"Living Single”

BIG IDEA: LIVING SINGLE IS A SPECIAL CALLING OF GOD.

REFERENCES: I Cor. 7:25-40; I Cor. 7:1-24; Matthew 19:8-12 (Because of the hardness of mans heart, Moses wrote the bill of divorcement … Not all men can receive this except for who is given … enuchs who have been so from birth …); Isaiah 56:3-5; Mark 12:18-25 (Sadducees question Jesus about the resurrection and the woman married seven times … who wife will she be in the resurrection?); Philippians 4:11 (… I have learned in whatsoever state that I’m in to be content); I Cor. 7:7-9 (I wish that all men were as I am …); Matthews 22:30 (For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as angels of God); Aphrodite (ten thousand priestess); Genesis 1:28 (And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth F6 upon the earth); Genesis 2: 22-26 (The account of the creation story); Deut 6:

I. ANNOUNCE THE PERICOPE: 1 Corinthians 7:1-2, 32-35

II. READ THE PERICOPE: 1 Corinthians 7:1-2, 32-35

III. READ THE TEXT: 1 Corinthians 7:32 (But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:).

IV. PURPOSE: To motivate the Singles to affirm to others that Living Single is a Special Calling of God to a deeper level of spiritual devotion.

V. SERMONIC THEME: “LIVING SINGLE”

INTRODUCTION: ( In the beginning God created them male and female …man was to leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife …STILL …

The 2000 Census shows that more than 27 million Americans live by themselves, about one-fourth of all household – nearly 10% of the population, with the increase in the divorce rate the increase in the age at which people first get married, and with our increasing longevity; the experiene of being single is now one of the most widely shared experiences of adulthood …

In other words … being Single is now a Choice that many people are making; it’s not a problem that is unavoidable.

In fact the Bible speaks highly of marriage; but t speaks just as highly of a person remaining single and unmarried in Matthews 19:8-12 (Hardness of heart … all can’t receive this … to be eunuch); Mark 12:18-25 (The challenge by the Sadducee regarding the resurrection);

******TAKE 5 BEATS*****

MOVE 1: I mean really, think about it , Single life may be necessary because of circumstances.

a. There are enuchs who are so from birth.

b. There are those sexually impotent.

c. And there are those who mentally retarted.

d. There are also those that have experienced certain forms of physical disability that make marriage most unlikely or unwise.

******TAKE 5 BEATS******

MOVE 2: Still, the Lord says these are not to be regarded as MISFITS or HOPELESS CASES …

a. God recognizes them as having a SPECIAL FUNCTION to perform …

b. Now, in reference to our TEXT …The City of Corinth was known for its immorality and for the Temple Aphrodite with its 1000 Temple Prostitute who plied the streets at night .