Break Up or Break Down – Rich Wilkerson Jr.

Overview:

Break Up or Break Down

God has created us for relationships. Our relationship with Him is the foundation of our life. However, God wants to use our horizontal relationships to transform us too. These relationships take work. We grow in our horizontal relationships when we let the Holy Spirit work in our hearts. John 15:1-4 calls believers to abide in the Lord. In our abiding, God prunes us. To prune is to cut. This means, as we abide in Him we grow as He removes sin from our hearts. To have a healthy relationship, we have to break up with ungodliness or else those things will break us down. We have to break up with Fairy Tales, Feelings, Fate, and Failure.

Scripture:

John 15:1-4

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2     a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3     a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6     a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7     a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8     a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

Proverbs 29:18

Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint;
but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Galatians 5:22-25

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Quotes: 

“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” – C.S Lewis

“Whoever you married is going to be your greatest asset or your greatest liability” – Rich Wilkerson Jr.

“If you don’t figure out what hurt you, you will bleed on people who never hurt you” – Rich Wilkerson Jr.

Questions: 

1) In John 15, Jesus talks about pruning. What in your life is God trying to prune? “You can’t produce if you aren’t pruned,” what is God trying to produce in your life?

2) ?Tonight, we heard “chose your spouse based on their patterns.” ?What patterns are you looking for in a person and why?

3) 1 Corinthians 13 talks about love. Read the description then practically describe what each one looks like in a relationship?

4) What does it mean to break up with failure as it relates to relationships? “If you are tired of starting over, stop quitting,” what does it look like fleshed out?