Eubanks Wedding 2025

Welcome

Welcome Family and friends! We are gathered here today in the sight of God to celebrate the marriage of Kris and Jesse. In the time they have been together, their love and understanding of each other has grown and matured, and now we celebrate that they have decided to live their lives together as husband and wife.

Prayer

Message

Every story has a beginning. Fiction and non-fiction share this major quality, they begin. Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away. Our lives and our world are no exception. The bible gives us the very beginning of time in 4 simple words, “In the beginning, God…” With those simple words everything we know began. The story begins taking shape as God declares, “Let there be light.” But then He says something that catches our attention. He saw that it was “good”. In fact 7 times God uses the word “good” to describe His creation. Let’s go through this together: Light - it was “good” Sky, Earth and Sea - it was “good” Vegetation and Fruit trees - it was “good” Sun and Moon - it was “good” Fish and Birds - it was “good” Land Creatures - it was “good” Then the story shifts for this 7th “good” Look at the end of Genesis 1 and the creation of man: Genesis 1:26-31 ESV 26 Then God said, “Let us make man[h] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. After everything God had made notice that it wasn’t until after God created man in His image that He said that everything was “very good”. But right after that we see another strange occurrence. Genesis 2:18, “The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” So, Eve is created and what are the first words out of Adam’s mouth? Woah, man… 23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” I have three points that I want you to leave here remembering. If nothing else, keep these 3 things in your head for the rest of your lives. 1.) Kris and Jesse, I want you to start this journey by remembering this basic but extraordinary fact: You are BOTH made in the image of an almighty and loving God. Don’t ever forget that. We were all created to glorify a loving and merciful God. It is so important that you guys remember this as the foundation of your marriage even when, no ESPECIALLY when things don’t go quite how you imagined them. And I must apologize Kris, when it says image it is not referring to your looks. You’ll have to take that up with genetics. See, if you can lay your marriage on a foundation that you were made to live according to the calling placed on your life by the God who created you then you will be able to LOVE according to the God who created you. Paul tells us exactly what that love should look like in his first letter to the Corinthians: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[a] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love is the glue that holds a marriage together. When they take too long in the bathroom, when you are annoyed because they chew too loud or they left the toilet seat up, when they snore or talk in their sleep, when you wake up to the glorious morning breath, when you face tough times, when the kids are grown up and moved out, what do you have to hang on to? Love. And who better to share this love with than the one that God created for YOU? 2.) Jesus takes us back to Genesis with this quote from the Gospel of Matthew: Matthew 19:4-6 4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” After this union 2 separate people now become 1. This was designed from the very beginning. God knew both of you from the foundation of the Earth and he said, “I have joined Kris and Jesse together and nothing on Earth will separate them.” Don’t get me wrong, I do NOT believe in “the one”. Some fairytale life where each and every person has 1 perfect match and everyone else is garbage. But, I do believe that God places us in the right place at the right time to meet someone who, if we play our cards right, will be the one that we will walk through the rest of our lives with. But unfortunately God does not make us perfect and exactly alike when we get married. No, marriage is the joining of 2 very different and very flawed individuals and putting them in a house together and telling them to “figure it out”. This means that you guys will fight and you will disagree, there will be times you can’t stand to be in the room together. But that’s when you remember the 2 things we have talked about: you are both made in the image of God and what God has joined together, let no one separate. I heard someone say once that “divorce is always an option because that means I am choosing to stay with you.” That’s a load of bologna. Divorce is never an option. If you are in a burning building you can either give up and leave the other person to fend for themselves OR you can work things out and find a way out TOGETHER. When Jesus said, “let no man separate” he meant it. So you have 2 options: be those married couples in 50 years that are hunched over griping about each other walking down the street miserable because they are stuck together, or you can be the couple 50 years down the road that cannot keep their hands off each other, still romanticizing each other, not stuck together, but united together. But how do we get to that place in marriage? Paul, thankfully, gives us that instruction manual as well. 3.) The last thing I want you to leave here with is the knowledge that you are now the least important person in this union. In Ephesians, Paul gives instructions to both the wives and the husbands. Now, you guys will think I’m crazy for whipping out the “S” word at a wedding, but bear with me. I promise God knew what He was doing when this was written. Fair warning, if I hear one “amen” I am coming down and smacking you. Ephesians 5:22-24 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 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. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. The word “submit” has gotten such a bad reputation in modern times. We think of the word submit and we tend to think of wrestlers holding each other to the ground in a choke hold waiting for the other to submit and tap out. Now, it can sure feel like that sometimes, but listen to this part again, “The husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church.” Jesse, this is your most important role as a wife to Kris. Kris is called to be the leader of your family and with that leadership comes a burden that is not a light one. I will dig into that in a minute, I just want you to hear this. By honoring Kris and his decisions when he leads your family you are making him rich. Don’t believe me? Listen to Proverbs 12:4, “An excellent wife is the crown of her husband” Kris may be the head, but Jesse you are his Crown. Without you he is just a man, but by uniting to him, he finds favor with God and becomes royalty. Submitting to Kris will not always be easy, that is why it is compared to the church and Christ. When we are called to do something for God it is not always easy to submit to the will of the Father, but when we believe that God knows what is best for our lives then we will always come out better when we listen to Him. Now, the glaring issue here is that Kris is not God. He’s not perfect or all knowing. He is going to make the wrong choice, but you have to have faith that whatever Kris is doing is coming from a desire to lead your family in the way of Jesus. And I promise that even when he makes the wrong move you guys will come out not only closer to each other, but closer to God because you can learn from the mistake together. It looks like the verse in Ruth: But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Your lives have just become one. So, Jesse, I must tell you that there are only 3 verses there written as an instruction to the wife. Kris over here gets 8, and that’s not just because he’s a stubborn, hard-headed man. Listen to what Paul writes to Kris: 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 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.[a] 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” Kris, you are called to lay your very life down for the sake of your wife. That is true in every sense. Everything you do is to make your wife holy. You are to lead her as Christ leads the church, up to and including death. You die to yourself everyday. You give yourself up by sacrificing your own comfort so that she can be comfortable. That could mean: working 2 jobs to make ends meet, waking up at 3 am when the kids won’t go to sleep, listening to her talk about her day even when the guys asked you to hang out. You are to sanctify her by the washing of the word. Kris, every single part of your life MUST point her to Jesus. You should be praying with her, reading the bible with her, talking about the things of God with her. She is your forever bible study partner. By talking about the things of God you are preparing her to meet Jesus. You should love her as you love your own body. When your body needs some help you shouldn’t ignore it. You should find the cure to your ailment. When things seem to be going sour, fight for her. Love her. Never stop dating her. Like I said, you are the least important person in this marriage. As long as both of you are meeting the needs of the other over your own needs then everybody’s needs are met. Marriage was created to remind us of our relationship with Christ. Paul finishes this passage by saying: 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. This is the love that Christ has for us. When a couple gets married we see what is called the honeymoon phase. For the first couple of years they are madly in love with each other. The bible actually calls for the men to take a year off to “be happy with his wife”. And let me tell you they did not just sit around watching TV for a year. This fiery, exciting, energetic, never ending love is the exact kind of Love that Jesus has for each and every one of us. Romans tells us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us to purify us in the sight of God. He laid down His own life for the lives of people that could never pay Him back. He does not care what your past looks like, the love in His eyes is calling you to himself. He wants you as you are, right now, to come to a loving and lasting relationship with Him. Christ doesn’t expect you to change your life before you get to Him, no, he expects you to be changed by the very power of His sacrifice on the cross. Romans 2:4 tells us, “Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?” Today is a celebration of new lives beginning in the union of Kris and Jesse, but these 2 would gladly give up their day to see just one of their friends and family make the bold decision to turn their lives to a God who loves them. John 3:16

I Do’s

Kris, do you solemnly agree before God and these witnesses to take Jesse to be your lawful, wedded wife; to love and respect her, honor and cherish her, in sickness and in health, in prosperity and in adversity; and, leaving all others, to keep yourself only unto her, so long as you both shall live? I Do Jesse, do you in like manner solemnly agree to receive Kris as your lawful, wedded husband; to love and respect him; and to live with him in all faith and tenderness, in health and in sickness, in prosperity and in adversity; and leaving all others to keep yourself only unto him, so long as you both shall live? I Do

Vows

Please join hands and repeat the following lines after me: I, Kris, take you, Jesse, to be my wedded wife; and I do promise and covenant, before God and these witnesses, to be your loving and faithful husband, in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live. I, Jessie, take you, Kris, to be my wedded husband, and I do promise and covenant, before God and these witnesses, to be your loving and faithful wife, in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live.

Unity Cross

This cross is a symbol of not only your commitment to each other but also your commitment to God. In everything you do, keep Christ at the center and your lives will reflect the eternal love of our Father in Heaven.

Ecclesiastes 4:9–12 ESV

9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Rings The ring, an unbroken circle, represents unending love. As often as either of you look upon these rings, may you be reminded of this moment and the love you have promised to one another. Jesse, as you receive this ring from Kris, remember that it is a symbol of his love and commitment to you, and wear it as a token of your love and devotion to him. Kris, as you receive this ring from Jesse, remember that it is a symbol of his love and commitment to you, and wear it as a token of your love and devotion to her.

Unity Sand

This sand shows us a symbol of the combining of 5 unique parts. Each part, unique in every way, hold a special place of unity next to the grains of sand around it. It would be impossible to remove each grain of sand without bringing a piece of the ones around it.

In the same way, your family, while made up of individual people , has just become one unit. After today your lives will begin to reflect one another. You will share joys and sorrows. But most of all you will share love.

Prayer

Please take a few moments to join us in praying for Kris and Jesse as they begin their lives as husband and wife. Gabe prays

Pronouncement

By the authority committed unto me as a Minster of the gospel, I, according to the ordinance of God and the law of the state, declare Kris and Jesse now Husband and Wife. Kris, you may kiss your bride First Kiss Family and friends, I am proud to present Mr. and Mrs. Kris Eubanks!

After recessional Please join the wedding party for a reception in the lobby. The family will remain outside for pictures before heading to the reception.