Hi there. Let's talk a little about how God made a special something. All right? Yes, we know that God made everything, didn't he? But did you know that not only did God make animals and people and things like that, but God also made marriage? Marriage means when a man and a woman get married. Yes, he did. and marriage is very special. And marriage is a special something I'm going to tell you about today, about how God made marriage. To do this, I'm going to start by telling you the story of how the Lord God made the world. I like stories, don't you? All right, then. The Bible tells us that God had a plan, and God followed his plan and made the whole world and the whole sky. God even made light! Yes, God made day and night, and God made the sun and the moon and the stars. And God made the sky and the oceans and the dry land and the plants. Then God made all sorts of Mama and Daddy fish to swim in the oceans, and he told them to have lots of baby fish to fill the big oceans. And God made all sorts of Mama and Daddy birds to fly in the sky, and he told them to have lots of baby birds. And God made all sorts of Mama and Daddy animals to be on the dry land. Mama and Daddy lions, and Mama and Daddy squirrels, and Mama and Daddy turtles, and Mamas and Daddies of all kinds of animals. And God told them to have lots of baby animals to fill the dry land. And God looked at everything, and he saw that it was all good. Well, right after God made the animals, God made a man. But there was no woman for the man. He would be lonely, wouldn't he? Yes, the man could have animals for pets, but they would only be pets, and that is different than another person, isn't it? So, God made a woman for the man. And the man was so happy. Now, the man and the woman are both people, weren't they? But they were also a little different from each other. The man was bigger and stronger, and the woman, though not so big and strong, was just right to be his friend and his helper. They were made to be for each other. How nice! So that is the way that God made marriage. Yes, the man and the woman got married for their whole lives, and God told them to have children, and that they were to take care of the animals and the world. Do you remember the names of this first man and woman? Yes, Adam and Eve. And God made a beautiful big garden park for Adam and Eve to live in called the Garden of Eden. And Adam and Eve were so happy to have each other. And God would come and talk with them. What a wonderful life. So the Lord God had made everything. And it was all very good. We could even say it was perfect, couldn't we? Nothing at all was bad. But then what happened? Yes, Adam and Eve disobeyed God, didn't they? Disobeying God is called sin, and sin is bad, isn't it? So this sin broke the happy times with God in the Garden of Eden. And the sin sort of broke the perfect world that God had made. The world wasn't all good anymore. So Adam and Eve had to leave the beautiful Garden of Eden. But God still loved them, and God told Adam and Eve that someday someone would come who would make things right again, who would fix the brokenness. That someone would be Jesus, wouldn't he? But there were still many good things, even after Adam and Eve had sinned. And one of those good things was marriage. Yes, marriage was part of God's plan. One man and one woman, a husband and his wife, to be married for their whole lives. The husband was to be strong and to love and protect his wife and their children, and to work so they could have food and some place to live. The wife was to be loving and respectful of her husband, to help him, and to love and take care of their children, and to make a happy home for all of them. a daddy and a mama and their children. That's called a family, isn't it? And when the children grew up to be big men and women, they would get married and have their own babies, and then they would be starting their own little families. And when there were enough families, they started making tribes and whole countries. And good people, and good marriages, and good families help keep countries be strong. And that's how we get grandpas, and grandmas, and aunts, and uncles, and cousins, and nieces, and nephews, and in-laws. An in-law is someone who marries one of your relatives. Like if you had a big grown-up brother and he married a woman, that woman would be your sister-in-law, part of your family. Yes, these relatives are all part of a family. And since they know each other and love each other, they know how to help each other, don't they? In fact, that's part of their job. Also, now sometimes mamas and daddies see another child who doesn't have a mama and daddy of its own, and they love this other child so much that they adopt that child and make that child part of their family, too. But sometimes things happen so that the mama and daddy aren't there. So then maybe the children live with their grandparents or with an aunt. or an uncle, and then that is their family. In fact, in the Bible, it tells about a beautiful girl named Esther, and Esther's parents were dead. So Esther lived with her older cousin, Mordecai, and Mordecai took care of her like a father would. So Esther and her cousin Mordecai were a family. The Bible also tells of a Jewish woman named Naomi and how she and her husband and her sons had left their home in the land of Israel and had moved to the land of Moab. Her sons then married women from Moab. One of these women was named Ruth. But later, Naomi's husband and sons died. And after a while, Naomi left the land of Moab and went back to her home in the land of Israel. But one of her daughters-in-law, Ruth, insisted on going with Naomi. So then Naomi and her daughter-in-law, Ruth, were a family by themselves, weren't they? They were a little family, but they were still a family. But after a while, a Jewish man named Boaz married the Moabite woman Ruth, and they had a baby boy. And the mother-in-law Naomi lived with them and helped take care of the baby. So now Naomi had a bigger family, didn't she? And do you want to know something interesting? Boaz and Ruth became the great-grandparents of King David. And that means that Boaz and Ruth were the great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents of Jesus. Anyway, Naomi with Ruth and Boaz and their baby were a family, weren't they? And Esther and her cousin Mordecai were a family, too. But marriage is the first family, and that is how families started. The man and the woman were made for each other and were made to have children. So God had made marriage, and it was good. One man and one woman, a husband and a wife, to be with each other all of their lives. In making marriage, God made a man and a woman for each other, and they could work together and make something good together. And we do sort of the same thing, don't we? We make and have things that go together and are good together, too. like, well, a button and a buttonhole, for instance. The button and buttonhole work together to keep our shirt closed, don't they? Two different things. The button and its buttonhole that are made for each other and work together, and they are good that way. Or think about a lock and a key. We could never get that lock open without its key. But the two of them, the lock and its key, are made for each other, and they work together, and they are good that way, aren't they? We can lock something up, and then unlock it again with its key. two different things, the lock and its key, made for each other and working together. But we couldn't open a lock with a button, could we? No, the button wasn't made to open locks. And even if we said that a button was a key, it still wouldn't make the button be a key, would it? No, it would still be a button. We use things for what they're made for, the right way, if we want them to work the way they should. And marriage is sort of the same way. When men and women grow up, that is when they can get married. And they were made by God to be together in a marriage. And just think, without a man and a woman, there would be no children, would there? And then pretty soon, there would be no more people. Yes, God made marriage in order for us to have families, the husband and the wife and their children. Then those children would grow up into big men and women, and the men from one family would marry the women from other families, and then they would have children of their own. and they were to raise their children to be good people and to know how loving and good and kind God is. God is so good to us, isn't he? And God gives children their mamas and daddies to take care of them. It would be hard for a small child to try to take care of himself, wouldn't it? Imagine a little child trying to get food and clothes and a home all by himself. But God made mamas and daddies to do that for the child. Now, most people get married. In fact, the Bible even tells us that the Apostle Peter was married and had a wife. but not everyone gets married. The Bible also tells us that the apostle Paul wasn't married, but Paul was still able to do lots of good things for God, wasn't he? So a man who doesn't get married is still good and can do lots of good things for God, can't he? and a woman who doesn't get married is still good and can do lots of good things for God, can't she? Also, sometimes a man and his wife don't have any children. In that case, just the two people are still a family, though a small family, and they can do good things for each other and for God. Yes, God made marriage as something good for people. Marriage gives a man and a woman company, and gives them a way to help each other, and makes them a family. And God said that the man was supposed to love his wife enough that he would even die for her if he had to. And the woman was to love her husband and to be respectful to him and do what she could to help him. And together they were to raise their children and teach them about God. And the children were to obey their parents, their mama and daddy. And they should all love each other. But what is love? Love is wanting good for someone and doing good for them in a kind way. Love is also not helping people do things that might be bad for them or that would be bad for other people. The Bible also tells us something else very interesting about marriage. The Bible tells us that marriage is a sort of picture to help us understand how much God loves us. But how is that? Well, remember that I said that a man is supposed to love his wife so much that he would die for her if necessary? Well, Jesus, who is both God and a man, loves us so much that he did die for us. Jesus loves us very much, and he wanted us to be able to be with him in heaven someday. But people who sin can't go to heaven. So Jesus, who never did any sins himself, died for our sins. And if we trust Jesus to forgive our sins, he will do that. And then we can go to heaven and be with him someday. How wonderful! So, Jesus' loving us and dying for us is like a picture of how a husband should love his wife and be willing to die for her. But marriage is like another picture about Jesus, too. When a man and a woman get married, at the wedding they are called the bridegroom and the bride, aren't they? Well, the Bible says that Jesus is like a bridegroom, and that all the people together who believe in him are like his bride. So when a man and a woman get married now, it is sort of a little picture of how much Jesus loves us, like a bridegroom loves his bride. I like that, don't you? It helps me understand better how much Jesus loves us. Oh, and another thing. The Bible tells us about a bigger kind of family, too. That is the family of God. This is a very big family. God the Father is the loving Father, and the Lord Jesus, who is also God, is like a big brother, and everyone men and women, boys and girls. Everyone who trusts Jesus to save them and loves God is a child of God. Imagine being a child of the Lord God. Wow! So, even if we don't have a mama or a daddy, we can still be part of this big family of God. and still have a loving father, can't we? In fact, in the Bible it tells us that Jesus told a man that when we trust Jesus to save us from our sins, then it's like, like we've been born again. You see, we are born to our mama and daddy when we're tiny babies, aren't we? And that makes us part of their family. But then, when we get older and can understand about Jesus and how much he loves us, and when we ask him to forgive our sins, then it is sort of like we are born again, that we are sort of born into God's family. So then, we are part of two families. One is our parents' family, And the other is God's family. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, and since God would then be our king, we would also be a child of the king. Just imagine. Now, I said that God wants children to obey their parents, their mama and daddy. After all, the parents have lived longer than the children, haven't they? And the parents really do know more than the children. And that is the job that God gave to the mom and daddy, the parents, to take care of their children, and to teach them to be good, and to teach them how much God loves them. But sometimes we don't feel like doing what we should, do we? And sometimes we even feel like doing what we should not do, don't we? Why, sometimes even big men and women don't feel like doing what they should do, or might even feel like doing what they shouldn't do. But feelings aren't what's important. Doing the right thing is what's important. In fact, the Bible tells us that when Jesus was here on earth, Jesus didn't feel like dying on the cross. But the man Jesus, who is also God and who had never done any sins, Knew that was the right thing to do and the loving thing to do to die on the cross To make a way for us to be able to go to heaven someday So Jesus was obedient to God the father and Jesus let men put him on the cross and Jesus died there for our sins But he didn't stay dead, did he? No! Three days later, Jesus was alive again, and he's still alive in heaven. Jesus did what he was supposed to do, didn't he? And we need to do what we're supposed to do, too. So when we don't feel like doing what we're supposed to do, or we feel like doing something we're not supposed to do, those are bad feelings. And we shouldn't pay any attention to those bad feelings, should we? And we don't have to do what we feel like doing. Instead, we choose what we will do. First, we should just choose not to do the wrong thing. And then, we should choose to do the right thing instead, shouldn't we? And when we obey our parents, we are obeying God, because God told us to obey our parents. Also, not only should we not do bad things, We shouldn't even think about bad things. If we think about bad things, it makes it easier to do the bad things. And in thinking about and doing bad things, we become a bad habit. And it will become easier and easier to think about bad things or even to do those bad things. And bad habits can be hard to break, can't they? Instead, we should think about good things, and we should do good things. And this will make good habits for us. And soon, it will be easier and easier to think about and to do good things. Sometimes, though, we might still do bad things. And then we need to ask God to forgive us and ask him to help us to do good things instead. And we can ask God to help us feel like doing the good things, too, and not to feel like doing the bad things. And that's a way that we can love God and love each other. And no matter how we feel, we should love each other and love and obey God, shouldn't we? So, what did we talk about today? First, we talked about how God had made everything, didn't we? And then we said, that God had even made marriage, which is when a man and a woman get married. And God said that marriage is good. Marriage was part of God's plan when he first made the whole world. And it still is God's plan, isn't it? And we also talked about how we all need to obey the Lord God. and do what he says, even if we feel like doing something else. And that's a way we can show our love for God, by doing what he says. And we talked about how the Lord Jesus died for our sins on the cross, and that he rose from the dead three days later, and that he made a way where we could someday be with God in heaven, if we trust Jesus to forgive our sins. And we also talked about being part of God's family, about being a child of God, And what is the way to become part of God's family? Yes, Jesus is the way. There is no other way. And someday... The Lord Jesus will come back, and if we have trusted him to forgive our sins, we will be with him. And when Jesus comes back, that is when he will fix the unhappy and bad parts of the world. The parts that sort of got broken when Adam and Eve first sinned. Then things will be all fixed and happy again. Won't that be wonderful? God loves us so very much, and we should love God, shouldn't we? And we should obey God and do what he tells us in the Bible. I hope you've enjoyed talking about marriage. I have.