ARE YOU FEELING OVERWHELMED?

 

Perhaps, you feel very lonely.  Perhaps, you have no encouragement, support, or accountability from anybody.  Perhaps, no one is involved in your life.  Perhaps, you feel overwhelmed, strained, and pressured.  Perhaps, you have exhausted your life and become depressed.

 

Fellowship is important because:

 

1)      You need ENCOURAGEMENT to grow.

a.       Continue to encourage one another and build each other up (1 Thessalonians 5:11).

 

                                                               i.      How have you been encouraged by others?

1.      I received comfort and hope to deal with my problems.

2.      Someone pointed out a good quality that they appreciated in me.

3.      A friend mailed me a letter of gratitude.

4.      Other: ________________________

 

2)      You need SUPPORT to grow.

a.       Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all of our troubles, so that we may support others in their trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

 

                                                               i.      How have you received support from others?

1.      My friends had compassion on me.

2.      My mother gave me money when I lost my job.

3.      I had shoulders to cry on when I was upset.

4.      Other: _________________________

 

3)      You need ACCOUNTABILITY to grow.

a.       As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another (Proverbs 27:17).

 

                                                               i.      How have others held you accountable?

1.      My “real” friends helped me through my struggles.

2.      My “genuine” friends cared about my pain.

3.      My “sincere” friends have expressed interested in my life as opposed to their own.

4.      My “best” friend cautioned me not to steal.

5.      Other: _________________________