John K. Jenkins Sr - The ABCs of Family: Discerning God's Will for Marriage

A few weeks ago, I started a series on the family, the ABCs of family, and today is part four. Somebody say, «part four.» Look at your neighbor and say, «Our families need help!» One of the reasons our families struggle to survive is that they’re not getting started right. So, I want to talk about marriage — who you should marry and who you shouldn’t marry. I can tell I hit something right there because y’all didn’t say anything. I’m going to discuss discerning who you should marry. Now, I feel the tension in the room because some of you might say, «Well, I’m already married.» Well, here’s why I 've thought about all of that: a lot of our 8:00 people are already married, but there are a lot of unmarried people at 8:00. And I’m also talking about this today because you need to teach your kids, amen, and your grandkids how to make decisions about who they should marry. Now, you ' ve heard me say a thousand times, and here’s the thousand and first time: I need God to show me clearly who I was supposed to marry because I had hundreds of women chasing after me. It’s true, Stephen — they just came out of the woodworks after me, bro! But the truth of the matter is, the devil will send the wrong person in front of you and make you think you should get married, and I know God confirmed this today. Here 's what God does: He confirms for me what I’m supposed to talk about. So, I come out before the service starts, around 7:30, and greet people. I greeted a couple together and asked how long they' ve been married. They said, «No, we’re not married yet.» Then I greeted another couple and asked if they were married, and they said they weren 't. I did this with two couples, and neither one of them was married. So, I said, «I’m going to talk to y’all today,» because you need to know who you’re supposed to marry. I have four points, four things, four areas I want to talk about today to challenge those of you who are not married, but also for those of you who are already married to talk to your kids and grandkids about the areas to discern whether God wants you to be married. Here 's number one. Now, by the way, let me tell you right off the bat: these are tough topics. I already know at least one of these points, y’all won’t say a single amen through the whole thing. Now, here are some facts: in 2024, the divorce rate in the United States is estimated to be 41% for first-time marriages. Wow! Out of every 100 marriages, 41 of them don’t survive. Wow! There’s a 60% divorce rate for people entering their second marriage and a 73% divorce rate for those entering their third marriage. I don’t know what makes people think that if your first two marriages didn’t work, your third one will. I want to take my hat off to people who have survived the stress and strain of marriage and have stayed married to the same person. It’s so easy to leave the one you 're with and move on to another. Yes, that’s the culture we live in- we trade our spouses like we do cars. Once a car reaches a certain amount of miles, we sell it or trade it in. But God looks at marriage as a sacred institution, amen. This isn 't just a car, amen. I feel the applause getting lower and lower already. Marriage is important because either your marriage will make you or break you, amen. Other than accepting Jesus, it is the most important decision you’ll ever make in your life-who you marry. It’s either going to be a blessing or a burden. Y’all see how the amens got quiet right there? Unfortunately, too many people are making decisions based on the wrong factors about who they marry. Yeah, you’re looking at the wrong things. That 's right, you’re focusing on the wrong attributes-you’re focusing on physical appearance instead of what they believe. So, where are the single people? Raise your hand. Wow, okay! Well, this is an important decision for you to make. Again, what I’m going to tell you is what the world rejects. I’m going to share some things that the world never considers nor evaluates. So, I’m going to give you the truth so that you won’t stand before God and say, «Pastor Jenkins didn’t tell me,» amen? I told you there are many factors to consider: What kind of temperament does that person have? What are their money management practices? How they spent their money in the past is a true indication of how they will spend money going forward, amen? Alright, amen! We have a premarital class at our church…