Outlasting Loneliness

second Timothy chapter four and we're gonna I'm gonna skip around just a little bit so I'm just gonna need you to follow me the Bible says in beginning at the sixth verse if your neighbor doesn't have it just look at it and say read off mine cuz we got to move or look on the screen either one so we're talking about the life of Paul and Paul says in verse six for I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course and I have kept the faith man if you can fight a good fight and if you can finish your course and in the middle of all of that hold on to your faith I'm telling you you're a blessed somebody henceforth he says there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto all them that love his appearing verse nine we're listening as we're getting ready to read this we're listening to the final words coming out of a man who realizes that his final days have drawn near and he says to his son in the gospel Timothy says do thy diligence to come shortly unto me he just got through saying listen my time is up I'm I fought a good fight I've kept the faith but I've kept the faith that if you're if you're gonna come I need you to come and I need you to come quickly verse 13 he said when you do come I want you to bring my coat that's what he's saying bring my coat that I left at Troas with Karpis when thou cometh with you when thou comest bring also my books and bringing my parchment so bring my paper so he said I want you to bring my coat in the books in my paper he said those things are important bring them he then he goes on and he says Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil the Lord reward him according to his works that's like talk to the hand he said that's all I'm gonna say about that up of whom he's to be be Dowell we're also for he had greatly withstood our words verse 16 he said at my first answer no man stood with me he's in court he said but all men forsook me I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge notwithstanding the Lord stood with me and he strengthened me he stood with me and he strengthened me that by me the preaching might be fully known and that all the Gentiles might hear and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion verse 18 and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me well I love all that that's just he he stood with me he strengthened me he delivered me and he preserved me that's listen that's a message right there take that home today he delivered me from every evil work and he will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom to whom be glory for ever and ever amen he said in he said in verse 16 at my first answer no man stood with me all men for suck me that sounds lonely to me notwithstanding the Lord stood with me I want to talk today and I really want to talk and I I pray that you'll open up your heart and that you will allow me to open up my heart and give to you today the word of the Lord and I want to talk from this subject out lasting loneliness out lasting long it's truth be told there are a lot of lonely people in this room there are a lot of lonely people watching online there are a lot of lonely people around the world you can't always tell it by looking at them especially if they go to church cuz we have a way of coming in and dressing up and just acting like everything's okay but the truth of the matter is there are a lot of lonely people in this world and I want to talk about outlasting loneliness because it is possible to do just that spirit of the Living God I love you today I ask that you would just come into this room hold us close and speak to our need today speak to our pain speak to our brokenness speak to our past if you have to but please make sure that you speak to our future I thank you today that your word will find every person under the sound of my voice and I just prayed that they will open up their hearts and receive the seed that comes forth let it go down deep in their lives and let it bring forth a harvest a harvest that blows our mind speak to us Lord Jesus that your voice that we need to hear it's your voice that we need to hear do that and we'll praise you in Jesus name Amen and amen on your way down just touch somebody shake him if you want to wake them up if they look sleepy tell them you need this message today outlasting will loneliness most of you know that I am a Detroit city girl I drew up anybody in from Detroit near Detroit love Detroit I'm a preach to all five today it's me and you okay I grew up in Detroit and and because of that there are many good memories that I have from living in Detroit I love certain things about it I love going to the Coney Island places you know there's one on in every five feet you will find a Coney Island there's an American Coney Island there's a Lafayette Coney Island you have to be from there to really understand what I'm talking about but I'll of the Coney Island restaurants I love the rice pudding that they serve at Coney Island restaurants I I love the better made chips that you can only get from yes Lord that will increase you more and more yes I love Vernors ginger-ale nothing like it and now fortunately you can go to a grocery store here and get it but that's where it originated from I don't know if y'all Detroit people know this but I love Faygo red pop they go those are all great things about Detroit I love Tiger Stadium my husband used to take me there on dates so I have lots of good memories about being there I love Greek town it's downtown and you go down there and you eat I grew up eating Greek baklava it's very you know you just have to experience him from there I also love going to Henry Ford's Greenfield Village and touring all of those kind of places I love I love Motown I love the artists that came out of Motown I wasn't supposed to because I was church girl and I was supposed to know all that stuff but I love a wreath of Franklin saying resp ect yeah I love Diana Ross singing ain't no mountain high enough young y'all been saved all y'all's life you don't know okay reach out and touch somebody's hand okay so world a better place if you can see with that we kind that was one of those songs that you could possibly say you know but I like that and I like the temptations papa was a road where he laid his hat was y'all are singing louder about the temptations than you are Jesus what about Stevie Wonder isn't she lovely isn't she wonderful okay if we go one staying too long God is getting us he's gonna get us and he starts with me okay what about Anita Baker I love you just because I love you just yes just because I do I'll tell you I was saved but I was barely saved Boehner Smokey Robinson to four times she I don't know not about all that stuff okay now let's take it to a safer side also out of Detroit came people like Fred Hammond yes people like The Clark Sisters like Maddie mouths Clark like Kier sheer like like her mama care Clark shared and then I'll also came the wine is BBC see Marvin mama pop wine is Vanessa Bell Armstrong commissioned Marvin Sapp Thomas Whitfield Vicki wine is Cheryl Brady [Applause] I'm telling you Detroit rocks okay how does all of that talent come out of one place well I love I love a lot of things about different but the thing I love the most I think is I love that we have four seasons winter spring summer fall there's a clear line of demarcation I grew up with a clear line if it's winter you know it's winter if it's spring you know it's spring if it's summer you know it's summer and if it's fall you know it's fall in Dallas we don't know it's cold today it's hot tomorrow winter spring summer fall I love that the Bible says in Genesis 2 and 22 that as long as the earth remains there will be spring time and harvest cold and heat winter and sir and there will be day and there will be night so as much as I dislike summer and I totally dislike summer I I cannot as much as I wanted to go away I cannot change it I cannot I cannot shorten the days of summer as much as I like fall I cannot add days to it and make it last longer and the reason I can't change those seasons is because I'm not God you are not God God is the only one that has the power to change the seasons he's the only one that has the power to change the seasons in your life you can stand there decree declare prophesy you can you can you can do all of those things you can go to the mountains of Colorado in the middle of the snow and and stand there and say I declare that in the next 30 minutes it is going to come the sun's coming out it's going to melt this and it's gonna be we're gonna be in the middle of summer you're not that powerful only God can change the seasons can you say this after me seasons are out of my control say it again seasons are out of my close eyes and say it seasons are out and the sooner we understand that the better off we are going to be you and I could not control when they happen how they happen where they happen or how long they last once they do happen they are uncontrollable and sometimes they are also confusing you get up in the morning and you got to put on something warm and by the time you come home from work you are stripped all the way down to a t-shirt why because seasons can be confusing at times they the seasons will involve good times and bad times seasons will involve productive times and non productive times that's just life that's that's how it goes they involve peaceful times but they also involve painful times they involve times that I understand God and times that I totally don't understand God however because I am his child I have to know that there is a purpose to every season that he allows to happen in my life Ecclesiastes 3 & 1 tells us to everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven knowing that is what helps us to face them to make it through them to survive them and to come out into a new season one of the seasons that we find ourselves I don't care who you are don't care where you live in a how much money you make I don't care what kind of job you have I don't care how beautiful your husband or wife is you're one of the seasons or or house how much you enjoy your single life one of the seasons that we all will face is the season of aloneness it doesn't matter you can be married and still face a sea alumnus you may you may wanna you might not want to call it that you might want to call a season of isolation a season of detachment a season of seclusion over a season of separation or or maybe you want to call it that season of loneliness some of you may not feel like this message is for you today because you don't feel like you are lonely or you don't feel isolated but take good notes trust me on this take good notes because if you keep on living you will be glad that you took notes because you will all all of us will go through a season where we feel alone aloneness is an inevitable season of life and the thing about it is you don't just face it one time and say sure glad that's over you will face it many many many many many times what causes feelings of loneliness what causes those kind of feelings and how how do I cope with that and I hope to answer some of that for somebody today by talking from the life of the Apostle Paul even though he wrote 13 books of the Bible even Paul wrestled with loneliness but he also overcame it and then he left us he had the audacity and the kindness to leave us clues throughout the text that showed us we can overcome it to second Timothy 4 is a season in Paul's like where he is dying he knows that he's dying he knows that his time is up but he's not just dying he's dying in prison he's dying in Rome which means he's in a foreign country and he's dying at the hands of Nero who Nero of Caesars of Caesar he he died where he was dying for for not committing a crime what we would call today he's dying and he is suffering and dying and it's really a disadvantaged his his days are numbered his friends have all walked away from him because when you're dying some about that it makes you not fun to be with and people when they sense that you're dying on the vine watch out because those people that stay with you in those kinds of seasons are people that you need to cherish the rest of your life because for the most part people will just assume walk out or tip out of your life and leave you for dead Paul is his friends have left him and he's struggling with loneliness however he gives us for he gives us for causes in the scripture we read today for loneliness and I want you to write them down these are for common causes of loneliness number one seasons of transition cause loneliness seasons of transition whenever things start transitioning in your life that means they are changing and whenever things start changing that means that that even if even if it's a in a positive way it could be in a positive or a negative way but still when you're going through a season of change you're letting go of something and you're embracing something it's it's both of those things and often the loss that is associated with change can leave us with feelings of alumnus or can leave us feeling like we are lonely do you remember maybe some of y'all don't remember this but if you can try real hard do you remember when you went to your first day of school in kindergarten you you went in there you were a little timid because the you looked at your mama or your daddy or your whoever brought you to school was walking away and they were waving at you you were left there there was a seat there was there was something happening there and you're like this is different this has changed I'm used to being with them why are they leaving me here or or maybe when you walk into a new job for the first time you don't know anybody and so you're walking into this everybody's already in cliques they're laughing they're having fun but you're dealing with a sense of loneliness because you don't quite fit into the cliques yet or maybe you remember dropping your child off at daycare for the first time you're dropping them off you you put them in in the room and they're crying and you're hoping that that teacher picks them up and holds them and Consol's them and you're watching from a distance and and why because that child is is dealing with loneliness and change is happening in their life same thing with you even though I wanted to put you in that daycare so I could get a break from you now I'm out here missing you and you ain't been gone five minutes yet it's it's a dilemma it's just crazy maybe you left your maybe you left like Bishop you left your daughter at the altar with a wonderful man but when it was all said and done and the wedding was over the reception was over and you go home that night and you walk down the hall of your house you look up at her room and say [Applause] I love you for that he was so brokenhearted but I mean it's one I mean he amar Kaul is a great man and and we were blessed all of my son in-laws are great but but it caused change to happen change can make us uncomfortable change can make us it can change can cause pain sometimes and in Paul's particular situation he's at the end of his life and he says to us in verse 6 and 7 he said for I am now ready to be offered I'm ready to be poured out and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course and I have kept the faith these are the words of a man who is dying who knows that his time is limited who knows that he at the end of his life is near and on top of all of that he is alone and this that this happens to be the final transition of Paul's life but there were a lot of other transitions that led up to this one because sometimes if you look back over your life you'll say I wouldn't have never been here had I not been through that transition I never got through that transition had I not been through that one and so so sometimes you'll see that there are many transitions that we will face in life and so so number one transitions often trigger loneliness the second thing that triggers loneliness are seasons of separation whenever you have been separated from those that you love maybe maybe it's a military situation or or for whatever reason it causes us when we get separated from those that we love loneliness becomes very common in our life sometimes it might be I'm separated because of a job I'm separated because I have to travel I'm separated because of an illness I'm separated because I've been through a loss I've lost somebody and now I'm trying to cope with being separated I'm sometimes just separated because of a court order some I'm just separated because people you love are in prison you're just there is a pain that whatever it is it has the potential to make us struggle with loneliness and Paul writes to Timothy from his prison cell in in any sense to him Timothy please come and I need you to come soon he is a lonely man and in the next few verses he starts talking about if you if you read it the next few verses he starts talking about all the people who he starts of bringing up all these names of people he brings up different names and and and who are these people these people are his travelling companions they they are the people that have done ministry with him throughout the years and see Paul was a people person he loved to be around anybody knows somebody who's a people person anybody married to somebody who's a people person and you're not a people person Oh Lord anyway Paul Paul was a people person whenever he traveled he you didn't find Paul alone he always loved to take his posse with him he he always traveled with a group of people and and in in the next several verses he starts naming their names and he starts calling to my name why is he doing that because he misses them he says Dimas is in Thessalonica cretians is in Galatia Titus is in Dalmatia arrest I'm sorry Erastus I don't think I'd have friends like that but it's okay Erastus is in Corinth Choa Choa Themis is in Lolita I mean he starts telling everybody he starts telling in his writings he says this one's gone there and this one is gone on there and he is in prison at the end of his life and he's in a foreign country and none of his friends are around and he misses them because when he built relationships he built strong relationships so now that they're gone when you love hard you grieve hard I said when you love hard you grieve hard so Paul is grieving is what he's doing and he's struggling with loneliness I'm not gonna ask anybody in here today but there have been times that I have struggled with loneliness and according I was looking up some statistics yesterday and according to to the reports many of the reports that I read it says that loneliness is a is a widespread epidemic in America it is not just in little pockets anymore it is something that is widespread according to the US News and World Report three in four Americans are struggling and living with loneliness count out three people take one out and do it all throughout this room and you'd be amazed to see how many people are struggling with loneliness people are suffering from from loneliness and and when they suffer from loneliness people that suffer from loneliness have a tendency to deal with depression more and anxiety more and and stress more in their lives and and one of the reasons that Americans are struggling with with with depression and loneliness is because millions of Americans move every year every 12 months millions of Americans pack up and they move so thus that that sense of rootedness calls a struggle in their life and it's it's got a society now that that is on the that is dealing with loneliness in epidemic proportions and on Americans we kind of pride ourselves with I'm free I'm free to do what I do I am an American where at least I know I'm free I'm doing it my way but often what we fail to understand is that the price for our independence is loneliness I said the price for our independence is loneliness so Paul said to Timothy come and come quickly Timothy why did he say come with quickly because he knows he doesn't have much more time left so the seasons of transition will leave us lonely seasons of separation will leave us slowly here's number three seasons of opposition can leave us lonely he said in verse fourteen he's in the middle of talking about those that he is missing he starts calling all their names out then he gets to verse fourteen and these changes totally changes and he said Alexander the coppersmith he did me much harm but it's okay cuz the Lord is going to judge him for what he has done be careful of him he is warning them be careful of him because he fought hard against what we did the NIV says he strongly opposed our message so he is his is giving those his sons of his he's giving them a word that says I missed that one I missed that one and that one I missed that one and that one but that one right there y'all better watch out for that one right there he is giving us grief and and this is the kind of loneliness that that hits you when you have been opposed by people is very very painful when people begin to oppose you I I remember we went through a season in our lives many many many many years ago our kids were just babies and people they didn't they began to oppose us in our assignment we were called to do praise we were called to do worship but the church we were in didn't want to sing anything outside of the hymnal and so we were marked as and we were labeled as heretics because I would walk up and say for he is or he's Lord we were heretics for that can you imagine and and they made all kinds of of accusations against us and it became a very painful time in our life because when you know you are doing what God has called you to do and people start opposing that yes that's a certain kind of pain that's hard that's hard to explain if you ain't never lived it then congratulations I'm I'm happy for you but but that that is a crazy kind of pain i I know what that pain feels like so whenever I see anybody that that is enduring those kind of pains there's something about me that's for the underdog I am gonna stand up for the underdog and and if if you were that kid in school that that people would come up to and say mean things to if they if they would bully you if you were the kid that that was never invited into the circle if you never fit in the clique then guess who was for you I was before you if no one wanted to eat with you if no one wanted to drink with you if nobody I don't mean drink like that but if burners ginger ale if nobody wanted to sleep no sit if nobody wanted to sit with you old father I was that person I was there cuz I couldn't handle calling I couldn't handle name-calling I couldn't handle bullying I still can't handle that to this fear I turned into another person if I see somebody do that I couldn't hand eel with people that would treat other people bad simply because of the clothes that they wore or the the fact that they might have had a hole in their shoe or it wasn't as pretty as what you had on I can't handle that because most of the time that kid can't help what he's got on I just had a problem with that I couldn't handle people that made people in front of people because they were little or because they were big or because they were heavy because they were rich or because they were poor or or because of the color their skin was different than somebody else's I hated that even as a child I hated injustice I hated when people would talk down to other people I hate it like like who mr. big stuff who do you think you are I hated that kind of stuff because those words are damaging you know we used to say when we were kids sticks and stones may break my bones but names will what that's a lie I said that's a lie because names do hurt and words do hurt and often they hurt worse than sticks and stones hurt because a broken bone can heal much quicker than a broken emotion I said a broken bone can heal much quicker than a broken emotion can so if you've ever been that person that was alienated or criticized or bullied or embarrassed or or talked down to or broken down emotionally then you know what loneliness feels like what we have to do in those moments is we have to resist the temptation to withdraw and retreat and climb up in a shell and build a wall and refuse to allow anybody in and collect weapons and we as we gather weapons we just start finding ourselves worth in that and then when we do come out we come out and we slay everybody that's in our midst because somebody broke them down with words when they were younger your words I'm telling you there's life and there's death in the power of your words and we want to blame the person that took a gun and shoot and shut everybody up but I want to look back just a little further and say why did he do that who was not there for her who was not there for them who did not pull them aside and build up their self-worth we want to change everything in society but the truth of the matter is we need to change it in our house before we can ever change it in society we need preachers who will stand and declare what's your mouth what's what you say to your spouse what's what you say to your children because in your tongue lies life and death that's where the real problem begins but the problem is if we don't if we don't if we don't resist that temptation to withdraw then we start a pathology in our life and we end up being more lonely because I'm lonely so I would draw and because I would draw now I'm lonely and I'm lonely because I withdraw and because I withdraw now I'm even more lonely so we gotta watch out for it because if you're not careful you can go through so much as a little change who you are at the core you can never let nothing change who you are at the core I said you can never I don't care who says what there's got to be something in you that says I know in who I'm Balu I believed I'm persuaded he is able I'm persuaded he didn't make a mistake when he named me this is who I am and it may not be my season right now but bless God I'm gonna be ready with my season comes cuz there will come a time that my voice will need to be heard there will come a time that what I say needs to be heard so I can't allow what I'm going through to change who I am at the core so seasons of turn transition can leave us feeling lonely seasons of separation seasons of opposition the fourth season that can leave us feeling alone is seasons of rejection to me there's really not a whole lot worse than rejection the pain that comes when you have found yourself being betrayed or you found yourself being abandoned or stabbed in the back or or dismissed or forsaken by people that you thought you could count on and now you find out that you can't count on them I'm gonna tell you that kind of pain right there has the power it it has the power to compromise the quality of the life that you live and many people have compromised the quality of their life simply because they've been rejected by people maybe you were rejected by a spouse maybe you were rejected by a friend maybe you were rejected by a mother a father may be a business partner rejected you maybe you gave the best years of your life to a company who now all of a sudden has handed you a pink slip and said sorry we're moving on one decision that somebody made has now left you with pain that you cannot even begin to articulate and if the truth were told there are many in this room today that know exactly that pain that I'm talking about you know it right now you have been faithful to people who were unfaithful to you you have been loyal to people who are not loyal to you you have been there for people who were not there for you and now you have found yourself suffering because of the pain of rejection it may have been a grandson it may have been a granddaughter it may have been a leader who just discounted your gift it made it may have been a son it might have been a daughter whatever it was it has left you at this moment with a heart that it feels like it's shattered into a thousand pieces and you feel like you if you don't get some help you are going to grieve yourself to death let me tell you something there is a God that sees you there is a God that knows everything that you've been through there is a God that cares about you that person might not care but there is a God cares about you he cares about your heart he cares and you matter to him I'm gonna ask you to touch somebody and just tell them you matter to God tell him again you matter to God he's the one that made you he's the one that knows you he and guess what he did he made us with this deep need to be accepted by people and without that acceptance then we are left often with indescribable pain and that's why sometimes the most debilitating devastating thing you can do to a person is to reject them and if we don't deal with the pain that comes with loneliness whether it's caused by a season of transition season of separation of season opposition or worry season of rejection we will ultimately end up dealing with it in self-defeating ways some people become workaholics and they hit the ground running they run all day they throw everything about themselves into their job they don't come home till late at night they get home just enough time to grab a bite to eat and jump in the bed and sleep and then they start the whole cycle again the next day simply because they don't want to confront themselves or be confronted by the nagging pain that is in their heart so let me just throw myself into my job so I can just get that out of my mind some people are shopaholics they will just shop and that they're consumed by materialism let me just buy stuff that'll make me feel better I can't feel better at all so let me let me buy things that will help build up my low self-esteem help me buy things that will will give me peace of mind if I surround myself with enough things then I will feel better about myself but materialism never ever ever brings a less thing life-changing result for any party then you have other people who are alcoholics and they just assume they think that if they can just drink it up then they won't have to deal with the pain that's in their heart and when they start to hurt they just grab a bottle of alcohol some people try to cope with the pain that's going on in their life by becoming sexaholics yeah so they throw themselves into one adulterous pair after affair after another they run through this person and then they run through that person they fornicate from Fort Worth to Frisco or maybe France [Applause] so their life their life becomes a series of one-night stands so they have nothing really solid because all they have are these one-night stands and so it doesn't matter whose body is laying next to me just so somebody is laying next to me others they try to secretly escape into a world of fantasy and they use pornography to help them build the dream relationships that they were never able to build in real life only to discover the landscape of their life has been cluttered with broken hearts and broken homes and broken children and broken family and broken trust and broken covenants and guess what at the end of all of that brokenness none of that other stuff satisfies loneliness can be a snare and it can be a snare I'm not just talking to sinners I'm talking to believers loneliness can be a snare in the light many of a believer has found themselves trapped in the snare of loneliness and when it happens what most people do they build up walls and they build up forts and they try to hide themselves they surround themselves with buffers so that no one really can get near to them unless they determine that you can get near to them and they live in a perpetual world of depression and shame depression and shame becomes norm for their lives and in that same passage of scripture where Paul gave us the four causes of loneliness like only Paul can do he also identifies four antidotes to loneliness somebody say thank God for that [Applause] here's what he says you need these four antidotes because they will help you to neutralize the pain that comes as a result of loneliness number one he says when you find yourself going through seasons of aloneness practice utilizing your time what does that look like pastor Brady utilizing my time it looks like you take in a bad situation and being determined to get the best out of it it looks like you you are the one that's going to take advantage of this season rather than allow this season to take advantage of you hello I'm preaching good in you today you wake up and you say you know what I have cried about this long enough I'm gonna take advantage of where I am I can't change this season but you know what I'm gonna take advantage of it and I'm not another day will it take advantage of me Paul said in verse 13 he said when you come to see me Timothy bring my coat bring my books bring me some paper you know what he was saying he was saying if I gotta be alone at least I'm gonna be productive you'll hear me Paul is saying if I gotta sit in this prison cell at least I'm gonna be productive while I am sitting here he doesn't throw a pity party he doesn't throw a fit he doesn't whine he doesn't cry he doesn't talk about quitting he doesn't murmur he doesn't complain because he understands he can't change the season and if this is the season that I am sitting in a prison that I most sit here and I'm gonna be productive bring me my coat bring me my books and bring me some paper look at somebody and tell him I tell you to be productive he's not sitting there saying things like it's all I'm gonna get I've given my whole life to the cause of Christ I've led hundreds of thousands of people to Christ and look where it has landed me now and then it starts feeling sorry for himself absolutely not you don't see Paul doing that Paul says listen I'm fixin to utilize my time and I need my coat now listen to that part right there he said bring me my coat because prisons were damp and they were cold and they were dark and so Paul says you know what I know I'm probably about to die but I want my coat cuz I won't take care of myself I'm not gonna sit up in here and get sick now hear us hear me when we are when we start battling with depression we usually neglect ourselves we are like I don't want to eat right I'm not gonna eat right I'm not working out today I'm not going to the gym Paul said no I am still somebody I am Telling You Paul bring me my coat cuz I'm still gonna take care of myself I may be in jail I may be on death row I might be lonely but I am NOT gonna neglect taking care of my selfie look at somebody and tell him you better take care of you cuz if you don't nobody else will and then he goes on and he says bring me my books and bring me some paper cuz I'm about to capitalize on this lack of interruption moments that is happening in my life there were no interruptions and so Paul said you know what bring me my books cuz I'm about to read and I am about to write it is not where Paul preferred to write because Paul was a people person so we decided since I'm going to be alone I'm go write me some letters and those letters were compiled and they were put together and because of that we have what is called the New Testament thank you Paul thank you for writing thank you for capitalizing on those times of no interruption and every time you read Paul's writing what you are doing is you are benefitting from Paul's loneliness every time you read what Paul wrote you are benefiting from his loneliness every time you read there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit you are benefiting on Paul's loneliness every time you read for God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power and love and oh my you are benefiting of a pause loneliness whatever you read so I know and whom I have been leave and I am persuaded that he is able and though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love I am sounding brass and tinkling cymbal now abideth Faith Hope and love but the greatest of these is love you are benefitting from Paul's loneliness what shall we say to these things if God be for us we are down if God had never slow pulled down I doubt we would have read these words because Paul was an activist Paul was an evangelist Paul was an apostle he was anointed to turn cities upside down and the only way that Paul was gonna slow down is if God rested him and placed him in solitary confinement look at somebody and say just trust the plan of God trust the plan of God Paul was saying if I if I can't be out there where they actually is which is where I want to be then I'm gonna create some action right here where I look at the world benefits because of Paul's my question to you today is who's benefiting from your loan is that the devil is he going yeah yeah I got her I got you I'm gonna keep them loli cuz when I keep them bloated they don't take care of themselves they don't pursue purpose they don't go after God they don't pray right they don't burn a bride so let it and so he's benefiting is he doing is he the only one that's benefiting from your loneliness and if he is you need to get up today and make a decision this is the last day that I will allow the devil to benefit from my loneliness and my depression and my fear and my anxiety ask yourself the question what can I do in this lonely season of my life to make a difference in somebody else's world what can I do now that will bless somebody later look at somebody say utilize your time the second thing Paul said I'm gonna minimize my hurt oh I'm going to minimize my hurt do you emphasize your hurt stop letting it run through your mind like a treadmill every day yes it's real and yes it hurt but stop rehearsing it cuz if you don't it'll take you to an early grave stop giving it energy when the focus goes the power flows you wonder why so many negative things are happening in your life because it's negative things that have grasped your attention and whatever you feed will grow y'all better hear me I said whatever you feed will grow if you keep feeding the hurt you will grow the hurt so Paul when he went to trial in verse 16 he said that my first dancer nobody stood with me he said all Memphis with me I prayed that God would not lay this to their charge you understand what he's doing right there he's downsizing the offense and he's upsizing forgiveness he's minimizing the offense he said I went to court and nobody was there for me have all the people that I helped all the people that I touched all the hundreds of thousands of people that I live to Christ and now they weren't there for me he could have stayed on that and just kept on but he said I ask God to forgive him he said I'm asking you God to forgive him yeah so he's minimizing the offense but he's maximizing forgiveness nobody was there to defend him nobody was there to say that man is a good man that man helped me when I couldn't get no help from anybody else that man saved my life he shifted things for me he could have easily become bitter but listen to this loneliness and bitterness go together I said loneliness and bitterness go together and what they do is they create a cycle that is almost nearly impossible for you to break free from because of bitterness perpetuates loneliness so how do I stop that from happening minimize the pain yes it was real yes I was there and I experienced it yes it was unfair yes I cried till I had no more tears to cry yes if my heart but I'm alive today I'm living somebody would be so happy to have the opportunity to brush their hair today to get their clothes on to take and we sit depressed I don't know what to wear I've gained five pounds I don't know I don't know what to wear put all the same thing you wore last week it don't matter just know that you are blessed to have something to put on my hair is having a bad day I'm having a bad hair day well welcome to my world you never know how it's going to look but at the same time I'm blessed because chemotherapy is not pulling my hair out by handfuls be careful how you talked about your body you are fearfully and wonderfully in all things give thanks the third antidote to your season of loneliness is to number three recognize God's presence Paul said in verse 17 recognize God's presence he said notwithstanding everybody was gone everybody left me everybody bailed but the Lord stood with me the Lord was there he I recognized the fact that when everybody else walked out he did not walk out with them but he stayed with me and he strengthened me and so when you find yourself in a season of loneliness and you ask the question where is God remind yourself that he's where he's always been right by your side and in your heart over and over and over again the scripture gives us the Bible gives the scriptures that remind us that those who have a relationship with Christ are never alone he said lo I am with you always yea though you walked at about though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil why because you are I will never leave you he said I will never forsake you I am with you always loneliness four seasons of loneliness our times that we can seize opportunities to become more acquainted with Christ when everybody else is busy and they don't have time for you don't feel rejected just say this is a moment for me to invest not in my relationship with people put in my relationship with God so the antidotes for those seasons of aloneness are utilize your time minimize your hurt recognize God's presence and here's the last one emphasize the needs of others emphasize the needs of others the loneliest person in the world is a self-centered person it's a person who is all wrapped up in themselves we were not wired to live like that god wired us to give ourselves away that's how he made us he wired us to think about the needs of others he wired us to think about the pain of others he wired us so that when we look at somebody that's hurting we care he wired us so that when we see somebody caring way more than they can handle and our hands are free we immediately say here let me help lift your load so if you're really tired of loneliness go back to giving yourself away stop complaining about not having friends and become a friend to somebody stop focusing outward now and I stop focusing inward and start focusing outward the songwriter said all the lonely people where do they all come from all the lonely people where do they belong they might belong in your heart your heart where do they come from Joe they're everywhere they're on your job they're in the store they're in the mall they're in your church they sit on your wrong they might even be seated next to me today there's a lot of loans the reason it exists is because people are free to open up and love they're afraid to be open they're afraid to be vulnerable they're afraid to take risks and become a friend of somebody because we fear if I take a risk I might have to go through a rejection again I might have to go through pain again I might be betrayed again however here's the flipside when we fear love and we refuse to give ourselves away we are setting up ourselves in a self-imposed prison of solitary confinement that is completely unnecessary Paul said I was forsaken by all these people but that's okay he said in verse 11 I love how he said in the passion translation for in spite of this my lord himself stood with me empowering me to complete my Ministry of preaching to all the non-jewish nations so they all could hear this is verse 17 so they all could hear the message and be delivered the reason had to go through that is because it was God setting me up he wanted to use me want to be dependent on him and not dependent on people so he'd knocked all the props out from under my life so that I would look at him differently I would swim in on him I would focus on him Paul's goal was to help other people and the key to outlasting is to abolish it by building bridges and not walls when you look at somebody nurse ian.selleck tell them take a risk and love somebody take a risk and love somebody love them through loneliness love and through rejection love them through isolation love them through separation love them through transition and I'll close today by saying you might be here and you might be looking for the road out of loneliness how do I get out well it all begins with Jesus you may feel like nobody knows your pain and that nobody knows you're hurt nobody knows the heartache nobody knows the loneliness nobody even knows my name passer rating nobody knows that I even exist nobody loves me nobody hears me nobody wants me nobody cares about me but I say to you he cares and he knows and he's working on the rest of us so that we will start caring and knowing and sherry for those that are around as he knows he cares he loves you and he has a plan for your life and it's possible it's very possible that what you're calling loneliness is really homesickness for Jesus Christ that's right stand with me today all over the hill instead

Channel: Sheryl Brady

Views: 20,703

Rating: 4.9254236 out of 5

Keywords: Pastor Sheryl Brady, Sheryl Brady, The Potter's House of North Dallas

Id: h-VumAJE7L0

Length: 61min 53sec (3713 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 20 2019