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YOUR LONELINESS AND GOD'S PRESENCE
Freedom From Your Fears -- Part 6 OF 10
Genesis 2:18 (LB) 11-06-11 Sermon
Gen 2:18 (LB) "God said, `It isn't good for man to be alone.'"
To Relieve Loneliness, God Gives Us...
* His Plan_ to live for
"The Lord will work out his plans for my life" Ps. 138:8 (LB)
* His People to live with
"God sets the lonely to families." Ps. 68:6 (NIV)
The church is "the family of believers." Gal 6:10 (NCV)
* His Presence to live in
Ps. 139 "Where can I go from your presence?"
"I will never leave you or forsake you." Heb. 13:5
THE BENEFITS OF REALIZING GOD'S PRESENCE
Because God is with me...
1. HE WILL HELP ME OUT
"Don't worry, because I am with you. Don't be afraid, because I am your God. I will make you strong and will help you; I will support you..." Is. 41:10 (NCV)
"If my father and mother leave me, the Lord will take me in." Ps. 27:10 (NCV)
"God never abandons us." 2 Cor. 4:9 (LB)
2. HE WILL_____________________________________________
"I will lie down in peace and sleep, for though I am alone, O Lord, you will keep me safe." Ps. 4:8 (LB)
"You protect them by your Presence." Ps. 31:29 (NCV)
3. HE WILL_____________________________________________
"I keep the Lord before me always. Because he is close by my side, I will not be hurt. So I rejoice and am glad. Even my body has hope." Ps. 16:8-9 (NCV)
"Your presence fills me with joy." Ps. 16:11 (GN)
"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." Ps. 34:18 (NIV)
4. HE WILL_____________________________________________
"When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown." Is. 43:2 (LB)
"The Lord... stopped my tears and kept me from defeat. So I walk in the presence of the Lord... I kept on believing, even when I felt, `I am completely crushed'..." Ps. 118:8‑ 10 (GN)
How To Experience God's Presence:
1. You Must _____________________________________
"The one thing I want from God, the thing I seek most of all... is the privilege of living in his presence every day of my life..." Ps. 27:4 (LB)
2. You Must _____________________________________
"Friendship with God is reserved for those who reverence him. With them alone he shares the secrets of his promises." Ps. 26:14 (LB)
YOUR LONELINESS AND GOD'S PRESENCE
Freedom From Your Fears -- Part 6 OF 10
Genesis 2:18 (LB) 11-06-11 Sermon
If I were to ask you what you considered to be the most common emotional pain in our society what would you say? Depression? Anxiety? Guilt? Sociologists tell us that the most common emotional pain in our society is loneliness.
You can see this from a lot of tell-tale signs: 800 Call In Chat Lines where you pay to talk to a stranger about nothing; Internet which connects millions of across the world. Beer commercials are not about beer; they're selling fellowship, relationship. They always show people together having a great time, happy, smiling, arms around each other, having fun -- "It doesn't get any better than this!" They're saying if you drink our product you'll have friends, fun.
The fact is we do need each other. God's made us to need each other. We need people. We don't need to be alone.
What does God have to say about loneliness? Genesis 2:18 "It isn't good for man to be alone." God had put Adam in the Garden of Eden where everything was perfect, everything he could possibly want was there. There were no problems, no sin, no heartaches, no suffering. Yet the first thing God said wasn't good was loneliness. Even in the perfect, sinless setting of Eden, He said, it's not good for man to be alone.
God hates loneliness. He's provided for us three resources – three remedies -- to reduce the pain of loneliness in our lives while we're here on earth. The first of these is His plan to live for. When you're focusing on God's plan for your life you don't have a lot of time to have pity parties or feel lonely. You focus on what God wants you to do. "The Lord will work out his plans for my life" Ps. 138:8 (LB)
A second remedy for loneliness God provides is He gives us people to live with. The bible says "He puts the lonely in families." If you're a believer you have family. The bible says The church is "the family of believers." Gal 6:10 It is to be an extended family. Part of the purpose of Forest Grove church is to provide you relationship opportunities. We have lots of opportunities to develop close friends, not acquaintances, but close friends so that when you go through the inevitable crises of life somebody's there to help you out and lend a hand. The church provides these but you've got to take the step and take advantage of these. Join a small group, make friendships, attend regularly, and get involved.
The third resource is what I want us to focus on this morning. He gives us His presence to live in. Ps. 139 "Where can I go from your presence?" The answer is, Nowhere! You cannot escape from God's presence. God is everywhere. He is omnipresent. There is no place in the universe where God isn't, except hell. No matter where you go this next week, God's going to be there. You cannot escape from His presence. He is everywhere. If you're a believer, He's in you. This is no encouragement at all unless you sense His presence, feel His presence, experience His presence. He can be all around you but it's no help at all unless you know He's there and are able to take advantage of that. Heb. 13:5 He said "I'll never leave you nor forsake you." God's always with me, I just need to recognize it.
How do I recognize God's presence in my life so I can take advantage of the benefits of it? And what are those benefits? Why should I learn to realize that God's with me all the time?
When you tune into God and realize that He's with you all the time and you can sense it, experience it four things become true in your life.
1. HE WILL HELP ME OUT
Isaiah 41:10 "Don't worry because I am with you. Don't be afraid because I am your God. I will make you strong and help you. I will support you."
Circle the three things God promises to do: make you strong, help you out, support you if you realize I'm with you. He's saying you're not alone in this world. No matter what you face you don't have to face it alone. There is a difference between being alone and being lonely. If God is with you and you sense His presence, you may be alone but you'll never be lonely.
A lot of times loneliness comes not at our bidding; it's unasked for. People get lonely because of a death of a loved one. Many of you can relate to that. People get lonely because of a divorce. Some in our church family have gone through a divorce that they didn't ask for and they were left alone. People get lonely through desertion. Maybe you were abandoned by some people you thought were your friends or a business partner or a marriage partner or maybe even your parents.
What do you do when you go through the seasons of life where loneliness is forced on you and you don't want it?
Ps. 27:10 "If my mother and father leave me the Lord will take me in." 2 Cor. 4:9 "God never abandons us." If everybody in my life walks out on me, God is never going to walk out on me. Remember that God says, I will never abandon you.
If I realize that He's with me, He will help me out.
2. HE WILL CALM ME DOWN.
God is the great stress reliever, the great stabilizer in the crises of life that inevitably come. What do you do when those storms of life come that shake you off your feet, what do you do? You recognize God's presence in your life and realize He can calm you down.
When is loneliness the most difficult? What time of day? At night. Nobody wants to go to bed at night alone. That's why they leave the radio or TV going or they get in bed with somebody. When you're alone at night your fears tend to exaggerate. Creaks in the house sound worse when you're all alone. You start imagining the shower scene from Psycho. Your mind goes into overdrive when you're alone.
God says if you'll sense His presence He'll calm you down. Ps. 4:8 "I will lie down in peace and sleep for though I am alone, O Lord, You will keep me safe." That might be a good verse to put over your bedpost. Ps. 31:20 "You protect them by Your presence." One plus God equals a majority. God says, I'll take care of you if you recognize My presence; if you sense it, it will calm you down.
As you drive around neighborhoods many homes have these signs out front that say, "Protected by..." and gives some security system. You could make up a sign for your house saying "Protected by God and Son, Inc. Guaranteed eternal security." You can't get better guarantee than God saying "I'll protect you, I'll help you out."
3. HE WILL CHEER ME UP
He says when you're going through tough times, I'll cheer you up if you'll recognize My presence. Ps. 16:8-9 "I keep the Lord before me always. Because He's close by my side, I will not be hurt. So I rejoice [I am cheered up] and I'm glad [happy]. Even my body has hope."
Phil Yancy wrote a book titled Where Is God When It Hurts? That's a good question. God is where He's always been -- right by you. He never leaves you whether you feel it or not He's there. The issue is to recognize and realize and sense it. Otherwise His presence is of no value to you. But He's there.
"I keep the Lord before me." [circle "keep"] It's a conscience decision, a mental choice. The verse says I'm consciously choosing to keep God as my focus, to think of Him, to focus on Him.
When you are alone you have two choices: You can choose to focus on your loneliness and have a pity party -- "Poor me! Nobody loves me. Everybody hates me. I'm going out and eat worms". Or you can focus on the fact that God's never left you and that He's with you. That gives you the choice to rejoice. It is your choice to rejoice.
David often felt the pain of loneliness. He was a hero when he killed Goliath the giant, but then Saul and his forces were chasing him all over the place to kill him. And later, his son, Absolam, took over the throne and Absolam’s men were chasing David all over the countryside. David felt the pain of loneliness. But he wrote Ps. 16 "Your presence fills me with joy."
How do you know when somebody's walking in the presence of God? They are full of joy. How do you know when somebody's not walking in God's presence? They're not full of joy.
God says I will take care of you, I will help you out, I will calm you down, I will cheer you up if you recognize that I'm never apart from you.
Maybe some of you had a difficult week this last week. It was really a bummer. You're depressed. Have you ever had one of those weeks? those months? those lives? When nothing seems to work out and the pieces of the puzzle don't fit. You're depressed. Where is God when it hurts? He's with you! The bible says "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and He saves those who are crushed in spirit." That's why it's so essential to be able to recognize and learn how to tune into Him so you can feel His presence. He's close to the brokenhearted. He'll cheer you up.
4. HE WILL SEE ME THROUGH
Isaiah 43 "When you go through deep waters and great troubles, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown." God is not going to let you sink. He says I will help you and I will see you through. Even when you feel like "I can't go on another day. I can't put one foot in front of another. I'm crushed. I've lost it. I'm ready to throw in the towel." When you feel that, the good news is, God is with you. Tune in to Him. He'll help you out.
Psalm 118 "The Lord stopped my tears and He kept me from defeat so [here's the answer] I walk in the presence of the Lord. I kept on believing even when I felt I'm completely crushed." Christ can give you the strength to keep going.
Stress studies have discovered that the 2nd most stressful thing a person can go through is the death of a spouse. It is second only to the death of a child. The third most stressful thing a person can experience in life is the divorce of a spouse. Most women outlast or outlive most men by nine years on the average. Those of you who are wives and mothers may spend a significant portion of your life, most likely, alone. Become best friends with Jesus Christ so that when it happens God won't seem like a stranger to you. I don't know what the future holds but I know God holds the future.
You cannot always control what happens to you, but you can control your response to what happens. Being alone in certain seasons of our lives is unavoidable. You will spend times in your life alone. That’s unavoidable. But loneliness is avoidable if you tap into the resources of God's plan, God's people, and God's presence and if you develop a friendship with God where you have an ongoing conversation with Him all the time. When those inevitable tough times come, you'll have Christ right there with you and you'll realize that He's there to help you out, and lift you up, cheer you up, calm you down, see you through.
Likewise, God is present in your life. He's all around you and if you're a believer, He's in you but you must tune into Him in order for Him to help you out, to see you through, to cheer you up, to calm you down.
How do you do that? How do you tune into God’s presence on a moment by moment basis? Two things:
1. You must desire it.
I must desire a relationship with God. God doesn't butt into people's lives. One of the reasons why you don't sense God's presence is because you're too busy, too distracted. You don't have time for God. You don't get to know Him. You must tell God, "I really want to know You. I want to sense You in my life. I'm earnest about it. I'm serious about this. It's the most important thing to me to get to know You." David said, "The one thing I want from God, the thing I seek most of all is the privilege of living in His presence every day of my life..." Tell God earnestly that you want to get to know Him. If you haven't already done so, invite His Son, Jesus Christ, to put His Spirit in your life.
2. You must dedicate time to get to know God.
It takes time to develop a relationship as a human being . It takes time to develop a friendship. It takes time to develop a marriage. It also takes time to get to know God. The bible says "Friendship with God is reserved for those who reverence him. With them alone he shares the secrets of his promises." Ps. 26:14 (LB)
You must set aside time on a daily basis when you say, "God, I'm not going to turn the TV on. I'm not going to turn the radio on. I'm going to be quiet and listen to You. Is there anything You want to say to me. I'll read your word and talk to you what's on my heart in prayer so that when the crises come I'll already have a direct connection established. It's not something foreign to me, but I know You in a personal way."
The quickest way to tune into God's presence is to develop the habit of praise. The Bible says that "God inhabits the praises of His people." We enter His gates with thanksgiving, His courts with praise. Try singing! It doesn't have to be on tune! The Bible says "Make a joyful noise!" Even pigs do that when they're eating! If God is everywhere, then I can praise Him anywhere. I don't have to be in church. I could be in my car, in the shower, laying down resting, taking out the garbage, at the beach, working, it doesn't matter where I am. God's with you all the time. You just start praising God. "Thank You for being my savior. Thank You that You're here to help me out. Thank You that You're here to cheer me up. Thank You that You're here to see me through. Thank You for life itself. Thank You for my church family." You just start praising God. You'll realize you're not alone in this world. Get to know God.
Being alone and loneliness are not the same thing. Loneliness is a choice. Being alone may not be a choice. You can reduce the pain of loneliness in your life if you will take advantage of the resources God has offered you.
Regardless of the source of your loneliness, God is with you. There has never been a moment in your life when He wasn't with you. You just haven't been tuned in to Him. He's waiting to help you out, to cheer you up, to calm you down and to see you through as He's promised in His word. No matter where you find yourself this next week -- You can say, "The Lord's in this place and I may be the only one who recognizes it. I'm asking for Your help, God." He will. There is no place you will go where God isn't already there.
Prayer:
Would you pray this prayer? Dear God, I want to know Your presence in my life. I want to become friends with You, not a stranger to you. Thank You for your promise to never abandon me. Thank You for Your promises to help me out, see me through, cheer me up, calm me down. Help me spend time with You every day this week. Help me to build bridges to other people instead of walls. Give me the courage to take the initiative. Amen.
Remember this: God says over and over in Scripture, "I will be with you for I am the Lord."
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