Alexander Wedding

1. THE PROCESSION

2. Pray- WELCOME/OPENING REMARKS (Nathan)

On behalf of the Alexander and Dierx families, let me welcome you to this celebration of marital union between John and Ellie. Let me tell you that I have known Ellie since 2017 when she went with her brother and I on a mission trip to Houston TX. I remember on that trip spending time with Ellie and thinking how much I wanted my daughters to love Jesus they way she does. As her family and friends, you know this to be true. In her pursuit of Christ-likeness, she prayed that the sovereign Lord Jesus would give her a husband that would also love Jesus in a similarly infectious way. That might seem like a big ask but God does impossible things…even with Florida Gator fans. So by his divine providence, the Lord brought John into her life and as I have gotten to know, I witness and testify that God answered her prayer. Being around John reminds me that the Lord is still at work, pointing young men to Jesus, giving them a passion for His word, and equipping them to one day lead a wife in a Christ-centered way. Now, I get to be one of the pastors in their lives who have the privledge to walk this journey of a biblical marriage and I am thrilled to hold such an honor.

We must also give praise to the Lord for giving them a loving family to surround them with care, support, prayer, and most importantly who pointed their children to the gospel throughout their lives in many different ways. Martin, Susan, Bob, Bonnie, thank you for being faithful to love John and Ellie by pointing them to Jesus as their only source of hope. We also give thanks to other family members and friends who God has placed in their lives providentially at the precise time to be a guide, encourager, strengthener, and a family in Christ.

Now Martin really wants to sit down so let me ask..

3. GIVING AWAY OF BRIDE

Who gives this bride to be married to this man? (HER mother and I)

4. CHARGE FROM NATHAN. PARENTS PRAY OVER COUPLE.

I want to take a few moments to share with us all the responsibilities that are before all of us here today. Obviously, the word of God gives creation instruction for husband and wife, but it also gives instruction for parents, family and friends as well.

Before we look at those responsibilities, let us be reminded that Christ is the focal point of this day. Ellie walked down the aisle as the Bride to be with all eyes affixed on her, but Ellie and John’s greatest desire is for Jesus to be the center of this celebration and union of their lives as one. The reason that Jesus is to be the center of this day is because God’s word highlights the marriage between a man and a woman though the story of God. Think about it with me for a second and let’s see marriage as God’s great plan to glorify himself.

Marriage in Creation

After God created the world and everything in it, he told Adam that it is not good for him to be alone. In the book of Genesis chapter 2, we read:

Genesis 2:20–24 (NASB95)

20 ,…for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. 22 The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23 The man 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 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.

We see from Scripture that the environment that God made was not enough to satisfy man’s relational need. The animals that were created were not enough to satisfy man. God made the first man to desire companionship that only can be fulfilled by a woman. That is not some old fashioned way of life. This is biological and spiritual DNA that God placed within the fabric of all human beings.

God also created that relationship to operate as it’s designer intended under the authority of a Sovereign God. They would submit to the one who made them and who rules over them all the while enjoying His love for them and their love for each other. Marriage reflects God’s love for us and with us.

Now this intentional section of Scripture is the first wedding ceremony in history with God officiating the union of the man and the woman. What we understand here is that God’s design is for marriage to his gift to humanity and for humanity to enjoy this gift as He designed it, between a man and a woman. In enjoying the gift as God intended, this newly married couple then engage in the worship and glory of God.

This charge for John and Ellie begins with the command to live as husband and wife the way that God designed and intended you to live. Do not try to subvert the word or will of God and infuse marriage strategies from others that are contrary to the word of God. Marriages in this world experience the greatest fulfillment and blessing when they are lived as God intended it to be.

This means that God designed for you John to lead in a way of sacrificial and loving leadership. Being the head of the home is not being the ruler of the roost. It is sacrificial leadership that God demands of husbands to properly lead their wives and families well. Ellie, God designed you to be the submissive and tender wife, not trying to take the reins away from John’s god-given role. Instead, he calls you patiently and lovingly trust the Lord to develop John and to bring about His plans for your marriage. You are serve him and your family with strength and in return John will see you as ultimate above all women.

Parents, this display of the marriage union in Genesis also teaches parents the importance of separation with this new family. God tells us in Gen 2:24

Genesis 2:24 NASB95

24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.

Here parents are reminded that John and Ellie now set off at the beginning of their marriage, as one flesh. They are no longer under your responsibility to be cared for as they were before. Instead, they are dependent on the Lord to provide and dependent on one another. This calls parents to great faith in Christ and not to fear. This leads parents to be greater prayer warriors for this new couple instead of seeking to be the savior to their problems. Your charge is to commit to the process of allowing John and Ellie to rightly leave their father and mother and join together as one flesh. The word “cleave” means to be cemented or glued together like two pieces of paper: inseparable, lasting forever.  God’s design for marriage is for your marriage to last as long as you both live on this earth- inseparable.  As they are joined together, they are one in many areas of life: Financially, Emotionally, Spiritually and Intimately.  Both leaving the parents and cleaving to one another assists in their maturity and growth as a married couple and strengthens their faith and dependance upon Christ alone!

Marriage pictured in Christ and the Church

Not only is marriage portrayed between men and women throughout the bible, but the undeniable picture is painted of marriage when Jesus comes into this world and gives his life as the substitute for sinners. He dies in the place for his people, the church, and it that sacrifice, we see the imagery of the marriage relationship. The apostle Paul instructs the chruch in Ephesians 5:22-27

Ephesians 5:22–27 NASB95

22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.

Paul paints for us the picture of redemption in Jesus name. For as Jesus comes sacrificially to die for sinners, He is the TRUE groom laying down his life for His BRIDE, selflessly and willingly. This is not just a model for marriage, this is the good news of salvation. Therefore, the marriage union is about the love of a man and woman but ultimately it is design to point to the loving good news that Jesus gave up his life for His bride, the church.

So we see that John and Ellie must submit themselves first to Christ if they are going to truly expereince the best God intends for their marriage. Daily, they are called to die to themselves and to put on the love of Christ and be filled with the Spirit of Christ so they can love each other and the world well. Ellie, you are called to first submit to the Lord, before you can ever rightly submit to John. John, you are called to trust in the sacrifice of Christ before you can ever represent the sacrificial head of your family.

As they stand here today, patiently waiting for me to stop talking, they stand here representing far more than a local marriage ceremony in Millington, TN. They stand here playing their part in a cosmic theatre picturing the plan of redemption of the Lord Jesus for sinners in a lost a dying world. The created order of God, the angels, the animals, the trees and mountains, cannot reflect God’s glory in marriage like JOhn and Ellie are displaying for us for us today. May Jesus forever be praised!

I know want to invite the parents up to have a moment of private prayer with John and Ellie before we continue with the commencement of marriage.

(Parent’s prayer)

5. CONGREGATIONAL SONG: All Glory Be To Christ led by Adam Johnson; accompanied by Eli Corcoran on Violin

6. EXCHANGE OF VOWS

As you, John, and you, Ellie, have freely and deliberately chosen each other as partners for life would you signify this union by joining hands together. You will now exchange vows with one another by verbally committing yourself to one another.

John: will you receive this woman to be your wedded wife; will you love her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, in poverty and wealth, and forsaking all others, keep yourself only for her so long as you both shall live? John will you commit to these things?

Response, ―I do

John Vows- (Repeat After Me)

I thank God for you and receive you as my helpmate

complete as God intended from the beginning.

I ,will love you as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her.

I , will defend you against physical and spiritual harm.

I, will pray for you daily and be loyal to you.

I will share with you my joys as well as my heartaches,

my strengths and my weaknesses,

my ambitions and my disappointments.

I desire to give you all that I am that

together we may serve God wholeheartedly.

I desire to build with you a home where God is honored

and where the Holy Spirit is free to minister to us and through us,

for as long as we both shall live.

Ellie: will you receive this man to be your wedded husband? Will you love him, honor and keep him, in sickness as in health, in poverty as in wealth; forsaking all others keep thee only unto him so long as you both shall live? John will you commit to these things?

Response, ―I do

(Ellie)

I, too desire to become a part of you,

as God intended from the beginning.

I will love you and honor you.

I will submit myself to you as unto Christ.

I will pray for you daily and be loyal to you.

I will share with you my joys as well as my heartaches,

my strengths and my weaknesses,

my ambitions and my disappointments.

I desire to give you all that I am,

so that together we may serve God wholeheartedly.

I desire to build with you a home where God is honored

and where the Holy Spirit is free to minister to us and through us,

for as long as we both shall live.

7. EXCHANGE OF RINGS

The ring is a perfect circle symbolizing the never-ending love mutually given and received. The precious metal displays that their love is to be kept unmixed and pure for the one who wears the ring. It is designed for one hand alone, affirming the exclusive commitment to one another, which a marriage entails. We understand from history that the ring was worn on the ring finger because it was believed that finger possessed a vein that ran straight to the heart, symbolizing the fidelity in marriage.

John, will you please place the ring on the third finger of his/her left hand and say, ―

I give you this ring,

as a token of the covenant made between us,

and with it I pledge my love to you,

and receive you as my wife,

in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Ellie, will you please place the ring on the third finger of his/her left hand and say, ―

I give you this ring,

as a token of the covenant made between us,

and with it I pledge my love to you,

and receive you as my husband,

in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

8. CLOSING PRAYER FROM NATHAN A Puritan Wedding Prayer adapted by Ric Cannada1

A Puritan Wedding Prayer adapted by Ric Cannada

O God of love, you have established marriage for the welfare and happiness of mankind. Yours was the plan, and only with you can we work it out with joy. You have said, “it is not good for a man to live alone. . . . I will make a helper suitable for him.” Now our joys are doubled, since the happiness of one is the happiness of the other; our burdens are halved, since, when we share them, we divide the load.

Bless JONATHAN. Bless him as provider for the needs of those he loves. Sustain him in all his struggles in the contest of life. May his strength be her protection, his character be her joy and assurance. May he so live that she may find in him the haven for which the heart of a woman truly longs.

Bless ANNIE Give her a tenderness that makes her great . . . a deep sense of understanding and a great faith in You. Give her that inner beauty of soul that never fades, eternal youth that is found in holding fast to the things that never age. May she so live that he may be pleased always to reverence and adore her.

May they never make the mistake of merely living for each other. Teach them that marriage is not living for each other. It is two uniting and joining hands to serve You, the living God. Give them a great spiritual purpose in life. May they seek first the kingdom that is yours, and its righteousness, so that all other things may be added unto them. Loving you best, they shall love each other all the more. And faithful unto You, faithful unto each other they will remain.

May they not expect that perfection of each other that belongs alone to You. May they minimize each other’s weaknesses, be swift to praise and magnify each other’s strengths and beauty, and see each other through a lover’s kind and patient eyes. Give them a little something to forgive each day, that they may grow in the grace of long-suffering and love. And may they be forbearing with each other’s omissions and commissions as You are with theirs. Make such assignments to them according to Your will as will bless them and develop their character as they walk together. Give them enough tears to keep them tender, enough hurts to keep them humane, enough of failure to keep their hands clenched tightly in Yours, and enough success to magnify your name. May they never take each other’s love for granted, but always experience that breathless wonder that exclaims: “Out of all this world, you have chosen me!” Then when life is done, and the sun is setting, may they be found, then as now, still hand in hand, still so proud, thanking you so very much for each other. May they serve You happily, faithfully, together, until at least one shall lay the other in Your arms. This we ask through Jesus Christ, great lover of souls. Amen

9. Gospel Presentation

Marriage Supper Rev 19

10. CLOSING SONG: Doxology (Acapella- Elijah leads)

11. THE KISS AND ANNOUNCEMENT

As a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it is my honor and privilege to officially announce you as husband and wife before God and these witnesses,

Ladies and Gentleman, I would like to present to you Mr. and Mrs. John Alexander

John, you may kiss your bride.

12. THE RECESSIONAL

13: Announcement

- The Bride & Groom invite you to join them at the reception to continue in celebration of this joyous covenant.

We ask that you please make your way to the front entrance of the commissary & begin to grab some dinner!

- Also, for those who have been traveling and will be in town tomorrow, John & Ellie wanted to extend an invitation to you to join their families at Redemption Community Church to gather in fellowship!