Tim Ross at the Spark Marriage Conference
"Let's Get Naked"
Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him." So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man's ribs and closed up the opening. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man. "At last!" the man exclaimed. "This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called 'woman,' because she was taken from 'man.'" This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.
Genesis 2:18-25 NLT
God made the observation that it was not good for men to be alone.
We are talking about emotional nakedness Vulnerability //
Nakedness is achieved with eyes closed.
At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.
Genesis 3:7 NLT
Nakedness brings you together emotionally.
What is God requiring of me to be vulnerable.
1. I cannot get naked alone.
• I can't understand myself by myself.
• Things that were in you come out that you didn't know were there. You had no idea you could be so petty, so defensive, so emotional, etc...
2. I can't get naked without help.
• I need someone to see the parts of me that I can't see.
• Men were made women were formed.
Your spouse is you outside of you looking back at you talking to you about you.
• Your spouse is a full-length mirror
3. I can't get naked with anyone else.
• You're the only person who can handle your nakedness.
• You cannot be more vulnerable with someone else than you are with your spouse.
• You have to see the relationship as nucleus so that you won't become nuclear.
• Pride makes you create a picture of yourself that doesn't match what your spouse sees.
• Humility leads to nudity.
4. I like being naked
• No shame is our name.
• If your communication is good then your sex will be good.
John & Lisa Bevere at the Spark Marriage Conference
"Let's Get Naked"
Spouses are intimate allies.
Marriage is supposed to be a powerhouse not a power struggle.
And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other's feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.
John 13:14-15 NLT
The husband is the chief servant.
And here's a second offense: You fill the place of worship with your whining and sniveling because you don't get what you want from God. Do you know why? Simple. Because God was there as a witness when you spoke your marriage vows to your young bride, and now you've broken those vows, broken the faith-bond with your vowed companion, your covenant wife. God, not you, made marriage. His Spirit inhabits even the smallest details of marriage. And what does he want from marriage? Children of God, that's what. So guard the spirit of marriage within you. Don't cheat on your spouse. "I hate divorce," says the God of Israel. God-of-the-Angel-Armies says, "I hate the violent dismembering of the 'one flesh' of marriage." So watch yourselves. Don't let your guard down. Don't cheat.
Malachi 2:13-16 MSG
When Gregory wins, I win.
A lot of people who have been married for a long time have a closed spirit due unmet expectations and offenses...
"Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!
Matthew 6:22-23 NLT
A spouse who cannot forgive is a person who has forgotten what they have been forgiven of.
To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.
Lewis B. Smedes,
-Jeniro on the go!
