the English translators get to this line in

the text that says, wives, to your own husbands, and

they know to translate it into English, they need a

verb so it makes sense in English. So where do

they get a verb? Well, they do what proper scholarship

would do. They borrow the verb from the previous line.

And here's what we read in verse 21, the previous line.

Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. So

then they borrowed this verb submitting, which is completely appropriate. Wives,

submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. So

here's the point. You cannot disconnect verse 22 from verse 21.

They are connected in theology and they're connected in grammar.

And so the point of this message is submit to

one another. Husbands, submit to your wives. Wives, submit to

your husbands. Good theology does not start with wives, submit

to your husbands. Good theology starts with submit to one

another out of reverence for Christ. Because a godly marriage

is submitted to God. A godly marriage is submitted to God.

A godly person is submitted to God. Both husbands and

wives submitting to God, submitting their marriage to God and

his word. This word submit is a Greek word that

means to come under God. It means to be under,

to come under the covering, to come under the authority.

And it makes me think about an umbrella. When you're

in a rainstorm, you come under the umbrella for safety

and protection. When you're under the umbrella, it covers you

from the rain, covers you, keeps you dry. Similarly, a

marriage that is submitted to God comes under God's word,

comes under God's authority, comes under his protection. And let

me ask you, When you're under the umbrella, does the

umbrella stop the rain? Does it stop the storm? No,

but it protects you. When your marriage is under the

authority and the covering of God, you will be protected.

Because you're going to face storms. Your marriage is going

to face devastating storms, tragic storms, difficult storms. But when

you are submitted to God and his word as husband

and wife, you're going to be protected during those storms.

And here's something I've learned as a husband myself. it's

my responsibility to hold the umbrella. It's my responsibility to

come under the authority of Christ. It's my responsibility to

hold the umbrella over my marriage, over my family, to

bring my wife under the covering of Jesus. Because when

we're under his authority, when we're submitted, we're protected. A

husband and wife that are submitted to one another, submitted

to Christ, can stand together. And that's why what we

read at the very end Of this passage, Peter says

in verse 8, Finally, all of you be like-minded, be sympathetic,

love one another, be compassionate and humble. This passage ends

by saying all of you, all Christians, submit to God. Singles,

married men, women, submit to God. Submit in unity, submit

in humility. Come under the covering of God. Let's continue

in our text, moving on to verse 2. Wives, submit

yourselves to your own husbands so that if any of

them do not believe the word, they may be won

over without words by the behavior of their wives when

they see the purity and reverence of your lives. We

need to remember the context that Peter is writing in

the first century to Christians, brand new Christians. And many

of these Christians, new converts, were women themselves. Many times

the woman, the wife, came to faith before her husband.

And the same is true today. Churches across the country

and around the world are filled with believing godly women

whose husbands are slower to come to faith. And so

Peter is encouraging these Christian wives to be a witness

for Christ. Because there's this tension. So a woman in

the first century comes to faith in Jesus and is

following Jesus, participating in the church, being a disciple of Jesus.

But her husband is back home and maybe he still

believes in pagan Roman gods or maybe he's an atheist.

And there's this tension. Should she leave him because she's

a Christian? Should she divorce him because she's a Christian?

And what Peter is saying, like, hey, remain faithful. Remain

as a witness for the sake of the gospel. Serve, love,

show compassion for the sake of the gospel that your behavior,

your attitude may win him over to Christ. Because a

godly spouse is a witness for Christ. And I want

to say if your heart is heavy today because you

are a Christian and you're married to someone who is

not a Christian, I want to encourage you, continue to pray.

Continue to be a witness, continue to love, continue to serve,

continue to invite, continue to live out your faith because

your faith, your life is a witness for Christ. Augustine

was an early church father in the 5th century. He's

a famous Christian, wrote apologetics for Christianity, a real pillar

in the faith. And Augustine's mother was a devout believer,

a faithful believer in Jesus. But Augustine's father was not

a Christian. And Augustine writes that his father was an

angry man. He had a short temper. He'd often go

into rages of anger. He was a really difficult person.

And yet his mother was faithful to witness to him.

And here's what Augustine writes about his mother in his book,

The Confessions. He says, She tried to win him to you, Jesus,

preaching you to him by the beauty of character which

you had given her, which made her able to provoke

love and respect and admiration of her husband. She showed

herself whenever she could, very much a peacemaker. Finally, toward

the very end of his earthly life, she won her

husband over to you. And now that he was a believer,

she no longer lamented in him the things which she

had put up within him before he was accomplished. A

godly spouse is a witness for Christ. Do not grow

weary praying for your loved one. Do not give up

hope that they will come to faith in Jesus. And

this is a principle for all Christians. There's a general

principle here that we can apply to all of our relationships.

You've got a roommate who's not a Christian. Your attitude,

your behavior is a witness for Christ. You've got a

boss who's not a believer. Your work ethic, your obedience

is a witness for Christ. Your words are a witness

for Christ. When a coworker hurts you, your forgiveness is

a witness for Christ. The way you treat your customers

or your clients, how you take care of your patients,

that's a witness for Christ. So you can see how

this is a principle for all relationships, serving. In fact,

Peter says in chapter 2, Christ suffered for you, leaving

you an example that you should follow in his steps.

He committed no sin. When they hurled insults at him,

he didn't retaliate. When he suffered, he made no threats.

This is for all of us to show humility and

kindness in all our relationships. Let's keep reading in verse 3.

It says, Now, there's a very practical application in these words. Ladies,

if you want to obey this scripture, feel free to

donate your jewelry in the offering bucket later on today.

I'm kidding. But what is the point here? I mean,

should we stop going to the barber? Should we stop

going to the hairstylist? Should we dress in rags? Should

we give up dry cleaning? Like, what's the point? Here's

the point. Godly character is more valuable than outward appearance.

Godly character is more valuable. There are too many people

in our culture worried about what this looks like. There's

too many Christians, people coming to church, that are worried

about what this looks like and who at church is

looking at this. Godly character is more valuable. One of

the reasons that I love Lauren is her character. And

I got to know Lauren's character even before we were

dating and before we were married. I got to see

her character. When she was a senior in high school,

she loved the Lord, and she was passionate about reaching

her friends for Christ. She would bring her friends to church.

She would disciple her friends. In college, she volunteered with

the youth ministry, and she would drive long distances to

pick kids up and bring them to church. One of

the groups that she served with was a really rough

group of kids, came from a rough background, and it

was often that Lauren would have to get in the

middle of fights and break up fights. I mean, there

was one where there was somebody holding a rock and

threatening another kid, and Lauren got right in the middle

of it all. She risked her own safety because she's

got that character. When she was in college, she served

for a summer with a homeless ministry on the street,

serving and loving the least of these, those who are forgotten.

She spent a week at a prison facility helping serve

those who were incarcerated. Man, she's got character, godly character.

Spouses that have godly character will stand strong. And I

know that there are some of you who are not married.

You might be dating or you might be searching to

find a husband or find a wife, to find a spouse.

Look at their character. Study their character. What's their character like?

Do they love Jesus? Do they obey Jesus? Look at

their character. Notice how do they treat people? Are they kind?

Are they compassionate? Are they patient with people? Look at

their character. How do they make decisions? Do they make

decisions selfishly? Do they make decisions greedily? Do they make

decisions out of humility? And I'm not saying you need

to find a perfect person. What I'm saying is look

at when they sin, do they repent? Do they confess

they're wrong when they've hurt someone? Do they ask for forgiveness?

Look at their character. Man, there are so many Christians

who are not concerned about character, and they compromise, and

they say, well, you know.

He believes in God, but man, he's got a great beard. Or, man,

she's beautiful, and she says she was kind of raised

in church, but she's so beautiful.

No, character. Date for character. Marry for character. Character. Godly

character is more valuable. And a couple that's built on

character will stand strong for a lifetime. Let's keep reading

in our text, moving on to verse 7. This is

where Peter addresses husbands. He says, Likewise, husbands, live with

your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the

woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with

you of the grace of life, so that your prayers

may not be hindered. Last week, I was working on

some house projects and some small home repairs, and a

friend of mine was with me, helping me, and I

told him that I was studying this passage, you know, husbands,

honor your wives, so that your prayers would not be hindered.

Later that day, we went to the hardware store to

pick up some flooring, because Lauren had picked out new

flooring for the baby rooms. And when I got to

the hardware store, I discovered that the flooring Lauren picked

out was the most expensive flooring in the hardware store.

The most expensive. I mean, 40 or 50% more per

square foot. Now, I'm the type of person that I

don't want to spend money if I don't have to.

And so there I was in the hardware store with

Lauren's expensive flooring, trying to color match it to a

less expensive flooring. And that's when my friend said, Andrew,

You have to buy the flooring that Lauren picked or

God will not answer your prayers. Now that's a little tongue-in-cheek,

but the point is, godly spouses honor each other. Godly

spouses honor each other. That means we defer to each other.

That means that we serve each other, that we sacrifice

for each other. Men, it means we buy the flooring

she picks. Godly spouses honor each other. When Lauren and

I first got married, we had to learn a lot

about each other. Notice our text says, husbands, understand your wives.

Live in an understanding way. Know who she is. Know her.

When Lauren and I first got married, we had to

learn a lot about each other. We had to learn

that I'm an extrovert personality. Lauren is an introvert personality.

I had to learn I'm an external processor. She's an

internal private processor. These things about one another. I remember

early on, newlyweds one day after work I decided to

go out with some friends after work and so I

thought I would do the appropriate responsible thing and call

Lauren and tell her about my plans I did not

ask for her input I just informed her I found

out later that while we were on the phone Lauren

was in the middle of making dinner for the two

of us at home and so when I got back

home I learned something about honoring your spouse and I

haven't made that mistake since Spouses who honor each other

will stand together. Let's keep reading verse 7. Live with

your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the

woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with

you of the grace of life. A couple of things

to note here. Men and women are distinct and different

and they are equally valuable to God. You see, this phrase,

heirs with you, is one word in Greek. It's a

word that means co-heir, fellow heir, joint heir. So men

and women are both heirs of eternal life, both inheriting

the forgiveness and the eternal life in Christ. Men and

women are both equally valuable and uniquely different. It says

here that the woman is the weaker vessel. Do not

confuse weaker with less. There are many things that are fragile, delicate,

that are extremely valuable, extremely expensive. It says the weaker vessel.

I brought along with me two vessels that can help

us demonstrate what Peter is saying. This first vessel is

my coffee cup. This is made out of stainless steel.

You can bang this thing around. It's got scratches. It's

got dents. It's got some grime because I don't really

wash it. I mean, it is tough. It's durable. You

can drop it. You can do whatever. It's that type

of vessel. I have another type of vessel here that

I want to show you. And it's completely different. This

one is a crystal glass. And I like this one

a lot because it spins on the coaster. This vessel

is way different from this vessel. This vessel is more delicate,

more fragile. This vessel is more beautiful, more elegant. This

vessel requires a certain level of care that maybe this

one doesn't. And Peter is writing and saying, husbands, honor

your wives. Care for your wives. Protect your wives. Value

her because she is valuable to God. I think somebody

here needs to know that the woman you're married to

is not your wife first. She is God's daughter first,

and he's trusted us with her. When Lauren and I

were dating, there was another guy who had feelings for Lauren,

and he made his feelings known to Lauren he sent

her a note and he was leaving town and he

asked if he could see her one last time before

he left town this made Lauren feel really uncomfortable really

awkward it made me feel indignant and so I gave

the guy a phone call and I tell you where

he was going out of town Oh, well, he had

just finished boot camp and he was headed out on

deployment with the military. So I'm calling this guy who

probably knows and is trained to kill people in more

than one different way. And I just humbly and kindly,

I said, hey, Lauren's with me and you're making her

feel uncomfortable. Please do not contact her. And he complied. Husbands,

we've got to look out for our wives. We've got

to protect our wives. That's just not physical either. It's

also emotional. It's being careful in the words that we choose.

Your words to your wife can either drain her or

fill her. How you care for her, how you honor her,

how you serve her is a part of valuing her

and loving her. The last part of our text says this.

Honor the woman as the weaker vessel since they are

heirs with you of the grace of life so that

your prayers may not be hindered. Here's what I love

about this passage. Peter is making an assumption that husbands

are praying men. Because godly men are praying men. Of course,

women are praying women and godly wives are praying wives.

But I'm talking here specifically, Peter's calling out men. He's

telling men, pray for your wives. Pray for your families.

And you know, there's a difference between praying about someone

and praying for someone. Man, I've prayed the prayers about someone.

God fixed them. God change them. God remove whatever's going on.

God fix this. Praying about them. Man, when you pray

for someone, you're praying for their blessing, for their prosperity,

for their success, for God's favor in your life. You're

praying for them. And I've learned as a husband. One

of my greatest privileges and responsibilities is to pray for

my wife, to pray for my family, because there are

some things that only I know about her that I

only can intercede for her. Are you a praying spouse?

Because a spouse that prays together will stand together. Of

course men and women should pray, but God calls husbands

to be godly men of prayer. You know, one of

the greatest men of prayer was Joseph. Remember Joseph? Joseph

was engaged to be Mary's husband, and then their whole

lives got turned upside down when an angel visited Mary

and told her that she'd be pregnant with the Son

of God, and she became pregnant with Jesus. And Joseph, man,

he wanted nothing to do with that drama, and so

he planned to end the relationship. But then what happened?

An angel visited Joseph in a dream and told him

who Jesus was and told him to be Mary's husband

and to raise the boy, and that's what Joseph did.

And then when Jesus was born again, Joseph received another

message from God warning him that King Herod wanted to

kill the baby. And so Joseph packed up his family

and took them to Egypt for safety. And while they

were in Egypt, what happened next? After some time, Joseph

received another message from God that it was safe to

go back to Israel and raise Jesus in Nazareth. You see,

here's this man who had a direct line of communication

with God. God was sending him direct messages because Joseph

was a man of prayer. The Bible calls him a

righteous man. He had trained himself to hear and recognize

God's voice, to obey God's voice, to lead his family

because he was a man of prayer. Are you a

praying spouse? Godly men are praying men. And a husband

and a wife who prays together will stand strong together.

That's why I think it's appropriate that we end our

time with some time in prayer. To pray for our

families and our relationships. I just want to invite you

to bow your head with me. And in this prayer time,

there are three invitations. The first invitation is for married people.

If you are a husband or a wife, during this time,

pray for your marriage. Pray for your spouse. Open your

soul to hear from God about your marriage. And the

second invitation is for those who are not married. I

invite you to pray for a significant relationship in your life.

Significant other. a family member, a parent, a child. But

pray for that person. Pray for that relationship. And I

said there were three invitations today. The third invitation is

for anyone who is listening and you are married to

a Christian... but you are not a Christian yourself. Today

is your invitation to make that decision, to put your

faith and trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

The message of Jesus is very simple. You are a sinner.

And because of your sin, you deserve to spend eternity

in hell. But God in his infinite love sent his

son Jesus to pay the price for your sin so

that you can be forgiven and you can have eternal

life It's a free gift if you only put your

faith in Jesus. And if I'm speaking to you today

and you want to make that decision, then I invite

you to respond simply by repeating this prayer right where

you are. Say, dear God, I admit that I'm a

sinner and I need your forgiveness. I believe Jesus died

on the cross for me and rose from the dead

to save me. Today I confess Jesus is Lord of

my life. Now fill me with your Holy Spirit. I'm

gonna provide a few more moments as we continue in

prayer and then I'll close us. Father God, I want

to pray for all of the marriages and all of

the relationships that are represented here, God. First, I want

to pray for the marriages that are struggling, the ones

that are just kind of on the last leg. Pulling

on by a string. God, would you bring renewal? Would

you bring reconciliation? God, for the marriage where there's broken trust,

where there's some resentment. God, would you dissolve that? Would

you bring forgiveness? Would you bring reconciliation? God, for the

marriages that are grieving. God, for the couple who is

grieving in isolation, maybe they've gone through something together, but

the husband's grieving in one way, the wife's grieving, and

they don't talk about it. God, would you break down

those walls so that they would grieve together, so that

they could heal together? Yes, God, I believe that there

is a couple that needs to embark on some healing together, God.

Would you bring that healing? God, I want to pray for... God,

I want to pray for... our widows and widowers who've

lost a loved one. God, would you bring them comfort,

fill them with hope, hope that we have an eternal

life in you, that your presence is constant even in

the loss. Father God, for all of our families, all

of our marriages, God, would you help us to submit

to you, to obey you, God, may our marriages be

an example to those around us of what it's like

when two sinful people come under the authority of Jesus

who love one another, who walk in humility. God, may

our marriages be a witness for Christ. May we be

a light in a dark world for the love and

the hope that we have found in Jesus. And most

of all, God, I pray for our families that you

would protect our homes from the enemy, that you would

protect our children from the attack of the devil, but

that you would cover the families of Church of the

Crossing with more of your grace and and more of

your power. We pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen.