======================================================================== GOD S PROVISION FOR OUR MARRIAGES by Gbile Akanni ======================================================================== Summary: Gbile Akanni teaches that God’s original, simple principles for marriage must be embraced and lived in Christ to overcome human complications and ensure marital success. Duration: 1:01:56 Topics: "Marriage", "Christian Living", "Spiritual Growth" Scripture References: Ecclesiastes 7:29, Colossians 2:6-10, Genesis 1-2, John 8:32 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ In this powerful teaching, Gbile Akanni explores God’s original design and provision for marriages, emphasizing the simplicity and purity intended by God. He challenges believers to reject human inventions and philosophies that complicate relationships and instead to be deeply rooted and built up in Christ. This sermon offers practical biblical guidance for spiritual growth and marital success, encouraging Christians to walk faithfully in the principles of Jesus. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Living Seed Media brings to you God's Word, which is his comprehensive equipment for changing lives. May the Lord impact your heart as you encounter his Word. For further enquiry or counsel, contact His House, PO Box 971, Boko, Benue State, Nigeria. Telephone numbers 0703 03636 59 0703 76811 98 Email address lsmedia.livingseed.org Or visit our website at www.livingseed.org Let us sit back and listen as the servant of God brings forth the Word of Life. Turn with me to the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 7. Ecclesiastes chapter 7. I'll read verse 29. I'll take it from King James Version. And from the Good News Bible. So, Ecclesiastes chapter 7, verse 29. Lo, this only have I found, that God has made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions. Lo, this only have I found, that God has made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions. The Good News Version says, this is all that I have learned. God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated. I'll take it again. This is all that I have learned. God has made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated. I would like to bring to our notice this morning, that God is not the author of complications. Even as the Bible says, He is not the author of confusion. When God made man and woman, He made them in His simplicity. He made them very simple, and that is why even though they were naked, but they were not ashamed. It is unfortunate that a lot of complications have affected our personal lives as Christians and in our marriages. Just because, as the Bible rightly puts it, that men have sought out many inventions. Many, many philosophies that are human, which will never, never carry us to where God wants us to go. Are the issues that have held us captive in order not to live the kind of life God desires us to live. When God made the man and the woman, He gave them principles for living. Principles that will guide their existence, that will guide their relationship. Principles that will make them to live in the presence of God with every simplicity, or with all simplicity. And the principles were not complicated at all. But as soon as the man and his wife fell into sin, a lot of complications, from Genesis chapter 4, you see complications came in. And from that moment up to now, those complications have not left us. And because the complications are the inventions of men, there are human imaginations, human philosophies, that are outside, completely outside the instructions that God gave us for our personal living and even for our marriages. It is interesting that the scripture said in King James, it said that God has made man upright. That God has made man and put in this man all that will take the man to live an upright life. And of course, you know that the life God put in this man was his own very life. And the life of God is not complicated at all. It is the life of simplicity. And I thank God so much that he has brought us together as husband and wife to show us again the principles that he put in place to guide Adam and Eve in their relationship. And if you are really operating with the Spirit of God, you realize that those principles are not difficult at all. Except for a complicated life, who will say, no, this is too hard. This is too hard. I remember a sister once told my wife that the teachings at this house are too hard. And my wife said, you are making a big mistake. It's not the teaching of this house, it's the very teachings of Christ. It's the teachings of Christ, they are biblical. But why did she come to that point? She came to that point because already there was a complication in her life. Already she has embraced teachings, principles that are man-made, which cannot stand any test of time. And she operated with, I mean, over the years. That when the truth started coming, she felt this is too hard. But I thank God that the sister, God has helped her to realize that there is no other way and she is following correctly now. When God made man, he made him upright. There were no complications. The principles he gave him were very simple principles. And unfortunately, that accident came. And what is happening now, the Bible says they have sought out many inventions. Many inventions. You and I are witnesses to what is happening today even in the body of Christ. That there are many inventions that have been brought in. And these inventions are not biblical. Even when they seem to be biblical, they are twisted. Twisted. And all the devil is planning to do is to take us off course. So that we will not be able to live the upright life that God desires we should live. My brothers and sisters, I thank the Lord for bringing you and I here. I thank the Lord because of his own determination to help us to succeed. I thank the Lord because the matter God has brought us here to deal with is a very, very critical matter. The issue of marriage. And you may be witnesses to the fact that you have struggled over the years. And it's not as if you are not willing that your marriage should be correct. But the struggles as a result of lack of understanding of the biblical principles that God himself has set for your marriage to succeed. It is not as if maybe you are deliberately doing what you are doing to your spouse. But it is because of ignorance, of not knowing the truth. And you know Jesus said, you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. I want to encourage you in the name of the Lord that all that the Lord is telling us here is what will help us to make progress. In our own individual lives and in our marriages. Please don't be casual about it. Don't be casual. Don't say well it's okay. And of course for those of us that have had it over and over. I believe that the Holy Spirit has something he wants to do with our personal lives. So this morning I just want us to look at the scripture that will guide us in our growth. And it is that growing correctly that will reflect even on our marriages. A correct growth in Christ will definitely reflect on our relationship with our spouses. So please may I request you to turn with me to the book of Colossians. Colossians chapter 2. I'll read from verse 6. As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. Rooted and built up in him, established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. After the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the foodness of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in him which is the head of all principality and power. Let's stop at verse 10. As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. Before we received Christ, before you gave your life to Christ, you operated with the principles of the world. The principles of this world. And those principles of course are contrary to the principles of Christ. Maybe you were married as an unbeliever before you came to Christ. But each of us here came into Christ. We gave our life to Christ at a certain point. And giving our lives to Christ, receiving Christ has its own implications. And one of the implications is the fact that you must be guided by the philosophy of Christ. You know he is not a philosophy, but he has a philosophy. He has principles that guide his own lifestyle. As you have received Christ, the Bible says, so walk ye in him. What does this mean? It means your entire life, your entire being must be guided by the principles of the Lord Jesus Christ. You must operate in the principles of Christ. Receiving Christ and walking in Christ simply means the principles that guided him while he was here on earth are the same principles that should guide our existence. And of course you know that the coming of Christ was to recover us. It was a recovery project to take us back to the original. Genesis chapter 1 and 2. It is not only to forgive our sins. It is not only to give us assurance of heaven. But it is primarily to take us back to the beginning. For us to live the kind of life that the first couple lived before they fell into sin. So it is not correct that after receiving Christ, we are inventing our own philosophies, our own ways of life. We are creating other inventions that will not help us to fulfill the purpose of God even in our marriages. That will not help us to live the kind of life that God expects you and I to live while here on earth. We are to walk in him. It is unfortunate even as we are going further to see that even our marriages. And I thank God for the Bible study which is giving us the concept and the original purpose of God for marriage. You know for some of us, maybe we believed that marriage is a societal invention. Maybe we are thinking that marriage is a cultural invention. But as we are going through the Bible study, you discover that marriage is not societal or cultural invention. It is God that is the originator of marriage. He said it is not good that the man should be alone. And because we have not yet understood comprehensively the principles of Christ. The principles that will help our lives as individuals and as couples. We have entered into several complications. Just because we are walking outside Christ. As you have received Christ, Jesus the Lord, so walk you in him. You have to embrace his principles of life. Whatever Jesus came to do and the life he came to live on earth was to show us the kind of life that God wants each of us to live. When you are walking as a Christian based on human inventions, human philosophies. What people are saying, what even preachers have manufactured and are bringing it out, sounding very wonderful. Brothers and sisters, as we go into all of that, you will realize that you are not able to live the kind of life that God desires you and I to live. They see a struggle. There is no man or woman that lives outside Christ that can fulfill the purpose of God for his marriage. We must walk in him. We must embrace those principles. We must deliberately allow those principles to guide our daily living. To guide our lives. We must allow the life of Christ and of course that is the purpose that God sent him. That each of us should become like Christ. It is this walking in Christ that, as I mentioned earlier, walking in Christ, growing in Christ, that we affect our own relationship even as spouses. If each of us is walking in Christ, if each of us is obeying what Christ has told the husband to do, what Christ has told the wife to do, if each of us is obeying it and growing in it, I don't think complications will set in our marriages. Walk ye in him. Don't walk outside Christ. Verse 7 says, rooted and built up in him. And established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Rooted and built up in him. Rooted. Do you know that two days ago, there was rainfall. And that rain came with wind. Very serious wind. With thunder and lightning. There are some trees that that wind uprooted. But there are some trees that even though the wind came forcefully, it didn't affect it. It was standing. Strong. And as I was reading this passage, I see God giving us a secret. And what is that secret? To be rooted in Christ. Developing deep roots. A tap root. That no matter the wind that the devil will send, cannot uproot us. But we stand firm and grounded in Christ. I want you to note that it is only when you are rooted in Christ, that no matter the degree of the contrary wind, you will never be uprooted. And when we are talking about rooting in Christ, deeply rooted in Christ, we are talking about those principles of Christ that make somebody to stand on his feet anywhere you go. Anywhere you are. Nothing can uproot you. When you are rooted in the philosophies of men, the inventions of men, even your Christian life cannot stand the test of time. When you are rooted, not in the principles of Christ, any little contrary wind will blow you out. I'm sure that for many of us sitting here this morning, what God is bringing forth from here is very strange to us. It's quite strange. We have never had it like this before. We have never seen the Word of God in this light. And you are wondering, is this actually the Word of God? But you will answer that question yourself as you have seen that it is the Word of God coming from the Word of God. You had teachings that never rooted you in Christ. And as we said earlier, it's not as if you have deliberately planned for your marriage to fail. But it's simply only that those things that makes a marriage to be upright were not there. You didn't know it. When you are rooted and built up in Christ, developing tap roots that cannot be shaken by any contrary wind, no matter how they come. Your personal Christian life will only be strong if it is rooted and built up in Christ Jesus. And the way we are speaking this morning, you are saying, well yes, we are all serving Christ, we all know Christ, we all study our Bible. But how come that after all that you know how to do, any little thing makes you to fall? Any slight temptation makes you to fall. Sometimes you don't even like what you are doing and you made up your mind, you said yes. I'm not going to do this again. I will never do it again. You do much praying. Sometimes adding it with fasting. But you realize that the same thing that brought you down a month ago, which you thought you have overcome, still came up and you fell. And you went back to the Bible, you were rooting it, which is okay. But the rooting is what set a man or woman on his or her feet to stand strong and firm in any situation. It's a rooting that establishes you on a solid ground that nothing shakes you as a person or even your marriage. No matter how it comes. You are rooted and built up in Christ. Please note the scriptures is saying in Christ, in Christ, in Christ and not in any other thing. In Christ. That is where the solution is. As we grow in Christ, that we automatically show even in our relationship with our spouses. As each of us grow in Christ Jesus, built up in Christ Jesus, do you know that there is none of us here that wants to go to hell. There's none of us. When we receive Christ, heaven was our major focus. And until now is heaven that you are looking for, I am looking for. There is none of us sitting here that desire to go to hell. And may God forbid that any of us will find ourselves in that place. He has saved us. And he is saving us to the outermost. He will save us to the end. His mercy will guide us until we reach there. But all of this will only take place if our lives, our Christian lives, our marriages are solidified in him. In Christ Jesus. He is the standard for our growth. He is the standard. His relationship with the church is the standard for our marriages. There is no other standard that God has set for us in our growth with him. Jesus is the only standard. This is why each of us must strive to be rooted in him, to be built up. You know, there are those terminologies that the scripture uses that are so interesting. It says built up, not built down. Christian journey is not a downward journey. Christianity is an upward journey. You must keep growing up. We must keep growing up in Christ. We must always measure our growth with the life of Christ. We must measure our growth on a daily basis with the life of Christ. We must grow individually before growing corporately as couples. Rooted and built up in him and established in the faith. As you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. 8. Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. After the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Let me take that verse 8 from the Amplified Bible. Let me go back. 8. See to it that no one carries you over as spoils or makes you yourselves captive by so-called philosophy and intellectualism. 9. And vain deceit that is idle fancies and plain nonsense. 10. Following human tradition means ideas of the material rather than the spiritual world. 11. Just crude notions following the rudimentary and elemental teachings of the universe and disregarding the teachings of Christ the Messiah. This is a major challenge that is facing us in the times we are in. But the Word of God in King James says beware. In the Amplified I read it says see. Which means it is your personal responsibility to see to this matter that God is talking about. The matter of growing and being rooted in Christ. The matter of being rooted and built up in Christ. See to it. See to it that you follow the correct thing. See to it that no one carries you off as spoils or makes you yourselves captive by so- called philosophy and intellectualism and vain deceit. 9. And vain deceit that is idle fancies and plain nonsense. You know we are in times that everything is mixed up. We are in times of complications. We are in times that men use their scriptures to do whatever they want to do with it. We are in times that somebody will carry the Word of God. And out of his own imagination begins to bring a teaching that is contrary to the principles of Christ. Several of us maybe were deceived because of such persuasive words that comes from such powerful men so to speak. And we would never cross check with the principles of Christ. For many of us our marriages have challenges because of the wrong teachings which were received from men. Just as the Word of God was coming last night. They are made in such a way that everything looks demonic. They are made in such that whatever you see is of the devil. So you suspect fellow believers, you suspect your relatives, you suspect everything around you because of wrong teachings which were received. Which men have given to us and carried us away. Whereas we are supposed to be free in Christ. We have been brought into a bondage that is worse than when we first believed. My brothers and sisters, I want to encourage you again and again that be rooted in Christ and be built up in Him. Follow His principles and all will be well with you. Not following human tradition, men's ideas or the material rather than the spiritual world. The physical things. Right from yesterday in the morning, God began to speak about the purpose of our living. What is the purpose? But we have come to a point that the material is emphasized above the spiritual. We have come to a position that they make it look as if it is seen to be poor in the church. Because men are looking at the material and not at the spiritual. But all of this are contradictions that those philosophies bring that are contrary to the word of God. It's not as if God is not interested in our welfare. He is. He is so much interested in our welfare to the point that He said even before we pray about our needs, He knows it. He knows it. But He says we should seek first what? The kingdom of God and His righteousness and all other things including wealth will be added to us. For God, He places emphasis on the spiritual before the physical. The reason is because naked we came into this world and naked we shall live. He is ever willing to bless us. He is ever willing to release to us all that would be for our comfort, our welfare. He is interested in our welfare. Just as we were taught that He made a provision for the man and the woman He made in the beginning. He planted a garden for them which was not an end in itself but that garden was a means to an end. God didn't place emphasis on the garden. What God was looking for was for them to multiply, to replenish the earth. Can you imagine? You gave somebody an employment and you gave him the conditions of service. And you defined his responsibility. The role is going to play in that company. Which is the primary assignment that you have given to him. And as he came, you now, because part of the condition is to give him a house. So you rented a house for him to live inside with his family. And as you gave him that beautiful house, well furnished, with gadgets. The house is meant to help him to fulfill his ministry. What he has been employed to do. But as he saw a very beautiful house, he just sat inside this house. Every day from morning till night, he would put on his AC, blasting. He may even put on music, maybe even Christian music. And you went to his office to check on him, to find out how he is doing, he is not there. And you asked the secretary, where is your Uga? The secretary said, ah, since you employed him and gave him a house, he stopped coming to work. And you called him, he said, where are you? You said, I am in the house. He said, what are you doing in the house? Ah, sir, the house is too comfortable for me to go out. And do what you have employed me to do. Excuse me, will you allow that employee to stay? Why will you not allow him to stay? He has missed the purpose for which he was employed. The garden was only to make him comfortable to fulfill the purpose of God. So God's emphasis is not on the material. God's emphasis is on the spiritual. So if by adventure God has blessed you, with even material things, and that is where your eyes are up now, you have forgotten the reason why you were born, and born again. And God gave you a helpmate. You need to go back to the drawing board and check. Oh God, it is the purpose for which you brought me here. But you see, men's philosophies have confused us. Every Sunday upon Sunday they are telling us, if you have not made it, it means you are useless before God. As if it is money God is looking for. As if it is the material things that God is looking for. Brothers and sisters, the only way to come out of this mess, the only way to come out of these wrong teachings, is to be rooted and built up in the principles of Christ, and to know the reason why he came, and the reason why he redeemed you with his blood. Following human tradition, men's ideas of the material rather than the spiritual, just crude notions, following the rudimentary elementary teachings of the universe, and disregarding the teachings of Christ, the Messiah. This is dangerous. If you are building your Christian life on men's philosophy, rather than the principles of Christ, you are digging a grave for yourself. May the Lord help you to be wise, to always check whatever a man is teaching you, with what Christ has said in this world. It is very unfortunate and very sad, that today's Christianity, we do not place emphasis on studying the word of God. The total counsel of God. Many Christians have not known the total counsel of God as written in this world. We are not interested in knowing what Christ wants us to do, and how he wants us to live. We are more interested in what Christ can give to us. Studying the word of God, I mean deep study of the word of God. Creating time to be with God, alone with God. It could be a whole day. It could be three days. It could be two hours. It could be one hour, but a deep study of the word of God. To know the word of God. To know what God wants you to do. How he wants you to live. What he wants you to be. All of this are packaged in the word of God that he has sent to us. Which Jesus came to exemplify. Everything for our growth is packaged in the word of God, and you see we are so fortunate with the New Testament believers, because God sent us an audio-visual aid, the Lord Jesus Christ, to show us how to live and to please God. Men of old that live in the Old Testament times, they didn't have this privilege that we have today. We are so privileged in our dispensation, that Christ is there. He has shown us the way by his life. He has brought issues that will enable you and I to succeed with our Christian lives. Please may I advise you this morning, for you to be rooted and to be built up in Christ, you must study him. You must be versatile with the word of God. You must not be a novice when it comes to knowing the standard of God. God has a standard and we mentioned earlier that that standard is Christ. Anything you didn't see Christ do, please don't do it. Whatever you see Christ did, that is what you should follow. A man may bring a brilliant idea, a man may invent a brilliant philosophy, but please can you be wise enough to cross-check with the standard called Christ. Will you be wise enough, you know as we were studying our Bible study yesterday, somebody brought a matter of marriage, how some people use scriptures to encourage divorce. But we realize that you don't use one Bible verse to build a doctrine. What is the overall counsel of God concerning marriage? What is God's position concerning divorce? In the beginning, was he intending that something like that should happen? We realize that in the beginning, he said that we cleave together and be one, inseparable. We will be cleaved together. That has been God's original purpose. But if you want to listen to men's philosophies, men's inventions, they will use the same scripture and I told them in my class yesterday, I said brothers and sisters, from what I've noticed with the Word of God, if you want to be a successful thief, you can use it. There are scriptures that will make you to be a very good thief. But the counsel of God concerning stealing, I will look into it, the overall doctrine of the Word of God. So all of this have to do with the mindset. The mindset, what you are looking for is what you get. If you want the genuine counsel of God, the Holy Ghost will bring it to you. If you are looking for what you want to misbehave, the devil will also guide you. So this morning, what is my final word to you, is to encourage you to be rooted and built up in Christ. That's the only way. There is no other way. Strive to be rooted in Christ. Develop deep roots. Deep root that nothing, no human philosophy, no human invention will uproot you and throw you out. And you will wither and perish. Be built up in Christ Jesus. Grow in Christ. Appreciate the life of Christ. The standard of Christ. And insist on obeying it. God is not a tax master. Whatever God is asking us to do in this world, He has given us the grace to help us achieve it. Whatever Word of God that seems to be hard, Brothers, the Word of God can only be hard to a man or woman that is disobedient. The Word of God can only be hard to you when you have a strange spirit and it's not the spirit of Christ. When you are carrying the corray spirit of Christ. The corray spirit of Christ, His Word can never never be hard. Even when it seems hard, as you go on your knees for grace, you see the Holy Spirit helping you. You see the grace of God carrying you on His wings. You see mercy coming down to help you to accomplish what God is asking you to accomplish. So this morning as we pray together, Please be rooted in Him and be built up in Him. Study Christ. Share Christ. Don't follow the rudiments of the world. Don't follow what culture is saying. I've told you that marriage is not a societal invention, it's not a cultural invention. This is our culture. This is our culture. Any culture, any invention of a tribe or a people that is contrary to the principles of Christ, Please don't have a second thought. Reject it. Reject it. The culture of men. In my culture, this is what they do. In my culture, this is what we do. But is that the culture of Christ? Many inventions of society today. Men are marrying men, women are marrying women. Homosexuals are very proud of it. Lesbians are proud of it. All of these are the inventions of men. And none of them have a stand in the Word of God. Please let no man deceive you. But that deception will not come. If you are rooted and built up in Him. Please can we arise to pray. Let's pray. Ladies, I would like you to talk to the Lord this morning. Some of us didn't know the direction. But as we came into this meeting, already God is speaking to your heart. Already God is setting things for you. A woman said yesterday that, I didn't know the purpose of God for my marriage, for bringing me to this man. I was thinking I was just to cook and just to do one or two things. Thank God that He is setting things right in this meeting. Please can you pray to God this morning. Can you ask the Lord, say, Oh God, open my eyes. Open my eyes to see Jesus. Open my eyes to see Jesus. The standard for my growth. And as we grow correctly in Christ. It will reflect even our marriages. Holy Ghost. Yes Lord, do it. Again. In my life. Oh yes. So to see Jesus. Oh yes. Holy Ghost. That is our cry this morning. That is our prayer this morning. If you don't see Jesus. You can't be rooted and built up in Him. Can we cry to the Holy Ghost this morning to open our eyes. Oh yes, you see. Oh yes. Please can you pray, turn into prayer. Can you say, Lord, this morning, in the course of this meeting, I must see Jesus. I must see Jesus. Who is here to help us. When we came on Wednesday, Jesus told us, He said, I am here. I have come. Please don't miss Jesus. Ask the Holy Ghost to open your eyes to see Jesus. When you see Jesus, every matter is settled. Every confusion is settled. When you see Jesus, men will not deceive you with their inventions. With their philosophies. When you see Jesus, every confusion in your marriage is settled. Please brothers and sisters, can we pray God this morning. We want to see Jesus. We want to see Jesus. Oh Lord, we want to see Jesus. This is our heart cry in this meeting. We want to see Jesus. Where every confusion will be settled. Lord, I want to see Jesus. ======================================================================== Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/gbile-akanni/god-s-provision-for-our-marriages/ ========================================================================