Untitled Sermon

Scripture affirms both predestination and genuine human freedom/culpability (therefore need for personal due diligence). When we are living within God's prescribed will, we are encouraged by Scripture to do as we please... and God would safeguard the journey.

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Acts 17:26–27 “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,”

Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”

2 Samuel 7:3–4 “And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.” But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan,”

1 Thessalonians 4:3–8 “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.”

We are instructed by Solomon to not just trust in the Lord, but operate both with personal wisdom and vetting, and get help from people around us in navigating life and romance in its specific context.

Psalm 37:23–24 “The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.”

Proverbs 26:4–5 “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.”

Proverbs 3:5–7 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.”

Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”

Proverbs 4:26 “Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.”

Proverbs 24:6 “for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.”

Proverbs 11:14 “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.”

Proverbs 27:15 “A continual dripping on a rainy day and a quarrelsome wife are alike;”

Proverbs 19:13 “A foolish son is ruin to his father, and a wife’s quarreling is a continual dripping of rain.”

Song of Solomon 1:3 “your anointing oils are fragrant; your name is oil poured out; therefore virgins love you.”

Marriage is a divine institution created to join a man and a woman together for the purpose of becoming fruitful and creating Godly children. Yet it is God who work within us that no one should boast of his salvation.

Genesis 1:28 “And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.””

Malachi 2:15 “Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.”

Ephesians 2:8–10 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Revelation 13:8 “and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.”