The Wedding of Andy and Cathleen

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] um [Music] i [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] um [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] my [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] then [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] [Music] ah [Music] foreign [Music] ah [Music] hello [Music] [Applause] me [Music] [Applause] ah [Music] [Music] so [Music] yes [Music] [Music] so [Music] well who gives this woman to this man in marriage her friends and family andy take kathleen's hand and come on up here help her up the steps you all can be seated if you'd like let you guys join hands this is a very momentous day not just because you're getting married but i'm wearing a tie for the first time in 10 years that's how important you are to me thank you brother and uh andy i've been uh my name is steve hopkins for you that don't know and i'm one of the pastors here at tabaraken and andy and i have worked together along with jim for the past uh nearly five years and and andy and i have become very very close friends we're in a discipleship group together and it's been wonderful to see him grow and i've learned a lot too it's from him it's just wonderful and it's just truly truly my honor to be able to officiate this and see you two come together and begin just a whole new journey in your life together most people think of marriage as kind of an end of of a love relationship but the reality is it's the beginning of a whole new journey with all kinds of bumps and twists in it we'll talk about that for a few moments but those are wonderful times of learning as well and what i'd like to do is begin in prayer just so this is i see this as a worship service and we want to invite the lord to be here in the midst of it so if you join me in prayer heavenly father we want to invite your presence here not only in this assembly but in this marriage we would ask that you'd be in the middle of it father and and and that you would receive glory in it as they begin this new challenge this new journey that they are on uh we pray that you would go before them and that you would guide them and direct them but father today as we're here gathered and witnesses to this wonderful joining together of a man and a woman we want to commit them to you at this point and acknowledge your presence and your power and your might in christ's name amen amen it's interesting we oftentimes think that in marriage we tend to think that it's a creation of man but i think it's important to realize that this whole institute of institution of marriage was god's idea in fact it says in genesis chapter 2 it says that the lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon adam and he slept and took one of the ribs and he closed up the flesh instead thereof and the rib which he the lord god had taken from man made he made a woman and brought her unto the man and adam said this is now bone of my flesh and flesh of my flesh and she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh and they were both naked the man and his wife and they were not ashamed i love that you know adam caused a great head shut up it's your fault huh i've been married for 46 years and sometimes i get so mad at my wife i want to take my rib back you know but uh but i think it's it's you know i love this picture that you know god saw that man was lonely and so he created a help me for him caused his sleep to come upon him and and he extracted a rhythm from that he fashioned a woman and then god kind of woke him up i think he was excited to show what he had created and and he opened his eyes and wipes the sleep from his eyes and he looks at this wonderful beautiful creature and he went whoo man and that and that became her name but god created marriage he did but the question is that many of us ask is why why did god create marriage for what purpose well because the bible tells us that god saw that he was lonely and he wanted to make somebody that was comparable to him and i want you guys to know this that god intends for marriage to be something that is pleasurable and enjoyed that's why he did he saw that man was lonely and he made it so he created someone that would be a help meet for him so that he wouldn't be lonely anymore and god wants marriage to be something that's pleasurable often times we settle for marriages that are just surviving but god wants this thing that he created to thrive so the question is how can we do that well the bible tells us in ephesians chapter 5 and he says as husbands love your wives as christ loved the church and that word as is a simile in the same way as christ loved the church that's how you love kathleen unconditionally through thick or thin you're going to take vows in a few moments unconditionally here to love her and the bible says that the woman is to submit to her husband which means nothing more than to be cooperative not just not defiant that's all the submission means it doesn't mean you're under his thumb or anything like that it just means that you're cooperative you're striving together in the same way in the same fashion and here's the interesting thing about it is that when we do so we ask ourselves why what is this loving like christ look like while you look at the bible i love the bible because it com not only does it have instructions but it has illustrations and in marriage it says look to jesus how did christ love the church you know how did he love his bride he bore all of her burdens and that's for you bearing all of all of her burdens you know everything that's beating her down that's why we talked about last night it's important for you to listen more than talk you know and for you just to come alongside him and respect him and everything it's amazing men need the respect of their wives and more than anything else we need that and so those are how just two simple ways whereby marriage can be something that's pleasurable loving like jesus and not being contentious so why else did god create marriage and this is what i love the most not only for pleasure but as a picture because let me how do we describe in words the love of christ the unconditional love of christ when we see you a husband love her unconditionally no matter what we got a little bit of an insight into the great unconditional love that christ has for us and when you come alongside andy and respect him and cooperate we get a picture of the submission that christ had in coming to earth as a man because it's a sacrifice it's a sacrifice it really is and when you do that we got a wonderful picture of the submission that christ had to the father and his plan and coming to earth and becoming a man i love that and so guys andy when you take your vows here in a few moments you're committing to loving her unconditionally kathleen when you take your vows not being contentious but coming alongside him and respecting him in all things and you know what god will totally bless this marriage and he'll go before you in all things and so before you take your vows i just want to pray for you very quickly because you're my friends father i thank you so much for these guys and and i'm so happy for them and as we have said lord this is not the end of the road it's the beginning of a whole new journey together it's freedom from loneliness it's one that's a help meet and father i'm so grateful that you brought kathleen into his life because andy and i have wept together we've cried together we've yelled at each other and father yet i know his heart i think i know him as well as anybody can and i know his desire father and i know what a good man he is and i'm grateful you've given him kathleen and for kathleen i'm so thankful you brought andy into her life because i know what kind of man he is and i know how he'll what he will bring to her life but father marriage has bumps and hurdles for these guys uh and i would ask that you would be with them and as the ark was before the jews when they went into the land of promise i pray that you the presence of god would go before them as well as they begin this journey together and i pray these things in christ's name amen pastor bobby bah has been a friend of mine for a lot of years but he's also had he's one of the pastors here he's also had a lot of input into your guys's lives and bobby wants to come up here now and he will lead you in the taking of your vows understand this as bobby's coming up that solomon said that a vow once given was not to be broken and i think he knew what he was talking about when it came to vows in marriage because he had over 700 wives so so think about that you know but remember that but pastor bobby wants to lead you guys right now and taking of your vows it's a blessing to be here with you guys to have spent time with you in premarital counseling and working through some things and good things and being able to hear your heart get to know you kat and andy you're love for your wife to be and so it's a privilege to be able to lead you through these vows and to witness what god is going to do because this is probably the most solemn thing and most powerful thing that takes place here today because of your words and your words will be uttered from your heart and god sees them as binding and as you speak those words their words of life and god will take them and he will do this this metaphysical thing we don't we don't get but he does it he will form you into one and that is beautiful and it's powerful so with that in mind will you repeat after me kathleen andy i love you andy i love you i prayed that god would lead me to his choice i prayed that god would lead me to his choice and i praise him that tonight and i praise him that tonight his will is being fulfilled his will is being fulfilled i kathleen take you andy i kathleen take you andy to be my husband to be my husband to have and to hold to have and to hold from this day forward from this day forward for better for worse for better for worse for richer for poorer for richer for poorer in sickness and in health in sickness and in health to love honor and cherish to love honor and cherish till death do us part till death do us part according to god's holy law according to god's holy law in the presence of god in the presence of god i make this vow i make this vow and you have a ring your eyes got a little big where's the [Laughter] ring place it on his left hand very good now andy will you repeat after me kathleen i love you i prayed that god would lead me to the to his choice i prayed that god would lead me to his choice and i praise him that tonight and i praise him that tonight his will is being fulfilled his will is being fulfilled i andy take you kathleen i andy take you kathleen to be my wife to have and to hold to be my wife to have and to hold from this day forward from this day forward for better for worse for better for worse for richer for poorer for richer for poorer in sickness and in health in sickness and in health to love honor and cherish to love honor and cherish till death do us part until death do us part according to god's holy law according to god's holy law in the presence of god i make this vow in the presence of god i make this vow and do you have a ring kathleen i'm going to say or have you repeat um you've already put the ring on andy's finger but would you repeat this i give you this ring as a sign of our covenant i give you this ring as a sign of our covenant with all that i am with all that i am and all that i have and all that i have i honor you i honor you andy would you repeat after me i give you this ring as a sign of our covenant i give you this ring as a sign of our covenant with all that i am with all that i am and all that i have and all that i have i honor you i honor you that's good stuff well it's a great honor that steve and i get to pronounce you as man and wife because the state of organ says we can but more importantly jesus has allowed us to do the ceremony because he created marriage and so we pronounce you husband and wife you mean now you can say it together you may now kiss your beautiful bride we have a three second rule this is church [Applause] okay enough of this um i want you guys to know something um these guys are gonna take communion together as their first act as hubs husband and wife they're gonna honor their lord and that they serve and they love and uh they're going to remember uh the shed blood and and uh the broken body of our savior jesus christ but i want you guys to know something before we do that and that is this you guys have just made vows and vows that will should not will not be broken but i want you to know this too that god is making a vow to you at this very moment and that is this i'll never forsake you and i'll never leave you now i did an extensive word study on the greek and the hebrew and what the word never means i came up with great insight it means never and so would you pray with these it's deep it's deep but i want you to know that he's making about he'll never leave you and he'll never forsake you and so as your first act of marriage bobby and i are going to lead you both in uh communion over here and if you guys would just pray for them that'll be awesome so why don't you guys join us back here [Music] so [Music] so [Music] do [Music] so [Music] [Music] well it's our privilege to present to you actually turn around and face these people wait a minute have you guys paid us yet hey it's our privilege to present to you mr and mrs andy and kathleen sanders go ahead [Music] go ahead folks there's a reception in our cafe over here everybody is welcome and you can meet uh the the mr mrs sanders you can meet them and talk with them and give them hugs and and congratulations in prayer so thank you for coming you are all invited because you mean something to them and this is an important event for them so god bless you all [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Table Rock

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Id: p4pi5faj8MU

Length: 35min 59sec (2159 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 30 2021