I want to spend my life, mending broken people. 00:00:05.10\00:00:13.94 I want to spend my life, 00:00:16.75\00:00:21.05 I want to spend my life, mending broken people. 00:00:38.03\00:00:46.34 I want to spend my life, mending broken people. 00:00:48.54\00:00:57.09 Hello friends, welcome to Thursday Night Live here in 00:01:09.00\00:01:12.37 3ABN Studios. 00:01:12.37\00:01:13.44 We thank you for tuning in. 00:01:13.64\00:01:14.57 We've got an exciting program tonight. 00:01:14.67\00:01:16.97 Yes we do. 00:01:17.51\00:01:18.31 It's called To Have and To Hold On. 00:01:18.61\00:01:21.28 Many of you are married or think about getting married and 00:01:21.61\00:01:24.38 you've probably been at weddings where the pastor says 00:01:24.38\00:01:26.82 to have and to hold from this day forward, well we say after 00:01:27.52\00:01:30.85 40 something years of marriage to have and to hold on. 00:01:30.85\00:01:33.66 And you know we didn't get here on a flowery bit of ease. 00:01:34.39\00:01:37.16 We've been filing each other down all during that time and 00:01:37.66\00:01:40.80 God has been filing us down, building us up, teaching us, 00:01:40.80\00:01:43.73 breaking us, rebuilding us. 00:01:43.90\00:01:45.03 And friends we want to share something tonight with you. 00:01:45.10\00:01:46.87 But we're not by ourselves. 00:01:47.24\00:01:48.34 We have two other couples here. 00:01:48.44\00:01:49.64 Let's go to the Thomases to the other side of the room. 00:01:49.70\00:01:52.57 Good to have you here both. 00:01:52.64\00:01:53.54 It's good to be here with you. 00:01:53.64\00:01:55.08 I'm Terrell and Sasha. 00:01:55.08\00:01:56.08 Terrell and Sasha Thomas. 00:01:56.18\00:01:57.25 Kind of tell us quickly what you do here at 3ABN. 00:01:57.35\00:01:59.95 So I work in the media center here, which deals with like 00:02:00.25\00:02:03.08 managing the program files and making sure they're backed up. 00:02:03.08\00:02:06.45 I help out as needed and I also work at the school. 00:02:08.56\00:02:12.16 Yes. 00:02:12.56\00:02:12.96 That's right. 00:02:12.96\00:02:16.56 We love you. 00:02:16.67\00:02:17.53 The way you guys raise your children. 00:02:17.57\00:02:18.60 They sing on the praise team with you. 00:02:19.07\00:02:20.44 And I know when they get older they're going to remember my 00:02:21.47\00:02:23.04 mom and dad started us when we were like, didn't even know how 00:02:23.04\00:02:25.31 to sing. 00:02:25.31\00:02:25.77 But good to have you here together. 00:02:26.57\00:02:27.48 It's good to be here. 00:02:27.61\00:02:28.14 And who do we have here, honey? 00:02:28.31\00:02:30.01 No surprise. 00:02:30.15\00:02:31.05 Ian and Angela Vanderbilt. 00:02:31.28\00:02:32.65 Welcome. 00:02:32.91\00:02:33.45 Yeah, thanks for having us tonight. 00:02:33.75\00:02:34.82 We're excited to be here. 00:02:34.95\00:02:35.75 This is going to be a great program. 00:02:35.82\00:02:37.49 I'm looking forward to just how the Lord leads. 00:02:37.75\00:02:39.32 I know. 00:02:39.42\00:02:40.02 That's right. 00:02:40.89\00:02:41.39 What do you do here, Ian? 00:02:41.52\00:02:42.56 Well, my main position here is a producer. 00:02:42.92\00:02:44.93 Yes. 00:02:45.53\00:02:45.89 Pastoral too? 00:02:46.63\00:02:47.20 When I can. 00:02:47.83\00:02:48.83 Lately I've kind of had to put that on the back burner just 00:02:49.23\00:02:51.97 because there's a little bit of internal transition going on 00:02:51.97\00:02:55.14 with some individuals. 00:02:55.14\00:02:56.10 So I've had to step back just to devote more time to 00:02:56.54\00:02:58.91 production. 00:02:58.91\00:03:02.14 Discipleship here where I'm currently the assistant 00:03:02.14\00:03:04.25 coordinator for that. 00:03:04.25\00:03:04.98 All right. 00:03:04.98\00:03:05.58 All right. 00:03:05.91\00:03:06.68 And Angela. 00:03:06.75\00:03:07.35 Yeah, so I floor direct here and do makeup and run camera. 00:03:08.18\00:03:12.29 Yeah. 00:03:13.25\00:03:13.29 Wonderful couple. 00:03:13.76\00:03:14.12 And these two guys also preach. 00:03:14.72\00:03:16.42 They're both preachers. 00:03:16.73\00:03:17.26 They're both phenomenal preachers. 00:03:17.49\00:03:19.26 Wonderful. 00:03:19.26\00:03:19.73 Men of God. 00:03:19.76\00:03:20.56 That's the elders. 00:03:20.56\00:03:21.26 We appreciate that. 00:03:21.26\00:03:22.13 That's right. 00:03:22.20\00:03:24.17 If you're looking for a church that's just on fire for the 00:03:24.57\00:03:27.14 Lord, you want to come to Thompsonville, that's just a 00:03:27.14\00:03:29.44 plug. 00:03:29.44\00:03:34.71 godly thankful for elders that we have here at our church. 00:03:34.71\00:03:38.05 And if you're ever in the area, which you have to be here 00:03:38.15\00:03:40.25 intentionally, do stop by the Thompsonville Seventh-day 00:03:40.25\00:03:42.82 Adventist Church right across, kind of adjacent to 3ABN. 00:03:42.82\00:03:46.89 But tonight's program is about relationships. 00:03:47.49\00:03:49.56 Now, mostly we're going to be talking two married couples, 00:03:50.63\00:03:53.23 but we're going to also give advice about you might be 00:03:53.36\00:03:55.70 getting ready for marriage. 00:03:55.70\00:03:58.67 how did God work through our differences, how did God help 00:03:58.93\00:04:02.17 us in our broken moments, in our moments where we learn to 00:04:02.17\00:04:05.24 grow together, honey, and we've had a lot of that. 00:04:05.24\00:04:07.21 And so you might want to hear a record or invite somebody who's 00:04:07.41\00:04:10.58 in the home with you to join us, and it's going to be a 00:04:10.58\00:04:13.45 blessing. 00:04:13.45\00:04:13.85 Thank you for tuning in. 00:04:14.02\00:04:16.69 music, honey? 00:04:16.69\00:04:21.92 entitled, Build My Life. 00:04:21.92\00:04:24.29 Worthy of every song we could ever sing Worthy of all the 00:04:41.64\00:04:50.55 praise we could ever breathe Worthy of every breath we could 00:04:50.55\00:04:58.13 ever breathe We live for you 00:04:58.13\00:05:01.36 Jesus, the name above every other name Jesus, the only one 00:05:08.37\00:05:17.51 who could ever save Worthy of every breath we could ever 00:05:17.51\00:05:25.25 breathe, we live for you. 00:05:25.25\00:05:28.79 There is no one like you, there is none beside you. 00:05:35.40\00:05:41.74 Open up my eyes in wonder, show me who you are Fill me with 00:05:42.34\00:05:52.55 your heart and lead me in your love to those around me 00:05:52.55\00:06:00.22 Worthy of every song we could ever sing Worthy of all the 00:06:05.19\00:06:13.70 praise we could ever bring Worthy of every breath we could 00:06:13.70\00:06:21.31 ever breathe, we live for you. 00:06:21.31\00:06:25.45 Jesus, the name above every other name. 00:06:31.45\00:06:36.06 Jesus, the only one who could ever save. 00:06:38.19\00:06:42.40 Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe, we live for you. 00:06:44.73\00:06:51.14 Oh, we 00:06:51.14\00:06:52.31 like you, there is none beside you. 00:06:59.55\00:07:04.49 Open up my eyes in wonder. 00:07:04.49\00:07:08.89 Show me who you are and fill me with your heart. 00:07:09.39\00:07:15.56 And lead me in your love to those around me. 00:07:15.86\00:07:22.44 Holy, there is no one like you. 00:07:22.44\00:07:27.18 There is none beside you. 00:07:27.38\00:07:30.65 Open up my eyes in wonder. 00:07:31.11\00:07:35.05 Show me who you are and fill me with your heart. 00:07:35.55\00:07:41.69 And lead me in your love to those around me. 00:07:41.99\00:07:48.60 I 00:07:54.64\00:07:56.37 will build my life up. 00:08:01.84\00:08:08.85 It is a firm foundation. 00:08:09.08\00:08:14.36 And I will put my trust in you alone. 00:08:14.92\00:08:22.30 And I will not be shaken. 00:08:22.56\00:08:28.07 And I will build my life upon your love. 00:08:28.07\00:08:35.61 It is a firm foundation. 00:08:35.91\00:08:41.05 And I will put my trust in you alone. 00:08:41.45\00:08:48.49 And I will not be shaken. 00:08:48.99\00:08:54.13 Holy, there is no one like you. 00:08:54.30\00:08:59.13 There is none beside you. 00:08:59.13\00:09:02.70 Open up my eyes in wonder. 00:09:03.24\00:09:06.98 Show me who you are and fill me with your heart. 00:09:07.58\00:09:13.68 And lead me in your love to those around me. 00:09:13.98\00:09:20.42 Holy, there is no one like you. 00:09:21.09\00:09:25.39 There is none beside you. 00:09:25.39\00:09:29.23 Open up my eyes in wonder. 00:09:29.23\00:09:34.00 Show me who you are and fill me with your heart. 00:09:34.60\00:09:41.31 And lead me in your love to those around me. 00:09:42.24\00:09:50.62 Thank you so much for that wonderful song. 00:09:53.69\00:09:55.62 Isn't that wonderful? 00:09:55.69\00:09:56.39 Yes, beautiful message. 00:09:56.39\00:09:58.33 Build me up, Lord. 00:09:58.99\00:10:00.30 That's something that we all need to have our hearts built 00:10:00.46\00:10:04.10 before the Lord. 00:10:04.10\00:10:05.13 Now, this song is a little special because as we were 00:10:05.47\00:10:08.60 listening, Ian and Angela remember this song very well. 00:10:08.60\00:10:11.21 Yeah, we do because it's really interesting. 00:10:12.01\00:10:13.98 The title that we have for tonight, To Haven't to Hold On, 00:10:14.38\00:10:17.18 that was one of your sermons that you did a few years ago. 00:10:17.35\00:10:19.95 And we were just new to Thompsonville and my son Liam 00:10:20.02\00:10:22.75 was learning how to play the piano and he actually played on 00:10:22.75\00:10:26.12 the piano for the first time at our church to that sermon and 00:10:26.12\00:10:31.66 that same song that we just listened to. 00:10:31.66\00:10:33.70 And my son-in-law was playing the guitar too. 00:10:33.83\00:10:36.16 And he's directing actually right now. 00:10:36.60\00:10:38.50 Look at that, look at that. 00:10:38.60\00:10:39.73 Beautiful. 00:10:39.90\00:10:40.40 Only the Lord could put that together because we didn't even 00:10:41.10\00:10:43.20 plan that. 00:10:43.20\00:10:43.61 No. 00:10:43.61\00:10:43.84 But if you're just joining us after the song, we're talking 00:10:45.24\00:10:48.28 tonight about relationships, about marriage. 00:10:48.28\00:10:50.68 Those of you that are planning for marriage, you may have 00:10:51.21\00:10:53.85 experienced a breakup and you're planning for your second 00:10:53.85\00:10:56.99 marriage or some of you have been married many times. 00:10:56.99\00:10:59.05 This program is going to talk about marriage from a number of 00:10:59.55\00:11:02.32 perspective relationships also because marriage, the dynamics 00:11:02.32\00:11:05.66 in marriage, is also present in many relationships. 00:11:05.66\00:11:09.43 And we're going to talk about that tonight. 00:11:09.83\00:11:11.43 Biblically. 00:11:11.53\00:11:12.07 Scripturally, that's right, and experientially. 00:11:12.67\00:11:15.07 But let's start out with something really easy. 00:11:15.47\00:11:17.97 Well, we want to know how long we've been married to. 00:11:19.07\00:11:21.64 Okay. 00:11:21.64\00:11:22.18 Couples. 00:11:22.18\00:11:22.74 Well, let's start with the couple in the middle. 00:11:23.24\00:11:26.68 We've been married 17 years now. 00:11:28.95\00:11:30.95 And you know, it wasn't something that we really, or at 00:11:31.75\00:11:35.49 least for me, I'll be honest, when I first met Angela, I 00:11:35.49\00:11:38.73 wasn't looking for a relationship. 00:11:38.73\00:11:40.60 I didn't want to get married. 00:11:40.80\00:11:41.70 But interestingly enough, just how God works everything out, I 00:11:42.00\00:11:45.37 can remember early on in my high school days, my heart was 00:11:45.37\00:11:48.07 broken by someone, and I just remember how horrible that felt 00:11:48.07\00:11:53.24 and just how much that really ate away at me. 00:11:53.24\00:11:55.21 And I wasn't even, you know, I didn't have much of a 00:11:55.54\00:11:57.85 relationship with God, but I was in a Catholic school and I 00:11:57.85\00:12:00.58 remember praying. 00:12:00.58\00:12:01.62 And I was sitting on my back porch at my parents' house and 00:12:01.82\00:12:04.12 I said, Lord, I just want a woman who loves God and is 00:12:04.12\00:12:09.79 going to love me the way that you love. 00:12:09.79\00:12:11.76 And God gave me my wife and I wasn't even expecting it. 00:12:13.73\00:12:16.87 You weren't even a Christian. 00:12:17.10\00:12:18.77 No, no, I really didn't have much of a relationship with 00:12:18.77\00:12:21.30 God. 00:12:21.30\00:12:21.70 It was very... 00:12:21.74\00:12:23.04 Yeah, that was our wedding day. 00:12:23.07\00:12:24.44 That was our wedding day. 00:12:24.87\00:12:25.87 We really, you know, I just didn't have much of a 00:12:26.41\00:12:28.24 relationship with God, but I was still hearing things of God 00:12:28.24\00:12:31.65 being in Catholic school and we took, you know, theology class. 00:12:31.65\00:12:35.05 But I do remember Claire's day being on the back porch just 00:12:35.48\00:12:38.19 saying, God, I want you to give me the woman that I need. 00:12:38.19\00:12:40.39 Wow, and he did. 00:12:40.76\00:12:42.22 And he did. 00:12:42.22\00:12:42.26 He answered that prayer. 00:12:42.82\00:12:43.83 And what do you have to say about that, Angela? 00:12:44.09\00:12:45.63 I'm so blessed. 00:12:45.83\00:12:46.73 I love my children. 00:12:47.03\00:12:48.13 We have two children. 00:12:48.13\00:12:49.43 We have my daughter, Pamela, who's pregnant, and my son, 00:12:49.43\00:12:53.64 Liam, who's in ninth grade. 00:12:53.80\00:12:55.20 All right. 00:12:55.34\00:12:55.90 Very blessed. 00:12:56.44\00:12:57.37 He was little. 00:12:58.37\00:12:58.97 He was so little. 00:12:59.17\00:13:00.38 He was barely touching the piano when he played that song. 00:13:00.38\00:13:02.11 I know. 00:13:02.11\00:13:02.14 he's... 00:13:05.88\00:13:06.18 Yeah, and Ben was single too. 00:13:07.18\00:13:08.45 Yeah, he didn't know he was going to marry my daughter. 00:13:09.25\00:13:11.09 You know, amazing marriage is something God created in the 00:13:13.49\00:13:16.02 Garden of Eden. 00:13:16.02\00:13:16.62 That's right. 00:13:16.73\00:13:17.36 And it still goes on today. 00:13:17.36\00:13:18.56 Well, Darrell and Sasha, you're the quiet, beautiful witness 00:13:19.43\00:13:22.76 Yeah, how did you meet and how long you've been married? 00:13:22.76\00:13:25.77 So, we're coming up on 12 years of marriage. 00:13:26.07\00:13:28.70 All right. 00:13:29.24\00:13:29.64 And... 00:13:30.67\00:13:31.21 go ahead. 00:13:31.21\00:13:31.74 I was just saying that's crazy. 00:13:31.91\00:13:32.97 Yeah. 00:13:33.01\00:13:33.51 Yeah, we actually went to middle school, high school 00:13:34.14\00:13:38.75 together. 00:13:38.75\00:13:39.35 She was in the year above me. 00:13:39.45\00:13:41.78 Didn't have any interest in each other at all. 00:13:42.25\00:13:45.22 Okay. 00:13:46.59\00:13:47.16 But I would say, over these 12 years, there's been nothing 00:13:48.06\00:13:54.36 that has come our way, no circumstance. 00:13:54.36\00:13:56.20 And we've had some challenges, but there's been no 00:13:56.30\00:13:58.33 circumstance that has come across my path that could 00:13:58.33\00:14:01.80 convince me that I made a wrong choice in choosing my wife. 00:14:01.80\00:14:05.41 Just looking at our wedding pictures as we were preparing 00:14:06.84\00:14:09.14 for this program, it just consistently reminds you of... 00:14:09.14\00:14:13.28 Beautiful. 00:14:13.28\00:14:16.85 Well, you might not be able to see, but the theme for our 00:14:16.85\00:14:19.32 wedding was the Garden of Eden. 00:14:19.32\00:14:20.72 Oh. 00:14:21.12\00:14:24.89 would be brought to me, for me, that was like my eve being 00:14:24.89\00:14:28.40 brought to me. 00:14:28.40\00:14:29.23 And it was just so impactful. 00:14:29.83\00:14:31.67 And, you know, I just praise the Lord for sustaining us 00:14:32.40\00:14:35.47 throughout these years. 00:14:35.47\00:14:38.11 And where did you meet? 00:14:39.77\00:14:41.44 No. 00:14:41.44\00:14:46.88 we had a mutual friend at the time. 00:14:46.88\00:14:49.28 I would say I had one foot in the church, but still trying to 00:14:49.28\00:14:52.59 live a little bit of the worldly life. 00:14:52.59\00:14:54.39 I was pretty much out in the world. 00:14:54.96\00:14:57.16 I grew up in the church, but I had pretty much just went 00:14:57.29\00:15:00.26 completely... 00:15:00.26\00:15:00.96 Were you Adventist? 00:15:00.96\00:15:02.50 No, I was... 00:15:02.60\00:15:03.47 Actually, I was raised AME. 00:15:03.47\00:15:05.63 So, that was... 00:15:06.60\00:15:08.74 That African Method is Episcopal? 00:15:08.74\00:15:10.37 Yes. 00:15:10.47\00:15:10.87 Yes. 00:15:10.87\00:15:11.37 But because I had gone to the Seventh-day Adventist School... 00:15:12.11\00:15:16.31 Oh, yeah. 00:15:16.31\00:15:20.28 shared, a lot of our friends were from high school. 00:15:20.28\00:15:23.55 And so, I just remember in my journey of coming back to God, 00:15:23.95\00:15:28.26 I started attending church more again, and then our paths 00:15:28.82\00:15:33.26 crossed. 00:15:33.26\00:15:35.83 where we're both like going in opposite directions, and all of 00:15:35.83\00:15:39.17 a sudden it's just like, Oh, hey, we sit down, we're talking 00:15:39.17\00:15:41.84 on a bench and say... 00:15:41.84\00:15:44.77 So, tell me about yourself. 00:15:44.77\00:15:46.11 Very cinematic, but yeah. 00:15:48.11\00:15:49.51 Where are you from? 00:15:49.51\00:15:50.71 We're from the... 00:15:50.91\00:15:51.91 Bermuda. 00:15:51.91\00:15:52.28 Yeah, lovely island of Bermuda. 00:15:53.05\00:15:54.58 And like I said, I'm thankful for the way that the Lord did 00:15:56.45\00:15:59.85 it, because I think bringing us together at that time in our 00:15:59.85\00:16:04.86 journey kind of helped to save each of us. 00:16:04.86\00:16:08.80 Because I mean, now I look back, and even though I was 00:16:10.33\00:16:13.70 coming into the church, I still didn't really... 00:16:13.70\00:16:16.64 I remember when I would go to my childhood church, I just 00:16:16.64\00:16:21.64 wanted... 00:16:21.64\00:16:26.75 different churches, and then once I got to... 00:16:26.75\00:16:29.48 I can't remember how I ended up coming to your church, but... 00:16:29.48\00:16:34.82 Well, it takes a little bit of the fairy tale out of the 00:16:34.82\00:16:37.66 story, but one of my friends took my phone and pretended to 00:16:37.66\00:16:41.50 be me and texted him and invited him to church. 00:16:41.50\00:16:44.77 I was like, no, don't do that. 00:16:44.87\00:16:46.13 I don't want him to feel like I'm forcing him to come to 00:16:46.17\00:16:48.64 church. 00:16:48.64\00:16:48.87 But he thought it was me, and he said yes, he would come. 00:16:50.07\00:16:52.27 Oh, that was good. 00:16:52.31\00:16:53.27 It was an action text. 00:16:53.81\00:16:55.21 But the fact that you allowed her to do it meant that you 00:16:57.11\00:16:59.61 really wanted me to come. 00:16:59.61\00:17:00.68 I like that. 00:17:00.68\00:17:02.28 She didn't put mistake. 00:17:02.42\00:17:03.52 And here you are 12 years later. 00:17:04.95\00:17:06.42 And two children. 00:17:07.09\00:17:07.82 Oh, yes, and we do have... 00:17:08.02\00:17:09.86 So we have a son and a daughter. 00:17:09.86\00:17:11.86 I should say daughter and son, because our daughter is older. 00:17:12.56\00:17:14.63 She's 10, and our son is 6. 00:17:14.63\00:17:14.66 He'll tell you he's about to go 7. 00:17:18.00\00:17:19.60 Noah and Brighton. 00:17:22.47\00:17:24.17 They all was on the praise team with you. 00:17:24.74\00:17:26.14 I remember when they first got on the praise team, they stood 00:17:26.17\00:17:29.34 there like, who are these people looking at? 00:17:29.34\00:17:31.58 They were not singing. 00:17:32.01\00:17:32.85 They were just holding the microphone. 00:17:32.91\00:17:33.68 Now they're singing. 00:17:33.78\00:17:34.68 What a blessing. 00:17:35.35\00:17:35.82 Thank you for being an example. 00:17:36.05\00:17:37.19 And well, I think we're the ones, we've been around 00:17:37.82\00:17:40.89 probably the longest. 00:17:40.89\00:17:41.72 What year are we in now, honey? 00:17:41.86\00:17:42.96 Well, this will be our 42nd year. 00:17:43.43\00:17:46.13 I can't believe it. 00:17:46.76\00:17:47.56 It went so fast. 00:17:47.56\00:17:49.10 It did. 00:17:49.36\00:17:49.70 I just can't believe it. 00:17:49.93\00:17:50.87 I just asked you to marry me the other day. 00:17:50.87\00:17:52.23 No, you didn't ask me. 00:17:52.77\00:17:54.14 We have the funniest engagement story. 00:17:55.94\00:17:59.51 People probably heard it before, but I think since you 00:17:59.67\00:18:02.04 said that, it's right now repeating. 00:18:02.04\00:18:03.14 We dated off and on. 00:18:03.28\00:18:04.28 I was out in the world. 00:18:04.68\00:18:05.68 Yeah, he was. 00:18:05.68\00:18:06.65 I was... 00:18:06.88\00:18:07.32 He was a bad boy. 00:18:07.98\00:18:09.02 I was out there in the world, partying, gambling, disc 00:18:09.15\00:18:12.02 jockey, pool hustling. 00:18:12.02\00:18:13.05 And I would come to church, but I was not in the Lord. 00:18:13.59\00:18:15.92 Not at all. 00:18:16.12\00:18:16.73 And I saw you and your sister. 00:18:17.06\00:18:19.86 We had a church, like 1,200 members, and you'd come to 00:18:20.36\00:18:22.76 church. 00:18:22.76\00:18:27.97 up, and they'd walk in the church. 00:18:27.97\00:18:29.14 It was like, who are these beautiful women? 00:18:29.30\00:18:31.14 This is New York. 00:18:31.14\00:18:32.14 You had to dress to come to church. 00:18:32.37\00:18:34.84 You couldn't half step. 00:18:35.04\00:18:36.11 And that's when they had the maxi dresses, so it always 00:18:36.21\00:18:38.05 looked like they had on a gown. 00:18:38.05\00:18:39.21 They'd step in like, I will never get a chance to talk to 00:18:39.28\00:18:42.68 them. 00:18:42.68\00:18:47.29 somebody told me something that you wanted to meet me. 00:18:47.29\00:18:50.03 Yeah, I wanted to meet this guy, this bad boy. 00:18:50.33\00:18:53.06 Me? 00:18:54.00\00:18:54.13 We're teenagers. 00:18:54.56\00:18:55.33 He came to- It was called M.V. 00:18:55.90\00:18:58.57 M.V. 00:18:58.63\00:18:59.07 then. 00:18:59.23\00:18:59.63 It was called M.V. 00:18:59.73\00:19:02.50 I had a big afro, like Michael Jackson. 00:19:02.90\00:19:04.71 A big curly afro. 00:19:04.84\00:19:06.24 When he turns, his afro just spun left and right. 00:19:06.34\00:19:09.44 And I said, I want to meet this guy. 00:19:09.88\00:19:11.55 And I said, it was a guy named Chris, right? 00:19:11.81\00:19:15.12 Yeah, Chris said, Hey, John, there's a girl I want to meet 00:19:15.22\00:19:17.09 you. 00:19:17.09\00:19:17.45 I said, Who? 00:19:17.45\00:19:18.29 He said, Her. 00:19:18.35\00:19:19.75 I said, Who? 00:19:20.42\00:19:21.46 He said, Her. 00:19:21.66\00:19:22.59 Boy, I was fast. 00:19:22.89\00:19:23.83 I said, Not her. 00:19:23.93\00:19:24.46 I said, Not her. 00:19:24.46\00:19:26.36 I mean, just like, way above my pay grade. 00:19:26.49\00:19:28.83 And so, we met that evening. 00:19:30.50\00:19:32.30 She invited me over for Bible studies because- Well, after 00:19:33.07\00:19:37.11 several weeks. 00:19:37.11\00:19:37.84 After several weeks. 00:19:37.91\00:19:42.94 still a teenager, but you could come over for Bible study. 00:19:42.94\00:19:45.61 So, I said, Okay, I know what I'll do. 00:19:45.88\00:19:47.28 I'll invite him for Bible study. 00:19:47.42\00:19:48.88 And so, I did. 00:19:49.72\00:19:50.82 She came to Bible study on Friday night, and you kept 00:19:50.82\00:19:54.42 coming, but you kept partying. 00:19:54.42\00:19:55.79 Kept going, Come on, honey. 00:19:55.92\00:19:57.63 Come. 00:19:57.66\00:19:57.93 Yeah, I'll be there. 00:19:58.19\00:19:59.06 But you would still go on Friday night party. 00:19:59.46\00:20:02.00 And I'm like, Oh, this guy. 00:20:02.30\00:20:03.53 And I started praying for him. 00:20:03.80\00:20:05.67 Say, Lord, please, touch him. 00:20:05.97\00:20:08.37 I need you to touch him so that he could change. 00:20:08.84\00:20:12.11 And then she invited me after one family worship that her 00:20:13.07\00:20:15.91 mother held every Friday night. 00:20:15.91\00:20:17.28 She said, Have you ever read the Book of the Great 00:20:17.61\00:20:19.21 Controversy? 00:20:19.21\00:20:20.02 Oh, yes. 00:20:20.02\00:20:20.62 I said, I heard about it. 00:20:20.62\00:20:22.08 Mama had it. 00:20:22.95\00:20:25.59 chapter. 00:20:25.59\00:20:25.89 Let me just think about it. 00:20:26.39\00:20:27.56 After this worship, I was getting ready to go to a party 00:20:27.56\00:20:29.56 in Manhattan. 00:20:29.56\00:20:30.19 And she has me read my first chapter in the Great 00:20:30.76\00:20:33.43 Controversy, The Time of Truth. 00:20:33.43\00:20:35.26 I mean, He didn't want to read the Bible. 00:20:36.16\00:20:37.77 No, he was not comfortable reading the Bible. 00:20:38.43\00:20:40.77 My mother would say with her Jamaican accent, John, would 00:20:41.94\00:20:46.34 you read the scripture? 00:20:46.34\00:20:47.48 And he would read it. 00:20:47.48\00:20:49.91 For instance, he was like, For God so loved her. 00:20:50.21\00:20:51.65 He would say, For God so loved the world. 00:20:51.71\00:20:56.32 And bees of perspiration would drip. 00:20:57.15\00:20:58.85 And I said, He can't read! 00:20:58.99\00:21:00.82 I thought to myself. 00:21:02.32\00:21:03.93 But I tell you, what a difference that has made in 00:21:04.33\00:21:08.13 what God has done. 00:21:08.13\00:21:09.53 Oh, your little Lord shocked me. 00:21:09.60\00:21:10.83 I fell to my knees that night and prayed and asked the Lord 00:21:11.00\00:21:13.17 to come into my lives. 00:21:13.17\00:21:14.20 And then we dated off and on for nine years. 00:21:14.94\00:21:17.07 And one day, one of her brothers said, You're going to 00:21:17.07\00:21:18.67 date my sister forever or what? 00:21:18.67\00:21:20.31 I said, Excuse me, You're going to date her or marry her? 00:21:20.88\00:21:23.21 Which one is it? 00:21:23.24\00:21:23.85 I said, Marry her! 00:21:23.95\00:21:25.35 He said, When? 00:21:26.31\00:21:27.32 I said, Next month! 00:21:27.42\00:21:28.75 And that was going on 42 years ago. 00:21:29.85\00:21:31.85 So the joke in our family is, Her brother proposed, and I 00:21:32.55\00:21:35.69 accepted. 00:21:35.69\00:21:36.02 Look at that wedding picture. 00:21:37.19\00:21:38.23 In front of Bethel Church. 00:21:38.29\00:21:39.63 And that was a beautiful day, May 22, 1983. 00:21:39.79\00:21:44.63 How God is amazing when he does things. 00:21:45.20\00:21:47.60 So we're going to talk about marriage and life, but we're 00:21:48.14\00:21:49.60 going to have prayer before we go any farther. 00:21:49.60\00:21:51.47 And Darrell always seems to be the quiet one, so I'm going to 00:21:52.41\00:21:54.74 have you begin with prayer as we open the scriptures before 00:21:54.74\00:21:57.48 our audience. 00:21:57.48\00:21:58.08 Okay. 00:21:59.41\00:22:02.02 together for this program. 00:22:02.02\00:22:03.59 We thank you for the people who are watching and that you have 00:22:03.69\00:22:06.15 given us the breath of life. 00:22:06.15\00:22:07.22 We ask in all that as we open up your word, you will give us 00:22:07.56\00:22:10.13 wisdom and understanding and also give us the gift of love. 00:22:10.13\00:22:14.40 That our marriages may be bonded together and that you 00:22:14.93\00:22:18.53 may help those who are listening if they're having any 00:22:18.53\00:22:20.77 troubles in their marriages. 00:22:20.77\00:22:22.00 That they may learn how to thrive. 00:22:22.74\00:22:24.47 And maybe each see that each of us have an area that we need to 00:22:25.04\00:22:29.11 grow in and something that can be done in our own hearts. 00:22:29.11\00:22:31.85 So please bless us now as we begin to study. 00:22:31.98\00:22:35.82 We pray in Jesus' name. 00:22:36.05\00:22:36.99 Amen. 00:22:37.25\00:22:37.65 Amen. 00:22:37.82\00:22:38.29 Amen. 00:22:38.39\00:22:41.39 to go to the wives. 00:22:41.39\00:22:42.29 Because the reason I start with the husbands is because Adam 00:22:42.82\00:22:45.86 was made first. 00:22:45.86\00:22:47.60 And so let's go to Ephesians 5 .25. 00:22:48.86\00:22:51.30 It's in our outline but we can turn our Bibles together. 00:22:51.40\00:22:53.34 If you have your Bibles you can turn there with us. 00:22:53.44\00:22:55.44 Ephesians chapter 5. 00:22:55.74\00:22:57.31 And at the end of the program we are going to read 1 00:22:57.61\00:23:01.31 Corinthians chapter 13, the love chapter. 00:23:01.31\00:23:04.45 Well let's go to Ephesians chapter 5. 00:23:04.98\00:23:06.78 And on the start we have Durrell read verse 25 and Ian 00:23:06.78\00:23:10.69 read verse 28. 00:23:10.69\00:23:12.75 Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church 00:23:15.42\00:23:19.93 and gave himself for it. 00:23:19.93\00:23:22.00 Matter of fact read verse 26 also. 00:23:22.03\00:23:23.70 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of 00:23:24.33\00:23:27.87 water by the word. 00:23:27.87\00:23:29.14 And Ian 27 and 28? 00:23:29.34\00:23:30.91 Starting in verse 27 is that he might present her to himself a 00:23:31.34\00:23:36.48 glorious church. 00:23:36.48\00:23:37.48 Not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that she 00:23:38.68\00:23:41.65 should be holy and without blemish. 00:23:41.65\00:23:43.69 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. 00:23:44.32\00:23:47.89 He who loves his wife loves himself. 00:23:48.36\00:23:50.69 And verse 29 is so significant. 00:23:51.16\00:23:53.16 Add that one in there. 00:23:53.26\00:23:54.36 For no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and 00:23:55.06\00:23:58.53 cherishes it. 00:23:58.53\00:23:59.43 Just as the Lord does the church. 00:23:59.43\00:24:02.00 Wow, what a picture of marriage. 00:24:02.40\00:24:03.91 I mean so what would you say if you read that passage how would 00:24:05.14\00:24:08.31 you define marriage? 00:24:08.31\00:24:09.18 Marriage is a choice to enter into covenant relation with 00:24:10.85\00:24:15.98 someone. 00:24:15.98\00:24:16.28 It's a choice to be devoted to that bond. 00:24:17.09\00:24:22.86 When I think of Jacob and how he worked for seven long years 00:24:22.86\00:24:27.93 and then he was lied to. 00:24:27.93\00:24:30.90 And then he chose to work an additional seven years to make 00:24:31.30\00:24:35.30 it a total of 14 years. 00:24:35.30\00:24:36.50 That he didn't agree to when he first committed to get Rachel's 00:24:36.84\00:24:41.71 hand in marriage. 00:24:41.71\00:24:42.61 And I think to myself that was before he even got married to 00:24:42.98\00:24:46.25 her. 00:24:46.25\00:24:50.85 surely he had a devotion to that relationship. 00:24:50.85\00:24:54.92 And I think that was really God working in him. 00:24:55.19\00:24:57.46 There was a lot of baggage that Jacob had. 00:24:57.69\00:25:01.06 And I think that work of service on behalf of his wife 00:25:01.53\00:25:05.70 to gain her hand in marriage. 00:25:05.70\00:25:07.10 And then thereafter I think that was God's way of teaching 00:25:07.30\00:25:10.01 him of how he could be like Christ to sacrifice of himself. 00:25:10.01\00:25:14.24 I think a lot of people in marriages today they're not 00:25:14.24\00:25:18.95 willing it's a cricket term. 00:25:18.95\00:25:20.18 They're not willing to stick to the wicked. 00:25:20.45\00:25:21.88 You know you can go in the world of cricket. 00:25:23.35\00:25:26.39 I'm not actually a cricket fan but I just know this. 00:25:26.89\00:25:29.02 But like in cricket like let's say you're at a great deficit. 00:25:30.26\00:25:33.53 And now you have to send somebody into bat. 00:25:34.83\00:25:37.53 What they do is they want you to play defensively and they 00:25:37.90\00:25:41.27 want you to get a lot of runs. 00:25:41.27\00:25:43.04 And so in the situation where you're sticking to the wicked 00:25:43.04\00:25:46.21 you have to do everything you possibly can regardless of the 00:25:46.21\00:25:49.18 circumstances the pressure is on. 00:25:49.18\00:25:50.81 But you have to do everything that is necessary in order to 00:25:51.15\00:25:53.92 help your team to win. 00:25:53.92\00:25:55.85 So the same thing works in marriage. 00:25:56.82\00:25:59.79 For me it's circumstances versus covenant. 00:26:01.06\00:26:03.86 When you recognize that marriage is not about 00:26:04.33\00:26:06.86 circumstances and yielding to those circumstances but it is 00:26:06.86\00:26:09.73 about the covenant that exists between husband and wife. 00:26:09.73\00:26:12.60 Then you're going to be willing to stick to the wicked 00:26:12.60\00:26:14.87 regardless of those circumstances. 00:26:14.87\00:26:16.40 Because you see in Jacob's case he could have said after those 00:26:16.40\00:26:19.34 first seven years you know what forget it. 00:26:19.34\00:26:22.31 But in Jacob's case he was dedicated to the covenant and 00:26:23.48\00:26:29.02 therefore he was able to work those additional seven years. 00:26:29.02\00:26:31.62 And I praise God for those examples because you know it's 00:26:31.89\00:26:34.49 not always easy. 00:26:34.49\00:26:35.72 But because of these examples it teaches me to stick to the 00:26:36.22\00:26:40.16 wicked. 00:26:40.16\00:26:40.36 What about you Ian? 00:26:42.86\00:26:45.07 What do you grab out of that? 00:26:45.53\00:26:46.47 Well you know the two words that really popped out to me 00:26:47.14\00:26:50.34 was in actually what you had me read in verse 29 which is to 00:26:50.34\00:26:53.31 nourish and cherish. 00:26:53.31\00:26:54.21 You know this relationship that we have and you kind of touched 00:26:54.98\00:26:57.85 on it too was you know a lot of marriages now when things get 00:26:57.85\00:27:01.52 tough they just want to run from it. 00:27:01.52\00:27:02.78 You know this isn't worth it let me just move on. 00:27:02.92\00:27:05.29 But no that's not really what it's about. 00:27:05.65\00:27:07.76 It's really you know meeting these challenges face on or 00:27:07.76\00:27:11.19 head on and to nourish and cherish your wife. 00:27:11.19\00:27:14.10 I mean because that's what really and from what I've seen 00:27:14.10\00:27:17.93 in our marriage is that's what she wants that's what she 00:27:17.93\00:27:20.74 desires is to feel cherished. 00:27:20.74\00:27:22.77 To feel loved to know that I'm there to know that I hear her 00:27:23.00\00:27:25.84 to know that I respect her. 00:27:25.84\00:27:27.01 And you know those two words really popped out to me when I 00:27:27.44\00:27:30.71 read was to nourish and cherish that marriage. 00:27:30.71\00:27:32.91 Because again I'll say it that today in today's world it's 00:27:32.91\00:27:37.69 almost like okay well what is it irreconcilable differences 00:27:37.69\00:27:41.26 that you get all the time when people get a divorce. 00:27:41.26\00:27:44.49 So they're not even being really specific it's always 00:27:44.93\00:27:47.60 vague it's just well we can't just work things out. 00:27:47.60\00:27:50.43 And I don't believe that to be true because God doesn't you 00:27:50.63\00:27:53.54 know he doesn't want divorce he doesn't want marriages to be 00:27:53.54\00:27:56.07 split. 00:27:56.07\00:27:59.27 because when when the husband and wife when they split that 00:27:59.27\00:28:02.41 tears the whole family apart especially when children are 00:28:02.41\00:28:04.75 involved. 00:28:04.75\00:28:05.08 And you know my praise God I come from a family that knew 00:28:06.08\00:28:08.88 even though that they were split you know my father was 00:28:08.88\00:28:11.75 had a different wife and my mother had a different husband. 00:28:11.75\00:28:14.26 They ended up getting a divorce coming together and having me 00:28:14.72\00:28:17.26 so I have half brothers and sisters but my family was still 00:28:17.26\00:28:20.50 very good about keeping the peace keeping everybody 00:28:20.50\00:28:23.40 involved. 00:28:23.40\00:28:27.30 there's very much friction and challenges in between. 00:28:27.30\00:28:30.54 So for me what really popped out from these verses that we 00:28:30.94\00:28:33.84 read in Ephesians was the nourish and cherish and I think 00:28:33.84\00:28:35.98 so many marriages need to do that more and just be more open 00:28:35.98\00:28:39.15 with each other and speaking with each other. 00:28:39.15\00:28:40.78 Yeah you know there's a phrase that I use when I give 00:28:40.78\00:28:44.45 relationship seminars is this we are made for each other we 00:28:44.45\00:28:49.22 decide to make it together. 00:28:49.22\00:28:51.19 You know there are no perfect marriages there are no perfect 00:28:51.23\00:28:53.86 individuals and when we talk about the two becoming one 00:28:53.86\00:28:57.27 that's a divine miracle. 00:28:57.27\00:28:58.93 How do two people become one we're going to talk about that 00:28:59.33\00:29:01.64 later on but I'm going to throw it to you honey and give the 00:29:01.64\00:29:04.44 wives a chance to jump in here. 00:29:04.44\00:29:05.91 Okay yeah we're talking about go to Ephesians 5 verse 22 to 00:29:05.91\00:29:15.92 24 and let's see Sasha you want to read verse 22 and Angela 23 00:29:15.92\00:29:26.06 and I'll do 24. 00:29:26.06\00:29:27.03 Okay wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto 00:29:27.56\00:29:31.67 the Lord. 00:29:31.67\00:29:37.74 the church and he is the savior of the body. 00:29:37.74\00:29:41.81 Verse 24 therefore just as the church is subject to Christ so 00:29:42.41\00:29:47.68 let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. 00:29:47.68\00:29:52.19 How do you subject yourself to your husbands I'm throwing it 00:29:52.59\00:29:55.99 out there ladies how do you do that? 00:29:55.99\00:29:58.43 Well when I think of it in a literal sense I told you I had 00:29:58.43\00:30:02.40 one foot in the world and one foot in the church so had I 00:30:02.40\00:30:05.10 continued on that path that I was on I probably would be in 00:30:05.10\00:30:08.44 the world and probably would be lost so I can think of my 00:30:08.44\00:30:11.57 husband as that kind of savior that helped to pull me out of 00:30:11.57\00:30:15.38 that and when I think of that no matter what troubles arise 00:30:15.38\00:30:18.01 it's easier for me to submit to him because I saw that he was 00:30:18.01\00:30:21.98 willing to be that godly leader, and so I can think of 00:30:21.98\00:30:25.89 that and willingly submit to his leadership and follow it. 00:30:25.89\00:30:28.39 Amen. 00:30:28.49\00:30:28.99 How about you, Angela? 00:30:29.39\00:30:30.29 What do you get from that? 00:30:30.29\00:30:31.36 From this, so I try to pit my husband like every day on my 00:30:31.53\00:30:37.37 every day daily things. 00:30:37.37\00:30:38.97 I think of my husband first, I always think of him first, I 00:30:39.20\00:30:41.94 always just love him, and everything I do I always try to 00:30:41.94\00:30:45.44 pit him first in it, and I think it's important for wives 00:30:45.44\00:30:48.84 to do that, to pit their husbands first, even before the 00:30:48.84\00:30:51.78 kids, you know, your husband should go first, and I think 00:30:51.78\00:30:55.15 that's very important. 00:30:55.15\00:30:56.55 And I like this from Ellen White, it says, the marriages, 00:30:56.89\00:30:59.15 instead of being the end of love, will be as it were the 00:30:59.32\00:31:02.16 very beginning of love. 00:31:02.16\00:31:03.63 I think every day should be like a beginning of a new love 00:31:03.99\00:31:06.90 between your husband and wife. 00:31:06.90\00:31:08.63 You know, in school, I remember the teachers would say, every 00:31:08.90\00:31:12.33 day is a new day, you know, and I think same thing should be 00:31:12.33\00:31:15.50 with marriages, like every day, you know, maybe y'all had 00:31:15.50\00:31:18.54 trials or had a little fight or something, nobody has a perfect 00:31:18.54\00:31:21.71 marriage, and just every day, just a new beginning of love, a 00:31:21.71\00:31:25.38 new day. 00:31:25.38\00:31:25.85 Amen. 00:31:26.35\00:31:26.72 I love that. 00:31:26.95\00:31:27.38 I like that. 00:31:27.62\00:31:28.38 Very sweet. 00:31:28.92\00:31:29.65 Very nice. 00:31:29.92\00:31:31.49 No. 00:31:32.05\00:31:32.35 I can be sweet. 00:31:34.56\00:31:35.69 No, she is very, you know, she does often, and she makes a 00:31:37.46\00:31:41.63 point, even in front of Liam, our son, to where even the 00:31:41.63\00:31:45.13 small little things, like when she's serving dinner, she will 00:31:45.13\00:31:47.24 serve me first, and then she will serve Liam to show that 00:31:47.24\00:31:51.57 kind of respect that she has, and I know she does it all the 00:31:51.57\00:31:54.54 time, it was just the way that she said it just, you know, 00:31:54.54\00:31:56.88 touched my heart. 00:31:56.88\00:31:57.58 Oh, I like that, yeah, and same thing, when you said that, I 00:31:58.95\00:32:02.98 always, for dinner, I always give him the nice meal first, I 00:32:02.98\00:32:08.19 don't go and say, oh, let me put mine first, no, I always 00:32:08.19\00:32:11.03 put his food first, give it to him first, yeah, and when we 00:32:11.03\00:32:14.83 make decisions, the final decision is my husband, I let 00:32:14.83\00:32:18.63 him make the decision, like, oh, honey, what should we do, 00:32:18.63\00:32:21.87 and, you know, of course we pray about it, and then I say, 00:32:22.24\00:32:25.01 okay, honey, you're the priest, you make the decision, many 00:32:25.01\00:32:25.04 times I've said that to you, okay, honey, you make that 00:32:27.54\00:32:30.21 decision, and you say, okay, this is it, this is how it's 00:32:30.21\00:32:33.01 going to be. 00:32:33.01\00:32:37.02 mommy and daddy talked it over, and then daddy, you know, he 00:32:37.15\00:32:40.29 knows, when daddy says it, that's the end of it. 00:32:40.29\00:32:42.56 He knows that's it. 00:32:42.59\00:32:43.69 Daddy knows that's it. 00:32:43.69\00:32:44.69 Daddy said it. 00:32:44.86\00:32:45.49 That's it. 00:32:45.83\00:32:45.86 That's it. 00:32:46.49\00:32:46.93 That is the story. 00:32:49.23\00:32:50.17 I'm going to bring it up. 00:32:50.73\00:32:51.77 I'm going to bring it up. 00:32:51.93\00:32:52.93 I'm going to bring it up. 00:32:53.44\00:32:53.84 I'm going to bring it up. 00:32:54.44\00:32:55.84 I have a beautiful son, we just admire him, he's a man after my 00:32:55.84\00:33:00.81 heart and this sense, he likes colognes, and if you go to our 00:33:00.81\00:33:04.95 school, you might smell colognes on some of the guys, 00:33:04.95\00:33:08.05 because Liam started this trend at school, he was saying, 00:33:08.25\00:33:10.85 pastor, what cologne is that? 00:33:11.09\00:33:11.92 Okay, I thought you were going to talk about this. 00:33:12.32\00:33:14.59 Well, we'll bring that up later. 00:33:14.59\00:33:15.52 But prior to that, I remember being at the house, and Liam 00:33:17.03\00:33:19.86 was showing us around. 00:33:19.86\00:33:20.46 When we first moved here. 00:33:20.46\00:33:21.33 When we first moved here, that's right. 00:33:21.33\00:33:21.36 He was showing us around, and Liam was walking. 00:33:23.60\00:33:25.67 And so we were in, like, the washroom, and Liam came in and 00:33:25.83\00:33:31.21 asked his dad, he said, hey dad, how much do we pay for 00:33:31.21\00:33:34.61 mortgage? 00:33:34.61\00:33:35.01 How much do we pay for the house? 00:33:35.61\00:33:36.91 And Liam looked at his son, what did you say? 00:33:38.21\00:33:40.02 I just said, when you start paying bills around here, then 00:33:40.02\00:33:42.75 I'll let you go. 00:33:42.75\00:33:43.35 And Liam had to look like, let me crawl under the dryer, and 00:33:45.12\00:33:48.56 when you need me, just open the door. 00:33:48.56\00:33:50.16 He walked away, and I like that. 00:33:51.26\00:33:53.83 What I love about that is sometimes, the illustration is 00:33:54.10\00:33:57.93 sometimes parents put their children before their spouse. 00:33:57.93\00:34:02.04 So the first tip you get tonight is as you're listening 00:34:02.80\00:34:05.24 here, the Lord didn't say, husbands love your children, 00:34:05.24\00:34:10.41 then your wife. 00:34:10.75\00:34:11.55 But husbands love your wife. 00:34:12.41\00:34:13.88 And wives submit to your own husbands. 00:34:14.45\00:34:16.12 And a lot of families get together and the children 00:34:16.18\00:34:18.75 become the immediate focus. 00:34:18.75\00:34:20.36 And years later, the husband and the spouse, I mean, the 00:34:20.96\00:34:23.56 wife and the husband don't know each other. 00:34:23.56\00:34:25.06 After the kid graduates from school. 00:34:25.26\00:34:27.36 And so, what's your name again? 00:34:28.00\00:34:29.23 And it's really sad. 00:34:29.73\00:34:30.90 And some people just grow so far apart, they stay together 00:34:30.97\00:34:34.24 until the kids are gone and they're gone. 00:34:34.24\00:34:35.80 But that's really, really good. 00:34:36.10\00:34:37.31 I think it's easy to do that when, like, your marriage and 00:34:37.31\00:34:40.21 your family life becomes just like you're going through the 00:34:40.21\00:34:43.81 motions, you know, every day. 00:34:43.81\00:34:45.41 Especially, like, with children, when they're young, 00:34:45.61\00:34:48.22 they're not thinking about, how can I show love to my parents 00:34:48.22\00:34:51.69 and be thankful for all the things that they do for me? 00:34:51.69\00:34:53.96 It's more like, how can I get what I want? 00:34:53.99\00:34:56.39 And so, like, with the topic of, like, how the decision will 00:34:57.26\00:35:03.23 come to daddy, it took me a while to come to terms with 00:35:03.23\00:35:06.77 that because I'm just like, I just want to be left alone. 00:35:06.77\00:35:09.40 Why do I have to decide? 00:35:09.67\00:35:11.71 But after a while, you know, I realize the children, I'll just 00:35:12.61\00:35:16.58 hear their whispering. 00:35:16.58\00:35:17.58 Like, let's say mommy's in the bedroom and I'm in the kitchen. 00:35:17.81\00:35:20.65 I'll see one of the kids walk across and they won't come to 00:35:21.05\00:35:24.19 me, but they'll walk down the hall and then I just hear 00:35:24.19\00:35:26.89 whispering. 00:35:26.89\00:35:27.49 And then I'll hear, what did daddy say? 00:35:27.79\00:35:30.43 I didn't ask daddy. 00:35:31.33\00:35:33.13 Go ask daddy. 00:35:33.86\00:35:35.00 And I realize, okay, it's my responsibility to step up to 00:35:35.00\00:35:38.50 the plate and, you know, it also helps to, like you were 00:35:38.50\00:35:42.67 talking about, about showing the kids that it's mommy and 00:35:42.67\00:35:46.51 we're on a team together. 00:35:46.51\00:35:48.21 You can't, they will do their utmost to try to break up the 00:35:48.51\00:35:52.48 team. 00:35:52.48\00:35:52.75 And I realize... 00:35:53.72\00:35:54.52 We're good at it too. 00:35:54.52\00:35:55.28 Yes. 00:35:55.35\00:35:55.85 And I realize it's really Satan trying to get a foothold in the 00:35:57.95\00:36:02.86 family. 00:36:02.86\00:36:06.73 together. 00:36:06.73\00:36:07.60 If mommy makes a decision that I don't like, you know, I 00:36:07.93\00:36:11.83 realize that's not the time for me to voice that, you know, 00:36:11.83\00:36:16.67 necessarily in front of the children. 00:36:16.74\00:36:18.21 The team effort is that we go aside and we, you know, discuss 00:36:18.57\00:36:22.78 this with each other and vice versa. 00:36:22.78\00:36:25.01 She doesn't make all the bad decisions. 00:36:25.25\00:36:26.68 I make enough myself. 00:36:26.78\00:36:28.35 So, but the overall picture is that, you know, we're 00:36:28.95\00:36:34.19 constantly working together to portray to the children, it's 00:36:34.19\00:36:38.33 mommy and daddy first. 00:36:38.33\00:36:39.56 And then you guys, it's not that we don't love you, but if 00:36:39.73\00:36:42.93 we don't love one another, then we cannot love you properly. 00:36:42.93\00:36:46.03 So, yeah. 00:36:46.94\00:36:50.44 know I regret this, but when we were going through trials, I 00:36:50.44\00:36:53.88 would be like, I'm mad at him and I'll go sleep in the 00:36:53.88\00:36:56.61 children's room and don't even sleep in the bed. 00:36:56.61\00:36:58.75 And I didn't realize how much that affected our marriage. 00:36:59.21\00:37:02.38 And I know I have friends to this day that they sleep with 00:37:03.12\00:37:07.62 their kids or, you know, and I realize how important it is for 00:37:07.62\00:37:11.39 children need to be in their own room and parents need to be 00:37:11.39\00:37:14.36 together, regardless of whatever trials you go through, 00:37:14.36\00:37:17.43 whatever you're going through, you need to be in bed with your 00:37:17.70\00:37:20.97 husband and wife. 00:37:20.97\00:37:21.77 Yes. 00:37:22.34\00:37:22.67 That's right. 00:37:22.77\00:37:25.41 children's room. 00:37:25.41\00:37:27.28 You get the couch. 00:37:27.31\00:37:28.81 No, we've never had a night like that. 00:37:29.88\00:37:32.05 Wow. 00:37:32.11\00:37:32.48 We haven't. 00:37:32.71\00:37:32.91 I think during COVID, we did. 00:37:33.42\00:37:35.18 Well, that's the only time during COVID. 00:37:36.18\00:37:37.75 I said, I don't want to get what you have. 00:37:38.49\00:37:39.59 The next few days I got what you had. 00:37:39.69\00:37:41.16 But to not compound it, I slept in one room and she slept in 00:37:41.86\00:37:44.93 another, but the obvious reasons was because of this 00:37:44.93\00:37:47.60 terrible COVID situation. 00:37:47.60\00:37:49.73 But, you know, we don't have those, and this is the other 00:37:50.53\00:37:53.07 thing, we don't have those, and praise God for that, we don't 00:37:53.07\00:37:55.70 have those, I haven't spoken to her for days. 00:37:55.70\00:37:57.67 Oh, no. 00:37:57.84\00:37:58.34 Oh, we cannot do that. 00:37:58.41\00:37:59.61 I mean, like an hour, I'll give a room and I'll come back and 00:37:59.64\00:38:03.24 say, you okay? 00:38:03.24\00:38:04.31 I'm okay. 00:38:06.38\00:38:07.08 You okay? 00:38:08.08\00:38:08.88 I'm okay. 00:38:09.52\00:38:09.95 I'm sorry. 00:38:09.95\00:38:09.98 I really didn't mean that. 00:38:11.19\00:38:11.99 I mean, you were right. 00:38:12.19\00:38:13.76 And there are some times that we apologize for something we 00:38:14.46\00:38:18.16 didn't do. 00:38:18.16\00:38:19.03 And then we'd say, you don't have to apologize, but let me 00:38:19.39\00:38:22.16 apologize, but let me apologize first. 00:38:22.16\00:38:26.00 Making up is sweet. 00:38:26.43\00:38:27.20 Making up is a beautiful thing to do. 00:38:27.30\00:38:28.57 So we've never had those, and early in the marriage, I 00:38:28.77\00:38:31.84 remember one night particularly, we went to bed, 00:38:31.84\00:38:33.71 we just, you know when you're mad at each other, you just, 00:38:33.84\00:38:36.14 you don't get into bed, you slither into bed, like you 00:38:36.51\00:38:39.88 don't want the bed to shake. 00:38:39.88\00:38:40.88 That's so true. 00:38:41.75\00:38:42.48 Where's that foam that does not let the other person go on the 00:38:46.02\00:38:48.89 bed? 00:38:48.89\00:38:52.96 your neck is about to break. 00:38:52.96\00:38:54.00 You know how many times I've done that? 00:38:54.86\00:38:56.67 No. 00:38:58.93\00:38:59.10 And he acts like he's sleeping. 00:38:59.63\00:39:01.20 I know he did that. 00:39:02.57\00:39:03.81 3 o'clock, 3.30, 4.30. 00:39:04.07\00:39:05.87 Starts scooting a little bit. 00:39:05.94\00:39:07.08 Yeah, scooting all the way. 00:39:07.21\00:39:08.04 You awake? 00:39:08.38\00:39:09.18 No. 00:39:09.98\00:39:10.45 I'd answer, no. 00:39:12.31\00:39:13.58 And then we say, you know, this is ridiculous. 00:39:14.82\00:39:17.32 We just scoot over, just start a little bit. 00:39:18.19\00:39:20.09 Why do we have to be, why do we have to, why do we let this get 00:39:22.12\00:39:25.03 to us like this? 00:39:25.03\00:39:25.76 And then you realize, as Christ loved the church, because 00:39:26.19\00:39:30.83 sometimes his bride, the church, can want to go its own 00:39:30.83\00:39:34.97 way. 00:39:34.97\00:39:35.44 And he says, like he did to Goma and Hosea and Goma. 00:39:36.10\00:39:43.04 Goma, which was a symbol of Israel, went away from her 00:39:43.28\00:39:48.52 husband, decided to live her own life. 00:39:48.52\00:39:50.55 And Hosea waited patiently. 00:39:51.45\00:39:52.79 And the Lord said, you know, don't run after her, but I'll 00:39:52.92\00:39:57.33 make her journey difficult so that she'll come back to you 00:39:57.33\00:40:00.20 and say, it was better with me then than it is with me now. 00:40:00.20\00:40:03.67 That reconciliation. 00:40:03.70\00:40:04.73 And who was waiting? 00:40:05.23\00:40:05.87 Hosea was waiting. 00:40:06.03\00:40:06.97 So yeah, we've had that. 00:40:07.84\00:40:08.80 But I want to go to something. 00:40:09.00\00:40:10.04 Let's go to Ephesians, Chapter 5. 00:40:11.17\00:40:12.74 We have two things that are very necessary in marriage. 00:40:13.58\00:40:18.05 Ephesians, Chapter 5. 00:40:18.21\00:40:19.81 And let me see. 00:40:20.08\00:40:20.68 We started with Darrell before. 00:40:20.78\00:40:21.82 Let's start with one of the ladies. 00:40:22.12\00:40:23.05 Honey, I'll let you pick. 00:40:23.15\00:40:24.02 Oh, Angela. 00:40:25.02\00:40:25.39 Okay, Ephesians 5, 33. 00:40:25.75\00:40:27.29 33. 00:40:27.89\00:40:28.29 Nevertheless, let each one of you, in particular, so love his 00:40:29.49\00:40:33.80 own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects 00:40:33.80\00:40:38.43 her husband. 00:40:38.43\00:40:39.20 Okay, now look at the two things. 00:40:39.57\00:40:40.90 What did you see in there? 00:40:41.00\00:40:41.97 What did you see, Sasha? 00:40:42.00\00:40:43.20 Mine is a different version, but I remember respect, and I 00:40:43.71\00:40:48.18 can't remember the husband's one. 00:40:48.18\00:40:50.18 Okay. 00:40:51.25\00:40:55.08 Respect. 00:40:55.18\00:40:55.68 Let's talk about that. 00:40:56.02\00:40:57.19 Respect. 00:40:57.59\00:40:58.32 We've seen this happen throughout the years. 00:40:58.59\00:41:00.26 I mean, this should have actually been a four hour 00:41:00.36\00:41:02.12 program. 00:41:02.12\00:41:02.62 I know. 00:41:02.82\00:41:03.69 You're getting free counseling here. 00:41:04.39\00:41:06.03 But really, I've seen how have you seen that play out in your 00:41:06.86\00:41:10.53 relationship, love and respect. 00:41:10.53\00:41:11.83 What does the wife want? 00:41:12.73\00:41:13.67 Love. 00:41:14.94\00:41:15.34 Love. 00:41:16.17\00:41:16.47 Love. 00:41:16.74\00:41:16.84 Respect. 00:41:17.04\00:41:17.24 Respect. 00:41:17.84\00:41:20.48 respects you, you can come home and close the door and really 00:41:20.48\00:41:23.11 don't care about what's happening outside in the world. 00:41:23.11\00:41:25.08 Same thing with ladies. 00:41:26.11\00:41:27.08 Talk about that. 00:41:27.22\00:41:29.85 I feel terrible. 00:41:30.25\00:41:31.55 We want to be loved as women, don't we? 00:41:33.09\00:41:36.02 I like touch, right? 00:41:36.76\00:41:38.63 I think that's my love language. 00:41:38.63\00:41:40.16 I like touch, because growing up I had that. 00:41:40.86\00:41:43.60 And you had it too. 00:41:44.10\00:41:45.70 I did. 00:41:45.87\00:41:46.30 Yeah. 00:41:46.57\00:41:50.44 And he'll come up behind me, I'm in the kitchen and he'll 00:41:50.71\00:41:52.87 come up, he did it again today, come up behind me and, hey 00:41:52.87\00:41:55.98 honey, and kiss me on my neck. 00:41:55.98\00:41:57.68 It was so sweet. 00:41:57.85\00:41:58.58 Little things like that. 00:41:58.65\00:42:00.15 Okay, here's one of them. 00:42:01.15\00:42:03.12 Sometimes I come in the house and I go straight to the 00:42:03.89\00:42:06.79 kitchen. 00:42:06.79\00:42:09.02 Start the dinner and I take my shoes off. 00:42:09.02\00:42:11.69 Guess what? 00:42:12.33\00:42:12.96 I don't have my slippers on. 00:42:12.96\00:42:12.99 And he'll come with my slippers, put it right there in 00:42:14.56\00:42:19.10 the kitchen. 00:42:19.10\00:42:19.63 He still does that. 00:42:19.77\00:42:20.97 All these years, he still does that. 00:42:21.20\00:42:23.24 He just did it again a couple days ago. 00:42:23.54\00:42:25.57 Put the slippers here, honey. 00:42:25.91\00:42:27.34 And I'm like, oh, thanks. 00:42:27.81\00:42:29.01 And it's good to say thank you to your spouse. 00:42:29.74\00:42:32.71 And it's good for your children to hear it too. 00:42:33.05\00:42:34.95 It's good for your children to hear that. 00:42:34.95\00:42:36.65 They're learning, right? 00:42:36.95\00:42:38.35 They're learning from mom and dad how to treat their wife or 00:42:38.42\00:42:41.62 their husband. 00:42:41.62\00:42:42.39 Now let me throw this out to the husbands. 00:42:42.69\00:42:44.16 What do you feel, how do you feel if there's a moment coming 00:42:45.03\00:42:48.50 up and you feel that your wife is not respecting you in that 00:42:48.50\00:42:50.77 moment? 00:42:50.77\00:42:51.13 Not that it happened, but let's just talk about it. 00:42:51.83\00:42:54.57 For me, I've learned over the years to be more introspective 00:42:54.97\00:43:00.38 in those moments because I ask myself, well, why is she being 00:43:00.38\00:43:05.28 like that towards me? 00:43:05.28\00:43:10.35 Even when she's upset with me, she'll still make breakfast and 00:43:11.15\00:43:15.99 lunch and dinner for me. 00:43:15.99\00:43:17.99 And it's just like sometimes I step back and I say, why? 00:43:18.26\00:43:21.50 Why are you doing this? 00:43:21.63\00:43:22.70 Why are you being so nice? 00:43:22.80\00:43:24.03 And I realize that in those moments, it teaches me to 00:43:24.23\00:43:31.01 soften up and to be, I think one of the things that a lot of 00:43:31.01\00:43:35.14 men, the problem that we have is we forget to show those 00:43:35.14\00:43:40.65 early attentions, like what you were mentioning about bringing 00:43:40.65\00:43:43.95 the slippers and all of that. 00:43:43.95\00:43:45.25 situations are pivotal because when we first got together, 00:43:47.96\00:43:52.06 there were a lot of things that we, you know, you have hearts 00:43:52.49\00:43:55.00 in your eyes and, you know, there's nothing that you could 00:43:55.00\00:43:57.93 do that was wrong. 00:43:57.93\00:43:59.10 And then you fast forward to that first year of marriage. 00:43:59.10\00:44:02.20 And, you know, a lot of people know that first year can be one 00:44:02.60\00:44:05.51 of the most trying years because you're bringing 00:44:05.51\00:44:08.14 different, not only different ideas, but different 00:44:08.14\00:44:10.71 personalities, different ways of doing things in the house. 00:44:10.71\00:44:14.12 And don't mention when you have children, like I was raised 00:44:14.38\00:44:18.52 this way and you were raised that way. 00:44:18.52\00:44:20.79 This is how I'm going to, you know, but like, you know, I 00:44:21.06\00:44:26.70 think that as long as you keep focus on those, not just the 00:44:26.70\00:44:32.50 early attentions, but also when she feels a certain way, like I 00:44:32.50\00:44:38.91 said, being introspective, not thinking that she has a 00:44:38.91\00:44:42.21 problem. 00:44:42.21\00:44:44.28 But at the same time, is there something that I have done that 00:44:44.41\00:44:48.25 has brought this about? 00:44:48.25\00:44:49.28 Because I know I'm not perfect. 00:44:49.32\00:44:50.59 And sometimes as I sit there, I'm like, yeah, you could have 00:44:50.95\00:44:53.86 said this differently or you could have done this 00:44:53.86\00:44:56.09 differently. 00:44:56.09\00:45:00.33 typically when we have a resolution to our issues, it's 00:45:00.73\00:45:05.53 less of a verbal resolution. 00:45:05.53\00:45:07.54 It's more of a, we kind of just walk up to each other, look at 00:45:07.67\00:45:11.84 each other. 00:45:11.84\00:45:12.57 Try not to smile. 00:45:12.67\00:45:13.81 Yeah. 00:45:14.74\00:45:14.78 And I think it's because we have consistently, and it's 00:45:15.94\00:45:19.58 just by the grace of the Lord, but it's because we've 00:45:19.58\00:45:23.02 consistently, we take it to the Lord, even though we're kicking 00:45:23.02\00:45:25.75 and screaming saying, but she, you know, and, you know, it 00:45:25.75\00:45:31.16 makes me think of Matthew 18, where it talks in verse 21. 00:45:31.16\00:45:37.13 I don't know if you want to look at it. 00:45:37.83\00:45:40.07 Sure. 00:45:40.34\00:45:40.37 Verse 21 to, actually, verse 21 to 35. 00:45:42.17\00:45:44.97 Matthew what? 00:45:46.27\00:45:46.68 Matthew 18. 00:45:47.01\00:45:48.01 Go right to the central focus of it. 00:45:48.68\00:45:50.28 Sure. 00:45:50.48\00:45:57.25 forgiven a great debt. 00:45:57.25\00:45:58.72 And, you know, he was forgiven because he asked to be forgiven 00:45:59.85\00:46:05.06 of this debt. 00:46:05.06\00:46:05.73 And then he finds his fellow servant and he has this refusal 00:46:06.26\00:46:11.27 to show the same mercy that was shown to him. 00:46:11.27\00:46:13.77 And I realize that happens so much in marriages where we have 00:46:14.20\00:46:17.87 this refusal to show that mercy that has been shown us by God. 00:46:17.87\00:46:22.84 And it's like, you know, woe is me Lord. 00:46:23.31\00:46:25.35 Why is it that I'm not willing to forgive my wife? 00:46:25.45\00:46:28.12 And when it's a marriage, you can treat people who are 00:46:28.68\00:46:32.92 outside of your home, you know, you smile at them, you know, 00:46:32.92\00:46:35.42 everybody thinks you're great. 00:46:35.52\00:46:36.46 Everybody's good. 00:46:36.49\00:46:37.19 But like, you know, somebody gives you praise and then your 00:46:38.59\00:46:41.16 spouse is just sitting there and saying, you know, I know 00:46:41.16\00:46:44.50 how they are at home. 00:46:44.50\00:46:45.63 Yes. 00:46:45.63\00:46:45.90 Yes. 00:46:46.33\00:46:46.74 And I realize a lot of the times it's because we harbor 00:46:47.50\00:46:50.64 these feelings of unforgiveness. 00:46:50.64\00:46:53.58 But if couples were more willing to heed these words 00:46:54.11\00:46:57.58 that are found in these verses to forgive each other, then we 00:46:57.58\00:47:01.15 would actually, you know, when you partake in forgiving 00:47:01.15\00:47:05.09 someone else, you realize the character of Christ to forgive 00:47:05.09\00:47:09.26 people who didn't deserve it. 00:47:09.26\00:47:11.63 And, you know, it's just to me, it's beautiful and it also will 00:47:12.03\00:47:15.66 help your marriage to grow and blossom. 00:47:15.66\00:47:17.90 Do you want to add anything to that, Sasha? 00:47:20.44\00:47:21.94 Put me on the spot. 00:47:24.37\00:47:25.51 I agree. 00:47:27.74\00:47:28.51 I had a thought, I don't remember what it was, but yes. 00:47:29.28\00:47:33.05 When it chimes back, let's... 00:47:35.05\00:47:36.99 So when going about forgiveness, you know, I had to 00:47:36.99\00:47:40.89 choose one of the hardest forgiveness, you know, marriage 00:47:40.89\00:47:43.02 is forever. 00:47:43.02\00:47:43.79 It's like when your house is broken, you don't go sell it, 00:47:44.36\00:47:47.36 you fix it. 00:47:47.36\00:47:48.16 And with our marriage, which I love my husband, my husband is 00:47:48.96\00:47:52.43 my best friend, and we just, God has really healed our 00:47:52.43\00:47:55.37 marriage. 00:47:55.37\00:47:59.31 or does something wrong, how far is your forgiveness going 00:47:59.31\00:48:03.45 to go? 00:48:03.45\00:48:03.98 And, you know, I chose to forgive my husband. 00:48:04.68\00:48:07.42 And the reason I chose to forgive him was because I'm 00:48:07.68\00:48:10.79 just like, how much did God forgive me? 00:48:10.79\00:48:13.19 You know, how could I not forgive my husband? 00:48:13.25\00:48:16.16 And God forgave me. 00:48:16.32\00:48:17.83 And I think marriage, you know, even though it is hard, and we 00:48:17.89\00:48:21.50 go through stuff, and right now, we try to help other 00:48:21.50\00:48:25.03 couples with, you know, going through stuff. 00:48:25.03\00:48:27.84 And there is hope in your marriage with Christ. 00:48:28.20\00:48:30.87 There is. 00:48:31.01\00:48:31.44 You know, and it's just, it's hard, marriage is hard, but 00:48:32.24\00:48:37.31 with Christ and loving each other, it takes work. 00:48:37.31\00:48:39.85 It really does. 00:48:39.98\00:48:40.98 You know, and I kind of want to touch on what we talked about 00:48:41.55\00:48:45.92 in Ephesians 5.33, where it talked about, you know, 00:48:45.92\00:48:50.59 husbands loving their wives and wives respecting their 00:48:50.79\00:48:52.73 husbands. 00:48:52.73\00:48:55.83 know, we won't go into our whole testimony. 00:48:55.83\00:48:58.00 We've shared it here before on 3 ABN. 00:48:58.00\00:49:00.07 So, but I had to learn, because I don't think I really had a 00:49:00.37\00:49:04.97 good example growing up of what a marriage looked like. 00:49:04.97\00:49:08.14 You know, all I could say is the apple didn't fall far from 00:49:09.94\00:49:13.72 the tree. 00:49:13.72\00:49:14.28 And in many ways, where my father went wrong is where I 00:49:14.98\00:49:17.49 went wrong. 00:49:17.49\00:49:18.02 From alcohol to adultery, I mean, you name it, is kind of, 00:49:18.72\00:49:22.56 I repeated what he had done. 00:49:22.56\00:49:23.73 And so, I didn't have, you know, a good picture of what 00:49:24.26\00:49:29.50 it, so I had to learn through all the trials that we went 00:49:29.50\00:49:32.70 through. 00:49:32.70\00:49:36.20 because I wish they never happened, but at the same time, 00:49:36.27\00:49:38.37 it made us who we are. 00:49:38.44\00:49:39.64 And we have a testimony now, because we've gone through so 00:49:40.24\00:49:43.51 much discomfort, so much hurt, so much pain, so much fighting, 00:49:43.51\00:49:46.92 so many tears. 00:49:47.05\00:49:47.88 I mean, just sleepless nights. 00:49:48.45\00:49:50.02 It really has made our marriage incredibly strong. 00:49:50.25\00:49:53.66 Oh, I mean, and like my wife alluded to, now we have the 00:49:54.72\00:49:58.19 opportunity to share with other couples and say, look, there 00:49:58.19\00:50:01.13 may not have been love there in the beginning, or maybe that 00:50:01.13\00:50:04.03 love has been tainted, that respect may not have been there 00:50:04.03\00:50:06.70 in the beginning, and maybe that respect has been tainted, 00:50:06.70\00:50:08.80 but God can heal that marriage. 00:50:09.17\00:50:11.57 God can bring what Satan has tried to destroy from the very 00:50:11.91\00:50:15.04 beginning, God can bring that back together, and not only 00:50:15.04\00:50:17.68 will he bring it back together, but he's just going to make it 00:50:17.68\00:50:20.82 that much more powerful, because this really is my best 00:50:20.82\00:50:23.62 friend, my lover. 00:50:23.62\00:50:25.22 I mean, I can't live this life without this woman, and any 00:50:25.82\00:50:28.76 time that I know that I have done something to hurt her, it 00:50:28.76\00:50:33.60 absolutely breaks me and destroys me, to where before I 00:50:33.60\00:50:36.93 would just, you know, and turn around, you know, roll over, go 00:50:36.93\00:50:40.74 to sleep, kind of whatever, but now it's, you know, this is, I 00:50:40.74\00:50:45.47 know for a fact, God has given me this woman for a very 00:50:45.47\00:50:48.54 particular purpose. 00:50:48.54\00:50:49.74 I see it all the time, and as you talked about forgiveness, I 00:50:49.74\00:50:49.78 saw the forgiveness of Jesus in my wife, in what she has known 00:50:54.28\00:50:57.92 me, and that's made me not only love her more, but also made me 00:50:57.92\00:51:02.59 love God more, and see just a little bit, a little taste of 00:51:02.59\00:51:06.33 what his forgiveness is like towards us, and that's, I 00:51:06.33\00:51:09.23 think, one of the reasons why we have marriage, is it's a 00:51:09.23\00:51:11.83 teacher, it's teaching us about God's love, it's teaching us 00:51:11.83\00:51:14.87 about, you know, his forgiveness, it's teaching 00:51:14.87\00:51:17.07 about his long suffering and how to work things out, just 00:51:17.07\00:51:19.74 like how he works things out with us, and it's just, it's 00:51:19.74\00:51:22.61 beautiful, you know, despite the difficulties. 00:51:22.61\00:51:24.91 And it's stronger. 00:51:25.11\00:51:26.41 That's the key. 00:51:27.45\00:51:28.28 You made a point, if the house is broken, do you get rid of 00:51:28.88\00:51:32.32 it? 00:51:32.32\00:51:32.55 No. 00:51:32.59\00:51:32.72 I probably heard that from you. 00:51:34.49\00:51:36.29 Well, we were raised in a generation, this is kind of 00:51:38.16\00:51:40.30 crazy, but we were raised in a generation, if it's broke, fix 00:51:40.30\00:51:43.00 it. 00:51:43.00\00:51:43.43 Nowadays, high school college students can go from 00:51:44.10\00:51:48.24 neighborhood to neighborhood and find a chair on the 00:51:48.24\00:51:50.37 sidewalk that just has a slight rip in it, and people throw it 00:51:50.37\00:51:53.24 away, or throw it in their bed, and people throw it away. 00:51:53.24\00:51:55.21 You can get a whole house. 00:51:55.24\00:51:56.34 I've seen college students that, where'd you get all your 00:51:56.44\00:51:58.68 furniture from? 00:51:58.68\00:51:59.41 Driving around the neighborhood. 00:51:59.48\00:52:00.65 And people in this J&A, they throw things away. 00:52:01.38\00:52:03.65 Whereas in our generation, we go out and get the glass and 00:52:03.85\00:52:06.72 replace the broken glass rather than buying a whole window. 00:52:06.72\00:52:09.19 And so we've had, in our own marriage, times where we had to 00:52:09.69\00:52:12.59 learn to fix it. 00:52:12.59\00:52:13.76 To say, you know, and we had to get ourselves out of the way. 00:52:13.96\00:52:18.53 Absolutely. 00:52:19.10\00:52:21.34 about this a little more. 00:52:21.34\00:52:22.24 The respect and the love thing is massive. 00:52:23.17\00:52:26.88 Okay, tell the story about, you know who in one of our churches 00:52:27.21\00:52:30.05 when his wife embarrassed the elder. 00:52:30.58\00:52:34.72 Yeah, and she's deceased now, so I think this is a time to 00:52:34.95\00:52:37.75 tell the story. 00:52:37.75\00:52:38.39 We had an elder in one of our churches, not in Thompsonville, 00:52:38.99\00:52:41.46 but in one of our churches where he was the head elder, 00:52:42.02\00:52:44.26 and when church was over, she's kind of like, hey, let's go! 00:52:44.73\00:52:47.50 And he's the second in command leader in the church. 00:52:50.17\00:52:52.90 He was like, I've got to go. 00:52:53.30\00:52:54.34 And his wife would embarrass him publicly all the time. 00:52:54.74\00:52:56.81 She would always disrespect him. 00:52:56.84\00:52:58.67 And we would do things like, how well do you know each 00:52:58.74\00:53:00.91 other? 00:53:00.91\00:53:03.81 you know your wife? 00:53:03.81\00:53:04.48 Like a Vespas program. 00:53:05.58\00:53:06.61 And he would get the wrong answer. 00:53:07.42\00:53:08.85 She said, I told you you didn't know your Bible. 00:53:08.98\00:53:10.69 And she said that publicly. 00:53:11.09\00:53:12.25 And he's the head elder. 00:53:12.49\00:53:13.72 And it was like, these little things just irritated him to no 00:53:13.99\00:53:16.96 end. 00:53:17.59\00:53:23.20 once, and his anger for women, his anger for his wife, came 00:53:23.20\00:53:27.94 out on the anger for the women. 00:53:27.94\00:53:28.94 And I was out of town with the evangelistic series. 00:53:29.04\00:53:31.37 He told every woman he can how he felt. 00:53:32.54\00:53:34.61 Including me! 00:53:34.78\00:53:35.51 Including her. 00:53:35.68\00:53:36.54 We had to take him out of office because we said, that's 00:53:36.88\00:53:38.98 the wrong spirit. 00:53:38.98\00:53:39.71 But we know that it was coming from that. 00:53:40.02\00:53:42.02 He was overcompensating for the kind of respect he didn't get 00:53:42.05\00:53:46.02 at home. 00:53:46.02\00:53:46.52 And so ladies, let me just make this example. 00:53:46.99\00:53:49.06 You know what? 00:53:49.39\00:53:50.66 One lady, tell what Annie called you. 00:53:51.66\00:53:54.30 She's deceased now. 00:53:54.36\00:53:55.23 Yeah, one day she says, Angela, she was a church member in 00:53:55.53\00:53:59.47 California, she said, what I like about you is you never 00:53:59.47\00:54:03.97 talk bad about your husband. 00:54:03.97\00:54:05.37 I said, oh, well praise the Lord. 00:54:06.04\00:54:07.81 She says, you know, me and her would talk all the time. 00:54:07.84\00:54:11.61 And she says, what I like, you've never said anything bad 00:54:11.61\00:54:11.65 about him because we've been friends for over 30 years. 00:54:15.58\00:54:18.85 We have always kept in touch. 00:54:19.05\00:54:20.82 You've never said anything bad about your husband. 00:54:21.22\00:54:24.19 I don't talk about him. 00:54:24.39\00:54:25.63 I don't talk about him to other people. 00:54:25.99\00:54:28.23 Anything bad, we keep it between each other. 00:54:28.73\00:54:31.93 So many couples go and tell other people. 00:54:31.97\00:54:34.84 And then when we solve our issue, other people get mad. 00:54:35.14\00:54:38.94 They try to get involved. 00:54:39.67\00:54:40.84 They never forget it. 00:54:41.28\00:54:43.01 Yes, they never forget it. 00:54:43.71\00:54:45.81 One high point of advice to couples. 00:54:49.58\00:54:51.95 If you have issues, go to a pastor. 00:54:52.79\00:54:55.29 Don't even go to your family first because they cannot 00:54:56.19\00:54:58.69 divorce the idea that you are your father's daughter or your 00:54:58.69\00:55:02.33 mother's son. 00:55:02.33\00:55:03.26 They would just open that anger on your spouse and never forget 00:55:03.60\00:55:06.67 it. 00:55:06.67\00:55:06.94 Go where you can get. 00:55:07.24\00:55:08.27 Pray, first of all, use the Matthew 18. 00:55:08.37\00:55:10.31 If you can do that, humble yourself, give yourself some 00:55:10.41\00:55:12.44 time, but never dog your spouse. 00:55:12.44\00:55:15.98 That's a loose term. 00:55:16.21\00:55:17.45 Don't disintegrate them and deconstruct them in the ears 00:55:17.91\00:55:20.65 and eyes of other people because when you got your stuff 00:55:20.65\00:55:22.85 together, they'll never forget it. 00:55:22.85\00:55:28.82 Your wife and you got it fixed, but they'll never forget it. 00:55:29.09\00:55:32.09 You've got to value that. 00:55:32.43\00:55:33.56 It's like a fortress. 00:55:33.76\00:55:34.96 Because in bad times, the other thing is people don't respect 00:55:36.50\00:55:41.44 you when they know you're junk. 00:55:41.44\00:55:43.67 Just honor that respect, honor that love. 00:55:45.44\00:55:48.31 Two words. 00:55:48.44\00:55:48.94 No, it's respect and love. 00:55:49.08\00:55:50.58 When the wife knows she's loved, she'll respect her 00:55:51.15\00:55:54.15 husband. 00:55:54.15\00:55:57.42 wife. 00:55:57.42\00:55:57.82 Goes a long way. 00:55:57.82\00:55:59.79 The other thing is, go ahead. 00:56:01.36\00:56:02.89 There's a common denominator, if you will, between those two 00:56:04.13\00:56:07.20 things. 00:56:07.20\00:56:07.73 It's not self-focused. 00:56:07.73\00:56:09.43 It's very outward focused. 00:56:09.93\00:56:11.77 It's the wife focusing on the husband and the husband 00:56:13.23\00:56:15.60 focusing on the wife. 00:56:15.60\00:56:16.47 There's no selfishness there involved. 00:56:16.50\00:56:18.81 It's just what can I do for the other person? 00:56:19.27\00:56:21.64 That was one of the most powerful prayers that I 00:56:21.71\00:56:23.58 actually ever said was, Lord, help me be a better husband to 00:56:23.58\00:56:27.48 my wife. 00:56:27.48\00:56:28.08 That just catapulted things in our own marriage. 00:56:28.55\00:56:31.22 Instead of being like, Lord, help my wife understand me 00:56:31.92\00:56:35.56 more. 00:56:35.56\00:56:38.89 It was, Father, help me be a better husband. 00:56:38.93\00:56:41.83 You prayed that prayer when you were single. 00:56:41.86\00:56:43.77 No, no, no. 00:56:44.13\00:56:45.60 To give you a wife. 00:56:45.63\00:56:47.07 A godly wife, in other words. 00:56:47.57\00:56:49.37 And the Lord answered that prayer. 00:56:49.57\00:56:51.14 And I have to say publicly, I wouldn't be who I am as a 00:56:51.97\00:56:54.58 pastor or any other husband had the Lord not given me this 00:56:54.58\00:56:57.91 woman as my wife. 00:56:57.91\00:56:59.08 Angela, there was not a woman in America the Lord wanted me 00:56:59.95\00:57:03.12 to marry. 00:57:03.12\00:57:03.79 She got my wife from England. 00:57:03.79\00:57:04.89 I'm looking around America. 00:57:06.65\00:57:07.79 There's not anybody here. 00:57:07.96\00:57:08.76 Let's get her from England. 00:57:08.79\00:57:09.72 And we're going to talk about how beautiful that is. 00:57:10.36\00:57:12.16 And we're going to also talk about in the second hour, what 00:57:12.49\00:57:14.46 happens when you are unequally yoked? 00:57:14.46\00:57:16.46 And what's the difference between a choice and a mistake? 00:57:17.17\00:57:21.37 Because a lot of people don't know the difference. 00:57:21.47\00:57:22.80 What happens? 00:57:23.37\00:57:24.51 What are the top ten reasons why relationships disintegrate? 00:57:24.57\00:57:27.31 And then what about communication? 00:57:27.38\00:57:28.54 How can you communicate effectively? 00:57:28.98\00:57:30.61 Dealing with conflict, which is very important. 00:57:30.61\00:57:33.21 And how to keep a relationship growing. 00:57:33.78\00:57:35.92 And principles for fidelity and then your love languages. 00:57:36.89\00:57:39.19 Don't go away. 00:57:39.45\00:57:39.95 Just getting started. 00:57:40.12\00:57:41.06 To have to hold on, we'll be right back. 00:57:41.79\00:57:44.03