I Don't Want to be Left Alone

5:32 Y'all are going to make it. Would you open up your Bible apps and join me in the first book of the Bible, Genesis, book of Genesis, if you'll join me there. I want to go to the second chapter, Genesis chapter 2. the 18th verse, Genesis chapter 2, verse 18. I solicit your prayers this week, this Wednesday. I'll be in Biloxi, Mississippi on Wednesday.

6:16 It's always one. It's always one. Wednesday should have been, would have been Nolan Wells' 19th birthday. Would have been his 19th birthday and his family is having a citywide prayer rally on that day. And I ask your pastor to come and be the guest speaker. I ask that you will please pray for us and with us. That God will be a light for that family in dark times. We'll be broadcasting it live on Wednesday from Biloxi. So I ask that you'll extend your prayers in that direction. Genesis 2, verse 18. and the Lord God said it's not good for man to be alone I'll make him a help me for him the Lord said it ain't good for man to be alone I leave y'all for one week and y'all and I'll make him a help me form you may be seated in the presence of the Lord Amen.

7:49 Amen. Amen. Thank you so much. I want to preach this morning using as a subject, I don't want to be left alone. I don't want to be left alone. Would you pray for the person beside you and tell them, you will not be left alone. One of the strongest and coldest songs ever played on the radio was the summer of 1982, sung by Bobby Womack. If you think you're lonely now Wait until tonight.

8:48 it's a uh it's a heart-wrenching breakup ballad about relationship burnout the underlying thesis centers on a partner who takes love for granted during the day but will have to face the harsh painful reality of true emptiness and isolation once night falls.

9:22 Bobby was saying sharply, you can hide in the distractions during the day, but you'll face the consequences during the night. for whatever went wrong the loneliness will be the punishment It is intriguing that the most severe punishment in the penal system is solitary confinement. it is noteworthy but at the beginning of time when the creator was curating the planet he complimented himself at the conclusion of every project let there be light and God says it's good let there be birds in the air and fish in the sea and God said, talking about himself, talking about what he created is good.

10:30 Said, let there be vegetation. He turned around, kissed himself, said it's good. Said, let there be a division of land and sea and he said it's good. And for the very first time in the creation of this planet, When God says something isn't good, it was not the absence of provision. It was the absence of presence.

11:06 Before there was murder, before there was lying, before there was cheating, before there was betrayal, the first thing God said that wasn't good was being alone. We were born to be in relationship. born to have connection.

11:28 Being without it doesn't feel good. The woman who had an issue of blood, she had it for 12 years. And according to Levitical law, because she had an issue of blood, she wasn't supposed to be around people. the bible says that if she sat in a chair they had to place the chair outside she laid down on a mattress they had to put the mattress outside she was not supposed to be around people for 12 years i want you to take off your walt disney interpretation of text And I want you to consider that for 12 years, she was not touched. For 12 years, nobody hugged her.

12:22 For 12 years, nobody held her hand. For 12 years, she had to lay in the bed by herself. So for 12 years, dealing with the issue of blood, the Bible then drops in and says she thought to herself, watch how she thinks, after not being connected, not having any touch, not having any intimacy, after 12 years, she says, if I can touch the him, H-E-M.

12:58 She is so adjusted to not being able to touch a him, H-I-M. she said let me go for the lowest part of his robe i will satisfy myself at the hymn because i have not had a hymn that's what loneliness will do if you are not careful it will make you reach for the lowest thing available you'll begin to entertain people who are not intellectually stimulating you will find yourself entertaining company of people who have no clue of your intellectual capacity Don't let loneliness force you to adjust to dysfunction.

13:58 Don't get it twisted. You can be lonely and popular. you can be lonely don't look at your neighbor you can be lonely and have somebody you can be lonely and in a house full of people. You can be lonely and have a significant title on your job. It's almost like inhaling toxic fumes. Most people can't see it, but when you begin to feel it, it's hard to breathe. the New York Times best-selling book never eat alone leans heavily on the power of networking but it gives no mention of what to do when your net is broken you are sitting in front of you're sitting behind somebody who is lonely as all get out they're reliable but their circle is inconsistent they are strong and so they end up carrying everybody else's weight they dream but they're connected to drifters they have wild ideas and they are surrounded by people who are easily satisfied.

15:36 They say it's lonely at the top if you don't take anybody with you. But do you know how tired it is trying to take somebody to the top when they're satisfied at the middle? Loneliness is not about how many people are around you, but how many people are legitimately connected to you.

16:12 Adam was surrounded by creeping things, by crawling things, by flying things. But proximity does not equate to intimacy. None of the animals could speak his language. None of them could develop the gift that was inside of him. He had an anointing. He had dominion. He had authority. But he had no company. Do you know how many people are anointed and alone? You know how many people have focus but don't have friends? Do you know how many people have personality but cannot find anybody in which they can find a common denominator? Do not assume because people are doing well that they do not groan for some level of intimacy.

17:16 it's hard trying to find yourself when nobody can see you for who you are when Jesus was 12 years old he went into the temple he went to the temple by himself and they could see that he was young they could see just based off of what he looked like that he was black but they had no idea that he was gifted you walk into certain rooms and people assume things about you and have no idea that i got all of this caged up inside of me but because so many people are superficial they never take time to figure out who i really am and what i really have to offer thank you for complimenting my clothes but it's more to me than that I'm glad you like my figure and like my hair but once we get past that do you have anything that stretches you? Do you have anything that excites you?

18:26 Is there anything that you're scared to do? Is there anything you are trying to accomplish? you got to stay alert because loneliness hear this will get in your mind before you get in the bed Loneliness will get in your mind before you get into bed. Research has revealed that loneliness is linked to depression, to anxiety, and cognitive decline. Loneliness disrupts sleep. It raises stress and obstructs enthusiasm. You're not going to believe it. But prolonged loneliness, prolonged loneliness has the same impact on the body as chain smoking.

19:29 You're lonely and don't even realize that you are deteriorating. I want you to lift up that hand right where you are. Please, sir. Please, ma'am. By the power of the Holy Ghost, I declare over every lifted hand that the spirit of loneliness will not chase you into the winter.

19:53 Before the seasons change, your circle is getting ready to change. I don't know where you are. You are not going to have to manage this life by yourself. you got too much love to offer you got too much goodness inside of you i don't care who ignored it and who in fact willfully tried to look past it you are too good of a person to be by yourself i don't know where my worshipers are but i declare and decree by thanksgiving that God is going to make your heart full, that God is going to make sure that you are not living this life by yourself. The enemy is wrong. Goodness and mercy are about to follow you.

20:48 You may be seated. God didn't say loneliness was an inconvenience. He didn't say that loneliness was uncomfortable. He said it ain't good.

21:12 Loneliness is not good for your mind. It's not good for your body. It's not good for your spirit. loneliness with the absence of discernment will have you believing lies about yourself loneliness will try to convince you that you are not worthy loneliness will try to convince you that you are unlovable loneliness will try to make you believe something is wrong with you loneliness will make it its job to convince you that you are a burden and you are too much the truth is and I need you to hear me and hear me well the truth is isolation is a liar you got to speak truth to yourself I need you to lay hands on yourself right where you are would you do it? Lay hands on yourself and repeat after me, I'm worthy.

22:18 I deserve to be loved. I deserve to be happy. I am a benefit. Anybody connected to me is going to be blessed. If you believe it, I dare you to clap for your doggone self. come on you ain't said it in a while lay hands on yourself shout it out loud i'm worthy i deserve to be happy i am a benefit anybody connected to me is gonna get blessed i want to say it one last time shout it out loud i'm worthy I deserve to be happy. I am a benefit. Anybody connected to me is going to be blessed. Come on, shout for your future.

23:13 Shout for your connection. Shout for the relationships you are about to enter. We have raised a generation. We have raised a generation that have a lot of contacts, but have no confidants. They got hundreds, if not thousands of people following them on social media. They can stream to a thousand strangers, but they have nobody to call in the middle of the night. You can't get them out of the room. Can't get them to communicate. The average 16-year-old boy, the average 16-year-old boy has never asked a girl for a phone number. The average 17-year-old girl has never been on a date with just two people.

24:13 Don't let the algorithm alienate you. I am believing by faith that the enemy has been trying to isolate your teenagers, isolate your adolescents. But the fire of glory is getting ready to fall fresh into the lives of your children. That your children are not going to go through this school year alone. They are not going to be starving for attention. they are not going to compromise their character just to fit in in the cafeteria God is getting ready to do something in the life of your children to enlarge their circle of friends and the circle of friends who will be connected to your children will not have a negative impact but they will in fact push them to their higher calling and their greater goal I know you haven't warred for it in the spirit realm but if you need God to plant positive peers around your young people I dare you to give God glory for them even now Come on, put kids around.

25:32 Better challenge them to go to school. Challenge them to excel. Challenge them to produce. Challenge them to perform. It is not just our young people, but goo gobs of seniors are contending with loneliness. When I was growing up, it was teenagers that were committing suicide. Now it's grandmothers. Now it's grandfathers. It's a critical moment because they're retired but can't find a reason to get out the recliner. The children are grown, gone. And as a consequence, they've had to freeze the memory of the adolescence they raised just to feel needed. A house that used to be loud now just has a TV on in the next room.

26:33 with a quiet hum of a frostbitten freezer with meat that nobody is going to cook. It is amazing that we are in a generation that no longer honors its elders. Nursing homes full of people who have no visitors. I know y'all done got quiet on me right here. Acting as if the person that raised you is now an inconvenience. I charge you to check on your seniors. Go to the hospital, visit the nursing home, pick up the phone. You ain't that busy. I know you got a whole lot going on, but I declare and decree that on this day, God is getting ready to encourage the heart of the seniors in your bloodline that they are not gonna go through this season of their life by themselves and i might as well tell you nobody wants to hear it but i might as well tell you too gonna get old one day and you better be careful how you treat people because there's gonna come a day when you're gonna want somebody to come see about you and take care of you and take you to your doctor's appointment i need somebody right here would you give god glory if God has allowed your mama to live to be an old age your daddy to live to be an old age you ought to thank God for the gift of life He's going to do something for him.

28:18 He's going to do something for him. He's going to do something for him. I got to pause right here. It ain't even in my sermon. I got to pause right here. If there's a senior near you, would you just embrace him for me real quick? If there's a senior near you, I want you to just embrace him real quick. Hallelujah. hallelujah if you got a family member that's in the hospital right now would you just start waving your hand in a nursing home hallelujah in assisted living wave that hand right now i am summoning angels to go visit who is the oldest member of your family that God is getting ready to add years to their life.

29:22 Come on, I'm waiting on my worshipers right here. I said, God is about to add years to their life. That God is getting ready to touch their heart and touch their spirit and touch their memory and touch their blood flow. Come on, you ought to thank God. He's getting ready to touch their hearing and touch their vision. You ought to thank God. He'll add years to their life. God's response to loneliness is very simple. His response to loneliness was, I'll make you.

30:06 He never chastised Adam, never reproved him. He just went to work on him. Lest you forget this whole issue of humanity was birthed because with all of God's power, all of his wisdom, all of his glory, according to the James Weldon Johnson interpretation of the creation, God himself was lonely. And he sat down and said, I think I'll make me a man. Ladies and gentlemen, God is desirous of connection and covenant with us. And as a consequence, he is a covenant creator. God desires to not be your last option but to be your first choice seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all other things will be added unto you God been watching you all week on Instagram all week on TikTok all week on Netflix all week in the text thread all week in somebody's end he said when you gonna make some time for me you've just been in here an hour and you're already looking at your watch trying to figure out when you're going to get out of here.

31:21 I came, I know it sounds crazy, I came to give God some attention. To let him know he's the first thing on my mind. In him I live, in him I move, in him I have my baby. I came to tell God I got a crush on him. I love him more than anything. he's more than life to me when my mother and father forsake me then the Lord will lift me up