Lilly and Kevin Marriage Sermon

MARRIAGE CEREMONY OUTLINE: KEVIN & LILLY THOMAS Friday June 14th2024, @ 3:00pm @ Horseshoe Resort PROCESSIONAL • Kevin & guys to enter front left and stand in place • Bridesmaids to Walk Down Isle to • Bride walk down isle to HELLO EVERYONE,Please be seated, This afternoon we are gathered together before God and in the presence of one another to join: LILLIAN SIMONE VAN HATTEM and KEVIN NOAH RAYNER in the covenant and commitment of marriage which was and is God’s incredible creation. We stand understanding the laws of marriage according to the province Ontario, and we seek on behalf of KEVIN & LILLY the blessing and protection of God. Who gives LILLY to be married to KEVIN? (Mr van Hattem) *I charge you both in the presence of God and your witnesses, that if either of you know of any reason why you may not be lawfully married today, declare it now or forever hold your peace.* (wait for response)

good afternoon friends and family we are all excited to be celebrating the marriage of Kevin and Lilian. there was alot of work and graduations and moving in the midst of the planning this wedding. Kevin Lily you made it through that’s awesome. Ladies and gents thank you for coming from near and far to celebrate this wedding. family from Texas and Vermont we are so glad you are here. But you are also privileged to make it to one of the most exclusive parties that I have ever been to. You all mean a lot to kevin and lily and they are greatful that you are here.

kevin Lilly I’d love the opertunity to share 5 words of wisdom as you embark on the great journey with each other. OPENING REMARKS ABOUT THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE - In Ephesians 5:31, Paul quotes Genesis 2:24: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one ˙flesh.” From the very beginning, God creates marriage. It is a relationship he created as a gift to Adam and to Eve. These truths are important because they help us understand the foundation and reason for marriage.

“Marriage is God’s idea. The Bible begins with a wedding (of Adam and Eve) and ends in the book of Revelation with a wedding (of Christ and the Church). Marriage is God’s idea and therefore, what the Bible says about God’s design for marriage is crucial.” Regardless of how you feel about marriage, I think we can all agree that what we are witnessing here tonight is truly special. In my perspective, the commitment KEVIN and LILLY are making to one another is one of the greatest commitments you could ever make to another person.

MEDITATION (MESSAGE)

Today we are here to celebrate Kevin and Lilly’s wedding day. Today Kevin and lilly will make an incredible promise to one another under the sight of God and all of us here. Why do we make these vows?

Why else do we make vows? “Wedding vows,” Tim Keller reminds us, “are not a declaration of present love but a mutually binding promise of future love” (Meaning of Marriage, 79). “I take you, 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.” Being yours might cost me more than I ever thought I could give — more than I can now imagine — but I promise to never leave you. Vows tie the future fragility and difficulty of marriage into the very beauty of the ceremony.

In the joys and difficuties we need to remeber to prioritse we do not take on this difficult promise of future love on our own. But we learn , perhaps climb the mountain and sit longer at the feet of Jesus. Today id like to talk about a sermon that Jesus was famoue for orating.

Seven Words form the mountain

Marriage is not the focus of the Sermon on the Mount — it’s only addressed explicitly in 2 of the 107 verses — but the three chapters do provide some profound counsel for marriages, young and old. Jesus’s commands, warnings, and promises fall with fresh weight and relevance for the gospel drama we’ve been given to live out together. The following seven words, in particular, have stuck with me and id love to share it with you Kevin and Lilly.

1. Take care where you build your home.

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. (Matthew 7:24)

We’ll begin where Jesus ends. After teaching on anger, lust, anxiety, integrity, vengeance, forgiveness, giving, fasting, praying, and more, he closes with a vivid picture of two kinds of homes: one built upon sand and the other on rock. Lives (and marriages) built on sand will fall. Lives (and marriages) built on rock will stand: for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health — in other words, whatever may come. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock” (Matthew 7:25).

What does it mean to build a marriage on the rock? It means to build our marriages on obedience to Jesus. “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” It means actively putting Jesus and his words at the center of our rhythms, our romance, and even our conflict.

When the forecast darkens, and the clouds crawl in, and the winds begin to howl, and the showers start to fall, we feel whether our love is built on solid ground (or not).

2. Correct each other with humility.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5)

Marriage, we all know, is sanctifying (moulds us) . Marriage sanctifies us for at least two great reasons: (1) a husband and wife see more of each other’s sin than anyone else could, and (2) the covenant ties us uncomfortably close for a lifetime, sins and all. We see the worst in each other and yet have nowhere to go.

How my wife responds to my sins has a disproportionate effect on how I see myself and my sin (and vice versa). As spouses, we sit at a critical, sensitive, and sometimes painful window into each other’s souls. The question is how we will handle that burden and privilege. Jesus tells us how:

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:3–5)

How different might our marriages be if we simply and consistently implemented these three verses? The longer we stare at any given speck — months, years, even decades — the harder it can become to see our own logs. In the vulnerability of marriage, it is all the more important to confront and correct each other with humility — with a patient awareness of our own failures and sins and a resilient hopefulness for change and growth.

3. Don’t murder each other. (Do not bare anger for long)

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.(Matthew 5:9)

You have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.” But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. (Matthew 5:21–22)

Jesus makes no room for unrighteous anger; he elevates it alongside murder. And yet how often have we made room for it in our homes? How often have we felt justified while our hurt feelings burned hot within us? And how often have we responded to anger with more anger? By all means, guard your marriage bed from your own anger.

Guard against anger, and when a fire breaks out, don’t leave it unaddressed.

4. Delight to forgive each other.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. (Matthew 5:7)

Because every marriage is a union between sinners, forgiveness will be our constant guest. Jobs may come and go, houses may come and go, but the need for forgiveness will remain. So will forgiveness be a welcome and celebrated guest in your home — or an unwelcome and resented one?

Jesus warns us, including husbands and wives, “If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14–15). Jesus says an unwillingness to forgive is spiritually lethal. Mercy, on the other hand, breeds security and joy: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

5. Seek God before each other.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (Matthew 5:6)

Do not be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” [or “How shall we stayed married?”] For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. . . . Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:31–32, 34)

“Fix your eyes on God today, and leave the next ten, or twenty, or fifty years to him.”

Do you feel like you’ve exhausted everything you could possibly give, sacrifice, and endure in marriage? Does being married tomorrow feel impossible? Don’t worry about tomorrow. Fix your eyes on God today — on his righteousness, his kingdom, his promises, his resources — and leave the next ten, or twenty, or fifty years to him.

This doesn’t mean good marriages ignore the future. We bear a responsibility to look ahead and anticipate opportunities, needs, and dangers, like any good shepherd would. Good marriages require regular forethought and planning.

God however doesn’t call us to predict or bear our future troubles. He calls us to bear today’s troubles in the grace and strength that he provides for today. Look at the birds of the air. Look at the lilies of the field. He will keep your marriage, and strengthen your marriage, and even beautify your marriage — as you each focus most on seeking him. “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” Jesus says, “and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

Do you want the real key to a healthy and happy marriage? The real key, is to pursue something before and above marriage — to pursue someone before and above your spouse. Blessed are the husbands and wives who hunger and thirst most for righteousness, for they shall be faithful, hopeful, and satisfied.

MARRIAGE VOWS KEVIN & LILLY to read personal vows to one another - LILLY first followed by KEVIN TRADITIONAL Will you KEVIN have LILLY to be your wedded wife, to live together according to God’s plan for marriage outlined in His word? Will you always love her, comfort her in tough times, honour and care for her in sickness and in health, and, forsaking all others, keep you only to her, so long as you both shall live? KEVIN shall answer: I will.

Will you LILLY have KEVIN to be your wedded husband, to live together according to God’s plan for marriage outlined in His word? Will you always love him, comfort him in tough times, honour and care for him in sickness and in health, and, forsaking all others, keep you only to him, so long as you both shall live? LILLY shall answer: I will. (Join your hands and KEVIN repeat after me:) I KEVIN, take you LILLY, 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 us do part, according to God’s holy law; in the presence of God I make this vow. (LILLY repeat after me:) I LILLY, take you KEVIN, 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 us do part, according to God’s holy law; in the presence of God I make this vow. CONGREGATIONAL VOW Will you, the families and friends of KEVIN & LILLY, support and uphold them in their marriage now and in the years to come? PRAYER (vow Focus) — Jeremiah Thomas THE RING CEREMONY *Ben R. to pass rings to Jeremiah (Kevin repeat after me): LILLY, with this ring I thee wed as a promise of my never-ending love. (Lilly repeat after me): KEVIN, with this ring I thee wed as a promise of my never-ending love. The Kevin/Lilly shall then place the ring on the third finger of the left hand.

Kevin & Lilly shall join their hands, until the benediction has been pronounced, and the minister shall say:

“Let these rings continue to be to you both a symbol of the value, the purity, and the constancy of true wedded love, and a seal of the vows and commitments you have now made.”

THE DECLARATION

*For as much as you, KEVIN & LILLY,have consented together in marriage and have pledged your faithfulness to each other in the sight of God and in the presence of your friends and family; and have confirmed the same by joining of hands and the giving and receiving of rings; I now, therefore, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and by the province of Ontario pronounce you husband and wife. Whom, therefore, God has joined together let not anyone ever pull apart.*

KISS ONE ANOTHER

KEVIN, you may kiss your bride!

SIGNING OF LICENSE

• Music during signing

ANNOUNCEMENTS

We will have a social hour from 4:30-5:30

and reception to follow all at the fairway room

PRESENTATION

And now, I would like to introduce for the first time as a married couple MR & MRS. KEVIN NOAH RAYNER.

RECESSIONAL