1A Wedding Cerrimony BOOKFOLD A

I welcome everyone here to this joyful occasion in the lives of (____________). On behalf of the bride and groom, it is my privilege to say a personal word of greeting. You are very special in their hearts and they are honored that you have made the effort to be here and to share with them in their celebration of marriage. We are here to worship Jesus Christ through this wedding ceremony. We are standing in a place that has been made holy by the actual presence of God and made happy by His smiling approval.

I now ask this very important question: Who gives this woman to be married to this man?

Invocational Prayer

Read Genesis 2:18, 21-24

And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him18 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22 And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

John 2 tells us that Jesus was invited to a wedding in the Galilean town of Cana. You have also invited Jesus to attend your wedding. He has accepted your invitation and is the unseen One who gives spiritual meaning to this moment. In order for you to have a marriage that is a duet and not a dual, you must understand God’s blueprint for marriage.

Marriage is designed for pleasure:

When God created the world in Genesis 1-2, we read the phrase over and over again. “God saw that it was good.” But in Genesis 2:18 God said. “it is not good for a man to be alone.” This is the first time that God saw something that was not good. Unless God has called a person to a life of singleness and celibacy, He desires that we know the wonderful pleasure of marriage.

You will share your lives together. “When you share your joys, you will experience double the joy. When you share your sorrows, you will only experience half the sorrow.”

Marriage is designed for partnership:

Genesis 2:18 continues by saying, “I will make him a helper comparable to him.” God created woman to be a “helper” for the man. The Hebrew literally means, “one who assists the other in reaching complete fulfillment.” That same word “helper” is used elsewhere in the Bible of rescuing somebody. Man has a gnawing need that could only be met by a woman. She provides the missing pieces to the puzzle of his existence.

Augustine was right when he said, “God created woman from the side of the man – not from his head to rule over him, not from his feet to be trampled under him, but from his side, under his arm, to be protected by him and next to his heart, to be loved by him.” Thus, your marriage is to be a partnership where both husband and wife walk side-by-side complementing and completing each other. The woman is not to be the domineering force in the home and neither is the man to be the dictator.

Marriage is designed for permanency:

God said to Adam and Eve in Genesis 2:24, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife.” The term “join” means to glue or to be welded together. Marriage is for life. You must enter this covenant with no thought of a back door. In just a few minutes your marriage vows will include the phrase, “till death do us part.” But for many it is “till debt do us part” or “till disagreement do us part.” Decide today that you will never talk about or even think about getting a divorce.

To be joined “together” indicates there is an adhesive that causes you to stick to each other. Jesus Christ is the glue that will hold you tighter. A perfect marriage is a union of three: Christ, a man, and a woman. Therefore, let it be said that what God has joined together, let no man separate” (Mk 10:9). Genesis 1:1 says, in the beginning God.” That’s a great way to start a Bible! But. Its also a great way to start a marriage!

Marriage is determined by God.

God brought into Adam’s life the woman whom he had specifically designed for him. When God created Eve, He made her with Adam in mind. He made her for the purpose of being joined together with Adam to correspond to what he needed. Literally, there was only one woman in the whole world for Adam!

That’s what you’re acknowledging by standing at the alter together. You are acknowledging that God has engineered and orchestrated the circumstances of your lives up to this point in order to bring you together. You are acknowledging that when God created each of you, He made you with the other in mind. God specifically designed you for the purpose of corresponding to one another. In the whole world there is only one woman for “______” and there is only one man for “________”.

With this understanding you can have a marriage made in heaven.

Vows: In the awareness of God’s blueprint for, I ask you to repeat these vows after me. Remember, you are not only making vows to each other, but also the Lord Jesus Christ as well.

“I ________, take you, ______ ___ to be my 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.”

“I _________, take you, _____ to be my husband; 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.”

Exchange of Rings: Now, I will have you seal your vows with the exchange of rings. The ring is circular, having no beginning and no ending point. It is a picture of your endless love. The enduring material that these rings are made out of symbolizes how lasting the love is that you pledge to each other. These rings are made out of the purest metals. This suggests your commitment to purity and fidelity in your love.

As you exchange rings remember that Jesus also made an exchange with us. He exchanged places with us on the cross by dying for our sins. You are in a committed relationship with God because of the exchange Jesus made with you. So also, you are entering into a committed relationship with each other because of the exchange you are about to make. You are also exchanging “I, me, my” for “we, us, and ours.”

Repeat after me: “with this ring, I marry you.”

Benediction Prayer Let the first moments of their marriage begin in prayer.

_______ and ________, God bless you, and I pray God’s richest blessings upon you.

_________ and ________, by the authority given to me by the Lord Jesus Christ as a pastor of one of His churches, and by the authority invested in me as an ordained minister of the Gospel, I joyfully pronounce you husband and wife. _______, you may now kiss your bride.

Ladies and gentlemen, It is my privilege to present to you Mr. and Mrs. ___________.