John K. Jenkins Sr - The Dangers to a Successful Marriage

Grab your Bibles, the iPhone, iPad, or Android, and turn to Genesis chapter 3. Say "I got it" when you find it. I know it's been weird once already, Byron Buerkle, but this crowd needs to read Genesis again. That 's the first book in the Bible, chapter 3. It goes chapter 1, 2, 3-that's for your neighbor because I know you know where it is. Beginning at verse 1: Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?'" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden , but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'" Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden . Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?" So he said, "I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself." And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?" Then the man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate." And the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." Amen. I want to talk about the dangers to a successful marriage. Look at your neighbor and say, "You 're going to need this message right here." Now I know some of y'all are not married, and you want to turn me off. Don 't turn me off because you're going to need this message. So maybe you're not married now, but you might be married, and maybe because you haven't learned this lesson, maybe that's the reason why you're not married. I'm just saying , maybe these are principles that can be applicable as well, just in relationships. So that's why I want to talk about the dangers to a successful marriage. Say to your neighbor one more time, "The dangers to a successful marriage." All right, you can be seated. Yesterday was August 23rd . It is a day that will live in infamy. It is the day that, 34 years ago, John Jenkins and Trina Jenkins got married. 34 years ago! Y'all ought to be clapping for that right there-that is a miracle! It's a miracle that my wife has stayed with me for 34 years. It hasn 't been easy. We've had our tough days; we've had our tough times. We've had some good days, some bad days , some happy days , and some not-so-happy days. I wish I could tell you that we have traveled this journey for 34 years and we've just been skipping down the road, so happy , that life has been great. But that would be a lie; it wouldn't be true. The reality is that, on many occasions, we've hit some tough spots. One of the problems in today's generation is they don't know how to survive tough spots in marriages. If everybody could say "Amen" together, nobody knows what I'm talking about. You've got to learn some lessons ; I learned some lessons. God taught me some things, and y'all have heard me talk about it in testimonies and stories I've told over the years about things that have happened in my family and my marriage. I've tried to be transparent with you all, like I told you about the time she said to me one day she was sick and tired of this mess. She went into the closet, started packing her clothes-she was going to leave. I didn't know what to do; I went in behind her, broke out my suitcase, and said, "I'm sick and tired of this mess too! I'm going with you." Maybe I didn't tell you about the time she said to me-matter of fact, imitating something that happened one time-on her favorite, okay, this was our first child . She was in labor with our first child, and I was driving to Howard University Hospital down Route 15, going 80 miles an hour. She grabbed me and said I was driving too slow and to go faster. But in between her contractions, she said to me, "You will never touch me again!" We had six kids! Come on, say we made it through some difficult times and moments in our marriage. We've had some tough days, but we've made it 34 years. We've made it not because I've been too super husband . I haven't been the best dad or father ; I've made mistakes. I've had my priorities out of whack; I've just been messed up . God had to work on me, and I had to learn some things over the course of those years. If I wanted this marriage to work, there are some things I had to learn .