Gal 3:15 +17

15 Brothers, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no-one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case.

17 What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise.

Ø  The covenant of marriage, is it decided at the Altar? Of course not it is decided long before in the heart. In the same way it is not kept alive by the piece of paper.

Ø  A Law does not add to or take away from a promise. A human covenant is based on Honor, faithfulness, trust, NOT PAPER!

o   What happened at the City Hall this morning was not your covenant!

o   That piece of paper is not your marriage.

Zb.. If I were to burn the paper would the covenant end?

Matt 19:3-11

3 Some Pharisees came to interview him and tried to trap him into saying something that would ruin him. "Do you permit divorce?" they asked. 4 "Don't you read the Scriptures?" he replied. "In them it is written that at the beginning God created man and woman, 5 and that a man should leave his father and mother, and be forever united to his wife. The two shall become one-- no longer two, but one! And no man may divorce what God has joined together." 7 "Then, why," they asked, "did Moses say a man may divorce his wife by merely writing her a letter of dismissal?" 8 Jesus replied, "Moses did that in recognition of your hard and evil hearts, but it was not what God had originally intended. 9 And I tell you this, that anyone who divorces his wife, except for fornication, and marries another, commits adultery."

10 Jesus' disciples then said to him, "If that is how it is, it is better not to marry!" 11 "Not everyone can accept this statement," Jesus said. "Only those whom God helps. (TLB)

Ø  Don't you read the Scriptures?

o   The Book is the marriage manual. It is written…

o   Leave Father and Mother

o   Be forever united to his wife

o   The two shall become one-- no longer two, but one!

Ø  No Divorce! But Pastor that’s normal today and…

o   "Moses did that in recognition of your hard and evil hearts, but it was not what God had originally intended

§  This is my marriage not God’s! What’s God got to do with MY Marriage? Marriage was not meant to be lived without God! That is the reason that their hearts became hard!

o   "If that is how it is, it is better not to marry! Even the disciples were not used to a covenant relationship. They said if there is no way out then let’s not start it! Maybe this is the better solution for some! But Jesus had a better idea, the original idea!

o   "Not everyone can accept this statement, "Only those whom God helps.

§  If we do not allow him to help us, we will fail. We may not always divorce physically, there are those that have divorced in their hearts and are just living together. We will never find the true fulfillment that he intended us to have.

§  Don’t Forget! Begin right, continue with him.

§  what God has joined together. Let God into your marriage today! Has he been allowed to Join your marriage?

PRAY