00:00Before I move forward with anything today, the first thing I want to do is
00:08ask you something honestly. Have you ever been surrounded by people and still felt
00:15completely alone? I have. Have you ever gone through your whole day smiling,
00:22talking, functioning, and then laid down at night and felt like nobody really
00:28knows you? I have. Not just knows your name, but I'm talking about knowing your
00:37heart. You know there are moments in life when loneliness doesn't come from being
00:43by yourself. It comes from feeling unseen. And how easy is it in this world today
00:51we're more connected than ever. But I felt unseen. Like I don't matter. It happens
01:02to all of us. You know it doesn't mean you're angry. Maybe I guess it just means
01:08that we're tired. Sometimes I feel tired. Tired of trying. Tired of hoping. Tired of
01:15being the one who always loves first. And somewhere inside you is a quiet
01:21sentence that you don't say out loud.
01:25I'm so tired of being lonely. I still have some love to give. Won't you show me that
01:36you really care? You know that's not weakness. And it's not failure. That's a
01:45prayer. And today I want to talk to you about that prayer. About what God does with
01:54lonely hearts. About why your love is still here. About faith that speaks when
02:03silence feels loud. Because, friends, loneliness is not the end of your story. It's not the
02:15end of mine either. And love is not something God gives you by accident. Love is something
02:22God places within you that makes you special. Not everybody can care the way you do. Not everybody
02:32loves the way you do. You're special. It makes you amazing. And I understand that
02:42loneliness is one of the quietest pains we can endure. Because it doesn't scream. It
02:50just sits there. And man, is it heavy. You can be in a room full of voices and still feel
02:58unheard. You can scroll through a thousand faces and still feel invisible. You can give your best
03:08and still feel like it disappears into the air. And when you say, I still have some love to give,
03:18what we're really saying there is that our hearts are bruised, but not dead. Because that is holy ground.
03:28Because the world teaches us, protect yourself. Shut down. Stop caring so much. Don't feel so deeply.
03:38But God, well, God teaches us, love anyway. Because loneliness becomes dangerous when
03:50it starts talking louder than God. Loneliness will tell us, you are unwanted. You are too much.
04:00You are forgotten. You are forgotten. You're trying too hard. You are replaceable.
04:08But God, God says that you are chosen. You are known. You are remembered. And you are irreplaceable.
04:22And the scripture says it's not good for a man to be alone. Well, it's not good for a woman to be alone either.
04:30And you know, when it says that, it's not punishment. It was a design statement. We were created for connection.
04:42So feeling lonely does not mean something is wrong with you. It doesn't mean something is wrong with me.
04:48It means something in us still remembers what love is supposed to feel like.
04:54And in a world where they ask you to deaden your heart, it makes us special that we remember that.
05:02Because look at the people God used the most.
05:06Moses lived in exile before leading a nation.
05:12Joseph sat in prison before saving nations.
05:18David, well, David hid in caves before becoming a king.
05:26Esther stood alone before saving her people.
05:30Paul, Paul traveled without comfort before spreading the gospel.
05:38Because isolation often comes before impact.
05:45And Jesus, you know Jesus, the Son of God, he was surrounded by crowds.
05:52But he still at times felt misunderstood, rejected, and abandoned.
06:00Even in his final hours, his closest friends slept while he prayed.
06:07Loneliness is not proof God is distant.
06:10It is often proof you are being prepared.
06:15And when you say, won't you show me that you really care?
06:21That is not doubt.
06:23That is dependence.
06:27And the Bible says God is close to the broken hearted.
06:31Not the polished.
06:33Not the confident.
06:35Not the self-sufficient.
06:38Not the movie stars or the fancy people.
06:41But the broken hearted.
06:44Because broken hearts are open hearts.
06:48And sometimes God doesn't remove loneliness right away.
06:53Because loneliness is teaching you to hear his voice instead of the crowd's approval.
07:01Think about how love actually works.
07:06If God wanted you to become hard, he would let bitterness grow.
07:13If God wanted you to become numb, he would let apathy take over.
07:20But if God wants you to become like Christ, he lets compassion survive pain.
07:29We say, I still have some love to give.
07:34That means disappointment didn't destroy you.
07:38Rejection hasn't finished you.
07:41Silence hasn't not emptied us.
07:45We are still capable of love.
07:48And that is evidence that God is in us.
07:52You and me.
07:54Because love does not originate in human hearts.
07:58Love originates in heaven.
08:01We love because he loved first.
08:05Which means your love is not dependent on how others treat you.
08:12Your love is evidence of who God is in you.
08:18We don't need the world to validate our worth when heaven already declared it.
08:25Sometimes we want God to show us he cares by sending a person, a relationship, a message, a miracle, a moment.
08:38But God often shows he cares by staying when everyone else leaves.
08:45He sits with you in the quiet.
08:48He speaks in the waiting.
08:51He comforts in the dark.
08:54Loneliness feels like abandonment.
08:57But faith reveals it as attention.
09:04God is not ignoring you.
09:06He is forming you.
09:09And here is the uncomfortable truth.
09:14Loneliness can make you bitter.
09:16Pain can make you better.
09:23Pain can make you closed.
09:25Or it can make you compassionate.
09:29Hurt can make you guarded.
09:33Or it can make you gentle.
09:38The same fire that destroys wood purifies gold.
09:44Sometimes the very reason you feel lonely is because God is shaping you into the kind of person who will notice lonely people.
09:58Your wound becomes your window.
10:02You will see pain others overlook.
10:05You will hear cries others ignore.
10:09You will sit with people others avoid.
10:14And suddenly your loneliness becomes purpose.
10:20The enemy wants you to believe no one cares.
10:24God wants you to become the person who cares first.
10:30Not because you are strong.
10:32But because you know what it feels like not to be seen.
10:37I know what that feels like.
10:41Jesus didn't save the world from a palace.
10:45He came through pain.
10:48He didn't avoid suffering.
10:51He redeemed it.
10:53And when you ask,
10:54Won't you show me that you really care?
10:58He answers with scars.
11:02The cross is not a symbol of distance.
11:05It is a declaration of devotion.
11:09And if God loved you enough to die for you,
11:14He loves you enough to walk with you through loneliness too.
11:20So today, if you feel tired of being alone,
11:25I want you to hear this, my friend.
11:28You are not forgotten.
11:31You are not behind.
11:33You are not unloved.
11:36You're in a season.
11:38And guess what?
11:40Seasons change.
11:41Winter looks like death.
11:44Until spring proves it wrong.
11:48Waiting looks like emptiness.
11:51Until fruit appears.
11:54Silence feels like absence.
11:57Until wisdom grows.
12:01And one day, you'll look back and realize
12:05The lonely nights were building a heart
12:09Strong enough to hold someone else's pain.
12:13You said, I still have some love to give.
12:18God says, then you are not finished.
12:23And if your prayer is, show me that you care,
12:28God whispers back, I kept your heart soft.
12:33I kept your faith alive.
12:36I kept your love burning.
12:39I stayed with you when you felt alone.
12:43Because loneliness does not get the final word.
12:47Love does.
12:49And love always comes from God.
12:54Amen.
12:55Truth.
12:57Truth.
12:58And God bless you, my beautiful friends.
13:02I'll be back tomorrow.
13:04Bye-bye.
13:07Bye-bye.
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