Directed toward youth and how Satan is trying to distort relationships and how God wants to make getting to know someone “normal” again.

National Family Retreat 2019: A Heart of Love

<p>Directed toward youth and how Satan is trying to distort relationships and how God wants to make getting to know someone “normal” again.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Restoration International

Alane Waters

Tom Waters

Thieves of Love

You see our theme up here is a heart of love.

And God is doing everything and has been doing everything, including sending Jesus to pour out His love to us to redeem us.

There's nothing more He could have done and could do.

And now we have an adversary on the contrary side of this great controversy who is doing everything he can to confuse and steal the love of God from the world that needs it.

And today we're going to be talking about what the adversary of our souls is trying to do to steal love in relationships prior to marriage.

We talked earlier today about the amazing love that God has for our marriages.

Now we're going to talk about what the devil's trying to do to steal, to be a thief of real love in relationships among young people today as they're headed in that direction.

You see, we live in a time and in a culture that is very aggressively trying to destroy and confuse the language of love.

God's intent from the beginning for this earth back in Eden.

The adversary is working very diligently, constantly, aggressively to try to confuse what real love is.

Trying to confuse that a relationship is between a man and a woman and in a number of ways, which many of you are well aware of, looking to take this world back to the place that Jesus said it would be like the days of Noah.

It would be like the days of Sodom and Gomorrah.

We don't need to be too descriptive about what was happening in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah and the days of Lot.

Do we see it happening in the world today?

In the last 15 years, and that's nothing special about 15 years, but we've watched this with our young people growing up.

Just 15 years ago relationships were what we would call at least in the context of family retreat and and it was family you know family camp and family camp meeting all those as the years went back.

Twenty-five years since the first family camp meeting.

But back there 15 years ago, it was relationships were what we called normal, and you're going to hear us use this word many times today.

And we have seen over the last 15 years, while the world and culture has tried to rob, to steal the relationships, normal relationships of love that leads to marriage.

On the other side, we've seen movements that the pendulum has swung to try to counteract that, that has taken relationships too far the other direction and has created anxiety in young people today so that, and their parents, so that, contrasting 15 years ago when our young people, who are in their 30s now, could be in a conversation with a boy or a girl and nobody thought anything because they were just having normal communication.

To a time where the confusion that has come on the swinging of the pendulum away from the world's direction, swinging it too far back.

Have you ever noticed that when a pendulum swings It comes up to the end of the arc, and then where does it go?

And we have watched over the last 15 years, that pendulum swings so far back in the other direction that now young people can't even talk to somebody in an auditorium like this if it's a boy and a girl without creating, mom did you see that?

And again, as we mentioned to you yesterday, our hosts have asked us, the host of each of the family retreats in our planning session in October asked us to specifically talk about what we shared yesterday and what we are sharing today.

We're seeking to find some balance between how far the pendulum has swung in the world and how far back we've tried to swing it, unintentionally probably in some ways, and to seek for balance.

So this is a question for all the unmarrieds here.

This morning we talked to all the marrieds in the room.

So if you are not married this question's for you and we want to see a show of hands on this question.

How many of you who are unmarried means you don't have a spouse, you don't have a husband or a wife, for those of you who don't know what that means whatever how many of you have ever thought you would like to get married?

Let's see your hands put them up high so we can see them, we're a long ways away here keep them up there.

Now, I saw a lot of children raise their hands, and that was good.

I'm looking for those of you between the ages of 15 and 30, or anybody 15 and forward, or 15 or more, who are not married, who would like to get married, or think someday you would like to get married.

Not just bending your elbow, put it up there.

Even in this auditorium today, there might be, have been some reservation because, I mean, we shouldn't be thinking about that, should we?

Not planning your your marriage but there's nothing wrong with having the thought.

It's nothing wrong with thinking that someday in God's time, as I get older, more mature, and I have purpose, a direction in life, that God is going to link our life with someone else.

That was his original plan in the Garden of Eden.

And that pendulum swinging to the other side has made young people almost intimidated to even answer that kind of question.

And so we want to kind of open up this topic this afternoon and see what the Word of God has to say and look at some of the ways that we can somehow, and there's, you know, everybody has to find their balance at the cross of Christ.

That's where the perfect balance is, right?

But what is good and right for 1 young person isn't necessarily it's the same version picture or version that another young person has because God doesn't make cookie cutter relationships Every relationship is unique because it has 2 unique people in the equation So there's a verse in Psalm 37 verses 4 & 5 I should have had this out here and ready.

Psalm 37, if you've got your Bibles or your devices, it says, delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give you the desires of what?

And so what's the first thing we need to do to get right desires?

He shall give you the desire of your heart and commit your ways in verse 5, commit your ways unto the Lord, trust also in him and he will do what?

So as our young people were growing up, we developed and I particularly as their father, their dad, developed a way that I would reach out to each of my young people.

And they all responded well to just walking and talking or if we're on a drive somewhere.

But I made time, probably every couple of months, it was nothing on a schedule, but made time to communicate 1 on 1 with each of my young people to strengthen the bond between us.

And I remember 1 day going out for a long walk with our oldest daughter, Allison.

And I said to her, so are you getting any concerns about the fact that you're not in a relationship, and other young people that you've grown up with and you've gone to family retreat, family camp with her, they're getting in relationships and she said no, no it's it's fine and as we continued the conversation she shared with me that she's she's just at rest.

She said, I believe that in God's time that if it's His will, and I do believe it is His will, He'll, He'll show me.

She said, no, I don't, I don't pray about it.

She said, I've just given it completely to the Lord.

I said, while I understand that that's a great thing for you to give it completely to the Lord and be surrendered and be content with such things as you have, you need to be praying about this.

And I'm going to ask you to make this a matter of daily prayer." She said, really?

I said, yes, because right now you need to be tuning in to God's will for you in your life in this regard in relationships.

And sometimes if we're so, so trusting in the Lord that it's off of our thinking and it's off of our praying, sometimes we can miss what God is trying to open up to us.

And she began to pray that prayer in her own way, in her own time.

And when I walked her down the aisle, I'm just going to tell you this little story.

When I walked her down the aisle towards her husband-to-be, Alexander, I was so excited And I was not going to give the standard line to Who giveth this woman to be married to this man, and I would say Her mother and I do Now there's nothing wrong with that.

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Thieves of Love

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