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if you've been here for the last few
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weeks you know we're in this series on
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christology which is basically a long
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word to say knowing who Jesus is but
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here's the deal each Sunday as you've
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been here and we've been studying
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different aspects of Jesus it's got to
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work it's got to be
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real it doesn't do any good to know who
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Christ is in a theoretical way or in
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principle or in
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theology if it actually doesn't make a
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difference on Monday you see this person
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of Jesus he's well known far beyond the
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walls of a church most religions have
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Jesus the Same Jesus we know most
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religions have him in their religion
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just not the way we do Society I have
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friends who are not Believers they're
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not Christians they have Jesus in their
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world this great moral teacher who
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walked 2,000 years ago they you should
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study but for us as Christians knowing
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who Jesus
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is must really matter it's got to make a
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difference and so we're going to look at
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a another side of Jesus this morning
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probably one we're familiar with but we
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don't really look at much at all and
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I'll introduce it by uh telling you a
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story that went on over the last couple
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of weeks my wife and I we live on the
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border of LA county and Ventura County
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so we've kind of been in the throws of
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the fire and what's been happening just
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a mile or two from our house people were
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being evacuated during a window of time
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the smoke smell is incredible we've had
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power shut off turned back on shut off
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again you just didn't quite know what
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was going on and some of this happened
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early on while we were both out of the
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country we're trying to get back to our
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house our kids our grandkids live in
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that area you know all of the what is
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happening what will happen and we can't
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get back into the country and every day
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it was quite
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challenging but we were together husband
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and wife and we would hold hands and we
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would pray in the morning we pray in the
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afternoon we pray in the evening while
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we're doing that it was being
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together that made all the difference in
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the world Christ is our savior he's our
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provider he's our healer but you know
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what the Bible says from Genesis to
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Revelation about Christ he's our
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bridegroom he's literally called our
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bridegroom now to understand this IDE a
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I got to show you a picture but before I
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show you this picture I want to warn you
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it's not a picture we normally show on a
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Sunday mornings because it's a little
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intense it's a little heavy so you want
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to just be prepared for it if you have
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young children sitting next to you you
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may want to cover their eyes just for a
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moment or two all right guys you can put
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that picture up there here is a
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picture that picture is from 38 years
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ago you know what's frustrating about
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that now Don't Clap
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you know what's frustrating about that
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picture my wife looks exactly the same
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really she's as beautiful now as she was
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then then there's the other
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guy who's Marie's family and friends are
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going what were you
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thinking for 38 years we have been
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husband and wife and it's a
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picture is
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Jesus your bridegroom
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have you seen him on Monday and thought
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about him in relationship as a
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bridegroom what does that mean for our
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lives look at the screens Ephesians 5
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31-32 says this for this reason a man
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will leave his father and a mother and
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be United to his wife and the two will
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become one flesh this is a profound
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mystery but I am talking about
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Christ and the
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church you see Jesus as our bridegroom
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in many ways it defines our relationship
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now we're going to look at this theme
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from Genesis through Revelation just in
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the few minutes we have together but
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before we do there's two ideas you got
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to kind of lay as a foundation one is
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the idea of a covenant the idea of a
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covenant runs throughout all of the
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Bible from Genesis to revelation God
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makes a covenant with his people he
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makes a covenant with us and when you
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are married as many of you are you make
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a covenant with a husband and wife God
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makes the same kind of Covenant with us
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his Covenant is different though in
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God's covenant bridegroom to bride there
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are no
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prenups none whatsoever amen and we got
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to understand what the Covenant looks
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like that we're called to have as the
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bride of Christ and then secondly
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although this has bearing for
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you most of the time in scripture when
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Christ is identified as a bridegroom it
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is the church that is identified as the
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bride more than me individually and
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although it relates to me individually I
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will never break into this dimension of
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a relationship that Jesus wants me to
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have with him on my
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own we live in a society that is so
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individualistic in its identity I am
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convinced that the prince of this air
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the enemy has created this thought
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pattern where nobody tells you what to
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do you are on your own you figure things
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out by your own and there's this High
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individualism and Jesus says wait a
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minute if you want to know me
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you have to know me as part of the
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church and then you will discover a side
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of me so with Covenant and church kind
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of understood we're going to walk
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Genesis through Revelation as to how the
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Bible teaches Christ as our bridegroom
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and how this affects you tomorrow
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morning when you wake up you see this
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idea of a bridegroom it starts all the
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way back in Genesis where God created
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the idea of marriage look at the screens
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Genesis 2 starting in 23
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three this is Adam and the man said this
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is now bone of my bones and Flesh of My
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Flesh and she shall be called women for
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she was taken out of
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man and that is why a man leaves his
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father and mother and he's United as his
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wife and they both became one flesh Adam
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and his wife were both naked and they
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felt no shame from the very beginning
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God says I'm going to create this
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marriage identity as a way of defining
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my relationship and Adam and Eve and all
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marriages will be a light that reflects
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defining that relationship and here's
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why at the very center of God's heart in
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wanting to relate to you is an idea of
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intimacy and
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Union you can have a savior for your
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life who does it from a distance like a
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valiant soldier on the
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battlefield who saves you but doesn't
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really know you you can have a
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healer who is this Grand medical doctor
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from a distance dispending the right
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kind of medicine but Jesus the
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bridegroom his body was
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broken and bloodied so you could be
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healed you could have a
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provider like a wealthy benefactor an
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old Uncle who you don't know who doesn't
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know you but because your family he
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provides everything you
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need but Jesus the bridegroom
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he came to this
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earth he knows your
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pains he knows your
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heartaches and when he provides he
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doesn't provide as a wealthy
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benefactor he provides as a bridegroom
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who is right there with you in the thick
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and the difficulties of life from the
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very beginning starting in Genesis God
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says this is how I want to relate to you
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and this is how I want you to relate to
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me this bridegroom he is deeply in love
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with you John 159 puts it this
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way as the father has loved
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me so I have loved you can you imagine
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how Indescribable The Father's Love is
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for the
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son and now Jesus is saying that love
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that's the amount of love that I have
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for you this Covenant that we have
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bridegroom to bride don't make any
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mistake about it at the core of it is
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not
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theology at the core of this Covenant is
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this enormous passion that he has for
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you which is sometimes hard for us to
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wrap our brains around there's a book in
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the Old Testament that illustrates how
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Jesus thinks about you it's called the
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song of songs and I'm going to show you
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a verse that you have a choice to make
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do I believe this or do I not believe
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this it comes from Song of Songs chapter
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4 you have stolen my heart my sister my
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bride
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you have stolen my
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heart with one
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glance of your
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eyes here's what Jesus
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says I look at
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you I'm blown
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away I see
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you my heart is just overwhelmed with
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love but if we're honest that's a tough
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tough
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statement to believe sometimes as we
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look at ourselves when I got married 38
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years ago you know typical wedding
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church wedding and you know uh the way
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it happens is the groom comes out like I
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did and I had my best man and then the
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bride comes down the aisle and many of
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you Brides have done that she walks down
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the aisle and you have this moment
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groomed to bride right there's all these
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people we had a huge wedding because
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we're both pastors of this church so
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there's I don't know 7 800 people in the
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auditorium and Marie comes and she's
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walking down the AIS and we're supposed
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to have this like romantic your eyes
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catch each other and everything else
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Fades away there's nobody in the room
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you don't hear anything you just see
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each other this did not happen at my
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wedding she was in the aisle and she
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started coming down the aisle now here's
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what she did honest to God she's walking
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down the aisle and we're supposed to
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have this romantic captivating moment
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and as she's walking down the aisle she
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sees friends and family members and of
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course they're all standing because
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she's the bride she literally starts to
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hug people and Shake people's hands she
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had a
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conversation with a person she hadn't
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seen for years she had a conversation
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I'm up here trying to have this like
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mystical romantic
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moment and she's working the
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room I could have been juggling monkeys
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she didn't know what I was doing up here
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and then my heart
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stopped and I
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realized this is why why I love her so
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much this is who she is and with one
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glance of my eyes my heart was just
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overwhelmed this is how Jesus sees
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you like a bride walking down the
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aisle and he glances at you and he is
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overwhelmed and from the very beginning
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goes that's how want how I want you to
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see how I see you so that's how I want
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you to see see yourself but here's the
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struggle we have often times we make our
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Christianity highly
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transactional it's a deal of some sorts
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it's a transactional with this being
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that's out there that I know exists
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something happens in marriages maybe
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many of you have experienced this is
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about 10 or 15
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years into your marriage you start to
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get stuff including children and you get
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like stuff and all of a sudden there's
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more to manage and this beautiful
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romantic relationship just turns into
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like operational meetings who's going to
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take the kids to soccer what are you
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going to do about these bills and now
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you're just having you know corporate
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operational meetings to manage it this
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happens in our relationship with Christ
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Jesus actually says you forgotten the
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first love because we go from this
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passion this intimacy to now operational
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meetings God I need this bill paid and I
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need this taken care of and what do you
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want from me and how do I serve and
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from Genesis he
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says if you're going to Define our
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relationship Define it by a bridegroom
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and a
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bride and our response to that on a
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Monday morning is to work at the
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passion to be amazed don't work at the
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service don't work at the performance
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work at the
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passion to be a
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amazed that this is how he sees you I
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couldn't believe it when my wife said
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yes to
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me cuz I don't bring much to the table
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I'm a more I'm a quiet kind of guy
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actually and so like you know when you
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get into elevators people who are really
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gregarious and Alor and they'll talk in
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the elevators where's people on the
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planet by the way cuz I don't want to
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talk to you I don't know who you are
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just look at the numbers like the rest
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of us all
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right so so I'm going to propose to my
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wife and I get in the elevator and I do
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the quiet look at the numbers thing she
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lives on like the 26th floor and there's
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people in the elevator nobody's really
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talking I go to her apartment and I'm
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going to propose to her and I propose to
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her and she says yes and I couldn't
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believe it I just couldn't believe it so
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when when we were done I got back in the
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elevator to go back to my apartment and
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I get in the elevator to go down and
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there's like five people in that
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elevator I am no longer the quiet guy
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looking at the numbers I look and I've
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got this huge smile I'm like being me
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and one of the guys says something good
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happened to you and I said she said
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yes who I said this girl she said yes I
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couldn't believe and I for the entire
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ride of the elevator I wanted to hit the
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button I'm not done saying she says yes
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let's do it again you know she said yes
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he said yes to
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you he said
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yes and on Monday morning we should wake
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up
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overwhelmed he said
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yes and the place where you discover
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that
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awe and you keep a hold of that
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passion is not
00:14:45
alone but it's in church together here's
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how the Bible puts it in Revelation 19
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chapter 7 it says this let us rejoice
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and be glad and give him glory for the
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wedding of the Lamb has come his bride
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has made herself ready we are making
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oursel ready and when you are around
00:15:04
each other and you hear stories of lives
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being transformed families being
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reconciled healings taking place
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Provisions all these amazing things that
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are all reflective of one simple truth
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he said yes to you but if you are
00:15:20
isolated you don't hear
00:15:22
that you're not aware of that there are
00:15:26
so many unbelievable Miracles happening
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at
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Cottonwood do you know
00:15:34
them CU if you're in the communities if
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you're a group if you're together even
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being here on a Sunday morning
00:15:40
worshiping it raises up in you a little
00:15:42
bit more of that passion he said yes so
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Genesis
00:15:46
begins with God saying this is how I
00:15:49
want you to Define your relationship to
00:15:53
me and my relationship to you at the
00:15:56
center of it is passion
00:16:00
and love but then we move in to the Old
00:16:05
Testament and things begin to change a
00:16:09
bit because as mankind rejects God
00:16:13
throughout the Old Testament sin if our
00:16:16
relationship is based upon a bride and a
00:16:18
bridegroom you know how sin is defined
00:16:21
it's defined as
00:16:24
adultery when you should be giving your
00:16:26
love to one and you give your love to
00:16:31
others here's how Jeremiah describes it
00:16:33
in Jeremiah chapter 2 verse
00:16:35
two this is what the Lord
00:16:38
says I remember the devotion of your
00:16:42
youth how as a
00:16:45
bride you loved
00:16:47
me I remember there was a day when you
00:16:51
were so passionate about being a Christ
00:16:54
follower but then something
00:16:57
changed he goes on and CH 2:32 and
00:17:00
here's what he
00:17:01
says does a young woman forget her
00:17:04
jewelry a bride her wedding
00:17:07
ornaments yet my
00:17:09
people have forgotten
00:17:12
me you mean you went all week and you
00:17:15
never thought about
00:17:16
me you mean you had serious life
00:17:19
decisions to
00:17:20
make and you didn't ask
00:17:23
me and let me be involved in that you
00:17:27
mean that passion and intimacy that we
00:17:29
had that just kind of has faded
00:17:32
away you mean you're actually now truly
00:17:35
even giving your love to others here's
00:17:38
what Jeremiah says in chapter 3:
00:17:41
20 but like a woman unfaithful to her
00:17:44
husband so you Israel have been
00:17:47
unfaithful to me declares the Lord and
00:17:52
if we're going to understand Christ as
00:17:54
the bridegroom we have to understand
00:17:56
this part of it because every one of us
00:17:58
faces at one moment or
00:18:00
another where sin is now defined as
00:18:04
adultery imagine this imagine a a young
00:18:07
man and a young woman and they're
00:18:09
getting married and it's just amazing
00:18:11
and they come down the aisle and there's
00:18:12
the ceremony and everybody's celebrating
00:18:14
with them and they're having so much fun
00:18:16
and then the reception gets done and
00:18:18
they're now married and they've been
00:18:20
waiting for this moment as a young
00:18:21
couple and they're going to the downtown
00:18:24
area where they reserved the honeymoon
00:18:25
suite and they're both a little nervous
00:18:28
about this but they go there and they
00:18:29
get into the honeymoon suite and the
00:18:31
girl says to the guy you know I saw that
00:18:34
there was a store in the lobby of the
00:18:35
hotel I'm just going to go get a few
00:18:37
things I'll be right back and he says
00:18:39
cool so she goes down the elevator and
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she goes to go into this store of the
00:18:43
lobby of the hotel and she notices in
00:18:45
the lobby of the hotel while her
00:18:47
husband's in the honeymoon suite she
00:18:49
notices that there's a
00:18:51
bar and for some
00:18:53
reason she walks into the
00:18:55
bar and it's dark like bars are and
00:19:00
there's a bar and there's a set of tools
00:19:01
and there's one guy sitting on one stool
00:19:04
uh at the bar and for some reason she
00:19:07
walks up and of all the stools she sits
00:19:09
next to him while her
00:19:11
husband is waiting in the honeymoon
00:19:14
suite and she sits on this stool and he
00:19:17
looks at her he says can I buy you a
00:19:19
drink and she says
00:19:23
yes and she's allowing him to buy him a
00:19:25
drink and they sit there together while
00:19:28
the husband
00:19:29
is in the honeymoon
00:19:31
seat and in a way that would just blow
00:19:33
our
00:19:35
minds she gets up with him and the two
00:19:39
of them walk out of the hotel into the
00:19:42
dark arm in-arm
00:19:46
together leaving the
00:19:48
husband
00:19:50
alone
00:19:52
waiting in the honey room
00:19:54
seat this is the picture that the Bible
00:19:58
presents
00:19:59
when it comes to sin it's not just some
00:20:01
list of moral rules we break or don't
00:20:05
break it's the intimacy of this
00:20:08
relationship where we begin to give our
00:20:10
love to somebody else and if every one
00:20:13
of us was
00:20:14
friends with the
00:20:16
husband and he called us us and he told
00:20:19
us what happened every one of us would
00:20:21
say the same thing we would say Good
00:20:24
Riddance thank God you found out early
00:20:28
enough enough get it an old move on with
00:20:32
your life find somebody worthy of who
00:20:36
you are and we would be angry and we
00:20:38
would be disgusted and we would coach
00:20:41
that husband to forget about it but
00:20:43
Christ the bridegroom doesn't do that he
00:20:48
realizes that his bride is not coming
00:20:51
back and rather than being disgusted he
00:20:54
puts on his coat he goes down the
00:20:56
elevator and he walks into the dark of
00:20:59
the night to hunt you and me down that's
00:21:02
what he does that's the picture but it
00:21:06
begins with
00:21:08
understanding because we face at
00:21:11
times this
00:21:14
temptation to look
00:21:17
elsewhere you see the Covenant the
00:21:20
Covenant is really important the
00:21:22
bridegroom the bridegroom Jesus he gets
00:21:24
really jealous Exodus 34:14 puts it this
00:21:27
way says for you will worship no other
00:21:30
God for the Lord whose name is jealous
00:21:32
is a jealous God now in our English
00:21:35
vernacular we see jealous as a negative
00:21:37
word somebody who's insecure somebody
00:21:39
who's prideful biblically it's not
00:21:41
defined that that way at all when it
00:21:43
says God is a jealous God it means he is
00:21:45
never indifferent I grew up really
00:21:48
independent so when my wife and I first
00:21:49
got married she would say Joel I'm
00:21:51
thinking about doing this and I'd say do
00:21:53
whatever you want she goes well I want
00:21:55
to should I do do whatever you want and
00:21:58
it used to bother her and I thought why
00:21:59
is this bothering her do whatever you
00:22:02
want because she interpreted do whatever
00:22:05
you want as indifference she wasn't all
00:22:09
wrong God is
00:22:12
never
00:22:14
indifferent he's always interested the
00:22:18
bridegroom this Covenant it's highly
00:22:22
exclusive it's just him nobody else
00:22:26
there's actually a teaching in the Bible
00:22:27
that confuses a a lot of people who are
00:22:30
in society sometimes in the church where
00:22:31
God says if they're going to get married
00:22:33
don't have sex before you get married
00:22:35
and people go what is with that and they
00:22:39
see it as an outdated moral law but when
00:22:41
you understand what the Bible teaches
00:22:43
about a bridegroom and a bride here's
00:22:45
what it teaches listen when you get
00:22:47
married when there is a union a covenant
00:22:49
you are giving yourself fully and wholly
00:22:52
the reason why the Bible says don't have
00:22:54
sex is when you give yourself to
00:22:55
somebody you give yourself socially to
00:22:57
them my friends your friends we're
00:22:59
together you give yourself spiritually
00:23:01
to them we are now United in Christ you
00:23:04
give yourself financially to them we're
00:23:06
going to share How We Do money together
00:23:08
and you give yourself physically to them
00:23:12
and it makes sense that God says listen
00:23:14
if you're not going to give yourself
00:23:16
socially or emotionally or psych
00:23:18
psychologically or spiritually or
00:23:20
financially do not give yourself
00:23:22
physically to them yet so that when you
00:23:24
do give yourself you are fully and
00:23:26
completely giving yourself and it is a
00:23:29
picture of our covenant with Christ Our
00:23:32
bridegroom that you give yourself fully
00:23:34
but we have this struggle where there is
00:23:36
this temptation that says I can find
00:23:39
something more and better elsewhere most
00:23:43
of marriages that have affairs do not
00:23:45
happen in the first 5 years they happen
00:23:47
around year 15 year 20 where things get
00:23:50
a little stale and you begin to look
00:23:53
elsewhere and our response to
00:23:56
understanding how the marriage with
00:23:57
Christ is taught through of the Old
00:23:58
Testament is you need to have an
00:24:00
accurate
00:24:02
perspective as to what you bring to the
00:24:04
table and what Christ brings to the
00:24:07
table remember when I said when I just
00:24:09
couldn't believe she said yes cuz look
00:24:12
at me she said yes I bring very little
00:24:16
to the table and she said
00:24:19
yes and when we don't have a
00:24:22
humility or a
00:24:25
gratitude when you don't wake up every
00:24:27
morning going can you believe he chose
00:24:30
me can you believe he saved me when you
00:24:34
get to a place of
00:24:36
entitlement or
00:24:39
Pride you will find yourself easily
00:24:41
tempted to look elsewhere Jesus told a
00:24:44
parable about this two sons both facing
00:24:46
pride and entitlement with their dad the
00:24:48
younger son was really rebellious the
00:24:51
older son was very devout the younger
00:24:53
son goes to the father and says listen I
00:24:55
want my inheritance entitlement I'm
00:24:57
entitled to this Pride I can handle my
00:24:59
inheritance and the father gives it to
00:25:01
him it's like saying dad I kind of want
00:25:04
you dead I'll take care of myself and he
00:25:06
goes off and he does his own thing and
00:25:08
his life is destroyed and then he
00:25:10
realizes and remembers oh yeah my
00:25:11
father's there and he comes back to his
00:25:13
father and when he comes back the father
00:25:15
runs out to him and grabs him and
00:25:17
Embraces him and loves him and now the
00:25:19
older son entitlement in Pride wait a
00:25:21
minute I stayed here I served you I
00:25:24
should be the one getting the party I'm
00:25:25
entitled to it pride I'm the one who did
00:25:28
good you can be highly
00:25:30
religious and still be very much out of
00:25:33
the bridegroom relationship because I'm
00:25:36
entitled I've done the right stuff and
00:25:38
pride sets in I am
00:25:41
worthy and the way that we fight the
00:25:46
Temptation is every morning you wake up
00:25:49
not with a sense of entitlement and
00:25:51
pride but with this
00:25:53
humility and this
00:25:55
unbelievable gratitude
00:25:58
let's face it we are all like Amazon
00:26:00
markdown
00:26:01
items before salvation and then after
00:26:05
salvation with Christ now you shine the
00:26:09
glory out but before salvation you bring
00:26:13
very little to the
00:26:14
table he said yes and the Old Testament
00:26:18
teaches us about this and this is where
00:26:20
you discover this humility and gratitude
00:26:24
in the church for 38 years Marie and I
00:26:26
have been married and one of the best
00:26:28
things that has helped our marriage not
00:26:30
just survive but Thrive are other people
00:26:33
other husbands and wives other people
00:26:36
whose stories resonated with us and if
00:26:39
you're here and you're
00:26:40
isolated you find yourself like a lone
00:26:44
sheep highly exposed where entitlement
00:26:47
and pride can seek in and change that
00:26:50
where you begin to look elsewhere so in
00:26:53
Genesis you have God saying this is what
00:26:55
I want out of our relationship then in
00:26:57
the Old Testament you say sin is
00:26:59
adultery because we are a bride and a
00:27:00
bridegroom and I've got to react to that
00:27:03
and watch out for that but then we get
00:27:04
into the New Testament where Christ
00:27:06
actually fulfills the Old Testament
00:27:08
Covenant look at the screens Hosea 21:16
00:27:10
puts it this way Hosea 21:16 in that day
00:27:13
declares the Lord you will call me my
00:27:16
husband you will no longer call me my
00:27:19
master now look at what Jesus says in
00:27:22
Mark 2: 18 now John's disciples and the
00:27:25
Pharisees were fasting and some people
00:27:27
came and asked Jesus how is it that
00:27:29
John's disciples and The Disciples of
00:27:30
the Pharisees are fastings but yours are
00:27:33
not and Jesus answered how can the
00:27:35
guests of the bridegroom fast while he
00:27:37
is with them they cannot so as long as
00:27:40
they have him with them but the time
00:27:42
will come when the bridegroom will be
00:27:43
taken from them and on that day he will
00:27:46
fast so in the Old Testament there's
00:27:48
this prophecy wow we're going to be
00:27:50
married in the New Testament Christ
00:27:52
comes up and he says
00:27:54
listen I am that bridegroom and his very
00:27:57
first Miracle is at a wedding where the
00:28:00
mom tries to set him up at the
00:28:02
bridegroom because there's no wine
00:28:03
bridegroom's responsibility and she says
00:28:06
Jesus take care of this and he goes my
00:28:08
hour is not yet come I am not ready to
00:28:10
be the bridegroom yet no no take care of
00:28:13
it so he does it even though he's not
00:28:15
ready to be the bridegroom when does his
00:28:18
hour come he starts using the language
00:28:20
my hour has come when he comes to the
00:28:22
Lord's supper and his
00:28:25
cross and that's the moment where he
00:28:27
goes okay
00:28:29
now through my death I will be the
00:28:33
bridegroom in ancient culture when a
00:28:35
Jewish man got married he wore a crown
00:28:37
he was a king for a day our bridegroom
00:28:40
wore a crown of thorns in ancient
00:28:43
culture a Jewish man would wear one gown
00:28:44
that would have no tear or seam in it
00:28:46
whatsoever Jesus had that clothing and
00:28:49
the picture we get is even in his death
00:28:52
that's the picture of when he becomes
00:28:54
our bridegroom he fulfills his vow to us
00:28:57
and this is the Covenant we have Christ
00:29:00
who has fulfilled his vow to us in that
00:29:04
picture of chasing us down you may not
00:29:07
realize this and it's hard to imagine
00:29:09
but when we were first dating my wife
00:29:11
dumped
00:29:12
me can you why aren't you shocked by
00:29:14
that you should be going no no she
00:29:18
dumped me and I worked to get her back
00:29:23
and I
00:29:24
succeeded but that's the picture we
00:29:27
often times have yeah it's too late now
00:29:29
that's the
00:29:30
picture that's the picture we often
00:29:32
times have of our relationship with God
00:29:35
yeah I screwed up so he dumped me now I
00:29:38
got to work to get him
00:29:41
back and that is the wrong picture when
00:29:43
you understand Jesus as your bridegroom
00:29:46
he fulfilled his vow and now we are
00:29:50
called to fulfill our vows Hallelujah
00:29:54
and our vows is as the Bible says we die
00:29:57
to our yourself and here's where the
00:29:58
struggle is cuz we don't want to die to
00:30:00
oursel how many of you are married how
00:30:02
many of you are in here are married
00:30:03
right now amen have you ever realized
00:30:05
when you get married how it exposes how
00:30:08
selfish you
00:30:09
are really I heard it and it's true when
00:30:11
you get married you discover how selfish
00:30:13
you are when you have kids you discover
00:30:15
how angry you
00:30:17
are but when you're married so I now
00:30:20
you're going you're never going to
00:30:21
listen to another sermon I give you but
00:30:22
when we were when we were getting
00:30:24
together I love to do stuff outside so I
00:30:27
wanted to go bik riding with Marie Marie
00:30:29
was born and raised on the south side of
00:30:30
Chicago Nobody Rides bikes on the south
00:30:32
side of Chicago you ride buses those are
00:30:33
your bikes no riding bikes but I said
00:30:36
come on honey and I pitched it like it
00:30:38
would be something she would love all
00:30:40
along I wanted to go bike riding on the
00:30:42
lakefront in Chicago so she because
00:30:44
she's selfless was willing to do it so I
00:30:46
get the bikes to go bike riding and the
00:30:48
lakefront of Chicago is full of people
00:30:51
it's really crowded I didn't care I
00:30:52
wanted to go bike riding so she has her
00:30:54
bike I have my bike she's never rid a
00:30:56
bike in her life I don't give her a
00:30:59
lesson I just said come on let's
00:31:00
go she managed to going and we're going
00:31:03
all a sudden I hear this scream behind
00:31:05
me and she has fallen head over her bike
00:31:08
crashed into something and the first
00:31:11
that thrs my mind is oh crap I hope that
00:31:14
doesn't ruin a bike
00:31:16
ride isn't that horrible it's just
00:31:19
horrible yeah you have your own story
00:31:21
and you know what I'm talking
00:31:24
about inherently we're not selfless
00:31:29
and our response to Christ and his
00:31:33
vow is to realize wow I need to take my
00:31:39
vow to him seriously because he took his
00:31:43
vow to me incredibly seriously
00:31:46
Hallelujah and I need to do that because
00:31:49
here's why many people say it takes love
00:31:51
to sustain a marriage I actually believe
00:31:54
it takes marriage to sustain
00:31:56
love cuz when you get together you love
00:31:58
each other and you get married and then
00:32:00
you begin to build a life together and
00:32:02
then there are seasons where love just
00:32:03
seems to go out the window and you look
00:32:05
at the Spirit going what was I
00:32:07
thinking and in those moments the
00:32:11
Covenant keeps you together amen and
00:32:15
then love comes back and it's renewed
00:32:17
and it's refreshed and it's even greater
00:32:19
but if you only base it upon this
00:32:21
emotional passion of love and not the
00:32:23
Covenant you will find it very difficult
00:32:26
there are times in our walk with Christ
00:32:28
where you may feel like he went out the
00:32:30
window and I feel all
00:32:33
alone and in those moments the
00:32:36
Covenant because the Covenant will
00:32:38
sustain a love and if you stick to that
00:32:41
Covenant now here's the deal you go well
00:32:43
what's My Vow if you read through the
00:32:45
New Testament most of the vows of
00:32:47
Christians in a covenant with Jesus are
00:32:50
centered in how we treat each other
00:32:52
they're actually more about carrying
00:32:54
each other's burdens forgiving each
00:32:56
other loving each other how we treat the
00:32:59
world that is how we live out our
00:33:01
covenant vow to
00:33:03
Jesus so you look at
00:33:06
yourself am I taking my Covenant vow to
00:33:09
the
00:33:11
Lord as
00:33:13
seriously as he took his Covenant vow to
00:33:18
me Genesis this is what I want
00:33:23
passion Old Testament it's adultery
00:33:28
you've given your love somewhere else
00:33:31
new testament Christ fulfills it he's
00:33:33
the bridegroom and he really fulfilled
00:33:36
his vow and still does you got to
00:33:38
fulfill your vow not as a means of
00:33:40
earning his love but as a means of
00:33:43
responding to his love and then you get
00:33:45
to this final age in the Book of
00:33:47
Revelation look at the screens 199 says
00:33:50
this in Revelation chapter
00:33:52
19:9 blessed are those who are invited
00:33:55
to the wedding supper of the lamb
00:33:58
there's this future age the age that we
00:34:01
look forward to it's almost like while
00:34:04
we're on this Earth we're like an
00:34:06
Engaged couple waiting for that moment
00:34:08
you ever met engaged couple they are the
00:34:10
happiest people on the planet they have
00:34:12
no idea what's facing them they are the
00:34:13
happiest people on the
00:34:15
planet and all they're doing as an
00:34:17
Engaged couple is planning the future
00:34:20
how many kids do you want where are we
00:34:22
going to live what kind of career are we
00:34:23
going to do and they're they're so
00:34:25
thrilled in planning the future in some
00:34:27
some ways our life on this planet is
00:34:31
planning the
00:34:32
Future these 80 years they're important
00:34:35
but make no mistake about it when Christ
00:34:38
is your bridegroom these 80 years do not
00:34:40
define
00:34:42
you that time come on defines you so
00:34:47
what I'm doing now is everything in
00:34:51
preparation for that time because this
00:34:53
bridegroom he has this incredible plan
00:34:57
for a future with you Hebrews 13:5 puts
00:35:00
it this way says this God has said never
00:35:04
will I leave
00:35:05
you never will I forsake you you see
00:35:09
this Covenant it's not just passion it's
00:35:11
not just exclusive it's not just about a
00:35:13
vow this Covenant is
00:35:16
permanent and sometimes we
00:35:19
struggle in wondering wow am I separated
00:35:25
from Jesus it will never be taken from
00:35:29
you Romans 8:35 puts it this where where
00:35:32
it says who shall separate us from the
00:35:34
love of Christ shall trouble or hardship
00:35:35
or persecution or famine or nakedness or
00:35:38
danger or
00:35:40
sword as it is written for your sake we
00:35:42
Face death all day long we are
00:35:44
considered asleep to be sheep to be
00:35:46
slaughtered knowing in all these things
00:35:48
we are more than conquerors through him
00:35:51
who loved us for I am convinced that
00:35:54
neither death nor
00:35:55
life neither angels nor demons neither
00:35:58
the present nor the future nor any
00:36:00
powers neither height nor depth nor
00:36:02
anything else in all creation will be
00:36:05
able to separate us from the love of God
00:36:07
that is in Christ Jesus our
00:36:10
lord this is you and this
00:36:14
Covenant is
00:36:17
permanent and our response is to know
00:36:21
that the Covenant we have with a
00:36:23
bridegroom is completely based on
00:36:28
trust 1 John 4:16 puts it this way we
00:36:33
know and
00:36:35
rely on the love that God has for us
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