Again, the genius of God can be seen.  Even if God had not said, “Don’t hook up with non-believers,” we could have figured it out.  But, I’m glad he said it.

Think of trying to rear children that way.  Children know at a very young age, they realize and discern how to play one parent against the other.  Have you ever been involved in that?  I have.

My kids will come to me and say, “Dad, Mom said so and so, but what do you think about it?”

Here’s what I have learned.  Parents should always present a unified front.  If I disagree with what Lisa said, I don’t say, “Well, kids, let’s do what Daddy says.”  That’s wrong.  That’s bad.  I would be messing her around.  Here’s what I will do.

I’ll say, “Hey, Lisa, I want to talk to you in private.”

Then, after we talk together in private, we’ll say, “Okay, kids, here’s where we are.”

We’ve got to present a unified front.  When we present a unified front, we have unified kids and we will be able to shoot our kids into this life with great trajectory, because they are watching us drive.  They are watching us in our dream cars.  Our kids are watching us 24/7 drive down the relational freeway.  They know us better than we realize it, and they are seeing if we will obey the signs.  They want us to obey the signs.  They are looking for parameters, guardrails and guidelines.  When we do it God’s way, it’s going to be incredible.

What am I saying today?  In one sentence, I’m simply saying, “Don’t ignore the signs.”

We have thirty seconds left, so let me tell you where I’m going next week.

You might say, “Okay, Ed, I’ve got it.  Now I’ve got everything I need to know about finding the spouse.”

No, you don’t.  This message is just a prerequisite for next week.  This is just a baby pool.  We are going deeper next weekend.

You can’t leave these out.  Here we go.  [Ed begins to turn sign around that will be discussed in the next message]  Recognize this sign?  It’s the “Hazardous Cargo” sign.  It means, “No hazardous cargo allowed.”  You better check out how much hazardous cargo this person you are dating has in his or her life.  If you don’t, then you are not being discerning.

What did Jesus say?  He said that we need to be wise as serpents, as harmless as doves.  Don’t check your intellect at the door when you start dating someone.  We all have hazardous cargo.  I have it.  So do you.  Let’s just be honest here.  But, some of us have too much.  If we are dating someone with too much, then we better put that big honking question mark over that sign.

We are also next week going to talk about this sign, “Signal Ahead.”  What happens when you ignore this sign and just blow through a signal?  You’re talking about a horrible crash, tires and glass and metal being bent.

We are also going to look at the rough road of relationships and marriage.  It’s like my friend said, “Marriage is not the best thing; it’s the hardest thing.  But, it’s an awesome thing, if we use it as a laboratory to work out the grace of God.”

I’ll say it one more time.  “Don’t ignore the signs.”

Let’s bow for prayer.

Ed Young – God, you are so awesome.  Thank you for giving us these signs.  Thank you for the relational freeway.  Thank you for the desire that we have for the opposite sex.  I pray, God, that not only will we hear your words, but that we will do them.  I pray that we will put tire rubber beneath them as we live them out.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

Then, the flotation device is gone, but water is still coming in the boat.  Finally, you think, “Maybe it’s me.  Maybe I’m just not pretty enough, not good-looking enough, or successful enough.  Maybe it’s my problem.”

So we try to stuff it and plug up that hole ourselves.  Yet, nothing we can do fills up that hole.    Water continues to rise in your boat.   The last thing that you can do is to look outside your boat for help.

You begin to look for debris, something that is floating around that you might stuff in that hole — things like an extramarital affair, sex outside of marriage.  Maybe you try false intimacy through pornography or substance abuse.   Maybe you just try to be a better parent and invest all your time in your kids.  We try all these things to try to plug that hole; yet, nothing works.  Nothing fits that hole.  We are still taking on water.

Finally, we are left with two choices:  We can hold on tight, give up, hold our breath and hope we don’t drown as we sink to rock-bottom.  Or, we jump ship.  We break up.  We separate.  We get a divorce.  We begin to swim around in these relational waters trying to find someone or something that can satisfy that hole in our lives.

Do you know what the interesting thing in all of this is?  If we want to keep that boat from sinking, all it’s going to take is this little rubber plug.  [Troy holds up a rubber boat plug]  Look at this thing.  You can barely see it.  It’s something that seems so simple and so insignificant.  If I saw this sitting on the shelf in my garage, I wouldn’t even look at it twice.  It just seems so worthless, until your boat is sinking.  Then this thing is worth a million bucks.

We have all been created with a hole in our lives.  The Bible tells us exactly what that hole is really all about.

Ed Young – Proverbs 19:22 says, “What a man desires is unfailing love.”

Every year in Junior High School the administration would divide the boys and girls up into two large groups and we would see a film on sex education.  I never saw the girl’s video, but I did see the guy’s video.  The film made an indelible impression on my life.  It was entitled, “From Boy To Man”.  The girl’s film was called, “From Girl To Woman”.

“From Boy To Man” would start out the same way every year.    The actor was a pubescent youngster named Jim.  It showed Jim playing basketball.  He was a horrible player.  He dressed about 15 years out of style, plaid short-sleeved shirt, rolled up Levis and black PF Flyer tennis shoes.  The announcer would describe Jim.  “Look at Jim.  He is growing up now.  See the muscularity, see the coordination.  Notice Jim’s voice is changing.”  Jim would then shout, “Pass me the ball.”  And his voice would break in the middle.  Then the cruel, sadistic announcer would say, “Jim is also becoming interested in girls.  Let’s listen in.”  Jim would put the basketball down and walk into his house.  He would open up the fridge and get a big, old cold glass of milk.  He would walk to the telephone, wipe the perspiration from his brow and dial.  “May I speak to Sally, please.  Sally, this is Jim.  I am in your science class.  I was wondering if you could go to the dance with me this Friday night.  You can.  Neato.  That is great.  Bye.”

Ed Young – Then Jim would place his hands behind his neck and lean back.  The announcer would say, “Look at Jim’s arm pits.  Notice the rings of perspiration?  See the peach fuzz on the chin?  Jim is going through puberty.  He is moving from boy to man.”  Then the music would start.  “This is the documentary that will teach you about human development.”  Every year it was the same old drill in the same old classroom.  It was the same old film with the same old character named Jim.  “From Boy To Man”.  Jim is kind of sad.  The guy never matured.  He always stayed paused on puberty, didn’t he?

David said, “Now who is willing to consecrate himself today to the Lord?”  I Chronicles 29:5.  He is saying OK, here is what I am giving.  Who is willing to do the same.  Who is willing to follow me in this sacrifice? Some of you may wonder why I gave the number that Lisa and I are going to give to the building campaign several weeks ago.  It is something that I did not enjoy doing but I felt led to do it?  Do you know why?  It is the Biblical model.  David named the gift down to the penny.  A leader cannot take a church where he is not willing to go first himself.  And that is why I did it.

After David said that, look what happened.  “Then the leaders of the families, the officers of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of the high’s work gave willingly.”  They said, whoa, David is sacrificing like that, we want to sacrifice too.  And in the next verse, they named their gifts, how much they had given.  That is the way God works.  God always has a chain of command.  There is always authority.  We need to respect that authority.  God is our authority.  We have authority in the business world, in the educational world, in our government.  We also have authority spiritually and relationally.  And we have to get under God’s chain of command to see what he is going to do.

Now let me tell you what motivation is not.  David was an incredible motivator.  Motivation is not what my basketball coach did at Florida State University about twelve years ago.  When I was a freshman at Florida State we made it to the Mid-east regional against the University of Kentucky.

Ed Young – It was a nationally televised game.  I knew I wasn’t going to play.  I wasn’t worried about that unless the eleven guys in front of me got hurt.  In the locker room before we ran out, Billy Packer was there, Dick Inburg, the whole package.

What a powerful word.  What a great thank you note Paul wrote.  Epaphroditus might be a good name for a son.  What do you think?  Paul said this.  They are a fragrant offering.  Wouldn’t you like to be a fragrant offering?  If you are a giver, if you give generously, you are a fragrant offering.

I used to work with a guy I called the Temple of Groom.  Hair, nothing every out of place.  This guy used more cologne than any human being I have ever known.  His name was Steve and he used this stuff called Old Spice.  It is not my favorite, but anyway.  He would just pour Old Spice all over his hands.  He may have gargled with it.  The man was unreal.  I would shake hands with him and I couldn’t get the smell off.  It was like when I fish for large mouth bass and pick one up, then I can hardly get the smell off.  Likewise, I could smell wherever Steve had been.  “Steve has been here, hasn’t he?”  “He was here an hour ago.”  If you are generous, that is the kind of fragrance that you will have.  A fragrant offering.

Then listen to the rest of this verse, “an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.”  Have you ever wondered what would be the most pleasing thing you could do for God?  Here is the answer.  Give a sacrificial gift.  Give a gift by faith.  Why?  Because that reflects the character and nature of God.

Ed Young – God gave us the ultimate sacrifice in sending His own Son to spill His blood on the cross and to rise again.  Those of us who have children, can you imagine giving up your son as a sacrifice for all of the sin of the world?  Giving is worshipful.

Let me explain what I am talking about.  Very quickly take a panoramic view of your section.  Look around.  What do you see?  I am sure that you see a colossal collection of well-adjusted, metroplex suburbanites. That is what you think you see.  In reality, you are looking at a bunch of criminals, murderers.  They could be in your section.  Maybe on your row.  Maybe, just maybe, in your seat.

I am talking about people who take the lives of others.  Now if this is your first time here, you are saying, “What kind of church is this?  I am starting to freak out a little bit.”  Let me tell you that I am in a series of talks on the Ten Commandments called FIRST & 10.   Why are we calling them FIRST & 10?  Because during the first of the year, we launch into this series on the ten directives, Ten Commandments for successful living.  Today we are talking about one that all of us are very familiar with.  We are talking about one that most of us can recite.  It is made up of only four little words.  Exodus 20:13.  Here is commandment number six.  You shall not murder.

Some of you are giving a sigh of relief.  You are saying, “Finally, Ed, finally there is a commandment that does not confront me.  I am good on this one.  I have never murdered, maimed or killed anyone.  I am a lover, not a fighter.  I even practice catch and release when I go fishing.  I could skip to number seven because, after all, isn’t number seven a real exciting one?  Isn’t number seven talking about adultery and having affairs?  Let’s talk about that.  But number six, come on.”

Ed Young – Don’t jump on that train too quickly.  Don’t get off on that mindset too prematurely because a lot of us in this place are killing others.  We have murderers in our midst.

If it turns into a raging fire and we begin to covet certain things, we end up burning up the focus of our faith and wasting a lot of time and energy on things that really don’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

It is fascinating when you think about the historicity of this sin.  If you look in the book of Isaiah 14:12, you will see the biography of Satan.  Before Satan was called Satan, he was known as Lucifer, the star of the morning.  It was his objective, day in and day out, to lead worship and adoration toward God, Himself.  Well, one day Lucifer began to have that desire to acquire and it became a raging fire and he tried to elbow God out of the way.  Because of this sin of covetness, God booted him out and he descended to earth.  So we are talking about an old and ancient sin.  But we are talking about something that we all struggle with.  I would be lying to you if I said that I had number ten wrapped up.  And you are going to be lying to yourself if you say the same thing.  So the next time you feel all of those marketers and those advertisements and commercials trying to rev up those engines to possess, the next time you feel that, learn to admire without the acquire.

Have you ever thought about all the billions and billions of dollars of research and marketing that all of these highly educated people do in order to get us to drop our self-control guard down for just a second?  There are probably executives from Ivy League schools somewhere in New York or LA dreaming and strategizing ways to make you and me covet.  They know when we love it, we will covet.

Let’s go to the next rhyme.  We have to make a confession about our obsession.  Have you ever felt a fire begin to rage in your life? I can’t believe he got that promotion.  I can’t believe they are having a baby.  I can’t believe….  Whenever you feel that, you start telling God that you deserve that and you begin to blame God and have a pity party for yourself, to enter the moan zone.  Don’t even go there.  The Bible will tell us to make a confession about our obsession.

Ed Young – All I have to do is just peruse the pages of scripture and discover that I don’t deserve a thing.  I deserve a Christ-less eternity.