Sermon Central
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It Is Not Good To Be Alone
Contributed by Steve Malone on May 16, 2008 (message contributor)
Summary: A message about friendship.
It Is Not Good To Be Alone
VIDEO SERMONSPICE – ‘My Friends And God”
Socrates said; "there is no possession more valuable than a good and faithful friend."
Francis Bacon said, "friendship doubles joys and halves grief’s..."
Mark Twain said; "to get the full value out of joy, you must have someone to divide it with..."
God says;
"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down his friend can help him help. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also if 2 lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can on keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."
• 2 are, better than one.
• It is good, to have someone to help you get back up.
• To stand with you as you defend yourself
• A cord of three strands is not easily broken…
In the beginning God created everything. Light, galaxies, starts, sun, moon, planets, earth, land, water, clouds, sky, trees, plants, mountains, rivers, birds, fish, plants, animals… THERE – was nothing… THEN – there was everything! QUESTION – what did God say after each creative act? (it was good).
AND – on day 6 of this creative process God finally (with a huge smile of his faces, no doubt) got down to what was the purpose of everything that he had spoken into existence. “Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…” - Genesis 1:26 CIRCLE - in our image, in our likeness..
QUESTION - what does that mean? NOW – obviously God could not reproduce himself and create another God since He is absolute and therefore unique… BUT – God did the next best thing… He created beings in his own image… AND – to be in God’s image and likeness (involves many things… LIKE – being able to think, reason, plan, dream, feel, choose, create, love)… BUT LISTEN – I am ABSOLUTELY convinced that at it’s core being made in God’s image and likeness IS ABOUT relationships… is about connecting with AND enjoying that awesome divine community (Father, Son & Spirit)… AND - connecting with and enjoying each other…
AND BECAUSE – this is true… God says the following in Genesis 2:18; “And the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion who will help him…"
CIRCLE - "It is not good for the man to be alone… UNDERSTAND – when God created Adam… at first it was just Him. Sure he had a beautiful garden to live in. And all kinds of animals to live with and he even got to name them. (that had to be pretty cool)… AND – even though he looked as if he had all he needed (a perfect world to live in with NO; health problems, financial problems, career concerns, relational turmoil or retirement issues) … There was still something missing in his life… YOU SEE – Adam was alone… AND – God said that this was not good…
WHY? - because man was made in God’s image… AND AGAIN - the very essence, the foundation of being in God’s image and likeness is relationship, is community… UNDERSTAND – man was created not only to connect with God… BUT – also with each other…
“And the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone… AND – Oh how we know this to be true…
There is a little book called, The All Better Book, in it elementary school kids try to solve some of the world’s toughest problem: (what to do about the ozone layer, how to help people stop smoking)… Here’s one of the toughest problems that was handed to this little (but wise ones)… “With billions of people in the world, someone should be able to figure out a system where no one is lonely. What do you suggest?
Kalani, age 8; ‘People should find lonely people and ask their name and address. Then ask people who aren’t lonely their name and address. When you have an even amount of each, assign lonely people and not lonely people together in the newspaper.
Max, age 9; ‘make food that talks to you when you eat. For instance, it would say, ‘How are you doing?’ and ‘what happened to you today?’
Matt, age 8; ‘we could get people a pet or a husband or wife and take them places.’
Brian, age 8; ‘Sing a song. Stomp your feet. Read a book. (Sometimes I think no one loves me, so I do one of these.)
“With billions of people in the world, someone should be able to figure out a system where no one is lonely. What do you suggest? John Orteberg in his book, Everyone is Normal Until You get To Know Them, writes the following in regards to loneliness…
