Heavenly Father, we come to you grateful and thankful for the written Word of the living God. We thank you, O Lord, that the precious flock here does not receive the Word as the Word of men, but for what it really is, the Word of God, which works powerfully in us who believe. And so we know, O Lord, we come to the Word. And we know that the Bible has the power to change. It has the power to transform. It is the truth. It is the objective, unchanging revelation from you. Oh, eternal and unchanging God. Father, we live in a day where things change so quickly. We live in a culture where ideologies and worldviews can change so quickly. But yet, oh father, we thank you that your word, the Bible is the only reliable supernatural guide that we have. And we rest upon it. We stand upon it. We cling to your word for it is living and it is active and sharper than a double edged sword. So we come to you now, even for this hour, asking that you would teach and that you would encourage and that you would instruct for your glory in Jesus name. Amen. Well, grab an outline in the back table and come on in. We are studying part 10, part 10 of... a series that we have entitled a godly home, a godly home. And as you know, we have dealt with topics that all relate to family life, home life. And we've dealt with the meaning of marriage. And we've talked about the duties of the husband and the duties of the wives. We've talked about communication. We've talked about sexual intimacy. We've had a couple of weeks on a parenting. We had a week on forgiveness. We've talked about family worship. And here we are in this final part, this final section of this study on a godly home. We are directing our attention primarily to the singles who are here, the singles. And I titled the study tonight, your singleness and undistracted devotion to Christ, your singleness and undistracted devotion to Christ and your involvement in the family of God. Before we even begin, I want to let you know that all of the outlines that have been handed out for the last 10 weeks are compiled into one PDF running document and that will be on the church website this week. If you want all of them there in one place, in one document, you can go online and get that this week. But what we want to do is we want to look at the Word of God and look at what Scripture says about singles. So, turn in your Bible to Luke chapter 2, please. Luke chapter 2. God has blessed singles with a unique season of life to serve Him with undistracted devotion. And there's a couple of things that we can highlight in talking about that one line statement. And whether singleness is from divorce or whether your singleness is from widowhood or whether your singleness is from never having been married before. Singleness is a blessing from God. I want you to hear that. Singleness is a blessing from God. It's not a second-class lifestyle. It's not a curse from God. It is a blessing from God. I also want you to know, second of all, singleness is a unique season of life. It's a unique season of life. More on that in a little bit. Third, I want you to note that singleness is to be used to serve God. When you read in the Word of God about God's design and plan for the singles, singleness is to be used to serve God. And then another bullet point here under that one line statement is that singleness is to promote undistracted devotion to the Lord. Singleness is to promote undistracted devotion to the Lord. I want to flesh those out a little bit with you tonight and whether you are a young single, whether you are an older single, whether you're someone who has been married before, if you're here and you've never been married and maybe you have hopes of being married one day. Maybe you're a young person and you're thinking I don't have any idea in the near future of being married but perhaps one day God may have you married. What an important study for us to look at together. What does God say about singles? Well, Luke chapter 2 is our text for this evening, and I want you to look with me at Luke chapter 2, verses 36 through 38. And we're just going to look really at a couple of verses here that I think flesh out how singleness is modeled by a stalwart saint, by a godly believer. Follow with me as I read in God's Word, Luke chapter 2 beginning in verse 36. And there was a prophetess, her name was Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years and had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage. And then as a widow to the age of 84. She never left the temple serving night and day with fastings and prayers. At that very moment, she came up and she began giving thanks to God and continued to speak of him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. When you talk about singles and you talk about singleness and you talk about the life of a person who is not married, maybe those may have been married at one point, but might now be divorced or maybe a widow or maybe those who have never yet been married. When you talk about singleness, I want to present before you tonight maybe a couple of warnings, maybe a couple of thoughts to guard from at the beginning before we get into what godly singleness does look like. Let me give you a couple of warnings, first of all. Maybe things to guard from as singles. Number one, guard from isolationism. Guard from isolationism. And by that, I mean this. For those who do desire companionship in The bond of marriage, maybe it's just a simple thought. You won't find a godly spouse if you isolate yourself from the local church. And if you found a spouse who isolated yourself from the local church, then your spiritual life and the marriage together would just be incredibly dangerous. And it would be, it would be almost a train wreck waiting to happen. If you're not plugged into the body of Christ together as a couple. You want to guard from isolationism. Number two, singles need to guard from self-pity. What do you mean? Well, maybe it could creep in this feeling of sorry for self, almost a subtle form of pride, a self-pity. Woe is me, for I am single. I don't want to be single, but I am single. And this pity, this self-pity that might arise in the heart and minds of singles. You want to guard from that. A third element that you want to guard from is complaining, is complaining. For we know in Philippians we ought to do everything without grumbling or disputing. James chapter 5 tells the same, to do all without complaining. Also, number four, singles want to guard from discontentment because we need to remember that our great God is in control. And so whatever the reason might be for a single to be single, whether that might be again divorce or maybe widowhood or someone who has a desire to be married but isn't married or even someone who is content with being single for the glory of God and for the work of God. Remember that God is in control and remember to live as a content man or a content woman for the glory of God. Number five, another thing that we want to guard from as singles, number five is idleness, and that is lethargy, sort of a laziness about life, which leads to number six, unaccountability. Unaccountability. That is to say, where you're not accountable to anyone. One writer put it this way, there's no unchecked life like the single life. It can be very easy to live wildly and to live unwisely when you live in isolation or without accountability. Our flesh might say, eat a little more of this and drink a little more of that and buy a little more of this and watch a little more of that or stay away from them. Don't, don't get too plugged in with the body of Christ or I don't want to open up and share my struggles and my sins with those people. We need to guard from unaccountability. And number seven, for those who are single, guard from faithlessness. That is not fulfilling God's call and plan for you in your life. There is a pastor by the name of Steve DeWitt. He's a godly biblical counselor and he said to singles, do you ever battle with loneliness? Do you ever battle with loneliness? Here's what he said. You remember that Augustine, the early church father, the theologian in the early centuries said, our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee. He says, we tend to wrongly interpret why we feel as we do. He says, we think that we need dot, dot, dot. You think you need something for the ache of loneliness to go away, but all of these things are shadows of the reality. Friends and other companions may be a wonderful blessing, but they are neither ultimate nor adequate for a heart that is made for God. So loneliness acts kind of like a divine sticky note, which reminds you by saying, don't forget for whom you were made. Don't forget for whom you were made. You were not ultimately made for a relationship here. You were not ultimately made for a marriage here. You were made for the glory of God and for the renown of Christ. And now in teaching on the topic of gospel-driven singleness about a year and a half ago, here from this pulpit I made mention of a number of exhortations to all those who are single, and I put them there in your outline. Number one, I mentioned that we need to trust God's providence fully. Trust God and the way that God has worked in your life. Trust Him. Whatever God has done in your life, however God has worked in your life, whoever God has taken from you in your relationships, or maybe whoever God hasn't brought into your life yet. trust God, trust God and His providence. Number two, singles ingest God's word relentlessly. What does that mean? Well, take as the season of life that God has given you the great privilege and opportunity to ingest, to take in the word of God relentlessly. Number three, I I mentioned a year and a half ago to storm God's throne tirelessly. What does that mean? Make your life one of prayer, of prayer. Live a life of fervent prayer where you may not have those that you live with in the family, in the relationship, in the marriage that you live with, but you have a father who is there with you at all times and you can always come to the throne of grace. to find mercy and help in your time of need. And number four, live God's glory undistractedly was the fourth exhortation to live God's glory out sacrificially without distraction, without impediment in your life. Now, as I was thinking this week, I have to be honest with you. I was praising the Lord and thanking the Lord for Christ's fellowship and the singles that God has brought to Christ's fellowship. I am so thankful. I'm so thankful that Christ Fellowship Bible Church actually looks like a family. Because there are youth, and there are the older ones, and there are married, and there are singles, and there are widows, and there are divorced, and there are those that just are all over the map, relationally, and that's a good thing, because that's what a family looks like, and that's what CFBC models, and I praise God for that. I praise God that we have many singles, both young and older, at Christ's fellowship. And my goal in these few minutes with you this evening, for those of you who are single, is to exhort you to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord. And what I'm doing is quoting 1 Corinthians 7. verse 35 to you. I want you to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord. Tonight, as we look at Luke chapter 2, I want to look at these few verses with you. Luke 2, 36 to 38. And I want to direct your attention to this stalwart believer. This lady is amazing. She is a woman who had her priorities right. She served God with all that she was. Her name is Anna. In the original Greek, Hannah. Her name means grace. What can we learn about singlehood from this Anna? What can we learn about singleness from this Anna? By the way, for those of you who are young here in this room, put this in your mind. Remember this. This is so important because you're not going to see it from the world living around you. You're not going to see it from secular society around you. You're not going to read it from many contemporary Christian books that you're going to read on the bookshelves around you. We go to the Word of God to find our answers for how to glorify God in your singleness. So let's learn from Anna. Number one, number one, look in your outline, her call. Look at her call in verse 26 and in Luke 2, verse 36, here's what Luke writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And there was a prophetess. Her name is Anna prophetess prophetess. That's her call. What does that mean? What do you mean? She's a prophetess. Well, she's not a prophet in the early church because the church hadn't started yet. There was no church yet. Here's what Anna did. Here's what is meant by prophetess. She was a testifier of the word of God. She was a proclaimer of truth. She witnessed that Messiah had come and that Messiah was coming. She was, as it were, a mouthpiece for God. She was a witness, a proclaimer. You could say a spokesman, a spokeswoman, maybe more technically. You know, and by bringing out her call here, that Luke says there was a prophetess, here's what I want you to get in your mind, that the call of being a spokesman for the Lord Jesus Christ and a mouthpiece for God and a testifier for God is not sort of a high, super spiritual call for the elite godly people. But all Christians are called. All Christians are called. To be a Christian is to be sent. Whether you're married or whether you're single, whether you're divorced, whether you're widowed, whether you are a youth, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you're sent. You're sent. You're commissioned. You're enlisted. You're called into the family of God. And you are to be a mouthpiece for God, a testifier of God, a proclaimer of all of the great things that God has done in Christ. Her call. Anna was a woman who was called. For those of you who are single, I want you to be encouraged by this, that here's a woman, and by the way, in this day, women did not have the high social standing that maybe some might appreciate and experience today. It just wasn't the case then. That was a male-driven society. And yet, here's a woman that said, my call in life is to be a proclaimer, a testifier of my Messiah. That's her call. Number two, in your outline though, I also want you to notice this about this single woman, Anna. Number two, notice her family. Notice her family again in verse 36. There was a prophetess and her name was Anna. She was the daughter of Fonuil of the tribe of Asher. The daughter of Fonuil, the tribe of Asher. Well, we know the tribe of Asher comes from northern Israel. That's where they dwelt and where they inhabited the land in the days of Joshua. And that's where the tribal allotment was, in the northern part of Israel. But other than that, we have no other record in all of Holy Scripture of Anna. We have no other account in all of Scripture of her father and the family's name, Phanuel. We have no idea who the family is, what the family did. We know nearly nothing about her lineage. Here's why that's important. She comes from a no-name family. She really lived as kind of a no-name woman. She left no earth-changing legacy that shook the Roman empire of the day, but she was faithful to her God. She was faithful to her God. So there's not much that is known about her. There's not much that's known about her family. But don't think that God can't use you. He can. He can. And He used Anna and singles who were here. God can use you as well. She was faithful. In fact, turning your Bible to Romans chapter 16. You know, there's something amazing about the book of Romans that Paul never saw some of these people face to face. He, he loved them, but, but he, he didn't, he didn't know and greet all of them face to face, but here he is at the end of this book, greeting all of these people whom he loves. Look at Romans 16 and verse 12. At the very end of the book, Romans 16, verse 12, greet Triphana and Triphosa, workers in the Lord. And then look at the next phrase here. Greet Persis, the beloved. She's a woman. Greet Persis. She's the beloved woman who has worked hard in the Lord. What? That's all we have? That's all we have in all of sacred revelation of this woman, Persis. In fact, earlier in verse 12, the only thing that we know about Tryphena and Tryphosa, these male workers in the Lord, is that they were workers in the Lord. That's all we know. And so, there is something to be said, even at the end of verse 12, about Persis there, who is a beloved, who worked hard for the Lord. She worked hard in the Lord. Probably a single woman, because she was working hard for the Lord, and the husband is not mentioned. She labored. The Greek word there is she sweat. She was sweating, exerting, exhausting herself and her energies for the Lord. So here's Anna, a woman who comes from a family that really was not really a known family. She didn't leave a great legacy that shook the Roman Empire, but she was faithful to her God. Single men and single women here today, let me encourage and let me exhort you at the same. Be faithful to your God. Be faithful to your God. You may come from a no-name family. And maybe you might not leave an earth shattering legacy that is going to rock the world for the glory of God. Maybe, but maybe not, but either way, be faithful to the Lord, be faithful to your savior. And not only that, look at number three in your outline, notice not just her, her call and her family, but third, her age. Her age, verse 36, and there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, back to Luke 2. She was of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years and she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage. And then as a widow to the age of 84, she was The text says in verse 36, advanced in years. And then Luke clarifies in verse 36, that she had lived with her husband seven years. She was a married woman for seven years. And then when he died, she was a widow until the age of 84. You're never too old to serve the Lord. Never. Never too elderly to serve. Never. In fact, I wrote an article a couple years ago that said we younger people need the older people in the body of Christ. We need you to tell us about your God. We need you to tell us about God's faithfulness through the decades of walking with God. We need you to model for us what it's like to walk with God through the easy and through the hard times and through the confusing times and through all seasons of life. We want you to model for us what it's like to walk with God when marriage is a joy and when you are battling the loss of a spouse. We need to learn that from you. We want to see that modeled from you. We need to see that from the elderly men and women that God has brought. Men and women, do you have time? Maybe there are some who are here who are retired, some who are elderly, some who are single, some who are widowed. some who are younger with no spouse yet. You're not married yet. Then an exhortation, and I think a fitting one from Anna and from her example in the Word of God here, is to exhort you to serve God hungrily, to serve God eagerly, and to serve God zealously, and to serve God passionately. to serve God devotedly. And this is not a rebuke to the singles that are here by any means. This is an exhortation. This is what Anna has modeled, what we find in the Word of God, and what the Lord is bringing to all of our attention through Anna and through her example. Even Anna, as an older woman, 84 years old, was serving God. Was serving God. Never, ever think that you're too old to serve the Lord. Not only do we see Anna's call and we see her family and we see her age, but fourth, and I want to camp here for a couple of minutes. Notice her worship. And here's where Luke camps. Here's where the spirit of God guides Luke to, to sort of go deeper and give us a little more content about this single woman. What kind of life did she live? Notice her worship, verse 30. 7. Then she was a widow to the age of 84. She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers. And at that very moment, she came up and began giving thanks to God. And she continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. Biblical counselor Steve DeWitt said this, quote, There is a difference between aloneness and loneliness. God never intended man to be alone. That's why he created Eve. That's why God created marriage. That is why he instituted the family. This is why the church is called a body, because God doesn't want anyone to be alone. Hear this, solitary confinement is for prisons, not for the church. Solitary confinement is for prisons, not for the church. He goes on to say, the church is designed by God to be a place of belonging. Romans 12, 5. We are the family of God, but we will be a lonely family as long as we come expecting everyone to serve me and to meet my needs. He gives great counsel here. He says, we overcome loneliness when we forget ourselves and we become concerned with other people and their needs, especially people we don't perceive as able to meet our needs. What is he saying there? He says, you make it your mindset to be a worshiper of God by serving other people, by actively serving other people. It's not about what I can get from church. It's about how I can serve and how I can give in the body of Christ. He's so wise. And Anna modeled that. Notice the descriptive words here that talk about this 84 year old woman's worship. Look at this. Look at verse one. It is constant. Her worship was constant. Verse 37. She was a widow to the age of 84 and she never left the temple. Never left the temple. There's a way of speaking in a figure of speech where you exaggerate something to make a point, and that's what's going on here. He's not saying that she had a pillow and a sleeping bag always living at the temple. That's not the point. The point is that her life revolved around the worship of God in the temple. Do you hear that? Her life revolved around the worship of God. In the temple, it was the center of her life. It was the center of her calendar. What the worship of God and the people of God and the praises of God and the exaltation of God and the fellowship with God's people. She never left the temple night and day. She was there. Her life revolved around the place of worship, being where God is and being with the people of God. Her worship was constant. Even as an 84-year-old single woman, she worshiped God constantly. Number two, she worshiped God as noted by being service-oriented. Look at what we read in verse 37. She was a widow to the age of 84. She never left the temple. Okay, what was she like? She was serving night and day, serving, serving, serving. The Greek word for serving here is where we get our English word, liturgy. Liturgy. What does that mean? It means to serve God in a religious context. It means to carry out religious duties according to scripture. So in other words, she lived her life revolving around the temple, around the worship of God, around the people of God. And she was constantly carrying out the religious duties that God wanted her to do. As scripture laid out for her, what a, what a woman, what a, what a godly single lady that devoted her, her life, her single years to a survey service oriented worship. In fact, in 1 Timothy chapter 5, we learn that in the early church, there was a list. There was a list for the early churches to take care of widows, to take care of widows. In fact, they are to be cared for by their families first. But Paul said, if they have no family, if they have no one to care for them, then they are to be put on the church list and they are to be cared for by the church. But they have to have had a good testimony notice 1st Timothy 5 and verse 10 they must have had a reputation for good works and they must have brought up children and she should have shown hospitality to strangers And she must have washed the saints feet. She should have assisted those who are in distress and has devoted herself to every good work. Here, here's someone who once was married, but yet now is a widow. And yet Paul says, okay, for the local church in that context, in that time to take care of these widows, they need to have had a good reputation of serving God and serving the people of God and being diligent. with the reputation of good works. Kind of like Anna here, a woman who served, a woman who, who ministered in the context of the temple and obeyed her master and obeyed her savior. Her worship was constant. It was service oriented. Number three, her service and her worship was sacrificial. Notice in verse 36 at the very end there, she served night and day. Now that's interesting. night and day. That's a sort of a Hebrew way of speaking that just means at all times, at all times. It could have been early morning, it could have been late night, it could have been the middle of the night, it could have been in the full sunlight during the day, but at all times throughout the day, all times needed, anywhere necessary, here is a woman who said, I am here to serve and I am here to sacrificially serve night and day. Maybe there are some privileges that singles have, that marrieds don't have, that marrieds with children may not have. To serve God in such a sacrificial way, night and day, at any time, at every time, whenever it might be needed to use your time well for the service of God. If you turn just a few pages to the right, Luke chapter 8, notice something. At the beginning part of Luke 8, we saw it a few months ago, there's something fascinating in these early verses of Luke chapter 8 when Jesus is traveling and he is teaching. Luke 8, verse 1. Soon afterwards, Jesus began going around from one city and village to another. So he's an itinerant evangelist. He's a preacher. He's a missionary, as it were. And he's proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God. The 12 were with him. And then verse two, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses like Mary, who was called Magdalene from whom seven demons had gone out and Joanna, the wife of who's a Herod Stewart, and then Susanna and many others who were contributing to their support. out of their private means. These women who were traveling with Christ and serving Christ probably were single women. Probably were single. They didn't have a family, didn't have a husband. They were able to contribute. They were able to support and provide for Jesus and the twelve out of financial provision and housing and food and so on. These women followed Jesus. Something that at a time when women couldn't really follow a rabbi, here are some ladies that are following Jesus. The perfect King of Kings and Lord of Lords. They followed him, they served him, they learned from him. Back to Luke 2. She, this Anna, served God constantly. She worshipped God as a way of service. She worshipped God sacrificially. And notice in verse 37, she served night and day with fastings. Fastings. What does that mean? She found more filling from God than she did from her food. More filling from God. than from food. She hungrily served God, she sought God, she pursued God, even to the point of denying herself the physical foods for the benefit of devoting herself to the spiritual food that she desired and craved and longed for. Why? To deny herself physically to see God supply her needs spiritually. Here's an 84-year-old woman who is devoting herself to this kind of worship, including such acts of worship like fasting. And related to that, at the end of verse 37, and her worship was characterized by prayers. And the Greek word here Specifically refers to petitions, supplications. She's, she's praying. She's interceding. She's asking God. She's petitioning God. She is presenting her requests to God. She's praying and she's asking and she's begging God to work. Why? Because she has seen God be faithful for many, many, many years. What a great model. What a great example. This woman is setting before us here is a woman. who worshipped God. And not only that, verse 38, at that very moment she came up and she began giving thanks. Her worship is described by being thankful. She was not someone who had a life characterized by complaining. She was not someone who had a life characterized by reflecting on the past and remembering how those days were and sort of wallowing in self-pity. She was thankful. She was thankful. She was a thankful woman. A great example that we see from Anna here. But if all of that is there and all of that is important and all of that is informative for us as to how we can encourage each other to serve God and how the singles can learn from a stalwart in the faith how she served her God relentlessly. Notice number five in your outline, number five, her bridegroom. We've seen Anna's call and we've seen her family and her age and her worship, but now number five, her bridegroom. Notice verse 38. At that very moment, at what very moment? Well, at the very moment earlier in the context when the father, Joseph, and the mother, Mary, are bringing the boy, Jesus, into the temple. At that very moment, at that very moment, she comes up and she's giving thanks to God. And she continues to speak of him to all those who are looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. She's a woman who is in love. She's in love with her bridegroom, with her bridegroom, her savior. She, she was looking for him. She, she didn't lose heart. Notice even in her old age. 84 years old. And yet she was looking, she was looking for the redemption of Jerusalem with the others. And yet here is Messiah. He has come. He is as a baby that Mary and Joseph has brought here to the temple and she is giving thanks and she is worshiping God because her bridegroom has come. You know the hymn, how firm a foundation. There's a hymn that's not found in any, or there's a stanza that's not found in any hymnal, at least that I've been able to find. The hymn stanza reads this, even down to old age, all my people shall prove my sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love. And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn, what's that? That's the white heads, the gray heads. like lambs they shall still in my bosom be born. You see, here's Anna who is in the temple and she is, verse 38, look at it here, she is speaking of him, she is speaking of him, she is speaking of him, her bridegroom, her lover, her master, the one that she loves, the one that she's married to, the delight of her heart, her bridegroom. Matthew Henry said, The lips soon to be silent in the grave should be showing forth the praises of the redeemer. She continued, notice verse 38, she continued to speak of him. She continued. It wasn't just a one time. I finally told him Messiah's here. No, no. She continued, continued. And notice if you look carefully, verse 38, she continued to speak of him to all. I mean, can you imagine here's an 84 year old woman who is like leaping for joy in the temple because her savior has come and she's telling everyone. Telling everyone she had courage. She had boldness. She had a love for her savior. It reminds me of Robert Murray Machain. Robert Murray Machain was an unmarried man. He was a pastor in Dundee, Scotland for years, died when he was 30 years old. In the 19th century, he served God in Scotland. And in his journals, he would write things that are so heartwarming because you almost get a glimpse into the life of a man of God who used his singleness for the glory of God. For example, September 27th, in Robert Murray Machine's journals, he said this, I devoted the chief part of my Friday to fasting. I was humbled and refreshed. In fact, during the first years of my time in Dundee, I would often ride out in the afternoons to a, to a, to a, to a farmland. And I would, I would meditate and I would pray. And I felt that to be the very sin use of my work to just get away for a day. and to meditate, and to pray, and to be with God. Again, on April 16th, Robert Murray Machain said, on Sabbath evening, much prayer and peace. I read the Bible all night. June 2nd, Robert Murray Machain, much peace and rest tonight. I was much broken under a sense of my own exceeding wickedness, which no eye can see but yours, O God. Much persuasion I have, of the sufficiency of Jesus Christ in my own great sin. Here's a man who served God with this kind of devotion using his singleness. Well, you have this quote there in your outline by Marshall Siegel. He said the season of singleness, however long it might be, has the potential to be a unique period of now get these two things. Undivided devotion to Christ. and undistracted ministry to others. Oh, if we could exhort and encourage and plead with every single Here in this room at Christ Fellowship Bible Church, the season of singleness that God has bestowed upon you has the potential to be a unique season in your life that you can utilize for the glory of God for two remarkable things. Number one, undivided devotion to Christ and then undistracted ministry to others. Carolyn Mahaney has a blog that she has called Girl Talk. She's married to CJ Mahaney, and she provides some counsel for women. On singleness, she says, what should single women pursue? She gives some counsel. Number one, single women, you can pursue undivided devotion to God. Number two, you can strive to become a theologian. Number three, you can help and serve the men as they lead and give oversight in your local church. Number four, you can choose your friends carefully and the group and the circle of people that you spend time with. Number five, you can nurture children alongside of the families that God has put around you at Christ's fellowship at your local church. She goes on to say undivided devotion to Christ is by far the best deal. of the single season, undivided devotion. Jim Elliott was a missionary, as you know, to the Indians. He had a wife, an Elizabeth. She was writing this and answering the question, how can you as a single woman, how can you use your ministry in your life? Well, now as a single lady, she said a single woman can have children. She may be a spiritual mother, as was Amy Carmichael. Now, Amy Carmichael was a missionary to orphans in the country of India. But she says you can have spiritual children and be a spiritual mother by the very offering of your singleness as it is transformed for the good of far more children than a natural mother could produce. Like how? Number one, single women, you can express your femininity in the season of your life by nurturing and coming alongside of other families as they care for their children. And as you, in a sense, mother children with them and care for spiritual children that God may give to you. Number two, when you babysit, and there are plenty of opportunities around here at Christ Fellowship for that, you are giving expression to your femininity, even as a single woman. When you take an interest and reach out to children in your sphere of relationships, you are displaying the God-given gift of femininity, even with spiritual children that God has put in your path. Number three, ladies, when you show hospitality, and we, according to 1 Peter, should pursue that diligently, you're displaying the God-given call and gift of femininity in all of its beauty. In all of its beauty. Men and women, those who are single, those who are unmarried here in this room, Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, tells us this. If you would turn to 1 Corinthians 7. 1 Corinthians 7. Paul is writing here to the church of Corinth, answering questions that they have on marriage related issues. And in first Corinthians seven and verse 35, he is speaking to the unmarried ones. And he talks about the benefits of being unmarried. And he says in verse 35, this, I say for your own benefit, not to put a restraint upon you. But here's what the Apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is exhorting all singles. But I want you to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord. If I could encourage you with one thing, singles who are here, you may not have a spouse here in this life, But you are married. You do have a spouse. You have a sufficient spouse, an adequate spouse, a full, perfect, sweet, loving, glorious, beautiful bridegroom. And his name is the Lord Jesus Christ. All singles who are here, devote yourself to your beloved bridegroom. In the bottom of your outline, there's a couple of paragraphs that you have there. John Flavel, you should look this up. Maybe during Christmas Day or Christmas Eve, if you have some time to be away from work and you're resting and you're just relaxing a little bit, you should Google John Flavel and this write-up, Christ Altogether Lovely. It's a compilation of sermons. He's writing about how Jesus is our bridegroom. Listen to this. I put it in your outline. He, Christ, betrothed to himself in mercy and in loving kindness, such deformed, defiled, and altogether unworthy souls as we are. We have no beauty, no goodness to make us desirable in his eyes. All the origins of his love to us are in his own breast. He chooses us, not because we were, but in order that he might make us lovely. He came to us when we lay in our blood and he said to us, live. And that was the time of love. No husband is so undying and everlasting a husband as Christ is. Death separates all other relations, but the soul's union with Christ is not dissolved in the grave. Indeed, the day of a believer's death is his marriage day, the day of his fullest enjoyment of Christ. No husband can say to his wife what Christ says to the believer, I will never leave you nor forsake you. At the bottom of your page, there's a couple of other paragraphs. Flavel continued, Christ is the very essence of all delights and pleasures, the very soul and substance of them. As all the rivers are gathered into the ocean, which is the meeting place of all the waters in the world. So Christ is that ocean in which all true delights and pleasures meet. He is altogether lovely and the every part to be desired. He is lovely when taken together. And in every part, as if she had said, look on him and what respect to particular you wish cast your eye upon this lovely object and view him any way, turn him in your serious thoughts, which way you wish consider his person and his offices and his works or any other thing belonging to him. And you will find Christ's altogether lovely. There is nothing disagreeable in Him. There is nothing lovely without Him. And Christ is altogether lovely in the relation of a bridegroom. So you who are singles, there are a couple of little arrows there in your outline, in between those paragraphs. I'll leave you with this plea. Set your souls upon this Christ. Live your life for this Christ. Devote your energy to this Christ. Invest yourself to the body of Christ and comfort your soul in the promises of this Christ. Amen. Amen. Father, thank you for the time in your word. And thank you for the example of Anna. Thank you God for every single, single person that you have brought to Christ fellowship. Oh God, we would pray that by your might and by your enabling grace, that they would devote undistracted ministry and devotion and delight to their bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ in Jesus name. Amen.