Untitled Sermon

Welcome:

Good evening everyone, I am so glad that we are finally able to come back together again. Theres no snow or ice in the forecast today woohoo.

Announcements:

Kevin: If you havent heard Kevin Huber the 9th & 10th grade boys small group leader passed away on Feb 3rd just before noon

Youtube channel: We are starting a youtube channel. I have already posted what we would have talked about last week. Harvest Students Wapak.

Scene 75: Deadline 3/9

Game:

Eras of Love: We are going to play a game as a group, I will ask if you think its true raise your hadn then false and we will see who is right.

Intro:

For the next two weeks we are going to discuss something that will apply to every student in this room at some point. We are going to be talking about dating and relationships. Thats right its February we just had valentines day and its the month where it seems like everyone sets aside to tell someone how they really feel about them.

Now as you could see from the game that we played every culture and time period has their own way to express affection for one another, and I must say, Im glad that I didnt have to eat a sweaty apple.

Now I dont know about you, but thinking back on the time that I was in high school which was longer ago than I would like to admit, as Im thinking back to all my friends and the relationships that they had while they were in high school I think there is probably one word that could describe most of them.

Any guesses on what that one word would be?

Drama

Yes drama, now my whole high school had about 40 students in it. So there was no you couldnt date that person because I dated them. Instead it just became one big drama filled soap opera, and honestly it was kinda hard to keep up with who was dating who at times. Homecoming and our version of prom was a real treat of a time as there were only about 5 girls in the whole high school that the guys actually wanted to ask, and they were pretty much the ones that all the guys were also trying to date. So our entire high school dating scene was a mess to say the very least. Because remember there were only like 40 of us, and the majority of those 40 also went to the same church together, and also played sports together.

But the thing is you never really knew what was going on, there was very little consistency and a whole lot of whiplash watching people go from the joy of finding the love of their lives, to two weeks later hating their guts, but still having to share the soccer field and church youth choir with them. Maybe some of you can relate to seeing that going on around you.

We were made for relationships

Relationships have always been a huge deal in fact we were made for relationships, God even tells us how important relationships are when He created the first man.

Genesis 2:15–18 NIV

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

God tells us right here right after creating Adam that it was not good for man to be alone. Now whats special about this particular statement is that this is the first time that we see where God said something was not good. All up until this point God created the heavens and the earth. It is good. God created the fish and the plants and animals, and after He created each one of those He stated that it is good. However after seeing that Adam was alone God understood that He needed someone to be with him.

So we see that God wanted us to have relationships, so much so that He made sure that Adam had some one suitable to do life with.

Genesis 2:21–22 NIV

So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

So after reading this some people might say that Eve was the first mail order bride. Im kidding, but Eve was created specifically for Adam, and was made to be in a relationship with him.

However it is important to realize that just because we are made for relationships does not mean that we should just run around and jump into a dating relationship with the first person that will say yes. As tempting as that may be for some of you.

But we have to make sure that we are careful with the relationships that we have. That we take care of each other, and protect each other.

Relationships are complicated

Just because we were made for relationships does not mean that they are easy. Relationships are also complicated, and expensive…

Say you spend on average $30 per date which means youre eating mcdonalds and going for a walk in the park and maybe getting a milkshake after the walk. You do that every other week. Anybody have any guesses as to how much you spend in a year? $780

Now thats not including birthday presents, Christmas presents, flowers for valentines day etc…

But not only are relationships financially complicated, they are also emotionally complicated. Remember back to the beginning the story of my high school watching everyone dating one person one day and then someone else next week. The thrill of getting a yes, then the heart break of getting dumped. It gets complicated. And thats without even bringing in the fact that we are people and sometimes those people make mistakes, and make each other mad. Then you have to spend two days trying to make it up to your boyfriend or girl friend for whatever it is that you did in their dream.

But what gets really complicated is when we get our relationships out of order from where they are supposed to be. And suddenly we are more concerned with our relationship with our boyfriend or girlfriend than we are with our relationship with God.

We can see this exact scenario happen in the relationship with Adam and Eve.

Genesis 2:16–17 NIV

And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

We see that God gave Adam the command not to eat of that particular tree. Then the snake comes along.

Genesis 3:4–5 NIV

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

And then after the snake confused Eve she takes it to Adam

Genesis 3:6 NIV

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Now here is the thing a lot of people put all the blame on Eve because she is the one who handed him the fruit to eat. Now no she should not have eaten the fruit and should not have handed it to Adam, however it says right there in verse 6 She gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. So obviously He did not stop her. He was not the leader that he should have been, so in my mind there is more fault there on Adam who got the rule straight from God and never stopped Eve.

Now the moral of this story isnt just about how terrible Adam and Eve were and they ruined life for humanity and because of them we have to do laundry. All of that may be true but, the thing is that we have to make sure that the people that we are in relationships with are pushing us toward Jesus and not away. That the person you are dating is handing you the Bible and not the forbidden fruit.

Because remember Unless you are following after Jesus with all that you have, no other relationship will fill that void.

We have to get the relationship with Jesus right first, and then while seeking after Him the rest of our relationships will fall into place.