REAL MARRIAGE
This is a sermon series about Jesus—and what he has to say about marriage through the Bible.
This is not your average sermon series on marriage. We won’t give you five steps to happiness. We won’t talk about sex in code. We won’t talk about how you can fix your marriage.
No, this is a sermon series about Jesus—and what he has to say about marriage through the Bible.
This isn’t to say it won’t be practical. It will. We’ll cover important topics like friendship, the role of men and women in marriage, how to fight to the glory of God, past sin and present—and yes, sex.
But the basis for all these topics will be the gospel, as it is for all of life.
If you’re ready to stop trying to fix your marriage and to start understanding how Jesus can, Real Marriage will be the series for you.
Watch the Married & Single
If you’re single, Real Marriage won’t be time off for you. Rather, because the gospel applies to all, it will be an intensely Biblical and practical sermon series that applies to single and married folks alike.
A few reasons why:
- 1The series will be about Biblical relationships in general
- 2The study guides and DVDs have content for singles too
- 3Statistically, most people will be married—this series will help prepare you for that day
- 4Just because you’re single, doesn’t mean you can’t help others who are married. Real Marriage will equip you to counsel married people—just as some famous singles did in the Bible like Paul and Jesus.
- 5It will help you understand your parent’s past and how their marriage shaped you today
- 6It will help you understand the idols of independence and dependance that all people struggle with
- 7We’ll cover sexual abuse and sin, which many people both single and married have had done to them and struggle with
- 8You’ll learn how to live a God-glorifying life as a single person
- 9And, just maybe, you might find a spouse
Real Marriage Resources
The Real Marriage sermon series represents years of preparation. For the first time ever, we’ve written a book and a small group DVD curriculum in advance to be vital tools to supplement the sermons.
The goal? To equip individuals, couples, and communities to talk about what the Bible says about marriage not just on Sundays, but everyday.
We encourage you to not only listen to the sermons but to also read Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, & Life Together, written by Pastor Mark and Grace. The sermons will be based on each chapter and reading the book will help you dig deeper into the implications for each sermon.
If you’re in a Community Group, we encourage you to attend each week and work through the DVD curriculum and workbook with your community members. If you’re not in a Community Group, we encourage you to join one starting with this series. This will help you not only learn more but apply the Biblical principles from Real Marriage in your life in a meaningful way.
The Real Marriage Sermon Schedule
- 1/15New Marriage, Same Spouse
- 1/22Friend with Benefits
- 1/29Men and Marriage
- 2/5The Respectful Wife
- 2/12Taking Out the Trash
- 2/19Sex: God, Gross, or Gift?
- 2/26Disgrace and Grace
- 3/4The Porn Path
- 3/11Selfish Lovers and Servant Lovers
- 3/18Can We _______?
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3/25Reverse Engineering
Your Life and Marriage
4 New Mars Hill Churches
On January 15, in addition to kicking off of the Real Marriage sermon series, we also celebrate the launch of four new Mars Hill churches, opening up 9,000 more seats to make room for more people to meet Jesus. Rainier Valley photo credit: Seattle Municipal Archives
Studying Real Marriage
with 2,000 other ministries
For the first time ever, we’ve also made all our materials for our sermon series available to any ministry and church for free. And over 2,000 churches and ministries have signed up to be part of the Real Marriage Campaign.
Free resources include:
- Sermon Research Brief:
- Preaching Strategies:
- Full Marketing and Branding:
- Sermon Downloads:
- Counseling Guide:
- Worship Guide:
- Access to hundreds of pages of top-level research from Docent Research Group
- Pastor Mark’s personal preaching suggestions and research to help you prepare your own sermons
- Branding, design, and marketing plans that you can edit for your local church
- Free use of Pastor Mark’s sermons for the series via dvd download if you want a week off
- Helpful strategies and research specific to the sermon content to help your pastors and volunteers help hurting people
- Suggestions and tips on how to prepare every aspect of your worship service to compliment—not compete—with the sermons