Loneliness

1
(No Transcript)
2
Loneliness

• We are not self-sufficient creatures. We need
  contact with other beings who have a nature that
  corresponds to ours. And not just contact, we
  need the many benefits encompassed by the word
  "relationship". We've been created such that our
  needs can't be completely fulfilled within our
  own identities. We need something more than
  ourselves, something outside of ourselves. "It is
  not good," God said, "that man should be alone."

3

• Phil 313-14 Brethren, I do not regard myself as
  having laid hold of it yet but one thing I do
  forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward
  to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the
  goal for the prize of the upward call of God in
  Christ Jesus.

4

• We need to
• Look at ourselves
• Put the past behind us
• Press forward towards the prize
• So God says
• We Learn
• We Forget
• We Reengage

5

• What is loneliness?
• State or Emotion of being Alone
• 2 Tim 416 At my first defense no one supported
  me, but all deserted me.

6

• Job 294-12 As I was in the prime of my days,
  When the friendship of God was over my tent5
  When the Almighty was yet with me, And my
  children were around me6 When my steps were
  bathed in butter, And the rock poured out for me
  streams of oil!7 "When I went out to the gate of
  the city, When I took my seat in the square8
  The young men saw me and hid themselves, And the
  old men arose and stood.....
• 3010-11 "And now I have become their taunt, I
  have even become a byword to them. 10 "They
  abhor me and stand aloof from me, And they do not
  refrain from spitting at my face. 26 "When I
  expected good, then evil came When I waited for
  light, then darkness came. 27 "I am seething
  within, and cannot relax Days of affliction
  confront me. 28 "I go about mourning without
  comfort I stand up in the assembly and cry out
  for help. 29 "I have become a brother to
  jackals, And a companion of ostriches.

7

• One can be Lonely in the Midst of People
• 1 Cor 1223 and those members of the body, which
  we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more
  abundant honor, and our unseemly members come to
  have more abundant seemliness,24 whereas our
  seemly members have no need of it. But God has so
  composed the body, giving more abundant honor to
  that member which lacked,25 that there should be
  no division in the body, but that the members
  should have the same care for one another.
• Heb 1212 Therefore, strengthen the hands that
  are weak and the knees that are feeble..

8

• What are the fruits of loneliness?
• Ecc 49 Two are better than one because they
  have a good return for their labor. 10 For if
  either of them falls, the one will lift up his
  companion. But woe to the one who falls when
  there is not another to lift him up.
• You do not Feel Secure

9

• What are the fruits of loneliness?
• Job 292-5 Oh that I were as in months gone by,
  As in the days when God watched over me 3 When
  His lamp shone over my head, And by His light I
  walked through darkness 4 As I was in the prime
  of my days, When the friendship of God was over
  my tent 5 When the Almighty was yet with me,
  And my children were around me
• You tend to look to the Past

10

• Psa 221-5 My God, My God why has though
  forsaken me, far from my deliverance are the
  words of my groaning. 2 O my God, I cry by day,
  but Thou dost not answer And by night, but I
  have no rest...
• Rest of the Story
• 3 Yet Thou art holy, O Thou who art enthroned
  upon the praises of Israel.4 In Thee our fathers
  trusted They trusted, and Thou didst deliver
  them.5 To Thee they cried out, and were
  delivered In Thee they trusted, and were not
  disappointed.

11

• What are the fruits of loneliness?
• Job 309-10 "I have become their taunt, I have
  even become a byword to them. They abhor me and
  stand aloof from me, And they do not refrain from
  spitting at my face.
• 1 Kg 1910 "I have been very zealous for the
  LORD, the God of hosts for the sons of Israel
  have forsaken Thy covenant, torn down Thine
  altars and killed Thy prophets with the sword.
  And I alone am left and they seek my life, to
  take it away."
• You tend to Focus on Yourself

12

• What are the fruits of loneliness?
• Jud 613 Then Gideon said to him, "O my lord,
  if the LORD is with us, why then has all this
  happened to us? And where are all His miracles
  which our fathers told us about, saying, 'Did not
  the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the
  LORD has abandoned us.....
• You tend to Focus on Negative

13

• What are the fruits of loneliness?
• Gen 4236 You have bereaved me of my children
  Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and you
  would take Benjamin all these things are against
  me.
• 1 Kings 194 and Elijah he requested for
  himself that he might die, and said, "It is
  enough now, O LORD, take my life, for I am not
  better than my fathers ... "I have been very
  zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts for the
  sons of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, torn
  down Thine altars and killed Thy prophets with
  the sword. And I alone am left and they seek my
  life, to take it away."
• Loneliness can Drain your Energy

14

• We Must Find Harmony and Balance
• 1 Jn 54 For whatever is born of God overcomes
  the world and this is the victory that has
  overcome the world-- our faith.

15

• We Must Find Harmony and Balance
• Dwell on Good Things
• Phil 48 Finally, brethren, whatever is true,
  whatever is honorable, whatever is right,
  whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is
  of good repute, if there is any excellence and if
  anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on
  these things. 9 The things you have learned and
  received and heard and seen in me, practice these
  things and the God of peace shall be with you.

16

• 2 Cor 616 "I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG
  THEM AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE
  MY PEOPLE. 17 "Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR
  MIDST AND BE SEPARATE.
• Mt 1243 "Now when the unclean spirit goes out
  of a man, it passes through waterless places,
  seeking rest, and does not find it.44 "Then it
  says, 'I will return to my house from which I
  came' and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied,
  swept, and put in order. 45 "Then it goes, and
  takes along with it seven other spirits more
  wicked than itself, and they go in and live
  there and the last state of that man becomes
  worse than the first.

17

• Col 316 Let the word of Christ richly dwell
  within you...
• Eph 210 For we are His workmanship, created in
  Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
  beforehand, that we should walk in them.

18

• We Must Find Harmony and Balance
• Dwell on Good Things
• Allow Spiritual Characteristics In
• Phil 49 The things you have learned and
  received and heard and seen in me, practice these
  things and the God of peace shall be with you.

19

• Col 312 And so, as those who have been chosen
  of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of
  compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and
  patience13 bearing with one another, and
  forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint
  against anyone just as the Lord forgave you, so
  also should you.14 And beyond all these things
  put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
  15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your
  hearts, to which indeed you were called in one
  body and be thankful.
• We Must Put On
• We must Forgive Eachother (and self)
• We must Let Gods peace into our hearts

20

• We Must Find Harmony and Balance
• Dwell on Good Things
• Allow Spiritual Characteristics In
• We are to Mature in All Things
• Eph 414 As a result, we are no longer to be
  children, tossed here and there by waves, and
  carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the
  trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful
  scheming15 but speaking the truth in love, we
  are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is
  the head, even Christ...

21

• Ps 119116 Sustain me according to Thy word,
  that I may live And do not let me be ashamed of
  my hope. 117 Uphold me that I may be safe, That
  I may have regard for Thy statutes continually.
• 1 Cor 1013 that you may be able to endure it.

22

• Heb 1024 and let us consider how to stimulate
  one another to love and good deeds, 25 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.
• Eph 416 from whom the whole body, being fitted
  and held together by that which every joint
  supplies, according to the proper working of each
  individual part, causes the growth of the body
  for the building up of itself in love.

23

• We Must Find Harmony and Balance
• Dwell on Good Things
• Allow Spiritual Characteristics In
• We are to Mature in All Things
• Prayer
• Exceedingly, abundantly beyond what we ask?
  Eph 320

24

• Heb 416 confidence to come before the throne of
  grace
• Mt 630 God so clothed the grass of the field,
  will He not much more do so for you, O men of
  little faith?
• Isa 591 The LORD'S hand is not so short That
  it cannot save Neither is His ear so dull That
  it cannot hear.

25

• Rm 832 He who did not spare His own Son, but
  delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also
  with Him freely give us all things?

26

• We Must Find Harmony and Balance
• Dwell on Good Things
• Allow Spiritual Characteristics In
• We are to Mature in All Things
• Prayer

27

• Dont Let Loneliness win!