Feeling alone

“life. And you need that and I need that because we're never more vulnerable than when we are isolated. That's why Peter wrote in First Peter 5 and verse 8, "Be sober minded. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." Have you ever watched a documentary on lions? Who do the lions go after? They go after the isolated. They go after the vulnerable. They go after the weak. And I'm telling you, when you are lonely, you are prime”

“and it's that disconnectedness that so often becomes something that causes us to become very self-depreciating and causes us to feel the isolation. David, I mentioned him earlier in the Psalms said it this way in Psalm 102 verse 6, I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places. I lie awake. I am like a lonely sparrow on a housetop. I'm like that one”

“it's because of what Christ has done that we can have a relationship with God and that we can know that we are never, never, never alone. So I don't know what you're facing today, but I want you to know there's one, one who is with you and one who loves you. You may today be feeling forgotten, ignored, misunderstood, overwhelmed, but I'm here to tell you today, feel lonely, but you're never alone.”

“your loving kindness has welcomed me. Though I'm unworthy of majesty, you wrap the lonely in royalty. and I will lay my crowns down at your feet.”

“and you guys may do it here. I'm not absolutely sure how this translates campus to campus. But we have a group of deacons who every Wednesday night take some of the meals that we prepare on the Augusta campus and take them to shut-ins in our community every week all over the county and I just love the fact that they go and knock on the door and they become a friendly face and a gift that can be given and we do this in a lot of different ways it doesn't just have to be that but I'm saying that to say if you know somebody who's lonely look for a care point and meet a”

“all of these things can happen to us so what did paul do what do we need to do when we're lonely number one you need to connect with god's church i'm not talking about the building i'm not talking about programs I'm not talking about activities who is the church we are the church so when I say connect with God's church I'm talking about people we need to connect with God's people”

“everywhere I'm seeing everywhere around me over and over this message. We are living in a lonely world. People are lonely. People are desperate. And loneliness is one of the defining struggles of our generation. Reports have shown that as many as one in five Americans experiences loneliness on a daily basis. The US Surgeon General two years ago reported that half of US adults are experiencing measurable loneliness and chronic social isolation.”

“fantastic time of travel and Bible study together. And while I'm in that neighborhood, let me say that I am now planning and preparing to take a trip to Israel next year during Master's Week, spring break, and I would love to have the privilege of taking you. I'm just making you aware of that. I will tell you that the trip is costly. You might imagine that. And secondly, there's always volatility. But this isn't something we just up and do. You have to plan for it. So”

“wrong with you, with all that's wrong with others, with all the suspicions, and your mind just runs away. One of the greatest imaginations that comes when you're lonely is the whisper of Satan's voice saying, "If you feel alone, you are alone." But I'm here to tell you today, if you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and God as your heavenly father, you are never alone.”

“Actress Anne Hathaway said, loneliness is my least favorite thing about life. The thing that I'm most worried about is just being alone without anybody to care for or someone who will care for me. And then Robin Williams, who made the world laugh, said this, I used to think that the worst thing in life was to end up all alone. It's not.”

“when life is bringing disappointment, When future is unsure, we struggle with those issues that can lead to loneliness. But now let's go to the last question, and the one that I'm most eager to get us to, and that is, what should I do when I feel lonely? What should I do when I feel lonely? It's not a sin to feel lonely. Loneliness comes and happens to us, but what should I do? And here's something great. While the Bible is an incredible book of precepts, literal instructions, standards,”

“that thing called SAD, seasonal affective disorder. I need sunshine. I need light. I need green plants. I'm just one of those guys. You give me too much twigs and brown grass and cold wind, and I just feel like I just want to curl up and just sort of isolate. Paul said, I need you to come soon, and I need you to come before winter. Why? Because seasonal changes come. Some of you”

“there are decisions that you have to make that will impact the destinies of other people. And that can be one of the most lonely places in the world. Loneliness is infertility. When you're around a bunch of friends who are all moving on and you feel like you are stuck. Loneliness is being a young man or a young woman who decides I'm going to say no while everyone else around them is saying yes and why not.”

“on a housetop, but I want you to know Jesus says, your father sees, your father knows, your father cares, and don't you think that he does not value you. Something else that stirs loneliness is not only life circumstances, but changing seasons. I'm talking about literal seasons in life. Go back again to 2 Timothy. Paul is writing, and he's talking about where he is and all that's happened to him.”

“mattered to Paul. He needed those books. Maybe they were his journals. But the parchments, I'm pretty sure I know what that was. That was the Scriptures. That was whatever little portions of scrolls and Scriptures, maybe that had fragments of Old Testament passages or the Psalms or other things that were there. But the parchments were those treasured pieces of the Word of God. And And Paul knew, I need to have something to direct my mind while my heart is feeling deflated”

“loneliness. It's the second thing that causes loneliness. And it's not only life circumstances, but changing seasons. I'm talking about the actual seasons of life. How many seasons of the year do we have? Four great opportunities to get lonely. Did you know that? Right now, we're turning the page from summer back into school structure and schedules and all of that. And some of you are already feeling that lonely sense of I've got to let go of all this freedom and this lack of structure. And there's a sense of I wish we could have done more. I wish I”

“we're talking about. What is loneliness? What is loneliness? Well, let me quickly say that loneliness is more than being alone. Loneliness is not simply solitude. Solitude is something that we all need in our lives. In fact, we try to encourage every person who's a part of the life in the church known as Warren to start their day every day with a time alone with God. We all need time to be alone, to read, to reflect, to pray. And so, solitude in and of itself is not loneliness.”

“to start their day every day with a time alone with God. We all need time to be alone, to read, to reflect, to pray. And so, solitude in and of itself is not loneliness. You can be in solitude, you can be alone and not be lonely. So, loneliness is not solitude. Something else that I want you to know is that loneliness is not a sin. It is a real, it is a raw human emotion. But just because you're lonely does not mean that you are in sin.”

“alone. It's not just being alone or being by yourself. You can be alone in the state of your body, but loneliness is a state of mind and of heart. Actually being alone is a good thing. We all need to have some time alone. We all need to have places and moments of solitude. Solitude is a spiritual discipline that every Christian needs to cultivate. Jesus was frequently alone when he would go out and pray early in the morning or late at night. And we”

“So having sort of said that, let's take this matter of loneliness and let's begin to address it. First, by defining what we're talking about. What is loneliness? What is loneliness? Well, let me quickly say that loneliness is more than being alone. Loneliness is not simply solitude. Solitude is something that we all need in our lives. In fact, we try to encourage every person who's a part of the life in the church known as Warren”

“You can be in solitude, you can be alone, and not be lonely. So, loneliness is not solitude. Something else that I want you to know is that loneliness is not a sin. It is a real, it is a raw human emotion. But just because you're lonely does not mean that you are in sin, but let me quickly say that loneliness and the vulnerability that it brings invites”

“I used to think that the worst thing in life was to end up alone. It's not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people that make you feel all alone. That's what loneliness does. It takes us to a place where there's brokenness and the reality of brokenness in our lives. And the isolating impact of that can lead to experiences of loneliness in life and then loneliness is a painful reminder it's a painful reminder that we were made to be”

“adults report experiencing measurable loneliness and chronic social isolation. And the health effects, listen to this, the health effects of chronic loneliness and isolation can be the equivalent of smoking 15 cigarettes a day. That means that the health impact, that what it does physiologically, beyond what it does psychologically, emotionally, spiritually in our lives, is”

“is that every day, somewhere in the day, you need to have a time alone with God. A quiet time. And being in solitude is not the same thing as being lonely. You can be alone and not be lonely. And all of us need to learn what it means to take time, to develop time, to reflect, to read, to listen, to spend time with God. And so solitude is an important part of a spiritual discipline,”

“to me carefully, one of Satan's greatest lies is this, if you feel alone, you are alone. Not true. What is Jesus' name in the Old Testament? Emmanuel, God with us. And just because you feel alone doesn't mean that you are alone. God never abandons his people. And though you may not feel that anyone else sees you,”