"Moving From Loneliness to Companionship" | April 25, 2021

hi i'm robert jeffress pastor of first baptist church in dallas we are so excited to have you join us on the i campus today for a time of inspiring worship and biblical teaching you are part of a vast online community gathered from all over the world we consider you a part of our first baptist church family and we hope you feel a part of what god is doing and improve first baptist dallas no matter where you are we hope and pray that this is a time you will grow in your relationship with god and others as we worship our savior together welcome to worship [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] well good morning and welcome to worship at first baptist dallas today it's great to see you we welcome guests and i campus viewers joining us let's stand together we sing we worship our god who saves come all you weary come on you thirsty come to the world drink of the water come and first no more sing with us come find his mercy come to the table he will satisfy the taste of his goodness find what you're looking for [Music] together with us let's sing the verse [Music] is [Music] forever [Music] is [Music] praise god praise god praise god from whom praise him [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] addictions come lay them down at the foot of the cross [Music] jesus oh aren't you thankful church for his love this morning for god so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life jesus paid it all i hear the savior thy strength indeed is small child of weakness watch and pray find in me thine all in all jesus paid it all all to him i owe sid had left a crimson state he washed [Music] we bless your men hallelujah [Music] jesus paid it off [Music] you jesus [Music] and jesus paid [Music] he was [Music] he washed [Music] this morning church let's give praise to our savior [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] praise that name jesus we worship him today you may be seated excellent worship church it's so good to see you here at first baptist dallas this morning we welcome our guests joining us also here in the room and on i campus we have a very special gift just for you it's our pastor's best-selling a place called heaven devotional 100 days of living in the hope of eternity and guest as you came in this morning you received a worship guide you'll find enclosed this guest card please take the time to fill this out and keep the card with you at the conclusion of the service take it outside these main worship center doors right there you'll find our welcome center our staff is waiting there for you to exchange your completed card for your gift today and answer any questions you might have regarding our church if you can't make it to the welcome center you'll find some orange receptacles on your way out you can slip the card in one of those we'll mail you a copy of your gift if you're joining us on icampus you can follow the link on your screen for your gift as well again it's great to see you this morning for worship lots of exciting events are taking place here in the life of our church so let's all take a look together at the screen [Music] good morning we're so thankful to be with you in worship today and we have an exciting spring ahead and we want to take a moment to tell you about a few upcoming events join us this evening for a webinar to learn all about estate planning as the financial planning ministry helps you design a free legacy plan that blesses your family and honors god parents and grandparents on may the 2nd we will host a parenting conference with dr joshua straub register online for this topical session in the morning titled cultivating family in the fruit of the spirit and continue with a full seminar in the evening titled cultivating an emotional and spiritual growth environment for your kids you will also be able to tune in online finally it's good to gather together in worship please help maintain a healthy environment for everyone by wearing your mask practicing social distancing and using our hand sanitizing stations for more information on everything happening at our church visit first alice.org events our scripture reading this morning is one of david's psalms psalm 25 and the passage we read will help lay the foundation for the pastor's next message in this series called invincible we'll be reading verses 16 through 21 in the new american standard bible you'll see the words on the screen here in the worship center and on i campus as well so that we might all read god's word together and at first baptist we stand to honor the reading of god's word as they did in old testament days with ezra we do that to honor as we read psalm 25 beginning with verse 16 ending with verse 21 turn to me and be gracious to me for i am lonely and afflicted the troubles of my heart are enlarged bring me out of my distresses look upon my affliction and my trouble and forgive all my sins look upon my enemies for they are many and they hate me with violent hatred guard my soul and deliver me do not let me be ashamed for i take refuge in thee let integrity and uprightness preserve me for i wait for thee may god richly bless the reading of his word let's keep standing together as tyler comes back to lead us in worship this morning we are alive in christ because he lives i believe in the sun i believe in the risen one i believe i overcome by the power of his blood [Music] amen [Music] because [Music] i was dead in the [Music] i heard mercy call my name [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] i'm alive because [Music] is know he holds my life [Music] [Music] lives [Music] is [Music] [Applause] because we [Music] praise our god who lives amen you may be seated as ben lavorne our executive pastor comes down with a special mission 1-8 milestone thank you good morning church good morning to all those joining us on our eye campus as well well i wanted to come back to you with a status update a few months ago you'll recall that we had the opportunity to celebrate the grand opening of our horner family center expansion now we completed that expansion last year in the midst of the pandemic we waited a few months to open that expansion so i wanted to show you now what it's like since the horner family center expansion is being used our children are now located on levels one through three of our horner family center and level six of the brand new expansion we were able to bring our preteens over from the old spurgeon harris building and move them into this state-of-the-art expansion as well and our children's ministry has been working hard this year to continue sharing that biblical truth with our children both here in person and even online equipping families with resources that are enabling them to build their children up in the holy spirit and in christ jesus and we have seen that ministry growing numerically as well we are seeing more and more children more and more families return to our church each and every week our student ministry continues to thrive as we have reopened and resumed those activities having many first-time guests in the student ministry as those students are looking for a place to go looking for fellowship and a place where they can be taught god's word we're excited about this summer we are hosting our student camp and our student mission trip just as we have in the past and our sunday morning activities our sunday evening student choir and our wednesday evening activities are off to a great start this year our college ministry has also moved over from the spurgeon harris building and our college ministry is growing nearing the attendance that it had pre-covered just in the last few months it's seen 20 first-time guests from nearby campuses and our young marriage ministry is is growing as well as it's meeting on level seven of our new expansion now it allows parents to pull into the parking garage drop their kids off in the horner family center and walk right up to their sunday school pla space we recently hosted our largest nearly wed class since 2016 seeing much growth in that ministry and about a third of the recent growth we've seen as people come back to our campus is coming from brand new families to our church so we are excited about god how god is blessing your efforts and is already using this space to minister to that generation and to the next generation thank you church for your faithfulness i hope you are excited too to see that space in use by these young families and these children who are being taught the word of god now of course this is part of mission 1-8 and mission 1-8 includes everything that we do as a church when you give to support the ministries of our church you are supporting ministries like our children's ministry the ministry to our young families and all of our adult age-graded sunday schools including the expansion of our horner family center so thank you again for your faithfulness as we work together to transform the world with god's word one life at a time you'll of course have the opportunity to give your tithes and offerings this morning you can place those in the boxes as you leave the worship service today you can also give online at firstdallas.org forward slash give online but right now let's join together and go to the lord in prayer i'll invite you as you're able to kneel all over the worship center as we approach our heavenly father lord god lord almighty heavenly father we come before you today and we celebrate all that you're doing in our church it's such a blessing just to come to you in worship and in prayer among your people lord we are so thankful for your goodness to us for the life and the breath that you give to us for each day that's a gift to us from you lord and we're thankful that we can come before you we can cast our cares and anxieties upon you we can present to you our concerns and our worries lord we thank you that we know that you hear our prayers that you turn your ear toward us in compassion that you go with us and you've promised that you'll never leave us or forsake us and so this morning lord as we prepare to hear a message from our pastor from your word and grow in our knowledge of you we pray that we would abide in you as you abide in us that we may walk in fellowship with you and be strengthened by you we pray as we give to you our tithes and our offerings that these resources would be used to minister to the youngest child and the eldest adult lord we pray that they would be used to comfort the brokenhearted that they would be used to care for those in need and to proclaim your gospel all for your glory in christ jesus and we pray this in the saving name of jesus amen [Music] shall always [Music] foreign i do not know just why he came to [Music] my [Music] is [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] ah [Music] my [Music] amazing [Music] that bought my my liberty and i'll i never know just why christ came [Music] me [Music] is for me [Music] me huh [Music] is [Music] jesus [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you so much fred wilmer tyler brinson joe harden and the great first dallas choir and orchestra for your music and i tell you wasn't it great to see the orchestra again all the way up they finally got prayed out of purgatory and they got to come all the way up to heaven and we're glad to have them with us what a great orchestra we have we do want to welcome those of you who've joined us in our day one service across the way and hundreds of thousands of you watching on our first dallas high campus did you know last week we had 538 000 people watching on icampus and we want to welcome you all and then the millions who are joining us on pathway to victory thank you for joining us in worship today i want you to imagine for a moment that you've been invited to participate in an experiment you're gathered together with a group of people and the group is told to pass a ball throw it from one to another just get in a circle and pass the ball to and fro have good time doing so the only instruction is you're to pass it to everybody everybody's to have a chance to throw and receive the ball and so you enter into the experiment ready for some fun unbeknownst to you the rest of the group has been told not to give the ball to you no matter what and so you join in the game you try to catch the ball when it's thrown by somebody else but it never happens nobody ever throws you the ball eventually you get frustrated and you retreat from the game now just imagine that instead of a game we're talking about your life no matter how many friend requests you make on facebook no matter how many times you reach out to other people your attempts or unreturned your facebook requests go ignored your telephone never buzzes it never rings how would you feel how do some of you feel and chuck swandahl talks about an advertisement that was placed in a kansas city newspaper very real advertisement it said quote i will listen to you talk for 30 minutes without comment for five dollars chuck said the people the person who placed that ad said that within hours he was inundated inundated with people who said i will pay five dollars to have somebody listen to me uninterrupted which begs the question how much would you pay to have somebody listen to you for 30 minutes without judgment whatsoever what would it be worth to you to go to a place where people knew you they cared about you they were interested in you the fact is many many people experience suffer from the problem of loneliness and yet very few people are ready to admit so to admit to it and today we're going to talk about how to conquer the mountain of loneliness that so many people feel by moving from loneliness to companionship you know on your outline i talk about first of all the irony of loneliness the irony is this never before in the world's history have we ever been so connected to one another technologically but never before in history have we felt so isolated from one another at the same time i mean think about it tomorrow morning you can drive out to dfw airport you can get on an airplane and in an hour and a half you can be in memphis you can get on another airplane and by the evening time be in madrid i mean the world is connected we're connected together technologically you can through facebook connect with just about anybody in the world through twitter you can express well most of you can express your feelings well the fact is even though we're connected to one another we still feel loneliness in fact feelings of loneliness and isolation have never been greater reporting on findings from pew research in cigna the wall street journal recently wrote amid our huge unplanned experiment with social media new research suggests that many american adolescents are becoming more anxious more depressed and more solitary in particular this wall street journal article focused on social media's effect on teenage girls one young lady interviewed for the article named genevieve said honestly sometimes i wish we were living in the olden days when kids hung out with friends and went on dates but that isn't what my friends and i do by the way it's not just technology that is the culprit causing loneliness national public radio looking at similar data reported that our workplace cultures also contribute to increased loneliness tension with co-workers and disparities between work-life balance or leading causes elena rankin an author of the article said quote more than three in five americans are lonely with more and more people reporting feeling like they are left out poorly understood and lacking companionship and it's not just americans by the way who feel that way a recent study in the united kingdom noted that 800 000 people in england report they are chronically lonely and many more experience some degree of loneliness the study went on to actually link feelings of isolation and loneliness with cardiovascular disease depression and dementia if that's not bad enough to make matters work or worse in the wake of covet 19 mental health professionals are fearing that there are going to be long-term perhaps irreversible psychological effects from this more than a year of shutdowns and social distancing closure of businesses schools and churches why is that why would that have such long-term effects you and i were created for companionship and being deprived of it is like being deprived of oxygen we die a little more every day whether that loneliness comes from spatial distance or the emotional distance we feel from other people you know as i look at god's word i find that there are five groups of people who are prone to loneliness and we need to be aware of that although the first group is the unmarried the unmarried singles the fact is you and i were created for companionship and god's plan for most people not all people there are some people with the gift of singleness but for most people god's plan is for another human being of the opposite sex to meet your physical emotional and spiritual need for companionship that was his true from the beginning remember in genesis 2 verse 18 god said it is not good for the man to be alone i will make him a helper suitable for him god created man and said it is very good but the first thing god ever said about his creation that wasn't good was for adam to be alone in that garden now think about it adam wasn't alone why he had a relationship with god that hadn't been tainted yet with sin he enjoyed fellowship with god a kind of fellowship you and i have never experienced and yet god said that's not enough a relationship with me adam isn't enough he had a zoo filled with animals that pet companionship wasn't enough either god said it's not good to be alone i will create a helper literally a savior for you and that was eve those who don't have that are going to feel a certain degree of loneliness second group that feels loneliness are the married don't look at your mate right now but there are some people who are married that still feel lonely and you saw that with the first couple when sin entered into the picture notice what happened genesis 3 verse 7 then the eyes of both of them adam and eve were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings as soon as they sinned rebelled against god they felt fear that fear led them to hide themselves and they felt isolation sin isolated the first couple from god it was a wedge in their relationship with god but soon sin became became a wedge between themselves remember when god tried to hold adam accountable what did he do he blamed his wife for the problem that woman you gave me he said she's the one who led me into this and thus the first couple felt isolated not only from god but from one another a third group that feels loneliness are the once married the once married this is people who were married but are no longer married perhaps because of death the death of one of the mates now think about this if you're married unless you're a part of the rapture you're living at the time of the rapture either you or your mate will die and one party will be left behind and that produces a kind of loneliness i mean there is a severing a cutting away of that relationship there's a severing of the shared experiences you once enjoyed the shared interest the shared agreements that you have the shared appreciation for one another the shared inside jokes you had what with one another all of those things come to an end when one of those mates in a marriage dies and that can be very very painful yes you're free to remarry if your mate dies first corinthians 7 39 says a wife is bound as long as her husband lives but if her husband dead she is dead she is free to be married to whom she wishes only in the lord the lord may lead you to get married again you're free to do it as long as it's to a christian but it will never replace that relationship the one you had with your first mate there's a sadness that comes with that a loneliness and isolation other people experience the end of a marriage because of divorce that's never god's plan it's a painful process to go through god's original plan for marriage is in matthew 19 verses 5 and 6 for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh jesus said they are no longer two but one what god therefore has joined together let no man separate what god has joined together now he hasn't joined together two males or two females in marriage he may he puts together a man and a wife a man and a woman that is god's plan but when god brings a couple together and they make a commitment before god to stay together until death alone shall part them when they prematurely in that relationship it causes pain that's why malachi says god hates divorce he doesn't hate divorced people he hates the process of divorce because of what it does to the individuals in a marriage relationship divorce is not just tearing apart of a marriage relationship it's the tearing apart of the two people who are in that marriage relationship and that produces loneliness a fourth category of people who tend to feel lonely are the mature but that's a nice word for old the elderly find themselves lonely if you have more miles behind you than in front of you you know what i'm talking about the longer you live the more frequent it is to feel isolated because of people who have died you lose your parents then perhaps you lose siblings you lose a mate you lose mentors who've meant a lot to you you know last night in the middle of the night i awakened and i realized i had been having a deep conversation with dr criswell we had been sitting on that pew right there having a conversation about the church and what was going on and i realized i miss him i miss howard hendricks i miss the people who mentored me maybe you have somebody like that in your life if you live long enough you're going to see more and more the people you knew who impacted your life in heaven and that produces loneliness proverbs 16 31 says a gray head is a crown of glory it is found in the way of righteousness we should honor those who are elderly but in our youth-oriented culture many times those who are mature feel obsolete and isolated from other people a final category of a group of people who are prone to loneliness are the infirmed those who are ill you've heard the same misery loves company that rarely is true the fact is people who are miserable or in pain or sick many times like a wounded animal they retreat into their shell i think perhaps it's this phenomenon that solomon had in mind when he wrote about ecclesiastes 12 the infirmities of life he said remember your creator in the days of your youth before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say i have no delight in them and then in verse six he says remember him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed the picture by the well is shattered and the wheel of the cistern is crushed we've talked about that passage how it refers to the different parts of the body that are wearing down then the dust will return to the earth as it was and the spirit to the god who gave it vanity of vanities says the preacher all is vanity now i'm tempted to stop right here and say what else can i say today to cheer you up this isn't exactly a positive thinking kind of feel-good message but i'm being truthful with you when i say everybody at some point in life feels lonely the good news is lonely does loneliness doesn't have to paralyze you in fact a.w tozer the theologian pastor observed most of the world's greatest souls have been lonely did you know that doesn't matter what field you're looking at some of the greatest and most admired people in history have suffered from loneliness in the world of the arts you know vincent van gogh the painter harper lee the novelist wrote to kill a mockingbird all suffered from loneliness this is true in political leadership frederick douglass margaret thatcher suffered from loneliness it's true in the world of exploration ernest shackleton and richard byrd all suffered from feelings of isolation it's true in the religious world whether you're talking about the great reformer martin luther or the great preacher charles hadden spurgeon all had to deal with feelings of loneliness and as you look at god's words you'll find that some of god's choices servants men and women suffered with feelings of loneliness at some time in their life for example in the old testament three people come to mind i think about for example moses the great leader of israel he experienced the loneliness of leadership remember for 40 years he was on the back side of the desert dealing with one kind of loneliness isolation being by himself after he killed that egyptian soldier but then god brought him back for that great second act in his life when he would lead the exodus but even though moses found himself surrounded by millions of israelites who were complaining and murmuring he felt lonely and in numbers 11 verse 14 he cried out to god i alone am not able to carry all this people because it is too burdensome for me he said i've got these millions of hebrews around me but i feel alone i alone can't handle this the loneliness that comes from from leadership somebody said you know it's really lonely at the top but it certainly is crowded at the bottom even if you make it to the top as a leader there's going to be an isolation that comes from leadership second character who dealt with loneliness in the old testament was david really a lot of his psalms were written out of feelings of loneliness at various times in his life remember when he was a shepherd boy isolated out in the judean wilderness he felt lonely at times then there was a loneliness of betrayal when he was king to have people turn against him to have his own son absalom lead a coup against him that produced loneliness and then there was the loneliness david felt after his sin with bathsheba which was the context of psalm 25 verse 16 david said turn to me god and be gracious to me for i am lonely and afflicted the troubles of my heart are enlarged bring me out of my distresses look upon my affliction and my trouble and forgive all of my sins and then the third person i look at is jeremiah jeremiah the prophet he experienced the loneliness of standing for god don't kid yourself if you take a stand for god in your school and your workplace in your neighborhood it's going to cost you it's going to cost you friendships and relationships jeremiah was told to prophesy to judah that babylon was going to come and destroy her because of judah's sinfulness and rebellion against god the people didn't like that message jeremiah ended up being thrown in a sister no well without any water and left for dead when you say something that is true but unpopular don't be surprised if you're not isolated as well jeremiah wrote about his loneliness in lamentations three he said i am the man who has seen affliction because of the rod of his wrath he has driven me and made me walk in darkness and not in light and yet in verses 22 and 23 jeremiah said the lord's loving kindness and deed never cease for his compassions never fail they are new every morning great is your faithfulness when we look at the new testament we see people who experience loneliness think about the lord himself he was betrayed or abandoned by those closest to him his uh disciples even his own family turned their backs on him he even came to a point in his life as he hung on the cross that he felt abandoned by god my god my god why have you forsaken me don't try to water down what jesus is saying he felt alone abandoned by his own heavenly father there's also the apostle paul turn over to second timothy chapter four second timothy chapter four remember paul was in prison twice in the city of rome the first time that he was in prison was in 60 to 62 a.d when he was under house arrest he had a certain amount of freedom he wrote the prison epistles at that time colossians ephesians philemon and philippians that was his first arrest his second arrest was not nearly as comfortable he spent his second arrest in the mammartine prison many of us have been there before it's really no more than a hole in the ground underneath the streets of rome it's where the sewage flowed and he was put in that mammartine prison to give you an idea of what it was like it would make san quentin or alcatraz look like the ritz carlton it was a horrible place to be and remember he wrote in second timothy 4 he wrote to timothy his protege asking him to come as soon as he could to visit him in verse 9 and then he went on to say in verse 21 make every effort timothy to come before winter and he said when you come bring my cloak it's cold in here it's damp bring the book the books and especially the book with you he said what was he talking about well the books were probably the early drafts of the gospel accounts that had just been penned bring the books but then bring the book the parchments the old testament and then after that plea he started to inventory uh the people who had deserted him he wasn't having a pity party for himself he was just telling timothy the way it was and telling this young pastor what he could expect later in his ministry don't be surprised when people leave you in verse 16 he says that my first offense no one supported me but all deserted me and he listed the people included in that group was verse 10 demas who was a fellow worker who loved this present world apparently demas had been a valuable part of paul's ministry but he got tired of the poverty he got tired of the persecution and forsook the apostle paul and then he talked about in verse 14 alexander the coppersmith did me much harm the lord will repay him according to his deeds the verb translated did me much harm is a word that refers to being an informant for the government apparently alexander had made charges to the roman government of sedition on the part of the apostle paul paul ended his life with many of the people that he counted on the most having forsaken him what i'm trying to say to you is loneliness is something that the godly as well as the ungodly experience some of god's greatest servants have experienced loneliness perhaps for you loneliness is like a barren mountain in your life that overshadows every other aspect of your life how do you conquer the mountain of loneliness let's look for a few moments at god's answer to that question i want us to look at what the bible says or what i call the abcs to moving from loneliness to companionship the a stands for acknowledge your feelings acknowledge your feelings by that i mean be honest about your situation don't engage in superficial smiles pious platitudes holy hallelujahs when you don't feel them be honest about your situation david was in verse 16 of psalm 25 he said turn to me god be gracious to me for i am lonely and afflicted the b stands for be pro-active in conquering loneliness you can't control what other people do but you can't control what you do be proactive and say i want to conquer this problem of loneliness i'm tired of living in isolation you know where that begins it begins with looking inwardly why are you isolated from other people perhaps it's because of a poor self-image you think there's something wrong with me my appearance my personality my background there's something wrong with me no ephesians 2 10 says for we are god's workmanship created under christ jesus for good works that word workmanship poema is the word we get poem from you are god's poem his creative expression psalm 139 says every part of your life your physical characteristics your personality your temperament all was created by god for a purpose maybe as you look inwardly it's not a poor self-image maybe it's selfishness that keeps you from having other friends you say i'm too busy that's code for i'm too wrapped up in myself to have other friends the fact is philippians 2 3 and 4 says do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves do not merely look out for your own interest look out for the interest of others did your parents ever say to you when you were growing up the best way to have a friend is to be a friend it's trite but it's really true if you really want to have friends in your life don't make your life all about you have the attitude that jesus has what can i do to serve you to help you look for ways to invest in other people's lives and you'll have people flocking to you if you put them above yourself what i want to say to you when i'm saying being proactive and conquering loneliness you've got to be proactive remember friendship isn't a luxury companionship isn't a luxury it's an essential for your physical emotional and spiritual well-being years ago modern maturity ran an article about the need for companionship and they made this astounding claim quote researchers have determined that participation in formal social networks that is church and community groups is an even more important predictor of mortality than one's health that's an amazing statement the greatest determining factor of how long you live is not your blood pressure it's not your cholesterol it's not your genes it's whether or not you're connected to other human beings loneliness is not an option for people who want to be spiritually and physically healthy i think it's important here to stop and review the four levels of companionship or a friends because you want to understand and set your expectations for each one first of all you start with acquaintances these are people that you run into every day in the course of life now before the pandemic it would have been probably 100 to 150 people that you would encounter at the grocery store in the checkout line people that you would encounter in school and so forth about 150 people a week for the average person most of these people you don't even know their name much less anything about them rarely do you engage in conversation with them but many times this is the beginning place for deeper relationships acquaintances the second group is casual friends these are people that in some fashion you may social with or have consistent contact with these are people you may know on a first name basis but again your conversation is superficial talk about the weather and politics and the stock market and so forth the third group is close friends the average person in a healthy situation should have anywhere from five to 25 close friends these are people that you feel more comfortable sharing intimate information with maybe a prayer request that you have a problem that you're facing these kind of friends usually have a shared world view and spiritual view again these are close friends you have five to 25 but the fourth level and the deepest level are intimate friends these are the people that we live allow into our inner world if anybody has anywhere from one to five of these you're lucky you're fortunate these are the kind of people that even if one of you moves to another city and you lose contact for a while when you see each other again you pick up right where you left off this is the person that if you were in a crisis you wouldn't mind calling at three o'clock in the morning and sharing that you had a real need intimate friends now the void that we all have in our life apart from other people can't be filled with acquaintances and casual friends it is these close friends intimate friends that we need to fill that void and my own experience is the best place to find those kind of close friends and intimate friends is the church it's the very best place to find those kind of friends and fellowship within the church is absolutely vital remember in hebrews chapter 10 verses 23 to 25 the writer said let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful the writer was saying we're under persecution a church then was under persecution let us hold on and not let go of our faith well how do we do that look verse verse 24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near the writer was saying church we need each other as the storm on the outside rages we need one another to encourage one another and we only do that by assembling together now i want to wade into an area that's going to make some people uncomfortable i'm sorry for that but i feel like as your pastor and your friend i need to say it at this point this pandemic we have been going through for the last year it has taken a toll on people maybe taking a toll on you not just physically but spiritually it has caused churches like ours not to be able to assemble together all together and it's having a spiritual effect on people it is not normal for churches not to be together we desperately need one another the good news is this pandemic is starting to dissipate and we're seeing in our own church about 72 of our people are back about 72 percent but they're 28 of our people who are not back yet and if that's you you're watching online please understand i'm not here to judge you to chastise you i'm speaking to you as your pastor and friend but i have to say if you are still not reconnected to the church you're putting your spiritual health at risk now i know again some of you are prone to perhaps adverse effects from the coronavirus you're at special risk or maybe somebody you're responsible for caring for i understand that i'm not diminishing that but i would just say to you now there is a way for you to come back and feel almost 100 safe in doing so and that's through the vaccination if you get vaccinated you really don't have to worry about what anybody else here does or doesn't do you're nearly 100 safe let me share something with you i just found out this week and preparing for an interview there are 87 million americans who have been fully vaccinated now 87 million have been fully vaccinated do you know how many people who have already been fully vaccinated have contracted the coronavirus out of 87 million only 6 000 have contracted it that is statistically that's insignificant that is almost zero it's point zero zero zero zero seven something like that i mean it's almost zero six thousand have contracted it nobody else has and out of those 6 000 who have contracted the coronavirus after the vaccination 30 didn't even know they had it they were asymptomatic and of the 70 percent who did contract the coronavirus after vaccination not one got seriously ill not one has been hospitalized and not one has died so think about it a vaccine that is nearly 100 percent keeping you from being infected with the virus and it is 100 effective from hospitalization or death from the virus never before in history have we had a vaccine this effective now again maybe your doctor has told you you shouldn't do it listen to your doctor most doctors are saying do it and i know some people say well what about the connection to abortion aren't these produced using the cells of aborted babies no that is a lie let me tell you what the absolute fact is there is not any cells of aborted babies in the vaccine in any one of the three of them it is true that in the research of these vaccines there was a cell line from an aborted fetus from 50 years ago in scandinavia a cell line that was used to produce the vaccine in the research and study for it 50 years ago one fetus and by the way the same cell line has been used for the production of other medicines you take every day but apart from that you're not promoting abortion when you take the vaccine you're promoting life and my whole reason for saying this is there is a safe way friends for you to come back to church there's a safe way to keep all of us safe here as we reopen our church and yes there may be a physical risk in coming back to church but the greatest risk you're facing right now is a spiritual risk of being separated from other believers you need the church and we need you first baptist dallas will never be the congregation god wants us to be until all of our people are back and encouraging one another and using the gifts god has given them to build up the body of christ so how do we conquer loneliness acknowledge the feeling of it but secondly be proactive in conquering loneliness let me give you a third important key for conquering loneliness and that is cultivate the c stands for cultivate your relationship with god saint augustine said you have made us for yourself and our heart is restless till it finds its rest in you like a piece of a puzzle that fits perfectly to complete the picture so it is with our relationship with god your life will never be complete apart from your relationship with god now pastor you're contradicting yourself you just said at the beginning of the sermon a relationship with god isn't enough to fill that void it is not good for a man to be alone genesis 2 18 aren't you contradicting yourself not at all i want you to write this simple statement down a relationship with god alone is not enough to prevent loneliness but not having a relationship with god guarantees loneliness let me say it again having a relationship with god alone is not enough to prevent loneliness but not having a relationship with god guarantees loneliness we have to have a relationship with god we need more than that but we need the starting place to be a relationship with god you know david said that for david it was cultivating his relationship with god that was the beginning step for curing his loneliness he said in psalm 25 16 i am alone but then he goes ahead in verse 18 and he says look at this look upon my affliction and my trouble and forgive all of my sins david understood that sin in his own life was blocking his relationship with god and for david the starting point in cultivating that relationship was confessing to god the sin that had become a barrier between himself and god is there something in your life right now that has blocked you from god and is causing you to feel isolated is there something you need to get off your chest and tell god remember when you confess you're not giving god new information you're not telling him something he doesn't already need to know isaiah 59 2 says our sins have become a barrier between god and us cultivating your relationship with god starts with confessing any sin in your life secondly communicate with god find communication with god and we do that through his word david wrote in psalm 119 verses 24 to 25 your testimonies are also my delight they are my counselors my souls cleave to the my soul cleaves to the dust revive me according to your word there is something about getting in god's word that revives you spiritually it's a way to cultivate your relationship with god remember paul asked for a copy of the scriptures bring the books the gospels and bring the book the old testament fifteen hundred years after paul wrote that request william tyndale the bible translator the reformer the great preacher penned a similar lonely letter imprisoned in belgium tyndale wrote to the marquis of morgan this request while he was in prison quote i entreat your lordship and that by the lord jesus that if i must remain here for the winter you would beg the commis commissary to be so kind as to send me from the things of mine which he has a warm cap i feel the cold painfully in my head also a warmer cloak for the cloak i have is very thin he has a woolen shirt of mine if he will send that too but most of all please send my hebrew bible grammar and vocabulary that i may spend time in that pursuit i'm going to tell you something after spending three years of studying hebrew at dallas seminary if i were on my deathbed the last thing i would ask for is a hebrew copy of the old testament that would finish me off but notice what tyndale says that was his way of communicating with god he wasn't pursuing just head knowledge he was pursuing a relationship with god and for both william tyndale and the apostle paul the way to cultivate that relationship with god was through his word whenever we like paul or tyndale find ourselves in the mountain of loneliness remember the beginning place not the ending place the beginning place for conquering that mountain of loneliness is a renewed relationship with our creator let's bow together in a word of prayer the beginning place for you and filling that god-shaped vacuum in your heart is a relationship with god for those of you who are already christians maybe there's something in your life displeasing to god that has become a barrier between you and god and it's led you to feelings of isolation if so why not confess that to god god i'm tired of arguing with you about this you're right i'm wrong and today with your help i'm turning away from this sin there are some of you here today some of you in day one or watching online you've never had a relationship with god today god has you watching this broadcast for hearing this service so that you can begin a relationship with god right now that will extend throughout eternity if so there's only one way to have that relationship with god and that's by trusting in jesus christ for the erasure the forgiveness of your sins you can't earn god's forgiveness you receive it as a gift and today if you would like to receive god's forgiveness as a gift in your life i want to invite you wherever you are to pray this simple prayer in your heart as i prayed out loud knowing that god is listening to you right now would you pray this with me dear god thank you for loving me i know that i have failed you in so many ways and i'm truly sorry for the sins in my life but i believe you loved me so much you sent your son jesus to die on the cross for my sins to take the punishment that i deserve to take for my sins and right now i'm trusting in what jesus did for me not in my good works but in what jesus did for me to save me from my sins thank you for forgiving me and help me to spend the rest of my life following you and i pray this in jesus name amen today if you're watching online and you prayed that prayer i want to invite you to go to the top of the screen where it says i prayed the prayer with dr jeffress click on that right now i'll be notified of your decision and i have some free material i want to send to you about what it means to live now as a christian don't wait another moment go to the top of the page and click on that link i prayed the prayer with dr jeffress for those of you who are here in our worship center or in day one i'm going to ask you to take out this card and i'd like to know about any decision you made today if you prayed that prayer with me just like those online did you can check that third box i prayed the prayer with dr jeffress to trust in christ you may be a guest today we're so glad you're here check that first box maybe you want more information about our church you can check that box maybe today you'd like to come and join our church that's a great way to conquer loneliness is to join the first baptist church of dallas i promise we won't leave you alone uh jeff just check that box you'll have all the friends you've ever wanted before uh suddenly and instantly but seriously we've got i think 25 people today joining our church by card already announced to do so would love to have you a part of the first dallas family and click or check that final box when you finish filling out any or all of these boxes you can take your card and you can drop it off at the welcome center and we'll exchange your completed card for a copy of my book the new devotional a place called heaven 100 days of living in the hope of eternity if you don't want to stop by the welcome center drop it in one of the orange boxes on your way out we'll process the card and get the book to you this week thank you so much for doing so well you know who's ahead of us speaking of vaccinations the nation of israel they're 80 percent vaccinated and their country is opening up and this time next year they're going to be completely open and that is why we have scheduled our pathway to victory bible prophecy tour of israel if you've never been before or if you'd like to go again i've been 13 14 times i learned something new every time we'd like you to join us consider joining us april 26 through may 2nd now here's a preview of what you're going to see on the trip april 26 through may 6 2022 you're invited to join dr robert jeffress on an unforgettable trip to israel where bible prophecy comes to life you've read about places like the mount of olives where jesus will return one day walk the streets of jerusalem where christ made and fulfilled countless prophecies there's nothing quite like standing on top of mount carmel where elijah did battle with the prophets of baal or looking out over the plain of megiddo where the final world battle will take place i guarantee a trip to the holy land will make the bible come alive for you like never before join us on the pathway to victory bible prophecy tour of israel april 26 through may 6 2022 and when you sign up before october 31st you'll receive an early bird discount to learn more and to reserve your spot go to ptv.org or call 888-280-6747 we already have lots of people signing up we'd love to have you come and take advantage of that 200 200 discount price between now and october you can go to ptv.org to find out all the information well it's been a great day in worship thank you for being here and continuing to come back to our church hope you have a great week in the lord tyler come down lead us in our final chorus would you yes sir thank you pastor let's stand together church let's sing his praise together this is my story this is my story this is my song praising [Music] this is my story this is my soul praising my savior [Music] have a blessed day church [Music] hi campus family thank you so much for being here today and joining us in worship we hope that you are blessed by today's service make sure to invite your friends family and loved ones to join you each and every week right here hi i'm robert jeffress pastor of first baptist church in dallas we are so excited to have you join us on the i campus today for a time of inspiring worship and biblical teaching you are part of a vast online community gathered from all over the world we consider you a part of our first baptist church family and we hope you feel a part of what god is doing and improve first baptist dallas no matter where you are we hope and pray that this is a time you will grow in your relationship with god and others as we worship our savior together welcome to worship [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] well good morning and welcome to worship at first baptist dallas we welcome you we welcome guests high campus viewers joining us today let's stand together we sing to our king our lord our god who saves come all you weary come are you thirsty come to the well that never runs dry drink of the water come and thirst no more sing with us [Music] come to the table he will satisfy the taste of his goodness find what you're [Music] is [Music] thank you together with us bring all your failures jesus is [Music] is [Music] is god of the world praise god praise him praise him for the wonders of his love praise him praise him praise [Music] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] your failures bring your addictions come lay them down at the foot of the cross jesus is waiting god so loved the world [Music] aren't you thankful for his love this morning god so loved that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life jesus paid it all i hear thus save your stay strength indeed is small child of weakness watch and pray find in me thine all in all jesus paid it all [Music] all to him i owe sin had left a crimson stain he washed we thank you we worship you you jesus [Music] [Music] jesus it's washed away thank you jesus i stand [Music] jesus paid it all all to him sin had left a crimson stain he [Music] he [Music] we give him all praise [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] son of god praise that name jesus amen great worship church you may be seated and let's turn our attention this morning to the baptistery well good morning church it is my honor and my privilege to be baptizing today miss kerry zabreski kerry came to know the lord at home while homeschooling with mom and she recognized that she needed jesus in her life so today she's coming forward in believer's baptism [Music] kerry because of your faith in jesus christ in your profession of faith in him i baptize you my sister carrie zabreski in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit buried with christ in death raised to walk in a new life amen so incredible we welcome everyone to worship at first baptist dallas this morning and if you are a guest with us thank you for joining us here in our downtown campus as well as on our eye campus this morning we have a very special gift just for you it is our pastors a place called heaven devotional 100 days of living in the hope of eternity and guest as you came in this morning you received a worship guide you'll find and close this guest card please take the time to fill this out and keep the card with you at the conclusion of the service take it outside these main worship center doors right there you'll find our welcome center our staff is waiting there for you to exchange your completed card for your gift today and answer any questions you might have regarding our church if you can't make it to the welcome center you'll find some orange boxes on your way out you can slip the card in one of those and we will mail you your gift those joining us on icampus follow the link on your screen for your gift as well again thank each and every one of you for joining us today we have so many exciting events taking place and upcoming in the life of our church here at first dallas let's all take a look together at the screen good morning we're so thankful to be with you in worship today and we have an exciting spring ahead and we want to take a moment to tell you about a few upcoming events join us this evening for a webinar to learn all about estate planning as the financial planning ministry helps you design a free legacy plan that blesses your family and honors god parents and grandparents on may the 2nd we will host a parenting conference with dr joshua straub register online for this topical session in the morning titled cultivating family in the fruit of the spirit and continue with the full seminar in the evening titled cultivating an emotional and spiritual growth environment for your kids you will also be able to tune in online finally it's good to gather together in worship please help maintain a healthy environment for everyone using our hand sanitizing stations for more information on everything happening at our church visit firstdallas.org events our scripture this morning is one of david's psalms psalm 25 will be reading a portion of that that the pastor will be using in his next message which is part of the invincible series and uh we'll be reading verses 16 through 21 from the new american standard bible and those will be the words you'll see on the screen here in the worship center and on icampus you'll have those as well so let's stand together as we read god's word psalm 25 beginning with verse 16 and ending with verse 21 turn to me and be gracious to me for i am lonely and afflicted the troubles of my heart are enlarged bring me out of my distresses look upon my affliction and my trouble and forgive all my sins look upon my enemies for they are many and they hate me with violent hatred guard my soul and deliver me do not let me be ashamed for i take refuge in thee let integrity and uprightness preserve me for i wait for thee may god richly bless the reading of his word let's keep standing and praising god together as tyler comes back to lead us church this morning we are alive in christ because he lives let's sing together i believe in the sun [Music] i believe in the risen one i believe i overcome by the power of his blood [Music] because he lives [Music] because he lives we thank you lord i was dead in the grave i was covered in sin and changed he wrote away [Music] [Applause] [Music] i can face tomorrow [Music] is [Music] is [Music] let my song join [Music] because [Music] praise the lord this morning he lives today you may be seated as ben lavorne our executive pastor comes now with a special mission 1-8 milestone thank you good morning church good morning oh come on good morning church good morning to everyone joining us on the eye campus this morning i've got a great report to bring to you this morning really an update and i hope that you'll be excited by what you see and hear this morning you know three months ago we celebrated the opening of our horner family center expansion and that was a long time coming we completed the expansion last year in the midst of the pandemic we waited till january to move our new ministries into that area and so it was a great day of celebration but i want to show you this morning what it's like now that that space is being used we have moved all of our children's ministries into the horner family center our children are on levels one through three and now level six of that expansion we've been able to bring all of our pre-teens over from the old spurgeon harris building and moved them into level six of that expansion as well and you can see some of the scenes of them enjoying that space with all of our children of course our goal is to teach them foundational biblical truth to come alongside their families as they are trained up in the way they should go our children are grow only growing spiritually but that ministry is growing numerically as we see more and more children returning to our church and more new families joining our church our children's ministry isn't the only ministry back in action our student ministry is now back in action we've resumed all of our normal activities we have sunday morning sunday evenings with our student choir and then of course what we call the avenue our wednesday evening activities and we see more and more students coming back many first-time guests visiting our student ministry as these students are looking for a place to reconnect to a family of faith our college ministry has also moved over from the spurgeon harris building into the new space they are now seeing uh close to what they experienced pre-covet in terms of attendance so many college students coming to be a part of that ministry we've had 20 new first-time guests in the last few weeks to our college ministry coming from campuses all around the city of dallas and of course our young marriage ministry is also in that horner family center expansion they're on level seven of the expansion so that allows these parents to pull right into our horn or garage to drop their kids off in the family center and go straight up to their sunday school space that ministry is growing as well we just hosted our largest ever nearly web class and we see more and more new families coming in in fact as our as our attendance continues to grow and and families are returning to church about one third of that growth is coming from brand new families to our church so i want to thank you church for what you've done over the last few years to make this dream a reality you committed as part of mission one eight generation now uh to move forward this expansion and you gave generously in fact we were able to pay for far more of that expansion than we even anticipated so now as part of mission one eight courageous not only are we funding everything we do locally nationally and internationally but we are hoping to raise enough in the next two years to pay off the remainder of that construction cost thank you for your faithfulness thank you for your commitment thank you for your partnership in transforming the world with god's word one life at a time you'll have your opportunity to give your tithes and offerings today you can leave those in the boxes as you exit the worship service this morning you can also give online at firstdallas.org forward slash give online thank you for all that you're giving to our church through mission 1a but now during this time of commitment as we prepare to go to the lord in prayer i'll invite you as you're able to kneel all over the worship center gracious heavenly father we thank you for what we see you doing in our church in the lives of our church family and we thank you this morning lord just for the blessing the opportunity it is to come before you and worship and prayer alongside our brothers and sisters in christ lord we thank you for your goodness to us for our lives the very breath that you give us knowing that each day that we experience is a gift from you and we thank you lord that we know we can come to you and cast our cares and anxieties upon you that we can lay before you our concerns and our worries we know that you hear our prayers we know that you turn your ear toward us in compassion and so lord we pray that we would walk with you in fellowship with you as your word says may we abide in you as you abide in us equipping us by the power of your holy spirit that we might be a light to the world as we give to you our tithes and our offerings this morning lord we we do so in obedience to you in worship of you but we pray lord that these resources would be used to minister to the youngest child to the eldest adult that they be used to comfort the brokenhearted to care for those in need to proclaim your gospel the good news of jesus christ offer your glory in christ jesus and we pray this in the name of our savior your son jesus amen [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] i do not know just why he came [Music] my [Music] is [Music] my [Music] amazing grace shall always be my song of praise for it [Music] [Music] never know just why christ came [Music] i shall be my eyes [Applause] [Music] me [Applause] [Music] is [Music] uh [Music] oh [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] lazy thank you so much fred wilmer tyler brenson joe harden and great first dallas choir and orchestra and wasn't it good to see the orchestra today they've come out of purgatory and they are now up in heaven with us so we're glad to see them there with us we're so glad to have those of you who have joined us on our first dallas high campus did you know last sunday we had 538 000 people watching us on our first dallas eye campus and other social platforms we're so glad to have you as well as the millions of you who are watching us on pathway to victory i want you to imagine for a moment you've been asked to participate in an experiment you've been asked to join another group of people and simply toss a ball back and forth in the circle of people that have been selected everyone is instructed that they need to pass the ball to everyone everyone should have an opportunity to catch or throw the ball so you agree to participate in the experiment what you don't know is the rest of the group has been instructed never to allow you to have the ball so you're there laughing with everybody's people toss it back and forth you grab for it it never comes your way eventually how do you feel isolated frustrated perhaps a little angry and you retreat from participation now imagine that instead of talking about an experiment we're talking about your life no matter how much you try the ball never seems to be thrown to you your friend request on facebook go unanswered nobody calls you nobody texts you though you constantly try to reach out how would that make you feel chuck swindoll tells about an advertisement a true advertisement in the kansas city newspaper that said i will listen to you talk for 30 minutes without comment for five dollars the person who placed that ad reported that within days he was inundated with dozens of phone calls of people taking him up on his offer how much would you pay to have somebody listen to you without judgment or comment how much would it be worth to you to go to a place where people knew who you were they cared about you they valued you today we're talking about a mountain an obstacle between us and the blessed life that god wants for us it's a mountain that frankly everybody experiences but nobody wants to talk about it's the mountain of loneliness and if you've ever felt lonely before if you feel lonely right now i think you're going to be encouraged by today's message as we talk about how to move from loneliness to companionship you know the great irony of loneliness especially in this age is this never before in world history have we been more connected to one another and at the same time disconnected from one another i mean think about it you can go out to dfw airport tomorrow get on a plane be in memphis in an hour and a half you can get on another plane and be in madrid by evening time we're connected like never before geographically we're connected technologically as well i mean you can you know issue a friendly request of anybody on facebook you can express yourself well most of you can express yourself on twitter if you want to and uh let your views be made known to lots and lots of people and yet feelings of loneliness and isolation have never been more acute reporting on findings from the pew research center and cigna the wall street journal wrote quote amid our huge unplanned experiment with social media new research suggests that many american adolescents are becoming more anxious depressed and solitary in particular this article focused on teenage girls and their use of social media and one teenage girl they interviewed was a young lady named genevieve and genevieve said quote honestly sometimes i wish we were living in the olden days when kids hung out with friends and went on dates but that isn't what my friends and i do technology isn't the only culprit in feelings of isolation sometimes it's our workplace environment in fact national public radio and commenting on this said that workplace cultures contribute to increased loneliness tensions with co-workers disparities with life work balance and are the leading causes ellen rankin the art author of the article for npr said quote more than three in five americans are lonely with more and more people reporting feeling like they are left out poorly understood and lacking companionship feelings of isolation aren't limited to the united states a recent study in the united kingdom noted that 800 000 people in england are chronically lonely and many more experience some degree of loneliness in fact the study went on to link feelings of isolation with depression cardiovascular disease and even dementia to make matters worse in the wake of cobot 19 many mental health experts are very concerned about the lasting irreversible consequences of what we've been through are going to have on people's psyche it's going to be a continued problem that people grapple with with many years to come the effect of having schools and businesses and churches closed of social distancing all have taken a toll not only on our mental health but on our physical health as well the fact is ladies and gentlemen you and i were created by god for companionship and every day we're deprived of that companionship it's like being deprived of oxygen we die a little more every day you know as i look at scripture i find that there are five groups of people who are especially vulnerable to feelings of isolation and loneliness you might want to note those first of all the unmarried the unmarried now there are some people who have been given the gift of singleness that's god's plan for them and they are fulfilled that way they would be miserable if they were married but for most people god's plan is for us to be joined together physically emotionally spiritually with another person that was god's plan from the beginning by the way remember in genesis 2 18 after god had created man he said it is not good for the man to be alone this is the very first time god ever said something in his creation was not good everything else was pronounced good the first not good thing was for man to be alone and he said therefore i will make a helper suitable him literally opposite him a compliment to him now think about it was adam really alone in the garden no first of all he had a perfect relationship with god a relationship that hadn't been tainted with sin he enjoyed fellowship with god like you and i will never experience until we get to heaven one day but god said adam i enjoy hanging around you but it's not enough you need somebody else adam had lots of pets he had a whole zoo filled with animals that wasn't enough either he said you need a mate i will make a helper suitable for you and that's true for you and me as well there are many people who are unmarried that feel the pain of loneliness a second group who feel lonely sometimes or the married don't yell out amen right now but you know what i'm talking about it's possible to feel lonely even if you're married the first couple by the way experienced that when sin entered the picture remember after they rebelled against god what happened genesis 3 7 says then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings when they sinned their first emotional response was fear a fear of god so they went and they isolated themselves from god sin drove a wedge between god and themselves but then sin drove a wedge between adam and eve remember when god held out him accountable for what had happened what did adam do he blamed his wife that woman whom you gave me she's the one adam said who did this so it's possible to be married and yet feel isolated from god and isolated from your mate as well a third group that sometimes feels lonely and there are a number of you who can identify with this are the once married people who enjoyed a marriage relationship but no longer have that relationship it may be because of the death of your mate think about it unless you and your mate are a part of the rapture of the church either you or your mate is going to die and that's going to have a profound impact on your life when death occurs the fact is the links that joined two people together shared interest shared taste shared beliefs shared jokes those links are severed and you feel all alone now the bible says first corinthians 7 39 you're free to be remarried if you want to paul said a wife is bound as long as her husband lives but if her husband is dead she's free to be married to whom she wishes as long as it's in the lord a christian marriage but even if you marry again nobody is going to replace that first mate there's going to be a void that's left in your life some people are now not married who were once married because of divorce divorce can also end the marriage relationship leading to intense loneliness divorce was never part of god's plan in matthew 19 verses 5 and 6 jesus was answering questions about divorce to the pharisees and he took them back to the beginning plan he quotes moses and adam in genesis 2 saying for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh god's plan from the beginning was one man with one woman in a lifetime relationship called marriage any deviation from that whether it's homosexuality adultery unbiblical divorce all of those were never part of god's plan one man with one woman in a lifetime commitment called marriage jesus said in verse 6 so they are therefore no longer two but one flesh what therefore god has joined together let no man separate when you separate a marriage because of divorce when you end that marriage it's not just the destruction of your relationship divorce is the destruction of the two people inside that relationship it is a tearing apart of the individuals inside that relationship and that's why malachi 3 10 says god hates divorce so don't misinterpret that he doesn't hate divorced people divorce is not the unpardonable sin but he hates the process of divorce because of what it does to those involved in it there's a fourth group of people who are vulnerable to loneliness the mature that's a nice way of saying old people the elderly those of us who have more miles behind us than probably in front of us need to understand we're susceptible to uh loneliness because the longer we live the more and more people we know and love die have you discovered that to be true you know in a normal order of things first your parents whom you love and loved you they're gone then maybe your siblings are gone uh you have more and more friends who go maybe your mate has gone to heaven maybe your mentors the people who shaped your life are gone i woke up in the middle of the night last night and i realized i had been having an intense conversation with dr criswell on the front row right here about our church it kind of made me realize how much i missed him he was a great mentor to me and howard hendricks and others who built in my life they're not around any longer to talk to the longer you live the more people you end up losing and that causes loneliness you know proverbs 16 31 says really old age is something that should be celebrated a gray head is a crown of glory it is found in the way of righteousness we ought to celebrate the elderly but in our youth-oriented culture we tend to isolate them and make them feel obsolete final group of people who face the problem of loneliness would be the infirmed those who are ill you've heard the saying misery loves company that's really not true people who are miserable especially those who are in pain like a wounded animal many times retreat into their shell i think solomon had this in mind when he talked about the effects of old age in ecclesiastes chapter 12. remember in verse 1 he says remember your creator in the days of your youth before the evil days and the years draw near when you say i have no delight in them what is he talking about what are the evil years he's talking about physical breakdowns verse six remember god before the silver silver court is broken and the golden bowl is crushed the picture by the well is shattered and the wheel of the sister in his crush this is all an image a metaphor of our body shutting down then the dust will return to the earth as it was and the spirit will return to the god who gave it vanity of vanities worthless worthless everything is vanity now at this point i feel like stopping and saying is there anything else i can say to cheer you up today this is hardly the feel-good message perhaps you were expecting but it's just true people deal with loneliness but here's the positive thing i can share with you loneliness doesn't have to be paralyzing if you struggle with loneliness you're not alone a.w tozer the preacher and writer observed most of the world's greatest souls have been lonely that's true in every realm of life in the artistic realm vincent van gogh the painter harper lee the author of to kill a mockingbird they dealt with intense loneliness it's true in the political realm of leadership frederick douglass margaret thatcher all report times of loneliness in their lives or look in the world of explorations great explorers like ernest shackleton and richard byrd all dealt with loneliness even in the religious realm the great reformer martin luther the great preacher charles hadden spurgeon all suffered from feelings of isolation and it's true of some of the greatest servants of god in the bible as well i was looking this week just at some examples of loneliness in the bible and the old testament three come to mind one is moses he suffered from the loneliness of leadership remember when he was age 40 he made a big mistake killed that egyptian soldier spent the next 40 years in isolation in the wilderness but then at age 80 he came back for his second act in life he was going to be the leader of the exodus he was no longer alone he was surrounded by millions of hebrews as he led them out of egypt but that didn't cure his problem of loneliness does he listen to their murmuring and they're complaining remember what he cried out to god in numbers 11 14 i alone am not able to carry all this people because it's become too burdensome for me he felt alone even though he was surrounded by millions of people if you're a leader of any kind in your school and your business you know what it is to feel the pains of loneliness somebody said it's lonely at the top but it certainly crowded at the bottom but even being lonely at the top doesn't help if you're feeling isolated secondly i think about king david you know many of his psalms were written out of feelings of loneliness first in his youth he was out in the judean wilderness as a shepherd he suffered the loneliness of isolation but then when he became king of israel he suffered the loneliness that came from betrayal just imagine having your own son lead a rebellion against you that's what david experienced when absalom attempted a coup d'etat and it led to great anguish on the part of david he experienced a loneliness that comes from sin after his sin with bathsheba he wrote about that experience psalm 25 verses 16 to 18 turn to me and be gracious to me for i am lonely and afflicted the troubles of my heart are enlarged bring me out of my distress look upon my affliction and my trouble and forgive all of my sins and then i think of jeremiah the prophet he's known as the weeping prophet he experienced the loneliness that comes from standing for god if you right now or somebody who has taken a stand for god in your school or at your workplace or in your neighborhood don't expect everybody to applaud you you'll experience loneliness isolation for trying to live a godly life that's what happened to jeremiah he preached a message that was not popular to his own people he told the inhabitants of judah that babylon was going to overtake them because of their godlessness and what did they do they threw him in a sister and they left him for dead because it was an unpopular message anytime you stand for god it's going to be a lonely experience in the book of lamentations jeremiah wrote about his loneliness verses one and 2 i am the man who has seen affliction because of the rod of his wrath he has driven me and made me walk in darkness and not in light but later he declared in that same chapter verses 22 to 23 the words we use for the great hymn the lord's loving kindness and deed never cease for his compassions never fail they are new every morning great is your faithfulness when i look at the new testament of course my first thought when i think of somebody who experienced isolation was our lord himself jesus felt the pain of being betrayed by his closest followers by his friends his disciples even his own family turned their back on jesus but most painful of all jesus felt being abandoned by god as he hung on the cross he cried out my god my god why have you forsaken me don't try to explain away that verse jesus meant what he said he felt abandoned by god have you ever felt that way before that god doesn't hear your cry to him jesus experienced that that's the ultimate loneliness and then i think about the apostle paul turn over to second timothy chapter four this is the last letter he wrote before he was beheaded remember paul was actually imprisoned in rome on two different occasions the first imprisonment was from 60 to 62 a.d he was really under house arrest had a lot of freedom he could receive visitors he could write letters that's where the prison epistles came from colossians ephesians philippian philemon the prison epistles but then he was arrested again and this time he was put in the mammar king prison many of us have been there before to call it a prison is really overstating it it was really more like a hole in the ground that the sewage ran through it would make san quentin and alcatraz today look like the ritz carlton i mean it was a horrible place to be and as paul was there awaiting his trial and his ultimate beheading he wrote this letter to timothy he said please come to me as soon as you can verse 9 of chapter 4. and then he went on to say again in verse 21 make every effort to come before winter timothy was in ephesus it would take four months to get there and he said i want you to get here before winter because i need you to bring me some things i need a cloak i'm getting cold and by the way when you come bring the books and the book the books probably were early drafts of the gospels that had just been written by 62. the book was probably a reference for the parchments the old testament but then he started to do an honest assessment with timothy of what had happened to him he said in verse 16 that my first defense no one supported me but all deserted me and he pointed out several people whom he was terribly disappointed in who had left him he said demas verse 10 demas has forsaken me a fellow worker because he loved this present world paul had trusted demas but dema said i'm tired of the persecution i'm tired of living in poverty you know i'm out of here and then he said not only did demas forsake me verse 14 alexander the coppersmith did me much harm the lord roared pay him according to his deeds this uh word that is translated did mean much harm is a word that refers to um snitching on somebody an informant apparently alexander accused paul of sedition to the roman authorities that led to his ultimate trial and martyrdom i understand what paul was doing here paul wasn't having a pity party for himself in the mamma teen prison he was being honest with his protege timothy a young pastor he said timothy don't depend on other people people i trusted in they left me but bring the scriptures when you come what i'm trying to say to you is loneliness is natural but it doesn't have to be lethal and there is a way out of the shadow of loneliness and in the few moments that we have left right now i want to open god's word and talk about what i call the abcs of moving from loneliness to companionship first of all a acknowledge your feelings of loneliness don't try to slap on a superficial smile or engage in holy hallelujahs or pious platitudes when they don't fit be honest with yourself and with god about your feelings david was he cried out in psalm 22 16 turn to me and be gracious to me for i am lonely and afflicted be be proactive in conquering loneliness you make the moves you need to to conquer the problem of loneliness it may begin with looking at yourself why is it there aren't people around you what is the cause of your loneliness it could be a poor self-image maybe you're thinking i don't deserve to have friends or i've got this physical defect or this personality disorder or i don't have the right heritage or background my economic level isn't what it needs to be to attract the friends i prefer you can come up with all these self-image reasons remember ephesians 2 10. paul said for we are god's workmanship created by christ jesus for good works that god prepared beforehand that we should walk in them that word workmanship is the greek word poema we get poem from it do you realize you are god's poem you are the expression of god himself and every part of your life psalm 139 says your physical characteristics your personality everything about you the days of your life and how you live them were all foreordained by god there are no accidents maybe as you look inwardly it's not a self-image that's the problem it's selfishness you say i'm too busy to have any friends that's called for i'm too wrapped up in myself to have any friends remember friendship companionship is not a luxury it's a necessity and maybe it's time for you to reach out to other people have you ever heard the expression maybe your parents used it with you the best way to have a friend is to what be a friend reach out to somebody else paul actually said the same thing in philippians 2 verses 3 and 4 he said do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit but with humility of mind regard one another is more important than yourselves do not merely look out for your own personal interests but also for the interest of others you want to have friends try this try meeting somebody else's need ask what can i do to help you if you'll make that move you'll have more friends than you don't know what to do with people are clamoring to be around somebody who takes an interest in them you know the thing i want you to understand is friendship again isn't a luxury it is absolutely essential for our spiritual our emotional even our physical well-being an article in the magazine modern maturity said quote researchers have determined that participation in formal social networks that is church and community groups is an even more important predictor of mortality than a person's health that's an amazing statement when you think about it the greatest determining factor of how long you live is not your blood pressure it's not your cholesterol it is whether or not you're connected to other people now as we think about reaching out to other people and filling our life with friends companionship we need to review the four levels of companionship so we don't have um greater expectations than are realistic the most basic level of friendship the beginning level is acquaintances these are people you run into every week you don't know their name you just see people at the grocery store you see them at school you see them at church but you have no interaction with them this is where most friendships begin but with most of these people it will never evolve into anything else you know before the pandemic most people had about 150 people a week that they had some contact with on a superficial level acquaintances the second level is a casual friends these are people that we have some contact with most of the time we will know their first names but if we do engage in conversations it's only superficial things the weather the stock market sports and so forth the third level is close friends most people if they're fortunate have anywhere from five to 25 of these people these are people with whom you have a shared interest perhaps shared spiritual views these are people that you feel comfortable asking to pray with you for example about a certain situation again if we have five to 25 close friends that's a good thing but the fourth the deepest level of companionship would be intimate friends these are people you allow into your personal world these are people with whom even if one moves away and you don't see them for a month a year when you see them again you pick up right where you left off again there's just a bond there these are the people that if you had a crisis in your life at three o'clock in the morning these were the people or this is the person you would call if you have one to no more than five of these you are a blessed person now the key is we need all four levels but acquaintances casual friends aren't going to feel the void that you need for companionship it may be the pool out of which those people come but we all need close friends and we need intimate friends and the best place to find those close friends and intimate friends who will encourage you is the church it just is the church is the best place to find those people i want you to turn over to hebrews chapter 10 for just a moment hebrews chapter 10 remember the hebrew christians were under persecution they were in danger of giving up their faith and the writer says in verse 23 let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful don't waver in your faith well that's great to say but how do you keep from wavering look at verse 24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day join near church family we need to be together to encourage one another we need to be together one of the most destructive consequences of this pandemic for the last year has been making it difficult for us as a church to come together be together to encourage one another i'm grateful for online ministry god's blessed our online ministry but i think even those of you who are watching online would agree it is a substitute not a replacement for being together we were created as a church to be together now the good news is right now we have about 72 of our people who are back the bad news is we still have 28 of our people who aren't back now i'm going to move from preaching to meddling for the next few moments and some of you are not going to like what i say but listen until the end of what i'm saying i'm not departing from scripture i'm applying the bible the bible says we can't forsake our assembling together it's become a habit for some we need one another i want to address those of you who are in the 28 who aren't back yet you're an important part of first baptist church dallas our church will never be what it needs to be until you're back but you are in spiritual danger the longer you stay away i'm not chastising you i'm not criticizing you i'm speaking to you as your pastor and friend there are real spiritual risk at staying isolated and separated from the rest of the church and i want you back now i understand the reason you're not back is not because you don't want to be back perhaps you're in a high-risk group for the virus or perhaps you're responsible for taking care of somebody who's in the high-risk group i understand that but there's a way to mitigate that risk everybody hold on to the person next to you one way to mitigate that risk of coming back is through the vaccine that is available now i'm not making anybody take the vaccine we're not wrestling you to the ground but i'm saying if you are out there and you're fearful of coming back one option for you is to take the vaccine it is extremely effective i had to do some research this week to prepare for an interview about that topic an amazing statistic 87 million americans have now been fully vaccinated fully vaccinated in their past the two-week waiting time do you know how many people have contracted the coronavirus after being completely vaccinated out of 87 million 6 000 people that is statistically insignificant that is practically zero i think it's .0007 of one percent and even of those six thousand who have contracted the virus after being fully vaccinated thirty percent of them didn't know they had it they were asymptomatic and of the seventy percent who felt a little bad they correct contracted the virus not one person has been hospitalized not one person has died now that is amazing we've never seen anything like that before now i understand some people would say well i don't want to do it because it's a risk to me this vaccine that's fine talk to your doctor get your doctor's advice on what to do but don't use untruth as a reason for not taking the vaccine some of you have written to me and asked well isn't it connected to abortion let me assure you and i've talked to the experts who are involved in it you have no aborted cells from babies who are being injected to you when you take the vaccine here is the only connection and this comes from dr francis collins a great christian who is the head of the national institute of health he said the only connection is in the research for the vaccines there was a cell line from an aborted fetus in scandinavia from 50 years ago a cell line was used in developing the vaccine and by the way it's a cell line that has been used in the production of many other medicines that you take regularly and that are used regularly that is the only connection now remember i'm talking to those of you who aren't back yet i'm not forcing anybody to get the vaccine that's your choice but what i am saying is if you are not back yet and you would like to come back one option is to take the vaccine and therefore you don't have to worry about what other people do or don't do here in the church you can come back with a high degree of confidence my plea to you is this yes there are physical risks to coming back there is some infinitesimal physical risk of taking the vaccine but the greater risk is the spiritual risk of staying isolated the bible says it can easily become a habit don't forsake the assembling together as ourselves as is the habit of some but encourage one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near you need the church and we need you and we look forward to seeing you back here as soon as you possibly can get here now that's straight from god's word that's straight from god's word we need one another we're like those porcupines up in northern canada canada and the frozen tundra region that huddled together to keep warm they needed each other even though they needled each other need one another in the body of christ how do you deal with loneliness a acknowledge your feelings b be proactive in conquering loneliness and third cultivate your relationship with god saint augustine said this you have made us for yourself and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in you like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle a relationship with god is that final piece that makes the picture complete we need god now i know some of you probably saying wait a minute preacher you're contradicting yourself don't you just remember what you said earlier you said in genesis 2 18 it's not good that man be alone adam had a relationship with god it wasn't enough that's all true but remember this now put it down on your outline having a relationship with god alone does not prevent loneliness but not having a relationship with god guarantees loneliness you see the difference having a relationship with god alone doesn't prevent loneliness but not having that relationship guarantees that it all begins with our relationship with god david understood that remember in psalm 25 verse 18 after he had admitted his loneliness he said look upon my affliction and my trouble and forgive all my sins for david cultivating a relationship with god for the man who was a man after god's own heart it started with the confession of sin maybe that's where it starts for you maybe you're a christian and you've allowed some sin in your life to become a barrier between you and god confess that sin but cultivating a relationship with god doesn't stop there it means communicating with god and allowing god to communicate to you through his word psalm 119 verses 24 and 25 david said your testimonies are also my delight they are my counselors my soul cleaves to the dust revive me according to your word there's something about being in scripture that revives our relationship with god it gets us out of that bubble of isolation remember paul said bring me the books and bring me the book as i'm alone in this prison cell we have many of you who are prisoners who watch our program every week you understand that isolation i'm so proud of some of you i hear from who are studying god's word you're listening to our broadcast you're drawing near to god paul said i need god's word 1500 years after paul said that there is another man who looked to god's word to revive him and his relationship with god his name was william tyndall the bible translator the reformer the great bible scholar he was imprisoned in belgium and he wrote to the marquee of bergen these words i beg you your lordship and that by the lord jesus that if i must remain here for the winter you would beg the commissary to be so kind as to send me from the things that belong to me a warm cap i feel the cold painfully in my head also a warmer cloak for the cloak i have is very thin he also has a woolen shirt of mine if he will send that but most of all my hebrew bible grammar and vocabulary please send those that i met that i may spend time in that pursuit i'm going to tell you after studying hebrew for three years at dallas seminary if i were on my deathbed the last thing i would ask for is a hebrew old testament there is nothing about that that would revive me at all it would finish me off but for william tyndale the pursuit of that hebrew old testament was the same thing as pursuing god the way you pursue god is through his word listen to me today like the apostle paul like when william tyndale if you are in the shadow of loneliness if it is overtaken every part of your life remember the beginning place for conquering loneliness not the ending place the beginning place is cultivating renewing your relationship with god let's bow together in a word of prayer i'm speaking to some of you right now here in our service watching this broadcast to begin your relationship with god if you're a christian may mean confessing your sin to god you know there's something right now in your life that is displeasing to god why not stop arguing with god about it why not stop playing like it's not there in your life tell god about it ask for his forgiveness ask for a new beginning in your relationship with him he's willing to give that new beginning to you if you're willing to ask for it but for others of you listening you've never had a relationship with god there's been a barrier or a wall between you and god that barrier is called the barrier of sin isaiah 59 2 says your sin has become a barrier between you and your god and there's only one way to get rid of that barrier you can't forgive yourself you can't climb over that wall and earn your forgiveness no forgiveness is something we receive from god as a gift that's why he sent jesus his son to die on the cross to do for us what we could never do for ourselves to cleanse us from our sins for god so loved the world that he gave his only son that whosoever believes trusting clings to him will not perish but we'll have eternal life today if you would like to receive god's gift of forgiveness to begin a relationship with god that will extend past your death throughout eternity i want to invite you wherever you are to pray this prayer in your heart to god knowing that he's listening to you would you pray this with me dear god thank you for loving me i know i have failed you in so many ways and i'm truly sorry for the sins in my life but i believe what i've heard today you loved me so much you sent your son jesus to die on the cross for me to take the punishment that i deserve to take for my sins and right now i'm trusting in what jesus did for me not in my good works but in what jesus did for me to save me from my sins thank you for forgiving me and help me to live the rest of my life for you in jesus name amen today if you're watching online and you prayed that prayer would you go to the top of the screen click the link that says i prayed the prayer with dr jeffress as soon as you do that i'll be notified of your decision and i'll send you some free material about what it means to live as a christian now again don't wait another moment go to the top of the screen click on that link i prayed the prayer with dr jeffress for those of you in our worship center today would you take out this card and if you prayed that prayer with me i'd like you to fill out the information and check that third box i prayed the prayer and i'll get you the same information that we're sending our online friends maybe you're a guest today check the first box i'm a guest today maybe you'd like more information about our church you can check that or maybe you'd like to join our church i'd like to join first baptist dallas today last week we had 50 to join our church that way 25 this week maybe you'd like to join our church it's all you have to do check the box i guarantee you if you check this box you'll never be lonely again we won't leave you alone you will be surrounded by people who love you and care for you and won't let you stay in that bubble of isolation now once you finish the card you can drop it off at the welcome center and they'll take your card and exchange it for my new devotional a place called heaven 100 days of living in the light of eternity if you don't want to stop by the welcome center just deposit this and one of the orange receptacles will process the card and get the book to you right away well speaking of the pandemic and opening up did you see the nation of israel is 80 vaccinated they are opening up right now and that is why next spring april 26 to may 6 we are taking our pathway to victory bible prophecy tour of israel and would love to have you come and join us watch this for just a second april 26th through may 6th 2022 you're invited to join dr robert jeffress on an unforgettable trip to israel where bible prophecy comes to life you've read about places like the mount of olives where jesus will return one day walk the streets of jerusalem where christ made and fulfilled countless prophecies there's nothing quite like standing on top of mount carmel where elijah did battle with the prophets of baal or looking out over the plain of megiddo where the final world battle will take place i guarantee a trip to the holy land will make the bible come alive for you like never before join us on the pathway to victory bible prophecy tour of israel april 26th through may 6th 2022 and when you sign up before october 31st you'll receive an early bird discount to learn more and to reserve your spot go to ptv.org or call 888-280-6747 thank you i hope you'll consider going to take advantage of the discount go to ptv.org thank you so much for being here today hope you have a great week in the lord and we'll look forward to seeing you next sunday tyler you come now and lead our final song as we stand together thank you pastor let's stand and worship together as we close singing his praise this is my story this is my story this is my song [Music] this is my story this is my soul praising my savior [Music] have a blessed day church [Music] hi campus family thank you so much for being here today and joining us in worship we hope that you are blessed by today's service make sure to invite your friends family and loved ones to join you each and every week right here on the first dallas i campus also stay connected with us all week long on our social media channels and join our new icampus global facebook group to know what's going on right here at first baptist dallas we love you guys so much and we'll see you next week you

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Published: Sun Apr 25 2021