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Of his body. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two.
Shall become one flesh.
This history is brief, but I am speaking in the preference to Christ and the Church. Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife, even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.
A marriage is God's institution, is God's idea, and God blesses this union between a man and a woman. Both of you have grown up in a Christian environment where they stick with sound doctrine and good teaching.
That means that both of you have no excuse to be squishy or uncommitted on the doctrine of marriage.
And you know what a marriage is.
You've seen a model in your own home, and you've been taught well as to what that marriage union is.
And what marriage is all about.
So I'm going to speak to the witnesses here.
For just a moment.
So I'll ask the two of you in the two years to second. Marriage is a symbol of the relationship that exists between Jesus Christ and his people. It was intended by God to picture the relationship between Christ and his Church, which is redeemed in this age.
And it is intended to picture the saving relationship that Christ has and the sanctifying relationship that Christ has with us, his people, with those who are in Christ and who know him as Savior and Lord.
The evidence of our sinfulness and our need for a Savior is all around us. We see the evidence of it in our own conscience, in the fact that we know that we have done wrong.
We have violated God's law.
We stand without the repentance of faith and without the work of Jesus Christ. We stand condemned.
We have lied. We have stolen.
We have blasphemed God's name. We have taken things that do not belong to us. We are lawbreakers. From the moment of our birth, we go astray, and our hearts are wicked, desperately wicked. And we need a Savior.
That is evident to us in the fact that we.
Violate the Ten Commandments.
That is evident to us in creation, which is under a curse. And we desperately need a Savior. And that's the bad news. The good news is that God sent his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into this world to take upon himself human flesh,.
So that he could live a perfect life,.
A life that we shouldn't live. But could not and did not. And that he died a perfect death, a death that we deserve to die for our sins. And he offers us salvation, even this day, through repentance and faith.
We turn from our sin and we meet him in the one whom God sent to save us from our sins. That's the good news of the Gospel. Jesus Christ has been saved and redeemed from their sins and born again. We have a new relationship with each other in Moses as a Christ.
But we also, more importantly, have a new relationship with God. He is our Father now. Christ is our brother. And Christ tends for us and cares for us as people. And the relationship that we have with him is pictured in the marriage relationship.
The Church submits to and loves and honors and respects the Word of Jesus Christ. And he leads and guides, provides, protects, sanctifies, makes us holy. And that is what the two of you are called to do.
Our culture distorts this wonderful picture of marriage in so very many ways. Some people think and pretend that the marriage is a contract, something the two people are entering into. This is not a contract.
It's being signed up here. A contract is something that if one of the partners or parties violates the terms of the agreement,.
We simply dissolve it.
This is not just a legal agreement.
Between the group.
Our culture says that marriage is a convenience, something we enter into, because it's cheaper for two people to live together than it is for two people to live separately. And it's not just something we enter into because it's convenient for raising kids or convenient for getting insurance or convenient for tax reasons.
It's not a convenience, nor is it a cultural convention. Marriage is not something that we are able and have authority to define and describe. Marriage is not what the Supreme Court says it is. Marriage is not what our culture says it is.
Marriage is not where we want it to be. God himself has revealed what marriage is, what the marriage covenant is to be, and how it is to be lived out. And he's revealed that in the pages of Scripture.
What we are doing here together is not a contract, it's not a matter of convenience, it's not a cultural convention. This is a covenant. A covenant is two people standing before God making promises to each other and to God in the presence of witnesses.
This is a covenant that is made. This is a holy union between a man and a woman, recognizing God as the center of this relationship. Vows are exchanged before God and witnesses. We recognize that you two have certain obligations to fulfill one another unconditionally in obedience to God.
This is an exclusive union that plans for one woman and one man in a one-plus relationship for one lifetime. You are committing to one another today that you will jealously guard this relationship.
Life and love.
And this is a mystical union. This is a picture of the relationship that Christ has with his people, the Church, calling Scripture to drive Christ. And in this drama that you are playing out,.
The man plays the role of Christ,.
Sacrificing, sanctifying,.
And providing for his bride. He is to guard her, to love her, to serve her, and to sacrifice for her. The woman is to play the role of the Church. She is to respect and honor her husband, submit him to his leadership, and gladly enjoin the delights of all that he provides for her.
Together, you will walk with the Lord.
In obedience to his commands.
And fulfill these obligations to one another. Children, my charge to you, the demands to you are clear. You are to love your bride and cherish her, to serve her, to lead her, to provide for her, to protect her, to seek her highest good and her spiritual growth, to sacrifice all things for her and give your life if necessary.
These are not dependent upon your feelings. These are not conditional obligations. You are to do this in obedience to Christ for the glory of the Father.
And the power of the Holy Spirit.
Melina, the demands to you are clear. You are to love your husband and cherish him, to respect and honor your husband, to submit to him as to Christ, to seek his highest good and his spiritual growth.
These are not dependent upon your feelings. These are not conditional obligations. You are to do this in obedience to Christ for the glory of the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit. And we as witnesses to this covenant also have obligations.
What is being formed here today is a one flesh covenant relationship. It is the holiest relationship possible. It is the most important relationship possible. And whatever your relationship is to the bride and the groom up to this point, that all changes this day.
Everybody in this room, in fact, everybody on this planet,.
Will step up down a notch.
In terms of your importance.
To these two people.
And I implore you, I beseech you, I command you to keep that in mind. Everything's changed. So Shepard, when your friends call you up.
And they want to go out and do something.
Where they want to demand upon your time and your energies and your loyalties, that would threaten this relationship and your relationship with your wife, you stay home.
This comes first.
Melina, when your friends call you up and they demand your loyalties,.
Your affections,.
Your time and your energies that might be detrimental to this relationship and you don't want a relationship,.
You stay home.
Even if I call you up and say, can you come over to my place?
I'll be out this summer.
You both have to come.
That's it.
So parents, family members, and friends, from this point forward,.
Hands off.
Anything that you say or do.
Is plain undermined in any way.
Your faithfulness, love, devotion,.
And commitment to these two, to one another, makes you an enemy of achievement. If you position yourself as an enemy of this marriage,.
You deserve to be treated.
As an enemy of this marriage.
Our responsibility is to cry,.
Is to pray,.
Not to cry.
Our responsibility is to pray,.
Not to cry, and to mentor,.
And not to meddle.
In this relationship.
They need our support and courage.
To keep this covenant faithfully as long as they both shall live. Now, are you ready.
To say your vows to one another?
Okay, Shepard,.
This is your weekend afternoon.
I, Shepard,.
Vow to receive you, Melina Smith, to be my wife,.
My covenant.
I receive you as God's.
Gift to me. I love you,.
And do myself for you,.
As Christ did himself.
For his bride and church.
Shepard, often,.
Wouldn't you take Melina Smith.
To be your wife,.
My covenant,.
Through the habits and goals.
From this day forward,.
For better or for worse,.
For richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, forsaking all others.
As long as you both shall live,.
According to God's holy ordinance,.
Until death separate you. Melina, will you marry me?
I, Melina Smith, receive you, Shepard Osmond,.
To be my husband,.
Gift to me.
I love you with a love.
Only Christ himself.
Has given me.
I submit to your mission as the church does to Christ. Melina Smith,.
Will you take Shepard Osmond.
To be your husband, my covenant,.
For better or for worse, for richer or for poorer,.
In sickness and in health,.
To love and to cherish,.
Forsaking all others.
As long as you both shall live, according to God's holy ordinance, until death separate you. Will you have a ring, too? This ring I give to you.
In faith,.
As a pledge.
Of my constant love and lasting devotion.
It is a symbol of my sacred vows to our Lord Jesus Christ. We have made vows.
To one another.
Before God and his witnesses.
We have given to each other.
A lasting symbol.
Of those vows.
As a nun of Shepard,.
Jesus Christ,.
To be my father,.
To be my joy,.
I ask you, to be magnified.
And to be the history.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to present to you.
Mr. and Mrs. Shabiano.