The Power of a Promise
Sermon Series: Protect What Matters Most
February 4, 2024
Phil Chorlian
Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. 7 Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, it would be utterly scorned. (Song of Solomon 8:6-7)
“The promise, made when I am in love and because I am in love, to be true to the beloved as long as I live, commits me to being true even if I cease to be in love. A promise must be about things that I can do, about actions; no one can promise to go on feeling in a certain way.” (C.S. Lewis)
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (Luke 22:20)
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. (Genesis 2:24-25)
I. The promise of
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. —Matthew 6:33
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. —Ephesians 5:25
II. The promise of
All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. —Proverbs 14:23
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. —Revelation 2:4-5
III. The promise of
“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” —Matthew 19:5-6
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. —Ephesians 5:21
IV. The promise of