Introduction: Last Sunday was Mothers' Day, and it has been a few weeks since we last touched on our theme, so we shall review. So far we have seen that the Bible gives five commands to those who are not yet married, to prepare them for marriage. They are:

1. Save sex for marriage.
2. Listen to your parents.
3. Be choose about the crowd with which you hang out.
4. Date and marry only another Christian.
5. Develop a Christian philosophy of marriage, and look for a prospective mate who has the same philosophy of marriage.

I have two more points this morning for those not yet married:

1. Do NOT follow your heart (Jeremiah 17:9).
2. Do not marry a person who is not wise about money (I Timothy 5:8).

This morning I must also begin speaking to those of you who are already married. How can you strengthen your marriage? What does the Bible say?

1. Be faithful to your wedding vows (see Proverbs 5:15-21).
2. Be forbearing and forgiving toward one another (Colossians 3:12-14).

Conclusion: The institution of marriage is seeing hard times in American society in the year 2000. But we are Christians, followers of Jesus. We will honor marriage, and we will strengthen our own marriages, in order to bless our children, and ourselves, but also to bring glory to God who gave us marriage.