A Message For...

In one paragraph

Brian preached from John 21, using the scene of Peter going back to his fishing nets after the resurrection as a way into a conversation about loneliness. He connected that passage to his own years in Estes Park, Colorado, and to what he felt God eventually said to him about why loneliness follows people even when their lives look full from the outside. Brian opened by describing a recent trip...

Read together

1. John 21:1-25 read in full as the primary text for the sermon
2. Luke 5:1-11 recalled from memory as backstory of Peter's call to follow Jesus
3. Exodus 3:1-4 Moses and the burning bush used as parallel to Peter recognizing Jesus on the shore
4. Proverbs 25:2 quoted as it is the glory of God to conceal a matter and the glory of a king to search it out

Talk about it

1. Brian described a season in Estes Park where he had plenty of friends and adventures but still felt a persistent undercurrent of loneliness. Have you ever experienced something similar, where outward activity did not touch a deeper feeling of emptiness? What was that like?
2. Brian said God told him the loneliness he felt in Estes came from not yet knowing his purpose and identity. How do you react to that idea, and does it connect with anything in your own experience?
3. Peter went back to fishing after the crucifixion and resurrection, returning to what was familiar when he did not know what else to do. What do you tend to fall back on when you feel directionless or unsettled?
4. Brian drew a distinction between identity and occupation or ability, saying both can disappear and take your sense of self with them. Where do you find yourself most tempted to root your identity, and what happens inside you when that thing is threatened or taken away?
5. Brian suggested that for some people in the room, the loneliness they feel is a signal that they are in the wrong place or season, and that the right move might be to leave rather than keep trying to make things work. How do you personally try to discern whether restlessness is a call to stay and go deeper or a call to move on?