Josh and McKayla's Wedding
Notes
Transcript
(Announce before- No Phones)
(Have audience stand and turn when thunder/rain song begins)
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today at this place and at this time to celebrate with Josh and McKayla the completeness of their love. As we look to the Bible, the sacred Word of God, we see that marriage is a gift from God. It was God who created marriage, just as He created all things. It was God who first gave Adam a helper, Eve, who was to be his wife. God looks at the marriage between a man and a woman as something that is truly honorable. In this world, we often say that we love a lot of things but there is nothing quite like the love that exists between spouses. The only love that surpasses this love is the love that Christ has for His people. Without the love of God we would be empty people and lack the power to face life and its problems. Nor would we have any real hope for tomorrow. Believing that it is this kind of love that you wish to establish in your home, it is my privilege to ask: Who gives this woman to be married to this man?
(Michael’s Response)
Opening Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the love and commitment, one to another, that brings Josh and McKayla to this sacred event in their lives. As friends and family we are thankful that you have also brought us to see this moment that you have ordained. We are grateful for the church which cares enough about those things that are sacred, those things that are basic, to provide an atmosphere where a man and a woman can in the company of witnesses commit themselves publicly one to another until the parting of death. We recall that before You ordained the church or any human institution, You ordained the home. Knowing the importance You place on Christian marriage and home, we do now ask that you would bless this service, these two who commit themselves to You and Your will, and all of us gathered to share their joy. In Christ’s name we pray, amen.
(face each other and join hands)
Ephesians 5:22-28 Message
We are here today to celebrate the marriage of Josh and McKayla. We have gathered here in the presence of God and before family and friends to witness these two remarkable individuals become one as husband and wife. We need to remember that just as the true foundation of the Christian church is Jesus Christ, so the true foundation of a Christian home and marriage is Jesus Christ. Marriage is given by God. It is a gift that was not created in the hearts or hands of man but was given as a token of grace by our Creator. This marriage is a permanent commitment to one another. It is a declaration before God and others that you have committed your lives for better or worse to each other. Josh and McKayla, before you right now is the person that God has given to you and you must seek to love and honor that person with all your strength and with all your might. I would like to take a few moments to encourage you and challenge you with what the Lord has given to us through the pen of the Apostle Paul. The Bible is full of wonderful insight on marriage and one of the best comes from Paul when he writes in Ephesians 5:22-28
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
Submit can be a heavy word. There are very few people who seem to like that word and yet that is the word that the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to use when it comes to wives and their husbands. McKayla, you are to submit to Josh but you are to submit to Christ first. While your husband is the head of the household, Christ is the head of the Church. Josh will never be your savior, Christ alone is your savior. You are to love and cherish him as Christ loves and cherishes the Church. But Josh, you are the one that has the more difficult task. As you submit to Christ, McKayla will submit to you. You will not lord this submission over her, you will cherish her as the gift that she is. In God’s perfect plan, he has chosen to give this woman to you. He has entrusted you with one that has been made in His image and He is trusting you to lead her and love her. Submission can be hard but you are to love McKayla, as Christ loved the church. You are to give yourself wholly to her, just as Christ gave Himself to the Church. You are to love her sacrificially, you are to love her purely, and you are to strive to love her perfectly. You have the harder task because Christ’s love for His people took Him to the cross. Christ’s love was a perfect and sacrificial love that cost Him His very life and yet here we are as husbands called to love with the same love. Submission is difficult, but when the husband strives to love his wife with the same love that Christ has for His people, submission is no longer a chore, it’s a joy because wives, who wouldn’t want their husband to love them so perfectly? Love so amazing, love so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. We understand that no one is perfect for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We know that even as Christians, we don’t love perfectly and we don’t live perfectly. Ask any couple here and they will tell you that marriage is a marathon and not a sprint. It’s not always about how you start, it’s how you end. Here I am going into year 8 of my marriage and to be honest, I am finally starting to get an idea of what I’m supposed to do. There will be difficult times in your marriage, there will be moments where you may think of throwing in the towel and think, “is my life going to be like this forever?” but in those moments, remind yourself of Christ’s love for you and His people. Put Him first and your marriage will thrive. Put His commands first and base your love for each other on what He has done, and your marriage will thrive. I want you to run the race well. Fight for each other and never lose sight of how much you love each other this day. May you both give each other glimpses on this earth of who God is making you to be. The kind of homes we need most are those where two lives are being drawn together by a holy love greater than their own.
Vows
Josh, would you repeat after me: I, Josh, take you McKayla, to be my wedded wife. To have and to hold from this day. To care for and to encourage in both good times and bad. I promise to live for Christ and with you in the full awareness of trust and love, and with this commitment, I pledge to you my love.
McKayla, would you repeat after me: I, McKayla, take you Josh, to be my wedded husband. To have and to hold from this day. To care for and to encourage in both good times and bad. I promise to live for Christ and with you in the full awareness of trust and love, and with this commitment I pledge to you my love.
Ring Service
(Ask for the rings)
These rings are a symbol of your commitment of love. They are formed in circles, expressing the unending dimension of your love and the eternal love of God: without beginning and without end. Share these rings now in the full awareness of Christ’s love in you and through you.
Josh, would you place this ring on McKayla’s third finger and left hand? Hold it there and repeat after me: McKayla, I give you this ring, as a visible token of my love, and I give it to you as my own life.
McKayla, would you place this ring on Josh’s third finger and left hand? Hold it there and repeat after me: Josh, I give you this ring, as a visible token of my love, and I give it to you as my own life.
Prayer
Father, we come to you through Christ Jesus our Lord, the supreme manifestation of love. We come to praise and thank you for Josh and McKayla. We rejoice in their salvation and commitment to the Lordship of Christ. We praise you for their public declaration of faith, love, and devotion to you and to one another. We are grateful for their families, their friends, and every person who has expressed their love in some way for these two as they have come together. We ask you Father that their home would so greatly exemplify Christ that others will be strengthened and encouraged by the godly light shining through their lives and from their home. Let them always remember Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. For we pray it and ask it in the name that is above every name, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Closing
Josh and McKayla, today you have made a lifelong commitment to each other. You have made vows to one another and you have given beautiful rings as a public declaration of your love. Believing that it is your desire to have a happy home built upon the Lordship of Jesus Christ, it is my joy as a minister of the Gospel and servant of Jesus Christ to pronounce you from this moment on as husband and wife. What the Lord has made inseparable let no man separate. May the Lord bless you now and always. Josh, you may now kiss your bride. It is my privilege to introduce to you all for the very first time as husband and wife: Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Tiller.
(Dismiss to inside for pictures)
