Yesterday, we continued of our February "Love &
Sex" series with the topic "From Fizzle to Sizzle."
We based our discussion out of Ephesians 5 which explains "God's Hopes for Marriage." (I briefly referenced 1 Peter 3 which explains "God's Plans for Hurting Marriages.")
Here are some additional thoughts from yesterday:
- The Drama — That was written by one of our volunteers. I thought it illustrated, in a VERY powerful way, the incredible sadness, frustration, & distance that affects so many marriages around us.
- Many Suggestions — Yesterday, I suggested a number of GREAT books & conferences as resources for your marriage. After the services, I got more suggestions from people. Here are their suggestions:
- Books:
- Love & Respect by Emerson Eggerichs
- Sex, Men, & God by Douglas Weiss
- Conference:
- Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage by Mark Gungor
- Video:
- Song of Solomon pick-up lines, a Christian spoof
- Books:
- The 7-Day Challenge — I issued a 7-day challenge to every person in the room to start down the path to spiritual & sexual wholeness.
- (Re: God) Pray 7 straight days for your heavenly & human marriages — Or if you're single, pray 7 straight days for your future spouse & marriage (if that's what God has for you).
- (Re: Love) Love your spouse in THEIR love language for 7 straight days — Whether that's conversation, respect, quality time, words of encouragement…whatever. Or, if you're single, commit to loving the people around you in THEIR love language.
- (Re: Sex) Engage in sexual activity with your spouse for 7 straight days — Notice I said "sexual activity" not sex…the point is to be involved with each other in some manner. If you're engaged or single, start the path to wholeness by NOT being sexually active for 7 straight days & give yourself to a greater level of intimacy with God.
A few final thoughts:
- Stop right now & pray for God to bring spiritual & sexual wholeness to every person connected with the Grace family.
- If you haven't started the 7-day challenge yet, begin today.
- Look on your calendar to see if you can make one of the upcoming marriage or youth conferences.
See you next week as we dive into "Extra Topics."
We appreciated your connecting the “dots” for the church body regarding this heartfelt subject. I personally had a “light bulb” moment about praying for both my human and heavenly marriage. I had always prayed for people individually and am excited about focusing on praying specifically for our marriage as well.
I was talking with another Grace Church attender who thought the Love Dare book concept would be a good follow up at some point soon for the Love & Sex series. I’m thinking that sonofray’s idea on taking care of our bodies–good health and fitness would appeal not only to adults but to all ages of Grace members. I enjoy reading a daily devotional for dieters and have found it helpful for close to two years.
If you could address steps for us to continue on with the Love & Sex series beyond these past three weeks from a biblical perspective, I would find that helpful–as was the suggested readings from you yesterday and here!
Thank you again for giving so much to your church followers of Christ!
Deb — Thanks so much for the words of encouragement. And I’ll have to check out the Love Dare.