Marriage and Singleness

Tough Questions: How does God bless the married and unmarried?
I Corinthians 7
9/6/2020 Brian Jennings

Q. Read I Cor 7:1. If you were writing Paul about relationship/marriage matters, what would you ask him?

Take the time to memorize I Corinthians 7:17 –
“Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them.”

4 Gifts From God – regardless of our relationship status:

He gives us eternal identity - we are children of God.

Gal. 2:20 says, “I’ve been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ now lives in me.”

John 1:12: “To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”

Q. When has your relationship status become your primary identity? How did this effect you?

Your primary identity is not Single, Married, Engaged, Widowed, Divorced, Separated. Nope. You are a child of God.

He gives us a spiritual family - we should live like it.

Q. How does this crazy season of life offer opportunities for the church to live as family?

There is an interesting progression in John’s Gospel as to how Jesus sees the disciples over the course of his ministry:

1. Followers - John 1:43
2. Servants - John 13:16
3. Friends - John 15:15
4. Brothers - John 20:17

He gives us restrictions that help us fly – we are wise to obey.

Q. How are restrictions are like the string on a kite?

Dr. Tony Evans “When any woman considers a man for marriage, they need to remember that before God gave Adam a wife, He gave him responsibility.”

Q. How is following Jesus the foundation of healthy relationships.

He gives us His presence - we are never alone.

Resources
Our staff is always glad to recommend you to a counselor. We have several excellent options from within HP and several not connected to HP. We like to give folks several great options. Let us know if we can help.

Tim Keller’s book, “Meaning of Marriage,” is my all-time favorite book on marriage.

Tony Evans offers great online resources here - https://tonyevans.org/tony-evans-christian-marriage/

Ozark Christian College offers a bunch of free “Next Level” video teachings. An 8-session series on marriage and love by Randy Gariss is excellent for people married or unmarried. https://occ.edu/series/married-and-in-love-coming-october-2017