We all want to life a successful full life, but what if we are chasing the wrong things? What if the things we are chasing actually distract us from the things that really do matter? If God has created us and given us this life, wouldn’t He know the best way for us to get the most out of this life? But when we live as if we have no boundaries we ruin our chances of living the successful, meaningful life that God has given. In the first week of this series, Pastor Sean shows what the Bible has to say about our singleness, our dating relationships, and our marriage and how we can leverage each of them to live the life God has intended for us.

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MESSAGE NOTES

What if we spending our lives chasing things that ultimately rob us of the very things that made life matter?

 

We live without regard to boundaries and ruin our chances to actually win. So, we’ll look at the Bible to see how God says we should handle the things that matter most.

 

Background of 1 Corinthians

  • Paul started church in Corinth, at the end of his 2nd trip
  • At the beginning of 3rd, he gets letter from Corinth in Ephesus
  • The followers of Jesus were beginning to be persecuted by the roman Empire

1 Corinthians 7:1-10 

Now regarding the questions you asked in your letter. Yes, it is good to abstain from sexual relations.[a] But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband.

The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs. The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives authority over his body to his wife.

Do not deprive each other of sexual relations, unless you both agree to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time so you can give yourselves more completely to prayer. Afterward, you should come together again so that Satan won’t be able to tempt you because of your lack of self-control. I say this as a concession, not as a command. But I wish everyone were single, just as I am. Yet each person has a special gift from God, of one kind or another.

So I say to those who aren’t married and to widows—it’s better to stay unmarried, just as I am. But if they can’t control themselves, they should go ahead and marry. It’s better to marry than to burn with lust.

10 But for those who are married, I have a command that comes not from me, but from the Lord.[b] A wife must not leave her husband.

  • Be sexually pure unless you can’t and then be married.

Ephesians 5:31-32

As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.”[a] 32 This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one.

There are limitations that come with marriage.

  • We often pursue our success over marriage and family.
  • There is a difference between our potential and our capacity.

 

To Those Dating

  • If you start with what you want in a boyfriend/girlfriend thats what you look for. But if you start with what does God want in your boyfriend/girlfriend then that is what you will pursue.
  • What you use them to get them to like you is what you’ll have to use in order to keep them. Fish with the right bait.
  • Be the right kind of person the person you’re looking for would want to date.

Do what best helps you serve God without distraction!