best sermon ever!!!

So pastor Womack preached on marriage on sunday and I have to say that I learned so so much. I thought that I knew all I could about the topic and what the Bible says but I was wrong. Here are my notes, they are awesome!!!

Destiny Church Sermon
February 22, 2009
How to respond when you regret saying “I Do”

First things first: Do not act married without the covenant of being married before God. The covenant doesn’t start til you say “I Do.”

Once you say I Do you have made a covenant before God regardless of where you got married. God expects us to keep this covenant made before Him. It is his will.

Once you are in the marriage and decide that you want out or that you don’t love that person or cannot make it together, think about this:

Do not go from victim to violator. If you are a victim in the marriage keep it that way and do not decide to make the other person the victim as well. Pray for Gods help in changing the violator in the marriage.
Do not take things into your own hands because then you say, “God we do not need your help.”
Do not repay evil with evil.
Do not pay back someone that has wronged you. God has it under control. God’s wrath will repay them. Leave it to God.
Let go of the negative actions and emotions and leave it to God.
God might bring these issues into your life to see how mature you are.
Remain with your spouse until God releases you. Do not leave before God has a chance to do His work. If God is nudging your heart then He has work left to be done.

When can you leave?
Moses says in the New Testament that the 3 reasons that you can get divorce are:
Immorality, adultery, and marrying an unbeliever that wants out.
But what does God say about this?
God disagrees with divorce altogether!
Moses only wrote this because the peoples hearts were hardened and needed a way out.
If you are looking for a way out now and you married an unbeliever why look for God’s way now when you violated God in the first place by marrying unequally yoked to a non believer.
Moses did this because people on their own cant move on alone and they have hard hearts but DO NOT change God’s will. God can change hearts.
As Christians we cannot tell someone to get a divorce and then tell someone that what you say comes from God, because it does not. We have no right to tell someone to get a divorce and then expect them to look at us as a follower of God. That is going against God’s will.
There are ramifications of leaving someone outside of God’s plan. He says to honor the vow- PERIOD. It is God’s law.
Just because you quit does not mean that God quit!

You cant divorce but you can separate with a plan.
If you do decide to separate- do not live single lifestyle.
When to separate:
When an unbeliever in the marriage wants out.
When the marriage is endangering physical and medical well being.
When the believers heart is hardened.

Always separate before thinking of a divorce. If separation does not work then take the church so that they can go before God on the issue.
This is a big life impacting decision and need to allow God to do His work for complete joy in the relationship.

If you do decide to divorce, remember to, divorce with dignity and take care of business legally and spiritually.