John K. Jenkins Sr - Family Under Siege: Singles

I want to start a series on the family. I don't know whether you know it or not, but there's a strong attack on destroying the family unit as we understand it. There are components and elements of our society that are seeking to redefine what constitutes a family, and unfortunately, the church has stood by silently and watched this battle, this progress go on. I think we need to play a role in stepping up and taking a stand . Amen! I want to thank those 17 people for that rousing amen. So, I want to talk about family from the Book of Genesis, which is the book of beginnings. The Book of Genesis is significant and important because it gives us the foundation and the pattern of what God wants us to know and do . He establishes so much in chapter one of Genesis. We get the story of creation, and when we get to chapter two, God says, "Now let me slow down and give you the details of what happened in chapter one." So, in chapter two, we want to take a look today . I want to start by addressing chapter two. In fact, today, I want to talk to single people. All the single people, where you at ? Raise your hand! All the single people! The majority of our church are single people , and I want to talk to singles because all too often, singles feel isolated and disconnected, especially when you talk about family. For some reason, the enemy has painted a picture in singles' minds that they are not a part of a family, when the reality is that God's first family started with a single man. [Music] Let me let that sink in. Y 'all probably missed it; it went over your head. Let me rewind it and give it back to you again : the first family, when God first created a unit, was a single male. Yes, sir, that was the first family. Then He added to that. So, it's important that singles understand the role and scope they play and who they are in the kingdom. I'm going to talk about singles , and in part two, I'm going to discuss spouses and the drama that accompanies spouses . Amen! Then, in part three, I want to deal with the seed and how the enemy wants to destroy our seed . Y'all know the devil is trying to kill your kids and mess up their lives. Amen! Preach on , Pastor! I see this is going to be a long message here today. If y'all can't say amen to that, we're going to have trouble and drama for the rest of this series. In chapter two, we read the story about Adam. In verse 8, it says, "And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed." God created a garden. This is important preliminary information before I get to my points. In verse 8, God planted a garden, and then the verse says , "And there He put the man whom He had formed." He made man and placed him in a garden. Now, here's the significant thing: God took this single man and placed him in a garden that He had created. It 's important for you to understand that I don't care what the drama has been in your life, or what the history has been, or what kind of family you were raised in. It doesn't matter who or what you were surrounded by; wherever you got placed, wherever you were put, God put you in the midst of an environment that He either created or allowed. That 's an important concept because some of you have grown up with anger and bitterness against God because your life has not gone the way you wanted. You didn't like this , you didn't like that, this happened to you, that happened to you. But the reality is , for you to be what God wanted you to be and achieve what God wanted you to achieve , He placed you in the environment you needed to be in to become who He wanted you to be. The sooner you and I can come to grips with the fact that God put us there... matter of fact, that word "put" in Hebrew means to be deposited . Oh, I like that! He deposited you someplace, meaning that He put you in a place where you would bring benefit and, guess what? Where you would be benefited. He placed you in an environment where you would be benefited and where you would be a benefit. That 's what that word "deposit" means. The word "put," He put you there. He created it all; He planted the vineyard, He planted your parents, He planted the environment you were going to live in , and He understood that that environment would be the best for helping you become who He wanted you to become. Somebody say amen to that profound point! So, God took Adam and placed him into the garden that He had created. I want to encourage some people to stop crying about your past and learn to celebrate and thank God for your past . Let me thank those 18 people for that rousing amen. When God placed him there , God gave him everything he needed. Look at what he had: he had several things . He had a relationship with God, and he had...