All Things Are Possible

Dr. Bernie Miller: If you believe God will never put more on you than you can bear, pretty soon you're going to be like a cell phone at 1%. Some of our lives are at 1% spiritually and emotionally. If you don't know Jesus, you cannot be charged.

That's the question: Does your heart beat for God? We beat for everybody else. It beats for the beats that we hear. But does it beat for God? I noticed something about being single. I was single for a while, and then things changed. It was a good change.

But I noticed something about being single when I was single. If you're under 30, everybody asks, "So, are you dating anyone?" If you're over 30, they don't even ask. They just start introducing you to people.

And church folks be the funniest. One will come up to you and say, "I got a perfect person for you," meaning the other person is single too. That's apparently the only qualification: singleness. Then they tell you, "Just wait on the Lord," and you wonder, "Have I been put on hold by God?"

You know how you call up these businesses now and they put you on hold and this weird music starts playing? My mama got around all that. When my mama got that kind of music, she just hit zero. She just kept hitting zero, and she kept getting somebody too. Every time, she just hit zero, and Mama got through.

Some people treat singleness like it's a disease that needs prayer. Every family reunion, you've got an aunt who's convinced she's the Holy Spirit's dating app. She'll come up to you, "Baby, I know somebody." "No, Auntie Shirley, you don't."

The church often acts as if marriage is the finish line. This is the great mystery that Paul talked about in Ephesians chapter five and verse 32 when he talked about that. The greatest mystery is not so much that Christ is the one who is in charge of the church who is the bride, but that he took Jews and Gentiles, tore down the dividing wall, brought them all together into one family.

So Jews and non-Jews, no matter what you are, you are now if you believe in Christ Jesus, you are a part of the church. If you put your faith in Jesus Christ. And so in Ephesians, that's the great mystery. The great mystery is that all of us now are in the same family, the church, God's church.

We have a covenant relationship exclusively with him. But before we were someone else's spouse, as believers in Christ, we're the church, the bride of Christ. Now, if you try to figure that out, you're going to be in Moccasin Bend. So just walk by faith and realize that there's something greater than your mind can understand. I don't understand it. All I know is the Bible is true and let every man be a liar.

And so I believe what the Bible says. And if it says the church and members in it is the bride, then I am part of that picture. And I'm part of that church because I am a believer in Christ Jesus. So if you're a single believer, you're already spoken for. You say, "I ain't got nobody." Yeah, you got Jesus. You're already spoken for.

If you're a wife, you're to respect your husband as the Lord. Now, I took issue with this because Paul gave the women three verses, but he gave the men six. Then I'm like, "Why y'all... yeah, I got more for you husbands." Husbands are to also love their wives. He says, as their own bodies because he knows that men take pride in their bodies and says, "Love your wife like that."

You're looking in the mirror, looking at those biceps, look at your wife. "He who loves his own wife loves himself," the Bible says. "For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it as Christ does the church."

But the world's view of marriage is distorted and unbiblical. I saw this article. This comedian, Leslie Jones, I don't know if you know this woman, but she said marriage is legalized—get this—slavery. She had some bad experiences in her life.

And Genesis 3:16, as part of the judgment after Adam and Eve sinned, ate the fruit. It was really Adam who sinned because he knew better, and God told him, "The day that you eat of this, you shall surely die." God told Eve her desire was to be for her husband, Adam.

Now, the word "desire" is a strong emotion. It's a strong feeling that one person has for another individual. It's a strong longing for them. You just don't want to be with nobody else but them. And when you're away from one another, you can't wait to get back together with one another.

But after Adam disobeyed God, "desire" became a perverted word in the Bible because not long after that, Cain was told by God, when he came up with the wrong kind of offering, he said, "Sin is crouching at your door. Its desire is for you, but you can master it if you just do what I tell you to do." But Cain didn't want to do what God wanted him to do. So he went and he killed his brother, and you know that story.

Eve was deceived by Satan into thinking God had somehow or another kept something from her, that she was incomplete, that there was something about her that Adam had that she didn't have. But what she didn't realize, wait a minute Eve, you came out of that guy Adam. God didn't bring you out of dirt. He brought you out of flesh, which means that you are more special than anybody else.

If you think about this, God brought you women out of a living being. So stop treating yourself like you're dirt. You're not. I mean, boys love to get in mud and dirt. Women? No, I don't mean no dirt, what you be talking about? How many of you see little girls playing in dirt? How many of you do? It ain't happening. Those girls weren't getting in no dirt playing around no mud.

But boys? Oh, we Zachy couldn't wait to get to a puddle with some water and mud. I mean, he just loved doing that. But you know, she was special. But she didn't think she was because Satan tricked her into thinking God had made her inferior to Adam. But God made her using Adam's body. She wasn't inferior at all.

Because it wasn't good for man to be alone, that's why God made Eve. Satan has continued to try and convince us that God hasn't given us everything we need for life and godliness, but he has. Everything that we need God has already supplied, and he's provided. So we've become, some of us, have become envious of others when we see God blessing them more than he's blessing us.

Cain was envious of his brother Abel because God accepted Abel's offering. And maybe some of y'all see some other people being blessed, and you're upset about the fact that they got blessed and you haven't gotten blessed yet. Maybe you haven't really settled in on your blessing that you already have.

If you appreciate what you already have, then God will give you more than you ever thought you'd ever get. I found that out the hard way, but Paul is trying to explain some things to the Corinthians. This is where we're going to be. But God told Cain to bring an acceptable offering, an acceptable gift, if he has a problem with him. He said, "And I'll accept it and you'll be okay. You can master this sin." And sin is always crouching at our doors.

Paul writes to a church obsessed with status in Corinth. Some thought marriage made them more spiritual. "I'm spiritual because I got married." Others thought that celibacy made them more spiritual. But Paul rejects both of those extremes. He told them God gives different believers different gifts.

1 Corinthians 7:7: "Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am. However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that." So what manner are you right now? Whatever manner that is, that's a gift.

The word "gift" is the Greek word charisma. It's where we get our English word charisma. It's almost spelled the same, and it refers to a gracious gift that's given to someone from God. It's not something we earn. Paul says marriage is a gift, singleness is a gift. Neither is evidence of greater spirituality.

But some people who are married, they just look down at single people, and that's not right. And don't let somebody come in that maybe dressed differently than they are. In some churches, they move to another aisle because you're dressed differently. And I'm thinking, "Really?"

But just because someone is single doesn't mean that they're ready to mingle. It means they're already spoken for. God is their spouse because they are a part of the body of Christ, the church, even though the marriage ceremony hasn't taken place.

Have you ever watched kids open someone else's gift during Christmas by accident? And then after they open the gift, they look at it, and they look at it, and they look at it, and they go, "I want that gift. I don't want this one." And they start arguing over who's going to get the gift.

And a lot of times people who have one status, they look at other people's status and they say, "Wait a minute, how come I can't have that gift?" Kids, they argue over it. "That should have been mine." Sometimes singles want the marriage gift so badly that they're willing to marry a knucklehead or they're willing to marry somebody that everybody knows about.

The grass always seems greener until you realize somebody has to mow. You'll get that on your way home. 1 Corinthians 7:8, it says: "But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I." Why? Because of verse 32, and we'll get there in a minute.

Sometimes church people treat singles like they forgot to finish the recipe. "Oh honey, you'll find somebody," as though Jesus looks down from heaven saying, "I saved you. Now, it's up to you to find somebody who'll tolerate you." No, your salvation is complete whether you're wearing a wedding ring or not.

So whether you're single or married, here's what you need to know today. Your identity is settled. Your purpose isn't delayed. Your heart has one husband, one spouse. And so we're going to explain that as we go along. But as we go along, our identity isn't found in our relationship status but in our relationship standing with Jesus Christ.

So the question is: How are you standing with him? Are you born again? Are you saved? Do you know him? Do you love him with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength? And do you love your neighbor as yourself? No, don't be trying to qualify it. It's either you love them or you don't. As a friend, whatever, as a neighbor, whatever. But God says that's what we're supposed to do.

So when was our identity settled? Ephesians chapter one, verse three: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him in love."

"He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the kind intention of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved," meaning in Christ. "In him, in Christ, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight."

"He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his kind intention which he purposed in us." So what is the mystery of his will? That we, being non-Jews, would be put together in one family unto the Lord as believers in Christ Jesus. You don't have to be a Jew to be in a family of God. All you got to do is be a believer.

A lot of people don't understand that premise, but it is what God said. The Bible says Christ chose you. People get anxious when they think they're the last item left on the relationship clearance rack. But salvation isn't clearance. It's an adoption. God didn't purchase leftovers.

He personally chose us to be his sons and daughters, no matter what nationality you are and no matter what sex you are. You've not been overlooked. A lot of people say, "Well, you know, I think I don't know, I guess I must have done something to God." You haven't done anything to God. You have a gift from God, and God will reveal what he wants you to see, as they say, in the by and by.

You've been chosen. You've been redeemed. You are not available because you're already spoken for. So if you're single, you're already spoken for. So that means whoever you're going to date, make sure they meet the standard that you already have. Somebody that loves you with an everlasting love, somebody that, look, no matter what, they are always giving you grace.

No matter what, they always have mercy for you. No matter what, they still have faith in you. If you don't have that kind of a person that you're dating, if you're single, move on. Don't waste time. Time's ticking. And I'm telling you, take every day seriously because there are some good people and some bad people.

But some people, they camouflage their badness, don't they? You don't know they're bad until after you get deep down into the relationship, and then everything starts coming out. And then you start talking to your friends: "You dating what? Who? Really? Oh no! Let me go down the list of all the people... what?"

Look, people tickle me sometimes. You know, you haven't been overlooked. You've been chosen and redeemed. You're not available because you've already been spoken for. Some people change their Facebook status more often than they change their minds. One week: "In a relationship." Month later, Facebook status says: "Single." Month later: "It's complicated."

Look, before you're a husband, before you're a wife, before you're dating, before anyone puts a ring on your finger, Jesus says we were already spoken for. When you became a member of the body of Christ, you were chosen out of all the people in the world. God chose you to give grace to, to give mercy to, to be born again.

God gave you... he put you in his family. I mean, that's a high honor. It really is. I mean, this is a blessing to know that God is my Father. He owns everything, and he wants to give me everything I need for life and godliness. This is my Father? Yeah, that's my Father.

If he's not yours, you can have him today. The world says, "Who wants you?" Jesus never changes his relationship status with his church. He always wants you. He never wakes up saying, "We need to talk." Your purpose isn't delayed. 1 Corinthians 7:32, it says: "But I want you to be free from concern."

If you're single, one who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord or she may please the Lord. Single people ask: "What should I eat tonight?" Married people ask: "What do you want? Where do you want to go to eat? I don't know. Where do you want to go to eat? I don't know."

Twenty minutes later, nobody has chosen where to go eat. Singles have already gone, sat down, got the appetizer, about ready to get served their meal. And married people are still at home trying to figure out where they're going to go. Y'all know I'm telling the truth. It's a hard thing to do. Where are we going to eat? I don't know.

Now look, the word "world" here does not mean sinful pleasures. It means ordinary day-to-day responsibilities like providing, protecting, and planning. Marriage creates holy obligations. That's what it does. Paul isn't criticizing marriage. He's pointing out the reality of marriage.

Being single is like carrying a backpack. But marriage is like carrying four suitcases, a diaper bag, two car seats, and a stroller through an airport. Neither traveler is doing anything wrong. One simply has greater mobility. Paul says singleness can look like traveling light for kingdom work.

1 Corinthians 7:34: "But one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife." Paul contrasts divided interests. A single believer has greater flexibility to devote time and energy to serving Christ. This isn't about superiority. It's about availability. Singles are available more often than married couples are.

Paul speaks of being holy, both in body and also in spirit as well. He's not saying married people aren't holy. He means the single believers can dedicate more of their uninterrupted time doing things for the Lord Jesus Christ. Single people can decide at 8:00 PM tonight that they're going to go on a mission trip.

Married people have to schedule a committee meeting. We need to discuss the calendar, the kids, the pets. We don't have any of them. Well, I gave my wife a cat. She now has two. They're on her happy birthday card. One of them sings happy birthday, and the other one goes "meow." That's the best I can do. No, that was not her birthday gift. I just want you to... that was just a card that goes along with the gift.

But married people have to worry about: "Okay, can I take off for vacation? Or wait a minute, will I have enough money? Oh wait a minute, do we need a passport?" Your heart has one husband. 1 Corinthians 7:35. If you're married or single, your interests are divided.

The woman who is unmarried and the virgin is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit. But one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she or he may please her or his wife, her husband, his wife, whatever. So what is he saying, verse 35?

"This I say for your own benefit, not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord." So he's saying, Paul isn't laying down a law. It's his pastoral wisdom. He's also single, by the way. The phrase "to promote what is appropriate" literally speaks of what is honorable and becoming. And the undistracted devotion means without being pulled in different directions.

I remember Zach, when he had a game, my wife could go. I was doing something else. I couldn't go all the time because I was pulled in different directions because, you know, being married. But you know, I tried to make as many as I could. And man, I tell you, the last good game I went to see, my wife and I, we were sitting down.

He was playing basketball. Man, that boy was doing good. I said, "Man, look at that boy." Then I found out that the boy that he snookered, you know, that he... on the basketball court, man, he put a wicked move on that dude. He was still sliding down the thing, and Zach was up with the ball, and he got it in the goal.

And the guy was still getting up as the ball was coming through the net. And my wife and I, we wanted to go "Yes!" but we couldn't because his parents were sitting next to us. And Zach was going, "How come y'all didn't?" Son, that guy that you put a move on, his parents were sitting next to us, so you know, it would have been inappropriate for us to go "Yay!" But you know, he was still sliding on the court, man.

He's like, "Oh, I was wondering what was happening." I said, "Yeah." Then one guy, he came up to me and he says, "Hey, Pastor, are you as good as your son?" I said, "No." And then he said, "I bet you can't even hit three from right here." Zach said, "Give me that ball, Dad." He went "Swish," nothing but net. And I said, "I ain't got to do nothing." I walked out. I said, "That's my blood."

But sometimes we can have distractions and things like that and be pulled from one place to the other. Whether married or single, Christ deserves top priority in everything in our lives. Have you ever tried watching three channels? Zach does this well. We went up to see him. He's got something on his phone. He's got something on the top TV. He's got something on the bottom TV.

And my wife and I were going, "What are we watching?" I said, "I don't know, honey. Just pick one." And I mean, he's fine because his brain is wired like that. I'm not wired like that. I can't. Which one am I going to watch? And so you know, we finally just sat there numb like zombies. "Okay, let's concentrate on this one."

But while we're watching that one, the other one down at the bottom is playing and it's loud too. And so you know, we're trying to turn up one, you can't do it. You know, but you can't watch all those different channels, all those different things at the same time. You can't watch three television channels at once and have the volume up on all of them.

One eye on the soccer game, one ear on the weather, another one on the news, and I mean, your phone buzzing every 30 seconds. Eventually, you realize you haven't paid attention to anything. Paul says many people live that way spiritually. God desires hearts that aren't constantly pulled in every direction.

Marriage is not God's reward for faithfulness, and singleness is not God's punishment for failing to be. No, both are gifts from God. Whether you're married or single, it's a gift from God. Your relationship status may change, but your identity in Christ never does.

But sin crouches at the door of your thoughts, whispering to you, "When are you going to get married? You know you're getting past that magical age. You know you want to have children. Well, you know, you may not be able to have them."

There was a lady who used to be a member of our church, and she had her tubes tied. And her doctor said, "Well, you don't have to worry about having kids anymore. Your tubes are tied." "Oh, great." About six months later, she goes to her doctor. "Doc, something's happening." He said, "What do you mean?" "I think I'm pregnant." "You can't be." "Well, I am." So he checked her out. Sure enough, she was pregnant.

Answer that phone. Sure enough, she was pregnant. She was in the medical journal because it wasn't supposed to be, but don't tell me what God can't do. If God wants you to have a baby at 45, God says you're going to be pregnant, you're going to get pregnant.

People be thinking, "Wait, boy, he can raise the dead! If he can make Mary, who was a virgin, get pregnant without a man, but just the Holy Spirit, you think God can't make a miracle come out of your womb? Why, you don't even shortchange God. God is a God of all things. He can make anything happen. He's the one that made flesh."

God can make anything happen. If he wants it to happen, it will happen. Can't nobody stop it from happening if he wants it to happen. But sin is crouching at the door of your thoughts whispering, "Well, you know, when are you going to get married?" as if that's the most important thing in your life.

Paul says, "No, that's not the most important thing in your life. Serving God is the most important thing in your life." Some of the greatest servants in scripture served while single. The greatest one: Jesus. Next: Paul. Next: Jeremiah. Next: John the Baptist. Next: Mary Magdalene, Martha, Lydia.

Their effectiveness wasn't postponed, and neither is yours. "Undistracted"—the word literally pictures someone not being pulled in different directions. So Paul says singleness can produce concentrated ministry. You have flexibility, you have availability, and you have mobility.

If you have a kingdom opportunity to bring glory to God, don't spend all your time waiting and worrying about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have enough worry of its own. Throughout scripture, God describes his covenant people as his bride. It's in Isaiah, it's in Jeremiah, it's in Ezekiel, it's in Hosea, it's in Ephesians, it's in 2 Corinthians, it's in Revelation.

If you go and look at it, whether married or single, Christ should be your first love. He deserves to have first place in everything in our lives. If someone is waiting for another person to complete them, you know what you're doing? You're waiting for another sinner to do what only God can do.

Now, why would you waste time waiting on a sinner to do what God can do and only he can do, only he can satisfy the deepest needs that you may have as a human being? So why in the world are you waiting for someone else to fulfill you when Jesus says, "I can do that for you. Fall in love with me."

And I'm telling you, I had to come to terms with being single. And once I did, no problem. Then everybody wanted to try to get me hooked up. "Oh, I know some friends, you might not..." "No." You don't have to say it like that. I said I want you to get out of my business.

Look, every healthy earthly relationship grows out of a heavenly relationship. If you don't have a heavenly relationship, you're not going to have a great earthly relationship. If someone is waiting for another person to complete them, you're going to be waiting a long time because you're already completed if you're in Christ Jesus.

You're completed in him. No spouse was ever designed to carry the weight of being someone's savior. Only Christ fulfills that role. If you're single, you're not incomplete. If you're married, your spouse isn't your identity. If you're widowed, Christ remains faithful. If you're divorced, your value hasn't diminished.

Every believer stands together as one bride united and awaiting the groom, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, who will come back and the dead in Christ will rise first and all of us who remain will be next to meet him in the air and forever be with the Lord Jesus Christ.

So just, look, don't worry about your status in the world. Rejoice about your status in the Lord. If you're a child of God, rejoice. If you're in his family, rejoice. He's your Lord, he's your Savior, and he's coming back and he's going to take you home because he's got a place that he has prepared for you. And I mean, if he prepares it, you know it's well prepared.

So the question is: With whom are you hooked up to? Is it just some person or is it Jesus Christ? Do you know he's your Lord and Savior? The question is: Do you want to be with him? The question is: Are you already a part of his family?

Some people will see him, and they'll say, "Well, didn't we witness? Didn't I lead somebody to Christ?" "Yeah, but you didn't know me." "But I called you Lord. I worshipped in the church, and I praised the singing and all those songs singing about you and I was singing your praises." "But you still didn't know me."

"But I danced around the sanctuary." Even rocks cry out. So don't impress me with that. The question is: Do you know him as your personal Lord and Savior? Because that's the only relationship that matters. If you don't have that one right, no relationship is ever going to be right.

The deeper I fall in love with God, the deeper I fall in love with my wife. The more I realize God's grace, the more grace I give to my wife. The more I understand mercy, the more mercy I give to my wife. Mercy is a compassionate removal of misery. You know, fellas, we can be the head and insensitive, or we can be the head and responsive.

There is no way anything or anyone can separate you from the love of God. There's nothing that you can do to separate yourself from the love of God. It is a done deal. It's sealed by the Holy Spirit of God, and we're a seal until the day of redemption.

Your heart makes a terrible GPS. It reroutes you to comfort, to revenge, to hate, pride, and fear. God doesn't give you any of those things. God doesn't just want to correct your choices. He wants to direct your path.

I'd rather be under God's mighty hand and wrong than not be under his hand and right. Because if I'm under his hand, wrong or right, I know that I'm protected by the power of God.