Ephesians Week 10

Welcome to the North Iron Church Podcast.

Our mission is to take the gospel from the upper peninsula to the ends of the earth.

We pray this message will inspire and encourage you in your faith journey.

Enjoy our Ephesians series where we break down Paul's letter to Ephesus.

Good morning, everyone.

Grab your Bibles.

We're at the end of Ephesians.

We have been in Ephesians for the last 10 weeks.

And I hope that the Lord has spoken to you a very important book in your life as a believer in Jesus.

Maybe you're a new believer in Jesus.

This is primarily this letter written from Paul to the Ephesians church that has just gone through this incredible transformation.

What it looks like to be a child of God, what are the practices of following Jesus?

We've been walking through all those foundational things for you.

And um we're we're gonna dive into chapter 5, verse 22 in just a moment.

Very important subject, uh, relationships.

And so if you need a Bible, raise your hand.

We have a great Bible for you.

It's free to you.

You can take it home, you can leave it in your seat, you can give it to a friend.

We give thousands of these away because we believe God's called us to do that.

One of the most important things you can have in your hand is a Bible, and I always encourage you to bring a physical Bible, not a digital Bible.

And I think it's important, especially when we live in the day of the digital world.

And I love that aspect.

I love that I can look at God's word anywhere as I have my phone, but I think it's also important for you to have a physical Bible.

Uh Pastor Matt talked about all the changes we're about to walk into in the next couple of months.

This is important for us.

I just want you to know that we don't take uh change lightly.

We we understand that people in general don't like change, but you need to understand that if North Iron ever changes anything, it's because we serve and love and lead people to the good news of Jesus.

We want to reach more people.

This is one of our high callings, is we want to advance the kingdom of God in places in rural places or places there are people uh because they're worth it.

That's one of the the loves of the love of Jesus is lost people, and so we're active in that, and so this is why we're we're changing what we our times is that we just want to facilitate more people into the good news of the gospel.

I oftentimes say it this way that the method of us preaching the gospel or the the method of method of bringing people to the gospel will change.

How we do that will change, but listen, it's my promise to you that the gospel that we preach from this stage will never ever change.

And that's important for us because the world's trying to change uh what's going on within the church today.

It's the the last stronghold of a godly truth, the truth that is literally the foundation of this world, the last stronghold is the church, and yet Satan has wiggled his way, advanced his way inside the church, and is is preaching a demonic gospel, if you will.

So we have to stand firm in this incredible fight that we're on the front lines with.

And that's what we talked about last week at the beginning of chapter five.

We're about to move into chapter six uh this morning, and then we'll next week we'll talk about spiritual warfare in the middle of chapter six.

But you need to understand chapter five was really about this fight you're in.

That if you want spiritual growth in your life, you have to be focused.

You can't just skate your way into discipleship.

You can't sit back on your haunches and just kind of skate your way into an understanding of God because there's such spiritual, real spiritual forces against you trying to stop the advancement of God's word in your life, to stop the advancement of the discipleship of Jesus transforming you in your life, and ultimately the physical advancement of his church here on earth.

We're feeling that even as we're trying to move into Marquette.

There are things opposing us actually stopping.

You're probably wondering, you know, kind of what's going on.

Pastor Mark seems like he's getting up and saying, hey, it's about time, it's about time, it's a lot about time.

And and ultimately, the reason that is, is we're we're coming up against spiritual forces, physical forces that are stopping us from actually preaching God's word in Marquette Township.

We need to pray about that.

And yet we know because of tenacity, because we are called to this, that we are going to be in the Marquette campus, and that's that that that is going to happen because it is Jesus' goal and purpose for that to happen.

Nothing can stand.

The gates of hell are gonna have to back their hind end up a little bit.

Go hang out in Scandia, but Marquette's mine for a time.

I'm sorry.

Fear in Scandia, I didn't mean that.

I couldn't think of any place where no one lives.

Anyway.

But last week we talked about this.

The Christian life's a battle.

It's a battle.

And you need to be focused on that.

And so, what's interesting in that spiritual growth that you have to be focused on, there's another aspect, another thing that the Lord uses for spiritual growth in your life, something honestly you can't get away from, which is really kind of fascinating that God has chosen relationships to be used in our lives to grow you spiritually.

Some of you are like, oh yeah, I don't like this kind of talk.

And and yet you hear me say it all the time.

Listen, you need to understand that God is a relationship.

You can't separate your you can't separate yourself from relationship because God is relationship.

Like the foundation of all that's here on earth is in relationship.

When God created it, he created it and said, This is good.

This is good.

God is in continual relationship with the with the Trinity.

We see this again and again and again.

You'll hear it even here as I say that life change happens in the context of relationship.

And you can try to separate yourself.

You can move out to Republic.

Come in once a month for groceries at gyms, or move out to Scane E.

Come into Baraga and Lance every once in a while, hoping no one, you're not gonna see any humans.

But listen, nothing spiritual is happening in your life that doesn't happen in the context of community and relationship.

That's what the church is all about, everyone.

So he uses it.

We'll see that here.

Now, before we we dive into three relationships marriage, children, and work, we're going to just look at some foundational things that are kind of underlining the foundation of relationships in our life.

We've talked about these a little bit, but I want to uh want to visit them again.

Check this out.

God's purpose for us is Christ-likeness.

That's his goal for you.

That first it comes to us like salvation, that God draws you to himself.

Then Jesus comes in, his son, and accomplishes that by taking the barrier out of your life between you and God the Father by the blood that he spills on the cross for the forgiveness of your sin, your sin, your disobedience, your rebellion was ultimately a barrier between you and God.

God hated that, he despised it, he made you for community and relationship with him, but because of our disobedience, he had that that separates us from God the Father, so he loves you to such a degree that he sends his son to the cross so that can disappear.

That barrier is gone.

Because you have received the righteousness of Christ, and then the Holy Spirit comes in and transforms our lives.

The primary purpose of salvation was to make us into a people that would bring him glory, that would transform us into the children and the daughter of the sons and daughters of light.

Where we would start to act like God, where we would start to think like God, that we would start to believe like God, that we would walk like God.

I don't know how God walks.

Probably like that's not, no, probably more like a Finlander.

I'm not sure.

Someone saw me far off yesterday and told me I walk like a Brook.

I don't even know what that means.

I don't know what I'm talking about right now.

But there's a big word for that.

That I would love the things that God loves and reject the things that God rejects.

That's what it's like to be godlike or godly.

Some people don't like that word.

Godly just means I want to be like my dad.

I want to be like my father, father God.

And so that transformation, that discipleship process is his purpose in our life, and that brings glory to him.

We call that the big theological world word.

We call that sanctification, everyone.

That just means that you're God-like, or you're being made into God, or his attributes.

Not God, but the attributes of God.

That's his purpose in your life to make you Christ-like.

And secondly, God is sovereign.

Everything, that by the way, that's another big word.

That means he's in control of everything.

He's sovereign.

And so the things that you experience in your life, may you choose those things.

Like it's not sovereign that you would go out and sin, but he'll take the consequences of that choice in your life, the consequences of that sin, that pain, that death that's coming towards you.

He'll take that and he'll turn it to something good to change who you are.

He is sovereign.

And he uses all things.

We see this in first uh first uh uh Ephesians chapter 111.

God works all things according to the counsel, or all things according to the will, or all things according to the purpose of his will in your life.

He takes you and he puts you on the anvil, and he heats you up, and he pounds you, he molds you.

People ask me all the time, why do you got an anvil on the front of your church?

Baby, that's the process.

That's discipleship, that's molding who you are, returning you back to your beginning purpose and the way he created you.

That takes a heat, almost a heat process.

He puts you in the fire, everyone.

But you're gonna come out beautiful.

He's gonna do a workmanship in you, and really that's what we're we're talking about.

This kind of work, this black myth shop that he puts you in, called discipleship, and he uses relationships to make that come about in your life.

Write this down.

God uses our relationships to teach us about himself and make us like himself.

So let's talk about the first one.

Let's talk about marriage.

Woo! I can tell you're all excited.

God's got a plan for marriage.

Doesn't mean we always follow the plan, but he has a plan, and you need to understand the plan.

Now, this morning, unfortunately, I'm not gonna be able to dive super deep into God's plan for marriage or relationships, but every single year I spend a good amount of time teaching about God's relationships that He's created in your life and how we should deal and how we should look and how we should believe about them.

You'll find those series in uh in our in our app.

Uh even this year was called Red Flags and then 2025, more is Caught Than Taught, really dealing with the family.

Uh 2024, true love.

There's some very important stuff for you to go back and watch and kind of dive deep in that.

But let me at least refocus us on the importance of relationships teaching us about God and how we should function within those.

And these are important.

So let's uh let's start in Ephesians chapter 5, verse 22.

Ephesians 5:22

Very famous book, uh, very famous verse.

This is where everyone gets up and leaves my church.

Here we are.

I'm messing with you.

Husbands, love your wife as Christ loved the church and gave him up for her.

Can we go to verse 22?

It's the one prior to this.

Thank you.

There we are.

Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body and is himself its savior.

Now, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

Here's a verse for the husband.

Husbands, love your wives as Christ has loved the church and gave him up for her.

In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.

He who loves his wife loves himself.

For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourished and cherished it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.

Therefore, it says, a man shall leave his father and mother.

By the way, uh Paul is quoting Genesis here.

Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

This mystery, and really, this is what Ephesians is about the mysteries of God.

How he acts, what he does.

Even if we don't understand all of it, it's a mystery to us.

This mystery is profound, and I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

So let me give you three things that I think are really important here that we find that we need to understand when it comes to marriage.

The first one is this in the delights of marriage, we get a taste of the beauty of God.

That there are earthly joys, there are earthly delights, there are things that we experience here on earth that simply are.

C.S.

Lewis would say it this way.

He would say, marriage, he says this in letters to Malcolm.

He says, marriage is like the sun beam that you experience.

This incredible beam of light, you delight in it, you love it, you experience.

That's what marriage is like.

But ultimately, the power is not in the sunbeam, it's in the sun.

It's the love of God that you're actually experiencing.

May it be marriage or anything else that you delight in, you're actually experiencing the love of God.

It's like the light beam is a shadow of the love of God.

It's coming from, it's like marriage is the stream, but the ocean is the love of God.

Can I say it that way?

And now what C.S.

Lewis is doing is he's he's he's re-quoting Jonathan Edwards about 300 years earlier: earthly joys are fragmented beams.

God himself is the sun.

There is a something innate in us that we want to be.

Well, sociologists say this all the time, that every human's greatest need is to be loved and fully known.

Do you know why we cry at weddings?

Does anyone?

I see it all the time.

Let me let me reveal something I I don't talk about very often.

And if anyone mentions this to me after service, you're out of this church.

When Jen and I got married in um 91 or 92 or 90, I can't remember.

I really can't.

92.

Thank you, Jennifer.

You're an incredible helpmate.

Uh 92, I was you know, standing up front like we all do, and Jen came down, and uh she was beautiful, of course.

All all brides are are are beautiful, and uh it was it was a beautiful wedding, and my dad was doing the uh doing the uh ceremony uh and um for whatever reason I don't even know why, but during the vows, I could not keep it together.

Like I started weeping.

Jen's not even now, don't even give me the all garbage.

Pastor Aaron Watch, who's all and up in Lance.

I just started crying.

I don't even know why I'm crying.

I'm like out of control.

Maybe it was the weight of what was going on.

I don't know.

I just I I lost it, I couldn't even say my vows.

It was like a whole two minutes of me weeping up front.

And finally, my dad said, over the microphone, he said, Mark, do you think you can get it together?

I think so.

This is why Jen and I do not watch our video of our marriage.

I do not want to revisit that.

Humiliation.

But why do we cry?

Why do we care?

Why do you some of you watch, you know, the dress thing on the TV now?

I've seen it in my own house where they're crying about some person picking out a dress.

You're experiencing something that's innate, that was given to you.

This this need, this vacuum to be loved and fully known.

We we link them.

That's why marriages are so special.

That's why the covenant marriage is so powerful in our lives.

Though you know it or not, you're experiencing the love of Jesus.

And you're sitting in a marriage ceremony and you're wanting that for everyone.

Now, the world has come in and destroyed that.

We come in and eject our our views of what marriage should be.

We damage that idea of being fully loved and fully known.

To be loved but not known, listen, it's shallow, it's superficial, it's cheap.

That's sex out of marriage right there.

Or to be known but not loved is rejection.

You need both.

You need to be loved and fully known.

Now, one of the things you need to understand about the power of marriage is marriage is just a reflection of God's love, a delight of God Himself.

In your life, it cannot become God.

It can't become God.

And so you can't let marriage teach you about God's.

You can let marriage teach you about God's love, but you can't let it replace God's love in your life.

And I see this all the time, everyone.

If I just get this husband, I'm gonna be okay.

If I just get this girl, I'm gonna be okay.

I I've decided after doing this years and years and years that that single people who are lonely and secure, when they get married, they are lonely and insecure.

Marriage changes nothing.

Because they're focusing on the wrong thing.

They're making the spouse their God instead of God fulfilling all of your needs.

Angela Thomas, who wrote a book, What Women Want, don't ask me why I know that, but anyway, she says it very clearly, and you can't sidestep this, because this happens all the time, that you put all the weight of your soul on your mate, and he or she is not capable of carrying that.

So I'm sorry, it's four slides, but I want you to get the, this is important for you to understand.

So here is one thing I can say about with great confidence the man that you love is just a man.

He may be your soulmate, he may possibly be your friend, he may be studious, funny, surprising, and strong, but he will never, not in a million years, not if he goes to relationship there be twice a week and keeps every promise written be enough to fill your soul.

He will never make you whole, ladies.

The whole Jerry McGuire, you complete me, lie.

He wasn't made to be enough.

He couldn't even if he tried.

He's just a man and he can only give only as a man and interact as a man and love you as a man.

He wasn't designed to fill the depths of a woman's longing, appreciate every need, jump through every hoop.

He can't.

Those deep places inside of you were not, were made for God.

The man in your life or the woman in your life is simply a vessel.

God uses him to give you a part of his feeling of his holy love, but he is not the only vessel, nor is he able to fill you from his own strength, nor is he the only thing you can ever need.

There is never, there will never be a man on the face of the earth who can make you whole.

Being filled to the depth of your soul is only about the love of God, knowing him, hearing his voice, believing that he is wild about you and dancing in his arms.

Can't say it any better than that.

And that I know she's writing in this to ladies in this book, but it goes that way for men also.

She's not going to fulfill you.

She's not made to fulfill you.

But Jesus is.

And you need to understand that there is roles to be played in marriage, and we see that as Paul writes this.

That roles in marriage, in roles in marriage, we get a picture of the image of God in our life.

Again, the husband plays the role of the head of the wife, like Christ is the head of the church and is himself its savior.

So let's look at at Genesis as we find uh the really the roles of a husband.

Let me give you four.

There's many more, but let me give you at least four as for a husband and for the wife.

It is a man's job to provide provision for his family.

That before even Eve came into existence, Adam was in the garden with responsibility to work the garden.

It was his job, it was his focus, it was his his calling.

A man is called to provide for his family primarily.

Now it doesn't always happen that way.

We're not saying that women can't have jobs.

That's not what God's word is saying.

But the primary job of a man is to have a job.

And so if your husband is not working and you're providing, listen, no woman wants a husband that's not working.

There can be seasons, there can be reasons, but primarily a man is not healthy unless he's working.

And listen, ladies, if you if you're dating a a young man that that is in a his mom's basement and you're sleeping on Spider-Man sheets and he's 40, if that's stung, it should.

There are roles to be played.

Spiritually, he is to lead and love.

Paul says this that you are to bring her to a place of holiness, to make her faultless before God.

There is a leading matter of fact, again, before Eve came into the picture in Genesis, we find that Adam already has a relationship with God.

That God already explained to Adam that they're not to touch or eat from this tree.

Evidently, he didn't explain that to Eve when she was created.

But he looked at what was going on, and Adam alone he said, Listen, this is not good.

So he didn't create someone exactly like Adam because that would be not good, not good.

He creates someone completely different than Adam that represents the attributes of God.

Jennifer and I are not equal, everyone.

We can't be.

We're not the same people.

Now we're equal in the aspects of God.

She represents a portion of God, I represent a portion of God.

And together we represent the fullness of God.

There's something that is special in that.

That Jen has attributes and I have attributes that are different, different callings, different roles.

And if Jennifer and I are healthy in those roles, it's a beautiful thing for the culture that surrounds us.

Not only the culture of my family, but outside of my family, for my city, my nation.

And a man is called to lead spiritually.

Do you know the very first words that Adam is speaking when Eve is created?

You guys can go to that next slide.

He says this, by the way, this is a love song.

This is now bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh.

Some of your ladies are like, oh, that's not that good.

But come on, give the guy a break.

He's seen Eve naked for the very first time.

And in Hebrew, this is a very lovely love song.

It is proper for a man to initiate with romance.

So, Pastor Mark, are you saying that I can't, if I'm a girl, I can't ask a guy out?

That's exactly what I'm saying.

And this is why, I'll tell you why.

You might think it is harmless, but it's not.

And this is why.

Because simply, if he doesn't have enough spine to ask you out, he's probably not going to lead you spiritually either.

I want you to know that there's a lot of weight on what I'm talking about here.

So in in provision, spiritual, spirituality, in romance, and in sacrifice.

He said to love.

This girl like Christ loved the church.

And sacrifice is all for her.

Now, ladies, you're to submit.

I think it's important for you to understand this word submission here.

Because it's important in your roles that you're this helper.

You're there to help.

You're there ultimately to play the role of the church.

Now think about this.

The role of the church is important for you because the role of the church submits to the leadership as a helper to advance the kingdom of God.

And so what is happening when a young lady and a young man come together as husband and wife, what the wife is doing as a representation of the church is fully submitting to the advancement of his kingdom, not her kingdom.

And that's important.

That you need to be a help to your husband and advancing his agenda here on earth, spiritually, physically, mentally, and socially.

Women are incredible nurturers.

They just make things grow.

They cultivate, they create.

No one has as much power in that as a woman.

Do you know that your children that you create, their first experience with Jesus is through you.

That you're raising up the next generation of world changers.

That's that's a powerful, powerful role.

You're also a healer.

Not only are you a healer for your children, but almost more importantly, you're a healer for your husband.

Your husband is called to give his life.

Your husband is called to go out and provide for his family, to battle against the world that we talked about last week.

And oftentimes he can come back home wounded or he can come back tired, and he needs a sanctuary of healing, and that only can be provided through you.

He doesn't want to come home and fight.

Powerful, everyone.

Not only that, she's a cultural builder.

She creates a home and a culture, a holiness within this family.

And not only does that bleed out into people around your family, but ultimately the culture in your home actually moves into your neighborhood, it moves into your school systems, it moves into your colleges as your children begin to leave.

Actually, the world's culture is changed by a woman's culture in the home, everyone.

These are just some of the attributes.

But a couple things I want you to understand, and these two things we'll just hit real briefly.

If you only submit to your husband when you agree with him, listen, that's not submission.

If you only submit to your husband when you agree with him, that's not submission.

Submission, that's agreement.

Submission implies you don't agree and that you think he's making a wrong decision.

And this always leads to this kind of vacuum that's happening within our relationships when the husband or the wife are not healthy in their leadership.

And so if a man is not leading well, then ultimately his wife comes in and begins to lead everything.

Well, if something has to get done around here, Pastor Mark, and if I don't get up and do it, then something's not gonna happen.

Good.

It's called the vacuum of leadership.

And when when you, ladies, when you back away and allow your husband to spiritually lead and physically lead, eventually he's gonna have to step up.

Like the amount of responsibility and weight that I feel for this church drives me forward to make decisions.

It's the kind of weight I'm supposed to carry as a man.

Pastor Mark, my husband knows nothing about spirituality or God.

Listen, if your husband didn't have to work and he could go to seven Bible studies a week like you do, he might know something about Jesus.

Do I have to say that again?

God leads men differently, ladies.

Fall into your roles, love your husband well, and men, this is not a domineering thing, this is a life of sacrifice.

And you pay over and over and over again.

But our world is pushing against this that the Lord has laid out for us.

You can trace the increase in crime, drought, dropout rates, teen pregnancy, suicide rate, homosexuality, a number of other things, to when a society formally rejects the biblical understanding of the family that he's created.

And these beautiful roles that are both extremely important.

If they're not played well, there's unhealthy sides on both these roles.

Listen, C is the forgiveness that you need, that's required in marriage.

We get a taste of grace that you need and and I need.

That we would love our love our wives as Christ has loved the church.

I want submission for Jennifer to be like the submission she feels towards the temptation of chocolate, everyone.

It's a good thing.

A good thing.

That's what submission should be.

If we play our rules right, God is glorified and he's honored.

Our children recognize it, our communities recognize it, our cities recognize it.

It's a very, very powerful, powerful force.

Let me show you how C.S.

Lewis talks about this very verse.

He says this the husband who embodies this verse is the one whose marriage most feels like crucifixion.

Men you're called to give your life.

For the church has no beauty but what the bridegroom gives her.

He does not find but makes her lovely.

I love that.

Men that you would lead your wives well.

Women that you would love your husbands well, and that God would be glorified.

Love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her.

So that he might present the church to himself holy and without blemish.

I only have a few minutes.

But we've learned over the years that Jen is very, very gifted at certain things.

And I'm very gifted at certain certain things.

Doesn't mean that we're the perfect example of marriage.

If you know Jen and I well and hang out with us, you're like, I need to look the other way.

But there's like this interlocking thing.

We're two very imperfect people that love Jesus more than we love each other.

I think that's the key.

Jesus, Jen loves Jesus more than she loves me.

And I love Jesus more than I love Jennifer.

And so as we we move forward in this calling that we have, I get it, once in a while we bump in at each other.

But the love of Jesus and his grace is there and his forgiveness is there to forgive all things within our marriage.

What is have you ever thought about this?

What if God didn't give you marriage to make you happy?

Because it's impossible.

He would have us all marry angels who are perfect, right?

Some of you are like, I already married an angel, Pastor Mark.

Shut up.

You didn't.

You're probably a newlywed.

Come back, talk to me a year from now.

What if he think about this, okay?

What if he, maybe you're an Antonagden or Lantz or Ishwiming Marquette.

What if he gave you this imperfect love or imperfect person to teach you about forgiveness and the gospel?

Put you up on the anvil, heat you up, pound some kinks out of you, make you something beautiful together in unity.

Jennifer helps me to be holy in unity.

I help Jennifer to be holy in unity.

We lead our family to focus on Jesus.

Maybe to make the same kind of steps of faith that Jen and I have made.

Though you're married or not, by the way, there's multiple relationships on every level.

This is why relationships are so important in your church.

Probably some of the hardest decision making things that we've gone through.

Some of the most beautiful things that Jen and I have experienced.

Sometimes they're in unity, sometimes they're even separate.

But Jesus is always in the center.

Do you know that Jennifer and I came to be pastors at this church, but not in unity?

I felt a very deep calling to come here and pastor.

And Jen was skeptical.

We both love Russia.

We didn't want to leave, but I just like, Jen, I don't know, man.

I'm just, this thing's just.

And Jen would say, Mark, let's just pray about it.

Let's just pray about it.

So we'd pray about it.

We'd pray about it.

And then we'd bring it up like maybe a couple of days more as we were praying as individuals.

Jen, man, I don't know.

I just, I, I, I, let's just, Mark, no, no, no.

Let's just pray.

Let's just pray some more.

Let's pray tomorrow.

We can't, we we love Russia.

We've been called to Russia.

We're gonna give our lives to Russia.

Well, what are these youpers anyway?

Let's just and eventually I told Jen.

This is like a probably a month or two months of us praying every night.

I told Jen, hey Jen, I um I'm done praying.

I've prayed enough because I know this is what God wants me us to do.

And in a very beautiful way, Jennifer said, Okay, I trust you.

And I trust Jesus.

And I'm standing here with you in front of you because of that beautiful decision together that we made.

This is how God works.

I want you to experience the fullness of his love to be fully loved and to be fully known, and we get a glimpse of that in our relationships around us, everyone.

So dive in.

Dive in.

All of your relationships are given to you to teach you about God.

Christian growth happens when the beauty and the glory of one God you know so fully captivates your heart that they transform all of your relationships.

You need to understand that every relationship in your life, think about this, is spiritual.

And God's gonna transform who you are through those relationships.

Man.

Would you dive in?

Would you dive in with me?

Would you not walk away from those relationships?

Would you dive deeper?

Knowing that God is gonna take that relationship and create something beautiful in your life.

Now I want you to stand with me.

I want to pray blessing over you.

And Lant, Antanogdan, wherever you're at, Ishvaming.

Would you bow your heads with me, Father?

Lord, you you are relationship.

You created relationships.

And Father, our our goal is to be in relationship with you.

Because that's where life is, that's where grace is, that's where freedom is.

That's where salvation is.

Father, that's our purpose, Father, that the will of heaven would be here on earth in all of our relationships.

Father, and I pray over, Father, our marriages, Lord.

I pray over, Lord, our relationships with our children.

I pray over, Father, the worship, the workmanship that's happening in our lives, in the workforce, Lord.

You're Lord of it all.

So, Jesus, as we move forward in your grace this week, Lord, that we would know that we're not only are we in relationship with you, but you've placed people in front of us, Father.

And the gospel would be going forward in everyone's life, Jesus, and we ask all of this in your sons and holy precious name.