Matt and Sandy Wedding

Procession of the Wedding Party (Acc. By Music) jordy

Parents

Joey & Grandma

Jake & Danielle

Greg

Corey & Lin

Party

Grant (Best Man) & Natty (Maid of Honor)

Joey & Inessa

Jake & Onneka

John Mark & Abby

Corey & Rachel

Procession of the Bride (Acc. By Music) jordy

Dave & Sandy

Reception of the Bride

Who gives this woman to be married to this man

Dave: Her mother and I

Matt, please receive your bride

To All: You may be seated

Fathers’ Prayer of Blessing

Greg will you please join Dave up here

for a prayer seeking our Lord’s blessing

on the marriage of your son to his daughter?

Let’s bow before God.

Ceremonial Introduction

Dearly beloved family and friends,

we have gathered together this day in the sight of God and these witnesses,

to celebrate the union of Matt Ferreri to his lovely bride, Sandy Knowles,

in God’s Holy Institution of Marriage.

Matt and Sandy are grateful for all your love and support,

and for being here today as they commit to one another before God on this joyful day.

We are all so thankful to God that He has brought together Matt and Sandy for this most blessed occasion,

as these two amazing people become one.

Message

My People, My God

My name is Ben, and I am one of the pastors at the church that Matt and Sandy attend.

And it was in my preparation for a few of the classes that I teach at church,

that I kept coming across this phrase in the Old Testament,

Where God calls His chosen nation, Israel, “my people”,

and He invites them to know Him call Him “my God”

This phrase makes its first appearance in the book of Exodus, where God repeatedly calls Israel, “My people” — as in let “My People go”.

But it is in Exodus 6, where He instructs, Israel’s deliverer, Moses,

to give His people this message:

Exodus 6:7 “‘Then I will take you for My people,

and I will be your God;

and you shall know that I am Yahweh your God,

who brought you out from under the hard labors of the Egyptians.”

After delivering them out of Egypt and from Pharaoh’s hand,

God brought His people to Sinai.

And it was there that He entered into an official covenant relationship with them.

In the book of Leviticus, He declared that He, the God of the Universe, would dwell with them

as they travelled to the promised Land:

Leviticus 26:11–12 “‘Moreover, I will make My dwelling among you...

I will also walk among you and be your God,

and you shall be My people.”

Gospel Call

And yet, because of sin,

God’s people were never able to remain faithful to their God.

Instead they disobeyed His Law and turned away from Him to worship false gods.

They were never able to be faithful to Him because at the heart level,

they desired sin more than they desired Him.

And this is not just true of Old Testament Israel. It’s true of all of us.

Naturally, we serve the desires of our own heart,

we are enslaved to our passions and our lusts.

And most often those passions,

those desires,

those lusts are for sin.

And this sin separates us from God.

It surely seperated Israel from God.

In what seemed to be the end of their history,

when they were about to be attacked and besieged by Babylon,

God’s presence departed from the Temple.

However, contrary to how it appeared, God did not give up on His people,

just as He did not give up on all of the sinful world.

Instead He sent His own Son...

to live the perfect life no Israelite or any other man or woman could ever live - perfect holiness.

And He sent Him to die in our place as a perfect, unblemished sacrifice.

God sent only begotten Son to be stricken and smitten,

and crushed and pierced for our sins.

He, the Son of God, hung on the cross, for our sins,

for our iniquities,

for our unfaithfulness,

so that we might be healed,

so that we might be forgiven,

so that we might be made new.

The Good Shepherd laid down His life for His sheep

so that we, the straying ones, might be brought home.

The Son was forsaken by His Father

so that we, orphans, might be made God’s own children.

The Bridegroom, that is Christ, shed His own blood to redeem us, His bride.

And it is in the prophecy of Zechariah,

that we find a prophecy still to be fulfilled

of the ever-faithful God restoring and redeeming His nation in the end.

In that day He is going to cause them to see His Son, Jesus, the Messiah,

who was pierced for their sins.

Their eyes will be opened to see the Good Shepherd who was stricken for their iniquities,

and they will repent and turn to Him.

On that day, Zechariah prophesied that:

Zechariah 13:9 “...They will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ And they will say, ‘Yahweh is my God.’” Covenant relationship perfectly restored.

Matt and Sandy wanted me to make sure that

this glorious gospel story was woven into their ceremony.

So from the get-go I want to make sure that each and every one of you knows

that this very day you too can look upon Christ and see that He was pierced

on the cross for your sins and that if you call upon the name of the Lord you will be saved.

Saved from the just punishment for your sins,

and saved to this glorious and beautiful eternal relationship with the One True God.

You will be His, and He will be yours.

Transition

Now, this sermon transforms into a wedding message.

That wording, that phrasing, You will be my People, you will be my God

Is paraphrased by King Solomon as a beautiful declaration of the covenant love

of a husband and his bride.

Several times in the Song of Solomon, you will find this phrase:

Song of Solomon 6:3 “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine,”

I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.

Matt, Sandy, we are here today to establish a covenant between you two, before God,

so that on this day, and every day of your lives after this day,

you both may declare, “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine”

An Expression of the Essence of Marital Oneness

This phrase, “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.”

Is the perfect expression of the very essence of your union.

It encapsulates the heart of the uniqueness of your marriage

It captures the end goal and ultimate purpose of your relationship

Which is this: intimacy. Perfect, unhindered intimacy. Or as the Bible puts it, Oneness.

In the beginning, God declared at the wedding of Adam and Eve, at the very first marriage in History, that

Genesis 2:24 “A man shall leave his father and his mother,

and cleave to his wife;

and they shall become one flesh.”

One flesh. Perfect union. This is not just a description of the physical intimacy of marriage. This is a description of marriage itself.

Just as God fearfully and wonderfully made Adam and Eve

to be perfectly suited for each other.

God in His sovereign grace fearfully and wonderfully made you Matt, and you Sandy,

to be perfectly suited for each other.

To be one. For you to be her beloved, for you to be his.

And this is not in the sense that a property belongs to someone.

This oneness, this belonging declares that you

are each other’s exclusive person to intimately love,

cherish, and care for.

You belong to him, all of you, and no one else. You are hers, all of you, and no one else’s

for after today, you are one

What Does This Intimacy Reflect

God ultimately designed it this way so that we can make the connection we did today.

So that we can draw a line between the glorious relationship of oneness between a bride and groom,

and the even more glorious relationship

between Christ and His Church,

between God and His people.

You see, when we believe upon the gospel, and trust in Christ we become united with Him.

We enter into a glorious covenantal relationship where He loves us, and cherishes us, and nourishes our souls, and cares for us as His people.

And in return we love Him, and cherish Him, and dedicate our lives to follow after His perfect leadership.

And one day, we will dwell forever with Him in paradise, where we will be perfectly and wholly united with Him.

This is the Christian’s hope, and this is the meaning of marriage.

This is God’s design.

For you both to say and live as if She is my beloved’s and my beloved, he is mine.

God has brought you today to be bound together in marriage

so that from this day forward,

your relationship will reflect Christ’s relationship with us.

Think of the moon. Why does it shine in the darkness?

It reflects the light of the Sun.

So too should marriage reflect the light and radiance and glory and the beauty of the Son of God’s relationship with His people, with us His saints.

Requirements for this Intimacy

As I close with some practical application, I have another moon related question

When does the moon shine brightest?

When it sits fully out of the shadow of the earth.

The key to attaining and maintaining perfect marital oneness is this,

un-eclipse the Son of God in your marriage

fight each and every day to remove the shadows

of sin that will seek to creep in and drive you apart.

How do you do this?

First, and most importantly, you must practice Gospel-forged forgiveness.

One sinner plus one sinner equals more sin.

You will sin and you will sin against each other.

But you will be able to maintain your oneness,

you will be able to preserve your intimacy,

you will be able to honestly call each other my beloved at the end of each day,

if you forgive one another as God in Christ has forgiven you.

Secondly, love with a servant hearted love.

Just as Christ descended from the glorious of heaven

to come, not to be served, but to serve.

So too should you seek each other’s interests and desires above your own.

Regard each other as more worthy of love and care than yourself and

instead of selfishly tearing each other down,

which is our natural tendency,

you will be building each other up with the humble servant-hearted love.

Lastly commune with unguarded honesty. Matt, she is your beloved. Sandy, she is your beloved. Share with unguarded honesty.

It is easy to share your hopes, dreams, and desires. And share those.

But more importantly trust each other with your fears, your struggles, your sins, and your burdens.

It is not good for you to be alone. God has made each of you to be each other’s companions through the sunshine and the storms.

Cling to one another, fighting to attain deeper and deeper levels of oneness.

In doing so, you will bring glory to the God who brought you here today.

And in doing so you will experience the glorious marital bliss of perfect intimacy that He desires for you.

May God help you to magnify Him as you say

from this day until your last day,

I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.

Exchange of Vows

Now, this is a covenant ceremony where two people are coven-an-ting together, committing to each other by making promises and vows to remain faithful to those promises.

Matt will you please repeat after me as you pledge yourself to your bride?

I, Matt, take you, Sandy, to be my lawfully wedded wife,

To have and to hold from this day forward,

For better, for worse,

for richer, for poorer,

in sickness and in health,

To lead, love, and to cherish,

And To Exalt the name of Christ together

Until death do us part.

Matt do you hereto pledge yourself, according to God’s holy ordinance, to Sandy?

I Do

Sandy will you please repeat after me as you pledge yourself to your groom?

I, Sandy, take you, Matt, to be my lawfully wedded husband,

(OR Sandy, will you take Matt to be your wedded 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, cherish, and obey,

And To Exalt the name of Christ together

Until death do us part.

Sandy do you hereto pledge yourself, according to God’s holy ordinance, to Matt?

I Do

Exchange of Rings

As a symbol of your unending covenant love to each other you will now exchange wedding rings.

Matt, please take the hand of your bride, place this ring on her finger and repeat after me …

With this ring I thee wed,

and with all my worldly goods I thee endow,

in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sandy, please take the hand of your groom, place this ring on his finger, and repeat after me...

With this ring I thee wed,

and with all my worldly goods I thee endow,

in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Signing Ceremony

Now we will take time to sign the wedding certificate.

Grant and Natty, will you join us to sign as witnesses to this union.

Blessing and Pronouncement

Matt and Sandy, May the good Lord grant that your lives be filled with His love,

your home to be filled with His peace,

and your hearts filled with the hope of Heaven’s eternal joy as you share your life together

as man and wife.

What God has joined together let no man or woman separate!

To which we all say, Amen!

Now by the powers vested in me by Christ’s Holy Church and the state of New Mexico

it is with great pleasure and joy that I,

before God and all these witnesses,

now pronounce you husband and wife.

Family and Friends, may I present to you Mr. & Mrs. Matt Ferreri.

Matt, you may now kiss your bride

Reception Announcements

Thank you everyone for coming to witness this glorious day ordained by God.

The bride and groom have instructed me to tell the Knowles and Ferreri family to please come to the front of the venue for pictures.

For you friends, they have asked that you please move the chairs to the edges of the lawn so that the staff and set up the reception. Once the tables are set you may sit down at whatever table you wish because there is no assigned seating.

Announcement of the Bride and Groom

It is my honor to again present to you Matt and Sandy Ferreri!

Let’s pray for this wedding feast we are about to eat...

Now that they are seated, please take your plates and get in line for food going through the east door.