WEDDING INTRO

We are gathered here today to join together __________ and __________ in holy matrimony.

Who gives this woman in marriage to this man?

Marriage was originated by God. Our thinking on the subject has its basis in the divine revelation we call the Bible.

Marriage was the first institution given for the welfare of humanity. In the garden of Eden, before the tempter had touched the world, God saw that it was not good for man to be alone, so He made a helpmeet suitable for him and established marriage.

Marriage was originated in divine wisdom and goodness. Marriage was designed by God not only to promote human happiness and holiness, but also for our growth as eternal spiritual beings. It was sanctioned and honored by the presence and power of Jesus at the marriage in Cana of Galilee, where He began working His miracles.

Also, the Holy Spirit, speaking through Paul, selected the symbol of husband and wife to describe the union between Christ and His church.

Such a relationship should not be entered into lightly, but reverently, and in the fear of God, after much consideration.

QUESTION TO COUPLE

If it is your intention to take each other as husband and wife, please unite your hands and step forward.

READING OF SCRIPTURE

Marriage was God's idea, and He knows how to make it work. Following any plan other than God's is risky!

So let us now read from God's Word, the Bible.

GENESIS 1:26-28 NKJ
26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion . . . over all the earth . . . ."
27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion . . . ."

GENESIS 2:18 NKJ
18 And the Lord God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him."

MARK 10:6-9 NKJ
6 "But from the beginning of the creation, God `made them male and female.'
7 `For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,
8 and the two shall become one flesh'; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh.
9 "Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate."

1 CORINTHIANS 7:3-4,10-11 NKJ
3 Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband.
4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.
10 Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband.
11 . . . . And a husband is not to divorce his wife.

JOHN 13:34 NKJ
34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

1 CORINTHIANS 13:4-5 NKJ
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked . . .

COLOSSIANS 3:13-19 NKJ
13 . . . if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, . . . and be thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly . . . .
17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus . . . .
18 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them.

EPHESIANS 5:25,28-29,33 NKJ
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it,
28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.
29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.
33 . . . let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

VOWS

After hearing the admonition of Scripture, do you, ____, now take this _____, whose hand you hold, to be your _____, and do you solemnly promise, before God and these witnesses, that you will love and honor ___ according to the instructions of God's Word, and that forsaking all others for ___ alone, you will be faithful to ___, so long as you both shall live?

<I do.>

RINGS

May I have the rings, please.

As a token that you will faithfully perform these vows, you will now exchange rings. The ring is an endless circle: a symbol of the covenant you are making here today.

____, as you place the ring on ____ finger say:

<As I place this ring on your finger, I pledge myself to you. I am yours.>

UNITY CANDLE

You may light your unity candle now as a symbol of your new union.

DECLARATION

Now that you, _______ and _______, have agreed together to enter the holy state of marriage, before God, and these witnesses of your vows, I therefore, by virtue of authority vested in me as a minister of the gospel, pronounce you husband and wife, one together, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

What God has joined together, let no one divide.

And now may the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ bless you in this new relationship forevermore.

PRAYER

Lord God, I ask You to crown this union and their descendants, with all temporal and spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus, that they may be a blessing in this world of people You love. Amen.

PRESENTATION

Ladies and gentlemen, I present Mr. and Mrs. __________.

<BRIDE & GROOM KISS.>


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