Untitled Sermon (6)

Micah Heathcock and Baylie Eastman (5-16-2020)

ALL RISE! (When bride comes out!) Then… Please be seated…

WELCOME

Family and Friends, welcome and thank you for being here to witness and celebrate the marriage of Micah and Baylie!I know words cannot express their appreciation for you being here to share this moment.

Micah and Baylie, not only are your closest friends and family here, but Christ is here with us celebrating as well. He is here today, and He will be with you in your marriage every day to come, as you stay close to Him.

GIVING OF THE BRIDE: Who gives this woman to be married to this man? _______________.

YOUR LOVE STORY: Micah and Baylie, you have a beautiful love story so far. I remember one of the first times Micah talked to me about Baylie and the story behind their knowing each other and eventual relationship.

The story Micah told... I could tell from that first conversation that is was pretty serious…

Anything Baylie adds…

Your love story has such a wonderful beginning, and then the circumstances of this year only helped to make this happen even sooner. It will be interesting to tell your kids and grandkids that you got married during a pandemic.

Today your love story leads to the best place it could and it will only get better from here.

PERSONAL NOTE: You both mean so much to me personally.

Micah, you have been a constant encouragement to me. Your steady, straightforward, consistently positive attitude is rare and refreshing. You are a peacemaker and strong. Baylie you are blessed that God has given you Micah to marry.

Baylie, your glowing, outgoing personality and enthusiasm for Christ has always been an encouragement to me as I know it is to everyone you meet.

Your maturity and positive determination and kind heart are going to bless your marriage so much. Micah you are blessed that God has graciously given you Baylie.

It has been awesome to watch your relationship grow into what it is today, and I cannot wait to see how it will grow more and more.

What I appreciate most about each one of you is one of the best things you have in common: you love God and love to serve Him and others. You are already good at serving together. I can’t wait to see how God uses you to serve side-by-side in the future. I know He will you use powerfully.

I am grateful for the efforts you have both taken to be ready for this day and what will come after it. Now I want to pray that will God bless you and your future family very richly.

(Trans: As we begin…let us go to God in prayer…)

Prayer; “Dear Lord and Father, We thank you, for the beauty and the joy of this occasion. And we ask, that all you blessings would be poured out on Micah and Baylie in their union together. As they commit their lives to one another today, help them to go into this relationship with all of their hearts, souls, minds and strength. We pray dear God that nothing be stronger than their devotion to one another except their devotion to You. Help them, Father, to be even more powerful in your service because they are together.

Trans: Before you vow your lives to one another let me encourage you with what scripture says that applies to your marriage today.

MESSAGE: MARRIAGE IS A LIFELONG COVENANT YOU MAKE WITH EACH OTHER AND WITH GOD!

Marriage was created and designed by God to be a lifelong covenant and commitment to one another and within that a covenant to God.

By entering this covenant with each other you are not only making marriage vows to one another you are making a commitment to God that you will live out those vows.

So, you cannot break the vows you have made to your spouse without breaking your commitment to God to live as He has called you to. Put more positivity, when you fulfill your vows to one another, you are keeping your promise to God to be the husband and wife you promised today to be.

Your relationship with one another is intimately intertwined with your relationships with God. They cannot be separated even for a moment and

when you love and serve your spouse you are loving and serving God.

Having said that, seek to live out your role and husband and wife not as you see others do it in the world, and not even how you may want to primarily, but as God has called you to. If you do this your marriage will be blessed immeasurably and continually. Go to God and His word to mold you to be who He wants you to be in your marriage.

TRANS: AS YOU LIVE OUT THIS COVENANT WITHONE ANOTHER AND GOD ALWAYS BE MINDFUL OF WHAT GOD HAS CALLED YOU TO BE WITHIN IT!

MICAH, God has called you to:

BE FAITHFUL TO AND LOVE BAYLIE SACRIFICIALLY

Ephesians 5:25 - “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,” He has also called you to…

TO BE CONSIDERATE OF, UNDERSTAND, HONOR AND RESPECT BAYLIE

1 Peter 3:7 says, “husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman” He has also called you to…

SEE BAYLIE AS THE GIFT FROM GOD THAT SHE IS. (right, Baylie? :)

Considering this you should invest in her more than anything else besides God. See her as more important than any possession or position or accomplishment you desire.

· Proverbs 19:14 “Houses and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the Lord.”

· Again, Micah God has called you to…

TO LEAD BAYLIE AND YOUR HOUSEHOLD IN HIS WAYS

· Ephesians 5:23 states, “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.”

· As you do this you are not leading alone, Christ is with you…

BAYLIE, God has called you to:

TO FOLLOW MICAH’S LEAD AND RESPECT HIM AS HE SUBMITS TO CHRIST’ LEADSHIP

Colossians 3:18-19 says, “Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.”Ephesians 5:33 states, “However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”These verses demonstrate how the husband and wife work in tandem to fulfill one another and God’s will.

TO BE MORE FOCUSED ON THE INNER BEAUTY OF YOUR HEART THAN OUTER ADORNMENT.

1 Peter 3:4 speaks to wives saying, “but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.”When you do this God not only sees the beauty He created in you, but your spouse, children and the world sees Christ.

Trans: also consider God’s calling that applies to both of you:

God has called each of you to:

KNOW WHAT LOVE IS AND LIVE IT OUT TOWARD ONE ANOTHER

1 Corinthians 13 describes this kind of love, it says, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast; it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (God has called each of you to…)

SEEK TO FULFILL THE NEEDS OF YOUR SPOUSE

AS 1 Corinthians 7:4-5 says but also seek to fulfill each other’s needs in every other area.

HAVE AND UNENDING LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER WITHOUT JEALOUSY

· Song of Songs 8:6-7 says; “Set me as a seal upon your heart,

as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death,

jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire,

the very flame of the Lord. Many waters cannot quench love,

neither can floods drown it.”

THESE VERSES DEMONSTRATE THAT MARRIAGE DONE THE WAY ITS DESIGNER INTENDED IS NOT FOCUSING ON YOUR WANTS AND NEEDS FIRST; BUT FULFILLING THE FATHER’S WILL AND YOUR SPOUSES NEEDS. WHEN EACH ONE of you DOES THIS NO ONE IS EVER NEGLECTED. SO…

LET THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE IN YOUR MARRIAGE NOT BE SELF, OR EVEN YOUR SPOUSE, BUT GOD, AND THEN YOUR SPOUSE.

As you live in your marriage from this day forward, do not live in it for yourself…live for GOD AND your spouse. MiCAH, put BAYLIE first before yourself… Look to fulfill her needs before your own. Give her the love she desires and that Christ commands and has for His church. BAYLIE, likewise put MicAH before yourself… Look to fulfill his needs before your own. Seek to give MicAH the respect that he desires and God’s word instructs.

But even before each other, put God first in your marriage! Live daily in your marriage that the most important One in it is God and as long as God is in the middle of your home as its foundation…it will stand.

TRANS: I TELL YOU THESE THINGS SO THAT YOU WILL…

(SEEK FULFILLMENT IN GOD FIRST AND YOU WILL FIND IT IN EACH OTHER.)

As you begin your marriage relationship today it’s my hope that you realize that you cannot have complete fulfillment in one another until you first find complete fulfillment through Christ. So it is my prayer that as your each grow closer to Christ you grow closer and become more and more devoted to each other.

Micah and Baylie what you are entering into today is one of His greatest creations and its strength depends on not just how intertwined your relationship is but how all three of you; you, your spouse and God and wrapped up in one another.

Trans: there are two images that illustrate this truth; the three-fold cord and the eternal triangle.

THE STRENGTH OF A THREEFOLD CORD

Through Solomon God said in the book of ECCLESIASTIES CHAPTER 4:9-10:

“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Two will withstand…—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

Your marriage is much like this. Each of you is a strand in the cord and as you are wrapped up in commitment to one another you are strong but when God is the third strand in the cord of your marriage it will not be broken. Two are better than one but “a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” Let your marriage always be a threefold cord consisting of each of you and God as the strongest strand that keeps you together. Do not only be wrapped up in each other but be wrapped up together in God.

THE ETERNAL TRIANGLE:

It has also been said that the ideal marriage is like an eternal triangle, with each of you at the bottom of the triangle and God at the top. In that triangle, the closer each of you gets closer to God, the closer you become to one another. So, I encourage you to put everything you have into your marriage and most of all put God in the center of your lives and marriage.

WEDDING VOWS (Will you now please face one another and join hands.) MICAH and BAYLIE, please never stop vowing your love and devotion to one another through not only words but action. Today we ask you to pledge your love for each other both before God and everyone here.

And so, MICAH, promising before God, do you take BAYLIE to be your 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, to honor and to cherish for as long as you both shall live? [I do]

And, now BAYLIE, promising before God, do you take Micah to be your 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, to honor and to cherish for as long as you both shall live? [I do]

Just as you have done today, please never stop vowing your love and devotion to one another through not only words but actions

EXCHANGE OF RINGS. [Micah gives Baylie ring first]

Having vowed your covenant of love to each other, you will exchange rings now as a continual sign of your commitment. The wedding rings which you are about to give and to receive symbolize the vows and unending commitment that you have shared with one another.

RINGS WITH PLEDGE

Now, MICAH, place this ring on BAYLIE’s left hand and repeat after me:

With this ring . . .

I pledge my faithful love and undying devotion . . .

to you and you alone. . . .

With all that I have . . .

and all that I am . . .I make this commitment to you . . .

[Hand Ring to BAYLIE] And BAYLIE, likewise, as you place this ring on MICAH’s hand, repeat after me:

With this ring . . .

I pledge my faithful love and undying devotion . . .

to you and you alone. . . .

With all that I have . . .

and all that I am . . .

I make this commitment to you . . .

Each time you see these rings, be reminded of the love you hold for each other and of the promises you have made this day.

May the love and commitment you have for one another be unending just like the circles these rings make.

May you be as proud of these rings every day of your marriage as you are today.

PRAYER OF DEDICATION

Let’s go to God once more to ask His blessing on your union;

Prayer of Blessing: “Lord God, gracious father, we come before you on this day with joy and thanksgiving in our hearts because of these two that have come together in your name. Thank you for bringing them together and to this place today. It is our prayer that you would be with them from this day forward. Bless them Father with all the strength, love & guidance they need for the years to come.

PROCLAIMATION OF MARRIAGE:

MICAH AND BAYLIE, because you have made your vows here in the presence of God and all these witnesses, by the authority given me by the State of MISSISSIPPI, I now pronounce you, Husband and Wife. “What God has joined together, let no man separate.”

MICAH, “You may kiss your bride.”

INTRODUCTION OF MR AND MRS MICAH HEATHCOCK;

Ladies and Gentleman, friends and family, it is my honor and pleasure to present to you for the very first time: Mr and Mrs MICAH HEATHCOCK!

Recessional: MICAH and BAYLIE would now like to invite each of you to STAY FOR THE reception which will BE RIGHT AFTER THIS.... Thank you, you are dismissed.