Wedding Sermon

Nick and Kim Vogt Wedding

July 9, 2011

5:00 p.m.

• Opening Music

o CD of Instrumental Music

• Seating of parents and grandparents

o CD of Instrumental Music

• Guys come out and stand in their places

o No music

• Attendants come down

o Canon in D

• Bridal Processional

o Wedding March

• Opening Prayer

• Welcome

• Question to Dad

• Scripture Reading – Mark 10:6-9 (Corrine)

• Message

• Vows

• Rings

• Prayer

• Pronouncement

• Kissing of the Bride

• Presentation of bride and groom

• Recessional Music

o Traditional Wedding Recessional

Opening Prayer

A young boy was asked what he learned in Sunday School from the story of Jesus turning water into wine. After thinking for a moment, here’s how he answered, “If you’re having a wedding, make sure Jesus is there!”

Did you know that Jesus liked to go to weddings? In fact, His first miracle was performed at a wedding celebration. Just as Jesus was invited to that first century wedding, let’s invite Him right now to be the central figure in this ceremony and to do a miracle in the marriage of Nick and Kim. Let’s pray…

Our Father, we thank you for the gift of marriage, for the beauty of intimate companionship. Thank you for this taste of your great unconditional love for us. May the vows being stated today by Nick and Kim reflect uniquely to the world this great love and bring glory to your name. And may it remind each of us of the purpose of our marriages and encourage each of us to fulfill the vows that we have made to one another. Thank you for your presence in this service and your presence in the relationship of Nick and Kim. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Welcome and Personal Comments

Welcome to the wedding celebration of Nick and Kim! Thank you for coming today to show your support and commitment to this couple. You have two roles – you are witnesses and you are cheerleaders. I’ve had the privilege of getting to know Nick and Kim well through our premarital sessions over the past six months. It’s been my privilege to be able to share with them God’s plan for marriage. They are very much looking forward to living their married lives under the leadership of Jesus Christ.

Question to Kim’s Dad

Q. “Who gives this woman to be married to this man?”

A. “Her mother and I do.”

Scripture Reading – Mark 10:6-9 (Corrine)

Message

I heard about a couple who went to get their marriage license but when they got to the courthouse, there was a sign on the door with these words: “Out to lunch. Back at 1 o’clock. Think it over.”

I’d like to take a few minutes right now to have you think it over again…though I know you’ve already done that.

The foundational truth to think over is to see that marriage is God’s design and creation. The first verse that Corrine read says this: “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’”

Quoting from the Book of Genesis, Jesus gives each of you three things to think over.

1. Leaving. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother.” God says first of all that when we get married, we need to leave our parents. What this means is that you need to sever the emotional umbilical cord because your loyalty now belongs to your spouse. Your partner should never have to compete with your parents. Leaving your parents does not mean ignoring them or not spending any time with them. It means that your marriage created a new family and that this new family must be a higher priority than your previous family.

The Hebrew word is very strong and means “to cut off, abandon.” We’re never to abandon our parents but we must shift our allegiance so that priority is given to our spouse. Actually, all other relationships must lose their hold on our hearts. Sometime ago a reader wrote into Readers Digest and said, “We were visiting friends when they received a phone call from their recently married daughter. After several tense minutes on the phone, the mother told the father to pick up the extension. The newlyweds had had their first big fight. In a few moments the father rejoined us and tersely explained, ‘She said she wanted to come home.’ I turned to him and asked, ‘What did you tell her?’ The father responded, ‘I told her that she was home.’”

2. Cleaving. “…and be united to his wife.” Second, God says that once you leave, you then need to be committed to permanence. The word “united” literally means to be permanently glued together -- “to melt two separate entities together to form a permanent bond.” It has the idea of joining two things so tightly that they cannot be separated without hurting both things. The idea is similar to being “welded” or “cemented” together. It is a unique joining of two people into one entity.