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WE ARE NOT ALONE!The Best Things in Life I Learned in Community – Part 1!Message #1284"Pastor Keith Stewart"July 11-12, 2015""Expanded Message Resources!

!""""""""""""""""Friendship in America"

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"1. WHAT UNDERMINES OUR COMMITMENT TO INTERDEPENDENCE?! "> Hiding is second nature to us." "...like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. "2 Corinthians 3.13" " "Mask-wearing invariably leads to the imposter phenomenon." " "There is a direct correlation between being known and being loved." " "“…so, like runaway slaves, we either flee our own reality or manufacture a false self which is mostly admirable, mildly prepossessing, and superficially happy. We hide what we know or feel ourselves to be (which we assume to be unacceptable and unlovable) behind some appearance

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which we hope will be more pleasing. We hide behind pretty faces which we put on for the benefit of our public. And in time we may even forget that we are hiding, and think that our assumed pretty face is what we really look like.""- Simon Tugwell, The Beatitudes" " ""Don't be fooled by me. Don't be fooled by the face I wear. I wear a mask. I wear a thousand masks - masks that I am afraid to take off: and none of them are me. Pretending is an art that is second nature to me, but don't be fooled. For my sake, don't be fooled. I give the impression that I am secure, that all is sunny and unruffled within me as well as without; that confidence is my name and coolness my game, that the water is calm and I am in command; and that I need no one. But don't believe me, please. My surface may seem smooth, but my surface is my mask, my ever varying an ever concealing mask.”"- author unknown" "“Who am I, you may wonder. I am someone you know very well. I am every man you meet. I am every woman you meet. I am right in front of you - right beside you - I am you!”"- author unknown" " "> Personality types that are prone to hiding;" "• Hermits" "• Lone rangers" "• Porcupines" " "> To overcome our fear of disclosure, God took the initiative." "God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. Romans 5.8" "God's love and acceptance proceeded our disclosure." " "God doesn't change me to love me. He loves me in order to change me." " "2. MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT FRIENDSHIP! "> They happen automatically." "“…in talking with lonely people, I often discover that, though they lament their lack of close companions, they actually place little emphasis on the cultivation of friends…”"- Alan Loy McGinnis" " "

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Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers? Luke 10.36" " " "“I went out to find a friend and they were nowhere. I went out to be a friend and they were everywhere.”"- author unknown" "A man that has friends must show himself friendly. "Proverbs 18.24" " "You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being "care-full,” you find yourselves cared for. Matthew 5.7 (The Message)" " "Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them! "Luke 6.31 (The Message)" " "> They are affinity-based." """"

"""""""""""""What do people want in friends" " "We don’t know how to receive them." " "…the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 1 Samuel 18.1b (English Standard Version)" "

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"“If we want other people to give us something that only God can give, we become a demon. We say, ‘Love me!’ and before you know it we become violent and demanding and manipulative…That is why people who simply “want friends” can never make any. The very condition of having friends is that we should want something else besides friends... Those who have nothing can share nothing, those who are going nowhere can have no fellow travelers."- Henri Nouwen" "“Friendship must be about something. That is why those who simply want friends can never have any. Those who have nothing can share nothing; those who are going nowhere can have no fellow travelers.”"- C.S. Lewis" " "3. WE ARE BETTER TOGETHER! "• JUST friends"• RUST friends"• TRUST friends"• MUST friends"- John Maxwell" "Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. Ecclesiastes 4.9-12" " " "> Two are better than one when you’ve fallen." "For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up."

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Alex Haley"

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"""""""""""turtle sitting on a fence" " "> Two are better than one when you’re cold." "Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone?"

""""""""""""""Emperor Penguins"

"""""""""""""""Three Dog Night" "

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"“What is a friend? Friends are people with whom you dare to be yourself. Your soul can be naked with them. They ask you to put on nothing, only to be what you are. They do not want you to be better or worse. When you are with them, you feel as a prisoner feels who has been declared innocent. You do not have to be on your guard. You can say what you think, as long as it is genuinely you. Friends understand those contradictions in your nature that lead others to misjudge you. With them you breathe freely….What is a friend? Just one, I repeat, with whom you dare to be yourself.” "- C. Raymond Beran" "“Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts, nor measure words, but to pour them all out just as they are, chaff and grain together knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then, with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.” "- George Eliot" " "> Two are better than one in a battle." "Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him." "“You, my male friend are a relational being, you must connect…You are meant to share life with other men as you work with them, fight the battles of life with them and discover the world with them. This is the meaning of friendship - walking through life with the brothers, encouraging one another, challenging and assisting one another.” "- Gordon McDonald, When Men Think Private Thoughts"