I would like to revisit at topic I have already touched on in the past: Loneliness. I believe its important to look at this again given our current situation as more and more are suffering from the traumas of this world. Through these difficult times we need to direct our thoughts to Him who sustains us. To Him who keeps us in the palm of His hands.
I know at times it can feel like we are stranded, forgotten. Moments when no matter how much we try to come to terms with everything, we feel alone. Thinking maybe, that nobody understands. It is then, that our confusion turns into worry, and the worry turns into anxiety and fear. In those moments we can forget that God is with us. Today let me say to you. You are not alone.
Many times in scripture we read that Jesus went to a lonely place to pray. He knows what we go through. He knows about loneliness. He was abandoned and forgotten by his bests friends. But we, his followers, need never feel alone because he is always with us.
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Please sing with me: Heavenly Father, thou has brought us.
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Please open your bibles and read with me Luke Ch 5:12-16.
Concentrating on V16
Jesus Heals a Man With Leprosy
12 While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy.[b] When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 13 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him. 14 Then Jesus ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” 15 Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Amen.
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I don’t know about you, but, I continually see God’s love displayed through many different aspects of our current situations. The many different words of hope and encouragement from family, loved ones, friends and neighbours. But of course, the greatest display of good. The greatest display of love. The greatest display of compassion and hope was on the mount of crucifixion. Let us sing, Here Is love.
Grace and love like mighty rivers poured incessant from above.
We can never cease to sing His praises through all the good and bad things of life
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Time Of prayer
Prayer is how we actively practice believing. Believing that God has the whole world in his hands. Prayer is where we let petitions and praises shape our worries into prayers, letting God know our concerns. Prayer is never the last resort of God’s people. It is our first point of action.
I invite you now, just to take some time to pray. Pray for your family and friends. Prayer for your Church. Pray for the sick, bereaved, lonely and war torn countries Pray for our government and the world with all its hurt. Alos pray for yourself Then we will share together in the Lords Prayer.
Lets share together in the Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
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Before we go to the Address, The Staff Songsters will sing: Written In Red
For you and for me Jesus died and loves greatest story was told: I love you, I love that's what Calvary said.
We are Never Alone
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Never Alone
When loneliness strikes, it can be the bleakest, darkest, most inhospitable place on the planet. And if you’ve experienced loneliness, you’ll know what I mean. But in that loneliest place, at that loneliest moment (as things turn out), you and I – we, are never alone. I wonder on a scale of 1-10 how lonely do you feel right now? Zero is desperately lonely, ten is stunningly fulfilled. I wonder how you feel right now. Why not share that with someone. Talk about it with each other. Help, encourage someone today.
Let me ask you, have you ever thought about Jesus being lonely? Now here is the Son of God who becomes a man, then a little boy, who grows up to be a carpenter. And then His public ministry begins around age 30. He has a dozen or so close disciples, many more who follow him around, huge crowds, who flock to see him and hear him speak and be healed by him. There are people clamouring to get a piece of him. We can say at this time that Jesus had rock star status. There was one time He healed a leper and said to the leper, “Look, just go and show the priests, don’t tell anyone”. But he did go and tell everyone. And so the news about Jesus spread more and more, so that crowds of people came to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
By choice, Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. That word lonely in scripture means solitary, desolate, uninhabited places. Jesus knew exactly what it meant to be lonely. Here is the Son of God, he has been with God and in God, and part of the God Head, part of the Trinity for all eternity – Father, Son, Holy Spirit. He steps out of that glorious relationship and becomes a man. And then, he's surrounded by people who didn’t understand him.
Jesus would go to the cross, be beaten and reviled. Crucified and killed. The religious hierarchy, they hated Him, they plotted against Him. In fact, they were so threatened by this radical Jesus, eventually, they killed Him. The disciples (well most of them, most of the time), they just didn’t get it. Jesus was misunderstood, misquoted, misrepresented, and mistreated. We can easily say, can we not that Jesus, experienced loneliness. Just think back to the garden of Gethsemane. Think back to the cross. Jesus was terribly alone. He was called to do something radical that people did not understand. Imagine being surrounded by these twelve Disciples who you know one day will be the foundations of the church when you go. And for the whole time, they just didn’t seem to understand. Every now and then, they would have a flash of insight but most of the time they didn’t get it.
Jesus experienced everything that you and I have to experience, and loneliness is one of them. Jesus, in the middle of large crowds, surrounded by people, withdraw to lonely places. Why did he do that? Well, the one relationship that gave him his strength, the one relationship that sustained him, the one relationship that gave him wisdom, love, and grace – was the relationship with His Father God. And he found that, in his lonely place. And we find that strength, wisdom, love and grace in our lonely place as well.
I’ve been though some lonely times as I’m sure you have. I’ve experienced loss, betrayal, hurt, fear, and loneliness. What a poisonous cocktail it was! At times I felt desperately lonely. but let me say this, in that lonely place, I got an ever growing sense and a knowledge that Jesus was there. I prayed, I talked, I listened, I read, I learned who I was in Christ and I started to enjoy what I had. In that dark, lonely, desolate, isolated place there was one light shining – and that light was the presence of God. That light was Jesus in that lonely place with me. A Jesus who Himself had experienced the loneliness, who himself had prayed in lonely places.
I'm sure you have experienced loneliness. And I'm sure It took your breath away. But God is with us whispering through our tears, ‘I love you, I will never leave you, I’ll never, never forsake you’. "God is here." He is right with you in your situation now. In your lockdown. In your loneliness. God Is here.
One thing I have learned is this: God didn’t cause my loneliness. God hasn’t caused your loneliness too. But, when we find ourselves in that lonely place He is there. Because in the middle of that loneliness, sometimes that’s the only place that’s quite enough for us to hear Him. Sometimes that’s the only place that He can get our attention. Sometimes (as much as it hurts), that place of loneliness is a place that Jesus Christ touches us, and reaches out, and loves us in a way that we cannot miss or mistake.
Loneliness can be the biggest opportunity that God ever hands us. Dare I say this, I thank God for that lonely time I went through. I do remember it as if it was yesterday. But, in that time, I experienced God on a deeper level. And you can too. Through the lonely times of your life and beyond, His Love can and will overwhelm you
Amen. God Bless You All.
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As we close our time together let us reflect upon and listen to, Prelude for Levenham.
Now have a quiet time. Praying for yourself, family, church, community, country and our world. Take this time to rest and know that God in Jesus Christ is with us.
The Benediction
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:
The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
Keep Strong: Keep Believing: Keep Loving: Keep Safe
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