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    Cherish Bible Study Guide: The One Word That Changes Everything for Your Marriage
    Cherish Bible Study Guide: The One Word That Changes Everything for Your Marriage
    Cherish Bible Study Guide: The One Word That Changes Everything for Your Marriage
    Ebook98 pages1 hour

    Cherish Bible Study Guide: The One Word That Changes Everything for Your Marriage

    By Gary Thomas and Bethany O. Graybill

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    About this ebook

    Millions of married couples have pledged to "love and to cherish, until death do us part." Most of us understand and get the love part... but what does it mean to cherish your spouse? Why do we say it once at the wedding and then rarely ever mention it again? 

    In this six-session video Bible study (DVD/digital video sold separately), bestselling author Gary Thomas draws on personal stories and teachings from the Bible to show how cherishing can have a powerful effect on marriage. Learning to truly cherish each other turns marriage from an obligation into a delight. It lifts marriage above a commitment to a precious priority. Cherish is the melody that makes a marriage sing.

    If you find yourself going through the motions in your marriage, Thomas will walk you and your spouse through real ways to reverse the pattern:  

    • Erase contempt and honor your spouse 
    • Stop comparing and focus on the unique traits in your spouse 
    • Let go of hurts and forgive your spouse 
    • Go beyond serving and showcase your spouse 
    • Don't stop trying. The more you cherish your spouse, the more you will cherish your spouse.  

    Many couples survive by gritting their teeth and holding on. Or they find themselves just "going through the motions" in their relationship. But cherishing your spouse can reverse this pattern. Cherishing can breathe light, hope, and new life into a marriage--even one marred by neglect and disrespect.

    The Cherish Study Guide includes video discussion questions, Bible exploration, and personal study and reflection materials for in-between sessions. 

    Sessions include: 

    1. To Love and to Cherish  
    2. Your Honor 
    3. Taking Your Marriage to the Next Level  
    4. Cherishing Your Unique Spouse  
    5. This Is How Your Spouse Stumbles 
    6. Keep on Cherishing 

    Designed for use with Cherish Video Study (sold separately).

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherZondervan
    Release dateJan 10, 2017
    ISBN9780310080756
    Cherish Bible Study Guide: The One Word That Changes Everything for Your Marriage
    Author

    Gary Thomas

    Gary Thomas's writing and speaking draw people closer to Christ and closer to others. He is the author of twenty books that together have sold more than two million copies and have been translated into more than a dozen languages. These books include Sacred Marriage, Cherish, Married Sex, and the Gold Medallion-award winning Authentic Faith. Gary holds a bachelor's degree in English Literature from Western Washington University, a master's degree in systematic theology from Regent College (Vancouver, BC), and an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Western Seminary (Portland, OR). He serves as a teaching pastor at Cherry Hills Community Church in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.

    Read more from Gary Thomas

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      Book preview

      Cherish Bible Study Guide - Gary Thomas

      Introduction

      images/img-7-1.jpg

      Whether you were married inside a beautiful church, a spectacular event space, the local fire hall, or outside in a country meadow, one thing you share with your group members is that you exchanged some version of wedding vows on that special day. You may have written your own vows that you crafted and carefully designed to reflect your unique personalities. Or you may have said more traditional vows that went something like this:

      I take you to be my wedded husband/wife,

      To have and to hold, from this day forward,

      For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer,

      In sickness and in health,

      To love and to cherish, till death do us part,

      According to God’s holy ordinance;

      Therefore I pledge myself to you.

      Millions of married couples have repeated these same vows year after year, ceremony after ceremony. In fact, the oldest version of these traditional marriage vows can be traced all the way back to the medieval era. In 1549, these vows were printed in the first Book of Common Prayer that was used by the Church of England.

      Today, as Christians, we often revisit these vows when we talk about what it means to love our spouses. In fact, most marriage books challenge us to explore a biblical view of love. But how often do we stop to think about what it means to cherish one another? In this study, you will explore the biblical view of what it means to cherish. You will be challenged to take your love to a new level—an upstairs level, as one writer puts it—by learning what it means to truly cherish your spouse.

      My perspective, after years of marriage ministry, is this: Love is the athletics of marriage, and cherish is the ballet of marriage. Cherish introduces us to artistry in a way that love introduces us to endurance. We cannot cherish our spouse without love, and we cannot take our love to a new level without cherishing one another. Studying how to cherish one another, with all its special qualities, puts a polish on love, makes it shine, and adds a special sparkle to our lives and marriages.

      Together, during the next six sessions, we will explore the differences between loving and cherishing and take a deeper look at what it means to continue cherishing our spouse till death do us part.

      How to Use This Guide

      images/img-7-1.jpg

      The Cherish curriculum is designed to be as personal as is it practical. Each session begins with an opening icebreaker question followed by a reflection from the Bible. You will then watch the video with your group and jump into some directed small group discussion. Note that even though there are multiple questions and activities available for your small group, you don’t need to feel as if you must use them all. Your leaders will focus on the ones that resonate most with your unique group and guide you from there.

      The final component of each session, the group activity, is where Cherish might diverge from other studies you have done in the past. In this part, each couple will engage in a hands-on exercise that will seek to move the focus of the session from your head to your heart. Think of this time as an answer to the question, "What am I supposed to do with this message?"

      The group activity is intended to be completed during your meeting time—and it will be what you make of it. If you choose to only go through the motions, or if you refrain from participating with your spouse, it will be less likely you will find what you’re looking for during this study. But if you stay open and take a gamble, you may discover what so many others have already found to be true: faith comes alive when we take holy risks for God.

      Now, if the thought of risky activities make you feel anxious, that’s okay. If you fall into this category, just read ahead to each group activity section, and you will know not only what’s coming up but also how to prepare yourself accordingly. Finally, remember that none of these exercises or experiences involves anything inappropriate or embarrassing. They are just hands-on opportunities to keep you open to God’s love and help you learn to cherish your spouse.

      Following your group time, there will be three more opportunities during the week for you to engage the content of Cherish. Each of the between-sessions activities is based on the understanding of what it means to cherish and be cherished. A complete understanding of this concept includes recognizing how you want to be cherished, how best to cherish your spouse, and how God has cherished you. The challenge is to do at least one of these activities between sessions and to use this study guide to record what you learn.

      Starting in session 2, there will be time before the video for you to check in about the previous week’s activity and process your experiences as a group. Note that if you could not do an activity the first week, or if you are just joining the study at this point, you don’t need to worry. Just hearing what others have learned will be enough at this stage.

      Finally, remember that this study represents an opportunity to discover a new way of relating to your spouse. The videos, discussions, and activities are simply meant to kick-start your imagination so that you are not only open to God’s love but also start letting it change you from the inside out. Just consider what God could do with a group of people who were not only cherishing

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