The Cure For Loneliness

Ecclesiastes chapter 4, verse 9. Today I'm going to preach a pretty weighty and, uh, and, uh, hefty topic — at least I'm, uh — in the title it's going to sound like I'm, I'm giving you something that I can't live up to, but I do — I think I can live up to the title. I think this message can live up to the title. My title today, I'll give it to you before I even read the scripture text: it is "The Cure for Loneliness." "The Cure for Loneliness."

Here's what the Bible says, Ecclesiastes chapter 4, verse 9: "Two are better than one, because they have a more satisfying return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and does not have another to lift him up. Again, if two lie down together, then they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And though one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A chord of three strands is not easily broken." Is not easily broken.

I'm going to talk about the cure for loneliness today. Why don't you just look at that neighbor that's next to you and say, "You're the cure for loneliness." Come on, look at your other neighbor and tell them, "You're the cure for loneliness." Some of y'all are nervous now: "So if that's the cure, I'm in trouble." Oh man.

Why don't you pray with me? Jesus, we love you, and we thank you so much for what we feel in this place today. God, there is a liberty in your presence. And Lord, for the next few moments I pray that you would be in this room. I ask you, God, to work and to move somebody that walked in — maybe, God, they're facing a mountain of depression; maybe, God, their heart is broken. I pray in the name of Jesus that they would realize that they are surrounded by people that love them, they're in a church, God, that is full of people who have been where they've been. But also, God, all of us have been given the promise of your presence. And so in the name of Jesus, I pray today that every person in this room would fill both — that they would fill the camaraderie and the love of those around them, but also, God, that they would feel the powerful presence of God in their lives. Lord, if they've not been filled with the Holy Ghost, I pray, fill them with the presence of God today. Come on, on Center Point, if you believe it, why don't you put your hands together? Man, I feel God's presence in this room.

You can be seated this morning. I think we would all agree that our culture is teeming with bad advice. Everywhere you turn there's another person with influence labeling themselves an expert and telling you what you ought to do. This generation especially — preaching to hopefully multiple generations today in this message — but I think we would all agree that this generation especially has to deal with some bad advice due to the power of social media being the primary vehicle of their advice.

A few years ago on social media we were brought the Tide Pod challenge, where people were actually eating tied pods. As well, there are dangerous challenges that we see on social media, such as the Blackout Challenge, which entailed cutting off one's air supply until they would literally black out. Then recently, in the last year or two, there's been the Outlet Challenge, where you flip your iPhone charger the opposite way and plug the part that goes into your phone into the wall. Yeah, come on, man. Then more recently I heard of this, the NyQuil chicken challenge. No lie, this was a social media challenge that influenced people to cook their chicken in NyQuil in order to get intoxicated. This was such a challenge, and and so prolific, that literally our government institutions and organizations put out notices that people ought not cook their chicken in NyQuil. The only problem was, when the government then put out the notice, what they found is that there was a — I think it was a two or three hundred percent increase in people doing it. That's unfortunate.

Greek, uh, philosopher Sophocles famously said, "No enemy is worse than bad advice." I would agree — especially if that advice is to eat chicken cooked in NyQuil and then down a Tide Pod for dessert. I found, though, that some of the worst advice on social media comes in the forms of hashtags. You've seen these, of course. Hashtags: hashtag No Days Off — bad advice, you should take a day off. #Speak Your Truth — bad advice, truth isn't relative. Hashtag Let Them Go, girl — I don't know why I always add "girl" to the end of it, just feels sassier that way. A lot of bad advice on social media. But one of the most just the worst, that really seems to have taken the cake in an unhealthy hashtag form because it's been used and pushed millions and millions of time, is this hashtag that maybe you have heard it, maybe you haven't, but I know our — I know our young adults and our teenagers have, and that is hashtag You Do You. You do you. Other related hashtags include hashtag Haters Gonna Hate, #Fake Friends, hashtag Self Love, Choose You. All of these are in opposition with the important value of community. They isolate you. They tell you that if anybody disagrees with you, they are simply a hater. And if we accept these types of philosophies and these hashtags, what can happen to us as we end up killing intimacy and friendships in our lives. Because what you will find, if you live long enough, is that true friendship and true intimacy and true camaraderie is not birthed in agreement, but oftentimes it is that we somehow find common ground despite not seeing — seeing things the exact same way.

Journalist William Sapphire coined a word for these self-justifying phrases such as "you do you." He calls them title phrases, which is adapted from the Greek word "taro," which means "to repeat itself." He argued that things like these title phrases kill logic and reasoning. His primary example was this phrase — and you've said it, I've said it — "It is what it is." Oh, you guys are as cynical as I am. Come on, you've said it. My grandfather, he — he'll say, "It is what it is, and it ain't what it ain't." He added another side to it. So "it is what it is, and it ain't what it ain't." His simple point, William Sapphire, is that this is — this "it is what it is," in other title phrases, effectively end the discussion early so that you and I stop everyone around us and move forward without analyzing our own ideals any further. You see, hashtag You Do You gives a person the ability to continue on selfishly, not having to worry about the opinions of others, not having to heed the advice of those around us, without any need to justify their actions, painting everybody around them as a hater. These title phrases are often perpetuated in our music and in our pop culture. The one and the only

Taylor Swift is a good example, because she testifies that not only are haters going to hate, but they're actually going to hate, hate. There was one person in here that is unholy — somebody in the back said, "Hey, hey." They were feeling it right there. I'm teasing you.

You see, the "you do you" philosophy classifies anybody that disagrees with us as a hater that's going to hate, hate, hate, and you justify the life that you're living by being alone and saying, "People just don't get me. They just don't understand me." And can I just stop for a moment and tell you that if you adopt these ideas, you're going to end up by your self? Which is exactly what is happening to an entire generation in many ways. In fact, statistics show us, despite that there is such an individualism and this push for us to stand on our own ground and to affirm the identity of others around us, that this generation is actually the loneliest generation that has ever existed.

According to psychologists, there are two primary types of loneliness that I'll talk about today. First is existential loneliness, which takes place when someone wonders about their purpose in life. We've all been there, haven't we? Why am I here? Why do I exist? This feeling of wondering what the meaning of life is, is inherent. But second is social loneliness, which is the feeling of being isolated from others. Doctors say that this, if experienced for long periods of time, can actually cause you to experience major health issues. In fact, I'll read a quote to you — this is what they say: "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 for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, arthritis, among other diseases. Lonely people are also 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 results in weakened immunity." Loneliness is literally killing people. It's literally taking the lives of people.

I remember when my little boy was about two or three years old, he started sleeping finally by himself. And I know you're judging me if you're a parent, but get off my back — I don't care what you think. We put him in his own bed, Pastor Allen. He finally started sleeping on his own. But you know how it is — see, if you're a parent, you finally get in that deep sleep. I'm talking second, third cycle. You haven't slept like this in months, and you're just thinking you're getting caught up into the third heaven like the Apostle Paul, and you're thinking, "This — this is why I live, right here, is to sleep." About the time you hit that, you hear a cry from across the house. You go, "God, why? Why did you give me these children?" And so I — and you know what it is — you stumble across the house, and if you're — if you're smart like me, you try to stay asleep a little bit, because if you wake up too much it's over. It's three in the morning; doesn't mean your day starts then. So I'm stumbling across the house. I'm just, "Yeah, buddy, what's going on? What do you need?" A damn — I'm just like, I'm throwing anything he wants. I'm like, "No, do not come to my bed. You sleep in your bed, here." And I'm just — I'm just — I'm taking every stuffed animal and I'm just piling it on top of him. "Find comfort in one of these, please, and leave your mother and I alone." And as I'm walking out of the room, he says, "Dad — no, wait." Now stop trying to stay half asleep. And he says, "Dad, I just need a real person." That's exactly what I did right there. I said, "You get over here, boy — he's sleeping in my bed tonight." Come on.

You might be in the middle of the night right now. You might feel very alone and very broken. Can I just tell you, there's no substitute. There's no stuffed animal, there's no car, there's no house that you can buy, there's no money that you can make that will replace somebody real in your life. And if you're alone in this room right now — you may look around and think, "I don't know, I'm not sure about this experience" — let me just pause you for a moment and tell you: you don't have to look like everybody else. You don't have to have the same background as the people around you. But there's some people in this room — they're real people. They know what addiction looks like. They know what broken families look like. God has brought them out of dysfunction and through some storms. And if you're by yourself right now, can I just tell you, you can find a real person at Center Point? There's somebody that's saying, "Hey, if God could do it for me, I know that he can do it for you. I may look like I got this suit in this tie. My life may look like it's all together. But if you could only see where I used to be, and the mirey clay, and the broke goodness that he brought me out of — the same delivering hand that put my family back together and put my life back together is the same delivering hand that can work and that can move in your life." Come on, you've got some real people around you today that say, "This is more than just a Sunday morning experience. God can change you. God can move in you."

Man, I feel the presence of God here. Can I just give you the good news this morning? Good news isn't that you've got increased likelihood of type 2 diabetes if you're lonely — that's bad news. The good news is that this word right here, and the message that I'm preaching from this word, will give you the answer to both types of loneliness. God will give you people, and God will give you his own Spirit. God will give you a church that loves you. He'll give you a family that may not have the same bloodline as you, but they're going to run thicker than any bloodline that you've had. And he'll give you his own presence. No matter if you're walking through the valley of the shadow of death, I'm here to tell you that the Lord is going to be with you.

I've got the cure for loneliness — loneliness — this morning, and it's the church, and it's God himself. And he has gifted you both. See, us, right there, that we get — and we think, "Man, I don't know. See, I — I can get with God being the cure for loneliness, but are you sure he sent me the people around me?" As unlikely as it may seem, yes, he did. Yes, he did. "And they're broken." My grandfather used to say it like this: "If you find the perfect church, don't go there. You will ruin it for them." No such thing as a perfect church, because we're all broken. But God somehow brings us together. Getting ahead of myself this morning, because I just get so

excited.

The first thing I do want to bring to your attention, though, is the existential loneliness — the loneliness that every one of us has felt when we're laying in our bed late at night, maybe because our child just woke us up and we finally got back to that pillow, but that loneliness of staring up at the ceiling and wondering, "God, is this really why I'm here?" That loneliness that you might have found in a point of — of being at your absolute lowest and saying, "God, there's no way that this is why I'm here, for this addiction to be subservient to this. God, why do I exist?" That loneliness that all of us have felt within us.

The Bible says in Ecclesiastes that God has set eternity in the human heart. Can I tell you, that feeling of emptiness or loneliness that you feel was put there by God on purpose, to cause you to seek, to cause you to desire something deeper and experience more transcendent than anything that you have ever found in material possessions? God placed that eternal feeling within you. I like the way that author C.S. Lewis put it. He said this: "If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world." If you find within yourself a desire that's deeper, can I just tell you, the reason that it's there is because you were made for something more than the world that you are in?

But the great news is this is: you don't have to wait until you get to the other side to experience a fulfillment of that emptiness. But the Bible says that the earnest of our inheritance is the Spirit of God, that we can have the presence and the power of God right here on Earth this morning. You say, "Pastor, what does that look like? I've walked into churches and I've walked out feeling the same way. I've been disappointed by denominations and by religion." I say to you: welcome to the club. We all have. But you've walked into a place that's more than a denomination, that's more than a name on a sign, that's more than just a religious experience. You have walked into a room that believes that when the word of God says, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I will be in the midst of them," no matter what they call themselves, no matter whether they're North American, South American, or on the other side of the world, they can have the same experience and power of God.

Can I tell you this morning: if you have not experienced the power and the presence of God, you can be filled with the Holy Ghost before you leave this room. I know it may seem simple, but if you'll simply say, "God, I surrender my life," what will happen is, the presence of God will begin to move within you today. See, that's what makes this place different. That's what makes this church different. I'm thankful for the excellence. I'm thankful for the amazing music. I mean, you felt it, didn't you? I don't know who she was, but she stood about right here, and every time she would get that solo, man, we'd all start jumping and go, "Wow, that's good." And everybody else was amazing, and the drummer was incredible. There was something — every time it came to a high part — I don't know who it was, but they're like, "Give her the high part." She'd sing that high part, and you go, "That's the difference." Nope. She's good — I'm not — no, no, no, I'm not taking anything away from her. She was — did a great job. And we love those high parts. But you know what makes this church different? It's not the excellence in music. Now, certainly God was in the room because we were worshiping him. But that — that lady that's saying so good up here a few moments ago could have been a half step off key. Thank God she wasn't. But she could have been, and the presence of God will move where there are worshipers. The presence of God will move, the Bible says. It — that's his promise to us, is that he's looking for a true worshiper, that they would arise in this day and hour. And can I tell you, it doesn't matter what your pedigree is, your background is. It doesn't matter if you — you may have cigarette smell on your clothes, or you may have the — the drugs on your breath as we speak. You may have just come off of a weekend that has left you broken down and depressed. Maybe it is that you're looking at your life and it feels like it's in shambles. Do you know that you can still be a true worshiper this morning? All you have to do is surrender, and the power and the presence of God will fill your life.

Can I tell you, I believe that everybody is a candidate for the Spirit of God. If you're in this room right now, don't let the accuser of the brethren, don't let the devil talk you out of it. Therefore now is no condemnation to those that are in Christ. All you've got to do is lift your hands and say, "Jesus, I love you. I need you," and the power of God will move. You will be filled with the gift of the Holy Ghost.

We've tried to worship other things, and other things have left us lonely and empty. Anybody been there before? You tried to find that same fulfillment in something else. You tried to find it in another dollar. You tried to find it in the bottom of the bottle. You tried to find it in relationships and in promiscuity. But over and again, you found that all of that was temporary satisfaction, and you ended up empty again and again. I'm here to tell you, Paul says it like this in the Book of Romans 1 and 20. He says: "Forever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and the sky. Through everything God made, they clearly see his invisible qualities, his power and divine nature. Yes, they know God, but they wouldn't worship him as God." Is it not amazing that you and I can try to find fulfillment in the things that God created rather than the Creator? Sure. And Paul says their worship is misguided. They start looking for — for fulfillment in other things. They have that God-sized void in their heart, and they try to fit anything that they can. But over and again — and as a result, Paul said their minds become dark and confused. Do you want to know why the world is as dark as it is today? Is because of misguided worship. Do you know, the people that you feel like you have the least in common with are actually trying to feel the same void that you have? You — you think, "Well, we have nothing in common with them. Look at their lifestyle. Look at the way that they act. They make me sick." Before we write somebody off, before we look at our culture — and listen, I — I just told you a story about my little boy, and entertain — I get

it. It's difficult. It's tough. And there are moments where righteous indignation can bubble up in the child of God. I'm not against that. But let me just say this: before we write people off and we take entire societies and culture and say things like, "There's no hope for them. This generation is just X, Y, and Z" — you said it earlier, Pastor Allen — before we do that, could we remember what the Apostle said here, when he said their minds are dark and confused because they're looking for something to fill the void? Let me just give you the good news: Center Point, we have what will fill the void in any hungry heart. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the good news of the death, the burial, and the resurrection. What does that look like to you and I? It looks like repentance, baptism in the name of Jesus, taking on that name, and being filled with the free gift of the Holy Ghost. I'm here to tell you, it'll fill the void for anybody who's broken. It'll fill the void for those that are in promiscuity. It'll fill the void for those that are addicted. This is the answer today. Yes.

I'm so thankful, man. If we didn't have that, I wouldn't be in this. I'm just wearing the wrong business. If we don't have that — if we don't know what will fill that sinner, if we don't know that will bring them out — what will bring them out of darkness into his marvelous light, then we don't have anything. But I'm thankful that we've got the light, the light of the Gospel that shines bright in this dark world.

So that'll fill that first void. But last is that second one, which I already told you is frustrating, because it's one thing when Jesus wants to fix the loneliness — he's perfect. He's perfect. He never made a mistake. The chastisement of my sin was upon him, because he was sinless. Thank you, Jesus. Oh God, you are so good to me. Perfect. And he says, "Now I've given you my Spirit, and I'm about to connect you with your brothers and your sisters." Oh, hold up, wait a second. Um, they're not so perfect. They're broken. They're annoying. So I said, "Yes — easy, don't amen, preacher." Oh, see, we — we think, "Oh, well, if I get the — if I get this fixed, I don't have to worry about this." No, sir. Some of the — some of the hardest sanctification, or we'll call it discipleship, that you will have to do is that God will task you with the unbelievably difficult task of being in healthy relationships with those people around you. For some of you, that might even be your spouse. I know that would be an easy place to laugh, but I'm serious. God will connect you. And he doesn't want you to just have a prayer closet where you go and get everything right, but then you come out and there's brokenness and there's dysfunction, and — and you — you've been in the holy of holies, so now you don't have to fix anything. That's not the will of God. The will of God is that your relationship with him be mended so that your relationship with others can be healthy. God is calling his church to be in community with one another in powerful, powerful ways. God uses the word of our testimony as a form of overcoming. The power to overcome is in the testimony of the person beside you. Now what else — the blood of the Lamb. But the blood of the Lamb is a given. We just talked about that. That's Calvary. But he also uses the people around me to build me up. And can I tell you, that's the second part of the cure for loneliness, is that God has given you people.

The Institute for Family Studies reports this: "There's a growing concern that young adults are experiencing an epidemic of loneliness, social isolation, and disconnection. A lot of blame is being placed on social media, more recently the pandemics, but delayed family formation is another likely factor." Young adults, teenagers, they're marrying later than they once did. "But what if Gen Z is lonelier today not only because of how much time they spend on social media or because they're single longer? What if young adults today are lonelier because of how they were raised?" The article asks: "Um, Americans who belong to Gen Z — those born between 1997 and 2012 — are far more likely to say they were lonely growing up. A majority, 56 percent, of Genzirs report that they felt lonely at least once or twice a month during their childhood. In contrast, only about 24 percent of Baby Boomers say the same."

Here's what I want you to hear right now, okay? Loneliness is compounding right now, from generation to generation. Baby Boomers were less than half of the statistic that we have today. What is happening, though — the bottom line of the article is that lonely parents are raising lonely children. You could say it like this: lonely parents are raising even lonelier children. We are trending in the wrong direction as a society. And if you think that the anti-establishment, anti-God, anti-church mindset is not a contributor, I promise you, you are wrong. One of the greatest contributors to loneliness, as we see it in its current form, is the fact that children, that society, that generations are being isolated from the communities that could best serve them through the word of God. And can I just tell you, the justification for them being isolated are things like this: "Well, you can't trust the church. There's hypocrites in the church." First of all, where else you're going to find a hypocrite? It's not news to us. We know there's hypocrites in the church. "Well, you can't go to church. My — my aunt, this happened to her." Let me just tell you something: I — I am in no way trying to say that there have not been people that have been legitimately hurt by people who were supposed to be real, but they ended up being fake. That happens. There's no doubt about it. But can I just tell you, by enlarge — I'm talking about a vast majority of the time — but I feel the Holy Ghost, the church has given me so much more than it's ever taken from me. The church has given this man and this woman right here so much more than it's ever taken from me. Yeah, there's been times where I've been hurt, but the hurt that I've experienced in the walls of the church is only a taste of what I would have experienced in the world, in the broken culture. The only difference is, I wasn't expecting it here. Can I tell you, Jesus said it: you need to expect offense to come. There's no avoiding it. You're going to get offended. You're going to get hurt. There's going to be people that should have been real that ended up being fake. But you hear this preacher right now: don't let that tear you away from the gift of the body of Christ. God has given you the gift of the church. And the Bible says that we are fitly joined together so that the blood can begin to flow through

us. I need every member. I need friends. I need family. And I find them in the walls of this church, despite the brokenness, despite the painful experiences. It has given me so much more than it's ever taken. I love the church. I'm thankful for my brothers and sisters. I'm thankful that this is a place where there's diversity. I'm thankful that there's a multicultural church. I'm thankful that there's people around me that don't look like me, that don't speak the same primary language as me. That's what the church ought to look like. I'm thankful that Center Point is a church that's looking out on the horizon and saying, "Hey, who's the next member? They might be in the bar this morning. Who's the next member? They might have been at that Pride Parade yesterday." We're saying, "God, if you can redeem them, we can bring them in and assimilate them into the body." This is a church that's open to new members. Come on, if you're broken, you're in the right place today. Welcome to the family.

God has healed us by his mighty hand, but also we heal one another. The Bible says in James, "Pray for one another, and confess your false one to another, that you may be healed." Confess your faults one to another, that you may be healed. Some of y'all been praying for healing this morning — who wants to go first on the fault confession? No, it's not what it meant. Didn't mean with a microphone in front of a church, in front of a congregation. Didn't mean a public — a — a public berating of someone's character. Know what it meant? It was, God's given me people, but I can come to, and I say, "Pastor, I fall short here. I'm not the man I want to be. There's time where my temper gets the best of me. I try to be a good father, but this thing is characteristic — sometimes it flares up." And I start talking about it, and then somebody like Pastor Allen, or one of you in a life group, or on a Wednesday night connect, or whatever systems you might run here, y'all start talking, and you look at me and you say, "Hey, Dev, guess what? I used to deal with the same thing. I've been where you've been." Or, "Let me connect you to so-and-so. I feel like their testimony would encourage you." And what begins to happen — watch this — the Bible doesn't say "confess your faults one to another that you may be forgiven." Not only he grants forgiveness — I don't repent of my sins to you so that you can forgive me and redeem me. Redemption is in the first cure for loneliness; that's the blood of the Lamb. But if I want to be healed — and can I tell you, there's a lot of people that are forgiven and redeemed, but you're not healed, because you don't mind walking to an altar and pouring it out before God. That's good. Don't stop doing that. But then when he connects you to a brother or a sister and says, "Now get accountable," that's why you've not experienced healing yet. Because healing comes when you begin to confess your faults one to another. So you need to find somebody safe in this room — maybe somebody with a little bit of white hair, somebody who's been where you've been, maybe somebody who you've seen — they're faithful, they're trustworthy, they don't miss very often, they're always there, they got a sweet spirit in worship, they know how to pray. Find that person and begin to talk to them and say, "Hey, I know I'm forgiven, I know I'm redeemed, but man, I need some healing in my life. There's some areas where I can improve. There's some areas where God is trying to build me up and change me and mold me into his image, and I think that you might be able to help me." Can I just tell you, you will be amazed how the hand of God and the power of God begins to move in your life when you take the word of God at face value and say, "Yes, Lord, I'm not only going to get into an altar and pray a prayer of repentance — I'm going to find somebody to speak to. I'm going to find somebody to talk to." And I just believe that there's redemption in that. I believe that God can restore and heal through that.

I feel the Holy Ghost in this room. I'm almost finished, but I want you to hear me: I love the church because this — this is a house for broken people. I'm almost finished. It — I'll be just a minute or two more. In fact, musicians can begin to make their way. This is a place where you can fall, and it's safe. I'm telling you, there's not a — people think, "Well, I don't want to fall in church." Let me tell you something: this is the best place to fall. "I'm going to be judged. Everybody around me has it all together." There's going to be some that will judge, but this is the safest place to fall. This is a house of refuge.

I — I read a — a pretty unique and cool historical fact a couple of years ago. Have you ever heard of the Treasure Coastline in Florida? The Treasure Coastline — if you — if you go to vacation or anything, it's — it's a — actually, they still call it that. And what it is is, in Florida, for several centuries, um, boats would go, and these ships would go, and they would — they would plunder, and they would bring back treasure. But in this specific strip — I think it's about 200 miles wide. I have it here in my notes, but I think it's about 200 miles long, I should say. Treacherous — treacherous waters would — would happen. There were terrible storms that would happen. And so these boats that were heavy laden with treasure would get on these very, very choppy, heavy waters, and storms would begin to hit. Well, to this day there are trillions — with a T, somebody — I'm talking national debt numbers. We could wipe out at least half of it. No, actually it's enough to wipe out all of it. There are trillions of dollars worth of treasure sunken in the bottom of that ocean, because of so many ships that would be taken by the storms.

What's interesting is, there on that strip of coastland, there were so many lives being lost that a small Coast Guard-like group of people set up what they called houses of refuge. Houses of refuge. And what would happen is, it was meager, just little huts on the shoreline, small fires. I think today they estimated that each one would have cost twelve hundred dollars. That's how cheap and meager they are. And when these ships would go down, if you were lucky enough to make it to the shore — and can I tell you, you could have millions of dollars worth of treasure in your boat, but when it sinks to the bottom of the ocean floor, and it's the middle of the night, and you're in the middle of the storm in your life, and you see a little fire out in the distance, you don't give — you don't give one care

about any single penny that's on the bottom of the ocean floor. You're just saying, "I got to be saved. I got to be saved." And you leave the treasures that seem so important behind you, and you swim towards that meager little place. And those that would survive, they would be met with rescuers who would bring them in. They'd warm themselves around a fire. And that little 1200 hut became a house of refuge. For some of us, that's exactly what it was like to swim into this church, or into some church, where God found you and saved your life, as you thought everything that you had in your life was so valuable, but then God used this meager, unseemly, imperfect house called the church. And your friends looked at you and said, "Come on, for real? You're going to the church now? You're not just going to church — you're going to — y'all ready? — that church?" Wait, hey, I don't know if y'all know this: we don't just go to church, we go to that church. Yeah, we go to that church. And it may seem meager to them, but that's because life hasn't quite wrecked them enough yet. But when life wrecks you and you fall, can I just tell you, you want to fall close to the church, because there's a fire of God's Spirit that's drawing you in, and there's people at the shoreline that are saying, "Hey, you can make it. You can make it. Leave everything else behind. Just swim towards the fire. Swim towards the warmth. Swim towards what God has for you. He'll redeem you, and we'll be there to pick the pieces up together." And you know what happens is, now you become a rescuer, because you've been there before.

Would you stand with me all over this place? Bible says in the Book of Mark that there was one, he couldn't get himself to Jesus. You ready for me? I got some men here, they're supposed to help me. You did a good job today, man. These are some handsome guys right here. They're sharp, bro. Why don't you give them a hand? Okay, I've got one, two, three, four, five, six. So I've got an extra guy here. And, um, unless you all are ready to tag team preach, we can rock, paper, scissors for — um, you know, we can, uh — all right, you're good. Okay, give him a hand. Look at the humility. The humility.

All right, so y'all come up here. The Bible says that there was a paralytic man — he couldn't move, man. I think, who's — who's it going to be? Who are you — 'll be it. Okay, all right, lay down. You — you're paralyzed. Do not move. That's perfect. That is perfect. Stop moving, though. Still, he's still kind of moving. Yeah, a little twitching. Yeah, I can see that. This is perfect. Don't shake your head yes, bro. It — don't move. It's like one — it's honest to God — it's — it's one job, but don't move. Stop giggling, dude. Do we need a trade? No, I'm just kidding. The Bible says, y'all just stand here and stare at him awkwardly for a little bit. The Bible says there's a paralytic man who heard that Jesus was in town. This is one shot. Jesus has been performing miracles. "I got to get to Jesus," he says. But he can't move. And not to mention the fact that Jesus, his popularity has grown so much in this region that the house is crowded. And you know what happens? The Bible uses this phrase: "But the man had four friends." See, they go hand in hand. Some of you, you got Jesus, then you got friends. Others of you, you found friends, then they brought you to Jesus. No matter what your story is, you get both. You get Jesus, and you get friends. And luckily for this guy, he got some buff friends, you know what I'm saying? So you don't have a bed today. The Bible says — I don't know how y'all are going to do this. I said one small guy. I'm not gonna lie, you're — you're skinny, but you're pretty tall, bro. Like, it was like maybe an 11 right here. 11. No, he's like, "I'm not moving. I'm not doing it." Okay, it's good. Good call. His four friends, just enough to cover every corner, because you need a friend that can cover every corner of your life. No corners left unchecked. So they grabbed the corner of his bed, and here's what I don't know how y'all are going to do it — hold him up. I would — I would guess maybe arms, shoulders. If you've got gum in your mouth, don't choke on it.

That looks about as good as I thought it was going to. And they say, "Let's go." Listen, we are not liable for concussions or anything. Hey, Jesus is over here. Come on, bring him over. Bad news, it's crowded in there. You got to get them to Jesus. Come on, boys, get them to Jesus. Pivot, get him to Jesus. They start taking him — do you know the historical fact is — put his shoes on me now. I'm just kidding. The historical fact is that them getting him on that roof, if you look at the way that it was built, it was unbelievable. They had to have some sort of — it's like they had to engineer something. Watch his head now. But what they did is, they made a decision: we will get him to the destination. They lowered him down, nice and soft. And what happened was, because he had four good friends that were willing to go out of their way, that were willing to do whatever it took, they got him to Jesus. And you know what the Bible says? Remember what happened? Jesus looked at him, and first he forgave his sins, but then he said, "You are healed." I'm here to tell you, somebody's going to find healing because of you. Somebody's going to find healing because there's somebody in this room that says, "Hey, I love God and I love the church."

Come on, if God has redeemed you — thank you. If God has redeemed you, would you put both hands in the air? If you're thankful for the redemption plan of God, but you're also thankful for the church, would you lift your voice this morning, and would you just begin to worship him? I feel the Holy Ghost. We're about to sing. But this is what I feel: if you feel the presence of God, would you just meet me in this altar? I don't see why we would wait. The presence of God is moving right now. There's people that — you need the answer and the cure for loneliness. Well, you can find God, and you can find the church. I'm here to tell you that the presence of God is here to move and work. Would you just do that right now? Go on, every member, there might be a guest in this altar that needs you to connect with them. Maybe you could find somebody that doesn't have that familiar face — they're new here at Center Point — and you could join with them. But I'm here to tell you today, the answer is in this room. You may have been hurt by the church, but you can find healing in the church too. You may have been hurt by somebody in the church, but you can find healing in this room as well. That's it. I feel the presence of God. We're going to sing together. We're going to lift our voices. But also, there's about to be release in this room right now. Come on, if you walked in with bitterness — maybe a brother or a sister has wounded you — would you leave that in the altar, and would you say, "God, I'm not gonna let any woundedness or bitterness keep me from connecting with the body. I love you, and I love the people of God. I love you, and I love the family of God." Come on, is there anybody that can remember the testimony? You can remember that somebody grabbed your hand, they brought you in, they showed you what redemption looked like. In this room today, there's a cure for loneliness. There's a cure for loneliness.