Sex and Surprises
If we sometimes go all in to shed physical love handles, we need to pursue relational love handles. Handles help us with the reality that falling in love is easy, but staying in love requires a plan. Love handles are tools and rules that shape and guide relationships toward better outcomes. Love handles can be defined as demonstrable actions and attitudes that create deposits in the emotional bank accounts of our partner. Love handles are ways to leverage love and create real intimacy as God intends.
Welcome to First Baptist. This page is where you will find the sermon notes and more information about what is happening at FBC.
Stay connected:
www.fbcseminole.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/FirstSeminole
Twitter: @Seminolefbc
Instagram: @fbcseminolekids
@fbcseminole_youth
We meet Sundays:
9:00 am Worship
10:30 am Worship
Connect Groups throughout the week.
I Will Be Devoted
No one ever gets close to Jesus (their spouse) by accident. We choose to think ahead and pre-decide: I will be devoted. Because of who God is and what He has done for me, I am willing to do anything and give up everything for Him.
Intentionality requires a strategy that includes
A Time
A Place
A Plan
Mark 1:35 NIV
35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
John 17:3 NIV
3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
Genesis 4:1 CEB
1 The man Adam knew his wife Eve intimately. She became pregnant and gave birth to Cain, and said, “I have given life to a man with the LORD’s help.”
Psalms 46:10 NIV
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;I will be exalted among the nations,I will be exalted in the earth.”
Surprise: You're Normal
Normal is ordinary moments in an ordinary marriage on ordinary days with ordinary sex.
Devotion Needs Development
2 Timothy 1:6 NIV
6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
Sex just isn't sex. Sex is sacred.
Sex isn't just important. Sex is essential to marriage.
The flame must be fanned.
The embers must be stirred.
It's not easy. It is achievable.
Marriages flourish when a spouse F. L. I. R. T. S. frequently and consistently.
F eel Deeply
L inger Slowly
I mprovise Greatly
R espond Gently
T hink Correctly
S ignal Strongly
Feel Deeply
Ephesians 3:17-19 NLT
17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
Linger Slowly
Song of Songs 4:16 NIV
16 Awake, north wind, and come, south wind!Blow on my garden, that its fragrance may spread everywhere.Let my beloved come into his garden and taste its choice fruits.
Improvise Greatly
Proverbs 18:15 ESV
15 An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
Respond Gently
Philippians 4:5 NIV
5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Think Correctly
Thinking clearly leads to living freely.
When we begin to think better, we begin to live better.
Take control of your thoughts rather than allowing your thoughts to take control of you.
To live right we need to start thinking right.
Think correctly and you will live richly.
Ephesians 4:23-24 NIV
23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Signal Strongly
Ö Use clear language to establish limits and prevent guessing.
Ö Schedule sex and then initiate.
Ö Use secret phrases to describe your level of interest. “Let’s get busy.”
“Let’s go to the gym and exercise.”
Ö Find creative ways to communicate your current level of interest.
Ö Just ask.