This is Our God, We Have Waited For Him (wedding)

The point: Preach Christ, not ourselves, even at a wedding.

Pastor Martin describes Tim and Lori's relationship journey from dating to engagement as a model for a practical guide to godly dating leading to marriage, marked by sensitivity to God's Word and openness to counsel.

as one of the pastors who has been privileged perhaps more than any other to witness the hand of God upon our dear brother and sister from their earliest dates to their commitment to exclusive dating to what we call in our society serious courtship to that big step of engagement and then to the setting of a wedding date and premarital counseling and looking forward to this day I want to bear witness publicly to the praise of God and in the light of the scriptures that say honor to whom honor is due and say that it has been nothing but a sheer delight to witness and be part of a relationship th...

0:02 - 1:30 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not enter marriage tentatively, but with confidence in its permanence as a God-ordained institution.

The stability of institutions like monogamous heterosexual marriage is compared to the Swiss Alps or the Cascades, now being shaken and overturned, to highlight the instability of the world in contrast to God's steadfastness.

see readily how appropriate such a text is. For as we look out on every hand, not only do we live in a day when we see the shaking and the overturning of vast nations of the world, we've lived to witness the break-up of the big, giant Russian bear who's been declawed and shrunken. In some ways to a rather innocuous teddy bear. But we have also seen the overturning and the shaking of those institutions which have brought stability to our own nation for generation upon generation. The institution of marriage, shaken and dissolving on every hand. The concept of the nobility of heterosexual commit...

7:07 - 8:13 Read in full sermon

Driving home: All that is blessed on this day has its origin in the salvation of God, that salvation that has come to Tim and to Laurie, enabling them to say in the language of the Apostle, Paul, for to me to live is Christ.

The human search for fulfillment apart from God is described as trying to fill a 'God-shaped hole' with everything other than the living God, illustrating the emptiness of self-centered pursuits.

And the joyful testimony of Tim and Laurie is that on this day, the blessedness of all that they know in the way of blessedness, is that they are blessed with the salvation of God. That they have been kept from a life of meaningless pursuit of trying to find that elusive pot of human fulfillment and satisfaction at the end of the rainbow of self-centeredness, seeking to fill the God-shaped hole with everything other than the living God himself. And it is their testimony that I have heard personally, and have heard it reiterated again and again,

11:48 - 12:38 Read in full sermon

The point: Determine to see God's path as marked out in the scriptures for all facets of life, including choosing a life partner.

The couple's decision to consult the Bible rather than secular magazines (Vogue, Mademoiselle, Playgirl, Playboy) for guidance on choosing a life partner illustrates waiting upon God and taking direction from His Word.

wrestled with the question, what shall I look for in a life partner? They didn't go to Vogue magazine and to Mademoiselle and to Playgirl and to Playboy, but to this blessed book to see what this book says about a virtuous woman, about a worthy man, a man worthy of the trust and submission that God requires of a Christian wife, a woman worthy of being loved and nourished and cherished as one's own body. And I bless God that I've been privileged to see that process of waiting upon this God of salvation, determined to take those directives that are ordered by him, to embrace the standards that a...

17:08 - 18:33 Read in full sermon

The point: Raise children with the view that they would be godly husbands and wives, and wait on God for their spouses.

The hypothetical scenario of a room full of people weeping bitter tears because they did not have the patience to wait upon God illustrates the wisdom and blessedness of waiting on God's timing.

From this text, lo, this is our God. We have waited for God. And no one ever waited for God. And then upon retrospect said, what a shame that I waited so long. But we could fill this room with people who would drip bitter, salty, bitter, bitter, bitter, bitter, tears down their cheek, saying, would to God I had had the patience to wait. Then thirdly and finally, from this text, we also learn not only that all that is blessed this day has its origin in the salvation of God, all that is blessed this day has had its fruition in the way of waiting upon God, but we learn a third thing, that nothing...

20:21 - 21:20 Read in full sermon

The point: Seek the Lord while He may be found, calling upon Him while He is near, to know Him as the God of your salvation.

The common dismissive phrase 'crutch of religion' is addressed, with Martin asserting that faith in God is not a crutch but essential, as humans were made for God.

upon God. I can make it through life on my own. I don't need the crutch of religion. My friend, it's not a crutch. You were made for God.

25:18 - 25:27 Read in full sermon