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Stress Fractures Week 3: We Used To Be So Close

SERIES TITLE

Stress Fractures

series overview

An athlete can always tell if something is not quite right inside. There is no glaring injury, but they can still feel the hidden pain. If left unattended, this tiny problem will eventually break. The same thing is true in relationships. On the surface, things look fine, but underneath, we know something is off. The past year has created a lot of stress fractures in marriages, families, friendships, even churches. Join us for a relational MRI, and we’ll examine the little things that can help heal the relationships most important to us.

sermon TITLE

We Used To Be So Close

weekend in review

Gene explains the intimate relationship in the oneness of the Trinity, and how marriage is designed by God for two people to fuse together on many levels, enjoying a oneness of deep friendship, fellowship, and love. We examine why relationships fracture and how to restore and strengthen intimacy.

WARM UP
Begin with some conversation, checking in on how people are doing. You can talk about whatever you’d like, but here are potential questions to get the conversation going.

  • If you are now or have been married, what is one expectation you had before marriage that turned out to be unrealistic? 

  • If you are looking forward to marriage in the future, what is one expectation you have that you hope you’re not wrong about?
DISCUSSion

Select 5-6 questions from the list below to guide your discussion time.

    • Read Genesis 1:27, Genesis 2:24. God, who is love, created humans to love him and each other. We fulfill God’s will and thrive by intentionally giving and receiving love in every aspect of our lives. He enables us and teaches us how to do this. How does knowing this affect your worldview? Your personal attitudes, goals, and intentions?
    • How would you characterize the relationship between God and man? What makes this kind of fellowship possible?
    • What was the couple-relationship example set for you by your parents? How has that affected your attitude and thoughts about marriage? Are there specific behaviors in their relationship you want to adapt or avoid in your own life?
    • Gene described four stages of marriage that lead to flickering flames: romance, reality, resentment and rebellion. Why is it so easy for resentment and rebellion to creep into a relationship after the height of romance fades and reality sets in? 
    • Have you had a close friendship or family relationship that fractured? What caused that? What can you take from these stages that might help you in those relationships?
    • Reach Matthew 19:26. When has God reversed a situation in your life that seemed irreversible or impossible? What did you learn from that experience?
    • Gene identified four different kinds of intimacy vital to every marriage. The first is day-to-day intimacy, sharing everyday information with each other. For married couples, how well do you rate in this area? If you are single, do you have someone you check in with regularly and share your day-to-day with?
    • Do you know your love language (words of affirmation, touch, time, gifts, acts of service)? How does that translate into heart-to-heart intimacy for you?
    • Read I Corinthians 7:2-4. Sexual expression was designed by God to lead us into a powerfully bonding form of intimacy that seals our bodies, hearts, and souls together. Sex is designed by God as a way for married couples to enjoy the act of giving of themselves to the other. What do you think of sex at its best being a selfless expression of love?
    • Gene talked about soul-to-soul intimacy. Many couples at Eastside have said that the deepest intimacy in their marriage happens on a spiritual level. How can you orient your life and schedule around the events, practices, and activities that will build soul-to-soul intimacy?
application
    • If you struggle to make time with your spouse to engage in any of the intimacies Gene described, what is one step you can take today to move toward remedying that?

    • What is something you can do this week to show how you feel to your spouse? To someone in your family?
WRAP UP & PRAYER

Share prayer requests and spend time praying for each other

God, thank you for creating us to love and for teaching us how. Help us to treasure each other in our relationships, our marriages, and our families. Thank you that through Jesus you can restore and heal that which has been fractured


We want to help you heal the relational stress fractures in your life. Please click on the button below to check out these helpful resources:

stress fractures tool kit