October 1, 2023
Fight For You
- Matt Nickoson
Sermon Notes
Song of Songs 5:2 NIV
I slept but my heart was awake. Listen! My beloved is knocking: "Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night."
How do you handle failed expectations in marriage?
Song of Songs5:3 NIV
"I have taken off my robe— must I put it on again? I have washed my feet— must I soil them again?"
"The Weekend to Remember conference has a built in date night. It's a time on the 2nd night that is set aside just for you and your spouse to have together and you're even given a 2-sided card with questions on it. Rob had called ahead and made reservations at an Italian restaurant and we sat and ate, talked about each session, and discussed the questions on the card. We didn't check our phones or talk "shop" i.e. household stuff, kid stuff, work stuff. Honestly, without the "couples check-in card" I don't know if we would have been so intentional and deliberate with our dinner conversation. As I'm typing this, I'm almost embarrassed to admit that after twenty years of marriage (at that point) I needed a list of questions/topics to connect with my husband; but wow, how incredible our God is in his faithfulness and provision because I remember just looking into Rob's eyes and hearing his words and feeling HIS feelings and not just what I thought he was thinking and feeling. After so many years of marriage, it's true that we know our spouse enough to say, oh he would want this, or he thinks that; or even I'll do this because he'll do that. Make sense? But.........this date night experience reminded me of the Rob that I fell in love with in our early 20s; the fun Rob; the Rob with beautiful eyes and a sensitive soul." – Cristi, Kingsway Member
"This conference reminded me to slow down, it helped remind me I may know my wife, but i need to hear her and SEE her. It made me reconnect and RECOMMIT to things I kind of go thru the motions daily with. The timing of this experience for me couldn't have come at a better time. We forgot about US and I needed to find that part of us again." – Rob, Kingsway Member
Text MARRIAGE to 317.565.4911
Song of Songs5:4-5 NIV
My beloved thrust his hand through the latch-opening; my heart began to pound for him. I arose to open for my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh, on the handles of the bolt.
Song of Songs 5:6 NIV
I opened for my beloved, but my beloved had left; he was gone. My heart sank at his departure. I looked for him but did not find him. I called him but he did not answer.
"Isn't it interesting, and even a little touching, for Shulamith to admit that her heart yearned for him to succeed in lifting the latch and coming inside? Despite her prideful resolve, she finds herself rooting for him to get through a door she has locked against him. She loves him. We know that she has yearned for him earlier in the evening. Why not just open the door and get what she wants?" "Perhaps there is an inner struggle within Shulamith. Have you ever willed yourself to be angry with someone even though what you really wanted, deep in your heart, was to put "things right with them? Have you ever let pride become the boss of you?" - Dr. David Jeremiah, What the Bible Says About Love, Marriage, and Sex: The Song of Solomon
If I act the way I want to feel, I will eventually feel the way I act.
Song of Songs 5:7 NIV
The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. They beat me, they bruised me; they took away my cloak, those watchmen of the walls!
Are we fighting with each other, or are we fighting for each other?
Nehemiah 4:14 NIV
After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes."
Sometimes, the key to reconciliation is to remember the person you're in love with and not the person you are mad at today.
Song of Songs 5:8 NIV
Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you— if you find my beloved, what will you tell him? Tell him I am faint with love.
Song of Songs 5:9 NIV
How is your beloved better than others, most beautiful of women? How is your beloved better than others, that you so charge us?
Song of Songs 5:10-11 NIV
My beloved is radiant and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand. His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven.
Song of Songs 5:12-13 NIV
His eyes are like doves by the water streams, washed in milk, mounted like jewels. His cheeks are like beds of spice yielding perfume. His lips are like lilies dripping with myrrh.
Song of Songs 5:14-15 NIV
His arms are rods of gold set with topaz. His body is like polished ivory decorated with lapis lazuli. His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as its cedars.
Song of Songs 5:16 NIV
His mouth is sweetness itself; he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, this is my friend, daughters of Jerusalem.