NEVER WALK ALONE

 Our topic for today is Never Walk Alone

One of the major disasters of our generation is people trying to do this God thing alone.

The one who is a disciple of Christ will/should never walk alone

I cannot overemphasize this; there are no lone wolves in the kingdom.

Maybe the church has hurt you before now. Maybe you've been let down by members of the body of Christ but you see in this body, we will have to walk together. 

You cannot walk with Christ without His body.

No matter how gifted you are. It doesn't matter how much you are called and the anointing on you, you need the body of Christ to be successfully discipled.

Whatever you try to do alone is unbiblical.

You are misunderstood? You will still have to do this thing with the body of Christ o

The church is an integral part of God's design for discipleship. In fact, you cannot be a disciple and despise the body of Christ. There will be a problem.

Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. Matthew 16:18 NLT

Though it was Peter Jesus was addressing. It wasn't Peter that will crush the gates of hell

Also, it wasn't Peter that Jesus prayed the gates of hell will not prevail against....It was the church. The body! There is a covering upon the body that you will not find alone.

It is why when men will go astray or backslide, the first thing the devil tries to do is draw them out

He tries to deceive them that they can walk alone. But this is a lie. You cannot walk alone.

You also should be walking with the right people. Walking wrongly is as useless and harmful as walking alone.

If we look at the story of Jesus sending the 70 out,   He did not send anyone alone. None was sent alone. They were sent in pairs. Even God does not do alone. When God was going to create in the beginning, He was accountable to the members of the trinity.

I know it's very easy to want to slip into our spaces, especially when we are going through stuff. Sometimes we even tell ourselves that we will catch up when we are done with that phase but here's what I've found most times: by the time you come out of that phase, you will find that your friends have moved on to a new phase. You feel left out and you just completely step back. You now try to do it on your own but you keep struggling. And before you know it, you stop trying

You are now alone. Maybe with new friends. But you know something is different

It is also why I always ask people "Why are you taking that break"

You don't need a break from eating

You don't need a break from social media

But you need a break from church or the body of Christ......Hmmmm

Are you sure that's not the enemy trying to break you from something? It is even in times of offense and confusion that we need the body the most.

You cannot function fully as a follower/disciple of Christ without God's other children.

Take advantage of your communities. Stop punishing yourself walking alone. Stop delaying destiny

If you are under the sound of my voice/typing right now and you know you've been walking alone for a while now, this is your cue to go back. I sense it so strongly. Go back to your covering. Don't put yourself in harm's way

Go back! I can literally hear a scream in my head. If you don't have a church, please reach out to me

You have to belong to a church. This is not negotiable 

Word Alive is not a church. You must be planted in a local church.

And for everyone here but not here

I don't know what to say 

But please, don't play yourselves.

If you are here, it is because God led you here

Be part. Do not segregate yourself.

See, if you feel left out. This is your cue to force yourself into circles (I'm not joking)

I sense these things strongly in my spirit. There are dangers ahead. But safety isn in the family God has provided for you

Your church is big? Talk to 2 random people and collect their numbers next Sunday.

Join a unit.

You don't have friends on word Alive? I can categorically tell you that I didn't know up to 10 people on this group in real life when we started. Even right now, the people I knew before we started Word Alive are not up to 20 and we are over 200. So you don't have to know anybody before

For those that felt disconnected and kind of blocked everyone out

This is your reminder that you are actually deeply loved, even in your local church. People may not know how to express it to you properly because of the break in communication, but know that there is love for you.

Please, allow this love in.

God wants to love up on you but He wants to do it through people.

The father's love awaits

Please, open the doors of your hearts.

Please.

For every one of us,

Please stop trying to do life alone

You will fail woefully at it (no jokes)

And you may lose a lot too

Save yourself the stress

Take the father's love

He extends it through men

Take the father's hand,

He extends it through men.

This teaching took another turn but I trust the Lord has a reason for it. My drive-home point was discipleship but I see instead God screaming out His love.

It feels like people have been looking for His love in the wrong places and He says it is right here, in my body.

Just open up and receive it

If you don't have friends in church, I will need you to also promise me you will go out of your way to make at least 2 next week. 

And I just declare upon everyone that has tiny bits of church hurt and fear of being hurt by people, it is gone. The Father's love sweeps it all away.

For everyone struggling to open up, I declare that you receive help right now in Jesus name.

This probably sounds like a cliche but I sense someone needs to hear it: Jesus loves you. You are actually really loved by the father. Really really loved by Him