Trevor Mast + Katie Ogburn Wedding 3-20-2021

Lesson Transcript

No loud roar. This is holy ground, we're standing on holy ground, for the Lord is present and where He is is holy. This is holy ground, we're standing on holy ground, for the Lord is present and where He is is holy. You are holy God, a perfect and holy God. We will come before You with hearts made clean by Jesus' blood. You are holy God, a perfect and holy God. We will come before You with hearts made clean by Jesus' blood. Lowly Lord, we place You on the highest place, for You are the great high priest.

We place You high above all else, all else, and we come to You and worship at Your feet. We place You on the highest place, for You are the great high priest. We place You high above all else, all else, and we come to You and worship at Your feet. And we come to You and worship at Your feet. Lowly Lord, this is the day that the Lord hath made, and I'm so glad He made You. With each rising sun You are here by my side, You are more than a dream come true.

Oh, to have You, to hold You, to love You, to pray, to share with, to care with, to hold hands and say. This is the day that the Lord hath made, and I will rejoice, I will rejoice, I will rejoice with You. This is the love that the world hath made, that You and I be awoke. Love's mystery is afore to lie, written for us in the Son.

Oh, for better, for worse, for rich or for poor, each hour that passes I'll love You more, 'cause this is the day that the Lord hath made, and I will rejoice, I will rejoice, I will rejoice with You. This is the day. This is the day. This is the day. Lift your voice to the Lord, give your thanks, give, oh, give your grace. All glory and honor are yours forevermore. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Our kind eternal Father in heaven, we pause before this another beautiful day that You have given to us, this special day for Trevor and Katie. Lord, I pray Thy presence be here among us today. May Thy name be honored and glorified, and may it be a blessing to each one gathered. Lord, we just continue to seek Thy face and ask Thy presence. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Well, we want to welcome each and everyone present here today on this special occasion in the lives of the families of the Ogburn and Mass, this wedding day of Trevor and Katie. We want to thank God for this day and honor Him in the activities of the day. We want to thank each one who has come out today to worship, and may this day be a day that is special to each one, and may God bless each one of you who have come to make this day a special day.

So as we think of the day before us, God has designed it, and we want to greet each one in Jesus' worthy name, the precious name of Jesus, our Creator, the Sustainer of life, our Savior and Lord. We are gathered here today on behalf of the Ogburn and Mass families for this wedding of Trevor and Katie, and we acknowledge God and His wise and all-knowing plan that He was planning for the well-being of mankind, the purity of the human race, and to propagate for generations to come. God created man in His own image.

In the image of God created He them in His likeness. He breathed into man the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Now, God saw that it was not good for man to be alone, so He made him and helped meet for him and brought him, brought her unto the man. And Genesis 2:20 through 25 says, "For Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh and stead thereof.

And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. 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 were not ashamed." Now, God established marriage, one man, one woman, and He blessed them as man and wife.

"What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." And as we think of the marriage relation, you know, God has blessed us with that blessing and privilege. We think of sinful relationships outside of God's divine institution of marriage are against the will and not under God's blessing. Marriage is honorable and all, and the bed undefiled. Sinful unions are a defilement of what God intended to be for the good and blessing of humanity. Marriage is a sacred trust.

It's a trust that should only be entered into in the fear of God and within His designed boundaries. Marriage vows are before God and man, a commitment till death to His part. And as we think of marriage and the matters of life, they are in God's hand. The matters of life and death are God's. And today, Trevor and Katie, as you are taking vows to each other before God and man, you are making commitments that will affect the rest of your life together.

And I wish you God's blessing in these commitments that you are making. Ephesians 5:21, "Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God." And I'd like to just read from Ephesians 5 here this morning. You know, as we think of commitment, there's a submitting one to another that I believe is for each of our good as husband and wife. And here in Ephesians said, reads, "Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord.

For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. And He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject under Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife, loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church.

For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.

For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife, and they too shall be one flesh." God has ordained man as the head, and we do well as men to take our place in God's plan to be the protector, the provider for our spouse, our God-given blessing for life, love and cherish, care and provide for, that you together may experience God's blessing in your life, in the lives of your families, that you may together experience the grace of life.

Now, God's desire is to bless each home that is committed to doing His will. And I want to encourage you to keep Christ central in your home, honor Him by your lives, the things you do, the places you go, the things that you allow within your home and your relationship. Feed on His Word daily. Continue to seek His will for your lives in prayer.

And if God blesses this union with children, it will be your responsibility to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, to teach and to train, to pass on the faith, to train them in the ways of God, to teach them seeking God's will for their lives. And with this in mind, I believe it is very important for families to be a part of a church body of believers. You know, there is safety for our souls and the souls of our young ones when we are having an accountability to others.

In the multitude of counselors, there is safety. You know, when we have the input of others in our lives, it's for our good. It's for our safety. And Trevor and Katie, you know, as you have learned to know each other, your love has grown for each other, but yet you have not known the depths of love that you will discover in the marriage relation. And I want to encourage you to continue to court each other. Do not take each other for granted. Love and cherish each other.

Always hold in high regard your marriage relation, and do not let other human relations divide or interfere. I want to encourage you to remember with unbroken fidelity that you are only each other's till death do you part. Take time for each other. Be considerate of each other. Encourage each other on in a faithful walk with God. Confirm your love to each other daily, and not only by word, but by action, in daily word and action. Confirm that love.

You know, courtesy is a lifelong ingredient for a happy marriage, in honor, preferring one another, kindly deed and gentleness. And I would encourage you to be a good listener to each other. Communicate with an understanding heart. As a married couple, you will have a lifelong commitment to build upon. Maintain that love relationship and grow in God's grace for the glory of God and for the good of each other and for the good of God's blessings within your life. And I have a poem I'd like to read.

It's one I wrote a number of years ago. Love's sweet mystery. God in His wise and perfect plan made of a rib and help meet for man. Someone to love and cherish through life. Beautiful home when there's peace without strife. God has ordained it. Man is the head. Woman's submissive as she's thoughtfully led. Husband, your wife is yours from the Lord. Live with her honorably in love's sweet accord. Sir, never forsake her not for a day. She'll still be yours though she's lovely and gray.

She is your helper, companion, and friend. Cheerfully provide a paycheck to save and to spend. Lay up a treasure on heaven's bright shore. Give to the Lord or the needy next door. If your wife is as a fruitful vine, agree on keeping the family in line. Wife, tell him I love you regularly. It will cheer him on in a reverie of a homecoming hug at supper time though he worked all day for nearly dime. Let not another steal his gaze. Faithfully love her all her days. Never end a day with a glare.

Freely forgive and do your share. And when the shades of night shall fall, you'll know together it's been worth it all. The Lord's blessing upon your day and upon your life. You all can turn your hands to the church to number 310. Number 310. Gentle voice, spirit ring ring. Freshing breezes on these people gathered here today. Promise, Holy Spirit, help me to descend upon our waiting hearts with pray. Holy Spirit, gentle dove, resting upon us, Spirit of love.

Gentle Holy Spirit, quiet now each restless heart to trouble my tranquility. Tender, Holy Spirit, open every heart to hear you sing quietly. Holy Spirit, gentle dove, resting upon us, Spirit of love. Gentle Holy Spirit, wind of background move among us. Ending, breaking, filling true. Mighty Holy Spirit, now empower us to show us loving all we do. Holy Spirit, gentle dove, resting upon us, Spirit of love. Gentle Holy Spirit, see our spirits long to worship Jesus as we truly are.

Gracious Holy Spirit, we one better praise the Father, holy word and thought. Holy Spirit, gentle dove, resting upon us, Spirit of love. Number 514. 514. Hope and all that will not let me go. I rest my weary soul at day. I give him back the life I owe. That in thy ocean that's its flow may richer pour in. O light that followeth all my way. I heal my flickering torch truly. My heart restores its borrowed ray. That in thy sunshine's glowing stay may brighter fair me. O joy that seeketh me through pain.

I cannot close my heart to thee. I trace a rainbow through the rain and feel the promises not made that warm shall tear us near. O cross that liftest up my head. I cannot rest to hide from thee. I pray in dustlar's glory dead. And from the ground there blossoms red. Life thou shalt ever see. Good morning, Trevor, Katie, friends, family. I pray that God will bring a blessing, a word to each of us today. I really appreciate what our brother shared.

You got a lot of good advice in just a few minutes, and it was all true. Shall we bow our heads for prayer? Father, we thank you this morning for your love that we respond to and experience in our own hearts and lives as we open ourselves to you. And I pray, Lord, that your blessing will be upon this meeting. Lord, every one of us has a need, and I pray, Lord, somehow this meeting would touch each of our hearts and change us more into the image of Jesus. I pray especially for Trevor and for Katie.

Lord, just bless them on this special day that they may make a good beginning, that they may make some resolves today that will make a difference in their marriage. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. From the book A Promise Kept: The Story of an Unforgettable Love, we read about Robertson McCulkin, who was the president of Columbia University for 22 years. While his wife was still in her 50s, she began to develop Alzheimer's, and she got to the place where she could not stand to be without him.

When he was at the college, he tried to provide somebody to be with her, but she finally started walking out of the house if he was not there and would wander around and get lost and have some awful experiences. And so one evening, he came home, and her feet were all bloody, and she was in terror that he would not return. And so he decided to resign from the college, and he spent full time with his wife for the next 10 or 15 years.

To his students at the university, when he resigned, he made this statement: "The decision was made 42 years ago when I promised to care for Muriel in sickness and in health until death do us part." This is a beautiful example of covenant behavior, and I would like to speak this morning on the covenant of marriage. I'd like to speak about the covenant defined, then I'd like to speak about the covenant defended, and then I'd like to speak about the covenant demonstrated.

You might find it interesting that the Hebrew word for covenant literally means cutting. It literally means to cut a covenant, a compact made by passing between two pieces of flesh. And immediately, we are reminded of Abraham when God promised him that his seed would be as the stars of the sky and that he would have the land whereon he was standing. And Abraham said, "How am I to know if this promise is going to come true?" But before that, it said he believed in the Lord, so he did trust God.

But Abraham needed something a little bit more, and so God told him to take a heifer and a ram and a she-goat and to cut them in half and lay the pieces on each side. And then he put Abraham to sleep. And God walked through those pieces and gave a sign of the covenant. It was a sign that was common in those days where two people walked between two pieces of flesh, bloody flesh of an animal that had been killed.

And basically, what they were saying is, "If I don't keep this promise, let me have this happen to me." Now, interestingly, Abraham never walked through that. He was sleeping. God walked through it by himself, and he made a covenant with Abraham that he would keep the promise he had just made.

And God has kept that promise down through history for his people right down to this day, regardless of the unfaithfulness of people along the way, regardless of all the things that you know happened to Israel, regardless of the travesty they made of their part of the agreement of their part of this situation. God kept his covenant.

And that's what I want to talk about today because I think a lot of people kind of have the idea that they're making a contract, that their response is going to depend somewhat on the response of the other person. But what I want us to understand is you are making a covenant today. In fact, God regards this as a covenant, and a covenant is an unbreakable promise that has nothing to do with anybody else or any situation. It's a perpetual, unbreakable promise that you make and you keep regardless.

And I could tell many stories of experiences that I've had along the way in my life of people who did amazing things to keep the promise that they made despite some very, very unfortunate situations. So I want to talk about that's what a covenant is. A covenant, somebody has said, it is a walk of death based on this concept of the covenant. Now, the interesting thing about it is we all know that death leads to life, and so that's the other part of this concept. So that's what a covenant is.

I've defined a covenant for you. You're going to make a promise today that has nothing to do with anybody else. It has nothing to do with your spouse. It has nothing to do with any circumstances. It has nothing to do with anything that's going to happen to you from this day on. You are making a promise to each other that will be kept.

And God recognizes it as a promise because he said to Israel in Malachi, he says, "The Lord hath been a witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously. Yet she is thy companion and the wife of thy covenant." So that's how God regards marriage. He regards marriage as a covenant. And I just felt that in our day, we really, really need this because selfishness, which, by the way, I have come to believe is just another word, synonym, perfect synonym for sin.

Selfishness constantly threatens to destroy this bond that's holding all of society together, especially the church. Somebody has said the covenant of marriage is the single most important bond that holds all of God's work on this planet together. That's a pretty important statement. But we underestimate our selfishness. Adam Holtz, and I don't know who he was, but I picked up this quote. "I have been a follower of Christ for 16 years, and I would like to think that I take the idea of covenant seriously.

As I've considered the implications of the marriage covenant in a real relationship, however, I have become more aware of how committed I am to myself. A deep stream of independence and self-sufficiency flows through my soul, reinforced by three decades of learning to make life work on my own. Our culture's love affair with individualism has shaped me more profoundly than I know.

The covenant of marriage demands that I lay down my lifelong commitment to myself for the sake of another." I think marriage is probably the greatest challenge to personal development. And even though it will be a wonderful relationship, I guarantee you that it will be the greatest challenge you have ever had for your character. And I think that was one of the things God has had in mind. From this day on, both of you are going to find out who you truly are. Okay? It will be a total exposure of who you are.

When you're courting, you put on your best behavior, and that's good. That helps to get things started on a good footing. But after you're married, you have to face who you are and who the other person is. And I don't want to say anything too discouraging today because I want you to enjoy this adventure. But it is going to be an adventure.

It's an adventure where two people constantly are willing to face their own imperfections and their own incompatibilities and face them honestly and humbly with selflessness, to allow the spouse's imperfections to inspire sacrifice rather than irritation. You need to make up your mind today that you will meet the challenges that you face in marriage with the covenant promises you're going to make today. In Thornton Welter's play, The Skin of Our Teeth, the character Mrs.

Antrabas says to her husband, "I didn't marry you because you're perfect. I married you because you made me a promise. And that promise has made up for all the faults. And the promise I made, you made up for mine. We are two imperfect people, and it is the promise that makes our marriage." The story is told of an old couple who was so happy in their marriage.

And after he died, they were meeting together, and somebody said, "Grandma, would you tell us the secret of your happy marriage?" Well, she said, "I decided when we got married that there'd be 10 things that if he did them, I would just overlook them." That really aroused their curiosity. "Grandma, what were the 10 things?" "Oh, I never did get around to writing them down. But when he did something that really irritated me, I said, 'He's lucky.

That's on my list of 10 things.'" I think that's a good thing for you to decide today, that there'll be at least 10 things that you'll just overlook. Okay? Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "Your love will not sustain your marriage." I like to quote this, and I've done this before at weddings. "Your love will not sustain your marriage." That's a mistake that most people make, that these wonderful romantic feelings - and I hope you have lots more of them - they think that will sustain their marriage, and it doesn't.

Bonhoeffer said it will not, guaranteed it will not. "Your love will not sustain your marriage, but your marriage will sustain your love." In other words, if you keep the promises you make here today through all the challenges, you will create a tremendous soil out of which true love will grow. The covenants you make today will nourish this love. I want to make that clear because our world, they walk here to the altar, and they have all these fuzzy feelings. And good, I want people to have lots of fuzzy feelings.

But they think that's going to do it. And then they get married, and they find out that those vanish pretty quickly when the challenges come, and then they're ready to quit. Focus on the covenant, and I'll guarantee you a genuine love. Take the covenant out of the relationship, and the marriage becomes merely noble aspirations that are easily discarded. Elton Trueblood, that Quaker that wrote so many of our books that we've read, said this: "Real love is a slow growth coming from unity of life and purpose.

Love is a product. It is a thing to be created by mutual sacrifice and service. This service and sacrifice can exist between married people only if the bond is accepted as a permanent one. Love outside of marriage or before marriage is largely romantic fiction." I think it's real, but that's how he's saying it. "Before marriage, there is a certain amount of passion and the mutual attraction, which is the possibility of love. This is a good starting point, but it would be a very weak conclusion.

The Hollywood mentality is in error because it supposes that this weak thing is love and that it is a primary worth." Now, we Mennonite people have inherited a term that, because we lost the German, we don't completely understand. I have a son-in-law who's German, so I quizzed him on this this morning. It's the term "Gelassenheit." It means serenity, composure, poise, to be unruffled. And you have to do a lot of words to get the meaning of this word.

The German itself, Heinrich tells me, does not have the next part in it that the Anabaptist sort of inferred because if you're to experience this, you're going to have to have what they added to it: submission, yieldedness, selflessness. That was the Anabaptist contribution to the word "Gelassenheit." But I think they're right.

I think that once we have reckoned with the fact that we're going to have to deal with this issue of selfishness, and we look realistically and honestly and persistently at the challenges in light of this tremendous need that we have, I think we can arrive at serenity, composure, and poise, and be able to face life as it comes. But it's only by grace.

And so I quote the verse that you've all heard me quote many times: "God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that you always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound unto every good work." There's no excuse for the things that we say and do that we shouldn't. There's abundant grace, but we're given grace only when we act on this covenant. See, we want the grace before we act. God says, "I'm going to have you take it by faith.

Will you obey me, and then I will give you the grace?" Now, why do I say that? Because Romans 6:11 says, "Reckon yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." So we have to reckon the fact that we're dead to sin and alive to Christ and act accordingly, and then God pours out the grace. And it's unlimited. It's unlimited. There is no excuse for any bad behavior in our lives. I always look at the example of Jesus.

He said constantly in John 4:10, seven times at least, and I think in some chapters after that, "I don't do anything but what my Father tells me to do. I don't say anything but what he tells me to say. My meat is to do the Father's will. I always do the will of my Father." Total selflessness.

And he said, "Because of that, my judgment is true because I don't do anything of myself." And Trevor and Katie, if what you judge, evaluate each other by is God's standard rather than some kind of selfish desire, you'll always make a good judgment. You'll always judge each other right. That's beautiful, absolutely beautiful. So what I'm saying here is this covenant is very necessary because selfishness otherwise will rule.

And so that's why God wants such a strong covenant here today for you to focus on and keep coming back to it. Look, here's the situation. Here's something that irritates me, but I made a promise, and I'm going to carry out that promise regardless. So just a few words about the covenant demonstrated. I have five Bs. The first one is be spirit-filled.

It's that spirit-filling that results in the poise and the serenity and the beautiful characteristics that are all wrapped up in that word "gelassenheit." I don't know if you ever noticed what it says there, what it says, "Be filled with the Spirit." There are three things that happen. One is you're filled with continual praise. Secondly, you're filled with continual thanksgiving for everything. And number three, you're able to submit to one another. Those are the three evidences that you're filled with the Spirit.

Your life is filled with continual praise, even if you're being burned at the stake. There's an irrepressible praise in your life that just bursts forth through all circumstances. You're always thankful. You never take anything for granted. You're always thankful. And number three, you know how to submit. You know how to bend. I challenge the preachers in the audience sometime to preach on that passage that strong evidence of being filled with the Spirit is a submissive spirit. Oh, how we need that, all of us.

And when I said us, I meant me too. The key is to be emptied of self. I do not believe that we receive more of the Holy Spirit. I think when we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive all of him. But he's hindered by how much self is still there. So the more we clear away the self, the more the Holy Spirit fills us. And so we're back to this whole issue of self. If you don't remember anything else I said this morning, remember, if you want a good practical definition for sin, it's selfishness.

In fact, people from the billboards are always asking me, "What is sin?" And I can give a theological definition. But if I say it's selfishness, I've never had anybody disagree with me. And I've never had anybody disagree with me that selfishness causes all of our trouble. So that's a good practical word to remember in all of our relationships. But the Bible says the Father gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. So I'm going to give you some advice. Every day, ask God to give you the Holy Spirit.

I've done that in my life probably for the last 50 years. Every day, I ask God to give me his Holy Spirit. And that's very important in this relationship because Ecclesiastes says, "A threefold cord is not easily broken." And I found this interesting quote on that. "A braid appears to have two strands." If you look at a braid, you only see two strands. But it's impossible to create a braid with only two strands. If the two could be put together at all, they'd quickly unravel. And here lies the mystery.

What looks like two strands is actually three. The third strand, though not immediately evident, keeps the strands tightly woven. In a Christian marriage, God's presence, like the third strand in a braid, holds the union together. So that's a good illustration to think about. So be spirit-filled. The second thing, be forgiving.

Our dear brother Lynn used to stand here in this pulpit and say more than once, "Forgiveness is the basis of all human relationships." If there's one thing Lynn said that I never forgot, it was that. Because we are all going to disappoint each other. I know you don't believe this, but you are. You're going to disappoint each other. I hope not too badly. We're humans. And you need to make up your mind right now that when that happens, you're going to let it go. That's what forgiveness is.

Forgiveness is taking the indignation and the hurt and the disappointment and all that and absorbing it and let the other person go free as if it never happened. Isn't that what Jesus did for us? Yes. That's what forgiveness is. So I'd like to take the example of Joseph. If there was anybody who was mistreated in history, it was Joseph. For 13 years, from the time he was 17 to the time he was 30, he had nothing but disappointment, nothing but betrayal of his family, of Potiphar, of the prisoners.

They all disappointed him. And yet, when they took him out of prison and gave him a wife and they had a child, he named that child Manassah. "God hath made me to forget." Does that mean Joseph couldn't have told you everything that happened? I'm sure he could have told you every detail. But there'd have been no anger. There'd have been no bitterness. God had taken the sting out of all those memories.

And he'd have told you the story objectively, just as it happened, and you'd have sensed no ugliness in his attitude about it. And that's what's so wonderful. That has been such an inspiration to me to forgive, that if I take it on myself, then it's not on him anymore, and God takes it away, and then we're both free. And I think it's an act of faith to take on the hurt and the indignation and let the other person go free.

And Jesus said, "If you don't do that, you won't go free either." And I think there are a lot of people living in all kinds of bondages and all kinds of problems of depression and inferiority and habits and addictions and you name it. I'll make a long list. In fact, I often ask them on the phone when they're depressed. I say, "Is there somebody in your life that you can't get along with?" "Oh, yeah, my dad." Okay, there you are. If you're going to keep your dad in that prison, then you'll be there too.

You can decide whether you're going to let him out. And when you let him out and everybody else that you have in prison, then you will experience true freedom. So be forgiving. Be spirit-filled. Let Jesus, let God be that third strand and experience continual praise, continual thanksgiving, and continual submissive spirit. And then be forgiving and let the other person go free and be free yourself. The third point, be unified. Aim to think and act in unity.

The beautiful example in the Bible that I often like to think of is David and Jonathan. I'm going to read it.

"The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul, and Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him and gave it to David and his garments, even his sword and to his bow - and he was a great hunter, by the way - and to his girdle." So somebody looking at David walking would say, "There goes Jonathan." "Oh, no, it's David." Jonathan wanted them to be one, not just in attitudes and thoughts, but just practical, even visibility. So seek to have a common identity.

Be totally open. Be of one soul. That's how God relates. He said to Abraham or said to somebody, "Shall I hide anything from Abraham? He's my friend." Jesus said, "I've called you my friends for all things that I've heard of my Father have made known unto you." That's how God relates to us, and that's how you should relate to each other. Don't keep any secrets. In fact, each of you is gaining a resource today. Women have something men don't have, and men have something women don't have.

I'm going to talk a little bit about the women. It's basically that thing called feelings. We men are real logical people. I had a friend that got married to a very logical woman.

He said, "I tried to marry one of the most intelligent persons I had ever met, and I was looking forward to these wonderful, logical, intellectually stimulating discussions." He said, "I came home one day, and she was sitting on the sofa crying." I said, "Honey, what's the problem?" So she described the problem, and he said, "Well, this and this." He logically went down through and showed her there was no problem. And she said, "I know, honey, but that's not how I feel." Anyway. But that's good.

Feelings sometimes are deceiving, but sometimes a wife has a sensitivity about something the husband had better pay attention to. In fact, before you go into any business venture, make sure your wife has evaluated it, okay? And I could speak a little bit from experience on that one. Trevor, you are not equipped to lead without giving honor to the wonderful resource God's given to you. And Katie, there's a resource, but I'm not going to talk about that one.

But you're bringing something to this relationship that's going to add to each other. You're both a resource for each other. God said to Sarah one time - I'm sorry - to Abraham, "In all that Sarah hath said," she just had a feeling that this Ishmael was a problem. I don't know that the Bible ever explains why, but she just didn't like it. And so God said to Abraham, he said, "In all that Sarah hath said," hearken unto her voice. So take that seriously. All of life will now rise or fall with this relationship.

It will be impossible to live as a single person. That won't work anymore. This is different. To live against one - this is a quote that I borrowed from E. Stanley Jones and paraphrased it a little bit - "To live against your spouse is to live against life." Because the Bible says, "He that loveth his wife, loveth himself." So if you somehow get this going, you're really fighting against yourself is what's happening. Beware of any information or plans that you promise not to tell your spouse.

Another thing that you'll have to resolve is differences that you're not expecting. Paul Emerson one time said that in his home - just to give an example of what happens - in his home, you were late for church if you weren't there a half hour before church started. And their idea of being on time for church was to be there a half hour before.

He said, "Now, my wife's family, their idea of being late for church was to make sure you were there by the end of the first song." Now, can you imagine these two every Sunday morning getting this together? And that's very real. You're going to find some things like that. But remember to forgive and forbear. Somebody told me who had a wife that was always late - by his standards at least - he said, "Well, she taught me one thing. She taught me the tremendous ministry of waiting." Be cheerful. Be cheerful.

Jesus was a cheerful person. He said, "In the world, ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world." And Paul, in a shipwreck, said, "Be of good cheer." And then he said, "Then they were all of good cheer." I think Christians are cheerful people because Jesus said, "These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." The word joy actually is the word charis, C-H-A-R. The word for grace is charis, C-H-A-R-I-S.

They come from the same root. Faith Builders had a motto there for a while that said, "Joy is the infallible evidence of God's grace in the life." So be of good cheer. Bring cheer into your home. Let the joy of the Lord express itself in your home. Jesus' way brings joy. And then finally, be steadfast.

The Bible says or Jesus said or it's said of Jesus, "Having loved his own, he loved them unto the end." Through the debates about who was the greatest, through Peter's denial, through Judas' betrayal, through the Last Supper and the feet washing, Jesus faced every challenge and loved them to the end. Face every challenge with your covenant promise, and I'll guarantee you a happy marriage.

The research that was done by somebody identified couples - he went and found couples who were in serious marriage difficulties and very unhappy - 10 years later, he went back and interviewed those same couples. And most of them, at that point, had happy marriages. And he asked them what marriage counseling they received. They said, "We didn't receive any marriage counseling. We just worked through our problems with a determination to solve them." They refused to be quitters.

And at the end, I want to quote Robert Browning's timeless poem, "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be. The last of life for which the first was made. Our times are in his hand who said, 'A whole I have planned. Youth shows but half. Trust God and see all. Be not afraid.'" I'm going to quote that again. "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be. The last of life for which the first was made." In other words, the last part is what the first part was all about. So don't miss the last part.

"Our times are in his hand who said, 'A whole I have planned. Youth shows but half. Trust God and see all. Be not afraid.'" And I promise you, if you will with deliberate purpose keep the covenant you make here today and come back to it again and again when you're facing challenges and you face it with the decision to be spirit-filled, forgiving, unified, cheerful, and steadfast, I promise you the best is yet to be.

In fact, at our wedding, when we went through the receiving when the people came through the receiving line, there was this old couple. He had a walker, she had a cane, and maybe one of them had both. I don't remember. They were really decrepit, bent over. And I still remember them looking up and with croaking voices - one of them with a croaking voice - said, "It gets better." And I'm here to tell you, 43 years later, it has gotten better, and it can for you too. But remember the covenant. Marriage is a covenant.

You're making a promise that you need to keep regardless of what happens. Shall we pray? Father, we thank you this morning that you have not just made a covenant with us. You've kept it. You've demonstrated what a covenant does. And you also have provided unlimited grace so that we have no excuse for not doing the same. And so I pray for Trevor and for Katie. Lord, I pray that they can keep the romance alive.

But I pray that the focus will be on this covenant that they're going to make today and that they will remember that covenant every time they face one of marriage's challenges. And I pray, Lord, that at the end, they can honestly say, "The best was yet to be." In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Well, greetings to all and congratulations, Trevor and Katie. It's good to be here. Good instruction this morning. I think if we follow that, we apply that to our life, we're going to have a successful, a blessed marriage.

May God bless you in that. Are you ready? This independent single life is about to come to a close. I think we had some rich instruction on just simply laying down self for the sake of each other. What a blessing. So with these thoughts, we're going to invite the bridal party to please stand. All right. Trevor and Katie, the first question is for both of you.

Do you believe that matrimony is an ordinance instituted of God and confirmed and sanctioned by Jesus Christ and that you must enter upon it in the fear of God? I do. I do. Trevor, do you confess and declare that you are unmarried and free from all other marriage relations and engagements whatsoever? I am. Katie, do you confess and declare that you are unmarried and free from all other marriage relations and engagements whatsoever? I am.

Trevor, will you, in the presence of God and these witnesses, take Katie to be your wedded wife? Will you love and cherish her, provide and care for her in health and sickness and prosperity and adversity, exercise patience, kindness, and forbearance toward her, live with her in peace as becometh a faithful Christian husband, and forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto her as long as you both shall live? I will.

Katie, will you, in the presence of God and these witnesses, take Trevor to be your wedded husband? Will you love and cherish him in health and in sickness and prosperity and adversity, share with him the joys and sorrows of life, exercise patience, kindness, and forbearance toward him, and live with him in peace as becometh a faithful Christian wife, and forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto him as long as you both shall live? I will. All right. You may now join. Right hands.

May the God of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be with you and bless this union abundantly through Christ our Redeemer. What God had joined together, let not man put asunder. Go forth as husband and wife. Live in peace. Fear God and keep his commandments. Amen. All right. The congregation may stand as we kneel for prayer. Dear God, we thank you for this special day. We thank you for this couple. We thank you for their testimony.

Lord, we thank you for their love for each other, and we thank you in your faithfulness in leading them together this way. May you now pour out the blessings of heaven upon their life on earth. And we pray that the powers of darkness would be defeated and the selfishness we heard about today would be renounced and forsaken and repented of, and that you would just fill those hearts with yourself and their love would prosper. Their marriage would be successful.

And Lord, we pray that you would use them in a mighty way in their community and their families. In the church, Lord, the church needs young couples that love you and love each other. And we just pray that they would flourish in that. And Lord, we pray now for their home as they establish that together. May you be first in everything they do and say and seek first the kingdom of heaven and then trust that everything will be added to that. Lord, we pray for the Ogburns and the Mass as they are going.

This will make a huge difference in several ways in their homes. Just bless them and fill them. And the transition would not be severe but be a blessing in all of this. Lord, we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. All right. The congregation can be seated. And I'm pleased to present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Trevor Mass. Shout hallelujah. Shout hallelujah. Shout hallelujah unto the Lord. Shout hallelujah. Shout hallelujah. Shout hallelujah unto the Lord. Sing aloud to God. Let the people shout before his throne.

Hallelujah. Sing aloud to God. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Shout hallelujah. Shout hallelujah. Shout hallelujah unto the Lord. Shout hallelujah. Shout hallelujah. Shout hallelujah unto the Lord. From the ends of the earth. From the ends of the earth. From the depths of the sea. From the depths of the sea. Let all creation praise his name. From the ends of the earth. From the ends of the earth. From the depths of the sea. From the depths of the sea. Let all creation praise his name. Shout hallelujah.

Shout hallelujah. Shout hallelujah unto the Lord. Shout hallelujah. Shout hallelujah. Shout hallelujah unto the Lord. From the ends of the earth. From the ends of the earth. From the depths of the sea. From the depths of the sea. Let all creation praise his name. From the ends of the earth. From the ends of the earth. From the depths of the sea. From the depths of the sea. Let all creation praise his name. Shout hallelujah. Shout hallelujah. Shout hallelujah unto the Lord. Shout hallelujah. Shout hallelujah.

Shout hallelujah unto the Lord. Shout hallelujah. Shout hallelujah. Shout hallelujah. Shout hallelujah unto the Lord. Faithful love flowing down from the thorn-covered ground makes me whole, saves my soul, washes whiter than snow. Faithful love comes each fear reaches down, dries each tear, holds my hand when I can't stand on my own. Faithful love. Faithful love. Love from above came to earth to show the Father's love. And down there. And down there. The earth.

Is very the same, for I see faithful love face to face and Jesus is his name. Faithful love is a friend just when home seems to end. Welcome faith, sweet embrace, tender touch filled with grace. Faithful love endless fire, living flame, spirit's fire burning bright in the night guiding my way. Faithful love. Faithful love. Faithful love from above came to earth to show the Father's love. And down there. And down there. The earth. Is very the same, for I see faithful love face to face and Jesus is his name.

This time we turn to number 375. Number 375. Be thou not envious. Let's have only the men sing in verse two and only the ladies sing in verse three. Don't sing all the verses. Be the mighty shadow, Lord of my heart, not he all else to me save that thou art, thou mightest art by day or by night, waking or sleeping, thy presence my light. Be thou my wisdom, be thou my true word. I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord. Thou my great Father, I thy true son. Thou with me dwelling and I with thee one.

Be thou my mighty Father, my sword for the fight. Be thou my dignity, thou mighty light. Thou my soul's shelter, thou my high tower. Praise thou be ever, O Paramitha! Riches I need not nor man's empty praise. Thou my inheritance, thou and thou wastes. Thou and thou only first in my heart. My King of heaven, my treasure thou art. My King of heaven, when victory is won, may I reach heaven's shores, O brightest sun. Heart of my heart, whatever befalls still be my vision, O Ruler of all.

Just a couple announcements for everyone here. Yoshers will be up here directly to usher you out. You will go to the back of the church, go to the left, go down to the basement, and that's where you'll be able to meet the happy couple. If the stairs are difficult for you to navigate, if you go straight out through the doors and go around the left side of the church, there is a ramp. You can walk down there and come in the bottom of the back of the basement.

Please, as you go through, try to promptly leave and head towards reception. That way we can get everyone over there and we can start that whole process. Reception is at Living in Faith Chapel. The address is in your programs. If you don't know your way there, ask somebody or just follow a car. If you're not there in 10 minutes, they're lost too. Return to base. So they will usher you out here. Thank you.