• Lonely feelings vs. loneliness
    • Loneliness is an obsession, not a feeling.
    • “Finding someone” does not cure loneliness; it merely masks symptoms temporarily.
    • Treating lonely feeling is easy and fulfilling, but it is not a long-term cure.
    • God offers a real cure; are you brave enough to take it?
  • God doesn’t want us to be alone.
    • We need the strength fellowship provides (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12.
    • That fellowship must be on His terms.
    • The greatest loneliness is isolation from God (Psalm 42:1-3.
  • To cure loneliness …
    • Think future, not present.
      • Lonely ones pick comfort over security.
        • The rich fool (Luke 12:16-21 thought he was planning ahead; he was really just planning to “eat, drink, and be merry”.
        • No relationship is worth putting your soul at risk (I Corinthians 15:33.
      • Lonely ones pick encouragement over growth.
        • “You’re okay the way you are” is not always what a lonely person needs to say.
        • Nor is it what he/she needs to hear (Revelation 3:19.
    • Think others, not self.
      • Loneliness is not “my problem, your fault”.
      • Waiting for others to fix our loneliness is selfish, prideful, and doomed to failure (Proverbs 18:1.
      • We need to put ourselves on the other end of Matthew 20:26
    • Trade doubts for faith.
      • We serve a God of mountains and valleys (I Kings 20:23.
      • Trust God means accepting His will (Philippians 4:12-13.