This wedding service can be adapted to aid anyone in the preparation of a good solid message of encouragement for husband and wife. I have changed the places where I normally use the couples names to read..
husband and wife.
Friends and Family we rejoice today for the occasion for which we have gathered together.
Today in the sight of God and these many witnesses we come to celebrate the marvelous miracle of marriage.
We come to share in this special time where these two individuals who were created by God have brought themselves together to acknowledge their love for one another as husband and wife.
husband and wife come today to celebrate the miracle of marriage.
**Who gives this woman to be married to this man**
**Prayer__________________________________
Marriage is meant by God…. to be joyful, and meaningful and marvelous….however marriage is not with out its challenges and sometimes even struggles.
This is why it is good for us to consider how Jesus Christ is the true miracle in marriage that brings joy, and celebration in the good times and who also brings peace and security in the those challenging moments that marriage may face.
I have always marveled at the occasion of which Jesus chose to perform His first miracle.
Jesus did not choose his first miracle to take place at the temple or church.
Jesus did not choose his first miracle to take place in the streets or in the marketplace.
He did not choose His first miracle to take place at the bedside of the lame or the blind or the injured but Jesus chose a wedding as the first place to ever perform a public miracle.
Jesus chose a wedding to share His first miracle.
For me that says something special.
I think that we can find some real application within the Scripture of John’s Gospel chapter 2 as to how Christ is the miracle of marriage.
The Bible shares with us about that marriage event that took place in a location called Cana.
For God’s Word says
2 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there,
2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
3When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
4 “Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”
5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so,
9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside
10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
11 This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.
Let us consider the real miracle of Marriage as we find it in these words of Scripture we just heard.
The first thing we should notice is that
The miracle of marriage is great when you invite Jesus to the marriage.
Today we find at this gathering friends and family members, perhaps there are even neighbors here.
Yet the most important person to invite to your marriage is Jesus….
wife and husband I encourage you to not only have invited Jesus.... not just to be present in the ceremony today but in every aspect of your marriage for all of your days….know that you have invited Jesus to your marriage.
Most believe that Jesus journeyed about 2 days from where He was to come to that wedding we read about.
Even though it was a two-day journey walking the whole distance Jesus came to the wedding.
He had been invited.
Jesus today greatly desires for wife and husband that not only would they invite Him to be present in this ceremony but He desires that they would invite Him to be in the midst of their marriage always and forever.
It is God’s plan that wife and husband invite Jesus Christ to be the bond that will hold them together and help them to love one another in ways deeper and higher than they could imagine loving one another without Jesus in their marriage.
wife and husband… the miracle of marriage begins for you…. in knowing that you have INVITED Jesus Christ into your own lives and also in knowing that you have invited Him to your combined life as husband and wife.
A second thing for us to notice in our hope for Jesus to be the Miracle in our marriage is that
As Husband and wife you can bring all your needs to Jesus.
There are no marriages that are exempt from some sort of trail or difficulty.
While a couple is in love and dating it may seem as everything is perfect and completely smooth sailing but when in marriage you find your ship tossed about through gusting winds and stormy circumstances I encourage you wife and husband to go to Jesus with your needs.
Mary the mother of Jesus noticed that the wedding banquet had run out of wine and there was still many guests and much celebrating that needed to continue.
What did Mary do…?
She went to the one she knew she could turn to help with the need…she called on Jesus.
For wife and husband who stands before me….
… I wish I could promise that they would always have nothing but rainbows and sunshiny days...
but in reality I want you to know that when storm clouds do roll into your life REMEMBER as Husband and Wife to bring all your needs to Jesus for He is the greatest help in your lives and in your marriage.
Finally this day I encourage you as you seek to make Jesus the miracle in your marriage and do so by
Giving to Jesus What You Have so That He Can Take it and Make It Even Better
There that day at the wedding in Cana where the wine had run out…there were 6 somewhat ordinary jars.
The Jars were empty… Jesus told the servants at the celebration to fill them with water.
Water would have been sort of a let down to the wedding guests.
(I mean)...After all they had been drinking wine.
Yet Jesus took what was made available and He made it something greater….something even better.
The Lord is certainly experienced in taking what is made available to Him and making it something greater.
He took a sling shot and a few stones in the hands of a young man named David and allowed it to be the powerful weapon that BROUGHT DOWN a towering giant.
Then on a hillside one day where thousands of people had gathered Jesus took a good thing (the small lunch of fish and bread that one boy had brought) and Jesus multiplied it into a feast that fed thousands.
At a wedding in Cana Jesus took the water that was available and turned it not only into wine but into excellent wine for the host of the wedding feast had said
“Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
wife and husb. although you right now you may feel as though you love one another in the most fullest way possible…I want to assure you that the even better part of your love for one another is yet to come.
The best part of your love and marriage is yet to come if you give to Jesus what you have so that He can make it even greater that you could imagine.
wife and husband here is my hope for you in marriage.
It is that Jesus would be the miracle in your marriage as you
Invite Him into your marriage today and forever.
That He will be the miracle in your marriage as you
Take All Your Needs To Him
And that He will be the miracle in your marriage as you..
Take the love you have discovered for one another and give it to Him that He might give it back to you greater and better and fuller than you have ever known.
May you take this encouragement and may God bless your marriage.
(RINGS VOWES)
What token of your affection for one another do you bring this day?
(The Rings)
The ring has for long time served an important symbol
In marriage it represents 2 great trues
The rings are made often times of the finest of metals and serve as the reminder that there is no emotion more special and significant and precious in all creation than love.
The ring also is a perfect circle with no end.
So true is God’s plan for love that it have no end!
(Husband place the ring on the Left hand of wife)
Husband please repeat after me.
I husband....
Take you wife....
to be my wedded wife...
to live together faithfully....
in God’s perfect plan for marriage...
I promise to love you...
I promise to comfort you
in sickness and in health...
in poverty or in wealth
and forsaking all others
I will keep myself only unto you....
so as long as I shall live
(wife place the ring on Husbands left hand)
I wife....
Take you Husband ....
to be my wedded husband...
to live together faithfully....
in God’s perfect plan for marriage...
I promise to love you...
I promise to comfort you
in sickness and in health...
in poverty or in wealth
and forsaking all others....
I will keep myself only unto you....
so as long as I shall live
Husband do you take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife -(I DO)
Bride do you take this man to be your lawful wedded husband -(I DO)
Having pledged your faith and love to each other in the sight of God and these assembled witnesses and having sealed your solemn marriage vows by giving and receiving the rings.
Acting in the authority vested in me as a minister of the Gospel I pronounce you husband and wife.
(You may kiss your bride) Optional
I present to you Mr & Mrs
