What Your Marriage Is Missing

What Your Marriage Is Missing: A Shared Mission

Scripture References

• Isaiah 46
• Acts 18:1
• Romans 16

Overview

Healthy marriages are not built on emotion alone; they flourish when husband and wife lock arms around a God-given mission. Using the little-known but power-filled story of Priscilla and Aquila, Pastor Craig showed that marriage is meant to advance God’s kingdom, not merely provide companionship. A unified mission, deep spiritual community, and a refusal to drift into casual Christianity are the missing ingredients in many homes today.

Main Points

1. Marriage Was Designed for Mission

• God created marriage to reflect Christ and the Church—purpose, not just pleasure.
• Emotional connection (holding hands) must grow into spiritual direction (pushing back darkness, shaping generations).
• Verbally shared mission is the most overlooked quality of a God-honoring marriage.

2. Lessons from Priscilla & Aquila (Acts 18; Romans 16)

• Ordinary tent-makers who partnered with Paul; mentioned seven times—always together.
• Served wherever life moved them—Rome → Corinth → Ephesus → Rome.
• Their home became a church; they even risked their lives for Paul.
• Model: unified mission, open hospitality, intentional discipleship.

3. The Strength of Spiritual Community

• “> A marriage without community is a vulnerable marriage.”
• Life Groups (small gatherings) provide prayer, accountability, and rescue in crisis.
  • Story: Early in the church a couple confessed adultery in group; loving community walked them to restoration, saving their marriage decades later.
• Community isn’t optional—it is spiritual protection for couples and children.

4. The Danger of Casual Christianity

• Cultural drift devalues marriage; believers can slide into “Christian in name, worldly in lifestyle.”
• Indicators: same entertainment, spending, parenting priorities, and sexual ethics as everyone else.
• Conviction, not condemnation: God invites couples to look different because He empowers different.

5. Discovering Your Shared Mission

• Non-conflict setting: ask three questions
  1. What do we both love?
  2. What do we both hate (holy discontent)?
  3. What are we going to do about it?
• Mission often emerges where those loves and hates intersect.
  • Illustration: Craig & Amy hate seeing kids dragged from faith; they shaped family rhythms and ministry around protecting and discipling the next generation.
  • Practical examples: cooking meals for new parents, mentoring families out of debt, fostering or adopting, restoring couples after betrayal.
• “> If you find an enemy worth fighting against, you’ll discover a mission worth fighting for.”

6. Guidance for Singles

• Don’t wait for marriage to pursue mission—live it now.
• “> If you want a God-honoring, mission-driven marriage in the future, live a God-honoring, mission-driven life today.”
• Walk toward Jesus; notice who is walking the same direction.
• Good questions before engagement: Am I attracted? Do we enjoy each other? Can we serve God better together than apart?

Key Truths

• Emotional intimacy fades without spiritual intentionality.
• Shared mission is forged, not found; couples must talk it out.
• Community shields marriages from isolation and the enemy’s attacks.
• Casual faith produces casual marriages; vibrant faith produces vibrant mission.
• God repurposes ordinary skills (like tent-making) for extraordinary kingdom impact.

Response

• Initiate a calm conversation: list what you both value, grieve, and dream of doing.
• Join or start a Life Group that includes married couples for mutual support.
• Audit entertainment, finances, and parenting goals; realign them with kingdom values.
• Choose one concrete act of service you can do together this month.
• Singles: pursue a mission today—let God add the partner in His timing.

Closing

Marriage is more than love songs and shared snacks; it is God’s strategy to advance His kingdom through the unified witness of two lives. When couples reject casual Christianity, embed themselves in community, and rally around a Spirit-given mission, they push back darkness and leave a legacy that outlives them.

“Marriage was never meant to be just about love; marriage was meant to be about mission.”

Prayer

Pastor Craig thanked God for designing relationships, asked that He draw each person first to Himself and then to one another, and pleaded for the Holy Spirit to make every listener “more mission-minded” so that homes would glorify Christ and generations would be changed.