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Mariners Church Weekend Messages
September 28 - Find a Wife NOT "Let Love Find You" - Eric Geiger
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Welcome to Mariners Church Weekend Message Podcast. Inspiring people to follow Jesus and fearlessly change the world. Discover your purpose and get connected by visiting MarinersChurch.org or click the link in the show notes.
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If we have not met. My name is Eric. I'm the senior pastor here, and I'm really glad that you are with us today. I want to welcome all our congregations that are watching right now. You have heard people say for years, where have all the good men gone? Or why don't men pursue like they used to? Actually, that's currently a trending video on TikTok. Take a look. There's a good men epidemic right now. I miss the days where men were out. Where are all the men? I'm gonna say it. I'm gonna say it. And you're not gonna like what I have to say. You're not gonna like. I feel like all of the good guys are taken. Where are we meeting the men that actually want to date? So people have been saying this for years, but currently, as people are saying it, it's actually true. They're. According to research, men are pursuing less than any other time in American history, young adult men. In fact, Pew Research released this. From 2019 to 2023, the number of young adult men who were pursuing a serious relationship, the percentage dropped from 61% to 50%. There are less people pursuing now than any other time. And sociologists are starting to ask why? What is going on with men that men are pursuing less? What is happening? If you were here in January, the very first message of this year, I taught a sermon in our series on the Table. I answered the question, what has happened to masculinity? Because that's been a big conversation in our culture, and there's really two different camps. Some people believe men are toxic, and others believe there's a toxic war on masculinity. And if you remember, in that sermon, I challenged men that, listen, if you will follow after Jesus, you will not be toxic, because he is the ultimate God, man, and he changes you. And if you follow after him, you won't live as a boy. You also won't live as a beast. You will live as a man being changed into more and more like Jesus. But that conversation about, I'm sorry, man, can you. You have the camera light on? It's in my. You're the good man. You're a good man. I'm sorry. Thank you. I was. I felt like I was just getting blinded. I know. I just, like. I couldn't. I don't want to embarrass. You. You're awesome. I love you. Come hug me. Come hug me. Come give me a hug right now. Come, come, come. Come hug me. Come hug me. Come hug me. You know I love you, man. You know I love you. You know I. Okay, I'm gonna start over. Welcome to Mariners Church. So good to see everybody back. I'm joking. I'm joking. All right, so what has happened in all of these conversations about toxic masculinity is it's actually really increased since that message in January. There's been lots of articles and research released still framing this conversation. What is going on with men? Now sociologists are starting to connect. All of the conversations about are men toxic or is there a war on masculinity with the decrease in men pursuing? And so real quickly, I wanna give you an overview of what the research is saying, and then I'm gonna bring you to the scripture. Now, in the overview of the research, you're gonna hear me challenge the culture. And when I challenge the culture, it's gonna feel like I'm defending men because I do believe men are, in a current cultural context, often being attacked. And so I'm gonna challenge the culture, but I'm also then gonna challenge you men. Okay, so here's what's going on in the culture. Many say that all of this conversation is making it challenging for men to want to pursue. Vox released this article saying that the dating rules for men have changed that for centuries, men were told to be the ones who pursued. But in recent years, men have been told, hey, maybe you shouldn't pursue. And if you pursue in the wrong way, you could be toxic or you could be mansplaining or you could be making someone uncomfortable. And so men, according to research, have stopped pursuing as much because they're worried they're going to be accused of doing it the wrong way. Also, online dating has not been great for men. According to this article, since 2020, the number of men pursuing dating online has dropped 20%. Why? Because online dating has not been as successful for men as for women. On the dating app Tinder, it takes a woman 14 swipes to have one match. It takes a man 140 swipes to have one match. I don't know that from personal experience. This is just research right here. But it's causing men to say, this isn't working for me, and to tap out from online dating. And then there's the whole conversation about toxic masculinity. Now, the term toxic masculinity was not a term you heard until 2017. If you look up the term, you will see it was used in some journal articles before 2017, but very rarely in popular media until the MeToo movement. When the MeToo movement happened in 2017, that term was used to describe men who abused their authority and their power to sexually prey on women, which as Christians we must speak against abuse. So the term initially toxic masculinity was limited to men who abused women through their power and their sexual they use their power to assert themselves sexually. But since 2017, the term, like lots of terms in our culture, has gotten broader and broader and broader. So the term has started to be used for anything and everything. Richard Reeves, in his book of Boys and Men wrote this. Toxic masculinity has been blamed for mass shootings, gang violence, rape, online trolling, which those are all really bad. But then notice it broadens climate change, the financial crisis, Brexit, and the unwillingness to wear a mask during COVID And so what happened is the term became used for anything and everything. So if you didn't like something in a man, you could just say, well, that man is toxic. The reality is this has hurt men greatly. A feminist writer named Helen Lewis, she is encouraging women, hey, don't overuse this term because you're actually hurting good men. She wrote, the toxic masculinity framing alienates the majority of nonviolent, non extreme men. It wasn't only in media, it was also in the psychology realm. The American Psychological association, which trains therapists in 2018, released new guidelines and they called traditional masculinity harmful. They basically said traits that men have, such as competitiveness and risk initiative, that those traits in and of themselves are harmful. Now listen, we know that all of the traits that any of us have can be used for good or can be used for bad. But to tell men that the traits they have given to them as a man are harmful, that deeply hurts men. In fact, Erica Commissar, she's a therapist. She wrote, in my practice as a psychotherapist, I've seen an increase of depression in young men who feel emasculated in a society that is hostile to masculinity. New guidelines from the American Psychological association defining traditional masculinity as a pathological state are only likely to make matters worse. Here's what she was saying. And many have said, if we keep telling young men you're toxic, sit down and shut up. We should not be surprised if many of those same young men don't want to stand up and pursue a woman. So the culture has hurt young men. Now I want to challenge the young men, the men, all the men, because the research says there are some problems that are taking place in men, in us. You're hearing me defend you that the culture has been against you. But let me challenge you for things that you must look at in your own life. I want to keep saying throughout the series, please get your kids and mariners kids, because I'm going to hit some sensitive subjects, the first being pornography. According to research, in a room this size, some on the conservative side will say 40% of the men in this room regularly view pornography. Some will say it's as high as 60%. But all who report. What pornography does to us men, if we view pornography is that it lowers our mental health, it lowers our drive in life, our passion in life. It lowers our. Our view of a woman. It actually causes us to be apathetic if we view pornography. Listen, men, some studies even say this will lower your testosterone. It will cause you not to be the man that God wants you to be. So I'm begging you as your pastor, if you are a man who is viewing pornography, you do whatever you need to do to get this out of your life. It is hurting you. It is damaging you, man. This is also what's happening with men is, according to research, men have gone digital. We have gotten with all of the technology tools so used to using digital for anything and everything. I mean, there's some young men now that will ask ChatGPT to help you order a pizza or ask Chad on how to fill out a resume. And it's causing you to not take as much initiative. And the technology tools, if you're not careful, can cause you to be so addicted to screens that you can't look a woman in the eye and pursue her. And then thirdly, passivity among men. For all the talk about toxicity, the first sin in the scripture related to man wasn't man being toxic, it was man being passive. God had placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and everything was perfect and beautiful as it should be. But then Satan entered into the garden in the form of a serpent. And Satan starts a conversation with Eve, the wife of Adam. And according to the scripture, Adam is standing right there watching all of it go down. Adam is passive as the enemy talks to his wife. And we are reminded, men, that if we are unwilling to lead our families towards God, Satan is more than happy to volunteer to lead our families away from God. That if we are unwilling to be active and to shepherd our families, the Enemy wants to lead our families in our place. So passivity is a struggle among men. In fact, there is a proverb that you've heard from the world that actually encourages you to be passive. And so in this teaching series, Proverbs for your love life. I'm exposing what the world tells you, and then I'm challenging it, and then I'm bringing you to what the word says. The word is different from the world. The world says, let love find you. Like men, you can be passive. Just let it happen. Let love find you. But the scripture says to men, find a wife. If you're like, nah, it doesn't say that. I'm gonna show you right now. It says that this is God's word. Proverbs chapter 18, verse 22. A man who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord. Proverbs 18:22. This is God's word. I want to walk you through this text. Women, you're not left out in this passage at all. This passage speaks very highly of you. A man who finds a wife finds a good thing. Now, if you are a woman, you're saying, I don't like being called a fang. What is this? I'm a good fang. What is this? But if you remember, I taught you how to do a study in the Bible in our last teaching series, if you go to one of those tools that I gave you and you see in the original Hebrew, the phrase good thing is actually just one word. In the original Hebrew, it's the word tav, and it actually means flourishing or good. The first time it's used in all of the Bible is in Genesis chapter one, when God creates everything and declares it to be good, tough. God creates the man and the woman, and he places them in the garden, and he says, this is very good. This is very tough. So this is a really high view of women and a really high view of marriage. If you find a wife, you have found flourishing, you have found tough. Now, men, the culture does not always say this to you. In fact, there are some online influencers that tell you the opposite of this. Andrew Tate is a popular online influencer, and I would say he is an example of what you could call toxic masculinity, as he speaks very poorly of women and other people created in the image of God. He has told men, don't get married. There's no roi, no return on investment on marriage, don't get married. That is very different from Proverbs 18:22 that says if you find a wife you have tothe. Andrew Tate, I believe, speaks as a fool because he doesn't know the TAV that my wife has brought into my life, that my marriage has brought joy and satisfaction and motherhood and partnership and commitment that I have found tav when I found a marriage. And so he speaks really highly the Proverbs does of a wife. So you find a wife, you find a good thing. Now, notice this. You obtain favor from the Lord. Now, favor from the Lord. Typically in the scripture, this is what grace is meaning. You don't deserve the favor. You don't deserve it. It's unmerited favor. It's grace. Which means, men, we treat women with great dignity and care and respect. We cherish them and honor them, because if we have a woman, we have favor from the Lord. This passage is saying, and so young men, as you were dating, you treat women with great respect and honor. If you're married, you realize that the wife you have is a gift from God. You don't act as if you deserve her. The scripture is saying, you don't deserve her. You don't deserve her. This is God's grace in your life. So you cherish her and you honor her. Now notice this. A man who finds a wife finds a good thing. So it's really clear. Men, you have to find. You have to find, find. You have to find. And if you're like, nah, nah. And then there's another passage in the Bible where God brings Eve to the man. Adam and Eve, they're the first couple. And Adam, God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep. And while he was sleeping, it's like a romantic movie. While he was sleeping, God took that rib from Adam's side and made the woman and brought the woman to Adam. Adam didn't have to do anything, Eric. He didn't have to do anything. He just slept. And God brought the woman. That's how it is for me. I'm not gonna do anything. I'm just gonna kick back, let love find me, and God's gonna bring the woman to me. And if that's what you're thinking, I say, man, listen, in all of human history, that happened one time. One time, bro. Once. And since then, the man has had to find the wife. Listen, you have to find her. God is not door dashing you a wife. You have to get up and find her. And so this passage is teaching us men this. And I want to apply this to both single men and married men. Be found by him and then find her. So you first have to be found by Him. Listen, men, if you aren't first found by him, you're not going to be able to love a woman the way you should. But if you're found by God and you receive his unconditional love, then you're going to be able to love someone unconditionally. If you're found by God and you receive his sacrificial love, you're going to be motivated to sacrifice yourself for someone else. You first have to be found by Him. The Book of Proverbs is a book about wisdom. There's 66 books in the Bible. It is known as the Book on Wisdom. Now, wisdom is not just what you know mentally. It's how to live life with skill, how to live a really good life. Well, how do you live life with skill? The book of Proverbs opens this way. Proverbs, chapter 1. The Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, King of Israel. For learning wisdom and discipline, here's where it comes from. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and discipline. So if you want to live a wise life, skill, you have to fear God. If you don't fear God, you'll live as a fool and you won't live with skill. So you first must fear Him. You must be found by him and fear Him. Now, some have said to me, even in this teaching series, Eric, when you say fear, I struggle with it because I. You've also taught God is my perfect heavenly Father who loves me deeply. I don't want to be afraid of my heavenly Father. That's a really good question. When the Bible speaks of fear, fearing God, it's, it's speaking of you respecting God, adoring God, revering him, being in awe of him. And it's a joyful fear. A joyful fear. You know what joyful fear is? Think about it. You, some of you love roller coasters. You'll go on a roller coaster for 90 seconds or 120 seconds, and it is fear and joy. The reason it's fearful and joyful at the same time is because though you love the drops and the speed, ah, you also are secure and safe. You're safe. You're strapped in. You have a seatbelt on. You can enjoy the fear because you're safe. Some of you enjoy mountain climbing or mountain biking or hiking to the edge of a cliff here in Southern California. And you stand on the edge, there's hundreds of feet below. It's like, wow. You see an ocean view. It's amazing. You see the mountains behind you, the sunset. It is awesome. You feel small in that moment. You're in front of God's vast creation, and yet you're secure because you're standing safely. And so when you have fear and safety, you have this joyful awe. So when you come before God, it's the same thing. You have this all before him because he is more sovereign than you could ever know. He's more glorious than you could ever imagine. He's perfectly holy, righteous. He's the God above all gods, the King above all kings. You would be foolish not to be in awe of this great God if you are not in all of Him. You haven't met him. Because when you meet him, you see a glimpse of who he is. And he's more amazing than all of his creation. He's absolutely amazing. And at the same time, you're safe because he holds you. He keeps you to Himself. Because this great God, though He's fully amazing, he made Himself nothing, emptied himself, entered this world to pursue you, to die on a cross, to remove your sin and your shame when you believed in Him. And when you believed in him, you became his forever. So he holds you to Himself. So you have a sense of awe, but you also have a sense of joy because he keeps you. And you're forever kept by this great God. That is what it means to fear Him. Yes. And you start to fear him when you're found by Him. Now, the story of the Bible is not a story of you finding God. It's a story that God came here to find you. After Adam and Eve sinned and everything got destroyed in the Garden of Eden. You could expect that God would say, adam, I'm done with you. You walked away from me. I'm done with you. But God was not. In fact, in Genesis chapter three, God walks through the garden, searching for Adam. And he calls out, adam, where are you? Adam, where are you? And God the Son Jesus came here to search for you. Jesus said his whole mission was to seek and to save that which is lost. He entered this world to go after you, to go after your heart. And he called you by name. When you became a Christian, it's when you said yes to Him. He was pursuing you, going after you. And after you've been found by Him. Now you can love someone the way you should because you've received the unconditional love of God. And he loves you not because you're something or if you'll do something. He loves you because he is love. He loves you with the sacrificial love that caused him on a Friday afternoon to place himself on a cross to absorb in his flesh all of your sin and all of your shame. He loves you with an unconditional, sacrificial, never ending love. And when you have received the love of God into your life, he changes you as a man. And you can now pursue a woman because this great God is. Has changed you. So you first must be found by him. All right, so number one, be found by him. Then number two, find her. Now you first have to be found. Because you won't know how to find if you're not first found. But after you've been found by him, you now find her. I want to talk to both single men and married men on how to find her. Because if you're single, you should find a wife. If you're married, you should keep finding your wife. Now, you who are single, there are some of you who believe that God has called you for your whole life to be single. I will never try to preach you out of that because Jesus lived here as a single man. The Apostle Paul said, I wish all of you could be single just like I am single. So the Bible has a really high view of singleness, so we should have a really high view of singleness. And so when you're single, you have an opportunity to pour all of your energy into God's kingdom. So I'm not at all saying something's lacking in you if you are single. We don't believe that at all. The scripture doesn't teach that one bit. When I was in the marketplace in my last role, before I became your pastor, there was a woman on our team in her mid-30s, and she had never been married and had no kids. And she was awesome. She was brilliant in her job. Grit, creativity, hard working, a joy to work with. And during her annual review, which I was conducting, I said to her, hey, I firmed her for all the things that she's so awesome at and how much I enjoy working with her. And then I said, listen, I just have one concern. And please know this comes from a good place. I just. I want to talk about your passions outside of your role. I worry sometimes that you. She says, eric, are you about to tell me that I work too much? I said, listen, I just want you to have. I just want you to be healthy and have balance in your life. I care for you. And she said, eric, listen, I work more than you. You are married and you have two kids. I don't have a husband or kids. I should work more than you because the role I'm in, I view as sacred. I love what we are doing. I believe in the mission of what we're doing. I believe in the resources that we're releasing. I am all in. Please never ask me again to work less. Because in this season, as a single woman, I want to give everything I have to what the Lord has put in front of me. I said, I'll never ask you to work less in your life, but please know that came from a good place. And she said, yes, I know, I know. And so we had a good conversation. But she did remind me that when you are single, it's a beautiful season in your life to pour yourself fully into whatever it is that God has put in front of you. But many of the young men in our church, not only young men, men of all ages, have said, eric, I want to be married. I don't believe I'm to be single my whole life. I want to be married. Help me. What do I do? In fact, after every message this entire series, men in our church have asked me, like, practical questions. Where do I start? Eric, you're right. The online dating thing didn't work for me. What do I do? So if you're asking that as a man, I want to encourage you some real practical things first. This is what I always say. It's super profound. You have to talk to her. It's the first step. What do you mean? You gotta. You have some friends who are women. Our church is a great place to find some. And there's other great Christian environments. And you look for women that you believe have character because we've talked about last week, that beauty is fleeting and charm is deceptive. And you start a friendship, you start having conversations. And then when there's one that you are interested in that you want to take to coffee or lunch, you ask her. I know, it's. I don't know if I can, like, bro, you can totally do it. Right now. You're looking in the eyes and talking to me. I believe in you, man. You can do this. What if she says no? If she says no, you'll learn more for the next time. It's totally okay. If she says no, you invite her to coffee or invite her to lunch, and then you communicate with her. And then after the first date, don't ghost her for like, three days, you communicate with her right after, and you invite her on a second date. And then at some point, whether it's the second date or the third date, you do what most men in Southern California don't do. You tell her, I'm only going to pursue you and see where this goes. You don't have four or five that you're talking to at one time, man. You pursue one at a time. The verse says, find a wife. Not find five potential wives and then do a beauty pageant. No, find a wife, you pursue one at a time. Don't be a player, man. You're better than that. Don't be that, dude. You pursue one at a time, then you take her on a daily and you continue to pursue her. And then if you believe in that process that this is a woman that you can commit your life to, man, I say move as fast as you can. Really, as fast as you can. Now, I'm not saying, like, so fast that you go to Vegas and FaceTime her family, like, yo, what up? Gotta get married. No, like, in a way that honors her and honors her family, but move as fast as you can. These really, really long engagements in Southern California, I'm just saying it's challenge. It's going to be really hard to be sexually pure if you're engaged a really, really long time. So you move as fast as you can. Short engagement. Don't spend a lot of money in a wedding. Put that money towards a down payment. Get married by one of our pastors for free in the chapel, and let's get this thing done. That's what you do. Now, if you are pursuing her and you believe that I can't commit my life to her, you owe it to her to end the relationship as kindly and gently as you can. But if you know you're not going to marry her, if you know you're not going to end it gently so she can perhaps have someone else that's going to commit to her. Don't take months or years from her life. And as you date her, you treat her in such a way with honor and care and respect that when she marries someone else because you're not going to marry her, that you can go to the wedding and shake her husband's hand and look him in the eye and be proud of how you treated his wife. That you honor her and you cherish her. Now, married men, you must continually find your wife. Now, sometimes a married man will say, man, Eric, there's just a lot of time that has happened in our marriage. There's some distance between us. We used to be more intimate or more passionate for each other than we are now. Men will say that to me. I've Been passionate for a long time. People have said that to me for years. Here's what I always say to a man when he says that. Hey, listen, man, let me talk to you about your relationship with God as it relates to your relationship with your wife. Because there's some. There's some similarities here, man. I'm ashamed to admit it, but sometimes my relationship with God is not what it should be. There's moments where I feel like he's distant and he's not distant. I'm the one who moved. He didn't move. And there's times when I'm most passionate for him and most excited for him. So what do you do when you were more intimate with God and you fallen a bit? Well, here's what Jesus says to do. He writes to a group of Christians in Ephesus, a real city. He says, I have this against you. This is Revelation 2. You have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then how far you have fallen. Repent and do the works you did at first. So here's what Jesus says about our relationship with God. Hey, was there a time when you loved God more than you do now? And you're here now. Look how far you've fallen. Repent. Turn around. Notice what he says. Do what you did at first. He doesn't say, wait till you feel how you felt at first. Do what you did at first. Do you remember when you first became a Christian and you were so excited to read the Bible? You got your first Bible. Do you remember that? So awesome. You opened it up, you're like, oh, my. This is God's word. The first time you went to a prayer group and you prayed aloud. The first time you invited a friend to church. The first time you told someone about Jesus. Do you remember the things that you used to do? Do those again. That's how you rekindle your relationship, your passion for God. You don't wait till you feel you do, and then the feelings will come. The same thing relates to the relationship with your wife. Do the works you did at first. Do you remember when you first pursued her husbands? Do you remember when you first pursued her? You took her on a date, like day two or three. You're thinking about it for 48 hours before the date happens, man. You're. You're looking at the menu online. You're thinking about the conversation. You are planning this date. And then you take a risk instead of sitting across from her at the table. Do you remember when you first did this? You scooted in, you asked her if she wanted to sit next to you, and she did. And halfway through the dinner, she put her hand on your knee, and you were like, ah. I mean, the butterflies just went off inside. You remember that? Come on, dude. Do you remember that? That was so awesome. And you walked out of the restaurant holding her hand, so proud. You wanted everyone to know, she's with me. She's with me. Do you remember that feeling? Or maybe you were thinking, I can't believe she wants people to know that I'm with her. But you were so excited. You were so excited. And then you texted her messages throughout the day for no, you just thought of her in the middle of the day and you sent her a text message or you wrote a love letter and you put it beneath the windshield wiper on her car. So, husbands, you don't wait till you feel. Do what you did at first. Do what you did at first. Husbands. Think this week of something you did back in the day and do it now. And you're like, if I do it, she's gonna say, I'm only doing it because Eric said it. Trust me, wife, if you do that, that's not a good thing. Don't say, oh, you only do it because Eric said it. Let him do it. Let him do it. Let him pursue you that way. Okay, Eric. But you don't know how much pain there is in our relationship. I've heard this a lot, too. There's been so many painful things said by both sides. Eric, I'm at fault too, man. Eric, I'm not. I'm not innocent in this. It's on me. There's been a lot of things said. There's been some actions done. There's a lot of pain. It just feels like it's so dead. The apostle Paul wrote to the same church, the people in Ephesus, and he said this. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. Now, when he wrote this, he was writing men who lived in the city of Ephesus. Ephesus was a dysfunctional kind of culture. There was all kinds of sexual, horrific things that would happen. It was normal for a man to have a wife for social appearances or business purposes, have a mistress on the side for emotional connection, and then have lots of sex with prostitutes and slaves in the Roman Empire. But then some of the men in Ephesus became Christians. God found them, which is what God does. He finds people with jaded, messed up past. He finds men with a past that they're afraid of or ashamed of. And he changes them. Because God only finds imperfect people, because there's no perfect people to find, because there's only one perfect, one God, the Son, Jesus, the Christ. And he searches for imperfect people and he makes them his own. And he found some imperfect men in Ephesus, and he made them their own. And so then Paul writes them, not all the men in Ephesus, but those who had become Christians. And he says, guys, from now on, everything's going to change. You're not having the mistress anymore. You're not sleeping around anymore. From now on, men, this is how you live. This is going to be different for you now. Man. Husbands love your wives. And then he says, as Christ loved the church, he essentially is saying, men, if you're feeling like there's distance between you and your wife, like, I can't pursue her, hey, man, just slow down and think about how he pursued you. Eric, she's really cold to me right now. She's really distant to me right now. She's cold to you like you were cold to him when he came and found you. She's cold to you and distant towards you like you were to Christ. You didn't love him first. He loved you first. You didn't pursue him first. He pursued you first. You didn't wake up one day and decide that you wanted to serve him. No, he served you. And you realize that he served you by loving you. He entered this world. He washed the dirty feet of his disciples, and then he washed your life by saving you and changing you and washing all of your sin away, removing it as far as the east is from the west. When he died on the cross, six bloody and brutal hours on a Friday afternoon for you. He served you. Paul is saying, listen, man, you just remember what Christ has done for you. You love her the way Christ loved you. And so if you're having a hard time loving her, you need to stop and slow down and remember how much Christ has loved you. He loved you first. And so, husbands, you just think about how he loved you. So single men, if you're like, I can't pursue, I feel nervous or I don't have enough courage. I'm not sure I can do this. Single man, I believe in you. You can do this. You remember the courage that Christ had when he went to the cross for you. He's now your savior. He can motivate you. His love for you has changed you. You can pursue single men. You're not toxic if you're following Jesus. He's changing you and empowering you to love a woman well to find Toph married men. Remember what Christ has done for you. Let his love for you change how you love her. All right, extend your hands please, and let me pray a prayer of blessing over you as we go. Jesus, I pray you'd bless your sons and daughters this week that you would remind them that you were gentle and and approachable and that you love them. Cause your face to shine on them. I pray they will experience your mercy and your joy this new week. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen. Go in peace. Have a great week.
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Thanks for tuning in to the Mariners Weekend Message Podcast to support the ministry of Mariners Church. You can click the link in the show notes or download the Mariners App at your favorite app store. If you've been navigating God's wisdom with us through this year's annual read and would like to hear personal reflections from pastors in your community, check out the Gospel Every Day podcast. Imagine feeding your heart, mind and soul with the kind of practical wisdom that will change your life. If you haven't picked up the annual read yet, visit MarinersChurch.org or download the Mariners App for more information on where to find it.