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Mariners Church Weekend Messages
September 7 - You are United With God NOT "Find Your Soulmate" - 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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God, we have gathered to praise you, to make much of you the great king over all kings, the great God above all little G gods of this world. And you're amazing and you're awesome, and yet you're good and tender and gracious to us. And so I pray that you'll overwhelm us with your mercy today as we look at your word, that we'll encounter your wisdom on how to live and how to make the most of this new week that you've given us. And I pray for those who are in pain and who are looking for comfort from your word. I know you will meet with them today and you'll overwhelm them with your peace. I pray as we study your scripture that you'll meet with us today. It's in your name I pray. Amen. So good to see everybody. You can go ahead and grab a seat if we haven't met. My name is Eric. I'm the senior pastor here, and I want to welcome all of our congregations that are watching right now. Especially I want to give a shout out to Mariners Anaheim, as this is their grand opening. And so grand opening weekend, huge. We launched Mariners Anaheim right after Christmas. So Mariners Anaheim hasn't been a congregation even for a year yet. And we started in a school, but we now have moved into that permanent facility that you, Mariners Church, through your generosity, bought. And so thank you so much. And not only are we gathered there every single weekend for services, but we began a food pantry to serve those in Anaheim and who live with and struggle with food insecurity. And so we just recently have opened that food pantry. So thank you, Mariners, for being so generous. Really proud of you. All right. It wasn't that long ago in terms of American history and human history, because it's only like 70 years ago that in the 1950s, the biggest promoters of cigarettes in the US were doctors. Doctors were featured in advertisements by tobacco companies, basically telling Americans who were concerned if smoking was bad for them. No, no, no, it's not bad for you. It actually can be good for you. So, like this advertisement, More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette. Or this one. Give your throat a vacation. Smoke a fresh cigarette. Or this is just what the doctor ordered. Now we look at these 70 years later, and we're like, that is crazy. They're actually promoting cigarettes because we know More. Now, we know that cigarettes are not good for you. They lead to heart disease and to lung cancer, and no one would ever have that advertisement now, but it was positioned as good advice. And this is not a message against smoking. I mean, people ask me sometimes, eric, is it okay if I smoke? I mean, do I go to hell if I smoke? And I say, no, no, you do not go to hell if you smoke, you smell like you've been there, but you don't actually. You don't actually go. I mean, those who go are those who reject Jesus and not receive his forgiveness. But this is not a message about smoking. This is, though, a message about messages that you hear from the world that aren't really good for you. We start a new teaching series this weekend called proverbs for your love life. And there are a lot of modern proverbs that you hear about your relationships that are not beautiful and good and true. They're not best for you. Now, a proverb simply means a pithy statement that is supposed to contain wisdom in it. And the world offers lots of proverbs. They're very different from the book of proverbs. And so some of you are new to the Christian faith, maybe your first time at church. And we're so honored you're here. I'm honored that you're with us. You may not know that there's a whole book in the Bible called proverbs. And unlike the proverbs of the world, the proverbs of the word, these are always true. They age well. The proverb of smoke, more camels that didn't age well. 70 years later, we're like, that's ridiculous. But this always ages well because God's word sits above all time and it's timeless. Always good, always beautiful and true for you. And so over the next seven weeks, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna expose a proverb that you hear about your love life from the world. That's not good. And I'm gonna then take you to a proverb in the word that is good. And so if you wanna see what we're gonna talk about over the next seven weeks, you were handed this when you came in. And these are the proverbs that you hear that the world offers you. I'm gonna combat those. I'm gonna go after those, attack those over the next seven weeks. And then we also have some resources that this series will actually surface. You'll have some questions or you'll want some additional help. And you can scan the qr code to get to those. But the one I want to jump right in, the one I want to mention today, or attack today, is a proverb that people hear all the time, and it is about you having a soulmate. Here's a hurtful proverb from the world. Find your soulmate. You hear people talk about that, I'm looking for my soulmate. I hope he's my soulmate. Maybe she's my soulmate. Or sometimes a married couple will even say, I'm having challenges in my marriage. Maybe I made the wrong choice. Maybe this person isn't my soul mate. Now, soulmate comes from a myth. It's a myth. No, it's actually a myth from 2500 years ago. Plato, this very famous philosopher, he wrote the Republic, but he also wrote a famous work called the Symposium. And in Symposium, he positions a character named Aristophanes with to present this idea that humans were initially. Each of us were initially four legs, four arms, and two faces. But the gods were threatened by our potential power, so the gods split us in two. And now we are two arms and two legs and a single face. And we are then doomed to walk throughout the world looking for our other half to complete us. Or maybe you've heard it said, my better half. Now, here's what's fascinating. This was from 2,500 years ago. This was first introduced by Plato in his Symposium, and he meant it as a joke. He used Aristophanes as the character who was a famous comedian in his time 2,500 years ago. So it would be like Will Ferrell or a Saturday Night Live sketch being presented in 2500 years from now. That becoming how people actually think about romance and love. It is a complete myth. You're like, dang, I kind of like the idea of a soulmate. Listen, it's bad for singles, it's bad for those who are dating, and it's bad for married couples as well. I want to show you over the next couple of moments how the whole concept of you having a soulmate is not good for those who are single, those who are dating, or those who are married. For those who are single, which is half of our church, I'm speaking to all of our congregations now throughout Southern California. And according to the people who attend our church, about half of the people who attend our church are single. So it really matters to me, as your pastor, that you not believe that you are half a person in need of someone else to complete you, because God does not think of you that way. You are not half a person. God has made you whole as he's made you his own. You are not half a person. You are not needing somebody else who's going to complete you. So the whole idea of a soulmate actually presents a very low view of singleness. And the Bible presents a very high view of singleness. In fact, think about it. At all of our congregations right now, we have just finished singing songs to Jesus our Savior, who entered this world to rescue us. And he entered this world and lived as a single, celibate young adult. And nothing was lacking in Jesus. Fully satisfied, fully whole, fully complete. And Jesus then gave a very high view of singleness. This is what Jesus said about singleness in Matthew, chapter 19, verse 11 and 12. My nose is itching. I'm so sorry. I'm just gonna scratch it one time to get over with. All right, here we go. Matthew 19:11 through 12. He says not everyone can accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given. So he's about to say, this is really hard. We're about to tell you. Not everybody's gonna be able to get this, but if you can get this, you should get this. For there are eunuchs who are born that way from their mother, from their mother's womb. Now, a eunuch is someone who cannot be sexually engaged with somebody else. And he says, there's some that are born that way. They have a disorder where they could not sexually engage someone. By the way, this is a series called Proverbs for your love life, Moms and dads, we have a great kids ministry for you. It's only gonna get more intense over the next seven weeks. So there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother's wombs. And then there are eunuchs who were made that way by men. Because in Jesus day there would be conquering armies who would go into a group of people, conquer those, take the men, make them slaves, and then castrate them. And so Jesus says some were made that way. But notice what he says next. And there are eunuchs who have made themselves that way because the kingdom of heaven. Now, he's not referring to self mut. Mutilation, self mutilation. But he is referring to someone who's willing to say, I'm going to be single and celibate. I'm going to essentially be a eunuch for. For the sake of the kingdom of heaven. I'm not gonna have a relationship with somebody else. I'm gonna give myself fully to God's kingdom. Jesus says, the one who is able to accept it should accept it. Meaning if you can be single for the kingdom of Jesus, you should be. Not everyone can accept it, but if you can accept it, you should. The reality is, of the singles I am in conversations with in our church, most of the singles don't. Most of you who are single don't view singleness as what you want for your whole life, but a season that you're in. But some of you, perhaps God has given you the gift, the ability to be single your entire life. And most of you are like, if that's a gift, I don't want that gift. I could like to give that gift back. Where's the gift exchange? I want to exchange the gift. And I get it because I remember the first time I took a spiritual gifts test. I was a freshman in college and I was a new Christian. A spiritual gifts test doesn't come from the Bible, but it's a group of people who put together these assessments to help you evaluate where you can serve God based on your gifting. And so there's gifts listed like mercy and administration and wisdom and leadership and teaching and hospitality. And on some tests, the test I took, additional gifts were listed like martyrdom, like dying for Jesus, or celibacy. And I remember getting the test and looking at it and turning it over and seeing all the gifts and thinking, oh, dang, Martyrdom and celibacy. I don't want to. How do I take this test to not get those gifts? I mean, martyrdom, I mean, that's a gift you only use one time. I want a gift you use a lot. And celibacy, that's like a gift you use by not using. I want an active gift. I want an active gift. So I remember taking that test, like, reverse engineering the answers, you know, do you like spending lots of time alone? Absolutely not. Do. Did you like the. Did you like the ending of Braveheart? No. No. So not wanting those gifts. So I get it. But the Scripture actually says that it is a gift to be able to be single. So it's not a low view of singleness. The Bible does not give a low view at all. A very high view. In fact. Another one of the biblical authors, the Apostle Paul, he wrote half of the New Testament. He, like Jesus, was single and celibate. And he wrote to the Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 7, he says this, I wish that all people were as I am. He essentially says to the Corinthian Christians, I wish all of you were like me, that you were actually single. And here's why. Each has his own gift from God. One person has this gift, another has that. So evidently Paul, when he took the spiritual gifts assessment, he had celibacy. The unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But the married man is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife. And his interests are divided. The unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy in both body and in spirit. But the married woman is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. So here's what the apostle Paul is saying. If you are married, you. You do have a responsibility for your family. You should care for your family. And of course, you should be consumed with what God wants to do through you. But if you're single, you don't have the burden of caring for your family. You only are able to think fully about how you can serve God and his kingdom. Now both the world and the Word say to singles, make the most of the season you're in. The world says to you, if you're single, especially to young adults will say things like, hey, make the most of this season. Like, go forward in your career. Go. Go as far as you can, as fast as you can. This is the time when you rack up as many wins as you can. You pour yourself in your career, you get ahead, you advance. Now go for it. Or the world says to singles, hey, take in all the experiences. You can travel, go to all the restaurants, just live up life. You'll never get this season again. Make the most of it. The Word also says, make the most of it, but does not speak of your career and of your experiences, although those can be good. The Word challenges you to think about, how do I leverage all of my time, all of the gifting that God has given me? How do I leverage that for the kingdom of Jesus? How can I unleash this season in my life all for him? Because he's the only one who's worthy of all of my attention and affection. Only Jesus. But the message to singles, you need a soulmate to complete you. Fights against fights against the grand vision in scripture that singleness can be a beautiful season where you serve God with all that you are. So find your soulmate hurts singles. It also hurts those who are dating. It hurts those who are dating because it puts an immense amount of pressure on people. And some of you are in this season right now. Think about it. If there is only one soulmate for you. And there's 8 billion people in this world as a lot of pressure to find the one soulmate for you. And it's not only the world who has spoken of a soulmate. Even some Christians and some preaching, they've kind of spiritualized it and said things like, find God's best one or God's one for you. God's one for you. And if you're saying, eric, do you not believe that God has just one for me? I don't believe that there's only one that you could marry. What? Now, I'm not teaching polygamy. I am not teaching polygamy. I am saying that God's emphasis in the scripture is not on finding the one, but on committing to be one with one person your whole life. That's the emphasis in scripture, committing to be one. And it's actually illogical to think that there's only one for every single person. Think about it. If that was true, it would only take one person to marry the wrong person to kick off a chain reaction that would mess it up for everybody. I mean, think about it. If you actually believe this, this is what you would have to believe. Well, Jack and Jill, they are God's best for each other. They are the one that each is to marry. But Jack decides that he doesn't want to marry Jill. He's not really listening to God that season of his life. And so Jack marries Susan. And so Jack and Susan get married. But Steve was supposed to marry Susan, but Steve can't marry Susan now because Jack married Susan. So Steve has to marry Debbie. But Debbie was supposed to marry David. That was her one person. But she can't marry David because she married Stephen, who never even met David, but messed it up for him and did him dirty, even though the two have never met. And it kicked off a chain reaction that messed it up for everyone. And we have Tinder as a result. That's essentially what you would have to believe. So it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make. It doesn't make sense. And it puts an immense amount of pressure on each person. Now, here's what's fascinating about our current dating. In America, marriage rates are at the lowest they have ever been in American history right now. And yet there are more options for people to look for someone than there's ever been in American history. So we have greater options and less commitment. And sociologists are saying that online dating is one of the reasons for that. Now, people will ask me throughout this series If I'm against online dating, I'm not against online dating at all. I think God can use all tools, including technology. But there are some downsides that you should be aware of. And one of the downsides is that online dating can give you the impression that there's just this endless aisle of people. And if you're not careful, you can start to view people you see online as just a product that you will purchase as opposed to an image bearer of God. Here's what sociologist Melissa Kearney said. Dating apps make people feel like there might always be a better option. It hasn't always been that way. Let me give you an example. In 1932, James Brossard was a psychologist and professor at University of Pennsylvania and he chose the city of Philadelphia to do a study on. He studied 5,000 marriage licenses within Philadelphia and he found that of the 5,000 recent marriage license, that 40% of the people who were getting married that they lived, they grew up and lived within 20 blocks of each other. 40% of the marriages took place with people who lived within one mile of each other. Now people date and they think there's 8 billion people that are the options and the commitments have gone way down. While when it was I'm going to MARRY Someone within 20 blocks of me, marriages were much higher. I had a woman after the 8:30 service, an older lady in our church, precious lady, she came to me and she said, after the 8:30 I was hanging on the patio. She said, you said that there was a whole lot more marriages within just one mile. I'm gonna walk around this campus. There's a lot of good looking men. I said, all right, you go, yeah. So maybe for some of you, this will be your 20 blocks right here. You'll just walk around. This whole idea of soulmate, it also hurts those who are married. Half of our church is married. And the whole idea of soulmate, it actually can hurt your marriage. It can put an unrealistic expectation on your marriage. In fact, there's been research done on what romantic comedies and romantic movies do to marriages. And I'm so happy to report that I can tell my wife, baby, I think I, based on the research, I should watch less of these, that they can give you this unrealistic expectation that everything's supposed to be perfect. This is what Dr. Holmes, the psychologist said. We want to be the special one, the soulmate, and meet the special one, the soulmate. Unfortunately, people tend to believe the Hollywood idea of a perfect relationship. That is just unrealistic. People feel if Their relationship is not like a Hollywood film that then it's not any good. So let me speak to the married couples for a moment. I've been married for Takei in November. So thankful. I adore her. We've been married for. In November, 29 years. But I'll say this. Thanks for that. You are going to have conflicts in your marriage. You are going to have challenges and. And difficulties in your marriage. And I'm concerned because the whole. Find your soulmate. People have said things like, you've heard this. If. If he was really my soulmate, if she was really my soulmate, things would not be this hard. That's a very dangerous statement. Every great relationship in your life is hard. Parents, our kids are a blessing. But parenting is not easy. Everything in your life that's worth value has difficulties and challenges. Your relationship with God has challenges. You suffer, you have struggles, you have doubts, you have questions. But he's worth it all. Your marriage is going to have challenges and discomfort, but your marriage is worth it. Your marriage is worth it because you committed before God to that person to be one. And your oneness sends a signal to the world about how God loves people, that God wants to be one with them. Your marriage is worth fighting for. It's worth fighting for the conflict. The conflict is even good in your marriage. So if you think I'm gonna get married and not have conflict if it's the soulmate. No. God has designed marriage to be two people coming together and rubbing against one another to sanctify each other, to help each other grow. And every growth in your life happened because of discomfort. Listen, you don't grow muscles in the gym without discomfort. You don't grow in your career without discomfort, without raising your hand and saying, I'm gonna sign up for that project even though I don't have those capabilities, because I think the discomfort of the project's gonna give me the capabilities. And you don't grow in your relationship with God without discomfort, without stepping outside of your comfort zone and allowing him to grow you and stretch you. And you're not gon into who you're supposed to be as a husband or wife without discomfort. So instead of listening to the world tell you if there's discomfort, maybe this wasn't your soulmate. Instead, understand that the discomfort is one of the ways which God uses to grow you and turn you into the person you should be. And so discomfort is actually a gift in your marriage. All right, so the proverb from the world. The reason I'm going so animated Is cause I care for you and God cares for you. And I'm telling you that soulmate proverb hurts you. Let's look at what the Word says, because it's opposite. The world says that finding a soulmate leads to life. The Word says something completely different. Proverbs, chapter 19, verse 23. The fear of the Lord leads to life. And whoever has it rest satisfied, he will not be visited by harm. This is God's word. 11:30. Let's read this together aloud. The fear of the Lord leads to life. And whoever has it rests satisfied, he will not be visited by harm. This is God's word. Let me walk you through this phrase by phrase. I want you to see this. It's not a soulmate that leads to life. It's not find a soulmate. It's fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord leads to life. Fear of the Lord means awe or reverence, respect, adoration for Him. That the way you're gonna have real life is if you have a sense of awe for who God is, that you're in awe of who he is and what he's done. That's what leads to life. Jesus entered this world and he said in John 10, verse 10, I've come that you might have life and have it to the fullest. He wants you to have life. And only Jesus is who gives you life. Fear or awe for another person doesn't lead to life. Or awe of God leads to life. Why? Because he's the One who gave you life to begin with. He's the One who breathed life into your lungs. He's the One who created you and fashioned you while you were in your mother's womb. He's the One who placed Himself on the cross to remove your sin and your shame, to give you everlasting life. And Jesus is the One who walked out of the tomb on the third day after declaring, I am the resurrection and the life. And he gives life to his sins. Only Jesus is the one who can deliver on giving you life. Only Jesus. And so you look to Him. You look to him as the One who gives life. Notice the next phrase. Whoever has it rests satisfied. Whoever has this awe of God is the one who rests satisfied. We're all looking for rest. In fact, the reason you look for a relationship is because you want rest. And the reason you look for a relationship is because God created you as a relational being. He created you for Himself. And because he's relational, his creation of you for him is also the same desire that you now have to connect with other people. But connecting with someone else isn't what's gonna cause you to rest. Satisfied. Only he leads to real rest. Jesus entered this world and told a group of people in Matthew 11:28, all of you who are weary and you're burdened, you come to me, and I'm the one who will give you rest. You going to some other person for ultimate rest won't give you real rest. And notice the f the third phrase. He will not be visited by harm. That if you fear God, if you're in awe of God, you won't be visited by harm. What does that mean? Well, surely it doesn't mean that everything in life's going to be perfect. The proverbs is really honest that this is a Christian cruel world we live in. But this is a promise that those of us who have all for God, that He holds us in the midst of our trial, in the middle of our struggles, he's always with us. Now. This proverb is so important and such good news to you. No matter where you are in your relationship, status, single, dating or married, if you're single, you gotta hear this proverb. This proverb is saying to you, you are not incomplete, needing a person to help you rest, satisfied. If you have believed in Jesus, he has made you whole, and you rest satisfied because you have Jesus. This proverb says to those of us who are married, really important. Be careful not to look to your spouse to be the one who gives you life. In fact, listen, I know that many have done this and they do it with good intentions. If you look to your spouse to be your soulmate, the one who makes you alive, you are. I know this is unintentional because you love your spouse. But you are putting a burden on your spouse that he or she cannot handle because he or she is not God. You are putting an expectation on your marriage that your marriage is not designed to handle. You are putting a weight of burden and a weight of expectation on your marriage that if you're not careful, you can crush your marriage because your spouse will always disappoint you. If you look to your spouse to be the one who ultimately gives you life, because only Jesus is the one who ultimately gives you life. Much better is for you as a married person, me as a husband, to look to Jesus as the one who ultimately satisfies my soul, then I can enjoy Kay, my wife, as a blessing and as a gift from God, because she is. But as I'm not expecting her to do for me what only God can do for me. And so you look to Jesus to be the one who ultimately satisfies you and then your spouse as a blessing. Now, what I'm teaching today, this has been one of the biggest debates that Kay, who's seated right here, we've had in our 29 years of marriage. So I've taught this for a long time. But she at sometimes would say to me, eric, it sounds so unromantic how you're saying it. Like there's lots of people you could. You could have married. And, you know, I'm just one of the many. I said, baby, that's not it what I'm saying at all. I think it's more romantic. I think it's more romantic what I'm saying. Not that God twisted my arm and connected me to you because there was no one else. No, baby, I went after you. I pursued you and cherished you and adored you and esteemed you above all others. And I still esteem you all above all others. I longed for you. In fact, Kay and I talk more about this on the if I Had More Time podcast this week, if you want to listen. But this view also places I don't want to be the Kay who she looks for for real life. Cause I will disappoint her. But if she looks to Jesus for real life, then I. Then I'm just your blessing, baby. Come on. I'm just your blessing. I'm just the extra right now. Listen, 11:30. You always get a little extra stuff. 11:30. This is also an important message for you who are in pain. And some of you are in pain right now. Listen, I know who I Pastor, I've prayed with some of you in the patio over the last couple months. Some of you lost a spouse to cancer or to a tragic accident. I'm proud of you for being at church when you know we're talking about proverbs for your love life. I'm so proud of you that you come and this proverb reminds you that your everlasting relationship with Jesus is secure, that the eternal relationship with God never goes away, that he holds you. Some of you are in pain right now because you thought you were gonna marry him or her and it fell apart. And you're still reeling and disoriented from that. And. And this proverb reminds you that the one who truly quenches you has never left you and will never leave you. He's incapable of leaving you. He's committed to you deeply. For some, you're in pain because what you've dreamed for hasn't yet happened. And this proverb reminds you that the one who cherishes you so much that he entered this world to die for you. That he's so committed to you. And he's the one who causes your soul to. To rest satisfied. You rest satisfied because of him. Several years ago, I was in Miami as pastor and a good friend of mine, Ernie, down the street, I got become good friends with guys who lived in the same street. Ernie got married. And so I was invited to Ernie's wedding. Kay and I were. And so we went to the wedding and we sat like third row, like right there. And the minister got up and it was really bad. I mean, like a lot of ministers, he said some, oh, it was so bad. And he says, michelle and Ernie, he says, michelle, Ernie, the guest, you have been welcomed in to the most beautiful moment in their lives. Michelle, you've looked your whole life for your other half. Ernie, you've wanted your entire life to be made complete. And here you too are about to become a full person. I was sitting on the third row. Whenever I hear bad teaching, my palms get sweaty. They were like, I'm not doing this. My knees are weak, my arms are heavy, my palms are sweaty. There's vomit on my sweater already. It's mom's spaghetti. I don't even know what's going on. I don't even know. Like all kinds of things are going through my head. And Kay looks at me and she. I can tell what she's thinking. She's thinking I'm about to stand up and I was really tempted. So she kind of puts her hand on my knee, like squeezes it, and then taps my thigh. And I didn't stand up. But man, I was thinking about it and I was thinking there's only like 200, 250 people, 300 people in the room. It's not that many people. I can clean this up really quickly. So what I wanted. The only reason I didn't stand up is because I was able to like, just play in my head the joy of what a would have been like to stand up. So in my head, I got up, I walked up here, I said to the guy, hey, man, you. You. Why don't you just stand over here for a moment? And then I. Michelle, you. You really do look stunning today. I'm so proud of you. Ernie, bro, I love you so much. But let me just say this. Let me just say to all y' all about Ernie and Michelle. I know them, I live on the same street as them. Michelle, you are not half a person. You are a full person. Ernie, you're a full person. And what you guys are about to do is so sacred and. And so beautiful. You as a full person, and you as a full person, you are about to become one. I mean, this is a big deal. I know you guys know this, but you're about to covenant before God and people. But this is really before God. You are about to commit to be one, united with each other. I love this for you and for you who are here. This guy's probably not gonna tell you this, but let me go ahead and tell you. Cause this joker sure can't tell you. I want you to know that what you're seeing is really sacred. But what makes it really sacred is for us who are watching, it's just. It's a picture of something even more significant. And maybe you've never known this before. Maybe it's your first time to come to church ever to Ernie and Michelle's wedding. I'm so glad you're here. But I want you to know that the picture of Ernie and Michelle becoming one, according to the scripture, that's an earthly, temporary marriage. And it points to an everlasting, eternal marriage where God makes us one with Himself, those of us who believe in Him. And if you believe in Jesus, you become one with God. And he takes all of your property on Himself. Meaning he takes all your sin and your shame on Himself. And he gives you all of his property. He gives you all of his forgiveness and righteousness. So you believe in Jesus, you become one with God, and that relationship lasts forever. I'd love to talk to you about it. So I'll be after hanging out in the patio if you want. Hey, man, you can go ahead and finish this if you want to try. And then I go back down. That's what I want to do. That's what's in my head. This teaching series, I think will be helpful for you. But I care mostly about you first having a relationship with God. Because that relationship lasts forever. And that is the relationship where you can rest, satisfied and have real life. So how do I get a relationship with God? You are not half a person who was split from another half, but you were split from God. Not in two, but you split. You walked away from God. All of us have. Every single person here. I walked away from God. The Bible calls this sin where we went our own way. Where we decided that we were gonna listen to proverbs from the world and not proverbs from the word where. Where we decided we know what's best for our life. The Bible calls this sin us disobeying God, breaking the heart of God, breaking the law of God. You get this. Even if you're brand new to church, you know this about yourself. You haven't even kept your own commitments. You haven't lived by your own standards. How much more so would you miss the standards of a holy God? So we aren't one with God because we split, but God wants to make us one with Himself. So here's what God did not do. God did not look at you and say, hey, you messed up. You walked out on me. If you want me, you know where to find me. You earn your way back to me. You climb your way back to me. That's not what God said to you. Nor did God say, you know what? I'm gonna give you a second chance. Let's meet halfway. Let's meet halfway. That's not what he said either. Instead, God the Son looked at you, loved you, longed for you, and, and came all the way here for you. And he doesn't command you to find Him. He came here to find you. Jesus. God the Son entered this world and he says, I've come to seek and to save that which is lost. To give you real life now for you to have real life. You. All you do is believe in Him. Not just believe about him, but believe in Him. And the way you believe in him is this. Romans, chapter 10, verse 9 says if you. If you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. You'll be one with God, forgiven if you believe in Him. So I want us to be as still as we can in this moment. I'm going to invite people to believe in Jesus. And I'm going to ask you, out of respect for God and out of respect for people around you, to be still. Because this is the most sacred moment in the world as I'm going to invite people for the first time to believe in Jesus. Now listen, some of you have been visiting our church for the last couple of months. We love that you're here and you've been hearing the good news of Jesus, how much he loves you, how he wants you to be His. And this is the moment. Where are you in? Are you ready to follow Him? And so, one at a time, in a moment, if you are ready to receive his forgiveness, to believe in Jesus, there's a moment in your life when you have to decide, am I going to believe in Jesus and become a Christian and receive his forgiveness and follow Him? And. And I'm gonna invite you in this moment to place your faith in Him. And here's how we're gonna do this one at a time. In a moment, I'm gonna ask you to stand. And as you stand, to confess. I believe. And as you do that, we believe that's the moment where he overwhelms you with his forgiveness and makes you his own forever. Now, why would I stand up in front of everybody? It's a fair question. When Jesus died for you, he died for you in front of everybody. And when Jesus invited people to follow him in the Gospels, he never found someone and said, hey, listen, let's keep this private. It was always public. And every major decision you've ever made in your life, it's been public. Everything important to you is public. And by the way, if you become a Christian, really, if Jesus really changes you and makes you his own, everyone's going to know anyway, because Jesus is going to change everything about you. He's going to change you fully. And so if you are ready to become his, to believe in him, receive his forgiveness just one at a time, I'm going to invite you now to stand and confess. I believe. 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 are gentle 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.