The Pursuit | Pursuing Our Spouse (Part 1) | Pastor Rodney Thrift
The Pursuit
Pursuing Our Spouse
Pursuit: To follow or chase in order to overtake or capture.
Jeremiah 29:13 (ESV) You will seek (pursue) me and find me, when you seek (pursue) me with all your heart.
Week 2 Soul Tattoo: God pursues me, because He loves me.
1 John 4:19 (ESV) 19 We love because he first loved us.
Week 3 Soul Tattoo: We pursue others, because God pursued us.
Week 4 Soul Tattoo: Pursue Children the same way Christ Jesus pursues you.
“Life is a laboratory for learning how to love.” – Pastor Rick Warren
“We come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing the imperfect person perfectly.” – Pastor Chris Hodges
SOUL TATTOO: I need to pursue my spouse like God pursues me.
THE SONG OF SOLOMON:
Song of Solomon 1:1-3 (NIV) Solomon’s Song of Songs. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth– for your love is more delightful than wine. Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes; your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the maidens love you!
The Art of pursuing…
Song of Songs 1:4-6 (NIV) Take me away with you–let us hurry! Let the king bring me into his chambers. We rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine. How right they are to adore you! Dark am I, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, dark like the tents of Kedar, like the tent curtains of Solomon. Do not stare at me because I am dark, because I am darkened by the sun. My mother’s sons were angry with me and made me take care of the vineyards; my own vineyard I have neglected.
Song of Solomon 1:7 (NIV) Tell me, you whom I love, where you graze your flock and where you rest your sheep at midday. Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your friends?
1. Spiritual pursuit.
- Love and worship God.
- Pursue my God-given purpose.
- Have Godly standards.
Song of Solomon 1:9-14 (NIV) I liken you, my darling, to a mare harnessed to one of the chariots of Pharaoh. Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with strings of jewels. We will make you earrings of gold, studded with silver. While the king was at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance. My lover is to me a sachet of myrrh resting between my breasts. My lover is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi.
2. Emotional pursuit.
- Value them.
- Speak life to them.
- Think good thoughts about them.
Song of Solomon 1:15-17 (NIV) How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes are doves. How handsome you are, my lover! Oh, how charming! And our bed is verdant. The beams of our house are cedars; our rafters are firs.
3. Physical pursuit.
Song of Songs 2:1-2 (NIV) I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys. Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the maidens.
Song of Songs 2:5-7 (NIV) Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love. His left arm is under my head, and his right arm embraces me. Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and by the does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.
“We come to love not by finding the perfect person but by seeing the imperfect person perfectly.” Pastor Chris Hodges
SOUL TATTOO: I need to pursue my spouse like God pursues me.