That's How Much

Before the toasts at our wedding reception, my dad took the opportunity to thank everyone for coming. We are so thankful to have such an incredible God-loving role model to look up to and strive to be like.

That's How Much He Loves Us

Jeff Cooksey

I was headed out to check cows in our old blue dodge pickup this week and my emotions were all over the place for what this week means to my daughter Sarah, my now new son-in-law Tyler and both of our families- what this means to them and us and everybody who would come together for this exciting celebration of their new life together. I had just read a devotional earlier that morning that talked about joy and embracing it and honoring Him as we do it.

I got thinking about what the root of joy is and I may be sounding a little bit like the father of the bride in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but that aside, joy is planted with its roots in love and that’s what this day is about, and that’s what our lives are about. If we are going to be Christ-honoring, obedient, and we want ultimate fulfillment and happiness then we should plant our seeds and our lives in love and joy is one of the fruits that will come from it. So, as he says in the movie, “There you go!”

By chance (but not really) a passage that got my attention later that day from Ephesians 3 said this: 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.

I got thinking about the ultimate author of love and how much he’s poured it out on us right now. You see, I am not meaning to jump behind the pulpit here- but driving through the cattle in that pasture, I got thinking about all the blessings that we’re celebrating here today and the size of God’s love for each one of us. May all of you go home and remember and rediscover your own blessings, but please allow me to focus on this group and especially Sarah and Tyler and our families for a moment.

Over 30 years ago, God got my beautiful bride and I together on a date and we were crazy about each other-we are crazy about each other! And I’m sure the word crazy does come to Amy’s mind often when she thinks about me- but that date, those dates led to us getting married 25 years ago (as a gracious answer to my prayers)- That’s how much he loved us!

He blessed us to live in the country, in this country, in this community around us where many of our existing and future family and our friends are and would be. That’s how much he loves us!

He brought us our two wonderful girls and he brought Mark and Michelle together and blessed them with a houseful of incredible guys all to raise enjoy and teach and love. That’s how much he loved us!

He brought one from each of our families together – Tyler and Sarah, with amazing circumstances that only He could control and they have grown together and now he is completely in control of where and how they are going and the amazing plans He has for them. He gave them a love for each other and for Him to commit to a lifetime and beyond and so we are joyfully celebrating them today! That’s how much he loves us!

He brought them to a 136 year old church to be married in today that is filled with a family heritage and history near Longmont and merged it with this place which is also filled another part of their family heritage and history in this community for nearly 100 years! He brought together this wedding party and this wedding party both filled with special people to them! That’s how much he loves us!

We are so glad that each one of you are here to celebrate with us today! We hope that you have and are enjoying the food and the fellowship so far! Our Lord is so glad you’re here that He’s got a bigger, better party planned for us and He’s taken care of every detail especially paying for it by sending His son to pay our sin debt in full! That’s how much he loves us! If you haven’t RSVP'd for it yet or haven’t opened your invitation yet, please come talk to Bob, Cory or Scott or me and we’ll gladly show you how your name is placed on that guest list! That’s how much he loves us!

Now I have a couple requests for you as Sarah and Tyler make their new start. As most of you know and or have heard, they are both products of this community. As they take the next step, they will be serving this community teaching and building! We thank you for your support already and pray for your continued encouragement as you pray and help to guide them as you will hopefully see that the what and who they build up and teach may be your own.

My last request today is for you to join me right now in a quick prayer for Sarah and Tyler and for this celebration:

Thank you God for this day! Thank you for bringing Tyler and Sarah together and for the commitment that they are making to each other and we pray for your will to be done in their new life together. We thank you for this day to celebrate, the joy you have blessed us with rooted in the love you have given us. Thank you for the family and friends here today and their support in bringing them to this point and encouraging them in their future. I pray that you will give them your wisdom in their discernment, your strength in their obedience, so they will live righteously, with integrity and with purity. Guard their hearts, their marriage, and their family from evil and from harm as they continue to lean on and praise you. Guide and guard their steps, their thoughts, their eyes, their ears, their words and their actions. Create in them pure hearts and renew a steadfast spirit within them. We thank you once again for how much you love us! We praise you, we need you and we love you and we ask all of these things in Jesus name. Amen!

Thank you once again for being here! Enjoy!!!

As my dad said, if you haven't taken that step of faith or haven't accepted Him into your heart, please reach out to me. Your name is on Heaven's guest list and He wants you to RSVP.

Before we got married, we prayed that our wedding would glorify Him and bring people to Him as they saw the love, His love, consuming everyone. The best love story is the one He has for us.

"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not easily broken." -Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." -1 Corinthians 13:1-13