Disconnected
Pastor Rex Deckard
I. Introduction
We are living in an increasingly mobile society. Things that anchored people for thousands of years are being changed, almost overnight.
Consider cell phones...
n There is a connection between the idea of place and the reality of cellular telephones. It is not encouraging. Places are unique--or at least we like to believe they are--and we strive to experience them as a kind of engagement with particulars. Cell phones are precisely the opposite. When a piece of geography is doing what it is supposed to do, it encourages you to feel a connection to it…. Paul Goldberger, November 2003
What are some feelings associated with disconnection?
Isolation
“left out”
“out of the loop”
lack of identity
lack of purpose
“don’t belong”
Eventually it can lead people to resentment, apathy, and sometimes depression.
Disconnected people often make bad decisions.
II. What Causes a Feeling of Being Disconnected?
1. When the Group Majority is overlooking new members, or is uncomfortable with people who are perceived to be different.
The disciples were shocked to see Jesus as Jacob’s well talking to the Samaritans in John 4.
2. The majority of the group is genuinely concerned about “outsiders” but does not know how to connect, or is intimidated.
3. Lack of involvement
Sometimes people say that they are not involved BECAUSE they feel disconnected. However, it is often the other way around……….
The reason they may feel disconnected is BECAUSE they are not involved.
When someone is not involved, they have a limited investment in the group’s mission.
When someone is not involved, they have a limited sense of ownership.
4. When someone is unrepentant, or has hidden sin, it may lead to a feeling of being disconnected in the Church. When you are disconnected from God, you will not have positive connections with God’s people.
Isaiah 59:1 Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your ….
….sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.
Isaiah had experienced it firsthand…..
Isaiah 6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
5. A Lack of Forgiveness will lead to a feeling of disconnect
6. A lack of willingness to move with God will result in a feeling of disconnect.
Numbers 14:14 And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou LORD art among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.
II Chronicles 5:8 For the cherubims spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubims covered the ark and the staves thereof above.
9 And they drew out the staves of the ark, that the ends of the staves were seen from the ark before the oracle; but they were not seen without. And there it is unto this day.
7. There is disconnect when being part of the group is not a priority.
III. The Solution
1. We must reach out to everyone, because we never know who is feeling left out.
2. Our Church ministries must target people that match the purpose
for that ministry.
3. Those who feel left out need to evaluate themselves, and ask themselves some tough questions…..
Am I reaching out to others?
Proverbs 18:24 A man that hath friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
4. Don’t wait for people to come to you- go to them.
· Am I seeking and making an effort to be involved, or am I waiting to be asked?
· Do I have unrepented sin in my life that has created a wall around me?
· Do I have a lack of Forgiveness in my heart……
I ‘just can’t let it go…’
In the wilderness, when the pillar of fire moved, everyone in the camp moved with it. If you stayed behind, you were on your own. No water from the Rock…no Manna, no quail……
· Am I being ‘left behind’ because I don’t want to move along with the rest of the Camp in what God is doing?
Get Connected !
