Sunday Morning Worship Service
by Devin Akers
First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/devin-akers--sunday-morning-worship-service-124
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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Pastor Nate I remember one time we were in Wake Forest at a coffee shop and uh it was a real cool cool joint they had some live music jazz music and it was during that time and and it was raining a little bit outside and we were walking our on our way out out of that coffee shop and I was walking about five feet in in front of Pastor Nate and I had some cool shoes on like these a little bit hard wood bottom and and we decided to take our way down the the wooden ramp that they had built and Pastor Nate tells me he said Devin it was about that time I was looking at you true story about three or four feet in front of me and I was thinking Devin is so cool and about that moment I believe this is how God works my foot what was the verse that Bishop McCool mentioned that Anthony had mentioned well and I slipped and I fell flat on my back and I was no longer the cool guy so if you think I'm cool please stop thinking that today it's gonna cause me to slip and fall I promise you that so I appreciate the kind words from Pastor Nate but I will tell you we've also shared some pretty hilarious moments and I love the McCool family Bishop McCool is having a hard time remembering early earlier whether or not my grandfather was my great-grandfather or my grandfather and I'll tell you why that is and that is because my my father was was whenever he was born my grandfather GL Akers was in his 50s and so it's no wonder brother McCool was kind of wondering like is that we skipped a generation in the Acres family but I do want you to know this today Bishop McCool and the McCool family they are a connection to a legacy that I sometimes feel removed from and so I want you all to understand and just know what it means to me and to my family to be able to hear the stories and to be able to hear all of those moments that they shared we are a blessed family we're I'm speaking for my father I'm speaking for my uncle right now the Acres family is is so blessed by the McCool family and can I just say this you all are blessed with the absolute best here at fac Knoxville amen somebody you're blessed with the best right here at fac Knoxville if you have your Bibles I don't want to leave you standing too long but you can go to Ecclesiastes chapter four and I do want to give honor to Pastor Nate and sister Ashley because they are great great dear friends of ours that always encourage us I will tell you during that season it was not an uncommon thing for pastor Nate to wake me up when I was trying to sleep because he was in the bedroom next to me and he would be just just so inconveniently calling on the name of the Lord early in the morning and praying and I will tell you your prayer life was a great inconvenience to me and I do appreciate that but no truly and I don't think that has changed that is a consistent consistent thing that they display is their their love for God and then of course I do want to give honor to to Pastor Anthony and sister Kelly I love you all so much I appreciate the invitation today and I I'm thankful to be here we're gonna have some some some good moments here this morning and this evening I believe God has something for us students I believe God's going to speak to us today come on do you believe that that God wants to pour something in I believe that I will tell you it's a difficult time to be raising kids amen somebody can I get an amen from a parent this morning it's not an easy culture to be raising kids I'm going to talk a little bit about that today that culture and the environment in which we live but it was within the last couple of years I'll tell you a story to illustrate that my little boy he uh he got very excited because there was a new uh a new we'll call it we won't say the word movie uh but we'll say uh there was a new piece of entertainment and you can surmise what that was and I won't tell you what company was producing this piece of entertainment that was coming out but I will tell you that they are headquartered in the State of Florida and there is a giant mouse that is their mascot but you're not getting any more hints than that okay no more hints so he was excited about this and what was supposed to be a piece of content that we could consume as a family because that's what this company uh that's what this company advertises themselves as is a family company about a week before this was going to be streamed and we could have watched this together as a family uh there was something that was put out a report that was put out that let everybody know that this company had made a decision to put something in what was supposed to be a piece of content for children that was certainly not for children and was definitely anti-biblical and so I had to go to my four or five-year-old little boy and I had to tell him I said I said Brighton here's the thing I said I know you've been excited about consuming this and watching this I said but we're not going to watch this as a family this is it's not something we're going to be able to watch and don't you get frustrated when you have to explain something to a four or five-year-old because some some company is corrupt and frustrating and all that good stuff and so I was frustrated I was mad and if I was frustrated they met he was very frustrated and mad and so and and I started he said dad why and you know he's crying and I said listen here's the thing I said I said the people that wrote this and that that produced this they don't believe what we believe and he said dad is that because we're good and they're bad and I said well it's a little judgmental but but yeah basically no I didn't say that I said no I said it's because you know God wants to save them but they don't believe in Jesus like we believe in Jesus and I'm trying to explain it and so uh you know what ended up happening was for the next couple of weeks every time there was a trailer uh that would or an advertisement for this my little boy he would say Dad I'm watching that I'm watching that thing I'm not supposed to be watching and I'd run in and we'd make a joke out I said you better not be watching it and so we tried to joke it off and laugh it off and enjoy the moment but then a few weeks went by Pastor Nate and from the back seat we were driving down the road he said hey Dad I said yeah buddy he said you know that you know that that thing that we're not going to watch I knew exactly I was talking about I said you know I'm thinking we're still talking about this a few weeks later I said say yeah buddy he said when you die I'm gonna watch that movie [Music] I said all right but I do want you to know it will be over my dead body that you watch that it's a tough time to raise kids amen somebody it feels like the world but aren't you thankful that you've got a place that you can bring your family you don't have to worry about what's going to be produced here you know it's going to be biblical you know it's going to be right you know it's going to be Spirit-filled I'm thankful for that let's read Ecclesiastes chapter 4 verse 9. two are better than one because they have a more satisfying return for their labor somebody say two are better than one [Music] for if either of them Falls the one will lift up His companion but woe to him who is alone and he falls and does not have another to lift him up again if two lie down together then they can keep warm but how can one be warm alone and though one can overpower him who is alone too can resist him a chord of three strands is not easily broken for a few moments I want to preach to the whole church and focus on the students here today and my title is this the cure for loneliness the cure for loneliness if you've been feeling alone if you've been feeling depressed if you've been feeling anxious I'm just going to tell you that God has a cure for that and today he wants to speak to every one of us would you just put your Bibles down would you lift your hands and lift your voices and could we pray together right now Lord we love you and we thank you for what we feel in this place God I thank you for the powerful moving of your spirit I pray that this morning before we leave this place that you would speak to each and every one of us students would you lift your voices right now and would you just pray God touch my mind before I enter back into this school year before I step one day to the halls of that school touch my mind God pour into me today I pray I speak that I believe that today God you're going to touch somebody in the name of Jesus I pray it amen and amen can I also say it's so good to have the Davis family I love Christian Hannah so much then of course the Perez family I love and appreciate you all so much I love this church if you of your church would you put your hands together and would you give God praise before you're seated tonight thank you Jesus you can be seated I think we would all agree this morning that our culture is teeming with bad advice everywhere you turn there's another person with influence and we'll put that in quotation somebody influence labeling themselves an expert in telling you what you should do this generation especially has to deal with the power of social media being the primary vehicle for the bad advice that they receive a few years ago and I'll illustrate this by telling you that social media brought us the tide pod challenge does anybody remember the tide pod challenge I was so disappointed in humanity during the tide pod challenge this challenge if you don't remember was a challenge put out on social media that caused people to actually eat Tide detergent pods God help us as well there was the very dangerous and not so humorous Blackout Challenge which entailed cutting off one's Air Supply until they blacked out this one specifically touched teenagers they were putting uh putting things around their necks and blacking out all because social media was pushing it there's the outlet challenge I don't know if you've seen this over the last year or two but it literally entails taking your iPhone charger flipping it the opposite way and plugging the end that goes into your phone into the wall several fires were started during the outlet challenge somebody said that's bad advice that is some bad advice and then recently there was the I'm not lying NyQuil chicken challenge No Lie this social media challenge influenced people to cook chicken in Nyquil in order to become intoxicated one Greek philosopher said this no enemy is worse than bad advice I would agree especially if that advice is to eat chicken cooked in NyQuil and then wash it down with a tide pod for dessert amen somebody I found that some of the worst advice comes in the form of hashtags hashtag this hashtag that there's so many hashtags that seem to be full of wisdom but at surface level although they look like they're full of wisdom when you go a little bit deeper and dig you will find that they're just absolutely untrue I'll give you a few examples before I get to my primary one hashtag Speak Your Truth anybody seen that that's bad advice amen there's no such thing as your truth there's ultimate truth there's only truth itself you can't have your truth your truth is no Truth at all but doesn't it sound good hashtag speak your truth then there's hashtag no days off I don't know about you but that is just I need a day off amen somebody how about hashtag Sabbath then there's hashtag and I like this one you gotta say it with Attitude let them go girl I don't know it just feels like you need to add the word girl in there hashtag and you need a snap when you say it let them go somebody say that's bad advice but the one that seems to really take the cake and certainly I would say that this hashtag is a part of the last one that I mentioned it's been used millions and millions of times and continues to be pushed on social media is this hashtag hashtag and you've heard it you do you other related hashtags are these hashtag Haters Gonna Hate fake friends hashtag self love choose you and I'll say it again girl the problem with all of these hashtags is that they truly reveal an ideology that is in opposition with a very important value the value that I want to bring out today is a book of Acts value a church value and that is the value of community and if we accept the idea that hashtag I'll just do me I'll just live my life what will end up taking place is we will end up alone we'll end up without true friendship we will effectively kill the intimacy in our lives because we are afraid that it might bring critics if we open ourselves up in a true way journalist William Sapphire coined a term for self-justifying phrases and hashtags such as you do you and he called them title phrases which is adapted from the Greek word for redundant or tato which means to say again or to be redundant Taro phrases simply mean this it's repeating itself over and over and I know we don't think we're guilty of it but let me give you my favorite one that I accidentally say way too much when I'm in a bad situation or I'm frustrated sometimes I'll say this it is what it is what it is that's a title phrase it just gives you the ability to kind of just say something that sounds like it's full of wisdom but it's not actually full of wisdom my grandfather's been saying this lately he says it is what it is and it ain't what it ain't pretty good it sounds good at face value but but use title phrases essentially what happens happens is you stop the discussion and you move on without actually examining whether or not your logic is sound you just push forward and you say you know what I'm just going to do me it is what it is I don't need to worry about anything else and you put everybody in a box of a hater or a Critic can I tell you today that these Taro phrases are perpetuated in our culture and in our music and in an age in a day where it says you can speak your truth or you can act how you want to act and there aren't repercussions I'm telling you that the repercussions that you will face will be so much heavier and weightier than you even realize and if you buy into this lie you will end up alone you don't believe me and when I say that it's in our culture let me let me give you an example the one and the only Taylor Swift oh yeah I said it is a good example any swifties in the house do not raise your hand or say Amen it's a trick question not only does she say haters are going to hate but she says haters are gonna hate you see everywhere you turn someone else is going to tell you you can't trust people you got to do your own thing you got to live your own life you got to act your own way you gotta Forge your own path but can I just stop and tell you this morning fac Knoxville and students that that is alive from the pit of Hell and that will leave you alone and without over and over again in fact may I just remind somebody in this room that God not only gave you his Spirit but he gave you the people of God to be connected to and I know that it's tough to believe but not only does God want you to bask in his presence but he wants you to be connected to the imperfect and broken people around you I'm getting a little ahead of myself this morning but may I just tell somebody that the cure for loneliness is twofold one it is in the presence of God that you will find the cure for loneliness but also it is in the presence of the church and the people of God that you will find the cure for loneliness this morning God wants to be there for you God's presence will meet you where you are at but once he fills you with the gift of the Holy Ghost he will connect you to the body of Christ you know it's amazing to me because we look in this generation and there is an epidemic truly an epidemic of loneliness statistics show that this is the most lonely generation that there has ever been in fact according to psychologists there are two primary types of loneliness that are experienced first is existential loneliness young people hear me right now this is the stage that you're in as you become more and more self-aware and you begin to ponder and wonder what is my purpose in life why was I created what will my eventual job and profession be how will I make an impact in the generation that I've been born into all of those questions are existential questions they come from the idea of why do I exist why am I here can I tell you that question is something that you ought to ponder that question is something that you ought to think of in fact can I tell you what the Bible says is says this God has made everything beautiful in its time watch this he has also set eternity in the human heart that question of existence and what is my purpose that question that as you become self-aware and self-conscious it comes up in its surfaces is not a question that is given to you by the enemy but the enemy will certainly try to answer it for you no sir that question was put there by God himself and he wants to send every teenager every young adult and dare I even say every man and woman in this room on a journey to answer that great question of your existence and may I answer that question for you today the reason that you exist is to give worship to a perfect God you are not created to work you are not created to just go out and make a living you are not created to just put a dollar amount in a bank account no sir all of those may be byproducts of the one thing that you were created to do but primarily I was created to give glory to an amazing and perfect God that's why you are created you want to know why you've been pondering your existence you want to know why it feels like you've been Meandering and going in a directionless way the reason why is your your worship has probably become misguided you need to ask yourself have there been Idols that I've set up in my life has it been that I've been worshiping the god of work or the god of money or the god of entertainment or the god of popularity I'm not saying that all of those things are bad in and of themselves but what I am here to tell you is if anything takes the primary part of my worship it has become an idol young people every adult in this room no matter where you're at we must remember that only one thing will fill the void of existential loneliness and that is relationship with an almighty God I've watched you ever heard the phrase midlife crisis you ever seen anybody go through a midlife crisis it's hard to watch that's a nice sports car you still bald too far you know what that it's hard to watch because it's amazing you think I'm just preaching to students oh anybody ever anybody live long enough to realize that this question of existence and purpose is not something that just impacts a student yes it may be right where they're at but I'm telling you I've watched people get into their 30s 40s and 50s and still not get this principle down that the primary thing that we have been called to do is give worship to God and anything outside of that is what causes us to feel empty if you've ever chased popularity if you've ever chased another position if you've ever chased titles what you will find is that even whenever you end up getting what you were seeking for searching for and fighting for you may hold it Square in your hands but over and again it will leave you empty there is only one thing today that will fulfill the human heart the only thing that will fulfill that void is relationship with God and can I just tell somebody today that that he is here in this room right now now and his arms are wide open maybe you walked into fac Knoxville this morning and you said man I feel so alone I feel so broken I feel so empty can I just tell you I love the music I love the drums I love the screens all of these things are wonderful but none of these things are what makes an fac Knoxville different today what makes this church different today is this is a church that still believes that the spirit of God will manifest itself among people and you can be filled with the very gift of the Holy Ghost I'm here to tell you you want to know what the answer for your loneliness is let God fill you with the Holy Ghost let God fill you with his own spirit let God let God change your life I'm here to tell somebody I know what the answer for loneliness is I got to be filled with the Holy Ghost I've got to be filled with the presence of God it'll change your life I cannot tell you oh man maybe I can tell you I'll try I'll give you an example we had it just a few weeks ago a couple walked in and and you know at a church plant if you don't smell marijuana you're not doing something right now it shouldn't probably be on your primary leaders but if somebody walks in and the smell of nicotine isn't on their jacket is it on their shirt you're probably you probably didn't do something to write that Sunday and so I I we have a we have a we have a few people that walk in and as soon as I see them I just go I walk up to him we have a we have a couple that's come in Anthony and Crystal they're incredible folks Anthony he got he got hooked to opioids just a couple of years ago a few years ago and he got hooked because he got in a car accident in this car accident it just the the doctors prescribed him all of this and so he uh he came up to me last week Pastor McCool and he told me he said we were going to a meeting this past week and his wife him and his wife Crystal he said you wouldn't believe it he said we found out we were codependent she said we didn't even know what codependent meant but we're definitely codependent I said well thank God for Revelation amen this I'm telling you this couple represents several but it was a few weeks ago they were standing and and Crystal was in The Altar and and if you knew their background they've come they came in broken they come in just hurting they come in with all types of hurt from Friends hurt from other churches and crystals standing in the altar and this is her first service there some friends had brought them and and she comes up to the altar in the middle of of worship and she raises her hands and I thought well something's happening here with this couple this precious couple I don't know them yet but something's happening here and and I see one of our one of our ministers lay hands on Crystal and Crystal something changes and she she looks at me and she says come here she said you won't believe what happened first service at stello church she said I was just I walked in with pain in my stomach and and there was this burning sensation and this this this pain that's been happening for several weeks and she said I just asked that young man to pray for me and when he laid hands on me she said this pain that I've been experienced experiencing for weeks she said it just disappeared Pastor it's gone for good our church celebrated we gave God praise for that by the end of the next service guess who was in the baptistry being baptized in the name of Jesus Anthony and Crystal can I just tell you God will heal your body God will move in your life God will why because the presence of God is in this room it doesn't matter if you have the smell of cigarettes on your clothes it doesn't matter what your background is God wants to touch everyone in this room and I'm here to tell you he's the cure for loneliness if you walked in without if you walked in depressed if you walked in anxious there is a God who is saying let me touch your life but I'm here to tell you it's not just existential loneliness there's a second type of loneliness it's what is called social loneliness which is the feeling of being isolated from others both of these can be detrimental but the second that social loneliness oh it's something that will take a toll on you in fact here's what doctors say about loneliness a number of unfavorable outcomes have been linked to loneliness in addition to its association with depressive symptoms and other forms of mental illness loneliness is a risk factor watch this for heart disease type 2 diabetes arthritis or if you're from the south arthritis among many other diseases lonely people watch this are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease research suggests the state of chronic loneliness May trigger adverse psychological responses such as increased production of stress hormones hinders sleep and result in weakened immunity thus increasing the risk of death in all parts of life loneliness is a health risk loneliness will change your life it'll take years off of your life you want to know why because you are created to be alone it's not how you were created in fact God created Adam and within just a few verses what does God say out of his own mouth it is not good for man to be alone it is not good for man to be alone it is not good for you to be disconnected and can I just tell you there is a fallacy that runs rampant within the church which is I can be connected to God but I don't have to be connected to the church oh well I got a good relationship with God but it's just those people god is perfect but I'll tell you what people are broken well aren't you spiritual you know what my grandfather used to say Bishop McCool he said this if you find the perfect Church don't go there you'll ruin it for him you want to know why because there is no perfect Church there is no church without in fact can I just tell you that's why I fit in with the church because when I look around and I see people that are broken I see people that struggle I look and I say God if your grace can touch their lives I know your grace can touch my life God if you could heal and work and move in broken people then I'm in the right place because Lord I'm broken and I'm without and I need you can I just tell you if you're hurting if you're broken if you're without if you've made mistakes if you're imperfect you're in the right place today because there's a God full of grace but you've also got a neighbor beside you that's full of grace you've also got somebody beside you that can say hey you know what God brought me a mighty long way and if he could do it for me he can do it for you can I just tell you fac Knoxville I know it we dress well we've got our ties on this morning but can I just tell you besides you you may not realize it but there's a bunch of former alcoholics there's a bunch of former addicts there's a bunch of people that say Hey if you could have seen where God brought me from you'd realize that you're in the right church today [Applause] you need somebody in your life and I'm preaching to new people that just walked in I may even be preaching to a first-time guest this morning and telling you that you're in the right Church you're in the right church today but I'm also preaching to some members that if we're not careful we live long enough and we can get a little bit jaded well I got connected in some relationships and I got hurt people hurt you okay hashtag you do you #some somebody criticized you somebody gossip to back about you hashtag Haters Gonna Hate Taylor I'm just telling you that if you're among people you're going to have people problems you're going to have issues and none of those reasons are good enough reasons to isolate yourself or come out of unity within the church because you want to know what the Bible says about the church is it says that we have many members that are fitly joined together and what can happen sometimes when there are many members is that one member starts comparing itself to another member and our gifts and our talents they don't match up the same way or they look different and what can happen is there's a competitiveness that can get inside of the church and what can happen is somebody can get out of joint or dismember themselves can can I just tell you that that tomorrow morning if I wake up on a Monday and this little pinky finger right here says I'm out I'm done with the body and it just inches itself away and all I've got left on this hand is four fingers first of all let's all agree that that's a really weird example it is it's a strange example and I'm sorry that I put that image in your head but guess what that pinky finger is not going to make it very far but the rest of my body even though I really love this pinky finger I'd like to keep it I'm thinking I'd keep it until I die honestly but if it leaves if it gets cut off if it's dismembered the rest of my body will continue to function you want to know why because the blood is still flowing from member to member to member to member but you cannot dismember yourself from the body and expect the blood to continue to flow in your life you see that's the fallacy well I can be connected to God I can let the blood flow over my life I can continue to experience Redemption but I certainly don't need the church no no no no no no can I just tell you the church is as much a part of the cure for loneliness as the presence and the spirit of God he gave you both he gave you the witness of the spirit but he also gave you the church and I'm just telling somebody today I want to encourage you even if you've been hurt even if you feel like there's somebody that Did You Wrong you may be right but could you let a spirit of forgiveness and Grace come upon your life today and say God I refuse to get in disconnection or out of joint I want the blood to flow over my life I need the grace of God on my family I've watched it over and over yeah we've all seen it haven't we the cautionary tells of families that got hurt and backed away and I know the feeling if you've ever put your hand on a hot stove or if you've ever been if you've ever been pricked or hurt by something what do you do you draw that hand away because it hurts and it's a natural thing to draw away but can I tell you you may have drawn away for a season because you got hurt but I hear the voice of God in this room saying I'm calling you back in back into the center of your church family back into the unity of the body of Christ and if you will learn to trust again if you will learn to forgive I will let the blood begin to flow over your life and redeem and touch the things that are hurting I remember my little boy he uh we went through that stage and y'all know the stage the stage well and if you don't just judge me I don't care we're talking about it anyway I know you're supposed to sleep train I know they tell you do not let your kids sleep in your bed if you give them an inch they will take a mile my little boy is three years old you know what our solution was at three years old we should upgrade from a queen-size bed to a king-size bed don't judge me smile on the front row said oh my God I don't know who you are but don't judge me so guess what we got a king-sized bed then we have another baby we're trying to figure this thing out y'all Brighton is three or four years old and enough's enough you gotta go sleep in your own bed so we we have him in his own bed Pastor Nate he's he's laying there and I'm telling you you know that feeling if you're a parent it's about three in the morning you're in a dead sleep and from across the house there's somebody yelling your name I wake up and I hear him in his room and I stumble across the house because if you if you if you've ever been where I've been you know that when you get a little bit older if you wake up at 3am your body's like game time we'll just start the day now and so I'm trying not to wake up too much I'm stumbling over a coffee table I'm I'm kicking stuff that we left out the night before and I'm just trying to keep my eyes closed I come into his room and I'm like yeah buddy what's up what's up how's it going he's like Dad I had a bad dream and I'm like okay it's fine and I'm just I grab every stuffed animal I can find I'm patting him on the face I'm like singing song Like Jesus loves you guys just trying to get him to be quiet and so finally I have 87 stuffed animals around I got him tucked in and I've got my eyes closed and I'm walking out of the door and I'll never forget it he's got that bear tucked under his arm he says no dad wait I said buddy you got your bear you got everything you need he said this no Dad wait I just need a real person right now is exactly what I did you guys that's exactly what I did I just need a real person right now and I said my God you sleep in the dad's bed tonight boy I just need a real person right now you know what you need you want to know what the cure for loneliness is it's not a perfect person unless you're talking about Jesus that's the only perfect person and you need that but can I tell you he gave you broken people he gave you hurting people he gave you people that make mistakes he gave you this church he gave you this church he gave you these people and he said hey this is your church these are your broken people these are your real people and I'm here to tell somebody this morning that if you want real people in your life they're going to come with real problems and real mistakes but you don't need to dismember yourself just because sometimes the realness of people ends up surfacing I'd rather have real people that make real mistakes than I would have a fake church that pretends like it's all together and can I just stop for a moment and can I preach to the young people young people you're going to make mistakes and you're gonna fall you're going to end up doing things that you wish you wouldn't have done but can I just tell you you're in a real church that knows how to show real Grace and real Mercy this is the if you're gonna fall anywhere you ought to fall in the church if you're going to make a mistake anywhere young people this is the place to make the mistake this is the place to make the mistake I've watched as people have made mistakes in the church and I'm almost finished but listen to me right now I've watched his people have made mistakes in the church and as soon as they make a mistake they think that they have to run in the opposite direction because of embarrassment because of humiliation because the devil lies to them and tells them that there's no Grace in the house of God but I'm here to tell you that you are in a house of Grace at fac Knoxville you are there are leaders around you that are full of grace yes they'll tell you the truth they'll tell you what you need to hear but at the same time they'll also give you the Road to Redemption of how to get back in the right place this is a real church with real people I wonder if you could just lift your hands with me right now I feel the presence of God in this room God in this room I speak in the name of Jesus Unity right now I pray in the name of Jesus Lord that this would be a House of Grace and a House of Mercy I speak and declare God that you are speaking to somebody right now God you're telling them it's not time to draw away it's not time to go in the opposite direction but Lord you're calling them close to the center in the name of Jesus in the name of Jesus this is a place to fall I have to just believe that what Pastor Anthony whatever it was that he preached last week and whatever it was that Bishop McCool was alluding to I just have to believe that God has sent me in some way this weekend to affirm that word because I believe that this story I'll tell you as soon as I heard it I say oh God you're speaking to fac Knoxville today let me just read something to you a strip of Coastland in Florida has been nicknamed the treasure Coastline they call it this because of how many vessels were sunk by hurricanes in the centuries past many of which were filled with what would today be considered Priceless treasure chests of gold however the gold would sink to the bottom of the ocean floor most likely it would feel worthless at that time for The Men Who had gained it at one point but now had lost it because of a hurricane I read that along that Coastline which is spanned several miles there that there's probably a trillion dollars worth of treasure sunken and lost that is still there to this day who would like to rent a boat and go to Florida with me right now amen somebody but can I just tell you their if you were there in the 1800s or the 1700s or even into the 1900s during that time and you had a treasure chest it doesn't really matter if the boat's sinking does it doesn't really matter if you're losing everything and here's what the story and the history would tell us is that there were so many boats that were being sunken and lost during this time that they went out on that strip of Coastland and they established what was called houses of refuge these houses of refuge in today's dollars would probably be worth around twenty five hundred to three thousand dollars very inexpensive houses of refuge all they were were small huts with a warm fire that were off the coastline manned by one person who was constantly watching that strip of Coastland and what would happen is as this as the boat would begin to sink they would light the fire in the houses of refuge so that anybody who could somehow miraculously swim to the shore they didn't care about the treasure they didn't care about what they had garnered all they wanted was their life to be saved they would swim to the shore and there out in the distance they would see a warm fire and they would somehow miraculously make their way into that small Hut called a House of Refuge you know I look at that story and I think about the church I think about the fact that you've ever lived out in the world and you've seen I got to be honest with you I know that we have beautiful things in the church and I've even heard people say we've got the greatest this and the greatest that we got the greatest singers and the greatest can I just stop and tell you no we don't if it's a talent competition we'll lose if it's a resource competition the world has all the resources in comparison to the church and this is beautiful I'm not trying to make light of what we have here but listen to me this is not a competent a competition of resource because the world has the resource but I've watched people as they've been out there and they've had everything that the world has to offer and still the boat begins to sink and they feel crushed and they feel wounded but then they somehow miraculously make it to the shore and they walk through the doors of what seems to be a meager church and they walk in just to find that there is a fire of the spirit of God that warms them that causes them I'm telling you this is a House of Refuge and no matter where you find yourself today no matter what you're leaving behind you ought to swim to the House of Refuge you ought to make yours your way to the Shoreline and say God I'm leaving behind whatever popularity whatever plottence I have and I'm running to you this is a House of Refuge this is a place where grace and mercy can be found this is a place where even if you've made mistakes you can find the grace of God musicians would you make your way this morning you want to know what the cure for loneliness is man I feel the Holy Ghost here I got I got a young man in my church he left he left the church for about eight years and God has miraculously brought him back it's a miracle in the midst of it he's lost so much lost his marriage lost jobs lost money feels broken and he was sitting with me he said pastor you want to know something that's ironic it's a young man right now he's trying to put his life back together he said all the people they used to call me on Friday nights want to drink I want to spend time together he said when it all started falling apart and I felt I'm not I'm not just saying this for the sake of my of my sermon today this is what he told me he said when I felt the most lonely and the most depressed and I was broken and my family was gone and I didn't have my job anymore and I was the most dejected he said they didn't call me one time they were gone they jetted they were out because as long as we were there for a good time in a party my phone would go off but the moment I needed somebody you want to know why because that's not a House of Refuge it's Brokenness it's like the prodigal in the pigpen that finds himself saying I never thought this would be it never thought I'd be here but where does he go he makes his way back to the house of the father just to find what that from a distance of far off the father sees him and he begins to run toward him and he falls on him and he Embraces him because this is the House of Refuge young people you hear me right now you're going to fall you're going to make mistakes but this is a House of Refuge this is the cure for loneliness the presence of God and the presence of the church will fill the void in your life it may take some time it's not perfect I know the church is broken but oh God I'm so thankful for it because in a broken church is where I see the display of the grace of God in the most beautiful way this is the house that God has given me you staying with me right now my young men that Pastor Nate organized would you would you quickly meet me at the altar right now I mean I want you to run up here like you're like your military men it's not working they're too cool all the way up here all the way up here can y'all come up here [Music] I'm glad it wasn't a race [Music] some muscles right there let's go Mark chapter two says that there's a paralytic man anybody ever heard this story it was noised so so here's what I asked Pastor Knight to do I said could you get me four bigger guys and one smaller guy [Music] mission accomplished somebody man right here he's about to be a good paralytic man all right I hate to ask you to do this but could you lay down like you're paralyzed on your back there you go don't move legs down you can't move them brother here you go paralytic man here's what the Bible says in Mark 2. the Bible says that it was noise that Jesus was and that Miracles were taking place oh the answer one is there Jesus is here I've got the Cure Jesus is here amen somebody that's exciting but what happens when you're paralyzed and you can't get yourself to Jesus because you're too broken the Bible says that he had four friends that's what the scripture says and they said look if you can't get yourself to Jesus we'll make sure you get to Jesus can I just tell you some of you I don't know sometimes we find Jesus and then we find friends but then sometimes we find friends and then we find Jesus maybe for you it was a co-worker just a small invitation to an Easter Service maybe for you it was just somebody who was willing to take you out to lunch you didn't even know Jesus you didn't know what you needed you just knew you were Paralyzed by sin and Brokenness and shame and pain and you felt like everything in your life was going in the wrong direction but one voice of Hope Came in because of a Spirit-filled believer that was led of God to speak to you and to love on you can I just tell you that's what God's calling somebody to do and this room is to remember how you got here in the first place because I'm just telling you yes the grace of God Drew you in but it was also friends and people that discipled you and loved you and kept you because the Bible says he was paralyzed bro you honestly are doing so good like you have not moved at all I thought I was gonna make fun of him he would he takes his role seriously still the Bible says Hey his friends came in grab this shoulder would you grab that shoulder would you grab that foot age he needs four friends because you need a friend to cover every corner of your life amen somebody so they pick him up and they say if you can't get yourself to Jesus come on I'm over here I know it's inconvenient but why don't you take him to Jesus oh did y'all hear Jesus just moved across town [Music] then stop his friends it didn't matter if it was inconvenient oh nope Jesus moved over here now doesn't matter you lay him right there actually just drop him no I'm just kidding waiver [Music] are you okay that's that's terrible you're like eight feet tall too that's a long drop [Music] so they get him to Jesus you know what happens don't you it's because there was somebody in his life because God sent him somebody there was a miracle that was able to be done that day Jesus looks and not only does he get his body healed that day but even more importantly do you remember what happens son thy sins picks him up that day and he ends up walking away healed because Jesus is there and people are there you want to know how you're going to get healed you want to know the cure for loneliness today twofold it's Jesus is in the house but you've also got friends and people in the house I'm telling you there's healing in this room right now for anybody that would reach up but also would reach out to God today thank you guys so much God has the cure for loneliness in this room whether it's your first time or you're a member of this church somebody ought to have an attitude that says Lord you are my God and this is my church you are my God and this is my family you are my God and these are my people I wonder if anybody remembers the Redemption story that brought you to him if you do would you step out of that aisle step out of that cue that you're in walk up to an altar and say God you're the Cure and this is my family they're the Cure would you just begin to pray one for another maybe you brought unforgiveness or bitterness into this house this morning you don't have to leave with that chain and that weight in your life would you Gathering close right now would you join with somebody right now maybe in and your story is one of being hurt by people God is saying hey don't draw away don't back up this is your church these are your people this is your family come on I know there's hurt I know there's pain in the family at times