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| Sensitive Ryan sees his bride approach. He lost just like Stephen did for Launa. |
Ryan Dix and Jessica Coleman (my Daughter): This is the full blown version. I spoke about half of this due to standing in the sun, the boys were wearing black and I realized it was long winded for today's short and sweet style of ceremonies.
We are gathered to honor and glorify the One True God by uniting Ryan and Jessica in the covenant of marriage which God designed when he made this complex relationship of male and female representing mankind as His highest creation. A business contract is made by two or more people and can be broken which can lead to legal battles. A covenant is made for people by God and kept by Him. Husband, wife; and the children they participate in creating, represent a metaphor on earth of the invisible triune God which our little minds cannot fathom. The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit are 3 distinct personal beings yet make up just one God. But they are one. They are also one in purpose, vision and can never be divided or separated. Marriage is to mirror that. You are now one. You are the one for each other. Period! No more doubt about it. Let nothing and no one attempt to divide you from having the same purpose, vision and declaring that you are one.
You have been part of the church your whole lives. You have heard much about and have met this awesome, wonderful God. You know He loves, likes and respects you. You need to finalize today and declare that your marriage will win and be amazing because He holds it together. You just rest in Him. His love and grace flowing through you together will make it fabulous.
You have studied hard for this day to be able to relate to your spouse; who is and thinks so differently than you: a male extrovert and a female introvert. That will take a lot of patience by both. You have dug into the Bible, so you know the teachings on marriage, loving your wife and respecting your husband, discovering your partner’s love languages, the teachings of Jesus and Paul including 1 Corinthians 13 which is not about marriage but about how church people are supposed to treat one another. You know the purpose for all of creation was to prepare a bride for Christ; the culmination of all creation is for the church to be made ready for its groom and Savior Jesus. You have done premarital counseling, read my blogs on finding the one and Who marriage is for; so we are going a different direction with this ceremony than most other weddings; and, this is only partially because I am your Dad and I say so. (Amens are good to speak out here. Amen means ‘truly’.)
I am now going to walk you through what and who you are and why this marriage will be wonderful. Are you ready to know who you are and why you win? If you understand your identity in Jesus it will eliminate most of the battles that often take place in relationships because those primarily pop up over misunderstandings, insecurities, fears, doubts, lack of trust in self or partner and lack of safety in the relationship. This will preempt and prevent sooooooo many problems. Please, absorb these truths and believe them from now on:
- You are God’s chosen ones
- You were predestined to be His adopted ones in Jesus
- You are His blessed ones
- You are redeemed, fully paid for, by Jesus’ blood and made spiritually alive in Him
- You are forgiven by His lavish grace; totally free from wrath, shame, guilt or condemnation
- You are children of the Lord of all creation
- You have this irrevocable inheritance because He is your hope and you are His glory
- You were and always will be sealed with the Holy Spirit
- You are rich in these eternal, invisible blessings of mercy and grace
- You are saved by grace through faith, not by your human effort
- You are God’s artistic workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works
- He has empowered you to walk them out
- You have been given His peace so you are no longer controlled by the old sinful nature; throw off its old corrupt ways of thinking and behaving: you are not your past
- You are being built into a dwelling place for God The Father by The Holy Spirit in you
- As you, Jessica, receive a new name today; you both bear the name of God’s family
- You have been given wisdom and strength to comprehend the width, length, height and depth of His love for you so you can be filled with all the fullness of God
- You are ambassadors of love to each other and the unbelieving world
You are not your own. You did not create yourself. You were planned, designed and created to be God's children. He really does love you. That's why He sent Jesus to rescue you. As His child, all of your thoughts and life are precious to Him. Your soul is what is most important. It is eternal. We experience Him best with our soul and not our decaying bodies. You are more than your body. Still, God uses our flesh to teach us about what is important and how to keep our relationships led by Him.
Ephesians 6:
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
When you are strong in the Lord your God Who loves you, your unseen enemies can only spew non-impacting lies at you. Those unseen enemies are who we wrestle with; not other people. The schemes of the wicked seek to divide. They are the problem. Neither of you is ever the problem in any disagreement. The enemies have lied to you since you were little making you afraid of the dark, telling you who you are not and why you could not succeed or measure up to unrealistic expectations. These lies previously held you back and need no longer be given any power in your lives. Stop believing the lies of the liars and listen to the truths of The Way, The Truth and The Life (John 14:6). You are the light because The Light is in you and shines light from you exposing and destroying the spiritual darkness so you need never be afraid of the dark anymore. As God’s kids, He has given you all the armor you will need in this life; just open the gift and put it on…and keep it on.
Now we have audience participation for the rest of our time here. From now on when I describe a body part, your role is to think about that part of your anatomy, wiggle and flex it if appropriate; …if appropriate. Practice by flexing your arms and your legs. The fact that these limbs do not receive any armor in this Ephesians letter tells us that they need to be mobile and flexible and that they are not the most important parts of our spiritual bodies. In a human battle it would make sense to protect these limbs but that is not what Paul is talking about. Keep flexing your arms and legs.
13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
It takes effort and energy to stand. It is our most powerful physical position requiring energy from our legs and torso; flex them. If you are not standing, you are easily pushed over and trampled on. You, here on the stage, are standing because you have a task to do and a defined role here today. Stand powerfully up to the task. Keep your knees and elbows slightly bent to enhance circulation. Breathe deeply and slowly; hold the air in for a few seconds so your lungs can extract more oxygen and be ready for the task. Stand powerfully; ready for anything. Stand knowing that you are warriors designed to rest in God and His goodness. Stand in the knowledge that He has rescued you from more than you can imagine, saved you from a lonely horrible eternity without Him and He has redeemed everything you have ever regretted. All your regrets, insecurities, flaws and failures; He paid the price to transform them and you into someone who is magnificent. If you are sitting that means your task is to support, pray for and encourage those standing who have a difficult and honorable task. Those in support roles often underestimate how important they are. Know this: you are valuable and a great blessing to Ryan, Jessica and their families.
14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,
I never noticed before that this passage didn't start the armor description with feet since it began with standing. It would make sense to us silly humans to think that feet are the foundation for standing. Instead the first body area dealt with is the waist and our loins. This is a spiritual passage stating that the foundation of our faith and living in the light is controlled by how our strongest earthly desire and urge needs to be led by truth from God instead of our visceral broken humanity or the immorality celebrated by and spewed from Hollywood and D.C. Don’t let them deceive you. If our urges burn out of control, then our whole spiritual life is off track and misled. This corresponds to how God revealed Himself to Abraham before creating Israel, telling him about the covenant He was going to make and that it starts with circumcision; not with long hair, a tattoo or something visible to all; but it’s more like a branding so the individual knows whose they are. This was the sign of faith from God to Abraham. The men were told to rein it in and learn self-control. If you listen and submit to how God says to control your groin and passion, then He will guide and bless you in every other area. The fires of passion burn safely and brightly within the boundaries God designed so that your pleasure with one another can be fabulous, fun, peaceful and worry free. It is meant to be a private worship experience of our creator as we enjoy and pleasure our beloved spouse.
14b with the breastplate of righteousness in place,
With truth girding your waist now righteousness guards your heart. You don't tell your heart to beat, but you can change its speed. It beats best when in good shape, free of stress, worry or fear. You can guard and protect each others hearts by being righteous, pure, committed, honest and building up your partner in righteousness. Believe with all your heart in one another and do the best to and for your partner's heart. Keep your heart ignited for the one you choose today. Continually choose each other. The grass is always greener where you water and feed it.
15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
Now we get to your feet. The spiritual shoes you wear are peace and good news. Always be ready with good news. Use your feet to quickly bring the good news of life and Jesus to each other and the world. Isaiah and Paul both write about how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news and proclaim that our God reigns. God is in charge no matter how much freedom it appears He has given to the wicked. Be quick to deliver good news. Be wise and patient with the other stuff.
16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
I now give you each a shield of faith in the One True God. The shield works by God’s power to extinguish all the lies of our enemies as they seek to disrupt the work of God in your lives, marriage and all your relationships. Choose to believe the truth about Jesus and your partner while knowing how to use the shield to fend off the garbage of shame, negativity, condemnation and accusation. Sometimes you will even have to smack other people with this shield if they say anything to stir up a division between you two. No one is your friend who takes a side to divide the marriage rather than unite it.
17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word (rhema) of God.
Protect your heads with the knowledge and truth of salvation. God has already done it. Jesus has risen and reigns as Lord for eternity. This will keep your eyes, ears and thoughts clean and pure. Remind each other of this regularly by digging into the Word of God which tells the truth about you and God. Pay attention to prophetic words given to you. These words from God are the opposite of what popular culture and politicians say. I declare to you that:
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| The dance |
- You are holy warriors of truth and love protected and cared for by your Heavenly Father.
- You already have been saved and are being kept saved.
- The Holy Spirit and Jesus are both interceding for you with The Father (Romans 8).
- You are loved, respected and liked by God.
- He redeemed and rescued you. You are His.
- One fantastic gift He gives you is each other today to proclaim you are his and you are hers only.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
Communica...communicash...commun...ca...talk, talk with God and each other plenty and deeply. Talk and pray a lot using dialogue. That means learning how to ask a question and then sit intently listening for answers without planning what you are going to say next. Be able to be humble enough to hear things you don't want to hear.
- Seek the unseen things which dress you even more magnificently than these gorgeous temporary outfits of clothes and skin.
- You are much more than you see.
- You are more valuable than you think.
- God created you to be and do awesome.
- You are created for God’s pleasure and honor.
- He blessed you with each other so now you celebrate Him by how you love and build up each other.
- You are warriors of righteousness to lavishly shine joy, love, peace, forgiveness and much grace to a spiritually dark world.
- You are loved by the Star-maker.
- You are caressed by The Comforter.
- You are upheld by the Savior.
- You are tenderly cared for by The God of the universe because you are His children.
- Before the foundation of creation was laid in place, you were planned and designed to be His kids.
- Know who you are and Whose you are so the cares of this life and this frail body do not distract you from loving and serving each other in a wondrous, peaceful, joy-filled marriage and worshiping this great God of ours.
It's time for your vows which are your pledges and promises to do your part of working with God in His design of this covenant of marriage.
VOWS: Ryan & Jessica read theirs…
Rings: Recite together to proclaim that you are one:
- Until death parts us, I am yours and you are mine. We will let nothing divide us. We are a unity pointing to the Trinity. I will honor, cherish, nurture, edify, love and respect you with all the grace God pours into you through me. With this ring, I marry you. We are now one to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, the Lord of all.
Communion…Prayer, Kiss & Pronouncement: … by the authority of Nevada & supreme authority & power… I now pronounce you husband and wife...KISS... Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to present to you, Mr. & Mrs. Ryan Daniel Dix…
