Mike and Debbie Vow Renewal

OPENING PRAYER

Father, we thank you for the love that you gave Mike and Debbie Howard half a century ago. Before they even knew You as Savior, You were their Sovereign Lord, bringing them together to build a powerful life.

A life that has love as its foundation.

A life that has taught the people around them that love does not have to be hard.

It can be easy.

It can be winsome. Gentle. Sensible. Patient. Kind. Forgiving. Overcoming. Light.

In Your grace, You have sustained this love and brought a tree of family from it.

Physical family: Flesh and blood kids and grandkids who are taking that love and sharing it with the world around us.

And Spiritual family: You saved these two by your grace and brought them into your church and from their local church ministry, many teenagers have been saved and discipled.

They have spiritual children they have come up through the halls of Red Lane Baptist and now are out in the world—living out the same great legacy of love that their physical children are.

Look at what you have done, O Lord. You are worthy of praise.

Help us to honor You and honor this love today!

SCRIPTURE READING

1 Corinthians 13:1–7 ESV

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

REFLECTION ON MARRIAGE: TIFFANY HOWARD

THE GOSPEL THAT FUELS OUR VOWS

A lot has changed since the vows were initially made:

Bread cost .25-.35 cents then. Now it is $2-4.

Eggs were .84 cents. Now you might pay $6-7.

Milk was $1.31. Now you might pay between $4-5.

We have had 9 Presidents in that time to varying degrees of competency and kindness

We have had 13 different NFL teams manage to win a Super Bowl in that time

Including three by the Washington Commanderskins

We lived through a global pandemic, invented the internet and all got smart phones.

The world is very different.

But nothing is as different as the two people standing here.

They are night and day, different.

Ephesians 2:1–10 ESV

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

God has saved Mike and Debbie Howard and redeemed them and made them children of King Jesus. They are now a new creation.

This took place at nearly the half-way point of their marriage.

And God, in His wonderful grace, granted them both new life, and a new strength to sustain their covenant together.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

This is a picture of the change that the Gospel of Jesus has brought into their lives.

And so as we celebrate what has passed and we look forward to what is to come, we rejoice in the glory of the Gospel of Jesus.

Not only has it touched and carried this marriage.

This marriage will preach that Gospel as it goes forward.

For now that salvation has come, Mike and Debbie are not just male and female, leaving their father and mother to cleave to one another and fill the earth and multiply--

Mike and Debbie are the workmanship of Christ. They are new creations, created in Christ Jesus.

When Paul calls us the “workmanship” of God in Ephesians 2:10, the Greek word is the same one we get our English word “poem,” from.

The point being—believers are God’s work of art, shaped by His grace.

So everything Mike and Debbie have done since they came to know the Lord, they have done as a part of God’s prepared plan.

They were walking in good works that He prepared for them.

And that is what they will continue to do.

For these two to be the workmanship of God, it will be a three-fold commitment.

They will be the workmanship of God at home.

An aged marriage is still a needful marriage.

It is a marriage that needs tending.

There is no reason for maturing spouses to become roommates.

In doing acts of love and kindness for one another at home, Mike and Debbie will be walking in God’s good works.

They will be the workmanship of God at church.

Paul actually wrote Ephesians to an entire church—not just to one Christian.

That means he expected the whole church to obey together.

I firmly believe the community of the church has been a vein of life to this marriage.

That must continue as they grow old together.

And as they serve God in the local church, they will walk in God’s good works.

They will be the workmanship of God in the world.

In a world filled with anger and fighting, the workmanship of Christ get to show the character of our King and tell of a coming Kingdom that is peaceful.

And this marriage is a part of that.

As Mike and Debbie witness to neighbors—friends and strangers alike, they are the worksmanship of God in the world today.

And they should be encouraged to know that the same grace that saved them is the same grace that will carry them through the years that lie ahead.

And with that being state—we turn our attention to the renewed vows.

VOWS

MIKE: "I, MIKE, take you, DEBBIE, to be my WIFE once again. I promise to love, honor, and cherish you, to be faithful in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I am grateful for the past 50 years we've shared, and I look forward to the journey ahead. Today, I reaffirm my commitment to you and our marriage."

DEBBIE: "I, DEBBIE, take you, MIKE, to be my HUSBAND once again. I promise to love, honor, and cherish you, to be faithful in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I am grateful for the past 50 years we've shared, and I look forward to the journey ahead. Today, I reaffirm my commitment to you and our marriage."

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION

Father, you have heard these refreshed commitments to the strength and health of this marriage. At the half-century mark, a consecration of body and soul—two people setting themselves apart for Your service and one another’s love. Bless these vows and those that made them with Your grace and mercy. In Christ’s name. Amen.

THE LORD’S SUPPER

Michael will bring the elements and get Katie or Beckett to help serve them to mom and dad.

SCRIPTURE READING

The Pastor’s Book: A Comprehensive and Practical Guide to Pastoral Ministry Select Poems for Weddings

Song of Solomon 2:10–13, 16

Arise, my love, my beautiful one,

and come away,

for behold, the winter is past;

the rain is over and gone.

The flowers appear on the earth;

the time of singing has come,

and the voice of the turtledove

is heard in our land.

The fig tree ripens its figs,

and the vines are in blossom;

they give forth fragrance.

Arise, my love, my beautiful one,

and come away.…

My beloved is mine, and I am his.

PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

Lord God, look at what You have done in these two servants. We thank you for this day. We thank you for the sweet days that have past. We look forward to the days ahead.

We give You thanks that we know Mike and Debbie are not alone.

For all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to You and You are with them, to the end of the age. In Christ’s name, Amen.