Sacred Intimacy - Session 1Sacred Intimacy - Session 1
RelateWell with Dr. Rick Marks
Dr Rick Marks introduces an 18-session journey on sacred intimacy, explaining God’s design for sex, us-ness in marriage, and the shift from shame to celebration. The session encourages people in all stages of relationship to rethink their sexual story and trust that healing and deeper oneness are possible.
45:19•1 Sept 2026
Sacred Intimacy: Rewriting Your Sexual Story with Dr Rick Marks
Episode Overview
- Sex is framed as a sacred celebration of marital oneness, not a transactional duty or performance test.
- A healthy view of sexuality treats bodies and pleasure as part of God’s intentional, good design.
- Couples are invited to examine their "sexual story" and identify messages that need to be unlearned and relearned.
- Sexual intimacy is described as deep mutual knowing (yada), where partners are fully known and unashamed.
- Even long-broken or traumatised sexual lives are presented as redeemable through humility, patience and God’s grace.
“Sex is not a transaction. Sex, in a biblical context, is a celebration.”
Ever wondered what it takes to make the marriage bed feel truly sacred rather than awkward, pressured or shame-filled? Session 1 of *Sacred Intimacy* sets the stage for an 18-part journey where Dr Rick Marks walks couples and individuals through a completely different way of thinking about sex, grounded in Christian faith and years of clinical experience.
Drawing on over three decades of counselling and 42 years of marriage, Dr Rick talks candidly about how "the church often whispers about" sex while culture shouts about it, leaving many people confused and hurting. He lays out clear definitions: sexuality as part of your identity, sex as "the seal of a covenantal relationship", and sexual intimacy as the whole emotional and physical landscape around the act itself.
One of the big ideas you’ll hear is his concept of "us-ness"—that marriage isn’t about his happiness or her happiness, but the creation of a shared life where sex becomes "a physical celebration of us-ness". He pushes back against shame-based and performance-based teaching, insisting, "Sex is not a transaction.
Sex, in a biblical context, is a celebration." You’ll also be asked to think hard about your own "sexual story"—the unspoken beliefs you picked up from parents, peers, churches, screens and past relationships. Rather than blaming, he invites you to notice which messages were healthy and which quietly distorted your view of bodies, pleasure and intimacy.
Throughout, Dr Rick returns to Genesis and the picture of a husband and wife "naked and… no shame", arguing that Jesus can redeem fallen sexuality so couples can move towards being "naked and unashamed again" in a mature way. Whether someone is single preparing for marriage, newly married, decades into a relationship, or carrying deep sexual trauma or regret, this session frames sex as a God-given gift that can be healed and rebuilt over time.
If your view of sex has ever been driven more by fear than by blessing, this session might be the starting point for a very different story—whose story do you actually want to live?
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.