Fearless Week 2: The Giant of Loneliness PDF
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This document discusses the fear of loneliness, exploring the feelings of isolation and emptiness even among others, offering insights into how to overcome these feelings and form meaningful connections with others and God.
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Fearless (Name TBD) Week 2 he Giant of Loneliness T oday I want to talk to you about the fear of being alone. Let me start off by asking you some T questions....
Fearless (Name TBD) Week 2 he Giant of Loneliness T oday I want to talk to you about the fear of being alone. Let me start off by asking you some T questions. D o you ever feel alone even though you are around other people? Do you ever feel an emptiness inside of you like you are missing something in your life? Do you ever feel like no one understands you and that God is a million miles away? If we are honest we would have to say the answer to at least one of those questions was a big fat “Yes”. ven in the midst of a large crowd of people a person can feel so lonely. We find ourselves in a E crowded church, or a crowded restaurant or a crowded school and everyone else has seems so happy when you feel so lonely. ere is what is interesting. Most lonely people won’t admit that they are lonely. They know how H to cover up what they are feeling inside. They tell people they are doing great and that everything is fine when inside they know everything isn’t ok. et me give you a definition for what loneliness is. Loneliness is defined as being without L companionship. It is not the same as being alone. he Bible tells us that we need time to be alone. Alonewith our thoughts or alone with our T prayers. But God never wants you and me to be lonely. From the very beginning God made it very clear that we were made for relationships. He told Adam that it was not good that there was not another person for him to have a relationship with. The same is true for you and me. God created us to have certain relationships in our lives. The first relationship is… 1. WE WERE MADE TO HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. any of us here today have a gnawing sense that something isn’t right. You’ve been searching M for significance. Y ou thoughtjoining a certain club, or one day makinga certain amount of money someday or driving a certain car or having a certain outfit would fill the emptiness inside of us. Some of us thing dating a certain guy or girl or one day marrying a certain guy or girl will fill the emptiness that you feel inside. Some of us think going off to school and being in college will fill the emptiness and the loneliness that you feel. I have done all of that and I am here to tell you none of that works. You can be in the midst of the best situation, where life is just going awesome for you. You can have all that you want and be married to a smoking hot guy or girl and still feel empty and lonely. In fact, that is how most people live their life. isten, all the money and all the apps on your phone can’t fill what you feel inside. Maybe, just L maybe you need to allow Jesus to come into your life so that you might have a relationship with God and I am not talking about just praying some little prayer and then living as if he doesn’t exist. I’m talking about developing a real relationship with a real God who really does care about you. You see some of us are here today and you are lonely and empty and you have prayed and asked Jesus to come in your life but you don’t take Jesus seriously. This is just a one hour a eek thing you do a couple times a month. Jesus doesn’t really mean that much to you and that w is why you are still so empty. nderstand Jesus is so much more than what many of you have experienced so far. He wants to U walk with you and talk with you and do life, all of your life together with you. hink about this. When God saw your loneliness and my loneliness, this emptiness caused by T our own sinfulness, he sent Jesus to live a perfect and sinless life. He died on the cross for our sin and shame and rose again. hen Jesus was on the cross, he cried out,“My God,my God why have you forsaken me?” Now W why did he say that? Why have you turned your back on me God? Why this loneliness God? hen Jesus was hanging on the cross God the Father turned his back on his only Son because W God cannot be in the presence of sin. Jesus felt a level of spiritual loneliness that to a point we can’t even express in words as he paid for our sins. He did not want us to go through this life alone. He experienced the depths and darkness ofloneliness so you wouldn’t have to. Would you like to be lonely for the last time? You have a choice to make. ou can take those feelings of loneliness and allow them to push you away from God or you can Y allow those feeling to draw you near to Him. When a person asks Jesus to come their life Jesus promises them that from that day forward they are never alone again. God’s Holy Spirit will live inside of you and according to God’s word there is nothing that can ever separate you from God. omans 8:38-39 says, “For I am convinced that neitherdeath nor life, neither angels nor demons, R neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Jesus said in Matthew 28:20,“And surely I am withyou always, to the very end of the age." hat are you going to do with that emptiness you are feeling inside? Are you ready to take Jesus W seriously? God not only wired you to have a relationship with Him but 2. WE WERE MADE TO HAVE RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHERS. hen God created the Heaven’s and the Earth, He said this is good. Then God made man in W his own image and he said this is very good. But then God labeled something as not good for the very first time. enesis 2:18 says,“The Lord God said, "It is notgood for the man to be alone. I will make a G helper suitable for him." So God made Eve to be a companion to Adam. We need each other. (You can tell a similar story to this next one if you want or tell this one) hen our Pastor Todd headed to college, he didn’t know a single person on his college campus. W He had a choice to make. He could risk making friends or he could live a life of loneliness. odd said,“I remember when my parents dropped meoff for college. My mom and dad came T with me and they set up my dorm room. My mom made my bed and made sure things were put way for me. I had made a pack with my mom. Don’t cry. You can cry all you want in the car but a don’t cry in front of me because if you lose it, I’m going to lose it too and I don’t want people seeing me cry on my first day of school. y mom held it together pretty well but then it was time to leave. We started to walk down the M three flights of stairs down to the parking lot. She was walking ahead of me when I heard this “whimpering sound” like a… I thought “Oh no. She’s losing it.” We got out to the car and my mom lost it. Rivers of tears streamed from her eyes. I gave her a quick hug and I left as fast as I could. I ran back up to my dorm room and sat on my little portable fridge drinking a hot coke. I looked around that room and I realized I was alone and I had a decision to make. I could sit in that room and sulk my life away or I could take a risk and make friend so I walked out of my dorm room and took a risk and made some incredible friends.” ome of us are sitting around here waiting for someone to take the initiative to be your friend. S You are waiting for someone to walk up to you and say, “Hi, will you be my friend.” That’s creepy and weird so don’t do that. The Bible says, “A man who has friends must himself be friendly.” Proverbs 18:24 ere is what many people do when they come to church. Week in and week out they walk in H here and they find a seat. They don’t talk to anybody, don’t play any of the games. They sit away from everyone else and keep their heads down and avoid making eye contact with anyone else. And then leave. After a few weeks of just sitting there they say to themselves,“This isn’ta very friendly church. No one talked to me.” Andthey stop coming because no one reached out to them. od doesn’t want to hear those weak excuses. He wants you to take a relational risk. He wants G you to get to know the people who are sitting around you. He wants you to show up to the special events we have and bring a friend or two with you. He wants you to get in a small group where you study the Bible with other students. I am telling you some of the best friends you will ever have could be in this room. You have to take a risk. n 8-year-old little girl started going to a brand-new school. Needless to say, she was nervous. A Would she find any friends? he sat down to eat breakfast and looked at her dad. She said, “Daddy, I don’t know how to S make a friend.” Her dad looked at her and said,“Youmake friends by being a friend. You take the initiative. You start the conversation. You take the risk and if you do that you will find at least one friend in the first week of school.” he went to school and she took a risk and by the end of the first day of school she made a new S friend. Now if an 8-year-old girl can pull that off I am guessing you can push past your fear and try this too. If you are lonely today you have chosen to be lonely because there are people around us all the time. You have to make the effort. nd if you feel an emptiness inside of you today it could be that you have never taken Jesus A seriously in your life. You and I were made by God and for God and nothing will satisfy us except for him. Are you ready to leave loneliness behind? ( Have the students bow their heads for prayer and have them raise their hands if they want to talk to someone about what a real relationship with Jesus is like. Have them stand after they raise their hand and take them to your decision room so you can talk to them more about what it means to make Jesus the center of your life.)
