1. Welcome to the assembly of the 160th Ave. Church of Christ!
We gather Sunday at 9 AM (class), 10 AM, 5 PM, & Wednesday at 7 PM
Check the bulletin for various announcements

2. Pray for Ben Calderon (Conway, Arkansas)
Carlos and Priscila Rodriguez; Oct. 1, 2017

3. Pray for Ben Calderon (Conway, Arkansas)

4. "LORD, make me to know my end, And what is the measure of my days, That I may know how frail I am. Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my age is as nothing before You; Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah "And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You. (Psalms 39:4-5, 7 NKJV)

5. Where Does Marriage Come From?
The Mind of God

6. God’s Plan Mt. 19:4-9 Man’s schemes
Edward Webb
I. His plan
A. Ask a sociology or anthropology teacher (or Siri or Google) about the origin of marriage and you will usually be told that marriage originated with man and therefore, like all of man’s ideas, it changes over time.
B. Mt. 19:4-9
1. Jesus shows this was originally God’s plan, not man’s.
2. What role does Jesus say belongs to God? join together (Prov. 2:17)
3. Before Jesus, God temporarily permitted some changes to His original plan (v7-8)
4. But Jesus declares His plan for marriage (v6, 9)
5. Throughout history man has abandoned God’s plan
a. Israel often ignored God’s plan for them, married outside the nation, and were influenced
b. In the lifetime of Jesus, we are told that the Jews permitted divorce for many reasons (wife spilling food)
c. Claim that the church has authority over marriage (sacrament)--we have no authority but to follow J.
d. Claim to follow Jesus but permit marriage, divorce, remarriage He does not permit
e. Remove God from the picture and view government as being in charge or permit every man to do what is right in his own eyes.
Toast Photo:
Cathedral:
24 March 2007, 15:55 Source Truro cathedral Author Edward Webb from Cornwall, UK

7. God’s plan for the pleasure of “together” Gen. 2:18; Prov. 5:15-20
II. His plan for our pleasure
A. Gen. 2:18; 1:28
1. told to multiply, fill, subdue after Eve---do this together
2. learning the value and joy of working together with someone you love and who loves you is not limited to marriage but it is best learned within the family.
B. Prov. 5: rejoice, satisfy, enrapture
1. Parents, don’t hide these verses from your children but gradually explain them as a gift from God that, like water, can enhance life (pure water) or end life (poison water, drown).
2. people who think they can experience some or all of this pleasure outside marriage (pornography, lewd dancing, forn, adult) have believed a lie and ignore the plan that was given for their own happiness.

8. God’s plan to teach us love Eph. 5:22-33 1 Cor. 13:4-8a
IV. His plan for us to better understand love
A. Love and marriage is connected throughout the Bible (27x in SoS, Eph. 5:25; Ti. 2:4)
1. God does not ignore the romance involved in love before and in marriage (Gen. 29:17,18,20; Ezek. 16:8; SoS) but that is not the foundation or pillar of marriage.
2. What do we most learn about love in marriage?
B. Put others ahead of self (self-sacrificial) Eph. 5:22-29
1. both spouses are regularly required to tell themselves “No”
2. both spouses are regularly required to think about the other in the decisions they make
a. wife is to think about respecting him
b. husband is to think about nourishing and cherishing her
C. 1 Cor. 13:4-8a Not to make decisions or react based mainly on how I feel
1. how many different factors affect how you feel? (sleep, other people, memories, expectations)
2. how often does how you feel change in a single day?
3. will love in my marriage grow if I act based on what I choose to think or how I feel?
4. Marriage is a place where my understanding and practice of love grows or dies = God’s plan!

9. God’s plan to teach us about God Wisdom 1 Cor. 1:25
Pleasure in together 1 Cor. 6:16-17
Lead & serve Eph. 5:32
Love Rom. 5:6-8
V. His plan for us to better understand God
A. Wisdom
1. Our society is experimenting with anything they can imagine---any gender, number of ppl, arrangement of leadership, reason for leaving spouse, etc.
2. Jer. 10:23; 1 Cor. 1:25 Man’s efforts without God’s help only further proves God’s wisdom
B. Pleasure of “together” (unity, fellowship)
1. there is no closer earthly relationship than man and woman in marriage—exceeds the closeness of parents, children, grandparents, grandchildren.
2. 1 Cor. 6:17
a. Paul reminds them that you cannot be together (phy) with a harlot and together with Christ (spiritually).
b. the degree of closeness/unity shared in the sexual relationship is God’s effort to teach us the closeness our spirit has with God in Christ.
c. complete harmony, unity, sharing---something you cannot have alone, nor on your terms
C. Perfect in leading and serving Eph. 5:32
1. Husbands, your leadership should help your family (esp wife, kids) to understand the leadership of Jesus.
2. Wives, your submission should help your family to understand the church.
3. Christ has led and followed and by doing the same things He did, we ought to know Him better.
D. Love
1. When in marriage I know and do: put others ahead of myself and not act primarily on feelings then I continue to understand God’s love.
2. Rom. 5:6 put others ahead of self
3. Rom. 5:7-8 willingly died for people who were violent, were liars, and replace truth with man’s ideas despite how those made Him feel.

10. God’s plan for our maturity Eph. 5:22-23
III. His plan for our growth/maturity
A. Nothing makes us grow like responsibility that we choose to accept.
B. Prov. 2:17 (Mt.19:6, 9) God shows the importance of this responsibility by the life-long commitment of marriage and consequences of leaving my spouse.
C. Eph. 5:22-23
1. learning to lead and to submit is part of growing up
a. work is one of the first responsibilities that forces us to grow and work involves leading and following.
b. the advanced class in leading and following is marriage
2. Husbands who are not decision-makers or who think they know how to make every decision alone, are not growing as leaders
3. Wives who make their demands known, are not growing as servants
4. our society’s emphasis on individual freedom and liberty works when God is viewed as the overseer, but without God, it is weakening the maturity and hence the marriages of Americans.
D. God plans to change our attitudes and develop our abilities when we grow and grow up in marriage