Got your Bibles, will you go with me to Ephesians chapter number 5, please? Ephesians chapter number 5, and if you don't mind, would you go also to Genesis chapter number 2? Genesis chapter number 2, kinda hold your finger in both places if you can. Genesis chapter number two, and Ephesians chapter number five, down to about verse 22. And are you going there with me? Genesis, we won't have you stand because I got you in two places. I want to read a passage of Scripture out of chapter two of Genesis, then our main thought will be out of Ephesians chapter number five. If you're there, say amen. The Bible said, and the Lord God said, it is not good that a man should be alone. I will make him a helpmeet for him. And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air and brought them unto Adam to see that he would call them and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all the cattle and to the fowl of the air and to every beast of the field. For Adam there was not found and help me for him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam. And he slept and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man made he a woman. and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh. And the church said, Amen. Turn to Ephesians with me. Turn to the book of Ephesians, and I want you to show you the parallel chapter in the New Testament. Ephesians chapter number five. If you're there, say amen. Do a little bit more reading this morning. This may take both services this morning and tonight, and I realize that, but I want you to stay with me. The Bible said in verse 22, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. And he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify it. sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church. not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever hateth his own flesh and nourish and cherish it even as the Lord the church. For we are, hallelujah, members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and they shall be joined unto his wife, and they shall be what? One flesh. Now notice this. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. I wanna say something to you this morning by way of introduction. God has a great big plan for his family. Somebody say amen. And I want y'all to know this morning, I want in on God's plan for me. Somebody help me. I want what God wants for me. And by the way, you get what God wants for you, you got the best. Somebody help me there. Let me say it again. You get what God wants for you, you will get the best. And I'll tell you, ladies and gentlemen, I see this today. Many of us are settling for less than the best. Help me preach right there. God wants the best for you. He wants you to be the best person. He wants your marriage to be the best marriage. God wants you to bless you in ways that you've never known before. But what we've gotta do, we've gotta yield to his plan. Let me say a second thing. The devil also has a plan for you. I'll get to my text in a moment, but the devil has a plan for you too. Let me give it to you. He has a five-fold plan. Y'all with me? I'm gonna give it to you this morning. Number one, he wants to dethrone God. Isaiah 14 said, I will send up unto heaven. I will exalt my throne above his throne. The devil's wish is, here's what he wants to do. As a individual, he wants to take God from your throne of your heart. As a marriage, he wants to take God from the throne of your marriage. See, he wants to dethrone God. He don't want God in the government. He has almost successfully dethroned God in our government. We got one of the hatefulest, most ungodly, most demeaning governments we've ever had. Our country is heading toward hell very quickly, and you want to know why? The devil has succeeded in dethroning God from our country. And look at the mess. Ladies and gentlemen, he wants to do it to the country. He wants to do it to the Christian home. He wants to do it to you individually. He wants to take God out of the first place of your heart. I don't know if I'm gonna get all this done this world. I know I'm not. Because I'm gonna give you this plan. Number two. Not only does he want to dethrone God, he wants to debase man. He wants us to live like animals. See, he believes in unisex. He wants us to live like animals. And ladies and gentlemen, it's sad, but across this nation, and even in what I call Christendom, He has debased man so far, and we're living like animals. We live less than animals. God help us. He wants to debase you. He wants to make you feel low. He wants to destroy everything about you. That's the devil's plan, but God got a real big plan, better than the devil. He wants to bless you. Stay with me. Number three, hear me. His third part of his plan is to deny Christian morals. Here's what he wants you to do. And ladies and gentlemen, if you let him crack your home with immorality, it will spread like wildfire. Somebody help me. He wants to deny Christian morals. Used to be, come on, help me preach. Hey, used to be. We didn't allow him to do that. But now let's just look what he's done to us. It don't bother us anymore to bring alcohol in our homes. It ain't time to pray. It's immoral. And you say, Paul, it ain't hurting, we just do it socially. Ladies and gentlemen, you're leading, it'll lead you to the fall. Let me go on. And here, listen to me, help her hear me out. He also wants you to bring pornography in your home. Now, ladies and gentlemen, and I'm gonna quiet down a moment. I read this statistic, and when I read it, I said, that cannot be true. But 53% of Christians in this country are dabbing and dabbing into pornography. 53%. See what you think is all that Cinemax movie won't hurt nothing. But see, as soon as you let that immoral thing come into your home, and here's what'll happen, it's infectious. Then it has to be more, see. Then we'll get in our social media, and we'll get, am I preaching? And we'll get into our, and we'll get into that computer. By the way, it's not hard to get into that stuff. And when somebody comes around, all you gotta do is hit a button. Am I preaching? We have loud language in our home. Come on down, help me. That your parents and my parents would have never allowed in our homes. See, his plan is to dethrone God. His plan is to deplace man. His plan is to deny Christian morals. But number four, his plan is to destroy families. Oh, you said, now he can't get mine. He can't get mine. No, no, no, no, no. You ain't getting it right. If you don't have, if your family's not built on Christ, if you're not fulfilling Christian principles, the devil's already getting yours. I'll tell you what he wants you to do. He wants to destroy it. And then the world will mock. They'll mock at you. They'll mock at your wife. They'll mock at your children. They'll be happy. They'll be in glee because you'll be joining their crowd. You'll be joining the 57% that have chosen to depart and let their home be destroyed and let their kids be raised by somebody else and let their kids be left alone. God, help us. Amen, that's good preaching. God help us. And it don't take much. Here's what it takes. It's just you allowing him to get a step in your home. And then here's his goal, to dominate the world. He's the prince and the power of the air. Somebody help me. He's the prince and the power of the air. And he wants to dominate the world. He wants to control the world and the world system and everything that goes about in the world. Ladies and gentlemen, many of you don't realize this, but we're at 11.59 on God's timetable. The devil's taking over. We're about ready to go up and you need to get things in order. I'm trying to get to the text. I want to preach this morning and maybe tonight will have to be tonight also. on maximum marriage with minimum misery. Maximum marriage with minimum misery. I want you to know something. If you're in a home right now and your home is miserable, two things has happened. Satan has invaded it, and you've led him. Because God don't want you miserable. God don't want it to be mystery. He wants it to be joyful. He wants it to be wonderful. Look at that, I'll give you, boy, I don't want, I'm trying not to go too fast. 10 homes, five of them already are overboard. And four of the other five are just barely making it. Somebody help me. I'm gonna give you two points. One this morning and one tonight. Because I can't get all these principles in one sermon. And I don't wanna rush it. First of all, I want you to know something. How many of y'all agree with me when you heard both of those passages of scripture read together, they connect? How many agree? How many agree? They connect. There is a spiritual connection. And then secondly, I say a successful connection. This morning, I wanna talk first of all about the spiritual connection. Look what it says, the whole thing in Ephesians when he's talking about a husband and wife, and he said, I speak concerning Christ and his church. Ladies and gentlemen, boy, I don't wanna pass this. Do you know, ladies and gentlemen, your relationship, a man and wife, is connected to the relationship with Christ and the church are inseparable. And if that's true, why do we have little hells instead of great homes? Now let me show you something. This right here, this is shouting ground preaching right here. And it didn't make you wanna shout. I'm talking about the spiritual connection. Y'all stay with me, I'm gonna give you about nine things real quick, and I'll probably close this morning. I wanna get the successful connection, you gotta come back tonight for the rest of this. But let me show you the first one. See, just as Adam is a type of Christ, Eve is a type of the church. Somebody say amen. Christ, listen to this, Christ the Son of God existed independently of the church from eternity. Thus Adam existed independently of Eve. Now I'm gonna get some good preaching. Adam was put to sleep in order that Eve might be taken out of his side as a rib. Christ was put to sleep. and down on Calvary's cross, that you might, somebody help me preach right here, that the church might be born, and the church is not this building, the church is every individual in this room, boys and girls, moms and dads, you are the church, you were birthed for the sign of the Lord Jesus. You're catching the spiritual connection. Eve was taken out of Adam's side just as the church was born out of the blood and the water that flowed from Christ's side. Eve was bone of Adam's bone and flesh of his flesh. So as the church, the body of Christ is bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. Ladies and gentlemen, I know, well, I'm gonna preach this a little hard. I'm gonna hit you and your wife. You just got married, ain't been a year yet. You all still be on the honeymoon. Is he treating you good? Because I'm ready to smack him. Listen to this. You ever follow this? When you got married, your bone of her bone and flesh of her flesh. Men, listen. Your bone of her bone and flesh, y'all's this way, you're one. You're one. You're connected. Just as Christ and the church is connected, mom and dad, husband and wife, you're connected. Can I use your board? No, you took a note. You got an extra one. Yeah, thank you. Look here. So they shall cleave one to another. I wanna show y'all something. I wanna show you something. That word cleave is like I would do this Rich, I would take this. The word cleave means glued. If divorce happens in your home, guess what happens? You can't pull it apart. It rips. But hold on a minute. You wanna know why some of the widows in this church and the widowers in this church have a battle and it hurts so bad. I don't think you understand what happens when death comes to your partner. I'll show you. And all the words say, oh, you can get over it. Yeah, God's grace can take you through it. But listen, I want you to know something. When something rips apart like that, part of you is gone. Somebody help me preach. Why don't we take this more seriously? I mean, listen to me. If divorce comes, it's ripped. If the devil's successful in destroying your home, it's ripped. The kids are ripped. The family's ripped. You'll never be the same. You'll say, but the grass is greener on the other side. I'll just find somebody else. That's not as easy as you think it is. God may bless you that way, but I want you to know that's not near as easy, because satanic says a second marriage is tougher than the first marriage. Because then you're gonna deal with somebody else's kids. What are y'all laughing about? It's a fact. It's good preaching anyway, preacher. Am I preaching? I'm just trying to help you this morning. Let me go follow him. Let me go follow him. Oh Lord, listen. Eve was presented by God the Father to Adam as his bride and his wife. Let me show you. Come here. Come here, big boy. Come here. Last December, wasn't it? I pronounced them husband and wife. And they were joined together. And didn't we have a time? You know what? Isn't that good? But watch this. One of these days, you, me, we're gonna be presented as the bride to the Father and to Christ. And we're gonna get married. Did you have a honeymoon? How long did it last? Oh yeah. Okay, I'm not talking about going on, how long did the literal, a week? How many had a week honeymoon? Raise your hand if you had a week honeymoon. How many had two weeks? How many had, like me, none? Can I tell you something? I'm about to get happy. You know how long church or honeymoon's gonna be? First of all, it's gonna be for 1,000 years. And before we have it, you remember? I'm about to get done here. I'm getting happy. You remember, we had a big old meal in there. They fixed everything. Man, I'll tell you, I gained seven pounds from your wedding. And they had everything. Didn't they? Didn't they have everything? One of these days, they're gonna have a big table. It's called the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Hyman Appleman said, they won't say grace until I get there. And I'm gonna be sitting there. I'm gonna sit there with the groom. and we're gonna drink the fruit of the vine new, and we're gonna eat from the table, and what a presentation, and what a wonderful thing. You said, why did that happen? Because I got yoked up with Jesus, because I'm connected with Jesus, because I had Jesus in my life. There ain't nothing better than a relationship with God that affects your life and will affect your home. I gotta bring this ship into shore sometime here. I ain't got, this is the first point. One of these days, first of all, Eve was pruned to Adam, spotless and without sin. One of these days, we're gonna be presented to the Lamb, spotless and without sin. Just as Adam and Eve became one flesh in their marriage, Christ and the church will eternally be in matrimony in heaven one day. Somebody ought to shout there. How many want in on that plan? Heads bowed. By the way, you can't be on that plan unless you're saved. I want to talk to couples a minute. I want to talk to everybody. How many of you know for sure you're saved? Raise your hand. Hold them up. Thank you. Come on, be honest. How many in here don't know for sure you're saved and don't want to die and go to hell and you want your life changed? Raise your hand. Sipping a pie, I see that hand, anybody else? I want God's joy in my life. I see that hand. God bless you. You that raised your hand, would you look up at me? Did you raise your hand, son? Would you like to be a Christian? Come on, come on, come on, come on. Before I go on with the invitation, mom and dad ain't gonna care what you say. Come on, grant, lead him to Jesus, that boy wants to be saved. Amen, his mom and dad got saved a couple weeks ago. Now let me ask you, how many homes in here, nobody looking, would it be honest enough to say, preacher, we got, we had some trouble in our lives, that we need Christ more than we ever need. Folk are coming out right now. I want a few people to come up and pray with this brother, if you would. Support, support, support. How many others said, Preacher, we got trouble in our marriage? Maybe it's not ready for divorce, but you got, it's not where it used to be. How many homes right here now, it's not where it used to be? Step it up, step it up. God bless you. How many right now would say, Preacher Smith, I want God to take over in my home. How many of you right now, you know you love your wife, but he isn't in control like he used to be. You want him in control. I want to have me stand with how many couples would come around this altar and say, I just want to join my wife. Maybe nothing's wrong, but you want to make sure nothing ever gets wrong and bring your wife up here and just come and pray. Stand with me. Our Father, I ask you to bless right now. Thank you, Lord, as you're dealing with an unsaved man, dealing with his dear husband. Oh, God. Oh, God. You touched now. Couples are coming. Come on, sing for me. Come on. Why don't you just bring your wife and maybe your children? Just come around here and say, you know what? We're gathering around the altar. Ain't nothing wrong, preacher. We don't want nothing to be wrong. Yeah, man! Whoo! God bless you. Lord, you touched Brother Randall. Lord, I love him, God. Give him victory. If you hear your back sitting on God, come and get right with God. Yes. Yes. Yeah, man. Lord, I'm coming to you again. I've wasted many precious Lord, I'm coming home. Lord, I'm coming home. Just a second, Lois. Hold on, ma. Grant to introduce this young man. The church is his Earl, and he just accepted Christ as his Savior. Hey, Earl, did you get saved? You know you're going to heaven? Amen! Somebody give Jesus a hand!