The Transformational Power Of Unity & Faith In Marriage & Beyond - Doug & Jennifer Domingos

​In this teaching, Doug and Jennifer Domingos talk about how to cultivate unity in marriage and in community.

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Full transcript generated by ai (please excuse errors):


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​So this morning, what we're going to be teaching on is, and it's Jennifer, I still, we, this is this is part of what we're teaching on. If you've ever done anything for a long time, like you've just done it over and over again, you kind of forget how, or why you've done it, why you're doing it a certain way, you just you just do it. And Jennifer and I have been doing unity for a long, long time. So we've been doing unity for for a long, long time. And we just do it we so when, when we started, when we were talking, started talking about well, what are we going to teach? What are we how are we going to do this? It was? Well, gosh, I mean, now we got to think about it. You know, how is it that we do unity? You know, what is it that God has taught us? Where has God brought us to be able to walk in this unity the way that we we do so it's a work in progress, still, we're still unpacking some of the things that God has taught us over the last 28 years. And there's just more and more so today's kind of a like a preview a little little taste of just all of the different things that God is, is showing us that he's already caught us over the last 28 years. And really, it's unity in relationship. I mean, it can be more than just in the marriage couple, or it's more than just, just marriage, it's individuals, it's, it's the couple, it's the church. So whether we're talking about an individual, or a couple, or the church, a local spiritual community, or the greater body of Christ, it doesn't matter. We are called to walk in unity, to live life with each other, with a friend with our spouses, with our families, or with our spiritual family in Unity. So this past, June, Jennifer and I celebrated our 28th anniversary. And kind of a hallmark of our marriage has been the ability to stand in Unity. So not trying to be prideful. Because the unity that we have today is not the same unity that we had, in your one of marriage or in your 10 of marriage, or even in your 27 of marriage. It is something that we continually are growing in our learning and walking in. And the unity that we have now has been hard fought for. Just as any young couple, when we first started our lives together, we had no idea what Unity was, or even what Unity what it would require, what Unity would require. We knew that we loved each other. And that was enough because it's what we had.


Really. We stayed together. Because people told us we couldn't. I mean, we had we had family that said it's not gonna


it's not right. So really, what I'm here to tell you is that the secret to a long loving relationship is just the desire to prove someone else wrong. That's it. Spite out of spite, you're not going to tell me what I am or not going to do. But really, what we did learn is that the secret isn't about what other people say it is where you are with God.


So over. Over the 28 years, we've learned that in order for us to have true unity, God would have to be at the center of our lives, and have to be at the center of our marriage. Like I said, it was hard fought, as wonderful as we are together, as wonderful as we are individually.


Sorry, I'm losing my notes.


As we are individuals, we're not naturally inclined, inclined towards unity.


Now, I do believe that God did design us to live in unity with him and with each other. But the fact is, is that we live in a fallen world with broken spirits and surrounded by sin that keeps us in a state of disunity. So if unity is the state of being whole, then this unity is a state of separation. From the beginning, God has said that it's not good for man to be alone. He needed a helper, a friend, a companion. So in the army, they teach you from the time you enter basic training that you and to the time you retire, that you need a battle buddy. And if you don't have one, that's okay. They'll assign you one. And to be truly effective, you should run in a fireteam, which is three or more. So I wonder if they borrowed this concept from God. Because in Ecclesiastes four he says, Two are better than one, because they have a good reward to get a good reward for their labor. For if they fall one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him. Again, if to lie down together, they keep warm. But how can one be warm alone, the one may be overpowered by another two can withstand him. And a three fold cord is not quickly broken. See, God has designed us to run in fire teams. God is our point man, Jennifer's always had my six and we are a three chord, three strand cord that is not quickly broken. So as a spiritual family, walking in unity, we're not so much a fire team, as we are a heavy platoon and not heavy in a weight sort of way. Heavy in that we are carrying in the big guns, intercession, community, praying together, living life together, encouraging each other, lifting each other up. Those are those are the big guns in walking a spiritual life. So what does that look like? Well, it looks like mission house that looks like prayer council that looks like school of spiritual leadership that looks like living life together, lifting each other up encouraging loving each other. And what we do as individuals, what we do as couples, what we do as a community, this is walking in Unity. So what we want to look at is what Paul said about unity, in Ephesians chapter four, and talking about walking in Unity and our divine calling. So if Ephesians four one through six says and this is in the passion translation. In the King James it's the title is walking in unity, but in the passion translation is our divine calling. And Paul says that, as a prisoner of the Lord, I plead with you to walk holy in a way that is suitable to your high rank. given to you your divine calling, given to you in your divine calling, with tender humility and quiet patience, always demonstrate gentleness and generous love towards one another, especially towards those who may try your patience. Be faithful to God, the sweet harmony of the Holy Spirit among you, and the bonds of peace, being one body, and one Spirit, as you are all called to the same glorious hope, of divine destiny, for the Lord God is one. And so we are one. Four, we share in one faith, one baptism, and one father, and he is the perfect father, who leads us all works through us all, and lives in us all. So let's, let's break that down. Okay. So how, how is this practical? How do we get into breaking Ephesians, four down to how we can use it each day. As a prisoner of the Lord, I plead with you to walk holy, in a way that is suitable to your high rank given to you and your divine calling. So walking holy, that's just living life, set apart, sacred, pure, through your relationship with Jesus. Holiness is not achieved on your own. It is only achieved through the blood of Jesus as his not ours, we are imbued with it, but it is his not our own. And that divine calling is the calling into the family of Christ. God has called us into this. And we're to walk in at Holy and the purpose of our calling. There's different purposes through our lives through different seasons of our lives. We may be walking as a single person, or as a husband or as a wife, as a father or as a mother. These are different purposes that we will have through throughout our lives.


So as a community, walking holy is just walking together, living this life together. It's not something that we're supposed to do on our own. It's too hard. It's too tough. It is, from the beginning. Our purpose has been to do this together. Thank you. So we go through these different seasons as we walk in Unity. So verse two, with tender humility, and quiet patients always demonstrate gentleness and generous love toward one another, especially towards those that may try your patience. Now, if that doesn't sound like marriage? I don't know. I know, I try Jennifer's patients on a daily, even hourly basis. So she's got a lot of grace in her. But we're supposed to do this, with tender humility and quiet patience. And as Jen and I were breaking this down, we're talking about, you know, what, what is that? What? What is quiet patience. And what God was showing us was waiting on the Lord what what does it mean to wait upon the Lord? Well, limitations 325 says that the Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks Him. And Isaiah 3018 says, Therefore, the Lord waits to be gracious to you. And therefore, he exalts himself to show mercy to you. So, waiting on the Lord, that's hard. That's probably one of the hardest things that we've done


in in our marriage is waiting on the Lord. You know, when? Yeah, so Jennifer is going to going to share on some of this


so as Doug's sharing about waiting on the Lord and in the context of marriage in the context of unity, my daughter Mari is here this morning with us. Everybody knows Mario Everybody loves my Maury. And but what you may not know is that when we adopted Maury in 2010, that really was just the fulfillment of a word from the Lord. From that he gave me in 2003, the Lord had first spoken in 2003, that we were going to adopt a little girl. And of course, at that time, our lives looked so, so radically different, we had three super little ones. When I say we were broke, I mean, we were broke. We didn't have financial, emotional any capacity for more children. And, and I remember coming home from an event where the Lord had shared this word with me. And I remember I told Doug, and he just laughed. And I just remember in this season, of what would turn out to be seven years, from the word from the Lord, to the fulfillment of that promise. There were many men. I mean, you'd imagine seven years. That's a long time. And it was so strong. But I just knew from praying in and this is all just through prayer, prayer, prayer prayer. Lord, what is this? What is this? What is this, because what we're getting back to is we did not have unity of this word from the Lord. And I think many of us because we're speaking to believers, we're speaking to people have the Spirit who are receiving from the Holy Spirit all of the time. So I'm not talking about just to a marriage where there might be one believer in one nod or where there's where you're not believers, I'm speaking to people in marriage, who are believers who are hearing from the Lord. That does not mean that I'm hearing at the same time he's hearing. He's not hearing sometimes sometimes he'll hear something, and I'm not hearing it at the same time. And that waiting upon the Lord, and what brings unity and marriage, in that quiet patience, is, is truly waiting upon the Lord. You know, he would we were talking about this. And he was saying, you know, you never just kept saying, Yeah, but the Lord said, But the Lord said, But the Lord said, because the Lord had instructed me to wait and away quietly. I remember maybe throughout this course of probably about five to six years, where we were just waiting, where I was just waiting. He wasn't waiting on the Lord, in that word, I was waiting on the Lord in that word. And just you know, about maybe once a year, twice a year, I might say, you know, I remember this word from the Lord. But then what do you do the other 364 days of the year when you're not saying, and you're just cherishing and in your heart, you're waiting upon him. But I knew from the Holy Spirit, that if I forced this word, and it wasn't in his timing, what the Lord meant as a blessing in our family would be dis unifying. And if anyone has children, if anyone's listening to this, and you have adopted a child, you know, it's one of the hardest things that you will ever do in a marriage is extremely. It's extremely challenging. And had we not been in 100% Unity. If I had not weighed in on the Lord, what the Lord intended for our family is a great divine blessing. And a picture of his kingdom in our family would have been breaking, it would have broken our unity. And so that's when Doug's talking about when we're talking about we start breaking down. What does unity look like in our marriage? This is just one example. And there have been other times and other things, when the Lord has given a word to one of us, but if he does not give us that word, it together, we wait upon the Lord and that and that happens all of the time, waiting upon the Lord, in order so that unity may be birthed forth.


And, and I'll be real with you. You know, I wasn't seeking the Lord in all of those seven years on this word that we had received. I mean, in my heart, in my mind, we couldn't afford the three kids that we had. And we were and she says, we were broke, we were busted. So it wasn't even something that was, you know, even conceivable for me at that time. And I wasn't leaning in on the Lord to believe. You know, kinda like when when Sarah laughed when God said that he was going to give her this child. I laughed I was. But God was capable. Those so whole seven years that we waited, mostly Jennifer waited. God was completely capable of providing of giving us the resources of doing that. I'm grateful for what he gave us because Mari is incredible. And we love her with every bit of our being. But how many times do we wait on the Lord, longer than we have to you know, unity is not a one person. thing, there's got to be work towards unity from both sides. It's, it's not going to happen, one person is not going to create unity in a marriage. It has to be worked on both sides. In relationship with God. So, you know, that's got to happen. So what happens when you force it, when you do NAG and pushing, that's not going to work. That's where that breaking of the relationship can take place. It can happen. You know, we've, we've had a lot of friends over the years that have, you know, that have, their marriages are falling apart. And it's a lack of unity, there's a lack of trying on one side or the other, both sides. But that can also happen in community too. When something is forced, and it's not being worked on, on all sides, community can break as well. But we gotta let the Holy Spirit do what the Holy Spirit is going to do. When the Holy Spirit does his work, and turns a heart of stone to a heart of flesh, and able to do the work that he does, then the result is the fullness of Christ, and the peace that comes when you're walking in His purpose. So, you've you've, there's that. That quiet patience. So as we continue to talk, and we're talking about, you know, what else? We started talking about Tinder humility, and what does that look like in our marriage? And one thing that we have learned is to recognize times of disunity. And we've gotten better at it, we recognize it faster. Whereas when you know, in your one, what disunity what, you know, it's, you know, I love you, it's we're unified. But it's not really not You're not really. But there's times in every relationship, when things just aren't in sync, things aren't happening the way that you want them to happen. There's disagreements on how things should be done on who should be doing something. And differences in priorities. You know, when when Jen and I first got married, we came from two different lifestyles, I mean, her parents and my parents completely different in in their, their styles. And we joked about it for a long time, that my family were more like the Bundys you know, Alan Pegg and her her family was more like the cleavers, you know, and, and it was just, you know, we were so different. We were so different and trying to come into Unity was That was that was hard for us. We had differences, opinions on how money should be spent on whether we should buy cheap or buy quality. Get it now or wait, you know, so we had a lot of different opinions on how we should do things. And, you know, in the beginning, we didn't know how to address that, how to work through that. What we learned though, as we grew together, as we grew closer to God, we started to recognize her Wait, wait a minute, something that something's not right. What's going on? What are what are we running into. And we learned that when we pray together, when we seek God together, we can work through that disunity, we can get back into sync, we can get back into unity. But there were times where I didn't want to pray. I was I felt like I was right. That I there was nothing wrong in me. And I just didn't want to pray. So there was a hardness in my heart. That just kept me from, you know, even knowing that I'm in disunity that I'm the one that's just like, ah, kept me from moving forward, and getting through the work, the hard work that had to be done. In order to get back into unity. I just didn't want it. So there's times when you have to pray for God, soften my heart. Do this in me so that we can get past this. This is you know, it could be something minor, something small. But it was just like this roadblock. And until I saw God, and worked through that, that hardness, allowed the Holy Spirit to soften my heart. We were going to be stuck. But God always worked through it. God always helped us walk through those times. And get through that. That hardness. You know, but we would, we would pray. We would pray together, pray for softness of heart. Pray repentance. Pray for humility, patience.


And when Doug's talking about, you know, the flesh would kind of rear up. We just we just want to say, you don't, you will not always feel like, oh, let's come together and pray about this. There is like a fight and a war that wants to keep you from entering into that place of humility. But you do it anyway. I can't tell you how many times over the years, you know, we would realize there's just this battle going on. And we are just like, we are not not even in unity, we're just disharmony like we are not at peace with one another at all. There's been an argument, there's been something that's come up that we're just really disagreeing about, and to come in to say, you know, for him to say, we need to pray about this for me to say, Doug, would you please pray, let's please pray about this, you know, to submit and do it anyway. Many times there are, there are times in the kingdom, I know where I'd probably you would say this, you don't always feel like, I just want to show up and be there at admission house and give this word, do it anyway, there are things that we just have to push through, that you just may not feel at the time, but we do it anyway. And what would happen is we would come together, like two rocks, but we're gonna just be gentle and pray together. And then the holy, the Holy Spirit wouldn't enter in and soften and melt our hearts. And the tears would start flowing. And the Spirit starts moving. And we didn't feel like it at the time. And what happens I think in the body of Christ, when you kind of look at this, not just as a husband and wife, but when you look at this as a spiritual family, is if I'm just going and checking if I'm just in a church somewhere, and people don't maybe really know me. If I feel this spirit of disunity, there's something spoken. There's something a word given, there's something I didn't like about a style of whatever it is, even like Doug said, it may just seem really small at the time. It's so easy to leave and to separate. And then what happens is there is not a refining happening within us. And that is the point of marriage is refining. The point of spiritual family is refining. The point of being in the greater communal Body of Christ is refining fire. God is a fire and when he brings you into His presence, it's a fire. It's a fire, it's a fire. And so we need not only our marriage or that relationship As a refining, but we need the spiritual family. I think we in here like inherent mission house, we can all raise our hand, say there have been Sundays we didn't feel like coming. We're sitting at home. And I just don't really feel like going this morning. I don't really feel like cooking something I don't really feel like going. But we do it anyway. And then we get into the presence of God with one another. And our hearts are soften, and we're laughing, and there's joy and unity comes forth. And that hard place in my heart gets refined and dissolved. And that is the movement of the kingdom, we say often, the spirit of the Kingdom of Heaven moves at the speed of relationship. But if I don't enter into it in humility, and in prayer, even when I don't really feel like it, there's not relationship, the relationship here, the relationship and prayer counsel, there, we would all say there's Tuesday nights, we don't really feel like a lot going on. You know, there's something else we'd really rather do. You know, that's not the the majority of the time, but occasionally that comes up, because we are still walking in flesh, we are still walking in this world. So anyway, there's so many applications for what Doug's talking about, as we just submitted to that humility, and what it looks like even as a spiritual family.


So like I said, this is this is a work in progress. And we could we could go on and on in different things, you know, holding our tongue. There's so many times when I haven't held my tongue, and I've said hurtful things, and I've regretted those things. And you can't pull that back. You can't you can't take that back. It's out there. So discernment of knowing when or to say something, or how to say something, seeking God and those things, it's there's so much that we could keep going on into. But verse three says, Be faithful to guard the sweet harmony of the Holy Spirit among you, in the bonds of peace, being the body, and one Spirit being one body, and one Spirit, as you were all called in does the same glorious hope of divine destiny, destiny. When we started talking about this, we were talking about seeing people in the Spirit, not seeing people in the flesh, but seeing people in the spirit, how does God see these people? How can we preserve that sweet harmony of the Holy Spirit? Well, it's by seeing people in the spirit not seeing them by the flesh. You know, I'm reminded of dick. And what he says is that God, God broke him down and told him that God wants us to see people not for their failures, but for their potential. And so many times we see people by their failures, the things they did or didn't do, by the things that they have said or haven't said, and what we need to see them, excuse me, we need to see them by the Spirit. What is God doing in them, that is building them, that is growing them, that is developing them? Where is the brokenness because God sees people in their brokenness. He sees all of the brokenness.


But beyond that, he sees their potential, His purpose for them and we need to be able to see people in that same way.


Second, Corinthians 418 says, As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen, for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen, are eternal. We need to look at people with an internal perspective specially in marriage


so I'm 51 years young, and God still sees potential in me. There's not an age limit when God says Oh, expired. No No, no Moses was at when he received his calling. God uses us at every stage of life. Whether you're young, or old, God uses us, God sees the potential in us, and is working us towards that purpose. So we have to be flexible, we have to move with God, allow him to lead, allow him to take point. And get us through the obstacles that we find ourselves in. In verse five, and six, say, for the Lord God is one. And so are we, for we share in one faith, one baptism, and one Father. And He is the perfect father, who leads us all works through us all, and lives in us all. So when we are in unity, when we're walking in unity with God, because it has to, it has to begin on a personal level. As an individual, as a person, I have to be walking with God, in order for a relationship with my spouse, to work, when I'm not working with God, things are not going to work with Jennifer. It just can't happen. I have to have my relationship with God squared away first. And then Jennifer and I can seek God together. And he'll continue to grow us as a couple. And he leads us, he works through us. When we open ourselves up, to be used God by God, he will use that unity to move the kingdom. And he lives in us all. So that's the beginning. There's a lot more, God keeps unfolding this. I mean, there's 28 years of material here. There's a lot of stuff that we could cover. But this is just the beginning and look forward to sharing more.


Thank you, Doug. And Jennifer, there is an unspoken prerequisite that's woven into everything Doug and Jennifer are saying, and I don't want to allow us to go, I don't want to close the recording, without us saying this. And that is faith. So you guys, that you cannot have unity without faith. It's impossible. And so when Jennifer says I, I saw she had this vision, she saw that God wanted her to adopt Mari. It takes faith to receive that. And to hear that. And in time, it took faith for Doug to embrace that. In in Unity. Faith is absolutely critical. Because it is the belief, it's the trust in God, that he actually has your best interest in his heart right now. So at this very moment, if you think for a second, whether you're married or single, if you think about something. Where are the greatest voids in your life right now. I guarantee you, you could write some of them down in this very moment. And faith is believing that God in His way has his best interest at heart. And He wants to fill those voids. He wants to make the difference. Now whenever I'm having a hard time in my marriage, and nobody who's been married very long, doesn't have rough spots. All of us do. All of us do. Don't believe that all of us don't. Because all of us do. You young, young, early marriage, you remember this. But remember this that when we start when we when we really starts going, Okay, Lord, I'm going to trust you in this. That trust enables me to humble myself. It enables me to say, Okay, God has my best interests at heart and he says to do this, this is painful, but this is what I'm gonna do. Because I actually believe that God's way is better than my way especially my stubborn way. Right? Especially. I got one Amen from really, it's true, guys. Now, I'm not going to teach on this today, but I'm just going to give you a sneak preview into something I've been studied for few months, and I'm not ready to teach on it. And this So this passage I'm going to read it has scholars, baffled. Many scholars are really baffled. Because when they when they study this passage in the original text, it means that each one is a prerequisite to the other. In other words, you literally need the first one before you get the second one, maybe not in its fullness, but you need it. And so it has them baffled because they're trying to figure out, well, wait a minute, how does this work? And why does it work this way? And they don't really understand. And it's in for a second Peter chapter one. I'm gonna read verse five. But also, for this reason, giving all diligence how much diligence? Oh, okay, diligence means everything you got, I'm really gonna give it all it. all diligence, add to your faith, virtue, what's the first thing, faith and literally, and that's what we see in Hebrews, I must have faith to believe that wherever I am right now, in my life, whatever I'm going through, however hard it is, I have to actually believe God has my best interests at heart, and he really wants to do something about it. Whatever it is, in everybody in this room right now, I promise you, everybody in this room, and some of you, I know pretty well, right? Pretty much everybody, right? I guarantee you, you could start speaking in one another's lives and go, pretty sure that you feel like you need this in your life right now. Because we know each other, right? Many of us know each other. God wants, he has your God has your best interest in his heart right now. He really, really, really, really does. What you're going through right now, what you're struggling with what's on your heart right now, those fears that you guys are dealing with, even now that you don't even think about right now. But they're there. He really does have your best interest at heart. And I promise you, the more you believe it, the more you will surrender, you'll get God I'll do anything to man, I want your ways I will do anything. I trust you. I believe you. All of us have times when we do what Doug did when we do what Sarah did, and we laugh. And you know how cool God is. I love that passage. Because he doesn't go well, Sarah, you're a liar. He didn't do that. He just goes, Oh, but you did laugh. She goes, I didn't laugh. And he goes, he doesn't know you're a liar. And he goes, goes, Oh, and he I can see God smiling and going, Oh, but you did laugh. You feel his heart. He's not condemning you. He's bringing you to the best person that he's called you to be. And so if you go through this passage, and Peter, it starts with faith. And then he goes add to your faith virtue, which means character. Did you notice characters required before knowledge? Because knowledge is next? Some people go, I need to go study the word right now. Yes, you do. But God says, as you're studying that word, you need to be developing in your character. Because if you get knowledge without character, it's dangerous to your soul. It's dangerous to your spiritual development. And if you follow these prerequisites all the way down, I think it's seven of them. I can't remember what I think it's seven of them. The last one is in verse seven, add to brotherly kindness, love. And that's where God's goodness, that's where he's bringing us is to love. But I have to be developing in all these areas. And Lord wants us to know what Doug and Jennifer is teaching us today. It all begins with faith we have to believe. And so I'm asking you, I'm asking us as families, I'm asking those who are listening, please reach out, return out with your heart yearn out into God, and believe that he really does have your best interest in his heart right now. With all the burdens you're carrying, whatever it is, and here's the danger. When we do a teaching like this, I guarantee you there's at least three different people in this room. Who think I'm talking about them. Right now. I'm actually I know you guys well enough that there's three of you. I'm worried about that. You think I'm thinking about you, I promise you the Holy Spirit is thinking about you. Not my mind. I'm thinking about you. But But what Doug and Jennifer is telling us the unspoken secret in what they're talking about in unity is faith. It's trust, faith and trust are the same thing. Sometimes faith is so religious sounding we forget what it is. It's trust. It means I really trust you, Lord. And then what happens is, the more he develops these things in us, the more trustworthy we become, so that we can be trusted. Right? Go back to the marriage example. But marriage is great. It's just an example of relationship. So I can't expect my wife to trust me, until I walk trustworthy. And as I walk trustworthy, she can have faith in me, right? The cool thing about what you're teaching us, what you guys are teaching us today is that your eggs, your your yearning into God to trust him. And as you trust him, it helps us become trustworthy, so we can trust each other. This is true of all relationships. So it's, it's the the trust bridge I talked about in marriage, you guys have heard me talk about the trust bridge, I build the trust bridge, but Beth builds the trust bridge, you can't have one person, if you only have one person build the trust bridge, it'll be a one lane road. And what that means is one person can trust the other but the other can't trust the one person doesn't work, you have to have a two lane truss bridge. But then the sign on the bridge gets changed over time, it starts out as a one ton bridge. And pretty soon you your trust grows, and it becomes a five ton bridge, then a 10 ton, then a 25 ton. And the trust increases over time, so that that bridge can endure to some serious weight. But that is a two way street. Now. That same illustration is true with each and every one of us. So whatever my relationship is with you and your relationship is with me, we have to we have to literally as we yield to God, we learn to be trustworthy, and to trust one another. And when trust is broken, in a core relationship, here's what happens. It becomes hard to trust everybody. Now, I'm not saying you don't trust people, but what I'm saying is is it gets you get skittish, and it's like,


you know, in our hearts get kind of callous, and it becomes difficult. Well, I don't know you guys, some of you know what I'm talking about. I mean, it when our trust is broken, and I've been alive long enough, I've had my trust broken many times. And whenever it's broken on a serious level, we're seeing this right now, in some in some circles with Christian leaders, when when trust is broken. And someone we don't even know in some leader that we respect, suddenly, we start going, Whoa, can I trust this person? Can I trust that that person didn't even do anything. But those questions start coming up in us. And this is why it's so important for us as a spiritual community. To walk the way Doug and Jennifer are telling us because this is more than marriage. Marriage just happens to be the daily laboratory where we work on it. But the fact is that all of us together are in a marriage that is the marriage of Jesus Christ the bridegroom. And so this is something we are learning for the long haul. We're learning to do this. So I just wanted to say something about the faith part because this is critical. When you believe that God has your best interests at heart, you will want to do what he wants you to do, even if it's painful, because let me let me see if I can give you an illustration just to help out a little bit. If someone said, if you can get up to Pikes Peak now it's a beautiful sunny day here in Colorado. There's snow on the mountains, Pikes Peak 14,000 feet. And if someone said if you can get up to the top of Pikes Peak, we've got a $10 million check waiting on you. But you can't drive your car. If you really believe that you'd be going to REI right now and buy in your park as you'd be mine your park is you'd be buying all kinds of stuff. And I know it's hard guys. But if I just said hey guys, let's today let's go climb. Let's go up Pikes Peak, you know, let's buy some park is you ever want to be like, uh, maybe maybe a couple of people would say yeah, but most of you guys that are not 1414 or maniacs would go? Yeah, you go do that. But if you really believe even though it's hard, you would you would go okay. So this is what God is saying. Trust me on this. Trust me. Trust me. Trust me. I promise you and guys I'm taking apply this way beyond marriage, whatever the heavy thing is in your life right now. Whatever the big void is in your life, whatever it is right now. I promise you with all my heart and I know I can do this. I can promise you with all my heart. God has your best interests at heart even though it's really hard. Even though there's a big void or a big burden or a big this. I promise you something is in his heart that is so good that if you saw it, many of these stresses would melt away and I'm praying for you to see it. Like Jennifer Samari in a vision. I don't know if you knew she was in Ethiopia, but you could see her. And I remember having conversations with you about this, because you had faith you believed. And even though Doug didn't, you just gave him time for the Lord to bring him along. The amazing thing about this is when you think, Oh, God, you know, we gotta get a lot of fire under him, or under her or whatever. A lot of times, the Lord's already worked out the timeline. He's already worked it out. It's like, Man, I don't even know she was alive, then. You know, it's like, the point that I'm trying to make is, is that God is really bigger than we think he is. He's really smarter than we sometimes give him credit for. He's a lot wiser. I understand. We all say he's wise, and He's omnipotent, and all that. But when it comes to our actual circumstances in life, sometimes we may not be real respectful, we start treating God like, like, he's a man like he's a person, like, not he is a person, but like, he's a human being on the earth limited like we are. And he's been doing this plan for a long he's had it planned out long before you and I were ever born. So Lord, we just thank you, that we can trust you. We declare, Lord, you're trustworthy. We can trust you, teach us to trust you, teach us to have faith, teach us to trust one another, to build trustworthiness together so that we can walk in unity. And as we walk in unity as family, spiritual families, marriages, and as we walk in faith, you're going to meet the needs, you're going to fill the voids, you're going to lift the burdens the heavy burdens, because you truly truly with all of your heart, have our best interest at heart. And we thank you for it in Jesus name, Amen and Amen.


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