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Jul 15, 2018

Wisdom for Intimacy

Passage: Proverbs 5:18

Speaker: Brian Land

Series: Proverbs

Category: Grace Brevard

Worship Order

Prelude: Jon Foreman - From Myself

Call To Worship: Psalm 111:2-3,7-9 NIV

Songs

Reading: Isaiah 54:4-5,10 ESV

Prayer: Kept By God (adapted from The Valley of Vision)

LEADER: Jehovah God. Creator, Upholder, Owner, of all things. We cannot escape from Your presence or rule, nor should we desire to do so.                   

ALL: Our privilege is to be under the direction of Your omnipotence, righteousness, wisdom, and grace.

LEADER: It is the discovery of Your goodness alone that can banish our fears, allure us into Your presence, and help us to confess sins.

ALL: For there is mercy and exceeding riches in Your truths and kindness in Jesus. May we always feel our need of Him.

LEADER: Bear up heart and mind. Enliven our daily walk. Work in us the image of the heavenly; the first fruits of spirituality found in Christ.

ALL: Thy kingdom come.

Missional Living: Sharing House

Sermon Title: Wisdom for Intimacy

Central Text: Proverbs 5:1-23

Response: Communion

  • Assurance: Isaiah 44:21-22 ESV

Benediction: 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 ESV

    Media:

    7:15:18 Album

    Related Scriptures:

    • Matthew 5:27-30
    • Hosea 2:14-20
    • Genesis 2:18-25
    • 2 Samuel 11:1-27
    • Song of Solomon 4:9-15
    • 1 Corinthians 6:12-20; 7:1-5
    • 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
    • 1 Peter 2:11-12
    • Hebrews 13:4
    • Revelation 19:6-9

    Discussion Questions & Applications:

    1. How is it that we tend towards either seeing physical intimacy as:
      1. Naughty and taboo
      2. Not a big deal (animalistic)
      3. Our greatest hope
    2. Why is physical intimacy such a “big deal”? Does it seem that either the God of the Bible or His followers are just prudes?
    3. Why do we simultaneously desperately crave deep relational intimacy while also avoiding it in an effort to protect ourselves? How does this play out in our real lives?
    4. Why does this physical intimacy shed deeper light into us being the Bride of Christ, our Perfect Groom? Does that feel odd to you?

    Quotes:

    • “It is a glorious thing to feel for a moment or two that the whole meaning of the universe is summed up in one woman — glorious so long as other duties and pleasures keep tearing you away from her. But clear the decks and so arrange your life (it is sometimes feasible) that you will have nothing to do but contemplate her, and what happens? Of course this law has been discovered before, but it will stand re-discovery. It may be stated as follows: every preference of a small good to a great, or partial good to a total good, involves the loss of the small or partial good for which the sacrifice is made.” - C.S. Lewis
    • “It is a truism that humanity is deficient in humanity but who would dispute it? In the privacy of our thoughts does not any one of us feel the difference between our best impulses and our actual behavior?” - Marilynne Robinson
    • “Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet.”  - St. Augustine, Confessions
    • “Contrary to Mrs. Grundy, sex is not a sin. Contrary to Hugh Hefner, it’s not salvation either. Like nitroglycerin, it can be used to blow up bridges or heal hearts.” - Frederick Buechner  
    • “Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain, But am betroth'd unto your enemy; Divorce me, untie or break that knot again, Take me to you, imprison me, for I, Except you enthrall me, never shall be free, Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.” - John Donne
    • “The only way to break the hold of a beautiful object on the soul is to show it an object even more beautiful.” - Thomas Chalmers 

    Talks / Articles: