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00:00:00 So today we're going to do it you know it's quite interesting because this happens in chapter 24 of the Book of Genesis and prior that you know what you have you have stories of incest you have story of the wars you have thought destruction of Binding of Isaac it's all doom and gloom no the first 11 chapters is the genealogy then chapter 12 the story of the Patriarchs begin and it's all very very dark this come to chapter 24 it's crashing lending on you uh see only the youth understanding all the old people
00:00:36 huh really uh so today we're going to talk about dating and we're going to take some lessons here and we are basically going to do this for our young adults and our youth and all you adults don't fall asleep there are lessons here for us in our relationships with people let's come before the Lord in prayer Lord I ask you humble me because I struggle on hearing my voice float across this Hall uh I struggle with humility I struggle with going in the spirit and very tempting to go in natural strength so I ask Lord remove
00:01:15 all of that to go in the power of the holy spirit that you speak I remain teachable your people hear and your spirit move and anoints and your power make manifest here in Jesus name we see this in amen uh here is uh next week's Sermon Just to for you guys uh we're continuing on with the series on Matthew Alex going to take us on the last judgment difficult facts and then yidan on the anointing and then our chairman will take us on the Passover and the last supper and we are going chronologically from Matthew 25 to
00:01:53 26 okay uh let me just read the text for you all right uh and we're just going to go through it and process it 24:1 Abraham was now very old and the Lord had blessed him in every way he said to the senior servant in his household the name is Elijah the one in charge of oad put your hand under my tie I want you to swear by the Lord the god of Heaven and the god of Earth that you will not get a wife of my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I'm living but will go to my country and my relatives
00:02:28 and get a wife of my son Isaac the servant asked him what if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land shall I then take your son back to the country you came from make sure you do not take my son back there Abraham said the Lord the god of Heaven who brought me on my father's household and to my native land and who spoke to me and promised me a old thing to your Offspring I will give this land he will send his Angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there there if the woman is unwilling to come
00:03:03 back with you then you will be released on this oath of Mind only do not take my son back there so the servant put his hand under the tie of his master Abraham and SW an oath to him concerning this me a little trivial in in ancient uh Jewish during that time when you put your hand under th don't do that now okay they'll arrest you all right but you do it you you know where if you go up the tie where it hits right okay basically Family Jewels in case you havei is actually talking about genealogist okay it's about geneologies
00:03:39 and continuity and this is a theme uh the Genesis takes on because before this uh the story turns about when you look at the first 11 chapter the question is who is the line of the seed of the woman all right because salvation is coming from a SE for woman and then chapter 12 opens up with the Patriarchs and God says he will come from this line I don't have a son I don't have a son and you struggle struggle is it ishmail is it coming from Elijah because he is my servant and finally is Isaac and so now
00:04:14 after chapter 22 chapter 23 Abraham buys a plot of land for the son for the wife from the Hittites claiming the land and chapter 4 now it opens on the genealogy and we now are seeing how God is going to move move from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Israel that's how you look at the large picture so point one purpose marriage isn't just for happiness that's key you know and I think a lot of us make mistakes on this so what's the purpose here in fact Abraham doesn't say like modern parents oh you you decide l so long you're happy
00:04:55 the classic thing is when Progressive paral is so long you're happy we are happy actually not true one by the way but he gives a reason for marriage the and he ties here to your Offspring I will give this land Offspring meaning Isaac so what's the function of marriage as far as Abraham is concerned so you can get a wife from a son so that the abrahamic Covenant and the blessings of Abraham will be transferred on correctly right so Abraham didn't just say well you know son go marry your your your rich man s s got so much money
00:05:32 canite all the women go and Mar he didn't do that he was very sure to Ure the line carries on the baon and the Next Generation the Next Generation carries on and makes sure the Covenant blessings continue that's the function of marriage for Abraham so here's the problem with what Hollywood teaches us and this is the programming we get so when you're young you're IDE listic you find a boyfriend you find a girlfriend wow your world just explodes everything is there and then you have this thing you get married and
00:06:09 you live happily ever after sorry for the screw language there the biggest piece of BS the devil ever fed you I'm telling you because it doesn't exist in the Bible number one after they got married they waited 20 years to have children just like Abraham and uh uh and struggled with it with Sarah so they did and then when they had kids they played favorites like most Chinese parents he didn't listen to her this guy very mCP one or prophecy was given didn't listen and so she Conn him in his old age and
00:06:44 the the the tragedy about this story is that it begins so romantically and the last account of both of them is a very sad account it's almost like the authors are telling you that you can start off right but you can end up badly so so that's quite common isn't it you stand up well in love and you end up badly and what happens we will we go through this in the next sermon series is that because of the Corn she will never see her favorite son ever again we'll take that through next month right so dating tip
00:07:14 number one don't make getting a boyfriend or girlfriend your idol God use dysfunctional families the families are dysfunctional we have this idea that I and let me explain it's important to work at your marriage and to work at your families but you cover the whole thing from here onward they all dysfunctional they don't end well there's no happy ending one Jacob does the same he's a terrible father and he's a terrible husband he's really bad news this guy all right he never loved one of his wives and as a father he's a his
00:07:46 completely in my view useless as a father un his old age right God completes you you know you know older people will know there's a movie called Jerry Maguire and here another kind of nonsense they feel one of the most famous holiday LI or sorry Hollywood Li Tom Cruz looking at Ry Zer as says you complete me nonsense only God completes you it doesn't and here's the thing I want to say this to all youth you know I tell you why when I was a young uni I was the word the Mal word used for people like
00:08:22 me is the word had up had up everybody girlfriend I got no girlfriend M so feel under pressure so did a lot of wrong women one before the right women came because God was very gracious to me my wife in second service so I can say a bit more today so I'm telling you along the way I learned to be happy singer I'm is one thing I want to really impress you got to learn to be happy single you really really got to be happy single if you sort of go through life saying know when am I going to get a boyfriend when am I
00:08:58 going a girlfriend that's very very dangerous thinking because you will think that a spouse will satisfy you for life or insulate you from the difficulties it will not let me let me give you some simple stats first 40% of all marriages end in divorce the stats are going down a little bit you know why it's not because of what it's because less people are getting married people are so scared of getting married now they just cohabitate after that you get married there are those who are in marriages but
00:09:25 they unhappy you know so that number really goes up so we really talk about happy marriages 40% goes up to say 60 then life is difficult you got financial problem you got children problem you got death got diseases so the chances of you having that ever after life is a minority then you say oh look around CH all don't look very happy how do you know they just don't show you they just don't show you so this is one thing I want to say to all young adults and youth don't be like me don't be hard up live single and
00:10:02 be happy and if things go bad in your life later on you will still be happy right so uh just now Paul talk about the do not be yokeless okay we we understand that we preached on that before I've spoken on it that scripture is very clear you should marry a Christian now here's the reality of it unfortunately this is very difficult so we're going to go into this and this is his checklist the checklist is very very there's only three you know one cannot be a can kn right two must go back to Mesopotamia
00:10:33 that's where he from oods okay three the sun cannot go back there now if you notice his checklist there's none of this oh I I I hope he's very tall I hope he drives a nice car is is he a graduate you know there none of it she only had three you know but nowadays our checklist is huge so here dating tip number two the selection is very more you you can't get the girl from Canon not from the Hittites from the isites and you find later on isau makes that mistake you got to go all the way back there so whatever you get you just take
00:11:12 you tell you go there fre go you just so this checklist thing I struggle a little bit with this I I I think Florence checklist was very real but let me discuss got all of us got checklist one you go take off the boxes all right you look at this checklist you know what's the issue you read the checklist it's all about me correct no all about me he must be tall he must put notes in my locker he must be goofy uh when're doing partner project must be with me other let me be my friends get a little bit jealous okay
00:11:46 but not too much but give me random hugs hello this one really did Serious counseling I'm telling you so let me give you a few what I think the checklist should be number one now and I think Paul poked it up but just now you look for significant other that's willing to grow in faith that's the key it's not for an outward SS of godliness you see you see Christians have a issue especially you're very involved in church oh I want to look for Godly person oh he does a b CDE e f he that's only the public you know maybe privately
00:12:17 he has got some really bad habits you know maybe go go and check his computer it's true he's not going to tell you because he's trying to project an image to get you m so you got to look for genuine willingness to change that is the key so you can be very involved in church and other person is very immature but if that person is willing to change and grow that one first checklist take off already here's the second one now okay and I I I spend some time with some people not from this church you got I try to get to know
00:12:52 people and I think Christians have two extremes one is like the earlier checklist is all about me because I have needs which is fair another one people try to be very spiritual about it so once you tar the checklist very long one you know and then you got not many people in church what the chances of you getting married very very slim I tell you it's not realistic so there's a balancing you have you know so there was one guy was spending time with no and he told me oh she has to be checklist all very
00:13:20 biblical oh very profound then H she got this very bad habit you know mentioned some bad habit hey can you go and talk to her about it why should I talk to her about it you talk to her you Church Elder so in think actually that one an issue to you no no no not issue she must be Godly is it issue to you no she must be Godly person is it issue to you yeah I think so you follow me because why do we get married because we have needs but then you pluck any girl and marry her so there are some needs you can't marry people of like
00:13:54 strangers one guy is like very obnoxious or like Uncle Anna very noisy the other girl very quiet hey bet you drive me up the wall correct or not one person are very opiated the other one everything also can can can can you you you can't very hard to live together so there is this balance and I think you need to divide them into uh first priorities second priorities and negotiables because certain things people can work at to accommodate some things they find it very hard so here's the thing about
00:14:27 finding that balance here's the third thing your checklist will change one let me tell you this you think after a time she will like this you know random hugs please must be goofy after while when he is 50 is's goofy she will say why are you so immature correct or not now of course you like him to be goofy the always smiling around me after what why you so fake one always smiling one in front of your kids smiling one you know not real you know okay now the last one is this is one that we don't realize and I tell
00:14:57 you this because again I spend time with people and and I had one lady speak to me and she saw how her mom and dad fought all the time and so she decided when she find a husband she's not going to she's going to find a guy who dors off here's the problem you're colored by that and what happens when you went to relationships you replace one problem another problem your parents fought actually fighting is good you know all the psychologist tell you that it's not the fighting it's what you do after the fighting that matters
00:15:27 if you fight but you forgive there Grace and that's biblical you don't fight at all you know what it sometimes means you don't talk about your problems you bury it inside and over time both of you become strangers and in that particular sad case divorced so be be very real about the checklist all right on this all right dating treat number three dating should be marriage minded like what Paul says verse 10 then the servant left taking with him 10 of his master's Camas loaded with all kinds of good things from his
00:15:59 master he set up for Aram naram and made his way to the town of n this verse is really funny if you don't get it you see he's going to this town now you know he's trying to say I wonder where the girls are verse 11 he had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town it was toward evening the time the women go out to draw water so imagine this old guy with camels he goes there he settles down and then all the girls come out at his STS like that he's actually the word is he's checking out the girls you know now
00:16:37 young man don't do that don't hang around girls lockers rooms or girls toilets you will get arrested again not asking you to do that but that's what he's doing he's very intentional about it that's the word he knows where the ladies are okay he knows where the honey is and he's the bee all right then he prayed Lord God Master Abraham make me successful Today show kindness to my master Abraham see I'm standing beside this spring and the daughters of the Town people coming out to draw water may it be that when I say to a young woman
00:17:06 please let down your jar that I might have a drink and she says drink and I'll Water your camel too let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac by this I will know you have shown kindness to my master this is uh putting out the flee caveat here this is not how you find a girlfriend or boyfriend H God not asking you to stand outside in your school and says Lord I stand in the corridor right now the first woman that comes out of the lab and sees me Hallelujah you are going to marry me no
00:17:35 no you did counseling that's not the case all right this is divine all right because the angel of the Lord is going before him all right but the point is he's intentional about it he's marriage minded all right marriage minded now how do we do this and here's where I I want to really have some heart to heart talk the percentage of men in the church is very low because men have all abandoned their roles only women are intelligent enough to go to church to be Godly so you really look at the church
00:18:12 uh we have very few singl mens in ratio to single women so very easy to get overly spiritual here and tell people things but it's very hard the reality I have a daughter who I want to get married off so we all struggle with this so I want to say a few things number one like what Paul said in you know coffee Mak bagel I I I think you need to be intentional like the servant what he did was he was intentional Abraham didn't sit there and say Lord let a woman drop in my lap she didn't do that the the
00:18:43 servant didn't go to the town and said Lord let the woman drop he went specifically to the well he used his brains so connections important to build communities and here's something I really feel as an elder and I I really hope we can can do for and I'm saying this to the young adults we need more platforms where we can get people to meet you know especially for who for introverted people and if we don't create that we are not letting our young people find an opportunity to connect so is my prayer
00:19:16 young adults that we find more maybe intergeneration here an intergenerational thing maybe we do more and so people live hopefully you know so a guy or girl wakes up to say well there's this event in church that this potlock that this prayer meeting that this function that this project and God willing along that way I will meet somebody because if we don't do that they will meet someone at work and the chances of that person being a Christian is very very very slim and for a girl all you need is a guy to
00:19:52 be persistent and they're persistent long enough the girl breaks emotionally so it's very easy for us to be very high-handed and tell people do not be Yol it's true but what are we doing about it yes the church isn't a dating app but the church is a community of love and we should really be looking to this seriously this is a given they think fall avoid situations which can potentially lead you into sin before he had finished praying Rebecca came out with J on the shoulder she was a daughter of be son of Mika who was the
00:20:26 wife of Abraham's Brothers neor the woman was very beautiful this what I never really figured out have you noticed all the women the P all look like supermodels you know Sarah was very beautiful Rebecca is very beautiful Rachel also very beautiful and also all the guys very rich on you know so I I'm trying to figure this one out now this one is the reason a virgin no man ever stepped with her meaning she qualifies she's pure she went to the spring fi the jar and came up with her again and so the issue is whether you are thinking
00:20:57 that marriage your you're not sure the problem of dating is how long should you date and here's a caveat you until you cannot tahan seriously you cannot you better get married that's what Paul says you know that's what Paul says in Corinthians so let me let me tell you the problem what the world will teach you and and this happen in during our time and you can really see the stats you see this is coming from secular world the secular World teachers you this you you get a job you put a guy in probation now after probation he works
00:21:25 out you employ him you do know you sack the guy so the same thing thinking goes into dating no we living together we living together after we works up we get married that's nonsense you know because in a job a person doesn't give you his whole being it just works for you but in life when you when you have a physical intimacy I'm giving myself to you the two become one so let me tell you the stats on cohabitation is not in the favor even the most liberal left person will admit it so here all you young people going to
00:21:59 University all of you that never get into this it will give you a lot of pain I seen during my time all my friends who cohabited in un and where they are now every single one of them is divorced do not get know to that scripture has wisdom for you okay this one is I'm going to spend a bit of time this one is this one is really we miss this all right of course we know it's divine before he had finished praying wow that's where the angel L Rebecca came with a JW on the shoulder your dactor we say this the servant hurried
00:22:29 to meet her please give me a little water from your jar drink my Lord she said and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and give him a drink here's a little tip for you we are starting the motive of the woman at the well keep that at the back in mind because that is The Narrative of scripture all right remember Rachel also missed Jacob at the well all right after she had given him a drink she said I'll draw water for your camel to this one please very interesting until they enough to drink and there a lot of camels this a young
00:23:00 pretty girl so she quickly emptied her jar into a troll ran back to the well to draw more water and Drew enough of all his camels he brought doy you know there's probably 10 camels you know so you have a young lady going to well bringing water repeatedly for a stranger for 10 camels did she do it because she was going to get something of the guy no he was a stranger most people will just I give you water okay walk away I do my token good deal I'll buy a cupcake for you for $3 since you're so pushy know
00:23:31 brownie $8 after people say I got no heart buy from you she not only showed kindness to him she gave water for all the camelas and all commentators have picked this up she is exceedingly kind and without any intention than just to be kind a lot of people in relationship they are kind because they're trying to tackle the girl you know they do all sorts of they all fake one now after get married all the real colors come out but they think everybody oh very nice buy you this all trying to poach all going to do fishing buy
00:24:04 flowers girls don't buy into that seriously let me tell you men are very clever at pushing the button go oh you so sayi he don't say you he's just he's just hunting he's hunting I'm telling you Alpha me mindset hunting one this one nothing no reason you feed camels you know you know how dirty camels are she gave and so without saying word a man watch her closely to learn whether or not the Lord has made his journey successful and because of that he falls on the knees and basically say you're the one you are the one now I want to
00:24:39 tell you what science tells us about this science is important this is I I I read a lot of Science and I think we need to integrate science with the gospel you see a lot of Christian self-help books make a lot of sweeping remarks I give you one which is very popular five languages of love it's a great book Gary Chapman but how do you know they are five why not three why not seven is there any empirical data to tell you five how do you know ex service is empirically proven you don't have evidence so go for
00:25:09 data driven science and this is the probably the most famous uh Guru on marriage he's a Jewish man called John Gman and he looked at therapy now what they did was they did what was known as a four decade love lab study they put four four decades it's called longitudinal study you know they go couples in couples who fought you can look at them that couples who argued who year hasn't argued all of us married all argue one and they checked how they behaved and they they started to track what was the key ingredient that kept
00:25:44 marriages together and this is important for all of us here everyone all right now here's one I'm just going to take it from the book throughout the day Partners will make request for connection what Gman call bids for example say that the husband is a bird enthusiast notices a goldfish fly across the yard he might say to his wife look at the beautiful bird outside he's not just commenting the bird here it is important he's a requesting a response from his wife a sign of Interest or support hoping they'll connect hovo M
00:26:14 three over the bird the wife now has a choice she can respond by either turning towards or turning away from husband as got POS it through the bird bit might sign minor silly it actually revealed a lot of the health of the relationship the husband thought the bird was important enough to bring in a conversations and the question is whether his wife recognizes and respects that here give you a simple example your girlfriend is watching K drama and she's watching crash landing on you and here's the scene where they at the border and
00:26:46 he's going to be taken away that scene the tears can fill the pool of Olympic pool let me tell you let me tell you and she's so crying and she say so romantic and you say uh nonsense it shows a lot you know but do you nothing you think just stupid it it shows a lot because you're not being very kind to her let me tell you it's a little things so so he he gave a chart about it and the problem part of conf dialogue everyone knows you should talk about problem the reality is the statistics tells you most people can't
00:27:21 talk about their problems I don't want to talk about it you can't you grit loock the the the evidence is people grit lock they won't talk so you got to you got to basically soften the sponge so he cause it turning and he says the little little things you do you know little acts little acts of empathy little acts of generosity acts of kindness like picking water for camels that shows a person's interest and the more you do it the more the relationship sticks there is no five languages let me tell you the data tells
00:27:58 you that only one and is this by observing these types of interactions government can predict up to 94% statistically year whether couples rich or poor Charles or not will be broken up together and happy together and what is it is the spirit couples bring to relationship do they bring kindness generosity or contem criticism hostility millions of dollars four Decades of study to do this H these secular people very stupid uh just read the Bible Bible already tell you already correct or not the Bible already
00:28:35 told them years ago about all the secular people don't believe us this is what scripture says and this is the key to any relationship all of us here I I I'm I'm trying to learn that because I'm not very empathetic to my wife I know men now you know men being men right you know you know we we we hide in our bad caves you know alha mes so I'm trying to learn little little things I'm I've got a long way to go but all you men you got to learn for woman is the little little things correct or not women try again
00:29:09 H I think for any relationship to work men need to be empathetic to the small little daily things that softens a woman's heart ladies am I right or wrong H thank you dating number five oh this are my favorite this called the uncle date Get It uncle C to include input form underline the word older people older older you know what this story is really famous okay you know what's so funny about story right let me ask you a question you bring your you bring your boyfriend girlfriend back to meet your
00:29:49 parents uh what's the first question they will ask you what does correct what does he do correct all what does he do if he a girl they want to find out what background is she from one so Michelle yo is really classic because the irony is she's supposed to be Protestant Evangelical Christian the story opens to her doing Bible study of all these Corinthians or love mean you know you know the story tell you the hypocrisy of it she does Bible study but she judges her on her background you know and so here's the problem and and I
00:30:25 think he so understand why young people don't talk to older people so I had a long talk to my daughter about it it's not just a disconnect because we impose our values on them so let me try to give you uh when you older person who do you feel safe to confide in I want to give you a few pointers one someone's generally concerned about you because Abraham was generally concerned number two someone's familiar about these things and those scripture Abraham knew his Covenant he knew a heti woman a Canon like woman would
00:31:00 draw the the Sun away and that's what happened to youself someone listens to you doesn't give advice that the servant say look you know what if what what if she doesn't want to come back fine then I I I release you from it someone willing to tell you in love if you're wrong that's very hard I I I know that because I spend time with people and sometime they come and tell me their problems after while you tell them certain things they don't want to talk to you again because you're telling them truth they don't want to listen
00:31:30 it's very hard to tell to someone that you know tell them you're addicted to trying to get a boyfriend or girlfriend after that they ghost you on because you're telling them they want you to fix the issue so they approach family life because I don't have a problem he has a problem she has problem you go and talk to him and fix him up for me and we tell them no problem isn't him you got the issue after that they don't talk to you really and so here the last one so what we tell for maybe I to come up those of
00:31:58 you who I said certain things I'm not the most diplomatic person we have Grace not everyone even you made a mistake we're here to walk with you so you can make mistakes you can be in a relationship that's wrong so here if some of you are dating people whom you may not be biblical talk to us don't say oh I feel very preed today they telling me cannot date a non-Christian and I got nonch Christian boyfriend so I'm not going to talk to you guys we are here on Grace let us walk with you let us talk
00:32:26 with you and we're not going to say ah break up break up not going to do that okay give you my word let's talk all right so older people who is the safest older people to talk to church Elders law that's why I think Pastor law got four Elders M you can choose one I got two Pastor six already but try all right and let us walk with you and and and see all right and here the thing know about arranged marriages which I really feel it Rebecca had a choice because uh when she's about to go they got out next
00:33:00 morning send me on my way to my master but her brother and mother replied let the young woman remain with us 10 days or so you may go but he said do not detain me now the Lord granted success my Journey Send Me on my way so I may go to my master and they said let's call a young woman ask about it so they called rebec and ask her will you go with this man I will go she said let me let me talk about this arranged marriage thing for a while you before you guys think I'm crazy you talk to our Indian friends
00:33:26 here Indians are very very proud of arranged marriages I'm telling you you go Google online in Indian culture I used to spend time in hydrat and I used to meet my engineer and I was arranged in marriage and and they will tell you the statistics of arranged marriages are actually better now I'm not asking you all to go into that I I I don't mind it but what is the point here the point is simply this two people in love are not necessarily the most intelligent people on the face of Earth because you're in
00:33:58 love you don't think straight hello so talk to people so who do you talk to older people who the best people talk to elder law bit sales page why do I talk to us you are proud law simple so think about it okay okay now we come to the Romantic part this part very CH one this time we coming to the drama then Rebecca and attendance got ready and mounted the camer and went back the man and the servant took Rebecca left and S on a journey and this part tell you now Isaac had come from Bill lar Roy for his living in the Gap
00:34:38 he went to the field one evening to meditate Scholars are still wondering whether meditate is praying that's another story and then he looked up and he saw camels approaching so he looked up like that who you Rebecca also looked up I don't know how you can do that because you're sitting on a camel talking to Peter about it ressa look up maybe it was at Valley she looked up and she saw Isaac so he looked up like that and she looked up W then she got down from a camer and asked the servant who is that man in the field coming to meet
00:35:06 us so he's walking he is my master the servant answered so she took a V and covered [Music] herself I can't say but near far wherever you are my heart will go on and on so the romantic on man and then the story ends it's a very long chapter though very long so the author is trying to tell you this is an important chapter I go and give text then the servant told Isaac what he had done Isaac brought her into the T his mother Sarah he married Rebecca she became his wife he loved her and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death and
00:35:54 now there are two things coming out here first he noted the Tex text say he loved her doesn't say she loved him back on you know why because biblically Genesis 24 ties back to Genesis 2 and it ties back to Galatians and not Ephesians Ephesians 45 onwards because the guy has to lead so here's the tip if he's not leading uh in dating very unlikely he will lead when you married n and and here's something there few things about woman I mean all you men listen a bit now it's a guy a woman now will test you on you
00:36:35 know a woman doesn't give herself to you one you need to be proven worthy one listen to me all you men I'm telling you seriously because a woman when she gives she gives 100% you men are give give 30% only then go and fix your car going buy shares a woman doesn't do that when she gives she gives everything so when a w when a man says he loves her she will love him back not the other way around now I'm telling you you really have to listen to this so you take the lead and the man leads and so this story points to
00:37:18 something else and the last dating tip is for all of us you see God heals Hur places with new relationship ships because Isaac was comforted after his mother's death you see it's interesting story because Isaac is a single child I I relate today because I only got one kid he's a single child and he Lov the mother deeply and this the story is telling you after the mother died there was a vacuum and in that H Place God gave a new relationship so let me end with this the the point is some of you are saying well
00:37:59 this dating doesn't refer to me I'm married let me make it even more white my marriage is bad I'm single like I wanted to get married I just never came my way I'm divorced so a lot of us are in a place of bitterness so we see you know this whole sermon maybe the young adults are they youth nothing to do with me so let me tell you why this is number seven is important you see the story is the story of the woman at the well and this woman at the well met a man and he gave her water and so by Rebecca giving water to
00:38:44 Elijah she found love and in that she comforted Isaac Rachel found Jacob at a well but years later another woman was at a well and a man came up to her to also ask for water his name was Jesus this woman unfortunately is not like Rebecca she doesn't even have a name Rebecca was pure she was really not pure she had many husbands and she was living in sin and so Jesus speaks to the Samaritan woman and how does the story and with this woman she is filled with the love of Jesus so much she goes to the town
00:39:34 and she just shouts it out so here's why this is important you know the question now is what is the greatest love of your life that's a question you see the Hebrew word here sorry Arab flip is actually aah it's an interesting word and our Jewish friends we do what they call the Shima prayers on Deuteronomy 6 the Shima prayers uses this word aava aava is used when is describing how Abraham loved Isaac is describing how Isaac Lov Rebecca and here's the interesting it is how God loved Israel and Israel is like the woman at
00:40:23 the well Israel is not faithful Rebecca is pure Israel is not pure Rebecca is generous and kind to strangers Israel is not kind to strangers and yet God loved her God loved Israel so why this story pointing to let me ask you what makes a good love story Cinderella y Romeo and Juliet yo Crash Landing Titanic these are all the greatest love stories in the world and throughout centuries you know Romeo and Juliet is 15th century if you follow all these stories of course cultures you know whether it's Korean culture what of that
00:41:10 there's always a a similar motive for love to have meaning it must cost you on you know it must cost in Romo and jula's case the love was so deep cost them their lives and because of that that it Rec consult two feuding families in Crash Landing you go Behind Enemy Lines you find someone who will risk his life to take you back to where you are at his own expense and of course Titanic you jump I jump what is the greatest love story the greatest love story is Jesus loving us because that cost is so deep
00:41:58 and so we as the church we are that bright we are like Rebecca with that vill and we walk towards the groom that Jesus but we are not worthy we are not pure we are not kind but God still loved us and when you have that love of God in you whatever the world throws at you whether you are divorced whether you're widowed whether you're bad marriage whether you're single that love pulls you out and it does one thing it teaches you to find community and that's what church is so if you're in a bad place find Community
00:42:43 because in there there is the presence of God and in the presence of God there is the Power of Love let us pray while we get the youth team to come up Lord as we just um Ponder on this and in our church we have people who struggle with loneliness struggle with bitterness struggle with happy marriages trou uncertainty we ask oh Lord that your power of your love just sweeps over us this morning that love that is so deep that it the woman the well just soaked it in she drank of it and she learned to live
00:43:23 a life poured out for Christ so we ask this morning you PL plan that sit in us and for those of us who are who are young adults who are youth who are dating we ask that there is wisdom here today and that there will be courage to to talk to other people and lastly we ask as Church leadership that we intentionally provide more platforms so we can connect people in our church to find happiness and even if they can't find the love of their life they know the real love is you they will find friends they find community and they do
00:43:59 not need to feel afraid of going into the old age alone because the church is there the family is there and there they will see your face and your presence we say this in Jesus name amen we're going to sing this song which is a very old song called The Power of Love want to invite you to stand and we ask the spirit to just go over us and may you come to God oh Lord and let your heart be changed why flowing from the grace that is found in him I'm going to pass the time over now to Joes as a music place I I I just want to
00:44:44 I just say something which I feel the Lord impressed upon me and I I I I this is what I feel and I I have a question for all of you to are we kind people do we show kindness to The Stranger and maybe one of the reasons why our relationships have broken is we have not been very kind in the small little things so God is giving you an opportunity this morning after service stay back spend time with us and with your heart your heart ask can I show a bit of kindness Rebecca just did that and God led her to a
00:45:30 [Music] man here's the second thing which I feel the Lord is telling me a lot of you here have walls you know because you've been so hurt you went through one marriage you went through another marriage you waited for a man or woman didn't come and the word that really comes to me now is this word called bitterness and if you you have that the Lord wants to heal you and take you to a new place he wants to heal you the way he healed Isaac and all he saying keep your checklist short and find Community
00:46:20 here and through the body of Christ you never know what happens and through that that bitterness will just slowly and surely go away I think let us just close in this and then then uh we prepare our hearts for the Lord's Supper Lord we ask this morning you speak to our hearts that if we do not have love for others and love for you we die we die inside because that is the secret to happiness to love you oh Lord the sheema with all heart and mind strength and to love others that is the Shima prayer that is
00:47:12 the aava we need to have so open our eyes this morning and may the power of your love so fill us and we say it in jesus' name amen you may be seated uh we are now going to go into a time of uh preparing our hearts for the Lord's Supper so can you uh raise your hands if you have not had any of the emblems and those you have it can you uh prepare yourself by just removing the plastic sheet we are going to take off the emblem of the braid first but let's uh spend some time and uh we're going to let our ushers go around and give it
00:48:01 out and we are going to then take to some scripture and of course the very famous text from 1 Corinthians 11: 23-29 I just read it to you for receive from the Lord why also pass on to you the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and he said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me so Brethren if those of you who are believers if you're not a Christian you can pass it on here is the body of Christ let's take a moment then ask
00:48:51 ourselves are we truly that body in love a body bonded by the love love of Jesus and Lord we partake of this and this morning teach us to be that body in love that you complete us not finding a boyfriend or girlfriend or husband or anything else you complete us let us take this in remembrance of you in the same way after supper he took the cup saying this cup is a New Covenant in my blood do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me forever you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until
00:49:46 he comes a love so strong his blood poured out for the washing away of our sins a love that caused us while we were Sinners we are not pure we are not kind we are sinful people and by his blood and his body we are saved now we drink this remembrance of him and we go and love others dring this in remembrance of Christ let's take some moment to just um quietly [Music] just just find some moment to let us let this morning just soak it in what God has spoken to [Music] us Lord just speak to us in a Silence of
00:50:53 a heart in quiet meditation what you want to say to us and I'm going to end with uh something I got from my wife's collection my wife got a lot of good things on her always listen to your wife life's lessons after a while you learn the difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul you learn that love isn't leaning but landing support you begin to accept your defeats with the grace of an adult not the grief of a child you decide to build your roads on today for tomorrow's ground is on too
00:51:43 uncertain you help someone plant a garden instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers you learn that God has given you the strength to endure and that you really do have worth God bless all of you and the service is over amen
