00:00Hey friends, you know, there's a difference between being alone and being lonely.
00:07You can sit in a room full of people and feel completely alone.
00:12You can have hundreds of contacts on your phone, thousands of followers online, people
00:18around you all day long, and still feel like nobody truly sees you.
00:24But you can also sit by yourself in complete silence and feel an incredible sense of peace.
00:33Now, why do you think that is?
00:35Well, because loneliness is not simply the absence of people.
00:41Loneliness is the feeling that you have been disconnected, forgotten, unseen, or abandoned.
00:49And Jesus, well, Jesus showed us something powerful about that.
00:55Shortly before his crucifixion, Jesus told his disciples that a moment was coming when they would scatter.
01:04The people closest to him were going to leave.
01:08His disciples had walked with him, eaten with him, listened to him teach, watched him perform
01:16miracles, and promised him their loyalty.
01:20Peter even insisted that he would never abandon Jesus.
01:25But Jesus knew what was coming.
01:28He said,
01:29You will leave me all alone, yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.
01:36That's John 16, verse 32.
01:40Think about those words.
01:41You will leave me all alone, yet I am not alone.
01:47And that almost sounds like a contradiction, right?
01:50Well, it isn't.
01:51Jesus was teaching us that someone's physical absence does not determine God's spiritual presence.
02:00People may leave.
02:02God doesn't.
02:03People may misunderstand you.
02:06God does not.
02:08People may stop calling.
02:10God will never stop listening.
02:13People may decide that they no longer want to walk beside you.
02:18God can still be walking with you.
02:21And that means some seasons of your life that feel empty may actually become some of the most
02:28spiritually important seasons you ever experience.
02:32Jesus regularly withdrew from the crowds.
02:35Luke 5, verse 16 tells us that Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
02:45I want you to notice something.
02:47That Jesus did not spend every available moment surrounded by people.
02:53There were crowds everywhere.
02:55People wanted healing.
02:57People wanted answers.
02:59And they wanted miracles.
03:00People wanted his attention.
03:04Yet Jesus intentionally stepped away.
03:08Why do you think that is?
03:11Well, because solitude and loneliness are not the same thing.
03:16Sometimes you need to get away from the noise long enough to hear what matters.
03:21We live in a world that often teaches us that being surrounded by people means we are successful.
03:28More friends.
03:29More invitations.
03:31More messages.
03:33More followers.
03:34More attention.
03:35But attention is not the same thing as connection.
03:40And connection with people is not the same thing as communion with God.
03:46Jesus understood that.
03:48He could leave thousands of people behind, walk somewhere quiet, and pray.
03:54He wasn't running away from life.
03:57He was returning to the Father.
04:00Maybe you are in a season right now where the phone doesn't ring as much as it used to.
04:06Maybe some friends have disappeared.
04:09Maybe someone you thought would always be there has walked away.
04:14Maybe your children grew up and started building lives of their own.
04:19Maybe a relationship ended.
04:22Maybe you moved somewhere new.
04:25Maybe you've simply reached a point where your circle has become smaller.
04:31Don't immediately assume something is wrong.
04:34Sometimes, God does extraordinary work in quiet places.
04:40The Bible is filled with people who encountered God away from crowds.
04:45Moses encountered God in the wilderness.
04:49David spent years in lonely places before becoming king.
04:55Elijah heard God in a quiet whisper.
04:59Paul spent time away from before becoming one of Christianity's greatest missionaries.
05:07And Jesus, well, Jesus repeatedly withdrew to pray.
05:13And there are lessons you learn in crowds, my friends.
05:17But there are also lessons you can only learn in quiet places.
05:21When nobody is applauding you, you discover whether applause was keeping you going.
05:28When nobody is reassuring you, you'll learn where your confidence really comes from.
05:34When nobody is entertaining you, you begin confronting your own thoughts.
05:40And when everything becomes quiet, you may finally recognize that God has been speaking all along.
06:16But there is something dangerous.
06:19about believing that you cannot be unless somebody else is standing beside you.
06:26Your peace cannot depend entirely on another person's presence.
06:31Your identity cannot depend entirely on another person's approval.
06:38Your purpose, well, your purpose cannot disappear simply because somebody walked away.
06:45Jesus, Jesus stood at the edge of abandonment, knowing his disciples would scatter.
06:51And he still said,
06:53I am not alone.
06:56Why?
06:58For my Father is with me.
07:01And maybe that's the sentence somebody needs today.
07:05You're sitting in the house alone.
07:07God is there with you.
07:10God is there with you.
07:10You're driving by yourself.
07:12God is there with you.
07:15You're eating dinner without the person who used to sit across from you.
07:19But God?
07:21He's there with you now.
07:23You're beginning a new chapter without the people you expected to come with you.
07:28But God?
07:30God is still there with you.
07:32And perhaps, instead of asking,
07:35Why am I alone?
07:36We could begin asking a different question.
07:40God, what are you trying to teach me here?
07:44Maybe this season is teaching you independence.
07:47Maybe it's teaching you patience.
07:50Maybe it's teaching you discernment.
07:54Maybe God is helping you become comfortable with who he created you to be.
08:00Maybe he's breaking your dependence on other people's approval.
08:04Maybe he's preparing you for people you haven't even met yet.
08:09Or maybe God simply wants something that gets lost when your life becomes too noisy.
08:19Your attention.
08:22Maybe God wants your attention.
08:24There is freedom in learning that you do not have to be surrounded by people to know that you are
08:31loved.
08:32There is peace in realizing that another person's departure cannot remove God's presence.
08:39And there is strength in being able to sit quietly with yourself and say,
08:45I may be by myself right now, but I am not abandoned.
08:51Jesus knew rejection.
08:54He knew misunderstanding.
08:56Jesus knew betrayal.
08:58He knew what it felt like when people who promised to stay suddenly disappeared.
09:06And still, he could say,
09:09I am not alone.
09:12And that can become your declaration too.
09:15Don't measure your value by how many people are around you.
09:19Don't measure your fortune by who walked away.
09:24Don't confuse silence with abandonment.
09:28And do not assume a quiet season is an empty season.
09:33Sometimes God meets us deeply when everything else gets quiet.
09:39So, if you find yourself alone today,
09:43don't automatically run from it.
09:47Pray.
09:48Think.
09:49Listen.
09:51Rest.
09:53Open your Bible and talk to Jesus.
09:57Let God remind you who you are without the noise of everybody else's opinions.
10:03Being alone can become one of the places where you learn that you were never truly alone at all.
10:12Because when everyone else leaves the room,
10:15God is still there.
10:17And sometimes, discovering that is exactly what your soul needed.
10:26My name is Douglas Van der Graaff, and I believe in Jesus Christ.
10:31God bless every single one of you.
10:34Every single one.
10:37And everyone you love.
10:41Bye-bye.
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