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The Winning Walk with Dr. Ed Young

Ed Young - A Biblical View of Marriage

May 6, 2025 | S25:E109

Ed Young - A Biblical View of Marriage
The Winning Walk with Dr. Ed Young is the international on-air and online teaching ministry of Dr. Ed Young. The Winning Walk proclaims the proven truth of God’s Word to give men and women the world over a winning way to live life.
#Relationships #Marriage #Dedication/Devotion #RelationshipwithGod #Bible #Religion #inActive #Commitment #EdYoung #MarriageSupperoftheLamb #Unity #Husband #Wife #Intimacy #BrideofChrist #TheWinningWalkwithDr.EdYoung

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The Winning Walk with Dr. Ed Young | Ed Young - A Biblical View of Marriage | May 6, 2025
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Ed young: marriage.
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  • Marriage.
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  • From the beginning of the bible in genesis, the first real
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  • Miracle that took place was when god gave us marriage.
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  • The vows are there.
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  • Leave, cleave, naked, one flesh, no shame.
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  • So the bible begins with marriage.
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  • The bible ends in revelation with marriage.
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  • We graduate and go to heaven to be with the lord.
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  • There's the marriage feast of the lamb, a banquet that takes
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  • Place because the church, you and i, all of us, are the bride
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  • Of christ and he is the bridegroom.
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  • And therefore, there will be a marriage celebration when we
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  • Graduate and go to be with the lord.
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  • So the bible has a parentheses of marriage on both sides of it.
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  • And right in the middle, jesus performed the first
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  • Miracle, when?
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  • Marriage feasts, cana of galilee.
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  • And all the way through the scripture, we have marriage used
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  • As the best metaphor of what it is to know god through jesus
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  • Christ in this relationship we have vertically.
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  • This is the best illustration we have for what happens
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  • Horizontally is marriage.
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  • Marriage is the most important, and vital, and significant
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  • Human relationship.
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  • Period, no debate, bottom line.
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  • Marriage.
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  • You say, "well, what about singles?"
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  • Singles need to understand the beauty and the miracle
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  • Of marriage.
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  • If you're widowed, if you're divorced, if you've never
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  • Married, how important it is when this is the figure
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  • That is used to help us understand the relationship
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  • We have with god,
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  • The best physical understanding is marriage.
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  • It is a sacred, holy gift.
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  • Now, let me confess something.
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  • When i first uttered those marriage vows,
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  • I'll tell you something.
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  • I didn't really follow through.
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  • I didn't really comprehend.
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  • I didn't know the depth of those vows.
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  • Somehow i had forgotten or did not know that a vow is different
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  • From a promise.
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  • A vow is something we make to god, not in any other reference.
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  • A vow is to god and a promise, or a contract, or a resolution
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  • Is different than a vow.
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  • And therefore, when you and i, if you've ever been married or
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  • You are married, when you uttered those vows, they were to
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  • God as well as to your wife or your husband.
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  • Whoa.
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  • Now, when i got married, i knew i was legally married.
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  • I entered into a contract of the state.
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  • But i had no idea that that emotion that i felt of love and
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  • That chemistry that i felt which i could not separate from
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  • That emotion.
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  • Do you understand what i'm saying?
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  • Did you listen?
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  • Yeah?
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  • But a vow, a vow.
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  • And then as i studied these vows with the new depth of
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  • Understanding that i prayed god would give to you and me, i
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  • Said, "where did they come from?"
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  • They began in the garden.
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  • They've evolved through time.
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  • And finally, the archbishop of canterbury had put down those
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  • Classical vows you found in the common book of prayer, and
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  • They've evolved.
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  • And some people get married, they write their own vows, but
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  • There are a basic overlook of vows.
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  • Now, also to my surprise, as i studied these vows with new
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  • Eyes, i realized that of all people, elvis presley, elvis
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  • Presley in the song that was the theme of his life, really,
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  • Encompassed these vows that are expressed biblically and have
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  • Been retreated by people through the years.
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  • And i would never have dreamed of this.
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  • You remember "t.l.c."
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  • Was what elvis gave out?
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  • He gave out rings, and bracelets, and had on one of his
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  • Many outfits that he wore of "t.l.c.", tender loving care.
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  • But in the classic song that he sang over and over again,
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  • Believe it or not, it encompasses the biblical view of
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  • Marriage and the vows that are taken in marriage.
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  • ♪ love me tender.
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  • ♪ love me true.
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  • ♪ never let me go.
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  • ♪ you have made my life complete and i love you so. ♪
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  • ♪ love me tender. ♪
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  • You see, it's all there.
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  • For example, you take the word "tender" and it can easily be
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  • The word "cherish."
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  • Ooh, big word.
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  • And love is there and truth is there.
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  • So when you think about the biblical context in which our
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  • Vows are built, it's all there in a secular song.
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  • So the secular world comes down and defines it, the biblical
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  • World defines it, and we repeat those vows when we get married.
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  • So we're going to see that when we get married, first of all,
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  • There is a vow to truth, and then we'll see there is a vow to
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  • Love, and there is a vow to cherish.
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  • Remember now, to have means to possess.
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  • To hold means to endure.
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  • So what happens when we get married, we are actually
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  • Fulfilling what the apostle paul in 1 corinthians 7:4, which he
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  • Says, "hey wives, you don't own yourselves.
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  • You don't own your body.
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  • Husbands, guess what?
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  • You don't own your body.
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  • When you get married, the other person owns you."
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  • Whoa, that's a big thing.
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  • There has to be a lot of trust there, doesn't it?
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  • A lot of trust.
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  • And then he says, "to have and to hold."
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  • "have" means to totally own, to totally possess.
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  • You say, "now, wait a minute."
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  • Yep, that's it.
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  • And to hold?
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  • You can hold someone up.
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  • You can hold and push them down.
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  • You can lead them out.
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  • You can pull them back.
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  • And that is all in the hands of the wife and the hands of
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  • The husband.
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  • Well, i don't know--oh yes, this is biblical marriage,
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  • Ladies and gentlemen.
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  • To have and to hold.
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  • And therefore, this is the very foundation of marriage because
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  • That is a total reliability and a dependence on that person that
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  • You said, "i do and i will," to, as well as almighty god who is
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  • Built in those vows.
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  • To have and to hold from this day forward.
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  • That sounds like forever to me.
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  • I don't know about you.
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  • And that is the foundation of truth.
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  • Truth is all in and through marriage.
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  • Truth comes out.
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  • And we discover that when we're married, we wake up sometime and
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  • Say, "oh, i didn't know he was so prideful.
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  • I didn't see that.
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  • Oh, i didn't know she was so vengeful.
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  • I didn't see that.
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  • I didn't know that he was so unforgiving.
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  • I didn't know that she pouted."
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  • And all of this and all in between, the little bitty things
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  • That we saw when we were dating or talking about getting
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  • Married, now they're put on steroids.
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  • Those little things become gigantic things and you wake up
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  • And say, "i've married a stranger."
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  • In the morning, you look over there and there's gorilla
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  • Breath, and the hair looks like you put your finger in a socket
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  • Or something.
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  • And he gets up and puts on those old dirty sweats, and he goes to
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  • The bathroom, and makes noises you never heard before.
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  • You see, there's no place to hide in marriage.
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  • The truth comes out.
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  • It is seen in this most intimate relationship.
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  • It is all there and it's startling to some people.
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  • "man, you mean i've given myself to have and to hold to her or
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  • To him?"
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  • But it's based on truth.
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  • Soren kierkegaard, the philosopher, talking about
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  • Marriage, he said, it's like that when you get married,
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  • You've gone to a costume ball, and you're totally masked and
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  • You have a complete different costume.
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  • Nobody can possibly recognize who you are.
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  • And you dance, and you eat, and you have activities, and
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  • Celebration, and it's a wonderful time 'til midnight.
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  • I either--story of cinderella, we would say, and you take off
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  • The mask.
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  • Whoa!
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  • And everybody knows who you are.
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  • You're identified.
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  • Kierkegaard, that's exactly what happens in marriage, isn't it?
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  • Everybody here, "oh, yeah."
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  • Isn't it?
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  • To have and to hold?
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  • Can i hope for a little less?
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  • Can i have her or have him-- 'til death do us part.
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  • Say, "well, let me tell you about marriage."
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  • It's like a bridge.
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  • You take a bridge.
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  • It looks steady and strong.
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  • It's painted and it looks great, but you take an 18-wheeler and
  • 00:11:07.089 --> 00:11:11.327
  • Put it on that bridge, what happens?
  • 00:11:11.327 --> 00:11:13.129
  • The stress of the 18-wheeler reveals all the flaws.
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  • And they begin to come out and they begin to
  • 00:11:17.933 --> 00:11:20.736
  • Display themselves.
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  • Now, did the mack truck or the 18-wheeler cause those flaws?
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  • No, that mack truck just revealed those flaws that were
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  • Already in the bridge.
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  • That's what marriage does, folks.
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  • It reveals who we are.
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  • There's an openness.
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  • There's a revelation of truth.
  • 00:11:39.688 --> 00:11:43.959
  • Marriage, based on truth.
  • 00:11:43.959 --> 00:11:49.498
  • So we make a vow to truth and all of a sudden, that person
  • 00:11:49.498 --> 00:11:56.939
  • Knows more about you than your mom or dad, your brother,
  • 00:11:56.939 --> 00:11:59.475
  • Your sister, your best friend.
  • 00:11:59.475 --> 00:12:01.177
  • It's all there, 24/7.
  • 00:12:01.177 --> 00:12:04.780
  • It's the most important relationship, the most
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  • Sacred relationship.
  • 00:12:07.216 --> 00:12:08.551
  • Not parents and children, or children and parents, or brother
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  • And sister, or friends.
  • 00:12:11.987 --> 00:12:13.322
  • It is marriage, for there's no place to hide.
  • 00:12:13.322 --> 00:12:18.794
  • There's no place to run.
  • 00:12:18.794 --> 00:12:22.264
  • And therefore, marriage always needs to be--have an open
  • 00:12:22.264 --> 00:12:26.368
  • Door policy.
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  • There should never be any locked doors in marriage, never.
  • 00:12:27.703 --> 00:12:32.608
  • So in marriage, you have to-- well, i call it the
  • 00:12:32.608 --> 00:12:35.711
  • Beautiful triplet.
  • 00:12:35.711 --> 00:12:38.113
  • In marriage, you have to talk, talk, talk; listen, listen,
  • 00:12:38.113 --> 00:12:43.085
  • Listen; and pray, pray, pray.
  • 00:12:43.085 --> 00:12:49.491
  • Otherwise, you're gonna stay there.
  • 00:12:49.491 --> 00:12:51.026
  • "well, our marriage is okay."
  • 00:12:51.026 --> 00:12:52.595
  • There's a lot of okay marriages and that is a tremendous
  • 00:12:52.595 --> 00:12:56.065
  • Tragedy, ladies and gentlemen.
  • 00:12:56.065 --> 00:12:57.499
  • "well, we're okay.
  • 00:12:57.499 --> 00:12:59.468
  • We're doing all right.
  • 00:12:59.468 --> 00:13:01.704
  • You know, she sorta does everything."
  • 00:13:01.704 --> 00:13:03.672
  • This is a terrible, terrible thing and really it's a marriage
  • 00:13:03.672 --> 00:13:07.843
  • In form and not in magnificent reality.
  • 00:13:07.843 --> 00:13:13.916
  • Talk, talk, talk.
  • 00:13:13.916 --> 00:13:15.651
  • Listen, listen, listen.
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  • And particularly, let me say a word to the guys.
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  • I've said this many, many times, but somehow i forget it.
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  • Gentlemen, we're not good listeners.
  • 00:13:25.261 --> 00:13:28.430
  • And when your wife comes to you with a problem, listen, listen,
  • 00:13:28.430 --> 00:13:32.167
  • Listen, but do not try to solve the problem.
  • 00:13:32.167 --> 00:13:36.405
  • That's something men don't understand.
  • 00:13:36.405 --> 00:13:39.341
  • They come with a problem, "well, let me tell ya, you need to do
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  • This, and stop doing this, and go there."
  • 00:13:41.911 --> 00:13:44.079
  • Oh no, no, no, no, no, guys.
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  • Listen to me.
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  • When they come with their problem, merely restate the
  • 00:13:47.783 --> 00:13:51.186
  • Problem to them.
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  • "well, you say you're having a problem with that friend who's
  • 00:13:53.322 --> 00:13:56.959
  • Sort of betrayed you."
  • 00:13:56.959 --> 00:13:58.727
  • You know, restate the problem.
  • 00:13:58.727 --> 00:14:01.430
  • Don't try to solve it.
  • 00:14:01.430 --> 00:14:03.465
  • Gentlemen, trust me.
  • 00:14:03.465 --> 00:14:05.434
  • You try to solve it, all of a sudden you're in the middle
  • 00:14:05.434 --> 00:14:07.169
  • Of it.
  • 00:14:07.169 --> 00:14:09.571
  • So in marriage, you listen, listen, listen; you talk, talk,
  • 00:14:09.571 --> 00:14:14.476
  • Talk; and you pray, pray, pray.
  • 00:14:14.476 --> 00:14:16.812
  • And all of a sudden, a marriage that's just okay.
  • 00:14:16.812 --> 00:14:20.950
  • And a lot of marriage is just okay.
  • 00:14:20.950 --> 00:14:23.452
  • I've read a lot of surveys about marriage, and the one that seems
  • 00:14:23.452 --> 00:14:27.589
  • To be overwhelmingly true is that about 62%, 63% of married
  • 00:14:27.589 --> 00:14:33.796
  • People say in confidence, "if i had to do over, i wouldn't marry
  • 00:14:33.796 --> 00:14:37.766
  • Him or her again."
  • 00:14:37.766 --> 00:14:39.802
  • About 60%.
  • 00:14:39.802 --> 00:14:41.503
  • And only about, you know, 5% to 8% marriages say, "our marriage
  • 00:14:41.503 --> 00:14:47.910
  • Is fabulous."
  • 00:14:47.910 --> 00:14:50.612
  • Only about 5%, 8%.
  • 00:14:50.612 --> 00:14:53.349
  • So something's wrong with all of this.
  • 00:14:53.349 --> 00:14:55.050
  • I think it's the fact we don't understand the vows.
  • 00:14:55.050 --> 00:14:59.488
  • We don't understand the sacredness of it.
  • 00:14:59.488 --> 00:15:03.058
  • And first of all, there is a vow to truth.
  • 00:15:03.058 --> 00:15:08.731
  • To truth.
  • 00:15:08.731 --> 00:15:10.065
  • And the next part of our vow, there is a vow to love.
  • 00:15:10.065 --> 00:15:15.571
  • We're gonna be dealing with love in weeks, and weeks, and weeks
  • 00:15:15.571 --> 00:15:18.273
  • To come, and i will not exhaust that most vital, pregnant,
  • 00:15:18.273 --> 00:15:22.911
  • Meaningful word.
  • 00:15:22.911 --> 00:15:24.780
  • But we're gonna deal with it, but i'm going to sort of touch
  • 00:15:24.780 --> 00:15:27.716
  • On love.
  • 00:15:27.716 --> 00:15:29.618
  • First of all, you read in the scripture a very clear word in 1
  • 00:15:29.618 --> 00:15:36.392
  • John 4:16 that god is love.
  • 00:15:36.392 --> 00:15:41.964
  • Now, well, i knew that.
  • 00:15:41.964 --> 00:15:43.298
  • Well, think about it.
  • 00:15:43.298 --> 00:15:44.633
  • God, god's essence, god's totality with all of his other
  • 00:15:44.633 --> 00:15:49.271
  • Attributes, is totally, complete, pure love.
  • 00:15:49.271 --> 00:15:55.344
  • And that scripture in 1 john says if we love god, therefore
  • 00:15:55.344 --> 00:16:00.816
  • God loves us, and there's that love relationship between you
  • 00:16:00.816 --> 00:16:06.155
  • And i to god.
  • 00:16:06.155 --> 00:16:07.656
  • And god's love is unending.
  • 00:16:07.656 --> 00:16:12.127
  • You can't do anything, say anything to get away from the
  • 00:16:12.127 --> 00:16:16.265
  • Totality of god, because god's essence is love.
  • 00:16:16.265 --> 00:16:20.102
  • You and i, as we abide in god, that means take up residence in
  • 00:16:20.102 --> 00:16:25.441
  • Godly understanding, then we have the capacity to love.
  • 00:16:25.441 --> 00:16:29.378
  • Some people have a tough time loving sacrificially and with
  • 00:16:29.378 --> 00:16:32.714
  • That big, pregnant, agape type of love because we don't realize
  • 00:16:32.714 --> 00:16:37.653
  • God loves us unconditionally, and therefore we have not
  • 00:16:37.653 --> 00:16:41.557
  • Experienced sometimes love in our family, love in
  • 00:16:41.557 --> 00:16:44.626
  • Relationships, and therefore we do not--we're not able to
  • 00:16:44.626 --> 00:16:48.797
  • Powerfully to give off love.
  • 00:16:48.797 --> 00:16:51.266
  • You see, because i have been loved and the proportion by
  • 00:16:51.266 --> 00:16:54.436
  • Which i understand god has loved me and i have been loved by
  • 00:16:54.436 --> 00:16:57.806
  • Others, then i have love in me and i can give off love.
  • 00:16:57.806 --> 00:17:03.145
  • And love is not a feeling.
  • 00:17:03.145 --> 00:17:07.449
  • To god, love is a noun.
  • 00:17:07.449 --> 00:17:10.219
  • He is love.
  • 00:17:10.219 --> 00:17:11.887
  • But to you and i, love is a verb.
  • 00:17:11.887 --> 00:17:16.592
  • It's like somebody's like, "well, i fell in love and i can
  • 00:17:16.592 --> 00:17:19.228
  • Fall out of love."
  • 00:17:19.228 --> 00:17:20.662
  • Nonsense.
  • 00:17:20.662 --> 00:17:23.398
  • You are a sinner, and you married a sinner, and there'll
  • 00:17:23.398 --> 00:17:26.735
  • Be sin in the relationship, and we can't escape it.
  • 00:17:26.735 --> 00:17:30.038
  • We can be forgiven from it.
  • 00:17:30.038 --> 00:17:32.741
  • We fell in love in a fallen world that has already fallen.
  • 00:17:32.741 --> 00:17:39.081
  • So we're talking about this fabulous relationship and we
  • 00:17:39.081 --> 00:17:44.486
  • Take a vow to love.
  • 00:17:44.486 --> 00:17:47.489
  • Have you ever said, "well, i can't help how i feel"?
  • 00:17:47.489 --> 00:17:53.729
  • Let me give you a little wake up call about feelings.
  • 00:17:53.729 --> 00:17:57.166
  • Feelings are not good and they're not bad.
  • 00:17:57.166 --> 00:18:01.970
  • Feelings are not moral or feelings are not immoral.
  • 00:18:01.970 --> 00:18:06.808
  • It is true that we can't help how we feel, but a lot of people
  • 00:18:06.808 --> 00:18:11.980
  • Use feelings as an excuse for lust, as an excuse for how we
  • 00:18:11.980 --> 00:18:19.788
  • Relate to somebody.
  • 00:18:19.788 --> 00:18:21.123
  • Well, i can't help how i feel.
  • 00:18:21.123 --> 00:18:24.259
  • And that brings you into two big, old, broad
  • 00:18:24.259 --> 00:18:27.462
  • Philosophical areas.
  • 00:18:27.462 --> 00:18:28.797
  • Don't get lost in it.
  • 00:18:28.797 --> 00:18:31.166
  • You say, "i can't help how i feel."
  • 00:18:31.166 --> 00:18:33.035
  • In one sense, you can't, but feelings cannot be determinative
  • 00:18:33.035 --> 00:18:37.573
  • Of what we do.
  • 00:18:37.573 --> 00:18:39.675
  • It doesn't work like that.
  • 00:18:39.675 --> 00:18:42.277
  • There's a whole school of thought called stoicism.
  • 00:18:42.277 --> 00:18:46.048
  • Need to know that word.
  • 00:18:46.048 --> 00:18:47.382
  • It means i don't recognize feelings.
  • 00:18:47.382 --> 00:18:49.351
  • I try to stomp down any emotions i have.
  • 00:18:49.351 --> 00:18:52.187
  • I don't want to live on the basis of emotion.
  • 00:18:52.187 --> 00:18:54.489
  • I'm just gonna be sterile, and static, and cold, and not
  • 00:18:54.489 --> 00:18:59.194
  • Recognize any feelings, just deny them.
  • 00:18:59.194 --> 00:19:04.633
  • That's immanuel kant, if you are a philosopher.
  • 00:19:04.633 --> 00:19:07.369
  • Stomp out feelings.
  • 00:19:07.369 --> 00:19:08.704
  • Stomp out emotions.
  • 00:19:08.704 --> 00:19:10.038
  • Don't let the heart rule.
  • 00:19:10.038 --> 00:19:11.773
  • Don't deal with that.
  • 00:19:11.773 --> 00:19:13.108
  • That's one extreme.
  • 00:19:13.108 --> 00:19:14.810
  • The other extreme, i can't help how i feel, therefore i act on
  • 00:19:14.810 --> 00:19:19.348
  • The basis of how i feel, and that is rousseau.
  • 00:19:19.348 --> 00:19:22.684
  • That is as stupid as tryin' to kill feelings as to say, "i'm
  • 00:19:22.684 --> 00:19:26.955
  • Going to respond because how i feel."
  • 00:19:26.955 --> 00:19:30.359
  • Ladies and gentlemen, i've got a news flash for some people.
  • 00:19:30.359 --> 00:19:37.766
  • You know what it is?
  • 00:19:37.766 --> 00:19:40.102
  • Feelings do not determine our action.
  • 00:19:40.102 --> 00:19:45.941
  • Our actions come through our free will and our reason.
  • 00:19:45.941 --> 00:19:51.480
  • We don't just live on the basis of our heart.
  • 00:19:51.480 --> 00:19:54.216
  • There is the mind and the reason that superintends and controls
  • 00:19:54.216 --> 00:20:00.289
  • Our feelings.
  • 00:20:00.289 --> 00:20:01.623
  • You got it?
  • 00:20:01.623 --> 00:20:03.692
  • It's a little whiney thing.
  • 00:20:03.692 --> 00:20:05.327
  • I can't help how i feel.
  • 00:20:05.327 --> 00:20:06.895
  • Feelings are not moral, they're not immoral.
  • 00:20:06.895 --> 00:20:09.164
  • They're not right, they're not wrong.
  • 00:20:09.164 --> 00:20:10.732
  • Now, we do something that is right and good, we have good
  • 00:20:10.732 --> 00:20:14.436
  • Feelings and it follows with happiness.
  • 00:20:14.436 --> 00:20:16.405
  • If we do something that is wrong and unseemly, we have guilt that
  • 00:20:16.405 --> 00:20:20.108
  • It comes which leads to unhappiness.
  • 00:20:20.108 --> 00:20:22.244
  • But feelings do not control.
  • 00:20:22.244 --> 00:20:23.912
  • We cannot help how we feel, but how we respond comes through our
  • 00:20:23.912 --> 00:20:28.116
  • Free will and our reason.
  • 00:20:28.116 --> 00:20:29.718
  • So you have to have the heart and the head.
  • 00:20:29.718 --> 00:20:31.586
  • You have to have both.
  • 00:20:31.586 --> 00:20:33.021
  • It's not either/or, it's both/and.
  • 00:20:33.021 --> 00:20:35.924
  • So don't say to anybody, "oh, i can't help how i feel.
  • 00:20:35.924 --> 00:20:40.429
  • I act on the basis of how i feel."
  • 00:20:40.429 --> 00:20:42.931
  • I've heard that so much in marriage conflicts.
  • 00:20:42.931 --> 00:20:47.803
  • You don't really fall in love and you don't really fall out
  • 00:20:47.803 --> 00:20:50.639
  • Of love.
  • 00:20:50.639 --> 00:20:51.973
  • And when we're married, we take those vows not just to our
  • 00:20:51.973 --> 00:20:57.012
  • Partner, our spouse, our mate, but to almighty god because vows
  • 00:20:57.012 --> 00:21:02.651
  • Are made to god.
  • 00:21:02.651 --> 00:21:08.190
  • This is gettin' heavy, isn't it?
  • 00:21:08.256 --> 00:21:11.193
  • But it is so real and so practical.
  • 00:21:11.193 --> 00:21:16.365
  • Now, we love to say, "well, i just love everybody.
  • 00:21:16.365 --> 00:21:20.035
  • Oh, i just--i'm just a lover.
  • 00:21:20.035 --> 00:21:21.903
  • I love everybody."
  • 00:21:21.903 --> 00:21:23.338
  • But you know, in the bible you find that god loves the world
  • 00:21:23.338 --> 00:21:26.608
  • And there is a universal understanding of love that
  • 00:21:26.608 --> 00:21:29.878
  • Certainly we need to be a part of, but yet love really
  • 00:21:29.878 --> 00:21:34.082
  • Effectively administered or operated in your life and my
  • 00:21:34.082 --> 00:21:37.819
  • Life is very personal.
  • 00:21:37.819 --> 00:21:40.822
  • It begins very small.
  • 00:21:40.822 --> 00:21:44.593
  • God loved abram, right?
  • 00:21:44.593 --> 00:21:46.395
  • Know your bible?
  • 00:21:46.395 --> 00:21:48.363
  • And he said, "abram, i'm gonna make out of you a great nation."
  • 00:21:48.363 --> 00:21:53.402
  • Couldn't god have loved a lot more people beside abraham?
  • 00:21:53.402 --> 00:21:55.937
  • No, he just started off with old abraham.
  • 00:21:55.937 --> 00:21:59.040
  • And out of abraham, he made a nation, but it was a small,
  • 00:21:59.040 --> 00:22:03.278
  • Insignificant nation of israelites, of jews in the
  • 00:22:03.278 --> 00:22:06.882
  • Backside of nowhere as far as the world is concerned.
  • 00:22:06.882 --> 00:22:10.819
  • But god took that small nation and loved it uniquely, tryin' to
  • 00:22:10.819 --> 00:22:15.257
  • Build into them through progressive revelation what life
  • 00:22:15.257 --> 00:22:19.227
  • Is all about and the meaning of life.
  • 00:22:19.227 --> 00:22:21.363
  • He loved that little, small nation.
  • 00:22:21.363 --> 00:22:24.599
  • And then he sent his son into the world, fulfilling prophecy
  • 00:22:24.599 --> 00:22:28.904
  • In that small nation.
  • 00:22:28.904 --> 00:22:30.405
  • And jesus primarily poured himself into just a little group
  • 00:22:30.405 --> 00:22:34.142
  • Of guys, didn't he?
  • 00:22:34.142 --> 00:22:36.111
  • Couldn't he have loved more people?
  • 00:22:36.111 --> 00:22:38.680
  • Couldn't he have had other plans?
  • 00:22:38.680 --> 00:22:40.015
  • No, he just poured himself into those men.
  • 00:22:40.015 --> 00:22:44.453
  • And what happened?
  • 00:22:44.453 --> 00:22:46.154
  • Those men in their lives, their love explained who jesus was to
  • 00:22:46.154 --> 00:22:51.593
  • The world blew up the whole world.
  • 00:22:51.593 --> 00:22:56.231
  • See, the most important thing we can do right now probably,
  • 00:22:56.231 --> 00:23:00.602
  • Probably most important thing we can do personally, individually
  • 00:23:00.602 --> 00:23:04.139
  • Is to love our mate, to love our wife and our husband as god in
  • 00:23:04.139 --> 00:23:09.277
  • Christ has loved us.
  • 00:23:09.277 --> 00:23:11.913
  • Well, that seems so small.
  • 00:23:11.913 --> 00:23:14.483
  • It's not really small.
  • 00:23:14.483 --> 00:23:16.518
  • Love is not a river that's surrounded by banks.
  • 00:23:16.518 --> 00:23:20.622
  • When a man loves a woman and a woman loves a man as christ
  • 00:23:20.622 --> 00:23:24.926
  • Loved the church and gave himself for it, in that intimacy
  • 00:23:24.926 --> 00:23:28.897
  • Of married love, that love flows outside the banks and that love
  • 00:23:28.897 --> 00:23:36.238
  • Begins to flood and grow.
  • 00:23:36.238 --> 00:23:38.940
  • And therefore, because in our marriage relationship we have
  • 00:23:38.940 --> 00:23:42.244
  • Such a love relationship with god in christ and with our wife
  • 00:23:42.244 --> 00:23:46.348
  • Or a husband, now everywhere we go in the world, we have the
  • 00:23:46.348 --> 00:23:50.619
  • Capacity to love.
  • 00:23:50.619 --> 00:23:53.088
  • Love is small, intimate, and then it becomes a forest fire.
  • 00:23:53.088 --> 00:23:56.725
  • Then it begins to spread everywhere.
  • 00:23:56.725 --> 00:23:58.560
  • And we can only be effective in your job, in your vocation, in
  • 00:23:58.560 --> 00:24:02.230
  • Relationships as we have loved our wife.
  • 00:24:02.230 --> 00:24:04.833
  • Now we have an explosive love.
  • 00:24:04.833 --> 00:24:08.537
  • You see how god works?
  • 00:24:08.537 --> 00:24:11.840
  • So we have a vow to truth, marriage.
  • 00:24:11.840 --> 00:24:17.679
  • We have a vow to love, marriage.
  • 00:24:17.679 --> 00:24:22.450
  • And we have a vow to something else.
  • 00:24:22.450 --> 00:24:27.923
  • T.l.c., and that c is "cherish."
  • 00:24:27.923 --> 00:24:34.462
  • You are to cherish that person.
  • 00:24:34.462 --> 00:24:36.932
  • What does it mean to cherish?
  • 00:24:36.932 --> 00:24:38.266
  • It's to give high value.
  • 00:24:38.266 --> 00:24:41.202
  • To cherish someone means that you support, you encourage, you
  • 00:24:41.202 --> 00:24:45.907
  • Cheer, you let them know that they are of the highest
  • 00:24:45.907 --> 00:24:51.513
  • Importance in your human life.
  • 00:24:51.513 --> 00:24:54.983
  • They're way up there and they can do nothing or say nothing
  • 00:24:54.983 --> 00:24:59.688
  • That will violate the fact that you have made a vow to truth,
  • 00:24:59.688 --> 00:25:04.859
  • And to love, and to cherish, and to honor them.
  • 00:25:04.859 --> 00:25:09.197
  • Ed: at some point, every marriage will run into
  • 00:25:10.532 --> 00:25:13.234
  • Tough times.
  • 00:25:13.234 --> 00:25:14.736
  • Whether it's miscommunication, money, sex, or in-laws, every
  • 00:25:14.736 --> 00:25:18.340
  • Marriage goes through a rocky patch.
  • 00:25:18.340 --> 00:25:21.142
  • Far too often, those rocky patches end up ruining otherwise
  • 00:25:21.142 --> 00:25:24.813
  • Great, potentially super marriages.
  • 00:25:24.813 --> 00:25:28.016
  • But it does not have to be that way.
  • 00:25:28.016 --> 00:25:31.353
  • God designed marriage, and he gave us the keys to have a
  • 00:25:31.353 --> 00:25:35.290
  • Marriage that works, a marriage that sizzles.
  • 00:25:35.290 --> 00:25:38.293
  • In my book, "the ten commandments of marriage", i lay
  • 00:25:38.293 --> 00:25:41.563
  • Out ten practical principles to make your marriage super.
  • 00:25:41.563 --> 00:25:46.101
  • I hope that you will get this resource today.
  • 00:25:46.101 --> 00:25:51.373
  • Female announcer: to get your copy, call the number on your
  • 00:25:51.373 --> 00:25:53.308
  • Screen or go online at winningwalk.org.
  • 00:25:53.308 --> 00:25:56.511
  • It's our gift to you for your financial support
  • 00:25:56.511 --> 00:25:59.014
  • Of this ministry.
  • 00:25:59.014 --> 00:26:00.749
  • Marriage may not always be bliss, but with god's help, it
  • 00:26:00.749 --> 00:26:04.285
  • Can be amazing.
  • 00:26:04.285 --> 00:26:06.554
  • Ed: how would you like to have a marriage
  • 00:26:10.025 --> 00:26:11.459
  • That lasts? one that is strong and stable and withstands
  • 00:26:11.459 --> 00:26:15.363
  • Those times when you experience the worse
  • 00:26:15.363 --> 00:26:18.199
  • Instead of a better, or sickness instead of health?
  • 00:26:18.199 --> 00:26:22.704
  • The answer is to recognize that your marriage is a triangle.
  • 00:26:22.704 --> 00:26:27.175
  • Marriage is really between a husband and wife,
  • 00:26:27.175 --> 00:26:30.578
  • But it is also a covenant that you make with your spouse
  • 00:26:30.578 --> 00:26:33.782
  • And make with almighty god.
  • 00:26:33.782 --> 00:26:36.985
  • The vows you make were a sacred covenant
  • 00:26:36.985 --> 00:26:39.654
  • Before god, a promise that you will keep him
  • 00:26:39.654 --> 00:26:42.757
  • As the very foundation of your marriage and your home.
  • 00:26:42.757 --> 00:26:46.828
  • Now, listen,
  • 00:26:46.828 --> 00:26:48.163
  • If you'd like to talk to someone about making christ
  • 00:26:48.163 --> 00:26:50.498
  • The very center of your marriage,
  • 00:26:50.498 --> 00:26:52.400
  • The very center of your life,
  • 00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:54.269
  • You need somebody to pray with you or give you counsel.
  • 00:26:54.269 --> 00:26:57.338
  • Just please call the number on your screen.
  • 00:26:57.338 --> 00:27:00.141
  • We are here, and we'd love to speak personally with you.
  • 00:27:00.141 --> 00:27:04.145
  • Let me thank you for watching today.
  • 00:27:04.145 --> 00:27:06.147
  • And i look forward to our time together next week,
  • 00:27:06.147 --> 00:27:09.150
  • Right on the winning walk
  • 00:27:09.150 --> 00:27:12.020
  • With jesus christ.
  • 00:27:12.020 --> 00:27:14.389
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:27:17.459 --> 00:27:17.459