Song of Songs 4:9 ESV — You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride;
you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes,
with one jewel of your necklace.
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File / Archive
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We are in the season when “they” say, “Love is in the air.” – Wedding plans are being made, wedding dresses are picked, fitted, altered and of course, all the extras that go with presenting the bride to be as a picture of perfection. The groom will be speechless, filled with anticipation, anxiety and a lump in his throat as he watches his bride walk down the aisle. Are we ready for this lifetime commitment? Is anybody ever ready?
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File / Archive
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For some of us it was love at first sight and for others it was a long, exhausting sometimes frustrating search for that one special person who changes everything and your life forever. The search is finally over and the big day has arrived. We can’t help it but we have that overwhelming feeling that this was meant to be. Sure, there were doubts. The past for both always was an issue but somehow you both worked through it. Looking into each others eyes you just knew this was right. It’s a romantic cliché and you see it in every “Rom Com” ever made but it happens. God brought you both together and now you’re taking part of a plan God has had for us from the very beginning. What does the Bible say about marriage?
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File / Archive
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Marriage was instituted by God in the Garden of Eden at the time of man’s creation as a union between man and woman. There are many verses in the Word of God that relate to marriage but they also reflect how our relationship with Christ should be. Let us focus on some key passages of scripture. Some consider the definition of marriage by the bible as old fashioned but if we are serious about our faith in the Lord then we must take it to heart.
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The relationship is to reflect the image of God – Genesis 1:26-27 NKJV — Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
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The relationship is fruitful – Genesis 1:28 NKJV — Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
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Monogamous relationship between husband and wife as stated in the original law – Matthew 19:5 NKJV — “and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?
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1 Corinthians 6:16-17 NKJV — Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
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Husband and wife are equal before God – Ephesians 5:29-31 NKJV — For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”
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1 Peter 3:7 NKJV — Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.
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Marriage is an indissoluble relationship except on the highest grounds – Matthew 19:9 NKJV — “And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”
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There are some who have problems with this one but followed in obedience and in love by both to God and His Holy Word the rewards for both are endless. – Husband is the loving head of relationship and wife is subordinate – 1 Corinthians 11:8-12 NKJV — For man is not from woman, but woman from man. Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man. For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. Nevertheless, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord. For as woman came from man, even so man also comes through woman; but all things are from God.
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Ephesians 5:20-33 NKJV — giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
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Colossians 3:18-19 NKJV — Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them.
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It’s a lot to take in but it is also very important. We can see that Scripture tells us marriage is an intimate and complementing union between a man and a woman in which the two become one physically, in the whole of life. God’s purpose of marriage is to reflect the relationship of the Godhead and to serve Him. Although the fall of man in the Garden of Eden has marred the divine purpose and function of marriage, this definition reflects the God-ordained ideal for marriage from the beginning.
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Courtesy of Jennifer Rose Infante
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Marriage is a big step and for a young couple in Fayetteville, Georgia, that step will be happening soon.
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Courtesy of Jennifer Rose Infante
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Lana Lee and I are happy to announce that our daughter Jennifer Rose and her fiancée Ross Arment will be getting married on September 19, 2020. We pray that their lives together will be a living testimony and inspiration of the Lord’s grace, love and hope for others. Love is a wonderful thing especially, since it comes from God because He is love and so much more.
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God and love brings us together and may your love for each other always be strong and everlasting.
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1 Corinthians 13:4-13 NKJV — Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
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