Sacred Marriage Participant's Guide: What If God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More Than to Make Us Happy?

In this six-session small group Bible study, Sacred Marriage, writer and speaker Gary Thomas invites you to see how God can use marriage as a discipline and a motivation reflect more of the character of Jesus.

Your marriage is much more than a union between you and your spouse. It is a spiritual discipline ideally suited to help you know God more fully and intimately. Sacred Marriage shifts the focus from marital enrichment to spiritual enrichment in ways that can help you love your mate more. Whether it is delightful or difficult, your marriage can become a doorway to a closer walk with God.

Everything about your marriage―from the history you and your spouse create, to the love you share, to the forgiveness you both offer and seek by turn―is filled with the capacity to help you grow in Christ's character.

In addition to life-changing insights, you’ll find a wealth of discussion questions in this Participant Guide that will spark meaningful conversation in your group, between you and your spouse, or to simply ponder by yourself. You’ll also find self-assessments, activities and highlights all created to help you engage deeply and prayerfully with the content of this study. Designed for use with the Sacred Marriage DVD (sold separately).

Sessions include:
1. God’s Purpose for Marriage
2. The Refining Power of Marriage
3. The God-Centered Spouse
4. Sacred History
5. Sexual Saints
6. Marriage: The Love Laboratory

Gary Thomas’s writing and speaking focuses on bringing people closer to Christ and closer to others. He is the author of nineteen books that together have sold over 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 winner Authentic Faith.

Gary holds a BA in English Literature from Western Washington University, an MA degree in systematic theology from Regent College (Vancouver, BC), and an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Western Seminary (Portland, OR).

Kevin G. Harney?is lead pastor of Shoreline Church in Monterey, California. He is the author of many books, including?No Is a Beautiful Word,?Seismic Shifts, and the Organic Outreach?Trilogy, as well as more than a hundred small group guides, curriculum, and numerous articles written in partnership with Sherry. Kevin and his wife Sherry are co-founders of Organic Outreach International, a ministry that trains and resources global leaders to do evangelism in natural and effective ways. He also does extensive teaching and speaking both nationally and internationally.

Sherry Harney is an author and a speaker who serves as the Spiritual Formation and Discipleship Director at Shoreline Church in Monterey, California. She is also the cofounder of Organic Outreach International. For over three decades Sherry has spoken for local, national, and international groups and events. She focuses on prayer, spiritual formation, leadership, and organic outreach.

Over the past three decades Sherry and Kevin have coauthored and partnered with writers such as Ann Voskamp, Max Lucado, Nabeel Qureshi, Jim Cymbala, Miles McPherson, Mark Batterson, Chrystal Evans Hurst, Christine Caine, Gary Thomas, N.T. Wright, Laura Story, Craig Groeschel, Dallas Willard and many others. Kevin and Sherry have three married sons, and three grandchildren.