"The Invisible Guest At Our Wedding" Series

c. Nearly 24 years ago, I had my first and only experience reciting my “marriage vows” as a young 21 year old man.

d. I remember as if it was last week-end, … my hands dripped with sweat … my heart accelerated as I gave thoughts to the idea that DEDRA would soon stand beside me …

**************TAKE 5 BEATS***********

MOVE 2: In my mind, Dedra would be the wife of my youth; the wife of my Middle Age, and the wife of my Golden Years too.

a. In fact, I can still hear the original words of the late Bishop Lawrence Charles Callahan, Sr., (Founder of Philippian Community Church of Jacksonville, Florida) as he uttered, ..

b. Kenneth … do you take Dedra to be your beloved wife …

c. … to have and to hold … for better or for worse …

d. … forsaking all others … for the rest of your life …and I said to him … I DO.

e. But more importantly, my brothers and my sisters, as I uttered I DO to Dedra … in response to Bishop Callahan’s question, …

************TAKE 5 BEATS************

MOVE 3: I was also uttering I do to GOD.

a. In other words, I made a VOW to God that I would FORSAKE ALL OTHERS for DEDRA!

b. The word forsake means to abandon …

c. … to disown … to give up …

d. … to turn your back one … and to leave … all others …

e. In other words, … my VOWS included a promised NOT TO CHEAT … on Dedra!

***************TAKE 5 BEATS*********

MOVE 4: Now, the Bible says, in Numbers 30:2, “If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.”

a. In other words, it’s a dangerous thing to make a vow unto the LORD and NOT keep it!

b. In The Book of Malachi, today, which is separated from the Book of Mathew by more than 400 years, …

c. … we find that Marriage Vows (like in April 2007) were being broken left and right.

d. Jewish Men were marrying unbelievers who had zero knowledge of Israel’s God.

e. As a result, they were having children whom were not receiving training by their mothers to worship God and God alone.

f. Marriages, in Malachi’s Day, were responsible for the breakdown in Godly Focused Families and society becoming more and more immoral.

*************TAKE 5 BEATS************

MOVE 5: Believers spiritual lives were declining.

a. Bible Study attendance were plummeting.

b. Folks were able to watch sport entertainment for hours; but they wanted their sermons to be micro waved.

c. As one writer said, and I quote: “Couples were like passing ships in the night.

d. They were hardly speaking.

e. They were living as two instead of one?

f. Unfortunately many marriages, today, can be described in that same way.

*************TAKE 5 BEATS**********

MOVE 6: After the vows are spoken, Satan starts pulling tricks out his bag.

a. Jobs, mortgages, cars, children, daycare, in-laws, and a multiplicity of other life challenges and temptations can quickly take their toll on a loving relationship.

b. For don’t you remember, when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, their actions not only brought the fall of man;